text: They lurk in sometimes surprising places: boardrooms, sports arenas, even artist studios. You can't spot them with eyes alone—you have to get to know them first. Soon, you'll discover their expert communication skills, creativity, willingness to work hard, and problem-solving prowess—and that will be the tell. We're talking, of course, about secret lawyers, those lawyers who have migrated to other professions. Student Lawyer will be highlighting secret lawyers in a new regular feature. For this, the inaugural article, we've profiled Elizabeth Scott, vice president at Major League Baseball Productions; woodworker David Burling; and Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's chief people officer.


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Weighing the impact
Theyre from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the Chapel Hill-based company that insures more than a third of Baptists patients, accounting for much of the medical centers nearly $800 million annual budget. Its three-year contract expired two years earlier, but Baptist operates under an extension at rates almost five years old. Were losing money when we treat your members, the hospital argues, accusing the insurer of postponing meetings and stalling. A Blue Cross negotiator replies with a shrug: Were fine with what were paying you now. The offer on the table, Baptist officials are told, would make it Blue Cross best-paid hospital in the state. Other hospitals, they would discover, had been told that, too.
On June 4, talks collapse. Blue Cross agrees to pay Baptists patients directly. When they ask what to do with their checks, the insurer replies: Cash them. Some ignore the hospital, using the money for other purposes, in one case, buying a car. Baptist executives fume as unpaid bills mount. It was another way to put pressure on us, one recalls. The stalemate ends that October when the hospital, citing concern for its patients, signs a new contract.
That confrontation five years ago reconstructed from sources on both sides is a rare look into what Kevin Schulman describes as brass-knuckles health-care negotiations. The gentlemans-agreement world that existed until the late 80s has disappeared, says the physician, who has an MBA and teaches in Duke Universitys medical and business schools. Blue Cross and Baptist, now Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, have buried the hatchet for the time being. Brad Wilson, who succeeded Robert Greczyn as the insurers president and CEO earlier this year, dismisses what happened as routine bargaining sparks fly and reasonable people will disagree but promises what he calls a new era of transparency in dealing with providers. Edward Chadwick, who joined the medical center last year as chief financial officer, adds, Theres a new dimension on quality now, not just cost. Im optimistic. Talks on a contract for 2011 will begin soon.
The standoff scenario is more than a glimpse at the secret side of the medical business: It shows one reason audacity and hardball tactics why 77-year-old Blue Cross dominates health care in North Carolina. Its clout is second only to that of federal Medicare and Medicaid programs for the elderly and the poor, which provide more than 60% of many hospitals and doctors revenue. With contracts covering 92% of the states doctors and 99% of its hospitals, Blue Cross can sway what patients pay for care, how good it is and when and where they have access to it. It directly insures more than 3.7 million of North Carolinas 9.4 million residents. What Blue Cross does touches every Tar Heel, member or not.
When, for example, the insurer squeezes reimbursements to doctors and hospitals, it holds down premiums, saving members money. But it leaves doctors and hospitals facing hard choices scale back their compensation or charge more to members of other insurance plans, patients who pay their own bills or local taxpayers who subsidize charity care. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the 800-pound gorilla of health care in North Carolina, says Chuck Stone, director of North Carolinians for Affordable Health Care, a lobbying arm of the 55,000-member State Employees Association. Blue Cross administers the health plan for state employees, dependents and retirees, covering about 660,000 people.
The appellation brings a smile to the face of Wilson, 57, who has heard it before. Its difficult to compute accurately Blue Cross market share, but analysts estimate that it exceeds 90% in selected segments, such as policies sold to individuals. In September, the company and the N.C. Department of Insurance announced that Blue Cross would refund more than $155 million to 215,000 individual policyholders. These arent overcharges, Wilson says, but due to health-care reform provisions that permit them. What goes unsaid is that they defuse critics claims that Blue Cross has an overwhelming market share in some segments and needs to be tightly regulated. Basically, in health care theyre a dictator, Stone says. They can dictate to health providers and individuals and companies seeking insurance their own terms and conditions. They have pretty much a monopoly.
Others take a kinder view. Blue Cross, they say, plays a vital role in controlling health costs in North Carolina, which have risen five times faster than wages since 2000. Schulman says Blue Cross and its sometimes bitter, though rarely public, spats with doctors and hospitals counterbalance the providers pricing power. We need someone in an adversarial role it would be dangerous not to have them. The insurer spends millions on community programs, and its charitable foundation has donated more than $58 million to North Carolina organizations since 2000.
Wilson is unapologetic and occasionally combative. Hard negotiations, he says, benefit members through lower premiums. Other insurers can match them or suffer the competitive consequences. Blue Cross quality-of-care initiatives prod doctors and hospitals to provide better and, ultimately for Blue Cross, cheaper care. It has pioneered pay-for-performance initiatives that reward doctors and hospitals for how well their patients do not how many procedures they perform on them.
Member satisfaction about 85%, according to an internal survey last September is his report card, he says. In shirtsleeves in a conference room at the companys headquarters, he flashes the feistiness honed in 14 years practicing law in Lenoir. He joined Blue Cross in 1995. Were the states largest health insurer, and weve obtained that position because people choose to do business with us. We have 12 ardent competitors on the ground in North Carolina going after the same business every day, and people have a choice.
But how Blue Cross achieved and maintains its dominance, friends and detractors agree, is more than a matter of compiling good deeds and keeping customers happy. How competitive its competitors really are may be more than a matter of their merit in the marketplace. Hidden, as if behind the one-way glass that clads Blue Cross iconic headquarters building, are nuanced answers that include historical pedigree, rough-and-tumble politics and shrewd, effective use of its bulk.
In Burlington, textile mills were filled with men with faded dreams and women with weathered faces. In the 30s, one of those women penned a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, breathless in its urgency. Never do we have a dime for doctor or medicine or anything else and it sure looks hard. If we get sick we have to die or get well the best we can for the doctors have got so they wont treat people without money and that is something the working class of people dont have.
Blue Cross was born of that era the Great Depression. Nobody wanted to get into the health-insurance business, says Adam Searing, director of Raleigh-based North Carolina Health Access Coalition, which lobbies for consumers. It was too risky. So a movement started where nonprofits in each state would take over a function the commercial market didnt want. Politicians, doctors and hospitals jumped on the bandwagon, with a push for a nonprofit North Carolina Blue Cross and Blue Shield the cross for hospitals, the shield for doctors modeled on a plan Texas pioneered in 1929. World War II dramatized the abysmal state of Tar Heel wellness. More than half of North Carolinians drafted were rejected because they were in such poor health, Searing says.
Blue Cross got not only nonprofit status and seed money but also charitable support and tax breaks. There was a huge push after World War II to get more people covered by insurance, Searing says. By the 50s, when for-profit insurers began seeing healthy returns from sick people, Blue Cross had a tremendous head start, and they were benefiting from direct and indirect state help, a factor that still bolsters the companys fortunes. It administers the no-bid health plan for state employees, which paid $2.6 billion in claims last year.
Wilson agrees with Searing up to a point. He concedes that the insurers sheltered history gives it special obligations. But the primary benefit it receives as a nonprofit, he says, is that it is accountable only to members. Were not chasing a 15% quarter-over-quarter return for shareholders, which means we can be a corporation with a conscience. Last year, our profit margin was about 2.1%, which wouldnt be particularly attractive to aggressive investors on Wall Street, but it puts us in a position where we can keep our products as competitive as they can be. Its not because some governmental advantage has been given to us. Today, were fully taxed and operate like every other company.
Some critics say, though, that behind Blue Cross neighborly image advertising shows grateful customers, such as members of a cancer-stricken Chapel Hill family thankful they didnt lose their home to medical bills lies a giant that doesnt hesitate to wield its heft to stagger opponents. Case in point: an odd phrase borrowed from international diplomacy.
Most favored nation status is written into contracts such as the one Blue Cross has with Wake Emergency Physicians PA, a Cary-based practice whose 72 doctors and 30 middle-level practitioners make it one of the states largest. Six years ago, the group left Blue Cross, complaining that reimbursements were too stingy. One contract provision then and now out of the insurers network for four years, its back under a new contract specifies that if another insurer negotiates a lower price, Blue Cross could force Wake Emergency to cut its rates to match. Yes, they do have that language in their agreements, says Michael Brohawn, the practices manager. He is also president of the state chapter of Englewood, Colo.-based Medical Group Management Association, which has 21,500 members nationwide.
Other providers, competitors and health-care observers say Blue Cross contracts negate any advantage that wishful giant killers gain by hard bargaining. If Im a newcomer, I try to set up my own network and negotiate lower prices so I can offer lower premiums, the State Employees Associations Stone says. I go to a provider and they say, Im willing to see your members for $40 for a standard office visit. Blue Cross comes along and says, Wait a minute you offered us $45, so now were cutting you to $40 for our patients. Thats one way they maintain their monopoly. Wilson bridles at such criticism. Id point out that that is a provision in a contract agreed to by two willing parties. Secondly, I find that approach consistent with our efforts to provide our customers the best quality at the best price. I appreciate our competitors point of view, but thats the nature of competition.
N.C. Department of Insurance spokeswoman Kristin Milam says that Blue Cross collected $4.3 billion in premiums in 2009, dwarfing the $1.3 billion of the states second-largest insurer, United Healthcare of North Carolina Inc. When a health insurer who dominates a market uses most-favored-nation clauses in contracts with health-care providers, says Tracey Lempner, United Healthcare spokeswoman in Greensboro, it can harm competition by preventing potential competitors from entering markets and result in artificially higher prices for consumers.
Most-favored-nation clauses came under fire Oct. 18 when the U.S. Justice Department sued Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. In that case, however, the Justice Department says the provisions sometimes forced hospitals to charge higher rates to Blue Cross competitors. It also claims Blue Cross of Michigan obtained most-favored-nation status by raising the prices it paid some hospitals, essentially buying protection from competition.
Surveys by the medical-group association show many Tar Heel doctors feel they get the short end of the take-it-or-leave-it contracts. About 38% responded in a 2009 poll that they have no leverage with Blue Cross, highest for any insurer in the state. Dukes Schulman who, as a caveat, mentions he recently was offered a consulting position with Blue Cross contends the flip side is that more than 60% feel that they do have a voice. But he and others note that Blue Cross influences Tar Heel health care in another way that is easily overlooked.
The people who feel they have no leverage have a choice, Schulman says. They can stay in independent practices or join one of the hospital systems. Thats market dynamics. One result is a decline in solo practitioners adversely affected by the leverage exerted by large health plans, the American Medical Society says. Another is a dramatic increase in size of health-care systems, such as Winston-Salem based Novant Health Inc., which covers nearly three dozen counties in the Carolinas and Virginia and employs more than 1,000 doctors. One implication is that more and more doctors and hospitals will join systems to gain more leverage, which will drive up the cost of care, Schulman says.
While doctors are limited in their ability to fight back antitrust laws prevent them from sharing prices or other bargaining information Blue Cross is largely unfettered, and its arsenal includes a formidable war chest. Consumers Union, the Yonkers, N.Y.-based nonprofit, recently gigged the company for amassing $1.4 billion in reserves through steady and steep rate hikes. In September, state regulators approved a 5.37% increase Blue Cross had requested 6.97% for its Blue Advantage individual coverage, the lowest rate increase in four years for that policy.
Wilson says the reserves are needed to protect members though Consumers Union called them well above industry standards and points out that Blue Cross operating margin of about 2% last year was below target. (As president and chief operating officer, his compensation in 2009 was nearly $1.8 million, including a $1.2 million bonus; CEO Greczyns was more than $4 million, $3.1 million of it bonus.) Our philosophy and business approach is to hit 3.5% to 4.5% every year, Wilson says. That kind of steady approach provides us sufficient operating margin, capital and liquidity to reinvest for the benefit of our customers, to do things like conforming to health-care reform. Thats not free. But when he announced the $155 million refund, Wilson credited it partly to reform changes due in 2014 that will reduce required reserves.
Mark Hall, a law professor and expert in health-care law at Wake Forest University, says no particular hospital or hospital system can come close to the influence Blue Cross has statewide. On one hand, the insurer can keep doctors and hospitals in places where there is in effect, no local competition from gouging patients. On the other hand, the risk is that Blue Cross will use its market clout to drive down provider rates but not pass that along to consumers.
A provision of health-care reform mandates that 85 cents of each dollar of premium go to claims for group-policy patients 80 cents in the case of individuals. Blue Cross already pays 87 cents, Wilson says. How other provisions will affect Blue Cross remain to be seen. But one thing is certain: The company and its chief executive are no strangers to the law or the political arena in which its written.
As Michael Campbell tees off on opening day of the 2005 U.S. Open in Pinehurst, most of the smart money is on Tiger Woods. He falters, and the New Zealander will wind up the winner. But Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has money riding on something else, spending $478,000 for a hospitality suite to ensure that the drinks are cold and the hors doeuvres delectable for its A-list guests from the realms of health care and politics.
In North Carolinas $60 billion-a-year medical marketplace, Blue Cross is as at home behind the closed doors of politicians and the halls of government as in doctors offices and hospitals. Wilson, who joined the insurer after a stint as general counsel for then-Gov. Jim Hunt, is unabashed about his companys political pull. Were engaged in the policymaking process, which is by its nature political. Politics is the grease that makes democracy work. Sometimes grease isnt very attractive.
If Wilson is correct, Blue Cross is the Jiffy Lube of Tar Heel health care. It has three full-time General Assembly lobbyists, the most of any corporation in the state, says Sam Watt, policy analyst at the nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research. And its involvement in the U.S. Open shows that those who oppose it do so at peril. Since 2002, Blue Cross had been locked in an effort to persuade the legislature to allow it to convert to for-profit status so it could raise additional capital from shareholders. Many doctors vehemently opposed the move some called their anti-Blue Cross campaign a death match and formed ProCare, a political committee to fight it. It was headed by two icons of Tar Heel politics: Democrat Gary Pearce, a top Hunt adviser, and Republican Carter Wrenn, former strategist for Sen. Jesse Helms.
When someone Blue Cross later told a judge it was a dissident employee sneaked documents to ProCare detailing the insurers U.S. Open politicking, Blue Cross sued Pearce and Wrenn to shut them up and remove the information from ProCares Web site. Contacted recently, both shakily declined comment, muzzled as a result of a settlement that let them off the hook but only as long as they remain silent. Do we play hardball politics? Wilson asks with a grin. I dont want to quibble over words, but I will say we are fully engaged in the political debate. Whether thats hardball is in the eyes of the beholder. But we will always do it the right way in full conformance with the law.
Even when it loses skirmishes, Blue Cross usually wins its battles. In late 2009, months before Wilson became CEO, the company went to war against provisions of the national health-care reform law that would have established public-option insurance. Though Wilson says Blue Cross supported many of the provisions that were enacted, he believed government-backed insurance would wreck private-sector insurers. Blue Cross launched what it called an educational campaign, but 20 North Carolina lawmakers protested to the N.C. attorney general that the insurer was using premiums to fight health-care reform.
Blue Cross was fined $95,000 earlier this year when the attorney general concluded that its hired boiler-room operatives made more than 100,000 calls violating a state law against computerized, robot-call campaigns. Were embarrassed a mistake was made, a contrite Wilson says. We apologize. The public option was dropped from final reform legislation, but its prospect had been a warning shot fired across Blue Cross bow.
Now Wilson has embarked on a quest, seeking what he calls aggressive evolution at Blue Cross. Part of that effort, he says, will be repairing frayed relations with providers still seething over treatment by Greczyn and his team, but he is asking aides to consider a question few have pondered since the dawn of health insurance in the 1930s: What if there were no more private insurance?
Blue Cross is steeling itself for uncertainty. It has a goal of reducing operating costs 20% $200 million a year by 2014, and earlier this year the insurer announced it would outsource some data entry to the Philippines and outside contractors, costing 90 jobs. A few months before, it had pared 145 through early-retirement packages. Other cutbacks are likely. Conversion to a for-profit the inflammatory topic of the early 2000s is permanently off the table, Wilson says, but little else is.
The goal is to obtain 20% of revenue by 2014 from nontraditional sources, such as increased dental and life insurance but also possibly workers compensation coverage and even noninsurance lines of business. With thousands of employees skilled in data handling and human resources, Wilson says, Blue Cross might consider such ventures as payroll management and various HR functions for other companies. Or managing practices for physicians.
Were telling our people there are no dumb ideas here. Were going to stay close to our core. Were not going to get into the used-car business. But were going to examine everything that seems reasonable to help diversify. As with playing politics, which he considers no more than a CEOs duty to protect his company, Wilson sees raising troubling questions about its future as his obligation to its 3.7 million members and more then 4,000 employees.
I can imagine a scenario that brings the financial collapse of not only this company but the insurance industry. Im not panicked, but with reform were sailing undiscovered waters, and we cant foresee every storm that might be out there. Hes bent upon weathering that storm, but if the tempest casts Blue Cross upon terra incognita, its better that the company be an agile, aggressive gorilla than a once dominant, now doomed dinosaur.

subset: commoncrawl


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sahar ghazi
Knight Fellows on "Re-Engineering Journalism"
One of the hottest debates inside newsrooms and media studies programs the past few years is whether journalism itself has any real future left, given the widespread disruptions sweeping through the traditional media industry, including the massive layoffs of newspaper reporters.
In light of this, the 45-year-old Knight Fellowship Program at Stanford has transformed itself from a mid-career sabbatical opportunity into an incubator of entrepreneurial ideas that just might help journalism better adapt and survive.
The current 20 Knight Fellows, 12 of whom come from overseas, presented their visions late last week at an event called "Re-Engineering Journalism."
Jigar Mehta, a video journalist affiliated with The New York Times, created a crowd-sourced, interactive documentary called "18 Days in Egypt," which encouraged Egyptians to contibute videos, photos, e-mails and tweets from their cellphones during their historic uprising earlier this year.


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- NicaraguaHousingFunding via MiCredito
Nubia Del C...NicaraguaHousingFunding via MiCredito
Dora MariaNicaraguaServicesFunding via MiCredito
Dora Luz
Update on Dora LuzDora Luz is a young thirty-one year old mother. She lives in Laureles Norte, a neighbourhood that is a bit dangerous.
She is a hard-working woman who is attempting to make some progress, together with her family. This is why she spends all day walking the streets to sell coffee, bread and pastries. She does this so her children can study and make do by themselves. Her husband is a bricklayer and he helps her to cover household expenses.
The loan that she is requesting is to begin constructing an exterior wall for their home that will provide her children with greater security and stability.
Previous Loan DetailsDoña Dora continues her street sales and her sales from her home. Starting early in the morning she sells her rich, hot coffee, coffee with milk, bread with butter and she makes small breakfasts such as beans and rice with cheese and enchiladas which support her family with better sales. Her husb... More from Dora Luz's previous loan »
Additional Information
About AFODENICThis loan is administered by AFODENIC, La Asociación para el Fomento al Desarrollo Nicaragua, a Kiva Field Partner based in Managua, Nicaragua. Founded in 1999, AFODENIC was created to promote the socio-economic and cultural development of sectors that are excluded from commercial banking. Integrating economic and human resources, AFODENIC offers affordable and adaptable financial services aimed at strengthening the family unit of their clients, who include students, producers, and micro- and small entrepreneurs from rural and urban areas. AFODENIC is a socially responsible institution engaged in society and making a positive impact on its professional partners and communities.
Supporting a borrower through AFODENIC contributes to the pursuit of innovation in mitigating poverty in Nicaragua. Visit AFODENIC's partner page for more information.
Concurrent and Successive Loans
Our Field Partners often work with borrowers over a series of loans as the borrowers build credit, take out bigger loans, and expand their businesses. In order to make it easier for our Field Partners to post loans for borrowers who have been listed on Kiva before, we allow them to post successive and concurrent loans for their Kiva borrowers. This means that our Field Partners are able to post a borrower's second, third, etc., loan on Kiva without having to re-enter all of the borrower's information.
This borrower has been listed on Kiva before, so you'll see an updated loan description, as well as excerpts of the original descriptions from earlier loans. Most borrowers take out loans consecutively, meaning that they receive a second loan after having repaid the first. However, sometimes our Field Partners give out concurrent loans, allowing borrowers to take out one primary loan and a secondary "add-on" loan along with it. These "add-on" loans are typically smaller than the borrower's primary loan and serve a different purpose. Because Field Partners can now post loans as successive and concurrent loans, you will be able to track borrower progress over time and see the various ways a borrower is working with our Field Partners through funds from Kiva's lenders.
About Housing Loans
Many poor families cannot afford housing that meets their needs. When you make a housing loan on Kiva, you give people access to flexible capital to obtain or improve their homes. Better housing means better health, sanitation, and even educational outcomes for children. A house can also be much more for entrepreneurs who run businesses out of their homes. In this way, housing and small business loans on Kiva share a common purpose: to alleviate poverty and enable families to enjoy more stable lives.
About Nicaragua
71View loans »
Success!! The loan was 100% repaid
- Repayment Term
- 15 months (Additional Information)
- Repayment Schedule
- Monthly
- Pre-Disbursed:
- May 23, 2013
- Listed
- Jun 17, 2013
- Currency Exchange Loss:
- Possible
- Ended:
- Jul 17, 2014


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WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- It's not just the NSA - local cops are mining the cell phone data to reveal the location, identity and call information of hundreds of people at a time -- whether they're suspected of criminal activity or not.
Police in DC, Fairfax Co., Montgomery Co. buy cellular spy gear
In a joint investigation with Gannett television stations across the country and USA Today, WUSA9 obtained documents that show police in Fairfax County, Montgomery County and the Metropolitan Police in DC have purchased cell phone spy gear capable of tracking your whereabouts - even if you're not the one being investigated.
Click here to see the national story on local police using cellular spy gear.
Spy gear called "Cell Site Simulator"
It's called a "Cell Site Simulator," and different models are manufactured under names like: "Stingray," "Kingfish," and "Amberjack".
MORE: How Technology Has Solved Crimes
WUSA9 obtained documents showing area police have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on cell site simulator equipment, software updates and FBI training.
A Stingray device can operate from inside a vehicle and hook up to a laptop. It mimics the signal that would come from a real cell phone tower, and tricks nearby devices into communicating with it, which reveals their locations, and possibly more.
Privacy concerns
Alan Butler works with EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which alerts the public to potential invasions of privacy.
Butler says he's seen, in a number of cases, where police have been able to triangulate a subject's location within a few feet -- without a search warrant.
MORE: Examples of Cell Phone Data Abuses
"Where you are at different points in time can reveal a great deal about what people are doing, their associations," Butler says. "That can reveal that you're going to the doctor's office. Or it can reveal whether you're going to church or whether you're going to a rally."
With few rules now, Congressman Dennis Ross says it will take legislation and the courts to develop standards.
"Does the data of your location, is that confidential?" asked Ross, a Republican. "Because you're broadcasting your location as if you're shouting out something to the public, and I think this is, now the Supreme Court's going to visit this, I think it's something that we as citizens need to be concerned about."
Fairfax County Police among mum agencies
Law enforcement agencies are tight-lipped about the use of this technology. No one from the local police would go on camera with WUSA9.
When we asked the Fairfax County Police whether they own and use Stingray equipment, their public information officer responded, via email, "I do not believe that we have even acknowledged that we have or use the device you are asking about."
WUSA9 found Fairfax County documents touting the Stingray's ability to "locate crime victims, crime suspects, wanted persons, and those in need of emergency services" and approving over $126,000 to "enhance the Stingray cell phone tracking system" with a system upgrade.
Stingrays in DC, Montgomery County
A procurement record from Montgomery County in 2012 shows that they spent more than $180,000 for "upgrades and enhancements to Harris Stingray/Kingfish system." Montgomery County officials ignored our request for comment.
DC's Metropolitan Police denied our requests for an interview, but WUSA9 found purchase orders from 2009, 2010 and 2013 for Stingray devices and equipment -- including their contract with the manufacturer of the products, Harris Corporation. As recently as March of this year, MPDC spent $107,786 for system upgrades and training on tracking civilian cell phones.
To locate their targets, the technology scoops up the data of hundreds of unintended cell users too. There are no known standards requiring police to erase data collected from those not suspected of criminal activity -- private information from citizens like you.
Butler, from EPIC, tells us that the only foolproof way to keep your cell phone data secret is to turn your phone off - or stop carrying one altogether.


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The mother kneels in the snow, cheerfully posing beside her bundled up daughter, behind the bloody, dead caribou the mom just shot.
Maybe not your typical family photo. But that's Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the disarming mom who's not afraid to carry arms or use them.
Palin would be a heartbeat away from the presidency if she and Republican nominee John McCain win in November. She was introduced to the country by McCain as very much the woman in that photo: tough and loving. She's the ethics-protecting, belt-tightening mom, who easily juggles family and her government job.
A visitor to her office can see Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five, as she coos to baby Trig and changes his diapers. A lush bear pelt shot by her father is draped over the couch and a three-foot king crab shell is perched on a table. Daughters Piper, Willow and Bristol stroll in and out, and crayon drawings are tucked beneath her glass desktop.
She switches back and forth between mother and governor without a blink. But details of her life that have emerged under the glare of national attention show that she's a complicated politician. She's disarming and accessible for some, vindictive and hard toward others. She has many loyal friends, tremendous hometown support, and a few fierce enemies.
This week, her lawyer is scrambling to sidetrack an ethics investigation into whether she abused her power as governor to pressure officials to fire her sister's ex-husband, a state trooper who had been disciplined for drinking beer in his patrol car, illegally shooting a moose and firing a Taser at his 11-year-old stepson.
The McCain campaign boasts of her pork-cutting, but up close it looks more like a trim. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. She boasts of rejecting plans to build the notorious "Bridge to Nowhere," a $389 million bridge to an island with 50 residents. But only after she said yes did she say no, rejecting the locally-popular project after it was ridiculed and Congress cut some of the funds. She hung onto $27 million to build the approach road to the bridge.
She's an opponent of government financing of sex-education programs in Alaska. When she announced last week that her 17-year-old unwed daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant, she said having a baby would make her daughter "grow up faster than we had ever planned."
Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, and moved to Wasilla, Alaska, as an infant with her parents, Chuck Heath, a school teacher, and Sally Heath, a school secretary. Raised in a Pentecostal church, she has called herself "as pro-life as any candidate can be."
Like many Alaskans and other rural Americans, Palin was raised hunting and fishing. She played flute in the junior high band (and years later in a beauty pageant.) In high school. Palin played basketball and ran cross country while leading her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
She was a roaming student, switching from junior colleges, private institutions and public schools first in Hawaii, and later in Alaska and Idaho. During those college years, she did make one electoral bid: at 20, in a red strapless gown with her hair flipped back, Palin won Miss Wasilla and came in second at the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant, taking home the Miss Congeniality award.
Yes she smoked pot. And yes she inhaled, she says. No, she does not support legalization.
After graduating from the University of Idaho with a degree in journalism, she covered hockey matches and basketball games for two Anchorage television stations.
She married her high school sweetheart Todd, a North Slope oil field worker, and quickly started a family. She gave birth to their first son Track less than eight months later. Sarah worked for his family's commercial fishing business.
Palin entered politics in her hometown in 1992, running for City Council in Wasilla, population around 7,000. There was no police department and a dusty airstrip ran through the middle of town. Ten years later, after two terms on the council and two as mayor, Palin the sports fan had left her mark. The airstrip is now a lush park, complete with skateboard ramps, BMX track, a large playground and an Armed Forces memorial. There's a new hockey rink and sports center, and the main roads are lined with standard strip mall stores — Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot.
When Palin was elected mayor in 1996, she received 651 votes — the loser, a nine-year incumbent, received 413. It was the biggest municipal election turnout ever, according to the local paper.
She told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper at the time, "I knew people agreed with my message of conservatism but I didn't know if that message would reach them."
John Stein, her opponent, said Palin had brought into the campaign his "alleged stance on gun control and abortion, even why his wife had a different last name than him," the paper reported.
Palin promised to cut government. In office, part of her refashioning included a loyalty test, in which she asked the city's top managers to resign unless they would work with her new administration.
"Some of the things I'm doing, it's obvious I'm not running for Miss Congeniality. I'm running the city," she reportedly said at the time.
Police Chief Irl Stambaugh, who had supported Palin's opponent, lasted several months before he was fired. Palin denied that the firing was politically motivated, saying only, "You know in your heart when someone is supportive of you."
Stambaugh sued, accusing her of contract violation, wrongful termination and gender discrimination. He said his contract forbade his being terminated without cause. A federal judge in 2000 dismissed his lawsuit, which sought more than $500,000 in damages, saying the former police chief served at the mayor's discretion and could be terminated for nearly any reason.
The town, at least most of it, didn't hold it against Palin.
"She truly listened to what we wanted in our town and she got it done," said Richard Clayton, owner of the local bike shop who for 20 years has been equipping the Palins with everything from single speeds for Track to handlebar streamers for Piper.
In her private life, Palin is a self described "hockey Mom" — a role other moms at the Wasilla rink say is something like a soccer mom but more rugged. She needs that trait: Her baby has Down syndrome, her oldest son heads to Iraq in a week as a U.S. soldier.
Although her focus has been politics, the Palins have been involved in a series of small businesses, often with partners. These included a carwash in Anchorage — the Palins had a 20 percent stake — which last year was issued a certificate of involuntary dissolution by the state after the owners failed to pay state fees. They've also owned a snowmobile business and in 2005, Palin also registered the name for a marketing and consulting startup company: Rouge Cou, translated from French to "red neck." It never operated as a business.
Her salary as governor is $125,000 a year, and her husband — who twice registered for the Alaskan Independence Party, a states' rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state — earned about $40,000 last year for winning a 1,900 mile snowmobile race. Their lakeside home, appraised at about $500,000, is down a long, dirt driveway with a brand new "No Trespassing" sign posted at the entrance. A seaplane sits at the dock, and large windows open up to the spectacular views of Lake Lucille and the tree-covered hills beyond.
Last week when Palin was introduced to the nation she was described as a straight shooter.
But some of her positions, and her actions, are certainly more complex than they've been described, like getting rid of the governor's jet.
"That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay," she told cheering Republican delegates at their convention last week. True, but she left out that it never sold on eBay. And so state staffers had to broker a deal with a buyer.
Her role as head of state's National Guard has been touted as giving her national defense experience. But in fact when the national guard is called to defend the nation, the governor relinquishes all authority to federal officials.
As governor, Palin called for environmental protection in Alaska, but she's opposed the U.S. government's listing of a variety of animals as endangered, including the polar bear and the beluga whale, both of which inhabit areas also rich in oil and natural gas.
Alaskans here, for the most part, remain proud of their anti-abortion, conservative Christian, gun shooting governor. They're largely unfazed by current charges against her of abuse of power, and they're frankly offended by all the attention paid to Palin's pregnant teenage daughter and her suddenly announced fiance, Levi Johnston.
Alaskans like her enthusiasm for more drilling for oil, and especially the $3,269 investment rebate and resource refund checks they're going to receive from the state this month. Just about everyone — including Palin — wants a natural gas pipeline built through their state.
Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla local who grew up with Palin and whose critical essay about her has circulated internationally in the media and on the Web, said her appointment is stunning.
"People are mind boggled to think that a local girl could be the president of the United States if the Republican ticket is successful and something could happen to this 72-year-old candidate who has had four bouts of melanoma."


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Goodnight, hoppers; goodnight, hustlers everywhere
Television | The Wire in its fifth and last season is mercilessly consistent in its vision of a fallen world
"Goodnight, hoppers; goodnight, hustlers everywhere" Continued...
The grittiness of some historical accounts is one way the Bible differs from other ancient scriptures. Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim religious writings, for example, claim that holy men such as The Buddha and Muhammad were perfect. Many biblical heroes, though, sinned early and often.
Criminal justice professor Mark Jones brings this out in Criminals of the Bible: 25 Case Studies of Biblical Crimes and Outlaws (FaithWalk, 2006). Jacob's sons alone-the forebears of Israel's 12 tribes-had a rap sheet as long as a scroll, with fornication, murder, human trafficking, and prostitution prominently displayed. Moses, who brought down from Mount Sinai tablets that said, "Do not murder," was a murderer.
Israel's kings engaged in war crimes, adultery and conspiracy to commit murder (by David, the man after God's own heart), rape, treason, polygamy, and subornation of perjury. The Bible records such events and we're supposed to read about them, for "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).
We're also supposed to follow the apostle Paul's injunction in Philippians 4:8: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." And therein lies what could be a contradiction: Despite the teaching that all Scripture is useful, should we cut out or skip over the radically dishonorable, impure and unlovely history on many of its pages?
Since the Bible does not contradict itself, we know that Paul could not possibly have meant that we are to think about only what is commendable and excellent. Had he averted his eyes from evil, he could not even have walked through Athens and other cities, and then criticized the sin he saw. So let me suggest another interpretation of Philippians 4:8: We should meditate on God's excellencies and praise Him-and we should think about those even more lovingly in juxtaposition to the sin around us.
In short, the heavens show the glory of God, the streets display the sinfulness of man, and we learn from both. That's why WORLD, striving for biblical objectivity, covers sin without approving of it. That's why it's right for novelists to write about adultery, as long as they do not lie by praising it as true romance. That's why it's OK for directors to include murder as long as they don't glamorize the murderers, whether Bonnie and Clyde or Che Guevara. All can show, as Proverbs explains, that he who digs a pit falls into it.
The line between showing enough to make it real, and so much that we will merely be coarsened, is sometimes fine-but, in general, we need to keep our eyes open because our hearts are naturally cauterized, deadened by sin. We should not miss the tragedy of humans living like animals when we are really the sons and daughters of the King.
And that leads me to the most difficult review I've ever written for this magazine. The difficulty is not because the television series under review-HBO's The Wire, which has the DVD of its fifth and last season scheduled for release on Aug. 12-lacks critical laud and honor.
The Wire's fourth season received a 98 from Metacritic, which gathers reviews from published news sources: That's its highest score ever for a television show.
Time, Entertainment Weekly, Slate, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Philadelphia Daily News are among the publications that called The Wire the best show on television. Salon called it "the best TV show of all time." And US Weekly in March quoted Barack Obama calling The Wire the best show on TV.
These folks are rapturous in part because The Wire is a cop show that consistently transcends cop shows. Sure, it's about the war between Baltimore police and drug dealers, with dockworkers, politicians, teachers, and journalists more often part of the problem than the solution-but it's the opposite of the shows that wrap up everything at the end of an hour. Instead, The Wire is about seemingly intractable urban problems.
The Wire goes beneath the surface and mines the worldview best expressed through most of Ecclesiastes: "All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted." The Wire shows us public schools that capture truants once a month just so they can maximize their funding, and police departments that doctor statistics so as to maintain the illusion of progress against crime.
The "wire" in question is a wiretap of a Baltimore drug ring, but the series title implies that viewers are listening in on an unfamiliar world, seeing and hearing what we usually do not. Maybe The Wire is also about walking a tightrope where we may fall off on one side into utter cynicism or on the other into unrealistic idealism. The show never received high ratings because, instead of signaling plot turns three blocks in advance, it demands that viewers pay attention. Ecclesiastes: "For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them."
The Wire regularly shows the difference between appearance and reality: Police hoping that bureaucrats will pay attention make up crimes, and reporters looking for advancement make up stories. Those who are wise realize they're seeing only part of the picture. As one of the good guys from season five, newspaper editor Augustus Haynes, says, "If you want to look at who these kids really are, you have to look at the parenting or lack of it in the city, the drug culture, the economics of these neighborhoods. It's like you're up on the corner of a roof and you're showing some people how a couple shingles came loose. Meanwhile, a hurricane wrecked the rest of the --- house."
That last sentence brings to the fore a major problem of the series, and the one that forces me to fence off this recommendation. The Wire has violence, sex, and bad language. People are shot in the head-although not in glamorizing slow motion, as in a Sam Peckinpah film. Some people are shown in sexually indecent exposure, and several times adultery seems to go along with adulthood. Either the violence or the sex would be sufficient to make many WORLD readers want no part of this series, and for some to question whether anyone should watch.
The violence and sex are periodic, but the series has one constant: obscene language. Criminals assault English in virtually every sentence, and police aren't much better. Dockworkers, reporters, and others also kick back a few, partly because some spend many evenings drunk, but in large part because this, realistically, is their common verbal currency. Is the realism worth it? Some WORLD readers again will say no.
For me-and I know many will disagree-some enormous positives balance those large detriments. The Wire reflects better than anything else I've ever seen on television the teaching of Ecclesiastes about "the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them." Newspapers lack money for investigative reporting. Police lack money for overtime or even for cars that aren't over-the-hill. Drug dealers, though, commonly bring out fat rolls and casually peel off $100 bills.
The series is full of memorable characters like drug-snitch Bubbles, stick-up man Omar, and teachers forced to live and die by test scores. It includes myriads of fleeting but memorable moments, including the look on a boy's face as he realizes his complicity in murder. Those of us who have read Goodnight, Moon to our children grasp the poignancy of a detective holding a child up to the window and saying goodnight, moon but also goodnight, hoppers; goodnight, hustlers; good night, scammers.
The show moralizes only minimally, but the plots convey lessons: one person at a time, one day at a time. Think locally, don't obsess globally. Reporters should enjoy their work on the Baltimore Sun and not plot a move to The Washington Post. Policemen can save one child and put to the side nightmares about thousands. The Right Stuff among police is honest, grimy detective work, and the same is true in newspaper work-including getting the grammar right.
A few moments of hope do emerge. A gangbanger, taken into a loving but firm home, becomes a good student. An ex-convict sets up a boxing gym and becomes a youth leader. A heroin user cleans up his act. A crooked cop goes straight. But tangled rules constrain judges from doing what is right, and ambition turns politicians from ideals to deals. Ecclesiastes: "I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness."
The Wire is mercilessly consistent in that vision. Petty larceny on street corners parallels grand larceny in corner suites. Uninspired police, instead of pounding the pavement, flip through porn magazines or create doll furniture. As bad as things are, the powers in every institution seek to keep things the same and even to create the myth of "back in the day" when things were better. Ecclesiastes: "Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart."
The Wire takes no easy ways out. It doesn't turn the press into heroes: Uninspired journalists don't do investigative work and don't even chase fires, but watch them out the windows of their offices, from a distance. It refuses to embrace either racism or reverse racism: A black death in the "wrong ZIP code" is less media-significant than a white one, but a corrupt black state senator steals from all and plays the race card when caught.
The sadness of The Wire is that "the game"-drug trafficking, but in a larger sense the established pattern of institutional relationships-goes on and on. One drug lord succeeds another, one "corner boy" succeeds another, a new stick-up artist replaces one who dies, and on it goes. Ecclesiastes: "A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever."
Many television shows are non-biblical or anti-biblical. They say that man without God is fine-but as former Baltimorean Whittaker Chambers noted, "Man without God is a beast, and never more beastly than when he is most intelligent about his beastliness." The hopelessness of The Wire conveys to us a biblical truth about our condition, and television drama does not tell us how God has fixed and is fixing the problem.


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By Detroit Free Press Staff
Animal lovers worldwide have been moved by a photo (above) showing an affectionate moment between Wisconsin resident John Unger and his 19-year-old rescue dog, Schoep, as they swam together in Lake Superior.
The photographer, Hannah Stonehouse Hudson, is friends with Unger and set out to capture the bond between the man and his dog. Schoep has arthritis and will fall asleep during a soothing evening swim with his companion.
"My specialty is documenting relationships, whether it's a wedding or a man and his dog," Hudson told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
When she posted the photo to her Facebook page last week, the response was overwhelming. So far, it's received more than 230,000 likes, 25,000 comments and 134,000 shares.
"I know this is not about me -- it's about a guy who loves his dog -- but I am in complete awe that my photo has had such an impact," Hudson told the paper.
Since the photo went viral, donations have streamed in to help cover Schoep's veterinary care.
Detroit Free Press


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Polishing A Classic Truck - A Polisher Named SiouxWritten by on June 29, 2011 Rub Out Paint like a Pro
Whether it's the final step to completing a $30,000 custom paintjob or saving an oxidized $299.95 Earl Scheib special done long ago, the task is always handled with a polisher, pad, rubbing compound, and some polish. In the past, rubbing out a truck's paintjob required a lot of skill and experience. Kids these days just don't know how easy they've got it. If they want to take up photography, all they have to do is buy a digital camera, and everything a pro had to learn in college, the digital does automatically. It's the same story if a person wants to do a little TIG welding. In this day and age there are TIG welders with simplified settings that make it foolproof to lay down a flawless stack of dimes. Back when I was a teenager seeking how to become a custom painter, learning the ropes was a guarded process that few established custom painters would share with a newbie. Pretty much everything I knew about the trade was learned through a process of personal trial and error that took years to perfect. When it came to the final finish, I learned a good wheelman could cover the tracks of a not-so-experienced painter. The saying back in the day was if you don't get runs, you're not trying hard enough, so I taught myself how to wheel-out some real rippers.
Nowadays when it comes to color sanding and rubbing a paintjob thanks to modern technology the learning curve isn't nearly as steep. The manufacturers in the automotive refinish industry have gone to great lengths to uncomplicate the process.
We'll start with the polisher first. When I joined the trade, the top guns used a Sioux, Black and Decker, or a Skil. In the early '70s I didn't have the money to buy a Sioux, so I went to a distressed freight store and bought something called a Makita for a lot less. I'd never heard of the brand and didn't have much faith in it. I figured by the time the thing wore out I would be able to afford something better. As the decades have passed into the present day, my two-speed 9207SPB Makita sander/polisher has proved to be a top-quality industrial grade tool. For the DIY guy, Makita has introduced the 9227C; it's every bit as beefy as the 9207SPB, plus it offers a six-position RPM switch that practically eliminates the need to develop RPM sensing instincts only acquired with years of experience.
The polishing pad has also been reinvented in recent times. Where two grades of wool bonnets were once the only choice, a multitude of foam pads and blended wool products have been introduced. Lake Country Manufacturing, in Hartland, Wisconsin, offers a complete line of premium quality pads. The emphasis should always be placed on obtaining premium; inferior quality products are a waste of time, money, and ultimately produce unacceptable results.
Third in the chain of what's needed to do the job like a pro is selecting premium quality compounds, cleaners, polishes, and waxes. Starting with heavy-duty rubbing compound to fine grit compound, the folks at Mothers offer premixed formulas that can't be beat. A premixed formula eliminates guessing the concentration is right and strict quality control ensures no granules of grit larger than necessary are present. Remember, just one little extra-large rock in the mix, and you'll be grinding in deep scratches you'll never be able to remove with a factory-contaminated brand of compound.
From start to finish, the bottom line to producing a job you'll be proud of is choosing the best products available. If you are apprehensive that your first try will cause damage to your truck's finish, practice on your wife's Mercedes or the neighbor's new Cadillac. CCT
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My '56 Black & Decker shod with a Lake Country 4-inch rotary (5/8-inch by 11 threads) backing plate. Thanks to less bite, 4-inch pads are less risky to use on a rotary polisher (wheel) and get into tighter areas.Super lightweight with many years of reliable power built in: At front the six-speed 9227C Makita with a 600- to 3,000-rpm range. In rear the 9207SPB Makita two-speed with a 2,000- to 3,800-rpm range.The first step to learning paint condition is a good wash with Mothers pure wool mitt and California Gold car wash soap. Hose the entire truck down with water, and then get busy with the wool mitt.Mothers Ultra Soft drying towel soaks up water and doesn't create friction burns like synthetic and natural chamois.Using Mothers clay in a straight–line motion with Showtime as a lubricant is a safer method than starting with rubbing compound to clean the paint's surface.Followed with a Mothers Ultra Soft Quick Detail towel to buff the paint until it's completely dry. Tear the Mothers tag off first as it might lightly scratch the paint.The best ultra-fine wet or dry sandpaper comes from 3M. Mothers Heavy-Duty compound removes 1,200 grade and finer sand scratches.A little car wash mixed with water lubricates the wet or dry sandpaper. A back and forth straight-line motion prevents sandpaper-caused swirl marks.
There's several different ways to go: foam, wool, or blended wool. This Lake Country hook & loop tufted foam increases the buffing surface over nine times versus the contact of a similar size pad. Foam fingers improve airflow and reduce heat and polish buildup, resulting in a swirl-free finish.I prefer loading Lake Country's purple foamed wool pad with three light dabs as opposed to applying globs of rubbing compound directly to the paint. Mothers rubbing compound removes 1500 grade scratches and finer; Mothers heavy-duty compound for 1,200 grade and finer.First I spread the rubbing compound on at a very low speed, 600 rpm with taps of the trigger to prevent slinging the compound everywhere in sight.For the best results at 1,000 to 1,500 rpm, it's critical to look right into the area that's being worked on and watch the wheel as it polishes.Non-clearcoat finishes color the wool, and clearcoats build up a layer of what looks to be dried rubbing compound.As soon as I'm finished using a pad, I wash it out with water. This eliminates leaving tiny clumps of dried compound that will scratch future jobs if undetected.To dry the wool pad I load it back onto the Makita, and spin it at 3,000 rpm until dry. The last step is to groom the wool's nap vertical by hand.To prevent rubbing through the edges of the paint, or anywhere the wheel shouldn't touch, I apply 3M blue masking tape.
To easily center a polishing pad, Makita provides a plastic tube that inserts into the backing plate. The polishing pad is then guided perfectly into place.The orange Lake Country CCS pad with special German foam is for light cutting and scratch removal. To prevent scratching, never use a foam dry. Always prime it with Mothers Showtime before use.After the Carnuba Cleaner Wax dries to a haze, using a Quick Detail towel to buff it off will bring the finish to a shine.Again priming the foam first, Mothers Machine Glaze works great on a Lake Country black finessing pad. The closed cells reduce surface tension, and slow the rate of absorption. The CCS tiny pockets gradually release polish.As a milder first step, Mothers Carnauba Cleaner Wax on an orange pad can be used before trying the rubbing compound to correct the paint's finish.The ultimate touch going beyond where most detailers stop is to use Lake Country's Crimson ultra-fine finishing pad at 600 rpm to apply the final coat of wax. Allow wax to dry and then buff to a shine with Mothers Ultra Soft polishing cloth.


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- Differential Diagnosis
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By rockymount (Pueblo West, Co) on (Feb 5, 2013)
Comments: The monitor works better if you have already established a decent cardio rate (broken a sweat) before donning. Otherwise heartrate monitoring machines (auto mode)will never let you break a sweat because it will not be able to read a heart rate. Try wetting sensors before exercising. Do not try to adjust the monitor while on a machine. Tricky at best. Good battery life.
Now you can get a more effective treadmill workout with this convenient accessory. Exercise in your target heart-rate zone by adding the hands-free AccuRate™ Wireless Heart Rate Monitor to your treadmill. Provides fast, accurate pulse readings and transmits the data directly to your treadmill's console. Convenient, accurate and easy to install, it is compatible with most of our treadmills. If you are unsure of your treadmill model or want to determine compatibility, call 1-888-308-9618.
Please see the linked Prop 65 Warning for this product.


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|No-Till practices
No-till best way to conserve moisture
By Mark Watson
Thankfully we finally received a blanket of wet snow across our growing region. There is also more snow in the forecast which should help us to recover from the prolonged drought we've experienced since last growing season. This welcome moisture will begin to add to our soil moisture profile for the upcoming growing season.


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You've reached a sold out collectible that is no longer available.
Limited Edition
Sideshow Collectibles is proud to present this Collector's Edition of Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope featuring an in-depth, illustrated look at the phenomenon that is San Diego Comic-Con International. Oscar-nominated director--and fanboy himself--Morgan Spurlock captures the magic and madness of Comic-Con in an upcoming documentary, and this companion book is a photographic celebration of the convention's heart and soul: the fans who attend in costume, in droves, with their kids, with their parents...and with love, awe, and admiration in their hearts.
One of the entertainment industry's most exhilarating, eccentric, and influential events of the year, San Diego Comic-Con International celebrates the weird, wacky, and wonderful world of TV, movies, graphic novels, and...let's not forget, comics.
Hundreds of stunning photos capture the whimsy and wonder, and are accompanied by interviews with many of the celebrities who attend, as much as to promote their projects as to be a part of the fandom: Kevin Smith, Seth Green, Todd McFarlane, Bill Plympton, Guillermo del Toro, Ellen Page, Bryan Singer, Eli Roth, Kenneth Branagh, Seth Rogan, Matt Groening, Ron Perlman, Nathan Fillion, Olivia Wilde, Gerard Way, Frank Miller, Tara McPherson.
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Access to vast new supplies of American natural gas from shale deposits is one of the most exciting domestic energy developments in decades, particularly for the business of chemistry—energy policies must enable access to this immense supply of natural gas while protecting the environment.
Policy Background
American chemistry relies on abundant, affordable natural gas as a source of energy and as a raw material, or "feedstock," for countless chemical products. The relatively low price of natural gas gives U.S. manufacturers an advantage over competitors in other parts of the world that rely on a more expensive oil-based feedstock.
Growth in domestic natural gas production reduces prices and creates a more stable supply. It is estimated that U.S. shale deposits contain 100 years of natural gas supply. This shale gas is a "game changer" that is rejuvenating America's chemistry industry – and can strengthen U.S. manufacturing, boost exports, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and improve our nation's energy security.
The process of extracting natural gas from shale deposits includes hydraulic fracturing, during which fluids and solids are pumped into the well. Proper government oversight and product stewardship is needed to protect the surrounding environment.
ACC's Policy Position
A comprehensive energy strategy must increase the production of domestic energy supplies while implementing balanced regulatory policies that protect our environment.
To maximize the national benefits of shale gas, energy policy must avoid undue restrictions on natural gas supplies from shale deposits.
State oversight of hydraulic fracturing is appropriate since state governments have the knowledge to oversee the process in their jurisdictions.
The use of various products of chemistry in hydraulic fracturing must be transparent while protecting proprietary information.
Government policies should not undermine the availability of domestic natural gas.
The business of chemistry is at the heart of manufacturing—access to shale gas is dramatically boosting America's competitiveness and can help meet our nation's goals for increased exports and new jobs.
ACC's energy advocacy and awareness campaign is underway.
» Learn more
©2005 – 2016 American Chemistry Council, Inc. The ACC mark, Responsible Care®, the hands logo mark, CHEMTREC®, TRANSCAER®, and americanchemistry.com are registered service marks of the American Chemistry Council, Inc.


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He's been called the "Eosphoros of the Reformation", but how did he come to realise that it was the Bible which spoke against papal authority above government authority?
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There are whole books to be written on the subject of John Wycliffe's early Reformations, and even the Wikipedia article on the conflict is pretty substantial. As such, this is just a brief summary of three influences (in chronological order) that should be understood:
This doesn't mean Wycliffe's own writings escaped the notice of the 15th Century Popes, however. In 1415, Wycliffe's remains were exhumed and burned, and he was excommunicated. Still, the relative disorder of the period gave Wycliffe space to write.


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I am creating accounts via soap from java. Here is my code (it works):
But I need to set the COS to the accounts and I cant do it. I tried something like this but it didnt work. Either I couldnt set firstname and lastnameCode:Element request = Element.XMLElement.mFactory .createElement(AdminService.CREATE_ACCOUNT_REQUEST); request.addAttribute(AdminService.E_NAME, name,Element.DISP_CONTENT); request.addAttribute(AdminService.E_PASSWORD, password, Element.DISP_CONTENT); Element response = trans.invoke(request);
In soap-admin.txt file I didnt found anything about thisCode:request.addAttribute(AdminService.E_COS, cos,Element.DISP_CONTENT); or request.addAttribute(AdminService.E_COS, cos,Element.DISP_ELEMENT);
What can I do?


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Thanks Bob. Didn't know the frames were so different.Scott
Hi Scotty!I had a longer test ride with the c5 and was impressed by the marvelous handling at lower speeds. To improve stability at higher speeds i would not start with a steering damper, there are less radical measures to achive this goal. The tires play a decicive role, and I don´t think much of these avon gums. Maybe the US-registration laws are loose enough th allow different sizes but changig to anouther brand will certainly make a big difference.
The AM26 IS a very good tire. I find it teriffic on wet or dry pavement and the handling really feels great on my bike (an '06 iron barrel). The only thing I don't like them on is unpaved surfaces. They have a very good reputation around here, but they are not everyone's cup of tea (what tire is?).Eamon
Hey Bob, think there would be room for a 19" rear wheel on the C5? I think the 19" front with 18" rear is what you want now knowing that the frame is different but just curious.Also, any thoughts on adding a steering damper to the C5 as is? It only seems to get waggly when you don't pay attention, a steering damper could minimize those errant rider inputs. Having grown up with air cooled VWs I could see trying to tack one of those on to the lower triple, maybe hide it under the tank if there's room.Scott
Eamon - I don't even want to TALK to you about handling on an Iron Barrel bike compared to a C5 - Hahaha! You could ride YOUR bike on a gravel road with bald tires in the rain as fast as it would go - with one hand! The old Iron Barrel is one STABLE platform for a bike. It was made for roads where there ARE no roads .... I STILL prefer my old Iron Barrel for the "Famous ScooterBob Bobblehead Toodle About the Countryside" because I don't have to REALLY pay attention ...... Hahaha!
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Learn to use box-and-whisker plots to interpret and understand data.
A list of student-submitted discussion questions for Applications of Box-and-Whisker Plots.
To build a step-by-step description of a sequence for analysis, discussion, or communication using a Sequence Diagram.
To activate prior knowledge, make personal connections, reflect on key concepts, encourage critical thinking, and assess student knowledge on the topic prior to reading using a Quickwrite.
Connect your daily life experiences with specific points in a reading using a Double Entry Diary.
Students will use data about the top Universities that produce NBA players and create a box-and-whisker plot from that data. In the extension activity there are follow-up questions that are aligned to the Common Core.
Learn about the decline in coral coverage of the Great Barrier Reef.


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How to use
the Beer Finder
• Enter your zip code or address (an address is required for directions).
• Choose which locations you would like to visit (bars, restaurants, retail outlets, all).
• Select which beer or beers you are looking for (you can also choose our entire portfolio).
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Charlaine Harris's All-Time Favorite Reads
Few things make a pet owner's heart skip a beat like putting Fido or Fluffy in a costume for Halloween. But with so many options, however will you chose? From frogs and lobsters to jesters and punk rockers check out our favorite picks for your four-legged friend.
You're sure to win a pet costume competition if you dress your pooch up in this pre-historic get-up, complete with a foam padded hood, body, spines and tail. Stegosaurus costume, $36.99, fits up to 16" neck; Target.com.
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As an IBM marketing manager, my job includes writing about storage technology. This post is about more than technology, though. It's about a new breakthrough capability for managing storage costs and service levels.
I recently met with IBM Distinguished Engineer, Mike Sylvia, who has been working on a Business Transformation project to enable automated right tiering for storage in IBM data centers. Right tiering is the notion that data should be hosted on the optimal storage tier to balance cost and performance requirements.
Mike explained that applications tend to be hosted on top tier storage. When he analyzed actual usage patterns, Mike found most data can be effectively hosted on lower cost storage. Mike's project put numbers to a problem that is often hidden from view and, until now, nearly impossible to solve.
Hosting data on the wrong storage tier turns out to be a huge efficiency problem. Mike predicts IBM will save $13 million over 3 years in one data center, by periodically moving data to the right tier. During the pilot, users saw their cost for storage drop by 50% per TB on average. This is big.
Like many advancements, IBM's automated right tiering capability is accomplished by integrating existing technology. Mike Sylvia's project combines storage virtualization, storage management automation and analytics. Today, IBM offers the technology in a bundled solution called SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center.
How does it work?
Step 1. IBM's storage virtualization controller collects detailed usage metrics about storage it manages throughout the data center, without impacting application performance.
Step 2. IBM's Storage Analytics Engine studies usage patterns over time to understand performance requirements.
Step 3: Storage tier recommendations are generated in reports that can be shared with application owners and IT management.
Step 4: Storage virtualization enables online data migration, with no disruption to applications or users.
Repeat: Usage patterns change over time, of course, so right tiering becomes an ongoing process.
Why does it work?
Automated right tiering delivers the efficiency benefits of Information Lifecycle Management without the headaches and hidden costs. Automated right tiering has significant benefits for both data owners and IT leaders, so everyone wins.
For example, application and database owners can gain the following benefits:
Applications can move to top tier storage when they need it, without waiting for a maintenance window.
Average storage costs drop significantly, without a drop in services.
IT leaders benefit, too. For example:
Storage tier decisions are based on analysis of actual usage patterns, not predictions. Storage performance management tasks are eliminated.
Data can quickly and easily be moved back to its original storage tier if requested, without incurring an outage.
IBM automated right tiering works with most storage systems, so deployment is nondisruptive.
The technology that enables automated right tiering has significant additional benefits, such as the ability to eliminate scheduled outages for storage system maintenance.
Problem solved. How has your organization addressed the storage right tiering challenge?
Watch a video of Mike Sylvia describing his automated right tiering project at the IBM Edge conference in June, 2012.
Listen to IBM storage virtualization expert and master inventor, Barry Whyte's 2-part webcast called, "Storage Virtualization - IBM SVC – Benefits", in April, 2012
Visit IBM's Virtualized SAP Demo and other smarter solutions at VMworld August 26-30, 2012 in
IBM has bundled automated right tiering technology into a new solution called SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center, available through IBM sellers and Business Partners.


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A question - teams have had pitchers in for some time now - is a late signing for Lohse a bad thing for expecting good returns on his season?
This is one Boras client that has suffered from high expectations ... once thought by some to be among the better gets of a thin FA class ... he now waits just to get a contract.
I would have been interested earlier, even with giving up a draft pick. But now, I see his late - as of yet signing - to be a huge red flag.


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Faculty Position: Full-time Professor of Business Administration
Duties and Responsibilities include:
(i) teaching undergraduate Business courses
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to the department
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Education and Experience: Earned MBA required and at least 5 years experience in business and at least 3 years in management.
Knowledge and Skills: Commitment to Christ, passion for higher education and helping students reach their educational goals. Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, and presentation skills. Excellent written communication skills, including grammar and spelling. Proficiency with MS Office Applications.
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June 1, 2016
A west Alabama teenager is dead following a two vehicle accident.
Ruby Sumlin, age 17, was killed after the vehicle she was driving was struck from the back by a Freightliner.
The crash happened just before 7:30 Monday morning on Highway 84 in Clarke County, Ala.
The driver of the 18-wheeler was treated at the scene for non-life threatening injuries. He's identified as 21-year-old DeMarco Brown from Nashville, Tennessee.
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The history of the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
Jan 10, 2012
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Appealing and comfortable: Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster, W 121 series, (1955-1963)
The first open-top production sports car of the SL family
A sporty-elegant two seater road-going motor car
The USA, an important market for the vehicle
re for a new four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1.9 litres
An elegant, open-top sports car with the Mercedes star on its radiator: That is model 190 SL (W 121), which Mercedes-Benz presented in New York in 1954 and whose market launch was in 1955. The roadster's story began with Maximilian E. Hoffman, since 1952 the New York-based official Mercedes-Benz importer for the US market. In 1953 he realised the sales potential for sports cars from Mercedes-Benz in the USA, and then campaigned for two of these vehicles to be built as production vehicles: according to Hoffman's recommendation, the 300 SL Racing Coupé (series W 194) was to be made available – with modifications – as a production vehicle, and the Stuttgart-based brand was at the same time to produce an open-top sports car to accompany the Gullwing coupé. That is how the 190 SL was born.
At the time Daimler-Benz was fully saturated with design and development tasks – both for production vehicles and also with the preparation for the 1954 racing season, for which the new W 196 R series formula racing car was intended. Due to the enormous workload, the Stuttgart-based company even stalled their planned participation in the 1953 sports car races. The new SLs increased the pressure, but were considered important for Mercedes-Benz's image and market position. For the 1950s were a time of great expansion after the Second World War. With sports cars Mercedes-Benz would be able to round off its model range with attractive, exclusive vehicles in a new segment – ever since 1935 decidedly sporty cars had been missing in their portfolio. Thus already in mid-September of 1953 the Board's decision was taken: the 190 SL and the 300 SL were to be built as series production cars.
About five months later both cars were to celebrate their premières in America: they were presented at the International Motor Sports Show in New York which took place there from 6 to 14 February 1954, at that time the most important motor show on the other side of the Atlantic. This meant that the engineers had very little time for development. Speed was of the essence, especially in the case of the 190 SL, which had to be technically redesigned based on the 180 series, whereas for the 300 SL production sports car, the further-developed 300 SL racing sports car served as a model. Already a few days after the Board's decision, the directors of Daimler-Benz were examining the first sketches, and two weeks further on they were able to assess the first 1:10 scale model, which was followed another eight weeks later by a full-scale model.
The pace of development was raised still further. The floor assembly,which came from the Mercedes-Benz 180, had to be adapted to the new ideas and the right engine had to be found. Moreover, the tight schedule stipulated that the contours of the planers on which the body would be created be finalised by 31 October 1953. The race against time was won: Mercedes-Benz registered a tremendously favourable response to both vehicles at the show.
Until then, the bodies of various models had been available in the two-seater A-version as Cabriolet, Roadster, or Coupé, too. According to chief engineer Fritz Nallinger, this body variant would be replaced in future by the SL vehicles – no longer with the existing formal lines and face, but explicitly in the SL design, which included the star placed centrally on the radiator grille. This was a paradigm change in the model structure, making the 190 SL and 300 SL the symbols of a new product philosophy and the forerunners of the later SL-Class.
While series production of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL began in August 1954 at the Sindelfingen plant, the 190 SL was thoroughly revised once more because the car displayed at the International Motor Sports Show in New York was neither technically tested nor stylistically mature. In March 1955, Daimler-Benz then presented the final model of the sports car at the Geneva Motor Show. The body was designed by Walter Häcker and closely followed the design of the 300 SL Gullwing Coupé. However, unlike the 300 SL, the 190 SL had a retractable soft top.
The production body showed some clear differences from the show car: the stylised intake scoop on the bonnet was dropped; the forward edge of the bonnet had been moved farther back; there were splash guards above the rear wheel arches too; and the bumpers, indicators and tail lights were modified. The Sindelfingen factory started building the pre-production series in January 1955. Main series production commenced in May.
The 190 SL is technically related to the "Ponton" (pontoon) saloons – commonly so called because of their characteristic body shape – of the W 120/121 series. Their internal designation was W 121, and the 190 that appeared in 1956 was also given that designation. From the beginning the 190 SL was designed as a two-seater cabriolet.
In the 1950s, the meaning of the term "roadster" experienced a change. The classic roadster was a rather spartanly equipped sporty two-seater with detachable side windows, for instance, and a removable fabric top with its roof frame. But the customers' comfort standards were now higher, and the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL sports car responded to this. Though not a roadster in the classic sense, it was designated as such by the company.
In contrast to the 300 SL, bearing the mark of its racing sport origins, it was conceived as a sporty-elegant two-seater touring and utility car. It was available in three versions: as a car with a fabric top (price in February 1955: DM 16,500) and as a coupé with removable hard top, optionally with or without a fabric top (price in September 1955: DM 17,650/DM 17,100). These prices make clear the exclusive placing of these vehicles in the model range. The 300 SL cost DM 29,000 DM in 1954, and thus considerably more than the 190 SL, however, the sports car was clearly placed above the Saloon – thus Mercedes-Benz offered model 180 at a list price of DM 9450 in 1954/1955. As an optional extra, a third, transversal seat could be fitted in the rear of the 190 SL.
The motor press praised the 190 SL among other things for its safe handling properties. These were ensured by the low-pivot single-joint swing axle already familiar from the 220 a, and other features. The front wheel suspension including the sub-frame was adopted from model 180, from which the floor assembly – though shortened – also came.
A new development was the 1.9-litre petrol engine with the designation M 121 B II. The four-cylinder unit had a single overhead camshaft and is regarded as the forerunner of an entire family of engines. In the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL it developed 105 bhp (
77 kW
) at 5700 rpm and accelerated the fabric-topped variant from 0 to 100 km/h in 14.5 seconds. The top speed was a respectable 170 km/h – which made it one of the fastest cars on the road in the 1950s and 1960s. The petrol consumption was put at a rather moderate 8.6 litres per 100 km; the 65-litre tank provided adequate range.
During its production run the 190 SL underwent many improvements in details. Clearly recognisable are the wide chrome strips on the upper edge of the door (introduced in March 1956) and larger tail lights (June 1956, as also used on models 220 a, 219 and 220 S). In July 1957, the rear licence plate lamp was moved to the bumper horns to enable fitting the wide licence plates which were being introduced at the time. The rear bumper horns were thus a basic equipment item, while at the front they cost extra; the US versions always had them at the front and the rear as standard. From October 1959, a new hardtop with a larger rear window gave the coupés much improved rear visibility. In August 1960, the lock of the boot lid was changed; simultaneously a recessed handle replaced the previous bow-type handle. In 1963, the last Mercedes-Benz 190 SL rolled out of the production bay. In all, 25,881 were built. Most of them went to the USA – Maximilian E. Hoffman's evaluation proved right.
A sports variant of the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL
The first sales brochures showed a sports variant of the 190 SL: light-alloy doors, small Perspex racing windscreen, no soft top, no bumpers, heat exchanger or insulating material, gave it a weight of 1000 kilograms, around ten per cent less than the normal road version. The number of units built is not documented, and only very few sports versions found their way to the customers; they probably also came in for further fine tuning with modifications to the four-cylinder engine, lowering of the body, sports shock absorbers and modified springs.The sports 190 SL scored its biggest success in 1956 in the Sports Car Grand Prix in Portuguese Mação, entered by the then Daimler-Benz importer in Hong Kong. The right-hand-drive sports car took first place ahead of a Ferrari Mondial and various Jaguar and Austin-Healey cars. In the same year the Mercedes-Benz general importer in Morocco won his class (GT to two litres displacement) in the Grand Prix of Casablanca. On account of the racing regulations the idea of the sports 190 SL was not pursued any further: in many competitions the vehicle, modified as described, would have been classed as a production sports car and thus would not have had a chance. On top of that a decision of the racing authority FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) prevented classification as a GT – it said that a Gran Turismo must have a completely enclosable body – a condition which the converted 190 SL could not meet.
The Mercedes-Benz 190 SL in the press
Shortly after the presentation of the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL at the International Motor Sports Show in New York, "auto motor und sport", Germany, No. 3, 1954, wrote: "The Mercedes 190 SL is an elegant and fast touring sports car that can be used as an ordinary, workaday vehicle, but additionally offers the possibility of successfully competing in smaller sporting events. ... For this new model Mercedes dispensed with its hallowed radiator tradition, as it did for the 300 SL. The very harmonious front end nevertheless shows that elegant and distinguished lines are entirely possible without neglecting the attributes of fashion and functionality."
The Swiss journal "Automobil Revue", wrote in its November 14. 1956 issue: "Despite its high output the 190 SL is not actually a sports car, but an uncomplicated touring car that stands with all its four wheels firmly planted on the ground. Thanks to its exemplary handling characteristics it is among the select group of vehicles with which it is possible to reach the highest average speeds safely and without haste, and taking full consideration of all other road users."
In its spring issue 21/1957, the German magazine "Motor-Revue" published a first road test report. The tester wrote: "When using the prescribed tyres it is possible to accelerate the 300 SL Roadster with turned front wheels at curve limit speeds, without it showing the slightest tendency to break out. This meek character of a sports car with top speeds of 235-250 km/h (depending on transmision ratio) with a powerful acceleration capacity, basically due to soft suspension and exceptional adjustment, make the new Roadster the vehicle with the greatest performance and safest handling that I have ever driven. It seems to me most noteworthy that, with the top in place there is a total absence of vibrations, rumble and resonance phenomena in the interior of the car – also a success of the loving attention lavished on the adaptation of the space frame, wheel suspension and wheels, an adaptation that has been optimally solved."
In 1960 "auto motor und sport", Germany, No. 15, 1960, published a detailed test report on the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL: "The 190 SL owes its good reputation not just to its elegant appearance, but also to its robustness and reliability and its accurate handling. The good build quality of the body and the roadster soft top deserve special mention."
Technical highlights of the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL (W 121)
Advanced four-cylinder engine with one overhead camshaft
State-of-the-art suspension for high-level ride comfort and safety
Retractable roadster top
Production figures
Internal designation
Production period: pre-production to end
Number of units
* Roadsters and Coupés.
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Press kit contents
Complete press kit
The Mercedes-Benz SL-Class sports cars – introduction
From racing car to SL-Class with vario-roof – a summary
Motor sports as initial fuse: the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL racing sports car, W 194 series (1952-1953)
The "Gullwing" enters the scene: Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupé, W 198 I series (1954-1957)
Appealing and comfortable: Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster, W 121 series, (1955-1963)
A new openness: Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster, W 198 II series (1957-1963)
The "Pagoda" drives up: Mercedes-Benz SL, W 113 series (1963-1971)
18 years production time: the Mercedes-Benz SL, R 107 series (1971-1989)
Technology platform: Mercedes-Benz SL, R 129 series (1989-2001)
Texts: 9
Photos: 85
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Patterns of biological evolution during the Paleozoic Era.
Patterns of biological evolution during the Paleozoic Era.
Patterns of biological evolution during the Paleozoic Era.
Students explore cladistics through the process of organizing living things by common ancestry and evolutionary relationships. Students will gain a better understanding of diversity of life and evolutionary history.
A list of student-submitted discussion questions for History of Paleozoic Life.
To increase reading comprehension, activate prior knowledge, develop collaboration and communication with peers, and determine how key vocabulary words relate to one another using Text Scan.
To use problem-solving skills and deepen understanding of the text to compare key vocabulary words with more familiar everyday words using Word Analogies.
Explains how sharks are so primitive yet have been so evolutionarily successful.
Discover the dinosaur-like creatures that have lived through Earth's history that are not dinosaurs.
Students will compare optimal characteristics for long-term survival with optimal characteristics for survival of a mass extinction by looking at data from the past; students will use this background research to analyze the possibility of a modern day mass extinction.
This study guide summarizes the key points of History of Paleozoic Life. You can download and customize it to suit your needs and study habits.
These flashcards help you study important terms and vocabulary from History of Paleozoic Life.


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Windmills are not healthy for bats, eagles and other flying things.
The giant Bird Cuisinarts are at it again. Only this time they're killing bats. Well, a bat, but an endangered bat. Windmills stopped at night after bat death Thirty-five windmills at a western Pennsylvania wind farm have been silenced at night since a bat that belongs to an endangered species was found dead under one of the turbines. The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown is reporting the | Read More »


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Sorry if I've missed this in the documentation or the archives, but I don't see how as administrator I can recover or move mail folders. For example:
1) Moving from one user to another ("Barbara is our new receptionist, can you please copy Andrea's old mail to a folder in her account?")
2) Recovering a deleted folder ("I accidentally deleted my 'Accounting' folder sometime last week, can you please pull the latest copy you have from the backup?"
With cyrus I could just copy the appropriate directories and run 'recover'. I don't see how to this in Zimbra short of running imapsync for 1) or recovering the entire account from backup (and guessing which backup is correct) for 2). Am I missing something? Thanks!