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Media, politics and culture.
Here's a running blog on the weekend's protests spreading out from Occupy Wall Street now to many other cities, the aftermath and next plans. New items added at top, as I take a break from my anti–death penalty writing. All times ET....
11:25 The Nation's Peter Rothberg on how to support Occupy Wall Street (and keep sending those pizzas).
11:20 Occupy Boston tweets: "Official plans: Tomorrow at 8 AM we will march from camp to Fox News for a march and protest. All are invited."
11:00 New NYT piece: Occupy encampment in NY now a ... tourist destination. Or maybe they are just drumming fans. Paging Ginger Baker.
10:30 Occupy the Nation site focuses on protests across USA, live weeds from multiple cities, events.
10:10 Lot of tension earlier this evening at NYC site but then calmed. Great tweets all night, and ongoing, by my friend @michaelkbusch
8:30 Donations of food and lodging handled here.
6:50 MoveOn is having "Virtual March on Wall Street." No bail needed.
5:55 God backs the protests. #OccupyInTheSky
5:25 New NYT piece on the commanders of NYPD--the "white shirts"--taking surprisingly "hands-on" (literally) approach to dealing with protestors. "The prevalence of white shirts around Zuccotti Park signals how closely the department monitors high-profile events. Strategies are carefully laid out; guidelines for crowd-dispersal are rehearsed; arrest teams are assembled. It is all in an effort to choreograph a predictable level of control." With some obvious failures.
5:00 More local feeds to follow (added those below): OccupyRichmond, OccupyKSt, OccupyProv, Occupy_AlbanyNY, OccupyAppleton, OccupyNH. Waiting for OccupyTheWH.
4:35 Yes, they're everywhere. Follow the action in S. Carolina at @Occupy_SC. And @OccupyCincy, and of course @OccupyLA and @OccupyChicago. And your choice: @OccupyBoston and @OccupyBeantown.
2:45 Thanks to @DhaniBagels for noting this, which unites my two current main issues, a sign at protest yesterday in NYC: "I won't believe that corporations are people until
#Texas executes one."
2:30 Good guy Mark Ruffalo, who visited Occupyers yesterday (as we reported), back today with op-ed in The Guardian : "We Are the 99 percenters." Sez he: "It is a thing of beauty to see so many people so in love with the ideal of democracy, so alive with its promise, so committed to its continuity in the face of crony capitalism and corporate rule. That must and should be celebrated. That must and should be respected and admired."
12:50 This will cause a ruckus. NYT posts two new videos from bridge -- courtesy of NYPD -- and then flatly declares, "The release of the videos seemed to back the police's contention that it was the marchers' choice that led to the police arresting about 800 people."
12:20 Andy Borowitz tweets: "The protesters totally stole the idea of Occupy Wall Street--from Satan."
12:15 The great Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism with lengthy post, and this: "So far, the JP Morgan donation [to nYPD] is an isolated example. But the high odds of continuing deep budget cuts at the state and local level open up the opportunity for corporate funding of preferred services, and with it, much greater private sector influence on the apparatus of government. This is a worrisome enough possibility to warrant a high degree of vigilance by all of us."
12:00 Interviews from OccupyBoston.
9:55 Video from San Francisco, which also hosts a famous bridge, I hear. And good video at Vimeo on Brooklyn Bridge arrests.
9:50 Classic NY Post front page headline on yesterday's action: "S#!T Hits the Span." See here.
9:10 Tweet from Richard Robbins, @rich1: "How many #occupywallstreet protesters are disenfranchised Obama supporters? Could he win them back by showing he hears them?" Presume he means"disenchanted," however.
9:05 Jail photo from a few hours ago. Not fun and games.
8:30 New NYT piece: "Every Action Produces an Overreaction." And with this on Liberty Park: "Brookfield Properties, the developer that owns the land and offers it for public use, is presumably sending few notes of gratitude to the police. In a statement, a spokesman said the company was 'extremely concerned with the conditions that have been created by those currently occupying the park,' and was 'actively working with the City of New York to address these conditions and restore the park to its intended purpose.' Good luck with that."
8:25 New NPR piece on plans for"long-term occupation."
8:15 Daily Kos diary shows how NYT changed its original story on yesterday's protest and arrests to take blame off police, they charge. To be fair, piece still quotes activists a lot.
8:10 Noted Nation grad Micah Sifry, once an Occupy sceptic, now writes how it has grown.
8:00 Good morning. From the @OccupyWallSt twitter feed: "There were 600 people arrested over several days during the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. The NYPD just arrested 700 in 5 hours." Then there's these helpful tips: "How NOT To Get Arrested."
12:20 Occupy goes Hollywood! Or at least Hollywood Reporter. Nice story there just now with cool photo of Mark Ruffalo, taking a break from his great anti-fracking work to visit Wall Street site and comment. Also quotes from Yoko Ono and Russell Simmons. Susan Sarandon also has stopped by.
12:05 Frances Fox Piven: "We desperately need a popular uprising in the United States"
11:55 Over 430 comments on NYT's main protest story right now.
11:50 One of the Occupy movements that most participants in the US seem to reject is OccupyPalestine.
11:45 And the number keeps rising: Wash Post places number of arrests in NY today at a whopping 700.
10:40 Yes, it is Occupy USA, as we claim in blog head, so here are today's demos in little Asheville, NC, and larger Seattle, And even larger Chicago. Not to mention the great state of Maine.
10:35 Some media reports do include charges that the police rerouted the protesters today so they could be arrested. And here's an Alternet reporter's account of being trapped on bridge.
10:25 Videos from today, more here from our old friend Kevin Gosztola at FDL.
9:50 NYC arrest count now tops 500, NY Daily News reports.
9:05 Photos and text on Occupy spreading to LA with march today. Just in time for baseball playoffs, a reported launch in Tampa today.
9:00 Great shot of activist holding the front page of the new Occupied Wall Street Journal.
8:30 To catch up: police arrested twernty-four "Occupy Boston" protesters outside Bank of America
8:25 Enjoyed the "WE'RE not the criminals!" chant on the bridge. Also, the perennial "The whole world is watching!" Grandpa here should note that I was in the crowd the first time the latter chant gained fame—in Chicago, August 1968, police riot, Democratic National Convention.
8:20 Apparently there was a Mark Ruffalo sighting at the encampment in NY.
8:10 Finally the protests make the NYT op-ed page, with a column by Nick Kristof—he has some unkind words for some aspects while being generally supportive. Charging that demands are unclear or nonexistent, he offers a few.
8:05 If you missed the first semi-official list of "demands" from the General Assembly.
8:00 As I followed at Twitter, at least 400 arrests at the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon and early evening. Here's the NYT write-up. One of its freelance reporter was among the busted, and her saga got wide play on the web.
7:55 James Fallows of The Atlantic still on case of coward cop who pepper-sprayed defenseless folks in NYC.
Greg Mitchell's new e-book vs. the death penatly is Dead Reckoning: Executions in America (and just $2.99).
In a remarkable letter, the family of James Craig Anderson—victim of an apparent racist hate crime and driven over by a truck to his death on June 26—has asked the state of Mississippi and federal officials to take the death penalty off the table in considering the case of the seven white teenagers who allegedly murdered Anderson.
The case drew national attention and a surveillance tape of the murder drew wide airing.
A letter written by Anderson's sister, Barbara Anderson Young (who reportedly speaks for the family) as reported by CNN.com, states: "We ask that you not seek the death penalty for anyone involved in James' murder…. Our opposition to the death penalty is deeply rooted in our religious faith, a faith that was central in James' life as well."
The letter also explains there is a second reason: "We also oppose the death penalty because it historically has been used in Mississippi and the South primarily against people of color for killing whites. Executing James' killers will not help to balance the scales. But sparing them may help to spark a dialogue that one day will lead to the elimination of capital punishment."
Deryl Dedmon, 19, of Brandon, Mississippi, one of seven white teenagers (and the only one presently in jail) pled not guilty at his arraignment on Friday. He is being charged with capital murder and a hate crime.
CNN reports the teens beat Anderson repeatedly, yelling racial slurs. Then Dedmon allegedly drove his Ford F-250 truck over Anderson, age 29, leaving him to die. There is a security tape (see below) from the parking lot where the incident took place. (For other such incidents, current trends and more see my new e-book on the death penalty, Dead Reckoning.)
In vivid contrast to the intense protests surrounding the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia—online, at the site of the state killing and in the media and political spheres—there was little clamor this week from the same quarters when Manuel Valle was put down in Florida. Progressives, who seemed to be re-energized in fighting capital punishment in America, went silent, for the most part. Remember those tens of thousands of tweets the day Troy Davis was executed? Almost nothing on Wednesday re Valle.
You might say that few chose to enter the Valle of death.
The next execution set for the US: Marcus Ray Johnson, next Wednesday in Georgia. Will progressives sit this one out as well? Of course, there are many other issues to be concerned about, and limited time. But the almost total absence of protest surrounding the vast majority of executions is troubling.
I'm afraid this kind of pick-the-easier-fights attitude is just the latest example of what has doomed efforts to abolish the death penalty in the United States in the past. You can't be against capital punishment and then make exceptions for the death row prisoners who appear most deserving (if anyone does).
The Davis and Valle cases are perfect examples.
There was some, or much, doubt about Davis's guilt, a long history of proclaiming his innocence and witnesses recanting left and right. He was a gentle figure in jail, charismatic, with an appealing family, who drew personal affection and support from visitors and celebrities. He was a poster boy for those who oppose the death penalty largely because they fear innocents may die along with the guilty.
Manuel Valle? The media in Florida delighted in referring to him continually as a "cop killer." Well, from the evidence, that did seem to be true. He had also allegedly shot a second policeman. There appeared to be no strong grounds for doubting his guilt. He was a Cuban national whose story and personality were grim, and he drew little political or media attention. If anything, he was the poster boy for cop killers who deserved to die, perhaps several times over (if that was your belief).
So, on one level, it is easy to understand why Davis became a cause celebre for the left and Valle was basically ignored. But how can you be against state killing and yet make any exceptions? (See much more on this in my new book on this issue, Dead Reckoning.) Valle was executed in the exact same manner as Davis, with a lethal injection, after a brief, no doubt cruel (for the prisoner) last-minute delay for the inevitable US Supreme Court go-ahead.
One could cite other factors to consider. Valle had been on death row for 33 years, more than half his life. Does this amount to "cruel and unusual punishment"? Stephen Breyer certainly thought so (as I noted yesterday), in becoming the lone Supreme Court justice to vote for a stay of execution. Then there was this: Valle's chance for a final clemency hearing never happened due to bureaucratic inefficiency.
And why had he, of all of the dozens on death row in Florida, been chosen as next to die? This illustrates one of the worst, and never-changing, aspects of capital punishment—it is always targeted arbitrarily, almost randomly. Few on death row ever get executed. You can't even say, "Well, at least they kill all the cop killers," because—they don't.
I could go on, but to me it hardly matters: No matter the circumstances, the state should kill no one. Davis may have been a "beauty" of a death row inmate and Valle a "beast" but one should oppose the state killing anyone. And that's why the silence on the left over the Valle killing, while understandable in part, was so disappointing. As Steve Earle says, "My deal with Troy Davis and everybody else like that is: I'm opposed to the death penalty for anybody."
Greg Mitchell's new e-book isDead Reckoning: Executions in America. It covers the issue right up to the Valle killing.
As I reported yesterday, with several updates, the state of Florida executed Manuel Valle, 61, last night, using a new formula in its chemical cocktail for a lethal injection. He had been imprisoned for thirty-three years after being convicted of kiling a cop in 1978. One of my updates dryly revealed that the US Supreme Court, as expected, had denied a stay.
What I didn't know was that Justice Stephen Breyer had backed a stay, and issued an important, moving, and one hopes, influential dissent that will have a long life. For that reason, I am reprinting it below in its entirety, minus the citations.
* * *
The State of Florida seeks to execute Manuel Valle for a crime for which he was initially sentenced to death more than 33 years ago. Valle asks us to consider whether that execution following decades of incarceration on death row violates the Constitution's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments."
I have little doubt about the cruelty of so long a period of incarceration under sentence of death. In Lackey and in Knight Justice Stevens and I referred to the legal sources, in addition to studies of attempted suicides, that buttress the commonsense conclusion that 33 years in prison under threat of execution is cruel.
So long a confinement followed by execution would also seem unusual. The average period of time that an individual sentenced to death spends on death row is almost 15 years. Thirty-three years is more than twice as long. And, such delays are uncommon.
The commonly accepted justifications for the death penalty are close to nonexistent in a case such as this one. It is difficult to imagine how an execution following so long a period of incarceration could add significantly to that punishment's deterrent value. It seems yet more unlikely that the execution, coming after what is close to a lifetime of imprisonment, matters in respect to incapacitation. Thus, I would focus upon the "moral sensibility" of a community that finds in the death sentence an appropriate public reaction to a terrible crime. And, I would ask how often that community's sense of retribution would forcefully insist upon a death that comes only several decades after the crime was committed.
It might be argued that Valle, not the State, is responsible for the long delay. But Valle replies that more than two decades of delay reflect the State's failure to provide the kind of trial and penalty procedures that the law requires. Regardless, one cannot realistically expect a defendant condemned to death to refrain from fighting for his life by seeking to use whatever procedures the law allows.
It might also be argued that it is not so much the State as it is the numerous procedures that the law demands that produce decades of delay. But this kind of an argument does not automatically justify execution in this case. Rather, the argument may point instead to a more basic difficulty, namely the difficulty of reconciling the imposition of the death penalty as currently administered with procedures necessary to assure that the wrong person is not executed.
Because this case may well raise these questions and because I believe the Court should consider them, I vote to grant the application for stay.
Greg Mitchell's new e-book, Dead Reckoning: Executions in America, traces the fight over the death penalty in the USA right down to the events of the past week.
[See updates below] As I noted here last week, the next execution in the USA is set for today, at 4 pm, with the state-ordered killing in Raiford, Florida, of Manuel Valle, age 61. Valle was convicted of killing one highway patrol officer and wounding another—thirty-three years ago. So he has spent more than half his life on death row. Invariably the media refer to him simply as "the cop killer."
It would be the first execution in the state since February 2010. A long-shot appeal has been filed at the US Supreme Court.
The daughter of the murder victim responded to news of the final date for the execution by saying: "Woo Hoo!"
Despite protests over the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia last week, that state has set another execution for October 5.
The execution is drawing added interest as a kind of "test" of a new execution "cocktail" of chemicals. Executions in several states have been slowed by questions about the effectiveness of the chemicals, and protests by activists led to a leading supplier refusing to continue to send lethal chemicals to death rows. Interesting piece here on a noted doctor trying to stop this "test." (The state Supreme Court just ruled against him.) For more background on lethal injection process go here.
Now the head of the Danish company that supplied one of the chemicals to Florida has written Gov. Rick Scott protesting its use. From the Guardian report: "Doctors and legal experts warn that pentobarbital is untested and could inflict extreme suffering on prisoners as they die. In his letter to Scott, Staffan Schuberg wrote that the use of his company's drugs in executions in Florida 'contradicts everything Lundbeck is in business to do—provide therapies that improve people's lives.' "
A Florida weekly lists some facts about Florida executions, including pay for executioner (just $150 for the deed) and limit on money spent on final meal ($40).
UPDATE: With just minutes until the start of the execution, lawyers are scrambling with three different appeals, raising issues about the drug cocktail, the quality of Valle's original defense, the fact he never did have a final clemency hearing, and the claim that 33 years on death row amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment" or even, by European standards, "torture." A new Guardian story updates it all.
UPDATE 2: As of 5:30 pm, the execution is delayed, pending some response from U.S. Supreme Court. The Miami Herald, and then other Florida papers, reported that the execution had been completed, then retracted their stories. Massive media fail. Here's the Herald's retraction.
UPDATE 3: U.S. Supreme Court denies stays, execution -- and test of new chemical cocktail -- presumably going forward.
UPDATE 4: Valle killed at 7:14 p.m. Unless the Florida media got it wrong again. As far as we know, execution went as planned, with new lethal cocktail performing its killing function as planned.
See my new e-book Dead Reckoning: Executions in America for a lengthy probe of current execution practices, and much more.
It was hardly a surprise that my favorite songwriter/actor/novelist Steve Earle got involved in activism surrounding the execution of Troy Davis by the state of Georgia last week. He was among the many celebrities who signed the petition calling on the state to grant Davis clemency. Earle told an interviewer, "My deal with Troy Davis and everybody else like that is: I'm opposed to the death penalty for anybody. It's a big deal, that possibility of a person being innocent and being executed." But politicians afraid to look weak keep the death penalty in place in America, he charged.
Earle, now 56, is no latecomer to the cause.
In fact, he has probably been the most consistently outraged and active in the musical world (especially with the passing of Johnny Cash) since the early 1990s when he penned his first protest song, "Billy Austin." Later he wrote "Ellis Unit One" about prison personnel "putting down" prisoners in Texas (it was used for the Dead Man Walking soundtrack) and then "Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song)," about a death row prisoner he befriended. That man, Jonathan Nobles, asked Steve to witness his execution, and Earle agreed to do it—a rarity among celebrities—and, then wrote about it brilliantly (as I recount in my new e-book, Dead Reckoning).
Earle, who spent his own stint in prison on drug charges, has also performed at numerous anti–death penalty benefits and joined activists camping out overnight outside the US Supreme Court. In 2010 Earle was awarded the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's Shining Star of Abolition award.
I interviewed Earle (one of my favorite songwriters going back to "Guitar Town") about all of this a few years ago, and in meeting him a couple of times since he always brings me up to date on his efforts—although he's also been very active in Farm Aid and with the Stop Landmines campaign, among others. He even had a weekly show on Air America a few years back. And in December he will sing and talk (along with wife Allison Moorer) during The Nation's annual cruise
Somehow Earle has found time to move to New York City and Woodstock with swell singer Moorer, appear as an actor in The Wire and Treme (though he got killed off in a key plot point last season), and keep on touring and recording (his tribute to Townes Van Zandt won him another Grammy).
A few years ago, I was delighted when Steve told me that he was working on a novel—he had just published a collection of short stories—loosely inspired by the infamous "Dr. Toby" who "treated" Hank Williams just before he died at the age of 29. That resulted in Steve's new novel, with the title taken from Hank's final single, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (also the title of Earle's latest CD).
Still, one of his most important pieces of writing remains a lengthy account of witnessing his friend Jonathan Nobles's execution, first published by Tikkun and then widely elsewhere (an excerpt closes my Dead Reckoning book).
Minutes from death, Nobles had told Earle, "Steve, I can't believe that I had to go through all this to see you in a suit coat." Here's how Earle concluded his piece.
When he finishes reciting he takes a deep breath and says: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." The warden, recognizing the prearranged signal he and Jon had agreed on, nods toward the unseen executioner and Jon begins to sing.
"Silent night / Holy night…"
He gets as far as "mother and child" and suddenly the air explodes from his lungs with a loud barking noise, deep and incongruous, like a child with whooping cough. "HUH!!!" His head pitches forward with such force that his heavy, prison-issue glasses fly off his face, bouncing from his chest and falling to the green tile floor below.
And then he doesn't move at all. I watch his eyes fix and glaze over, my heart pounding in my chest and Dona squeezing my hand. Dead men look… well, dead. Vacant. No longer human. But there is a protocol to be satisfied. The warden checks his watch several times during the longest five minutes of my life. When the time is up, he walks across the room and knocks on the door. The doctor enters, his stethoscope earpieces already in place. He listens first at Jon's neck, then at his chest, then at his side. He shines a small flashlight into Jon's eyes for an instant and then, glancing up at the clock on his way out, intones: "6.18."
We are ushered out the same way we came, but I don't think any of us are the same people who crossed the street to the prison that day. I know I'm not. I can't help but wonder what happens to the people who work at the Walls, who see this horrific thing happen as often as four times a week. What do they see when they turn out the lights? I can't imagine.
I do know that Jonathan Nobles changed profoundly while he was in prison. I know that the lives of people he came in contact with changed as well, including mine. America's criminal justice system isn't known for rehabilitation. I'm not sure that, as a society, we are even interested in that concept anymore. The problem is that most people who go to prison get out one day and walk among us. Given as many people as we lock up, we better learn to rehabilitate someone. I believe Jon might have been able to teach us how. Now we'll never know.
The full title of Greg Mitchell's new e-book is Dead Reckoning: Executions in America. He previously wrote, on the same subject, Who Owns Death? with Robert Jay Lifton.
In the waning hours of protests against the execution on Troy Davis by the state of Georgia last Wednesday, one action drew particular notice: a group of six former wardens and correctional officials pleading for clemency and suggesting that prison staffers be allowed to refuse to take part in the death process.
"While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished," the wardens' statement read, "some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner….
"Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt. Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when there is an alternative?"
This public statement was quite unusual for such officials—even in retirement—as I've learned in many years of researching capital punishment. (My new e-book on the subject, Dead Reckoning, was published this weekend.) Occasionally, an official will voice callous views or, even more rarely, refuse to take part in the process, but generally they explain that they derive no pleasure from planning to put someone to death, and are intent only on making the process tolerable for everyone involved, including the inmate.
It's a long way from the days, not so long ago, when many executioners expressed a certain pride, even pleasure, in their profession. Half a century ago, Camus reported that an assistant executioner in France referred to colleagues' allowing themselves "the fun" of pulling the hair of the condemned man on the guillotine—it was unclear whether the heads were still attached to necks at the time. The same fellow spoke of a chief executioner who was "batty about the guillotine. He sometimes spends days on end at home sitting on a chair, ready with hat and coat on, waiting for a summons from the Ministry."
When the legendary executioner Albert Pierrepoint was called to testify before a British commission on capital punishment in 1950 he took a somewhat different approach, but still stood proud. Asked if people often asked him about his official duties, Pierropoint replied: "Yes, but I refuse to speak about it. It is something I think should be secret…. It is sacred to me, really." (Later, in his memoirs, he came out against capital punishment.)
There is little boastful language among executioners in America today, of course. The words supervisors use most often are "professional," "dignity" and "my job."
"As prison officials, we just adopt the policy of going about our business in an extremely professional and sober manner with the policy handed to us by those in the legislature," a director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice once said. "There's a high degree of professionalism and dignity that we demand in the performance of this duty."
Charlie Jones, a former prison guard now warden at Holman Prison in Alabama, oversaw his first electrocution in "Yellow Mama" in 1988. He claims he's "totally responsible for it, and yeah, it affects you. That's not to say it's not right, that the guy don't deserve it, or that the death penalty ain't right. That's not for me to say; it's just for us to do, by law. I don't feel guilty about it. I don't carry the load for what the inmate did."
A Missouri warden at Potosi felt he hasn't experienced any personal "problems" following an execution. "You wonder, before you've done one, what it's going to be like," he reveals. "But it just doesn't seem to have had any adverse psychological effect. Perhaps it will later on, I don't know." Asked what would happen if it did, he replied, "I'd find another job."
Without a doubt, by their own testimony, wardens find lethal injections much easier to administer than previous forms of killing. Many cannot shake images of electrocutions and gassings they witnessed.
Bill Armontrout, warden at the Missouri Penitenitary, directed several executions, mainly with the needle, and claimed he has "made peace with myself on this thing by knowing that the fellow that's being executed has had every chance of appeal. When you know that the case has been scrutinized this closely, then it makes you feel much easier. I believe in the laws of our country. And I do personally believe in the death penalty. It may not be a deterrent for the next person, but it is for that person." He even went down to Mississippi once to help a friend with his first execution, or as he put it, "do a complimentary one for him."
Armontrout claimed he never had to "manhandle" a prisoner onto the gurney, leading him to believe, probably falsely, that none of them felt any "animosity" toward him or his staff. Still, killing an inmate a warden has been watching over for years—as a ward of the state, so to speak—can be traumatic, even while feeling the prisoner deserves it. Armontrout considered one prisoner he executed, Tiny Mercer, a "friend"—it was "hard doing him." He said he was also close to Mercer's widow and seemed a bit perplexed how she could act so friendly and yet inevitably greet him with, "Bill, God loves you, but why did you kill Tiny?"
A Florida official, Bob McMaster, wondered what his reaction would be when he witnessed the first of many electrocutions. Then he saw "how clinical, how straight out with precision" it was, and "there was very little gore. The only thing that was shocking perhaps was realizing that I was going to see somebody killed. People don't normally see death. It's not something you looked forward to with glee or anything like that. It's strictly a professional duty in that sense, and I had very little reaction. It was just my job."
He explained further, "Now I know what to expect. I know how it's going to be done, and it's not something that you have a significant reaction to. You have respect for it, though. You respect that a group of men are carrying out the most severe punishment that is administered by law. It's not something to be taken lightly. After all, you are seeing a death." This experience made McMaster ponder the question of mortality. "Everyone's days are numbered," he observed, "and we should all be a little more concerned about making good use of those days while we're here…"
Greg Mitchell's new e-book is Dead Reckoning: Executions in America. He previously wrote another book on the subject, Who Owns Death? with Robert Jay Lifton.
For some it appeared inevitable, for many it seemed like a day that would never come. But today it happened: the British government disclosed today that it would, at last, compensate families of the fourteen Irish citizens killed in Londonderry on "Bloody Sunday" in January 1972.
One of the families has already announced that it would not accept what could be called in this case "bloody" money.
"We acknowledge the pain felt by these families for nearly forty years, and that members of the armed forces acted wrongly," a spokeswoman for the Defense Ministry said. "For that, the government is deeply sorry."
Last June, after a twelve-year inquiry, the Lord Saville probe of the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" killings came to a climax with the release of his mammoth report. It found that the shooting of the marchers, largely young people, was completely "unjustified." None of them were posing any threat to the British paratroopers, and many, as long charged—"How long must we sing this song?" as Bono famously sang—were shot in the back or while crawling away injured. Prime Minister David Cameron apologized. As U2 asked, "There's many lost but who has won?"
The families on that day expressed profound relief and sense of delayed justice in emotional speeches outside the Guild Hall in Derry shortly after the report's release, especially with the conclusion that all of the victims were indeed "innocent." It also found that many of the soldiers lied in their testimony.
The final two sentences of report summary: "What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland." (My story here at that time.)
Certainly, I can recommend highly the 2002 Paul Greengrass film Bloody Sunday, one of my all-time favorites, which certainly anticipated these findings, and has a key character based on the "whistleblowing" paratrooper known as Soldier 027. A key adviser was Don Mullan, who wrote the best book on the subject, Eyewitness Bloody Sunday (which helped spark the Lord Saville probe) and became one of my long-distance friends after I wrote about the book and movie. You can watch the trailer for Bloody Sunday below, as well as a U2 song with footage from that day:
Note: For my latest death penalty piece, go here.
The third state-sanctioned killing of an American prisoner in two days is set for tonight at Holman Prison in Alabama. It will follow the deaths last night of Troy Davis (who proclaimed his innocence to the end) in Georgia and Lawrence Brewer (who acted proud of what he had done) in Texas. Alabama's governor has turned down a final request for clemency and promised not to intervene.
Derrick Mason, now 37, is accused of shooting 25-year-old Angela Cagle twice in the face during an early morning robbery. He is waiting to hear from a last-minute appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court challenging the competency of his counsel.
His plea to the governor included a letter from retired Madison County Circuit Court Judge Loyd Little, who sentenced Mason to death. Little said he now realizes the death sentence was not appropriate in this case.
[UPDATE: The execution did go ahead as scheduled. Another is set for Florida this coming week.]
Mason would be the fifth prisoner to die in an Alabama execution this year. That would match last year's number. The state has the highest number of prisoners on death row per capita for any state: forty-three per every million in the population.
The inmate is black and his victim was white.
A Birmingham News editorial this week called for a sentence of life in prison instead:
…if the people of Alabama are going to allow the state to put murderers to death in our name, we must have a system of capital punishment that is fair and consistent. There are too many disparities in the way the death penalty is applied in Alabama, whether it is based on the race of the victim, the status of the accused, the quality of the defense for the accused, even the location of the crime.
It is worth noting that just this week, the attorney general's office, which has pushed to execute Mason, had a different view of what makes for a suitable sentence for another murderer who shot someone in the head. In July, Pamela B. Terry pleaded guilty to the 2009 murder of her husband of two months, Steven Charles Slaughter. He was writing Terry a check to reimburse her for wedding expenses when she shot him in the back of the head at her Ardmore home, the AG's office said.
Greg Mitchell co-wrote the classic anti–death penalty book Who Owns Death? with Robert Jay Lifton, His latest book is Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Greatest Movie Never Made.
If you are inclined to question capital punishment, it is not hard to protest the scheduled execution tonight of Troy Davis in Georgia. His case contains much doubt about his guilt, and the racial aspect (black man as victim of white-dominated justice system) is undeniable. What really tests a principled position against the death penalty are cases like Lawrence Brewer.
That's why I was happy to receive, just a few minutes ago, an e-mail from the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Of course, it calls for last-minute action to save Davis. But it also includes this key section:
"We should also note the odd juxtaposition of the two executions scheduled for exactly the same time this evening. At 7 pm EDT in Georgia, racism plays a part in the execution of Troy Davis. At 6 pm CDT in Texas, Lawrence Brewer is to be executed for his participation in the infamous racist hate crime dragging murder of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, in 1998. Please join NCADP in opposing the executions of both men. We stand against all executions without reservation."
[UPDATE: Brewer was executed at 7:21 PM ET. He refused to make a final statement.]
The Brewer case certainly tests one principles (as did, for example, the McVeigh case). There is the matter of the brutality of the crime. Not only was it racist in origin but evidence suggests Byrd was alive for most of the ordeal, losing body parts as he was dragged and ultimately decapitated. Then there is the fact that Brewer (and at least one of his colleagues, also on death row) was a white supremacist.
Also: he is unrepentant. In July, in his only interview with the media since the arrest thirteen years ago, he told a Texas TV reporter: "I have no regrets. I'd do it all over again to tell you the truth."
Nevertheless, Byrd's only son, Ross, has campaigned against the execution of Brewer, as a member of Murder Victims For Reconciliation (a group profiled in the wide-ranging book I co-wrote with Robert Jay Lifton agianst capital punishment, Who Owns Death?). Yesterday he told Reuters: "You can't fight murder with murder. Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can't hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn't what we want."
It will be interesting to see how many of those who protest the Troy Davis execution will also raise their voices against the state murder of the horrid racist killer Lawrence Brewer.
Greg Mitchell's latest book is Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagaski, and the Greatest Movie Never Made. His book with Robert Jay Lifton is titled Who Owns Death? Capital Punishment, The American Conscience and the End of Executions.


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The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Illustrated Manual of Ophthalmology , 4th Edition
In Stock
|Available Formats
|ePub eBook
|(With Adobe DRM, readable with Adobe Digital Editions for PCs and Macs, and on most mobile devices except Kindle)
|PDF eBook
|(With Adobe DRM, readable with Adobe Digital Editions for PCs and Macs, and on most mobile devices except Kindle)
The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Illustrated Manual of Ophthalmology is the must-have medical reference book for the ever-changing field of ophthalmology. Thoroughly updated to include the latest advances in the field, the fourth edition of this renowned manual features high-quality color images and an intuitive design for easy comprehension and reference. Ideal for ophthalmic practitioners and allied health professionals alike, this indispensable resource is your comprehensive guide for the speedy diagnosis and treatment of the most common eye disorders.Table of Contents
New to This Edition
- Apply the latest knowledge and techniques in the diagnosis and treatment of ocular disease, including anti-VEGF therapy for retina disorders; optical coherence tomography and high-resolution imaging modalities; new corneal and refractive surgical approaches; advances in uveitis, glaucoma, neuro-ophthalmology; and more.
- Stay abreast of the most recent spectral domain OCT with numerous scans included throughout the book.
- Quickly address critical situations with highlighted emergency management boxes, as well as bonus appendices that provide a wealth of supplemental information helpful for the non-specialist, including guidance on the basics in examination methods, differential diagnosis, common medications, measurements and more.
- Identify subtleties and nuances by examining over 800 full-color illustrations depicting a complete range of clinical disorders, imaging and testing methods, and surgical techniques, as well as brand-new videos of eye movement examination.
- Access the full text and videos online at Expert Consult.
Key Features
- Accurately diagnose problems through the support of full-color photographs and real case studies.
- Rapidly locate key information with a highly templated format that includes chapters organized anatomically, not by ophthalmic subspecialty, in addition to key boxes and highlighted emergency management boxes.
Published Reviews
"This book covers every major area in ophthalmology by anatomic location (e.g., cornea, retina, neuro-ophthalmology). For many of the conditions, there is a unique "management box" that highlights key points for management of disorders that is very helpful. The many color pictures also complement the text well."-Shira Simon, MD, MBA(Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) Doody Review: 88/100
Author Information
By Peter K. Kaiser, MD, Director, Digital OCT Reading Center, Staff, Vitreoretinal Section, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
; Neil J. Friedman, MD, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Private Practice, Mid-Peninsula Ophthalmology Medical Group, Palo Alto, CA and Roberto Pineda II, II, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical school, Boston, MA
Assistant Professor
Customer Reviews
- Paperback
- 560 Pages
- Imprint: Saunders
- Copyright: 2014

subset: commoncrawl


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Power outages and heat waves: So where's the smart grid when we need it?
The storms that hit the East Coast a week ago, leaving millions without power as temperatures soared, have plenty wondering when, whether and how a smarter grid could have, would have, should have made a difference. Below are observations on that topic from some industry insiders. But we're also hoping you will use the Talk Back comment form at the bottom of the story to tell us what you think.
Writing on the S&C Electric blog, Mike Edmonds makes the case for interoperability to maximize the benefits of smart grid technology and reduce the duration of power outages and increase grid capacity. One way to do this, he says, is to achieve interoperability between automatic reconfiguration systems and volt/var optimization systems. As he explains on the blog:
· Automatic reconfiguration systems can isolate damaged parts of the power grid during a storm and reroute power to as many businesses and consumers as possible
· Volt/var optimization systems allow the power grid to better handle peak demand, because they effectively lower demand while also boosting grid capacity.
Discovery News offers some interesting perspectives, including these from:
· Bob Gohn of Pike Research, who suggests greater distributed power, including small-scale power generation and/or storage systems in the home, could help,
· Matt Wakefield of the Electric Power Research Institute, who believes smart meters are a first step in modernizing the grid. He notes they can't prevent an outage but they can help pinpoint them faster and might lead to quicker power restoration. Wakefield also notes that utilities are experimenting with stronger power poles.
Writing in Intelligent Utility, Phil Carson highlights a number of potential solutions, including the argument that more resources for vegetation management and better management and coordination of restoration efforts. He also says:
· "...the linear sprawl of the grid itselfâ€"that is, the miles of wires that transmit and distribute electrical powerâ€"poses a significant maintenance challenge and a hurdle to certain restoration challenges. That's the argument for de-centralized power systems such as microgrids, solar gardens and community energy storage."
In a post on DNV KEMA's SmartGridSherpa blog, Ron Chebra argues that "no amount of technology can stop a tree limb from crashing across a feeder, or can stop a lightning strike to a transformer." But he says the latest massive outage on the East Coast may be a wake-up call for technology to provide alternative solutions:
· "Independence (remember this is the 4th of July holiday season) is a strong motivator to investigate, invest and implement microgrids," he says, but notes they are not without shortcomings, ones of which is cost. Yet, he says: "The shift of power from the large to micro may reach a cross over point between cost and dependence."
So now it's your turn. Stronger power poles? More smart meters? Underground distribution lines? Microgrids? We know that Mother Nature is going to continue to wreak havoc, but what's the best way to shorten the breadth, depth and duration of resulting outages? Use the Talk Back comment form to share your thinking.


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Toyota Scion of Cool Springs Service Reviews
- 1875 W Mcewen Dr
- Franklin, TN 37067 (map)
- (888) 683-6321
- Visit dealer's website
- Chat with Dealer
- Awarded in 2014, 2015
Service Reviews
Recommend this dealer? No
Bought a 2012 Toyota Prius, love the car but my first experience at Cool Springs Toyota was ridiculous. Wanted an extra Key Fob, probably cost them 20 bucks, their cost $175 for the fob and $130 to program (took about 5 minutes) it including shop fees. Its electronic what shop fees. Total cost for a...
Read the full review
Recommend this dealer? Yes
Toyota of Cool Springs is very professional.
Their customer service is second to none.
The service was fast and accurate.
If anything extra needs to be done, they go over it with you to make an informed decision.
No pressure!!!!
Read the full review
Happy to be of assistance! We pride ourselves on speed and accuracy, and can't wait to see you again. If there's anything else we can do for you, please feel free to give me a call. Best regards, George Girjel General Manager and Owner TOYOTA OF COOL SPRINGS... Read moreAll Comments (1)
Recommend this dealer? Yes
95,000 checkup--great service and explanations. Also explained concerning areas, offering advice on what course to take next, with options. Friendly, straightforward.
Read the full review
RockLady, Thank you for taking the time to have your vehicle serviced at Toyota of Cool Springs. Glad we could be of assistance to keep your vehicle running and safe for thousands of miles! Give me a call if there's anything that I can help you with. Best re... Read moreAll Comments (1)
Older Reviews (over 2 years old)
The following reviews are over two years old - their ratings are not used to calculate the dealer's current aggregated ratings.
Recommend this dealer? No
I have had two run ins with this dealership and I will never go back. They do not honor their promises and do not do quality work. I had them check out one of my cars because of an Engine noise and had to pay $50 for them to tell me "nothing is wrong." I drove away only to find out two days later th...
Read the full review
Recommend this dealer? Yes
Billy Remington at Toyota of CoolSprings is by far the best customer service person in any industry, and particularly the automotive service industry. I was reluctant to change dealerships, but one phone call and a short meeting later, I was sold.
All 5 of our family's cars are now under Billy Remin...
Read the full review


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The Observation Deck
A blog of opinions on local, state and national issues
Posts filtered on Category
Adegbile is victim of smear campaign
By not confirming Debo Adegbile to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division because he provided legal services to a convicted cop killer and also fought for voter rights, U.S. senators have cast civil rights advocacy "as an act of grotesque political and legal fraud," says Dahlia Lithwick in Slate. The "right wing smear campaign" […] [Read More]
Wrong ways to the truth
Our opinion: Allowing wrongfully convicted people to sue for their imprisonment, even if they confessed, is a good first step, but preventing such injustices would be an even better approach. Justice is no better served when an innocent person goes to prison than when a guilty person goes free. It's all the more troubling when […] [Read More]
Who controls the past?
Our opinion: A proposal for mass sealing of criminal cases puts the law and governments in the business of changing facts and revising history. New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wants the law to allow many low-level criminals to wipe their records clean if they stay out of trouble for a certain number of years. […] [Read More]
Poor need same legal services as rich
Yes, the poor have access to government-funded legal services, but the rich still "buy far more justice than the average citizen" because wealth procures the best legal representation, says Noam Scheiber in the New Republic. To ensure "equal protection under the law" everyone must have "the exact same procedural rights," which can only be accomplished […] [Read More]
Opinions in Allen case aren't the same as truth
People are entitled to an opinion on the Woody Allen/Dylan Farrow scandal, but they're not entitled to their own version of the truth, says Dahlia Lithwick in Slate. The current litigation by social media, couched "in legal language and presumptions, isn't getting us any closer to justice," she says. [Read More]
What happened in Troy?
Our opinion: Troy needs to ask the Justice Department for an independent review of the latest possible police brutality case. Much more happened in a Troy bar early Saturday morning, no doubt, than what can be made out on a 44-second video. But what's on the video is disturbing enough to warrant an independent review […] [Read More]
Long story short
Our opinions: We weigh in briefly on accelerating minimum wage hikes, the governor's use of clemency, and sexual harassment cases in the Assembly. Raise the wages New York's heart was in the right place when it sought to help those at the lowest end of the workforce by raising the hourly minimum wage to $8 […] [Read More]
'Affluenza' is not a defense
By sentencing a teenager to probation instead of prison for killing four people in a drunk driving accident, a judge is both validating the "affluenza defense" — that permissive parents failed to provide consequences for bad behavior — and confirming for the teen that he's not accountable for his bad behavior, says Robin Rosenberg in […] [Read More]
Show More


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Does my numbers seem right??
Just received a request for a catering job for a adult birthday party with 75 guests wanting brisket, chicken thighs, mashed potatos and brownies for desert.
I'm looking a: 4 10-12lb whole packer briskets
85 chicken thighs
4 gallons of mashed potatos(1 gallon feeds 15-20)
7dz brownies
Am I right on or do I need to adjust the numbers from your experience. Thanks for your help.
Never done smashed taters for a catering gig but my guess would be the women won't be eating much of them so 4 gallons should be okay. May I assume you are going to serve the brisket both sliced and burnt ends? If so, your good on the sliced but will run out of burnt ends. I would probably go with 100 thighs, better to leave them with leftovers than to run out and thighs are pretty cheap.
I agree with the extra thighs and I would do a few more dozen brownies I usually allow for about half the people taking two each. Everything else works. Did you pass on the trailer you were looking at?
I might do boneless/skinless breasts and chop and shred for sandwiches instead of the thighs. might be alittle easier? any thoughts....
easier maybe, but more expensive.
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AKC/ASCA CH Hisaws Flyin Skye Hi CD RN
12 1/2 years ago Skye joined our family.
This week he left us to cross the rainbow bridge.
That one decision changed the course of our lives.
Through him we met the most wonderful dogs and their people.
We went places we might not have ever gone.
He set us on the path we were meant to take.
He will be forever in our hearts and always in our thoughts.
I will love you always, wait for me.


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A vehicle crashed into a home in Wauwatosa just across the city's border with Milwaukee, authorities said.
The incident happened just after noon at a home near the intersection of W. Blue Mound Road and N. Glenview Ave., according to the Wauwatosa Fire Department.
Authorities believe the incident started in a Pick 'n Save parking lot across Glenview Ave. in the City of Milwaukee. A car driven by an older couple went through the parking lot, hitting a few vehicles, and crossed two lanes of traffic before hitting a house on the southwest side of the street, which is in Wauwatosa, said Lt. William Rice, deputy chief of the Wauwatosa Fire Department.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital, Rice said.


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Connecting People to God
Ministry Opportunities
: Fellowship and celebrate God's healing power over the hurts, hang-ups and habits of life. Meeting at 7:00PM Tuesday nights.
GROWTH GROUPS: Helping Christ followers become transformed believers who model purpose-driven lives and motivate others to do the same.
KIDS MINISTRIES: Meeting at 10:30AM on Sundays. Encouraging each child to work for others through acts of kindness, have a heart that chooses to proclaim Jesus to the world, be equipped to be more like Christ.
MENS MINISTRIES: Encouraging, educating & equipping men with the Word of God through studies, fellowship & camaraderie.
PRAYER TEAM: A group of vibrant ladies who gird up the body of believers and community in prayer.
WOMEN'S MINISTRIES: Empowering women to live boldly and intentionally for Christ.
WORSHIP ARTS: Skillfully facilitating God's people in bringing Him praise through music, drama and technology.
hallenging students to develop a personal relationship with Jesus while encouraging understanding of their value to God and the future He has for them.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.
Christian Center of Desert Hot Springs
Connecting People to God and Purpose for Life
66511 Eighth Street
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
(760) 329-5076
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item(s) in cart
My Account X
Slingshot Hooke Wakeboard, Blank
Item # 709804
Key Features
Atomic C-core for lightweight, lively feel
Double-V molded channels increase stability
Super explosive pop
Provides a snappy feel and fast response
3-stage rocker for aggressive pop
Our Price $449.99
Sale Price $374.99
Availability: Sold Out
Prices, promotions, styles and availability may vary by store and online.
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Product DescriptionThe ultimate board for aggressive wake riding, the Slingshot Hooke will boost you higher and further into the flats than any other board. It will also kick you to the moon on double-ups and let you land softly. The Hooke's super explosive pop is unrivaled. With an identical rocker and outline to the Recoil wakeboard, it features an upgraded Atomic-C core with double-V molded channels. Stiffer in the tip and tail, the Hooke provides a snappier feel and faster response, delivering next-level 3-stage performance. 3-stage rocker offers the most aggressive and vertical pop. Hooke 134: 52.8"L x 17.2"W. For 75-135 lb. riders. Hooke 138: 54.3"L x 17.6"W. For 105-175 lb. riders. Hooke 142: 55.9"L x 17.8"W. For 145-235 lb. riders.


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Viewers: in countries Watching now:
In this course, Rich Harrington explores the world of hypersyndication—showing how to distribute content across all media platforms quickly and more efficiently. When publishing content, hypersyndication decreases costs by utilizing the power of the Internet and social media sites. This course explains how to build a network to significantly extend a product's reach, using tools such as RSS feeds, YouTube, and iTunes, and covers topics such as creating a consistent visual brand and targeting the emergent mobile market.
Like many things to do with the web, Google tries to make it better. That's where FeedBurner comes in. FeedBurner is a free service from Google that lets you take an RSS Feed and it optimizes it. The good news is, is that FeedBurner can track usage of your RSS Feed and fix common problems. Here is what it does. With FeedBurner, you just paste in an existing RSS Feed. And what it does is it streamlines the republishing content. You can get a box for your website that allows people to subscribe via e-mail to your RSS Feed or simple widgets for one click adds for things like Facebook and Twitter and RSS Readers.
feedburner.com is an absolutely free service. It used to cost money, but Google bought it and rolled it out absolutely free. And what's really nice is the detailed statistics that you get about how things in your RSS Feed were accessed. You can get details by country, you can see which stories were the most read or most clicked and this all really comes in handy. Another thing that I like about FeedBurner is it could serve like a post office box. You could take your Podcasting Feed or a Feed from Twitter or Facebook and run it through FeedBurner as an intermediate middle ground.
What happens here is you take that new URL, the optimize URL that FeedBurner makes and then publish that to the re-syndication services. Why would you do that? Well, sometimes you can't update which RSS Feed is used. For example, if you submit an iTunes Feed, it's only going to let you submit it once. What happens if your hosting company goes out of business and you have to move to a different server? Well, you would lose all of your iTunes Subscribers, because you would have to submit a new Feed and start a new Podcast, unless you used FeedBurner.
You can go ahead and take that initial RSS Feed, run it through FeedBurner and assign it basically a post office box. Then when you move, you just update the post office box and it will continue to serve that new Feed out of iTunes, keeping you from losing customers. Now other services are going to be the same way, and FeedBurner is a great middle ground. It also adds things like the ability to splice in Amazon affiliate codes or recommended links. Let's take a quick look at the interface.
All you need to do after you login to your account is paste the RSS Feed and click the Next button. If it specifically for a podcast, just click the, I am a podcaster button. So, once you click the Next button, you just need to give it a Title. This title is for your benefit. And you can give it a new URL here as well, like I could say youtuberhedpixel, I then click Next.
And it adds it to Feeds that you are tracking. You also have great controls here. If you take a look at a Feed, you'll see that you have a lot of options. For example, you can optimize it and make it friendly for browsers, or automatically integrate links or photos. You can go ahead and put in additional information about it. You can choose to Publicize and target things like Email Subscriptions or allow it to be Social with social media, or make Chicklets for your website that are going to promote it and make it one click access, for popular RSS Feeds.
You can even Monetize the content and of course they needed one more ize, so they added Troubleshootize. But this tells you common errors and how to fix that. What's really nice is the FeedMedic option which will automatically email you, if there is an error with your RSS Feed. When your podcaster or bloger, the last thing you want to see is a problem with your website. Of course what's worse is to find out about it from your readers or your customers.
By using something like FeedBurner with its FeedMedic service, you'll automatically get an alert when your RSS feed starts to act up. This is a great way to spot a problem and then it even offers useful links to how to fix it. And of course, you can combine with the earlier service we mentioned and take advantage of Feed Validator to further refine and fix the problem.
There are currently no FAQs about Maximizing Your Web Video and Podcast Audience with Hypersyndication.
Access exercise files from a button right under the course name.
Search within course videos and transcripts, and jump right to the results.
Remove icons showing you already watched videos if you want to start over.
Make the video wide, narrow, full-screen, or pop the player out of the page into its own window.
Click on text in the transcript to jump to that spot in the video. As the video plays, the relevant spot in the transcript will be highlighted.


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You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
Limited-time feature
36 year old man | San Antonio, TX, USA | Seeking women 25-35 within 50 miles
Galileo - "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.
I'm a down-to-earth guy who takes the long view on life, the universe, and everything. Been told I have a pretty good sense of humor, too. Looking for someone mellow, who wants to share new experiences with me: food, places, events, and so on. There's a big, wide world out there, and I want to see it. And eat it. (The edible parts, anyway.) I want to find someone who is even-tempered and curious about the world. Intelligence and/or artistry of some sort (writing, visual arts, music) are both very big turn-ons for me, so those are good ways to score bonus points, if you want to. :^) In the "things that are my favorite" part of my online profile, you may find lots of references to obscure things. Rather than eat up the predetermined character limits by trying to explain them, rest assured that you can find out what they are quite easily with a simple Google search. I'm a cinephile at heart. I enjoy sci-fi movies, including action-adventure titles like "Pacific Rim," "In Time," and "Iron Man," and also suspenseful Twilight Zone-esque suspense films like "Unbreakable," "Inception," and "Moon." I also like character-driven comedy-dramas like "The Brothers Bloom" and "In Brouges." Cooking is fun. I haven't had anyone to cook for in a while, though, so not that many people get to taste my exotic, foreign recipes. I like East Asian, Indian, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern food. Many of them, I am surprised to find, are easy to make. Hummus, stir-fries, and miso soup, for example, are effortless. Saag paneer, eggplant parmesan, and spanakopita, on the other hand, are more labor-intensive. I am a Christian man, but am usually wary of people who wear Jesus on their sleeve. Strong faith is a virtue. But if you feel that the Almighty calls you to deny the empirical rather than see God's hand in it, to shun those who are different instead of loving and serving your neighbor, and to grind "heretics" beneath your heel, then I question the value of your religion. I was once branded an enemy of the Gospel by a traveling preacher because I believe in evolution. I have witnessed first-hand people who use the Bible to justify horrific acts of cruelty and systematic discrimination. If you would do the same, then you and I worship very different deities.
Book club , Coffee and conversation , Cooking , Dining out , Hobbies and crafts , Movies/Videos , Museums and art , Music and concerts , Exploring new areas , Playing cards , Religion/Spiritual , Travel/Sightseeing , Video games , Volunteering
Bowling, Martial arts, Swimming, Walking / Hiking
I exercise 1-2 times per week.
I like Cats, Dogs
I like other people's dogs and cats just fine. I only ever owned one dog of my own. When he died, I decided he was irreplaceable.
Middle of the Road
In truth, I don't hang out in many "hot spots," like clubs or bars or the like. I frequent the Bijou theater quite a lot, Nine Lives Books, Freebirds, Wing Stop, and... um... Dragon's Lair.
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
I enjoy many kinds of music; my favorite is progressive metal, in the vein of Symphony X, Kamelot, and Within Temptation. I love movies that evoke emotion and prompt fascinating questions. I'm also a big fan of ethnic food and all kinds of animation.
I like to read, usually nonfiction about how the world works, such as the "Freakonomics" books or anything by Malcolm Gladwell. I also enjoy playing games - both electronic and tabletop - with friends.
FICTION: "God Save the Mark," the Shotguns & Sorcery Trilogy, "The Great Gatsby," and a Kurt Vonnegut short story collection. NONFICTION: "Merchants of Doubt," "The Dilbert Principle," "The Lucifer Effect," and "God Has a Dream."
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What he is looking for
|5'9" (175cms)
|4'11" (149cms) to 5'6" (167cms)
|Body type:
|A few extra pounds
|Slender, About average, Curvy, Athletic and toned, Full-figured, A few extra pounds, Stocky
|Black, Blue, Brown, Grey, Green, Hazel
|Auburn / Red, Black, Light brown, Dark brown, Blonde, Salt and pepper, Dark blonde
|No Way
|No Way
|Social Drinker
|Never, Social Drinker
|Education / Teacher / Professor
|No preference
I've taught at the high school, middle school, and elementary levels. My favorite group to work with are the 4th graders, but I'm doing quite well for myself teaching 6th grade science right now.
|$35,001 to $50,000
|No preference
|Never Married
|Never Married, Widow / Widower
|Have kids:
|Wants kids:
|Definitely, Someday, Not sure
|Latino / Hispanic
|No preference
|Christian / Protestant
|Agnostic, Buddhist / Taoist, Christian / Catholic, Christian / Protestant, Spiritual but not religious, Christian / Other
I believe in a God who created an ordered universe that operates on rules. I believe the Almighty loves His creations, crafting each of us in His image, gifting us all with a soul of equal value, and calling us to love and serve Him and each other.
|Graduate degree
|Some college, Associates degree, Bachelors degree, Graduate degree, PhD / Post Doctoral
B.S. in Molecular Biology from Texas A&M University, M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Our Lady of the Lake University.


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Ammonites were free-swimming molluscs of the ancient oceans, living around the same time that the dinosaurs walked the Earth and disappearing during the same extinction event. They came in a range of sizes, from tiny species only a couple of centimetres across, to large ones reaching over two metres in diameter. The animal would have lived in the last and largest of a chain of spiralled chambers. Filling these chambers with fluid or gas allowed the ammonite to sink like a stone to avoid predators, though ammonite shells with toothmarks on them have been found, evidence that it didn't always work. Fossilised shells are usually, but not always, beautiful spirals.
Scientific name: Ammonitida
Rank: Order
Snake stones
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The sea eats away at Dorset's Jurassic coast, scattering clues to the past on the beach.
The sea eats away at Dorset's Jurassic coast, scattering clues to the past on the beach.
Simon King shows off Dorset's coastal fossil riches including a huge ichthyosaur.
Simon King shows off Dorset's coastal fossil riches including a huge ichthyosaur.
The rise of the gas-filled nautiloids gave way to the rolled up shells of ammonites.
The rise of the gas-filled nautiloids gave way to the rolled up shells of ammonites.
Lyme Regis beach reveals the creatures that once dominated sea life.
Lyme Regis beach reveals the creatures that once dominated sea life. But the history of the ammonites is full of puzzles.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.
Learn more about the other animals and plants that also form these fossils.
Ammonites /ˈæmənaɪts/ are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish) than they are to shelled nautiloids such as the living Nautilus species. The earliest ammonites appear during the Devonian, and the last species died out during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
Ammonites are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which a particular species or genus is found to specific geological time periods. Their fossil shells usually take the form of planispirals, although there were some helically spiraled and nonspiraled forms (known as heteromorphs).
The name "ammonite", from which the scientific term is derived, was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilized shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams' horns. Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD near Pompeii) called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua ("horns of Ammon") because the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) was typically depicted wearing ram's horns. Often the name of an ammonite genus ends in -ceras, which is Greek (κέρας) for "horn".
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VIEWS: 9 PAGES: 14 CATEGORY: Education POSTED ON: 2/5/2010 Public Domain
Social Media Risk Management Katja Presnal www.SkimbacoLifestyle.com Social Media is Ocean. Learn to Swim. Bad PR is Just Another Open Door 1. Get relevant consumer and user feedback - Use it in your advantage 2. Conversation Starter - Start a relationship with your target market, get ongoing feedback 3. Turn it into Positive PR Katja Presnal/ SkimbacoLifestyle.com Bad PR or Relevant Feedback? Social Media Crisis Risk Management Action Steps 1. Create a Social Media Monitoring System. 2. Create a Social Media Policy for your company. 3. Train your company about Social Media. 4. Create a Social Media Crisis Strategy. Katja Presnal / SkimbacoLifestyle.com Monitoring Tools 1. Google Blog Search blogsearch.google.com 2. Technorati Search technorati.com/search 3. Google Alerts google.com/alerts 4. Twitter Alerts twilert.com or tweetbeep.com 5. YouTube Alerts video-alerts.com or youtube.com/my_subscriptions 6. Use Newsreader to Collect Updates - collect feed from relevant websites and blogs Katja Presnal / SkimbacoLifestyle.com Creating Social Corporation Social Media Policy: Set rules & restrictions of social media for all employees. Educate your company about Social Media. Not just how to use it, but also about the ethical guidelines. Learn more: Word of Mouth Marketing Association: womma.org Public Relations Society of America: prsa.org International Association of Business Communicators: iabc.com Katja Presnal / SkimbacoLifestyle.com Social Media Crisis Strategy Prepare for Social Media Crisis Visualize the crisis. Be part of social media. Make a plan: how to react. Train people to answer, be ready to act fast. Katja Presnal / SkimbacoLifestyle.com Response to Social Media Crisis Act fast. Identify the crisis and real damage. Make a response plan. Prepare statement and distribute it. RESPONSE: Honest, real answers. Action Plan. Show that you listen. Katja Presnal / SkimbacoLifestyle.com Leverage It Nothing Can Turn Into Something, Bad PR Can Turn Into Good PR. Katja Presnal / SkimbacoLifestyle.com Questions Questions? Katja Presnal www.SkimbacoLifestye.com SkimbacoLifestyle.com
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Lakes, Orlando
1 Reviews
1 Reviews
I try to avoid Orlando and the whole Disney/theme park complex as much as possible as it has become WAY WAY too big and thus not so much fun. If I have to go through the center of Florida I try to go south of Orlando. But in 2007, we were stuck in Kissimmee for a couple of days and one of the things we did was go on boat rides around the Winter Park Area which is billed as "The Venice of America"
We went from lake to lake, and saw Rollins College, and the Art Museum and several parks from the shore. In one case, we had to back out of the canal because someone else was coming through, and in another instance the three tour boats were almost through the canal and met two other boats coming the other way. The boats closest to the entrance have to back up.
It was an interesting trip and I got a lot of photos
Current times and prices (2011)
Open Daily 10:00am through 4:00pm (Except Christmas) Tours Depart on the Hour!
Adults - $12.00
Children (2-11) - $6.00 (Tax Included)
Under 2 Years Old Ride Free!
Cash or Check Only.
Get an instant answer from local experts and frequent travelers
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links


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Indiana lawmaker calls police, prosecutors to meeting about synthetic drugs
INDIANAPOLIS - State officials and law enforcement personnel are planning an emergency meeting to develop what the organizer is calling an "aggressive, results-driven approach" to eliminating the sale of synthetic drugs in Indiana.
Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis, said he called for the meeting after a TV report about a 17-year-old girl who was hospitalized after she used a synthetic drug she allegedly purchased at an Indianapolis gas station.
Lawmakers earlier this year passed legislation meant to crack down on retailers that sell illegal synthetic drugs, such as bath salts and spice.
And Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced last month they were teaming up to get those drugs off store shelves.
But Merritt said Thursday that he wants to ensure that law enforcement and others are "aggressively pursuing new ideas to fight these synthetic drugs still plaguing Indiana communities."
"The legislature has spoken twice now with two separate laws empowering law enforcement with the tools to identify and crack down on the manufacturers, distributors and retailers providing synthetic drugs," Merritt wrote in a letter requesting the meeting. "We need to let synthetic drug makers, retailers and users know that it must stop and will stop."
He invited the Indiana Attorney General's office, Indiana State Police, Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys' Council and Indiana Sheriffs' Association to the meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.
In 2011, lawmakers passed legislation that added various chemical compounds used in synthetic drugs to a list of banned substances.
Then this year, the General Assembly approved a law – sponsored by Merritt – that adds new punishments for retailers caught selling a banned synthetic drug. Those stores could lose their business licenses for up to one year.
The law also created tight restrictions on the development of chemical compounds that are "structurally comparable" to those defined as illegal under current Indiana law. That was meant to discourage manufacturers from creating copycat drugs with alternate ingredients.
"If the pending investigation finds this Indianapolis gas station sold the girl synthetic drugs, I'm absolutely calling for its retail license to be suspended," Merritt said. "They've had formal notice of the outlawed substances and the penalties for selling them."
Subscribe to the Courier & Press or The Gleaner
Need Help? Call us at 1-877-304-7771.
Monday-Friday: 6am-5pm / Saturday: 6am-11am / Sunday: 7am-Noon


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Beneath our everyday world there is a miniature universe of cells, trillions of tiny worlds, unseen and beautiful.
Whether you need a full-length medical animation, or a short animated GIF, we can help explain your science to your audience…
Simply and beautifully.
By 2016, two thirds of the world's mobile data traffic will be video.
~ Cisco
Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch a video
compared to 10% when reading text.
One minute of animated video is equal to 1.8 million words.
Harness the power of video to reach and engage with your audience.
Visual content is processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than text.
~ Social Media Today


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First person in line for the Pre spotted
The first person queuing for the Palm Pre has been spotted in the States, nabbing his place in line on Monday - ahead of the device's Saturday launch.
The anonymous linesitter said "I hear there is only going to be four phones at each spot, and I'm getting mine".
The new handset will be available nationwide in Sprint stores, as well as Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online at Sprint.com.
Pricing for the phone has been revealed at $199.99 with a 2-year service agreement on "Everything Data" plans and after a $100 mail-in rebate.
Pocket-lint's Stuart Miles will being you more news on the Palm Pre's US launch from New York on 6 June.


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Picture: Rolling Stones Berlin Film Festival 2008 (Berlinale) Photocall for the movie Shine A Light Berlin, Germany - 07.02.08
A treasure trove of lost images of the Rolling Stones are to be exhibited in London after the photographer's son stumbled across the collection following his father's death.
Eric Swayne, who briefly dated George Harrison's first wife Pattie Boyd, took the shots at his studio in the 1960s and his son Tom didn't even know about the snaps until he found them while cleaning up his dad's home after he passed away in 2007.
The never-before-seen photos will go on display at the Proud gallery in Chelsea from 13 June (13).
The collection features images of Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts, as well as photos of Richards' girlfriend Anita Pallenburg, model Chrissie Shrimpton, Boyd and actress Catherine Deneuve.
Swayne's son says, "They're just test shots for a friend, a whole series of them (Rolling Stones trio) fooling around in dad's flat with Chrissie Shrimpton."


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Foreign travel advice Malawi
The Malawian government has advised that plans to introduce an entry fee for UK visitors (and nationals of other countries that charge a visa fee for Malawian nationals) on 1 July have been postponed. Contact the Malawian High Commission in London for more information.
Most visits to Malawi are trouble-free, but you should take sensible precautions to protect yourself from muggers and bag-snatchers. Most thefts from visitors take place around the main bus stations in Lilongwe and Blantyre, and at the main ports for the Ilala ferry. See Safety and security
There is a low threat from terrorism. See Terrorism
Take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before you travel.


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Joined: Apr 2009
Location: Nashville TN, no chit, police state.
Oddometer: 3,859
The Government uses statistics to: justify their budgets, track the rise and fall of crimes, justify the new rules/regs they imply on us... And so-fourth.
So unless you can PROVE what you're saying, there really is no point in saying it.
Everyday IS 3/11!
Everybody's always talking out the side of their mouths about our "dependency on foreign oil", what about our dependency on cheap china crap? Who exactly again is killing our dollar?
IheartmyNx screwed with this post 03-17-2012 at 07:39 PM
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: May 2008
Location: Huntsville, AL
Oddometer: 6,730
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: Nashville TN, no chit, police state.
Oddometer: 3,859
Fact, yes.
Statistic is statistical, like a bar graph or chart... There is no need to track what I said in hopes of proving a point.
Everyday IS 3/11!
Everybody's always talking out the side of their mouths about our "dependency on foreign oil", what about our dependency on cheap china crap? Who exactly again is killing our dollar?
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Spacecoaster FL
Oddometer: 7,390
Yup...Miles and years can mean little. I rode for years without taking a rider course. I'd done cross-country trips, and commuted in big-city traffic. I took a BRC and improved my bike handling, as well as my attitude, in the span of a weekend. It got me curious about what else I could learn and how I could improve. I got a dualsport and started riding more technical dirt than my streetbikes had been able to comfortably handle. I'm a LOT more comfortable now keeping a bike on it's rubber when things go wrong...road debris to swerve around, front wheel slides on a patch of sand/gravel, rear wheel slides on a patch of spilled liquid, grooves/ledges in the pavement that make the tires dance around...these are non-issues now. I'm not even a good dirt rider yet either.
Rider courses and licensing can differ greatly.
Licensing in Illinois was a joke. Pass a simple multiple-choice written test and you could legally ride a liter sportbike/half-ton cruiser during the daytime if one of your licensed buddies rode alongside. Ride around some cones, swerve, and quick-stop on a 150cc scooter at the DMV range and you could ride your liter sportbike/half-ton cruiser home from the DMV solo. A BRC was not required in Illinois, but a 2-1/2 day (20hrs) one is offered for free. They ask for a donation though, and most people do contribute, from what I've seen. It is well worth the $20 deposit, IMO, especially for new riders. They cover a LOT of material, practice drills, and evals in a weekend. Passing students receive a waiver for the moto range test at the DMV, and the final eval is MUCH more comprehensive than the DMV's range eval. Riders passing the course ARE able to operate a 200cc moto in an empty parking lot if blinkers are not involved. A basic driver license is required to enter the course, so it is already assumed that one understands traffic laws/signage.
FL requires a BRC for new riders. I believe it's 2 days (16hrs). I don't know what they cover, but directional signals (DOT lighting in general, for that matter), situational awareness, and proactive collision avoidance don't seem to be a part of the curriculum. Many riders here seem totally clueless about how to achieve long-term survival on public roads. For that matter, the cagers are usually even worse, but at least they have a cage/seatbelt/airbag. It's a good thing that traffic is fairly light here unless one is in a big city. I'd just stay home if they ever got any snow/ice accumulation, and I have no qualms about driving in blizzard conditions in northern mountains. There would be mass destruction and devastation on the roads here. It's not even the stereotyped old people either. It's the everyday people commuting and running errands. They do the most senseless and idiotic things you can imagine, and even some things that you can't. Traffic in FL, as light as it usually is, is a circus.
Do NOT try riding in FL city traffic on vacation, especially in the busier southern cities, unless you are fully prepared to deal with the most idiotic driver actions on an ongoing basis. CA commuting does NOT prepare you for south FL drivers, BTW. CA drivers are MUCH more aware, better behaved, and skilled, on average. Drivers from rural TX that find themselves in SoFL city traffic will probably want to pull over, when it's safe to do so, and cry...or politely just shoot somebody that is seemingly trying to kill everybody in surrounding traffic.
Red Sox Nation
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: India Wharf
Oddometer: 10,315
As a former military pilot, I think the only thing that translated directly to my riding safety is the habit pilots develop scanning the sky and the cockpit constantly. Such a habit on a public highways improves defensive riding. The truth is, I learned a lot more about riding motorcycles on the race track where I experienced what a motorcycle can and can't do in my hands.
Private pilots kill themselves all the time. They do stupid things, most frequently around an airport in bad weather. It is so bad that the aircraft industry stopped producing personal aircraft after about 1980. Why? Insurance costs proved prohibitive. Nobody wanted to insure a private pilot, and for obvious reasons. Even today, most of the fleet out there is very old.
I have a friend who was a salesman for Cessna in the late 70's. He told me all is salesman colleagues were dead. Weather, vertigo, mechanicals, whatever...
Straight ahead and faster -Bo Weaver 1970
"There I was..." -Griffin Niner Three Hotel
"One day closer to a parade..." Jonny Gomes, spring training 2013
Oddometer: n/a
I'm an aviation enthusiast and not a pilot because I never had the money to go through the training and then know I'd be able to fly enough to stay as proficient as I'd want to be. I've flown several planes with an instructor or licensed pilot in the other seat.
I did, however, just get my motorcycle license and my first bike last year. I've also been driving for nearly 20 years after learning on the streets and interstates of southern California. Dad was California Highway Patrol for 31 years and taught me quite a bit.
Knowing what's involved in all three - plane, motorcycle, and car licenses - I'd say that I'm glad motorcycles and cars aren't the same as pilot licenses. Yes, there are more and stricter requirements for getting a pilot's license, but just about anyone I know could learn and retain enough information to pass the tests. They usually don't do so because of the cost. That extra expense comes from many different areas and might be lowered if a mass market were achieved through massive demand. The trouble is, you'd need the demand which would mean that a bunch of people would need to pay up on the costs to get the ball rolling and I can't see that happening.
If the requirements to get a motorcycle license were as high as those of a pilot's license, many more people would decline to do so and ride anyway. I think the main reasons for not seeing this happen more often in aviation are the cost of the vehicles involved (which will never apply to motorcycles) and the combined complexity and danger of the operating environment. Someone who doesn't have a motorcycle license but wants to ride anyway is more likely to do so than to fly a plane without a license due to the lack of active traffic control (communication with ground control and pilots in other aircraft) and the fact that they don't have to worry about crashing into the ground at as a high of a rate of speed from a great height.
No, I'd much rather have people deal with the DMV test and a test so that they're more likely to get a license and insurance. If they have a license, I know they've gone through some sort of training (which is much better than none) and if they have insurance then my girlfriend and soon to be child would at least get some money from the person's policy if the worst happen and they kill me.
I wouldn't have been able to afford a motorcycle license if the process was like a pilot's license. It was a stretch at the time to get the $250 together for the MSF course, but I wanted to do it the best way I could. I wouldn't be on a motorcycle, either, and I'd be missing out on a lot of good stuff
That's just my two cents - take it for what it's worth
Joined: Dec 2007
Location: Euroland
Oddometer: 593
Oh the other difference between flying and riding is the timescale over which problems develop. On a bike, you could go from upright and enjoying the sunny scenery to sliding down the road in 2 seconds.
As a private pilot, in a single engine airplane, even in the event of a total loss of engine power, I'd have between about 10 seconds to 10 minutes until the situation reached its conclusion. There is time for a lot more thinking and a lot more planning flying a plane.
Private flying does have a bad safety record. Usually this is due to "gethomeitis" ie flying in weather conditions where you should just stay on the ground and wait or general flying outside your skill level. A smaller number are maybe structural or control surface failures: unlike a 747, there is minimal redundancy in a light aircraft.
UK GSer
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: All over, usually Wales or England
Oddometer: 2,462
Far too much emphasis is placed on "time you've had a licence", both by the licencing system, the courts and riders themselves. It's a terrible metric: IMO, Miles ridden is the best indicator of a rider's competence, then the amount of advanced training they've had, followed closely by the breadth of variation of the conditions they've ridden in*. Time you've held a licence should almost be seen as a negative factor: If you have 100,000 miles experience on a bike over the past 50 years on dozens bikes, do you think you're safer than someone who racked up the same mileage, but they have done it all in the last 3 years on the same bike they ride today? I'd argue the latter person's skills will typically be better and their experience more relevant to today's roads (which is all that matters, unless you've got some sort of Delorean motorcycle).
That said, a car limit of, say, 100bhp restriction (and an upper total weight limit) and more stringent speeding penalties** for the n00bs would be a good thing in my eyes: They're rare, but that doesn't make the spoiled 18 year old in a ferrari any less dangerous (statistically).
* Try racking up 100,000 highways miles in the rural USA and then come and ride London city traffic.
**We have this one at least: you have fewer "strikes" on your licence as a n00b here and the courts tend to take a dimmer view of younger folk speeding.
I like my bike because I can overtake 4x4s down farm tracks with a week's worth of shopping on the back.
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: Pacific NorthWet, Napa Valley North
Oddometer: 5,859
Here's my thought. Make the endorsement renewal fee the same as the cost for a one day class (ERC, for example). Waive that fee if applicant shows they have taken an ERC in the previous six months. Riders now have a cost-neutral option- Pay the price of admission (and risk learning / improving skills) or just pay the fee.
Won't solve the problem of riders w/o endorsements, but Oregon already has a plan for that one ($720 fine, dismissed if the rider passes a beginner class within 120 days).
Cosmopolitan Adv
Joined: Nov 2010
Location: :o)
Oddometer: 3,815
I think for car drivers it should be the same. no one should be driving a car that he can't handle. restrictions are made but to the wrong persons. my 0.02$
and btw I'm a 21 year old student and aware of how bad young noobies are drving :o)
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: Pacific NorthWet, Napa Valley North
Oddometer: 5,859
Joined: Mar 2009
Location: East La Jolla... it's just Clairemont!!
Oddometer: 3,360
Last time I checked, you don't need a state MC endorsement to race the Daytona 200, just an AMA pro license.
On the other hand... Jose Jimenez is cruising the streets of Los Angeles in his $500 beater blissfully free of the influence of the DMV.
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: Pacific NorthWet, Napa Valley North
Oddometer: 5,859
It's not operator skill that's strictly the problem, it's attitude and discipline. JL may, or may not, have that. I know a lot of thirty-somethings that don't.
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: OR
Oddometer: 19,747
Just say NO! to tiered licensing
Watch out for everything bigger than you, they have the "right of weight"
Hurricane Harry
Joined: Dec 2010
Location: Seattle/Dahlonega
Oddometer: 1,674
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Denver March Is Here; Powwow Season Begins
The Denver March Powwow marks the unofficial start of powwow season in the U.S. as thousands descend on the Denver Coliseum for the three-day event.
4 Reasons Why the Keystone Pipeline Might Not Be Built
Climate change? Treaty rights? Sure, but the real killer could be the market.
Resolution to Read
Institute of American Indian Arts hosts Sherman Alexie, Joy Harjo, others for Writers Festival this week in Santa Fe.
'Seasoned With Spirit'
Chef Loretta Barrett Oden (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) cooks up a frybread alternative


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Summer Vegetable Kabobs
|1 1⁄2 Cup (24 tbs), cubed (1-Inch Cubes)
|Scallop/Baby squash - 8 whole, each cut into quarters
|10 Ounce
|Scallop squash/8 whole baby squash, each cut into quarters
|10 Ounce (Two 5 Ounce Each Pieces)
|1 Medium
|5 Ounce, cut crosswise into 8 equal slices (1 Medium)
|Yellow squash
|5 Ounce, cut crosswise into 8 equal slices (1 Medium)
|Yellow squash
|1 Medium
|8 Medium
|Cherry tomatoes
|Barbecue sauce
|3 Tablespoon
|Hickory flavored barbecue sauce
|3 Tablespoon
1. In a large glass or stainless-steel mixing bowl, put together all vegetables.
2. In another small mixing bowl, combine barbecue sauce with 2 tablespoons water; stir well.
3. Add the barbeque sauce mixture to the vegetables; stir well to coat evenly.
4. Cover and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight in refrigerator.
5. Preheat barbecue or gas grill on medium-high for 10 minutes.
6. On a 10 inch metal skewer, alternately thread 1/3 of the vegetable mixture and save the marinade.
7. Similarly prepare another 4 skewers with the rest of the marinated vegetables.
8. On a grilling or barbeque rack, arrange the kabobs and cook for 5 minutes.
9. Brush reserved marinade and turn over the kabobs; cook for another 5 minutes.
10. Serve immediately with favorite sauce.


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Simply start DOSBox, and type SUBST at the prompt
with no parameters. DOSBox will close with a
segmentation fault.
Peter Veenstra
Logged In: YES
in order to determine the cause (although i though i fixed
it in 0.62)
mount a drive and change to it
then type subst without parameters.
James Wilkinson
Logged In: YES
Same thing in this case - Segmentation Fault (SDL parachute
deployed). Running on XP Pro SP1. Let me know if I can help
with further debugging.
Peter Veenstra
Logged In: YES
Bug Resolved.
Mingw changed it's exception handling.
the libs and dosbox were compiled with different handling.
That caused the crashes as dosbox needs certain exceptions
to operate correctly.


text: We host professional development events for the institutional finance community in the Orange County area. Our events bring together those in private equity, investment banking, asset management, research, hedge funds, fund of funds, real estate, and other fields. Our members include professionals from top local and international institutions. If you'd like to be included on the invitation list, please join Newport Beach Finance Events.


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Do you want to make Ohio.com your homepage?
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Cleveland Browns tight end MarQueis Gray stretches before workouts in June 2014 in Berea. (Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal)
Cleveland Browns tight end MarQueis Gray works on his technique after an off-season practice at the team's facility in Berea in May 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
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