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Oil falls to near $96 after weeks of strong gains
Oil prices fell to nearly $96 a barrel Monday on signs that the U.S. and Iran may restart talks about Iran's nuclear program.
In New York benchmark oil for March delivery dropped by $1.60 to finish at $96.17 a barrel. Oil prices had risen steadily since they traded near $86 a barrel in mid-December on hopes for an improving global economy.
When economies grow, shippers and travelers use more gasoline and diesel, pushing up demand for oil to make the fuels.
Brent crude, the benchmark used to set prices for oil used by many U.S. refineries, was down $1.16 to end at $115.60 in London.
U.S. retail gasoline prices continued their recent climb, however. The average U.S. pump price rose a penny to $3.52 Monday. The average price has risen 20 cents in just 10 days. The average price is a nickel more than a year ago, and higher than it has ever been at this time of year.
The Energy Department reported Monday that U.S. drivers spent 4 percent of their pre-tax income on gasoline last year, the second highest percentage in thirty years.
Forecasters don't believe drivers will have to pay even more this year. While gasoline prices are higher than last year now, analysts do not expect the recent surge to continue. Oil supplies are relatively high and gasoline demand, especially in the U.S., is weak.
For much of the past two years, tensions in the Middle East have helped keep oil prices high by crimping supplies and raising fears that supplies could be cut even further. Western nations have taken steps to stem the flow of crude out of Iran to try to convince the country to stop what the West says is a program to develop a nuclear weapon.
In response Iran has threatened to disrupt the flow of oil through the Middle East.
On Saturday, while on a visit in Germany, Vice President Joe Biden said Washington was ready for direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program, which Teheran insists is only for peaceful purposes. The Iranian foreign minister on Sunday welcomed Biden's gesture but did not commit to taking up the offer.
Negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany have made little progress and analysts welcomed the possibility of direct talks.
"It seems that small steps in that direction have started," said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland. "The U.S. had its election, Israel had its election but Iran still needs to go through its elections in June and that could still be a delay in the formal process but already a small change of dynamics will be important."
If Iranian oil that is now embargoed can return to the market, supplies will rise and prices could fall.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
- Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to finish at $3.01 per gallon.
- Natural gas rose 1 cent to end at $3.32 per 1,000 cubic feet.
- Heating oil lost less than 1 cent to finish at $3.15 a gallon.


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Review of Teacher Candidates
All teacher candidates are subject to an annual academic performance review process and a clinical performance review process every semester. The Teaching and Learning faculty review candidates' knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for participation in the program and degree completion. An "Abilities and Educational Dispositions" form is completed on any candidate that faculty have concerns.

subset: commoncrawl


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There are 7 days left to Christmas and I find myself in a familiar place - trying to catch up to Christmas. Being a busy mom who works long hours makes it hard to be prepared.
There is the tree to put up which is traditionally done the weekend after Thanksgiving. Mine went up Monday night and at the expense of doing work I brought home (as usual).
Shopping to do for family: Nope I am still not done. I look at my "haul" and say "It's not enough. It's not equal. Not enough of something. Back out to buy more is in the plans.
Charity to give to: Yep, I have bought some toys and they sit in my closet - still not donated.
Cookies: Dough in refrigerator - Not done! Will it ever happen?
Gingerbread house - Never will happen
Christmas dinner planned and purchased: I have it more or less planned but not purchased. What am I waiting for?
Christmas cards? I had a planned photography session after I had the photographer help with planning the outfits. They have not yet arrived. Session rescheduled for after the new year. So, I took pictures in front of my tree (TONIGHT) and ordered them at Walgreens. They are going to be picked up tomorrow and mailed God knows when. When have I been to a post office?
Packages for out of town: Not mailed
Thank you cards to send off for gifts received: Not even purchased
Holiday lights/decorations outside: Didn't happen this year.
Visiting lights to enjoy with the kids: Hmmm.... sounds like a thought
Christmas Parade: Skipped because I was too tired and my back hurt
Visiting the mall Santa/Santa letters: OMG I need to do this soon!
Advent calendars and elves on the shelves? Lovely tradition Martha Stewart mothers, but it probably won't happen in the next 10 years.
Any presents wrapped? Not one!
Class room party preparation and teacher gifts? I did it tonight (the night before as usual procrastinators do). Wrapping various candies in cellophane, ensuring each child gets one with a card from my trio... it's not as pretty or elaborate as some parents will make and I am glad I will be too busy working to see the Martha Stewart creations to make me feel I failed in yet, one more area. Gift card for teacher - check along with a regifted mug full of Ghiradelli chocolate. Yep, I am that person.
I am sure I am forgetting about 1000 other details
I will be up till 5 am on Christmas eve/morning, doing last minute shopping, trying to clean the house, prepare things for the next day, wrap presents, do the Santa cookies and milk, etc.
I find myself so frustrated that there isn't more time to prepare, but then I knew this day was coming 365 days ago. It happens the same time every year, so why am I not more prepared? Why doesn't it even feel like Christmas? I found myself today, giving a lecture to a group of clients about the holiday being this amalgamation of 1000 different ideas on the meaning of Christmas. We are sold these ideas and we buy them willingly and when the holiday doesn't measure up to that ideal in our heads, we are unhappy.
We need lots of presents under the tree. Everyone is supposed to be holly and jolly. There are supposed to be snow and snowmen, sleigh rides and sleds (impossible for us Floridians), hot cocoa by the fire, surrounded by a big family, opening presents and having holiday ham, turkey, and "figgy pudding" (whatever that is). Santa and reindeer, elves, carols, mangers, the nativity scene, Christmas trees, holiday wreaths, watching "It's a Wonderful Life," or whatever holiday movie.
Have we forgot this is a religious holiday? If we simply were to think of it as the birthday for Jesus, would we still have this inordinate amount of pressure to get things done or to go into debt fulfilling the dreams of our children? If it's really about our relationship with Christ, then it isn't about being surrounded by your large family and it's okay if you don't have family support during this time. So then what the heck are we doing to ourselves?
I think in order to manage my stress and my guilt I have to go back to the whole premise of the day and keep perspective. So what if I don't get a gingerbread house built, the cookies made, or the perfect photo sent out to my loved ones? This is a day about Jesus - Thank you God for sending your child into the world, that he could be our light and show us how to live and how to die. Thank you for loving us that much to give us an in flesh experience of you. May we love each other with the love you give to us.
I hope everyone else out there is having a stress-free 7 day countdown.
In case you don't get the holiday photo till spring... here's a preview.
Yours Truly,


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Abstract According to the RIAA the media industry is suffering heavy losses due to increased copying and file sharing in the last 10 years. Sanity and reason shows there must be something true with that argument. But are the numbers the media companies are providing correct? What can we learn from history? The following links […]
Posts Tagged 'Rapid Share'
[Media] Newspaper Articles About Copying And File Sharing
April 28th, 2010 J. ΞPSTΞÏN


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You may find this hard to believe but we're actually not opening any new exhibitions this weekend. You'll have to settle for any of the ten major exhibitions or twelve smaller shows currently on view. Both specially ticketed exhibitions—Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy and Stanley Kubrick—have been buzzing with visitors. Make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time to ensure admission.
Our Stanley Kubrick film series continues tonight with the classic Lolita. (Have you seen the exhibition yet? One of the most wonderful little pieces in the show is a letter Sue Lyon wrote to Kubrick in the early '90s, letting him know what she was up to so many decades later.) In conjunction with the film, Patina is offering a special pop-up dinner series, RED—a three-course price fixe dinner preceding the film (price includes admission to the film). Seating is limited to call for reservations: 323 377-2698. Check out the full RED series for future dinner/movie combos.
On Sunday afternoon, in conjunction with Robert Mapplethorpe: XYZ, art historian Richard Meyer talks about Robert Mapplethorpe's X, Y, and Z portfolios, and the debate they sparked around federal arts funding in the late 1980s and early 90s.
Lolita and Mapplethorpe? It's a bit of a risqué weekend of events at LACMA! Round out that theme by seeing the provocative installation Young, which examines how photographers have depicted children in their work (see this recent Unframed post for more on the topic).
For those looking for more family friendly activities, Sunday offers our usual Andell Family Sunday art-making activities, inspired by the sculptures in the current Ken Price exhibition. Finally, you can cap off your weekend with a free concert from the Almendrix Trio in our free Sundays Live chamber music series.
Scott Tennent


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Another Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
And what did we come up with?
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: The Political Solution Nouri al-Maliki ...
- TV: How Extant won (and so did you)
- The grab bag roundtable
- Film Classics of the 20th Century
- Sometimes a gal just wants to dish
- This edition's playlist
- The moment Barack confesses . . .
- Murray Delivers Remarks on VA Reform, Secretary an...
- John Anthony La Pietra Attorney General For the Pe...
- KRG statement on recent events at oil facilities a...
- Highlights
See you next week.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.


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St. Bernard: Everything must go
Normally a Charlottesville-based home inspector, Peter Drenan is on special assignment as a FEMA leader and a Hook stringer. This is the first in a series of dispatches from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast.
ST. BERNARD PARISH, LA– It's been two months since Katrina hit. I've been down here for about two weeks now– the first was up in headquarters in Baton Rouge to get the overview, the personnel issues, the scope of the problem, and the efforts that were already under way. The last week I moved down to New Orleans to get the same view at a more regional level.
I'm in charge of all debris operations in the four parishes (counties) in the southeast corner of the state, including New Orleans. I'm also heading up a statewide effort to oversee all building demolitions. It's daunting. More than daunting.
The scope of the demolitions is inconceivable, even to me. Even if you get your mind around the scale of the operation, you tend to lose sight of the impact our actions have on the people. Each has a story that breaks your heart. It's so hard to hear them, day in and out.
Yesterday was the absolute worst of it.
St. Bernard Parish borders New Orleans' Ninth Ward that has been so much in the news. Unfortunately, it's at an even lower elevation that the Ninth Ward, so they were hit first by the storm surge and then the flooding.
There are about 26,000 buildings in the parish– private, commercial, and public. We estimate that over 18,000 of them need to be demolished because they're uninhabitable. All that's here are people living in tent cities. There are absolutely no businesses functioning. None. There's no revenue stream coming into the parish. No tax base. And in the last 45 days, only one percent of the debris has been removed.
"Debris" in this case includes trees and limbs. It also includes pieces of buildings , cars, boats, and airplanes. Unfortunately, it also includes rotted food products, animal carcasses, and– sadly– human remains.
Cemeteries here are above ground, and coffins have been shuffled like cards. The worst of it is that bodies of people who were alive during the storm are still being discovered because we're going into areas that have so far been unreachable.
People in St. Bernard Parish have lost everything, and there's no sense that they will recover. Most didn't have insurance. There is virtually no incentive to return here because it will be years before this is a viable community. And there is so much sadness that people get choked up just looking at their former homes. They are leaving the parish in droves, making the economic outlook even worse.
Very disheartening. Very tragic.
The Parish president and council asked us yesterday to put together a monumental plan for basically the complete demolition of their parish buildings. They want a massive lightning strike to clear the table– then, maybe, their folks will see a ray of hope.
There were tears in their eyes as they asked. It reminded me of those stories in Vietnam where a platoon was being overrun. They would call a bombing mission on themselves as their only, last recourse. They knew they might not survive, but it was their only option.
Peter Drenan
A member of the Georgia Task Force Search and Rescue Team, left, gets information from residents near a van left on fence by Hurricane Katrina' storm surge in Chalmette, Louisiana, in St. Bernard Parish


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Earlier this year, one of our neighboring classes had a "Western Day". As they paraded around our school, several of my kids wanted to know when our western theme would be. I realized that our calendar was planned for the year, and I hadn't planned a western week this year. The kids asked again, so I thought I would take another look at our calendar. The only week I thought I could change was the following week. I knew that it would be a fun theme, but I finally had my lesson plans for the week finished early. I ended up deciding to just scrap the week I'd planned, and see what I could come up with. The week went well and we took lots of pictures.
When I was asked the other day for some good activities to do for a western theme, I decided to go through some of the pictures and realized somehow most of them had been deleted. I thought I'd share some of the activities we did that week before any other shots were gone or I forgot the ideas completely!
Family Involvement Activity
I sent a construction paper boot home with each child and asked them to decorate it with their families. They were allowed to use any adornments they chose. The boots turned out really cute and the families were very creative!
Draw A Cowboy
I gave the students die cuts of hats and boots to glue to the top and bottom of a page. I then asked them to draw a cowboy in between!
Decorate A Catcus
Die cuts of cacti were available in the art center. Many of the kids decorated with collage materials. (I also had hay in the art center that week. It made nice "thorns"!)
Country Music and Square Dancing
My friends love to dance! Here are a few the hit the top of the Billboard in our class:
These Boots Are Made for Walking
Cotton Eyed Joe
Rocky Top
Thank God I'm A Country Boy
Oh, Susannah
She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain
Home On The Range
Math and Language Arts Activities
Roll 'Em, Round 'Em, Corral 'Em
This was a fun math activity I made up. We used farm animals and rolled the dice and put that many animals in our corral. When all the animals were corralled, we took turns counting all the animals in each corral together. "Who had the most? The least? More horses? More cows?" There are lots of possibilities for this game!
I programmed boots and cacti die cuts (hand cut! ughh...) with uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers and dots for each number to have in centers and play games with.
I also did some of the activities here at Hummingbird's Educational Resources.
Special Lunch
We made Beanie Weenies for lunch one day. We made a Trail Mix with Cheerios, Chex, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, M&;M's, raisins, goldfish, etc. The kids could pick which ever mixture they wanted (with a limit on the sweet stuff)!
One day, we made s'mores! Mmmmm!
Sensory Table
We had two sensory tubs going since I couldn't decide which I wanted to do. One tub had sand and water with gold painted rocks and sifters for panning gold. The other had hay. The kids took turns hiding different types of toys in the hay.
Dramatic Play
I transformed our dramatic play area into a ranch. There were dress up clothes and lots of cowboy hats available (even a pink one). We made hobby horses with troughs full of hay, had a paper campfire, a tent, lantern and bedroll. The kids loved "camping out under the stars" !
Cowboy Vests
We used bulletin board paper to make cowboy vests. In the past, I have used brown paper bags, but they are complicated to cut and it ends up being a lot of work for the teacher. This was simply a sheet of bb paper folded in half with the neck cut out. These freed us up to allow the children to get about the more important task of decorating them!
Outdoor Activities:
These were a lot of fun, we'll definitely try them again!
Barrel racing with trikes--the kids loved this!
What time is Mr. Cowboy? Round Up Time! (Just like "What Time Is It Mr. Fox? )
Potato Sack Races (even more fun to watch, tee, hee, hee!)
and a lasso game where the students had to throw a hula hoop "lasso" and try to "rope" a "steer" (chair)
Some of our favorite reads:
How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Dragonfly Books)
Armadilly Chili
Pecos Bill
Armadillo Rodeo
The Gingerbread Cowboy
Armadillo Tattletale
Bubba the Cowboy Prince
Matthew the Cowboy
Cowgirl Kate
This was a great unit to teach and the kids had a lot of fun with it. It allowed me to touch on a lot of different areas, which gave me a lot of flexibility to come up with activities that focused on the skills I really needed to assess. I will definitely do this again next year!


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Before I get going on posting all about Christmas, I thought I'd share my boy's room with ya.
Liam and Jax share a room, plus it doubles as a play room, so I really have to keep it organized for them. I try not to "decorate" it too much. I just let their own things fill up the room.
First, I wanted to share their new bedding that I just picked up at Ikea. It's very cool and boyish, and goes well with the rest of the room.
The walls are painted blue with a brown, white and red stripe going around the whole room. Then we have a Spiderman mural that my husband Jake painted a few years ago.
A little white dresser holds some of their clothes and an old changing table in the closet holds the rest.... they sure have a lot of clothes.
I've hung up a few of their plaid shirts on the closet door.
The room came with a built in bookcase, which has been wonderful for extra storage.
I also took off one of the closet doors to make the closet more accessible. . . or maybe it got beat down, either way were leaving it.
A blue tub holds their large collection of light sabers and Nerf guns.
The changing table in the closet also holds all of their games.
The wicker basket under the window holds.... Yes, More toys!
But where most of the toys hide, is under the bed. I have used large, long, plastic bins to hold all of their smaller toys.
These are perfect for housing blocks, train tracks, action figures and miscellaneous.
The best part is that they are easy to pull in and out, and can be covered up when not in use.
I have also made sure there is plenty of play space in the middle of the room.
Liam and Jax love their room and thank you for checking it out!


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With the onset of the digital revolution, reimagining the services HR delivers to the organization while improving how it operates will be an important differentiator. That requires reexamining the requirements of your organization and how your workforce wants to consume HR services, then determining what kind of services HR should provide and how it should operate.
You need to focus on three key areas:
Improving employee services – The objective of HR is to deliver an improved "customer" experience and optimize the way service is delivered. For example, leveraging global business services units or shared service centers to create a more efficient globally consistent way of working and delivering an end-to-end experience.
Digitization of HR services – With technology enabled HR services, employees have greater access to tools to help them manage their careers, increase engagement, collaborate via social and crowd-source innovation.
Analytics everywhere – The ability for HR to capture huge amounts of data is increasingly important to deliver insights to drive HR strategy and services. HR can leverage this data to develop a customized employee experience and proactively deliver services that anticipate employees' requirements.
The result of all this is reshaping the HR function and a shift to "consumerized" employee services, focused not only on transactions but on value added services and activities based on insight driven analytics to deliver customized propositions that can help drive greater success for your people and your company.
Shattering the boundaries of HR
HR is more than a function. It is a distinctive capability embedded throughout the organization. This requires shattering the boundaries of HR, through spreading traditional skills and content across the organization while focusing more and more on the most strategic areas.
Digital disruption
Digital technology is helping drive the decentralization of traditional HR services, i.e., as talent management, shifting to employees some traditional HR activities and empowering people to take significantly more responsibility for their own careers and development. Moreover, availability of powerful analytics tool allows HR to exploit the huge amount of data collected through traditional ERPs to provide key insights driving overall HR strategy and decisions in recruitment and other talent management areas.
Seamless employee experiences
HR shared services organizations have traditionally been viewed as administrative and transactional back-office functions focused on efficiency and compliance activities. Leading shared services groups are striving to move beyond fulfilling administrative tasks so they can concentrate on delighting employees with an eye toward improving workforce productivity, employee engagement and satisfaction, and talent retention by providing an improved employee value proposition.
Case Study: Accenture is using analytics to support our own workforce planning.
To overcome the challenge of balancing talent supply with demand, Accenture is leveraging an advanced workforce planning tool (OptTek). We were able to source two years of talent supply and demand data, business operations and other external data, to test predictions and compare the forecasts to actuals on a rolling three-month horizon and some forecasts up to 12 months.
And the results?
We were able to attain higher forecast accuracy across geographies, business units and talent segments and enabled predictive models for skill and talent demand. This helped improve team sizes and talent acquisition to support strategic growth objectives.


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Blowing in the wind
From the Senate in the 1970s to the presidential campaign trail in 2020, Joe Biden has a long record of going where political pressures push him—and right now they're pushing him aggressively leftward
From the Senate in the 1970s to the presidential campaign trail in 2020, Joe Biden has a long record of going where political pressures push him—and right now they're pushing him aggressively leftward
The U.S. has halted asylum hearings, and migrants hoping for entry are in limbo
The pandemic divides Americans—even Christians
Some Americans take extra precautions. Some go on with business as usual
Andrée Seu Peterson / Janie B. Cheaney / Joel Belz / Marvin Olasky / Mindy Belz / The Editors /
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Dean's List / Metro Minute / Snapshots of China / Sophia's World / Whirled Views /
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WASHINGTON, D.C.-Brent Dieleman likes to talk about a facility near Washington, D.C., that burns trash, which heats water for steam to turn turbines to make electricity. There are only 87 such facilities in the United States, and none has been built in the last 15 years. Covanta Energy's trash-to-energy plant in Fairfax, Va., outside Washington processes 3,000 tons of garbage every day, producing enough energy to power 75,000 homes.
The emissions from the process-while cleaner than fossil fuels-look toxic. "They're clean, but nobody wants them in their communities," said Dieleman, 28, who analyzes trash for a living at an environmental consulting firm, SCS Engineers, in Washington. In communities where these biomass plants are proposed, residents object because of quality of life: What will happen to their asthmatic children? they demand. The perception, Dieleman says, comes from plants that did emit harmful chemicals many years ago-practices that have changed under restrictions from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trash-to-energy has an unlikely champion in Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, former head of the Democratic National Committee. He toured Covanta's facility in March and proclaimed his support the whole way through. But he is an exception among politicians. Trash-eating, smoke-belching energy plants aren't a politically popular idea, and they barely garner a mention on Capitol Hill.
The concept has a more persistent champion in Dieleman. In a recent trip to Texas, he puttered through landfill after landfill, scrutinizing the types of waste and the management of each site. Texas, he says, has a lot of potential for projects to recycle landfill gas, or methane, into energy. Dieleman and his team also have taken on the dumpsters at the University of Maryland, divided each scrap of trash into over 60 categories, and were able to engineer better ways for the university to manage its solid waste.
Washington may be a city where people pride themselves on the nobility of their jobs and the titles that go with them, but Dieleman sees his devotion to solid waste management as noble, too, and a calling from God: "I'm just a garbage man. . . . Everybody plays an important role in bringing about God's kingdom."
Part of promoting God's kingdom, he believes, is eliminating wastefulness. But private and public recycling programs are falling by the wayside as markets slide and the price of recyclable materials per ton plummets. "We live in such a throw-away society," said Dieleman. "The natural world, the way God created it-there is no waste."
At dawn on Saturday mornings in Pella, Iowa, when his classmates were either asleep in their beds or watching cartoons, 9-year-old Brent Dieleman would ask his father to take him out to collect trash. For the next eight years, he and his father scoured the roadsides on Saturdays for recyclable litter, and once he got his driver's license, young Dieleman went on his own. His father was relieved.
Dieleman's garbage sifting disgusts even his colleagues, but the clean-cut engineer continues his childhood hobby by going dumpster diving for recyclables on weekends. The addiction once helped solve a crime: On a Saturday morning rummage through a trash can at a truck stop in Iowa, Dieleman found a half-full Pepsi bottle. He dumped the soda out and discovered a wad of checks stuffed inside, over 60, made out to a Pizza Hut in Wisconsin. The restaurant had been robbed at gunpoint the day before. Because Dieleman was wearing gloves when he picked up the bottle, police were able to dust the bottle for fingerprints and track down the criminals.
"I thought I would get free pizza for a year," he said. "All they sent me was a pencil and a fake sheriff badge."
But paying attention to waste is paying off-not usually in solving crimes, but in finding "renewable energy" in something most people simply want to be rid of: trash.
When politicians talk about "renewable energy," they're usually referring to wind or solar energy, both expensive to generate. With credit markets floundering, policy makers assume that the government will have to provide capital for investing in renewable energy infrastructure--especially if the United States is to meet the goal set by the Obama administration of doubling renewable energy generation in the next two years.
Hudson Clean Energy, an energy equity firm, estimates that the price tag for reaching the goal will be $134 billion, according to The New York Times. Other renewable energy ideas run the gamut, from drilling into the earth's magma to harnessing ocean waves to installing smart energy use meters in every home in America. Most of the ideas require substantial investment in infrastructure.
For Dieleman trash is also renewable energy. Landfill gas, for one, can be channeled into energy, but that is an icky, unpopular idea, especially with the climate-change lobby, with its concern for letting loose in the atmosphere methane, a potent greenhouse gas. To that Dieleman shakes his head: "There are so many good uses for garbage!"
Elsewhere in Washington, a like-minded group is going at the problem in a more grubby way, with the only investment being their own time. They are dumpster divers who haunt the backside of grocery stores, restaurants, and bakeries to get their daily bread. Ryan Beiler, one of the ringleaders and web editor for Sojourners magazine, said his family eats well as a result: On one of his first runs he boasts that he found several jars of beluga caviar. If that doesn't sound entirely appealing, he also has found prime cuts of beef, smoked salmon, and fresh vegetables.
Thirty million pounds of food are thrown out every year, according to the EPA. Often, food has to be discarded when it is past its expiration date, though it may not be spoiled. The divers say they are careful about getting food that won't make them sick-but untouched food in the trash, they say, is God's provision. Beiler said since he hasn't spent very much money on groceries, he has more money to give away. He sometimes ends up with bags of artisan breads that he brings in to share at work. Other divers will come up with "a bumper crop of organic apples, or a surplus of Belgian chocolate pudding," he says. And they always share.


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Apple is considering creating iPhones with 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screens as well as creating cheaper models in a range of colors likely to appeal to the global market.
Apparently the decision was prompted by competition from Samsung and its popular Galaxy smartphones, according to Reuters, Apple has sought suppliers in Asia to build the new devices, but it's unknown if it will still have the iPhone name attached to it. It seems odd that it wouldn't, given that Apple has already created the iPad Mini.
Although Apple declined to comment, the report was based on unnamed sources familiar with the issue, Reuters reported. Analysts say that Apple is now under pressure to deliver more than one new device, especially a handset, per year to goose stock prices.
U.S. & World
Some say that delivery has slowed since the death of founder Steve Jobs.
As we reported earlier, Apple is also still mulling over the cheaper version of the iPhone in a plastic casing that comes in five or six colors. The $99 price tag would mean a new market for Apple, including more sales in emerging markets. Sources said that test production for both rumored models starts next month, and that Apple has a September launch. Hon Hia Precision Industry will make he higher-end iPhone, while Pegatron will assemble the cheaper versions.
While Apple denies the cheap iPhone rumor, other circles have dubbed the plastic phones the "ready for China" iPhone. The cheaper price makes the phone accessible to those in emerging markets, much like the competitively priced Android handsets. It only makes sense that Apple might also make different sizes of iPhones, especially when demand for larger screens seems to be rising.


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RESIDENTS are fearing for the worst as a river threatens to burst its banks.
Villagers in Cheriton are anticipating that the River Itchen will breach tomorrow, and are preparing for the worst.
Sandbags have been placed along School Lane to divert flood water and Hill Houses Lane is flooded with groundwater running off the field.
Residents are currently using pumps to remove water from French drains around their properties.
Meanwhile, a smaller waterway linked to the river has already burst its bank, by the garage and post office in Cheriton.
Some residents have boarded the bottoms of their front doors and used sand bags to try and keep the water out.
Mark Bartlett, Pat Lawrence's next door neighbour on School Lane has praised the flood coordinators tireless efforts to keep the village in working order. He said: "Pat's a local hero and deserves recognition."
Cllr Harry Verny advised people not to flush their toilets. He said: "If everyone in the village flushes their toilet it pumps an extra 50,000 gallons of water through the water systems. Have a shower not a bath."
He said: "We have been clearing man hole covers, and drains, laying sandbags and trying to prepare as much as we can."
Roger and Alison Bennett, of the green, Cheriton, returned from a holiday to Barbados on Friday. Mrs Bennett said: "We hoped it would have stopped raining, but of course it hasn't. There's some way to go before our house would flood, so we are quite lucky.
"It's cold here, I'm planning my next holiday!"
Mr Bennett said: "I imagine if this carries on that the village green will be under water like it was in 2000."


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I great week kind of… fell apart at the end. Is it a cosmic balance? If things go too well, we need to pay the price?
MONDAY – Monday night I joined three other members of the Capital Slam team on John Akpata's Monday Night Scribes show on CHUO. We discussed poetry and CFSW. John gave my book a big plug. It was just a lot of fun.
THURSDAY – I got advance copies of 'Live at Capital Slam 2011'. This is going to be available this coming Saturday, Oct. 1st at Capital Slam. You WANT a copy of this. With a line-up that includes: Sense-Say, Loh El, Prufrock, Poetic Speed, Bruce Narbaitz, Sean O'Gorman, Mack Cannon, Elle P, Danielle K.L. Gregoire and MORE (including me). Excellent CD.
FRIDAY – In the morning I went on Friday Special Blend on CKCU. We plugged the CD, my book, and my show that night (more about that in a moment…)
During the day I found out that an on-line Q&A I had done with Rob McLennan was now up. I love this interview. So cool.
That evening I had to miss my first ever Once Upon A Slam so that I could feature at Urban Legends. What a great show! The Slam was excellent with the 2010 Capital Slam team (National Champions) throwing down a couple of team pieces. Just Jamaal took the win but there were also great showings by ArRay-of-WoRds, Loh El, Sean O'Gorman and more!
My feature set was a lot of fun. People seemed to really dig it and I had a great time!
My set list:
Why Art?
The Stranger
Moving to Arizona
The Four Horsemen (debut!)
Four-Colour World (debut!)
Lots of fun.
SATURDAY – More low key. I went to poker. I didn't win, but it was a really fun game. I had a good time. Meanwhile Ruthanne went dancing with Nadine Thornhill and Natalie-Joy Quesnel at the Mercury Lounge (my home away from home). I swung by and picked her up (after a late meal at Zak's… home away from home #3). Then home.
A good evening. A good night.
SUNDAY – Lunch at Sushi-Kan (home away from home #2). The Kymeras did a show with Brendan McLeod at the Merc (h-a-f-h #1). It didn't go as well as we could have hoped. Doing a show on Sunday is always iffy so the crowd wasn't as large as the last time Brendan was in town. Ruthanne asked me to do a couple of poems as an 'opening act'. I did Why Art? and The Stranger, but the crowd wasn't into it. In fact, they were pretty dead the whole show. They EVENTUALLY started laughing at Brendan's stuff… but overall, not a stellar show. Too bad, but it happens.
Then home, and my back started to hurt. I guess I had been going pretty hard and was starting to pay for it. Eventually I decided I had better take a day off to rest my back.
MONDAY – If the lacklustre reception Sunday night followed by a sore back wasn't enough… driving home Sunday night the brakes on the car started making a pretty bad grinding noise, so today the car went in to Midas.
The brake pads grinding MAY HAVE actually saved our lives. (That is me trying to put a positive spin on things) Our rear brake drum cylinder was leaking. Left alone, that would have been it. Suddenly no more brakes. Because the brake pads started to wear, we got it checked out.
Lucky… but I don't feel lucky.
$1000 to fix it.
Holy crap.
I mean, we've got the money, but it REALLY hurts. That is money that should have been paying down our debts. Damn it.


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Hope College Winter Happening Features Faculty | Events
HOLLAND - Video game-based rehabilitation, pharmaceuticals in the environment, a student-designed car, perspectives on survivors of Sierra Leone's civil war, a professor's semester in Japan and strategies for listening to jazz will all be featured during the annual Hope College Winter Happening on Saturday, Feb. 5.
Winter Happening will feature multiple seminars in two blocks in the morning, a luncheon with musical entertainment and a home women's basketball game with Calvin College. Open to the general public, the event is sponsored by the college's office of public and community relations.
The morning will feature six seminars, three at 9:30 a.m. and three at 11 a.m.
The 9:30 a.m. seminars are "Drugs, Dirt and Water: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment," "How to Listen to Jazz" and "An American Life in Japan." The 11 a.m. seminars are "Negotiating Amputation, Forgiveness and Reconciliation," "Video Game-Based Rehabilitation: It's Not All Fun and Games, But it Helps!!" and "The Little Car that Could: Engineering Design at Hope College and Formula SAE."
° "Drugs, Dirt and Water: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment" will consider the presence of prescription and over-the-counter drugs in the environment, and will highlight recent collaborative research among Hope faculty and students aimed at understanding fundamental interactions between antibiotics and soil particles. The seminar will be presented by Dr. Jon Peterson, professor of geology and environmental science, whose interdisciplinary research projects involve students and faculty from multiple departments and have resulted in publication in a variety of scholarly journals.
° "How to Listen to Jazz" will provide tools for better understanding jazz music. The seminar will be presented by Dr. Brian Coyle, who is professor of music, chairperson of the department and director of jazz studies at Hope. A performer, composer, arranger, author, adjudicator and clinician, Coyle has performed with a multitude of recording artists and with national touring companies, and has appeared at festivals, universities, colleges, high schools and clubs both nationally and internationally. Locally he serves as artistic director of the Holland Jazz Orchestra.
° "An American Life in Japan" will feature reflections by Hope faculty member Eva Dean Folkert following her recent fall semester at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan. She taught Japanese students at the university through the college's long-standing exchange relationship with Meiji Gakuin - the two institutions have exchanged students since 1965 and faculty since 1994 - but returned having learned the most about herself through her first experience living and teaching abroad. Folkert is an assistant professor of kinesiology and co-director of athletics whose academic interest is in sports sociology.
° "Negotiating Amputation, Forgiveness and Reconciliation" will center on faculty member Dr. Ernest Cole's research regarding the use of punitive amputation as military strategy in civil war Sierra Leone, emphasizing the experience of survivors of the 1991-2001 conflict. Cole's research, which has included interviewing survivors who continue to be isolated in refugee camps nearly a decade after the war's end, is exploring the way that the amputees' self images are shaped by their injuries, and he argues that it is crucial for them to be provided the opportunity to become functional and re-integrated into society rather than left in a state of dependency, not only for their sakes individually but for the future of the country itself. An assistant professor of English and native of Sierra Leone, Cole has taught at Hope since 2008 and earlier this semester received a Towsley Research Scholar award to support him as he writes a book based on his research.
° "Video Game Based Rehabilitation: It's Not All Fun and Games, But it Helps!!" will examine research at Hope focused on using console-based video games as an effective and entertaining way of engaging patients in rehabilitation following injury - the better to get them to continue with a process that is crucial but can otherwise be rather dull. The seminar will be presented by Dr. Kirk Brumels, who is an associate professor of kinesiology, program director of athletic training education and athletic trainer at Hope, and has had several articles published and made numerous presentations at state, regional and national professional conferences about the topic.
° "The Little Car that Could: Engineering Design at Hope College and Formula SAE" will highlight the student-driven effort to design and build a car for the International Formula SAE competition held at Michigan International Speedway in May. Competing with teams representing well-known college and university programs from around the world (120 teams had pre-registered), the group of Hope students earned top-rookie honors and an overall 76th-place finish. The seminar will be presented by Dr. Michael Misovich, associate professor of engineering, and students involved in the project.
The luncheon begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center ballroom, and costs $12 per person. Highlights will include musical entertainment. Reservations for the luncheon are required.
The women's basketball team will host Calvin College at 3 p.m. at the DeVos Fieldhouse. Tickets are $6, and a limited number of general admission tickets will be available for persons attending other Winter Happening events.
Also during the weekend, the gallery of the De Pree Art Center is featuring the exhibition "End of the Line: An Exhibition of Drawing." The exhibition is running from Friday, Jan. 14, through Friday, Feb. 11, and the regular gallery hours are Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.; and Sundays from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Admission is free.
In addition to being required for the luncheon, advance registration is recommended for the seminars. Additional information may be obtained by calling the college's office of public and community relations at (616) 395-7860 or online at www.hope.edu/pr/11WinterHappening.html
Registration during the morning of the event will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center, located facing College Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets.


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JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists on Friday advised nervous investors to keep an eye on extreme valuations during this period of volatility because the chances of a double-dip recession are unlikely and the U.S. economy is likely to see slow growth into 2012.
"We have a lot of worries because of a lot of bad policy decisions," said J.P. Morgan Funds Chief Market Strategist David Kelly during a conference call with institutional investors.
Pointing to this week's Federal Reserve Operation Twist announcement involving the purchase of $400 billion in Treasuries, Kelly (left) said it was a failure because the markets have reached the point where they must self-correct.
In a macro view of the economy, Kelly said he forecasts a 25% chance of a double-dip recession, and believes that third-quarter U.S. economic performance so far shows no signs of a recession. He expects slow growth over the next nine months as companies start hiring more and the employment rate creeps up slowly.
If anything, Kelly pointed out, investors should keep a close watch on extreme valuations in a number of asset classes, including Treasuries and equities. The 10-year Treasury yield has hit historical lows of 1.75%, below the U.S. inflation rate, and P/E ratios are at their lowest point in years.
Also on the call, JPMorgan fixed-income and equity strategists gave their views on how investors should be positioning their portfolios in light of the market turmoil.
"The key to the fixed-income market is how much you have in Treasuries," said Doug Swanson, team leader for the JPMorgan Core Bond Fund (PGBOX). He recommended that investors maintain a core holding in Treasuries, and noted that JPMorgan has been selling 2- and 3-year Treasuries and buying a mix of longer-term securities such as mortgage-backed debt. New issuance in corporate bonds also will provide "opportunities to take advantage of the dislocations," Swanson said.
As for equities, U.S. Equity Research Managing Director Robert Bowman said that "stocks are really cheap" and valuations are attractive. "From a portfolio perspective, we have a barbell approach of defense and offense," Bowman said.
Pointing to Thursday's market sell-off and the Federal Reserve's Operation Twist announcement on Wednesday, Kelly said borrowers have taken a wait-and-see approach in the markets, which is damaging the economy right now.
"I think the Fed will be shocked and do some soul-searching about why Operation Twist isn't doing any good," he said.
At this point, the only other tool the Fed has available is pushing down interest rates in their reserves, Kelly said, adding that he hopes the Fed will avoid any more monetary ease.
Kelly characterized the global and U.S. economies as suffering a bad sickness that policymakers are trying to treat with as much medicine as possible. But these economies' "natural immune systems" are sound enough to heal themselves if the governments would just stop making them sicker by masking their symptoms, he said.
"The Fed is applying medicine that everybody knows doesn't work," Kelly said.
As for the federal government's current round of budget talks, Kelly predicted that U.S. lawmakers will reach a timely agreement on the current stopgap spending bill. "The public is so red hot mad at Congress for what they did in August that they will keep the government running," he predicted.
Read Fed's Operation Twist Offers Bond Investment Opportunities at AdvisorOne.com


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Convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, but he will have six years knocked off his sentence for the time he has already served in detention in The Hague.
Rights groups broadly welcomed the sentence passed at the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague on July 10, although they expressed some disappointment that it did not fully take into account the long-lasting harm suffered by Lubanga's victims.
Lubanga was convicted on March 14 this year of conscripting child soldiers under the age of 15 into his militia group - the Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC - and using them to participate in hostilities in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, between 2002 and 2003.
In view of Lubanga's financial situation, ICC judges decided not to impose a fine on Lubanga, which they could have done under the terms of the Rome Statute, the court's founding document.
"Despite extensive inquiries by the court, no relevant funds have been identified," presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said as he read out a summary of the sentence.
Lubanga has been detained in The Hague since March 2006, when he was transferred from the DRC.
Judges rejected the defence's request for time that Lubanga previously spent in prison in the DRC to be deducted from his sentence. Judges said they were unable to show that his incarceration in DRC was related to the crimes for which he has been tried in The Hague.
The defence can appeal against the sentence. The prosecution issued a statement saying it was now considering whether to appeal, and noted that it had requested a longer sentence "in line with the gravity of the crimes and the aggravating circumstances".
It is not clear where Lubanga will serve his sentence at this point. Since the ICC has no facilities for incarcerating those it convicts, he will probably be transferred to one of the member states that support the court.
Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito issued a separate opinion dissenting from the conclusions drawn by the majority of the bench, indicating that in her view, Lubanga should have been sentenced to 15 years.
She suggested that the 14-year sentence did not adequately take into account the damage caused to Lubanga's victims and their families, particularly from the harsh punishments inflicted on the child soldiers and the sexual violence suffered by many victims.
This view was shared by Redress, a London-based human rights organisation, which had been calling for the wider impact of Lubanga's actions to be considered as part of his sentence.
"Child soldiers are often forced to attack their own villages or commit atrocities against their own families and neighbours," Gaelle Carayon, ICC advocacy officer at Redress, said. "When they return home, they are stigmatised by their old communities. Many will have lost out on schooling, and find it difficult to go back. Being a child soldier is not just about being conscripted and put at risk of violence. The consequences are much further-reaching than that."
Omission of sexual violence charges
Despite campaigning from women's rights groups, sexual violence towards women did not play a part in determining Lubanga's sentence. Although Lubanga was never charged with crimes of sexual violence, the ICC's rules of procedure allow for additional crimes to be considered at the sentencing stage.
Judges agreed that "sexual violence, rape and congenital subservience" took place at the time when Lubanga was attempting to exert control over Ituri. However, they concluded that insufficient evidence had been presented to establish a link between this sexual violence and the recruitment of child soldiers of which Lubanga was convicted.
Judge Fulford had some harsh words for former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who he said should have been more open to including sexual violence charges in the first place.
"The chamber strongly deprecates the attitude of the former prosecutor in relation to the issue of sexual violence," said Fulford. "Not only did the former prosecutor fail to apply to include sexual violence or sexual slavery at any stage during these proceedings, including in the original charges, but he actively opposed taking this step during the trial when he submitted that it would cause unfairness to the accused if he was convicted on this basis."
Although the failure to include sexual violence in the initial charges was not a factor in considering whether the issue should play a role in sentencing, Fulford indicated that the prosecution team had not managed to introduce sufficient evidence during the trial to warrant such a move.
Brigid Inder, executive director of the Women's Initiative for Gender Justice, described the failure of the judges to account for sexual violence in their sentencing of Lubanga as "a devastating decision".
"The Rome Statute contains the most advanced articulation in international criminal law of acts of sexual violence committed, particularly in armed conflict situations, and yet the first case for the ICC didn't include any charges for gender-based crimes," Inder said.
Inder believes that if the prosecution had been more systematic in building a case against Lubanga, it might have been able to dig up evidence demonstrating a link between the convicted war criminal and the crimes of sexual violence that judges acknowledge did take place.
"Unfortunately, the former prosecutor chose not to amend the charges when there was still time to do so, particularly before the confirmation of charges hearing back in 2006," she said. "The charging decisions in this case hampered the progress all the way along, including at the sentencing stage."
Inder said she was disappointed the judges did not recognise the widespread commission of acts of sexual violence, despite the number of prosecution and defence witnesses who gave testimony on this.
Moreno-Ocampo's handling of the sexual violence issue was not the only rebuke he received from the ICC judges. Judge Fulford also criticised the way the prosecutor's actions resulted in two stays of proceedings- something he said was prejudicial to the well-being of the accused, detained in The Hague since 2006.
"First, the prosecution gathered an extensive quantity of evidence under confidential agreements... leading to a failure to disclose exculpatory material," said Fulford. "Second, the prosecution repeatedly failed to comply with the chamber's disclosure orders."
Both shortcomings by the prosecution led, on separate occasions, to stays of proceedings and provisional orders to release Lubanga.
Despite this, Fulford said, Lubanga was "respectful and cooperative throughout proceedings" - and this was taken into account in deciding the sentence.
Fulford also reserved some criticism for Moreno-Ocampo's former deputy, Béatrice Le Fraper du Hellen , who, in an article in March 2010, made what judges considered to be "misleading statements" about the accused which were prejudicial to the case.
"There have been some unprecedented errors by the former prosecutor in this case... that we haven't really seen [to the same extent] in other tribunals, and this has led to the very disappointing outcome that we have now seen," said Inder. "People are hopeful that the new prosecutor will bring a new kind of leadership, improvements and changes to the ICC - building on things that have worked and on the skills that have been developed - in order to make the court more successful and effective in future prosecutions."
One thing that should change, notes Inder, is an over-reliance on secondary material, such as media and NGO reports, in framing criminal charges. It would be far better, she says, to allow investigators to go out into the field and gather first-hand statements and base charges on that.
"This would likely lead to more effective charging, the successful confirmation of more charges and a clearer strategy for proceeding with prosecutions," Inder said.
Disappointed by aspects of the sentence, human rights groups are now hoping that a separate decision on reparations will redress matters by making victims central to the case again. A ruling on reparations had been expected in parallel with sentencing, but judges took a last-minute decision to postpone this. (See Lubanga Verdict Prompts Debate on Reparations for more on this issue.)


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Jon Stewart had his say about the matter surrounding former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez's comments by delivering some zingers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
On Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" event at New York's Beacon Theater last night, the host of "The Daily Show" delivered a monologue in which he also addressed the issue.
During the event, which raises money for autism education, Stewart said that people should donate for the cause. He said: "If you went on radio and said the Jews control the media…you may want to hold onto your money."
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
CNN recently fired Sanchez over comments he made to a SiriusXM radio show alleging that Stewart was a bigot and that the network was run by Jews.
Stewart also said that if Sanchez was correct in his assessment about the Jews, then the ex-CNN anchor could apologize "and we'll hire him back."
The Hollywood Reporter added that David Letterman made a surprise appearance at the event and told Stewart that he was in town "helping Rick Sanchez clean out his office."
The event will broadcast on Comedy Central on Oct. 21.
Selected Reading: The Hollywood Reporter


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Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan
Fantastic Characters: Analyzing and Creating Superheroes and Villains
|6 – 8
|Lesson Plan Type
|Standard Lesson
|Estimated Time
|Three 50-minute sessions
|Lesson Author
Portland, Oregon
In this lesson, students analyze and discuss familiar superheroes and super-villains to expand their understanding of character types and conventions. Then students consider social issues that confront their everyday reality and respond by incorporating those issues into the creation of their own superheroes or super-villains as well as the settings the superheroes or super-villains operate in.
- Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizer: Students use this printout to compare and contrast superheros and super-villains.
Superheroes & Villians: This website provides a comprehensive database of superheroes, villains, super powers, and elements pertaining to superheroes.
"A substantial, expanding body of evidence asserts that using graphic novels and comics in the classroom produces effective learning opportunities over a wide range of subjects and benefits various student populations, from hesitant readers to gifted students" (1). In this lesson, students are encouraged to engage their imaginations while using critical analysis to respond to problems. They discover the excitement of creating their own fictitious character, which opens the door to further conceptualizing-of adventures and settings, conflicts, social concerns, and unique methods of resolution.
Further Reading
Carter, James Bucky, ed. Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2007. Print.


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Peyton Manning may take his sweet old time about making a decision, but the NFL's second-best free agent quarterback plans to sign soon.
Matt Flynn has visited both the Seahawks and the Dolphins, and his dad told Barry Jackson of McClatchy Newspapers that a decision is coming within the next couple days.
The news that free agent quarterback Alex Smith is also visiting the Dolphins could complicate things, but Alvin Flynn said his son is thrilled about the possibility of being reunited with his offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Joe Philbin, who is now the head coach of the Dolphins.
"He's excited to be down there," Alvin Flynn said. "He is very fond of Joe Philbin. He has warm feelings for him."
Then again, Matt Flynn also likes the coaching staff in Seattle and could end up there.
"He likes Pete Carroll," Alvin Flynn said. "They hit it off well."
Alvin Flynn hinted, however, that the opportunity to keep playing in Philbin's offense, where Matt Flynn looked good in limited action with the Packers, could tip the balance in favor of signing with the Dolphins.
Said Flynn's dad, "Matt could run that offense in his sleep."


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Summer at Lake Neusiedlersee means a Pannonian climate, more than 2000 hours of sunshine per year and water temperatures of up to 30 degrees. Due to its location, the lake offers perfect conditions for sailing and windsurfing. The "Sea of the Viennese", as the lake is often called, is not only popular for its water sports, but also for its unique nature. The most western steppe lake in Europe boasts a unique flora and fauna.
About 500km of cycling paths, numerous hiking trails and golf courts around the lake invite you to fully enjoy the summer. Various cultural highlights, such as the Mörbisch Lakeside Festival or the Operetta Festival in St. Margarethen, make for a great program in the Neusiedlersee region.


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Sale delivers on Exelon's commitment to divest the plants as part of Constellation merger
CHICAGO - Exelon today announced that it has completed the sale of its three Maryland coal-fired power plants to Raven Power Holdings LLC ("Raven Power"), a new portfolio company of Riverstone Holdings LLC. The sale fulfills Exelon's commitment to divest the plants as part of its merger with Constellation. Under the agreement announced Aug. 9, 2012, Raven Power will maintain jobs with comparable pay and benefits for employees at the plants.
The three plants, known collectively as Maryland Clean Coal, include:
• Brandon Shores, Pasadena, Md.: 1,273 MW of installed capacity, two units (coal)• C.P. Crane, Middle River, Md.: 399 MW installed capacity, three units (coal and oil)• H.A. Wagner, Pasadena, Md.: 976 MW installed capacity, five units (coal, natural gas and oil)
The sale was required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Justice and the Maryland Public Service Commission as part of Exelon's merger agreement.


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The sleeves jerseys are slowly taking over. With the news that the Nets will break out Dodgers-inspired uniforms in the spring, that makes five teams to add sleeved alternates to their regular rotation. Add in the 10 teams to play on Christmas Day, and the All-Star Game, and it's unavoidable—the NBA is pushing these things hard. But has anyone asked the players what they think?
Publicly, they're not fans. Privately, the criticism is even harsher. Last week, Bleacher Report polled 21 players and found just two who said they like wearing them. The complaints range from the practical to the aesthetic to the financial.
"I think our sport is tough to have stuff on your shooting arm with shooting being so key," said one of the big men.
"They do not wick sweat away from the skin well," one Eastern Conference swingman said. "You end up with a wet, cold, sticky shirt. In Milwaukee (or any other cold-weather city), you will freeze your tail off."
Players also took issue with the motivation for the jerseys—they believe they exist just to sell replicas and make money for the league, which, duh. (Not mentioned, but undeniable: They provide more real estate for the inevitable on-uniform ads.)
The NBA has fired back, through VP of global merchandising Sal LaRocca. LaRocca says the players' union gets 50 percent of merchandise sales, and claims the material is exactly the same, so any perception that they retain more sweat is all in the players' heads. He also notes that players can specify how form fitting their sleeves should be, so constricting their range of motion shouldn't be an issue. (This doesn't really fly. No matter how loose the sleeve, there's still going to be a seam running across the shoulder where there wasn't one before.)
LaRocca claims multiple players on every team that's worn them were consulted beforehand, though none of the players polled by Bleacher Report say they had any input in the matter.
The association has an answer for everything, but LaRocca did make one big concession:
"If the feedback is that the players don't want to wear them, we won't," LaRocca said.
So it's going to take loud, sustained complaining about sleeved uniforms if players are to take back their upper arm space and let their shoulders again be free. Adidas says the jerseys are selling really well, so only an on-court protest bonfire might be enough.


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How to Create a Comic Strip With Your Kids in 7 Easy Steps
Does your child love to draw or tell stories?
Do you want to share your kids' masterpieces with the world (or at least with Grandma)?
In this article, I'll make you a hero by empowering your kids to write, draw and publish your very own comic.
It's quick, it's easy and it's lots of fun.
Why Make a Comic Strip?
All children are artists.
They draw, play and use their incredible imaginations to create fantasy worlds and characters that are funny or powerful or really, really silly.
A comic strip is a new way to channel their creativity—to capture it in pictures and words.


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I have always dreamed of having my own radio station. This was a dream even before the Internet became a household word. I studied media in college, but I ended up getting a degree in business instead because it seemed I would be able to make a more comfortable living that way. Well, I did, but I still have my passion for having my own radio station. In today's times, I knew that was completely possible thanks to the advancements of the Internet. I decided to look at my options not long ago, and Shoutcast had everything I could possibly want in a radio station.
I had talked to my wife about this first, and she encouraged me to go for my dreams.


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I have been having a run of good luck on Ebay this week. My favourite item, which arrived in the post this morning, is a copy of Ernest Thompson Seton's Old Silver Grizzle The Badger. What makes this slightly battered edition interesting to me is that on the front is a stained, green label printed with the words CLARENDON PARK LENDING LIBRARY. Which got me thinking about libraries in Clarendon Park.
Knighton branch library opened on Clarendon Park Road on 9th April 1896. In 1912 it contained upwards of 4,300 books (according to Kelly's Directory), rising to 5,900 by 1928. Opening hours were then 6 – 9.30pm on weeknights and 3 – 9.30pm on Saturdays, reflecting the leisure hours of Clarendon Park working folk. The Chronicle reported in 1897 that Knighton library readers were more inclined to read "serious" books, especially theology and philosophy, and there were more adult readers than at other branches. It was abundantly supplied with daily papers and periodicals. 18,000 books were issued in the first year, making it a great success. A separate table was kept for ladies, and another for boys. Very sensible. Ladies and boys just don't mix, do they?
Many towns and villages had private lending libraries, often operating from small shops. In Victorian times the cost of books was so high in proportion to incomes, that most people could not afford to buy them and so used a private lending library, at least until the municipal ones were established. Quite a few were organised by churches, such as St Philips in Evington, where the vicar "put by" 300 or so books and started one for the poor of his parish (no doubt of an improving nature). Some were established in village halls and schools. Some of these were free, and some were paid for by subscription or by individual book borrowed. Both kinds could have flourished in Clarendon Park, with its mix of wealthier middle class and very humble working class people.
None of which brings me much closer to finding out about Clarendon Park Lending Library. I'm pretty sure I came across a reference to it in a city directory at the county archive…..but I won't get a chance to check until next week. Oh, and Catherine Hayes, of The Pebbles, Burmarsh circa 1982 with the red felt tip pen – you are a naughty girl for writing in your books! Regards, Elizabeth.


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Despite delays due to the 2013 government shutdown, the IRS has officially begun accepting tax returns for the 2014 tax season. Here are some tips on navigating tax season:
Why should I file a tax return?
Because it's the law. If you don't file your taxes, you risk losing your tax refund. The average taxpayer refund was $2,755 last year, according to the IRS. And if you owe money, you can face serious penalties, and even jailtime, if you fail to pay.
What's new for 2014?
- Tax Day is March 17 for corporations, and April 15 for individuals and partnerships.
- Taxpayers under age 65 can only claim deductions for medical and dental expenses that exceed 10 percent of their gross income, up from 7.5 percent.
- All legal same-sex marriages are recognized as "married" for federal tax purposes.
- If you work from home, you can use a simplified method of calculating your home office deduction: $5/square foot of home office space, up to 300 square feet. You could also qualify for a tax break.
- Click here for more information on other tax changes for this year.
What is the easiest way to file my taxes?
On the Internet: the IRS offers Free File. E-filing also allows the IRS to process your return more quickly than filing by paper. In 2013, more than 122 million taxpayers filed their individual tax returns using IRS e-file.
U.S. & World
What are the benefits of filing my tax returns early?
The sooner you file a tax return, the sooner you get your tax refund. According to the IRS, you can expect your refund within 21 days. But if you wait too long to file, you may run into delays. You can check on the status of your refund using the "Where's My Refund?" tool. If you e-file your taxes, you can check the status of your refund within 24 hours. If you file by paper, you'll have to wait four weeks.
What if my taxes are late?
If you know your taxes won't be finished by Tax Day, then you can request an automatic 4-month extension. However, an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay. If you owe the government tax money, then you still have to pay it on time.
Where can I find help?
You can find a tax professional or tax software to help you file your taxes. The IRS also offers a 24-hour, 7-day toll-free number to help answer any questions you have: 1-800-829-1040. For more information, visit irs.gov.


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Photo Galleries
In spring 2010 several students graduated with minors in Jewish Studies - Katie Venetsky (major in Sociology), Jennifer Levitt, Rachel Kornreich (major in Planned Studies with a focus on Jewish Studies), Bryan Dine, Sarah Schuman, and Zachary Klein (Music). Katie Venetsky has been in Boston since fall 2010, working for City Year, and she will be a member of the Senior Corps of City Year starting in fall 2011. Zachary Klein has spent the 2010-2011 academic year in Jerusalem, studying at Mayanot and having a wonderful time learning and enjoying the city. Rachel Kornreich is currently (April 2011) working as a youth educator for Temple Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Galeet Dardashti presented "The Naming" with a company of five musicians and three dancers. These are photographs of the performance on February 27, 2011.
On October 28, Miryam Kabakov, Mara Benjamin, and Elaine Chapnick read from their essays in Keep Your Wives Away from Them: Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires (edited by Miryam Kabakov), which tells the story of Orthodox Jewish women who have come out, who are still closeted, living double lives, or struggling to maintain an integrated "single life" in relationship to traditional Judaism. An audience of students from Ithaca College and Cornell, and Ithaca community members, listened with interest and asked pertinent questions.
Four students graduated with minors in Jewish Studies in 2009: Adam Barth (Culture & Communication), Samuel Sadovnic (Politics), Jeremy Greenberg (Screenwriting), and Bryan Dine (English). This photo gallery includes photos of three of them and their parents.
Four students graduated as Jewish Studies minors in May of 2008: Sari Weinstein (not pictured), Adina Mindick, Adam Schoenbart, and David Cutler. We wish them all the best for the future.
Adina Mindick, senior Journalism major and Jewish Studies minor, gave a presentation on
"Preserving Jewish Greece" on February 24, 2008. Adina spent the summer of 2007 researching the
Jewish communities on the Greek islands of Rhodes and Crete, photographing her research and work with
the Rhodes Jewish Museum.
Adina's trip was funded in part by the Golberstein Jewish Studies Travel-Study Grant and by generous funding from the Roy H. Park School of Communication.
In summer 2007, Adina Mindick, recipient of the Golberstein Travel-Study Grant, spent time on the Greek islands of Rhodes and Crete to study their Jewish communities. Here are some of her photos from that trip.
The fifth annual Ithaca College Klezmer Gala was held on February 24, 2008. The gala featured a performance by the Ithaca College Klezmorim, a School of Music-supported student ensemble that explores klezmer, the secular music of the Eastern European Jews. Under the direction of Professor of Music Peter Rothbart, the Klezmorim have participated in workshops and master classes and have performed with such klezmer luminaries as the Klezmatics, Frank London, Joel Rubin, Susan and Elaine Watts and Pete Rushevsky.
This year, our program graduated the largest group of Jewish Studies minors (7) since our inception. December graduates were Monica Goldenberg (Writing) and Sarah Eson (Art History). May graduates were Jessica Carroll and Sarah Vaynerman (Organizational Communication, Learning, and Design), Elias Goldstein (Cinema and Photography), Tamar Lerner (Physical Therapy), and Jenifer Weaver (Sociology).
In addition to the seven minors, Deydra Bordoy graduated in May 2007 with a double major in Jewish Studies and Politics. She is the third IC student to graduate with a Jewish Studies major.
Also part of "The Arts of Jewish India: Explorations in Painting, Architecture and Music," artist Siona Benjamin's exhibit "Blue Like Me" featured dramatic and brilliantly colored paintings exploring her identity as an Indian-Jewish-American woman. Bangladeshi-American dancer Ishrat Hoque joined her in a lecture/performance aptly titled "Color Me Blue."
Latin American Jewish author Nora Strejilevich talked about "History, Memory, Testimony" in relation to the Argentine Dirty War (1976-83), during which she survived kidnapping and torture and her brother and other family members and friends disappeared at the hands of the military junta.
In March 2007, "The Arts of Jewish India: Explorations in Painting, Architecture and Music" event featured Zipporah (Venus) Lane from Israel performing traditional South Indian Jewish folk songs, with background and commentary by Barbara Johnson. Born and raised in the Jewish community of Cochin, Kerala, Venus is a song translator and a member of the Nirit Singers in Israel.
An opening reception for "The Arts of Jewish India: Explorations in Painting, Architecture and Music" was held on March 1 in the Handwerker Gallery. Students, faculty, staff and visitors from the Ithaca area filled the gallery to view two simultaneous exhibits: "Blue Like Me" by Siona Benjamin and "Indian Synagogue Architecture" by Jay Waronker.
As part of the month-long series "The Arts of Jewish India: Explorations in Painting, Architecture and Music," architect and scholar Jay Waronker exhibited and discussed his watercolor studies of India's Synagogues in the Handwerker Gallery.
The IC Klezmorim were formed in 1999 under the direction of Professor Peter Rothbart in the School of Music. They have become an official student ensemble, offered for chamber music credit -- one of the first of its kind in the country. In addition to their very popular Klezmer Gala, held annually at the college, they have performed in local venues, in music festivals, and for alumni events.
"On a Narrow Bridge: Journey of a Gay Jewish Writer" was the subject of a lecture given by prize-winning author Lev Raphael last fall. The son of Holocaust survivors, Raphael came out twice, once as a proud Jew, a second time as a gay man, and he has been integrating those two identities for two decades in his life and his writing.
In October 2006, Middle Eastern Jewish (Mizrachi) music energized the IC campus and the Ithaca community through a dynamic series of musical performances and lectures by musician/scholar-in-residence Galeet Dardashti and the Divahn ensemble. Daughter and granddaughter of well-known Jewish musicians from Iran, Galeet performed and discussed music from Iran, Iraq, Israel and Morocco. She is an anthropologist, cantor, founder and the lead vocalist of Divahn.


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I'm sending my first born to school in 6 days.
He's excited. I get knots in my stomach just thinking about it.
He's ready, but I can't believe he's going to be gone all day, every day. He's been with me for almost 6 years… my buddy. my associate. my Tomas the Train enthusiast. my personal shopper. my lunch date. my baby.
So, in honor of my little guy's first day of school, I've put together a fun collection of "Back to School" items that any girl could show off — in class or otherwise!


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British social benefits claimants may soon have their telephone enquiries handled by call centres in India, according to The Guardian.
Reporting on the contents of a document leaked from the government Department of Work and Pensions to the Public and Commercial Services Union, the paper said the government was in talks with companies including Siemens Business Services to do the outsourcing.
The report claimed John Hutton, secretary of state, was under pressure to contract government services to offshore locations in order to make £1bn of savings demanded by the Treasury.
The plans were "advanced" said union boss Mark Serwotka. He noted that calls to the DWP were already taken by a call-centre in Pembroke Dock, Wales.
There would there be no technical challenge in moving the work overseas, he said. But the union had not been consulted.
"It shows that plans to offshore work are well advanced and proves there are no no-go areas for the government in trying to achieve its efficiency targets, reduce costs and cut jobs."
A DWP spokeswoman said there were no plans to move any of its services overseas. But providers of some services, such as IT, might provide services from offshore locations and whether they did so was their own business.®


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Hey all! Whew, we have Internet back! I actually started a different post last night for today's Before and After Party, but when I drove up to our house this morning after running errands, I changed my mind.
I love love LOVE the front of our house at Christmas. I was so taken with it, especially with all the pretty snow, I wanted to share this instead today.
I usually have the same recipe to our outdoor decor every year, but I changed it up just a bit this year (that would be easier). :)
I started with a couple $3 big honkin' sparkly bows from Big Lots on our spray painted coach lights:
They're a little droopy, but I LOVE the pop of red!
Our porch hasn't changed much:
I showed you how I hang the greenery every year here. Last year I added the red ribbon and ornaments and I love that festive touch!
The wreath is a basic (fake) evergreen with the beautiful amaryllis wreath from Target wired on top:
I drooled over that red wreath for weeks and got it on clearance a couple seasons ago. I love how layering them combines the green and red, makes it super full and gives some padow!! to the front porch. ;)
For years, I've hung lighted wreaths over our windows, but this year I was inspired by a picture in a magazine and wanted to try something new. I ADORE our shutters, so I wanted to play them up.
I took some simple small wreaths and just looped some basic red ribbon through to hang them from the top and bottom:
I just used one tack at the bottom and top to hold them on and they've held up great. (This spring I need to replace some of the wood on the shutters and repaint them – they're starting to look a little worn!)
I usually put some greenery in the window boxes, but goodNESS it got cold fast. I'm just going to deal with the frozen kale. ;)
And that's it! We feel all smooshy and googly when we drive up this time of year, especially with the lights on at night. :)
The snow totally completes the look, don't you think?:
So here's my before and after for the month of December – our windows in the past (which I do love!)
And the slightly simpler version this year:
And our porch before, as it looked till two weeks ago:
And now:
Funny how the temp has dropped about 50 degrees in two weeks! I could barely stand to be outside long enough to take these pictures. YIKES. It sure does feel and look like Christmas around here! ;)
So what have you been up to? I can't wait to see your Before and Afters! And don't forget to link up to Kate's crafty party tonight! I need to get busy!
Remember to link up to your post, not your general blog address!
Thank you to my sponsor!:


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Millennium Chicken III, Hicksville: First bites
Big, bright and family-friendly: that was my take on the new Millennium Chicken III in Hicksville on a recent evening. The place is an offshoot of a Valley Stream Peruvian eatery with a branch in Elmont.
The night I went, a couple of large family parties were in progress. Still, that didn't get in the way of dinner, which got off to a rousing start with a small bowl of aguadito ($3.50), a vibrant green chicken cilantro and rice soup with bone-in pieces of poultry. That was followed by the restaurant's namesake whole rotisserie chicken, enough to feed a family of four, the skin gorgeously burnished and every juicy bite infused with marinade. On the side were a salad with avocado — not bad — and some pretty humdrum fries. A better accompaniment would be rice and beans. Either way, the entire combo costs $13.
Millennium Chicken III is at 275 W. Old Country Rd., Hicksville, 516-935-3846.


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It's over. After months of campaigning – and all the friendly political rhetoric involved therein – the 2012 election is over. Good riddance. And thank goodness for democracy. No matter whether you're celebrating or brooding today, you have to admit that the American political process is pretty invigorating. Good writers have seized upon political passion in their novels since novels began, so we've decided to celebrate a few of those today.
Pundits and politicians, step aside. Here are some of America's (and Britain's) best political ruminations in fiction from the last century and a half (synopses from our catalog):
- All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Set in the 1930s, it traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie [Stark] Talos, a fictional Southern politician who resembles the real-life Huey "Kingfish" Long of Louisiana. Talos begins his career as an idealistic man of the people, but he soon becomes corrupted by success, caught between dreams of service and a lust for power.
- Echo House by Ward Just
Three generations of the Behls, a politically ambitious family in Washington. The three men are Adolph, a senator during the 1930s and failed vice-president; his son, Axel, a World War II OSS agent and later a Cold War warrior; and Alec a successful lawyer and lobbyist during the reign of President Kennedy.
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre
It is now beyond doubt that a mole, implanted decades ago by Moscow Centre, has burrowed his way into the highest echelons of British Intelligence. His treachery has already blown some of its most vital operations and its best networks. It is clear that the double agent is one of its own kind. But which one? George Smiley is assigned to identify him. And once identified, the traitor must be destroyed.
- Shelley's Heart by Charles McCarry
The first presidential election of the twenty-first century, bitterly contested by two men who are implacable political rivals but lifelong personal friends, is stolen through computer fraud. On the eve of the Inauguration, the losing candidate presents proof of the crime to his opponent, the incumbent President, and demands that he stand aside. The winner refuses and takes the oath of office, thereby setting in motion what may destroy him and his party, and bring down the Constitution.
- Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
A 21st-century study of America at the time of Revolution. Olivier is the traumatized child of aristocratic survivors of the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerant English printer. They are born on different sides of history, but their lives will be connected in the United States by an enigmatic one-armed marquis.
- The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope
Despite his mysterious antecedents, an unscrupulous financial speculator, Ferdinand Lopez, aspires to marry into respectability and wealth and join the ranks of British society. One of the nineteenth century's most memorable outsiders, Lopez's story is set against that of the ultimate insider, Plantagenet Palliser, Duke of Omnium, who reluctantly accepts the highest office of state, becoming "the greatest man in the greatest country in the world."