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The Weekend Assignment is posted each Friday at Outpost Mâvarin; a roundup of responses goes up the following Thursday, so if you'd like to join in, you've still got some time. Karen says: Don't worry if you don't get your entry in by the end of the weekend. It's called the Weekend Assignment because John Scalzi originally designed it to give folks something to write on weekends, but times have changed since then. Now the meme is launched on Thursday nights / Friday mornings, just a little later than Scalzi used to post it, and you have a whole week to respond. Still, I for one am grateful if you don't all wait until the last minute!
Weekend Assignment #216: Tell us a story or anecdote that involve fire in some way. It can be a forest fire, a house fire, a campfire, logs in the fireplace, or even a lit match, a tale of comfort or destruction. Whatever comes to mind, if it's interesting and fire plays a role, we want to read about it!
Extra Credit: Is the area where you live subject to dangerous wildfires?
Like Karen did in her Assignment, I'm going to tell a story that I've told before, but may be new to some of you if you weren't around for the original post (most of which follows, with some minor changes and edits). I won't vouch for whether any of the links still work, but I'm leaving them in anyway, just in case you're curious.
My fiery diary: 10/21-10/24
As we were online reading updates about the Ranch Fire on October 21 - of the dozen active wildfires that started in Southern California this past weekend, that's the one closest to us - Tall Paul said, "When we retire, let's move somewhere that doesn't have fires."
My husband was born and raised in SoCal, and he's lived with fire season, flood season - which usually follows fire season, unless it's a drought year - and year-round "earthquake season" - all his life. I guess it's getting old for him. Considering that when these things aren't happening, our coastal areas have a truly enviable climate and gorgeous, dramatic vistas all around, I still view them as part of the "price of paradise" (yes, them and the traffic) - but I haven't lived here as long as he has.
I've lived in the Northeast (blizzards and nor'easters), on the Gulf Coast (hurricanes and waterspouts), and in the Mid-South (thunderstorms, ice storms, and tornadoes). I can't think of anyplacethat doesn't have issues with nature. The weather is still one thing we can't do much about, unless you're the mad scientist or megalomaniac with a weather-control machine who shows up as an occasional plot device. But that doesn't mean it won't make you nervous - probably the opposite, really, since in my observation worry directly correlates with lack of control over a situation. All you really can do is stay informed and be prepared to keep yourself and your family safe.
This is my summarized chronicle of the fiery events we recently experienced; I kept notes, and then put it all together in one post as things were winding down.
10/21/07 (our first wedding anniversary!) 4:45 PM
I'm really glad we didn't have this weather a year ago today - it would have really messed up an outdoor wedding.
The Santa Ana winds have been kicking up this weekend, and there are two wildfires currently burning in our general area. Fortunately, we're not in Malibu, which is getting quite literally toasted. (Just goes to show that wealth is no protection from nature, I guess).
I don't think our area is seriously threatened at this point - one fire about 12 miles west of us is expected to be contained in a few hours, if all goes well, and a larger one to the northeast probably isn't moving directly toward us. But depending on that one's progress, it could move toward the next town, which means the kids might stay with us tonight and not go back to their mom's house. We have to see how the next couple of hours go. (Good thing we're saving the anniversary plans for next weekend.)
We've closed all the windows, but I can still smell smoke in the air. The sky is a very odd orangey-gray color, and the sun looks red through all the smoke clouds. We're trying to stay inside, but I will have to walk the dog this evening, and tomorrow morning - and there's no telling how long this stuff will be in the air, even if the fires themselves don't get too close. The winds are still blowing, the air is very dry, and the weather is forecast to warm up in the early part of the week - none of these things is comforting.
Later that evening: The kids are staying with us tonight, and we're waiting to find out if school is canceled for tomorrow.
At the office, 30 miles southeast of home, the winds are quiet and the sky is clear. It's a typically beautiful California day.
On the way here, fierce crosswinds made keeping my Honda Civic in its lane on the freeway a challenge while driving into the western San Fernando Valley. The winds kept up through the night, and are strengthening this morning; along with that, the sun, warm temperatures, and very dry air will all make the fires harder to get under control.
The fires to the north and east of us grew dramatically overnight. As long as the Ranch Fire continues on a mostly westward path, we'll be out of direct threat, but we're still under smoke clouds, and you don't want to be outdoors unless you have to be.
Safely at the office, I'll be keeping up with the news today, and probably fretting about whether getting home tonight will be complicated.
The latest from the Ventura County Star website. (It's not much of a paper, but they're the best place for truly local updates. The LA media sites treat the VC=boondocks most of the time.)
My stepdaughter is home sick today. Usually she stays alone (she's 13), but her mom's with her, just in case the Ranch Fire takes a turn to the southwest, Both the kids are back at our place tonight, and we're even further away from the worst of it than their mom's house is, so hopefully we won't suffer from anything more than the smoke and lousy air quality.
Naturally, I'm most concerned about the Ranch Fire in Ventura County north of home, but it's only one of a dozen fires throughout SoCal today. The LA Times website has a wrapup and a current map.
The most recent update from the VC Star website mentions concerns that a couple of fires could merge. When I look at the maps, two of the largest - the Ranch Fire and the Buckweed Fire - look like they're not very far from each other as it is. Each has already burned well over 25,000 acres.
The Ranch Fire is almost surrounding the small town of Piru, which is to the north and separated from our town by about 20 miles and some mountains. Evacuations have been recommended, but aren't yet mandatory - so a lot of people are staying. Sorry, I say it's not worth it. Your family's safety is more important than your belongings, and while you have some warning, you can get some things together, throw them in the car, and go. Besides, if you wait till you're ordered to leave, and so does everyone else, it's going to take longer to get out of town.
Talked to Tall Paul about 15 minutes ago, and he said the air all over Ventura County is really bad. I've got tabs in Firefox open to monitor the Ventura County Fire Dept. and the Star website.
And my Mom-in-law in San Diego County has fires about 15 miles away to both the northeast and southeast of her home. But she doesn't follow the news, so her son had to tell her about it. We don't know her evacuation status - hopefully she won't end up in Qualcomm Stadium. Over 250,000 people in SD County have been ordered - not asked - to evacuate.
I've been home for a couple of hours, and was a bit surprised by conditions here. Even though there are now three fires burning to the northeast of us. some combination of the wind patterns and the mountains must be what's sending most of the smoke further west. The sky over Simi Valley is clearer than it was yesterday, and the winds are a little milder.
But tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, and the only thing predictable about wildfires is that, like hurricanes, they're unpredictable. The Santa Ana winds aren't expected to subside much for another day or two, the humidity is in the single digits, and none of these fires is more than 20% contained right now. The huge Buckweed Fire could merge with the newer Magic Fire (near Magic Mountain amusement park). which is the closest one yet to where we are.
Due to the air quality and generally uncertain conditions, the local public schools will be closed tomorrow, so Tall Paul's getting an unexpected day off with the kids. That may help me be less anxious tomorrow - at least he'll be home if we're threatened here, and he can take care of the kids and Gypsy.
I don't know whether it's the winds or just the fact there are so darn many fires going on, but the smoke's not particularly concentrated anywhere this morning.The winds are dropping a bit today, but the temperatures are supposed to get HOT (in the 90's), so it'll be another rough day. The weather won't be much help for another couple of days, or so say the weather wizards.
San Diego County has it really bad. Tall Paul needs to check back in with his mom this morning.
Help is coming in from other parts of the state, and other states too - the firefighters are making their usual heroic efforts. And FEMA's on their way here too. Oh boy.
The Magic Fire is threatening unincorporated areas to the northeast of Simi Valley. This is what I've worried about since Sunday:
MAGIC INCIDENT (LA County near Magic Mountain)- 06:12 am, October 23. The fire that started near Magic Mountain in Los Angeles County and is nearing the Ventura County line.
It is now approximately three miles away. Intense backfiring operations overnight appear to be working to slow the advance of the fire. 428 personnel are currently assigned to the incident. Approximately 950 structures are threatened.
It is 20% contained. Smoke from this fire is blowing into the Simi Valley and Westlake Village areas and the amount of smoke is likely to increase as the fire moves into the county.
The Ranch Fire is 10% contained and is now the biggest one near us (41,000 acres burned); containment is estimated as of next Wednesday.
Schools in our area are closed and Tall Paul is home with the kids - he's monitoring from there and will let me know if anything affects us.
The winds are starting to slack off a bit, and the forecast is expected to be much more favorable to the firefighters starting tomorrow - the Santa Anas should subside, and cooler, moister air is expected to come in. No major new fires broke out in our vicinity today, which is very good news. The Magic Fire didn't get too big and it's now 40% contained. The Ranch Fire is still huge and only around 10% contained, but its path doesn't seem to be headed our way.
The smoke has definitely come back to our town today, though. The sky is grayish and dusky, and if you can see the sun at all, it's very red. Even so, schools are supposed to re-open tomorrow, but they'll probably try to keep the kids inside.
Mom-in-law is OK, but many people in San Diego County (around 750,000!) have been evacuated and can't say the same. It's being declared a Federal disaster area, and the President and FEMA are on their way. (So if it wasn't a disaster area already...sorry, just couldn't help myself there.) It's almost the direct opposite of Katrina - fire instead of flood. I heard there are some areas where the firefighters just can't keep up, and eventually some of the fires may burn all the way to the ocean. I feel guilty for feeling relieved that it's not nearly that bad here.
I stepped out to walk Gypsy earlier this morning, and there was barely any breeze at all. The temperatures are still supposed to get into the 90s today, but cooling is expected starting tomorrow. But the winds have noticeably dropped, and are forecast to decrease even more.
The good news this morning mostly comes from the fires in my area. The Magic Fire was fully contained as of last night. The Ranch Fire is still going, but isn't gaining much ground into Ventura County and doesn't seem like it will move much south and west, so it's not likely to threaten us directly. The Malibu Canyon fire has gotten a lot of the news attention - because it's in Malibu - but there's been a lot of progress with that one too.
There are some coyotes that live in the hills behind our house, and I realized yesterday morning that I haven't heard them for a few days. Maybe they'll be back soon.
Hopefully as things get better in L.A. and Ventura counties, the firefighters can get some rest, and then go help out in San Diego and Orange counties, which are where things remain very bad.
That was our biggest direct exposure to the wildfire season of 2007. But we've already has a few really hot, dry weekends this year (they always seem to start on the weekend - why is that?), and not enough rain over the winter, so the predictions for this season are not pretty. If we're threatened again this year, I'll probably be posting updates about it here and on Twitter (assuming online access and phones, of course) - but I'd really prefer not to write about wildfires again any time soon.


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designer's notes
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color: Black Smooth leather with silvertone hardware Studded front flap with magnetic snap closure Silvertone ornament with leather fringe at base 44'' adjustable leather shoulder strap with 22'' drop Logo jacquard lining with interior zip pocket Measures approximately 11'' at widest x 7'' tall at center x 3'' deep; weighs 2 lbs. Leather; Italy; style# 307058401

subset: commoncrawl


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I am a former hunter. I am a gun owner. I have a license to carry firearms and frequently do so, depending on the situation.
I believe the NRA hierarchy is out of touch with the majority of gun owners.
Overwhelmingly, the majority of gun owners to whom I have spoken see nothing wrong with preventing the sale of fully automatic rifles, nor with a ban on large magazines, nor with registration of firearms. At the same time, these people support the Second Amendment and believe the government should not pass legislation banning legitimate ownership and use of firearms in general. They also support the full enforcement of existing gun laws and believe violators of those laws should receive the maximum penalties.
In the past, the NRA has come out against bans on body armor, armor piercing ammo, tracer ammo, fully automatic weapons, and anything else remotely connecting to firearm ownership. This is nonsense. The armed forces and law enforcement agencies, at all levels, are the only ones having a legitimate need for such items. My son is a police officer and he worries about the bad guys being better armed and protected than he and his fellow officers.
It is way past time Wayne LaPierre and his cronies start applying common sense to decisions regarding the Second Amendment. Stupid decisions and comments are the surest way to stir up the far left and well-meaning, but overzealous liberals.


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It was my absolute pleasure last week to attend the seven year anniversary at Nicole and Jason Wilson's Madison Valley restaurant Crush.
The fact that we were celebrating such a milestone was reason enough to raise a glass; add to that the reality that many restaurateurs and their investors breath a collective sigh of relief once they've past the testy year-five benchmark when most eateries make or break. Mercifully, Crush has survived the routine growing pains, industry fluxes and today's 'new' economy. With that in mind, the team at Crush wholeheartedly welcomed the seven year itch and celebrated with a select group of folks, all of whom have played a part in their success.
Many of Seattle's stylish were in attendance, including Doctor and Mrs. Michael and Heather Battaglia (above, from left), along with Michael F. Cameron, PhD (above, right) filmmaker John Jacobson and his fashionista/author wife, Pia, and DeLille winemaker Chris Upchurch along with DeLille partner, Jay Soloff, to name a few.
For me, there were several good reasons to attend, but first and foremost, my spouse, Rich Gray, and I have been friends with Jason and Nicole for well over a decade.
We consider ourselves the unofficial godfathers of Crush, having been front-and-center during their grand opening on Valentine's Day, 2005—a dinner we still recall and relish. And, there's also the fact that I married the Wilsons in September of 2001, after they asked me to go online and apply for a cyber-ordination, something I didn't even know was possible.
Yet, I think the single most outrageous and special memory I have of Nicole (shown above, right) and Jason Wilson and their brainchild, Crush, stems from a telephone call I received from Nic, asking me and a group of friends to meet her at the corner of Madison and 23rd on the Friday after Thanksgiving, 2003… and to bring an umbrella.
That day was particularly soppy, even by Seattle standards, and so I didn't think twice about the bumbershoot statement.
Upon arrival, we were all greeted by Nicole and Jason, who asked that we follow them into a two-story, turn of the century house that had seen better days.
Do you remember the dilapidated house that George and Mary Bailey's friends turned into a love nest on the day of their wedding in the film It's a Wonderful Life? Well, if you're a devotee of that film as am I, you'll recall that the Bailey's celebrated their honeymoon in that handsome, rundown, leaking-like-a-sieve Victorian; got the picture? Good, because that's just about what I saw upon crossing the threshold of what is now Crush.
At the time, Nicole Wilson's career was in real estate management and this 'fixer-upper' caught her eye when her husband, Jason Wilson started to seriously make noises about setting up his own shop. We all, especially Jason, wanted very much to support Nicole's vision for this house and were as supportive as possible while touring the ravaged place (I swear, I remember it was raining more inside the house than out, but maybe that's just a romantic recollection that isn't entirely accurate; it sure felt that way!).
Long story short, the Wilsons purchased the old house at 2319 E Madison and, with the help of some talented folks, rolled up their sleeves and eventually turned the place into the sleek and stylish Crush we celebrate at year seven—loved by fine diners, near and far.
Did we eat and drink well at Crush on the night of their anniversary party? Of course, WE WERE AT CRUSH!
Appetizers included stellar Japanese Wagyu beef tartar, Chiogga beet sweetwater prawns, and busting-with-goodness gougères—with Duval Leroy Champagne Vertus flowing freely. These starters were a meal unto themselves, but as we sat for dinner I was relieved to have exercised relative self-control during the reception; the menu was outrageous.
What followed started with a miniature bowl of cauliflower black truffle soup, perfectly paired with 2010 Leitz Weingut Spatlese Riesling.
Next up was crisp wild Alaska King salmon (above) with celery, stinging nettle and shaved geoduck (stop making that face; it rocked). The salmon was paired with a magnum of 2007 Conundrum Rutherford Hills—mercy.
The next course was a Pleasant Valley duck breast bathed in a profound cognac sauce and served with elderberry and kumquat, turnip, red brussels sprouts and sunchoke puree. A 2007 Vieux Telegraphe "La Crau" Châteauneuf-du-Pape ideally complemented the duck.
Feeling full? Well, loosen the belt a notch and keep reading.
Just when I thought the kitchen had reached new heights, the pièce de résistance appeared: Anderson Valley lamb three ways—mouth watering shoulder, rib chop, and saddle, enhanced with cardamom, black trumpet mushrooms and smoked parsnip, accompanied by a 2008 Doyenne Grand Ciel Vineyard Syrah, which some folks at our table were shocked to discover was not French, but indeed produced by the good folks at DeLille; local boys making good.
Is it over-the-top to talk about dessert? What the heck! On came the sweets—tiers of them—then chocolates and, finally, an inspired sweet-no-savory, no-sweet delight that I've previously only seen produced by master pâtissiers along the lines of Albert Kumin or the U.K.'s Cake Boy, Eric Lanlard: A seared foie gras s'more…I kid you not.
Was it an evening of unrivaled excess? Of course, remember, we are talking Crush. And, after all, it was a celebration.
How will the Wilson duo mark their eighth anniversary and beyond? Time will tell. But, if year seven is any indication, there are wondrous things still to come out of that cozy restored kitchen. I look forward to all that lies ahead at this mighty little Madison Valley house-that-could.


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Early turnovers sink Charleroi
TribLIVE Sports Videos
WIth Charleroi coming off its first win, coach Ed Jenkins expected his team to come out against Waynesburg Central with fire in its eyes.
As a team, though, the Cougars didn't live up to their coach's expectations.
Charleroi turned the ball over five times in the first half, two of which were returned for touchdowns, as the Raiders used a short field to roll to a 46-21 win over the Cougars.
"I don't care who you play, you're not going to beat anybody playing like that," Jenkins said of his team's performance. "Our kids were flat and they weren't ready to play.
"I'll take the blame, it's on me. But I don't care who you play, when you turn the ball over and give up points on the other side like that, you might as well forget it."
The Cougars (0-5, 1-5) marched down the field on their opening drive only to have the drive stall at the Waynesburg 15-yard line.
The Raiders capitalized as John Glen Davis ran through the Cougars' defense with 71 yards rushing on a eight play, 85-yard drive. He finished it off with a 21-yard touchdown run, his first of two scoring runs on the night.
"If the guy runs around the field on us and gains some yards, that's fine ... but the goal is to keep them out of the end zone," Jenkins said.
Davis finished with 102 yards on 12 carries. He also caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colby Collins.
The next Charleroi drive ended quickly when quarterback Brennan Matthews threw an ill-advised pass directly into the arms of Waynesburg's Hunter Cenname. It was returned 46 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders (2-3, 3-3) a quick 14-0 lead at the 4:09 mark of the first quarter.
The Cougars drove to the Raiders' 35-yard line behind the strong running of Brandon Bowman, who finished with a game-high 127 yards on 14 carries, but Matthews was picked off by Collins at the Waynesburg 20.
"He is what he is, he's a tough football player," Jenkins said of his senior running back. "We knew the one thing we couldn't do coming in was turn it over, and that's exactly what we did."
The two teams exchanged punts before the Cenname capped off a six-play, 52-yard drive with a 27-yard scoring run. The extra point was wide left giving the Raiders a 20-0 lead.
The nightmare continued for Matthews and the Cougar offense.
After driving 36 yards down to the Raiders' 38-yard line, Matthews called an option play only to have his halfback run the opposite direction. When Matthews made the flip, the only player in the area was the Raiders' Jacob Rush, who picked up the errant toss and returned it 47 yards for another touchdown.
"Our halfback went the wrong way," Jenkins said. "That's not on Brennan. He did what he was supposed to do and our halfback wasn't there."
Bowman continued his powerful running, destroying any Raiders' defender he lined up and scoring on a 6-yard run with 24 seconds remaining in the half.
The Cougars gained momentum after the break, holding Waynesburg on their opening possessiond, but they handed the ball, and the momentum right back to the Raiders on a short field when they fumbled a snap on an attempted fake punt. The Raiders' recovered on the Cougars' 9-yard line. Davis scored again two plays later.
"That was a freshman that made a mistake," Jenkins said of the play. "We gave him an opportunity, maybe the moment was too big for him. He feels bad about it, he's a good kid and going to be a great player someday. He just has to keep his head up."
The Cougars got on the board at the 11:35 mark of the fourth quarter after an 11-play, 78 yard drive was capped off by a Matthews 3-yard touchdown.
The senior quarterback finished the game 12 of 22 passing with 154 yards through the air.
Bowman capped off the scoring with an 18-yard run with just over a minute remaining.
Jenkins said his team will have to do some soul-searching this week as they prepare to travel to Greensburg Central Catholic.
"The first thing we have to do is search in that locker room. ... We have to find out who in that locker room has enough pride to continue playing for their school and their community and to represent us in a better fashion," he said.
"We have to get some guys with some fire. If we don't, it can be a long week again next week."
NOTES: Charleroi's Dakota Moorer finished with five catches for 49 yards. ... Matthews rushed for 53 yards on 14 carries. ... Cenname rushed for 91 yards on 15 carries for the Raiders. ... The Cougars out-gained the Raiders, 345-296.
Jeremy Sellew is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at email@example.com or 724-684-2667.
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text: A StyleCrave first (we have yet to feature a typeface– until today), this font by the Infamous Foundry caught our eye this morning. The Bolda Display font is a thick, bubbly typeface with a fresh, contemporary feel to it. Unlike your typical bubble font, Bolda Display is at once progressive and serious– leaving "playful" and "childlike" traits behind. But the Bolda Display isn't all business, this font is both inviting and appealing, exuding a friendly-yet-subtle effect on the eyes. Available for 29 Euros. [infamousfoundry]


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The Philadelphia Daily News reports ( http://bit.ly/10hRIl2) the pair of peregrine falcons that are nesting there have four new baby falcons. Arthur McMorris, the peregrine falcon coordinator for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, says the baby birds are about 30 days old.
The adult falcon pair began nesting in a man-made nesting box on City Hall's tower in 2009, after it had sat empty for nine years. They moved out in 2010, but returned in 2011.
McMorris says peregrine falcons have been taken off the federal list of endangered species, but remain endangered in Pennsylvania. The pair of adult birds in the City Hall tower is one of just 33 pairs known in the state.
Information from: Philadelphia Daily News, http://www.philly.com


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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Discovery Order in Toyota MDL incorporates elements of parallel state and federal administrative investigations
The National Law Journal reports that the California federal judges hearing the Toyota MDLs has approved a new joint discovery plan.
Of interest to civ pro folks is the fact that the plan takes advantage of discovery and facts already prepared for cases pending in other states and from a federal administrative investigation:
In their joint discovery plan, the parties submitted 21 topics to be covered in depositions, including the location and access to documents and people associated with the electronic throttle control systems in Toyota vehicles -- specifically, documents in two state court cases in Michigan and California.
Discovery will include information about customer complaints and internal studies of sudden unintended acceleration, the whereabouts of electronic data recorders and Toyota's advertising, sales and public relations materials. Toyota must provide nonprivileged documents that it produced earlier this year to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Congress and state attorneys general.
July 21, 2010 in Discovery, Federal Courts, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Gulf Spill: "Un"cooperative Federalism?
The article documents the difficulties that private parties and various levels of government authorities have faced in coordinating control and cleanup efforts. From the article:
Closer to shore, the efforts to keep the oil away from land have not fared much better, despite a response effort involving thousands of boats, tens of thousands of workers and millions of feet of containment boom.
From the beginning, the effort has been bedeviled by a lack of preparation, organization, urgency and clear lines of authority among federal, state and local officials, as well as BP. As a result, officials and experts say, the damage to the coastline and wildlife has been worse than it might have been if the response had been faster and orchestrated more effectively.
"The present system is not working," Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said Thursday at a hearing in Washington devoted to assessing the spill and the response. Oil had just entered Florida waters, Senator Nelson said, adding that no one was notified at either the state or local level, a failure of communication that echoed Mr. Bonano's story and countless others along the Gulf Coast.
"The information is not flowing," Senator Nelson said. "The decisions are not timely. The resources are not produced. And as a result, you have a big mess, with no command and control." (emphasis added)
This should not be news. Similar complaints were leveled in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Erin Ryan (William & Mary) gives a thorough outline of these problems and various responses in her article Federalism and the Tug of War Within: Seeking Checks and Balance in the Interjurisdictional Gray Area, 66 Md. L. Rev. 503, 518-36 (2007).
Are these problems of cooperative/shared/interactive federalism intractable? Or can we learn and improve from the Katrina and BP experiences before the next disaster, particularly before incidences that might have a lower profile but cause equal devastation to local residents and paralysis among state, local, and federal officials.
June 15, 2010 in Current Affairs, Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Senate Consideration of Oil Spill Liability Cap
This week the U.S. Senate has been holding hearings to consider legislation that would lift or alter the liability cap for oil spills. Under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (33 U.S.C. s. 2704), BP's liability is limited to $75 million in economic damages. Various proposals have suggested raising the cap to $10 billion or eliminating it completely.
Representatives of the oil industry are lobbying against the change, arguing that that any change to the law would expose the federal government to breach of contract liability with the oil industry.
June 9, 2010 in Current Affairs, Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 7, 2010
For those with a continuing interest in the Bhopal Disaster
The BBC reports that eight former employees of the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India have been sentenced to two years in jail a piece. The charge was "death by negligence."
June 7, 2010 in International/Comparative Law, Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
9/11 Lawyers Offer to Reduce Attorneys' Fees in Settlement
A few months ago, the lawyers representing the first responders, recovery workers, and contractors at Ground Zero came to a draft settlement with lawyers for NYC, the captive insurer, and other defendants. After the parties presented the proposed settlement to the court, Judge Hellerstein more or less rejected the deal, prompting criticism from some lawyers and scholars as to his authority to "reject" a settlement for a case that is not a class action.
Now the lawyers for the plaintiffs have offered to reduce their attorneys fees --an earlier sticking point for Judge Hellerstein -- so that more money would go directly to the plaintiffs. The original settlement provided for 30% or more of the settlement to go to the attorneys in fees. The new proposal would cap fees at 20%.
The Associate Press reports more here.
June 2, 2010 in In the News, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Gulf Spill Litigation: To Stay or Not to Stay
The National Law Journal reports that two federal judges have come to opposite rulings about whether to stay litigation until decisions about consolidation are made and more potential lawsuits are filed.
As I have written previously, I believe that courts should proceed with caution when casting too wide a consolidation net in the aftermath of a major catastrophe. The problems of whether it is fairer or more efficient for cases to move forward on their own or to be consolidated with other cases is a serious question for which I do not believe there are clear or easy answers.
May 27, 2010 in Class Actions, Federal Courts, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, In the News, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0)
"To Stay or Not to Stay" the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Cases
Two federal courts have responded to BP's motions to stay law suits regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico pending a determination of a multidistrict litigation panel on whether to combine the 130+ cases. One granted the stay and one denied it. A federal court in Mobile, Alabama denied BP's request to delay filing an answer, while another federal court in New Orleans, Louisiana granted BP's motion to stay proceedings. Judge Martin Feldman based his decision to stay the New Orleans proceedings on the "grave potential of conflicting discovery orders," which poses "a hardship for defendants [and] mocks an efficient and orderly judicial system."
The National Law Journal has more about the conflicting decisions on BP's motions to stay proceedings here.
May 27, 2010 in Current Affairs, Discovery, Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Monday, May 3, 2010
NY Times Profiles Judge Hellerstein and the 9/11 Litigation
The New York Times has a piece today profiling Judge Hellerstein. It discusses his background, impressions of his motivations for how he has shaped the 9/11 litigation, and opinions as to the propriety of rejecting the MDL settlement on fairness grounds.
From the article:
The struggle over control of the settlement has underscored two different, but not necessarily contradictory views of the judge: the compassionate jurist driven by a sense of social responsibility and with a wealth of experience with victims' suffering, and the aggressive judge unwilling to cede ground on cases he has shepherded for years.
Judge Hellerstein lost several former clients in the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11. But legal experts suggest that he has a bigger motivation for championing the ground zero victims: he may see his handling of the 9/11 cases as his legacy.
But lawyers who have sparred with Judge Hellerstein suggest that his moral compass and commitment to doing what he thinks is right have sometimes led him to overreach.
May 3, 2010 in Current Affairs, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Toyota Litigation: Initial Counsel Assignments Made and Conference Set
The BNA reports that Judge Selna of the C.D. California has set an initial conference for May 13 for the cases currently consolidated as In re Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation. The court also made an interim assignment of lead counsel., choosing Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro in Seattle; Elizabeth J. Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein in San Francisco; and Marc M. Seltzer of Susman Godfey in Los Angeles for the plaintiffs. Alston & Byrd of Atlanta represent Toyota.
April 22, 2010 in Class Actions, Current Affairs, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, April 12, 2010
JPML Announces Consolidation of Toyota Litigation
The JPML has ordered a consolidation of more than 200 lawsuits against Toyota before Judge James Selma in the Central District of California. This order combines the personal injury lawsuits with class actions alleging economic damages.
The order is available here.
As I have argued previously in the context of the 9/11 cases and Hurricane Katrina litigation, consolidating these lawsuits around such a loosely defined event, here, the acceleration problems, might not necessarily be the most efficient or just way of handling such mass tort litigation.
April 12, 2010 in Class Actions, Current Affairs, Federal Courts, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Judge Hellerstein Rejects Proposed 9/11 First Responders' Settlement
The New York Law Journal reports here. Judge Hellerstein indicated that the settlement formula was too complicated for each individual plaintiff and that the attorneys' fees (33% of each award) were too high.
This will be an interesting story to watch, as he seems to essentially be conducting a class action-style fairness hearing on a group of cases consolidated as an MDL.
March 22, 2010 in Class Actions, Mass Torts, MDLs, Recent Decisions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Nagareda on Pre-Trial as Trial in Complex Litigation
Richard Nagareda (Vanderbilt University School of Law) has posted 1938 All Over Again? Pre-Trial as Trial in Complex Litigation to SSRN.
This Essay for the Sixteenth Annual Clifford Symposium analyzes the transformation of the pre-trial process for complex civil litigation. Settlement, rather than trial, has emerged as the dominant endgame. As a result, in functional terms, the pre-trial phase effectively operates as the trial. Over the past quarter-century, doctrinal developments have shifted steadily backward within the pre-trial phase the major checkpoints for judicial scrutiny of claims. The key developments consist of the Supreme Court's summary judgment "trilogy" (1986), the rise of Daubert scrutiny for the admissibility of expert testimony (1993), the elaboration of a distinctive law of class action certification (circa 2006) and, most recently, the invigoration of pleading standards in the Court's Twombly and Iqbal decisions (2007 and 2009).
During the same period, an equally dramatic transformation has taken place with respect to litigation scholarship. Insights from economics, cognitive psychology, and finance – among other non-law disciplines – have broadened the vocabulary now available for analysis. Two big-picture points emerge from this literature: first, costs (especially, the ability to impose costs on one's opponent) matter greatly to the choice whether to continue litigation or to settle; and, second, risk (or, more specifically, variance) matters in the pricing of civil claims via settlement, above and beyond calculations of expected value.
The emergence of judicial checkpoints in the pretrial phase has elicited considerable debate – most strikingly, today, over the Court's pleading decisions. At one level, those decisions are rightly seen as pushing against the ethos of the 1938 reforms that put into place our modern notice-pleading regime. Yet, in a deeper historical sense, we actually find ourselves today in much the same position as the 1938 reformers. Today, as then, there is a lingering – but, often, undertheorized – sense that procedure itself is having an undue and even deleterious effect on the pricing of claims via settlement. It is just that the procedure now suspected to be distortive consists of the 1938 reforms. This Essay explains, in particular, how the Court's attention to pleading standards in recent years marks a shift of emphasis from the regulation of variance in the litigation process to a concern over cost imposition.
The various pretrial checkpoints today exhibit a similar structural feature. They seek to manage variance or cost imposition by way of third-party judicial regulation – specifically, court rulings that signal "stop" or "go" on the road to trial. Evaluation of procedural doctrine as an enterprise of regulation opens up inquiry to the existence of other potential regulatory modes. This Essay concludes with examination of alternatives in the nature of first-party regulation (e.g., cost shifting) and regulation in the form of judicial action that would not be dispositive vis-à-vis trial but, rather, would seek to inform directly the pricing of claims in the settlement endgame.
March 17, 2010 in Class Actions, Mass Torts, MDLs, Recent Scholarship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Ground Zero Workers cases set for settlement
The New York Times reports here and the New York Law Journal reports here.
March 11, 2010 in In the News, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Consolidating the Toyota Lawsuits: Let the Jostling Begin
Almost as predictable as the fact that Toyota is facing a multitude of lawsuits is the fact that lawyers will begin an intense campaign to determine where and how the lawsuits will be consolidated, and which lawyers will win the prize of leading the charge.
The National Law Journal reports here that around 150 met in Chicago to discuss strategies for going forward, and to jockey for who will take the lead in the litigation. Thus far, the fault lines have developed around arguments concerning venue, with some lawyers supporting the Central District of California where Toyota has its headquarters and where a District Judge is already hearing twelve cases against Toyota, whereas others favor the Western District of Kentucky (site of a large manufacturing plant) or the Eastern District of Louisiana (MDL district extraordinaire).
March 11, 2010 in Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
New Qui Tam suit draws broad intervenor efforts from state governments
Law.com reports here about a qui tam suit concerning the quality of PVC pipes. The plaintiffs allege that J-M Manufacturing deliberately mislead regulators and consumers with products that did not meet manufacturing standards. The recently unsealed complaint illustrates the interesting path of some qui tam suits: (1) a government fails or declines to exercise authority; (2) private litigants file a qui tam suit; (3) governments seek to intervene in the lawsuit.
February 14, 2010 in Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Class actions against Toyota begin
The National Law Journal reports on the several class actions that have been brought against Toyota in the wake of the gas pedal problems and recalls. The lawsuits are consumer class actions that seek damages for economic losses stemming from reduced value of cars subject to this problem.
It looks like the lawsuits are being filed state by state with the expectation that they will then be consolidated as an MDL. The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuits appear to be persons whose cars actually experienced the gas pedal issues. Although these plaintiffs have not alleged personal injury, there will be some serious typicality issues given the very broad class definition that the attorneys are seeking.
While the plaintiffs face some challenges in terms of class certification and causation, there is no question that multiple billion dollar lawsuits will pose a major litigation challenge to Toyota going forward.
February 8, 2010 in Class Actions, In the News, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
9/11 Workers Cases are in Settlement Talks
The New York Times reports that the lawsuits brought by the rescue and clean up workers might be near settlement, with 12 bellwether trials nearing their start in May in the Southern District of New York .
These are largely plaintiffs whose claims arose after the Victim Compensation Fund had closed, so liability and compensation has been a delicate political and judicial matter.
February 4, 2010 in In the News, Mass Torts, MDLs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Monday, December 14, 2009
New York Times article features hormone replacement therapy litigation
The New York Times article, Menopause, as Brought to You By Big Pharma features a history of regulatory and litigation issues surrounding the prescription of hormone replacement therapy drugs. The litigation centers on the Prempro cases against Wyeth (now part of Pfizer).
December 14, 2009 in In the News, Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wyeth v. Levine Scholarship Roundup
October 29, 2009 in Federal Courts, Mass Torts, Recent Scholarship, Supreme Court Cases | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Swine Flu Vaccine Litigation
Last week saw the beginning of the delivery of vaccines for the H1N1 or "swine flu" virus. Perhaps the only thing more predictable than the worry that we will not have enough of the vaccine are the lawsuits that have already been filed.
In New York state court, a group of health care workers has filed a lawsuit alleging that mandatory vaccination of all health care workers violates their civil rights. The judge granted a temporary restraining order and has scheduled a further hearing for next week.
Another lawsuit filed in the D.C. Circuit challenges the licensing of the vaccines, alleging that the vaccines are untested and unsafe.
These cases, along with any lawsuits alleging actual injury from receiving the injections, are sure to raise issues of interest to civil procedure and federal courts scholars, from possible consolidation of a mass tort, to potential application of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Act (42 U.S.C. 300aa 1-34), and preemption issues.
Stay tuned for further developments in this field.
October 21, 2009 in Current Affairs, Federal Courts, Mass Torts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)


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by Event Media
Team Pindar in action - Monsoon Cup 2007
With the top three leading teams in the World Match Racing Tour having gotten no further than the Quarter-Final round at last week's King Edward VII Gold Cup, the race tightens in the final push for the World Championship. Britain's Ian Williams and Team Pindar will be defending the title they won last year - they lead by just four points going into the final event.
In this eighth event on the nine-stage Tour, Johnie Berntsson (SWE) and his Berntsson Sailing Team of Johan Backman, Bjorn Lundgren, and Daniel Wallberg masterfully sailed the International One Designs used for this event to a 3-1 win in the Finals against Adam Minoprio and his Emirates Team New Zealand/BlackMatch Racing Team.
Tour heavyweights Ian Williams and Team Pindar were back in fifth place, Sebastian Col and his French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge in seventh, and Mathieu Richard and his French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit in eighth place.
The toppling at the top has not changed the overall Tour standings among the top three but brings Minoprio and Mirsky, even on fourth place, into play.
And while the event in Bermuda was a tremendous opportunity for teams which don't normally compete on the Tour go up against the world's best, the focus will now shift towards who will be in a good position to win the World Championship.
The structure of the ISAF Match Racing World Championship is that skippers earn points towards the title at each stage of the Tour. A total of 100 points are awarded to the top eight finishers: 25 points for first, 20 for second, 15 for third, 12 for fourth, 10 for fifth, 8 for sixth, 6 for seventh and 4 for eighth.
Gilmour and Williams on their way to the finish line - Monsoon Cup 2007
Skippers will be allowed to count a maximum of five finishes plus those points earned at the final stage at the Monsoon Cup regardless of the number of stages they've raced. This finale, held over 3-7 December, will award 1.5 times the points to the top eight and it is a non-discard event.
So using this structure on the results to date, the race for the World Crown has tightened the leaderboard standings, and no team's position is safe. On 92 points, Team Pindar's lead has shrunk to only 4 points over Col, who in turn is 11 points ahead of Richard.
On strategy going into the final event, Richard said he will be 'very aggressive because we have all to gain and nothing to lose' compared to last year when he had a slim lead in points over Williams, who ended up winning the overall title.
But an event in Malaysia that went like that in Bermuda might very well unseat the Tour leaders even more, since there are so many points at stake and a good result from young teams like Australia's Torvar Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team and Minoprio, who are tied on points, very well might vault them over the top and in to the medal zone.
Current World Match Racing Tour Leaderboard (top ten teams) After Stage 8 of 9
1. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar, 92 points
2. Sebastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge, 88
3. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team/ French Team Spirit, 77
4. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Team, 53
=. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, 53
6. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 51
7. Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team, 46
8. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza, 43
9. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Alandia Sailing Team, 40
=. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, 40
Line 7 CompetitionThe World Match Racing Tour in conjunction with their official clothing supplier Line 7 is offering you the opportunity to win a Squadron Jacket from their marine range. The Line 7 marine range is designed and constructed to the highest performance level offering you confidence to keep warm and dry. The online competition is open now and runs until October 28, 2008.
For your opportunity to win simply go to www.worldmatchracingtour.com
For more information about Line 7 visit www.Line7.com


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Important Park Updates
In an ongoing effort to keep all of our Members informed, we want to share that drought conditions prevalent throughout the state have affected operations in many of the 65 Regional Parks, and may impact recreational activities that include swimming, boating, fishing, and camping, particularly at Lake Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs and Quarry Lakes.
While it is the Park District's goal to keep our lakes open through Labor Day - September 1 - potential reductions in recreational use may not be fully known until May. Because of this uncertainty, it is suggested that park users stay informed through the Park District's website at www.ebparks.org/closure. We will also continue to post updates on the Regional Parks Foundation website at www.RegionalParksFoundation.org/news.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in the Regional Parks!
Chevron Donates $20,000 to Support Campership
The Regional Parks Foundation is proud to announce the receipt of a generous $20,000 grant from Chevron Richmond to support the Camp Arroyo Campership Program. This award continues to build upon the strength and success of Chevron's strong commitment to serve the children of Richmond and West Contra Costa County.
This generous gift not only supports the California state science and environmental education curriculum in a premier hands-on learning experience, it also provides access to this valuable resource to children from Richmond and West Contra Costa County.
We could not be more grateful to Chevron Richmond for their continued support of the Regional Parks Foundation and its programs. Thank you Chevron!
REI Awards Grant to Support the East Bay Regional Park District's Ivan Dickson Volunteer Trail Maintenance Program
The Regional Parks Foundation in partnership with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and REI is proud to announce the receipt of a generous $30,000 grant from REI to support the EBRPD's Ivan Dickson Volunteer Trail Maintenance Program. This award continues to build upon the strength and success of the community engagement and outdoor stewardship efforts of the Park District by encouraging volunteer participation in repairing and enhancing existing trails, and constructing new trails.
For the benefit of the nearly 14 million annual visitors to the Regional Parks, this year, the Regional Parks Foundation and EBRPD in conjunction with local REI stores are sponsoring four events dedicated to trail building and maintenance throughout the Park District. Since 1996, the Ivan Dickson Volunteer Trail Maintenance Program has managed 157 trail projects with 7,837 volunteers contributing more than 30,000 hour of volunteer labor.
We genuinely appreciate REI's enduring support and generosity. Thank you REI!
To find out more about these programs or opportunities to leverage your corporate giving, please email the Director of Operations, Programs and Development of the Regional Parks Foundation.
Regional Parks FoundationP.O. Box 21074Crestmont StationOakland, CA 94620Phone: (510) 544-2202Membership: (510) 544-2220Tax ID #23-7011877
Home | Events | Make a Donation | Programs | Membership | Annual Permits | About Us
Contact Us | EBRPD Site | My Account | Usage Guidelines | Privacy Policy
©2008-2013 Regional Parks Foundation. All rights reserved.


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Our ATOL service standards set out what you can expect when you deal with us. We are committed to providing high quality, timely and responsive services to travel businesses.
We cannot process applications for any kind of licence until we have the necessary information and fees in support of it. Any delay in providing these will lengthen the overall time taken to reach a decision.
As soon as possible after we receive an application (usually within two weeks), we'll let you know if there is any further information we need from you in order to progress it.
We will aim to ensure that the waiting time between the submission of the required information and our decision on the application is not more than eight weeks on average. Straightforward applications and those received at quieter times of the year may be dealt with more quickly.
We will deal with fully supported renewal applications within an average of two months.


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Congratulations, Wilson Zorn, on earning an ENnie nomination for At the Hands of an Angry God.
BlackWyrm is thrilled to officially announce a new edition of Aaron Allston's Strike Force. Aaron was a great friend to everyone he met, and a great inspiration to all of us here at BlackWyrm.
Jason is on his way to Texas now, to gather all the work that Aaron had been putting into the project before his untimely passing.
BlackWyrm is proud to announce Reel Dark: Twisted Projections on the Flickering Page, an anthology of how film and life collide.
The genres inside include suspense, horror, science fiction, and fantasy.
If you're at the World Horror Convention this weekend, attend the launch party with the editor Andrew Cooper and several of the authors.
Join BlackWyrm at Mo*Con, the con dedicated to the entrance of Mo (a/k/a Maurice Broaddus) in this world.
Our gift to Maurice is his gift to all of our readers, a new short story collection -- Walkers with the Dawn.
The book debuts at Mo*Con, where you can can get your copy autographed, or use the book smack Maurice around a little, or feed the book to his adorable children.
Black to the Future!
Like the Langston Hughes poem from which the collection takes its name, Maurice Broaddus is not afraid of gloom nor darkness and ever reaches for the dawn.
Not one to be confined to any particular genre, Broaddus mixes folk tales, urban legends, and more with his own eclectic imagination to brings stories that span the length of history itself.
Spanning past, present, and future, the collection opens with sword and sorcery in ancient Africa, ghost stories set against the backdrop of the slave trade, and a Civil War vampire. Broaddus brings his gritty, day-to-day vision to the doorstep with his ebony take on the Arthurian legend, to fairy tales. The far-flung future is fueled for flight in the Parliament-Funkadelic universe.
As you read, youll ride along in the Weird West, fall under the spell of obeah, fight to survive in a post-apocalypse landscape, and battle alongside military space adventure. Walkers With the Dawn combines works first published in venues such as Weird Tales, Space & Time Magazine, and a host of anthologies, as well as introduces some stories original to this collection.


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Jimbo Fisher has his Florida State Seminoles soaring after a big win over Clemson on Saturday night.
- Filed Under
TALLAHASSEE -- We tend to think of tradition as everlasting in college football, but really it's not. The power of Florida State -- the swagger, the electricity of Doak Campbell Stadium, the ability to overwhelm with athletes all over the field -- has been nothing more than a rumor for the better part of this century. The last time the Seminoles really mattered, most of their players weren't even 10 years old.
"I've heard stories," running back James Wilder, Jr., said.
But that's all they were. Just stories, just memories whose relationship to the current state of affairs was becoming shakier ...


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Student-athletes recognized in Northumberland County
SUNBURY – Twenty-five student-athletes were honored this week by the Northumberland County Commissioners. A male and female from schools in Northumberland County and Danville were chosen as exceptional scholars who also excel in sports at their high schools. Most of the students came to the commissioner meeting Tuesday and were honored with a certificate. (Sara Bartlett)
2014 Scholar-Athlete Awards
Elizabeth Pavis
Samuel Dressler
Line Mountain
Hannah Campbell
Falconer Walshaw-Wertz
Shea Williams
Sloan Fry
Our Lady of Lourdes
Rachel Shultz
William Stewart
Shamokin Area
Olivia Bonshock
Daniel Delbaugh
Samantha Poff
Jacob Hare
Southern Columbia
Angela Vought
Sabyasachi Sen
Warrior Run
Sarah Elizabeth Grow
William Elias George III
Meadowbrook Christian Academy
Madison K. Burrows
Aaron Ulmer
Northumberland Christian School
Jessalyn Stuck
Adam Clemens
Watsontown Christian Academy
Joshua Maldonado
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We are pleased to announce that the enrollment for electronic delivery (e-delivery) of proxy materials and shareholder communications is now available by visiting http://www.braggfinancial.com/.
In addition, you can select e-delivery for brokerage account statements, trade confirmations, tax documents and more.
To enroll for e-delivery, please visit http://www.braggfinancial.com/ and log on to your account.
Click on the "go paperless" button at the top of the page and follow the steps to enroll.
If you have any questions, please contact your investment professional.
©2011 Pershing LLC. Pershing LLC, member FINRA, NYSE, SIPC, is a subsidiary of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Trademark(s) belong to their respective owners.


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But if you try sometimes you might find, You get what you need"
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Cutting Back
But if you try sometimes you might find, You get what you need"
8 comments:
- Karyn said...
You have so much talent that I just know you will find something that works. Hang in there!!
- November 19, 2011 at 11:02 PM
- Maranda said...
You are so amazing! I love that you have the Lord in your life though the tough times to remind us what matters, what needs to be important. You have touched me in so many ways that you'll never fully appreciate the value of your words of encouragement. LOVE YOU! HUGS from your girl in Idaho. Xox
- November 20, 2011 at 6:20 AM
Oh, girl. Wait for it. Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University is offered nationwide. Check the website for an upcoming class in your area. This CAN be done, and it will be easier than you think. You will meet people in your area going through the same struggles, and likely meet new friends. Good luck and God Bless!!
- November 20, 2011 at 6:38 AM
- Lesley said...
Chin up girlfriend!!! Hoping things get better for you.
- November 20, 2011 at 7:33 AM
- Tiaras & Bow Ties - Think Smink said...
I so know what you are talking about! We have been in a very tight financial bind for about a year and a half and nothing about it was fun! Things here are starting to look up! I pray that they will also start a turn for the best for your family as well!
We cut back on everything and then some... coupon shopped for food and bought from outlet/discount food store to try to lower that cost.
Lots of tears have been shed here as well, just as I thought I could not take another day of it... Christ was there to comfort. We never went without our necessities. We did not lean on credit cards like so many I know, but we are finally seeing the light. So sorry you are down, it is not a fun place to be. Remember to count your blessings daily and lean on the Lord... you will come out of the tunnel too!
- November 20, 2011 at 7:42 AM
- Karen said...
Staying home with your kids is such a worthwhile use of your time. Relationships are the only thing that last!
- January 11, 2012 at 2:09 PM
- LovingLynden said...
Good for you - you CAN do it! Your kids are only little for such a short time, you'll have time and money for other things before you know it.
- February 3, 2012 at 4:10 PM
- andie jaye said...
i just popped over because i hadn't heard from you in a while. sorry that things are rough right now. from another sahm, i hear you. your family will be in my prayers!
- March 25, 2012 at 11:05 PM


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Huddling with teams is an EASY way to show your friends you are OUT there and engaged!
I have a large and active Spark friends list and a slow connection -bad combo. So I handle my huge friend feed lists this way. First I read all my Spark articles e-mails, earning my points for each one, which gives me six new windows, I click on friend feed on each window, and then go back to the first, click all my likes and comments, then click on blogs on each feed, reading and commenting on one while the others are still loading.
Huddle with all of your teams every day. It will serve the same purpose as a Huddle in Football. By the time you have gone to each team you will have read/ and heard in you head Go Team! Woo Hoo! You can do it! Make it Happen! Even (especially) on days where I feel like a lump the Huddle gets me up and exercising.
When going to different pages within Sparkpeople, I adjust the zoom level on my computer for that page. It eliminates some scrolling. For example, on the sparkteams page, I reduce my zoom and that way I can jump back and forth between my teams and huddle without have to scroll down to reach the huddle button. It can save a lot of clicks!!!!


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December 1, 2015
By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Auburn coach Gus Malzahn says safety Demetruce McNeal will be back in the mix to retain his starting position for next season.
McNeal missed the last five spring practices for off-the-field issues, including the A-Day game. Malzahn said Wednesday that whatever kept McNeal off the field was "between me and him" but that it's now taken care of.
McNeal is a 20-game starter the past two seasons and finished second on the team with 90 tackles last season.
Malzahn didn't put McNeal among the top three players on the post-spring depth chart but says "he'll have a chance to get back on the field."
Malzahn also says quarterbacks Jonathan Wallace and Kiehl Frazier remain in "a dead heat" after spring. He says every position will be wide open in August.
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If you are making an Internet TV show, then you should be supporting the Ogg Theora video format.
As an Internet TV producer you want to support the formats that will let people view your show. So you think: "you want iPod users to be able to view your show, so you need to support .m4v's". You think: "you want PSP users to be able to view your show, so you need to support .mp4's". You think: "you want Windows users (without anything else installed) to be able to watch you show, so you need to support .wmv's". Etc.
But you should be forward thinking too. And do the right thing to help everyone making and watching Internet TV shows, including yourself, by supporting the Ogg Theora video format.
No Tax on Internet TV
All these formats (except for Ogg Theora) are encumbered by patents or have licensing costs associates with them. Costs that me, you, tool creators, and our audience will have to pay, either directly or in-directly. (This means that watchers and makers of Internet TV will have to pay money to some person or company just to watch and make Internet TV shows that have absolutely nothing to do with that person or company.) This just makes things more expensive for everyone since we are essentially being "taxed". And it's ridiculous to just accept this tax when there's no reason we have to.
Ogg Theora was created by a grass roots effort (spearheaded by the Xiph.org Foundation) to combat all the patent and licensing absurdness video formats have been seeing. Ogg Theora is NOT encumbered by patents. Ogg Theora makes it so there is absolutely no licensing costs of any kind! Ogg Theora is completely Free for everyone (and will always stay that way).
Ogg Theora History
On the web we have 3 image formats to work with: GIF's, JPEG's, and PNG's. But did you know that the PNG image format is a rather recent creation. The PNG format was created because at the end of December 1994 one company started making people, who handled GIF's, pay them money because they claimed that patents they had gave them ownership over the GIF image format. (An image format which they had absolutely nothing to do with.) The PNG file format was created by a grass roots effort to combat this. And make a Free image format for everyone to use (without fear of being sued by someone claiming patent infringement).
Later on, the Internet faced another patent crisis; but this time with the MP3 audio format. Ogg Vorbis, a sister format to the Ogg Theora video format, and whose history the Ogg Theora video format is tied to, was created by similar motivations as the PNG format.
The Ogg Vorbis audio format was the answer to the MP3 patent crisis. Although MP3's ushered in the age of audio on the Internet, there were problems with it. There were and still are people who are going around suing anyone who is doing anything with MP3's (who doesn't pay them money), because they claim that patents they have gives them ownership over the MP3 audio format. (I'll avoid talking about all the patent law problems we currently have and the unethical practices and just refer you to the No Software Patents! website if you want more information.) Ogg Vorbis was created as an answer to this problem. Ogg Vorbis is an audio format (like MP3's); but one which isn't going to get you sued if you use it.
Like MP3's, all the video formats of the day were encumbered and plagued by patents. And people were and still are rightly concerned about getting sued and forcibly having to pay fees/taxes. Ogg Theora is an answer to this. Ogg Theora is completely Free for everyone to use!
The Theora codec was based on the VP3 codec generously donated by On2 Technologies to the Xiph.org Foundation. The good people at the Xiph Foundation then turned this into the Free video format known as Ogg Theora.
More on Ogg Theora
This article only scratches the surface of Ogg Theora. You can get more information via the following links.
And if your interested in Ogg Theora, you may find Matroska and Dirac interesting too.
-- Charles


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POSTED: 11:19 p.m. HST, Dec 29, 2012
LAST UPDATED: 4:31 p.m. HST, Dec 30, 2012
Police reopened two town-bound lanes of Farrington Highway near Kahe Point this afternoon as crews complete repairs on a utility pole knocked down in a crash Saturday night that sent an 18-year-old woman to the hospital.
One Waianae-bound lane remained closed early this afternoon.
The highway was initially closed in both directions, but was later contra-flowed as utility crews responded to the area Saturday night.
The Emergency Medical Services Department reported that paramedics took an 18-year-old woman, the driver of a vehicle that hit a utility pole and knocked down power lines, to the hospital in serious condition following the 10:25 p.m. crash on Farrington near Kahe Point.


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Additional file 17.
A schematic view of histone gene cluster 1 on chromosome 6 comparing the expression of histone genes in H9 and HeLa cells. While most histone genes (hist1h2bl, hist1h2ai, hist1h3h, hist1h2ai, hist1h2bm, hist1h2ak, hist1h2bn, hist1h2am and hist1h2bo) are expressed in both cell lines, some histone genes (hist1h2al, hist1h1b, hist1h3i, hist1h4l and hist1h3j) are expressed at significantly higher levels in H9 cells.
Format: PDF Size: 67KB Download file
This file can be viewed with: Adobe Acrobat Reader
Yang et al. Genome Biology 2011 12:R16 doi:10.1186/gb-2011-12-2-r16


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International Unity on Iran Sanctions
Panelists discussed international response to Iran's nuclear ambitions, focusing on Russia, China,and Israel. The program includes audience member questions.
People in this video
- Fiona Hill Senior Fellow and Director Brookings Institution->Center on the United States and Europe
- John Parker Visiting Research Fellow National Defense University
- Francois Rivasseau Deputy Chief of Mission France->United States
- Sun Yun Visting Fellow Brookings Institution
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The Road from Individual to Group Position to Emergence in Whirligig Swarms
William Romey (March 15, 2011)
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AbstractEmergent patterns of flocks and swarms are at once beautiful and mysterious. We ask ourselves: "How and why do individuals coordinate these complicated maneuvers?" More specifically: how does self organization at lower levels influence emergent properties at higher levels? I will present the results of some of my studies addressing these questions using whirligig beetles and computer models to understand the three-part transition from (1) individual behavior to (2) group position to (3) the emergent behavior of swarms. Whirligig beetles make an ideal organism for studying general grouping phenomenon, such as those found in birds and fish, because they are composed of unrelated individuals, unlike bees and ants where altruism and kin-selection complicate the interpretation of emergent properties.
Working from the bottom up, we have used computer models and ethograms to examine how differences in (1) individuals influence the lower-level movement rules of the beetles. For example, sex, hunger, and age may influence an animal's preferred distance from others, and the speed with which they swim. These rules then influence the (2) group position which they occupy. For example, depending on predators and water speed, certain classes of whirligigs reliably end up at the edge or front of groups. We have modeled and carried out experiments which show that these positions are consistent with the hypothesis of self-organization: simple movement rules can explain the observed within-group segregation. Also, we present evolutionary optimization models that support the hypothesis that these group positions are individually adaptive. Finally, the group as a whole exhibits measurable behaviors (3) that seem to be an emergent property of levels one and two. These emergent properties include: group speed, turning, stopping, and mass predator escape. In conclusion we will discuss if the behaviors at all three of these levels are evolutionarily adaptive, or whether some might be neutral byproducts of an adaptive response at a different level.


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Civilization IV
Civilization IV Summary
Civilization IV Review
The first 30-40 turns always does it for me - claiming the land, discovering other civs, choosing your tech path, battling lions, and so on.
Latest news
Civilization 4 designer announces real-time strategy Offworld Trading Company
Lead designer Soren Johnson of Civilization 4 is now co-founder of indie Mohawk Games and they've just announced their first project. It's a real-time strategy based on economics called Offworld Trading Company.
Money "is the heart" of the RTS, where we sell excess resources and then buy low on what we need. Trade prices and stock fluctuate all in real-time.
Civilization and Borderlands series will move servers to Steamworks May 31 after GameSpy shutdown
Borderlands, Civilization III and Civilization IV will all migrate their multiplayer over to Steamworks after the closure of GameSpy's extensive server lists.
Reddit compiles list of games for GameSpy's May 31st shutdown
By the end of next month the matchmaking services of GameSpy will be switched off, and that means a number of PC titles won't function properly or at all online. Exactly how far-reaching is the GameSpy service?
Reddit has put together a doomsday list that includes the likes of Halo, Star Wars: Battlefront, Stronghold, the Battlefield series, Crysis, Tom Clancy titles and Quake.
Civ 4 designer Soren Johnson starts indie studio Mohawk Games
With some help from Stardock, Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson has founded a new indie studio Mohawk Games. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell and Dorian Newcomb, the art designer for Civilization V, will also be involved as studio president and art director respectively.
Grand Theft Auto franchise ships over 114m, GTA IV now at 22m
Take-Two head Strauss Zelnick revealed that overall the Grand Theft Auto franchise has shipped a huge 114 million copies to retailers during its lifetime.
Grand Theft Auto IV has cleared 22 million of that grand total. CEO Zelnick also gave away some other key title numbers, although L.A. Noire is missing.


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Originally posted by D Rog: 1. Why? Use permanent cookie, so closing browser won't destroy it instantly.
Originally posted by D Rog: Edit: installation tracking ActiveX or plug-in will not help either, a user can simple completely reinsatll OS, or have multi boot configuration, like Linuz, Windows, Mac OS, My own company OS, or access from treo 650. [ May 24, 2005: Message edited by: D Rog ]


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Historically, a must-win for a Republican presidential candidate. In practice, a big get for a Democrat.
It's also No. 5 on another important list, Bloomberg's State of the States — read on.
Both President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are there today — appearing at virtually the same time this afternoon. The president will deliver what the White House has clearly identified as a campaign speech about the economy at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. Romney will campaign in Cincinnati.
They will play against an improving backdrop in a state that shed manufacturing jobs. Ohio ranked seventh in improving economic health during the past year, by the count of the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States. Counting from the first quarter of 2009 through the last quarter of 2011, tracking Obama's presidency, Ohio ranked fifth in economic health. Its mortgage delinquency last year, it rate ranked 13th, while employment growth ranked 32nd.
So there is fuel for either candidate's fire today — from the president's point of view, an economy improving yet in need of more work; from Romney's perspective, a failed attempt to make things better. And Obama doesn't get a do-over, the Republicans say.
The Republican National Committee walks into the day with a Web-video proclaiming: "Sorry President Obama, President's Don't Get Mulligans." It starts with a 2009 clip of the president saying: "If I don't have this done in three years, then this is going to be a one-term proposition. It closes with five repeats of a missed put on a green with words for what didn't work — an $825 billion stimulus, a "health care takeover" and a lot of speeches.
The party ad overlooks the fact that there is wide consensus surrounding the temporary impact of the stimulus — that it staved off a steeper decline, and was responsible for saving or creating at least a million jobs, the actual number a matter of dispute.


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Windows Confidential: Looking Smart by Being St...
Windows Confidential
Looking Smart by Being Stupid
Raymond Chen
insert a CD into your computer, Windows
might ask you what it should do-even though you told it what to do last time. Why does Windows forget your autoplay settings? Well, it doesn't; it's just double-checking with you.
There were two problems with the way Windows XP handled CD autoplay. First, many users found that after installing a program that supported CD autoplay, they didn't know how to make that program their new default CD autoplay program. If they had previously selected a program and ticked "Always perform this action," there was no easily discoverable way to undo the always flag to cause the CD autoplay dialog to reappear and give the user an opportunity to select the new program as the default.
Second, certain poorly behaved programs, upon installation, secretly hacked the undocumented CD autoplay settings in order to set themselves as the default CD autoplay handler-thus, overriding the user's choice.
Simply put, for users the two problems were: "I just installed this program and I want it to be my CD autoplay program," and its converse "I just installed this program and I don't want it to be the CD autoplay program."
Windows Vista treats autoplay settings globally(Click the image for a larger view)
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) introduced new CD autoplay behavior in an attempt to address these problems. When it sees that a new CD autoplay handler is available, Windows now shows you the CD autoplay dialog one more time. This gives you a chance to pick that new program you just installed or un-pick that program you just installed if it was rude enough to set itself as the new default player.
You also get the CD autoplay dialog the first time you insert a CD after upgrading to Windows XP SP2. This is a "better late than never" dialog, meant to address any handlers that were installed before you upgraded to Windows XP SP2.
In the old days, the OS only had to concern itself with helping developers interface with a feature. But, in the current software landscape, it also has to worry about stopping programmers who are trying to abuse that interface.
There's another case where it may appear that Windows has forgotten your autoplay settings. When you insert a removable storage device, such as a USB drive, you may get prompted even though you've already selected an option and ticked "Always perform this action." This is not because Windows has forgotten your settings, but rather that it remembered them all too well.
When you select an option for a removable storage device, Windows remembers the setting for that device. If you plug in a different device, you get a new prompt since you didn't specify how you wanted this different device to behave. The intent of this design is so you can say that your digital camera should default to "View pictures" whereas your music player should default to "Play music." (If the device doesn't have a serial number, then plugging it into a different USB port causes it to be treated as a different device.)
In response to the confusion created by the Windows XP design, the behavior has changed in Windows Vista™. The autoplay settings are now treated as global rather than per-device. If you say "Take no action," then Windows Vista will take no action regardless of which device you insert or where you plug it in. Sometimes the way to make the operating system look smarter is to make it more stupid.
Raymond Chen
's Web site, The Old New Thing (
), and identically titled book (Addison-Wesley, 2007) deal with Windows history and Win32 programming. In his spare time, he has been known to score 7th grade essays.
© 2008 Microsoft Corporation and CMP Media, LLC. All rights reserved; reproduction in part or in whole without permission is prohibited
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Jack Brooks Sequel On The WayGoon
Jack Brooks Monster Slayer has finally hit shelves everywhere on DVD and director Jon Knautz is out promoting the hell out of it. Today in an interview that was posted on Bloody Good Horror he spoke about the sequel:
"We're currently in script development, we haven't actually spun out a draft yet, but we're quite far into development. Far enough that there's no turning back. We knew we didn't have the money to do a full blown action/horror movie with part 1, we just didn't have the money. So the gameplan was to make a movie about a guy who becomes a monster slayer, and then the action hits you at the end. With Part 2 now, we're looking to raise quite a bit more money... people will get what they want in this one for sure, if they like the end of the first one."
He went on to say that they should be shooting sometime next summer. They will be spending an additional four months on the script and 5 months on pre-production to make sure that everything goes smoothly with the next film. When the topic of some plot details came up Knautz told the site:
"There will be new characters, and Jack sort of partners up with someone else. Actually, It's more like they are forced to work with each other. He kind of gets caught up in this scenario where he's taken advantage of and then realizes later on that he was sort of used to kill monsters he wasn't necessarily supposed to kill, and it kind of leads him into this whole new adventure he gets caught up in."