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Behind The Scenes of The ISS Photosynths
[Last week's launch of the new International Space Station (ISS) Photosynths was the result of 18 months of dedicated work by a great team of people across the Agency and at Microsoft. Having played a role in facilitating the collaboration, I thought I'd invite some of the team members here on my blog to share their personal recollections of how it all came together. The project serves as a good example of how NASA succesfully collaborates with private industry to innovate ways of bringing space exploration to the public. Reading through the coverage on some of the tech blogs here in New Media Valley, there seems to be a healthy appetite for more innovation in this space (e.g. TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo). Adam Sheppard, whom I first met back in 2006 when he was working with the Photosynth Team at Microsoft Live Labs, offered to start off by sharing his experiences working with NASA on this project.]
By Adam Sheppard
In October 2006 I was sitting in my office at Microsoft trawling through a backlog of email and voice messages. It had been a busy couple of months leading up to the Technology Preview of Photosynth at San Francisco's Web 2.0. We'd brought the house down with our on stage demonstration of Photosynth's ability to take a large number of digital images and automatically assemble them into a high resolution, 3D environment that anyone could explore at home from within their web browser.
Around the same time, Chris Kemp (Currently CIO at NASA Ames) had just joined the Agency and was leading their business development efforts to seek out new and emerging technologies coming out of the private sector that could help NASA's mission. He had seen the Photosynth demo and was eager to learn more about what he'd seen. He was full of ideas and saw the potential for Photosynth to bring the public closer to the space program than they had ever been before. They could follow in the tracks of the Mars Rovers, see every nut and bolt of a shuttle on the launch pad and experience first hand life onboard the International Space Station (ISS). At Microsoft Live Labs we were bringing some of the top computer scientists in the world together with talented engineers to explore new ground on the web. We couldn't have asked for a more kindred spirit than the men and women of NASA who, through their own genius and engineering skills, were exploring our universe for the benefit of mankind.
Throughout 2007 we began planning and experimenting with images provided by NASA. Together with Microsoft Researcher Drew Steedly (one of our lead scientists on Photosynth) we visited Kennedy Space Center as preparations were underway for Shuttle Endeavor STS-118's mission to the ISS. Chris had arranged unprecedented access to for us to photograph and document the Shuttle as tiles were being replaced, in the Vehicle Assembly Building, and on the launch pad itself. We were really eager to get some aerial shots of the shuttle awaiting launch, and Drew was lucky enough to sit with a SWAT team in one of those 'Men In Black' NASA helicopters as they flew a security fly-by around the shuttle on the pad, producing some amazing 360 degree shots we would later include in the synth. (video)
For the launch itself, we sat with the families of the astronauts, and one couldn't help but remember the footage of the Apollo missions with people watching from the same bleachers as their loved ones journeyed to the Moon. A few days later, back in Seattle, we were proudly sharing our unique stories with our colleagues, when a call came in that had us jump into action. Since the Columbia tragedy occurred three years prior, many new safety procedures were instituted to help ensure the safety of the crew. One such measure was the detailed inspection of the underside of the shuttle from the ISS using both photography and a laser scan to assess any potential damage. Some damaged tiles had been found on Endeavour while in orbit and NASA was scrambling to make a decision on whether they should attempt a repair. During our previous discussions with NASA engineers, the idea of using Photosynth for safety procedures had been discussed and this was the perfect test case for us. Each tile is unique, carefully cut and individually serial numbered before being adhered by hand to the underside of the vehicle. Typically a specialist would have to trawl through thousands of close up images, cross-referencing against plans to visualize where on the shuttle the particular tile was. To help the specialists, we took all the images downlinked from the ISS while it was still in orbit, and used Photosynth to reconstruct the bottom of the shuttle, automatically placing the images together. We were all amazed at the results as we zoomed into the damaged tile. And while the decision had already been made to proceed without a repair, the value of this new technology had certainly been demonstrated.
Shortly afterwards I found myself at NASA headquarters in Washington DC demonstrating the synths to the Associate Administrator for Space Operations, William H. Gerstenmaier. He immediately saw the potential to share life onboard the ISS using Photosynth, and we soon found ourselves on our way to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to help train the astronaut on creating a full-size synth of the International Space Station. (video)
As we worked with the astronaut trainers, we soon realized that there were some unique challenges to consider in zero gravity. For example, Photosynth makes some assumptions on which way is 'up', but when you're floating in space there is no 'up'. With barely enough room to stand up, and every available space full of equipment, we also had to consider what technique would best capture both the panoramic views and detail shots that would lead to a successful synth. Towards the end of the day we got to meet some of the astronauts being trained on emergency procedures on a life-sized mockup of the Shuttle and finally had the chance to sit in a real Russian Soyuz capsule also used for training.
Needless to say it was my life long dream to be crawling through a space station and meeting the men and women who work tirelessly behind the scenes at NASA.
I personally moved on to other projects mid 2008, just when the flight plan for the new ISS Photosynths was coming together. All I can say is the resulting synths have turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I'm delighted to think that somewhere there's a child exploring them right now who will one day walk on the surface of the Moon or even Mars.
Introduction: Redux
Openness and Innovation – We vs. I
You probably sensed a lot of "passion" in my first post, and this is exactly what makes NASA so cool. It's what we all share for what we are doing here at NASA — it's what brought me here and why this is a great time to be at NASA, at Ames and in Silicon Valley and to be part of this incredible team of people. There has been a lot of discussion about the role of the team (We) versus the role of the individual (I) and what a Blog is, and how it relates to Center and Agency policy. Perspectives shared on a personal blogs by a public officials raise many questions for bureaucracies designed for consensus-based decision making and diffused responsibility. When a public official says something on a blog, does this reflect public policy, or the opinion of the public official? This topic deserves much more time and space, but others have been thinking about the issues presented by blogging, including David Wyld at the IBM Center for The Business of Government at SLU, who recently published The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0. What I will add to the conversation today is that one individual in an any large organization will not accomplish anything significant. Teams can make significant things happen.
Standing On the Shoulders of Giants
I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to NASA. For me to even be able to talk about a personal vision for NASA's future on the web would not have been possible without the passion and dedication of several generations of my colleagues, both here at NASA Ames and at our other NASA centers around the country. I'd like to acknowledge a couple comments from my colleagues. One was from Brian Dunbar, NASA's Web Manager in Washington D.C. Another was from George Alger, who managed the people that now comprise most of the IT organization at Ames. Both have dedicated their careers to NASA and have built great teams and solid infrastructures. Brian and his team brought www.nasa.gov from this to this since 2003. George and his team built a solid infrastructure at Ames that was ahead of its time (in fact, the logical zoned network architecture George built at Ames five years ago is the "to be" state for the rest of the Agency over the next five years). The comments from George, who retired last year, and from Brian at NASA Headquarters remind me of how fortunate we are at NASA to have a culture that welcomes new ideas and diversity. I can assure you that Pete Worden and the leadership here at Ames have fostered this environment.
Collaboration with Microsoft and Concerns about Open Standards
While much of NASA's data is technically available to the public, in many cases it's far less accessible than it could be. Making NASA content accessible in platforms like Microsoft World Wide Telescope and Google Earth make content far more accessible to a much greater audience of people. It should be noted that all of the data will be accessible through open, public APIs, and in both of these examples Microsoft and Google have reimbursed NASA for the time and resources spent translating and hosting the data for their platforms.
Closing Thoughts
To be clear: the primary purpose of this blog is to share information, ideas and have a conversation that will lead to better and more informed decisions as we forge ahead into this new era of government in the age of web 2.0. In its charter, the Space Act of 1958, NASA is required to make its data available to the public to the greatest extent possible.
Why Make A Universe of Data Available To The Public?
In 1969, America watched on television as NASA landed on the Moon. In 1997, America downloaded "live" images of Mars on the Internet. Ten years from now, how will America experience and participate in the new era of space exploration? How will NASA leverage zettabytes of data to the benefit of humanity?
This is the intro of a white paper I am currently working on. In this white paper I am taking a look at NASA's current external facing web presence, and with an outlook of what space exploration and the web might look like 10 years from now, describe how I think NASA should re-architect itself in order to fully leverage the web as platform and take the lead in open, transparent and participatory space exploration and government (previous post).
I am reminded again of this intro while reading our announcement today – we're teaming up with Microsoft to make a universe of data available to the public.
A little over 2 years ago, in my previous role as strategic business development lead here at NASA Ames, I negotiated the NASA Google collaboration. At the time, I aspired it to be the first in a series of Space Act Agreements NASA would sign with companies that share my vision to make NASA's data – and America's investment in space exploration – more accessible to the world on the Internet. Having since moved on to become the NASA Ames Chief Information Officer, today's announcement of our collaboration with Microsoft – which we worked on for over 18 months – signifies another exciting step in this direction.
Moving towards a web of data
Working with partners such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco to share our data with the world is part of a larger strategy that ties in with the next evolutionary phase of the web as we move from a web of linked documents to a web of linked data. These last few weeks I have been excited to read about our new Federal CIO Vivek Kundra and his plans to establish Data.gov to provide the public with access to all federal information that is not private or restricted for national security reasons. As I said two years ago, NASA has gathered more data about the solar system than any other agency in the world, and I look forward to working with Vivek and our team at NASA to increase the public accessibility of this data.
Developing a new space data architecture
Our agreement with Microsoft is unique in the sense that we will host the NASA data here at NASA Ames (over 100 terabytes) and serve it on the web through the WorldWide Telescope (WWT) platform. In a sense, we are using the context rich environment of WWT through our partnership with Microsoft to provide our audience a window into the universe of data we have gathered and continue to gather with our satellites and telescopes.
This data will be hosted on a new cloud platform built on open source technology that was specifically designed to host vast quantities of scientific data. The platform will enable scientists to build applications on a common, secure framework. Several new pilot projects built on this platform will be coming out in the weeks and months ahead, so stay tuned…
And in honor of the recent successful launch of the NASA Kepler mission, let me leave you with this intruiging thought I recently came across in this article:
The night sky is essentially a database, crammed with information in the form of electromagnetic radiation, known more generically as light.
Lets Start A Conversation About NASA's Future On The Web
Inspired by President Obama's recent call to Bring Government into the 21st Century:
Bring Government into the 21st Century: Use technology to reform government and improve the exchange of information between the federal government and citizens while ensuring the security of our networks. Appoint the nation's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure the safety of our networks and lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices. http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/technology
…and his memorandum stating his objectives for Transparency and Open Government:
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government. www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment
…I figured it was time to start a new blog and a conversation about NASA's future on the Web.
Let me start with a brief introduction of myself. I am the Chief Information Officer at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Being the CIO of a NASA field center means I am responsible for most of the IT infrastructure (networks, datacenters, systems, etc.) here at NASA Ames, and several NASA-wide services, including the NASA Security Operations Center. Before becoming CIO in 2007, I lead the strategic business development office at Ames where we forged several innovative new partnerships for the Agency (for example with Google, which made it to the news here and there). Prior to joining NASA, I helped create a number of cool businesses including Classmates.com and Escapia. I am 31 years old, and am the youngest member of the Senior Executive Service.
What do I plan to talk about?
I will talk about NASA as an agency with its own set of challenges and opportunities. I will talk about the "cloud", and how NASA is pioneering Federal Cloud Services. I will talk about tools. Like this blogging webapp that powers blogs.nasa.gov and that I use to write these blog posts online.
I will talk about the web as a platform… and how NASA will use this platform to share our data with the world.
I will talk about Silicon Valley… about new partnerships that we are forging here. I'll give you my thoughts on how we are teaming up with some of the larger companies here in the Valley to syndicate one of NASA's greatest resources, our scientific data and our out-of-this-world images and videos. I'll talk about government policy, how it effects NASA, and discuss ways NASA as an agency can become more transparent by adopting new policies or revising existing ones.
I will talk about NASA Ames because there are a lot of great developments going on here, some of which we are executing as pilot projects for the entire Agency, and perhaps soon the entire Government.
Many interesting developments are going on all around the world, in many different disciplines, and it is by leveraging and correlating these at NASA that we will succeed in weaving NASA and space into the web and securing space and NASA as an instrinsic part of humankind's scientific and cultural exploration of the 21st century. A quick example in case here: While NASA is actively engaged in testing the first deep space communications network modeled on the Internet, Google's Chief Technology Advocate Michael T. Jones at the recent AGU meeting in San Francisco advocates new models for sharing scientific data.
Moving forward, as more of us join the conversation here on blogs.nasa.gov, I can see a platform emerge where our relationship with the American public, our (potential) global audience of 1 billion connected people and counting, and our constituencies (scientists, engineers, enthusiasts) will become a collaborative one.
My vision for NASA's future on the web is that of an open platform. A platform to share and host data, a platform that will leverage our data in new ways, for developers around the world to tap into our datasets, for the public to learn about NASA, and for scientists to collaborate. By opening this personal voice, I look forward to contribute my enthusiasm to this endeavour.
If you are interested in following this blog make sure to subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking the little gray RSS icon hiding on the top right of this post.


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
The rich and famous from around the world arrived in Jerusalem this week for President Shimon Peres' 90th birthday bash, and American-Jewish superstar Barbra Streisand stole the show.
Streisand sang a powerful rendition of the traditional Jewish prayer Avinu Malkeinu—Our Father, Our King, which she said reflected the hope she has "for this country [and] for the world."
Streisand was also given an honorary doctorate at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she donated a building in the name of her father in 1984, the last time she visited the country. "I wish the world were more like the hallways of the Hebrew University," she said. "Jews and Arabs, Christians and Muslims…sit together in classes and dream together of a good and meaningful life."
Other celebrities attending the gala event included actors Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone.
Asked about peace in the region, Stone said: "Israelis and Palestinians are already living together. It's like any marriage, you can decide if you want a good one or a bad one."
Political luminaries included former British and American leaders Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.
The gathering was seen as yet another major blow to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that works hard to get prominent public figures to shun the Jewish state. BDS activists hope that by isolating Israel, they can force her to capitulate to Arab demands.
A day after the birthday event, the international dignitaries joined thousands from around the world attending the annual Israel President's Conference, also known as "Facing Tomorrow."
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|Winnebago County Sheriff's PoliceNews Media Release
|News Release Number2012-018
|Information: Burglary Arrests
|Date: July 18, 2012
|Time: 10:30a.m.
|Page of 1
On Tuesday July 17, 2012 at approximately 11:57P.M. Winnebago County Sheriff's Police patrol deputies were sent to Pomps Tire, 7745 Burden Rd Machesney Park Illinois, in regards to a burglar alarm. Deputies arrived in the area quickly and observed a van leaving the area, occupied by two males. This van was stopped and the occupants identified as Michael S. Smallwood (DOB 11-30-78/33yrs) and Dustin J. Milvert (DOB 2-20-95/17yrs). Both men live in Machesney Park. Investigation at Pomps Tire revealed that entry had been gained by cutting through a garage door with tools. Further investigation by Sheriff's deputies and detectives linked the men to the burglary at Pomps Tire and they were both subsequently charged with burglary and lodged in the Winnebago County Jail. The charge against both men is merely an accusation. They are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Numerous burglaries of similar nature have also been reported to the Rockford Police Department and the Loves Park Police Department and detectives from both agencies are working with Sheriff's detectives on follow-up.


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Let's Discuss Your Ideas! You're just a call or click away from your free consultation!
First American Roofing: "We're Roofing Oklahoma!"
First American Roofing is a locally owned and operated, licensed bonded and insured full service roofing company. We offer a full line of roofing products, both ideal for Residential and Commercial roofing in OKC. We also are helping homeowners make the right roofing product decisions including options for Green Products and Storm Safe Roofing Systems.
As a top roofing contractor in Oklahoma City, First American Roofing is Oklahoma's premiere roofing contractor for Shingle Roof, Metal Roof, and Wood Shake! We serve our customers by providing Insurance Claims Assistance, Free Roof inspections, Free Estimates, Roofing, Siding, Gutters, Patios and Carports, plus 24 Hour Roof Repair!


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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the publication of a final rule to clarify the application of the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to federal government workers.
"These changes to the Commission's regulations will promote consistent enforcement of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990," said EEOC Chair Cari M. Dominguez. "They will also promote the goal of increasing the employment of individuals with disabilities in the federal government and ensure that the federal government continues to serve as a model employer of individuals with disabilities."
When Title I of the ADA (employment provisions) was enacted, some of the legal requirements of the ADA differed from the Rehabilitation Act, even though the two laws shared the same purpose: ending employment discrimination based on disability. Congress subsequently amended the Rehabilitation Act, applying the ADA standards to federal employment.
This final rule implements the amendments to section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act and updates the EEOC's Rehabilitation Act regulation in 29 C.F.R. § 1614.203. Final rule highlights include:
The application of the ADA's nondiscrimination standards has no impact on federal affirmative action obligations or programs.
EEOC published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the amendments to its old section 501 regulation in the Federal Register on March 1, 2000. The Commission subsequently received 15 comments. They included comments from federal agencies, federal unions, advocacy groups representing persons with disabilities, one from a group representing employment attorneys and one from a state agency. After careful consideration of the comments, EEOC approved the revised final rule in accordance with the federal rulemaking process.
The text of the final rule and other information about the EEOC is available on the agency's web site at www.eeoc.gov. In addition to enforcing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973's prohibitions against disability discrimination in the federal government, the EEOC enforces the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employment discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Equal Pay Act; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
This page was last modified on May 21, 2002.
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Seattle Public Schools hourly facility uses, Parks Department uses and uses under inter agency joint use agreements in operating schools are processed through online schedules. Procedures for hourly space rentals are described below under this Hourly Building Rental Section. Contact email@example.com or 206-252-0640 for questions about hourly facility use.
All facility use is cancelled when the facility/building is closed due to an emergency and/or inclement weather.
The Calendar requesting use of SPS facilities is open for the current 2018-2019 school year. Expect a minimum of 15 working days to process an online schedule requesting use of a facility. Some schools may take longer granting scheduling authorization while establishing their individual program needs for the new year.
use of SPS facilities (buildings and grounds) must be authorized at the
school level and availability confirmed at the school level prior to
submitting an online schedule.
We only accept Checks or Money Orders. We do NOT accept cash or credit cards.
Upon receipt of an approved online schedule, the Building Rental Coordinator will review the schedule to ensure that the request is in compliance with School Board policies. When all the following requirements are met, the online schedule will be activated and an email notice sent to the contact person on the schedule. Use of the facility is not authorized until the online schedule has been changed to "Activated".
Community Nights in School Libraries Program
Low Cost Meeting Space For Community Groups and Organizations
(this option is not available for commercial or business organizations)
Seattle Public Schools and the City of Seattle have partnered to provide a program that offers inexpensive meeting space for community groups and nonprofit organizations. If you are a participant in the Community Nights Program, please follow directions below on how "to submit a building rentals reservation request as a Community User (Non-District, outside groups only)." When creating your User profile, please make sure under Organizations you select Group 1c - Community Nights. Open this PDF for more information on this program.
To submit a building rentals reservations request as a community user (non-district, outside groups only):
It is very important to read the information regarding building rentals prior to submitting an online schedule requesting use of Seattle Public Schools property.
Attention: Community Users of Seattle Public School Facilities
As you may be aware, Seattle Public Schools requires insurance for use of its facilities by other than Seattle Public Schools staff and events. Proof of insurance is required to register to use facilities in the Community Use section of the Building Rental User Profile. If your group does not have its own liability insurance policy that meets Seattle Public Schools' requirements, you may purchase coverage for your event(s) through a program called the Tenant Users Liability Insurance Program (TULIP). For more information on this program, find out HERE.
How to update insurance information on a submitted schedule or an organization's profile in SchoolDude
Send a PDF of the insurance certificate to email@example.com showing
Seattle Public Schools as the additional insured as follows:
Seattle Public Schools
Building Rentals MS: 23-311
PO Box 34165
Seattle WA 98124-1165
Provide the FS Schedule ID No. if a schedule was submitted in SchoolDude without attaching an updated insurance certificate to the schedule.
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Southern electric traction
Subjects covered in this gallery will be the plethora of multiple units - EMU's - from pre-war images through to the 1970's with a number in colour including the 5-BEL sets. Thre are also shots of Bulleid's three lectric locomotives 20001 thru' 20003 and EMU's that subequently entered service stock. Sadly, at the time of writing, there are no shots of the LBSCR overhead system as yet. One lives in hope ..........Read More
I'm always on the qui vive for more material to augment this part of my collection.
Please contact me via the Add comment button at the bottom of the image page if you have anything available.


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Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies are back in a familiar place — No. 1 in the poll.
Connecticut received all 36 votes Friday in The Associated Press' women's basketball poll marking the ninth time that the Huskies are the top team in the preseason. Five of those years UConn went on to win the national championship.
"I don't know that being preseason No. 1 necessarily gets you anything except some attention," Auriemma said. "But it's always nice when people want to talk about your players and program. We like that feeling."
UConn has most of its team back from last season's national championship run led by sophomore sensation Breanna Stewart, who won most outstanding player of the Final Four honors in April.
Connecticut, which also was the preseason No. 1 in 1995, '99, 2000, '01, '03, '08, '09, and '10 opens Nov. 9 against Hartford before facing No. 3 Stanford two days later. The Huskies only trail Tennessee's 12 appearances at No. 1 in the preseason poll.
Duke was second in the poll — it's best ranking since the Blue Devils finished at No. 1 in the final poll of 2007. They haven't been this highly ranked in the preseason since it was No. 1 in the 2005 opening poll.
The Blue Devils are led by talented guard Chelsea Grey, who is working her way back from a dislocated kneecap in February that ended her season.
Stanford, led by senior Chiney Ogwumike, was third followed by Tennessee.
Holly Warlick has the Lady Vols back in their customary spot in the Top 10 in the preseason. Last year they were picked 20th in the first poll — their lowest preseason ranking since they missed the first poll ever in 1976-77. Tennessee had only been out of the Top 10 in the preseason one other time and that was in 1984-85.
Louisville matched its best ranking ever at No. 5. The Cardinals, who were also No. 5 in 2009, return four starters from last season's team that shocked the women's basketball landscape by knocking off Baylor in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals before falling to UConn in the title game.
"I've never been one that's been about where you start, I'm more concerned where we finish," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. "It's an honor and shows what we've been able to do here in our six years. I think we've laid a very good foundation and we're not just a team that's had one good year, we're a program. We're a program that's here to stay and compete for years to come."
The Cardinals will play one season in the new American Athletic Conference before bolting to the ACC next season. Their former Big East foe Notre Dame was sixth in the poll. The Irish made the move to the ACC this season.
Kentucky, Maryland, California and Baylor rounded out the first 10. The Lady Bears were No. 1 the preseason the last two years. Baylor wasn't picked to even win the Big 12 this season with star Brittney Griner and four other seniors graduating.
That honor went to Oklahoma, which is No. 11 in the poll. The Sooners are followed by North Carolina, Penn State, Dayton and LSU. Dayton, which was ranked for 18 weeks last season, makes it first appearance ever in a preseason poll. Expectations are high for the Flyers after going 28-3 last season and returning four starters.
Texas A&M, Nebraska, Purdue, Colorado and Michigan State are the next five. It's the Buffaloes' first preseason ranking in a decade.
Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Iowa State, Georgia and Gonzaga round out the poll.
The Sooners were one of five teams in the poll not ranked at the end of last season. The others were LSU, Michigan State, Oklahoma State and Gonzaga.
The SEC has six teams in the Top 25 with the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten each having four.
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Big East M5: 10.30.13 EditionPosted by George Hershey on October 30th, 2013
- Renowned college basketball stats guru Ken Pomeroy released his preseason rankings for the upcoming season. The Big East comes in as the second best conference in the nation, behind the Big Ten. This is surprising after Louisville, Syracuse, and several other quality teams left, as well as seeing ESPN writer Dan Hanner have the Big East in the middle of the pack of the power seven conferences. Pomeroy has Creighton leading the league, ranked 13th, with Georgetown right behind them at 14. Marquette and Villanova follow at 24 and 26. Pomeroy's rankings look fairly different than Hanner's, which has Marquette as the top team in the league and ranks the bottom seven teams lower giving the Big East a much lower rating. Pomeroy admits that his predictions have the "simplest algorithm possible without being a complete joke." This is not the best way to predict how well a team will play during the season, but it is fun to see what a respected statistician says about the upcoming season. The high ranking for the Big East should give fans optimism and reason to believe the Big East will compete to be one of the top conferences in the nation.
- CBS Sports writer Jeff Borzello wrote an interesting piece about the team outside his top 25 that he thinks has the most potential and St. John's was his clear cut choice. With so much talent, it is easy to see why. The Red Storm return all five starters as well as Jamal Branch and God's Gift Achiuwa, who will have major roles. He points out that the biggest addition is freshman Rysheed Jordan. Steve Lavin said "He has tremendous poise and makes good judgments on the court. He plays with a hard edge, which is an indication of his competitiveness and that's why he has had success since a young age on the court." Jordan was named Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year and his addition raises the potential even higher. Last year's team also had talent, but a lot of inexperience. This year players like D'Angelo Harrison and JaKarr Sampson will have to take a big step forward in becoming more complete and smarter basketball players. Lavin will also have to impress this year after having a reputation for being a great recruiter, but not being able to win with top talent. All the pieces are in place for this to be a big season in Queens.
- Last night, Butler scrimmaged against Nova Southeastern and won handily 101-64. Obviously it was an easy game for them, but it is still nice to see it wasn't close, as opposed to DePaul's scrimmage against Lewis University, which saw the Blue Demons trail at halftime before using an early run in the second half to win by five. Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star took a look at Butler freshman Rene Castro. Castro is a point guard who looks like he could end up being a key contributor this season and possible starter by the end of the season, as Keefer predicts. Castro has a good bit of improving to do especially on the defensive side of the ball and needs to adjust to the college game, but he has impressed and is working hard on his outside shot. First-year coach Brandon Miller could use Castro's physical abilities to bring another aspect to the team. If Castro is the real deal, he could make sophomore Kellen Dunham's life much easier by using his quickness to get into the lane and kick it out to him for three's. Castro has big goals, saying "Our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament and fight for a championship."
- The Big East is benefiting from the thrilling World Series on Fox, as Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal points out. Fox is airing several commercials publicizing the upcoming season on Fox Sports 1 and is reaching millions as game 4 on Sunday night outdrew the NFL. The commercials are pushing it's opening night games of Providence-Boston College and Lafayette-Villanova. Fox Sports also announced its lineup of announcers for the upcoming season. Besides the already announced star combo of Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery, Justin Kutcher, Dick Stockton, Thom Brennaman, Brian Anderson, Eric Collins and Kevin Kugler will have play-by-play duties and Kevin O'Neill, Gary Williams, Donny Marshall as well as several other former players and coaches will serve as analysts. FS1 has some big names announcing games with Stockton and Brennaman being well-known announcers who have plenty of experience. O'Neill and Williams should be interesting to have in the booth as they will be making their debuts, but have had great success coaching and will have interesting analysis.
- The Big East announced that it has hired Tom Jernstedt as senior adviser. He will be tasked with helping commissioner Val Ackerman on officiating, scheduling, postseason play and an entire strategic plan. Jernstedt worked for the NCAA for almost 40 years and Ackerman says that "few have as keen a grasp as he does of the intricacies of the NCAA and the college basketball world." ESPN's Dana O'Neill makes the point that the hiring is very important as it gives the Big East credibility from the start. His past experience will be key in getting the Big East through the tough early stages of establishing itself as a power conference. Their is a lot of work to be done and Ackerman will benefit from having someone who knows the ins and outs of the NCAA and the college basketball world.


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Benjamin Zander, Faculty Emeritus of the New England Conservatory College and Preparatory School, taught at New England Conservatory from 1967 to 2012. During this time, he taught the College-level Interpretation Class, conducted the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and regularly conducted the College orchestras. For twenty years he was Artistic Director of the joint program between NEC and Walnut Hill, a boarding high school for the Performing Arts in Natick, Mass.
Zander started his early musical training, in his native England, with cello and composition lessons under the guidance of his father. When he was nine, Benjamin Britten, England's leading composer, took an interest in his development and invited the family to spend three summers in Aldeburgh in Suffolk where he lived. This led to a long association with Britten and lessons in theory and composition from Britten's close associate Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav Holst.
He left school when he was fifteen, moving to Florence at the invitation of the great Spanish cello virtuoso, Gaspar Cassadó, who became his teacher and mentor for the next five years. He completed his cello training at the State Academy in Cologne, travelling extensively with Cassadó and performing recitals and chamber music.
In 1964 Benjamin Zander completed a degree at London University, winning the University College Essay Prize, and a Harkness Commonwealth Fellowship for post-graduate work at Harvard. Boston has been his home ever since.
In 1967 Zander joined the faculty of New England Conservatory. During his thirty-two year tenure as conductor of the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic, he took the orchestra on over a dozen international tours, made five commercial recordings, and several PBS documentaries.
In 1979, he became the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. In their twenty-six seasons together they have performed an extensive repertoire, with an emphasis on late romantic and early 20th century composers, especially the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. To celebrate the orchestra's 25th Anniversary in 2003-2004, the BPO completed an all-Mahler season, including a concert of Mahler's Second Symphony in Carnegie Hall.
Benjamin Zander has established an international reputation as a guest conductor. He has a unique relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. He is recording with them a series of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies for the Telarc label. Beethoven's Fifth and Seventh symphonies, and Mahler's symphonies 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 have been released thus far. Each of his recordings includes a full-length discussion disc in which he explains the music. High Fidelity named his recording of Mahler 6th as the best classical recording of 2002. His recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 was awarded the 2004 Critic's Choice by the German Record Critic's Award Association, and his recording of Mahler's Ninth Symphony was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Benjamin Zander has an extensive speaking career, traveling the world lecturing to organizations on leadership. He has appeared four times as a keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was presented with the Crystal award for "outstanding contributions in the arts and international relations." The best-selling book, The Art of Possibility, co-authored with his partner, leading psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, has been translated into sixteen languages.
Benjamin Zander was awarded the 2002 "Caring Citizen of the Humanities" Award by the International Council for Caring Communities at the United Nations.
B.A., London University; diplomas from Accademia Chigiana (Siena), and Hochschule für Musik (Köln). Cello with Gaspar Cassadó.


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Devnagari on Macintosh
On Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard, you can enable Devnagari fonts using the System>Preferences>International>Language>Edit List option.
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Growing up, Esteban Rodriguez was an active kid. He liked to skateboard and run around with friends as most kids do in sunny Southern California.
But his dad had other plans for his son, who friends and teammates call "Stevie,†and signed him up for soccer.
"I was in soccer just for fun,†the Palmdale, Calif.-native said. "When I was little I was into skating, and my dad signed me up for soccer. I wasn't very good, but when I scored my first goal it motivated me to keep going and get better and better every day.â€
Just a short couple of years after his dad signed him up, the slight midfielder found himself in love with the beautiful game.
Fast forward to 2009, when Rodriguez was playing for LAFC in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Having been exposed to better training and more competitive games within the program, he was beginning to show his potential.
"[The Development Academy] was really different. It was tough. There were a lot of good players and all the games were really hard. It made me more alert, more focused,†he said.
U.S. Soccer scouts had been keeping a keen eye on Rodriguez, and he was chosen to play in a Select Team game at the 2009 Academy Winter Showcase. Select Teams are chosen by U.S. Soccer Technical Advisors and the national scouting network, and are made up of the best players in the Academy program.
In that game, Rodriguez shone.
Weeks later, he moved across the country to Bradenton, Fla., after accepting his call to the U.S. Soccer Under-17 Residency Program.
A year and a half after beginning his journey with the U-17 MNT, Rodriguez now finds himself in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Rodriguez scored in the 50th minute to help the USA to a 3-1 victory against Cuba in their first game of the tournament and the team is now looking forward to their next match against Panama. With four teams from this event qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, he understands both the responsibility and sense of pride that comes with wearing the U.S. uniform.
"It feels good,†Rodriguez said. "I'm proud to represent my country. I get nervous about representing a lot of people but it's great. It's a dream come true. I wasn't even thinking I'd have a chance to make this team in the first place. Hard work pays off and I'm so glad to be here.â€
This year could be an important one in Rodriguez's career if he and his teammates accomplish what they out to do: earn a place at the World Cup. If the past is any indication of what's to come, the future is bright for Rodriquez and his teammates.


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Bulletin Issues
Current Issue
Past issues of the Bulletin are available here, or through the ASIS&T Digital Library.
Bulletin, February/March 2012
Inside ASIS&T
75 Years of Leadership in Information Science
ASIS&T to Celebrate Significant Anniversary at Annual Meeting
When the ASIS&T Annual Meeting convenes in Baltimore, October 26-31, members new and old will celebrate and reflect upon 75 years of leadership in the time we now know as the information age. From its humble beginnings as the American Documentation Institute, founded by Watson Davis and a cadre of other documentalists, to its current status representing information professionals in practice, research, academia and policy making, the American Society for Information Science and Technology has helped forge the path that puts information and its technology at the front of every discussion of 21st century life.
To address the history that began with the idea of acquiring and indexing the knowledge of the world and has continued through our current search for new and better theories, techniques and technologies to improve access to information, the 75th Annual Meeting of ASIS&T will consider Information, Interaction, Innovation: Celebrating the Past, Constructing the Present, and Creating the Future, embracing the anniversary while encompassing the different threads the Society brings together in information science.
The technical program will feature panels, papers, posters, workshops and tutorials evaluated through three reviewing tracks, each with its own team of co-chairs and reviewers. The three tracks are Information, Interaction and Innovation.
Conference chairs for the 75th anniversary Annual Meeting are Crystal Fulton, Julie Hersberger and Shanju Chang.
In addition to the technical program, special events will be planned in celebration of the anniversary, honoring many of the people and activities that have made ASIS&T great. Among the events is a pre-conference seminar focusing on the history of both ASIS&T and the field that it leads (see next article in Inside ASIS&T).
AM 2012 Pre-Conference
History of ASIS&T and Information Science and Technology
The 75th Anniversary Task Force of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) will kick off the Annual Meeting anniversary celebration in Baltimore with a pre-conference exploring the 75-year history of ASIS&T and the longer history of information science and technology worldwide.
The organizing group is currently accepting proposals for papers, as well as alternative presentations, such as videos, posters, exhibits and demonstrations of historical technologies. All proposals will be refereed by a panel of experts, and all accepted papers will be published as a web-based publication prior to the conference. Submissions by students and authors outside the United States are particularly encouraged.
Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The development of ASIS&T and its predecessors as a professional organization and scholarly society in context with its times, relationships with competing or affiliated organizations, major contributions and influences on the study of information science worldwide, forces shaping the research agenda and scope of the field, roles and contributions of specific individuals or groups within and outside of ASIST, and related issues;
- The development of the foundational ideas and theories of information science and, in its earlier form, documentation;
- The evolution of the multifaceted and multiple-named field referred to as information science with a focus on what the past says about the future of information science research and development;
- The historical contexts of major technological innovations and the impacts they have had on societies, organizations, governments or individuals worldwide.
- The role of government (nationally or internationally) in influencing the development of information science and technology, with particular attention to the support of research and development of information policies;
- The development of information science education and its relationships with other fields of study.
For more information and questions about this call for papers contact Robert V. Williams at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 803-777-2324. Submit abstracts (maximum of 1,000 words) electronically to the following site, completing the required contact information: www.softconf.com/asist2/Hist_Pre_Con/
13th IA Summit and RDAP12 on Tap
While we all start thinking about the 75th anniversary celebration of ASIS&T, lets not forget the IA Summit in New Orleans, March 21-25, 2012, and the coordinating RDAP12 on March 22-23.
Its hard to believe, but were up to the 13th IA Summit, the primary event for those redefining strategy and structure in support of cross-channel systems and user experiences. Always a major draw for the big names in this now-maturing field, this years Summit features talks by such luminaries as Jamie Monberg, chief experience officer at Hornall Anderson; Helen Walters, New York-based business and design journalist; Harry Max, vice president of experience design for Rackspace; and dozens more, most of whom are listed and described at http://2012.iasummit.org along with registration details.
Once again held in conjunction with the IA Summit, the third ASIS&T Research Data Access and Preservation (RDAP) summit will explore data management plans and policies; training data management practitioners; discovery of research data; data curation service models; sustainability of data management; and data citation.
This highly participatory summit will provide ample opportunities for all attendees to get involved as speakers as well as at topic table lunches; dine-around dinners; a round of lightening talks; and poster and demonstration sessions.
For the latest up-to-date information, you can find the RDAP pages through links at the ASIS&T website or directly at
Upcoming Ballot to Include Bylaws Changes
Shortly, all members of ASIS&T will receive ballots by email asking for votes to revise the ASIS&T Bylaws. The revisions will include several proposed changes concerning the leadership of special interest groups (SIGs) and chapters. Members will be asked to amend the bylaws to make the election of the directors of the Chapter Assembly and SIG Cabinet three-year terms that begin as deputy director and phase into director and immediate past director.
Currently, the director and deputy director positions in both bodies are elected for two-year terms with no automatic succession from deputy to director.
If accepted by the membership, this change will provide greater continuity in the leadership of the SIGs and chapters and provide institutional memory from year-to-year. It will also bring the terms of service into line with other elected executive positions in ASIS&T, including standard terms for chairs of SIGs and for the Societys elected president.
Discounted Membership Fees Approved for Developing Countries
The ASIS&T Board of Directors has unanimously accepted a proposal presented by SIG/International Information Issues (SIG/III) that will reduce ASIS&T individual membership rates for members and potential members from certain developing countries.
Last fall, ASIS&T president Diane Sonnenwald and SIG/III chair Daniel Alemneh initiated an informal discussion about reducing fees for some developing countries. Alemneh then presented the notion to the SIG and asked that members conduct a search for a fair and equitable approach for such a fee reduction. The result was a formal proposal to the Board that individuals from countries rated medium or low on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) be able to join ASIS&T as members in good standing for $40/year.
The UN HDI measures development by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment and income.
The membership fee reduction is seen as both a recruitment tool and a step toward greater internationalization of the organization.
SIG/III Announces 12th International Paper Contest
Special Interest Group/International Information Issues (SIG/III) has announced the details of its 12th annual International Paper Competition for authors in developing countries to earn the opportunity to present at the ASIS&T Annual Meeting. As has become standard, this years competition will build on the conference theme for the Annual Meeting: Information, Interaction, Innovation: Celebrating the Past, Constructing the Present and Creating the Future.
Papers can discuss issues, policies and case studies on specific aspects of the theme from a global and/or international perspective. For a list of possible topics, please see competition details at www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIII/index.htm.
Up to three winners will be selected by a panel of judges: Maqsood Shaheen, IRC, U.S. Embassy, Islamabad; Alma Rivera, Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México; and Fatih Oguz, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Winners will receive two-year individual memberships in ASIS&T. In addition, the first place winner may be eligible for up to $1000 toward travel expenses for attendance at the ASIS&T 75th Annual Meeting in Baltimore.
Full details and updates are available at the SIG/III website: www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIII/index.htm
News about ASIS&T Members
The School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University last week celebrated the 10th anniversary of the information architecture and knowledge management (IAKM) program. The event included honoring program founder and former director Thomas J. Froehlich with the creation of an annual award in his name to recognize an outstanding student in the program.
Don A. Wicks, SLIS interim director, told guests at the anniversary celebration, "The success of the IAKM program is due in large measure to the sturdy foundation on which it was built 10 years ago. About that time, a group of Kent State faculty from various disciplines recognized the need to create an academic program that would address the growing demand for a new kind of information professional. Among those visionaries was Dr. Tom Froehlich, a professor in the School of Library and Information Science.
Renate Chancellor, clinical assistant professor in The Catholic University of Americas School of Library and Information Science, has been awarded the 2012 Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE)/Norman Horrocks Leadership Award. The annual award is given to an ALISE member who has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities in association activities. Chancellor has held leadership positions within ALISE and presented her research on several of the organizations panels. Chancellor has worked at Catholic University since 2009.
Marcia Lei Zeng and Karen Gracy, faculty members in the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at Kent State University, have received a $219,000 National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to help improve access to digital resources within and beyond the library world through what is known as linked open data (LOD).
The project will develop effective strategies and prototype tools to help libraries and museums connect to the unfamiliar data and metadata resources in the LOD world. In particular, their research will address the question of how libraries can benefit from resources that have been made available in the linked open data (LOD) universe.
News from ASIS&T Chapters
The European Chapter of ASIS&T is sponsoring a doctoral forum on quantitative research in information science to be held April 12-13 at the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom. This event is the first of two events that the European Chapter is endorsing in celebration of ASIS&Ts 75th anniversary. The second event is Libraries in the Digital Age to be held June 18-22, in Zadar, Croatia (http://ozk.unizd.hr/lida/).
The Doctoral Forum will begin with short introductory presentations by Mike Thelwall and Jonathan Levitt on the application of quantitative methods to information science, but the thrust will rapidly change to an emphasis on student presentations of their research, feedback from participating academics and the opportunity or students to meet other doctoral students. Doctoral students who are using or considering using quantitative methods in at least part of their doctoral research are encouraged to apply.
Submissions and intents to participate must be submitted to the conference organizers by mid-February. Please visit the ASIST-EU website for updates
http://www.asis.org/Chapters/europe/ for full details.
Articles in this Issue
Preservation: The Final Frontier
How to Identify Ducks in Flight: A Crowdsourcing Approach to Biodiversity Research and Conservation
Museum Informatics: Something New, Something More: Introduction
CollectionSpace: A Story of Open-Source Software Development and User-Centered Design
Unintended Consequences: Unlimited Access, Invisible Work and the Future of the Information Profession in Cultural Heritage Organizations
A Haystack Full of Needles: Scholarly Access Challenges in Museum Video Archives
Advanced Imaging Tools for Museum and Library Conservation and Research
OpenART: Open Metadata for Art Research at the Tate
The Future of Museum Scholarly Catalogues
Teens, Virtual Environments and Information Literacy
Computer Refurbishing: Environmentally Reducing the Digital Divide
IA Column: What Happens When Context Thwarts an Information Architect's Vision?
Inside ASIS&T


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By Kevin Cottrell Jr.
Some of the NBA's marquee franchises are known for having famous faces sitting court side at home games. The Los Angeles Lakers have Jack Nicholson, the Brooklyn Nets have Jay-Z and the Chicago Bulls have President Barack Obama. Spike Lee is often synonymous with the New York Knicks, but this season Dennis Doyle trumps them all.
Doyle, a 32-year-old Westchester, N.Y. native, has taken the phrase "following your team closely' to another level. Doyle plans to attend all 82 Knicks games this season, a six-month journey with spans three countries, 23 states and 29 NBA cities.
He recently hit the halfway mark attending game No. 41 in London after the season began in the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden. Since then, just about every mode of transportation has been put to use.
"I travel by mostly planes, car rentals, and a bus from D.C. to N.Y," Doyle said. "The only one I haven't done is by boat."
While he has avoided large bodies of water, some would say he's joined a sinking ship by witnessing what could be one of the team's worst seasons ever. At 7-36, the Knicks are the East's worst team and have the second-worst record (trailing only the Minnesota Timberwolves) in the NBA.
Combining his love of travel, writing and the Knicks, not even Doyle could ignore the pull of this trip. When the Queens-based lawyer lost his job after three years with a Manhattan law firm, he decided it was time his dream became a reality.
"I felt like this was the perfect opportunity with no other commitments," he said. "I'm single, no mortgages and decided I wanted to do something radically different. It was like a revelation, the light bulb went off and I don't think I've heard of anyone ever doing this. I had the money to do it and wanted to get away from the depressing 9-to-5."
The self-proclaimed die-hard Knicks fan, who has been following the team since the 1993-94 season, estimates this tour will cost him $25,000. Some may view this as a waste of money, but the Georgetown Law alum was smart enough to temper his expectations prior to the start of the season.
"I thought they had a chance to win, like, 41 games," the jet-lagged Doyle said. "Sounds like high expectations compared to what's going on now. They won 37 [games] last year, so I thought it couldn't be as bad as last year!"
After a 2-1 start to 2014-15, the Knicks fell fast and eventually were in the midst of a team-worst 15-game losing streak. The players were obviously sick of all the losing. On Jan. 19th, they took their frustrations out on the New Orleans Pelicans at MSG to end the streak. Doyle, exhausted from travel and a quick turnaround from London, was nearly too sick to witness the victory.
"If I were working I definitely would have called in sick," the first-time season-ticket holder said. "So I dragged myself to the game. It was great to see them win. It made me feel a little bit better. It was my flu game basically. You feel the joy of winning, but you feel really, really sick."
While Doyle may use Michael Jordan references, he doesn't consider himself to be one of the greatest fans of all time. In fact, he's met people along the way that may deserve the title, such as the Knicks memorabilia collector in Portland or the Knicks fan in Toronto that offered him a court side seat. Doyle categorizes himself as an emotionally invested fan that usually attends a couple games a year. So no he's not delusional and, yes, at one point, he second-guessed this trip.
"First game. Home opener. They [Knicks] got blown out by Chicago," a dejected Doyle said. "They were trailing by 30 at some point and after that game I was like what have I gotten myself into? This could be a really long year."
While the losing drags the season out, the support from fans via Twitter and e-mail has made his journey that more enjoyable. Theoakmancometh.com is where Doyle maintains a blog to illustrate his experiences throughout the 82-game schedule. His high point? Watching the Knicks spoil LeBron James' Cleveland homecoming in the Cavs' season opener. The low point? Obviously, the 15-game skid.
Optimism remains as he's excited about the prospect of having a potential top-five pick in the 2015 Draft. As for the rest of the journey, Doyle is looking forward to stops in Miami and Orlando, for the last two games before a much needed All-Star break.
The lawyer-turned-writer hopes to land a book deal to avoid a return to the workforce after the journey concludes. Regardless of his occupation, his first year as a Knicks season-ticket holder will likely be his last.
"I don't plan on renewing my season tickets for a few reasons," he said "Money, I miss watching on TV, and I think I've attended enough basketball games this season to last me a lifetime."


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Andrew posted his favourite matches of 2011 yesterday. Here are my two awards winners….
Winner: CM Punk vs John Cena (WWE's Money in the Bank: July 17th 2011)
What exactly do you want from the perfect wrestling match? Hitting the right balance for one viewer is tricky enough. Trying to cultivate a match that speaks to the masses is quite another. What CM Punk and John Cena managed to do at the 2011 Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View was truly remarkable.
If the Rock's reappearance at last year's Wrestlemania was designed to engage the casual fan who largely turned its back on the WWE once corporate branding turned the sex and violence soft, Punk and Cena's match came about to mobilise current fans becoming complacent with the product. And, oh, did it succeed!
I wrote about the match the day after it took place in such a state of emotional, sleepless exhaustion that I had no idea whether what I'd written was brilliant or complete dross. Trusting my colleague's wisdom, I took Andrew's advice that I should post it immediately. Thankfully, to lovely feedback. By Tuesday there were whole sentences I had no recollection of writing whatsoever. There are events where a level head are mandatory when putting fingertips to keys, but the impact this match had was so strong, only stream of consciousness ramblings would do.
I rewatched Punk and Cena's match a little over a week ago. I wondered if I would feel the same way about it now, knowing how the tale was punctuated. I wondered if the months of following stories would have washed away all those flailing emotions. I pondered this right up until a couple of minutes before the match started. Then I stopped. My heart started beating faster and I felt a rush of slight breathlessness as that incredible Chicago crowd noise assaulted me through my speakers.
When wrestling first drew me into its fold, the most intriguing thing of all was that grey space between reality and fiction; where you're not fully convinced that what you're watching is real, but it feels liberally speckled with truth at the same time. This match wasn't the most technically precise display of wrestling that ever was, and I do love repeated nearfalls and cartoon-like "Why don't you just DIE?" grimaces. Technically accurate does not a great story make. It didn't need to be perfect because it had intense passion. In Punk's possibly real contract ending and in John's threatened firing, the story had potentially cataclysmic, game changing consequences that stretched way beyond just the two of them. When that's your base, everything else takes care of itself.
Winner: The Throwbacks + Matt Classic vs Team Osaka Pro (CHIKARA King of Trios 2011 – Night One: 15th April 2011)
The morning after I watched this year's Royal Rumble, I was in the back of a taxi chatting with the driver about the previous night's TV, as you do. On finding out that I had spent three hours of my evening watching professional wrestling, he was stunned. "You? YOU!? Really? What a dark horse!" He also went on to joke that wrestling was not my hobby, but my downfall, and looked blankly as I responded to his question about my favourite wrestler with 'CM Punk'. Apparently, in loving wrestling, I am a walking contradiction. Maybe I should have been offended. But hey, how often do you get to appear enigmatic in the company of strangers?
Explaining a love of wrestling to non-fans isn't easy. I often wonder how I might convert them if I just had one match to do it with. One match, where they have a lightbulb moment and come over to my side of the fence. You might expect me to select that much discussed CM Punk vs John Cena at Money in the Bank match. But I happened to watch a large chunk of it with non-fan company last week and either had to explain the storyline in great detail, which I didn't actually mind, or had to suffer the ridicule of just loving it to begin with. I minded that rather a lot.
I'm paraphrasing slightly from the second Kayfabe Comedy podcast here, but if we accept that wrestling is ultimately very silly, and that CHIKARA do silly better than anyone, a CHIKARA match is the perfect introductory match. At King of Trios 2011, The Throwbacks and Matt Classic vs Team Osaka Pro had the ultimate newbie match. Before the action even gets under way, enough grin inducing, beautifully timed, slapstick comedy has taken place as to make everything that happens during the actual match feel like gravy. There's competitive running of the ropes, makeshift basketball and Matt Classic's in-match yoga moves. By far the most engaging character is Sugar Dunkerton, currently absent from CHIKARA for very personal reasons. Here, he shines.
There are some brilliant spots from both teams and there's no complex story to explain, apart from maybe Dasher Hatfield's stitch-face. No crowd sells silliness like a CHIKARA crowd and if this match doesn't make you proud to pay wrestling forward, you might be needing a break. As well as being a great introduction to wrestling for novice fans, it's also an effective antidote for when seasoned pros like ourselves get a little jaded. I recommend keeping a copy in your medicine cabinet.


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Friday, August 17, 2007
Saturday Conference Call 4 National Ron Paul Walk
Hey All,
Come get involved in the talk on how to promote, gain coverage and just bring about a VERY LARGE NATIONAL RON PAUL WALK.
THIS SATURDAY. NO TALK OF VOTES or DIEBOLD.. LOL -- JUST THIS WALK!!!
There was a scheduling error for the Thursday conference call. We are ON for Saturday at 4 PM PDT, 6 PM CDT and 7 PM EST. Please join in!
Please post to your groups and please participate! Thank you!
If you are already planning a Walk or other public Ron Paul support activity for August 26th, please reply and let us know the details! Thank you.
Subject: Teleconference: August 26th Walk In Support of Ron Paul's Freedom Message
Dear Ron Paul Supporters:
You are invited to participate in a teleconference to discuss and plan a nationally coordinated action in support of Ron Paul's Freedom Message for August 26th. Your creative involvement is requested and indeed required for this effort's success. Please participate! We need to hear from you.
For more info on the walk, please visit:
Please note that although this is being referred to as a "Walk", some groups are looking at other creative forms of participation other than "walking". And that's great (though walking a long distance for a candidate does make a particular statement).
Thank you!
Date: Saturday August 18, 2007
Start Time: 06:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Dial-in Number: 1-712-432-2600 (Midwest)
Participant Access Code: 26447
No comments:
Ron Paul Walk Success
In just one of 29 simlutaneous walks in 29 different states around the USA today, 26 August 2007, 72 Ron Paul supporters walked 10 miles from Hollywood to Beverly Hills to demonstrate support for Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign and to show the world that Ron Paul supporters are, indeed, a force to be reckoned with. The event was in celebration of Dr Paul's 73rd birthday!
To give you further idea of the dedication of Ron Paul supporters, the walk in Georgia today was TWENTY SEVEN MILES! And there was a march in the blistering heat in Phoenix which was called by the people there the Walk Through Hell for Ron Paul!
Here are some pictures and videos of the incredibly awesome, freedom loving, patriotic Ron Paul supporters who came out to walk walk walk for 6 hours.
Nobody walks in LA? Ron Paul supporters do!!
Here I am with some supporters in the background across the street. This was in Hollywood before we started walking.
just a few of the 72…
many people showed support as we walked through Hollywood, Melrose, West LA and into Beverly Hills, especially strong support (measured largely by honking horns) was in Beverly Hills! Some people had the following question and so we gave out many, many flyers and such..
A security guard we passed wanted to know who Ron Paul was so one of us told him and handed him a flyer…
Ron Paul supporters of all ages were on hand…
72 people walking down the street, chanting in rythym and with a megaphone (except when GARKO was singing "America the Beautiful" is a lot of presence for Ron Paul!
March Across America For Ron Paul…
and oh, yes, we had balloons…
One of the stars of the day.. this guy glided in and out of traffic giving people in cars flyers about Ron Paul and holding this sign. Almost surrealistic how awesome this was!
and you can see him in action in this video…
Our fun and adventurous Meet Up coordinator
and here is his initial report on the day…
It was the best Ron Paul support activity in LA to date. We had 72 people, at least 60% of the people were new and all were enthusiastic and full of love for Ron Paul, Freedom and the Constitution. We gave out thousands and thousands of pieces of literature and got lots and lots of honks and pedestrians and motorists alike telling us they support Ron Paul. It was amazing how many people already know and love Ron. We were blessed with cool, cloudy weather all day and even a light sprinkle to make us feel good. We chanted for Ron and Freedom the whole way. As we got to Beverly Hills, a radio station that I know called me and asked me if I could fill in for a host…so they put me on the air right then and there and we broadcast our walk and rally live! We passed the cell phone around and people told the listeners why they love Ron Paul. We got the Freedom Message out in person and remotely as well! Thank you all for attending! I find it hard to write down eloquently what a great day it was.
One of several vehicles that accompanied us ….
And a couple more videos…
Here are some initial reports from other cities…
About the walk, all I can say is wow, freakin' wow! What a fantastic effort! I'm still hearing the shouts of "Ron Paul" echoing through the caverns of downtown. Yeah, our route took a few twists and turns, but it was all for the better. Watching you hand out lit with kids in tow was nothing more than inspiring.
We had 52 people at the event out of 58 RSVP's! The percentage was fantastic, if not downright unheard of. What impressed me the most were meeting all the new members who took the time out of a Sunday afternoon on the week before Labor Day. Braving the heat, a couple of blistered bunyons, and representing the Paul Campign with professionalism and fire that may very well be the envy of this event. Okay, Chicago will probably blow us out of the water, because they have nine times the population. Still, I can't even begin to convey the pride I had for each one of you.
I'm not sure of my footage, but with everyone's videotaping, I think there's some awesome material for YouTube and the like.
BTW, I was told that the local FOX affiliate shot some footage after we disbanded. I don't know if they we're picking up on the Bearcat scanner about a group of rabid Ron Paul supporters marching through downtown, or if they just noticed us at the conclusion of that support our troops event downtown. Doubt they'll show any of it, but keep your VCR's handy for their evening news.
Hope this email made sense. I'm too hot, sweaty, and tired to proof it.
Liberty in Our Lifetime
Indianapolis, indiana
OREGON…(July 4th)
OREGON August 4th!
PHOENIX! WOW! 125 PEOPLE IN OVER 100 DEGREE HEAT! GREAT VIDEO!!]]> ![cdata[>
It fails to list Eli Lilly et al and psychiatric pseudoscience, the Child Protective Services scam and such but it is a pretty good list. It starts at the 1:55 countdown marker…]]> ![cdata[>
once upon a time in a mythical land called America there was a man named Aaron Russo.
America was a free land of free people who did free things freely but with respect for law, honor, truth and God.
But this had been many decades prior to Aaron's time.
America had become a land of people who were oh so very proud of what it had been, "the land of the free and the home of the brave", but which were majorly oblivious to the fact that it no longer was. For the people were no longer free people but had been enslaved by greedy bankers so that every aspect of their lives was run by a corrupt elite few and yet the people thought they were still free.
So America was in almost all aspects a mythical land of people who were living as if free while being enslaved. A more tragic story has never been told.
Americans were so blind in their belief that they were still free that they even cheered when their leaders forced other countries to be free like America no matter how many Americans and people of the foreign land had to die and in spite of the fact that the evidence of their enslavement was all around them in terms of financial duress, illegal taxation, drug pushing and mental pseudoscience and labeling of the people and lies, lies and more lies from every media outlet, politician and corporation and yet people still went to ballgames and celebrated their independence and told the whole world how great it was to be American in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Can you dig it?
Well, one day, Aaron Russo decided that this could not be. That people had to wake up. That he was going to wake people up and that this was his mission and that he would expose the greedy bankers and get people to take back their freedom and that people would listen to him and that it was worth whatever price he had to pay in order to wake people up so that they would see that they were no longer free and they would do whatever they had to do in order to take back their freedom.
And Aaron told a truth that had never been told before and he told it in a way that it had never been told before with class, humor, dignity and above all, honesty, and he did this at great expense of his personal finances and his personal health and Aaron died.
But before he died he had lit a fire for freedom within millions of people who were now aware that they had been lied to, that they were not free people and who turned from sheep into patriots willing to fight for their freedom in the span of one viewing of Aaron's story and you can tell me about all the great men of the Bible and of all ages past and the many people who dot the landscape of history and stood up for freedom and for liberty, the Martin Luther Kings, George Washingtons and Ghandis. But no man has ever stood with so much courage alone in a time of universal deceit and told the truth in such a way that it changed everything just from telling of the story and telling of the truth.
But this is just the beginning of the story.
And the rest is history.
And the rest us up to you and me.
To fight for freedom
and preserve Aaron's legacy.


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RALEIGH, N.C. – Saving money for college is something that not only is on the minds of most parents and students, it is also at the forefront of aproposed U.S. House bill aiming to end patents on tax strategy methods, including those related to college-savings plans.
Campbell Law Assistant Professor Lucas Osborn, who teaches and has practiced patent and intellectual property law, was recently quoted in a Wall Street Journal article about the proposed bill. "If you allow tax strategies to be patented, that tax strategy becomes public knowledge and that disseminates knowledge," said Osborn. "If the bill passes, these things are going to be kept secret as trade [secrets]."
A similar version of the bill has passed the Senate, 95 to 5.
To read the entire article, click here.
About Campbell Law School: Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. The School has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation's top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation's best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,200 alumni, including 2,200 who reside and work in North Carolina. For 23 years, Campbell Law's record of success on the North Carolina Bar Exam has been unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school. In September 2009, Campbell Law relocated to a state-of-the-art building in downtown Raleigh. For more information, visit law.campbell.edu.


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2008 Legal Elite
- December 1, 2008
- |
The Legal Elite entered a new phase this year, casting a wider net for potential voters.
Working in collaboration with the Virginia Bar Association, Virginia Business has published a list of top lawyers in a variety of legal disciplines since 2000. This year, the pool of potential voters expanded from 7,000 lawyers to all 38,000 licensed lawyers in the state.
As a result of the bigger pool, the number of ballots submitted increased 38.5 percent, from 1,162 last year to 1,610 this year. Likewise, the number of lawyers nominated for the Legal Elite increased 27.2percent, from 2,742 to 3,488.
While participation grew, the list did not. It has about 750 names this year, roughly the same as last year. Consequently, the cutoff score for the list rose, so the proportion of nominees making the Legal Elite dropped from 27.3 percent to 21.5 percent.
About 75 percent of the lawyers on the 2008 Legal Elite also made the list last year.
The Legal Elite ballot allows voters to nominate lawyers in 15 legal categories, which are chosen in consultation with the Virginia Bar Association.
The ballot has two sections: an "inside" section in which lawyers can vote for colleagues in their own firms and an "outside" section in which they vote for lawyers working for other firms. For a ballot to be valid, it must have as many "outside" nominees as "inside" nominees. Votes for "outside" lawyers are given greater weight in arriving at a point total for each nominee.
In publishing the Legal Elite each year, the magazine also tracks legal trends and profiles lawyers representing each of the 15 legal categories. All the profile subjects were chosen from the top 10 vote getters in their category, but they are not necessarily the top nominee in those fields. Lawyers who have been profiled previously were not considered.
The Editors
» Alternative dispute resolution
» Family and Domestic Relations
» Legislative, Regulatoy and Administrative


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Web Design Solution At Ezeelive Technologies
Submitted by ezeelive • January 22, 2014
www.ezeelive.com - What qualifies for a successful website? A well designed website? One designed using latest technologies? Actually, a successful website is one which is designed keeping your business requirements in mind and the design reflects your ideologies and meets your goals. ...


text: Hi guys, I have 3 dell servers with debian and I have updated your fantastic software in these three boxes. I have noticed that the connection to the master db is not correct. I mean that the ispConfig control panel shows me three green rectangles but I have some doubt about the connection between them. I have tested the connection creating a new email account by the ISPConfig panel and the email account has been NOT created in the mailserver. Any idea to fix the problem? Another Question: Does the API methods have been changed?


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Take an internet journey with Francesco Garri Garripoli. Discover what you will experience with a Qigong healing study group where you travel to far off places. Garripoli has extensively traveled the globe, studied with healing masters around the planet, and has taken all the guess work out of creating an …Read More »
Home / Tag Archives: dr shivani


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The details of Week 1 of the challenge are now up! Get Started Bento Challenge Week 1 [1] (link corrected now!)
For myself, I am going to try to do all of the tasks (except for the bento-box measuring and calorie calculations, which I have already done). I will post my bento plan and my photos when I report at the end of the week.
Exercise wise, I have fallen off the wagon since coming back from vacation in November, so I'm going to try to walk at least 30 minutes 3 days this week. (Going to try to do more, but if I set my goals pretty lowish hopefully I won't give up...)
How about you?
[UPDATE:] Post your wrapup reports/thoughts over here! [2]
The Big Onigiri.
- Wherever you go, there you are. -
[1] http://justbento.com/bento-challenges/get-started-bento-challenge-week-1
[2] http://justbento.com/forum/challenge-week-1-wrapup-reports


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Neighbourhood social network Nextdoor raises $21.3M
Neighborhood social network start-up Nextdoor has raised another $21.3 million, even as many investors shy away from the sector in the wake of troubled Facebook initial public offering last year.
The new funding includes $15 million from Greylock Partners, whose partner David Sze will be joining Nextdoor's board. Sze, known for his involvement in networks LinkedIn and Facebook in their earliest days, said he has never before invested so much in a single investment round.
The investment showed many investors still have plenty of cash for social networks, provided they are tapping a niche where users get deeply involved and where a path to profitability is emerging.
"That is the next phase," Sze told Reuters, talking about a generation of more specialized networks that have come after early networks like Facebook built broader networks that introduced consumers to the concept. "There's less huge opportunities, but there's more point opportunities."
Nextdoor, which launched in late 2011, is now in 8,075 neighborhoods around the United States, with plans to expand overseas. It links communities of neighbors in private networks.
"It's people who have roots," said chief executive Nirav Tolia about his members in any given neighborhood. "They either own property, have families, or are on their way to owning property or having families."
Members post Facebook style, giving or seeking recommendations for services such as babysitters and yard maintenance or local retailers and restaurants. They also post about community issues such as parking; crime and safety; or items for sale or loan.
The funding comes as other versions of social networks --including private social network Path, question and answer service Quora, and influence-measuring service Klout -- haven't been able to gain serious traction among users, despite raising tens of millions of dollars.
But Nextdoor is different, Sze says, because of the trust it has built among its users, the rapid pace at which it is growing, and the potential to make money down the line, even if the exact mechanism remains nebulous.
"If you squint and think about it, you can draw the line to where monetization is possible," Sze, who will join Nextdoor's board, said. "Whether that is advertising or coupons or review lifting, who knows."
Tolia believes the service will become "the next generation of yellow pages," tapping into what he said was a $100 billion local advertising market.
New investors Google Ventures and Bezos Expeditions, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos's venture fund, participated in Nextdoor's latest funding round. So did existing investors Benchmark Capital and Shasta Ventures.
Nextdoor has raised a total of $40.2 million.


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By Moni Basu, CNN
(CNN) - The American Psychiatric Association announced this month approved changes in its official guide to classifying mental illnesses.
Among the major announced revisions to the manual, known as DSM-5, is that Asperger's syndrome will now be included in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder "to help more accurately and consistently diagnose children with autism," the association said in a statement.
But the group made another big change that did not make as many headlines, though it is considered by many to be important.
The new DSM eliminates the term "gender identity disorder," long considered stigmatizing by mental health specialists and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists.
That old diagnosis meant that a man who believed he was destined to be a woman was considered mentally ill.
No longer so.
The new DSM refers to "gender dysphoria," which focuses the attention on only those who feel distressed by their gender identity.
"I think it's a significant change," said Jack Drescher, a member of the American Psychiatric Association group that made the recommendation after working on it for four years. "It's clinically defensible, but it reduces the amount of stigma and harm that existed before."
Drescher said there had been calls to remove the diagnosis altogether just as homosexuality was removed from the DSM in 1973. Drescher said he believes that removal changed world opinion on homosexuality.
But gender dysphoria was left as a diagnosis to ensure that a transgender person could still access health care if needed. Hormone treatment would be one example. Another would be counseling for those who need help dealing with their emotions.
Many LGBT activists felt that the gender dysphoria diagnosis could be a powerful legal tool when challenging discrimination in health insurance plans and services.
The National Center for Transgender Equality said it was pleased with the change.
"It will mark a significant lowering of the stigmatization that many trans people have faced," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the center.
"The changes help make clear that there is nothing pathological about having a transgender identity, and that the role of the mental health profession is to affirm and support individuals in being themselves in the face of societal misunderstanding," she said.
But others were not satisfied.
Transgender activist Kelley Winters, founder of a group calling for the reform of gender identity disorder, said the new DSM does not go far enough.
The new criteria "represent some forward progress on issues of social stigma and barriers to medical transition care, for those who need it," Winters wrote on her blog.
"However, they do not go nearly far enough in clarifying that nonconformity to birth-assigned roles and victimization from societal prejudice do not constitute mental pathology."
The greater issue, though, may be the larger sociopolitical impact the new category will have, wrote Dr. Dana Beyer, a public health and LGBT civil rights advocate who also served on the American Psychiatric Association's working group.
"Our greatest accomplishment on the Working Group was reconceptualizing the state of 'being trans' from a mental illness to a normal human variant," she wrote on The Huffington Post.
She noted that back in 1990, trans persons were lumped together with pedophiles in the Americans With Disabilities Act. The new DSM, she said, "finally brings trans persons into the light with the rest of the community of humanity."
My birth certificate says I'm British, but I've lived in Canada since I was 4, so WHO I am is Canadian. The fact that the two disagree is not a mental dissorder. Likewise my BC says Male, but WHO I am is a woman named Heather. It's just a fact. It's not WHAT I was, but it is WHO I am.
This is actually the best explanation I've seen. Thank you =)
That's an idiotic analogy. A better one would be if you were born black, but kept insisting that you're white. It certainly would be a mental disorder. You could act like a the queen of England and speak with a flawless British accent but you would not BE white – you would be black, and it would be obvious to everyone that you have some serious mental issues when it comes to dealing with your birth race.
What is wrong will become right and what was once right will become wrong.
Well since wrong and right are relative, that's ok!
Once again, poltical-correctness trumps medical reality. What next? Every genetic disorder is now "normal?" Will that mean all the money directed toward fixing them will be stopped?
You bring out Chaz Bono as evidence there is no disorder ? Too funny. Never.
300+ opinions and counting and only a handful of people who know anything about what they're talking about.
Since when is knowledge of the subject a prerequisite for posting online?
It is disappointing to see all of the ignorance posted here. We all started out life as female. It isn't until about the sixth week that the fetus begins to differentiate when the SRY gene tells the fetal gonads to differentiate into testis. The number of errors that can occur are monumental. The difference with transgender is that it is not visible like a cleft lip, or a missing arm. With the visible there is compassion, with the invisible only ignorance and disgust.
"The number of errors that can occur are monumental."
Glad to see you admit that it's an error.
No, everyone did not start as female. Everyone started as undifferentiated. And if you have a Y chromosome with all associated genes, you're a boy.
Thank you for the insight. It is clear that people who are not affected think that somehow this is funny. I suppose if they really understood the complexity of human life, it just might have a positive effect. Acceptance always comes before understanding.
Does this mean that taxpayers are off the hook when it comes to paying for 'gender reassignment' surgery for inmates?
@Steve - So some poor kid who at the age of three or four years old realizes "hey everyone wants me to be a boy but I really, really feel like a girl". This is not a mental disorder AS SUCH it's more of a physical disorder - the brain develops OPPOSITE of what the physical body gender is. The brain cannot be changed so the body must be. Make sense? I know it totally disgusts you, sure, but would you prefer all the kids - when they hit teenage years - to just go ahead and kill themselves like they used to do? Would be way more convenient for you and easier for you to deal with, wouldn't it Steve. Suicides of thousands to trans teenagers would suit you just perfectly, I bet.
So it's not a mental disorder despite there being no clearer example of one, so will insurers be forced to cover the "treatment" for this non existent mental disorder or will liberals force that upon the taxpayer? How many other non mental problems will insurers or taxpayers be forced to cover?
The comments here show me how uneducated people are and i blame the Schools and parents. The fact that you can't even talk about Transgender topics in schools confuses me to no end and just makes me sad for the Human race.
We need to educate our Kids at a young age about the many different genders and show them that it's not (black and white)
The sad part about all this is the fact it's very easy to understand, Think of gender as sliding scales "Not just 1" but many, And the scales can be moved in so many different ways.
But even i myself have a basic understanding of it, But that's more then enough to understand it's not something that's Bad,wrong or any kind of mental illness.
The problem with all you adults that want to be "all you were meant to be" is that the kids get ignored and end up shooting kids in a school. Wake up.
Many different genders?????? So what is there other than male or female?
There's a spectrum. Some people identify as both or neither male/female, others changing between the two, and pretty much anything you can imagine =)
In Kyla's world, nothing is ever abnormal. If you're born with 8 legs, that's just a "variation" and JUST AS NORMAL as someone born with two legs. Yep. And if you're deaf, that's just an "auditory variation." It's BIGOTED to say there's anything wrong with that person's ears. Shame on you for even thinking such a hateful thing!!!!
To be consistent, Kyla should work to repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act, because they're not disabled!!!! How offensive!!! Those quadriplegics are just a "variation", right Kyla??
And then there are normal people who understand that abnormality exists in the world.
Thank you , Wayne
wow.. so much stupidity in one place.. I am at a lose of words on the very stupid comment you just wrote.
Nailed it.
Ah, but if we had to educate everyone about every illness in the world and to treat them like it's not an illness at all, we'd have far more material than we could cover in a K-12 education. You can't raise everyone to be doctor.
Sad to see this
Steve, In fact I have met transgender people. You obviously didn't read my post thoroughly or misinterpreted it. I was criticizing CNN for posting the type of article that always have the readers going at each others throats instead of sharing opinions that are constructive. I don't know why you've chosen to insult me to defend CNN, but I find you offensive and pathetic, as well.
Can't say I agree. CNN's only job is to inform. CNN can put any topic about transgender issues on their website and the same kind of replies will surface. Sadly, it's too be expected. Too many people are misinformed about our issues or have no clue what transgender means. The replies reflect that clearly.