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http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/27/snowstorm-brings-special-headaches-for-small-businesses/454Srsv8ok9BlrdkWO2eRN/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150130024226id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/01/27/snowstorm-brings-special-headaches-for-small-businesses/454Srsv8ok9BlrdkWO2eRN/story.html | Snowstorm brings special headaches for small businesses | 20150130024226 | Tom Erb watched the clock on Monday morning, his nerves on edge. The owner of Electric Time Co. had a big shipment to send out the door — a 20-foot clock tower, bound for Baton Rouge, La. — before the blizzard hit.
Erb got lucky. The truck came through. It would be the last shipment from Electric Time’s Medfield plant until Thursday, at least. Another truck, he said, won’t be easy to find until well after the storm.
Across New England, companies like Erb’s are dealing with storm-related headaches: disappointed customers, delayed orders, lost revenue. For small businesses, the frustrations are particularly acute. Their margins for error are slimmer. Losing a day’s worth of sales or a valuable customer is more painful.
“When people aren’t able to get to work, it has a bigger effect on smaller businesses,” said Bill Vernon, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Erb said his 35-person staff will be paid for Tuesday while the plant is closed, and some will handle sales calls remotely. But other small employers don’t have the wherewithal to pay their workers, or they require them to use vacation or sick time.
“There are a lot of hourly employees who will just lose out on wages,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
In Avon, Mike Tamasi decided to close his machine shop, AccuRounds, early on Monday, before the storm. That meant losing at least three shifts: one on Monday and two on Tuesday. Accurounds workers won’t be paid for their missed time, but Tamasi said he will let them use vacation time and work during a special shift on Saturday to make up for the lost income.
He expects that revenue will drop 3 to 4 percent for the month. “Losing production is a killer,” Tamasi said.
Not every small business will see a net loss in sales this week. But even the ones that benefit from weather-related revenue grapple with a checklist of hurdles.
Duxbury-based Verc Enterprises plans to keep all 25 of its Mobil and Gulf gas stations and convenience stores open during the blizzard, chief executive Leo Vercollone said. To pull it off, Verc paid for hotel rooms for employees and rented two Ford Expedition SUVs for its district managers. The goal is to provide fuel and food for road crews and emergency workers. Vercollone just hopes he can keep the gasoline in stock: By midday Monday, his Mobil stations in Acton and Manchester, N.H., had run out.
For Bill Round of Round’s Hardware in Stoneham, performing under pressure represents a chance to attract new customers who might return when they’re not racing to find a snowblower or a shovel. He said this blizzard represents a “perfect storm” for the shop because people knew about it well in advance and had time to stock up when the roads were clear.
Red Paint Hospitality Group’s owner, Doug Bacon, got creative in his storm preparations. He spent Monday afternoon figuring out which employees at his five Boston restaurants, which include White Horse Tavern and the Last Drop, could walk to work. For other key employees, he’ll dispatch a snowplow truck to collect them or put them up at the Eliot Hotel in Back Bay.
“We do great business [in a blizzard] because people are looking to get out and share the experience with their neighbors,” Bacon said. “It’s kind of fun, as long as the power goes on. If the lights go off, the party’s over.” | Across New England, companies like Erb’s are dealing with storm-related headaches: disappointed customers, delayed orders, lost revenue. For small businesses, the frustrations are particularly acute. Their margins for error are slimmer. Losing a day’s worth of sales or a valuable customer has a more painful impact. | 11.881356 | 0.983051 | 47.762712 | low | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2007/10/08/leopards-impact-on-apple-240-million-in-q4-says-analyst/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150202021745id_/http://fortune.com/2007/10/08/leopards-impact-on-apple-240-million-in-q4-says-analyst/ | Leopard’s Impact on Apple: $240 Million in Q4, Says Analyst | 20150202021745 | With three weeks left before the promised ship date of OS X Leopard, the long-awaited and much-delayed sixth major update of Apple’s (AAPL) flagship Macintosh operating system, Piper Jaffray‘s Gene Munster is already calculating its impact on the company’s revenue stream.
In a note to clients issued this morning, Munster observes that OS X Tiger, Leopard’s predecessor, was also released at the end of the first month of a fiscal quarter (April 29, 2005 vs. Oct. 26, 2007). He writes:
At that time, the OS X installed base was 12 million and Tiger sales added $125 million to the quarter. The Mac OS X installed base is now approximately 23 million, so we expect Leopard to add approximately $240 million to the Dec. 2007 quarter. This assumes similar uptake rates to the Tiger launch, which saw 15% of the user base upgrade in just 6 weeks (eventually 66% of the user base upgraded to Tiger).
Looking ahead to the next Macworld, Steve Jobs’ favorite venue for announcing new products, Munster anticipates one of two possiblities:
“If Apple launches a new product at MacWorld in January,” Munster writes, “we believe it will likely fall into one of these two categories.” | With three weeks left before the promised ship date of OS X Leopard, the long-awaited and much-delayed sixth major update of Apple's (AAPL) flagship Macintosh operating system, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster is already calculating its impact on the company's revenue stream. In a note to clients issued this morning, Munster observes that OS X Tiger,… | 3.514286 | 0.928571 | 16.785714 | low | medium | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/02/04/staples-to-buy-rival-office-depot-for-6-3-billion/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150207074936id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/02/04/staples-to-buy-rival-office-depot-for-6-3-billion/ | Staples to buy rival Office Depot for $6.3 billion | 20150207074936 | Staples, the No. 1 U.S. office supplier, said Wednesday it would buy its nearest rival Office Depot Inc in a $6.3 billion cash-and-stock deal.
Staples SPLS said it would pay $7.25 per share in cash and 0.2188 of its shares for each Office Depot ODP share.
“This is a transformational acquisition which enables Staples to provide more value to customers, and more effectively compete in a rapidly evolving competitive environment,” Ron Sargent, Staples’ chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“We expect to recognize at least $1 billion of synergies as we aggressively reduce global expenses and optimize our retail footprint,” he added. “These savings will dramatically accelerate our strategic reinvention which is focused on driving growth in our delivery businesses and in categories beyond office supplies.”
Staples has a market value of about $11 billion, while Office Depot has a market value of about $4.1 billion.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported the two companies were in advanced talks to merge.
Last month, activist investor Starboard Value LP called for the two companies to join forces, saying a combined entity would lead to greater savings.
A merger would help fend off intense competition from online retailers such as Amazon.com AMZN and big-box chains such as Wal-Mart Stores WMT that sell the same core office supplies, such as paper and ink toner, for less.
The combination of the two would likely get a close look from antitrust regulators, the Journal said.
Regulators nixed Staples’ attempt to buy Office Depot in 1997, citing antitrust concerns.
The FTC approved Office Depot’s $976 million acquisition of OfficeMax in 2013 without the need to close stores, citing increased competition in the office supply industry.
News of the deal comes at a time of seismic change in the retail business. Earlier this week, a report said the 94-year-old retailer RadioShack RSH is about to file for bankruptcy and may sell some of its stores to Amazon.com AMZN , which would use them as showcases for its hardware, as well as potential pickup and drop-off centers for online customers. | Deal expected to bring about at least $1 billion of synergies, says Staples’ Chairman and CEO Ron Sargent. | 19.809524 | 0.809524 | 3.190476 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/06/bruins-captain-scores-new-goal-his-real-estate-license/zYaTfqEDHDrpsNGpYasPXL/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150207075526id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/02/06/bruins-captain-scores-new-goal-his-real-estate-license/zYaTfqEDHDrpsNGpYasPXL/story.html | Bruins captain scores a new goal: his real estate license | 20150207075526 | At 6 feet 9 inches, Zdeno Chara cuts an imposing figure on the ice.
Now, try to picture the Boston Bruins captain hosting an open house at a Charlestown condo, showing off the granite countertops and the Sub-Zero fridge. Good luck talking this guy down on the price.
The towering defenseman has been issued his license to sell real estate in Massachusetts.
Chara enrolled in a real estate program shortly after tearing a ligament in his left knee on Oct. 23. He said he wanted to use his time off the ice to expand his post-hockey options. The Slovakia native took the required classes, passed the exam during the NHL’s All-Star break last month, and received his license the same day.
“I like to keep as many doors open as possible for the future,” Chara said. “I just felt that while I was obviously not traveling as much with the team, I had so much time, especially early into my rehab, I decided to take some courses, and I ended up going for the [exam].”
But don’t expect to see a “Sell with Chara” sign on the side of a bus anytime soon.
Chara, who turns 38 in March and is signed with the Bruins for three more seasons, said he doesn’t necessarily envision a second career as a full-time real estate agent, but doesn’t rule out the possibility. “It’s something that’s very useful with what’s going on with the market,” Chara said of his license.
This isn’t the first time Chara, who is fluent in at least six languages, has picked up the books in the middle of the season. He took financial-planning classes at Algonquin College in Ottawa from 2001 through 2005 while playing for the Ottawa Senators. Chara said he and his wife, Tatiana, place a high value on education.
“We have so much free time while we travel on buses and airplanes, and I just don’t want to spend all the time just playing games or watching movies or playing cards,” he said of the team’s time on the road.
Getting this type of license can be a first step in a real estate career. The license will allow Chara to buy and sell properties on behalf of a client, but only when affiliated with a broker. He would need three years in the business — and another test — before he could get his own broker’s license.
Chara is being paid $7 million this season with the Bruins. His earnings will probably shrink once he retires from hockey, of course.
But million-dollar incomes are possible in the real estate field, as well, particularly in a place like Greater Boston that’s packed with luxury homes, should he decide to stay in the area and trade on his brand.
“Obviously, a big part of the business is name recognition and having people who want to work with you,” said Charlie Ball, founding partner at Century 21 Commonwealth in Somerville.
Brokers say Chara wouldn’t have to stop skating to make some money. Now that he has his license, he could refer people from his professional network to a broker with little effort, and take a piece of that broker’s commission, said David McCarthy, president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.
“I’m sure there are a lot of brokers that would be happy to have him affiliated with their firm,” McCarthy said. Chara said he doesn’t have a formal relationship with a broker.
Real estate can also make sense as a potential second act for athletes. It’s a trade that rewards hard work, competitiveness, and a deep Rolodex.
“If he doesn’t want to go work at NESN on TV, real estate is a pretty good second option,” said Michael DiMella, managing partner at Charlesgate Realty in Boston.
Among the most famous examples: Basketball star Magic Johnson became a real estate investor, among his other business ventures, and former NFL quarterback Roger Staubach is now executive chairman at brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle.
For Scott Dragos, real estate was a natural next step after he finished his NFL career with the New England Patriots in 2002.
After more than a decade of rising up the ranks in the field, Dragos joined the Boston office of commercial brokerage Colliers International a year ago.
He said he admires pro athletes like Chara who carve out time for internships, classes, or licensing exams.
“That speaks volumes about their character and work ethic,” he said. “You can’t play sports forever.” | Zdeno Chara, the Bruins defenseman, was just issued his license to sell real estate in Massachusetts. Like everyone else who gets their license, the Slovakia native took the required classes. passing the exam during the NHL’s All-Star break last month, and receiving his license the same day. | 15.842105 | 0.912281 | 7.052632 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2015/02/04/fda-rescinds-breakthrough-status-for-mercks-hepatitis-c-drug/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150207104525id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/02/04/fda-rescinds-breakthrough-status-for-mercks-hepatitis-c-drug/ | FDA rescinds Merck's breakthrough status for hepatitis C drug | 20150207104525 | The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will rescind Merck’s “breakthrough designation” for an experimental hepatitis C treatment, the pharmaceutical giant said Wednesday. The move is the first time the FDA has rescinded a breakthrough designation, according to the agency’s public data.
A breakthrough designation is a program offered by the FDA to speed access to experimental drugs. It lets drugmakers work closely with regulators to analyze clinical trials and expedite the application process. Such a designation is designed for innovative new treatments that represent a “substantial improvement” over current available therapies, according to the FDA’s description.
Merck’s MRK hepatitis C treatment is up against two new treatments for the disease that hit the market in the last year, one by Gilead Sciences GILD and another by AbbVie ABBV . Both new treatments have higher cure rates and fewer side effects than previous drugs on the market.
Hepatitis C has become a high-profile disease target as of late, consuming discussions of skyrocketing prices for specialty drugs. Gilead Science’s drug, Solvadi, costs $84,000 for a 12-week treatment, though the company has been heavily discounting it, to the detriment of its bottom line. AbbVie’s Viekera Pak, which has similarly high cure rates as its competitor, lists for $83,319 for a 12-week regimine.
A spokeswoman for the FDA declined to comment on the news; federal law prohibits the agency to discuss products under review.
The breakthrough designation can speed up approval of some drugs by two to three months. Analysts told Reuters that Merck’s two-drug treatment would likely now require a standard 10-month review. Merck said it still plans to file a new drug application within the first half of this year and that the FDA’s move to rescind the breakthrough designation will not affect its timing.
Merck also reported quarterly earnings Monday that surpassed analyst estimates and provided a 2015 earnings estimate. This year’s revenue is expected to reach between $38.3 billion and $39.8 billion. That would make 2015 revenue the lowest since before Merck’s 2009 purchase of Schering-Plough. | The rare move by the FDA follows the market debut of two new hepatitis C treatments in the last year. | 18.761905 | 0.857143 | 2 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/06/rsvp-plus-ones-and-other-office-party-tips/mEvgE0p3wItiMVgRILSV3M/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150208204251id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/06/rsvp-plus-ones-and-other-office-party-tips/mEvgE0p3wItiMVgRILSV3M/story.html | RSVP, plus ones, and other office party tips | 20150208204251 | The holiday office party season is in full swing. Certainly, it’s a moment to relax, have fun, and enjoy the company of your colleagues. But it’s still a work event, and as such it’s important to remember that what you do will reflect on you the next day. By being a good guest — and leaving a positive impression of yourself — you will build stronger, better relationships with your colleagues and your boss while still having a good time.
Here are five tips to help you be successful at your company’s holiday office party this year:
RSVP. This tip is simple but it really makes a difference to the event planner. Their number one frustration is the failure of invitees to respond to invitations. “But,” you say, “I’m not sure I can attend. Shouldn’t I wait to respond until I know my answer?” Respond even if you’re not sure. Let the event planner know you received the invitation and you’ll confirm by a specific time. Then be sure to follow up.
A plus one — or not. I can think of nothing more embarrassing than being the only plus one at a holiday office party. Some offices only include employees. Others include spouses, significant others, or a plus one. If the invitation isn’t clear on this issue, ask when you respond.
Make the rounds. The holiday office party is a great opportunity for you to get to know your colleagues better. It’s also a great opportunity to start building relationships with people you don’t know well by engaging them in conversations. Don’t spend the entire evening with your two or three good friends. Branch out.
Don’t indulge too much. Enjoy the food, but don’t gorge yourself. And be careful of alcohol consumption. You could end up doing or saying things you find yourself apologizing for the next day. Moderation is the watchword here.
Thank twice. Show your appreciation at the end of the evening by thanking the host of the party and the event planner. Then, send a note to each of these people the next day. Doing so will be the best way for you to leave a lasting, positive impression. And that, after all, is the real goal of attending the party. | The holiday office party season is in full swing. But it’s still a work event, and as such it’s important to remember that what you do will reflect on you the next day | 12.081081 | 1 | 22.405405 | low | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/02/10/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-coolest-company-google-owns/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150213014853id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/02/10/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-coolest-company-google-owns/ | 5 things you need to know about the coolest company Google owns | 20150213014853 | What’s cooler than robots? Robots shaped like adorable puppies, of course.
That likely explains why a new video of a robotic dog is making the Internet rounds. The dog, named Spot, is from Boston Dynamics, a robotics company Google GOOG acquired in 2013. Google has been relatively quiet about its growing robotics ambitions, but there’s plenty to be gleaned by understanding how Boston Dynamics operates and why Google bought the company.
Here’s what you should know:
Boston Dynamics has been around for a long time
The company was founded in 1992 by Marc Raibert, a former researcher at MIT. Boston Dynamics originally focused on developing human simulation software used to train law enforcement. But Raibert had done extensive research on robotic mobility at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, leading the company to eventually expand to producing robotic machines.
They’ve built a whole robot animal kingdom
Spot is not Boston Dynamics’ first animal-like design. The company has also built BigDog, a 3-foot long, canine-like creature; WildCat, which can run at speeds of 29 miles per hour; and the six-foot humanoid robot Atlas.
Mobility makes their robots special
Boston Dynamics’ robots are renowned for their incredible balance. In the video of Spot, company employees can be seen kicking the robotic dog, trying to topple it over. However, Spot simply staggers sideways a few steps and easily regains its footing. The larger BigDog can walk up slopes as steep as 35 degrees and navigate through snow, water and muddy hiking trails.
Broadly, Boston Dynamics’ goal is to create a fleet of robots that can easily navigate real-world terrain. This could be useful for everything from sending Atlas into a disaster zone to letting Spot clean up a cluttered apartment (sorry, DJ Roomba).
They work with the military
Boston Dynamics has partnered with DARPA, the U.S. Navy, the Army and the Marines, according to its website. BigDog was funded in part by DARPA and is envisioned as a kind of robotic pack mule that could accompany soldiers on missions. The robots are incredibly strong—check out BigDog hurling a cinderblock—but to this point their uses seem centered on aiding people, not being weaponized to hurt humans. There’s a growing debate within the United Nations about whether nations need to establish rules about weaponied “killer robots” before they become easy to produce.
They’re part of Google’s robot army
Boston Dynamics is the most famous of Google’s robotics acquisitions, but the search giant snatched up at least seven other robotics companies in 2013. It also put Android creator Andy Rubin in charge of a new robotics division, though Rubin said last October that he was leaving Google. Google hasn’t said what it plans to do with all these robot companies, but the New York Times reports it will initially target enterprise customers and offer robots that can be used in manufacturing or retail. | Boston Dynamics makes incredible robots that look like animals. | 56.2 | 0.8 | 1.2 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/11/logmein-receive-tax-break-for-boston-expansion/2y2svkt4lvDIUPyBeU3zhN/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150221080911id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2014/12/11/logmein-receive-tax-break-for-boston-expansion/2y2svkt4lvDIUPyBeU3zhN/story.html | LogMeIn to receive tax break for Boston expansion | 20150221080911 | LogMeIn Inc. stands to receive $2.5 million in tax breaks from the city of Boston to help add 450 jobs and expand its Innovation District headquarters into a second building under an agreement outlined by Mayor Martin J. Walsh Wednesday.
The 11-year-old company, which develops remote access tools for computers, relocated to South Boston from Woburn last year. It is the largest high-tech business in a neighborhood public officials want to make a magnet for software and gadget makers.
LogMeIn renovated a 100,000-square-foot former warehouse on Summer Street, and it has said it planned to double its local workforce in three to five years. Despite the company’s recent investment and stated growth plans in Boston, Walsh said the city was worried about missing out on future jobs.
“There were certainly some concerns that they were going to leave the city of Boston,” Walsh said after unveiling the tax break during a speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “You don’t want to lose a company like that.”
The deal, approved by the City Council after the mayor’s speech Wednesday, now requires a green light from Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council, which meets next week.
A break in the form of property tax relief would be spread over 13 years beginning in 2016, when LogMeIn expects the second building to be ready. The company is under agreement to purchase a fire-damaged office building across Summer Street and plans to spend $37.7 million renovating it.
LogMeIn’s growth rate since coming to Boston has exceeded expectations, said company spokesman Craig VerColen. The additions to the workforce will be nearly complete by the end of this year, when LogMeIn anticipates having more than 400 Boston employees.
Business has been good, too. Revenues through the third quarter were $162 million, up 34 percent compared to last year. After posting a net loss in 2013, LogMeIn was $4.6 million in the black through the end of September.
The company’s swelling staff prompted it to look again for more space. Boston was always the first choice, VerColen said, though the company also has offices in Europe, India, and Australia and could make hires elsewhere.
“The talent we can get here is better than anything we can get at our other locations,” VerColen said. “But there are benefits, including tax incentives, in other places, too.”
Beyond its physical growth, LogMeIn has made three acquisitions since May and has increasingly focused on developing software for the “Internet of things,” an industry term for all manner of connected gadgets.
For example LogMeIn has worked with the lighting company Lutron to make window shades that can be controlled wirelessly using a smartphone app.
Investment in such projects is the primary driver of the company’s hiring streak, according to VerColen.
Meanwhile several local startups have jumped on the Internet of things bandwagon, making connected versions of everything from baby monitors to desk lamps. | Cloud software maker LogMeIn stands to receive $2.5 million in tax breaks from the city of Boston to help add 450 jobs and expand its Innovation District headquarters into a second building under a preliminary agreement outlined by Mayor Martin J. Walsh Wednesday. | 12.711111 | 0.933333 | 21.866667 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.tmz.com/2005/12/28/brads-forbidden-photos | http://web.archive.org/web/20150225152711id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2005/12/28/brads-forbidden-photos | Brad's Forbidden Photos | 20150225152711 | Brad Pitt's lawyer, John Lavely, has sent around a letter threatening legal action against anyone who publishes pictures of the star taken while he was on the balcony of his Los Angeles home.
Pitt's publicist, Cindy Guagenti, tells TMZ that the pictures were taken illegally on Pitt's property, but definitely did not include any nude shots. "I have a call into Brad's lawyer but the papers did not say (anything) about nudity," Guagenti said. "They were on his property shooting and that is illegal."
This isn't Pitt's first tangle over photos. He sued Playgirl magazine in 1997 over nude photos the magazine published with the headline, "BRAD PITT NUDE!" Pitt alleged that the photos were illegally snapped by a trespassing paparazzo as Pitt layed out while vacationing with then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow in the West Indies in 1995.
Pitt won that case; a judge issued a restraining order against the mag preventing it from shipping any more copies, and eventually ordered Playgirl to recall all the issues.
Pitt even had problems with photographers earlier this year. A man was arrested on the set of the film, 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,' back in September. The photog was found hiding in a building on the Western's set and was arrested for mischief and interference.
But Pitt isn't the only star who's been tussling with paparazzi lately. In fact, it appears to be becoming something of an epidemic in the Hollywood community. The month of June alone featured three infamous star-meets-paparazzi incidents.
On June 2, a paparazzo reportedly struck Lindsay Lohan's Mercedes in LA while in pursuit of a photog, and was arrested on assault charges.
The next day, Cameron Diaz sued the National Enquirer for more than $10 million, alleging the celebrity tabloid libeled her in a story that claimed she cheated on boyfriend Justin Timberlake by kissing an MTV producer.
And then on June 20, Tom Cruise had a slightly more unusual run-in with a photog. The actor was squirted with a water gun by a fake reporter while at the London premiere of 'War of the Worlds.' The fake reporter and his crew received something much much worse than a lawsuit: a chastising from Mr. Cruise himself.
"That is incredibly rude," Cruise told the man. "I'm here giving you an interview, and answer your questions and you do something really nasty. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
In fact, this isn't even the first time this year that attorney John Lavely sent around a letter like this. Earlier this month, Lavely threatened suit against anyone who published topless photos of another of his A-list clients: Pitt's ex, Jennifer Aniston.
Aniston ended up suing photographer Peter Brandt, alleging that he violated the star's right to privacy. They are scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 16, 2006.
Calls by TMZ to Lavely were not returned.
Brad's had so many looks to be captured throughout the years -- heck, he's practically the male Madonna. Check out our video and see if you agree with our "Brad HOT Meter." | Brad Pitt's lawyer, John Lavely, has sent around a letter threatening legal action against anyone who publishes pictures of the star taken while he was on… | 20.9 | 0.966667 | 28.033333 | medium | high | extractive |
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/feb/25/raymond-mason-obituary | http://web.archive.org/web/20150228011549id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/feb/25/raymond-mason-obituary | Raymond Mason obituary | 20150228011549 | The sculptor Raymond Mason, who has died aged 87, was born and brought up in Birmingham, but left for Paris soon after the second world war. Friendly with many fellow artists, he was very much a European, even looking distinctly French. Nevertheless, he returned to the city of his birth at key moments – and in 1991 created there the huge outdoor work Forward, which locals dubbed the Lurpak statue owing to the buttery colour of its polyester resin material. On a scale far greater than his framed, sculpted pictures of the early 1950s, his public installations were in demand around the world. In 2003, his optimistic vision of Birmingham was destroyed by arsonists. Naturally, he was enraged, but after a week, he recovered his natural sangfroid, and never mentioned it again.
Mason was the son of a Scottish motor mechanic and taxi driver, and a vivacious English mother. He grew up in hard times near a factory and, from an early age, suffered from asthma, which kept him away from school in the mornings. This sedentary life made him studious, and he was always drawing, but exam nerves cost him a place at grammar school. Although thereafter his studies became erratic, he never regretted attending the George Dixon secondary school instead, because a teacher there recognised his skill and persuaded him to concentrate on art. The teacher also assured him that the Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts contained many pretty girls. Mason applied, and won a scholarship to study there in 1937.
At the outbreak of the second world war, he volunteered for the navy, but was invalided out in 1942 because he was shortsighted. He returned briefly to Birmingham, before another scholarship took him to the Royal College of Art (then evacuated from wartime London to Ambleside, in the Lake District), and on to the Slade (removed to Oxford), whose director Randolph Schwabe became a particular support to Mason.
At the end of the war, he returned to London, then followed his friend Harry Bomberg, the son of the Swedish consul in Birmingham, and his wife, to Paris in the summer of 1946. He obtained a scholarship to the Ecole des Beaux Arts (with help from Schwabe, who knew Charles de Gaulle, and put in a good word for him).
Mason describes in his entertaining book At Work in Paris (2000) how he looked up Constantin Brâncus¸i in the telephone directory and was invited to visit his studio. The great sculptor did everything for himself, sometimes calamitously, and in a bread-shop queue "would sing to while away the time. And because he looked such a nice old man, people would give him money, thinking he was a street singer." Alexander Calder and Eduardo Paolozzi became friends. Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso were acquaintances, and he told Francis Poulenc that he could hear his piano from his own studio. The composer replied: "My dear sir, that must be my maid." He knew Henry Moore, and recorded such Moore pomposities as: "After all, Raymond, I am the one who invented the hole."
Mason's mother died in 1958, and on his return to Birmingham, he was so struck by the redbrick terraces of his childhood that he made some watercolours. "The clouds rolled away and suddenly a great sunset lit up the redbrick city. With emotion, I realised that when that sun sank, the moon of modern times would rise and all would be white concrete." From this came the oil Birmingham in Memoriam (1958).
Back in Paris, his thoughts about people in a city consolidated. Reflecting on Alberto Giacometti and Balthus (whom he also knew), this thinking brought about distinctive sculptures, framed like pictures, invariably urban in setting, and depicting Parisian locations such as the Place de l'Opéra and the Boulevard St Germain.
Through the 1960s, with changing materials and increasingly bold colours, these grew into large, freestanding works such as The Crowd, a group of figures in bronze installed in the Jardin des Tuileries (1963-67); and, with its almost Chaucerian world of rolling breasts and barrows, The Departure of Fruit and Vegetables From the Heart of Paris, 18 February 1969 (1969-71), marking the closing of the market at Les Halles. His St Mark's Place East Village (1972), with its view from the window of a Manhattan coffee shop, had a gaudy, cartoon charm; The Aggression at 48 Rue Monsieur-Le-Prince (1975) showed a murder scene; and A Tragedy in the North: Winter, Rain, Tears (1975-77) a mining disaster in the northern town of Liévin. Mason worked on this from photographs, since when not in Paris, he lived in Provence (depicted in The Grape-Pickers, 1982). His wife, Janine Hao, ran a gallery next to his Paris studio.
Mason had a continually alert intelligence. If some thought his Birmingham installation Forward erred towards the facile optimism of Soviet realism, he was concerned to show that "a sculpture is not simple, it is symbolic. It is a vehicle for human thought."
He was preoccupied latterly by the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001, and this inspired one of his most memorable works, which went through several versions. He did not stop working, even in his 80s, joining the huge demonstrations against Jean-Marie Le Pen on Mayday 2002 in Paris, and producing work that again showed his preoccupation with the human crowd, this time in the difficult medium of india ink.
Exhibitions of his work, including a retrospective at the Serpentine gallery in London in 1982 and one at the Pompidou centre in Paris in 1985, drew record crowds. He was looking forward to a retrospective to be held at the Musée d'Art Moderne this autumn. Janine survives him.
• Raymond Grieg Mason, sculptor and painter, born 2 March 1922; died 13 February 2010 | British sculptor whose installations depicting street scenes were in worldwide demand | 96.75 | 0.666667 | 0.833333 | high | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/03/02/nasdaq-crossed-5000-point-mark/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150304043820id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/03/02/nasdaq-crossed-5000-point-mark/ | Nasdaq closes above 5,000 for first time in 15 years | 20150304043820 | A swift uptick in stock prices Monday morning drove the Nasdaq composite above the 5,000-point mark — a level it hadn’t crossed in almost 15 years.
The tech-heavy index, which has been rising steadily over the past month and gained nearly 45 points Monday, is currently at a level it has not seen since just before the dot-com bubble burst.
The Nasdaq gained a whopping 328 points in the month of February, which was good for a 7% improvement. That followed a down month overall for the U.S. market in January, when the Nasdaq lost almost 100 points, or 2.1%. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell by more than 3% each in January as falling oil prices and economic uncertainty in Europe weighed down the broader market in the first month of the year.
The index first closed above 5,000 on March 9, 2000 and closed above that point one more time that month before finishing at 5,008 today.
With Monday’s gains, the Nasdaq crept closer to its all-time intraday high of 5,132, a point it last reached March 27, 2000. The Nasdaq finished that day, fifteen years ago, at a record close of 5,048. After reaching those highs, though, the Internet bubble burst, leading to a steep sell-off. It has taken the Nasdaq 15 years to climb to its current level.
Of course, as is often the case with stock market milestones, returning to the 5,000-point mark after 15 years is essentially a symbolic achievement for the Nasdaq, particularly when inflation is taken into account. Still, the index has recently benefitted from huge gains experienced by major tech companies such as Apple AAPL and Amazon AMZN , as shares of both companies have gained around 20% so far this year. Meanwhile, on Monday morning, shares of Nasdaq-traded companies Intel Corporation INTC and Google GOOG both saw gains of more than 2%, while shares of NXP Semiconductors NXPI jumped more than 17% on news of the Dutch chipmaker’s $40 billion purchase of Freescale Semiconductor.
The Dow and S&P 500, which have each hit several milestones of their own in the past month, also rode Monday’s gains to historic heights, with both indices posting record finishes. The Dow gained 0.9% to finish at 18,288 and the S&P 500 improved by 0.6% to close at 2,117. | The tech-heavy index is at its highest point since just before the dot-com bust. | 24 | 0.894737 | 4.157895 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/On-second-thought-Gore-will-reportedly-sign-with-6125689.php | http://web.archive.org/web/20150311223048id_/http://www.sfgate.com:80/49ers/article/On-second-thought-Gore-will-reportedly-sign-with-6125689.php | On second thought: Gore will reportedly sign with Colts | 20150311223048 | Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle
Frank Gore is now considering leaving the 49ers and joining the Colts.
Frank Gore is now considering leaving the 49ers and joining the Colts.
Frank Gore (21) gestures to the crowd before the start of the game as the 49ers play the Denver Broncos in the first preseason game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, August 17, 2014.
Frank Gore (21) gestures to the crowd before the start of the game...
Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers puts his arm around Frank Gore before their game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium on December 28, 2014.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers puts his arm...
Frank Gore of the San Francisco 49ers carries the ball against the Dallas Cowboys on September 7, 2014 in Arlington, Texas.
Frank Gore of the San Francisco 49ers carries the ball against the...
Frank Gore on a first quarter run, as the San Francisco 49ers take on the San Diego Chargers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday Dec. 20, 2014.
Frank Gore on a first quarter run, as the San Francisco 49ers take...
Frank Gore (21) protected the ball during a big run in the second quarter Sunday October 6, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The San Francisco 49ers vs the Houston Texans at Candlestick Park.
Frank Gore (21) protected the ball during a big run in the second...
Frank Gore (21)went over Kareem Jackson (25) for a big gain in the second half Sunday October 6, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Houston Texans 34-3 at Candlestick Park.
Frank Gore (21)went over Kareem Jackson (25) for a big gain in the...
Frank Gore pounded his chest after his first half touchdown Sunday October 6, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The San Francisco 49ers vs the Houston Texans at Candlestick Park.
Frank Gore pounded his chest after his first half touchdown Sunday...
Former 49er great Jerry Rice (left) stopped and said hello to Frank Gore during pregame workouts. The San Francisco 49ers vs the St. Louis Rams at Candlestick Park Sunday December 1, 2013.
Former 49er great Jerry Rice (left) stopped and said hello to Frank...
Frank Gore (21) got a flag thrown as he wrestled with TJ McDonald in the first half. The San Francisco 49ers vs the St. Louis Rams at Candlestick Park Sunday December 1, 2013.
Frank Gore (21) got a flag thrown as he wrestled with TJ McDonald...
49ers Frank Gore, (21) on a first quarter run for a first down, as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Seattle Seahawks at Candlestick Park on Sunday Dec. 8, 2013, in San Francisco, Ca.
49ers Frank Gore, (21) on a first quarter run for a first down, as...
49ers Frank Gore, (21) on a 51 yard run late in the fourth quarter to set up the winning field goal, being chased by Richard Sherman, (25), as the San Francisco 49ers went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks 19-17, at Candlestick Park on Sunday Dec. 8, 2013, in San Francisco, Ca.
49ers Frank Gore, (21) on a 51 yard run late in the fourth quarter...
Colin Kaepernick (7) celebrated with Frank Gore (21) after Gore's touchdown in the second half Sunday September 8, 2013. The San Francisco 49ers open their 2013 season with a 34-28 victory against the Green Bay Packers at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif.
Colin Kaepernick (7) celebrated with Frank Gore (21) after Gore's...
49ers Frank Gore talks to media at the 49ers Training Facility on Thursday, June 13, 2013 in Santa Clara, Calif.
49ers Frank Gore talks to media at the 49ers Training Facility on...
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) is tackled by Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Stephen Nicholas (54) and Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Joplo Bartu (59) during the third quarter of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons at Candlestick Park on Monday December 23, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) is tackled by...
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) runs during the fourth quarter of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons at Candlestick Park on Monday December 23, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) runs during the...
Running back Frank Gore (21)during the second half of the San Francisco 49ers game against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA., on Sunday January 20, 2013.
Running back Frank Gore (21)during the second half of the San...
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) breaks through the line of scrimage during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012.
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) breaks through the...
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, right, looks to run past Minnesota Vikings strong safety Jamarca Sanford, left, during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, in Minneapolis.
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, right, looks to run...
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore carries the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, in Minneapolis.
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore carries the ball during...
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, right, runs from Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams, left, during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, in Minneapolis.
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, right, runs from...
Frank Gore breaks through a hole in the line for a gain in the third quarter. The San Francisco 49ers played the Detroit Lions at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, September 16, 2012.
Frank Gore breaks through a hole in the line for a gain in the...
Frank Gore carries the ball past Detroit Lions defensive back Drayton Florence, left, during the second quarter of an NFL football game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012.
Frank Gore carries the ball past Detroit Lions defensive back...
Running back Frank Gore smiles as he watches the 49ers defeat the Chargers 35-3 in an exhibition game.
Running back Frank Gore smiles as he watches the 49ers defeat the...
San Francisco 49ers' Frank Gore (21) runs past Green Bay Packers' M.D. Jennings (43) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. The 49ers won 30-22.
San Francisco 49ers' Frank Gore (21) runs past Green Bay Packers'...
Frank Gore breaks through a hole in the line for a gain in the third quarter. The San Francisco 49ers played the Detroit Lions at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, September 16, 2012.
Frank Gore breaks through a hole in the line for a gain in the...
Gore during training camp at 49ers NFL football headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, July 27, 2012.
Gore during training camp at 49ers NFL football headquarters in...
San Francisco 49ers Running back Frank Gore (21) keapernicks while celebrating with Quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) after running in a touchdown in the third quarter of Superbowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, La.
San Francisco 49ers Running back Frank Gore (21) keapernicks while...
Colin Kaepernick celebrates with Frank Gore after Gore scored the 49ers fourth touchdown in the fourth quarter. The San Francisco 49ers played the Green Bay Packers at Candelstick Park in San Francisco, Calif, on Sunday, September 8, 2013.
Colin Kaepernick celebrates with Frank Gore after Gore scored the...
Colin Kaepernick (7) celebrates with Frank Gore (21) after Gore's 52-yard touchdown run during first quarter as the 49ers played the San Diego Chargers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, December 20, 2014.
Colin Kaepernick (7) celebrates with Frank Gore (21) after Gore's...
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, left, hugs running back Frank Gore (21) after an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. The 49ers won 20-17. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, left, hugs... | Two days after he reportedly intended to sign with Philadelphia, the 49ers career rushing leader will join Indianapolis when free agency opens at 1 p.m. today, ESPN reported. Colts associate head coach Rob Chudzinski was his offensive coordinator during Gore’s first three seasons at the University of Miami. [...] Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton was the 49ers quarterbacks coach in 2006 when Gore rushed for a career-high 1,695 yards. Free-agent Roy Helu, a Danville native, spent time in Washington with 49ers new offensive line coach Chris Foerster. | 16.552381 | 0.419048 | 0.514286 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/11/when-listening-music-offers-information/rLKppg504HI9o01kjtiw2N/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150314191652id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/03/11/when-listening-music-offers-information/rLKppg504HI9o01kjtiw2N/story.html? | When listening to music offers information | 20150314191652 | You may keep your Taylor Swift obsession hidden from your co-workers, but not from science.
A new research initiative called the Sync Project aims to track how the brain and body respond to music through an app that collects biological data while your favorite jams stream. So when a person plugs in headphones and heads to work, the activity tracker on the wrist will be able to see how the heart rate changes when Swift’s “Shake It Off” transitions to One Direction’s “Steal My Girl.”
Researchers have gathered preliminary evidence suggesting that music, among the oldest and most enigmatic of human creations, can sometimes quell symptoms of neurological disorders or depression, for example, or increase a person’s tolerance for pain. The goal of the Sync Project, founded by the Boston firm PureTech Ventures, is to provide robust evidence for its health effects by studying a lot more people and a lot more data.
The technology to back such an investigation is ripe, explained Alexis Kopikis, a cofounder of the Sync Project and a partner at PureTech.
Services like Pandora and Spotify have made millions of songs instantly accessible to any subscriber with a smartphone; the same devices that are simultaneously collecting heart rate and body temperature information through wearable trackers. Those music streaming companies are also amassing a wealth of information about music tastes and preferences.
“Now is the time to put all of these things together, to figure out what is going on in your body when you listen to this music,” Kopikis said.
These ideas make landfall in the form of an app that anyone with a smartphone will soon be able to download. (It is currently being alpha tested.) With millions rather than dozens of participants, and vastly more data, the hope is that Sync’s scientist collaborators will arrive at surer answers, to better deploy the power of music to heal.
Because people have very personal tastes in music, a large data set is all the more important, said Ketki Karanam, cofounder of the Sync Project and an associate at PureTech.
The Sync team has assembled a formidable team of advisers. Joi Ito, a PureTech board member and director of the MIT Media Lab is on that list, along with Robert Zatorre, a McGill University neuroscientist who leads one of the biggest labs studying the brain and music, and Tristan Jehan, who founded the music analysis software Echo Nest, which was acquired by Spotify in March of last year.
The Sync Project shares a vision with the makers of ResearchKit, a brand-new platform that Apple developed with doctors. It allows anyone with a smartphone to enroll in a study through an app on their iPhone, and allows doctors to easily create apps that are tailored to their own research, the company announced at a media event this week.
Both ResearchKit and the Sync Project seek to breach the boundaries of traditional research, which are typically episodic sessions in a lab or hospital — to a model that can include millions of participants and reveal a detailed picture of human behavior and responses through the day.
“We were extremely excited to see Apple explain to the world [what we are doing] so we can stop having that conversation,” Kopikis joked.
Kopikis has a personal connection to the Sync Project: His 5-year-old has been diagnosed with autism, and music is one of the things that soothes his agitated episodes. If his son was enrolled in a traditional hospital study observing the effect of music on symptoms of autism, he pointed out, the episode would have progressed or retreated by the time he drove his son to the testing room. | You may keep your Taylor Swift obsession hidden from your co-workers, but not from science. A new research initiative called the Sync Project aims to track how the brain and body respond to music through an app that collects biological data while your favorite jams stream on loop. So when a person plugs in their headphones and heads to work, their activity tracker on their wrist will be able to see how their heart rate changes when Swift’s | 7.943182 | 0.954545 | 12.113636 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.bbc.com/capital/sponsored/story/20150310-the-highs-and-lows-of-life-abroad | http://web.archive.org/web/20150315020050id_/http://www.bbc.com:80/capital/sponsored/story/20150310-the-highs-and-lows-of-life-abroad | The highs and lows of life abroad | 20150315020050 | Away from the safety net of home, uncertainty is perhaps the one thing that unites all expats. HSBC's 2014 Expat Explorer survey revealed that 35% of those interviewed claim a lack of job security is their biggest worry, while a further 30% cite the state of the local economy as the main source of their anxieties.
So, given that uncertainty, why make the leap? To answer that question, we spoke to three expats who have lived and worked all over the world to find out what impact moving had on them both emotionally and practically.
Italian expat couple Marco Raugei, 40, and Daniela Russi, 38, spent five years living in Spain before moving to London in 2012.
"When I moved to Barcelona [to be with Russi, who was studying there], I couldn't speak a word of Spanish," Raugei admitted. "But I tend to be an optimist and we were eager to start living together.”
For environmental policy analyst Russi, who moved to Spain as a student in 2001, the switch to London proved more trying.
"I missed my friends in Barcelona," she confided. "Also, Spanish is quite close to Italian, so it was easy to pick up. Learning English has been harder. At first, it was difficult to understand my colleagues and I didn't have time to study the language. But I love books, so I began reading novels only in English to improve my vocabulary."
Now happily living in North London, and with a newborn baby to occupy their days, both Raugei and Russi agree the chances of moving again are slimmer. For Raugei, however, expat life has been a liberating experience.
"It's similar to the feeling you get on holiday. There's that same sense of freedom. You always have something to discover and it keeps you curious… Yes, if I had only lived in Italy I would perhaps have a stronger sense of being Italian.”
Russi is more sanguine. "I feel rich because I had the chance to have many different experiences. On the other hand, you don't feel complete. If I'm in Italy, I miss my life here; if I'm here, I miss my friends in Spain. I think one of the conditions of being an expat is that you don't feel you belong anywhere."
"…Or perhaps you belong everywhere," Raugei added.
Originally born in Malawi to Irish parents, Dubliner Ceire Sadlier, 32, relocated with her husband to Africa in 2006. Two kids, eight years and three countries (Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania) later, she and her family moved back home in late 2014.
"My parents had lived abroad for 35 years, so I thought it would be second nature, but it's hard," said Sadlier. "Right from the start in Zambia, we were reliant on my husband's employers to set everything up. They picked our house and the area we lived in, but there was no water, intermittent electricity, and it was full of cockroaches."
Having found a new home, settling at work was the next issue.
"I got a job at a [non-governmental organisation] NGO and as the only non-local there it could get lonely. There was a financial divide between us, and in Zambian culture if you invite someone out you have to pay for them,” Sadlier said. “The only place I was ever invited to was church. I didn't make many local friends until I volunteered at a youth centre for street kids.
"Many expats in Dar es Salaam [Tanzania] live on the Masani Peninsula. Walking down the street, you could easily be in a European city. The only way to escape it is to learn [Swahili] the local language. There, it was expected of you and people would be encouraging,” explained Sadlier. “Sport also helps — badminton is a big social event for everyone."
These days, Sadlier admits it would take a lot for them to move abroad again, with the financial benefit of higher wages offset by the potential drain of costly international school fees.
"Some companies offer to pay for your children's education in full, others pay a portion. For us, we received 6,000 euros ($6,819) per child. But if, say, the American International School charges 17,500 euros ($19,891) annually, unless you're both working or you've a really good contract, it's tough."
For Sadlier, homesickness has never subsided and her biggest regret is perhaps not quite embracing life abroad as much as she'd have liked, but there were still benefits, she believes.
"I wasn't confident. When I got to Zambia I found it hard to go to events, and it would suck a lot of energy meeting people, but you have to go through that cycle to settle,” Sadlier reflected.
“Now I find it a lot easier to walk into a room with strangers and enjoy it. I also learned that it's OK to love my country and love being there.”
Back in 2012, Spanish cinematographer and documentarian Marc Martinez Sarrado, 40, was editing in Paris when he got a call offering him a job. "It was in China, and they told me I could take three days to think… I didn't need any and said yes right away."
It wasn't Martinez Sarrado’s first experience of Asia; he’d already spent two years flitting between Paris and Thailand for various film projects. Still, little prepared him for life in China.
"When you arrive it's as different as you can imagine. Initially, I was in Shanghai for six months and compared to Beijing, where I've been living since, it was far more Western. In Beijing fewer people speak English and it doesn't feel as cosmopolitan,” he said.
Even where he lives now, in Beijing's expat-heavy Sanlitun area, language has been the biggest hurdle. Excluding the dialectic switch from Shanghainese to Beijing Mandarin, just mastering the basics requires time, which Martinez Sarrado found difficult to set aside while working.
Ultimately, the most difficult adjustment for the Spaniard turned out to be environmental rather than cultural."I feel ashamed. For the job, I have assistants, but on a daily basis it's a handicap,” he said. “Still, even though I don't speak Mandarin, I use body language — and it works. It's just a matter of breaking barriers and a friendly smile often helps when communicating in China."
"I come from Barcelona, so I'm used to having breakfast on the beach. I knew before that China was polluted, but I thought: let's see how bad it is, maybe spring will be better. Then summer came, then autumn. I wear a mask all year round while cycling. I also spent over 1,000 euros ($1,140) on air purifiers because it gets in the flat too."
Nevertheless, Martinez Sarrado has no regrets about moving.
"Beijing is kind of wild. You can go with a bicycle everywhere, and sometimes it creates chaos, but everyone understands. Here, it's a friendly chaos,” he said. “I also think living as an expat has slowed me down — in a good way. It's definitely made me a better listener. I don't judge people so much, and I'm starting to understand why China is the way it is."
Help inspire the next generation of expats
Has moving abroad changed your life or the way you see things? Take part in the 2015 Expat Explorer survey and share your experience of life abroad.
This survey is administered by YouGov plc, an independent market research agency, and is commissioned by HSBC Expat. The survey is open until 19 April 2015. Click here to share your views. | Could you live in another country? | 223 | 0.857143 | 0.857143 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/lily-james-live-action-cinderella-disney | http://web.archive.org/web/20150315105413id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/lily-james-live-action-cinderella-disney | Downton Abbey Actress Stars in Cinderella : People.com | 20150315105413 | Lily James and Richard Madden
03/14/2015 AT 09:00 AM EDT
snagged the role of a lifetime playing the title character in Disney's new live-action reboot of
, and she knows it.
"I loved all the princess films and I grew up with them, and I think it's really cool how they've changed over the years – how the princesses have become more positive role models right up until
"So I was really excited to take on a princess knowing that we wanted to make her kind of feel stronger and more of a strong female lead characters," she adds.
The actress, best known as Lady Rose MacClare in
, opens up to PEOPLE in the latest issue. Here are five things you need to know about this rising star.
"I don't have an exact moment when I decided I wanted to be an actress – it kind of was just really a part of my growing up. My dad [Jamie Thomson] had acted at one point in his life and he played the guitar, and I was always singing. I love to sing. Music was a really, really big part of my growing up. My dad would take me to see a ballet every year for my birthday from when I was tiny, and my grandma [Helen Horton] was an actress. I just think that in my house there was always that feel of storytelling."
"My skirt was so big I was like this beached whale, and no one could get near. [Helena Bonham Carter and I] both had our own tents, and we were screaming for the other, and it was hard to walk and sit down, so it was a really hard skirt to sort of navigate."
. I think she's my favorite because as a kid I had long brown hair, and I think you always side with the princess that you think maybe you could look like. It's a bit like the Spice Girls – I was always Sporty Spice."
was a mad experience. I loved the show, and I've always wanted to do period drama. Honestly, the cast gets along really well and we all know each other. We're all really close. Michelle [Dockery] and Laura [Carmichael] just texted me on Sunday and were like, 'We see you and you're a princess!' They're so sweet, so I'm really looking forward to going back."
"I think I feel most like a princess when I'm sort of bursting with happiness and love, so whether that would be like with my boyfriend or my family or at a really fun party – just when you're full of life." | "I was really excited to take on a princess knowing that we wanted to maker her kind of feel stronger and more of a strong female lead character," says James | 15.969697 | 0.939394 | 9.787879 | medium | medium | extractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2015/03/12/heavy-burdens-bear-the-amish-project/jLsFBzGeRUqdoep2xMSaXL/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150316060242id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/arts/theater-art/2015/03/12/heavy-burdens-bear-the-amish-project/jLsFBzGeRUqdoep2xMSaXL/story.html | Heavy burdens to bear in ‘The Amish Project’ | 20150316060242 | WATERTOWN — As if it weren’t difficult enough to base a play on a senseless tragedy like the West Nickel Mines School shooting of 2006, Jessica Dickey’s “The Amish Project” calls for all seven of its characters to be portrayed by one actress. When the show premiered in New York in 2008 and went on to play off-Broadway the next year, that actress was Dickey herself. In the New Repertory Theatre staging that’s up in the Arsenal Center for the Arts’ Black Box, the role falls to Danielle Kellermann. It’s a taxing assignment, and Kellermann doesn’t quite pull it off.
Dickey calls her play “a fictional exploration of a real event” — five girls were murdered and five others wounded in the one-room Pennsylvania schoolhouse — its characters “entirely fictional and not meant to represent real people.” Her shooter is Eddie Stuckey, and his wife is named Carol. Two of the Amish girls who were shot are here, 14-year-old Anna and her 6-year-old sister, Velda. Then there’s a 50-ish scholar on Amish culture, Bill North; a 50-ish non-Amish Nickel Mines woman, Sherry Local; and finally a 16-year-old Hispanic girl, America, who works at Giant Food.
Dickey has said that she “purposefully did not research the gunman or his widow,” and that she did not “conduct any interviews of any kind.” The real-life shooter’s widow, Marie Monville, is, to judge by the book she wrote and her TV appearances, very different from Carol Stuckey — and more interesting. Characterization in general is problematic. Bill North is stuck with teaching us Amish 101; Velda sounds much older than 6. In print, “The Amish Project” runs just 43 pages, and though there’s poetry in Dickey’s writing, there are also stereotypes.
What’s more, the characters don’t introduce themselves, for the most part, and Dickey is apt to switch from one to another without warning. The actress wears the same basic Old Order Amish outfit throughout: blue cotton dress, white apron, white bonnet, stockings, black walking shoes. The idea is to make us identify with the 10 girls who were shot, but the result is that the actress has to distinguish her seven characters from one another with just voice and movement for an audience that has no notion who these people are. The New Rep program doesn’t even provide their names.
Kellermann manages pretty well with the movement. Alexander Grover’s set, in keeping with Dickey’s request that it be “sparse,” comprises a tall wooden fence at the rear and a simple chair. Kellermann sits in the chair with her legs spread when she’s Eddie, she smokes a cigarette when she’s Carol, and she gambols about the Black Box stage when she’s Velda. Velda is her most effective character, a girl who seems delighted with everything, even the way “lowercase k actually looks like a kangaroo.”
But the actress’s voice stays in the same low register and doesn’t modulate enough to distinguish one character from another. Monday evening’s performance, as directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue, ran just 65 minutes; Kellermann, fluffing a line here and there, seemed breathless, and I wonder whether her transitions would have benefited from a slightly easier pace. The play does end on a high note, and Kellermann, looking hard at the audience, made Dickey’s last line, a good one, really count. | Jessica Dickey’s “The Amish Project” calls for all seven of its characters to be portrayed by one actress. In the New Repertory Theatre staging that’s up in the Arsenal Center for the Arts’ Black Box, the role falls to Danielle Kellermann. | 14.145833 | 1 | 24.166667 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.9news.com.au/technology/2015/03/12/15/14/more-than-1000-unknown-fish-identified | http://web.archive.org/web/20150317190647id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/technology/2015/03/12/15/14/more-than-1000-unknown-fish-identified | More than 1000 unknown fish identified | 20150317190647 | More than 1000 new-to-science fish have been identified in the past eight years - an average of more than 10 a month.
The new fish species include 122 sharks and rays, 131 members of the goby family, and a Mediterranean barracuda.
All were identified by researchers compiling the World Register of Marine Species (Worms), an inventory of all known ocean life.
Last year alone, some 1451 sea creatures were added to the register.
"Though a few relatively minor gaps remain, we consider the register now virtually complete with respect to species described throughout scientific history," said Worms co-chair Jan Mees, director of the Flanders Marine Institute in Belgium.
"And, of course, we are constantly updating with newly-described species, revisions of taxonomy, and adding occasional species that have been overlooked."
Dr Mees said an estimated 10,000 or more new-to-science species were in laboratories around the world waiting to be described.
New species of relatively large marine animals are still regularly being discovered, said the scientists.
They include the ruby red sea dragon Phuylopteryx dewysea from southern Australia which was added to the inventory only last month.
It was distinguished after comparing its DNA with two other sea dragon species.
Other new fish curiosities include Sphyraena intermedia, a new species of barracuda found in the Mediterranean, Histiophryne psychedelica, an Indonesian frogfish with "psychedelic" colouring, and the African frilled shark species Chlamydoselachus africana.
Non-fish marine creatures described last year include two dolphins from Australia and Brazil and 139 sponges.
The scientists have also been sorting out confusion over the registered names of sea creatures, many of which have been duplicated over the years.
One species of sea snail was found to have 113 different names.
Even at the rate at which marine species are being described today, it would take 360 more years to identify every creature thought to exist in the oceans, say the researchers.
"It is humbling to realise that humankind has encountered and described only a fraction of our oceanic kin, perhaps as little as 11 per cent," Mees said.
"Sadly, we fear, many species will almost certainly disappear due to changing maritime conditions - especially warming, pollution and acidification - before we've had a chance to meet."
Do you have any news photos or videos? | Last year alone, some 1451 sea creatures were added to the World Register of Marine Species. | 25.666667 | 1 | 9.444444 | medium | high | extractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/16/massport-buys-land-for-million-south-boston-port-project/7JgYHhuaal2birbT2Y324N/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150320043935id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/03/16/massport-buys-land-for-million-south-boston-port-project/7JgYHhuaal2birbT2Y324N/story.html | Massport buys land for $70 million South Boston port project | 20150320043935 | Massport has purchased land from the MBTA to complete a planned park and trucking route in South Boston.
Land records show the state port authority paid $7 million last week to acquire a parcel on East First Street in South Boston, west of the city’s shipping port and south of the channel that separates the neighborhood’s northern and southern halves.
The purchase, which was earlier reported in the Boston Business Journal, is part of a larger project to re-route cargo trucks away from the neighborhood and expand the port’s capacity for cargo containers. Currently, a crumbling wall and cracked sidewalk run along East First St., which more than 900 trucks use every day.
The total cost for the Thomas J. Butler Freight Corridor and Memorial Park is $70 million, according to Massport, and the agency plans to complete work in 2016. | The agency is re-routing truck traffic away from a residential neighborhood and laying down a narrow park and barrier wall. | 7.086957 | 0.652174 | 1.086957 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.9news.com.au/World/2015/03/19/15/39/Aussie-killed-in-Tunisia-attack-was-on-celebratory-cruise | http://web.archive.org/web/20150320073125id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/World/2015/03/19/15/39/Aussie-killed-in-Tunisia-attack-was-on-celebratory-cruise | Aussie killed in Tunisia attack was on celebratory cruise | 20150320073125 | Javier Camelo, pictured with his parents.
An Australian man killed in a terrorist attack in Tunisia graduated from university last week and was travelling on a cruise to celebrate when he was gunned down.
Sydney resident Javier Camelo, a 28-year-old Australian-Colombian dual national, was cruising around the Mediterranean with his parents when the ship docked in Tunisia on Tuesday.
Mr Camelo and his parents were among a group of tourists who headed to the National Bardo Museum in the capital, Tunis.
Two gunmen opened fire on the tourists as they got off a bus outside the museum. Mr Camelo and his mother were among the 19 people killed.
Mr Camelo, who lived in Waterloo in inner Sydney, graduated from Spain's IE Business School with an MBA and formerly studied at the University of Sydney.
He had worked for American Express in Sydney.
A former colleague of Mr Camelo's told ninemsn he was a popular employee there.
“He was just a normal, but very genuine guy. He was a hard worker, very career-driven.”
Management sent around an email notifying staff about the tragedy this morning, he said.
Do you have any news photos or videos? | terror,tunisia | 78.666667 | 0.666667 | 0.666667 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/16/spain-google-news-vanishes-amid-google-tax-spat/2CZeCM07A8wh96yVEGzMmM/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150323203452id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/16/spain-google-news-vanishes-amid-google-tax-spat/2CZeCM07A8wh96yVEGzMmM/story.html | Spain: Google News vanishes amid ‘Google Tax’ spat | 20150323203452 | MADRID — Google on Tuesday followed through with a pledge to shut down Google News in Spain in reaction to a Spanish law requiring news publishers to receive payment for content even if they are willing to give it away.
The company’s Spanish Google News page, normally full of aggregated news content, vanished and was replaced by a message saying Google was ‘‘incredibly sad’’ to announce the closure plus a lockout of Spanish publishers from its more than 70 other Google News sites around the world.
Spain’s law takes effect Jan. 1 and Google said it wasn’t worth it to consider paying the publishers for linking their content because its popular news aggregator makes no money.
The law, nicknamed the ‘‘Google Tax,’’ was pushed through by Spain’s AEDE association representing large news organizations.
People who use Google’s standard search in Spain and anywhere else around the world will still be able to find articles on their own from Spanish publications, because the law applies only to aggregators and not to individuals who do their own searches outside of Google News.
But the lost access to Google News will likely make it more difficult for people to keep abreast on what it is happening in Spain because they will have to know what to look for instead of having the top stories sorted for them.
A search of the Google News page in the United States late Tuesday morning for news from Spain’s leading newspaper El Pais showed only a direct link to El Pais and content produced no later than Monday. But the same search for Spain’s No. 2 newspaper El Mundo turned up results for stories produced by that newspaper on Tuesday.
A Google spokesman declined comment on how long the effort to block Spanish news content from all Google News sites would take. | Google on Tuesday followed through with a pledge to shut down Google News in Spain in reaction to a Spanish law requiring news publishers to receive payment for content even if they are willing to give it away. | 8.717949 | 1 | 39 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.people.com/article/michigan-doctor-awoke-stabbing-knives-syringes | http://web.archive.org/web/20150326160447id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/michigan-doctor-awoke-stabbing-knives-syringes | Doctor James Millican Drives to Hospital After Being Stabbed : People.com | 20150326160447 | Police at scene of reported stabbing
03/24/2015 AT 06:30 PM EDT
Michigan police are investigating after an emergency room doctor says he awoke in his home under assault by four people who attacked him with knives and syringes.
"All I can say at this point is, we're investigating an incident, although we're not sure exactly what kind of incident it is," Grosse Pointe Woods Public Safety Director Bruce Smith told
Police were called to St. John Macomb Hospital in Warren, Michigan, around 6:25 a.m. Friday after James Millican, 43, an emergency room physician, drove himself to the hospital where he works,
"It was determined that he was the victim of a crime, that he was stabbed in Grosse Pointe Woods," said Warren Police Sgt. Stephen Mills, according to
The extent of his injuries were not known, though he was listed after surgery in fair condition by the hospital that afternoon.
Shirley Gillete, a neighbor who lives across the street from Millican, said the incident
. "It's just scary to think of something like that," she told CBS Detroit. "Usually things are kind of quiet, you know, there really isn't much that we have going on around here."
Another resident, Janet Webber, said: "We think that this is such a safe neighborhood because nobody can find us, with all these little streets that wind around and all. But it doesn't matter (where you live) anymore. It surely does not." | ER physician James Millican is recovering after telling police he was assaulted by four people in his home | 16.333333 | 0.777778 | 1.666667 | medium | low | mixed |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/26/rbs-influence-citizens-recedes-with-latest-sale/CLO18ooDRhGb5FFjTiFL4I/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150330025250id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/03/26/rbs-influence-citizens-recedes-with-latest-sale/CLO18ooDRhGb5FFjTiFL4I/story.html | RBS’s influence in Citizens recedes with latest sale | 20150330025250 | As Citizens Financial Group Inc. gains its independence from its British parent, the bank will maintain its headquarters in Providence and keep its long-standing snowflake logo for the foreseeable future, the chief executive said in an interview Thursday.
Royal Bank of Scotland sold 135 million shares of Citizens on Wednesday, at $23.75 a share, reducing its stake in the bank to 49 percent. RBS, which sold the first 25 percent of Citizens in September, plans to divest entirely from Citizens by the end of 2016.
RBS giving up control doesn’t mean a change of course for Citizens, said chief executive Bruce Van Saun. The bank, however, is now responsible to a wider group of investors and will have to meet their expectations, he said.
“We’re facing the market,” Van Saun said. “It’s a different feeling.”
The headquarters of Citizens, established in Providence more than a century ago, will remain there, even though much of the bank’s operations are in Boston and Van Saun lives in New Jersey. Citizens has an agreement with RBS to use that bank’s snowflake logo for up to 10 years.
The cost of replacing everything from signs to stationery can be expensive, and, Van Saun said, he’d rather spend the money expanding the bank’s lending and wealth management business. When Citizens launched its initial public offering in September, it priced shares at $21.50. They closed Thursday at $24.12. | Even as Citizens Financial Group gains its independence from its British parent, the bank will continue its commitment to Providence, where it has its headquarters, and keep its long-standing snowflake logo for the foreseeable future, president Bruce Van Saun said on Thursday. | 5.77551 | 0.918367 | 6.346939 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/24/fedex-puts-limits-retailers/hO7RcFtNIuQ20HQap1WViK/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150330221252id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/24/fedex-puts-limits-retailers/hO7RcFtNIuQ20HQap1WViK/story.html | FedEx puts limits on retailers | 20150330221252 | FedEx Corp., rushing to deliver packages ahead of Christmas, said it imposted limits on retailers to cope with surges in shipments related to congestion at California ports.
“Slowdowns at the West Coast ports and other changing customer dynamics” have created shifts in peak-season shipping demand, Gretchen Mathis, a spokeswoman, said today by e-mail. “These changes did result in some caps on volume to ensure that we’re able to provide outstanding service.”
FedEx, the operator of the biggest cargo airline, didn’t identify any of the shippers or the number of packages. Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx is working to avoid a rerun of the last- minute crush of e-commerce orders like the one that delayed some 2013 Christmas deliveries for United Parcel Service Inc.
The flow of goods to retailers has been gummed up by slow movements of shipping containers amid union contract talks at the ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle 40 percent of US imports. A six-year labor accord for 20,000 workers from San Diego to Bellingham, Washington, expired July 1.
A UPS spokesman, Andy McGowan, declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report today that the Atlanta-based company was, like FedEx, putting limits on some shippers ahead of the holiday.
“UPS’s global air and ground operations are running smoothly and we continue to deliver strong volume,” McGowan said by e-mail. “Our drivers are delivering throughout the day today and we will make every attempt to deliver all packages in time for Christmas.”
FedEx and UPS have said they are working to guard against a surprise rush of packages that would overwhelm networks already busy with holiday deliveries. Both also have said shipping is going smoothly this year after adding temporary workers and expanding processing capacity.
FedEx said yesterday it hit peak deliveries on Dec. 15 and expected to move 290 million packages from Thanksgiving to Christmas, up 8.8 percent from last year. | FedEx Corp., rushing to deliver packages ahead of Christmas, said it limited some package volumes from retailers to cope with surges in shipments related to congestion at California ports. | 11.78125 | 0.90625 | 11.46875 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/28/shop-around-for-eyeglasses-see-better-for-less-money/SzU61G0KLRkIhgYGgRkDTN/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150331202721id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/03/28/shop-around-for-eyeglasses-see-better-for-less-money/SzU61G0KLRkIhgYGgRkDTN/story.html | Shop around for eyeglasses to see better for less money | 20150331202721 | The cost of a new pair of glasses may leave you seeing double. Fancy frames, special lenses, and protective coatings can add up to $500 or more, even with insurance. You can get cheaper pairs online or in discount stores, but can you trust them to correct your vision and look good, too? Consumer Reports offers this advice:
Don’t focus on brands. One reason glasses cost a lot is that they are part fashion accessory. You can spend hundreds on frames from Chanel, Prada, Versace, and other big names. But those frames are often designed and manufactured by companies that license the names, not the designers themselves. They may not be sturdier than store-brand frames.
Shop discount stores. Just 38 percent of Americans buy their glasses from an eye doctor or optometrist, according to Mintel, a market-research firm. Instead, they are turning to inexpensive places such as Walmart Vision Center and Costco Optical. In Consumer Reports’ survey of 19,500 readers published in 2013, Costco topped the ratings for overall satisfaction, beating out retailers such as LensCrafters and Pearle Vision. But readers weren’t very impressed with the selection of frames at Costco, which might make you wait a week or more for your glasses.
Look online. Sales of glasses online are growing steadily. Warby Parker entered the market in 2010 as an independent online shop. (It now also has more than a dozen stores nationwide.) To keep prices low, generally $95 for single-vision glasses and $295 for progressives, the frames are designed in-house. Shoppers can request up to five pairs to try on at home for five days.
Zenni Optical, which also offers single-vision specs for less than $100, was the most widely used online source of glasses among Consumer Reports readers. Most Web shoppers said they would buy glasses online again.
Buying online isn’t for everybody. “If you have a complex prescription requiring additional measurements, it’s not the best choice,” says Dr. Linsy Farris, professor of clinical ophthalmology at Columbia University. Plus, online retailers can’t adjust frames or provide other in-person services.
Check on quality. If you want wire frames, look for titanium, which is strong, doesn’t corrode, and is lightweight, says Avi Vizel, an optician and owner of optical shops in New York. Spring hinges are more likely to break than regular ones. And “if you’re on a budget, invest in lenses, not frames,” he says. Also ask about warranties and return policies. Some give 14 days to return glasses; others offer a full year.
Ask about insurance. If you’re covered by insurance, find out whether the eyeglass store accepts your plan. About half of the survey respondents who shopped in stores used insurance. If the store doesn’t take insurance (and many online eyeglass retailers don’t), you might be able to pay up front and get reimbursed for at least part of the cost.
Don’t forget to haggle. However you pay for your glasses, it may be worth trying to bargain. Eye doctors and independent shops are more willing than online or warehouse stores to negotiate on price.
Get two pairs. Eyeglass stores often have coupons and special half-price deals. If you find one, consider buying a second pair of glasses. That way, if your primary pair is lost or broken, you won’t have to run to an expensive shop to have a replacement made right away. | You can get cheaper pairs online or in discount stores, but can you trust them to correct your vision and look good, too? Consumer Reports offers this advice. | 21.4375 | 1 | 30.0625 | medium | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/03/29/jet-card/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150401163233id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/03/29/jet-card/ | The rise of the jet card | 20150401163233 | Jet cards have become the newest status symbol, similar to owning an Apple Watch Edition.
As plane sharing develops into a fast-growing segment of the private-aviation industry, old and new companies alike are offering memberships, apps, and flexible options to make private planes increasingly affordable for business travelers.
The concept is simple: A jet card provides access to private planes for a flat fee, usually for a set number of hours. Unlike fractional ownership, the once-popular air travel equivalent to a timeshare, jet cards are similar to Zipcar and Spotify: You don’t need to own a plane—even partially—to use it. You just won’t always fly on the same aircraft. And as jet cards gain traction, shared ownership is on the decline. One example: In 2013, Bombardier sold off its Flexjet as customers began turning away from shares and toward cards. Now Flexjet also offers a card system, called Flexjet 25.
The jet card isn’t a brand new idea, but it is more popular than ever before. The options are dizzying as more companies get into the game. The current leader in the space is Marquis Jet, which was founded by Kenny Dichter in 2001 and sold to Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets in 2010. Marquis charges just over $100,000 for 25 hours of flight time (far less time than is needed by a typical globe-trotting CEO). Now Dichter’s newest venture is Wheels Up, a more exclusive club model aimed at celebrities and athletes.
Magellan Jets, the charter operator, has created a 25-hour card and also has a “build-a-card” option. New apps like JetSmarter and BlackJet (started by an Uber co-founder) show you empty jets for booking or open seats on private planes for a single flight, à la Kayak.
Despite all the new options, some critics have expressed doubt about whether such businesses can charge so little and survive. “There are, like, 50 different ways to try to skin the cat now,” says Drew Callen, president of Boston JetSearch, “and many are interesting, but complicated.”
The appeal of a jet card is obvious: Even if you can afford to own a plane, why buy one if you could save money by using someone else’s? The deciding question is: How many hours a year will you fly? If it’s under 200, ownership doesn’t make sense. The average full or fractional owner of a plane travels 400 hours a year.
For jet owners, the trend is creating new opportunities. Anyone with a plane can create a jet card program, and many are—from big, national players like NetJets to regional outfits, which are sometimes just one individual selling blocks of time on his own plane. In some cases you can now get a 10-hour card for less than $50,000. Research firms JetNet and Argus count eight major jet card providers, including Flexjet, Marquis, and Delta PrivateJets, but there are dozens of smaller operators.
To be sure, there are still those who see value in owning their own plane, and won’t settle for less. “In some of the Asian markets especially, there’s an emotional preference to buy a new aircraft,” says David Mayer, a partner at aviation law firm Shackelford, Melton, McKinley & Norton. “They want it to be their plane, their design. ‘I bought it, it’s mine and mine only.’”
The real reason for the popularity of jet cards? They cleverly target a large population of travelers who have wealth, but are still on a budget. “I can’t even see, today, why a business guy needs to own his own aircraft. For the majority, ad hoc charter is sufficient, and if they owned an airplane, it would bankrupt them,” says private-aviation consultant Richard Ziskind. “I think these hybrid programs are going to become the dominant product.”
A shorter version of this story ran in the April 1, 2015 issue of Fortune.
Watch more business news from Fortune: | In the private-aviation world, the card model is supplanting full or fractional plane ownership. Should you join the club? | 33.25 | 0.833333 | 1.5 | medium | medium | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2013/06/07/why-we-need-202-story-skyscrapers/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150403151327id_/http://fortune.com/2013/06/07/why-we-need-202-story-skyscrapers/ | Why we need 202-story skyscrapers | 20150403151327 | FORTUNE — Today, for the first time, more people worldwide live in cities than in the countryside. What’s often missed in this equation is how fast this trend will accelerate. Take China. Currently 650 million people, or 52% of the population, now live in cities. Fast-forward only 10 years or so, and that number is expected to hit one billion. That means that some 350 million people, the equivalent of the entire population of the U.S., will move from the Chinese countryside into urban areas. The number of Chinese cities with a million or more people will hit 221.
This migration presents a challenge. China’s urban dwellers on average consume three times more energy than rural ones. That means we must design new cities and rebuild old ones in ways that will allow billions to live, drive, eat, and work sustainably. At today’s session on Rethinking Our Cities at Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, Zhang Yue, the CEO of Broad Group, a maker of energy equipment and a real estate development company, said that we have to totally redefine what it means to live in cities.
“People don’t want to have to get on trains or drive a car to get to work,” he said. One solution: Zhang plans to lick the urban congestion problem by building up. His proposed high-rise prefab in Hunan Province called Sky City will soar 202 stories to a height of 838 meters.
MORE: Complete coverage of the Fortune Global Forum
Zhang says that Sky City can be built in seven months compared to at least five years for other super high-rises and is five times more energy efficient. The building will save some 200 hectares compared to typical sprawl development in China and will contain offices, schools, playing fields, stores and restaurants, reducing dependency on the automobile. Says Zhang: “Sky City will take some 2,000 cars off the road simply because its residents can find most of what they need right where they live.”
Another proponent of smart cities is Jean-Pascal Tricoire, the CEO of Schneider Electric, the French company that offers solutions for power, grids, traffic systems, and more. Tricoire says cities can embrace social media to make them run more sustainably. “Parisians,” he says, “spend a year of their lives looking for parking spaces.” He says his company is working on systems where drivers can tap into social media and find an empty parking spot or avoid traffic jams.
David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell HON , the industrial giant that has more than 50% of its portfolio linked to energy efficiency, gave a telling example of how the city of the future will require dramatically less energy. The company has designed building management systems that integrate core systems such as HVAC, lighting, and security that maximize energy usage while providing cost savings.
MORE: China’s big bet on transportation
So the world has recognized the challenge of making our cities more sustainable and has the technology to do it. Cote says that’s not enough. “We can’t let this process be chaotic. We need much more planning. We need to get a lot of smart people in a room to figure out how to make all this work.”
The three executives on this panel would certainly be well-suited to lead the discussion. | In 10 years, 221 cities in China will hold a million or more residents. We need to be smart about building urban real estate. | 24.074074 | 0.925926 | 2.037037 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2010/10/04/ready-for-a-dollar-rally/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150403170941id_/http://fortune.com/2010/10/04/ready-for-a-dollar-rally/ | Ready for a dollar rally? | 20150403170941 | Is the dollar about to spring off its deathbed?
A lethargic recovery and Federal Reserve promises to aid the economy have been hammering the U.S. currency lately. The dollar has lost almost 10% of its value since early June, when enthusiasm over a U.S. rebound started to wane, according to the Fed’s major currencies index, and there is no shortage of voices calling for an even deeper decline.
But for now, the trend could be ready to turn. Speculative bets that the euro will rise against the dollar are at their highest level in a year, according to the Commitment of Traders data published weekly by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
That’s a contrarian signal that likely spells a momentum shift, says economist David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff.
“Let’s just say that we could well be in for a big short squeeze here on the U.S. dollar,” Rosenberg writes Monday in a note to clients.
Large speculators – that is, those playing the futures and options markets for reasons other than to hedge business exposures – had a net 27,451 futures contracts to buy euros last week, the CME reported. That’s up from a net long position of 2,777 contracts a week earlier and biggest long position since last fall. Each contract gives the holder the obligation to buy or sell 125,000 euros ($171,000) on the expiration date.
What’s more, the large speculators’ net position on the euro has swung from deeply pessimistic to fairly optimistic in less than four months. At the height of May’s sovereign debt crisis and a month later, large speculators were net short more than 110,000 euro futures contracts, according to Chicago Mercantile Exchange data compiled at DailyMarkets.com.
This isn’t to predict a long-term dollar renaissance. The stretched U.S. fiscal position, the weak economic recovery and the increasingly adamant comments from Fed officials in support of QE2 all point to pressure on the dollar for years to come.
But Europe has its problems too, as we have learned, and the fact that the hot money has been plunking down on the euro may be a sign that we’ll soon be hearing a lot more about them. | Is the dollar about to spring off its deathbed? A lethargic recovery and Federal Reserve promises to aid the economy have been hammering the U.S. currency lately. The dollar has lost almost 10% of its value since early June, when enthusiasm over a U.S. rebound started to wane, according to the Fed’s major currencies index,… | 6.587302 | 0.984127 | 44.507937 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.people.com/article/nanny-cam-hack-family-finds-images-childs-crib-online | http://web.archive.org/web/20150407203718id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/nanny-cam-hack-family-finds-images-childs-crib-online | Family Finds Images of Child's Crib Online : People.com | 20150407203718 | 04/05/2015 AT 04:00 PM EDT
The details sound like something straight out of
, but this is real life: A Minnesota family said the "nanny cam" in their child's nursery was hacked, emitting strange music at will, and images from it were posted online.
A Rochester, Minnesota, mom, who chose to remain anonymous,
in a Friday report that they first noticed something wrong with the Foscam nursery camera after it began playing strange music at night.
She said they were able to track the offending IP address through the camera's software back to Amsterdam. The IP address had a link with it, to a site with "thousands and thousands" of images inside people's homes, including of their child's crib.
"There's at least fifteen different countries listed and it's not just nurseries – it's people's living rooms, their bedrooms, their kitchens," the mom said. "Every place that people think is sacred and private in their home is being accessed."
What's worse, the hackers could allegedly control the camera. The family faced the camera toward a wall, and in a few hours found it was facing the closet.
KTTC said they asked the family to turn on the camera for its story, and very soon more images were online.
This isn't the first time nanny cams have been hijacked: a Houston nanny
– made by Foscam, the same maker of the camera in Minnesota – had been taken over.
"What pervert has been watching and not said anything?" the nanny said at the time. "That is the kind of person that I am afraid of. Like, who has been watching silently?" | The camera's maker has been linked to a previous hack as well | 25.692308 | 0.615385 | 1.384615 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/04/06/brazil-california-water-crisis-drought/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150410001742id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/04/06/brazil-california-water-crisis-drought/ | Brazil and the U.S., two of the richest water nations, in H2O crisis | 20150410001742 | Between the two nations, Brazil and the U.S. have one fifth of the world’s freshwater reserves, and yet both are facing historic water crises.
After two years of dry rainy seasons, the 20 million residents of greater Sao Paulo, the largest city in the Americas, are facing intermittent disruptions in water supply and could see strict rations—or even delivery by truck—during the coming years. In California, Governor Jerry Brown ordered consumption cuts last Wednesday that could affect all 39 million residents of the state. It was the first state-wide rationing in the Golden State’s history.
That Sao Paulo and California – large swathes of which share the Brazilian city’s sub-tropical climate – have run dry is bracing proof of what people like “Aguanomics” blogger and economics professor David Zetland have argued for years: no one can take their water supply for granted any more.
Most people consider access to water a basic human right; in the age of climate change, economic planners are struggling to balance that concept with the laws of supply and demand.
If any nation had cause to be complacent, it was Brazil. In fact, the water shortages the country is suffering from are in part due to the complacency of the area’s city and regional planners. For years, they made do with leaky pipes—a 2014 study by non-profit sanitation advocate Instituto Trata Brasil found that more than one third of the city of Sao Paulo’s water was lost between the treatment plant and consumers’ faucets.
Sao Paulo (and California) were blindsided by the same thing that caused water crises in Spain and Australia in recent years: a sudden change in weather patterns; changes that may very well last for a long time. Now, Brazil and California may adopt some of the fixes that these countries pursued. And Brazil may go even further, accelerating efforts to tap the waters of the Amazon regions on its western frontier for the benefit of the densely populated southeast part of the country.
A report from intelligence analysis firm Stratfor went so far as to argue that Sao Paulo’s drought could even benefit Brazil, because it may very well provide “the necessary momentum” to implement plans of infrastructure repair, costly projects that politicians had little incentive to demand during times of plenty.
How did the ‘Saudi Arabia of water’ run so dry?
Brazil has been called the “Saudi Arabia of water”—hydro power produces as much as 70% of its electricity, according to Moody’s Investors Service, and Goldman Sachs estimates that the nation sits on 13% of the world’s accessible fresh water. The superlative may come back to haunt the citizens of Sao Paolo during the coming dry season, however, as city authorities may be reduced to trucking water to neighborhoods in water tankers—a method used in some parts of Saudi.
For decades, the city received an ample supply from reservoirs in the hinterland, with about 10 million people receiving water from the Cantareira system to the north. The Cantareira system is comprised of five reservoirs, each tipping into the other like a series of overflow ponds on a tiered water garden. Water is then pumped up a mountain into a sixth reservoir, which in turn feeds into the city’s main water treatment plant.
Even after deluges in the last few weeks, the Cantareira System is at 19% of capacity, according to the Associated Press. That could go to zero in the dry season of the next three months. The utility that manages the city’s water, Sabesp, or Companhia de Saneamento Basico do estado de Sao Paulo, reportedly laid extra pipe in the reservoir, like a thirsty drinker extending the flex of his straw to retrieve the very last drops at the bottom of the glass. Sabesp did not respond to a request for comment.
The drought began during the 2013-2014 rainy season and lasted through late February, the worst dry spell in 80 years. After two years of rain failure, Sao Paulo may have to consider whether things will ever return to “normal.”
“It’s very, very hard to say this particular event is related to climate change … but one thing we know for sure [is that global warming] is making the climate events more extreme, and those extreme climate events more frequent,” said Claudio Maretti, leader of the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Amazon project, in an interview from Brasilia. “You cannot just use the traditional rainfall pattern to calculate what’s happening…. You need to consider the changes that are arriving.”
If Sao Paulo’s Cantareira system runs dry, the isolated events of recent months—such as supply interruption, the unauthorized drilling of private wells, water hoarding, and the spread of dengue fever via standing water—could become more widespread.
Looking to Ireland and Australia
Sao Paulo and California could follow the example of another water-surplus nation embarrassed by a water crisis: Ireland. In November 2013, the city of Dublin’s Victorian water-infrastructure was overcome by demand, which led to rationing measures.
In response, Ireland increased the price of water, with a new “semi-state” water corporation imposing rates on all Irish households for the first time in a generation so it could mend leaky pipes and explore other sources to complement Dublin’s existing reservoirs.
Indeed, Sabesp recently applied for approval of a drastic water rate hike to encourage conservation and help pay for emergency measures. But regulators may be mindful of the protests that have met the new water charges in Ireland – particularly in light of 2013 mass marches in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro protesting hikes to bus and train ticket prices.
“Uncertainties loom as to: i) how much (the regulator) will allow the company to recover; and ii) how soon (i.e., now in the annual April tariff adjustment anniversary, or in April 2017 in the 5-year tariff reset, or sometime in between?),” wrote Lilyanna Yang, an analyst at brokerage UBS, in a note to clients.
David Zetland, a professor of economics at Leiden University College in the Netherlands and author of The End of Abundance, Economic Solutions to Water Scarcity, said the hike – even if it passes muster – is likely “too little, too late.”
In the short term, Sao Paulo could well enforce rationing as California has done. If the rains fail again next year, Brazil may need to resort to more extreme measures. Sao Paulo could ship in water, as Barcelona did in 2008, said Zetland. That summer, tanker ships from Marseille docked at the Catalonian port. Brazil could conceivably fill ships at the mouth of the Amazon and pump the water from the tankers into mains as temporary infusions, Zetland said. But if people know the water in their tap is finite, they will hoard it in bath tubs, quickly.
If it reaches that extreme, simply shutting off the mains and trucking in water supplies might be better than turning the mains on and off. “If you tell people to use less and they don’t, you’re in trouble,” Zetland said. “The only other way you could do rationing is turning water on and off to different neighborhoods. The problem with that is you’re going to lose a lot of water to leakage and [that’s] going to do lot of damage to the pipes because pressure changes can crack pipes.”
In the medium term, two of the wettest nations in the world could follow the example of the driest nation in the world, which made water security a top national priority after the “millennium drought” of 2001 to 2009. Australia invested heavily in water infrastructure, like desalination plants, and established a national market for water, where investors and users can now buy and sell futures of H2O as they would of oil or other scarce commodities. Already, in California, where farmers are by far the largest users of water, some agricultural communities allow farmers to trade rights. As in the Australian drought, the price per acre foot has spiraled higher in recent months.
Above all, observers say, Australians changed the way they thought about water.
“I believe the situation in Brazil is indicative of a more widespread problem – our failure to assign an economic value to water which reflects its vital nature and scarcity,” said Tom Rooney, chief executive of Australian water brokerage and futures-exchange operator Waterfind, in a recent e-mail.
Zetland says Brazil has run into the same “wall” as Australia did during its drought and should adopt a similar urgency to its water planning.
The “commodification” of water beyond Australia, if it happens, could take decades and will involve bitter debate over public and private use. But Brazil and other “water surplus” nations are already trying to eke out economic benefits from their supplies.
Brazil has sought to capitalize on its aquatic abundance in the Amazon basin, which accounts for as much as 20% of the world’s flowing water. Belo Monte, a massive hydro-power dam complex – one of the world’s largest – on the Amazonian tributary, the Xingu river, will transmit electricity to Sao Paulo via the national grid. That could divert water from hydro power plants around Sao Paulo back to the drinking supply.
Maretti of WWF warns that increased exploitation of Brazil’s water must be handled with much greater care than the Belo Monte dam. There was no effort to integrate that dam with others in the region to ensure that local supplies were not harmed, he said. While the footprint of the dam itself was considered, the roads and other ancillary installations have caused unplanned deforestation, according to Maretti. And deforestation could be one of the root causes of the drought in the first place.
The loss of trees in the Amazon basin has not only affected carbon levels in the world’s atmosphere but also water-vapor levels in South America, said Maretti. Recent studies suggest that the depletion of the Amazon forest has slowed the flow of “flying rivers”—vapor carried on prevailing winds from the rain forest to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and other regions. Trees also help maintain the integrity of river flow, he said. Maretti advocates for replanting trees, not only in the Amazon regions but also along the rivers that feed into Sao Paulo’s reservoirs, as a long-term response to the drought.
Matters in California are not quite as dire as they are in Sao Paulo, said Zetland. Nevertheless, officials on the West Coast will likely watch the response on Brazil’s Southeast coast with interest.
Watch more business news from Fortune: | Brazil has been called the “Saudi Arabia of water.” The U.S. is home to the largest freshwater lake in the world. Both are having H2O crises. What gives? | 60.588235 | 0.882353 | 3.470588 | high | medium | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/kim-kardashian-armenia-family-home-photo | http://web.archive.org/web/20150412060007id_/http://www.people.com/article/kim-kardashian-armenia-family-home-photo | Photo : People.com | 20150412060007 | 04/11/2015 AT 06:40 PM EDT
continued their eight-day tour of Armenia on Saturday, visiting their dilapidated ancestral home.
stars, who are visiting Armenia along with Kim's husband
and daughter North West, and cousins Kourtni and Kara, spent Saturday in Gyumri, a city outside the Armenian capital of Yerevan. Armenian records reflect that ancestors of the Kardashian family lived in the historical town.
The famous family traveled to their long-abandoned ancestral home. With rusted sheet metal walls, the roofless and debris-covered home proved harrowing for Kim, 34, who looked overwhelmed by the modest structure. Along with her sister, and family, the reality star explored the remains of the dilapidated house.
Earlier in the week, Khloé and Kim
the Mother Armenia statue in Yerevan, a memorial commemorating the victims of the Armenian genocide.
The trip, which is being documented for the next season of
, comes shortly before the 100th anniversary of the tragic genocide on April 24. Khloé and Kim's father, lawyer Robert Kardashian, who passed away in 2003, was a third-generation Armenian American.
The trip also included a
with the current Armenian Prime Minister, Hovik Abrahamyan, on Thursday. "He expressed how proud they are that we are proud Armenians and we have not forgotten our roots!" Kim
of the meeting on Thursday. | The reality stars explore the modest, dilapidated house reportedly once owned by their relatives | 17.666667 | 0.666667 | 1.066667 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/corporate-wellness/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150413111459id_/http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/corporate-wellness/ | 5 hallmarks of great corporate wellness programs | 20150413111459 | Most people can get behind the idea that health, happiness, and productivity at work are related concepts, and that companies have an opportunity to foster all three—to everybody’s benefit—with a corporate wellness program.
But while most companies do “something” to promote employee health and well-being, very few—just 7% of companies surveyed in a nationally representative 2008 study—offer what Laura Linnan, a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and head of the CDC-funded Workplace Health Research Network, calls a “comprehensive program.” And, she says, “what we know from the literature is that people who have comprehensive programs have better health outcomes and other outcomes we expect from a comprehensive approach.”
The health outcomes of corporate wellness programs are many, including smoking cessation, weight loss and obesity prevention, diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol management, and personal health and safety practices like seat belt use, sleep hygiene, and stress management.
Business outcomes include lower absenteeism, higher job satisfaction and work productivity, higher employee retention, and lower health care costs. Given the variety in types of wellness programs, it’s difficult to pinpoint precise financial benefits, but one 2012 review of 62 studies, published in the American Journal of Health Promotion, found 25 percent lower sick leave, health plan, workers’ compensation, and disability insurance costs among companies that had wellness programs. And a 2014 Harvard Business Review study of 20 companies found an average annual health care cost increase of 1-2% for companies with wellness programs, compared to the 7% national average.
Linnan, who was lead author of the 2008 study and is developing a new national survey of the corporate wellness landscape, identifies five best practices that define a wellness program that’s likely to produce results employees and employers both seek.
1. Programs Are Practical and Accessible
Comprehensive wellness initiatives offer a variety of scheduled programs. These might include yoga classes; lunchtime stress management seminars that address everything from sleep to work-life balance to financial health; programs to help employees quit smoking; cooking classes; healthy recipe exchanges; fitness challenges; or weight loss initiatives and competitions. Draper, Inc., the Spiceland, Ind.-based manufacturer of gym equipment, window shades, and projection screens was named the 2014 Healthiest Workplace in America by the independent corporate wellness research and data analysis firm Healthiest Employers. There, a 10-week weight loss challenge called “Dump Your Plump” has 12 teams of six employees each competing to win weekly grocery gift cards and, at the end of the contest, a cash prize.
2. The Work Environment Is Health-Conscious
Healthy vending machine and cafeteria offerings often top the list of ways successful wellness programs create workplaces that encourage healthy behaviors on a daily basis.
“A supportive company culture is exemplified by company cafeterias, where healthy food is abundant, affordable, clearly labeled, tastefully prepared, and situated at eye level at the checkout counter. When possible, these foods are also priced lower than less healthy items,” writes Ron Z. Goetzel of Emory University in a 2014 review of workplace wellness studies published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
“In addition, healthy and appealing food is served at meetings, included in company-provided overtime meals, and available in vending machines.”
Being mindful of workplace noise, encouraging regular and appropriate breaks, and posting signs informing employees of wellness initiatives are also important ways the corporate environment can foster wellness. Many companies offer in-house workout spaces or marked walking paths on the corporate campus to encourage physical activity. Others institute no-smoking policies or policies requiring seat belt use in company vehicles.
“It’s not a one-shot,” said Linnan. “The social and physical environment have to be supportive—there should be signage, policies, benefits in place that support individuals who want to make a healthy behavior change.”
3. Wellness Is Integrated into the Company’s Structure
Company leadership needs to see it as a cohesive entity, seamless with workplace safety, benefits, human resources, and other infrastructure elements.
“People start to resent when programs are thrown out there, but they’re working in hazardous conditions, or their employer is saying they really should lose weight or quit smoking,” said Linnan. “They’re so stressed, they’re smoking because they’re stressed.”
Successful programs have dedicated budgets and administrative staff that not only develop wellness programs employees are interested in, but also enable employees to participate without feeling like they’re having to choose between doing their jobs and living a healthy lifestyle.
“Your wellness program should be embedded in everything your organization does,” said Jason Lang, team lead for workplace health programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s just as important as sales and marketing. It’s just as important as research and development. It’s just as important as customer service.”
At Draper, Inc., full-time safety and wellness director Linda Brinson produces a monthly newsletter featuring “wellness superheroes” who are named by their peers for modeling healthy behaviors in the workplace. “We do things to try to help [employees] create a lifestyle change,” she said, “If they make a lifestyle change, that becomes the norm for them.”
4. Wellness Is Linked to Existing Support Programs
Linkages between a company’s wellness program and other company benefits like employee assistance programs (EAPs) are key to making it easier for employees to get support when they are in a difficult emotional or physical situation that affects both their health and their work. EAPs connect employees to counselors who can advise them confidentially on issues from emotional distress to a difficult medical diagnosis to personal or work relationship issues to life events like marriage or becoming a parent. When EAPs and other support systems are in place, said Linnan, “people know they’re cared about and they also know that the default option for them when they’re at work is to be healthy.”
5. Health Screenings and Education Are Offered
Health screenings are a controversial aspect of the corporate wellness landscape, with some claiming that tracking cholesterol, body mass index, and other figures amounts to de facto discrimination that places a heavier financial burden on workers in less-than-ideal health.
Last year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed at least three federal lawsuits, against the Baraboo, WI-based plastics manufacturing company Flambeau, Inc., Morristown, NJ-based Honeywell Corp., and Manitowoc, WI-based Orion Energy Systems, alleging that mandatory medical testing of workers violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. But most companies offer voluntary screenings and often incentivize participation with bonuses like an extra vacation day or a company contribution to a flexible spending account.
Researchers recommend these voluntary screenings because they can help educate employees about their own health and empower them to set goals for making improvements; though all employees will receive their screening results from the third party vendor that typically conducts the tests, high-risk individuals may receive further outreach and counseling to help them set a plan in motion. The data, which companies generally receive in aggregate form without personal identifiers, also helps companies develop programs around the issues that most affect its employees.
“You have to have an understanding of what your work force’s health needs are,” said Linnan. That is: to offer employees the support they need and provide the most health-conscious work environment possible.
Holly Lebowitz Rossi is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Massachusetts. | Is your company promoting a healthy workplace? | 184.375 | 0.75 | 1 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/04/11/10/54/fbi-agents-warned-not-to-solicit-prostitutes | http://web.archive.org/web/20150414015601id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/world/2015/04/11/10/54/fbi-agents-warned-not-to-solicit-prostitutes | FBI agents warned not to solicit prostitutes after cartel sex scandals | 20150414015601 | FBI agents have been warned against soliciting prostitutes.
The head of the US Justice Department has warned the agency's employees - including FBI and DEA agents - not to solicit prostitutes.
The stern memo comes on the heels of a scandal in which federal agents admitted to attending orgies put on by Latin American cartels.
And it said government staff should not hire sex workers even if deployed in countries or regions where such behavior is legal or tolerated.
Attorney General Eric Holder said paying prostitutes "threatens the core mission" of the department, because it can lead to extortion and blackmail and can support human trafficking.
Even where the sex trade is legal, Justice Department staff are "prohibited from soliciting, procuring, or accepting commercial sex," Holder wrote, in a memo dated Friday.
The memo was addressed to the Justice Department's more than 100,000 employees, including those at the FBI and numerous other law enforcement bodies that frequently work alongside foreign governments.
Last month, the department issued a report that found US Drug Enforcement Administration agents attended "sex parties" with prostitutes paid for by local drug cartels.
The DEA is a federal law enforcement agency under the Justice Department.
The report was part of a wider investigation prompted by a scandal in which US Secret Service agents hired prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia in advance of a visit by President Barack Obama.
Justice Department employees who violate the ban on soliciting prostitutes are subject to "suspension or termination," Holder wrote.
Do you have any news photos or videos? | The head of the US Justice Department has warned the agency's employees - including FBI and DEA agents - not to solicit prostitutes. | 11.96 | 1 | 25 | low | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/04/14/ionic-security-exits-stealth/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150418060057id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/04/14/ionic-security-exits-stealth/ | Ionic Security exits stealth, debuts crypto-at-scale data protection | 20150418060057 | In late 2010, Adam Ghetti—founder and CTO of the security startup Ionic Security that exited so-called “stealth mode” on Tuesday—started building a tool that would allow him to have more control over his information across services like Twitter, Facebook, and Dropbox. He was tired, he says, of implicitly trusting them, of feeling as though he had no insight into what they were doing with his data. He called the program “social fortress.”
“It started with Zuck being a pain in the butt and changing the privacy settings every couple weeks in summer 2010,” Ghetti says of Facebook’s CEO, with a touch of jocularity. What he soon realized, he continues, was that this is more than just a consumer-level issue; large enterprises faced the same challenges. “Executives and operators don’t understand enough about what’s going on and that scares them,” he says.
Ghetti demoed a dummy version of the product to chief information security officers about four years ago. Their response helped persuade him to target the corporate market instead, and for the past two years, his company has worked closely with industry—about a half dozen Fortune 100 companies—to develop the common data protection platform it launched Tuesday.
“The previous architecture of the last 20 years has been to push data through gateways,” says Steve Abbott, the company’s CEO and a former co-founder of PGP Corporation, one of the pioneers of public key cryptography. “But a key tenet is that there is traffic that has to flow through it, and that just doesn’t work in a many-to-many world.”
Security should not cause friction nor bottlenecks, he says. Moats and sandboxes and perimeters are no way to secure a network. “All you need to do is protect the data,” he adds.
Ionic has operated on a trickle-down sales model, working mainly to win over big corporate customers that may make it easier to get the green light from smaller organizations later on. The company’s average customer today—it has 6 spanning industries such as financial services, insurance, energy, retail, and manufacturing—is a Fortune 56 company, Ghetti says, not revealing any names.
“We started off elephant hunting and said that if we couldn’t satisfy them, then this whole point of pivoting into the enterprise for us as a business was moot,” Ghetti says. To date, the company has raised more than $78 million from firms including Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Google Ventures, Tech Operators and Jafco Ventures, and Meritech Capital Partners.
A week after visiting the office, Ghetti remotely conducted a demo of Ionic’s platform for Fortune from the company’s headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. The service, it seems, allows one to intuitively manage permissions and privileges of users based on a variety of drop-down menu variables, ranging from geographic location and device, to role within an organization among other filters. The controls work down to the word and sentence level. So a document might appear complete to one person, yet to a higher privileged user it might reveal hidden redactions in the form of layers of highlighted text. (Black and blue for you, white and gold for your VP of sales, a prismatic layer cake for your board of directors—but only while they’re physically present in the boardroom.)
Less conspicuously, on a social service like Yammer, a post may read: “** RESTRICTED CONTENT **”.
“Folks are scared of breaches, they’re scared of the cloud, and they’re scared of the insider,” Ghetti says. “With Ionic we make network breaches no longer mean data breaches; we make insecure cloud no longer mean insecure enterprise data; we make privileged insiders who have access to your devices and your applications no longer have privileged access to your data.”
Ionic is now about a 130-person company with about 100 people in tech roles and the rest in customer sales, management and overall operations. Within the next couple of years, Ghetti plans for the company to offer a consumer-facing freemium service, although the details have yet to be ironed out.
Ionic is not alone in its mission. Last week another company, Vera (formerly Veradocs), exited stealth with a similar key management platform that works alongside cloud services like Google Drive and Box, just like Ionic. But Vera, which in fall 2014 raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Battery Ventures, focuses instead on encrypting entire files rather than the granular level of textual control offered by Ionic. CEO and co-founder Ajay Arora tells Fortune that he recently dropped “docs” in the company’s name to reflect the company’s ability to secure files beyond documents.
Ionic—a word that describes a type of tight chemical bond–hints at Ghetti’s ambitions, too. “We’re securing every atomic piece of data across all parties at the scale of internet,” he says.
Watch more business news from Fortune: | After more than four years of prep, the security startup has launched a service that claims to have solved the burden of cryptographic key management. | 36.518519 | 0.814815 | 1.259259 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/dancing-stars-robert-herjavec-kym-johnson-relationship | http://web.archive.org/web/20150422114102id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/dancing-stars-robert-herjavec-kym-johnson-relationship | Robert Herjavec Only Partner Is Kym Johnson : People.com | 20150422114102 | Kym Johnson and Robert Herjavec
04/21/2015 AT 01:00 AM EDT
on last week's episode of
found themselves in jeopardy of being booted off the show on Monday night.
In light of loud whispers that the
star and his coach have been taking their partnership to new,
levels, it should come as no surprise that the threat of elimination only fueled their desire to stay on the show.
"I don't want us to go home yet – I'm not ready," Herjavec said during Monday night's show. "It's made our connection even stronger. We've come together, and we're really going to get through this. ... I can't imagine doing this with anybody else."
Added Johnson, "It's been a real privilege to get to know him."
Herjavec – who was spotted "canoodling" with Johnson at the show's season premiere afterparty in Los Angeles, according to a source – joined the cast after
and separating from his wife of 24 years.
"I don't do anything for publicity," Herjavec
last week. "From the moment I met her, I loved hanging out with her. We are having a great time."
for a full recap of tonight's episode of
airs Mondays (8 p.m. ET) on ABC. | "She's so much fun," said Herjavec of his partner | 19.923077 | 0.615385 | 0.769231 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/karina-smirnoff-man-medical-emergency-instagram | http://web.archive.org/web/20150425213730id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/karina-smirnoff-man-medical-emergency-instagram | Karina Smirnoff Helps Man Having a 'Stroke' - but He Allegedly Ended Up Just Being Drunk | 20150425213730 | 04/23/2015 AT 08:40 AM EDT
, we didn't think she meant emergency medical care.
pro sprang into action Wednesday night after witnessing what she thought was a man having a stroke at an Umami Burger in Los Angeles – though it turned out to be a different kind of problem.
The Ukrainian-born dancer, 37, told
, explaining that she was quietly enjoying her dinner and "minding my business" when "a man walked in who appeared to be having a stroke."
She told the restaurant to call 911 and quickly Googled what to do when someone is having a stroke.
"I immediately started following the guidelines, and one of the symptoms was 'someone who is having a stroke might appear extremely intoxicated and drunk,' " she wrote. "I grabbed his hand and asked him to squeeze it, and told him to stay with me and asked his name to make sure he stayed conscious."
She added: "As the paramedics arrived he lost consciousness. His hands were bleeding and now my hand was covered in his blood. They thoroughly examined him and came to a conclusion that my diagnosis was wrong and he was after all just a drunk man who appeared to be having a stroke. And the guys then had to attend to my hands. Hahahaha!"
She posted some photos of the experience, including posing with the LAPD officers who responded to the incident.
She's always been a great dancer. Clearly she's a good Samaritan, too. | The former Dancing with the Stars pro springs into action after witnessing what she thought was a medical emergency | 15.421053 | 0.789474 | 3.210526 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/15/judge-overturns-home-health-care-wage-overtime-rules/wSDCPUICiK20ZqAkifGZXM/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150430210338id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/15/judge-overturns-home-health-care-wage-overtime-rules/wSDCPUICiK20ZqAkifGZXM/story.html | Judge overturns home health care wage, overtime rules | 20150430210338 | WASHINGTON — US District Judge Richard Leon has voided Labor Department rules requiring overtime and minimum wage protection for about 2 million home health care workers. He had scrapped some of the rules in December, and on Wednesday completed the process.
Congress, he said, is the forum to decide the issue.
President Obama announced the rules in 2011, part of a campaign to boost the economy through executive branch action. A 1974 law exempts home health workers from wage and overtime requirements.
The Labor Department was considering its options. The rules are ‘‘legally sound and the right policy,’’ it said, ‘‘both for those employees, whose demanding work merits these fundamental wage guarantees, and for recipients of services, who deserve a stable and professional workforce.”
Jodi M. Sturgeon, president of PHI, a group advocating for the workers, said ‘‘we are deeply disturbed,” and that the workers “should not have to wait any longer for fair pay.’’ | A federal judge on Wednesday overturned Labor Department regulations requiring overtime and minimum wage protection for 2 million home health care workers. | 8.304348 | 0.869565 | 4.695652 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.foxsports.com/boxing/story/manny-pacquiao-says-shoulder-injury-limited-him-in-floyd-mayweather-loss-050315 | http://web.archive.org/web/20150505143350id_/http://www.foxsports.com:80/boxing/story/manny-pacquiao-says-shoulder-injury-limited-him-in-floyd-mayweather-loss-050315 | Manny Pacquiao says shoulder injury limited him in Floyd Mayweather loss | 20150505143350 | Updated MAY 03, 2015 6:26a ET
Manny Pacquiao said a right shoulder injury prevented him from fighting at his best in his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Pacquiao also said Nevada boxing commissioners denied his request to take an anti-inflammatory shot in his dressing room before the fight Saturday night.
''It's part of the game,'' Pacquiao said. ''I don't want to make alibis or complain or anything.''
Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum were vague on the details of the injury, but confirmed that they considered postponing the bout a few weeks ago.
''I thought he fought a courageous fight under all the circumstances, and I'm very proud of what he accomplished tonight,'' Arum said.
Pacquiao got hurt some time after mid-March, and Arum said the injury was ''the same as the one Kobe Bryant had.''
Bryant tore his rotator cuff in January, ending his season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Arum didn't make it clear whether that was the injury he was referencing, but said Pacquiao consulted the same doctor that treated Bryant.
Arum said Pacquiao's camp thought he would be allowed to have an anti-inflammatory shot because he had similar treatment during training. The shots also had been approved by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. But Arum claims that paperwork filed with the commission wasn't correct, and the Nevada commission ruled against the request for a shot.
Francisco Aguilar, chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said the Pacquiao team did not disclose the injury until Saturday night, so the request for permission to take the shot and to have a personal doctor in Pacquiao's corner was denied.
Arum a said he didn't regret putting Pacquiao into the fight at less than full strength.
''Athletes always fight hurt,'' Arum said. ''We felt that the work that was done on the shoulder during training would give him the opportunity to use the right hand. We were disappointed when in the third round the injury kicked up again, but this is always the case with sports. You get guys injured in training. He then deals with the injury, he thinks he's conquered it, and then he gets re-injured in the game. It happens in football. It happens in any sport.''
Mayweather concurred with his former promoter, noting that he fought with injuries to both of his arms and hands. | Pacquiao says shoulder injury limited him in Mayweather loss | 53 | 0.777778 | 1 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/05/05/amazon-prime-members-will-able-stream-free-jetblue/YoG437U9trRsMd1XXe243J/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150508015237id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/05/05/amazon-prime-members-will-able-stream-free-jetblue/YoG437U9trRsMd1XXe243J/story.html | Amazon Prime members will be able to stream free on JetBlue | 20150508015237 | NEW YORK — Amazon wants to give JetBlue passengers a new option for tuning out that crying baby or talkative seat neighbor.
The e-commerce company will let members of Amazon’s $99 annual loyalty program Prime stream its instant video service for free on their Wi-Fi enabled devices via JetBlue’s inflight Wi-Fi service. JetBlue is the only US airline to offer free Wi-Fi on its planes.
Called Fly-Fi for Amazon Prime, the service will give Prime members access to original Amazon shows like ‘‘Transparent,’’ its other streaming TV and movies, as well as the ability to rent or buy other titles on Amazon’s Instant Video store.
Previously Amazon Prime members could pay for Jet Blue’s premium Wi-Fi service called Fly-Fi Plus and stream video that way. But now members will be able to stream on JetBlue’s free service. Amazon’s Prime Music streaming service, e-books from its Kindle store, and apps and games from the Amazon app store will also be available.
Prime members will be able watch Amazon Instant Video from their laptops, Fire devices, iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets without downloading anything beforehand. JetBlue’s free Fly-Fi broadband Internet will be available on all JetBlue’s Airbus A321 and A320 aircraft later this year, and on JetBlue’s Embraer E190 aircraft in 2016.
The agreement also will let JetBlue Airways Corp. use some behind-the-scenes footage from Amazon’s original shows on its seatback TV inflight offerings.
Amazon.com Inc. has been expanding its Prime program’s offerings in an effort to grow its membership with services such as grocery delivery, one-hour delivery in some cities, beefed up video streaming and the creation of a Bluetooth speaker called the Echo that syncs with Prime music. | Amazon wants to give passengers a new option for tuning out that crying baby or talkative seat neighbor. | 18.315789 | 1 | 12.684211 | medium | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/06/teslas-q1-earnings/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150508232153id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/05/06/teslas-q1-earnings/ | Tesla's Q1 earnings: What to watch out for | 20150508232153 | Tesla Motors TSLA , the tech-centric luxury electric automaker, and now, energy storage company, will release its first-quarter earnings after markets close today. Here are the key numbers (and stock-sensitive words) to watch for.
Earnings: The big question going into today’s earnings call is whether Tesla has closed the gap between revenue and expenses.
Earlier this year, Tesla reported strong fourth-quarter growth, but still fell short of Wall Street’s high expectations. Revenue rose 55% in the fourth quarter. However, it also burned through a lot of cash—capital expenditures totaled $369 million and the company reported an $86 million net cash outflow from operations.
Wall Street, which had high expectations for Tesla last year, has lowered the bar this quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect a quarterly loss of 50 cents earnings per share on revenue of $1.04 billion.
Deliveries: For the first time, we’re going into an earnings report knowing how many cars Tesla delivered in the first quarter. The Palo Alto-based electric automaker decided in April to publish the number of new cars deliveries within three days of quarter end because “inaccurate sources of information are sometimes used by others to project the number of vehicle deliveries.”
Tesla said it delivered 10,030 Model S vehicles in the first quarter, a 55 percent jump from the same quarter last year.
Look for CEO Elon Musk to elaborate on these numbers and provide some guidance on how the second quarter is shaping up—specifically, which cars are selling best. Is the 70D, the all-wheel drive Model S that replaced its cheaper base model in April, attracting buyers, or are most sales from the more costly P85D?
Model X: The falcon-winged SUV has been delayed repeatedly and the latest prediction has Model X deliveries beginning in the third quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, demand is high. Last quarter, Tesla said it already had 20,000 reservations for the SUV.
When I visited Tesla’s Fremont factory in March, the company had deconstructed the final assembly line, moved it, and were in the process of reconstructing it to accommodate both Model S and Model X. The new line going up included industrial robots from Kuka, while other industrial robots by Japan’s Fanuc were added to the line in August. These lines were not yet not fully operational, but the factory was buzzing along in preparation for the new SUV.
Even a hint of another delay would be very bad, says Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. Still, he warns getting it on sale will only be half the battle. Ensuring the Model X has a smooth bug-free rollout is the other half.
China: Tesla is working to clean up its problems in China. After weaker than expected sales, Tesla restructured the team in China and set out to convince consumers that an all-electric vehicle isn’t a logistical challenge. The company says it’s working on simplifying the buying process by having Tesla staff install charging points at customer homes or businesses before the car is delivered.
Have these efforts had the desired positive effect or are they still falling short?
China doesn’t need to be solved immediately. This is medium-term issue, meaning Musk has the next 12 months or so to fix it, Brauer says.
Energy storage: Tesla Motors announced in April that it was expanding beyond electric cars and launching a line of battery products. At the announcement, Musk and CTO JB Straubel revealed that they already had some utility installations in place.
While it may be a bit early for Tesla to share financial figures on its energy storage business, analysts will surely ask for guidance on the potential of this new business venture.
Used-car sales: This is another stream of revenue that’s in the early stages. But it’s important enough to warrant some mention (or a question) during conference calls with analysts.
Tesla launched its certified vehicle program late last month.
While used vehicle sales will be small at this point, it’s a revenue stream worth watching in the future. A large number of used Tesla Model S cars will hit the market between the end of the first Model S leases from three years ago and the launch of the Model X. Sales of used Model S cars will be quite valuable to Tesla because it sells directly to customers, allowing it to keep all the revenue.
“It will be interesting to see what happens to Model S demand and market value when that happens,” says Brauer. | The Model X, cash, and—of course—those elusive profits. | 59.2 | 0.733333 | 1.266667 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/ernie-johnson-gives-sports-emmy-stuart-scott-daughters | http://web.archive.org/web/20150509003800id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/ernie-johnson-gives-sports-emmy-stuart-scott-daughters | Ernie Johnson Gives Sports Emmy to Stuart Scott's Daughters : People.com | 20150509003800 | 05/06/2015 AT 07:45 AM EDT
's memory was in the house for Tuesday night's Sports Emmy Awards, and one of Scott's peers made an especially selfless gesture to honor his deceased colleague.
," Turner sportscaster Ernie Johnson said of the Best Studio Host award, which he won for his work on TNT's
. "It all started with Stuart," Johnson told the audience after he handed the award over to Scott's daughters Taelor and Sydni.
remains a high-water mark in public discussions of life with cancer, died in January at 49. Johnson, 58, is no stranger to that topic himself:
and has continued to work on | "This belongs to Stuart Scott," Johnson said | 12.9 | 0.8 | 1.4 | low | medium | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/leonardo-dicaprio-rihanna-bradley-cooper-drake-party | http://web.archive.org/web/20150509225933id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/leonardo-dicaprio-rihanna-bradley-cooper-drake-party | Leonardo DiCaprio, Rihanna, Bradley Cooper, Drake Party in New York City : People.com | 20150509225933 | Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio and Rihanna outside Game nightclub on May 6.
05/07/2015 AT 06:25 PM EDT
It was a starry – and maybe a little bit complicated – night at the club in N.Y.C. on Wednesday.
were all spotted at Game nightclub, where they turned out for a private party hosted by Drake.
was away working in Barcelona, he had company for the party, arriving on the scene alongside buddy DiCaprio. The two have an
: They've been spotted dining out, attending football games and hitting the clubs as a duo since 2011.
Leo's appearance also comes after months of on-and-off rumors that he and Rihanna are casually dating. DiCaprio helped the "Stay" singer
, after which a source said that although they didn't act too much like a couple, "they would flirt and dance so definitely a little magic there." And Rihanna and Drake were linked romantically in years past. | The stars were all spotted at Game nightclub in N.Y.C. Wednesday night | 15.333333 | 0.916667 | 3.583333 | low | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2013/11/11/turning-garbage-into-gold/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150510012259id_/http://fortune.com:80/2013/11/11/turning-garbage-into-gold/ | Turning garbage into gold | 20150510012259 | It just might be time to redefine the word “trash.” That’s because if a Canadian startup has its way, trash will no longer be worthless. Enerkem, a company backed by giants such as Waste Management and Valero Energy, has a patented process that converts wood, plants, plastics, textiles, and other materials—just about anything except metal, glass and stone—into fuel that we can use to power our cars. The process can also convert garbage into feedstock for industrial chemicals.
Enerkem takes unrecyclable waste from dumps and converts it into a syngas and then converts the gas through multiple chemical steps into methanol or ethanol. For the last decade, scientists and entrepreneurs have been trying to master the alchemy of turning waste into fuel. The rub has been the process can be very expensive, and often the fuel can’t compete with conventional gasoline or with ethanol made from corn. The other problem with some waste to energy technologies is that incineration can be polluting. Also, gasification can require lots of energy, making the process not worth the effort.
By contrast, Enerkem says its process—which occurs in a contained vessel—minimizes pollution and uses very low temperatures and thus energy to chemically convert the waste to syngas. Says Marie-Hélène Labrie a Vice President at Enerkem: “We think our economics quite are attractive, and at full capacity our fuel will be competitive with corn ethanol and gasoline.”
MORE: All Energy Revolution coverage
One appeal of the company’s business model is that the potential market is huge. Enerkem estimates that North America produces enough garbage each year to generate the equivalent of about 14 billion gallons of fuel a year—or about 10% of U.S. gasoline demand. On top of that, with dumping fees rising, municipalities are happy to pay to take trash away—negating the company’s feedstock costs.
Another advantage is that Enerkem is locating its plants next to urban landfills, which gives it a huge economic advantage over other biofuel makers. “Transport costs can add 50% to 100% to production costs for other biofuel companies who have to truck corn and other feed stocks to a plant in the countryside and then truck the finished fuel sometimes hundreds of miles back to a market,” explains Mark Bunger, research director at Lux Research. “Enerkem has a tremendous advantage because it doesn’t have to do that.” In Enerkem’s case, the city’s garbage trucks are already hauling the trash right to where its facilities are. Plus Enerkem can sell the fuel right back to the city which can use it for their buses and trucks.
The Montreal firm, which has been running pilot and demo plants in Canada for a decade now, is scheduled to open its first commercial scale plant in Edmonton, Alberta, by the end of the year. After that it plans to build at least two others: one in Montreal and the other in Pontotoc, Mississippi, which is backed by $130 million in taxpayer funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy.
The plants will each produce only about 10 million gallons a year—a pittance compared to gasoline demand. But if the plants work, Enerkem will have proven that the technology is viable on a commercial scale—a major tripping point for startups in the fuel business. | Canadian company Enerkem is harnessing trash into energy. | 71.111111 | 0.888889 | 1.333333 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/13/sequoia-plangrid-funding-blueprints/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150516000623id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/05/13/sequoia-plangrid-funding-blueprints/ | Exclusive: PlanGrid raises $18 million from Sequoia to digitize construction blueprints | 20150516000623 | A few years ago, two recent college graduates noticed big inefficiencies in the use of paper blueprints in designing and planning new buildings. For one job, a bound set of paper blueprints could cost an astonishing $23,000. It was as if the digital age had never reached the construction site. So they set out to create a company, PlanGrid, that lets architects, construction workers, and their bosses access building plans from a mobile device and edit them like a group document.
Today, Fortune has learned exclusively that the company has raised $18 million led by Sequoia Capital. Sequoia’s Doug Leone will join PlanGrid’s board. Other investors in the financing include investor Ron Conway, and Yammer founder and former PayPal COO David Sachs.
Tracy Young and Ryan Sutton-Gee, two construction engineers, founded PlanGrid after growing frustrated with the huge amounts of money spent on blueprints and time wasted using them. They realized that blueprints were one of the few things that had yet to be digitized.
Besides the cost, full-sized blueprints — usually around 42 by 30 inches — are heavy and cumbersome to carry around. Furthermore, minor changes in a building’s design required printing a new set of paper, which could take weeks for complex projects.
Initially, Young and Sutton-Gee worked on a blueprint app as a side project. They recruited software engineer Antoine Hersen, and Pixar engineer Ralph Gootee (Young’s husband) to join the fledgling startup in 2011.
With PlanGrid, blueprints can be uploaded to a mobile app, edited, viewed, and marked up for discussion. It is essentially productivity software for the construction industry that made massive files easy to zoom in on and tweak.
Users can also access and collaborate on different versions of the same document within the app to see how designs have evolved and changed. It’s basically a Google Docs for blueprints.
While the team bootstrapped the company with their savings, they knew they would have a better chance of succeeding if they had support from a startup accelerator that serves as a sort of nursery school for new companies. PlanGrid was accepted into Y Combinator, a prestigious Silicon Valley incubator, in 2011.
But the news was bittersweet. Herson was soon diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and passed away not long after the team started the program. Despite the setback, Young, Sutton-Gee and Gootee plowed ahead with PlanGrid and recruited another engineer, one of Herson’s friends, Kenneth Stone, to join the founding team.
While still in the accelerator program, PlanGrid decided to get an early version of its software into users’ hands as a way to test whether the construction industry would actually use an iPad instead of paper. Team members used their personal credit cards to buy a dozen iPads for potential clients at Bay Area construction companies.
Within three months, all these guinea pigs started paying PlanGrid for the software. Around that time, the startup raised a small initial funding round of $1.5 million from current Y Combinator President Sam Altman, Gmail founder Paul Buchheit, 500 Startups, and Google Ventures.
While the company had a handful of paying customers, it still needed to be scrappy to bring in more business. Young and her co-founders would go to construction trade conferences and pitch any company they could meet with. While PlanGrid faced some rejection, it got enough customers to become profitable. Since 2012, despite barely spending money on marketing or sales, the company has landed over 10,000 paying customers.
Plangrid offers four tiers of software that range from free to $100 monthly, based on the number of blueprints customers want to upload. Currently, over 200,000 building projects have been built using PlanGrid, and 19 million blueprints uploaded to the app. High-profile clients include the construction company that builds all U.S. stores for Target and another that works for Nordstrom.
While Young and her founding team enjoyed bootstrapping the company, they also knew that they needed more money to hire a bigger staff. Ultimately they chose Sequoia, an early investor in companies like Google, despite the fact that the firm insisted on a lower valuation for PlanGrid than others. The team decided that it was worth it because Sequoia and Leone shared a similar long-term vision.
Leone said he knew right away that he wanted to invest in PlanGrid. In fact, they reached a deal and issued a term sheet within a matter of days, which is rare for the firm when making a large investment decision.
In an interview with Fortune, Leone said PlanGrid was a rare success in terms of a new company building a product that caught on so quickly. He also pointed out that at the time of Sequoia’s investment, around eight of ten major building projects in downtown San Francisco were using PlanGrid’s software.
“There are not a lot of companies that would be willing to gamble on an unknown startup’s products,” he said. “It has to fulfill such a major pain in a customer’s mind.”
William Hoop, an executive at Lend Lease (US) Construction, in Chicago, and an early PlanGrid user, explained that using the service makes the building process more efficient. Construction managers don’t constantly have to wait for new blueprints to be printed when plans change, which happens often.
“PlanGrid is a game changer for us,” Hoop said.
Eventually PlanGrid has ambitions of being a platform for not just blueprints but all construction information and project management.
For more about Sequoia Capital, watch this Fortune video: | PlanGrid wants to modernize the way construction workers use blueprints. | 97.454545 | 0.818182 | 1.181818 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1861/11/12/news/beaufort-port-royal-harbor-union-lodgment-south-carolina-port-royal-beaufort.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150516184201id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1861/11/12/news/beaufort-port-royal-harbor-union-lodgment-south-carolina-port-royal-beaufort.html | BEAUFORT AND PORT ROYAL HARBOR. | 20150516184201 | The certainty that Port Royal and Beaufort are the regions at which the Naval Expedition has struck its first blow, and the brilliant success that has attended operations there, lend those localities increased interest. To satisfy this we republish a clear and complete map of
Port Royal Entrance is an inlet from the Atlantic, in latitude 32° 8' N., fifty miles southwest of Charleston, and fifteen miles northeast of Tybee Inlet, the entrance of Savannah River. The opening from the Atlantic is between Edding Island and Hilton Head Island, and at that point is about three miles wide. The prolongation inward of Port Royal Entrance is called Broad River and Port Royal River. Running up this for about twenty-five miles, bending off eastward through the Coosaw River, and coining out to the Atlantic again through St. Helena Sound, you have an irregular area of about twenty-five miles by fifteen. This amphibious region is cut up by numerous rivers, creeks and inlets into a great many islands (Sea Islands) of various sizes, the chief of which are "Port Royal," "St. Helena," "Paris," "Ladies," "Coosaw," "Morgan," "Dathaw," "Edding," "Chaplin," "Prentis" and "Hunting."
Along the coast of South Carolina as in North Carolina and Georgia, stretches a low and narrow sand bar -- a kind of defensive outwork, of the land, seldom inhabited except by lost indians and runaway negroes, who subsist by hunting and fishing. At distant intervals there are shallow breaches through which the quiet tide steals in twice a day, swelling the natural lagoons and damming the outlet of the fresh water stream till the current is destroyed and turned back, and their flood dispersed far and wide over the debatable land of the Cypress Swamp. Then, when the heavy rains in the interior have swollen the rivers, their eddying currents deposit all along the edges of the sandy islands and capes the rich freight they have brought from the calcareous or granitic mountains in which they rise, with the organic waste of the great forests through which they flow. This is the soil of the rice and cotton plantations, which are always found in such parts of the tidal swamps adorning the mainland or the sandy islands as are left nearly dry at the ebb of the water.
The entrance to Port Royal is the best channel for ships through the bars in the whole range of ports below Norfolk. Within the Roads, even over the bar, there are three and a half fathoms water, or twenty-one feet, and probably twenty-seven feet at high tide. The command of waters, too, which the possession of Port Royal entrance gives, is immense. Ships which draw 14 or 15 feet water, may go in at Tybee and proceed through land to Beaufort in Port Royal Islands; and from Beaufort, vessels of 8 or 9 feet water may go through land to Charleston. From Charleston, vessels drawing 7 or 8 feet water may go through land to the river Medway, in Georgia, which lies thirty miles south of Savannah. The entrance of the harbor, as is shown on the map, was protected by batteries on Hilton Head and Parry's Island. Masses of smoking ruins now only show where they were.
Port Royal Island, the chief of the group above mentioned, is surrounded by the Broad, Port Royal. Coosaw and Beaufort Rivers, and is about twelve miles long and six wide. On the east side of the island, and about mid-way, stands the town of Beaufort, on Beaufort River, the approach of which does not admit vessels of over eleven feet draft. Beaufort is about ten miles from the sea, and sixteen miles from the Charleston and Savannah Railroad, and this important line is itself directly approachable by water through Broad River and St. Helena Sound and Combalice River. A force moving up the river from Beaufort, via Beaufort and Coosaw and Port Royal rivers, would strike the Charleston and Savannah Railroad at about midway between Charleston and Savannah, and about 50 miles from either city -- a fact which renders obvious the immense strategic importance of that line. Beaufort is the Newport of South Carolina, and has a white population of about one thousand. It is thus described by Sir CHARLES LYELL, in his Travels in the United States:
"Beaufort, a picturesque town composed of an assemblage of villas, the summer residences of numerous planters, who retire here during the hot season, when the interior of South Carolina is unhealthy for the whites. Each villa is shaded by a verandah, surrounded by live oaks and orange trees."
The possession of the fine harbor of Beaufort or Port Royal thus gives command of one of the most important, and, for the designs the army of the Union has in view in making a lodgment on the Southern coast, most advantageous bases of operation in entire rebeldom. Beaufort District has an area of 1,540 square miles. The surface is low and level, and the soil sandy and alluvial, producing cotton, rice, etc., in great abundance. Our troops will thus find themselves lodged in the richest district (South Carolina-term of county) in the State -- yielding some fifty million pounds of rice annually, and thirteen thousand bales for the finest quality of cotton, the famous long-staple sea-land, the very kind Europe most wants. Here are over six millions of dollars' worth of crops, subject at once to confiscation, if their proprietors persist in their disloyalty. It is also one of the most thickly settled districts of the State, the population in 1850 being 38,805. Of these no less than 32,279 are negro slaves -- a property representing twenty millions of dollars! It is on this spot that the shaded maps of negro distribution show the nightliest shade. We shall thus literally carry the war into Africa! The place is admirably suited for a vast camp of instruction, and with proper defences it will not be found difficult to hold this whole district against any force the rebels can bring against us. What a splendid nucleus of loyalty in the very heart of the birthplace of secession. | The certainty that Port Royal and Beaufort are the regions at which the Naval Expedition has struck its first blow, and the brilliant success that has attended operations there, lend those localities increased interest. To satisfy this we republish a clear and complete map of... | 24.346939 | 0.979592 | 47.020408 | medium | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2009/01/28/why-att-loves-the-iphone-again/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150520083828id_/http://fortune.com:80/2009/01/28/why-att-loves-the-iphone-again/ | Why AT&T loves the iPhone (again) | 20150520083828 | For much of last year, AT&T T Mobility’s websites seemed to be promoting every cell phone in their arsenal except for the iPhone — as if the company wasn’t sure the revenue coming in from iPhone users was worth the steep bounty it was paying Apple AAPL for each sale.
Today when you visit its website, a promo for the iPhone 3G (“Now Available Online!”) is often the first thing that pops up — and based on the fourth quarter results the company released Wednesday, you can see why.
The iPhone is still an expensive proposition for AT&T. The kickback to Apple — between $288 and $432 per phone over the life of a 2-year contract, according to various estimates — and the $450 million the company says it spent last quarter on network upgrades to provide high-speed 3G coverage, contributed significantly to the 23% year-to-year decline in AT&T’s quarterly net income (to $2.4 billion from $3.1 billion).
On the other hand, Q4 revenues were up 2.4% (to $31.1 billion) in a tough economic climate thanks to results in the wireless division that CEO Randall Stephenson attributed largely to the iPhone.
“The success of our iPhone 3G launch has driven wireless growth and helped redefine the wireless data space,” he said in a press release.
How did the iPhone do that? Let us count the ways:
Although iPhone 3G activations were down 21% quarter to quarter — to 1.9 million from 2.4 million after the device’s July launch — they still outpaced Research in Motion’s RIMM much hyped BlackBerry Storm. According to one estimate, Verizon VZ has activated some 1 million Storms in its first two month of sales. | For much of last year, AT&T Mobility's websites seemed to be promoting every cell phone in their arsenal except for the iPhone -- as if the company wasn't sure the revenue coming in from iPhone users was worth the steep bounty it was paying Apple for each sale. No more. Today when you visit its… | 5.52459 | 0.901639 | 10.344262 | low | medium | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/18/chinas-xiaomi-apple-killer/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150520204143id_/http://fortune.com/2015/05/18/chinas-xiaomi-apple-killer/ | Apple killer Xiaomi is starting U.S. sales | 20150520204143 | Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has quickly become a major force in Asia. Now it’s making a push into the U.S. and Europe, signaling its big ambitions.
Xiaomi is about to open an online store for the American and European markets. For now, the retail sites are a test bed that offers only four electronic accessories for sale. But the move hints at the company’s bigger ambitions to challenge Apple on its home turf and many of its other key markets.
Xiaomi’s initial products for sale are a $15 fitness tracker, a pair of $80 headphones, a $10 USB power pack for charging mobile devices, and a bigger model for $14. The online stores will open on Monday at 10 p.m. ET in the US, and 1 p.m. CET the next day in the U.K., France, and Germany.
The company first announced in February that it would open its first US sales and that it would only include a few accessories. It’s previously sold some products in the U.K., like the Mi-2 phone.
Founded in 2010, Xiaomi quickly rose in popularity in Asia with its affordable smartphones and other consumer electronics, and became the largest smartphone vendor in China in 2014, according to IDC. Xiaomi sold more than 61 million smartphones in total that year.
In its latest round of venture capital funding, the company was valued at $46 billion.
Xiaomi’s foray into the U.S. market will be watched closely. While the U.S. is the world’s largest smartphone market, sales are largely made through telecom carriers. Therefore, any company that wants to capture a major slice of the market will have to work closely with AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Xiaomi would also have to take on market leader Apple AAPL , which has traditionally stayed away from selling low-end products like those sold by its Chinese rival. Xiaomi’s also been criticized for copying much of Apple’s product designs.
Xiaomi’s test run with its online stores will serve as a barometer for its ability to move into selling devices.
For more about Apple, watch this Fortune video: | Will the Chinese manufacturer find success on Apple's home turf? | 33.75 | 0.583333 | 0.75 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2015/05/20/missing-bpl-prints-artists-pinnacle-their-craft/0cq6GmwdDaCtEbOOOOXEtK/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150522225633id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/arts/theater-art/2015/05/20/missing-bpl-prints-artists-pinnacle-their-craft/0cq6GmwdDaCtEbOOOOXEtK/story.html | Missing BPL prints by artists at pinnacle of their craft | 20150522225633 | The two works that are missing, possibly stolen, from the Boston Public Library are by artists who would make anyone’s Top 10 list of the most important artists in the history of Western art. But the works by Rembrandt and Dürer are prints, and so it’s difficult to measure the loss.
You can make an appointment to see versions of both works a few minutes down the road at the Museum of Fine Arts in its Morse Study Room for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; the MFA staff will happily oblige. Plenty of other museums and private collectors around the world have their own editions.
Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait With Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre” is an etching, Albrecht Dürer’s “Adam and Eve” (also known as “The Fall of Man”) an engraving. Both artists revolutionized those respective media, which is why both stand at the pinnacle of achievement in printmaking. The BPL has more than 100 prints by Dürer and 30 by Rembrandt in its extensive prints and drawings collection.
As one in a series of the most sustained and searching self-portraits ever made, the Rembrandt etching is obviously prestigious.
But the Dürer engraving is perhaps the more singular and remarkable image (which partly explains its high valuation, around $600,000; the Rembrandt, meanwhile, is valued at $20,000 to $30,000).
The book follows the story of a map dealer who stole maps from libraries, including the Boston Public Library.
Dürer’s “Adam and Eve” is the work of an artist operating not only at the peak of his extraordinary powers but at a crossroads of art history — as the Middle Ages shifted into the Renaissance, and as the flinty, naturalistic art of Northern Europe met the idealized and classically inspired art of Italy.
The engraving, part of the Leo M. Friedman estate received by the BPL in 1958, was made by using a sharp burin, or pointed chisel, to cut lines like shallow trenches in the surface of a metal plate. Those gouged lines can hold ink. The image is made by pressing the metal plate with its inked lines against paper.
The process can be repeated, and that, of course, is the whole point: The technique meant artists could spread awareness of their talent and their ideas far and wide.
Dürer, the son of a goldsmith from Nuremberg, did exactly that. He acted as his own publisher and sold his prints at trade fairs and through well-placed agents, and over time he became rich.
He was one of the first artists to exploit printmaking in such a concerted way to cultivate and spread his fame — his monogram alone is famous — making him the very model of the modern art celebrity and genius.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Self Portrait with Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre.
His “Adam and Eve” was engraved in 1504, after his first trip to Italy but before his second. It is Dürer’s early masterpiece. It combines his astonishing ability to render detail in an intensely naturalistic way with a new type of idealized human beauty, until then foreign to Northern European art. That ideal was based, in part, on a system of proportional measurements derived from Vitruvius, the great Roman architect and theorist who fascinated Renaissance artists and architects in Italy, including Leonardo da Vinci.
Dürer shows Adam and Eve frontally, their heads turned toward each other, their white bodies made brighter by the dark shadows of the dense wood behind them. The image itself is dense with symbolic details intended to impress and beguile a learned audience.
The goat perched on a distant cliff, for instance, represents sinfulness, alluding to the Christian concept of original sin at the heart of the biblical story of Adam and Eve. The parrot represents wisdom and prudence, in opposition to the evil snake. And the mouse at Adam’s feet is threatened by a cat, meant to emphasize Adam’s precariousness at this key point in his interaction with Eve.
The image also illustrates, at one and the same time, the idea of a peaceable kingdom before the Fall and the medieval doctrine of the four temperaments: the ox is phlegmatic, the cat choleric, the rabbit sanguine, and the elk melancholic. These temperaments, properly balanced, guaranteed not only health, but — according to Christian doctrine — sinless immortality. The taking of the apple disrupted this balance, dooming humans to death, disease, and vice.
Dürer was understandably proud of the image, as the plaque hanging from the mountain-ash branch Adam holds makes clear: “Albert[us] Durer of Nuremberg made this in 1504” it reads in Latin.
Rembrandt van Rijn was at the height of his powers 130 years later when he made the small “Self-Portrait With Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre.” His vaunting self-confidence was leavened with a sense of play, curiosity, and even self-parody, as — like the photographer Cindy Sherman 350 years later — he used costumes and props to try out different guises. The Rembrandt work came into the BPL collection as part of the Wiggin Collection in 1941.
Etchings are similar to engravings. But before any lines are incised, the plate is applied with a layer of acid-resistant coating. The lines are scratched into this coating, uncovering the metal beneath, after which the plate is dipped in an acid bath. The acid eats away at the exposed lines, leaving the rest of the plate untouched (the longer the plate is dipped, the deeper the lines). Those lines, as in engraving, hold ink that can be pressed to paper to produce multiple images.
This self-portrait is not as well known as some of Rembrandt’s other etched self-portraits, but it is virtuosic, especially in its rendering of the artist’s long, curly hair and furry, feathered cap. It’s also, I find, quite funny, and I suspect that Rembrandt himself relished its slightly comic aura.
What’s astonishing, and not at all funny, about the mysterious absence of both prints from the Boston Public Library is that no one seems to know where they are. Even if this mystery turns out to be an innocent mistake, it remains troubling that the BPL isn’t keeping better track of its art. | Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait With Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre” is an etching, Albrecht Dürer’s “Adam and Eve” an engraving. Both artists revolutionized those respective media, which is why both stand at the pinnacle of achievement in printmaking. | 25.4375 | 1 | 24.041667 | medium | high | extractive |
http://www.people.com/article/grandma-accused-killing-5-cats-hammer | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524034006id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/grandma-accused-killing-5-cats-hammer | Grandma Accused of Killing 5 Cats with a Hammer to Punish Grandchildren | 20150524034006 | 05/21/2015 AT 10:25 AM EDT
A Godfrey, Illinois, woman was arrested on Monday night for allegedly killing a cat and four kittens with a hammer to punish her grandchildren.
Josephine E. Bell, 71, was charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty after her teenage granddaughter found her pet cat dead in the freezer, according to
Authorities could not locate the kittens, which were allegedly thrown away.
Bell previously told her grandchildren that they had to clean their bedrooms or risk losing their pets, police said.
She allegedly told authorities that she had killed the cat and kittens because she did not believe it should have been her responsibility to take care of them.
As of Tuesday evening, Bell remained in jail, held on a $15,000 bond. | Josephine E. Bell was charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty after her granddaughter found her pet cat in the freezer | 7.3 | 1 | 6.2 | low | high | mixed |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/03/obituaries/donald-tressler-dead-expert-in-frozen-food-led-publishing-house.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524075657id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/03/obituaries/donald-tressler-dead-expert-in-frozen-food-led-publishing-house.html | DONALD TRESSLER DEAD - EXPERT IN FROZEN FOOD LED PUBLISHING HOUSE - NYTimes.com | 20150524075657 | Dr. Donald K. Tressler, chairman of the AVI Publishing Company of Westport, Conn., which specializes in books on food science, nutrition and related subjects, died Saturday at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital. He was 86 years old and lived in Westport.
Dr. Tressler, a specialist in frozen foods, had a long career in teaching and research before becoming a publisher in 1956. In 1930 he joined Clarence Birdseye, who was then quick-freezing fish and meat, as a consultant on the freezing of fruits and vegetables at the Birdseye Laboratories in Gloucester, Mass. Dr. Tressler supervised laboratory demonstrations proving that almost all foods could be frozen satisfactorily.
In 1933 he became professor of chemistry and chairman of the chemical department at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University in Geneva, N.Y. There he developed and patented a process that made sherry wine from Concord grape wine by forcing fine bubbles of air or oxygen into the warm wine. The method, known as the Tressler process, is used in producing New York State sherries and port wines.
In 1942 Dr. Tressler became a consultant to the General Electric Company in the development of home freezers. He moved to Wesport, where he established a consulting business.
He was the author and co-author of 21 technical books on food processing and preservation. He also held 20 patents on the processing of foods and food products.
In addition Dr. Tressler was co-founder of the Institute of Food Technology and the first editor of its journal, The Journal of Food Technology.
He was born in Cincinatti. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1913 and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at Cornell University in 1918.
Surviving him are a daughter, Eleanor Brown of Conway, Mass.; a son, Wilfred of Easton, Conn., and six grandchildren. His wife, the former Ella Bagley, died last year.
A funeral service will be held at 11 A.M. today in Christ and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Westport. | Dr. Donald K. Tressler, chairman of the AVI Publishing Company of Westport, Conn., which specializes in books on food science, nutrition and related subjects, died Saturday at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital. He was 86 years old and lived in Westport. Dr. Tressler, a specialist in frozen foods, had a long career in teaching and research before becoming a publisher in 1956. In 1930 he joined Clarence Birdseye, who was then quick-freezing fish and meat, as a consultant on the freezing of fruits and vegetables at the Birdseye Laboratories in Gloucester, Mass. Dr. Tressler supervised laboratory demonstrations proving that almost all foods could be frozen satisfactorily. | 3.121951 | 0.99187 | 63.252033 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/05/arts/antiques-taking-a-gamble-on-playing-cards.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524075809id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/05/arts/antiques-taking-a-gamble-on-playing-cards.html | ANTIQUES - TAKING A GAMBLE ON PLAYING CARDS - NYTimes.com | 20150524075809 | Leonard Schneir has satisfied his fascination with playing cards and gambling accessories by acquiring a most unusual collection of antique cards and gaming phenomena over the last six years. The hundreds of examples of these materials that he has assembled include decks that are witty, boldly graphic, historical, political, patriotic, nostalgic and amusing, and wares that are embellished with an amazing variety of playing cards, dice, poker chips, game boards and roulette wheels.
The diversity of material can be appreciated in the more than 100 selections Mr. Schneir has chosen for the exhibition of his private collection and other wares he will sell on view through July 10th at the O.K. Harris Gallery, 383 West Broadway. Mr. Schneir who is now a private dealer devoting himself full-time to the business of finding such material for his business, said in an interview the other day that there is a great deal more to see in his stock at Full House, which he operates out of his loft at 184 Avenue of the Americas.
''As collectibles go, playing cards are undervalued,'' Mr. Schneir said, adding that compared to baseball cards, comic books and brewery memorabilia, prices for cards and gambling devices have not yet begun to climb. ''The most expensive tranformation deck of United States Playing cards has not yet reached $1,000,'' he added, fingering through a transformation deck so-called because the aces, spades, clubs and hearts are parts of a picture of people, animals or objects. He said that in the other collectibles fields, such prices are now paid for rarities.
The majority of wares on view at the SoHo gallery date from the mid-19th century or later, works that show the dramatic upsurge in the production of playing cards after the development of lithography transformed printing by adding color. There are, in fact, eight different patterns of cards showing how they are printed on sheets. These uncut sheets are among the selections Mr. Schneir will part with at $20 each panel.
Playing cards were probably not produced in this country until the 19th century, Mr. Schneir said. The decks used earlier were, no doubt, imported from Europe. The popularity of cards did not happen until the second half of the 19th century and with that development came the production of other wares embellished with playing card and gambling motifs. Such materials - a tray, sheet music, advertising, a kerchief, pillow cases, a calendar, paintings, a 19th-century needlepoint panel and coin-operated trade stimulator machines - are the strongest part of Mr. Schneir's collection. The price range for these offerings, other than the sheets of cards, is from $100 for a cigar-box lid, to $5,000 for the needlepoint panel with the suit signs executed as leaves. Two cases containing other objects that Mr. Schneir is not selling contain even more rarities, including demitasse cups and saucers embellished with several playing cards, a set of eight demitasse spoons, a salt shaker, sets of antique chips and a deck of roulette cards.
But it is the playing cards themselves that most viewers will find are the more interesting selections in this show - and most are not for sale. Surprisingly, major illustrators also did playing cards, as can be seen in the five decks of Maxfield Parrish cards here. Among the examples of decks of cards used by American corporations as advertising aids are five Coca-Cola decks from the 1940's showing the familiar all-American girl faces that the drink producer favored in its advertising. The largest single category of cards on view are 59 souvenir decks from Panama to the Rocky Mountains and including such popular events as the St. Louis 1904 Fair and the 1909 Yukon Pacific Fair.
The seven packs decorated with the type of steamboats that plied the Missisippi have another origin - they were used for gambling. ''Sidewheelers may have had a lot to do with the spread of gambling in this country,'' Mr. Schneir said. ''The French brought poker to this country in the late 18th century. The game became rooted in New Orleans and by the mid-19th century when the steamboats were commonplace on the Mississippi, gambling spread northward, serving initially to entertain travelers.''
What is available are two panels of aces of spades - a collection within a colllection - showing, once again, the stunning diversity still available in playing cards and how specialties are developed by collectors. Each panel has 247 cards and carries a price tag of $1,000. Other collectors focus on other cards or suits or the subject matter decorating the backs, Mr. Schneir reported. He has a second mini-collection. ''I have 1,000 postcards depicting gambling or playing cards,'' he said. Only four could be accommodated in the show.
Mr. Schneir brought along another dozen decks to show other subjects found on cards. An 1862 pack by the American Card Company was issued by the manufacturer with the statement that it was confident the public would agree that national emblems -eagles, flags, stars, shields, soldiers and Columbia - should replace the existing suits, so that you would end up with the ace of eagles. Needless to say, it did not work. Another more political deck has ''Vote for women.'' And there are others with photographs of boxers, stage stars and historic sites.
Playing cards predate stamps by about 500 years, and the earliest extant examples are from the 14th century. Most of the earliest examples are in museums and are rarely exhibited. The cards collected today do include 18th-century examples with black-and-white engravings, some of which are handpainted. It was not until about 1870 that the kings, queens and jacks came to be shown no longer as full figures but as two waist-to-waist busts instead of full figures, one of the many ways collectors can date these paper collectibles. | Leonard Schneir has satisfied his fascination with playing cards and gambling accessories by acquiring a most unusual collection of antique cards and gaming phenomena over the last six years. The hundreds of examples of these materials that he has assembled include decks that are witty, boldly graphic, historical, political, patriotic, nostalgic and amusing, and wares that are embellished with an amazing variety of playing cards, dice, poker chips, game boards and roulette wheels. The diversity of material can be appreciated in the more than 100 selections Mr. Schneir has chosen for the exhibition of his private collection and other wares he will sell on view through July 10th at the O.K. Harris Gallery, 383 West Broadway. Mr. Schneir who is now a private dealer devoting himself full-time to the business of finding such material for his business, said in an interview the other day that there is a great deal more to see in his stock at Full House, which he operates out of his loft at 184 Avenue of the Americas. | 5.900524 | 0.994764 | 95.769634 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/05/realestate/old-mills-in-the-northeast-transformed-into-housing.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524075856id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/05/realestate/old-mills-in-the-northeast-transformed-into-housing.html | OLD MILLS IN THE NORTHEAST TRANSFORMED INTO HOUSING | 20150524075856 | NORWICH, Conn.— At a picturesque point along the Yantic River, an 1813 red-brick, 90,000-square-foot mill building, once a nail factory and later a textile plant, is nearing the end of its conversion into 121 apartments.
Similar conversions are taking place in Victorian mills throughout the Northeast, particularly in New England. Between 50 and 100 mills have been converted to market-rate or subsidized housing in the last few years, according to Robert M. Vogel, vice president of the Society for Industrial Archeology with headquarters in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington.
Even more new housing from old mills is expected in the future, say developers and others in the field, who point to several factors favoring these conversions.
Those factors are: a supply of approximately 1,000 suitable mills in the region; a stronger demand for small-unit, community-style housing; and the ease with which the mills with their large, open interior spaces can be converted. Another favorable element is that these buildings are frequently eligible for tax incentives as historic structures.
Local communities, in addition, usually welcome mill conversions. These projects are helping to revitalize dilapidated commercial areas of aging industrial communities as well as offering a radical alternative to single-family housing or garden apartments in more traditional settings.
Some of these sites are also being used for groups that have had special housing needs. In Paterson, N.J., the 110-year-old Essex Mill and the 1812 Phoenix Mill are being converted into 146 federally subsidized loft apartments for working artists. The Florence Mill in Vernon, Conn., has been converted into 114 units for the elderly.
Though most of the conversions so far have been for housing, some mills have been recycled to office and retail uses. The 1835 Rogers Mill in Paterson, where steam locomotives used to be manufactured, is being rented at $8.50 a square foot. The first tenants in the 30,000-square-foot building are an advertising agency, an insurance firm and an engineering group. Developers of an early Victorian water-powered mill that produced fire hoses in Newtown, Conn., are looking for a tenant to use the 90,000 square feet for a corporate headquarters.
Office conversions usually present fewer zoning problems. For instance, Peter Jennings, of Munro & Jennings of Hartford, developers of the Newtown mill, said the only zoning modification necessary would be if they rented to several tenants instead of one. The building is zoned for a sole occupant.
Most of the mills that have potential for conversion are in the New England states or New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. This was the area where hilly land coupled with plenty of small, fast-running streams made the terrain ideal for water-powered manufacturing. These small mills, estimated by Mr. Vogel to be in the thousands, fell into disuse over the years as more modern manufacturing techniques were better suited to a one-story building located nearer a highway. Many of these manufacturers also moved south, seeking cheaper labor. Subsequently a great many of the mill buildings languished for years as warehouses before recycling gained momentum about 15 years ago.
''There are tough times ahead and people are looking in their own back-yards to see if there is a building that is obsolete or underutilized,'' explained Stephen B. Jacobs, a New York City architect who has designed many Manhattan conversion projects. Mr. Jacobs is working on both the Paterson and the Norwich mills.
Ralph Schacter and Seymour Schwartz, partners in Greenwich Associates, the firm that is developing a 29-acre former felt factory complex in Greenwich, Conn., believe former mill sites are ideal for recreating the close-knit village life that was envisioned when industrialists built the mills and the shops and offices surrounding them more than a century ago. ''There are changes taking place in suburban life that we must begin to address with a new sort of housing,'' said Mr. Schacter.
In addition to 69 rental apartments and 58 town-house condominiums on the surrounding vacant land, the Greenwich complex will also include 91,000 square feet of commercial space plus a cluster of specialty shops in an abandoned Victorian railroad station already on the site. To be called simply The Mill in Greenwich, the property was purchased from G.A.F. Corporation in December of 1978 for $5.3 million. The development is scheduled to be completed in 1982 at a cost expected to exceed $20 million, all of which has been provided by conventional financing.
Rents will run from $650 a month for a studio apartment of approximately 700 square feet, to $1,400 for a two-bedroom apartment of approximately 1,200 square feet.
A majority of the mills targeted for housing are eligible for incentives provided in the Tax Reform Act of 1976. The law allows a conversion project involving any building listed on the National Register of Historic Places or situated in a locally designated historic district - as many of the mills happen to be - to qualify for an accelerated five-year depreciation of costs. Normally such costs would have to be depreciated over a 14- to 20-year period. The tax concession is limited to rented properties, so most of these mill conversions are initially being turned into rentals rather than condominiums. | At a picturesque point along the Yantic River, an 1813 red-brick, 90,000-square-foot mill building, once a nail factory and later a textile plant, is nearing the end of its conversion into 121 apartments. Similar conversions are taking place in Victorian mills throughout the Northeast, particularly in New England. Between 50 and 100 mills have been converted to market-rate or subsidized housing in the last few years, according to Robert M. Vogel, vice president of the Society for Industrial Archeology with headquarters in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington. Even more new housing from old mills is expected in the future, say developers and others in the field, who point to several factors favoring these conversions. Those factors are: a supply of approximately 1,000 suitable mills in the region; a stronger demand for small-unit, community-style housing; and the ease with which the mills with their large, open interior spaces can be converted. Another favorable element is that these buildings are frequently eligible for tax incentives as historic structures. | 4.916667 | 0.985294 | 53.867647 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/08/arts/going-out-guide.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080349id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/08/arts/going-out-guide.html | Going Out Guide - NYTimes.com | 20150524080349 | For respite from the inflictions of August, you might sip essence of wormwood. Coltsfoot or lamb's ear sound more appealing? They are herbal teas, and will be served this afternoon along with 30 other varieties at a white Georgian mansion that sits, full of history, in upper Manhattan.
The site is the Morris-Jumel Mansion, ensconsed in a one-and-a-half acre park amid apartment houses and brownstones on West 160th Street at Edgecombe Avenue. It was built about 1765, was Washington's headquarters during the Battle of Harlem Heights 11 years later, served for a while as a tavern, fell into neglect and was restored in the early 19th century by a wealthy wine merchant, who bought it for his glamorous wife.
These days it is open to the public and, at 2 P.M. today will offer its fifth Herbal Tea Tasting and Herbal Food Buffet. The snacks will include cold cucumber soup and 10-herb bread; all the refreshments derive from the mansion's Colonial Herb and Rose Garden.
An hour before or after the affair you can enjoy a tour of the house, which includes a drawing room with hand-painted Chinese wallpaper and English furniture. The cost is $2.50. Reservations are necesary; call 923-8008. OLDIES BUT FUNNIES
Judy Holliday shoots her two-timing husband, but only grazes him. Her defense attorney, Katharine Hepburn, and the prosecuting attorney, Spencer Tracy - who are married to each other - almost part over the case.
It happens in ''Adam's Rib'' (1949), directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, and it is one of two Cukor films with Miss Hepburn playing at the Regency Theater today as part of a comedy retrospective that will continue for 10 weeks.
The other is ''Holiday'' (1938), based on a play by Philip Barry and starring Cary Grant as a middle-class playboy. While the young woman in a wealthy family tries to persuade her father to approve her marriage to Mr. Grant, he falls in love with her older sister -Miss Hepburn.
Tomorrow, the fare will be Charlie Chaplin movies - two features: ''City Lights'' (1931) and ''The Circus'' (1928) and a short, ''The Vagabond'' (1916). The theater is on Broadway, at West 67th Street. Admission is $4, $2 for children under 12 accompanied by an adult. For information, call 724-3700. WINDS IN THE WILLOWS
Outdoor winds - the musical kind -can be heard without charge in two boroughs tomorrow. In the Bronx, the Bronx Arts Ensemble will offer what it describes as romantic fare - Haydn's Octet in F, the Petite Symphonie in B-flat by Charles Gounod and ''Fantasy on a Theme of William Mayer'' by John Freeman, who hails from Riverdale.
The concert is scheduled at 2 P.M. outside the Van Cortlandt Mansion in Van Cortlandt Park, at Broadway and West 246th Street. If it rains, they will move inside.
At 4 o'clock, they will perform the same concert in Keating Hall at Fordham University. The entrance to the university is on Southern Boulevard, across from the New York Botanical Garden.
In the Brooklyn Botanic Garden at 3 P.M., a woodwind quintet will play works by Bach, Ibert, Danzi, Milhaud and Vivaldi. The musicians are Paula Bing, flutist; Ann Greenwalt, oboist; Debra Pittman, clarinetist; Amy Frazier, bassoonist, and Gregory Williams, horn player. The site is the Alfred T. White Memorial, near the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. For information, call 622-4433. SUN AND SAND
On the sandy landfill of Battery Park City an event called ''Sunspot'' will take place Sunday at 6:30 P.M. and its sponsor, Creative Time, is laconic about what is in store.
''Sunspot'' is described as an urban fairy tale with suburban implications. It includes a capella songs, dancing, mime, a glamorous woman terrorist, two golfers looking for lost balls, traditional farming methods and a miracle.
Creative Time is a nonprofit organization that makes alternative spaces available to professional artists, and this is part of its ''Art on the Beach'' series. ''Sunspot'' was written by Richard Flood in association with the Bricolage Theater of Philadelphia. The site is Gate 19, Chambers and West Streets. There is a $3 charge.
For Sports Today, see page 8. Eleanor Blau | COLONIAL TEA PARTY For respite from the inflictions of August, you might sip essence of wormwood. Coltsfoot or lamb's ear sound more appealing? They are herbal teas, and will be served this afternoon along with 30 other varieties at a white Georgian mansion that sits, full of history, in upper Manhattan. The site is the Morris-Jumel Mansion, ensconsed in a one-and-a-half acre park amid apartment houses and brownstones on West 160th Street at Edgecombe Avenue. It was built about 1765, was Washington's headquarters during the Battle of Harlem Heights 11 years later, served for a while as a tavern, fell into neglect and was restored in the early 19th century by a wealthy wine merchant, who bought it for his glamorous wife. | 5.945946 | 0.97973 | 72.344595 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/08/realestate/building-pickup-reopens-the-issue-of-harassment.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080410id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/08/realestate/building-pickup-reopens-the-issue-of-harassment.html | BUILDING PICKUP REOPENS THE ISSUE OF HARASSMENT | 20150524080410 | ''The nature of the marketplace creates an elemental antipathy between landlord and tenant.'' - Judge Elliott Wilk, in a decision handed down recently in Civil Court in Manhattan.
Judge Wilk's decision favoring a tenant was noteworthy because he not only fined a landlord and his partner but sentenced them each to 30 days in jail for harassing the tenant in an effort to get her to move out. Usually only fines are levied in landlord-tenant disputes. The severity of this case indicates the growing pressures now to relocate tenants during the rise in demand for Manhattan space.
Judge Wilk had acted on a complaint by Annette Lombard, an artist who occupies the rear half of the top floor of a four-story loft building at 122 West 29th Street. The judge found that the landlord, Frank Soldo, and his partner, David Molski, had tried to intimidate Miss Lombard by changing a lock on a door that led to the fourth floor and denying her the key, tearing down a door and wall that separated her space from the other loft on her floor, shutting off for a time the gas, water and electricity and threatening to throw her clothes into a dumpster on the street.
Last April Judge Wilk had ordered the landlord to stop the harassing tactics. In January, when the judge found the landlord slow in complying, he ordered the jail sentences. He fined Mr. Soldo and Mr. Molski $250 each and ordered them to pay Miss Lombard $7,500. The sentences are being appealed.
There is general agreement that relocation disputes, which had fallen off in the last decade, are now on the rise with the increase in building activity in New York City.
Relocation complaints had almost totally faded out, said Carol Greitzer, the City Council member, whose mid-Manhattan district is the focus of many new construction plans. ''Now they are beginning again,'' she said.
''There is an increase in the severity and frequency of harassment,'' said Victor Braunstein, the director of enforcement for the city's Division of Rent Control. ''It is not uncommon that heat and hot water are cut off in moves designed to wear down the resistance of the rent-controlled tenant. Often tenants say that the landlords go in and mess their places up when they're out, but it's difficult to prove it wasn't a burglary.''
There are many developers who believe that they are the subject of harassment. They say that relocating tenants or buying out the last holdouts on an assemblage can be an expensive business. Skyscrapers have been built around some small holdouts and buildings redesigned to accommodate sites a developer failed to acquire.
One major New York real-estate developer, Seymour Durst, says that laws must be passed to prevent tenants from holding out so long that new buildings are delayed or never built.
''We have to be able to reuse the land in the crowded city that is no longer being used properly,'' Mr. Durst said, adding that tenant holdouts had too much power. ''They've never been in such a position of power before and they may never be again - they don't like to give it up.''
The increasing pressure to relocate tenants so that new buildings can be built has led to bills being introduced in the City Council to give more protection to existing tenants. One bill would make it impossible for a landlord to evict a tenant in order to demolish a building unless the landlord possessed approved plans for a new building and had proved his financial ability to relocate all of the tenants. A resolution in the Council calls on the State Legislature to pass a measure that would allow the eviction of a commercial tenant to be delayed for up to 18 months if the tenant felt he had to remain.
Both measures, however, have yet to be reported out of the Council's Committee on Housing. The Real Estate Board of New York, a trade organization, has also proposed recently that the city's midtown zoning include a hold-out law to provide arbitration in assemblage situations in which a developer has acquired 80 percent or more of the site.
One real-estate executive says that New York is facing the problem of a sharply increasing number of what he calls ''hard sites'' that ultimately could be a threat to the city's economy.
''The easy sites - parking lots and garages where you deal with one owner for a large space - are no real problem,'' says John Dowling, executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield, ''but then you get the hard sites where you have to deal with countless individual tenants and a project gets bogged down or is dropped altogether because it just gets too expensive.''
With the growing pressure to develop, the tenant holdouts on the hard sites are asking higher and higher prices and delaying projects, Mr. Dowling says, to the point where new buildings are going to be beyond the means of certain industries, which, he says, will move elsewhere.
One developer that has not as yet had any relocation problems here is the New York State Urban Development Corporation, which as a governmental agency has the power to condemn buildings. | ''The nature of the marketplace creates an elemental antipathy between landlord and tenant.'' - Judge Elliott Wilk, in a decision handed down recently in Civil Court in Manhattan. Judge Wilk's decision favoring a tenant was noteworthy because he not only fined a landlord and his partner but sentenced them each to 30 days in jail for harassing the tenant in an effort to get her to move out. Usually only fines are levied in landlord-tenant disputes. The severity of this case indicates the growing pressures now to relocate tenants during the rise in demand for Manhattan space. Judge Wilk had acted on a complaint by Annette Lombard, an artist who occupies the rear half of the top floor of a four-story loft building at 122 West 29th Street. The judge found that the landlord, Frank Soldo, and his partner, David Molski, had tried to intimidate Miss Lombard by changing a lock on a door that led to the fourth floor and denying her the key, tearing down a door and wall that separated her space from the other loft on her floor, shutting off for a time the gas, water and electricity and threatening to throw her clothes into a dumpster on the street. | 4.359307 | 0.987013 | 80.562771 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/08/science/no-headline-4405.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080438id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/08/science/no-headline-4405.html | No Headline - NYTimes.com | 20150524080438 | Q. Does hot food contain more calories than cold food, assuming that the ingredients are the same?
A. The caloric content of a particular piece of food is not related to temperature.
The body uses calories to cool hot food down to body temperature, or to warm cold food up to body temperature. However, the number of calories used to digest food at extreme temperatures is very slight.
Q. Does the Thames River in London ever flood over its banks?
A. The Thames is wide enough to accommodate upstream runoff from heavy rains, but it is vulnerable to tidal floods. The coincidence of heavy rainfall, high tides and North Sea gales can send a surge of water into the funnel of the Thames estuary and up the river. The river last broke through the protecting walls in Central London in 1928. Work is currently under way on a set of 10 massive gates to shut London off from the sea.
Q. Are there any insects that communicate with each other especially through sound?
A. Sound is used by certain insects, including grasshoppers, crickets and cicadas, to attract mates. Noises may also serve as a warning of danger. Those insects that use sounds to communicate have a limited vocabulary. In addition to sounds, insects use light signals, antenna rubbing and chemicals along with other methods, such as the famous honeybee dance, to communicate among themselves. | Q. Does hot food contain more calories than cold food, assuming that the ingredients are the same? A. The caloric content of a particular piece of food is not related to temperature. | 7.388889 | 0.972222 | 17.138889 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/07/nyregion/talks-are-stepped-up-in-an-effort-to-prevent-a-newspaper-walkout.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080507id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/07/nyregion/talks-are-stepped-up-in-an-effort-to-prevent-a-newspaper-walkout.html | TALKS ARE STEPPED UP IN AN EFFORT TO PREVENT A NEWSPAPER WALKOUT | 20150524080507 | Negotiators for the Newspaper Guild and The New York Times and The Daily News intensified talks last night in an effort to avert a strike threatened for today at The Times.
The guild, which represents news, advertising, circulation and business employees, and the two newspapers, which bargain jointly, grappled with critical issues yesterday, through the night and into the morning. They discussed differing wage scales for new and old employees, job security, safety and other unresolved matters.
The union had set a deadline of 6 A.M. today for a walkout if no settlement was achieved, contending that there had not been enough progress and that management was continuing to seek retrogressions.
Neither side would comment on details of the negotiations, but Robert L. Kyler, a Federal mediator, reported that the principals on both sides were bargaining face to face. Times to Try to Publish
John H. Mortimer, vice president for industrial relations at The Times, said the newspaper would try to publish the Friday paper even if the guild struck. But uncertainty persisted about whether the craft unions at The Times would support the guild or would cross picket lines.
George E. McDonald, president of the Allied Printing Trades Council and also president of Mailers Union No. 6, said yesterday afternoon that the guild had not asked for support up to that time.
It was not clear, however, what the pressmen's and deliverers' unions would do. Neither has announced its position publicly. These two unions negotiated a basic economic package last month.
That package would provide a wage increase of $51 a week the first year, $36 a week the second and $37 a week the third, plus $6 a week in the second year for fringe benefits. There would also be a costof-living adjustment in the second and third years for any increase in the regional Consumer Price Index above 6 percent. The same package has been offered to the guild. | Negotiators for the Newspaper Guild and The New York Times and The Daily News intensified talks last night in an effort to avert a strike threatened for today at The Times. The guild, which represents news, advertising, circulation and business employees, and the two newspapers, which bargain jointly, grappled with critical issues yesterday, through the night and into the morning. They discussed differing wage scales for new and old employees, job security, safety and other unresolved matters. | 4.144444 | 0.988889 | 47.477778 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/10/books/publishing-keeping-up-with-the-supply-side.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080609id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/10/books/publishing-keeping-up-with-the-supply-side.html | PUBLISHING - KEEPING UP WITH THE SUPPLY SIDE - NYTimes.com | 20150524080609 | WHEN George Gilder's ''Wealth and Poverty'' rolled off the presses in November, the first printing consisted of 5,000 copies for the trade and 3,000 for the Conservative Book Club. Today the book is appearing on best-seller lists. It has gone through eight printings, 125,000 copies are in print, and for Basic Books it is the first best seller in 10 years.
This is a remarkable performance for a book about supply-side economics, a concept that stresses production instead of distribution - particularly because the entire supply-side army, until recently, seemed to consist of a handful of generals, one or two lieutenants and almost no privates.
''But the Reagan election and two other things drew attention to the book - the syndicated column of William F. Buckley Jr. and the glowing review in Business Week shortly before publication,'' Bart de Castro, vice president of Basic, a subsidiary of Harper & Row, said. ''We had already begun to get reprint orders, but at that point the book took off, and we've been reprinting it almost continuously since the last week in December.''
The publisher was caught so unaware that in order to meet the demand of bookstores in Washington, Basic had to ship the books by United Parcel, an expensive procedure. The book quickly became the capital's No. 1 best seller, and it continues to receive the kind of endorsements from Administration officials that authors usually only dream about. Recently, a news-service photograph showed President Reagan presenting a copy of the book to Senator Robert Dole, Republican of Kansas, who was convalescing at Walter Reed Army Hospital.
Ironically, the Gilder book owes a debt to Lester Thurow, whose ''The Zero-Sum Society'' was popular in the Carter Administration. ''At the time George's book was signed up, he didn't have much more than a vague outline,'' Mr. de Castro said. ''Then he had a debate with Lester at Cambridge, and he felt that Lester was very much in the wrong about economic theory. At that time he was already doing reading on his own in economics, but the encounter focused his mind on the key themes of the book.''
Coincidentally, Basic also published ''The Zero-Sum Society,'' which has sold a very respectable 39,000 hardcover copies since its publication last year. Neale Ward, director of Harper's corporate communications, said, ''We call George and Lester Basic's 'odd couple.' ''
''Money Dynamics for the 80's'' by Venita Van Caspel has hopped on and off The New York Times best-seller list several times in recent months. The book, published by the relatively unknown Reston Publishing Company of Reston, Va., was issued in 1975, has been updated twice - each time getting a different title - and has sold almost 500,000 copies. A 52-page chapter on life insurance, carved out of the book and published separately in a $1.50 paperback, has sold more than 800,000 copies.
''We'll be 10 years old on April 1,'' Victor Erickson, marketing director of Reston, a subsidiary of Prentice-Hall, said last month. ''We were essentially a technical-book publisher, but now our biggest line is electronics, then computer science, business and real estate, agriculture and nursing.'' Reston has published 677 titles, with 156 more scheduled for this year.
Mrs. Van Caspel, who owns a financial planning company in Houston, was signed up after a Reston editor saw her on television and attended one of her seminars. Her book began life as ''Money Dynamics'' in 1975, became ''New Money Dynamics'' three years later and ''Money Dynamics for the 80's'' last September. The author has promoted it in dozens of television and radio interviews.
How does it differ from all the other recent investment and financial books? Mr. Erickson said, ''Maybe because she's spent most of her life in Oklahoma and Texas, she takes a folksy approach rather than trying to scare readers to death.''
For weeks the publishing industry has been buzzing about a purported $10 million contract between Sidney Sheldon and Arbor House for several books, which is interesting except for the fact that it is not true.
''I heard it four times myself,'' said Lawrence Hughes, president of William Morrow & Company, for which Mr. Sheldon has written three books on a five-book contract. ''I don't know how a rumor like that gets started.''
What added spice to the story is that Morrow and Arbor House are owned by the Hearst Corporation. ''I heard it, too, but it's not true,'' said Donald Fine, president of Arbor House, who noted that he was asked about it by Marc Jaffee, editor in chief of Ballantine Books. Nevertheless, Mr. Fine did a little quick mental arithmetic, extrapolating world hard-cover and paperback rights, and estimated that the figure was probably not so preposterous as it might otherwise seem.
Illustrations: Photo of George Gilder | WHEN George Gilder's ''Wealth and Poverty'' rolled off the presses in November, the first printing consisted of 5,000 copies for the trade and 3,000 for the Conservative Book Club. Today the book is appearing on best-seller lists. It has gone through eight printings, 125,000 copies are in print, and for Basic Books it is the first best seller in 10 years. This is a remarkable performance for a book about supply-side economics, a concept that stresses production instead of distribution - particularly because the entire supply-side army, until recently, seemed to consist of a handful of generals, one or two lieutenants and almost no privates. ''But the Reagan election and two other things drew attention to the book - the syndicated column of William F. Buckley Jr. and the glowing review in Business Week shortly before publication,'' Bart de Castro, vice president of Basic, a subsidiary of Harper & Row, said. ''We had already begun to get reprint orders, but at that point the book took off, and we've been reprinting it almost continuously since the last week in December.'' | 4.552511 | 0.986301 | 56.392694 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/07/world/leader-of-enclave-in-lebanon-quits.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080613id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/07/world/leader-of-enclave-in-lebanon-quits.html | LEADER OF ENCLAVE IN LEBANON QUITS | 20150524080613 | BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 6— Maj. Saad Haddad, the former Lebanese Army officer whose Israeli-backed militia has ruled an enclave along the Israeli border for the last five years, announced today that he had resigned.
The announcement, broadcast over his Voice of Hope radio station, followed reports of strains between the 41-year-old major and his Israeli supporters. (In Israel, officials speculated, according to Reuters, that the major might rescind this decision, as he has others.)
Major Haddad's sudden move cast uncertainty over the always volatile situation in southern Lebanon, where a shaky cease-fire has prevailed since July. The enclave, 9 miles wide and 40 miles long, which he declared to be the Free Republic of Lebanon on April 18, 1979, has played a crucial part in Israeli strategy against Palestinian guerrillas.
In his broadcast, Major Haddad said he was tired after five years as commander of a predominantly Christian militia. He said he was handing over command to Second Lieut. Sharbel Barakat and called on the militia to continue its efforts to rid Lebanon of Palestinian guerrillas.
Reports of disputes between the major and the Israelis were printed last week in the independent Beirut daily An Nahar. Villagers' Fears Reported
It quoted ''travelers from the south'' as saying that the Israeli Army had begun to fence off a 4-by-3-mile section of Lebanon in the Merj 'Uyun area.
In addition, An Nahar said, Major Haddad was under pressure from villagers in the area not to allow the Israelis to pave some roads in the area, which the residents feared might be a preparation for either annexation or military action.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and Lieut. Gen. Rafael Eytan, the Chief of Staff, visited Major Haddad in his territory and returned to Israel saying Palestinian guerrillas were violating the cease-fire by spreading out and rearming themselves.
The Lebanese Christian Phalangist Party radio station here asserted today that Israel had moved reinforcements to the border and that Israeli armor had taken up positions in Major Haddad's enclave.
Major Haddad's rule of the area dated from the breakup of the Lebanese Army in the civil war in 1976. It was solidified when the Israelis withdrew after their 1978 invasion and left his 2,000-member militia in charge. Israel Provides Supplies
A native of Merj 'Uyun, the southern town that is now his headquarters, Major Haddad had been assigned to command a special unit to deal with the Palestinian guerrillas and their Lebanese leftist allies.
The militia's uniforms and equipment are supplied by Israel, and some of its heavy weapons still bear the Star of David and Hebrew letters. Israeli officers openly serve as Major Haddad's advisers, and United Nations military observers report that Israeli troops are frequently in the area, which is popularly known as Haddadland.
The Israelis regard the area as a buffer against Palestinian guerrilla infiltration over the border. The border enclave is separated from the guerrilla-held territory by the United Nations peacekeeping forces except for a gap along the Litani River around the Palestinian stronghold of Beaufort Castle.
Illustrations: photo of Maj. Saad Haddad | Maj. Saad Haddad, the former Lebanese Army officer whose Israeli-backed militia has ruled an enclave along the Israeli border for the last five years, announced today that he had resigned. The announcement, broadcast over his Voice of Hope radio station, followed reports of strains between the 41-year-old major and his Israeli supporters. (In Israel, officials speculated, according to Reuters, that the major might rescind this decision, as he has others.) | 6.741573 | 0.988764 | 44.94382 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/style/elizabeth-heyert-planning-nuptials.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080709id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/style/elizabeth-heyert-planning-nuptials.html | Elizabeth Heyert Planning Nuptials | 20150524080709 | Mr. and Mrs. Murray Heyert of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have made known the engagement of their daughter, Elizabeth Heyert, to Douglas Bedford Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Bedford Johnson of New York, where a Nov. 14 wedding is planned.
The future bride is a freelance photographer whose work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
An alumna of Boston University, she attended the University of Exeter in England and received an M.A. from the Royal College of Art in London. She is the author of ''The Glass-House Years, Victorian Portrait Photography From 1839-1870'' published by Allan Held & Schram/ George Prior, Montclair and London, 1979. Her father is national education professor at the Center for School Leadership Development at Nova University, where he was formerly director of practicums at the Center for Advancement of Education.
Mr. Johnson, who attended the London School of Economics, was graduated from the Bedford-Rippowam School, Philips Exeter Academy, Stanford University and the New York University School of Law. He is an associate with the New York law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. His father is a partner in the law firm of Shearman & Sterling, also in New York. | Mr. and Mrs. Murray Heyert of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have made known the engagement of their daughter, Elizabeth Heyert, to Douglas Bedford Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Bedford Johnson of New York, where a Nov. 14 wedding is planned. The future bride is a freelance photographer whose work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. | 3.457143 | 0.985714 | 39.214286 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/08/nyregion/25-more-workers-to-crowd-midtown-in-80-s.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080717id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/08/nyregion/25-more-workers-to-crowd-midtown-in-80-s.html | 25% MORE WORKERS TO CROWD MIDTOWN IN 80'S | 20150524080717 | Construction in midtown Manhattan over the next decade will add 150,000 office workers to the crowded heart of the city, a 25 percent increase over the present number, according to a city study examining the likely environmental consequences of such growth.
The study concludes that the commercial growth will hurt the city's environment, saying that there will be increased air pollution and noise pollution, and greater pedestrian, public transportation and traffic congestion.
But, the report emphasizes, proposed zoning changes will lessen those problems by shifting much of the construction, and therefore many of the people, from the dense East Side to the less developed west and south. The study is a draft version of the environmental impact statement accompanying the proposed zoning changes for the midtown area.
The narrowly focused study, prepared by the Department of City Planning, backs up the department's contention that the new zoning plan is needed, adding environmental reasons to previous arguments for the plan. It does not say how already pressed city services will cope with the new growth, and its authors say it was not designed to do so.
''This report is not an evaluation of the limits of growth of midtown Manhattan,'' said Howard Goldman, deputy counsel to the city's Planning Commission.
The study, which is required by law, concludes that if the shift from east to west is successful, ''no significant adverse impacts to the designated 'growth areas' are foreseen.'' It does not forecast how much more growth can be sustained before the effects would become significantly adverse.
''They've given very little rigorous thought to the tough questions,'' said Arthur Zabarkes, executive director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. ''It is beyond their capability and much of it is beyond their scope. And if it doesn't come from them, it won't come out at all.''
Without the proposed zoning changes, the report states, only six million of an expected 30 million square feet of office space to be built in the midtown area through the 1980's would be built in ''growth areas,'' those parts of midtown west of the Avenue of the Americas and south of 40th Street in which the city hopes to spur development.
''We do not believe that a significant amount of development will move into the growth areas without a significant zoning action being taken,'' the study states.
The key areas examined by the study were these: TRANSPORTION - An increase of 139,500 riders for public transportation can be expected by the end of the decade, and without substantial improvement to the system, this will lead to increased severe crowding and worsening of conditions. However, the proposed shift to the ''growth area,'' with its greater concentration of subway lines and stations and bus and railroad stations, should mitigate this problem.
AIR QUALITY - The proposed zoning change will cause an increase of no more than 3 percent in overall emissions on the west side of midtown. But development under existing or proposed zoning regulations leads to roughly equal impact on air quality.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION - Without a shift from construction on the East Side, ''significant increases in existing levels of congestion can be expected.'' If development is directed to the ''growth areas,'' congestion will increase, but will still not pose as much of a problem as on the East Side.
SEWERS, ENERGY AND WATER -A shift to the western and southern areas of midtown would pose no problems in service. But, according to the study, the Consolidated Edison Company reported that without such a shift it would have to build a new substation sooner than the year 2000, as scheduled, to meet East Side demand.
The study estimates that if the zoning changes were implemented and proved ''very'' effective, 12 million of the total 30 million square feet of space could be shifted to ''growth areas.'' If the changes were only moderately effective, the breakdown would be 10 million square feet in the west and south, and 20 million in the east.
The study was part of a package that also included a map of the proposed zoning changes, which was sent on Oct. 16 to the five Community Boards and the Borough Board in the affected area. Under city procedures, the Community Boards have 60 days to review the proposal and make recommendations, and the Borough Board has 30 days after that to make its recommendations. This procedure must be complete and the final governmental action, a Board of Estimate vote on whether or not to approve the new zoning laws, must take place by May 14. Elements of Proposal
The proposed changes would be the first major overhaul of New York City's midtown zoning regulations in two decades. The plan contains substantial changes in how developers and architects must calculate the size and shape of new buildings, and reorders many urban design priorities. It also contains two concepts not embodied in current zoning: a system of measuring the daylight that new structures will leave at ground level, and a method under which builders may provide public benefits away from the site of construction.
The proposed zoning changes are designed to encourage commercial growth in midtown and to shift that growth from the East Side by changing the density and bonus provisions of the zoning laws.
The greatest decade for growth in midtown Manhattan was the 1960's, when 44 million square feet of space were constructed. In the 1970's, 33 million square feet were built, with 85 percent of that completed by the end of 1973.
All of the 735,000 square feet scheduled to be built in midtown last year were in the East Side ''stabilized area'' that the new zoning proposal is designed to protect. Further, all but 5 percent of the nearly 15 million square feet of space now identified for completion is in the East Side.
The study does not deal with growth in other areas of Manhattan, some of which are also experiencing a building boom. Almost 16 million square feet of office space is scheduled for completion at the southern tip of Manhattan, for example.
Illustrations: map of midtown Manhattan | Construction in midtown Manhattan over the next decade will add 150,000 office workers to the crowded heart of the city, a 25 percent increase over the present number, according to a city study examining the likely environmental consequences of such growth. The study concludes that the commercial growth will hurt the city's environment, saying that there will be increased air pollution and noise pollution, and greater pedestrian, public transportation and traffic congestion. But, the report emphasizes, proposed zoning changes will lessen those problems by shifting much of the construction, and therefore many of the people, from the dense East Side to the less developed west and south. The study is a draft version of the environmental impact statement accompanying the proposed zoning changes for the midtown area. | 8.201389 | 0.979167 | 36.618056 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/10/sports/perkins-sees-small-strides-for-giants.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080852id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/10/sports/perkins-sees-small-strides-for-giants.html | Perkins Sees Small Strides for Giants | 20150524080852 | PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., Aug. 9— Last night, moments after the Giants had soundly beaten the Bears, 23-7, in Chicago in their exhibition opener, Coach Ray Perkins offered this assessment:
''I'm not satisfied ever, but I'm pleased over all. Indications are that we're going to be a better football team than the last two years.''
From Perkins, a perfectionist, that was high praise, and it seemed deserved. The Giants showed improvement on offense, a tighter defense and good kicking. But today, after having watched game films here at the Giants' camp, Perkins was more restrained.
For one thing, he had a medical report that showed four new injured players. Three - John Sinnott, offensive tackle; Joe McLaughlin, linebacker, and Bruce Kirshner, center -were fighting to make the team. The fourth was Leon Perry, the starting fullback, who had shown vast improvement. Perry Injures Knee
Perry was hurt when he strained ligaments in his right knee carrying the ball on the second play of the game. He stayed in for another play, but now he must be in a full cast for one week and a hinge cast for two more. That means Perry is doubtful for the regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles four weeks from today.
Sinnott suffered a stretched ligament and a sprain of the left ankle, and he will be in a cast for three weeks. McLaughlin hurt his left leg, Kirshner an ankle, and they will be lost one to six weeks.
Perkins said Bo Matthews, starting his eighth pro season, played ''pretty well'' in relief of Perry, but he also said Matthews was the only remaining fullback who had proved he could perform reliably. Cedric Brownlee and George Scott, the other fullbacks, are rookies, and Scott has been injured. Foolish Penalties Bemoaned
''We had too many penalties,'' said Perkins, ''silly little things. Guys were not concentrating on the snap count and jumped offside. A defensive back holds a man already by him. A quarterback forgets a snap count, loses the ball and puts the defense in a bad spot.
''We stopped ourselves often with stupid penalties. But we showed poise in keeping on working to get touchdowns. I think most of our young players responded well. We just didn't have consistency. I don't know if it's realistic to expect those things in the first preseason game.''
Perkins also had these thoughts on the Giants' performance:
- Defense: ''We were very spotty in our play, inconsistent, some poor tackling, mental errors,'' he said. ''We didn't play defense as well as I hoped we would, but I was real pleased with Bill Neill, Curtis McGriff, Joe McLaughlin until he got hurt, Frank Marion, Byron Hunt and Lawrence Taylor. But Lawrence made a couple of errors that cost us.''
- Offense: ''The young players blocked pretty good,'' he said. ''But we didn't drive the ball like I hoped and thought we could. I liked Dave Young, Tom Mullady, the three quarterbacks, Ernie Hughes, John Mistler and Ed McGlasson. I think the brightest spot on offense was Leon Bright. He showed with his running that he can give us the big play, and not just as a return man.''
- Strong safety: ''Our most critical area,'' he said. ''The guy who probably played best was Lyle Blackwood. Steve Henry and Larry Flowers didn't play very well.''
Blackwood is a ninth-year pro, and Perkins had hoped that a younger player would perform solidly enough to earn the job. Tony Blount, one candidate, missed the game because of a knee problem. Uninspired Bears Offense
The Giants used most of their regulars for about the first 20 minutes. The Bears' starters played longer except for Walter Payton, the star running back, who played only the first quarter.
Without Payton, the Bears' offense was uninspired, and Vince Evans, the quarterback, seldom looked to secondary receivers when his main targets were covered. The Giants' pass rush, especially from a 4-3 defense, was strong, and when the Giants had the ball, their offensive line gave the quarterbacks good protection.
The Giants also unveiled their shotgun offense in passing situations. From their seven shotgun plays, they ran once (for a 2-yard gain) and passed six times. Two passes were completed and, said Perkins, ''We might have had three more completions, but the quarterbacks made judgments to go after bigger plays rather than the sure first down. There were signs that the shotgun will help us.''
Through the years, Giant fans have grasped at every ray of hope. There were few rays during last year's injury-ridden season of four victories and 12 defeats. There were more after the Giants' performance against the Bears, but Perkins warned against putting too much importance on one game.
''It showed us we definitely have capabilities,'' said the coach. ''But it was only a preseason game, and I can't get too excited.''
Illustrations: Photo of a football game | Last night, moments after the Giants had soundly beaten the Bears, 23-7, in Chicago in their exhibition opener, Coach Ray Perkins offered this assessment: ''I'm not satisfied ever, but I'm pleased over all. Indications are that we're going to be a better football team than the last two years.'' From Perkins, a perfectionist, that was high praise, and it seemed deserved. The Giants showed improvement on offense, a tighter defense and good kicking. But today, after having watched game films here at the Giants' camp, Perkins was more restrained. | 8.803419 | 0.982906 | 39.461538 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/11/opinion/constitution-look-out.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524080906id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/11/opinion/constitution-look-out.html | Constitution, Look Out | 20150524080906 | The legislatures of Missouri and Washington are close to petitioning Congress for a national convention for the purpose of amending the Constitution to require a balanced Federal budget. They would be the 31st and 32d states to join the call, only two short of the required two-thirds of the state legislatures before Congress would have to respond. That number 32, like every other aspect of this method of constitutional change, is disputed. But one thing is clear: a constitutional crisis may be imminent.
An exaggeration? If Congress deflected the call and proposed its own amendment instead, the greatest danger might pass. But if the drive for a convention persists, it would open a path to wholesale, even reckless revision.
The familiar way to amend the Constitution is for Congress to propose a change, by two-thirds vote, and for three-fourths of the states to ratify. But the Constitution allows a second method, by convention, on call of two-thirds of the states. That route has never been traveled to the end, though a convention drive did spur Congress to offer at least one amendment - the 17th, providing for direct election of senators. Even now, some of the state resolutions express a preference for Congressional action.
Once begun, there's no telling where the convention process might lead. Scholars differ about every aspect of it. Could Congress ignore petitions for a convention that are not identically worded or confined to precisely the same subject? Could Congress dictate the method of delegate selection and limit the convention agenda? The National Taxpayers Union, which leads this campaign, contends that a runaway can be prevented. But the leaders of other causes - against abortion, for the death penalty, for prayer in public schools - will be tempted to enlarge the convention's business.
Congress should long ago have written rules for this process. But even that task requires passing through a constitutional minefield. How can Congress prevent a convention that runs away, votes to repeal sacred constitutional rights and invites the states to ratify? It's often said that many uninformed voters nowadays would reject even the Bill of Rights. Does anyone want to test that proposition?
There's mischief enough in the idea that propels this convention call. A mandated balance of the Federal budget could tie the Government into fiscal knots or, at best, clutter the Constitution with easily evaded fiscal pieties. No one prizes a balanced budget more than President Reagan, but even he could not now run the country in such a straitjacket. The Administration's current budget slashing, for all its pain, is a minor annoyance compared to the dislocations that such an amendment could provoke. If foolish fiscal goals cannot be kept out of the Constitution, they should at least be carefully devised, over time, with prudent escape clauses.
The convention method is so fraught with uncertainty and controversy, it should be used only in the direst and most unlikely emergency - one that the nation recognizes but Congress and the President do not. There is no justification for it now. Today's tax revolt could not ask for a better friend in the White House, and budget amendments stand to receive all the attention they deserve, and more, from Senator Thurmond's Judiciary Committee.
Citizens and legislators in 18 states, mostly in the Northeast and Middle West, should recognize this sudden threat to orderly constitutional processes. West Virginia and Ohio are tomorrow's battlegrounds. Fresh attempts are expected in Wisconsin and Vermont. They should hold the line. | The legislatures of Missouri and Washington are close to petitioning Congress for a national convention for the purpose of amending the Constitution to require a balanced Federal budget. They would be the 31st and 32d states to join the call, only two short of the required two-thirds of the state legislatures before Congress would have to respond. That number 32, like every other aspect of this method of constitutional change, is disputed. But one thing is clear: a constitutional crisis may be imminent. | 7.236559 | 1 | 93 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/11/us/us-prisons-chief-says-more-cells-may-be-built.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524081045id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/11/us/us-prisons-chief-says-more-cells-may-be-built.html | U.S. PRISONS CHIEF SAYS MORE CELLS MAY BE BUILT | 20150524081045 | WASHINGTON, Aug. 10— The number of people in Federal prisons has begun to rise rather sharply after dropping steadily for several years. The director of the Federal prison system says that a new emphasis on prosecuting volent crime and narcotics cases is one reason for the increase.
The Federal prison population reached 26,186 last week, an increase of 8.4 percent, or 2,024 inmates, since the beginning of the fiscal year 1981 on Oct. 1, 1980. After reaching a high of more than 30,000 in 1977, the total had declined steadily to 24,162 at the end of the last fiscal year.
Norman A. Carlson, who has been director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for 11 years, said last week in an interview that he could not completely explain the sudden change. He did mention the increased emphasis on prosecution of violent crime and narcotics. But, ''in all candor,'' he went on, ''We are concerned about the situation and will consider the possibility of asking for more prison space if the population continues to increase.''
Ronald J. Waldron, planning director for the Bureau of Prisons, said he expected the increases to continue. ''It looks like an upward trend,'' not a statistical accident, he said. Plans to Put More in Jail
Attorney General William French Smith said, at a confirmation hearing in January, that his ''top priority'' was the national effort against violent crime.
Speaking last month to the National District Attorneys Association, Mr. Smith said simply, ''We intend to insure that more criminals go to jail.''
But, he said, ''the public must and, I believe, will come to recognize the need for new and improved correctional facilities.'' The 42 existing Federal institutions have a ''rated capacity'' of 23,586. That is the number of inmates they can accommodate while meeting Bureau of Prisons standards.
Mr. Carlson mentioned two other reasons for the increased number of Federal inmates. The prisons have accepted 390 Haitians from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and 175 inmates from overcrowded state and local correctional facilities, he said.
The Carter Administration placed primary emphasis on such whitecollar crimes as fraud and official corruption. Paradoxically, that approach led to a decline in the prison population. 'Quality Over Quantity'
Those convicted of white-collar offenses have tended to draw shorter sentences than violent criminals, though in response to the recommendations of prosecutors, judges have begun to impose harsher punishment for these crimes than they once did.
Another factor in the decline in number of prisoners was Federal prosecutors' gains in winning convictions in complex commercial and nonviolent offenses. This trend involved stressing ''quality over quantity,'' meaning that there were fewer criminal cases filed and fewer defendants to imprison.
In the Carter Administration, Justice Department officals often encouraged United States attorneys to leave bank robberies, auto thefts and similar crimes to local prosecutors. Mr. Smith has called that ''elitist.''
''United States attorneys have focused upon the so-called substantial, challenging case,'' Mr. Smith said recently. ''They have declined to prosecute the more mundane case.'' As an example, he said, prosecutors sometimes refused to handle cases involving relatively small amounts of heroin. Cases Go to States, Localities
As a result, he said, ''many cases that could be dealt with in the Federal system are processed through state and local criminal justice systems whose resources and facilities are at the breaking point.''
Mr. Smith is telling new United States attorneys to make a point of consulting, in a formal, structured way, with state and local prosecutors and police officials. This could lead to an increase in the Federal caseload, according to Justice Department lawyers.
President Reagan has been in office less than seven months and he has replaced fewer than one-fourth of the 94 United States attorneys. But Justice Department and court officials said that the shift in prosecutorial priorities was already showing up in prison statistics because, under the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, Federal judges have only 100 days to process a criminal case from arrest to the start of trial.
Ninety-five percent of the criminal cases are being processed within 100 days, according to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Still More May Be Jailed
In their eagerness to attack violent crime, Administration officials may endorse changes likely to put more people in Federal prisons and jails. That would be the predictable effect of several recommendations by the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime.
The advisory panel, which met last week in New York City, concluded that there should be a mandatory sentence for the use of a firearm in the commission of a Federal felony.
It also said that judges should be allowed to deny bail or to set high bail for defendants who pose a danger to the community. In addition, the panel said that the Federal Government should have the first opportunity to prosecute juveniles who commit serious Federal crimes. At present, such youngsters are ordinarily turned over to state authorities.
The Federal prison population has gone up and down over the years, rising from 17,463 in 1949 to 24,925 in 1961, then falling to 19,822 in 1967 and climbing above 30,000 in 1977. The long period of decline occurred when the total United States population was growing.
But demographic analyses of prison statistics are complex. The size of the prison population seems to be more closely related to the number of people in certain crime-prone age brackets than to the size of the whole population. | The number of people in Federal prisons has begun to rise rather sharply after dropping steadily for several years. The director of the Federal prison system says that a new emphasis on prosecuting volent crime and narcotics cases is one reason for the increase. The Federal prison population reached 26,186 last week, an increase of 8.4 percent, or 2,024 inmates, since the beginning of the fiscal year 1981 on Oct. 1, 1980. After reaching a high of more than 30,000 in 1977, the total had declined steadily to 24,162 at the end of the last fiscal year. | 10.028037 | 0.990654 | 53.420561 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/09/opinion/courage-caution-and-the-economy.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524081350id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/09/opinion/courage-caution-and-the-economy.html | Courage, Caution and the Economy | 20150524081350 | An understandable nervousness has appeared in the economic planning of the Reagan administration. The economy that it promised to set aright looks even weaker than it did on Election Day, with budget deficits and interest rates running higher and Wall Street running scared. The Reagan strategists well remember last year's budget fiasco, when President Carter's ''tight'' spending plan sent inflation fears soaring and nearly collapsed the bond market. Seven weeks later, Mr. Carter had to produce an even ''tighter'' budget, but he never regained the nation's confidence.
The Reagan team knows that it cannot afford such miscalculation. And so, while it can still blame all ills on the Democrats, it has begun to lower expectations for its promised remedies. The Federal budget, it now seems, will not be balanced until fiscal 1984, rather than 1983 as once expected, or 1982, as some had hoped. And the effective date of the touted three-year reduction in personal income taxes may have to be delayed from last Jan. 1 until at least June, to hold down this year's budget deficit.
These are welcome resignations to reality, intended to preserve the confidence of business generally and the bond markets in particular. But as Ronald Reagan surely understands, he needs to do much more than merely avoid making matters worse.
The real debate among the President-elect's aides has not been settled by these tactical compromises. It is a debate about how to generate economic growth while reducing the rate of inflation.
Mr. Reagan's more radical advisers, led by Representative Jack Kemp of New York, want the three-year Kemp-Roth tax cut enacted immediately. They have an almost mystical faith that this would stimulate so much new production that the budget's imbalance would be only temporary and that, if monetary policy were held tight, rapid growth could proceed without a new burst of inflation.
They envision a good old-fashioned 1960's boom, with taxes soon yielding greater revenues despite the lower tax rates. For its emphasis on the growth of pro-duction, this strategy is called supply-side economics.
But the majority of the President-elect's advisers, led by Donald Regan, the Treasury Secretary-designate, are afraid of the inflationary risks in this scheme. They think that further unbalancing of the Federal budget will drive up interest rates and inflation, thus preventing the intended growth. They favor a quick business tax cut to encourage investment. But they would not risk a three-year commitment to personal income tax reductions without at the same time demonstrating that Federal spending will be controlled enough to move the budget toward balance. Their policy is vintage Republicanism, as finally embraced even by the Carter Administration.
We admire the courage of one Reagan group and the caution of the other, but both strategies are unpromising. The supply-siders treat inflation too casually; their boldness is not justified by experience and their plan would almost certainly raise the already high expectation of more inflation.
The traditionalists wisely refuse to live so dangerously. But they lack an imaginative, direct attack on inflation. Slow growth has been tried repeatedly in the past decade and it has failed to cool the price indexes. Price shocks from one source or another repeatedly upset the strategy, and these jolts from energy or food or high interest rates will not end with Mr. Reagan's inauguration. The personal income tax cuts to which the traditionalists too are politically committed is an idea ineptly borrowed from a less inflationary time.
The Reagan team should be looking for a way to make its tax cuts serve double duty: to stimulate economic activity, by all means, but to serve also as an incentive to promote corporate and union restraint in the setting of prices and wages. Such a direct attack on inflation, with tax rewards or punishments, would extend the Government's reach into the economy. It would also provide some of the short-run relief that might give longer-term policies a better chance to succeed.
Courage and caution are the right attributes in planning economic policy. Mr. Reagan's advisers have not yet found the right mix. | An understandable nervousness has appeared in the economic planning of the Reagan administration. The economy that it promised to set aright looks even weaker than it did on Election Day, with budget deficits and interest rates running higher and Wall Street running scared. The Reagan strategists well remember last year's budget fiasco, when President Carter's ''tight'' spending plan sent inflation fears soaring and nearly collapsed the bond market. Seven weeks later, Mr. Carter had to produce an even ''tighter'' budget, but he never regained the nation's confidence. The Reagan team knows that it cannot afford such miscalculation. And so, while it can still blame all ills on the Democrats, it has begun to lower expectations for its promised remedies. The Federal budget, it now seems, will not be balanced until fiscal 1984, rather than 1983 as once expected, or 1982, as some had hoped. And the effective date of the touted three-year reduction in personal income taxes may have to be delayed from last Jan. 1 until at least June, to hold down this year's budget deficit. | 3.759434 | 0.990566 | 93.377358 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/15/world/toll-rises-to-49-dead-129-injured-in-blaze-at-dance-hall-in-dublin.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524081731id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/15/world/toll-rises-to-49-dead-129-injured-in-blaze-at-dance-hall-in-dublin.html | TOLL RISES TO 49 DEAD, 129 INJURED IN BLAZE AT DANCE HALL IN DUBLIN | 20150524081731 | DUBLIN, Feb. 14— The toll in an early-morning fire that engulfed a popular Dublin discotheque today rose to 49 dead and 129 injured. Many of the victims were teen-agers who were among 800 young people attending a dance competition.
Survivors said that the fire spread ''in about two or three minutes'' across the club's ceiling, which was reportedly made of polystyrene tiles, and that parts of the flaming ceiling fell on the dancers.
The origin of the blaze is still under investigation. It reportedly started inside as the winners of the dance competition were performing on stage.
Efforts by the staff to put out the fire and get people to leave calmly apparently failed because of the speed with which the flames spread.
Thick black smoke filled the dance hall within minutes as the chairs around the stage, reportedly upholstered with foam rubber, caught fire.
The dancers and other patrons panicked, according to one doorman. ''The young ones inside were just going mad,'' he said. Some survivors said later that they had badly burned their hands trying to push their way to the exits. There were also reports of people being trampled as they tried to fight through the smoke to the emergency exits.
The discotheque, the Stardust on Kilmore Road in the Artane section of Dublin, about 10 miles north of the central district, was destroyed.
The building, which could accommodate about 2,000 people in its entertainment complex, was reportedly converted from a jam factory a few years ago. Survivors said it had iron bars on some of its windows.
Firemen said that at times it was a ''screaming match'' between themselves and the largely teen-age crowd around the Stardust as some people attempted to go back inside to rescue their friends.
Rescue operators worked with flashlights before powerful spotlights were brought in. Ambulances, taxis and private cars carried the injured to Dublin's six hospitals, while a Franciscan friar reportedly administered the last rites to the dead whose bodies had been laid out behind the building.
Reactions to the disaster were prompt and widespread. The Government called for an investigation, and messages of condolence came from Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain and from the Rev. Ian Paisley of Northern Ireland. Most of tomorrow's sporting events in Ireland were canceled.
In addition, the main news channel of the state-owned radio station switched for a time from its regular morning programming of rock music to quieter, classical music.
Prime Minister Charles Haughey, in whose political constituency the fire occurred, visited the scene and told reporters that he knew many of the victims and their families.
''It is a close-knit community here,'' he said, ''in which most families have lived for a long time. This tragedy will have an appalling affect.''
Mr. Haughey canceled the 50th annual conference of his party, Fianna Fail, which was convening for its second day in Dublin. Some of the 6,000 delegates stood this morning for a moment of silent prayer for the victims.
There were many scenes of sorrow today, both at the city's hospitals and at the morgue, where a large crowd of relatives, comforted by the police and several politicians, waited for a team of pathologists to finish with the bodies.
A tent was erected to expand the small city morgue. Dr. P.J. Bofin, the coroner, said 90 percent of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition.
The fire was said to be the worst disaster since May 1974, when four car bombings killed 23 people and injured 169, 81 of them critically. One of the last major fires in the country occurred last August in County Donegal, when a hotel went up in flames and left 10 people dead.
Illustrations: photo of woman being carried out of fire | The toll in an early-morning fire that engulfed a popular Dublin discotheque today rose to 49 dead and 129 injured. Many of the victims were teen-agers who were among 800 young people attending a dance competition. Survivors said that the fire spread ''in about two or three minutes'' across the club's ceiling, which was reportedly made of polystyrene tiles, and that parts of the flaming ceiling fell on the dancers. The origin of the blaze is still under investigation. It reportedly started inside as the winners of the dance competition were performing on stage. | 6.607143 | 0.973214 | 28.991071 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/16/weekinreview/sandanists-ask-private-sector-to-be-a-quiet-one.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524081950id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/16/weekinreview/sandanists-ask-private-sector-to-be-a-quiet-one.html | SANDANISTS ASK PRIVATE SECTOR TO BE A QUIET ONE | 20150524081950 | MANAGUA, Nicaragua— In the days when Nicaragua's private sector tipped the balance in the struggle against the Somoza regime by organizing crippling strikes and helping to persuade the Carter Administration of the popularity and justice of the rebel cause, Sandinist guerrillas considered business's political role a patriotic one.
Two years after the guerrilla victory, however, the regime and the private sector are sniping at each other about the depressed state of the economy and the direction of the revolution. The businessmen's political interventions are no longer welcomed. Now they are being told to worry about production and leave politics to the Government.
Shrunk by a flight of executives, weakened by Government confiscations and bruised by rhetorical combat with the regime, the private sector nevertheless still controls half the economy and constitutes the principal political opposition in Nicaragua today. ''We're very much alive,'' said Enrique Dreyfus, a business spokesman, ''though not very well.''
Last week, in the first high-level contact between the Reagan Administration and the Sandinist Government, Thomas O. Enders, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, paid a 30-hour visit to Managua and apparently came away surprised to find an outspoken and forceful opposition still active.
The main thrust of Mr. Enders's message to the Government was that any improvement in the sour relations with the Reagan Administration would depend on a total cutoff of purported Nicaraguan arms shipments to Salvadoran guerrillas and a freeze in Nicaragua's own arms buildup. But his discovery that a mixed economy and political pluralism both survive could also prompt some revision of Washington's prevailing perception that Nicaragua is already ''lost'' to the Soviet camp.
Indeed, the continuing commitment of the Sandinists to a mixed economy reflects their recognition that the Soviet model does not offer solutions to the chronic problems of underdevelopment inherited from the Somoza regime.
Nicaraguan lefists have observed both the Soviet Union and China reintroduce capitalist incentives in the hope of raising production. They have seen political stability decimated by economic troubles in Poland. And they have heard Cuba's President Fidel Castro, their most trusted mentor, urge them to preserve a private sector.
But, having seized power in a country where every change of government has been through force of arms, the Sandinists are clearly less enthused by the idea of political pluralism that could result in their being voted out of office. The current crisis, then, has been provoked by a short circuit in the links between the mixed economy and political pluralism: both exist, but neither is flourishing.
Part of the problem stems from the fact that, unlike the situation in El Salvador where the left has long used class warfare as an instrument for seizing power, the true revolution in Nicaragua began when the Sandinists took over. Only then did they start organizing the peasant and worker masses for the struggle against the ''bourgeoisie.''
The private sector, willing to accept gradual reforms, was taken aback by the sudden radicalization. Some businessmen, although opponents of the Somoza regime, immediately left the country. Others reopened their factories but refused to invest and not a few found illegal ways of sending savings and profits to banks abroad, effectively decapitalizing many companies.
''I've collected $80,000 abroad since the revolution,'' a young executive said. ''Why shouldn't I? If I'm being called a bourgeois, an exploiter, a counterrevolutionary all day long on radio and television, I have to be prepared for what might happen tomorrow. The Government gives us economic incentives, but what we want is a climate of political confidence.''
The Sandinists have taken increasingly to blaming the private sector for the economic crisis, although mismanagement by a bloated bureaucracy, low world prices for commodity exports, a slump among Nicaragua's traditional trading partners in Central America and high interest rates for foreign credits are also key factors. The attitude of local businessmen, though, is one variable that the Government can change.
The regime's strategy has been to try to separate businessmen from the political opposition in the hope of persuading them to invest. To date this strategy has failed. The umbrella organization for 114 small business associations, known by its Spanish acronym of Cosep, remains closely allied with opposition political parties, the independent newspaper, La Prensa, and conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church led by Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo of Managua. The business group's main demands are essentially political, not least definition of the ground rules for elections the junta has promised in 1985.
''Our political influence derives from our entrepreneurial ability, our continuing control of half of production and our international contacts and credibility,'' explained Jaime Montealegre Lacayo, executive director of Cosep. ''We don't want influence as politicians seeking power. We want to influence the way Nicaragua is governed, mainly economically, but also politically because this also affects the economy.''
The regime's response to the private sector has been inconsistent. Last month, for example, it confiscated 14 companies that had allegedly been ''decapitalized'' by their owners. But 10 days ago, top Sandanist commanders invited 30 key business leaders to voice their complaints at a private meeting that lasted more than five hours. Similarly, in public, the regime has called for labor discipline, but in practice many companies are still the targets of union agitation.
The regime argues that it has defined the rules of the game - ''a mixed economy, political pluralism and national unity, not to liquidate or weaken the revolution, but to strengthen it,'' in the words of Tomas Borge Martinez, one of nine top Sandinist commanders. But many Nicaraguan businessmen believe that the very concept of a mixed economy in an embryonic socialist state is simply not realistic.
At the same time, some businessmen insist that the revolution can only deal with the country's deep social ills by first solving its economic problems; for this, they say, their cooperation is indispensable.
Significantly, virtually all the executives who have survived the past two years of sudden and often chaotic change say they are determined to remain in Nicaragua. Albeit often with raised voices, the Government and private sector are still talking, and perhaps slowly learning to live with each other.
Illustrations: photo of cotton loading in Corinto graph of Nicaragua's rising inflation and sinking income | In the days when Nicaragua's private sector tipped the balance in the struggle against the Somoza regime by organizing crippling strikes and helping to persuade the Carter Administration of the popularity and justice of the rebel cause, Sandinist guerrillas considered business's political role a patriotic one. Two years after the guerrilla victory, however, the regime and the private sector are sniping at each other about the depressed state of the economy and the direction of the revolution. The businessmen's political interventions are no longer welcomed. Now they are being told to worry about production and leave politics to the Government. | 10.981982 | 0.990991 | 54.954955 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/15/arts/l-a-mini-series-genesis-092847.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082206id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/15/arts/l-a-mini-series-genesis-092847.html | A MINI-SERIES' GENESIS | 20150524082206 | In the article by Jack Moseley about the filming of the CBS miniseries ''Bruce Catton's the Blue and the Gray'' (Oct. 18) it was reported that I am dead. Naturally, this came as a surprise. I can only take the cue from Mark Twain and assure you that the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Furthermore, for the record: ''The Blue and the Gray'' is not based on a book by Bruce Catton, ''which followed the fortunes of two families,'' as Mr. Moseley stated. It is based on my original story. The concept was presented to CBS in 1976 by myself and Lou Reda (who is now the co-executive producer). I finished writing the story in 1977. Bruce Catton was the historical consultant for the show. In my story, when I used actual historical events, I usually used material from a then-unpublished manuscript of Civil War history by Mr. Catton.
The script was written by Ian McLellan Hunter, based on my story. The script never ''started out as a two-hour screenplay.'' The show was originally six hours long and was expanded to eight. The article also stated that I was Bruce Catton's ''assistant.'' Bruce and I worked closely over a period of time and were friends, but I wasn't his ''assistant.''
Harry Thomason, the co-producer, is quoted as saying, ''Every person depicted in this film actually lived.'' Except for historical figures such as Lincoln and so forth, no one depicted in this film actually existed. There was a real soldier-artist named John Geyser, but this is not his life that is depicted. I used his drawings and what little we know of him as a point of departure to create the character of John Geyser, who is the main character in the show.
The origin of this mini-series revolves around this man John Geyser. My father, Richard Leekley, was a rare book dealer, and when he passed away in 1976, he left to me an actual sketchbook, battered and browned with age. They are the sketches of John Geyser, a young Union soldier, of his life in the army during the Civil War. He carried this sketchbook with him throughout his service. They are very moving, and I felt that if I could tell the story of the Civil War through his eyes, inspired by his eyewitness drawings, I could capture the life of the common soldier. Because we know very little about his life, I created a story about a sensitive young artist in a family shattered by the war.
After ''The Blue and the Gray'' story was written, I began to edit the unpublished manuscript by Bruce that I mentioned earlier. Bruce and I worked for two years to expand the manuscript by including a great deal of material about the common soldier and the artist John Geyser. This book has just been published by Doubleday, entitled ''Reflections on the Civil War,'' by Bruce Catton and edited by John Leekley. John Geyser's drawings are reproduced in the book. JOHN LEEKLEY, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mr. Moseley replies: My thanks to Mr. Leekley - whom I am glad to know is alive and well - for clarifying the genesis of this miniseries. I should add that most of the questioned details cited in my article were provided to me by the film's co-producer, Harry Thomason, whom I assumed knew what he was saying. I should have checked more thoroughly. | To the Editor: In the article by Jack Moseley about the filming of the CBS miniseries ''Bruce Catton's the Blue and the Gray'' (Oct. 18) it was reported that I am dead. Naturally, this came as a surprise. I can only take the cue from Mark Twain and assure you that the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. | 9.732394 | 0.971831 | 61.394366 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/18/garden/home-improvement-best-cure-for-a-leaky-faucet-can-be-a-new-one.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082307id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/18/garden/home-improvement-best-cure-for-a-leaky-faucet-can-be-a-new-one.html | Home Improvement - BEST CURE FOR A LEAKY FAUCET CAN BE A NEW ONE - NYTimes.com | 20150524082307 | By BERNARD GLADSTONE Although an old, worn-out looking bathroom or kitchen faucet that leaks, drips or makes all kinds of weird noises when you turn it off or on can usually be repaired, in many cases replacement parts are hard to locate and disassembling the old faucet in order to work on it sometimes becomes quite difficult. Very often the easiest solution is to simply replace the entire faucet with a new washerless model that will minimize the maintenance problems usually associated with older faucets, and will also look a lot better than the old one did.
New bathroom and kitchen faucets sell for anywhere from $20 to as much as $60 or $70, depending on style and brand, with the most widely sold models selling for somewhere between $30 to $50. Until recently, most faucets were only sold through plumbing supply houses that catered to the professional plumber because replacing a faucet with a new one was generally a project that the do-it-yourselfer did not tackle.
However, since the cost of having one installed often costs almost as much as the actual faucet, many homeowners are now tackling this job themselves - particularly since manufacturers of faucets have introduced special models that are easier than ever for an inexperienced home handyman or home handywoman to install. The new faucets eliminate the need for special tools or unusual skills because they come with flexible water supply pipes that can be quickly connected to most existing valves or pipes.
In most cases all the adapters and connectors needed are supplied, but in those few cases where these are not adequate to make the required connections, the dealers who sell these faucets (hardware stores and home centers) also sell a wide assortment of easy-to-use plastic and metal adapters and fittings that will solve the problem.
Though there are undoubtedly dozens of different brands of faucets that fit into the ''do-it-yourself'' category, two companies that have been particularly active in designing and packaging their faucets specifically for home installers are the Peerless Faucet Company (Div. of Masco Corp., Indianapolis, Ind.) and the Fillpro Div. of JH Industries, Inc. (San Marcos, Calif.).
Peerless makes a line of kitchen and bathroom faucets, washerless and with washers (brass or neoprene), as well as single-handle washerless models. The faucets come with flexible copper water lines that are easily bent to make them line up with the existing supply valves or pipes.
Special plastic quick-connectors are furnished which can be tightened by hand to connect them up without tools, and there is even a plastic wrench supplied for tightening the nut under the sink which secures the faucet to the sink top. All this makes it possible to fulfill the company's claim that a person can actually install this faucet without any tools at all - after you have removed the old faucet (you will need tools for that part of the job).
The Fillpro company has just introduced a new type of bathroom faucet, called the Enduro, which incorporates an unusual mounting method that eliminates the need for reaching up under the sink deck to tighten the nuts normally used to secure the faucet to the sink top. As shown in the accompanying illustration, there is a metal tiebar and two bolts that you insert while working from the top of the sink. The bar, with a bolt protruding from each end is passed down through one hole in the sink and then turned so that the one bolt sticks up through the other hole while you hold onto the second bolt (to keep the tiebar from falling).
A gasket is then placed on top of the sink deck to hold the the bolts in place while each is individually tightened from above. This draws the tiebar up tight against the underside of the sink deck. The faucet base is then screwed down on top of the gasket, after which the faucet body can be fastened down.
The Enduro faucet comes with two lengths of flexible plastic tubing attached to the body - one for the hot and one for the cold water. These water lines not only make it easy to connect them directly to the existing water supply valves or pipes under the sink, they also eliminate the need for washers or other valve mechanisms to control the flow of water. A special internal cam pinches each tube to shut off the flow of water, and releases it to increase flow.
According to tests made by the manufacturer, the special tubing used will withstand pressures of up to 840 pounds per square inch (household pressure never exceeds 60 PSI) and the mechanism should last for as many on-off cycles as the average homeowners would give it in about 100 years of normal use.
When shopping for any kitchen or bathroom replacement faucet, it is important that the homeowner buy one that has its connections spaced the same distance apart as the old one so that it will fit the holes in the existing sink - unless you are planning to also buy a new sink at the same time.
Very often getting the old faucet off is the hardest part of the job because the threads on the connections or the locknuts that hold it in place are rusted in place. In addition, the nuts or bolts that hold it in place against the sink deck are often very awkward to reach.
Start by shutting off the water supply lines, usually by closing the valves under the sink where the pipe comes out from the wall. If the sink does not have its own shut-off valves underneath, then you will have to shut off the main water supply valve to the entire house instead.
After the water has been shut off, disconnect each water line from under the faucet. It is a good idea to place a pan or bucket where it will catch any water left in the pipes as you do this. When loosening the connections, two wrenches will often be required, one to hold the pipe and another to turn the fitting, one to hold each half of the fitting in some cases.
Loosening the locknuts under the faucet so that the faucet body can be taken off is often the hardest part of the job. If you cannot reach up under the area where these nuts are located with an ordinary wrench then you may have to get a special tool called a basin wrench - it enables you to grab the nuts sideways while reaching up from below and can be adjusted to all kinds of positions.
Basin wrenches are sold in all hardware stores, and can be rented or borrowed from some. For really stubborn fittings, it may help to also squirt a little penetrating oil on the connection and then tap lightly with a tool handle to vibrate the fitting. Continue for about 10 or 15 seconds, then try again.
Illustrations: photo of procedure involved in replacing a faucet photo of new faucet by Filpro, installed and tightened from above diagram of Teibar installation | By BERNARD GLADSTONE Although an old, worn-out looking bathroom or kitchen faucet that leaks, drips or makes all kinds of weird noises when you turn it off or on can usually be repaired, in many cases replacement parts are hard to locate and disassembling the old faucet in order to work on it sometimes becomes quite difficult. Very often the easiest solution is to simply replace the entire faucet with a new washerless model that will minimize the maintenance problems usually associated with older faucets, and will also look a lot better than the old one did. New bathroom and kitchen faucets sell for anywhere from $20 to as much as $60 or $70, depending on style and brand, with the most widely sold models selling for somewhere between $30 to $50. Until recently, most faucets were only sold through plumbing supply houses that catered to the professional plumber because replacing a faucet with a new one was generally a project that the do-it-yourselfer did not tackle. | 6.978947 | 0.994737 | 95.163158 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/11/world/poland-studies-program-to-cut-censor-s-power.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082321id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/11/world/poland-studies-program-to-cut-censor-s-power.html | POLAND STUDIES PROGRAM TO CUT CENSOR'S POWER | 20150524082321 | WARSAW, Jan. 10— The draft of a new law to limit censorship is shaping up as a document that would make Poland one of Eastern Europe's freest societies for writers, journalists and film makers.
A committee working on the legislation, which is scheduled to be ready by next Thursday, has reached agreement on what types of publications will not have to be submitted to censorship and also on censorship criteria.
The committee has reportedly decided that the censor's office will not be answerable to the Prime Minister but will be controlled instead by Parliament or by the Council of State, the collective Presidency.
Such a move would be a radical departure from the system in effect since 1946, which has kept maximum control over information in the hands of Communist Party officials directly running the day-to-day affairs of Government.
The legislation curbing censorship was included in the Aug. 31 Gdansk agreement that ended the Baltic coast strikes. The bill is already a month and a half behind schedule.
It is taking shape at a time when the press here has again fallen under heavy censorship. Polish newspapers are less audacious today than at any time since the Gdansk agreement was signed. Curbs Laid to a Hard-Liner
The news restrictions are attributed by knowledgeable sources to the influence of Stefan Olszowski, a Politburo member recently placed in charge of press and propaganda. Mr. Olszowski is emerging as the predominant political hard-liner in the new party leadership.
One sign of heavier consorship was the scant coverage given to attempts by Polish farmers to register their new union in court. The words Rural Solidarity, the union's name, were not allowed in print.
Journalists complain that some of their articles calling for wider purges of corrupt officials or for further steps toward democratization are now blocked. Last month, the editors of a regular weekly supplement of Zycie Warszawy, the Warsaw daily, canceled the entire supplement in protest because an important article was not allowed to appear.
The tighter curbs are an indication that the Communist Party wants to reassert its control over the press. It may mean that the new censorship bill will have a rough road ahead before it finally becomes law. 2 Draft Bills Consolidated
The bill is the product of a joint commission that has met four times. It combines two separate drafts, one from the Ministry of Justice, which was the Government's version, and one from a committee of the Creative Associations and Scientific Societies. This version, representing journalists, independent writers and film makers, was far more liberal.
The Government's version retained the censor's office under the Prime Minister and defined the prohibited areas so broadly that the censor ''would have operated as before,'' said Jacek Moswa, a journalist on the committee. The writers and journalists stood firm, and the emerging draft is much closer to their own version.
The draft prohibits material that would strike at Poland's independence and territorial integrity, its system of alliances, or its Constitution, which enshrines socialism. It also disallows anything that discloses state, military or economic secrets, incites crime or racism, divulges secret court proceedings or offends the feelings of religious believers as well as nonbelievers. Material considered harmful to morality - in the realm of pornography, alcoholism and cruelty - is also proscribed.
The draft excludes from censorship a wide range of specialized publications, including religious texts, statistical publications, school manuals, scientific publications, master's degree theses, religious broadcasts and information publications by trade unions. Open Door for Old Polish Classics
All Polish classics written before 1918 would be allowed. Most committeee members belive that many foreign books now prohibited, such as ''The Tin Drum'' by Gunter Grass and ''1984'' by George Orwell, could be printed in Poland under the new law.
Significantly, the draft specifically excluded censorship for reason of authorship. This would end a long practice of blacklisting writers who fall afoul of the authorities.
The new law would force the 483 censors in the Central Office for the Control of Publication and Entertainment to give written reasons for their decisions to the authors, who would have the right of appeal to an administrative court.
A major question still to be answered is whether the authorities, under the pretext that they now have a new and more liberal law, will attempt to crack down on Poland's thriving network of underground literature.
Liberals on the committee do not foresee such a likelihood. ''This type of literature will not disappear,'' said Prof. Bogdan Michalski of the Institute of Journalism. ''But hopefully there will be less need for it.'' | The draft of a new law to limit censorship is shaping up as a document that would make Poland one of Eastern Europe's freest societies for writers, journalists and film makers. A committee working on the legislation, which is scheduled to be ready by next Thursday, has reached agreement on what types of publications will not have to be submitted to censorship and also on censorship criteria. The committee has reportedly decided that the censor's office will not be answerable to the Prime Minister but will be controlled instead by Parliament or by the Council of State, the collective Presidency. Such a move would be a radical departure from the system in effect since 1946, which has kept maximum control over information in the hands of Communist Party officials directly running the day-to-day affairs of Government. | 5.779221 | 0.980519 | 37.253247 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/11/world/un-offers-to-cut-guerrilla-ties-in-effort-to-spur-namibia-talks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082326id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/11/world/un-offers-to-cut-guerrilla-ties-in-effort-to-spur-namibia-talks.html | U.N. OFFERS TO CUT GUERRILLA TIES IN EFFORT TO SPUR NAMIBIA TALKS | 20150524082326 | GENEVA, Jan. 10— In an effort to get serious negotiations under way at the conference on South-West Africa here, the United Nations offered today to take steps to break its ties with the insurgent movement known as the South-West Africa People's Organization in exchange for South Africa's agreement on a date for a cease-fire in the disputed territory.
The offer came in a statement by Brian Urquhart, an Under Secretary General serving as chairman of the meeting, who was responding to a series of scathing attacks on the United Nations as well as on the insurgents by representatives of political parties from the territory who have been seated here as members of the South African delegation.
In an unusually vituperative address to the conference yesterday, for instance, Katuutire Kaura of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance maintained that the international organization had disqualified itself as an impartial supervisor of a transition to independence in the territory, known widely as Namibia, by its support of ''an organization of schoolchildren-kidnappers, rapist thugs and bandits.''
Agreement was reached nearly three years ago on nearly all the details of a cease-fire and an internationally supervised election. But South Africa has been saying that a date for actually putting the agreement into effect must await the establishment of a climate of confidence among the parties from the territory in the ability of the United Nations to administer a fair election.
The United Nations General Assembly recognized the South-West Africa People's Organization seven years ago as ''the sole and authentic representative'' of the Namibian people and the United Nations annually provides funds for a number of the organization's nonmilitary programs. All this was true in 1978 when South Africa accepted a settlement proposal by five Western nations, including the United States.
The diplomatic issue that is emerging here is whether it is possible to fashion what a United Nations official termed ''an impartiality package'' that would be attractive enough to break the long impasse that has prevented a cease-fire.
So far, South African officials seem to have been saying that the United Nations must prove itself impartial in order to win the confidence of what are known as the ''internal parties'' and that it must gain their confidence in order to have an agreement - a two-step formulation that would appear to preclude an agreement at this meeting and one that also serves to downgrade South Africa's own role as an active participant in the negotiations.
Nevertheless, Western and African diplomats holding observer status here were consulting intensively with the insurgents and the United Nations representatives today on the details of a series of undertakings to end the symbolic and material support the United Nations has given the insurgent movement.
There was no public response from the South-West Africa People's Organization to the bitterly abusive statements by the parties that would be its main rivals in an election. Sam Nujoma, the movement's leader, in his only public statement of the week, declared that it was ready to sign a cease-fire agreement without any conditions.
Mr. Nujoma, who has never had a reputation for diplomatic finesse, might have been expected to respond in kind or even walk out but he is under intense pressure from the African nations represented here to do nothing to reduce whatever narrow chance there may be for an agreement. | In an effort to get serious negotiations under way at the conference on South-West Africa here, the United Nations offered today to take steps to break its ties with the insurgent movement known as the South-West Africa People's Organization in exchange for South Africa's agreement on a date for a cease-fire in the disputed territory. The offer came in a statement by Brian Urquhart, an Under Secretary General serving as chairman of the meeting, who was responding to a series of scathing attacks on the United Nations as well as on the insurgents by representatives of political parties from the territory who have been seated here as members of the South African delegation. In an unusually vituperative address to the conference yesterday, for instance, Katuutire Kaura of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance maintained that the international organization had disqualified itself as an impartial supervisor of a transition to independence in the territory, known widely as Namibia, by its support of ''an organization of schoolchildren-kidnappers, rapist thugs and bandits.'' | 3.279793 | 0.989637 | 63.062176 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/15/sports/bayside-lincoln-will-play-for-psal-title-midwood-canarsie-gain.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082402id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/15/sports/bayside-lincoln-will-play-for-psal-title-midwood-canarsie-gain.html | BAYSIDE, LINCOLN WILL PLAY FOR P.S.A.L. TITLE MIDWOOD, CANARSIE GAIN | 20150524082402 | Even if Canarsie does not win the Public Schools Athletic League B championship next week against Midwood, this season is going to cost Ron McLaughlin, the Chiefs' running back, a tidy sum. He may even have to get a job to supplement his allowance.
''After I gained 1,000 yards last week, I told Darrell Littles, my fulback, who's been opening great holes for me all year, that I was taking everybody who blocked for me all year out to dinner, even Larry Triolo, the quarterback who hands the ball off to me a few times,'' McLaughlin said yesterday. He picked up another 120 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns in Canarsie's 30-6 semifinal triumph over August Martin at Canarsie Field.
''I'm still going to do it but I may have to get an advance on my allowance because Russell Carter, the offensive tackle is 6-1, 240 and he can eat $30 worth of meat. I think I'm going to have to take them to the White Castle.''
Win or lose, McLaughlin's dinner date with his blockers has been tentatively set for next Saturday following the P.S.A.L. B division championship game between undefeated (9-0) Canarsie and Midwood, the two time defending champion. Midwood (7-1-1) got into the final yesterday with a 16-6 triumph over Springfield Gardens in the other B division semifinal.
Although Midwood is the only P.S.A.L. school ever to win a Metro Bowl game against the Catholic Schools champion when it defeated Xavier two years ago, the only loss the Hornets suffered this season was at the hands of Canarsie. However, that was only their first loss to the Chiefs in the last four meetings.
''Last year we beat Canarsie 10-0 during the regular season and 15-12 in the semis,'' said Alan Arbuse, the coach at Midwood. ''Two years ago we beat them in the playoffs, too. I think it was the quarterfinals, but it may have been the semis. All of those games were at our place. This year they really did a number on us at their place, 22-0.''
''No matter who we play, we have to play them at Midwood's AstroTurf field and both Midwood and Springfield Gardens have beaten us in some big games'' said the Canarsie coach, Frank Morogiello. He did not know who his opponent would be while he was talking since in the latest reports, Midwood and Springfield Gardens were locked in a 6-6 tie. Midwood scored 10 points in the final period to break the tie.
''McLaughlin has been awesome on our little dirt field. He should be better when he gets some traction,'' Morogiello said. Allie Giannattasio rushed 20 times for 115 yards and scored the first touchdown in the game for Midwood on a 6-yard run, but the kick failed and Springfield Gardens tied the score on a 93-yard return of the ensuing kickoff by Cornell Morgan. The score stayed that way until Teddy Tucker scored on a 2-yard run in the final period. The conversion and a 35-yard field goal by the coach's son, Scott Arbuse, completed the scoring.
McLaughlin scored the first, second and final Canarsie touchdown, on runs of 2, 12 and 2 yards. Larry Triolo, the senior quarterback, ran in the extra points on the first two and McLaughlin ran in the extra point on the broken-play, a 6-yard pass from Triolo to Andrew Monjardo, the wingback, in the third period.
Illustrations: photo of Ron McLaughlin and August Martin | uf89 By AL HARVIN Even if Canarsie does not win the Public Schools Athletic League B championship next week against Midwood, this season is going to cost Ron McLaughlin, the Chiefs' running back, a tidy sum. He may even have to get a job to supplement his allowance. ''After I gained 1,000 yards last week, I told Darrell Littles, my fulback, who's been opening great holes for me all year, that I was taking everybody who blocked for me all year out to dinner, even Larry Triolo, the quarterback who hands the ball off to me a few times,'' McLaughlin said yesterday. He picked up another 120 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns in Canarsie's 30-6 semifinal triumph over August Martin at Canarsie Field. | 4.666667 | 0.966667 | 75.58 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/17/business/executive-changes-136245.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082416id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/17/business/executive-changes-136245.html | EXECUTIVE CHANGES | 20150524082416 | * Binney & Smith Inc., Easton, Pa., has named Jack F. Kofoed chairman, succeeding Russell J. McChesney, who is retiring.
* Bowery Savings Bank has named Leopold S. Rassnick senior vice president and general counsel.
* Central and South West Corporation, Dallas, and Central and South West Services Inc. have elected Stanley P. Wilson senior vice president and general counsel, and Philip I. McConnell vice president and secretary.
* Central Louisiana Energy Corporation, Lafayette, La., has named M. Edward Stewart vice president of corporate development.
* Consolidated Natural Gas Company, Pittsburgh, has elected H.A. Offutt and Henry P. Sullivan senior vice presidents; also, Benjamin H. Cooksey Jr. chairman and Ralbern H. Murray president of the Consolidated Gas Supply Corporation, a subsidiary.
* Continental Group, Stamford, Conn., has elected Robert C. Dawson executive vice president of the Continental Financial Services Company, a subsidiary.
* Energy Sources Inc., Dallas, has elected Margaret A. Couvillon a vice president and Steve A. Batchelor secretary.
* Harris Bank, Chicago, has elected Jeffrey S. Chisholm, Robert W. Goetter, James E. Adams, Kenneth R. Keck, Willard R. Phillips Jr., and David L. Webber senior vice presidents. * Hatzel & Buehler Inc. has elected Bernard Finkelstein president.
* International Seaway Trading Corporation, Cleveland, has appointed Irwin I. Berman to the newly created post of executive vice president and chief operating officer of sales and merchandising and chief executive officer of overseas operations.
* Kliklok Corporation, Greenwich, Conn., has named William H. Banks president and chief executive officer, and Marshall M. Austin chairman.
* Merrill Lynch has named George Kokkinakis chairman of Merrill Lynch Venture Capital Inc.
* New Mexico and Arizona Land Company, Phoenix, has appointed Robert L. Menk, chairman and chief executive officer, to the additional post of president following the retirement of George M. Rayburn.
* New York Life Insurance Company has named Gerold W. Frey and William F. Yelverton vice presidents.
* Northern Trust Company, Chicago, has named Paul D. Benda, Kenneth P. Kinney, Jeffrey F. Ruzicka, Edward Byron Smith Jr., Gilian K. Geniesse, Joseph M. Jarosz, H. Grant Clark Jr., Bernard M. Cygan, David B. Horn and Jeffrey H. Wessel to senior vice president.
* Pneumo Corporation, Boston, has appointed David J. Ruggles chief financial officer.
* Quaker Chemical Corporation, Conshohocken, Pa., has elected Donald E. Alexander vice president-sales; Donald E. Boswell vice president-research and development, and Jesse W. McKnight vice president-manufacturing and facilities.
* Sega Enterprises Inc., Los Angeles, has elected to its board Barry Diller, Michael D. Eisner and Arthur Barron, who are, respectively, chairman and chief executive officer, president and chief operating officer, and executive vice president of the Paramount Pictures Corporation.
* Symbol Technologies Inc., Hauppauge, L.I., has appointed to its board of directors Fred Heiman, chairman and chief scientist of Mars Money Systems, a division of M & M/Mars Inc., and Barry Zukerman, a vice president of HCI Holdings Ltd. and president and chief executive officer of Elliot and Page Ltd.
* Talley Industries, Mesa, Ariz., has elected William H. Mallender president and chief executive officer.
* Tymshare Inc., Cupertino, Calif., has elected to its board Gordon L. Hough, retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company.
* United States Filter Corporation has named James P. Kressler senior vice president-finance and planning; Paul J. Miller group vice president, process instruments group, and Joseph F. Tartaglia vice president-operations services.
* Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Mich., has appointed William J. Breslin a vice president of finance, corporation staff. | * Binney & Smith Inc., Easton, Pa., has named Jack F. Kofoed chairman, succeeding Russell J. McChesney, who is retiring. * Bowery Savings Bank has named Leopold S. Rassnick senior vice president and general counsel. * Central and South West Corporation, Dallas, and Central and South West Services Inc. have elected Stanley P. Wilson senior vice president and general counsel, and Philip I. McConnell vice president and secretary. | 8.901235 | 0.975309 | 28.407407 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/20/opinion/once-again-the-primary.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524082749id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/20/opinion/once-again-the-primary.html | Once Again, the Primary | 20150524082749 | It will be even harder to stir the electorate a second time, but stir it must for New York City's postponed primary elections, most of which will finally be held Tuesday. Given the strength of the Democratic habit hereabouts, most of the results will be tantamount to election. We thus recall our recommendations in the major contests.
Our main advice is to vote. The candidates have not recouped the momentum they lost when a Federal panel of judges unnecessarily canceled all the races of Sept. 10. The turnout then would have been modest at best; Tuesday's could well be abysmal.
The problem that forced the postponement remains. It concerns the newly drawn lines for City Council districts. Because they seem to promise fewer black and Hispanic Councilmen at a time when minority populations have greatly increased, those lines may fail the required review by the Justice Department. But other offices are not affected. Even the Councilmen at Large might have run this week, as they asked, but we are glad to see that the entire Council will be chosen at one time, at a later date.
* In the Democratic contest for Mayor, we firmly favor Mayor Edward Koch for a second term. Assemblyman Frank Barbaro challenges with the unrealistic suggestion that public employee pension funds be tapped to re-create the manufacturing and harbor economy of a generation ago. Melvin Klenetsky's positions are as unclear as ever.
Mr. Koch has ably guided New York out of the fiscal crisis. His brusqueness, humor and confrontational style may make it harder to improve city services, his vague promise for the next four years. But the Mayo r is an adept politician. We trust that he will adapt to the challenges ah ead.
The Mayor should not, however, be running also in the Republican primary. The long-term interest of New York is in more meaningful choice through a two-party system. In the service of that admittedly distant objective, we endorse Assemblyman John Esposito to oppose Mr. Koch.
* Harrison Goldin's bid for re-election as Comptroller is challenged by Assemblyman John Dearie. Mr. Goldin's three terms of able service are shadowed by his performance in the bus shelter affair. Official inquiries found no basis for legal charges, but the city did judge his conduct ''unlawful though not criminal.'' But Mr. Dearie, who has focused on housing issues, looks too much the singleissue legislator. And his failure to file income tax returns over a period of years and acceptance of contributions from companies whose accounts he would be auditing raise questions about his judgment.
Despite his recent problems, Mr. Goldin's knowledge and experience make him the preferable candidate.
* Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein is challenged by David Dinkins, the City Clerk. Mr. Stein has used the office as a public forum and sued city agencies on behalf of constituents - in ways that suggest he misses the power he had as a state legislator. We favor Mr. Dinkins, whose dignity, force and clarity promise a good performance as a member of the Board of Estimate and a welcome voice there from the black community.
* In the hotly contested race for District Attorney in Brooklyn, Norman Rosen, executive assistant to retiring prosecutor Eugene Gold, faces former Representative Elizabeth Holtzman. Mr. Rosen's duties have been mostly administrative and Miss Holtzman lacks experience with criminal justice at the local level. The choice therefore should turn on public presence and intellect. We prefer Miss Holtzman's.
* In Queens, District Attorney John Santucci is challenged by Irving Schwartz, who has much experience in t he the borough's courts but mostly in private legal practice. Mr. San tucci has four years of solid performance in the office and merits en dorsement.
* In Manhattan's 6th Judicial District, Harold Tompkins, Salvatore Fiorella and Jeffry Gallet compete for the post of Civil Court Judge. We favor Mr. Tompkins, on the strength of his greater experience and maturity. | It will be even harder to stir the electorate a second time, but stir it must for New York City's postponed primary elections, most of which will finally be held Tuesday. Given the strength of the Democratic habit hereabouts, most of the results will be tantamount to election. We thus recall our recommendations in the major contests. Our main advice is to vote. The candidates have not recouped the momentum they lost when a Federal panel of judges unnecessarily canceled all the races of Sept. 10. The turnout then would have been modest at best; Tuesday's could well be abysmal. | 6.681416 | 0.99115 | 56.637168 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/21/world/soviet-affirms-rise-in-infant-mortality.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524083020id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/21/world/soviet-affirms-rise-in-infant-mortality.html | SOVIET AFFIRMS RISE IN INFANT MORTALITY | 20150524083020 | MOSCOW, June 20— A Soviet statistician has acknowledged that infant mortality rates, last published here in 1974 and considered one of the barometers of a society's well-being, have remained high since an upward turn 10 years ago.
Aleksandr I. Smirnov, deputy chief of the department dealing with statistics of social problems and population in Gosplan, the State Planning Commission, said the annual number of Soviet babies dying before the end of their first year had been about 28 per 1,000 since 1978.
The Soviet infant mortality rate reached a low of 22.9 per 1,000 in 1971, then rose quickly to 27.9 in 1974. Thereafter, such rates were omitted from Soviet statistical reports, apparently to conceal the high figures.
The United States rate, by contrast, has been steadily declining, and is now about 13 or 14 deaths per 1,000 births. Speaking at a recent news conference and in a subsequent telephone interview, Mr. Smirnov said that Soviet demographers had found no evidence to suggest that the high rate of Soviet infant deaths was caused by medical, family or social factors. He attributed it to improved statistical reporting, especially in areas of Central Asia. State Promoting 'Larger Families'
At the news conference, Mr. Smirnov also touched on Soviet concern over a lagging and geographically varied birth rate, and outlined a series of new Government programs designed, he said, ''to inspire larger families,'' especially in the western and northern areas of the country. The Soviet birth rate stands at 18.3 a year per 1,000 people, compared with 15.7 in the United States.
The trend in Soviet baby deaths was documented in a United States Commerce Department study, ''Rising Infant Mortality in the U.S.S.R. in the 1970's,'' by Christopher Davis and Murray Feshbach, who used Soviet figures through 1974 and then resorted to estimates. By 1976, the study said, 31.1 out of 1,000 Soviet infants were not reaching their first birthday.
Although Mr. Smirnov's data contradict the American study's contention that the rate continued to rise after 1974, the figure he cited still substantially exceeds that of most Western developed countries.
In their study, Mr. Feshbach and Mr. Davis said Soviet explanations that the higher mortality rate reflected better statistical reporting were ''unconvincing.'' Alcoholism May Be a Factor
They contended that the reported rise in infant mortality up to 1974 had not been confined to Central Asia, the region where Mr. Smirnov said statistics were most inaccurate. The American authors suggested that the rise in infant deaths in the Soviet Union might be attributed to such factors as alcoholism among pregnant women, frequent abortions, pollution, influenza epidemics and the large proportion of Soviet women who work.
Mr. Smirnov's reference to mortality rates was part of a broader and unusually frank discussion at the news conference of problems in Soviet population trends.
''There is no catastrophe,'' he said. ''The situation is not worse than in other developed countries.'' Nonetheless, he said that at the 26th Soviet Communist Party Congress a decision was made to adopt ''an active demographic policy.''
The main elements of the program, he said, would be ''to inspire larger families'' through a variety of financial and other incentives. Moslem Peoples Expanding
Several of the issues raised by Mr. Smirnov have been the focus of recent American studies, notably by Mr. Feshbach, a demographic analyst with the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The American reports have noted that Soviet Moslem populations in Central Asia are growing at a far higher rate than the Russian and other Slavic peoples. Western analysts have suggested that the resulting change in ethnic patterns could generate new problems for the now dominant Slavs.
Mr. Smirnov acknowledged that many of the incentive programs he outlined were designed primarily for European, Siberian and Pacific regions of the Soviet Union.
Among reasons Mr. Smirnov advanced for the lower birth rates in the north were some that Mr. Davis and Mr. Feshbach had given for the high infant-mortality rate. These were the large number of working women, 93 out of each 100; a shortage of housing, the high number of abortions, which Western experts say outnumber live births at least two and a half times, and alcoholism, which Mr. Smirnov described as ''one of the most serious problems of all our demographic, social, economic and spiritual policies.'' Finanical Aid and Housing
The incentive programs he outlined included giving mothers a year off from work with a state stipend of 50 rubles a month, a 50-ruble reward for the first child and 100 for the second, increased maternity leaves and vacations for mothers, a guarantee of a room for newlyweds under 30, or a one-room apartment for parents with one child and a two-room apartment for those with two children.
The incentive programs were thus seeking to cope with a common reason given by Russians for having at most one child - lack of living space.
Mr. Smirnov said the program would cost the state 9 billion rubles, or about $12.5 billion, over five years.
The Soviet concern over flagging birth rates was further highlighted last week by an announcement that a plant using technology developed by the United States concern Abbott Laboratories to manufacture infant formula would open June 29 in the Ukrainian city of Balta.
Robert A. Schoellhorn, president and chief executive officer of Abbott, said the Soviet investment in the plant -more than $25 million - suggested a determination to encourage working women to have babies. | A Soviet statistician has acknowledged that infant mortality rates, last published here in 1974 and considered one of the barometers of a society's well-being, have remained high since an upward turn 10 years ago. Aleksandr I. Smirnov, deputy chief of the department dealing with statistics of social problems and population in Gosplan, the State Planning Commission, said the annual number of Soviet babies dying before the end of their first year had been about 28 per 1,000 since 1978. The Soviet infant mortality rate reached a low of 22.9 per 1,000 in 1971, then rose quickly to 27.9 in 1974. Thereafter, such rates were omitted from Soviet statistical reports, apparently to conceal the high figures. | 7.969697 | 0.984848 | 43.045455 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/20/sports/some-are-troubled-by-lebow-s-moves.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524083314id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/20/sports/some-are-troubled-by-lebow-s-moves.html | Some Are Troubled By Lebow's Moves | 20150524083314 | Fred Lebow was sitting in his fourth-floor office of the Road Runners Club's new headquarters at 9 East 89th Street, a six-story gray building with 14,500 square feet that was purchased last year for $1.3 million. He was wearing a long-sleeve blue cotton sportshirt with thin red stripes, jeans, and as usual, running shoes. The date on the calendar behind his desk read ''Oct. 7,'' suggesting that time had stood still for more than a week.
''I just haven't turned around and looked back since then,'' Lebow said. ''I don't think I will either until after the marathon is over.''
Sunday's 26.2-mile, five-borough New York City Marathon will cap an extraordinary 12 months for the Road Runners Club and Lebow, the 49-year-old race director and president of the club. In addition to moving into new surroundings and landing a national television contract for the marathon, the organization saw its membership surpass 20,000 this year. The Road Runners also had a rousing success with the Fifth Avenue Mile.
For an organization whose total budget in the last 10 years has gone from $2,000 a year to $2 million, it should be cause for celebration. Yet some members believe Lebow and the club may be getting too big. Problems With Finances
Until a few years ago, the club's financial records were in such disarray that the Internal Revenue Service was called in after several written complaints from members. In the club's financial statement for 1980, Ernst & Whinney, the auditing firm, said in its report completed last June, ''Because of inadequacies in the club's accounting records for the previous year, it was not practical to extend our auditing procedures to enable us to express an opinion on results of operations...''
Peter Roth, the treasurer, said yesterday that the club's financial procedures now are ''very good,'' in contrast with the days when Lebow and other officers admittedly tried to balance the books on the kitchen table in Lebow's apartment. But other critics remain skeptical and point to four $50,000 mortgage payments to cover the cost of the new building next year as an example of stretching the financial burden.
''The way Fred controls the club is through chaos,'' said one member, who asked for anonymity. Critics also point to recent changes in the executive committee as another example of Lebow's attempt to consolidate power from established volunteers to salaried employees that he can hire and fire. Several long-time members of the executive committee who had been dropped without previous notice earlier this year were reinstated when it was discovered that they could not be dropped in the first place.
''There's an element that feels I've robbed them of something,'' Lebow says. ''Before I came, there was a group that ran in Van Cortlandt Park. They did things there and no one knew about them. The only thing I did was move the program to Central Park. A lot of runners resented that move.'' Unconcerned With Details
For all his apparent sensitivites to the needs of runners, Lebow appears bored by detail. Elected as president in 1972, he has no idea when his term of office expires, can't recall the date of the last election, never reads by-laws and seems more concerned with the big picture than the fine print in contracts. Over the years, he has quibbled with friends on subjects ranging from sponsor demands to the color of the club's T-shirts. He once stopped calling meetings after a former club president asked him for a check to guarantee ads in the marathon program.
''I don't think I have a strong ego,'' he says, a statement that would be challenged by Bill Rodgers and others who have tested Lebow's authority. ''I have a strong interest that the running movement be expanded and maintained.''
Lebow's status as a non-salaried president, news media personality and influence within the running community has left many members ambivalent.
George Spitz, a Manhattan proofreader and writer, who is generally conceded to have first thought up the five-borough concept, says: ''I wouldn't want to see him out as president. Blood is thicker than water.''
''After knowing him for six years,'' says Dr. Edward E. D. Colt, a member of the executive committee, ''I still don't know what he's up to and what he's not up to. He's a mystery man.'' No Income Since 1977
Lebow lived in Rumania until he was 13 years old, and moved to Czechoslovakia and Ireland for brief periods before coming to the United States in the early 1960's.
A former textile consultant, Lebow says there is no mystery to a life that has gone without income since 1977. He is a bachelor and lives in a $69-a-month rent-controlled apartment. He receives free running gear for clothes and he hasn't been to a movie or the theater in several years. The $10,000 he has spent during this time has come from savings.
''If my travel is being paid for by the airlines or various sponsors or organizations,'' he says, dispelling notions that he skims off funds from sponsors, ''and if I'm continually invited for so many dinners I can't accept, where are my expenses? If I go out on a date, it's usually dutch treat. If I want to spend money, I'd have a hard time.'' | Fred Lebow was sitting in his fourth-floor office of the Road Runners Club's new headquarters at 9 East 89th Street, a six-story gray building with 14,500 square feet that was purchased last year for $1.3 million. He was wearing a long-sleeve blue cotton sportshirt with thin red stripes, jeans, and as usual, running shoes. The date on the calendar behind his desk read ''Oct. 7,'' suggesting that time had stood still for more than a week. ''I just haven't turned around and looked back since then,'' Lebow said. ''I don't think I will either until after the marathon is over.'' | 8.227273 | 0.992424 | 79.098485 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/concert-soprano-at-full-power.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524083525id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/concert-soprano-at-full-power.html | CONCERT - SOPRANO AT FULL POWER - NYTimes.com | 20150524083525 | Jessye Norman is not exactly an unknown vocal presence in New York, but her appearance Friday night at the Mostly Mozart Festival in Avery Fisher Hall revealed that an exceptionally talented singer has developed into an artist of extraordinary technical confidence and interpretive magnetism. Miss Norman's natural gifts have always been impressive, but on this occasion she demonstrated in no uncertain terms that her voice has matured into a magnificently expressive and pliant instrument that responds to her every wish.
In two tempestuous concert arias, Haydn's ''Scena di Berenice'' and Beethoven's ''Ah, perfido,'' Miss Norman sailed through all the formidable vocal challenges with absolute ease. Her soprano sustains its luminous, rich, fully rounded tone in every register, her negotiation of passagework exhibited seamless control and, best of all, her new-found assurance allowed her to concentrate on a kaledoscopic range of relevant musical and dramatic nuances.
It is always inspiring to hear a potentially great singer consolidate her powers and fulfill the promise. Miss Norman did all this in a handsome fashion, and brought the audience to its feet in the process.
The rest of the evening was necessarily rather anticlimactical, even though it offered two of Mozart's most refreshing scores, the Piano Concerto in B flat (K. 450) and the Symphony No. 34, in C (K. 338). Garrick Ohlsson was the soloist in the concerto, one of the composer's showiest in which, as Mozart wrote, the pianist is really expected to sweat. If Mr. Ohlsson was perspiring, he gave little evidence of the fact in a polished performance that rippled off the keyboard with disarming ease, despite some square phrasing and textures that tended to sound a trifle glutinous.
Michael Tilson Thomas was the conductor for the evening, and the orchestra rewarded him with playing that was consistently alert, rhythmically taut and fortified with invigorating musical vitamins.
The symphony was given an especially sparkling interpretation that had just the right combination of elegance, sensuality and joyful panache. Mr. Thomas's decision to insert a Minuet in C (K. 409) to replace the missing third movement is open to question, an anachronistic practice now discredited in most musicological circles.
Illustrations: photo of Jessye Norman | Jessye Norman is not exactly an unknown vocal presence in New York, but her appearance Friday night at the Mostly Mozart Festival in Avery Fisher Hall revealed that an exceptionally talented singer has developed into an artist of extraordinary technical confidence and interpretive magnetism. Miss Norman's natural gifts have always been impressive, but on this occasion she demonstrated in no uncertain terms that her voice has matured into a magnificently expressive and pliant instrument that responds to her every wish. In two tempestuous concert arias, Haydn's ''Scena di Berenice'' and Beethoven's ''Ah, perfido,'' Miss Norman sailed through all the formidable vocal challenges with absolute ease. Her soprano sustains its luminous, rich, fully rounded tone in every register, her negotiation of passagework exhibited seamless control and, best of all, her new-found assurance allowed her to concentrate on a kaledoscopic range of relevant musical and dramatic nuances. | 2.48538 | 0.994152 | 84.502924 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/numismatics-another-breakthrough-for-women-s-rights.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524083530id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/numismatics-another-breakthrough-for-women-s-rights.html | NUMISMATICS - ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS - NYTimes.com | 20150524083530 | Advocates of equal rights for women scored major a breakthrough this month not only at the United States Supreme Court, but also at the U.S. Mint. On July 13, just six days after naming Sandra Day O'Connor to serve on the nation's highest court, President Ronald Reagan chose sculptress Elizabeth Jones to fill the prestigious post of chief sculptor-engraver at the Mint.
If confirmed as expected by the Senate, Miss Jones will become the first woman ever to serve as chief engraver and only the 11th holder of the office, which dates back to almost the founding of the Mint in 1792.
Like Judge O'Connor, she brings impressive credentials to her precedent-setting assignment. She is widely regarded as one of the leading medalists in the world and has won high honors for her work. In 1972 she became the first woman to receive the Sculptor of the Year Award from the American Numismatic Association, and in 1978 the National Sculpture Society named her as recipient of its Louis Bennett Award.
Miss Jones, 46, is a native of Montclair, N.J., and has been residing with her parents in Chatham, N.J. since December. However, she had lived and worked for 20 years before that in Rome, Italy, where she built a substantial following not only as a medalist and sculptor but also as a photographer and jewelry designer.
While living abroad she returned to this country for periodic visits. During one such visit early this year she learned of the retirement of Frank Gasparro, long-time chief engraver at the Mint.
''It came out of the blue,'' she declared in a recent interview. ''I happened to be in Washington at the time of the inauguration and several former Mint officials told me of the opening and urged me to pursue it. I never had given a thought to such a thing; it seemed, I suppose, like an unattainable goal. But after thinking it over, I figured I might as well try.''
A series of interviews followed and key officials of the Reagan Administration, notably U.S. Treasurer Angela M. Buchanan and Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan, soon tabbed Miss Jones as the front-runner for the nomination. Bureaucratic snags held up formal action for months, so that the sculptress was forced to extend her ''Christmas visit'' to the U.S. from six weeks to more than six months until finally her long wait was rewarded.
Miss Jones received a bachelor of arts degree in 1957 from Vassar College, then studied at the Art Students League in New York from 1958 to 1960. Moved by an adventurous spirit, she journeyed to Rome in 1961 and enrolled at the Scuola Libera del Nudo, where she studied drawing and painting. Her constant exposure to Italy's ubiquitous sculpture aroused in her an interest in three-dimensional art, and she found herself drawn in particular to medallic art.
In 1962, she gained admission to the Scuolo ell'Arte della Medaglia, a unique school situated inside the Italian Mint, where she studied the art of coin and medal making. After completing her studies there in 1964 she decided to remain in Rome. ''The city,'' she explained, ''was an artist's mecca and a sculptor's delight.''
Through the years, she has crafted dozens of fine art medals under commissions received from such firms as The Franklin Mint, Medallic Art Company and the Judaic Heritage Society. One of her most intriguing creations was a 1975 medal portraying feminist leader Gloria Steinem as Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. That was part of a series of special medals issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In 1979, the Italian government commissioned her to design a solid gold medal, 120 millimeters in diameter, honoring Pope John Paul II. The medal was presented to the Pontiff as a gift from the government. Around the same time she prepared a gold medal for the Sheraton Hotels featuring the likeness of Dubai's Sheikh Rashid, vice president of the United Arab Emirates. That was presented to the sheikh upon the opening of a new Sheraton facility in Dubai.
Miss Jones has a style far freer and fresher than that which has been seen on recent U.S. coinage. In fact, there are times when her work appears to border on the abstract. In designing coins or medals for the Mint, she would have to avoid extremes and temper her creativity in order to comply with the often restrictive guidelines that exist. Still, it seems likely that if she gets the chance, she will steer our coins and medals in new and exciting directions.
''I prefer designs that are mildly abstract,'' she remarked, ''rather than photographic realism - but, of course, I wouldn't do anything drastic.''
In any event, no new coin designs could be introduced without authorization from the Treasury and perhaps from Congress as well. And if recent experience is a guide, the new chief engraver will have few if any occasions to leave a permanent mark in this way. In nearly 16 years in the job, Mr. Gasparro designed only two U.S. coins, and both of these - the Eisenhower and Anthony dollars - resulted from expansion of the standard coinage lineup into the dollar denomination. | Advocates of equal rights for women scored major a breakthrough this month not only at the United States Supreme Court, but also at the U.S. Mint. On July 13, just six days after naming Sandra Day O'Connor to serve on the nation's highest court, President Ronald Reagan chose sculptress Elizabeth Jones to fill the prestigious post of chief sculptor-engraver at the Mint. If confirmed as expected by the Senate, Miss Jones will become the first woman ever to serve as chief engraver and only the 11th holder of the office, which dates back to almost the founding of the Mint in 1792. Like Judge O'Connor, she brings impressive credentials to her precedent-setting assignment. She is widely regarded as one of the leading medalists in the world and has won high honors for her work. In 1972 she became the first woman to receive the Sculptor of the Year Award from the American Numismatic Association, and in 1978 the National Sculpture Society named her as recipient of its Louis Bennett Award. | 5.272251 | 0.984293 | 50.062827 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/28/business/energywatch.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084058id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/28/business/energywatch.html | Energywatch - NYTimes.com | 20150524084058 | Crude oil supplies fell to 377.7 million barrels, down 5.8 million.
The drop reflects a decline in crude oil imports and a rise in refining output.
Distillates, used for home heating oil, rose to 201.2 million barrels, in a steady summer buildup. Inventories remain within the average range.
Gasoline stocks pulled ahead to 236.5 million barrels, up 2.9 million. The counter seasonal trend is part of a decline in demand for gasoline.
Illustrations: graph of crude oil supplies from March to Aug. 1981 graph of distillates from March to Aug. 1981 graph of gasoline stocks from March to Aug. 1981 | AUG. 28, 1981 Crude oil supplies fell to 377.7 million barrels, down 5.8 million. | 6.105263 | 0.842105 | 9.052632 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/30/nyregion/the-region-carey-plans-to-curb-deposits-to-utilities.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084201id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/30/nyregion/the-region-carey-plans-to-curb-deposits-to-utilities.html | THE REGION - Carey Plans to Curb Deposits to Utilities - NYTimes.com | 20150524084201 | Most residential customers of gas and electric utilities would no longer have to put down security deposits under legislation being proposed by Governor Carey.
His bill is also intended to consolidate a number of existing customer-rights provisions.
Mr. Carey said utilities had attempted to link the security deposit requirement to prompt payment of utility bills, but, he asserted, no correlation had been shown.
His legislation also would prevent utility companies from shutting off service when that could result in harm to the elderly, disabled, ill or poor, according to the Governor. | Most residential customers of gas and electric utilities would no longer have to put down security deposits under legislation being proposed by Governor Carey. | 4.24 | 1 | 25 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/29/sports/owners-session-called-players-on-coast-to-meet.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084304id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/29/sports/owners-session-called-players-on-coast-to-meet.html | OWNERS' SESSION CALLED - PLAYERS ON COAST TO MEET - NYTimes.com | 20150524084304 | The baseball strike enters its 48th day today with Marvin Miller briefing a group of players in Los Angeles and the club owners meeting in New York, and with both sides hinting that their negotiations might be resumed tomorrow.
The talks broke off Thursday in Washington just when a settlement seemed near in the dispute, which will have erased 579 games through today, more than one-quarter of the season. And, although both sides continued to deny any softening in their stands, there were indications that today's meetings could form the prelude to a final effort to end the longest strike in baseball history.
Ray Grebey, the labor chief for the club owners, spent the day in meetings with the board of directors of the owners' player relations committee. He said he was available for joint talks at any time, and a source close to the owners' negotiators added:
''Thursday is a likely date for bargaining to be resumed here in New York. There is a feeling that the season must be revived, and a settlement would have to be reached this week to do it.''
Miller, executive director of the Players Association, flew to Los Angeles yesterday after a five-hour meeting Monday night with the player representatives of the 26 clubs and about 25 other players in Chicago. He said he did not know where he would go next, but his office indicated that he would return to New York. And Donald Fehr, counsel to the association, said after he and Miller had reached the West Coast:
''When they're ready to talk again, they know where to find us.'' The timing and tone of the negotiations probably will be determined at today's meetings, nearly 3,000 apart, which is the greatest geographical distance that has separated the negotiators for the owners and players since the strike began June 12. But both sides will have a common purpose: holding their ranks together as they face their constituents.
Miller will meet with a group of players at 11:30 A.M. in the Marriott Hotel at the Los Angeles Airport. He won the unanimous support of his player representatives Monday night in Chicago and then flew west for the first in a series of regional meetings to close what he called ''a terrible information gap.'' The gap, he said, resulted from the blackout on the talks imposed last week by the Secretary of Labor, Raymond J. Donovan. Three Owners' Sessions
Meanwhile, in New York, the club owners will be involved in three meetings. The American League owners will gather at 1 P.M. at the Bankers Trust Building on Park Avenue. Half an hour later, the National League owners will meet at the Citicorp Center on Lexington Avenue. Then, at 3:30, both groups will hold a joint meeting at Citicorp, their first since a similar meeting July 9.
''Don't think there was any arm-twisting,'' Grebey said, denying reports that dissident owners in the American League had forced his hand. ''The main reason for the joint meeting is that people lost track of things last week during the blackout on information.''
''Some people are reading rebellion into the American League meeting,'' an official on the owners' side said. ''But that's going too far. Three or four clubs wanted to meet. At the end of last week, when the talks broke off, we had to fill in people by sending a 12-page teletype to the clubs, reviewing everything that had been suggested in the talks.''
But new pressure was expected from the three club owners who have been most vocal in calling for a settlement. They are George Steinbrenner of the Yankees, Edward Bennett Williams of the Baltimore Orioles and Eddie Chiles of the Texas Rangers, and they were reportedly planning an informal caucus before the day's series of meetings.
Some people on both sides visualized a sudden settlement because the two sides seemed close on the central issue: how to compensate teams that lose free agents. But they conceded that a formula still must be worked out to satisfy the basic objections. The owners prefer that teams signing free agents surrender players as compensation directly to those losing free agents. The players insist that compensation be drawn from a pool of talent.
After meeting with his player representatives Monday night for 5 hours 20 minutes, Miller renewed his opposition to direct payment. ''The executive board,'' he said, ''never has given us authority to sign an agreement providing for direct compensation. Even if the negotiating committee went crazy and told the owners we'd go for it, the board would refuse to ratify it.''
However, some hope for resolving the problem was seen when Miller scheduled no other regional meetings after Los Angeles, opening the way for resumption of talks. Dan Quisenberry of the Kansas City Royals was quoted by The Associated Press last night as having said that a meeting of players living in the Kansas City area would be held, perhaps tonight or tomorrow. But Quisenberry, the Royals' player representative, said he doubted Miller would attend the meeting.
Miller denied that player dissension had surfaced, and attributed recent criticism by several players to the blackout on news last week.
Bill Buckner of the Chicago Cubs supported this view. ''I was uncomfortable,'' he said after the meeting. ''I don't like sitting around. But I'm behind the negotiating team 100 percent. Now I can sit out the season and not feel quite as bad.''
''There are a few bad apples in every bunch,'' said Eric Soderholm of the Yankees. ''But now everything is cleared up. There is strong support for Marvin Miller.'' | The baseball strike enters its 48th day today with Marvin Miller briefing a group of players in Los Angeles and the club owners meeting in New York, and with both sides hinting that their negotiations might be resumed tomorrow. The talks broke off Thursday in Washington just when a settlement seemed near in the dispute, which will have erased 579 games through today, more than one-quarter of the season. And, although both sides continued to deny any softening in their stands, there were indications that today's meetings could form the prelude to a final effort to end the longest strike in baseball history. Ray Grebey, the labor chief for the club owners, spent the day in meetings with the board of directors of the owners' player relations committee. He said he was available for joint talks at any time, and a source close to the owners' negotiators added: ''Thursday is a likely date for bargaining to be resumed here in New York. There is a feeling that the season must be revived, and a settlement would have to be reached this week to do it.'' | 5.20283 | 0.985849 | 54.542453 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/30/business/major-provisions-of-two-bills-cover-individuals-businesses.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084348id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/30/business/major-provisions-of-two-bills-cover-individuals-businesses.html | MAJOR PROVISIONS OF TWO BILLS COVER INDIVIDUALS, BUSINESSES | 20150524084348 | WASHINGTON, July 29— President Reagan's tax reduction bill, approved by the House of Representatives today over a version offered by the Democratic leadership, bears many similarities to that approved by the Senate.
Both bills will be sent to a conference committee of the two chambers to work out differences, after which the combined product will go to the President. Here are the major provisions of both bills: Individual Income Taxes Rates
Individual income tax rates now range from 14 to 70 percent. Both bills reduce the top rate to 50 percent on Jan.1, 1982. Withholding taxes under both versions are to be cut by 5 percent on Oct.1, then an additional 10 percent on July 1, 1982 and another 10 percent on July 1, 1983.
When two persons with relatively equal incomes marry, their tax is often higher than would be the case had they remained single. Both bills provide a new deduction for married couples equal to a percentage of the first $30,000 of the earnings of the spouse with the lesser earnings.
The deduction is phased in so that a 5 percent rate (a maximum deduction of $1,500) applies for 1982. For 1983 and subsequent years the deductiof will be 10 percent (a maximum of $3,000). Indexing
Inflation has the effect of lifting taxpayers into ever higher brackets. To offset what is in effect a tax increase from this socalled bracket creep, both bills, starting in 1985, subject the income tax brackets, the zero bracket amount and the personal exemption to annual adjustments for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Charitable Contributions
Under current law a deduction for charitable contributions is allowed only for a taxpayer who itemizes deductions. Both bills permit taxpayers to deduct a percentage of their charitable contributions even if they do not itemize. Capital Gains Taxes
With the top tax rate on all income reduced to 50 percent for 1982 and subsequent years, a new maximum rate on long-term capital gains of 20 percent is established by both bills. The 20 percent is arrived at because 40 percent of long-term capital gains is included in income and will be taxed at no more than the 50 percent rate. The current maximum rate on capital gains is 28 percent.
The House bill reduces the period an asset must be held before income from its sale qualifies as a capital gain from one year to six months. The Senate bill contains no such provision. The Senate bill sets last June 10 as the effective date for the lower capital gains rate; the House bill makes it June 9. Business Tax Relief Depreciation
Current law spreads depreciation deductions over the so-called useful life of an asset. The idea is to match deductions for the cost of the asset with the income it produces. Both bills provide for an Accelerated Cost Recovery System to provide much faster recovery of the costs of capital expenditures than now occurs to encourage investment.
Most equipment would fall into write-off classes of three, five and ten years. Nonresidential buildings may be written off in 15 years. There are minor differences in the two bills. For example, the Senate depreciates race horses in five years. There is no class for race horses in the House bill. Investment Tax Credit
Taxpayers who purchase eligible equipment are now allowed an investment tax credit of 10 percent for property with a useful life of seven or more years. Both bills set the credit at 6 percent for property in the three-year class and at 10 percent for property in other classes. Corporate Tax Rates
Like individuals, corporations pay taxes under a graduated rate schedule. The rate is 17 percent on the first $25,000 of taxable income, 20 percent on the next $25,000, up to 46 percent at the highest bracket. Both bills reduce the tax rate in the bottom two brackets (below $50,000) by one percentage point in 1982 and an additional point in 1983 and subsequent years. Americans Abroad
Both bills provide for major tax reductions for American citizens working abroad. A variety of deductions and exclusions already exist, but many companies have complained that these are inadequate for fielding overseas representatives. The House bill replaces the existing provisions with an exemption for the first $95,000 of overseas income. The Senate excludes the first $50,000 of such income plus half of the next $50,000. Both provide an exclusion for excess housing costs. Savings Incentives Savings Certificates
Both bills provide for a so-called All Savers Certificate offered by banks and thrift institutions. Interest earned on the certificates would be exempt from taxes up to $1,000 ($2,000 for a joint return). The certificates must have a one-year maturity and yield interest no greater than 70 percent of the Treasury bill rate. The Senate bill allows the institutions to offer the certificates through Dec.31, 1982, the House version only to Sept.30, 1982. Retirement Savings
Under current law, only individuals not participating in taxqualified pension plans may deduct contributions to individual retirement accounts up to the lesser of $1,500 or 15 percent of compensation. Both bills increase the maximum deductions to $2,000. In addition, they permit the participants in the tax-qualified plans also to set up individual retirement accounts. The Senate bill sets an annual lieit on these deductions at $1,500; the House is more generous, at $2,000. Dividend Reinvestment | President Reagan's tax reduction bill, approved by the House of Representatives today over a version offered by the Democratic leadership, bears many similarities to that approved by the Senate. Both bills will be sent to a conference committee of the two chambers to work out differences, after which the combined product will go to the President. Here are the major provisions of both bills: Individual Income Taxes Rates Individual income tax rates now range from 14 to 70 percent. Both bills reduce the top rate to 50 percent on Jan.1, 1982. Withholding taxes under both versions are to be cut by 5 percent on Oct.1, then an additional 10 percent on July 1, 1982 and another 10 percent on July 1, 1983. | 7.413043 | 0.985507 | 47.637681 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/30/nyregion/dining-out-nouvelle-cuisine-influences-menu.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084445id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/30/nyregion/dining-out-nouvelle-cuisine-influences-menu.html | Dining Out - NOUVELLE CUISINE INFLUENCES MENU - NYTimes.com | 20150524084445 | A NEW menu and an elaborate wine list were inaugurated at La Mascotte in Commack earlier this summer. A nouvelle cuisine influence is now evident. Entrees studded with pink peppercorns or with sauces of fruit-flavored vinegar, dessert platters of assorted fruits with sorbet and dishes that combine variations on the same theme, such as cold mussels with three dressings or steak with three kinds of pepper, are some of the ''nouvelle'' touches that have been added.
These revisions have made the dinner menu more interesting and upto-date, but they are often handled tentatively and do not herald a fundamental change in the style of cooking at La Mascotte, most of which remains basically classic. Brown sauces over meats and cream sauces or lobster sauces on seafood still dominate.
One of the best appetizers continues to be the coquille Proven,cale, scallops baked in a rich, garlicky tomato sauce. At this time of year, diced sea scallops are used. Hot rounds of garlic sausage served with a delightfully herbed potato salad, littleneck clams sizzling in snail butter and mussels done the same way were also very good. Cold mussels with ravigote, vinaigrette and Russian dressings should have been arrayed on a larger plate so that the sauces remained separate.
An appetizer of thin sliced raw beef comes covered with a silken egg and mustard sauce dotted with watercress leaves, a dish whose presentation would be more thoroughly nouvelle cuisine if the sauce were under and around the beef, not flooded over it. Crabmeat baked with grapes and topped with cheese was decent, thanks to the good lump crabmeat used.
A beautifully arranged salad of tomatoes and watercress was a disappointment because the tomatoes were of such poor quality, an inexcusable flaw during this season of superbly ripe field tomatoes. The Caesar salad was overly salty.
A sirloin steak with green, black and pink peppercorns combined tender beef with a perfectly balanced creamy sauce enriched with Cognac and adroitly sharpened with pepper. Moist yet crisp duckling was served with a tangy cranberry sauce. An excellent rack of lamb comes with pan juices mellowed with honey for an unusual but successful inspiration, and a succulent veal chop is enhanced by a scattering of three kinds of mushrooms (chanterelles, cepes and cultivated mushrooms).
A navarin of lobster, composed of chunks of crustacean in a rosy sauce with an assortment of vegetables including small white turnips, cucumbers, potatoes, zucchini and peas, was an appealing dish that, unfortunately, was somewhat bland. The peas did not taste fresh, but the other vegetables, as well as the vegetable garnishes served with all the other entrees, were excellent.
Chicken with cherry-flavored vinegar was rather dry and its sauce a trifle too acid. The veal scaloppine with lime was pasty and slick because it had not been properly sauteed.
There is usually a flaky tart topped with brilliantly glazed fresh fruit on display. The Napoleon cake is densely filled with classic pastry cream. Chocolate mousse is no less than delectable and served in an enormous portion, and the caramel custard is a fine rendition of this old standby. The baked Alaska is dull, however. A platter of fresh fruit comes arrayed around a scoop of commercial raspberry sherbet, instead of the intensely fruit-flavored French-style sorbet that usually accompanies a dessert like this.
The wine list now includes over 130 selections from France, Italy, the United States, Spain and Germany and offers many choices both in the lower price bracket ($10 to $15 a bottle) as well as middle range and top of the line. A premier cru Chablis runs $22.50, but there are at least a dozen white wines, including Burgundies, wines of the Loire, Alsace, Italy and California for $15 or less. Most of the Italian red wines are reasonable priced, but underaged. But there are a number of red Bordeaux and Burgundies for under $20, including Chateau Meyney, Chateau Beausejour and Mercurey, that can be recommended. The back page of the wine list provides details as to vintages, vineyards, shippers and so forth.
Service at La Mascotte is nearly flawless. The captains and waiters keep careful track of who ordered what, and they serve and clear unobtrusively.
A three-course dinner with a medium-priced bottle of wine is likely to average $36 a person, including tax and tip. ** La Mascotte 7 Crooked Hill Road, Commack. 499-6446. Atmosphere: Small, tastefully appointed, quietly elegant dining room; excellent, professional service. Recommended dishes: Hot saucisson, raw beef dijonnaise, coquille Proven,cale, littleneck clams Bercy, cold mussels, mussels in snail butter, rack of lamb with honey, duck with cranberries, sirloin with assorted peppers, veal chop with assorted mushrooms, fruit tart, caramel custard, chocolate mousse. Price range: A la carte entrees at lunch $4 to $8.75, at dinner $9.50 to $16. Credit cards: American Express, Carte Blanche, Diners' Club, MasterCard, Visa. Hours; Lunch, Monday through Friday, noon to 3 P.M. Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 5:30 P.M. to 10 P.M.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 P.M. to 11 P.M. with seatings at 7 P.M. and 9:30 P.M. Reservations: Necessary. What the stars mean: (None) Fair to poor * Good ** Very good *** Excellent **** Extraordinary These ratings are based on the reviewer's reaction to food and price in relation to comparable establishments. | A NEW menu and an elaborate wine list were inaugurated at La Mascotte in Commack earlier this summer. A nouvelle cuisine influence is now evident. Entrees studded with pink peppercorns or with sauces of fruit-flavored vinegar, dessert platters of assorted fruits with sorbet and dishes that combine variations on the same theme, such as cold mussels with three dressings or steak with three kinds of pepper, are some of the ''nouvelle'' touches that have been added. These revisions have made the dinner menu more interesting and upto-date, but they are often handled tentatively and do not herald a fundamental change in the style of cooking at La Mascotte, most of which remains basically classic. Brown sauces over meats and cream sauces or lobster sauces on seafood still dominate. | 7.232877 | 0.993151 | 74.883562 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/29/world/india-and-china-announce-talks-on-border-issue.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084557id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/29/world/india-and-china-announce-talks-on-border-issue.html | INDIA AND CHINA ANNOUNCE TALKS ON BORDER ISSUE | 20150524084557 | NEW DELHI, June 28— India and China announced their intention today to hold early negotiations on their long-deadlocked border dispute.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Huang Hua, said after a 70-minute meeting that they had agreed on talks at an ''appropriate level'' to try to resolve the issue. Indian officials said that the talks would be held in September with a visit by an Indian delegation to Peking.
Mrs. Gandhi also said that she had accepted an invitation to visit China at a mutually convenient date.
First Visit by Top Aide Since '60
Mr. Huang's visit here was the first by a top-ranking Chinese leader since Prime Minister Zhou Enlai came to India in 1960. During his three days of talks, he appeared to have concentrated on building new friendship and getting India to agree to seek an early negotiated settlement of the border dispute.
The two nations went to war in 1962 over a Chinese claim to vast Indian territories along the 2,500-mile Himalayan border. The Chinese seized, and still hold, a large piece of territory in Ladakh in the western sector but they later withdrew from the eastern sector in India's northeastern frontier region.
The border dispute long kept the two Asian giants at loggerheads, but in the last few years both have tried to establish normal contacts and resolve their differences by negotiations. Initiative Taken by India
The first major initiative was taken by India in 1979 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was then Foreign Minister, visited Peking. Mr. Vajpayee was received well by the Chinese but his trip ended in failure because of the sudden attack carried out by the Chinese against Vietnam, a friend of India.
Last year Mr. Huang was scheduled to return the visit but he canceled his trip after Mrs. Gandhi's Government recognized the Soviet-backed regime of Heng Samrin in Cambodia.
Mr. Huang spent many hours in discussions here, talking mostly with Foreign Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao on Soviet involvement in Afghanistan and the Vietnamese presence in Cambodia. The views of the two sides on these matters were sharply at variance, according to officials, but these questions were relegated to the background.
Mr. Huang said at a news conference that he was ''optimistic and positive'' about a ''fair, comprehensive and reasonable'' settlement of the boundary question.
He was asked whether the settlement he envisaged would include any return of territory to India. ''The question involves a controversy and I would not like to address myself to it,'' he replied.
Mr. Huang was also blunt in stating that the Chinese had not changed their attitude in disputes over Kashmir and Sikkim. China has sided with Pakistan on the longstanding Indian-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir. Peking has also denounced the merger of Sikkim, formerly an autonomous Himalayan kingdom, with India in 1974 and has refused to recognize it.
Nevertheless, Mr. Huang said that both sides had adopted ''a forward-looking attitude'' during the discussions and had agreed that the ''dispute and differences should not be allowed to stand in the way of developing our bilateral relations.'' 'Friendship and Peace' Stressed
He said that the exchange of views had a ''major significance'' against the background of the ''turbulent, tense, complex and volatile international situation of the 80's.'' The development of friendly relations between China and India, he declared, will be beneficial to peace and stability in Asia and the world at large.
''Both our peoples need friendship and peace so that we may concentrate our energies on developing our respective national economies at a relatively fast pace,'' he said.
The Chinese official said that his country favored a nonalignment policy and the establishment of a new international economic order. China will ''always belong to the third world,'' he asserted.
An Indian spokesman said it had been decided during the talks to draw up programs for annual cultural, scientific, technological and economic exchanges.
As a gesture of good will, Mr. Huang readily granted an Indian request for access to Manasarovar Lake and Mount Kailash, both in Tibet, which are regarded by Hindus as the abode of Shiva, the god of destruction. Mr. Huang said that his country would make temporary arrangements for visits by Indian pilgrims to the holy places pending agreement on long-term facilities. | India and China announced their intention today to hold early negotiations on their long-deadlocked border dispute. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Huang Hua, said after a 70-minute meeting that they had agreed on talks at an ''appropriate level'' to try to resolve the issue. Indian officials said that the talks would be held in September with a visit by an Indian delegation to Peking. Mrs. Gandhi also said that she had accepted an invitation to visit China at a mutually convenient date. | 8.454545 | 0.979798 | 42.454545 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/31/business/advertising-studying-the-teen-market.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084652id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/31/business/advertising-studying-the-teen-market.html | ADVERTISING - STUDYING THE TEEN MARKET - NYTimes.com | 20150524084652 | A NEW Simmons survey of American teen-agers shows that only 26 percent agree with the statement that "advertising presents a true picture of products of well-known companies."
Reporting the study's findings, Edward I. Barz, senior vice president at Simmons Market Research Bureau Inc., said "I can only say that it would seem to me that there is a credibility problem in the eyes of the teen-ager with regard to advertising."
The eight-month, 48-state study, which was completed last month, also showed something of a lack of loyalty to product brands in general and a lack of enthusiasm for aspects of corporate behavior.
Designed and overseen by Mr. Barz, the copyrighted study was conducted by mail and drew responses from 1,964 young people between the ages of 12 and 19. The 895 boys and 1,069 girls, he said, came from all social classes and lived at home. Every state except Hawaii and Alaska were surveyed.
"This is really the first comprehensive survey of teen-agers that has been conducted by any firm, as far as I know, for about five years," said Mr. Barz, musing in his midtown office. A 349-page highly detailed report on the findings is just out, and two more volumes are to be published, containing information on the use of specific products and brands.
All told, 24 percent of the male respondents said they agreed with the statement that "advertising presents a true picture of products of well-known companies," the survey found, while 27 percent of the girls agreed.
As for brand loyalty in general, the teen-agers were asked whether they agreed with the premise "I always look for the name of the manufacturer on the package." Only 38 percent of all the young people said they concurred. But 42 percent of the boys did, while 34 percent of the girls did.
Reflecting on those numbers, Mr. Barz said: "The advertiser, I suspect, must concentrate more effort than perhaps he has in the past on the teen market, in order to instill a sense of brand loyalty in these consumers while they are still young - so that perhaps some of that brand loyalty will remain when they grow older."
He said that he had no explanation for the difference between the boys' and girls' percentages on this point, but that the statistical wrinkle might be related to another finding. This was that 56 percent of the girls agreed with the statement that they bought items "on the spur of the moment" when in stores, while only 46 percent of the boys did.
"So what we have is the girls being less brand-loyal and more impulsive than the boys," Mr. Barz reported, and he said he thought the data suggested that advertisers might profitably focus more of their advertising on teen-age girls.
Simmons does not have earlier, comparable statistics that might give a sense of how teen-agers' views are evolving, but Mr. Barz noted that repeated opinion soundings by William D. Wells, director of research at Needham Harper & Steers, had shown a decline in consumers' partiality to brand products in recent years.
That shrinkage was called worrisome by Rena Bartos, senior vice president at J. Walter Thompson, in this space last week. She said: "After all, the essential role of advertising is to build consumer trust in advertised brands."
In the Simmons survey, the young people did show confidence in corporations' earning power. Sixty-four percent agreed with the statement that "corporations make a big profit."
But only 35 percent endorsed the premise that "American companies produce good value for the products and services they sell," and even fewer, 24 percent, agreed that "corporations care about the people who buy the products they manufacture."
Pondering those figures, Mr. Barz said: "There's a pattern here, and I think that the pattern is not one of very positive feelings toward American business." Another display of lack of enthusiasm, he noted, was that only 43 percent of the teenagers agreed with the statement that "the American economic system is the best" compared with other countries.
"I would certainly have expected a nice majority to have answered affirmatively," he said, and he concluded that the data "suggest that either American corporations or the American educational system have their work cut out for them in education our youngesters about our economic system."
The study is a syndicated survey, which means it was underwritten by Simmons, with subscriptions being sold to media advertising agencies and advertisers. Subscription rates vary depending on the size and class of the subscriber. Magazine subscribers are required to have signed up already, but other parties are still eligible.
Illustrations: Photo of Edward I. Barz | A NEW Simmons survey of American teen-agers shows that only 26 percent agree with the statement that "advertising presents a true picture of products of well-known companies." Reporting the study's findings, Edward I. Barz, senior vice president at Simmons Market Research Bureau Inc., said "I can only say that it would seem to me that there is a credibility problem in the eyes of the teen-ager with regard to advertising." The eight-month, 48-state study, which was completed last month, also showed something of a lack of loyalty to product brands in general and a lack of enthusiasm for aspects of corporate behavior. Designed and overseen by Mr. Barz, the copyrighted study was conducted by mail and drew responses from 1,964 young people between the ages of 12 and 19. The 895 boys and 1,069 girls, he said, came from all social classes and lived at home. Every state except Hawaii and Alaska were surveyed. | 4.989305 | 0.973262 | 35.433155 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/31/realestate/company-lunchrooms-go-fancy.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524084920id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/31/realestate/company-lunchrooms-go-fancy.html | COMPANY LUNCHROOMS GO FANCY | 20150524084920 | Once relegated to basements and left-over spaces, employee eating facilities are being given greater prominence in many new office buildings in the city and the suburbs.
''It's becoming more and more the case for major corporations to address themselves to providing an improved working environment,'' said John J. Kaiser, senior vice president of Cushman & Wakefield, a leasing, sales and management organization. Such concerns, he continued, ''include almost by necessity a comfortable eating facility with reasonable rates,'' and even recreational and cultural facilities, ''after-hours bars,'' and possibly day-care centers for workers' young children.
One key reason is the competition for back-office personnel. The corporate cafeteria, according to Jerry L. Cohen of Wm. A. White & Sons, has been a ''stepchild that used to be sandwiched into the back offices,'' but companies are beginning to treat their operations personnel with more ''dignity'' and provide them with more attractive facilities.
James F. Hutton, executive assistant to the chairman of A.R.A. Services, a Philadelphia-based company that is one of the world's largest food-service organizations, said that ''more and more attention is being paid to the eating environment in offices and factories with more color'' and breaks with monotomy. Mr. Hutton said that most companies tended to follow industry patterns rather than independent approaches to the problem and that some industries, such as pharmaceuticals and insurance, were more ''benevolent'' than others, such as the automobile industry.
Corporate concern with feeding employees dates at least to the Middle Ages in England, Mr. Hutton declared, and in this country it became important in the Industrial Revolution, with the formation at the start of this century of companies to provide food services to other companies.
While companies have long recognized that internal eating facilities can eliminate or cut back on lunch excursions and possibly improve productivity, corporate cafeterias, as distinct from much smaller executive dining rooms, have been generally utilitarian and institutional.
Many companies located in central business districts have not felt obliged to provide cafeterias. A major exception, Mr. Hutton noted, has been the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which serves thousands of free meals daily from an elaborate complex in two basements of its Manhattan headquarters at Madison and 24th Street. One of the most elaborate company food facilities, it is extensively decorated with murals commissioned primarily during the Depression from such famous artists as N.C. Wyeth.
Cafeterias became a much more important employee amenity when companies moved to the suburbs and to isolated campus settings in which the workers were ''captive.''
The new facilities tend to emphasize diversity of menu, colors and seating and lounging arrangements rather than the traditional linear layout and chrome and vinyl furnishings.
Some cafeterias have become the spectacular focal design point of major new buildings such as the Irving Trust Operations Center, now under construction in lower Manhattan, and the American Telephone & Telegraph Company building in Basking Ridge, N.J.
The cafeteria in the new 23-story Irving Trust building designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will occupy the top of the east side of the building, which is divided by a blocklong atrium.
The 1,000-seat cafeteria will be 200 feet above the lobby, overlooking an atrium on the west and the city's skyline in the other directions through clerestory windows. Slanting trusses, which were originally designed to be exposed on the roof, frame the interior space of the 300-foot-long cafeteria and lounge space.
The space has 30- to 60-foot ceiling heights and it will be forested not only with trees, but also with 30 air-conditioning and heating pylons. The pylons, which will be about 10 feet high and 2 feet 3 inches in diameter, will circulate tempered air where it is needed.
David Santos, a bank spokesman, said a well-designed cafeteria was a part of a strategy to ''assist in attracting and keeping the highly skilled person who will staff the operations center.''
He said that the bank wanted to create a restful, park-like area for the employees because the building's location had been undeveloped for about 15 years and there were few regular dining facilities in the neighborhood and fewer still that were open for all its shifts. Mr. Santos said that the cafeteria, which will not be open to the public, would serve employees almost around the clock.
At the sprawling A.T.&T. facility in Basking Ridge, Vincent Kling, the architect, designed a varied, lofty space with a multitude of seating arrangements and two-story fireplaces. Observing that ''brown-baggers kind of quit a long time ago,'' Mr. Kling said that he endeavored to ''eliminate the military chow hall where even the best food tastes bad and to create an environment of diversity and interest where even a modest sandwich and a glass of milk taste better.'' | Once relegated to basements and left-over spaces, employee eating facilities are being given greater prominence in many new office buildings in the city and the suburbs. ''It's becoming more and more the case for major corporations to address themselves to providing an improved working environment,'' said John J. Kaiser, senior vice president of Cushman & Wakefield, a leasing, sales and management organization. Such concerns, he continued, ''include almost by necessity a comfortable eating facility with reasonable rates,'' and even recreational and cultural facilities, ''after-hours bars,'' and possibly day-care centers for workers' young children. One key reason is the competition for back-office personnel. The corporate cafeteria, according to Jerry L. Cohen of Wm. A. White & Sons, has been a ''stepchild that used to be sandwiched into the back offices,'' but companies are beginning to treat their operations personnel with more ''dignity'' and provide them with more attractive facilities. | 4.860825 | 0.989691 | 73.762887 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/29/nyregion/all-about-writing-according-to-irving.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524085106id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/29/nyregion/all-about-writing-according-to-irving.html | ALL ABOUT WRITING, ACCORDING TO IRVING | 20150524085106 | ''BEING a novelist,'' said John Irving, who is currently among the nation's most successful, ''is never throwing anything away.'' And being a speaker, which he also seems to do well, is describing to a Westchester audience how to transform that material into prose.
Mr. Irving's first three novels sold ''just over zilch,'' according to Eliot Fremont-Smith, a reviewer for New York magazine who introduced the novelist to a recent meeting of The Friends of the Scarsdale Library. But ''The World According to Garp,'' published in 1978, and his latest book, ''The Hotel New Hampshire,'' have made Mr. Irving a celebrity.
His handsome features have appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, and he has been interviewed and analyzed in magazines and newspapers as well as on television. That may explain why hundreds showed up for the annual lecture, and why it was held in the spacious Scarsdale High School auditorium.
And how does he go about writing his best sellers? ''I always begin at the ending,'' he said. ''I write the end of a chapter first, and the end of the book first.'' Writers, he said, ''know more about their books when they begin them than they think they know. If a writer can't see the end, I can't imagine how he can feel purposeful enough to begin.''
He illustrated that by speaking of the book he said he was ''thinking of next, a racial love story'' that also deals with a father and son. ''The son's first love affair ends unhappily,'' he said, ''and leads the father to think why there is no mother.'' Mr. Irving, speaking slowly, touched on part of the plot:
''It takes places in the 1950's, in an apple orchard in New England,'' he said. The book is tentatively called ''The Cider House Rules,'' he said. ''The cider house is where the presses are, where migrant pickers live, and they are black. They come in the fall, and then move; they seem not real.''
There are rules of conduct in the cider house, but for the blacks the rules ''seem strangely reversed,'' Mr. Irving related. ''For example, knife fighting. The best fighter will cut you badly enough to stop the fight, but not enough to send you to the hospital for stitching.''
There is another orchard, ''a baby orchard,'' he said, where the fruit has not matured enough for picking, ''from which you can see the ocean.'' But the novelist spoke of the sea ''as the absence of anything else.'' A white boy takes a black girl to the orchard; ''she's never been to the ocean, and she never gets there.''
He spoke of their relationship, and then of a visit to the same orchard by the father and son. Mr. Irving said the father then speaks of his own intimate experiences. ''I won't be able to begin that novel,'' he said, ''until I've written that scene between the father and the son.''
The 39-year-old Mr. Irving, dressed neatly but casually in jeans and open-necked shirt, spoke with deliberation, sometimes pausing for a careful phrase. He said he was ''doing some essays, some reviews, and I'm working with Twyla Tharp,'' the choreographer, ''on a ballet.''
Mr. Irving also said he has become interested in reading introductions, and recalled ''telling Kurt Vonnegut that I noticed his introductions were getting longer and his novels shorter.'' He expressed annoyance with novels that started slowly, describing one that ''began on page 48 - but then some novels don't begin at all.''
He mentioned working on the movie of ''Garp'' as ''a technical director,'' which prompted a woman in the audience to ask how he felt about the way novels change in the movie version. Mr. Irving replied that a novelist could best ensure that his work survived on the screen by helping to select the director.
It is a ''myth,'' he said, to believe that any book will be translated faithfully to the screen. In any case, he said, he was not interested in working on the transition. ''Why spend three to four years writing, and then another three or four trying to convert it to a less-perfect medium?''
He was asked, as novelists always are, if his work was autobiographical. ''The first book uses up the autobiographical material,'' he replied to laughter. ''My own life is dull, and I don't know a school as dull as the Steering School,'' the fictional prep school that T. S. Garp attends.
Ernest Hemingway, he said, was once asked if a character in one of his novels was based on a real person. Hemingway said he knew his character better, and that he was much more interesting. Mr. Irving said he was told that one of his fictional teachers ''must certainly have been based on a teacher at Exeter, but he taught there before I was born.''
Had he read any of the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, one of Scarsdale's earliest residents? The novelist said he had not: ''I read the British writers first,'' he commented, and said later that ''the British aren't writing a damned thing.'' And he had some advice for aspiring writers, as well as the students in the audience: ''Read a lot when you're young; later it becomes more selective.''
Why did he kill the mother, Mary Berry, and ''Egg,'' a young son, in his New Hampshire novel? ''They would have been in the way,'' he replied. ''The mother had a firm grip on reality, and would have known'' that the hotel was, in fact, a brothel.
For those who felt badly about their deaths, he said: ''It is gratuitous to kill people for whom you have no feeling -it is a waste of time to have an act of violence that doesn't hurt.''
Asked about the discipline of a novelist's solitary life, he said, ''Self discipline has been a pleasure for me. I was a terrible student, I had a difficult time with chores and I hated every job I ever had. To make up your own stories for a living is a real piece of cake.'' James Feron
Illustrations: photo of John Irving | ''BEING a novelist,'' said John Irving, who is currently among the nation's most successful, ''is never throwing anything away.'' And being a speaker, which he also seems to do well, is describing to a Westchester audience how to transform that material into prose. Mr. Irving's first three novels sold ''just over zilch,'' according to Eliot Fremont-Smith, a reviewer for New York magazine who introduced the novelist to a recent meeting of The Friends of the Scarsdale Library. But ''The World According to Garp,'' published in 1978, and his latest book, ''The Hotel New Hampshire,'' have made Mr. Irving a celebrity. | 9.814815 | 0.992593 | 67.985185 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/28/us/reagan-goes-to-virginia-to-aid-gop-candidate.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524085127id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/28/us/reagan-goes-to-virginia-to-aid-gop-candidate.html | REAGAN GOES TO VIRGINIA TO AID G.O.P. CANDIDATE | 20150524085127 | RICHMOND, Oct. 27— President Reagan campaigned in Virginia tonight for the faltering candidacy of state Attorney General Marshall Coleman, the first Republican gubernatorial candidate here to find himself trailing a Democrat in pre-election polls since 1969.
Mr. Coleman's opponent is Lieut. Gov. Charles S. Robb. Although Mr. Reagan sounded as though he was fighting a cold, he gave a rambling, 20-minute endorsement of Mr. Coleman, and of his proposed sale of Awacs radar planes to Saudi Arabia, which is scheduled for a vote tomorrow in the Senate.
On leaving the White House shortly before 6 o'clock tonight, Mr. Reagan was asked, ''Which is closer, Marshall Coleman's victory or Awacs?'' Mr. Reagan replied, ''On both I am cautiously optimistic,''
But here in Richmond, before a packed house, he said of Mr. Coleman, ''I am looking forward to working closely with him once he is elected Governor of Virginia.''
Need 'Right Kind of Officials'
''It isn't going to do us any good to clean up the mess in Washington unless the right kind of public officials are elected at the state level,'' the President said.
Mr. Coleman, 39 years old, also finally got a forceful, if backhanded, endorsement from the Republican-dominated ''conservative coalition'' that has selected, elected and shaped the course of the last three Republican governships.
The coalition's leader, former Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr., told about 1,000 partisans in a ballroom at the John Marshall Hotel, ''We cannot blink the way the nation would interpret a Republican defeat in Virginia.'' Such a defeat, he said, ''could only lend aid and comfort to the President's foes.''
The impact of a Coleman defeat here next Tuesday on the Republican Administration in Washington was Mr. Godwin's theme. Fears Return of 'Liberal Ways'
''Do we want to watch the chief official of our Commonwealth make common cause with Teddy Kennedy or Walter Mondale?'' the former Governor asked. ''Do we want to watch our Governor in Richmond assist the return of liberal ways to Washington?''
At the end of his remarks Mr. Godwin declared, ''This election may establish the direction of politics in Virginia for years to come.'' Of Mr. Coleman's Republican ticket, chosen at a convention last spring over Mr. Godwin's evident distress, the former Governor said that they were ''the better choices.''
Mr. Godwin, who first served as a Democratic Governor and then, after a term's absence, as a Republican Governor in the late 1950's and early 1960's, was an architect of Virginia's ''massive resistance'' strategy against school integration orders handed down by Federal courts.
His speech tonight touched on all three of the ''racist code words'' that Robb campaign spokesmen have attributed to the Coleman campaign. The former Governor said that Mr. Robb favored giving the District of Columbia, which is 70 percent black, two United States Senators. ''He would equate the sovereign state of Virginia in the United States Senate with the city of Washington, D.C.,'' Mr. Godwin said.
And he reminded his audience that the Democratic candidate supported ''postcard voter registration,'' minority quotas in disbursement of state contracts and the Federal Voting Rights Act.
Mr. Godwin's previous reluctance to strongly endorse Mr. Coleman and Mr. Robb's strategic appeal to Democratic conservatives, many of whom financed and supported the Republican takeover of this state in the 1970's, have been major factors in the Republicans' unexpected difficulties in the 1981 campaign. Lack of Sharp Differences
Some Republicans have also complained that Mr. Coleman has failed to define his differences on the issues. Mr. Robb is 42, and, like Mr. Coleman, a former marine who served in Vietnam. Mr. Robb is a son-in-law of the late President Johnson. Both men have run generally conservative campaigns.
For Mr. Coleman, the President's brief visit here was the potentially crucial redemption of a campaign pledge. An appearance by Mr. Reagan was canceled at the last moment last month when it conflicted with a television speech on Sept. 24.
But the delay, even though the White House rejected Mr. Coleman's plans for an itinerary that would have taken Mr. Reagan to Roanoke and Virginia Beach, may have been fortunate for the Republican candidate because his supporters considered the timing of the Reagan talk tonight as optimum. Coleman Trailing in Polls
Mr. Coleman has been trailing by unexpectedly large margins in polls since September: he drew only 38 percent to Mr. Robb's 47 percent in the latest survey, published Sunday by The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Strategists thus consider the last-minute benediction of Mr. Reagan unquestionably more useful than it would have been earlier.
Mr. Coleman's public forgiveness tonight by Mr. Godwin was also a substantial development. Mr. Godwin's own choice as the Republican nominee earlier this year was bumped by the young, fast-rising Attorney General.
Until tonight, Mr. Godwin, Virginia's ''Mr. Republican,'' had given only an unenthusiastic endorsement to his party's ticket as a whole, without ever mentioning Mr. Coleman. | President Reagan campaigned in Virginia tonight for the faltering candidacy of state Attorney General Marshall Coleman, the first Republican gubernatorial candidate here to find himself trailing a Democrat in pre-election polls since 1969. Mr. Coleman's opponent is Lieut. Gov. Charles S. Robb. Although Mr. Reagan sounded as though he was fighting a cold, he gave a rambling, 20-minute endorsement of Mr. Coleman, and of his proposed sale of Awacs radar planes to Saudi Arabia, which is scheduled for a vote tomorrow in the Senate. On leaving the White House shortly before 6 o'clock tonight, Mr. Reagan was asked, ''Which is closer, Marshall Coleman's victory or Awacs?'' Mr. Reagan replied, ''On both I am cautiously optimistic,'' But here in Richmond, before a packed house, he said of Mr. Coleman, ''I am looking forward to working closely with him once he is elected Governor of Virginia.'' | 5.538462 | 0.967033 | 30.604396 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/29/sports/no-headline-070738.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524085327id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/29/sports/no-headline-070738.html | No Headline - NYTimes.com | 20150524085327 | CINCINNATI, Oct. 28 (UPI) - Coach Ed Biles of the Houston Oilers said he was sure that Ken Stabler had been ''scarred'' by events in the wake of articles in The New York Times that reported a link between the quarterback and Nicholas Dudich, whom law-enforcement authorities have identified as a well-known gambler.
''He won't admit that it's affected him,'' Biles said by telephone to reporters in Cincinnati, where the Oilers play Sunday, ''and outwardly it hasn't.
But I'm sure he's got some scars on the inside from it.'' Biles said fans had been yelling such things at Stabler as, ''Is the fix on?'' or ''How many interceptions you going to throw today?'' or ''What's the point spread?''
''All that kind of garbage talk,'' said Biles. ''You certainly don't like to walk into a stadium and hear some people yelling and screaming that type of stuff. He has handled all of that extremely well. But, you know, he's a human being, and none of us like to have something like that said about us.'' | Stabler Upset, Coach Says CINCINNATI, Oct. 28 (UPI) - Coach Ed Biles of the Houston Oilers said he was sure that Ken Stabler had been ''scarred'' by events in the wake of articles in The New York Times that reported a link between the quarterback and Nicholas Dudich, whom law-enforcement authorities have identified as a well-known gambler. ''He won't admit that it's affected him,'' Biles said by telephone to reporters in Cincinnati, where the Oilers play Sunday, ''and outwardly it hasn't. | 2.175926 | 0.962963 | 51.148148 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/25/arts/antiques-the-ancient-glass-treasures-of-israel.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524085902id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/25/arts/antiques-the-ancient-glass-treasures-of-israel.html | Antiques - THE ANCIENT GLASS TREASURES OF ISRAEL - NYTimes.com | 20150524085902 | Two of the finest ancient glass collections formed in this century are found not far from where much of the glass originated - at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and at the Museum Haaretz, in Ramat-Aviv outside of Tel Aviv. Both were formed by men who became connoisseurs and deeply interested in the evolution of the material in antiquity.
The nucleus of the collection at the Israel Museum was acquired by Eliyahu Dobkin, after the Russian-born Israeli had emigrated to Palestine in 1932. From the late 1930's through the late 1950's he served in and then headed the department of Immigration of the Jewish Agency, an organization that promotes immigration to Israel. He later became involved internationally in fund raising for Israeli causes.
Although Mr. Dobkin traveled extensively, he bought most of his glass in Israel. When he began collecting 50 years ago, the interest in ancient glass was not nearly as widespread as it became in the 1970's. Many of the greatest collections in today's museums were being formed then by men who were attracted to these antiquities because of an interest in the esthetics of glass. Mr. Dobkin claimed he was not. Rather, he used to say, he became involved because the craft was native to the area he had chosen as his home - the land now called Israel. And he frequently stressed that glassmaking was always ''an outstanding achievement of Jewish artisans.''
Indeed, most emanantes from Eretz Israel, the term by which Jews referred to the land now known as Israel. References to Jewish glassmakers are found in the Talmud. It was known that glassmakers flourished in Jewish Jerusalem and around Tyre around 70 A.D. as well as in the 14th century (A.D.) in Beit Shearim. Jews were also prominent in introducing the craft in Europe, assisting in its development in Venice. According to a spokesman for the Israel Museum, Mr. Dobkin liked to remind those viewing his collection that it was a 19th-century Jew returning from Venice who started the glass industry in Arab Hebron, bringing the craft full circle.
Several years before his death in 1976, Mr. Dobkin gave his collection of about 700 objects to the Israel Museum. Now most of his treasures - about 80 percent of the museum's 1,000 pieces -are on view in an impressive two-year-old glass pavilion, the gift of Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff of Baltimore. The selection also includes glass objects from the collection of Teddy Kollek, the Mayor of Jerusalem and board chairman of the museum. And it will soon grow again with the addition in August of 300 additional glass objects assembled over the last 25 years by Hans Cohn, a Los Angeles investment banker, in his travels to Egypt, Iran, Switzerland, England, Germany, and the United States. Mr. Cohn's collection will be on permanent loan to the museum.
All of the museum's glass objects are being documented by Yael Israeli, the curator and an outstanding scholar in the field, in a definitive catalogue that will be published later this year. No book will, however, suffice in getting to know this splendid collection, which is arranged in open displays and lighted to dramatize the primitive shapes, the fragility of the material, the extraordinary patterns created by molds or extravagant plays of color.
At the Museum Haaretz, the same level of excellence is evident in the collection of the late Walter Moses, a German-born Israeli cigarette manufacturer. But the design of the displays is dramatically different. Mr. Moses assembled a few thousand examples of ancient glass from the early 1930's until his death in Israel in 1955. The collection then became the basis for the Museum Haaretz collection, a glass museum which opened in 1959. The comprehensive assemblage includes excellent historic examples and an abundance of superb pieces, all of which are arranged in vitrines and small show cases to teach viewers about both the history and techniques of glassmaking. It is an intimate, highly satisfying experience perusing these displays.
Great care has been taken to explain what glass is and how it was crafted down through the ages. Visitors see, for example, how the earliest glass vessels were made by the ancient Phoenicians who probably took coils of molten glass and swung them around a core of pottery or other material which was was broken and removed after the glass had first become viscous and then congealed into a hard solid. Such glass objects are, more often than not, small, opaque vessels devised as imitations of alabaster, jasper, agate and other semiprecious stones, and made mostly for holding perfumes and ointments.
Each of the museums' assemblages have examples dating to the 14th century B.C. in Mesopotamia, where glass was first produced, through the Islamic period of the 14th century A.D. Rare though these objects are, they are far less magical than the mass-produced examples of blown Roman glass which are frequently rich in iridescence, primitive in their shaping and alive with textures.
Although glass antiquities sell in shops and at auction today for hundreds, or many thousands of dollars, most works were available at modest prices of less than $100 when these collections were formed. This is especially true of the Roman period, when blowing turned glass into a mass produced commodity. The period - from the first century B.C. to the second century A.D. - also inspired the artisans to invent new shapes, colors and textures in glass, many of which cannot be repeated today. One example, a Roman glass cage-cup, commanded the highest price ever for an antiquity when it was sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet in London in 1979 for $1,081,600. The bowl-like glass vessel is framed at the base with an intricate interlacing of glass threads that defies technical explanation. | Two of the finest ancient glass collections formed in this century are found not far from where much of the glass originated - at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and at the Museum Haaretz, in Ramat-Aviv outside of Tel Aviv. Both were formed by men who became connoisseurs and deeply interested in the evolution of the material in antiquity. The nucleus of the collection at the Israel Museum was acquired by Eliyahu Dobkin, after the Russian-born Israeli had emigrated to Palestine in 1932. From the late 1930's through the late 1950's he served in and then headed the department of Immigration of the Jewish Agency, an organization that promotes immigration to Israel. He later became involved internationally in fund raising for Israeli causes. | 7.92029 | 0.992754 | 68.297101 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/01/business/travel-agents-fearful-on-deregulation-move.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524102351id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/01/business/travel-agents-fearful-on-deregulation-move.html | TRAVEL AGENTS FEARFUL ON DEREGULATION MOVE | 20150524102351 | WASHINGTON, May 27— Andy J. Spielman, vice president of the Waters Travel Service, which has operated here since the 1930's, has watched the travel agency business grow to become what he describes as ''the best system in the world.''
Now he and thousands of other travel agents worry that the Civil Aeronautics Board, after a three-year study of how their industry functions, may decide to deregulate it. If that happens, they fear the same sort of upheaval that accompanied deregulation of the trucking industry and the airline industry.
The possibility of letting supermarkets, drugstores or banks sell airline tickets seems horrendous to some of the nation's 18,800 travel agents. Aside from airlines, they are now virtually the only ones selling tickets.
Many travel agents also fear that the C.A.B. may abolish the need for them to be accredited by the Air Traffic Conference of America, a division of the Air Transport Association of America, an airline industry trade group. Without such accreditation, Mr. Spielman warned, ''we could have a lot of bucket shop operators.''
But other people - including some in corporate travel departments, economists and Justice Department officials - argue that the 1978 deregulation of airlines has made the present structure of the travel agency business obsolete. They contend that it was able to evolve the way it did only because of antitrust immunity granted by the C.A.B. that is not available to most other industries.
Allowing more people to handle airline travel arrangements, these critics insist, would bring greater fairness to the travel field and could mean savings to customers.
In any case, the present system could be allowed to prove itself on a competitive basis, said Marvin Cohen, who was chairman of the C.A.B. when its study began. ''If travel agents are the best way to do it,'' he said in an interview, ''then that's the way it's going to continue to be done.''
The project that has caused all the turmoil is officially known as ''Investigation Into Competitive Marketing of Air Transportation,'' and it was instituted by the C.A.B. in September 1979. The key issue is whether to continue the antitrust immunity that has allowed travel agents to act in concert through the Air Traffic Conference for the last 35 years. Preliminary Decision Due
Ronnie A. Yoder, an administrative law judge for the C.A.B., is scheduled to release on Tuesday his preliminary decision on whether the present system should be changed. It draws on 11 months of hearings that produced 16,000 pages of testimony. Although his decision will not bind the C.A.B. in any way - the board has often ignored its judges' recommendations -travel agents will regard it as an important sign of what their future may bring.
Most people involved in the case say antitrust immunity is the foundation on which most of the present structure of the travel agency business rests. If that is changed, they add, then the whole system could be in jeopardy.
Jerome F. Huisentruit, assistant general counsel for the Air Transportation Association, said in an interview that without antitrust immunity the airlines would probably abandon the Air Traffic Conference because they would feel vulnerable to antitrust challenges.
The C.A.B. began its investigation because the airline deregulation act ordered the board to seek to promote competition. The C.A.B. also was given a mandate to review whether the current marketing system is still the best way of serving the public and whether its antitrust immunity ought to be preserved. How Travel Agents Operate
The present system replaced one in which each airline recruited people of its own to act as agents.
Through the Air Traffic Conference, a single pattern of accreditation was set up for the industry. Travel agents had to meet experience requirements and had to post an initial bond (now $10,000) to go into business. In return, agents got the right to sell airline tickets, collecting commissions (now roughly 10 percent of the ticket price) and receiving some free plane travel.
With 597 travel agents in 1945, the industry began to grow. In recent years, it has expanded at an average rate of 20 percent annually. Since 1968, the proportion of plane tickets that agents handle has jumped to nearly 65 percent of total sales, from 33 percent.
Some of this growth has been due to deregulation of the airline industry. The plethora of special discount fares spawned by deregulation has led many customers to seek the help of travel agents in figuring out the best deal.
The Air Traffic Conference argues that the present system serves the public well because all travel agents have access to all flights, regardless of airline. Interlining - being able to travel by different airlines on the same ticket - has become normal. The Air Traffic Conference and the agents have set up a clearinghouse to settle accounts between the agents and the airlines. Efficient Service Recalled
The Air Traffic Conference and the American Society of Travel Agents, which represents about 10,000 agents, argue that the C.A.B.should not tamper with a system that has performed efficiently for many years. | Andy J. Spielman, vice president of the Waters Travel Service, which has operated here since the 1930's, has watched the travel agency business grow to become what he describes as ''the best system in the world.'' Now he and thousands of other travel agents worry that the Civil Aeronautics Board, after a three-year study of how their industry functions, may decide to deregulate it. If that happens, they fear the same sort of upheaval that accompanied deregulation of the trucking industry and the airline industry. The possibility of letting supermarkets, drugstores or banks sell airline tickets seems horrendous to some of the nation's 18,800 travel agents. Aside from airlines, they are now virtually the only ones selling tickets. | 6.878571 | 0.985714 | 46.542857 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/06/opinion/governors-against-crime.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524104401id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/06/opinion/governors-against-crime.html | Governors Against Crime | 20150524104401 | A Firm Hand in Albany
Though New Yorkers seem more anxious about crime than ever, Governor Carey resisted the temptation to exploit their feelings in his crime message this week. He reiterated his principled opposition to the death penalty and spelled out sound programs to fight crime and provide relief to the state's crowded prisons. He also offered serious money - $77 million for prisons and a $34.2 million Public Safety Improvement Fund - plus a commitment to better management of criminal justice.
For all this, the message offers no dramatic answers. But that is its virtue. There are no sure ways to cut crime; responsible politicians have to focus on those that seem effective and hope for the best. After recent experiments in New York City, more efficient prosecution of repeat offenders looks promising. The Governor would offer localities money to expand and extend the program to transit crime.
The problems of the prison system, which consumes more than threequarters of the billion-dollar criminal justice budget, are clearer. Last November a prison bond issue failed by a slim majority. Now the Governor offers a sensible alternative: money for some construction and programs to conserve costly prison space.
Technical fixes would free hundreds of prison cells a year. These include finding housing and jobs for paroled inmates, so that they don't have to stay in prison beyond parole dates, and finding halfway houses for released inmates who commit minor violations of parole.
Other proposals also focus on alternatives to confinement. A $2 million program would encourage sentences that combine service to the community with restitution payments. An extra $1.8 million would expand a program that frees convicts under ''intensive supervision.'' The most intriguing of the Governor's proposals would combine intensive supervision with increased reimbursment to counties for probation costs.
Mr. Carey's measures show one benefit of his decison not to run for another term. His aides acknowledge that his crime program might have looked different if he were preoccupied with voter passions instead of the true needs of the criminal justice system. He deserves credit for keeping a firm hand on crime policy. | A Firm Hand in Albany Though New Yorkers seem more anxious about crime than ever, Governor Carey resisted the temptation to exploit their feelings in his crime message this week. He reiterated his principled opposition to the death penalty and spelled out sound programs to fight crime and provide relief to the state's crowded prisons. He also offered serious money - $77 million for prisons and a $34.2 million Public Safety Improvement Fund - plus a commitment to better management of criminal justice. | 4.406593 | 0.989011 | 79.67033 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/06/us/briefing-201464.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524104457id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/06/us/briefing-201464.html | BRIEFING - NYTimes.com | 20150524104457 | W ITH friends like these ... Some of Pre sident Reagan's most fervent supporters are about to issue some un usual and biting criticisms of the Administration's armscontrol polic ies. Asserting that Carter ''holdovers'' and ''careerists' ' are ''conducting business as usual'' at the Arms Control and D isarmament Agency, the conservative Heritage Foundation says, essenti ally, that the department shows evidence of ''no commitment'' at all to the President's program. The agency head, Eugene V. Ros tow, is labeled a ''long-time Democrat.''
The still-unreleased report by the research foundation, which assisted the President's transition effort and is a touchstone of conservative thinking, cites more than a dozen key agency officials who are ''Carter holdovers,'' and blames Robert Grey, the acting director, for their appointments. In the report, Mr. Grey, a career Foreign Service officer and former aide to Senator Alan Cranston, the liberal California Democrat, defends the appointments of career professionals and says they work hard to fulfill President Reagan's mandate.
But the report says: ''Contrary to Grey's assertions, the Rostow A.C.D.A. appointees in general have demonstrated that they have no commitment to executing the President's mandate even when given direct orders in a particular area.'' Specifically, the report says that President Reagan's campaign pledge to fully investigate possible arms control violations by the Soviet Union and to make verification of the number of weapons a key part of arms control policy has been ''resisted'' by A.C.D.A. staff.
''To place careerists into positions where policy is formulated to translate electoral mandate into action is a great mistake,'' says the report.
An A.C.D.A. spokesman said the agency had not seen the Heritage report and would not comment on it.
I T was a luncheon speech delivered by Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan, who was discussing the Administration's proposal to withhold as taxes 5 percent of dividend and interest income. He was especially caustic about critics of the plan.
''Well, now, they all trot out the little old ladies who are getting just a little amount of interest, and why should we big bullies go after her and keep her money away from her,'' said the 63-year-old Mr. Regan, warming up to the subject.
''Well, I'm not so young myself so I can talk about old ladies, and some of them look young to me,'' said Mr. Regan, as the audience laughed. Except for one woman on the dais, lips pursed, frowning, who sat behind Mr. Regan.
It was Ann Regan, the Treasury Secretary's wife.
I T'S not discussed in polite conversation. Visible all over town, of course, but too painful (too close to the bone) to comprehend. Burnout. ''It's not just someone who's over 45 and on the skids, knows he won't be vice president of the company,'' said Paul O. Radde, a management consultant and Ph.D. who is holding a series of seminars today on ''professional burnout.''
''It's a professional cycle of disenchantment,'' he added, ''a downward spiral in a relationship. The relationship could be with your job, your mate, your house, your wardrobe. Either you're unable to negotiate in that relationship, or your expectations exceed what is available in that relationship.''
Mr. Radde, who has lectured on burnout before Congressional staff members (''especially prone to burnout''), women's groups, Air Force personnel and businessmen, said tickets had been selling briskly for his two seminars at a hotel in Rosslyn, Va., near Washington. S eminarfee: $35.
Mr. Radde said that the burnout problem was fairly worrisome in the capital. ''People come to Washington just out of graduate school with unrealistic expectations of the future,'' said Mr. Radde. ''There are lawyers on the make, high achievers, who hit burnout early. On the other hand, we get ex-teachers, burnt out, people from Altoona, Pa., or wherever, looking for something else. People have no family here, no close friends. A lot of transience. A lot of burnout.''
Mr. Radde's seminars include an analysis that seeks to define burnout, assess susceptibility to it and, perhaps most important of all, attempts to ''identify your current stage of burnout.'' Francis X. Clines Bernard Weinraub | W ITH friends like these ... Some of Pre sident Reagan's most fervent supporters are about to issue some un usual and biting criticisms of the Administration's armscontrol polic ies. Asserting that Carter ''holdovers'' and ''careerists' ' are ''conducting business as usual'' at the Arms Control and D isarmament Agency, the conservative Heritage Foundation says, essenti ally, that the department shows evidence of ''no commitment'' at all to the President's program. The agency head, Eugene V. Ros tow, is labeled a ''long-time Democrat.'' The still-unreleased report by the research foundation, which assisted the President's transition effort and is a touchstone of conservative thinking, cites more than a dozen key agency officials who are ''Carter holdovers,'' and blames Robert Grey, the acting director, for their appointments. In the report, Mr. Grey, a career Foreign Service officer and former aide to Senator Alan Cranston, the liberal California Democrat, defends the appointments of career professionals and says they work hard to fulfill President Reagan's mandate. | 4.166667 | 0.990476 | 97.47619 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/08/world/head-of-warsaw-university-loses-post.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524104907id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/08/world/head-of-warsaw-university-loses-post.html | HEAD OF WARSAW UNIVERSITY LOSES POST | 20150524104907 | WARSAW, April 7— The rector of Warsaw University lost his position today, raising fears in the academic community that martial-law authorities might intrude into university life.
The rector, or president, Henryk Samsonowicz, is a renowned medieval historian who became head of the 16,000-student university during a surge of campus liberalization touched off by the Solidarity labor union. A long-time Communist Party member until he was expelled two months ago, Professor Samsonowicz was reliably reported to have refused to subject the faculty to a purge, or ''ideological verification,'' after martial law was imposed Dec. 13.
No reason for his departure was given, and it has not yet been announced in the Polish press. A member of the rector's staff said only that his resignation had been accepted in a letter received today from the Minister of Science, Higher Education and Technology, Benon Miskiewicz. The resignation was apparently submitted in January when he was resisting the demands for verification.
Until now personnel at the universities have been relatively untouched by martial law. By and large they have escaped the dismissals and demotions that fell, for example, upon journalists who were independent or too closely identified with Solidarity. But with the hard-liners in the Communist Party raising a cry for orthodoxy in all spheres of life, some scholars belive that the situation will not last long. 'Ideological Verification'
Already there are reports of ''ideological verifications'' at publishing houses and various specialized institutes, but it is not yet clear whther they are numerous enough to constitute a centrally directed purge.
In response to student demands for liberalization, rectors at the nine state universities were elected last year by faculty senates. Until today, all of these rectors and deans had retained their positions, except for the rector of Poznan University, who was dismissed after the police broke up an anti-government demonstration in that city Feb. 13. The rector who replaced him, however, Zbigniew Radwanski, was also regarded as a liberal and had been the runner-up in the contest for the office, and so the incident did not arouse widespread concern.
Professor Samsonowicz was appointed rector in September, 1980, and then elected to the position in October 1981. He was a supporter of Solidarity and also of the independent students' association, which was dissolved by martial law authorities. He was active in mediating campus disputes through the Polish Rectors' Conference, an organization of university heads formed last year that was independent of the authorities.
Last March, Professor Samsonowicz was a main speaker at a university rally to commemorate student and faculty victims of police repression and official purges in March, 1968. A longtime party member and a proponent of liberalization, he lost his party card two months ago, reportedly at the instigation of Stanislaw Kociolek, the conservative Warsaw party leader. At the time Mr. Kociolek insisted that he be dismissed as rector.
Professor Samsonowicz attended a long meeting devoted to questions of policy and ideology in higher education at the Central Committee headqraters on Monday.
''The big question is who fired him and why,'' said one Western diplomat. ''He had longtime enemies in the party organization. Or is it the beginning of a general purge in the universities? It's too early to tell. '' | The rector of Warsaw University lost his position today, raising fears in the academic community that martial-law authorities might intrude into university life. The rector, or president, Henryk Samsonowicz, is a renowned medieval historian who became head of the 16,000-student university during a surge of campus liberalization touched off by the Solidarity labor union. A long-time Communist Party member until he was expelled two months ago, Professor Samsonowicz was reliably reported to have refused to subject the faculty to a purge, or ''ideological verification,'' after martial law was imposed Dec. 13. | 5.788991 | 0.990826 | 66.880734 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/13/us/us-requires-toxic-waste-sites-to-be-insured.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524105727id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/13/us/us-requires-toxic-waste-sites-to-be-insured.html | U.S. REQUIRES TOXIC WASTE SITES TO BE INSURED | 20150524105727 | WASHINGTON, April 12— The Environmental Protection Agency said today that an estimated 10,000 hazardous waste facilities would be required to get liability insurance covering property damage and injuries resulting from chemical accidents.
The agency, reversing a preliminary decision made last fall, said that facilities would have 90 days to get $1 million in liability insurance for such sudden accidents as explosions. Insurance will also be required for what the agency termed ''non-sudden accidental occurrences,'' or leaks of toxic chemicals that could slowly poison people living nearby. But those regulations will be introduced over a three-year period.
Similar insurance regulations were pending last year, but the agency said in October that it was planning to withdraw them. The announcement met a storm of protest.
''We felt it was a state issue,'' Rita Lavelle, an Assistant Administrator of the agency, said today. ''But, frankly, the testimony came in otherwise.''
She said public comment on the subject had been nearly unanimous in favor of requiring insurance for hazardous waste sites. Rules Were Strongly Supported
Anne M. Gorsuch, the agency's administrator, said in a written statement that the insurance requirements ''have been asked for by state agencies, the regulated industry and the general public.''
Under the rules, to be published in the Federal Register this week, liability coverage for sudden accidents will have to be in place by mid-July.
The minimum coverage will be $1 million per accident and $2 million per year. Large companies could satisfy the requirement by showing they have financial assets sufficient to meet claims, including at least $10 million in net worth.
Slow leaking of chemicals from landfills and other disposal sites that could poison water supplies would have to be covered by insurance of at least $3 million per incident or $6 million annually.
Companies doing more than $10 million in business annually would be required to have that insurance by next January. Concerns with $5 million to $10 million of business a year must have coverage by January 1984, and smaller operators must have the coverage by January 1985.
John Skinner, director of state programs in the Environmental Protection Agency's solid waste office, said that 39 insurance companies now offered coverage for hazards relating to chemical wastes and that disposal companies should have no trouble getting coverage. | The Environmental Protection Agency said today that an estimated 10,000 hazardous waste facilities would be required to get liability insurance covering property damage and injuries resulting from chemical accidents. The agency, reversing a preliminary decision made last fall, said that facilities would have 90 days to get $1 million in liability insurance for such sudden accidents as explosions. Insurance will also be required for what the agency termed ''non-sudden accidental occurrences,'' or leaks of toxic chemicals that could slowly poison people living nearby. But those regulations will be introduced over a three-year period. | 4.174312 | 0.990826 | 64.073394 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/15/world/argentina-concentrates-on-a-defensive-strategy.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524110056id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/15/world/argentina-concentrates-on-a-defensive-strategy.html | ARGENTINA CONCENTRATES ON A DEFENSIVE STRATEGY | 20150524110056 | BUENOS AIRES, April 14— With a powerful British flotilla heading toward the Falkland Islands, Argentina has adopted an essentially defensive strategy of exploiting air superiority, access to the front and, above all, time.
''Each day that passes, even the days that have passed so far, are in our favor,'' said one colonel, sketching the advantages of the nation's 185,500-member armed forces over the approaching task force. ''England is 14,000 kilometers away, and when the fleet gets here it will still be 14,000 kilometers away.''
Since Argentine commandos seized the Falklands from a light British garrison on April 2, at least 8,000 troops have reportedly been airlifted from the mainland and are said to be entrenched on the wind-swept archipelago 250 miles off the coast.
According to a Western military attache, the occupying Argentine forces swiftly extended the commercial runway at Stanley to accommodate the 30 Mirage fighter-bombers that are the backbone of the air force. Prepared for a Long Siege
''Air superiority will be on the side of the Argentines until the British can destroy the runway,'' the attache said. The Mirages operate out of the southern mainland base of Rio Gallegos. Refueling at Stanley, the attache said, considerably extends their flying time over the South Atlantic. The French-built Mirages are a match for the Harrier vertical takeoff jets borne by the two British aircraft carriers in the task force.
Even if the British neutralize the Stanley airfield, a steady air bridge from the southern coastal city of Comodoro Rivadavia is believed to have brought in enough food and ammunition to the Falklands for a long siege. The Argentines seem to discount the possibility of a frontal assault on the Falklands, which would risk the lives and property of the roughly 1,800 British citizens living there.
While moving aggressively to secure the archipelago, the Argentines have shown extreme caution over a British naval blockade within 200-miles of the Falklands and the outlying dependencies of South Georgia Island and the South Sandwich Islands. Britain has threatened to sink any Argentine vessel in the zone, and at least two British nuclearpowered submarines are reported to be in the area. Ready to Sail, but in Port
To bolster morale, Adm. Jorge Isaac Anaya, the Argentine Navy commander, declared Tuesday that his men were ''ready to set to sea,'' but in fact the bulk of the fleet remains moored at Puerto Belgrano in the Bahia Blanca district about 375 miles south of here.
Two small coast guard cutters, each carrying about 16 men, were reported today to have successfully run the blockade, but it seemed unlikely that submarines would attempt to sink such small craft.
By remaining in port, the navy is avoiding a military incident that could sabotage the efforts of Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. to find a way for negotiations to end the Falklands crisis. There is little doubt here, however, that Argentina will deploy the navy in case of hostilities, relying heavily on two modern British-built destroyers and three new French-made corvettes with sophisticated ship-to-ship missiles.
''The navy is good at the level of individuals, it has good officers, disciplined, well trained,'' one European military attache said. ''The Argentine Navy should lose to the British, but it will not be crushed. One of its problems if it sails is that it might not get back -if the British blockade Puerto Belgrano,'' the only major naval port. What Britain Might Do
The military is hotly debating what the British task force will do when it arrives off the Falklands in perhaps a week, particularly if the Argentine Navy does not immediately engage it. One theory is that the British might seize South Georgia, a mountainous, glacier-strewn island 800 miles east-southeast of the Falklands where the Argentines have only a small contingent of troops.
It is widely accepted here that Argentina would not make a significant effort to hold South Georgia against a determined assault. A British foothold there would help morale at home and could become a springboard from which to organize a more serious siege of the Falklands.
Another uncertainty is how Argentina would perform in a war with the British. Argentina has not been at war in this century, and the only ''combat'' experience Argentine officers have had was in the repression of leftist urban guerrillas from 1976 to 1979.
But Argentina's greatest asset, in the view of many military men, is the distance from Britain and the consequent difficulty the British would have projecting their naval power in a long confrontation. ''The Argentine military posture is now completely defensive,'' another European attache commented. ''And time, in military terms, is on their side. They're not offering any targets.''
Illustrations: photo of Argentine soldiers at lunch photo of Argentine Mirage jet fighter | With a powerful British flotilla heading toward the Falkland Islands, Argentina has adopted an essentially defensive strategy of exploiting air superiority, access to the front and, above all, time. ''Each day that passes, even the days that have passed so far, are in our favor,'' said one colonel, sketching the advantages of the nation's 185,500-member armed forces over the approaching task force. ''England is 14,000 kilometers away, and when the fleet gets here it will still be 14,000 kilometers away.'' Since Argentine commandos seized the Falklands from a light British garrison on April 2, at least 8,000 troops have reportedly been airlifted from the mainland and are said to be entrenched on the wind-swept archipelago 250 miles off the coast. | 6.441379 | 0.986207 | 50.462069 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/14/travel/a-sense-of-place-and-glory.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524110219id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/14/travel/a-sense-of-place-and-glory.html | A SENSE OF PLACE AND GLORY | 20150524110219 | HERBERT MITGANG, a cultural correspondent for The Times and a Lincoln biographer, is author of the play, ''Mister Lincoln,'' published this week by Southern Illinois University Press. By HERBERT MITGANG
In one of his memorable phrases, Lincoln said: ''We cannot escape history.'' On a journey of Lincoln discovery, it is useful to go to the taproots. They exist: in places on the land, in language that cannot be bulldozed by time, especially in the informed imagination.
So many locales call up Lincoln, so many documents, so many fine biographies written with particular insight by Midwesterners - Benjamin Thomas, Carl Sandburg, James Randall, Paul Angle, Allan Nevins on the o rdeal of the Union, Bruce Catton on the wartime Commander in Chief and the war itself. Their books can be the Baedekers of Lincoln exploration, the tinder to set the mind aflame. And before st arting out, look at some of the Lincoln writings (he happened to b e the best writer who ever lived in the White House, hiswords all han dwrought, without ghosts or flacks); he knew how to use the semicolon , which he called ''a helpful little critter.''
Lincoln traces can be found in a half-dozen states - from lands in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, where his ancestors lived in Colonial times, to Kentucky and Indiana, where he was born and grew up, to the villages and courthouse towns in Illinois where he served as a legislator and practiced law for most of his adult life, and even to New York, where he made one of his memorable visits that historians - and Lincoln himself - said helped to bring him the nomination for President.
The journey can begin in the existing Great Hall of Cooper Institute (now Cooper Union) on East Seventh Street in Manhattan. One can imagine Lincoln arriving in New York on Saturday, Feb. 25, 1860, two days before his scheduled talk, buying the papers, and discovering that he was not speaking at Plymouth Church on Orange Street, in Brooklyn, but at the new hall in New York - a bigger national forum.
On Monday, Lincoln makes a historic stop at a photographic studio on Bleecker Street. Here, for the first time he faces the camera of Mathew B. Brady. Brady asks him to pull up his collar for a picture and an amused Lincoln says, ''I see you want to shorten my neck.'' Lincoln poses, one hand on a book, and looks straight into Brady's camera, his face a future monument.
In this hall, where a visitor can still sit, 1,500 people turned up who paid 25 cents each to hear Lincoln. With his speech on a lectern, he repeats his arguments against the exten- sion of slavery into Federal territories. The audience hears a speech that is rooted in the Constitution, a lawyer's brief. Except for the sound of his voice, the only noise in the hall comes from the gentle sizzling of the gaslights.
The speech gains three rousing cheers; the powerful New York Republic ans recognize that this Westerner is no country bumpkin but asophisticated lawyer - Presidential timber fo r next summer's convention. The Brady photograph is widely re produced and later, speaking of his New York visit, Lincoln says: ''Brady and the Cooper Institute made me President.''
Heading westward, another mark on a Lincoln journey: Gettysburg. Here, too, one gains a double vision, following the battle and then standing on the spot where Lincoln made his Address. The Pennsylvania battleground and the long-remembered words must be linked. The licensed park guides here know all the grisly details; but the silences are more eloquent for a visitor in search of Lincoln. To me Gettysburg is a great anti-militarist, anti-generalship statement. Others may call it ''the high-water mark of the Confederacy.'' I prefer Carl Sandburg's blunt crack: ''The chivalry versus the shovelry.''
Because Gen. Robert E. Lee got this far north and then Gen. George Gordon Meade allowed the defeated Confederates to escape and prolong the war, both generals can be considered vainglorious losers. If you stand on the Union position at Cemetery Ridge and look down the throats of Confederate Gen. George Pickett's men in gray making a frontal charge against the Union center, you see not just a battlefield for Lincoln's eloquence but a deadly meat grinder. Going beyond the musketry, no one has ever put it better than Bruce Catton in ''Gettysburg: The Final Fury:''
There it was, for the last time in this war, perhaps for the last time anywhere, the fearful pageantry and the color of war in the old style, beautiful and majestic and hideous; fighting men lined up in double and triple ranks, a solid mile from flank to flank, slashed red flags overhead, sunlight gleaming off polished musket barrels - the flower of Lee's army coming forward, unhurried, for the great test that would determine whether there would hereafter be one nation or two between Canada and the Rio Grande ...and whether Americans on American soil could continue to own other men and women, or be owned by them, as cattle and horses are owned. Afterward, if you don't walk among the gravestones, you will miss the point of the Gettysburg Address. For Lincoln, arguing against military glory, once called it ''that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood, that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy.'' | HERBERT MITGANG, a cultural correspondent for The Times and a Lincoln biographer, is author of the play, ''Mister Lincoln,'' published this week by Southern Illinois University Press. By HERBERT MITGANG In one of his memorable phrases, Lincoln said: ''We cannot escape history.'' On a journey of Lincoln discovery, it is useful to go to the taproots. They exist: in places on the land, in language that cannot be bulldozed by time, especially in the informed imagination. So many locales call up Lincoln, so many documents, so many fine biographies written with particular insight by Midwesterners - Benjamin Thomas, Carl Sandburg, James Randall, Paul Angle, Allan Nevins on the o rdeal of the Union, Bruce Catton on the wartime Commander in Chief and the war itself. Their books can be the Baedekers of Lincoln exploration, the tinder to set the mind aflame. And before st arting out, look at some of the Lincoln writings (he happened to b e the best writer who ever lived in the White House, hiswords all han dwrought, without ghosts or flacks); he knew how to use the semicolon , which he called ''a helpful little critter.'' | 4.557447 | 0.991489 | 99.017021 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/16/nyregion/notes-on-people-campaign-ruled-out.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524110459id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/16/nyregion/notes-on-people-campaign-ruled-out.html | NOTES ON PEOPLE - Campaign Ruled Out - NYTimes.com | 20150524110459 | A follow-up: He switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, he took a close look at a new Congressional district in his native San Diego and now Richard Morefield has made up his mind. He will not be a candidate for the House this year.
A 52-year-old former hostage in Iran, Mr. Morefield had been urged to make the race by Republican leaders in California, but in a telephone interview on Sunday he said he had ruled out a campaign, at least for the present.
''Personal circumstances,'' he said, ''have convinced me that it is inappropriate for me to become a candidate at this time.'' Mr. Morefield, who underwent eye surgery last month, had been Consul General in Teheran at the time of the takeover of the American Embassy in 1979. Giraffe Given to Zoo Is a Living Memorial Giraffe Is a Memorial
When 5-month-old Matthew Ray Fuerst died of infant death syndrome, a mysterious ailment that claims apparently healthy younsters in their sleep, his parents had him buried with the stuffed giraffe that had been his first toy.
Now, five years after their son's death, Michael and Marsha Fuerst have donated a real giraffe to the Los Angeles Zoo as a living memorial to little Matthew Ray.
About 500 friends and relatives, including Matthew Ray's two brothers and two sisters, joined the couple on Saturday when the 10-foot-tall Masai giraffe named Mattie was formally welcomed to the zoo.
At the ceremony, Mr. Fuerst said it had taken the family five years to get the giraffe because every time they saved up enough for the purchase price, they would find the price had gone up. The Fuersts, who had started their fund when the giraffes sold for $4,000, said they had finally persuaded the Fresno zoo, which provided the giraffe, to freeze the price at the current $10,000 and accept the $7,000 the Fuersts had saved as a down payment.
The family seemed relieved that the offer had been accepted. ''We're thrilled he's here,'' Mr. Fuerst said. Albin Krebs Robert McG. Thomas Jr. | A follow-up: He switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, he took a close look at a new Congressional district in his native San Diego and now Richard Morefield has made up his mind. He will not be a candidate for the House this year. A 52-year-old former hostage in Iran, Mr. Morefield had been urged to make the race by Republican leaders in California, but in a telephone interview on Sunday he said he had ruled out a campaign, at least for the present. | 4.09 | 0.98 | 38.6 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/21/nyregion/pact-reached-on-west-valley-a-site-cleanup.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524112047id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/21/nyregion/pact-reached-on-west-valley-a-site-cleanup.html | PACT REACHED ON WEST VALLEY A-SITE CLEANUP | 20150524112047 | A long-planned cleanup of the hazardous West Valley nuclear storage site near Buffalo has cleared a major obstacle with an agreement permitting transfer of the property to the Federal Energy Department, state energy officials announced.
The cleanup project, now put at $400 million, had been blocked by a dispute between the landlord, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the longtime tenant, Nuclear Fuel Services Inc., a subsidiary of the Getty Oil Company, over liability and cost-sharing. The state in December lost the last round, an attempted eviction of the operator.
Under the agreement, which was announced Friday, the state and Nuclear Fuel Services would each pay $20 million, or half, of the 10 percent of the cleanup costs not covered by the Federal Government. Washington would pay the remaining $360 million under a commitment signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and preserved so far by the Reagan Administration.
Both parties also outlined a division of responsibility for claims of environmental damage that might come up in the future, according to James L. Larocca, chairman of the state energy authority.
Mr. Larocca hailed the agreement as ''the climax of a five-year struggle'' to clean up the 3,345-acre site about 30 miles south of Buffalo.
The agreement is in the form of a court order entered by Judge John T. Elfvin of Federal District Court in Buffalo. The project calls for the Energy Department to solidify and remove 600,000 gallons of highly radioactive waste liquid now stored in underground tanks on the site. The residue is seen as a highly dangerous potential contaminant in streams in the area.
The wastes date from the opening on the site in 1963 of a commercial nuclear reprocessing center to recycle waste products. The center was closed in 1972 when the reprocessing was determined to be unfeasible.
Mr. Larocca said that Energy Department personnel would take possession of the site this week. State officials have said that the cleanup could take a decade or more.
The dispute began Dec. 31, 1979, when Nuclear Fuel Services was to leave the site on the expiration of its lease. Mr. Larocca's office got a court order requiring the company to remain until the issue of liability was settled.
Later, in a reversal, the state tried to evict the company so Federal energy officials could take possession, but the company refused to leave before the liability issue was settled. Judge Elfvin ruled in October that the company had to vacate, but a Federal appeals court reversed the order in December. | A long-planned cleanup of the hazardous West Valley nuclear storage site near Buffalo has cleared a major obstacle with an agreement permitting transfer of the property to the Federal Energy Department, state energy officials announced. The cleanup project, now put at $400 million, had been blocked by a dispute between the landlord, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the longtime tenant, Nuclear Fuel Services Inc., a subsidiary of the Getty Oil Company, over liability and cost-sharing. The state in December lost the last round, an attempted eviction of the operator. | 4.339286 | 0.991071 | 59.866071 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/22/opinion/essay-the-new-rapallo.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524112619id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/22/opinion/essay-the-new-rapallo.html | ESSAY - THE NEW RAPALLO - NYTimes.com | 20150524112619 | BONN— Why, after 35 years, are 350,000 American troops stationed in Europe? The announced purpose is to deter a Soviet attack. Most Americans have been sold on the notion that Europe is our first line of defense, same as in the last two world wars, and it would make sense to stop the oncoming Russians ''over there.''
But that front-line analogy has always been a self-delusion. When asked, ''Do you think NATO could today turn back a conventional attack?'' Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany replies quite honestly: ''It never could ... eventually, it would have to take recourse to other than conventional weapons. This is because of the conventional superiority, in quantities, of the Soviet Union on European soil.''
The first reality, then, is that without nuclear missiles in place, the NATO forces including 350,000 Americans would be destroyed or forced to surrender soon after any Soviet attack. Without an advantage in missiles to counter the tank and troop superiority of the Soviets, our ''first line'' is no line at all.
The needed nuclear missiles are not in place; while we have agreed to palaver for years about arms control, our troops stand naked to a Soviet assault. The generation-old belief - that valiant NATO resistance would give the Kremlin time to come to its senses before nuclear war erupted - is hopelessly outdated.
That leads to the second reality: No Soviet attack would politely leave to the U.S. the choice of weapons. Their SS-20's would destroy our airfields and their SS-4's with chemical warheads would make NATO's tanks unusable. Without nuclear missiles and neutron warheads widely deployed, all NATO resistance would be crushed in days.
The Western nakedness brings us to the third reality: The sole purpose of U.S. troops in Europe is to act as a human sacrifice to ensure that America will respond by attacking the Soviet Union. Unprotected by superior nuclear missiles, our forces become a mere tripwire rather than part of a serious front-line defense. In this state, ''massive retaliation'' becomes the sole deterrent.
That is the way some Europeans want it. That is the primary basis of the anti-nuclear appeasement movement: If a war is to be fought, let the two equally culpable superpowers clobber each other directly, after a relatively short exchange on a European battleground.
Not all Europeans are so short-sighted. Chancellor Schmidt was an early-warner of the Soviet missile danger; when asked if he could govern against the growing neutralist sentiment within his own Social Democratic Party, he insisted: ''I have been able to do so for eight years now, sir.'' But the new surge of neutralism mutes his voice: ''I'm not too happy with these peace demonstrations either,'' he says gently, spurning a chance to denounce his wishy-washy party colleagues. Mr. Schmidt is a right-thinking man in an increasingly left-thinking party, vainly trying to appease the insatiable appeasement movement. Like Lyndon Johnson in the late l960's, he depends on his conservative opposition for support.
If NATO no longer offers a real front line - a flexible response - what does that new fact do to U.S. military strategy? Obviously, we cannot leave on NATO's automatic pilot our national decision of how and when to respond to a Soviet attack. If our 350,000 men are not in Europe to fight effectively -able to use nuclear weapons to stop any attack - then they should not be in Europe at all.
Responsible Europeans here have made me aware of the dangers of discussing a new ''Mansfield Amendment'' to begin to bring home unprotected and unwelcome American troops. This plays into neutralist hands, they say, and makes the U.S. appear to be an unreliable ally; worse, such a move would not be a useful threat, but might actually come to pass - and ultimately deliver Europe to the Soviets.
Sorry; after 35 years, America has shown itself to be a remarkably reliable ally, to the point of being taken for granted. As a result, we find ourselves begging our allies for the right to equip our own troops with the means to put up an effective defense, while a new generation of Euro-isolationists reviles us and the formerly responsible Atlanticists choose to become self-serving middlemen and ''interpreters'' rather than allies.
Nuts to that. Embracing the Soviets after the Polish provocation should have a consequence; changing the military basis of the alliance by making our response inflexible should have a cost. Couch it as a hope rather than a threat, but unless Europeans awaken soon, that cost will be the adoption of a naval-based U.S. defense strategy to meet the new reality.
In 1922, with the Treaty of Rapallo, Germany surprised the West by being the first to recognize the Soviet Government, and was paid off with trade profits and secret armaments. If West Germany's trend is toward a new Rapallo 60 years later, ostpolitik will not be blessed by the presence of 350,000 Americans armed only by the force of habit. | Why, after 35 years, are 350,000 American troops stationed in Europe? The announced purpose is to deter a Soviet attack. Most Americans have been sold on the notion that Europe is our first line of defense, same as in the last two world wars, and it would make sense to stop the oncoming Russians ''over there.'' But that front-line analogy has always been a self-delusion. When asked, ''Do you think NATO could today turn back a conventional attack?'' Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany replies quite honestly: ''It never could ... eventually, it would have to take recourse to other than conventional weapons. This is because of the conventional superiority, in quantities, of the Soviet Union on European soil.'' | 6.586667 | 0.986667 | 64.16 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/us/7-nuclear-utilities-miss-deadline.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524113927id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/us/7-nuclear-utilities-miss-deadline.html | 7 NUCLEAR UTILITIES MISS DEADLINE | 20150524113927 | WASHINGTON, Feb. 22— Nunzio J. Palladino, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said today that seven utilities had failed to meet the commission's deadline this month for installing emergency warning systems and that escalating fines would be imposed starting March 1.
Mr. Palladino told a Senate appropriations subcommittee that the installation and testing of sirens and other early warning systems were crucial to the commission's effort to develop and strengthen plans for responding to emergencies at nuclear power plants.
On March 1, the chairman said, utilities that failed to comply with the Feb. 1 deadline would be fined $1,000 a day. The daily fine will increase to $2,000 on April 1 and to $4,000 on June 1, he said.
According to the commission, three plants are expected to face the maximum fine: Oyster Creek near Toms River, N.J., operated by the GPU Nuclear Corporation, which is not expected to comply before July 1, and Connecticut Yankee, near Haddam Neck, and Millstone, near Waterford, operated by Northeast Utilities in Connecticut, which anticipates compliance by Aug. 1. Delinquency Notices Sent
According to commission records, delinquency notices were sent to owners of five other plants: Indian Point, operated by Consolidated Edison and the Power Authority of the State of New York; Beaver Valley, run by the Duquesne Light Company of Pennsylvania; Peach Bottom, run by the Philadelphia Electric Company; Pilgrim, operated by the Boston Edison Company, and Rancho Seco, run by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District of California.
A commission spokesman said today that Indian Point complied Feb. 5. Beaver Valley was expected to have complied by Feb. 15, but a spokesman for the utility said it would do so by March 1.
Environmental groups and critics of the commission expressed disappointment today about the amounts of the fines. Noting that the maximum fine could be $40,000 a day, Robert D. Pollard of the Union of Concerned Scientists said, ''The penalty is little more than a slap on the wrist for the utilities.''
Richard A. Udell, a nuclear analyst with Critical Mass, a Ralph Nader group, agreed that the fines were ''pathetically small'' in view of the fact that the commission had already postponed the deadline by more than six months.
However, Mr. Palladino noted that seven plants faced delays of up to 16 months in obtaining operating license because they had not been able to submit or obtain approval of emergency contingency plans. | Nunzio J. Palladino, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said today that seven utilities had failed to meet the commission's deadline this month for installing emergency warning systems and that escalating fines would be imposed starting March 1. Mr. Palladino told a Senate appropriations subcommittee that the installation and testing of sirens and other early warning systems were crucial to the commission's effort to develop and strengthen plans for responding to emergencies at nuclear power plants. On March 1, the chairman said, utilities that failed to comply with the Feb. 1 deadline would be fined $1,000 a day. The daily fine will increase to $2,000 on April 1 and to $4,000 on June 1, he said. | 3.545455 | 0.984848 | 42.939394 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/27/us/around-the-nation-michigan-court-holds-election-districts-invalid.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524113957id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/27/us/around-the-nation-michigan-court-holds-election-districts-invalid.html | Around the Nation - Michigan Court Holds Election Districts Invalid - NYTimes.com | 20150524113957 | LANSING, Mich., March 26— The Michigan Supreme Court today declared unconstitutional Michigan's 18-year-old system for redrawing legislative districts.
In a unanimous ruling, the court said the process by which new State House and Senate voting boundaries were drawn should have been scrapped in 1964 when the United States Supreme Court invalidated certain state rules on how districts are to be reapportioned.
Under the state's 1963 constitution, a bipartisan panel must convene once every 10 years to try to draw new boundaries to reflect population shifts. However, the state did not draw up new rules concerning factors to be considered in drawing districts to replace the ones thrown out by the Supreme Court.
The court ordered the Legislature to remap its districts by May 4 and set up a contingency plan. | The Michigan Supreme Court today declared unconstitutional Michigan's 18-year-old system for redrawing legislative districts. In a unanimous ruling, the court said the process by which new State House and Senate voting boundaries were drawn should have been scrapped in 1964 when the United States Supreme Court invalidated certain state rules on how districts are to be reapportioned. | 2.296875 | 0.984375 | 36.703125 | low | high | extractive |
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