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30 April 2008
Voting Rules and Results
An interesting post on voting rights:
She's getting at an interesting question that I cover in my dissertation [S 4.2.1]. How does the apportionment of votes affect the efficiency of the outcome? If votes are per capita but the topic is land value, the voting outcome may favor the landless at the expense of the land-owners. This is the case at Imperial Irrigation District, where people in the cities vote against water sales because they want to keep their jobs (see yesterday's post).
Bottom Line: One man, one vote makes sense when all policies affect all men equally. If they do not, voting should be proportional to who bears the costs of the policy. (Why are income taxes no higher in the US? Is that a sign that the rich control policy -- or is the fact that the rich do pay nearly all the income taxes a sign of a soak the rich policy?)
Thanks to Noumenon for the pointer
Texas versus Oklahoma
In this edition of state versus state, Texas ("If I can get it, it's mine.") is trying to buy Oklahoma water from some folks, which upsets other folks [excerpts]:
A loose coalition of southern Oklahoma organizations sought Wednesday to bolster their case against the sale of state water to Texas interests.
The Tarrant Regional Water District wants to obtain 150 billion gallons of water a year from Oklahoma streams.
Opponents say the district wants the water to further economic development in north Texas at the expense of Oklahoma towns and cities.
The Legislature prohibited water sales out of state after learning that former Gov. Frank Keating's administration planned to sell water to Texas and split the profits with the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations.
The Tarrant Regional Water District, based in Fort Worth, contends in its lawsuit that the ban on water sales violates federal interstate commerce laws.
Rep. Jerry Ellis, D-Valliant, said officials in the Dallas-Fort Worth area need to do more to conserve water instead of trying to obtain water from Oklahoma.
He also said Congress should enact a law prohibiting one state from suing another for water "when they do not have a good conservation plan in place."
The sale of any Oklahoma water to other states should be for human consumption only, Ellis said. He said if the state sells its water for industrial development in other states, Oklahoma will never grow itself.
Although I am not sure if water will make Oklahoma grow, I do know that a lack of water will sure stop it. I'm very interested to see if the constitutional argument stands up in court.
Bottom Line: Interstate water rights are one area where the federal government should be involved, but it's a different question of whether one state can block its citizens from selling their water to people in a neighboring state. Stay tuned.
29 April 2008
Rivers in Danger
Yubanet reprints an article of rivers in danger. (Note that many rivers -- Colorado, San Joaquin, Los Angeles -- are already desecrated. Can they be restored?) The article makes a common, but bogus claim:
Without a major change in direction in public policy, the river that provides drinking water for millions of people, pumps tens of millions of dollars into local economies, and is directly responsible for thousands of jobs could be irreparably damaged; and the communities that depend on it will suffer.
The "jobs at risk" argument is often heard and almost never true. Imagine the worst-case scenario: Someone who actually makes their living on the river (as opposed to selling rafting supplies used on many rivers). If that river were to dry up, he would lose his job, but that does not mean he's unemployed forever. He just has to get a new job. People lose their jobs all the time -- factories close, owners die, lawsuits are lost, competition destroys, technology advances, and -- sometimes -- water is sold from the community and goes elsewhere. In all of these cases (including the last, infamous "third party impact"), the solution is not to try to stop change or guarantee jobs, but to work on helping people get new jobs, start their own businesses, etc. I am not talking supply side, trickle down BS here, but legitimate programs to help people.
Notice that most "save those jobs" rhetoric ends up helping special companies stay in business (e.g., Alitalia). Most of that money ends up going to shareholders and bosses, who are claiming to be "helping" workers -- Baptists and Bootleggers all over again.
Bottom Line: Rivers are valuable, bu they are no excuse to "save" jobs. Jobs are not sacred, people are.
Wyoming versus Montana
Wyoming, home to Dick Cheney, seems to have more than one guy interested in raping the land:
Montana asserts Wyoming is storing water in reservoirs that should be delivered downstream and also allowing excessive pumping of underground water reserves that feed into the two rivers.
[Wyoming Attorney General] Salzburg said his state's construction of reservoirs had been encouraged by the compact, and he suggested Montana do the same if it wants to guard against dry periods.
Translation for non-laywers: "Sorry, you forgot to plan for this 58 years ago, so we are going to take all you water and make fuel. If you want to survive our plunder, we suggest that you build bigger reservoirs and fight with us that way." What a charmer!
Bottom Line: Policies should change when times do. Keeping a policy just because "that's how we do it" leads to lots of problems. As I discuss in Section 4.4.2 of my dissertation, one of the main reasons that Southern California cannot manage its water supply is because they are still using pricing methods from an era of too much water (ironically, established in the 1950s). Some people need to move into the new millennium.
28 April 2008
Dissertation Done!
...so that means I am an official PhD. To download a copy, click here.
Here is the abstract:
I use 60 years of panel data to show that water increases land value, dependency lowers it, and water may have been misallocated during the 1987--1991 drought. I describe how marginal water can be auctioned after inframarginal, "lifeline" water is allocated and present experimental results for "water" auctions in which water managers suffer endowment effects but compete more (relative to students).
Bottom Line: This dissertation was a lot of work, but it was worth it.
27 April 2008
Local Burdens
I've said that local government should pay for local infrastructure. The Bureau of Reclamation agrees, but politicians are still trying to bring home the pork to a town that went underwater:
The government has only a limited responsibility to repair or replace aging dams, canals and levees that were contracted to local authorities years ago, a top federal official said Thursday.
On projects transferred to local control, "in most cases the arrangement calls for those costs to be the responsibility of the water users," Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson said at a Senate hearing that focused in part on the collapse of the Truckee Canal in January.
The breach in the 100-year-old levee flooded 590 homes in Fernley. The earthen embankment has been managed by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District since the 1920s.
Fernley Mayor Todd Cutler testified the Bureau of Reclamation as the owner and the irrigation district as the operator should share repair costs of the levee "with the idea that it provides us life."
"The canal feeds a great deal of people. With that said, it is a federal facility," he said.
Depending on the level of repair deemed necessary, the costs could range from $28 million to $390 million, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
Requiring someone who leases federal property to pay for repairs would be like requiring a renter to replace the roof of a condominium, said Thomas Donnelly, vice president of the National Water Resources Association.
The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District is proposing a $1.50 per acre tax assessment on residents to help pay for modernization needed for the canal to return to full capacity. District officials estimate the tax will raise about $300,000 per year.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in testimony the Bureau of Reclamation "cannot completely abandon its legacy."
Pronouncements of sacred duties and responsibilities notwithstanding, TCID is only looking for other people's money. The mayor's non-sequitur arguments (food ==> money) and the proposed user tax are laughable ("$300k from us $27.7 million from you"). Donnelly has got his similes wrong: Think of carpets instead of roofs, i.e., you walk on it and use it; ruin it and pay for it. TCID was "maintaining" the canal, benefitting from it, and should pay to fix it.
Bottom Line: Don't use federal money for local boondoggles.
26 April 2008
Who Benefits from Ethanol?
The blog at the Small Planet Institute wonder who is winning from higher food prices, and names one usual suspect: big agricultural processors.
My adviser (Rich Sexton) and two co-authors have a paper (forthcoming in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics) that
develops an analytical model for determining the production and price impacts and the distribution of benefits from the U.S. ethanol subsidy when upstream sellers in the seed sector and downstream buyers in the processing sector may exercise market power... Seed producers and corn processors with market power are able to capture relatively large shares of the benefits of the subsidy.
They use the model to understand how market concentration affects the distribution of gains from increased corn prices among farmers, seed sellers, corn buyers and "downstream users" (us).
Market concentration leads to market power, and market power leads to a bigger share of the gains from trade, i.e., a monopoly can charge you more than a firm facing competitors.
Concentrations are significant: DuPont, Monsanto, Novartis and Dow sell 69 percent of seeds; ADM, Cargill and two others companies control 74 percent of buying side of the corn market. This level of market share means that these industries are "highly concentrated oligopolies." (Walmart has 20 percent market share in US food sales.)
They use a simulation to calculate the distribution of benefits with market power and find -- assuming "moderate levels of market power" -- that 25 percent of the gains go to farmers, 30 percent to seed sellers and buyers, and 40 percent to downstream users.
Bottom Line: The ethanol subsidy and other manipulations of the corn market are not helping farmers as much as defenders claim. Much of the "gains" are going into the hands of big companies. End the ethanol program.
25 April 2008
Cost and Benefit of Dams
Civil War (again) at MWD
MWD's water allocation formula [prior post] is challenged by one member agency:
The lawsuit contends that the plan, championed by Los Angeles, San Diego and Inland Empire cities, unfairly penalizes the Central Basin's lower-income, largely Latino communities while benefiting growing inland areas.
The plan would deliver water unfairly "by giving 'cheap' water to growing, more affluent water districts and communities, at the expense of poorer water districts and communities," the complaint says.
Bottom Line: There will always be winners and losers with formulas because they put too much weight on one thing and not enough on another -- depending on where you sit. Notice that nobody complains about allocation of gas, coffee shops, Lexus cars, etc. That's because those are allocated by supply and demand. Water allocation by markets would not have winners and losers -- if done as I suggest here.
24 April 2008
Kill Biofuels
[and it's not even for a good cause:]
Market Inefficiency
This piece updates an earlier post on arbitrage failure in the spot and options markets for ag commodities. Farmers are losing in the markets what they are gaining from the ground -- apparently from market volatility. The only beneficiaries of sky-high prices are agricultural processors like Cargill and ADM.
Bottom Line: Be careful what you ask for. You might get it.
More Reactionaries
This essay describes how environmentalists and economists see the world. Basic point is that economists are factual and environmentalists are moral. Both are wrong of course.
A slightly more unusual essay discusses the zeitgeist of Wikipedia as an place for zealots unwilling to break from their political correctness or -- in this case -- their environmental correctness:
Bottom Line: Righteousness has no place in our complex world. Global warming may be happening, but the skeptics are entitled to be heard. Fascism takes many forms, and wrapping yourself in the flag (or the baby seals or the earth) does not excuse you from it.
Why Bother?
Michael Pollan asks himself why we should even bother to do anything about the Earth if an individual's action is not only likely to have almost no impact, but may be offset by someone else who takes advantage of additional slack to "use more stuff." From this hopelessness, he looks to personal virtue:
He has a point when he discusses how little ideas (living as if you were free) can grow into big things. We are individuals, but we live in a society, and what we do is noticed by others.
Bottom Line: Forget saving the earth. Save yourself by following your own guide of righteous behavior. Some of you may decide to drive SUVs [profanity], but others will drive bikes. What we do is what society does.
23 April 2008
Property Rights and Takings
The battle within agricultural sectors over a proposed law:
Proposition 98, backed by the California Farm Bureau Federation and an anti-tax group, would prohibit governments from seizing property, including farmland, for private use.
But some farm groups -- including the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League and Western Growers Association -- fear the measure would block use of eminent domain for construction of long-sought pipelines, canals and reservoirs, including one targeted for east of Fresno.
At issue is a single paragraph that would prohibit government from taking private land for the "consumption of natural resources." The language is meant to keep cities from taking water rights.
Bottom Line: Taking land for water is pretty hard to imagine; not being able to take land for pipelines is a real problem. OTOH, the Kelo case makes me wonder about the abuse of eminent domain, and it's not a bad idea to shut down water infrastructure expansion -- at least until all the water users have a reasonable plan for managing the water and infrastructure they've got (e.g., in the Delta). Yes on 98.
Sustainable Development 2
If you don't like Herman Daly's opinion, try this:
Garbage Island
Expedition to the Pacific garbage gyre -- a vortex of plastic.
Desalination Sometime
An op/ed about Poseidon Resources's Carlsbad project:
22 April 2008
Coachella Reactionaries
In a prior post, I lauded Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) for implementing an increasing block-rate tariff for water. Increasing rates are the best way to get water to small users and make big users pay more for using more.
In a related story, CVWD is in a dispute with big users (farmers, golf courses and cities(?)) over "recharge" fees to pay for pumping imported water (from the Colorado River) underground for storage and later use.
The big users are being asked to pay a tax increase from $7.70 to $10/acre foot. On a percentage basis, 30 percent sounds like a lot. Compared to what farmers in the area pay ($17/AF, it also sounds like a lot. Compared to the $600-$1,200/AF cities pay for water, $2.30 is peanuts. So -- what are they fighting about?
• "Indio officials say they have not seen any scientific evidence that shows they benefit from current recharge efforts"
• "'We believe the fee is unconstitutional and that it violates Proposition 218,' said Jim Smith, the city's director of public works. Proposition 218, approved in 1996, requires voter approval for increases to general taxes, assessments and certain user fees."
The "scientific evidence" thing may be a smoke-screen, but let's ignore it. The unconstitutional claim is a lot more dubious. As I said yesterday, AB 2882 is meant to counter claims that increases in water rates are actually tax increases.
I don't know about you, but increases in my phone rate, my insurance rate, my gardener's rate (kidding -- I don't have one) are not increases in my tax rate. Taxes are for general operations, and water charges are for water. Not only do water rates have nothing to do with taxes, but they should be higher (to encourage conservation), and they have nothing to do with land: Water, especially imported water, can go elsewhere. Property taxes are for services specific to the property (fire protection, schools, etc.) Did I repeat myself enough?
Bottom Line: Whenever they say it's not about the money, it's about the money. Check this out: "Brian S. Harnik, an attorney representing Indian Palms Country Club, said residents, too, oppose the increased fee." Oh, so residents who play golf at the country club are upset that their green fees may go up? That's just too bad. If you play golf in the desert, you're gonna have to pay through the nose. [sorry -- the chutzpah is getting to me here...]
Public Trust
In Vermont:
The Senate has passed, and the House panel is soon to take up, legislation that would declare the ground water under Vermont a public trust.
That's a legal doctrine that the legislation's backers say could provide protections for the state's underground aquifers essentially by restricting individual users from sucking them dry.
The Vermont ground water protection bill is drawing opposition from the manufacturers' lobby Associated Industries of Vermont and other groups.
Associated Industries vice president William Driscoll said that his group and its allies believe that public trust doctrine applied to ground water could lay groundwork for many new lawsuits without advancing Vermont's ability to protect its groundwater to a significant degree.
So AIV's head is implying that the proposed Vermont law will lead to lots of suits from AIV that AIV will win and thus the law is a mistake? AIV is wrong.
Many would claim that the allocation of water rights (via prior appropriations, contracts, setting political boundaries, etc.) of a prior age do not suit the present age. They claim -- under public trust -- that these water rights should be reallocated to uses (including non-uses) that serve the public better than the status quo. This argument holds "more water" with water, since most political units claim that water belongs to the people (and rights are allocated). For example:
On the other hand, the case in Vermont (or McCloud) seems a much more dramatic violation of common sense than the case of, say, farmers using water in the West. Some claim that the public trust should be invoked in taking those water rights away (for use in cities or the environment), but the "unfairness" of farmers' use is not nearly so obvious as that of a bottled water manufacturer (or energy plant -- stay tuned!) that is pulling thousands of times more water out of the system than anyone else, within moments of getting the rights to that water. If anything, farmers use water that nobody wanted for many years. Farmers have hardly "pulled one over" on a gullible public -- many of the monstrosities that people complain about today were popular at the time and still are, e.g., Hetch Hetchy Dam, Hoover Dam, the California Aqueduct. (Some of them were clearly delusions of the Bureau or Corps -- then and now.)
Citing the public trust in claiming water for cities (via "people first") or nature (via the ESA or global warming) makes some sense if the farmers are refusing to let go of any water, but that is not the case. Farmers should be allowed to sell their water; if no voluntary water sales occur (depends on the price, I'm sure), then they should receive fair value (i.e., somewhere between their value added and market prices) for their water.
Bottom Line: The long-term nature of water rights means that mistakes in allocation lead to long-term harm. In the best of all worlds, the State would allocate the rights in 5-7 year cycles via auction while retaining buffers to deal with mistakes and uncertainty. If we do not live in that world, the state should consider the the magnitude of harm from existing misallocation before reallocating the public's water. The smaller the harm, the stronger is the right of those who hold rights to fair compensation and/or voluntary participation.
Economics Works!
Coping with Drought:
A new report says California farmers are planting more crops that offer higher returns and require less irrigation to cope with water shortages this year.
Earth Day
What have you done for the Earth today? What about the other 364 days?
If you want to do something, start by calculating your carbon footprint.
Two Opinions
Long-run thinking:
However, a "modest" 0.86 degree Celsius (1.5 degree Fahrenheit) increase in the 21st century could trim the average flow of the river — the primary water supply for residents in much of the U.S. Southwest — to the low end of a range marked between 1490 and 1998, USGS scientist Gregory McCabe said.
The Earth is likely to warm by more than twice that amount in the period, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said last month.
"A 2-degree Celsius warming pushes the risk so high that it's beyond anything that has happened in the last 500 years," McCabe said on a conference call. "The average flow in the Colorado drops to lower than anything we've seen."
Short-term thinking:
But Utah Division of Water Resources director Dennis Strong isn't jumping to any conclusions just yet.
"Right now we're projecting over 120 percent inflow" this year into Lake Powell, one of the river's primary reservoirs, Strong says.
Guess who's in charge of your water supply? [Article]
21 April 2008
Water Markets extra
Francis, a reader at Marginal Revolution, asks:
Some showing that before you post again in favor of "water markets", you have read California Water Code section 1725 et seq., governing changes in points of diversion.
Or, more generally, that you have a way of reconciling your commitment to existing property rights with the destruction of property rights necessarily required for a water market.
(California does have a water market; however as it is largely between governmental agencies the market lacks liquidity.)
Here are my thoughts:
CWC section 1725 et seq. could be modified for markets, but there are differences between trading diverted water and consumptive water. This code is a bureaucratic barrier to markets. The essential point is that any modification reflect the rights embedded in 1725.
The "destruction of property rights necessarily required for a water market" is NOT necessary. Most pro-market people in water recognize that farmers should be allowed to trade their rights. The Enviros tend to favor a public trust seizure of water for in-stream uses -- which does pit one side of common law against another.(I will write more on that soon.)
California's market is between governmental agencies because 80 percent of tap water is publicly-delivered, and nearly all ag water is run through the Bureau, DWR or local irrigation districts. It's likely that water markets will be between agencies. The trouble is getting them into that nimble perspective. I think that farmers -- working through irrigation districts -- will be the marginal traders that bring more efficiency to water use in California. Cities are mostly paralyzed in terms of trading, but they will provide the $$.
World Food Crisis
The Economist reports. Stupid U.S. policies deserve some blame.
Conservation Rates 2
Last week, I posted on AB 2882, which has moved from the California Assembly to the Senate for consideration.
My earlier concerns still stand (voluntary compliance and price increases are too small). OTOH, there are a few nice features that I missed.
I talked to Alf Brandt (Principal Consultant, Assembly Committee on Water, Parks & Wildlife), who helped draft AB 2882. He says that the bill removes a barrier to increasing price, i.e., that water rates are a form of tax and raising them will require referenda, etc. Given the toxic nature of tax increases (not spending increases!) in California, I agree that this is a problem. The bill addresses it by allowing utilities to set a "Basic charge" that is "fair." After that:
A conservation charge is imposed for increments of water use in excess of the basic use allocation. The conservation charge for the increments shall, in the aggregate, provide revenue not to exceed conservation measure costs* and overuse costs**. The increments may be fixed or may be determined on a percentage or other basis, provided that the conservation charge for the highest-price increment is at least three times the basic charge.
Although "three times" the basic charge is a good minimum, they cannot be set higher than costs. I would set conservation charges much higher than costs and rebate excess revenue to water misers; see here.
The other thing that's nice in this bill (current text -- not approved!) is that "Factors used to determine the basic use allocation may include, but are not limited to, the number of occupants, the type or classification of use, the size of lot or irrigated area, and the local climate data for the billing period." The most aggressive (and fair) allocation would be based on the number of people. Type of use favors politically-powerful groups; lot size rewards golf course-sized lots; historic use rewards wasters; local climate rewards people for living in the desert (unless desert people are allotted less water!)
Bottom Line: This bill is much better than I thought it was. Differential prices are necessary for water conservation, and this is a vital first step. Let's hope that it passes and utilities implement steep price schedules that set a per capita base charge and steep prices for water wasters.
And then let's get some water markets.
* "Conservation measure costs" means expenses incurred for water conservation measures employed by the public entity to reduce the wasteful or unreasonable use of water, and may include conservation best management practices, conservation education, irrigation controls and other conservation devices, water system retrofitting for production and use of alternative water supplies including recycled water, energy costs related to water use, and securing dry-year supply arrangements.
** "Overuse costs" means costs incurred as a result of the wasteful or unreasonable use of water, and may include preventing, controlling, or treating the runoff of water wasted by irrigation and other outdoor uses, and procuring water supplies to satisfy increments of water use in excess of the basic use allocations for the customers of the public entity.
Water Markets
In Chapter 7 of my dissertation, I compared different auction designs for water markets.
Alberto Garrido, an economist in Spain, saw what I was up to and sent me some experimental auction stuff he did. He tests two important questions:
1. Do restrictions on trades from users with higher priority rights to users with lower priority rights "protect" those higher value users?
2. Does the right to store "owned" water from season to season in a reservoir (rather than use it or lose it every water year) help or hinder water use?
Before I get to the answers, note that Spanish water law automatically assigns senior water rights to urban areas; farmers get junior rights. In the western U.S., water rights are based on priority ("first in time, first in right"), which often means that farmers have senior rights to cities.
Garrido finds* that restrictions on trade harm the owners of senior rights -- because they cannot sell their excess water to junior holders. OTOH, they "help" the owners of junior rights by keeping prices (for the water they do get) lower than they would be with trading (hard to believe**). Overall surplus is higher without restrictions on trading, but there are distributional problems.
Second, intertemporal trading of water (via storage of "owned" water in reservoirs) has an unambiguous positive impact. The main reason for this is that storage allows users to smooth fluctuations in water supply. Garrido looks into this in a second paper***, claiming (plausibly) that reservoir storage will reduce the harmful effects from global warming. On that note, see this paper by a lawyer laying out the reasons that water markets can help with global warming.
Considering that farmers have senior rights in most of the western U.S., these results confirm what we would expect -- farmers trading with cities (senior to junior) improve the lot of farmers -- and overall surplus. Allowing water owners to store their water from one year to the next is also useful. In an older post, I argue that trading is more useful than dams in countering the effects of global warming, i.e.,
farmers facing "use it or lose it" will prefer to make $10 on low-value crops to nothing from letting the water flow. Unfortunately, water the farmer uses cannot go to cities suffering from local warming -- where it may be worth $200 or $500.
Bottom Line: These papers highlight the importance of institutions (trading and storage rights) in the management of water resources. Since institutions can be tested before implementation (did they do that before electricity deregulation in California?), all of the stakeholders (politicians, water managers, cities, farmers, environmentalists, bureaucrats) can participate and understand how different parameters and rules will affect outcomes. More knowledge will reduce uncertainty, and it will be easier to agree on policy changes.
* "Water markets design and evidence from experimental economics" (2007) Environmental and Resource Economics, 38:311–330. [gated]
** This result does not make theoretical sense, as junior rights holders get access to more water -- price should drop, not rise. Table 4 shows that prices in merged markets were higher than prices either unmerged market. This unexpected outcome probably results from some quirk in the experimental design, execution.
*** "Designing Water Markets for Unstable Climatic Conditions: Learning from Experimental Economics" (2007) Review of Agricultural Economics, 29(3):520–530. [gated]
20 April 2008
Poverty IS Different
A brief article on a very interesting perspective that can change all our ideas about political and economic policies:
Bottom Line: This argument can explain "hopelessness" and "poverty trap" problems that most people associate with homeless, "ghetto" people, and the developing world. They face so many problems at once -- tackling one will do no good -- that they just give up and cope. This argument is easy to believe.
What is there to do about it? Even more important, what can be offered that will be voluntarily taken up? Is there even a role for government, friends, church, community?
Feel free to comment.
Fire and Water
An interesting essay on fire and fire-fighting policies:
Today’s fires do not burn as those of the past did; they have to accommodate more than a century of human-wrought changes. Nor is it obvious that they will yield the expected outcomes in biological goods and services. After all, with the climate changing, the past is no longer an adequate guide. The sudden reliance on large fires in the public domain is comparable to economic shock therapy in Eastern Europe. Fire is not ecological pixie dust that can by itself magically transform the degraded into the wondrous. It can only act on whatever is present. We are long past the time when every burned acre must be labeled “destroyed”; we are not yet to the point of recognizing that not every acre burned is “enhanced.” Turning fire management over to fire likely belongs in the realm of faith-based ecology.
Bush Acknowledges CO2
From the Onion:
"Carbon dioxide, a molecule which contains one atom of carbon bonded with two atoms of oxygen, is a naturally occurring colorless gas exhaled by humans and metabolized, in turn, by plants," Bush told a stunned White House press corps. "As a leading industrialized nation, we can no longer afford to ignore the growing consensus of so many experts whose job it is to study our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is real."
Because carbon dioxide, which was first described by 17th-century Flemish physician Jan Baptista van Helmont as a gas he referred to as "spiritus silvestre," has long been denied by the Bush administration, the president's speech was widely hailed as a victory for advocates of empirically established scientific fact.
Bottom Line: The first step is acknowledging you have a problem....
19 April 2008
Gas and Community
When it's too expensive to drive, you get to know your neighbors:
She and her husband lived in Florida until 1999, in a private house on a lake; the 17-mile drive to work averaged an hour. On moving west, they purchased a home in the Central Valley and commuted to the Peninsula - often a two-hour trek each way.
No longer. The commute from Hayward is a carpool shot across the San Mateo Bridge; Dan needs the car for work, DeeDee takes an AC Transit bus home at night. They ride BART into San Francisco every other weekend, along with short trips to downtown Oakland followed by a stroll to Jack London Square.
They've also plunged into Hayward life, visiting each store or restaurant that opens downtown, or going to the farmers' market. DeeDee even serves as the president of her homeowners association and belongs to a civic beautification task force.
Bottom Line: Some people are rediscovering the joys of community because it's getting expensive (in time and money) to commute from the "best" job to the "cheapest" home, to get the "biggest bargain" at the store, etc. I put those words in quotes to highlight our common mistake of ignoring time costs and/or the "soft" benefits of living in a community (borrowing a cup of flour, watching your neighbor's car, getting advice on doctors, etc.) Although it may seem like a bargain, the cheapest option is not always the best. Explore your local options and see if they have qualities that are worth a higher cash price.
Ecosystem Services under Strain
JR asks:
In the future with more people wanting more stuff from the environment (a higher standard of living for those across the globe), our resources will be strained beyond belief. Many predict this will break earth's fragile ecosystem. Hopefully and probably not, but in any event we will be straining the resources. Perhaps the only way to avoid breaking the fragile ecosystem is by an extremely efficient utilization of all ecosystem services. This means all ecosystem services, clean air, clean water, fish, birds, trees, etc., etc., as well as food, fiber, minerals, oil, etc. need to be efficiently allocated. The point is that everything from food to oil to coal to air is in someway part of an ecosystem service and the extreme pressures require extremely efficient and flexible allocation. The only way to achieve this hyper-efficient allocation while remaining flexible is through markets.
So JR is assuming that ecosystem services are under strain (demand greater and growing faster than supply -- at current prices). Strain comes from direct demand (e.g., water diversions), as well as indirect demand (e.g., pollution). Solving direct demand problems is easier because it "just" requires property rights and trading. Solving the indirect demand problems is much harder (e.g., global warming).
In theory, we want to assign property rights, but getting the theory to work in reality is difficult. At a minimum, it is necessary to measure, allocate, enforce, trade and clear these rights. I doubt that a farmer in Brazil will pay a sheepherder for pollution permits, but there will probably be regional, national and international clearinghouses. (Think of the inter-bank payments system with far more international transfers; unlike cash flows, which tend to be local, global environmental flows -- and the arbitrage that will make them efficient -- are likely to take place between very distant and different places.)
The case with local ecosystem resources will be different, since the water I use in California is not going to come from Japan. These ecosystem trading platforms will vary with circumstances to accommodate local customs, politics and economics, but that will probably make them more efficient than some top-down design by a "clever" economist.
In the cases where demand does not fall fast enough or supply does not rise fast enough, they will have to be matched in auction-type mechanisms where some people get nothing. This rationing need not be cruel, as it's easy to design a system that ensures everyone has access to, say, 100 liters/water/day before the rationing mechanism allocates the rest.
Bottom Line: As demand for a resource (water, brainpower, clean air, etc.) outstrips supply, the price must rise to reduce demand and attract supply. Although allocating resources through markets may seem "inhumane" or "unnatural", the alternative -- destruction of resources -- is worse. Since the burden of that destruction falls on the poor more than the rich, solving the problem will make the world a fairer place. (Unfortunately, that also reduces the probability of a solution -- the rich are doing well in the current system, after all.)
Feel free to comment, question or add to this post. This is a big topic, and I am sure to have left some things out.
Gallons per Lightbulb
This post describes a study released by Virginia Tech:
Bottom Line: It's no surprise that it takes water to produce power (and power to move water), but the problems start when water or power supplies are running short. As input costs rise, cost of the final good also needs to rise. If it doesn't there are shortages, and we hate those.
18 April 2008
One-Minute Water Calculator
Try it here. It misses indirect water use (e.g., vegetarian versus meat eater) but does a good job with direct use.
Now they need to add a "price of water" feature that helps you find ways to save money by changing your habits. (Won't help with me -- I pay no marginal price for water to my apartment. Free water -- another bad idea...)
Carbon Tax
Marginal Revolution has a good post on this -- debating cap and trade versus a tax. I am in favor of either (do something!), and they are equivalent in theory. With caps, carbon output is known and prices fluctuate; with a tax, output fluctuates and prices are known. The important point is that people want to change behavior (hence a cap -- or VERY aggressive tax). Another important point is that rebates of "excess" revenue on a per capita basis do make the caps or taxes politically palatable -- in a democracy.
Green Power and Water
Bill Chameides (Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke) writes that green energy sources are also better than conventional power-plants because they use a lot of water to generate energy but solar and wind energy sources do not. [my post on the topic] Another commenter pointed out how much water goes into manufacturing solar panels. Can't disagree with that, but manufacturing use is far less than operating use.
I mostly agreed with him and added some points, i.e.,
1. Most water withdrawn for cooling is "useless" in some way: too hot, polluted or evaporated.
2. A lot of cooling water is seawater. There's a lot of seawater but discharge can still be bad for animals.
3. Many energy plants get away with using so much water because they claim little consumptive use, but they are surely disrupting the system in the same way as a dam "interrupts" a river's flow.
4. Charging plants for water intake would help them find ways to reduce use. Factories cut their water discharge (and thus intake) by 90% when discharge fees rose. They just built recirculation systems.
Water Games?
RH asks:
Do you know of any games (preferably board games, but I'm also interested in card games or video games) that center on water and embody at least some important aspect of economics in their gameplay?
Interestingly, there are a number of "games" on the web that purport to teach about the environment, trade, etc. Unfortunately, most of them look boring ("good for you" games a bureaucrat would like). Here are some water games I found:
You are poor and want to collect aid money from the EU (really!) to fix your water supply. (from an NGO)
You are a drop of water. What happens in your "cycle"? (from NASA)
Those suck. Let's step back and consider what we want in a game (and what RH is asking for): What is it about economics and water that we want to see in a game? Assume that water is scarce. If economics is the science of scarcity, then a game about water (or similar resource) should help people manage scarcity, either alone, against others, within a group, or against groups.
Many games use points, money, etc. to keep score of who is winning. Points and moeny are scarce, but these games are zero-sum, i.e., take more money from Vegas than Vegas takes from you. Zero sum games are not about conserving resources and tradeoffs as much as beating the house.
So you want a game that rewards patience and good management of the resource -- trading consumption now for consumption later or investment now to reap bigger rewards later from an individual perspective. Stock market games are not really good for learning about the environment because it's more fun to take big risks, win or lose, and then do another game. If you cannot die in the game, it's not giving you a good lesson in economics. (And they call it the dismal science :)
Group games have far more potential. Dismissing games that plunder others (capture the flag, football, etc.), group cooperation games can be a useful way of building teamwork that will conserve and manage resources. I use the "tragedy of the commons" game to teach students about problems of open access (everyone can take, nobody can stop anyone from taking).
Here are the basic rules:
1. Two periods of timed length. "Endowment" spread on the table in front of standing players, e.g., fish or water = candy bars or pennies
2. Rules: No talking. Whatever is left at the end of period one is doubled for period two
3. Let players harvest during period one. Usually, they wipe out the resource in period one and there is no period two.
4. Replay with variations (no hands allowed, teams, property rights (territory for each player/team)) and then see how much is left at the end of period two.
This game give almost anyone a fast and clear lesson about resources and institutions. It can be used with 6 year olds or graduate students. (The no talk rule is to stop the "clever" ones from telling everyone to keep their hands in their pockets.) The lesson learned can be turned into more education about managing resources, which happens to involve a lot of economics.
Great question. I will be posting more responses to your questions and ideas over the next few days. Keep 'em coming.
Please comment if you have your own ideas or know of games that help people learn about resources and economics.
Which Bottle?
Treehugger (a green consumer site) gives advice on what bottle to buy for your tap water. (Plastic bottles -- Nalgenes too -- have lots of toxic goodies.)
17 April 2008
Wine into Water
Do you get what you pay for?
Individuals who are unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine. In a sample of more than 6,000 blind tastings, we find that the correlation between price and overall rating is small and negative, suggesting that individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. For individuals with wine training, however, we find indications of a positive, or at any rate non-negative, correlation. Our results are robust to the inclusion of individual fixed effects, and are not driven by outliers: when omitting the top and bottom deciles of the price distribution, our qualitative results are strengthened, and the statistical significance is improved even further. Our results indicate that both the prices of wines and wine recommendations by experts may be poor guides for non-expert wine consumers.
Get the paper here [PDF].
New Story Ideas?
Dear Readers:
I am getting tired of dams, bottled water, fish and water prices. (Not forever -- just for now...)
Any new topics that you are curious about and/or have strong opinions on?
Please leave a comment or email me
Conservation Rates
Politicians are "encouraging" conservation water pricing [story]:
The State Assembly cast a 72-1 bipartisan vote Monday to support Assembly Bill 2882, legislation by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk to encourage public water agencies throughout the state to adopt conservation rate structures that reward consumers who conserve water.
The bill does not require all water agencies to adopt conservation rates, but for those who do it establishes standards that protect consumers by ensuring a lower base rate for those who conserve water and requiring that higher rates for use in excess of the base rate do not exceed the reasonable cost of providing the water service.
Wait a sec. Lower rates for those who conserve and higher rates for those who do NOT conserve ("waste") -- but not in excess of "reasonable cost of service"? I'm all for mom and apple pie, but this seems to be a non-solution solution.
If the price to those who conserve is "cheap", that implies that it is less than the average cost of service. To make up for losses on those sales, the price for wasters will have to be higher than average cost (so, on average, prices cover costs). If that means that those prices are equal to the marginal cost of service, we have a good thing (as far as economists are concerned), i.e., marginal cost pricing. MC pricing basically means that people who are buying the most are paying the full cost of supplying the units they demand.
The trouble with marginal cost pricing in water is that most costs are fixed, so the price will have to include MC and a share of the fixed costs (if the business is not going to run out of money). Although it seems that "reasonable cost of service" implies MC only, I'd bet that they are including fixed costs. So, this bill make sense (as I understand it) economically.
Unfortunately, it suffers from two serious flaws:
1. It is voluntary, and water districts hesitate to raise prices from (unmetered) flat rates. They are wasting most of the water.
2. It does not raise prices enough. Besides the fact that many apartments do not pay for water at all, there is the additional problem that water is still far too cheap for homeowners. (I recommend far more aggressive, conservation pricing here.)
Bottom Line: Good start. Unlikely to have any impact.
Clean Tap Water
The tap versus bottled debate fragments into many sub-questions. This article (and the comments) get at a number of them. First, some highlights:
In its 2005 report, "A National Assessment of Tap Water Quality," EWG found that water suppliers in 42 states collectively identified in treated tap water: 83 agricultural pollutants, or pesticides; 59 contaminants linked to sprawl and urban areas, or those from polluted runoff and wastewater treatment plants; 166 industrial chemicals, or those from factory waste; and 44 pollutants that are byproducts of the water treatment process or leach from pipes or storage tanks.
Houlihan says this means it's crucial to read the annual report your water supplier sends out and know what you're drinking.
And don't assume you can avoid contamination by reverting to your old ways. An estimated 40% of bottled water, including brands like Dasani and Aquafina, use local municipal supplies, and you may be inadvertently contributing to the problem.
"We're spending millions of dollars a year to clean waste in the water stream from plastic bottles that are discarded," says Eric Yaverbaum, co-founder of the new pro-tap water campaign, Tappening. "Why can't we take that money to make our municipal water supplies better?"
Although I want to say that the entire bottled water "craze" is based on faux-fitness and consumer safety scares, there are more nasty things in our tap water than before (waste byproducts, drugs, etc.) Besides reading (and understanding) your local water-quality report, it's important to understand the difference between measured and real contaminants. Also realize that filtered and purified water bought in bulk at the store or home filters are far better than using water in disposable bottles. First, because you know the water is clean (not just bottled tap water) and second, because you are not contributing to the waste stream or extra pollution from transporting water around.
[Full disclosure: I drink Davis tap water, which most people cannot handle.]
Bottom Line: Not all water is alike in the same way that not all coffee is alike. Some coffees, like some waters, are overpriced for what you get. Other waters are exceptional value or unique to an area. Caveat emptor.
16 April 2008
How to Manage a River
Live on it for 10,000 years. This story describes a tribe whose destiny is tied to a river:
...the Klamath has suffered. Agricultural water diversions have depleted the river's once mighty flows; four moderately sized hydroelectric dams along the Klamath's main stem - plus a huge dam on its major tributary, the Trinity - have greatly reduced the spawning grounds for anadromous fish. Too, the main stem Klamath dams warm the river's water, encouraging destructive parasites and blooms of toxic blue-green algae. Increasingly, it is clear the Klamath can have the dams or it can have fish, but not both. For years, the Yurok have been at the vanguard in a battle to remove the dams. Allied with them are the other Klamath tribes, commercial fishermen and sport anglers. Opposing them are the dams' operators - which have shifted over the years, as the facilities have changed ownership - and farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin, who divert the river's water for potatoes, grain, alfalfa, horseradish and other crops.
The Klamath always has been a major front in California's water wars, one that has waxed especially hot throughout the Bush administration. In 2001, increased downriver flows by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to sustain salmon were resisted by Basin farmers, who seized irrigation canal head gates in protest. Water availability already was a flashpoint issue on the Klamath because much of the Trinity's flow is diverted south for the state's cities and agricultural lands.
In 2002, the Bush administration sided with the farmers and slashed the releases to the river, delivering the water up to the irrigation districts. A massive fish kill on the Klamath followed; the salmon never really recovered from the blow.
Bottom Line: Sustainable use means that you leave the resource in the same shape you found it -- or better. If you are mining the resource, you take it closer to depletion, population crash and/or extinction. That's true for trees, rivers, fish, and water the same way it's true for oil, coal or gold. Resources will be managed well when the owner/exploiter plans to be around for 100, 1,000 or 10,000 years -- not a few growing seasons, a few quarters or a few days.
Battle of the Bottle
A bottled water story from Canada, a place hoping to get a good price for its water as well as its oil. This quote clarifies the profit margins that Nestle, Coca-Cola, et al. have been after:
Beyond the ecological issue, residents wondered why Nestlé was allowed to source its primary ingredient at virtually no cost. They pointed out that if the average citizen drew an equivalent amount of water from municipal sources, it would cost him or her $2,700 per day, whereas Nestlé will ante up not much more than that—$3,000—to tap the Aberfoyle spring for five years. (Thereafter, of course, comes commercial alchemy: A bottle of freely sourced water ends up costing more than a litre of gas.)
15 April 2008
McCloud or McD's?
Vegas on the Money
The NC Times outlines San Diego County Water Authority's (SDCWA) command and control system of fighting drought.
In a manner eerily similar to Homeland Security's useless system of Red, Orange and Yellow threats (relatively safe Green and Blue are rarely used), SDCWA has Drought Watch, Drought Alert, Drought Critical and Drought Emergency. (Okay, I get the point -- there's a drought.)
What do those levels mean? "Drought Watch calls for a 10 percent voluntary reduction in consumer water use" while the other levels "call for" mandatory reductions of up to 20 percent, 40 percent and more than 40 percent, respectively.
How do you call for a mandatory reduction? Do you shut off people's water once the meter hits 60 percent of normal? SDCWA's calls for conservation are useless (see here and here).
Ironically (and not accidentally), the article goes on to point out how Vegas encourages water efficiency:
Water hogs still exist in the Las Vegas area, Bennett said, but they pay a heavy price in higher water bills. Large water users pay hefty surcharges and fines for practices deemed to be water-wasting. By contrast, diligent water-savers get a big reward in lower water bills.
Gee, that sounds like what I just said.
Bottom Line: I don't claim any innovation here -- people have known for centuries millennia that higher prices signal scarcity. Water is increasingly scarce. Raise prices to conserve it.
Water in California
14 April 2008
Ethanol Kills Children
How's that for an hysterical headline? The story is not much better:
Bottom Line: Thank god that corn prices are up. Fat profits mean bigger campaign contributions. (Who needs kids or people in developing countries, anyway? They don't vote.) /end brutal sarcasm
Hijacking the Everglades?
This is how the Corps of Engineers "restores" nature:
Saving a Sacred River
This clipping caught my eye:
India's sacred river, the Ganges, supports over 400 million people, and for many, is an important symbol of purity. But as it travels along its 1,500-mile journey through India, over 1.4 billion liters of untreated waste water are dumped into it each day.
Palaniappan conducted a series of workshops for SMF board and staff in strategies to change policy, use the media, and engage the public in cleaning the Ganges.
"...there is a huge opportunity to ensure that this time, the technologies and strategies chosen to clean up the Ganga benefit the public, are technologically appropriate, and are actually implemented."
I have visited Varanasi (aka Benares), and it's an amazing, spiritual place. Many hindus go there to die, be cremated and have their ashes put into the Ganges. The water is considered sacred.
How is it that people could abuse their "sacred" river? One reason that I have heard many many times is that Ganges water is "special", i.e., it can clean anything thrown into it -- including dead bodies, 1.4 billion liters of sewage/day, etc. (Wikipedia says special.) I have looked for scientific testing of this super water (which appears to be as magical as NYC pizza water). Does anyone know of studies?
Far more important than science -- assuming Ganges water is not special -- will be convincing normal Indians that the river is not able to clean whatever is thrown into it. If you want an idea of how hard that might be, consider the religious, political and/or racial superstitions that people have in this country. (I am not going to start a flame-war by naming any.)
Bottom Line: Mere evidence or logic will not solve a problem. It will only get solved when people change what they are doing, and that will only happen when people are convinced something needs to be done AND that they can do something about it.
13 April 2008
State, Market and Toilets
This amusing post on toilet regulations explores the tension between "state" and "market" solutions:
So, the obvious solution here is government intervention, and in some places (the USA) in the early 1990's the government decided to get tough, and used its monopoly on force -- you know, that monopoly the libertarians are always complaining about -- to compel the toilet manufacturers cartel to adopt an environmentally friendly line. They outlawed high-volume toilets. One for the state! (although to be honest I don't know which level of the state it was).
The story shows that the state/market dichotomy is false, and that the phrasing of the question is at fault. Posing the issue as "state versus market" loses touch with reality in the face of this intricate cross-pollination between municipalities, the US Environmental Protection Agency (who is likely to develop a labelling system based on the Veritec tests), Veritec itself (which is a private consultancy) and quasi-state bodies such as the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association.
Comment: The author says that water suffers form free-rider problems because people "do not pay the full cost of their water." This is not exactly true. People often pay the average cost of water provision -- so some people pay more than the actual cost and others pay less. More importantly, almost nobody pays for the water itself -- just the cost of delivery. As water supplies get tight, the scarcity value of the water increases, and the price of water should rise above zero (like that other precious liquid, oil).
Thanks for MG for the tip.
Eat Your Cake and Have It
Farmers in Southern California pay less for water, but they are first to face water cuts in shortage. This story describes their attempts to avoid cuts:
Growers on a discounted water program who have been subject to mandated supply cuts for more than three months said this week that they shouldn't have to split the limited resource, which is essential to their business, between their homes and groves.
They said they should be allowed to buy domestic meters that would deliver full-priced, unrestricted water to their homes, leaving 100 percent of their discounted water for agricultural use.
Ben Holtz, whose family has grown avocados on Circle R Drive in Valley Center for nearly 40 years, is one of the growers who said he wants a residential meter that is separate from the water allocation he's locked into under program rules.
"As agriculture customers, we're just as qualified to buy (domestic) water as some guy who's going to put in 10 houses," he said.
Under Metropolitan's guidelines, any water delivered to a property participating in the agricultural program is subject to the supply cut, even if some of the allocation is used for domestic purposes.
Holtz and others said they'd be willing to forgo the discount if they could get out of the program and buy more water.
But Arant warned that leaving the program and paying full price for water wouldn't necessarily shield growers from supply cuts, because Metropolitan was created to supply water for municipal and industrial customers, not for agriculture.
When times are good, they are happy to get domestic and ag water at a discount; when water's is short, they want to buy more water -- circumventing the reductions they promised to make in exchange for discounted prices.
Bottom Line: Across the board cuts are the deal. If farmers want to buy more water, make them pay full price for all water. Subsidies lead to waste and over-use.
12 April 2008
Save a Tree for Who?
Reuters reprints a press release* stating how much paper an average household would save by going paperless:
the average U.S. household receives about 19 bills and statements from credit card companies and banks every month and makes about seven payments by paper each month.
By switching to electronic bills, statements and payments, the average American household would save 6.6 pounds of paper a year, save 0.08 trees, and not produce 171 pounds of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of driving 169 miles.
The survey, whose results were vetted by the Environmental Protection Agency, said it would also mean avoiding the deforestation of 24 square feet of forest, the release of 63 gallons of wastewater into the environment, and save 4.5 gallons of gasoline used for mailing.
Although these numbers seem small, they look to be accurate. Our system is pretty efficient, so the cost of billing is cheap.
They fail to include three important factors. First, paper statements take more time for consumers and companies to process. Second, the switch from paper to electronic takes significant time (let's say 20 minutes per billing source). Third, how many household have internet connections but do NOT do on-line billing?
Consider that group. Perhaps the reason they are not on-line is that the set-up cost (19*20 minutes = just over 6 hours) is not worth the stamps (and time?) they would save. Those other costs (dead trees, miles driven, etc.) are externalities that they are not responsible for.
*Hmmm... so why are these guys saying how much forest can be saved by electronic billing but not how much time and money companies could save if their customers switched? Try this:
The alliance [that made the study] is lead by NACHA, the non-profit electronics payment association, that represents more than 11,000 financial institutions who are encouraging customers to conduct more transactions online.
Whoops -- looks like we have a baptists and bootleggers situation here (save a tree! lower our billing costs!). The companies want you to switch to online billing to save trees them money. How much does paper billing cost those 11,000 companies?
Bottom Line: Since companies send bills with free envelopes, etc., they are the source of externalities. If these companies want to save the earth, they should split the benefits with consumers -- give a discount equal to half the reduction in billing costs to consumers who pay online. They (still) win, consumers win and the environment wins.
11 April 2008
Salton Sea
Demand and Supply of Water
A reader asks:
It is my assumption that the demand curve for municipal water is rather steep (True?) Therefore, if the ag water supply curve (the amount of water ag can and is willing to sell to cities) shifted right slightly, urban prices could fall dramatically. Is that correct? Just trying to get my head around the potential of broad water markets.
Yes and no.
First, the demand for water is steep, i.e., it has low elasticity. In layman's terms, that means people are willing to pay a lot to continue to receive their water deliveries.
Second, the supply curve of urban water has almost nothing to do with scarcity. The price of water is often the cost of delivering it. If urban areas have access to more water, the scarcity of water falls (what we usually call the supply curve), but the price of delivering it does not. In that sense, water would not become cheaper.
OTOH, more water flowing through the system will reduce prices. This leads to the perverse -- and often seen result -- of lower prices in the middle of a drought. Because water deliveries increase, prices fall. (The numerator of costs is rising slower than the denominator of deliveries.) This result does not help people understand that water is scarce and should be preserved.)
This would change if urban areas facing drought had to pay higher prices, but prices do not usually rise that quickly, and some people do not respond to price changes anyway.
Bottom Line: More farm water to urban areas could drop the price of water when there are shortages but not under business as usual conditions. OTOH, water prices that rose and fell with scarcity (not costs) would send conservation signals to water customers and ensure that new water from ag areas was not wasted.
Australian Wine and Water
The Economist's correspondent reports on how Australian wine growers have gone from boom to bust -- with results that are exacerbated by drought in the Murray River. Are California winemakers also vulnerable?
Sustainable Development
Interview: The Irrationality of Homo Economicus
Sustainable Development: Definitions, Principles, Policies
Steady-State Economics
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Bag Worms
Bagworm is a serious pest, capable of rapid buildup and doing extensive damage to arborvitae, red cedar, elm, maple, oak, birch and many other trees. Bagworm is most often seen hiding in its spindle-shaped silk bag covered with bits of foliage, bark and other debris Bagworm can be found in the eastern United States from New England to Nebraska and south through Texas .
Tent Caterpillar
The tent caterpillar, also known as the eastern tent caterpillar is mostly a nusiance pest, but it can defoliate certain types of trees, leaving landscapes looking bare and ugly.
Pill Bugs
Sow bugs and pill bugs seem to invade basements out of nowhere. The presence of pill bugs is nature's way of tell you that moisture is collecting along the exterior foundation walls.
Slugs are common pests during wet weather and can damage many types of plants in the garden. The slug feeds mainly at night, preferring cool, moist hiding places during the day. Cool, wet spring conditions will result in large slug populations.
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http://www.asktheexterminator.com/garden_pests/index.shtml
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Problem Neighbor and the contractors.
Asked over 1 year ago - Jacksonville, FL
Two guys walked out from neighbor yard with big shovel carried on their back and they walked to their black truck. They ignored me after I identified I am the owner, and "You are in my yard". They drove away but they drove back and they blocked the driveway to look at our house, then they drove away. Did research of the company because there was no name, what they do if they are contractors for the neighbor. Asked neighbor to confirm and she said yes, they are the contractors who works for XYZ company. Called the firm people, someone stated he own and manage the firm. Let him know the above but he stated he does not know anyone who own the black pick up truck or two tall guys with shovels. He made it sound like I was making story up and he would not apologize.
Additional information
I received the voice mail from the person who stated he owns the company, but it was not clear of what he said. I called him, and he stated one of the guy is a contractor, and the other guy works for him. They admitted that they walked in the yard. He stated it should not happen after the homeowner identified this is their property but it happened. He did not offer any remedy.
Attorney answers (3)
1. Marshall C Deason Jr.
Contributor Level 20
Lawyers agree
Answered . If the people did not damage your property, it is unlikely that you would be able to recover any money for their trespass. If the trespass onto your property occurs again, you may want to consult an experienced real estate lawyer in your area about the remedies that are available to you.
2. William H. Kassebaum
Contributor Level 11
Lawyers agree
Answered . If it keeps occurring you could possibly file in county court a claim for breach of your "quiet enjoyment" of your home based on the neighbors GC continuing to disturb your residency by trespassing. If it were me I would draft a letter to them to provide proper notice and if they fail to change the conduct the court could step in. Note: if your in good relations with your neighbor talk to them again and see if they can rectify. I believe in alternative dispute resolutions on situations like this unless the trespassing party ( GC) and homeowner refuse to stop the conduct then you should file quiet enjoyment claim. Hope this helps- Bill
DISCLAIMER: This answer is not legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship between any user/... more
3. Sean Michael Murrell
Contributor Level 3
Lawyer agrees
Answered . What damage are they causing when they walk through your yard? Sure, looking at it very technically, you do have a right to prevent someone from coming on your property (including your yard); but from a realistic perspective, what harm are they causing by walking across your yard? If your property isn't being damaged, then it's highly unlikely that you have any civil claim that would be worth the time and money to pursue.
The information shared at this site should not be relied on as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney/client... more
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Part of
« Mets’ Minaya wines and dines K-Rod in Vegas | Main | Report: Phillies throw hat in ring for Padres' Peavy »
Monday, December 08, 2008
" agent Jamie Moyer will explore his options by “re-enlisting his former agent, Jim Bronner, to begin calling other clubs.”
That's not a good sign.
CJ (from last thread): "clout:
How many fewer wins do you think a rotation of this:
Hamels, Myers, Blanton, Happ, Carrasco
Would have than this:
Hamels, Myers, Blanton, Moyer, Happ"
I think the chances of Carrasco being able to step into a major league rotation out of spring training are less than 50-50. So rotation #1 wins fewer games than #2, although Kendrick could revert to first-half form and step in for Carrasco.
In response to last thread:
There is almost 0% chance the Phils will sign Lowe. He will command too many years and too high of an annual salary of probably north of $15M/year.
MG: Injuries aren't the only thing that goes wrong. Three of our starting five pitchers missed significant time due to ineffectiveness. The result isn't much different than an injury. If you're suggesting we should predict Tommy John for one of our starters... well, I'm not quite willing to do that.
Jack - There is no way that Moyer gets 2 yr/$18-$20M. Please. Maybe something like 2 yrs/$14-$15M but even that is extreme.
MG: Yes, I was being somewhat extreme, but it was to point out the issue with Clout's argument. Simply saying "We won't compete without Moyer back" ignores the context and reality of the situation, which involves investing resources and committing multiple years to a 46-year old who is most likely not going to repeat last year's performance anyway.
Agreed that chances of 2008 Moyer matching 2009 Moyer are almost 0%. Issue is how do the Phils replace him in the rotation. If they go into camp with 2 open spots, it reminds of 2006 when Madson/Floyd opened out of spring training and both flamed out.
Jack: if you're suggesting that Burrell will be replaced by Jenkins/Mayberry and Moyer by Carrasco then, no, we won't compete. You're fine with that. I'm not.
What do everyone expect? I told you they were goona go cheap and now that's the colors the colors the Phils are showing. No Moyer, Burrell, or draft picks. We to go Reuben. We'll sign/trade for guys whom you can get for a bag of baseballs that won't amount to much. Then watch how the Phils put the PR spin on things.
Better start listening phans. I know what I'm talking about.
Jack: Who said, "We won't compete without Moyer back"? I have no problem passing on a too-expensive contract for him as long as the Phils have an adequate replacement. Carrasco ain't it.
Because of the existence of the wild card, no, the Phillies' success is not predicated only upon the Mets' failure. But it's equally foolish to think it plays no role. I don't care who they sign, because there's nothing the Phils can do about it. But I'm not going to play the game of "my team's better 'cause yours eats Ken-l-Ration." They're very evenly matched teams, and the Mets have more money to address their holes than the Phillies have. That's just reality.
They won 92 games in the regular season. That is not a great team. Good, yes. Great, not close.
This was stupid the first time you typed it. Repeating it isn't making it look any smarter. "Losing culture"? You never struck me as this obtuse until now.
On C. Lee: Phaithful's analysis aside -- seriously, dude, do you have any ability to understand baseball beyond the back-of-the-Topps-card stats? -- Burrell and Lee are basically the same player. I'll ask again: Why would the Phils pay Lee $74 million over 4 years when they won't pay Burrell $30 million for 2?
Clout: I suspect they think Happ will step into the Moyer role. That doesn't have me printing up any '09 Champions bumper stickers.
If Moyer wants 3 years, would you give that to him?
I honestly don't care if Moyer goes, assuming they replace him.
One last point - seems to be that there is a developing consensus that secondary moves (e.g., Rivera, Springer, Wolf, etc) will keep this team in position as a championship-caliber team.
I couldn't vehemently disagree more. Amaro is in a tough spot this offseason given the likely payroll ceiling he is going to run into that tie his hands in the FA market/resigning some of his own players. Doesn't help that Gillick also raided the cookie jar and did trade a number of younger players/prospects the past 2 years too.
Still, with a payroll that is likely to be around $115M on Opening Day (depends on whether you throw in the Thome money which I am sure the Phils will mention a few times), there hands are pretty much tied unless they make a move via a trade.
These rumors about bringing in Lowe and others expensive FA are just ridiculous. A guy like Springer who comes in for $1M or a guy like Rivera who might sign for $3-$4M are much more feasible.
Clout: I'm not ok with replacing Burrell with that platoon. I hate it, and think it's a serious mistake.
We need to deal with the fact that Pat is gone though. It's stupid, but it's true. I hope that MLBTR report is true, and we're talking with the Twins about Delmon Young. I'd trade Donald and a B-level pitching prospect for him in a heartbeat. Probably even Donald and Happ.
As far as replacing Moyer with Carrasco, I agree it's a step down, and if we can get Moyer back at a reasonable deal, of course I support it. Would you bring him back no matter what his contract demands are though? You've never answered that.
From the sounds of it, the Phillies wont pay for anything that has a potential greater or equal to 16-7 3.71 ERA, whether its Moyer or anyone else. So there is no way Philly is getting an adequate replacement unless its through a trade (hah) or they get lucky with an in house prospect.
DPatrone - Largely agree with you. BAP and I jumped on board that ship early in Nov. although I was willing to see what this roster looked like around Christmas time but I was expecting any miracles.
It is going to be interesting to see how Amaro handles this offseason though if the Phils do go the budget-rate and have some unpleasant arbitration hearings with some of their key players.
My bet is that Amaro is dismissive, arrogant, and even condescending at times. I have had a couple of managers like this and usually in the end they are failures even if they are bright.
Donald and a B pitching product for Delmon Young would be a wet dream.
Seems like the type of move that the Phillies don't make though.
Dpatrone - relax. It is a little early to throw in the towel.
Not that I think Minaya is a master GM either. His strategy yet again this offseason will be largely just to spend more money to fill holes on the Mets' roster.
Is Delmon Young the guy that threw the bat at the umpire a few years ago? I know he has baggage, I'm just trying to remember what he did. I will be very surprised if the Phillies go after a known trouble maker. It's just not their style. If they do, it would have to be very economically expedient.
Reluctantly, I'd let Moyer walk instead of overpaying based on sentimentality. The part of Moyer that I like is his work ethic, his leadeship by example, and his pitching coach presence. I'm really not all that excited every time he goes to the mound and starts a game. I always expect the worse. Replace him with some cheaper youngster that has a greater chance of winning than losing everytime he goes out their to pitch. Who's that guy? I don't know.
Alby: i apologize that Topps print a players batting average and RBI totals.
How foolish of me to think the number of base hits that a player has in relation to the number of times a player comes to the plate, aside from walks and sacrafices, is a relevant stat.
and i like how since you can read OPS+ off a website, it shows your superior ability to compare players than someone who reads off their batting average.
You said their OPS+ are usually similiar, so since its your #5 hitter (the part of the order that are relied on to drive in runs), wouldn't you want a bigger component of their OPS+ as base hits than walks?
And I know RBIs are not the most reliable stat, but Lee has been on 3 different teams in the past 6 years and drives in 99+ every single time. At what point can you see the man is a superior run producer than Pat Burrell?
I WANT DELMON YOUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thephaithful: Yes, Carlos Lee is a superior run producer to Pat Burrell. He's also owed 74 million over the next 4 years. Not gonna happen.
Yes donc that was him, though it was pointed out a few threads back that he actually hit the umpire thus demonstrating good bat control.
Love to see Moyer end his career in Philly.
But, you also have to be smart with your money; especially with the crappy economic times, this country is going to go through. Its going to effect everyone.
Jamie is still an old man. And, more than 1 guaranteed year, for a 46 year old, who could come to spring training next year, and be washed up, would not be real smart. Especially, when the strength of your organization is the depth of young starting pitching. Moyer is a #4 type of starter. And, this team's main need, this off-season, is to find a right-handed bat, to replace Burrell. Not, to overpay and over-extend for a #4 starter, no matter the sentimentality.
If Jamie and his representation, are looking for a big pay-day, at his age, in this economic climate, its not likely to happen. Can't blame them for trying; but even K-Rod is finding the waters tough, in free agency. Just not a lot of cash out there, in 2008.
..."as long as the Phils have an adequate replacement. Carrasco ain't it."
How do you know he isn't? He's going to be in the rotation soon. It just might be at the start of 2009; instead of July of 2009.
before people comment on the El Cabayo talk: i'm saying how he is better than pat burrell, i am not saying i think the Phillies should trade for him.
my earlier post stated that i would inquire to houston to see what you would have to give up and what salary relief exsits, if any.
If Moyer wants 2 guaranteed years at 7+ million per year, I'm letting him walk. I love having him on the team, but he's a 47 year old pitcher next season that is highly unlikely to repeat his outstanding season, probably regress to the '07 version of 5+ era.
Delmon Young has an attitude problem, but at age 23 with tons of upside, bring his ass aboard!
Giving Moyer a multiyear deal is a mistake.
Carson, he's a 46 year old pitcher next year, not 47. He'd be 47 for the 2010 season.
"jack : Yes, Carlos Lee is a superior run producer to Pat Burrell. "
tell that to Alby, not me.
"Carson, he's a 46 year old pitcher next year, not 47."
Green jacket, gold jacket, who gives a sh*t?!
Just saw the Delmon Young video. Looks like me on the golf course.
Just sayin'
I know NEPP, I'm just trying to get a laugh.
Yeah, I know. ;)
I'd take a flyer on Delmon Young. Yes he's a risk, but probably less of a risk than jason donald becoming an everyday contributer at 3rd base on the Phillies.
DYoung has already proven he belongs in the MLB, the risk is whether he can excel in the majors, rather than beloing - whereas Donald still hasn't even shown if he belongs yet. Offensively or Def. (wont play SS for philly anytime soon).
Jack: I agree 100% with your last post. And no I wouldn't bring Moyer back on a too-high contract. Sounds like we agree across the board. Now what are we gonna do?
I'm not going to cry over spilled milk if Moyer wants a three year deal.
But Jason, please, for the Love of God, do not include "can not and will not" together when referring to committing dollars and years.
Can they? They sure can, especially with WS money in the bank, no pun intended.
Will they? No.
So please don't say they can't, because they certainly can. More than likely won't, which irritates me to no end.
I read that a lot from the beat writers, they "can't" when it comes to finances. That's crazy!
Jroll's contract IS up in 2 years I believe...knowing this FO, they might let him walk at age 32.
Clout: So if Carrasco isn't your adequate replacement, who is? If you don't sign Moyer because he makes some ridiculous demands (let's just play an experiment here), who do you replace him with?
I didn't see Randy Wolf pitch at all this past season. Anybody think he's got anything left? He's not that old.
Delmon Young's bat throwing "incident":
Wolfie pitched a lot better for Houston than he did earlier in the year. I'd give him a shot but not at what he's gonna want salary wise due to his hot 2nd half.
NEPP: Club option in 2011 for rollins at 8.5Mil, can't possibly see them pass that up. So three years minimum. no sense of letting #1 prospect-in-the-history-of-the-Earth Jason Donald sit in the minors until then when you can get a RHB LF right now. And all jokes aside, Delmon Young actually was considered the #1 Prospect in the world at one point - or close to it.
but again, this is the winter meetings, the actual relevance of this trade could be nothing more than Paul Hagan reading beerleaguer.
denny b. Do you think Carrasco will be ready to step into the rotation out of spring training? Based on what?
Forgot about the club option...thank God, I don't want to lose JRoll.
I'd trade Donald for Young in a heartbeat if it were that simple. I'm sure the Twins would want a bit more than J. Donald though.
thepaithful: On how many of those teams was Carlos Lee hitting behind Ryan Howard? Do you think that might have had an impact on Burrell's RBI totals? OPS+ remains the best measure of a player's offense.
Any ideas on what Wolf would want? I even forgot that that's where he ended up. I'm with you NEPP. I wouldn't mind seeing him come back, but I'd be careful what I paid him. He's had his share of arm problems lately. I guess we're saying that about just about all of the pitchers. There's a great fear about over-paying and over-comitting. As we know, the Phillies have that fear more than most.
Bed Beard~
Not saying I'd give Moyer 3 years, but this situation should have been resolved already given the mutual interest.
The bigger problem is if he leaves, how are they going to replace his 16 wins? If Myers pitches to his potental, he wins 3-5 more games. The same could be said of Blanton. But they're going to have to win more than 92 games to repeat as divison champs as the offense won't be as good due to Burrell leaving. They won't be major players in the FA market, I'm telling you that.
That was my question to you. You go first.
As far as Carrasco and Mayberry, we don't even know if they can play at the ML level. I'm not in a hurry to find out. I want proven ML players who can play. Not ??????
Carrasco in 09 vs. Moyer in 09???
Toss up as Moyer could easily hit the wall very early on like most 46 year old pitchers and be completely ineffective. How would that be any different than Carrasco's projected 2009 season?
NEPP: What exactly is Carrasco's projected 2009 season?
DPatrone: "As far as Carrasco and Mayberry, we don't even know if they can play at the ML level."
This is true everywhere except on Beerleaguer.
Clout: I already said I'd probably just go with Carrasco/Kendrick, while also considering some FA starters, like Jon Garland and Randy Wolf who might be willing to come in for a cheap 1-year deal. I'd also consider signing Oliver Perez if the market on him came down, but I doubt it would come down far enough. I'd probably be willing to do 3 years, 30-35 million for Perez, but I'd imagine he and Boras envision getting a long-term deal worth more than that. As I said many times, I'm ok with letting Carrasco and Kendrick try and develop, although I'm obviously skeptical of Kendrick. I'm surprised you don't consider Kendrick an adequate replacement, seeing as how much you loved him last offseason.
Your turn.
donc: Wolfie made $4.75M on a one year contract, which he had to take to prove he was healthy.
He's looking for at least 3 years and probably $6M per. He turned down a multi-year offer from the 'Stros in early November but I never saw what the dollar amount was.
****NEPP: What exactly is Carrasco's projected 2009 season? ****
I'll let you know when I see the PECOTA outlook...
My point is that neither is a terribly sure thing...either the 22 year old rookie or the 46 year old veteran.
clout: Agreed on OPS+ as a better measurement. And again like the Burrell 08 vs Howard 08 situation, this is a scenario where the OPS+ are said to be 'very similiar' so I am trying to use other stats to prove otherwise.
And i'm being generous to say 'similiar OPS+' by giving Alby the benefit of the doubt that 2008 was an outlier where Lee had a OPS+ of 144.
Yes Howard in front, and essentially everyone in the lineup effect RBI totals - but when you can change leagues and teams and still produce similiar RBI totals year after year, its pretty telling.
And again, if you have two players with identical OPS+, wouldn't you want the player with a larger component of the OPS+ from his basehits in your #5 hole?
Dpatrone: how do you know that they will have to win more than 92 games to win the division next year?
That quote doesn't make much sense to me.
Sure, it is relevant. But OBP is more relevant. And OPS is even more relevant. And OPS+... and so forth.
And just to give detail, by relevant, I mean that if you look at the AVG by team in the league & compare that to runs scored by that team, there's less of a connection than if you used OBP for the comparison. And there's less for that than if you used OPS. And so forth.
Here's an interesting thought: Randy Johnson on a 1-year deal worth a good amount of money.
Jack: I'd love Lowe, but the Phils won't try hard for him. I'd roll the dice on Wolf or Garland if all else failed. The Phils won't sign Ollie P.
Happ is #5 starter and he's never been in a major league rotation for a full year. Neither has KK. Yet those would be the team's #4 and #5 starters if they fail to replace Moyer. That is far, far too risky. As someone posted above, there is an excellent chance it would be Madson, Floyd all over again. The Phillies need to either sign a FA pitcher to replace Moyer or make a trade for one.
I like Happ better than KK and understand how little margin for error there is for KK and Happ, like all finesse pitchers. My defense last season wasn't of him per se. It was an argument against the idiots who claimed that no pitcher with a low k/9 rate can be successful.
I'd look into Randy Johnson on a 1 year deal. He asked the DBacks for 1 year, $8 million and they shot him down. I'd give him that.
clout:thanks for the info. 3 years 6 million per doesn't sound too ridiculous to me. Especially if Moyer is looking for something similar as some are reporting. If as NEPP said, Wolf finished so strongly (for some reason I am drawing a blank on his whole season and don't have the time to look it up), he could be worth a shot. I always liked him as long as he's healthy.
NEPP: So the risks on trusting Moyer and Carrasco in the 2009 rotation are equal?
a quick question about the OPS+:
what are the units relative to? OPS is combined percentage points of onbase and slugging. so if a player had a .400 OBP and a .500 SLG, I know that his .900 OPS is because he reached base safely 40% of the time while averaging .5 total bases each time.
So when a player has a OPS of .800 compared to .900, i can literally see exactly how much 'better' a player is.
So when someone has an OPS+ of 120 compared to 124, are we talking a few basehits better or about 25 total bases?
Personally, I'm not confident with either option in 2009 clout. 46 year old pitchers have a way of going bad real fast...and inconsistent 22 year olds can get lit up despite having great stuff (see Clay Bucholtz).
If I had to lean one way or the other, I'd go with Moyer on a 1 year deal if that's possible...and pray he pulls a Niekro instead of a Charlie Hough/Nolan Ryan in his age 46 season.
I'd give Big Unit 8 million for this year in a heartbeat. Take a look at his stats from the past few seasons and tell me what you don't like. Ok, he was hurt and only made 10 starts in 2007. He bounced back and made 30 last year. Ok, he had a 5.00 ERA in 2006. The other 3 years his ERA was consistently around 3.80.
He looks to me like a good bet to give you 25-30 starts with 180 IP, a 4.00 ERA, 170 K, and a 1.25 WHIP, admittedly on the optimistic side. That's easily worth a 1 year deal at 8 million.
So would I.
NEPP: Exactly... Johnson could more than fill in for Moyer if he'd be willing to take a one year deal.
clout: What if I told you that despite hitting behing Howard, Burrell came to the plate with more runners on that Carlos Lee and only one fewer runner in scoring position?
Jack: Totally agree with you on the Unit. He'd sell tickets too and be a good role model for the kiddie pitchers like Happ & KK
NEPP: That's the perfect scenario. I think almost every Phillies fan wants Moyer back for a year. It sounds like that may not be possible though. As for the big eunich; one year for 8 million doesn't seem too unreasonable.
How do I know? Simple. No Burrell. Maybe no Moyer. nad NO top replacements for either. The Mets and Braves will be better than last year, count on that. How much better will be Phils be? They will go backwards.
You have to understand how this is run. Most of the ownership group is made up of businesspeople not sport phans.
They want to keep as much money in their pockets as possible. They made a ton of money last year and they've already raised ticket prices. They know they're gonna draw 3 million plus next year. So their mantra is "why spend if we don't have to? The phans will come." And that's true.
They have the money to have a payroll north of 130-140 million, but they refuse. Outside of Thome, when have they, in recent years gona after a top-nothch FA and got him? Never that's when. The 2 elite guys before Thome were Pete Rose and Lance Parrish. And they were burned on Parrish. So don't look for them to spend outside of their self-imposed budget. Aint gonna happen.
CJ: Then I'd say that Carlos had a heckuva year with men on base and Pat didn't. Would you like to compare those numbers in some other years? You do understand that it fluctuates quite a bit year to year, right?
CJ: thanks for the runner on base research. I think cabayo only played about 120 games last year so that would explain why he has less men on than burrell.
And yet his still high RBI total continues to suggest how much of a better run producer he is than Burrell - which is the most important part of a hitters game who bats in the middle of the order.
Jack, clout, et. al.:
Pertaining to your discussion, I actually think Happ CAN be an adequate replacement for Moyer in the rotation. I believe, having watched him pitch (live once and the rest on TV), that his is capable of replacing Moyer........2007. No way he replaces Moyer 2008. Then again, I think we all agree, there is no way Moyer 2009 duplicates Moyer 2008. I believe the Phillies think that also, otherwise they wouldn't be so far apart on the dollars.
To me, the issue isn't who fills the 4th spot in the rotation next season (Moyer or Happ), as IMO you may get about the same.
The issue is who is who's going to be in the 5th spot in the rotation, whether it be a #2 starter (Lowe) and everone else gets bumped down a slot, a #3 (____________[fill in the blank]), or a #5 (____________[fill in the blank]).
They seemingly aren't going to adequately replace Burrell's bat, so the rotation will need a serious upgrade if the are going to compete to repeat.
BTW, Stark's column indicating that it is about the dollars with Moyer has once again exposed Ruben "Liar Liar" Amaro, Jr.'s dishonesty. Remember, he told us it was the number of years, not the dollars.
Apparently, his nickname is well deserved.
It'll be interesting to see what spin "Liar Liar" and the Phillies put on 2009 if they don't address their needs.
clout: Don't worry... I'm not disagreeing with you on whether OPS+ is a better way to compare players than RBI. I was just surprised to find the info myself.
I doubt The Unit would come back to an East Coast team.
Dpat - I agree with all that. Except that I don't think it will take more than 92 wins to take the division.
Don't think the Muts will be much better, and I think the Braves will probably be better, but do you really see them winning 92 games? I don't.
92 wins it, but I agree we aren't there yet, and it will be a long shot to get us there.
Does Randy Johnson, Rivera, and Cruz get us there? We probably won't even spend that.
cheap bast@@@ owners, cheap cheap, bast@@@@. Thank you Mr.Giles enjoy the fifty million you made in the playoffs and the profit of 500 million if the team is sold.
Well, the shine is off that World Series Championship apparently...
Jeeee-zus Keeee-rist.
Some people really have to learn how to relax. It's like they learned nothing from Season = Over.
CJ/clout: I'm not preaching the RBI over OPS+ either. Im simply saying that RBI are not a useless stat. When players have similiar OPS+, but one player has weaker RBI and Batting Averages, then that player isnt as good of a run producer than the other.
CJ: The sky is falling, didn't you hear?
thephaitful: That's not necessarily true. Context matters. Let me try this another way. Would you rather have a player with a 100 OPS+ in the 5th hole with a .300 BA and averages 100 RBI a year... or a player with a 115 OPS+ in the 5th hole with a .280 BA who averages 90 RBI a year?
When you look at just those numbers, it would seem to suggest that the player who averages 100 RBI a year is the better "run producer," but we know nothing about the context of the particular situations. Over time, the player with the 15 point higher OPS+ is the more valuable player.
Well put CJ. I'm not gonna be ok with standing pat, but I've gone to sleep with a smile on my face every night for the last six weeks. Can't we let the FO f**k it up before we all freak out?
CJ: I think his point was that with two players who have 115 OPS+, the one with more RBI and a higher AVG is the better #5 hole hitter.
I can kind of buy this argument, but kind of not. OPS undervalues on-base percentage, so two guys with 115 OPS+ can't be considered equal without knowing the breakdown of their OPS by on-base and slugging. On-base percentage, no matter what part of the lineup you are in, is still the single most important part of offense.
Jack and phaithful: I guess it's all semantics. Calling a player a "run producer" can mean lots of things. But producing runs comes from many factors... many outside the player's control. I guess that's my point.
Most interesting thing(s) in Stark's column today:
1. The latest dates on when some of the premier FAs would sign. I was amazed to see that some of the baseball people that Stark polled list some really late dates including after Christmas. In the past several years, almost all of the premier FA moves were made well before Christmas.
One thing for certain is that the economy has effected the hesitation that teams are having this offseason.
2. That it appears there are more teams this year in the "sellers" bracket than the "buyers" bracket based upon purely economic terms. You have to figure this is going to affect veteran players and result in bargains being available in January.
Star Tribune says the Twins do, in fact, like Jason Donald and that the Phils are doing their "due diligence" on Delmon Young.
If the Phils dealt Donald for Young and signed Randy Johnson (or someone else on a short-term deal), what else would the Phillies need to do in your opinion?
Interesting - Gammons just stated that he thinks the market will now go into January for even good hitters.
Guess I have to adjust my timetable and see what this team looks like come Jan. 15 due to the glacial speed of the Hot Stove this year.
CJ - Bullpen arm.
Devil's advocate:
- Do the Phils bring back Abreu on a 2-yr deal if his asking price really comes down to say $8-9M/year?
MG: If Abreu's price comes down that low, there's a good chance that Burrell's would as well.
Love Kruk as a player but he is just a horrible, horrible analyst. Mets should sign KRod because they "need to make a splash" for their new ballpark.
Nevermind the fact that the Mets would be better served with a combo of Fuentes and a guy like Cruz than a guy just like KRod.
Here's hoping that Minaya blows his offseason budget out by signing KRod and that doesn't leave the Mets with money to upgrade on any other significant bullpen arms since they still need to sign another starter.
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EST. 2005
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Hitting head, seeing stars
Ron Blue rcb1 at LEX.LCCC.EDU
Mon Oct 21 09:04:52 EST 1996
On 18 Oct 1996, Jason Fox wrote:
> So you're saying that if done to a child, the visual cortex would interpret
> asked the subject what lighning sounded like, what would they discribe? Or
> functions are determined genetically or through environment. If the second,
> wrong. :)
> - Jason Fox - jwox at winternet.com
> ----- http://www.winternet.com/~jwfox/
> - Chisago Lakes HS, Class of '97, Webmaster
> ----- http://www.serve.com/klun/
My sisters twin boys convinced me many years ago that biology was
extremely strong. I knew that Stimulus-Response psychology
was not adequate to explain what I was observing. Today,
with correlational opponent-processing and Hempfling's
neutronics model I KNOW that biology allows ASSOCIATION to
explain it ALL. LEARNING is more POWERFUL than I ever
Ricci an intellibot uses an associational model. To
increase the ratio of memory to stimuli input more memory
cards were put in Ricci. When turned back on Ricci staggers
to the left and right as she goes down the hall. Since
the previous memorys of moving are wrong it is like watching
a brain damaged person learning to walk again. Her movement
behavior BALANCES out FAST. Now she moves SMOOTHLY down the
We watch a colt learn to stand, walk and run in an hour.
I use to stress biological predispositions and reject
S-R model to explain the SPEED of behavior. NOW I KNOW
the Associational models can do it. The problem is
the equipment of the legs and muscles. The learning model
can easily handle the situation.
Ron Blue
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A+ R A-
Holiday Safety Tips for Women Traveling Alone
E-mail Print PDF
Share this article with a friend
Richard O. Jones
It’s been in the news lately that fake police officers are pulling women over with
red lights and sexually assaulting them.
Over the years, there’ve been many cases like this, all copycats of a crime in 1948.
The Caryl Chessman case, which eventually was a 1977 TV movie called, Kill Me If You Can, starring Alan Alda as Chessman. The Caryl Chessman case probably engendered more anti-capital punishment sentiment than any other case has, before or since (a hundred times more than the outcry to save Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams from execution in December 2005).
Chessman was a 27-year-old parolee from Folsom Prison who had spent the better
part of his adult life in and out of prison in January 1948 when he was arrested in
Los Angeles as the Red-Light Bandit. The Bandit would approach victims parked in
lonely spots, with a magnetic a red light on the top of his car resembling that used by
the police, and rob the victims -- sometimes taking the woman to another area and forcing
her to perform sexual acts with him.
Chessman was captured, convicted, and sentenced to death. Then began a 12-year struggle by Chessman to escape the gas chamber in San Quentin Prison. He wrote 4 books in his own defense (a lot of convicts write books while incarcerated and gain public sympathy). All of the books were very popular and Chessman gained the support of a many celebrities even Rev. Billy
Graham, Eleanor Roosevelt and countless other luminaries. Some of his books were even translated into other languages. They were to no avail, however, and after 8 stays of execution he was finally executed on May 2, 1960. Since the Chessman case, hundreds of rapes have been reported using the same M.O.
A spin-off of the Red-light scheme is the bump and grab scheme. This occurs when a
man sees a lone female driver in a secluded area usually at night and bumps the rear of
her car. When she exits to access the damage and exchange information, she’s attacked, robbed, raped, or perhaps worse.
Seven tips for a woman driving alone at night to minimize the likelihood of a redlight
bandit and/or the bump and grab scheme are as follows: (1) Always carry an operable cell phone (2) Avoid secluded areas as much as possible (3) if red-lighted or bumped in a secluded area at night, continue to drive until you get the 911 operator on the line and tell him or her your predicament (4) drive to a well-lit populated area before stopping unless 911 operator says
different (6) honk horn continuously to attract attention (7) intoxicated women are more vulnerable; therefore, don’t drink or use drugs especially when traveling alone.
(8) if an uniformed man claims to be a policeman, ask to see ID even though he may wear a badge but still call 911 on your cell phone before he even approaches your car. The first thing to tell the 911 operator is your location and ask him or her to stay on the line with you until you feel safe.
Email: [email protected]
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Aamir Khan
No. of Profile Views 97,450
Aamir lends a hand!
Mumbai, Oct. 23 -- Aamir Khan, who is playing a negative role in Dhoom:3, has returned to the city to promote the project.
The actor took a fortnight's break from shooting Rajkumar Hirani's P.K., to work on the trailer of his next that is being produced by Aditya Chopra.
A source says, "Aamir requested Hirani to wrap the schedule of his film early so that he could be in Mumbai in time for for the trailer launch (on October 30)." To make time for the project, the actor apparently worked overtime. "Aamir will resume shooting for the movie after Diwali now. The crew didn't seem to mind his decision either, as they also got an unexpected break," says the source.
Aamir was constantly in touch with Chopra, who had sent the trailer to him for his feedback. It is being converted to the Imax format and is scheduled to launch at the end of this month.
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China nursery head given death for child poisoning: media
The children, whose ages were not given, were found "foaming at the mouth," the report said. One died before reaching hospital while the other died after receiving treatment.
Many children in China's countryside are cared for by their grandparents because their parents have migrated to cities to find work.
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Science Current Events | Science News |
UF astronomer: Some giant planets in other systems most likely to be alone
May 08, 2012
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - "Hot Jupiter-type" planets are most likely to be alone in their systems, according to research by a University of Florida astronomer and others, made public today.
Scientists dug into Kepler's data and selected a sample of 63 planetary systems containing previously detected hot Jupiter candidates. Then they looked for signals of additional planets either crossing in front of the host stars or gravitationally tugging on the hot Jupiter's orbit. In all cases they found no evidence of additional planets. To allow comparisons, they used the same methods to study a sample of "warm Jupiter" candidates, equally big planets but located farther away from their parent stars and "hot Neptunes," smaller but closer to the stars. They found compelling evidence that at least 10 percent of the warm Jupiters and one third of the hot Neptunes have other planetary companions nearby in the system. Thus, why are all the hot Jupiters so lonely?
"That was because they are easier to find than smaller planets or others more distant to their host star," Ford said. "Now, we know that less than 1 percent of stars harbor hot Jupiters, so they are relatively rare. A special sequence of events like strong gravitational interactions between two giant planets followed by tidal circularization seems to be the most plausible scenario for the formation of hot Jupiters."
University of Florida
Related Giant Planets Current Events and Giant Planets News Articles
Getting To Know Super-Earths
"If you have a coin and flip it just once, what does that tell you about the odds of heads versus tails?" asks Heather Knutson, assistant professor of planetary science at Caltech. "It tells you almost nothing. It's the same with planetary systems," she says.
Hubble project involving CU-Boulder maps temperature, water vapor on wild exoplanet
A team of scientists including a University of Colorado Boulder professor used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make the most detailed global map yet of the glow from a giant, oddball planet orbiting another star, an object twice as massive as Jupiter and hot enough to melt steel.
Hubble reveals most detailed exoplanet weather map ever
NASA's Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet
A team of scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made the most detailed global map yet of the glow from a turbulent planet outside our solar system, revealing its secrets of air temperatures and water vapor.
New milestone in the search for water on distant planets
Clear skies on exo-Neptune
'Hot Jupiters' provoke their own host suns to wobble
Blame the "hot Jupiters." These large, gaseous exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) can make their suns wobble when they wend their way through their own solar systems to snuggle up against their suns.
First evidence for water ice clouds found outside solar system
NRL Scientist Explores Birth of a Planet
Dr. John Carr, a scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), is part of an international team that has discovered what they believe is evidence of a planet forming around a star about 335 light years from Earth. This research is published in the August 20th issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets
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The Giant Planet Jupiter (Practical Astronomy Handbooks)
The Giant Planet Jupiter (Practical Astronomy Handbooks)
by John H. Rogers (Author)
Jupiter is an extraordinarily colourful and dynamic planet. Over minutes, one can watch tiny shadows cast by its moons slide over its surface; over days and weeks parades of diverse, giant swirling storms can be seen to move and evolve. It is because of this richness of visual and physical properties that Jupiter has intrigued amateur and professional astronomers and has been the goal of several space missions. This highly illustrated volume provides a comprehensive and accessible account of Jupiter and its satellites. It reviews systematic telescopic observations that have stretched over more than a hundred years, in addition to modern observations and theories, and the wealth of data from the Pioneer, Voyager and Ulysses space missions. As well as a thorough survey of the planet's...
Planet Dinosaur: The Next Generation of Killer Giants
Planet Dinosaur: The Next Generation of Killer Giants
by Cavan Scott (Author)
The companion book to the upcoming Discovery Channel television series, Planet Dinosaur is an introduction to the latest and most exciting dinosaur discoveries. The last decade has been particularly fruitful in the study of dinosaurs, with more new species found than were discovered in the preceding 200 years. Many of these discoveries easily eclipse previously known species and are rewriting what we know about dinosaurs. Planet Dinosaur is a global survey of the 30 most thrilling dinosaur species found in recent years. It provides a new global perspective on dinosaurs, revealing which species lived at the same time on different continents and how the Earth looked in each time period. Specimens in China, the Sahara, the Arctic, Antarctica and North America are especially exciting....
The Planets
The Planets
by DK Publishing (Author)
Voyage to the Planet of the Giant Bugs (The Wilder Voyages Book 1)
by Will Falconer
Jake and Ashley Wilder are typical siblings. They love their parents, they go to school, and they nitpick each other every chance they get. Just like most brothers and sisters. With one exception. These two kids live on a space station orbiting a planet far from an environmentally ravaged Earth that can no longer support its population. Jake, Ashley, and their parents are part of an expedition attempting to terraform the planet below, but their mission is interrupted by an emergency alarm, warning everyone to evacuate. A volatile chain reaction in the power system means the space station is doomed. And the atomic clock is ticking.
Jake, Ashley, and three other “spacelings” jettison in an escape pod and, after seeing the space station explode, can only hope their parents...
Planet of Giants (Doctor Who Series)
Planet of Giants (Doctor Who Series)
Planet Earth Giant Coloring & Activity Book ~ Awesome Animals (Our Extraordinary World)
by Modern Publishing (Author), Modern Publishing (Editor), Planet Earth (Editor)
This 96 page coloring book features animals from the BBC Documentary Planet Earth. Includes pages of animals to color as well as mazes, puzzles and other fun activities.
The Giant Alien Women of Planet Zur
The Giant Alien Women of Planet Zur
All characters in this book are consenting adults over the age of 18.
Previously published as Alien Femdoms From Outer Space. Now edited and rewritten to conform to Amazon's guidelines (without loosing anything that makes the story a hot, exciting read.)
While floating leisurely in a little boat on a lake deep in the woods a silver disk appears above a man's head. A beam of light brings him through highlights of his past sex life. After they are relived one by one he wakes up in an alien spaceship. He finds he's been abducted by two women from the planet Zur. Beautiful, buxom, 9 foot tall, blue, alien women with long tails that are more like prehensile penises.
The alien women have a genetic condition that amplifies all their sexual characteristics...
Giant Planets of Our Solar System: Atmospheres, Composition, and Structure (Springer Praxis Books / Astronomy and Planetary Sciences)
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Lonely Planet Western USA (Travel Guide)
Lonely Planet Western USA (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet (Author), Amy C Balfour (Author), Sandra Bao (Author), Michael Benanav (Author), Greg Benchwick (Author), Sara Benson (Author), Alison Bing (Author), Carolyn McCarthy (Author), Brendan Sainsbury (Author)
Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet Western USA is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Watch Old Faithful blow its top at Yellowstone, take a trolley ride down the streets of San Francisco, or strut down the Las Vegas Strip; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Western USA and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Western USA Travel Guide: Color maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers,...
by Tony Robbins (Author)
Wake Up and Take Control of Your Life!
© 2014
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closed vascular system
The topic closed vascular system is discussed in the following articles:
development in animals
• TITLE: animal (biology)
SECTION: Water/vascular systems
...A muscular pump attached to muscular vessels has arisen in larger animals to move the interstitial fluid surrounding the cells. Most animals have open circulatory systems. Those few animals with closed circulatory systems have a continuous series of vessels to circulate fluid to the vicinity of all cells, whereas those with open systems have vessels only near the heart. (Actually, no system...
role in fluid circulation
• TITLE: circulatory system (anatomy)
SECTION: Vascular systems
...epithelial tissues and low metabolic rates, most species whose bodies contain a number of organ systems require a more efficient circulatory system. Many invertebrates and all vertebrates have a closed vascular system in which the circulatory fluid is totally confined within a series of vessels consisting of arteries, veins, and fine linking capillaries. Insects, most crustaceans, and many...
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Spoiler Alert: 'The Amazing Race' Spoilers
Spoiler Alert: 'The Amazing Race' Spoilers
The current season of The Amazing Race is well underway, and thanks to a bunch of twists (the show's first double-elimination leg, for instance) and pretty strong teams (hello, Andy and Tommy) this season is shaping up to be a good watch.
However, while we watch the show for the tasks and the drama, we also watch the show for the destinations -- we are all armchair travelers, after all -- and we have spoilers on where the race is headed next. You know, just in case you have a knack for organizing TAR viewing parties and want to plan as far ahead as possible. Goes without saying: The Amazing Race spoilers ahead!
The Amazing Race is available on Amazon Prime.
So, after this week's leg in Bangkok, Thailand -- where we'll see an elephant-related detour and more trouble for Liz and Marie, as the promos suggest -- where are we headed next?
Hello, Malawi!
Next week sees TAR leave Asia and head to Africa, and to Malawi, one of the world's least-developed countries. An unlikely country to go to, unless you factor in the show's penchant for having their racers realize how better off they are (which they always did in India). However, the country has a vibrant culture: dance is a major part of many of the country's traditions. I'm guessing we'll see a dance-related task. Here's hoping we don't see a Dan and Andrew-type breakdown.
The Amazing Race spoilers are also suggesting a second African stop, to the country of Kenya. That would make sense, since the racers would need an easy way to the next destination country...
Hello, Denmark!
And hello to the country Kierkegaard and The Ugly Duckling! The Amazing Race then heads to Denmark, for the first time in the show's history. Sopecifically, they're headed to the capital of Copenhagen, and the town of Hillerod. The Amazing Race spoilers suggest there'll be another dance-related task there. Two in a row's pretty unlikely, but I'm hearing there are costumes involved...
Hello, Belgium!
The show then heads to Belgium, where the racers will perform tasks in the capital, Brussels. One of the reported Pit Stops is the Atomium, a 300-foot statue built for the 1958 World's Fair.
Hello, Panama!
The race's South American stop this season is Panama, last visited during TAR's Family Edition. I'm guessing the tasks will be more daring than that season's "collect musical instruments" thing.
And Finally, Home!
The final Pit Stop on this season of The Amazing Race is in Atlanta.
So, you've an idea of where we're headed next -- but what will the teams do while there? And which team do you think will survive the longest? My money's still on Andy and Tommy.
The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8pm on CBS.
We've got more TAR spoilers, updates and trivia over on the The Amazing Race Insider on Facebook!
(Image courtesy of CBS)
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Now he'll have a chance to continue what Stephane started: maintaining Crawford's status as one of the league's top goalies. For Jimmy Waite, that doesn't mean changing up too much.
"He's a good reactor and he can read the shots really well," Waite said of Crawford. "He doesn't get caught out of position too often. We'll make sure he does that next year."
For Crawford it's just a new chapter in an old narrative.
This will be the third time in three years that Crawford will arrive at training camp with a new goalie coach waiting to get his hands on him. At least this time around there's a sense of familiarity.
"I've heard that they sort of teach the same way, sort of the same philosophy," Crawford said of the Waite brothers. "I think it will be an easy transition again and he'll be someone who is going to be very easy to communicate with and we can exchange ideas."
Waite said his coaching philosophy won't affect Crawford's style of play. He likes the way Crawford can make himself big in the net and will use that to make sure he's in the right spot.
"To me, goaltending is all about positioning," Waite said. "The guys are bigger now. If you're in the right place at the right time that's all it is. That's the big part of my coaching."
Core additions: The Blackhawks' vaunted core generally has been thought to consist of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Hawks players and management aren't so sure that's the case anymore.
"Andrew Shaw is moving into the core," Hawks Vice President Al MacIssac said. "And (Brandon) Saad is in the core group."
Hossa also mentioned Saad and some other young players when talking about the core.
"We've got better young guys coming up," Hossa said. "The expectations are going to be really high. We want to be in that position."
Line dance: Even after his success playing with wingers Kane and Saad in the playoffs last year, Shaw is expecting to head back to the third line where he has played most of his career.
Shaw noted that moving back down gives the Hawks more depth and makes them better as a unit, but that doesn't mean he's not looking for a chance to rejoin the top six forwards.
"Anyone would want to play with those types of players," Shaw said. "I'm going to keep pushing myself and keep working."
Twitter @Schustee
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dan101's Profile
Title Last Reply
Rallo's on Fort Ave - Recent Reviews?
Rallo's is a very steady very good neighborhood restaurant that has a very loyal following. I used to go there a few times a week when I lived there, and still try to go when possible when I am on the road. Here are my suggestions:
Monday-beef barley soup; Wednesday-The turkey dinner and the chicken noodle soup; Oh also the short ribs which are available on Tuesdays, maybe other days too...and the sandwich I like best is sliced chicken breast---I have eaten a whole ot of them!
found great red velvet cake but with a problem
OK....I got my cake! I spoke to the owner or one of the owners, its a family, and you were exactly right! He said it is shipped to them already cut with paper dividing the slices, and that what he would do would be to get me
one whole cake like that and take the paper out. I am going to do what he suggested which I think will be very pretty. He said that the cake is sturdy enough that if I keep it cold until I need to have it out it will stay together jut fine, but that he suggests taking one or two of the slices out and putting them on a plate near the cake so people can see exactly what the slices look like laying down next to the big cake standing up.
He also thought it was really funny that this was being discussed on the internet and would be glad to talk food with anyone who wants to give him a call or write him on their website. Oh, and I got a really good price too....THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP ON THIS Coastie!
found great red velvet cake but with a problem
I will not wait until next week. I am going to call there tomorrow. They will remember me...I eat there at least three times a month. I couldnt believe when they had this cake...they just started selling it the day before I went there.
I think I would need them to set it up for me because I am afraid of pulling the papers you are talking about. I have never seen paper on any of their other cakes either so I dont know if that is what they do or not but I will ask them.
my 2nd post ever..both today! can you suggest.....
In the Baltimore area, particularly the east side of the county into Harford county to the inner harbor and downtown....
the perfect place to take a woman on our first date but a woman I have known for years..she is not a seafood lover, oh, and this part might be important....it has to be good---I have waited a very very very long time for this.
found great red velvet cake but with a problem
I am going back down there next week for lunch anyway. I will ask them about what you brought up...Do you think they would take the papers out and make it look more like a cake or well, exactly how does this work? I am not familiar...
found great red velvet cake but with a problem
They say they get it from a baker in New York and that the cake already is presliced, and that they can not get a whole cake. They were very honest about it. They said that because it is already sliced they would sell it at a steep discount to the per slice price but could not sell it whole because it doesnt come that way. I asked if I could special order one not sliced and he said he was almost positive it only came sliced. They are huge pieces and the cake tastes great. I just wish they would sell it as one whole cake.
found great red velvet cake but with a problem
I want to buy a large Red Velvet Cake for a holiday get together. I found an amazingly good one in of all places the Captain harvey's Submarines the original owners opened on Merritt Boulevard in Dundalk near the beltway. So far so good....BUT!!! They wont sell me a whole cake!
I can not serve individual slices like that...I want it to stand as a decoration on the table as well as just a dessert. I was thinking of two of them actually. Their slices are enormous and the whole cake must be gorgeous, but they wont budge on this. Should I take them up on their offer to sell me the slices at a discount from the individual slice price and figure out a way to make it decorative, or should I keep looking?
This is for Sunday, December 28th, so I have at least a little time to make up my mind. Thank you in advance for your help
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JavaRanch Home
This page: last edited 08 February 2008 What's Changed? Edit
Available Doesnt Do What You Think It Does
It is not uncommon to see a code snippet like this:
InputStream is = // some input
OutputStream os = // some output
byte buffer = new byte[1024];
while (is.available()>0) {
attached to a question wondering why the data is not being moved completely. The answer is that available() doesn't do what you think it does. If we look at the documentation for JavaDoc:java.io.InputStream :
public int available() throws IOException
Returns the number of bytes that can be read (or skipped over) from this input
stream without blocking by the next caller of a method for this input stream.
It is clear that available() does not return the amount of data left to be read, but the amount of data that can be read without blocking (pausing to wait for more data from the file/socket/database/etc.). In some cases this may return zero while there are still bytes that should be read - the 0 means that there are 0 bytes available right now (with no blocking). This may happen for various reasons - a hard drive may be busy repositioning its magnetic reader, or a network connection may be busy, or perhaps you're waiting for a user somewhere to type something before their information may be sent. Or it may be because the file you're reading really has no additional bytes to read, because you've reached the end. Using available() you have no way of knowing whether or not you should try to read the bytes anyway.
A more correct way to use a stream to copy a file is to check the return value of read for the end-of-file value (-1):
InputStream is = // some input
OutputStream os = // some output
byte buffer = new byte[1024];
int bytesRead;
while ((bytesRead = is.read(buffer)) != -1) {
os.write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
When this code completes, you know that all the bytes really have been read and copied, because the while loop doesn't complete until read() returns -1, indicating the end of input.
Readers don't have an available() method, but they do have a ready() method, which is similar (and similarly useless in most cases). This method simply returns false if the reader has no chars available right now, just as available() would return 0. A return value of false does not (necessarily) mean that there are no more characters to read; it just means there will be some delay before you can read them.
JavaRanchContact us — Copyright © 1998-2014 Paul Wheaton
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—Jeremiah 12. 3.
Loving Father, thou hast made it needful for me to know that the songs which are sung by divine love are rarely heard by cruel hearts. Grant that my soul may chord with the sweetest music that vibrates in the beauty and harmony of life. Amen.
|
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Definitions for statuteˈstætʃ ut, -ʊt
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word statute
Random House Webster's College Dictionary
stat•uteˈstætʃ ut, -ʊt(n.)
1. a formal enactment by a legislature. a document setting forth such an enactment.
Category: Law
2. an instrument annexed to an international agreement, as a treaty.
Category: Law
3. a permanent rule established by an organization, corporation, etc., to govern its internal affairs.
Origin of statute:
1250–1300; ME statut < OF estatut < LL statūtum, n. use of neut. of L statūtus, ptp. of statuere to make stand, set up, der. of statusstatus
Princeton's WordNet
1. legislative act, statute(adj)
an act passed by a legislative body
2. codified, statute(p)(adj)
enacted by a legislative body
"statute law"; "codified written laws"
1. statute(Noun)
Written law, as laid down by the legislature.
2. statute(Noun)
(Common law) Legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law by those it governs.
3. Origin: From status, from status, from statutum, neuter singular of statutus, past participle of statuere.
Webster Dictionary
1. Statute(noun)
an act of the legislature of a state or country, declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something; a positive law; the written will of the legislature expressed with all the requisite forms of legislation; -- used in distinction fraom common law. See Common law, under Common, a
2. Statute(adj)
3. Statute(adj)
1. Statute
The Roycroft Dictionary
1. statute
The proof, record and final justification of the infallibility of Ignorance.
British National Corpus
1. Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'statute' in Nouns Frequency: #1722
Translations for statute
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary
a written law of a country.
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Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
"statute." STANDS4 LLC, 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <>.
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Common energy ground?
The Los Angeles Times
The following editorial appeared recently in the Los Angeles Times:
That's why there was something a little quixotic in President Obama's call last week, during his State of the Union address, urging Congress to get together and pursue "a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change." It's pretty far-fetched to imagine congressional Republicans pursuing a costly new program, market based or not, positing the solution to a climate problem many believe don't exist.
In essence, Democrats would like to combat climate change and cut fossil fuel use by putting a price on greenhouse gases, improving energy efficiency and funding power research and development, while Republicans would like to lower energy costs and decrease foreign reliance by drilling in more places. There are a few minor points of agreement on this scale.
Some Democrats, for example, might be persuaded to pursue more nuclear power, and Murkowski's proposal to extend master limited partnerships (a type of corporate entity, currently limited mainly to firms that extract natural resources, combining the tax benefits of limited partnerships with access to cheaper financing) to "clean" power projects could appeal to both parties. That's not much to build a comprehensive energy bill on, though.
During the State of the Union, Obama promised that if Congress fails to step up on energy, his administration will. That probably means more regulation of greenhouse gases, more funding for R&D, more incentives for energy efficiency and so on.
Meanwhile, gamely plowing ahead despite an absence of support beyond party lines, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Feb. 14 proposed a bill to impose a carbon tax, something this page has been urging since 2007 but whose current prospects look dim. This combination of administrative action and congressional paralysis has characterized Obama's first term, and short of major changes in Congress, we might as well get used to it.
Get The Deseret News Everywhere
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Live Chat or 1.877.364.3865
Available Colors/Styles
Detail Pics
The snow pant with the mysterious name.
It literally took us minutes of research to decipher the name of the Airblaster AB/BC Pant, and we aren't going to tell you what it means. You have a computer. The real meaning behind the AB/BC pant is a 10K-rated waterproof breathable shell and a fit that falls somewhere between baggy and slim. Airblaster calls it 'tailored,' we call it just right.
The AB/BC pant is made with tough nylon fabric, and the seams are fully taped. A built-in waist adjustment lets you dial the fit to exactly where you want it. The AB/BC also features mesh-lined leg vents at the inseam to let you dump heat when you get too warm. The lower leg gaiters are adjustable and feature lace hooks to keep them in place. To ensure several seasons of use, Airblaster placed Rip-Stopper reinforced kick patches at the cuffs. Its designers finished this classic five-pocket pant with—you guessed it—five pockets.
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Friday, August 31, 2007
New Poll
Nation, there's a new poll, as you no doubt noticed, just below the banner.
Don't read TOO much into it... yet.
But I'm really interested to hear from people who visit here whether they're as outraged at the thought of Craig Chandler as an MLA as people elsewhere on the web seem to be.
People of all parties and affiliations (even though Craig thinks you should go home!) can vote at nomination meetings, provided they pay their $5 to become party members first. You KNOW that a well-oiled political machine like Team Chandler will have bus-loads of voters from church groups and seniors' homes at the nomination meeting... and unless his opponents can get similar support AT THAT MEETING, he'll win.
If, however, the people in Calgary Egmont of ALL political stripes who believe that Chandler will not represent their best interests can band together and ensure that he does not win that nomination, keeping him and his views off the ballot, then that would be what we call "democratic karma".
So, Nation... especially those of you in Egmont... what say you?
- E.S.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Do You Know Who Is Exercising Your Franchise?
Nation, file this one under "Yet More Proof The Party System Is Ruining Democracy".
Craig Chandler is running for the PC nomination in the provincial riding of Calgary-Egmont. Although Chandler just officially announced his intention to run, rightly waiting until Denis Herard announced he would not be seeking re-election, this has not been secret in any way, shape, or form.
For months now, Team Chandler has been making the connections, shaking the hands, kissing the babies, and meeting the people they need to meet in order to ensure that their man wins the nomination. Nothing wrong with that - it's politics as usual. Where's the problem?
Here's the problem:
David Crutcher is a former candidate in the riding for the Alberta Alliance. He is also a former leadership candidate for the Alliance. He ran previously with the backing of Craig Chandler and his Progressive Group for Independent Business. He then, in the "Introduction Letter" for Craig Chandler, throws his endorsement behind Team Chandler. He has since been elected President of the PC Association for Calgary-Egmont.
Now, let's ignore the far-right views of Crutcher for a moment (admittedly difficult, but let's try). The bottom line here, is that by hook or by crook, Team Chandler and their proxy, a former candidate for the leadership of a far-right party, have won control of the constituency of Calgary-Egmont and, therefore, its nomination process. Is this going to be another Calgary West debacle? KNOWING that the President of the Association backs a particular candidate, KNOWING that the President has family members working on that candidate's campaign for the nomination, who in their right mind is going to run against Chandler and think they have a snowball's chance in hell of winning?
Chandler WILL win the nomination - by acclamation or in a vote, he has the back-room of the constituency association lined up behind him, and he WILL carry the PC banner into the next election. This being part of the Federal riding of Calgary South-East, long held by Jason Kenney, Conservative nee Canadian Alliance nee Reform Party M.P., the riding will vote Tory. Chandler will take his seat in the Legislature, and cast his vote as he sees fit on behalf of the 39,531 souls who live there.
That's politics... what's the big deal?
The big deal is this... one of Chandler's biggest backers is the aforementioned Mr. Crutcher, former leadership candidate for the Alberta Alliance. Among Crutcher's ideas were the institution of an Alberta Sales Tax, banning same-sex marriage, and promoting Alberta Separatism if the Liberals win power in Ottawa. Other big backers include Link Byfield, of the fledgling Wild Rose Party, and Rob Anders (like we need a laundry-list of Rob's crimes against common sense).
The PC Party of Alberta is supposed to be a big tent... even in its name, the "Progressive Conservative" party suggests that there is room for people of different approaches, values, and beliefs. But it's not THAT big a tent... which party, exactly, is the PC Association of Alberta supposed to be? Looking at Team Chandler, it's part PC, part Wild Rose, part Alberta Alliance... everything to the right of centre, with enough dashes of "right wing ideologue" to make one wonder if the social far right has finally found a way to take power in Alberta.
Indeed, the Ford-ism of "you can have whatever colour of car you want, as long as it's black" seems to making a comeback, except in Chandler-land it has become "you can vote however you like, as long as it's for a Conservative - or you can get the hell out". Visit daveberta for more on this enlightened and inclusive attitude from the member-in-waiting from Calgary-Egmont.
So, to the members of the PC party in Calgary-Egmont: When Craig Chandler speaks for you, as your candidate, for whom will he truly be speaking? Those of you who have supported Denis Herard, the "Red Tory" for all these years? Or his backers from the Alberta Alliance and the Wild Rose Party and social conservative think-tanks?
And to all the people of Calgary-Egmont: When he stands to speak and vote on your behalf, using your franchise in the Legislature of Alberta, in whose interests will Craig Chandler be acting? Yours? Or those of his social conservative friends and supporters? Will he be paying back favours to groups that supported him, like Concerned Christians Canada, and the Canada Family Action Coalition? 39,531 people live in Calgary Egmont. Many are pro-choice. Many are homosexual. Thousands are not Christian. And thousands are not conservative in ANY way, social or otherwise. When he casts that vote on behalf of ALL of you, will you know for certain if it's YOUR best interests that he has in mind?
Ask him. At the nomination meeting, on the hustings, at the town hall meetings, at the debates. Show up, and ask Craig Chandler who he represents. If the answer isn't "YOU", he doesn't deserve to sit in that chair, and cast YOUR vote as he sees fit.
If Chandler's supporters are worried about the nation's soul, they should pray for it. If they're worried about our children, they should give them something to do. If they don't think their own political parties can win power, they should ask themselves WHY that is the case.
Or, they can just seize control of a constituency association for the party most likely to win, run their own hand-picked candidate, and take the power and influence they want, to pursue their own social conservative agenda - dissent-be-damned.
One riding at a time.
- E.S.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Three Amigos Meet, Protestors Go Loco
Well, Nation, the time has come and gone once again when the leaders of Mexico, the United States, and Canada get together, pow-wow, discuss issues of mutual interest, and go their seperate ways.
Predictably, the idiocy of the protestors who presented themselves was rivalled only by the disproportionate media coverage given same idiots.
Now, I want to go on the record as saying that protest is not only a vital and worthwhile element in a democratic society, it is an absolute necessity. Man's rebellious nature, and his inherant disinclination to be ruled, has lead to some of the greatest societal advances in our collective history. I truly believe the words of Oscar Wilde when he said:
virtue. It is through disobedience that progress had been made, through
disobedience and through rebellion.
That being said... these protestors are NOT the type who will be responsible for some of those great advances.
For starters, many of them aren't truly protesting anything in particular. The reality is, they're there because they hate George Bush. Or, at least, that's why they THINK they're there... in truth, they're brought there by one thing, and one thing only: Ego.
They WANT to be photographed, and interviewed by the media, and shown on televisions across the country being dragged away by police after a riot. In their sweat-soaked fantasies, it's what they dream about. They truly believe the police are there to stop them from proselytizing the "truth". Them. SPECIFICALLY them. They suffer from an inherant egocentrism... everything revolves around me, and my cause. The police have my picture, they're being sent on direct orders from Stephen Harper to silence ME, because I am a huge threat to his dictatorial rule.
Almost as humourous is their insistence that all violence during protests is the fault of the "draconian" right-wing rulers of the country in question... either George Bush ordered the police to open fire, or someone who wants desperately to BE George Bush did so. Liberal governments would never trample on my rights like this... it's just those bloody neo-con neanderthals. How quickly they forget that lefties from Jean Chretien to Fidel Castro have been in power during similar "squashes" of protestors. Hell, Chretien didn't just let the RCMP pepper-spray protestors, he eventually decided to start beating them up himself.
Let's be honest here, protestor: You're doing yourself, and your cause, more harm than good by acting like an idiot. Throwing a rock at a police officer while you call him "pig" isn't going to end well. For you, or for your cause. Normal citizens don't sit in their living room watching the 6 o'clock news and say "Gee, William, I hadn't really thought of it before... but that young man who just spat in the policeman's face really changed my mind about going carbon neutral".
Protest is good and natural and right. It is a fundamentally requisite force in our civilization. But your right to protest begins and ends with your right to free speech, and your right to assembly. You do NOT have the right to storm the hotel where the Prime Minister is staying, to make your point to him in person. You do NOT have the right to attack police. And when you do, you prove what many of us suspect: You're not ticked off about the environment, or free trade, or Bush's foreign policy. You're just angry, and desperate for attention. You'd be protesting if Stephane Dion was Prime Minister, and Hillary was President. You'd be protesting is CELINE Dion was Prime Minister. And I'd be right there with you.
But the second you raised your hand to strike a cop, I'd knock you on your self-important ass. Because the cops in that line are sworn to put their lives on the line to protect your right to PEACEFUL protest. Martin Luther King never slugged a cop in his blessed life. His cause was more just than yours can ever hope to be.
You're not being supressed because Steve Harper wants to be George Bush's friend. You're not being supressed by the U.S. Government any more than you're being supressed by the Illuminati. You're being supressed by your own inability to get your message across in a non-violent way. The only thing holding you down is your lack of imagination and creativity. Fund-raise, and buy advertising time. Get Al Gore on your side. Do a documentary on a rented video camera. Throw a toonie into the Speaker's Corner machine. E-mail a letter to the editor. Write David Suzuki. Do what you have to do to bring attention to your issue.
But remember: If you can't make your point without violence, it probably wasn't worth making in the first place. Trying to provoke police doesn't make you a hero, it makes you the father of a mob. Every person who gets hurt as a result isn't blood on the hands of police, or of Harper, or of Karl Rove or the Jewish Banking Conspiracy or the N.S.A. or the military-industrial complex: It's blood on YOUR hands. And what it says to the world is "my issue isn't what it says on my placard - I'm just angry because nobody thinks I'm important - pay attention to me".
That's adolescent petulance. And if you act like one, you'll be treated like one.
Now go to your room.
- E.S.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Federal Cabinet Shuffle - Analysis
Well, at first blush, it seems like the Harper Government has addressed its most pressing needs. Those needs, of course, are to a) appear to be moving forward, rather than stalled; and b) to move ministers in problem portfolios to new digs, and move in what they hope to be problem-solvers.
For the most part, this is a shuffle in the truest sense of the word: same cards in different places. But let's break down the moves:
Peter McKay - Minister of National Defence
McKay did a good job at Foreign Affairs, although he seemed to be at times conflicted about his role as a diplomat and how it contrasted with his image as a politician who gave straight answers. McKay should do fine in his new position, as long as he remembers that he speaks for Canada's civilians, who (for the most part) don't know what the hell they're talking about vis-a-vis the military.
Gordon O'Connor - Minister of Revenue
O'Connor needed out of Defence, about 4 months ago. He's still in cabinet, but in a vastly reduced role. So long as the government keeps collecting taxes, Gordon shouldn't be able to mess this up too badly. He was in over his head and had trouble communicating with the public about our mission in Afghanistan. Revenue has few such pot-holes - nobody expects to be able to understand the tax code anyhow.
Bev Oda - Minister of International Co-operation
Oda was a capable minister, but was absolutely hamstrung in Heritage by her lack of French. She should be able to shine in this new role.
Josee Verner - Minister of Canadian Heritage
As a Francophone, Verner has an advantage over Oda in the role. It will be interesting to see, given her staunch conservative views, how Minister Verner deals with the arts community given their general liberal bias.
Jim Prentice - Minister of Industry
Prentice will be the first Albertan to hold this post. Expect little benefit from this fact to come to Alberta, though, as Ontario and Quebec will be watching Prentice very closely in his role in a traditional "Old Canada" cabinet post. Prentice is an extremely capable minister and smart politician - the only thing that limits his mobility in a Harper cabinet is geography - there is little room for 2 high-ranking Calgarians in the top 5 government spots, and Harper's unlikely to move any time soon.
Maxime Bernier - Minister of Foreign Affairs
A rising star from the Quebec Caucus, Bernier will be given a chance to spread his wings in this very visible role. His ability to play with others will be the determining factor as to whether this is a stop on the way to greater things or, like with so many others, a one-way ticket to nowhere.
Gerry Ritz - Minister of Agriculture
The Saskatchewan MP inherits the Wheat Board mess from Chuck Strahl. Sitting in a minority situation, the Harper Tories have had to be very, VERY careful about being seen to be favouring the West and, as a result, have perhaps over-compensated, and ignored the West's needs in favour of the East. Westerners have grumbled, but, with no other option, most of that grumbling will result in Tories winning Western ridings by only 55%, instead of 60%. Knowing this, one would have to assume that Stephen Harper spoke at great length with Ritz about what was needed to do the job effectively, and Harper must have confidence in Ritz to deal with the issue. Whether this confidence is misplaced or not, only time will tell.
Chuck Strahl - Minister of Indian Affairs
Very popular on both sides of the floor, Strahl will find the Indian Affairs portfolio a welcome change. With the great work that Prentice did on this file, he will be a tough act to follow, but if Strahl can just keep the political heat on the bureaucrats to get the various deals done, he'll be fine here.
Diane Ablonczy - Sec. State for Tourism & Small Business
Ablonczy is the only new face in this cabinet, as a junior minister. A victim of geography until now, she will be given a chance to grow in this position. Unfortunately, she will have to distinguish herself as a shooting star to get ahead, as a Calgary MP in the same cabinet as Jim Prentice, Jason Kenney, and Stephen Harper.
Cabinet Musings...
Nation, stay tuned to The Enlightened Savage for updates and commentary on the new Federal Cabinet.
As leaks begin to trickle out ahead of today's expected announcement, notable musings include:
- Stockwell Day or Peter McKay to Defense
- Jason Kenny to Finance or Revenue
- Helena Guergis to Foreign Affairs (I doubt it, but we'll see)
As I said, stay tuned.
- E.S.
UPDATE 3:30 Eastern:
McKay to Defense
Bernier to Foreign Affairs
Strahl to Indian Affairs
Prentice to Industry
Ablonczy is getting a post as well, which doesn't bode well for Kenney - too many Calgarians in the cabinet to promote Kenney.
Baird, Cannon, Ambrose, Hearn, Flaherty and Hill stay put.
UPDATE - 3:45 Eastern
McKay - National Defense
O'Connor - Revenue
Oda - Int'l Co-operation
Verner - Heritage
Prentice - Industry
Bernier - Foreign Affairs
Ritz - Agriculture
Strahl - Indian Affairs
Ablonczy - Sec. State for Tourism
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Council of the Federation Meets - Not a Klingon in Sight...
Nation, tomorrow marks the beginning of the annual Council of the Federation meetings - this year, taking place in Moncton. This is going to be an interesting event for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it will be Albertans' first chance to see how their newly-minted Premier, Ed Stelmach, interacts with his fellow Premiers. Ed's been in the political game for a while, but he hasn't been the Chief Cook & Bottle Washer of Canada's economic engine for all that long. Other Premiers, notably Jean Charest and Dalton McGuinty, are saying that they aim to take action on pollution and carbon emissions, but will not "impose" anything on Alberta. Being politicians, we'll have to wait and see if they mean what they say.
Indeed, Ed's performance is going to be watched very closely at these meetings, not least of all by the wolves on the right fringes of punditry whom have been baying for Ed's head since about 10 minutes after the second ballot votes were tallied.
If Stelmach shows a total disinclination towards co-operation at any real cost to Alberta, it will show that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the salad days of inter-provincial co-operation are over, for better or for worse. Granted, Alberta faces its own unique challenges, as does Ed's government - let's remember that he has yet to win a general election, and a full mandate from Martha and Henry. Ed's job as our Premier is to help us meet and overcome those challenges. IF he can do that while still maintaining good relationships with the other provinces, it will be a bonus. But he needs to tread very carefully when considering what concessions he can afford to make to Dalton, Jean and the others: The voters in Mississauga and Sherbrooke don't pay Ed's wages, the voters in Drayton Valley and Athabasca do. He needs to remember that, because those same voters certainly will.
It begs the question, "what other option do Albertans have to protect the province from outside plundering?". Currently, the answer is "none", although those same howling pseudo-intellectuals would have you believe that the Wildrose Party is ready to seize power from the Tories as soon as this Winter.
Look, Nation, let's be clear on this: The Wildrose initiative is a good and healthy one for Albertans to consider. I encourage EVERYONE to visit their website, and come to your own conclusions. I agree with the group's founding principles. But this party is as ready to take the reins of power as I am (which is to say, not at all). It has no official platform, no leader, no policies, has yet to define itself on the political spectrum (although social conservatives are salivating at the chance to co-opt the movement), no capacity for fund-raising, and it doesn't even have official party status. By the time the party hits a ballot, it could look like anything from the UFA to the Alberta First Party to the Lougheed Tories. Wildrose may very well be a player in a handful of years. But it is NOT a factor in Alberta at present, and all the wishful thinking in the world by hardcore backers won't change that fact.
Stelmach needs to be wary of Henry and Martha's reaction to his performance, but to think he looks under the bed for the Wildrose Party at night is nothing short of preposterous.
The other interesting dynamic to watch in these meetings will be how the Premiers co-operate - or not - in their approach to the Federal Government of Stephen Harper. It's currently the prevailing opinion that the Harper Tories are "in like Flynn", and unlikely to head to the hustings any time soon, with a political dead heat in public opinion polls. The Liberals don't want an election, the NDP don't want an election, the Tories don't want an election, and (rightly so) nobody gives a damn what the Bloc wants. But one scandal, one slip of the tongue or one international mis-step could build enough momentum for one of the parties that we find ourselves with a new government in the next year, be it a Tory majority, or a change in governments altogether.
The Harper Tories have been good for the provinces in some ways, and bad for them in some others. It will be interesting to see if the Harper Haters (Danny Williams and Lorne Calvert, to start) will take the whole chance to just take a giant crap on the Feds at every step, or whether they'll moderate their tone somewhat in the face of political uncertainty. I'm betting on option A. Danny and Lorne would rather have Prime Minister Dion to try and push around. As for the others... as I said, the Tories have been good for them in some ways, and bad for them in others.
It could be that "neutrality" is a term we'll hear at this conference that isn't automatically preceded by the word "carbon".
For political junkies, this is going to be a fun 2 days in an otherwise bleak landscape (municipal election hype notwithstanding). Let the games begin!
- E.S.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Is Stelmach "sharking" Kevin Taft?
Nation, once again I apologize for the extended absence. Without giving too much away (my government job security, after all, relies on my continued anonymity), let's just say that notable events in the province have kept me very busy for the past few weeks.
Things have been relatively quiet as late, politically... and although several issues are coming to light in the past few days (Arctic sovereignty, Calgary's violent crime spree, Paris Hilton got a new dog) that will no doubt consume the public consciousness, one area lacking in any flashy sound bites or pulpit-pounding protests in the provincial political scene in Alberta. Things have calmed down for the summer - which gives us a chance to take a sober second look at the first half-year of the Stelmach regime in Alberta.
The thing about still waters, is that they tend to either run deepest, or to be stagnant ponds of scum - but enough about Paul Martin, we're talking Alberta politics. The problem with the old stand-by metaphors is that they aren't necessarily relevant to today's Henry or Martha Albertan. So, we'll go with the latest craze to sweep the nation's deep thinkers...
For the first few months of his leadership, Ed Stelmach wasn't playing a lot of hands. There was a lot going on - growth pressures, naming his cabinet, etc. - but he wasn't a daily presence on our television screens. You got the impression that nothing was happening. Ed seemed to be, in poker terms, bleeding chips. Whereas our former premier had a tendency to get right to the heart of things, raise "all in", and stare down any who opposed him (media, opposition politicians, AISH recipients, etc.), Ed seemed to be doing, well, NOTHING. Kevin Taft or one of his lieutenants seemed to be making the radio or television circuits every day, screaming about the lack of affordable housing. Those who were unhappy with his election to the party leadership over their own interests were upset at his moderate views, or his perceived rural bias, or the lack of Calgarians in cabinet. The raises and re-raises were fast and furious - who's maddest at Eddie? But when the betting came around to the Premier's turn, we got the last thing we expected after the past 15 years... we got silence.
"Is Ed even there?", we wondered. "Is he paying attention?". Clearly, some people believe that he's not. Mostly, they believe that Stelmach was the wrong choice for the PC Party, and is the wrong choice for Alberta. But, here's the rub: the guy who's sitting quietly at the table is often the guy with all the chips at the end.
Premier Stelmach hasn't allowed himself to be bullied by the groups and politicians clamouring for more impetuous actions on his part. He hasn't panicked when pressed. He hasn't found himself "pot committed", and had to follow good chips with bad. He's quietly, methodically, played the cards as they've come. He knows what he wants to do, and he's doing it on his timetable.
As anyone who plays poker can tell you, the person who wins the game isn't always the one who plays the best. And it is VERY rarely the person who gets dealt the best cards. Rather, it's the person who goes in with a game plan, and sticks to it. The PATIENT player wins, more often than not. It's called "playing tight", and Ed Stelmach is either asleep at the switch, or he has it down to a science. He's the player who stays in for 1 of every 10 hands. The player who gets mocked by the others - at least, early in the game. "Whoah, miracles never cease, Ed's actually PLAYING a hand". At the end of the night, Ed has all the chips. Try mocking that.
Nation, I don't know if the Stelmachs play poker. Maybe it's a "cribbage home", or they prefer bridge, or pinochle. For all I know, NONE of the Stelmachs play poker, let alone the Premier. But if he DOES, then Kevin Taft had better be careful how hard he pushes the stakes - because if Ed Stelmach really IS slow-playing his hand, then Kevin is going to need a barrel to wear for that long, lonely walk home.
Because the Tories don't play to make it to the final table... they play to win, they play for keeps, and the past 3 decades weren't a streak of lucky hands.
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Evangelista Torricelli
Evangelista Torricelli
Early Life:
Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian man, and a physicist by occupation, initially studied at Jesuit schools in Faenza, near Ravenna. He was so good as a Physicist and a Mathematician that he was sent to Rome for further studies under Benedetto Castelli’s direction. Torricelli was introduced to Galileo by Benedetto Castelli and there Torricelli spent his time being Galileo’s assistant and secretary for a last few months of Galileo’s life. After Galileo passed away in January 1942, Torricelli was offered a position as a court mathematician and philosopher, Galileo’s old position, by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. This position was held by Torricelli till his death.
Contributions and Achievements:
Torricelli, also known as the father of hydrodynamics by Ernst Mach, was very famous for his study of the motion of fluids. He also carried out experiments of gases although the term was not invented by then. This led him to invent the Mercury Barometer, most important of his inventions. The invention took place by conducting an experiment on the air pressure and vacuum. Back then, the nature of vacuum was a debatable issue. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist, believed that vacuum could not exist as he said, “Nature abhors a vacuum.”
On the other hand, Galileo believed that vacuum could exist and he explained the mechanism of the suction in a water pump that it was the vacuum that produced the action, and not the air pressure of the liquid being pumped.
Galileo also felt the air was weightless. The debaters noticed that the suction pumps, regardless of the size and power, in mines could not raise water for more than eighteen bracci which is about 30 feet or 9 m. Why did the water not flow to the maximum if nature really abhorred vacuum? That’s when Torricelli invented the barometer while explaining the phenomenon. Barometer was a great invention in the field of physics of atmosphere and the behavior of gases. He also contributed to meteorology by suggesting wind was caused by differences in the density of air, which is caused by the variations in the air temperature, and not by ‘Exhalations’.
To represent the mechanism of the suction pump in a small tube, he took heavier liquids like honey, sea water and mercury etc. instead of pure water. Torricelli used relatively smaller tubes, which were sealed at one end, for conducting the experiment with mercury. He filled about a meter of such tube with mercury and sealed the open end with his thumb before inverting the tube. He then submerged the tube into the dish of mercury. On inverting, the mercury in the tube dropped half way down and left an empty space at the top and a column of mercury in the tube about one and one-third bracci in height.
The dispute about the nature of vacuum was settled when Torricelli represented the experiment in this way: The weight of air pushing down on the dish of mercury prevented the mercury in the tube from falling out completely and the mercury was not pulled by the mercury. The weight could retain about thirty inches of mercury in the tube. Torricelli observed that such pumps could cause the water to move upwards, by evacuating the air pressure above a column of water, but that the water would move up only as far as the air pressure below pushed it up. The water came to a stop when the weight of the water exceeded the power of the air pressure below no matter how hard the pump worked. This also came to Torricelli’s notice that the height of the mercury varied by the passage of time.
It was due to changes in the air pressure overtime that this happened. A French scientist Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) visited Torricelli in 1644 and took with him the idea of mercury barometer to his friend Blaise Pascal. Pascal also agreed to the fact that the air pressure and the altitude were inversely proportional. It was shown by Pascal practically that the barometric pressure did indeed decrease as one ascended a mountain. This showed that Torricelli’s theory was absolutely correct.
Vincenzo Antinori drew an analogy a few years later that Torricelli’s invention of Barometer was to Physics what the invention of telescope was to Physics. Torricelli had also made improvements to the telescope which was an instrument used by Galileo for astronomy. Torricelli could grind lenses with such accuracy that he produced some of the finest telescopes.
Torricelli contributed a great deal to the field of mathematics which was an important contribution in the scientific history. He worked on the equations of curves, solids, and their rotations to fill in the missing parts between the Greek geometry and Calculus based on the works Francesco Cavalieri’s “of indivisibles. Calculus was given its first complete formulation by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, along with the works of René Descartes, Pierre de Fermat, Gilles Personne de Roberval and others.
Later Life:
Torricelli carried on with the tradition of Italian scientific pioneering, although he was not as good as his older contemporary Galileo. The tradition did not last long after his death and by the mid of seventeenth century or the beginning of the next century, Northern Europe had become the center of scientific progress.
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Facebook Friending Tech to Test NFC at a Belgian Music Festival
We believe NFC is the next big thing in digital comms, but some of the applications it'll be used for are hard to imagine. This makes the upcoming PIAS Nites music festival in Brussels all the more interesting, as attendees will be able to use it to make Facebook friends, play games, and a ton of other stuff.
Around 10,000 people at the event in Belgium will be guinea pigs in a very large-scale and focused trial of NFC technology that may not have been attempted before. The CEO of PIAS has remarked that "it's a revolutionary concept that opens up a wide range of possibilities in the world of music events." And though the technology may do much to promote the event itself, the bands performing there and even lead to increased attendance next year, the real interest in the festival's use of NFC is how it indicates that pretty much everything about how we use our mobile devices may be about to change.
How does it work? Festival-goers will get a unique RFID tag embedded in a special card as part of their admission package, and they can link the card's ID number to their Facebook account. At the event itself, the cards then become a digital "passport" to particular tricks, along with a back-end infrastructure of contactless card readers, computers and communications set up by NFC expert Getyoo.
The cards will let fans instantly send to Facebook "friends" they meet in real life, merely by holding their cards together as a pair over the reader consoles. People will be able to upload photos they've taken at the event to their Facebook profile using the consoles. There are NFC-related games, contests and specific digital media snippets that can be accessed using the NFC cards, and there's even an NFC-sensor-equipped photo booth where groups can get their pictures snapped and auto-uploaded to all their Facebook profiles.
It all sounds like a fun and clever way to boost the social angle of music festival going. But it's also a way to test out how NFC equipment could impact real life marketing, sales, store EPOS vending and digital media sharing--because while the test scenario this time involves special NFC cards, in the future much of the interactivity could be replicated using smartphones, either with or without the special NFC sensor consoles.
The Facebook friending trick at the event is a prototype for how we'll share contact information with our NFC smartphones, merely by holding the phones together. The NFC-login competitions at the event are a parallel to how we may use "wave and pay" systems to register our purchases in a store, and the specialized digital media sharing at the concerts is an example of how stores and service providers may download targeted adverts, coupons, loyalty card points and bonuses and even full-on apps to our portable devices in the future. And these are just the sorts of applications we can dream up now, before the tech is mainstream.
Read More: Most Innovative Companies: Facebook
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Text size
Wrangling between Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman prevented yesterday's planned appointment of a permanent chairman of the rabbinical court system and the selection of judges for the High Rabbinical Court.
Sephardi leaders including Shas chairman Eli Yishai, Amar and one of his predecessors, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, have been advocating for the appointment of Rabbi Binyamin Atias, a rabbinical judge in Tel Aviv and the brother of Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias.
Neeman wants a non-Haredi official like Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, a religious-Zionist leader and a former chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces.
Instead, the committee for the selection of rabbinical judges, which Neeman heads, extended by a year the term of Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky, who has been serving as the interim chairman since August.
Dichovsky, an Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox rabbi who is considered a moderate, was a compromise candidate who is widely esteemed, though he is opposed by non-Hasidic Ashkenazi Haredi leaders.
The 72-year-old rabbi has retired from the rabbinical court and refuses to become the permanent chairman, but acceded to Neeman's request to continue in the post temporarily.
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News Column
Colin Farrell Has Total Recall of Being Hollywood's Bad Boy
Aug. 2, 2012
This is how rumors get started: Colin Farrell was on French TV promoting "Total Recall," in which he plays a man who discovers his wife (Kate Beckinsale) is an agent assigned to kill him.
Beckinsale happens to be married to Len Wiseman, who directed "Total Recall." When asked if it was uncomfortable having to kiss an actress and then later hit her, Farrell replied "Kissing her is much more uncomfortable."
"And then the interviewer was all shocked and goes 'Are you saying it's more comfortable to hit a woman?'" Farrell recalls, laughing.
Fortunately, Farrell, 36, has had plenty of experience defusing -- and surviving -- media scandals. "I very calmly explained that in films, you don't actually hit each other," he says. "But you do kiss each other! Kate hitting me and me hitting her wasn't so bad. But locking lips with the woman? While her husband is standing just a few feet away? It was a bit funky. There's no lying that wasn't a bit funky."
"Total Recall," which opens Friday, marks Farrell's return to the blockbuster arena, his first starring role in a big Hollywood production since "Miami Vice." That movie came out in 2006, the same year a sex tape featuring Farrell and a Playboy model hit the Internet rounds -- just as the actor completed a stint in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse.
Instead of retreating into career-rebuild mode after the avalanche of bad publicity, Farrell kept working. Since "Miami Vice," the actor has appeared in 11 movies, sometimes in memorable supporting roles ("Horrible Bosses," in which he sported the world's worst comb-over, or "Crazy Heart," in which he served as a humane foil for Jeff Bridges). Other films he made for the opportunity to work with a revered director (Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream," Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Peter Weir's "The Way Back," Neil Jordan's "Ondine").
But the actor says he never made a concrete decision to stay away from big-budget movies. Instead, big-budget Hollywood was avoiding him.
"There weren't as many offers for huge films as there used to be, because I had a couple of big films ("The New World," "Alexander," "Miami Vice") that didn't perform well at the box office," Farrell says. "And then the offers that did come in, I didn't like.
"Look, in an ideal world, which we all strive to live in even though none of us ever will, I would do a different variety of things in terms of scale and genre, because it's just really fun. But when you make a movie that nobody goes to see, you feel like 'Ugh.' Because you're not really making them for yourself. Movies aren't an act of altruism where you're being generous by giving some great gift to the world! You're making stories that are meant to be shared.
"I started my career very young, and for years I went around thinking 'I don't care if anyone likes it!' That's absolute horses--t. I've come to understand that I do care. I don't live or die by it. But every time you walk onto a set, you kind of want people to go and see your movie. And if they do go -- I don't want to get greedy here! -- you want them to like it, too."
Wiseman, who directed "Total Recall," says he offered the film's starring role to Farrell because the actor has "a very rare combination of someone who comes across very vulnerable and very dangerous at the same time. The characters in this movie are playing head games with each other all the time. So you need an actor who can play both of those notes. What surprised me about Colin is how open and real he is. There are plenty of actors who have built a barrier around themselves, because they're so used to playing a different persona in public. But you talk to Colin for an hour, and you feel like you've known him for years."
That open-book approach to life initially led to trouble. Farrell was 24 when he starred in Joel Schumacher's "Tigerland," a gritty Vietnam War drama that earned him critical respect. But it also brought instant celebrity and the attention of the tabloid media, who couldn't get enough of the brash young actor's antics, such as the time he strode into a strip club in full view of the paparazzi during the Toronto International Film Festival, almost as if he were daring the press.
"Shock! Horror! A 24-year-old actor likes seeing naked women!" he jokes of the incident. "At the time, it was mad. I was so young and honest to God, it felt like Hollywood had given me the keys to the city. There's an element of fear in Hollywood. People are always worrying they're going to miss the boat on the next cool thing, so they take chances they wouldn't normally take. To be on the inside of that was insane. I was so suspicious of this idea of fame, of having to manner myself in a certain way, of tailoring my behavior. So I did everything I could to show that I didn't give a (expletive) about any of the establishments that were in place. I did that for a while. And then that got really (expletive) tiring! You run out of steam, and you become your own argument. I made some significant changes in my life, and I'm glad I did. I'm having more fun now. It's not as loud! But it really is more fun in a weird way."
Today, Farrell does seem happy and content, even if he sounds a bit cautious when asking your opinion of "Total Recall" ("I haven't seen it yet," he confessed during a promotional stop in Miami in July). He is fit enough to be the current cover boy of Men's Health, and he has already completed several eagerly awaited films, including "Seven Psychopaths," which reunites him with his "In Bruges" director Martin McDonagh, and "Dead Man Down," a crime thriller co-starring "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's" Noomi Rapace.
But the actor doesn't refer to this current phase in his career as a rebirth or second wind. For Farrell, all the ups and downs are part of the same long, exhilarating ride.
"I don't really like the idea that hardship and pain are the only real things, and good, superficial, bright, shiny times are bulls--t," he says. "That idea doesn't suit me. I prefer to respect both -- the light and the dark. I'll have 30 or 40 guests at movie premieres. My uncles and my aunties will fly over from Dublin, spend the day at Universal Studios and get sunburned, and then they'd arrive to the red carpet. I'll see my uncle standing behind me on 'Entertainment Tonight' sometimes! That's one way for me to break through the illusion of it all and make this stuff seem real."
We asked Colin Farrell to reminisce about some of his films:
"Alexander" (2004): It was a monumental experience. We all thought we were splitting the atom; we thought we were making something that would stand the test of time and was unabashedly brilliant and powerful and moving and certainly was going to do better critically and commercially than the film did. So it was a massive disappointment. But the first day of principal photography on that set is one of the profound moments of my life. It was insane. I puked in my trailer. I was really scared, but there was something even deeper there.
"The New World" (2005): I adored working with (director Terrence) Malick. He's kind of sublime. He has such a beautiful way of allowing you to experience the telling of a story on film. It's why so many actors would do anything to work with him. There's a grace inherent in everything he does. That's one of the few films I've made that I can watch, and my presence doesn't completely spoil it for me. The images are so beautiful, even I can't ruin them.
"Miami Vice" (2006): The people in Miami were great. I enjoyed watching the storms rolling in every afternoon, and I loved driving my car across the MacArthur Causeway. But to be honest, I lived inside Tobacco Road for that entire shoot. You never saw me coming out of nightclubs in South Beach, because I wasn't there. I couldn't even make it that far.
"In Bruges" (2008): When I read the script, I immediately felt so strongly about it. It was like nothing I had ever read. It was just so unique and crazy and violent, but it also had so much compassion and heart. The level of fanaticism that movie has cultivated is really cool. People who love it really love it.
"Ondine" (2009): It played to empty halls in this country, and I kind of get why, because it felt very small and provincial west of Ireland. There wasn't much razzmatazz to it at all. But as far as the story goes, and the life and breadth of a character within a tale, I love that film.
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How-To Geek
Inside Steve Wozniak’s Bursting Electronics Bag
While we’re quite familiar with Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak’s gadget obsessions, prior to this candid peek inside his gadget bag we had no idea just how deep his addiction ran.
Woz shot an email with the image seen here attached to Gizmodo, revealing just how geeky his packing tendencies are. The bag includes two iPads, four iPhones, four watches, two GPS devices, and a bevy of other gear and chargers. Even accounting for the fact that his wife Janet is his frequent travel companion, it’s still quite a pile of gear. Hit up the link below to take a close look at the image and read his run down of the pack contents.
The Amazing Contents of Steve Wozniak’s Travel Backpack [Gizmodo]
• Published 07/18/12
Comments (16)
1. Strange
He needs four iphones? I guess these things aren’t that productive afterall
2. Chris
Some of those watches are iPod nanos
3. r
ha! …dude needs to learn how to be a bit more selective whilst traveling
4. Citrus Rain
Considering he has multiple android phones, I wonder if it’s in his power to stop /or slow the idiotic litigation.
5. Murphy
Either the apple product are so bad that you need so much backup devices, either they guy is total wacko.
6. Aurora900
Two of those iPhones are labeled as being someone elses… so no he doesn’t actually use 4. I understand why he has the two…. one is att and one is Verizon… sometimes you don’t get service on one carrier but you will on another and when you have the kind of money he has, why not…
7. max
Less is sometimes more.
8. max
Sometimes, less is more.
9. David Aris-Sutton
And sometimes more is just more
10. David Aris-Sutton
Sometimes more is just more
11. chard
multiple devices that do basically the same things.
12. Greg James
So what!!! I thought all “Geeks!” carried this stuff I certainly do , my backpack is 32 pounds plus another backpack that has 15 pounds of “GoPro” stuff , so that’s 47 lbs in total , of course I am normal , at least that’s what I tell my shrink! My favourite gadget is my 3G Myzone wifi device by Netcom all my devises and friends can connect . Best deal for my portable wifi devise was a 3G data sim in Morocco last month , unlimited data for 1 month for US$20 , beats using your phone or tethering etc. One last word, the work “Geek” is loosing it’s “Strangeness or a weird person persona” and is becoming more of a normal “Tag” I’m proud to be a normal “Geek!” soon if not already to be the norm with more gadgetry being part of our “Normal” lives by the masses. So what will be the new word for “Geek’ in the future “Wozniakyism” .
13. Greg James
Sorry forgot to mention what make of backpacks/bag etc I use , “KATA” they are military grade designed by the SAS with removable pockets and pouches and the velcro pockets can be divided up into many configurations . Also have a “Mendoza” shoulder bag great for IPads etc. Another gadget that’s got me out of trouble is my portable power supply 16,000 mAh “ISound” power-pack & ZAGG bluetooth IPad keyboard, the list is endless .
14. celly
All that and not a pack of gum or mentos or anything…
15. lizbit
I live in South Africa I wouldn’t dare walk around with that much electronics on me it would get stolen and on this third world side of things electronics are so expensive. I can only dream of owning even one of those things.
16. Willie
I wonder what kind of car he drives.
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Interview with R. K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The March 2008 issue of IFPRI Forum features an interview with R. K. Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore, on what climate change will mean for poor and rural people and what the next steps should be. Excerpts from the interview are included below.
FORUM: In your Nobel lecture, you emphasized the impact of climate change on the poor. What are the most immediate climate-related problems facing the rural poor?
Pachauri: The rural poor are facing a range of climate-related problems. First, changes in precipitation patterns and increases in the intensity and frequency of floods and droughts have major implications for agriculture, water availability, and human health. For instance, whenever a flood occurs, health officials face a major challenge in preventing and minimizing the outbreak of diseases. The impacts of climate change on agricultural yield also directly affect the livelihoods of the poor. In a study carried out by my institute, TERI, we carefully studied the effects of two sets of influences on agriculture. The first relates to globalization and international trade in agricultural produce, and the second assesses the impacts of climate change on agriculture. Poor farmers are often not able to compete against subsidized food coming from developed countries and are therefore suffering the unfavorable effects of globalization on their livelihoods. Climate change only exacerbates some of these stresses. In fact, during the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002, several African farmers demonstrated against agricultural subsidies in the developed countries because they found themselves unable to compete with prices of imports as a result. The relevant issue to be considered in this context is the fact that the rural poor are already subjected to several stresses for a variety of reasons. Climate change would only add to these stresses.
The poor are also unable to adapt to the impacts of climate change because often they do not have the technical or financial capacity to be able to take essential measures—for instance, creating infrastructure for storage of water.
FORUM: You mentioned that climate change can lead to inequality, conflict, and a realignment of power among nations. In what ways?
Pachauri: By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee was essentially taking into account the link between unmitigated climate change and the consequent threat to peace and security. Since the impacts of climate change are unequal across the globe, as is the extent of vulnerability of different societies, it is possible that those who are poor and vulnerable would not only fail to improve their lot, but would actually see a decline in their economic and social well-being as a result of climate change. This then can create larger inequality across the globe.
The potential for conflict can arise in several ways, such as conflict over scarce resources, as in the case of water in some parts of the world. But conflict could occur on a much larger scale if large populations move from those areas that are actually stressed to those that are relatively well off. It could, of course, also occur on account of impacts of extreme events. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report has identified the Asian megadeltas, which include cities like Dhaka, Kolkata, and Shanghai, as particularly vulnerable. Clearly, any damage on account of coastal flooding of these megadeltas and surrounding areas could result in a threat to peace. Indeed, when Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans, the aftereffects included widespread disorder, leading to crime and the breakdown of law and order.
FORUM: To mitigate the impacts of climate change on agriculture, what are some of the most significant actions that can be taken globally, nationally, locally, and individually? And how should agriculture itself contribute to mitigation?
Pachauri: The first step required for adaptation to the impacts of climate change is to understand the specific options that exist in the particular region being considered. In some cases cropping patterns may need to be changed. In addition, there may be a need to change agricultural practices, particularly involving the use of water. To that extent, technologies for efficient use of water, such as drip irrigation, would need to be promoted, if necessary, through incentives and regulations. In the longer term, there is a need for research and development to produce species and strains of plants that would be able to withstand droughts, higher salinity, and other adverse conditions that may occur as a result of climate change. When it comes to research and development, efforts need to be undertaken globally. Other actions may be taken at the national and local levels, but all of them would require substantial dissemination of information and knowledge.
As far as mitigation of emissions from agriculture is concerned, considerable research and development would be required to come up with practices and techniques that would reduce emissions without in any way compromising productivity. Overall, therefore, there is a substantial need for undertaking a program of research and development at the global and local levels by which new practices and techniques can be developed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
FORUM: In addition to mitigation, there is also the question of adaptation. What should be done to help poor people, especially farmers and the rural poor, adapt to the effects of climate change?
Pachauri: Adaptation to the impacts of climate change has taken place historically, and several communities and societies across the world have developed coping strategies that helped them withstand variations of climate and weather. What is projected to take place in the future, however, if mitigation measures are not adopted, is a level of climate change that would exceed what several communities could adapt to. Institutional responses would therefore be required to help farmers and the rural poor by providing credit during periods of prolonged drought and other climate-related difficulties and by creating infrastructure, for instance, for improved watershed management and efficient storage of water. But most important, agricultural extension services would need to be revamped to bring credit, seeds, and improved know-how to the doorstep of farmers and the rural poor.
FORUM: Now that the Bali conference on climate change has concluded, what do you see as the most important elements of a post-Kyoto international climate change mitigation regime?
Pachauri: The Bali Conference of the Parties dealt with several issues that it is hoped will find their way into the post-2012 climate change agreement. One important element that should be part of the agreement is adequate global financing of adaptation measures. In several instances, this is a matter of ethics and attention to equity issues. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world have hardly any historical responsibility for emissions of greenhouse gases, and yet they may perhaps become the worst sufferers. It is critical that the world realizes the importance of help for such vulnerable sections of society in adapting to climate change.
To stabilize the earth’s climate system, it is necessary to translate the desire for “deep cuts” in greenhouse gas emissions into specific measures that would achieve this objective. Given that technology is a crucial part of solutions to the problem of global climate change, access to improved technologies must be an important part of the agreement. Any multilateral agreement must also keep in mind the actions that it could trigger at the national and local levels. While it may be difficult to come up with benchmarks and standards for specific sectors in a global agreement, its provisions should be able to provide a direction for national policies that would collectively lead to a global outcome in keeping with the objectives of the agreement. Given the assessment of different stabilization scenarios by the IPCC, if the negotiating community is serious about tackling the problem of climate change, it will have to ensure that the agreement reached in Copenhagen leads to early reduction of global emissions, or else in future decades the task will become more difficult and intractable, leading to impacts of climate change that could have several negative consequences.
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http://www.ifpri.org/blog/interview-r-k-pachauri-chairman-intergovernmental-panel-climate-change-ipcc
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Horrible Bosses
There was plenty of truth to the Hollywood movie with the same name. If you have a tyrannical boss whose social skills are more reminiscent of Hitler's than a decent human being then try to figure out new options for yourself. This is a seriously common issue so make sure that you're not overreacting to minor issues and really cannot get around his/her egregious and questionable behavior.
related stories
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http://www.indiatimes.com/work-and-life/pics-when-its-time-to-quit-44979-2.html
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-- Talk Radio's Alex Jones v. the New World Order
Alex Jones's home page
Exlusive photos's link section
Read listener emails at
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Video Clips
Energy Crisis or People Control? Exclusive
By Marie Gunther
In the Mid-70's an oil crisis was manufactured and perpetrated
upon an unsuspecting American public. History tends to repeat
itself because an identical situation is occurring today.
The Federal Government and its Department of Energy together with
its tax-free Foundations, for the sole purpose of controlling the
behavior of the American people, have colluded to engineer
another "energy crisis".
Every single citizen can be controlled - when a consumption
product is controlled. This same scenario applies to foreign
governments as well. That product is energy. The world is
dependent on energy - for home, office, industry, lighting,
heating, fuel, transportation and all delivery of goods.
"Price is not what they are after, even though they would like
you to believe it is. The motivating force today is control,
power, manipulation, the ability to regulate every area of life
in such a way that you can be brought completely under the
domination of the system and those who manipulate the system,"
according to best selling author Lindsey Williams.
In 1980, Lindsey Williams wrote a book called "The Energy
Non-Crisis" based upon his eyewitness accounts during the
construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. As a Chaplain
assigned to Executive Status and Advisory Board of Atlantic
Richfield, he was privy to detailed information.
"All of our energy problems could have been solved in the 70's
with the huge discovery of oil on Gull Island, Prudhoe Bay,
Alaska. One of the richest oil fields on earth belongs to the
American people. There is more pure grade oil there than in all
of Saudi Arabia. Gull Island contains as much oil and natural
gas as Americans could use in 200 years. Many, many other oil
fields of the same high quality crude exist throughout and around
Alaska," according to Williams
Upon the massive discovery the Federal Government immediately
ordered the rigs to be capped and the oil production shut down,
as the International Bankers scurried to take control and contain
this major news item. This feat could never have been
accomplished without the aid of an already compromised mainstream
Since that time, four Presidential Administrations have been
willing participants in robbing the American people of their
greatest treasure. The rise in energy costs is tantamount to a
Global Tax, which has served them well since the 70's. The
elevated price of gas is a form of worldwide taxation, which goes
directly into the pockets of the World Bank to fund their New
World Order.
"A small cadre of "international elite" controls the Arab world,
the American people and our Congress. OPEC is not to blame to
the price of oil per barrel. London bankers set this price
daily. These brokers wish to gain total control over the
American oil industry," Williams has stated.
"Energy brokers are a major part of the problem. These companies
buy in blocks of power from nuclear generating facilities, coal
plants, etc. They hold the huge chunks of power, as they close
down their owned facilities, ususally under the guise of
maintenance. They sell the held power for 100x's what they bought
it for. They do not produce the power, but they control it in
brokerage," according to Alaskan oilman Jim Lawler.
"Everything you hear on the evening news and out of Washington
is garbage. To hear the Environmentalists talk about the pristine
Alaskan area and 'you can't let people in' . . . eight wells
have already been drilled in the areas environmentalists are
claiming we must not go in. We have already been in and out. We
are done! There was no damage done. All we need to do is start
production," added Lawler, a 30-year, ARCO high level executive.
Americans seem confused between the definition of drilling verses
production because an Associated Press poll released February 2
found 53 percent of Americans oppose oil drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.
The mainstream media is mind-molding public opinion by repeatedly
showing running caribou and touting environmentalists' claims
that the caribou and other endangered species and habitats would
be destroyed.
"The Alaska Fish & Game Department just did a study on the
Porcupine Caribou in Prudhoe Bay. The size of their herds
have increased since 1969 by 35%. The pipeline area is a
protected designation and the Caribou have figured this out. They
have migrated into this area for protection", Lawler added.
A quick visit to Alaska Fish and Game confirms that bag limits
have increased to 5 per hunt on caribou, in order to decrease
herd size.
" Washington is not telling you that the wells have already been
drilled there. They are completed. No 'exploratory teams' are
necessary because it has already been done," Lawler candidly
Jim Lawler is an oil production Maintenance Manager with ARCO.
He maintains that several things can be done to reduce American
energy bills. First, the Alaskan pipeline is not, and has never
been, permitted to run at capacity. In addition, the oil
companies have been begging the Department of Energy to place a
new pipeline across Canada and connect it to the existing system
in the U.S.
"It does not behoove the Federal government and their agencies to
allow cheap energy to the American people. Using their
Foundations the pipeline across Canada has been conveniently
denied," said Lawler
Secondly, Alaska can also liquify and ship to the West Coast
immediately. Alaskan oil is of such high grade and low sulfur
content that it can be utilized at any refinery, without damage
to the environment.
"Currently 4,000 barrels a day are liquified at Prudhoe Bay, but
government regulation controls that limit," added Lawler.
Lawler confirmed the existing Alaskan pipeline was built to brace
another 4 - foot diameter pipe, which could be used for natural
gas. However, he contends that it "is not necessary because the
Alaskan pipeline has never been permitted to run at full
capacity." This begs the question; why has capacity been
This same situation can be multiplied in Wyoming, Texas and in
other oil-productive areas across the country. The oil companies
are under strict compliance not to produce.
And in a real emergency, Mr Lawler contends Hydrogen Plants can
sprout up in less than six months with just a nuclear reactor
placed at sea.
"One nuclear reactor can power all of Los Angeles," Lawler
When asked about the San Diego Nuclear Fleet being used to
relieve the California crisis he confirmed that it could be
converted for that use, but added it does not fit into their
political equation; therefore, it will never be brought up.
Mr. Lawler also reported that natural gas is not, nor has ever
been, allowed to run at full capacity. Most States have
"Production Laws" which order specified production days and
distribution limits. Natural gas is very available; in fact,
Prudhoe Bay has forty-eight, 747-Jet engines pumping 1 billion
cubic feet of Natural Gas back into the ground 24 hours a day,
365 days a year! They have no where else to put it!
"Oil and gas prices skyrocketed. Now the oil companies have the
necessary funds to either build a pipeline or a liquifying plant
- whichever they decide to do. The oil companies raised the
prices to put financial pressure on the people. This will force
the big Foundations and government agencies to back off the oil
companies because the consuming public are starting to scream.
Finally the oil companies get their pipeline and the money to pay
for it," Lawler stated in explaining the current power play
taking place.
The oil companies want their profit and the fruit of their
labor. The Government wants to control the oil companies through
regulation . . . and profit by it. The Internationalist Bankers
want all of it and are taking it through deception. As Lord
Acton so aptly stated, " Power corrupts and absolute power
corrupts absolutely".
"The American people are pawns in a game of power and control and
will be squeezed into oblivion, unless they put a stop to it
before it is too late. Until the people convey to elected
official that they know what is going on with the NWO they will
continue to be victims of the master manipulators. Every faucet
of our lives can be controlled when energy is controlled,"
concluded Lindsey Williams.
[Marie Gunther can be reached at
Author Lindsey Williams is offering visitors a four book
special on all four of his books: "The Energy Non-Crisis",
"Syndrome of Control", "To Seduce a Nation" and "You Can Live".
All four books are free when you order the video "The Energy
Non-Crisis" for $25.00, plus shipping. Call 1-800-321-2900]
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http://www.infowars.com/gunther.html
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Printer-friendly versionSend by email
We couldn't be more excited to welcome the Fall 2013 class of Fellows to Harvard's campus and show them everything we do at the Institute of Politics. We asked each Fellow to respond to a few questions about why they are looking forward to this experience and what students and the Cambridge community can expect to learn about from each one of them.
Why did you apply to be a Fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics?
As a political junkie and long time Bostonian, I’ve spent many hours in the audience of IOP events over the years. Speakers at the IOP are inevitably lively, interesting and fun, and the students who attend the events are always incredibly engaged. Every former Fellow says that their semester in Cambridge is one of the best experiences of their professional career, and wish they could do it again and again.
So after spending the last few years working to elect Mitt Romney president, I thought I could share some insights that I took from that experience with the students. It’s truly an honor to have been invited to join this year’s group of Fall Fellows.
What can students and participants expect to learn about during your Study Groups?
American presidential elections are extraordinary exercises in democratic self governance, and to be a part of that process – win or lose (although winning is surely better) -- is an enormous privilege for any citizen. And while there are some excellent books written about presidential campaigns, I’d like to pull back the curtain a bit on what it’s like to be with the candidate in the trenches:
Was the Romney press bus really like the Romney press bus on Newsroom? What really goes on in Iowa and NH right before the voting starts? How hard is it when a family member runs for president? How does a campaign manager make decisions that might influence the direction of the race?
What are you most looking forward to this semester?
Spending time with students who surprise, inspire and energize; getting to know the other Fellows whose life experiences are all so impressive and simply fascinating; attending classes at Harvard College taught by world class professors; and immersing myself in the daily life of the Kennedy School and IOP and all that it offers.
Blog Categories:
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http://www.iop.harvard.edu/blog/meet-fall-fellows-beth-myers
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MOBILE USERS: m.isthmus.com
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Felicia Alima puts an urban spin on world music
Alima looks to her Aussie roots.
Alima looks to her Aussie roots.
Felicia Alima's fusion of R&B, hip-hop and world music has the sheen of a big-city urban artist. It would be easy to assume she's from Miami or Harlem rather than Madison and Australia. Her talent and style help put our city on the map as its very own global metropolis (even if it's on the smaller side).
Isthmus spoke recently with Alima, who's nominated for six categories in the Madison Area Music Awards (Barrymore Theatre, May 9), about her songwriting process, her influences and what she's been up to in the recording studio as of late.
Tell us what went into recording your new album, Trade.
I was inspired to write an album about the human-trafficking epidemic after watching the movie Trade. Chino XL had already agreed to collaborate, and we just needed the right track, so I called up [Madison's] DJ Pain 1. The first track he played for me, I immediately connected with it and immediately started singing to it. I then recorded my vocals at Paradyme Productions here in Madison with Jake Johnson. Chino recorded his portion in L.A., and we just mixed his parts in later, which worked perfectly. That's how a lot of collaborative efforts go these days, especially if you're located in different cities - and an "international" artist.
Where in Australia are you from? How do your Aussie roots affect your approach to music?
I was born in Melbourne, Victoria, but I was raised in Perth, Western Australia - where Heath Ledger is from. His cousin and my sister went to their high school prom together.
My Aussie roots definitely affect my music to some degree, but I think more than anything, it's my multicultural background. I'm half Czech and half Indonesian, born and raised in Australia and now living in the States. In other words, I have a lot of influences to talk about.
What are some of your musical influences, then?
If I had to sum up my style in one word it would be "international." I've recently done a couple of crossover songs with Latin artists, where I sing in English and they rap in Spanish, and I'm working with a rock artist right now.
When it comes to musical influences specifically, it's also mixed. I grew up listening to Kenny Rogers, the Beatles, Boney M, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. In my teens, favorite artists were 2Pac, B.I.G., SWV, TLC and Mary J. Blige. Nowadays I listen to more contemporary stuff like Craig David and Goapele, but I also enjoy rock groups like Evanescence, and I'm especially interested in electro after becoming a fan of Sneaky Sound System, an Australianband.
How did you make the leap from musician to recording artist?
My father was a musician, so I grew up listening to him sing and play the guitar. He bought my first guitar for me when I was just 5 years old, but unfortunately, he passed when I was 7. That drove me to take guitar lessons in primary school. Then, in high school, I really started concentrating more on the singing aspect.
I teamed up with a DJ/producer when I was 15, and we created a hip-hop group called Crazy Mad Flavour. We recorded our material in a home studio and performed at all-ages hip-hop events around Perth. Then, when I was 17, I started recording material on my own.
In 2002, I moved to the U.S. and started dabbling in DJing and mixing. In 2005, after a heartfelt breakup with my boyfriend, I started pouring out lyrics. Over a year, I recorded a five-song EP [The Way We Do], which felt liketherapy on wax. I didn't expect anything else from it, but then the song "Leavin' Here Tonight" got picked up by a commercial radio station in my hometown. Now it's three years later, and I've released a full-length album [Know Me], worked with platinum producers who've worked with the likes of 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Eminem and the Pussycat Dolls, won four MAMAs and collaborated with industry artists such as Big Sloan and Chino XL.
How do you get ideas for your songs?
I usually get song ideas from dreams, aspirations, personal interests, personal experience or experiences that someone else close to me has had. Also, if a track has a particular sound to it, it's going to put me in a particular mood, and from there I will start vibing and writing to it. That's the beauty of songwriting: You just don't know where it's going to take you.
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http://www.isthmus.com/music/article.php?article=25587
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From “You Could Believe in Nothing,” Chapter Eight
What You Need to Know: Derek Butt has often heard the story of how his parents, Lou and Elizabeth, traveled to Detroit in 1965. They went there to claim a boy named Curtis, Elizabeth’s son by a previous relationship. Before returning to Newfoundland, the reunited family also took in a playoff game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. Derek has acquired a DvD copy of the game. Note: Derek’s father Lou Butt also goes by Lou Langdon, the name he uses as a TV and radio host.
The DvD fell from its sleeve, polished and smooth, an avatar. This was how technology promised only good things, by keeping up appearances. The machine pulled the disc from Derek’s fingers and made seductive whispering noises before the television screen shuddered to life.
In this big land of ours you will always find a touch of tradition… In the taste of today!
Derek settled into his chair and adjusted the volume as a smart young man burst through swinging doors into the street, carried down the sidewalk by swells of brass. Office towers soared behind him.
Modern people like you, people with a taste for ale, get the true ale satisfaction they want in Molson Export!
His older colleague waited outside the lounge. Men of modern business, sheltered by the splendid reach of skyscrapers, savouring the froth of Molson Export on the tongue. They’d be dead by now, probably. The older one for sure. The game would be full of dead people too. The announcers, at least some of the players. Anyone in the crowd past forty or so.
Derek felt like a peeping Tom, crouched outside a window in hopes of catching a steamy embrace. He tried to imagine his father as a young man hot with devotion, refusing to be turned from his love by the disgrace of an unwed mother, or the taint of the guy who had been there before him. Lou and Elizabeth’s engagement must have been an unspeakable disgrace, and their perseverance lent great drama to the romance. The drama intensified with their heroic quest to Detroit, their need to claim Curtis and make a family. Now Derek had cracked a curtain on that story.
Measured against the wonders of true ale satisfaction, the Detroit Olympia looked almost gothic, much of the black and white picture losing its detail in shades of grey. The players threw long shadows and most of the crowd was shrouded by the gloom. A rotary clock loomed over centre ice, its hands sweeping away the minutes and hours.
“Bill, it would be useless to say there isn’t more than the ordinary amount of tension around this game tonight. I noticed that even the fellow who drives the ice-making wagon appeared to have tightened up before this game.”
“This first goal is going to mean a great deal, Jim.”
Jim spoke with a drinker’s warble, a fumbling grip on each word. He was surely a man of the hotel bar, drowning all the useless hours between games.
The picture froze and dissolved in a brown blister, followed by a few seconds of spitting interference. The screen went black, and then 1965 returned with more clarity, bright and spacious. The game was underway.
“It all comes down to this,” said Bill.
A few names confirmed the evening’s archival merit. Hull and Howe, of course. Lindsay, Esposito, Henderson. Others were unmistakably antique: Elmer Vasko, Warren Godfrey; names belonging to brush cuts and tweed jackets and rye whiskey. The players were mostly indistinguishable, uniform as fence posts, their faces drawn. Derek saw nothing of the modern athlete’s cold vanity or near-autistic absorption with the task at hand. Nor did they share the supreme confidence of those other obsolete heroes, the pop stars on the walls of Lou Langdon’s office. These were small-town men who married young, made decent money, bought rounds at the Legion, and worked a bit of construction on the side. Most retired with nothing.
Gordie Howe turned ponderous circles with the puck, waiting for a worthwhile option. “The old man,” Jim called him. Lou Langdon wouldn’t have taken much notice. The elder’s steady hand was easily dismissed by an ambitious young man with a TV show. Pestered by an inferior, Howe countered with a quick, vicious stick, and drifted to the penalty box without complaint, without so much as the flicker of an eye.
The game pressed on with little speed or hitting, a workmanlike struggle on an ice surface that resembled an overcast sky. Players swarmed to stifle every promising foray. Attackers either turned back or pressed hopelessly forward, the puck squirting loose from the mob like a tiny rodent.
Derek examined the periphery, where shapes settled into the good seats, folding overcoats. A corner faceoff brought into view a well-fed man with silver whiskers, a young blonde at his side. Derek guessed an industrialist on his second marriage, disappointed to find the dull domesticity of the first replicating. Like the players, the spectators were mostly featureless. Would he recognize his mother? Could Lou Butt be the man in the glasses? Or the fellow hunched in the aisle seat? This is why men used to meet the world in sober suits and Brylcreemed hair, thought Derek. The sameness of it. Whatever their failures or degradations, all could bleed into the calming embrace of regular fellows. There was not a single man who looked like he didn’t have his shit together.
Here at last was Bobby Hull, charging into traffic as if an explosion in his head had sent all synapses firing. Even in the grain of ancient film his head and face had a silvery glint, as if lit from within. His shot came without warning, a bruising puck off the goalie’s shoulder.
“He nearly put that one right through Crozier,” croaked Jim.
Gordie Howe responded with a goal that half the arena probably missed, a simple opportunist’s play at the front of the net. Derek rolled back the picture, watched the old man reproduce his precise flick of the stick with dreary efficiency.
“Let him loose like that, and you’d be a fool to expect good things,” growled Bill.
Celebrating fans heaved garbage down from the cheap seats, delaying the next faceoff. Jim and Bill fell silent. Howe sat on the boards, gazing at the ice and scratching his nose. He could have been a man waiting for a bus.
From “You Could Believe in Nothing,” Chapter Two. Introducing Lou Butt: Derek’s father, classic rock DJ, community stalwart, adulterer, embezzler…
Rebounding from a sickly childhood, Lou Butt hit the radio airwaves straight out of high school. “A new voice on the teen beat” according to the newspaper clipping, a column of miscellanea under the headline “Around and About.” Derek had found it folded into the family copy of The Book of Newfoundland:
CKOX promises an accent on youth, and what better way than to have this personable Brother Rice grad spinning the latest discs. His nightly turn at the microphone is ‘For Teenagers Only!’
He became Lou Langdon the following year, changing his name for a move to television. Every Friday afternoon the studio at Buckmaster’s Circle would fill with squirming kids for a dance-to-the-hits show called Crazy, Man, Crazy. A photo from those days showed Lou in a dark suit with pointy-toed black boots, equal parts hipster and chaperone. His flat cheeks and sunken chest, evidence of a bed-ridden youth, suited the modish look. Beaming teenagers flanked him on either side, squeezed into the frame so you could sense the static among them, the skirmish of libidos. Several boys bent slightly at the knees, the better to catch an incidental feel of ass or thigh. The girls turned pointy chests to the camera. Little vinyl records dangled over their heads…
About four decades later, Lou was reborn as a morning man and community stalwart. He chaired the campaign to build a new wing at the children’s hospital. He stood by as the mayor lit the municipal Christmas tree. He manned the Classix 490 Boom Box on Regatta Day. He entertained banquets, taking the podium as the smell of congealed gravy soured the room. Pop music and Lou Langdon had led parallel lives; after difficult middle years, the music was embracing its dotage, complete with cardigan, comb-over, and ample belly. “Hey-Hey Lou Langdon” they called him now, cuing his show with musical snippets that played on the name—usually the Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! refrain from a Beatles song.
Classix 490 traffic, brought to you by Augustino’s Funeral Home. A pre-planned funeral means peace of mind and security for your loved ones. Back from her holiday in the sunny south, Gina Lush is out and about in the Classix 490 Road Cruiser. Hey, Gina.
Hey, Lou.
Nice trip?
Great trip. Relaxing. Got a great tan.
Do a little dance? Make a little love?
Dream on, sailor.
Ah, you know I will. Let me know if you want all the details.
Let’s stick to the traffic details.
Looks like smooth sailing on the Kenmount this morning, right outside the Classix 490 twin towers. How goes the weekend driving, Gina?
Such flirtatious banter was a staple of Lou Langdon in the Morning, Derek’s father playing the randy uncle to Gina’s cheerful ice queen. She was a remarkable radio instrument, biting down on throaty vowels, her mouth red and cavernous in the mind’s eye. Her laugh was explosive, a shock of pleasure you could follow all the way down to her painted toe- nails. Gina’s elusive Road Cruiser, prowling the city streets, was the most palpable manifestation of the horniness bubbling beneath the stale music and workaday chatter of Classix 490.
The station was hugely popular with men over fifty. Its catchphrases and tag lines were a secret language of past glories. The music you grew up with! (Your first backseat hand job.) The music that changed the world! (Those marathon slippery sweaty sessions with that girl in university, when you had to pretend it was about her politics.) Rock and roll never sounded better! (That summer you were fucking your secretary.)
From “You Could Believe in Nothing,” Chapter One. The story begins…
He can fly, as Ronnie Bulgin used to say.
In the muted winter light of Derek’s youth, Ronnie Bulgin was a sentinel, remote and unyielding behind the glass at the far blue line. Fixing his chunky horn-rims on a bantam game or Flyers practice, his puffy face slack with concentration, Ronnie would stand silent, occasionally lifting a yellowed forefinger.
“He can fly, buddy, I tell you.”
Given Ronnie’s outport drawl and misshapen palate, it came out as Eekuhn floyy, buhee, uh tal oo, followed by an authoritative, congested snort. All the heaving and hawking to clear the snot from his passages was like the firing of an engine, the stoking of a hockey mind. His gallery—a handful of boys, a few men off the morning shift with nowhere else to be—would murmur assent as Ronnie folded his arms across his dirty ski jacket, resuming his watch.
Derek spent almost every afternoon at the rink that year. He was eleven years old and his father had left home. Dad had to go, because he had been screwing other women. This was never said out loud, and Derek couldn’t recall how he came to know the truth, or when he understood that it was known throughout town.
His mother never stopped moving that winter, pushing the family through each day, resolute, her face like a plaster mask. For all her haste, a spirit of lawlessness overtook the household. Dinner late, homework undone, agitated voices in the morning, dirty shirts and socks trailing downstairs to the laundry room. Derek didn’t want to be there. So after school he went to the rink, sinking himself into the cold smells of coffee, exhaust, and damp. Boys playing games of no importance. The Zamboni turning unhurried circles. Ronnie at his post, smudging the glass with a snotty sleeve.
The memory gave Derek something to hold on to as his hangover gathered and took the shape of a heavy sponge behind his face. All he wanted was to get from his kitchen to his back porch. The rust from the door latch left an orange stain on his thumb. Derek jiggled it and swore out loud. He had meant to replace the latch, should have replaced it long ago. If only he could get his head out of his ass, he could do all the things he should have done long ago.
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http://www.jamiefitzpatrick.com/read-an-excerpt/
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Around Acadiana
Aug 2, 2011 5:53 AM by Maddie Garrett
Acadiana Congressional Leaders Vote
So how did Acadiana's Congressional leaders vote?
Even though Congressmen Jeff Landry and Charles Boustany share the same political party, they don't share the same feelings on the debt deal and that could have implications in 2012.
Congressman Charles Boustany compromised like so many other Republicans, saying they did get a major gain out of the deal with no tax increases, cuts greater than the increase in the debt limit, and advancing the balanced budget amendment.
But for Congressman Jeff Landry, that wasn't enough to get his vote.
Landry says,"we had in my belief an opportunity to seal a balanced budget agreement into this deal as it played out and we failed to do so."
UL Political Science Professor Ryan Teten says their votes could come into play in the next election, as Boustany and Landry are likely to face off when their two south Louisiana districts become one in 2012.
And, constituents are already voicing their opinions about the two opposing votes on KATC's Facebook Page, either praising Boustany for the compromise or hailing Landry for sticking to his guns.
»Topics in this article
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http://www.katc.com/news/acadiana-congressional-leaders-vote/
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English Italiano Espanol Francais
Bollywood Actresses Nude Pictures
You are streaming Bollywood Actresses Nude Pictures porn video from Xvideos sex channel. Free Bollywood Actresses Nude Pictures sex movie was added from PornRabbit together with more porno videos. Find more hot, sexy, fuck, actress, indian, desi, bollywood, katrina, tamil, kaif, teugu, exotic porn on our biggest collection of free sex videos. Well organized porno movies are updated daily.
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Here with me
And this price you pay
Just a wishful dream could be blown away
Ask yourself for better or worse
Because what's the use if it's just good luck
A black cat has crossed my path
Tell me what's good luck about that
Hate and greed
Swollen and sweet
Let's start this misery
If that's where you want to be
Fear and love
From down or form up above
Come to me
Come to me
I bet you please
Come set me free
Excuse me please
For my definition
But deeper still are my convictions
Urgently I wait to hear an answer
While I misconduct
A sad lost anthem
An anthem like you have never heard
Have you heard something so absurd
Correct | Mail | Print | Vote
Ballad In Urgency Lyrics
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http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+crowes/ballad+in+urgency_20019079.html
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Women struck by gunfire in Wilmington
View Larger Map
Two women were struck by bullets in an exchange of gunfire between two men in Wilmington, Del., on Monday night.
The double shooting happened about 10 p.m. on the 600 block of West Sixth Street, DelawareOnline.com reports.
The victims were sitting on the front porch of a row home when they were stuck by bullets. A 47-year-old woman was shot in her left thigh, and a 29-year-old woman was struck in her right buttock.
Each victim was in stable condition after being treated at Christiana Hospital.
One resident told DelawareOnline.com she heard 10 to 12 gunshots. She believed the gunfire started at Helen Chambers Park and continued up Sixth Street.
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New news about Kate Middleton's pregnancy
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Cool book for kids: 'The Princess In Black'
Gabby Bernstein: The 3 questions I always get
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http://www.metro.us/boston/news/2013/12/03/women-struck-by-gunfire-in-wilmington/
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Moonmist (Atari ST)
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
5 point score based on user ratings.
Not an American user?
Tamara Lynd has recently become engaged to Jack Tresyllian, a wealthy owner of the Tresyllian Castle in Cornwall, England. Shortly afterwards, she began seeing a ghost-like figure, a mysterious White Lady, who has allegedly been haunting the castle for centuries. A series of events and dark suspicions involving hidden treasure convince Tamara that her life is in danger. She contacts a friend of hers, a young American detective, asking him to travel to the castle and investigate the mystery.
Moonmist is a text adventure game. In the beginning the player chooses between four different scenarios, represented by the colors red, blue, yellow and green. Each scenario has different tasks, a different criminal, and different treasure. The game has a built-in clock, and must be completed before 6:00 am in-game time, otherwise it ends prematurely. Depending on the player's choice of the protagonist's gender, characters may react differently to his or her actions.
Moonmist Atari ST Starting location
Alternate Titles
• "Moonmist - a mystery story" -- Tag-lined title
Part of the Following Group
User Reviews
There are no reviews for this game.
The Press Says
ATARImagazin May, 1987 2 out of 6 80
There are currently no topics for this game.
Related Web Sites
• The Infocom Gallery (High-quality scans of the grey box package and manual of Moonmist.)
Belboz (6539) added Moonmist (Atari ST) on Jan 25, 2003
Other platforms contributed by Droog (463), Kabushi (122912), Terok Nor (18734), Игги Друге (43761) and Belboz (6539)
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http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/moonmist
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Andy Caldwell of Melbourne, Florida, tells us his interest in '70 Dodge Super Bees started when he was growing up in Maryland. Andy recalls, " In June 1973, my dad brought home a 440 Six-Pack-powered '70 Super Bee that he bought at the used car lot of Fairfax Dodge. My dad bought and sold a lot of cars throughout his lifetime and drag raced many of them, but for me, this Super Bee always stood out. It was Sublime outside with a black bucket-seat interior, floor-mounted automatic shifter, and black 'C' stripes around the quarter-panels. I was only 8 years old at the time, and thought it was one of the coolest cars I had ever seen. Even though my dad only owned the Super Bee for a few months, I always knew I would own one someday."
In March 1984, Andy was in his first year of college, and helping his dad find another car to enjoy and run at the local drag strip. Andy found an ad in Hemming's Motor News describing a near-mint-condition, red, '70 Dodge Super Bee. Unlike dad's first one, this one was powered by a 383 in front of a 727 automatic transmission, and didn't quite have 21,000 miles on it. After his dad talked to the owner, they headed out on a road trip from their Maryland home to Beckley, West Virginia, the home of Fred Lilly, the owner of the Super Bee. Mr. Lilly explained that he bought the Super Bee from the original owner in Beckley. It didn't take long for dad to reach into his pocket and become $3,800 poorer, and the owner of one very clean and original Super Bee. The Bee had 20,850 miles at the time, and still had its original coat of E5 red paint accented with a white 'C' stripe, plus the black bench-seat interior looked like new. Rounding out the package was a column-shifted automatic, an untouched 383 Magnum, a 3.91 sure grip, a XHD suspension, a 26-inch radiator, and a power steering cooler. Four months after buying the Super Bee, dear ol' dad decided he wanted an all out race car. This meant the Super Bee would be going up for sale. Andy couldn't bear to see the Super Bee sold to someone else, so he struck a deal with his dad and bought it. He finally had his dream car!
During the first year Andy owned the Bee, he used it as a daily driver and began racing it at local tracks on the weekends. He tells us his first outings with the Super Bee at the track were unimpressive to say the least. The best he could muster out of the Bee were high 14s. But he had an itch to go faster, so he installed a set of headers, a 780 Holley carburetor, and an electronic ignition. In this trim, he got the Bee to run a best of 13.96 at 99 mph. He had a reasonable amount of success racing the Bee locally in the Maryland area. One of the accomplishments with it at the track was qualifying four years in a row (1985-1988) for the NHRA Division 1 Bracket Finals at Maple Grove Raceway. The racing began to take a toll on the original 383, so he decided to take it out and put it aside. The car then sat for about two years with no engine in it until his dad offered him a spare 440 engine from his '65 Satellite race car. The modified 440 was installed in late 1990, and the Super Bee then proceeded to run consistent 12s at the track. By the end of 1994, parts breakage finally caught up to the Bee. Andy broke the rearend and fixed it, but at the very next race, the 440 expired with two broken connecting rods putting two huge holes in the side of the block.
After the 440, the Bee sat for a year while Andy thought about what to do with it. Finally, he decided to return the car back to its original street condition since he had the most fun with the car in this configuration. Returning the car to its original condition was not hard because it had always been stored in a garage, so the original factory paint and interior were still in excellent condition. Not only that, but Andy had saved all those parts he had pulled off earlier. So in 1996, with the help of his good friend and racing buddy Bill Schmidt, he proceeded to rebuild and reinstall the original 383 and put the car back to its stock condition.
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http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/featuredvehicles/mopp_0509_1970_dodge_superbee/
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Legislators reject plan to simplify state laws
2011-11-17T22:30:00Z Legislators reject plan to simplify state lawsBy Dan Carden [email protected], (317) 637-9078 nwitimes.com
November 17, 2011 10:30 pm •
INDIANAPOLIS | State lawmakers have turned down a plan intended to make the Indiana Code more understandable by using city and county names in the law instead of descriptions based on an area's population.
On Thursday, the Legislature's Census Data Advisory Committee affirmed Tuesday's decision by the Code Revision Commission to update existing population descriptions using 2010 U.S. Census data, rather than eliminate population descriptions altogether.
Legislators use population descriptions to write laws that affect only one city or county, an action that is technically prohibited by the Indiana Constitution, which requires all laws to apply statewide.
For example, Indiana law never identifies Lake County as Lake County; it is always "a county having a population of more than 400,000, but less than 700,000."
That description enables a Lake County-specific law, such as the law setting membership qualifications for the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, to pass constitutional muster because the law technically applies to any county meeting the population parameter, even though no other county does.
State lawmakers this summer seemed open to a suggestion by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency that locality names replace population descriptions, but concerns that courts would strike down special laws led to this week's decision to just update the relevant population data.
State Rep. Shelli VanDenburgh, D-Crown Point, was the only lawmaker on both committees who voted to eliminate population descriptions.
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http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/legislators-reject-plan-to-simplify-state-laws/article_ccb1ffb7-bd44-5f43-a4ab-d0d1ef220216.html
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Final Fantasy XII Preview
Title Final Fantasy 12
ESRB Rating Rating Pending
Developer Square Enix
Publisher Square Enix
Release Date May 2006
Platform PS2
Genre Role Playing Game (RPG)
The story behind FF12 takes place in a world called Ivalice. Many races (including those adorable, yet useless, moogles) make up the population, and the skies are crowded with airships. Magic in this age is more common it seems than in other Final Fantasy games.
The Archadian Empire is looking for power, and has been picking off enemy kingdoms one at a time. One of these kingdoms is Dalmasca, home to many of the characters in this game.
Our main character is Vaan, a homeless boy on the streets, who is looking to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of the empire. For Vaan, his brother was his only remaining family member. Now alone, Vaan hatches a plan to relieve the royal consul of a few of his treasures. However, during his plan the Dalmascan soldiers began launching an attack on the Archadian Empire. In the confusion, Vaan sees among the Dalmascan resistance the last heir to the throne. Princess Ashe had been given up for missing….
So Vaan, Princess Ashe, Vaan’s friend Penelo, sky pirate Balthier, and his partner Fran team up to reveal the reason for the Archadian Empire’s invasion.
The gameplay this time around is a bit different from before. After announcing the elimination of ATB (active time battle), many players were left wondering what kind of battle system would take its place. ADB (active dimension battle) is the name of the new system. Players can still choose between “active” and “wait” modes, but neither compromises the nature of ADB. Basically, ADB features a 3-dimensional battle, where the player can change the camera at any time.
Also, bosses tend to run around a little more, so the battle is not in just one place. Switching from one character to the next has never been easier. From one character’s menu, you can switch to the other two, making commands way more efficient. When commanding one character, the others will switch to AI mode and start casting spells based on the enemies’ weaknesses, attacking, using items, or healing. The only benefit of using “wait” mode in this game is that it pauses the action during your turn, giving players time to choose their next moves wisely.
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http://www.ocmodshop.com/final-fantasy-xii-preview/
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Definición de abrogate en inglés:
Silabificación: ab·ro·gate
Pronunciación: /ˈabrəˌɡāt
[with object] formal
Repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement): a proposal to abrogate temporarily the right to strike
Más ejemplos en oraciones
• This section abrogates the common law principle, historically enshrined in the Judges' Rules, that only a defendant's voluntary statements can be relied on in a criminal trial.
early 16th century: from Latin abrogat- 'repealed', from the verb abrogare, from ab- 'away, from' + rogare 'propose a law'.
The verbs abrogate and arrogate are quite different in meaning. While abrogate meansrepeal (a law),’ arrogate meanstake or claim (something) for oneself without justification,’ often in the structure arrogate something to oneself, as in the emergency committee arrogated to itself whatever powers it chose.
Pronunciación: /ˌabrəˈɡāSHən/
Más ejemplos en oraciones
repeal, revocation, repudiation, rescinding, overturning, annulment, overruling, cancellation, invalidation, nullification, negation, dissolution, discontinuation;
reversal, retraction, removal, withdrawal, abolition
formal rescission
|
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/ingles_americano/abrogate
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elderly sex
Crikey! Australian Grandpas Still Feelin' Frisky Into Their 90s
Too old to get frisky? No way, sonny. Credit: Getty
In breaking news today, the sky is blue and the Earth is round. Oh, and by the way, men are really, really horny.
All together now: How horny are they? They are sooo horny,...
No country for old men? Don't tell that to the randy old coots in the Land Down Under.
Flickr RSS
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http://www.parentdish.com/tag/elderly+sex/
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Pleasanton Weekly
News - April 1, 2011
Medical help for Afghanistan
North Rotary takes on project to update hospital
by Dolores Fox Ciardelli
"The Ministry of Health is working more on emergency and survival status," DuPree said, adding, "The American military also has hospitals where Afghans are treated."
"I was looking for a project there because I have strong feelings for the country and the countrymen," she recalled.
First the club had to determine that a need existed and that the hospital's infrastructure could support new equipment, explained DuPree.
"They were absent of anything -- doctors had a stethoscope and a pressure cuff," DuPree said. "The recommendations for the equipment came from the doctors in Jalalabad."
Once North Rotary determined that the project was feasible, its members raised $32,500, which was matched by the Rotary International Foundation. This gained the backing of Assist International, a nonprofit group in Scott's Valley that specializes in placing medical equipment in developing countries.
Assist contributed financially plus was able to negotiate discounts from Philips Medical Systems and GE Healthcare for new equipment worth $300,000. Assist also guaranteed the equipment for five years and has physicians available to help the medical staff, Dupree said.
* 10 cardiac care intensive care unit monitoring systems
* Two neonatal monitors
* Two surgical suite monitors
* An electrocardiogram system
* Defibrillators
* Neonatal incubator
* Infant warmer
* Diagnostic ultrasound scanner
* Bassinets
* Phototherapy light
"The quiet was dispiriting," she said. "Kabul to me had gone backwards. I was amazed by the lack of care, just looking at the buildings and the homes. I could absolutely tell they'd been in the war."
"Jalalabad was more vibrant," DuPree said. "There were more children and women out and more a sense of commerce."
American soldiers were also a presence, she said.
"People were very attuned to what's going on there," she said. "It's not a Taliban region but it is a terrorist area."
"They are educated primarily in Pakistan, Japan and the United States, and some in India, and are used to using fairly upgraded equipment," DuPree said.
"She was hands-on to find out what is this, is it working, is there accountability," DuPree said.
There are no comments yet for this post
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http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/print/story/print/2011/04/01/medical-help-for-afghanistan
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Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM)
Rock Progressivo Italiano
3.18 | 205 ratings
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
Prog Reviewer
2 stars Here's where PFM really loses it. By this point, they were residing in Los Angeles (but no longer after this album). This was their second album with ex-ACQUA FRAGILE vocalist Bernardo Lanzetti, bassist Jan Patrick Djivas had been with the band since "L'Isola di Niente", and for this album they brought in Gregory Bloch, apparently a violinist for some latter-day version of IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY (which is a bit strange, since everyone knows that David LaFlamme was quite a capable violinist himself in that BAY AREA band). "Jet Leg" was their final Los Angeles album, with PFM returning to Italy (and Bloch staying in California), and concentrating on the Italian pop market. There is no getting around the fact that Patrick Djivas was quite a talented bassist, showing his abilities off his fretless bass. Not to mention Bernardo Lanzetti with his Peter GABRIEL/Roger Chapman-like voice.
But unfortunately this album, for the most part is very non-memorable. I can understand that the band couldn't run the style they explored on "Storia di un Minuto" and "Per Un Amico" in the dirt, realizing they wouldn't be able to top off those two albums even if they tried, but to go for an album that consists little else than a lot of noodling around that goes nowhere is pretty inexcusible. Supposedly "Chocolate Kings" is the better album, but I hadn't heard this. "Jet Leg" is far from a classic in my book, and for PFM completists only.
Proghead | 2/5 |
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Vangelis - Hypothesis CD (album) cover
Prog Related
3.25 | 54 ratings
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Pretty interesting early recording, this was recorded after "Aphrodite's Child's 666". This album doesn't resemble 666, nor does it resemble the electronic albums he later done. No, this is a rather jazzy album with Hammond organ dominating. The album is divided in to two parts, the first part is the most jazzy. It's really hard to believe this is coming from the same guy who would later give us "Chariots of Fire". The second half of the album tends to be more experimental. It's nice finding an album untypical for a certain artists, and VANGELIS did that with "Hypothesis". Apparently not available as a CD reissue so hold on your turntables.
Proghead | 4/5 |
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Along the high street of Peckham windows were smashed and shops looted on 08.08.11, the following day the community voiced their thoughts of love and hope for a town that is their home. The messages filled a board fixed to cover one of the many damaged windows and the people still kept coming to add their messages and read the ones that had gone on before.
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URU-The Lost Civilisation of Australia
Excerpts From The Book-Chapter 2
Australian Genesis - Birth of the Star-Watchers
Both heads display great age
URU-The Lost Civilisation of Australia-Book Cover
Ancient Australian Genesis - Birth of the Star-Watchers
Scattered across the Australian landscape stand great grey stones weathered with age, arranged in a variety of formations; circles, alignments, single standing stones, tombs and temples; granduous monolithic structures forming great culture centres of religious and astronomical importance, whose construction would have demanded architectural planning on a grand scale, and the participation of thousands of labourers. They are the megaliths, the monuments of a long-vanished race that once spread its advanced Stone-Age culture across the earth from the Australian/West Pacific Islands northwards to the furthest reaches of Asia and westwards across Europe.
Rex Stone Alignment Fallen Menhir
Uruan Pear Shaped Circle
Pear Circle
Uruan Pear Shaped Circle
Pear Circle
Large Uruan Altar Stone
Large Uruan Altar Stone
Large altar stone erected amid a crumbling Uru culture centre
Large Stone Circle Stone Circle
I-na the Bird of the Sun Altar Stone I-na Eagle Altar Stone
Nim the Uruan God of the Sun Head of Nim
Carved Head of "Nim" - God of the Sun
Ancient Australian Genesis - Birth of the Star-Watchers[continued]
They were the work of the earliest civilisation known to mankind. Who the builders were, their achievements, and why they vanished are mysteries that have long perplexed scholars. No official systematic census has as yet been carried out on these monuments, but at least 50,000 of them are known throughout Western Europe alone. Thousands more stand across mainland and island Southeast Asia, with the largest concentration in the world in Australia.
Their construction is unparalleled in human history, surpassing even the more sophisticated structures of the later civilisations of Mesopotamia, the Middle-East or the Americas. The epicentre of this civilisation’s origins is also a mystery to researchers. For generations all scholarly investigation of the megalithic culture has centred upon the Asian-European sites with emphasis on Europe; those of Australia being overlooked.
Recent scientific dating techniques establish the age of England’s Stonehenge and France’s Carnac megalithic structures at around 3000 BC. The stone arrangements, megalithic tombs and temples of Malta, and parts of Eastern Europe are dated to 4500 BC, while the datings for those of central Asia, India, southern China, Japan and island south-east Asia, vary between 5000 and 8000 BC.
Somewhere between 4000 and 13000 BC, megalithic monuments were being erected in New Guinea and some neighbouring Melanesian islands, while those in Australia date back at least between 30,000 and 50,000 years, with extensive sites in the central west of NSW possibly the earliest built on Earth. These facts imply that the first civilisation arose in Australia.
Temple Site Heather Gilroy Standing on a Fallen mMarker?
The fact that vast numbers of people could be organised in the erection of the Australian megaliths implies an organised society, directed by a priestly caste, and ruled by monarchs who must have wielded considerable power, supported by a warrior class; God-Kings of the Stone-Age - rulers whose power would only dim with the onset of the Bronze-Age and the coming of the mineral-seeking explorer-colonists from the Old World.
I postulate that, once the first modern humans [as already stated in Chapter One], had arisen in Ice-Age Australia, they were fascinated by the stars and wondered what they were; the movements of the Sun and Moon; and the seasonal climatic changes. And gradually was born a primitive nature-worship. The inhabitants, both the above people and Aboriginal, would have observed how quickly plants grew from the earth after rainfall. In their simplicity they imagined the earth as a female, the great Earth-Mother; frequently fertilised by the rain [ie semen] of a great Sky-Father, to give birth to all plant, animal and human life. In time, as the importance of sunlight in the cycle of life was realised, the worshippers came to believe the Earth-Mother and Sky-Father had produced a child, the Sun-God, depicted as a serpent in all ancient cultures.
In the course of their fascination with the heavens, these primitive star-gazers would have observed the rising and setting of the Sun, Moon and Stars, and that they often rose in alignment with certain natural features; a mountain peak, large rock etc.; and this led to a primitive ‘star cult’, the worshippers erecting their own stone markers in line with natural formations, with which the Sun, Moon or whatever planetary body rose in alignment.
Open spaces, the summits of hills and mountaintops, became gathering-places for the star worshippers, which in time became the scenes of associated ceremonies. Parallel with the erection of the first standing stones came the first attempts at recording the heavenly movements in stone; engravings depicting the phases of the moon, crude star maps describing star clusters and individual planets, comets and other obscure astronomical events.
By the time more extensive megalithic stone alignments and other elaborate astronomical structures were being erected, mere fascination with the heavens had been replaced by a growing astronomical science, which by at least 45,000 years ago appears to have been quite extensive. Modern-day observations at the Australian megalithic sites erected by the Uruans, suggests that they were already aware of the Summer and Winter Solstices [22nd December and 22nd June respectively] at a very remote period.
At what stage the Uruans came by this knowledge is uncertain, although as with any other complex calculations, records had to have already existed, implying the existence of a written language. Countless examples of this written language survives, scattered upon rock faces throughout the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, NSW, often alongside star maps at astronomical observation sites, where obscure constellation symbols occur, among which, it appears, were recognised an altar, pyramid-temple, ship, eagle, emu, serpent and apparently, the Southern Cross, among others.
Yet of all the astronomical symbols engraved by this people, the Sun is predominant. Altar stones and images of this important life-giving deity lie scattered across Australia, and sacrifices were offered up to Him from a very remote period. Gigantic crude stone temples to Nim the Sun are a feature of every major megalithic site standing across the continent, and there is hardly any early Uruan astronomical inscription in which He is not mentioned; and it is certain that He was, as the child of the Earth-Mother and Sky-Father, a member of the first Trinity.
Nim: The Uruan God Of The Sun
Nim: The Uruan God Of The Sun
Nim: The Uruan God Of The Sun
Nim: The Uruan God Of The Sun
His name is engraved everywhere Uruan megalithic culture centres are found, from Western Australia to the Red Centre; Tasmania to Cape York; New Guinea and island Melanesia to New Zealand and the Americas; northwards beyond Australia to India; and the Near-East to Western Europe; for like ‘Uru’, His name, in a host of variations, follows the ghostly trail of megaliths wherever they are found across the earth. In the rise of the Uru in the dawn mists of Australia’s hidden history and their fascination with the heavens, there was born not only the mother of all later civilisations, but a religion whose deities and associated philosophies would, in centuries to come, influence the growth of all the solar-based religions of antiquity and ultimately Christianity itself.
Much of what this author has learnt of Uruan religion has come from the Blue Mountains NSW rock inscriptions over many years. The names of deities and their functions, often inscribed upon rocks at what remains of their open-air temples and shrines or astronomical observatories, and these names have turned up at interstate sites as well as in New Zealand in the course of my field investigations.
What I have uncovered to date is a pantheon of deities which continues to grow, and which shows that this people had developed a religion of great complexity, the like of which could only have been the creation of a civilisation of high standing. Paramount of all Uruan deities was the Supreme Being, the Sky-Father Ay-i [also known as Ahi and Aea], a word variant of ‘Aryan’.
His name was also inscribed as Ki, the same word of the later Indo-Aryan language for “life force”. It was He who created the universe within a great cosmic egg and brought all earthly life into existence beginning in the land of Uru, where He created an earthly paradise. To tend His paradise and all the creatures in it, He breathed life into the soil to create Nif, the Earth-Mother Goddess.
To light His world, Ay-i mated with Nif to produce his children; Nim, the Sun-God to bring life-giving light and warmth by day; and Ara, the Moon-Goddess, to bring illumination at night, and light the way to the underworld for those who died at night.
Nif: The Uruan Earth-Mother Goddess
Nif: The Uruan Earth-Mother Goddess
Nif bore her children in a cave in the east, from where Nim rose each morning to cross the sky to the west, from where he travelled to the underworld to sleep [or as some believed, to die] then rise again in the east. The Underworld was created by Ay-i as the abode of the dead, over which he appointed Ashar as god of death and darkness, and “god of the sleeping sun” [when Nim was resting in his domain].
In order to give his son Nim protection both during his traverse of the heavens and while sleeping at night in the Underworld, he appointed I-na the eagle as Nim’s protector, thus I-na, the Eagle of the Sun, carried Nim in his beak across the sky each day. I-na also protected the egg containing the Universe, as he is shown in some engravings carrying the cosmic egg within his beak.
When not depicted as a disc, Nim was described in the form of a serpent, the symbol of Nim’s life-giving rays in Uruan religion. The Serpent was the guardian of knowledge and sometimes became a phallic symbol; his name, both as a minor deity and species, was Ra-na.
The hot light of Nim created the Fire-God, Aru, whom Ay-i placed under Nim’s control. New South Wales and Queensland inscriptions refer to him as both Aru, Ura, and Aka, while in eastern South Australia and the Northern Territory he was Aru and in Western Australia, Waru: all variants of the word ‘Aryan’.
Fertility celebrations centred around Ay-i, Nim and Nif, but also the Phallic god, Wa-na-ma; and guarding the deities at all times was Ga-na, Protector of the Gods, depicted as either a kangaroo or wallaby.
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• Tue
• Oct 21, 2014
• Updated: 2:41pm
Bin Laden bled US for a cool trillion
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 May, 2011, 12:00am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 May, 2011, 12:00am
How much did it cost the United States to finally find and kill Osama bin Laden? The simple answer is months of careful planning, a brave decision by President Barack Obama, a lot of military skill and guts by the US Navy Seals and a few million dollars for equipment, fuel and the write-off of a helicopter. The political bill, in relations with Pakistan, may take longer to come in.
However, the alarming longer answer is that it has cost more than US$1 trillion, and maybe as much as US$3 to US$5 trillion if all the costs of the 'war on terrorism' are properly accounted for. Bin Laden is dead, but those costs continue and raise huge questions about the financial and economic competence of the US government.
The very size of the sums takes - or should have taken - the discussion out of the philosophy or political science classes and into the real realm of congressional and parliamentary finance and budget committee debates, and active business forums. After all, this is real spending of real taxpayer dollars and real changes in business and lifestyle behaviours of Americans and those they deal with.
Sadly, much of the decision-making and the spending has been hushed up under the guise of national security, meaning that money gets spent without proper questioning, let alone the sort of cost-benefit analysis that other government departments and all respectable businesses are regularly expected to do.
Governments strictly speaking do not go bankrupt, least of all that of the United States. Nevertheless, the US is bleeding and is spending its money unwisely.
Economists including former World Bank vice-president Joe Stiglitz have questioned the massive spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, claiming controversially that their cost will be US$3 trillion when everything is added up.
It has taken longer to get an accounting of the costs of the war on terror. Now two university professors - John Mueller, a national-security expert at Ohio State University, and Mark Stewart, a civil engineering and infrastructure expert at the University of Newcastle in Australia - have added up the sums and calculated the increased security bill at US$1.1 trillion from 2002 to this year.
More seriously, they claim that by the standards of risk assessment and cost-benefit analyses, standard practice in business for decades, these massive sums represent money thrown away. Pointedly, they omit from their accounting the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - so throw in another trillion dollars or so if you believe that these wars are terror-related. They also exclude a long string of costs, such as the extra fuel cost to airlines because of heavier protected flight deck doors and having to give free seats to federal air marshals, and others such as crime facilitated by a police preoccupation with terrorism, effects on tourism and property values, and cutbacks to medical care, education and social security because of mushrooming domestic security budgets.
Mueller and Stewart estimate that the enhanced direct expenditures in the 10 years come to US$690 billion, of which the US Department of Homeland Security contributed US$360 billion. Another US$417 billion comes from what they call opportunity costs, including US$40 billion in terrorism risk-insurance premiums, and US$100 billion in passenger delays caused by airport screening.
It is easy to quibble with some of the figures. But the value of the work by the professors is that they raise the important question of whether the increased expenditure on security is worth it. Their conclusion is that no self-respecting company would spend so heavily without conducting a proper analysis of the costs and benefits of the spending.
Yet by 2006, when the Department of Homeland Security had already become the largest non-military bureaucracy in the US, one of its senior economists admitted: 'We really don't know a whole lot about the overall costs and benefits of homeland security.'
James Thomson, the president of the Rand Corporation, claimed that top department officials 'manage by in-box with little or no evaluation' of their performance or effectiveness. In other words, if a problem or new security scare arises, throw more money at it in the form of new measures in the name of security. One of the latest was the deployment at US airports of full-body scanners at a cost of US$1.2 billion a year, but with no estimate of any benefit.
Mueller and Stewart comment that they can find only a single published reference to a numerical estimate of risk reduction, and can 'find no reference whatever to the likelihood of a terrorist attack beyond rather vague references such as 'high', 'imminent' and 'dynamic'.'
Politicians and security bosses tend to inflate the risks of terror attacks in the face of the evidence. The director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, ominously said in 2005 when failing to unearth an al-Qaeda cell in the US: 'I remain very concerned about what we are not seeing.'
Of leading American politicians, only New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is of course a highly successful businessman, dared to challenge the prevailing wisdom when in 2007 he advised that people should 'get a life' since they had a greater chance of being struck by lightning than by a terrorist.
When the so-called underwear bomber failed in December 2009, there had been one incident involving terrorists for every 16.5 million flights. In the years since September 11, 2001, people killed by Muslim extremists outside of war zones numbered between 200 and 300 a year. The figure includes atrocities committed by al-Qaeda, its imitators, enthusiasts, look-alikes, wannabes and those with no connection with it. During the same period, 320 people a year drowned in bathtubs in the US.
Mueller and Stewart claim enhanced security expenditures have been 'excessive: to be deemed cost-effective they would have to deter, prevent, foil or protect against 1,667 otherwise successful Times Square attacks per year, or more than four a day'. The Times Square bomber drove an SUV packed with explosives into New York City in May of last year.
Osama bin Laden must be laughing from his watery grave. In announcing a new policy of 'bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy', in a 2004 video he mockingly declared: 'It is easy for us to provoke and bait. All that we have to do is to send two mujahideen to raise a piece of cloth on which is written 'al-Qaeda', in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses.' Whether his death will cause the United States to think again about spending wisely is more than a US$1 trillion question.
Spending spree
The US has been accused of throwing money at domestic security
With no cost-return analysis, full-body airport screening has been deployed at an annual cost, in US dollars, of: $1.2b
For unlimited access to:
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National News
Rob Ford didn't enter the U.S., reports say
By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Rob Ford did not officially enter the U.S. when he flew to Chicago last week bound for rehab, reports said Tuesday, but his lawyer insisted "100 per cent" that the Toronto mayor is getting inpatient substance-abuse treatment.
Ford's whereabouts remain a mystery, and lawyer Dennis Morris said they should stay that way.
"The media should, I don't know, put things on pause a little bit," Morris said in an interview. "Let the man do his rehab. Once he gets out we can just see how it worked."
Ford left home last week after announcing he was taking a leave of absence and suspending his re-election campaign to seek "immediate" help for alcohol abuse.
The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday that when Ford landed in Chicago he voluntarily withdrew his application to enter the country and quoted the consul general of Canada in Chicago as saying Ford "was not denied entry, per se."
"I can't comment other than saying 100 per cent," Morris said, adding that the mayor is "doing very well."
Ford flew to Chicago on a private flight, so the customs process would have been done in Chicago, rather than pre-clearance in Toronto.
Toronto-based immigration lawyer Evan Green said admissions of drug use — Ford has admitted smoking crack cocaine and using other drugs — can make someone inadmissible to the United States.
Border officers can direct people to a U.S. immigration doctor in Canada who can determine that someone is or isn't a drug abuser, Green said.
There is an exemption for drug users going to the U.S. for rehab, he said.
"They're going to want to know where you're going, how long you're going for, what is the plan, is it a closed or open facility, how is this all working, has it been paid for?" Green said.
"On the face of it, somebody going in to say, 'I'm going to try and figure out where I'm going to rehab,' they would not be admitted. They would be told to get their ducks in a row first and then they can try to get back in."
It wouldn't be a formal denial exactly, Green said, but the person would be told they could withdraw their application for admission and go home.
Someone could also withdraw their application before it gets to that stage, Green said.
"If you don't like the questions they're asking and you don't want to answer those questions and you're frustrated you can say, 'You know what? I don't need to go down. I'm not going down. I want to withdraw."
Ford was admitted to the U.S. in March, when he flew to Los Angeles to appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Green said he was surprised the mayor was allowed entry to the country on that occasion.
Canadians have also reported being denied entry to the U.S. because of mental-health issues, such as one woman who said she was turned away because she had been hospitalized for clinical depression.
British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, who acknowledged last year that she had occasionally used cocaine, was denied permission to board a flight to the U.S. last month.
However, the U.S. embassy did not disclose the reason for refusing Lawson entry.
News that a video appeared to show Ford smoking crack cocaine broke nearly one year ago. When the scandal reared its head anew in November, following Ford's admission that he had smoked the drug, he said he was seeking help from a team of professionals, though did not elaborate other than to say he was exercising.
"I don't think he misled anybody at the time," Morris said Tuesday.
"But it wasn't the extensive help that he's getting now because as you saw, whatever help he received wasn't as inpatient, so now it's different."
Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong said Tuesday that he briefly spoke with the mayor when Coun. Doug Ford — the mayor's brother — passed him the phone.
"It was a friendly conversation," said Minnan-Wong, by turns a Ford ally and enemy. "He was in good spirits. (He) said he was working out and that he was in rehab."
It seemed as though Ford missed city council and wanted to return, Minnan-Wong said.
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Wilbers: Compounds come in three varieties: solid, hyphenated and spaced
• Article by: STEPHEN WILBERS
• Special to the Star Tribune
• April 20, 2014 - 2:00 PM
To answer that question, let’s talk about compounds. Not chemical compounds, but word compounds. They come in three varieties: spaced, hyphenated and solid.
What’s a conscientious writer to do?
First, ask yourself a simple question: Are you using the compound as a verb, an adjective or a noun? That’s an important distinction, because the spelling of many compounds varies according to their use.
For example, the compounds in the opening sentence of this column should be spelled “Did you follow up with a follow-up letter?” The verb is spelled as a spaced compound, and the adjective (like the noun form) is spelled as a hyphenated compound.
So what can you do to get it right?
After you have determined how you’re using the compound (as a verb, adjective or noun), look it up; don’t guess. If you’re using a hardcopy dictionary, make sure it’s a current edition. If you’re using an online dictionary, make sure it’s reliable. Sometimes simply googling the compound will indicate consensus spelling, but you still need to know how the compound is being used.
Here are three helpful patterns to keep in mind:
1. When a compound adjective precedes the word it modifies, it usually takes a hyphen (“You do first-rate work”), and when it follows the word it modifies, it usually doesn’t (“Your work is first rate”).
With these patterns and commonly misspelled compounds in mind, correct the errors in the following sentence: “Be sure to spot check for problems before you logon and set-up your program according to the set-up instructions.”
© 2014 Star Tribune
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Nasa learns to land on its feet
Students at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri are about to put a cat in freefall.
The experimental animal is actually a cylindrical robot that behaves like a cat: drop it upside down and it lands on its feet, because it can change the rotational inertia of its body.
The metal moggie has been tested on campus. In the next week, four students and a physics lecturer will test it in a Nasa jet known in Europe as the Vomit Comet and in the US as the Weightless Wonder.
Its rollercoaster flight provides a low-gravity environment for 30 seconds at a time.
"The robot is potentially useful in space exploration," says project leader Gregory Ojakangas. "It could enable Nasa to turn objects like a satellite or an astronaut without gas jets or spinning gyroscopes."
Today's best video
• migrant composite
Death at sea
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'Oscar falsely portrayed in court'
• Rebel leader ducks for cover
Explosion rocks rebel meeting in Donetsk
• Blizzard in Himalayas
Ferocity of blizzard in Himalayas
Footage shot by hiker shows snowstorm that engulfed Nepal's Annapurna trail
Today in pictures
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http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/08/research.highereducation2
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Peugeot 508 Active e-HDI
Peugeot 508 Active e-HDI micro-hybrid
No, it's not an e-car for very small people...
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Review Peugeot has been criticised for losing the plot with its small and medium cars over the last decade, but that shouldn’t obscure the fact that it has made some fine D-segment motors in the same period, including the 406 and 407.
Peugeot 508 Active e-HDI
The 508 Active e-HDI: Peugeot’s latest micro-hybrid stop-start system on board
The newest inheritor of this fine tradition is the 508, which replaces both the 407 and 607, and comes with Peugeot’s latest micro-hybrid stop-start system and electronically controlled six-speed manual gearbox.
In simple terms, micro-hybrid means a start-stop that’s been at the Shredded Wheat. In the 508, the system - called i-StARS (Starter-Alternator Reversible System) - consists of a 2.2kW starter-generator and a set of ultra-capacitors which provide a boost to the 12V battery.
i-StARS can apparently restart the engine in 400ms or twice as fast the standard starter motor, which only comes into play when you first turn the 508 on.
Peugeot 508 Active e-HDI
Ultra-capacitor tech included
As well as guaranteeing low-temperature performance down to -5°C, the capacitors ensure that constantly restarting the engine doesn’t drain power from the other electrical systems. The system also incorporates a reversible tensioner to reduce vibration during restarts.
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Monday, May 30, 2005
Escaping Ski To Sea Weekend
Testosterone racers converged on Bellingham.
I left town. Missed it all. Went 50 slow miles. Stopped to take in the views.
Visited a friend in Arlington, WA.
Like being in a bubble of tranquility as the rat race went around me.
Bicycling slow and mellow, down back roads.
Most traffic heads out Friday and back Monday. I headed out Saturday and back Sunday.
Wasn't on the freeway anyway, where I heard, there was a horrendous accident on Monday. Down by Marysville, just south of Arlington, someone cutoff another driver causing truck, with camper to careen out of control, crossing the median. Head-on with death and destruction. Freeway traffic disrupted for hours, but that was Monday. I was already home, didn't even use freeway.
Friend did bring me back part way, by car. So we could have more time for visit. Explored a "back way" to Mount Vernon. I biked home from Mount Vernon Sunday.
Back into Bellingham just in time to hear the clanging poles of booths being taken apart. Ski To Sea Weekend had just ended. The annual Ski To Sea Race.
They were taking it apart. Everything was over. Glad I missed the race weekend.
Then read news of dead body found near Bellingham. Person was last seen in a state of being too drunk to enter a bar. Was turned away, death still a mystery.
Radio talks about all the drowning incidents in Washington State over weekend. Alcohol involved in many of the cases.
The beer garden.
My leisurely trip included a relaxing putter around Arlington Airport.
This wasn't the crowded weekend of the "Arlington Fly-In," however. Airport was mellow, surprisingly so.
Long philosophical talk, with a friend, sitting at picnic table.
Not much security worry. This is a mellow airport with out commercial travel. Ride around, watch hobbyists work on planes, see a few gliders come in.
Oh, I should be remembering our troops and the sacrifices of war, not my own leisurely weekend?
Work to make that beer garden happen. Business, paychecks.
President Bush was also at Arlington, I think.
Another Arlington. Famous for the cemetery outside Washington, DC.
I was in the state of Washington, clear across USA from Washington, DC.
Speaking of deaths, I was glad that my letter to the editor published just before the weekend. It linked the deaths of war to deaths on the highway.
Highway deaths kill an amazing number of Americans, yet more folks are concerned about the deaths of war. Both can be related to the oil economy. Terrorism and dictatorships fed by the need to fuel "fast paced" lifestyles around the world.
That was the "gist" of my letter.
Fast paced living. Competition, drinking, testosterone, accidents ... airport security. Sometimes "mainstream" life seems alien.
I had a "low key" weekend. Maybe that is part of mainstream life as well.
A different part. A mellower bubble.
I didn't win or loose any races.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Grassroots and Independent Media Conference here in Bellingham. My Impressions.
By co-incidence my brother just finished sending a CD of scans from his old slides. Slides taken when I was in grade school. It includes our 1964 TV. An RCA Victor. Color! but, still used vacuum tubes.
Choices were limited back then (the 1960s). The TV only got 3 commercial and 1 educational channel.
Radio wasn't much better in those days. A lot of repetitive music formats. Every place had it's country and western station, rock station and right wing religious station. Back then I wondered why there wasn't any left wing religious stuff on the air?
There seems to be a lot more news, talk and public affairs radio today.
Many more choices; especially counting the Internet.
I just happened upon this conference by accident. Someone handed me a piece of paper with it's web address.
Yes, I think there is more "diversity of voices" being expressed now, in spite of corporations swallowing one another. In spite of the Bush Presidency.
Blogging, the Internet, low power FM, independent video.
There's the new talk network called, Air America.
"Finally a view from the left," as it advertises itself.
Air America is quite successful, so I hear. Move over Rush Limbaugh.
Conference was free and located in buildings not far from where I live. One of the workshops was in a place that is now "the education building" for a credit union.
I remember when that spot was called " The Cattle Men's Drive In."
Greesy spoon now turned to enlightenment.
No need to go to a fancy resort. Just use buildings nearby. Quite a bit of space available on weekends.
Experts came from Seattle and around town.
The conference was partially sponsored by Whatcom Peace and Justice Center. Much of it funded by a generous donation from Dudley Foundation.
Low power FM?
At one workshop, low power FM radio was discussed.
Back in 1978 low power was basically killed with new FCC rules. It was said that the public broadcasting system (NPR, PBS) lobbied Congress to wipe out low power as they feared interference. Possibly feared competition as well.
Now the idea is back in this age of rapidly changing media.
Bellingham's Museum of Radio and Electricity has recently opened up a low power FM station and another one is being planned by a community out in Van Zandt, WA.
There still aren't that many low power opportunities as the FM dial is chock full of stations, in urban areas at least. The FCC only opens "windows of opportunity" for low power licences rarely, but the mechanism and dream is alive.
Meanwhile, broadcasting on the Internet may reach more people anyway.
There is basically no FCC on the Internet and nearly an infinite number of channels.
Digital broadcasting
More broadcasting channels will also be opened up with digital radio. That will be over the air.
I insert this information here, but it wasn't discussed at any of the three workshops I was at.
KUOW is that big news and talk NPR station in Seattle. It now has two separate program feeds on the web site.
There's KUOW 1 and KUOW 2.
Twice the number of programs. Giving more voices a chance.
Some people may fear, "just more of same voices."
KUOW is gearing up for the broadcasting of two feeds in their "on air" signal as well. One will need a special radio to get the second feed.
It's made possible with digital radio.
Who knows, maybe my 1940's tube radio can get it. There's a "mystery switch" on that radio. Switch position 1, KUOW 1. Switch position 2 ...
No, I think that switch is just a "tone attenuator." My old radio doesn't even get FM.
Gorilla illegal broadcasting?
Illegal, gorilla broadcasting came up as one of the topics, in another workshop.
I wonder why anyone would bother anymore. The Internet is so open, but there still is that lure of a confrontational act; especially among the anti WTO crowd.
I wonder if gorilla broadcasters can still reach an audience in this age of digital tuning?
Back when I was a kid, we had tuning dials on the radio. One could tune up and down the dial noticing when new stations appeared. Sometimes this distraction would change one's listening plans.
Now there's digital tuning. One just jumps to the station they wish to hear.
Scanning up the dial can still be done, but it's more cumbersome.
Can people find new signals outside the presets they have programmed into their dials?
It's called, "Lock in" your preconceived notions.
This is less of a problem on the Internet.
Even if there isn't much audience potential, gorilla radio might be harder for the FCC to catch these days, however.
Miniature equipment can be moved around town. Set a transmitter up and then take it down . . . before anyone can track it down.
Also the Internet can be used as a studio outlet. A legal studio outlet that others can patch over to illegal transmitters.
The studio can't really get busted if other folks pick up the program off the net and then transmit it to the air. The studio can just say, "I don't know those folks who were transmitting this." "What folks?"
It's called agility.
On the other hand, bureaucracy is cumbersome. FCC's limited staff makes enforcement difficult, unless one is covering over another station's frequency; thus generating lots of complaints.
In heavily populated regions, like the Bellingham area, just about every frequency might be, at least, some station's "fringe service area."
Can CB band be used for community radio?
Being less of a rebel, I asked, "what about the use of CB and ham radio bands?" In the CB world lots of little transmitters are licensed legally.
"Can CB / or ham play a role in community radio?"
I have listened to CBers, on my shortwave, and they mostly seem like a boring lot. Just talking about their antennas all day. Some say CB is a dying art.
Can't these transmitters be used for more interesting content than just:
"Hey, Charlie, what's up, nothing much." "I'm running a dipole on the roof with a copper lead wire to the screw terminal in ..."
Is there a law stating that one can not hold an interesting conversation over CB?
There wasn't much familiarity with CB in the room. That's another generation, I guess. CB seems to be mostly of the World War II generation.
Even Audio Blogs
Someone, like me, could even broadcast. This blogging service,, has an option for "audio content."
I haven't tried it yet. Maybe someday.
Conference on the web?
So much one can ponder and there was a lot to that conference I didn't even touch on. So many opportunities. Worlds at one's fingertips.
Last I checked, conference still has a web site. Workshops were videotaped and they say the content will eventually be on the web.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Some of the bikes leaning against the fence at the celebration for Bellingham's Bike To Work Day 2005.
Car Free Neighborhood
With our sizzling hot housing market, I wonder if some developer could set up a subdivision that is car free? Only bicycles, deliveries, pedestrians, emergency vehicles would be allowed on it's streets. I bet houses would still sell like hotcakes.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Newsweek Magazine
Blame the power company.
That's a tall order.
Power companies can't be infallible.
Like power companies, news medias are not perfect either.
"Self government requires self discipline."
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Lake Washington Dinner Train rail trail opportunity
Was topic of today's "The Conversation" show on KUOW. Archived on their web site.
King County (where Seattle is) has the opportunity to buy 47 miles of railroad right of way from BNSF Railroad. This could be the basis of a marvelous trail liking east side suburbs from Snohomish all the way to Renton.
If the county doesn't buy the line, it is possible that the right of way could be broken up as parcels got sold out to different property owners. Keeping it all together would be great.
Photo shows bench near old North Bend Depot. A similar area of old rails and trails farther east in King County.
Currently, some of that corridor is used by Lake Washington Dinner Train; a tourist excursion ride. This use could coincide with a trail. There need not necessarily be a conflict between trail and dinner train use as was pointed out on the radio show.
Back in October of 2002, I remember writing an email to an agency called Sound Transit about that vary corridor. No, I don't live in King County, but listen to Seattle Politics on the radio.
My ear would fill up with talk about Sound Transit's problems developing new light rail corridors through Seattle. Land is expensive. The cost of new stations, tunnels, harsh. Still worth it, in my opinion, but many a talk show host; especially KIRO's Dori Monson, were fuming.
Then there would be an advertisement for . . . The Lake Washington Dinner Train. Ride from Woodenville to Renton.
My mind said, "Wait a minute." "There is an existing corridor." "Interstate 405, passing through the same area, is another congested freeway."
"Maybe the Dinner Train route could be used for light rail." "Take pressure off 405."
So I wrote an email. Wrote to Sound Transit and got back a very good and informative reply.
It had been studied, but population density, in that area, is still a bit too low for commuter train viability. There were also some problems with building track so trains could run two directions . Environmental impacts also. They recommended preserving the corridor, however.
Well, now spin the clock up to 2005 and the issue of preserving the corridor is making news.
Preserving the corridor as a trail.
That would be a lot easier and still take some local pressure off 405. Really, you can go a lot farther on a bicycle than some people think. I'll bet many of the 405 trips are under 10 miles.
Trail and rail possibilities, for that corridor, are significant.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Paper & Cloth
It doesn't make sense that such a big deal would be made about pieces of paper. Pages of the Koran that were, supposedly, desecrated.
Now it looks like this may have not even happened. The paper that makes up the pages of Newsweek Magazine isn't infallible either.
It's all just pieces of paper. Why make such a big deal out of this? People died in the riots.
It's like desecrating the American Flag. That's just a piece of cloth.
When someone burns a piece of cloth, in public, they could likely be cited under existing laws against reckless endangerment or outdoor burning. Special laws of protection, because it is the flag, are un needed.
For some reason, people put a lot of stock in pieces of paper and cloth. Flags, Bibles, Korans.
Of course it is important to have laws and order in our societies, but we can go overboard.
These papers and cloths are not God. Following the letter of the law, with out the spirit, is problematic. Fundamentalism is problematic.
I say, lighten up folks.
Even "money," which is another piece of paper, has its limitations.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Pedal With Your Politician in Bellingham, WA.
Gathering riders with politicians. Starting point at Farmer's Market.
Someone snapped my picture at start of Pedal With Your Politician ride. May 14 2005.
It was a feeling of empowerment, today, as I participated in the fourth annual Pedal With Your Politician ride. Joining us were two county council members, Barbera Brenner and Seth Fleetwood. Also County executive Pete Kremen and city council women Louise Bjornson and Barbara Ryan.
Mount Baker Bicycle Club organizes this event.
At one stop, along Cornwall Avenue, a couple of moms, with kids, met up with us. They explained the difficulties of crossing Cornwall Avenue where it bisects Broadway Park.
Some cars stop to allow pedestrians across while others pull around the stopped car and barrel through.
The words "Fuck You!" were yelled from the window of a passing car while we were gathered along the road side.
Someone ask Ellen Barton, President of Mount Baker Bike Club, if she had arranged for that utterance also. She denied it and that event was chalked up to coincidence.
Farther down Cornwall, Ellen pointed out a turn lane in the middle of the street. Turn lanes are designed so cars do not have to slow down while someone makes a turn.
Problem is, this is in a school zone, she pointed out.
Do we want to facilitate fast moving traffic while also telling folks to slow down in a school zone?
The left hand doesn't always know what the right hand is doing.
Bellingham High School and Assumption Catholic Church are along Cornwall. Assumption also has a school.
Good words were said about another church along Cornwall Avenue.
The Congregational Church.
They recently enlarged their building, but unlike many churches, chose to stay in the neighborhood.
There are several "mega churches" that have built on the outskirts of town where acres of parking is the goal.
A big church, that recently moved to the outskirts of town was jokingly called:
"Cornwall Park Warehouse of God."
This reminds me of a trip I took to Wenatchee, one year, where there was something called "Bethesda Christian Center."
Closer to downtown there was an empty church building with a big sign that read,
"Church For Sale, Can Also Be Used As A Warehouse."
Bethesda's "mega church corporate power monster" was creating a vacuum, in that town, sucking parishioners from local churches. Neighborhood churches were going under.
Later, I heard Bethesda went belly up. Not sure why, tax fraud? or maybe infighting among the Congregation.
Last time I was bike touring through Wenatchee, I noticed the Bethesda campus looked like it had become a furniture factory.
Back here in Bellingham, one can also praise the Congregational Church, on Cornwall, for being open and affirming to gay and lesbian people.
Liberal Christianity and a good neighbor in our community.
I know I am off the topic of bike riding. Talking about all this church stuff. My mind doesn't do "compartmental thinking" very well.
It all relates to a kinder world.
Open and affirming, slowing down, not being such a mega corporate monster.
Calming down the rat race of life.
The opposite of that car which sped by yelling profanity.
We're hoping to make this city less "mean spirited."
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Public, Private Lives
Spokane Mayor Jim West's biggest crime was not actually a crime.
In my book, his biggest transgression was things like proposing legislation, while he was a state legislator, that would have banned gay people from teaching.
While anti gay attitudes are not crimes, politicians can be held accountable for them at the ballot box.
These recent revelations about West's secret dabbles in gay chat rooms and so forth should serve as a wake up call to voters about a significant number of anti gay politicians. Struggles with an issue, in one's personal life, will often lead to harsher perspectives about that issue in the person's public life.
Of course it must be said that not all opposition to gay rights, or right wing politics, is rooted in two faced personal lives. It's just that a certain percentage is.
While prejudiced stands, and the motivations for those stands, that a person takes could not be considered crimes in our free society, voters should be advised and hold politicians accountable.
Different From The Log Cabins
I have a few friends who loosely labeled West a "Log Cabin Republican."
That is far from the truth.
The Log Cabin Republicans are an organization of openly gay people who also support many of the principles of the Republican Party. Some folks feel this is an oxymoron, but there are actually quite a few supporters of the Log Cabin movement.
That is a totally different world from the two faced life of politicians who are conservative in public life while having a secret private life. Basically Log Cabin Republicans tend to be out of the closet.
Still they may support conservative causes such as lower government spending.
Some Log Cabins might even oppose civil rights legislation, for gays, because of a basic philosophy of "libertarianism." Opposition to the government regulating who a private employer should hire. This opposition to civil rights laws would also apply to nondiscrimination laws about race and other things.
While I don't endorse most of Log Cabin thinking, I do understand the big difference between that and politicians who are revealed as hypocritical when their private lives become known.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Microwave tower atop Galbraith Mountain
Microwave dishes atop Galbraith Mountain, a popular area for mountain bike trails near Bellingham. I prefer the gentle climb of logging roads to the swift turns and jumps of the trails.
Monday, May 09, 2005
The long emergancy
Last night, Art Bell's national talk show had an interesting guest.
He wrote a book called THE LONG EMERGENCY. Similar, in thought to a film, I once saw, called END OF SUBURBIA. It's about how many aspects of current culture, from the 3,000 mile salad, to the auto crazed strip mall, are in trouble. As cheap oil runs out, the American economy could crash. Box stores, burger barns, Nascar racing, jet travel. It could be headed toward disaster.
The author describes this as a major dislocation and transition. We could be in for turbulent times, but also a transition to something, hopefully, better. As alarming as some of that author's predictions are, he didn't describe himself as a doomsday prophet. Predicting, instead, a difficult transition.
I would add a softening thought to this.
America still has plenty of coal. If we find ways to capture the carbon dioxide from coal power, it doesn't have to be the greenhouse nightmare that some fear. Nuclear power may make a comeback as well.
This is just my thinking, not mentioned on that show.
For "traditional values" people, these "traditional" sources of energy will take some of the bite out of the needed transformations.
It's "Nuclear Power for the Nuclear Family." Mom, Dad, the kids, the station wagon (now the SUV or Hummer.) Life in the burbs.
Still, more innovative and non traditional things, like wind, solar and changes in personal lifestyles, will be needed.
I have lived my entire life with out driving a car. The bicycle has gotten me all the way across USA in 9 weeks and the train took me back home in style. I have traveled across USA twice. Once in 1991 and again in 1993, plus lots of more local "peddle power" trips.
THE LONG EMERGANCY should be a good wake up call, even if coal and nuclear may soften the blow a bit.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Evolution of the family car
1960s-70s Station Wagon
1980s-90s Mini Van
1990s-2000 SUV
And now the Hummer.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Power Corrupts or Power Amplifies
An acquaintance of mine was wondering why they invited President Bush to Pope John Paul's funeral when they didn't invite mass murderer Charles Manson. He said Bush has killed more people.
My phrase "power amplifies" came to mind.
I said, "you would rather have Bush as your neighbor than Charles Manson." "If Bush wasn't in a position of power, where every little act, or mistake, is amplified into great consequence, he would likely be a nice neighbor." "Might invite you over to a back yard barbecue."
On the other hand, if Charles Manson were the President, the entire world might be obliterated in nuclear war.
Power amplifies.
Bush seems about as nice as most average Americans. Maybe he is a little more "career driven" than many. Anyone in his position of power can do things that have consequences effecting the lives of millions, actually billions. I doubt I would trust many of my neighbors in the White House. Some, yes.
If the President sneezes, the world catches a cold; figuratively. An average person sneezing might not be noticed.
So power amplifies.
Does power also corrupt? Can power change one's personality from "nice guy" to "power maniac?" Have you ever had a friend who changed when they became the "boss?"
There is the old phrase that says, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Several friends of mine have admitted that they became "a different person" when they got behind the wheel of an automobile. "There goes Mr. Nice Guy." The dog eat dog world of I-5 traffic brings out a different side of their personalities.
Just about everyone, I know, drives, but I wouldn't call them mass murderers, even though automobile related deaths are high on mortality lists.
The popular phrase, "power corrupts" may have some truth to it, but I still prefer to think, "power amplifies."
Saying "power amplifies" may let people off the hook, a bit, since it basically just says that the more power one has, the more oomph there is to one's actions.
Oomph to one's actions either good or bad.
I did vote for Kerry, however.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Laughing All The Way To The Bank
An hour, today, on KIRO's Dori Monson talk show was about Washington State's famous teacher who went to jail for having an affair with a 12 year old boy (maybe 14?). Mary K. Letourneau.
Now she is out of jail. The boy is 22 and they plan to get married. A cable TV network plans to pay $500,000 for the rights to tell this bizarre story. Latourneau is now reported living in a million dollar waterfront home.
Some folks are outraged, but others just say, "hey, she did her time." "The affair with a 22 year old is now legal." "She can laugh all the way to the bank."
While I am not as horrified as some people are by this tern of events, I do see it as a fallacy of the marketplace. Letting the marketplace, alone, determine who rises to the top is problematic.
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Friday, 5 November 2010
image for Politically Correct Version of "The Great Escape" To Be Released
A kinder, friendlier, Red Cross parcel
American, British, and German film studios are working together to complete production of a remake of "The Great Escape." The new movie is expected to be in theatres in early 2011 and has been dubbed "The Politically Correct Version." The film is directed by Bill Maher.
The original movie, released in 1963 and based on actual events in Luft Stalag III, has been dubbed hateful for its portrayal of Germans and Germany and its dedication to "The Fifty" (men who were murdered after escape rather than being returned to the P.O.W. Camp). The new movie will instead be dedicated to Pope Benedict, for "displaying that a former Hitler Youth can become a figure of religious reverence."
Other changes to the movie and Paul Brickhill book will include:
Captain Hilts, played by Steve McQueen in the original and called "The Cooler King," will have a different nickname (the studio has chosen to keep this a secret until the movie's release). For his multiple escapes, he will no longer be sent to "The Cooler." Instead, he will be sent to time-out to consider the error of his ways. Instead of having a baseball and mitt (which symbolize the superiority of athletes and unhealthy spirit of competition), he will have a Leap Frog Learning Center.
Archie Ives, who was known as "The Mole," will also lose that nickname as "it is belittling and non-complimentary and may have led to his unfortunate suicide in the first film." He will, instead, be called "Dig Dug" as "everyone remembers that early videogame with fondness and a happy feeling about themselves and their accomplishments."
German guards will no longer be referred to as guards and will no longer carry rifles. Instead, they will be called "concierge officers" and will be responsible for seeing to the happiness and well being of their "invited guests" (not prisoners or P.O.W.s).
The film will also not take place during the Second World War. Instead, it will occur during the "International Peace Festival Invitational."
The three escape tunnels (Tom, Dick, and Harry in the original) will become "an underground system of pneumatic tubes for delivery of food to the guest quarters." They will be called "Love, Peace, and Flowers."
Instead of brewing liquor in a homemade still for a 4th of July celebration, non-alcoholic beer will be provided by the Concierge Officers for an Earth Day Celebration.
After release of this film, the studios will begin work (with cooperation of a Japanese film company) on a remake of another classic. "Bridge on the River Kwai" will be remade as "Bridge Building: Release of Racial and Cultural Tensions Through Working Together."
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Written by walter
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Tags: Airlines
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Dream or no dream, it just don't matter. Me walking in the fields. Time, unknown. No sunshine; no shades. No thunder; no rain. But water in the streams rapidly rising and flooding the fields. Turn around to examine other places. Fields are all covered with flood water rapidly approaching. Seems earth's throwing up all its belly water. Sure I get pretty scary. See a white crag like Gibraltar before me; I run to climb it, but soon water comes on and engulfs it. Look up and see the entire mountains pouring like Niagara Falls. Seems 'tis the end of the world. Have no choice but to surrender. That's it. Mesmerized, just like the quiet victim to be soon beheaded by the Arab executioner in the marketplace.
Did I have a drink or a tranquilizer? Not at all. A minute later. Am I dreaming or simply watching satellite TVs? But I do see a podium before the White House. Men are arranging the folds of the American flags, stars and stripes. The reporters of the world keep the same podium picture on screen, but keep talking to another bald-headed local reporter. The first reporter shows the UK parliament; angry Cameron. A note read. Majority opposed attacking Syria. Some British, well-dressed or half-dressed, mostly unemployed females, sex-workers or not, hold up a sign reading 'Hands off Syria'; Cameron grinding his teeth says you're people's reps. That's it; I will comply with the will of the people. OK I will not repeat the same mistake of removing Saddam. 5000 Kurds and Islamists gassed don't matter. No problem. What's the difference with today and Saddam's time? Everyday 50-100 people killed and 200-500 mutilated. Chemical warfare was quicker and less painful. No, no, this will not happen again.
Still the podium for Obama is vacant. Fire, fire! Annual fire; August fire. No ground crews strike this year. Where? Portugal, Spain, California… Stupid economy or is it too hot? It is not arson! Looting? Baghdad, again and again synchronized blasts. Who did it? The guy who did it is now in the Garden of Eden. He is surrounded by nude females and boys. They give him a bath. No wound. No organ missing, particularly the much need one.
Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Burma, New Zealand earthquakes, Colombia. Finally Obama walks toward the podium. Bashar of Syria gassed his people, not a single Islamist! Like us gassing our meat cattle. Cold-blooded. We are not wasteful; we consume the gassed animals; he, as a Muslim Alawite, considers them not Halal. See the difference? I can order attack now. I have the authority. Well, the deadline passed. Crossing my very redline, but it don't matter. I can do it anytime. Surprise? Principles of war. Strike when Syria is unprepared. We do not need surprises anymore. UN inspectors in the field? Doing what? Sampling. I don't get it. They get killed, Al Baraka? Then what's the use of movie techniques of today? OK. I withhold attacking Syria. Satisfied? I wait for the Congressmen to return from their generously paid vacation. Do not disturb their peace. When the airlines high season is over, stupid economy; they come back; wild fires die down, their chattering about the bikinis and juicy stakes cease. Then we gently bring up the subject matter of air-raiding Syria. Lobbies? Hope the Russians come to their senses. Hope Vladimir puts more pressure on Belarus. No pork import; no chocolate from Ukraine. Vladimir is no longer a KGB. USSR's iceberg is not limited to Syria and associates. Belarus' Democracy Index is not labeled as "Not Free" by Freedom House Index of Economic Freedom. Wait and see
The commentator moves to India, world's largest democracy. At the edge of a forest. A school girl is catching some butterflies. Seven horny men sneak behind her. One holds her head and firmly puts his hand on her mouth. Two hold her arms. Another tears off her sari dress to expose her pant-free bottom. One firmly bends her right leg and another, her left leg to open her up. The sixth and the seventh men in turn rape the girl repeatedly until the earth is flooded with a rivulet of sticky white stuff. The girl is dead. They are IDied, arrested; justice served: sentenced to three years in jail to come back to society when they are fully 20, that is, 17 + 3. Hey, they're just kids. The white stuff is not a sign of adulthood; that stiff erection is simply a child's spasmodic erection.
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Homeland "Two Hats" Review: Knowing Is Half the Battle
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Homeland S02E09: "Two Hats"
"Two Hats" was an appropriately titled episode of Homeland because A) you needed two bring two hats because the intensity of the episode kept blowing them off, and B) it was a two-headed monster with dual gripping storylines. Not only did we watch two excellently crafted stories play "anything you can do I can do better" but neither one was resolved, leaving us only with the knowledge that two maniacs are still on the loose and that we can trust exactly no one. Except for maybe Chris Brody, and if apartments with flatscreen TVs in every room are on the table, we can't even trust him.
When Homeland is at its best, the person we can trust least is ourselves, and right now I can't help but throw the mirror a suspicious glance every time I walk by it. Homeland is great at giving us one side of the story and as much of the other side as it can without letting us know everything. As we examine all the information we have, or think we have, we fall prey to what we think we know or double back to anticipate twists and what we're left with is a viewing experience puts us in the same mindset as many of the characters onscreen. And that mindset is something like pogo-sticking in a room full of bear traps.
Brody's run-in with Nazir last week portended huge developments in Nazir's plan to ruin America's day, and we were not disappointed. Brody was quickly reunited with Carrie and the CIA to give them a download of his meeting with Nazir. The way that information was given to the CIA (and us) was brilliant. We never saw what happened directly with Nazir and Brody, we only saw the version Brody wanted to tell the CIA.
That seems like nice and clean story progression on the surface, but in the world of Homeland it only presents more possibilities (a euphemism for mind-fuckery). We don't know what happened back at Nazir's playhouse with Brody. We don't know if Brody's telling the truth or lying, and if you take those flashbacks at face value, then sorry, you're an idiot (though the detail he left out about praying with Nazir definitely falls under lying). Homeland has already set precedent for Brody's flahsbacks to be untrustworthy when he lied about Tom Walker's "death" in Season 1. We don't know if Brody is telling a lie but thinking he's telling the truth because Nazir used him as a messenger to deliver false information right into the hands of the CIA. We don't know if the successful raid on Roya's breakfast meeting thwarted a potential terrorist attack or if it was a diversion from the real plan.
All we know is the story keeps chugging along at a blistering pace while dragging us with it and keeping all these options very much still in play. At this point, nothing would surprise me from the developments in the Nazir story in "Two Hats." But I get the feeling that Brody, once a valuable asset to Nair, is now being used by Nazir to occupy the CIA's attention while the real plan takes place elsewhere. Nazir knows Brody is as stable as the plutonium he'd love to drop on the White House, and his closeness to the CIA is suspect enough for Nazir to really second guess his employ of Brody. When he had Brody in his possession it should have been curtains for Brody, even Brody thought so. However, Nazir kept him alive for some reason, and if he's as ruthless and hard to catch as Carrie makes him out to be then he wouldn't have reason to depend on a man who is fucking a CIA agent and recently tried to quit just as things were getting critical. If he covers his tracks with Brody so that Brody can't identify where he is and he suspects that Brody is in bed with the CIA, then the only reason he would keep Brody alive is if he was a decoy. That's a lot of "ifs" but "ifs" are all we have to go on at the moment. Normally that's a dangerous situation for a show, but Homeland has done a really good job of keeping all these situations plausible and our brains paranoid.
Normally, that alone would be enough fat to stuff an episode, but "Two Hats" packed in even more suspense with the mystery of Peter Quinn IF THAT IS HIS REAL NAME and no, it isn't. We all knew Quinn was a bit of a loose cannon but now we know he's a lot more than that. What exactly that is we don't know, but he's operating on a level even more clandestine than Carrie's group and he's doing it with the aid of CIA director David Estes and the mysterious Dar Adul (guest star F. Murray Abraham), a man who previously worked with Saul. The final moments, when he's about to be the worst limo driver Brody ever had, are among the season's most tense moments as so much crashed down around us.
We all knew that Estes only kept Brody around because they thought they needed him to catch Nazir, but sending a familiar face to murder him was a whole new level. The idea of good guys versus bad guys in Homeland has always been muddied, but now it's almost a free-for-all. Estes almost had Brody shot in the back seat of a car Pulp Fiction style and Quinn would have had to look for Dead Ginger Storage! Are we supposed to consider Estes and Quinn "bad" guys now? Because I don't. It's not smart to watch Homeland rooting for anyone because everyone has their own despicable ways of accomplishing their self interests. You're better off enjoying the controlled chaos from a safe distance so as not to get caught up in any collateral damage.
"Two Hats" was right up there with the best episodes of the season because it was able to simultaneously tell two gripping stories at a pace that would leave normal shows huffing and puffing. The near misses at the finish (Nazir not being in the raid and Quinn standing down) might feel like ends that weren't closed, but it makes "Two Hats" a compelling first half of a two-part episode block that I can't wait to see conclude next week. If there's one line in Homeland that really encapsulates the spirit of the show, it's a throwaway line that Saul muttered in this episode: "Until we know for sure, everyone's a terrorist."
– This was almost an episode off for Carrie, as the focus was on Quinn and Brody and Carrie wasn't much more than a fed just doing her job.
– I couldn't really extract much of importance from the Brodys being shacked up in a deluxe apartment in the sky, but it's fascinating to see what the procedure for people being protected by the CIA. I guess seeing Dana upset at Brody shows that she won't be able to talk him out of anything this time around, and Morena Baccarin naked, while not important to the overall story of Homeland, is really, really great for America. We can all agree that Jess is better off with Mike, right?
– We got some more inconsistent acting from Baccarin, who did her best work when Jess had to deliver an impromptu speech to veterans while Brody took a car wash shower but has since been more wooden.
– Virgil wins line of the night with "If Quinn reports to a guy like Dar Adul, he's no more an analyst than I'm in the hair club for men."
– Is the CIA codename for Nazir, Sandman, the best they could come up with? Not only is it slightly racist, but it's pretty damn boring.
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UN Cyberschoolbus - HomeUN Cyberschoolbus - Home
Shanghai, China
The municipality of Shanghai is under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Government of the People's Republic of China. Population density in the central city is very high at 8,265 people per square kilometer.
The main causes of Shanghai's rapid population growth in the 1950's was due to natural increase and unregulated in-migration from the outskirts of the city. Factors responsible for the stabilization of population after that period include the success of the Government family planning programme, and a successful decentralization programme that developed satellite towns which absorbed much of the growing urban population.
Shanghai has a significant heavy industry sector, primarily, machinery manufacturing, textiles and steel. The city produces a large percentage of the power generation equipment and ships in China. Proximity to the cotton-growing regions of China and access to the coast for easy international transportation have contributed to the strategic importance of the city.
After the 1949 revolution, city planning in China emphasized integrated industrial centres consisting of complementary industries clustered together, with workers' housing nearby, so that employees were within walking distance of their workplace. The same design principles have been applied in Shanghai to more than 150 integrated developments built since 1949.
Infrastructure and environmental problems of the city are in the form of housing shortages and air and water pollution. Heavy dependence on coal as a source of fuel for both industrial energy and residential heating in Shanghai has resulted in significant air pollution. Shanghai has the highest cancer mortality rate in China. Also, a daily flow of approximately 4 million cubic meters of untreated human waste enters the Huangpu River creating a serious water pollution and supply problem.
Contrary to the master plan of 1953 which sought to increase the population of Shanghai, current policy seeks the continued success of decentralization from Shanghai to the seven satellite towns built around the city.
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look up any word, like fap:
Bitching with feeling
When you talk about someone you know but try to understand what they're going through.
"Hey, how's it going? I saw my friend Ella the other day and she was having an argument with Jamie!"
"Yeah, but I understand that she must have some deep issues"
"That's so true"
"Okay well, see you later good fitching sesh babe!"
"See you later!"
by phlopchlop September 23, 2012
Verb: the act of inflating anothers ego in an extraordinary way. Usually involves using false statements.
Fitch: my faultttttt 6 packkkkkk?
Henry: stop fitching.
by My Fault April 14, 2011
In an MMA fight its when you drag another fighter to the ground and hold them there during a fight. If they manage to stand up or the round ends, you repeat as soon as possible. The less damage the better. Technique created by UFC© fighter, Jon Fitch.
He's a wrestler he's going to spend all three rounds fitching him to get the decision.
What a boring fight, he only lost because he got fitched.
by MMath January 05, 2012
fa'naynay: yeah her hair's kinda bad.
sha'naynay: stop fitching, i'm really upset!
by celeryisbest November 25, 2009
Verb: The act of inflating or gassing anothers ego in an extraordinary way. Usually based on false statements.
Fitch: my faulttttt 6 packkkkk?
Henry: stop fitching
by My Fault April 14, 2011
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look up any word, like bukkake:
Si(x)=?(sin t)/t dt, a=0, b=x
This function was constructed by using the Second Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Construction Theorem for Antiderivatives). The function f(t)=(sin t)/t used to give mathematicians a lot of grief since its antiderivative is not an elementary function and that the limit as t approaches 0 of (sin t)/t is 0/0 (we do know that that limit is approximately 1 by using L'Hopital's rule). The Construction Theorem made calculating values of Si(x) to any degree of accuracy easy. This is useful as some scientists and engineers use it all the time in fields such as optics and magnetism.
Si(1)=0.95, Si(2)=1.61, Si(3)=1.85 . . .
by some punk kid February 13, 2005
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First: Mid: Last: City: State:
Ray Kreitler
Discover a wide range of recent information about Ray Kreitler at Users who log on to our user-friendly website will find billions of public records that are accurate and precise. The list of search responses will also provide details like phone numbers, updated addresses, and so much more.
An easy way to uncover Ray Kreitler is by utilizing all the information you can, even a known nickname or previous address, in the search boxes. If the Ray you need does not pop up, you can peruse a detailed list of all people named Ray Kreitler, then narrow it down by location. When you discover your special someone, don’t forget to register with us to get complete access to their contact details and public records.
Our website sorts data into specific categories, including - name/aliases, age, location, and possible relatives, making it easier than ever to unearth the Ray Kreitler you need to find. To delve further, just click on the details link for public records and information about Ray or any other person you need to locate.
Name/AKAsAgeLocationPossible Relatives
1. Kreitler, Raymond W94 Sainte Genevieve, MO
View Details
2. Kreitler, Ray Sainte Genevieve, MO
KREITLER, RAYMOND W (age 94) View Details
3. Kreitler, Raymond93 Sainte Genevieve, MO
View Details
4. Kreitler, Raymond W94 Sainte Genevieve, MO
Ste Genevieve, MO
View Details
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Marketing Communication
Special Guest: Mario Schulzke Founder of IdeaMensch
Why the future of marketing lies in creating value for your customers. In this webinar, IdeaMensch Founder and University of Montana AVP of Marketing, Mario Schulzke, will discuss why the underlying strategies behind marketing communication have to change and how to go about doing it.
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Which Dog Breeds Love or Loathe the Water? We Asked Readers and Experts
Chesapeake Bay Retrievers Swimming
Dogs and water: It's an interesting mix. Though it might be a challenge to keep certain dogs from diving headlong into whatever body of water is nearby, others shy away from anything larger than a water bowl.
But which breeds are likely to exhibit those characteristics? And even if they love the water, where should you let them swim? To find out, we surveyed 2,160 readers and 249 veterinary professionals (such as veterinarians, veterinary technicians and office managers) to see whether they let their dogs go swimming. Plus, we asked them which breeds they believe love or loathe the water. Here's what they had to say.
Do You Let Your Dog Swim?
The majority of respondents with dogs who like water allow them to swim — experts even more so than readers — with 49 percent of readers and a whopping 67 percent of veterinary professionals saying that, yes, they allow their dogs to swim anywhere the water and conditions are safe. On the other hand, 15 percent of readers and just 5 percent of veterinary professionals said that, no, they never allow their dogs to swim.
Some were picky about where their dogs swim, with 9 percent of readers and 6 percent of veterinary professionals preferring the pool. Open water only was the choice of 2 percent of readers and 1 percent of veterinary professionals. A quarter of readers and 21 percent of veterinary professionals responded that the question didn't apply to them — they either did not have a dog or their dog was not interested in swimming.
Dogs Who Tend to Love the Water
Some dogs can't seem to hold themselves back from splashing around. Give them anything from a kiddie pool to a dog-friendly beach and they're happy. We asked both readers and veterinary professionals to weigh in on which dogs they think love the water most, and though they varied a bit in order, their answers for the top 10 were the same.
1. Labrador Retriever
2. Golden Retriever
3. American Water Spaniel
4. Portuguese Water Dog
5. Irish Water Spaniel
6. Chesapeake Bay Retriever
7. Curly-Coated Retriever
8. Labradoodle
9. Flat-Coated Retriever
10. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
Veterinary Professionals
1. Labrador Retriever
2. Golden Retriever
3. Portuguese Water Dog
4. American Water Spaniel
5. Chesapeake Bay Retriever
6. Flat-Coated Retriever
7. Irish Water Spaniel
8. Curly-Coated Retriever
9. Labradoodle
10. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
Water-Shy Breeds
Not every dog has a passion for doggie paddling. Nine of the 13 breeds that readers and veterinary professionals called least likely to dive right in belong to the Toy group — the Bichon Frise, Lhasa Apso, Dachshund and Greyhound were the only exceptions.
Chihuahua at Beach
The Chihuahua topped both the readers' and veterinary professionals' lists of breeds that dislike the water.
1. Chihuahua
2. Pug
3. Yorkshire Terrier
4. Pekingese
5. Dachshund
6. Maltese
7. Shih Tzu
8. Pomeranian
9. Lhasa Apso
10. Chinese Crested
Veterinary Professionals
1. Chihuahua
2. Yorkshire Terrier
3. Bichon Frise
4. Maltese
5. Shih Tzu
6. Pug
7. Greyhound
8. Pekingese
9. Chinese Crested
10. Papillon
Got a dog who loves (or hates) the water? Did the survey results match what you've experienced? Tell us in the comments!
Also on Vetstreet:
Join the Conversation
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Text Us: #30930
Phone: (800) 616 WBEN
Business: (716) 843-0600
"Bittersweet Evening For Hockey Legends"
Is Not Available At This Time.
Would you use Apple Pay as a form of payment?
Maybe. I'll wait and see how it goes first.
Yes! It's the way of the future!
No. I'll stick to my cards, cash or checks!
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Text Us: #30930
Phone: (800) 616 WBEN
Business: (716) 843-0600
"Romney, Obama battle it out for votes in Ohio"
Is Not Available At This Time.
Would you use Apple Pay as a form of payment?
Maybe. I'll wait and see how it goes first.
Yes! It's the way of the future!
No. I'll stick to my cards, cash or checks!
View Results
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I want to circle back to news from Google that broke earlier in the month regarding encrypted search and address how it can impact international markets. Google made a change several months ago to google.com where users who are logged in have secure socket layer (SSL) encryption added to their web searches providing an added layer of privacy. Google pushes the security and privacy aspects of the default SSL measure and calls on more companies to adopt SSL in their offerings. This move also set up the then forthcoming launch of Google Search Plus your World. A byproduct of this SSL measure, though, is that less search data is available for advertisers. It brings the “not provided” keyword return in Google Analytics into existence and pushes SEO companies and internet marketers to reassess and adapt their practices.
Now local Google sites in international markets (such as google.co.uk, google.com.au) will have SSL as a default too. International SEO experts must utilize informational resources learn from their counterparts here in the US market as this rollout begins to happen because they too will start to experience the impact that marketers in the US have been negotiating for a few months now. To that end, there has been some quality writing on the subject, and I’ll address some essential take-aways that international SEO experts can use as a jumping off point applying each to their own market:
• Overall organic search traffic numbers are not affected by this change, but specific keyword referral information is. As such, conversion numbers relating to overall organic search traffic will still be available.
• Advertisers will continue to have access to certain keyword referral data.
• Utilize Google Webmaster Tools for further keyword information taking advantage of aggregated lists showing the top 1,000 searches that sent users to the site of interest for the previous 30 days.
• Echoing an important point made here, each individual website and domain will be impacted to different degrees by the SSL encrypted search. Marketers thus should attempt to quantify the effect of the “not provided” terms and then segment the data because the is simply no way to establish what specific keywords those search securely are using to end of at the site of interest.
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http://www.webimax.com/blog/seo/google-encrypted-search-rolling-out-internationally
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Edit Article
• 46 Editors
• Edited
All people know that algae needs water to produce. So that is what you see if you go to a body of water that is crystal clear or dirty as heck. You may think that it is nasty but, it helps creatures stay alive and that creature keeps the Earth clean and so we are healthy.
1. Grow Algae Step 1.jpg
Find a clean container. Fill it with water (not salt water). If you use chlorinated tap water, let the container stand uncovered for at least a day before continuing; this allows the chlorine to dissipate.
2. Grow Algae Step 2.jpg
Put the container near a window where it will get lots of sunlight. Sunlight is crucial to algae growth (as it is to any green plant). High-intensity UV radiation will kill algae, but thanks to evolution, the intensity of UV light in sunlight is great for algae.
• It will speed the process if you put a small piece of lettuce in the container.
3. Grow Algae Step 3.jpg
Collect an algae sample in the container. A creek or pond is generally a safe place.
4. Grow Algae Step 4.jpg
Add a little ordinary plant fertilizer for algal blooms. Water from a fish tank or fishpond will work as well, as it contains nutrients from fish waste that helps algae grow.
5. Grow Algae Step 5.jpg
After a few days, add some surface area for the algae to grow on. Adding rocks to the water is a good example.
6. Grow Algae Step 6.jpg
It's okay to cover the container. However, remove the cover for an hour or two every week.
7. Grow Algae Step 7.jpg
Observe the algae as it grows. If you have a microscope, the fun is just beginning. Exploring a drop of your algae culture at 40 - 100x will likely reveal much more than just algae. You may even find protozoans swimming around!
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how to fold a scarf different ways
Thanks for helping! Please tell us everything you know about
Provide Details.
Don't say: Eat more fats.
• If the algae overgrows, you can feed some to your aquarium pets.
• Adding salt may help the algae grow, especially if you got the algae from saltwater
• Buy some fish food and put it moderately, twice a day, into the algae container. This will ensure that the algae lives a lot longer.
• Some species of algae will need a lot of sunlight to grow while others will not, just Google the type you are growing to find out it's sunlight consumption.
• Keeping a journal with photographs of the algal growth makes for an exciting complement to the project and will leave you with something to fondly remember the experience by.
• Add worms into your containers and soil and rocks.
• Do not eat the algae.
• Do not give to children, they may ingest it.
Things You'll Need
• Algae sample
• Container; preferably a jar
• Water
Article Info
Categories: Planting and Growing
Recent edits by: Flickety, Sam2067, Random
In other languages:
Deutsch: Wie man Algen kultiviert, Español: Cómo cultivar algas, Português: Como Cultivar Algas, Français: Comment cultiver des algues, Italiano: Come Coltivare le Alghe, Русский: выращивать водоросли
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http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Algae
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Skip Top Navigation
116th/34th Avenue NE Fish Passage Culvert
Project location map
Widen 116th Street NE between the southbound lanes of the ramp terminals and Quil Ceda Boulevard along with replacing existing 8'diameter culvert under 34th Ave NE with an 18' diameter culvert, construct 600' of new stream channel, plug and abandon the old 8' culvert under 166th St NE and divert the stream in to the new channel and culverts to fully open it for fish passage.
Why are we Building This Project?
Salmon Bearing Fish Passage Stream Connection.
How can I get more information?
Debra Bray
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http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Local/116th34th-avenue-ne-fish-passage-culvert.htm
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Seniors 2009!
Mukta Dhond, JSM, RAL, Julian Damashek, and Jamie Kostyun.
My first Biology Honors students!
Anna Savage ‘04 and John Stanton-Geddes ‘04
RAL, Katelyn Gamson ’04, and JSM.
Miller lab group 2005-2006
RAL, JSM, Natalie Feliciano, Jessica Blanton ’06, Min Wang ’06, Ellen Leffler ’06, Josh Shak ’06, and Shannon Rush ’07.
Office invasion - what happens when JSM goes out of town...
Anna’s going to graduate school party!
Shannon Rush ‘07, Min Wang ‘06, Anna Savage ‘04, Alan Kwan ‘08 Jessica Blanton ’06, JSM and RAL.
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Esquire Theme by Matthew Buchanan
Social icons by Tim van Damme
My life in this past month has been a whirlwind
of change and transformation and I am both weary
and strong.
are becoming swirled into one colour that is grim and unidentifiable.
I carry with me all of our yesterday.
And I spill out all of the tomorrow that’s
clawing from the anticipation in my collar bones.
Leaping from the sweat tucked in the backs of my knees.
Sitting fragrantly where I keep our love.
Your love that sits with the delicate
weight around my finger.
Your love that found a home in the
ridges and roads of my skeleton.
In the calcium of white on my nailbed.
Your love that filters through my type O negative
stream of vitality.
Rare and sacred.
scraps of long distance
Pieces of a novel unfinished
People asked me how I could possibly love someone after a mere few days. Awkwardly, I never had an answer. But I knew how, it was just too hard to articulate. When we were in the same room, the air became calm, and the parts of my skin that always felt rigid, began to collapse in comfort. I knew because every thought that poured off of his tongue, I could never drink fast enough. Because I could think as loudly as I wanted around him, and he let me stumble until I excavated every thought. When his were lips on my most wanting flesh, traveling to the area of electric desire, I watched the way his shoulders moved. The elegant muscles of his back, choreographed perfectly; the tangled dance of my beautiful creature. I knew I loved him because all of the wants, and needs, and secrets, I held in the romantic attic of my mind, he echoed back to me; in our strange, and sometimes overwhelming connection. I knew I loved him because even as a writer, and even though we don’t share the same first languag,he some how always had the words for the ones I didn’t. He was perfect in every atom of my vision. He was the feeling of both relief and exhilaration after the first drops of a hot shower. He was the companion for the lonely gaps between my fingers. He was the ocean that crashes with your eardrums, always creating brief moments of delirious ecstasy. The perfect mold against my body. He was home.
untitled romance
Everything clicked into place when I found you.
Like the electricuted muscle of
Your curious lips. saliva and flesh.
Eager breasts.
Everything swam into its place when I found you.
My words free to run, from their nervous cages.
Yours free to roam along the canals of my palms.
(You are my road less traveled)
Everything was illuminated when I found you.
Just like the flashlight of your eyes.
Leaving me naked of every fickle disguise.
(You are my road most desired).
Everything was calm when I found you.
beach rambles.
Lost into the infinity
of rocks I fall.
Beneath the cracks
to breathe the remnants
of a forgotten supply.
the difference between names
lighting up the screen on my phone;
igniting the cords of familiarity contrasting
to each separate syllable.
writing becomes stale….words moving
from my mouth empty and flushed into the
public keyboard of emotion now more prevalent than ever.
love becomes the windowpane of my obsession.
I sit on it as i wait.
i always fucking wait.
and in the passing hours of feigned patience, there comes the
collision different bodies, and writing
for each moment of affection, attention, and adoration.
and yet i hold tighter to the words. words that surge faster than they
can be digested, moving faster into a stream of connection.
connection that once again ignites the cord of solitude.
This is a poem I wrote over a year ago that I found tucked away in my journal, I’m going to air it out.
The pattern of his sleeve, tiny squares
against the inside of my arm. My cheek,
his cotton covered chest rising; falling.
Hand upon my hair, in the crook of my neck.
The lightest weight upon my ears, and
the sparks from the base of my spine to it’s peak.
A scattering of voices filter down the hall
Winding towards me, raising. Lilting, the
laughter bounces through and off the walls.
I know they have awoken. Too loud for me to sleep,
so admit defeat and join the all-too-early harmonies
of clink and jabber.
Waves and waves before me, reach where the golden
surface of the earth I meth, smiling below the vivid,
electric lid of space. Sundried orange leaves, their green
fruits shelled. A private-public paradise of a naked body
beneath a cotton towel.
Sinking into where I am more than I’ve ever felt.
Oct. 13th, 2010
wolf of neglect
Your back to me sets fire to the kindle of my intuition.
Your eyes stand alone in the room of masks and
veils and I catch them as I always do.
Sharp; while I cup the outline of your jaw
in my eager hands-the ghosts of our forgotten
secret transcending from my palms.
I reach into my chest, throw that blood soaked
organ into the words that run sweet like vinnegar.
My humility holds your steady gaze as I feed off of it
for days. Starved from the mockery of teased neglect.
Left to ferment in the blood at the edge of a wolf’s sharpest tooth.
I wait.
Each new moment in an affair of secrecy builds into something tangible at every second. And even if there has been a clause for separation, and words of endings, and days of silence-we become not only ourselves but the experience. It resonates deep in your lungs, and creeps slowly into our bones-each rib breaths in and out with the pungency of an enigma. Friendship is the bare bones of a body that has been plucked of a transpired romance. And in the accusation of sunlight it is the most pure. Each wrinkle of past nights in a strange bed that became a familiar spot, and sweat that formed in between skin pressed together into one shape, and explosive sex that went from lustful stimulation into a craved routine. As we turn into pumpkins, and the magnitude of those brown eyes are pulled away with no effort-I sulk back into the expired daylight. Out from the comfort of the unseen-dragging with me the increased weight of a severing uncertainty. Once more I’m left as the bare bones of a relationship left quiet until spoken.
This. Me, and my journal.
Pretty girls are smart too.
That moment when you get a brief, but significant insight into someone elses life, and see them through a new lense and you become recharged with their words and also heavy with their insides and all at once tangled in their emotions.
THAT just happened to me.
inside looking deeper
I believe that writers, or people who seek comfort in writing, have a stronger ability to be in touch with human suffering. A classmate of mine is currently going through a fresh breakup, and he has confided in me a great deal. We are hardly friends; mere acquaintances at best. I have kept a fair distance from him since the start of school almost two years ago, but in light of his situation, all barriers I built have been deteriorated. I have no answer for my rapid change of heart other than that to see someone go through an immense amount of suffering, opens up a new window in your soul. My experience in his shoes, was one that I have yet to fully recover from. July the 11th tore me to an unrecognizable state. I spent a month walking around with no sense of myself, and a minimal grasp of reality. However the reason, I came through the other side, as successfully as I have, is all thanks to the amazing support system that helped me back to my feet. All of this sounds exceptionally cliche, but in all literal honesty I would have been nothing, and still nothing, without those in my life who helped me solve my own puzzle. I see him suffering and I feel complete obligation to do the same. Watching another person battle searing heartache, has caused my own heart to hurt. Love is a universal understanding, as is pain, and suffering, and I am unable to understand why we as humans will continuously search for love only to end up building your own demise? Why are we so innate with the connection with others, but not our own selves? He said something very interesting to me today; he said people are always searching for their mate. And even when you are fully self sufficient in being alone you are only at the 50% point of your potential happiness. People, humans, seek their other half regardless of the fight that happens in the process. We are not whole without another.
However, after witnessing my pain in the body of another, and already in my own conflicted state of a seperation; I can only feel one thing: If this is love. Devastation, pain, loss, do I really want it as much as I thought? Do I really want my yellowbird, or more appropriately, do I want to have to go through multiple sparrows to find it? Can being only at 50% with myself lend to self actualization? There are yellow feathers out there to connect with my own.
But if this is love-I may end my quest early.
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Printed Photos the Blind Can 'See'
PHOTO Printed Photos the Blind Can See
A new system prints portrait photos that blind people can feel and recognize.
Software reads online content aloud and printers generate Braille text, but there hasn't been a fast and easy way to create recognizable images for the blind. Now, computer scientists in Arizona are generating social networking profile pictures the blind can "see."
"The face image -- that's very important for people in their social life, emotional life," said Baoxin Li, an associate professor of computer science at Arizona State University who is leading the software work.
Li said the idea was inspired by a blind ASU researcher who wished she could access more graphical information. Making all digital graphics accessible to the blind would have been an overwhelming challenge, so Li and his colleagues focused on profile pictures. They had to find the right balance of information so the person would be recognizable.
"We convert the photo in such a way so the major facial landmarks are nicely kept -- that's very important because we can't render all the features into tactile form," Li said. "That would be too disorienting."
Instead, an algorithm pares down crucial facial information without oversimplifying it. Their software allows a blind user to take a photo of a face, put it into a computer application, and automatically generate a new printable image. The image comes out of a special tactile printer with raised lines along the facial features.
"At the moment it's within one minute or so, but we can further optimize the software to do it faster," Li said.
Tactile printers are usually found at centers that assist the blind, and institutions such as the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at ASU. However, Li said that even the least expensive ones cost several thousand dollars. In the future, he expects the software will work with paperless tactile displays that are in development.
Their automated approach was described last year in the journal IEEE Transactions on Multimedia. This week, Li demonstrated the software at the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces in Palo Alto, Calif.
Other technology exists for creating tactile images, Li said, but it's designed to help sighted professionals with the time-consuming process of making intricate images for the blind. The ASU software is stable to the point where the scientists are talking with software producers about bringing it to market.
Beyond profile images, the scientists would like to create software that can generate tactile images from online mapping sites.
"But we never had the software to make a nose feel like a nose and an eye feel like an eye," Gardner said. "It's a tour de force that he can analyze a face and make it feel like a face." He added that he'd like Li's software to render the Mona Lisa.
At the demonstration this week in California, attendees were invited to have their photos taken and receive tactile versions. Some sighted visitors called the printouts works of art, Li said. "They asked me to put my signature on their copies."
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So this is what I spent the last 2 hours doing and yeah it’s pretty rough around the edges and I made a lot of mistakes and hopefully I can redo it in the future.
But I think that for right now at 4am and only having eyeliners instead of actual face paints, I did a pretty decent job. I’m proud of the shading and my cat eyeliner and the shapes and stuff :)
It was supposed to be a Cheshire Cat, but I think at about the halfway point it somehow started to morph into 2D from the Gorillaz, oh well. I wore my contacts for extra creepy points.
Also wow 9 pictures, please forgive my narcissism <3
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13 September 2006
Body Armor
This is awesome:
Atrios calls it the best ad of the cycle so far, and I'd have to agree. It's like Swiftboating in reverse -- it's true, and against a republican!
1. It's also absurd. Let's go over what this argument supposes:
A) That Donald Rumsfeld would not take more budget if you gave it to him.
B) That you know more about the effective distribution of resources for battlefield safety than staff at the Pentagon.
Seriously, the body armor thing is a horrendously stupid argument. Could it make a great campaign? Sure, but it just fails on its merits.
2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
3. I suppose one might say that using the most up to date body armor at any particular period is cost prohibitive.
Then you might say, if you require this sort of thing, we could never chose to go to war, because of the cost required to do it acceptably is too high.
It would be like saying you can't go to war without killing civilians.
It is ludicrous. You could never go to war.
4. This is pure BS, I would like to see George Allen's response.
The whole body armor issue had more to do with poor distribution caused by REMF's hogging the stuff before it got to the troops on the front line.
5. Not that the body armour argument writ large isn't valid, but this video isn't a smoking gun (no pun intended). The "bad" vest was designed to protect against fragmentation (bits from grenades) not rifle or even pistol rounds. It is like comparing apples and crab-apples.
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The Backyardigans Answers
Welcome to The Backyardigans Answers. What would you like to know?
How many times do the Backyardigans dance in each episode?
137pages on
this wiki
various amounts in each episode.4 Times I think - in quest for the flying rock they sing four times
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Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Regime change: Delegation run riot
Sandy Levinson
I'm off to Argentina this afternoon, so I won't be posting for the next two weeks. (No great loss.) But I do want to offer one final comment on the Grand Bargain that was just inflicted on it. Put to one side that it represents, as Joe Nocera aptly argues in today's NYTimes, the submission basically to terrorist threats by a remarkably feckless President. And put to one side that it almost guarantees the worsening of the American (and therefore the world) economy, though it may brighten the prospects of a Republican victory over the feckless President, apparently the only thing that Mitch McConnell is really committed to as he winds up his long and decidedly non-illustrious career in the Senate.
Rather, I want to elaborate the theme of several earlier posts, which is the way that changes in the American political regime occur. From one perspective, of course, the House Republicans behaved no worse than did earlier Republicans, in 1865, who refused to seat the elected Senators and Representatives from the defeated so-called Confederate States, whose governments had been accepted by President Andrew Johnson and whose votes to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment were accepted by Congress. I.e., each band of Republicans took advantage of the legal possibilities open to them and played a decided form of "constitutional hardball." And, of course, full representation of the defeated Southern entities (or whatever you wish to call them) was made contingent on their ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment. If one defends the earlier group of Republicans, as I most certainly do--including the impeachment of the egregious Andrew Johnson--it is on the basis of agreement with their political agenda, which was regime change in the defeated Confederacy. They failed, of course, and the Compromise of 1877 returned the defeated Confederacy to the white ruling class for another 100 years. (Something that should be taken into account by those who are trumpeting the overriding virtue of "compromise" in all cases. There are times when lines should be drawn in the sand.)
So if one wants to denounce the House Republicans today as terrorist thugs, it can only be because on disagrees with their political agenda, as I do. If one shares their agenda, and their sense of concern about the "debt crisis," then they behaved perfectly properly. In any event, one can assume that we will see in the future ever more taking advantage of any and all legal possibilities to get one's way, including the de facto holding America hostage in order to get one's way.
But even more telling with regard to regime change is the further diminution of Conress as a serious law-making or deliberative body. (Nothing new here; Carl Schmitt would certainly understand how and why that has happened.) We are to be effectively governed in the next several months by the new super-duper committee of six Republicans and six Democrats who will be able to propose fast-track budget cuts (or, in theory but not in fact, tax increases) that Congress must vote up or down on, with no possibility for amendment. Lest one compare this to other fast-track procedures, such as the base-closing commissions and the like, note that the failure of Congress to acquiesce to the wishes of their new masters will lead to killing the hostages, in this case automatic budget cuts in defense and in programs involvng the vulnerable.
As I wrote yesterday, this literally makes no sense IF one believes that our current defense budget makes sense (and, of course, if one is a bleeding heart who believes that the suffering should receive help instead of being left to their own prospects in a Darwinian free market). This is not the way a serious Republican Form of Government operates. It is the way a "constitutional dictatorship" takes further (and suitably complext) form. In any event, political terrorism will have been "normalized."
In this context, I'm happy to echo the words of a Texas Republican Representatives, Michael C. Burgess: "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it with a passion.” This comes, suitably enough, from a story in today's Times on how "Lawmakers in Both Parties Fear that New Budget Panel Will Erode Authority." Yes, indeed. It represents a new version of "delegation run riot," though this time the delegation is not to the Executive Branch, but, rather, to an insider's club of less than 5% of the entire Congress, whose members will be appointed by the Speaker, the House Minority leader (Nancy Pelosi), and the Senate majority and minority leaders, with, one presumes, no formal approval by the House or Senate itself. Why would anyone who has any lingering belief in democracy, representative government, or a Republican Form of Government believe this is a good idea?
I cannot get all that upset about Congress delegating responsibility to draft a budget to the new "Gang of 12" committee as opposed to its usual practice of going through the appropriations and budget committees. Indeed, the fact that this committee is split evenly between the parties lessens the chance of secret game playing in a majority party run committee.
What is being left unsaid is that every out-year budget recommendation by the new committee will be enhanced or reversed by a future Congress. Indeed, the FY 2012 budget to be enacted next month will likely change the cuts in this bill starting this October.
Thus, the only parts of the current debt ceiling bill that matter are the added debt and any immediate cuts in spending. All the rest is a kabuki dance.
Well, Sandy, in no particular order:
-- The sins of the past don't condone the sins of today, although they may inform them. Bad behavior is bad behavior.
-- A concern over debt that was silent during the Shrub years is no concern over debt, of course; more likely an excuse to starve the beast.
-- Yes, it does seem that an extra-Constitutional gang of 12 is a real and present danger. But it's not as if the legal and elected representatives can solve problems.
-- Ever notice that most opinions on the subject can't even use "debt" versus "deficit" correctly? Likewise conflate debt with spending. It's great to have opinions!
Thank you for such a fantastic blog. Where else could anyone get that kind of info written in such a perfect way?good job author keep up it
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Suppose the Gang of Twelve deadlocks 6-6, a definite possibility given the statements by Pelosi and McConnell?
The next logical step would be to delegate the entire mess to a Debt Czar who would have absolute power to dictate spending & tax policy.
Given that the legislative branch of the Federal Government now enjoys a 14% approval rating, this just might be a popular move.
Given that Congress has already essentially abdicated its most important responsibility -- deciding whether or not the country goes to war -- it's only a matter of time before all the rest of its responsibilities get fobbed off on the executive branch. Congress critters are deathly afraid of just one thing -- being blamed -- and there's no way to avoid being b lamed if you actually, you know, vote for or against things.
This blog, thanks to Mr. Levinson, has officially jumped the shark.
It does seem to resemble the 1860s and 70s when the Radical Republicans were trying to make sure that the traitorous south be held accountable for its actions and there was a president in the White House who went along with the traitors against the best interests of the country.
And how fitting the Compromise of 1877 settled an election that was based on coercion in the south where the return boards held the power of counting the votes and refused to do anything unless the black union soldiers were removed from their states so that the former confederates could govern as they pleased without interference.
By allowing the traitors to get their own way back then, and by allowing their descendants to arrogantly refuse to acknowledge the authority of the court during the Second Reconstruction through massive resistance, we signaled to the rebel element that they'll get whatever they want if they just hold their breath long enough or if they throw enough tantrums, like the Brooks Brothers riot in Miami in 2000.
A thorough housecleaning is in order but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
Off Topic: But would like to know if Mr. Levinson is involved with, or would like to comment on, http://www.conconcon.org/
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Golden Wishbone is when someone pisses their pants. Plain and Simple. When it starts there is a dark spot that soon runs down both legs looking like a wishbone. Some people also refer to it as the Golden Arch.
I once drank to much and passed out. Even though I was sleeping my kidneys weren't. When I woke I noticed that I had the Golden Wishbone
от gigman 11 юни 2009
Думи, свързани с Golden Wishbone
gold bone golden arch golden bone gold wishbone macdonald
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Category Archives: Middle East
Leave Patriarch Rai Alone!
Posted By :
No one and I insist NO ONE has the right to tell Patriarch Bechara el Rai where he should go or should not, specially if he’s going on a religious visit to the Holy Land with the head of the Catholic Church. Enough said!
I am glad he put an end to this interview and I urge him to ignore all the media and just go on with his visit.
Healthy Ministry Confirms First MERS case detected in Lebanon + What You Need To Know about MERS
Posted By :
Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour confirmed yesterday that a Lebanese was diagnosed with the coronavirus and that he was given the proper treatment and left the hospital. The MERS virus has killed over 120 people in Saudi Arabia and cases were reported in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Oman, Tunisia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain. Minister Abu Faour ordered to “activate scanners detect cases of MERS among travelers arriving at the Rafik Hariri International Airport” as a preventive measures.
Of course we should be worried about having a MERS case detected in Lebanon, but we shouldn’t panic as the virus is only transmissible between people who are in close contact and does not appear to spread easily among people in public settings.
Here’s some useful information on MERS taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US:
Q: What is MERS?
Q: What is MERS-CoV?
Q: Is MERS-CoV the same as the SARS virus?
Q: What are the symptoms of MERS?
A: Most people who got infected with MERS-CoV developed severe acute respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath. 30% of them died. Some people were reported as having a mild respiratory illness.
Q: Does MERS-CoV spread from person to person?
A: MERS-CoV has been shown to spread between people who are in close contact.[1] Transmission from infected patients to healthcare personnel has also been observed. Clusters of cases in several countries are being investigated.
Q: What is the source of MERS-CoV?
A: We don’t know for certain where the virus came from. However, it likely came from an animal source. In addition to humans, MERS-CoV has been found in camels in Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and a bat in Saudi Arabia. Camels in a few other countries have also tested positive for antibodies to MERS-CoV, indicating they were previously infected with MERS-CoV or a closely related virus. However, we don’t know whether camels are the source of the virus. More information is needed to identify the possible role that camels, bats, and other animals may play in the transmission of MERS-CoV.
Q: Am I at risk for MERS-CoV Infection in the United States?
A: You are not considered to be at risk for MERS-CoV infection if you have not had close contact, such as caring for or living with someone who is being evaluated for MERS-CoV infection.
Q: What if I recently traveled to countries in the Arabian Peninsula or neighboring countries and got sick?
A: If you develop a fever and symptoms of respiratory illness, such as cough or shortness of breath, within 14 days after traveling from countries in the Arabian Peninsula or neighboring countries[2], you should see your healthcare provider and mention your recent travel.
Q: How can I help protect myself?
A: CDC advises that people follow these tips to help prevent respiratory illnesses:
Q: What are the treatments?
A: There are no specific treatments recommended for illnesses caused by MERS-CoV. Medical care is supportive and to help relieve symptoms.
Lebanese Karl Sharro And Patrick Baz Featured Among Time’s 140 Best Twitter Feeds Of 2014
Posted By :
Here’s what TIME said about Karl and Patrick
The tweets from this account can be as satirical and cringe-worthy as they are on-point and timely. The bold musings of Karl Sharro, a prominent Lebanese-Iraqi writer and commentator on Middle East affairs who spends his days as an architect in London, are shared widely as regional news breaks and frequently provide a lighter tone to what can otherwise be a dark storyline. —Andrew Katz
As the Middle East and North Africa photo manager for AFP, Patrick Baz has his finger on the pulse of breaking news in one of the most complex regions in the world. His feed is a vital and often real-time source of the best photojournalism and reporting coming out of Syria, Afghanistan and Egypt. —Mia Tramz
If you haven’t followed yet Karl on Twitter or checked his website, you are missing out a lot as he’s one of the funniest and wittiest people you could ever read. Patrick Baz‘s Instagram account is a must-follow too.
Check out the full TIME list [Here].
|
http://blogbaladi.com/category/middle-east/page/5/
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• By
• Marcin Sobczyk
AFP/Getty Images
A photo from April 9, 2010, shows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s handwriting reading “Good Luck!’ on a pipe of the Nord Stream pipeline near the Russian town of Vyborg.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that his favorite brainchild, a gas pipeline linking Russia directly with Germany, will go ahead despite latest objections from Poland.
The Nord Stream pipeline is already under construction in the Baltic Sea, and will carry gas from Russia directly to Germany along a route almost entirely offshore, making redundant a large transit pipeline running through Poland. Russia’s OAO Gazprom holds 51% in Nord Stream AG, which is building the pipeline. Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas AG and a gas exploration unit of Wintershall AG, French energy company GDF Suez SA and Dutch gas infrastructure company Nederlandse Gasunie are the other shareholders.
In an interview with Russian daily Kommersant published Tuesday, Mr. Putin said Poland asked Germany to force the shareholders of the Nord Stream gas pipeline project to bury the pipeline deeper in the Baltic Sea bed so that the pipeline doesn’t reduce the depth of the waterway leading to a planned Polish liquefied natural gas port. The Russian prime minister calls the move “unexpected” and “the latest piece of news” despite Poland’s long-standing concerns over the depth of the waterway. The country plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal near Germany, and last year said Nord Stream would be laid too shallow and could in the future block the port for larger vessels.
The Russian daily also incorrectly stated that Poland lodged a complaint with the European Commission, leading to a commission denial Tuesday. Mr. Putin isn’t directly quoted as referring to the European Commission, but to Germany as the recipient of Poland’s complaint.
“Unexpectedly, Poles have said now the pipeline should be going through the waterway at a much bigger depth than expected because in the future they plan to deepen their port and have larger ships use the waterway. Until now, they haven’t said anything of such intentions,” Mr. Putin reportedly said.
Mr. Putin added that building Nord Stream had been his dream for a long time and that he thought nothing would stop the project. During a Valdai Club meeting several years ago, Mr. Putin, still in his capacity as president of Russia, rhetorically asked: “Why does everything have to go through Poland?” A pipeline through the Baltic Sea provides the only option for Russia to link its gas system directly with that of Germany, circumventing transit countries in continental Europe.
Poland has for several years planned a liquefied natural gas terminal in Swinoujscie, near the border with Germany in northwestern Poland, scheduled for completion in mid-2014. With an initial capacity to deliver 5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, it will be able to meet about one third of Poland’s current annual gas consumption, and will be an alternative to Russian gas supplies through existing pipelines on the ground.
The Polish press has since last year widely discussed the impact of the Nord Stream construction on the depth of the waterway leading to Swinoujscie. In December 2009, Guido Westerwelle, German foreign minister, was quoted as saying that the pipeline should be buried under the bed of the Baltic Sea and that Germany will agree to Nord Stream AG’s pipeline if it doesn’t block access for larger ships to ports in northwestern Poland.
The Russian daily quotes Nord Stream AG’s managing director Matthias Warnig, a former member of East Germany’s Stasi security service, who said Poland stands no chance at forcing Germany to change the pipeline’s route, and that the country currently has no plan of building a deeper waterway, while his company would be able to change the placement of the Nord Stream pipeline in the future, if it proves necessary.
(Alessandro Torello in Brussels contributed to this article.)
|
http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2010/09/21/putin-confident-in-nord-stream-despite-polish-concerns/
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50 Shades of Stupid
I’ll bite. In response to this line from Jared: “Or, instead of insisting they mean the opposite of what he says he meant by them, why not just call him a liar?” Okay, Doug Wilson is a liar, lying. He is probably lying to himself as much as anyone, but he’s lying.
Words mean things objectively. Our subjective intentions are important, but they do not normally override the meanings of the words we use. To play word games after the fact does not change the meaning of the words Doug Wilson used. Conquer and colonize are words of aggression, used aggressively. The context is important: “…however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to all egalitarians, and so our culture has rebelled against the concept of authority and submission in marriage.” The aggression of that paragraph does not rest on the word “conquer” alone; it is the entire theme:
- The sex act does not involve equal pleasure (aka “an egalitarian pleasuring party”)
- The man initiates, using metaphors for war: invading, defeating, and settling. (aka “penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants”)
- The woman lies back and things of England, using words normally associated with the French (aka cheese-eating surrender monkeys)
- Negative reception is assumed and labeled proactively: It’s egalitarians who choose to be offended at perfectly obvious inoffensive statements, and are rebelling against Holy Scripture
This is not because of one or two words. It’s the central point of Doug Wilson’s thesis.
Ultimately, this hinges on people viewing the world differently. If you’re a white male whose biggest fears include poor book sales, being kicked out of another denomination, or having to admit you were wrong about something, it is hard to understand things in the same way as someone whose fears reasonably and routinely include rape, physical abuse, and being ignored, dismissed, and accused of hysteria by the very people who should be looking out for you. If Doug Wilson (or Jared) understood that much, at least, one of them might have realized that using “protect and serve” to conjure up images of the police is not as reassuring to the aggrieved audience as they might suppose.
I don’t impugn the motives of either Wilson in writing what they’ve written, but they’re still wrong. As evidence, consider the responses of these humble men of God when confronted with the news that their words have caused pain to women who’ve read them. Actually, Jared asks the question thusly: “What if you published a post that was for sexuality that serves and protects and against “rape fantasy” erotica/role-playing and lots of people found it horrifying and sickening?” My answer: I would be horrified and apologetic, and scramble to remove the horrifying and sickening post as quickly as possible, replacing it with an apology while I spent time trying to educate myself on how they and I could see things so differently.
Of course, that’s not what either Wilson has done. Doug Wilson instead responds by:
- pretending that poetic references to a necklace as “bucklers” and a woman’s very young virginal sister as a “garden locked” somehow equate to his not-poetic militaristic description of sex
- referring to his critics as “Only a person with a poetic ear like three feet of tin foil…” while engaging in over-the-top hyperbolic descriptions of his critics views
- says they “really need to retake their ESL class”
- refers to a “mental caricature of a conservative complementarian,” because, you know, it’s his *critics* who are relying on caricatures, not Wilson himself. (*cough* “egalitarian pleasuring party”*cough*)
In other words, Doug Wilson claims his critics are stupid, and that’s why they think the way they do.
Jared responds by writing a post arguing that since his intentions weren’t what his critics apparently believe them to be, they’ve got it all wrong. The fact that his critics didn’t interpret three longer paragraphs in the context of the smaller last paragraph is “quite telling.” In fact, they have an “ability to ignore” that, or were “[u]nable to connect” them.
Again with the implied “stupid” label.
It seems Jared believe he is a victim. Not a victim in the sense of many of the people most upset by his writing, people who’ve actually had to call the cops to “serve and protect” them from aggressive men who would use their “biblical authority” as an excuse to mistreat them, but a victim nonetheless. Approvingly quoting a contentious pastor using what are at best poorly-chosen words to make a point very poorly and finding that “someone keeps finding that sickening, horrifying, deplorable,” well, yeah, I guess that’s bewildering.
Jared: I am telling you this directly: You ask for emails and state “I will be grateful for the sharpening” I call bullshit. Attempts to “sharpen” you so far have been met with incredulity, sarcasm, and dismissal, not gratitude. You’re lying to yourself, and I hope and pray you’re able to see it sooner rather than later.
|
http://boarsheadtavern.com/2012/07/18/50-shades-of-stupid/
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The Bully at Work: Are You Being Bullied? Find Out for Yourself…
After two years of working in the information systems department of an engineering company, Jason found it more and more difficult to get up for work. Where he once enjoyed the office camaraderie, he realized he was being increasingly left out of meetings and after-hours social events. He often felt like he was the target of others’ jokes, and his efforts were put down while others’ were praised. As he struggled to understand what had happened, the image of Jennifer, a co-worker, kept reappearing in his mind. He suddenly realized that Jennifer was often the person who criticized him. Sometimes she had taken credit for his good work. She was probably going to get a promotion that he believed he had earned.
Jennifer didn’t have it in for him. Or did she?
Jason, like many who are the target of a bully at work, found it difficult to accept that another person could plan and carry out a plan of action against a co-worker. While the bully’s target may feel uncomfortable, unhappy or depressed about the way someone is acting toward him at work, he may lack the knowledge or insight to identify the behavior as bullying.
If you suspect you may be the target of workplace bullying, take the self-test below.
Self-Test: Are You Being Bullied?
Consider each of the questions in the self-test below and decide if you Strongly Agree, Agree, Somewhat Agree, Disagree or Strongly Disagree with the behaviors that may be happening to you. Then, circle the corresponding number.
Does the person you’re having trouble with:
Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree
1. Repeatedly:
-Ignore you.
-Not say hello when you greet them.
-Not return your phone calls or emails.
5 4 3 1
2. Dismiss what you’re saying or “put you down” while alone or in the presence of others? 5 4 3 1
3. Sabotage you or make you look foolish, by “forgetting” to tell you about a meeting (or) if the person is your boss, set you up to fail by making impossible demands of you? 6 5 4 2
4. Spread rumours, lies and half-truths about you? 6 5 4 3 2
5. Frequently act impatient with you, treating you like you’re incompetent? 5 4 3 2 1
6. Blame and criticize you? 5 4 3 2 1
7. Try to intimidate you by interrupting, contradicting and glaring at you and giving you the silent treatment? 5 4 3 1
8. Tease, ridicule, insult or play tricks on you, especially in front of others? 6 5 4 3 2
9. Always insist on getting their own way and never apologize? They never consider your point of view. 5 4 3 2 1
10. Leave you out of social and work situations as opposed to welcoming and inviting you in. They deliberately make way to exclude you. 6 5 4 3 2
Total score = _____________
To get your total score add up the numbers; there is a possible total score of 54.
If your score is 14 or below, it doesn’t look like you’re being bullied. If your score is between 15 and 25, there are indications of bullying behaviour. Naturally, the higher the score, the more pronounced the behaviour. If your score is 30 or above, you are definitely being bullied. As scores increase beyond 30, the severity of the bullying escalates.
Some who take this test find they are not being bullied. If you are one of these people, and are experiencing emotional discomfort because of a work situation involving another person, conflict resolution or assertiveness training may help you. If you discovered that you are indeed being bullied, you also need to learn what to do.
Learning how to respond to a bully at work requires particular strategies because bullies have distinctive characteristics. Bullies have a distorted view of human nature. They view people as objects to be manipulated, rather than as humans with whom to have empathy. They see all interactions through the prism of their own interests, “What’s in it for me?” and strategically manipulate others for their own advantage.
Bullies, however, do not behave like psychopaths who are unable to change their behavior. Studies show that when the spotlight is on a bully—that is, when others recognize their behavior and actions, policies and laws are carried out to stop their bullying ways—the bully, in fact, blends back into the workplace again and stops causing damage. The bully is aware.
The first step belongs to you. You may be asking, “What do I do then?” First, recognize if you are being bullied. Accept that fact so you can then take the next step of helping yourself with a sense of conviction to create protection for yourself. You deserve it!
Valerie Cade, Founder
Workplace Bullying Expert, Speaker, and Author of
Bully Free at Work
|
http://bullyfreeatwork.com/blog/?page_id=30
|
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Lloyds TSB Group plc (ADR) (NYSE:LYG)
CAPS Rating: 3 out of 5
The Company is a UK-based financial services group, whose businesses provide a range of banking and financial services in the UK and a limited number of locations overseas.
Player Avatar Axeman (59.03) Submitted: 8/2/2014 10:03:28 AM : Outperform Start Price: $4.99 LYG Score: -1.90
Eventually it will recover from the financial crisis mess, pay out the government stake, and install a dividend. Europe's financial woes will eventually resolve and the financial stocks will come back as a group the same way the US ones have come back substantially off their lows.
Featured Broker Partners
|
http://caps.fool.com/Pitch/LYG/7191366/eventually-it-will-recover-fro.aspx
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Turtle Kids Embrace
There we were, walking around the ABC Kids Expo, when we suddenly noticed a Kids Embrace car seat version of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle staring at us. I squealed a little. It’s not that I’m that enthralled with the Turtles, but my son likes them and it brought back some childhood memories… But I digress.
We snapped a photo and put it on Facebook, unsure of the kind of reaction it would get. In the past, Kids Embrace hasn’t gotten a lot of love from the car-seat-enthusiast community. When the seats first came out, the top harness height was lower than other combination seats on the market and that made people worry that little kids would be forced into booster seats prematurely.
Kids Embrace listened, though, and raised the top harness height to 17″. That’s a respectable measurement that will get most kids to a safe booster age. (Remember that 17″ on an upright combination seat tends to be a true 17″, whereas the same measurement in a convertible usually won’t hold a child with a 17″ torso. That’s due to the natural recline of even an upright convertible, and just one of those unexplained mysteries of the car seat world.)
We think it’s time Kids Embrace got more credit and more respect. Their characters are likely to appeal to children in the 3-6 age range, and anything that gets kids excited about car seats and keeps them in a 5-pt harness until a safe booster age (generally 5-6 years old) is a good thing. There are lots of parents who rush their kids into boosters at age 3. In that case, a kid begging for a Batman seat might make all the difference.
But back to the Ninja Turtle. Right now, Leonardo is the only one in the works (sorry, Donatello fans). They’re looking at a release date of December, so keep an eye out if you have a Ninja Turtle fan in your house. (As it turned out, the feedback on our Facebook photo was overwhelmingly positive—lots of people want a Ninja Turtle in their back seat!)
Batman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dora & SpongeBob are all currently available. Prices range from $129-$149. The Batman seat is also going to Canada soon!
Also coming from Kids Embrace is a line of backless booster seats. The ones they had on display were Batman and Super-Man, in “boy” and “girl” colors. Those are cool enough to appeal to the older booster-rider who might be getting hesitant about having to ride in one.
Kids Embrace booster
While we were talking with the Kids Embrace folks, we started brainstorming some other characters they could pursue. We suggested Minecraft (I’m sure my 9-year-old would do ANYTHING for a Creeper booster) and Lego. Obviously we have no idea if Kids Embrace will pursue either option, but I was so inspired that the first thing I did when I got home from Vegas was to raid my son’s Legos to create a “prototype” booster.
Lego seat
Don’t those Lego hands just scream “cup holder”? Tell us what you think.
|
http://carseatblog.com/24352/abc-expo-2013-kids-embrace-update/
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Comcast Deal Means No Set-Top Box Netflix App For Time Warner Cable Customers
netflixgridgrabTime Warner Cable had reportedly been in talks with Netflix regarding a deal that would give TWC subscribers direct access to the streaming video service through their set-top cable boxes, rather than having to use a third party device like a gaming console. But that seems to have come to a crashing halt now that Comcast has agreed to buy TWC for $45 billion.
Bloomberg reports that the TWC/Netflix chats have been put off pending the cable company’s sale to the bigger company (or the merger’s doom in the regulatory Great Pit of Carkoon).
Comcast has also been discussing the set-top box arrangement with Netflix but only casually, as the Kabletown Krew is more focused on convincing customers to get streaming video from Comcast than from the one company most directly associated with the cord-cutting phenomenon.
While Bloomberg states that a TWC/Netflix deal would have put pressure on other cable providers to do so, we hesitate to agree, as there is virtually no competition between terrestrial cable companies for customers.
For example, had Netflix been able to get an app on the millions of TWC set-top boxes in the New York City metro area, it’s not like those of us in Comcast country could switch providers to get the more attractive service.
What would have been interesting is to see if having easier access to Netflix would have done anything to stop the bleeding at TWC, which lost a significant number of customers last year in the wake of its ill-advised squabble with CBS.
|
http://consumerist.com/2014/02/18/comcast-deal-means-no-set-top-box-netflix-app-for-time-warner-cable-customers/
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vyhledat jakékoliv slovo, například blumpkin:
One who is either a. mentally challenged or b. says they know how to do a task but doesn't really know how.
"Wow, that Cynthea, she's a real scynth. She told me she can empty the trash but asked Jordan how to do it after staring at the trashcan blankly for five minutes."
od uživatele Boojo 26. Únor 2008
Slova související s Scynth
over-zealous quitter retard slow slow-bus
|
http://cs.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scynth
|
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vyhledat jakékoliv slovo, například tribbing:
One "volume" of a Manga series, often containing several chapters or sections of the story. 'Tankoubon' refers specifically to the standard paperback size common to Manga.
od uživatele Rubdown 05. Prosinec 2008
|
http://cs.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tankoubon
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Safe Gaming [Infographic]
April 22, 2012 | by | Gaming, Lifestyle
As an avid gamer, I find stories on the news about violent gamers to be sad for the most part. Being violent towards others is just not a natural part of being a gamer. I mean you shoot stuff and blow things up, but for the most part you’re just on a mission to get some good stuff done and have some silly, random fun in the meantime.
News stories about gamers that are not only violent, but that are also inciting violence among others? I find those to be disgusting, and misleading about gamers as a whole.
Most folks that play video games (at least the ones that I know) are very kind, understanding people that would rather help a fellow gamer work through any problem or situation they might have instead of antagonizing them.
Everyone struggles through personal issues and occasionally requires the help of others. Most rational people understand that basic fact about their fellow human beings and they would offer their help; why would gamers be any different? Why would they want to hurt one another?
My point is that gamers on the whole seem to have gotten a bad reputation that they don’t deserve, thanks to a small number of antisocial bullies who should be considered black sheep and not at all a valid representation of an otherwise placid, peaceful group of people.
Everyone I know just wants to play the game and have some fun with each other, isn’t that what it’s all about?
For more information and statistics about gamers and their rising positive reputation, refer to the following infographic hosted by DeviantArt. [Via]
Positive Gaming
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|
http://dailyinfographic.com/safe-gaming-infographic
|
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Scala Pimp-My-Library example
Recently working on a project test there was an incompatibility of the assert keyword between ScalaTest and Scalaz. I was looking after Scalaz’s feature of invoking some on any data type after import scalaz.Scalaz._
After a while I gave up and wrote it myself, surprisingly simple and concise:
class SomeType[T](t:T){
def some = Some(t)
implicit def typeToSomeType[T](t:T) = new SomeType(t)
Making possible:
scala> 123.some
res7: Some[Int] = Some(123)
res8: Some[String] = Some(hi)
Implicits is a nice way to type-safe upon compile time some global state (as long as it doesn’t become unwieldy long).
In Groovy we could achieve same effect via the MetaClass object, but without compile time type-safety as Groovy it’s a dynamic language and all the magic happens at runtime. Also we can’t use parametric polymorphism while invoking the MetaClass object (or at least I don’t know how to do it!).
groovy> String.metaClass.quote={"*"+delegate+"*"}
===> groovysh_evaluate$_run_closure1@4b51ac10
groovy:000> "hi".quote()
===> *hi*
ConcurrentHashMap computeIfAbsent method in Java 8
The very nifty method computeIfAbsent has been added in the ConcurrentMap interface in Java 8 as part of the atomic operations of the ConcurrentMap interface. It’s more precisely a default method that provides an alternative to what we use to code ourselves:
if (map.get(key) == null) {
V newValue = mappingFunction.apply(key);
if (newValue != null)
return map.putIfAbsent(key, newValue);
but this time providing a function as a second argument.
Most often this method will be used in the context of ConcurrentHashMap in which case the method is implemented in a thread-safe synchronised way.
In terms of usage the method is handy for situations where we want to maintain a thread-safe cache of expensive one-off computed resources.
Here’s another example of holding a key-value pair where value is a thread-safe counter represented by an AtomicInteger:
private final Map counters = new ConcurrentHashMap();
private void accumulate(String name) {
cnts.computeIfAbsent(name, k -> new AtomicInteger()).incrementAndGet();
Visitor Design Pattern in Scala
Scala provides built-in support for the Visitor Design Pattern through the use of pattern matching.
The Visitor Design Pattern is trying to address the problem of never-ending new functionality that is otherwise implemented by adding new methods in the inheritance tree.
According to the Visitor pattern the inheritance tree is decoupled from a new functionality and encapsulated in a separate object that packs all implementations according to the inheritance tree normally by using method overloading of all the various types.
In Scala by the use of the built-in pattern matching this becomes very easy:
class Animal { def walk:String }
class Dog extends Animal { override def walk = "on 4" }
class Man extends Animal { override def walk = "on 2" }
* Visitor Pattern provides a solution to never-ending new
* functionality that would otherwise be implemented with new
* method in the hierarchy tree.
def talk(animal: Animal) = animal match {
case Dog => "wav wav"
case Man => "hi"
* New functionality implemented in separate methods that
* uses pattern matching to implement tailored functionality.
def swim(animal: Animal) = animal match {
case Dog => "on 4"
case Man => "on 4"
Strategy Pattern in Scala – A Pragmatic Example
Let’s say we want to create a newsletter grouping together all the Daily Deals coming from popular IT Book Publishers.
We can source the Daily Deal information by web-scrapping the publisher website.
We’ll employ the Strategy Pattern as we want to encapsulate the web-scrapping algorithm that is distinct for each publisher website and we want to maintain flexibility of introducing new publishers in the future without altering the core context.
Essentially where we want to get to is a form like this:
new WebScrappingContext(Strategy).dailyDeal(url)
In the above form, the Strategy can vary and be interchangeable, paired with the publisher url that will be applied to the Strategy Functor.
Let’s start by defining a helpful type Strategy that gets a url and produces the Daily Deal:
type WebScrappingStrategy = String => String
Next we’ll create the context that would be hosting the Strategy Functor and would apply the url string on it:
case class WebScrap(strategy: WebScrappingStrategy) {
def dailyDeal(url:String) = strategy( url )
Note that we have used a case class but we could as well use a method to achieve the same effect:
def dailyDeal( url:String, webScrappingStrategy: WebScrappingStrategy ) = webScrappingStrategy( url )
Then we’ll get busy with web-scrapping publisher websites.
The Manning Daily Deal web-scrapper Strategy:
def ManningWebScrappingStrategy: WebScrappingStrategy =
(url:String) =>
Jsoup.parse( new WebClient(BrowserVersion.CHROME).getPage( url )
.asInstanceOf[HtmlPage].asXml )
.select("div.dotdbox b").text
Note that the Manning website is using JavaScript to create the Daily Deal section that Jsoup cannot parse therefore we use HtmlUnit.
One step further with the call to the Strategy context case class:
def ManningDailyDeal = {
val ManningWebScrappingStrategy: WebScrappingStrategy =
(url:String) =>
Jsoup.parse( new WebClient(BrowserVersion.CHROME).getPage( url )
.asInstanceOf[HtmlPage].asXml )
.select("div.dotdbox b").text
WebScrap( ManningWebScrappingStrategy ).dailyDeal( "" )
The Strategy Pattern is the last returned line in the above variable:
WebScrap( ManningWebScrappingStrategy ).dailyDeal( "" )
The url is inherent to the Strategy and ultimately to the Publisher therefore the above grouping under the ManningDailyDeal variable.
Similarly here are the other Publisher Strategies:
def OReillyDailyDeal = {
val OReillyWebScrappingStrategy: WebScrappingStrategy = Jsoup.connect(_)"a[href$=DEAL] strong").get(0).text
WebScrap( OReillyWebScrappingStrategy ).dailyDeal( "" )
def APressDailyDeal = {
val APressWebScrappingStrategy: WebScrappingStrategy = Jsoup.connect(_)"div.block-dotd").get(0).select("a")
WebScrap( APressWebScrappingStrategy ).dailyDeal( "" )
def SpringerDailyDeal = {
val SpringerWebScrappingStrategy: WebScrappingStrategy = Jsoup.connect(_)"div.block-dotd").get(1).select("a")
WebScrap( SpringerWebScrappingStrategy ).dailyDeal( "" )
That’s pretty much it for the Strategy Pattern. If we want to take it one step further packing it up in a nice Factory Method OO Pattern:
trait Publisher
object Manning extends Publisher
object APress extends Publisher
object Springer extends Publisher
object OReilly extends Publisher
object DailyDeal {
def apply(publisher: Publisher) = publisher match {
case Manning => ManningDailyDeal
case APress => APressDailyDeal
case Springer => SpringerDailyDeal
case OReilly => OReillyDailyDeal
So we can make calls like so:
Full code on this GitHub repository.
How to Web Srap Html page after JS loads
Sometimes Jsoup is not enough and in cases where we want the final version of the Html file after JS (redirects etc) first loads then we can use HtmlUnit.
It makes the difference between this:
<div class="dotdbox">
<div style="color: #000000;text-align: center;padding: 3px 2px 0px 2px; font-size: 11px;background-color: #ffffff;">
<p><span style="font-size: 11px;"><a href="/free/dotd.html">Get the Deal of the Day email alert</a></span></p>
and that:
Jsoup.parse( new WebClient(BrowserVersion.CHROME).getPage("")
.asInstanceOf[HtmlPage].asXml ).select("div.dotdbox").text
<div class="dotdbox">
<div style="color:#000000;text-align:center;padding:3px 2px 0;font-size:11px;background-color:#ffffff;">
January 19, 2014
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href=""> Practical Data Science with R </a> </b>
<br />
<br /> Get half off the eBook or pBook
<br />
<br /> Enter dotd040614 in the Promotional Code box when you check out
CentOS/RedHat make port 8080 visible
I am a happy DigitalOcean customer primarily because of the low cost, the SSD drives, the friendly stuff and the flexibility by which you can reshape your purchased resources into droplets within the 4 DataCenters (2 in NY and 2 in Amsterdam) supported.
Until the need for a UK DataCenter arises which leads me to RackSpace.
On both private cloud hosting providers I am making a web service available that needs to be accessible @ port 8080. The CentOS flavour assembled in DigitalOcean has everything permitted by default in its iptables settings but the one assembled in RackSpace does not.
When I issue the iptables command I get:
[dimitrisli@lon1 ~]# iptables -L -n --line-numbers
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
num target prot opt source destination
2 ACCEPT icmp --
3 ACCEPT all --
4 ACCEPT tcp -- state NEW tcp dpt:22
5 REJECT all -- reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
num target prot opt source destination
1 REJECT all -- reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
num target prot opt source destination
And just by adding permission for port 8080 will put it by default under the last reject input policy so the correct command should be putting the permission at the current spot of the reject input policy:
[dimitrisli@lon1 ~]# iptables -I INPUT 5 -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT -m comment --comment "Jetty Server port"
[dimitrisli@lon1 ~]# service iptables save
that eventually does the trick.
CentOS/RedHat screen command
Install screen:
yum install screen.x86_64
Create a screen by giving it a name:
screen -S process1
Detach from the current screen:
shortcut: Ctrl + A + D
Inspect running screens:
screen -ls
There is a screen on:
11174.process1 (Detached)
Reattach to running screen per name:
screen -R process1
Homebrew: Install the Typesafe Stack
Old news: New machine -> new setup
Exciting alternatives: Homebrew -> “Typesafe Stack”
brew install scala sbt maven giter8
Homebrew is a package manager that keeps things tidy under the /usr/local/ directory, which is what we are using here to have Scala and friends installed. giter8 is a template Github archetype-maven-like command line tool that grows up to be the defacto way of bootstrapping a Scala-related project.
Installing Homebrew in Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks)
Installing Homebrew in previous OS X versions was holding a dependency on having Xcode pre-installed which is a substantial dependency (in terms of volume size) especially considering that you might not even be using this IDE as was always my case.
Not any more.
Apparently the Xcode part that is needed by Homebrew and other 3rd party tools, dubbed Command Line Tool in the net, has been extracted from Xcode and is being made available via the simple Terminal command in Mac OS X 10.9:
xcode-select --install
that pops up a pane to confirm auto-download of the tool.
From that point onwards Homebrew installation can continue with the ruby script as it was always the case. After installation completes ‘brew doctor’ can assure you that all is good and you can start amassing Cellars for the brewing process.
Tennis Historical Data Retriever in Scala
Here’s a quick and dirty Tennis historical data retriever:
import java.util.Date
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat
object TennisDataAnalysis extends App{
def wrapStringInt(stringInt:String) = if(stringInt=="") None else Some(stringInt.toInt)
case class TennisMatch(location:String, tournament:String, date:Date, series:String,
surface:String, round:String, bestOf:Int, winner:String, loser:String,
W1:Option[Int], L1:Option[Int], W2:Option[Int], L2:Option[Int], W3:Option[Int],
L3:Option[Int], W4:Option[Int], L4:Option[Int], W5:Option[Int], L5:Option[Int],
Wsets:Option[Int], Lsets:Option[Int], comment:String)
val sourceSite = ""
val years = List(2010,2011,2012,2013)
val tournaments = List("ausopen","frenchopen","usopen","wimbledon")
val urls = => sourceSite+year+"/").flatMap(urlYear =>> urlYear+tours+".csv"))
val data =
urls.flatMap{urlYearTour =>
.map{g => TennisMatch(g(1), g(2), new SimpleDateFormat("dd/mm/yyyy").parse(g(3)), g(4),
g(6),g(7),g(8).toInt, g(9), g(10),
wrapStringInt(g(15)), wrapStringInt(g(16)), wrapStringInt(g(17)), wrapStringInt(g(18)),
wrapStringInt(g(19)), wrapStringInt(g(20)), wrapStringInt(g(21)), wrapStringInt(g(22)),
wrapStringInt(g(23)), wrapStringInt(g(24)), wrapStringInt(g(25)), wrapStringInt(g(26)),
|
http://dimitrisli.wordpress.com/
|
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| false
| false
|
{
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}
| false
|
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"triggered_passage": -1
}
| false
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0.109363
|
<urn:uuid:2fe2f329-d06f-485c-bb1a-42140e62cc2b>
|
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| 0.734228
|
Ψάξε όποια λέξη θες, όπως ebola-head:
the civil rights leader
martin luther king jr
martin luther king helped black people be what they are today.
από Latasha 26 Μάρτιος 2005
the suspected answer to many racial jokes.
White guy:"What do you call a black man who attempts to lead an unfairly judged people out of oppression only to be unexpectedly murdered?"
Upstanding black man:"Martin Luther King Jr.?"
White guy:"No, a nigger! Hahaha"
Upstanding black man:"Hahaha"
από mr. funns 9 Αύγουστος 2009
|
http://el.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=martin%20luther%20king%20jr
|
dclm-gs1-412895528
| false
| false
|
{
"keywords": "ebola"
}
| false
|
{
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"triggered_passage": -1
}
| false
|
0.057691
|
<urn:uuid:ee7f881c-6c28-49bb-96f3-e3424467ca03>
|
en
| 0.920362
|
Nasi goreng
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Nasi Goreng
Nasi Goreng Sosis.jpg
Indonesian nasi goreng istimewa - "Special fried rice" with sausages, egg, krupuk (traditional cracker) and pickles.
Course Main course
Place of origin Indonesia,[1][2] Malaysia and Singapore
Region or state Nationwide in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei; also popular in Southern Thailand, Suriname and the Netherlands
Creator Indonesian
Serving temperature Hot
Main ingredients Fried rice with meats, vegetables and spices, usually seasoned with sweet soy sauce
Variations Rich variations across the respective region
Cookbook:Nasi Goreng Nasi Goreng
Nasi goreng has been called the national dish of Indonesia,[3][4] though there are many other contenders. It can be enjoyed in simple versions from a tin plate at a roadside food stall, eaten on porcelain in restaurants, or collected from the buffet tables of Jakarta dinner parties.[5]
Microwaved frozen Nasi Goreng sold in 7-Eleven store in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Nasi goreng is ubiquitous in Indonesia, and also popular in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, as well as the Netherlands through its colonial ties with Indonesia. In Philippines, nasi goreng known as Sinangag or garlic fried rice. Today microwave-heated frozen nasi goreng is available in convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven and Lawson in Indonesia.
In most parts of Indonesia, nasi goreng is cooked with ample amounts of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) that created golden brownish color and the flavour is mildly sweet. However in other places such as Eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi and Maluku), the sweet soy sauce are usually absent and replaced by bottled tomato and chili sauce, creating reddish-colored nasi goreng. Some variants of nasi goreng such as salted fish or teri Medan (Medan anchovy) nasi goreng are not using kecap manis at all, creating lighter color similar to Chinese fried rice or Japanese chahan. The most common nasi goreng usually uses chicken and egg, however some variants are usually named after its additional ingredients, such as nasi goreng kambing (with goat meat), nasi goreng pete/petai (with green stinky bean), nasi goreng jamur (with mushroom), nasi goreng sapi (with beef), nasi goreng udang (with shrimp), nasi goreng seafood (with seafood, such as squid, fish and shrimp), nasi goreng ikan asin (with salted fish), nasi goreng teri medan (with Medan's anchovy), etc.
• Bawang goreng: fried shallot, spinkled upon nasi goreng
• Sambal: chilli sauce
Nasi goreng is known as fried rice variants commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In Malaysia and Singapore, variations of nasi goreng include Nasi Goreng Kampung (fried with anchovies/leftover fried fish, kangkong), nasi goreng USA (with fried egg and stirred fried beef in chili sauce), nasi goreng Pataya (fried rice in an omelette envelope), nasi goreng ikan masin (fried with salted fish), nasi goreng seafood (fried with prawn, calamari slices and crab sticks) and nasi goreng belacan (fried with leftover sambal belacan and fish or other meats). There are similar fried rice dishes from neighboring countries, such as Philippines style fried rice called sinangag, and Thai fried rice from Thailand.
Street vendor[edit]
Nasi goreng breakfast in a hotel in Solo, Central Java, with papaya juice and Java black coffee.
Convenience store[edit]
In the Netherlands[edit]
In popular culture[edit]
Tante Lien's song "Geef mij maar Nasi Goreng" (Just give me Nasi Goreng), recorded in 1979, illustrates historical culinary ties between the Netherlands and Indonesia, as well as whimsically describing the craving of people of Indo (Eurasian) descent repatriated in the Netherlands for Indonesian cuisine.
See also[edit]
1. ^ a b c Gregory Rodgers. "Nasi Goreng". Retrieved 21 October 2012.
2. ^ a b "World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods". CNN GO.
External links[edit]
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi_goreng
|
dclm-gs1-413085528
| false
| false
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|
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| 0.909325
|
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from UseNet)
Jump to: navigation, search
A diagram of Usenet servers and clients. The blue, green, and red dots on the servers represent the groups they carry. Arrows between servers indicate newsgroup group exchanges (feeds). Arrows between clients and servers indicate that a user is subscribed to a certain group and reads or submits articles.
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It was developed from the general purpose UUCP dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980.[1] Users read and post messages (called articles or posts, and collectively termed news) to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects, and is the precursor to Internet forums that are widely used today. Usenet can be superficially regarded as a hybrid between email and web forums. Discussions are threaded, as with web forums and BBSes, though posts are stored on the server sequentially.
One notable difference between a BBS or web forum and Usenet is the absence of a central server and dedicated administrator. Usenet is distributed among a large, constantly changing conglomeration of servers that store and forward messages to one another in so-called news feeds. Individual users may read messages from and post messages to a local server operated by a commercial usenet provider, their Internet service provider, university, employer, or their own server.
Usenet is one of the oldest computer network communications systems still in widespread use. It was conceived in 1979 and publicly established in 1980 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University,[1] over a decade before the World Wide Web was developed and the general public received access to the Internet. It was originally built on the "poor man's ARPANET," employing UUCP as its transport protocol to offer mail and file transfers, as well as announcements through the newly developed news software such as A News. The name Usenet emphasized its creators' hope that the USENIX organization would take an active role in its operation.[2]
The articles that users post to Usenet are organized into topical categories called newsgroups, which are themselves logically organized into hierarchies of subjects. For instance, sci.math and sci.physics are within the sci.* hierarchy, for science. Or,, and talk.atheism are in the talk.* hierarchy. When a user subscribes to a newsgroup, the news client software keeps track of which articles that user has read.[3]
In most newsgroups, the majority of the articles are responses to some other article. The set of articles which can be traced to one single non-reply article is called a thread. Most modern newsreaders display the articles arranged into threads and subthreads.
When a user posts an article, it is initially only available on that user's news server. Each news server talks to one or more other servers (its "newsfeeds") and exchanges articles with them. In this fashion, the article is copied from server to server and should eventually reach every server in the network. The later peer-to-peer networks operate on a similar principle; but for Usenet it is normally the sender, rather than the receiver, who initiates transfers. Some[who?] have noted that this seems an inefficient protocol in the era of abundant high-speed network access. Usenet was designed under conditions when networks were much slower, and not always available. Many sites on the original Usenet network would connect only once or twice a day to batch-transfer messages in and out.[4] This is largely because the POTS network was typically used for transfers, and phone charges were lower at night.
Usenet has significant cultural importance in the networked world, having given rise to, or popularized, many widely recognized concepts and terms such as "FAQ" and "spam".[5]
The format and transmission of Usenet articles is similar to that of Internet e-mail messages. The difference between the two is that Usenet articles can be read by any user whose news server carries the group to which the message was posted, as opposed to email messages which have one or more specific recipients.[6]
Today, Usenet has diminished in importance with respect to Internet forums, blogs and mailing lists. Usenet differs from such media in several ways: Usenet requires no personal registration with the group concerned; information need not be stored on a remote server; archives are always available; and reading the messages requires not a mail or web client, but a news client. The groups in alt.binaries are still widely used for data transfer.
ISPs, news servers, and newsfeeds[edit]
Not all ISPs run news servers. A news server is one of the most difficult Internet services to administer well because of the large amount of data involved, small customer base (compared to mainstream Internet services such as email and web access), and a disproportionately high volume of customer support incidents (frequently complaining of missing news articles that are not the ISP's fault). Some ISPs outsource news operation to specialist sites, which will usually appear to a user as though the ISP ran the server itself. Many sites carry a restricted newsfeed, with a limited number of newsgroups. Commonly omitted from such a newsfeed are foreign-language newsgroups and the alt.binaries hierarchy which largely carries software, music, videos and images, and accounts for over 99 percent of article data.
There are also Usenet providers that specialize in offering service to users whose ISPs do not carry news, or that carry a restricted feed.
See also news server operation for an overview of how news systems are implemented.
Newsgroups are typically accessed with newsreaders: applications that allow users to read and reply to postings in newsgroups. These applications act as clients to one or more news servers. Although historically, Usenet was associated with the Unix operating system developed at AT&T, newsreaders are available for all major operating systems.[7] Modern mail clients or "communication suites" commonly also have an integrated newsreader. Often, however, these integrated clients are of low quality, compared to standalone newsreaders, and incorrectly implement Usenet protocols, standards and conventions. Many of these integrated clients, for example the one in Microsoft's Outlook Express, are disliked by purists because of their misbehavior.[8]
With the rise of the World Wide Web (WWW), web front-ends (web2news) have become more common. Web front ends have lowered the technical entry barrier requirements to that of one application and no Usenet NNTP server account. There are numerous websites now offering web based gateways to Usenet groups, although some people have begun filtering messages made by some of the web interfaces for one reason or another.[9][10] Google Groups[11] is one such web based front end and some web browsers can access Google Groups via news: protocol links directly.[12]
Moderated and unmoderated newsgroups[edit]
Historically, a mod.* hierarchy existed before Usenet reorganization.[15] Now, moderated newsgroups may appear in any hierarchy.
Unmoderated newsgroups form the majority of Usenet newsgroups, and messages submitted by readers for unmoderated newsgroups are immediately propagated for everyone to see. Minimal editorial content filtering vs propagation speed form one crux of the Usenet community. One little cited defense of propagation is canceling a propagated message, but few Usenet users use this command and some news readers do not offer cancellation commands, in part because article storage expires in relatively short order anyway. Most unmoderated Usenet groups have become worthless collections of spam, advertisements for any conceivable product or service, totally unrelated to the ostensible subject of the group.[citation needed]
Creation of moderated newsgroups often becomes a hot subject of controversy, raising issues regarding censorship and the desire of a subset of users to form an intentional community.[citation needed]
Technical details[edit]
On the Internet, Usenet is transported via the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) on TCP Port 119 for standard, unprotected connections and on TCP port 563 for SSL encrypted connections which is offered only by a few sites.
The "Big Nine" hierarchies of Usenet
• comp.* – computer-related discussions (, comp.sys.amiga)
• humanities.*fine arts, literature, and philosophy (humanities.classics,
• misc.* – miscellaneous topics (,,
• rec.* – recreation and entertainment (, rec.arts.movies)
• sci.* – science related discussions (sci.psychology, sci.research)
• soc.* – social discussions (, soc.culture.african)
• talk.* – talk about various controversial topics (talk.religion, talk.politics,
See also the Great Renaming.
The alt.* hierarchy is not subject to the procedures controlling groups in the Big Eight, and it is as a result less organized. Groups in the alt.* hierarchy tend to be more specialized or specific—for example, there might be a newsgroup under the Big Eight which contains discussions about children's books, but a group in the alt hierarchy may be dedicated to one specific author of children's books. Binaries are posted in alt.binaries.*, making it the largest of all the hierarchies.
Many other hierarchies of newsgroups are distributed alongside these. Regional and language-specific hierarchies such as japan.*, malta.* and ne.* serve specific countries and regions such as Japan, Malta and New England. Companies and projects administer their own hierarchies to discuss their products and offer community technical support, such as the historical gnu.* hierarchy from the Free Software Foundation. Microsoft closed its newsserver in June 2010, providing support for its products over forums now.[17] Some users prefer to use the term "Usenet" to refer only to the Big Eight hierarchies; others include alt as well. The more general term "netnews" incorporates the entire medium, including private organizational news systems.
Binary content[edit]
A visual example of the many complex steps required to prepare data to be uploaded to Usenet newsgroups. These steps must be done again in reverse to download data from Usenet.
Binary retention time[edit]
This is a list of some of the biggest binary groups. With 1317+ days retention, the (binary) Usenet storage (which indexes) is more than 9 petabytes (9000 terabytes).[18]
Each newsgroup is generally allocated a certain amount of storage space for post content. When this storage has been filled, each time a new post arrives, old posts are deleted to make room for the new content. If the network bandwidth available to a server is high but the storage allocation is small, it is possible for a huge flood of incoming content to overflow the allocation and push out everything that was in the group before it. If the flood is large enough, the beginning of the flood will begin to be deleted even before the last part of the flood has been posted.
Binary newsgroups are only able to function reliably if there is sufficient storage allocated to a group to allow readers enough time to download all parts of a binary posting before it is flushed out of the group's storage allocation. This was at one time how posting of undesired content was countered; the newsgroup would be flooded with random garbage data posts, of sufficient quantity to push out all the content to be suppressed. This has been compensated by service providers allocating enough storage to retain everything posted each day, including such spam floods, without deleting anything.
The average length of time that posts are able to stay in the group before being deleted is commonly called the retention time. Generally the larger Usenet servers have enough capacity to archive several years of binary content even when flooded with new data at the maximum daily speed available. A good binaries service provider must not only accommodate users of fast connections (3 megabit) but also users of slow connections (256 kilobit or less) who need more time to download content over a period of several days or weeks.
Major NSPs have a retention time of more than 4 years.[19] This results in more than 9 petabytes (9000 terabytes) of storage.[20]
In part because of such long retention times, as well as growing Internet upload speeds, Usenet is also used by individual users to store backup data in a practice called Usenet backup, or uBackup.[21] While commercial providers offer more easy to use online backup services, storing data on Usenet is free of charge (although access to Usenet itself may not be). The method requires the user to manually select, prepare and upload the data. Because anyone can potentially download the backup files, the data is typically encrypted. After the files are uploaded, the uploader does not have any control over them; the files are automatically copied to all Usenet providers, so there will be multiple copies of it spread over different geographical locations around the world—desirable in a backup scheme.
Legal issues[edit]
Also unlike modern P2P services, the identity of the downloaders is hidden from view. On P2P services a downloader is identifiable to all others by their network address. On Usenet, the downloader connects directly to a server, and only the server knows the address of who is connecting to it. Some Usenet providers do keep usage logs, but not all make this logged information casually available to outside parties such as the Recording Industry Association of America.[29][30] The existence of anonymising gateways to USENET also complicates the tracing of a postings true origin.
UUCP/Usenet Logical Map — June 1, 1981 / mods by S. McGeady November 19, 1981
| | | |
| | wivax | |
| | | | |
| | microsoft| uiucdcs | |
| | genradbo | | | | | | (Tektronix)
| | | | | | | purdue | |
| decvax+===+=+====+=+=+ | | | |
| | | | | | | pur-phy | | tekmdp
| | | | | | | | | | |
+@@@@@@cca | | | | | | | | |
| | | | +=pur-ee=+=+=====+===+ | |
| csin | | | | | |
| | +==o===+===================+==+========+=======+====teklabs=+
| | | |
| | | pdp phs grumpy wolfvax |
| | | | | | | |
| | cincy unc=+===+======+========+ |
| | | bio | |
| | | (Misc) | | (Misc) |
| | | sii reed | dukgeri duke34 utzoo |
| | | | | | | | | |
| +====+=+=+==+====++======+==++===duke=+===+=======+==+=========+ |
| | | | | | | | | | u1100s
| bmd70 ucf-cs ucf | andiron | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| red | | | | | pyuxh
| | | | zeppo | | | |
| psupdp---psuvax | | | | | | |
| | | | alice | whuxlb | utah-cs | | houxf
| allegra | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +--chico---+
| +===+=mhtsa====research | /=+=======harpo=+==+ | |
| | | | | | / | | |
| hocsr | | +=+=============+=/ cbosg---+ | |
| ucbopt | | | | | esquire |
| : | | | cbosgd | |
| : | | | | |
| ucbcory | | eagle==+=====+=====+=====+=====+ | |
| : | | | | | | | | | +-uwvax--+
| : | | | mhuxa mhuxh mhuxj mhuxm mhuxv | |
| : | | | | |
| : | | | | |
| ucbcad | | | ihpss mh135a |
| : | | | | | |
| : \--o--o------ihnss----vax135----cornell |
| : | | | | |
(UCB) : | | | | (Silicon Valley)
ucbarpa cmevax | | menlo70--hao
: | | | |
ucbonyx | | | sri-unix
| ucsfcgl |
| | |
Legend: | | sytek====+========+
------- | | | |
- | / \ + = Uucp sdcsvax=+=======+=+======+ intelqa zehntel
= "Bus" | | |
o jumps sdcarl phonlab sdcattb
: Berknet
@ Arpanet
UUCP/Usenet Logical Map, original by Steven McGeady. Copyright© 1981, 1996
Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman. Copied with permission from
The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation.[31]
Newsgroup experiments first occurred in 1979. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis of Duke University came up with the idea as a replacement for a local announcement program, and established a link with nearby University of North Carolina using Bourne shell scripts written by Steve Bellovin. The public release of news was in the form of conventional compiled software, written by Steve Daniel and Truscott.[32] In 1980, Usenet was connected to ARPANET through UC Berkeley which had connections to both Usenet and ARPANET. Mark Horton, the graduate student that set up the connection, began “feeding mailing lists from the ARPANET into Usenet” with the “fa” ("From ARPANET"[33]) identifier.[34] As a result, the number of people on Usenet increased dramatically; however, it was still a while longer before Usenet users could contribute to ARPANET.[35] After 32 years, the Usenet news service link at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( was finally retired on February 4, 2011.
UUCP networks spread quickly due to the lower costs involved, and the ability to use existing leased lines, X.25 links or even ARPANET connections. By 1983, the number of UUCP hosts had grown to 550, nearly doubling to 940 in 1984.[36]
As the mesh of UUCP hosts rapidly expanded, it became desirable to distinguish the Usenet subset from the overall network. A vote was taken at the 1982 USENIX conference to choose a new name. The name Usenet was retained, but it was established that it only applied to news.[37] The name UUCPNET became the common name for the overall network.
Early versions of Usenet used Duke's A News software. Soon, at UC Berkeley, Matt Glickman and Mark Horton produced an improved version called B News. With a message format that offered compatibility with Internet mail and improved performance, it became the dominant server software. C News, developed by Geoff Collyer and Henry Spencer at the University of Toronto, was comparable to B News in features but offered considerably faster processing. In the early 1990s, InterNetNews by Rich Salz was developed to take advantage of the continuous message flow made possible by NNTP versus the batched store-and-forward design of UUCP. Since that time INN development has continued, and other news server software has also been developed.[39]
Public venue[edit]
Usenet was the initial Internet community and the place for many of the most important public developments in the commercial Internet. It was the place where Tim Berners-Lee announced the launch of the World Wide Web,[40] where Linus Torvalds announced the Linux project,[41] and where Marc Andreessen announced the creation of the Mosaic browser and the introduction of the image tag,[42] which revolutionized the World Wide Web by turning it into a graphical medium.
Internet jargon and history[edit]
Many jargon terms now in common use on the Internet originated or were popularized on Usenet.[43] Likewise, many conflicts which later spread to the rest of the Internet, such as the ongoing difficulties over spamming, began on Usenet.[44]
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea. Massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it."
Gene Spafford, 1992
Decline in growth rate[edit]
Sascha Segan of PC Magazine said in 2008 "Usenet has been dying for years". Segan said that some people pointed to the Eternal September in 1993 as the beginning of Usenet's decline. Segan said that the "eye candy" on the World Wide Web and the marketing funds spent by owners of websites convinced Internet users to use profit-making websites instead of Usenet servers. In addition, DejaNews and Google Groups made conversations searchable, and Segan said that this removed the obscurity of previously obscure Internet groups on Usenet. Segan explained that when pornographers and software pirates began putting large files on Usenet by the late 1990s, Usenet disk space and traffic increased correspondingly. Internet service providers allocated space to Usenet libraries, and Internet service providers questioned why they needed to host space for pornography and pirated software. Segan said that the hosting of porn and pirated software was "likely when Usenet became truly doomed" and "[i]t's the porn that's putting nails in Usenet's coffin". AOL discontinued Usenet access in 2005. When the State of New York opened an investigation on child pornographers who used Usenet, many ISPs dropped all Usenet access or access to the alt.* hierarchy. Segan concluded "It's hard to completely kill off something as totally decentralized as Usenet; as long as two servers agree to share the NNTP protocol, it'll continue on in some fashion. But the Usenet I mourn is long gone".[45]
In response, John Biggs of TechCrunch said "Is Usenet dead, as Sascha posits? I don't think so. As long as there are folks who think a command line is better than a mouse, the original text-only social network will live on". Biggs added that while many Internet service providers terminated access, "the real pros know where to go to get their angst-filled, nit-picking, obsessive fix".[46]
In May 2010, Duke University, whose implementation had kicked off Usenet more than 30 years earlier, decommissioned its Usenet server, citing low usage and rising costs.[47][48]
Usenet traffic changes[edit]
Over time, the amount of Usenet traffic has steadily increased. As of 2010 the number of all text posts made in all Big-8 newsgroups averaged 1,800 new messages every hour, with an average of 25,000 messages per day.[49] However, these averages are minuscule in comparison to the traffic in the binary groups.[50] Much of this traffic increase reflects not an increase in discrete users or newsgroup discussions, but instead the combination of massive automated spamming and an increase in the use of .binaries newsgroups[49] in which large files are often posted publicly. A small sampling of the change (measured in feed size per day) follows:
Usenet traffic per day (en).svg
Daily Volume Date Source
4.5 GB 1996-12
9 GB 1997-07
12 GB 1998-01
26 GB 1999-01
82 GB 2000-01
181 GB 2001-01
257 GB 2002-01
492 GB 2003-01
969 GB 2004-01
1.30 TB 2004-09-30
1.38 TB 2004-12-31
1.52 TB 2005-01
1.34 TB 2005-01-01
1.30 TB 2005-01-01
1.81 TB 2005-02-28
1.87 TB 2005-03-08
2.00 TB 2005-03-11 Various sources
2.27 TB 2006-01
2.95 TB 2007-01
3.07 TB 2008-01
3.80 TB 2008-04-16
4.60 TB 2008-11-01
4.65 TB 2009-01
6.00 TB 2009-12
5.42 TB 2010-01
8.00 TB 2010-09
7.52 TB 2011-01
8.25 TB 2011-10
9.29 TB 2012-01
11.49 TB 2013-01
14.61 TB 2014-01
15.50 TB 2014-02
In 2008, Verizon Communications, Time Warner Cable and Sprint Nextel signed an agreement with Attorney General of New York Andrew Cuomo to shut down access to sources of child pornography.[51] Time Warner Cable stopped offering access to Usenet. Verizon reduced its access to the "Big 8" hierarchies. Sprint stopped access to the alt.* hierarchies. AT&T stopped access to the alt.binaries.* hierarchies. Cuomo never specifically named Usenet in his anti-child pornography campaign. David DeJean of PC World said that some worry that the ISPs used Cuomo's campaign as an excuse to end portions of Usenet access, as it is costly for the Internet service providers and not in high demand by customers. In 2008 AOL, which no longer offered Usenet access, and the four providers that responded to the Cuomo campaign were the five largest Internet service providers in the United States; they had more than 50% of the U.S. ISP marketshare.[52] On June 8, 2009, AT&T announced that it would no longer provide access to the Usenet service as of July 15, 2009.[53]
AOL announced that it would discontinue its integrated Usenet service in early 2005, citing the growing popularity of weblogs, chat forums and on-line conferencing.[54] The AOL community had a tremendous role in popularizing Usenet some 11 years earlier.[55]
In August 2009, Verizon announced that it would discontinue access to Usenet on September 30, 2009.[56][57] JANET(UK) announced it will discontinue Usenet service, effective July 31, 2010, citing Google Groups as an alternative.[58] Microsoft announced that it would discontinue support for its public newsgroups ( from June 1, 2010, offering web forums as an alternative.[59]
Primary reasons cited for the discontinuance of Usenet service by general ISPs include the decline in volume of actual readers due to competition from blogs, along with cost and liability concerns of increasing proportion of traffic devoted to file-sharing and spam on unused or discontinued groups.[60][61]
Some ISPs did not include pressure from Attorney General of New York Andrew Cuomo's aggressive campaign against child pornography as one of their reasons for dropping Usenet feeds as part of their services.[62] ISPs Cox and Atlantic Communications resisted the 2008 trend but both did eventually drop their respective Usenet feeds in 2010.[63][64][65]
Public archives of Usenet articles have existed since the early days of Usenet, such as the system created by Kenneth Almquist in late 1982.[66][67] Distributed archiving of Usenet posts was suggested in November 1982 by Scott Orshan, who proposed that "Every site should keep all the articles it posted, forever."[68] Also in November of that year, Rick Adams responded to a post asking "Has anyone archived netnews, or does anyone plan to?"[69] by stating that he was, "afraid to admit it, but I started archiving most 'useful' newsgroups as of September 18."[70] In June 1982, Gregory G. Woodbury proposed an "automatic access to archives" system that consisted of "automatic answering of fixed-format messages to a special mail recipient on specified machines." [71]
In 1985, two news archiving systems and one RFC were posted to the Internet. The first system, called keepnews, by Mark M. Swenson of The University of Arizona, was described as "a program that attempts to provide a sane way of extracting and keeping information that comes over Usenet." The main advantage of this system was to allow users to mark articles as worthwhile to retain.[72] The second system, YA News Archiver by Chuq Von Rospach, was similar to keepnews, but was "designed to work with much larger archives where the wonderful quadratic search time feature of the Unix ... becomes a real problem."[73] Von Rospach in early 1985 posted a detailed RFC for "archiving and accessing usenet articles with keyword lookup." This RFC described a program that could "generate and maintain an archive of Usenet articles and allow looking up articles based on the article-id, subject lines, or keywords pulled out of the article itself." Also included was C code for the internal data structure of the system.[74]
The desire to have a fulltext search index of archived news articles is not new either, one such request having been made in April 1991 by Alex Martelli who sought to "build some sort of keyword index for [the news archive]."[75] In early May, Mr. Martelli posted a summary of his responses to Usenet, noting that the "most popular suggestion award must definitely go to 'lq-text' package, by Liam Quin, recently posted in alt.sources."[76]
The huge site archives and indexes erotic and pornographic stories posted to the Usenet group
Today, the archiving of Usenet has led to a fear of loss of privacy.[77] An archive simplifies ways to profile people. This has partly been countered with the introduction of the X-No-Archive: Yes header, which is itself controversial.[78]
Archives by Google Groups and DejaNews[edit]
Main article: Google Groups
Web-based archiving of Usenet posts began in 1995 at Deja News with a very large, searchable database. In 2001, this database was acquired by Google.[79]
Google Groups hosts an archive of Usenet posts dating back to May 1981. The earliest posts, which date from May 1981 to June 1991, were donated to Google by the University of Western Ontario with the help of David Wiseman and others,[80] and were originally archived by Henry Spencer at the University of Toronto's Zoology department.[81] The archives for late 1991 through early 1995 were provided by Kent Landfield from the NetNews CD series[82] and Jürgen Christoffel from GMD.[83] The archive of posts from March 1995 onward was started by the company DejaNews (later Deja), which was purchased by Google in February 2001. Google began archiving Usenet posts for itself starting in the second week of August 2000.
See also[edit]
Usenet history[edit]
Usenet administrators[edit]
Usenet as a whole has no administrators; each server administrator is free to do whatever pleases him or her as long as the end users and peer servers tolerate and accept it. Nevertheless, there are a few famous administrators:
Usenet celebrities[edit]
Main article: Usenet celebrity
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External links[edit]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UseNet
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{
"keywords": "transmission, mouse"
}
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<urn:uuid:9f7d5593-28f6-462a-87e4-150179dd1cea>
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en
| 0.845249
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buscar cualquier palabra, como the eiffel tower:
2 definitions by Yohai Shraga
A Hebrew curse word that means "Your mother's vagina"
"cus emek ars the computer broke"
"CUS EMEK ARS Don't touch my mother"
Por Yohai Shraga 19 de agosto de 2007
A curse word in Hebrew meaning "penis".It's uses are to imply that "hell not I'm not doing this".
some people add to the zubi curse word the word zareta after the name of the Spanish goalkeeper Andony Zubizareta.
This curse word can be companioned with a middle finger action.
"he thinks that I will give it back to him...ZUBI!!
"ZUBI that I will pay for her!!"
"Zubi Zareta that I'll give you a bite from my sandwich"
Por Yohai Shraga 19 de agosto de 2007
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http://es.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Yohai+Shraga
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dclm-gs1-413195528
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| false
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}
| false
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0.191494
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<urn:uuid:1fd3d2f4-86ed-4317-95fa-624e1084faa4>
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en
| 0.717009
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buscar cualquier palabra, como ratchet:
Nickname given by the older woods to shoiock during a swimming party...usually said in a screaming manner.
Where the hell is Sheeeock.
Nice race Sheeeock.
Sheeeock im going to slap you so hard you wont know what hit you.
Por [email protected] 13 de marzo de 2006
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http://es.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sheeeock
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<urn:uuid:ee4bc8fc-9f38-4137-9b96-014085fffe80>
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| 0.941881
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A Foggy Morning in the Merry Month of May
Many Parks Curve on a Foggy Day in May
May is a wonderful month to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, but the weather can proove to be challenging. The good news for spring travellers is that snow storms aren't as commom, but like anywhere, you can still be surprised! This photo is from Many Parks Curve on a foggy May morning. Down low in the Estes Valley the fog was amazingly thick, but the higher we drove, the more it broke. We made it just in time for the sun to rise, lighting the top of that foggy layer and dusting the clouds with golden orange rays. Just an hour later the foggy seas lifted, uncovering a glorious day!
Guest blogger is Jared Gricoskie of Yellow Wood Guiding. Visit their website here to learn about custom tours of Rocky Mountain National Park.
You're on Vacation: What's for Dinner?
One Estes Park business woman has come up with an answer! Personal Chef Patsy Walker, owner of Patsy's Cook-In "At Your Place" will plan a menu, purchase the ingredients, and cook a delicious meal right in your vacation condo. If you have special dietary needs, or simply prefer a home cooked meal without the preservative, Patsy will customize the menu to meet your needs. She even does the dishes!
Think a personal chef is a luxury? Patsy responds, "Most people think it is a luxury they can't afford. But once they consider the cost of other dinner options, my service becomes very affordable. Clients tell me they are saving money because they aren't buying take-out and restaurant meals. And they are no longer throwing away groceries purchased with the good intention - but no time - to prepare them. Think about what your precious time in the evening is worth...and what you would do with more of it."
Patsy's Cook-in "At Your Place" had to close - we'll miss them!
Patsy's Cook-in
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http://estes-park.com/blog?page=28
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Institute of Regional and Local Development >
Thesis - Regional and Local Development >
Authors: ALl, HASSEN
Advisors: Dr. Yared Amare
Copyright: Jun-2000
Date Added: 20-Nov-2012
Abstract: Gender studies in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa showed that rural women historically remained invisible in development agendas. In the literature it is argued that women are heterogeneous groups with various needs and problems. The most common types of rural women are married and female heads of households. It has been also claimed that the number of female-headed households is growing in both developing and developed countries due to cultural, social and economic factors. Moreover, female-headed households are claimed to be disadvantaged social groups who have less access to and control over productive resources such as land, labor and capita. In addition, femaleheaded households have been affected by development interventions that either increase their workload or are beyond their reach. As a result, FHHs form the greater proportion of the poor and vulnerable groups in developing countries. In light of this perspective this micro level study attempts to explain the socio-economic situation of FHHs and their involvement in Employment Generation Schemes (EGS) and its impact on them. This study has raised research questions such as i) what are the causes of female-headship? ii) which factors contribute to their vulnerability/disadvantage? iii) what are their specific problems and coping mechanisms? iv) what is the level of their involvement in Employment Generation Schemes (EGS) and its impact on them? The general objectives of this research are to i) investigate FHHs access to and control over productive resources (land, labor and capita!), ii) assess their participation in EGS and the impact of the scheme on FHHs. iii) identify and recommend issues to be considered in designing of employment programs, development policies, strategies and projects. Three research methods - household survey, focus group discussions and the household case histories were employed in order to achieve the objectives of the research. In the household survey, sixty FHHs and thirty male heads of households (MHHs) were selected among the workers of Employment Generation Schemes (EGS) being implemented in two PAs of Mekdela Wereda, South Wello. A separate questionnaire was administered to female and male respondents in order to generate baseline information on their socio-economic situation and level of participation in EGS Focus-group discussions were held with men's and women's groups to identify common problems, needs, preferences, and to prioritize them. Case histories of ten female heads of households were ix recorded to investigate their decision-making rights, histories, personal experiences and challenges that FHHs have encountered in the community and in EGS implementation. In this research both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. The results of the analysis have been presented in description and comparisons shown in tables and logical arguments to meet the objectives of the study. The study pointed out that divorce, death of husband, migration of husband and other cultural factors were the causes of female-headship in the study area. Divorce was the main sociological factor leading to female-headship, and it is caused by personal conflict of husband and wife, poverty, illness and conflict over household resources. The research also found out that FHHs have less access to main productive resources (labor, capital and land) as compared to MHHs. The study revealed that FHHs have their specific problems such as lack of adult labor, capital, assets, farm tools, good quality land, lack of time, workload, etc. These constraints have affected the livelihood of FHHs and maintained their vulnerability. As a result of these constraints, FHHs have few livestock and few crop productions. Therefore, the research established that they have difficulty offeeding their family and face recurrent food shortages. However, FHHs do not sit and wait for external intervention. They strive to cope with their particular problems and food shortages through various networks and coping mechanisms. With respect to specific problems such as lack of labor and capital, they use their social networks to get access to labor and capital. To cope with food shortages they undertake various non-farm works. However, due to local resources deficit and recurrent failure of rains, non-farm activities and indigenous coping mechanisms are not always possible. As a result, public responses such as EGS and relief assistance have been the major sources offoodfor vulnerable groups such as the poor, the landless and FHHs. In the study area FHHs have got access to food through working on EGS Apart from increasing workload and delays in payments, EGS has become the main source of food for FHHs. Therefore, given the severe labor shortages, lack of non-farm activities and food crisis in the area, special arrangements must be made to reduce women's workload and delays in payments during the implementation ofEGS
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3835
Appears in:Thesis - Regional and Local Development
Files in This Item:
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ALl HASSEN.pdf94.28 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
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John Ransom
Being president was always easy for Barack Obama.
That is, it was easy up until the time he actually was elected president. Then things got a little tougher.
In part, Obama’s troubles stem from the rigidity of his broken ideas. They admit of no compromise. Consequently, he has subsumed his whole personality into an unworkable ideology that was dead outside of academia- and news rooms- until he resurrected it.
It’s the idea that a benign government of technocrats and academics can engineer near perfect justice at the trivial cost of liberty to most.
His life and presidency can only be understood by recognizing this Obama idée fixe goes beyond merely his ideology and merges into that of his personality. Because only when one realizes that he personally identifies with his ideology in the same way that he identifies himself as a father or husband, can one finally understand how tightly he clings to it.
It’s an ideology that he clings to, like some do guns and religion, despite a century of abject failure when implemented- as his own disastrous record as president shows on a fairly small scale.
Unlike guns and religion, however, which both have long records of reliability, his ideology depends upon the unreliable magic trick of redefining of words to mean the opposite of what any plain speaking person in the USA would understand them to mean.
For example, if you redefine liberty to mean that most everyone outside of the ruling elite has the same amount of “things,” then Obama’s materialist ideology ensures “some liberty for most.” Therefore, it is only when you have a static majority, a majority that can neither rise nor fall, that “good, kind-hearted, fat, benevolent people,” as Twain describes them, can assure honest poverty for the rest of us.
In that case, why wouldn’t good, kind-hearted, fat Warren Buffett pay a tax to ensure he and his fellows maintain an ascendancy that can’t be compromised by the majority? Why wouldn’t donor good, kind-hearted, fat George Kaiser go knocking on the door of the White House for a subsidized loan for his failing private venture? The first rule of capital is to preserve it in the same way that politicians first preserve power.
And thus, in Obama’s world, everyone is happy.
John Ransom
John Ransom is the Finance Editor for Townhall Finance.
Get the best of Townhall Finance Daily delivered straight to your inbox
Follow Townhall Finance!
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http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/11/25/the_broken_president
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| | World Fact Book | Mark H. Solsman | Documentation Training and Publications, Center for Academic Computing | [email protected] 10/19/93 I _@_Kenya Geography Total area: 582,650 km2 Land area: 569,250 km2 Comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Nevada Land boundaries: 3,477 km; Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km Coastline: 536 km Maritime claims: Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm Territorial sea: 12 nm Disputes: administrative boundary with Sudan does not coincide with international boundary; possible claim by Somalia based on unification of ethnic Somalis Climate: varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior Terrain: low plains rise to central highlands bisected by Great Rift Valley; fertile plateau in west Natural resources: gold, limestone, soda ash, salt barytes, rubies, fluorspar, garnets, wildlife Land use: arable land 3%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 7%; forest and woodland 4%; other 85%; includes irrigated NEGL% Environment: unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; glaciers on Mt. Kenya Note: the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa :Kenya People Population: 26,164,473 (July 1992), growth rate 3.6% (1992) Birth rate: 44 births/1,000 population (1992) Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1992) Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1992) Infant mortality rate: 68 deaths/1,000 live births (1992) Life expectancy at birth: 60 years male, 64 years female (1992) Total fertility rate: 6.2 children born/woman (1992) Nationality: noun - Kenyan(s); adjective - Kenyan Ethnic divisions: Kikuyu 21%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 11%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, Asian, European, and Arab 1% Religions: Protestant 38%, Roman Catholic 28%, indigenous beliefs 26%, Muslim 6% Languages: English and Swahili (official); numerous indigenous languages Literacy: 69% (male 80%, female 58%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.) Labor force: 9.2 million (includes unemployed); the total employed is 1.37 million (14.8% of the labor force); services 54.8%, industry 26.2%, agriculture 19.0% (1989) Organized labor: 390,000 (est.) :Kenya Government Long-form name: Republic of Kenya Type: republic Capital: Nairobi Administrative divisions: 7 provinces and 1 area*; Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi Area*, North Eastern, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western Independence: 12 December 1963 (from UK; formerly British East Africa) Constitution: 12 December 1963, amended as a republic 1964; reissued with amendments 1979, 1983, 1986, 1988, and 1991 Legal system: based on English common law, tribal law, and Islamic law; judicial review in High Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; constitutional amendment of 1982 making Kenya a de jure one-party state repealed in 1991 National holiday: Independence Day, 12 December (1963) Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Bunge) Judicial branch: Court of Appeal, High Court Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government: President Daniel Teroitich arap MOI (since 14 October 1978); Vice President George SAITOTI (since 10 May 1989) Political parties and leaders: ruling party is Kenya African National Union (KANU), Daniel T. arap MOI, president; opposition parties include Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), Oginga ODINJA; Democratic Party of Kenya (DP), KIBAKI; note - some dozen other opposition parties Suffrage: universal at age 18 Elections: President: last held on 21 March 1988 (next to be held before March 1993); results - President Daniel T. arap MOI was reelected National Assembly: last held on 21 March 1988 (next to be held before March 1993); will be first multiparty election since repeal of one-party state law Other political or pressure groups: labor unions; exile opposition - Mwakenya and other groups Member of: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, EADB, ECA, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IGADD, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Denis Daudi AFANDE; Chancery at 2249 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008; telephone (202) 387-6101; there are Kenyan Consulates General in Los Angeles and New York :Kenya Government US: Ambassador Smith HEMPSTONE, Jr.; Embassy at the corner of Moi Avenue and Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi (mailing address is P. O. Box 30137, Nairobi or APO AE 09831); telephone [254] (2) 334141; FAX [254] (2) 340838; there is a US Consulate in Mombasa Flag: three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green; the red band is edged in white; a large warrior's shield covering crossed spears is superimposed at the center :Kenya Economy Overview: Kenya's 3.6% annual population growth rate - one of the highest in the world - presents a serious problem for the country's economy. In the meantime, GDP growth in the near term has kept slightly ahead of population - annually averaging 4.9% in the 1986-90 period. Undependable weather conditions and a shortage of arable land hamper long-term growth in agriculture, the leading economic sector. In 1991, deficient rainfall, stagnant export volume, and sagging export prices held economic growth below the all-important population growth figure. GDP: exchange rate conversion - $9.7 billion, per capita $385 (1989 est.); real growth rate 2.3% (1991 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 14.3% (1991 est.) Unemployment rate: NA%, but there is a high level of unemployment and underemployment Budget: revenues $2.4 billion; expenditures $2.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $0.74 billion (FY90) Exports: $1.0 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.) commodities: tea 25%, coffee 21%, petroleum products 7% (1989) partners: EC 44%, Africa 25%, Asia 5%, US 5%, Middle East 4% (1988) Imports: $1.9 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.) commodities: machinery and transportation equipment 29%, petroleum and petroleum products 15%, iron and steel 7%, raw materials, food and consumer goods (1989) partners: EC 45%, Asia 11%, Middle East 12%, US 5% (1988) External debt: $6.0 billion (December 1991 est.) Industrial production: growth rate 5.4% (1989 est.); accounts for 17% of GDP Electricity: 730,000 kW capacity; 2,700 million kWh produced, 110 kWh per capita (1990) Industries: small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural processing, oil refining, cement, tourism Agriculture: most important sector, accounting for 29% of GDP, about 19% of the work force, and over 50% of exports; cash crops - coffee, tea, sisal, pineapple; food products - corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables, dairy products; food output not keeping pace with population growth Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis used mostly for domestic consumption; widespread cultivation of cannabis and qat on small plots; transit country for heroin and methaqualone en route from Southwest Asia to West Africa, Western Europe, and the US Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $839 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $7,490 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $74 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $83 million Currency: Kenyan shilling (plural - shillings); 1 Kenyan shilling (KSh) = 100 cents :Kenya Economy Exchange rates: Kenyan shillings (KSh) per US$1 - 28.466 (January 1992), 27.508 (1991), 22.915 (1990), 20.572 (1989), 17.747 (1988), 16.454 (1987) Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June :Kenya Communications Railroads: 2,040 km 1.000-meter gauge Highways: 64,590 km total; 7,000 km paved, 4,150 km gravel, remainder improved earth Inland waterways: part of Lake Victoria system is within boundaries of Kenya; principal inland port is at Kisumu Pipelines: petroleum products 483 km Ports: Mombasa, Lamu Merchant marine: 1 petroleum tanker ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,727 GRT/5,558 DWT Civil air: 19 major transport aircraft Airports: 249 total, 214 usable; 21 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 46 with runways 1,220-2,439 m Telecommunications: in top group of African systems; consists primarily of radio relay links; over 260,000 telephones; broadcast stations - 16 AM; 4 FM, 6 TV; satellite earth stations - 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT :Kenya Defense Forces Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary General Service Unit of the Police Manpower availability: males 15-49, 5,688,543; 3,513,611 fit for military service; no conscription Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $100 million, 1% of GDP (1989 est.) .
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Submitted by someone who wished to remain anonymous:
RAPE TW I used to read a lot of Dan Savage. Being a bi woman with a strong sex-drive, I already had kinda fucked up views of what was “expected” of me in a relationship (hello internalized biphobia) But the thing that was most damaging to me was Dan Savage’s idea of “Good Giving and Game” which my partner at the time used to instill into me the idea that since I like some kinky things, I “owed” him other kinky things that he wanted to do.
and from that, he used it to justify forcing me to have anal. Basically what I’m saying is that Dan Savage was dangerous to me because his “sex positivity” doesn’t really leave room to say no. The most fucked up thing is that it’s really hard to tell people about my rapes because they weren’t really violent, I didn’t say no, but they were rapes nonetheless. This might not’ve been the right place to share my story but goddamn it I had to put it somewhere.
Anonymous said: Hey, I'm a female teen and I have an important question to ask. I have accepted for a long time that I'd be willing to date both male and females, but I'm not sure if I'd have sex with a female. I fluctuate between yes and no, and I'm really confused. Would I be considered "Bi-curious" or "Bi-sexual"?
You’re the only person who can determine your orientation, but I would like to point out that it’s possible to have differing romantic and sexual orientations! You could, for example, be biromantic (able to be romantically love any gender) but heterosexual (only interested in having sex with a person of a different gender). It sounds like right now you’re questioning, which is perfectly okay! It can be hard to figure these things out sometimes. Best of luck to you, anon!
Hey everyone! As you may know, Dan Savage recently gave a speech at the University of Chicago after being invited by the college to give a lecture on It Gets Better (for white cis men). During the speech, Dan Savage (in tandem with UChicago’s Institute of Politics) used transmisogynistic language.
Many trans students who had protested the event to begin with met with the IOP following the incident, but the college refused to apologize or prohibit transmisogynist slurs/lecturers from being featured in the future. These students created a petition to get the college’s attention, and prevent similar things from happening in the future.
Please help these students create a safer environment for DMAB trans students, and trans students of color by taking a moment to sign and boost
(via cavesofaltamira)
Well it’s funny to think about, you’ve got the gays marching for the right to be cocksucking homosexuals, and then you have the asexuals marching for the right to not do anything. Which is hilarious. Like, you didn’t need to march for that right. You just need to stay home, not do anything.
- Dan Savage
I’ve been mulling over this comment, and the commentary of many other people, with regard to the inclusion of asexuality in queer and other support spaces for marginalized identities.
At first glance it strikes the average person as incredibly, well, reasonable. It seems to make sense. ”Why does there need to be an asexual section in the pride parade? It’s not like anyone’s taking away their rights on the premise of their asexuality.”
And that’s true, from a legal standpoint. Heteroromantic asexuals can still marry other heteroromantic asexuals - no judge will annul their marriage because of its lack of sexual contact or lack of children. Their marriage is, in every legal sense, no less valid than that of heteroromantic sexuals. And that’s nice.
But the crux of pride parades, the purpose of the LGBT movement, of feminism and of social justice in many respects, is not purely a legal crusade or a singular plea for ink-on-parchment legislative rights. These movements also exist in an effort to initiate a shift in societal thought that will allow their proponents to exist without the threat of harm, without invalidation, and without the social stigmatization that comes from being who they are.
If the expected lifestyle of our society were such that “staying at home, not doing anything” was our primary goal, there would be no problem with Dan Savage’s words. Yet this flies in the face of fact and stands utterly contrary to our known realities. Asexuality - neck-deep in a culture of expected monogamy, of centuries-old socially embedded narratives of human bonding, of the still-present stigmatization of “the spinster,” “the loner,” and “the virgin” - remains unacceptable, othered, and invalidated in a culture of hyper-sexuality.
We live in a society in which the human body (largely, the female body) is over-sexualized, and where the basic functional anatomy of a person is deemed inherently sexual. By virtue of being human and possessing these components, we are assumed to have sexual drives linked to these body parts, and we are assumed to have latent desires to express this sexuality with another human being. In moving through public spaces and by simply existing in the sight of another human being, we are conceived of as potentially sexual, and potentially available.
Read More
(via )
The reason “It Gets Better” caught on with politicians and celebrities is because it’s great PR and it requires absolutely NOTHING from them in the way of real action.
someone on datalounge who I cannot quite disagree with (via aliapenny)
I just need that entire comment on my blog:
It’s just a bullshit PR campaign, nothing more. Telling kids to put up with bullying until they leave school is not constructive advice. It’s cruel. School boards, school administrators, teachers, etc., need to have zero tolerance policy for bullying. It’s not uncommon for teachers to bully unpopular kids themselves. That’s where the changes need to be made. But that requires action, and it requires standing up to conservatives who fight anti-bullying campaigns tooth and nail (often claiming that bullying gay people is a christian right). The reason “It Gets Better” caught on with politicians and celebrities is because it’s great PR and it requires absolutely NOTHING from them in the way of real action.
It’s cruelty to tell a kid to tolerate bullying. And to whom is this campaign even directed? The fat gay kids that Savage makes fun of himself? It’s a campaign aimed at good looking white boys with great bodies and upper middle class families. Yes, THEY will do better once they start hitting the gay bars. But for most average looking kids from working class families, they will find a gay community that’s often very much like High School, with cliques and teasing and rejection. Gay kids need to get support from society, and the kids that need that most are the kids that Savage himself would mock and demonize; kids of color, working class and poor kids, fat kids, kids with acne, and kids who are otherwise marginalized in society AND in our community.
Even when you look at the videos on YouTube, you see politicians who’ve come out against marriage equality, sports teams that would never accept a gay person in their ranks, and celebrities who just want some good press. The gay kids who participate are often great looking white boys, who you know will be accepted in the gay community, and are already leading charmed lives. It’s a campaign for the people Savage likes…sexy white male teenagers with athletic bodies who will be greeted with open arms.
I’ll take the campaign seriously when Savage speaks out on behalf of marginalized gay kids, and criticizes the gay community for its racism and other prejudices. But he’s the biggest bigot and bully of the bunch, and that’s been proven from his many years as a “columnist.” I often couldn’t believe how conservative, prejudiced, and intolerant he was in those columns.”
(via davyjonesing)
Also trans people.
Dan Savage doesn’t care about the T, and he’s been actively, grossly cissexist on many distinct occasions.
(via misterstibbons)
Not to mention asexuals, women, lower-class people, etc.
Let’s face it kids, Dan Savage is the most hypocritical douchebag in the queer rights movement.
But yes I agree with everything that has been posted above.
(via daelhorhota)
don’t forget that he thinks bisexuals in general need to “make up their mind” and that male bisexuals are essentially unicorns
(via freakingdork)
I once had an extended argument over when he was glitter-bombed because he’s a huge hypocritical transphobe. You can’t claim to be a trans* ally and then hurl transphobic slurs at your enemies. There’s no complicit-by-ignorance-and-stupidity argument to be made there - that’s just straight up transphobia. He is not an ‘activist.’ He is making a great living by essentially capitalizing on the intersection of his hegemonic identities and a burgeoning pinkwashed economy.
(via trungles)
liking all the commentary here, and yeah that’s always bugged me about the “it gets better” campaign; it should be made better for kids NOW, not just waiting for them to get older and for their life to stop sucking
(via pentapod-monster)
savage doesnt give a shit about #rape victims either oohh tss….
(via peppersongg)
I think we all agree that dan savage is a stinky, puckered asshole.
(via ecseas13)
Agree with everything mentioned, and adding more links
General list
Transmisogyny and whorephobia
This old but still equally disgusting bit of transmisogyny and repeated misgendering of a trans woman
YFIP page w/ a fuckload of links
Another page o his general shittiness
A really racist comment
(I’ve probably doubled up on some links but w/e)
And this is just from like, the first page of google. I also wanna mention that he has a penchant to call other gay/lesbian people f*gs and d*kes which is never ok, unless the person has explicitly said that’s an ok term to use cor them.
(via evelark)
(via )
Anonymous said: One thing I really, really hate about this guy is his complete disrespect for Religion and disregard of people who are religious as intelligent people. By his logic, if you say you're Christian/Muslim/Jewish/whatever else, you're clearly ignorant and lack the mental capacity to understand the world in any way shape or form. I've been raised Catholic but I'm bisexual, my very religious dad accepts me for it, my great aunt who is even more religious than my dad is a lesbian! Religion =/= ignorance
Yes, and there are plenty of homophobic atheists, too. Religion may, perhaps, motivate the more extreme homophobes, but otherwise, it seems to have little influence on homophobia. I wouldn’t even say that its origin is religion. It seems more like the handful of verses referencing it were a convenient argument. Its origin, rather, seems to me to be more in gender-policing than anything else. Historically, it seems to be strongest when gender roles are challenged in society.
wow, I never realized quite how horrible Dan Savage is, with friends like these…
Anonymous said: Hi! I was going through your blog(and thanks for all your work btw) and saw your answer to an ask where you said aces who cis and heteroromantic should be a bit careful when using the term queer and i was wondering if you consider the same for cis aromantics? Cause I'm one and i don't really know if i fall into the queer spectrum...
You know, that’s actually a complicated question and something I have to think about.
"Fuck No, Dan Savage" was created to showcase the cissexist, sexist, anti-asexual, anti-bisexual, classist, racist, sizeist, and ableist douchebaggery of Dan Savage, of "It Gets Better" (for privileged queers only) fame.
It's currently moderated by Kerry (basicallykerry), Christy (sciencefangirl), Phineas (expectedly) and Em (epiphenomenon).
view archive
Ask me anything
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http://fucknodansavage.tumblr.com/
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George Needham
Welcome to my new website. I'm not doing consulting any more, but I still care deeply about the future of libraries. My heart is in public libraries, but I know how important academic, research, school and special libraries are, too. I'll occasionally post some ideas here, but you can find me easily at OCLC in Dublin, Ohio.
So why do I care so much about libraries? I've invested my life in them! I started hounding my local branch librarian for a job when I was about 12 years old. She finally hired me when I turned old enough to work in New York State, and I have been working in and for libraries ever since.
Libraries are not my only love, though. I'm married, have a stepdaughter and son-in-law, and two delightful grandchildren.
In my spare time, I enjoy baseball, hockey, movies, music (Broadway, American standards, bluegrass, old timey, classic rock, Motown, classical, classic country...), wine, and old time radio. As I type this, I'm listening to an episode of "Gunsmoke" from the mid-1950s.
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Contractions at top of stomach
Common Questions and Answers about Contractions at top of stomach
Where do contractions start is at the abdomen or on top of the stomach. Ive been having a pain on the top of my stomach that lasts about a minute idk if its a contraction or something else like indigestion maybe??? No clue.....
Today I worked my butt off at work and half way through my shift the top of my stomach felt tight and very very painful, as if I had done a bunch of crunches and as though my stomach muscles have been stretched .. The pain has been there for the past 5 hours. Every now and then it'll hurt more than usual... I guess all I'm asking is what am I feeling? Are these contractions or just my body being tired? I'm a first time Mhm and im worried.
Hm. Google where the top of your uterus is at your number of weeks. If you're not showing you're probably under 20wks (just guessing) so your uterus won't be up very high at that point. If you're feeling the tightening much above your belly button for example it's probably something besides contractions. Just my thoughts.
Ok I wasn't small before I got pregnant..I was down right chubby now my stomach is hard at the top and flabby at the bottom..what I was wondering was when I'm having contractions I know my stomach is suppose to get hard but will the flabby part at the bottom get hard too?
I was told that contractions start at the top of your belly but I talked to my boss and she said hers felt more twards the bottom before she had her kids
I am 33 weeks and 4 days, and today while I was in Wal-Mart and on my way home I have a few sharp pains at the bottom of my stomach on the side.. what could this be? Thanks for the help!
I've been getting false labor contractions a lot as well as braxhicks, my midwife told me the braxhicks you will feel on the top of your belly, for me it's like the feeling of tightening my abb muscles, where as the contractions are at the bottom of your belly and for most women they start out feeling like period cramps with minor back aches, so far that info has helped me a lot :) just waiting for labor!
I know the pain of contractions feel like period pains but is it just at the bottom of your stomach like a period cramp or all over like the top as well. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and have been having weird pains all over my stomach area.
I feel my contractions at the top of my belly. How far along r u?
Then it climbs - like how the cars of a coaster climbs that first hill, agonizingly slow. Around this point I feel my stomach muscles tighten from the top of my bump down to my pelvic area and it sorta radiates across. Then you have the apex - this is when I feel it in my lower back and its painful enough to take my breath away. This is where birthing classes are VERY helpful because they teach you how to breathe here without hyperventilating.
Ocassionally, my stomach just hardens up, and it lasts for a long time. This happens esp. at night, and it gets impossible to sleep, because it is uncomfortable and painful. Last night was awful. My stomach hardened up, and it was still hard when I woke up around 3am, and up untill this morning. I drink plenty of water, so I know I cant be dehydrated, and I am not even sure if these are contractions, because they dont come and go, they last for a long time, then disappear for a few days.
Kimberly- start timing the time that it takes in between your stomach tightening. The top of your uterus will get hard when you are having contractions. You may finally be in early labor but you'll know better if you start timing it. If you have 4 in an hour you are definitely in early labor. Go to L&D if the contractions are 10min appart.
Ok ladies I went to class tonight feeling fine about the time class ended I got really cramppy feeling like with my period then my stomach got super hard. I started having some contractions on my way home and started to time them. They didnt get into a regular pattern until 8:17 and so far its 9:10 and every 10 minutes I have a contraction lasting about 1 min. I was wanting to know could I actually be in labor? I dont want to get too excited but its a little hard not too.
I'm a try but if it don't stop in a hour or 2. I'm going in.
-braxton hicks tend to just feel like the uterus itself tightening all at once. Keep in mind that feeling the hardness at the top of the uterus can also be the baby pushing his/her butt out. It can feel almost the same, especially to someone who isn't familiar with what contractions feel like. If at ANY time you aren't certain if they are real or BH, call your doc and explain what you are feeling. They can determine whether or not you need to be checked.
Contractions are, as nsrchofbaby wrote, tightening of the lower abdomen. This usually lasts (at our stage they are Braxton Hicks contractions) about 30 s. A friend of mine never noticed them (alot of women don't) but I have been getting them since the 5th month and I notice particular situations where I get them e.g. after being on my feet for a long time, walking fast. Period like cramps are normal but if they radiate to your back then usually it isn't.
I've been having real contractions since 24wks. They start at the top of my tummy and if I put my hand at the top of my uterus I can feel it get hard. They're different to bh as I get a lot of pressure and cramping with them that I can't talk through. However my dr is not concerned as I only get a couple a day and its usually from dehydration and walking. He says they are uterine contractions not early labour as there is no pattern to them and they go away if I lie on my side and drink water.
I don't think it's hemorrhoids, my stomach is bubbling and cramping up really bad and baby is kicking around on top of that.
I'm 35w/4d and I been having some back pain and it comes down to my stomach or sometimes on the top of my stomach and get so hard could it be some contractions but I'm getting back pain and stomach getting hard and the pain stay there for like 5 mins and go away and then the pain comes back more at nights?
What does it mean when you stomach gets very hard at the top n is very uncomfortable n also hard to breath. Mine got hard n it stayed like that for a couple of hours. Has it happend to anyone?
I get them at the top middle of my stomach when I've been standing up awhile. Its from the heaviness of the baby pulling on me.
sounds like contractions..
With my first, I would stand up after sitting for a few minutes and my stomach at the top would get hard. Didn't hurt.. but then toward the very end they became kind of uncomfortable. While I was in labor, the contractions felt like my period cramps x200. It didn't feel very pleasant at all. I know some can have silent contractions, but usually you'll know if you feel them.
I am 23 weeks pregnant and the top of my stomach is in severe pain and I can find a comfortable spot to lay or sit, what could this be?
I had may times in the past those kind of contractions... the exact SAME of the one in labor. I had too kids naturally, so I know! Usually it last for 20-30 min.But last week end I had an episode of 3 hours... it was horrible. Ctx that last for 2 to 5 minutes, stop 2 to 5 minutes and comes back. The same when we're at 9cm, ready to push. I went to ER and it stop after 1,5 hour there so I sign a refusal of treatment and promise I would do the tests to my office the day after. (I'm a midwife).
I just wanted to know if it was normal to experiance a sharp pain at the very top of your belly right underneath your boobs. I woke up this morning thinking someone had stabbed me it hurt so bad. It ended up going away about a minute later and hasn't happened since but basically I just want to know if that is normal.
in the side or a sudden, brief cramp. They can happen for hours at a time. You won't feel the top of the uterus harden when you have round ligament pain. Contractions happen when the whole uterus rises up and hardens for 20-60 seconds or more, and then relaxes again. Round ligament pain is typically described as "lightening fast", "very sharp and sudden", or "knifelike". Does that help any?
lately ive noticed its been on the top of my belly the most. real labor contractions are actually painful where as BH are not so much(just uncomfortable) and real contractions dont occur spontaneously, they happen more regularly. i get both low blows and high kicks even though she has been head down now since my 28 week U/s (32 weeks now) she'll get her feet in my ribs and she will also cause some pretty bad pelvic pains because her head is down there.
MedHelp Health Answers
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http://healthquestions.medhelp.org/contractions-at-top-of-stomach
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Keress bármilyen szót, mint például: ratchet
After Branwell Bronte.
Yorkshire slang for an intellecual, drug addled, boozed-up waster, (of which there are many here) or one with pretentions of being such - after the infamous opium guzzling brother of the Bronte sisters, who allegedy wrote the novel 'Wuthering Heights but was too wrecked to notice that his sister published it under her name!
(Two old mates meet in a chance encounter at the bar)
Jim-bob: Yo, Marmaduke. How ya doing?
Marmaduke: Hey, I'm fine mate. How's your Ralph?
Jim-bob: Ah, he's always mashed and on the lash these days.
Marmaduke: Yeah, I heard he's turned into a bit of a Branwell.
Beküldő: chris firth 2007. január 22.
Words related to branwell
electraglade junkie lash lush wuthering heights
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Keress bármilyen szót, mint például: thot
It's a person so reckless that they're trying to get in fights and cause trouble for no reason wherever they go.
Yo I was at the bar last night with Johnny and someone stepped on his shoe and apologized but Johnny still hit him. That kid is a combustible ass nigga.
Beküldő: Amerigo 2013. október 18.
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