text:
Why go to Cannes?
Present-day Cannes can dazzle with the brilliance of its surface. (It happened to me. I was walking along La Croisette promenade and, sunlight in my eyes, didn't spot Sean Connery. He almost flattened me.)
There's no point in fighting it. Go with the flow. This is what Cannes is about, and has been for years. The surface indeed gleams but Cannes is shiny underneath, too. In truth, it's luxury – with side-orders of style and bling – pretty much all the way down.
Those movie stars, for instance – the ones who coat the town in glitter even though they're only there for a day or two in May. Or the lovelies hopefully unhooking bikinis in a tsunami of toplessness on the beach. Or the palace hotels and casinos, the cool bars and hot shops where frocks defy pricing gravity.
They're nothing new. They're all, give or take the toplessness, doing what Cannes has been doing since 1834. That year, Lord Henry Brougham – ex-Lord Chancellor of Britain – happened upon what was a tiny fishing port distinguished only by poverty.
Brougham approved of the bay and surrounding hills so much that he had a thumping great villa built there. Word got about. Other rich, famous and noble Brits rolled in, followed by Russians, Americans and assorted Euro-aristocrats.
Mirrors on the ceiling
The original village was swamped by sumptuousness. A new Cannes took shape, fashioned in the image of the fashionable. The resort shimmied into the world spotlight as a place of elegance, decadence and all-night soirées amid exotic gardens and arresting interior décor.
So it has stayed. The hills flanking the town still have their contingent of villas, châteaux and palaces from the wilder realms of architectural fantasy. These have, naturally, been adapted for the modern age. ("You should see the mirrors on the bedroom ceilings," said a former housekeeper friend of mine. "But not with me.")
Royalty still show up – these days, as often as not, from the Middle East. But the image is sustained overwhelmingly by the Film Festival. Cannes plays to the hilt its self-appointed role as a world capital of cinema, rippling out the effects of a few days in May across the whole year.
Sandals, no socks
There are hotel suites named after movie stars, movie star cocktails, wall-filling movie-star murals and, recently placed all over town, life-sized hardboard cut-outs of movie stars with their faces missing. Thus, you may put your own mug in the gap and become Angelina Jolie.
The implication is that the movie stars are permanent fixtures, likely to be bumped into at any moment. They aren't. Mine was a rare encounter. But a certain pizzazz remains in the air. It unarguably adds lustre to the lovely curve of the Mediterranean bay.
And the thing is that it's available to all. You don't have to be Angelina or Sean. Access to the city can be affordable, especially as the crunch has emptied bedrooms. Thus might you stroll La Croisette just like a noble, palms trees on one side, briny the other and light in your eyes. No-one will know you're from Peterborough or Pittsburgh. It will help, of course, if you don't wear socks with your sandals.
Dan Hipgrave explains how to enjoy Cannes as a non-A-lister is his guide Cannes: beyond the red carpet.
Also, take a look at my other expert pages on Marseille, Monaco, Nice, Provence and St-Tropez.


text:
Your Report Has Been Sent.
Here is the message sent to email@example.com
"Following is a review that a user felt was inappropriate::
Summary - The Lion King
Review - This broadway show is amazing. Its crative, heartwarming, a show you'll never forget. The actors and actresses were very talented at the arts. You have just got to see it now.
Source - Prue Halliwell
Review ID - 265
Location - Northampton, PA USA
Visitor IP - 18.104.22.168
Date Review was Added - 2006-10-11
Delete this review is necessary by logging into your admin panel. Please click here to view the review in question. "

subset: commoncrawl


text:
• Thornton Wilder has become a man of two books. Our Town continues to be revived and The Bridge of San Luis Rey read, but I've yet to see a professional production of The Skin of Our Teeth or The Matchmaker (which is now known mainly as the source of Hello, Dolly!) or heard anyone mention any of his other novels in conversation (though I read Heaven's My Destination many years ago). Hence it is with no small interest that I've spent the past week reading Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays and Writings on Theater (Library of America, 871 pp., $40). I haven't always been impressed with the Library of America's editorial decisions, but Wilder was an obvious call, and J.D. McClatchy, who recently turned Our Town into an opera libretto for Ned Rorem, was exactly the right man to edit this extremely well-chosen collection of Wilder's theater-related output. McClatchy's annotations are copious and exemplary—I'd like to see him write a Wilder biography—and it was shrewd of him to include the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, for which Wilder, it appears, was mainly responsible.
Should Wilder's other plays be staged more frequently? The question, I fear, is irrelevant, for The Skin of Our Teeth and The Matchmaker both require too many actors to be easily produced outside of a festival setting, which is one of the reasons why Our Town is the only one of his full-length plays that continues to be revived regularly. The other reason is that it's by far the best thing he ever wrote, though reading The Skin of Our Teeth for the first time in a quarter-century has made me curious to see how it would look on stage (it comes across on the page as more than a little bit twee). For all its obvious weaknesses, Our Town is still a great play and a quintessentially American work of art. It reads surprisingly well, too, though the best way to experience it at home is to watch Sam Wood's mostly straightforward 1940 film version, which preserves the performances of Frank Craven and Martha Scott, who played the stage manager and Emily in the original 1938 Broadway production, and was scored with exquisite and indelible appropriateness by none other than Aaron Copland.
This collection includes the lengthy and fascinating series of letters between Wilder and Sol Lesser, the producer of the film version of Our Town, along with the bulk of Wilder's writings on theater, all of which are very much worth reading. I was especially struck by this passage from his preface to Our Town: "The theater longs to represent the symbols of things, not the things themselves. All the lies it tells—the lie that that young lady is Caesar's wife; the lie that people can go through life talking in blank verse; the lie that that man just killed that man—all those lies enhance the one truth that is there—the truth that dictated the story, the myth. The theater asks for as many conventions as possible. A convention is an agreed-upon falsehood, an accepted untruth. When the theater pretends to give the real thing in canvas and wood and metal, it loses something of the realer thing which is its true business." I couldn't have put it better—nor could anyone else.
As for Wilder's novels . . . well, I'll get back to you on that. Presumably the Library of America plans to reissue them at some point, which would give me a good excuse to reread The Bridge of San Luis Rey (which I recall with fondness) and Heaven's My Destination (about which I had my doubts when I read it in college). But Our Town will always be with us, as well it should be. If I were to choose a half-dozen works of art that collectively sum up the American experience, it would be one of them.


text:
Follow link to view briefing slides: http://www.defense.gov/news/RFPRelease.pptx .
BRYAN WHITMAN (deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations): Good afternoon, and welcome. It's my privilege to bring back to the briefing room three individuals that don't need any introduction, really, but I will anyway: Deputy Secretary Lynn, Air Force Secretary Mike Donley and Undersecretary of Defense Ash Carter.
So as we indicated back to you in September when we released the draft RFP [request for proposal], that we would be back here to finalize that process and to put the final RFP out and to bring it to you in as transparent way as we can and to be available to answer your questions. So with that, we're going to present some of the key aspects of this and then take your questions.
So let me turn it over to Deputy Secretary Lynn. Thank you.
MR. LYNN: Thanks, Bryan.
I'm just going to make some opening comments and then ask Mike Donley and Ash Carter to give you a little bit more detail of the final RFP. But before I even get to the RFP itself, let me talk about the three principles that are guiding this acquisition and that haven't changed from draft to final.
First, this is going to be an objective competition. It's going to be fair, it's going to be open, it's going to be transparent. We -- obviously, there are high stakes in this, both in terms of jobs and revenue, high interest.
We're -- we get buffeted from both sides. We are resisting that buffeting, and we are -- we are going to play this straight down the middle.
Second, this is a best-value competition. We actually looked at the alternative of a low-cost technical -- technically-acceptable approach, and we rejected that approach. By saying best-value does not mean that price is not important. Price is important. Price is very important. But it is not the only criteria. We are looking at the war-fighting contribution. We are looking at life-cycle costs. And we will do -- we have the opportunity to do a technical assessment. All of those factors would play in. And the bottom line, the reason you can be sure this isn't a price shoot-out, is that it is actually possible to have a higher price and to win this competition.
Third, we are using this competition as a flagship for acquisition reform. This has some of the key characteristics we see in our acquisition reform agenda. First, it has stable requirements. One of the changes that we made from the prior competition is, in the prior competition there were only 37 mandatory requirements; in this competition there are 372.
Now, why the difference? The difference is that one of the ways you get cost growth is that you add requirements as you go through the program, and you implement them through engineering change proposals and you increase the price. That is exactly what would have happened, had the prior competition gone forward to contract.
The Air Force has a series of requirements, and all of those requirements are now reflected in this RFP from -- and Michael described the core document, the concept-development document. All of the "must's" and "shall's" in that document have been converted into mandatory requirements, so that we don't get to the signing the contract with the winner here and then deciding, okay, we want to add these various requirements.
We're putting them -- the ones that we absolutely have to have, we're putting up front.
Second, we are pursuing this in a fixed-price framework. I'm going to talk a little bit about how we've changed some of the contract pricing provisions. But that doesn't change that this is a fixed-price framework. This is the direction that Congress wants us to go in. And we can't do fixed-price development in every case.
But in cases such as this -- where the technology is mature, the contractors have a well-established industrial base, and the Air Force well understands its requirements -- this is a true opportunity for us to pursue a fixed-price contract, and that's what we intend to do.
And then finally this -- we are not looking at just acquisition costs when we look at cost. We are looking at life-cycle costs. We're looking at fuel costs. We're looking at changes in military construction costs. Those are all elements of the president and Secretary Gates's acquisition reform agenda. And they're reflected in this competition.
Now, let me talk about the move from the draft to the final RFP. We got over 350 comments from both -- not -- both from industry and from Congress. We have addressed all of them. And as a consequence of those comments and questions and proposed changes, we have made about 230 changes from the draft to the final RFP.
Now, many of those changes are more in the nature of technical changes we have -- for example, both contractors pointed out that our provision on proprietary data rights probably needed to be shifted some. And we have done that.
Some of the things on FAA certification needed to be adjusted. We have done that. We've moved the LAIRCM [Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures] defensive system to government-furnished equipment, because that was a more efficient way to acquire it.
The Microwave Landing System is no longer an Air Force requirement, so we've dropped it. Those are all, I would say, in the nature of technical, relatively standard changes when you go from a draft to a final RFP.
We've made -- in addition to those, we've made one significant change in the contract pricing approach. As I said, we've retained the fixed-price approach, but we have shortened the period over which the competitors would have to specify a fixed future price for the airplane, and we've lowered the threshold for DOD to make future price adjustments if economic conditions change. And Ash is going to explain that in a bit more detail in a second.
Where we haven't changed things is in the basic requirements of the airplane. The warfighter has set out what they need. We think the 372 requirements that we've laid out will bring the Air Force the plane it needs to bring to the war-fight on day one. And we have retained those requirements, and we've retained the structure of the evaluation system that we've used for those requirements.
In the end, this is about what the Air Mobility Command needs to meet the war-fighting needs of the nation. We think that the structure in this RFP is going to get us that, and we're going to proceed in that direction.
Finally, the schedule. We have given a little bit of additional time for the proposals. It's 75 days. The RFP should be on the website now; I think it went on at 4:00. So 75 days from that point is when the proposals are due. We will take about 120 days to evaluate those proposals. If you add that time up, that takes you to about mid-September, and so that's the time frame that we're looking forward to.
We're certainly hopeful that we'll have a robust competition, and we think that competition will get us the best value for the taxpayer and the best airplane for the warfighter.
With that, let me turn it over to Mike Donley to go into a little bit more detail on the requirements.
SEC. DONLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. As the deputy suggested, the department believes that stability in requirements is very important going forward. There may be circumstances where engineering change proposals soon after contract award -- are warranted, but this should be the exception and not the rule -- and this is where cost -- as this is where cost growth often occurs.
So in this case, compared to the last solicitation, as the deputy indicated, we moved many of the factors considered in the last solicitation from nonmandatory to mandatory, but we did that based on our look at the proposals, our understanding of what the contractors could and could not do, and our assessment of what the warfighter needed to go to war on day one. So we do not expect this airplane to come off the line and go into some modifications. We expect it to come off the line ready to go to war under Air Mobility Command.
So in this preparation of this draft, as you recall, when we presented it in September, the last time you saw this slide there were 372 mandatory requirements. This time -- excuse me -- 373. We did eliminate one requirement for the Microwave Landing System, which technology has passed by and is not an essential requirement. So that's fallen away. We're down to 272 (sic).
In addition, in keeping with the best-value approach, the warfighter did identify 93 additional or enhanced capabilities that we're willing to commit a limited amount of resources to acquire.
It's worth noting last -- that last time both offerors had expressed some confusion about what the priorities of the warfighter were and what they specifically needed the aircraft and its systems to do, and in some cases understanding how they would be evaluated on the factors that we had tabled.
The approach we have taken is of benefit to both offerors because we've been very clear about these 372 mandatory requirements, and we have scored the additional 93 enhanced capabilities very specifically so the offerors know exactly how they are going to be evaluated on each of those factors.
I want to go back just to clarify, refresh for you where the requirements came from. There has been a capability development document approved by the JROC [Joint Requirements Oversight Council]. In prior years -- it was reviewed just about a year ago this week, the end of February. There were no changes made to the CDD [Capability Development Document]. That CDD included nine key performance parameters.
Now there's been some suggestion that maybe the Air Force was not interested in anything other than a C-1 -- KC-135 replacement, something equivalent to the KC-135. I want to be clear that in eight out of the nine KPPs, the key performance parameters, they exceed the capabilities of the KC-135. I can give you just some examples of those KPPs, which I think we reviewed last time, but just so you're -- you can be refreshed on those, it -- include worldwide communications and commercial navigation capabilities, net-ready capabilities, if you will; force-protection capabilities; additional survivability capabilities.
It needed to be the most -- among the most important, obviously, capable of multipoint refuelings, both boom and drogue capabilities, and multipoint refuelings at the same time; and also, to be an air- refueling receiver -- in other words, it can receive fuel as well as give fuel.
So these were the -- several of the KPPs, and they have not changed. What did change was our focus on getting the requirements all down in one block that the -- that the offerors could understand, that represented what we needed on day one. So that's the story behind the 372.
Slide, please.
Now, just to refresh on the source-selection process, the Air Force is responsible for the source selection. The source-selection authority will be a senior career Air Force official. Again, we do not identify who that is. It is the source-selection authority's responsibility to select a KC-X contract winner, using the approved source-selection strategy that we have outlined in this proposal.
There is a new acquisition team in place in the Air Force, the Source Selection Advisory Council, that will advise the source- selection authority. About 10 of 11 key players there are new. The evaluation teams that support this effort -- there are about 14 teams. At least six of the chairs of those are new players. And we will use three independent review teams to provide -- to provide an independent assessment of how well we have evaluated the offers.
So again they're not doing a separate -- just to be clear, the review teams are not making a separate, independent assessment of the offers. They are making an independent assessment of how well we have evaluated the offers.
They're checking our work, to make sure we have colored all the things that we are required to, by law and regulation, that we have covered every aspect of the source selection process in an appropriate way.
In addition, I want to emphasize that all the levels that I have described -- the advisory council, the evaluation teams, the independent review teams -- are joint teams with experts from across the department.
So the Air Force is not doing this alone. We're supported by Dr. Carter's staff, by legal staff from across the department, even in some cases Navy or Army representation, where they bring independent acquisition expertise to bear.
So with that, I'd just -- I think that's a good segue actually to thank the deputy and Dr. Carter for their strong support, as we put together what we think is a very strong RFP.
As we have looked at this, we believe that both offerors are in a position to win this competition. They -- in previous solicitations, they were very strong on price and other factors. Both offerors were.
We think both offerors can meet the mandatory requirements that we have laid out. And we hope and expect to have a good competition. And with that, I'll turn the next segment over to Dr. Carter.
DR. CARTER: Thank you, Mike.
There are two parts to the RFP: the requirements part that Secretary Donley just spoke to, and then the source selection strategy which I will now speak to, which is the method, the algorithm by which the source selection authority will pick the winner.
And as Secretary Lynn said, clarity and precision is a very important principle of the acquisition reform effort we have here. And so the source selection strategy is crystal clear. We've said that from the beginning. Everybody will know, when a winner is picked, exactly why they won. And up front, both offerors know exactly what they need to do to win.
There were eight issues which arose in our discussions with the -- with industry and with Congress in connection with the source selection strategy. In the annotated briefing that you'll be provided with shortly, there's a chart on each one of these that explains them. But let me go through each of them very briefly
The first one is this mouthful called IFARA [Integrated Fleet Air Refueling Assessment]. What is IFARA? IFARA is the way we measure the warfighting effectiveness of the tanker. And both Secretary Lynn and Secretary Donley made this clear, and I want to emphasize this because there's a lot of misunderstanding around town on this point.
This is not a price shootout, as Secretary Lynn said. Other features of the airplane than it price are taken into account, in several different ways, to such an extent that, as Secretary Lynn said, you can have the lowest price and still lose if you have other features which we value.
How do we go from price to value? We start with the price and then we adjust the price. We adjust it first of all for the warfighting effectiveness of the airplane. And that adjustment is made through this IFARA model. And the IFARA model is unchanged from the draft RFP, except in some very minor technical details. And, by the way, it was used in the last competition as well.
And the output of the IFARA model is used to adjust the offeror's price. If they do well at IFARA, they get their price adjusted down. They get a bonus for it. And I only say that and emphasize that just -- that's one example of the way that non-price factors matter. But we dollarize some of the non-price factors -- I just gave you an example -- and adjust the price accordingly. That's a quantitative way and a very crystal-clear way that we can measure something other than price that matters to us. So just because it's turned into dollars, don't confuse that with price. It's another way of measuring value.
So, also, do we adjust the bid price by the second item up there, cost-of-ownership factors over the 40-year lifetime of these airplanes. The factors that are in the control of the two offerors are the fuel efficiency of the airplane they offer and the cost in military construction to adjust our bases to accommodate their airplane. So we want to take those two factors into account. And if you burn more fuel or your -- cost more to adjust bases, we will adjust your price up, because we're going to have to pay ultimately more for you, and vice versa.
So you can see that both IFARA and cost of ownership are used to adjust prices.
Systems engineering and technology maturity -- I should say by the way that we had extensive interactions with both offerors on IFARA, fuel burn and MILCON [military construction] -- to make sure that they understood exactly what we're going to do.
We had some, what you might call, training sessions on IFARA so that they could understand, so that everybody knows exactly what is -- how they're going to be evaluated. And in the course of that, we have made some minor adjustments to our methodology but no more.
We had a number of questions from Congress and industry, about how the RFP would treat systems engineering and technology maturity, which are important themes of the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act.
And we tried to be careful, and the briefing is very careful, to explain how we're going to deal with these two issues, in the RFP, and likewise with development and integration risk.
The 1 percent total evaluated price gate is -- was established as a reasonable dollar value for how close the adjusted prices would need to be, in order for the trade space to come into play.
Only if the bids as adjusted are within 1 percent, and this is not different from last time, are those 93 items which the warfighter said were of some value but not a lot of value.
So if the bidders are close, not in price but in adjusted price, then if they're really close, take a look at these other things that don't matter a lot but do matter some. Those things we chose the 1 percent gate because we reckoned that those things -- we didn't reckon; the warfighter reckoned -- that those were worth about $300 (million), $500 million, which is about 1 percent of what we estimate the total cost of this program to be; said differently, that he was willing to pay about an extra 1 percent for those particular extras. And that explains why the 1 percent gate is 1 percent, and we looked at that once again, in going from draft RFP to final RFP, and did not change that because the logic held up.
Let me jump down to the World Trade Organization issue. We reviewed that one. Once again, that is the claims by the United States against the European Union and vice versa. And we had made no changes to the department's position on that issue. It's stated very clearly in the briefing you're about to receive.
Also, the allegation by Northrop Grumman that bid information was released in the last competition that competitively disadvantaged them -- we once again examined that and ascertained, as we said last time, that the release was authorized and appropriate, and does not in fact create an uneven playing field. So no change there.
Now to the issue where there was a significant change, which is the contract structure.
This chart's a little bit complicated, but let me try to give you the gist.
First of all, as Secretary Lynn said, in accordance with our acquisition reform emphasis, both the development phase and the production phase of this program will be fixed-price. And the reason why that's appropriate, as Secretary Lynn said, is that this is a fairly well-defined product. It is a derivative of a commercial product, of which hundreds are made every year. We have -- have had tankers for a long time. Both offerors know how to make tankers, and so there is not any great invention required here. And it's appropriate in the case, even in the development phase, to have a fixed-price structure.
However, we -- and we required in the production phase fixed prices out all the way to 2027, which is the last year, that is Lot 13. That's a long time for the offeror to fix a price for. And both offerors said, you know, that put a financial burden on the offerors, and would we give some consideration to that financial burden. We did, and therefore -- I'm going to walk over and just point to the two places I want you to focus your eyes -- here and here.
Last time, we said: You have to give us a fixed price, and if inflation exceeds 5 percent, we will adjust your price. Five percent. Well, that's a lot in the out-years, year upon year.
So we are now saying, in Lots 3 through 5, that if inflation exceeds 2-1/2 percent, we will make an adjustment; and in Lot 6 through 13, if inflation exceeds 1 percent. Well, that allows both offerors to manage risk in the out-years better. We thought that their request that we consider that particular aspect of the contract structure -- we thought it was reasonable that we reconsider that, and upon reconsidering it, we decided to make those changes. And they may seem technical to you, but they're not technical, they're substantive, and they will be very relevant in those years in the future when we're building these tankers.
So that is a major change to the source selection strategy. And I hope you understand it. If you don't, you can read about it in the briefing. But it's as simple as, you know, it's very difficult to project the future, unreasonable to ask people to project, on such a large program, the future that precisely. We're giving some room in that far future to both offerors.
With that, those eight points are the most significant ones that surfaced in connection with the source selection strategy. And once again, there are requirements and source selection strategy, and now you see the whole picture.
Let me turn things back over to Secretary Lynn. And we're prepared to answer your questions.
MR. LYNN: There's one more chart, but I think we've covered everything there. I think we'll just turn it over to your questions.
Q One of the biggest hanging issues is whether Northrop will, in fact, bid, even though you've laid out a -- an open kimono here. If Northrop decides not to bid, is it the department's preference that they make a decision relatively quickly, in the next two or three weeks? Or does it matter if this plays out to the 75th day and they say, "We're not going to bid"? What's your preference, if any? And I have a follow-up.
MR. LYNN: It's the department's preference that they do bid. We have -- we have options that we'll address if they choose -- if they choose not to, but we think we've put forward a balanced and fair competition. We've briefed it to them. They're evaluating it. We hope they come to the conclusion that they will bid.
Q If, in fact, you only have one bidder, what review process will Boeing's bid go through to ensure price reasonableness and that the taxpayer won't be gouged by an overpriced product?
MR. LYNN: As I said, there are options for pursuing a -- an alternative if we don't have two bidders. But our -- very much our hope is that we will have two bidders. We -- Northrop and Boeing both competed very well last time on price and on other factors. We -- our assessment is they'd both be strong competitors this time. And we're focused on having them both bid, and we think that would lead to a robust competition.
MR. WHITMAN: Sure.
Q What happens if this RFP is protested? What's -- how does that affect your timeline here? Do you continue the bid process? Or that freezes things up until there's a -- (inaudible)?
MR. LYNN: We haven't addressed what would happen in that case.
Q (Inaudible) -- answer there.
My next question would be, Lots 1 and 2, how many aircraft in those lots? And what's the time frame for those?
MR. LYNN: Is it 19 aircraft, would be --
(Cross talk) Nineteen. Nineteen.
MR. LYNN: And --
Q Total? Total of 19 aircraft?
(Cross talk) Yes. In those two lots. Two lots.
MR. LYNN: In those two lots, yeah.
(Cross talk) The total is 179. Now --
MR. LYNN: So the -- all 13 lots --
DR. CARTER: For all 13 lots.
MR. LYNN: And the first two have nine -- 19.
Q And just to follow up, what is the time frame for those first two lots?
DR. CARTER: That is -- let's see -- 17 -- five --
(Cross talk) (inaudible) -- the first thousand -- the first aircraft is two years after --
DR. CARTER: It will be '6 and '7 -- '16 and '17, 2016 and '17.
Q (inaudible) Yeah.
DR. CARTER: Yeah, '16, '17.
Q Okay.
Q For delivery, you mean?
DR. CARTER: Yeah --
(Cross talk) No, for -- (inaudible) --
DR. CARTER: For -- you know, that's when -- they'd go in the contracts, those two lots.
MR. LYNN: So the first lot would go on contract in 2016 and the second lot would go on contract in 2017.
DR. CARTER: You can count on there all the way up to 2027.
DR. CARTER: -- if the math works right.
Q How many SDD [System Development and Demonstration] aircraft are expected? And are there any limitations on where those aircraft can be produced or final assembled?
DR. CARTER: The --
Q (inaudible) -- the aircraft -- I'm sorry -- not just -- (inaudible).
DR. CARTER: Yes. The -- there aren't any limitations on where they can be assembled. We can only guess from the two -- but the -- where the two offerors will do the assembly of the early aircraft -- we obviously know what their plans were last time, but we'll just have to see what their plans are this time. We don't know until we get the bids in.
Q And the question on how many SDD aircraft -- is it four again this time?
DR. CARTER: I don't know the answer to that.
(Cross talk) Four.
DR. CARTER: Shay [Assad], is it four?
MR. ASSAD: It's four.
Q And when is -- are -- is there a schedule on which you have to have those delivered?
DR. CARTER: Yes, within the -- well, we're not going to have -- we don't have an SDD plan now, because we don't have bids. But when we do, we will have an SDD schedule, just like we do for any other program. You're probably thinking of JSF.
Q Okay. So that's up to the bidders to sort of say what they can do.
DR. CARTER: Yes. Well, that'll be discussion between us and them.
MR. LYNN : Jeff.
Q Yeah, I know this issue's come up many times before, but what is the Air Force's and the department's current position on a dual procurement? And have you done any planning for that option?
MR. LYNN: I think the secretary has been enormously clear on what he thinks of the split buy. And we've evaluated it. We think it will cost the taxpayers more. And we oppose it.
Q So how would you deal with two aircraft of different capabilities and performance criteria, if they in fact turn out to be of equal value, in terms of acquisition costs and life-cycle costs?
MR. LYNN: Well, I mean, I think, Ash went through the process.
We take their acquisition costs. And then we adjust it for the warfighting analysis, basically give a credit to the aircraft that does better in the warfighting analysis. We adjust it further for the life-cycle costs: fuel and military construction.
That will -- then you put all of that into a net present value, because these are all different years and different -- then you would compare those two. If one of the bidders at that point has a price that's 1 percent or more lower, they are the winner.
If -- that's an evaluated price, in other words, with all those adjustments, not just the pure acquisition cost. If they are within 1 percent, we would then move to the next stage, which are those 93 tradeable requirements, those enhanced capabilities that Ash mentioned.
Those each -- we have assigned point values to each of those 93. And we would evaluate whether each of the offerors met the requirements for each of those 93. If they did, we'd give them the points. Then we would add up the points.
At that point, the offeror with the most points would win the competition.
Q How come you didn't look at -- why did you keep the evaluation criteria pretty much the same? Can you just expand a little bit more on why you didn't change that?
SEC. DONLEY: In terms of how this source-selection strategy was put together, we spent a full eight months reviewing that, alternative strategies, before we unveiled the draft in September.
So we have been through a number of alternatives and discussions about how to structure this competition, always mindful of pressures to adjust the competition, to adjust requirements, in ways that would favor one aircraft or another, and being very sensitive to this idea that there are perceptions that one offeror is favored over another.
After all, the airplanes are different. We can't help that. That's sort of the state of play. We know what our requirements are, and we went through a very careful process to settle on the acquisition strategy that the deputy and Ash have -- have described. So we felt like that was a pretty good strategy and the fundamental elements of that did not need to change.
Q Hi. You spoke earlier about the number of teams -- a lot of teams are reviewing this, and there's a lot of acquisition people reviewing this. Can you put a number to how many people are on this? And are people being pulled off of other programs to come work on this one?
MR. LYNN: I'm going to ask Ash to address that.
DR. CARTER: Well, let's see, you saw on that chart several tiers of teams. So there are -- it's going to be hard to answer your question how many teams there are. I want to say at the technical level, 14.
SEC. DONLEY: Fourteen teams.
DR. CARTER: Fourteen teams that deal with each aspect of the airplane. These are people who are deeply expert at one portion or another.
At each tier, of course, the Air Force is the core of the team. But we supplement them and oversee them in two ways. There are representatives from my office that do that.
And then we also used something called peer review, which is we get non-Air Force, let's say a naval officer who knows a lot about naval aviation. That's a great set of fresh eyes that can look and say, "Hey, wait a minute. Have you guys of thought of this, that or the other thing?"
So we try to make sure that these teams have fresh eyes; that my office oversees the process and makes sure that the source selection authority actually follows the source selection strategy that we have -- we've specified.
(Cross talk.)
MR. WHITMAN: Okay. Oh, sorry.
Q Yeah, what's the status of the current fleet of KC-135s? If there's a problem with this -- awarding this contract, how much longer can these planes fly? You're already talking about a few years out. So what's the status of the current fleet?
SEC. DONLEY: This -- the current status -- the fleet average is about 49 years, so there's some older, there's some few -- a few younger. On the average, it's 49 years across a fleet of 400 and about 14. I can get you probably a -- an exact number for the KC-135. It's roughly that.
Q (Inaudible) -- me that they can keep flying for the next five, 10 years?
MR. LYNN: You usually measure tankers in terms of hours rather than -- I mean, ultimately, obviously you run out of -- run out of gas, so to speak. But the -- when a -- when a large aircraft like this, there -- it's more hours. And there are hours left, but we -- we're very focused on getting this competition resolved this year, and that -- that's certainly the objective. And we think we've set out a path that will do that.
SEC. DONLEY: And we have continued to fund KC-135 sustainment robustly going forward, because we know this is a potential vulnerability. As the deputy indicated, there are hours left on these airplanes. They do not take high-G maneuvers, generally speaking.
But we don't know what we don't know about there this fleet is headed.
If the average age is 49 years, it could be as high as 70 years when the end of the KC-X procurement is still under way 17 years from now. So it's an old fleet, and this is why it remains our number-one acquisition priority to get started on its recapitalization.
Q Was the a source selections strategy written with any consideration to the possibility that you might have only one bid?
MR. LYNN: We have written this as a competition, so that's the focus we have right now.
Q Yes. This is a more general question about industry protests. Do you all have any concern more broadly about industry protests? I mean, the Air Force in particular has had a couple of very high-profile protests, on tanker but also on CSAR [Combat Search and Rescue]. They do slow down these development programs, and with the tankers getting old, more broadly looking across your acquisition portfolio, is this a concern for DOD in this and this prospect?
DR. CARTER: It is. It is. And I've said that before. I think all three of us have said that before, that the -- if one gets to a point where there are protests that are routine or frivolous, that's just standing in the way of our providing capability to the warfighter and being fair to the taxpayer, and we would oppose that.
There is a protest process. There is a due process. We do make mistakes. Protests are sometimes sustained on perfectly good grounds that we've made a mistake. We do many of these per year. It's not surprising there are mistakes. So it's absolutely fair for a disappointed bidder to protest. That's within their right. But the bar should be high because one is detaining the acquisition of capability by the nation's armed forces. That's the effect of a protest.
Q Have you expressed that to Congress? Or is there anything formal that you can do, to sort of shore this up and make sure the bar is high?
DR. CARTER: I think the best thing that we can do as a department, and that I can do from the position I'm in, is make sure we don't make mistakes. That's certainly something we can do, so that it's absolutely clear, as I hope we've indicated we intend to make it, in this case, what it is we did when we picked a winner.
In this case of the tanker, everybody will know exactly why offeror A won and offeror B lost. And there shouldn't be any doubt. And there wasn't any doubt where they should aim, if they want to win. That's the way we on our side can deal with the protest issue.
And on the industry's side, it's a matter of restraint and understanding of the impact, on the operations of the department, that frivolous protesting would result in.
Q I'm curious about the issue on fixed-price. My understanding, please correct me if I'm wrong, but with fixed-price contracts, for example, this has been discussed with JSF [Joint Strike Fighter], you lose a certain level of visibility into the pricing and that sort of thing.
I'm curious how that impacts your ability to monitor this program, especially if you only have one bidder, because then you have one bidder that maybe isn't quite as auditable. And what does that mean for your ability to sort of police the contractor?
DR. CARTER: That's a very good question. And that is why it is a falsehood to say that fixed-price contracting shifts risk to the contractor.
It actually makes us assume additional risk also, but all in a good cause. The risk we assume is, we better know what we want, and not change what we want after we've asked for what we want.
That's not always appropriate. If you're developing a new weapons system and you don't know exactly what's possible, you're doing some invention, then you shouldn't be in a fixed-price environment, because neither you nor the contractor knows where you're going.
In a case like the tanker, where it's something we've done for a long time, it's a derivative of an airplane that is made year upon year upon year by these companies, where they have fixed-price arrangements with their commercial customers, where -- in other words, in this case it's perfectly appropriate to have fixed price.
But as Secretary Lynn said, we can't then go change our mind later. And that's one of the things we're trying to avoid by being very specific about all these requirements, is, this is, by gosh, the airplane that the Air Force has said it wants on day one. And that's it, and we're not going to change our mind about it later.
Q So in your chart "Contract Pricing Provisions," where you outline the fixed price for development, you've got 60-40 splits on sharing, I guess, the risk of an overrun, and then 125 percent cost mitigates risk -- or -- (inaudible) -- mitigates risk.
DR. CARTER: That -- yeah. That --
Q What does that mean?
DR. CARTER: Okay, I'm sorry. That's a very good question, and that gets in a little bit of contractology here. And apologies for this.
This is the contract structure for the SDD phase, the development phase. And it goes like this. We say, give us a price. And because it's the development phase, the -- it's not reasonable to say we're going to fix that price, because maybe there'll be some reason why that reasonably goes up or down.
If it does go up or down, if it -- let's suppose it goes up.
Then the 60-40 share means for every dollar above that price, we'll pay 60 cents, but you pay 40 cents --
DR. CARTER: -- we say to the offeror. We're -- in other words, if there's cost escalation in the SDD phase, we're not going to eat it all ourselves. In the production phase, we're at fixed price. We're not going to eat any of it.
Q But why --
MR. LYNN: And then there is -- to just add the one point -- but there's a ceiling. The 60-40 share-line goes to 100 and -- if they make a $100 offer, we share to $125. The 126th dollar is now paid for by industry, and every dollar subsequently.
Q (Inaudible) -- assumption.
MR. LYNN: Right. So in other words, the first 25 we share 60- 40. After that, it's -- it becomes an industry risk.
Q Dr. Carter, while you have this chart on, as valiant an attempt as you made to explain this --
DR. CARTER: (Laughs.)
Q -- Lot 3 through 5, does that, in kind of like English, mean if the -- if the fixed price from Lots 1 and 2 exceeds by 2.5 percent --
DR. CARTER: No, I'm sorry. Not to exceed -- if I could do this chart over again --
Q In English, yeah. Okay.
DR. CARTER: We were talking about that this morning. We would take "not to exceed out," and put "fixed-price."
DR. CARTER: Forget the "not to exceed." So what this says is that in Lots 3 through 5, we will require a fixed price. And the trigger band means if inflation exceeds 2-1/2 percent, we will give you consideration for the effect of inflation. We will adjust your price, because you have suffered from the effects of inflation. If it's below 2-1/2 percent, it's on you.
Q But the government will pick up the -- if it's over 2-1/2 percent, the government will pay the --
DR. CARTER: Exactly.
Q Oh, boy, that's confusing.
MR. LYNN: Let -- let me add a little bit to that, Tony. When you bid these contracts, the contracts themselves will have an inflation indice (sic) in it. Say it's 2 percent per year.
Q Yeah. Okay.
MR. LYNN: What this is saying is that if it varies by a wide amount from that 2 percent, if we have hyper-inflation and material costs are up 10 percent, the government will take that risk.
And what we're trying to establish with this -- and this is why we made the change -- is we want the contractor to take the risk on the things they control. We think the government should take more of the risks on the things they don't control, like material costs and general inflation. Those economic factors.
So this is a fixed price, but when you're going 18 years out, to have them take the risk of where inflation's going to be in 18 years, we didn't think that was appropriate. But we are having them take the risk on -- that they can actually hit the production costs, absent unusual inflation, that they can hit the production costs that they bid. And they will be held to that.
Q Fixed price should not say not to exceed, because that's a specific contract mechanism also.
MR. LYNN: it's a technical term, and it has to do with how you do the contract provisions.
Q Fixed price -- (inaudible) -- and then the adjustments for inflation.
MR. LYNN: That's right.
Q But all these -- (inaudible) -- are based on the fixed price from Lot 1 and 2, or they get a new fixed price each time?
MR. LYNN: They bid each lot.
Q Oh. Okay. Okay.
MR. LYNN: So they bid each lot with that inflation indice. If that inflation indice turns out to be wrong, they have some protection. Is that better?
Q When is Lot 3 being bid?
MR. LYNN: (Speaking aside) We should put years on this.
(Off-mike comments and Cross talk.)
DR. CARTER (?): No, it would be 18 through 20.
Q (Inaudible) -- 18?
MR. LYNN: Oh, yeah. They would be submitted now by year when they would be executed.
I'm sorry, who haven't I -- I guess --
Q Going back, when do you - Secretary Donley, when will you expect to see these KC-Xs begin showing up on operational AMC [Air Mobility Command] bases or, you know, available for -- to train -- (inaudible)?
SEC. DONLEY: IOC [initial operating capability] , I think. Let me double-check.
MR. LYNN: When's the IOC?
SEC. DONLEY: IOC would probably be something like 20 -- probably the first squadron, which would be -- let me get you a date.
Q There's a perception among some members of the public that because Boeing is headquartered in Chicago, and President Obama and some of his top associates are from Chicago, that the terms of this RFP have been written to favor the Boeing aircraft.
Could you address that? And also specifically has the White House had any involvement in the drafting and preparation of this RFP?
MR. LYNN: The White House has had absolutely no involvement in the drafting and the preparation, the consideration of the RFP or any other aspect of this competition. All of the requirements were done to meet the needs of the Air Force and to get the best possible deal for the American taxpayer.
Q This is a broader question.
I mean, I know you guys are hoping that there will be two and that you're prepared if there's only one bidder. But what can we expect from you? Obviously there would be a huge outcry from Congress and beyond that. How are you going to -- how would you deal with kind of the reaction if this were to go ahead as a sole-bidder process?
And also on the issue of, you know, partners overseas, if this is just one bidder, I mean, you know, the secretary made -- the secretary made comments yesterday about Europe's need to kind of, you know, ramp up its defense spending and everything else.
How do you see that playing out? How do you think of a sole- bidder process here looking to our defense partners abroad?
MR. LYNN: Well, I mean, obviously Northrop has a choice to make. We're hoping that Northrop chooses, with its European partner, to bid. As I indicated at the beginning, we have options that we could pursue if they don't. But we think -- we think they have a very serious opportunity here.
They were very competitive before. We think they'd be very competitive now. We think it's in their interest to bid. We think it's in our interest for them to bid. And that's the approach that we're taking.
Q But the question is, what if -- I mean, if they don't, what kind of scenario are you guys expecting?
SEC. DONLEY: We -- in our discussions, there have been several scenarios. And the details are -- there are just too many permutations.
We have options, and we're just not in a position to say how we would proceed at this point.
Q (Inaudible) --
Q But you can be sure there'll be transparency -- (inaudible). Sole bidder, you know, this is -- this is the kind of stuff that gets people -- I mean, it could get people in trouble. You know, you can be sure there will be a transparent legal process, you go ahead with it --
SEC. DONLEY: There is a process for how to do that.
MR. LYNN: There is a process for that. We are hoping that we are going to use the competitive process in this case.
Q Are you by law, if there's one bidder, confined to this strategy? Or can you implement additional control over the contractor? I mean, you can't change the strategy mid-course, right, because then you're protestable. (Chuckles.) So if you only get one bidder, are you stuck with this?
SEC. DONLEY: I think -- well, we may not know that until we get to the end of -- (inaudible) -- process --
MR. LYNN: We'll deal that -- when -- when we get to that point, we'll address that question.
Q It's a legitimate question, though. I mean -- it's a legitimate question moving forward what your legal options are.
MR. LYNN: I don't want to go beyond the statement that we -- we do have legal options that have been pursued on -- in these kinds of situations in the past; they could be pursued again. We are hoping that we don't have to. We are hoping that we have a robust competition in this process.
Q At the end of the day, at the end of the evaluation period, can you go over how the decision-making process is going to happen, how that's going to work?
DR. CARTER: Well, that's, I think, what you were explaining, with the source-selection authority and -- why don't -- why don't you --
SEC. DONLEY: The source-selection authority is the one who receives the two bids, applies the methodology, takes the price they give, adjusts the price for warfighting effectiveness and cost of ownership, compares those two prices.
If they're more than 1 percent apart, you got a winner. If they're less than 1 percent apart, then you consider those extra, additional items in the trade space and make the award on that basis.
And you'll be able to backtrack all of that when an award is made.
Q And that's all Air Force, the source selection?
SEC. DONLEY: The source selection authority --
DR. CARTER: The source-selection authority is a single individual --
Q Right.
DR. CARTER: -- who is responsible for making the decision. He is an -- he is advised by an advisory council, which we showed you -- about 11 folks, I think -- who are senior folks that advise him on sort of their assessment of the evaluation products produced by the teams. As I mentioned, there are 14 teams. They'll take the proposals, divide them up into 14 areas, and they'll review 14 separate pieces, side by side. And the advisory council will review all that material, and advise the source-selection authority.
Q And the advisory council is all Air Force, or it's Air Force and joint --
DR. CARTER: It's mixed.
Q You mentioned real quick earlier how this program's going to be a pilot for weapons systems --
MR. LYNN: Flagship, I think I said.
Q Flagship for weapons -- acquisition reform. Do you plan to wait until this program is done before launching any other new acquisition initiatives, to see how it goes, get your feedback?
MR. LYNN: No. I mean, we're already undertaking others. The small-diameter bomb has some characteristics; littoral combat ship does.
I don't know, Ash, if you want to --
DR. CARTER: On CAP-4 . No, you see, in all the programs that we're starting, programs we're restructuring, we are implementing these same principles.
Q Mr. Lynn, if this is a flagship for acquisition, what's the nine years of trying to get to this point today? And how would you characterize the effort thus far? If this is going to be your flagship, kind of look back a second. Is this a fiasco, or -- or what?
MR. LYNN: Well, I'm not going to criticize the -- I mean, obviously, this has been -- you know, has had a couple of false starts, for different reasons.
We think that -- when I said flagship, I think that what I'm referring to is not the history of the tanker program. I'm talking about the characteristics of this acquisition: the fixed-price nature of the acquisition, the inclusion of life-cycle costs and the mandatory nature of the requirements and setting the requirements up front.
Those are all changes to prior approaches that we think reflect reform. When I say flagship, that's what I mean. I'm not kind of comparing this to prior.
MR. WHITMAN: We've been going for about an hour now, and some of you need to get to file. And so we are going to bring it to a close right now. If you would like a copy of the slides that were presented today -- (inaudible) -- has them off to the side here.
Thank you very much.


text:
Stansport Traveler 14" x 30" Roll Bag
Product Information:
Pack your gear in the Stansport™ roll bag for convenient traveling. This duffle bag outlasts many seasons of tough handling and wear and tear, and a full length zipper allows you to fill up with all of your essentials. Whether you're traveling to the campground or journeying to a far off destination, you'll enjoy the versatility and heavy-duty construction of this 14" x 30" travel bag by Stansport™.
- Gear bag
- Heavy-duty construction
- Reinforced corners and stress points for long-lasting usability
- Self-repair, full length zipper for easy access
- Web carry handle and shoulder strap for easy transport
- Built to withstand the outdoors
- One-year manufacturer's warranty
- Dimensions: 14" x 30"
- Material: 600 denier Dacron
- Model: 17010
- Stansport
Country of Origin: ChinaWeb ID: 35028606
Customer Reviews:
Rated 4 out of 5�by 5 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5�by Alize527 Product is cheap but great quality I was skeptical on buying this bag because it was so cheap but it came out to be a great gift. Its is big and has a lot of space inside. It has an extra string in case you like carrying your bag across your chest. Overall it is great. November 19, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5�by Robobenny Exactly what I needed I needed a duffel bag for my Wushu equipment, and most of the other duffel bags were too small for most of my weapons, had a crazy amount of pockets for what I needed, and were terribly overpriced for what they were. My Stansport Traveler easily fits everything, save my pole arms, and with the single compartment, I don't have to fuss with pockets. It would have been more convent if my local store carried it, but it arrived quickly (2 days with standard shipping) and I couldn't be happier. August 27, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5�by Mink Serves the purpose I just bought this bag for my son to stash his gear in during trips to events. It seems sturdy enough so far. Good quality zipper I'd a plus. December 28, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5�by Muntu Great craftsmanship. Using it for sports outfit and it is coming in good use. January 14, 2015
Rated 2 out of 5�by craveme Basic Overkill It doesn't have any compartments and it was alot bigger than expected. I ended up just giving it away to a friend. I wanted to replace my gym back, but this was too big. August 4, 2014
1-5 of 5


text:
Mr. and Mrs. Clark Ellison Candler of Atlanta, Ga., are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Laura Scott Candler, to Daniel Gregory Hampton, son of Randall and Diane Hampton of Yadkinville.
The couple met at Davidson College, in Davidson, NC, where Laura was a cheerleader and Dan played football.
Laura graduated with a bachelor's in history in 2010, and is a third year student at the University of Georgia School of Law. Dan graduated with a bachelor's in physics in 2011, and is a second year student at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
An August 2013 wedding is planned at Laura's home church, Decatur Presbyterian, in Decatur, GA. The couple will reside in Winston-Salem while Dan completes his medical degree.


text:
Serious Beer: Tasting Belgian Fruit Lambic
If you haven't tasted a traditional Kriek or Framboise before, you're in for a surprise. They're funky and acidic, with hints of shoe leather and wet dog. These days, you'll frequently see fruit beers with added sweeteners and fruit juices—lots of folks love them, but we encourage you to try the real thing sometime. Traditionally sour fruit lambics may not be beers for beginners, but they're a palate-expanding experience we highly recommend. More


text:
|Total Number of Clips: 1
Entry #1
a long history of lead contamination in the soil. new orleans is no different... but now a new project underway in the city ... hopes to find the least expensive... and most effective way...to deal with that lead contamination. maya rodriguez has the story. it's a backyard experiment... with the potential to bring widespread change.) dr. andrew hunt, professor, university of texas at arlington: "we have already amended the soil..." doctor andrew hunt is a professor with the university of texas at arlington... behind an abandoned home on saint roch avenue...he and a team of u-n-o students and locals...are working on a way to fix soil... that's contaminated with lead. ben shirtcliff is a uno student with a background in landscape architecture ...) ben shirtcliff, uno urban studies graduate student: "as a landscape architect, in school, you're never really trained to think about what contaminants might be in the soil, as you're working on a project.") dr. andrew hunt, professor, university of texas at arlington: "there's lots of lead in the soils here in new orleans. and that is a problem for young children." //) "it can affect neuronal development and impact their iq." the team is using different types of phosphate... and mixing it into the soil... to see it chemically bonds with the lead. one of the mixtures is called appetite two... made from ground up fish bones.) maya rodriguez, reporting: "if the phosphate bonding works... it would make the lead insoluble. meaning...even if the soil was ingested, the bonding would prevent the lead from entering the bloodstream." ) the environmental protection agency says ... there should be no more than 440 parts per million of lead in soil... where children might play... and no more than 1,200 parts per million anywhere else. but in the yard ... lead registered at 3000 parts per million ... nearly seven times higher than it should be for children.) earlier this year... the city had to shut down multiple playgrounds for remediation...after finding lead in the soil. those working on this experiment... hope their efforts will help develop a less expensive way to fix lead contaminated soil. mr... ch 4 ewn. the department of housing and urban development is funding the project... with a half-million dollars.the team will monitor several sites in new orleans... over the next year.
|Total Number of Clips: 1
NOTE: This report contains copyrighted material and may be used for internal review, analysis or research only. Any editing, reproduction, or publication is prohibited. Please visit our website for full terms of use. For complete coverage, please login to your Critical Mention account. Estimated audience data provided by Nielsen. Estimated publicity value data provided by Nielsen and SQAD.
Not yet a subscriber of Critical TV? Click here to sign up for a free trial.


text:
|Motel 6 Hudson properties are provided below. Search for cheap and discount Motel 6 hotel prices in Hudson, OH for your personal or business trip. We list the best Motel 6 Hudson hotels/motels so you can review the Hudson Motel 6 hotel list below to find the perfect place.
Our technology will also list discounted Hudson, OH venues that get similar quality scores of a Motel 6.
Need a group/meeting discount? Request a group rate for Hudson OH
All Motel 6 in or near Hudson
More Motel 6 properties for Hudson
Next: Show All Available Comparable Hotels with Pricing >


text:
Group Name:
Ten Week Focus2
anywhere 21210
Really buckle down and focus for ten weeks starting May 1! Healthy eating - natural foods - daily fitness.
Last posted:
Thursday, July 13, 2006, 2:31 AM
Other Info:
Members profiles:
I am working on my teaching certification and when I am at work I dont eat. I am rushing in the morning and I forget to pack a lunch because I have to be at work before 8 am. I am planning to change all of that this year. I would also like to find a good african dance class in my area.
30 year old single mom. I work full time and go to school part time. Trying to lose weight and quit smoking at the same time.
I am 27 5'3' and about 130lbs. I have a full time job and a dog at home that keeps me busy and takes up my time to get to the gym. I need to get motivated again.
- our sponsor -


text:
Bill Guerin to NBA players: Give up
Oct 21, 2011, 4:54 PM EDT
Former NHL player Bill Guerin has some advice for locked out NBA players: Quit fighting the owners and get back to work.
"It's not worth it. Get a deal done," Geurin told McClatchy's Mac Engel.
Coming from a player who was a loyal union man during his hockey career, it was an astonishing admission. As Engel writes, "There was not a single NHL player during the Great Lockout of 2004-05 who was a bigger proponent of the union's fight than this man. No one believed in the cause more than Guerin, and to hear him admit this is a bit stunning."
Presumably Guerin would do things differently if he could go back in time.
"Burning a year was ridiculous," Guerin said. "It wasn't worth me giving up $9 million a year, or 82 games plus the playoffs, then having a crappy year and being bought out. … Guys in the NBA making $15 million or however much better think long and hard about this."
It will be interesting to see if the NHLPA has any response to Guerin's comments. With the current CBA expiring at the end of the season, union head Donald Fehr might feel the need to do some damage control. A union's resolve isn't exactly strengthened when a former player says things like, "It's (the owner's) league, and you are going to play when they want." Which is exactly what Guerin said.
- charlutes - Oct 21, 2011 at 5:53 PM
Guerin, you're an idiot.
- canucks18 - Oct 21, 2011 at 6:25 PM
You might say he's an idiot but he's not completely wrong either. These players make an insane amount of money, why should they bitch about not making a lil more money.
- bcjim - Oct 21, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Do those fools really think a *year* of lost $$ is worth it..whatever it is?.
They are nuts.
Plenty of those clowns will never make back the money they will lose.
- nhlbruins90 - Oct 21, 2011 at 8:58 PM
Workers of the world, unite! Oh, please.
These are rich businessmen negotiating with other rich business owners. There's no labor vs. management here. They can fight it out, and I for one don't give a damn what happens. I'm so sick of hearing about these spoiled, elite morons. Unemployment's at 9%. Maybe they should do their negotiating in private.
- charlutes - Oct 21, 2011 at 11:08 PM
they should. but its not all about a few extra bucks. its about atthletes not being pimped. its about control. its about standing against a total takeover of basketball by billionaires. just because the players are rich so what? they deserve to be, they generate so much revenue, they create jobs, they give us the pro sports that we love to experience. they have earned their money through natural talent, abnormal work ethic or by convincing one of the pimps to pay them a pretty penny to perform for the Everyman. I love sports, and the essence of sports. I don't give a darn about the owners, in fact I'd pay more to see the same athletes play at sandlots.
The green bay packers are as close to the model of a perfect ownership structure as I know. why? Theres no head billionaire in charge of it all, with greed as his ultimate motivator.
Give all the teams back to the people. Cut out the rich guys who control everything. make everyone accountable for their own job. give the players their money, they are special. they compete for the love of the game and our great pleasure…and yes money, because players are greedy too. but that doesn't change what they bring to the table. we need them and not the owners, that's for sure.
- nhlbruins90 - Oct 21, 2011 at 11:47 PM
The 'rich guys' include the players. They are the epitome of success in the capitalist system. They work hard in one of the few pure meritocracies left, and the demand for their services is huge, hence they make huge bucks. Good for them.
But to characterize them as anything but very rich, pure capitalist, cut-throat businessmen is foolish. Nothing wrong with being a cut-throat businessman either, but it takes owners to do their thing, and players to do their thing to make it all work.
If you 'give the teams back to the people' will you have a better product? It might work in Green Bay, but plenty of public companies, and most government agencies are poorly run. The Patriots are extremely well-run by a rich, private owner, and Tom Brady is a very rich man today in part because of the Kraft's money and talent as an organizational leader.
I'm just saying, please rich people, do your grubby negotiating in private and leave us folks trying to make ends meet in a sinking economy alone. It's not making you look very sympathetic, owners and players alike.
- charlutes - Oct 22, 2011 at 2:52 PM
No argument there. Both sides should be a lot less focused on the political styled smeer campaigns.
That being said, just because some billionaires succeed doesn't mean all organizations couldn't be run like the Packers. The fact that they are such a small market proves that. I live in Toronto and I know we could support an NFL team, especially with the revenue sharing model in the NFL, I'm guessing almost all of the American cities already invoked could do it. Aaron Rodgers will get his money in GB. They have the most stacked team in the NFL by far.
I'm saying clean up Sports just like Wall Street needs to get cleaned up. Generate the same revenue and cut out the Pigs at the top who take most of the pie for themselves .
- mianfr - Oct 22, 2011 at 3:02 PM
In hockey your life span is a little longer, but most of these people are hockey lifers without great education, so they really can't ever afford to leave a year off the table, even at the veteran minimum. You have to sell a lot of cars to make that up, and that's for the most fungible players in the league whose careers are especially short.
Top Posts
- How do Voracek, Giroux compare to the most expensive duos? 45
- Voracek turns monster season into massive eight-year deal 67
- Report: Canucks, Sutter closing in on five-year deal, north of $20M 27
- Voynov serving sentence at jail that once advertised it had flat screen TVs 45
- Report: Bernier and Leafs more than $2 million apart ahead of Friday's arbitration hearing 12
- Flyers re-sign Couturier: six years, $26 million 40
- Benning calls Sutter a 'foundation piece' for Canucks 24
- Here's a chart that shows which teams have been good/bad at drafting 40
- Penguins sign Fehr to three-year, $6 million contract 22
- Trade: Penguins send Sutter to Canucks for Bonino, Clendening 54
Most Commented
- Bettman says NHL would have to 'consider' putting Quebec City in the Western Conference (71)
- Voracek turns monster season into massive eight-year deal (67)
- Rangers sign Stepan — six years, $39 million (62)
- NBC Sports to broadcast 105 NHL games in 2015-16 (58)
- Trade: Penguins send Sutter to Canucks for Bonino, Clendening (54)
- D. Stepan (2714)
- G. Bettman (1829)
- L. Couture (1714)
- A. Larsson (1686)
- J. Toews (1667)
- B. Holtby (1659)
- A. Chiasson (1505)
- M. Johansson (1371)
- A. Semin (1310)
- B. Gionta (1300)


text:
Learn how to protect yourself from Internet scams. Read our online fraud prevention tips
Machinery - Tools - Industrial Equipment ClassifiedsFor Sale Local AL Classified Ads
45 listings match, 11-20 shown
Can't find what you're looking for? Try our
Advanced Search
GENERATOR Big 8500 watt, 2015; Honda electric start, battery & wheel kit included, never used, New Retail $4995; Wholesale $3750; 1st $1,850 Cash. 864-275-6478
Published in The Huntsville Times 7/16. Updated 8/2.
GENERATOR Big 8500 watt, 2015; Honda electric start, battery & wheel kit included, never used, New Retail $4995; Wholesale $3750; 1st $1,850 Cash. 864-275-6478
Published in The Birmingham News 7/16. Updated 8/2.
Several Power Woodworking Equipment for Sale. 251-621-2229
Published in The Press-Register/Mississippi Press 7/15. Updated 8/1.
Price is $2000.Up for sale is my 2007 Honda Accord sedan. It has the V-6 engine with the 5 speed automatic transmission.I drove it as a daily commuter for two years. It is exceptionally clean and it should show that in the pictures. It drives very good and the steering wheel is straight and doesn't pull. The brakes don't pulsate and the transmission shifts good.The leather has been cleaned and Lexol leather conditioner has been applied and the seats are soft with no cracks. The carpet has been steam cleaned. The exterior paint which has virtually no scratches has been buffed and still shines like new and has had the Simoniz paint protectant applied.The rear windows have been legally tinted to a 35%. It also has a factory spoiler installed.email me firstname.lastname@example.com
Web Id: ALA14143601
Published on al.com 7/13. Updated 7/13.
GENERATOR Big 8500 watt, 2015; Honda electric start, battery & wheel kit included, never used, New Retail $4995; Wholesale $3750; 1st $1,850 Cash. 864-275-6478
Published in The Huntsville Times 7/10. Updated 7/28.
My grandfather who was in roofing and siding for 50 year has passed away . I am trying to sell some of his thing I have no need for 1 aluminum brake ,1 laddervator, and 1 kerosene tar kettle could you please help me if you know of anyone that might be interested. text me and i will get back with you to discuss prices 334-300-9055
Web Id: ALA11614216
Published on al.com 7/10. Updated 7/10.
Kubota BX23 Compact Tractor ONLY 16 HOURS 4x4 Loader BackHoe Mower Diesel HydroPlease email for more details : email@example.com
Web Id: ALA14132393
Published on al.com 7/9. Updated 7/9.
MITEC-73 Vortex Shaker Cyclomixer manufacturers suppliers in India Vortex Shaker (MITEC-73) Search for Vortex Shaker Cyclomixer laboratory suppliers manufacturers in india·Variable speed mixer to eliminate hand mixing. · Compact design. · Stable at high speeds thanks to a sturdy MS base for vibration damping. · Suitable for short time operation(touch function), activated by pressing shaker attachment or continuous operation. · Suitable for continuous operation with low self heating thanks to self ventilation of motor. · Interchangeable adaptors. Send inquiry at sales[at] micratechnologies com or micratechno [at] gmail com Contact us: Micra Technologies Ambala Cantt, Haryana, India visit : www micratechnologies com contact: +0091-931585 5796 , 9034 784 717
Web Id: ALA13471845
Published on al.com 7/9. Updated 7/9.
HOT AIR OVEN Search for hot air oven laboratory suppliers manufacturers in india (Laboratory Oven, (MITEC-101) Temperature range upto 250-450° C, +/- 1 degC controlled by either thermostat or Microprocessor based PID Digital Temperature Indicator controller. Double wall body with 5 side insulated with high grade glass wool. Inside chamber consists of Aluminium / Stainless Steel, outside comprises of Mild Steel MS body supplied with or without Air circulating fan. Workable on 220/230 V AC or 110-120V. Please visit micratechnologies com ,, for more details or e mail us at micratechno [at] gmail com Inclusive of Air Circulating Fan Timer 0-24 hours Microprocessor based PID Digital Temperature Indicator controller. Product code size in mm size in inch capacity in ltr MITEC-101-1S 300 x 300 x 300 12 x 12 x 12 28 MITEC-101-2S 355 x 355 x 355 14 x 14 x 14 45 MITEC-101-3S 405 x 405 x 405 16 x 16 x 16 65 MITEC-101-4S 455 x 455 x 455 18 x 18 x 18 95 MITEC-101-5S 605 x 455 x 455 24 x 18 x 18 125 MITEC-101-6S 605 x 605 x 605 24 x 24 x 24 224 MITEC-101-7S 910 x 605 x 455 36 x 24 x 18 252 MITEC-101-8S 910 x 605 x 605 36 x 24 x 24 336 MITEC-101-9S 910 x 910 x 910 36 x 36 x 36 730 displayes for laboratory hot air oven suppliers manufacturers Reach us MICRA TECHNOLOGIES Ambala Cantt, Haryana visit : micratechnologies com contact: 9034 784 717
Web Id: ALA13471721
Published on al.com 7/9. Updated 7/9.
We, Micra Technologies are established manufacturers and suppliers of shaker machines in India and global market. Micratech make Reciprocating Shaking Machine (Kahn Rack Type) is presented by us in various colleges, universities and industries. The Reciprocating Shaking Machine that we supply is particularly designed for shaking KAHN racks, bottles, flasks of various sizes by adjusting sections. Specifications Of Micratech Reciprocating Shaking Machine Built-in with heavy duty motor to work on 220V, AC 50 Hz single phase The speed of motion is adjustable mechanically by belt tension Speed is fixed in similar models to approximately 275 Optional Accessories Automatic 0-60 minute timer This page is displayed and related to reciprocating shaking machine manufacturer reciprocating shaker test principle analysis calculation wikipedia suppliers scientific laboratory lab equipments instruments price stainless steel Andaman and Nicobar Islands Port Blair Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar Assam Dispur Bihar Patna Chandigarh Chhattisgarh Raipur Dadra and Nagar Haveli Silvassa Daman and Diu Daman National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi Goa Panaji Gujarat Gandhinagar Haryana Chandigarh Himachal Pradesh Shimla Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar Jammu Jharkhand Ranchi Karnataka Bengaluru Kerala Thiruvananthapuram Lakshadweep Kavaratti Madhya Pradesh Bhopal Maharashtra Mumbai Nagpur Manipur Imphal Meghalaya Shillong Mizoram Aizawl Nagaland Kohima Orissa Bhubaneswar Puducherry Pondicherry Punjab Chandigarh Rajasthan Jaipur Sikkim Gangtok Tamil Nadu Chennai Tripura Agartala Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Uttarakhand Dehradun Paschim Bangal Kolkata Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Rep Chad Chile China Colombia Djibouti Dominica Egypt Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Republic Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea North Korea South Kosovo Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar, Burma Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Niger Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania and Nevis St Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Srilanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe To inquire prices and details, contact/email below : Regd. Office & works : MICRA TECHNOLOGIES Ambala Cantt, Haryana visit : micratechnologies com contact: +0091-931585 5796 , 9034 784 717
Web Id: ALA13471846
Published on al.com 7/9. Updated 7/9.
45 listings match, 11-20 shown
Find A Local Business


text:
Shepherd's Pie
This recipe doesn't have a photo
Help out by adding one. We have some cool tools that make it easy.
Category: Main Course
Shepherd's Pie - TastyPlanner.com
Chef: Robotnations
Shepherd's Pie
Recipe Source: http://www.seriouseats.com
1 1/2 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled, quartered, and rinsed
1 some salt
3 tablespoons butter, divided, 2 tablespoons kept chilled
1 some Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 pound raw ground lamb (for shepherd's pie) or raw ground beef (for cottage pie) OR 1 pound finely-chopped leftover cooked lamb or beef
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup beef or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme OR 1 teaspoon dried [I used dried]
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary OR 1 teaspoon dried [I omitted the rosemary, as I had neither form on hand]
1 Pinch ground nutmeg
1. Put the potato chunks in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil, add a teaspoon or so of salt, and cook until tender but not waterlogged, 10-15 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain the potatoes. Return them to the pot and cook over low heat for a minute to remove excess water. Then mash with a fork, potato masher, or ricer (my choice), adding the cooking water along with 1 tablespoon butter and salt and pepper to taste. Beat with a wooden spoon until fluffy.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over a medium-low flame. When hot, add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 15 minutes.
3. Increase the heat to medium and add the meat. Cook raw meat for about 10 minutes, stirring and breaking it up with a wooden spoon; brown leftover meat for about 5 minutes, stirring for even coloration. Spoon off any fat. Sprinkle with the flour and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Add the stock, herbs, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Allow the meat to cool slightly.
4. Spread the meat in a 9-inch pie plate or baking dish. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top, making irregular peaks with the tines of a fork. Chop the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter into small pieces and scatter over the top. Bake in the preheated oven until browned and heated all the way through, 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving in the baking dish.
Similar recipes
Community activity
- Times saved to recipe box: 4
- Times Recommended: 0
- Times added to planner: 8


text:
Journal Sentinel TV and film critic Duane Dudek looks at life on the small and big screen, and some of the cool stuff on both.
Mad as hell!
"They'll have to carry me out," said director Sidney Lumet, who died Saturday at the age of 86. Lumet made his comments to Journal Sentinel freelance writer Steve Ramos, who interviewed him in 2007 for his last film "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."
Lumet was nominated for an Oscar four times, but never won. His acclaimed films include "The Verdict," "Dog Day Afternoon,' "Serpico" and "Fail Safe." He also directed "Network," the famously prescient critique of television news, written by Paddy Chayefksy.
The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including best film and director and won four: best actor for Peter Finch, as the loony populist news anchor Howard Beal, best actress for Faye Dunaway as a network programing, best supporting actress for Beatrice Straight and best screenplay for Chayefsky. Check out the trailers for the film below.
The second is a visually crisp and short version for the video release of the film. Above that is the longer and more interesting, but visually muddy, original theatrical trailer.
Comments »
Read and share your thoughts on this story.


text:
- Price: $135.00
- Exclusive Price: $1700.00
Jewelry Store Zen Cart Template 24923
Zen Cart 1.3.8 Template that was composed by our webmaster artist Delta.
This demo will open in a new window.
Please make sure you have disabled popup blockers!
Click Here to start the live demo
Description, Sources, Software & Requirements
Jewelry store template with a blue, white, red, and black color scheme. There is a well rounded theme with various jewels and gem stones featured. There are necklaces, bracelets, rings, gold, silver, platinum, and diamonds for starters. There is a simple serif white logo that says Jewelry Store and can be customized. Jewelry Store Zen Cart Template 24923 has a width of 980 pixels and is available in the following sources: .PSD, and .PHP. Software required includes Winzip 9+ (Windows) or Stuffit Expander 10+ (Mac) for uncompressing .zip files, Adobe Photoshop CS+, Adobe Dreamweaver 8+ (or any php-editor), PHP 4.3.2 or higher (PHP 4.4.x for optimal performance), Apache 1.3.x and MySQL 3.2.x or higher, and Zen Cart 1.3.8 only. It has had a total of total of 4 downloads since it first appeared.


text:
Gayby Boom
Raising a family the "new-fashioned way"
Posts filtered on Tag
After Many Months, We Finally Get to See Estelle
Today was a glorious day in our journey. Today, we saw our daughter's face for the first time. I know what you're thinking, "Umm, you're pretty far along in this process, haven't you had sonograms before?" Well yes. Just like everyone else we've had them. Actually, we've had a few more because when you go […] [Read More]


text:
by Big Dog
Monday Nov 26, 2012
Report any abuse here. Please select the reason of the abuse.
Please log in to post a comment.
Brett Rheeder may have won the first two stops on the 2015 FMB World Tour Diamond...
The Hallstatt Wind Down: Fabio Wibmer
by pete@extreme
JBC 4X Revelations 2015: Highlights
2015 FEST Series: Hillbilly Huckfest POV
Dust Apocalypse: UR Team
Downhill City Tour - Kłodzko 2015
Chris Akrigg: The Water Cycle
Amber the Downhill Dog
343 Views
Colorado Freeride Festival 2015: Teaser
232 Views
No Skulls, No Lines - Tyler McCaul in Utah.
455 Views
One Shot: Brandon Semenuk's unReal Segment
1.039 Views
At extreme.com we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here.
© 2015 Extreme.com


text:
Celebrity Buzz
Your daily dose of hot news & gossip.
Posts filtered on Tag
A DMV reality show? Coming soon to TruTV
From insidetv.ew.com: TruTV has ordered a new series from executive producers Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg that goes behind-the-scenes at a California DMV office. "We've all spent time at the DMV, but few people know what it's like to work for the DMV," said Goldberg, who's co-founder and CEO of Katalyst Films (Punk'd, Beauty and […] [Read More]


text:
"I'm Harvey Pekar" from American Splendor
At least the kids in Meet Me in St. Louis wore costumes, which is more than can be said for the apparently always grouchy Harvey Pekar. At the beginning of the outstanding adaptation of Pekar's comics, we see him as a young boy (Elf's Daniel Tay) trick-or-treating on Halloween. While the other kids are dressed as superheroes, he's just dressed as himself. Sure, it foreshadows his cynical curmudgeonly adult persona, but it's also a brilliant foreshadowing of the non-hero, autobiographical indie comic books that would come thanks to him and others.
Legless Girl Dressed as a Girl Getting Her Legs Sawed Off from My Flesh and Blood
If you have trouble laughing at yourself and your troubles, you ought to see this documentary about a family consisting of 11 adopted children, all of them with conditions that made them unwanted by others. The early Halloween scene is especially noteworthy for showing the joy these kids have in spite of their disabilities or diseases and, specifically, how one girl without legs has a great sense of humor regarding her costume. Watch the video below at about 3:45 on. Or just start it from the beginning and get hooked (but rent it properly, please).
Trick-or-Treating on November 1st from A Perfect World
In this film by Clint Eastwood, a kidnap victim confesses that he's never gone trick-or-treating on account of his family being Jehovah's Witnesses. Kidnapper Kevin Costner doesn't like the sound of this, so he steals the boy a Casper costume and introduces him to the experience believed to be every American's right. But it's the day after Halloween, which means no more candy. Instead, the woman at the door, after seeing Costner's gun, offers some other items, such as food and money. Unfortunately this scene isn't online, but here's another clip of the boy in his costume (he's in it for the rest of the film) being introduced to another American right: riding atop a station wagon pretending it's a roller coaster.
Donald Duck Picks Trick Over Treat from Disney's Trick or Treat
In this 60-year-old Halloween-set animated short, Huey, Dewey and Louie go trick-or-treating as a witch, a ghost and a devil (whether that's respectively, I have no idea). When they get to their Uncle Donald's house, he decides to give them firecrackers rather than candy. What a jerk! The boys get help from a real witch in order to take revenge with real ghosts and other scares, but Donald still won't give them a thing. What happens next? Just watch the full eight-minute film below, and let it be a lesson to you not to be "stingy, or your nightmares will come true."


text:
6 Shouts - 9,671 Scrobbles
The Sovereigns were a Ska-Punk band from Hamburg, Germany. Formed as four-piece in early 2007, the band added a horn section in 2008 to become a complete band. Their signature sound consists of upstrokes and and punk riffs played by the guitars, catchy horn hooks and lyrics that are centered around rebellion and everyday life. In 2009 the EP Kicking Out The Jams On A Sinking Ship was released, in january of 2010 the album Pick It Up! followed.
Read more about The Sovereigns on Last.fm.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Powered by WordPress.com VIP


text:
Tut-tutting erupted earlier this week when the soon-to-be publisher of Bon Appetit told an interviewer she didn't see much difference between food and fashion.
In an interview in Women's Wear Daily, Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer of Elle Group, said she was lured from her current job while having a drink with future boss Thomas A. Florio, Condé Nast's senior vice president and publishing director:
"He said, 'Could you ever see yourself doing for food what you did for fashion with Elle?'" Smith recalled. "I had never even thought about it….Then I started to think, you know, what's the difference between food and fashion? Not much."
Then came the reactions. Pete Wells, Dining Editor of the New York Times, said on Twitter that when he read the quote he "Dropped my entire tray of food." A commenter on the ASFS Listserv said, simply, "Yikes," to agreement. On the fashion side, the Uncouth Gourmands website said it was funny because "models don't eat."
But isn't food just like fashion? Take today's most beloved ingredient. While at a Baker's Dozen event yesterday, a woman told me she had taken part in a cupcake bake-off with a secret ingredient. What was it? She didn't have to say. It's all the rage in ice cream, donuts, bread pudding and now, cupcakes. Yep. It was bacon.
What's more, predicting new food fads is the bread and butter for many journalists. For just a few examples, see
- Acai is the New Pomegranate, from Supermarket Guru on ivillage
- Sara Moulton predicts food trends on ABC
- and other endless food trend stories, such as this one from the Food Channel on the Top Ten Food Trends of 2010.
So how exactly is food not different from fashion? Let me know. I'll be back right after I get a drink.
Photo of cupcakes courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/clevercupcakes/3562015711/
35 Responses to "Of Course Food is Just like Fashion"
I have to agree, the food business is like the fashion business. A product is a product. Whether you are trying to sell widgets, or gizmos, you're going to need the same knowledge of PEOPLE.
I would imagine that Mrs Smith will surround herself with competent and knowledgeable people that have worked around food. And perhaps she is just the ticket to kick a few behinds into opening minds
I welcome the change!
Food is so entirely like fashion.I was just noticing the fashion for snout to tail eating – sometimes pigs feet are for the poor, because no one wants them and then, quick as a blink, they're in high priced 'bistros' surrounded by foams and meat flavoured cocktails. It's just that not all food is fashion – some is nostaglia, some is necessity, some is indifferent. But how is it different then clothing?
That's an entirely Western take on food. Which of course is appropriate in this instance since Bon Appetit is an American magazine.
And why was Pete Wells shocked? It was NYT that ran that huge story on animal slaughtering/butchering classes last fall … not to mention the rabbits … and if that isn't an example of food as fashion I don't know what is.
In many other settings around the world though, food is not just fashion, except for a small usually urban-dwelling, cosmopolitan, often Western-educated, and well-travelled elite.
The nouns aren't comparable, which is why her turn of phrase annoyed people. If the question had been "could you see yourself doing for food fashions what you've done for clothes fashions?" then she would have been better understood. I blame the attractive alliterative appeal of the words food and fashion.
Thanks for the shout out. I was so shocked (and scared) when I saw this news. Carol is a visionary. My only hope is that she understand the Bon Appetit and Gourmet brand in such a way that it doesn't lose its core essence. And if she manages from a distance, that she keep/bring people onboard that truly understand what food means to so many people in this foodie subculture – as we live and breathe everyday. Kudos on the article!
I agree with Erica, The phrase is pleasing to the ear but the comparison is meaningless.
For the vast majority of people, clothing is functional, only a relatively small minority follow high fashion. The same is true of food. Although bacon flavouring has a band of devotees at the moment, the vast majority of the population will carry on with their vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. I love your chosen photograph. After all, cupcakes suddenly became fashionable when Sarah Jessica Parker ate them in that most fashionable of television shows, Sex and the City.
Sorry, Robyn, but I have to disagree with your comment that, "In many other settings around the world though, food is not just fashion, except for a small usually urban-dwelling, cosmopolitan, often Western-educated, and well-travelled elite." I think that the opposite may be true.
These are the old school James Beard and Julia Child types with more sophisticated palates that stick close to classic world cuisine.
I think this whole paradigm shift has to do with marketing and money. The audience is different now. They are attempting to reach a younger generation: the ones perhaps with less discriminating palates who are looking for the lastest thrill: anything trendy and new. The daredevils of the food world.
Food as History, Food as Politics, Food as Business, Food as Nurture, Food as Geography, etc., will not sell a mass market food magazine, so why not Food as Fashion.
What this means is more codification of some almost random trend (bacon in everything) until its impact is expanded, speeded up and exhausted and more important issues and less appealing but more important threads are lost in the noise.
Having gotten that off my chest — I believe she is being hired for a management style and marketing expertise and that is very transferrable. I hope Bon Appetit goes in a direction I'm interested in, but to me Conde Nast's decision to keep BA and ditch Gourmet had already cast the die in this direction.
Will it be a success, yes. Look at Food Network. As it veered to Food as Entertainment and appealed to non-cooks or untraditional cooks its ratings have soared.
Food IS fashion. When you consider all of the facets of culinary life that draw us in, keep us interested, and bring us back for more, they're all similar to what does the same in the fashion world. I think that it's naive to say that food is dissimilar to fashion.
Sign at Steak and Shake: Four meals for $4. We'll get into our spandex jeans and go through the drive through.
We like to shop and we enjoy purchasing. It doesn't matter what it is. We can buy FOUR meals for $4 at Steak and Shake. We can buy 4 pairs of shoes for under $50 at Payless. This is how fashion and food really find their connection. More is more, no matter what the quality.
So, if you want to see bacon as a fashion:
Being a food professional for many years, I found myself in the unlikely position of selling high end clothing (pieces). It was hard until I started looking at clients as food and clothing as garnishes.
My BA subscription is about to run out, and now it's a conundrum whether to let it lapse or not. Was not happy about my Gourmet turning into BA and am not happy about celebs getting cooking shows and cookbook deals simply because they're famous. What's next? Sarah Palin's food column, "Snowmobile Tailgating Parties?"
Lentil, I hear ya on the famous/food show lament.
I have to come down on food is fashion, especially in the magazines..the glossies, anyway. Perhaps not so much in Cook's Illustrated?
I believe the phrase, as Erica Peters keenly points out, nouns compared incomparably- an open field for a barrage of interesting perspectives.
I also subscribe to Robyn's observation; it is a western point of view , or perhaps aptly, a modern point of view. Certainly in Asia, where I am from, the argument of whether food is fashionable or not, is lost on many people who see food as an everyday occurrence, woven deeply in culture and beliefs.
I was schooled abroad and subscribe to many of the culinary magazines- Gourmet for one; when I showed a copy to our old cook back home, (interestingly enough on meat and butchering) he looked at me quizzically and remarked "What is special about that ?! I do that everyday".
I just wonder if this will turn BA into a prettier magazine, akin to the recent fashion-like beauty of Gourmet before it was shut down. If she can improve BA's current food styling then it is a good move regardless.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.


text:
- Willamette
- News
- News Archive
- 2008
- October
- Theologian to Address Race and Religion in the Election
Current News
Theologian to Address Race and Religion in the Election
Professor Dwight Hopkins of the University of Chicago Divinity School, a frequent media commentator on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's religious beliefs, visits Willamette University Oct. 23 to discuss "Race and Religion in the Race for the White House."
He will deliver a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall. He also will speak at 11:30 a.m. in Cone Chapel for University Convocation. His visit is sponsored by Willamette's Center for Religion, Law and Democracy.
Hopkins is an American Baptist minister and theologian who studies cultural, political and economic approaches to religious thought. He has written and edited numerous books and magazine articles, including Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion and Heart and Head: Black Theology -- Past, Present, and Future. He is senior editor of the Henry McNeil Turner/Sojourner Truth Series in Black Religion from Orbis Books.
For more information, contact Reyna Meyers with the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at (503) 370-6046.
NOTE: The location of this event has changed from previous publicity information.