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Al-Qaeda's No. 2 hails "victory" in Iraq
Al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, said in a videotape aired Friday that the American decision to pullout some forces from Iraq represented "the victory of Islam" and called on Muslims to attack oil sites.
Al-Zawahri's comments came in a two-minute excerpt aired by Al-Jazeera. "I congratulate (the Islamic nation) for the victory of Islam in Iraq," he said.
"You remember I told you more than a year ago that the American withdrawal from Iraq is only a matter of time, and here they are now ... negotiating with the mujahedeen," al-Zawahri said.
"Bush was forced at the end of last year to announce that he will pull out his forces from Iraq, but he was giving excuses for his withdrawal that the Iraqi forces have reached a good level."
Al-Zawahri said the American forces "with their planes, missiles, tanks and fleets are mourning and bleeding, seeking for a getaway from Iraq." "Regarding your withdrawal timetable ... you have to admit, Bush, that you have been defeated in Iraq and are being defeated in Afghanistan and will be defeated in Palestine," he said.
"I call on mujahedeen to focus their attacks on Muslims' embezzled oil. Most of its revenues go to the enemies of Islam; meanwhile most of what is left is taken by the thieves who are ruling our countries," he said.


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"Collaborative democracygovernment with the peopleis a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government.
Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. These dedicated but overtaxed officials decide which of the million-plus patent applications currently in the pipeline to approve. Their decisions help determine which start-up pioneers a new industry and which disappears without a trace. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use.
Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decisionmaking by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving todays complex social and economic problems. Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers a fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the twenty-first century."
Selected Reviews
The Internet has taught us that good ideas come from everywhere. Wiki Government translates that lesson for policymakers. With a compelling blend of high theory and practical know-how, Beth Noveck explains how political institutions can directly engage the public to solve complex problems and create a better democracy
— Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO, Google Inc.
After more than fifteen years of public service, I've seen firsthand the difference it makes when government focuses on meaningful, measurable outcomes. Wiki Government shows how citizens' voices and expertise can transform and help deliver effective, efficient government. This book is a must-read for policymakers committed to participatory democracy.
— Timothy M. Kaine, governor of Virginia
Wiki Government both instructs and motivates policymakers to use collaborative tools to strengthen government accountability and engage citizens directly in this critical endeavor. This book is not just for tech geeks and policy wonks but also for the millions of Americans who demonstrated in 2008 how eager they are to engage individually in government reform.
— John Podesta, president and CEO, Center for American Progress, and former White House chief of staff
At once visionary and pragmatic, Wiki Government offers the first glimpse of how public officials might enlist the wisdom of crowds in order to improve government's decisionswhile promoting participation at the same time. A brilliant book and a truly extraordinary achievement.
— Cass R. Sunstein, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
A sweeping visionary yet highly pragmatic book! Beth Noveck concretely shows how to leverage the participatory nature of web 2.0 technologies to build a new kind of participatory democracy and a smart, lean government. She speaks from experience. A must read not just for policy folks and the digerati but for any of us wanting to understand how to tap the collective and diverse wisdom of the American people to create a better, more connected style of democracy.
— John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corp.
Beth Noveck is one of the most innovative thinkers working today on how to reform government using digital technologies. Her theory of collaborative democracy is a genuine advance. Wiki Government offers indispensable advice for anyone who wants to learn how to foster democratic participation in digital environments.
— Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment and director of the Information Society Project, Yale Law School
A fascinating look at how government can be transformed for the needs and opportunities of the 21st century.
— Don Tapscott, co-author Wikinomics and author Grown Up Digital

subset: commoncrawl


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Washington DC
LEADING American researchers in the field of cross-species organ transplantation are calling for a moratorium on human trials.
This week, a US Public Health Service meeting held near Washington DC will debate government policy on xenotransplantation. But Fritz Bach of Harvard Medical School and seven other specialists in xenotransplantation and related ethical issues want federal officials to defer any decisions and halt ongoing trials until there has been a full public discussion of the risks involved.
"Despite the fact that lives of patients needing transplantation may be lost with delay, we believe that the risks are sufficient to warrant refraining from human xenotransplantation until public deliberations on the ethical issues have occurred," they write in an opinion piece to appear in next month's
The researchers are concerned that public health could be threatened by diseases that might cross over into people from donor animals such as ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.


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GE Salmon — let's label it!
One of the most common misconceptions about genetically engineered foods is they are engineered to become more nutritious. This is not true — today's genetically engineered (GE) foods are "stacked" with foreign DNA so they will either produce pesticides or withstand herbicides or both, such as Monsanto's new "double-stacked" sweet corn. And now, with the very first GE animal for human consumption, genetic engineering has produced a food offering less nutrition than the original food it is replacing.
Salmon, easily the most iconic food celebrated here in the Northwest, will very likely soon become the first ever GE animal food for human consumption. And the company that produced it admits their GE salmon is less nutritious.
What's the unique nutritional benefit from salmon? Omega-3 fatty acids, right? Well, GE salmon will offer you fewer omega 3s — the essential fatty acid that supports brain health, helps manage inflammation, and is found in very few foods.
So, why would anyone want to put eel-like genes into salmon, knowing the end result would be a less nutritious food? To make the fish grow faster. GE salmon reach their market weight in about half the amount of time it takes today's salmon to be ready for market. As a result of this super-growth, the GE salmon contain higher levels of the growth hormone IGF-1, a known carcinogen.
To summarize, the biotech industry has created a new "food" to replace one of the healthiest foods on the planet, except that the new and "enhanced" GE salmon will offer fewer heart-healthy omega 3s, and more cancer-promoting IGF-1 growth hormones. Oh, and did I mention that consumers won't be able to tell whether the salmon they are buying at the store is genetically engineered? That is, unless...
This November, Washington voters have a chance to tell the food industry that they would like to know whether or not their foods are genetically engineered. Voting "YES" on Initiative 522 will require foods produced with genetic engineering to be labeled in Washington state, making it much easier for everyone to make an informed choice when shopping at the grocery store.
GMO labeling is important to eaters around the planet for a wide variety of reasons, and 64 countries around the world already label foods produced with genetic engineering. Do you want to avoid GMOs in your breakfast cereal, lunch box and salmon dinner? Then vote YES on 522!


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Special Report - Climate Research - From Science to Society
Tackling climate change—a multi-tiered approach
Carbon dioxide, CO2, emissions—considered the most significant in terms of climate change—span the globe. And so must solutions.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is known worldwide for its work with climate change, ranging from defining the frontiers of physical science on such key issues as the role of clouds in atmospheric processes to defining viable mitigation strategies and developing new technologies. Researchers at PNNL are tackling the climate change issue in a coordinated, three-prong effort.
First, scientists are working to better understand the science behind climate change. They study the role of clouds in the atmosphere and use the data to model changes in climate patterns globally and regionally.
Second, researchers use computer modeling to connect the understanding of climate science to technology and economics, developing integrated strategies for addressing climate change.
Finally, armed with the strategies, researchers develop and deploy technologies that address the climate challenge.
For example, PNNL's Global Energy Technology Strategy Program, GTSP, develops integrated strategies for private and public sector entities. These strategies help clients understand which technologies will have the most impact in resolving climate change, when the technologies will be most useful and in which parts of the world they will be most effective.
"This effort has helped shape the U.S. Department of Energy's approach to climate change," said Ken Humphreys, who manages PNNL's Carbon Management Initiative. "PNNL staff members have been invited to more than a half-dozen rounds of congressional testimony. Clearly, when world class science and high impact are required, policymakers listen to our scientific work in this area."
PNNL researchers also play lead roles in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change through which the global technical community is defining the state of our knowledge about climate change, its causes, its likely effects and robust solution strategies.
Through the GTSP and other programs, PNNL researchers help national and international companies determine how climate policies will affect their businesses. Developing response strategies for these firms involves helping them define technology portfolios and economic and policy options to address climate change and to protect or even advance these firms' interests.
GTSP analysis has shown that a broad portfolio of energy technologies, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, nuclear power and advanced fossil energy technologies, will be needed to successfully confront climate change. One focus of this portfolio is research on carbon dioxide capture and storage, CCS, which is a core strength of PNNL's climate change mitigation work. Researchers have shown that CCS technologies could be a decisive technology in the U.S. portfolio of climate change options, given the abundant geologic CO2 storage reservoirs in the United States and their proximity to large industrial and fossil-fired power plants.
Another group, led by Jim Dooley, who heads PNNL's research on CCS technologies for GTSP and the Joint Global Climate Research Institute, is defining the market potential and operational characteristics of CCS systems. Dooley and his colleagues collaborate with other research entities and the private sector to take CCS systems out of the laboratory and into the field. The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, MRCSP, is one of seven partnerships created by DOE that brings together national laboratories, universities, utilities and others to explore using CO2 storage in a specific region. PNNL researchers and their colleagues at Battelle in Columbus, Ohio, run the MRCSP. Dooley and his team are responsible for technical integration for the MRCSP.
PNNL Scientist Pete McGrail and his team are the first to explore using deep basalt formations to store CO2, in addition to working with methane hydrates, a new potential form of clean energy, and clathrate CO2 capture systems for trapping CO2 from fossil-fuel- burning plants.
Getting out into the field and testing these technologies in realistic conditions is also a hallmark of McGrail's work. McGrail, his group and scientists at Battelle play leading roles in the Big Sky Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership and its focus on realizing a field demonstration of CO2 storage in basalt.
For CCS systems to have an impact on climate change, they must be delivered on a commercial scale. PNNL is pushing forward its field demonstrations at a faster rate and a larger scale so that researchers better understand the implications of using CCS systems with large, modern coal power plants over their more than 50-year operational lifetime.
Humphreys is working to develop one of the world's first zero-emission, coal-fired power plants at a commercial scale. FutureGen is a $1 billion, decade-long project.
"We're not looking for the perfect geology, we're looking for representative geology because if we want the gigaton solution, we have to be able to build hundreds of power plants like this," he said. "We want to choose a plant location where we learn enough scientifically about injection, long-term storage and monitoring that we can replicate it around the world. That's what it will take to deliver on the full potential of these promising mitigation technologies."


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The companies our team has worked with, like Target, Woolworths, Sephora, and Home Depot have trail-blazed omni-channel solutions, and learned the hard-way how to deliver what customers want. Our experience with them has provided us with insights we share with you to ensure you do not make the same mistakes.
We take a no-nonsense approach, and we provide clear, cost-effective paths to success for our clients. Unlike an agency, we'll give you a tight up-front specification and deliver to a budget. You'll get less 'digital mumbo-jumbo', and more practical, retail-centric solutions. Less hourly fees to update promotions on your website, more providing you with the solutions that enable you to do it yourself.
If you have a need to optimise your ecommerce operations, then we can absolutely help you, and more importantly we can show you how true cross-channel retail strategies and systems can effectively engage today's connected consumer, maximise customer retention and improve your bottom line.


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Find hotels in Torrox using the list and search tools below. Search for the cheapest discounted hotel and motel rates in or near Torrox, Spain for your personal leisure or group travel. We list the best Torrox motel and hotel rooms. Browse the Torrox area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the Torrox hotels.The Torrox center is around 4 miles from City Centre Nerja and 24 miles from Alcazaba.
Torrox Hotels/Motels & Accommodations
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In the News...
Non-Discrim- ination Policy
Text-only site
UC Berkeley
January | February | March | April
| May | June | July
| August
September | October
| November | December
December 20, 2010: Richard Muller (Miller
Professor 1990) is featured in a UC
Berkeley News Press Release about his new book The Instant Physicist: An Illustrated Guide.
December 16, 2010: Joe Dufek
(Miller Fellow 2006-2008) has been awarded the 2010 Hisashi
Kuno Award.
December 9, 2010:
Barbara Romanowicz
(Miller Professor Spring 2010) and Pascal
Audet (Miller Fellow 2008-2011) both appeared in a UC
Berkeley News Press Release about
research on tremor activity beneath the San Andreas Fault.
November 18, 2010: Joel Fajans
(Miller Fellow 1988-1989) has received publicity for his research on trapping
Geographic News
Francisco Chronicle article
Cal article
Berkeley News Press Release
November 17, 2010: Bill Dietrich (Miller
Professor 1998-1999) has been awarded the Arthur
Holmes Union Medal and Honorary Membership of the EGU.
November 17, 2010: Michael Manga (Miller
Fellow 1994-1996, Miller Professor 2008-2009, Executive Director 2010-2011) has
been awarded the Robert
Wilhelm Bunsen Medal of the European Geosciences Union.
November 5, 2010:
Josh Shaevitz
(Miller Fellow 2004-2007) has been awarded a Presidential
Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the US government's
highest honor given to early-career scientists.
October 26, 2010: Dan Rabosky
(Miller Fellow 2009-2012) has been awarded the Young Investigator Award from the
American Society of Naturalists.
October 19, 2010: Randy Schekman (Miller Senior Fellow 2008-2013) has been
awarded the Massry Prize.
October 15, 2010: Feng Wang (Miller Fellow 2005-2008) has
been awarded a Packard
Fellowship for his work on grapheme.
October 13, 2010:
Mark Hauber
(Miller Fellow 2002 - 2005) was interviewed for an article in Nature Magazine entitled "Publications:
Publish like a pro".
September 28, 2010: Peter Schultz (Miller
Professor Fall 1991) and Chang Liu
(Miller Fellow 2009 - 2012) were both featured in a Science
News article about their work on
"unnatural selection".
September 21, 2010: Jerry Marsden
(Miller Professor 1981-1982), one of the original founders of reduction theory
for mechanical systems with symmetry, passed away. He was 68.
September 20, 2010:
prizes have been awarded to the following members:
Alexandre Chorin (Visiting
Miller Professor 1971-1972, 1982-1983) - Lagrange
James Sethian (Miller Professor Spring 2011) - Pioneer Prize
August 24, 2010:
Cédric Villani (Visiting
Miller Professor Spring 2004) has been awarded the Fields
Medal, one of the highest awards in the field of mathematics.
August 9, 2010:
Daniel Rokhsar
(Miller Professor Spring 1997) received press coverage for his work on
sequencing the genome of sponges, the simplest animal to have its genome
Berkeley News
Daily Cal
July 29, 2010:
Antonio Castro Neto
(Visiting Miller Professor Spring 2010) and Alex Zettl (Miller Professor 1995, Spring
2007) are both authors of a report on a newly discovered property of graphene, which was discussed in a UC
Berkeley News Press Release.
July 25, 2010:
Don Backer (Miller Professor Spring
2007), a leader in the field of radio astronomy, passed away at the age of 66.
Francisco Chronicle Obituary
July 23, 2010:
Peidong Yang (Miller Professor Spring 2009)
and Paul Alivisatos
(Miller Professor 2001-2002) were both interviewed for a San
Francisco Chronicle Blog that
announced a $122 million grant to study ways to produce fuels from sunlight.
July 20, 2010:
Greg Crutsinger
(Miller Fellow 2009-2012) has written an article for Seed
Magazine in which he describes his work.
July 19, 2010:
Gerson Goldhaber (Miller
Professor 1958-1959, 1975-1976, 1984-1985), who played a key role in many
discoveries in the field of physics over the course of five decades, passed
away at the age of 86
Francisco Chronicle Obituary
July 13, 2010:
Dustin Rubenstein (Miller Fellow
2006-2009) is one of the scientists whose field work is featured in the Scientist
at Work Blog on the New York Times website.
June 10, 2010:
Maryam Modjaz (Miller Fellow
2007-2010) has been awarded the German Astronomical Society's 2010 Ludwig
Biermann Award for outstanding young astronomers.
Department Press Release
June 7, 2010:
Yue Wu (Miller Fellow 2006-2009) has been
awarded a DuPont
Young Professor Grant.
May 27, 2010:
Raman Sanyal
(Miller Fellow 2008-2011) has been awarded the Berlin
Tiburtius Prize for his outstanding dissertation.
May 18, 2010:
Jasper Rine
(Miller Professor Fall 1993) is featured in a College
of Letters and Science Press Release about a program that gives incoming
freshmen the opportunity to submit their DNA for analysis.
May 17, 2010:
Alex Filippenko
(Miller Fellow 1984-1986,
Miller Professor
Spring 1996, Miller Professor Spring 2005) has been awarded the Emmons
Award for excellence in the teaching of introductory astronomy for
non-science majors.
May 14, 2010:
Barry Sinervo (Miller
Fellow 1988-1990) was interviewed for a San
Francisco Chronicle on the extinction of lizard populations.
April 27, 2010:
The Miller Institute would like to congratulate the following new members of
the National Academy of Sciences: Full
David Aldous, Foreign Associate, (Miller Professor Spring
Richard Eisenberg (Visiting Miller Professor Spring 2005)
James Haber (Visiting Miller Professor Spring 2005)
David Jablonski (Miller Fellow 1980 - 1982)
Michael Jordan (Miller Professor Fall 2008)
Steven Kivelson (Visiting Miller Professor Fall 1995)
Jonathan Lunine (Visiting Miller Professor Fall 2001)
Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe (Visiting Miller Professor Spring 2004)
April 26, 2010:
David Milstein (Visiting Miller Professor
Spring 2006) has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Sir
Geoffrey Wilkinson Award.
April 23, 2010:
Ronald Hoy (Visiting Miller
Professor Spring 2005) and Richard A.
Muller (Miller Professor 1990) have both been elected to the American
Academy of Arts & Sciences.
April 22, 2010:
Leon Chua (Miller Professor
1976-1977) has won a 2010
Guggenheim Fellowship award.
March 30, 2010:
Grigori Perelman (Miller Fellow 1993-1995) has
won the Millennium
Prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
March 30, 2010:
Nicholas Mathevon
(Visiting Miller Professor Fall 2008) was featured in a UC
Berkeley News Press Release about his research on hyena giggles.
March 19, 2010:
Yue Wu (Miller Fellow 2006-2009) has been
awarded an Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship.
March 15, 2010:
Alex Filippenko
(Miller Fellow 1984-1986, Miller Professor Spring 1996, Spring 2005) and Sandra Faber (Visiting Miller Professor
Spring 2005) were both quoted in a UC
Berkeley News Press Release about a new Hubble Telescope project.
March 8, 2010:
Corrie Moreau's field work in Australia is
featured in the expeditions section of the Field Museum of Chicago's website.
March 5, 2010: Walter
Alvarez's (Miller Professor
1986-1987, 2001-2002) theory on the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was
discussed in San
Francisco Chronicle article
announcing acceptance of his theory by an international team of scientists.
February 22, 2010: Hermann Grimmeiss (Visiting Miller Professor Spring 1991)
received the Czochralski
Award in Sept. 2009 and an "Honorary
European Award" in May 2009.
February 18, 2010: Dustin Rubenstein (Miller
Fellow 2006-2009) was awarded the 2010 Ned K. Johnson Young Investigator Award
by the American Ornithologists' Union.
February 17, 2010: Eugene Haller
(Miller Professor Fall 1990, Fall 2001) and Michael Jordan (Miller Professor Fall 2008) have been selected as
two of the 68 new members of the National
Academy of Engineering (NAE).
February 16, 2010: Yi Cui (Miller
Fellow 2003-2005) was awarded a 2010
Sloan Research Fellowship.
February 16, 2010: Todd Dawson's (Miller
Professor Fall 2004) research on the decreasing levels of summer coastal fog in
California has received media attention.
Francisco Chronicle
New York Times
Berkeley News
February 5, 2010: Katherine Freese (Visiting Miller Professor Fall 2006) has been
named a Fellow of the American Physical Society and is now George Eugene Uhlenbeck Professor of Physics at the University of
February 4, 2010:
Daniel Rudolph (Miller Fellow
1976-1978) passed away due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Obituary
January 27, 2010: Axel Meyer (Visiting
Miller Professor Spring 1996) was elected member of the Berlin-Brandenburg
Academy of Sciences and member of the European
Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) this past year. He has also been
awarded the Carus
Medal of the Leopoldina (the German National Academy of Sciences) and the EMBO
Prize for Communication in the Life Sciences.
January 25, 2010: Stephen Leone
(Miller Professor Spring 2010) has been selected as a member of the 2010 class
of the Department of Defense's National
Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF) program.
January 21, 2010: Chris
Greene (Visiting Miller
Professor Spring 2007) has been awarded the 2010 Davisson-Germer Prize of the American Physical Society.


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In memoriam Leonid Plyushch
In memoriam Leonid Plyushch (1939-2015)
The last time we met was in Kyiv, a few months after Maidan. Not only the time of our meeting was symbolic, also the place: we lunched in restaurant "Crimea", in solidarity with the Crimeans now finding themselves in occupied territory, and next to the McDonalds where the psychological services were housed during Maidan and where people traumatized by the events were provided psychological and sometimes psychiatric support.
Today Leonid Plyushch died, one of the most well-known victims of the political abuse of psychiatry in the USSR.
I can't even remember when we met for the first time. It must have been in the early 1980s, when the campaign against political abuse of psychiatry in the USSR was in full swing and his case was used as one of the dirtiest examples of this perversion of psychiatric practice. Plyushch had the "honor" of having been diagnosed by "Mr. Sluggish Schizophrenia" himself – Academician Andrei Snezhnevsky, one of the leaders of the Moscow School of Psychiatry who consciously and willingly let his profession be turned into a tool of repression. Plyushch was released after an intervention of the French Communist leader George Marchais, a fact that probably made several Soviet leaders take a handful of tranquillizers because the revisionist French communists were in Soviet eyes worse enemies than "normal" capitalists. The photo of Plyushch and his family arriving in France is probably the most telling one of Soviet psychiatric abuse: a man reduced to a robot by massive dosages of neuroleptics, sitting next to his wife and young children, virtually unaware of what is happening around him. Once a brilliant cyberneticist, Leonid lost his photographic memory thanks to the "treatment" of Soviet doctors.
Later we met quite often during campaigns against Soviet psychiatric abuse. One of these meetings I will never forget. Lyonya was very close to the Partito Radicale Italiana, the Italian Radical Party that was very popular in the 1980s and had close relationships to Soviet dissident émigrés in the West. The party strongly supported their cause and participated in many initiatives. I remember one day I was sent to Rome to train two people in smuggling stuff into a closed country. They turned out to be Antonio Stango and Savik Shuster, who were about to go to Afghanistan to smuggle false Pravda newspapers into the country, in which Soviet soldiers were asked to go home and end the Soviet occupation.
This time – I think it was 1987 - the Radical Party had organized a conference against the political abuse of psychiatry, and both Lyonya and I were among the speakers. To our great surprise we entered a big hall in a rather posh Rome hotel, but without any audience. "So when will the people come?" we asked. "They won't," was the answer, "this is all for life broadcast on radio, and we will pretend there is an audience." And so we spoke to an empty hall, with only speakers as audience, and after each presentation the applause machine was turned on, giving the impression to the listeners that the party had this major successful congress in Rome.
Plyushch was a very special person, in a way a loner who did not belong to any particular camp. The dissidents in the West were usually divided into two groups, sometimes fiercely opposing each other, but Lyonya was part of neither of them. Maybe that is what connected us, this not belonging to any camp, because for the rest he was intellectually far superior, and combined with his own special way of speaking I sometimes had great difficulty to follow his train of thought. I will never forget the way he would be sitting, slightly bent over with his mouth pursed, as if ready to accept the cigarette he would invariably have in his hand, often with the filter between his fingers and the lighted part close to the palm of his hand as if protecting it from extinguishing.
We knew Lyonya was seriously ill, and it was clear the end was near. Yet the sadness of his death is no less, and so is the frustration that we did not manage to reform that hellhole in which he was tortured and where he lived the worst years of his life – the Dnepropetrovsk Special Psychiatric Hospital. But we will, for sure, and now in the memory of Leonid Plyushch, and we will leave no stone unturned. Rest in peace, dear friend, your spirit will be carried on.
Robert van Voren
The special adventures of Ramzidim and Radik
Deep into the mountainous heart of Central Asia lies Tajikistan, a poverty-stricken Islamic country with approximately 7,5 million inhabitants. It was part of the Soviet Union and after the collapse of the communist imperium the country sank into a civil war that lasted for five years and cost the lives of some 8 percent of the population. Ramzidin Juraev and Radik Troi live and work in this country. Ramzidin has a physical handicap, Radik a mental one. Radik pushes the wheelchair of Ramzidin and does various odd jobs for him. How they met is a special story.
In 1978, when Ramzidin was about one year of age, he was taken to hospital for an examination. An intern carried out a lumbar punction as a result of which his spinal cord was damaged and he became severely paralyzed. Not long after the mother of Ramzidin dies. According to him this was the result of the stress that was caused by what happened top her son. His father did not want to continue to care for him and brought him to a "dom-internat" (euphemistically called "social care home"). In the time of the Soviet Union some 1500 of these institutions existed in the country, many of them for handicapped children. These "internats" still exist. In the functional Soviet approach a hierarchy existed of "disabled" with a system of various privileges connected to it. At the top were war veterans and model workers who had become disabled during their jobs. At the bottom were those who were considered useless, such as children and adults with a learning disorder. The intelligent Ramzidin lived until his 16th among some 200 mentally handicapped children. The living conditions were horrendous. Callous personnel, lack of food, epidemics of scabies and diphtheria and endless boredom. Of the 200 children only 40 survived. " It would have been better if you had died," the doctors said. Regularly Ramzidin was refused food because he would only dirty himself and the caretakers didn't feel like cleaning him afterwards. In the "internat" he met Radik Tsoi. Radik hardly remembers anything of his own history. His parents are Korean. During the Stalin era some six million people of ethnic minorities, including the Koreans that were living in Russia's Far East, were deported to distant regions such as Tajikistan. They were called 'enemies of the people". Approximately one million and a half of them died in the process. The parents of Radik left him in an "internat" when it became clear that he was mentally handicapped, and they disappeared from his life. Radik helped Ramzidin with eating, going to the toilet, and by pushing his wheelchair. Ramzidin and Radik had no idea of what the world was like outside their "internat". They never came outside. "Same people. Same doctors. Same food". That was their life, an anonymous existence on the dustbin of history.
When they turned 18 they were transferred to an institution for adults. In 1995 aid workers of a foreign organization visited this institution and Ramzidin established contact with them. They were surprised by his intelligence and the organization offered him a job. As a result he learned to read and write and, as he calls it himself, "to behave himself". He developed himself further and eventually earned enough money to leave the "internat" and to establish his own independent life. He took his faithful companion Radik along. By now Ramzidin is married and lives together with his wife, daughter and Radik in the north of Tajikistan. He is the owner of an expanding taxi firm and chairman of a local association for people with a disability. In that capacity he fights for better legislation and protection of people with a disability, and organizes trainings and workshops where people can learn skills such as sewing and other manual professions in order to be able to sustain themselves. His dream is to found a "social club" for people with a disability in the city where he lives. Deeply affected by his history Ramzidin was initially full of resentment and anger after he managed to escape from the inhuman conditions of life in "internats". His aggression he gradually managed to turn into power to fight on behalf of his peers who continue to lead a marginalized life in poverty.
Rob Keukens
First winners of the new Jim Birley Scholarships
It is with great pleasure that the Netherlands-based international foundation "Human Rights in Mental Health-FGIP" announces the first winners of the new Jim Birley Scholarships. The Scholarship is shared in 2015 between two outstanding advocates for human rights in mental health. The winners of the 2015 Jim Birley Scholarships are Anka Jgenti from Georgia and Charlene Sunkel from South Africa


text:
London 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe told Sky Sports he is determined this summer's Games will be ready on time, although he knows there is still much work to be done.
Coe, speaking at the unveiling of the London 2012 slogan, "Inspire a Generation" took the time to thank all those involved in helping to deliver the prestigious event.
The Games are now just three months away and Coe, who broke numerous records during his competing days, does not want to be remembered as the man who could not deliver on time.
Coe is more than happy with the construction programmes, insisting the organising committee have worked wonders in raising 'record' sums of money during a down economy.
Look forward
When asked what the 100-day landmark means, he told Sky Sports News: "It's a lot. It means we still have a lot to do. It's an opportunity to celebrate and look forward to the fact the world is coming to London in 100 days' time.
"From a personal perspective I wanted to honour and thank the millions of people in the United Kingdom who are helping deliver this. We aren't doing this alone.
"I broke something like 12 world records in my time. I don't intend to break and 13th and be the first Games not to be ready on time. We've got to do the best work of our lives and we're going to need every minute of every day to do that.
"The construction programme has gone well. If you look at the organising committee, the fact that we've raised record sums of money in one of the worst economies that anyone can remember during the delivery of a games.
"All this has meant we're in very good shape now, but there is still a lot of work to do."


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LoadFusion, the Stevie Awards' 2013 Best Transportation Product, has released a product update bringing numerous exciting new features to the LoadFusion Transportation Optimizer. The tool is used by large volume shippers to maximize efficiency in the loading and delivery of freight in the US and Canada, saves transportation departments considerable time and money. The latest spate of improvements to the solution includes a host of new functionality designed to accommodate users of private and/or dedicated fleets for shipping.
New features for the current release include:
New features specific to private/dedicated fleet optimization include:
UltraShipTMS president, Nicholas Carretta said, "We were honored to earn Transportation Product of the Year accolades before making these exciting upgrades to our solution. We're certain the market will agree, there is no better commercially available tool for transportation optimization than LoadFusion." Carretta reports that several Fortune 500 companies are in late stages of contract negotiation to implement the LoadFusion Optimizer.
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Learning from Vodafone to Keep It Clean
Last week's Twitter comment by a Vodafone employee was unfortunate.
To be honest, something like this was bound to happen. But one rogue Tweet in amongst millions of corporate others doesn't make social media some kind of danger area to be avoided.
Business owners shouldn't panic but just take a step back to review their procedures, training, password protection and strategy, to minimize something like this happening to them.
What doesn't seem clear is whether it was a disgruntled employee or one who just flicked the wrong switch.
What we do with @MSAdvertising is separate our personal accounts from applications we use for working the corporate feed.
Keeping the company and personal accounts clean and free of each other would be one step in the right direction, making it difficult for staff to tweet the wrong thing to the wrong followers.


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Sixth sense: Bears draft Georgia DE Cornelius WashingtonContinue reading.
Q & A: Bears add Georiga DE Cornelius Washington
The Bears grabbed defensive end with pass-rushing potential in the sixth round, selecting Georgia's Cornelius Washington with 188th selection. Here's what Washington said about the Bears' plans for him:
On falling to the sixth round in the draft: "I'm a little bit discouraged but the call came and that's the most important thing. Now I'm just ready to go out there and be a Chicago Bear and contribute to that team as much as I possibly can."
On if he sees himself as a defensive end in the NFL: "Yes, Chicago wants me to play defensive end and I'm very happy with that. I'm very comfortable with the position. It's actually a position that I was recruited to play in college and I'm happy with it. I'm going to have the ability to just go and rush and that's the best thing for me so I'm excited. I'm elated and I'm ready to play."
On why he thinks he fell in the draft process: "There was nothing that I was made aware of. Me and my agent both were – still are shocked. I have no idea what was going on. But you know, I've got an opportunity and that's the most important thing. You know you turn something that's mildly negative into a positive and it's still a blessing. I'm blessed to be able to go to Chicago. I'm blessed to even get drafted at all. So I'm not bitter, just ready to get to work."
On how much time he spent as a lineman at Georgia: "We played in our sub-package probably 60-65 percent of the time and I played the D-end spot in our sub-package so most of the time I did have my hand down rushing the passer like that. So it's nothing that I'm not used to. It's something that I'm comfortable with doing and I'm good at it."
On what he heard from the Bears in the draft process: "I didn't hear much from them at all to be honest with you, it was a surprise to me but a very nice surprise. I'm just ready, I'm just ready to get going."
On his knowledge of the Bears defense: "Not too much but I'm ready to get out there and learn. Learn as much as I possibly can and get ready to go."


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Governor Jerry Brown appoints his brother-in-law to California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | March 11, 2015
Two rather intriguing appointments made by Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday. The athletic commission body members currently:
- John Carvelli (Chairman – Liberty Dental HMO, shares same lobbying firm as UFC, money man from Southern California)
- Mary Lehman (former boxer, currently an appellate lawyer, Southern California)
- Martha Shen-Urquidez (lawyer, consigliere for Andy Foster & Big John McCarthy, Southern California)
- John Frierson (decades-old friend of Jerry Brown, Southern California)
- Dr. Christopher Giza (long-time UCLA doctor, Southern California)
Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons, a Sacramento doctor, was termed out from the board. Appointed today:
Van Gordon Sauter, 79, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State Athletic Commission. Sauter is former president of CBS News and Fox News. He began his career producing television commercials for a large advertising agency in New York City and later entered journalism. He worked as a newspaper reporter in New Bedford, Detroit and Chicago, Illinois, reporting on Vietnam, civil rights and urban violence. Sauter was also a television anchorman in Chicago, Illinois and CBS News bureau chief in Paris, France. He is the author of three non-fiction books, including the recently published coffee table book, "The Sun Valley Story," an anecdotal history of the nation's premiere heritage ski resort. Sauter is a former chairman of the California State Athletic Commission. He earned a Master of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Sauter is registered without party preference.
Vernon B. Williams, 47, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State Athletic Commission. Williams has been chief medical officer at the Sports Concussion Institute since 2007, where he was director of the pain management clinic from 2005 to 2007, and has been director of pain management at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic since 1997. He was medical director at HealthSouth Physical Therapy from 1999 to 2005 and an investigator and staff clinician at Innovative Medical Research Inc. from 1994 to 1997. Williams was director of medical student core neurology curriculum at the University of Maryland Medical Center Department of Neurology from 1995 to 1996. He is chair of the American Academy of Neurology's Sport Neurology Section and is a founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine's Sports Neurology Fellowship at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, where he is a founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and chief compliance officer of the Compliance Committee. Williams earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Michigan. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Williams is a Democrat.
Van Gordon Sauter used to be Chairman of the Athletic Commission over a decade ago. Bill Plaschke in The LA Times (April of 2003) ripped into Van Gordon Sauter for pushing approval to let Mike Tyson fight at Staples Center.
"It's not like we're licensing a wicket-keeper in a cricket match," Sauter said. "This is not a tidy business."
"Well, once you get past the social issues, there's the obvious huge boost that the fight will bring to the city's economy," said Sauter.
The Los Angeles Times points out that Governor Brown's press release on Sauter's appointment did not mention the family tie-in.
Remember when I said how politicized California's athletic commission is and how all the big boys in Sacramento, for one reason or another, obsess with getting their hands involved in Athletic Commission decision making despite the fact that the agency has a miniscule budget?
To fill up the final two slots on the Athletic Commission, we now have two more Southern California individuals. Nobody from Northern California. To not see anyone from Northern California on the athletic commission board is politically remarkable. The one guy on the board who has juice in Sacramento is Carvelli due to his monied connections.
What this likely cements is that the Athletic Commission meetings will continue to stay away from Sacramento. I understand the ulterior motive of wanting to try to keep as many people from Consumer Affairs away as possible from the meetings. However, having zero representation from Northern California on the board and having one meeting a year in Sacramento is a complete disadvantage for anyone not in Southern California who wants to actually participate.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Al Haymon's PBC boxing experiment only works if he cashes in on PPV
By Zach Arnold | March 7, 2015
Boxing. Changed forever. #PremierBoxingChamps pic.twitter.com/s33MBkwPwT
— PBC (@premierboxing) March 6, 2015
After watching the debut of Al Haymon's PBC promotion on NBC with Robert Guerrero vs. Keith Thurman, my impression of what Haymon is attempting to accomplish in his business venture remained unchanged. This business venture will only work if Haymon can convince his television partners long-term to do barter deals instead of massive pay-for-play contracts. The only value for being on network television at this point is if the TV network is all-in promoting the shows (which was not the case with NBC for Saturday's event) or if Haymon can build up his fighters to cash in on PPV. It's no different than all the money marks who have tried to compete with UFC over the years. The difference is that Haymon is reportedly bankrolled by a couple of hundred million dollars.
In many ways, I'm not sure what historical context fits best here. We know Haymon would love to create a UFC-style model. By paying television networks money to air shows, it turns those very networks against paying out a lot of money to other promoters for shows. We've heard the rumblings, via Steve Kim, that ESPN is growing tired of paying money for Friday Night Fight events. In that respect, Haymon's ploy feels a bit like Vince McMahon raiding the territories in the 80s and pushing them off the television landscape. The difference is that Top Rank still has HBO in their corner.
As opposed to the super exciting, always entertaining V. Klitschko. #irony "@TomLoeffler1: AB really did reinvent himself. Always Boring "
— Stephen Espinoza (@StephenEspinoza) March 8, 2015
With the way Haymon is reportedly using money mark cash, it reminds me a bit of the SWS experiment gone wrong in Japan in the early 90s. In April of 1990, All Japan worked with Vince McMahon for the Wrestling Summit event at the Tokyo Dome and New Japan participated as well. McMahon had his various odd requests for certain things on the show. Anyhow, the match that would forever change history there was Gen'ichiro Tenryu vs. Randy Savage. After the spectacle drew big heat, Tenryu and associates bolted All Japan and created SWS the next year. They poached the WWE alliance and thought it would work. It failed. SWS had visions of getting on network TV ala Haymon's PBC but couldn't do it. The major difference is that PPV has never been a factor in Japan whereas it is the financial lynchpin for combat sports in North America. The other difference is that Tenryu escaped his SWS failure by turning out to be one of the most brilliant self-promoters ever by working with all the other major promoters. Haymon's not a star to any casual boxing fan and I'm not sure how many promoters will work with him if PBC fails.
So, I'm not sure the SWS analogy totally fits with what Haymon is trying to pull off. What about an analogy to PRIDE? PRIDE lost big cash under Hiromichi Momose and ended up under the auspices of Fuji TV. Fuji TV pumped in significant cash. A couple hundred million bucks. It proved to draw huge ratings. Sometimes nearly 20 million viewers. The difference is that Fuji TV had the major ad agencies on their side and easily racked up the inventory. With Antonio Inoki's vision, Fuji TV turned New Year's Eve into the mega-holiday in all of combat sports. Of course, PRIDE allegedly turned out to be nothing more than a vehicle for different business factions to pass money through with various dummy companies supposedly attached to the operation. I don't see Haymon's PBC turning out to be like PRIDE. If UFC hasn't been able to turn their numbers on Fox into PRIDE-style broadcast TV ratings with Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos, I seriously doubt Haymon's going to do the same with Broner or Thurman.
PRIDE worked because Fuji TV had skin in the game. The US networks have no skin in the game with Al Haymon. UFC worked because The Ultimate Fighter clicked and Spike TV went all-in, which in turn helped PPV grow with Tito Ortiz & Ken Shamrock. In order for Haymon to get any return on investment to his financial backers, he will have to get them money on the back-end from PPV or else get money through network television advertising. I could perhaps see the former but definitely not the latter.
The booth is really lacking energy. If they want to continue with Marv and Sugar Ray, need a younger guy in there to add some energy
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) March 8, 2015
While I was happy to watch the NBC show, I'm still uncertain on what the long game is here and why NBC will look at PBC any differently than they look at a standard NHL game they put on Saturday night to fill television time.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ronda melts down the internet; if UFC can't convince fans of real challengers, then what?
By Zach Arnold | February 28, 2015
BROCK has arrived at #UFC184 pic.twitter.com/ykbpJPSlll
— Dave Sholler (@Sholler_UFC) March 1, 2015
A crazy amount of storylines from Saturday's UFC 184 event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
First, Brock Lesnar showed up to meet Dana White. Lesnar was reportedly supposed to appear on RAW this past Monday, only to not appear on television. Here's Lesnar playing off two very powerful businessmen with ease and he's doing it around Wrestlemania time. WWE has always structured their booking for Wrestlemania. To have such upheavel with their champion heading into the Santa Clara event is remarkable.
Koscheck foaming at the mouth from Ellenberger power figure-four gripping a guillotine turned into a north-south choke. This card is VIOLENT
— Jordan Breen (@jordanbreen) March 1, 2015
There was madness all over the card from top to bottom. Ronda Rousey dispatched of Cat Zingano in 14 seconds, leading ESPN anchors to pontificate if she should be fighting male fighters now. If you thought last year's malarkey about Ronda fighting Mayweather was scripted PR insanity, the calls now for Ronda vs. male fighters is going to ramp up in a big way. Interesting that ESPN anchor Kevin Connors point-blank asked Chael Sonnen if UFC pulled the wool over the eyes of the public by trying to sell Zingano as a credible challenger to Rousey.
The semi-main event featured the UFC debut of Holly Holm. Before the PPV card started, Dana White remarked that he would expect to see some jitters from Holm and that it may take some time for her to get acclimated to fighting on such a big stage. He couldn't have been more on point. She's not ready to fight Ronda at this point in time.
It's obvious that Cyborg is who Ronda will face in her next big fight, but can Cyborg make weight or will they bite the bullet and fight at a catchweight of 140 pounds? If Cyborg can't fight until the end of the year against Ronda, who do they match Ronda with on one of their Summer cards?
Addendum: Bethe Correia makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure if the public will buy her as a serious threat even though the heat between her and Rousey is very real. It may not matter now, given that Ronda is reportedly going to film a movie soon.
Interesting headline at Fox Sports: Ronda Rousey is the UFC's Mike Tyson but that's not necessarily a good thing
Jake Ellenberger and Roan Carneiro brought the chokes and it was a little scary to see what was done to Mark Munoz. The referee, Jerin Valel, let the choke go on for way too long. He was third-in-line behind the usual hands, Big John McCarthy and Herb Dean. Jason Herzog did not referee on the card.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A legislative push to extend the California State Athletic Commission into 2020
By Zach Arnold | February 27, 2015
On Wednesday, California state senator Jerry Hill (D – San Mateo) introduced Senate Bill 469. The bill would extend the life of the California State Athletic Commission by four years. Currently, the Athletic Commission is set to sunset on January 1, 2016. SB469 will extend that sunset date by four years to 2020.
The juxtaposition of this news to what is happening in the pre-trial motions of the Leland Yee case is interesting to watch play out. Yee's lawyer is reportedly asking for extra time until August before they have to make a final decision on whether or not to play Let's Make a Deal with the Feds. That trial is/was scheduled for June. One of the allegations the Feds leveled against Yee and his political consultant was the charge of supposed extortion against the Athletic Commission. If Yee roll the dice and heads to trial, the Feds will have to show their evidence regarding these allegations.
In other Athletic Commission-related news, no movement to report in both the Assembly & Senate Budget Act 2015 bills that would increase the spending authority from $1.2 million a year to $1.44 million a year.
On a curious side note, recent lobbying records publicly filed by Zuffa LLC & Station Casinos LLC in Sacramento show both donations & expenditures involving Assemblyman Luis Alejo. Three years ago, Alejo was pushing Assembly Bill 2100 in California. AB 2100 would have allowed MMA fighters to tap into the Boxer's Pension Fund and would have subjected promoters to regulations regarding adhesive/coercive contracts. AB 2100 predictably died.
Build up rivals to make more $. Spending PR time on Cyborg/steroids & ring card girls does nothing to sell tickets for Saturday's UFC fight.
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) February 26, 2015
As for this weekend's activities in Southern California, quite the slate with Golden Boy at Fantasy Springs, Invicta, and then UFC at Staples Center. Here's this Washington Post article: The best fighter in male-dominated MMA might just be a woman. Jake Rossen at ESPN has an article asking whether or not MMA gyms have a sexual harassment problem. He manages to tie in Ronda Rousey's judo career into the discussion.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A public service announcement for a California State Athletic Commission survey
By Zach Arnold | February 23, 2015
Dear Valued Stakeholder,
The California State Athletic Commission is beginning the development of its strategic plan for 2016-2019. The Department of Consumer Affairs, SOLID Planning Solutions (SOLID) is assisting the Commission with its strategic planning process.
As a stakeholder involved with the profession, you have an important perspective and stake in the success of the Commission. Your completed survey will provide input as to how the Commission is doing by identifying strengths, challenges, and current trends to consider for the future direction of the Commission.
Thank you for taking time to participate in this short survey. All responses are anonymous. This will allow us to add your feedback to our analysis as we prepare our strategic plan.
SURVEY LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSAC2016SP
Thank you for participating in this survey. Your valuable input is appreciated by the California Athletic Commission. If you have any questions or additional comments, please contact Ted Evans in SOLID Planning Solutions at (916) 574-8394 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Will UFC's 2015 NYE super fight feature Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar?
By Zach Arnold | February 22, 2015
A proposal so crazy yet so obvious, it just might work a half a decade later. Too bad Frank Mir didn't call out Brock Lesnar after tagging Bigfoot Silva in Porto Alegre:
What a huge opportunity missed. How do you not call out Lesnar? Thought Mir was smarter than that.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) February 23, 2015
Sunday's fight between Bigfoot Silva and Frank Mir was highly ironic given their… updated… stance on testosterone usage that they declared a few days ago.
There are lots of impactful match-ups for UFC to book this calendar year but Mir/Lesnar still carries more marketing punch than anything on the horizon sans Jon Jones/Anthony Johnson. Stacked cards are valuable but so is veteran star power. Plus, Mir vs. Lesnar is a fight that's on the edge of UFC Heavyweight importance — neither guy is as good as Werdum or Cain, but they're good enough to be taken seriously with such a shallow talent pool in the division. Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson are still fighting.
As for UFC's card Sunday night in Brazil…
And there you go again. I'm not sure how much Brazilian fans can take going to these events and watching all their key fighters lose #ufc
— MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) February 23, 2015
A brutal night for the favorites.
- Frank Mir defeated Bigfoot Silva in 100 seconds in R1 by KO.
- Michael Johnson defeated Edson Barboza after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Sam Alvey knocked out crowd favorite Cezar Ferreira in R1 in 3′34.
- Adriano Martins defeated Rustam Khabilov by split decision.
- Frankie Saenz defeated Yuri Alcantara by unanimous decision.
- Marion Reneau defeated Jessica Andrade in under two minutes with a choke.
Onto Staples Center for Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano. I'm not sure most casual fans know the other fights on the card… Hey, Gleison Tibau is fighting a month after his split decision win in Boston.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Andy Foster in California doubles down on using anonymous judges for performance reviews
By Zach Arnold | February 21, 2015
First, a summary of events that transpired at the February 18th Los Angeles meeting for the California State Athletic Commission:
- Spencer Walker, the long-time Department of Consumer Affairs lawyer who has ruled the roost at the Commission, is out. Doreathea Johnson, who oversees legal affairs at DCA, will take an even more aggressive approach to overseeing legal responsibilities for CSAC.
- John Frierson was re-appointed to the Athletic Commission by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, the big kahuna in Sacramento. Frierson stepped down as Chairman of CSAC, with John Carvelli formally crowned as the new Chairman. This is no surprise and maintains status quo from last year. Former boxer & current appellate lawyer Mary Lehman is Vice Chair.
- Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons is gone from the Athletic Commission board. It is unknown if Dr. Christopher Giza will be re-appointed.
- The Athletic Commission is near a break-even point for this year's Fiscal Year budget but is projected to build a cushion by the end of the FY.
- There are concurrent Budget Act bills in both the state Assembly & state Senate to increase the budget appropriation for CSAC yearly from $1.2 million USD to $1.44 million USD.
- Tyson Cave's lawyer petitioned the Athletic Commission board for a reversal of the decision in Cave's ESPN fight last December with Oscar Escandon. Spencer Walker declared that since no one from Cave's camp showed up for the meeting, an entry of default was suitable to deny the petition. Cave's petition for appeal was denied.
- Steve Fossum's IKF was granted another six-month extension to regulate Muay Thai & amateur kickboxing in California.
- Martha Shen-Urquidez, consigliere/ally to both Andy Foster & Big John McCarthy, has her own subcommittee now to oversee the training of officials in California.
Onto the details…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The devil is in the details for UFC's new drug policy
By Zach Arnold | February 18, 2015
So…during a drug testing presser. Dana yells at everyone, then announces a title fight and basically mic drops
— Brent Brookhouse (@brentbrookhouse) February 18, 2015
There were high expectations heading into Wednesday's Las Vegas presser with Dana White & Lorenzo Fertitta. How would they handle the public relations for all of the recent failed drug tests?
If you listened to Jordan Breen and Greg Savage on Cheap Seats, the expectation games for Wednesday's presser was very high. Just what exactly would be concretely established by UFC given their history over the last five years with several high-profile fighters using testosterone? Dave Meltzer wrote an article comparing MMA's drug plague to tackling America's national debt.
Wednesday's presser started out horrifically, got better after the first few minutes, and then got muddied with "we haven't fully determined what the details are" answers in the media Q & A session.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Law and leadership, not shadow tribunals, is the way to fix bad officiating in California
By Zach Arnold | February 15, 2015
There is a problem with the quality of judging & officiating of certain boxing fights in the state of California. There is a built-in procedure to handle the discipline of referees & judges who have demonstrated a lack of proficiency in performing to the standards of their required job duties:
Call the officials in question to attend a State Athletic Commission meeting. Give them the right to a public, private, or public/private combination hearing regarding their job status. If you're going to suspend them and/or strip them of their license, you have the Athletic Commission as a whole make that determination.
Here's what you don't do if you want to avoid litigation.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday news dump: Sacramento tells commission to not give fighters testosterone exemptions
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2015
There are two intriguing & news-worthy developments happening right now with the California State Athletic Commission and the political bosses that oversee the operation at the Department of Consumer Affairs in Sacramento.
One development is very much welcomed and the other development is very much crap. We'll address the latter in another article soon forthcoming.
Onto the positive news. Awet Kidane, the big kahuna that oversees the 4,300+ workers at DCA in Sacramento, is now the second DCA boss in a row to tell the Athletic Commission to back off of Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons' dream of a Therapeutic Use Exemption policy. Dr. Lemons has repeatedly sold his policy idea as one which would make the process of granting TUEs for fighters needing testosterone as rare and supervised. The counter-argument, which the doctor and others have not been able to generate a response to, is this:
Why should there be a policy to allow any fighter to use testosterone when its a banned substance in the first place?
In April of 2012, we spoke out against the proposed TUE policy. In late 2014, a new push was quietly made to grease the skids to get the TUE proposal passed with a largely hidden 45-day comment period. That period ended on December 15th, 2014. On December 15th, DCA's number one sent the Athletic Commission a letter stating his formal opposition to implementing any such TUE policy.
Here is the text from that letter, which was released late Friday afternoon:
Dear Chairman Frierson:
[DCA] has great concerns regarding the California State Athletic Commission's proposed regulations for the establishment of a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) process. I would like to commend the Commission's thoughtful efforts to craft a fully realized regulatory process. However, serious procedural and policy concerns remain and I urge the Commission to withdraw this proposal and cease moving forward with the establishment of TUEs in California.
Despite the Commission's best efforts, the proposed regulation still lacks completeness in both transparency and specificity. For example, the regulation is silent on the physical review of the TUE application, a process that must be as transparent as can be made possible. As written, members of the public and licensees are not provided clarity as to whether the application is reviewed by the Medical Advisory Committee, the full Commission, the Executive Officer, or some combination thereof. The proposal also does not specify if the application, and the review of it, would be made public or kept confidential. Additionally, there is language that indicates retroactive exemptions could be made possible, and this is simply unacceptable given the gravity and history of this subject.
More importantly, the need for this regulation proposal has yet to be justified. This is particularly true provided that existing law already grants the strongest protection for our licensees by prohibiting the use of forbidden substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. This regulation exposes licensees of the Commission to unnecessary risk that goes above and beyond those inherent in their chosen profession. The risk that is taken by allowing licensees of the Commission to use, among other substances, synthetic testosterone, is extraordinary. This raises numerous concerns, not the least of which is that the opponent of any fighter with an exemption for the steroid could be at a dangerous disadvantage to someone who has been training, and is performing, with the help of that substance.
Fighter safety would be jeopardized in more ways than it would be protected, which is why states like Nevada have placed outright bans on TUE's, and the Association of Ringside Physicians, "supports the general elimination of [TUEs] for [TRT]." By following Nevada's example of not allowing any exemptions, and preserving the restrictions in existing law, the Commission will send the strongest message possible which is that our athletes will continue to compete on an even playing field and in a manner that will not jeopardize their health and safety. Ultimately, this demonstrates the Commission's commitment to upholding its mission statement by ensuring the health, safety and welfare of the participants in regulated competitive sporting events in California.
For this reasons I reiterate my encouragement that the Commission not move forward with the adoption of proposed section 424. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your proposed rulemaking. If you have any questions, please contact Christine Lally, Deputy Director for Board and Bureau Relations at 916-574-8200.
Awet Kidane, Director
Department of Consumer Affairs
Reginald Fair, Deputy Secretary, Legislation, Business Consumer Services and Housing Agency
Christine Lally, Deputy Director for Board and Bureau Relations
Melinda McClain, Deputy Director for Division of Legislative and Policy Review
Andy Foster, Executive Officer, California State Athletic Commission
If Dr. Lemons wants to save his TUE proposal, he will have to whip the other votes and I'm very skeptical that he will be able to do so at this point in time.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
The quick & dirty on any changes coming to California State Athletic Commission board
By Zach Arnold | February 4, 2015
The terms of California State Athletic Commission board members Dr. Christopher Giza, Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons, and John Frierson expired on January 1st, 2015. Dr. Giza's spot on the board is a Governor's appointment. Dr. Lemons' spot on the board is a state Senate Rules Committee appointment. Mr. Frierson's spot on the board is an appointment from the Speaker of the Assembly.
The next meeting for the Athletic Commission is on February 18th in Los Angeles.
According to California Government Code section 1774, Governor Jerry Brown has up to 90 days to attempt to get Dr. Giza, Dr. Lemons, and/or Mr. Frierson reappointed to the Athletic Commission board. Any reappointments would have to be approved by the state legislature. If an incumbent is not reappointed within the 90 days after their term initially expired, then that incumbent's seat becomes vacant.
In short, the February 18th meeting in Los Angeles could be the last CSAC meeting for Dr. Giza, Dr. Lemons, and/or Mr. Frierson unless Governor Brown decides within the next month (or two) to keep them around for a few more years.
If the Governor decides to reappoint any of the three incumbents, they are still subject to confirmation in the legislature. If the legislature gives their blessing, then the incumbents will be granted full terms again.
If the legislature doesn't give their blessing, the incumbents will have to give up their seat a year from the date of reappointment.
Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 183's double drug testing failures leads us to ask these basic questions…
By Zach Arnold | February 3, 2015
Anderson Silva reportedly tested positive for two different kinds of steroids on a January 9th Nevada State Athletic Commission-administered drug test. Silva fought Nick Diaz this past weekend in Las Vegas.
First question: Why are fighters allowed to fight if they fail a pre-fight drug test?
Second series of questions: If the Nevada State Athletic Commission is doing pre-fight drug testing of fighters, are they receiving the results of such drug tests before the fight actually occurs? If not, what is the point of doing pre-fight drug testing? What is the purpose of pre-fight drug testing other than to catch fighters doping and suspend them before they fight while allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs?
As for where this leaves Silva's future career prospects, is a fight with Chris Weidman officially off the table? Is the only fight left for Silva, at this point in time, a not-as-dreamy-as-used-to-be super fight with Georges St. Pierre?
Silva was also reportedly not the only fighter to fail a drug test. Nick Diaz allegedly failed a Nevada State Athletic Commission post-fight drug test for… marijuana. Last week, we asked the following questions on Twitter:
@FightOpinion @MMASupremacy sent the commission an email about 2 weeks ago and was given a no comment
— Steven Muehlhausen (@SMuehlhausenMMA) January 28, 2015
- If it is true that Nevada's commission issued a "no comment" regarding questions of Nick Diaz's licensing status, why was a no comment issued?
- Was Nick Diaz actively licensed with Nevada's commission long before the UFC 183 fight or was he licensed only recently?
- Was Nick Diaz drug tested in the same manner as Anderson Silva before their UFC 183 fight? If not, why not?
- What is Nevada's policy regarding fighters getting licensed in proximity to when their fight is scheduled to take place? If fighters can wait to get licensed until the last minute, does that mean that those fighters are not subjected to random drug testing unlike other fighters licensed by the commission?
Additionally, what is the Nevada State Athletic Commission's future stance going to be regarding testing fighters for cocaine like they did with Jon Jones? Is it going to be the official position of the Commission that cocaine is a performance-enhancing drug? If not, why continue to test for cocaine metabolites in the future? If cocaine is considered a PED, why hasn't Jon Jones been formally suspended?
I knew Anderson Silva was quite the popular fellow, but the general sports media decided to cover his positive drug test as a big deal. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports is calling for Anderson's retirement.
Anderson Silva is proclaiming his innocence for the positive drug test result. He's proclaiming his innocence via Dr. Marcio Tannure, who also happens to be the doctor for Brazil's MMA commission.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Your 2014 California State Athletic Commission salary figures
By Zach Arnold | February 2, 2015
Tax records courtesy of The Sacramento Bee:
The lawyers:
Doreathea Johnson (DCA deputy legal advisor) – $144,000
Spencer Walker (DCA top lawyer) – $119,000
The front office:
Andy Foster (Executive Officer) – $91,600
Sophia Cornejo (Assistant Executive Officer) – $71,500
Heather Jackson – $37,600
Athletic Inspectors
Mark Relyea – $39,200
Larry Ervin – $16,700
Dave Rasmussen – $12,900
Raul Oseguera – $11,600
Nichole Bowles – $11,000
Robert F Judge – $10,800
Rick Estrada – $9,400
Brett Correia – $7,950
Brian Morris – $7,860
Rudy Barragan – $6,560
Mike Guzman – $5,680
Joe Ulrey – $5,300
Armando Gutierrez – $4,390
Roy Farhi – $4,080
Burton E Alejandre – $4,000
Jim Russell – $3,840
Derek Enns – $3,670
Chris Crail – $3,190
Sacory Dillard (detective at Pechanga?) – $3,150
Joe Borrielli – $2,760
Danny Cruz – $2,600
Anthony Olivas (now fired) – $2,560
Louis Perry (private investigator) – $2,340
Gene Fields – $2,290
Dwayne Woodard – $2,240
David Pereda – $2,170
Frank Gonzales – $2,040
Sean Wells – $1,900
Ivan Guillermo – $1,850
Hanley Chan – $1,850
Ernesto Martinez – $1,830
Armando Melendez – $1,740
Steve (taxman) Sims – $1,670
John Tohill – $1,450
Gil Urbano – $1,450
Carlos Moreno – $1,060
Derik Lipe – $920
Bruce Rasmussen – $915
Gil Martinez – $770
Brad Ehrman – $710
Lily Galvez – $656
Monica Larson – $640
JD Foreman – $628
Tim Huff – $598
Kurt Larson – $578
Mike Bray – $573
Sarah Waklee – $544
John (Juanito) Ibarra – $506
Kevin Highbaugh – $493
Greg Fajardo – $411
Jeffrey Ervin – $400
Michael Diego – $369
Brad Landon – $263
Erin Brown – $150
Rose Saavedra – $134
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |


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Create music in real time, on stage, or while producing in the studio, with Ableton Live.
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Book your room at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas
Standard Room AccessibleMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child)
Standard RoomMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child)
Cityscape Room AccessibleMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child)
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Junior SuiteMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children)
Standard RoomMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children)
Cityscape RoomMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children)
Get an overview of this hotelTranquil escape in the center of The Strip
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We are connected to Crystals and a step from the casinos, but in our hotel you'll find an oasis of serenity. Our rooms are a model of contemporary design with subtle oriental touches and breathtaking views.
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Exclusively located on the 23rd floor of the hotel; the Tea Lounge, Mandarin Bar and Twist by Pierre Gagnaire boast the best views of the city, inspired menus, and unparalled service in an ultra chic scene.
Nirvana in Nevada
Offering an array of therapies, 7 private couple's suites, relaxation experiences, and dedicated yoga studio, The Spa offers a holistic experience based on an union of modern techniques and Eastern traditions.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas has 2 restaurants and also features a bar/lounge, a coffee shop/café, and a poolside bar. High-speed wired and wireless Internet access is available for a surcharge. Business amenities at this 5.0-star property consist of a business center, a technology helpdesk, and limo/town car service. In addition to a full-service spa, Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas features a sauna, a steam room, a fitness facility, and a seasonal outdoor pool. Event facilities include conference/meeting rooms, small meeting rooms, a ballroom, and banquet facilities. This Las Vegas hotel also offers valet parking, spa services, and a concierge desk. Business services, wedding services, tour/ticket assistance, and translation services can be provided.
Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas is a smoke-free property.
- Number of restaurants - 2
- Full-service spa
- Turkish bath/Hammam
- Outdoor seasonal pool (heated)
- Poolside bar
- Bar/lounge
- Fitness facilities
- Coffee shop or café
- Sauna
- Steam room
- WiFi (surcharge)
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Coffee/tea in lobby
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Spa services on site
- Business center
- Conference space
- Number of meeting rooms - 3
- Meeting rooms
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- 24-hour front desk
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Multilingual staff
- Wedding services
- Hair salon
- Porter/bellhop
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Elevator/lift
- Smoke-free property
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Number of floors - 23
- Total number of rooms - 392
- Year Built 2009
Family Friendly Amenities
- DVD player
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Laundry facilities
Available in all rooms: WiFi (surcharge)
Available in some public areas: WiFi (surcharge)
Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- WiFi (surcharge)
- Separate sitting area
- Minibar
- iPod docking station
- Room service (24 hours)
- Cable TV service
- Premium TV channels
- Pay movies
- DVD player
- Egyptian-cotton sheets
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Separate bathtub and shower
- Down comforter
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Rollaway/extra beds available
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- Turndown service
- Free newspaper
- Video-game console
- In-room massage available
- Hair dryer
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Bathrobes
- Slippers
- Designer toiletries
- Iron/ironing board
- Desk
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Air conditioning
- Climate control
- Private bathroom
Where to Eat
Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas has 2 restaurants serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 24-hour room service is available.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a sauna, a steam room, a fitness facility, and a seasonal outdoor pool.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Bicycle rentals nearby
- Mountain biking nearby
- Scooter/moped rentals nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Skydiving nearby
- Ecotours nearby
- Golf lessons available nearby
- Pilates classes on site
- Yoga classes/instruction on site
Spa Services
Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas has a full-service spa featuring massage/treatment rooms, facials, body treatments, and beauty services.
- Steam room in spa
- Sauna in spa
- Massages
- Number of treatment rooms 17
- Couples treatment rooms
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessibility equipment for the deaf
- Accessible bathroom
- Accessible path of travel
- Braille or raised signage
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Children under 12 years old stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 50.00 per day.
- Cribs (infant beds) are available.
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
Parking height restrictions apply
- Valet parking fee: USD 20.00 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 50.00 per day
We should mention
A resort fee is included in the total price displayed. Children 12 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms.


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unskilled worker, 1826, from Mexican Spanish peon "agricultural laborer" (especially a debtor held in servitude by his creditor), from Spanish peon "day laborer," also "pedestrian," originally "foot soldier," from Medieval Latin pedonem "foot soldier" (see pawn (n.2)). The word entered British English earlier (c.1600) in the sense "native constable, soldier, or messenger in India," via Portuguese peao "pedestrian, foot soldier, day laborer."
A person with no special (root or wheel) privileges on a computer system. "I can't create an account on foovax for you; I'm only a peon there."
[Jargon File]


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October 5, 2012 •
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W.C. "Rusty" Reise talks to a cadet prior to his speech at New Mexico Military Institute, Thursday night. Noah Vernau Photo Geoscientist W.C. "Rusty" Riese spoke to about 650 cadets at Pearson Auditorium, Thursday, as part of a lecture series that...
Zachary Sisson, 8, receives flags and a pin from Harry McGraw at the Roswell Veterens Cemetery booth during the Eastern New Mexico State Fair, Wednesday. Mark Wilson Photo Eastern New Mexico State Fair attendees have had the opportunity to visit with a...
Phelps Anderson, left, and J. Phelps White unveil a model for the USS New Mexico, Thursday. Mark Wilson Photo This year has been all about celebrating the 100th birthday of the state of New Mexico. Thursday was no different as the Roswell Rotary Club gathered...
Swirling lights from carnival rides light up the midway, Wednesday evening. Mark Wilson Photos [/auth...
October 5, 2012 •
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Dear Editor It is evident that we live in a society that does not know the true God of the Bible. We live in a John 3:16 overfed society. We live in a society where you can turn on your TV and hear guys like Joel Osteen say "God loves you and has a...
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Election information With just a little more than one month remaining before the Nov. 6 general election, it is more important than ever that voters pay attention to the information they're getting as well as the source that it comes from. It is impossible...
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Nov. 2, 1941 – Oct. 2, 2012. A rosary is scheduled for 7 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, at Ballard Funeral Home with Funeral Mass to follow Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, at 12:10 p.m., at Assumption Church, for Charles Leroy "Pete" Bergener, who passed away at the...
Sista Maria Hernandez Bustamante passed away at Mission Arch peacefully in her sleep on Sept. 28, 2012, at 4 p.m. She was preceded in death by her parents Pedro and Lusia Hernandez; brother Robert C. Hernandez; sister Ofemia C. Hernandez; and two...
On Wednesday evening, Oct. 3, 2012, in the presence of his wife Nancy and daughter Sharon Berry, Don Bish was tenderly called home by his savior Jesus Christ after a brief illness. Don was a native New Mexican, born in Las Vegas on Jan. 3, 1926, to Earl and...
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Crowd protests "Castly Doctrine" law
March 28, 2012 at 10:06 am in River Falls Journal
Wisconsin News
Over 160 people marched in West Bend the night of Sunday, March 25, calling for a repeal of Wisconsin's new "Castle Doctrine" law. The law assumes that property owners are justified in killing intruders.
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School choice group defends voucher programs
Janelle Irwin
Last Call Friday | Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Step Up for Students, education, vouchers, charter schools
Step Up For Students facilitates corporate tax scholarships for low-income students to use to attend private schools.
The program is lauded by supporters as giving parents the option to remove students from failing schools and put them in schools they otherwise couldn't afford. But opponents argue it's just a way to funnel public dollars into private hands - and it undermines the separation of church and state because most of the vouchers are used for religious schools.
A bill in the Senate was removed from consideration Thursday after controversy surrounding the group's president and questions about whether voucher recipients should take the state's standardized testing.
Patrick Gibbons is the Public Affairs Manager for the group. He takes to the airwaves to defend the group and school choice programs.comments powered by Disqus


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Taj Healthcare, LLC filed as a Domestic Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the State of Texas on Monday, June 11, 2007. This corporation is no longer active according to documents filed with Texas Secretary of State.
Theresa's past corporate interests include the Manager of Taj Healthcare, LLC .
Key roles for Theresa Estes
Taj Healthcare, LLC
Manager , Governing Person


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Yanoid 0.3.1December 12th, 2001 by Alkini
Mads wrote in to announce that he and three other people have released version 0.3.1 of a Arkanoid/Breakout clone called Yanoid (Screenshots: 1 | 2). Yanoid is their SDL Game Contest entry and it is designed to be very extensible and flexible.
Yanoid 0.3.1 source: yanoid-0.3.1.tar.gz


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The Global FlyFisher - The Largest and Best Place to go for Online Fly Fishing and Fly Tying
Laguna Bajera
Cinco Lagunas (Sierra de Gredos) Spain
Submitted by: Cándido Pérez Márquez
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|Canon DIGITAL IXUS 700
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August 2009: Business Building
August 2009
Business Building
Is Your Company Stuck?
Is your business growing and giving you the results you want? Or, are you stuck and unable to get moving? Most companies only grow to a level at which the owner can stay in control. They grow to two men and a truck, or to eight employees at one location, or to three managers with 20 employees. The stuck business owner knows he needs to do something different: Let go, hire better people, delegate, install systems, find better customers, improve services, or find more hours in the day. But they don't know what to do next, so they get frustrated and stay stuck forever.
Get growing again
When you are stuck, you have more demands and pressures than you can handle. So, what should you do to get unstuck and grow your business?
- Re-focus on what you want
Stop and remember your original dream: to own a growing, prosperous company that achieves your goals and is organized, profitable, has lots of great customers, is run by your empowered managers, and gives you freedom and time to enjoy your life.
- Realize you are a business builder
You will never reach your goals if you don't grow. Are you too busy working to make any money? To grow, you've got to let go, delegate, and do what you do best: sell. You must make time to go out and build relationships with loyal customers, plus find new ones.
- Replace yourself with systems
In order to delegate, you need systems and procedures in place that don't rely on your directing every decision. Put your standards on paper and train your people to follow them.
- Hire the best
Now that you know where you're going and have systems in place, you can start building a strong management team prepared to take your company to the next level.
- Enjoy the ride
With your company organized and growing, you can now focus on creating more opportunities for your business to prosper and grow.
To get unstuck and grow your business, the choice is yours. What will you do different with your time and priorities?
This is an article based on George Hedley's new book "Get Your Business to Work!"
Related Posts
- 47March 2013 Business Building Date Your Customers to Keep Them Loyal By George Hedley Remember when you were first dating? To get to know the other person, you spent lots of time talking, having fun, and doing things together. After the date, you would call and talk for hours, send flowers, and keep in touch…
- 45
- 43October 2012 Business Building Profit Is Overrated By George Hedley Ask 50 construction company owners what a perfect business would be like for them. You'll likely get 49 different answers. But, one common focus will stand out: Business owners want to create equity and build wealth. Equity and wealth are the outcome of consistently making…
- 42September 2012 Business Building Your Top 2 Business Priorities By George Hedley Several years ago, I made a resolution to take charge of my business life, put my priorities first and focus on building loyal customer relationships. I committed to work smarter, get organized and gain control, focus on the 20 percent that produces 80…
- 38May 2011 Business Building Thanks, but No Thanks! By George Hedley Over the last 25 years, our construction company has built more than 500 projects and hired at least 10,000 subcontractors. As I think back, I don't recall receiving a thank you note from a subcontractor, ever, for any reason. It seems the art of…


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Learn More About the FY12 Medical Plan DesignEvent Details: September 14
The final Medical Open Forum session is just around the corner. Join benefits manager Elisabeth King at one of two sessions Wednesday, Sept. 14, to learn more about the FY12 medical plan design and updates on the Vitality Wellness program:
- 12:30 p.m. Busch Student Center, Room 170 (Wool Ballroom)
- 3:30 p.m. Allied Health Building, Multipurpose Room
More information can be found on the HR website. And don't forget to check us out on Facebook! Be the 250th person to like HR on Facebook and win a $25 gift card to Kota.
Please contact email@example.com with any Vitality Wellness related questions or check out www.powerofvitality.com for more ways to engage in the Wellness Program.


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Date: 3 years ago
Runtime: 4:49
Views: 26,367
Top Comments
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|Bradken Limited
20 McIntosh Drive
Mayfield West, NSW 2304
Australia - Map
Phone: 61 2 4926 8200
Fax: 61 2 4926 8201
Website: http://www.bradken.com.au
Bradken Limited manufactures and supplies consumable and capital products worldwide. It operates through Mining Products, Mineral Processing, Engineered Products, Rail, and All Other segments. The Mining Products segment is engaged in the design, supply, and service of wear components for various types of earth moving in the mining and quarry industries. Its products include ground engaging tools; crawler system products for hydraulic mining excavators and electric rope shovels; and wear solutions for mining fixed plant equipment, including plate, block, rubber, and ceramic products. This segment also produces wear pipe products and fabrications. The Mineral Processing segment manufactures custom designed products for grinding mills, crushing, and conveying equipment for the hard rock mining industry. The Engineered Products segment designs and manufactures engineered steel castings and differentiated consumable products to the mining, resource, transportation, and energy industries. The Rail segment provides freight rolling stock products and services, such as freight wagons, bogies, draw gears, and spare and renewed parts; and inventory management, and rolling stock maintenance and refurbishment services to the mining, agricultural, and general freight markets. The All Other segment primarily provides cast metal services. Bradken Limited was incorporated in 1922 and is headquartered in Mayfield West, Australia.


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Togelius, J; De Nardi, R; Marques, H; Newcombe, R; Lucas, SM; Holland, O; (2007) Nonlinear Dynamics Modelling for Controller Evolution. In: GECCO 2007: GENETIC AND EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION CONFERENCE, VOL 1 AND 2. (pp. 324 - 331). ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY
Full text not available from this repository.
The problem of how to acquire a model of a physical robot, which is fit for evolution of controllers that can subsequently be used to control that robot, is considered in the context, of racing a radio-controlled toy car around a randomised track. Several modelling techniques are compared, and the specific properties of the acquired models that; influence the quality of the evolved controller are discussed. As we ann to minimise the amount; of domain knowledge used., we further investigate the relation between the assumptions about the modelled system made by particular modelling techniques and the suitability of the acquired models as bases for controller evolution. We find that none of the models acquired is good enough on its own, and that a key, to evolving robust behaviour is to evaluate controllers simultaneously on multiple models during evolution. Examples of successfully evolved racing control for the physical car are analysed.
|Proceedings paper
|Nonlinear Dynamics Modelling for Controller Evolution
|Annual Conference of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
|London, ENGLAND
|2007-07-07 - 2007-07-11
|Evolutionary robotics, neural networks, forward models, system identification, games
|UCL classification:
|UCL > School of BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Computer Science
Archive Staff Only: edit this record