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CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- Child's play makes the interview a little easier for Matthew, who prefers to let Elizabeth do most of the talking.
10-year-old Elizabeth and 8-year-old Matthew didn't let down their guard down too much, but some of their answers give a glimpse of their past and what they hope for the future.
What does she want new parents to be like?
"Non-smokers, non-drinkers, nice, respectful, active and play with us and be with us a lot," said Elizabeth. "I hope they don't go out to parties too much."
Elizabeth and Matthew agree they want to stay together.
People who know Elizabeth and Matthew say they are very smart, fun, active and loving. Elizabeth loves school and loves to read. Matthew loves computer games.
If you'd like to know more about Elizabeth and Matthew, call 634-7715.
900 Whitehall Road
Chattanooga, TN 37405
(423) 267-5412
WRCB Jobs EEO | FCC Public Files


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Hummer Repair in Oconomowoc
We found 22 Hummer service shops and mechanics in Oconomowoc.
3 are RepairPal Certified.
Silver Lake Auto Center
N48 W36355 E Wisconsin Avenue
Oconomowoc, WI 53066Map & directions
"They are very courteous and have a pleasant atmosphere to wait in while waiting for repairs. They..." - Stacey, Oconomowoc, WISee more real customer reviews
Topel's Towing & Repair, Inc.
1110 S. Main Street
Lake Mills, WI 53551Map & directions
"I have been going there for many years and they have always do a good job." - Pat, Lake Mills, WISee more real customer reviews
Northside Auto & Truck
Watertown, WI 53098Map & directions
"They gave very good service. It was done in a fast manner to my satisfaction." - Miranda, Watertown, WISee more real customer reviews
RepairPal Certified Shops
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subset: commoncrawl


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The mission of Meet Me Monday is to improve the health of our community by bringing friends and families together while enjoying the beauty of our city.
Every Monday | Rain or Shine | Holidays too!Registration begins at 5:15 p.m.Pioneer/Old Boise Building - Northeast Corner of 6th & MainStart anytime! Raffle prizes drawn at 6:45 p.m.
Every Monday evening, rain or shine...holidays too!
Once you check in, you can begin your 1, 2 or 3.2 mile walk/run at any time and just return to the Pioneer/Old Boise Building when you are finished, so you don't miss out on the prize drawings. Be sure to check in every time so you qualify for incentives for participating 8, 16, 50 and 100 times.
Bring the entire family (strollers welcome) and the dog (on a leash – and please pick up after them).
Don't forget to check the discount page each Monday to see what restaurants will be offering discounts to Meet Me Monday participants!
Partners in Community Fitness
Saint Alphonsus and Bandanna Running & Walking share a common passion for improving the health of our community, so when the opportunity presented itself for us to work together in bringing this wonderful event to Boise, we were truly excited! Saint Alphonsus and Bandanna have had the pleasure of working together previously on the Main Street Mile event each June that promotes men's health and raises funds for free prostate screenings. Bandanna has also been a long-time sponsor of the Saint Alphonsus Capitol Classic Children's Race each June. Bandanna and Saint Alphonsus truly believe a pair of shoes can change your life!
Meet Me Monday is modeled after Tucson's successful "Meet Me at Maynards" event which draws hundreds of participants every Monday to the downtown Tucson area to enjoy exercise, social time, and patronize downtown restaurants and businesses.
For more information on Bandanna Running and Walking, please visit www.bandannarunning.com. For more information on Saint Alphonsus, please visit www.saintalphonsus.org
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center | 1055 N. Curtis Road | Boise, Idaho 83706 | 208-367-2121


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Holiday Inn Express Simpsonville
No availability found through our partners. Please contact the business directly or check some of our recommended alternatives.
Travel Blogs from Simpsonville
In Summary ...
Our experiences in Eleuthera and Turtle Cove were unique, challenging at times but unquestionably extraordinary and fulfilling. What made this trip a success and milestone among our travels? -the isolated villa on Turtle Cove with its unique, off-the-grid experience, - the abundance of sea life easily observable from the dock and - the serenity and quality time together without ...
All packed and ready to go!
Hey everyone,
I wanted to try out this new blog that Sunnie and I put together. I hope you don't mind, but we thought you would like to keep up with us as we travel over the next 30 days.
You may wonder, where is their first stop? It's no other place than the Motor City! That's right. We are stopping in my old stomping ground in Detroit City. ...but only for three hours.
Then off to LA. Sunnie's cousin was so nice to ...
Returning to the Roots; Civil Rights Bus Tour
... deserved it!
Ms. Joanne Bland; Journeys for the Soul, is another heroic figure who certainly deserves her very own street named after her as well! After all, this trooper was marching for the Movement by the time she was 10 years of age, and at age 11, she had 13 documented arrest, scars and stitches to prove she was on the battle field for her Lord, when both she and her sister crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years earlier! In ...
13th Annual Civil Rights Bus Tour
Day two of The Civil Rights Movement bus tour was topped off with a wonderful stay at the Drury Hotel in Greenville, South Carolina. Kudos to Dr. Todd Allen for selecting such a wonderful hotel, as well as to the Hotel's Manager: Michael Lopez; who gets 5 Stars all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for running such a tight shift and making our hotel stay wonderful! However, in juxtaposition I can't help but ...
Leaving in 2 days
We'll be off again on Tuesday and wanted to give you a link for our new blog.
This blog doesn't send out email notices for new entries so if you want to follow us, we suggest you put our blog page in you favorites. We'll be spending a lot of time on the beach and exploring off the grid and so won't be uploading everyday, but should have access to wifi for uploading several times during our stay.
How has this hotel rated in the past?
- Continental Breakfast
- Swimming pool
- Free High-Speed Internet
- Wheelchair accessibility
- Fitness/Health center
- Business Services
More great choices in Simpsonville
Search TripAdvisor for more deals in Simpsonville
Travelers also recommend:
- More recommendations


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There are 16 results - Show results on a map Print this page
Showing 11 - 16 of 16
The public areas of this delightful 14th-century property feature a wealth of charm and character, including exposed beams, carvings, heraldic markings and huge open fireplaces. Bedrooms are smartly d...More about The Bull
This charming inn is situated at the heart of this bustling town between Sudbury and Braintree. Public areas include a large lounge bar, cosy restaurant and meeting rooms. Bedrooms are full of origina...More about The Bull
Currently the rating for this establishment is not confirmed. This may be due to a change of ownership or because it has only recently joined the AA rating scheme. ...More about Little Willows B&B
Close to the Suffolk/Essex border, The Pheasant enjoys stunning countryside views and a lovely location in the heart of the charming village of Gestingthorpe. The bar is charming and features wood-bur...More about The Pheasant
This charming, authentic 17th-century coaching inn is just a short drive from Cambridge city centre. The purpose-built bedrooms are all attractively presented, comfortable and well appointed. There is...More about The Three Hills
This modern building offers accommodation in smart, spacious and well-equipped bedrooms, suitable for families and business travellers, and all with en suite bathrooms. Continental breakfast is availa...More about Days Inn Haverhill


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Free agent RB Ricky Williams has found the third team in his career he'll play for -- the Baltimore Ravens. Multiple reports say Williams decided on joining the Ravens after leaving the Miami Dolphins in free agency. He can earn up to $4 million on the two-year deal.
Everyone knows Ricky's story. He was picked fifth overall by the New Orleans Saints in the 1999 NFL draft. He stayed in New Orleans for three seasons before moving onto the Dolphins in 2002 and putting in an All-Pro season with 1,853 rushing yards. He lead the league in rushing in both 2002 and 2003.
From there things went...down hill. He didn't play in any games in 2004 and 2006, and played in just 13 total games from 2004-07.
The Ravens lost veteran RB Willie McGahee in free agency this year so Williams likely fills that role as a complement to RB Ray Rice. He's had a strange career but Williams is a solid signing in this situation for the Ravens.
To see what Ravens fans think about the newest player, check out Baltimore Beatdown.


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Planningtorock | 27/08/14
Jam Rostron, Bolton-born, Berlin-based is welcomed to the Domino Publishing family. The artist behind the multimedia recording and performance project Planningtorock, her 2014 LP 'All Love's Legal' is both an extension of her previous work and a refinement and of its ideas and sonics. Planningtorock has always incorporated politics into her music, but this is by far her most explicitly political record yet. It follows 'W', which was released on DFA in 2011, and her 2006 debut album...
Ty Segall | 27/08/14
Ty Segall returns with another belter after the release of 'Sleeper' (Drag City 2014) which saw Ty have a dramatic change of pace to great effect. 'Manipulator' see's the guitars turned right back up for another fantastically raucous record.
Growing up in Dun Laoghaire, a south-east seaside Dublin suburb, Connor O'Brien wrote his first song, aged just 12, a week after his older brother lent Conor his acoustic guitar. "Bizarrely enough, my first lyric was "When I'm walking down these streets, I feel like a monkey in the Arctic". I haven't told Domino that yet! The song was called 'Psychic', which was about being afraid of a psychic friend because he could read your thoughts. Yes, it was a weird one..."
After choosing the name Villagers - "I like the name because it doesn't offend the songs" - O'Brien released...


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Animal Mens Stripe Polo Shirt
- Low stock, selling fast
2 reviews
- Delivery
Animal Stripe Mens Polo Shirt
Animal presents an adventurous polo shirt that perfectly captures the annual trend for stripes in the warmer seasons.
Giving nautical colours a new lease of life, this vivid top takes a range of blues and contrasts them with black and red blocks for a statement look. With short sleeves and a button placket, it's cool and comfortable for the summer months. Finished with an embroidered logo to the chest it's another exciting classic from the Animal collection.
Team it with straight leg jeans and boat shoes to capture a fresh look from spring through to summer.
Useful info:
- Mens polo shirt by Animal
- All-over stripe
- Short sleeve
- Button placket
- Embroidered logo to chest


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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A Kanawha County principal says he didn't threaten a student who publicly criticized an abstinence speech at the school.
George Washington High School principal George Aulenbacher told a judge that senior Katelyn Campbell misinterpreted his comment.
Media outlets report that Aulenbacher testified Tuesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court during a hearing on Campbell's request for an injunction against him.
Campbell alleges that Aulenbacher threatened to tell Wellesley College that she is a troublemaker. The college has accepted her as a student.
Aulenbacher said his comment was a hypothetical scenario to make a point. He said she should have come to him first with her concerns about the speech.
Judge Duke Bloom asked both sides to look into whether state law has any age requirements regarding injunctions. Campbell is 17.


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A 15-year-old Miller Place boy was charged with DWI after a two-car crash on Echo Avenue and Sylvan Avenue Sunday night, according to police.
Police said the boy was injured and taken to Stony Brook University Hospital. According to Miller Place Fire Department First Assistant Chief Kyle Markott, the two people in the other car were also injured and taken to the hospital.
The accident occured at approximately 8:10 p.m on Sunday, police said.


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Harry, A History Updates: Audio, Events and MoreHarry, A History
There are a few updates on the Harry, A History front!
Firstly, the audio edition was made available this month! It was released by Tantor Media and read by actress Renee Raudman. You can get it in person in a bookstore, or on Amazon here, on iTunes here, on Audible here. You can hear a sample by clicking here (I chose one that has the "voices" for John Noe, Sue Upton and Paul DeGeorge.)
Second, plans are shaping up for the summer and beyond with book events at LeakyCon, Azkatraz, a signing right outside San Francisco on May 3, and an event at BookPeople in Austin, TX, on June 30. I'll have a lot more info on Harry events soon, as the PotterCast/Remus Lupins/Whomping Willows tour plans firm up. Meanwhile you can keep up to date on events and other news at this facebook page or here on the book's site. I love visiting schools and libraries, so if you'd like to request an event please contact David Buchalter!
Last but certainly not least, the German edition was previewed recently at the Leipzig Book Fair. You can check out pictures at this page. I hope to have more updates about other editions soon!
Once again - and I feel like I can't say this enough - thank you all for all the unbelievable support you've offered me and the book, and for all your notes, owls, PMs, Facebook messages, e-mails, and snail-mail letters. I'm still slowly working through them but I am reading and appreciating them all. See you soon!


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DZone Snippets is a public source code repository. Easily build up your personal collection of code snippets, categorize them with tags / keywords, and share them with the world
Fill The Missing Blanks In An Array
If we have an array which has only 2 items yet we expected 4 items we can use Array#fill to complete it e.g.
r = %w(b c) # => ["b", "c"] r.fill('a', 2..3) # => ["b", "c", "a", "a"]
Resources: - Class: Array [ruby-doc.org]


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Wormsloe State Historic Site
Savannah, GA 31406
A breathtaking avenue sheltered by live oaks and Spanish moss leads to the tabby ruins of Wormsloe, the colonial estate of Noble Jones (1702-1775). Jones was a humble carpenter who arrived in Georgia in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first group of settlers from England. Wormsloe's tabby ruin is the oldest standing structure in Savannah.
Surviving hunger, plague and warfare in the rugged environment of Georgia, Jones went on to serve the colony as a doctor, constable, Indian agent, Royal Councilor and surveyor, laying out the towns of Augusta and New Ebenezer. He also commanded a company of marines charged with defending the Georgia coast from the Spanish. Jones died at the beginning of the American Revolution, but his descendants sustained Wormsloe until the state of Georgia acquired most of the plantation in 1973.
Info & Amenities
Hours of Operation
Tuesday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Wednesday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Thursday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Friday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Saturday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Admission & Fees
Adults $10.00
Child (under 6) $1.00
Group rates available with advance notice. please call 912-353-3023.
Seniors (62+) $9.00
Youth (ages 6-17) $4.50
Facility Amenities
Free Parking
Special Tags
Civil War Site
Suitable for Ages
All Ages
Tools and Skills that Built a Colony
08/30/2014 - 09/01/2014
See craft demonstrations such as woodworking, blacksmithing, cooking, spinning, flintknapping, leatherworking, woodsman skills, pewter casting and more.read more
Your State Parks Day - Tabby Ruins and Jones Narrows Clean Up
09/27/2014 - 09/27/2014
Join Wormsloe Historic Site in cleaning up the Jones Narrows for Your State Parks Day. Dress comfortably. Work gloves will be provided. Walking volunteers are also welcome. Please register by Sept. 26, 2014. This event is sponsored by the Friends of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites.read more


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Who We Serve
Scitent provides eLearning business solutions to clients ranging from nonprofits to corporations, membership organizations and healthcare organizations.
What We Do
Our team supports organizations that need a full-service partner to build, host, manage, market and monetize their intellectual property through online education.
View Our Work
See samples of our eLearning websites and projects.
Who We Are
Take a look at our leadership, senior management team, and a brief history of our organization.
It Takes More Than an eLearning Design Tool to Transform Content
eLearning design tools are an important step in transforming your learning content. But, it takes more than a tool to build engaging courses that reflect learning goals and learner objectives. It takes real people with a high level of skill to make this happen. It is crucial to work with a company that has a […]


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June 19, 2013
All Great Books
I just returned from my grandmother's memorial service.
I am shattered.
I have stored in my hippocampal cells more lovely and loving memories of my grandmother than I can recall in a day. She was one of the more grounded members of my family: a well-educated teacher of English at Rutgers University, an avid bicyclist, a connoisseur of fine foods, a lover of the written word, a corrector of the family's grammar.
A lot of people like to think that their grandmother is (or was) perfect, but they are in error.
Only mine was.
It's the truth.
My fondest childhood memories all revolve around our times in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. Each summer I would go away for a week or two to stay at "Gam's House," my grandparents' cottage on Stone Court. It was just a block north of the Stone Harbor bird sanctuary, a few quick blocks from the ocean, and a dozen or so blocks to Bob's Bikes and Stone Harbor's main strip.
I would spend hours each day boogie boarding and swimming in the Atlantic there. She would soak up the sun while reading a book. Often I would be out swimming so long that I would come back to find her asleep, her tiny, bunioned feet buried in the sand. In later years we would talk about Shakespeare (which she loved) and Star Trek (which she hated).
We had a wonderful times in Stone Harbor, always. Whether it was time on the beach, time spent bicycling with her up to Avalon, time spent catching hermit crabs in inner tidepools, or hours spent just sitting around the cottage and reading my silly sci/fi books in the shade, we always had fun.
Even the best books eventually come to their conclusions and run out of pages.
The best thing about the festivities of this weekend had to be the post-Memorial-Service Memorial Service...we wandered to the south tip of Stone Harbor with a portion of her ashes. Each of us picked up a small sea shell from a collection gathered at her other ocean home and filled it with said ashes, then walked into the ocean to dispose of them as we saw fit.
I was practically paralyzed at this. I grabbed the first shell that my hand came upon. The bag of ashes came my way. They were so white, with small fragments of I could only assume bone. I felt uneasy.
I am not religious or even particularly spiritual. I know that her views were fairly similar to my own. My unease was primarily over the idea that this was, two weeks ago, the material that composed my grandmother's then-living body. Flashes of Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land entered my head. Thoughts of eating the dead out love. Touching the dead out of love, at least. I cast aside notions of grossness because...well...I love her. The idea of scooping her up into my hands is a bit odd, but carries an intimacy that I will cherish always.
I collected a small portion and began to walk into the surf. My eyes watered. I stopped being able to breath. This was, in a weird way, going to be the last time I went swimming in the Atlantic with my grandmother. I dwelled on this thought for a moment. Part of me was tempted. Oh so tempted. To. Just. Keep. Going.
My jeans were soaked. So was my face.
Breath, I remembered.
I sank my hands into the Atlantic, and I watched my grandmother go, off to swim on her own.
The shell, I thought. If I keep it, does it become a white elephant? Some silly memento of this moment that I spend too much time of my life futzing over?
All things are impermanent, just as my grandmother was, and just as I shall be. Perhaps I should let it go. Cold waves continued to lap up my jeans, soaking me from the bottom, while hot tears kept coming, soaking me from the top.
What would she do, if our roles were reversed?
I guess that's not important now. What would I do?
I decided to keep the shell. She is gone now, but not forgotten. I held the shell in my hand for a while, and walked down the beach in hunt of something interesting while hoping that my face, maybe even my pants, would dry off.
Honestly, I'm actually not looking forward to a time that I can think about our last swim together without getting wet.
March 21, 2013
Using your own Cisco Phone with SpeakEasy
If you know me, you know that I love hardware. I buy electronic doodads so that I can take them apart, hack them, and do something fun with them.
My new'ish job is another 'virtual job.' Mostly I work from home, though I do hit the road for months at a time sometimes. The company gave me a laptop loaded up with software including a voice-over-ip-phone application. The software is set up to use a VoIP provider called SpeakEasy.
I decided that it would be fun to get a physical phone to use with the service. I'm not very good at doing the pre-purchase research. Mostly I just like to buy something that looks like it might work, try it out, and if it didn't work I'll usually figure out why I bought the wrong thing. It's a learning process. S. Hadden said it best, I make a great government spender.
Anyway, getting the phone set up with SpeakEasy is not very easy. A lot of forum posts have info saying, "It can't be done." When I called them up, tech support also said that it couldn't be done -- they had to provision the phone, put their own firmware, yadda yadda yadda. They were very adamant about this, and recommended that I buy a pre-provisioned phone from them for some insane price.
Thankfully SpeakEasy/Megapath tech support is full of it. I got my phone working.
To start, I updated the phone firmware to the latest version (7.5.4 as of this writing). I then played with a lot of settings to make it work. My home network has 4 layers of NAT firewalls, with various partitions, VPNs, etc. Many of my network enclaves don't allow egress traffic except over a VPN connection, so that if some day my NAS gets powned it won't exfiltrate all of my data :). Strangely, my phone works behind 3 layers of NAT, but not 4. I haven't yet tried a STUN server, but the phone is well-protected where it lives for now. I'll tinker with STUN and see if it helps.
Anyway, on to the actual configuration!
The main is on your Extension configuration. Enable Advanced Settings and then set the following: Proxy is speakeasy.net, Outbound Proxy is ash-remote.voice.speakeasy.net, Use Outbound Proxy set to Yes, Register set to Yes, Use OB Proxy in Dialog set to yes. Note that these settings will not be available to you unless you log in as administrator and choose 'Advanced' in the upper right hand corner of the web page.
Under Subscribe Information for your line, set your Display Name to your name, User ID to your user id (of the form XXXXX_PHONENUMBER_YYY). Don't append the domain to the user id, this will happen automatically because of the 'Proxy' setting above. Punch in your password, say "Yes" to "Use AuthID", set Auth ID to your phone number without any punctuation, and set Reversed Auth Realm to 'BroadWorks' (no idea if this last part is actually necessary, but a packet capture of VoIP soft phones used it and it works).
Next you'll have to play with SIP settings. Go to the SIP tab and scroll down to NAT Support Parameters. If you're using a NAT router like me, say "Yes" to "Handle VIA received", "Insert VIA rport", and "ASend Resp to Src Port". Say No to everything else. If these settings don't work, try using a STUN Server (there are plenty of public stun servers available here.
After that, reboot your phone and you should be good to go.
September 21, 2012
Motorcycle Unmaintenance
Out with the old...
And in with the new...
I spent a long time working on my last motorcycle, and not nearly enough time riding it. This time around I've decided to go high-tech and get a modern'ish bike with fuel injection that should, I hope, get me around for a long time.
Once the new bike is broken out, I'm hopeful to have a little time to make it back east while onboard. A long-distance motorcycle trip sounds just about right right now.
September 20, 2012
Driving East on 94
Work has taken me to the oilfields of North Dakota to assess what may be my last large-scale SCADA systems assessment.
Working with Digital Bond has been a fantastic experience over the last year+. The troubles with control system security are something that absolutely fascinate me. I first started down this path perhaps even before I was formally interested in computer security at all -- the old video game series Marathon filled me with funny ideas about survivable computer systems: systems that kept running even after the death of their creator species, systems that discovered ways to survive the closure of the universe and make themselves gods of a fashion.
Feeling a bit boddhisatva, I've often mused that I'm going to die some day. I will not be remembered. Indeed, I wonder if the human race is going to survive our own machinations and lack of resolve. That's fine. Silly video games made me wonder, though: what can survive us?
Artificial intelligence I thought, for a time. Alas, reality sunk in: self-modifying shell scripts do not appear to be our future. And anyway, we have to conquer survivable systems so that intelligences may have a platform on which to operate first.
I am growing more pessimistic that even this is possible, at least so long as humans live (oh irony).
Computer security is a field is highly odd. Human society has greatly advanced over the last 30 years thanks to increased information processing and information sharing (aside: "define: information"). We end up blowing up the few cool things that we make. I think there are reasons for this that are not entirely new. I'm plenty guilty in that regard. When not fighting each other, we fail to make things that are well thought out. And then, when this is pointed out, we go back to fighting.
May 20, 2012
Black Lodge Research
I'm lucky enough to run into some really talented researchers often in my little niche world of control systems security. I landed in Seattle on Friday broken and battered. Now I'm on the mend, feeling well enough to go for a short jog and well enough to check out Seattle's premier hackerspace, Black Lodge Research.
It's an incredibly welcoming place, and very tech-heavy. The old Pullman Shop isn't so IT-focused, instead the folks there rebuild airplanes and brew cider.
Living in a city as I'm about to do is going to have a lot of advantages, not the least of which being access to wonderful minds like those at BLR...I can't wait.


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Feminist vigilante gangs to march on Oakland Friday
Oakland's last feminist vigilante gangs march was a demonstration promoting offensive feminism in response to rape, assault, and murder of "women, queers, gender rebels and allies." It was also a birthday party.
"The first march basically came about because it was my 30th birthday," said Lauren, one of the organizers of that march and a second feminist vigilante gangs march, which will take place in Oakland on Friday.
"I had been talking a big game about feminist vigilante gangs and calling attention to the need for people to form affinities for a long time. When I was asked what I wanted for my 30th birthday I said, I want a feminist vigilante gangs march, as a joke. But people were into it."
Last time, a group, equipped with and radical queer and feminist literature, banners, and glitter, marched from the "fake neighborhood" of uptown Oakland to downtown Oakland, Lauren said, ending with a dance party in "Oscar Grant Plaza," Occupy Oakland's longtime home base outside City Hall.
Along the way, organizers "stopped at some places to talk about things have had happened there," said Lauren. "For instance, the place where Brandy Martell was killed."
Brandy Martell was transgender woman who was shot April 29. Her murder remains unsolved. Martell's is a "a high-profile case of transgender bashing. She died, and so we know about. But these types of things happen everyday on the streets in Oakland," said Lauren.
The next feminist vigilante gangs march begins Friday at 7pm from 19th and Telegraph. It will also stop at the spot where Martell was killed, as well as other spots where queer bashing, rape and assault have taken place.
Lauren says the march is a few things. It's a call-out "encouraging women, queers, gender outlaws in the Bay Area to start thinking offensively about the abuse that we're on the receiving end of."
It's also "a way for us to practice discipline in the streets. Because we live in a culture that's so abusive towards women, queers, gender variant people, its really hard for us to form affinities."
The group plans for a tightly organized march. A security team and a league of bike scouts to protect the march have already begun training, and before the march begins a generalized security training is planned. Anyone who arrived alone will be given the chance to hook up with a marching buddy. Street medics and "emotional medics" from the Occupy Oakland safer spaces working group-- "people who have some training to interact with people who are experiencing PTSD or who are experiencing emotions that are making it difficult for them to participate"-- will be on hand.
"We have a bloc that is set up for people with limited mobility, that's wheelchair users, cane users, people using walkers," Lauren said.
Community self-defense
Organizers of the march hope that its spirit and practice of community building and self-defense can extend to the everyday lives of participants.
One way is by connecting demonstrators "with the resources to begin things like self-defense training, especially in a feminist and collective environment," Lauren said. Groups like the Offensive Feminist Project, the Suigetsukan Dojo, and Girl Army.
"Something that we should be creating in marginalized communities is community self-defense. That's something that the Black Panthers worked on. It's not a new concept, in Oakland we have a lot of history with that," said Lauren.
Community self-defense, of course, is supposed to be unnecessary; crime prevention and retribution is supposed to be relegated to the police and the criminal justice system. But Lauren said that these institutions are not working.
"I don't believe that the criminal justice system is just, or serving anyone. And I think that's a perspective shared by the people who are organizing the march, and probably by most of the people who will attend it," she said. "I say this as someone who's watched the police interrogate a rape victim and-- interrogate is the correct word. There's no justice in the criminal justice system for victims of rape and assault. So we want to talk about extra-legal methods of dealing with these issues."
Extra-legal means of dealing with violence, she says, is "what feminist vigilante gangs is all about."
After the march, organizers plan to continue this conversation at "a series of plenaries and salons in the East Bay" where participants will discuss questions like "What does feminist vigilantism look like?" Lauren said.
"As these conversations continue we will be spending a lot of time focusing on issues like race, and things like the history in the United States of falsely accusing men of color of assaulting white women so that they can be imprisoned or abused or killed," Lauren said.
The group also has an open call for entries for a feminist vigilante gangs zine, for those who want to continue the discussion on paper. "People have been writing about bashing back. The Bash Back book Queer Ultraviolence just came out this year," she noted.
Still, many people have not been exposed to the ideas and practices behind the feminist vigilante gangs march. On Friday, a lot of people will be-- the march will coincide with Art Murmur, and downtown Oakland's streets will already be crowded. A contingent from GLITUR, aka the Grand Legion of Incendiary and Tenacious Unicorn Revolutionaries, is coming down from Seattle. This march might get big.
But never fear, Lauren assured: "We should have enough glitter bandanas for everyone who comes."
I'm pretty sure self-identifying as a "vigilante gang", feminist or not, is the most effective way to alienate potential allies, and least effective way to be taken seriously.
I say this is a woman, a queer, and a radical feminist. I would be scared as shit to show up to this event. Sounds crazy.
if you're alienated by women taking things into their own hands you're not a fucking ally in the first place
A woman who thinks she's entitled to go around shooting random men is not my ally, or the ally of any man, gay straight or bi. she's just a plain old-self-righteous bigot. Instead she makes herself a target for someone "protecting himself."
And if oyu're alienated by men taking things into their own hands you're not a fucking ally.
Who said ANYTHING about shooting people? A 'vigilante' is someone who responds to crime who is not an agent of the state. Assuming that responding to crime inherently means shooting people, or any type of physical violence, is just ignorant. The only actions discussed in this article are marching and wearing glitter bandanas. If you think that any non-police response to violence is akin to shooting people, then you clearly have no understanding of what feminist and queer bash-back events look like. Sometimes they look like posting pictures of queer-bashers around their neighborhoods; sometimes they take the form of collective community shaming; sometimes they take the form of non-violent verbal group confrontation. You need to do some research and some closer reading before you condemn these actions.
It conjurs images of violence because historically vigilante groups were organized to hurt people. So I find the word troubling for this reason. But I'm glad that AJ has clarified things a bit, because the article doesn't. It leaves you feeling like these gals are out to get even, but doesn't indicate how they will go about it. As a woman and a feminist, I can understand their anger about the level of violence against women and gays. But I don't agree with people setting themselves up as judge and jury in an extrajudicial fashion. Or playing God. You don't correct an injustice with another injustice. Count me out.
Hopefully I can get to artmurmur early enough to enjoy the galleries before this gang of dunces ruins everything. It would be a shame if this mindless exhibitionism ruins the evening for everyone who doesn't want to be involved.
boo hoo
Yeah don't want to miss out. Not like it doesn't happen every month or something. I wish that all of you assholes that come to Oakland for art murmur didn't ruin my evening by forcing me to be involved in your bullshit. I live here. People like you ruin my evenings all the time..
boo hoo.
Thanks for covering this march in this thorough way. I have been seriously considering attending the event because I do think having our own affinity groups that can respond to the violence cis and trans women and queers and gender rebels etc etc. experience on a regular basis is really, really important. While the name of the march originally gave me pause, I actually think it makes a lot of sense on reflection. And that's someone who is not an advocate for the police who is uncomfortable with the FTP marches. In this case, I think it makes sense, because going on the offensive would be a form of vigilante-ism, but maybe that's what we need.
If the FTP marches make you uncomfortable, don't bother with this. The first time they did it, they marched straight to the OPD headquarters while shouting "Fuck The Police" at the top of their lungs. This is just an FTP march with a different name. Lauren Riot is one of the most hateful, angry, bitter leftovers of the Occupy Oakland movement and she alienates just about everyone she meets.
Then you don't know her. She just happens to stand up for what she believes. She speaks out. It might make folks uncomfortable, but that's the point. She actually is one of the most caring people I know. She cares. She cares about people being fucked up to other people. But instead of ignoring the problem she is out in the streets showing people she cares about them. Are you a douchebag? If you think Lauren is full of hate than you must be. Because yeah, she makes people uncomfortable by calling them out on their shit.
It needs vigilante gangs?
That city is doomed.
If feminists are intent on such violence against men, perhaps men will start to organise their own vigilante gangs. That would lead to an undesirable situation.
Perhaps these bloodthirsty feminists should think twice about encouraging violence. That's never a good thing.
There is nothing in the article about feminists committing violence. This is about visibility and bringing attention to an oft ignored issue. That is violence against women, gender/sexually variant people and minorities as a whole. Only a person who thinks that violence is the only solution would think that. You are also clearly biased against women who call themselves feminists.
Unless you want to come up with new definitions for those words, "vigilantism" and "gangs" both imply violence. And feminist violence against innocent men is far from unknown.
Violence against women and gays is not ignored - it gets media coverage and street marches. It's violence against men that is denied and swept under the carpet.
Of course I am biased against people who call themselves feminists. Feminism is a hate movement against men. Everyone should be biased against hate movements.
Maybe you should google 'vigilante,' because it's actually about justice, not violence....
What, you mean like the first link for "vigilante", which states:
"Vigilante behavior involves various degrees of violence. Vigilantes may assault targets verbally or physically or may vandalize property or actually kill individuals."
"Vigilante" implies violence. It's pathetic to co-opt a word to sound edgy while simultaneously denying its historical meaning.
"Helena Bertinelli grew into the mysterious vigilante known as the Huntress."
What's in the water in Oaktown & SF?
All incarnations of the character were created by men.
"Madison said that she always finds it hard to put a finger on why she loves a particular character, and the Huntress is no different. 'I think her origins are very interesting, even though this is [an] Earth where she's the daughter of a mob family, the reader still gets a hint of the founding mythology of Earth-2 Huntress, who was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman,' offered Madison.
'She is a dark hero, always brooding, a loner, very tough, principled; conflicted but always takes action; characteristics of Batman and Catwoman. She could have ruled the mob, but instead she wants to take down the mob. Her sincere Catholic faith is interesting, her problems with Batman and with male authority figures is interesting.'"
"Asked how a successful lawyer, entrepreneur and writing coach has time to write 'Huntress: Year One,' Madison responded, 'I had to stop coaching other people with their writing to focus on my own, and I don't practice law either. You teach what you need to learn, and I did that.'"
(Note the interesting construction: "had to stop coaching others people... and I don't practice law *either*." That certainly doesn't put to bed the notion that she's passed herself off as an attorney, now does it?)
You are a plain ol' liar
From Google:
"vig·i·lan·te (v j -l n t ). n. 1. One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands. 2. A member of a vigilance committee."
There isn't one link on the initial page after searching that gives the definition you describe.
every problem looks like a nail. Lauren sounds like she needs treatment and medication.
Exactly. Lauren sits at home all day on Twitter finding things to complain about, wishing death on cops, and ranting about how she's "unschooling" her daughter by force-feeding her Black Panthers propaganda. She's a horrible person, filled to the brim with bitterness. Make no mistake, this "feminist vigilante gang" march will just turn into yet another FTP clusterfuck.
Die straight scum.
This is an example of the hatred espoused by so-called "social justice" movements.
Reading this comment earlier improved my day. I don't literally endorse the plan - it's straightness I want to destroy - but expressions of queer rage are so beautiful in the context of the omnipresent violence and oppression directed against us.
I think you need to go have some homosex and quickly.
...to be gentle and kind."
I sure hope there isn't too much slap-fighting or hair-pulling, though one expects a good many scrunchies and Lee Press-Ons to be sacrificed to the battle. Therapy would be a better route for you. You need to discover why you're obsessed with provoking people who are completely indifferent to you. The "omnipresent violence and oppression" you're haunted by is common among paranoid schizophrenics, and can be at least stabilized with medication.
Martyr economists and oppression Olympians all. Nobody wants to join people who are enmeshed in their own powerlessness and react through acting out increasingly powerlessly.
There's no surer rejection of powerlessness and victimization than self-defense. It's funny how y'all haters are terrified of revolt by women and queers yet simultaneously dismiss us as impotent whiners.
There is no self defense going on here. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense tailed the OPD with rifles to make sure they did not kill civilians. That was self defense and the result was Reagan ushering in the era of gun control in California.
There is no direct confrontation with power in order to bring it to account going on here, just acting out in a way that does not even raise consciousness outside the inner precincts of the activist scene.
Women appear to have rejected second wave feminism as well. Like most all identity politics clingers on, there does not seem to be any traction within the identity communities for this activist approach as measured by election outcomes here in SF at least. And that rejection by the greater community as well as their base is what drives the practitioners of identity politics to increasingly desperate and shrill presentations and more and more marginalization.
Some of these techniques used to work. But power has adapted an immune response to them and the activists have been incorporated by power and coopted. Even if not coopted, I'm not sure that these techniques will work now from the outside.
I'm as gay as they cum. Back during the VI AIDS conference in 1990 when I still had fresh knees and ankles, I was sk8ing down Folsom towards a debauched underground party we threw at a post-quake red tagged warehouse. At 7th and Folsom, I stopped for a red light and there were two leather fags and two dykes there with me. A Camaro full of skinheads rolled by, slowed down and issued homophobic epithets at us. We returned them in kind. The other four walked off in different directions, I continued down Folsom and was immediately confronted by three skinheads who were unraveling 6' lengths of chain from their belts. They began whipping the chains at me, shouting "run away, little faggot, run away." Instead of running away, I used my board as a shield and stood up to them. They'd left their car running with the door open and as soon as the light cycled and the next wave of traffic came by, it was they who fled.
So don't give me any shit about standing up to gay bashing when I paint yet another Take Back the Night march as an impotent display of powerlessness. Gay bashing and violence against women were tolerated a few decades ago but are now universally excoriated. It was Matthew Shepherd's family who had to ask Wyoming to not execute his murderers--Wyoming--and that was almost 15 years ago now, prosecution and conviction were never off the table.
The only debate locally on proscuting anti-queer violence was over how to charge Gwen Araujo's killers, murder 1 or 2, and that was after she did the not so smart thing of trying to fuck teenage boys while she still had a unit without telling them which is nonconsensual sex and similar to rape. If women killed their rapists, then there would be celebrations and clamor for no charges.
The Oakland activist scene has proven itself all smoke and no fire after the OO debacle. The insistence on hijacking every movement with broad popular support in favor of activist narrow martyr and oppression frames is what does it in. Nobody wants to paint themselves as victims and they resent activists when they are painted as powerless victims by activists when they see themselves as powerful.
I actually think that it would be a good thing for the play date and self esteem generations to get a good ass kicking to toughen them up as they only seem to contest those less than or equal to their power and can never seem to meaningfully confront corporate or state power.
Not all of us want to be protected by the state or believe it can protect us effectively. Nor do all - or any - of us live in the magically transformed world you seem to inhabit. Violence against queers and women remain prevalent despite the prosecutions you laud. The straight state ain't never going to be the solution, because queerness means the struggle against all domination. Even in the unlikely event that liberalism someday enacts its vision of equality under the law, economic coercion and normativity would remain in place.
Got no problems in mutual aid self defense. Don't see how a march is going to get to that. To really be vigilante against violence, that would require a much higher level of organization and resources.
I don't think that most queers see a crisis of violence against queers to the extent that you do. At least not one that rises significantly from the baseline norms.
Similarly I don't see where most women are terrorized by the a crisis of violence against women to the extent that a vigilante would be supported.
Basically you all over in Oakland are remind me of the early 80s socal hardcore punks, white dopes on punk, people of relative privilege who are getting pissed off because they have nothing to get pissed off about.
We're going to be living in a heteronormative, binary gender world for some time. Across human cultures that is the norm. I think that your queer theory is misguided and your radical theory has proven over the past 30 years to be not only losing traction with radicals and the "oppressed communities," not to mention the population at large.
This radical activist narcissism is little more than self gratification and cannot supplant ongoing, democratic grassroots organizing that expands way, way afar from the radical activist comfort zone.
Good points, Marc. However, I suspect that it is something more than narcisism motivating these "activists". When I see people behaving in really dumb and ineffectual ways, I start wondering if these are provocateurs in our midst. Like the black block...we now have "feminist vigilante gangs". Only a cop could come up with a ridiculous concept like that.
"The Left" is one big provocation by authoritarians who view liberation as replacing the old boss with them because they do not trust the people they claim to speak for.
What I'm seeing here is a level of insecurity, of discomfort in one's own queer skin, that is being projected into hatred of hets. This follows from the leftist's hatred of capitalism and the conclusion that everything that capitalism produces is tainted and must be dispensed with.
Instead of defining oneself in opposition to something, to capitalism or hets or every aspect of capitalist/het society, I prefer to define myself in positive terms of my values. Not everything produced by capitalist/het society abrogates my values.
Thus, an affirmative declaration of radical queerness, to put it in Marxist philosophical terms, takes the thesis, the good parts, highlights the antithesis, the bad part, negates that part and tries to create a new synthesis out of it.
No clownish dress code is required to be a radical queer.
I ain't joking or delusional when I describe harassment, oppression, and violence as central to the queer experience under heteropatriarchy. Your post itself continues one example. (Slap-fighting and scrunchies? Really?) Death to straight society!
You are truly pathetic. I grew up in Texas as a queer in the 70s and 80s. You coddled whiners have no clue what queer oppression is.
While it may entitle you to moral superiority if we buy into the progress narrative, your experience gives us younger queers no reason to tolerate present circumstances. Stay bitter - I will too - but don't expect me to settle for the status quo just because it's relatively better than what you presumably endured. My desires far exceed anything yet realized in this world.
You never make 100% in politics unless you're Stalin. We're at the peg with opposition to violence against women and approaching it with queers.
It is not a progress narrative. In most places where most people live, the institutions that carried the homophobia virus for replication are in crisis and are losing influence and power. That relates to the triumph of modernism and its replacement with "anything goes" postmodernism and its descendents.
Moving beyond the status quo is a lot like the weather, everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it that actually changes the status quo. It was not the kiss ins that moved queers towards almost universal acceptance in places where 2/3 of Americans live, rather three decades of coming out and integrating into the society at large while maintaining much of our identity.
You know, once in Mexico DF when I was visiting in the 1990s, we took a wrong turn from the Merced market and headed away from the Metro station and towards the place where Burroughs would say that you could smell the junk, the wig and artificial limb shop district. Out of a doorway and into the altiplano pollution filtered sunlight stumbled this woman who I presume was trans and declared to nobody in particular "¡Soy puta y que!" I'm a whore and what's it to you?
Most all queers in the cities are at a place where we can confront the world on our terms without apology or explanation. We are not oppressed in the cities, we are clearly not oppressed in the Bay Area.
If you can't function as a full participant in society in the Bay Area without feeling insecure for your safety, then there is something else going on with you.
...anything that ever will be realized.
Enjoy your public tantrum this evening. I doubt that whatever revolution you envisage will be noticed outside of the Lesbian Fight Club circuit. Also, using "ain't" and "y'all" makes you sound like a redneck, which undermines your credibility. At least, that's what the heteropatriarchy told me while we were beating up queers to stay in shape.
is so hilarious I think they should be made into an animated short - with the city's progressive supervisors and Eliana Lopez reading the parts - they can donate the $56.48 in proceeds to the remnants of Occupy.
Lauren and everyone
From a old fairy who has been bashed more than once thank you for going out and doing the march. You know when I read over some of the comments all I could read is excuses. Hey Marcos I live in a city and that is where the bashing takes place. Just because you think its safe where you are think again. They are in the shadows just waiting to bounce. May goodness how you are paling your gayness right back to homosexual. You know you have heard of paling ones genes well you are doing the same. Too bad but good to see you go and all other homo straights.
At 69 I got to say agian, thanks to all of our young queers who stand up and fight back. There is a very evil society here and nothing is petty, insignificant, in trying to overthrow or set things queer. So what most homosexuals don't see a crisis of violence against queers. No because as I said you have become so straight that you all all just like those that we have opposed for so long and those who have opposed us. You are excusing yourself to them. Too bad.
GO GO GO FORWARD in the spirit of Comptons Cafe, Stonewall or where ever queers have fought back! Forward with Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. Forward with the fighting spirit to overcome straight society and this dirty rotten system.
I live in a city - supposedly queer, friendly, though not in the Bay Area - and some bigot threatened to cut my throat while brandishing a knife just a few months ago. This happened in broad daylight, around noon. Cops here often harass and sometimes brutalize queer and trans folks on the street. They're not going to save us, they're part of the problem.
Even according to official statistics, bashing remains widespread. So-called LGBT people are the most likely of any officially recognized group to experience violent hate crime - and that ignores all the unreported incidents, such I as the one I mentioned above. It's simply false to say we don't face attacks and hatred these days.
self-absorbed prick.
Nobody cares if you're gay or whatever. You're the one making a big deal out of it and trying to ram your sexuality down the throats of everyone else.
Yes, the homophobic violence in this case - like in so many others - was clearly the queer's (my) fault. If only I'd picked a different outfit that morning I would have avoided any problems! We really bring it on ourselves.
Death to that narrative.
And stop projecting your experiences onto those of us here. Albuquerque is not the Bay Area and your experiences are nowhere close to being universal or even close to most of us in this region. Your victimization mentality is around 30 years out of date.
Perhaps they did go after you because they were fashion vigilantes and you were deemed to be a fashion criminal?
Besides, what do queer clothes look like? Bangles, glitter and lame?
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Foundations being set at Basingstoke Leisure Park
5:00pm Thursday 8th November 2012 in News By Adam Richards
BUILDING work on the highly-anticipated indoor skydiving centre at the Basingstoke Leisure Park is finally under way.
Northampton-based contractors Winvic are setting the foundations for the 20-metre high simulator, off Churchill Way.
Airkix, the company behind the £6million project, hopes to open the major facility by next summer.
"The worst time is always the building phase," said Airkix chief executive Simon Ward. "You are spending a lot of money getting it built, but all the time waiting for your dream to come true."
The complex, which will be one of three in the country alongside Manchester and Milton Keynes, will also include a "skiplex" skiing simulator, as well as a drive-through Costa Coffee bar.
It is hoped that when it is open, up to 75,000 people will flock to the centre each year.
Councillor Elaine Still, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Cabinet member for communities, sport, and culture, said the development is "breathing new life" into the ageing leisure park.
"It is a fantastic investment in the leisure park," said Cllr Still. "It is going to be great for all our residents, but equally, as it is the only one in the south, it will bring people from all over the place."
Council chiefs hope Airkix will encourage other similar business to come forward and build on the leisure park.
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Dirty Tackle
Future News: Falcao offers to play as a central defender for Manchester UnitedBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle13 hrs ago
Manchester United's deadline-day loan signing, Radamel Falcao, has offered to play as a center back for his new club despite being one of the most prolific strikers in the game.
With the likes of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie already in the squad, the signing of the Colombian international came as a surprise to many fans and pundits given Man United's strength at that position and weakness at others. But those concerns were disregarded as the club spent the final hours of the summer transfer window sealing a season-long loan deal with a - for Falcao — a move that even the player finds perplexing.
Real Madrid stole the idea for acquiring Chicharito from Goal IIBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle21 hrs ago
Real Madrid already signed two breakout stars of the Brazil World Cup earlier in this transfer window, so to close it out, they had to look to other sources of inspiration. And with the addition of Chicharito on loan from Manchester United, it seems they took that inspiration from a fictional 2008 film set within the club. Yes, Javier Hernandez's move to Real Madrid is the story of Goal II come to life.
Let's look at the facts...
Real life: Javier Hernandez, a Mexican goal scorer with a buzz cut, goes from a Premier League club (Man Utd) to Real Madrid.
Goal II: Santi Munez, a Mexican goal scorer with a buzz cut, goes from a Premier League club (Newcastle) to Real Madrid.
Real life: Chicharito is brought to the club by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Goal II: Munez is brought to the club by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez (he played himself in the film).
Sky Sports News reporter uses vanishing spray to keep QPR fans away from himBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle1 day ago
One of the most inexplicable developments of the Sky Sports Newsification of transfer deadline day has been the hordes of easily excitable fans that gather around the network's reporters outside various stadiums and training grounds across England. They stand there for hours on end just for the chance to be seen on television celebrating rumors of footballers boarding airplanes or seeing a doctor.
At times, these street dwellers can get a little too close and make the reporters feel like they'll be torn apart if they don't say what the mob surrounding them wants to hear.
Poor SSN presenter looks like he's about to be taken in and eaten alive by these Spurs fans! pic.twitter.com/3DDAlCb1
Zenit signed Bart Simpson and it was all very weirdBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle1 day ago
The Simpsons have been partnering with football clubs around the world as a part of a still unclear money printing strategy and now it's FC Zenit's turn to join the brand synergy party. But with a twist.
Since the partnership was unveiled on transfer deadline day, the Russian club announced it as if they were signing Bart Simpson as they would a new player. So they carried this premise out to its fullest, most terrifying possibilities BY HAVING A HUMAN PERSON DRESSED IN A GIANT BART COSTUME GO THROUGH THE PACES OF A NEW SIGNING.
In the video above, you'll see the giant headed and sickly looking Bart Simpson going through a medical exam, having an awkward one-sided conversation with Andre Villas-Boas (the indignities never end for Andre, do they?), meet his new teammates and then get initiated into the squad by nearly having his big freaky head knocked off.
Here's how Zenit announced the signing on their official website:
The oddities of transfer deadline day have no limits.
The reunion of Shinji Kagawa and Jurgen Klopp was better than The NotebookBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle1 day ago
Shinji Kagawa has returned to Borussia Dortmund after two long seasons of being imprisoned on Manchester United's bench and the universe is now a better place for it. One look at the incandescent smiles on the faces of Kagawa and Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp tells you all you need to know about the joy this move has brought. If the sun is shining in your part of the world today, this is why. (If it's not, that's probably your fault.)
As Kagawa toiled in the background at Man United, falling out of favor with Sir Alex Ferguson, then David Moyes and, finally, Louis van Gaal, the "#FreeShinji" campaign grew in support on social media networks. And when Shinji was finally freed, even Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky celebrated by posting an artistic interpretation on his Instagram account.
Brendan Rodgers thinks he has Mario Balotelli all figured out alreadyBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle1 day ago
Mario Balotelli made his Liverpool debut in their 3-0 win over Spurs on Sunday. He played 61 minutes and though he couldn't finish several good chances on goal, his presence on the pitch for Liverpool was a positive one — concerning defenders for the right reasons and helping Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge find space.
Sterling opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Balotelli didn't fight Steven Gerard to take the 49th minute penalty converted by the captain after the pecking order was explained to him earlier this week and fellow new arrival Alberto Moreno scored the third goal at the end of a blistering run that ruined Andros Townsend's day. All together it was a brilliant display from Liverpool and after the match, manager Brendan Rodgers was quick to praise Balotelli in a way that showed how pleased he was with his handling of a player with a reputation for being unmanageable.
From the Guardian:
Bastia forced to borrow training shirts for Ligue 1 match due to camouflage clashBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle1 day ago
Bastia were very eager to show off their new camouflage third shirt, so they turned up at Bordeaux looking like one of Mario Balotelli's cars. The players warmed up in their camo tops, but when the referee realized that the dark colors clashed with the home side's shirts, they were ordered to change. This proved to be a problem.
Unfortunately, Bastia didn't think to pack an alternate shirt, so they were forced to borrow plain white training tops from Bordeaux.
With Bastia in white shirts by Puma and white shorts by Kappa, the match went ahead. And just 18 minutes in, the visitors in borrowed shirts opened the scoring with a goal form Junio Tallo.
Bordeaux's Diego Rolan equalized in the 78th minute and Bastia's referee troubles continued when the official missed a blatant handball in the box.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw and Bastia learned a valuable lesson: nothing good comes from trying to play football in camouflage shirts.
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Xabi Alonso is already wearing lederhosenBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle2 days ago
Xabi Alonso started for Bayern in their 1-1 draw with Schalke on Saturday after making his surprise move from Real Madrid on Friday and now, to properly complete the whirlwind weekend, he's taken part in the club's annual beer and lederhosen photoshoot. The Spaniard joined all of his new teammates in traditional Bavarian garb, looking like he's been celebrating Oktoberfest his whole life.
"I could get used to this..."
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Brooks Peck is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter! Follow @BrooksDT
Tim Howard handles the ball outside the box, accosts Diego Costa, doesn't get sent offBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle2 days ago
Chelsea beat Everton 6-3 in a thrilling match that Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard was either very lucky or very unlucky to complete, depending on how you look at it. The madness began faster than you could say, "Diego Costa out six weeks with a hamstring injury," with Diego Costa scoring just 36 seconds into the match and then Branislav Ivanovic adding a second Chelsea goal in the third minute.
Infusing an initial bit of controversy to the early excitement, Howard went unpunished for handling the ball outside his box in the ninth minute — an offense that could have gotten him sent off. Which might have been an improvement on how he spent the rest of the day.
Kevin Mirallas got one back for Everton just before halftime, making it 2-1 at the break. In the 69th minute, Seamus Coleman deflected a shot between Howard and the post for an own goal that put Chelsea up 3-1. Costa appeared to taunt Coleman immediately after the goal and that's when Howard snapped.
Chris Kamara can't hear any of his cues, watches match intentlyBrooks Peck at Dirty Tackle3 days ago
Sky Sports reporter/Brazilian thief catcher Chris Kamara is perhaps best known for thoroughly enjoying the fact that he had no idea who was sent off at Portsmouth four years ago. Well, in his eagerness to make sure that never happens again, Kamara now watches the matches he attends so intently that he's become completely oblivious to his cues.
Soccer Saturday's Jeff Stelling tried to cue Kamara, who was positioned at Upton Park for West Ham v Southampton, three times and all three times Kamara either couldn't hear him or was too focused on the match to realize that he was on live television.
He wasn't the only one on the program having difficulties, though. Paul Merson interrupted a discussion earlier on in the show by choking on the spicy sushi he was eating for lunch.
Believe it or not, there was actually some football going on in the midst of all this madcap hilarity, too.
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Blue Point Toasted Lager - Blue Point Brewing Company
Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse.
Ratings: 1,159 | Reviews: 415 | Display Reviews Only:
Reviews by moistnugget:
3.5/5 rDev -1.1%
11-17-2012 07:33:35 | More by moistnugget
More User Reviews:
North Carolina
3.68/5 rDev +4%
Pours a nice rich,clear amber with a sticky white head,aromas a re a little subdued but a real toasted grain presence is there with light caramel note.Very sturdy mouthfeel goes down smoothly,flavors are toasty and lightly sweet some caramel with a nice hop zing in the finish somewhat herbal.This a very nice food friendly lager great with pizza,nice flavor I would definently buy again.
09-24-2005 23:57:29 | More by oberon
3.34/5 rDev -5.6%
Pours a beautifully translucent, bright copper-golden color with lots of carbonation bubbles that quickly rise to the top. The head is wispy, white, and thin, leaving behind very little lacing (if any, really) on the glass. The nose is full of wheat, grains, and a bit of sweet malt and citrus. Smells very clean and crisp, very inviting for a lager style. Crisp taste, thanks to the carbonation, low bitterness and very little hoppy flavor. Full of toasted wheat and barley with a nice hint of warmth and sweetness from the malt. A little bit of honey can also be detected as the beer warms. Thin-medium body with an overall dry finish.
Not a bad beer, at all. Very crisp and refreshing, this beer triumphs many other lagers of similar style. Plus, this is fairly easy to find year-round.
10-03-2012 12:12:14 | More by tectactoe
3.25/5 rDev -8.2%
Appearance: Transparent dark gold to amber color. Small head when poured which receded almost immediately. Strong carbonation visible.
Aroma: Slightly hoppy aroma with malty backbone. Not any real "toasted" notes apparent.
Taste: Rich flavor of malts balanced with mild hops. The toastiness makes a slight appearance in the middle. Finishes crips & fairly refreshing.
Mouthfeel: Thin to medium bodied. Smooth & crisp. Body was a bit thin for what I was expecting from the initial appearance.
Drinkability: Very easy drinking. This goes down smoothly. Refreshing...
Comments: I enjoyed this lager from Blue Point, but did not find it overly exciting, More full flavored than your standard lager, but nothing out of the ordinary. Would have liked it to be more toasty per the name...
07-31-2006 20:13:27 | More by JMD71
New York
3.5/5 rDev -1.1%
A - Dark copper color, very clear, nice carbonation, 2 finger head that faded fast leaving just a lacing.
S - Sweet and lightly toasted malt aroma.
T - Toasty and sweet flavor with a little bitterness to finish.
M - Soft and velvety feel to start but ends with a little astringent feeling.
D - Easy drinking, non-offensive lager.
02-27-2010 02:44:04 | More by steelerguy
2.9/5 rDev -18.1%
Uh, where's the "toast"? The name of this beer piqued my interest, as I am fond of smokey beers, and the thought of a "toasted" beer grabbed me.
However, this is mediocrity, straight across the board. There's not really anything to distinguish this lager from the hundreds of other lagers out there. Looks like your average lager, and smells & tastes that way too. I don't really know what to tell you. If you've had one lager, you've had 1,000. Kind of a grass/hay taste & mouth to this beer. Kind of a mildly unpleasant aftertaste, but nothing that really lingers.
Ultimately forgettable, this was rather a disappointment, as I am very fond of Blue Point's "Hoptical Illusion." I'm glad I only bought one. I wont be having this beer ever again.
10-03-2005 00:18:21 | More by chOAKbarrell
New York
3/5 rDev -15.3%
07-06-2014 04:24:12 | More by kuishinbo_tantei
New York
3.5/5 rDev -1.1%
10-06-2012 23:38:59 | More by kevrob802
4.5/5 rDev +27.1%
08-25-2012 02:06:30 | More by BK2084
New York
3.63/5 rDev +2.5%
A brilliant copper color with a thinnish yet persistent white head. Sampled, several times, out of a growler from the brewery.
Starts with a clean, sharp, toasty malt/citric hop nose with a hint of buttery ester tossed in. Bitter citrus hop on the tongue, with a toasty malt flavor that comes through to keep the rest of your mouth busy. Overall, the hop outdoes the malt (at least as far as my tastebuds went - this was the fourth of six brews/growlers that day) when cold. But as it warms, a toasted caramel flavor emerges that really makes the ol' tastebuds happy.
08-11-2002 21:08:16 | More by sponberg
3.65/5 rDev +3.1%
Appearance: Pleasant caramel color, thin and light tan colored head.
Smell: Toasted malts and wheat, light sweet banana and brown sugar smell. Thoroughly uncomplicated, but pleasant.
Taste: True to type and name. Sweet, toasted taste, without any bitterness or hop flavors.
Mouthfeel: Fairly low carbonation, maybe a little thicker compared to other lagers. Sits pleasantly in the mouth, and stays around for a nice savory finish.
Overall: Uncomplicated, but tasty. Not my favorite, but I might choose it again in hot weather if I didn't want to go for a pilsner.
05-24-2011 02:50:44 | More by rhopeyr
4/5 rDev +13%
07-21-2013 09:45:23 | More by Kori
4/5 rDev +13%
08-14-2013 14:51:11 | More by SmellsofMahagony
Rhode Island
3.25/5 rDev -8.2%
08-01-2014 14:37:32 | More by Doomcifer
3.58/5 rDev +1.1%
A- Light amber with a small white head. Looks like a slightly darker yeungling.
S- Toast and cinnamon though nothing very strong.
T- The toast and spice from the nose meld with nuts and a light earthy character that seems to come from both the hops and yeast, a good balance.
M- A bit thin but it has a little more body than most light lagers..
D- Highly enjoyable and refreshing, this is definitely a worthwhile beer if nothing mind blowing.
09-07-2011 00:02:35 | More by Guden
3.2/5 rDev -9.6%
Presentation: 12 oz brown long neck bottle with a purchase before date on the side of the label.
Appearance: Inviting fresh looking head, bubbly and frothy just the way I like it. Bright copper colour, with a brilliant clarity.
Smell: Clean with a meek aroma. Light toasted grain, hint of sweetness and bread with a very faint hop aroma.
Taste: Clean and crisp with a moderate body, toasted flavours are a bit dull but still add to the palate. Graininess is laid back with a quick flash of sweetness then the hops roll in with a balanced bitterness and faint flashes of oily and herbal flavour. Grain flavours border on husky in the drying finish and become a tad bothersome.
Notes: A run of the mill amber lager, flavours are placid though sometimes plain is good. Its just and easy drinking brew, nothing special.
10-30-2002 09:23:23 | More by Jason
New York
3.68/5 rDev +4%
12 ouncer, I can find no freshness/bottling date info. Pours clear, dull orange tinged amber. Light khaki head, showing some retentive powers and then going to a thick collar/film and respectable sliding lace. Bright malty nose, with a hay like quality to it. Nutty amber brew, pleasant enough stuff. Decent sesioner. Nothing special, but not a bad brew to expose a micro newbie to.
10-06-2009 02:13:36 | More by Billolick
2.93/5 rDev -17.2%
Appearance: big head, golden brown color, high carbonation
Smell: I get some wheat and malt
Taste: malty start with a small hop finish
Mouthfeel: light body, smooth, and creamy
Drinkability: I found this to be a very typical lager...Nothing outstanding, nothing bad either..Just there..A good lawnmower beer, but nothing I would pay a premium for
03-06-2009 23:02:04 | More by tigg924
New York
4/5 rDev +13%
11-03-2013 20:35:30 | More by Lgrec8
3/5 rDev -15.3%
11-29-2013 13:56:30 | More by KolbMarley
New York
3.75/5 rDev +5.9%
05-23-2013 02:20:24 | More by JC333
3.5/5 rDev -1.1%
06-20-2013 02:42:58 | More by alienlifeforcecube
3.85/5 rDev +8.8%
Pours a light orange with millions of tiny floaters. Date on bottle says Jan '06, so it's not that. A two finger head of off-white foam forms on top, dropping after a while to islands and a ring, with intermittent traces of lacing on the glass.
Aroma is faint caramel, slight DMS, and very faint citrusy/spicy hops. Not alot going on, but nothing bad, either.
Flavor is sweet caramel, DMS, fairly strong hop bitterness, and juicy hops. The hops taste citrusy? Aftertaste is sweet and slightly nutty. This is almost like a pale ale, but it's a lager, with DMS and everything.
Mouthfeel is medium, with pretty strong carbonation. Finish is sweet and tingly.
This is a good beer. I know from touring the place that the color comes from the boiler being either on or off, which means the sugar is caramelizing, giving this its color. It's not smoky. The only thing that's weird are the floaters. Recommended.
10-13-2005 18:26:20 | More by jakester
4.5/5 rDev +27.1%
04-14-2014 01:36:36 | More by Rpiano78
4.5/5 rDev +27.1%
04-26-2012 22:41:01 | More by Cavanaghty
Blue Point Toasted Lager from Blue Point Brewing Company
80 out of 100 based on 1,159 ratings.


text:
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Ease those computer worries
Common sense, software can ease computer worries
The computer is a powerful tool. It can create email, browse the Web, edit photos. Heck, it can be used to design a space shuttle if you have the right skills. But the thing it does best is create worries.
A day doesn't pass without hearing from a reader with some computer-generated worry. The worries are real but they're also, in almost every case, worries that can be either eliminated or greatly diminished. Today we'll look at some of the worries I hear about the most. I will show you ways to soothe them.
There's no doubt this stuff, which is handily lumped together under the fashionable term of malware, can do ugly things. But it's also possible to almost entirely eliminate the need to fret about it. Once equipped with good programs to detect and eliminate malware the chances of it causing you problems are almost zero.
And there are plenty of good program choices. To save space, I'll recommend just a few. AVG (http://www.avg.com) is a fine free anti-virus program. Superantispyware (http://www.superantispyware.com) is also a competent free program for adware/spyware. If you want to go the commercial route, buy a copy of Norton 360: http://tinyurl.com/7alz47n and it'll handle all malware threats and several other security chores as well.
You need common sense, too. That's advice you've heard from me and others for years: Don't open attachments, don't click on links in emails. Follow my advice and you can quit worrying about viruses and spyware.
The chances of some master criminal specifically targeting your home computer are actually fairly low. Instead of picking targets at random, the best computer crooks go after bigger fish — giant databases filled with credit card and personal information. That's where the money is.
If you're hit at all it'll probably come from some special purpose bit of malware designed to attack your computer and do the hacking in an automated way.
You can defeat it if you follow the tips I offered. Also, turn on the Windows firewall. If you don't know how, just type that word in the search box for Windows help. It also helps if you use a router. It serves as a firewall of sorts, making it more difficult for hackers to get to your computer.
Don't respond to emails, no matter how legitimate they seem, asking you to furnish passwords or account information. If it seems to come from a merchant or bank that you deal with and you worry it may be legitimate (and believe me it almost certainly isn't) check with that merchant by telephone or through an email address from the company's website.
Avoid "fixing" problems when you don't know how. The leading cause of computer death is that sort of fixing. Most problems go away when you turn the computer off, wait a bit and then turn it back on. If that doesn't fix the problem and you don't know what you're doing, take the computer to a repair shop. Don't rely on fixes you find on the Web or hear about from a friend.
It's fine to learn to fix minor problems. That's what I've done and it can be a great education. But only do it if you understand that the tuition cost is high. I left a trail of messed up and even destroyed computers in my wake. So feel free if you don't mind trading a few disasters for what you learn. But if you want to follow the worry-free route, leave the fixing to the experts.
Backing up the data on your computer can turn a disaster into an inconvenience. If all else fails you'll still have your precious data in the backup. Windows comes with a decent backup program, or you can use one of the online services such as Carbonite or Mozy. I know I harp on backing up data but it truly is something every computer user should be doing.
If you do all I suggest you can whittle down worries in a hurry. That will give you plenty of time to think of other things to worry about.
Bill Husted writes about technology. Contact him at email@example.com.
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Undergraduate Students : Articulation + Course Equivalency
Lower Division Articulation
All course-to-course articulations to the College of Business (CoB) at SF State can be viewed by visiting Assist.org.
Assist.org is the CSU system-wide articulation web site that maintains all of the approved articulations for both GE and Business.
Individual Course Articulation
In order to validate transfer work from colleges and universities that do not have formal articulation agreements with the college, you need to have the coursework evaluated by a course coordinator.
Please bring a copy of your transcripts, course descriptions or syllabi, tests, reports, and your DARS and/or ASE reports to a course coordinator for review.
If the transfer work presented is equivalent to a CoB course, the course coordinator will write the information on your Course Substitution (Pink) Form and sign it. The signature indicates that the course(s) taken at another institution is comparable to San Francisco State University and that you may use it toward your B.S. in Business Administration degree, provided that it has also been accepted as transfer credit by SF State, as indicated on your DARS and/or ASE.


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When people think of San Francisco in the late 60s, they naturally picture hippies, Haight Ashbury, and all that music: Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and of course, the Grateful Dead. But people had to be able to hear what these bands were playing, so among those young, eager musicians, fans, and groupies who found their way to the Bay Area during that time were a contingent of technicians and engineers who designed and maintained the sound systems. Some of them had backgrounds in audio, some were just friends of the musicians who wanted to help out, and, sure, some were just there for the party, but all of these novice audiophiles had a genuine love of the music, and a desire to make it sound as crisp and clear as possible.
Not that it was very easy to accomplish such a feat back then. Equipment was primitive, the crew wasn't terribly well trained (or terribly sober, for that matter), and, quite frankly, many of the bands and fans were more interested in the "experience" of a concert than in the clarity of the music.
"I have a pretty extensive collection of tapes from those days," says Bob Co hen, founder and former president of Clear-Com Systems, which recently moved from Berkeley, CA, to nearby Emeryville. "Maybe only one out of every 10 tapes I recorded has anything decent on it. You hear a lot of musicians who are out of tune or out of key. Everybody was pretty stoned; they weren't paying too much attention."
"It was kind of crazy, because everybody was trying to bring hi-fi gear into concerts and stadiums," adds John Meyer, founder of Berkeley, CA-based Meyer Sound Labs. "Nobody even knew anything about power. We were using circuit breakers so big that it took a half a day just to find an electrician with a big enough car."
Interestingly, however, many of those early sound engineers and technicians--like Cohen and Meyer--not only stayed in the Bay Area, they stayed in the audio business. Many ended up forming companies that built the kinds of products that were unheard of in the 60s: self-powered speakers, intercom systems, digital consoles, digital anything. Today, San Francisco boasts more audio manufacturers than just about any other city in the world: Apogee Sound, Otari, Digidesign, Euphonix, E-mu Systems, Dolby, and the aforementioned Meyer and Clear-Com are among those who call the Bay Area home. Not coincidentally, two of ED's sister publications, Mix and Electronic Musician, are also based there.
The music may have brought many of these entrepreneurs to the area, but there are myriad factors that have kept them there: the climate, the politics, the restaurants, the people. It's also an attractive location for businesses: a port city with easy access to Asia; a talent-rich technological pool, thanks to Silicon Valley. But anybody who's ever been to San Francisco is also well aware of the beauty of its surroundings: the Golden Gate, Napa Valley, the redwoods, Fisherman's Wharf.
"Silicon Valley grew up here for any number of reasons," notes Milt McNally, the current president of Clear-Com. "But in reality, if San Francisco was a terrible place to live, people would have gone someplace else."
The same could be said of the audio industry. Cohen, a native of New York, moved to San Francisco in the early 60s because of the folk music scene. Ken DeLoria, president and founder of the Petaluma-based Apogee Sound, also hails from the Eastern US and moved to San Francisco in the late 70s, after spending several years "oscillating back and forth between coasts." John Meyer, however, was a hometown boy, growing up in Berkeley. Meyer was interested in audio from a young age; his earliest involvement with sound came as a youngster at the local radio station KPFA in the late 50s. "It was a very progressive radio station," he notes. "They were making binaural broadcasts, so even back then, the area was pretty famous for doing things with sound." Meyer's alma mater, Oakland High, was one of the first schools in the country to have its own audio department. "We had a sound crew that would build consoles and things like that," he says.
One of Meyer's early professional projects was handling the sound for Steve Miller at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967; from there, he ended up at McCune Sound Service. McCune is something of a legend in the Bay Area, being one of the first audio rental companies around. Founded by Harry McCune, the company supplied a variety of rental equipment, and eventually made some of their own, which was used on tours and other projects.
"There was a lot of action going on there," recalls DeLoria, who worked at McCune himself for over seven years. "There were a lot of engineers who came through there and went on to develop careers in their own right, either in manufacturing or in engineering. In addition to myself and John [Meyer], Bob Cavin, our head engineer at Apogee, was at McCune for years, and Pat Maloney, one of our guys in operations, was with McCune for at least 10 years. It was very fertile."
"When I started working at McCune," Meyer recalls, "they had begun to put a lot of money intotrying to build reliable sound systems. We had done Creedence Clearwater Revival's last tour, but it was hard because they were looking for a certain fidelity, and here we were using hi-fi gear in the Oakland Coliseum. The manufacturers around at the time didn't really understand rock and roll, and they were kind of nasty about it. That's why we started making our own stuff at McCune, and that's why so many other people started making their own stuff. Showco and Clair Brothers had begun doing the same thing."
But this was the early 70s, and even though people may have started paying a little more attention to the sound quality at concerts, it still was not necessarily the top priority of a rock-and-roll show. "Making it through 10 shows in a row without any failure was the goal back then," says Meyer. "Making through an entire tour was a really big goal. But in the early 70s, people didn't care if the sound went off for half an hour and came back on. They'd just go party."
McCune continued to do well in the touring industry, creating the famed "wall of sound" for the Grateful Dead. "We had started working with the Grateful Dead a lot, because they had made a commitment that they wanted the very best, state-of-the-art sound," Meyer says. "They felt this was very important. We built them this 'wall of sound,' and they came into McCune's and I told them that the speakers would also be great for Creedence. And they just said, 'Okay. Why don't you do it?' It wasn't just business then, everyone was interested in anything that could make the sound better. "
McCune thrived in the concert market during early 70s, and even branched out into theatre, supplying equipment for East Coast companies like ProMix and Masque Sound. "Here was this rental company doing exceptionally good work," says DeLoria, "making really quality audio for the time. You could go to a concert and actually hear the guitars, and hear what was being sung. I think that attracted a lot of people who were interested in becoming engineers or who had engineering experience: 'We want to be part of a company where the product actually sounds good.'"
DeLoria, Meyer, and others at McCune all worked to improve the quality and durability of the speakers. The problem was, once McCune had come up with a speaker that filled the immediate needs of its client base, the company began to lose interest in taking it any further. Meyer decided to go it alone; he and his wife Helen, vice president of Meyer, moved to Switzerland with the idea of forming his own company. DeLoria stayed on, but also saw the writing on the wall.
"I kept getting more and more interested in the manufacturing side, with the idea of making products that were repeatable. And I had wanted McCune to become a serious manufacturer, but they wouldn't support it," says DeLoria. "I approached Harry McCune several times and said, 'Why don't you set up a real manufacturing division and brand these products with your name and sell them to other sound companies?' But he was dead set against it. He said, 'If we're going to sell somebody something, then we can't rent it to them. It will kill the rental market.' And from his standpoint, that worked; he had a successful, thriving company. But I could see where things were going."
Specifically, DeLoria saw Meyer's new speakers, which he felt were going to be very popular with the audio market, especially the theatre crowd. "This hold that McCune had on Broadway--because they were the only ones who had the small speakers that sounded any good--started to erode as companies like Masque and Sound Associates started buying up large inventories of Meyer product," DeLoria says. "ProMix started buying Meyer product too, and that's when it occurred to me to leave McCune and start my own manufacturing company. And the ProMix people said, 'We'll buy your products immediately.' I almost literally started Apogee on that promise with them."
Though not affiliated with McCune, Cohen followed a similar path. An electronics engineer and a huge fan of the music coming out of San Francisco in the 60s, particularly the folk scene, Cohen taped many of the musicians he saw perform. Several of those acts, including Jefferson Airplane, Boz Scaggs, and Jesse Colin Young, found out what he was doing and asked him to record their concerts. Eventually, he became their overall sound man, putting together entire systems for bands, building his own consoles and other equipment. Cohen worked briefly for Bill Graham, building the sound system at the Fillmore, then joined forces with Chet Helms to produce concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. "It was environmental theatre," Cohen says of those shows. "It was light, sound, music; it was an experience. Chet would book the bands, and I would take care of the sound."
Those concerts ended around 1970, and Cohen found himself with a lot of equipment, so he formed a rental sound company, which worked on such projects as the LA Love-In, the Human Be-In, and the infamous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont. It was during this time that Cohen realized he needed to communicate from his mixing console to his assistants backstage. He thought he could just buy one, but when he realized that none existed, he worked with Charlie Butten, a touring sound engineer, to create one.
"I did the development, engineering, and product marketing on it," Cohen says. "I tried it out on concerts every weekend, kept modifying and improving it. And within a couple of months, we had a pretty good working prototype, which was a beltpack with all the electronics on it, no central amplifier, just a central power supply and a microphone cable.
"And then the lighting people for some of these shows saw this system, and said, 'Boy, we could use that,'" Cohen continues. "'Could you make us one?' I said, 'Well, here, take mine. I'll build another one.' And then the bands saw them and they wanted one as well, so they could mix onstage. Next thing I know I'm renting 400 sq. ft. of warehouse space on South Market at four cents a square foot, building intercoms."
John and Helen Meyer formed Meyer Sound in the late 70s, but spent nearly six years before that in Switzerland, where John set up an acoustics lab at the Institute for Advanced Studies. While there, he designed a high-frequency horn driver and a modular loudspeaker system, two concepts that would serve Meyer Sound well. But, as Meyer recalls, there was something of a cultural divide between his company and the Swiss way of doing business. "We were talking to Swiss TV and radio companies, and had made some incredible prototypes, really advanced stuff for the early 70s," he notes. "We showed it to them, and they wanted to know who was going to repair it for the next 20 years, how long we had been in business, that sort of thing. They wouldn't possibly buy from a company that wasn't at least 50 years old. And we realized we could go back to America, form a company, build it up and go back to Europe and sell it with no problem, because then they wouldn't judge the size of the company." In 1979, John and Helen p acked up and moved back to Berkeley.
Apogee, a short drive north of the city in Petaluma, in the heart of wine country, began in DeLoria's house in 1985 with three employees; today the company features over 80. "Things were pretty slow for the first few months," DeLoria recalls. "We were developing products, but we were also doing little repairs around the neighborhood, fixing Burger King sound systems, all kinds of pickup work. But in April of 86, we made our first sale to a Broadway show, six AE-2s, our under-balcony speakers, for a touring production of Dreamgirls. Otts Munderloh, the sound designer on the show, liked what he heard and started talking to us about more speakers for the front of house. We went from three people, then up to five; by AES in the fall of that year, we had about 18-20, and by the end of the year, we had about 30. And it just kept going up."
Cohen's intercoms drew attention not only from the rock-and-roll community, but from theatre as well; demand was so great that he decided to close his rental shop and get into manufacturing full time. Cohen established Clear-Com in San Francisco in 1968, and stayed there nearly two decades until escalating costs convinced him to move the company to Berkeley in the mid-80s. By the late 90s, Clear-Com employed over 120 people and was manufacturing 135 different products, but Cohen had gone from being an engineer to being an executive. "I thought to myself, I'm 60 years old, it's getting harder and harder, and it's work of a type I'm not comfortable with. So I decided to retire." In 1997, Cohen sold Clear-Com to the Vitec Group, and retired in 1998. McNally, who joined the company five years ago, took over as president and oversaw the company's recent relocation to a 50,000-sq.-ft. space in Emeryville.
"We stayed in the area largely because of continuity," McNally notes. "It's easy for businesses to talk about pulling up roots. Certainly with the cost overheads associated with doing business in Northern California, it's tempting to say, 'Let's move to Iowa or Nebraska.' But the reality is, we have a 30-year history here. We have an employee base that's well-trained and amazingly long-term. So what we did was look for the most cost-effective place we could find, but still remain in the Bay Area, so that we wouldn't disrupt our employees. In the end, we only moved three miles down the street."
Today, all three companies remain firmly ensconced in the San Francisco area. And though the city and its environs haven't always been terribly pro-business, there are plenty of intangible reasons why these and other audio companies have made the Bay Area their home.
"Since I've lived here all my life, it's hard for me to be objective," Meyer says. "It's sort of like living in the Redwood Forest and wondering why there are all these redwood trees. It's hard to believe you don't see that sort of thing wherever you go."
"Let's not forget the environment here," adds DeLoria. "It's not terribly cold in the winter, it's not ridiculously hot in the summer. That mild weather had enabled us to take speaker systems outdoors and listen to them for our own developmental purposes. Just last night [in November], we were out until 8pm, tweaking one of our linear array models. You wouldn't have that opportunity in the Midwest or East, when it's 20 below; you don't want to listen, all you want to do is get inside."
Perhaps McNally sums it up best: "As long as the earth doesn't shake, and we don't get another el nino, we'll be fine right where we are."