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This weekends challenge theme is………BROKEN
The Quick Shooter Challenge is a mini competition aimed to keep your photography skills sharp each weekend!
Every Friday in the forum the mysterious Photo Phantom sets a theme for everyone to shoot on. Post a reply in the forum to his challenge by Monday to be in the running to win the title of the weeks quick shooter.
This weekends challenge theme is………BROKEN


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One Word Photo Challenge: Deer
One Word Photo Challenge: Deer
One Word Photo Challenge: Deer
Part III: People, Places & Things
If you want to share a literal image of the actual word, do that. But if you'd rather play with word association, post something that reminds you of the specific word, or something you use the word for, do so. It only has to make sense to you. Have fun and keep on photographing!
This week's word is Deer!
There are deer in upstate New York but since I live in Brooklyn, New York and cannot take the bus or train to visit Bambi's rural relatives these weird looking deer from a past Brooklyn Museum special exhibit will have to do!
Oh Dear! More Strange Deer
Dear Deer Link
Now for the Comic Relief. Bullwinkle's Cousin has decided to invade my blog post!!

subset: commoncrawl


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A new research report contains formulas to help auditors and investors predict the likelihood that a public company is playing earnings management games. Sponsored by the Big Four accounting firms, the report, "Predicting Material Accounting Manipulations," explains how to calculate a "fraud score" for public companies, thereby identifying which corporate books deserve further scrutiny.
A fraud score that exceeds 1.00 is a "red flag" indicating that a company may be toying with how it accounts for cash and accruals so that it can ultimately boost stock prices, says study co-author Weili Ge, an accounting professor at the University of Washington. The mathematical model, presented in the paper released in late June, hunts for abnormal patterns in five key areas where manipulation likely takes place: accrual quality (in terms of the number of accruals being booked), financial performance (including earnings growth, cash margins, and transaction management), nonfinancial performance (order backlog and employee head count), off-balance-sheet activities (operating leases and pension assumptions), and market-based measures (valuations and price-to-earnings ratio).
Essentially, the model detects mismatched metrics in each key area. For example, the math may flag a company that has recorded an atypical increase in the number of accruals even though it has declining cash margins, a situation that can occur when receivables and inventory numbers are manipulated. Similarly, the model draws attention to unusual increases in the number of operating leases a company carries. Since leases allow companies to record lower expenses early on in the life of the contracts, an abnormal spike may indicate that a manager is focused on "financial statement window-dressing," says the report.
The model also notes changes in employee head count and total assets. Managers attempting to mask deteriorating financial performance often reduce the number of workers to boost the bottom line. But if they also overstate assets, the drop in workforce numbers will seem out of sync with economic reality.
To be sure, the more a measure deviates from the model's prescribed norm, the more likely the company is manipulating that variable. If enough variables are skewed, then the chance is greater that something fishy is going on, say the authors, who along with Ge include Patricia M. Dechow of the University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Chad R. Larson of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and Richard G. Sloan of Barclays Global Investors. According to Ge, the calculations are meant to predict the likelihood of earnings manipulations, in much the same way bankruptcy risk models predict a company's chance of falling into insolvency.
The researchers developed the model by examining 2,191 Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission between 1982 and 2005. The releases are public documents that identify corporate accounting and auditing misconduct allegedly committed by executives and auditors. From that batch of releases, the study authors identified 680 companies with alleged manipulations in at least one of their quarterly or annual financial statements. From those companies, which were not named in the report, Ge and her colleagues concluded that:
• Revenue, which was overstated by 55 percent of the sample companies, is by far the most commonly misstated account.
• Manipulating reserves — including allowances for doubtful debts — is also common, occurring in 10 percent of the sample.
• Manipulating inventory and cost of goods sold occurred in 25 percent of the sample.
• In general, manipulations are clustered in certain industries, most commonly computers and computer services, retail, and general services — which include telecommunications and health care. This is likely because companies in those industries tend to be current or former high-growth organizations that need to maintain the status quo.
• Large companies, defined by market capitalization, are more likely to manipulate earnings. This conclusion is probably due to the SEC's focus on investigating the most material and visible misconduct involving the largest losses and highest number of affected investors.
The authors uncovered some surprising findings, too. For instance, Ge says that, in general, when the companies misstated earnings, their rates of return were dropping, earnings growth rates were negative, and cash margins were shrinking. Yet cash sales were unexpectedly rising during the manipulation periods. The authors were puzzled because they expected managers to boost sales by manipulating accruals; that is, credit sales. A little more database digging revealed why cash sales were up.
Indeed, the companies that massaged earnings also tended to be expanding their capital bases and increasing the scale of their business operations — which led to an increase of both cash and credit sales. Also, many of the companies in question manipulated sales via transaction management — for example, by selling goods to related parties, forcing goods onto customers at the end of a quarter, and encouraging sales to customers with return provisions that violated the true definition of a "sale."
In its current iteration, the model would probably miss this type of misconduct, say the researchers, mainly because it was set up to probe accrual-based measures, not manipulation of techniques designed to boost cash sales. However, the authors agree that their unexpected discovery is a "useful area for future research" into developing metrics to measure earnings quality that captures cash-based earnings manipulation.


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"Sitzkrieg". "Phony War". Those were the terms used to describe the September '39 to May 1940 period, when neither side of what was to become the second world war, was yet prepared to launch a major ground war against the other.
The start of the "Great War" twenty-five years earlier, was different. Had you been alive in August 1914, you would have witnessed what might be described as the simultaneous detonation of a continent. France alone suffered 140,000 casualties over the four day "Battle of the Frontiers", where the River Sambre met the Meuse. 27,000 Frenchmen died in a single day, August 22, in the forests of the Ardennes and Charleroi. The British Expeditionary Force escaped annihilation on August 22-23, only by the intervention of mythic angels, at a place called Mons.
In the East, a Russian army under General Alexander Samsonov was encircled and so thoroughly shattered at Tannenberg, that German machine gunners were driven to insanity at the damage inflicted by their own guns, on the milling and helpless masses of Russian soldiers. Only 10,000 of the original 150,000 escaped death, destruction or capture. Samsonov himself walked into the woods, and shot himself.
The "Race to the Sea" of mid-September to late October was more a series of leapfrog movements and running combat, in which the adversaries tried to outflank one another. It would be some of the last major movement of the Great War, ending in the apocalypse of Ypres, in which 75,000 from all sides lost their lives. All along a 450-mile front, millions of soldiers dug into the ground to shelter themselves from what Private Ernst Jünger later called a "Storm of Steel".
On the Western Front, it rained for much of November and December that first year. The no man's land between British and German trenches was a wasteland of mud and barbed wire. Christmas Eve, 1914 dawned cold and clear. The frozen ground allowed men to move about for the first time in weeks. That evening, English soldiers heard singing. The low sound of a Christmas carol, drifting across no man's land…Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht…Silent Night.
The Tommies saw lanterns and small fir trees. Messages were shouted along the trenches. In some places, British soldiers and even a few French joined in the Germans' songs. Alles schläft; einsam wacht, Nur das traute hochheilige Paar. Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar…
The following day was Christmas, 1914. A few German soldiers emerged from their trenches at the first light of dawn, approaching the Allies across no man's land and calling out "Merry Christmas" in the native tongue of their adversaries. Allied soldiers first thought it was a trick, but these Germans were unarmed, standing out in the open where they could be shot on a whim. Tommies soon climbed out of their own trenches, shaking hands with the Germans and exchanging gifts of cigarettes, food and souvenirs. In at least one sector, enemy soldiers played a friendly game of soccer.
Captain Bruce Bairnsfather later wrote: "I wouldn't have missed that unique and weird Christmas Day for anything. … I spotted a German officer, some sort of lieutenant I should think, and being a bit of a collector, I intimated to him that I had taken a fancy to some of his buttons. … I brought out my wire clippers and, with a few deft snips, removed a couple of his buttons and put them in my pocket. I then gave him two of mine in exchange. … The last I saw was one of my machine gunners, who was a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civil life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of a docile Boche, who was patiently kneeling on the ground whilst the automatic clippers crept up the back of his neck."
Captain Sir Edward Hulse Bart reported a sing-song which "ended up with 'Auld lang syne' which we all, English, Scots, Irish, Prussians, Wurttenbergers, etc, joined in. It was absolutely astounding, and if I had seen it on a cinematograph film I should have sworn that it was faked!"
Nearly 100,000 Allied and German troops were involved in the unofficial ceasefire of Christmas 1914, lasting in some sectors until New Year's Day.
A few tried to replicate the event the following year, but there were explicit orders preventing it. Captain Llewelyn Wyn Griffith recorded that after a night of exchanging carols, dawn on Christmas Day 1915 saw a "rush of men from both sides … [and] a feverish exchange of souvenirs" before the men were quickly called back by their officers.
One German unit tried to leave their trenches under a flag of truce on Easter Sunday 1915, but were warned off by the British opposite them.
German soldier Richard Schirrmann wrote in December 1915, "When the Christmas bells sounded in the villages of the Vosges behind the lines …. something fantastically unmilitary occurred. German and French troops spontaneously made peace and ceased hostilities; they visited each other through disused trench tunnels, and exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Westphalian black bread, biscuits and ham. This suited them so well that they remained good friends even after Christmas was over".
Some will tell you, the bitterness engendered by continuous fighting made such fraternization all but impossible. Yet, there are those who believe that soldiers never stopped fraternizing with their opponents, at least during the Christmas season. Heavy artillery, machine gun, and sniper fire were all intensified in anticipation of Christmas truces, minimizing such events in a way that kept them out of the history books.
Even so, evidence exists of a small Christmas truce in 1916, though little is known of it. 23-year-old Private Ronald MacKinnon of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, wrote home about German and Canadian soldiers reaching across battle lines near Arras, sharing Christmas greetings and trading gifts. "I had quite a good Christmas considering I was in the front line", he wrote. "Christmas Eve was pretty stiff, sentry-go up to the hips in mud of course. … We had a truce on Christmas Day and our German friends were quite friendly. They came over to see us and we traded bully beef for cigars". The letter ends with Private MacKinnon noting that "Christmas was 'tray bon', which means very good."
Private Ronald MacKinnon of Toronto Ontario, Regimental number 157629, was killed barely three months later on April 9, 1917, during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
The Man He Killed
by Thomas Hardy
Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because–
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although
He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like–just as I–
Was out of work–had sold his traps–
No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.


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This is an exercise in distraction, I'm supposed to be proof-reading the Annotated Trigons and revamping the currently chaotic navigation for the rest of arduity. Regular readers of both bebrowed and arduity will know that I'm really bad at proofing and I'm daunted by the navigation task because it needs to be much more intuitive than is currently the case. With this in mind I will instead spend time today reflecting on the completed project (apart from the proofing, obvs) especially in terms of what John has said in his updated introduction:
I do want to record that I've had a similar pleasure in our own dialogue and the resulting new version of Trigons. Because it is a new version. "The Poem" is different from "The Poem-With-Notes," as it should be. There are now two texts, two ways of reading the work. I would hope that readers would want to own the printed version of Trigons, available from Shearsman Books, and after that access the annotations available here. I should note that sales of the Shearsman Trigons increased after the annotation project began.
Whilst working on the project I decided to focus on the work rather than thinking too deeply about the wider implications/aspects of what we were doing but now it's probably time to think a bit more broadly.
When we set out I asked on the blog whether or not the notes become part of the poem and I still haven't got to the bottom of this. In my head, as a reasonably attentive reader, I think I can make a case for EK's notes to the Shepheard's Calendar but that may be because I'm convinced that EK is a thin cover for Edmeund Spenser and the whole device is an attempt to launch himself into the Elizabethan literay 'scene'. David Jones' notes to both In Parenthesis and The Anathemata because they say what the poet wanted to say in terms of giving them a broader context.
So, in these instances, the poet's annotation, or at least the poet's involvement does suggest an additional part of the text which is a little more than an appendix or supplement. I'd like to illustrate this from my own recent experience. One of the things I need to do today is to check with John whether he's happy with an early
note I made about the dubious role played by the British SOE in supporting the Cretan resistance during the German occupation. I'd developed the notion that one of John's themes for the Islands, Inlands section of the work was the tragedy of Greek history during the twentieth century. I rapidly discovered that this wasn't the case and amended the note. Reading it again yesterday I've come to the conclusion that it says much more about my interests than it should and that it spoils that particular poem. This is the note:
General Heinrich Kreipe, commander of the German troops on Crete was captured on April 26th 1944 by a group of Cretan resistance fighters led by Patrick Leigh Fermor and W Stanley Moss of the British Special Operations Executive. The group moved South across the mountains of Crete and were picked up by a British motor launch on May 14th 1944 and taken to Egypt.
The majority view today is that this was a heroic act carried out by heroes who would risk everything to strike at the occupiers. Moss wrote his account as Ill met by moonlight which was made into a film in 1956. Both Fermor and Moss were decorated for this act and remain revered figures on Crete. However, some members of the Greek left point to the murky role of the SOE in withdrawing support from the main resistance group (EAM) and forming a group with more right wing tendencies because of its leftist affiliations. Some hold the view that the kidnap was of limited value and an attempt to bring reprisals on those villages controlled by the EAM. Whilst this is unlikely, what can be said is that the role of the British in Greece from 1943 through to the end of the especially brutal Greek civil war served British and American interests primarily at the cost of many Greek lives.
Youtube has a remrakable (dubbed) Greek documentary on the kidnap with interviews with both Kreipe and Leigh Fermor. The patrickleighfermor blog is building a formidable archive of material including photographs of the kidnapper's journey across the island with Kreipe. The blog is an excellent example of how the web can enhance and contextualize biography.
I now see that the middle paragraph, which was amended after discussion with John, is completely irrelevant to the poem because it has nothing to do with John's intention and still puts a misleading gloss on things. My only excuse is that Trigons as a whole does have a doppelganger theme and that both Leigh
Fermor and Moss may have been playing a double game. I'm not sure either that the last sentence is approriate either, it says what I feel about the interweb but nothing more.
The point that I'm trying to make is that these kind of flaws detract from the work as well as the notes and when they are useful for the reader they enhance both too.
This neatly leads on to 'new version' and what that might imply. I need to say that the content has been amended only once and that was in terms of accuracy. This version is adorned with links to external and internal pages and to notes that appear alongside most of the links. So, we have links to film, photographs, music and text in an attempt to make things easier for the reader. I'll try and give an example. In Aruski Rehab 4 you have "and a sunblast on your retinas transmutes the cycles into cyclotron. The last word is coloured blue to indicate that it's a link. Hovering over the word produces a short note which defines the word and provides a further link to a short film which explains in greater detail. In the bad old days before the interweb a note would be placed at the bottom of the page or at the end of the work which would define and possibly cite a reference to a more detailed explanation. We've added hundreds of these kinds of devices throughout the work and have thus created a version that changes the readerly experience. I'm hoping that, as the web gets broader, there will be a second edition to take advantage of both the additional available material and the techical innovations that will enable us to further refines the way the notes can be accessed and used.
There is also the possibility of other new versions in that what we've done could be amended and further developed by others so that there are many annotated Trigons rather than just the one
So, in conclusion it would appear that the notes are a part of the poem in that they can make it richer or they can detract from it. With the reference to the Greek video above, this note manages to do both. It's also apparent that this isn't a new poem but an augmented version of the same poem. I hope this makes some kind of sense. Now, back to the proofing. Sigh.


text: (BeWellBuzz) How many times during the day do you reach out for antibacterial soap, mouthwash or a face wash? Did you know that all these products contain Triclosan that can cause more harm than good? Watch out, says the latest research findings appearing in many publications! One of the researches done at the University of California reveals how triclosan, one of the ... Continue Reading


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titles from this organization
Differences in Collaboration Patterns across Discipline, Career Stage, and Gender
Nov 4, 2016
Publisher(s): PLOS Biology
Explore Issue Areas
Special Collections are curated collections of research that address a specific topic or research question.
Knowledge Centers are a custom service of IssueLab providing organizations with a simple way to manage and share knowledge on their own websites.
Nov 4, 2016
Publisher(s): PLOS Biology


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In the development phase of complex mechanical and mechatronic systems reliable dynamic simulation results are of highest importance.
A meaningful exploration of the dynamics of jointed structures like car bodies, truck frames or bolted housings of electronic devices requires to take into account the occurring contact stresses. Due to the computational effort involved in the underlying nonlinear contact conditions very accurate but still fast numerical models become necessary.
The MAMBA software package provides a nonlinear model order reduction method for getting a streamlined simulation model which is capable of computing meaningful contact stresses over many time increments. This way the engineer is well prepared for the dynamic analysis of jointed structures.


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Yes, The New Pup Reporter Loki, is behind this one! Stamp of Approval : Bear The Wonder Dog Approves!
Youth and their Art may have their own Museum / Gallery. A good start today With Their paintings!
Would each of us that are visiting these pages , be willing to send a USA Dollar / $1.00 for the International Children Artist Museum AT " Sitt Nyein Aye , Art and Culture Center " and help the Children send in their Art for Display and the selling their art for them, Around the World ?
Awe ……. Thank You so much!
Love, Ann
Carlos Buffalohair shared a link.
1 hr ·
Click here to support LETS MAKE GLOBAL ART HISTORY organized by Carlos Buffalohair
The Sitt Nyein Aye Art's & Cultural Center Named for renowned Burmese artist/activist U Sitt Nyein Aye, this complex is actually a lumberyard set on two…
LETS MAKE GLOBAL ART HISTORY Share
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The Sitt Nyein Aye Art's & Cultural Center
Named for renowned Burmese Artist/Activist U Sitt Nyein Aye, this complex is actually a lumberyard set on two commercially zoned blocks (1 acre), with approximately 30,000 sq. ft. of covered space, 2 story building, warehouses, blab, blab, blab. The story of how we managed to score this primo piece of property is a story in itself for it was a hazardous journey.
Now we own it all, lock, stock and tomahawk but we face another daunting challenge, to bring the existing compound up to speed with regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (CRPD), The International Disabilities Alliance (IDA) & The American's With Disabilities Act (ADA).
Being that I am disabled as well as many of my friends I know the struggles a disabled person must endure during the course of just one day, both physical and the emotional aspects of our condition. I don't simply want to comply with disabilities mandates, I want to embrace these mandates.
Lessons learned by the devastating Oakland Artist Collective Fire a few months back exposed the critical need to address public safety from a variety of vantage points. What about the disabled people who would not be as ambulatory in escaping a fire? How would they escape & how would they survive?
Adding to our concerns is the fact we want to build an International Children's Art Museum within this complex. How can we make this facility safe for everyone who enters this compound, especially kids? Toss in the myriad of shops, galleries and the visitors they will being to our complex and it is all to clear, Public Safety & Disabilities MUST be addressed from the very beginning NOT as an after thought.
After watching as our community races to comply with Disabilities mandates after the fact, spending millions to renovate and cobble ramps and doorways, we want to do things different and that is why I am here, to petition the global art community for assistance.
I mentioned 5 million dollars as the sum we would need to bring this arts center into compliance in the very beginning and believe me, this is a conservative estimate since fire mitigation is also necessary. So I am petitioning for the assistance from the international commercial sector as well as the citizens & artisans of the world in the evolution of this arts complex.
Along with funding it would be way cool to have engineers, architects and innovators in the field of Disabilities to assist in the construction of this arts complex. This could be a veritable showcase of innovation design that could revolutionize how we address the growing number of disabled clientele globally speaking.
Being that I am disabled I can safely say that it would be nice to be able to visit places that are accessible to the disabled regardless of handicap. To have freedom of movement and share in the beauty of art rather than wondering if your wheelchair will fit in the door. When I was wheelchair bound I hated crashing into people because there was no room on the walk path for me to pass.
Who would benefit from this Project? The Global Art Community & the disabled would by having another international arts and cultural destination. But for the disabled artists & entrepreneur this would be a blessing. To address the needs for the disabled from the very beginning would also open up opportunity for the disabled to get involved with this arts & cultural project from the very onset. Maybe have their own store or gallery.
The lumberyard is raw, ready for development and is prime for Innovations in the world of disabilities. This must be addressed before we can move forward. Addressing disabilities in the design & construction of this complex will save millions if we address this in the beginning. With the help of the global public and experienced professionals in the World of Disabilities this could be more than a real cool art & cultural center.
The Sitt Nyein Aye Arts & Cultural Center would be an international showcase or blueprint of how we can address the needs of disabled human beings in the future. Now that would make history in any ones book.
My mentor and dear friend the late Robert Perske championed the cause of the disabled and he continues to be my inspiration. If only he was here to see what I've gotten myself into now.
I know he would be proud…


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Kathal Subzi
A vegetarian dish that tastes like mutton, if cooked properly.
Similar recipes
Preparation time
Cooking time
For 2 Person(s)
- 500 grams kathal (Jackfruit), (or, 1 can Kathal found in Indian grocery stores)
- 250 grams potatoes
- 250 grams tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup(s) tomato puree
- 0.5 cup(s) plain yogurt
- 0.25 cup(s) onion paste
- 0.25 cup(s) ginger/garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon(s) whole garam masala
- 2 teaspoon(s) cumin seeds (jeera)
- 4 piece(s) bay leaves
- 2 teaspoon(s) garam masala powder
- 2 teaspoon(s) turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon(s) red chili powder
- 0.5 cup(s) cooking oil
- 1 cup(s) water
- 1 teaspoon(s) salt, or as desired
Kathal Subzi Directions
- Wash and cut the kathal into square pieces and boil it for 2 minutes with salt and turmeric powder. (If using the canned ones, drain the water and clean with fresh water.)
- Sprinkle some salt and ½ turmeric powder over it and keep aside.
- Cut potato the same size.
- Heat a kadai, and add oil. After heating, add whole garam masala, whole jeera and bay leaves.
- Add potato and fry till golden brown, and remove from kadai.
- Add onion, ginger, and garlic paste and fry for 5 min.
- Add all other masalas and both tomatoes and curd and fry them till oil separates (except the garam masala powder).
- Add kathal and potatoes to it and mix well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low flame.
- When oil separates, add water and bring to boil.
- Again, cover for 5 minutes and add garam masala powder and remove from heat.
- Serve hot.


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Monif C. Plus Sizes
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Plus size fashion with tantalizing details like deep v necklines, flirty triangle hem lines and high cut slits, Monif C. Plus Size fashion will easily take you from the office to the happy hour to girls night out and back! Monif C. Plus Sizes swimwear also offers a variety of bold prints and vibrant colors in beautiful designs plus size one pieces, plus size bikinis and cover up. Monif C. Plus Sizes swimwear consist of designs that provide endless options to mix and match. Highlighting the very best features of today's plus size woman and making her feel sexy and confident is what Monif C. Plus Sizes fashion is all about.


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Feeding the Little Ones today is much more exciting than yesteryear! Today we allow the Little Ones to get in there, roll up their sleeves and unleash their creative juices. One thing for sure, if you want to keep the 'picki-ness' and the prickly food attitudes at bay, get those young chefs engaged and involved!
You know, they'll never turn their
faces up at their creations.
Instead, they'll be nosh-ing everything in sight!
In all fairness to the years gone by, there wasn't the amazing social media outlets that virtually puts cooking with children on autopilot. Perhaps if there were, we would have the likes of these nutritious delights:
Do you have a Little One who loves to create yummy meals to nosh?
Do tell……
Next. The Letter {O}


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UConn, Irish Clash on Senior Dayposted by John Vannie
The 4-5 Huskies appear at first glance to represent no great threat, but upon closer inspection this game seems destined to be decided in the final moments. Randy Edsall's team held the lead late in the fourth quarter in four of its five losses, and was only a missed two-point conversion away from tying fourth ranked Cincinnati on the Bearcat's home turf. The untimely surrender of big plays has proven costly, but injuries to key players such as quarterback Cody Endres and the stabbing death of cornerback Jasper Howard on October 18 has been too much for the UConn family to overcome. The team has not won since defeating Louisville, a game in which Howard was awarded a game ball by his coaches and teammates just hours prior to his death.
Former Notre Dame quarterback Zach Frazer has earned back the starting job for the Huskies after Endres was lost for the season. Frazer has completed only 51% of his passes and suffered seven interceptions, while Endres was far more efficient at 64% and only four picks. The pressure of playing at his former school will add to Frazer's stress level, but Edsall has already taken the initiative to provide a calming influence.
"I brought him in and I spoke to him as you can imagine. I told him what he needs to do is just play like he did against Cincinnati. He showed great composure, tremendous poise, and very good focus just going out and taking what the defense was giving him. I know he has good friends and good memories out there, but once he hits that field, it's just another game."
Connecticut is coming off a bye week after three straight gut-wrenching losses, and Edsall's attempt to downplay the upcoming opportunity on national television is classic coach speak.
"It really is just another game. It's the tenth game this season. But from the school's standpoint, it probably means more to the school and the people associated with UConn football from the beginning. I don't know if anybody ever thought that UConn football would have the opportunity to play such a storied program as Notre Dame. For the players, we have to treat it as just another game. The field is still 120 by 53 and a third, it's no different than the field that we play on."
This sure sounds like a football version of "Hoosiers" to me.
While the Huskies have not set foot in Notre Dame Stadium, Edsall paid his first and only visit in 1993 when he coached against the Irish as a member of Tom Coughlin's staff at Boston College. Yes, we are talking about THAT infamous game.
NOTRE DAME OFFENSE vs. CONNECTICUT DEFENSE
The Huskies' style of play is physical, but this year's lineup consists of precious few veterans interspersed among numerous young players. Pass rusher Lindsey Witten is a senior with NFL potential and 11 sacks to his credit this season, while the other three linemen are sophomores and freshmen. Scott Lutrus leads a trio of three junior linebackers, and Greg Lloyd, Jr. is the son of the former Steelers great. The secondary is manned by a pair of seniors, safety Robert Vaughn and cornerback Robert McClain. Each has four interceptions this season. Howard's spot at the other corner is being filled by freshman Blidi Wreh-Wilson.
The Irish running game can expect to meet resistance early in the contest when UConn is fresh. Weis has not shown patience in the past when the run is not working, so fans can expect a lot of passes from Clausen. The Huskies do not blitz very often and will drop into coverage to take away the long scoring strike. This is the same strategy used to a high degree of success by the likes of Navy, Boston College and Pitt. The key to its success is the amount of pressure that can be exerted by the defensive front four.
The matchup between Witten and Notre Dame's offensive tackles will be a critical element in this contest. Clausen may have a field day if he has time to throw, but his protection has not been stellar lately. The bigger question, as always, will be whether the Irish can stick with the run and make it work.
CONNECTICUT OFFENSE vs. NOTRE DAME DEFENSE
The Huskies are a run-first team with a tandem of capable backs and a massive offensive line. Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon share the carries at tailback, and will have to be successful in order to reduce the pressure on Frazer. Conversely, the Irish must force Frazer into third and long situations so they can take advantage of his relative inexperience. They will blitz frequently on passing downs in an attempt to rattle him and force errant passes.
When Frazer drops back to throw, Marcus Easley has emerged as his primary target and deep threat. Brad Kanuch and Kashif Moore are capable short range receivers and tight end Ryan Griffin is an improving young player. The passing game made strides against Cincinnati in their last game as Frazer went 19 for 32 for 261 yards and no interceptions despite playing from behind most of the day. A repeat of this type of performance may be problematic for the Irish, especially if UConn's rushing attack is equally successful.
Notre Dame played well defensively last week at Pittsburgh for the most part, but a few breakdowns led to big plays that spelled defeat. The Huskies are not known as a high powered offensive team, but Easley and Todman can hurt the Irish if given an opening.
UConn's Desi Cullen was named one of ten semifinalists for the 2009 Ray Guy Award, which identifies the nation's top collegiate punter. Kicker Dave Teggart is reliable within 40 yards but his range does not extend much farther. McClain has returned a punt for a touchdown this season while Robbie Frey has a 100-yard kickoff return to his credit. Edsall's coverage teams are usually very competent, and this year is no exception.
The team that wins the battle of field position will have a distinct advantage. Notre Dame's offense has routinely started deep in its own end in recent weeks, and poor punting has put undue pressure on the defense. Any near-term expectations that the Irish will improve in this area have expired, so the path to victory becomes that much more difficult.
The more Edsall and UConn try to say that this is "just another game" for the Huskies, the more you know that they are salivating at the opportunity to beat Notre Dame in their first visit to South Bend. A bye week will provide even more focus for this capable but hard-luck group, and the Irish must be ready for a sixty minute battle. UConn does not have the personnel to stay with Notre Dame if the Irish play at a high level, but the team has performed poorly of late and is in the midst of another November collapse. The lack of good fundamentals combined with the fact that it's more difficult to surprise an opponent at this stage of the season tend to negate the talent disparity between Notre Dame and a mid-level but highly motivated and well-coached team.
Let's consider a few questions that will help determine the outcome:
Will the Irish be able to keep Witten from adding to his impressive sack total?
Can Frazer control his nerves and deliver a quality performance?
Will Clausen be asked to throw 40 passes?
Can Notre Dame's defense neutralize UConn's rushing attack?
Will the Huskies be able to capitalize on their distinct advantage in the punting game?
Will the importance of Senior Day be sufficient motivation for the Irish to match UConn's all-out effort?
There is little recent evidence that Notre Dame can put together and sustain a solid effort, but the fourth quarter comeback against Pittsburgh showed that the light is not completely extinguished. The Huskies have dropped several games in the last few minutes to good teams, and losing in that manner can become a malady that is hard to shake. Although many signs point toward an upset, I just can't get past the wide gulf between quarterbacks Clausen and Frazer. Somehow, some way, the Irish should prevail.


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Matt Smith has been one of the most engaging actors ever to play that ageless time traveler on Doctor Who — but if he'd been given better, weightier material to work with, he might have been the best Doctor of all, argues a new article in The Atlantic.
It's hard to argue with any of the cogent analysis in Ted B. Kissell's essay, which points to the problems with Matt Smith's stories that we've all noticed over the years. Smith's Doctor is a swaggering bully who loves to make shouty speeches about his own greatness. He withholds information from his own companions for no good reason. He cheats death (and any other sort of consequences) on a regular basis, thanks to handy reset-buttons and magic-wandery.
A couple of choice quotes:
The entirety of Season Six is when Moffat's fascination for plot twists and open-ended mysteries (in our house, we describe this unfortunate tendency as "plotty-wotty") took over the show, and the whole product suffered....
There are just never any consequences for any main characters in Moffat'sDoctor Who. Every apparent sacrifice, tragic loss, or moral compromise is invalidated by some kind of reset button, with no physical or psychological cost. The "loss" of the Ponds was so nonsensical that it doesn't even count. They got to live full lives together in the past, but the Doctor could never go back and see them again? It's insulting. Why not have the two of them make a meaningful sacrifice and actually, you know, die? Whose feelings is Moffat trying to spare here?
The main point that Kissell drives at is that Smith would have been a better lead actor if he'd had to play real consequences, instead of having a pocket full of Get-Out-of-Jail-Free cards. I don't have much to add here — except that maybe we should have more villains who have goals of their own, unrelated to the Doctor. The best villains have their own desires and objectives, and the hero just happens to get in their way.
Anyway, the whole essay is depressing, but worth reading. [The Atlantic]


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Turns out, the parent company of Entertainment One (the independent label releasing David Archuleta's No Matter How Far album) started out right here in Canada. Their history makes for interesting reading (for me, anyway, lol):
From roots as a Canadian record and tape retailer to a global leader in content, Entertainment One has touched nearly every step of acquisition, production and distribution for film, television and music. Today, Entertainment One has grown beyond its modest record store roots bringing film and music to regions around the world — with more than 24,000 film and television titles, 2,700 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks.
eOne began operations in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, as Records on Wheels Limited ('ROW'), founded and operated by Vito Ierullo and Don Ierullo focusing on retail sales of recorded music. In the late 1970s ROW began to distribute recorded music for third party retailers throughout Canada. Over the next 20+ years, entertainment content distribution became ROW's primary focus as the company expanded into video, purchasing one of Canada's largest home entertainment distributors, Video One Canada. In November 2003 ROW listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ROW Entertainment Income Fund, and soon after changed its name to Entertainment One Income Fund for which the role of CEO of Entertainment One was graciously given to the current CEO of eOne by Vito Ierullo.
In June 2005, Entertainment One Income Fund acquired Koch Entertainment, North America's largest indie music label and a large U.S. distributor of home entertainment products. The combined company, now called Entertainment One (a.k.a. eOne), had a comprehensive U.S.-Canadian distribution network and began acquiring rights for specialty content. In 2007, in a move to fund expansion into independent feature film distribution and rights ownership, eOne was sold to UK-based Marwyn Investment Management and immediately listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in a $200 million IPO.
In 2007, eOne acquired Montreal-based film distributor Seville Pictures and UK distributor Contender Entertainment and, that same year, the company secured its first film output agreement with Summit Entertainment – a deal which included the future cinematic and home video blockbuster Twilight film series, a teen romance about vampires based on the best-selling book of the same name. The acquisitions continued in 2008 with the purchase of leading Benelux distributor RCV Entertainment. That same year, eOne created its television arm, purchasing production companies Blueprint and Barna-Alper and international television distributor Oasis International.
On May 28, 2012, eOne confirmed their bid to purchase Alliance Films from Goldman Sachs Group and Investissement Quebec, similar to the purchase of Maple Pictures a year prior.
On January 9, 2013, Entertainment One (eOne) completed transaction of Alliance Films for $225 million and will merge Alliance Films and all of their subsidiaries under the Entertainment One brand.[10] With this deal, eOne will distribute titles from The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate as well as Summit Entertainment, Focus Features, Lakeshore, Lava Bear, and Morgan Creek in Canada; the deal also brings eOne output agreements with Summit and Lionsgate in Spain and Relativity Media in Canada and the UK.
E1 Music (formerly Koch Records), the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is an independent record label in the United States. It is widely regarded as the top independent record label in the United States, having garnered the most Billboard hits of any independent record label in history. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal. On January 22, 2009, Koch Records was officially branded as "E1 Music" by parent company Entertainment One.
Since its inception as KOCH Records, E1 Music has charted over 100 albums on Billboard's Independent Chart, surpassing the number of titles charted by all other U.S. independent labels. E1 Music has been the number one independent label according to Billboard for the last six years and quickly grew to become North America's largest independently owned and distributed record label. E1 Music covers all musical genres from adult-contemporary to rock, urban to country, children's to classical.
Sources: Entertainment One and wikipedia
Love these guys already!
It has come to our attention that David Archuleta fans are the real deal! Talented artist, tremendous fanbase.
— eOneMusicCanada (@eOneMusicCanada) February 6, 2013


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GC50™ Green Coffee Bean Extract
The famous TV show set off yet another frenzy by devoting nearly an entire show to this amazing extract, calling it "The fat burner that works."
Why You Want It
Green coffee beans are rich in a compound called Chlorogenic Acid. Independent studies have found that chlorogenic acid boosts our metabolism by preventing the release of glucose into the blood stream1. Glucose is used by the body more immediately and this efficiency decreases glucose absorption.
An increase in the metabolism of stored fat reserves is a by product of this reduced glucose availability. In time this results in decreased body fat and mass2.
Why This Product Is a Better Choice
The manufacturers of GC50™ scour the planet looking for green coffee bean extracts with the highest concentrations of chlorogenic acid. They blend these super-strains into a formula that's guaranteed to have a minimum of 50% - and usually more. It's then 3rd party tested to confirm that strength. This means this product is stronger than those "name brands."See The Latest Test Results Here
Plus, it's one of the few that specifically offer a low caffeine content with less than 5% (when tested, it was actually closer to 2%, even better than the label claim!). Even more importantly, it's one of the very few product we've found that sticks to the recommended dosing: one capsule 3x per day 20 minutes before meals.
Are There Side Effects?
Green Coffee Bean is considered safe and because of its very low caffeine content there are no known side effects at this time
Always check with your doctor before beginning any nutritional supplement.
Why Get it Here
Every product on this site is backed by our 365-day "Feel-Better-or-It's-FREE™" Guarantee. If it doesn't work or you're not happy for any reason, return whatever is left (even the empty bottle) within one year and get your money back. No hoops to jump, no questions to answer. Simple and secure.
No auto-billing or auto-shipping ever. Should you decide you want more, you'll just have to come back and buy more. There will never be surprise charges on your credit card.
You can be confident that this is a higher quality, better value green coffee product. We settle for nothing less!
1Diabetes Care. 2009 Jun;32(6):1023-5. doi: 10.2337/dc09-0207. Epub 2009 Mar 26. Acute effects of decaffeinated coffee and the major coffee components chlorogenic acid and trigonelline on glucose tolerance. van Dijk AE, Olthof MR, Meeuse JC, Seebus E, Heine RJ, van Dam RM. Source Department of Health Sciences, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
2J Int Med Res. 2007 Nov-Dec;35(6):900-8. The effect of chlorogenic acid enriched coffee on glucose absorption in healthy volunteers and its effect on body mass when used long-term in overweight and obese people.Thom E. Source ETC Research and Development, Oslo, Norway.
Retail Price: $59.99 ...
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Third Annual Between 2 Rivers Music Festival in Belmont on Saturday
The third annual Between 2 Rivers Music Festival returns to Downtown Belmont on Saturday. The event begins at 2 p.m. and runs through 10 p.m. and will feature four bands performing on Glenway Street behind Friends Sports Bar, The Belmont General Store and Glenway Premium Pub.
This year's festival will feature a Kid's Zone with inflatables and games, a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. Proceeds from the festival will benefit Levine Children's Hospital.
The festival will feature a mixture of sounds from across the Carolinas.
The Corey Hunt Band performs at 2:30 p.m. Hunt, a native of Asheboro, now resides in Nashville, where he and his band mates are making a splash on the country music scene.
Next up, at 4:15 p.m., is Charlotte band Baylor Drive, an alternative country band. Spotlighting the music of lead singer and principal songwriter Brandon Thompson, the members of Baylor Drive synthesize a wide range of influences to form a unique brand of subtly intense music. When listening to the band, you may be reminded of artists ranging from Ryan Adams to Pink Floyd; from Counting Crows to the Jayhawks.
At 6 p.m., On the Border performs. The Eagles tribute band from Charlotte has performed at festivals, music venues, and corporate and private events.
Closing out the show, at 8:30 p.m., are The Piedmont Boys from Greenville. Together, the group has produced three studio albums that display their own brand of country influenced from outlaw, bluegrass, southern rock and blues music. Although unsigned, they have shared the stage with the likes of Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and Gretchen Wilson, and average more than 200 shows per year across the country.
"After the huge success we had the past two years, we knew we wanted to do it again," said Paul Hendricks, one of the event organizers. "Music is that universal language that brings the community together, and it's the icing on the cake that we're able to help a great organization like Levine."
The second annual Between 2 Rivers Music Festival, held in October 2012, raised more than $4,000 for both Gaston County Hospice and The Wounded Warrior Foundation ,
Festival sponsors this year include Sunbelt Rentals, McKenney Family Dealerships, Carolina Orthopedic, C&C Scrap Iron & Metal, Watson Insurance Agency, Belmont Federal Savings & Loan and WebWright Carolina.
For more information, contact Paul Hendricks, 704-472-3638, or email email@example.com
When: 2-10 p.m. Saturday
Where: Downtown Belmont on Glenway Street
Admission: Free to the Public This Year
Details: www.b2rmusicfest.com


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Who We Are
The American High-Performance Buildings Coalition (AHPBC) is composed of leading organizations representing a range of products and materials relevant to the building and construction industry who are committed to promoting performance-based energy efficiency and sustainable building standards. We support the development of green building standards through consensus-based processes derived from data and performance-driven criteria.
We support the common objective of improving energy efficiency and environmental performance in buildings. The purpose of the coalition is not to endorse or oppose any particular green building rating system.


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My Sunday was spent grappling with 3 hours and 58 minutes of film history.
As the sun was lost to the horizon and the light disappeared from the room, my tenacity was finally greeted with the line I had been waiting for. Eight of the most iconic words to be written since The Lumière brothers started this crazy craze known as filmmaking.
3 hours and 58 minutes of my Sunday afternoon spent and what did I learn?
Scarlett O'Hara is an imbecile.
10 Oscars?
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.


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Jan. 20, 2015:
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:
We are fifteen years into this new century.
But tonight, we turn the page.
Where we stand right now, in Washington, D.C., 50 percent of the children are living in poverty. And yet, more than 50% of this legislative body have individual net worth exceeding one million dollars. Inequality is the central reality of the economy that exists in our country and around the world. Right now the 80 wealthiest people in the world control as much wealth, own as much wealth, as the bottom 50 percent of the population of the world, more than 3.5 billion people.
We have a booming stock market not from earnings or wage growth but from pure financial alchemy, with 80% of trades done by high speed computer algorithms running not on price discovery or productive value but on each other's exuberance. This will not end well.
Tonight, for the first time since
America, for all that we've endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: The shadow of crisis has not passed, and the State of the Union is
At this moment – with a
Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well for their brief remaining lifetimes? Or will we commit ourselves to
Will we approach that world, the way we have these past 15 years, fearful and reactive, drugged by mass media, a diseased health service and nutritionally bankrupt national diet until we are dragged unresisting into costly conflicts that strain our military, set back our standing, and squander the little time remaining to arrest climate change? Or will we lead wisely, using all elements of our power to
Will we allow ourselves to be sorted into factions and turned against one another – or will we recapture the sense of common purpose that has always propelled America forward?
In two weeks, I will send this Congress a budget filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan. And in the months ahead, I'll crisscross the country making a case for those ideas.
So tonight, I want to focus less on a checklist of proposals, and focus more on the values at stake in the choices before us.
It begins with our economy.
Lately we seem to be rejoicing over the low price of gasoline and the strong US dollar, but as R. Buckminster Fuller reminds us:
The requisite pressures and heat that must be maintained continuously and steadily over the multimillenia involved in the natural production of liquid fossil fuels, when accounted at the kilowatt-per-hour prices charged to retail customers by the public utilities for that much energy for that vast span of time, amount to well over a million dollars per each gallon of petroleum.
We believed we could prepare our kids for a more competitive world. And today, our younger students have earned the highest math and reading scores on record. Our high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high. And more Americans finish college than ever before. All of those achievements take our nation to 36th in the world, the lowest we have been since No Child Left Behind was first uttered in these halls. Our nation is behind Singapore, Korea, Liechtenstein, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Tunisia, Mexico and Vietnam, and yet, or because, it is among the most expensive, social-economically unequal, and computerized in the world. This needs to change and that is why I am proposing we stop injecting religion into our curricula, start assisting the poorest performing schools, and expand Head Start and other proven programs for the youngest and most disadvantaged.
At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would crush jobs and explode deficits. Instead, we've seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in fifty years.
So the verdict is clear.
Today, thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise again. We know that more small business owners plan to raise their employees' pay than at any time since 2007. But here's the thing – those of us here tonight, we need to set our sights higher than just making sure government doesn't halt the progress we're making.
In fact, at every moment of economic change throughout our history, this country has taken bold action to adapt to new circumstances, and to make sure everyone gets a fair shot. We set up worker protections, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to protect ourselves from the harshest adversity. We gave our citizens schools and colleges, infrastructure and the internet – tools they needed to go as far as their effort
That's what
So what does
First –
Here's one example. During World War II, when men like my grandfather went off to war, having women like my grandmother in the workforce was a national security priority – so this country provided universal childcare. In today's economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality childcare more than ever. It's not a nice-to-have – it's a must-have. It's time we stop treating childcare as a side issue, or a women's issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us. And that's why my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America
Here's another example. Today, we're the only advanced country on Earth that doesn't guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers. Forty-three million workers have no paid sick leave. Forty-three million. Think about that. And that forces too many parents to make the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home. So I'll be taking new action to help states adopt paid leave laws of their own. And since paid sick leave won where it was on the ballot last November, let's put it to a vote right here in Washington. Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the
Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. That's why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It's 2015. It's time. We still need to make sure employees get the overtime they've earned. And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise. And while we are at it, let us increase the minimum social security benefit to $15,000. The idea that your father and mother should have to live on $3,600 per year because of how little they were paid in their working careers is a scandal.
These ideas won't make everybody rich, or relieve every hardship. That's not the job of government. To give working families a fair shot, we'll still need more employers to see beyond next quarter's earnings and recognize that investing in their workforce is in their company's long-term interest. We still need laws that strengthen rather than weaken unions, and give American workers a voice. But things like child care and sick leave and equal pay; things like lower mortgage premiums and a higher minimum wage – these ideas will make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of families. That is a fact. And that's what all of us – Republicans and Democrats alike – were sent here to do.
Second, to make sure folks
America thrived in the 20th century because we were not very far from our roots in the farm, and the life skills that gives a child. To level the playing field between urban and rural, rich and poor, we made high school free, sent a generation of GIs to college, and trained the best modern workforce in the world.
By the end of this decade, two in three job openings will require
That's why I am sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community and vocational colleges – to zero.
Thanks to Vice President Biden's great work to update our job training system, we're connecting community colleges with local employers to train workers to
And as a new generation of veterans comes home, we owe them every opportunity to live the American Dream they helped defend. Already, we've made strides towards ensuring that every veteran has access to the highest quality care. We're slashing the backlog that had too many veterans waiting years to get the benefits they need, and we're making it easier for vets to translate their training and experience into civilian jobs.
However, let me stop here and say that in an era when social media connects us all in real time, you and I and everyone around the world shared a tragic event this year. Together, we watched, on TV, a black man, Eric Garner, father of six, who was being polite, and whose only alleged offense was selling cigarettes by the single, rather than by the pack, choked to death by NY police officer Daniel Pantaleo while he said, repeatedly, politely, and with respect in his voice, "I can't breathe." And after we watched him stop breathing, and his body lay unattended in the street until he died of a heart attack in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, we watched the young man who filmed that crime be thrown in jail and we watched the policeman who committed that crime go unpunished, and we learned that that Daniel Pantaleo had a long pattern of misconduct.
In Ferguson, Missouri, violence and chaos erupted after a grand jury elected not to indict a white officer, Darren Wilson, for the killing of Michael Brown, a black teenager.
We also watched, again on TV, 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was carrying an airsoft gun that shoots non-lethal plastic pellets, shot repeatedly, and fatally, within 1½ to 2 seconds of officer Timothy Loehmann pulling up in his police cruiser to a WalMart children's play area.
That is why tonight I am proposing that police departments and police academies all across America be excluded from the initiatives we are creating to hire veterans, and that laws be enacted prohibiting veterans from working in any job involving lethal weapons. We trained them to be killers, we subjected them to brutality that scars them still, and we have no business sticking a gun in their hand and sending them out onto the streets of America to attack cigarette vendors, teenagers in hoodies, or children with plastic guns.
Earlier this year I ordered an end to our war on whistleblowers. We dropped all our demands of Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times reporter James Risen and we will stop jailing those who reveal high crimes and misdemeanors in government, the military and the workplace. If journalism is not a crime, why are we criminalizing journalists? Is it because we are frightened of their power? Are we like the Saudi kingdom, that feels it necessary to order 1000 lashes for a blogger who challenges authority, or to publicly decapitate women who refuse to wear the veil?
I ask Congress to amend or repeal the Espionage Act so that this kind of abuse can never happen again.
I intend to protect a free and open internet, extend its reach to every classroom, and every community, and help folks build the fastest networks, so that the next generation of digital innovators and entrepreneurs have the platform to keep reshaping our world. We need to hear the voices of others around the world, whether it is from Anonymous, YouTube, Netflix, Silk Road, Wikileaks, Al-Jazeera or Russia Today. The Voice of America does not have a corner on the truth — we need to hear all sides. Freedom of speech demands it.
I want Americans to win the race for the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs – converting sunlight into liquid fuel; building the next generation of sailing ships;
Now, the truth is, when it comes to issues like infrastructure and basic research, I know there's bipartisan support in this chamber. Members of both parties have told me so. Where we too often run onto the rocks is how to pay for these investments. As Americans, we don't mind paying our fair share of taxes, as long as everybody else does, too. But for far too long, lobbyists have rigged the tax code with loopholes that let some corporations pay nothing while others pay full freight. They've riddled it with giveaways the superrich don't need, denying a break to middle class families who do.
Just before I took office 6 years ago, when the captains of Wall Street ran the country into a ditch, the country chose to bail out the banks in hopes that they would lend more to Main Street. They didn't, and we find ourselves more in debt today, and the giant Ponzi schemes they ran up before the last crash are now ten times larger. No one can bail out anyone when they crash, as surely they will. As James Howard Kunstler has said,
"The collective failure of authority, whether of intention or oversight or mental deficiency boggles the mind. And it leaves us where we are: in a compressive deflationary contraction, a.k.a. the long emergency. This is not a cyclical recession. It's the end of one thing and the beginning of another thing, another phase of history in which people will have to learn to live differently or perish."
This year, we have an opportunity to change that insanity. Let's close loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad, or buy more yachts and private islands for their top 1 percent, and reward those that invest in America. Let's use those savings to rebuild our infrastructure and make it more attractive for companies to bring jobs home.
Lets revoke the charter of any company found guilty of the kinds of financial fraud we uncovered in 2008. Some people are calling this corporate capital punishment.
Since 2010, America has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all advanced economies combined.
No one knows for certain which industries will generate the jobs of the future. But we do know we want some of them here in America. That's why the third part of
21st century businesses need 21st century infrastructure – modern ports, stronger bridges, faster trains, large cargo-carrying sailing ships, and the fastest internet.
21st century businesses, including small businesses, need to sell more quality American products
Let's simplify the system and let a small business owner file based on her actual bank statement, instead of the number of accountants she can afford. And let's close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth and property. We can use that money to help more families
Helping hardworking families make ends meet. Giving them the tools they need for good-paying jobs in this new economy. Maintaining the conditions for growth and competitiveness. This is where America needs to go. I believe it's where the American people want to go. It will make our economy stronger a year from now, fifteen years from now, and deep into the century ahead.
Of course, if there's one thing this new century has taught us, it's that we cannot separate our work at home from challenges beyond our shores.
We need to end the threat of nuclear weapons once and for all. We cannot tell others they cannot have these weapons when we possess them ourselves. That is why I am urging Congress to expedite the process of global nuclear disarmament by funding new diplomatic initiative that would eliminate all nuclear weapons and the means to produce them by 2020, the same year we complete our phase-out of nuclear power plants.
My first duty as Commander-in-Chief is to be sure that the men and women we have placed in harms way can safely return home when the airlines no longer have fuel to fly and the ships that sail are too few to transport hundreds of thousands of troops back to home shores. For that reason, I am ordering a gradual drawdown of military forces stationed abroad and a phased closure of our military bases overseas. We will return Kiev to the popular vote of all Ukrainians, without manipulating the election. We will return the Guantánamo Naval Base to Cuba. We will return Okinawa to Japan. We will return Pearl Harbor to the people of Hawai'i. We will divest and boycott Israel and insist on legal proceedings by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and atrocities against Palestinians.
We will release all of those uncharged and unjustly held for 13 years at Guantánamo for nothing more serious than being in the wrong place at the wrong time or having the wrong name, and many of them tortured with no possible justification. Tonight I am asking Congress to provide these victims reparations to establish them in life better than when they were when they were taken to Cuba, with our sincere but always inadequate apologies for what happened to them.
As John Adams said,
"America is a friend of freedom everywhere, but a custodian only of our own."I believe in a smarter kind of American leadership. We lead
First, we stand united with people around the world who have been targeted by terrorists – from a those children at school in Pakistan who were blown up by that Hellfire Missile to the streets of Boston or Paris. We will continue to
In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for fifty years, it's time to try something new. Our shift in Cuba policy has the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere; removes a phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba; stands up for democratic values; and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people. And this year, Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo. As His Holiness, Pope Francis, has said, diplomacy is the work of "small steps." These small steps have added up to new hope for the future in Cuba.
Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we've halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material. Between now and this spring, we have a chance to negotiate a comprehensive agreement that prevents a nuclear-armed Iran; secures America and our allies –
Third, we're looking beyond the issues that have consumed us in the past to shape the coming century.
In West Africa, our troops, our scientists, our doctors, our nurses and healthcare workers are rolling back Ebola – saving countless lives and stopping the spread of disease. I couldn't be prouder of them, and I thank this Congress for your bipartisan support of their efforts. But the job is not yet done – and the world needs to use this lesson to build a more effective global effort to prevent the spread of future pandemics, invest in smart development, and eradicate extreme poverty.
In the Asia Pacific, we are modernizing alliances while making sure that other nations play by the rules – in how they trade, how they resolve maritime disputes, and how they participate in meeting common international challenges like nonproliferation and disaster relief. And no challenge – no challenge – poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.
2014 was the planet's warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn't make a trend, but this does – 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.
I've heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they're not scientists; that we don't have enough information to act. Well, I'm not a scientist, either. But you know what – I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we'll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.
That's why, over the past six years, we've done more than ever before to combat climate change, from the way we produce energy, to the way we use it. That's why we've set aside more public lands and waters than any administration in history. And that's why I will not let this Congress endanger the health of our children by turning back the clock on our efforts. I am determined to make sure American leadership drives international action. In Beijing, we made an historic announcement – the United States will double the pace at which we cut carbon pollution, and China committed, for the first time, to limiting their emissions. And because the world's two largest economies came together, other nations are now stepping up, and offering hope that, this year, the world will finally reach an agreement to protect the one planet we've got.
But to combat climate change at this point in time, after all the years of delay, will require more than cutting emissions. We will need to launch an effort to net sequester more carbon than we emit, but putting it into our soils and returning American soils to some of the most fertile on the planet.
There's one last pillar to our leadership – and that's the example of our values.
As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we're threatened, which is why I've prohibited torture, and worked to make sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained. It's why we speak out against the deplorable anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world. It's why we continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims – the vast majority of whom share our commitment to peace. That's why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We do these things not only because they're right, but because they make us safer.
As Americans, we have a profound commitment to justice – so it makes no sense to spend three million dollars per prisoner to keep open a prison that the world condemns and terrorists use to recruit. Since I've been President, we've worked responsibly to cut the population of GTMO in half. Now it's time to finish the job. And I will not relent in my determination to shut it down and give that land back to Cuba. It's not who we are.
As Americans, we cherish our civil liberties – and we need to uphold that commitment if we want maximum cooperation from other countries and industry in our fight against terrorist networks. So while some have moved on from the debates over our surveillance programs, I haven't. As promised, our intelligence agencies have worked hard, with the recommendations of privacy advocates, to increase transparency and build more safeguards against potential abuse. And next month, we'll issue a report on how we're keeping our promise to keep our country safe while strengthening privacy.
Looking to the future instead of the past. Making sure we match our power with diplomacy, and use force wisely. Building coalitions to meet new challenges and opportunities. Leading – always – with the example of our values. That's what makes us exceptional. That's what keeps us strong. And that's why we must keep striving to hold ourselves to the highest of standards – our own.
So I know the good, and optimistic, and big-hearted generosity of the American people who, every day, live the idea that we are our brother's keeper, and our sister's keeper. And I know they expect those of us who serve here to set a better example.
So the question for those of us here tonight is how we, all of us, can better reflect America's hopes. I've served in Congress with many of you. I know many of you well. There are a lot of good people here, on both sides of the aisle. And many of you have told me that this isn't what you signed up for – arguing past each other on cable shows, the constant fundraising, always looking over your shoulder at how the base will react to every decision.
Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. Imagine if we did something different.
Understand – a better politics isn't one where Democrats abandon their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine.
A better politics is one where we appeal to each other's basic decency instead of our basest fears.
A better politics is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues, and values, and principles, and facts, rather than "gotcha" moments, or trivial gaffes, or fake controversies that have nothing to do with people's daily lives.
A better politics is one where we spend less time drowning in dark money for ads that pull us into the gutter, and spend more time lifting young people up, with a sense of purpose and possibility, and asking them to join in the great mission of building America.
If we're going to have arguments, let's have arguments – but let's make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country.
We still may not agree on a woman's right to choose, but surely we can agree it's a good thing that teen pregnancies and abortions are nearing all-time lows, and that every woman should have access to the health care she needs.
Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is snatched from her child, and that it's possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.
We may go at it in campaign season, but surely we can agree that the right to vote is sacred; that it's being denied to too many; and that, on this 50th anniversary of the great march from Selma to Montgomery and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we can come together, Democrats and Republicans, to make voting easier for every single American.
We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son can't walk home without being harassed. Surely we can understand the wife who won't rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift. Surely we can agree it's a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America's criminal justice system so that it protects and serves all of us. Am I right, Shirley?
That's a better politics. That's how we start rebuilding trust. That's how we move this country forward. That's what the American people want. That's what they deserve.
I have no more campaigns to run. (applause) My only agenda (laughter) -- I know becuase I won both of them (applause). My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I've had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol – to do what I believe is best for America. If you share the broad vision I outlined tonight, join me in the work at hand. If you disagree with parts of it, I hope you'll at least work with me where you do agree. And I commit to every Republican here tonight that I will not only seek out your ideas, I will seek to work with you to make this country stronger.
Because I want this chamber, I want this city, to reflect the truth – that for all our blind spots and shortcomings, we are a people with the strength and generosity of spirit to bridge divides, to unite in common effort, to help our neighbors, whether down the street or on the other side of the world.
I want our actions to tell every child, in every neighborhood: your life matters, and we are as committed to improving your life chances as we are
I want future generations to know that we are a people who see our differences as a great gift, that we are a people who value the dignity and worth of every citizen – man and woman, young and old, black and white, Latino, Asian, immigrant, Native American, gay, straight, Americans with mental illness or physical disability. Everybody matters.
I want them to grow up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true: that we are still more than a collection of red states and blue states; that we are the United States of America.
"It is amazing what you can bounce back from when you have to...we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times."
My fellow Americans, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We, too, have made it through some hard times. Fifteen years into this new century, we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun again the work of remaking America. We've laid a new foundation. A brighter future is ours to write. Let's begin this new chapter – together – and let's start the work right now.
Thank you, God bless you. God bless this country we love. Thank you. (Applause)


text:
The quiet release in February of the Preliminary Mayor's Management Report for FY 2010 -- a mandated report intended as a mid-year review and adjustment of mayoral budget plans -- comes amid increasing questions about how the Bloomberg administration manages data and addresses major social and economic crises. Rather than inform that debate, the new report simply ignores it. As a result, controversies surrounding school test scores, the rapid expansion of charter schools, and the role of parents in the schools are not addressed. Nor do we learn how the city might meet economic and social emergencies, such as the doubling of the unemployment rate in one year, to more than 10 percent, and a big escalation in homelessness.
The lack of substance in the management report is not a surprise since the mayor proposed -- unsuccessfully -- to eliminate the preliminary management report during the last mayoral charter revision commission in 2004-2005. Since that defeat the report has become an unfocused collection of old indicators, new indicators -- most of which serve to put the administration in a favorable light -- and random one-line "highlights."
The Department of Education
For instance, in the mayor's top priority area, education, the report provides little sense of how the department manages programs and does almost nothing to hold the department accountable. Of 64 academic performance statistics, only 17 have actual data for the first four months of this fiscal year. Only 21 set targets for the current fiscal year. Of 21 "critical" statistics among the 64, only one provides actual data for the current year, and only three offer a target for the year.
The first four months of this school year have seen repeated parent objections to school closings, lack of parental access to school decision-making and the placements of charter schools in public schools, but the management report gives no indication of any of that. All the reader learns about parent participation is that the school system received nearly 119,000 calls on the 311 system. The two most frequent questions (38 percent) were about the school calendar and finding a school.
Also, we learn that phone calls to school parent coordinators increased by 37 percent. The latter fact could have some value as a management indicator: Why the dramatic increase in calls? What happened as a result? No answer.
The report's education section blends questionable state test data and in-house school-grading standards. For more than a year, articles in the New York Times and the Daily News have challenged the accuracy of state math and reading test scores as well as the city Department of Education's own method of grading schools. The report simply ignores these questions and makes the presumed success of schools on their Progress Reports (or school report cards, a "critical indicator" crafted by the department) the first "Performance Highlight": 92 percent of schools received grades of A or B. The reason? "Significant increases" in test scores. The management report stresses the test scores even though education department officials have said they expect to change the system.
One useful education indicator in the report is class size -- key for many reformers -- where actual data exists for the current fiscal year. But here, too, the facts don't lead to any useful comment about management. Since fiscal year 2007 class size in the crucial grades kindergarten through three has gone up an average of one student per class , although the department's budget during that time has risen from $15.8 billion to $18.4 billion (and by $536 million in the past year).
Acknowledging the increase, the management report explains cryptically: "With school budgets decreasing this year while teacher salaries increased, DOE has managed to avoid massive increases in class size by working with schools to avoid cuts to classroom staff where possible."
That's it for analysis on class size. There is no word at all about another controversial topic: charter schools. With 99 charter schools currently in place and 100 more proposed by the mayor, the lack of any mention of them, let alone data on achievement and enrollment, is bizarre. Similarly, the report says nothing about another innovation, the creation of new small public schools.
Homeless Services
The first "Performance Highlight" in the Department of Homeless Services section of the Preliminary Mayor's Management Report, like that in the education section, shows a 90 plus percent success: Some 94.3 percent of families with children who received preventive services in the first four months of the fiscal year 2010 did not enter the shelter system, an improvement over the previous year (92.6 percent).
But there is no reference to how many families received such aid. It is only in the third "highlight" that the report cites a 25 percent increase in the number of families with children entering shelter in those same four months. And one must turn two pages to an indicator table to find that the total number of entering families is 5,674, or 1,124 more than in the previous year. That same table shows a 34 percent increase (not addressed in the text) in families with children entering shelters in the previous full fiscal year (i.e., from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009).
How is the city responding to this extraordinary influx over the last year and a half? And why has homelessness increased so sharply when the administration undertook programs aiming at a substantial reduction in homeless families? No answers. All we learn is that the city is using federal money "to expand prevention and anti-eviction services in the community."
The report provides no indicators or comments about those who actually provide help to families and single adults in 201 privately run and 11 city-run shelters. The private agencies will spend over $700 million, or about 78 percent, of the department's $915 million budget this fiscal year. But because reporting about contract agencies is handled by another mayoral agency, the Mayor's Office of Contract Services, the management report does not address the delivery of these services.
Human-Services Management
Details about nonprofit contracting, including management indicators such as performance ratings were, under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, included in preliminary and final management reports. Now, the mayor's contract office publishes only a single report every September, entitled Agency Procurement Indicators, which, like the management reports, is more a jumble of data than a management review.
It is the contracts office, rather than the city agencies, that monitors human services contract agencies. This is a huge assignment.
The most recent contracts report, issued in September 2009 notes that in fiscal 2009 the city worked with 1,463 nonprofit human services providers, representing $10.8 billion in contracts. Typical of the report's style, the only references to homeless services (whose $600 million in contracts last year made it the ninth biggest contract agency) are simple program descriptions of two small contracts in Brooklyn.
Less than two pages of the September report are devoted to non-profit human services "vendor compliance." The report notes, "While these vendors generally work tirelessly and effectively on behalf of New Yorkers in need, there are infrequent -- but serious -- cases of abuse that shake the public's confidence in the integrity of the nonprofit sector." In addition, some contract agencies "experience significant fiscal management challenges." The report does not offer any information on who those agencies might be or what challenges they might face.
As a result, eight years into its tenure, the Bloomberg administration has created what it calls "a relatively new addition to [its] vendor responsibility reviews," a Capacity Building and Oversight initiative. Of the 1,463 nonprofit human services providers, 673 (with 4,390 contracts) have contracts worth over a million dollars, the basic threshold for scrutiny by the initiative.
Apparently Capacity Building and Oversight does not yet have any results to share with the public. But the contracts report promises us, "About 98 percent of the total dollar volume" of human service contracting will ultimately be covered by this new review process.
Economic Development
The preliminary management report gives even shorter shrift to economic development, a key policy area. In its two pages the report on the city's Economic Development Corp.has only one reference to job loss in the city.
It appears as the last of six "Preliminary Performance Highlights": The unemployment rate in the first four months of this fiscal year was 10.1 percent, up from 5.9 percent during the same period a year ago.
The one-sentence response to this disturbing statistic: "The increase is principally the result of the large job losses associated with the recession that began in August 2008."
The highlights section does not discuss what the city can or might do about alleviating the unemployment problem. But it does include a 90 plus percent performance statistic: As of Oct. 31, 2009, nearly 92 percent of all property managed by the Economic Development Corp. was occupied.
The one big political battle that the Economic Development Corp. was engaged in this fiscal year, the plan to develop the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, gets no mention. That plan, which promised the creation of 2,000 jobs, foundered on the mayor's refusal to accept a requirement that all companies in the projects pay their employeees a living wage -- $10 an hour with benefits, $11.50 an hour without benefits.
The contracting office's September report puts the mayor's decision on the armory contract in an interesting context. The city has 176 contracts, worth $134 million, that the contracts office monitors to assure compliance with the city's own living wage law. These contracts apply to such services as day care, home care, Head Start, and food services -- but not to retail jobs in the Bronx.
But the management report is not about political controversy. Nor is it about management accountability. It has become a reluctant, bureaucratic exercise that avoids policy and political discussion.
If it has any coherent goal, it seems to be a search for, or creation of, positive indicators that show 90 plus percent performance success. The creation of a new charter revision commission, in theory, would be a welcome opportunity to review the current city charter mandate for management review. But there is a near-zero percent chance, given the administration's lack of interest in any public discussion of its management practices, that such a review will take place.
Glenn Pasanen, who teaches political science at Lehman College, has been in charge of Gotham Gazette's finance topic page since 2001.