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Create rich-layout publications in EPUB 3 with HTML5, CSS3, and MathML
Explore the next-generation open eBook standard for advanced layout and typography
EPUB is the XML format for reflowable digital books and publications standardized by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). By 2009, EPUB 2 was the de facto eBook format used by most major eBook retailers and reading systems.
EPUB ZIP archives are packaged under a well-defined structure. Each component has its own specification, united under the common EPUB label:
- Container specification
- Defines the method by which an EPUB document is packaged.
- EPUB publication
- Includes all of the metadata about the eBook's contents, including: the package's manifest, basic title, author metadata, and—in EPUB 3—definitions of which advanced features the publication expects to support, such as JavaScript or MathML. This is called the Open Container Format file.
- EPUB content documents
- The actual XHTML and CSS files that make up the publication's content. Content documents also include binary resources such as images, multimedia, and, potentially, externally defined XML documents.
This article explores some of the EPUB 3 features. You'll learn about validating EPUB 3 documents, navigation and hierarchy, and development guidelines. An example walks through the process of adapting a page from a children's book into EPUB 3. Also learn how to include MathML in publications.
Download the examples used in this article.
The sample code and examples in this article assume a basic familiarity with the EPUB 2 specification and XML-based publications in general. See Related topics for details on EPUB 2.
Changes in EPUB 3
EPUB 2 provides all the formatting and layout capabilities of HTML4 and CSS2, which is more than sufficient for text-heavy publications. However, publishers and authors found that EPUB 2 couldn't handle many content types and use cases, such as multimedia books, books with complex layout, mathematical publications, and interactive documents. The IDPF and eBook community released the specification for EPUB 3 in October, 2011.
Major changes from EPUB 2 to EPUB 3 include:
- The required schema for EPUB 3 content documents changed from XHTML
1.1 to the XHTML serialization of HTML5. It was a critical requirement to include the multimedia
elements from HTML5 (
<audio>, and
- The allowable range of CSS in EPUB 3 content documents expanded from a subset of CSS2.1 to a set of mature modules from CSS3 relevant to document authoring.
- MathML was added to XHTML5 and SVG as a first-order content type.
- Support for embedded fonts is now required of reading systems that have a CSS viewport. Web Open Font Format was added as an acceptable font format.
- Explicit support for non-Western writing modes and scripts, including vertical layout in Japanese and other Asian scripts.
- Optional support for JavaScript-mediated interactivity using a custom security model.
- Allowable metadata in publication documents was expanded, including some support for Resource Description Framework–in–attributes (RDFa).
- The EPUB 2 Navigational Center eXtended (NCX) table of contents (TOC) document was deprecated in favor of an XHTML5-based TOC. (The NCX is still allowed for backwards compatibility.)
Validating EPUB 3 documents
Because EPUB 3 relies on XML serializations for most content types, it is amenable to automatic validation. The EpubCheck tool is the canonical method for testing the validity and conformance of EPUB documents. EpubCheck is an open source (Berkeley Software Distribution-licensed) Java™ library. A developer preview version is available for use with EPUB 3 documents and is used throughout this article. See Related topics for links to the latest version.
It is strongly suggested that you use the .xhtml extension for all EPUB content
documents. Browsers will not interpret HTML content as
without that extension. XML processing mode is required when working with many of
the features demonstrated in this article, such as CSS namespaces.
Typically, you interact with EpubCheck through the command line, as shown below.
$ java -jar epubcheck-3.0b3.jar sample.epub Epubcheck Version 3.0b3 No errors or warnings detected.
If you get the error
com/thaiopensource/validate/SchemaReader in response, make sure that the
lib/ directory that came with the EpubCheck distribution is in the same directory as
the EpubCheck JAR file.
EpubCheck 3 can validate a single subcomponent of the EPUB package individually, as in Listing 1. This extremely useful feature, which is used in the examples in this article, can:
- Help isolate problems.
- Reduce the need to tediously repackage the EPUB into a new ZIP just to validate it.
- Be incorporated in a unit testing framework for a toolchain that outputs a single file type.
Listing 1. Running EpubCheck 3 against a single file type
$ java -jar ~/src/epubcheck-3.0b3.jar sample-toc.xhtml -mode nav Epubcheck Version 3.0b3 WARNING: sample-toc.xhtml: File is validated as a single file of type nav and version 3! Only a subset of the available tests is run! No errors or warnings detected.
Navigation and hierarchy in EPUB 3 documents
Though the NCX TOC file in EPUB 2 supported a rich set of markup for hierarchical navigation and page mapping, it was derived from Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) Digital Talking Book (a specification for producing eBooks accessible to the print-disabled). Reliance on the well-specified DAISY format was meant to ease development of eBook readers that could support rich accessibility. In that sense, the NCX performed capably. However, the NCX DTD is quite large and includes features not relevant to EPUB 2. Confusion over which parts of the NCX were required in EPUB resulted in undesirable fragmentation and proprietary extensions by some eBook retailers and reading system vendors.
EPUB 3 deprecates the NCX and replaces it with the EPUB Navigational Document (END). Listing 2 shows an example. The END uses XHTML5 rather than a custom DTD, thereby reducing the number of XML formats to implement and validate. Custom EPUB attributes are supplied using the EPUB namespace (http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops).
Listing 2. A minimal END
  <title>Example</title>

Contents

 Chapter 1

The HTML5
 element is
required (as is the
epub:type value
Declaring the END
Include the END in a publication by declaring the
item in the
manifest with the
properties value of
nav, as in Listing 3.
Listing 3. Including an END in an EPUB Package Document (OPF)
<manifest> <item id="toc" properties="nav" href="toc.html" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/> <item id="chapter_001" href="chapter_001.html" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/> ... </manifest>
Inclusion of an END file is required in EPUB 3. You can also include an NCX file for backwards compatibility, but EPUB 3 processors must ignore the NCX in favor of the END.
Visual presentation of the END
Unlike the NCX, you can include the END in the flow of the book content. In EPUB 2, if you wanted to show a custom TOC to users (rather than relying on built-in TOC support in the eReader), you had to produce two copies of the same content—one in the NCX and one as an HTML content document. The END eliminates this duplication and allows a great deal of flexibility in presenting some or all of the TOC in the content flow.
To add the END to the content flow, simply include it in the OPF
spine, as in Listing 4.
Listing 4. Including the END in the flow of reading
<spine> <itemref idref="toc" /> <itemref idref="chapter_001" /> ... </spine>
In documents with deep hierarchies, such as technical documentation, you might
want to include all section levels in a purely functional TOC while showing only
first- or second-level sections to users in the content flow. You do so using
the HTML5
hidden attribute, as in
Listing 5, on any elements that should be removed from
presentation to users.
Listing 5. Removing subsections from the visual presentation of a TOC
...

 Chapter 1

 Chapter 1 subsection

 Chapter 1 subsection 1 ...
You might wonder why you couldn't do this using the CSS
display: none property. Because EPUB is used in a
variety of reading systems, including nonvisual screen readers or Braille devices,
not all readers are required to support CSS. Most modern web browsers support
hidden natively. It's a good idea to include
CSS to explicitly set the display property of these elements, as in Listing 6.
Because the END file is just another HTML file, you can add CSS in the HTML
head, just as with any other stylesheet.
Listing 6. Setting the display property
/* Never display elements with the hidden attribute */ *[hidden] { display: none; }
On incompatible reading systems or browsers, the absence of styling for the
hidden attribute results in all subsections being
shown, as in Figure 1.
Figure 1. END TOC without hidden attribute or CSS
On browsers that support
hidden or after you supply
the shim CSS, the output is transformed, as in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The END TOC with hidden applied
By default, the ordered list HTML produces a set of numbered lists.
However, the END specification states, " . . . the default display style of list
items must be equivalent to
CSS list-style: none."
To achieve this presentation, add another rule to the EPUB 3 CSS polyfill,
as in Listing 7.
Listing 7. Setting the style of list items
/* In a declared TOC list, never show list numbering */ nav#toc ol { list-style-type: none; }
Migrating from NCX to END through XSLT
Although the EPUB 3 END offers more options for layout and control, if you're migrating from an EPUB 2 to EPUB 3 workflow, consider starting by converting from existing NCX documents. Because both input and output documents are XML, this is a perfect application for XSLT.
Listing 8 provides the basic framework for generating an HTML document to populate with the TOC.
Listing 8. Declare the namespaces necessary for the NCX and END
<?xml version="1.0"?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" exclude-result-prefixes="ncx xsl" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:ncx="http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/ncx/" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:template match="ncx:ncx">   <title><xsl:apply-templates select="/ncx:ncx/ncx:docTitle/ncx:text"/></title>   <xsl:apply-templates/>   </xsl:template>
Note the mandatory inclusion of the
namespace, which is typically prefixed with
epub. Include this
namespace primarily to support EPUB semantic inflection (additional
meaning about the specific purpose an element has in an EPUB content document). If
using EPUB 3, you're encouraged to use the expressiveness available in the
Structural Semantics Vocabulary to provide context for accessibility software as
well as machine processing. See Related topics for information on the values included in that
With the basic outline in place, start to walk the hierarchical TOC in the NCX
and output corresponding XHTML elements. Although the NCX allows for several
different types of page lists, EPUB books typically include only the
ncx:navMap. The template excerpt in
Listing 9 shows how to output a set of nodes from the
Listing 9. Outputting the navMap
...  <xsl:template match="ncx:navMap">  <xsl:copy-of select="@class"/> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test="ncx:navLabel"> <xsl:apply-templates select="ncx:navLabel" mode="heading"/> </xsl:when> <xsl:otherwise> <xsl:if test="self::ncx:navMap">
Table of Contents
 </xsl:if> </xsl:otherwise> </xsl:choose>
 <xsl:apply-templates select="ncx:navPoint|ncx:navLabel"/>
  </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="ncx:navPoint"> <xsl:text> </xsl:text>
 <xsl:copy-of select="@id|@class"/>   <xsl:apply-templates select="ncx:navLabel"/>   <xsl:if test="ncx:navPoint">
 <xsl:apply-templates select="ncx:navPoint"/>
 </xsl:if>
 </xsl:template>  <xsl:template match="ncx:navLabel|ncx:text"> <xsl:apply-templates/> </xsl:template> ...
Listing 10 provides an example of a hierarchical NCX.
Listing 10. Sample from a hierarchically organized NCX
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE ncx PUBLIC "-//NISO//DTD ncx 2005-1//EN" "http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/ncx-2005-1.dtd"> <ncx xmlns="http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/ncx/" version="2005-1" xml:lang="en">  <meta name="dtb:uid" content="d989d60c-2302-40d1-9c85-1c028414342a" /> <meta name="dtb:depth" content="-1" /> <meta name="dtb:totalPageCount" content="-1" /> <meta name="dtb:maxPageNumber" content="-1" />  <docTitle> <text>Middlemarch</text> </docTitle> <navMap> <navPoint id="np1" playOrder="1"> <navLabel> <text>Prelude</text> </navLabel> <content src="prelude.html"/> </navPoint> <navPoint id="np2" playOrder="2"> <navLabel> <text>I: Miss Brooke</text> </navLabel> <content src="book1.html" /> <navPoint id="np3" playOrder="3"> <navLabel> <text>Chapter 1</text> </navLabel> <content src="chapter1.html" /> </navPoint> <navPoint id="np4" playOrder="4"> <navLabel> <text>Chapter 2</text> </navLabel> <content src="chapter2.html" /> </navPoint> ...
Transforming the file in Listing 10 using the XSLT results in the output in Listing 11 below. You can download the example files.
Listing 11. Output from the transformation from NCX to END
<?xml version="1.0"?>   <title>Middlemarch</title>
Table of Contents

 Prelude

 I: Miss Brooke

 Chapter 1

 Chapter 2
 ...
Because the
@id values are preserved from the original
file, you should be able to write validation tools to ensure that all of
the original nodes are captured. Other options for further transformation
- Updating the metadata in the OPF file from the old Dublin Core scheme
to the meta
@propertyscheme, as defined in the Publications 3.0 specification (see Related topics).
- Migrating the deprecated OPF
guidecontent to the
landmarksfeature in the END.
- Removing references in the OPF
spineto the NCX file (unless you're producing a backwards-compatible document).
Typically, it isn't necessary to modify XHTML 1.1 content to produce EPUB 3-compatible content documents. Where semantic information is available, however, such as pulling from a content management system or other document repository, consider applying semantic inflection to the output. The EPUB 3 specification has more information on semantic inflection (see Related topics).
EPUB 3 development guidelines
Until EPUB 3 reading systems become available, it would be premature to recommend specific best practices. However, EPUB 3 is based on rapidly maturing web technologies. There's already sufficient information to make broad recommendations about how to use the underlying technologies and when to use existing best practices to produce solid, semantic, accessible markup.
When to produce EPUB 3
Should you use EPUB 2 or EPUB 3 for eBooks produced today? Fortunately, backwards compatibility was a design goal of EPUB 3. You should benefit from the semantic enhancements and enriched metadata in EPUB 3 while still producing documents that are readable on older eReaders. In practice, it might not be possible to sell such content in some eBook marketplaces; they may not accept EPUB 3 because of business rules. However, "sideloading" such content can be expected to work for most conforming EPUB 2 reading systems. EPUB 3 was also designed to be forwards compatible in terms of reading system support—an EPUB 3 reading system must support valid EPUB 2 documents.
Many reading systems already support a kind of "EPUB 2.5," where HTML5
markup is allowed (especially regarding the
audio, and
canvas elements).
You should expect eReading platforms with web browser engines, such as Apple iBooks,
to successfully render many of the elements allowed in EPUB 3 content
documents. As with any cutting-edge web content, test your content
in as many readers as possible before release.
Responsive eBook design
The CSS3 Media Query module is an exciting new component of EPUB 3. Media Query allows authors to specify that a set of rules and properties applies only to a particular viewing condition, typically based on the size of the viewport. You can also use Media Query to target specific height and width ratios, such as portrait versus landscape.
These features are already in use on some web sites to provide improved user experiences on mobile devices. Taken together, these principles are called responsive web design. The techniques have proven effective on the web, and in some ways they are even more applicable to book designers. Book designers draw from decades of research and experimentation in how to effectively present visual information in various sizes and orientations. (See Related topics for more on responsive web design.)
Most eBooks are purely, or primarily, text. However, many publication types require richer layout for marketing reasons or for the essential nature of the content. Layout-intensive books have been considered poor candidates for eBook conversion, but EPUB 3 and its use of HTML5 and CSS3 enable advanced design. With great power comes great responsibility, though. You can't neglect users on mobile devices who want to read the content easily and yet with attractive layouts. This is where the combined techniques of CSS3 layout and responsive eBook design come together.
Advanced, responsive layout in EPUB 3
Illustrated books, cookbooks, textbooks, and poetry have been difficult to convert into reflowable content. In this section, see how to adapt the page from a children's poetry book, in Figure 3, into EPUB 3. The word adapt was used rather than convert, because the process is as much artistic as it is technical.
Figure 3. A page from Abroad by Thomas Crane (public domain image from the Internet Archive)
The approach is to capture the text as XHTML and then extract some of the images to evoke—but not reproduce—the original layout. Because EPUB 3 assumes an XHTML5/CSS3 processing context, you can use minimal semantic markup rather than accommodating many legacy browsers, as you would do on the open web. Listing 12 shows the XHTML markup for the content.
Listing 12. Poetry markup
<?xml version="1.0"?>   <title>Example of Media Query in EPUB 3</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="childrens-book-style.css" />

The Swans.

 "Ho! pretty swans, Do you know, in our Zoo' The swans of old England Are just like you?"

 "Don't tell me!" Said a cross old bird; "I know better, The thing's quite absurd.

 Their figures, I'm sure, Are not worth a glance: If you want to see style, You must come to France."

 With a scornful whisk The swan turned tail, Spread its wings to the breeze And was off full-sail.

 "Ho! pretty swan, Do you know, in our Zoo' The swans are not half So conceited as you?"

No images are specified. To facilitate responsive design, images will be provided in the CSS. Although many responsive web development advocates espouse a "mobile first" strategy, it may be easier to start adapting print content with a desktop or tablet-sized screen. For the example, it is assumed that the default view is a large-form screen. Listing 13 shows the CSS, and Figure 4 shows the resulting eBook as rendered in iBooks on an Apple iPad.
Listing 13. CSS for a tablet-sized layout
@namespace epub "http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops"; body { font-family: Georgia, serif; margin: 0; padding: 0; } /* Select the entire
 and apply the background images at various positions relative to the text. */ div[epub|type="chapter"] { background-image: url('childrens-book-swans.jpg'), url('childrens-book-flowers.jpg'); background-position: 100% 50%, bottom center; background-size: 50% auto, auto auto; background-repeat: no-repeat, repeat-x; background-color: #fdefc2; padding: 2em; } p { font-size: .75em; text-align: left; } p:last-child { padding-bottom: 2em; } h1 { margin-top: 0; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: 200; } p > span { display: block; } /* Use the CSS Selector module to apply rule-based formatting to the poetry content, generating alternating rows of indented text. */ p > span:nth-child(even) { text-indent: 1em; }
The example is using the
@namespace syntax from
the CSS Namespaces module. CSS namespaces allow styling of namespaced-prefixed
elements and attributes. Although it isn't necessary to use CSS namespaces in EPUB 3,
it's convenient to attach styles to those elements with EPUB semantic inflection
applied (the
@epub:type attribute) rather than creating
separate classes for styling only. The HTML document must use an
.xhtml extension for most browsers to process the CSS namespaces correctly.
Figure 4. Page from the book Abroad rendered on a tablet-sized screen
With the right-aligned image and large decorative border, the layout in Figure 4 arguably evokes the original page nicely. However, this arrangement is not suitable for a mobile device in portrait mode, where the width will be insufficient for both the image and the text. For mobile devices, which are typically about 480 pixels wide, you can override several elements, as in Listing 14. With the CSS in Listing 14:
- The image of the swans will shrink, become centered, and appear before the text. The decorative image at the bottom will shrink to avoid overwhelming the poem content.
- The title will become smaller and center aligned.
- The poem text itself will be more centered rather than aligned strongly left.
Listing 14. CSS for portrait phone-sized layout
@media screen and (max-width:480px) { div[epub|type="chapter"] { background-position: top center, bottom center; background-size: 30% auto, 50% auto; padding: 1em; margin: auto; text-align: center; } h1 { margin: 50% auto 0 0; font-size: 1em; text-align: center; } p { margin-left: 25%; } }
The above directive follows the earlier CSS, so it only needs to override the properties whose values have changed in the new layout. Figure 5 shows the output, spread over two pages.
Figure 5. Page from the book Abroad rendered on phone-sized screen
The narrow presentation works well in a portrait layout, but such a short poem could easily fit fully laid out on most landscape pages. You can add one final media query to allow landscape-oriented devices to lay out the poem in multiple columns. This feature is part of the CSS Text module and is a core part of the EPUB 3 CSS support. The CSS for phone-sized landscape layout is in Listing 15.
Listing 15. CSS for phone-sized landscape layout
@media screen and (orientation:landscape and max-width:480px) { div[epub|type="chapter"] { background-position: 97% 40%, bottom center; background-size: 20% auto, 50% auto; /* For now we are required to use the vendor-prefixed versions in most browsers */ -webkit-column-count: 2; -moz-column-count: 2; column-count: 2; -webkit-column-gap: 0; -moz-column-count: 0; column-gap: 0; padding: 2em 4em 5em 4em; } }
Figure 6 shows the rendered output.
Figure 6. Page from the book Abroad rendered on a phone-sized screen in landscape orientation
Including MathML in publications
In EPUB 2, publications could include mathematical content only as raster images or as SVG. Although SVG math can produce attractive output, it is impenetrable to screen readers and difficult to write. Raster images are worse; they provide neither accessibility nor good scaling across different font and display sizes.
EPUB 3 includes MathML as a native EPUB content type. MathML markup can be provided without any fall-back to another type, such as a raster image. EPUB 3 readers are required to support at least presentational MathML in most cases.
Although MathML is a core content type, it is required that you declare which XHTML pages have MathML in the OPF file, as in Listing 16.
Listing 16. Declaring MathML content in the OPF file
<manifest> <item href="mathml-style.css" id="css1" media-type="text/css"/> <item href="mathml.xhtml" properties="mathml" id="page1" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/> <item href="toc.ncx" id="ncx" media-type="application/x-dtbncx+xml"/> <item id="toc" properties="nav" href="toc.xhtml" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/> </manifest>
Listing 17 shows a simple equation. Although
some web browsers now support MathML in an HTML5 context (without namespacing),
EPUB 3 requires that MathML content be declared in the correct namespace of
Listing 17. MathML in EPUB 3 content document
<?xml version="1.0"?>   <title>Example of MathML in EPUB 3</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mathml-style.css" />   <m:math display="block"> <m:mrow> <m:mi>x</m:mi> <m:mo>=</m:mo> <m:mfrac> <m:mrow> <m:mo form="prefix">-</m:mo> <m:mi>b</m:mi> <m:mo>±</m:mo> <m:msqrt> <m:msup> <m:mi>b</m:mi> <m:mn>2</m:mn> </m:msup> <m:mo>-</m:mo> <m:mn>4</m:mn> <m:mo></m:mo> <m:mi>a</m:mi> <m:mo></m:mo> <m:mi>c</m:mi> </m:msqrt> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mn>2</m:mn> <m:mo></m:mo> <m:mi>a</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mfrac> </m:mrow> </m:math>
Figure 7 shows the output in iBooks. You might need to embed a font that includes appropriate mathematical symbols for all equation types to render correctly. See Related topics for information on the STIX Fonts for use in scientific publications.
Figure 7. Simple math equations rendered in EPUB 3
Many systems that output MathML can use named entities that are part of the MathML
1.0 DTD, such as
±. You need to
convert these entities into numeric entities before inclusion in an EPUB 3 publication.
As external DTDs, even for core content types, they should not be included in EPUB
Topics to explore further
EPUB 3 offers many options for developing advanced, digital-native publications. You might want to explore the following topics.
- Using HTML5
canvaspaired with JavaScript for interactive books.
- If you're interested in the Semantic Web, familiarize yourself with the semantic inflection options in the EPUB 3 Structural Semantics Vocabulary.
- HTML5 semantics and Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA) roles offer an attractive method for enriching content for consumption by assistive devices or machine learning algorithms.
EPUB 3 is being actively extended. It's likely that features from new CSS modules, like CSS Regions, will be incorporated in future revisions.
Downloadable resources
- PDF of this content
- XSLT and sample files for NCX transformation (ncx-to-end.zip | 5KB)
- A sample EPUB 3 demonstrating advanced CSS3 layout (childrens-book-epub.zip | 139KB)
- A sample EPUB 3 demonstrating MathML (mathml-epub.zip | 3KB)
Related topics
- Build a digital book with EPUB (Liza Daly, developerWorks, July 2011): Learn about the EPUB format in detail.
- EPUB 3 specification: Get an overview of the current revision of the EPUB standard.
- EPUB Publications 3.0 Recommended Specification: Read about the publication-level semantics and conformance requirements for EPUB® 3, including the format of the Package Document and rules for how this document and other Publication Resources are associated to create a conforming EPUB Publication.
- EPUB 3 Structural Semantics Vocabulary: Learn more about the set of properties relating to the description of structural semantics of written works.
- HTML5 for Publishers (Sanders Kleinfeld, O'Reilly Media, 2011): Get this free EPUB book that demonstrates the use of canvas-based interactivity and other exciting features of EPUB 3.
- Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte: Explore CSS techniques and design principles, including fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries.
- EpubCheck: Download the latest version of the validator to work with EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 documents.
nend: Get the complete suite of XSLT and Python tools for converting NCX files into ENDs.
- STIX Fonts: Use the comprehensive set of fonts that serve the scientific and engineering community.
- XML area on developerWorks: Find the resources you need to advance your skills in the XML arena, including DTDs, schemas, and XSLT. See the XML technical library for a wide range of technical articles and tips, tutorials, standards, and IBM Redbooks.
- IBM certification: Find out how you can become an IBM-Certified Developer.
- developerWorks on Twitter: Join today to follow developerWorks tweets.
- IBM product evaluation versions: Get your hands on application development tools and middleware products.


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text:
The judges on Dancing With The Stars were more generous this week as the lowest score was a 21. Football star, Michael Irvin got the lowest score while Donny Osmond received the highest score.
Though they did not have the highest score, Mya and Dmitry Chaplin continue to shine and have remained consistent on the show.
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List of the Couples and their scores:
- Donny Osmond and Kym Jonhnson: 29
- Mya and Dmitry Chaplin: 27
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- Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel: 24
- Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ballas: 23
- Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower: 22
- Natalie Coughlin and Alec Mazo: 22
- Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova: 21


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Books » Age » 5-12 years
By Kids, Lonely Planet; Brett, Anna; Illustrated by Egg Blue Ltd, Duck
From dinosaur palaeontologist and snake-venom collector to water slide tester, Tower of London Ravenmaster, octopus keeper and panda nanny, discover the most fun, surprising and enjoyable jobs found on planet Earth - and see just how different and amazing the world of work can be....Read more
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Illustrated by Pilkey, Dav
The brand new bestselling Dog Man book from Dav Pilkey - you'll howl with laughter!
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By Kinney, Jeff
But things take an unexpected turn, and they find themselves stranded at an RV park that's not exactly a summertime paradise. When the skies open up and the water starts to rise, the Heffleys wonder if they can save their vacation-or if they're already in too deep. And don't miss... Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure, an all-new fantasy from Greg's best friend-the follow-up to the instant #1 bestseller Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid- Rowley Jefferson's Journal.Read more
By Griffiths, Andy; Denton, Terry
Prepare for more out-of-this-world adventure in Andy and Terry's new 130-storey treehouse!
By Bixley, Donovan; Edited by Joseph, Darryn
Donovan Bixley re-tells the story of how Maui captured the secret of fire.
By Townsend, Jessica
Praise for the Nevermoor series 'Enter the world of Nevermoor and it's fantastical inhabitants, and be utterly echanted.' - Courier-Mail 'There is more extraordinary world-building, as well as tough ethical decisions, in Wundersmith, Jessica Townsend's superlative follow-up to th...e unmissable Nevermoor.' - The Guardian 'Inventive, thoughtful, and an outrageous amount of fun, Townsend is now two for two in the Nevermoor series, and there's likely to be thousands of children (and, okay, a lot of adults too) dying to see what Morrigan Crow gets up to next' - The Au Review 'Unexpected, exciting and funny. Like Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and Doctor Who swirled up together.' - Judith Rossell, ABIA Award-winning author of Withering-by-Sea 'Exciting, charming, and wonderfully imagined, it's the sort of delightful, grand adventure destined to be many a reader's favourite book.' - Trenton Lee Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of The Mysterious Benedict Societyseries and The Secret Keepers 'It really is brilliant, with an engaging plot, plenty of twists, memorable characters and a marvellous sense of humour. Pick it up and the hours disappear, just like magic.' - Daily Telegraph 'An exciting and charming middle-grade read that will hook readers aged 10 and up with intricate imaginative detail and its sheer energy ... a compulsively readable romp that fans of 'Harry Potter', Terry Pratchett or Studio Ghibli will gobble up.' - Books and Publishing Winner Dymocks Book of the Year 2018 Winner QDB Children's Book of the Year 2018 Winner Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards 2018 Winner Book of the Year for Younger Children, Australian Book Industry Awards 2018 Winner The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards 2018 Winner Book of the Year, Indie Book Awards 2018 Winner Children's Category, Indie Book Awards 2018 Winner Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award, Australian Booksellers Association Awards 2018 Winner Best ChildRead more
By Rauf, Onjali Q.; Illustrated by Curnick, Pippa
WONDER meets Walliams meets TWO WEEKS WITH THE QUEEN - told through the eyes of an 8-year old child, this is a heart-warming and funny story about the refugee crisis and how simple it actually is to show kindness in a world that doesn't always make sense...
Welcome to the Cat Kid Comic Club, where Li'l Petey (LP), Flippy, and Molly introduce 21 funny and talented baby frogs to the art of comic making. Readers of all ages will unleash their own creativity as they open the door to visual comic book storytelling with the help of Dav Pi...lkey and his heartfelt, humorous, and amazing cast of characters.Read more
By McMillan, Dawn; Illustrated by Thatcher, Stephanie; Translated by Roberts, Ngaere
* Irresistible rhymes and drawings * Bilingual English and Maori, in classy hardback * Companion volume to There's a Tui in our Teapot! Weta and friends, including beetle, centipede, stick insect and huhu, come to school with the kids. But they don't want to stay in the classroom...! Can Koro help his mokopuna keep the critters safe?Read more
By Kino, Shilo
Twelve-year-old Niko lives in a small, rural town. The government want to build a prison over the home of a taniwha. Niko's grandfather is busy protesting, but when he dies, it's up to Niko to convince the community that the taniwha is real and stop the prison from being built.
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Last week the girls and I met up with Arin and her kids for our last Disney day for a couple months. We have the weekday season passes which have blackout dates during the summer. We're not too sad about missing the summer months because it's not even the middle of the summer and it's already ridiculously hot!
We started our day at Hollywood Studios and ran straight for Toy Story Midway Mania, a ride that we missed the last time we went because the line was ridiculously long. We got there around 9:45 and the fast passes were already for 6:10 that evening. The wait time said 70 minutes and we figured that would be the shortest the line would be all day so we hopped in line and heard the "cast member" standing there tell someone else the wait was only 30 minutes. Yay!
Here is the best shot I could get of 4 kids under the age of 5.
Asa is such a sweet little guy!
Charlotte and Anson with Annie and Leo from Little Einsteins. Naomi and Ella were not having anything to do with them. Naomi likes the characters from a distance. She gets so excited to see them, especially Mickey & Minnie, but getting close to them freaks her out!
At one point, the kids decided they wanted to play ring around the rosie. Here's how that went down...
Naomi wanted to play too!
But Naomi wanted to go straight to her favorite part of the game. Instead of "we all fall down" it was just Naomi falling down.
So the older three continued on...
They fell down...
And Naomi came over to join in on the fun part once again!
Then we went to meet Winnie the Pooh. All except Naomi were big fans!
After lunch, Arin and I did something crazy and park hopped with the five kids. Did I mention that it was just us with the kids? As in, no Dusty or Jared. From Hollywood Studios there are two ways to get to Magic Kingdom. Drive your car to the MK parking lot, take a tram (because we would have gotten there later in the day and would have been in a parking lot too far away to walk), then jump on the monorail that will take you to the park. Or take a bus to the monorail. Both the tram and the bus require folding up the stroller, which with Jared's help isn't as big of a deal, but I had the double jogging stroller (it maneuvers really easily through the parks) and it doesn't fold up very compactly and you have to lean it just right or hold it so it doesn't fly open. We survived, but it wasn't the easiest process.
After we did a few rides at Magic Kingdom we went on a hunt for ice cream and caught the end of the parade. This was Charlotte seeing the princesses. Homegirl likes her princesses.
As we were leaving the park, we saw that the wait to meet Mickey was only 5 minutes so we decided to hop in line. Five minutes was actually 10-15 minutes, and of course, like any Disney attraction, you leave through a gift shop. The process of picking out a souvenir took another 10-15 minutes so our 5 minute stop to meet Mickey turned into quite an ordeal. But not as much of an ordeal as it was getting back to the cars... When we went to MK, the bus wasn't too crowded. But the reverse route had a bus full of people. And I had that big ol' honkin' stroller to try to finagle with. I had a couple people offer me their seats because I was holding Naomi but I told them I better stand by the stroller to make sure it didn't unfold. It wasn't the most pleasant ride, but I survived and only fell on the people behind me... twice. I bet they didn't think they'd be getting a lap dance as they left the Magic Kingdom!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Another Disney Day
Last week the girls and I met up with Arin and her kids for our last Disney day for a couple months. We have the weekday season passes which have blackout dates during the summer. We're not too sad about missing the summer months because it's not even the middle of the summer and it's already ridiculously hot!
Posted by Brittany @ The Rollins World at 3:30 PM 5 comments Links to this post
3-Year-Olds Are Gross
I mentioned this little story on Facebook and Twitter, but just in case there's anyone who doesn't follow me on either of those, I have to share this little gem that Charlotte said a month or so ago...
She was sitting on the potty and told me, "Mommy, it's like my poopie has its own swimming pool... Oh, here come more friends!"
Potty humor from a three-year-old. Gross, but coming from her, incredibly funny.
Posted by Brittany @ The Rollins World at 9:02 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Sunday, June 12, 2011
New York City {Part 3}
Roughly a month has passed so it's about time for another blog post, huh?! How about I tell you about our fabulous final day in NYC? It was incredible. Lots more walking. So incredible.
We walked out of the hotel and couldn't see the tops of the buildings. The fog was crazy.We had planned on going up in the Empire State Building but knew we wouldn't be able to see anything so figured paying the money to see fog would be a waste. :(
But that definitely didn't put a damper on what was to come...
Breakfast at Tiffany's! I've talked about doing this for years. If I had a bucket list, it would have been on it. We made a stop by Starbuck's so I could grab a muffin to eat in front of the store. I'm pretty sure Jared was horribly embarrassed to take this picture. People might have been staring. Whatever, I was happy!
We went up to the sixth floor (six floors?!!) so I could get my ring cleaned in the lounge. Yup, a lounge. They used the same term for their bathrooms. When I saw a sign for the "Men's Lounge" I thought it was a waiting room with big screen TV's and Sports Illustrated's laying around. Nope, it's just where they keep their toilets. But if the Women's Lounge was any indication, the men's lounge might have been the nicest bathroom those men ever use!
From Tiffany we headed to Times Square. Not a short walk, mind you. But it was fun to see all of the beautiful churches. Seriously, these are just amazing!
We made it to Times Square. Huge, I tell ya. Lots of lights. I'm sure you know that, but for real, it's big.
We had lunch at John's Pizzeria and had the Hawaiian (with sauce). It was delicious. We were seated in the front area of the restaurant so we didn't see how beautiful that place is.
After lunch we headed to this place!
The Gershwin Theater to see Wicked!
I was able to snap a couple pictures of the set before the camera police came and told me to put my camera away.
Can you tell from the pictures how close our seats were?! I don't think we could have gotten much better than that. The show was incredible! Even Jared, who doesn't care much for musicals, enjoyed it. I think I smiled through the whole thing. I read the book in college and have the soundtrack so I knew the story and the songs, but seeing it on stage was just amazing. The actors, the costumes, the music, the set... it just brought everything to life. We got a flyer in the mail advertising Wicked coming to Jacksonville next year and I'll definitely be going to see it when it comes to town! I would love to have the voice and talent to perform on stage like this. It just looks like they have so much fun and what a rush it would be!
After the show we went to the hotel and fought over who was going to pick where we ate dinner. Neither of us were craving anything in particular so we called the front desk of the hotel to get some recommendations. The woman asked what we were in the mood for... She kind of laughed when I told her nothing in particular, just wanted to know what was good that was close. There's a hundred of every type of good restaurant near you where ever you are in the city. We ended up eating... I don't remember where. I got some pasta something or other and Jared had something with lobster in it. Both were good. No pictures of the food, but here we are!
On Monday we spent hours in the air port because of weather delays. The Delta terminal at La Guardia airport is not meant to hold the amount of people who were there when we were. There weren't nearly enough seats for everyone, so there were people sitting all along the walls, from the food court area to the gates. There was even a large group of high schoolers laying on the floor in the middle.
We finally made it home and were excited to see our girls!
Charlotte was excited about the souvenir we brought her. She enjoyed being the "Statue of Delivery". Yesterday she was playing with the globe and told me that she wanted to find a new place to live. I asked her where she would rather live and she told me at the "Statue of Delivery" :)
Naomi didn't care so much about it, so I used her hat and became Lady Liberty myself.
Cheesin'.The end!
Posted by Brittany @ The Rollins World at 9:48 PM 2 comments Links to this post


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Onion Headline? "Government Should Slow Down Race to Implement Electronic Health Records"
By DAVE CHASE
Healthcare has been a technology paradox for a long time. There have been few places further out on the cutting edge of technology than biotech and medical devices. In contrast, healthIT has been in a time warp (see Why It's Good News HealthIT is So Bad). While next year is the 20th anniversary of the Web, the dominant healthIT vendors have thrived on a business model and technology architecture that harkens back to when Wang and DEC were cutting edge. That is, most healthIT still has the same vendor provide technology for both back-end systems as well as consumer-facing systems.
The Web ushered in a new era. Until recently, healthcare moved at such a glacial pace that it didn't follow the pattern nearly every other industry followed. Zina Moukheiber wrote a piece recently with a headline that looks like it's written by The Onion — Government Should Slow Down Race to Implement Electronic Health Records. I can't remember a time when a technology company complained about things moving too fast — especially in healthcare where decision processes can be excruciatingly long. In fact, that extreme length of decision-making is at the heart of why I have long said "healthcare is where tech startups go to die" — super long decision processes naturally favor legacy vendors who are milking products that may be 10 or more years old.
Fortunately, for a new wave of technology innovators, those shaping the next era of healthcare require solutions now. Meanwhile they are being told by legacy vendors to wait 2 years or more for the elusive next version that magically addresses the new requirements. [HealthIT buyer tip: Ask vendors for a guarantee on those dates with teeth if they miss their promise. See the tap dancing begin.] The earlier piece, Healthcare's Age of Agility Will Shuffle Market Leadership, spoke to how old product cycles of two years and long implementations must change in light of new requirements. Providers in the ascending accountable models are very direct that they feel it's critical to support a new generation of technology companies due to the new requirements being put upon them. They are also keen to free themselves of the vendor lock-in that remains a persistent complaint.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
I don't know if it's explicitly the government's plan or not, but their push to the healthIT industry is considered a blessing by those looking to foster more heterogeneity and openness between systems. Further, for those of us running startups, healthcare has finally become a dynamic arena that will begin to embrace new technologies/companies to address contemporary challenges that providers have. It's unrealistic to think that even the most capable vendor can address every need a provider has as healthcare goes through changes. If the vendor thinks it has to address every requirement themselves, they naturally will complain about the fast pace of change. If they are unable to keep pace, they will seek out partnerships to fill gaps which is ultimately good for the provider community.
No technology company is more successful than Apple at the moment with iPhone sales alone topping Microsoft's entire revenue, yet they are benefiting from a more open ecosystem. Few would argue that one of the two critical success factors in iPhone's success is the support from 3rd party developers. Does anyone remember how abysmal the AT&T and Verizon app stores were? The carriers' app stores had similar restrictions to what many EHR vendors have today. Though abject failures in the app store business, it's instructive for EHR vendors that AT&T and Verizon have profited handsomely when a 3rd party ecosystem thrived. Think back five years and it would have been hard to fathom the array of amazing mobile apps that we've come to depend on.
I would argue that the scale of change from land-lines to mobile phones pales in comparison to the shift in healthcare from fee-for-service to fee-for-value. Just as there are new categories of software we couldn't have dreamed of five years ago on smartphones, the same will be true for healthcare apps. Without that wave of new apps, healthcare providers will be doomed to address the tsunami of new requirements facing them and risk missing the opportunities those present. One example from my own company was when the government released the requirements of Stage 2 of Meaningful Use. Because we had gone deep in an area ignored by most EHRs, the Stage 2 requirements were trivial — we'd addressed them in less than a month from the announcement. No doubt, others like us had a similar experience. For any EHR-agnostic patient portal, this created a natural opportunity where the EHR vendors stay focused on their bread and butter — where they have a huge set of new requirements — and they could fill their gaps via a partnership or two. This saves the EHR vendor at a time when their engineering resources are stretched thin and dramatically speeds up their time to market. Better yet, they can leapfrog their more proprietary, slow-moving competition.
Healthtech Investing Exploding
The widespread use of the web disconnected the front-end, user-experience technology supplier from the back-end. Whether it's travel apps or package tracking, consumers are able to tap into back-end systems without knowledge of what mainframe or client-server system may be running those systems. The spike in digital health investment reported by Rock Health's 2012 Funding Report echoes what I heard from hospital executives at two recent healthtech-related conferences – Health 2.0 and the Digital Health Conference. That is, for the first time in my experience, these executives recognize that they have a flood of new requirements and and zero expectation that their legacy healthIT suppliers will meet those needs in the next 2-3 years.
This expectation is due to legacy vendors being overloaded with their core business (e.g. installing electronic health records) and also having long product cycles. Healthcare executives explicitly talk about how they want EHR-agnostic tools that will work with their EHRs. Increasingly, providers recognize that while they have complained about vendor lock-in strategy reminiscent of the Wang era, the risk of lock-in increases exponentially if they also adopt consumer/patient-facing tools from their legacy vendors. It's one thing to disrupt your staff with switching EHRs, it's quite another to ask patients to switch tools as well. Smart providers are disconnecting those two decisions like virtually every other industry already has. This dynamic is the core reason for the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA). See Zina Moukheiber's piece entitled New York Digital Health Accelerator Is A Model To Emulate on why the NYDHA was formed and has 22 large healthcare providers engaging with startups at a level that is unprecedented in healthcare. [Disclosure: My company, Avado, is one of the eight companies selected for this program.]
This slide deck from Rock Health highlights key findings such as an increase in dollars invested by VCs of 46 percent and 56 percent more deals over a year earlier:
[slideshare id=15847595&doc=2012yearendfundingreport-130103205936-phpapp01]
It's also not limited to traditional VCs as we saw in Hospital-based Strategic Venture Funds To Spark Innovation.
Legacy HealthIT Build for the Last Battle
Healthcare providers are realizing that what they thought was going to be their 100 percent solution is really best optimized for just 25 percent of where healthcare dollars are spent (hospital-based care). In reality, 75 percent of healthcare spend is directed toward chronic disease. Legacy healthIT has its strength in automating internal workflows of hospitals and other clinical settings. In those high-intensity settings, healthcare providers make the decisions that drive the patient health outcomes. However, with chronic disease, it's an entirely different story. The decisions that individuals (or their families) make drive health outcomes. For example, does the patient fill a prescription and take it properly? Or do they make the necessary lifestyle choices to optimize their health?
This dynamic isn't lost on thought leaders in healthcare. One of the leading thinkers in healthIT, Shahid Shah (aka The Health IT Guy), laid out why legacy EHRs are ill-prepared for the era of accountability that is rapidly transforming healthcare:
The EHR systems and IT required for MU (Meaningful Use) is a quite different from what will be required for ACOs," Shah continued. "It will be nowhere as easy for existing legacy EHRs to simply retool their current platforms, like they did for MU."
With that said, Shah outlines nine ways future EHRs need to support ACOs:
1. Sophisticated patient relationship management (PRM). According to Shah, today's EHRs are more document management systems, rather than sophisticated, customer/patient relationship management systems. "For them to be really useful in ACO environments, they will need to support outreach, communication, patient engagement, and similar features we're more accustomed to seeing, from marketing automation systems than transactional systems."
Read full article here.
Health Systems Making Newspaper Industry Mistakes
Despite a clear recognition of the radical transformation that is happening, it is striking that the path many healthcare providers are taking parallels that of newspaper companies (another local oligopoly/monopoly that had barriers to entry that were no longer unassailable). See Healthcare CEO's Guide to Avoiding Newspaper Industry Mistakes. In contrast, providers such as those in the NYDHA are taking a different path.
Healthcare providers recognize they are entering a deflationary period that parallels what happened to newspapers. In the above piece, newspaper executive John Paton had a three-point prescription for reinvention that led to a 5x revenue increase and halving of capital expenses. This resulted in his organization going from bankruptcy to $41 million in profit in two years. There were three keys to his approach that can be applied by healthcare leaders:
Unfortunately, most newspapers didn't adhere to that prescription. It's a cautionary tale for hospitals, in particular. In other countries when the shift happened from a reactive "sick care" system to a proactive health-focused system, over half of the hospitals closed. Naturally, forward-looking hospitals and health systems are making moves to not only survive, but also to thrive.
New York is a Harbinger of Things to Come in Healthcare
If you want to see the future of healthcare, New York is a great place to start. Nirav Shah, MD, MPH is theNew York State Commissioner of Health for the State Department of Health. Dr. Shah talks about fundamentally rebuilding the healthcare system. The stakes are high to make that happen. Dr. Shah oversees a budget of over $50 billion that has 5 million Medicaid recipients. Like all states, they see healthcare's hyperinflation is devastating state budgets and education budgets, in particular (see Bill Gates TED Talk for more).
"The old system, acute care focused in the hospital. That was the past. Tomorrow is chronic disease focused in an outpatient setting. That is what the Health Home program promises and that is what the Medicaid program is investing in. That is what the NYDHA is all about."
The pace of decisions by NYDHA providers is dramatically faster than procurement models of the past. I've already seen one major accountable model program (and the hospital that is running it) evaluate and make a selection in less than two months. For those of us familiar with the excruciating year-plus decision processes of the past that has crushed many a startup, this is exciting.
At the kick-off event for the NYDHA, Intel veteran and current Executive Director of the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), David Whitlinger discussed that the health information exchange his organization operates (the State Health Information Network of New York – aka the "SHINY") will allow software developers to facilitate the information exchange critical to reinventing healthcare delivery. The missing link has been having tools that sit on top of the SHINY. The NYDHA startups will get first access to their APIs and then it will be opened more broadly.
In order to achieve those goals, it's critical to have the right resources and players at the table. Maria Gotsch, president and CEO for the Partnership for New York City Fund, is building off of the tremendous success of the FinTech Innovation Lab that her organization orchestrated for healthcare. The NYDHA is intended to foster innovation and economic development. In tandem with the NYeC, Gotsch's organization got commitments from 22 large healthcare providers and seven investment funds to deeply engage with the program.
At a recent presentation given by Leonard Achan, RN, MA, ANP and chief communication officer for the prestigious NY-based Mount Sinai, described how they have changed how they worked in the past and contrasted this to what they are doing now. He said that that they are far more open to working with startups. I wrote about one example of this. Just a year ago, who would have thought mainstream healthcare organizations would be releasing "app stores" of their own. This is why VCs are voting with their pocketbooks on healthcare' reinvention fueled by breakthrough startups leaving the Wang era behind.
Dave Chase is the CEO of Patient Relationship Management company, Avado, is the 1st cloud-based EHR-agnostic patient portal built for healthcare providers in accountable models such as medical/health homes, accountable organizations, etc. Avado was selected by 22 pioneering healthcare providers in NY state for a statewide program pioneering accountable models. Chase has been invited to the White House, presented before the head of Medicare and the Pioneer ACOs. Chase is co-editor and writer of a book commissioned by HIMSS on Patient Engagement.


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All News Releases By Date
NEW JERSEY LANDFILL OWNERS AGREE TO COMPLY WITH CLEAN AIR ACT; New Landfill System Maximizes Gas Collection for Potential Energy Recovery
Release Date: 08/09/2010
Contact Information: DOJ (202) 514-2007; EPA, Jennifer May (646) 369-0039; TDD (202) 514-1888; www.justice.gov
(New York, NY) The second of two agreements to resolve longstanding problems with landfill gas emissions and their negative impacts on air quality at the Middlesex County and Edgeboro landfills in New Jersey has been reached to bring them into compliance with the Clean Air Act, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The two settlements together resolve all outstanding compliance issues at the landfill facilities. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was also a party to the agreement.
Under the agreements, both facilities will enhance environmental controls at the site, conduct regular monitoring and make other required infrastructure improvements to meet federal standards. Landfill gas collected by the separate Middlesex County Utilities Authority (MCUA) and Edgeboro Disposal Inc. (EDI) gas collection systems is treated and then used to generate electricity.
As part of the settlement, MCUA has installed 19 additional landfill gas collection wells in its newest landfill cell, to improve its collection of landfill gasses. MCUA also agreed to an innovative plan to monitor the surface of the Middlesex landfill for excess methane emissions. Under the terms of the agreement, the defendants must collectively pay a civil penalty of more than $1.3 million.
The active Middlesex County landfill, owned and operated by MCUA, is located directly adjacent to and on top of the Edgeboro landfill, an older, closed landfill. The facility is located in East Brunswick Township, N.J. This piggyback landfill design, in which MCUA landfill space is constructed on top of the capped Edgeboro landfill, contributed to challenging environmental compliance issues. Todays agreement was reached with the MCUA, and with NERC Middlesex Gas Co. LLC and Middlesex Generating Co. LLC, the operators of the Middlesex County landfill at the time the violations occurred.
The United States filed these actions to ensure that landfill operators, including the defendants in these cases, follow the requirements of the Clean Air Act by capturing and controlling their emissions of harmful air pollutants, said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Departments Environment and Natural Resources Division. In resolving these actions, the United States secures relief that will improve air quality and harness landfill gasses to generate energy.
"This agreement represents years of hard work to turn an environmental problem into an environmental asset," said Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. "Landfill gas is the by-product of the decomposing solid waste and mainly composed of carbon dioxide and methane. Instead of being allowed to escape into the atmosphere, landfill gas can be captured, converted, and used as an energy source. Converting landfill gases to energy offsets the need for coal and oil, and provides communities greater environmental protection by reducing the impacts on air quality."
"This agreement will reduce smog-causing pollutants in the area around the Edgeboro Landfill and builds upon New Jersey's commitment to making landfills platforms for green energy," said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. "Landfills not only provide gases that can be converted to electricity, they are ideal for solar and wind farms as well. We need to continue working on projects that transform old landfills into green assets that create jobs and are good for the environment and our economy."
The first of the two agreements was reached on July 13, 2010, with EDI, Edgeboro Inc., NEO Edgeboro LLC and OBrien Biogas IV LLC, the owner and operators of the Edgeboro landfill. As part of this settlement, EDI completed construction of a new $6 million landfill gas collection and control system to capture and redirect harmful air pollution from the landfill for potential reuse as an energy supply. The defendants also paid $750,000 in penalties to resolve the Clean Air Act violations.
The landfill owners and operators had failed to comply with federal law that applies to large scale landfills that have been expanded or modified since 1991. The Edgeboro landfill did not have an adequate landfill gas collection and control system in place, which allowed excessive amounts of landfill gases to escape into the surrounding area. The facilitys air pollution control devices were also not operated properly, and various types of monitoring were not conducted.
The nonmethane organic compounds (NMOC) in landfill gas contain volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants that can result in adverse effects to the respiratory system, damage to the nervous system and cancer. Landfill gas also contain carbon dioxide and methane gas which contributes to climate change. Methane gas can also cause fires or explosions when it accumulates in structures on or off the landfill site.
After EPA determined that the Edgeboro facilitys old gas collection system was inadequate to continue to comply with federal law, it worked with the defendants to design a new, horizontal gas collection system, which is now installed and operational. EPA anticipates extensive environmental improvements at the landfill, resulting in the capture and control of about 129 tons/yr of NMOC, a contributor to smog, and 20,000 tons/yr of methane and 58,000 tons/yr of carbon dioxide, pollutants that contribute to climate change.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
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View selected historical press releases from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History website.


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- 10.1 The return of Jesus Christ
- 10.1.1 The promise of the return of Jesus Christ
- 10.1.2 Events associated with the return of Jesus Christ
- 10.1.3 The bridal congregation
- 10.2 The marriage of the Lamb
- 10.3 The great tribulation
- 10.4 The coming of the Lord with power and great glory
- 10.5 The first resurrection
- 10.6 The continuation of the plan of salvation
10 The doctrine of future things
God's actions are aimed at making salvation accessible to mankind. His will to save applies to all people in the past, the present, and the future. The history of salvation progresses according to the wise plan of God (see 4.4). The knowledge that God is faithful enables us to confidently wait for the fulfilment of further divine promises (Hebrews 10: 23).
The doctrine of future things (eschatology) is based on Holy Scripture. Many references to events in the future of salvation history are contained in the gospels and the letters of the Apostles.
Some key statements are recorded in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which speaks of future things in figurative terms. In this important source of hope for the future, the Lord repeatedly reinforces the promise of His return, reveals the progress of the history of salvation, and thereby grants insights into His future actions.
10.1 The return of Jesus Christ Back to top
In close similarity to the Apostolicum, the Second Article of Faith professes: "I believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord, who ... ascended into heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from where He will return."
This profession is further expanded in the Ninth Article of Faith: "I believe that the Lord Jesus will return as surely as He ascended into heaven and that He will take to Himself the firstfruits of the dead and living who have hoped for and were prepared for His coming."
Jesus Christ will return–this is a core statement of the gospel. Ever since His ascension into heaven, the Apostles of the early and latter time have proclaimed the return of the Lord. To be accepted by Him at this event is the goal of faith of New Apostolic Christians.
10.1.1 The promise of the return of Jesus Christ Back to top
In His farewell discourses, Jesus Christ gave His Apostles the promise of His return: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14: 3). This promise of the Lord was reinforced by angels at His ascension into heaven: "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1: 11).
No man or angel, but only God alone, knows the day or the hour of Jesus Christ's return. The Son of God repeatedly admonishes watchfulness: "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (Matthew 24: 42; cf. Luke 21: 36).
Through parables, the Son of God made it clear that one should at all times be vigilant in faith and await His coming (Matthew 24: 43-51; 25: 1-30).
Accordingly, the early Apostles already encouraged the faithful to prepare themselves for the return of the Lord. For example, Apostle Paul addressed the congregation of Corinth with the early Christian call: "Maranatha!"–which means: "Our Lord is coming!" or: "O Lord, come!" (1 Corinthians 16: 22).
The call to watchfulness also comes to expression in the book of Revelation. There Jesus Christ says: "Behold, I am coming quickly!" (Revelation 3: 11; 22: 7, 12, 20). Thereby all believers are called upon to align their lives conscientiously with the return of Christ.
The expectation that the Lord's promises will be fulfilled, together with the hope of personally experiencing Christ's return and being caught up to Him, also remain at the core of the New Apostolic faith today. In 1 John 3: 2 we read as follows concerning this: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
10.1.2 Events associated with the return of Jesus Christ Back to top
The events at the return of Christ are described in various letters of Apostle Paul:
1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
1 Corinthians 15: 51-52
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed–in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Philippians 3: 20-21:
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."
These Bible passages are of central significance for belief in the return of Christ. An overview results in the following sequence of events:
At the return of the Lord, the dead in Christ will first resurrect incorruptible, and the living who have allowed themselves to be prepared for His coming will experience the transformation without suffering physical death. Thus both the dead and the living will receive a body that is like the glorious body of Christ. They will then be caught up together to the Lord, who will not descend upon the earth. In this manner they will be led into eternal fellowship with the triune God. These events are part of the first resurrection mentioned in Revelation 20: 5-6 (see 10.5).
The statements in Matthew 24: 40-41 and Luke 17: 34 demonstrate that at the return of Christ, the Lord–happening upon mankind in their daily lives–will usher in a separation, a parting, and in this sense also execute a judgement. The words in 2 Corinthians 5: 10 also address this: "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (cf. Romans 14: 10). This knowledge does not lead believers to fear, but rather encourages them to strive diligently for the goal of their faith (1 Thessalonians 5: 9).
That Jesus Christ will take His bridal congregation unto Himself is one of the fundamental certainties of the New Apostolic faith. From this knowledge, believers also derive the hope that they will not need to suffer physical death, but will rather be transformed: "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. ... For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 5: 2, 4-5). The rapture at the return of Christ is first of all promised to those who have been granted the rebirth out of water and the Spirit, who believe in Christ, and who follow Him. Whether God will also grant other human beings the grace of the rapture is beyond human judgement and is subject to the decision of God.
10.1.3 The bridal congregation Back to top
The commission of the Apostles is to prepare the church of Christ for the reunion with Jesus Christ at His return, in accordance with the words of Apostle Paul: "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11: 2). The "chaste virgin" is a reference to the "bride", an image for the eschatological community of the saints (Revelation 19: 7).
Those who are numbered to the bride of the Lord will only be revealed at the return of Christ. One of the identifying characteristics of those who will belong to the bride is that they wait daily for the return of Christ and consistently cry out: "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22: 17, 20).
Representing this community of the saints, we also find the images of the "hundred forty-four thousand" (Revelation 14: 1-5) and the "male child" (Revelation 12: 5). These images also indicate important characteristics and conditions.
We read as follows concerning the hundred forty-four thousand: "Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. ... These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God." The number 144,000 is of symbolic character. It is derived from the twelve tribes of Israel, and represents divine perfection.
The identifying mark bearing the name of the Lamb and of the Father signifies that the hundred forty-four thousand are the property of God. By following Christ they lead a life in accordance with the gospel in both word and deed ("in their mouth was found no deceit", "without fault"). They are also described as firstlings (in the Greek text: "firstfruits"), a reference to the Old Testament's laws of offering. The "firstfruits" are all those whom the Lord takes unto Himself at His return, in figurative terms, those whom He "harvests" (Revelation 14: 15).
Revelation 12 speaks of a woman clothed with the sun–an image for the church of Christ (see 6.4.5)–who is about to give birth to a male child. The latter is menaced by a dragon, but he is caught up to God (Revelation 12: 5). The male child symbolises the host of those who will be caught up to God at the return of Christ. The dragon is an image for Satan (Genesis 3: 1; Revelation 12: 9). He can prevent neither the perfection nor the rapture of the bridal congregation.
SUMMARY Back to top
The doctrine of future things (eschatology) has its basis in Holy Scripture. (10)
The return of Jesus Christ is a core statement of the gospel. To be accepted by Him on this occasion is the goal of faith of New Apostolic Christians. (10.1)
Jesus Christ promised his return to the Apostles. This was reinforced by angels. No human being or angel–but only God alone–knows when Jesus Christ will return. Every believer is called upon to conduct his life in view of the return of Christ. (10.1.1)
At the return of Christ, the dead who have died in Him will be the first to resurrect. The living who have allowed themselves to be prepared for His coming will receive a body that is like the glorious body of Christ. Together, all of these souls will be caught up and led into eternal fellowship with God. (10.1.2)
The Apostles have the commission to prepare the bridal congregation for the return of Jesus Christ. (10.1.3)
Those who are numbered to the bride of the Lord–the group of those who will be caught up to God–will only be revealed at Jesus' return. They are also known as "firstlings". Another image for the bridal congregation is the "male child", and a numerical symbol for them is the "hundred forty-four thousand." (10.1.3)
10.2 The marriage of the Lamb Back to top
The marriage of the Lamb follows directly after the bride has been caught up to heaven. The image of the eschatological marriage feast is found in Revelation 19: 6-9. It refers to the everlasting fellowship of the firstlings with their Lord and their partaking in His glory (Colossians 3: 4; 1 John 3: 2).
The image of the Lamb is already used in Isaiah 53: 4-7. It demonstrates that the coming Messiah will bring His sacrifice, in submissiveness to the will of God, for the redemption of mankind. John the Baptist refers to the Son of God with the words: "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1: 29).
The book of Revelation makes frequent reference to Christ as the Lamb. Revelation 5: 12 expresses that the slain Lamb has gained the victory. This means that the abased and crucified Son of God is both the Triumphant and Victorious One. The crucified Christ is the returning Lord, the bridegroom (see 10.1.3).
During the marriage of the Lamb the people remaining on the earth will have to endure the rule of Satan, the great tribulation.
10.3 The great tribulation Back to top
For as long as the Lord's work of salvation is on this earth, the earthly creation remains under the special protection of God (Revelation 7: 3). After the return of Christ, a time will begin in which both mankind and the creation will be exposed to the power of Satan. Everything will suffer under the circumstances associated with this.
This period of time can be associated with the "hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth", as referenced in Revelation 3: 10. Holy Scripture also refers to this event as the "great tribulation" (Revelation 7: 14).
Satan's extensive display of power in the great tribulation far surpasses the trials and the severity of hardships which the church had to endure before the return of the Lord. The bridal congregation will be caught up to God before the start of the great tribulation (Revelation 3: 10; 12: 5, 12).
The image of the woman clothed with the sun–after she has given birth to the male child–represents those who are numbered to the church of Christ, but who were not caught up to God. They will continue to feel God's support and spiritual care in the "wilderness", that is a condition of hardship and deprivation (Revelation 12: 6).
Even during this time, in which Satan and his forces will rule, there will be human beings who firmly profess Christ, who refuse to worship the Antichrist, and who will be killed as a consequence of their profession (Revelation 13: 10, 15; cf. Revelation 14: 12-13). These steadfast witnesses for Christ will become martyrs.
10.4 The coming of the Lord with power and great glory Back to top
After the marriage in heaven, the Son of God will return to the earth with the firstlings (Revelation 19: 11-16). The Lord foretold this event by referring to His coming "with power and great glory" (Matthew 24: 29-30). Jesus Christ will then reveal His divine power on earth for all to see (Revelation 1: 7). He, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will take away all power from Satan and his followers, and thus put an end to the time of the great tribulation. Satan's followers will be judged (Revelation 19: 20). Satan himself will be bound for "a thousand years", so that "he should deceive the nations no more" (Revelation 20: 1-3). After Satan has been bound and cast into the bottomless pit, the resurrection of the martyrs from the great tribulation will take place (Revelation 20: 4).
10.5 The first resurrection Back to top
The only place in Holy Scripture where the expression "first resurrection" can be found is in Revelation 20: 5-6, where it is mentioned in conjunction with a significant beatitude: "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power ..." Those who are praised here as blessed and holy–that is those who will be caught up to God at the return of Christ, and the martyrs from the great tribulation–are exempted from the Last Judgement.
In 1 Corinthians 15: 20, 22-24 Apostle Paul makes reference to the "order" in the resurrection of the dead: "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ... For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power."
Apostle Paul thus highlights three important aspects:
Christ was the first to resurrect. He is the firstfruits of those who will resurrect. All hope for the resurrection of the dead is founded upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection "afterward" is promised to those who belong to Christ when He comes: at His return the dead in Christ will resurrect, and will then be caught up to God along with the transformed living souls (see 10.1.2). In connection with Christ's coming with power and great glory, the martyrs from the great tribulation are promised resurrection. These two events frame the first resurrection. The following applies to all those who partake in it: "... they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Revelation 20: 6).
The "end" of which Apostle Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 15: 24 is a reference to the Last Judgement. Before this, the general resurrection of the dead will take place.
10.6 The continuation of the plan of salvation Back to top
After the conclusion of the first resurrection, Christ will establish His kingdom of peace on earth. Then the rule of Jesus Christ as King will be manifested without restriction. He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9: 6). Satan will be bound and will no longer be able to tempt anyone to sin. Nevertheless, human beings will continue to be sinners, since the inclination to sin will not have been lifted. People will continue to be born and to die. Death will not yet have been suspended (Revelation 20: 14; cf. Isaiah 65: 20-21).
Exempted from this are the priests of God and Christ, who will have a spiritual body similar to that of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15: 44).
Christ's kingly rule, in which He includes His own as a royal priesthood, will last "a thousand years"–which symbolises a long, but limited time (Revelation 20: 6). It will then be possible to proclaim the gospel without impediment, and salvation will thus be offered during this time: the glad tidings will be brought to those living on earth and to the souls who dwell in the realms of the departed. In this way, all of mankind from all time periods will, by the end of the kingdom of peace, have become acquainted with the gospel of Christ.
The kingdom of peace will come to an end when Satan is released and given one last opportunity to tempt mankind. After his ultimate defeat, he will be condemned and "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone" (Revelation 20: 7-10). Evil in all its manifestations will then have been rendered powerless forever.
Then follows the resurrection of the dead for judgement (Revelation 20: 11-15). Christ will then judge all human beings who did not take part in the first resurrection.
The deciding factor in the verdict pronounced on each human being will be the attitude that he ultimately adopts toward Christ. Those who reject Him and whose names are not "written in the book of life" will remain in the misery of remoteness from God.
Those who find grace in the Last Judgement will become inhabitants of God's new creation and will be permitted to have eternal fellowship with Him.
For those who already reigned with Christ in the kingdom of peace as a royal priesthood, the following promise will be fulfilled in the new creation: "... and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever" (Revelation 22: 3-5).
The expectation recorded in 2 Peter 3: 13 will then become reality: "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (Isaiah 65: 17). God will replace the old creation with a new one, and the words will be fulfilled: "He [God] will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God" (Revelation 21: 3). This kingdom of God will be eternal, and then God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15: 28).
SUMMARY Back to top
The rapture of the bridal congregation is followed by the marriage of the Lamb. This image for the eschatological marriage feast is a reference to the everlasting fellowship of the firstlings with the Lord. (10.2)
Jesus Christ as the Lamb signifies that the abased and crucified Son of God is, at the same time, the Triumphant and Victorious One. He is the bridegroom. (10.2)
After the return of Christ, a time in which both human beings and the creation will be exposed to the power of Satan will begin: the great tribulation. The image of the woman clothed with the sun–after she has given birth to the male child–refers to those Christians who were not caught up to Jesus Christ. They continue to experience divine support and spiritual nourishment. (10.3)
After the marriage in heaven the Son of God will return to the earth with the firstlings and put an end to the time of the great tribulation. Satan's followers will then be judged. (10.4)
After Satan's power has been taken away, the resurrection of the martyrs from the great tribulation will take place. (10.4)
All those who were caught up in the rapture at the return of Christ, as well as the martyrs from the great tribulation, will share in the first resurrection. They will not have to partake in the Last Judgement. (10.5)
After the conclusion of the first resurrection, Christ will establish His kingdom of peace on earth. At the end of the kingdom of peace all human beings of all time periods will have received the gospel of Christ. After Satan has been given one last opportunity to tempt mankind, he will be permanently defeated and judged. Evil in all forms will from then on be rendered powerless forever. (10.6)
This is followed by the resurrection of the dead for judgement. Those who find grace in the Last Judgement will become inhabitants of God's new creation and have eternal fellowship with Him. (10.6)


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text:
Got to love that rant of Rick Santelli today. That will be remembered years from now, and his call to remember our country's founders is spot on. Franklin and Jefferson would, indeed, be rolling over in their graves.
And the markets wound up going where they belong despite attempts to the contrary. Simply too many sell orders to hold today and down she went. No, I'm not cheering it on… it just is what it is and if you are relying on HOPE to overcome reality, you are simply going to lose.
At any rate, today's close was very significant for most technicians as it confirmed yet another DOW Theory sell signal by having the Industrials close at new lows on the same day as the Transports. Not only was that accomplished, but the Industrials also made a new intraday low, if only by a couple of points. There is now no arguing about it, done deal. Now we move on to the S&P and NDX, who have yet to confirm theirs. And for those technicians who are waiting for the Wilshire to make new lows, take a look at the Major Market Index which made new lows Tuesday.
Significantly, today's close was beneath all the weekly closes at the lows in 2002 & 2003, and sent stock prices back to where they were all the way back in 1997. And the truth is that when substitution bias is removed, they would be a lot further back in time than that. It also looks like we're about to make a weekly close beneath the 20 year uptrend line:
By the way, the Japanese Nikkei index is very close to making new 20 year lows. It was 1990 that the Nikkei topped out above 40,000 and is at only 7,500 today, 81% lower. Think that can't happen here? The "experts" say that our markets are freer and will correct faster. Are you willing to bet on that, or does the fact that we are starting from a far worse debt situation scare you? Oh, and Japan has had its difficulty during the greatest growth boom the planet has ever seen – are we going to be pulled up by others?
For today, the DOW closed down 89 points, the S&P lost 1.2%, the NDX gave up 1.8%, and the RUT was down 1.5%. The XLF dragged down the entire market again, losing another 5.27%. C and BAC are on the edge… something's going to have to happen soon.
Internally, decliners outpaced advancing issues by a 2.5 to 1 margin and 72% of the volume was on the down side. Again, certainly not capitulation selling.
Here's a three month daily chart of the DOW. You can see the November lows on the far left. We're still in the latest downtrend channel, and not even at the bottom of it. If you look at the Jan. 6th peak, you can see that we are clearly in wave 3 down, most likely of wave 5 of the larger wave A. As far as the DOW is concerned, being in wave B up/sideways is officially off the table with these new lows. Yes, you can choose to ignore the DOW if you wish, let me know how that works out for you:
Just to give you the same view of the Transports, here you can see that we broke the November lows some time ago, and have been making new closing lows every day for the past week. Remember that transports are a leading indicator. By the way, no capitulation volume on either of these charts although they are now riding the lower Bollinger down:
Next, let's look at a 3 month view of the SPX. We finally got beneath the 789 pivot and the next lower is at 768. I removed McHugh's ending diagonal as we broke beneath it and instead drew in the red channel that corresponds to the green channel on the DOW. Indicators are definitely oversold, but the slow still has room with my settings. Again, riding the Bollinger down and you can see that the magic numbers now are the November close at 752 and the pin low is 741:
The NDX produced a very bearish candle and you can see that it has a long way to go to its November bottom:
The NDX triggered a breakdown on the P&F chart today, finally joining the party. Note the lack of volume support beneath here:
The put/call ratio actually fell a little today although it's still elevated and needs to be watched.
Overall, I don't think we've put in the bottom yet for this downtrend, but we're getting closer to it. What would mess with the most people's minds? A big sell off tomorrow that takes near the 2002 lows on the SPX. That will cause big losses for options writers (unless they are able to pump it or cover elsewhere) and would leave everyone guessing over the weekend.
Have a good evening, continue to raise capital if you have it, times are going to get harder here before they get better.
Since Seth got me started on the Donovan tunes, here's a very pretty song for the bulls who may be way down below the ocean, although I'm sure that's not where they want to be:
Donovan – Atlantis:
Thursday, February 19, 2009
End of Day 2/19
Posted byAmy Jamison at3:29 PM


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"California is God's best moment," says Joel Kotkin. "It's the best place in the world to live." Or at least it used to be.
Mr. Kotkin, one of the nation's premier demographers, left his native New York City in 1971 to enroll at the University of California, Berkeley. The state was a far-out paradise for hipsters who had grown up listening to the Mamas & the Papas' iconic "California Dreamin'" and the Beach Boys' "California Girls." But it also attracted young, ambitious people "who had a lot of dreams, wanted to build big companies." Think Intel, Apple and Hewlett-Packard.
Now, however, the Golden State's fastest-growing entity is government and its biggest product is red tape. The first thing that comes to many American minds when you mention California isn't Hollywood or tanned girls on a beach, but Greece. Many progressives in California take that as a compliment since Greeks are ostensibly happier. But as Mr. Kotkin notes, Californians are increasingly pursuing happiness elsewhere.
Nearly four million more people have left the Golden State in the last two decades than have come from other states. This is a sharp reversal from the 1980s, when 100,000 more Americans were settling in California each year than were leaving. According to Mr. Kotkin, most of those leaving are between the ages of 5 and 14 or 34 to 45. In other words, young families.


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And those "links and studies" didn't last one pass of objective questioning from me---or from anybody else that would take the time to ask simple questions--questions that NOBODY seems to have asked before, during, or after the study.
As mentioned IMO--and supported by others--the "standard" for performence has dropped rather swiftly over the last 30 years.
Not really "anti" as much as I am strongly "pro" logic.
Again, that is a poor evalutaion of the numbers on the phone interview thing.
A-The raw number sounds high--but its still only 13%, not a significant number--ESP when viewed in the larger context of the survey--that is IF you want to accpet its conclusions.
B-Besides, AGAIN, we have no idea what THEY meant when they claimed they were "racsists"--who knows what they feel is BEING as racist---after all if "flinching" and "subconcious" stuff is now "racist" then the bar is set staggeringly low.
C-AGAIN, you seem to be confusing feelings and thoughts with OVERT ACTS.
I would gently suggest that a person is not responsible for ones feelings and thoughts---they are ONLY responsible for their ACTIONS--and NOBODY seems to have actually copped to a racist ACT.
Seriously, are you guilty of cheating on your partner if you think to yourself "wow that guy is hot.??
Don't think so.
Unless you want to go all Orwell on me and set up the Thought Police--I don't think people should be punished for their thoughts and feelings--only their acts--if you would care to argue otherwise--love to hear THAT.
D-I think the sample is badly flawed---we don't even know the actual questions asked--which any researcher will tell you is crucial--as such I have no reason to belive its valid.
If you want to present the actual methodolgy then I'm open to discussing it--but without it--there is really nothing substantive to talk about.
E-Besides, lets see just how you really feel about the validity of such stats games.
We have similar numbers on Islamic peoples in the USA who support or condone acts and terror and terroists.
Are you in favor the Goverment putting these people into interment camps as they did the Japanese during WW 2?
If you follow your line of ahm....."reasoning" to its logical conclusion---if your "really" concered about what the numbers seem to say---then taking direct action to stave off such a serious threat is not only warrented--but NEEDED.
If you "really" belive that such numbers in such surveys are that accurate--and that they represent such potential harm--then you MUST support direct, hardcore action to prevent these people from killing others.
But somehow I doubt you'd be "OK" with rounding people and putting them into camps based upon a survey.
In direct context---would you then CHARGE the people that took that phone survey with the CRIME of being a "racist"--and if not, why not?
F-You also might recall that in a former posting, one of YOUR quoted sources estimates that over 25% (and growing) of whites have faced racial discrimnation.
How do we reconcile those numbers with the ones of the phone survay?
Is it resonable to conclude that vast numbers of blacks, hispaniscs etc harbor deeply racist attitudes against whites?
If YOUR material is accurate--then what steps do we take about that?
G-As I mentioned LBJ was an OVERT bigot with attitudes that would be considered "racist" by pretty much anyone today---yet he was a powerful force--at great personal cost to--to the cause of civil rights in this nation.
So even if I give you everything else---there is STILL no reason to alarmed.
Just like LBJ these people may well be aware of their attitudes and thus take every possible chance to rise above it and "do the right thing"
(yes that is an aside to Spike Lee )
Nope, you didn't make that nuanced distinction until I held your feet to the fire.
You made a blanket statment that the color of a persons skin is all the inforamtion you needed to "know" their deepest attitudes and thoughts.
You and I both know that if the situation were with a different group--say gays--you would have come unglued.
And rightly so.