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Saturday, November 12, 2011
Chinese Tea Baths
Ancient Chinese Medicine Doctors prescribed tea for the bath of a sick person. They they knew that green tea and all tea has a beneficial effect on the bloodstream through drinking it but theyy also knew that tea cold have a strong medicinal effect on skin conditions.
Preparing your green tea bath at home is really very easy. Take 6 bags of green tea, and place them in a hot water tub for at least 10 minutes. You should notice that the water is turning green or a golden brown color. As the color changes, the vitamins and the antioxidants of green tea are being released into the bath. Get in the bath and relax for at least 20 minutes. We know you are busy but the longer you stay in the bath the more relaxed you will be and the more it will benefit your tired skin.
When you get out you will feel relaxed and energized and completely rejuvenated.
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Global slowdown prompts stocks fall
on 11/07/2012 07:04:04
Companies start reporting second-quarter results this week and investors were dismayed when chip maker Advanced Micro Devices said that weaker sales in China and Europe led to an 11% drop in revenue in the April to June period.
The company had previously forecast a gain of 3%. J.P. Morgan and Google report results later this week.
Meanwhile, investors in Europe were cheered when finance ministers announced they had agreed on the terms of a bailout for Spain's banks and the first installment of 37 billion US dollars in aid can be ready by the end of the month.
Europe's debt crisis has hurt investor and consumer confidence, and some of the region's countries, such as Greece and Spain, are in recession.
Some analysts say policymakers in the Europe, the US and Asia should implement monetary and fiscal stimulus to prevent global growth from slowing further.
"The eurozone needs dramatic action to stop the downward spiral," said Jan Amrit Poser, chief economist at Bank Sarasin.
"The economic cycle in the rest of the world hinges substantially on such intervention, but accompanying actions by central banks in the US and emerging economies are also needed to halt an impending downturn."
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4% to 8,825.19 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off 0.3% at 19,345.23.
South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.4% to 1,822.39. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped fractionally to 4,097.20 and China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.2% to 2,159.75.
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My gorgeous friend Jess recently asked if I knew of any good love poems.
First I pointed her to these two blog entries that I think are just brilliant: A Practical Wedding (of course) and Offbeat Bride.
Then, I went through my giant file of quotes that I love and created a document of the love and marriage ones. I figured I'd share them with you all while I've got them all in one place.
Because we had friends and family read the Seven Blessing in both English and Hebrew plus folks reading Hebrew scripture and Christian scripture, we felt it wasn't really necessary to have additional readings. However, that doesn't mean I can't love them.
Bride and bridegroom performed the Dance of Isaiah. Hip to hip, arms interwoven to hold hands, Desdemona and Lefty circumnabulated the captain once, twice and then again, spinning the cocoon of their life together. No patriarchal linearity here. We Greeks get married in circles, to impress upon ourselves the essential matrimonial facts: that to be happy, you have to find variety in repetition; that to go forward you have to come back to where you began. (Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex)
I stepped into the room late last night
Because late is the time I keep
You were sleeping warm as coal
In a pocket of comfort and white sheets
But you don't startle anymore when I step into the room
Though the hour is later than midnight
And neither window can place a moon.
"I missed you," you say
And it sounds like a promise
When whispered half asleep
Your skin still damp with sweat
From thoughts your dreams refused to keep
I follow my memory to a switch on a light
"Shut your eyes," my voice cut short
When darkness turns bright
"Do you love me?" you say
But love is too familiar a word
For in this bed 10,000 times a phrase already heard
But, "I love you" speaks my reply
Though I know I failed myself and you for not
Matching how I feel with words of higher wealth
I know it's lonely in the world tonight
Because here is more than what's deserved
And the imbalance can't be summed in black and white
Cause "love's" too familiar a word. (Ellis Paul)
A marriage made in Heaven is one where a man and a woman become more richly themselves together than the chances either of them could have managed to become alone. (From "Marriage" by Frederick Buechner from Whistling in the Dark)
Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as the beating of my heart,
suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of the thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,
and once again I am blessed,
again what I chose before. (Wendell Berry, "The Wild Rose)
On the one side is your happiness, and on the other is your past - the self you were used to, going through life alone, heir to your own experience. Once you commit yourself, everything changes and the rest of your life seems to you like a dark forest on the property you have recently acquired. It is yours, but still you are afraid to enter it, wondering what you might find: a little chapel, a stand of birches, wolves, snakes, the worst you can imagine or the best. You take one timid step forward, but then you realize you are not alone. You take someone's hand . . . and strain through the darkness to see ahead. (Laurie Colwin, "The Lone Pilgrim")
‘If a woman is stronger than her husband, she comes to despise him. She has the choice of either tyrannizing him or else making herself less in order not to make him less. If the husband is strong enough, though. . .' she poked him again, even harder, 'she can be as strong as she is, as strong as she can grow to be.' (Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos)
He closed the door carefully behind him, and at that Daily Alice awoke, not because of any noise he’d made but because the whole peace of her sleep had been subtly broken and invaded by his absence. (John Crowley, Little, Big)
A glimpse, through an interstice caught,
Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room, around the stove, late of a winter night – And I unremark’d seated in a corner;
Of a youth who loves me, and whom I love, silently approaching, and seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand;
A long while, amid the noises of coming and going – of drinking and oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word. (Walt Whitman)
Like the water
of a deep stream, love is always too much. We
did not make it. Though we drink till we burst
we cannot have it all, or want it all.
In its abundance it survives our thirst.
In the evening we come down to the shore
to drink our fill, and sleep, while it
flows through the regions of the dark.
It does not hold us, except we keep returning
to its rich waters thirsty. We enter,
willing to die, into the commonwealth of its joy. (Wendell Berry, “The Country of Marriage”)
Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. (Louis de Bernieres)
Marriage is in many ways a simplification of life, and it naturally combines the strengths and wills of two young people so that, together, they seem to reach farther into the future than they did before. Above all, marriage is a new task and a new seriousness, - a new demand on the strength and generosity of each partner, and a great new danger for both.
The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; on the contrary, a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of his solitude, and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky. (from Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, translated by Stephen Mitchell)
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth. ("Late Fragment," by Raymond Carver)
Sometimes we push against love to see if it is fragile. (Nanette Sawyer, 28 September 2008)
We’re all seeking that special person who is right for us. But if you’ve been through enough relationships, you begin to suspect there’s no right person, just different flavors of wrong. Why is this? Because you yourself are wrong in some way, and you seek out partners who are wrong in some complementary way. But it takes a lot of living to grow fully into your own wrongness. It isn’t until you finally run up against your deepest demons, your unsolvable problems – the ones that make you truly who you are – that you’re ready to find a life-long mate. Only then do you finally know what you’re looking for. You’re looking for the wrong person. But not just any wrong person: the right wrong person – someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, “This is the problem I want to have.” (from Andrew Boyd's Daily Afflictions, Loving the Wrong Person)
While exclusionary interest in one other human being, which is what we call courtship, is all very exciting in the stages of discovery, there is not enough substance in it for a lifetime, no matter how fascinating the people or passionate the romance.
The world, on the other hand, is chock full of interesting and curious things. The point of the courtship -- marriage -- is to secure someone with whom you wish to go hand in hand through this source of entertainment, each making discoveries, and then sharing some and merely reporting others. Anyone who tries to compete with the entire world, demanding to be someone's sole source of interest and attention, is asking to be classified as a bore. "Why don't you ever want to talk to me?" will probably never start a satisfactory marital conversation. "Guess what?" will probably never fail. (Miss Manners)
In raising the status of wife to one of presumed equality, lesbian marriages have the potential to improve the status of women in straight union as well. Freed from being a term inextricably linked to “husband,” “wife” can take on new meanings. Once we accept the possibility of “wife an wife,” the whole system of opposite-and-unequal terms gets thrown out of whack. Instead of falling into preordained roles of husband as king of his castle and wife as “trouble and strife,” individuals can explore innovative ways to express relatedness. (Audrey Bilger, “Wife Support,” Bitch Magazine, Winter 2009)
making butter - At my local natural foods store yesterday (we are so lucky to have a 'local' one), picking up scraps for the pigs (and very lucky for that too), our friends ...
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The Mitrokhin Archive Non-Fiction Review : 2009/03/15
The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and The West
by Christopher Andrew & Vasili Mitrokhin
London: Penguin Press, 1999, 996 pp., hardcover.
More reviews for
Christopher Andrew & Vasili Mitrokhin
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This book took me so many years to finish, I don't recall when I started. It was roughly 2000 or 2001, as I recall. Of course, when a book weighs in at just under 1,000 pages if you include appendices and you use it as a bathroom reader, it's going to take some serious time. Why am I reviewing a KGB book on a website that focuses on theological topics? Because the KGB expended great effort in both persecuting and infiltrating Soviet churches, as well as in seeking to influence Western churches. That story is recounted here.
Vasili Mitrokhin spent three decades working with the KGB's foreign intelligence archives, and when he defected in 1992, he took with him several trunks full of copied documents that provide the source material for this tome.
It was fascinating, although not surprising, to read of the KGB infiltration of the United Nations, Canadian universities, and more. Humorously, some of the spy attempts failed miserably as national spies rebelled against their handlers, or Soviet nationals infiltrating a country discovered the truth about the West's wealth and defected or simply attempted to utilize their expense accounts to live a better lifestyle than they could dream of in the U.S.S.R.
The Soviets found Lee Harvey Oswald to be a nuisance when he was in Russia. They were happy to see him return to the United States, but horrified that they would be blamed for Kennedy's assassination, so they forged a letter from Oswald to Howard Hunt, making it look like Oswald was operating under orders from the Watergate conspirator, and forever delighting conspiracy theorists (298).
Sadly, many Russian Orthodox priests were compromised by the KGB, especially the church in North America. The KGB selected the Russian Orthodox delegates to the World Council of Churches in the 1960s, so it's no surprise that they denied reports of persecution. The leader, Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad had the agent name of ADAMANT, while others carried the more religious-sounding agent names ALTAR and MAGISTER. They managed to place agents in high WCC posts, such as the central committee which drafted policy statements on international affairs, criticizing the West but never the Soviet Union (637).
Granted, few people would find this book as fascinating as I did, but if you have an interest in Soviet history, it's a treasure trove of information about the interaction with the West.
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Where can we live like a pioneer family?I am planning my family vacation for the summer of 2010. I am looking for a "weekend getaway" that includes "Pioneer Living." In that I mean something like a camp where families can spend a weekend playing as a pioneer family. Where a family can spend 2 nights (or 1 whichever) as a pioneer family. I am having hard time in my research trying to find this type of program/vacation. Any suggestions would be SO helpful! Thanks so much! - Jenifer, Ulen, Minn.
We have lots of suggestions for you: See Living like a pioneer.
Many historical sites offer day camps that let children live and play like Laura Ingalls Wilder, Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer
and Huck Finn.
In the northern-Illinois town of Oregon, families can rent a covered wagon or tepee to stay in during Oregon Trail Days in July. The festival is held in Lowden State Park.
There are several day camps in which people can live like pioneers. In southeast Wisconsin, the living-history complex Old
World Wisconsin offers a Family
Farmhand Fun Camp, where you can do chores and play games like early settlers.
You could combine that with the "Hooked
on Laura'' day camps at Old World Wisconsin, for children in third through seventh grades.
Old World Wisconsin also offers Laura Ingalls Wilder Days in
The museum also has five sessions of the One-Room Schoolhouse Rocks day camp for
grades one through eight.
For more about Old World Wisconsin, see In search of Christmas past.
For more about Laura sites, see Laura Ingalls Wilder stories.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Monday, November 08, 2010
Last week, militants linked to Al-Qaeda took over a church in Baghdad and killed 58 people. Following the attacks , Al-Qaeda threatened to attack Christians wherever they can be reached, which is serious threat because we know that Al-Qaeda, at least some of its loyal sympathizers, live in every single country in the Middle East. For any person living in Jordan it's easy to notice that Jordanian Christians are panicking after the attacks. But is that justified?
On a humanitarian level, those attacks are less tragic than many attacks on mosques, where the death toll is often worse. Just last week an attack on a mosque in Iraq left 63 people dead. The majority of the 100,000 Iraqi civilians who were killed since the US invasion of Iraq are Muslims. Outside Iraq, Islamic militants have just bombed a mosque in Pakistan, leaving 90 people dead. Worshipers in mosques and churches are usually unarmed people, minding their own business, who often pray for peace in their country.
Christians in Iraq have been treated pretty fairly under Saddam Hussein. Not that they were necessarily supporters of him, but the hardships Iraqi Christians faced were not religious-based, and were not very different from those encountered by Iraqi Muslims. Saddam put his trust in some Christians around him, including his vice president and personal guard.
Fast forward to 2003, the US invades Iraq. Since then there have been multiple separate attacks on churches leaving casualties, and some priests and bishops from different sects were kidnapped and murdered. It was obvious that those were not random attacks and that Christians specifically are being one of the targets of Islamic militants in Iraq. The church attacks last week were just a continuum of a series of attacks that are likely to continue. The majority of Iraqi Christians have already left Iraq, and it's highly predictable that they will continue to do so.
Make no mistake, even the most religious Muslims I know vehemently condemn these attacks and consider them unjustifiable. However it's hard for most of them to understand why are Christians in Jordan panicking over this recent incident.
Arab Christians have been feeling vulnerable recently, and Jordanian Christians are no exception. First, their numbers are decreasing significantly and that's attributable to several factors which we can't get into now, but it's a fact. Jordanian Christians used to constitute nearly 20% of the population in the 1950s, and now they're less than 5%. Numbers do matter. You feel less significant when there aren't lots of you.
Secondly, they are a minority, a well-treated minority, a well-respected minority, but a minority. Unfortunately their opinion or take on vital issues may be considered less important because they're a minority.
Also, many Muslims believe the most significant war taking place now is between Christianity and Islam, and that makes a lot of Arab Christians very uncomfortable because they don't want to be held responsible for the actions of the "Christian" Western governments especially in Afghanistan and Iraq and their support of Israel.
Then comes the under-rated Muslim-Christians conflict that's been going on for at least two decades in Egypt. All the events there have been underplayed by the Egyptian government but they were bad enough to get many Egyptian Christians to leave Egypt and allow some Copts in the US to tell stories, many of which may be inaccurate, of how Christians are being mistreated by Muslims in Egypt.
Even though, again, neither Islam nor the majority of Muslims encourage these attacks, they remain an attack by one religious group on another. It looks like Al-Qaeda, which a loose term nowadays referring to Islamic militants, wants Iraqi Christians out of Iraq and they're doing a good job with that. If they have their way they certainly want all Christians out from whatever land they claim to be Islamic.
Arab Christians, and certainly Jordanian Christians, are not an ethnicity or a group of people who want to live alone. Their culture, language and heritage is identical to that of the Muslim citizens. Jordanian Christians consider themselves Jordanian. They are protected by the Jordanian police, their borders are protected by the Jordanian army and their rights are protected by the Jordanian constitution and law. Unlike Shiites, Kurds or Jews, they do not seek to form a country of their own or be protected by a foreign army. Therefore, if they felt threatened, even if that threat came from a very small group against the will of the majority, they may start leaving the country in greater numbers and that would be a very hard decision to make. It doesn't take a mastermind to do something stupid. It just takes one dumb moron to be inspired by the al-Qaeda speech to carry a gun and shoot at a crowded church gathering or funeral or anywhere where Christians gather. Most Muslims can't do much to prevent this, but I hope they'll understand why Jordanian Christians are freaking out after the church incident and realize that it's not only that incident but whatever preceded it that's making them feel uncomfortable.
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By Faisal Aziz
SARGODHA: Speakers at the National Conference were of unanimous view that the Aman Ki Asha, an initiative launched by the Jang Group and The Times of India, is the only ray of hope to resolve all the issues with India peacefully, including Kashmir, as aggression is no solution in the present scenario.
The conference titled 'Kashmir and Peace in South Asia' was held at the Sargodha University under the auspices of the International Relations and Political Science Department on Thursday.
The conference was presided over by UoS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Akram Chaudhry while JUI-F chief and Special Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman was the chief guest. Renowned political analyst Prof Dr Hassan Askari of the Punjab University highlighted the significance of the issue as principal speaker.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that Kashmir was the core issue in South Asia and the prosperity of the area was attached to its resolution. He said that the Kashmir issue was in the ICU after the 9/11 and the war on terror had damaged the struggle of the Kashmiris. "Kashmir was the focal point of the Pakistan's foreign policy, but the issue's importance has decreased during the last five years. Now it is at the merciless hands of the so-called war on terror," he maintained.
The JUI-F chief said that US President Barack Obama had urged India to resolve the Kashmir issue during his election campaign, but he did nothing in this regard which was the main reason of tension between two nuclear powers. "The Simla Accord was not true representation of the Kashmiris. But it started composite dialogue between India and Pakistan. After it, only the Lahore Declaration supported the Kashmir cause while India accepted the sensitivity of the issue and agreed to put it on the agenda of talks," he said.
He maintained that the Kargil War sabotaged the Lahore Declaration and Pervez Musharraf went to India for the Agra Summit afterwards, but all in vain. "Internal stability is the key which provides us stimulation to present our case before the world. Unluckily, Pakistan is presently fighting the war of its sovereignty. How could it raise the voice of the Kashmiris?" he questioned.
Elaborating the issue, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that there were four phases of the Kashmir issue - 1948-1971, 1971-1985, 1985-2001 and 2001 to onward. "After the 1971 war, we were unable to talk to India on equal terms. The Simla Accord was the practical presentation and even though the name of Kashmir was not included in it."
He said that the ruling mode had changed after the World War II and the now the financial institutions were ruling the world. He was of the view that the concept of the independent world was to make more slaves while political, financial and even nuclear freedom was attached to the conditions imposed by the IMF, the World Bank, the CTBT and the NPT.
He said that the frontline state, Pakistan, was suffering due to terrorism while terrorism was promoted during the last 10 years instead of reducing after steps taken against it. He said that the Parliament had passed a unanimous resolution to stop the present war on terror and review it, but the government did not follow its recommendations. "The country is at the mercy of invaders who have occupied its economy and political situation."
He added that now efforts were on to make Punjab the battlefield of the war against terror while unseen forces were trying to find justification for it. The JUI-F chief said that India was engaged in a proxy war against Pakistan from Afghanistan while America had assigned a role to India in this regard. "Power is important to get one's right, but the sovereignty of the poor countries is linked to financial and political power. Unluckily, Pakistan has lost both powers. India is now preparing to enter the developed world in the next 10 years." He said that the eastern borders of the country should be made safe as the attention had been diverted to the western borders with Afghanistan, which did not accept the border and termed it as the Durand Line.
Dr Hassan Askari, the principal speaker, presented a three-dimensional solution to the Kashmir issue, saying that the option of war had lost its importance after a change in the ruling style. "The first option is to resume composite dialogues towards an acceptable solution to the issue," he said, adding that the country must be equipped with modern education to get strength from inside and then it should talk to India.
He was of the view that the self-reliance policy should be adopted to resolve the issue. "Only internal stability can give us power to initiate composite dialogues with India and convince it for the resolution of the issue."
He said that the second option was utilised during the Musharraf regime and trade was started on both sides of the border with an exchange of cultural traditions, but they had also almost suspended now.
He said that the resolution of the Kashmir issue presented by former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri was not viable. He added that the United Nations Resolution passed by the Security Council in 1948 did not bind India to give the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris until the resolution should not fall in the chapter 7, which bounded India to hold a referendum in the Held Kashmir. Dr Hassan Askari was of the view that Pakistan had less diplomatic influence to convince the Security Council to pass the resolution under the chapter 7. He said that the world forces would not take interest in the issue. "Once Pakistan tried to move the resolution but China asked it to withdraw it as Indian sympathy was dominant in the Security Council," he concluded.
UoS Vice-Chancellor Dr Akram Chaudhry, in his presidential address, said: "We have even failed in presenting the Kashmir issue in the Muslim world and there is need to expedite diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue in a peaceful manner." He said that the Kashmiris were living in bad conditions and they had forgotten to sing songs. "The literature of Kashmir is incomplete without its affiliation with Pakistan." Social Sciences Dean Dr Rasheed Khan also spoke.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Let's play cricket!
There is great jubilation on both sides of the border about the announcement that India is inviting Pakistan to play a series of cr .....more
Twitter friends Shiraz Hassan and Chintan Girish Modi continue their email exchange
From: Chintan Girish Modi
Date: Sat, Jul 14, 2012
An exciting initiative by young Indians and Pakistanis seeks to change mindsets through virtual interaction, testimonials and more
By Barkha Shahmore
Rehman Malik's resounding call for peace between India and Pakistan, and the need for tolerance, understanding and humanity, drew enthusiastic applause from Indian .....more
BCCI invites Pakistan for first series in five years; PCB welcomes proposal
NEW DELHI: Indian cricket chiefs on Monday said they had invited Pakistan f .....more
Page 40 of 175
The News on Sunday Special Report: India Pakistan prisoners more editions
We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
For the past 2 years the Jang Group and Geo have been working on a project of great national interest; one that we hope will help usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the country and indeed, in the region. And one that hopefully all Pakistanis can be proud of. more
The Jang Group has entered into an agreement with the Times of India Group, the largest media group of India, to campaign for peace betw
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I Ching: Dead Moon Deck is an I Ching deck based on Luis Royo's Dead Moon Art Work. This deck attempt to portrait its 64 oracular statements using Luis Royo's illustrated love/hate story of "Moon" and "Mars" love/hate story in an eastern based Gothic world. Luis Royo's Art Work remains superb even in the constrained format of a card, and this I Ching does a fair attempt to portrait the meaning of their respective oracular statement.
Being an old time fan of Luis Royo's artwork, I was eager to get a deck featuring his latest paintings. Previous attempt on Tarot format had fallen short to my expectations. In brief, I dislike Tarot Decks with just repetitive pips. However, I had high expectations with this I Ching Deck, because I assumed it required 64 distinct cards. I was correct, but whether that was a good thing or not, it was another matter.
The cards in this deck are 4.5" x 2.75". These are bordered black, showing a number on top from 1 to 64. At the bottom of each card, there is a .75" x.75" red square, bordered black with a hexagram (six rows of broken or unbroken lines) inside. The imagery is often in soft pastels, almost sepia at times. The back of the cards look like a dye-black canvas with a red square in the middle showing two Chinese characters.
There are many cards including Moon, Mars and other characters, but there are some that are only scenic. All this does not matter, unless the imagery helps to reveal some of the meaning of the card. In this regard, the I Ching: Dead Moon is successful, but your millage varies from card to card. For example: #25 shows a shot over the naked shoulder of Moon as she softly looks sideways and down (Innocence); and #48 shows a cauldron pulled out of a hole (The well). However, you have others that are somewhat confusing: #8 shows two people opening or closing the doors to a fortress (Solidarity?). In all, the images help at times, but you will still need to use the reference material often. For I Ching, this is not as bad as it would have been for Tarot.
The I Ching: Dead Moon deck includes a cover card with the name of this deck on top and showing Moon's face wearing formal make up, being spoiled as tears start to roll down. This deck includes 15 reference cards presenting a brief description of I Ching and the meaning of the 64 cards, first written in Spanish followed by its translation in English. In essence, a Little White Book made of cards.
However, this deck also includes a Little White Book presenting the same information in other languages that Lo Scarabeo usually caters for: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Korean. Why the use of two formats? I can only speculate, but this deck was originally produced by Fournier. Most probably, it was cheaper for Lo Scarabeo add a the Little White Book to cover the additional languages.
Other decks illustrated by Luis Royo include:
The Labyrinth Tarot Deck
The Black Tarot Deck
Royo Dark Tarot Deck
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Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
GTD: Boing Boing Mark gets it
Merlin Mann | Feb 3 2006
Getting Things Done has occasionally been criticized for lacking a focus on what I call Capital Letter Nouns -- as an action-based, tactical toolset for managing life's verbs, it was never intended as a top-down treatise on generating Big Life Decisions. I happen to think that's a big part of what makes it so appealing to people (esp. the techies who crave "actionable items") -- it takes you as you are and says "Okay, let's get to work."
But, funny thing: the folks who stick with GTD past the experimental try-on phase often discover it gives them sharper insight into their goals and values than some of the theoretically more lofty systems that are out there.
Get those verbs under control, folks, and it's a shitload easier to even see the big nouns.
|EXPLORE 43Folders||THE GOOD STUFF|
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From Tar Valon Library
Author: Estyrien al'Halien
She was an advisor to King Easar of Shienar. When she learned that the White Tower had split, Aisling left the Borderlands and traveled to Tar Valon (TPoD, Prologue). She was then sent to the Black Tower with Toveine in attempt to destroy it. However, Malevin captured her and he bonded her against her will (KoD, Ch. 20).
- 975 NE: Aisling earns the ring (NS, Ch. 3).
- 978 NE: As an Accepted, Aisling leaves the Tower to collect the names of newborn children for the bounty (NS, Ch. 3).
- Unknown: Aisling is raised to the shawl (TPoD, Prologue).
- 999 NE: Aisling disappears from Shienar when she learns that the White Tower has split (TPoD, Prologue).
- 1000 NE: Aisling travels to the Black Tower with Toveine. She is captured and bonded by Malevin (KoD, Ch. 20).
- 1000 NE: Aisling travels to Cairhien and then to Tear with Malevin and Logain in search of Rand (KoD, Ch. 20).
- 1000 NE: Aisling and the other Aes Sedai follow Rand to Lady Deirdru's manor to prevent any further attack on him (KoD, Ch. 27).
- Aisling was one of the Tuatha'an and so is a rarity in the White Tower; very few Tinker girls want to become Aes Sedai (NS, Ch. 3).
- When she was learning to become Aes Sedai, Aisling applied herself with great determination (NS, Ch. 3).
Aisling applied herself with just as much determination as Zemaille, and with more success. She had earned the ring in five years, in the same year as Moiraine and Siuan, and Moiraine thought she might test for the shawl in another year, perhaps less. (Moiraine about Aisling; New Spring, Chapter 3).
Save for Paitar's, their White Tower advisors had all left at news of the troubles in the Tower, her own Nianh and Easar's Aisling vanishing without a trace. (Ethenielle about the rulers of the Borderlands and their Aes Sedai advisors; The Path of Daggers, Prologue)
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D.C. Council to consider gay divorce bill
Posted: 11:58 am Tue, January 10, 2012
WASHINGTON — The D.C. Council is considering legislation that would make it easier for gay and lesbian couples who marry in the nation’s capital to get divorced.
The bill would let gay couples who married in Washington get divorced even if they no longer live in the city, provided they somewhere that would not recognize their divorce. Under current law, one member of the divorcing couple has to live in Washington for six months before starting divorce proceedings.
Washington began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in March 2010. Six states also allow same-sex marriage. But divorcing couples can face legal hurdles if they live in a state that does not recognize their union.
Councilmember Phil Mendelson introduced the bill, and the Committee on the Judiciary will take it up on Tuesday.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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March 2012 Brief: Volume 19, Number 7
|Click Here for a pdf verison.|
We Need Fair and Sound Fiscal Health, Too
by Deborah D. Thornton
Health care benefits are a hot topic this spring. A major concern is not only benefits and costs for the private sector, but also the government workers. On the health-care retiree benefit side, many states – 19 in FY2009 – have zero funds set aside to fund these benefits. Another seven have only funded 25 percent of their liability, according to a report by the Pew Center on the States. In total, the states only have about $31 billion, or 5 percent of the expected liability, set aside. With the continuing growth in health-care expenses, this will be a significant problem for these states and their taxpayers in the future. Many states, including Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and South Carolina, are making changes in the structure and payment plans of retiree healthcare benefits. They are attempting to better manage this long-term liability.
Only two states, Arizona and Oregon, have over 50 percent of their health-care liabilities funded. Iowa is one of the states, according to the Pew data, which has no funds set aside to pay current or future retiree health-care benefits. Instead, state government has been paying these expenses from current tax collections. As of FY2009, the amount anticipated for health-care expenses of current and future government retirees in Iowa was just over $538 million, or over half a billion dollars. At current budget levels, this is about one-twelfth of all state government spending. Retiree health-care costs are a significant liability to future taxpayers, especially as the government employee population continues to age and retire with high expectations for medical treatment.
Based on this expectation, the “required” annual contribution for Iowa retiree health-care costs in FY2009 was $56.8 million. This money should have been set aside in reserves, as the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) money is, to grow and be available to pay the health-care costs of retirees. In FY2009, only 42 percent of that amount ($23.8 million) was paid in.
Additionally, most Iowa state government workers do not pay a monthly health-care insurance premium. We are one of only six states that pay 100 percent of health-care insurance costs for employees and their families. Approximately 84 percent of state government workers take advantage of this major benefit and pay nothing.
According to the 12th annual Iowa “Employer Benefits Study,” done by David P. Lind and Associates, the average premium paid by private-sector workers in Iowa for their family health-care plans is $346.66 per month, up from only $180 a decade ago. The average amount paid by private-sector workers for an “individual only” plan is $70.
In contrast, those few state government workers who are required to help pay for their individual insurance pay only $14 per month. This is $56 less per month than an average private-sector worker.
Nationwide, 38 percent of the states require their single employees and/or retirees to pay from 29 percent to over 60 percent of their PPO health insurance premium, according to the long-time human resources benefits consulting group The Segal Company. For employees with families, 56 percent of states require at least a 29 percent personal contribution.
The FY2013 budget proposed by the Iowa House Republicans calls for all state workers, including Legislators and other elected officials, to pay $200 a month, or $100 every two weeks, toward the cost of their health insurance. This will still be less than the almost $350 per month the average Iowa family working in the private sector pays – and less than most state government employees in other states pay.
According to a statement by Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen, “Taxpayers can no longer afford to carry the full burden for every state employee’s health insurance. Asking all employees, including state Legislators, to contribute a reasonable $200 monthly payment towards their own health care is the right thing to do.”
Though the Great Recession is officially over, private-sector unemployment in Iowa remains over 5 percent. The Occupy Wall Street and union protestors are continuing to talk about “fairness” and treating the 99 percent “fairly.” When private-sector workers and families are paying $350 per month or more towards their health insurance, it seems only “fair” that government workers pay at least $200. They could be asked to pay as much as 60 percent, as is done in some states.
Speaker Paulsen and the Republicans in the Iowa House of Representatives are on the right path. At the very least, they should adopt this plan for themselves and other elected officials – and set a good example for the rest. Then they should address the unfunded liability of the retiree health care. If these two things are done, the state will continue to move toward sound fiscal health and treat all taxpayers fairly.
“The Widening Gap: The Great Recession’s Impact on State Pension and Retiree Health Care Costs,” Pew Center on the States, p. 6.
Deborah D. Thornton is a Research Analyst with Public Interest Institute, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Contact her at Public.Interest.Institute@LimitedGovernment.org.
Permission to reprint or copy in whole or part is granted, provided a version of this credit line is used:"Reprinted by permission from INSTITUTE BRIEF, a publication of Public Interest Institute." The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of Public Interest Institute. They are brought to you in the interest of a better-informed citizenry.
All of our publications are available for sponsorship. Sponsoring a publication is an excellent way for you to show your support of our efforts to defend liberty and define the proper role of government. For more information, please contact Public Interest Institute at 319-385-3462 or e-mail us at Public.Interest.Institute@LimitedGovernment.org
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On September 15th 1964 a devilishly handsome young man flew to Japan to represent his country at the XVIII Olympic Games™ in Tokyo. He was part of the last contingent from Rhodesia allowed to compete at the Summer Olympics™ before Rhodesia was barred from international competition.
He was immensely proud and honoured. Full of youthful vitality and Olympic™ idealism.
That young man was my father Roy Barbour. (Did I mention handsome?)
As the London Games kick-off this week, I’m not sure he recognizes today’s Olympic™ “experience”
Unfortunately marketing and marketers – of which his son is one – bear a fair bit of that responsibility.
We’ve turned athletes into brands and billboards: Olympic™ guidelines – the infamous Rule 40 -remain incredibly strict about logos and branding when competing. No none-sponsored advertising efforts until 3 days after the Closing Ceremony. Reality is several Olympians are already multi-millionaires from sponsorships and endorsements. Just ask US swimmer Michael Phelps what 8 gold medals can do to your marketing attractiveness. Olympics = amateur athletes? Not for a long time my friends.
We’ve legitimized bullying: I get that when you invest hundreds of millions to acquire sponsor rights and then millions more actually doing something with it, you might get a little miffed by ambush marketing. Sure, if I’m Adidas and spent 80 million knicker to get sponsorship rights I might be annoyed at Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign. It’s the Orwellian excesses of brand police and litigators stamping out the little guys that I can’t stomach. Heaven forbid you mistakenly thought your Greek-inspired corner coffee shop could escape the keen eye of the brand police. That’s not in the spirit of the Olympics is it?
We’ve made the Games inaccessible: So mammoth is the audience, so lucrative the advertising potential, Canada’s two principal broadcasters had to form a JV to enable them to collectively purchase the network rights for Canada. Either that or hope the US spill from NBC, who paid over $1billion for rights and access, might highlight some Canadian athletes.
We’ve created a media spectacle: Ironically Tokyo was the first Games ever televised live. At the 1960 Rome Olympics™ tapes had to be flown overnight to TV stations. Today the entire Games is a 24/7 spectacle (actually 1,209,600 seconds over 2 weeks) played out in every conceivable mass and social media channel and on every device capable of accessing them. Where an ill-advised dumbass tweet can get you thrown off your Olympic squad.
We’ve created a platform for others to further politicize the Games: The Olympics™ have always been a natural venue for political statements. 1968 – Black Power in Mexico. 1972 – Massacre in Munich. 1980 and 1984 – Boycotts in Moscow and LA. In 2012? The furore in America over the realization that their Ralph Lauren official uniforms were actually made in China. I call that opportunistic political BS. Dear friend Olivier Blanchard had more stinging remarks to make in a brilliant post on his blog. Y&R’s Argentinean outpost went one better creating an incredibly controversial spot depicting the contested Falkland Islands in an attempt to raise national pride.
Quit your moaning Hilton.
The Olympics™ are big, huge, monstrous business. David Cameron anticipates it will drive billions of dollars in tourist receipts into his beleaguered economy. (Some of those perhaps will offset the £400,000 spent to create the official 2012 logo)
If marketers weren’t involved then the Olympics™ would continue to be a loss and a burden…versus a boon to the host country and city. Just ask Montreal, host of the 1976 Olympic Games™, which overran budgets by 796%. Perhaps it’s no small irony that Atlanta, home of Coca-Cola, was one of the first modern Olympics™ to generate a profit.
I get all that.
However, I genuinely despair when our profit motive clouds our humanity and commonsense. When we’re more concerned about brand activation activities than actual sporting activities.
I get – and preach enthusiastically – that brands need a setting and eyeballs to grow. The Olympics™ delivers both in spades. Authentic moments and wonderful stories filled with raw human emotion. An estimated 4 billion viewers worldwide. It’s a frigging marketer’s wet dream.
I get that.
I just wish more glory shone on the gold medals than the golden arches. On the raising of national flags than the downloading of official songs and mobile apps. On photo finishes in the 100 metre Men’s Final than photobooth stunts with David Beckham.
Perhaps, just where the Olympics™ are concerned, I’m as idealistic as my father was in 1964.
Did we take away some of the glory of the Olympics™ when we transformed it into this massive marketing machine?
Does Joe Public see or even care about these issues?
What say you?
Dad – I never watch the Olympics™ without thinking about how incredible your 1964 experience must’ve been. Thanks for being such an incredible role model to me all these years.
A close friend Chris Janzen has been given the incredible honour of being an Olympic™ torchbearer as the flame makes its way through London. Chris – you’re an inspiration to us all and I’m proud to call you friend.
To all those passionate Olympic™ fans out there. Good luck in London – that is unless you’re up against the Canadians. In which case I hope you’ll not be disappointed with silver.
You’ve likely noticed the tireless use of the Trademark or ™ symbol. For that I thank the marketing muse Seth Godin and his amusing Olympic™ post.
About the Author: An insatiable curiosity is my defining characteristic. Which is probably why I got into advertising over 14 years ago. I know it aint a real job in comparison to say, a fireman or a nuclear physicist but hey. Anyway, along the way I've developed an opinion on a coupla things. This blog allows me to air a few of those opinions and thoughts. I thank you for your visit and welcome your feedback.
Web Site: http://www.hiltonbarbour.com
Reproduced with his permission from his blog
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October 28, 1818. My father once told me I had the mind of a man. He meant to say I was a freak of nature, as was—so he suspected—my mother. But I feel no such mind within me now. Now I am soft and tired and feel like weeping, though I cannot bring forth any tears.In death, Abigail rests peacefully. The fever that had her body trembling for near two weeks is gone. The fluid no longer rattles in her poor chest. And the telltale rash of the typhus has begun to fade on her belly.
She lies in the master chamber at Peacefield, the estate John bought while still in London that was such a disappointment to her upon her return. It was nothing like she remembered it as a child. It seemed smaller, somehow, and sadly neglected. John, disappointed with the soil, had dubbed the place Stonyfield. Now, with its fine additions and gardens, the home is rather grand and fertile.
But Abigail is no longer. They say that in her youth she looked like Venus: fair, and so harmonious in all her parts that men grew awkward around her. But John was never awkward in her presence. A fiery Humpty Dumpty to the laughing world, around his Portia he grew tall and handsome.
He called her Portia after faithful Brutus’s wife, but she is no Portia now. Her body, at seventy-two, has wasted to skin and bone. The assaults she bore—the death of Charles; and poor Nabby, her eldest, who died in agony in this very room of a cancer in the breast—lie upon her as defeated folds of flesh. Calluses mark her fingers from days and years of sewing, husking, weaving, and gathering. And there are faded burn marks, too—on her arms, elbows, and palms, scorched often through the years while her mind was on other things. She hardly felt them but wondered afterward from whence they came. And all those years away from John—those marks are there, too, around the eyes that I have shut, in lines that tell the pain of loss. I will anoint them with precious rose oil. I will put balm on her lips and hands and rub it in gently with the love I still feel and have felt for her for more than forty years.
I look out the window at Abigail’s gardens. The roses and hollyhocks are gone to sleep for the winter, but violet asters and pink sedum still line the paths. The maples have rained their gold, red, and orange leaves upon the ground. The wind has scattered them about; no one has thought to rake them. Her last sojourn into the garden had been with John, to pick apples for a pie. But in these two weeks, John has halted all work, except to feed the animals.
One day last week, she seemed to revive. And when she looked out her window across the grounds to where the orchards lay, she was appalled that the apples, bursting with ripeness, had not been picked.
“John!” she called, although Dr. Holbrook had forbidden her to speak. “Fetch John, Louisa.”
Louisa Smith is her niece, the daughter of Abigail’s younger sister, Betsy Cranch; she stays here in the guest room. A bright and obliging woman of youthful middle age, Louisa ran to fetch John, who, believing his wife to be out of danger, had gone to work in his study down the hall.
He came running, panic on his face.
“John—” she turned upon hearing his footsteps “—why are the apples not picked? They will rot.”
“My love, I told the boys to put off their farm work while you were ill. I didn’t want the noise to disturb you.”
“Nonsense,” Abigail replied. I thought I saw her smile faintly. “They must carry on, or it shall all go to waste. I couldn’t bear that.”
She glanced at me then, and I knew we were both recalling the summer of the terrible drought in 1778, when mine were the only apples to survive, thanks to the ingenious watering invention of a certain Mr. Cleverly.
The next day, Abigail’s fever returned, and I knew it would not spare her. She lay close to death all weekend, conscious but perfectly still. On Monday, I packed to go home, as my husband had sent a messenger with news of a sick grandchild, but she stopped me. She must have heard a change in my footsteps, because she called weakly, “Lizzie, don’t leave.”
I went into her room, sat on the bed, and took her hand. John was on the other side, and a more stricken man I have never seen, though I have seen many stricken men in my day.
“I feel I am dying,” Abigail said, “and I’m ready to go to my Maker. Except that I hate to leave him.” She looked at her husband. “It is parting from you I cannot bear.”
I turned away to hide my tears.
John kept a brave face, even managing a smile for his Portia. “We shan’t be parted for long, my love. Rest now.”
She seemed to fall into a doze. I gently took my hand from hers and went downstairs to speak with the family. Louisa sat in the large parlor next to Tommy, Abigail and John’s youngest son, now in his late forties. His head was tipped back; his eyes were closed. Also present were Dr. Holbrook, asleep in a chair by the fire, and Abigail’s good neighbor, Harriet Welsh.
Upon hearing my footsteps, Dr. Holbrook woke from his doze. They all turned to me inquiringly, but I merely shook my head.
Louisa began to sob; Tommy stood up and took me by the shoulders, begging to know what had happened. In another moment, he disengaged from me as his father, barely able to stay on his feet, entered the room.
John passed a trembling hand over his head.
“I can’t bear it. Can’t bear to see her this way. I wish…” We all held our breaths, wondering what this remarkable man, our great patriot and second president, wished for as his wife of fifty-four years lay dying. “I wish to lie down and die with her.”
Tom went to his father and embraced him. Moments later, they sent for a messenger. John Quincy had to be notified that his mother was dying.
I waited upon Abigail, but she never spoke again. We all of us took turns spending time in her room so she was never alone. I recalled vividly our many days and years together—before she left for Europe, then afterward, when she returned much changed on the outside, though not at all within. I recalled those first, hard years of our friendship, when I was a new widow and she was a widow to the Cause, with four children and not a morsel of bread for months and months. Our men were dead or gone, and we had but ourselves to rely upon.
It was death that first drew us together: first my husband, Jeb, in April of ’75, then her dear mother in October of the same year, of the bloody flux. We call that the dysentery now. Her mother lingered for two weeks. The children had also been ill, and John was far away, as he often was at that time.
I made her mother a dish of willow bark tea, which relieved her suffering but could not save her. And when I washed the body and dressed it—slowly and carefully, the way I had learned to do from my own mother—Abigail looked on in fascination. Then she smiled, although her eyes remained grave.
“Dear friend,” I said to her gently, “what makes you smile at a time like this?”
She turned to me and replied, “When my turn comes, I want you to wash my body like that.”
“Oh,” I said, shrugging off her comment, “I am sure to go to my Maker long before you. You are made of flint.”
But she would not be put off. “Promise me,” she said.
And by her mother’s eyes, which I then closed, I promised her. Soon I will fulfill that promise. But first let me tell you of those early days. Otherwise, as Abigail might say, a perfectly good story will go to waste.
Read Chapter Two
May 18, 1775. It was a bright May morning in the North Parish. I had been fighting tears since waking with the dawn. I milked and fed our cows, then fed my husband, Jeb, to whom I had been married but eight months. Then I prepared his sack, and Thaxter brought Star, our horse, around to the front of the house. He was busy gathering his things and so did not notice, as a young man set upon battle will not, that I could not look at him for fear of breaking down.
He was heading to Cambridge, where he would join Colonel Prescott’s regiment. The bloody events of Cambridge and Lexington were fresh in our minds, but we didn’t speak of them. I kept my face turned to my tasks: filling his flask with cider, cutting a goodly morsel of dried beef, measuring out the preserves.
“Lizzie, have you seen my cap?” he called from our pokey little chamber upstairs.
I espied the cap upon the kitchen chair before me, but said nothing right away. The sooner he was ready, the sooner he would leave me with only the roaring sea for my companion.
We had come to housekeeping on this parcel of land given to Jeb by Josiah Quincy in September of 1774. Jeb’s mother was a cousin of Colonel Quincy; he had given us the farm as a wedding gift. Josiah Quincy was also Abigail Adams’s uncle. And so, in a sense, I was related to that illustrious lady.
We arrived to discover the splendor of our situation: our parcel had been carved out of a three-hundred-acre estate called Mount Wollaston, upon which Colonel Quincy had newly built a large home. This beautiful, rolling land stretched all the way from the road to the sea. Our parcel, closer to the shore than the Colonel’s house and slightly to the east of it, contained wooded acres, hay fields, and pasture. We had to clear the land surrounding the cottage-garden plots. Close by our cottage stood several sheds and a barn, all in great need of repair. Winter in Braintree had made Jeb and me intimate by its very harshness. We had not enough wood despite Jeb’s efforts, and he was obliged to wade through shoulder-high drifts of snow up the hill to the colonel’s house. The old colonel had suggested Jeb take what he needed without coming inside to ask.
But Jeb did not like to make free use of others’ labor. Only in the direst circumstances did we ever impose upon that connection, although Ann, the colonel’s wife, often left parcels on our stoop, for which we felt gratitude and shame in equal measure.
And so, borrowing as little as we could, we slept by the fire in our kitchen. We had a window there, and, oh, what a view we had! How many hours did we spend lying together, looking out that window across the dunes and toward the sea? On days when the wind blew from the northeast, the pungent aroma of the colonel’s stables wafted over us. The stench always made us laugh.
In the parlor—a grand word for what it was—we had placed a settle by the fireplace. Its thick plank top folded down for ironing. We lit the fire in this room only for company. Parson Wibird stopped in every week after meeting to see how we were getting on, which was kind of him. We were still adjusting to our new church. The parson was a gentle but—Lord, forgive me!—somewhat ridiculous man. He had a stooped and wiry frame, and when he listened to us his toothless mouth hung open so long we thought he would drool. We often saw him riding bumpily down the lanes in his rusted curricle. Oh, he was a gentle, kindly soul, but in our youthful eyes that made him all the more laughable. He is gone to his Maker now.
I was happy to lie close to my Jeb in the darkness. From time to time, we heard the drunken groan or whistle of Thaxter, our field hand, making his way to the necessary behind the corn shed. Though we would have been sleeping one moment earlier, upon hearing Mr. Thaxter smack blindly into the necessary, missing the step and cursing, Jeb and I would burst out laughing.
Thaxter, a man of perhaps thirty-five who looked ancient to us, was an odd fellow content to spend his days alone, especially if he had a good bottle of rum and a pouch of tobacco. He was willing enough to work if you asked—much like an old ox reluctant to take a step without a whip. On loan from the colonel, Thaxter was meant to be a temporary fixture in our young married lives. But, finding himself quite content in the little shed behind the necessary, he stayed for several years and soon blended into the landscape like the opossums and groundhogs that crept about by night.
Jeb touched my face by the firelight and teased me that I’d be quite fat by spring, so frequently did we obey the holy command to go forth and multiply. And all around us was silence, save for the crackling embers, the ocean’s roar, and the howling of the wind.
Now, as he readied to leave, I hoped and prayed I was with child. I was naive enough to believe that the Lord would not take a father from his unborn child. Jeb descended the stairs and espied his cap upon the chair. “Here it is.” He sighed with exasperation, then looked at me.
“Oh, Lizzie.” He smiled and came to embrace me, but I rejected his touch. I had no wish to fall apart then. I wished to give him all my strength. Feeling me reject him, he merely laughed and said, “Oh, you’ll miss me, all right. I know you better than you think.” With a tender smirk, he hoisted his musket and gear over his shoulder and strode out of doors, where Thaxter had readied our beautiful Star, a sprightly Narragansett pacer.
Jeb hoisted himself up, and I handed up his sack. I had filled it with everything I could: cheese, oatcakes, bilberry preserve, good dried meat, and a leg of chicken left over from the night before. Looking up at him, I had to shield my eyes from the sun.
“You are tan,” he remarked, looking down at my arms. “May you be a good little farmer while I’m gone. Watch Thaxter doesn’t drink all our rum.” He smiled. Everything he said to me in those days had an ironical tone, for we were both quite new at this farming business and still felt ourselves to be play-acting at it. Jeb and I had grown up in staunch British families surrounded by city comforts, right on Cambridge’s Tory Row.
He looked back at me thoughtfully and tenderly as he slowly turned Star toward the path to the road. “You’re a strong woman. Oh, how I love you, Lizzie Boylston!” And with that, he blew me a kiss. Star began to trot quickly down the path.
What? Was there to be no tender embrace? Did he think I was made of stone? Did he think I could bear it without at least a final kiss? Why should he think so? Because I hauled bushels of corn? Because I delivered healthy babes in the dead of night, with no help save from ignorant servant-girls? Because, bored and shut in as a girl, I had read my father’s library? Shakespeare, Dante, Ovid, St. Augustine—of what use were they to me now? I wanted to cry out that I was soft inside and could not bear it.
“But I’m not! Jeb, I’m not strong!” I cried after him.
Sensing my agony at last, Jeb slowed. He turned Star around, leapt off him, and came running into my arms. He kissed me then. I reached up and with my fingers touched his soft face, barely yet shaven, and his soft curls, which I had pulled back with a piece of my finest homespun linen.
“Oh, be careful, my love,” I said.
“I will,” he whispered. “Indeed, I have no wish to leave you.” He lingered about my neck, kissing it tenderly. I felt his fingers move toward my bosom.
I might be soft, but he could not afford to be. I pushed him away. “Up you go, soldier.”
He tore himself from me, mounted Star, and gave me a salute. “Yes, sir.” Then he nudged Star with his knees and disappeared up the coast road toward Boston.
When he was truly gone and I could no longer hear Star’s hooves upon the ground, I sat myself in the open doorway of the kitchen garden. The chickens, thinking I had something for them, came pecking at my feet. But I had nothing for them except tears.
Within moments, the enormity of my solitude wrapped itself around me, and I felt quite done in. I had no one in the world now. No one save his family, whom I ardently disliked. My own mother had died of the throat distemper in the terrible epidemic that hit Boston in 1769. And my father, who had been a judge in His Majesty’s court, had fled to England at the start of the Troubles. A man of great secret sympathy for the Cause, he had intended to return once the Rebels had been “put down,” but he caught pneumonia and died within a week of landing there. Finally, there was my brother, Harry, who had joined a privateer ship that fall, just after Jeb and I moved to Braintree. I knew not whether he lived. I missed them all unspeakably now and felt heartily sorry for myself.
To shake off my gloom, I stood and wandered about my too-silent house. I entered the dairy, a small room to the right of the kitchen, to gaze upon my medicines, which lined the wall shelves. “Witch’s potions,” Jeb called them. I ran my fingertips over the jars and vials of powder, potions, and poultices. Senna, manna, Glauber’s salt, snakeweed. Here’s rosemary. That’s for memory. Of what use were they to me now? None could bring back my Jeb.
He wrote me every day from Cambridge, and I wrote him back. I nearly borrowed a horse and rode out to him. But Jeb would not have liked that. Conditions, while they were to get much worse, were already bad. The water was putrid, and our soldiers, who were drinking cider all day, were dirty and unruly. Many were sick, he wrote. The canker rash was everywhere, and some also had the bloody flux. No, I could not ride to Cambridge. It would have pleased me to do so, but not him. I was just learning to be a woman—to give pleasure freely and to take it when offered in a loving way. But I was also learning to defer. My Jeb was no bully; he was the best of men. To defer was the lot of womankind.
Then, in the second week of June, I received a message that made me shiver: rumor had it that his regiment would soon be marching to Charlestown. The Regulars were poised to fire from Cop’s Hill, and they must be held back.
I can tell you no more at present. But know that you are dearer to me than anything in the world. I will write from our new camp.
I heard nothing further. I wrote once more, but I knew not whether my letter had reached him. All the while, I had hoped and prayed I was with child. Then I began to bleed, late and profusely, and suffered terrible cramps. I lay in bed feeling ill all that hot June day, and did not realize that I had fallen asleep until a loud noise woke me.
Read Chapter Three
June 17, 1775. At around four in the morning, our entire parish was awakened by what sounded like a terrible explosion north of town. I bolted up in the darkness. I felt the blood that had pooled between my legs during the night but could not stop to wash myself. I lifted my chin to force the tears back into my eyes. No time for tears. He has no heir, I thought. I changed my pad of cotton, wishing desperately to steady my shaking body by a cup of lady’s mantle tea, but was driven abroad by the thunderous noise.
It was a long mile’s walk to the base of Penn’s Hill from Mt. Wollaston, but that was where everyone was headed, as it afforded the best view of Boston. I recall figures passing me in the darkness—vague, shadowy figures, some still in bedclothes and others with torches. The tanner and Parson Wibird, Brackett the innkeeper, and the Cranches—and me, a young wife among many, though some had babes beneath their shawls. We all headed through town to climb the hill.
And, oh, how I prayed it was Boston under siege, not Cambridge or Charlestown. At last I found myself atop the hill where many others stood watching in awe and terror, whispering or quietly sobbing. I did neither that I recall; I merely stood there in the hellish torchlight, feeling the rumble and watching the flames shoot up higher and brighter. There was a rumble of fear upon that hill, too, mixed with that of the cannons. Occasionally, a cry pierced the darkness. Young children clung to their parents’ legs while the older ones ran about, excited by the commotion. I didn’t speak but only watched smoke form above Charlestown, gray against the black sky. Somehow, I knew Jeb was there.
As the sky lightened, I noticed a woman standing by my side with her arm around a small boy of about seven or eight. She, too, said nothing, spoke to no one, but merely watched in horror, clutching her child.
Someone with a torch passed by, and in that momentary flicker of light I saw that it was Abigail Adams, wife of our delegate John Adams, with her eldest boy, John Quincy. When our eyes met briefly, her face softened in recognition, but still I saw she could not quite place me.
“Jeb Boylston’s wife,” I offered. “Elizabeth. Lizzie.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “Of course. We met several months ago, I believe, at meeting. We are related. I’m Abigail, and this is Johnny.” Johnny looked up at me from under his mother’s arm. “Is Jeb not here?” She looked around.
“No, he is there—” I nodded in the direction of the smoke “—with Colonel Prescott.”
Suddenly, there was a terrible crack. It sounded close, like lightning hitting a tree. I could feel my knees buckle beneath me.
“Are you hurt?” Abigail fell at once to her knees, searching my person. “Where? Where is the wound?”
“No, no.” I shook my head, endeavored to stand. “I feel—I have this feeling…” I sobbed into my shawl, unable to voice what I felt. What I knew. I struggled up. “I must go,” I said.
“Go? Where do you plan to go at this hour?” she asked, thinking reason had left me, as indeed it had. All around was darkness, save for the hectic torches blurring swaths of firelight.
“I must go to him.”
“There?” She nodded toward the smoke over Charlestown. “You know that’s impossible.” She placed her arm around me. “Oh, dearest, I know what it is like to be separated from your beloved. But you must bear it. There is nothing else to be done. Tomorrow…” She sighed. “Tomorrow we’ll know more, perhaps.”
“But I will not bear it,” I rudely replied. “I must go, and go now. I will borrow a horse of Colonel Quincy.”
I moved away, certain she now thought me a most unpleasant woman. I began to walk down the hill toward home but soon felt a hand press against my forearm.
“If you really must go, then take John’s mare,” Abigail said. I shall never forget the way she said “must.” There was no irony in her tone but rather a kind of acknowledgment, even resignation, born of experience. “Tell Isaac to accompany you. It will be faster that way and far safer. Go to Cambridge. They will have news there, if anyone has.”
I hugged her to me, grateful to have made a friend in this darkest hour.
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US 4630054 A
Radar detection and signal processing circuits are provided where, following a front end having an RF and local oscillator mixer to an I.F., which is then further mixed against a signal from a swept frequency oscillator, in the presence of a microwave frequency signal, the output of a band pass filter goes to a detector for frequency modulated intermediate frequency signals, and that detector has at least a first output signal that is fed to two pairs of complementary paired comparators, the outputs of which are set to low and high threshold levels. The first pair of complementary comparators has a low threshold level output which is examined by a microprocessor for the incidence of detected low threshold signal in a number of spaced cells--as determined by a clock which divides the detector output into time cells of the sweep period of the swept oscillator. Signal processing is provided so that the incidence of signals in a pair of spaced cells over a given number of consecutive sweeps causes an alarm. Likewise, a high threshold output is examined so that the incidence of a detected high threshold signal in a pair of spaced cells over a different, lower number of consecutive sweeps, causes an alarm. The sensitivity of the circuit may adjust up or down according to the number of low threshold signals that are detected; or dynamically if too many low threshold signals are detected in a small group of time cells.
1. A radar detection and signal processing circuit having a microwave frequency receiving antenna and a local oscillator where signals from each are fed into a first mixer, and in the presence of a signal being received by said antenna an intermediate frequency signal is fed from said first mixer to a second mixer together with a signal from a swept frequency oscillator, where the output from said second mixer is fed to a band pass filter so that for each sweep of said swept frequency oscillator a pair of signals of substantially predetermined time spacing appears at the output of band pass filter, and further comprising:
a detector for frequency modulated intermediate frequency signals at the output of said band pass filter, said detector having at least a first output signal that is fed to two pairs of complimentary paired comparators, the outputs of which are set to low and high threshold levels;
where the first pair of complimentary comparators has a low threshold level output, and said output is examined by a microprocessor against a clock which divides each sweep period of said swept frequency oscillator into a plurality of time cells; there being storage means for storing low threshold detection incidence information, so that the incidence of detected low threshold signals at a level above said low threshold level in a pair of spaced time cells over a first given number of consecutive sweeps causes an alarm;
and the second pair of complimentary comparators has a high threshold level output, and said output is examined by said microprocessor against said clock and plurality of time cells; there being storage means for storing high threshold detection incidence information, so that the incidence of detected high threshold signals at a level above said high threshold level in a pair of spaced time cells over a second given number of consecutive sweeps causes an alarm;
and said first given number is greater than said second given number.
2. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, where said second given number is 2.
3. The radar detection circuit of claim 2, where said first given number is 6.
4. The radar detection circuit of claim 3, having alarm flag setting means so that after 3 successive sweeps have detected spaced low threshold signals in a pair of time cells, a potential alarm flag is set by said microprocesor, and having further means for setting an alarm after a further immediately successive 3 sweeps have detected spaced low threshold signals in a pair of time cells.
5. The radar detection circuit of claim 2, having alarm flag setting means so that after there is a first detected high threshold signal in each of a pair of time cells that are spaced apart within a predetermined limit, a potential alarm flag is set by said microprocessor, and having further means for setting an alarm if there is a further detected high threshold signal in each of said pair of spaced time cells in the next successive sweep.
6. The radar detection circuit of claim 5, where the stepped reference level output is stepped through from 16 to 32 levels.
7. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, having means for comparing and adjusting said low threshold level against a reference level so that, if there are more than a given range of detected low threshold signals in any one sweep, the low threshold level is adjusted upwards; and if there are fewer than a second range of detected low threshold signals in any one sweep, the low threshold level is adjusted downwards.
8. The radar detection circuit of claim 7, where the first range of detections per sweep is 6 to 8; and where the second range of detections per sweep is 3 or 4.
9. The radar detection circuit of claim 7, having means so that when said low threshold output is examined and there are more than a given number of low level detections in a given number of time cells in any one sweep, the low threshold level will be immediately adjusted upwards.
10. The radar detection circuit of claim 9, where the low threshold detection adjustment is made if there is more than one detection in a group of 10 time cells in any one sweep.
11. The radar detection circuit of claim 7, having low threshold override means such that if high threshold signals are detected in any one sweep, the low threshold signals in the next sweep are ignored as to alarm status initiation.
12. The radar detection circuit of claim 7, where said low threshold is adjusted upwards if more than one detection in any group of 10 time cells is noted, thereby so as to adjust the sensitivity of low threshold signal detection.
13. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, where the ratio of the high threshold level to the low threshold level is fixed.
14. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, having latch means on the low threshold output from the first pair of complementary comparators, which latch means holds the comparator output at its signal detected level for each time cell period; and means for resetting said latch for the next time cell, under the control of said clock.
15. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, having comparator means that are such that when there is an alarm, said second output signal from said detector is compared against a stepped reference level output from said microprocessor to determine the relative level of said second output signal; and further having signal level indicator means by which an appropriate signal level indication may be made by said circuit.
16. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, where the microwave frequency to be detected is 10.525 Ghz the first intermediate frequency from said first mixer is 1.033 GHz, and the centre frequency of said band pass filter is 10 MHz.
17. The radar detection circuit of claim 1, where the microwave frequency to be detected is 24.505 GHz, the first intermediate frequency from said first mixer is 1.033 GHz, and the centre frequency of said band pass filter is 10 MHz.
This invention relates to radar detection and signal processing circuits, and particularly circuits for the detection of microwave frequency signals such as those that are present in the K-band and X-band used by police or intrusion radar devices. The present invention provides signal processing circuits that are microprocessor controlled, whereby the sensitivity of the circuits to signals that are being continuously detected may be adjusted not only to avoid premature alarm conditions, but also to maintain the sensitivity so as to distinguish between noise and the signals to be detected.
Radar detectors have been known for some considerable time. Police radar devices that are used in the detection and measuring of the speed of moving vehicles, and also intrusion and zone security devices that are used in buildings, operate in two designated frequency bands. They are the X band, at 10.525 GHz, and the K band at 24.150 GHz. Presently, all radar operating devices intended for speed detection and building intrusion or zone security purposes operate at one or the other of those frequencies. Moreover, because of the increased use of building and zone security devices, and the tendency of police radar to be used in pulsed manner--that is, only infrequently and only when the operator believes he has a speeding vehicle within his range --it has become more necessary to provide radar detectors that not only detect a true signal and give an appropriate warning, it is also desirable that radar detectors should not give false signals.
One way of overcoming an excessive number of false signals is to decrease the sensitivity of a radar detector; but that creates the problem that an operating radar may not be detected until the vehicle carrying the detector is within the accurate measuring range of the radar device. Generally, radar devices such as police radar give off a field at their operating frequency that extends for a much greater range than the range at which they will give accurate and meaningful vehicle speed information; and it is those low level and long range signals that are required to be picked up. At the same time, it is desirable that the detector should not give off an alarm each time that a radar device in a building for intruder detection or zone security is detected, due to its radiated field.
Thus, it becomes desirable to provide a radar detector that will automatically adjust its sensitivity; and moreover it is desirable to provide a radar detector that will give an indication as to the signal strength of a signal that is causing an alarm. Still further, it is desirable that the radar detector should give an almost instantaneous alarm in the event of a high level signal that can be identified as being from such as a police radar unit, as opposed to a high level signal that might be detected as a moving vehicle drives past a building having a zone security radar system with high level radiation.
The prior art includes REID et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,550, issued June 5, 1979. That patent teaches a microwave detector that operates at both of the X-band and K-band frequencies, but is particularly directed to the mounting of the detection diodes with respect to the horn.
SCHWEITZER U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,393 issued Apr. 1, 1980 teaches a further X-band or K-band operating microwave signal detector, and that patent also is mroe related to the mounting of the detection devices, with little attention to signal handling.
Yet a further radar signal detector is taught in MOSHER U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,261, issued Feb. 9, 1982. Mosher mixes received radar signals with a swept frequency signal, that is then passed to a narrow band FM discriminator, but that is a frequency compression discriminator.
In contradistinction to the prior art, the present invention is particularly directed to the provision of signal processing circuits, by which false alarm conditions may be substantially avoided.
Indeed, the actual detection and front end of a radar detection device is beyond the scope of the present invention, but specific examples are given by way of illustration. A novel horn construction which is particularly adapted for use with radar detection and signal processing circuits according to the present invention is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,593 issued Feb. 18, 1986, in the name of the present inventor and assigned to a common Assignee, and filed of even date herewith.
It can be assumed, for example, that circuits according to the present invention are particularly adapted to operate at 10.525 GHz (the X-band) or 24.150 GHz (the K-band); and that signals at either of those frequencies will be mixed with a local oscillator signal. In any event, by properly mixing an RF signal at either frequency with a local oscillator signal or a harmonic thereof, an intermediate frequency of 1.033 GHz may be obtained. How that intermediate frequency signal--which only exists in the presence of a detected radar or microwave signal at either of the X-band or K-band frequencies--is processed, and how that signal may be measured as to its strength, and how the sensitivity of processing may be adjusted according to background noise conditions, are features of the present invention that are described in greater detail hereafter.
What the present invention provides is a radar detection and signal processing circuit where, once an intermediate frequency signal from a first mixer is obtained, it is fed to a second mixer together with a signal with a swept frequency oscillator, with the output from that second mixer being fed to a band pass filter. Thus, in the presence of a microwave frequency signal that has been converted to the first intermediate frequency, there is a pair of signals that are spaced from the band pass filter centre frequency. Both signals have a relatively narrow (400 KHz) band width; and each is a burst of signals in a substantially sinusoidal envelope. The first occurs when the output from the varactor tuned oscillator 24 is higher than the IF signal by an amount equal to the band pass filter centre frequency (10 MHz), and the second occurs when the output from the varactor tuned oscillator is lower than the IF signal frequency by the same amount. Those signals may then be processed as to their incidence at either low or high thresholds, on successive sweeps, and as to the incidence of signals above the low threshold level that may be distinguished from noise; whereby alarm signals may be given substantially only in the presence of a detected radar signal from such as a police radar, in the X-band or K-band frequencies (or such other frequency as may be assigned in the future, and for which appropriate detection and mixing circuitry may then be readily devised). [Of course, in this invention, as briefly discussed above and described in detail hereafter, it will be appreciated that reference to the second miser being fed by a signal from a swept frequency oscillator could also be with respect to the first mixer; that is, the first mixer could be fed with a signal from a swept frequency oscillator while the second mixer is fed with a signal from a fixed frequency low oscillator, together with the data signal being processed.
The specific objects and features of the present invention are described in greater detail hereafter, in association with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a block schematic showing, in two sections, and to a greater degree of specificity in some areas than others, the general circuit according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sketkch showing a typical output from a ramp generator superimposed on a clock;
FIG. 3 is a sketch of a typical or representative wave form of the sort to be detected by the low and high threshold circuitry;
FIG. 4 is a table showing the bit settings in a number of time cells on successive sweeps, during low level alarm detection; and
FIG. 5 is a sketch of a signal excursion that may occur in high level detection circumstances.
As noted, the present invention provides a radar detection and signal processing circuit, which is generally indicated at 10 and is shown schematically and in block form in FIG. 1. Because the present invention is particularly directed to radar detectors that are intended for use to detect the presence of microwave energy at the X-band or K-band frequencies --as used by police radar devices, for example--the antenna 12 that is shown in FIG. 1 is shown as being a dual-frequency antenna for those two microwave bands. Of course, the features of the present invention may be adapted and used in respect of other microwave energy detection and signal processing purposes, such as proximity devices or other military or national security purposes.
In any event, the circuit of FIG. 1 includes a local oscillator 14 and a first mixer 16, which has an output in the event of the presence of X-band or K-band signals at the antenna 12. The output from the mixer 16 is fed to an I.F. circuit 18 which may include an amplifier 20 and which also includes a second mixer 22.
At this point, it may be noted that the antenna 12 may be a horn as taught in the co-pending application referred to above, it may be a conventional horn, or it may be a microstrip antenna; providing only that, in the presence of X-band or K-band microwave signals from radar units, there is an output signal from the antenna 12 which may be fed to the mixer 16. That output would be at 10.525 GHz for the X-band, or 24.150 GHz for the K-band.
The output from the local oscillator 14 is usually at one of two frequencies. Normally, it may be at 11.558 GHz; so that the primary local oscillator output or its second harmonic, when mixed with an X-band or K-band signal, respectively, will in any event result in an I.F. frequency output from the mixer at 1.033 GHz. The local oscillator 14 may also have an output frequency of 5.779 GHz; in which case there is a subharmonic pump mixer technology used with the mixer 16, where the X-band signal is mixed with the second harmonic of the local oscillator frequency, and the K-band signal is mixed with the fourth harmonic of the local oscillator frequency.
It should also be noted that the local oscillator is most usually a Gunn or transistor oscillator, and that the mixer would normally comprise one or a pair of diodes--usually Schottky diodes.
Given that there is an X-band or K-band signal detected by antenna 12, an I.F. signal is fed to the second mixer 22. That mixer also receives a signal from a varactor tuned oscillator, or other swept frequency oscillator, indicated at 24 in FIG. 1; and conveniently, the output of the varactor tuned oscillator is a signal which varies in frequency from 1133 MHz (1.133 GHz) to 933 MHz (0.933 GHz) as indicated by the representative trace shown at 27 in FIG. 1. The varactor tuned oscillator 24 may be driven from a ramp generator 26, which has an output such as is shown at 28.
The output of the second mixer 22 is fed to a 10 MHz band pass filter 30, whose output may have the appearance as shown at 32 in FIG. 1. That signal is, in turn, fed to a detector for frequency modulated intermediate frequency signals, shown at 34; and the detector has two outputs that are shown at "1" and "2" which are connected to similarly numbered points in the lower portion of FIG. 1 as it is presented.
In the lower portion of FIG. 1, a power supply 36 is shown, which may have one or more voltage outputs at appropriate voltages for use by the various components that comprise the overall radar detection and signal processing circuit. Connected to the power supply 36, or as a reference terminal from the power supply, there is a reference voltage terminal 38 which, in turn, is connected through a diode 40 to a microprocessor 42. Suitable switch arrangements are made for power-up, and for power-reset of the microprocessor 42 through the diode 40.
There is also connected to the microprocessor 42 a digital to analog converter 44, which may in fact be connected through 4 or 5 lines--usually 5--and which is an "R-2R matter". If the converter 44 is connected to the microprocessor through 5 lines, it then becomes a 5 bit, 32 level converter that has an output somewhat as shown at 46.
The first output from the detector 34, at "1", is fed to a first pair of complementary comparators 48, and also to a second pair of complementary comparators 50. The output of the first complementary comparators 48 is tied together at 52, and is the low threshold level output as discussed hereafter. Similarly, the output of the second pair of complementary comparators 50 is tied together at 54, and is the high threshold level output as discussed hereafter. Each of the low threshold level and the high threshold level outputs are fed to the microprocessor 42.
As described in greater detail hereafter, the second output from the detector 34, at "2" is an output signal that is proportional to the signal strength received at the antenna 12. It is fed, through a buffer amplifier 56, to a comparator 58, whose other input is the output of the R-2R Ladder 44 through a buffer amplifier 60; and the output of the comparator 58 is also fed to the microprocessor 42, as described hereafter.
The other circuit components that are shown in FIG. 1 include a latch reset line 62, which is connected to one side of a comparator 64 which forms a latch to store detection in each time cell, as discussed hereafter. The other side of the comparator 64 is connected to a bias voltage, and the output of the comparator 64 is connected to the low threshold level output of the complementary paired comparators 48, at 52.
The description of the signal handling up to at least the output from the band pass filter 30 is relevant not only to the present invention but is descriptive of fairly conventional dual wave band microwave detection and I.F. generation techniques. What follows, however, is a description of the signal handling components of FIG. 1, with some reference to the differences between signal handling according to the present invention and prior radar detectors. As mentioned, FIG. 1 is a block schematic, with certain areas in greater detail than others, for purposes of the following discussion; which is also made in association with FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Because the detector 34 has an output at "2" that has a voltage which is proportional to the signal strength of the signal received at the antenna 12, to the limit of the voltage output from the detector 34, and because there is noise at the output of the detector 34 at "1" and "2" together with a pair of signals (one positive going and one negative going) when there is a signal detected by the antenna 12, the normal approach would be to set a threshold below which most of the noise resides and to simply look for signals that go through that threshold; and to create an alarm condition when signals are detected that go through the threshold. That is the usual operation of prior art devices, where the threshold, and thus the sensitivity, may be manually adjusted by the operation of a suitable variable resistor or otherwise. In the prior art devices, if the threshold is set too low, then any excessive noise would cause an alarm condition; and if the threshold is set too high, then a genuine alarm may go unnoticed because the signals that indicate the alarm condition fail to exceed the threshold level.
A typical output from the detector 34 is shown at 66; and it comprises noise as at 68, and a pair of signals (first positive going and the second negative going) at 70 and 72. It is the signals 70 and 72 that are being "looked for" for the circuits of the present invention, and it is the presence of those signals and--in some respects--their spaced time relationships to each other that determine the various reactions that the circuits of the present invention may have.
First, according to the present invention, there are two thresholds that are set--in a manner discussed hereafter--and they are both positive and negative levels. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, where a typical noisy signal is shown that has excursions going through the high threshold levels, there is a pair of low threshold levels 74 and 76, and a pair of high threshold levels 78 and 80. The signal shown in FIG. 3 has noise 82, and a pair of signals 84 and 86 that indicate the presence of a high level microwave frequency signal at the receiving antenna 12.
While it is not necessary, it has been found convenient that the high and low threshold levels have a fixed ratio to each other. That is, as the low level threshold increases, so does the high level threshold in a proportionate amount so as to keep the ratio constant, and vice versa if the low threshold decreases. Conveniently, the ratio may be approximately 3:1, but of course it may be more or less.
It is also convenient to note that each of the pairs of complementary comparators 48 and 50 are such that they are held high, and that they go to a low output (being binary in their output) when they have a signal that is detected at any instant in time.
First, when any microwave signal is being detected, it is the number of low level detections per sweep of the varactor tuned oscillator 24 as controlled by the ramp generator 26 that is first looked at by the microprocessor, so as to adjust the sensitivity of detection. For example, it is accepted that there will always be noise, and because of the unique signal handling that is described hereafter, it is possible to distinguish the noise from genuine signals at low level. (High level signals are handled differently, also as described hereafter, and cause an almost immediate alarm as opposed to a somewhat longer process of reviewing detected signals to determine the existence of alarm signals from noise.)
As noted in FIG. 2, which essentially replicates the traces as shown at 27 and 28 in FIG. 1, the sweep period from the ramp generator is 25 mSec, comprised of 22.5 m Sec of sweep time followed by a 2.5 mSec reset period. The sweep time trace is indicated at 88 in FIG. 2, and the reset time trace is indicated at 90. Also, there is shown in FIG. 2 a number of divisions 92 on the sweep time 88; and each of those divisions 92 is a time cell. In the operating embodiment of the present invention, the sweep time 88 is divided into 100 time cells 92, the time cells being determined by and referenced against a clock that is running in the microprocessor 42.
If the microprocessor noted more than approximately 6 to 8 instances of low level detection per sweep--the actual detection and tracking of those detections are discussed hereafter--, then the threshold level is adjusted by adjusting the count to the R-2R Ladder 44 and therefore the output from the buffer amplifier 60; and obviously the output level from the amplifier 60 can go up or down so that the microprocessor 42 "knows" that approximately 6 to 8 low threshold level detections per sweep are noted. Moreover, the sweep time 88 is also divided into 10 groups of 10 cells 92; and if the microprocessor 42 notes more than one low threshold level detection per group of 10 cells 92, it will increment at the output 46 from the R-2R Ladder 44 to increase the level from the output of the amplifier 60, thereby to increase the low threshold level.
Thus, if more than 6 to 8 detections per sweep are noted, then the initial low threshold level is too low, and it is increased simply by increasing the output from the R-2R Ladder 44 and therefore the output from the buffer amplifier 60. Conversely, if fewer than 3 or 4 detections per sweep are noted, then the microprocessor 42 will decrement the output from the R-2R Ladder 44 to decrease the output level, and thereby to lower the initial low level threshold. Thus, the sensitivity is adjusted; and it should be noted that such adjustments of the initial low level threshold are relatively long term matters--that is, although a reference may be made at the end of each sweep (or even after every 5 or 10 sweeps), it is not common that there is a continuously varying adjustment of the initial low threshold level by adjustment of the output from the R-2R Ladder 44.
However, it should also be noted that if the microprocessor notes more than one low level detection or penetration in any group of ten time cells--the sweep 88 being divided into ten groups of ten cells each--the output of the R-2R Ladder 44 will be incremented so as to increase the low threshold level. This gives dynamic low threshold adjustment, and it is possible that one or more dynamic adjustments may be made in any single sweep. It should also be noted, of course, that any single adjustment to the low threshold level ils made by incrementing or decrementing the output of the R-2R Ladder 44 by a single count or step at any one time (1 of 32, or 1 of 16).
The signal processing, according to the present invention, is set up so that the first pair of complementary comparators 48 which has the low threshold level output is examined by the microprocessor 42, against the plurality of time cells 92 as they are indicated in FIG. 2. In general, it can be said that an alarm condition will occur when there is an incidence of detected low threshold signals at a level above the low threshold level 74 or 76 as shown in FIG. 3, in a pair of spaced cells 92 over a given number of consecutive sweeps of the ramp generator 26 or the varactor tuned oscillator 24 under its control. It is accepted that, as noted above, on any sweep the microprocessor expects to look at approximately 6 to 8 excursions of signal from the low threshold comparators 48 past the low threshold level 74 or 76. (As previously stated, and except as discussed hereafter with respect to alarm conditions, if there are fewer than 3 or 4 detected low threshold signals, the sensitivity of the circuits is too low; and if there are any more than 6 to 8 detections, the sensitivity is too high.) However, because the sweep period 88 is divided into 100 cells 92, it is possible to examine the incidence of a low threshold signal in any one of those 100 cells for each sweep 88. As a convenient and satistically probably determination, the microprocessor 42 is set so that if it sees detections in a pair of spaced cells--which cells are normally 7 to 13 cells apart as discussed hereafter--for each set of 2 consecutive sets of 3 consecutive sweeps, then an alarm status is determined to exist. This is because the statistical chances of the same noise occurring in a pair of spaced cells for 6 successive sweeps is so very small that it can be realistically disregarded. The spacing of 7 to 13 cells is such that the cells are approximately 2.2 mSec apart, and that is the approximate distance of the pair of signals 70 and 72 from trace 66 in FIG. 1, or 84 and 86 from the trace in FIG. 3, that indicate the existence of an X-band or K-band being received by the antenna 12.
Assuming that several bytes of memory exist to store detection memory, it is convenient to assign four cells per byte; that is, it is convenient to assign 2 bits per cell with a possible count of a binary 3 (11) in each cell. The rule is then made that, on each successive sweep, each cell that has a detection in it is incremented by a binary 1 (01), and each cell that has no detection goes to binary 0 (00), after each sweep.
Referring now to FIG. 4, a table is shown for a number of cells that are some of the 100 cells that are spaced along each sweep 88 as it occurs; except that each cell is designated because it is the same cells that are going to be looked at. Thus, cells X, X+1, X+2, X+3, 2X, and 2X+1, are shown as being exemplary; and, it is noted that cells X and 2X are 10 cells apart in this case. They may, of course, be 7 to 13 cells apart as noted above.
On sweep 1--the first sweep when signals from antenna 12 are noted but are of low threshold level, comparators 48 will have noted a detection only on cells X and 2X. Each of those cells is therefore shown to have a binary 1 (01) in it, and all of the other cells are shown to have a detection.
On the next sweep, sweep 2, a signal continues to appear in each of cells X and 2X, and each of them is incremented by a binary 1 (01) to become a binary 2 (10). It will also be noted that further signals are detected in cells X+3 and 2X+1.
However, on sweep 3, each of cells X and 2X continues to have a signal, and each is again incremented by a binary 1 (01) to become a binary 3 (11). In this instance, it is noted that cell X+2 is the only other cell that has a detected signal, and the others cells have reverted to 0.
Now, after the third sweep, it is noted that cells X and 2X are full (having only two bit positions) and that each has a binary 3 in them. At this point, the microprocessor 42 sets a potential alarm flag, and resets all of the cells to 0. PG,17
Now, continuing through sweeps 4, 5, and 6, it is noted that again there is a detected signal--an incidence--in each sweep in each of cells X and 2X, and that each of those cells has consistently been incremented by binary 1 (01) so that at the end of sweep 6, each of cells X and 2X is set at a binary 3 (11). The microprocessor then creates an alarm status, because each of cells X and 2X has had a signal detected in them for 6 consecutive sweeps, and none of the other cells have. Since the statistical likelihood of noise occurring in such a manner as to create a patterned incidence of detections in two cells that are spaced 10 cells apart is so low that it can be disregarded, an alarm status can be said to have occurred. Of course, the alarm status signaling is carried out because the microprocessor will try to set a flag after sweep 6 because it has two binary 3s in the two spaced cells apart, but since a flag is already set, the microprocessor will instead initiate its alarm indication sequence. It should also be noted that the period for the 6 consecutive sweeps to have occurred with a signal in two spaced cells, is 150 mSec.
It is not necessary that the second set of detections should have occurred in exactly the same cells as the first set of detections, but in view of the very short period of time that has occurred, it is probable that it will be the same cells that have had the detections noted in them. In any event, as stated, it is necessary that there should be six consecutive sweeps--that is, two consecutive sets of three consecutive sweeps--in which there should be pairs of cells that are spaced 7 to 13 cells apart and that have detections on each sweep. The first set of three consecutive sweeps will have set the potential alarm flag, and the next succeeding set of three consecutive sweeps causes the alarm status to be initiated.
The latch reset line 62 from the microprocessor is connected to one input of comparator latch 64, which acts as a latch to hold data in each cell until read by the microprocessor 42. That is, the output from the complementary paired comparators 48 is held down, in each instance when there is a signal detected in that cell, and it is then reset at the end of the cell period to be ready for analysis of the next cell.
Sometimes, an instance will occur when a strong signal is detected, where the first time the signal is detected it is strong enough to exceed either the positive or negative high threshold levels 78 or 80. This occurs, for example, with pulsed radar where the radar is operated only in bursts, having a minimum pulse width of about 50 m Sec, but having a burst only once every 1 to 1.5 seconds. It will be noted that, with pulsed radar, having a pulse width of only 50 m Sec. that pulse width is only one third of the period of 150 m Sec. required for low level threshold detection, as discussed immediately above.
Whereas, with low threshold detection, there is a requirement that there should be a signal in a pair of spaced cells for two consecutive sets of three consecutive sweeps--usually the same pair of spaced cells, but not necessarily so--high threshold detection requires only that there should be signal detection in the same cells for two consecutive sweeps, coupled with the pressure of a signal above the high threshold level.
At the end of each sweep, the microprocessor 42 will look for two penetrations of the high threshold level that are, say, anywhere from 7 to 13 cells apart. (Of course, it will also have noted a signal in those cells and/or adjacent cells at the low threshold level.) In any event, if two penetrations are noted that are 7 to 13 cells apart, the microprocessor sets the low flag--as if the two cells each had a binary 3 (11) in them, plus it sets another flag but it does not reset the cells to 0. On the next sweep, the microprocessor will ignore everything that has been detected by the complementary low threshold comparators 48, but it will continue to track the presence or absence of signals in each cell in the event that the detected high level signals are false--the reason for at least two successive sweeps. On the second sweep, where the high level threshold penetrations have been noted in the same cells that are 7 to 13 cells apart, the microprocessor will add a binary 2 (10) to each of the cells where the detection has occurred. Because there should already be a binary 1 (01) in those cells due to the fact that there had also to be a low threshold penetration by the signals, there would now be a binary 3 (11) in those two cells. In this case, where the cells are 7 to 13 cells apart, and they now each have a binary 3 in them, and because the low flag has already been set, an alarm status is declared and the alarm indication sequence is initiated by the microprocessor.
For convenience, the high threshold signal output from the complementary comparators 50 at 54 is fed to the microprocessor 42 on the interrupt line of the microprocessor, so that there is no need to latch and hold those cells for examination at the end of the cell period.
FIG. 5 shows a typical penetration on a second sweep by a signal 94 past the positive high threshold level 78, and of course pass the positive low threshold 74. It is noted on the table shown on FIG. 5 that, on the first sweep, each of cells 96 would have a binary 1 (01) set in them because of the excursion of the signal past the low threshold level 74. Thus, the excursion of the signal again past the high threshold level 78 will, because of the flag that has been previously set, add a binary 2 (10) to each cell 96 so that each cell will then have a binary 3 (11) in it. It will also be noted that cell 98 has had signal 99, as has cell 97; but it will be taken that cells 98 and 96 are 7 to 13 cells apart and have had detections in them together with a high level penetration, as discussed above.
In the event of an alarm status being initiated, either as a consequence of low threshold detection or high threshold detection, the circuits of the present invention will output signals such as an audible alarm--a chirp, tweet or buzz--from the audible alarm output device 100; or a visual alarm such as a flashing or illuminated lamp or LED, from the visual alarm device 102. The audible alarm device 100, and possibly also the visual alarm device 102 but more usually a signal level indicator 104, are used for signal level indication as discussed immediately hereafter.
It is sometimes desired that there should be an indication of the signal level that is being received by the antenna 12. This is particularly required in the event of a fast moving automobile, or particularly in the event of closing automobiles where the detector is in one vehicle going in a first direction and a radar unit is in another vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Visual and audible signals may be given as to signal strength; and conveniently, while a meter may be used, it is more easily noted when the signal level indicator 104 has a plurality of three or five, or more, LEDs, that are such that as the signal level increases 1 then 2 and then more of the LEDs are illuminated. Indeed, it can be arranged that when all of the LEDs are illuminated, and the signal strength continues to increase, they will then begin to flash.
In any event, for any signal level indication to meaningfully occur, and for the sequence to be initiated, it is necessary to note that the output at "2" from the detector 34 is such that the voltage level varies with the signal level strength of the signal received by the antenna 12 (at least to the limit of the voltage output from the detector 34).
It will be recalled that, for each sweep, there is a reset interval 90, of 2.5 m Sec. During the reset interval, if an alarm status has been set, due to either a high threshold level signal or a low threshold level signal, the level of the signal strength can be determined. In any event, when the alarm status has been set, the R-2R Ladder 44 is used as one of the inputs to a comparator 58, with the other input being the input from "2" through a suitable amplifier 56. The output of the comparator 58 is fed to the microprocessor, which steps the R-2R Ladder 44 up or down as necessary, until a match is read (the comparator output changes state). As previously stated, the R-2R Ladder may be a 4 bit 16 level ladder; but more conveniently and for better accuracy, it is a 5 bit, 32 level ladder. The level of the ladder 44 when a match occurs at comparator 58 is then read, and an alarm rate may be adjusted accordingly.
During the time that an alarm status is in effect, the output from the R-2R Ladder 44 is being used for determining the signal level. This is done during the reset interval, when the outputs from the complementary paired comparators 48 are not being read by the microprocessor 42. Thus, the microprocessor is able to ready the bit level information as to the output of the R-2R Ladder 44, and to use that information to set the alarm pulse rate. Thus, one or more of the LEDs in the signal level indicator 104--if present--wil be illuminated, or they may all be caused to flash simultaneously; and an audible alarm which may be a series of sounds, may be initiated. The microprocessor 42 may also set itself to adjust the number of sweeps between alarms, according to the signal strength, in such a manner that the number of sweeps between alarms is inversely proportional to the signal strength.
It is also possible that the sensitivity of the circuits may be reduced by way of the manual operation of a switch, so that while the circuit will continue to detect signals as discussed above, it may be set into a mode such that no alarm status will occur until the output of the detector 34 at "2" reaches a predetermined level.
There may also be a switch selectable delay that is built into the circuit 10 according to the present invention, so as to distinguish between high radiation level intrusion alarms and a radar unit to be detected. However, since a moving vehicle that drives past an intrusion alarm would have a gradual build up of signal, the sudden appearance of a very fast signal will override the delay so as to give an alarm situation. Otherwise, the delay may be as much as 5 or 6 seconds. That time delay can normally be afforded because it is expected that any driver who uses a radar detector does so to avoid revenue-located speed radar traps that are operated by many municipalities or other government agencies, or he does so to avoid an unnecessary speeding ticket that might have occurred due to a lapse of his own concentration on the legal speed limit. Nonetheless, the radar detector has sufficient sensitivity that a gradually building signal, at resonable vehicle speeds, will permit the passage of time of 5 or 6 seconds before it is necessary to give an alarm, due to the sensitivity of the radar detector and therefore its ability to receive signals at a range far beyond the measuring range of the radar unit. As noted, this also avoids spurious or premature signals due to the momentary presence in the vicinity of a moving vehicle that has a radar detector, or intrusion alarms, or sometimes even of other low cost radar detectors that tend to transmit signals at microwave frequencies away from the mouth of their own detection horn. This latter problem is largely overcome due to the requirement for 2 consecutive sweeps of high level detection.
An alarm sequence for both low threshold level penetrations and high threshold level penetrations has been described, whereby noise may be discriminated so as to avoid unnecessary alarms, but whereby either a gradually increasing signal or a suddenly noted high level signal will cause an alarm that is meaningful. Circuits have been described that permit the continual adjustment of sensitivity of the radar detection device, so that in circumstances of extreme microwave noise, the sensitivity can be reduced with still the very high probability of alamr indication as soon as possible in the event of a microwave signal at either of the X-band or K-band frequencies being detected over a sufficient number of consecutive sweeps that the possibility of noise or a spurious signal can be eliminated.
The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
Citations de brevets
Citations hors brevets
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In the mid-1980s, I saw the movie Testament, starring Jane Alexander and William Devane. The story is set in a fictitious town of Hamlin (near San Francisco), and tells the story of an average American family in a Norman Rockwell town. One moment, the kids are watching an afternoon show, waiting for Dad to get home so they can eat dinner. In the next moment, Mom and the kids see an emergency message pop up on the TV, warning of incoming ICBMs and a nuclear attack. There’s a flash of blinding light, and then the electricity and phone go dead.
“Testament” is a remarkable movie because there are no fireballs and no mushroom clouds in Hamlin. Neither people nor houses are damaged by the blast. Terrified neighbors pour out of their stately homes and into the street, trying to figure out what has just happened. The people of Hamlin are cut off from the world, knowing nothing, except that a nuclear device has exploded - somewhere far away.
Before the sun sets on that first awful, post-nuclear day, the real hero of the story emerges. It’s the old man down the street, Henry Abhart, who has both a Ham radio and a small generator. In the gloaming, neighbors in the upper-middle class burg gather at his house. As they walk up the steps to his magnificent bungalow, we hear Henry in the background.
After a little more time at his Ham radio, Henry reports back to his anxious neighbors now cloistered in his living room.
Looking pensive, he reports, “Well, folks, so far I can’t raise Seattle, Portland, Sacramento or Southern California. San Francisco is silent. The entire Bay Area. North of us, now, they’re okay.”
“What about Chicago?” someone asks.
With great solemnity in his voice he replies, “So far, I can’t raise anything east of Keokuk, lowa.”
After a few more comments he adds, “We may be crippled, but we’re not cut off and we’re not dead.”
I’ve always remembered that scene. Thanks to an old man ensconced in a homemade Ham Shack in the corner of a California bungalow, people are not cut off from the rest of the world. It’s a powerful image.
The take-away message I gleaned from this powerful scene is this: Ham Radio Operators are the helpers. They’re the ones that have both the skills and the tools to keep us going when all the more modern and more complex (and more delicate) systems have failed. I believe that - in my lifetime - our country won’t suffer a nuclear event, but we may face natural disasters and severe storms and other communications-interrupting events. And when we do, the ability to communicate (which has the same root as the word “community”) will be an urgent need.
It feels good to accomplish a long-cherished dream. It feels wonderful to learn a new skill. I look forward to learning how to “play” with a new-fangled, 21st Century Ham Radio. But it also feels mighty good to know that if there ever were an urgent need in my neck of the woods, I’m equipped and empowered to be “one of the helpers.”
To learn more about Ham Radio, click here.
To learn about Sears Homes, click here.
* * *
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Failure by the crew to abort an approach in poor weather led to the crash of a Russian-operated Antonov An-24 near Igarka two months ago, an investigation committee has concluded.
The crew allowed the An-24, operated by Katekavia, to descend below the minimum safe altitude of 100m (330ft) despite the absence of reliable visual contact with the approach lights of the runway.
It had been attempting an NDB approach in darkness, following a flight from Krasnoyarsk, when the twin-engined aircraft started deviating to the right of the glidepath to Igarka's runway 12.
The An-24 was banking about 10-15° to the right when it collided with trees, at a height of some 6m, about 480m from the threshold of the runway and over 230m to the right of the centreline.
Twelve of the 15 occupants - including all 11 passengers and a flight attendant - were killed in the impact and the subsequent fire.
Investigation of the accident has been hampered by incomplete flight-recorder data. The cockpit-voice recorder stopped operating around an hour into the flight.
But Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK), in its final inquiry report into the 3 August crash, states that the flight did not receive reliable support from meteorological services.
© Interstate Aviation Committee
It says that the automated measurements of the weather conditions, notably the height of the cloud base, "contradicted" the observations of two other An-24 crews, ground personnel, and rescuers at the crash site.
MAK refers to the fatal loss of a UTAir Tupolev Tu-134 on approach to Samara in March 2007 and says that the timely implementation of recommendations to improve meteorological support could have prevented the An-24 crash.
Pilots of another Katekavia An-24, which attempted the approach 10min after the ill-fated flight, opted to execute a low-level go-around and divert to an alternate airport. MAK states that this crew similarly "violated the requirement" to abort the approach earlier in the descent.
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| 0.947037
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- n. slang, wrestling A fall, indicating defeat.
- n. slang, rare A weapon planted at a crime scene in order to mislead investigation, especially in situations where deadly force would only have been justified if the victim were armed. Also an untraceable weapon kept in readiness for such use.
- n. slang, basketball A slam dunk
- n. slang A fight or brawl; or, a challenge or incitement to fight.
- n. slang, Hip-hop A performance by a rapper or DJ, intended to be particularly hardcore or intense.
- n. slang, hardcore punk music A type of hardcore dance in which a person violently clears a space for himself and appears to be ready to fight those around him, while making violent and erratic movements with his body.
- Noun form of verb throw down ("to fight, incite to fight, make a stand"), from earlier idiom throw down the gauntlet ("issue a challenge"). (Wiktionary)
“Marty Seifert - Tom Emmer throwdown, which is expected to get supremely nasty on the floor.”
“But that doesn't mean cats weren't rude; after all - the throwdown was a ripe opportunity for ambitious healthcare gadflies to influence peers and snatch national spotlights.”
“More of the BSG cast has stepped up to encourage fandom to win this multi-fandom "throwdown" while also sending a truckload of pencils to Big Media to show them what we think of their behavior during this strike.”
“They asked to search my car and found the 'throwdown' gun planted in my car.”
“Telecast's HD-POV - Viper II modular series of systems available for a rack or "throwdown”
“He enters the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, an Italian souk of a place just off 187th, and glides past the hand-rolled cigars at La Casa Grande Tobacco, past Boiano's Food to Mike's Deli, famous for its "throwdown" eggplant parmigiana.”
“Even if you've had to opportunity to try their signature Moules Fromage Bleu - a steaming pot of PEI mussels, bacon, shallots, spinach, and blue cheese with frites - watch as Food Network poster-boy Bobby Flay attempts to "throwdown" and pit his coconut milk, roasted green chilies and butter mussels, and roasted poblano fries against Chef Teddy Folkman's classic dish.”
“How about inviting the Food Network's Bobby Flay into town for a "throwdown" challenge with local chefs?”
“In this case, the police officer involved made the mistake of using a "throwdown" that wasn't anonymous.”
“It's a safer claim, and it's every bit as effective as the use of a "throwdown".”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘throwdown’.
these were collected recently
mostly from Chambers and some
from Collins dictionaries.
words for fighting
( open list, randomness )
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
Looking for tweets for throwdown.
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<urn:uuid:ec6a7210-3936-4de6-9f74-1ed20e807177>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.wordnik.com/words/throwdown
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| 0.940934
| 685
| 1.5625
| 2
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- Posted May 22, 2009 by
New York City, New York
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Your Statue of Liberty shots
Statue Of Liberty 1964
This is a photo I have of the Statue of Liberty taken in April of 1964. I was Ten years old and was in New York City with my basketball team. We were there to play a New York team. I forget who they were, it was quite a while ago. But if I can remember right, we got smoked. But back at home in our youth commission league we were Champs. That's another reason my coach took us there. Plus the World's Fair was there. We had a great time and visited all the New York City attractions like the United Nations and the Empire State Building. The second picture is of me at the fair. I am the little one in the front. I was wearing my hat and my basketball sweater. It was a great time and doing this iReport brings back a lot of memories.
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<urn:uuid:4df5d141-91b1-4b65-92d1-76c26e4adc5a>
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http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-261866
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| 0.985129
| 205
| 1.585938
| 2
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YAYA DIALLO'S WEST AFRICAN MUSIC
"... DOUNOUKAN is a wonderful buffet of West African rhythms from a master drummer. ... Diallo's lifetime of musical experience make this CD well worth having for fans of African percussion."
Scott Allan Stevens, Host/Producer of Spin the Globe on KAOS Olympia Community Radio, Olympia, WA, May 2003.
Yaya Diallo performs the rhythms of ceremonial, ritual and daily living in traditional West African village life on his album DOUNOUKAN. With drumming that is almost sparse at times and voice that leaves expected conventions behind DOUNOUKAN proffers an experience in West African community.
DOUNOUKAN is Yaya Diallo's third album released in 1995. Out of circulation for several years, DOUNOUKN is again available through Onzou Records in its original CD packaging.
Yaya Diallo: Djembé, Dounouba, Tama, Balafon, Vibraphon, Bara and Lead Vocals
Daniel Bellegarde: Djembé, and Congas
Sylvain Leroux: Flute
Kwabena Owusu: Dounouba, Conga and Tiékeré
Stuart Paton: Djembé and Congas
Aviva Vogel: Djembé and Congas
Backup Vocals: Date Frend, Nathaniel Hall, Sylvain Leroux and Kwabena Owusu
YAYA DIALLO was born in the village of Fienso, West Africa. He is a member of the Minianka tribe where music is an aspect of every part of life. Work, worship, celebration, life and death are all parts of his culture in which drumming is an integral part.
He believes drumming also to be a remedy for psychological and physical maladies. This is expressed in his book The Healing Drum
Yaya Diallo presently teaches workshops and performs throughout North America bringing his traditional knowledge to Western culture. His recordings include NANGAPE, 1980 LP; compilation CD by CBC; CBC cinema studio recording Senghor, 1982; THE HEALING DRUM, 1990; DOUNOUKAN, 1995; DOMBAA FOLEE, 1998; NANGAPE on CD, reissued in 2002 and LIVE AT CLUB SODA.
NEWS AND REVIEWS on the artist Yaya Diallo, his music, books and articles is available on the Yaya Diallo community forum, http://yayadiallo.proboards20.com
This is a dance for captives, not slaves, but those who have lost a war. Traditionally the conquered are taken to the winners' village where they work. Each year the captives organize a dance to intimidate their masters. With the stopping of tribal wars, this dance now exists only in the theater.
2. Lamban for Mrs. Diallo
This music is played by the Griots for Griots, also known as Djellis. They say Allah did a good thing in creating the status of Djelli. Not being a Djelli myself, I dedicate this music to my wife who adores it.
Bara means gourd. In this case a large calabash is cut open with a hole that is covered with goatskin which gives a muted sound when played. This music is for great occasions. The oldest dancer takes the lead and is followed by order of age. The entire proceeding ends up in two circles, one for men, the other for the women. When the older people sit down, the rhythm changes with the entry of the young boys and girls. On this recording, I transposed the music for djemés and dounoubas. This is very rare, in fact an innovation.
This music is sung in honor of the elders. Each time an old person dies among the Minianka, there is a celebration in recognition of the support this elder gave to the community and the tolerance he or she showed.
5. Iye Iye/Defoulment
At the Harvest each year we play music and then dance. The dance lasts all night when the harvest is good, but is short when the harvest is bad.
The title of this song means blacksmith. This music accompanies them during their different tasks. The music and dance are expressed in three phases.
This music accompanies workers in the fields to encourage the lazy ones to work energetically. Each person needs to take care of his or her responsibilities. Being a good human being means not being a headache to one's family, one's community, and humanity in general. The music gets the workers moving, first with strength, then with speed. A sudden stop indicates a rest. The workers sing and then return to work. When we dance to this music, it is a perfect example of immediate communication between dancers and musicians. The arrangement is based in humility because the body's appearance no longer matters in this context. It is so hot while we are laboring to produce food that sustains our lives, tha everyone works naked.
In the Minianka language, Hooro meand dance and everyone joins in after a hard days work.
This is a persons first name. In Africa each profession has it's own music and dance. Therefor in the twentieth century, music has been created for such professions as a truckdriver.
This is a region of land between Guinea and Mali. The popular djembé music for this region is Sogoni-kon, which means the tail of a small animal. This music is played for many celebrations such as weddings, circumcision, harvest and for pleasure. It is very popular with women because it allows them to display their vocal talents.
This is another name for Fienso, my home village in Mali. In my neighborhood, called Outekan or Outeme, people who live alone love this music. While life becomes impossible without water, without love it becomes hell. This piece is dedicated to all those who suffer from lovesickness.
12. Djomon/Dialogue of Drums
Djomon means dialogue. This music is made for the dialogue among the drums. In Africa we say the big drum has it's voice as does the small drum. In addition to being a rhythmic instrument, the drum can also be used melodically. This piece is to pay homage to my father and my ancestors.
ADDITIONAL ALBUMS BY YAYA DIALLO ON ONZOU RECORDS
NANGAPE: Yaya Diallo's classic 1980 instrumental album of African drumming, balafon and flute music.
LIVE AT CLUB SODA: New Release November, 2003, http://www.cdbaby.com/yayadiallo3
"hypnotic dance music, with one foot planted in village music, the other kicking toward jazz and funk"
- Scott Stevens, World Music Director, KAOS-FM, Olympia, WA
"Many thanks!..I really know many african sounds .. from very traditional to high-life..to afro-rock to whatever..this KANZA sound/concept is DIFFERENT! .. very cool .. YES it rocks!! ... GREAT music!!"
- Lord Litter, DJ, Music Pormoter, Musician, Berlin, Germany
ONZOU RECORDS collaborates with YAYA DIALLO to share his music from traditional West African village life - a healing arts treasure from the Minianka people of West Africa. Projects include the creation of traditional African healing centers beginning with one in Bamako, Mali to provide a base to transmit the music and culture to future generations.
VISIT ONZOU RECORDS, http://www.onzou.com
Stephen Conroy, Producer/Manager
Yaya Diallo's West African Music
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NEW DELHI: Delhi government is preparing the groundwork for forming co-operatives in unauthorised colonies, that will play a pivotal role in developmental work in the area.
In a meeting held last week, Delhi chief secretary S Regunathan issued directions to the urban development department to collect information on unauthorised colonies. The urban development department however, has a tough task ahead of them. They have been directed to issue a notification inviting applications from unauthorised colonies that came up before May 2002 and collect data within two months.
"We have prepared a performa that will have to be filled up by residents of unauthorised colonies. We will be preparing a list of these colonies and then start the process of verifying who is eligible for regularisation," an urban development official said.
Delhi government had been advised by the high court on October 1 to notify all unauthorised colonies. The list updated up to 1993 has about 1,071 unauthorised colonies. Unofficial estimates put the number to about 1,700 colonies till 2002.
Senior officials say that once a list is ready, it will be verified with the help of aerial and field survey. Forming co-operatives will however be a complicated affair. "The Co-operative Act is limited to flatted and plotted colonies. We will have to amend the Act for unauthorised colonies," the official said.
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Volkswagen will release its second hybrid model, the Jetta Hybrid this fall. The 2013 Jetta Hybrid was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show and will be the most fuel-efficient Jetta available. The Jetta Hybrid retains the styling from the gas and diesel-powered Jetta models, which is a good thing for Jetta fans and hybrid shoppers that aren’t fans of the shape of the Toyota Prius. The Jetta Hybrid features a turbocharged 150-hp 1.4L engine that’s mated to a 27-hp electric motor and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Volkswagen estimates that the Jetta Hybrid will have a combined fuel economy rating of 45 mpg and it can reach 0-60 mph in nine seconds.
Volvo has yet to offer a hybrid model in North America, but that’s about to change. Volvo gave us a preview of a plug-in hybrid version of the XC60 crossover, in concept form. The XC60 plug-in hybrid concept is propelled by a 280 horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine that sends its power to the front wheels, while the rear wheels are powered by a 70 horsepower electric motor. Drivers can select between three driving modes: Pure, Hybrid or Power. Volvo clams that in Hybrid mode the XC60 plug-in hybrid has a combined fuel economy rating of 50 mpg, and in Power mode (the most powerful setting), the XC60 can reach 0-60 mph in 5.8 seconds. Volvo hasn’t announced an exact release date, but it’s expected to arrive in two years.
In the 1990’s Honda proved that Japan had what it took to compete with the world’s best supercars with the Acura NSX. The mid-engine two-seater was unlike anything ever released by Honda. It featured an aluminum body and was the first Honda to feature Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing system. It was produced from 1990-2005, but now seven years after the last NSX was built, the NSX is slated to return!
Honda unveiled an NSX concept at the Detroit Auto Show that is a preview of the next NSX. This time rather than just featuring a mid-engine V6 engine, the next-generation NSX will be powered by a hybrid powertrain. Honda has announced plans for a new Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) hybrid system. The system will employ a next-generation 3.5L VTEC V6 with direct-injection mated to a dual clutch transmission with a built-in electric motor that will send its power to the rear wheels, while two electric motors will send negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering.
Looks like the days of slow, ugly, and boring to drive hybrids are numbered!
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“The Barefoot Book: 50 great reasons to kick off your shoes” is an absolute must-have for all barefoot runners. If you are a barefoot runner or ever plan on running barefoot, this must be in your library. This book is so valuable, this could effectively end the review. Okay, I’ll share some details…
Daniel Howell is an anatomy and physiology professor at Liberty University. Daniel is also a fellow Society for Barefoot Living member and experienced barefooter. His educational background provides the perfect framework for the topics contained within this book.
This book systematically makes a case for barefootedness. Daniel starts by dismantling the “logic” used to justify the use of shoes. I was familiar with the ideas presented in this section, but still found it to be extremely persuasive.
The next section includes testimonials from a variety of people. It is always entertaining to hear stories of people “seeing the light”.
The next few sections talk about foot anatomy. While I was vaguely familiar with this information, Daniel’s explanations definitely expanded my knowledge base. His expertise as an anatomy and physiology professor really shines.
He includes a section on shoe construction, the effects of a raised heel, and the effects of shoes on developing children. This section would turn Imelda Marcos into a dedicated barefooter.
Howell also includes sections on barefoot walking, hiking, and running. I was pleasantly surprised to find his advice to be perfectly aligned with my teachings. Even Howell’s terminology is the same. It appears as if there is a growing “standard” that is widely recognized in the teaching of barefoot running.
Finally, Howell dispels many myths about the barefoot lifestyle. This section is especially useful as many of us will have to justify our decision to buck social mores. He also includes a synopsis of the significant lawsuits that involve barefootedness.
The book can be purchased from Amazon here: BUY ME!!!
Also, Daniel was kind enough to give me a copy to give away to one of my readers! Here’s how you can enter:
1. Become a Google Friend of this blog by clicking on “Follow” button in the right column of this blog,
2. “Like” The Barefoot Book’s Facebook page by going here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Barefoot-Book/269343107104?ref=ts and clicking “Like”
I will randomly choose one Google friend on Wednesday, August 4th, crosscheck to confirm they “Liked” The Barefoot Book Facebook page, then contact the winner for a mailing address. Good luck everyone!
As long as you are in the “Liking” mood, I’d appreciate you also liking The Barefoot Running Book’s Facebook page!
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"To the People of Great Britain ..." and "To the Inhabitants of the Colonies ..."
United States. Continental Congress
20.4 cm x 12.2 cm
From the Extracts from the votes and proceedings of the American Continental Congress: held at Philadelphia on the 5th of September 1774. Published by order of the Congress. Philadelphia: Printed by William and Thomas Bradford, 1774.
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BANGALORE, India -- Global economic uncertainty is contributing to a down year for the global semiconductor industry, but 2013 could bring “modest growth, according to Mentor Graphics CEO Wally Rhines
Rhines, here last week for a developers’ conference, said in an interview that 2012 industry revenues should approach $300 billion, a decline from the previous year, but foresees “modest growth [as] the most likely scenario next year after negative growth this year.”
“Though analysts are forecasting some growth next year, most executives in the semiconductor industry are nervous about growth ahead,” Rhines added. “There is too much uncertainty in too many places. There are some parts of the electronics industry that are doing quite well, like wireless. But there is lots of turmoil too.”
He cited the decline of smartphone makers like Nokia and chip maker Texas Instruments, which is facing stiff competition from Qualcomm. “So [there are] lots of leadership changes, and these changes are causing disruption.”
The uncertainty is being offset by consumer enthusiasm for low-cost electronics. “The demand for the advanced semiconductor technology, 28 nanometers and below has been very strong, and this would be good for the semiconductor industry on the whole next year. The foundries have made a big bet on the 28 and 20 nanometer [process technology], and they have more than doubled their normal capital investment,’’ Rhines stressed.
Inventory plays a big role in the semiconductor industry. Companies
stock inventory in proportion to their expectations of either growing or
declining demand. But Rhines said market uncertainty is making it
difficult for supply chain managers to gauge inventory requirements.
“Semiconductors are like fish,” he said. “If you keep them around a bit
too long, they start to smell. So the value of the inventory decreases
if you hold it too long. Semiconductor prices don’t go up, they always
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Register now for free, or sign in with any of these services:
I'm pretty sure it's not "ignoring the definition of 'constitutional'" to actually give weight to the constitution's actual words: you can't split political subdivisions "unless absolutely necessary."
That's about as clear as it gets.
Basically, they never saw fit to reject past plans because they never had a decent challenge. Finally someone brought a well thought out, comprehensive challenge, and -- somewhat amazingly -- the court actually followed the words of the constitution rather than the flimsy precedent they had set for themselves.
Yes, it is uniform based on population size.
She did NOT use "a graphics program" and simply create pretty shapes, and for you to conjecture without basis like that is more than a little condescending.
She knows her stuff, and if you did two second of research you could have found her website, which lays out her process in depth. Basically, it takes the legal mandates for equal population, integrity of political subdivisions, as well as the instructions of the Voting Rights Act, and made a map using all of those considerations.
Well, as a person with a bank account and a car, it's no problem for me. (Though it might make for some really fun long lines on election day.)
It is, however, a problem for the estimated 11% of the population that doesn't have official photo ID. (It's interesting that an almost identical bill was rejected by the Justice Department in Texas. Lucky for PA Republicans we don't have that oversight, eh?)
Sure, I think it would make everyone's life easier if they had ID. But a whole bunch of them don't, so until there's a system in place to make sure they have it, this bill disenfranchises people who have a constitutional right to vote.
And I've still never seen any proof that voter-impersonation fraud actually happens. Why put in all this effort to fix an entirely theoretical problem?
Please, links to stories about these examples. I'm seriously curious. Voter REGISTRATION fraud is generally caused by lazy voters, not malicious intent. Are any of those convictions actual in-person voter fraud? I'd love to see proof.
The right to vote is exercised by less than half of our population currently.
We can't get people to vote legally, and you're worried about people risking years in jail to do it?
The real slap in the face to those who died for democracy is that we keep making it harder to vote, rather than putting in the effort to make it both easier and more secure.
Let me get this straight.
Our legislators can't point to a single example of this kind of fraud happening, but they still want to spend $11 million to stop it? With PA $750 million in the hole right now?
Seriously, why would someone go to the polls, impersonate someone else, risk years in jail --- for just ONE vote? It makes no sense. And if there were a concerted effort to send hundreds of people to the polls fraudulently, word would get out.
The voting rate in the U.S. is already the lowest in the developed world, and we're putting up more obstacles? Shouldn't we be going the other way?
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Don't have ample time to complete your Jean Watson Homework? Get them done even before their deadline in just 2 simple steps.
Jean Watson was born in the 1940s, in a small town located in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.Jean Watson completed her graduation in the Lewis Gale School of Nursing in the year 1961,in Roanoke,Virginia.She went for further nursing studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and earned the degree of B.S., in the year of 1964; and a degree of M.S.in psychiatric and mental health nursing in the year of 1966; and a degree of Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling in the year of 1973.
Jean Watson has written numerous books, the most notable one amongst them being The Philosophy and Science of Caring.Watson is famous for her Theory of human and interpersonal Caring.She created the non-profitable Watson Caring Science Institute in the year of 2008, to spread out her ideas worldwide.
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BY FLEDA BROWN, Local columnist
---- — While we're lamenting about what we didn't get done last year, or planning how we're going to do better this year, or simply going back to work with no thought of what's next, W. S. Merwin stops and notices the time-that-is-no-time, that slips in whether or not anyone notices. The tips of the top leaves pick up a bit of sunlight. A dove calls.
And the year is here.
I am a great fan of W.S. Merwin. He's often a quiet poet, and a passionately committed one. In the 1970s, he moved to Hawaii and bought a former pineapple plantation and has been painstakingly restoring it to rainforest. His poems, when they are political, are more aware than they are partisan. He often writes about America and its values.
As a boy, Merwin wrote hymns for his Presbyterian minister father. He studied classical languages as a post-graduate and modeled many of his early poems on traditional forms. Gradually, though, he began to shift, and his poems now, most of them, resemble the one you see here: no punctuation, no traditional form. You would think you were listening to his thoughts. We're barely aware of the artfulness. His work has won, among many other prizes, the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He was U.S. Poet Laureate in 2010-2011.
Merwin was once asked what social role a poet plays — if any — in America. He commented, "I think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry now that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time. I think that's a social role, don't you? ... We keep expressing our anger and our love, and we hope, hopelessly perhaps, that it will have some effect.
"But I certainly have moved beyond the despair ... one can't live only in despair and anger without eventually destroying the thing one is angry in defense of. The world is still here, and there are aspects of human life that are not purely destructive, and there is a need to pay attention to the things around us while they are still around us. And you know, in a way, if you don't pay that attention, the anger is just bitterness."
This is the beauty I find in "To the New Year." It pays attention to the things still around us.
Fleda Brown of Traverse City is professor emerita, University of Delaware, and past poet laureate of Delaware. For more of her work, and to see her website, go to www.fledabrown.com.
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As a plastic surgeon, Dr. Harry Fallick often has the opportunity to talk to men and women who are concerned about the condition of their skin. When polling patients about what they do to protect their complexions, he found that many people didn't regularly use sunscreen because they didn't like the way formulas felt on their skin or because they suffered irritation related to sunscreen wear. Knowing how important daily UV protection is for keeping the skin youthful and radiant, Dr. Fallick made it his mission to develop a better sunscreen. The result of his research and testing is the Cotz sun care collection.
Rather than using chemically based sunscreens, Dr. Fallick chose only natural minerals to serve as active ingredients in Cotz products. By using minerals that have the innate ability to reflect UV rays, he was able to eliminate the need for harsh chemicals that can irritate the skin and create formulas that are lighter in weight and more comfortable to wear. Shop the Cotz sun care collection now to feel the difference that natural sunscreen can make.
Additional Cotz Information
Free yourself from concerns over sun exposure and skin irritation by choosing Cotz sun care products. The collection is naturally based and frequently recommended by physicians due to its effective, gentle formulations.
The Cotz Very Water Resistant Sun Protection for Face SPF 40 contains a highly effective blend of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which protects against a full spectrum of UV rays that can damage the complexion. The natural minerals are micronized, making the formula ultra light. Unlike other mineral-based sunscreens, the product dries completely clear, leaving no unsightly white residue on the complexion. The formula remains potent for 2 to 3 hours after application.
The Cotz Water Resistant Sun Protection SPF 58 is a maximum strength sun protection formula intended for individuals with very sensitive skin as well as for children. The product offers a high dose of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, which makes the inclusion of additional sun protection ingredients unnecessary. The result is a formula that is especially gentle to skin that is susceptible to allergies, hypersensitivity rashes and breakouts.
The Cotz Face Natural Skin Tone SPF 40 gives you the sun protective benefits of a mineral-based sunscreen with a light pigment added to hide skin imperfections. The flesh-toned sunscreen is ideal for days when you plan to be outdoors and don't want to wear a lot of makeup. In addition, the lightweight formula can be worn underneath foundation to act as a primer while blocking UV rays from reaching the skin tissue.
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The Utah legislature has recently passed a broad-based school voucher bill that may or may not be constitutional and may or may not be subjected to direct public vote. This has been something of a shock to me, given my longstanding roots in the Northeast where, at least perceptually, this was not even on the horizon.
Rather than play my reactionary card aggressively, I’ve been trying to understand more about what motivates this kind of a proposal. I focus on my perceptions of those in favor of vouchers because I have not historically been able to understand them. Certainly I see some anger at government (and teacher’s unions, though this is harder to say out loud for many people), an ethos that rejects legal and administrative solutions to public problems. I see some clear benefit for “entrepreneurs” eager to open new schools and receive government support for their new business (though in light of the first point, I’m left a little confused). I also see frustration with the current state of education, a perception that public schools expose children to morally dubious influences and deliver poor training. I also see, though this will be controversial, some racism, a perception that Latino/Hispanic or Afro-American students are associated with violence, illiteracy, unacceptable sexual practices. The terms used to express this complex racism are “gangs” and “teen pregnancy” and “gun violence” (though Utah has a complex relationship to guns), but in many cases this seems to be a racism born of great fear and anxiety about the fate of one’s children rather than the stereotyped malevolence that we on the Left are sometimes prone to impute to those who express these ideas. As horrible as racism can be, I think that ignoring the fear that underlies it would be equally disastrous, and people have a right to attempt to care for their children as they see fit within certain basic norms.
I also hear language about just deserts and a strong aversion to free riders, people hoping to scam a system. I struggle to understand how language like that, expression of these ideas about personal responsibility and just deserts could possibly apply to children, even if you allow them to inform your social policy toward adults. Surely children should not be cursed to punish their parents.
Note, though, that most of these are arguments in favor of private (ie socioeconomically segregated) schools, not in favor of vouchers (a public subsidy of a private venture) per se. Though I prefer (and attended until college) public schools, I certainly can see reasons that people would want to send their children there or attend them personally.
In favor of vouchers per se, I think I detect a frustration that people are double-paying, that through their property taxes they are funding both private school for their own children and the public school which their children do not attend, like the checkout counter charging you for all your groceries but holding back half of them. Here I find myself much less able to listen sympathetically for moral and religious reasons, in addition to practical considerations.
A voucher proposal says in essence, “I contribute to the education system exclusively (or primarily) so that they will educate my child.” An anti-voucher proposal responds, “We all are responsible for the children of our community, whether we are childless or single, working or retired, have one child or ten. Our commitment to each other and our society requires that every child have a quality education.” It seems to me to boil down to this central dispute, and I have trouble understanding how to reconcile this solution with a Christian moral philosophy (this issue is often tied to the Religious Right, which has funneled a great deal of resources according to prevalent rumors into Utah).
(Incidentally, a voucher system which provided sufficient funding for any desirous person to attend the school of their choice would still be public education, and if properly regulated to avoid fraud, “cherry-picking” and low educational standards, arguably is morally quite different from standard voucher proposals. It would likely be more expensive than the alternatives and would potentially disrupt teachers’ ability to make a living, but it would not be morally suspect in the same way.)
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Bush should seek Iraq compromise
President Bush has vowed to veto a military spending bill that includes a timetable for withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq.
PRESIDENT Bush is casting the newly Democratic Congress as a proponent of "withdrawal and defeat" in Iraq, while most Americans recognize that anything resembling achievement of U.S. goals in the conflict has become unrealistic. The president remains intransigent when he should be negotiating with congressional leaders for a responsible and gradual deployment of U.S. troops from Iraq without creating disaster even greater than the ongoing religion-based civil war.
Bush is charging ahead with what he describes as a "surge" of 30,000 troops to Iraq, which detractors describe as an escalation of the war. Time will tell whether the strategy will succeed, and bills approved by the U.S. House and Senate setting benchmarks for the Iraqi government to assume responsibility would allow such time.
Both bills, to be melded in joint conference, call for most American troops to be withdrawn from Iraq sometime next year. U.S. forces would remain in Iraq to protect American citizens and infrastructure, conduct counter-terrorism operations and train and equip Iraqi forces. That would not be a precipitous withdrawal. A similar approach was recommended by the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group.
The benchmarks are part of a military spending bill that Bush has threatened to veto if they are not removed. U.S. troops would not be endangered anytime soon by such a funding delay. Most of the expenditures would be for replacement troops that are not scheduled to be deployed until next fall.
If the stalemate remains, Congress might choose to approve monthly spending extensions that will keep troops equipped. In the meantime, public opposition to the presence of U.S. combat troops in Iraq will grow as the 2008 elections near, unless, of course, the "surge" works. Bush will need such a miracle to maintain Republican support on Capitol Hill.
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and military newspapers
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River, mountains, cliffs, and caves. I find myself surrounded by these elements of the earth; the most primordial elements. We are 70% water. Vast oceans, great seas, and mighty rivers coat the lands we choose to abuse. Be your own judge, but we are trapped in a machine that we cannot escape – civilization. That machine exists in its own right and own world inside its hard, discriminating shell; a shell that keeps us from escaping. The concept of ‘love it or leave it’ does not apply. It’s more of an inability to break from conformity.
Ah, the sun finally comes out from behind a cliff and for the first time this morning I feel warmth. It soothes me, but could it rain today? It is cloudy for the first time this trip. Wouldn’t that be something, canoeing in the rain?
The machine of civilization is just as selfish as the humans within it. It operates on a process that’s similar to the physiology of digestion: delicious, nutritious foods are consumed only to leave behind a stinky, toxic mess. The machine takes nature’s goods and in exchange blows smoke right back in its face. How rude, how disrespectful! Nature has a plan though. She is a patient nurturer, and she operates strictly on cause and effect. Nature is slow. It carves and cares for the world on a time scale of millions, while we can be hopeful to reach one hundred. She knows that if we’re not nice to her now, she has plenty of time to kick our ass later.
I love the sound of the rapids, sitting here, taking it all in. We are about to embark on a 16 mile rafting course. The day will be long, frustrating, tiring, and rewarding – the hallmarks of a good adventure. I sit here and ponder, think and reflect, curse and enjoy, perpetually being drawn into the wonder and harmony of the natural being.
Musings from a nine day, 65 mile white-water canoeing trip on the Rio Grande
What are boundaries? How do you define borders, in the physical sense? What does it mean to be on a river, floating between what we know as one and another? A river that divides two countries on paper, but in this vast desert only divides a piece of land? A river that has two names? The Rio Grande, or the Rio Bravo? I do not see any disparity here. I do not see black or white. Only one reality is found out here. My eyes are fixed; transfixed by a calm, blue river, weaving a path through an arid landscape, reflecting the golden hues of towering, complementary canyons on either side.
Nature always has a way of putting humanity in perspective. These rocks, these cliffs, and this mighty river were all here long before our evolutionary ancestors roamed the earth. The river has existed for millions of years. The rocks were here then – they have slightly changed – but they are still here today. The rocks remind me of what truly “matters” and what we often overlook as we go about our daily life. There are larger forces at play here, and these cliffs, nature’s rising monuments, will remain long after we all perish.
It’s dawn and the sun is barely peeking over the canyons in the distance. I look down the tranquil river and I’m stunned by a brilliant reflection. The ridges are carved right as they are left. The sound is the same on the north bank as it is on the south bank. I see only one blue sky above me, and only one sun warming me up. Sticks, rocks, and carcasses find their way from one side of the bank to the other, taking thousands of years of river power or calmly floating in a days time.
So tell me, what do borders mean when you are surrounded by this great, harmonizing energy? Why the disparity, when really all is one and one is all in the end? The canvas of nature will always trump whatever painting we coat it with.
March 2009 (updated January 2011)
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Last January 19-20, 2009, the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA), an international NGO funded by UK’s DFID, WHO, other multilateral agencies, conducted a civil society organizations (CSO) mapping workshop in Manila. Invited were NGO and CSO leaders who have some track record in contributing to health policy discussions in the past, especially in relation to the new cheaper medicines law (RA 9502).
After the 2-days workshop, the CSO leaders who were there agreed to form a coalition among themselves. The goal is similar to MeTA’s – pursue medicines and health transparency among CSOs that have interest in public policy discussions. About 25 NGOs were represented there, including Minimal Government Thinkers. Then there were several meetings to draft the proposed charter of the coalition, as well as the draft action plan. MeTA international secretariat will provide some funding for the Philippine CSO coalition.
A few months later, the Coalition for Health Advocacy and Transparency (CHAT) was formally created, this time including other NGOs that were never part of the original 25 or so NGOs last January 19-20.
CHAT has a google groups where members can post many things – seminars, articles, etc. I think the discussion list has about 40+ members, am not sure.
I am among those who frequently post some of my short papers. Then some left-leaning NGO leaders reacted to my papers. The discussions were very long. Their postings though are in Filipino, not in English. I would have wanted to post some of their long discussions here, but this blog has a number of foreign readers who do not understand Filipino language. And I’m not in the mood to translate those kilometric postings in Filipino into English.
Among the articles I posted in the discussion list was about the new report released by the International Policy Network, “Keeping it real: combating fake drugs in poor countries”, authored by Julian Morris, Philip Stevens and Julian Harris. The paper is posted in the IPN website (www.policynetwork.net) and in our website, http://www.minimalgovernment.net/media/keepingitreal.pdf.
Among the figures cited in that report were the following:
1. WHO estimates that counterfeit drugs constitute up to 25 per cent of the total medicine supply in less developed countries (LDCs).
2. about 75 percent of imported counterfeit drugs come from India, according to one European Commission estimate; and China is also a significant producer of counterfeit drugs.
3. Fake tuberculosis and malaria drugs alone are estimated to kill 700,000 people a year.
One participant in the list questioned the sources of those data. Below are the data sources as contained in the annex references of the IPN report:
On #1 above: Page 26 of the Report: World Health Organization Factsheet No. 275, refers to a US FDA estimate: “The United States Food and Drug Administration estimates that counterfeits make up more than 10% of the global medicines market and are present in both industrialized and developing countries. It is estimated that up to 25% of the medicines consumed in poor countries are counterfeit or substandard.” http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/2003/fs275/en/ [accessed 6th March 2009]
On #2 above: Pages 9 and 26: One set of figures from the European Commission showed 75 per cent of counterfeit drugs being imported from India, home to around 22,000 small drug producers, many of which are informal (Bate, 2008). -- European Commission Taxation and Custom Union (TAXUD) statistics, 2005.
On #3, the authors explained in page 23, Appendix, their Statistics calculations:
The World Health Organization has previously calculated that approximately 200,000 malaria deaths per annum could be prevented if the medicines available were of acceptable quality.
This figure was calculated using statistics from the Africa Malaria Report 2003, and a paper on the quality of antimalarial drugs in Africa. The calculations assumed that there were £1 million annual deaths from malaria, with only half of these victims being diagnosed and receiving any treatment at all. Of these half a million receiving treatment, a fifth were estimated to have been resistant to chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, leaving 400,000 lives capable of being saved through treatment (given existing levels of coverage). The study asserted that, according to the research in The Quality of Antimalarials – A Study in Selected African Countries, up to half of antimalarial drugs in some areas were substandard, and therefore up to half the 400,000 preventable deaths were due to substandard products.
We believe this figure can now be considered conservative. First, resistance to chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine could be removed from the equation, due to the wider dissemination of artemisinin-based drugs. This alone would increase the figure to 250,000 deaths. Second, as explained on page X of this report, drug resistance is significantly exacerbated by fake drugs, with increasing levels of drug resistant malaria along the Thai-Cambodian border attributable to the widespread substandard drugs in that region. Many deaths from drug resistant strands of disease can therefore indirectly be attributed to fake drugs.
According to WHO data, there were 9.3 million new cases of tuberculosis in 2007. Global coverage of DOTS (Directly observed treatment, short course) is said to be 94 per cent, with half of untreated sufferers expected to die. Data on levels of fake tuberculosis drugs is scarce, yet one reliable study (Laserson, 2001) of six countries showed levels of fakes at 10 per cent. By these figures we assume that around 900,000 tuberculosis sufferers are at risk from fake drugs, half of whom (450,000) will die due to the ineffective treatment.
Our total figures for malaria and tuberculosis therefore show 700,000 deaths attributable to fake drugs. It must be noted that due to paucity of reliable data, these are rough, yet conservative, estimates.
Still, that person thinks the above estimation are just hearsay or “haka-haka” in Filipino. Well, if a person or group of persons' mind is too poisoned with biases, no amount of explanation should be able to convince them. A similar situation could go like this:
Person A: I think Gloria Arroyo and family made xx million pesos in kickbacks on the aborted ZTE-NBN project alone.
Person B: why do you think so? how did you arrive at such figure?
A: because of the following considerations...
B: those are just hearsays, haka-haka, bulung-bulongan. Gloria and family did not steal any money from that project.
Another NGO leader advocating drug price control suggested that only like-minded people should become members of the CHAT discussion list. This means only those who favor more state intervention in health and medicine pricing like price control, issuance of CL, etc., should be there, and those who question those provisions should be kicked out of CHAT.
This NGO leader was not there last January 19-20 2009 when MeTA, with the help of some European Council (EC) staff, convened the CSO mapping workshop-seminar. The organizers who spent time and money for that workshop, wanted diversity, not monotony, of perspectives among CSOs and NGOs on medicines transparency. What this NGO leader wants is both price control and thought control.
The discussion list owner and moderator posted and explained that under the CHAT charter, it says:
". . . While bound by a common advocacy, CHAT recognizes the independence of its member organizations and respects the individual positions that may be taken regarding specific issues…. CHAT respects the independence & integrity of each member-organization.”
The same NGO leader noted that during the DOH advisory council meeting on price regulation last June 5, DSAP had one voice, PHAP and PCPI had one voice each, while civil society groups have different voices. It is a valid observation. But if we realize that civil society groups should include not only the left-leaning or militant groups, they also include non-political groups like homeowners association, rotary clubs, badminton clubs, cycling clubs, poetry association, etc. Any voluntary organizations, political or non-political, so long as they are not part of any government machinery (local, national or multilateral), can be considered as civil society organization. Such diversity of perspectives is an important characteristics of the concept of civil society.
There was also another posting with innuendos that I do not wish to be harshly criticized in the papers that I post in the discussion list. Far from that, I actually wish more left-leaning guys to debate with, openly and frankly. The triumph of left-leaning public policies in the government is partly due to the absence or weak voice of the free marketers, the believers of free enterprise, capitalism and individual liberty, to square off in various public debates with the advocates of more government, more taxes, more forcible collectivism and socialism, implicit or explicit.
It still escapes my comprehension why despite all of us in the list wishing to have cheaper medicines, many still cannot criticize or attack the Philippine government for imposing plenty of taxes and fees as if medicines are just like hamburger or beer or cigarettes that must be slam-dunked with as many taxes and fees as possible.
I posted my article last May 2008 entitled “Parallel importation vs. free trade" with a single and clear message: If we really wish more competition among pharma companies (innovators and generics alike), if we really wish to bring down medicine prices, we should have 500 or 5,000 or more pharma companies slashing each other's throats in fierce competition here,and not just about 140 pharma companies, both domestic and multinationals (combined PHAP and PCPI members minus drug store-members). And all taxes and fees on medicines should be abolished.
What's wrong with abolishing taxes and fees on medicines, responsible for making drug prices in the Philippines about 20 percent more expensive, that supposedly militant NGOs cannot publicly and strongly advocate? Could it be that many supposedly militant NGOs receive tax money, directly or indirectly from governments and multilateral institutions like WHO, WB, UN and USAID?
If so, such NGOs cannot really be considered as non-government organizations but partial government organizations (PGOs) or government-funded organizations (GFOs), partly or fully. Dr. Robert So of the DOH's NDP-PMU explained it to me one time when I asked him if the DOH also proposed that Congress should also cut or abolish taxes on medicines when they were deliberating the cheaper medicines bill before it became a law. Dr. So said, "Yes, we did raise that issue with them, the Congressmen laughed at us. DOH gets its funding from tax money, Congress is always on the look out where to further raise taxes. And for a government agency that lives off on taxes to demand tax cut is ironic." Dr, So suggested that it is a very valid issue and that NGOs are the "right" entities to push that advocacy. Of course the assumption here is that NGOs do not receive funding from government, whether national or multilateral government bodies, to make them more effective should the tax-hungry legislators and BIR bureaucrats get back at them.
The long and sometimes emotional debates in the discussion list is inevitable. When MeTA organized the CSO mapping workshop last Jan. 19-20, they wanted diversity, not monotony, of perspectives among CSOs that they invited. I was invited by Klara Tisocki of the EC, then helping MeTA. Some EC guys and the DOH already noted our divergence from the "dominant" perspective, our critical analysis of some provisions of then Cheaper medicines bill before it became a law. That's why they invited me.
So if MeTA and CHAT respect diversity, to encourage the sprouting of more ideas from more heads, then the CHAT discussion group alone is already a success. Let people and NGO leaders with varying perspectives on advancing medicines transparency -- transparency not only by the pharmaceutical companies, but also by drug stores, by the government, by the NGOs themselves, etc -- voice out their opinions and perspectives.
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Hunger Strike Deal
by Stephen Lendman
Email: lendmanstephen (nospam) sbcglobal.net (verified)
15 May 2012
Hunger Strike Deal
by Stephen Lendman
Palestinian hunger strikers redefined courage. Mass willingness to die for justice is unprecedented.
On May 13, they reiterated their dignity or death steadfastness. More on that below.
Reports about where things stand leave unanswered questions. On Sunday, Haaretz headlined "Israel, Palestinian prisoners on verge of deal to end hunger strike," saying:
A Fatah Central Committee member claims the Israel Prison Service (IPS) will present strikers an agreement on May 14. Egyptian officials are mediating on behalf of Palestinians.
On May 14, the International Middle East Media Center headlined "Israel to Present a Deal on Hunger Striking Prisoners," saying:
The Palestinian Prisoner Association said "Israel will present a deal that will include references to administrative detention, solitary confinement, and visiting permits for Gazan families."
On May 14, Maan News headlined "Egypt brokers deal to end hunger strike," saying:
An unnamed Palestinian source close to ongoing talks said Egypt struck a deal that includes "Israel's acceptance of prisoners' demands in exchange for ending the hunger strike."
Final details were being resolved. An official announcement would follow. Israeli officials didn't comment.
Late Monday, news broke. Strike leaders and IPS officials agreed on terms. They include:
Israel will make specific accusations or release administrative detainees at the end of their terms.
Solitary confinement will end within 72 hours. All detainees are included.
Family visit bans will end. The punitive Shalit Law imposing them will be revoked.
Prison conditions overall will improve. Without details, it's unclear what this means.
Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman said all prisoners must end hunger strikes within 72 hours for concessions to hold.
Long-term strikers Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla refuse to stop unless freed immediately. Addameer said Bilal continues to deteriorate dramatically. He slips in and out of consciousness. His family is being used to pressure him to eat. He's so weak he could go any time.
On May 13, the Samidoun Palestinian Solidarity Network headlined "Statement No. 7 of the Strike Leadership," saying:
Prisoners reasserted their "all of our demands" steadfastness or death. Martyrdom approaches. Partial settlements are unacceptable. Yielding short of "epic humanitarian struggle for justice" fulfillment defeats why this battle was fought.
They "strongly and firmly swear (to) continue (their) battle of the empty stomachs, whatever the costs may be, until we achieve the minimum of our demands."
They named three but have others that matter. They thanked Egypt for not "leav(ing them) to face this battle alone." They "affirm(ed) categorically that (they won't) end (their) strike without promptly achieving (their) demands."
They accept the supreme sacrifice. They're "not amateurs in hunger. Death is easier than disrespect for (their) dignity, so (they) swear (they) will live with dignity or die."
Since strikes began, Israel retaliated harshly. Prisoners have been beaten, isolated, and denied essential rights, including medical care, as well as family and lawyer visits. They've also been transferred to remote detention facilities.
Nearly 5,000 prisoners are held. Hundreds are uncharged. From 2,500 to 3,000 refuse food. Around 1,100 are reported ill. Except for pain medication, medical care is denied. Hundreds suffer from serious diseases. Dozens of children are affected.
On May 11, Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya warned of serious consequences if any hunger striker dies, saying:
"You must realize that the hunger strike is not a party, and we could be surprised by the death of some of the prisoners."
Key international community leaders remain silent or said too little to matter. Obama said nothing. Neither did other administration and congressional members.
According to the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR), over 100 parliamentarians signed a petition calling for ending horrific conditions in Israel's gulag.
Their campaign "address(es) the undemocratic treatment of civilians who are detained without charge or trial for indefinite amounts of time, often secluded in solitary confinement in cramped cells with little to no sunlight or food."
They also called on EU High Representative Catherine Ashton to intervene on behalf of prisoner rights.
America's scoundrel media barely acknowledge what's ongoing. Virtually none did until well into the struggle. It's hard to ignore but they try. Support for Israel alone matters.
Israeli security forces confront hunger strike demonstrators brutally. In early May, arrests outside Ramleh Prison were made.
On May 7, Adalah demanded a criminal investigation into their illegal arrest and abuse, saying:
In custody, "police harassment includ(ed) physical, verbal, and sexual abuse, and violations of the demonstrators' rights under Israeli law. Adalah Attorney Orna Kohn submitted the complaint demanding an urgent criminal investigation."
Police violently attacked them. Tasers were used. Beatings followed. Handcuffed in custody they were brutalized. Women arrested were sexually harassed and threatened with rape.
Police wanted protesters jailed. They faced charges in court. Secret evidence was used. Adalah attorney Orna Kohn said Israel systematically abuses Palestinians and Israeli Arabs who exercise their assembly and free expression rights.
"As on many other occasions," she said, "the police did not hesitate to end a legal demonstration using violence. There is nothing in the law that allows them to do this."
Sixteen-year old Ward Kayal said police attacked her and others. "They put us on the ground and started beating us. I have bruises all over my body. I suffer from a (blood pressure related) medical condition, and am being treated with medicine."
After arrest, "they hand-and leg-cuffed us all, as they continued to use tasers while cursing and humiliating us."
"I told the police, as did my mother who also participated in the protest, that I suffer from a medical condition and to allow me to take the medicine and see a doctor."
While cuffed, "they pushed me down the stairs, beat me with their fists and tasers, and forced me to use the bathroom while the door was open to humiliate me. Four hours later I was too weak to stand on my feet and fainted."
"When they saw that my condition was bad, they took me to a hospital nearby, while hand- and leg-cuffed, and in my medical record it stated that my blood pleasure was 150/122 and that I should take medicine. They kept me under custody and I was deprived any medicine until I was released the following day."
She and others were interrogated until around 3AM. "I find the support of the hunger strikers of national importance....The support should be more active, especially since it has a significant meaning for the strikers (to know) of our support, which gives them hope to go on with their struggle."
Twenty-seven year old Thaira Zoabi also suffered injuries. She was attacked, lifted off the ground with her kuffiyeh (traditional scarf). She couldn't breathe. She was badly bruised.
She saw one protester's mouth forcibly opened and spat into. Police spat on her face. While undergoing a full body search, she was threatened with rape. Despite what happened, she and others won't cease their activism for justice.
On May 14, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) strongly denounced Israel's horrific treatment of Palestinian hunger strikers. It also condemned Israeli prison conditions overall.
It called for the immediate release of "arbitrarily detained" prisoners. Those on protracted hunger strikes are especially at risk. It highlighted the inviolability of fundamental international laws. It stressed that human rights can't be comprised for security concerns, real or contrived.
On May 14, Addameer headlined “International Action for Palestinian Prisoners’ Hunger Strike on Monday, May 14,” saying:
Addameer and the General Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Palestine urged all Palestinians and supporters worldwide to observe a 10 minute activity-free period at 9:00AM GMT (noon in Jerusalem) in solidarity with prisoners striking for justice.
Monday marked Bilal Diab's 77th day without food. On day 75, he wrote his family:
"We will have victory, but only through either martyrdom or immediate release -- not any partial solution as claimed by the prisons administration."
"I am still determined, patient and focused on continuing against conspiracies, threats and solitary confinement by the fascist Israeli prison administration."
He told family members to bury him at ground level according to Islamic teaching. He asked them to distribute sweets at his funeral to celebrate what he struggled and died for.
He requested Khader Adnan's presence to lower him into his grave. He thanked everyone who supported him. As of May 14, he's alive but faces imminent death. So does Thaer Halahla. Both reached day 77. Others refused food for weeks.
On day 75 without food, Thaer Halahel wrote his two-year-old daughter. He explained why he hasn't seen her. He said in part:
"My Beloved Lamar, forgive me because the occupation took me away from you, and took away from me the pleasure of witnessing my first born child that I have always prayed to God to see, to kiss, to be happy with."
"When you grow up you will understand how injustice was brought upon your father and upon thousands of Palestinians whom the occupation has put in prisons and jail cells, shattering their lives and future for no guilt but their pursuit of freedom, dignity and independence, you will know that your father did not tolerate injustice and submission, that he will never accept insult and compromise, and that he is going through a hunger strike to protest against the Jewish state that wants to turn us into humiliated slaves without any rights or patriotic dignity."
"Lamar my love: that day will come, and I will make it up to you for everything, and tell you the whole story, and your days that will follow will be more beautiful, so let your days pass now and wear your prettiest clothes, run and then run again in the gardens of your long life, go forward and forward nothing is behind you but the past, and this is your voice I hear all the time as a melody of freedom."
"(W)e are righteous," he said. "(R)ight will always prevail against injustice and wrong doers."
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen (at) sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
This work is in the public domain
Due to on going anti spam work quick comments are currently broken please use the full comment form. We do hope to have quick comments back on line soon.
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This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE: LRB Enterprises LLC
The 2013 Toy Fair kicked off in New York City on February 10th and Reagan's Toy Chest is celebrating with a site-wide sale on all educational toys for toddlers. This year, a common theme among new favorites is imaginative play.
Carmichael, California (PRWEB) February 13, 2013
New York City is hosting the 2013 Toy Fair February 10th – 13th. This year, imaginative play is a common theme and a large highlight of the show. International toy makers come out in droves showing off their new line of toddler toys and show the world that life is all about fun and games.
In honor of the 2013 Toy Fair, Reagan's Toy Chest is having a sale on all educational toys for toddlers site wide. The internet retailer boasts a large selection of toys and games that are all about this year's toy fair theme of imaginative play.
To celebrate the conclusion of the toy fair, starting Wednesday, February 13th, Reagan's Toy Chest is offering 10% off everything in the expansive online catalog. The sale will run for one week, ending on Wednesday, February 20th; use code TOYFAIR to receive the discount.
"I created Reagan's Toy Chest because I know how important it is for our children to indulge in pretend play," says Lanaya Cooper, owner of LRB Enterprises, LLC, which owns the online toddler toys store. "Having a two year old gives me first hand experience of how imaginative toddlers can be. This is a main reason why I carry an extensive line of pretend play toys and educational activities that stimulates the imagination."
According to Cooper pretend play with the use of educational toddler toys helps a child with creative problem solving skills and enhances communication and thinking skills. Taking on pretend adult roles like a policeman, chef or doctor enables a child to get a sense of real world activities. It builds self confidence and keeps children active while learning how to asses different situations that arise in their pretend world.
You will find a variety of activities in the online catalog of Reagan's Toy Chest. The catalog is broken into categories that are tailored to your child's interests. From dollhouses, chefs kitchens, building blocks, and much more.
About LRB Enterprises, LLC:
LRB Enterprises, LLC, is a family-owned business located in Carmichael, California. The business operates online retailer Reagan’s Toy Chest which is dedicated to providing the best toys for toddler, educational games and unique children’s gifts.
Owner, Lanaya Cooper has a background in Communications and Human Development having done her bachelor's work at the University of California, Davis. Cooper is also the author of the daily blog Raising Reagan. The blog delves into the joys and challenges of raising a precocious toddler and includes reviews and giveaways of educational toddler toys. The blog was just named in the Top 50 Mommy Blogs in the US by Coupon Audit.
Please visit Reagan's Toy Chest on the web or contact customer support at 888-683-1910.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebToys-For-Toddlers/Site-Wide-Sale/prweb10420281.htm
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"These were the best of times; these were the worst of times." The author that first put those words on paper was predicting the future. Few years are black and white—all good or all bad. The year 2010 in Indiana agriculture was no exception.
Here's our own recollection of '2010—the year that was.'
Legislature provides farm tax relief- Indiana Farm Bureau says it will save Hoosier landowners more than $70 million over three years. The legislature agreed to a modification in how the price of bare farmland is figured for taxation purposes, and it was a huge boon for landowners. Still, some argued their taxes went up, which was true. They just didn't go up nearly as much as they might have.
Early spring kicks off planting season- A large percentage of the corn crop and a sizable amount of the soybean crop went in early. That and unprecedented heat led to the earliest harvest in history.
Tale of two seasons- Flooding in June dampened enthusiasm for many, especially in central and north-central Indiana. Many flooded-out spots didn't recover. Water sent downstream destroyed corn ready to pollinate in southern counties.
High heat- This year featured about twice the normal number of days that hit 90 degrees F or above. It was truly a long, hot summer.
Drought- For much of Indiana, rainfall was scarce from late July until mid-November.
Wrong call- USDA estimated a record crop for Indiana, then backed off as the result of early August heat and dry weather took its toll. Currently, with the final report yet to come Jan. 12, it's one of the biggest drops USDA has ever made from its opening to later reports.
Prices rally- Less crop than expected and big demand overseas keep corn and soybean prices high.
Profit for 2011 crops approach record high- Purdue's 2011 January crop budget shows the second highest contribution margin, which also means the second largest profit, ever for crop production. Of course, changes in input prices and crop prices can turn that around quickly.
Fertilizer prices up 13%- And some of the excuses are mighty flimsy.
Great Hoosiers pass away- An uncanny number of older, retired ag teachers passed away this year, along with at least three Master Farmers and a former Farm Progress Show host, Scott Clark, West Lebanon, who died in his early 50's. On a personal note, my father, George Robert Bechman, a Pearl Harbor survivor and retired farmer, died August 21 at age 92.
Two surprise announcements- Evan Bayh, already retiring from the US Senate, announced he would not seek another term as Governor. Then only days ago, popular Lt. Governor Becky Skillman announced she would also not run for Governor in 2012.
Huge legislative shift- Republican recapture the House in Congress and the Indiana statehouse, and in a majority of statehouses across the country. It's significant because this legislative session will use recent Census data to determine legislative and Congressional districts.
Congress extends ethanol rebates- Not everyone is pleased- depending on whether you raise livestock or not. Congress also restored the biofuel credit for biodiesel.
Congress sets high estate tax limit, lower rate- Despite the predictions of nearly every economist, Congress at the 11th hour as part of the Obama compromise bill, set $5 million as the exclusion for estate taxes, and a 35% maximum rate. Most expected it would fall back to $1 million and a maximum rate over 50%.
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Obtaining the Investors' Perspectives
How the FASB Considers Investor Perspectives in Setting Accounting StandardsThe FASB’s mission is to develop accounting standards that, when faithfully applied, result in financial information that investors and others find useful in deciding whether to provide resources to a company, for example, whether to buy, hold, or sell shares or to provide credit through loans, guarantees, or other means.
Accounting standards are the result of judgments made by the five-member FASB:
- Judgments about the usefulness of the information to investors and the benefits that are expected to result from the information's use
- Judgments about the perceived costs that companies and others will incur to provide the information
- Judgments about the perceived costs of not providing the information (that is, the cost of providing financial information that is less complete, transparent, or understandable).
- How and why current financial reports are not meeting user information needs
- How standards might be changed to better meet those needs
- After companies have implemented new standards, whether financial reporting improved as expected.
Investing Experience of FASB Members and StaffEach member of the FASB and its staff brings their own investing experience (or investing advisory experience) to bear in making judgments about the usefulness of financial information. The FASB website includes a description of Board members—background and experience.
The Board’s staff includes two Senior Investor Liaisons—individuals with significant professional experience in financial analysis and investing that both provide their own perspectives and help the Board and staff engage investors in the standard-setting process (as described below).
Engaging Investors in the Standard Setting ProcessInvestors, creditors, and other users of financial information are a primary source for explaining what financial information is useful to them. It is critically important to engage a wide range of investors in the standard-setting process as a means of informing the Board and staff about their perspectives.
Recognizing that investors and other users can have differing opinions about the types of information that is useful, the Board strives for input from a broad spectrum of individuals and organizations including:
- Portfolio managers (PMs) and analysts from long-only asset managers and long/short hedge funds, both large and small. Both PMs and analysts may have roles as either sector specialists or generalists.
- Sellside analysts from large and small firms consisting primarily of sector-specific coverage.
- Accounting analysts from both asset management firms and the sellside.
- Credit rating agency analysts and managers.
- Analysts that work with both equity and debt.
- Industry groups, such as the CFA Institute.
- Other users of financial information, such as regulators.
- Standing advisory groups: The Board meets regularly with five different standing advisory groups it created to provide input on both strategic and technical issues. Each group includes investor representatives. One such group, the Investors Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC), solely comprises individuals from the investment profession whose primary career focus is on accounting and financial reporting matters. Other groups include the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC), the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee (PCFRC), the Small Business Advisory Committee, and the Valuation Resource Group.
- Project-specific working groups: The Board often will create a working group of people with specialized experience to advise it on project-specific standard-setting issues. Those groups, which always include investors and other users, meet periodically with the Board and staff and provide input through other less formal means. There are currently active working groups for leasing, reporting financial performance, and insurance contracts.
- Project-specific investor outreach: Board members and staff often contact investors directly to solicit their views on financial reporting issues, including whether to add a project to the agenda and to get input on the relative usefulness of alternative approaches to solving particular reporting problems.
- Exposure of proposals: A main feature of the Board’s due process is the exposure of proposals for public comment. The exposure process allows anyone interested in financial reporting, including investors, to provide their views on proposed standards.
- General investor outreach: FASB members and staff hold periodic meetings to expand and enhance direct communication with investors. Through mid-2009, Board members and staff had met with several dozen investor representatives. The FASB also has plans to launch a web portal geared specifically to users. Through it, users can learn about potential upcoming issues and provide input on current standard-setting activities.
The Board strives to obtain a complete picture of investor perspectives by considering together the input it receives from these various sources. For example, the project to comprehensively reconsider the accounting for financial instruments has benefited from the input of users through a project-specific resource group, advisory groups such as ITAC, FASAC and PCFRC, as well as liaison group meetings, a roundtable on fair value, numerous roadshows and individual calls with about 100 investors. See a summary of investor outreach to date.
Communicating Investors’ PerspectivesAnother critically important feature of the Board’s due process is communicating, both internally and externally, what it has learned about the perspectives of investors and other users.
Internally, we communicate what we have learned to all Board members and staff through meeting minutes and staff-prepared memoranda.
We communicate externally in a variety of ways:
- Each time the Board meets in a public decision-making meeting, it provides observers with a handout that describes the issues being discussed and a summary of significant investor input received. Those meeting handouts are available on the FASB website.
- Minutes or other summaries of public meetings of standing advisory groups and project-specific working groups are available on the FASB website.
- The basis for conclusions section of each Exposure Draft and final Accounting Standards Update describes the various ways the Board obtained user views, what those views were, and how those views influenced its judgments.
- A summary of comments received on an Exposure Draft, including views expressed by investors, is prepared and made available on the FASB website.
Governance and OversightThe Financial Accounting Foundation is the independent, private-sector organization that created the FASB and is responsible for its oversight. In particular, the Foundation is responsible for financing the FASB, selecting FASB members, and overseeing the standard-setting process to ensure that the FASB achieves its mission. A 16-member Board of Trustees governs the Foundation.
Investors are represented in the governance and oversight of the FASB. Several individuals with a strong, active, investor perspective serve as members of the Board of Trustees and on important Trustee Committees, such as the appointments and evaluations committee (which makes FASB member appointment and reappointment recommendations) and the standard-setting process oversight committee (which is charged with evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of the standard-setting process, including investor participation).
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“There was simply too much fun to be had.”
Reality and three narrowly dodged death sentences kind of puts a damper on that illusion as 13-year old Jacob Marateck, citing “the ignorance of youth and a desire for grand adventure,” leaves his small Polish hometown to seek some rudderless escapades in the Warsaw of the absorbing and often black-humored true story The Accidental Anarchist.
Indeed, the adventures in this novel are many, and unforeseen. Variety-spiced life mixed with historical events of the 1900s in Russia and Poland sees Marateck moving on from student to baker’s assistant, labor organizer to an officer in the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 against the Japanese in China. Marateck has his own struggles close at hand, too, in situations “in which the men under my command wanted to kill me, simply for being a Jew, as much as the enemy did, simply for being in the way.”
At the same time, a fervent Marateck tries to contribute to the rumblings of revolution then underway, intent on doing his bit in overthrowing Czar Nicholas II — including joining in "amateur spy missions that would have gotten a Hollywood screenwriter fired.” But in the course of these uncertain times, he is sentenced to death three times, the first two times for, respectively, hitting a superior, and then for falling asleep on guard duty. Having narrowly averted execution in most entertaining and unexpected fashion, Marateck is then left to face the harsh Russian and Asian winters, surviving sub-zero nights, starvation-tested marches, and ongoing gun battles.
Returning to Warsaw to catch up with the revolutionaries, Marateck is arrested and sentenced to death again. But three times’s a charmed life, if you want to call it that, as he ultimately receives a reprieve and is sent instead to a Siberian labor camp. After escaping his fate of hard labor and permanent exile in Siberia with Warsaw's eccentric "King of Thieves," the two strive to survive while roaming the expanse of Russia from Petersburg to Siberia. The objective: obtain false papers to travel home while avoiding the Secret Police. With more adventures in different circumstances, the rollicking and rewarding second half of The Accidental Anarchist, ensues.
It’s all part and parcel of the the book's captivating plot that gets a big boost from the writing and the characterization. “It is not the circumstances of our lives that determine who we are,” notes Kranzler in her Dedication, “but rather the way we choose to interpret them that defines our personalities and, to some extent, our destinies.”
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A video that aired Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention proclaiming that “government is the only thing that we all belong to” is getting strong reaction from conservatives, and the Obama campaign is disavowing involvement in the production, BuzzFeed reports.
The video, entitled “Welcome to Charlotte,” includes other proclamations like: “We do believe you can use government in a good way.”
Conservatives took to Twitter on Tuesday to denounce the video. Mitt Romney tweeted: "We don't belong to government, the government belongs to us." Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, had a one-word reaction to the video: “WOW.” Pundit David Gergen noted: “quote may set off the right.”
An Obama aide emailed BuzzFeed disavowing involvement in the video: “The video in question was produced and paid for by the host committee of the city of Charlotte. It’s neither an OFA nor a DNC video, despite what the Romney campaign is claiming. It's time for them to find a new target for their faux outrage."
The executive director of the host committee also said that the video was unaffiliated with both the campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
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Attorney General Perks Include Personal Use of Agency Aircraft
The Justice Department spent $11.4 million on executives’ non-mission aircraft travel from 2006 through 2011, nearly a quarter of which was for personal travel.
The attorneys general and FBI director serving in this period overwhelmingly accounted for the travel, taking 95 percent of the flights, according to the Government Accountability Office. The AGs and FBI director partially reimbursed the government for the personal trips, in accordance with the law, GAO found.
The executives were only on the hook for the cost of an equivalent commercial flight for a government employee, auditors said. For example, the attorney general took a personal trip to New York in November 2010, costing the government about $16,000. The AG reimbursed the government $420.
The Justice Department retains an aircraft fleet primarily for missions such as surveillance and drug-trafficking prevention, but allows executives to use the crafts for non-mission travel as well.
Fifty-one percent of the AGs’ non-mission flights were for business -- for example, a speaking engagement on behalf of the agency or a meeting with government officials -- while 41 percent were personal. Ninety-seven percent of the FBI director’s trips were business related.
Federal regulations stipulate the AG must use Justice aircraft for all flights, including personal trips, for safety and communication reasons. The FBI Director now faces the same mandate, but the rule did not apply to the position until 2011.
The FBI maintains its fleet in a covert location and spent $1.5 million transporting its aircraf from that location to Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington prior to non-mission flights by the AG and FBI director.
This story was updated with addtional detail.
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|Students identify work skills with test|
by Lindsey Jackson · March 08, 2013
A special high school assembly was held to honor juniors who received National Career Readiness Certificates (NCRC). West Liberty High School principal Jim Hamilton, assistant principal Brenda Arthur-Miller, Mike Witt of Iowa Workforce Development and Dauna Kiser of WeLead spoke and presented the certificates. Arthur-Miller said 69 of 74 juniors earned the certificates, which were awarded in the categories of platinum, gold, silver and bronze. In order to receive certificates, juniors took three WorkKeys assessment tests - one in applied mathematics, one in locating information and another in reading for information. These assessments were created by ACT in 2006...
Subscribe to the print edition of the Index to read complete stories. 319-627-2814 or email firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Elizabeth Gigantelli is receiving Bachelor of Science in Industrial Organizational Psychology with an English minor. After graduation, Elizabeth plans to find a job in her field of study and eventually pursue a Master’s degree in the same. She is the recipient of the Psi Chi Research Award at the Easter Psychological Association Conference, Vice President of the Psychology Club, and Treasurer of the Psi Chi National Honor Society. Elizabeth chose to pursue a Citation in Honors to challenge herself and get a bit more out of her college experience, and liked the flexibility in the program and the classes that were offered. She also enjoyed the fact that they were a good combination of interesting and challenging subject matter. Elizabeth would like to thank Dr. Youngblood for her encouragement and help over the past couple of years; her parents for supporting her and pushing her to pursue the Citation in honors, and Christina Elvidge for being so helpful and understanding in this process.
Director: Dr. Sheryl Youngblood
Reader: Dr. Edward Crawley
Full Article in PDF Form
One of the largest industries in today’s society is the fashion and cosmetic industry. It is an industry that annually grosses billions of dollars and can have a large reaching affect on people. This is because what is perceived to be beautiful and attractive drives society. People will try to emulate what society deems as attractive. Attractiveness and physical appearance are such strong factors in today’s society. They have far reaching affects on many things such as how we perceive people and their abilities.
People have been found to attribute a wide range of positive characteristics to those whom they find to be physically attractive. Those that are deemed to be less attractive receive worse treatment simply because of their appearance. Stevenage and McKay (1999) identified an attractiveness bias which is the idea that “what is beautiful is good”. They found that society believes that attractive people are seen as having more desirable personality traits, greater job success, happier marriages, and a more fulfilling social life. In past research, Feingold (1992) has established that attractive people are perceived to be more sociable, dominant, warm, mentally healthy, intelligent, and socially skilled.
Contact Honors and Fellowships 570-348-6211 x2344. Send email comments to email@example.com
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During my time with Army and Marine Infantry units in Iraq and Afghanistan I have seen women carry their full load on big, multi-day missions. But then they go back to the large FOB while the guys continue to go out on the daily missions.
Marine Officer Katie Petronio wrote abut the struggle of physical reslience during her deployment to Afghanistan commanding a Combat Engineering platoon in Afghanistan.
“By the fifth month into the deployment, I had muscle atrophy in my thighs that was causing me to constantly trip and my legs to buckle with the slightest grade change. My agility during firefights and mobility on and off vehicles and perimeter walls was seriously hindering my response time and overall capability. It was evident that stress and muscular deterioration was affecting everyone regardless of gender; however, the rate of my deterioration was noticeably faster than that of male Marines…”
Her rate of deterioration was faster because she only produced a fraction of the muscle repairing testosterone of the male Marines. Petronio, who was a varsity athlete in college and “benching 145 pounds when I graduated [college] in 2007″ was falling apart at the fifth month of her deployment. Army units deployed for 12 months until recently.
Many elite female athletes can outperform male soldiers when the women have adequate rest, recovery time and nutrition–but rest, recovery and proper nutrition are in short supply at Combat Outpost Zerok. Combat is not like sports season where you only have one or two games a week for three months, or training for one or two big events a year. It is every day for 365 days, then a period of recovery before resuming pre-deployment training and then another 365 days. (330 days with leave and R&R).
Many who support opening up combat arms to women so that they have equal career opportunities do not understand that to reach the top of the infantry ranks rquires incredible physical reslience. On the enlisted side, Company First Sergeants are in their late thirties and still going after years of deployments. On the officer side battalion and Brigade Commanders must maintain their prime physical conditioning into their forties–after years of deployments.
The number of women who at the age of 40 are capable of keeping up with young men in a combat environment is very small.
Go read the whole thing. If we continue to let the social engineers run the military we are in for a peck of trouble.
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Spring is coming; we are on the down-slide out of winter now. Everyone join hands and sing because I think we’re gonna make it (after all).
I’ve been receiving a number of emails from readers looking for spring gardening advice: starting seeds, edibles to grow in containers, favourite varieties, etc, so I think it’s high time for a spring gardening recap. I’ve gone through the archives (11 years worth!) and selected how-to articles that will help you get started or provide a little inspiration if you’re feeling stuck.
To begin, please check out my books as they provide all sorts of advice, projects, and processes to follow that are not available on this website. You Grow Girl is a general guide for small space gardening that covers a wide range of plants and topics, and Grow Great Grub is all about growing FOOD in small spaces.
About a month ago, I wrote a guest post for Apartment Therapy/Re-Nest on propagating herbs by cuttings. This is how I quickly double my basil harvest every summer at no extra cost. Basil grows easily from seed too, but stem cuttings are fast and easy — they’ll produce roots in water in about a week or two! By mid-summer my collection of scented geraniums (Pelargoniums) are huge! Why not take a few cuttings and share the wealth with friends?
On the Re-Nest site someone asked a question about taking cuttings from bolting plants. I have not been able to post a comment so I am adding a reply here.
SoRad: We grow basil like an annual in colder climates, but in tropical conditions the plant is a perennial. There are also varieties of basil that are reproduced by cuttings only… they don’t produce seed. Some basil varieties bolt quickly and constantly, while others only do-so when the weather gets really hot.
Bolting when it comes to basil is more about the conditions a particular variety prefers rather than “age.” It is better to take cuttings from plants that aren’t under heat-stress, but I have found that it can be done successfully — your best bet is to move the rooting cuttings to a cooler spot.
Happy Summer Solstice!!!
My third article in this season’s Globe & Mail Kitchen Gardening column was published on Saturday. The topic is growing nasturtiums to eat.
One of my goals with the series is to publish articles while there is still time for as many gardeners across Canada as possible to get that particular plant into the soil (I am writing to a Canadian audience with these articles…. not easy since Canada is massive and growing conditions vary radically). As a result, my nasturtium article was published before my own plants had flowered. They still haven’t! There are lots more nasturtium varieties than can be found in the local gardening shop — I try to grow a different variety every year. This summer I am growing ‘Creamsicle.’ I can’t wait for the soft orange flowers to come up.
Meanwhile, my friend Barry was daring and put his seeds into the soil well before the last frost date for our region. As luck would have it the weather was unseasonably warm and his flowers are already up. I managed to shoot the very first open bloom on the day my article and photos were due. How’s that for timing?
Here it is:
The variety is called ‘Mahogany’.
Do you have a favorite nasturtium variety? Which variety are you trying for the first time this year?
When I was in the West Indies, I was surprised to see how much people coveted strawberries. While I was salivating over golden apple and fresh bananas, West Indians were paying through the nose for a basket of pathetic, well-traveled berry-like objects. I don’t think strawberries grow very well in extreme tropical heat. That didn’t stop one gardener I visited in Dominica from trying. As my own strawberries begin to set fruit and ripen I wonder if her little plant has made it and if she was able to savor a few homegrown berries this year.
Here in Toronto, it’s not too late to start strawberries. My first article of the season for the Globe & Mail explains how, but did not include this photo of a mixed planting I put together using an old honey tin I bought at a yard sale. If you are going to use something like this, don’t forget to add drainage holes. I made several in the bottom using a large nail I keep on hand for this purpose. Everything in this pot is edible, including the flowers.
One Each of: An unknown hybrid strawberry (the berries are ripening now!), ‘Golden’ sage (it is not hardy here and does not grow very big), ‘Gem Apricot Antique’ viola (may soon have to be replace for something more heat tolerant as the summer kicks in, or you can just pull it out when it kicks it and let the strawberry and sage spread.)
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Society of Jesus has been a lifelong inspiration
By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA (CCN)--When Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast left Montreal for Toronto August 13, 1961 to begin his novitiate in the Society of Jesus 50 years ago, he admitted shedding some tears aboard the overnight train.
“I think it was just leaving my parents and my friends,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be back for some time.”
But he awoke the next morning to a new adventure and a sense of joy that has accompanied him, with a few exceptions, ever since. His life as a Jesuit has taken him from Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Regina, and Ottawa, along with sabbaticals in Rome and Jerusalem. A scripture scholar, he has taught high school students, university students and seminarians in Toronto, Halifax and Regina. He eventually moved up in the episcopacy, first in Toronto as an auxiliary bishop then to Halifax and Ottawa as archbishop.
“My life has been very happy,” he said. “Even with a few crisis places, basically it’s been happiness every day. I get a good night’s sleep. Get up in the morning and I have new energy, ready to take on the day.”
Entering at age 17, he said he did “go through some affective issues,” but he waited them out and “they resolved themselves.”
As a high school graduate, the Montreal-born archbishop said he did not have many life experiences to draw on when he entered the novitiate. He had a paper route while in elementary school and later delivered beer for a small store in his neighborhood. In the winter, he skated every day he could in the park across the street from his home.
“I played hockey,” he said. “I wasn’t very dexterous. I wasn’t a star but I could get up and down the ice.”
He early on found a Eucharistic spirituality that attracted him to serving at Mass. “I knew my way around the altar,” he said. He could understand the Latin and often acted as M.C.
A diocesan priest asked him when he was in the 7th grade whether he had considered the priesthood, and he said no. But that question got him thinking about it. In high school, the young Jesuit scholastics who taught at Loyola high school attracted him to join the Society. He thought he would end up a Jesuit high school teacher.
“I really loved my teaching,” he said. “I was kind of sloppy in my Latin and Greek,” he said. “The way I learned it was when I taught it. In Scripture, too, you learn so much from your professors but when you have to explain it yourself you have to go back and rethink it.”
Jesuit spirituality and religious life has not only given him a rigorous academic formation—he obtained a doctorate in Scripture from St. Mary’s University in Halifax-- it has deepened his faith and shaped his character.
The second of five children in a devout Catholic family, he joked that maybe he was a bit like the old Avis “we try harder” commercial. “I was passionate about things.”
“Religious life knocks some of the rough edges off,” he said.
When he started out, he, like his Jesuit brothers, wore the distinct cassock that had given the Jesuit missionaries the name “black robes” until they began studying theology. Once he made his first vows in 1963, he began wearing the clerical collar. Ordained to the priesthood in 1972, Archbishop Prendergast, 28, was younger than the usual age 30-33 age for ordination in the Jesuit priesthood.
Every Jesuit is both member of community, with a common vision and common approach, and an individual, he said. The Society has been described as “a long black line, suggesting that we’re all the same, but when you looked at the way the cincture [the belt on the cassock]was held: some wore it high, some wore it low, some wore it kind of nonchalant.”
“Once you get to know a Jesuit, they are as various and as different as anyone else,” he said.
Jesuit spirituality, especially the Spiritual Exercises of Society founder St. Ignatius, has shaped his daily life over the past five decades.
The Exercises provide a way to get to know Christ through a reading of the Scripture that interiorizes the texts and makes them personal, he said. The closing meditation or contemplation of the Exercises is about “finding God in all things,” the archbishop said.
Jesuits are expected to ask himself at different times of the day, where has God been in the morning, where has God been during the rest of the day; where have they noticed him, where have they failed to notice him, he said.
In Archbishop Prendergast’s last annual retreat, he focused on the passage from Mark’s Gospel about Jesus asleep in the boat while a storm raised wind and waves that swamped the vessel and terrified the disciples.
“In the Ignatian way, when you find the Lord in a biblical moment, biblical scene or a particular word, you don’t try to move on,” he said. If the Lord is speaking to you in a particular story, you stay with it until it is time to move on.
“Sometimes you are focusing on the fear: Can I handle the choppy waves of this particular diocese or moment or particular things inside of me?" he asked. "Am I overconfident, am I fearful, am I peaceful? Can I find peace because, the hope we always have, is that after next month, next week, things will quiet down?"
“They never do,” he said.
Challenges are a constant. But as a minister of the Gospel, he has realized he can only do what he can and cannot regret what he does not have time for as long as he is doing his best in finding the Lord’s will and doing it.
“If I am trying to find him in all things, then I just carry on.”
Ignatius also has spiritual mental exercises such as asking what I would want to do at the time of my death---if I knew I was going to meet the Lord next week or next month, how would I resolve something, or what would I choose, he said.
“If I make decisions that are very cogent, and perhaps humanly responsible, still the Gospel may be calling me to take up the cross, the Gospel may be calling me to be thought poorly of by people, like Jesus was,” he said.
It is not important to come out like a “shining star in a Business Man’s Quarterly, who has achieved many results, he said. Instead, we are called to be faithful.
“Sometimes the most important thing is to be associated with Christ who is humiliated, a position a lot of our bishops are in right now,” he said. “Even if they themselves are not responsible for abuse or mishandling or incompetence it’s being laid at their door today because they’re in charge”
“In a theological and spiritual perspective, am I identifying with Christ crucified? Didn’t I want that? Didn’t I ask for that in my prayer?”
“We’re supposed to ask for reproaches with Christ reproached, and mistreatment with Christ mistreated because I want to be like him,” he said.
“Our hope is that being nurtured in the Spiritual Exercises, having a common vision of trying to find God in all things, and being an instrument in God’s hands, trying to want what God wants, that’s what distinguishes us when we’re at our best,” he said.
At a special ceremony at the Canadian Martyrs Shrine in Midlands, Ontario, Archbishop Prendergast and two confreres will celebrate a 50th anniversary Mass at the memorial to the eight Jesuit missionaries to Canada who were slain in the service of the Gospel. The celebration will follow a four and a half day congress. The Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Nicolas will be present for a day and a half.
Archbishop Prendergast said he has always appreciated the great Canadian Jesuit Martyr Jean de Brebeuf who prayed for the gift of martyrdom. “He knew that living the way he did was going to stir up animus.”
“If he happened to suffer martyrdom because of his attachment to Christ, that would be for the good of the people and for Christ’s glory,” he said. “So for him, after all, he began to desire that thing that humanly speaking he would have shrunk from, not because he was a masochist but because he wanted to be like Christ.”
“To me that personal identification with Jesus goes beyond just walking the hills of Galilee and smiling and talking about the kingdom,” he said. “It also means being rejected.”
But these days being ignored can be the form the cross takes, he said. At least if people are rejecting your message they are interested and engaged.
Archbishop Prendergast celebrated his anniversary in his diocese on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart July 1, and in his homily tied it in with this year’s 400th anniversary of the Jesuits’ arrival in Canada. He noted then how the Pope had entrusted to the Jesuits the mission of promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart.
“To enter the Heart of Christ is to know the depths of his love,” he told the congregation at Notre Dame Cathedral. “And this knowledge, like fire, cannot be contained, it must spread.”
“In their zeal for the Kingdom, Jesuits are called to be ready to move on, or to wait, to return and to stay, but in every circumstance to proclaim, ‘not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.’”
Jesuits have been on the forefront of movements for social justice, particularly in Latin America, and the archbishop said the media focus has often been on people on the extremes.
“I think in every group there are always going to be people who err on one side or the other, whether this is typical of the Jesuit order as a whole I don’t know,” he said. “Obviously, there have been people on the extremes, some who so spoke about justice that they lost the fact that it’s in service of the faith. Other people who so spoke of the service of the faith that they weren’t interested at all in justice.”
“The tension is always to keep the two in harmony. The promotion of justice that is required by the service of the faith is not some kind of justice that is apart from it.”
Finding that balance was brought home in a personal way April 1, when Archbishop Prendergast canceled the visit of a brother Jesuit Father Luis Arriaga of the Centre PRODH, a Mexican human rights NGO to his diocese. Subsequently, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace cancelled funding to the Centre, which had been a long time partner, when the Cardinal Archbishop of Mexico City wrote the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Centre’s support for pro-abortion groups and a woman’s right over her body, against unborn life.
Jesuit Provincials in North America, without naming Archbishop Prendergast, wrote an open letter protesting the funding cut and praising the Centre’s human rights work.
The archbishop said the signing of the letter by his own provincial has not created a barrier between them.
Meanwhile, he hopes young men who feel a call on their lives will consider the Society of Jesus.
“It’s a great life and I’m very confident in the young people that we have,” he said. “We still have young men who come who desire to serve God as a brother or a priest and want to have a different kind of experience than a parish priest.”
It’s the charism of the Jesuits to go anywhere in the world where there is a need for particular projects, whether it be in Arabic studies, or Chinese history that some new Jesuits are pursuing, he said.
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Prevention programs continue to be good investment
August 12, 2008
by John Packham, Ph.D.
Reno Gazette Journal
A new report from the Trust for America's Health
, Prevention for a Healthier America, examines how much the U.S. and Nevada could save in health care costs if we invested in disease prevention by funding proven community-based programs that address diseases resulting from lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, and smoking and tobacco use....
Prevention for a Healthier America concludes that "for America to become a healthier nation, prevention must become a driving force in our health care strategy and become central to discussions about how to reform health care in the U.S." Simply put, prevention pays.
View the full story (some sites require registration)
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LONDON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A 71-year-old Hindu living in Britain can have his last wish, to be cremated in the open air in a traditional ceremony, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The Court of Appeal ruled for Davender Kumar Ghai, reversing a Newcastle city ordinance and other court decisions, The Independent reported. The judges said the cremation on a traditional pyre would have to follow environmental rules and be within a walled building.
The decision "breathed new life into an old man's dreams," Ghai said. He now plans to supervise the building of a crematorium to accommodate his body when he dies and others who agree with him.
"I always maintained that I wanted to clarify the law, not disobey or disrespect it," he said. "My request was often misinterpreted, leading many to believe I wanted a funeral pyre cremation in an open field, whereas I always accepted that buildings and permanent structures would be appropriate. Now I may go in peace."
Many Hindus and Sikhs living in Britain accept standard cremation. Ghai had little support in his own religious community until Foreign Minister Jack Straw said last year most of the public would find open-air cremations "abhorrent."
The Court of Appeal did not decide the issue based on human rights. Instead, the judges ruled existing regulations can accommodate the traditional funeral pyre.
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Parents Plan to Spend Less on Back-to-School Supplies
The kids have been home for the summer for several weeks now, so it’s time for parents to start thinking about sending them back to school. This means we need to start saving money now for everything that they will “need” to go back to school.
From PR Newswire and PriceGrabber’s Annual Back-to-School Shopping Forecast found that parents plan on spending LESS on school supplies this year.
48% of parents plan to spend $250 or more on back-to-school shopping, which is down from 56% last year. 25% will spend more than $500, down from 31% a year ago.
69% of parents plan to shop around online to get the best prices instead of just taking the kids to the store. That’s three times more than the number who did so last year. About 41% will print out coupons, up from 33% in 2010.
Parents will also cut back by having the kids use their old electronics. 18% of parents plan to buy their kids a new laptop, down from 24% last year. 11% will buy a new phone, down from 13% last year.
10% will buy an electronic tablet like an iPad, which is a new item on the survey this year.
One area where spending is up from last year is clothing. 75% of kids will be getting new clothes this year, up from 70% last year.
How would $1,000 help Back To School this year? Enter the Back To School Showcase and you could win one of four prize packages valued at $1,000. You win, you choose!
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29th September 2010: This was my contribution to a debate in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) on the action taken by France concerning the Roma.
"The fact that the people, who were returned from France to the countries from which they had come, were Roma leads to the presumption that they were returned because they were Roma. The French Government would claim that they were returned because of their activities and inactivity.
"The idea that different treatment amounts to discrimination is based on the assumption that generalisations cannot justifiably be made about different peoples. However, even the impeccably anti-discriminatory head of the Socialist Group described the Roma recently in the plenary session as a difficult minority. He and others spoke of the Roma and the need to enforce the criminal law in the same sentence. Their innuendos were clear. The Roma were involved disproportionately - not universally but disproportionately in some forms of criminal activity.
A few months ago, in a LIBE hearing about human trafficking, I asked if any population groups were involved disproportionately among the traffickers and the trafficked. The representative of Europol replied "the Roma" to both questions."
(I ran out of time but I would have continued with the following)
"The plan to spend large sums of money to integrate the Roma is based on two questionable propositions:
1. that it is morally right to tell people to leave their traditional way of life and live like other people and
2. that individuals and peoples are malleable and the product of their treatment. Spend money on people and they will change. They will not!"
29TH September 2010: THESE were my contributions this morning to the second day of the hearing in LIBE on Combating sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
When I arrived to sign in, one of the attendants said that they were waiting for me to arrive. I thought that this was a strange remark to make, as I am only reserve member of the committee from the Non-Attached group.
It was then that I saw that I was the first person to arrive apart from the Vice President presiding over the hearing. A few more arrived after me but probably no more than five or six and at one point there appeared to be only three MEPs including me. The co-ordinators had obviously thought that this hearing was so important to hold but not important enough to attend.
These are the questions I asked and comments I made.
QUESTION & COMMENT: Miss Shaw (one of the speakers from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre - CEOP) mentioned that the sex offenders register had prevented attempts by convicted paedophiles to gain employment with children from succeeding.
What happens when sex offenders are caught seeking such employment?
Have they committed an offence (by making such an attempt)?
Are registered sex offenders prevented from having access to the internet?
REPLY: Miss Shaw said that offenders seeking employment with children would certainly be in breach of the registration order. She said that the most serious sex offenders were prevented from have internet access.
QUESTION & COMMENT: Miss von Weiler (one of the speakers from Innocence in Danger) mentioned that abusers were often people trusted by the family and the child believes that he/she will not be believed. Sometimes they are right. There are cases of wives and partners of abusers placing themselves in denial, even after conviction. Do we need a public education programme for parents telling them the warning signs and explaining how they might make it easier for their children to tell them about abuse. Perhaps it might persuade parents to carry out certain procedures such as checking on computer use by their children.
REPLY: There was no response to this.
QUESTION & COMMENT: Mr. Sellström (a speaker from the Swedish Police Force) said that the total number of children identified as victims of child abuse by child pornography images was only 1,852 and implied that this was only a small proportion of the total number of victims pictured on such sites.
How small a proportion this?
REPLY: There was no response to this.
QUESTION & COMMENT: Mr. Robbins (one of the speakers from the Internet Watch Foundation) said that 98.6% of broadband users used service providers that co-operated with the Internet Watch Foundation).
Who are the other 1.4%?
Have they chosen their service providers innocently or have they chosen their service providers because they do not co-operate with Internet Watch?
Why do the service providers not co-operate?
Are they complicit with the abusers?
Are they lazy or careless?
Are they simply ignorant?"
REPLY: Mr. Robbins and another speaker seemed to indicate that some broadband users might have chosen service providers deliberately because they did not co-operate with Internet Watch but were reluctant to suggest that that was the main reason.
QUESTION & COMMENT: Mr. McNamee (Advocacy Co-ordinator of European Digital Rights) has said that blocking can be used to prevent access to sites that are unconnected to child abuse.
Is it used by member states to prevent access to international political web-sites unconnected to any form of pornography?
If they did I would deplore such measures. However, that would not seem to be a reason for refraining from blocking sites that do distribute child pornography.
You mentioned Deep Packet Inspection (cataloguing and storing everybody's internet use in order to discover whether people were gaining access to child abuse sites).
Could this be used by unscrupulous governments to identify people who might have gained access to unapproved political websites?
REPLY: Mr. McNamee said that blocking had been used against an ant-paedophile web-site but disclaimed any knowledge of blocking access to political web-sites.
QUESTION & COMMENT: Mr Noten mentioned the connection between child abuse and prostitution. In some towns and cities of the United Kingdom, adolescent girls have been targeted by abusers who convince their victims that they have a romantic attachment. This is used to get them addicted to Class A drugs and to groom them for prostitution.
The town that is best known for this practice is Keighley in Yorkshire. However, when the abusers operate from sensitive* areas the police are reluctant to intervene and the media are reluctant to report the abuse.
REPLY: There was no response to this.
* sensitive areas might just as easily be described as enriched areas.
28th September 2010: This was the third contribution of yesterday afternoon from Andrew Brons, this time during a debate in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) on Passenger Name Record agreements between the EU and the USA, Australia and Canada.
Our MEP for Yorkshire and North-East Lincolnshire said:
"When this subject was last discussed (in LIBE), I expressed my surprise that Australia should need such information because all passengers travelling to that country need to have a visa, which requires them to be identified. Other MEPs seemed to be similarly bemused. However, a member of the Secretariat afterwards explained that this agreement would require much more information to be supplied - the person's travel history (to which countries that person had travelled) and even credit card payment details.
In my view, this is an example of a line being crossed between supplying the identities of people travelling to a state, which it is perfectly acceptable for that state to know, and the handing over of information that is possibly sensitive and has security relevance only if there is some independent evidence placing persons under suspicion."
28th September 2010: This was a contribution made by Andrew Brons in Brussels yesterday to debates in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home affairs Committee (LIBE) on (i) the Re-admission Agreement between the EU and Georgia; and (ii) the facilitation of the issue of visas (to Georgian nationals).
"Why should it be necessary for a state (Georgia in this instance) to have to consent to their own nationals being returned? I can understand that Georgia might be reluctant to accept the citizens of third countries that might have travelled illegally to the EU from Georgia. I should have thought that such people would, more appropriately, have been sent to the third country in question, rather than to Georgia from which they travelled.
The facilitation of visas being issued to people from Georgia has ostensibly nothing to do with immigration or permanent residence. However, once a person has been admitted to the European Union, there are few real safeguards against them seeking work and permanent homes and becoming, de facto, immigrants. Their questionable status would make them vulnerable to exploitation of the worst possible kind. This is about third countries, with visa facilitation, becoming, in effect, an outer ring of quasi member states."
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Norman Finkelstein: I was of course happy to meet the Hizbullah people, because it is a point of view that is rarely heard in the United States. I have no problem saying that I do want to express solidarity with them, and I am not going to be a coward of a hypocrite about it. I don’t care about Hizbullah as a political organization. I don’t know much about their politics, and anyhow, it’s irrelevant. I don’t live in Lebanon. It’s a choice that the Lebanese have to make: Who they want to be their leaders, who they want to represent them. But there is a fundamental principle. People have the right to defend their country from foreign occupiers, and people have the right to defend their country from invaders who are destroying their country. That to me is a very basic, elementary and uncomplicated question.
My parents went through World War II. Now, Stalin’s regime was not exactly a bed of roses. It was a ruthless and brutal regime, and many people perished. But who didn’t support the Soviet Union when they defeated the Nazis? Who didn’t support the Red Army? In all the countries of Europe which were occupied – who gets all the honors? The resistance. The Communist resistance – it was brutal, it was ruthless. The Communists were not… It wasn’t a bed of roses, but you respect them. You respect them because they resisted the foreign occupiers of their country. If I am going to honor the Communists during World War II, even through I probably would not have done very well under their regimes… If I’m going to honor them, I am going to honor the Hizbullah. They show courage, and they show discipline. I respect that.
Interviewer: That is an accurate description of the situation before 2000, but after 2000, the Israelis withdrew from South Lebanon. There was a rift within Lebanon between the Lebanese political players on the issue of the future of the weapons and the issue of the resistance. This rift, which has taken place… You are now taking sides. After all, you are saying that you are only visiting Lebanon, but you don’t see the ramification of the July war for the people.
Norman Finkelstein: Listen, if you want to close your eyes and believe it was all over in May 2000, you can do so. You can play that game. But the reality was – and everyone understood it – that the Israeli attitude was: We are going to knock out Hizbullah. They began planning for a new war right after they were forced to leave in 2000. They found their excuse, their pretext, in July 2006, but there is no question among rational people that Israel was never going to let the Hizbullah victory go by. They were determined to teach their…
Interviewer: The war could have been avoided.
Norman Finkelstein: It could not have been avoided. There is no way that the United States and Israel are going to tolerate any resistance in the Arab world. If you want to pretend it can be avoided, you can play that game. But serious people, clear-headed people, knew there was going to be a war sooner or later.
Do you think there is not going to be another war? Do you think Israel is going to allow that defeat in July 2006? Do you want to pretend it is Hizbullah that is causing the trouble? No, there will be another war, and the destruction will probably be ten times worse – maybe even more – than July 2006, because Israel is determined, with the United States, to put the Arabs in their place and to keep them in their place. Now, how can I not respect those who say no to that? You know, during the Spanish Civil War there was a famous woman – they called her “La Pasionaria” – Dolores Ibárruri, from the Spanish Republic. She famously said: “It’s better to die on your feet than to walk crawling on your knees.”
Interviewer: But that is up to the Lebanese people in its entirety.
Norman Finkelstein: I totally agree. I am not telling you what to do with your lives, and if you’d rather live crawling on your feet, I could respect that. I could respect that. People want to live. How can I deny you that right? But then, how can I not respect those who say they would rather die on their feet? How can I not respect that?
Israel and the United States are attacking, because they will not allow any military resistance to their control of the region. That’s the problem. If Hizbullah laid down its arms, and said: “We will do whatever the Americans say,” you wouldn’t have a war – that’s true, but you would also be the slaves of the Americans. I have to respect those who refuse to be slaves.
Interviewer: Is there no other way than military resistance?
Norman Finkelstein: I don’t believe there is another way. I wish there were another way. Who wants war? Who wants destruction? Even Hitler didn’t want war. He would much prefer to have accomplished his aims peacefully, if he could. So I am not saying that I want it, but I honestly don’t see another way, unless you choose to be their slaves – and many people here have chosen that. I can’t really say… I can understand it – you want to live. I can’t really say I respect it. You know, so many dead, so much destruction… Before the bodies are even buried, before the buildings are even rebuilt, the person who is responsible for it all – you can’t wait to welcome him. You can’t wait to roll out the red carpet. I can’t respect that.
In that respect, I like the Jews much more. I like their attitude. Do you know what the Jewish attitude is? Never to forgive, never to forget. I agree with that. Who roll out the red carpet less than two years after your whole country was destroyed by them? The Secretary of State said it was the birth pangs of a new Middle East. That’s the statement of a freak. A human freak would compare the birth of a child with the destruction of a country, and yet, there are people here who are so anxious to welcome her. They are trying to figure out what the Americans are thinking. They can’t wait for their banquets. How can anyone respect that? I respect the Jews a thousand times more – never to forgive, never to forget. All the death and all the destruction – and you can’t wait to welcome him.
Norman Finkelstein: It’s disgusting!
Who the hell cares if Bush is coming?
Interviewer: But you say there will be another war.
Norman Finkelstein: You should have declared him persona non grata. He’s not welcome here. He destroyed your country. He was responsible for the war. You know full well that resolution could have been passed three weeks earlier. He destroys your country, and you can’t wait to greet him. You have no self-respect. How can you expect other people to respect Arabs, if you show no respect for yourselves?
If the Lebanese people overwhelmingly vote to let the Americans and Israelis have their way, I guess you have to accept that. I could see that. I couldn’t possibly say that they don’t have the right to make that choice. Listen, in Nazi-occupied Europe, you have to remember, most of the populations made the choice to live under the Nazis. All this talk about a French Resistance is just a joke – it never happened. The French Resistance… About 20% of the French population read the Resistance’s newspaper. There were maybe 10% of the French who resisted. The rest said: “Don’t resist,” because the Nazis were ruthless. You resist – four hundred are killed for each soldier who’s killed. That’s how the Nazis operated. So most of the French said, like you: “We want to live.” “Don’t resist.” But now I have to ask you, in retrospect: Who do we honor? Do we honor those who say: “Let us live,” or do we honor those who said: “Let’s resist”?
Leaders come last. There will be a leader who comes to power in Israel, who is willing to make the concessions, after the conditions have been created – namely, Israel has to suffer a defeat.
Posted on February 18, 2008 by Dave
Finkelstein Expresses exactly how I feel about the situation in Lebanon. Thanks to Idrees on the Fanonite.
Israeli propaganda organization MEMRI posted the following interview in the hopes that it would discredit Norman Finkelstein. It seems they don’t realize that Finkelstein is airing views that have broad support around the world. “Israel Has to Suffer a Defeat“.
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Assistant Directors have long labored under an immense strain of paperwork. Their responsibilities include creating Call Sheets that delineate everything that is going to happen on the next shooting day, Production Reports which detail what happened on the previous shooting day and the creation of a Screen Actors Guild timesheet, called an Exhibit G.
The requirements to create these documents dates back to the beginnings of the studio system. But the effort involved in their creation has meant that Assistant Directors routinely spend more time typing than performing their duties on set.
Directors Guild of America members Paul Silver, Elion Olson and Michael R. Williams began collaborating in early 2012 with the goal of finding a solution to these issues. Working together, they solved the technical hurdles inherent in managing large amounts of information.
“Most of the data for a show is generated when you first break down the script, but that information is trapped in the software used to create schedules,” co-creator Paul Silver said. “We knew there had to be a way to reuse that data. The more efficiently the AD department runs, the more efficiently the whole production runs.”
Named Casper, the software allows users to create Call Sheets, Production Reports, Exhibit G’s and Hot Cost Reports. Its creators have devised a method for importing the schedule into Casper. Once imported, all of the documents communicate with each other, allowing data entered in one document to appear in another, without having to retype it. It requires a copy of Microsoft Excel to run it.
Co-creator Elion Olson noted, “As assistant directors, we have all felt trapped under the weight of these documents. It’s our hope that we’ll now be able to more quickly prepare our paperwork and get back to set, where our real job is done.”
ThinkCrew.com is giving the software away for free on their website.
“It’s incumbent upon everyone in the industry to give back,” co-creator Michael R. Williams said. “We were all helped by someone else at some point in our careers. If our work can help benefit someone else, then that’s our reward.”
ThinkCrew.com launched in 2010 and is dedicated to creating software for the film and television industries. Among their programs are Poco, which is software that helps feature film production offices closely track information about their crew, vendors and travel. ThinkCrew.com also creates a host of business forms used by accounting, schedule strips used by assistant directors and worksheets for use in tracking actor work days.
Paul Silver is a Line Producer and First Assistant Director for feature films and television. His credits include American Virgin, Kevin Smith’s Spoilers, Wuthering Heights and Dead Man’s Curve. He has over twenty years of experience.
Elion Olson is a Second Assistant Director for feature films and television. His credits include Fast & Furious, Soccer Mom, Honor and Me and You and Everyone We Know. He has been working in the film industry for twelve years.
Michael R. Williams is a Line Producer and Unit Production Manager for feature films. His credits include
I Love Your Work, Shackles, Vacancy 2, Next Day Air and Meet Monica Velour. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and got his start as an intern at Paramount Pictures in 1990.
# # #
If you’d like more information about Casper, or to arrange an interview with the co-creators, please call Michael R. Williams at (323) 848-9456 or email at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Lessons from Project Hope 01/11/2011
By Sarah Kincaid
A few weeks ago I had the honor of visiting an HIV/AIDS project in Russia called Project Hope. This summer campers at Central Bible Leadership Institute raised over $6,000.00, with an additional $5,000.00 contributed by THQ, to support this Love In Action Project. Project Hope is managed by the St. Petersburg Corps to help support HIV+ mothers and families. Formula, food, clothing and moral and spiritual support are provided to these individuals, who come from unique and diverse backgrounds, as they are coming to terms with their HIV+ status. This visit was an important venture for our Sponsorship Program, allowing us to gather and share accurate information with our sponsors and donors.
On a personal level, I had an unexpected learning experience emerge from my time in Russia as God taught me three significant lessons.
Our money makes an impact
I've always trusted in The Salvation Army, and as I shadowed the staff of Project Hope on their home visitations, food distributions, and clinic visits I was filled with joy knowing that lives are being impacted by the donations made back in the USA. Nina, the director of Project Hope, is a quiet, humble, unassuming woman. Her life is an inspiring story of courage which involved ministry to Chechen refugee children and six months living as a hostage in a 6 foot by 6 foot pit. Considered to be an expert and the go-to person regarding HIV/AIDS within the Salvation Army in Russia, Nina is a resource to other agencies involved in HIV/AIDS support as well. Even with a permanent limp, a daily reminder of her time being held hostage, Nina carries on unconditionally loving Project Hope recipients and providing practical support to them.
HIV/AIDS is misunderstood
Though I am an individual who holds a college degree and attempts to pursue justice and love in all parts of my life, I was stunned to discover how unaware I truly was of what HIV/AIDS is and how it is perceived. I knew of the variety of ways one can become infected with HIV, but interactions with the Project Hope individuals made this disease real, gave it emotions, made it human. As I observed the Project Hope recipients (such as the family pictured above) I quickly discovered that HIV/AIDS can affect people from all walks of life. I didn't expect to see a young healthy-looking father running into the office on his lunch break to quickly talk to Nina, grab formula and rush back to work. I didn't think the little boy playing around the outside of the clinic smiling and wearing a Salvation Army hat, who happened to remind me of my perfectly healthy nephew, would be HIV+. Maybe the agencies that advertise and market to donors with pictures of HIV+ toddlers with bloated bellies and adults confined to beds are doing us a disservice. Should we only be compelled to give when the hurt is visible, or will we give and love in faith, with our eyes closed? The individuals I met all had different experiences, different stories of betrayal, innocence, mistakes, inexperience and pain.
God desires for us to love one another
Time should not be wasted with concern about how individuals contracted HIV or what these individuals look like. Our concern should be to show mercy and love to all, with our eyes closed and with our hearts open. 2 Corinthians 13:11 says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." Pursue restoration in God's name, and look for the lessons God has for you!
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This is a thoughtful guided tour of recent financial history. The viewpoint is built around correlations, linkages between deals, markets and asset-classes. I had noticed these on a daily basis and thought them important, but hadn't seen a focused explanation such as this. This book addresses various general investment types and portfolios, showing how the idea of diversification can be an illusion. Oil and commodities fluctuations over the last few decades are one big focus, in the USA and relatedly in emerging markets. But this book is a big-picture overview of the global economy, linkages across its regions and parts, finance innovations, shocks and adjustments over recent times, through 2010, with well-thought considerations for the future. I had seen many of these terms before but always enjoy a new lucid explanation and walk-through with its own angles and nuances. I would put this in my "top 5" of financial books, out of dozens read lately. The downloadable graphs and charts are readily understandable and well-integrated with the text.
Bagehot was a ground-breaking writer on things financial and economic. This work was a landmark I believe in the formation of 20th-century concepts of banking, and central banking in particular. Those who enjoyed "The Bankers Who Broke the World" might like this, though this is drier. I liked the cadence of this fine, sober English prose.
I found this a great accompaniment to an all-online financial accounting class, because it fills in what the class and textbook lacked: a nice conversational sort of overview of how all the parts fit together.
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This report provides a snapshot of what patients have to say about the accessibility and quality of ambulatory cancer care in British Columbia (BC). These first-hand experiences matter—to patients, their families and friends, and to those who work in health care. They also provide an essential perspective from which we can continue to inform and target initiatives to improve cancer care in the province.
Patient Experiences with Ambulatory Cancer Care in British Columbia focuses on features of health care that Canadians have indicated are important to them—respect for their values, preferences and needs, coordination and continuity of care, information, communication and education, physical comfort, emotional support, and the involvement of family and friends. The report also pays attention to other facets of quality that have been identified as a priority by those who work in health care in BC—access to care and safety.
In 2005, the BC Ministry of Health and the province’s health authorities commissioned surveys of patients who received ambulatory cancer care in British Columbia. NRC+Picker conducted the survey, which was mailed to 12,215 adults who received chemotherapy or radiation treatment on an outpatient basis between November 2005 and May 2006. More than 6,974 patients completed the survey. Researchers at NRC+Picker analyzed the survey data, and the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research created this report to summarize the results.
Patients in BC gave high ratings to the overall quality of the ambulatory cancer care they received—97% of those surveyed rated the quality of services as excellent, very good or good. However, responses to more detailed questions regarding specific aspects of the quality of their care reveal that patients see room for improvement. They gave relatively high ratings to access to care, physical comfort and provider respect for patient preferences. They gave lower ratings to coordination and continuity of care, to information, communication and education, and to emotional support.
Access and Wait Times
Most patients (78%) felt that they didn't have to wait too long for their first appointment for treatment. After arriving at appointments, 69% waited less than 30 minutes for chemotherapy and 74% waited less than 15 minutes for radiation treatments. When asked how often this wait exceeded expectations, approximately 60% reported 'never' and 35% reported 'sometimes'. The majority (80%) of patients who did have to wait indicated that staff did everything they could to make them feel comfortable.
Physical Comfort and Safety
A majority (80%) of patients reported that providers did everything they could to address the side effects of cancer treatment, but felt providers could have done more. Five per cent believed that they or their families suffered personal injury or harm resulting from a medical error or mistake. Analysis of the survey results by NRC+Picker indicates that these issues are not concentrated in a single health authority or facility.
Respect for Patient Preferences
Patients reported that providers respected their preferences, treated them with dignity and respect, and offered opportunities for family and friends to be involved in their care and treatment. The majority (88%) felt they could trust their care provider with confidential information.
Coordination and Continuity of Care
Most patients reported that they knew who was in charge of their therapies (83%) and that providers knew enough about therapies to treat cancer (79%). But only half said they were always aware of what the next steps in their care would be (53%) or who to ask when they had questions (57%). Half reported that their care providers were not always familiar with their medical history.
Information, Communication and Education
Many patients reported they were given enough information about cancer therapies (66%), felt comfortable discussing new cancer treatments (73%), understood why tests were needed (79%), and understood test results (69%). Half felt they didn’t receive enough information about potential changes in their energy levels, nutritional needs and work or usual activities.
Patients see the area of emotional support as having the most room for improvement. Sixty-nine per cent reported being told of their diagnosis in a sensitive matter, but few were put in touch with other providers who could help them deal with anxieties and fears when they were first told of their illness (35%) or after (24%).
- Diane Watson
- British Columbia Ministry of Health
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Under a deal announced Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress trade show, users of some Verizon phones who have a voice and data plan will be able to download a free Skype application in late March. That will let them call or instant-message other Skype users for free or call regular phone numbers outside the United States for a fee paid to Skype. These calls would go over Verizon's network and would not use up minutes on a cell phone plan.
Minutes would be deducted, however, to use Skype to call regular phone numbers in the U.S., Verizon said.
Initially, the mobile application will be available for nine Verizon phones, including several BlackBerry models and Motorola Inc.'s Droid and upcoming Devour handsets.
John Stratton, Verizon's chief marketing officer, said the application will be able to run all the time in the background. This means other people should be able to contact you through Skype even if your phone is on standby.
Other wireless carriers have blocked the Skype app from running all the time. It's available on the iPhone only in Wi-Fi hot spots. In October, AT&T said it would relent and let the program work over its cellular network as well, but Skype has not yet released an application to enable that. Verizon's version of Skype mobile will not work over Wi-Fi, the companies said.
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Welcome International Students!
University Libraries of Kent State University welcomes you to the KSU community. This page is intended as a starting point to help you navigate the variety of services and resources provided by KSU University Libraries.
The library systems used in this country may vary from those of your home country. The following resources are intended to help familiarize you with our terminology, facilities, services and resources. If you have questions about any of the following, please stop by or call the Main Library Reference Desk at (330) 672-3150.
Visit this page for a variety of ways to explore our Library resources and service points.
Use these links to learn more about the 14 Libraries at Kent State.
Library Organization and Policies
The KSU Libraries use an open stacks system, which means that in all areas (with the exception of Special Collections and Archives) you will need to retrieve books on your own. Use the link above to go to a guide on locating items by call number.
Click above for information on loan periods, renewals and fines.
Getting Help in the Library
There are many ways to get help in the libraries...in person at the Reference Desk, by phone, my email, by Instant Messaging (IM) and more...
For in-depth assistance, subject specialists are available. Click above for a listing of Librarians by subject.
If you would like to speak to a librarian in your native language, check here for a list of librarians with foreign language proficiency.
Look here for some recommended language resources, both print and online.
Look here for directories of news websites from around the world and in many different languages.
Highlights of Other UL Services
For a complete listing of services, refer to the University Libraries Homepage.
Our Interlibrary Loan service enables you to request and obtain materials such as books and articles that are not in our KSU collections. Most requests are able to be processed free of charge.
The KSU main Library is a Government Depository Library, which means that government publications and information are readily acquired by this library. Portions of the 10th floor of the Main Library contain the Government Documents collection and much government material is now accessible online as well. Click above for more about Government Information Services at KSU.
Located on the first floor of the Main library, the Student Multimedia Studio (SMS) provides a wide range of multimedia equipment, software and support to create presentations for course projects. It is open to all students.
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U.S. planes strike Taliban front lines
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. attack planes struck the ruling Taliban's front lines in northern Afghanistan on Sunday in apparent coordination with the opposition Northern Alliance.
Two F/A-18s began strikes against Taliban forces near the former Soviet air base at Bagram, just north of Kabul, about 4:15 p.m. local time (7:45 a.m. EDT). Bagram is now under the control of the Northern Alliance, but the Taliban control the surrounding area.
The planes made a total of four passes, striking together and separately, before flying off after about 45 minutes, a CNN photographer at Bagram reported. Taliban troops responded with salvos of anti-aircraft fire.
U.S. forces began targeting Taliban forces in the area last week. Northern Alliance commanders had been complaining that the U.S.-led strikes have focused too much on targets deep inside the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and not enough on frontline positions.
The Northern Alliance troops on the ground seemed to be aware the attack was coming: Just before the planes arrived, Northern Alliance generals warned people at Bagram of the impending attack, the CNN photographer said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed that the United States had given the Northern Alliance food, ammunition, supplies and even money. Northern Alliance officials said 20 U.S. troops were cooperating with their forces in what a U.S. official in Washington told CNN was a "liaison" mission with the opposition.
The Northern Alliance has been thwarted in its attempts to advance on Kabul, since the Taliban controls the mountain road between Bagram and the capital. If the attacks were to force the Taliban to evacuate those positions, the Northern Alliance could head for Kabul.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Northern Alliance was poised to "move aggressively" toward Kabul. But in Northern Alliance-held territory, troops have made no movement along their front lines north of the capital, aside from scattered skirmishes, since the U.S.-led airstrikes began nearly two weeks ago.
Their forces have advanced toward another strategically important city, Mazar-e Sharif, now held by the Taliban. But Taliban troops have pushed alliance troops back in recent days, and Rumsfeld said the Taliban are putting up stiff resistance.
But Powell said Sunday that the Northern Alliance, which is composed mostly of Afghanistan's ethnic minorities, should not play a dominant role in any post-Taliban government.
"There are others who wonder whether or not it would be the best thing for a group, however effective it might be, that really only represents only 15 percent or thereabouts of the overall population actually going into the capital," Powell said. "Will that just crystallize opposition elsewhere? Even the Northern Alliance recognizes the problem, and they have been rather candid in discussing it this with us."
Powell said the alliance, which is still recognized as Afghanistan's government by the United Nations, would be an "important part" of a new government. "But at about 15 percent of the population, I don't even think they think that they are in a position at this time to be a dominant figure."
Powell said a new government could include lower-level Taliban officials who don't agree with their leadership, but, "There is no place for any element of current Taliban leadership in a new Afghanistan." But a spokesman for the Northern Alliance in Washington soundly rejected the suggestion that any so-called "moderate" Taliban might play a role in a new Afghan government.
"We certainly think that inclusion of the Taliban moderates would be sort of like inclusion of moderate Nazis in the post-Hitler regime after World War II," alliance spokesman Haron Amintold CBS's "Face The Nation."
"Moderate Taliban don't exist," Amin said. "They are intrinsically a very, very fanatic group."
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Are you married to your financial opposite?
Spendthrifts and tightwads are attracted to each other, but money talks can get fierce in marriages where spouses don't have the same habits.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Does your wife's closet look like a jewel box of shoes, while you wish your bank account could afford an actual box of jewels? Or maybe you're tired of your spouse snapping up the newest tech gadgets and instead want to spend the money on a vacation together.
You're not alone.
When it comes to money, fiery opposites attract, according to "Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage," a study being authored by a team of professors from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University.
"We found that people tend to marry spouses with opposing emotional reactions toward spending," the report said.
People register how much something costs in terms of how much it pains them to dish out the cash, according to the report. As a result, spendthrifts gravitate toward tightwads to help them balance their financial tendencies and emotional reactions to money -- even if they do it on a subconscious level.
"Opposites attract for personality traits that people dislike in themselves," said Deborah A. Small, one of the three authors, who is an assistant professor of marketing at The Wharton School. "Critical to the definition of spendthrift and tightwad is that there is some self-recognition involved. You recognize that you are acting differently than you want to act and as a result you tend to be attracted to people who act in a different way than you."
So how did the authors determine that financial opposites attract? Online surveys that focused on consumers' feelings about spending money -- theirs and their spouses'. The respondents were then rated on a Tightwad-Spendthrift scale that ranked them based on their emotions toward money -- not necessarily how much they actually spend.
Spendthrifts, for example, are those who experience little pain or remorse when spending, while tightwads are all too conscious of what it costs them to part with a dollar. One person feels guilty for not saving more, while the other is wracked by not enjoying life.
"Tightwads and spendthrifts are generally unhappy with their emotional reactions toward spending, and complementary attraction may benefit both spouses if they help each other overcome their prepotent emotional reactions toward spending," according to the report.
Double-edged sword: Of course, the reality of being married to someone with different -- and thus, ideally, complementary -- attitudes toward money is not all joy and partnership. When you want to buy the new flat screen and your spouse wants that cash to go into the retirement fund, compromise can be hard.
"Complementary emotional reactions toward spending money among husbands and wives will be associated with greater conflict over finances, which will in turn be associated with diminished marital well-being," the report finds.
So while there are plenty of long-term benefits of marrying your financial opposite, the frequent bickering can certainly strain relations.
Get it out before the wedding bells ring: How many times have we all heard there are three topics that you just don't talk about: religion, politics or money. But waiting to find out about financial ghosts in the closet until after getting hitched doesn't make sense.
"Most of us were raised that talking about money was taboo, so we don't know how to communicate about it," said Joan Sharp, CFP at Life Strategies LLC in Newcastle, Del.
"But if you went into business with someone, wouldn't you draw up a business agreement on how you are going to pay each other or how you are going to unwind the business if one of you wants to buy the other out?" said she added. "Marriage is love, but it is a business."
You have a right to know how much your spouse-to-be makes, how much debt -- from credit cards to education loans -- your future life partner really has, and how much your partner likes to spend on Starbucks every week.
"Ideally, I would have this very unromantic conversation before you got married where you actually showed each other your credit scores and talked about any ongoing financial obligations," said Jill Gianola, Certified Financial Planner at Gianola Financial Planning in Columbus, Ohio.
Navigating the tension: The recession has pinched consumers, putting additional pressure on money talks. If you are having battles over financial decisions with your spouse, then professionals suggest you start the conversation about your bigger goals.
"One of the first things I do is pull them back from the day to day nitty-gritty to the bigger vision of where they are going as a couple," said Gianola.
Save the dollars and cents for another conversation. "Sit down and don't pull out money," added Sharp. "Have a conversation about what is important to each other. The first time that you sit down and talk, don't talk money."
In order to better understand the other spouse's feelings, Gianola recommends that if one person always pays the monthly bills, the other spouse ought to take over the checkbook for a while. Furthermore, a couple could set aside one day a month to go over their performance for the month in terms of meeting established goals.
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Those recent pics of an Intel NetBook floating around online finally have an official name attached to them. It's the 2go PC from a laptop vendor named Computer Technology Link, or CTL, according to a spec sheet dug up by Engadget (and it looks suspiciously similar to a laptop we had sitting in our lab last August).
Intended for the education market, the 2go PC clearly has its roots in Intel's Classmate PC platform. That's not surprising, since we told you last August that the low-cost design of the Classmate would, "lead to cheaper, smaller laptops for everyone, although likely not directly from Intel, which wants to stay out of the system-selling business." In other words, Intel would come up with the basic design, but the actual laptops would be, "sold by local OEMs, who offer customized software configurations for the needs of each individual market."
The main difference between the Classmate we looked at last year and the 2go PC/NetBook is the 40GB 1.8-inch 4200 hard drive, as opposed to the Classmate's 2GB SSD hard drive, and the display, which has been bumped up to 9 inches, from 7 inches, but keeps the same 800x480 resolution. Both have a 900Mhz Intel Celeron processor and basic 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.
Take a peek at this vendor photo of the 2go PC and our shot of the Intel Classmate, and you'll see a pretty clear DNA match between the two. Expect the 2go PC to hit the market in the next couple of months, for around $400, and we're sure we'll see NetBook-like systems from other vendors in the same time frame.
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNN/WPBF) -- A cat in Florida travelled nearly 200 miles in more than two months to reunite with her owners.
The last time Jacob and Bonnie Richter saw their 4-year-old cat Holly, she had bolted out of their motor-home Nov. 4 in the middle of the Daytona Speedway Park, apparently frightened by fireworks.
For days, the distraught couple searched for holly, putting up flyers and alerting rescue agencies before despondently heading home to West Palm Beach.
There was a brief glimmer of hope when a rescue group spotted the distinctive cat outside of a Daytona Beach restaurant which fed feral cats.
But she disappeared again before the Richters could drive there. That was until Saturday when she showed up near collapse in barb Mazzola's Palm Beach gardens yard. She says, "She was so skinny, so thin, all bones and weak and she could hardly walk, she was walking really slow, so weak she couldn't even get a 'meow' out.
Incredibly, Holly had walked from Daytona Beach all the way down Florida to within one mile of her home. In little more than two months, the little kitty walked 190 miles.
Mazzola took holly to a vet who found her microchip which showed she belonged to the Richters. And the little cat with the big will to come home is finally back with her family.
This story serves as another reminder to pet owners: get your pet microchipped even if it doesn't live outdoors. It can prove helpful if your pet should ever get lost.
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To learn more about your microwave oven or to buy parts, click here.
I'm reminded of one time, a fellow tech and myself were at the shop. He was working on a large countertop microwave and I was down the hall in the front office. We could see each other and were carrying on a conversation, I forget about what. I'm absolutely positive he had a few fillings in his mouth because as he was looking and talking to me his hand must have touched the high voltage diode or capacitor, discharging it. I kid you not sparks flew out of his open mouth! Being the trained and responsible guy I am I immediately fell to the floor, laughing my ass off. I eventually recovered and asked him if was ok and he said yes, just scared the hell out of him. I said, "Man, did you see sparks fly out of your mouth?" He said no, he must have missed that. Needless to say we both found new respect for microwaves and the awesome, dangerous, and sometimes hilarious power of the high voltage capacitor.
Source: Im DUMB and need help on Kitchenaid Microwave khms2040wss-0
Go from this...
It's so easy!
- 2 jars salsa (use a good quality salsa, and choose the spiciness according to your taste. I use one mild and one medium, but I'm a little wimpy. Samurai would prefer it to be muy caliente!)
- 2 cans refried beans (I like Amy's brand, either traditional or black bean, usually found in the organic section of grocery stores)
- 1 package corn tortillas (look for organic, non-GMO. Healthiest brand is Food For Life's Sprouted Corn Tortillas, in the freezer section of many natural food stores or the organic section of some grocery stores.)
- 1 8-oz. package shredded cheese, jack or cheddar
- ½ bunch cilantro, chopped, optional
- sour cream, avocado, scallions, tomatoes, shredded lettuce... as many toppings as you like!
Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.
In a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, spread about 1/2 a jar of salsa on the bottom.
Put a third of the corn tortillas on top of the salsa, breaking them up as necessary to fit in a single layer and cover the bottom as much as possible. A little overlapping is fine. Most packages come with either 10 or 12 tortillas, so you'll use 3 or 4 for each layer.
Spread one can of the refried beans over the tortillas, then the other 1/2 jar of salsa, then about 1/3 of the shredded cheese. (These steps are pictured below - not that this is complicated, but pics are always fun!)
Repeat the layers of tortillas, beans, salsa, and cheese one more time.
Finish with a final layer of tortillas and the remaining salsa (smear around to cover the edges of the tortillas) and top with the cheese.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 40 minutes, until all bubbly. Remove the foil, add the cilantro, if using, and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese on top is like you want it.
Serve with sour cream or greek-style yogurt, and other optional veggie toppings.
You can make this a meaty concoction by simply adding or substituting seasoned, cooked meat to/for the refried beans. For example, I prepared 2 pounds of ground beef with 1 packet of taco seasoning and used that in place of the beans. This meaty version does especially well with some chopped veggie toppings (tomatoes, scallions, lettuce, etc.), since it is so hearty. Make sure your baking dish is a deeper lasagna-style one, since this version is a little thicker!
Photo documentation of the complicated layering process
Refried Beans (and/or meat)
Then repeat those layers one more time (from tortillas through cheese), finish with final layer of tortillas, salsa, then cheese. Here's what it looks like when done baking! (I added the cilantro in the last 5 minutes or so of cooking.)
[Yes, I did reset the breaker and checked the voltages. Here's the wiring diagram:
Source: Amana NED7200TW Dryer no heat, problem with cycling thermostat?
25 user(s) are online (in the past 60 minutes)
0 members, 23 guests, 0 anonymous users
Bing (1), Google (1)
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In a groundbreaking case, a Paris court will decide for the first time whether to dissolve the Church of Scientology in France, which is facing charges of organized fraud.
The demand was made by French prosecutors on Monday (June 15) as they wrapped up their case against the church's Paris headquarters and bookshop. If found guilty, the institutions may also face a nearly $6 million fine.
Six members of the church are also on trial, and may also face heavy fines along with prison sentences if convicted.
The plaintiffs, two former Scientologists, claim the church conned them into spending tens of thousands of dollars in bogus products in the 1990s, including an "electrometer" that the church says can measure energy levels.
But the church, which claims a membership of 45,000 in France, rejects the accusations and claims it is being persecuted.
The plaintiffs, are "apostates who ... want to criticize their ex-religion," Fabio Amicarelli, a European Scientology representative, told French media recently.
While the charges pose the most serious challenge to the French church to date, they are only the latest clash in a nearly two-decade long battle against Scientology. Several fraud cases have already been judged and several members convicted of embezzlement in France, where Scientology is viewed with deep suspicion.
In one case, the head of the church's Lyons chapter was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1996 for his role in a member's suicide.
Founded in 1954 by late American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church is considered a religion in the United States with adherents that include Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
The French government, however, lists Scientology as a sect, reflecting an official intolerance of unorthodox religions. Indeed, the government even has an official sect watchdog body -- known as MIVILUDES, the Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Cultic Deviances.
A government report published in May said the number of religious sects had tripled in France over the past 15 years to at least 600 different movements.
Christianity Today's coverage of Scientology, including a brief explainer of why Christians object to it, dates back to 1969.
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Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Google buys ITA Software (Part 2: What does ITA Software do?)
Yesterday in Part 1 I told some of the history of ITA Software, the air travel pricing and reservation software company bought this month by Google for US$700 million.
Today I'll discuss ITA Software's strengths, weaknesses, and strategic approach to the airfare puzzle (Part 2, below). Tomorrow I'll finish up by describing how ITA Software's acquisition by Google might affect travellers (Part 3).
You may wonder why I go into such detail about what ITA Software does, or why Google is buying them for US$700 million. But as I said yesterday, "Google's purchase of ITA Software is likely to be a bad thing for travellers", and the technical background below is necessary to understand why:
Airline ticket prices are determined by the "fares" in a published "tariff". A fare is not a price tag on a seat, but a price associated with a set of rules . The rules of a fare always include rules about what route(s) on what airline(s), reserved in what "booking classes", qualify for the fare, and usually including a variety of other rules. Any reservation or ticket that satisfies that set of rules is eligible for that price.
Rather than allocating seats by price (or more precisely "reservation confirmations", since airlines overbook and there isn't a 1-to-1 correspondence between how many reservations an airline is willing to confirm on a flight and how many seats there are on the plane), airlines allocate the "availability" of confirmations by "booking class" designated by letter. So as of a particular moment, for a particular flight on a particular date several weeks in the future between New York JFK and Chicago O'Hare, an airline may be willing to confirm up to 9 seats in "Y" class, up to 3 seats in "Q" class, and none at all in "Z" class. There isn't a 1-to-1 correspondence between booking class and price, either: a Q seat JFK-ORD may be ticketed as part of a through one-way fare JFK-ORD-PDG, as part of a JFK-ORD-JFK round-trip, as part of the return leg of a DSM-ORD-JFK-ORD-DSM trip, or as part of millions (or orders of magnitude higher) of other possible journeys at different prices specified by those different fares.
There is no database of availability, either. Airlines determine the availability of confirmations in particular booking classes on particular flights in real time, in response to queries transmitted through computerized reservations systems (CRS's) from reservation offices and call centers and travel agents.
So the price for a specific ticket is a function of both the fares (prices and associated sets of routing and other rules) in currently published tariffs and the real-time willingness of the airline(s) to confirm reservations in specific booking classes on specific flights.
To a skilled human travel agent, this looks like a heuristic sequential query problem, not a database search problem. If such an agent is being paid enough to make their best effort, they look first at the tariff of published fares (typically accessed through a CRS using a complex query language with, at least from the command line, many categories of modifiers and qualifiers). They pick the lowest of the fares in the tariff that will be applicable and for which they think (based on knowledge, experience, and practiced intuition) that there will be availability for flights (airlines, dates, times, route, etc.) acceptable to the traveller, and then search for availability on those flights in the booking class(es) required by that fare. If they can't confirm reservations that qualify for that fare on an acceptable schedule, they go back to the fares (adjusting their expectations based on what they have found), and search for availability for the next higher potentially acceptable fare for which they hope to find qualifying seats available.
(In practice, travel agents less and less often actually go through this process, for a variety of reasons including the elimination of commissions paid by airlines to travel agents, the reluctance of travellers to pay travel agents fees commensurate with the required skills, the degradation of the tools and training made available to travel agents by the CRS's, and the replacement of command-line travel agent CRS interfaces with easy-to-learn but functionally crippled GUI's. But that's another story.)
Central to the break-up of ITA Software's founding partnership, as I discussed yesterday in Part 1, was the decision to abandon any effort to replicate this methodology, and instead to seek a "brute force" solution to airline ticket pricing.
For what it's worth, this didn't have to be a binary choice. Just as some chess-playing programs combine heuristic and brute-force components, or work in partnership with human chess players, the other major recent independent developer of airline ticket pricing software and systems, Airtreks.com -- where I used to work and with whom I am still affiliated -- uses an intermediate "travel consultant cyborg" approach in which some functions are performed by human experts and some by robots, in a complex symbiosis. Airtreks.com has invested almost as much effort in developing proprietary software tools to enhance and extend the abilities of its human experts as in its purely robotic first-order price-estimation software.
But supposing that you want to take an entirely brute force rather than heuristic approach to airline ticket pricing, how do you go about it in the absence of a database of price tags for seats? ITA Software's "solution" was to use a series of availability queries to create a database of pseudo-price tags for pseudo-seats. Once that was done, the problem remained difficult mainly because of its scale and the number of permutations to be considered (again, as with "look-ahead" brute-force chess analysis), but amenable to ITA Software's signature "cleverness" in algorithms and software implementation.
So the essence of ITA Software's system is:
- A 'bot that queries airlines for availability, flight by flight, mainly through CRS's although in some cases through direct connections to airlines' in-house reservation systems, to compile a cache of availability information. This process has been described to me by ITA Software CEO Jeremy Wertheimer, and in ITA Software's patents and pending patent applications. (I see Wertheimer each year at the PhoCusWright conference, and I've pressed him on how often a new query is made to update the cache for each flight. Wertheimer won't say, but it appears to be measured in hours for most flights, probably less for some of the flights of greatest interest in the next few days or weeks, and perhaps as infrequently as daily or less for some flights in other parts of the world of little interest to ITA Software's core customer base in the USA.)
- A database and index of the cached responses to these availability queries.
- A search module that responds to user queries on the basis of that index and cache, without the need to query any external data sources unless and until the user tries to confirm reservations on specific flights on the basis of an option offered from the cache.
Through the clever kludge of the CRS crawler and availability cache, ITA Software transforms a real-time problem of third-party queries into a simpler search of a locally resident and already indexed database.
[This description is, of necessity, somewhat simplified, but I fear that greater detail would render it incomprehensible to anyone outside the industry.]
What's perhaps most obvious about this methodology is how closely analogous it is to Google's approach to the problem of "searching" constantly-changing Web sites not stored on Google's servers. Rather than try to query potentially responsive Web pages in real time in response to user search requests, Google conducts a periodic "crawl" of HTTP queries of third-party pages, constructs a "cached" database of responses, indexes that cache database, and searches the index -- not the cache and certainly not the Web itself -- in response to each user query. Only when you click through the search results to the Web site do you see the current page content or find out if it is still the same. It's clear why the approach adopted by ITA Software would seem particularly logical and appropriate to Google's engineers. ITA Software's key problem is also like Google's: How do you index dynamically-generated or personalized Web pages, or real-time dynamic responses to availability queries?
Eliminating real-time availability queries except for customers who have already agreed to a price estimate for specific flights, and are ready to make reservations, saves money for ITA Software and its customers , who are airlines and travel agents -- travellers aren't its customers. Travel agents -- including ITA Software's online travel agency customers -- are charged a fraction of a cent for each query or command they execute from the command line. Human travel agents can't execute commands fast enough for the charges to justify fundamental changes in their procedures, but they can be prohibitive for an online travel agency with a high "look to book" ratio making rapid-fire robotic queries on behalf of comparison shoppers only a small percentage of whom complete purchases.
ITA Software doesn't (yet) host any of the airlines' reservation databases or operate their availability-decision systems. [Update: Several readers have pointed out that this may no longer be entirely true, depending on the manner in which ITA Software's "Dynamic Availability Calculating System" (DACS) has been deployed and is being used as a replacement for, rather than merely an emulator or mirror of, airlines' "legacy" availability management systems.] Reservation database hosting and availability management is either outsourced to CRS's (by most airlines) or handled in-house. Like other CRS users, ITA Software pays per-query fees to compile or update its cached pseudo-availability database. That has several consequences:
- There are enormous economies of scale and barriers to entry for a would-be competitor using the same methodology, since the same number and cost of queries is required to build the pseudo-availability cache regardless of how many people are using the system. It's unclear if the whole concept would have been commercially viable without a launch customer for ITA Software with the sales volume of Orbitz.com.
- ITA Software has a substantial financial incentive to query availability as infrequently as it thinks it can get away with, exploring the limits of consumers' willingness to put up with seemingly "bait and switch" results when what appears to be an offer to sell a ticket turns out to be only an estimate based on an outdated availability cache or incorrect availability projections from responses to past queries. (As an aside, one of the things the USA Department of Transportation has yet to address in its failure to enforce truth-in-advertising law in the sale of airline tickets is the misleading labeling of price and availability estimates as though they were firm offers to sell at a specific price.)
- ITA Software has an even greater financial incentive to eliminate these CRS and airline query fees entirely by developing an airline reservations hosting and availability decision-making ("revenue management") capability of its own, and wooing airlines away from existing CRS's or airlines' in-house systems. Currently, ITA Software uses a bombardment of individual queries to try to assemble an inevitably-imperfect copy, constantly being rendered out-of-date, of each airline's willingness to confirm reservations on each flight in each possible booking class. If ITA Software were hosting or operating that system itself for a particular airline, that entire process would be unnecessary.
This last point is perhaps the most significant: ITA Software's technical approach to the airline ticket pricing problem has created a particular compulsion -- independent of any interest in the CRS, airline hosting, or revenue management problems (not that they aren't all interesting and hard) or belief that they could build a better CRS or hosting platform -- for vertical integration with airline hosting and revenue/availability management.
While ITA Software might see its availability caching and prediction systems as "clever", a critic might see them as a kludge to adapt database search techniques to an information ecosystem in which ITA Software has only indirect query-based access to (constantly changing) third-party databases. But both ITA Software and its critics would likely agree that the ultimate solution for ITA Software lies in vertical integration with hosting/CRS functionality, to give ITA Software direct (non query-based) access to real-time availability for hosted airlines. The analogy for a search provider like Google would be Web sites hosted by Google, which Google doesn't need to query and "crawl" because it already has them on its servers.
When ITA Software got US$100 million in 2006 in its last round of venture capital investment before the sale to Google, its main use of the money was to try to develop its own airline hosting system to eliminate the need for pseudo-availability caching. ITA Software claims it now has an airline reservation hosting system ready to launch. But Air Canada, who was to be the launch customer, backed out, and ITA Software hasn't yet found any other airline willing to risk its operations and revenue stream to beta test a new provider for the most critical component of its IT infrastructure.
Now Google has stepped in, US$700 million in cash in hand, to buy ITA Software. What will happen next? And what will this deal mean for travellers? Stay tuned for Part 3 and my conclusions tomorrow.Link | Posted by Edward on Tuesday, 13 July 2010, 15:15 ( 3:15 PM) | TrackBack (1)
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Sailors Without Borders Delivers Filters and Bottles to Haiti
Wishing Well International Foundation donated Hydraid Biosand filters
A pallet of Hydraid Biosand Filters and 500 stainless steel bottles was loaded aboard the SV Tranquility in early March for delivery to La Gonave, Haiti. The vessel sailed from West Palm Beach, Fla., and reached the island in mid-March, after 10 days at sea. The steel-hulled sailboat carried provisions, clothes, books, toys, computers and other items, in addition to the filters and bottles.
After receiving clearance from local authorities, the boat was unloaded and the crew delivered goods to several villages on the island off the coast of Haiti. Members of Sailors Without Borders (SWB) flew in and joined the Tranquility’s crew to help in the effort.
This was the last of many trips made by the Tranquility and its crew, Cameron, Leighia, Maya and Fynn Murray, who will be sailing to New Zealand after their mission to Haiti is complete. They expect to arrive in New Zealand in September.
Once the volunteers and crew arrived at their destination, they were greeted by about 100 children and parents. “At that point, we were able to hand out school shirts (made possible by a fundraiser at the Palm Beach Sailing Club) and stainless water bottles (donated by Wishing Well Foundation Intl. [WWIF]),” Captain Cameron Murray said. “We then explained that once we got the water filtration units up and running, the recipients would be able to use their water bottles to get clean, fresh drinking water. We also stressed the use of the stainless steel bottles to reduce the amount of trash that ends up in the sea. We pointed out that a large portion of the local diet comes from the sea, thus the need to preserve it and keep it free of debris. As sailors, we wanted to overstress the point that without the sea, we would not have been able to get there to provide assistance.”
The volunteers then took off to the highlands, where more filters and provisions were delivered. The SWB crew set up, installed the filters and instructed locals on how to use and maintain them.
“We want to take this opportunity to thank Sailors Without Borders and the Murrays for this great effort,” said Guillermo Guzman, founder of WWIF. “Preparing to sail to Haiti and then New Zealand was hard enough, but [it is] nothing compared to the day-to-day work performed once on the ground. We realize how important our partners are and we really appreciate their hard work. Without them, none of this would be possible.”
More Like This
- Wishing Well International Foundation Partners With Sailors Without Borders
- Wishing Well International Foundation Continues Fundraising Efforts
- Paragon Water Systems Donates Filters to WWIF
- WWIF Exhibits at WQA Aquatech USA for First Time
- Wishing Well International Foundation South Africa Incorporated
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Whooooaaaa, this is a big thing, and something i'd not be keen on, whether it be Facebook or one of the other businesses indicated. This should not be in the hands of a business.
The Cabinet Office is working on its Identity Assurance (IDA) programme, a scheme that is intended to help people securely sign into online public services, without the need for an ID card. The login mechanisms for existing private-sector services are under consideration, and the office will say later this month which companies will be trusted providers.
On Thursday, a Cabinet Office spokesman confirmed to ZDNet UK reports that suggested social media firms, banks and mobile phone businesses are all in line.
"Facebook and people like that are potential providers," the spokesman said. "I'm not in a position to name individual companies that might be IDA providers [but] any ID assurance provider that can meet the level of assurance that we want can clearly provide that service."U.K. Considering Facebook Logins For Public Services Access [zdnet.com]
They floated this idea for the first time a while ago..DHSS and HMRC and some council stuff I think was the idea..
As long as companies house are not going to use it, for when I log in ..( in which case I'll close the companies and move them elsewhere ) then if the Brits cant be bothered to fight it and it goes through..then it won't be for lack of being warned..
Mark Z..who would have thought he'd be in the running to be the face of 1984 ..or the Matrix..
then again..facebook could get investigated, sued into oblivion by then and he could be wearing orange..
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I have a designer friend whose iPhone has a sticker on the back of it. It’s a simple sticker with a simple message.
It says, “Design Every Day.”
When I first saw this I was blown away. The message was so concise, so crisp and so compelling.
At first glance, you might respond, “Well, yeah, he’s a designer. Of course he designs every day. What do you expect from the guy?” That’s just it. Without a reminder would he truly design every day? Or could he lose sight of the priorities and get preoccupied with the mundane details of the to-do list and admin work?
See, what got me about the message was that it was a simple, inspiring, and constant reminder he gave himself of what matters most.
His passion is design.
That’s what got him in the field in the first place. His passion has led to his success: by being a great designer he was able to grow in his industry and enjoy his work at the same time. Unfortunately, with success come the realities of business. Project administration, email, and all the other daily routines will pull him away from actually designing.
When we turn to the core of our inspiration every day, we’ll find the drive to succeed in our careers. In turn, that drive can even enhance the administrative aspect of our work. Maintaining vision is crucial to staying motivated.
That got me thinking. We should all have a sticker like his. It should be stuck somewhere prominent, where it will infiltrate our day and remind us of what got us here in the first place:
“_______ Every Day.”
Fill in the blank with your passion.
Will it say “Write Every Day,” or “Lead Every Day,” or “Build Every Day” or “Learn Every Day”? Consider the important things you need to focus on that too often get swallowed up by urgent matters of the day.
Bring those important things back to the foreground, and ensure that you can give them your time. Every day.
What should your sticker say? Are you doing it?
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“Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.”
Charles de Gaulle
“Life is not a race course or a competitive examination. At worst it calls for endurance and at best it calls for a certain virtue in one’s dealings with oneself.”
Gore Vidal, 1957
In an unpublished letter to his half-sister, the late writer offers advice on life, his thoughts on JFK, and what it takes to make it into the history books. Read it here.
“Without wonder and insight, acting is just a trade. With it, it becomes creation.”
“Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth.”
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Dear all, Springer is launching a new book format in Climate sciences: This is called SpringerBriefs in Climate Studies, and these are samll books, from 50 until 125 pages. So this is really between an article and a traditional book, but is treated as a book (ISBN etc). The big advantage is that, if you have a study you want to publish but is too long for an article and too small for a big book, you can now still explain your whole study in this new format.
The books can be: a timely reports of state-of-the art analytical techniques, literature reviews, in-depth case studies, bridges between new research results, snapshots of hot and/or emerging topics etc. The subjects cover all aspects of Climate Science, including regional climate, climate monitoring and modeling, palaeoclimatology, as well as vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
If anyone is interested, please let me know.
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Feb 16, 2009, 4:14 AM
Post #1 of 15
Just as a point of information, do professional carnitas cooks really season and cook their product with all the things that I've seen in home recipes?
Orange, o.k. maybe.
Milk? Come on...
Oregano? Might not be bad, but I can't detect any.
Sweeteners such as sugar, in order to caramelize the carnitas? Could be good, but I've not tasted sweetened carnitas in either michoacán or Querétaro.
Orange Fanta or Coca Cola. Give me a break!
Beer. Why do so many cooks so often think much Mexican food has beer in it?
Salt. Well, sure.
I'm not planning on cooking any carnitas at home, as we have several excellent sources for them professionally made, at a reasonable price. Besides, I limit myself to indulging in this rich, often fatty dish maybe three times a year.
(This post was edited by Anonimo on Feb 16, 2009, 4:16 AM)
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Editor's note: NASA is expecting to get the 'passback' of its FY 2007 budget submission back from OMB any day now. Traditionally, NASA sends the budget over to OMB sooner - usually in October/early November - such that the 'passback' happens just before Thanksgiving. Traditionally, someone at NASA is pouring over budget charts while their turkey gets cold. This year things were delayed by a few weeks. All of this stuff is hush hush, ultra-secret, embargoed, etc. What follows is a preview of what NASA might expect - given what it asked for in FY 2006 - and now, for FY 2007.
November 2005 Archives
The newly reconfigured NASA Advisory Council met today at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. This was the first time that the NAC had met in a year - and was also the first time it met with Mike Griffin as NASA Administrator. But there is one glaring - and unforgivable omission in the panel's composition. Of the 24 members of the NASA Advisory Council, only one is female.
Shana Dale was sworn in today as NASA's 12th deputy administrator at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Before coming to NASA, Dale was deputy director for Homeland and National Security for the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
"The panel saw no evidence of an integrated resource utilization plan for use of the ISS in support of the Exploration Missions. Presentations that covered some elements of criteria and processes for determining priorities for utilization of ISS for different exploration missions demonstrated poor definition of those criteria and processes. In particular, the materials presented to the panel did not seem to take into account the effects that high priorities assigned to one mission would have on factors such as the ability to complete another, perhaps later mission, through depletion of necessary resources or limitation of necessary lead times."
"At ~8:00am EST, CDR McArthur supported a PAO/TV event, downlinking a "Top 10" list for the "David Letterman Show" on CBS."
"The NASA Administrator testified on November 3, 2005, before the House Science Committee concerning a $3 billion to $5 billion shortfall in funding the Shuttle through 2010. Such a shortfall could also impact NASA's ability to meet its accelerated timeframe for the CEV and to meet ISS requirements. These budgetary pressures may not only impact the ability to execute programs within desired timeframes, but may also impact the Agency's ability to retain the technically competent workforce necessary for efficient transition to the new generation of vehicles."
"In the enclosed Report of Independent Auditors, E&Y disclaimed an opinion on NASA's financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005. The disclaimer resulted from NASA's inability to provide E&Y auditable financial statements and sufficient evidence to support the financial stements throughout the fiscal year and at year-end."
Marshall eager to update its 1960s look, Huntsville Times
"Cramer said he will continue to fight for more NASA construction money, "but there will be tougher budget battles" in the future. "There is poison in the air when it comes to the budget," Cramer said. "It's going to become harder and harder to fund projects in the near future, and I believe there may be a time soon when we have to deal directly with budget deficits."
"According to a briefing given just before the Thanksgiving holiday a large budget decrease - and large job cuts - lay ahead for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center located in Greenbelt, Maryland. "There will be 500-1,000 fewer jobs in Maryland" Weiler told the attendees."
"During the coming months, we will continue these efforts, including this final buyout opportunity, to reduce the need for a reduction in force (RIF) at our Centers. In June 2006, I will assess our progress and decide at that time whether or not the agency will conduct a RIF in early fiscal year 2007."
Editor's update: According to Elon Musk at SpaceX: on November 26, 2005 at 5:11 p.m. PST: "The launch is scrubbed for today.As I warned, the likelihood of an all new rocket launching from an all new launch pad on its first attempt is low.
What happened was that an auxiliary liquid oxygen (LOX) fill tank had a manual vent valve incorrectly set to vent.The time it took to correct the problem resulted in significant LOX boiloff and loss of helium, and it was the latter that caused the launch abort.LOX is used to chill the helium bottles, so we lose helium if there is no LOX to cool the bottles.
Although we were eventually able to refill the vehicle LOX tanks, the rate at which we could add helium was slower than the rate at which LOX was boiling away.There was no way to close the gap, so the launch had to be called off.In addition, we experienced an anomaly with the main engine computer that requires further investigation and was arguably reason in and of itself to postpone launch.
We are anticipating rescheduling the launch within a week at the earliest but probably longer as we need to bring in LOX and helium from Hawaii.Our LOX plant on Omelekwill not replenish in time."
"A large deficit in NASA's troubled shuttle program threatens to seriously delay and possibly cripple President Bush's space exploration initiative unless the number of planned flights is cut virtually in half or the White House agrees to add billions of dollars to the human spaceflight budget."
Earlier NASA Watch postings:
- Griffin's Lunch With Andy Card
- Is OMB Considering Shuttle Termination?
- White House Memo Calls For Slashing Remaining Space Shuttle Flights
- NASA Internal Memo from Michael Griffin to William Gerstenmaier: In-Guide Option for FY 2007 Budget
- Kicking Costs Down The Road
- $5-6 Billion Shortfall? Old News
"... the end result is, we have to figure out the runout for the '07 budget, and we know we need about $6 B more than we have in the budget, for whatever set of historical reasons, which now do not matter. "
Liberals expected to field Garneau, Globe and Mail
"Former astronaut Marc Garneau is expected to run for the Liberal Party in the coming election, party sources said."
Statement by the Press Secretary, White House
"On Tuesday, November 22, 2005, the President signed into law: ... S. 1713, the "Iran Nonproliferation Amendments Act of 2005," which amends the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 to apply its provisions to Syria; broadens the Act to cover acquisitions from as well as transfers to Iran and Syria; and authorizes payments to Russian entities for certain work performed or services rendered related to the International Space Station; and"
Senate Passes INA Amendments, 9 Nov 2005
"The Coalition for Space Exploration, consisting of 42 aerospace companies and 11 industry associations, respectfully urges your support for an FY07 NASA budget of not less than $16.962B --- the funding proposed in the President's budget submittal last year for FY07."
Statement by the Press Secretary, White House
"On Tuesday, November 22, 2005, the President signed into law: ... H.R. 2862, the "Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006,"
"NASA will receive slightly more than a two-percent increase to its budget under the FY 2006 Science, State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations Act. This compares favorably with the Bush Administration's plans to reduce domestic discretionary funding by 1.0%."
"The conference agreement provides $16,456,800,000 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), instead of $16,471,050,000 as proposed by the House and $16,396,400,000 as proposed by the Senate."
"You are notified that the following changes are made:The draft announcement briefing has been rescheduled for December 8, 2005, from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm."
Editor's note: NASA initially announced a 29 November meeting date on in a Federal Register posting on 28 October. Now, just a week before the event, after everyone has bought airline tickets and made travel arrangements - NASA suddenly changes the meeting date. The reason is (apparently) the fact that NASA now "anticipates releasing a draft of our announcement on or about December 2, 2005." In October NASA originally stated that it "anticipates releasing a draft of our announcement on or about November 22, 2005."
"This is a special notice to all potential sources who are interested that the procurement is hereby cancelled."
Editor's note: This actually makes a lot of sense given that Mike Griffin has decided to erase all life science research at ARC.
"Spirit, the untiring robotic "wonder child" sent by NASA to explore the eerily earthlike fourth planet from the sun, has completed one martian year--that's almost two Earth years--on Mars. Designed to last only 90 martian days (sols), the six-wheeled marvel the size of a golf cart has pursued a steady course of solar-driven geologic fieldwork, bringing back some 70,000 images and a new understanding of Mars as a potential habitat."
Former NASA executive to head Homeland Security aviation unit, Goverment Executive
"Michael Kostelnik will become assistant commissioner for CBP Air, replacing acting assistant commissioner Charles Stallworth. Kostelnik will step in during what has been a difficult transition for the organization."
Editor's note: includes info on funeral and memorial arrangements.
Editor's note: From Kathy Mott: "Kathy Mott, son - Michael, and daughter - Ashley, have asked that we let you know that Mini died peacefully this morning at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Mini was a Marine, an aviator, a patriot, and loving son, husband and father. We'll all miss him! Information regarding services will be forthcoming."
Editor's note: At today's shuttle press conference NBC's Jay Barbaree read an email from a retired engineer which stated that the only shuttle mission flown with a white, painted external tank was STS-1. That is incorrect. If you look at this image "Space Shuttle Columbia OV (101) is in launch configuration on the pad in preparation for STS-2." you will see a white external tank. An astute reader also notes that this original NASA PAO caption gets Columbia's tail number wrong too.
"As you know from several recent communications from the Center Director, while no decision has been made to conduct a Reduction in Force (RIF), the Center is currently preparing should one become necessary. This memorandum explains important next steps in the preparation process, and requests your assistance in assuring that your employee records are accurate and current."
Editor's note: The following is taken from a Powerpoint presentation circulating at NASA KSC. The quotes are from a shuttle summit held at NASA KSC last week.
McDaniel set to leave NASA post, Huntsville Times
"Huntsville lawyer Mark McDaniel is leaving his post with the NASA Advisory Council to become a science policy adviser with the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Science Committee."
Editor's note: According to NASA PAO, NASA will not be announcing the new NAC membership until just before the NAC's 29/30 November meeting since new members are still undergoing background screening and associated paperwork.
Who is Actually on the NASA Advisory Council?, 13 Nov 2005
"Hayabusa - Japan's asteroid explorer - didn't quite land on Itokawa this weekend, failing in its first attempt to touch down and snatch a sample. But it did successfully deliver a target marker to the surface of the asteroid. Even though the team still doesnt know exactly why their "falcon" did not land on the surface, they are vowing to give it another go in coming days."
Editor's note: Robert "Bob" Hopkins is joining NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale's staff as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Administrator. Hopkins worked with Dale at OSTP as Special Assistant for Public Affairs when she was Chief of Staff and General Counsel.
"Arcata Associates, Inc.(Arcata/UNITeS); in support of the United NASA Information Technology Services (UNITeS) Prime Contract, intends to acquire, on a full and open competitive basis, physical models of proposed launch vehicles, a total of five different formats/groupings."
Editor's note: Have a look at 114ARC39673 Attachment J-1 SOW (16 MB Word) contains images with detailed drawings of the LSAM. CEV, CLV etc.
"Contract Award Amount: 50000"
"ATK is the only source for a large human-rated, reusable solid propellant motor."
Editor's note: Wayne Hale chaired the 17 November PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board). Some people were ready to make their presentations at this meeting. Others were not.
"Now, if we have a RIF, this is the worst of all possible outcomes. Every time we've looked at where other agencies have done a reduction in force, we have found problems. It is a terrible outcome. It is, in many ways, a lose/lose situation." ... "Nevertheless, if we cannot move enough work in-house, if we can't acquire enough new business, and in particular if we can't get a large enough buyout, we do face the awful possibility of having a reduction in force. It is the court of last resort. It's not something that I want."
"The House of Representatives today named conferees to the House-Senate Conference Committee that will negotiate a final authorization bill for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)."
Editor's note: Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society is blogging on the progress of Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft as it tries to land on an asteroid today. The mission seems to have run into some problems.
President's Management Agenda Scorecard, White House
Poor Showing by EPA, NASA In Latest E-Gov Scorecard, Information Week
E-gov grades drop for six agencies, FCW.com
"Agencies that dropped include the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department and NASA, which all dropped from green to yellow."
"I believe that with the advent of the ISS, there will exist for the first time a strong, identifiable market for "routine" transportation service to and from LEO, and that this will be only the first step in what will be a huge opportunity for truly commercial space enterprise, inherent to the Vision for Space Exploration. I believe that the ISS provides a tremendous opportunity to promote commercial space ventures that will help us meet our exploration objectives and at the same time create new jobs and new industry."
"On Friday, November 25 at 1 p.m. (PDT), the Falcon 1 countdown to launch is expected to reach T-Zero. At that point, the hold-down clamps will release and the Falcon 1 rocket will begin its journey to orbit, accelerating to 17,000 mph (twenty-five times the speed of sound) in less than ten minutes."
"The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is charging the Boeing Co. with circumventing critical safety regulations in an attempt to meet launch deadlines for NASA's plutonium powered New Horizons mission. The Machinists Union represents striking technicians at Boeing's launch facility at Cape Canaveral, FL."
"A laptop computer containing names, social security numbers and other sensitive information of 161,000 current and former employees of Boeing Co. was stolen recently, the U.S. aerospace manufacturer said on Friday."
Editor's note: The obvious question that comes to mind is why on Earth such sensitive information was sitting on a stand-alone - and portable - computer system.
Editor's note: Check this link at USAJobs:
"Department: US National Aeronautics & Space Administration
Agency: John F. Kennedy Space Center
Sub Agency: ZO-O, Animal Directorate
Job Announcement Number: KS06N0041
JOB SUMMARY: The world's leader in space and aeronautics is always seeking outstanding scientists, engineers, and other talented professionals to carry forward the great discovery process that its mission demands. Creativity. Ambition. Safety awareness. A sense of daring. And a probing mind. That's what it takes to join the NASA team.
Directs all the animals in the zoo.
For questions about this job: Marlin Perkins Internet: email@example.com"
Editor's update: Having been cited on NASA Watch the following notice now appears: "We're sorry. This job has been removed from the site and is no longer available for viewing." Curious how they refer to what was originally posted here as being a "job". Here is a screen grab of what it looked like before the attempt to sanitize the situation. Of course, reading this zoo job position description, I was immediately reminded of this classic posting from NASA Watch (then known as "RIF Watch") from 1995:
"During a visit to LSU earlier this month, Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, announced that an asteroid had been named for O'Keefe, putting him on a list that includes the likes of Connery, Beethoven and the others. He also presented O'Keefe with a plaque signifying the official designation of Asteroid 78905 as Asteroid Seanokeefe."
Space Cadets hoax out of this world, Evening Standard
"Unbeknown to them, their shuttle will be a Hollywood creation, made originally for the film Space Cowboys. A giant custom-built screen positioned just outside the shuttle will, it is hoped, provide the illusion of a view of Earth from space including a hurricane over Mexico and a glimpse of the UK on one day when cloud cover parts."
Editor's note: Gee, I wonder how they'll explain the fact that there is still gravity in their shuttle? Oh wait - they'll just put wires and special harnesses on the contestants, bring in a crew to work the pulleys, and make the contestants think they are floating in weightlessness - just like they did in all those space puppet shows like "Thunderbirds". That way they won't have a clue that a trick is being played on them. Of course, as soon as they start playing with their food ...
Editor's update: Wait - there's more: another UK paper has elaborated on the physics so as to explain the presence of gravity. What is "near space" and how do you "orbit" in it? I guess Dr. Who is the TV series' technical consultant.
"They will not experience weightlessness because they are only orbiting "near space".
Alas, the venerable (but gullible) BBC has fallen for this tabloid pseudoscience as well - and apparently has no one with any scientific background on its staff to proof read its online article, Spoof show to trick 'astronauts'
"But producers will not have to recreate weightlessness because the contestants are to be told their orbit will take them to Near Space, not Deep Space, where they could experience the sensation."
"The Headquarters Buyout/Early Out opportunity for employees is currently scheduled to open the week of Dec. 5, 2005, with employees accepting the buyout to be off the rolls by Jan. 3, 2005. We are finalizing several steps, as outlined below, to effect a successful buyout and to ensure that employees are fully informed of the opportunities to participate."
Editor's note: Hmmm - this is an interesting way to save additional money. They want people off the rolls by "Jan. 3, 2005" - that's nearly a year ago. I guess they just bought a time machine - this way they can save an additional year's salary from last year's budget to use next year! I'd love to see how Gwen Sykes implements this new way of accounting ...
NASA Ames will head up robotic moon missions, SJ Mercury News
"Ames will take charge of an orbiter and lander that are under construction at other centers, as well as two to three future missions whose details have not been determined, said Christopher McKay, the program scientist at Ames. Although the budget for these programs totals about $400 million a year, he said, much of that money will be handed out to other centers that are building the hardware, and Ames will initially gain only about a dozen jobs."
"I offer my sincere thanks to the House and Senate for endorsing and funding, for the second straight year, our activities to implement America's Vision for Space Exploration. NASA's FY 2006 funding bill of $16.5 billion - 0.7 percent of the federal budget..."
NASA Glenn gets boost from Senate-revised budget, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"While that's good news in the short term for the Glenn center, it's too soon to say that means an upward trend. NASA and Congress have not agreed on all the components as the space agency turns in a new direction. The long-term role of aeronautics -- Glenn's traditional strength -- has been at risk as the White House pushes to focus on space travel."
Senate passes NASA budget, Orlando Sentinel
"The budget is $260.3 million above what NASA got for the last fiscal year, and it is $1 million more than President Bush's request. Bush wants astronauts back on the moon by 2018 and possible exploration of Mars after the return to the moon got $3.1 billion of the budget."
NASA Needs A Gas Station In Space, Channel 13
"NASA says it needs a gas station in space. That's the challenge NASA chief Mike Griffin issued to private companies during a visit to Brevard County. Griffin says half the weight of the next Moon missions is taken by fuel. He'd like to see private companies find a way to put a fuel depot in space, so the spacecraft could carry more cargo."
Willis Shapley Dies; NASA Official Boosted Manned Moon Landing, Washington Post
"Willis Harlow Shapley, 88, the third-ranking administrator at NASA during the Apollo era and an authority on federal funding for research and development, died Oct. 24 at Sibley Memorial Hospital"
NASA is proposing to "realign" research and technology in the physical and life sciences in order to accelerate the development of crew vehicles and to complete the ISS. What this means is that most all that work will be eliminated so that not only won't the objectives of the Exploration Initiative be fulfilled but also, all of NASA's human spaceflight capabilities will be lost. Furthermore, all the research and engineering workforces with experience in reduced-gravity phenomena that have been nurtured over 30 years are being decimated.
- Rep. Sherwood Boehlert
- David Powner, GAO
- Under Secretary of the Air Force Ronald M. Sega
- Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, NOAA Administrator
- Alexis C. Livanos, Northrop Grumman Corporation
- Opening Statement by Rep. Bart Gordon
"The difference between more money next year and no new money until FY2008 is, according to the Independent Team, a billion dollars. The taxpayer is ill served by limiting options to those that are convenient for this Administration," added Rep. Gordon at today's hearing."
"GOES: J317 - At approximately 1918Z, telemetry reception and command ability were lost at all sites for all GOES satellites. COMM controller reboots were performed to recover operations. Event logs indicate that the COMM controllers lost communication with all other ground system components. The outage lasted approximately 1.5 hours. The software staff is continuing the investigation. GOES-12 lost 6 images and 3 soundings; GOES-10 lost 7 images and 3 soundings; GOES-9 lost 2 images and 1 sounding. All other GOES operations were nominal over the past 96 hours."
"The president of the Alabama A-and-M University chapter of the Alabama Education Association is asking the university's trustees to investigate why Julian Earls turned down the job of A-and-M president. Regina Colston says the trustees need to look into whether Earls received intimidating communications about becoming president."
Rumors flying on A&M rejection, Huntsville Times
"Earls, executive director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, said in a prepared statement Monday afternoon that any such allegations are false. "There is no truth to the rumor that any family member or I received intimidating communication from anyone concerning the offer to be president of Alabama A&M," he said."
"They're cutting hundreds of millions of dollars of life sciences research that has been planned, in some cases, for decades," said Keith Cowing, a former Nasa scientist and now editor of the Nasa Watch web site. "Hundreds of contractors have been laid off at several research centres run by Nasa."
Lunar Exploration Vision Obscures Successes on Mars, Editorial, Aviation Week & Space Technology
"To deemphasize the robotic Mars program now, in a tradeoff with the manned lunar vision, would be a terrible mistake. Washington needs to be reawakened to the quantifiable payoff the robotic Mars program brings now, in terms of NASA political capital in Congress and scientific, educational and technological benefits to the U.S. as a whole. Accompanying these factors is exploration as a positive symbol of America's contributions to all mankind."
Reader note: On Halloween the Grim RIFer was seen lurking around at least one building at NASA Ames. Some photos were taken of it near some simulator buildings, hawking pink slips/stickies. It also took a coffee/cigarette break at one point. See attached photos. It also gave out pink slips and some "buyout checks" to civil servants. It would sniff contractors, growl, and turn away from them, however. Those photos are not attached so as to protect the innocent. Yes, this was a Halloween practical joke at Ames. No, please don't use my email/name/address.
"Preliminary indications pointed to a problem with the delicate maneuvers behind MINERVA's deployment."
"Aviation Week & Space Technology senior editor Craig Covault has received the 2005 Harry Kolcum Memorial News and Communications Award for lifetime achievement from the National Space Club Florida Committee. The award recognizes journalists and public relations professionals for excellence in their ability to "communicate the space story" to the nation and the world. In addition, the NASA space shuttle return-to-flight Kennedy news center team was also honored with the group's public affairs award."
Editor's note: The PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) met last Thursday. As a result of this meeting, all future shuttle launch dates contained in the directive issued by the PRCB to update the FDRD (Flight Definition and Requirements Directive) are "TBD".
"NASA selected the mishap investigation board to determine why the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft did not complete its mission on April 15."
Editor's note: It has been more than 6 months. Why hasn't there been any word as to when the DART Mishap Investigation Board will issue its findings? Word has it that the results of the investigation have actually been known for some time.
Editor's note: The last meeting, scheduled for April was cancelled. As such, the last NAC meeting in nearly a year ago - 7 December 2004. This newly scheduled meeting is two weeks away, yet NASA has not even announced who is actually on the NAC. If you look at this NAC membership page, dated November 2005, you see a list of NAC members - except it is wrong. At least two members, Homer Hickam and Ken Baldwin, have been disinvited from serving, and Fred Gregory resigned from NASA several months ago. (It should be noted that Hickam never actually "served" on the NAC. He was invited to serve on the NAC by Sean O'Keefe but O'Keefe resigned shortly afterwards and Hickam never attended any meetings.)
Griffin Removes NASA Advisory Council Members, NASA Watch
"Previously NASA had one NASA Advisory Committee, and Mr. O'Keefe split the committee in two. Dr. Griffin is recombining the committee back into one committee, and he will select people that he respects as members. Also the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, which is mandated, will be staffed by people he admires and respects. He will be elevating their role and status."
Government Enters Fray Over BlackBerry Patents, Washington Post
"The Justice Department has filed a legal brief in a patent dispute, asking a federal court to delay any immediate shutdown of the popular wireless e-mail system to ensure that state and federal workers can continue to use their devices."
Editor's note: NASA certainly counts itself as having a large number of crackberry addicts. While these little things are very useful - its not as if they are the only handheld devices on the market which can be used to send/receive email. Its great to see normally innovation averse government employees using state of the art consumer products - but it is troubling when they become collectively addicted to one particular product - one which may disappear.
Gravitational tractor for towing asteroids, Edward T. Lu andStanley G. Love, Nature (subscription required)
"A spacecraft could deflect an Earth-bound asteroid without having to dock to its surface first. We present a design concept for a spacecraft that can controllably alter the trajectory of an Earth-threatening asteroid by using gravity as a towline. The spacecraft hovers near the asteroid, with its thrusters angled outwards so that the exhaust does not impinge on the surface. This proposed deflection method is insensitive to the structure, surface properties and rotation state of the asteroid."
"When asked about his thoughts on President Bush's proposal to put a man on Mars within 10 years, [Stephen] Hawking simply replied: "Stupid."
NASA to buy 4 spacecraft in Russia, RIA Novosti
"NASA is planning to order two Soyuz manned spacecraft and two Progress cargo ships from the Russian Federal Space Agency on a commercial basis for missions to the International Space Station, the head of a Russian aerospace corporation said Friday."
"Earlier NASA had planned to use shuttles [to carry astronauts] but the number of their flights were reduced from 28 to 17," Nikolai Sevastyanov said. "Today NASA can buy Russian spacecraft... including Soyuz craft that dock with the ISS once every six months, and are used as rescue spacecraft."
NASA downsizes, slows Dawn mission to near halt, Pasadena Star News
"Chris Russell, the mission's principal investigator and a professor of geophysics at UCLA, said he was shocked by NASA's recent request that Dawn "stand down." "They basically said that we should slow down or almost stop the development while they decide to take a look at it and make an investigation," Russell said. "They got concerned by the number of problems that they saw that we were having."
"Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space, today cosponsored an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Authorization bill which encourages cooperation between the Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA on research, development, test and evaluation activities. The Senate approved the amendment tonight and it is expected to pass the full Senate Thursday."
Editor's update: HR 2862 passed the House on Wednesday by a vote of 397 - 19 (Roll no. 581).
Editor's 9 Nov Note: The House is scheduled to take up the conference report for the Science, State, Justice and Commerce FY06 Appropriations bill, H.R. 2862, today. NASA Excerpt from H.R. 2862 at the House Republican leadership office:
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration is funded at requested level of $16.5 billion, $260 million above FY05. Funds the Presidents vision for space exploration at $3.1 billion; restores the aeronautics research program to $912 million. Provides full request for the Space Shuttle program and bill language is included directing the President to develop a national aeronautics policy."
S.1713 : An Act to make amendments to the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 related to International Space Station payments, and for other purposes.
"Latest Major Action: 11/8/2005 Resolving differences / Conference -- Senate actions. Status: Senate agreed to House amendment and title amendment by Unanimous Consent."
"The conferees are extremely disappointed in the lack of detail provided in the fiscal year 2006 congressional budget justification. NASA is reminded that the primary purpose of budget justifications is to provide needed information to the Committees on Appropriations, and therefore must be submitted in a format with the necessary level of detail required by the Committees so that funding requests may be analyzed."
"If earmarks from the Hill are legislated, we will release the money as soon as possible. He hates earmarks. We need to avoid earmarks in the first place or influence the earmark to benefit NASA work, but when we get them we need to fund them promptly. The bottom line is to honor earmarks when they are directed."
Editor's note: A partial list of all the earmarks. Read it and squeak. What any of this has to do with NASA or space exploration escapes me.
"The conferees note that NASA has, in the past few months, used its buyout authority to promote voluntary separations as a first attempt at reshaping its workforce. The conferees believe that at this early stage, NASA has been able to reshape its workforce without losing critical workforce skills. The conferees direct that NASA shall not go beyond using voluntary buyout authority until it has developed a comprehensive coordinated restructuring plan and implementation roadmap, and has provided a report to the Congress detailing the steps that will be taken in reshaping the agency's human and physical capital assets."
"Marshall Space Flight Center is pleased to be able to offer to its civil service employees a buyout opportunity worth up to $25,000 for eligible employees. This memorandum serves as official notice that the buyout application period opens on November 8, 2005, and closes on December 9, 2005."
"Ames is offering voluntary separation incentives (buyouts) and voluntary early out retirement to employees in selected competencies. An employee does not have to be eligible for early or full retirement to take advantage of the buyout authority; eligible employees who resign can also receive a buyout."
"[Russian astrologer Marina] Bai stressed that NASA had altered her horoscope by crashing the spacecraft into the comet. "It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," she said earlier."
Customers 'bought into' moon property idea, Independent Online
"The Beijing Lunar Village Aeronautics Science and Technology Company managed to sell large swathes of "pristine" lunar property before being shut down, the Xinhua news agency said."
Editor's Note: Damn. Just as I was about to finish buying up all the lots at the lunar south pole so I could charge Mike Griffin rent...
"The Voluntary Separation Incentive (Buyout)/Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA) Plan submitted to Headquarters on October 21, 2005, has been approved. As a result, the Glenn Research Center is now authorized to conduct a buyout with the primary objective being to facilitate the rightsizing and rebalancing of skills in order to better position the Center to be more competitive and play a significant role in support of the President's Exploration Vision."
"There are many in the private sector that are eager to develop commercially viable space transportation systems," said Scott Horowitz, associate administrator, NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "In the future, the commercial sector will provide cost effective access to space for both crew and cargo. While NASA must develop its own capabilities for space exploration, the commercial sector will eventually provide these services when it becomes cost effective."
Returning to 'a new normal', Federal Times
"At the space center, NASA is working on a similar deal with FEMA and city officials from Bay St. Louis, Miss., to build a trailer park to house displaced space center employees. The two agencies are hammering out an interagency agreement in which FEMA would pay for the trailers and NASA would lease a 10-acre parcel from the city."
"At 07:00 CET Monday, the Venus Express mission clock began ticking down to Wednesday's launch. The excitement at ESOC and particularly in the Main Control Room is palpable as launch preparations get under way."
Editor's Note: After spending 6 years with Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) Brendan Curry will start work at the Space Foundation's Washington DC office as Vice President for Government Affairs. Curry begins his new job on 1 December.
"Michael L. Coats has been named director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Coats is a former astronaut, and he currently is vice president of Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver. He will become the ninth person to serve as director in the center's 44-year history."
New JSC Center Director, NASA Watch. 5 October 2005
"The name circulating around the agency as the new center director for JSC is former astronaut Michael Coats currently vice president and deputy for space exploration at Lockheed Martin."
- NASA Photo ISS012-E-05002 (12 October 2005)
"Astronaut William S. McArthur Jr. (left), Expedition 12 commander and NASA science officer, and cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev, flight engineer representing Russia's Federal Space Agency, participate in congratulatory greetings to the guests of the Gala Night Celebration dedicated to the 75th Anniversary of the renowned Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) from the Zvezda Service Module of the international space station."
Editor's Update: It would seem that Joe Davis made a "strategic communication" decision and deleted this image from the ISS website - as if a simple website deletion will make the problem - and the ill-advised decision making that led up to it - just go away. The original link to the image no longer works. Nor is there any mention of the photo in the official image archive for Expedition 12. For the sake of accuracy, this is what the original page looked like and this is the original hi res image. Yet another example of an agency unable to admit its errors.
Editor's Update: I just got the following response from NASA HQ PAO: "Keith, the Moscow event was a private downlink and should not have been part of public images available online. We apologize for the confusion and don't believe removing the image represents any inconsistency in agency policy." Oh well. I guess I still don't understand why any event was conducted involving NASA personnel and an organization under U.S. government trade actions for selling rocket technology to Iran. Indeed, it was formally scheduled - the ISS Crew Timeline for 12 October 2005 shows: "19:10-19:35 TV ISS-MCC Greetings dedicated 75th Anniversary of MAI (=19:10, 1,2, 3 from )". Clearly the HQ Office of External Relations wasn't in the approval loop for this. Or has this sort of diplomatic decision making been delegated to JSC?
Editor's Note: A number of current and former NASA employees in the Washington metro area received a letter dated 1 November 2005 from the NASA Federal Credit Union which announced "your credit application has been approved. Your new cards will arrive in the next 10 days". Well someone goofed - big time. The NASA FCU sent this letter out by mistake to anyone with a NASA FCU VISA card that was being automatically upgraded - giving the false impression to a lot of people that someone had applied for a credit card under their name.
"The buyout application window will open on Monday, November 7 and close on Monday, November 28. Buyout separations must occur on or before January 3, 2006. Extensions beyond this date will be rare, must be mission-related, and require HQ approval."
"I appreciate the swift action of the United States Senate, especially Senators Ted Stevens, Daniel Inouye, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Bill Nelson in confirming Shana Dale as NASA's 14th deputy administrator," Griffin said. "With Shana coming on board, I'm confident we now have the right leadership team to guide the agency as we move forward in the next great era of space exploration."
"China, which launched its first manned space mission just two years ago, plans to put a man on the moon around 2017 and investigate what may be the perfect source of fuel, a newspaper reported on Friday."
Editor's note: And I am sure that if Mike Griffin suddenly said that he was moving the first U.S. return to the moon mission to 2016, China would revise its announcement to say 2015. But is this all that preposterous? The U.S. went from its first human spaceflight to a human lunar landing in 8 years - and the Chinese have had a lot of other people's expertise to build upon...
Editor's note: Last week a CR (Change Request) wasapproved outside the PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) which directs an orbiter swap for STS-121and STS-115 - a swap which had beenknown for a long time. This CR alsomoves STS-116 to Endeavour. While the CR directs products to be generated and released, itdoesnotupdatethe FDRD (Flight Definition and Requirements Directive) - even though the CR had launch dates contained within it.A formal FDRD update is scheduledfor either the 10 Nov or 17 Nov PRCB.
"On November 1, 2005, the SAMS-II and MAMS were intentionally powered off due to lack of current microgravity science on-board the ISS. The SAMS-II and MAMS are being put into a dormant state in anticipation of future microgravity-based research to be conducted on ISS."
Editor's note: NASA has known that it would need an additional $5-6 billion dollars for several months now. This is evident from the following internal email sent by Mike Griffin to senior HQ management on 31 August 2005:
Editor's note: Yesterday's webcast of the hearing was interrupted several times due to server problems. The Committee has archived the entire webcast
"We have adopted a "go-as-you-can-pay" approach toward space exploration, and have set clear priorities and made difficult choices to remain within the budget for exploration."
"A number of Science Democrats also voiced their concern at today's hearing over NASA's planned cuts to important agency science and research programs, including the continuing decline in the aeronautics budget. NASA is instituting the cuts to make room for implementation of the Administration's exploration plan. Among the NASA programs facing budgetary cuts are the life sciences program and fundamental Space Station research."
"I want to see NASA succeed. I want to see Dr. Griffin succeed. But we can't premise that success on money that doesn't exist and isn't all that likely to exist. And the time to discuss those hard facts is now."
Editor's note: Have a look at these two items relating to research on Hall thrusters. One project at GRC has been cancelled, yet another is apparently still underway at MSFC. If the GRC research was deemed to not support CEV development, why then is the MSFC research still underway?
"If NASA does not receive a significant increase in its projected budgets over the next five years, it will either have to drop its plans to accelerate the development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) or it will have to significantly cut science and/or aeronautics. NASA has already proposed significant cuts in some areas of its exploration budget and in Space Station research to accelerate development of the CEV."
Editor's note: At the start of his opening statement, Rep. Bart Gordon complained that NASA did not provide Griffin's prepared testimony until 4 pm yesterday - for a 10 AM hearing today. Gordon warned that if this happens again that he will have to recommend that the practice be followed as it was under Rep. Sensenbrenner - and cancel the hearing.
Editor's note: Rep. Boehlert opened his questions with the movie line "show me the money".
Griffin told Rep. Gordon that the Hubble Servicing Mission is "my highest priority for the shuttle". When asked what his projected budget shortfall was between now and FY 2010, Griffin said "we are several billion dollars short in the shuttle operations line". When pushed by Gordon for a specific number - perhaps "in the 3-6" billion dollar range Griffin said that it was in the "3-5" billion dollar range. Later Griffin said that NASA will be "subsidizing" to the tune of "a half a billion dollars" a commercial resupply effort for the ISS. Last week in hearings, NASA's CFO said that she would not sign off on NASA's annual fiscal report if held to the same standard as the private sector is. When asked to comment on this, Griffin really had no answer - other than to say "I hope that by '08 we will be in good shape".
Griffin said that when he speaks of 'science" he refers to things done in the Science Mission Directorate. Life science was not included in that grouping of "science" - and Griffin said that he felt that doing life science research now "was putting the cart before the horse."
"The union timed the strike to coincide with IAM strikes in Huntsville and at all of Boeing's Delta launch sites in Florida and California. Collectively, the strikes have stalled two scheduled satellite launches, with more delays expected."
Boeing warehouse workers strike, Daily Breeze
"Boeing has proposed denying retirement benefits, including medical and life insurance, to employees hired after July 2006, Quick said. In addition, Boeing proposed increasing employees' out-of-pocket expenses for medical premiums and co-payments, the union said."
"First commercial spaceflight participant from Asia/Japan"
Editor's note: What about T Akiyami, who, according to Encyclopedia Astronautica, was a commerical spaceflight customer back in the 1990s? "The launch was funded jointly with the private Japanese company TBS. The Japanese television network ended up paying $28 million for the first commercial flight to Mir to put Akiyama, the first journalist in space aboard Soyuz TM-11."
"Participation is open to all scientists/engineers involved in Mars exploration, including international colleagues. Since this is a 'working' meeting, it is not open to members of the press, however, if there is interest we can make people available for interviews afterwards."
Editor's note: Once again, NASA's Mars community is (apparently) afraid to hold its meeting in full view of the public.
Ary guilty on 12 counts, Wichita Eagle
"Max Ary, who built a tiny Hutchinson planetarium into one of the most respected space museums in the country, was convicted on Tuesday of stealing artifacts from what he has called "my baby" and selling them for his own benefit."
"Jeffrey Hanley has been appointed manager of NASA's Constellation Program. He will lead development of the nation's new spacecraft and launch system, which as part of the Vision for Space Exploration will take astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond. Mark Geyer was appointed as deputy program manager."
Headquarters All Hands: Institutional Requirements Review (IRR): "Please join NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden as he rolls out the results of the Headquarters Institutional Requirements Review (IRR). Following his presentation there will be a Q & A session with Chief of Staff Paul Morrell, Mr. Geveden and other experts. This will take place on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium. You can also watch the program on NASA Television, NASA HQ Channel 36."
"Mr. Chairman, Co-Chairman Inouye, and Members of the Committee, I am honored to appear before you today as President Bush's nominee to be the Deputy Administrator of NASA. I would like to thank Mike Griffin for recommending me to be his Deputy and I would like to thank President Bush for nominating me for this position."
"Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to view the ninth planet in our solar system, astronomers discovered Pluto may have not one, but three moons."
A&M's pick to run school rejects offer, Huntsville Times
"Now that Dr. Julian Earls has turned down the offer to become president of Alabama A&M University, school trustees must decide whether to offer the post to one of the other two finalists or begin anew, said Clinton Johnson, trustees president pro tem."
"Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) have announced that the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a Full Committee hearing on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 ... "Shana Dale to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration"
Live webcast starts at 10:00 AM EST
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By Patrick J. Buchanan
God save me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.
That thought must be coursing through the mind of President Obama right now as his White House rigs for silent running in the murder trial of George Zimmerman.
Obama foolishly inserted himself into this volatile case weeks ago, and injected the issue of race. Expressing empathy with the family of Trayvon Martin, Obama flashed a signal of racial solidarity:
“If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.”
Obama also implied that he shares the liberal perspective that America is a country where black kids must walk in daily fear of white racist vigilantes.
“All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen. And that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident.”
Translation: The death of Trayvon tells us something is wrong with America.
To most Americans, this is a slander against their country, refuted by the statistics on interracial crime. Obama, however, buys into it.
Angela Corey, the special prosecutor, says that the charge against Zimmerman of second-degree murder was based on evidence and not influenced by the weeks of demonstrations, demands and threats from black leaders.
Perhaps. But from what the pubic knows, a charge of second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life, does not seem to stand up.
To convict, prosecutors must convince all 12 members of a jury that not only was Zimmerman in no danger of bodily harm, he did not believe he was in danger of bodily harm. He simply killed Martin in a “depraved” state of mind.
Nothing revealed so far seems to support that theory.
Zimmerman saw a tall stranger, hooded and acting suspiciously. He called the cops. He did not tell them the man was black. They had to ask him whether the suspect was black, white or Hispanic.
“He looks black,” said Zimmerman.
The CNN report that Zimmerman, on the call to the cops, used a racial slur, “(bleeping) coon,” has been withdrawn. What Zimmerman said was that it was “(bleeping) cold” outside.
Came then the fight. Two eyewitnesses say they saw Zimmerman on his back being beaten and screaming for help.
A cop at the scene said Zimmerman had a bloody nose and a gash on the back of his head. Zimmerman’s family says Trayvon banged George’s head on the sidewalk. Film of Zimmerman entering the police station that night shows bruising on the back of his head.
Trayvon was found lying face down. If Zimmerman had been on top and shot him, would not Trayvon have been found on his back?
Zimmerman’s family says Trayvon started the fight with a fist to the nose, and George went down. Trayvon is not here to tell his story. But a natural question arises:
Why would Zimmerman, with a holstered gun to protect himself, close with and start a fistfight with a teenager half a head taller? A grown man with a gun his adversary does not know he has — would he not more likely stand some distance away, to pull it out if needed?
The prosecutors must have discovered new evidence to indict for murder. For all of the testimony from Zimmerman’s side and the eyewitnesses seems to create more than a reasonable doubt that he committed a murder.
Where is Obama’s political problem?
With the election on, the case has begun to divide the nation along racial lines. And Obama’s allies are doing it. It is Jesse Jackson and the Black Caucus crying that Trayvon was “hunted down like a rabid dog in the street,” that he was “murdered and martyred,” that it was a “hate crime.”
“It’s a disgrace that man (Zimmerman) hasn’t been shot yet,” says Mike Tyson. The New Black Panther Party has put out a poster offering a $10,000 reward that reads, “Wanted: Dead or Alive.”
The face on the poster is George Zimmerman.
Trayvon is the victim here, but George Zimmerman is beginning to look like a victim — of lynch law and mob rule.
With the Panthers and Tyson calling for vengeance and vigilante justice, where is Attorney General Eric Holder? Out congratulating Al Sharpton for bringing political pressure on Florida to indict.
Is this how justice is advanced in Obama’s America?
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has denounced Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law — which may be Zimmerman’s defense — as “a license to murder” and an excuse for “vigilante justice.”
Bloomberg seems about to lead a crusade against the National Rifle Association and for repeal of stand-your-ground laws in the two dozen states that have enacted them.
Given their huge emotional investment in this case, how will black leaders and black America react if Zimmerman walks?
And how will the rest of America react to that reaction?
And if Zimmerman, Trayvon, race, guns and stand-your-ground become voting issues this fall, how good is that for Barack Obama?
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John McCain, according to one of his most perceptive and persistent critics, has struggled throughout his career to balance his principles and his ambitions, to reconcile the code of honor instilled in him as a boy with the insistent demands of political expedience. His worst moments in public office, this critic has charged, have come when he has failed to put his country first — opposing a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. to bolster his conservative credibility in Arizona, concealing his abhorrence of the Confederate flag to troll for votes in South Carolina. And before you judge, you should know that the critic in question is John McCain, who has explored and deplored his own flaws in remarkable detail in his books and speeches and has apologized for them with candor that is rare in a politician. In 2000, after sidestepping the flag issue during his first presidential campaign, he returned to South Carolina to flay himself for pandering. "I don't seek absolution," he said. "I can only try to resist future temptations to abandon principle for expediency."
If it be a sin, as Shakespeare wrote, to covet honor, then McCain might be the most sinful politician alive. His 50 years of nearly continuous service to his country — in the Navy, as a POW and in Congress — have been a tumultuous and often inspiring saga of a man and his code. McCain languished in prison in Hanoi for years rather than accept a release he considered dishonorable, and he has made his mark in Washington as a kind of honor politician, a crusader who has chosen his battles on the basis of morality rather than ideology. Fighting to limit the influence of money in politics or performance-enhancing drugs in sports, attacking Democrats who opposed the surge in Iraq or Republican lobbyists who exploited Indian tribes, McCain tends to approach his pet issues not as arid policy disputes about which reasonable people can disagree but as emotionally pitched battles between good and evil, affairs of honor vs. the ignominy of disgrace. If it hasn't won him a lot of popularity contests with his colleagues, it has burnished his national reputation for being his own man.
To John McCain, honor means telling the truth, doing the right thing rather than the easy thing and putting America's needs ahead of your needs. But as he has reminded us so many times, McCain is not a saint. And he is now the Republican nominee for President, the anointed leader of the party establishment he has antagonized so often. He has a real chance to extend his public service to the Oval Office and an abiding conviction that these perilous times require his leadership. But getting there in a year when so much is stacked against the GOP may require him to play by rules that don't always conform to the code of honor to which he subscribes.
Honor Bound These days, there is a new McCain on the campaign trail. He has forsworn his freewheeling sessions of straight talk with the press, sticking religiously to GOP talking points, bottled up by a campaign that is highly disciplined, curiously hostile to reporters and quick to launch negative and often misleading attacks. During a brief, weird and remarkably uninformative interview, TIME asked him about the abrupt shift in strategy. The candidate who used to spend hours kibitzing with reporters refused to acknowledge that anything has changed. "I don't know what you're talking about," McCain said, staring blankly at a press aide, without even a wink.
Acknowledged or not, the change in strategy has worked: as McCain heads to his convention, he is virtually tied in the polls. The theme of McCain's coronation in St. Paul, Minn., will be putting "country first," but his aides are not about to apologize for putting victory a close second. They say they would have loved to run a classic McCain campaign, with a series of high-minded town-hall debates and the usual open access, but Barack Obama refused the debates, and the Obama-smitten media decided that the campaign is all about their new darling. "The race is as we found it," says Mark Salter, a close adviser and the co-author of McCain's five books. "We're not going to do anything dishonorable. But we are going to try to win."
The candidate is, more than anything else, a born fighter. John Sidney McCain III grew up in the considerable shadow of the first two John Sidney McCains, both four-star admirals who were small of stature but large of presence, both true believers in the military code of Duty, Honor, Country. "They were my first heroes, and their respect for me has been the most lasting ambition of my life," the Senator said at a 1994 ceremony to commission the destroyer U.S.S. John S. McCain in their honor. His grandfather, known as Slew, was a Navy legend, an innovative strategist and a relentless warrior who dropped dead four days after attending the 1945 Japanese surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri. McCain's father Jack was a highly decorated World War II submarine skipper who rose to command U.S. naval forces in the Pacific and ordered the bombing of Hanoi despite the danger to his prisoner-of-war son. Jack was a workaholic and an alcoholic, and he wasn't home much, but he tried to instill in John his greatest-generation values and strict sense of honor.
At first, the lessons seemed wasted. The young John McCain was a constant breaker of rules, a brawler and a slob, an undersize punk with an oversize chip on his shoulder. He reluctantly followed his forebears to the Naval Academy, but he continued to flout authority there, leading a band of late-night miscreants known as the Bad Bunch, accumulating so many demerits that he finished 894th out of 899 in his class. And in flight school, a culture more accepting of go-it-alone bad boys, his womanizing and partying were considered impressive even by the standards of naval aviators. But he had his limits; McCain always sensed how far he could bend a system without breaking it — or being broken.
On Oct. 26, 1967, McCain's opportunities for high jinks were severely limited when he was shot out of the sky, beaten by a Vietnamese mob, then transported to a prison camp for 51⁄2 years of hell. The fact of his captivity is common knowledge, but the pain he endured and the defiance with which he endured it are not so well understood. "The first time I saw him, I thought he'd be dead by morning," recalls his cellmate, retired Air Force Colonel George (Bud) Day. "He'd been beaten, bayoneted and starved. He weighed maybe 95 lb. He just willed himself to live."
In the Hanoi Hilton, McCain's family tradition of honor and his own instinct for rebellion meshed into an inspiring example for his fellow prisoners. He was the camp troublemaker, cursing out guards despite the constant threat of torture, defying rules barring communication to tell his comrades vulgar jokes. He refused several offers of freedom because the military code of conduct requires all prisoners to be freed in order of capture and he knew that an admiral's son accepting early release would be a propaganda victory for North Vietnam as well as a devastating blow to camp morale. The one time his captors brutalized McCain into a sham confession, he considered suicide. "He could not avoid the conclusion that he had dishonored his country, his family and himself," wrote his biographer Robert Timberg.
In books with names like Faith of My Fathers, Character Is Destiny and Why Courage Matters, McCain has said his captivity was a personal turning point that opened his eyes to causes larger than himself, transforming a vain jet jockey into a servant of his country. It was also a political turning point that forged his views on foreign affairs. McCain saw Vietnam as an honorable and winnable war botched by spineless politicians who tied the hands of American soldiers and betrayed their South Vietnamese allies, dishonoring the U.S. and emboldening its enemies. And those were not just knee-jerk reactions to his own traumas; McCain spent a year after his release studying Vietnam and its history at the National War College. McCain's Vietnam lessons dovetailed with the World War II lessons he had learned at home. He even believed his father should have resigned to protest President Lyndon Johnson's insufficient aggression. "John gets that appeasement doesn't work with our enemies," says Orson Swindle, a fellow POW who later served in the Reagan Administration. "They have to know that if they slap us, we're going to knock the hell out of them."
The Crusader A few years after his return, McCain was posted to Washington as a Navy liaison on Capitol Hill, a political job his Beltway-connected father had performed with flair. Still a rebel by nature, McCain used his connections to lead a rearguard effort to save a $2 billion aircraft carrier from President Jimmy Carter's budget ax, even though McCain was supposed to be representing Carter on the Hill. By 1980, he wanted to stop advising members of Congress and start becoming one.
From his beginnings as a politician, he was inspired by the sunny conservatism of Ronald Reagan, especially Reagan's efforts to rehabilitate Vietnam as a noble cause and the military as an honorable profession. McCain's first marriage had crumbled — he has admitted he was unfaithful — but he was remarried, to an Arizona beer heiress named Cindy Hensley, and the day in 1982 a Phoenix Congressman announced his retirement, she bought a house in his district. McCain was elected to the House as a Reagan Republican that year, but he already had his eye on the Senate. He easily moved up in 1986 after Barry Goldwater's retirement.
In his early years as a politician, McCain was mostly a party-line Reaganite; his cleanest and most difficult break with the President was his 1983 call to withdraw the Marines from Lebanon because he didn't see a clear mission for them. He turned out to have been tragically right. He was otherwise notable mostly for his bursts of temper, especially when he perceived an affront to his honor. In his first House race, he threatened to beat up an opponent who had called his ex-wife to look for dirt. In his initial Senate run, he exploded after his opponent accused him of selling out for special-interest contributions.
As incomprehensible as it sounds, McCain has told friends his involvement in the Keating Five scandal of the late 1980s caused him more pain than his imprisonment in Hanoi. Again his honor was on the line, and the scandal seemed to drain his mojo; he went through the motions of his job, but he was visibly depressed. Salter, his speechwriter, ghostwriter and alter ego, remembers walking back to the Capitol with his boss in uncharacteristic silence after a press conference. McCain's mind was clearly elsewhere, perhaps wondering how he ever got so close to the savings and loan crook Charles Keating Jr. during the go-go 1980s. "It won't always be like this," McCain finally told Salter. Recalls his friend Bill Cohen, then a Senator from Maine: "John had never felt so wounded, even in Vietnam, because his sense of honor had been challenged. And he was seething."
The common myth is that McCain was caught pressuring federal regulators to ease up on a political benefactor, then sought penance for his sins by leading a crusade to limit the influence of money in politics. But the real story is more complex. Despite all that Keating gave to McCain — $112,000 in campaign contributions, several junkets to his Bahamas estate — McCain never did anything official for Keating. He did attend two meetings with regulators along with the rest of the Keating Five, but he told the regulators that Keating's banks should receive no special treatment. After a long and agonizing investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee found McCain guilty of nothing more than "poor judgment."
McCain has acknowledged misjudging Keating, but the dishonor and especially the casual allegations of corruption left him more outraged than ashamed. The episode soured him on partisanship — and in some ways on the Senate. "He got screwed, and he took it personally," says Slade Gorton, a former Republican Senator from Washington State. "That's what led to the whole McCain-Feingold thing." Says New Hampshire's Bob Smith, a former Republican Senator who tangled with McCain: "He did get shafted, and he never really got over it. I think he said, I'm on my own now." The Keating ordeal led McCain to team up with Democrat Russ Feingold on soft-money restrictions — not only to attack political corruption but also to remove what he saw as a cloud hanging over honorable politicians.
It also began his transformation from party man to party maverick. He forged alliances with Senators John Kerry, to normalize relations with Vietnam, and Ted Kennedy, to promote immigration reform. He crusaded against tobacco, steroids, corporate criminals, ultimate fighting, a sweetheart deal for Boeing and all kinds of pork. He crusaded for a patients' bill of rights and even a boxers' bill of rights. He got great press, and colleagues have often rolled their eyes at his ubiquitous television presence, but the Sunday shows wouldn't have invited him so often if he hadn't become so interesting — and so candid. "He's fascinating: basically a doctrinaire Reagan conservative, but when something offends him, he breaks from the orthodoxy," says Ivan Schlager, the top Democratic counsel to McCain's Commerce Committee during the 1990s. "It's not ideological. It's good guys and bad guys."
Doping might not seem like an issue of vital national import, but it offended McCain's sense of fair play, and the possibility of a U.S. scandal at the Athens Olympics horrified him. So he started issuing subpoenas and ended up with enough evidence to get a dozen athletes disqualified before the Games. "He didn't want American athletes dishonoring their country," recalls his former aide Ken Nahigian. He has free-market instincts, but like his political hero Teddy Roosevelt, he has taken great pleasure in regulating and otherwise harassing those he considers malefactors of great wealth.
McCain's GOP colleagues have not always appreciated his moral crusading or his suggestions that any disagreement with "St. John" about soft-money rules was somehow tantamount to corruption. "He was so condescending. If you weren't with him, you were obviously wrong," Smith says. And McCain sometimes approached debate the way he approached boxing as a midshipman, throwing wild haymakers until someone went down. He has offended the clubby Senate with his sailor's mouth, cursing at Pete Domenici of New Mexico over pork, John Cornyn of Texas over immigration and even the Mormon Orrin Hatch of Utah over judges. During McCain's campaign to normalize relations with Vietnam, he nearly came to blows with Charles Grassley of Iowa. Smith served on a tanker in the Gulf of Tonkin, but he says that when he was the Senate's only Vietnam vet to oppose normalizing relations, McCain belittled his service to other Senators as noncombat busywork. "That's way over the line," Smith says. "McCain was nasty, vindictive and mean-spirited. Those are tough words, but that's how he was."
Talking Straight As with many military men, McCain's Vietnam experiences seemed at times to make him wary of U.S. involvement abroad. He opposed Reagan's deployment in Lebanon and peppered the Clinton White House with questions about military interventions in Haiti, Somalia and the Balkans. But as he began his presidential quest in the late 1990s, McCain began to argue that America's honor required much stronger responses to tyrants, and he attacked the Clintonites for refusing to send combat troops to the Balkans and for appeasing a retrograde regime in North Korea. "I understand the instinct to protect national honor, but [North Korea] has got 800,000 men 40 miles from downtown Seoul," says Cohen, who was best man at McCain's second wedding but has not endorsed his friend. "Wars can get started over honor."
McCain's enemies say he lacks the temperament to be President; his friends say he is just a spirited fighter who isn't afraid of taking on sacred cows. Some of McCain's worst enemies have been GOP appropriators like Domenici, Ted Stevens of Alaska and Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who has said the thought of a President McCain sends a cold chill down his spine. McCain has been a relentless critic of congressional pork and has made a point of publicizing the pet-project earmarks that appropriators slip into budget bills. "He ruffles a lot of feathers because he doesn't worry about playing the game with the boys in the club," says Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who has replaced McCain as the Senate's top porkbuster — and top headache. "I call him a crusty old fart. People say he's bullheaded, but he's never afraid to irritate people if it will get something done for his country."
While Coburn has been willing to bog down the Senate to try to stop pork, McCain stops short of drawing the line. He tends to bend institutions without breaking them; he never alienated his caucus enough to lose his chairmanship, and even Cochran has endorsed McCain's candidacy now that he's the Republican nominee. "McCain used to make great speeches about all the garbage in military spending bills, especially after 9/11, but he'd do nothing to stop it," says the Center for Defense Information's Winslow Wheeler, a former GOP staffer who supports Obama for President. McCain "got the porkbuster reputation, but he never strayed too far off the reservation."
In 2000, McCain ran for President as a reformer, vowing to clean up Washington and restore honor to the presidency after eight years of Bill Clinton. But the wheels came off the Straight Talk Express right after New Hampshire, when he impulsively decided to pull all his negative ads off the air even though George W. Bush supporters were spreading vicious lies about him. Bush soon co-opted McCain's message — he too vowed to be "a reformer with results" — all the way to the White House. And McCain spent the next several years picking fights with Bush and the GOP establishment over campaign finance, health care, gun control and the President's massive tax cuts, which McCain characterized as fiscally irresponsible. The battles burnished his maverick image, but critics within the party attributed them mostly to vanity and sour grapes. "He was just grumpy about losing to Bush," says Grover Norquist, the antitax activist who has clashed with McCain but supports him now. "Anybody could see that."
But as he prepared to run for President again, McCain made peace with Bush and their party. The iconoclast who attacked Jerry Falwell as an "agent of intolerance" during the 2000 campaign made a pilgrimage to Falwell's university to make amends. The scold who attacked the Swift Boat Veterans campaign as dishonorable in 2004 signed up its funders for his campaign. McCain now wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and he has not only reversed his opposition to offshore drilling but has also made offshore drilling the centerpiece of his economic message. Several veterans of the McCain 2000 campaign told TIME that they barely recognize the McCain of 2008, but most of them also noted that the McCain of 2000 lost. "He's learned over the past eight years that the world of politics he'd like to inhabit is not the world he inhabits," says Dan Schnur, the communications director from the 2000 campaign. The world he inhabits paid almost no attention to McCain's heartfelt and self-critical speech about Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tenn., but has buzzed about McCain's tawdry ads comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Moses.
Honor and Its Limits The unanswerable question is whether McCain's rough campaign will eventually violate his own code of honor; he adores boxing, but he considers ultimate fighting a sickening national disgrace. Most Americans see McCain's focus on honor as a commendable commitment to principle; the danger comes when that insistence turns into dogma or a belief in one's monopoly on virtue. Asked whether he would look back at his tactics with Confederate-flag-style regrets, McCain at first refused to answer. When pressed, he gave the kind of canned, these-are-my-talking-points response he used to ridicule on the Straight Talk Express: "I'm very happy with the way our campaign has been conducted, and I am pleased and humbled to have the nomination of the Republican Party."
Behind the new front, McCain and his aides believe a straight-talk hiatus, a few necessary policy reversals and some standard-issue political attacks are small concessions to expedience, considering the stakes of the election. The race may turn on economic matters — and McCain seems to be learning how to talk about gas and housing prices with passion — but his driving issue is America's honor in a dangerous world. He has framed his support for the surge in Iraq — and Obama's unrepentant opposition — as proof of his superior qualifications to be Commander in Chief and of Obama's willingness to put politics before country.
Though McCain is quick to say he considers his opponent a "patriot," McCain and his aides now view Obama with the same level of contempt they once reserved for tobacco-company executives, corrupt lawmakers and George W. Bush. They have convinced themselves that Obama is not honorable, that he does not love his country as much as himself. That makes it easier to justify doing whatever is necessary to defeat him — especially if it's done in the pursuit of honor.
McCain genuinely believes that America's honor is at stake in this election. His friends say he's learned through hard experience as well as family values that tough talk backed by force is the only language our enemies understand, that vacillation in the face of evil will dishonor America and endanger our safety. And this obsession with national honor has driven his belligerent approach to dishonorable regimes — not only North Korea and Iraq but also Iran, Cuba and, most recently, Russia. His hard-edged approach has a visceral appeal and an undeniable consistency; it is also popular with some conservatives who are otherwise skeptical of McCain. But it's a radical and potentially dangerous approach to foreign affairs. In a messy world full of unsavory despots, belligerence can have its costs, even when it's belligerence in the pursuit of honor.
John McCain had dedicated his adult life to that pursuit; in November, Americans will have to decide whether to make his obsession with honor their own.
6 months ago
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World of Warcraft skills help Norwegian boy save his sister from moose attack
A NORWEGIAN boy, 12, reportedly saved himself and his sister from a moose attack using skills he picked up playing the online role-playing game World of Warcraft.
Hans Jørgen Olsen, 12, and his sister encountered a moose during a walk in the forest near their home in the central Norwegian town of Leksvik, said the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen.
It was then Olsen's WoW instincts reportedly kicked in. Firstly, he taunted the animal to get it away from his sister, the paper said.
In WoW, players use taunting to shoo monsters away from weaker team members, the newspaper said.
Then, when the moose came after him, he played dead.
"When you reach level 30, you learn a trick called the fake death. That's what I did - I pretended I was dead, and then the moose lost interest," he told the paper. "It went really well."
The moose reportedly lost interest in the boy and disappeared into the woods.
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The next generation
Future fruit growers link up for peer support.
Members of the Young Growers Alliance take tours to successful orchards and farm markets. From left, they are Chris and Kiona Black, Catoctin Mountain Orchard, Thurmont, Maryland; Julie and Phil Bolyard, Orr’s Farm Market, Martinsburg, West Virginia; Katie Ellis, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Gettysburg; Andrew Schwalm, Pennsylvania; Jim Schupp, Penn State Fruit Research & Extension Center, Biglerville; Mike Flinchbaugh, Flinchbaugh’s Orchard and Farm Market, York, Pennsylvania; Jim Remcheck, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Gettysburg; Rusty Lamb, Kuhn Orchards, Cashtown, Pennsylvania; Ivan Fisher, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; Justin Weaver, Weaver’s Orchard, Morgantown, Pennsylvania; and Diana Erb, Brook Lawn Farm, Lancaster County.
There’s always a next generation waiting in the wings to take over. But “the next generation” is not a single entity. It is made up of independent individuals.
Sometimes, however, there seems to be a synchrony, as like-aged individuals share similar values and move together creating a wave. These generational waves get names, like Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials.
About five years ago, a group of young fruit growers in the Mid-Atlantic region came together to form the Young Grower Alliance. It was made up of young people aged 20- and 30-something who were, for the most part, scions of established fruit families who realized it was up to them to prepare to take over.
And it’s happening again, this time in New York State.
During the International Fruit Tree Association summer tour in western New York in early August, several young adults were sporting dark blue tee shirts with a monogrammed logo proclaiming their membership in the Future Fruit Growers of Lake Ontario. They are part of the first in what are to be three chapters of young fruit growers located in widely separated fruit areas of the state—the western area bordering southern Lake Ontario, the southeastern area in the Hudson River Valley, and the northeastern area in the valley around Lake Champlain.
It’s not clear where the basic idea of making a formal group came from, but in both New York and the Mid-Atlantic, the Extension services of the land-grant universities were there at the start and have provided ongoing support. The Young Grower Alliance became affiliated as a standing committee of the State Horticulture Association of Pennsylvania, and its activities are coordinated by Katie Ellis in the Adams County Extension office.
Mario Miranda Sazo, who provides expertise in cultural practices as part of the four-person Lake Ontario Fruit Program Extension team serving growers in five counties, decided to try to pull young growers in the area into a formal group. What most have in common is a place on a fruit farm that will likely evolve into management and ownership. He is more interested in the educational needs of these young people than in the social club aspects.
“Cooperation among New York fruit growers is critical if they are to remain competitive in a global economy,” he said. “These young people are entering a high-cost, risky business in which they need to do everything virtually perfectly to succeed.
“This new generation of growers is looking to connect with each other and learn from more experienced growers when making decisions,” he added.
“While we are currently recruiting young fruit growers at the beginning of their careers, we are also looking for experienced fruit growers who can relate as mentors to the less experienced ones.”
Danielle Teeple is a spark plug in the Future Fruit Growers of Lake Ontario, working on communications. She coordinated the tee shirts, among other tasks.
Danielle and her husband, Frank, with two children under age 2, are part of Teeple Farms, Wolcott, New York, which is comprised of 400 acres, mostly apples, owned by John and Russ Teeple. Frank is Russ’s son. John is the more widely known Teeple, recently ending his term as chair of the U.S. Apple Association.
Danielle said the young fruit growers are a close-knit group. “Ninety percent of us grew up on fruit farms. All of us have an acquaintanceship or friendship that has developed over the years. We went away to college, and we came back to the farm.”
Now, these childhood associations are being transformed into professional relationships.
So far, Danielle said, about 35 young growers have shown enough interest to order a tee shirt, but she thinks membership will start to increase after they’ve finished harvesting the apple crop. The group has meetings monthly, and about 20 attend.
The group developed bylaws in June, but no formal officers were elected. Meetings are chaired on a rotating basis by committee chairs. Miranda Sazo obtained a grant from the Northeast Center for Risk Management Education to fund activities for the first year.
In the application, he wrote: “Participants in this project will learn ways to reduce financial risks as this next generation accepts more management responsibility, transitions to new production systems, and adopts new technologies. Up to ten workshops and field activities will use a format of a half day of business or labor management topics and a half day of field production topics.”
In late July, members volunteered to host visitors on buses during the IFTA tour and in August, they conducted a technical orchard tour on disease and pest identification. They have not held meetings during fall harvest.
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Good news, guys: men are allowed to cook now! As long as it's meat, and not sissy baked goods.
The introduction to Esquire's How To Cook package explains, "It is no longer so cool to nuke buffalo wings from the frozen aisle. It's much cooler to fry your own chicken." It is pretty difficult to remember what is cool these days, and whenever I read Esquire, I have a little bit of sympathy for dudes who complain that standards of contemporary masculinity are too damn confusing. I feel especially bad for anyone who has to read Mario Batali's rallying cry to the kitchen, which concludes thus:
There are two activities in life in which we can lovingly and carefully put something inside of someone we love. Cooking is the one we can do three times a day for the rest of our lives, without pills. In both activities, practice makes perfect.
Get it? Mario has something to put in you. And it's made of meat. Unsurprisingly, Esquire's recipes focus heavily on the pleasures of the flesh. One, Country Pot Roast, actually comes with a picture of a hunk of meat inside a clamp. "Because men always did like tools." Although I should point out that eating dinner off your workbench could result in food poisoning, and also splinters in your vital organs.
Here is something real men do not do: baking. Except for Tom Junod, who takes one for the team and makes cookies just once, even though it is totally for chicks:
[W]hen Nancy told me that everybody was either a cook or a baker, she might as well have said that everybody was either a man or a woman. You can cook like a man. But you can't bake like a man, because men don't bake. Nancy said that because baking is easy, it's hard; that because anyone can, a lot of men can't, or won't. [...] If cooking represents control, baking represents surrender.
And men want to dominate their food! At least, that's the implication of much of the package, with the exception of a pretty straightforward (and woman-authored) piece on eating pink chicken. I'd write more about how this is a great illustration of the lazy stereotypes men's publications sling at dudes in lieu of actual thoughtful considerations of masculinity or even just basic useful advice, but my cookies are ready and I need to go stick some fucking flowers on them.
Image via Supri Suharjoto/Shutterstock.com
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In idle moments, the Internet encourages me to visit fascinating historic sites. Recently, it led me to a series of ancient articles and planning documents related to a man named Sam Cass, who served as Metro Toronto’s Roads and Traffic Commissioner from 1954 to 1989.
I was struck almost speechless by a quote attributed to Cass in 1999, regarding the initial plan to build a series of expressways across the city: “We would respond to what people asked for, rather than what we wanted them to do. It isn’t for municipalities to tell citizens what form of transportation they should use.”
What a beautiful concept! In other words, if drivers choose to drive, why not funnel their tax dollars into building more and faster roads?
The Toronto maps associated with the early Cass years had me drooling with driver envy. They reveal a series of high-speed corridors slicing the city into tasty, bite-sized chunks.
Sadly, the plans to build more Toronto expressways came to a screeching halt in 1971 when Ontario Premier William Davis decided the city loved public transit more, as he chopped off half-built expressways at the root. Don’t get me wrong, I like to take mass transit every time my car is in for repairs and I need to travel a short distance, but after three or four rides, the novelty simply wears off.
While I accept the need for a form of mass transit in urban settings, I’m becoming increasingly impatient with the notion that those who choose to ride buses, streetcars and subways are somehow smarter or more evolved than car drivers.
Yet, across Canada, the needs and desires of drivers seem to be treated like a dirty little secret. Road building is at best a concession to some sort of demented splinter group that likes to get behind the wheel of a car. Even while driving, pixel boards mounted overtop express routes subtly remind drivers that they are insane, essentially choosing roads that have been deliberately overlooked and ignored by planners over the crowded cattle runs we call public transit.
You don’t like public transit? That’s simply because it hasn’t gobbled up all of your tax money yet! If you doubled the funding of public transit, you would love it. You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced gold brocade subway upholstery and in-bus bowling alleys.
And if I could afford to drive a newer car, with a better stereo, I’d do that, too.
Metropolitan planners continue to delude themselves that what drivers really want is to ride on buses or trains, cheek by jowl with their fellow creatures. In their minds, citizens could be convinced to switch as long as they devise a happy jingle or the colours of the transit vehicles are sufficiently jolly.
Meanwhile, cities preach the mantra of intensification, granting builders the rights to build monstrous condominium towers at major intersections, in hopes of transforming crushing knots of humanity into ready-made, eager transit customers. For the sake of the delicate sensibilities of urban planners, let’s not refer to these 40-storey intersections as overpopulated anthills. Let’s just call them “nodes” containing buildings designed for “optimum density.”
However, when those new residents begin to clog up city streets with automobiles, city planners screech that the predictable traffic pandemonium justifies the need to expand transit. Even more devilish — giving a nod and wink to newer condominium plans designed with little to no in-building parking.
The choice between individual and mass transportation is really nothing more than a synthesis of the value we place on our time, our money and the qualities we value in our rides. Leaving that choice to the individual without excessive coercion or tilting of the playing field seems to me to be the best plan of all.
I recall reading something years ago about a Russian leader having an expressway built between his house and the Kremlin, solely for his own use.
Though the concept has great personal appeal, building roads directly to even four or five of my favourite destinations would probably constitute an expense greater than my local municipality and fellow ratepayers would tolerate.
But while I’m thinking about Russia and the curious American habit currently in vogue of dubbing any unelected government bigwig a czar, it might not be a bad idea for Canada to create the position of a federal Roads Czar — someone who could represent the interests of drivers who simply want to go farther, faster, cheaper.
Last time I checked, Sam Cass was still available.
Lexus has done what may seem impossible to others: it has made a hybrid that is also the top performer of its model lineup.
Never a big fan of Jaguar cars, I initially turned down the chance to drive the 2013 XF. No doubt it would offer a plush ride and some pleasant cruising...
After stumbling around in the stylistic wilderness for far too many years, the once proud British company is back to penning its stunning designs once...
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Prince Charles asks for help from U.S. accountants
The Prince of Wales has called on the U.S. CPA profession to take a leading role in helping develop the tools and information necessary for companies to embed sustainability issues effectively in their day-to-day operations and decision-making and to report sustainability performance in a more clear, concise and connected way.
"We have to ensure that we are not battling to meet 21st century challenges with, at best, 20th century valuation, decision-making and reporting systems," Prince Charles said in a 10-minute videotaped address to the governing Council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which gathered in Las Vegas for its fall meeting. "It is the accountant's role and responsibility to show that acting for the long term, and in the best interests of communities and the environment, is also the right financial approach and not just an expensive luxury to be discarded rapidly in times of economic downturn.
"Who better to take the lead and set an example than the accountancy profession which is, in so many respects, the engine room of the corporate world, and indeed, government?"
The Prince of Wales acknowledged the AICPA's membership in his Accounting for Sustainability Project, saying it is one of the 16 accounting bodies around the world to "recognize formally that sustainability is an issue of global concern and to commit to the principles developed by my project." In connection with his message to Council, the AICPA announced the launch of its own effort to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability among the U.S. accounting profession.
AICPA leadership will attend The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Forum in the United Kingdom in December. Institute leaders, including President and CEO Barry Melancon, attended last December's Forum at St. James's Palace in London.
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IIPM - Admission Procedure
Most large Indian corporate houses are family run businesses. Be it the Tatas, Birlas or Ambanis; one after the other, the mantle of the company is held by an insider. While Lord Meghnad opines that “regardless of whether there are family run businesses or not, good corporate regulation rules are needed;” Jackson asserts, “India needs strong corporate governance laws to counteract both the nepotism intrinsic to large family run businesses and the fall-out from Satyam’s fraud.” And this is precisely why India needs good corporate governance laws to be enforced. Explains Moriarty, “Uncertainty is one of the biggest threats to public trust & investor confidence.” Stakeholders trust the Directors to create leadership that is competent & ethical in its approach. “While getting regulations right is necessary, it is not sufficient for ensuring ethical practice in the day-to-day operations of firms,” adds Moriarty. There is a dire need for India Inc. to differentiate itself from other emerging markets of the world and therefore restoring investor confidence is of utmost importance, at least for the time being.
The corporate scandal at Satyam has put a blot on the equity of brand India Inc. and has reinforced the need for strong corporate governance laws. For India to regain confidence of its global allies, it will have to resort to certain measures. Asserts Jackson, “Indian companies should take steps to improve internal management controls…” Companies should also focus on enhancing communication with their business allies, partners & stakeholders and practice transparency in their business actions. “Greater transparency will not only show which firms may be at risk, but also, more positively, which firms are strong,” explains Moriarty.
There is also a need for financial watchdogs like SEBI to pull up their socks and enforce laws, which makes it mandatory for companies to allow transparency in the company books. Jackson adds, “India’s Parliament must weigh in judiciously by strengthening corporate governance laws. The government must provide a fair playing field that attracts capital and this cannot happen without corporate governance standards at par with OECD countries.” Asserts Lord Meghnad, “Companies should demand that regulators are independent of all political influences.” Moriarty also recommends that “audit committees, corporate governance committees and compensation committees of the board be comprised of independent directors.”
The damage has already been done and image of Brand India Inc. has been tainted on the world map. And here, there is a lot that India can learn from Korea, which also has innumerable records of corporate scandals (Samsung, Hyundai, Daewoo, et al). Says Jackson, “Like India, Korea is highly reliant on the global economy and has a reputation for nepotism… Korea is no stranger to corporate fraud tarnishing its reputation.” As long as the Satyam case is taken as a one off case, the impact on India Inc.’s global image may not be too substantial or long-lasting. But for other Indian companies, this is a lesson well-learnt. Often, the public is too irrational in its thinking. There may be no connection between two companies, but the public may view one through the lens of another. Besides regulations, instilling corporate ethics is also important, which can be aptly instilled by the Directors of the firm. “Unless India Inc. appears collectively responsive to the outrage over Satyam by improving transparency and corporate governance measures, India Inc.’s reputation as a Mecca for service-based outsourcing may be permanently damaged,” concludes Jackson. Lesson learnt: Never ride a tiger if you know for sure that you can’t get off without being eaten!
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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In cases where there is not a visible shortcut, it is based on the title of next item. If you type the first few letters of the title of the menu, it will be selected. So if I wanted to select "Introduce Parameter" in your example above, I could quickly type I N T or I N T R to select it. My guess is that the case of "Extract" above, it is taking you to the next unique case alphabetically - you have three "Extract " listings and the next unique letter, alphabetically is "Extract *C*lass." If you wanted to select the previous entry, I think you'd be stuck with typing E X T T R A C T I
You can select Finder items on the Desktop, or in folders, in a similar manner. If I want to select a file called "my stuff", I can start typing M or M Y instead of single-clicking the file itself.
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"The Counterfeiters" was Austria's entry in the 2008 Academy Awards, and it won Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, the first Austrian entry to do so. I hadn't seen the entries it edged out--"12," "Beaufort," "Katyn," and "Mongol"--but it's easy to see why this Stefan Ruzowitzky film appealed to judges.
Based on a book by former Operation Bernhard inmate Adolph Burger, "The Counterfeiters" parts the curtain to show a glimpse into a little-known facet of concentration camp history, and the subject matter itself is fascinating enough to be compelling. Beginning in 1942, SS Major Bernhard Krüger established a team of nearly 150 counterfeiters in a secret section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where design and printing experts were treated as if they were in a bad hotel rather than a death camp. The goal was to duplicate the British pound notes so precisely that not even the Bank of England could tell the difference, then flood the market with the notes and collapse the British economy. In fact, one of the most outrageous scenes in the movie shows a German agent trying to deposit a large number of the pound notes to see if they pass the test, then getting bold and insisting that the bank's word that they're authentic isn't good enough. He directs them to send them to the Bank of England, who also validate the notes as being authentic.
Amazingly, some nine million British pound notes were printed with a total value of close to 135 million pounds. Buoyed by their success, the Nazis next directed their counterfeiting team to tackle the U.S. dollar. But the Nazis didn't have the means to carry out their plan to distribute the pound notes--using them instead to finance covert operations and also reportedly rescue Italian dictator Benito Mussolini--and the war ended before the prisoners could give their German overseers a second perfect forgery.
There's no big-picture treatment here, with enough of a sense of how major an impact the dumped pounds would have had on the British economy and war effort, or even much beyond what goes on inside the camp. Instead, like "The Grey Zone" (2001), the focus is on the moral dilemma that the prisoners face. Professionals all (some legal, some illegal), their pride kicks in, but their lives also depend on their success. Still, all of the men realize that they are going to be killed like the rest of the Jews in the concentration camp once their usefulness is outlived, and helping the German war effort is also perversely moving them closer to their own deaths--despite promises of villas and women if they do their jobs well, pampered prisoners for life. As a 90-year-old Burger says on one of the bonus features, "We were dead men on holiday. We never expected to walk away from this secret operation."
Can there possibly be a better premise for a dramatic film?
And yet, while I wouldn't go so far as to say that the opportunity was squandered, "The Counterfeiters" feels more ordinary than its extraordinary subject matter. Screenwriter-director Ruzowitzky chose to focus mostly on the relationship between master-forger Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) and printer Adolph Burger (August Diehl), and that keeps it both somewhat insular and low-key. He also downplayed the elements we normally associate with concentration camps, giving little screen time to the horrors and largely restricting us to Sally's more privileged point of view. There's not even the tension of not knowing whether Sally lives or dies, because this is a frame story that begins with the famed counterfeiter passing more of his funny money at a post-war Monte Carlo Casino. To his credit, though, Ruzowitzky also fought any temptation to add elements in order to create of tenser dramatic structure. Even if the result is a slice-of-life film that feels like a slice-of-life, for good or for bad, and the camerawork and editing are also pretty nuts-and-bolts, that matter-of-factness also supports the realistic integrity of the film. Not a lot happens in this film other than the yoked prisoners doing their jobs and trying to stay alive in the process.
The acting is superb, though, and Markovics does an excellent job of conveying the complexities of his character, who is sympathetic to his Communist friend's desire to sabotage the operation. But he's also a practical man whose survival instincts are as sharp as his engraver's eye. One guesses that for Burger, it's an easier sacrifice to give his life for a cause, and the question that enters into it is whether Sally's criminal and Burger's good citizen orientations shape even these basic attitudes. Add the more sadistic-minded Nazis, and "The Counterfeiters" presents three levels of morality. It's a film that's not flashy and one which doesn't go for the big scene. Rather, it's an examination of human nature combined with a small lesson in German history--and there's enough here to make it worth watching more than once.
It's hard for me to evaluate the video quality, though, because I missed seeing this film in theaters and can't comment on whether the rough picture is intentional. All I can tell you is that it is rough, with considerable graininess, edges that aren't as precise as we're used to seeing in HD releases, and colors that don't come close to being fully saturated. Now, is this intended to support the "lost footage" feel that this film has? Perhaps, since the quality is even rougher than the best DVDs these days. "The Counterfeiters" was transferred to a BD-50 disc using AVC encoding, and again I can't evaluate this very well except to say that there's a lot of "noise" in a number of scenes, which makes me wonder about the transfer process. Some scenes are sharper, but overall it's not a pretty picture. Neither, of course, is life in a concentration camp. "The Counterfeiters" is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and fills the entire 16x9 screen.
The audio is also rough, a German and French Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, and Spanish. Whether it's deliberate or not, the audio track has a little hiss to it, as though there were little in the way of boom mics used.
There's a wealth of bonus features, some of them excellent and most of them better than average. A 10-minute making-of feature gives the basics and introduces 90-year-old Adolph Burger, who talks passionately about his story and tells that the one thing he insisted on was script approval. After hearing him speak, you walk away convinced that if anything was added to his story or if changes were made, they didn't at all conflict with the basic facts. Longer interviews with Ruzowitzky, Burger (author of "The Devil's Workshop"), and actor Markovics. Burger's is the shortest segment at just about 10 minutes, with the other two running closer to 17. It's interesting to hear Ruzowitzky tell how he was approached by two different producers to tell this story, which convinced him that it was his fate to do so.
Another short (10 min. or so) segment shows Burger artifacts--newspaper clippings, etc.--with more discussion of the real operation. A roughly 10-minute Q&A with the director covers some of the same ground, with deleted scenes running under four minutes. There's one scene that seems to include content important to the film, and yet it was cut. Would-be filmmakers will debate over whether it was a good or bad edit.
Apart from any time that Burger is on-camera, Ruzowitzky's full-length commentary (in English) is the best of the bonus features. He covers a great deal of ground, including casting, tracking shots, working with actors, set and lighting decisions, and working with Burger as a kind of conscience that kept him honest.
"The Counterfeiters" tells a compelling story without fanfare or standard dramatic conventions, and that's saying something. For those interested in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II, the film delves into aspects that aren't well known, and explores character in the process. Is it worthy of the Oscar it won? I think so. And the fact that it invites repeat viewing supports that opinion.
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One of my most successful job hunting clients explained his success this way: "I create relationships...the relationships create the jobs."
The hardest job search is the one that begins with no network or no personal good will. Job hunters who've neglected or damaged their personal relationships tend to stay unemployed longer.
How can you develop a strong support network? Congratulate friends in writing when they accomplish something noteworthy, take new jobs, or appear in the media. They'll appreciate and remember you for it.
When you see an article by or about someone you know, clip the item and send it to them along with a note of congratulations. Even if they've saved it themselves, they'll appreciate the extra copy to share.
From time to time, send small gifts to friends, recruiters, and business acquaintances to remind them you're still around. Inexpensive books work nicely. A newspaper, magazine, or journal article counts as a gift, and unexpected gifts are especially welcome. A warm letter sets the tone.
If you write or publish something, if you're featured in a news article, if you present a professional program or appear in the media, copy the articles and programs and mail them to your network, along with a note, "Thinking of you."
In marketing personal services (job-hunting), relationships are everything. Seek opportunities to build good will for yourself in the community. You'll never be sorry.
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A bill requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for teachers and assistant teachers has passed through House and Senate committees.
“Hannah’s Law†is named after Hannah Kozitza, who died after choking on a grape while at a day-care facility last summer.Â
“Hannah went to day care and never came home,†said Ron Edlund, Hannah’s grandfather. “We need to know that the people taking care of our children and grandchildren are able to respond to these situations.â€
Now, state law requires just one CPR-trained staff member to be in a child-care facility. The bill, which faces another Senate committee and heads directly to the full House, requires all teachers and assistant teachers to be trained.
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Partisan bickering, acrimony, mistrust, communication breakdowns, lines drawn in the sand and 11th-hour compromises are the new normal on Capitol Hill.
Managing to function in a constant state of dysfunction while fiercely fighting to eke out a better deal during negotiations is what happens when the stakes are high and people involved are deeply vested.
"From the outside it may look like insanity. But it is more complex than that ... both sides are testing their walk away point," said Peter Johnston, a negotiation expert and the author of "Negotiating with Giants."
Just where that point rests will be tested anew in just a few weeks.
Congress narrowly averted the worst aspects of the fiscal cliff in a last-ditch vote just before the steepest cuts in domestic spending were to take effect.
Those cuts, or sequester, had been a centerpiece of the political debate on fiscal matters for months and were cut out of deal negotiated by the White House and the Senate at the last minute. But they are coming around again when Congress revisits the issue of debt and deficits in February.
Both sides are already digging in.
In the moments after Congress averted the fiscal cliff with an agreement on taxes, President Barack Obama called for "a little less drama, a little less brinkmanship" in future dealings.
But he also made it clear that he would "not have another debate" with lawmakers over "whether they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed."
House Speaker John Boehner swore off trying to negotiate one-on-one with Obama after fruitless fiscal cliff talks.
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Winners represent the greenest materials, most sustainable methods of manufacturing, highest energy efficiency, greatest innovation, smallest carbon footprint, and best looking design in each category.
Submissions poured in from around the world and varied widely, from artisans and craftspeople in the Hudson Valley to major American manufacturers, an Australian fireplace maker, Southeast Asian weavers, and European appliance companies.
Esteemed judges debated the sustainability of importing and shipping very large pieces of furniture or appliances, but weighed those aspects against the environmental impact of the materials and manufacturing processes.
The variety of entries proved challenging for the judges.
“While all of the categories showed impressive and innovative talent, the furniture category was particularly difficult to judge due to the abundance of submissions,” judge Chris Madden says, adding, “It was inspiring to see how far we have advanced in green design and to see the growing number of participants in the field.”
The solution was to create separate furniture categories: hard goods, soft goods, outdoor, and kitchen “furniture.”
Below is a list of all the winners of this year's Innovative Green Design Awards. Please join New York House and the honorees at a cocktail reception at GreenBuildingsNY on June 16 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. Check back for more information.
THE WINNERS BY CATEGORY:Bedding The Terra OrganicPedic Organic Mattresses, Inc. The Terra OrganicPedic mattress took top honors because it embodies all aspects of innovative green design, the judges noted. The 12-inch mattress has a removable sculpted-surface pillow top, a 3-inch firm, 100-percent natural rubber latex core with 2-inch layers of softer latex on top and bottom, joined to the core using a vegetable-based adhesive. The mattress cores are made in the U.S. from sustainably harvested rubber-tree sap; the latex is naturally anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and biodegradable, and is certified to contain no harmful substances, while domestic Eco-Wool and certified organic cotton are used in the quilting. OMI’s mattresses are eligible for LEED credits and the judges found the designs appealing. omifactory.com Flooring/Floor Coverings ReFresh Fiber Universal Fibers, Inc. Universal Fibers has made reuse and recycling an art form in its innovative ReFresh Fiber carpet fiber, the winner in the flooring/floor coverings category. Universal diverts literally tons of post-consumer Nylon-66 carpet from landfills, separates the face fiber and conducts multi-step cleaning processes, making the fluff suitable for making more than 70 designer shades of carpet yarn. No toxic or heavy metals are involved; no effluent streams are created from traditional dyeing; all polymeric manufacturing waste is recovered and reused. This domestically-made product reduces oil consumption, clearly saves energy, and won over the panel of judges for its solving of a real environmental problem. universalfibers.com Furniture/Kitchen Gaia Kitchen Bazzeo by NY Loft Among kitchen cabinet or “furniture” entries, Bazzeo by NY Loft’s Gaia kitchen was the clear winner, singled out for being completely made of recycled and recyclable materials, and non-toxic resins and laminates in a “zero-waste” factory in New Jersey. The product can contribute LEED points to a project. The “clean, sleek” designs caught judge Kate Dayton’s eye, while fellow panelist Jorge S. Arango said, “For me, it’s about the reuse of materials. And I think aesthetically it’s a beautiful, beautiful kitchen.” bazzeo.com Furniture/Outdoor Outdoor Furniture Loll Designs In outdoor furniture, entries varied from upstate New York craftspeople with an innovative lounge chair made from local wood, to several high-end design firms with imported Asian wood pieces and luxury quarried stone benches, to the category winner, Loll Designs. Loll Designs’ modern Adirondack chairs, rockers, and swings are crafted from 100-percent recycled plastic made in Georgia, primarily from recycled milk jugs. Loll was founded by a desire to utilize unused scrap from a sister company that made skate parks, but its eco initiatives include recycled packaging, recycling manufacturing and office waste, working in a green building, and participating in 1% For the Planet (an alliance of companies that donate at least one percent of annual revenues to environmental causes) by returning one percent of its gross sales to local environmental groups. The judges felt the repurposing of materials and the “fun, family-friendly designs” helped Loll win them over. lolldesigns.com Furniture/Hard Goods Bamboo Credenza with Doors and Drawers Stylo Furniture & Design By segmenting the furniture category so much, the judges narrowed the field in hard goods, thus giving Stylo Furniture & Design, a Hudson Valley custom design firm, an edge for its innovative use of sustainable materials, low-impact manufacturing, and minimal waste production. The panel appreciated that Stylo’s bamboo credenza, designed by company owner Randy Hornman and architect Richard Librizzi, is a versatile and functional, stylish piece whose bamboo carries two LEED credits and also contributes to LEED EQ Credit 4: Low-emitting materials. “It’s a really good execution,” Dayton remarked. stylo-fd.com Furniture/Soft Goods Lulan Artisans Manufacturing Program Lulan Artisans In the soft goods category, including upholstery, the judges eliminated companies whose ecofriendly cushions were optional, because they felt this didn’t demonstrate a true commitment to green. Aesthetics were discussed, as were various materials and manufacturing processes, including preserving ancient techniques. All this led the panel to select Lulan Artisans, a partnership between architect/designer Eve Blossom, consulting designers Laura Guido-Clark and Michael Koch, and a group of gifted artisans in five Southeast Asian countries. More than 650 spinners, twisters, dyers, weavers, and finishers produce high-end fabrics, decorative accents, and other soft goods in a holistic design approach using only natural materials. But Lulan’s sustainability also encompasses the local communities, as it celebrates the villages’ centuries-old weaving techniques, opens new markets, and enhances free trade. lulan.com Household Appliances Hybrid Water Heater GE Consumer & Industrial ecause there were so many varied appliance entries that didn’t fit into the kitchen category, judges created the household appliance category and grouped non-kitchen items in it. Within this household appliance group, panelists judged not only the products, but considered some heavy issues, including GE’s past pollution of the Hudson River and its current corporate-wide, innovative Ecomagination efforts. “It does beg the issue of: in order to make the change, don’t you need a major company to do some major work, to have the most impact in the movement forward?” Dayton asked. In the end, judges found GE’s Hybrid Electric Water Heater stood out from competing appliances because it uses less than half the energy of similar products, thanks to its hybrid technology that absorbs heat in ambient air and transfers it into the water. This Energy Star-rated water heater is designed to fit the same electrical and water connections and occupy the same footprint of a traditional water heater, thereby making upgrades and replacements seamless. geconsumerandindustrial.com Kitchen Appliances CS 2062, 36” Refrigerator Liebherr When it came to kitchen appliances, it was Liebherr, the judges’ pick for best-in-class, which did the ultimate job of combining all aspects of sustainable, innovative, beautiful design. After some debate over domestic versus imported products, the judges even felt Liebherr’s ecofriendly product features and sustainable manufacturing processes far outweigh the carbon footprint of importing from Germany. This new 36-inch refrigerator, introduced after four years of research and development, consumes just 452 kWh per year (far less than others in its class); maximizes space and food preservation; and incorporates smart features such as LED lighting and improved water filtration. The panel loved its functionality and design and was impressed by Liebherr’s long list of responsible manufacturing practices. Liebherr says it is the only manufacturer whose line is 100-percent Energy Star rated; the only manufacturer to be RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant worldwide; and the only company to make LED lighting standard, even though that has no bearing on the Energy Star rating. Among other things, Liebherr recovers and reuses energy released in production to heat its facilities, and uses recyclable packaging materials and ecofriendly, solvent-free coatings on it sheet metals. liebherr-appliances.com Lighting Meteor Lighting ILOS Corporation While there were numerous fluorescent and LED lighting entries, many of them quite innovative or aesthetically pleasing, the judges found ILOS Corporation’s Meteor solar ground and paver lights to combine cutting-edge technology with functionality and design aesthetics. The lights use the latest in solar cell, LED lighting, and EDLC ultracapacitor technology (which gives them a seven- to 10-year lifespan) to be as sturdy and reliant as conventionally powered equivalents, the company says. Because they’re self-contained, they require no external power and no wiring, thereby reducing environmental impact. “For driveways and building lighting, it really solves a lot of problems,” judge Carol Kurth said. “With digging, you’re disrupting trees and shrubs and grass or habitat. I think this is just a great solution.” meteor-lighting.com Window Treatments Duette Architella Honeycomb Shades Hunter Douglas, Inc. When it comes to window treatments, the panelists considered entries with organic fibers and ecofriendly processes, but ultimately concluded that Hunter Douglas’ new double-honeycomb Duette Architella shades stood out for their innovation and superior insulating capacity, which translates to energy efficiency. The honeycomb-in-a-honeycomb construction dramatically increases R-values in colder months and significantly reduces solar heat gain to save consumers energy. Offered in a wide color palette, they’re visually appealing as well, the judges found. “I think this product is great,” Arango said. “I think this company is amazing. And their product is excellent; their quality is excellent.” Related Dayton: “I’ll never forget the first time I experienced that. The heat from the sun will come through the window and you’re feeling it when it’s open. You close that thing and it’s gone. And now this is double-honeycomb.” Added Arango: “It’s really amazing technology.” hunterdouglas.com
SPECIAL MENTIONS:Major American Furniture Manufacturer The EcoComfort Collection La-Z-Boy Among major American manufacturers, La-Z-Boy earned praise for using its huge presence in the industry to offer the EcoComfort Collection, a line using ecofriendly fabrics. While it’s hard for such a large, established company to convert to green standards, La-Z-Boy is “raising the consciousness on a wide scale, on a national scale,” says Arango. la-z-boy.com “Coolest” Product Q fireplace Ecosmart Fire Another special mention goes to a very hot product the judges named the “coolest.” While they admit this may not be the greenest product, they agreed the Q by Ecosmart Fire is worth noting for its innovation and design. This free-standing fireplace, situated in a round-shaped dome and free to move to any room, is 90 percent thermal efficient and perfect for small living spaces. ecosmartfire.com Philanthropic Mission K-Light Solar Lantern PiSAT Solar Finally, the judges stripped away all the remarkably green features of the K-Light Solar Lantern by PiSat Solar, like the 16 energy-efficient LEDs and 1.5-watt solar panel, and praised a company whose mission statement outshines its product. PiSat Solar donates a portion of its sales proceeds to its own Light for Africa program, which supports the not-for-profit Koinonia Foundation to provide start-up grants for local women in business who sell the K-Light. pisatsolar.com
JORGE S. ARANGO has nearly 20 years of publishing experience as a design writer, editor, and producer, having appeared in such publications as Metropolitan Home, House & Garden, Time Out New York, and Elle Décor. He has also co-authored two books: Harlem Style: Designing for the New Urban Aesthetic and Ex Arte. Arango’s work includes residential design photography as well as commercial projects like the Four Seasons Hotels in Washington, D.C., Liberia, and Costa Rica.
KATE DAYTON is the founder of Green Courage, LLC., in New Paltz, which provides environmentally safe and healthy finish materials for remodeling and renovation projects. She founded the company in 2004. Green Courage LLC is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and Sustainable Hudson Valley (SHV).
CAROL J.W. KURTH, AIA, LEED AP, is principal of Carol J.W. Kurth AIA Architects and founder of OOCK green design boutique in Bedford. Kurth, a graduate of the City College of New York, is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. She is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers, as well as the founder of the American Institute of Architects’ Women in Architecture Committee, Westchester Mid-Hudson chapter.
CHRIS MADDEN founded her multimillion-dollar company, Chris Madden, Inc., in 1977 and has since produced 16 books, Your Good House magazine, and a home furnishings partnership with JC Penney. She was the first design correspondent for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Showhouse magazine. Madden just signed on to publish her 17th book and continues her partnership with JC Penney as well as her philanthropic ventures like Project Katrina, furnishing homes on the devastated Gulf Coast since 2007.
Entries were evaluated on the following criteria:
To be eligible, the product must:
• Have a defining green or sustainable attribute (in design, material, increased energy efficiency, reduced embodied energy, etc.)
• Be made in a sustainable way
• Be new, but available, to consumers (on the market less than two years)
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Learn something new every day More Info... by email
A bridal shower is an event that takes place before a couple’s wedding and is intended to "shower" them with gifts. It is the modern day replacement of the bridal dowry given by the bride’s family in the past. Traditionally, the shower is attended by the bride’s female friends and family, but =a mixed "Jack and Jill" party is also common. Food and drinks are served, and there are usually party games and prizes as well.
The bride’s chosen bridesmaids, also called the bridal party, traditionally plan and host the shower. Their job is to organize every detail, including the design of the invitations, location, decorations, food, games and party favors. In many cases, the party is meant to be a surprise for the bride, although most are usually aware of the party that is being planned in their honor.
The gifts given to the bride are usually new household items that the newlyweds will need to begin their life together. Fine china, teapots, silverware, toasters, linens, picture frames, vases and wine glasses are some of the traditional gifts presented to the bride at her shower. Many brides and grooms register at their favorite store before the party, taking the guesswork out of finding the perfect gift for them.
Some bridesmaids include a wishing well at the bridal shower. It resembles an old fashioned well but is constructed out of cardboard and decorated in a bridal theme. The guests are asked to bring small, inexpensive items along with their main gift and place them inside the well. Wishing well gifts are often things like can openers, a bottle of wine, or salt and pepper shakers.
A bridal shower can be held at any location. Some take place in a person’s home, while others are given at a restaurant. Depending on the number of guests, some bridesmaids chip in to reserve a private room in a restaurant or club.
Some of the most entertaining aspects of a shower are the games. There are hundreds of different games that can be played, ranging from tame to racy. Some are tongue in cheek, meant to tease the bride, and others are great ice breakers.
One popular game involves giving all the guests a clothespin when they arrive and telling them that no one is allowed to say a certain word, such as "bride." If one guest hears another say the forbidden word, then he or she may take the clothespin. Whichever guest has the most clothespins at the end of the shower wins the game and a special prize.
SauteePan - It is important that all bridal shower invites are given plenty of time to prepare for the event and RSVP on time.
Also, the bridal shower cake is important and it should be something that the bride would love. A cake designer in South Florida that makes the most incredible cakes is Edda or Lucia from Cake Designs by Edda or Sweet Art by Lucia.
Both of these ladies worked together to form one of the most desired cakes in South Florida but they split up but use the same formula in their respected bakeries.
Their signature ingredient is the rum filling which is amazing. The cakes are pricy but always make a statement at any event.
It is also important to have a lot of games and special prizes for the winners. Make up gift sets or fragrances make good prizes that girls would love to win.
Crispety - I think that you have to select a bridal shower theme that the bride would love. For example, a friend of mine recently had a bridal shower at a oceanfront restaurant and the bridal shower decorations involved shells and starfish in little baskets in all of the tables. Since it was also a seafood restaurant the theme tied in perfectly.
I think that the bridal shower menu at a restaurant could be set so that everyone would receive the same entrée and appetizer. This will allow you to adequately plan for the cost ahead of time so that you will be able to budget better.
I love bridal showers. I think if you are putting together a bridal shower for a friend it is really a good idea to have a bridal shower checklist that includes everything.
You will definitely want to include all of the guests that the bride would want at the wedding bridal shower and ask if she would like her finance to attend.
Some brides do like to have their fiancée and others would rather leave it as an all girl party.
It is also important to find the right bridal shower cake to go with the theme of the event as this will be the signature piece.
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Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cutby Lynne Curry
Synopses & Reviews
Pure Beef is the most up-to-date cookbook that addresses the natural and grassfed beef trend, the fastest growing market segment in the $75 billion cattle industry. Today, we can choose to eat beef that is more ethical than chicken, more virtuous than tofu, and more sustainable than produce. Pure Beef answers essential questions: Why eat beef? What kind should I eat? Where can I buy it? How should I cook it? Leaner grassfed beef requires a different way of cooking steaks and burgers to perfection and Pure Beef will show home cooks the way to cook every cut of beef.
There is nothing wrong with eating meat; it's just the amounts we typically eat that are not healthy. Pure Beef upends the traditional beef hierarchy that promotes 12-ounce portions of big steaks and premium roasts and helps us think more moderately about beef consumption. The more than 150 recipes provide a balanced approach to beef's healthfulness, economy, and sustainability. A full-color photo insert highlights a dozen or more recipes and includes an updated beef cut chart.
"Oregon's Wallowa Valley is home to food journalist Curry, as well as the source of her in-depth knowledge of how to raise, slaughter, and prepare grass-fed cattle. In the first half of this, her first book, she shares the wisdom she has gleaned from local ranchers and the practices she has polished over years of experience. The reader is quick to buy in once Curry describes how grass-fed differs from grain-fed beef: 'red as a beet instead of rosy pink... compact and firm like a relaxed bicep, not slack and yielding.' There are lessons on 'how to cook like a butcher' and how to make the most of cuts that are generally leaner and smaller than their chemically enhanced, corn-stuffed counterparts. Part two of the book contains more than 125 recipes that span a vast spectrum of influences. In a chapter dedicated to steaks, variations range from chicken-fried to filet mignon in brandy sauce. And a section entitled 'Global Beef Cuisine' travels from Korean barbecue and Turkish kabobs to Argentinean empanadas. A short list of online foodie databases is provided to aid in locating sources for pasture-raised meats. While a glossary of choice steak cuts is de rigueur, Curry raises the bar with additional glossaries of choice bones (for making great soups and stocks) and choice charcuterie cuts. Agent: Sarah Jane Freymann." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
“Leaping in sales by thirty percent each year, artisan beef—including natural, organic, and especially grassfed—is captivating everyone’s attention. With all of these new choices on the market, Pure Beef answers home cooks’ most pressing questions: Which beef should I buy? Where can I buy it? How should I cook it? Featuring an engaging beef cooking tutorial and a cook-friendly beef cut chart, Pure Beef instructs anyone how to grill, roast, stew, simmer, and sauté every cut of beef to their liking. With chapters organized by cooking methods and corresponding beef cuts, its 140 recipes are customized for leaner, heat-sensitive grassfed beef and model a healthful and sustainable approach to meat eating. A groundbreaking guide to artisan beef, this cookbook offers everyone the benefits of an informative and delicious ranch-to-table dining experience complete with a full-color photo recipe insert and landscape images throughout.”
About the Author
Lynne Curry is a former vegetarian who learned to love locally raised beef when she moved to Oregon’s remote Wallowa Valley in 2001. Through years of experience, she learned to cook every morsel. A James Beard Awards journalism nominee, Lynne’s food articles and recipes have appeared in many publications including Saveur, The Los Angeles Times, Relish, and Culinate.com. She is a contributor to Zester Daily and the Portland Oregonian and works as a private chef, cooking teacher, and consultant. She lives with her family in Joseph, Oregon.
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The world doesn't need another platform. Android is free and open; I think the only reason you create another platform is for political reasons. Why doesn't the whole world run with [Android]? They don't like the people who developed, or "not invented here," but [Android] is a successful, complete, vertically integrated free platform. I encourage everybody to use it, but I'm also not under the impression that everybody will use it, which is a good thing, because competition is good for the consumer and if somebody has an an idea for a feature or a piece of functionality in their platform and Android doesn't do it, great. I think it's good to have the benefit of choice, but in the end I don't think the world needs another platform.
Does the world need a better phone? Does the world need a phone that boots faster, a phone based on a web application framework, a phone that has a consistent interface? Just because Windows Phone 7 doesn't use Android, it doesn't mean that it's reinventing the wheel. Android is flexible, but it can't be used to build any kind of mobile operating system.
Millions of people will buy Windows Phone 7 phones and they'll find a new way to experience the Web. They'll probably use Bing, a browser that doesn't support HTML5 and they'll run Silverlight apps, but that's great: more people will buy Internet-enabled devices and will make the Web a better place. Great ideas come from everywhere and competition can only make Android better.
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Preparing for Dry-Floor Season
by Jack Vivian, Ph.D.
Just as getting ready for the ice season takes six to nine months of advance planning; preparation for the dry-floor season takes an equal amount of planning. Not all single and double surface arenas operate year-round; most take at least one ice surface out for a few weeks, while others have their ice surface out three or four months for dry-floor programming. Regardless of a facility’s ice schedule, much preparation must go into what is going to happen during the off-season, whether it is dry-floor programming, maintenance, or both. This article offers planning ideas to make this period successful.
One of the major responsibilities of management is to fully utilize their venues while meeting the unique needs of their community. Privately owned facilities can be more discriminating and market driven; however, given the current economic conditions in the industry, it is increasingly important for all facility managers to use their facilities totally and to generate sufficient income to be self-sustaining.
Two important management objectives to accomplish during the dry-floor season should be: 1) to create sufficient income to support full staffing and benefits during this period. Many ice arenas are forced to operate with skeleton staffs because of the lack of revenue during the three- to four-month off-season. 2) Complete the type of regular and preventive maintenance that cannot be accomplished during the ice season. Achieving these objectives requires progressive minded leadership, creative scheduling, and exceptional marketing and promotion skills.
Developing Dry-Floor Events and Activities
Ice arenas lend themselves to a wide range of dry-floor events and activities that can broaden the facility’s reputation, meet the varied needs for events in the community and generate significant income. Without removing the dasher boards, regulation ice surfaces have over 17,500 square feet of clear-span, flat-floor space (with the dashers removed, over 20,000 square feet are available in most venues). Below are some typical events that could be hosted during the dry-floor season.
Dry Floor Activities
- Indoor Soccer
- Indoor Lacrosse
- Inline Hockey
- Pre-season Baseball
- Batting Cages
- Golf Driving Range
- Exercise Classes
- Walking/Running Track
- Dance Classes
- Arts and Crafts
- Flea Market
- Sporting Goods
- Social Gatherings
- Food Fairs
- Picnics and Parties
- Table Games
From the above list, industrious managers can certainly find a number of events/activities that are missing or under-served in their communities. To prepare for scheduling any of these events and activities, management should:
• Determine what events/activities are appropriate for their facility and under-served in the community. Don’t attempt to host events that do not fit the design and layout of the venue. Stay within the scope of possibilities for the facility type and size being managed.
• Determine if the facility wants to co-sponsor, co-promote or fully operate the events. Most municipal facilities cannot risk public funds; however, where funds are available, the return is much greater than just leasing the space to outside promoters. Even when leasing space, management should negotiate a percentage of admissions, booth rentals and ticket sales, and never give away any part of the food service. Those dollars are a direct profit to the facility.
• Develop a dry-floor rental agreement that covers a wide variety of scheduling, rental and risk management conditions. Consult legal counsel for advice on the unique conditions present when hosting these activities/events.
• Develop a fee structure with specific details for recreational and sports activity programming, full and partial day rates for promoters to rent facilities for ticketed events with charges spelled out for staffing, equipment and utilities. Be sure to recoup all of the staffing costs, promoters are used to paying these costs in public assembly facilities and should be charged actual rates and benefit costs.
• Negotiate agreements with caterers and suppliers of tables, chairs, draperies and sound equipment. Firms in this business have comprehensive contracts that clearly spell out the scope of their services. Management must work closely with these companies in exchange for a small percentage of the fees they charge. Those fees are often the difference between making a profit and breaking even on some events.
• Develop safety and operational procedures for sports and recreational supervisors and event promoters. Be sure to cover such things as how to display signage, where to park, where to store equipment and where restricted areas are located.
• Establish a coordinated marketing plan to assist event and trade show promoters and community rental groups with their media coverage, advertising and promotions activities. The arena can use their media outlets to cooperatively purchase media buys and pass a percentage of the savings on to the promoter.
The quality of the management team and the energy they devote to planning and promoting their facility for dry-floor events, especially the first few years, will ultimately determine the programming and financial success of such events and activities. Changing the facility’s image from a single to multi-purpose venue is not easy. Once it is achieved, however, it can boost the visibility of the facility in a community and meet the financial objectives for that part of the season.
Although maintenance is more than a once-a-year objective, there are many tasks that are best done when the ice is out. It is not possible to cover every single aspect of maintaining an ice arena in a brief article, but the following list presents some annual tasks that most facilities must undertake. Each facility is unique, so managers need to start by identifying the different pieces of equipment and structural components of their building. Then, they must develop detailed plans and methods for accomplishing the maintenance tasks during the dry-floor season. Below is a suggested outline, by area and task:
• Parking Lots, Front Entrance and Vestibule - Paint entrance; strip, clean and seal floors; adjust door closers and tighten hinges, oil and grease locks and striker plates; re-pave or seal parking lot surface.
• Lobby Floors and Walls - Paint walls, benches and doors; replace worn floor tile, carpeting and baseboards.
• Stairways and Seating - Strip and reseal concrete floors, inspect and repair seats, anti-slip strips and railings.
• Public Washrooms and Team Rooms - Replace flooring, paint walls, doors and benches; replace light bulbs and worn tissue paper holders; repair or replace plumbing fixtures.
• Office - Replace worn carpet; replace light bulbs and clean fixtures; paint walls and doors; install or upgrade computer hardware/software systems.
• Concession Stands - Remove all equipment and furnishings; paint walls with high gloss paint; clean floors and equipment, and disinfect drain lines and hoods.
• Ice Floor and Dasher Board Area Maintenance - Check the floor slab for heaving; repair and replace kick plates, cap rail. Clean and repair acrylic as needed, inspect stanchions and glass holders; remove cuts and nicks and clean the dasher board plastic; inspect and replace dasher board fasteners; repair and/or replace dasher advertising panels.
• Ice Resurfacer and Ice Edger - Completely dismantle and paint; replace auger bearings and hydraulic hoses; flush out fluids and recycle tanks; replace dasher board brushes; follow manufacturer’s guidelines for all annual maintenance, including engine overhaul.
• Refrigeration SystemCompressors - Tear down and inspect compressors; drain and clean seals from holding tank, inspect condenser and lines (engage a refrigeration contractor well in advance so needed parts and schedules can be coordinated).
• Cooling Tower and Evaporative Condensor - Drain tower; clean and remove scale from troughs, coils and tower floor; inspect and clean holding tank, water flow valves and drains; replace fan belts; replace strainers and intake screens.
• HVAC System - Thoroughly clean all intake and exhaust fans and louvers; clean plenum chambers; replace fan belts and check motor and air handler bearings.
• Arena and Building Lighting - Re-lamp over-the-ice fixtures and record date; clean ballasts; clean fixtures; replace light bulbs over seating, inspect emergency and exit lighting systems; replace worn out switches in offices, locker rooms and washrooms.
It is commonly accepted that users and spectators take better care of well-maintained facilities and that this translates into lower operational costs. Managers cannot rationalize not properly maintaining facilities because of being too busy or being understaffed. With what is being charged for ice time, ice skaters and hockey players deserve and should expect clean, well-maintained facilities.
Keeping Up with Changing Times
In the past, many managers may have used the dry-floor season to work at a slower pace, to take a break after a busy ice season. Many may have been told that their only responsibility was to do the repairs for the next season. Others were transferred to other duties and barely given enough time to complete the minimum repairs. With present economic conditions, every effort needs to be made to better use our facilities while at the same time continuing to bring in a steady source of income.
Community leaders are beginning to recognize that ice arenas need to be used year-round. With creative marketing and well-organized management, the dry-floor season can be a programming and financial success. Management needs to recognize that having dry-floor events, even while they are performing maintenance for the next year, does not require them to sacrifice their vacation. In fact, a productive dry-floor season can be justification for a permanent, year-round management team. It also enhances the image of the manager and the facility in the community. Indeed, the income from the dry-floor season is becoming an important supplement to a facility’s budget.
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The Undergraduate Research Program at Elon University was established to provide students the opportunity to join faculty in scholarly activities. Scholarship by faculty members can enrich their interactions with students who are participating in this process. It also enhances the faculty member's connection to their own discipline and energizes their other instructional activities. Participation in undergraduate research is also effective for improving student learning, especially those projects which are collaborative, investigative, project-based, inquiry-based, open-minded and exploratory.
Each April, the university community gathers to celebrate undergraduate research during the annual Spring University Research Forum (SURF). The Undergraduate Research Program supports students wishing to present their research beyond Elon, including at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research and other discipline-specific or professional conferences. Students also may participate in Elon's Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE), which offer intensive experiences led by faculty mentors.
For more information regarding undergraduate research and funding opportunities, please contact Dr. Paul Miller, Director of Undergraduate Research, at email@example.com.
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New Media Helping Traditional MediaBy Jon Russell Jan 26, 2010 5:40PM UTC
It’s often said that the internet and social networking in particular are killing newspapers and other traditional media.
Why buy a newspaper, the argument goes, when news can be found through a range of different sources, instantly and without cost on the internet. Social networks like Twitter – with real-time search and breaking news updates – are also heralded as one element of the future of news and information gathering.
How about this then, social network FourSquare – a mobile location based service which rewards users for “checking-in” at locations – is giving a leg up to Metro News, Canada’s free daily newspaper.
The moral of the story – innovative traditional media can benefit from social media.
Mashable has the details.
Canada’s free daily newspaper, Metro News, has just unveiled a content partnership with mobile check-in game Foursquare. It’s the first location-based editorial partnership for the startup, who is already partnering with city transit and universities.
As part of the partnership, Metro has created a robust Foursquare presence that includes restaurant reviews, city tips, to-dos and even articles that mobile app users can stumble upon as they traverse Canadian points of interest. Metro readers and tourists alike can think of the editorial content inside Foursquare as a travel guide book that highlights useful articles and unlocks the best a neighborhood has to offer.
Foursquare’s even created a special badge for Metro, who’s using that to encourage readers to check in wherever they pick up their copy of the publication. To grease the wheels a bit, the news outlet is also giving away an iPhone 3GS to five lucky individuals who unlock the badge.
The partnership also serves as a symbiotic relationship that combines mobile utility with the bonus of print exposure for Foursquare as well as restaurants and retailers. Case in point, Metro plans to feature Mayor Deals every Friday in its publication. The deals are alternative ad buys for businesses looking to offer and promote mayor-only specials.
The editorial location-based deal gives new meaning to local news, and adds yet another layer of practicality to Foursquare, proving that the application (and location-sharing) are changing the world as we know it.
Along similar lines, an excellent blog from Blair Currie over at Media Asia argues that Apple’s soon-to-be-launched tablet may benefit traditional media more than new media.
How the “iPad” will help traditional media owners?
While it will be brilliant for Apple to add to its already long list of successful products, the “iPad” launch may even be better for traditional media owners. That’s because the launch presents a new business model that can provide much needed revenue to these analog players.
Specifically it provides a toll gate for digital distribution of traditional content, organization by filters and search to help find the desired printed, video and audio material, “exact content” that consumers are looking for, and a possible recommendation and referral system through Social Media that will allow more accurate targeting and higher sales in the future for traditional media using this digital gateway. Clearly this is a great thing for traditional media.
To move matters forward Apple is apparently working on an upgrade for its iTunes Store. Specifically it is considering a new web-based version of the site (www.itunes.com?) that will bypass the computer and iPhone routes you must now travel to get to the store. This may open up another channel to apply this business model with or without the new tablet.
That said, even if the new “iPad” is not hugely successful, it will have shown the traditional media industry a way to recover some of its lost ground.
New media will be the death of traditional media – oh really?
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Germany's two largest churches are shrinking, but the Evangelical Church in Germany, the country's biggest Protestant grouping, has dropped below 25 million members for the first time since the unification of Germany in 1990
A year of public events and discussions to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Protestant reformer Jean Calvin is being launched in Geneva, a cradle of the Protestant Reformation in Europe, part of Switzerland since 1815.
For the first time in Germany, a Protestant church has been turned into a synagogue. The Rev Alfred Buss of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, where it is located, said the new place of worship is a "house of hope".
Parents in Northern Ireland, which is seeking to recover from years of conflict and sectarianism, would like to see single-faith denominational schools replaced by integrated ones, a new survey has shown.
The French cleric who heads the main grouping of Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant Christian denominations in Europe has proposed the creation of a Council of European Churches that would also include the Roman Catholic Church.
As Cubans absorbed the news that communist leader Fidel Castro had stepped down, Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, prepared to welcome Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, as he visits the country.
The compassionate actions of human beings, not their claims against each other, reflect the will of God and the transforming power of Jesus the Prince of Peace, say the heads of the churches in Jerusalem this Christmastide.
A unique gathering of high level church leaders starting on Tuesday 6 November 2007 near Nairobi, Kenya, features the broadest range of Christian traditions ever represented at a global meeting, says its organisers.
A second round of dialogue between World Council of Churches (WCC) members and Pentecostals has been inaugurated in Baar, Switzerland. A group of Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and Pentecostal Christians met to continue work begun in 2005.
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The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Our financial system is hanging loosely on the edge of collapse and millions of Americans are loosing their jobs and their homes. And who is to blame for all of this? For a lot of folks, the answer to that question is capitalism. For that reason, today, many of us believe that the sad state of our economic and social system is prove that capitalism doesn't and will not work as a viable economic system.
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“Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.”
- Barack Obama, 2008
Thomas Blackshear pays tribute to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, with this impressive sculpture. "The reason why I wanted to do the Obama piece," he said, "was because something was happening in this country that had never been done before. This was a piece of history that was unfolding right before our eyes. Who ever thought that we would have a black president in our life time, and it's already happened."
Edition limit: 2,500 Crafted of hand-painted resin Brass nameplate,
Certificate of Authenticity
Height: 11 1/4"
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Intel Corp. is the king of microprocessors, the semiconductors known as the brains of computers. Since the 1980s, the Silicon Valley giant has stayed ahead with a simple mantra: Make its chips faster.
But 2 1 /2 years ago, Intel made a risky decision to abandon that narrow focus. Speed was becoming less important to personal-computer users, who mostly used the machines to surf the Web and run a few simple programs. So, in a shift that transformed its culture, Intel pushed its engineers to pursue an entirely different goal: Build chips that fit the new ways people actually use their computers.
That bet is beginning to pay off, helping Intel become one of the biggest winners to emerge from the long tech slump. In the new world of digital wireless gadgets, computer users care about other things besides speed — such as long battery life and small size. Intel has reorganized the company to deliver chips that offer just that.
Intel recently reported its highest third-quarter revenue growth since 1996, amid a broad comeback in personalcomputer sales.
Net income more than doubled from the same period last year, and profit margins are approaching the record levels set during the tech boom. The company posted all-time sales records in most product categories, in a quarter that is not usually its strongest. Its stock has more than doubled this year to about $32.
Intel got a big boost from one of the first fruits of its new strategy: The Pentium M, a specially designed microprocessor for laptop computers. It’s no speed demon, but it gobbles a lot less power than typical chips, giving portable computers a couple of extra hours of battery life, and its small size makes it inexpensive to manufacture.
Aided by the new product, Intel’s gross profit on chips for notebook systems is about 75 percent of sales, 10 points higher than its margins on desktop PCs, estimates UBS Securities analyst Thomas Thornhill.
Intel is whipping up demand with a huge advertising blitz for a combination of chips called Centrino, which includes the Pentium M plus wireless networking and other accessory chips. The line’s strong sales are expected to help Intel’s gross margin — profits before operating expenses — to swell to 60 percent in the current quarter, up from 51 percent in the second quarter and near all-time peaks.
One sign of the new approach: Intel this year boosted the speed of its desktop microprocessors just once, compared with six times last year. Yet Intel has gained market share against chief rival Advanced Micro Devices. More Centrino-style product bundles are on the way, which Intel hopes will make it even harder for rivals to keep pace.
‘‘We are not playing the same game we played for 15 years,’’ says Paul Otellini, Intel’s president and chief operating officer, and the favorite to succeed Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett.
The results are all the more striking because of the doubts swirling around Intel as recently as a year ago. Barrett had sank more than $10 billion into acquisitions in an attempt to lessen Intel’s reliance on the PC business, with little to show for it.
‘‘I don’t know of anything that we purchased that was worth what we paid for it,’’ says Andy Bryant, Intel’s chief financial officer. Its newer Itanium products, aimed at the largest computers, have won technical acclaim but few customers. And its cellphone and communications-chip units continue to lose money.
Meanwhile, Intel’s rivals are pushing hard. AMD in September introduced new desktop chips that are more powerful than Intel’s by some measures, a blow to Intel’s image as technology leader. Sun Microsystems is adopting a version of those chips in its server computers, as part of a technology partnership that could help AMD gain a stronger foothold in the corporatecomputing market.
In rethinking how it made and sold chips, Intel had to change the rules, because the old rules no longer worked. The focus on speed dated from an era when faster chips were needed regularly just to keep up with ever-more-complex software. By the late 1990s, however, most PC users no longer needed the hottest new chip for basic office tasks and surfing the Web. That meant they could hang on to their desktop machines for years, keeping down demand.
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Vol. 84, No. 4, April 2011
In September 2010, the ever-rising tide of mortgage foreclosures appeared to hit a wall when reports proliferated about “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents. But because there was far more to the issue than could easily be comprehended right away, and lawyers working to defend homeowners needed time to catch on to the implications of robo-signing, the issue did not develop in the media at large for what it really was: proof that some foreclosing entities did not have standing to foreclose and that fraud has been committed in and on the courts of this nation and homeowners in foreclosure proceedings. Shortly after the “problem” was defined by the press as robo-signing, the foreclosing entities declared that the robo-signing issue had been “fixed,” and the foreclosure business continued as usual.
A few skilled lawyers and countless pro se parties trying to keep their homes began to gain momentum from the robo-signing issue. These lawyers and pro se parties had long been fighting foreclosures by focusing on the fundamental legal issue that the foreclosing entities did not have standing to foreclose. The reports in the press concerning the discovery from the depositions exposing robo-signing that documents to support foreclosure were being created to make it appear that a party had standing to foreclose laid the groundwork to bring the courts’ attention to what the homeowners and their most skilled lawyers were declaring: the basic law of foreclosure has not been followed in thousands of cases. The foreclosing party must own both the promissory note and the mortgage to have a secured interest on which foreclosure proceedings can be maintained. (See Fundamentals and Terminology sidebar.)
Hundreds of thousands of homes have been foreclosed by parties who have not loaned a penny to any home-owners or borrowers. The foreclosing entities owned neither the promissory note nor the mortgage, which a foreclosing party must own at the same time. Furthermore, at the heart of the robo-signing issue is fraud: the robo-signers were creating documents to make it appear that the foreclosing entity owned the promissory note and mortgage, and such fraudulently created documents are the basis for many foreclosures throughout the nation. In many of these foreclosures, the foreclosing entity was Mortgage Electronic Registrations Systems Inc. (MERS), which is not a lender: rather, it is a computer system for electronically registering mortgages in a private database.
Think of it this way: a party to whom your clients owe no money and to whom your clients never granted a security interest in their home is seeking or has taken judgment of foreclosure against your client. How could we miss such a fraud? It is because we believe that the lawyers representing foreclosing entities are making honest representations to the courts that the foreclosing entity has standing to sue. In the beginning, most lawyers representing foreclosing entities believed this themselves.
Homeowners and their foreclosure defense counsel have usually tried to resolve the state court foreclosure issues with the foreclosing entity or its law firm by seeking loan modifications and trying to bring payments current. If these attempts are unsuccessful, homeowners might file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Homeowners’ defense counsel win a few settlements, lose most state court actions, and preserve some homes in Chapter 13 proceedings.
Homeowners’ defense counsel now risk committing malpractice if they continue to rely on the allegations on the face of the pleadings against their clients, fail to require strict proof of the standing of the foreclosing entity through verification of the ownership of the promissory note, and assume that assignments of mortgages are valid. Assignments from MERS to other entities outside the chain of title must be strictly scrutinized. Otherwise, homeowners’ lawyers fail to provide their clients with the complete defenses to which the homeowners are entitled under the law and facts of each case. To provide thorough, competent representation, homeowners’ lawyers must be fully informed on the basic legal issues in the residential foreclosure crisis.
As time progressed, some lawyers representing foreclosing entities began to directly engage in the robo-signing “cover up” of the lack-of-standing problem and began to present falsely endorsed promissory notes and assignments of mortgages as the basis for the foreclosing entities’ allegation of standing to sue for the remedy of foreclosure in the courts. Worse, with all the issues of accounting errors, predatory lending practices, violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the Real Estate Settlement Practices Act (RESPA), and fraud, the sham foreclosing entities have concealed the real party in interest liable for home-owners’ counterclaims. And worst of all, multiple concealed entities are acting in concert to pull off this assault on the judicial system’s rules of pleading and practice.
How can attorneys representing homeowners form a counterclaim in good faith without the basic information as to the identity of the real parties in interest and do it within the 20-day window for answering a foreclosure complaint? The only thing attorneys can do initially is to examine the standing issue and move to dismiss. This article is meant to assist in analyzing the initial motion to dismiss for the plaintiff’s lack of standing to bring the foreclosure action. It also is a basic guide to analyzing the merits of a motion to vacate the judgment or a new action for fraud on the court under Wis. Stat. section 806.07 after a client’s home has been unlawfully taken.
The Problem with Mortgages
Some lawyers and homeowners have taken new approaches to fighting foreclosures. Homeowners proceeding pro se (and a relatively small number of lawyers) who know or have researched and learned the law of mortgages and secured transactions have been identifying legal violations committed by foreclosing entities throughout the nation. Court decisions in favor of homeowners and against foreclosing entities have been proliferating rapidly.1 Effective homeowner defense relies on the long-established laws of secured transactions, mortgages, and jurisdiction (standing) and civil procedure. Class action lawsuits are being filed throughout the nation alleging violations of federal consumer-protection statutes such as RESPA, TILA, and the FDCPA as well as fraud and racketeering by foreclosing entities and, in some cases, by the foreclosing entities’ law firms.2 Following in the footsteps of these parties requires understanding the method by which many current mortgages have been processed, often in an invalid or fraudulent way.
Wendy Alison Nora, U.W. 1975, owns Access Legal Services in Madison and Minneapolis. She has practiced foreclosure defense and financial reorganization since 1985. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin and the District of Minnesota.
MERS as “Nominee”
The “nomination” of MERS by the presumed holder of the promissory notes and mortgages was promoted as a new efficiency in the market, to cope with the expansion in mortgage lending and creation of investment trusts containing what were marketed as new financial instruments, the CDOs.
The MERS nomination was intended by the creators of this experiment to be the means of transferring assignment of mortgage and promissory note to an investment trust without the formality of actually endorsing the promissory notes and properly assigning the mortgages to the investment trusts. The original promissory notes usually were destroyed.
MERS can assign only the interest it had in the mortgage: its status as nominee. In Schuh Trading Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,3 the court defined a nominee as follows: “The word nominee ordinarily indicates designated to act for another as his representative in a rather limited sense. It is sometimes used to signify an agent or trustee. It has no connotation, however, other than that of acting for another, or as grantee of another….”
Black’s Law Dictionary defines a nominee as “[a] person designated to act in place of another, usually in a very limited way.” MERS’ status as nominee, without more, is not sufficient to vest MERS with the authority to effect a proper assignment of a note and mortgage.4
The reliance on MERS “as nominee” is a failing, and in some jurisdictions failed, attempt to allow foreclosures to take place without establishing the standing of any real party in interest as required by the law of secured transactions. With the MERS foreclosures under attack, parties desiring to foreclose needed to present plaintiffs whose standing was more secure.
The mortgage industry next attempted to create documents that would make it appear as if a real party in interest was seeking the equitable remedy of foreclosure. This involved a two-step process: 1) recreating the promissory note, and 2) creating assignment of the mortgages.
Recreating the promissory note. The courts have been flooded by foreclosure actions brought in the names of loan servicers. The plaintiffs in these actions attempt to use copies of destroyed promissory notes as originals, creating multiple endorsements without dates or warranties of authority or submitting “lost note affidavits” to the courts in lieu of the original promissory notes, which must be retired from commerce on payment or foreclosure.
Creating the assignment from MERS to the loan servicer. Many original lenders are in bankruptcy and cannot assign any assets, or they have been sold to other entities. Therefore, it became necessary for loan servicers to attempt to establish a chain of title from MERS to the loan servicer or investment trust, by creating a mortgage assignment that appears to have come from MERS but in countless cases is actually an in-house, robo-signed assignment that only purports to be from MERS to the loan servicer.
Refusing Payments, Creating Defaults, and the Failure of HAMP
Loan servicers create and perpetuate defaults and fight against receiving payments before and during bankruptcy under Chapter 13 plans. Loan servicers charge the investment trusts more servicing fees for loans in default than they make in servicing. There is more profit to be made in taking back properties and reselling them than in reworking the mortgages. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) actually makes matters worse for homeowners who try to work with loan servicers. Of the 3 to 4 million homeowners who were to benefit from the program, only 579,659 permanent modifications were made. The U.S. Treasury originally set aside roughly $46 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds for HAMP, but, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it has spent only $12 billion in payouts to servicers and homeowners. 729,109 trial modifications were cancelled in November 2010 alone. Foreclosure processes continue as the efforts to obtain a temporary modification distract the homeowners from their real peril.
Such assignments are actually signed by loan servicer employees, who claim to have authority to sign for MERS and use titles such as vice president and assistant secretary although the loan servicers’ employees are not in any way associated with MERS. A now-famous example of loan servicers assigning mortgages in-house was described in the depositions of Jeffrey Stephan, an employee of loan servicer GMAC Mortgage.5
Stephan and his colleagues at GMAC were not what they represented themselves to be. They were not, as stated on the assignments, officers of MERS, the assignor. Instead, they were employees of the assignee. Additionally, an assignment cannot transfer a greater interest than that held by the assignor. Although there will be claims that MERS (a company with approximately 40 employees who handle data entry) authorized loan servicers to be MERS officers, any assignment purporting to be from MERS cannot be greater than that of MERS, a mere nominee.
As the process of packaging mortgages was changing, the typical means of obtaining a foreclosure judgment was not.
How Foreclosure Judgments Have Been Obtained in Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, the process for obtaining a foreclosure judgment tends to be the following:
1) A complaint is filed by a named plaintiff claiming the right to foreclose.
2) The plaintiff alleges default in payments by the borrower defendants.
3) The court grants judgment in favor of the plaintiff, by default judgment if the defendant homeowners fail to appear or upon a motion for summary judgment (which swiftly follows the homeowner’s answer) supported by an affidavit of an individual claiming to be the agent of the foreclosing entity swearing that the foreclosing entity is entitled to payments from the defendant borrowers and that there has been default in payments by the defendant(s).
After judgment, a sheriff’s sale is held. The foreclosing party plaintiff states the opening bid of the amount of judgment, which usually exceeds the current value of the home, after the accumulation of various charges including late fees, escrow costs (which are often duplicative and incorrect), the plaintiff’s attorney fees, and costs of the foreclosure proceedings. The foreclosing entity is not required to deposit funds at the sheriff’s sale. The original bid is based on a number provided to the circuit court in the judgment, which the attorneys for the foreclosing entities prepared.
A lawyer hoping to successfully represent a homeowner in a mortgage-foreclosure proceeding must be prepared to not only navigate this standard challenging course but also uncover and overcome the obstacles erected by the reliance on MERS.
Necessary Steps in Homeowner Defense
To properly analyze a mortgage-foreclosure case originating in the MERS scheme, lawyers must do the following:
1) Obtain the MERS registry mortgage identification number (MIN) data on the homeowner’s loan. The use of the MERS database is the essential indicator that the endorsements to promissory notes have been manufactured. “MERS as nominee” mortgages procured by original lenders will be in the MERS database, along with the MIN (assigned to all MERS-nominated mortgages) and the name of the investment trust that holds the unsecured interest in payments from the loan servicer. The registry can be searched by going to https://www.mers-servicerid.org/sis/.
2) Demand production of the original promissory note. It is likely that copies will be produced that have been photo-shopped (usually badly) with multiple stamps from multiple entities, without warranties of corporate authority, powers of attorney, or dates. Compare the note, which might convey the false impression that multiple endorsements were made, to the actual MIN record. Most promissory notes were never endorsed and were simply transferred to an investment trust.
3) Watch out for allonges. An allonge is a separate document attached to a copy of a promissory note to make it look like the promissory note was actually endorsed by the original lender to the loan servicer. These also were robo-signed by the loan servicers in favor of themselves. They lack warranties of corporate authority, usually do not have a date, and are an attempt to make it appear that a long-destroyed promissory note was endorsed in favor of the loan servicer from a bankrupt, defunct, or otherwise bypassed endorsement from an original lender.
4) Examine the mortgage assignment. Assignments of mortgages for which MERS was the nominee often were executed in house by employees of the loan servicer. This self-assignment of the mortgage is an attempt to put a loan servicer into the chain of title. The loan servicer, without having the original promissory note and without having the assignment of mortgage from the original lender, is unsecured and has no standing to seek foreclosure. The best clue to this for a beginner is to check the notary public’s state of registration. MERS is located in Virginia. You will find many assignments executed by notaries in other states, establishing that the assignment was not executed by a MERS employee.
5) MERS is a nominee and can only assign the powers it was given as such. (See the discussion above about MERS as nominee.)
6) Demand the accounting of the payments and charges made. The accounting used by loan servicers is almost uniformly erroneous. Often there are improper charges for late fees, force-placed insurance, unnecessary and unauthorized property inspections, and the use of electronic-payment-processing services, along with failure to credit payments under trial loan modifications.
7) Determine the plaintiff’s standing in all mortgage-foreclosure cases.6
8) Review class actions brought against mortgage banks, servicers, MERS, MERSCORP, and law firms acting as their agents, using Google and PACER. You can locate class action lawsuits by following the instructions set forth at note 2.
A homeowner’s defense lawyer must require the foreclosing plaintiff to establish that it has standing to foreclose. The lawyer also must examine the documents with which the plaintiff attempts to establish standing, to make sure that the plaintiff is the real party in interest as the true holder of both a properly endorsed promissory note and a properly executed assignment of mortgage from the original lender. Finally, counsel must carefully review loan servicers’ financial documents and object to accounting errors in both state court and, if applicable, bankruptcy court (by making an objection to the claim). To do otherwise leaves the homeowners’ defense counsel as the easiest target for damages suffered by homeowners whose homes are taken by parties without the lawful right to foreclose on claimed secured debt.
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Settlers set up West Bank tourism ventures
For the people behind the ventures, getting guests to love the land is more important than earning profits, says Karni Eldad.
"Just as the Golan Heights became part of the Israeli consensus because people came and vacationed and saw that it was good, it was lovely, it was fun, and it would be a shame to give it to the Arabs, the same thing could happen in Samaria," says Doron Nir Zvi, who lives in the unauthorized outpost of Yad Yair, in northern Samaria. He and his family run a restaurant and rent out a luxury vacation cabin (called a "zimmer" in Israel) at the outpost, and even have a swimming pool. "I don't talk about the land of our forefathers and ideology. I direct myself toward it. Toward love. I want people to come here, to love the views and to become unwilling to give them up," he says.
Nir Zvi, a lawyer, was raised in Petah Tikva, and was an officer in the Golani Brigade. In Yad Yair, he and his wife, Tamar, are realizing their dream of bringing tourists to Samaria. The reason for this is without a doubt ideological, since their livelihood comes from Doron's position as attorney for the Land Redemption Fund, a right-wing organization that specializes in acquiring and registering land in the West Bank.
Nir Zvi's family invested $350,000 in the place, a substantial sum considering the risk involved in operating a tourism business in such an area. But Nir Zvi says he did so without apprehension. "I would have no problem renting out the zimmer tomorrow as a residence. I'm not afraid. But it's important to me and Tamar for there to be an enterprise like this, so that people can come and see the beauty of Samaria, 20 minutes from the Yarkon interchange [outside of Tel Aviv]."
From the windows in the cabin one can see the Palestinian villages on the adjacent hill, as well as the Almagor stream, a branch of the Kanah River, the Biblical boundary between the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
The amenities available in zimmers in the West Bank are a little different from the norm. The one operated by Maanit and Moshe Rabinowitz, for example, at the outpost of Kida, near Shilo, has a Jewish ritual bath, or mikveh, rather than the customary hot tub. And in addition to the home theater system it boasts a fully equipped kosher kitchen. Guests can use the local synagogue as well as the swimming pool, with separate hours for women and men.
Maanit is a glass artist, building contractor, social worker and mother of four. On top of that, the vacation cabins must be maintained.
The Rabinowitzes decided to go into the business a few years ago, after a zimmer vacation of their own. "The landscape in our community is so beautiful, maybe it will help people to cross the 'line'; to overcome their fear," Maanit says. "The more people come and get to know [the place], the better it will be."
"Obviously there were concerns when we built the cabins, so we built for ones that can be transported. If it works out, great, and if not then we can sell them," Maanit says. When she says, "we built," she means it literally. She and her husband run a light construction business. Moshe supervises the work, and Maanit runs things from the office. "When people hear that I'm a contractor, they raise an eyebrow. They try to pigeonhole me as a secretary or the like. Working together [with my husband] is a blessing, praise God," she says.
"I would be lying if I said there were no tough moments," Maanit admits. "This is a new job, and it takes a little time to get accustomed. I think we're in a better place now, more balanced." The zimmers attract observant Jews from throughout Israel, mainly by word of mouth. "We don't feel it would be effective to advertise in Petah Tikva, for example. Why would people come to a place that sounds like it's at the back of beyond? So we advertised in our local paper, and people tell friends who they know will not be afraid to come," she says.
Kida, in the Shilo-Eli settlement bloc, is 800 meters above sea level and boasts open vistas and clear mountain air. It was established in 2003, on the site of a vacated military base. About 30 families live there now, pursuing a rural, religiously observant, community lifestyle. When I asked whether it was dangerous to come, Maanit replied that "dangerous is a matter of perspective."
Boaz Ido founded Genesis Land 16 years ago. It is located off the Allon Road, near Ma'aleh Adumim. When he first came to the site, he watched as the Biblical story of Abraham's and Lot's shepherds came to life in his mind's eye. He looked again, and saw the Israelites crossing the Jordan River and settling in the Jordan Basin. Then he returned home, to the settlement of Allon, but the visions persisted.
Eventually, Ido returned and created a "Hebrew hospitality" facility, with tents and camels, where guests dress in Biblical costumes and are greeted by actors who wash their feet and act out the story of the shepherds.
"Genesis Land gets groups of Jews, Christians and even Muslims. We have a single father," Ido says. During our visit we saw a group of Bedouin children that had come all the way from Be'er Sheva in order to sleep in a tent and ride camels. Visitors can participate in team-building workshops, in which they carry out tasks such as erecting a Bible-era tent, herding sheep and goats, or drawing water from a well.
Three years ago, Ido built the guest accommodations called Abraham's Tent, which has a hot tub with a view but neither television nor stereo. "What this place has going for it is the quiet and the breathtaking landscape. Foreign sights and sounds would only be a disturbance," Ido says.
In 2009 Genesis Land drew 50,000 visitors from around the world. Overnight stays are very popular, with places booked six months in advance. Ido's dream might have ended in economic disaster, but his trepidation had nothing to do with being over the Green Line. He knew that everyone in the country who is trying to support themselves from tourism has fears. In his case, the investment paid off.
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Posted by Bob on February 27, 2005
In Reply to: Liberal peppering with "you know" posted by Robert Jeffery on February 27, 2005
: The term "moronic interrogative" has been usefully coined, so is there one for today's excessive use of "you know" in speech? I've thought up "gneisitis", but I'm not too well up on classical Greek (gneis = you know?).
How about "Idiam?" The continued use of, like, moronic interrogatives (know what I mean?) is a telltale sign of one's idiocy (know what I'm saying?) because the questioner, you know, has only rarely been in the company of people capable of grasping simple concepts on the first try. He (can you dig what I'm saying) can't possibly make sense of things quickly and therefore assumes we can't either.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011, 10:40 pm
Greenpeace 'dirty data' report criticizes Apple's NC data centerA recent report by environmental watchdog Greenpeace on energy practices in cloud computing called out Apple for relying on "dirty" energy for its $1 billion data center in Maiden, NC.
In a report titled "How dirty is your data?", Greenpeace rated Apple as having the lowest Clean Energy Index and the highest Coal Intensity among tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Apple also received a 'C' for Transparency, an 'F' for instrastructure Siting and a 'C' for Mitigation Strategy on the environmental group's "Clean Cloud Power Report Card."
Apple, along with Facebook and Google, was criticized for contributing to a "dirty data triangle" in North Carolina, where substantial tax incentives from the state have attracted billions of dollars in data center investments from tech companies.
"Apples decision to locate its iDataCenter in North Carolina, which has an electrical grid among the dirtiest in the country (61% coal, 31% nuclear45), indicates a lack of a corporate commitment to clean energy supply for its cloud operations," the report said.
Greenpeace estimates that Apple's $1 billion, 500,000 square-foot facility will require 100MW of electricity at full capacity, which could as much as triple the company's energy usage. Reports have also suggested that Apple plans to double the size of the facility to a massive one million square feet.
Apple's data center in Maiden, N.C. was scheduled to begin operations by the end of last year, but has been met with unspecified delays. In February, the company revealed that the server farm will be used for iTunes and MobileMe when it opens this spring.
Reports emerged on Thursday that Apple has completed work on a cloud-based iTunes music streaming service that will allow users to store their music collections via Internet-connected devices.
Last year, Greenpeace rated Apple the greenest electronics maker. In years past, Apple had been taken to task by the group for its lack of transparency and use of toxic chemicals.
For instance, in 2006, Greenpeace gave Apple a 2.7 out of 10 environmental-friendly rating, with low marks for recycling and its take-back programs.
Greenpeace then launched a "Green my Apple" campaign at the Mac Expo in London, though the group was forced to close its booth after a dispute with the show's organizers.
In 2007, the environmental advocacy group organized a publicity stunt that consisted of shining green spotlights on the 32-foot glass cube at Apple's flagship on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Greenpeace activists demonstrate with "green" light at the 5th Avenue Apple store in Manhattan.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs eventually capitulated in May 2007 by releasing a timetable for Apple's efforts to improve its environmental track record.
"Apple has been criticized by some environmental organizations for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, and for not aggressively or properly recycling its old products," said Jobs. "Upon investigating Apples current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas."
As evidenced by last year's rating from Greenpeace the company's new policy has largely been successful. Apple announced that the percentage of total weight recycled as compared to the weight of sales 7 years prior was 66.4 percent in 2009, easily surpassing its goal of 24 percent.
In its most recent report, however, even as Greenpeace praised Apple for becoming "increasingly transparent about the environmental footprint and operational performance of its products," the group took Apple to task for not being as forthcoming about its data center and future plans for the cloud.
On Topic: General
- OtterBox buys rival case maker LifeProof, drops ongoing patent suit
- Corning touts Gorilla Glass 3's advantages over sapphire in side-by-side tests
- Apple's iWatch to come in late 2014 with focus on biometrics, analyst says
- Apple software update brings QuickTime for Windows to 7.7.4
- With spotlight on it & Apple, Ireland calls for worldwide tax crackdown
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"My favorite people (Brand Yous) are ... CURIOSITY FREAKS." Tom Peters
Pathbreaking Approaches to Commercializing Technology
Chances are you've never heard of Teknekron Corp. Formed in Berkeley, Calif., in 1968 by disgruntled big-company refugees and a few Berkeley professors, it's been growing 40 percent a year, and now boasts revenues of $225 million. Founder and CEO Harvey Wagner suggests that his "open corporation" provides a useful model of how to swiftly move innovation from lab to marketplace.
Others, too, are breaking the mold on this thorny issue. Consider Thermo Electron Corp.'s novel approach: The $700 million high-tech company spins off new divisions to support each new product; then, after a spell, those units are taken public. Thermo retains a controlling interest in the spin-offs, but converting divisions to publicly traded companies helps keep the entrepreneurial fire blazing. (One of those public spin-off divisions has now spun out its own subsidiary.)
At upstart Cypress Semiconductor, T.J. Rodgers takes a slightly different route. To fight inertia, he creates new, independent companies with their own boards of directors. Cypress retains full ownership, but acts like a venture capitalist toward the new entity -- and provides big, entrepreneurial incentives to induce maximum return from minimum investment. Rodgers recently told the Financial Times of London that one such group, Ross Technology, had "brought to market a chip set more powerful than the leading Intel 80486 microprocessor" -- with only 22 employees and an investment of $7 million.
Rodgers, Wagner and their ilk find no shortage of breakthrough opportunities. "The main problem has been in moving innovation to the market," Wagner writes in the Summer 1991 California Management Review. He blasts our biggest companies for failing to commercialize "the transistor, the UNIX operating system, reduced instruction set computing (RISC), relational databases ... and user- friendly personal computers." In each case, a research lab in a huge company hatched the idea. But Wagner reports, "the development of large markets was left for others, usually American entrepreneurial start-ups." What's missing? According to Wagner, "an 'innovations transfer' force -- some sort of catalytic agent -- between the company's research laboratory and its product divisions."
Enter Teknekron. Wagner's formula, a genuine original, is to patiently develop young entrepreneurs by connecting them to sources and users of innovation. Typically, two young entrepreneurs, painstakingly recruited a couple of years after attaining an advanced technical degree, become the nub of a Teknekron start-up. If their venture thrives, several years later, at about the 25- employee mark, it becomes an "affiliated company." If that works out, then total spinout from Teknekron is the final step.
Today Teknekron averages three or four start-ups per year, related to information technology. Since 1968, 11 units have graduated to full- fledged "affiliated company" status: Four have gone public or been bought by large corporations (e.g., Litton, TRW); one was disbanded; and the other six are still growing as affiliates. (About a dozen other start-ups never achieved affiliated- company status.) The entire enterprise is guided by a lean central staff of less than 15, not including the entrepreneurs.
Why not make the ventures fully independent from the outset? "(It) misleads every one ... into believing that the venture has attained the maturity ... that one associates with a going concern," Wagner says. "I am convinced that new entrepreneurs should be led through a series of achievements that successively give them more autonomy and control." Wagner also has unshakable beliefs about incentives: "(A)ll rewards should follow performance, not precede it." Teknekron entrepreneurs are not granted equity until their unit becomes an affiliated company, though the parent does pledge that a "prescribed fraction of the affiliate's stock will be reserved for staff members," Wagner writes. "Who gets how much is a judgment made by the affiliate's president in consultation with its Board."
Teknekron's approach to the market also sets it apart. Rather than "developing, from the outset, a standard product for the end-user market," Wagner reports, the start-ups create customized, integrated systems "for inclusion in other, generally larger companies' product lines." Generic products come much later, if ever.
In Wagner's self-proclaimed "school for entrepreneurs," the start-up team quickly is thrust into the marketplace. "The initial focus on marketing," Wagner says, "immediately connects the entrepreneur to a user of innovation."
Teknekron also maintains special links with suppliers of new ideas. For example, Wagner and his colleagues try "to 'marry' the entrepreneurs in each start-up with compatible academics, who become academic principals of the new venture."
It's tough to imagine sluggish, giant firms coping with the "open corporation" approach. For one thing, Wagner concedes that a Teknekron start-up's characteristic eight- to 15-year gestation period is hard for a giant to abide. But there's no doubt that the Teknekron, Cypress and Thermo Electron models warrant serious consideration by midsize and large firms alike.
(c) 1991 TPG Communications.
All rights reserved.
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