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OAKLAND -- One thing is certain, Knowland Shell Miller will always have a great story to tell about how his parents came up with his name.
The baby was born about 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Shell gas station in the Knowland Park neighborhood, just across from the Oakland Zoo -- entering the world in the back of his parent's SUV with the help of three Oakland police officers who just happened to be at the station at the time.
In an emotional meeting Tuesday that had the baby's father in tears and the police officers who delivered him choked up as well, baby Knowland slept like, well, a baby while the family and officers were reunited during a feel-good news conference.
"You guys single-handedly saved my son's life," the baby's father, Barry Miller, 26, of Oakland told Officers Charles Stone, Sean Bowling and Jeffhry Cid, who helped deliver the baby. "It's a blessing. It's really a blessing."
The baby's mother, Kimberly Thomas, 27, who has four other children, knew when she was immobilized by excruciating pain shortly after 6 p.m. last Friday, that she didn't have time to waste.
She called boyfriend Miller, who was attending barber college, and told him she was hurting. Miller walked home and the couple loaded their 4-year-old son Kristian in the SUV and headed to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center: Oakland.
"She kept saying, '(I'm) not going to make it, (I'm) not going to make it,'" Miller said. "She said, 'If we get on the freeway, I'm not going to make it (to the hospital).'"
They spotted the police cars at the Shell on Golf Links Road and Miller ran inside the mini-mart, where the officers were warming up dinner and talking to the clerk. "I said (she's going to) have a baby right now," Miller said.
Cid, a father himself and a former nursing assistant at UC San Francisco Medical Center, sprang into the lead role, though he'd never delivered a baby before. They grabbed paper towels from the gas station clerk and instructed Miller to be ready with the shirt off his back for the baby.
"Two or three minutes later, my little man came out," Miller said.
The officers all said they were honored to be able to be at the right place at the right time. "It was a wonderful experience for us," Cid said. "We are blessed to be part of your family in this special way."
They also credited Thomas for keeping calm during the ordeal.
"Mom was fighting and battling the whole time," said Stone, also a father. "She was cooperative and calm and she answered all of our questions about what was going on."
For her part, the mom passed kudos right back to the officers. "They are good people. They calmed me down more than him," she said pointing to the boy's father.
The baby, wrapped in his dad's sweater, was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He is healthy and thriving.
In addition to the media attention, baby Knowland got a special invite from police Chief Howard Jordan on Tuesday: "He is now an honorary police officer and we look forward to seeing him in the Class of 2037."
Reach Kristin J. Bender at email@example.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/kjbender.


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OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. — A battle of epic proportions is coming to Squaw Valley this September, adding a new event to the fall lineup.
Six restaurants and six bands will fight for the title in The Village at Squaw Valley Friday, Sept.14. Designed to make taste buds scream, Guitar Strings vs. Chicken Wings will run from 6-10 p.m. with a nonstop barrage of spicy, flavor-packed goodness. And because this war is about more than just mouths, each restaurant is joining forces with a musical heavyweight to crank this contest all the way to the max.
Chicken and music lovers are not going to want to miss a single stop on this around-the-valley face-off, with restaurants and music pairings including Twenty-Two Bistro with Kendal Naughton and Lucas Arizu; The Auld Dubliner with the musical explosion of Metal Echo; Fireside Pizza Company with Blue Cheese; Mamasake with Forget the Roses; Rocker@Squaw with Josh Clarke and Sean Leahy from Tea Leaf Green; and last but certainly not least, Cornice Cantina with a band that is yet to be named, but sure to be a contender.
Entry is a $5 donation and party-goers will get to pick the winners. Restaurants will battle for the Wing vs. Wing Champion Trophy as well as Wing and Band Best Pairing. Bands will be battling for their own prize — a paid future gig at The Village at Squaw Valley. Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Events Plaza. Event attendees will get great prices on delicious wings, with four wings for $5 or nine wings for $10, plus beer and drink specials available at each restaurant. One lucky participant will go home with a guitar, donated by Guitar Center, that will be raffled off at the end of the night.
Proceeds from the entry donation will benefit Tahoe Institute of Natural Sciences, a local member-supported nonprofit organization seeking to advance the natural history, conservation, and ecosystem knowledge of the Tahoe region through science, education and outreach. TINS partnered with Squaw Valley to bring complimentary guided-hikes to the resort this summer and the organization has a long-term goal of bringing a world-class interpretive nature center and educational facility to the Tahoe area.

subset: commoncrawl


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Phone Journal
Easy and Powerful SMS/MMS management for Palm Treo and Centro smartphones.
Take charge and free your life's story. Easy and Powerful SMS/MMS management for Palm Treo and Centro smartphones.
The Treo and Centro silently and automatically deletes your older SMS messages - don't lose your life's story forever. Back up the messages on your phone with just one touch.
NEW - Know how many messages you're using each month - before the next phone bill arrives. Let Phone Journal show you how many SMS/MMS you're using with its elegantly designed chart to take out all the guesswork.
Phone Journal's powerful threaded message view lets you keep track of your conversation effortlessly. Unicode support means non-English SMS are not a problem.
Full support for MMS - view and save your photos, audio and video clips.
Required OS: not specified
Tags: treo , backup , sms , archive , palm , message
5 Opinions
Ok, after much twiddling & tweaking (reinstalling the program & conduit a few times, fiddling with Conduit settings) I finally got Phone Journal working again. No thanks to Funkee Monk tho! Good product, but rubbish support!
Worked perfectly on the first installation. However, the program has not updated any SMS since my initial sync with my Treo. FunkeeMonk Technology never respond to enquiries.
My advice would be DONT BUY!
Either the software authors are dead or they have decided the product does not generate enough sales to be worth providing support to users.
FunkeeStory has now been renamed as Phone Journal! Check it out at http://osx.iusethis.com/app/phonejournal
Thanks for the compliments ahancock, and there's good news! I'm now offering FunkeeStory at a promotional price of $19.95. :-)
wow, $25? kinda high... don't need it that bad
sure is cool tho!


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SAN JOSE -- San Jose State defensive end Travis Johnson was named a semifinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy.
The award goes to the defensive player who has the biggest impact on his team on and off the field and is named after 49ers great Ronnie Lott. IMPACT stands for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.
Johnson is the active career leader in the nation with 30.0 sacks, which also matches the Western Athletic Conference and San Jose State career records. He's a four-time academic all-conference selection.
"I can't say enough about what a phenomenal young man he is," SJSU coach Mike MacIntyre said. "He's the heart and soul of our defense." Johnson is one of eight semifinalists and the only player from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference.
The other semifinalists are Stanford's Chase Thomas, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, Mississippi State's Johnthan Banks, Kansas State's Arthur Brown, Georgia's Jarvis Jones, LSU's Eric Reid and Ohio State's John Simon.


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- Destinations
- Hotels
- Vacations
- Tours & Activities
- Special Offers
- Cruise Vacations
HAWAII AIR CREDIT: If each adult traveler purchases an optional Classic Vacations travel protection plan, the party's total package price (including the travel protection cost) will be reduced by the value of the Hawaii air credit. Valid on new bookings of at least five consecutive nights at a participating property on Maui, Kauai, Lanai, or the Big Island; or of at least four (4) consecutive nights on Oahu. The credit will vary and increases with length of stay. Each credit is per booking, not per traveler. Combinable with select Classic Hawaii promotional offers. Valid for bookings made from 4/01/13-12/15/13 for travel through 12/20/13. Additional restrictions and blackout dates may apply. Offers are subject to availability at time of booking and may be changed or discontinued at any time without notice. Minimum night stays, minimum stay requirements on air, seasonal surcharges, resort fees (if any), and other restrictions may also apply. Air required at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Four Seasons Lana'i at Manele Bay, and Four Seasons Lana'i, The Lodge at Koele. Some booking and travel dates may vary. Other promotions and departure dates available which may result in a different rate and/or hotel inclusion. Customer is responsible for hotel taxes and fees on the free night offers.
2255 Kalakaua Ave. 4th floor
Save up to Value Added
Mountain View Room
Partial Ocean View Room
Travel from Now through 12/18/2013
Blackout Dates: May Apply
Minimum Night Stay: 4 Nights
Book This Now
Sheraton Waikiki
Hotel Ratings
Greetings from the Hotel General Manager
Aloha E komo mai, (welcome)! We are delighted that you are considering to stay at our amazing resort in the heart of Waikiki. I am proud to share that the Sheraton Waikiki's new renovation has completely transformed our Ocean Front Resort and offers a contemporary, Hawaiian experience. Enjoy the best pools, location and views from our amazing resort, we hope to see you soon.
Kelly Sanders
General Manager
Insider Tip
- Adjacent to the hotel is the principal departure point for Oahu's tour and adventure buses as well as for airport shuttles.
Hotel Overview
What to Expect:
- On the best stretch of legendary Waikiki beach sits the towering Sheraton Waikiki – a true medium of endless energy and electric excitement. Trendy, sophisticated, Hawaiian, and completely refreshed after a 187 million dollar transformation, this resort ushers in a new level of comfort, style and panache to the Waikiki scene, promising an inspired vacation for one and all. The resort is known for its breathtaking ocean-front views offered from 80% of its guest rooms and suites, a first-of-its-kind resort "super pool", adult-only infinity pool, sophisticated Club Lounge and award winning dining venues.
Amenity Highlights:
- The Sheraton Waikiki proudly participates in Flavors of Island Music by featuring some of the island's most talented artists nightly at The Edge infinity pool. Rum Fire, Waikiki's newest hot spot offers daily contemporary music. For children ages 5-12, the resort offers daily cultural programs that include lunches and dinners, and a center with children's computers (reservations required, surcharges apply). The resort offers wireless Internet access in public areas (surcharge), and signing privileges at other Sheraton properties in Waikiki, including use of men's and women's steam rooms or body treatments, facials and massages within the expansive Spa Khakara. The Sheraton Waikiki introduced the new Leahi (Diamond Head) Club Lounge and Club Floors. The hip, upscale business and leisure specialty lounge serves breakfast and evening appetizers and cocktail service. Private concierge service is available to all club members. The club level rooms feature enhanced amenities such as robes, slippers and extra toiletries.
2255 Kalakaua Ave. 4th floor
Honolulu, HI 96815
United States
- Waikiki
Airport:Honolulu International HNL
Spread over 31 floors, the Sheraton Waikiki has 1,695 air-conditioned rooms with island decor, and sliding glass doors opening to lanai. All have shower/tub combinations, and signature Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Beds with a pillowtop mattress, five down-and-feather pillows, duvets, and triple sheeting. All rooms have compact refrigerators and high-speed Internet access (surcharge). Renovated rooms have contemporary island decor with bamboo shades, desks with laptop pull-out shelves, and curved wallside panels to accommodate TVs. Bathrooms include handheld showers, dark-wood framed mirrors, stylish sinks that doubles as wet bars, and louvered windows.
Room Amenities:
- Air conditioning
- Cable/satellite TV
- Clock radio
- Coffee/tea maker
- Complimentary toiletries
- Cribs (infant beds) available
- Electronic check-out
- Electronic/magnetic keys
- Extra towels/bedding in room
- Hair dryer
- Housekeeping
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- In-room safe
- Internet access - dial-up
- Internet access - high speed
- Internet access - surcharge
- Internet access - TV
- Iron/ironing board
- Minibar
- Non-smoking rooms
- Pay movies
- Premium TV channel(s)
- Refrigerator
- Refrigerator (on request)
- Rollaway beds
- Shower/tub combination
- Television
- Turndown service (on request)
- Video-game console
- Voice mail
- Wake-up calls
- Window opens
Property Amenities
Adjacent to the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, this 31-story Sheraton Waikiki provides direct access to a half-mile stretch of Waikiki Beach. Its seven restaurants includes a fine-dining restaurant on the 30th floor with superb views, and a RumFire nightclub offering tapas-style cuisine and a large selection of vintage rum.
On the fourth floor are a fitness center with cardiovascular and weight machines, a children's center with computers and children's programs (ages 5-12; surcharges apply).
The Link by Sheraton business center is located in the lobby complimentary computer usage, printing and wireless internet.
Guests enjoy two outdoor pools with bar service, and signing privileges at three other Sheraton properties nearby, use of men's and women's steam rooms or body treatments, facials and massages within the expansive Spa Khakara.
The Sheraton Waikiki introduced the new Leahi (Diamond Head) Club Lounge and Club Floors. The hip, upscale business and leisure specialty lounge serves breakfast and evening appetizers and cocktail service. Private concierge service is available to all club members. The club level rooms feature enhanced amenities such as robes, slippers and extra toiletries.
Valet parking:
$33 per 24-hour period. Indoor/outdoor seven-story parking garage with 24-hour security.
Self parking:
Included in the resort charge. Indoor/outdoor seven-story parking garage with in/out privileges and 24-hour security.
Fees do not include tax and are subject to change without prior notification.
- 24-hour front desk
- ATM/banking
- Audio-visual equipment
- Babysitting/Childcare
- Ballroom(s)
- Bar/lounge
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Business center
- Coffee shop or cafe´
- Complimentary newspapers in lobby
- Concierge services
- Conference room(s)
- Currency exchange
- Doorman/doorwoman
- Dry cleaning service
- Express check-in/check-out
- Fitness equipment
- Gift shop or newsstand
- Hair salon
- Internet access in public areas - complimentary
- Internet access in public areas - high speed
- Internet access in public areas - wireless
- Laundry facilities
- Laundry service
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Meeting room(s) (small groups)
- Multilingual staff
- Nightclub
- Parking (surcharge)
- Parking (valet)
- Patio
- Poolside bar
- Restaurant(s) in hotel
- Room service (limited hours)
- Safe-deposit box - front desk
- Shopping on site
- Spa services on site
- Supervised child care/activities
- Swimming pool - outdoor
- Tour assistance
- Wheelchair accessible
Starwood Preferred Guest points or related frequent traveler miles are not honored on guestrooms sold via this Web site.
This resort participates in the Sheraton Stay at One, Dine at All program that allows guests signing privileges at three Sheraton companion properties in Waikiki.
Guests may charge to their rooms service fees at Abhasa Spa, at the Royal Hawaiian next door.
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Rollaway beds and cribs (infant beds) may be available and should be requested at the time of booking; fees may apply.
Photo identification and credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges.
- Pets not allowed
Check-in time:
Check-out time:
Guests of the Sheraton Waikiki can enjoy a dining experience at one of five restaurants on the property.
Kai MarketSurrounded by stunning views of the resort's infinity edge pool and Waikiki Beach, Kai Market serves traditional Hawaiian meals of fresh seafood and exotic fruits, and other dishes inspired by the multi-ethnic generations of Hawaii's people - prepared by Executive Chef Darren Demaya with fresh, locally-grown products.
Leahi Club LoungeWith breakfast and evening appetizer and cocktail service, the lounge also features a boardroom for twelve. Private concierge service is available to all club members.
IngredientsOffering innovative cuisine comprised of fresh locally-grown products. Ingredients offers a variety of signature gourmet fare as well as customizable made-to-order dishes.
RumFireSet on the oceanfront, against the backdrop of Diamond Head, with fire pits adorning the 7,000 square-foot interior RumFire offers the largest selection of vintage rum and an exotic blend of tapas-style cuisine.
YoshiyaOn the second floor, intimate restaurant serves fine Japanese cuisine, plus sushi and bento. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The tea ceremony includes live traditional music
The Sheraton Waikiki offers an oceanside pool with a poolside bar, as well as a children's pool. The fitness center offers weight machines and cardio equipment with individual TVs. A full-service health spa with beauty salon is available at a companion property next door.
Waikiki Beach, adjacent, offers water and beach activities (the resort provides complimentary towels). Guests can also rent boogie boards, surf boards, and snorkel gear at a pool kiosk (surcharge). A surfing school is nearby (surcharge). The beach fronting the Sheraton Waikiki is covered at high tide, but a few steps away, to left and right, the sand remains. Within one mile are a public golf course, and the tennis courts and jogging paths of Kapiolani Park.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Aerobics
- Basketball
- Bicycle rentals
- Boat launch
- Fishing
- Golf - driving range
- Golfing
- Hiking/biking trails
- Motor boating
- Parasailing
- Pilates classes/instruction
- Racquetball/squash
- Rowing or canoeing
- Running track/path
- Scooter/Moped Rentals
- Scuba diving
- Snorkeling
- Surfing/boogie boarding
- Tennis
- Volleyball
- Whale-watching
- Yoga classes/instruction
Special Offer Details
2013 Air Credit4 nights from $779 per person
Save up to Value Added
What's Included?
- $100 Air Credit with Sunsational Savings
- Every 4th night FREE
- Daily breakfast for two
- Guaranteed room upgrade to Mountain View at time of check in
Available Room Types:City View Room
Mountain View Room
Partial Ocean View Room
Important Dates:Book from Now through 12/14/2013
Travel from Now through 12/18/2013
Blackout Dates: May Apply
Minimum Night Stay: 4 Nights


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Shawnee city commission will meet Monday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss several issues including a proposal that the city, rather than employees, pay fee increases assessed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield for health insurance. Commissioners could also take action on the proposal.
The Affordable Care Act includes several new fees that will be charged to providers of health insurance in 2014. The city currently has health care through Blue Cross and Blue Shield who will administer reporting and payment of the fees, but ultimately the expense will get passed to the clients, according to information provided to city commissioners from Dustin Brand of INSURICA.
Notification of the fee increase was sent to the City of Shawnee and other clients having a non-calendar year renewal that they would begin charging the ACA fees on the January 2014 invoice, which is estimated to be an additional 3.5 percent.
According to a memo by Cindy Sementelli, Shawnee finance director, she is recommending the city pay the fee increase until next budget year. She gives the recommendation based on the fact the city gave employees a specific rate for fiscal year 2013-2014 and the ACA was not factored into it since the staff wasn't aware of upcoming fees.
Commissioners will also hold a public hearing and consider an ordinance modifying taxicab rules.
In a memo sent by Planning Director Justin Erickson, the staff proposes the city commission adopt a revised vehicle for hire ordinance because the current ordinance has not been substantially updated since at least 1986. Erickson said in the memo that changes are necessary to protect public health, safety and welfare.
The commission meeting is open to the public at City Hall and will include a time for citizen participation where issues can be brought forward to the commissioners.
Location, ST | website.com


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Margaret Porter, 90
Published: Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 9:16 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 9:16 a.m.
HENDERSONVILLE— Margaret Porter 90, of Hendersonville passed away Thursday November 8, 2012, at Elizabeth House.
Shuler Funeral Home is assisting the family with the arrangements.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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Technique, technique, technique. I'm focused on improving my running form now, specifically in minimizing my tendency to heel-strike. I've been reading articles, watching videos with slow-motion analyses of the form, and just generally learning what I can about the theory.
I resolved to tailor my run today into something hinging on proper form instead of brute distance or weight. I went out with my hydration pack and my Vibram TrekSports so I felt light. I've run with my Five Fingers before, but never at quite the distance I did today; my previous bouts were short-distance (~1 mile) on the indoor track at school.
Here are the data from the run:
Lap 1 was the first half of the run, Lap 2 my trip back, and Lap 3 was my walking and stretching after the run. I maintained what I believe to be proper form for about 3/4 of the run, but ended up finishing the route still running, but with poorer form.
As I said, distance wasn't my main focus here, and I did stop occasionally - as you can see from the spikes in Pace - to stretch or get a feel for how my calves were holding up. This particular muscle group troubles me as I am running this way. I consciously critique and adjust my form as I run, trying with each step to land on the ideal and seemingly imaginary "midfoot" and roll into the toes. This seems to put undue strain on my calves. This might just be a result of my muscles not being used to this kind of movement.
In addition to the foot placement I am also meant to make a pedaling movement with my legs as if on a bike while bringing my heels up to my backside after each stride. It's a complicated motion and I found myself thinking while I was running: "I wish my track coach had done some work with the team to establish proper running form". Admittedly, as I was a pole-vaulter, I didn't do much running then and the running I did was all toe-striking long fast strides anyway. Still, I think any athlete whose sport involves running would benefit enormously from developing proper running form early on.
I'm looking into a Personal Trainer who might help me to correct my form. Strength training is still taking the back seat, and might have to remain there until after Goruck. The coming weeks will see TrekSport runs focusing on form, long unweighted runs focusing on endurance and distance, and long weighted runs focusing on mental grit and stamina.
Event Countdown
Tough Mudder PA: 21 days
Goruck: 41 days
Tough Mudder VT: 49 days


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Good morning and welcome to Summit Up, the world's only daily column that's pretty stoked the Broncos have already locked up the worst division in the National Football League. Not to take anything away from Peyton and the boys. They've certainly played inspired ball as of late, knocking off seven wins in a row. It's nice to turn on the tube and see one of the greatest QBs in the history of the league playing for the ol' orange and blue.
How happy is Peyton that he gets to throw the pigskin to Thomas, Decker, Tamme, Stokley and Dreessen? That's all we got for today. Go Broncos!


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Digestive Disorders Health Center
Image Collection:
Human Anatomy
Picture of the Stomach
© 2009 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
The stomach is a muscular organ located on the left side of the upper abdomen. The stomach receives food from the esophagus. As food reaches the end of the esophagus, it enters the stomach through a muscular valve called the lower esophageal sphincter.
The stomach secretes acid and enzymes that digest food. Ridges of muscle tissue called rugae line the stomach. The stomach muscles contract periodically, churning food to enhance digestion. The pyloric sphincter is a muscular valve that opens to allow food to pass from the stomach to the small intestine.
Today on WebMD
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GFMS Remains Bullish on Gold
Metals consultancy GFMS remains firmly in the bull camp for gold.
In an update to its Gold Survey 2012, GFMS said it expects gold to extend its more than a decade-long bull run in 2013, with prices potentially testing $1,900/oz in the first half of the year as solid demand for the metal from central banks and from opportunistic buyers in India and China outweighs a "sizeable bearish contingent" in the market.
"We strongly expect the rise in the annual average [gold price] to be greater than 2102′s 6% lift," said GFMS, forecasting an average gold price of $1,775/oz in the first half of this year. In Europe Wednesday, spot gold was trading at around $1,677/oz.
World investment in gold slipped 1.2% in tonnage terms to 1,614 metric tons last year, driven largely by a near-20% drop in physical gold bar investment to 961 tons. Gold jewelry demand also fell 4.4% to 1,885 tons, mainly due to lackluster demand in India.
GFMS blamed the drop in investor appetite for bullion on a lack of clear price direction and several hair-raising tumbles in the gold price amid broader market sell-offs and admitted that many market participants are likely still smarting from the metal's recent erratic behaviour. Those investors with a longer-term view on gold, while frustrated, should remain loyal to the precious metal this year, however, GFMS said.
"We can see little by the way of a trigger to oblige concerted selling by these more considered players. Recent comments on U.S. monetary policy for instance do little to point to any overt tightening being on the horizon. For gold, this would most obviously bear fruit in the form of interest rates in the United States being maintained at a very low level and probably remaining negative in real terms for some time yet," the consultancy said.
Not only is gold cheaper to store when interest rates are low, but loose monetary policy tends to heighten its appeal as a hedge against currency debasement and inflation.
GFMS's report comes at a time when murmurings over the longevity of gold's bull run are growing louder. Several banks, including Goldman Sachs Credit Suisse HSBC and Société Générale have slashed their gold forecasts for the year in recent weeks, with some calling for gold's long-term ascent to end sooner rather than later.
Last week, ABN Amro forecast an average gold price this year of $1,500/oz, followed by an average 2014 price of $1,400/oz. This year, gold averaged $1,669/oz.
"Gold's repeated failure to breach the $1,800/oz mark in 2012 is reflected in a growing voice that the decade-long rally might be over," said GFMS. "Such a view, however, does seem to remain a minority one, with a frustrated majority still bullish. We would firmly align ourselves with the latter group as there remain clear supportive factors at play," it added.


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New Pioneer Video: Our Global Governance Crisis - Spotlight on Government
The onus falls on government to give us the systems, incentives and regulatory frameworks to enable sustainable development. But, we repeatedly see them neglect global challenges in favor of protecting national interests. We hope to see a sense of shared vision and objectives by governments at Rio+20, but historically, governments have shown a lack of courage.
In the latest in our series of weekly videos on Guardian Sustainable Business, sustainable pioneers Vandana Shiva, Jonathon Porritt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jim MacNeill and others speak about these challenges.
About The Regeneration Roadmap
The Regeneration Roadmap, a collaborative and multi-faceted initiative by GlobeScan and SustainAbility, aims to provide a roadmap for achieving sustainable development within the next generation, focusing in particular on ways the private sector can improve sustainable development strategy, increase credibility and deliver results at greater speed and scale.
For more information, visit The Regeneration Roadmap website or join us on Twitter @regenroadmap.
Filed under:
Press Inquiries
Chris Wolf
Creative Consultant
Contact Chris
Want to know more about SustainAbility?


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OAKLAND -- Gov. Jerry Brown filed his papers Friday to run for an unprecedented fourth term as California's governor and then declined to say that this campaign would be his last.
Asked by a reporter outside the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Office if this was his final hurrah, Brown, 75, said: "I'm not going to say it's the last race."
Noting that he and his wife, Anne, were at Oakland City Hall on Thursday to collect petition signatures for his gubernatorial re-election campaign, Brown suggested that he could still run for Oakland mayor after he finishes his fourth term at age 80.
"I certainly enjoyed being mayor of Oakland," Brown said.
He led the city as mayor from 1999 to 2007 and then became California's attorney general from 2007 to 2011, when he was sworn in for his third term as governor.
For now, however, Brown said he's seeking re-election as governor "with humility and the realization that there's a great responsibility in the work that lies ahead." He said he intends to focus this year -- and if re-elected to his fourth term -- on maintaining a balanced budget with fiscal restraint and a healthy reserve fund.
"I am going to keep my eye on the ball and not repeat history," he said, citing previous governors who left office while the state's budget was in the red. "Frankly, I like the work. I understand it. ... I can make a contribution over the next four years."
He also said implementing the new local control funding formula for California's K-12 schools will be a priority, as will continuing to oversee the public-safety "realignment" that has transferred some responsibilities to counties to relieve pressure on overcrowded state prisons.
Asked about Republican challenger Neel Kashkari's campaign focus on jobs and education, Brown noted that the state has raised its minimum wage, expanded vocational education opportunities and created about a million jobs on his watch.
Brown said it would be premature to say whether he'll debate Kashkari or the other Republican challenger, conservative Assemblyman Tim Donnelly.
Brown, who served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983, said Friday that he loved that tenure so much that he remained in the governor's office until midnight on the last day of his second term.
He's already the longest-serving governor in California's history. He was able to seek that third term because the state term-limits law was enacted after his first two terms.
Assuming the term limits aren't reversed sometime in the future, Brown will hold that record forever -- unless former Gov. George Deukmejian, 85, decides to come out of retirement and run for two more terms as well.
Josh Richman covers politics. Contact him at 510-208-6428. Follow him at Twitter.com/josh_richman. Read the Political Blotter at IBAbuzz.com/politics.


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You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"This design was just perfect for our dinner. It was pretty and elegant, but casual, and it allowed enough space for all the wording we needed, without looking crowded. I was looking for something that highlighted the couple's names, rather than the dinner itself. We used the space on the back of the postcard for listing the entree options for guests to choose from."
"I was thrilled with the card stock and the overall invitation! The service was great and the delivery was better than stated. An overall perfect order. Thank you!"
"First time customer and I couldn't be more pleased with the rehearsal dinner invitations I ordered. The wide selection of designs, ease of ordering, quality paper, and quick delivery. I hope they will expand to have personalized products, other than bridal or invitations, such as business/personal stationery. A pleasure doing business with Wedding Paper Divas and will highly recommend to friends and family."
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Belgium, 2012, 111 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Drama, Music, RomanceLanguage: Dutch English Sub-Titles
ENDS Thursday at the Sie FilmCenter.
Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award.
An intensely moving portrait of a relationship from beginning to end, propelled by a soundtrack of foot-stomping bluegrass, The Broken Circle Breakdown is a romantic melodrama of the highest order. Elise (Veerle Baetens) and Didier (Johan Heldenbergh) fall in love at first sight. She has her own tattoo shop and he plays the banjo in a bluegrass band. They bond over their shared enthusiasm for American music and culture, and dive headfirst into a sweeping romance that plays out on and off stage—but when an unexpected tragedy hits their new family, everything they know and love is tested. Through flashbacks and flash-forwards director Felix Van Groeningen (The Misfortunates) seamlessly weaves a tapestry, detailing the story of a marriage and the pleasure and tragedy of being alive. Winner of the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Film (Carl Joos and van Groeningen) and Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film (Baetens) at the Tribeca Film Festival.
DIRECTOR: Felix van Groeningen
Producer: Dirk ImpensEditor: Nico LeunenScreenwriter: Carl Joos, Felix Van GroeningenCinematographer: Ruben ImpensPrincipal Cast: Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh, Nell Cattrysse, Geert Van Rampelberg, Nils De Caster
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Over $600k recovered from Valitar
DEL MAR A federal bankruptcy court has recovered more than $600,000 from the defunct Valitar show that closed in Del Mar late last year, but that's far less than the amount owed to vendors and former employees.
The $600,000 includes about $217,000 in net proceeds from an auction held in January of five large tents and other equipment used for the show. It also includes about $255,000 that producer and Rancho Santa Fe resident Mark Remley took after Valitar closed and has since returned, according to court documents.
Equustria Development Inc. — the company formed by Remley and his wife, Tatyana, to launch Valitar — still owes more than $14 million to roughly 100 creditors.
The largest creditor is Remley himself, who invested nearly $10 million, according to a report filed in court by Victor Vilaplana, an attorney for Equustria.
Employees and performers are owed about $237,744 in wages. Vendors, who provided various services and production equipment supplies, are owed about $2.9 million.
"Valitar was a tragedy for all involved, the performers, other employees and certainly the Remleys. No one lost more money or was more disappointed than they (the Remleys)," Vilaplana told the U-T San Diego in an email on Thursday.
A second auction is likely to be held as additional property is turned over to bankruptcy court, including some of the horses used in the production.
The equine-human acrobatics show — once described by Tatyana Remley as "Cirque du Soleil with horses" — premiered Nov. 16 in a 45,000 square-foot tent at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, featuring nearly 30 performers and about 55 horses.
The show shut down five days later, with the Remleys citing poor ticket sales.
Equustria filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 14.
The court must now resolve several questions, including who owns several horses used in the show — the Remleys or Equustria.
A horse appraiser has been appointed to determine the ownership and value of four horses, according to court documents. Some of the horses used in the production are estimated to be worth up to tens of thousands of dollars.
The abrupt end to Valitar stunned performers and crew members, many of whom said they were left stranded without pay in local apartments and hotel rooms. With the help of a benefit show and donations from the public, most were able to return to their homes.
Some remain in the area working or looking for work.
"It's been horrible," said Bing Bush, an attorney representing several former Valitar employees. "It uprooted their lives."
In an initial estimate, Remley told the court that the company had about $1.3 million in assets, including the Valitar tents that he estimated were worth about $1 million. The rest came from decorations, a horse trailer, furniture, two horses and other property.
Attorneys for the vendors and employees said there was more property belonging to Equustria that was not disclosed in Remley's initial report, including more horses and a truck.
Vilaplana said the Remleys turned over the truck, a 2012 GMC pickup truck, and that they are trying to determine which horses belong to the company and which are their personal property.
"They are cooperating completely and working closely with the trustee for the benefit of all of Equustria's creditors," Vilaplana said.
Bush said an employee saw the Remleys take several horses the night before the show was closed. The Remleys told the employee that they were taking the horses to a promotional photo shoot.
Vilaplana said he did not know how many horses were taken and had not spoken to the Remleys about who owns the horses.
The attorneys also have scheduled interviews with a former Equustria bookkeeper and the owner of a horse ranch where some of the Valitar horses are believed to be.
But attorneys for the Valitar employees and vendors say it will probably take more than a year before the bankruptcy is completed.
"We are doing all we can to represent all these people," said Suzanne Porrazzo, whose clients include several vendors. "It's a very long process."
The court is expected to set a date soon for the second auction to sell some of the equipment that was recovered since the first auction, including the truck, a horse trailer, stage rigging and decorations.


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Elementary Italian II
This course is the continuation of the elementary level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. This course, like Italian 110, is delivered in a fully online format in order to allow more flexibility for students in the summer months. Class work emphasizes the further development of the oral-aural skills, speaking and listening. Readings on topics in Italian culture as well as frequent writing practice are also included. Out-of-class homework requires work with a textbook, the Internet, audio and video materials. This online course provides the flexibility of distance learning and content that is taught efficiently in order to be used practically.
For technological requirements, please see: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/commons/system-requirements
The course listing presented here is subject to change. Please confirm all information on the the University of Pennsylvania Registrar's website or via Penn InTouch (PennKey required)


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Final straw: After near tragedy, junior hockey must stop the fight
An 18-year-old player, with a college commitment to the University of New Hampshire, NHL Draft eligibility and a dream, should not have his night end seizing on the ice.
Post a comment
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Today: Twitter shares take a roller-coaster ride, end up falling another 5 percent and shaving nearly $7 billion from the company's market cap in two days of trading.
Honeymoon appears over for Twitter
Twitter shares continued their plunge from record highs Monday, closing down 5 percent, or $3.24, to $60.51 after a roller-coaster day of trading. After falling 13 percent Friday, shares fell as much as 7 percent Monday morning before an afternoon rally recovered almost all of that, then plummeted again before the closing bell. The two-day losses have shaved off nearly $7 billion in market capitalization for the San Francisco-based microblogging company.
The drop appears to signal the end of Twitter's honeymoon on Wall Street. Shares had soared as much as 145 percent from its $26-a-share IPO price in November. Many analysts called Twitter's stock vastly overvalued, as its recent gains far exceeded experts' price targets.
Twitter's about-face has been swift: Last Thursday, Twitter surged almost 5 percent to a mid-day high of $74.73, and closed at a record $73.31. That left shares up nearly 80 percent in December, and almost triple its IPO price. Reality set in Friday, when Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter downgraded Twitter from neutral to sell, triggering the plunge. "We continue to believe that Twitter as a company has a bright future and many opportunities ahead," he said in the report, according to Bloomberg News. "However, as a stock, we believe nothing has changed over the last 15 days to justify the rise in valuation."
S&P Capital IQ analyst Scott Kessler told the Merc's Peter Delevett last week that three factors had been driving Twitter's surge: user passion, a limited number of shares and an overall bull market. Twitter has yet to make a profit, and analysts don't expect it to until 2015. Still, investors had been optimistic that targeted ads to Twitter's hundreds of millions of users would be a huge revenue-generator in the future.
In other news, a new report found Twitter has been surpassed by Pinterest in overall popularity in the United States. A survey from the Pew Research Center found 18 percent of U.S. adults online use Twitter, compared to 21 percent who use Pinterest. Facebook remained, by far, the most popular social network, with 71 percent of adults using it; business-networking site LinkedIn was No. 2, at 22 percent. The survey found unique demographic profiles as well: Pinterest was found to be four times more popular with women than men; LinkedIn is most popular among college graduates and richer households; and Twitter is most popular among young, urban dwellers and racial minorities.
Markets quiet as year comes to an end
The markets barely moved Monday, as investors appeared to be satisfied with this year's gains as 2013 wound down. The Dow Jones industrial average was the only index to post gains -- up 0.16 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and widely traded Standard & Poor's 500 closed down 0.06 and 0.02 percent, respectively, while the Silicon Valley 150 index fared the worst, down 0.26 percent.
For the year, the Nasdaq has gained nearly 38 percent, the S&P 500 is up 29 percent and the Dow is up almost 26 percent.
"We certainly have had quite an impressive year, and obviously, a lot of that was helped by the central bank stimulus. Given what we've seen so far, the path of least resistance has been to go higher," Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management, told Reuters.
Trading was light Monday; the stock markets have a half day Tuesday, and will close Wednesday for New Year's. "I wish I had extended my vacation, is the only thing going through my head because volume is just anemic," trader Sam Ginzburg told Reuters.
San Jose-based solar company Sunpower rose $1.31, or 4.53 percent, to $30.22, as a new study found Americans are being more energy-efficient and using the least amount of electricity in more than a decade. After falling 3.6 percent Friday, Oakland-based Internet radio leader Pandora fell another 3.87 percent, or $1.07, to $26.59, following a recent court ruling that threatens some of its music licensing deals effective Jan. 1.
Elsewhere Monday, Menlo Park's Facebook fell 3.12 percent, or $1.73, to $53.71, despite increasing its lead as America's most popular social network. San Francisco-based Zynga declined 1.77 percent, Cupertino tech giant Apple dropped 0.99 percent, and Mountain View-based Internet leader Google dipped 0.80 percent. Silicon Valey hardware companies fared better in general, with Cisco, Juniper, VMware, Oracle and Intel all posting slight gains.
Up: Oracle, Intel, Cisco, Gilead, VMware, Juniper, Tesla, Sunpower
Down: Apple, Google, HP, eBay, Yahoo, Netflix, Facebook, Zynga, LinkedIn, Twitter
The SV150 index of Silicon Valley's largest tech companies: Down 3.94, or 0.26 percent, to 1,495.17
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 2.4, or 0.06 percent, to 4,154.20
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Up 25.88, or 0.16 percent, to 16,504.29
And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 0.33, or 0.02 percent, to 1,841.07
Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Follow Mike Murphy at Twitter.com/mmmmurf.


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Fourteen years later, the BPCIA is designed to leverage what has long been recognized as the next logical step—flowing directly out of the Avonex comparability determination and hundreds of other comparability determinations that the FDA subsequently rendered—by establishing a new regulatory pathway for biosimilars. Thus, under the BPCIA, a biosimilar is a biological product demonstrated to be "highly similar" to a reference biologic from another company that the FDA previously licensed. By adopting this approach to biosimilarity, Congress could be considered to have codified the FDA's longstanding comparability standard. For many years, comparability has been
"[A] conclusion that products have highly similar quality attributes before and after manufacturing process changes and that no adverse impact on the safety or efficacy, including immunogenicity, of the drug product occurred. This conclusion can be based on an analysis of product quality attributes. In some cases, nonclinical or clinical data might contribute to the conclusion." 1Against this historical regulatory backdrop, the BPCIA establishes a biosimilar pathway that adds explicit, albeit waiveable, mandates to the BLA-licensure provisions of the PHS Act for the first time in their 66-year history. Most notably, the law establishes an express requirement that a biosimilar application include "a clinical study or studies (including the assessment of immunogenicity...)." This contrasts with the very broad, longstanding statutory regime, which was in place throughout the biotech revolution and that was aptly summed up in the Federal Court decision affirming the FDA's comparability determination for Avonex:
"Biogen and FDA acknowledge FDA's past insistence upon clinical trials of each drug being considered for approval, but they contend that no statute or regulation requires it and submit that the use of data on "comparable" drugs is within FDA's discretion.... Neither the PHSA itself nor FDA's regulations issued under the PHSA provide that the clinical study offered to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of a new biological product shall have been conducted on that very product.... FDA conceded that it had never before approved a new biological drug on the basis of a clinical study of a "comparable" drug, but FDA demonstrated by reference to public documents that the principle of comparability was not unknown and that, in fact, it had been previously applied in other situations." 2
Under the BPCIA, the statutory regime that the FDA must apply to a "highly similar" biosimilar differs significantly from the very broad and straightforward provisions governing traditional BLAs, which make no reference to clinical trials or other studies, and simply require a demonstration of safety, purity, and potency to secure BLA approval for an originator biologic. Although Congress greatly amplified the detail of the requirements for what must be included in a biosimilar application, Congress nonetheless delegated scientific responsibility for implementing those requirements to the FDA. In doing so, Congress established what can be, on a product-by-product basis, a self-implementing pathway and one that, in all cases, defers to the expert scientific judgment of the FDA's career reviewers in the same review divisions having responsibility for the counterpart reference biologic BLA.


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My bicycle is our second car. I love to bicycle in all weather, for all distances, and on all routes. Bicycling has brought so much joy to my life, and I want to share it with anyone who is interested. I will use my soapbox to tell you about the joys, the freedom, the benefits, and, yes, the challenges of bicycling and walking for transportation.
After the recent articles on taking the lane, this is a good time to re-post one of the pre-website-transition articles about lane positioning.
What is the best lane positioning for a cyclist?
a) As far to the right as possible
b) At least an arm's length away from the edge of the usable roadway
c) On the sidewalk
d) On the left side of the road
If you've been following this blog, you know not to bicycle on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, many cyclists choose option D, which may be appropriate for a pedestrian but is dangerous for a cyclist. A lot of people will also choose answer A.
But the best answer is B, about 18", or an arm's length, away from the edge of the usable roadway.
An arm's length gives you wobble room. Even highly experienced cyclists wobble. When you scan behind you, which you should do frequently, you will wobble a little. An arm's length keeps you away from the debris and potholes that accumulate at the edges of roads. Debris and potholes are a common cause of bike wrecks. An arm's length makes you appear bigger than you are. When I started bicycling, I discovered that when I hugged the edge, motorists buzzed me. If I gave myself a little space, motorists gave me a little space. An arm's length makes you more visible to vehicles turning onto or off of the road. This video shows all the benefits of proper lane positioning. An arm's length is easier to estimate than 18". If the curb were a wall, could you reach out and touch it? If the answer is yes, then you are riding too close to the edge.
This excellent short video shows the advantages of lane positioning. Here is another article that covers this topic: http://www.bicyclinglife.com/SafetySkills/FrankNFred003.htm
Some people worry that it is the law to ride on the right edge. Missouri law stipulates that bicyclists ride as far to the right as is safe1. The bicyclist decides what is safe.
Some people worry that motorists will get angry. In my experience, most motorists behave courteously, respectfully, and safely. In most bicycle-motorist collisions the motorist didn't see the cyclist, so if a motorist does honk or yell at me, at least I know I'm visible.
1If you are ever on a bicycle and pulled over for "obstructing traffic", be polite and note the officer's name. If you receive a ticket, don't argue, and find a lawyer. Fortunately I have not heard of anyone in Kirksville having this problem.


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March Madness: Logic Always Prevails…Except When It Doesn't
You could maaaaaaybe win a billion dollars for filling out a perfect bracket, but don't get it twisted. You are certainly mortal when it comes to college basketball knowledge, and nothing short of a metaphorical bolt of lightning could guide you toward picking perfection.
But why fuss about all the money to be made? Another year brings another NCAA tournament, and with it the familiar rituals involved with immersing oneself in so much college basketball: the brackets passed around the office (or emailed, for at-home workers), the schedules blocked off for the tournament's game-crazy first few days, the conversations with people who swear they know what they're talking about but are aping the takes at KenPom just like everybody else. The tournament's one-and-done format means that anything could happen, of course, and that such statistically meticulous breakdowns are subject to the whim of the cosmos. For example, you could say that Iowa State is due for a run because they're one of six teams ranked in the top 25 for both offensive and defensive efficiency, a hallmark of the last 11 champions. A just as likely-to-be-true counterpoint would be: Iowa State? Really?
This Fixer has only one tip, gleaned from his sole winning bracket: Follow the best team with the best NBA talent, which would be Kansas this year. Still, if Joel Embiid doesn't return from the stress fracture ruling him out indefinitely, the Jayhawks could be in for an early exit regardless of how good Andrew Wiggins might look next year in Lakers gold. Chaos abounds every March; things will make sense, until they don't. Who could ever live any other way?
"College basketball is about emotion," writes Grantland's Brian Phillips. "You know this, I know this, the ravaged laryngeal tissue throbbing in the gloom below Dick Vitale's pharynx knows this."
The reliably hyped but not all that exciting Selection Sunday offered few surprises along conventional thinking, with a few exceptions. First, Larry Brown's South Methodist University became the first ranked team since 2004 to miss the tournament, no doubt harmed by their lackluster finish to the season. That line of thinking was at odds, however, with the rhetoric used to justify Louisville's uninspiring four seed, which stated that the whole body of work was considered and not just the end. The Cardinals began the year weakly before rounding into shape by the end; they're also the defending champions, which should theoretically count for something given the continuity maintained between this year and last year's team. (Their first round opponent, Manhattan, wasn't exactly feeling great about their luck of the draw.) Louisville was plopped into what rates as the tournament's most challenging section, the so-called "Group of Death" that features unbeaten Wichita State, returning finalist Michigan, uber-talented Kentucky, and Duke, blech, who could surely drag some nonsense out of their pocket when the situation calls for it. Whichever team emerges from that gauntlet will have surely earned their bones as a real contender.
"We can debate whether Louisville deserved to be seeded so poorly, but what we cannot debate is what is being asked of Wichita State," Gregg Doyel writes for CBS Sports. "The top seeds are supposed to be geographically protected, helped out if possible but not completely screwed at a minimum. And Wichita State was completely screwed. Any idea how far Louisville is from Indianapolis? About 90 minutes by car."
We're in the grace period before the storm, when you can fire up your Google and read a thousand different ways this tournament could go. Even the hope of a 16 seed upsetting a 1 seed isn't yet dead. The nature of bracketology has changed, too. Time was when a smaller program like Wichita State could get written off as just another big dog in a weak conference—when their unfortunately difficult group would automatically portend an early exit. "It goes beyond the clichéd pondering of what their record would be if they had to play in a major conference," Jerry Brewer writes for the Seattle Times. "It's the disdain that some people seemingly have for these teams when arguing against them, acting as if they're intruders in some private club."
Now, we know too much to say that the Shockers don't deserve to be here given their sterling efficiency marks and experience after going to the Final Four last year. "The draw could play into head coach Gregg Marshall's advantage: Wichita State has maintained its edge all season because people thought it couldn't possibly achieve what it did," writes Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton. "The selection committee sent that same message, on a silver platter." Which isn't to say every other team won't be properly motivated come Tuesday, just that every iota matters in such a tightly packed format. Someone will emerge from the scrum a winner, and the rest of us will pretend we saw it coming all along.
Found a good column from the world of sports? Don't keep it to yourself — write to us at firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email Jeremy at email@example.com.


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Turtle Rocks Oceanfront Inn in Trinidad, California, on California's Redwood Coast, welcomes you to discover…
Picture yourself sitting out on your private room deck overlooking a sweeping ocean vista of majestic offshore rocks at the enchanting Turtle Rocks Oceanfront Inn, on the North Coast of Northern California.
The inn is the closest oceanfront lodging to Eureka, only 25 minutes drive north, but a magnificent land apart where forested mountains meet a dramatic coastline of rocky coves, huge headlands and offshore rocks.
Situated on three acres, all rooms have private decks and baths and king-size beds and enjoy a panoramic view of the ocean and the offshore Turtle Rocks and sea lion colony. Just 15 minutes south of Redwood National Park in Humboldt County (just north of Mendocino County), the southern gateway for vacation travel to the Pacific Northwest.
"….the best view in Trinidad and the builders have made the most of it."
–Fodor's Northern California 2014


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Republican state Sen. Stanley Lyson (LEE'-son) says allowing people with concealed carry permits to have a gun inside a school or at public gatherings likely won't do anything to improve safety for people.
Lyson is a former Williams County sheriff and holds a concealed carry permit. Lyson and other senators question whether more guns would lead to accidental shootings and put weapons in the hands of people not adequately trained to react in the event of an emergency.
North Dakota's Senate shot down a measure Thursday that would allow someone with a concealed weapon permit to carry a gun inside a school.
But the Republican-led chamber did endorse a bill that would permit firearms in places of worship if church officials allow it and notify law enforcement.
Location, ST | website.com


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Good morning and welcome to the world's only daily column that is wishing that we understood exactly the rules for office TV.
For as long as any of us lowly scribes can remember we've had a TV in the ol' newsroom here at the Corporate Suites. The problem that we have now is that during the whole Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales frenzy our intrepid leader secured a 37" LCD and replaced the 50-lb. 17" unit that had been precariously perched above one of our loyal staffer's desk. While the staffer who sat under the old TV has been relieved to receive a reprieve from the impending disaster, the rest of us Summit Uppers have been trying to hash out some basic ground rules for mid-shift TV operation. In the past it was simple, only the tallest in the newsroom could reach the set, so they inevitably controlled what was showing.
MILLIONS OF SUMMIT UP READERS: Perhaps you should focus more on your craft and worry less what's happening on "Judge Judy."
SUMMIT UP: You make an excellent point and one that we're sure our boss would agree with. So with that, lets change gears.
We received an Angel Alert!! Angel Alert!! from Rod Vargas recently. He had this to say:
"Last week during a hike off of Tiger Road, our dog got stuck in the middle of a frozen pond and would not move. We called the Summit County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) and Mr. Ian Andrews, animal control officer with Animal Control and Mr. Cale Osborn, sergeant/Special Operations responded to the call and were able to rescue our dog. These two gentlemen were reassuring and very professional and by using much ingenuity were able to get our dog out. It is so good to know that we have a sheriff's department with personnel so caring, professional and willing to go the extra mile. I am so grateful that we got our dog back, but most of all by being able to have met two quality people who made a difference in our lives and I am sure make a daily positive impact to the lives of many in our county."
We couldn't have said it any better (but we do try, check out the related article on PAGE 2 today).


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You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"Since the wedding and reception are to be at time of a full moon, this Night Sky card was perfect. for our rehearsal dinner The luminosity of the Pearl White Shimmer paper echo's the glow of the moon adding a neat touch. Sorry to be able to get only plain white envelopes and not the shimmer. Would have liked a bit more weight to the invitation paper. Very much appreciated being able to add a picture of the couple on the back & to have background deep blue color added there. Thanks!"
"We used WPD for Save the Dates, Invites, and Rehearsal Dinner Invites and they have all been great! The only request I have is that you can't move the top few lines of this Rehearsal Dinner invite. You can edit the bottom text, but I wanted to move the top portion. The invites still turned out great, we paid extra for fast shipping and it arrived on time!"
"I received an invitation made by Wedding Paper Divas some time ago and thought the card was beautiful. When I had the opportunity to order invitations myself, I decided to use them and am very pleased with the final product.The paper quality, printing and opportunity to personalize are wonderful features. Friends and family commented on how nice it was. I do wish the company had the option for overnight delivery. I ordered on short notice with a holiday weekend coming up and would have liked the speedier service even if it meant there was an extra charge. I would highly recommend this product/company"
"You've made it so stress-free to design beautiful invites. From picking the colors & design to having someone proofread for errors to super fast delivery. The quality of the product was excellent. We've already received compliments on the invites from friends & family."
"Thrilled with the final product. I included a photo on the back and the colors are stunning. I had questions about adding the photo and sales support was immediate and through. I love the details on the front, the quality is excellent, and arrived on time. Color has more green in it than I thought but still thrilled with the invite."


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BERKELEY -- E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, the man who penned the lyrics for "Over the Rainbow," named the most famous song in movie history, was a deeply committed social activist who was once blacklisted from Hollywood moviemaking over accusations of being a communist.
While his best-known work includes all the songs for "The Wizard of Oz," which earned him an Oscar in 1940 for "Over the Rainbow," Harburg also wrote about the women's movement, racism, poverty and social justice for movies and Broadway. His words and works will be celebrated at a program led by music historian Bonnie Weiss at 2 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Jewish Community Center, East Bay, 1414 Walnut St.
"Yip Harburg was not only a songwriter, he was a great social rights activist and some of the songs and statements he made over the years are so in keeping with today's environment that they remain relevant," Weiss said.
Weiss said a retrospective of Harburg's life is perfect subject matter for today's Berkeley activists. Harburg was a lifelong socialist and pacifist who worked three years at a factory overseas, thereby avoiding service in World War I.
After returning, Harburg wrote his first hit, the Great Depression anthem "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" which highlighted the plight of America's poor.
"It was about all these people who had fought in World War I and built all the railroads and helped turn this country into a successful one," Weiss said. "They were standing in bread lines and were never given the personal recognition or financial recognition that they deserved."
Harburg, who died in 1981 at age 84, grew up a poor Jewish kid in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. That, Weiss said, influenced his body of work in Hollywood and on the Broadway stage. His songs reflected his core values, which are now memorialized through the Yip Harburg Foundation, designed to give money to projects that create world peace, to work that ends economic and social discrimination and to efforts that promote political art.
Along with writing "Over the Rainbow," in which Dorothy yearns for a better and more peaceful world, and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" Harburg conceived the 1947 hit Broadway musical and book "Finian's Rainbow,"a work that championed black rights and became a Francis Ford Coppola film in 1968 starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. He showed his humorous side with the Groucho Marx comic song "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" and produced the haunting song "April in Paris" with composer Vernon Duke.
"I think he deserves to be recognized as much as his other lyric-writing colleagues such as Lorenz Hart of Rodgers & Hart, Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein," Weiss said. Although memorialized on a postage stamp in 2005, Harburg today is relatively obscure compared to his songwriting contemporaries. Yet Harburg was productive and popular during his time, getting two more Oscar nominations for film lyrics.
The political undertones of many his songs, however, may have been Harburg's undoing in Hollywood.
Though anti-communist producers didn't have to look far to find equality-driven lyrics in his work, the name of a song he authored for the all-black musical "Cabin in the Sky," called "Happiness is a Thing Called Joe," convinced one film producer Harburg was a communist penning songs in honor of Joseph Stalin.
Harburg was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee and spent the next several years working on Broadway, which was less restrictive than the Hollywood community, Weiss said.
His musicals are often revived on Broadway and the San Francisco performance company 42nd Street Moon recently presented "Finian's Rainbow" and "Darling of the Day."
The 90-minute program Weis will present features video of Harburg performing some of his songs and rare interviews where he relates how and why he wrote the words to his tunes. She will also show legends of the stage and screen -- Judy Garland, Ray Bolger and Groucho Marx -- as they execute Harburg's works.
Extra video featuring "60 Minutes" interviews and other talks with Harburg will be played on loop in the lobby of the theater. The presentation is funded by a grant from the Yip Harburg Foundation.
Tickets to the talk are $15 general admission and $12 for JCCEB members, seniors and students. They can be purchased in advance by visiting www.jewishmusicfestival.org or by calling 800-838-3006.
The center is holding a "Wizard of Oz" singalong at 2 p.m. Jan. 20. The center suggests a $5 donation to attend that event.


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Facebook feedback: What did you give up for Lent and why?
Published: Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 1:12 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 1:12 p.m.
Stephanie Comardelle Parria, 42, of Des Allemands: I have said this all day. I am giving up red meat on Fridays. But, seriously though, due to having celiacs disease, I already cannot eat so much, it is too hard for me to give up any foods. We only occassionally eat sweets these days. So, instead, I am committing to completing 40 acts of kindness — at least one every day. Hopefully I can accomplish this and more.
Amie Murray Trahan, 40, of Houma: I am "giving up" worrying. I am praying more and placing my faith in God.
Ronnie Campo, 56, of Houma: Usually every time I say I'm going to give something up, I never follow through. So, since I drink two beers on the weekend, I'm going to give that up because it seems to be the easiest way for me to follow through.
Tate Tanner: I'm giving up soft drinks.
Jennifer Smith: Keeping everything not Catholic hey.
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By BookRenter Business Development Associate, Elizabeth Schwandt
Elizabeth has a BA in International Studies and Environmental Science and a minor in French from Miami University of Ohio where she graduated in 2010. Elizabeth recently moved from Chicago and currently lives in San Mateo, CA. She enjoys the Bar Method, spinning, speaking French and reading.
This post is the second part of Post-Grad Life by Elizabeth. To read part one, check it out here.
Thinking about college graduation is… depressing.
I know, I've been there.
I loved being a second semester senior. I was only taking one class that I needed to graduate – my other three courses were just for fun. In anticipation of graduation, I was more concerned with spending time with my friends, going to my favorite restaurants and attending 90's night at the local bar. Instead of worrying about the fast-approaching graduation ceremony, I spent my time enjoying my last weeks in college.
Who wouldn't?
As I reflect back onto my last few weeks of college, I have only fond memories. But in addition to attending hockey games and sorority events, I wish I had thought about my future, and my plans after graduation. I'm sure many of you are like me, in that you don't want to spend your last days in college worrying about your future. However, I soon realized that enjoying your last few weeks in college is just as important as figuring out what you'd like to do after graduation.
For those of you college seniors who have an easy last semester or quarter, I would highly recommend that you start to think about what you'd like to do after college and get a head start on applying for jobs.
- Take advantage of your Career Center while you are still in school. They have great contacts at many companies, and can also help you with fine-tuning your resumes and cover letters.
- Reach out to your favorite college professors. They were once in your shoes, and may be able to give you some advice about how to start down your career path.
This will help you avoid the inevitable post-college slump, as well as get you on the right track towards a career.
While applying for jobs or internships, keep an open mind. Applying for jobs or internships that are not necessarily in your field of choice doesn't matter, as long as you are getting experience in the working world. Also remember that you don't have to keep your first job forever. This is just the beginning of a new chapter…


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New Look's beautifully designed collection of girl's fashion jewellery and hair accessories sets the tone of your whole outfit, whether you're getting ready for that party, or stepping out on the high street, New Look's jewellery selection can complete your look.
Effortless accessorising has never been easier, with New Look's range of bracelets, earrings, rings and necklaces you can transform your look in an instant, turning your day time dress into a stunning eveningwear outfit. Seize the day and discover New Look's gorgeous range of affordable fashion watches for that finishing touch.
Head over to NL Daily, for all your style inspiration and celebrity fashion secrets.


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The 16-slice Philips CT Big Bore Scanner is just like any other. It takes cross-sectional images of the body using x-rays and a computer.
The images allow a radiologist to look at the inside of the body. Doctors can look right at an area of interest to better diagnose and evaluate a problem.
Rush CT Tech, Chad Fox, says this device's size means it will be able to offer this vital technology to more patients.
"It allows us to accommodate larger patients, which otherwise would have to go either sometimes out of state to get scanned," said Fox. "Number two is, you know, patients that are claustrophobic, it even helps in that; it actually makes them feel a little more wide open."
This unit also makes it possible to scan patients who are hooked up to monitors, intravenous devices, or respiratory aids, for example, without compromising image quality or positioning. That's extremely important because CAT scans are most frequently used in locating cancer.
"Most of the time we scan patients, it's for, you know, cancer patients. Number two is we can scan as much as looking for pulmonary embolus. We can look at stroke patients," Fox said. "Anybody that's got any kind of, you know, we're even doing some heart, you know, studies, with cardiac CTA. That's even available."
Fox says the Big Bore Scanner also calculates automatically the amount of radiation needed to get the image needed, adjusting the dose to match the size of the patient.
He says that's important because more and more is being done to diagnose through CT, so limiting the exposure is best for the patient, while also producing the best diagnostic image.


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Latrobe Street Mission to open in December
New shelter will include thrift shop
November 16, 2012
PARKERSBURG — The new Latrobe Street Mission, operated by the Not For Sale Ministries, will open in December. The mission at 1825 Latrobe St. is 15,000 square feet in the former Storck Bakery....
Geezer, your comments do not represent this shelter in any way. The things you are posting are not true.
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Program Overview
We currently do not have a new program scheduled. We are however accepting emails of interest. Please contact Jim Gusler @ firstname.lastname@example.com
This certificate program, based at the University of North Carolina in the School of Medicine, is a continuing education program, and continuing education units will be offered for those who successfully complete the program.
Faculty will include those from the University of North Carolina as well as visiting instructors and adjunct faculty. This program was designed to target EMS and medical disaster professionals who have already completed either curriculum or continuing education academic programs.
The focus and intent is to address more of the complex processes associated with administrative, executive, and operational leaders within the profession of Emergency Services.
The program will draw from those who currently work in Emergency Services providing emergency medical services and medical disaster management, and from others in Public Safety Organizations who may provide EMS or medical disaster services, such as fire departments, hospitals, and other related agencies.
Program & Session Information
Find schedules, locations and session agenda/topics:
Enrollment Prerequisites
This program is designed for current operations managers or those in administrative or executive leadership positions. Please note: this is not an entry level program. All applicants should be able to demonstrate sufficient operational experience and either a continuing education or curriculum academic background, for example, the EMS Management Institute at UNC Charlotte or a similar program.
If you are interested in attending this program or a subsequent offering of this program, please email Jim Gusler or Marsha Myers. We must demonstrate sufficient interest to conduct this program.
Please complete the EMS Administration and Medical Disaster Management online application. Once your application is received, you will be notified if you are approved, and what discounts you qualify to receive. Please note in the comments section what discount(s), if any, you believe you are entitled to receive. Receipt date of your application will be the date we use for determining discounts and deadlines. At that point, your price will be locked in for 30 days.
Download a copy of the brochure (.pdf).
More Information:
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Hydrogen Student Design Contest Announced
September 3, 2010
The U.S. Department of Energy is co-sponsoring a university student contest to design a residential hydrogen fueling system. The 2010-2011 Hydrogen Student Design Contest, administered by the Hydrogen Education Foundation, is also sponsored by Proton Energy Systems.
"Each year, the contest focuses on a key issue in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry," said Kyle Gibeault, Contest Coordinator. "For 2010-2011 we're looking at hydrogen fueling infrastructure from the residential perspective. Based on our experience in past years, I'm confident we will receive some very innovative and thought-provoking entries from the student teams."
The contest is open to both undergraduate and graduate students worldwide. Teams will be tasked with planning and designing a residential hydrogen fueling system for a home, apartment complex, dorm, or other single residential building. As a part of their entry, they will develop a technical design; conduct an economic analysis; and develop business, marketing, and public education plans for their systems.
Contest details, rules, and press release information are available in the 2011 Hydrogen Student Design Contest Student Information Sheet (PDF 288 KB). Download Adobe Reader.
The grand-prize-winning team will receive an expenses-paid trip to present their winning entry to thousands of industry professionals in a keynote session at the 2011 National Hydrogen Association Conference and Expo. Students from winning teams will receive priority consideration for summer internships with participating sponsors at supporting organizations, along with other prizes.
Teams of university students can register to compete by October 15, 2010.
For more information, contact Josh Lieberman, firstname.lastname@example.com, Hydrogen Education Foundation, 202.223.5547 x322.


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Hey JV's,
This dynamite Woocommerce/Ecommerce package has been a consistent selling product listed on the Warrior Forum in the Complete Sites for Sale section for awhile now. I have decided to make this available as a complete "ecommerce business in a box" solution and will be running a launch on JVZoo from Aug 9th – 17th. You can make 50% per sale from a $100 Front End product and an additional 50% of $49.99 for the OTO.
Now's the time for email marketers to finally start making money. This offer is so value packed and irresistible that it practically sells itself. Your list will love this offer. For ecommerce site builders, it's practically a gift. You get over $3K worth of Woocommerce themes and extensions for only $100 for unlimited sites.
There's also an unlimited licensing Product Vendor extension as an OTO for 50% of $49.99 additional commission.
More info on the JV Page here and there are banners you can use to promote. Get your banners Here.
If you'd like to keep informed about my upcoming product launches, sign up here:
P.S.: Get your JVZoo aff link right here right now:
Sign up now
OR, if you prefer to just buy it for yourself, go here


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Lakeland Man Killed When Truck Hits Him Identified
Published: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 7:20 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 12:35 p.m.
LAKELAND | The man killed early today when he was hit by a tractor-trailer has been identified as James Bernard Edwards, 74, of 5231 Spring Creek Drive, Lakeland,. the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
Edwards was killed as he walked along County Line Road.
According to the Sheriff's Office, about 2:45 a.m., a white 2009 International semi truck pulling a 53-foot trailer was traveling southbound on County Line Road just north of Spring Creek Drive when the truck driver, Herman Capers, 48, of Lakeland, saw a man walking in the inside southbound lane.
Capers tried to avoid hitting the pedestrian, Edwards, but was unable to do so, the Sheriff's Office said.
Capers stopped the truck, called 911, and rendered Edwards aid. EMS arrived on scene but Edwards was deceased, the Sheriff's Office said.
The investigation is ongoing but at this time it doesn't appear any charges will be filed against the truck driver, the Sheriff's Office said.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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New projects. Old arguments. And more.
Follow 451 CAOS Links live @caostheory on Twitter and
"Tracking the open source news wires, so you don't have to."
New projects
# Gemini Mobile Technologies released Hibari, a new open source non-relational database for big data.
# Lockheed Martin launched the Eureka Streams open source project for enterprise social networking. …[Read more...]


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Motley Crue has made more money off mediocre music than arguably anybody else in the business.
And, yes, that includes Josh Groban.
It's amazing how far this band has gone -- and for how long -- with only a handful of truly memorable songs to call its own. Notably, Motley Crue has sold over 75 million records worldwide, which puts it in the same stratosphere with such vastly more significant artists as Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, Depeche Mode and Nirvana.
The group has weathered bad reviews, worse albums and changing musical trends, which, at times, couldn't have been more at odds with Crue's brand of lightweight pop metal. None of that has been able to stop the band during its 30-plus-year career.
The only thing capable of stopping Motley, it seems, is Crue itself. And that's exactly what it's decided to do, with the four members -- vocalist Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, guitarist Mick Mars and bassist Nikki Sixx -- signing a legally binding document that Motley Crue will not tour after 2015.
The result has been a marketing dream come true, with the public snatching up tickets to see Crue's appropriately titled Final Tour. The Motley Crue's local stop -- Wednesday at Shoreline Amphitheatre -- drew some 16,000 fans, which is significantly more than the group has been averaging in the Bay Area in recent years.
The quirky quartet kicked off the Mountain View gig with the title track to its most recent studio offering, 2008's "Saints of Los Angeles," and then proceeded to rock and roll its way through the years, reaching all the way back to the 1981 debut "Too Fast for Love." Of course, the four men spent most of their time revisiting the '80s, the decade that delivered all of the band's best material.
Motley Crue hasn't ranked as a great live band for years -- if, indeed, it ever did. Nothing about the Shoreline show changed that perception. Indeed, the group was thoroughly outclassed by the opening act, the legendary shock-rocker Alice Cooper, who put on a fun, cohesive set of songs that, for the most part, have aged quite well over the years.
Still, the headliners did sound marginally stronger than they have on recent Bay Area dates. Neil's vocal work was steady, and he seems to be working better within his ever-increasing limitations, and there was far less tomfoolery (especially from drummer/class-clown Lee). There were a few times when everything seemed to jell for the Crue and it was almost as if we were watching Warrant onstage.
The group did a pretty solid job on a few of the hits, making "Kickstart My Heart" and "Shout at the Devil" sound nearly as good as they do on record. The two best songs of the night were both covers -- Brownsville Station's "Smokin' in the Boys' Room" and the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K."
In all, Motley Crue seemed to really be trying to leave a good impression, just in case this indeed turns out to be the last one Bay Area fans will get.
However, that's no sure thing. It is the band's Final Tour, but maybe not its final show in the Bay Area. It certainly wouldn't be shocking if Motley Crue scheduled another local date before it hangs up the hair spray at the end of 2015.
Let's hope that's not the case. It would be nice to see Motley Crue go out on this (relative) high note.
Follow Jim Harrington at http://twitter.com/jimthecritic.


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Microsoft on Google's FTC Ruling: 'Puzzled and Concerned'
Google 19-month antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission came to a close yesterday, much to the chagrin of several companies and industries — including Microsoft.
"The FTC's overall resolution of this matter is weak and—frankly—unusual," Microsoft's Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner wrote in a blog post late yesterday in response to the ruling.
The FTC said Thursday it wouldn't bring charges against Google after an investigation into whether the company favored its own results — such as flight data and restaurant reviews — in its search results.
Google did agree to a few voluntary concessions, making changes to its search practices and giving online advertisers more flexibility to manage ad campaigns with rival websites. Google also agreed to a settlement resolving separate FTC allegations that it was stifling competition by misusing key mobile-device patents it acquired when it bought handset maker Motorola Mobility.
That wasn't good enough for Microsoft.
Microsoft devoted people, money and executive attention to lobby regulators and other Google competitors to ensure Google was dented by a regulatory review. But those efforts largely failed. Heiner wrote the FTC didn't follow its typical procedure of securing binding commitments from the subjects of antitrust probes.
In a specific section devoted to Google's change to its advertising policies, Heiner said Microsoft was "puzzled and concerned that the FTC did not follow its standard practice in exercising due diligence by obtaining feedback from the industry on the specific terms of Google's promise before accepting it as a suitable resolution of this matter."
Heiner also said Microsoft was disappointed in a number of other issues, such as Google preventing Microsoft from delivering a "high-quality" YouTube app for its Windows Phone 8 smartphone operating system.
We've included Microsoft's complains from the blog post below, with some highlighted emphasis from us at notable sections:
The FTC took steps today to address some of Google's improper business practices. We find it troubling that the agency did not adhere to its own standard procedures that call for the agency to obtain industry input on proposed relief and secure it through an enforceable consent decree. The FTC's overall resolution of this matter is weak and—frankly—unusual. We are concerned that the FTC may not have obtained adequate relief even on the few subjects that Google has agreed to address.
Data Portability
For years Google has publicly championed the virtues of "data portability"—the idea that customers ought to be able to use their own data in products from various companies. But in practice, Google effectively prohibited its primary paying customers (advertisers) from using data about their own advertising campaigns on any ad platform other than Google's. That made it much more difficult and costly for advertisers (especially small advertisers) to run their ad campaigns on Bing and other ad platforms. We therefore welcome Google's announcement today that it will eliminate at least some of the contractual restrictions that it imposed to prevent customers from efficiently porting their own data from Google's ad platform to another. But we are puzzled and concerned that the FTC did not follow its standard practice in exercising due diligence by obtaining feedback from the industry on the specific terms of Google's promise before accepting it as a suitable resolution of this matter.
Had the agency asked, we would have explained that Google's promise on ad campaign portability falls short of the mark in various ways. For example, Google inexplicably has not promised to allow all advertisers to port their campaign data to other ad platforms—only those with a primary billing address in the United States. But many firms based outside the United States advertise in the United States. What basis is there for excluding them from the protection embodied in Google's commitments? Nor is it clear that Google has even promised to eliminate all of the contractual restrictions that had the effect of blocking data portability. And Google's promise does not include language standard in antitrust remedies that would prevent it from circumventing its promise by other means.
Standard Essential Patents
The FTC concluded today that Google has abused its standard essential patents. The abuse is this: Google has not lived up to its promises. Google promised the standards community that it would make its standard essential patents available to all firms on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. But then Google sought exorbitant royalties from firms implementing industry standards—rates as high as a thousand times those charged by others with larger patent portfolios reading on the same standards. And even though Google promised to make a license available to all, it filed multiple legal proceedings, in the United States and overseas, seeking to block Microsoft and others from shipping Windows-based PCs and Xboxes that implement the relevant standards.
As Microsoft announced nearly a year ago, we believe that firms that promise to make their patents available on reasonable terms ought to live up to that promise. When the Department of Justice urged Microsoft and Apple to make such a commitment in order to secure approval of certain patent acquisitions, both firms did so. Our commitment is simple and straightforward:
1. Microsoft will always adhere to the promises it has made to standards organizations to make its standard essential patents available on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.
2. This means that Microsoft will not seek an injunction or exclusion order against any firm on the basis of those essential patents.
Full stop. No exceptions.
Google refused to accept these terms, as the DOJ itself noted in 2012.
Neither Microsoft nor Apple ever filed injunction lawsuits against any firm for their use of standard essential patents subject to a FRAND licensing commitment. As the FTC recognizes today, Google did abuse its standard essential patents by seeking injunctions on the basis of them. Given this, we are disappointed that the FTC accepted less relief from Google than the DOJ obtained from Microsoft and Apple last year and the FTC obtained from Bosch in a separate case just a few weeks ago.
Microsoft's commitment is two sentences. The FTC's proposed consent decree on patents runs for 13 pages, most of which spell out exceptions—the various circumstances when Google can sue for an injunction on its standard essential patents. This stands in stark contrast to the commitments made by Microsoft, Apple and Bosch.
During patent licensing negotiations, Google can continue to threaten that it will sue for an injunction, knowing that many would-be licensees will not be in a position to engage in litigation or arbitration with Google and also meet all of the other procedural requirements set forth in the decree that are imposed on the licensee. Google can even continue to use its standard essential patents to fend off patent infringement actions against it: the proposed decree gives Google leeway to sue for an injunction on its standard essential patents if it takes the position that injunctive relief sought against it is based on a patent that is standard essential. Since it is often hard to tell which patents are standard essential, the risk of injunction lawsuits from Google may dissuade firms from seeking to enforce their non-standard essential patents against the company.
Other Issues
We are also disappointed that the FTC chose not to seek relief on other issues. Google continues to prevent Microsoft from offering a high-quality YouTube app for the Windows Phone. Google built its large lead in search and search advertising in part through a series of contracts requiring other websites and distributors to use Google exclusively. The latter issue is something that has plagued competition in the search market for years, and Google in fact has finally said that it's prepared to address this with the European Commission. But the FTC, by contrast, has chosen not even to pursue the matter, thereby depriving American consumers of benefits that appear on the horizon in Europe.
And what of the search bias issues? Google has long said that it merely aims to offer customers the most relevant answer to their query, and the FTC Commissioners accepted that view. Yet we know that Google routinely and systematically heavily promotes its own services in search results. Is Google+ really more relevant than Facebook? Are Google's travel results better than those offered by Expedia, Kayak and others? We also know that Google ranks shopping results (the most important category commercially) in part on the basis of how much advertisers pay to Google for placement, after very publicly promising that it would never do so. This does not sound like product improvement.


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Specialty Dice
Special, unique, and unusual dice. Stone, metal, and bone dice; alphabet dice, rune dice, astrology dice, inflatable dice, fuzzy dice, rubber dice, and more.
7-piece Set of Swirly Crystal RPG Dice (Orange)$9.75A complete set of 7 swirled crystal dice: 1D4, 1D6, 1D8, 2D10, 1D12, and 1D20. This orange- and black-swirled crystal dice set is like looking into a fire, its flames licking upward into the void of night. Orange and black with gold numerals. Learn More
10-Piece Crystal Hybrid Translucent Dice Set - Orange$9.80A continuation of dice which we call our 'Hybrid" set. This set comes in our pearlescent colors and consists of: (1) completely new d3, (1) crystal shaped d4, (3) crystal shaped d6's, (1) standard shaped d8, (1) crystal shaped d10, (1) crystal shaped d10%, (1) standard shaped d12, (1) standard shaped d20. Comes in an attractive translucent drawstring bag. Crystal dice covered by US Patents #5,938,157; #6,318,720; #D455,462 Learn More


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Turf Geography Club
Category: Resources / Tools+Apps,
Posted by: Dailey
Posted: Aug 30th 2012
No. of comments: 0
Posted: Aug 30th 2012
No. of comments: 0
Turf Geography Club is a nifty little location-based game that use Foursquare's data for gameplay. You can "own" properties, build on those properties, collect rent and trophies and other do ego-stroking activities. But what's really lovely about Turf is the interface design and illustration. It's so much fun!


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China's Venture Deals See Sharp Decline in Third Quarter
China has fallen behind the U.S. and U.K. as the largest recipient of venture capital, with a 58% drop in the value of deals in the third quarter on the back of political change in the mainland.
The number of deals fell 61% to 41 in the third quarter, while the value dipped 58% to $612 million, according to data provider Dow Jones VentureSource, which is owned by Dow Jones & Co. , publisher of this blog. Activity paused ahead of the Communist Party leadership handover that saw Hu Jintao step down as the country's president on Nov. 9, and Xi Jinping step up as president.
From January to September, venture capital investment totaled $2.7 billion for 150 deals, a 44% drop in capital and 44% fall in deals compared with the same time-period a year earlier. Meanwhile shortfalls were largely seen in the consumer and industrial goods sectors.
The decline in China VC is far sharper than falls seen elsewhere in the world, for example, in Europe, venture capital deals totaled 1 billion euros, falling 11% compared to last year, with the number of transaction down 22% at 216.
The U.K. remained venture capitalists sweet spot, with companies there raising 301 million euros via 59 deals, which is a 21% fall in investment and a 34% decline in deals, data show.
"Chinese growth companies are simply not viewed as offering appropriate risk-adjusted returns in the current environment and at current valuations," said Robert Woll, a partner at law firm WilmerHale in Beijing.
Write to Sonja Cheung at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SonjaCheung


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Game of Thrones is a site for the HBO-series based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
New to the series? Read our spoiler-free review of A Game of Thrones.
Read our Privacy Policy.
An unnamed officer of the City Watch with a somewhat significant presence in the series, according to reports. His exact role is presently unknown.
The Westeros network consists of several different sites, including a forum and a wiki, for all your A Song of Ice and Fire needs.


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Pittsburgh Steelers snag Ryan Shazier at No. 15
This is one of our favorite of Thursday night's picks. Faced with an aging defense lacking playmakers, the Steelers staved off Father Time by landing a player with the talent for perennial Pro Bowl berths.
The fastest linebacker to enter the NFL since Brian Urlacher was a freakishly talented safety at New Mexico, Shazier can play inside or outside. He will likely be ticketed for the spot next to Lawrence Timmons, giving Pittsburgh the league's most dynamic inside-linebacker duo.