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1- Set a goal to read several high interest books over the summer. Agree on a reward for completing books -- be creative on what that reward might be. A day at the beach or the pool together is great. 2- Get going right away. Start with 5 minutes and work up to a 30-minute reading sessions. Make this a daily habit. Consider either reading with your child or utilizing audio books. Audio books are available through your local library. Audiobooks and an app called Read2go are also great resources. 3- Read the same books your child is reading, and have some real constructive conversations or discussions about them.
You may be saying this will help a little, but you need more support to make this the summer that your child makes significant gains in reading comprehension.
- - o - - o - - o - -
Summer is a time for fun and relaxation…and a great opportunity to read! According to research, students who read during the summer months gain or maintain reading skills; however, students who do not read during the summer may fall back as much as a grade level in their skill. Therefore, we encourage students to continue improving their reading skills by reading as much as possible over the summer months.
Reading with or to your child over the summer, will help keep your child's reading skills alive and prevent the loss of reading skills over the summer.
Tips to help support children in sustaining their reading during the summer:
Schedule 15 minutes of special time every day to read to your child. Before you read each book, read the title and look at the cover and pictures inside. Ask your child what he/she thinks the book may be about (prediction). After reading the book, review the prediction. Was the prediction right? If not, what happened instead?
Plan to go to the public library or local bookstore once each week and read a new book together. After reading each book, talk to your child about what happened at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.
Tell stories together. Talk together about your family history and perhaps, do a genealogy chart. Look at old vacation photos and discuss your memories of the trip. Tape your storytelling.
Create a print rich home environment. Include both books (and books on tape) and writing material. Include newspapers and child-oriented versions of popular magazines (e.g., Time for Kids, National Geographic for Kids). Set aside a special reading area in your home and make sure everyone uses it.
Tape record your child reading a book and replay it so that he/she can listen to himself/herself. Repeat this activity so that your child can listen to himself/herself improve.
Play Reading Tab by choosing a book with many words that your child knows. Each time you want your child to read a word, tap him/her on the shoulder.
Play rhyming games. Say two words that rhyme (e.g., cat, sat) and ask your child to say a word that rhymes with your words. Take turns. Ask you child to say a word and then you respond with a rhyming word. For example, child says "cat", parent says "hat"; child says "chair", parents say "pair".
Initial sounds. Take turns thinking of two words that begin with the same sound. (e.g., mom, moon; dog, door; fun, fast; paper, pet.)
Jump rope to rhyme and rhythm. (e.g., Miss Mary Mack.)
Play games such as "Red-Light", Green-light", and "Simon Says" that require talking, listening and following directions, and giving directions.
Take every opportunity you can to help increase your child's vocabulary. You can do this by pointing to things and asking your child to tell you what they are, or you can stop and explain the meaning of any words in your reading that your child may not understand. The more you talk to your child, the faster his/her vocabulary will grow.
Be a word detective. As you are riding in the car, walking down the street, or shopping in the mall or grocery store, have your child be a word detective. Look at the signs. What do you see? Look for those little words inside of big words. What patters did you see? What is the spelling rule? Have your child tell you more words that they know with the patters found in the bigger words.
Create a Scrabble game using the headlines from the newspaper. Cut out the individual letters from the headlines to create a scrabble game. Or have the child make new words with the letters from the headlines.
Fact or Opinion Game. Say a sentence to your child then ask whether it is a fact or opinion. Example: The weather is nice (opinion). A dog can bark (fact).
Newspaper. Have your child read a short editorial printed in the local newspaper and underline all the facts with a green crayon or pencil and all the opinions with a red crayon or pencil.
Clip out an interesting news story and cut the paragraphs apart. Ask your child to read the paragraphs and put them in order.
Clip pictures from newspapers or magazine. Ask your child to list adjectives to describe the pictures or tell you about the picture using descriptive words.
Encourage reading fluency by having your child read and reread familiar books. It can also be helpful to have your child read a short passage over several times while you record the time it takes. Children often enjoy seeing if they can improve their time from one reading to the next, and the repeated reading helps to establish a habit of fluent reading.
Mira Halpert, M.Ed, developed the 3D Learner Program (R) to help her two children who were Gifted and Learned Differently. Mira refers to these students as Right-Brained Learners or GOLD Stundets (R). For more information on 3D Learner visit www.3dlearner.com/parents or call 3D Learner at 561-361-7495. Follow Mira @TheSuccessMom
© 2014 www.3dlearner.com


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Madidi National Park, BoliviaJanuary 19, 2009 It ain't half hot, Mum.So I have a question for those of you that have been reading this blog – do you think that I am a bit of a whiner? Do I tend to whinge just a tad? Have you noticed that there is always something that is bugging me – and I am not talking about the six-legged kind of bug here? Well, I cannot deny this facet of my personality and so, I shall start this post with another complaint – the jungle ain't half hot, Mum.
OK, so on my trip into the Peruvian jungle, I nearly died of hypothermia. Well, things change and this time I am pretty sure that I came close to dying of heat exhaustion. Every afternoon, I would end up lying on my bed, enshrouded by my mosquito net, swimming in my own sweat, drowning in my own perspiration. I could hear the fan whirring monotonously in the background. Oh no, wait. That wasn't a fan, I didn't have fan, I didn't have air conditioning, I didn't have a fridge that was large enough to accommodate my entire drenched, sodden, overheated body. All I could do was lie there, listening to the humming and droning of the not-a-fan in the background, waiting for the heat to pass. Basically, it was hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut (anyone know what movie that quote comes from)?Now, I am not entirely sure exactly how hot that is, but it was hot enough to impel me to do something that I never do – take a cold shower. It was the only thing that could mitigate the effects of the heat, if only for a very short time. Actually, I tell a lie. You could also go swimming in the lake, the one with the three-metre-long caimans, the piranhas, and the god-knows-what in the freshwater parasite department. I took my chances with the shower. Turns out that all was not safe in there either. The screening was non-existent and while I did submit to the cold water shower, I did not embrace it whole heartedly. That left rather large chunks of my anatomy outside the flow of water, open to attack by bitey things unknown. They were very sneaky about the whole attack and I did not even realise the extent of the damage until the itching started in all my nooks and crannies that are not normally exposed to the world. Oh dear, why do I bother?
Being an entomologist, I am always on the lookout for any interesting insects and the jungle never disappoints. I found a beautiful black and yellow long-horned beetle sitting on the trunk of a tree and an amusing black beetle scurrying through the undergrowth. Amusing because whenever I gave his body a squeeze, he would emit a high pitched hiss as he forced air through the openings to his breathing system. I think it was supposed to scare me off, but it just made me chuckle and want to squeeze him again.
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Saki Yano is a hot Asian MILF enjoying kissing her younger guy. She is hot and busty and he enjoys her hot charms as often as they can get together! He squeezes her tits and takes her white panties off so he can finger her wet snatch before she sits on his face and he tongues her hairy pussy for her. He enjoys licking her pussy and when he stops, she is inserting his cock into her wet mouth! He gets a blowjob and then a hardcore dick ride before he unloads his cum on her big tits! Saki Yano always enjoys her younger horny boys!
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Yuria Satomi
Yuria Satomi is a hot Asian MILF in her office suit. She is in the break room with a co worker and he is interested in her sexy pantyhose and her pussy. She is making out with him and doing some hand work on his cock when he gets to her w..
Yuria Satomi
Round tit and horny babe Yuria Satomi making out and hardcore fucked. She tease and makes out with her hung lover and strips down on her sexy dress. She get her boobies squuezed and wet pussy licked. She humps on his cock, grinds on it ti..
This hot asian babe was at a party I attended for some friends of mine who were going on vacation, she came in and did a seductive dance in her skimpy clothes and took off what she wore one thing at a time showing us horny guys what she had to offer. She was nude showing her hairy pussy and nice tits as she went around the room making passes at all the guys here. We decided to get her and hold her down and put some well lubed fingers in her hairy snatch. She moaned and wanted more as the evening went on.
I met this little gal at a party for a friend, she was the center piece, and gagged to a table in the middle of the room at the mercy of the boys in the room. They were enjoying her inhability to defend herself against the sexual onslaught they were beginning on her with the dildos that were left just for that use. She squirmed as they lubed up their fingers and used them on her helpless pussy before getting out the dildos she had brought in her party pack. As the party continued, they noticed she was smiling behind the gag she wore.
"My friend Jo introduced me to her horny friend Mi, we got along great and she was a horny thing. her best feature was her big tits which I saw right away. We hit it off and went out so she could show me the town. We wound up at her place wth my dick up her tight twat pumping the hell out of her. Just as I was hitting the finish line she moved and I pulled out, she then attacked my throbbng cock like it was lunch and sucked me off until I came in her mouth. I have never seen such a cock hungry babe! "
We met this horny gal at the bar we were sitting in, she came up to us and offered to buy us drinks! Surprised at her boldness we accepted. Several drinks later she was inviting us both up to her room for some fun and games. We went of course, no guy in his right mind would turn this hottie down. When we got there she immediately was on her knees unzipping our flies and trying to stuff both hard cocks into her mouth. Failing this, she sucked off my friend while givng me the best handjob I ever had!
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Problems with Temporal Frequency Analysis
We are accustomed to measuring frequency in terms of (1/seconds), or Hz. Sometimes we may even measure frequency in rad/sec, which is often called angular frequency. More information about temporal frequency can be found here. The reason we often use frequency domain techniques is because it allows for filtering of noise and various signals. If were just interested in listening to a particular tone, say a 500 Hz sine wave, it would be easy to just tune in to that one frequency, we would just bandpass filter out all the other noise. However, when we do this we get no information about where the signal is coming from. So, even though we could easily ignore noise, we could not steer our array to just listen in one direction. It would be more like giving it 'selective hearing.' It hears what it wants to, which in this case would be signals at 500 Hz.


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Photo galleries season 2
Filming locations
Photo galleries
Wilm on FIlm: Under the Dome
Under the Dome
Under the Dome
"Under the Dome" is a CBS science-fiction TV series based on a best-selling Stephen King novel about a small New England town that's mysteriously shut off from the world under a transparent dome. It's an Amblin Television production. The series stars Dean Norris, Mike Vogel, Rachelle Lefevre, Aisha Hinds, Britt Robertson, Natalie Martinez, Jolene Purdy, Nicholas Strong, Alex Koch, Colin Ford. Area filming began Feb. 28 in Southport. The 13-episode summer series ran from June until September 2013.
Recent Articles About Under the Dome
Teen angst under 'Dome'Published July 31, 2014
Being a teenager is, in many ways, like life "Under the Dome:"
Film industry workers worry about future of local jobsPublished July 30, 2014
Many are uncertain about how the small appropriation will sustain the production business or foster new business in the future.
'Under the Dome' recap: Bang, Boom, BangPublished July 29, 2014
The town of Chester's Mill chose sides this week: Team Julia or Team Big Jim.
Budget deal includes $10 million for film incentivesPublished July 29, 2014
House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate Leader Phil Berger said the new budget includes $10 million for the film incentive program.
Studio tour guides offer up glimpse of film production worldPublished July 27, 2014
When the crews and stars are away, the EUE/Screen Gems Studios tour guides are the keepers of the kingdom.
Getting the scoop on Wilmington-filmed projects at Comic-ConPublished July 26, 2014
'Under the Dome,' 'Max Steel' and 'Sleepy Hollow' had a presence at San Diego event.
Production Notes for the week of 07.20.14Published July 26, 2014
A roundup of area filming news
State sees $268 million in film industry spendingPublished July 25, 2014
The first half of 2014 saw an estimated $268 million in direct in-state spending from the film industry.
Wilm On Film - 'Under the Dome' cast and producer invade Comic-ConPublished July 25, 2014
The cast and crew have been temporarily freed from the transparent barrier, but that doesn't mean they get to stray too far from its clutches.
Robertson makes her mark in new Sparks filmPublished July 24, 2014
And because there is no quick fix for hours in high heels, this won't be the last time she beelines for the slippers.
'Under the Dome' recap: Time warpPublished July 22, 2014
'Under the Dome' kicked up the plot development about a thousand notches for Monday's installment.
'Under the Dome' location manager always looking for a placePublished July 20, 2014
Brooke Barnill is the location manager for 'Under the Dome'
Production Notes for the week of 07.13.14Published July 19, 2014
A roundup of area filming news
Future of 'Dome,' 'Sleepy' in Wilmington up in the airPublished July 18, 2014
"We're trying to figure out how that's going to affect the show right now," Kurtzman said.
A wrap for 'Dome'Published July 18, 2014
Production of CBS series' new season winds up 4 months of shooting across the region


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Archive for March, 2011
3 More Reasons Why DIY Marketing Doesn't Work in LegalAuthor: Cathy Kenton
This is the second post in this series. The previous post can be found here.
If you've got plenty of time on your hands to develop and implement your marketing strategy, this information doesn't apply to you. But, in my experience most company executives and entrepreneurs suffer from a common malady…there's only 24 hours in a day.
How does this limitation negatively impact your DIY marketing?
1. You're not leveraging your resources
Building and managing a successful business is about leveraging resources. Many executives make the mistake of thinking that their college Marketing 101 course qualifies them to do the strategic analysis necessary to properly position their offerings. Or worse, they hire a low-cost recent graduate with no real-world or legal specific experience.
Marketing can become a revolving door. Executives hire a marketing person, expecting them to know their product and service offerings and 'hit the ground running'. Most often the honeymoon period ends early and the company is back to square one. Marketing to the legal vertical is different. Using a legal marketing specialist to validate strategies and positioning and help create a logical plan is a wise investment in your business.
2. You can only handle so many #1 priorities
Most executives I meet are flooded with multiple priorities. They're wearing lots of hats, filling several roles, and let's face it; they haven't got the time to dedicate to developing, implementing, and analyzing a successful strategy and plan.
Marketing planning is an intensive discipline. I personally recommend to my clients that they 'start at the end'. By determining upfront what they want to accomplish over a given period, we are able to develop strategies and plans to reach their goals. Having specific goals allows us and them to monitor progress.
3. Your marketing becomes reactive rather than strategic
It's easy to get sidetracked with marketing:
• Sales are off and you need to do something to fix it now
• A call comes in to sponsor a new event
• Your competitor is speaking on a panel or exhibiting at a conference
and you need to be there too
Now you're reacting. Instead of developing a strategy, creating a plan, implementing the plan, and measuring the results, you're all over the place. You need help filtering the noise and figuring out what actually fits into your overall strategy.
To be successful at DIY marketing you need to make it a priority, find the time to dedicate to marketing, and have the expertise and discipline to create and follow a strategic plan. If you can't make these commitments, you'll be hard-pressed to succeed in fulfilling your goals.
Pay Attention to Canada's New Anti-Spam LawAuthor: Cathy Kenton
If you're using email as part of your marketing strategy, you need to be aware that Canada has enacted a significant new Anti-Spam Law. The legislation, now known as Canada's Online Protection Legislation (CLOP) is significant in that:
- It contains an express affirmative opt-in condition. If you've got a form with an opt-out, it needs to be changed to a specific opt-in if you're marketing in Canada.
- Large fines may be imposed (up to $1 million per violation).
- The legislation applies not only to email, but also to a number of other communication methods, including SMS, IM, and social media.
Enforcement is scheduled to commence this fall. Marketers would be wise, at a minimum, to start scrubbing lists to eliminate addresses that have not expressly opted in, and review their marketing forms. In addition, privacy policies may require review…your legal and/or compliance teams will be able to assist.
A good high-level review of the the new law and a link to the full text of the legislation appears on ClickZ.
3 Reasons Why DIY Marketing Doesn't Work in LegalAuthor: Cathy Kenton
This post is the first in a series.
For nearly 10 years I've worked with companies that sell products and services to lawyers. In that time, I've spoken with many executives that decided they either couldn't afford outside marketing/business development assistance or they knew enough to continue tackling their marketing challenges internally.
Early in our conversations, when discussing their goals, they most often cited a desire to build their revenues to a size that would allow them to attract acquisition partners, or they wanted to increase profitability. And yet today, most of those DIY companies continue to struggle to grow or survive. They do so without a plan, and often market by the 'seat of their pants'.
So, here are 3 reasons why DIY doesn't work in the legal industry:
1. You lack objectivity
Let's face it. For many legal entrepreneurs, your product or service isn't just your business, it's your baby. You've developed it because of a void you identified in the market…and if it works for you, it must be good for others. But successfully marketing and building a business takes more than good ideas and passion. It requires the ability to evaluate market forces with neutrality
2. You've become your own focus group
You're the expert; nobody knows your product/service as well as you. Time and again, I've encountered companies that are so convinced of the benefits of their product/service that they fail to listen to their market. Plus, in an ever-changing communications landscape you may not be connecting with your prospects using the channels they prefer. Successful companies find a way to involve their customers and their prospects in both their product development and their communications.
3. Your personal preferences
An early mentor taught me that the only personal preferences that ever matter are those of your customers and prospects, not your personal preferences. Everything from messaging, to marketing channels, to imagery, to the use of color and type style must be geared to your buyer persona(s). Take yourself out of the equation and put yourself into the shoes of your prospects. Will your marketing appeal to them?
To summarize, DIY marketing won't work if you're too close to your business. You're the expert at what you do, but can you honestly stay abreast of all the changes to the marketing mix? And can you afford to take your own advice?
What Legal Marketers Can Learn From Charlie SheenAuthor: Cathy Kenton
In the last month Charlie Sheen has been grabbing headlines and airspace at a dizzying speed, and not necessarily for the best of reasons. Yet, his stock has likely never been higher. Consider that Mr. Sheen logged a Guinness World Record for amassing more than one million followers on Twitter in less than 24 hours. No less than a week after starting to post, @charliesheen already has exceeded two million followers.
It's no matter whether you agree/sympathize with him or not, he is yet another example of how our society continues to become more and more social. In fact, I doubt he cares one bit whether his followers agree or disagree with his outlook or life style.
What Does This Mean for Legal Vendors?
Communications and marketing as we've known them for decades (including the evolution of email) is changing faster than we may want to accept. Mr. Sheen's motivation/strategy for joining the Twittersphere isn't important, but you can be certain that his future/former employers are absolutely taking notice of his following. I for one won't be surprised to see his sitcom return to production.
The message here…if we don't get onboard, we'll be left behind. While it may feel comfortable to doubt the validity of social communication, particularly in the legal community, the world has changed and lawyers and the companies that provide products and services to them need to change with it.
If you haven't yet embraced social communication, you need to join the new world order. But do so with a strategy…you can bet Charlie Sheen has one.


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Jeff Beckington is a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. He focuses his practice on international trade and customs matters.
For over three decades, Mr. Beckington has represented various U.S. companies in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, escape clause actions, export control issues, customs matters, market access issues and dispute settlements before the World Trade Organization.
Mr. Beckington practices before the U.S. Commerce Department, U.S. Trade Representative's Office, U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Court of International Trade and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Mr. Beckington served on active duty as an artillery officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1970-1975.
Representative Experience
Represented U.S. manufacturers and unions producing brass sheet and strip and low-fuming brazing rod in a series of antidumping and countervailing duty cases and sunset reviews against imports from multiple countries.
Represented U.S. stainless steel companies and workers in obtaining antidumping and countervailing duty orders on a broad cross-section of stainless steel products.
Represented various U.S. firms in securing the necessary licenses from federal agencies to export a wide range of technical data, software and merchandise.
Represented U.S. companies and workers in connection with legislative efforts to strengthen U.S. trade law.
Represented the China Currency Coalition in its efforts to amend U.S. trade law to enable injured U.S. industries to offset imports that are low-priced due to exchange-rate misalignment by China or any other foreign country.
Memberships & Associations
American Society of International Law
Professional Activities
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Advisory Board, 2002-present
Honors & Awards
Martindale-Hubbell A/V Rated
Recommended in US Legal 500 for his work in the International Trade area, 2014.
The American Lawyer Magazine 2012 Top Rated Lawyers® for Washington, D.C. & Baltimore


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At a recent kgotla meeting in Ghanzi, Labour and Home Affairs Minister Edwin Jenamiso Batshu made it clear that foreign men cannot gain Botswana citizenship by simply marrying Batswana women.
This decision however, did not go down well with some women in the country who seem to prefer foreigners to local men.
The Voice Correspondent was in a combi from Zwenshambe to Francistown this past weekend when the subject of who makes better lovers between foreigners and locals was discussed.
GREY HAIRED LADY: Batho (people) did you watch Botswana Television (Btv) news yesterday. I could not believe my ears.
What Batshu said is unbelievable. Re siele kae jaanong?
(Where are we going to find solace?).
LADY IN RED JERSEY: I have been thinking that the statement he made was picked by me alone.
As old as you are, are you concerned about the issues that the minister was talking about in Ghanzi?
What is your interest in this old lady?
GREY HAIRED LADY: Old lady is that dog you left at your place in Mapoka.
Who told you that I am an old lady?
We are talking about serious issues that affect our lives and you are creating a joke out of it!
The minister should have told us well in time about the development he revealed recently.
If he really meant what he said then we are in for a hard time.
LADY IN RED JERSEY: Are you telling us that you are still sexually active?
There are better things for you to cry about old lady, not sex.
You should be complaining about the meager pension that the government is giving you monthly.
GREY HAIRED LADY: I think arguing with you is a waste of time and energy.
Over and above that you look very young and do not understand much about sex.
If you must know sex becomes more pleasant as you grow older.
After reaching menopause it is even more pleasant because one does not worry about pregnancy.
LADY IN RED JERSEY: Wow! It is my first time to hear that. I think you can give us more information on that.
GREY HAIRED LADY: I am not talking about merely having sexual intercourse. Foreign men are the best in bed.
Local men do not know how to do it because they do not have the stamina and the technique to please a woman.
But have a Zimbabwean man by your side all night and you will know what I am talking about.
That is why I am very disappointed that Batshu is seemingly moving towards telling us who to love and who not to love.
A young girl who has been quiet when the old lady was arguing with the lady in a red jersey cuts in.
YOUNG GIRL: Zimbabweans are not the perfect men.
They are good but there are Zambians.
Men from Zambia know how to satisfy a woman.
With a Zambian man, there is no woman who can think of cheating.
They know how to give a woman everything she needs.
These men have been providing that scarce skill that local men lack.
I agree with you old lady, the minister should reconsider his decision.
GREY HAIRED LADY: I feel pity for you the younger generation.
I have enjoyed sex with my Zimbabwean man and he has since been granted citizenship.
If the minister was indeed serious about the decision you will be forced to marry "useless local men."
The combi arrives in Francistown as the women agree to march to Gaborone in a bid to register their displeasure.


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Ebola is such a contagious and deadly disease. This is the worst outbreak ever, both in terms of numbers affected and geographic region. It is the first time Ebola has appeared in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, so there's a lot of misunderstanding, which breeds fear, and it's that fear that presents the biggest challenge.
A remarkable revolution is taking place in finance, not in the City, but under the shade of large communal trees in villages across Africa and the developing world. It's a savings revolution, and one with the potential to pump $157 billion into the global economy, and particularly developing nations, if the 2.7bn adults worldwide who are 'unbanked' participate in savings-led microfinance programmes.
A child's right to protection is everything - and the Millennium Development Goals, agreed at the turn of the century with ambitious development targets for 2015, have achieved much we should be proud of.
This week, David Cameron sets off to Liberia's capital, Monrovia, for influential UN talks on what should replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015. The cynics would say this is another talking shop, an opportunity for the great and the good to come together and pontificate on poverty. I am not one of them.
Former prime minister Tony Blair suffered an awkward few minutes in an interview alongside Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, when he refused t...
Today we celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Two weeks ago on Armistice Day we remembered those who died in the wars of last century and this. In just over two weeks' time the Nobel Peace Prize will be presented in Oslo to three women. The connection is this. A century ago 80% of the casualties in war were soldiers, 20% were civilians; today that ratio is reversed. In war zones such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the death toll has reached more than 5 million - the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II - where one of the main weapons of war is rape.
A child born in Africa today will be eligible to vote by 2030. I hope, with the spread of stability and democracy, that they will be able to exercise that right. And I believe, with appropriate support externally, and enough political will internally, they will vote for a government which sets its own agenda, and delivers it from its own resources.


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The Top 10 In Action Sports
01Afghanistan May Be Best Known As A War Zone, But That Didn't Stop These Mountain Bikers…
02The 5 Clichéd 'Truths' You Should Avoid When Buying a Mountain Bike
03You Thought Selfies Were Bad? This Is What They're Getting Up To In New Zealand
04Check Out Danny MacAskill Riding An 174 Foot Crane!!
05There's A Reason Surfers Are Some Of The Most Hardcore People On The Planet
06You Won't Believe Why These Commonwealth Cyclists Were Stopped By The Police!
07Would You Jump 11,000ft From A Heli In A Kayak?
08The Course For This Colorado Slopestyle Comp Looks Sick!
09Is This Shark Bike The Coolest Ever In The Tour De France?
10Think Lance Armstrong Was Bad? He's Got Nothing on These Crazy Cheats From Tour de France History
Absinthe Twe12ve: Making of… episode 2 - Backcountry BC
A Snowboarding video by keltron - 5,527 views
Revelstoke, Whitewater, just two of the amazing places the guys went to shoot for the Absinthe movie. The guys talk about how much fun Sylvain is and how good their guide Seb was. If you ever need a man who knows Revelstoke, find this guy!
What Do You Think?
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REsources for alumni
We are pleased to offer several ways for alumni to connect with current students, as well as fellow graduates:
- Join the Harvard GSD LinkedIn Group, a terrific networking tool available exclusively to the GSD community. Learn more.
- Learn about related programs and events for GSD alumni
- The GSD Alumni Council is a group of alumni who return to the GSD twice yearly to discuss issues regarding alumni contributions to the school. Council members are available to GSD students and alumni for advising and networking opportunities.
- Find fellow graduates through Post.Harvard, an online community which connects Harvard alumni throughout the University.
- Crimson Compass is a service sponsored by the Harvard Alumni Association. It provides a means for Harvard alumni to contact fellow graduates in their professional field or industry for the purpose of career advisement.
Recruit at the GSD
We welcome the active involvement of GSD alumni in recruiting efforts. Choose the method that works best for your organization or contact us for details. We look forward to working with you!
- Schedule a spring visit to recruit on campus at the GSD. Call Anne Creamer at 617-495-4296 to handle arrangements for your visit.
- Post an opportunity on for students and alumni. Email jobs to email@example.com, or post them directly via your employer account on CREATE.
- Participate in our employer database at CREATE. The name of your organization, GSD alumni who are employed there, and the firm/organization's website are included in this password-protected database. Contact Meryl Golden, Director of Career Services, at 617-495-4289 to express your interest.
Find Job Opportunities
GSD alumni may review job opportunities through our online system, CREATE. Email email@example.com with your name, degree, year of graduation and your Post.Harvard.edu username, and we will create an account for you.
Connect with GSD Students
We invite GSD alumni to return to participate in career programs, seminars and networking events. Please contact Meryl Golden at email@example.com if you are interested in participating in an on-campus event.


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HOME » Events
Australian Winter Black Truffles at Hugo's
The new Head Chef of Hugo's, Renaud Marin, is presenting a series of Australian black winter truffle delicacies this June and July.
Chef Renaud recommends the Veal Carpaccio with Shaved Fresh Black Truffle as the starter, which is sided with a mixed leaf salad, rosemary and blossom honey dressing. Diners may also try the Vegetable Casserole with Pata Negra and Black Truffle. Another good pick is Butter Poached Fillet of French Line Caught Sea Bass with Shaved Fresh Black Truffle, which is sided with braised young fennel, ratte potato fondant. The Organic Rhug Estate Suckling Pig with Black Truffle is also not-be-be-missed. It is complemented with a savory potato cake, and finished with a marsala pork jus which has a nutty flavour combining well with the sweetness of the pork.
In addition to the black winter truffle menu, Hugo's also offers the experience of table side fresh shaved truffles for any course on the Hugo's menu.


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Tag: WrenSoundSystems
Wren Sound Systems V5AP AirPlay speaker: Stunning design, incredible sound
When it comes to getting music from your iOS device to a good speaker, there are a lot of different methods. There's the tried and true dock method, which can fall to pieces when Apple comes out with a new connector design as they did last year with Lightning. Some manufacturers have the mistaken...
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Software Updatesmore updates
- Fantastical 2.1 for iOS adds new snooze, search and notification features
- ExpanDrive 4, more services and faster sync
- Apple adds iTunes Extras to Apple TV
- Spotify updates with new iPhone controls in time for summer BBQs
- iTunes U update will bring course creation and student discussion to iPad app
- Dropbox for iOS update adds new setup and file management options


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2 tbsp vegetable oil
6 shallots (preferably Thai) peeled, finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed to a paste with a little salt
40g/1½oz ginger, peeled, finely grated
4 lemongrass stalks, tender part only, finely chopped
6 lime leaves, shredded
2-3 green chillies, seeded and finely chopped, to taste
600ml/1pt coconut milk
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
600g/1lb 5oz monkfish tails, cut into large chunks
200g/7oz tinned water chestnuts, drained
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
1 lime, juice only
4 tbsp Thai basil leaves (available from Asian grocers), torn, to serve
250g/9oz Thai jasmine rice
500ml/17½fl oz water
1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
For the monkfish curry, heat the oil in a large wok until smoking and stir-fry the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves and green chillies for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the volume of the liquid has reduced slightly.
Add the coriander, monkfish and water chestnuts and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Stir in the fish sauce and lime juice.
Meanwhile, for the Thai jasmine rice, place the rice and lemongrass stalk into a saucepan, cover with the water and simmer gently for 12-15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all of the water and is tender. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes.
To serve, spoon some of the Thai jasmine rice onto each of 4 serving plates. Spoon some monkfish curry on top and sprinkle over the Thai basil leaves.
Type the ingredients you want to use, then click Go. For better results you can use quotation marks around phrases (e.g. "chicken breast"). Alternatively you can search by chef, programme, cuisine, diet, or dish (e.g. Lasagne).
James Martin takes a look back at some of his favourite recipes and best moments.
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Matt Pentz on a Tunisia wonderstrike at 1st found games in the AFCON
At first glance, it's hard to pick out a single, unifying theme from the opening slate of group games from the 2013 African Cup of Nations.
After all, a stylistic diversity, both in terms of tactics and quality of play, is part of what makes the event so unique.
Nigeria v. Burkina Faso, for example, prized physicality over skill, while the preceding Zambia-Ethiopia match stood out with its patient, flowing pace. There have been pulsating moments – the second half of Ghana v. DR Congo – and stretches of mind-numbing staleness – the entirety of the South Africa-Cape Verde opener.
But after a stretch of eight matches that produced a surprising quality of draws, the defining quality of this tournament thus far has been the quality of the transcendent individual performances that have occasionally broken the deadlock.
There were three draws in the entire group stage of the 2012 tournament. This edition has already had five, and the opening day set the tone.
Cape Verde lacked the quality to push for a result, while the hosts were a toxic combination of inept and tentative. With the disappointing setback of the 2010 World Cup still lingering over the team, Bafana Bafana seemed paralyzed by fear of mistakes. An expectant, impatient crowd did little to encourage them. By halftime, it became clear that the two sides could play for 180 minutes and never score.
The following match also finished nil-nil, but at least both Angola and Morocco were willing to push forward. Hulking Angolan striker Manucho personified the ultimately fruitless but admirable perseverance, hurling himself at every half chance and trying to will the ball into the net.
Manucho failed to compliment his exertions with a goal, but Malian captain Seydou Keita built on the theme of the one-man difference maker a night later with greater success.
Stubborn Niger was six minutes of normal time from holding favored Mali and producing the fourth draw out of four for the tournament. Keita had been omnipresent throughout, even hitting the bar in the 77th minute, but looked destined for Manucho's fate until he pounced on a fumbled shot to produce the lone goal. It was no less than he, and balanced, spirited Mali, deserved.


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Ada —
In 1990, a group of 11 freshmen started for first-year head coach Hank Walbrick and went 1-9. That group of football players continued to fight and improved to 5-4-1 in 1991 and 6-3 in 1992.
Then in 1993, they accomplished something that no team from East Central University, in any sport, has repeated. They won a national championship.
"It was a dream year that didn't start out that way," Walbrick said. "We had built the team since 1990, with 11 freshmen starting. Of those 11, 10 were still with us in 1993 and were the nucleus and leadership of the team. I didn't have to do a lot of motivating when I had players like that doing it for me."
This year's Homecoming will be all about remembering the 1990s, and what better way for the ECU athletics department to get involved than to honor its national championship?
"Everything that season was very consistent," said ECU flanker back Jason Clements. "The Monday practice before the national championship, we started out doing the same thing that we did on the first day of August: two-a-days. The coaches did a super job of having a plan for the year and taking the talent and players we had and knowing what to do with them that year."
The 1993 ECU football squad finished the season 10-3 overall, 3-2 in the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference and had a perfect 7-0 record at Norris Field. After going 7-3 in the regular season and earning a No. 7 ranking, the Tigers had to wait to find out if they would make the eight-team field due to a final regular-season loss at Southeastern.
"After we lost to Southeastern, we thought that we had lost our chance to make the playoffs," Walbrick said. "But we were fortunate enough that a lot of the other teams below us also lost. So we got a second chance. When I talked to the team, I told them that while we didn't take care of business at Southeastern, we had a second chance and we couldn't let that one slide."


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Health News
News on Health continually updated from thousands of sources around the net.
2 hrs ago | Click Orlando
Hospital prepared to treat Ebola patients
Ebola is brutal. Those afflicted often bleed uncontrollably, vomit profusely, lose function of their kidneys and other organs, and -- in over half the cases recently in West Africa -- die.
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Iran opens first state-run alcohol rehab center
According to the report by ISNA, the center was inaugurated at the Tehran University's Medical School.
13 hrs ago | The Island Packet
Sex education should start sooner, study finds
To significantly decrease unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal deaths and sexually transmitted diseases globally, we should start talking to boys and girls about their sexual and reproductive health as young as age 10, says a new study out of Georgetown University.
17 hrs ago | Reuters
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Yesterday | News Observer
FDA approves Boehringer's once-a-day inhaler drug
The agency approved Striverdi Respimat for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes bronchitis and emphysema and affects about 24 million people in the U.S. The disease, which is most often caused by smoking, is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.
Heroin overdose deaths continue to rise in Kentucky
The Office of Drug Control Policy says 230 people died from heroin overdoses in 2013, a 60 percent increase from 2012.
California company recalls food on botulism fears
The California Department of Public Health warned consumers Wednesday to avoid some products from San Clemente-based VR Green Farms.
Toronto mayor Ford orders 5 espressos in video
Deadmau5 posted a YouTube video of his coffee run with Ford, who left a rehab center for drug and alcohol addiction last month.
Two patients seek to launch class-action suit against Montreal hospital
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1 Dead, 1 Sickened from Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Sarasota County health officials have issued a warning against eating raw oysters and exposing open wounds to coastal and inland waters after one person died and another was sickened by a flesh-eating bacteria.
Embarrassing diseases are a real pain in the...
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New study identifies why some deal with stress better
Researchers say a specific electrical pattern in the brain of otherwise genetically identical mice can predict how well they will cope with stress.
Updated: Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:57 pm
Copyright © 2014 Topix LLC


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jessica biel
- February 16, 2007 at 2:55 pm
i LOVE your site! The thing about celebrity fashion is that half of the things they receive are given to them by companies who are looking to score free advertising. I love, love, love, putting together a similar the LOOK FOR LESS!
- February 16, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Wow, you are dead on with her look. Nice.
- February 17, 2007 at 2:08 am
I love the concept for your blog, and I can appreciate how much work must go into assembling each outfit!
- February 18, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Like the outfit, love the bag!
- February 19, 2007 at 1:40 pm
i looooooove this look..it's so cute!!! love jessica biel too..
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SEATTLE -- For the past two years, a giant rainbow flag waved above the Space Needle during Seattle's gay pride celebration, but that will not be the case this weekend.
"As we don't raise any flag but the American flag on a regular basis, there are no plans to raise the Rainbow Flag again this year," the Space Needle said this week in a statement. "We will continue to support equal rights and actively foster these causes as we have in the past."
The decision comes during a year when Washington will vote on same-sex marriage, but a Space Needle spokeswoman said politics had nothing to do with its decision.
Still, many in Seattle's gay and lesbian community are upset.
"I got really frustrated about it," said Howard Russell, who plans on attending pride festivities this weekend. "It's a rainbow. We see the rainbow in the sky every day. ... Why would you not want to see it hanging from something as beautiful as the Space Needle?"
The Space Needle initially nixed flying the rainbow flag last year, but then changed its mind, challenging Seattle to raise $50,000 for LGBT charities. The goal was met and the flag was raised.
But there are no plans for such a fundraising challenge this year.
Joseph Backholm of Preserve Marriage Washington, a group that opposes same-sex marriage and pushed for a statewide vote this November, said businesses should realize that many do not support gay marriage.
"Why would a business make a decision to do something that they know is going to put them at odds with a large percentage of their customer base?" Backholm asked.
Pride organizers said they were "saddened" to learn the rainbow flag would not fly again, but they are staying focused on this weekend's events, including the parade, which starts at 11 a.m. Sunday.
'We raise OUR flag wherever we can," Adam Rosencrantz, president of Seattle Out and Proud, said in a statement.


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Westinghouse showed up at CES this year with a bit of a surprise: a 110-inch Ultra High-Definition television. We met up with the company here at the Las Vegas Hotel (don't ask us how they managed to roll the set into a suite) to get a look at this monster of a television for ourselves. After stepping into the room, the TV completely overwhelmed us. However, unlike nearly every other massive TV we've seen out there, the QX110 was not disappointing to look at. While 1080p doesn't suit a gigantic TV very well, 4K does fill out the display with enough pixels to make a pleasurable viewing experience. However, the model we saw had some other issues to speak of. A large, dark band went down the center the screen, and colors did appear to be slightly washed out. We were assured that these issues were only present on this prototype unit, and the company claims the TV uses the same display from ChinaStar as Samsung's 84-inch 4K TV. The TV's body showed its early stage: the back isn't covered in any way, and light leaked out of the rear. Still, Westinghouse expects to sell the TV for $299,999.99 as a made-to-order product by the end of Q1.
If you're looking for a cheaper 4K alternative from Westinghouse (we can't blame you), it has also introduced 50-, 55-, and 65-inch UHD televisions here at CES. The 55-inch wasn't here, but the other two looked identical. Like all other 4K TV's we've seen, they looked great and had excellent viewing angles, though we weren't impressed with the supposed 1080p upscaling feature. It's worth noting that there are little to no extra features here: the design is spartan, to say the least, and there's no Wi-Fi or other smart TV features — though you can plug a Roku Streaming Stick into them. The three TVs will be available later this quarter for $2,499.99, $2,999.99, and $3,999.00, respectively.
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Grand View staff offers a variety of health-care services that will help you remain safe and comfortable in your home.
Community Nurse - Home Care
Our home care staff visits you in your home one or more times a week, as you recover from surgery or need help in managing your illness.
Grand View Hospice
For patients no longer receiving curative treatment, Grand View Hospice provides comfort, symptom management and support services. Using a team approach, including pastors, social workers and home health aides, hospice services address physical, emotional and spiritual concerns. Complementary services such as massage, music and pet therapy are also available.
Transitions in Care Program - Palliative Care
The Palliative Care Program at Grand View Hospital provides comfort care and symptom management for seriously ill patients while they continue to receive curative treatment. The program also assists you and your family members in understanding the choices available for your care.
Grand View Medical Equipment Company
The Grand View Medical Equipment Company staff offers a full range of home health-care equipment and supplies, from hospital beds to breast pumps to home oxygen systems. Our knowledgeable, courteous staff delivers items to your home and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency service.
Maternal-Newborn Home Care
Maternal-Newborn Home Care services are available to all maternity patients including those who have delivered at facilities other than Grand View Hospital.
Case Management
Should you need to visit the hospital, the nurses and social workers of Grand View's Case Management Department will coordinate a smooth transition from hospital to home, hospice or long-term living facility.


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DescriptionTurnBlockPuzzle free version.
TurnBlockPuzzle the random orientation of the inverted block
Every face is a puzzle game according to how you choose.
Selected block is a block behind the table was already in the table and behind the block.
Game settings
The number of blocks divided 5X5, 6X6, 7X7 It is possible that.
The free version is only playable with up and down pattern in the right way to choose one.
The paid version of the TurnBlockPuzzle
How to choose, mainly at the touch
In the left upper and lower right upper left upper right lower left,
+1 Blocks in the upper and lower left, lower right upper left upper right lower left +1 can also how to select a block away.
As a bonus feature,
If you put a high score, you can connect to the server ranking scores.
Registration to the server ranking, guaranteed bonus features work is not so.


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Could Israeli airstrikes benefit Assad's regime?
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It's very easy to think of Shakespeare as a one-off genius with a unique perspective on the world around him. However, Shakespeare was very much a product of the huge cultural shifts that were occurring in Elizabethan England during his lifetime.
He was working in the theater at the height of the renaissance movement, something that is reflected in Shakespeare's plays.
The Renaissance in Shakespeare's Time
Broadly speaking, the renaissance movement is used to describe how Europeans moved away from the restrictive ideas of the Middle Ages. The ideology that dominated the Middle Ages was heavily focused on the absolute power of God and was enforced by the formidable Catholic Church.
From the Fourteenth Century onwards, people started to break away from this idea. The renaissance movement did not necessarily reject the idea of God, but rather questioned humankind's relationship to God – an idea that caused an unprecedented upheaval in the accepted social hierarchy. In fact, Shakespeare himself may have been Catholic.
This focus on humanity created a new-found freedom for artists, writers and philosophers to be inquisitive about the world around them.
Shakespeare: the Renaissance Man
Shakespeare was born towards the end of the renaissance period and was one of the first to bring the renaissance's core values to the theater.
Shakespeare Embraced the Renaissance in the Following Ways:
- Shakespeare updated the simplistic, two-dimensional writing style of pre-renaissance drama. He focused on creating "human" characters with psychologically complexity. Hamlet is perhaps the most famous example of this.
- The upheaval in the accepted social hierarchy allowed Shakespeare to explore the humanity of every character regardless of their social position. Even monarchs are given human emotions and are capable of making mistakes.
- Shakespeare utilized his knowledge of Greek and Roman classics when writing his plays. Before the renaissance, these texts had been suppressed by the Catholic Church.


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In this issue:
- Fresh thinking on urban transit
- Water resources bill a missed opportunity
- Resolving the commuting-time paradox
- Bicycle community's quest for more
- Vehicle occupant detection breakthrough?
- Upcoming Conferences
- News Notes
- Quotable Quotes
Three Reports Offer Fresh Thinking on Urban Transit
During the last few weeks three refreshing perspectives on urban transit have crossed my screen, which I'm pleased to summarize and encourage you to read in full.
In the first piece, Henry Grabar recounts how transit consultant Jarrett Walker is helping Houston reconfigure its bus transit system, converting it into a "frequent network." The idea is to refocus bus routes and frequencies toward corridors and areas with high potential ridership and away from places with low potential ridership. That sounds obvious, but politics in most metro areas stresses things like "geographic equity," which generally spreads out bus service to large portions of the metro area where demand is low and costs are high. The aim of Walker's redesign is to do just the opposite. Calculations predict that the revamped design will, with no increase in budget, increase bus ridership by 20%. The percentage of potential riders with access to frequent service will increase from 49% on weekdays (and just 25% on weekends) to 73% seven days a week, 15 hours a day. That is, of course, if politics does not veto the plan. The article has an over-hyped title of "Mass Transit Magic: How America's Fourth-Largest City Can Abandon Its Addiction to Cars," but is still very much worth reading (Salon, May 25th).
The second article takes a very different tack, "How Cars, Not Subways, Will Make Us Richer." Written by Scott Beyer for the Daily Beast (June 4th), it begins with the 2011 study from Brookings finding that in America's hundred largest metro areas, only 22% of low- and middle-skill jobs are accessible via transit in less than 90 minutes (which is more than three times the duration of the average auto commute, BTW). It then summarizes a report from the Urban Institute led by Rolf Pendall, which found that transit access has little effect on people's economic success. By contrast, the study team found that low-income people with automobile access were twice as likely as transit users to find jobs and four times as likely to keep them. Beyer suggests that planners need to give greater attention to ways of increasing auto access for lower-income people who are not well-served by transit systems. The report is "Driving to Opportunity," released by the Urban Institute in March 2014, written by a team of people from Urban Institute, the National Center for Smart Growth (at University of Maryland), and the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA.
Finally, the next day (June 5th) CityLab published a comprehensive piece by David Levinson of the University of Minnesota: "How to Make Mass Transit Financially Sustainable Once and for All." To introduce the subject, he makes a good case that over the last 40 years or so, transit has been in a state of crisis that we have mostly refused to recognize. "Current strategies have not placed transit on a financially sustainable path," he writes—and he's correct. As a long-time transportation researcher, Levinson has thought a lot about this problem, concluding that "transit should be successful and cover its costs," but to do that it needs to be reconceptualized as a kind of public utility. The rest of the piece sets forth and briefly explains seven key aspects of this model:
- Reduce costs by competitive tendering of bus service as done in London;
- Increase fares, so that the average farebox recovery eventually exceeds 100% of operating costs (with transit vouchers for the poor);
- Require the use of a smart card and encourage seasonal passes;
- Cancel money-losing routes unless someone is willing to subsidize them;
- Recover future capital costs via land value capture (see NCHRP synthesis 459, "Using the Economic Value Created by Transportation to Fund Transportation");
- Raise capital in bond and equity markets, like other utilities do; and,
- Fund transit locally, since its benefits are local.
These are very provocative ideas, and I think they are worth serious consideration, as transit faces the likelihood of declining federal support and massive fleet replacement and infrastructure refurbishment costs in coming decades. And I find it encouraging that Levinson's piece is part of the CityLab "Future of Transportation" series funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
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The Water Resources Bill's Missed Opportunity
America's inland waterways are in sad shape, with aging locks and dams and chronic dredging problems. Unlike highways and railroads, the principal competitors of waterways for moving freight, waterways are largely funded out of federal general funds, with only a token user tax on fuel that covers just 8 to 10% of the capital and operating costs of the waterways system, according to U.S. DOT. Every so often Congress enacts a new Water Resources & Development Act that decides on harbor, waterways, and domestic water and wastewater projects overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers. As I write this, a new WRDA that passed with heavy bipartisan support has just received the President's signature.
Although it contains a new federal loan program called WIFIA (inspired by the successful highways and transit TIFIA program) and a new Water Infrastructure PPP Program, those new efforts are seen as next-to-useless for waterways by the P3 community. To begin with, WIFIA does not even apply to waterways projects—only to the non-waterway programs authorized under WRDA. Also, it also prohibits the use of tax-exempt private activity bonds (PABs) on WIFIA-aided projects (which will make any such P3 projects a lot harder to finance compared with highway and transit projects that can use both PABs and TIFIA). The bill's P3 provisions for waterways projects apply to new construction (design-build) projects only, and include no new dedicated revenue source (such as a toll to use a modern replacement lock). And each individual P3 project must be designated and approved by Congress.
A strikingly different approach has been proposed by an important waterways customer, the Soybean Export Council, in a new report released in December 2013 called "Proposed Public-Private Partnership Projects for U.S. Inland Waterways Infrastructure Financing, Operations, and Governance." The report, done by the Horinko Group, shows both a solid understanding of what is wrong with the waterways status quo (governance and funding) and a real familiarity with what long-term P3s are, how they differ from the status quo, and what would be required to apply them to inland waterways projects.
First, the report questions—on sound economic grounds--the huge $62 billion Army Corps of Engineers backlog of "needs" to replace aging and obsolescent locks. It notes that barge traffic is in a long-term decline, despite its heavily subsidized, below-market prices to shippers. It strongly criticizes the Army Corps' current policy of "fix-as-fail" (i.e., waiting till a lock fails before repairing it) as opposed to a more sensible asset-management policy of routine preventive maintenance. Second, it points out that for the average cost of one lock construction project ($377 million) the Corps could carry out nine major rehabilitation projects (average cost $41 million each). Based on these and other points, it recommends that a serious P3 program should focus on rehabilitation and long-term operations & maintenance, as being both more cost-effective than current policy and far more likely to be financeable (since many or perhaps most lock replacement projects could not pass a market test).
With some help from the soybean people, the report identifies two specific sets of locks (two on the Illinois River and three on the Upper Mississippi) as candidates for a pilot P3 program. It reviews several potential revenue streams (e.g, adding low-head hydro to the dams and selling the electricity) and finds them inadequate for debt service on the revenue bonds that would be needed to finance such projects. So it bites the bullet and concludes that "some type of user (lockage) fee, requiring congressional authorization, is needed." And it cites examples such as the Panama Canal and several waterway P3 projects in Europe which are being financed based on such direct user fee revenue streams. An earlier (2012) report by the Soy Transportation Coalition noted that the Army Corps' own Water Resources Institute has suggested lock tolls to finance P3 projects to improve individual waterways.
This report is the best thing I've read on fixing what's wrong with America's Inland Waterway system. It should provide guidance for a major restructuring (or at least a serious P3 pilot program) in the next WRDA bill.
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Resolving the Urban Travel Time Mystery
Much of today's conventional wisdom about land-use and transportation maintains that "urban sprawl" is the reason for ever-longer commuting trips and much urban traffic congestion. This quote from the Sierra Club's website is typical:
"Sprawl spreads development out over large amounts of land; puts long distances between homes, stores, and job centers; and makes people more and more dependent on driving in their daily lives . . . Sprawl lengthens trips and forces us to drive everywhere."
Yet for three decades Peter Gordon and Harry Richardson have been using Census Bureau commuting statistics to show that average auto commute times have hardly increased at all, despite the ongoing trend of "sprawl" in all U.S. metro areas. In a 1996 paper, they used the example of metro Los Angeles to suggest that perhaps it is the development of polycentric urban areas, in which jobs follow residents to suburbs, that explains what they had called the commuting paradox.
But what had been surmised by observation has now been modeled using an economics-based model. In a March 2014 paper, "Why Are Urban Travel Times So Stable?" economist Alex Anas of SUNY Buffalo uses a computable general equilibrium model of the Chicago metro area to simulate the impact on travel time of the 24% population increase projected by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) between 2000 and 2030. The model includes changes in land prices over time that influence location decisions, which traditional transportation planning models ignore. The results are highly supportive of travel time stability.
In the paper Anas reviews several different runs of the model. The baseline version assumes that Chicago MSA highway capacity increases by 2030 to the extent assumed in CMAP's long-range plan. This version shows urbanized land area increasing by 19%, but average commuting trip mileage getting shorter (per-capita work-trip VMT declines by 7.1%). Given the larger-than-average transit system in metro Chicago, transit trips increase by 55% between 2000 and 2030. Both average commute times and average overall trip times increase only modestly, however: automobile commute times by just under 3% (from 30 min. in 2000 to 31.7 in 2030); transit trip durations are nearly unchanged. In an alternate scenario in which no highway capacity is added, congestion is considerably greater than in the baseline, and VMT per person decreases by nearly 13.7%. In this version, car travel times increase over 30 years by only 4.5% for work trips and 6.25% for all trips. Transit use is slightly higher, increasing by 57% rather than the 55% increase in the baseline.
A significant factor in these changes is relocations of housing, services, and jobs to the suburbs and exurbs, even in the no-added-highway-capacity scenario. As Anas sums up:
"As congestion per mile increases with economic growth and slow expansion of road capacity, it is the switching to public transit, the reduction in lengths and numbers of non-work trips, and the relocation of jobs and population that keeps travel durations in check as businesses and consumers adjust to higher congestion. Cause and effect have been established, and there is indeed 'no paradox' as correctly conjectured by Gordon, Richardson, and Jun more than twenty years ago."
Every transportation planner should read this challenging paper.
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The Bicycle Community's Quest for More
There is a major push afoot to increase federal taxpayer support for bicycle commuting, with various advocacy groups trying various methods to get people to ignore the different roles of federal, state, and local governments. The idea seems to be that if something can be portrayed as "good," federal taxpayers should be paying for it.
The first part of the campaign is to exaggerate the extent of bicycle commuting. The main source of detailed data is a May 2014 report from the Census Bureau, based on its American Community Survey data, called "Modes Less Traveled—Bicycling and Walking to Work in the United States: 2008-2012." The headline figure used by cycling groups is that in large metro areas, bicycle commuting increased from 0.6% of all commuters in 2000 to 1.0% in the 2008-2012 period covered by ACS data. But as Figure 3 in "Modes Less Traveled" makes clear, between the 1980 census and 2010 (midpoint of the new ACS data), biking's share of commuting nationwide increased from 0.5% to 0.6%. That led to a headline in Slate (May 8th) reading "Bicycle Commuting Rates Rocket from 0.5 Percent to 0.6 Percent in Only 32 Years." Author Ben Mathis-Lilley—himself a cyclist-- asked the question "Is it a nationally significant movement or the indulgence of a relatively negligible number of urban elites?"
A second part of the campaign is health benefits. To be sure, in general people who exercise are generally healthier than couch potatoes, but it's far from clear that the handful of people who commute by bike would have any impact on comparative overall health statistics. Yet here is an April 17th headline from Streetsblog USA: "More Walking and Biking, Better Health: New Evidence from American Cities." What follows this headline is Angie Schmidt's brief article presenting three graphs comparing the incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity not by city but by state, with scatter-plots of each state's percent of bicycle/pedestrian commuting and its incidence of the health condition in question.
The correlations (R2) between bike/ped mode share and the medical condition range from a pathetic 0.4 for obesity to a still-dicey 0.52 for diabetes. There are likely dozens of variables far better correlated with the incidence of these conditions than biking or walking to work—and besides, as we all should know, correlation is not the same as causation.
A more serious concern is death and injury to pedestrians and cyclists due to interacting with automobiles on streets and highways. That is the focus of the latest edition of "Dangerous by Design," also released in May by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition. Its methodology is to use data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), aggregated for 360 U.S. metro areas to create for each a Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI). The PDI is the ratio of each metro area's 2008-2012 average annual pedestrian fatality rate per capita and its percentage of commuters walking to work. The reported PDIs for large metro areas range from a high of 244 in Orlando to just 18.6 in Boston. Overall, there seems to be a direct relationship between the PDI and the extent of suburbanization, with the highest PDIs in the large low-density metro areas in states like Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Arizona and the lowest ones in denser metros like New York City, Pittsburgh, and Boston.
Needless to say, the news releases summarizing the study conveyed the "sprawl causes death" message, which was largely picked up on an array of news stories that I reviewed. But as I pointed out to a reporter who called me about the study, correlation does not equal causation. While the report asserts that suburbanized areas have higher pedestrian accidents and death rates because they are too auto-oriented, it provides no supporting data on the comparative amount of sidewalks, marked crosswalks, pedestrian walk lights, or anything of the kind. And although it presents national data that show different pedestrian fatality rates by age group and ethnic group, there is no attempt to see if those factors explain some of the variation among metro areas. So it's not clear if the large differences in PDIs actually stem from too few sidewalks, fewer crosswalks, shorter walk lights, etc.--which is what the report asserts are needed.
So what do these groups want from Congress? The "Dangerous by Design" groups want to expand the budget for FHWA's Transportation Alternatives program, which funds bike paths, sidewalks and the like, and was cut back in MAP-21. They also want a national "Complete Streets" policy, such that all roads and highways that get any federal money must have sidewalks, bike lanes, etc. The bike/ped community is also promoting a proposed New Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act (NOBPIFA) that would dedicate 1% of TIFIA's $1 billion authorization to loans for bike and pedestrian projects. NOBPIFA has been introduced by Rep. Albio Sires (D, NJ) and has several co-sponsors. A bill to require "complete streets" principles in all federal-aid road projects, the Safe Streets Act, introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz (D, HI) and Mark Begich (D, AK) would require all states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to adopt complete streets policies within two years.
On a more positive note, I was interested to see, late last year, that the idea of bicyclists actually paying something for the facilities they demand is cropping up here and there. In December a Chicago City Council member proposed a $25 annual cycling tax. The outrage from Chicago cyclists was predictably intense. An AP report on this contretemps noted that "Two or three states consider legislation each year for some type of cycling registration and tax—complete with decals or mini-license plates, National Conference of State Legislatures policy specialist Douglas Shinkle said. This year [2013] it was Georgia, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont. The Oregon legislation, which failed, would even have applied to children." I actually remember getting a small bicycle license plate when I was a kid, presumably paid for by my parents. The tighter state transportation budgets become, the more likely it is that bicyclists will be asked to pay at least something for the infrastructure they are increasingly demanding.
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Vehicle Occupancy Detection—a Breakthrough?
The quest for an accurate, reliable way to verify how many people are in a vehicle using an HOV or HOT lane has been long and difficult. A number of different methods have been proposed, ranging from in-vehicle sensors to various roadside detection devices, generally involving cameras using various parts of the spectrum. The in-vehicle approach is a non-starter, since it would require outfitting all new vehicles with a technology that only a handful of buyers would ever have a use for—and which would take about 20 years for new vehicles to replace old ones so that nearly the entire fleet would be equipped. And with the growing trend toward HOV-3 requirements in HOV and HOT lanes, detecting back-seat passengers is increasingly a system requirement.
The pioneering company in roadside occupancy detection is UK-based Vehicle Occupancy Detection Corporation (VODC), whose device called Dtect has gone through about a decade's worth of technology evolution and on-road trials. But in April this year Xerox announced its own system, "using patented video analytics and geometric algorithms" for occupancy detection. Do either of these systems actually deliver?
Tollroadsnews.com carried an interview with VODC's CEO Kenneth Brown on Jan. 29, 2014. In it, Brown disclosed that the latest version of Dtect uses two different shortwave frequencies which he says are reflected back from human bodies at different rates, thereby distinguishing humans from animals, dummies, etc. He said this new version was now being used in a Caltrans testing program being audited by Prof. Art MacCarley of California Polytechnic State University. As the time of the interview, the tests were being done at 10-15 mph as vehicles were exiting the freeway, but Brown told the interviewer that their newest (and far more expensive) model, P-90, can read accurately at up to 90 mph. The test set-up imaged occupants from overhead, through the windshield. But Brown said they plan to test cameras mounted at the side of a lane looking into the car horizontally to detect back-seat occupants. I have not seen any subsequent reports on tests at higher speeds or on back-seat detection.
I learned of the new Xerox Vehicle Passenger Detection System from their April news release. A five-minute audio blog on Xerox.com has the company's Mark Castelli giving an overview. He says the system resulted from matching the tolling-services experience of Xerox-acquired ACS with camera, illumination, and algorithm capabilities at Xerox to develop a system that can distinguish the unique shapes of humans in vehicles, at speeds up to 100 mph and in both front and rear seats. Castelli also refers to pilot testing at two agencies: Minnesota DOT and the Bay Area Toll Authority, operator of all but one of the toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area. I contacted both agencies for details, and MinnDOT told me that although Xerox had submitted a proposal in response to an RFP for innovative ITS concepts, it had not been accepted. At press time I had not heard back from BATA. If—and I emphasize if—real-world tests show that the Xerox system can do what Castelli claims, and if its cost is reasonable, this would likely be the first truly workable system for automated vehicle occupancy detection.
My guess is that the cost of any such system is likely to be too high for HOV lane enforcement, where the stakes in terms of dollars are not that great. But where toll revenue is at stake, as in HOT lane systems, the cost of the occupancy detection system would have to be weighed against the savings from toll-revenue losses prevented. Those calculations will depend on how well an occupancy detection system works as well as how much it costs. For now, the jury is still out.
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Note: I don't have space to list all transportation conferences that might be of interest. Below are those that I or a Reason Foundation colleague are taking part in.
TRB Fifth International Finance Conference, July 9-11, Beckman Conference Center, Irvine, CA (Adrian Moore and Robert Poole speaking). Details at www.trb.org/conferences/finance2014.aspx.
26th Annual Public Private Partnerships in Transportation Conference, July 16-18, Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC (Robert Poole speaking). Details at www.ARTBAP3.org
P3 Connect 2014, July 28-30, Sheraton Denver Downtown, Denver, CO (Leonard Gilroy speaking). Details at www.ncppp.org/p3connect
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News Notes
World's First Express Toll Lanes on a Toll Road. Although Florida's Turnpike Enterprise late in 2012 announced plans to add variably priced express toll lanes (ETLs) to two of its toll roads, the first such ETLs have actually been in operation for the last nine months in Puerto Rico, reports Public Works Financing. The ETLs were added to the PR-22/PR-5 toll roads as part of the 40-year concession won in 2011 by Abertis USA. The two reversible ETLs opened in August 2013. Buses use the lanes at no charge but all other vehicles pay variable toll rates.
Lack of Tolling Kills Kentucky P3 Bill. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed public-private partnership legislation aimed at providing a way to finance and build the long-planned Brent Spence Bridge replacement. The original bill had included tolls as the principal revenue source, but it was amended to remove tolling. Without a funding source for the $2.5 billion project, the governor killed the bill as meaningless.
California Considers Mileage Based User Fee Test. Legislation pending in the California Senate would authorize Caltrans and the Department of Motor Vehicles to develop and implement a pilot project in one jurisdiction under which state per-gallon fuel taxes would be replaced by a per-mile charge or tax. The bill has the support of Caltrans. If the bill is enacted, California would join Oregon and Washington in testing mileage-based user fees as a fuel-tax replacement.
Two New Managed Lanes Concessions Awarded. Florida DOT and North Carolina DOT have each awarded new concessions for projects to add express toll lanes to congested expressways. Florida's $2.3 billion project will add four ETLs to 21 miles of I-4 in Orlando, in addition to reconstructing that entire stretch of I-4. Since toll revenue on the four ETLs cannot cover the entire cost, the winning team headed by Skanska/Laing will be compensated by availability payments, with FDOT keeping all the toll revenues during the 40-year concession. North Carolina's $655 million project will add ETLs to a stretch of I-77 in Charlotte, under a 50-year toll concession being negotiated with winning bidder Cintra.
Transparency Reforms for P3 Concessions in Colorado and Virginia. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed a bill that would have imposed onerous conditions on public-private partnership concessions, after 50 infrastructure companies and organizations pointed out its negative effects. But since part of the bill would have increased transparency in such deals, he issued an executive order adding additional transparency requirements in P3 procurements. New Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Virginia led the Commonwealth Transportation Board to adopt a resolution increasing transparency requirements for P3 procurements in that state, which has been a national leader in using concessions for large-scale projects.
Port of Miami Tunnel Opening Ceremonies. The $914 million Port of Miami Tunnel was dedicated on May 19th, though its official opening was delayed several weeks for additional testing of all systems. The project was developed under a 35-year availability-payment concession agreement with the team led by Bouygues and Meridiam and was completed on time and on budget. Once open to traffic, it will route cargo port and cruise ship traffic away from downtown Miami streets and directly into the expressway system.
Assessing Tea-Party and Property-Rights Efforts vs. Regional Planning. A fascinating political science assessment of grass-roots opposition to comprehensive regional planning efforts appears in the Journal of the American Planning Association. "The Actions of Discontent: Tea Party and Property Rights Activists Pushing Back Against Regional Planning" was researched and written by Karen Trapenberg Frick of the Dept. of City & Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. It's the first academic study I've seen that makes a serious effort to understand the concerns of these groups, as illustrated by case studies of such activism in metro Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Southeastern Tolling Interoperability by End of 2014. Georgia's State Road & Tollway Authority announced last month that by year-end its Peach Pass electronic tolling system will be interoperable with both Florida's SunPass and North Carolina's QuickPass. In turn, those systems are moving toward interoperability with the 15-state E-ZPass system in the Northeast and Midwest.
Eurotunnel Moving Toward Profitability After 20 Years. The landmark Channel Tunnel between France and the U.K. was completed late and at twice the projected cost. And even now, 20 years later, its traffic is only half of what was originally projected. Yet according to The Economist (May 10th), its prospects are looking up. Both passenger and freight traffic are increasing, with revenues up 12% in 2013. And long-awaited railroad deregulation in the European Union means that Germany's Deutsche Bahn passenger trains will soon be joining those of the U.K. and France, adding many additional trips and more revenue for Eurotunnel. It's a good thing Eurotunnel has a 99-year concession: some infrastructure investments are truly long-term.
Classics of Megaproject Planning and Management. Oxford University infrastructure expert Bent Flyvbjerg has announced a new book which he has edited, including many classic articles and papers on the planning and management of megaprojects. The 70 contributions include pieces by Alan Altshuler, Peter Hall, Albert O. Hirschman, and many others. Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings has just been published in hardback by Edward Elgar. A description and table of contents is online at: http://bit.ly/1mxH9qa.
Feedback on Colorado US 36 Project. Will Toor of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project emailed in response to last issue's article about the toll concession legislation that was subsequently vetoed by Colorado's governor. As an advocate of increasing the number of alternative fuel vehicles allowed to use HOV and express toll lanes (at no charge) from the current 2,000 to 6,000, he noted that recent data on the use by such vehicles of the I-25 HOT lanes and E-470 is about 185 per day, with about 25 of those in the peak direction, peak hour. Tripling this would mean only 75 potentially in the US 36 ETLs during peaks, a small fraction of its capacity. That sounds innocuous for today, but this is a 50-year concession, and over that time period the use of such vehicles could increase dramatically, especially if groups like his continue to be effective lobbyists.
Feedback on Tappan Zee Bridge. Engineer Raymond Tillman took issue with my writing, last issue, that the Tappan Zee Bridge needed replacing due to its age. He attributes its deteriorated condition to extensive deferred maintenance, due to governors of both parties refusing to allow toll rate increases for 17 years, during which operations and maintenance costs were going up at 5-8% per year. Well-maintained bridges can last 100 years or more, so I think Tillman is on target here, given that the bridge opened in 1955, making it just 59 years old.
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"The real crisis is that we are fixing [infrastructure] problems the wrong way. People believe the federal government will come to the rescue through a National Infrastructure Bank, or boost spending through an increase in the gas tax. But the federal government essentially can't and won't fix our national infrastructure. . . . This has significant implications for how America designs, finances, and delivers its infrastructure. In the future, true partnerships of government entities, private firms, financiers, and philanthropies outside of Washington will need to do the hard work to get stuff done."
—Robert Puentes and Bruce Katz, "To Fix America's Infrastructure, Washington Needs to Get Out of the Way," Brookings Institution, May 12, 2014
"Over the years we have shackled ourselves with successive layers of policies and procedures that are not legal requirements and often don't result in better projects. Then we wait for one reviewer to comment before moving sequentially to the next one. And that review may well trigger a re-review of previous approvals. The result: uncertain outcomes, coupled to an excruciatingly long timeframe. Federal agencies have the legal authority today to concurrently review major projects, with comments posted online and collaborative decision-making occurring in real time. Unfortunately, it is still the rare projects . . . that get to take advantage of this kind of real collaboration. Front-loading the approval process with greater community and agency collaboration helps to build a consensus on outcomes and avoid nasty surprises at the end of the process. For elected officials, a front-loaded process is also an important risk-reduction phase."
—John D. Porcari, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation, "Moving Transportation Projects into the Fast Lane," Governing, May 12, 2014
"The Obama Administration's reauthorization proposal to give states the right to choose to add tolls to existing free Interstate routes is a big step in the right direction. The Interstate system was conceived and largely financed by the federal government, but they own virtually none of it. The entire 47,000 mile system is owned by the states, and they have ultimate responsibility for maintenance, expansion, and reconstruction. As much of the system is now more than 50 years old, states are left 'holding the bag' for rebuilding the system."
—Ed Regan, CDM Smith, "Interstate Tolling Poses New Challenges," Public Works Financing, May 2014
"There were always at least two problems with the 'return to the city' thesis. First of all, most people who live in the suburbs came from areas outside metropolitan areas, and they couldn't return to where they had never lived. More importantly, in every year for which there is data, net inward migration to suburbs has been far greater than to the core counties, which have nearly always had a net outward migration. Under these conditions, there could not have been net migration from the suburbs to the core municipalities."
—Wendell Cox, "From Anecdotes to Data: Core and Suburban Growth Trends, 2010-2013, New Geography.com, May 23, 2014


text:
Newburyport Daily News
---- — On this day in 1884, the Newburyport Herald reported that Henry M. Cross and Fred L. Atkinson had entered into a partnership in the coal and wood business. The Atkinson family continued to sell heating oil and lumber for more than 100 years.
— Information provided by the Historical Society of Old Newbury


text:
For a full transcript of the chat, check out .
Our next reader Q&A with Mayor Christenson will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, February 24. If there's someone in town you'd like to see as the focus of a Malden Patch live chat, email your idea to editor Chris Caesar at firstname.lastname@example.com
On crime:
"Edward": Since December 26th, I have read about and heard on the scanner nearly one dozen armed robberies, mostly on innocent people on the street. What are your plans for adding more police to the street and was would be an approximate timetable for doing so?
Mayor Gary Christenson: The plan for adding more police will be in the upcoming budget process. In the meantime, I have been meeting with the police chief to be updated on what is going on around the city and what we can do interim. Finally, I am having the
On the proposed ballpark:
Naomi Brave: I hear citizens saying this is pretty much a done deal, without a chance for other vendors to come up with proposals. Will we get a chance to see the other options?
GC: In regards to the ball park question, there were no other developers that came forward with proposals for that site. We hare having public meetings on the Ball Park because that is the only option as of right now. The condition of the parcel was very limiting in what could be proposed for that site.
On quality of life:
"Mike": Was driving on Salem Street from Maplewood to Malden Square. Couldn't believe how much trash there was on properties, bus stops, sidewalks and gutters. Looks like a 3rd world country.
GC: We are working on this issue. One of the things we're looking to do is to add barrels along the major corridors and increase street sweeping. Another issue is the recycling bins, we are looking to make them bigger and covered.
"Jari Ward 4": Malden's roads are in serious need of repair -- Main St going towards Melrose is a minefield of pot holes. I am concerned how the impact of increased traffic with the proposed stadium will make our roads even worse. How will you deal with the increased traffic's wear and tear on our roads -- will the developer be paying for the upkeep of our roads that are impacted by the increased traffic?
GC: On the roads, we are looking to take advantage of some grant opportunities to increase the number of roads we are reconstructing on an annual basis. It is premature to negotiate right now on roads with the ball park developer as they haven't yet worked out a lease with National Grid. The location was also chosen because of the ease of access from our T-Station.
"Ken": In the , it looked like the response was fairly good 'B' to 'C' - any formal review or comments on that? The complaints on the Patch were few, but I witnessed quite a different story live and in person.
GC: When we go into a plowing operation we have approximately 65- 75 trucks on the road working all the streets. In a storm of this size, 3 inches, we do not put out that many vehicles. During the storm where we received only 3 inches, we had 29 trucks on the road. This was a sanding operation which means that we try to kill the snow with salt instead of calling in a lot of contractors to plow saving the City money.
"Stuart": Is there a possibility that the City can have Citywide Wi-Fi?
GC: We currently have free wi-fi down through the middle of downtown. We are steadily increasing on city properties first. As an example, in response to a request by our local reporters, the City Council Chambers were connected wirelessly