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Credit: Merian Erben | Wikimedia Commons
Who: City of Centennial, Colo.
No. square miles: 28
No. lane miles: 1,066; 563 of which are plowed in winter
No. trucks: 10
Efficiency increases: 28% to 40% faster
Implementation cost: $65,000
Your department may take an ad-hoc approach to snowplowing, one that defines routes by geography and relies on drivers to navigate routes most efficiently. This strategy is popular because it works. Unfortunately, it also duplicates effort.
Efficiently moving people and products through a defined network of streets is an engineering challenge that goes back centuries. That's because, regardless of design, any single network provides more than one potential route. Add the multiple resources and hierarchies common to snow plowing and other public works routes, and the number of possible routes expands exponentially.
Public works departments in Canada, China, Europe, and Japan address this challenge via arc-routing — finding the most efficient path within a network, or series of nodes. In 2012, Centennial, Colo., became one of the first U.S. cities to use another algorithm, based on the Chinese Postman Problem, to optimize snowplowing.
The challenge inherent in combinatorial routing is known as the Konigsberg bridge problem. A man wants to walk the seven bridges linking two islands with the City of Kaliningrad, Russia, just once (see graphic on page 30). Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler's 1735 solution applies to an arbitrary number of islands and bridges, giving rise to graph theory: visually modeling mathematical formulas as nodes connected by lines. In 1962, Chinese mathematician Kwan Mei-Ko applied graph theory to a mail carrier who must travel every road in a city but wants to do so just once.
A network with an odd number of nodes will contain routes that start and end at different nodes. It's navigable but occasionally redundant. This can be rectified by linking pairs of odd nodes with additional arcs. The Chinese Postman algorithm considers all possible pairings of nodes of odd order and finds the connecting paths of minimum weight. The grouping with the minimum weight is selected and the arcs duplicated to find the route that contains every arc.
Centennial used to assign 10 trucks to 10 routes divided into Priority One (arterial roads) and Priority Two (collector roads).
The city began its research by creating a histogram showing the number of routes and distance traveled for each Priority One and Priority Two truck. Some trucks covered 30 miles, others more than 60. During winter storms, operators and supervisors compensated for these unbalanced workloads by improvising.
One reason for the misallocation was hierarchical routing, which prioritizes which streets and roads will be plowed first, second, third, etc. Centennial's Priority One routes, however, are better served with echelon plowing, which manages snow removal by placing trucks in sequence on a route.
Since the process of optimizing routes is highly iterative, FleetRoute software developer C2Logix Inc. was brought in to find the shortest distance through the city's entire network of both Priority One and Priority Two roads using its 10 trucks. This produced two new networks:
The software optimized the Priority One network based on completion times for each route, then developed an average time for the five teams to do the entire network.
In addition to snowplowing, the Chinese Postman Problem can be used to optimize bus, refuse collection, and street sweeping routes.In Eldorado, N.M., CH2M Hill applied the mathematical formula to water meter reading. The engineering consulting firm used the same approach it used to reconfigure snowplow routes for its client, the City of Centennial, Colo., but with even more dramatic results:
48% (an average of 3,873 miles) fewer miles driven per year66% lower fuel costs50% fewer labor hours48% (2.2 metric tons) less CO2 emissionsOne less day required to complete read cycle
The same process was applied to Priority Two routes using 10 single trucks instead of five two-truck teams.
However, crunching numbers is just the first step in route optimization. Organizational success depends on the ability to effectively lead employees through process change. Including supervisors and drivers was critical both to the overall performance of the routes and employee buy-in.
After the routes were created, supervisors drove them. The software modeled and balanced the routes based on their comments. Then drivers were asked to drive the new routes and the routes further refined.
The city then programmed the new routes into Garmin nuvi 1450 LMT automotive GPS receivers, a technological enhancement that enabled drivers to focus on plowing and stay on track at night and during heavy snowfalls. Relief drivers performed at the same level as experienced drivers because they didn't have to be familiar with the new routes. The results were phenomenal:
Our efforts produced a high rate of return on investment. Savings were immediate and have been sustained. Operational efficiencies lowered resource requirements while improving service.
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Matcha Ice CreamOur Matcha Ice Cream is a delicate combination of cream, half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla bean with our Matcha green tea. Sweet but not overly so, this cool and refreshing ice cream perfectly highlights the delicious fl
[Makes Approx. 1 Quart]
Half-and-Half................................. 2 cups
Heavy Whipping Cream................ 1 cup
Sugar............................................ 1 cup
(with 2 tbsp removed)
Vanilla Bean.................................. 1 bean
Aiya Cooking Grade Matcha......... 2 tbsp
Salt................................................. a pinch
Note: If you prefer less Matcha flavor and stronger sweetness, you can decrease the Matcha to 1 tablespoon and only take 1 tablespoon of sugar from the cup.
Note: If you plan on using an ice cream maker, complete the recipe up to step six and then follow the directions on your ice cream maker.
- Split the vanilla bean lengthwise with a pairing knife and then carefully scrape the insides out with the back of the knife to remove all the vanilla inside.
- Add the heavy cream, half-and-half, vanilla (both the scrapings and the pods), salt, and sugar to a pot over medium heat.
- Heat the ingredients together until they reach 170 degrees F, stirring occassionally. Take off the heat. (Note: If you do not have a candy or cooking thermometer to monitor the temperature exactly, you can tell when it comes to the right temperature by looking at the surface of the mixture. Once the first few bubbles begin to drift up to the surface, immediately take it off the heat. DO NOT let it simmer or boil.)
- Remove the vanilla bean pod pieces from the mixture and discard.
- Sift in the Matcha and mix well.
- After letting it cool a bit, transfer the ice cream to a refrigerator safe container with a lid and refrigerate it for 4-8 hours. Letting it sit overnight so all the flavors can mingle is best. (Note: If using an ice cream maker, disregard the following two steps and instead follow the instructions of your ice cream maker.)
- Transfer the ice cream base from the refrigerator to the freezer and leave it there for 45 minutes to begin setting. Remove it and mix it all together well. Repeat the process until it takes on the consistency of soft serve ice cream - it should take 3-4 hours.
- After completing the mixing process, you can serve as is for soft serve ice cream or place it in the freezer again for at least an hour to fully harden.
The Matcha used in this recipe is available in:

subset: commoncrawl


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What do you think of the FDA's proposal to toughen the rules on indoor tanning beds, possibly limiting the levels of radiation the devices emit and making other changes to their design?
A tanning bed ad just popped up...are we being punked?
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Go out and get some real vitamin D, it's good for ya, don't 'cha know....then. There.
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
LOL minotroses!
0 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
If they like medium rare...then that's their problem!!!
4 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Animal - Your sentence structure, grammar and spelling is limited at best. Although I agree we need to limit what is legislated, reviewing public safety should be a good thing.
7 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
You can,t ledgeslate smart,if people are to stupid to survive let them kill themselves! Libs think you can make a law for everything, we have so many laws nobody can do anything anymore!The gov. wants to control absolutely everything, bring on SYMS.
6 Agrees | 7 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
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Lynn Fisher
See Dr. Fisher's advice for new students
Meet Lynn Fisher
Associate Professor,
- B.A. Anthropology: Oberlin College
- Ph.D. Anthropology: University of Michigan
Dr. Fisher is currently in Blaubeuren, Germany, continuing her research into 5000 B.C.-era farming sites in places where they would not expect to be found due to poor agricultural conditions. Funded by a National Science Foundation grant, the project is collaborative with archaeologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany and the University of California in Santa Barbara.
- I am originally from Maryland—grew up in Baltimore. I'm an amateur musician. I play the cello with the UIS chamber orchestra. I played the cello when I was a kid, didn't have much time for music when I was in undergraduate and graduate school, and then I picked it up again when I got here.
Research interest:
- I am an archaeologist. For people who don't know
what that is, it's the field of anthropology that deals with people of the past, cultures of the past, and investigating them through their material remains—the foundations of houses, their garbage, and essentially, the remains of the things they made and the things they threw away.
- My particular interest is in the Stone Age. I study the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers of central Europe. I've been working in Germany for 20 years now and taking students to Germany since 1995.
Beginnings in archaeology:
- I watched Indiana Jones and I think that had a lot of impact on many people of my generation getting into archaeology in the 1980s. Needless to say it's not much like that in reality. Mostly, I got into archaeology because of a college class.
- I began college as an English major and then a friend recommended that I take a human evolution class, so I did. Something about looking at hands-on evidence really pleased me. I liked the combination of archaeology and the study of human evolution, which is another branch of anthropology. It joins natural science methods and concepts with social science. You're asking questions about culture and society, but you're drawing on geology and biology and ecology and many areas of natural science. That just got me excited.
How do students get to go to Germany to do field work with you?
- It's a class, Sociology/Anthropology 473, Archaeological Field Course/Germany. I take six or seven students at a time for a month in Germany and they participate in the research project. They get training in how to recognize Stone Age artifacts, record data in a way that we use for our research project, excavate, and also do some of the lab work—we wash the artifacts, we label the artifacts, we start inventorying them and so forth. They learn all of that, so they don't have to already know how to do it, it's an educational process. They become part of a crew that works on the project.
Major project underway:
- A National Science Foundation grant project. It's collaborative with archaeologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany and the University of California in Santa Barbara. The four of us put this project together. We've been investigating early farmer sites in Central Europe in an area where we did not expect to find them—sites that indicate that farmers were active in an upland area with no water and relatively poor agricultural soils. It's one of those pieces of evidence that comes as a surprise. We're investigating how these upland farmers were making use of another kind of resource.
UIS field students get together for a photo in Borgerhau (2007).
Learning philosophy:
- One of the things I like to do in my teaching is to get people investigating questions that are of interest to them. I try to do this in several different ways. One is through getting students involved in research projects. I've had students analyzing materials with me from my archaeological research; I've worked on a research project with some students on an Illinois archaeological site, and of course I've taken students to Germany with me.
- In the classroom, I try to create assignments that will allow students to learn things in their own way and to answer questions that are of interest to them—that means open ended research assignments. I like to include a lot of hands-on activities in my classroom, and I encourage a spirit of inquiry. It's not me telling students answers, it's all of us exploring questions in an open-ended way.
Campus/Community connections:
- One of the ways I get to know a lot of students, faculty and community members at UIS is through the chamber orchestra. In the community, I am a research associate at the Illinois State Museum, which is a fascinating place. They do work that means a lot to me as a comparison for my European research.


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DENVER - The Western Athletic Conference released its 2009 fall academic all-WAC teams and 25 Idaho student-athletes were among those honored.
The fall academic all-WAC teams include football, volleyball, men's and women's cross country and women's soccer players. To be honored, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year, hold a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's contests. Freshmen and transfers from all sports are honored at the end of the year.
In all, 169 Idaho student-athletes achieved a 3.0 or better GPA during the fall semester, and Vandal student-athletes as a whole produced a combined 3.10 GPA. Teams active during the fall season compiled a 3.20 overall GPA during the semester. Among fall sports teams, women's soccer led the way with a 3.58 team GPA.
Women's cross country, football, and soccer each had six academic all-WAC selections, while volleyball had four and men's cross country had three.
Idaho Men's Cross Country:
Alex Brekke, So. (Bozeman, Mont.)
James Clark, So. (Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada)
Markus Geiger, So. (Bad Neustadt, Germany)
Idaho Women's Cross Country:
Maike Holthuijzen, Sr. (Boise, Idaho)
Anna Kalbrener, So. (Gig Harbor, Wash.)
Melissa McFaddan, Sr. (Post Falls, Idaho)
Lauren Schaffer, So. (Boise, Idaho)
Teegan Schoch, So. (Kelowna, B.C., Canada)
Julia Veseth, So. (Moscow, Idaho)
Idaho Football:
Peter Bjorvik, Sr. (Crook County, Ore.)
Bobby Cowan, Fr. (Vancouver, Wash.)
Preston Davis, So. (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Nathan Enderle, Jr. (North Platte, Neb.)
Adam Juratovac, Sr. (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Aaron Lavarias, Jr. (Woodinville, Wash.)
Idaho Soccer:
Liz Boyden, So. (Spokane, Wash.)
Melissa Canite, Jr. (Mililani, Hawai'i)
Jennifer Eugenio, Jr. (Honolulu, Hawai'i)
Jenn Hull, Jr. (Vancouver, Wash.)
Sari Morrison, Sr. (Boise, Idaho)
Ashley Perez, Sr. (Pasco, Wash.)
Idaho Volleyball:
Sarah Conwell, Sr. (Kent, Wash.)
Anna McKinney, Sr. (Federal Way, Wash.)
Kelsey Taylor, Jr. (Moscow, Idaho)
Katie Tribley, Jr. (Wenatchee, Wash.)


text:
You know how ads for skin products often say you'll notice a difference in just weeks? There will soon be an app to let you track your progress.
The New York Daily News reports Color Frame, an app set to launch later this year from Japan's Fujitsu Laboratories, has you take four pictures of your face with your smartphone and uses a color wheel to help the app make adjustments in lighting to analyze your skin.
You'll get scores noting everything from pore size to acne to dullness, so you can later compare the results and see how well that new moisturizer is working -- or keep an eye on any skin conditions that may develop.
Just what we need. Another way to obsess over those imperfections.
Click here to read the full story.
Click here to read another fascinating news story.
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 1502
Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:13 pm
Post subject: Promethean or Epimethean
Are you a Promethean or Epimethean thinker?
Details and versions of the myths vary, but Greek mythology describes Prometheus as bringing fire and civilization to mankind and warning his brother Epimetheus that Pandora was trouble. Epimetheus didn't listen, leading to Pandora letting lots of troubles loose in the world. (Yes, I know this version of the Pandora myth is extremely misogynistic, but it does seem to be the core version.) Prometheus means forethought or foresight while Epimetheus means afterthought or hindsight. This is not good hindsight in the sense of learning from experience or history, but more like the mythical bird that flies backwards so it always sees where it's been but has a tendency to crash a lot.
In many areas I see Promethean as close to politically liberal and Epimethean as close to politically conservative, but the mapping isn't exact, and in some areas the differences are completely unrelated to the liberal-conservative axis.
A few basic differences, many chosen based on fairly recent events:
Promethean: knowledge is power.
Epimethean: my mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts.
Promethean: rational.
Epimethean: rationalizing.
Promethean: set goals.
Epimethean: react to events.
Promethean: I make regular backups of computer data.
Epimethean: I can't be bothered. It's too expensive. It's too much trouble. I can always pay an expert to try to recover my data after a crash.
Promethean: regulate to prevent problems.
Epimethean: punish after the fact (unless the offender is rich, then just slap on wrist).
Promethean: government is useful.
Epimethean: business is god, keep government weak.
Promethean: public servant--using a political office to serve the public good.
Epimethean: politician--using a political office to serve himself/herself & campaign contributors & lobbyists who pay to keep him/her in power.
Promethean: strengthen the currently very weak OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) to have real enforcement power.
Epimethean: so what if over 5,000 U.S. workers are killed on the job and another 50,000 die of job-related diseases every year--that's BUSINESS, don't you dare regulate it.
[Large chunk cut out to try to get past CGI error.]
One theme that can be noticed in many of the dichotomies above is attitudes toward regulation. Human nature is complex: generous and greedy, helpful and hindering, honest and dishonest, honorable and dishonorable, loving and hating, nurturing and killing, etc. A functional society or government recognizes this complexity and tries to encourage the good aspects and places constraints on the harmful aspects. Simplistic thinking or slogan-based non-thinking doesn't.
It is easy to tell from my presentation that I think Promethean thinking is preferable to Epimethean reacting. I would like to suggest these labels as a possible way to reframe political discussions that have become rigid and locked in to positions under the current labels of liberal vs. conservative or Democrat vs. Republican or left-wing vs. right-wing.
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 1502
Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:18 pm
Post subject:
[This chunk of the original post was separated to try to get past a repeated CGI Timeout error.]
Promethean: always keep vaccinations current.
Epimethean: avoid vaccinations even when doing so endangers others by weakening herd immunity.
Promethean: enforce product safety.
Epimethean: let businesses do whatever they want. Caveat emptor.
Promethean: enforce strong consumer protections.
Epimethean: let businesses do whatever they want. Caveat emptor.
Promethean: regulate carbon emissions.
Epimethean: climate change? What climate change? So what if we're like a lobster in a pot with the water getting hotter--the change is too gradual to notice in time to crawl out & keep from getting cooked.
Promethean: regulate oil drilling and enforce safety standards.
Epimethean: BP had no valid disaster plan when an oil rig explosion killed workers and created the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
Promethean: regulate and enforce mine safety to reduce death & disease.
Epimethean: dead miners are just the cost of doing business. The fact that some mine owners get away with frequent repeated violations of current weak safety standards is irrelevant.
Promethean: Earth observation satellites are a great idea. They can watch hurricanes & other weather, track pollution, spot deforestation, and see many other things that are hard to see from ground level. Orbit more & better ones ASAP.
Epimethean: don't collect more facts that might contradict the line we're selling or spot offenses we want to hide. (A lot of satellite designs established during the Bush years CUT OUT many major sensor systems for observing Earth and will cripple observations for years to come.)
Promethean: Clean up and strengthen the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Require & enforce regular inspections & repairs.
Epimethean: an occasional pipeline explosion is just a cost of doing business. Being forced to repair our pipelines will hurt our profits! So what if we burn an occasional neighborhood off the map.
Promethean: strengthen the food safety side of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), adding inspectors and increasing enforcement powers.
Epimethean: a massive recall of contaminated eggs is no big deal--not that many people got sick. The fact that the eggs came from repeat violators is irrelevant.
Promethean: clean up the USDA (Department of Agriculture) and increase inspections and enforcement.
Epimethean: we don't need inspections for mad cow disease. We won't let one company inspect all cows and publicize it because that might raise doubts about everyone else and scare off consumers.
Promethean: protect the environment.
Epimethean: don't you dare enforce laws against pollution--that will cost! (Despite all the past screaming & doom saying proving to be hot air when pollution limits do manage to get applied.)
Promethean: strengthen & protect public retirement systems (e.g., Social Security) because many people can't or won't prepare for retirement themselves.
Epimethean: kill public retirement systems. Make everyone fend for themselves. Ignore the risks of market downturns, investment losses, fraudulent investments (e.g., Madoff), criminal investment advisors, swindlers, etc.
Promethean: create a national health care system with clear rules for all citizens, nationals, residents, and visitors.
Epimethean: insist on states rights and private insurers. Never mind that private insurers just add cost and interfere with actual access to care--those companies are paying for legislators.
Promethean: encourage unions that push for better wages, health benefits, retirement benefits, and safer working conditions for ordinary workers.
Epimethean: discourage unions because they reduce excessive CEO pay and profits.
Promethean: establish limits on executive compensation and obscene bonuses.
Epimethean: help the rich get richer. The fact that CEOs in America get several hundred times as much pay as typical workers isn't a problem. We don't need to worry about people getting fed up enough to revolt.
Promethean: regulate drugs and treat addicts.
Epimethean: prohibition (drug war), fill prisons so U.S. has extremely high imprisonment ratio.
Promethean: require ignition interlocks on the vehicles of everyone convicted of DUI/DWI (Driving Under the Influence/Driving While Intoxicated) to prevent them from driving drunk again.
Epimethean: ignore the repeat offense rates of drunk drivers. Let them keep killing other people on the roads.
Promethean: don't regulate private sexual behavior between consenting adults since people will continue actions driven by deep needs and you end up creating victimless crimes.
Epimethean: criminalize private behavior that offends narrow definitions of morality of people who keep some legislators in office.
Promethean: encourage population control.
Epimethean: encourage more breeding. Restrict information about birth control. Bomb clinics & murder doctors.
Promethean: legislators are elected to govern.
Epimethean: Senate Republicans don't want to govern, they want to shrink all government and block all changes that are good for the majority of people.
Promethean: enlightened self-interest. Doing well while doing good. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Epimethean: unenlightened self-interest (greed). I want mine. To hell with everyone else.
Promethean: plan for contingencies & possibilities.
Epimethean: be prepared to fight the last war. Spend lots of money of weapon systems appropriate to decades-old conflicts and useless in the current world.
Promethean: adapt to new circumstances.
Epimethean: CYA (pretend to adapt).
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 253
Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 7:57 am
Post subject:
The way this list is framed, would anyone admit to being Epimethian??
But one of the Promethian qualities seems to be a belief that big government is the only thing that can protect us from big business. This shows an old-fashioned view of the two as being separate entities. If you look at the relationships between our government and Monsanto and Haliburton and Goldman Sachs, you'll see there is no separation. Key players from agribusiness, the military/industrial complex and Wall Street move effortlessly between public and private sector jobs, writing policy to suit their employers and then going back to private industry to reap the rewards of their labors.
There is no more free market capitalism. Corporate interests don't rise and fall based on the quality of their products, but the strength of their Washington connections. Liberal and coservative are empty labels--we live in an oligarchy now. The rich make the rules and laws. As our tax dollars are funneled upward and handed out to the connected as bailouts or no-bid/cost-plus contracts, the victims of our wrecked economy are called whiners who need to get used to austerity. The income gap is at its widest since 1929, which is having all kinds of terrible effects on our economy. And it's not just here. This is also happening in Greece and Ireland, where the riots have already started.
So while I think the list is interesting, it reflects an Epimethian refusal to examine new information. Lord knows I don't trust business to police itself (look at the BP oil disaster, which was no surprise to those involved), but I'm not fool enough to trust the government to do it, either (they're too busy partying with the oil industry guys and taking campaign contributions to either write or enact meaningful legislation).
On reflection, I think I'm a Pandoran.
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 1502
Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 6:27 pm
Post subject:
Life is complicated, so simple answers are rarely complete. On any serious issue, don't trust "sound bite" answers--get more data and THINK about it. Relying on slogans instead of research is acting like a baby bird too young to forage for itself, just eating the food that the parent bird chewed up and regurgitated.
An example of a simple answer: no person should ever treat any other person as property. This seems obvious and straightforward. The bad examples are many: actual slavery (U.S. Old South), virtual slavery (North Korea), spouse abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, etc. But what about infants and children before they are old enough to take care of themselves? What about people with severe mental or physical impairments? Where is the line between taking care of someone and treating them as property?
If there is any simple answer that is usually right, it might be "seek balance". This is not a new idea: Buddhism has the Middle Way or Middle Path, and many other people over many years have made similar points.
I think Lord Acton's famous maxim ("power corrupts") isn't quite right. I think it should be: "Imbalance exacerbates corruption". A relative excess of power can corrupt some personalities, but so can a relative lack of power, yet neither CAUSES corruption. It takes a certain personality or character for the imbalance to lead to corruption--there are plenty of people in similar situation who are not corrupt. The recently formed informal billionaires' charity club (Bill Gates & Warren Buffett encouraging fellow billionaires to donate to worthy causes) is an example of extreme wealth combined with responsibility.
To me, regulating a business means combining government and business (trying to find a balance between them rather than relying only on one or the other).
Neither government nor business is a complete model--both can be good or bad. North Korea is an example of government gone bad. The slave-owning portion of the pre-Civil War U.S. was an example of business gone bad.
The founders of the U.S.A. set up a government with checks & balances, but they are failing.
The modern executive branch has too much power (especially secrets).
The modern judicial branch also has too much power. It has turned over massive precedents and given corporations rights of people without matching responsibilities & duties (like being subject to imprisonment).
The modern legislative branch has too much blocking power in the Senate.
Instead of a dynamic give-and-take finding a central balance, the modern U.S. Federal government is like a person tied down in a spread-eagle position or on a torture rack--pulled in four directions at once and unable to act.
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Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 841
Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:13 pm
Post subject:
But what about infants and children before they are old enough to take care of themselves? What about people with severe mental or physical impairments? Where is the line between taking care of someone and treating them as property?
Bad example,
The difference is that in treating people as property, you are acting only for your own benefit/pleasure/convenience. When you are taking care of someone, you are trying to act for their benefit, rather than your own.
Incidentally, one of the obvious cases of treating people as property is pornography, wherein people are treated simply as objects to be used for sexual gratification.
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 1502
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 1:09 pm
Post subject:
As often happens when I post too quickly on a complicated topic I wasn't clear enough to get across what I was thinking.
It's easy for me to remember when women got the right to vote in the U.S. because it was exactly one year before my mother was born. I don't recall specific dates for when U.S. laws stopped treating women as the property of their parents or their husbands, but I do know it was well after the founding of the country. When the U.S.A. was founded, MANY people were legally treated as property: slaves in many states and all women. This country only stopped defining people as property after a bloody Civil War and a lot of protests and agitation. Full rights for all citizens have been a struggle in most of the world for centuries (in fact, the struggle is ongoing in many parts of the world to this day).
I presented "no person should ever treat any other person as property" as a seemingly simple and obvious concept that takes deeper thought partly because it is a recent modern ethical standard. It would not have been considered normal in classical Athens or at the founding of the U.S.A. (two societies that are often held up as ideals) or in many other societies through history and around the world because those societies considered slavery normal and had (or have) serious legal gender inequality.
Even in the U.S., where the principal has been established in law for decades, many social practices lagged far behind the law. Many attitudes and practices up to the civil rights changes in the second half of the 20th Century kept the functional equivalent of slavery despite its legal elimination. The Old South treatment of blacks wasn't even the only example. The "company town" model was an approximation of ownership of people that didn't rely on race.
In modern society, we need to look closely at the thinking behind any possessive expression. One of the basic meanings of "my __" is ownership. It isn't the only meaning, but with some people it might as well be. For a jealous and/or abusive spouse, "my husband" or "my wife" means "my property". For such a person, "my" does not mean "a person I have a relationship with", it means "something I own and control".
For the example of (infant or impaired) dependents that I used earlier, it is again a question of the thinking of the people involved. Care of dependents is usually motivated by feelings of love or duty or obligation or responsibility, but for some percentage of the population, just like the abusive spouse example, care giving can come to seem to be ownership. This might not be true in an ideal world, but the real world is complicated and messy. Once attitudes of ownership arise, we have another split based on character differences: for some people, ownership leads to excellent treatment, while for other people, ownership leads to neglect and/or abuse.
The point of all this is that very little in the world is really simple--if you really look into any topic you will usually find many layers of complexity.
This is why I think terms like "big government" and "big business" or slogans like "no new taxes" are essentially useless noise.
I also tried to find the right term for the paralysis I mentioned in my last post. I think the medical condition is a kind of dystonia or dyskinesia, but I'm still not certain. Normal movement requires the ability to tense and relax muscles in proper sequence. The paralysis I'm thinking of consists of the inability to relax any muscle. The analogy comes to mind for the current U.S. Federal government and many state and local governments because I see inability to govern (paralysis) arising from the rigid positions being held by too many elected officials. Effective government requires ability to compromise and find a point of balance between competing interests, and this has largely been lost in recent years in the U.S.
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Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 841
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:52 pm
Post subject:
The point of all this is that very little in the world is really simple--if you really look into any topic you will usually find many layers of complexity.
Good point, Mark, and applicable to those on all points on the political spectrum.
I recall many years ago a philosophy professor saying that whenever someone starts talking about freedom, you should ask, "freedom for whom to do what?"
In any discussion, it is always important to define your terms, because frequently the root of the dispute turns out to be over what such things as "freedom" and "justice" mean.
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 253
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:33 pm
Post subject:
Mark wrote:
Life is complicated, so simple answers are rarely complete.
Spoken like a true Pandoran. I'm actually getting into this concept, will have to think more about what it means to me--something related to the patriarchal version of the story versus the feminist one, I suspect. Life
complicated, and messy, and it's good to be reminded of that regularly. Why see the world in black and white when there are so many brilliant colors out there? Too much political discourse comes down to people shouting slogans at each other, which has the effect of driving people further apart as each feels threatened and therefore more compelled to make a stand. It's difficult to find any common ground that way!
Maybe defining terms up front would reveal that our goals are actually closer than we think. Maybe not. But it sure seems worth a try.
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Joined: 04 Oct 2008
Posts: 221
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:17 am
Post subject:
That makes it sound nice and simple, but as with most things, you have to keep in mind the original data. Prometheus ended up chained to a mountain, tortured for eternity, while Epimetheus and Pandora went on to found human civilization....
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Posts: 1502
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:15 pm
Post subject:
Greek sources describe Prometheus as bringing fire to mankind, or as bringing civilization to mankind, or as creating mankind, or as preserving mankind against hostile Olympian actions, for which they took revenge on him. Civilization is NOT attributed to Epimethean thoughtlessness.
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Posts: 221
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 8:22 pm
Post subject:
Mark wrote:
Greek sources describe Prometheus as bringing fire to mankind, or as bringing civilization to mankind, or as creating mankind, or as preserving mankind against hostile Olympian actions, for which they took revenge on him.
You say "Greek sources" as though they are unilateral. Aeschylus does attribute the creation of mankind to Prometheus, and the blame on Epimetheus. Hesiod, however, sees Prometheus' sin of disobedience as bringing the woes and ills of humankind. Epimetheus' bad luck was to reap the harvest of Promethean hubris.
As you correctly pointed out earlier, sound bites don't make the whole of an issue, but brevity is the soul of wit...
On a more serious note, rather than seeing it as a good-bad dichotomy, several philosophers, notably Bernard Stiegler, have suggested that we get past the simple duality of Prometheus (foresight) and Epimetheus (hindsight) and understand the 2 as creating the scope of human experience. With early consideration (Prometheus), and experienced consideration (Epimetheus), human reflection becomes complete. Every person runs on both algorithmic and heuristic assumptions. Algorithms are more complete, scientific and objective, but are also time consuming and impractical. Heuristic judgments may be arbitrary, but they are truly the essence of human intuition.
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Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 1502
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 1:54 am
Post subject:
Your Stiegler paragraph is taking the myth in a very different direction. Algorithmic thinking is rule-based and heuristic learning is hands-on or trial & error, but both are still THINKING and/or LEARNING. One can certainly explore that direction (if myths weren't subject to multiple retellings we would be missing many favorite romances), but that is NOT the dichotomy I am suggesting with these labels. To rephrase from my original post, the Epimethean is like the Goofus bird of folklore--it only looks backward to see where it has been. One acting in a Promethean manner in a particular field might use either an algorithmic or a heuristic approach, while one acting in an Epimethean manner (responding in a reflex manner based on past input) won't use either. Promethean thinking involves actual thinking, while the Epimethean is really UNthinking. The Epimethean approach is to accept whatever one has heard without any critical thinking or fact checking. This is not thinking. This is being programmed.
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Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 841
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 7:17 am
Post subject:
But, Mark, isn't the dichotomy you are setting up kind of pointless? No one thinks of himself as Epimethean in your sense, though people often consider those who disagree with them to be programmed and unthinking.
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Posts: 1502
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:32 pm
Post subject:
If a new set of labels could get more people to THINK and RESEARCH instead of going with a knee-jerk reaction (liberal, conservative, or any other conventional label), it would be worth promoting. Unfortunately, programmed reactions are so much easier than thought-out research that I doubt there would be much change. As you said, almost nobody believes that their own positions/reactions are unthinking.
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Joined: 04 Oct 2008
Posts: 221
Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 6:27 pm
Post subject:
Mark wrote:
If a new set of labels could get more people to THINK and RESEARCH instead of going with a knee-jerk reaction (liberal, conservative, or any other conventional label), it would be worth promoting. Unfortunately, programmed reactions are so much easier than thought-out research that I doubt there would be much change. As you said, almost nobody believes that their own positions/reactions are unthinking.
, no offense, but as Jane pointed out, you're setting up a a false dichotomy and you're also setting up a logical paradox. You mourn the use of labels and then you say people are "unthinking". You complain about programmed reactions instead of thought out research without unpacking the alternative meanings of some of the terms you use. Every person consists of both heuristic and algorithmic equations. If someone threw a punch at you, would you duck or would you sit there, repeatedly taking blows until you've calculated the physical and mental damage done to your person over a suitable period of time, then apply it to a large and varied sample?
Of course giving additional thought to matters is generally a good thing. However, both psychology and biology show us that programmed thinking is hardwired into certain aspects of all animals. Unpack everything too much and you'll find yourself in the same position as Socrates: The one thing I know is that I know nothing.
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Between 1994 and 1995, serial radiographic studies, used for the assessment of musculoskeletal conditions and early detection of skeletal abnormalities, were conducted on bustards maintained in breeding programmes at the National Avian Research Centre (NARC) in the United Arab Emirates. The risk of ...
When three sets of 11, 15 and 31 varieties, respectively, were tested for grain yield in 5-23 environments, generally more than 80% of the yield variation for individual varieties was due to linear regression response. Mean yields for varieties were significantly variable in all three sets and regre...
Identification and characterization of potent small molecule inhibitor of hemorrhagic fever New World arenaviruses
Category A arenaviruses as defined by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are human pathogens that could be weaponized by bioterrorists. Many of these deadly viruses require biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) containment for all laboratory work, which limits traditional laborato...
Disseminated Nocardia asteroides presenting as pulmonary non-caseating granulomas in a patient with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia
Disseminated nocardiosis has never been described before in a patient with Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia. We report an unusual case of disseminated nocardiosis in a 64-year-old man with Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia who presented with pulmonary non-caseating granulomas, psoas abscess, diskitis and...
Immunohistochemical staining of urokinase plasminogen activator-like and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor-like proteins in the urinary tract of healthy dogs
OBJECTIVE: To determine distribution of urokinase plasminogen activator-like protein and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor-like protein in urinary tract tissues of healthy dogs. ANIMALS: 11 healthy dogs. PROCEDURES: Necropsy specimens from kidney, ureter, bladder, urethra, prostate, and testi...
Phagosomal maturation and intracellular survival of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in J774 cells
The mechanisms by which Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (M. a. ptb) survives within macrophages are not well characterized. One strategy for intracellular survival developed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is inhibition of phagosomal maturation. In this study it was hypothesized that M...
The risk of introducing disease or parasites into the wild has long concerned managers involved in the nene recovery programme. In this initial survey helminth eggs were found in samples from 17 of 77 free-ranging geese and 8 of 28 captive geese, giving an overall prevalence of 22%. Six nematodes we...
An orally bioavailable antipoxvirus compound (ST-246) inhibits extracellular virus formation and protects mice from lethal orthopoxvirus challenge
ST-246 is a low-molecular-weight compound (molecular weight=376), that is potent (concentration that inhibited virus replication by 50%=0.010 micro M), selective (concentration of compound that inhibited cell viability by 50%=>40 micro M), and active against multiple orthopoxviruses, including vacci...
An American cocker spaniel was presented for a subcutaneous mass and draining tract located between its eyes. Contrast radiography and surgical excision showed communication of the tract with the left frontal sinus and rostral cerebral dura, respectively. A dermoid sinus was diagnosed by a combinati...
Selection for high grain yield (10% selection intensity) was conducted in two sets of lines in low, medium and high productivity environments, and subsequently all selected lines were evaluated in another series of environments. The realized increases in yield (when tested in common environments) fr...
Anthers of L680A, Licato and Ailsa Craig tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) were plated on Doy's basal medium 1 to determine whether microspore developmental stage and anther length influence anther callus production. Although calli were induced at all stages of anther development, anthers containing ...
A new nematode genus and species, Paraspiralatus sakeri, is described from the stomach of a wild-caught, female saker falcon in Saudi Arabia. This spirurid differs from the nearest genus and species Spiralatus baeri Chabaud, Brygoo & Durette, 1963 in the shape of the pseudolabia, shape of the buccal...
Isolation, characterization, and in vitro proliferation of canine mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow, adipose tissue, muscle, and periosteum
OBJECTIVE: To isolate and characterize mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from canine muscle and periosteum and compare proliferative capacities of bone marrow-, adipose tissue-, muscle-, and periosteum-derived MSCs (BMSCs, AMSCs, MMSCs, and PMSCs, respectively). SAMPLE: -7 canine cadavers. PROCEDURES:...
The frequency of claw regrowth, bony remnants, and complications in cats that underwent forelimb onychectomy using laser, scalpel, or guillotine techniques were evaluated. Eighty-seven client-owned cats were recruited from 27 veterinary clinics in the Canadian Atlantic provinces. At least 1 year aft...
Use of Y-shaped TPLO plates for the stabilization of supracotyloid ilial fractures in four dogs and one cat
OBJECTIVES: To describe the use of Y-shaped tibia plateau levelling osteotomy (TPLO) plates for the stabilization of supracotyloid ilial fracture in four dogs and one cat. METHODS: Clinical cases with supracotyloid ilial fracture that were repaired with a Y-shaped TPLO plate were retrospectively re...


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Berkley Nanofil - 300 Yard Filler Spools
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Wyoming Hosts San Diego State on Senior Day Saturday
Cowboys Looking to Extend Current Three-Game Winning Streak
Cowboy Football Two-A-Days: #26 and #76
Presented by Union Wireless
2011 New Nike Cowboy Football Uniforms
Photo Gallery Of The Various Combonations
2010 Cowboy Football Fall Scrimmage No. 3 - Photo Gallery
Images from the third scrimmage of fall practice for the 2010 Wyoming Cowboys, Aug. 21.
2010 Cowboy Football First Fall Scrimmage - Photo Gallery
Images from the first scrimmage of fall drills for the 2010 Wyoming Cowboy Football team, Aug. 13.
UW This Season: Projected to start at the left tackle spot, Josh Leonard is one of the more experienced linemen for the Cowboys this fall. He has played multiple spots along the line, and that versatility is an asset.
2011: Leonard played in 11 games in 2011, starting three at the right tackle spot. He has 13 career starts under his belt after starting 10 of 12 games as a sophomore at right tackle. Leonard was a pivotal part of a Cowboy offense that rushed for 382 yards versus Texas State, including two 100-yard rushers in Ghaali Muhammad and Brandon Miller. While Leonard was in the starting lineup versus the Bobcats, the Cowboy offense rolled up 618 yards, which was a season high. He earned his third letter for the Cowboys.
2010: Leonard stepped into the starting role at right tackle his sophomore season. He started the first six games of the season and the last four, both at right tackle. Leonard helped block for former UW running back Alvester Alexander, who gained 792 yards and scored 14 touchdowns on the season.
2009: Leonard played in two games as a freshman -- at Florida Atlantic and at home against New Mexico. He originally signed as a grayshirt in February 2008, meaning he didn't join the Cowboy Football program until January of 2009, and he didn't go on scholarship until then.
High School: Leonard earned All-Conference honors in football as an offensive lineman and defensive end his senior season. His Helena High team posted an 8-4 record and advanced to the semifinals of the state playoffs in Class AA -- the largest classification in the state of Montana. Leonard was credited with 80 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and two sacks as a senior. Also as a senior, he placed fourth in the state wrestling championships, earning him All-State recognition. Leonard was an All-Conference selection his junior year, as well, as his team went 9-3 and made it to the semifinals of state. He made 40 tackles, 12 TFLs, four sacks and blocked one punt as a junior. Leonard was elected a team captain in football both seasons. He played for head coach Tony Arnston at Helena High School.
Personal: Born Dec. 8, 1989, his guardians are Katie and Dustin Temple. He was also recruited by Idaho State, Montana and Montana State. Leonard is majoring in criminal justice.


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Libyan protesters murdered the U.S. ambassador. Suicide bombers killed scores of others in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Chicago teachers are on strike. Israel is taking a harder line against Iran. Our presidential candidates are excoriating each other and driving a thicker wedge between red and blue.
Every time you turn on the TV or radio, surf the web or read a paper, it seems like "all the news that's fit to print" is bad news.
And yet keeping up with the news is an irresistible compulsion — something many of us feel obliged to do on a daily basis. But, research tells us, we do so at our own peril.
Studies, including one published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine in 2007, report that anxiety and "total mood disturbance" spike after people watch the news and can lead to "persisting negative psychological feelings."
Graham C. L. Davey, Ph.D., an expert in anxiety and a professor of psychology at the University of Sussex in England, devoted an entire blog to "The Psychological Effects of TV News" in Psychologytoday.com last June. He wrote, "Films and television programs can affect your psychological health … by directly affecting your mood, and your mood can then affect many aspects of your thinking and behaviour.
"If the TV program generates negative mood experiences, then these experiences will affect how you interpret [and worry about] events in your own life [as well as] what types of memories you recall. So not only are negatively valenced news broadcasts likely to make you sadder and more anxious, they are also likely to exacerbate your own personal worries..."
Since it's not likely that most of us would be willing to go on a news fast, I offer an alternative: Let's go on a good-news diet!
(MORE: Think Positive, Be Happier: The Invaluable Lessons of "Pollyanna")
Change the Channel, Change Your Brain
So here's my radical proposal. Give up your preferred news-diet staple — paper, radio, TV or website (present company excluded, of course) — for two weeks. (Don't look at me like that. You'll live.) And in its place, try any of the following six good-news sites, which focus on positive and inspirational events in the world. When I went on my own "news moratorium" during a recent vacation, I swear it did me as much good as the fresh air and mountain vistas!
Check out a list of good-new sites here on Next Avenue
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14.06.11 00:01 Age: 5 Jahre
Erasmus Internship Placement Scholarships
The EPU has now received a limited number of Erasmus Internship Placement Scholarships which will be available for EPU students who are interested to do their internship within the European Union and its associated partner countries.
The scholarships will be granted to all member states of the European Union incl. the associated EU partners (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Croatia and Turkey) with a scholarship of 280,- EUR per month.
For detailed information please click here.


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On African Music Mix from N'dombolo to Benga to African Hip Hop, you'll find the best mix of pan-African music by artists from East, West, North, South, and Central Africa, as well as the islands, drawing from VOA's archive of over 15,000 African songs.
February 28, 2013
From N'dombolo to Benga to African hip-hop, you'll find the best mix of pan-African music by artists from East, West, North, South, and Central Africa, as well as the islands, drawing from VOA's archive of over 12,000 African songs.
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From North to South and East to West, African Music Mix plays only the best. VOA is the only radio station that plays your favorite mix of African dance music every day of the week. Tune in and enjoy the non-stop dance-party sound of music and songs by your favorite African artists. Drawing from an archive of over 15,000 African selections of dance music styles such as N'dombolo, Benga, Hip-Life, Couper-Decaler, Fuji, Mbalax, Rai, Kwaito, Hip Hop, and Desert Blues we broadcast to you six hours a day.
Join the party and listen to African Music Mix, the best variety of African dance music.
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500 points giveaway!Spread love!The winnersHello, sweeties!500 points giveaway!Spread love!The winners by naked-in-the-rain
Just as I promised I organized another contest for my watchers
This time I will be giving 5 x 100 points to 5 lucky deviants (:
All you have to do to participate is:
1. fav this journal
2. comment, select "love" on right upper corner of the comment box
(white highlighted area in the pic below if I didn't explain well) and post your comment
You can comment on anything you want (what you like/dislike, say Hello, make a wish, post random emoticon... anything).
I will pick the winners with a little help of random.org generator.
Have fun and good luck
Thank you all for participating, I'm glad we made this fun (:
The winners are:
Congrats and enjoy your points!
+ you can check my latest:


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B&B Castagni d'Oro
Castagni d'Oro is a beautiful and original 350 year old Tuscan village house in a pretty, tranquil hill-top village with spectacular panoramic views of high mountains, deep lush valleys and tiny, scattered mountain villages.
This homely English family-run B&B is situated in the gorgeous little village of Brandeglio, about 25 miles north of Lucca and sits high above the ancient thermal spa town of Bagni di Lucca in the green but mountainous Garfagnana National Park.
The village is refreshingly peaceful while only 15 minutes from Bagni di Lucca and 40 minutes from Lucca, and is a quiet, secluded haven after a busy day of sightseeing in Florence and Pisa, swimming in the sea at Viareggio, or even skiing at Abetone, Tuscanys premier ski resort.
Castagni dOro has 2 bright and comfortable guestrooms with modern en-suite bathrooms with showers, hair-dryers and complimentary toiletries.
Both rooms also have coffee and tea making facilities with biscuits and free Wi-Fi.
After a quiet and restful night, Louise and Adrian will serve you a generous continental breakfast and a bottomless coffee or tea pot in the dining room or maybe outside on the sunny terrace.
In addition to the terrace with table and chairs, there is also a level lawned garden, ideal for sunbathing or enjoying a welcome cool drink under the trees, with a wonderful view across to the mountains.
Children are welcome, we have a cot, highchair and 2 fold-out beds available. Children under 9 stay for free and there are other reduced child rates. Pets can also be considered, although we do have 2 old cats.
Smoking is only allowed outside, it's the law!
We regret that we can only accept credit cards via Paypal.
Parking is in our own private driveway and there is a secure garage for motorbikes, cycles and ski equipment.
We can provide packed lunches and evening meals on request, or guests can bring their own food to eat here using our plates and cutlery..
We strive to be as flexible as possible with guests' requirements, such as early or late arrivals and departures, keys to rooms and outside doors, and providing laundry and car-lift services. We speak some Italian and have lots of information regarding where to go and what to see.
Louise and Adrian hope to welcome you to their home very soon.
Please note:
Cancellation policy: 72h advance notice
Late cancellation or noshow one night charge
Payment upon arrival by cash only
Check in from 14.00
Check out before 12.00
Breakfast included
Taxes included
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
B&B Facilities & Policies
- 24 Hour Reception
- Airport Transfers
- Bicycle parking
- Free Breakfast
- Ceiling Fan
- Child Friendly
- Cots available
- Credit Cards Not Accepted
- Telephone/Fax Facilities
- Free City Maps
- Free Internet Access
- Free Parking
- Free WiFi
- Hair Dryers
- Hot Showers
- House Keeping
- Internet Access
- Self-Catering Facilities
- Laundry Facilities
- Luggage Storage
- Meals Available
- No Curfew
- Non Smoking
- Outdoor Terrace
- Parking
- Pet Friendly
- Taxes included
- Tea & Coffee Making Facilities
- Towels Included
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 3 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
Must-Read Guesthouse InfoThis property has specific Terms & Conditions.
Please note:
Cancellation policy: 72h advance notice
Late cancellation or noshow � one night charge
Payment upon arrival by cash only
Check in from 14.00
Check out before 12.00
Breakfast included
Taxes included
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
via Montaglioni 25,
55022 Bagni di Lucca
The nearest railway station is at Bagni di Lucca.
We can collect and deliver you, but realistically, hiring a car is advisable to fully appreciate the mountains and valleys.
Located Near
From Bagni di Lucca, drive north on SS12 for a mile and turn right at our yellow sign at Ponte a Diana, driving up to the village at the top of the hill.
Nearest Airport Pisa Airport 50 miles
Nearest Train Station 6 miles
Nearest Bus Station4 miles


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The handwritten lyrics to Janet Jackson's 1989 song "Rhythm Nation" are currently on display in the Museum's Women Who Rock exhibit: With music by our side/to break the color lines/let's work together/to improve our way of life/Join voices in protest/to social injustice. The song exhorts social change in the face of injustice, using music – and by extension, rhythm – as a unifying tool. It's the perfect platform to talk about song structure (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) More important, "Rhythm Nation" provides a unique point of view from which to draw conclusions about its author and her era.
We use the chart-topping hit as an example of songwriting in our Rockin' the Schools class based on women songwriters, "Women Who Rock: Songwriting and Point of View." We developed the class curriculum (one of three Women Who Rock–based courses) with a strong English–language arts focus in conjunction with the Women Who Rock exhibit. This gives students the opportunity to really explore ELA concepts while learning about the importance of women songwriters from Tin Pan Alley to Top 40 radio. Male and female middle school and high school students appreciate the dedicated listening to five songs from beginning to end, and we value their opinions and readings.
Since we started teaching "Women Who Rock: Songwriting and Point of View" in October, we have been impressed by students' interpretations of point of view, whether they are analyzing Patti Smith's "People Have the Power" or Sara Bareilles' "Love Song." The students are exceptional at identifying rhyme scheme, metaphors and poetic devices, and their enthusiasm for inferring point of view within cultural and historical terms is infectious. Aretha Franklin's "Think" elicits revealing responses as wide-ranging as a feminist hymn to an anarchist anthem. Ellie Greenwich's "Da Doo Ron Ron" as recorded by the Crystals usually receives the most fervent response, with students applauding after hearing the irresistible hook. An eighth grader last week astutely observed that the song's nonsensical syllables, "da doo ron ron," likely represent the excited heartbeat of "a chick who's crushing on some dude named Bill." It's pretty thrilling to watch students draw informed conclusions from different perspectives while learning about the ever-present voices of women in the music industry.


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Philosophy has developed a dynamic a.m./p.m. protocol that follows skin's natural rhythms by inspiring uplifting days that visibly defy gravity and volumizing nights that help restore skin's youthfully sculpted appearance. In the morning, apply the uplifting daytime serum for an instant tightening sensation and visible lifting results. Formulated with peptides and extracts of rye seed and kigelia, a rare bio-active fruit. In the evening, apply the volumizing nighttime serum, a blend of kigelia with our exclusive high-performance retinoid, known for its ability to support natural collagen and address multiple signs of aging. Features & benefits:
Department: CosmeticsStyle: 00530331


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I will absolutely buy from this site again --
This item ships within two business days.
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In addition, I will be giving away a copy of AND FALLING, FLY to one lucky commenter. Please see the end of the interview for details.
Enjoy and Good Luck!
AND FALLING, FLY by Skyler White
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In a dark and seedy underground of burned-out rock stars and angels-turned- vampires, a revolutionary neuroscientist and a fallen angel must put medicine against mythology in an attempt to erase their tortured pasts...but at what price?
Olivia, vampire and fallen angel of desire, is hopeless...and damned. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O'Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions. When his research and her despair collide at L'Otel Mathillide-a subterranean hell of beauty, demons, and dreams-rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to destroy them both.
In this fractures Hotel of the Damned, Olivia and Dominic discover the only force consistent in their opposing realities is the deep, erotic gravity between them. Bound to each other finally in a knot of interwoven freedoms, Dominic and Olivia-the vision-touched scientist and the earth-bound angel, reborn and undead-encounter the mystery of love and find it is both fall...and flight.
My Interview:
First, let's take a moment to analyze the beautiful cover you scored for AND FALLING, FLY. What's your favorite aspect of the cover? Do you think that Olivia, your heroine, was represented well? How important is a cover to you as a writer?
The cover was terribly important to me, especially since this is my first book, and I was very, very worried about it. 'and Falling, Fly' isn't an easy book to represent visually, and I desperately wanted a conceptual cover, something more 'album art' than 'alpha male'.
But it's tricky. I didn't know what to ask for. Olivia's a bit of a shape shifter, so I didn't really want to see her face, since it changes. I didn't want to see her back, because it's covered with scars. I put together this ridiculous, massive PowerPoint presentation, full of ideas and inspirational art, and sent it to my editor. I have no idea whether she used it or not, but she brought back this cover, which I love, so it doesn't really matter.
And yes, I think it captures the spirit of Olivia very nicely. I love the way her hair shadows her face, allowing for a little ambiguity there, but my favorite aspect is the stone wings. I'm just totally in love with them as a metaphor, and it was exactly the sort of non-literal touch I was hoping for, but didn't have the artist's skill conceptualize. Although her gorgeous, leaf-rimmed, blood-red, branch-or-vein corset is pretty damn awesome too.
The written narrative of AND FALLING, FLY isn't common, at least not from my own personal reading experience. Why is Olivia written in first person while Dominic is written in third? What was the reason? Which narrative did you enjoy writing the most? Was it difficult to switch between the two?
The book is written in two separate narrative voices because it's about perspective. Olivia's perspective, her world-view, is diametrically opposite Dominic's, as his is of hers. From his perspective, she doesn't exist. He has to become willing to doubt, to cope with mystery and ambiguity to see her. Because the book was about how differently different people can see the world, it was important to give both poles their own voice. Because Olivia's stance on life is immediate and self-centered, she's first-person present. Because Dominic is all about objective distance, he's third-person past.
I enjoyed writing both. They each feel like a groove you get into. I would always re-read my last Olivia section before I wrote the next to find her voice again. I did a read-through, as one of the my final edits, of all her sections in a row, followed by all of his, to check each as a unified narrative and voice. I didn't really find switching between them too difficult, but I never tried writing them both in the same day.
During the first chapter, my initial impression of Olivia was that she had a self-deprecating humor when in fact, as the story progressed, she evolved upon the pages into an increasingly dark and disturbing character. I also detected an overwhelming hopelessness about Olivia that simultaneously made me sympathetic to her plight but also wary of where her hopelessness was leading. My thought - which may be totally wrong - is that you're attempting to convey modern human nature via this vampire character. What did you ultimately hope to represent to the reader with Olivia? Is she the result of a society drunk on lust and sex with the absence of love and forgiveness? Is she a warning or am I giving too muck life to a concept that is really just a character?
Wow! That's an incredibly complex and interesting question! I think I'm trying to depict, not so much "modern human nature", as a facet of it. I wanted to look at what might happen if a woman's appearance becomes more important than her physical sensation.
Humans are, by nature, visually driven. The amount of real-estate in the brain given to sight totally eclipses any of our other senses, but I think contemporary Western culture might be pushing attention to the visual beyond the boundaries of health. When plastic surgery to make our lips or breasts appear aroused – swollen – actually impedes our ability to feel aroused, there's something really interesting going on.
I wanted to push the boundary of what might happen if the body is made for being seen only, not for being experienced, if how we look is more important than how we feel. It's almost the ultimate selflessness, really. To put another person's experience of you above your own experience of being you. Olivia is so out-of-touch with what she wants for herself that the only real desire she has is to get back to her pre-fall, disembodied state. I don't think of her as a warning though, so much as an experiment.
I've read that for some actors, the extremely personal process of embodying a particularly intense or dark role can at times have an overflow affect onto their life outside of the movie set. During the writing of AND FALLING, FLY, did Olivia's character ever permeate into your everyday life? If so, what was her affect?
That's another interesting question. I don't think it affected me negatively. If I can do it without making you afraid of me, I'd say it's the other way around, almost. Olivia is a part of me, rather than me becoming a part of her. She's a dark part of me, but I feel like writing her drags her into the light, blunts her sharp teeth.
By recognizing those hopeless, grim instincts in myself, by giving them names and, ultimately, happy resolutions, I think (I hope) I take some of their power away for all of us—or at least for me and readers who recognize the same demons in themselves.
Writing Olivia healed part of the 'Olivia' place in me. She says, at the end of the first scene, "Desire denied, consumes." And I did, in the process of writing her, get a chance to dig into that "eating what we can get when we can't taste what we actually want" tendency. Wanting things you can't have, or can't control access to, is a scary space. It's hard to simply be with the wanting, not to blunt or sate it with other things. I have to keep reminding myself of that, but I'm much healthier (and thinner!) when I can simply look it in the eye and try to make myself comfortable with the pure, original emotion.
I'm especially impressed with the gruesome twist you've placed on the traditional vampire myth. Cast from Eden, Olivia is a fallen angel, doomed to taste only the fear of her victims - never their pleasure. With the unhinging of their jaws and the lengthening of their sharp quilled teeth, Olivia and her sisters convey a frightening picture to the reader. Obviously you've created a vampire that is different and original in today's glutted vampire market, but how difficult was that accomplishment? Why make Olivia and her sisters vampires at all?
They're vampires because it seemed to me a fitting metaphor for what I wanted to play with. If you don't have direct access to something, one option is to get it vicariously, through others. That's what vampires are, right? And often we paint that kind of second-hand living as sacrifice – the mother who lives through her child, for example – but there's really something vaguely parasitic about that kind of all-consuming love. And with vampires, it can literally consume.
Same thing with attraction. If we condition girls to be attractive, to be desirable, they grow up wanting to be wanted. That's desire at one remove. Vampiric desire. And that tendency in myself, to be absorbed by wanting to be wanted rather than simply to want, was what I wanted to get a grip on with Olivia and her sisters.
Also, I was particularly jarred by the inherent evil of Olivia's sisters. It was actually very hard to imagine them as once being angels. That is as angels that are generally accepted by today's society - beings of supreme purity and goodness. What ultimately drove you to apply a fallen angel twist to the vampire? Is this evil something that Olivia's sisters were already capable of? And to begin with, why this vampiric punishment at all? What crime did they ultimately commit to deserve such an existence?
You certainly don't ask the quick and easy questions, do you? Wouldn't you rather know my favorite ice cream? ;-) Actually, I'm having a lot of fun with this. I like hard questions. It's part of the idea behind the book, actually, that there is some deep, rich pleasure to be gained by interacting with things that challenge us, by trying to spread our minds, (and, the snake would say, our legs) as widely as we can to hold as much of what is paradoxical as possible.
I didn't actually put a fallen angel twist on the vampire. I put a vampire twist on the fallen angel. Olivia and her sisters were angels first. I started with desire. Desire, in its pure, uncorrupted, angelic state. The ideal of desire. Its personification, its angel. Olivia and her sisters were initially the angels of desire.
And it wasn't their crime – they're actually blameless – it was their parents' crime that got them chucked out of Heaven. Their parents tried to seduce God. Tried to introduce desire into perfection. Tried to make Everything want something. And because of that, wanting is taken out of the abstract and made specific.
The ideals fall. And earth-bound idealism is a clumsy, wing-scarred thing. Sometimes a blind and even ruthless thing. I truly believe it's in the negotiation between our ideals and what we see as reality that most evil originates.
Most evil, certainly most of the sisters' evil, is simple selfishness. They can't see how their actions affect others. Nor do they care. And they don't care – not because they're evil (although it makes them evil) – but because they're blinded by their fallen idealism. They are so wrapped up in their own disappointments that they can't see beyond it into the experiences of others. To be moral, you have to treat people as you'd be treated, right? That's the Golden Rule, shared by almost every articulated faith on the planet. It's the common basis of morality.
But to love, you have to go a step beyond. Love requires you to know not how you would have others do unto you, but how they would have others do unto them. It's a leap, not of compassion, which morality requires, but of imagination. To love someone you have to be able to understand their desires, to see through their eyes, look from their perspective. And put your energy behind helping them achieve what they want. And to be loved, you have to first be seen and equally understood.
Dominic O'Shaughnessy, out of all the characters of AND FALLING, FLY, he was the easiest to identify and relate too. Simply put, he felt incredibly human with his stubborn denials and his scientific logic. In addition and more importantly, I recognized Dominic's need for a cure-all pill, thereby reflecting the world's obsession with medicating everything. Is this reality of today's society something you purposefully incorporated into Dominic's character? What did you hope to ultimately represent with his character?
Oh, yay! Yes! That "fix it" response to suffering is definitely one of the things I wanted to look at. To really feel what you want, especially when you want things like love or acceptance that are transactional things, that have to be given by another … like Dominic's (or Judas's) kiss … when you want things you can't steal or fashion for yourself, it's painful.
Wanting implies a lack. And it hurts. And we're very, very quick these days, it seems to me, to respond to pain by taking the shortest path to its departure. Now, I'm not against medication. I'm grateful for it, but I'm learning that some pain I need to listen to before I try to silence it. Pain is a messenger. It's frequently a messenger that won't shut up long after the message has been delivered and received, at which point shoot the guy with an aspirin, by all means.
But I know I, at least, sometimes forget to hear him out at all. I forget to respond to pain with "why" before "what will it take to make this stop?" And sometimes I spend so much time looking for the "quick fix" that it really isn't quick anymore. But that's who Dominic is. He has a lot of trouble seeing the meanings of things. He's very good at proof and evidence, but not so much at interpretation.
Without giving away spoilers, I have to mention how much I loved the resolution of AND FALLING, FLY. For two people trying their damnedest to become that which they most desired above all else, Olivia and Dominic each had to accept themselves, inadequacies and all, to have each other. Reappearing on the other side of their struggles, they each were stronger for having embraced that which they despised most - themselves. Is that the lesson to be learned with AND FALLING, FLY? Is it love that sets us free or is it acceptance? Did you plan for a moral to the story or is aF,F intentionally written to be open for interpretation?
I'm so glad you liked it! And yes, I deliberately left the ending open for interpretation. Which would really irritate Dominic. But I'm very, very leery of stories with morals, and I certainly don't feel like I have enough answers to be in a position to pen one.
What I have (what I have in spades!) is questions. I feel if, as a novelist, I can pose an interesting question, or if I can give you an analogy for grappling with a question of your own, then I've earned my keep. Novels ask a lot of a reader. It's a bigger time commitment than a movie or a magazine, and requires much more mental investment, too. If I'm going to take your time and your mind away from other things, I feel a responsibility to engage you, to offer you a challenge and a puzzle and something to play with that will hopefully outlast the time you spend with the book in your hand.
Not all pleasures have to come from this sort of wrestling, but I think there's a special pleasure in engaging with a difficult idea, or narrative, or question, that no easy pleasure can touch.
Your website gives some tantalizing information on your next novel in the Harrowing Series, IN DREAMS BEGIN. What can we expect with this next installment? Will Olivia and Dominic be making any appearances?
I can say with certainty that Dominic does *not* show up in 'Dreams', but I'm not saying anything about Olivia. ;-P
'In Dreams Begin' inhabits the same story-world as 'and Falling, Fly' and there are some important overlaps, but it's a time-travel story about a modern graphic artist living in Portland, Oregon who wakes up on her wedding night channeled into the body of Maud Gonne, the famous Victorian beauty, Irish revolutionary, and amateur occultist who may have been part faerie.
In Maud's body, Laura, our modern, professional woman, while still coming to grips with Victorian rules and dresses, meets WB Yeats, the Irish poet. He's wildly romantic, embarrassingly passionate, ridiculously flamboyant, and she, of course, falls in love with him, only to wake up back in Portland. The story tracks Laura and her new husband over two weeks, and Laura, Yeats and Maud Gonne over almost thirty years, all completely obedient to actual history, but allows me to have a lot of fun with questions of body, fidelity, passion, morality, and about five different flavors of possession. It took a lot of research, but real history was amazingly cooperative and bizarre!
Skyler White is author of dark fantasy novels 'and Falling, Fly' (Berkley, March 2010) and 'In Dreams Begin' (Berkley, December 2010).She lives in Austin, TX.
Big hugs and thanks to Sklyer White for turning my sadly inadequate questions into an amazing interview with her wonderful answers. Thank you!
**Must be 18 or Older to Enter**
***Contest Closes Thursday, March 25th at Midnight U.S. Pacific Standard Time and a Winner will be Chosen Randomly and Announced Friday, March 26th**


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One way or another, the end is near. And business is booming. Utah is ground zero for disaster 'preppers' and the industry that profits from them.
Burnetta Knudsen, a single mother of two and business owner, has driven 200 miles to learn how to prepare for catastrophe. The petite blonde is obviously a bit overwhelmed as she enters Utah Valley University's Event Center. The stark concrete basketball arena is hosting the Great Utah Family Preparedness Expo. About 500 people are milling among booths offering courses in wilderness and urban survival, long-term food storage, herbal medicine, gold-and-gem investment and emergency midwifery. Vendors are offering "bug-out" kits, solar ovens, fighting knives, tasers, massive water tanks, military-quality tents and below-ground greenhouses.
"I'm just learning about prepping," says Knudsen as she examines a selection of arcane medicinal herbs. "I need all the information I can get in my little head."
On a continuum that begins with kits to get by for a few days without public utilities to long-term food storage and preparing for a full-on End of Days scenario, Knudsen falls in the moderate range. "I'm just starting with the basics. I'm worried about natural disasters and pandemics." A little farther out, she plans to add firearms training.
"I'm not scared, I just want to be prepared. Am I worried about a Zombie Apocalypse? Nope," she says smiling. "I'm a pretty down-to-earth girl."
But it's not just savvy Mormon moms who are joining the ranks of preppers. Mike Butler, 24, is shopping for bug-out supplies at an Emergency Essentials store in Murray. The muscular, tattooed, construction worker is looking at a Trekker II 72-hour food pack to keep in his car trunk. It will allow him and his girlfriend to escape into the boonies.
"If everything goes to hell for real, it's better to be prepared," Butler says. So far, he's got the weapons end covered with a AR-15 assault rifle and a .45 cal. pistol. "I want to be able to travel off the radar with tactical gear and fighting skills. There's been times in history when things have gotten bad. My military buddies are telling me it's coming."
Money to be made
Utah has become a haven not only for preppers, but for businesses that cater to them—a quick count finds at least 100 companies dealing specifically in emergency preparation and survival goods and services. That's not counting gun stores and recreational outlets like REI and Cabela's that sell freeze-dried food, cooking, shelter, navigation equipment and weaponry that would come in handy in a civil meltdown.
"A lot of national manufacturers are headquartered here," says Bill Moon, a salesman for Salt Lake-based Wise Company, which offers compact food packages that have a 25-year shelf life. "We're growing rapidly."
Moon and others in the industry give credit to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its tradition of preaching preparation for hard times. It's nearly a Mormon cultural imperative to stock a two-year supply of food and many Utah homes have storage rooms built in. "I link it back to the LDS church and its strong counsel to be prepared," Moon says. "Lately, with Katrina and the flooding in Colorado, we've seen what a good idea that is. Who would have thought that could have happened?"
In fact, Wise Company's products are endorsed by Mormon entertainment icon Marie Osmond and, Moon says, you'll soon be seeing the company's products in Kmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Wise also is a sponsor of the reality TV show Doomsday Preppers.
"Utah seems to have more of a market per capita than other states," says Tim Pedersen, a preparedness consultant at Orem-based Emergency Essentials, which sends out 100,000 catalogs a month in addition to its extensive website. "But our strongest business [in total revenue] is out of state."
"Prepping, whatever you want to call it, has been around for centuries. It used to be a rural thing, now it's moving into urban environments," he says. "Emergency Essentials is a preparedness supermarket—we carry much more than food. We try to make sure we have something for everyone." They even offer survival bundles for pets.
The prepper business, whether it's aimed at weathering an electrical outage or nuclear holocaust, is booming.
Emergency Essentials began in 1987 to provide powdered milk for home storage, but has expanded to meet the survivalist twist to prepping. "It used to be solely about families preparing to shelter in place," Pedersen says. "Survivalists are about being able to defend yourself in a lawless land. Often it's about getting to a place where you can defend yourself."
The question of course is why are so many people adopting a lifestyle premised on predictions of civil collapse?
"It's the unrest our customers are feeling," says Pedersen. "More and more, there's a mindset of 'I have to do something in case a disaster happens.'"
At the Great Utah Family Preparedness Expo it isn't hard to find experts to offer any number of unsettling reasons for the urgency to preparing—range fires, monetary collapse, divine retribution, civil war, terrorist attack, meteor collisions. Much of the information has a strong tang of Tea Party and even more extreme right-wing ethos. Utah John Birch Society star Ken Bowers offers a workshop titled "Powers Behind the Thrones" and LDS author Roger K. Smith will speak on "The Sequence of the Events of the Last Days as Outlined in the Scriptures & the Prophesied Future War in America."


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Who's the next father-son combo at Daytona?
Published: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 1:16 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 6:56 p.m.
The image of father and son walking to the starting grid of the Daytona 500 – then splitting and climbing into their respective race cars – was once rather common.
Lee and Richard Petty did it. Then, Richard and Kyle Petty did it. Buck and Buddy Baker. Bobby and Davey Allison. Dale and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The best chance of that happening again soon seems to rest with Ryan Blaney (son of Dave) and Ross Kenseth (son or Matt).
Ryan Blaney is definitely on the fast track to the Sprint Cup Series. Driving for Brad Keselowski's Truck Series team, he won a race last year in Iowa, and this year will return to that Truck Series team, while also sharing duties on Penske Racing's No. 22 Nationwide Series team.
Ross Kenseth is a student at Clemson University and is competing nationally on a few minor-league circuits.
While Ryan Blaney is certainly much closer to the big leagues, dad Dave is 50, which means his Cup Series shelf life is likely on borrowed time. But a father-son Blaney entry could happen in the next year or two. Matt Kenseth is only 40 and appears to still be in his racing prime, so if Ross continues to progress, we could see a Matt-Ross combo several years down the road.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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While no single individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chasis in his very first single, "Maybellene."
Gibson ES 335view artifact
Chuck Berry wore this outfit in an advertisement for Christian Brother's Brandy. Berry was the first person inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986.view artifact
This show featured two future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Chuck Berry and Louis Jordan.view artifact
In the beginning of his career, Berry added an "n" to his last name in an attempt to keep his involvement in rock and roll separate from his parents, who were very religious.view artifact


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it sounds like the sort of three chord emo songs i listened to when i was 14
Well, I open my eyes and I see things. I've seen spirits moving through the walls. I've seen a vortex coming through the wall. I've seen amorphous little balls of light bouncing all around in the front yard through the window. I've seen giant bugs on the floor. I was in a hotel room in Amarillo, Texas, and all I remember is standing on the bed and seeing the whole wall in front of me filled with lights that were [makes popping sound] popping like popcorn out of the wall. Then I'll wake up and I go "Wow, I was standing on my bed and staring at this wall."
Justin Mac Miller has been rapping about the exact same subject matter with like zero deviation since his first mix tapes. There's only so many ways you can say "I'm middle class and I like to party and smoke weed." I have 2 of his mix tapes and Blue Slide Park, he's not a terrible rapper, he can be fun to jam to with friends. Just objectively as an ARTIST he's a waste of space
The "Yell at each other for their inferior taste in music" thread
I think we need some more class in this thread, no doubt


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You'll know that you're signed in with your Microsoft account by looking for the Sign in button on the Home tab in Windows Live Mail. When you're signed in, your display picture and display name will appear on the Sign in button.
You can sign in with your Microsoft account to use Mail with other Microsoft services. For more information about why you should sign in, see
Do I need to sign in with a Microsoft account to use Windows Live Mail?
On the Home tab, click Sign in.
Type your Microsoft account user name and password, select the check box if you want to always sign in with this account, and then click OK.
Xem tất cả các trang hỗ trợ dành cho Windows Essentials.
Đặt câu hỏi của bạn trong diễn đàn cộng đồng.


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Need Help? Call 1.866.472.4001
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Today is the Day of Solidarity for Black Atheists, launched by African Americans for Humanism and announced by our own Black Skeptics Los Angeles. And amen to that. So I'm putting up something I've done (albeit long ago) that's of interest on this subject, especially since it's something most people never hear about and never look into, even my most avid fans: my article on the late but famous atheist intellectual and activist, the Nigerian of Nigerians, Tai Solarin (1922-1994).
So famous an atheist he was that you could send a letter addressed to "Tai Solarin, Ikenne, Nigeria," and the letters would always get to him. He had famous debates with Chinua Achebe in Nigerian newspapers, started a godless school for children (the Mayflower School, whose motto is "Knowledge Is Light," which is still in operation), and much else besides. He was a social critic, a patriot, and an avid and outspoken defender of nonbelief. He later had a Nigerian university named after him (the Tai Solarin University of Education, which specialized in educating educators, but is now slated for closure, sadly).
Back in college, my sophomore year, I wrote a class paper on him. It's a pretty basic, sophomore-level paper. But I spent a whole day in the UCLA library reading Nigerian newspapers and whatever else I could find, and I'm told it remains to this day one of the most detailed summaries of his life and work available online. So if you want to celebrate Solidarity with a Black Atheist day, educate yourself about this guy. Because he deserves to be remembered. Check out Tai Solarin: His Life, Ideas, and Accomplishments.
And take note: atheist movements are arising all across Africa now, from Ghana to Uganda (and beyond), and this isn't the kind of place where it's exactly "safe" to be an out atheist, much less known as publicly promoting atheism. So African atheists are pretty damn courageous, needless to say. I'll solidarity that!


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Today hip-hop artist Consequence unleashes a new mixtape, Movies On Demand, via his website itsthecons.com. Movies On Demand co-stars some of the most respected artists in the game: Kanye West, Common, Q-Tip, P. Diddy, Kid Cudi, Styles P, Maino, Spree Wilson, The Lox, John Legend, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, and Rick Ross. Asher Roth jumps on the single "Childish Games", and the video shot by Rik Cordero will premiere in the coming weeks.
This is just a taste of what's to come as Consequence is currently in the studio working on his highly anticipated album Cons TV. Executive produced by Q-Tip and Kanye West, it is set for release in 2010 on G.O.O.D. Music / Motown Universal.
Download Movies on Demand Mixtape Here [zip file]
"Childish Games ft. Asher Roth" – Single [Purchase on iTunes]
Consequence Official Website | Myspace | Twitter
Tracklisting After the Jump: [Read more...]


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Warta Poznan!
The Aim: To be the best team in Poland and hopefully break into Europe. I will also try and raise the reputation of the Polish leagues and national team. I will be trying to whizz through the seasons as quickly as possible so most games will be on just commentary as this project will take a fair few seasons to make progress in. I have loaded most of the key European leagues with about half of these being on view only. Anyway meet Mad Dog manager of Warta Poznan!
Who are they? Warta Poznan play in the second tier of Polish football and are predicted by the media to finish 8th, in real life for the 11/12 season they finished 10th. Wikipedia will fill you in on the rest - Warta Poznań is a football club based in Poznań, Poland. Founded in 1912, the club are two-time winners of the Polish Football Championship, in 1929 and 1947, but currently reside in the Polish First League. The name means the Guard in Polish and also a name of river Warta on which Poznań is located. The club also played in second level between 1951-1952 (2 seasons), 1956-1960 (5 seasons), 1970-1971, 1973-1975, 1977-1979, 1991-1993, 1995-1996, 1997-1998 and since 2007. They played in the top level last between 1993-1995.
Squad: All Polish! Will try and get some foreigners in as they will perhaps have more talent than the locals.
Here is our team report.
Here are he loanees already at the club.
Club information
STAR MAN Seems very good for this level
Current staff Will try and bring in a few of my own I expect.
Tactic Will try this out for now, it is a 442 diamond. Might change it if success doesnt follow with it. I will add a 5-2-2-1 for backup against stronger sides.
Now finally,
Board expectations- Top Half
My expectations - Top half, but I do have an inclination we can slightly outdo this.
I will do a pre-season update, mid season update and an end of season update for each season, let me know if you like the layout or if I should change it somehow, thanks!