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Dear Editor;
As I drive through Grundy County I see signs supporting Rep. Pat Grassley. I have to ask myself "WHY? Why are these people supporting Pat Grassley to represent them at the Iowa State House?" Do they not know Rep. Grassley's voting record? Are they not aware of the fact that Rep. Grassley turned his back on his own home town of New Hartford following the devastating F-5 tornado on Memorial Day, 2008, that also devastated his neighboring community of Parkersburg?
Yes, that is true! During the 2009 Legislative session, the Iowa Legislature took steps to provide critically needed financial assistance to Rep. Grassley's home town of New Hartford, Parkersburg, and five other Iowa communities devastated by the F-5 tornado. One such step was found in #SF478. This bill passed the Iowa Senate and was sent to the Iowa House for their consideration. After amendment #H1779 was added, which added money for these communities, the House of Representatives had their chance to vote. Sadly and almost shockingly when this bill actually came up for a final vote, New Hartford's own, Rep. Pat Grassley, voted "NAY" - that's right - he voted AGAINST his friends and neighbors, the same people who had sent him to Des Moines in the belief that he would represent their needs in the House of Representatives! Luckily for the citizens of Parkersburg and New Hartford, the majority of members of the Iowa House understood the need of these communities and placed the well-being of the citizens of Iowa ahead of their party's political agenda and the bill passed WITHOUT Rep. Grassley's support thus giving Parkersburg, New Hartford and the other towns the financial help they needed to rebuild.
So I have to ask - if Rep. Grassley is not willing to support his own home town and neighboring area after a terrible disaster such as the F-5 tornado, what makes you think that he would be willing to support those of us who live in Beaman, Conrad, Holland, Grundy Center, Iowa Falls, Alden, Ackley, Buckeye, Steamboat Rock or any of the other communities in House District 50? My answer is: HE PROBABLY WON'T!
Collette Beeghly
Conrad, Iowa


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Democratic leaders are considering a pre-Christmas special session regarding recent electrical outages that could include tax credits for hotel stays and an expansion of the state's price-gouging law.
The leaders who control the legislature are currently studying a series of possible changes that could be enacted into law in response to a myriad of complaints from residents who lost power for as many as 10 days.
But the legislature is first waiting for various investigations to be completed, including one by the independent Witt Associates that is scheduled to be finished by December 1. As such, no session will be held over the next three weeks, but legislation could be ready before Christmas, said Douglas Whiting, a spokesman for House Speaker Christopher Donovan of Meriden.
"Something needs to be done. Something will be done,'' Whiting said Monday in an interview. "At this point, it's just a question of timing.''
Among the ideas being considered is a one-time credit on the state income tax to cover the state hotel tax for those who sought shelter for multiple days following the pre-Halloween storm or Tropical Storm Irene. If a family paid $200 per night for a hotel room, they would not receive the full $200. Instead, they could receive the amount they paid in occupancy tax.
The hotel tax was increased on July 1 to 15 percent, up from the previous 12 percent, and a portion of the increase is being distributed to cities and towns. As such, a person paying $200 per night for a room could potentionally be entitled to an income tax credit of $30 when the taxes are filed next April. At $1,000 for an extended stay, the tax and the credit could potentially be $150, depending on how the legislation is written.
Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney of New Haven said legislators will need to study exactly how the credit would work and whether a maximum cap would be necessary, such as in the state's popular property tax credit that is based on various income levels.
"It would be difficult to quantify what would be a fair level of recompense,'' Looney said Monday.
In a related issue, Looney said legislators are considering expanding the state's price-gouging law that was created in 1986 following the effects of Hurricane Gloria in September 1985. That law, he said, could be extended to room rates in order to prevent hotels and motels from charging excessive rates when panic-stricken consumers were searching for hotels with both electrical power and available rooms
Besides hotel rooms, the law could be expanded to cover private tree-cutting services, where prices have increased sharply because of heavy demand.
Legislators are concerned that an aspiring entrepreneur could buy 50 generators in South Carolina at $500 each, drive to Connecticut, and then sell them at $1,500 each in a storm-ravaged town. Policing that type of sale is not easy, he said.
"That's difficult to do,'' Looney said. "You're not dealing wih the regular retail chain of business.''
In Simsbury, a truck that carried generators from the South pulled into the closest gasoline station to the high school and began making sales in the days when the town still had no power. Some Simsbury residents eagerly paid high prices because their homes were cold, and they had the available money to pay for the much-cherished generator.
Lawmakers are also taking about requiring that generators must be installed at gasoline stations and elderly housing complexes under a proposal by Rep. Zeke Zalaski, the co-chairman of the legislature's labor committee.
"While my constituents and too many Connecticut residents waited for CL & P to show up, they needed gas for their vehicles and portable generators - and they found that too many gas stations were closed because they had no power," Zalaski said. "In Southington, for example, many gas stations were closed as hundreds of customers were in need of gasoline, and could not get it while causing traffic jams and creating problems for local police. Generators would have enabled the gas stations to remain open and serve the public. This is a serious public safety issue in all our communities."
He added that the generators are needed to help the elderly.
"If these units had generators, seniors would not be forced to go to local shelters which can be a traumatic experience for many,'' he said.
While many legislators want to move quickly, there is now six full weeks before many lawmakers and staff members head out of town for the holidays.
"If it's not ready until early or mid-January, then we'll wait until the regular session'' in early February, Whiting said.
The price-gouging legislation would be modeled on the current law that was written following gouging during Gloria. Earlier this year, the Senate voted to expand that law because of sky-high prices that were charged to remove snow from roofs during the panic-stricken days of ice jams on the roof. The 31-4 vote in the Senate sent the bill to the House, but no action was taken there.
Some homeowners were panicking during the winter as water leaked into their houses, and they paid high prices to get the snow off roofs immediately. Many contractors said they had to pay workers high wages to get them to climb onto slippery roofs.
Senators said some quotes were as high as $5,000 for a small roof.
The bill would have banned "unconscionably excessive" pricing during, and possibly in the aftermath of, a weather emergency that results in a formal severe weather event declaration by the governor. Whether a price was "unconscionably excessive" would be determined by the state's consumer protection commissioner or a court - based on the common price of the goods and services in question before the emergency, and the prices charged by other providers in the same area during that emergency.
But Sen. Rob Kane of Watertown and three other Republican senators said it would be highly difficult to police the problem statewide. Sen. Len Suzio, a Meriden Republican, said he couldn't support the bill even though he applauded its intent. He said its standards, such "unconscionably excessive," were too vague and subjective.
But Looney , D-New Haven, said the bill would, in a significant way, complete the job that the legislature began in 1986 after Hurricane Gloria resulted in price - gouging for consumer goods, such as generators to provide electricity for homeowners' freezers to keep food from spoiling. The earlier bill prohibited price gouging only for goods and did not include services as the latest one did, Looney said.
House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk said more than a week ago that a pre-Christmas session was a good idea.
"Knowing that the legislature will not be in regular session until February, we should come back in special session by December to pass legislation that will bolster our state's response to natural disasters and shorten the time anyone is without power,'' Cafero said. "We just demonstrated we could do that quickly with the jobs package we passed, and we need to take action now on emergency preparedness initiatives.''

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dr. Ravi
Doctor Detail :
Dr. Ravi is a Cardiologist (MBBS, MD, DM ) in Jaya Nagar, Bangalore
Speciality Alias
Heart Specialist
Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, 9th Block, Bannerghatta Road, Jayanagar, Bangalore, Karnataka - 560069
Emergency No.
Phone No.: 08022977400, 08022977500.
Share your genuine experiences and reviews about the doctor!
Other Cardiologist in Jaya Nagar, BangaloreDr. Arun Kumar Dr. Arunkumar Dr. Ashalatha Dr. Beeresha Dr. Giridhar Kamalapurkar
Other Cardiologist in BangaloreDr. P. Ranganath Nayak (Millers Road) Rated : 5.0Dr. Vikranth Veeranna (Bannerghatta Road) Rated : 5.0Dr. Kiron Varghese (BTM Layout) Rated : 4.0Dr. Kiron Varghese (Sarjapur Road) Rated : 4.0Dr. Ambujam (Basavanagudi)
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Writer-producer Marta Kauffman could rest on her "Friends" laurels. Instead, she's delving into the online series world to explore offbeat material and a new role.
Kauffman turned official first-time director for "Georgia," a short Web series about a warmhearted yoga instructor-therapist who needs to heal herself when it comes to romance and family.
"Georgia," with Mary Elizabeth Ellis ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") as the title character and Harold Perrineau ("Lost," ''Sons of Anarchy") as her fiance, is on the WIGS YouTube channel. Each of the three episodes runs between five to eight minutes.
"It was so much fun," Kauffman said of the series, which she wrote and directed. "It was a little bit like guerrilla television. We shot seven pages (of script) a day, and that's a lot."
WIGS, which launched last March, is the brainchild of two high-profile filmmakers, Jon Avnet ("Black Swan," ''Fried Green Tomatoes") and Rodrigo Garcia ("Albert Nobbs," TV's "In Treatment"), who are turning the spotlight on women.
The lineup on WIGS (an acronym for the tag line "Where it gets interesting") includes original series, short films and documentaries. All feature lead female characters and stories that the channel promises will be provocative and "addictive."
Avnet and Garcia "want to do grittier, edgier stories about women than you normally see," both dramatic and comedic, Kauffman said.
"This was an opportunity to tell stories about many different women," she said of their channel. "Younger, older, whatever the writer wanted to bring to it."
In her case, Kauffman said, it also allowed her to assume a director's full arsenal.
"I'm not going to say this was a lifelong dream. But in the process of reinventing myself after 'Friends,' I did a version of directing without the camera stuff for many, many years," she said. "So I was really thrilled to get a chance to do it for real."
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text:
Game Thread: Philadelphia 76ers @ Warriors 2010-02-23
Talk about the upcoming Warriors game here
Moderators: Mr. Crackerz, JREED, Guybrush, 32
- Posts: 3177
- Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:03 am
All Star
Good loss, if there is such a thing.
warriorsstepup wrote:
Good loss, if there is such a thing.
Hopefully, the nice run at the end can carry over to primetime against Nugs on Thursday (with the win over the Hawks still fresh enough in the back their minds, and revenge in the front, esp for Monta)
Tarantism wrote:
Great so we can expect some ball hogging for sure then.
I don't see it that way. Lately I've seen Monta looking for Morrow (and occasionally Steph & CJ) after drawing his defender away, and same with hitting bigs rolling to the basket* (it's not his fault they're not A-level finishers), while also testing the defense to see how effective he can be one-on-one with his pull-ups & drives-to-finish.
*not you Bigs
- Posts: 1143
- Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:30 pm
All Star
I have to agree. Monta has been looking for players to pass to early in the game. It's when they can't finish where he starts to take control of the ball.
Tarantism wrote:OMG biggest play of the game and we have a lineup of Curry/Watson/Ellis/Morrow/Tolliver out there defensively. You gotta be kidding me. Hunter was on fire out there defensively and Nelson took him off the floor.
the tank is well and truly on


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Story of devotion and revenge gets a new translation
April 2-5, 2009
Directed by Eric Hill
Featuring Liz Terry as Hecuba
WALTHAM, Mass. – "Hecuba," the final production of the 2008-09 Brandeis Theater Company season, is Euripides' compelling story of one woman's devotion and revenge gets a new translation in this production. At the end of the Trojan War, the Greeks are unable to return home until the ghost of Achilles receives the sacrifice he demands: the death of Polyxena, daughter of the now enslaved former queen of Troy, Hecuba. Hecuba grieves the loss of her daughter and vows revenge for the death of her son Polydorus at the hands of the King of Thrace, Polymestor. Hecuba and her women plot their retaliation for her loss since justice is no longer an option in their conquered, weakened state.
This adaption by Eric Hill, the Barbara '54 and Malcolm L. Sherman Professor of Theater Arts, and Eirene Visvardi, Brandeis Kay Fellow, is made possible through generous support from the Jaffe Foundation, the Herbert and Kim Marie Beigel New Play Fund, and the Ann '56 and Clive Cummis Family Foundation.
"Hecuba" runs through Sunday, April 5.
Location and Tickets
Brandeis Theater Company productions are performed in the intimate theaters of the Spingold Theater Center, located on the Brandeis University campus at 415 South St. in Waltham, Mass. Tickets may be purchased online, at the box office and by telephone at 781-736-3400, option #5. For directions and more information, visit the Brandeis Theater Company Web site.
Performance Schedule and Prices
Thursday, April 2 at 8 p.m. ($18)
Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m. ($20)
Saturday, April 4 Matinee at 2 p.m. ($18)
Saturday, April 4 at 8 p.m. ($20)
Sunday, April 5 Matinee at 2 p.m. ($20)
Photos by Mike Lovett.


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Demythologising the Rabbinic Aggadah: Menahem Meiri
by Louis Jacobs
Many of the mediaeval Jewish teachers, partly in defence of the Talmud against attack by the Karaites, partly because of their own rationalistic stance, engaged in what Marc Saperstein in a fine study [1] has called 'decoding the Rabbis'. That is to say, passages, especially in the Talmudic Aggadah, which seemed to them offensive to reason and general religious sensibilities, these teachers interpreted in the light of their own philosophical views, treating the Talmudic Aggadah as if it were a code requiring to be deciphered. Whether or not the ancient Rabbis could have intended to say what these thinkers understood them to have said, whether the Talmudic literature does ever partake of a code, is, of course, quite another matter. Rabbinic thought, whatever else it is, is hardly in the philosophical and systematic vein [2].
This kind of allegorical interpretation of the Talmudic Aggadah, this demythologisation, is found among the Geonim [3], in Maimonides, [4) and even, on occasion, in Rashi [5]. the great French commentator usually indifferent to the philosophical approach. As Solomon Schechter said of the mediaeval French and German schools, they nether neither understood nor misunderstood Aristotle. It is not always appreciated, however, that Menahem Meiri of Perpignan (1249-1316) [6] employs this method throughout his voluminous commentaries to the Talmud as this essay seeks to demonstrate. (The page references are not to the numbers in the various editions of Meiri's Bet Ha-Behirah but to the pagination of the Talmudic tractates on which he comments).
Without stating it explicitly, Meiri usually allows his readers to see for themselves that his interpretations are intended to avoid attributing to the Talmudic Sages perverse, superstitious or ridiculous notions even though a surface reading of the tests might seem to imply that such notions are acceptable. The following provide examples of Meiri at work in this connection. They are arranged under a number of headings but these are not to be taken too categorically since there is considerable overlapping and do not appear in Meiri's own writings. Meiri's chief aim is to explain the Talmudic texts as these appear in the order of the tractates. His methodology has to be assessed by implication.
On the statement (Bava Batra 25a) that the Shekhinah is in the West. Meiri remarks that this in no way implies that God has any spatial location ('Heaven forbid,' Meiri adds) but only to indicate that it is preferable not to face East in prayer in order to protest against worshippers of the sun which rises in the East. Nowadays, we do face East in our prayers, adds Meiri, but that is in order to face Jerusalem.
The passage (Berakhot 6a) in which it is stated that the Shekhinah is present when ten assemble in the synagogue for prayer, is interpreted psychologically by Meiri: 'Whenever a man is able to offer his prayers in the synagogue he should do so since there proper concentration of the heart is possible. They [the Rabbis] have laid down a great principle that communal prayer is desirable and that those who offer their prayers in the synagogue where ten are present the Shekhinah is with them', This means, presumably, that the ability to concentrate adequately on the prayers is for the worshippers to be nearer to the Shekhinah and hence the Shekhinah is with them.
In the same Talmudic passage it is stated that where three judges sit together judging a case the Shekhinah is with them and when two scholars study the Torah together, instead of each one on his own, their words are recorded in 'the book of remembrance' (Malachi 3:16). Evidently, in order to avoid ascribing a spatial location to the Shekhinah and in order to avoid the suggestion that there is a book 'up there', Meiri paraphrases:
Let a man take care not to judge a case on his own and should always be one of three judges. For wherever there are three judges, two of them will argue it out while the third one will clarify the matter and weigh it up. In this way they will avoid error and it will be said of them that the Shekhinah is with them. And so it is with regard to the study of the Torah. Even though this is desirable and praiseworthy whenever it occurs, where there are two who study together it is far better for as a result there will be a greeter clarification of the truth. Furthermore, since each one debates the subject with the other, the subjects studied become more firmly fixed in their memory. This is what the author of the saying meant when he said that where two are present their words are recorded in the book of remembrance.
Meiri has a similar comment of the passage (Berakhot 6b) that when God comes to the synagogue and does not find the quorum of ten present there at the time of communal prayer He is immediately angry. Meiri remarks:
Let the members of a community be energetic in arriving at the synagogue as soon as the time of prayer has begins. For when time of prayer has come and there is no quorum in the synagogue it is most disgraceful, demonstrating that the hearts of people in that city are distant from God and such distance constitutes the greatest anger and the worst form of wrath. This is what they [the Rabbis] intended when they said God is immediately angry.
Meiri is evidently bothered not only by the notion of God coming to the synagogue, another spatial location, but also by the gross anthropomorphism that God becomes immediately angry. Meiri hence understands God's coming to the synagogue to mean that when the members of the community fail to arrive in the proper time their failure to 'come' nearer to God represents His coming to the synagogue, as if to say, He is ever ready to hearken to their prayer but they have missed the opportunity and such lack of care constitutes divine wrath.
Again, Meiri is bothered by the Talmudic statement (Berakhot 32a) in which God is made to say to Moses: 'You have revived Me with your words.' In the Introduction to his Commentary to tractate Avot, Meiri states that the meaning is, by Moses' demonstration that God's existence is necessary rather than contingent God became a living reality for them.
A particularly interesting interpretation by Meiri is given to the passage (Shabbat 12b) in which it is stated that, except when praying on behalf of a sick person, prayers should not be recited in Aramaic, a language the ministering angels do not understand. Prayers for the sick can be recited in this language since the Shekhinah is already present when a person is sick. On a surface reading, the passage means that the ministering angels who do not understand Aramaic cannot bring the prayers to the Throne of God when the prayers are in Aramaic but, where the prayers are on behalf of the sick the mediation of the angels can be dispensed with since the Shekhinah is already there. Meiri's interpretation relies on the passage (Berakhot 6a), in which it is stated that the Shekhinah is present when prayers are offered in the synagogue. Thus Meiri writes:
Let not a man ever offer supplication for his needs in Aramaic since this language is not fluent in the mouths of people and they will fail to concentrate adequately in prayers offered in a language they do not sufficiently understand. Nevertheless since with regard to a sick person there is a greater degree on concentration there is nothing to fear. And so do the Geonim write with regard to communal prayers that these can be recited in any language since the Shekhinah is with the community, meaning that the Shekhinah is with them.
Meiri here seems to understand the saying about the ministering angels as it were ironic. The Aramaic language is foreign even to the ministering angels who are good at languages. All the more is it foreign to ordinary folk. Thus Meiri neatly side-steps the notion of the angels having to bring the prayers to God. Just as in communal prayer the Shekhinah is there, namely, the type of concentration expressed by the presence of the Shekhinah (as above) so, too, where prayers are offered for the sick, the degree of concentration is sufficiently intense for it to denote the presence of the Shekhinah. There is adequate concentration even when the prayers are offered in a foreign language
Magic and Superstition
In his commentary to the verse: 'The simpleton believes everything' (Proverbs 14:15) Meiri observes that the question whether demons exist is a matter not of faith but of investigation. [7] There is no categorical denial of the existence of demons. Nevertheless, throughout his commentaries Meiri prefers to understand Talmudic references to demons in a non-literal fashion.
In tractate Avot (5:8) an opinion is stated that mazikin were created at twilight of the first Sabbath of Creation. The word mazikin (the 'harmful ones') is usually understood as the malevolent demons. But Meiri renders it as 'things not normally found in the natural order' and he puts forward a further idea that the term denotes the yetzer ha-ra (evil inclination). This inclination is undoubtedly harmful but also beneficial to human life since it provides humans with life's driving force. Hence it is a twilight thing, belonging and yet not belonging to the beneficent aspect of creation.
The statement in tractate Eruvin (43a) regarding the vast distances covered on the Sabbath by one Joseph the Demon by flying in the air seems to be understood by Meiri as denoting a skilful acrobat performing devil dare acts flying through the air (on stilts?).[9] On the statement (Berakhot 3a) that one of the reasons why it is forbidden to enter a ruin is because of mazikin, Meiri paraphrases this as 'anything that may cause harm'. On the statement (Berakhot 4b) regarding the recital of the Shema before retiring to sleep, Meiri quotes the Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 1:1, 2d) that the purpose of this recital is to drive away the mazikin. Meiri notes that the definite article is used, ha-mazikin, 'the mazikin' which, he says, refers to the known harmful ones, namely, thoughts of unbelief which tend to invade the mind when man is on his bed and against which the recital of the Shema is the antidote. This is why the Talmud exempts a scholar from the recital since such a person is immune, in any event, to heretical or idolatrous thoughts [10].
A well-known Talmudic passage (Bava Kama 21a), dealing with the question of whether a squatter has to pay rent, proved embarrassing to Meiri since the law seems to depend on a belief in demons. The teacher Rav is reported as saying, one who occupies a neighbour's premises without having an agreement so to do is under no obligation to pay rent. This is because Scripture (Isaiah 24:12) says: 'Through Sheiyyah even the gate gets smitten'. The usual translation of Sheiyyah is 'emptiness' or 'desolation'. But the Talmud seems to understand Sheiyyah as a demon i.e. the squatter benefits the owner of the premises since by living in the premises he keeps away the demon Sheiyyah who haunts uninhabited houses. The Talmud adds that Mar son of Rav Ashi said: 'I saw him myself and he resembled a goring ox'. Meiri simply writes that the squatter benefits the owner since an empty house becomes desolate there being no one to take care of it properly, understanding Sheiyyah as 'desolation'. Meiri ignores the report of Mar son of Rav Ashi, unless he understands this teacher to be saying that the effect of leaving as house empty and desolate is as if a wild ox had been let loose there.
On the famous Talmudic passage (Sukkah 28a), where it is said that Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai knew 'the speech of the demons, the speech of palm trees, and the speech of the ministering angels', Meiri offers the explanation that he knew how to talk about these creatures, not that he understood what these creatures were saying. Among some of the Geonim there was a tradition according to which if a sheet was spread between two palm trees it could serve as a means of divination and this is 'the speech of the palm trees' which Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai knew. Meiri prefers to understand the passage in a non-magical way, paraphrasing the whole as: 'matters of great wisdom regarding the natural order of the universe and the supernatural'.
Meiri is certainly not unaware that there are passages in the Talmud based on superstitious beliefs. Unwilling to accuse the Talmudic Rabbis of really entertaining such beliefs, Meiri has recourse to the idea that, while the Rabbis themselves did not believe in the superstitions, they were prepared to tolerate them as a sop to the ignorant masses for whom certain ideas has become so firmly fixed in their minds that nothing could be done to eradicate them. A good example of this attitude is Meiri's comment to the Talmudic passage (Pesahim 109b-110b) on the avoidance of zuggot ('pairs'), things that come in even numbers. Here the Talmud states that one should not eat an even number of items of food or drink an even number of cups of wine at the same meal. In that case, the Talmud asks, why do we drink four cups of wine on Passover at the Seder? The reply is that Scripture says of this night: 'It is a night of guarding' (Exodus 12:42), which verse is taken to mean: 'lt is a night of guarding from the mazikin'.
Here Meiri could hardly ignore the fact that the Rabbis must mean understand the term mazikin as harmful spirits who attack those who eat or drink by 'pairs' who are powerless to carry out their nefarious designs on this single night. Meiri's comment should be quoted in full as indicative of his opposition to superstition while acknowledging that superstitions are found frequently, especially in the Babylonian Talmud.
We have often explained that in those times people were attracted to vulgar things such as incantations, divinations, and other such base practices. For as these did not partake of the ways of the Amorites [the Talmudic term for illegal; practices with pagan associations] the Sages did not bother to eradicate them, still less those which had become too deeply fixed in their [the masses'] minds whether their belief be strong or weak. As this very passage attests: 'One who takes it seriously it has an effect. One who refuses to take it seriously it has no effect' Belonging to these topics is that which comes in pairs. Now when the Sages ordained the drinking of the four cups and refused to tolerate either diminution nor addition because of such ridiculous notions, they were obliged to state a reason for a departure from that to which they [the masses] had become accustomed. So they gave the reason that this night is one of protection from the demons.
Meiri adopts a similar line in many of his commentaries.
Another striking example of Meiri avoiding a too stark and crude invocation of
the supernatural is his comment to the passage (Kiddushin 70a) that when a man marries a woman unfit for him 'Elijah binds him and the Holy One, blessed be He, flagellates him.' Meiri understands this to refer to a woman unfit to be married to the man because she is of base ancestry, though her actual legal status is uncertain. Since she comes from a disreputable family this might be an indication that she is legally unfit. Meiri continues:
lt is with this in mind that they [the Rabbis] say that Elijah binds him. That is to say, philologically and in popular usage Elijah denotes the clarification of doubtful cases [11] so that her doubtful status will cause him constant anxiety, this being expressed by him being bound, until he will eventually come to realise that he will never enjoy any blessing from her and he will come to appreciate that she is really legally unfit for him. This is the meaning of 'the Holy One, blessed be He, flagellates him'. This is a parable for the punishment he deserves.
Meiri, in his major extant work, the Bet Ha-Behirah, generally confines his detailed comments to the Halakhic passages, though he frequently quotes the Aggadah where this has practical consequences and thus becomes Halakhah in a sense. He does not explore in any depth lengthy Aggadic passages which have no practical application. It is, consequently, not surprising that he has only one comment on the famous passage on dreams in tractate Berakhot (55a-57b). The passage contains the formula for 'making good' a bad dream (Berakhot 55b). If a man has had a bad dream he should assemble three men and say to them: 'l have had a good dream' and they should say to him: 'Good it is and let it be good. May the All-Merciful turn it to good: seven times may it be decreed concerning thee from Heaven that it be good and may it be good.' They should then recite three Scriptural verses in which the word 'turn' occurs; three verses in which the word 'redeem' occurs; and three verses in which the word 'peace' occurs.
The passage continues that if as man has had a dream the true nature of which he does not know, he should stand in front of the priests when they recite the Priestly Blessing and offer a prayer, given in the passage and later incorporated into various liturgies that his dream be turned to good (i.e. if it is really a bad omen). All this, obviously partaking of the magical, proved extremely puzzling to the philosophical mind. Meiri does, in fact, refer to the formula as a lahash ('incantation') but proceeds to soften the starker magical elements in the procedure, by, as his wont, understanding the procedure more for the psychological than the magical effect. Meiri writes: 'Whenever a man is troubled, even by a very minor thing, he should scrutinise his deeds and allow it to bring him to repentance. Even when all that happens to him is no more than the fright caused by a bad dream, he should examine [his deeds] and should worry about it so that it moves him to repentance. If it [the dream] has made him very anxious he should go to three men and say to them . . .' Meiri continues with the formula given in the Talmudic passage. Interestingly he reads the 'incantation' as actually saying: 'seven times may it be decreed' and he rejects the version according to which the formula be recited seven times, presumably because a sevenfold repetition would smack too much of the magical.
Meiri also seeks to avoid the magical element in the resort to the Priestly Blessing: 'If he saw a dream the nature of which he cannot fathom, not knowing whether it is good or bad so that his soul is disturbed, he should arrange [to present his special prayer] for the time when the congregation has particularly strong intention, namely at the time of prayer, and certainly at the time when the priests raise their hands and the congregation responds with Amen with special concentration, and he should then offer his own prayer.' Meiri is obviously concerned lest the Priestly Blessing itself be used as a form of incantation. The time of the Priestly Blessing is a time when the congregation is especially attuned to concentration and this will help the individual to concentrate on his plight causing him to repent. Here, again, Meiri's stress on the psychological benefits, on the subjective rather than the objective. lt is not a question of a man removing his anxieties by the utterance of certain words but by removing his anxieties by improving his character. As Evelyn Underhill has put it, the difference between magic and mysticism is that magic takes while mysticism gives.
Figurative Explanation
Meiri frequently states explicitly that, in his opinion, the Rabbis say this or that only as a parable or a hint at some good practice and that they never intended that what they say be taken literally. On the statement in the Talmud (Kiddushin 50b) that God created the Torah as an antidote to the yetzer ha-ra ('evil inclination') just as a human king who has wounded his son will provide the son with a plaster to keep on the would to prevent it festering, Meiri comments: 'Whosoever is diligent in his study of the Torah, even if he has sinned because of the power over him of the evil inclination and he has grown up with evil defects of character, the Torah will shield him. That is to say, it is impossible for the Torah not to train him to overcome them [the evil defects of character] and not to prevent him from becoming submerged in them.' Meiri them quotes the parable of the king and his son and says: 'They said 'by way of note.'" Clearly, Meiri is anxious, as always, to avoid attributing quasi-magical powers to the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah enables the student himself to become a better person.
A similar interpretation by Meiri is of the Talmudic passage (Rosh Ha-Shanah 16b) which states that when a man is in trouble he should change the place where he resides and change his name. A surface reading might convey the thought, totally unacceptable to a thinker like Meiri, that a man can prevent God's judgment by escaping to another place where God cannot find him (reminiscent of Jonah) or by changing his name. Meiri sees in the change of place and of name as no more than devices through which a man becomes another person i.e. by causing him to give up his former bad ways, repenting and making a new start in life [12].
Similarly, on the statement (Berakhot 7b) that when a man has a fixed place in which to offer his prayers, his enemies fall before him, Meiri (evidently having the reading 'fixed place for his studies', not 'for his prayers' as in the current edition) paraphrases it as:
Even if a man finds himself broad of heart, with a quick grasp and a good memory, he should not be soft on himself by failing to have a fixed place [a permanent place in which to study]. Whoever does have a fixed place will be successful in his studies and obtain the victory over those who disagree with him. This is the meaning of 'his enemies will fall before him'.
Again Meiri is anxious to avoid any suggestion that the Torah is a magical weapon by means of which the student's foes are vanquished. The 'enemies' are colleagues of whom the student will get the better when thy argue things out since, as a result of him having a fixed place for his studies, he has become more proficient in learning.
Meiri takes in a non-literal fashion [13] the teachings about the neshamah yeterah ('additional soul') with which man is endowed on the Sabbath (Beitzah 15a). This has to be understood not that a man has more than one soul on the Sabbath but that his soul is enlarged. Free from material concerns on the Sabbath, man devotes himself to spiritual things in a manner of which he incapable on the ordinary days of the week The neshamah yeterah refers to greater soulfulness, a more powerful experience of the spiritual life.
Meiri. in his commentary [14] to tractate Avot, quotes the Midrash (Genesis
Rabbah, chapter 1) in which it is stated that the Holy One, blessed be He, looked
into the Torah and then created the world. The surface meaning of this is that God used the Torah as an architect uses his blueprint! This is how the Midrash is conventionally and undoubtedly correctly understood. But Meiri finds it more in line with philosophical thinking to understand the saying to mean that God foresaw that He was to give the Torah that would keep mankind on the right path and He therefore created the world. Similarly, in his comment on the statement (Avot 2:1) 'All thy deeds are written in a book.' Meiri refuses to treat this as a kind of divine book-keeping but understands it to mean that a man should see his sins as if they were written in a book and which therefore cannot be erased except by resentence.
On the statement (Avot 2:14) 'Warm thyself by the fire of the sages; but beware of their glowing coals', Meiri is at pains to point out that this does not mean that the sages have a kind of death ray with which they harm those who come too near to them. According to Meiri the meaning is that one should be warmed through the nearness of the sages but should not become too familiar with them. The saying expresses the need to draw a balance between the familiarity that breeds contempt and the remoteness that is conducive to respect.
Meiri belongs firmly in both the Halakhic and the philosophical traditions, with the emphasis on the former. Or rather he explains both the Halakhah and the Aggadah of the Talmud in such a way as to satisfy both the Halakhic and the philosophical mind. Yet every student of this master's works knows that his style is all his own, a skillful and harmonious blend of the various trends of thought in his age which has a not inconsiderable attractiveness to modernists as well. This explains why, though the majority of his works have only seen the light of publication in comparatively recent times, they have been republished many times and have won such popularity that they now take their place beside Rashi and the Tosafists as essential guides to the Talmud.
[1] Marc Saperstein, Decoding the Rabbis: A Thirteenth Century Commentary on the Aggadah, Harvard University Press, 1980. The 'Thirteenth Century Commentary' is that of the hitherto unknown, Provencal scholar, Isaac ben Yedaiah, a contemporary of Meiri.
[2] On the problem of the Rabbinic Aggadah see Krochmal, Moreh Nevukhey Ha-Zeman, chapter 14, in The Writings of Nachman Krochmal, ed. S. Rawidowicz, London, 1961, pp. 238-256. On Rabbinic thinking as 'organic' rather than systematic, see Max Kadushin, The Rabbinic Mind. New York, 1965.
[3] See e.g. Otzar Ha-Geonim, ed. B.M. Lewin, vol. I, Berakhot, Haifa, 1928, pp. 2-3, on Elijah's conversation with R. Jose, and pp. 130-132 on earth rumblings. See my Theology in the Responsa, London, 1975, pp. 6-10.
[4] See Maimonides' Commentary to the Mishnah, Shabbat 2:5. that the 'evil spirit' mentioned in the Mishnah means a form of melancholia and Maimonides' strong approval (Guide, III, 22) of the saying of R. Simeon ben Lakish (Bava Batra 16a): 'Satan, the evil inclination and the angel of death are one and the same.'
[5] See Rashi's comment on the story of the Rabbi who challenged Satan (Sukkah 38a) which Rashi understands as a challenge to man's own evil inclination rather an external force. Cf R. Nissim of Gerona, the Ran, to Rosh Ha-Shanah 16b that blowing the shofar to confuse Satan means to confuse the evil inclination.
[6] For the little known about the life of Meiri see the article by I. Ta-Shema in the Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 11, pp. 1257-1260 and Saperstein. op. cit., index
'Menahem Meiri'.
[7] This reference is given in Sefer Ha-Middot Le-Ha-Meiri, ed. M. M. Meshi-Zahav,
Jerusalem, 1967, p. 100, based on a Vatican manuscript of Meiri's Commentary to Proverbs. There is a comprehensive examination of Meiri's view on superstition in Marc Shapiro, 'Maimonidean Halakhah and Supersition,' in Maimonidean Studies, ed. Arthur Hyman, vol. 4, New York, 2000, pp. 61-108.
[8] Cf. Meiri to Makkot 6b on a warning given by a demon (shed) which Meiri
understands as pure hyperbole (derekh mashal) and Meiri on the statement (Hullin 91a) that a scholar should not go out alone at night because the mazikin might harm him, paraphrased by Meiri as: 'people may be envious of him and harm him'. In his comment to Taanit 22b Meiri understands a man afflicted by an evil spirit to be a man suffering from hallucinations.
[9] Meiri adds that the report in the passage about Elijah travelling vast distances refers to a skilful acrobat who, like Elijah, covers huge distance at one go and that Joseph the Demon was such an acrobat.
[10] In all probability Meiri is hinting here at Christian doctrines.
[11] Elijah is associated with the resolving of doubt in the Mishnah (Eduyot 8:7)
and see my TEYKU: The Unsolved Problem in the Babylonian Talmud, London,
New York, 1981, p. 235.
[12] This comment of Meiri is based on Maimonides. Yad, Teshuvah 2:4 but Meiri
stresses the psychological effect to a greater degree.
[13] Hibbur Ha-Teshuvah, ed. Abraham Schreiber, Jerusalem, 1976, II, 12, p. 531.
[14] ed. B. Z. Prag, Jerusalem, 1964, Avot 1:1, ed. Prag p. 5.


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To mark its lucky seventh anniversary, The Wine Century Club is going back to basics, once again encouraging participants to see how many grape varieties we can collectively taste on one day. Hopefully today's totals can beat our formidable record of 314 grape varieties collectively tasted.
Wherever you may be, please raise a glass on June 9th of the most obscure wine that you can get your hands on. And if at all possible please post a short note about the wine you had. It can be as simple as the name of the wine and its grape variety(ies). Post 'em here, and post to the Wine Century Club blog:
» 7th Anniversary Giant International Tasting
http://www.winecentury.com/events/event ... l-tasting/


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Sequester delay no DOD panacea
President Barack Obama's new proposal to delay sequestration by a few months would offer the Pentagon some temporary relief in March, but it's far from a silver bullet.
If sequestration is delayed by a few months, as the president proposed Tuesday, the Pentagon would most likely be able to hold off a little longer before taking some of the more drastic measures that it has been warning about.
Story Continued Below
In the past week, Pentagon civilian leaders and the military service chiefs have painted a dire picture of a military unprepared for most contingencies outside Afghanistan should sequestration be allowed to occur March 1.
"If sequester goes into effect and we have to do the kind of cuts that will go right at readiness, right at maintenance, right at training, we are going to weaken the United States and make it much more difficult for us to respond to the crises in the world," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Asked on Tuesday if the sequester delay would be helpful to Pentagon budget crunchers, Panetta told POLITICO: "God, I hope so."
The military services and defense agencies are busy this week finalizing their plans for life under sequestration, plans Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter wants by Friday.
Delaying sequestration again would buy Carter some time before he would need to drastically scale back training and flying hours. But another delay does not come without costs.
For example, it would very likely require the Pentagon to partially pay for the delay, as it did when Congress moved the deadline from Jan. 2 to March 1.
It would also raise the stakes for the end of the fiscal year, giving the Pentagon and other federal agencies even less time to come up with the savings.
But most important, it wouldn't solve the Defense Department's other big spending problem: It still has no budget for this fiscal year.
"Continued sequester delays really amount to a slow-motion sequester," said Gordon Adams, who oversaw national security budgets at the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration.
When Congress agreed to delay sequestration from Jan. 2 to March 1, it required federal agencies to make $12 billion in discretionary spending cuts spread out over fiscal 2013 and 2014 to cover the costs.
It's likely Congress would require another delay to be paid for, Adams said, turning delays into slow-motion sequestration. "Plus, you're squeezing what you have to accomplish into a smaller and shrinking pie," he said.


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Having an intense attraction to any and all guys that possess the trademark characteristics of Michael Cera. These may include delicate features, lankiness, subtle sarcasm in almost every sentence, an adorably shy personality, a sweet smile, meek but also defensive if need be, and a hopeless romantic.
"That guy over there is so cute. Look at his adorable face! Aww, he stands awkwardly too!"
"Girl, you have a serious Michael Cera complex."
"Girl, you have a serious Michael Cera complex."
by ewokmogwai June 11, 2013
buy the domain for your recipe site


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Weekly Worksheet
Celebrating Fibonacci Day
November 15, 2012
November 23rd has been named Fibonacci Day since 11-23 doubles as the date's abbreviation and the first numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence (1, 1, 2, 3...). The Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci used this sequence in lots of wacky ways--from predicting the population growth of rabbits to exploring the "golden ratio" formed between two consecutive numbers in the sequence. Continue reading...


text: Tailgate Talk: Farm Journal December 2012 December 8, 2012 02:21 PM Tweet Nate Birt TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Sara Schafer Top Producer Editor Email Farm Journal Welcomes Social Media and News Editor Nate Birt is an online journalist who spends his days interacting with Farm Journal Media fans on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. He also covers the machinery and irrigation beats for Farm Journal and AgWeb.com. Nate is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where he received a master's in journalism and bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science. He has worked as a web producer for the Detroit Free Press; news and online editor at the Boonville (Mo.) Daily News; and local editor for AOL's Patch.com community news websites in St. Louis. He joined Farm Journal Media this fall. Nate and his family live in Mexico, Mo. Send story ideas to firstname.lastname@example.com. You can follow him and other editors on Twitter @FarmJournal or @AgWeb or drop in at www.Facebook.com/FarmJournal or www.Facebook.com/AgWeb. Quotes of Note "The market is saying plant more corn. Experience is saying don't plant more corn. It will be interesting to see what farmers do."—Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois "It wasn't too long ago that we had $5 corn. Farmers should not convince themselves that corn markets only have one direction to go." —Bob Utterback, Farm Journal Economist "Americans could not be more clear … they want us to create jobs and reduce the deficit. If Congress can pass the farm bill, it will create the momentum we need to solve the challenges our country faces." —Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chair, U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Stat Rack Corn yields took a wild ride this year. The following numbers show the plunge USDA's monthly crop production estimates took as the crop developed. 166 bu. May corn yield estimate 166 bu. June corn yield estimate 146 bu. July corn yield estimate 123.4 bu. August corn yield estimate 122.8 bu. September corn yield estimate 122 bu. October corn yield estimate 122.3 bu. November corn yield estimate AgWeb provides coverage and commentary of each month's USDA report at www.agweb.com/usda_reports What a Day! Hot Forage Market Driving down Highway 46 in North Dakota, a motorist saw this flaming semi load of hay on the side of the road. He helped the driver unhook the truck and trailer, just as volunteer firefighters arrived to put the fire out. Thankfully, no one was hurt. If you've had one of those days—or caught someone else's on film—we'd love to share it with our readers. E-mail high-resolution images to email@example.com, or mail prints to What a Day!, Farm Journal, P.O. Box 958, Mexico, MO 65265. Photos for publication will be selected on a first-come basis. Back to news


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Associate Professor of Music
Growing up in Martin, most people would not imagine that Dr. Julie Hill's area of musical expertise is the black music of Northeastern Brazil. Hill ('94 UTM) thinks the only explanation is that with a university education, there are no limitations.
Hill has traveled to Brazil many times and constantly witnesses the way music saves lives. She researches music, yes, but more importantly, she documents how music changes the musicians. Now, her mission as a UT Martin associate professor of music is to share this same way of experiencing music with her students.
Hill has twice performed internationally with her students, in Brazil, in 2005 and in Mexico, in 2008. Each time, her students were influenced long term by the experience. In Brazil, they performed with the university percussion ensemble in Salvador Da Bahia, using their instruments. Hill remembers the shock on her students' faces when they saw the state of the percussion gear. Her students gained an appreciation for all that they have available in the UT Martin program. Additionally, the music classes were taught by ear and required singing and dancing as part of the percussion lesson. They were freed from the notes on the page and were astounded by how creative they felt in this new way of learning music.
"The energy that evening brought with it no need for a Portuguese translator, nor formal music instruction; rather it lifted all barriers of culture, language, race, socio-economic level and allowed musicians and audience members alike to experience the power of the music," said Hill. One student on that trip went into a percussion performance program for his master's degree that specializes in Afro Brazilian music. The opportunities he now has are all based on the experiences from that trip.
Similarly, in Mexico, the students gained an appreciation for how much easier everything is for Americans. They saw armed guards and border patrols. But they also experienced the hospitality of the Mexican student hosts.
"By creating personal relationships on our trip to Mexico, we no longer watch the news abroad with a sense of disconnection," said Hill. "This has inspired my students to be more active engaged citizens of the world. This will, in turn, spread exponentially to those they will teach and influence in the future."
Campus News
Office of University Relations is the official source for all non-sports releases from the University of Tennessee at Martin. Materials on this page are updated on a regular basis.
The Office of University Relations is ready to assist you with finding a speaker for your special event or an expert to comment on a current news story.
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This mellow and happy go lucky ditty is full of a driving positive feel. Driven by strummed ukulele and acoustic guitar, accompanied by a simple piano melody, this song is about fun and movement on a lazy summer day.
Included are a loopable version as well as a version with an ending:
- DayTrip_100_Loop_JHungerMusic.wav (1:36)
- DayTrip_100_Ending_JHungerMusic.wav (1:42)


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After an interesting weekend of results, no teams actually changed spots in the Eastern Conference standings, though the group at the top all sit tied on points. Down below, Philadelphia and New England each held serve in spots four and five with weekend draws while the Fire missed a chance to leapfrog Houston with their home tie on Sunday.
The breakdown:
1) Montreal Impact
Current Points: 42 (12-7-6)
Games Remaining: 9 (4 home/ 5 away)
Last 5 Games: DWWLL (7pts)
2013 Home/Away Record: 9-1-3 / 3-6-3
Maximum Possible Pts: 69
Average Opponents Pts: 35.1
Remaining Schedule: 9/8 @ NE, 9/14 vs. CLB, 9/17 at SJ**, 9/21 vs. VAN, 9/24 vs. HER** 9/28 @ CHI, 10/4 @ HOU, 10/12 vs. NE, 10/16 @ LA, 10/19 vs. PHI, 10/26 @ TFC
Rundown: Despite their top spot in the conference, Montreal has had an abysmal road record vs. the East (1-6-2) so while they could have taken a big step over the weekend, perhaps a 0-0 draw at Philadelphia was them punching above their weight. September will be make or break time for the Impact as the team will play six competitive matches in a span of 20 days. If they hope to advance out of their Champions League group, they'll likely need to win one of their two remaining games. meaning squad rotation will be prudent through the end of the month.
The Impact will hope to improve their Eastern Conference road record with another away trip to New England on Sunday.
2) New York Red Bulls
Current Points: 42 (12-9-6)
Games Remaining: 7 (4 home / 3 away)
Last 5 Games: WLDLW (7pts)
2013 Home/Away Record: 8-2-3 / 4-7-3
Maximum Possible Pts: 63
Average Opponents Pts: 35
Remaining Schedule: 9/8 @ HOU, 9/14 vs. TFC, 9/22 vs. FCD, 9/29 @ SEA, 10/5 vs. NE, 10/20 @ HOU, 10/27 vs. CHI
Rundown: Red Bull did exactly what they had to do, downing MLS bottom dwellers D.C. United 2-1 at home Saturday night. With four of their remaining seven matches at home and no Champions League to worry about, if they win their games at Red Bull Arena, they should have no issue making their way to a postseason appearance. What they do with their away games should determine their positioning.
New York faces a six-pointer away to Houston on Sunday. Win and potentially distance yourself from the pack, lose and things will begin to get interesting.
3) Sporting KC
Current Points: 39 (12-9-6)
Games Remaining: 7 (3 home / 4 away)
Last 5: WLLWL (6pts)
2013 Home/Away Record: 7-4-3 / 5-5-3
Maximum Possible Pts: 63
Average Opponents Pts: 29.9
Remaining Schedule: 9/7 vs. CLB, 9/17 vs. RES**, 9/21 @ TFC, 9/27 vs. PHI, 10/5 @ CLB, 10/9 at HOU, 10/18 vs. D.C., 10/23 vs. OLI**, 10/26 @ PHI
Rundown: Like New York, Sporting KC did the business with a 2-1 win over Colorado Saturday. Already with six points in their two Champions League matches, Sporting likely needs just two points from their remaining matches to win the group and have a lighter league schedule than fell CCLers Montreal and Houston. Two matches with Columbus and one each vs. Toronto and D.C. should see Sporting easily clinch and could help push them towards the top spot by the end of October.
This weekend, Sporting face a Columbus side that lost at home to 10-man Seattle on Saturday, fired their coach Monday and will face Houston at home Wednesday. If the Crew lose to the Dynamo, they'll be all but eliminated from playoff contention, making KC's home encounter even easier.
4) Philadelphia Union
Current Points: 39 (10-8-9)
Games Remaining: 7 (3 home / 4 away)
Last 5 Games: DLDWL (4pts)
2013 Home/Away Record: 6-3-5 / 4-5-4
Maximum Possible Points: 60
Average Opponents Pts: 33.3
Remaining Schedule: 9/8 @ SJ, 9/14 vs. HOU, 9/27 @ SKC, 10/5 vs. TFC, 10/12 @ D.C., 10/19 @ MTL, 10/26 vs. SKC
Rundown: Three points at home Saturday would have seen Philly move to within one of first in the East but a draw against Montreal keeps them all on their lonesome in fourth place. With seven games remaining, the Union have a mixed type of schedule, facing Toronto FC and D.C. in back-to-back weeks in October but also with a games against Houston and Montreal and two matches against Sporting.
A west coast trip to San Jose, where the Earthquakes have dropped just one game this season (8-1-4) looms large this week, with a loss likely pushing the Union back down to the East bubble.
5) New England Revolution
Current Points: 37 (10-9-7)
Games Remaining: 8 (4 home / 4 away)
Last 5 Games: DWWLL (7pts)
2013 Home/Away Record: 6-4-3 / 4-5-4
Maximum Possible Points: 61
Average Opponents Pts: 33.75
Remaining Schedule: 9/8 vs. MTL, 9/14 @ CHI, 9/21 vs. D.C., 9/28 vs. HOU, 10/5 @ NY, 10/12 @ MTL, 10/19 vs. CLB, 10/27 @ CLB
Rundown: Perhaps no team controls their own destiny like the Revolution. With eight games left, the Revs has an even split of four home and four away but perhaps more interesting is that five of their next six matches are against Eastern Conference foes that sit in the Top 7 positions. Should they be able to navigate well through those matches, their home and home with Columbus to end the season could be all about positioning.
New England needs to take advantage of Montreal's poor road form Saturday to climb up the table.
6) Houston Dynamo
Current Points: 37 (10-8-7)
Games Remaining: 9 (5 home / 4 away)
Last 5 Games: DLWLW (7pts)
2013 Home/Away Record: 7-2-3 / 3-6-4
Maximum Possible Points: 64
Average Opponents Pts: 34.3
Remaining Schedule: 9/4 @ CLB, 9/8 vs. NY, 9/14 @ PHI, 9/21, 9/25 vs. WC**, vs. CHV, 9/28 @ NE, 10/4 vs. MTL, 10/9 vs. SKC, 10/20 vs. NY, 10/24 @ AU**, 10/27 @ D.C.
Rundown: Much like New England, Houston faces a number of teams they're battling for playoff positioning with over the next month and like Montreal and Sporting KC, also need to balance Champions League play. The Dynamo will be favorites to take three points on the road at Columbus Wednesday but will close out a seven game/22-day stretch at home Saturday to New York. Houston holds fate in their own hands but balancing Champions League with games against conference foes will be the key to their postseason push.
Simple enough: Win at home, draw on the road, they should be in.
7) Chicago Fire
Current Points: 35 (10-10-5)
Games Remaining: 9 (3 home / 6 away)
Last 5 Games: DWLWW (10pts)
2013 Home / Away Record: 8-4-2 / 2-6-3
Maximum Possible Pts: 62
Average Opponents Pts: 31.7
Remaining Schedule: 9/7 @ SEA, 9/11 @ TFC, 9/14 vs. NE, 9/21 @ CLB, 9/28 vs. MTL, 10/4 @ D.C., 10/12 @ FCD, 10/19 vs. TFC, 10/27 @ NY
Rundown: Sunday's late 1-1 draw at home to Houston was no doubt a gut punch but the Fire are far from out of the playoff race.
The Good News: The team continues to have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the East with two games against Toronto and one each against Columbus and D.C.
The Bad News: Only three of nine remaining matches are at home and the Fire's road record is towards the bottom in the conference.
And even though the Fire have never beaten Seattle and failed to win on turf since 2010, they have a real chance to take three points away to the Sounders with the home side missing Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Brad Evans, Leo Gonzalez on Saturday night.
Four to six points in the team's next two away matches (remember Toronto FC on September 11) will set them up well for a return home vs. New England on September 14. Twice this season the Fire have had the chance to leap into fifth place and failed, mid-September should be a target date for them to AT LEAST be there.
8) Columbus Crew
Current Points: 29 (8-13-5)
Games Remaining: 8 (4 home / 4 away)
Last 5 Games: LLWWL (6pts)
2013 Home / Away Record: 5-5-3 / 3-8-2
Maximum Possible Points: 53
Average Opponents Pts: 38.6
Remaining Schedule: 9/4 vs. HOU, 9/7 @ SKC, 9/14 @ MTL, 9/21 vs. CHI, 9/29 @ FCD, 10/5 vs. SKC, 10/19 @ NE, 10/27 vs. NE
Rundown: If Sunday's draw to Houston was a gut punch for the Fire, I'm not sure what to call the Crew's 1-0 home defeat to 10-man Seattle on Saturday.
Still, Columbus have a small shot at the playoffs and their coaching change Monday makes things a bit more interesting. Keep in mind that seven of their eight remaining matches come against teams in the Eastern Conference playoff picture but should they lose midweek to Houston, the weekend trip to Sporting KC could kill whatever hope they have left.


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Dude, where's my roundabout?
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Aug 13th, 2012
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Why is a new street that could launch an aging shopping center into the 21st Century getting such 20th Century intersections? Related: Giant problem? The surprising silver lining to Seminole's loss...
How Trolley deals with big bump
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This is how a CTS Trolley approached the dreaded, pre-shave speed bump on the Downtown Mall. (We just got around to posting this video.)
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May 26th, 2009
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This new concrete speed bump at Second Street NW has been gouged from passing vehicles. PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART No one questions whether drivers should go slowly as they cross the Downtown Mall....
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YORK -- Welcome in the year 2013 with the first of three Winter's Afternoon concerts at the York Public Library on Sunday, January 27, at 3 p.m. This free concert is part of the "Live at the Library" series, which encompasses drama, poetry readings, and various forms of music and art. Light refreshments will be available during the performance.
Maine singer-songwriter Anni Clark has recorded seven successful albums, including Anni Clark LIVE, which earned her a nomination for the Texas Music Awards "Female Vocalist of the Year." Anni is part folk, part blues, sometimes pop, but all parts original, pleasing audiences with her captivating voice, mindful lyrics, and excellent guitar playing.
Maine's Face Magazine said that "not only does Clark continue to write and perform great songs about this thing called life, she does so with a quiet grace..." The Kennebec Journal wrote "what I love about Clark is that she can have you laughing one moment and close to tears the next with the honest emotions in her material."
Doug Bennett, an active member of the Seacoast music scene since the mid-1970s, has put together a truly all-star band: Kent Allyn on keys, Bruce Derr on steel guitar, Jim Lydon on bass and Gary Gemitti on drums. They will be playing a wonderful mix of both old and new Doug Bennett tunes.
The next concert in the series is on Sunday, February 17, 3 p.m., with Elizabeth Lorrey and Cormac McCarthy.
The York Public Library is located at 15 Long Sands Road in York and is open on Tuesdays from 10 to 7, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10 to 5, and on Saturdays from 10 to 2.


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IOP Press Office information
April's Physics World: The role of physics in the sinking of the Titanic
Notes for editors:
Physics World is the international monthly magazine published by the Institute of Physics. For further information or details of its editorial programme, please contact the editor, Dr Matin Durrani, on tel +44 (0)117 930 1002. The magazine's website physicsworld.com is updated regularly and contains physics news, views and resources.
For copies of Physics World and copies of the articles reviewed here contact Michael Bishop, IOP Press Officer, tel +44 (0)117 930 1032, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.


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BUFFALO, NY—Chuck Beckwith (Victor/Victor) broke three long runs for second-half touchdowns covering 31, 52 and 80 yards to lead visiting Alfred University (2-1/1-0) to a 40-17 victory over No. 19 Buffalo State (2-2/0-1) in the Empire 8 season opener today at Coyer Field.
The Saxons kicked the ground game into gear in the second half to erase a 10-7 halftime deficit. Beckwith finished with 177 yards on eight carries to lead an Alfred ground attack that piled up 401 total rushing yards. Austin Dwyer (Arkport/Hornell) added 92 yards on 22 carries. Quarterback Zach Sopak (Falconer/Southwestern) finished 12 of 24 for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Alfred finished with 553 yards of total offense, compared to 364 by the Bengals.
Jon Jackson (E. Amherst/Timon) led the Alfred defense with 11 tackles, including two for loss and also had an interception. D.J. Welch (Avon/Avon) and Reggie Pressley (Rochester/Gates-Chili) added 10 tackles and a fumble recovery each.
Buffalo State's offense was unable to get in sync all afternoon as the Alfred defensive front won the battle at the line of scrimmage resulting in three sacks. Quarterback Casey Kacz (Amherst/Sweet Home) finished just 17 of 34 for 225 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Rich Pete (Utica/TR Proctor) had 15 carries for 71 yards and five catches for 29 yards. Manny Brooks (Auburn/Auburn) added 143 all-purpose yards, including two catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Tawone Williams (Cicero/CNS) led the Bengals' defense with a career-high 11 tackles.
Alfred took the early 7-0 lead after a blocked punt by Jonathan Ruffin (Copiague/Copiague) was scooped up by Andy Ruddock (Attica/Attica) and taken in 18 yards for the score.
Buffalo State answered just three offensive plays later, converting a third-and-11 with a 63-yard touchdown on a screen pass by Brooks.
Jackson intercepted a Kacz pass on the Bengals' next possession, and Alfred drove 88 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Buffalo State 1 yard line. The Saxons attempted to push it in on the ground, but were stopped on four consecutive plays.
Nate Benoit (Grand Island/Grand Island) accounted for the only points of the second quarter, booting a 24-yard field goal just 17 seconds into the second frame. Buffalo State threatened again in the closing minute of the half, but Benoit's 22-yard field goal try sailed wide right, leaving the score 10-7 at the intermission.
Alfred took control after the break, outscoring the Bengals 20-0 in the third quarter. The Saxons drove 60 yards on seven plays capped by a 1-yard pass from Sopak to Adam Schutz (Geneva/Geneva) to take a lead it would not relinquish.
Later in the quarter, the Saxons scored on back-to-back possessions when Beckwith broke free with runs of 31 and 52 yards on what appeared to be identical plays.
Buffalo State cut the deficit to 27-17 early in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard run by Brooks that capped a 70-yard drive, but Alfred countered with Beckwith again, springing for 80 yards on the very next play from scrimmage.
After a sack fumble by Chris Steeves (Rochester/Gates-Chili) in Bengal territory late in the game, Sopak hit Maleke Fuentes (Olean/Olean) for a 10-yard touchdown to complete the scoring.
Buffalo State will host nationally-ranked Salisbury in another Empire 8 game next Saturday at noon.


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CASTLETON, Vt. – Shane Brozowski (Rensselaer, N.Y.) set a new Castleton State College record with 41 completions, and threw for 400 yards and four touchdowns for the fifth time in his career, but Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute quarterback Mike Hermann (Hardeeville, S.C.) proved to be too much in a 56-35 setback Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.
Hermann was on target all day, completing 16-of-24 passes for 331 yards and five touchdowns. The senior quarterback also rushed nine times for 66 yards and a pair of scores in leading the Engineers to their second-straight win to start the season.
Brozowski finished 41-for-56 for 403 yards, four touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.
The Spartans got on the scoreboard first after RPI's opening drive ended with a missed 23-yard field goal. Brozowski connected with Brandon Boyle (Springfield, Vt.) from 25 yards out to cap a 14-play, 80-yard drive that spanned more than five minutes. Brozowski kept the drive alive with a fourth-and-one conversion at his own 29-yard line and converted on a pair of third downs en route to the score.
Hermann answered on the ensuing drive, connecting with Nick Weber (Winchester, Mass.) for a 51-yard touchdown on third-and-nine as the first quarter expired. The touchdown was the first of three long strikes to Weber as Hermann worked the play-action fake to perfection, freezing the Spartan secondary and allowing Weber to work behind the defense.
RPI stretched its lead to 21-7 midway through the second quarter on the strength of a 26-yard Hermann run and a 44-yard Hermann-to-Weber hook up. Both drives started with the Engineers facing a short field as Hermann's scamper capped a four-play, 52-yard drive and the toss came at the end of a three-play, 48-yard foray.
The Spartans cut the lead to 21-14 with another lengthy scoring drive, capped by a Tyler Carpenter (Fort Edward, N.Y.) plunge from one yard out. Brozowski found Kevin Alberque (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) on a pair of big plays during the drive including a third-and-one bubble screen that Alberque shook and shimmied into a 17-yard gain down to the RPI 12 yard line.
The Engineers answered quickly yet again, this time with a three-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a T.J. Strunk (West Palm Beach, Fla.) five yard touchdown run. Facing a first-down and 12, Hermann threw a backward pass to Austin Caswell (Round Rock, Texas) on the right sideline and Caswell fired a strike to Steven Burpoe (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) for a nifty 55-yard pick up to set up the scoring play and give RPI a 28-14 lead entering halftime.
Castleton's opening drive of the second half stalled at the RPI 28 and the Engineers marched 72 yards on eight plays to stretch its lead to 35-14 on a Hermann touchdown run from four yards out.
The Spartans reeled off 14-straight points on a pair of Brozowski touchdown passes, one to Boyle and the other to Denny Wilhelm (Glens Falls, N.Y.), cutting the deficit to 35-28 entering the fourth quarter.
The momentum was short-lived however, as RPI intercepted Brozowski twice and rattled off three-straight touchdown drives to put the game out of reach.
Weber's three touchdown catches led to a team-high 135 yards, while Burpoe hauled in a team-best five catches for 101 yards and a touchdown. Caswell added three catches for 68 yards and a touchdown to his 55 yards passing.
Strunk finished with a game-high 91 yards on 18 rushes and a touchdown, while Matt Wood (Skaneateles, N.Y.) chipped in 38 yards on seven carries.
Boyle proved to be Brozowski's favorite target all day, hauling in a Castleton-record 17 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Wilhelm caught ten balls for 76 yards and a pair of scores, while Carpenter added six catches for 38 yards and Alberque racked up 90 yards on four catches.
The Engineer defense was led by Jay Cavanagh's (Phippsburg, Maine) 10 tackles, while Nick Borkowski (Fort Salonga, N.Y.), Matthew Day (Claremont, N.H.) and Austin Nelz (Marco Island, Fla.) each chipped in nine. Jacob Meyers (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) and Wade Hansen (Troy, N.Y.) each added a sack, while Corey White (Taberg, N.Y.) chipped in five quarterback hurries and an interception to the stat sheet.
Todd Carr (Ticonderoga, N.Y.) had a Spartan-best 10 tackles and forced a fumble and Cameron Laundry (Hartford, Vt.) added eight tackles and a sack. Mick Wong (Hartford, Vt.) stood out with nine tackles (seven solo) including three for a loss.
Castleton falls to 1-2 and will open its Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) slate next Saturday versus SUNY-Maritime as part of homecoming weekend at 1 p.m.


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The A123 Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, story takes a few more twists and turns. The company declared bankruptcy in Oct. 2012 and announced that it had entered an asset purchase agreement with Johnson Controls. From the A123 Systems About Us webpage,
Asset Purchase Agreement and Chapter 11 Information
On October 16, 2012, A123 Systems, Inc. announced that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Johnson Controls, Inc., which plans to acquire A123's automotive business assets, including all of its automotive technology, products and customer contracts, its facilities in Livonia and Romulus, Mich., its cathode powder manufacturing facilities in China, and A123's equity interest in Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems Co., Alpha's joint venture with Shanghai Automotive. The asset purchase agreement also includes provisions through which Johnson Controls intends to license back to A123 certain technology for its grid, commercial and government businesses.
Today, Dec. 10, 2012, there's a news item on Azonano about A123 Systems' assets being acquired by Wangxiang America,
A123 Systems, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate® lithium iron phosphate batteries and systems, today announced that it has reached agreement on the terms of an asset purchase agreement with Wanxiang America Corporation ("Wanxiang") through which Wanxiang would acquire substantially all of A123's assets for $256.6 million.
The agreement was reached following an auction conducted under the supervision of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the "Court"). A hearing at which A123 and Wanxiang will seek the required Court approval of the sale is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11, 2012.
According to the terms of the asset purchase agreement, Wanxiang would acquire A123's automotive, grid and commercial business assets, including all technology, products, customer contracts and U.S. facilities in Michigan, Massachusetts and Missouri; its cathode powder manufacturing operations in China; and its equity interest in Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems Co., A123's joint venture with Shanghai Automotive. Excluded from the asset purchase agreement with Wanxiang is A123's Ann Arbor, Mich.-based government business, including all U.S. military contracts, which would be acquired for $2.25 million by Navitas Systems, a Woodridge, Ill.-based provider of energy-enabled system solutions and energy storage products for commercial, industrial and government agency customers.
The Oct. 2012 deal with Johnson Controls seems to have collapsed, which occasioned this December 2012 auction in which Johnson Controls did participate initially. From the Dec. 9, 2012 Johnson Controls news release on PR Newswire,
Johnson Controls officially withdrew from the bankruptcy auction to acquire portions of A123 Systems when it declined to match a higher bid submitted by Wanxiang. Subsequently A123 representatives have announced they selected Wanxiang's bid of $257 million as the best offer for the total company over a set of competing complementary bids by Johnson Controls for the automotive and government assets and NEC for the grid and commercial assets.
"While A123's automotive and government assets were complementary to Johnson Controls' portfolio and aligned with our long-term goals, Wanxiang's offer was beyond the value of those assets to Johnson Controls," said Alex Molinaroli, president, Johnson Controls Power Solutions. "Reports by other parties that our proposal involved an elimination of jobs in Michigan are inaccurate."
The Dec. 10, 2012 news article on Bloomberg Businessweek website provides more detail and some analysis,
Wanxiang is seeking A123's battery technology, used in Fisker Automotive Inc.'s Karma sedan, as China pushes its companies to develop electric vehicles. An earlier accord with the Chinese company was scrapped in October, when A123 said it filed for bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell its automotive assets to Johnson Controls.
"The purchase of A123 would automatically vault Wanxiang to become probably the number one battery maker in China," said Shu Sun, a Beijing-based analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "Technology-wise, no battery company in China is likely to match A123's products in performance and reliability."
A123 supplies electric-car batteries to a dozen customers, according Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. That's the highest number of clients in the industry, though LG Chem Ltd. and NEC Corp. (6701)'s venture with Leaf-maker Nissan Motor Co. have higher volume sales, Sun said.
Wanxiang Qianchao Co. (000559), a listed unit of the closely held parent advanced 1.4 percent to 4.25 yuan in Shenzhen trading today, narrowing its loss for the year to 25 percent.
The auction results also pave the way for Hangzhou, China- based Wanxiang to receive A123's cathode powder plant in China and its share of a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. called Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems Co., according to yesterday's statement.
Navitas Systems, a Woodridge, Illinois-based company, will buy A123's Ann Arbor, Michigan-based government business for $2.25 million, according to the statement.
A123, the recipient of a $249.1 million federal grant, held the auction behind closed doors in the Chicago law offices of Latham & Watkins. The auction began on Dec. 6 with prospective bidders including Johnson Controls, Wanxiang, Siemens AG (SIE) of Germany and Tokyo-based NEC Corp.
As to the why and how of A123 Systems' bankruptcy in the first place, Dexter Johnson in his Oct. 17, 2012 posting on Nanoclast (on the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] website) suggests it had to do with old fashioned supply and demand economics,
The underlying problems of A123 Systems, Solyndra, and Konarka are not political ones of governmental policies—they're illustrations of the futility of ignoring good old-fashioned supply-and-demand economics. (Solyndra, besides never being competitive with traditional energy sources, was also forced to compete with heavily subsidized solar alternatives.)
There is little question that A123 Systems made a better Li-ion battery than its competitors. The problem was the nano-enabled battery that they came up with for powering electric vehicles (EVs) was not in competition with other Li-ion batteries, but with the internal combustion engine.
This is not a political issue or an ideological issue, it's a numbers issue. …
Dexter mentions A123 Systems again in an Oct. 19, 2012 posting (Nanotechnology As Socio-Political Project), featuring a broader analysis of the issues around commercializing technologies. There's a thesis in here for someone.
ETA Dec. 13, 2012: The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has approved the sale of A123 Systems' military business to Navitas according to a Dec. 13, 2012 news item on Azonano,
Navitas Systems LLC, a leading provider of energy-enabled system solutions and energy storage products for commercial, industrial and government agency customers, today announced that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the "Court") has approved the sale of A123 Systems' Ann Arbor, Mich.-based government business, including all U.S. military contracts, for $2.3 million to Navitas. …
Navitas Systems can be found here.


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I'm going. I will be reserving a hotel soon. I am going to probably only take in 2 more roomies and no snorers.
Haven't received my email yet, but PDGA just put up a bunch of related documents.http://www.pdga.com/documents
Emporia Municipal Golf Course: (9582 feet) ... The signature hole is Hole 18 measuring 745 feet which calls for a long tee shot with a risk-reward approach on whether to gun for the green. The putt is made difficult by the prevalent Kansas wind coming off the pond that lines the fairway. For more information visit YouTube and search "The Wind Putt."
I wish they didn't include Municipal. It just did not feel like golfing. Max Distance drives with OS discs that would land wherever the wind decided to drop it. Maybe if it was shortened a good amount it would be better.


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The Guardian :
Vanna Mendaleni is a middle aged Greek woman who until now has not had vehement feelings about the crisis that has engulfed her country. But that changed when the softly spoken undertaker, closing her family-run funeral parlour, joined thousands of protesters on Thursday in a mass outpouring of fury over austerity policies that have plunged ever growing numbers of Greeks into poverty and fear.
"After three years of non-stop taxes and wage cuts it's got to the point where nothing has been left standing," she said drawing on a cigarette. "It's so bad families can no longer afford to even bury their dead. Bodies lie unclaimed at public hospitals so that the local municipality can bury them."
As Greece was brought to a grinding halt by its second general strike in less than a month, Mendaleni wanted to send a message to the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, and other EU leaders meeting in Brussels.
"We once had a life that was dignified. Now the country has gone back 50 years and these politicians have to be made aware that enough is enough."
Greek demonstrations are not now marked by the vehemence or violence of the mass protests that occurred when Europe's debt drama erupted in Athens, forcing the then socialist government to announce pay and pension cuts, tax increases and benefit losses that few had anticipated. Anger and bewilderment have been replaced by disappointment and despair.
But the quiet fortitude that has been on display could soon run out in the country on the frontline of the continent's worst crisis since the second world war. For on Thursday demonstrators were sure of one thing: if pushed too far they may be pushed over the edge.[Read the rest of the article]
Are Neo-Nazis Aiding Greek Cops With "DIY Law Enforcement"?
Zero Hedge
October 18, 2012
Forget the day-to-day images of riots and protests, the truth on the ground in Greece is far harsher. Just as we warned numerous times, social unrest is escalating rapidly and the extremists are gaining strength and power. One of Greece's neo-nazi Golden Dawn party MPs says "there is already civil war, and Greek society is ready – even though no-one likes this – to have a fight." The BBC's Paul Mason reports on recent demonstrations surrounding the performance of a controversial play as tensions escalated and the Golden Dawn party "de-arresting" demonstrators – pulling them from police detention, as the police do nothing. The somewhat shocking clip below points out the incredible reality that is occurring on the streets of Greece – even as EU leaders claim Greece was not a topic at the EU Summit. The people ask "if we are in a democracy or a dictatorship?" and Golden Dawn (which has 18 seats in parliament) proclaims "On the one side there will be nationalists like us, and Greeks who want our country to be as it used to be; and on the other side illegal immigrants, anarchists and all those who have destroyed Athens several times." As Mason concludes: the social and political outcome of the IMF and EU austerity program, and of the implosion of mainstream politics in Greece, looks like a catastrophe for democracy.
Here is the clip of the theatre riot and Golden Dawn abuse "Wrap It Up You Little Faggots. You Albanian Assholes"
Via The BBC: Alarm at Greek police 'collusion' with far-right Golden Dawn
The full 'must watch' BBC video is not embeddable, but worth viewing, so click image for link:
Are Greek police colluding with far-right Golden Dawn?
Greece's far-right party, Golden Dawn, won 18 parliamentary seats in the June election with a campaign openly hostile to illegal immigrants and there are now allegations that some Greek police are supporting the party.
"There is already civil war," says Ilias Panagiotaros. If so, the shop he owns is set to do a roaring trade.
"Greek society is ready – even though no-one likes this – to have a fight: a new type of civil war," he says.
"On the one side there will be nationalists like us, and Greeks who want our country to be as it used to be, and on the other side illegal immigrants, anarchists and all those who have destroyed Athens several times," he adds.
You hear comments like this a lot in Greece now but Ilias Panagiotaros is not some figure on the fringes: he is a member of the Greek parliament, one of 18 MPs elected for the far-right Golden Dawn in June's general election.
Theatre attack
…Last week he led a demonstration that closed down a performance of the Terence McNally play, Corpus Christi.
"Wrap it up you little faggots. Yes, just keep staring at me you little hooker. Your time is up. "You Albanian assholes," shouts Mr Panagiotaros in the YouTube clip.
Footage filmed inside the theatre, as rocks showered into its open-air auditorium, shows the manager making frantic calls to the chief of police, demanding protection from a mob that had begun to beat up journalists outside.
Other footage shows Golden Dawn MP Christos Pappas "de-arrest" a demonstrator, pulling him from a police detention coach, as the police do nothing.
"People went home with broken bones. Every day they phone me now, they phone the theatre, saying: your days are numbered."
They phoned my mother, Golden Dawn. They said we will deliver your son's body to you in a box of little pieces.
"I want to be told if we are in a democracy or a dictatorship?"
I ask Mr Panagiotaros: how can it be right for a party in parliament to have a uniformed militia that takes on, violently, the role of law enforcement, checking papers and overturning market stalls? He explains:
"With one incident, which was on camera, the problem was solved – in every open market all over Greece illegal immigrants disappeared.
"There was some pushing and some fighting – nothing extraordinary, nothing special.
"Now, only with one phone call saying Golden Dawn is going to pass by, the police is going there. That means the brand name of Golden Dawn is very effective."
He confirms the party's strategy is to force police action against migrants and to claim their right to make citizens' arrests against those they suspect of criminality.
"It's like fashion – our dress code is now extremely popular and more people want to follow it. The brand name is synonymous with order, law and order and efficiency."
And if it projects fear among perfectly legal migrants? I ask.
"There are no legal migrants in Greece," says Mr Panagiotaros "not even one."
Now Golden Dawn is suddenly everywhere. Its eight local offices at election time have become 60 nationwide. It is polling consistently as the third most popular party at 12%.
"Rest assured we stand by the citizens and we try to prevent such situations.
And the issue driving support for Golden Dawn is clear: illegal migration.
"Golden Dawn is at war with the political system and those who represent it, with the domestic and international bankers, we are at war with these invaders – immigrants.
"If the European Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Parliament, the Greek parliament don't intervene in this situation I am afraid to think what's going to happen. Europe must do something if they don't want a revival of the Third Reich again."
Close up, in other words, the social and political outcome of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and EU (European Union) austerity programme, and of the implosion of mainstream politics in Greece, looks like a catastrophe for democracy.


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Courtesy Daniela Gschwendtner; Inset: Courtesy Ricki Lake
For her secret wedding to Christian Evans, Ricki Lake chose
Dancing with the Stars
costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner to create her dream wedding gown — on the sly.
"They made me feel like a princess every week that I danced," Lake tells PEOPLE of Gschwendtner's team. "I had no doubt that Daniela was going to create something that would show me off the best and make me feel beautiful, and she did."
In February, the bride and the designer had a secret consultation at the DWTS studio. After looking at photos and swatches from the show, Gschwendtner combined some of Lake's favorite styles to create the gown's silhouette.
"We went with something that was half a summer dress and half a wedding gown," Gschwendtner tells PEOPLE of the look. "It's very soft, very romantic."
Courtesy Ricki Lake
One side of the dress is slightly peach and the other more cream, the designer adds, and "it all comes together at the waist with a darker peach accent for a little bit of color variation."
The bride's one request? "A corset," Gschwendtner says. "Not heavy-duty or uncomfortable but one to give a little shape."
For her five dress fittings, Lake says she tried to slip into the DWTS wardrobe department unnoticed. "It was quite a feat," Lake jokes. "One day, I was hiding in the wardrobe room not wanting to be discovered."
But the sneaking around was worth it once Lake put on the gown. "She got teary-eyed," Gschwendtner says of the emotional first fitting. "I think she loved it and it started to sink in that she was actually getting married and this was the wedding dress." For more photos of Lake's wedding, pick up the April 23 issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
–Asher Fogle, with reporting by Elizabeth McNeil