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Jennifer Lawrence Finally Said Something Wrong!
11/22/2013 3:00 PM PST, by Emily Trainham
This is going to come as quite a shock, since Jennifer Lawrence is usually all kinds of fabulous, but she finally did it. She finally said something that we don't agree with. She was finally wrong. It might break your heart to realize that our darling Jennifer has a flaw, but it's the truth, and you need to face it.
Here, read the tragic thing Jennifer said on "Good Morning America" about that dress up there, the one she wore to the L.A. premiere of "Catching Fire":
"I think any time a girl has to show her thighs it's never going to be her favorite look. I loved it, I loved the dress -- if someone else wore it. It's hard for any woman to look at a picture of herself and [like it]."
NO! Jennifer Lawrence, as the number one coolest person in the world, you're supposed to have some confidence here! Especially when you looked so, so good in that dress. I mean, it's nice, I guess, to hear that you're human like the rest of us, but girl, you were supposed to be a goddess.
Oh well, love you anyway!
Filed Under: Jennifer Lawrence , Interview

subset: commoncrawl


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Expelled Fine Gael parliamentary TDs and Senators hold meeting ahead of Dáil sessionSaturday 14 September 2013 22.47
A group of TDs and Senators expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party have met in Dublin in advance of the new Dáil and Seanad terms.
Ahead of the think-in, former Minister of State Lucinda Creighton again insisted the Reform Alliance had no plans to form a political party.
Ms Creighton said that she was seeking to secure speaking rights in the Dáil.
She said the group had already had a couple of meetings, but that today was its first day-long meeting.
Ms Creighton said members would be discussing welfare reform, job creation, and the challenges facing the small and medium enterprise sector.
She added that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss new policy ideas and matters of concern to the Irish people.
Dublin North-East TD Terence Flanagan also insisted the Reform Alliance was not a new party.
He said he still wished to return to the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party.
Wicklow TD Billy Timmins has said the Reform Alliance will put down a motion in the Dáil calling for its members to be allowed sit on Oireachtas committees.
Mr Timmons said the group would be developing new policies over the coming weeks and months.
He said the Alliance would be calling for Dáil reform, adding that the group felt that all elected representatives should be treated equally and have speaking rights in the chamber.
On the Seanad referendum, Mr Timmons said the Alliance would not be adopting a group position on the issue and that members would be voting individually.


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The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest
Dennis J. Ventry Jr.
University of California, Davis - School of Law
January 5, 2010
Law & Contempary Problems, Vol. 73, p. 233, Winter 2010
UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 196
This Article traces the mortgage interest deduction from accident to birthright, from one of many deductible personal interest items to one of the few left standing, and from a nominal tax offset to the second most expensive tax subsidy. It tells the story of how the mortgage interest deduction and other federal housing subsidies fueled the post-World War II surge in rates of homeownership and, more recently, how those programs contributed to the collapse of the housing and financial markets. Finally, the Article offers a eulogy to the mortgage interest deduction that draws on criticisms of the subsidy from two generations of tax reformers and tax policymakers that are more applicable today than at any time during the deduction's nearly 100-year history.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 67
Date posted: November 3, 2009 ; Last revised: March 18, 2011
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No Second Troy
by William Butler Yeats
Section 3: Third Rhetorical Question Summary
Get out the microscope, because we're going through this poem line-by-line.
Line 11
Why, what could she have done being what she is?
- So far, we have gotten one new question every five lines. But the last two lines give us two different questions.
- This line is strangely vague and general. Also, the syntax (the order of words) is gnarled and complicated with all those verbs: "could...have," "done," "being," and "is."
- The speaker is simultaneously thinking about some other reality in which Maud Gonne was not such a firebrand or heartbreaker, even as he recognizes that it could never have been any other way.
- He decides that there is no point guessing about what could have been and blaming Maud for the way she was born and raised. That's just how she is!
- To make matters more confusing, Yeats even manages to squeeze two question words into one question: the line begins, "Why, what..." We would have liked him to work in "how" and "when," too, but not a bad effort as it stands.


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Stars Gallery
Stars end the season with a loss to the Blues 3-2
Photo: Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
St. Louis Blues right wing Chris Stewart (25) looks to shoot on Dallas Stars goalie Richard Bachman (31) in the first period at the American Airlines Center, April 7, 2012.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Zales at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
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Wear if you dare! This fashion ring will spin its way into your heart. Make a statement with a bold 14.0 x 20.0 rectangular-shaped onyx set in fine sterling silver. Sparkling with diamond accents, a spider web stretches across the uppper left corner of the onyx, while a spider approaches from the bottom right corner. Custom made to fit her ring size. Sterling silver rings can not be resized after purchase.. Price: $99.00
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by Craig Weatherby
Heart-health authorities worldwide recommend that healthy people consume 500 mg of omega-3s daily, and say that heart patients should take 1,000 mg (one gram) per day.
But the small minority of people with very high blood levels of triglycerides (fats) are urged to take the higher doses, ranging from 2 to 4 grams per day, needed to yield and sustain dramatic reductions.
If you have very high triglyceride levels that need lowering, the FDA and drug giant GlaxoSmithKline have a sucker's proposition for you.
Instead of a standard or high-dose fish oil supplement, you can take a high-dose prescription fish oil product called Lovaza®.
You may be able to take fewer capsules per day, but you will gain higher LDL cholesterol levels... with no guarantee of lowering your heart risks any more than with standard, lower-dose fish oil
Better yet for GlaxoSmithKline, youor a willing insurance companywill pay $2,000 to 3,000 more than you'd spend for the same dose of the same omega-3s, delivered by a standard fish oil supplement.
A monopoly won by patent law and deep pockets... not invention
If a doctor wants to prescribe fish oil for a patients high triglyceride levels, only one omega-3 fish oil supplement enjoys the status of an FDA-approved drug, with the possibility of being reimbursed by health insurance.
The FDA allows only Lovaza® brand omega-3 fish oil to make a drug claim with the consequent opportunity to make loads of money from patients with generous health insurance.
|Key Points
High triglyceride levels are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death, and can lead to dangerous liver disease.
Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oilespecially the omega-3 called DHAlower triglyceride levels by decreasing the production of triglycerides in the liver, and by boosting clearance of excess triglycerides from the blood.
High daily doses of omega-3s (2-4 grams) lower triglyceride levels the most, at least among people with very high triglyceride levels.
But large clinical trials show that people who consume smaller daily doses of omega-3s (1 to 2 grams) enjoy substantially lowered levels of triglycerides plus a reduced risk of heart-related deaths (Schwellenbach LJ et al. 2006; Harris WS et al. 2007; Harris WS et al. 2008).
In fact, while the high omega-3 doses delivered by Lovaza® are clinically proven to reduce high triglyceride levels by about one-third, Lovaza® has not been tested or proven to prevent cardiovascular disease or reduce the risk of heart-related death.
And while high doses of omega-3s, such as those found in chemically concentrated fish oils like LovazaÒ, can lower triglyceride levels much more than smaller doses do, there is no evidence that extremely high doses of omega-3s reduce heart risks to any greater extent.
That picture may change as doctors accumulate records from people who take high dose fish oil over several decades.
For the moment, we know two things: The efficacy of high-dose fish oil becomes less pronounced after the first month and following high-dose fish oil therapy with lower daily maintenance doses is even less able to sustain large initial drops in patients triglyceride levels.
And we seem to have just discovered another thing. As well explain further below, high-dose fish oil drugs seem to raise LDL cholesterol levels substantially far above the very slight rises sometimes seen with standard fish oil supplements.
Is prescription fish oil better for anyone but drug firms?
LovazaÒ is similar to standard non-prescription fish oils, except for the extremely high dose of omega-3s in each capsule.
Like standard fish oil supplementsbut unlike our whole, unrefined salmon oilLovazaÒ is refined using chemical processes called deodorization and molecular distillation, which involve flash exposure to high temperatures (400 degrees F).
These chemical procedures remove contaminants, but they also remove or reduce many of the fatty acids natural to fish oils.
In most cases, manufacturers use molecular distillation to produce fish oil supplements containing levels of omega-3s that are unnaturally high, but not extremely so.
Thus, except for its extraordinarily high omega-3 levels, Lovaza® is much like any another distilled fish oil.
However, those very high omega-3 levels and its approved-drug status make Lovaza® different in two important, undesirable ways.
Cardiologist decries the Lovaza® rip-off
As GlaxoSmithKline says, four capsules of Lovaza® provide the amount of omega-3s (EPA and DHA) found in about 18 capsules of a standard fish oil supplement.
But Lovaza® also costs many times more than standard fish oil supplements, in terms of the milligrams of omega-3s provided per dollar even though it is not proven to produce better long-term health outcomes.
Last year David Williams, M.D., a cardiologist in Milwaukee, critiqued what he called the Lovaza® rip-off in his blog.
Astonishingly, any given dose of omega-3s (EPA + DHA) from Lovaza® costs from three to 20 times more than the same dose from a non-prescription fish oil supplement.
Is the minor convenience of taking fewer pills worth paying $2,000 to $3,000 per year for the privilege?
If public or private insurance picks up the prescription, the patient is spared but the cost gets spread around to all as higher taxes or premiums, respectively.
Except in serious cases, where no other alternative works, it seems not worth it especially since a very high daily dose of omega-3s is neither proven to improve heart outcomes much more than lower doses do, nor very likely to do so.
It seems clear that most of the cardiac benefits associated with omega-3s stem from their roles in our cells membranes, from where they influence heart rhythms and inflammation.
At some point, the cell membranes become saturated with omega-3s and will accept no more.
Need a high dose fish oil? Consider over-the-counter
Lovaza® did not gain approval as a triglyceride-lowering drug because it is the only high-dose fish oil that would work, or the only one available to people with very high triglyceride levels.
Instead, Lovaza® gained FDA approval because only a deep-pocketed drug firm like GSK can afford the $250 million or so it takes to get through the costly process.
In fact, Lovaza®s approval as a drug rests on the same kind of clinical evidence seen with non-prescription, high-dose fish oil.
Lovaza® is simply a high-potency omega-3 supplement with a specific - hence patentable - chemical profile, made by a big drug firm able to fund its own clinical trials.
Lovaza®s potentially counterproductive cholesterol effects
Whats the possible second drawback to high-dose fish oils Lovaza® or its non-prescription counterparts?
The April 2009 newsletter from WorstPills.org criticizes Lovaza® for exerting undesirable effects on peoples cholesterol profiles (WorstPills.org is the Web site of the Ralph Nader spin-off group Worst Pills, Best Pills).
Like all fish oil supplements, Lovaza® raises blood levels of certain kinds of LDL cholesterol a category that includes many sub-types of LDL, which are rather misleadingly lumped together as bad cholesterol.
But compared with other fish oils, Lovaza® raises LDL levels far higher to an extent that could be harmful, especially in people with certain genetic profiles.
WorstPills.org was circumspect about the critique, given the complexity of cholesterol-related cardiovascular risk factors: Elevated levels of LDL cholesterol are associated with a greater risk of heart disease, but it is unclear if the elevation in LDL levels seen with high-dose Lovaza® therapy is harmful (WPBP 2009).
We must concur with their circumspection, given the broader effects of Lovaza® on cholesterol profiles, which may be beneficial, overall.
Lovaza® stands out among all fish oil products because it raises several kinds of LDL cholesterol so much more than standard, lower-dose fish oils do including some LDL types that are regarded as especially risky.
Despite this drawback, Lovaza® lowers levels of all non-HDL cholesterol and when it comes to peoples cholesterol profiles, this highly beneficial effect results from taking any fish oil.
Omega-3s do not lower cholesterol like statin drugs (e.g., Lipitor) are proven to do.
Instead, its thought that omega-3s reduce the risk of strokes, sudden cardiac death, and second heart attacks by doing four things:
- Lower blood triglyceride (fat) levels.
- Raise levels of good (HDL) cholesterol.
- Lower levels of all non-HDL cholesterol.
- Reduce risk of arrhythmias
The mild LDL-raising effects of fish oil appear mostly in people with high triglyceride levels, and are not a cause for concern.
Instead, omega-3 fish oils lower blood levels of all non-HDL types of cholesterol something thats clinically proven more protective than lowering LDL cholesterol.
This effect of omega-3s is very significant, for three reasons (Bays H 2008; Bays HE et al. 2008):
- Having high blood levels of total non-HDL cholesterol predicts risk of arteriosclerosis better than having high LDL levels;
- Non-HDL cholesterol includes all of the cholesterol carried by oxidation-susceptiblehence, plaque-promotinglipoproteins, not just LDL;
- After LDL-lowering treatment goals have been reached, reduction of total non-HDL cholesterol is a recommended secondary treatment target in patients with high blood triglyceride levels (200 mg/dl or more).
Even if Lovaza® is ultimately proven to present no real cholesterol-related risks, it still seems wrong that this super-costly fish oil supplement enjoys an exalted status that permits GSK shareholders to reap in largely undeserved profits.
Publicly funded university research showed that omega-3s lower triglycerides, and it was this public research that led GSK to pursue a patent for and gain drug approval for their high-potency but otherwise unremarkable supplement.
This all-too-typical outrage against taxpayers springs from the confluence of money and politics, nurtured by the revolving doors between Congress, regulatory agencies, and the drug industry.
- Calabresi L, Villa B, Canavesi M, Sirtori CR, James RW, Bernini F, Franceschini G. An omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrate increases plasma high-density lipoprotein 2 cholesterol and paraoxonase levels in patients with familial combined hyperlipidemia. Metabolism. 2004 Feb;53(2):153-8.
- Calabresi L, Donati D, Pazzucconi F, Sirtori CR, Franceschini G. Omacor in familial combined hyperlipidemia: effects on lipids and low density lipoprotein subclasses. Atherosclerosis. 2000 Feb;148(2):387-96.
- Davis W. Lovaza Rip-off. December 20, 2008. Accessed online at http://www.wellsphere.com/heart-health-article/lovaza-rip-off/534837
- Harris WS, Miller M, Tighe AP, Davidson MH, Schaefer EJ. Omega-3 fatty acids and coronary heart disease risk: clinical and mechanistic perspectives. Atherosclerosis. 2008 Mar;197(1):12-24. Epub 2007 Dec 26. Review.
- Harris WS, Kris-Etherton PM, Harris KA. Intakes of long-chain omega-3 fatty acid associated with reduced risk for death from coronary heart disease in healthy adults. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2008 Dec;10(6):503-9. Review.
- Lee JH, O'Keefe JH, Lavie CJ, Marchioli R, Harris WS. Omega-3 fatty acids for cardioprotection. Mayo Clin Proc. 2008 Mar;83(3):324-32. Review. Erratum in: Mayo Clin Proc. 2008 Jun;83(6):730.
- McKenney JM, Sica D. Role of prescription omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia. Pharmacotherapy. 2007 May;27(5):715-28. Review.
- Montori VM, Farmer A, Wollan PC, Dinneen SF. Fish oil supplementation in type 2 diabetes: a quantitative systematic review. Diabetes Care. 2000 Sep;23(9):1407-15. Review.
- Schwellenbach LJ, Olson KL, McConnell KJ, Stolcpart RS, Nash JD, Merenich JA; Clinical Pharmacy Cardiac Risk Service Study Group. The triglyceride-lowering effects of a modest dose of docosahexaenoic acid alone versus in combination with low dose eicosapentaenoic acid in patients with coronary artery disease and elevated triglycerides. J Am Coll Nutr. 2006 Dec;25(6):480-5.
- Skulas-Ray AC, West SG, Davidson MH, Kris-Etherton PM. Omega-3 fatty acid concentrates in the treatment of moderate hypertriglyceridemia. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2008 May;9(7):1237-48. Review.
- Worst Pills Best Pills (WPBP). LOVAZA: Limited Use Drug for Lowering Trigylcerides. April, 2009. Accessed online at http://www.worstpills.org/member/newsletter.cfm?n_id=634


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Mike Conley is a writer from L.A., California. He is working on a novel. Has a book being published and working on a script for a documentary. He also attended the Blue Ribbon Commission hearing on May 13th the same week and same city that hosted the third Thorium Energy Alliance Conference. Washington, D.C.
They only give each person three minutes so he was only able to read the first page. He was one of five people who had a statement to support the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor which was originally called a Thorium Molten Salt Breeder Reactor. Keep in mind that any details outlined about the actual design is purely a speculation and broadly based on the original designs from the 1960s by Alvin Weinberg's team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. LFTR has flexibility of function and application.
- Liquid-fuel reactor technology was successfully developed at Oak Ridge National Labs in the 1960s. Although the test reactor worked flawlessly, the project was shelved, a victim of Cold War strategy. But LFTRs have been gathering a lot of attention lately, particularly since the tragic events in Japan.
- A LFTR is a completely different type of reactor. For one thing, it can't melt down. It's physically impossible. And since it's air-cooled, it doesn't have to be located near the shore. It can even be placed in an underground vault. A tsunami would roll right over it, like a truck over a manhole cover.
- Imagine a kettle of lava that never boils. A LFTR uses liquid fuel.nuclear material dissolved in molten fluoride salt. Conventional reactors are atomic pressure cookers, using solid fuel rods to super-heat water. That means the constant danger of high-pressure ruptures and steam leaks. But liquid fuel can always expand and cool off.
- LFTRs don't even use water. Instead, they heat a common gas like CO2 to spin a turbine for generating power. So if a LFTR does leak, it's not a catastrophe. Just like lava, the molten salt immediately cools off, quickly becoming an inert lump of rock.
- LFTRs burn Thorium, a mildly radioactive material as common as tin and found all over the world. We've already mined enough raw Thorium to power the country for 400 years. It's the waste at our Rare Earth Element mines.
- LFTRs consume fuel so efficiently that they can even use the spent fuel from other reactors, while producing a miniscule amount of waste themselves. In fact, the waste from a LFTR is virtually harmless in just 300 years. (No, that's not a typo.) Yucca Mountain is obsolete. So are Uranium reactors.
- LFTR technology has been sitting on the shelf at Oak Ridge for over forty years. But now the manuals are dusted off, and a dedicated group of nuclear industry outsiders is ready to build another test reactor and give it a go. Will it work. If it doesn't, we'll have one more reactor to retire.
But if it does work and there is every reason to believe that it will the LFTR will launch a new American paradigm of clean, cheap, safe and abundant energy.
Let's build one and see!
A Uranium reactor is an atomic pressure-cooker – it works just fine until it pops a gasket. Then you've got a mess on your hands. Even when it works properly, it wastes 95% of its fuel, making another mess. And the same procedure for making that fuel is used to make nuclear weapons. Is that any way to power a planet.
A Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR, pronounced "lifter" ) is a completely different approach to generating power, with none of the problems inherent in Uranium reactors and several unique advantages. If the reactors at Fukushima had been LFTRs, Fukushima would never have happened.
The Molten Salt Reactor was the precursor to the LFTR. Developed at Oak Ridge National Labs in the sixties, the MSR performed flawlessly for 20,000 hours. But in spite of its superior design and stellar performance, the program was cancelled – a victim of professional rivalry, personality conflicts, and Cold War strategy.
LFTR technology has literally been sitting on the shelf for over forty years, but it's been gathering a lot of keen attention lately. Because if LFTRs perform as predicted (and there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that they will) they will go a long way toward resolving the four main problems that everyone has with nuclear energy – Waste, Safety, Proliferation, and Cost.
WASTE: Yucca Mountain is obsolete. Why. Because LFTRs will eat nuclear waste for lunch. They're designed to burn fuel so efficiently, that they can also consume the spent fuel that's wasted by Uranium reactors. LFTRs will also be able to consume the cores of dismantled nuclear weapons.
No reactor is waste-free, but a LFTR's waste will be miniscule. For a LFTR big enough to power a city of one million, the yearly long-term waste would be the size of a basketball, and becomes virtually harmless in just 300 years.
No, that's not a typo. That's how clean a LFTR will run. Its main fuel will be Thorium, a mildly radioactive element found all over the world. We have thousands of tons of it already dug up – it's in the slag piles at our Rare Earth Element mines. ("REEs" are typically found with thorium ore.)
A 1-gigawatt LFTR, big enough to power a city of one million, will run on one ton of pure Thorium a year. The current price for a ton is $107,000 (that's not a typo, either.) At the end of each year, 1,660 pounds of that ton will be "short-term" waste, meaning it's virtually harmless in one year. The other 340 lbs (the size of a basketball) will take while longer to mellow out.
SAFETY: Imagine a kettle of lava that simmers but never boils. It's super-hot, but it's not under pressure. A LFTR is essentially a kettle of atomic lava. The analogy is accurate – Thorium and Uranium reactions are what keep the earth's core molten. In a LFTR, Thorium is dissolved in molten (liquefied) fluoride salt. That's why the Molten Salt Reactor is now called a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor.
If this "lava" ever leaks out (actually, it looks and flows just like green dish soap) there's no explosion, because there's nothing around the power plant for the molten salt to react with – LFTRs don't use water to keep cool, or make steam to spin a turbine. They heat a common gas like CO2 instead.
Since the liquid fuel is never under pressure, a leak would simply "pool and cool" just like lava, quickly forming a blob of solid rock on the reactor room floor. If it spilled into a flooded reactor room, it would behave like the lava flows in Hawaii. A bit of steam would billow off the cooling blob of salt, and that would be it.
Only two percent of the salt mixture is the actual radioactive fuel, and every atom of atomic fuel is chemically bonded to the salt. There are no radioactive particles floating around inside a LFTR, ready to escape. Every particle is bonded to the salt itself, and stays that way until it is burned as fuel. The big problem at Fukushima wasn't radioactive material such as Cesium leaking out of the reactors. The big problem was that it leaked out and spread into the environment. But if a LFTR leaked any Cesium at all, it would be trace amounts of Cesium Fluoride locked into the fluoride salt. Liquid fuel solves a crucial problem of environmental safety.
Once the salt has cooled, it's an inert radioactive blob with the consistency of cast iron, and dissolves in water very, very slowly. In fact, the minerals in both fresh and salt water would form a protective crust over the blob, enhancing its ability to withhold contaminants from the environment. So if the reactor room were flooded,
by a tsunami or a hurricane or even sabotage, the amount of material transferred to the environment would be negligible.
Liquid fuel is stable stuff. Below 450°C (about 750°F) it's just a lump of rock, and can be broken up and collected by robots or other remote machinery. A year after the spill, it can be manually recovered by workers in radiation suits. Like any nuclear fuel, it's dangerous. But at least it'll stay put until you can clean it up.
A LFTR will naturally regulate its own temperature, but a Uranium reactor will naturally overheat, unless it's held back by a robust cooling system. Solid fuel rods get hot, and they also heat each other up, which is a good thing, but they can't expand or move away from each other to cool themselves off. For a lot of technical reasons, the coolant of choice is super-heated water, which stays liquid as long as it's kept under pressure. Hence the term "atomic pressure cooker."
In the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, the cooling system failed for a mere ten seconds. That's all it took. At Fukushima, all the control rods dropped the moment the earthquake hit. Which was good; that stopped the fission process. But the fuel rods were still red hot, and they were still tightly packed together. And, there was no electric power to run the cooling system. So when the tsunami flooded the backup generators, everything went to hell in a hand basket.
Nuclear power is wonderful stuff, but after a series of spectacular near misses and disasters, a lot of people have written off Uranium reactors as accidents waiting to happen. The numbers on the dice are too big, they'll tell you. The risks are too great. They've had it up to here with nuclear power…
But nuclear power isn't the problem. The problem is with the reactors
we've been using to produce it.
LFTRs are completely different. For one thing, they can't melt down.
Ever. The reason is simple: How do you melt a liquid. Solid fluoride salt melts
at 450°C. With a full load of atomic material, the temperature rises to about 700°C (1,300°F.) If the liquid fuel starts to overheat, it expands, which separates the radioactive
particles and slows the fission process, cooling the molten salt back down again.
This completely eliminates the need for control rods and a cooling system, as well as all of the problems, costs, and risks associated with a pressurized light water reactor. It also entirely eliminates any possibility of a meltdown. Better yet, the fuel will be piped through a processing unit, where the contaminants that spoil solid fuel rods are easily removed. This increases the fuel-burning efficiency of a LFTR to 99%, which greatly reduces the volume and the radioactivity of its waste.
Liquid fuel changes everything.
A LFTR never operates under pressure because even with a full load of nuclear material, the molten salt is still more than 500°C below its boiling point. And if it ever does start to get too hot, a freeze plug of solid salt in a drainpipe below the reactor will melt away. The fuel will empty into a large holding tank and solidify.
On Friday afternoons at Oak Ridge, the research scientists would switch off a common household fan that cooled the freeze plug. The hot salt above the plug would melt it, and the fuel would drain out of the reactor by gravity. On Monday mornings, they would switch on the heating coils and re-melt the fuel, then pump it back into the reactor and turn on the freeze plug fan. Even Homer Simpson couldn't screw that up. For five years, the reactor practically ran itself. They used to joke that the biggest problem they had was finding something to do.
Passive safety isn't just built into the LFTR; it's built into the actual fuel itself. The genius of liquid fuel is that the stuff won't even work unless it's held within the confined space of a reactor. In a Uranium reactor, the solid fuel rods keep radiating heat even when the control rods are dropped. The cooling system never rests. But when a LFTR shuts down, the fuel shuts down and sleeps like a rock.
Because of the constant and absolutely critical need for cooling, all Uranium reactors are located near a large body of water. It's a tragedy that some were installed near the seashore, in the most earthquake-prone nation in the world, the very country that coined the word tsunami. But when you're a small, crowded island nation hungry for carbon-free energy, you don't have much of a choice…
Until now. Because LFTRs are air-cooled. That changes everything as well. Because that means they can be installed anywhere. They can even be placed in underground vaults to ward off an attack or a natural disaster. If a vault is near the ocean, a tsunami would roll right over it, like a truck over a manhole cover.
PROLIFERATION: Any rogue nation can build a 1940s-style graphite pile reactor and make the Plutonium for a bomb. That's what North Korea did. Or they can use centrifuges to purify Uranium for a bomb. That's probably what Iran is doing. Or, with a lot of expense and difficulty, they can convert a Uranium power reactor into a Plutonium breeder. The genie has been out of the bottle for over sixty years.
LFTRs convert Thorium into Uranium-233, an incredibly nasty substance. It's an efficient, hot-burning reactor fuel, but it's a very problematic weapons material. By contrast, U-235 and Pu-239 are very well behaved substances, and can be easily worked with in the lab or the factory. Out of the tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that were ever produced, the U.S. military built and tested only one U-233 " device." It was a partial fizzle, and we promptly abandoned the idea.
Even though LFTRs and LFTR fuel will be "denatured" to prevent weapons production, a rogue nation could possibly get around the fix and start a U-233 bomb program. But they'd have to start from scratch. There's a wealth of information about U-235 and U-239 weapon design, and several experienced scientists could probably be recruited. But making a U-233 bomb is a lost art.
So, yes, in theory, you could make a bomb with a LFTR. But the development of a workable device would be an expensive and painstaking affair. Even though LFTRs won't be "bomb-proof" per se, Uranium and Plutonium technology is very well known, thoroughly proven, and fully developed. So why reinvent The Bomb.
One last point: Nuclear weapons are not dependent on nuclear power. Even if every commercial power reactor in the world were taken out of service, that still wouldn't stop the bad guys from pursuing nuclear weapons. North Korea developed the bomb without generating a single watt of nuclear power.
COST: The cost of a nuclear power plant is largely determined by four elements: The reactor itself; the structure that contains it; the inspection process; and the lawsuits that are piled on the project.
This last element adds an enormous amount of time and money to the endeavor, which raises utility rates and turns off investors and insurance firms and voters. So a rational comparison can only be made with the first two elements – the cost of the reactor and the cost of the containment structure.
The inspection process varies, depending on which reactor technology is used, and a Uranium reactor's custom-made high-pressure systems require a bewildering thicket of inspections, tests, and reports. You'd think they were trying to go to the moon.
But LFTRs are an entirely different technology. In fact, it's a lot more like high-temperature plumbing than nuclear physics. And because molten salt sheds heat quite easily, an elaborate cooling system isn't even needed. A simple radiator will suffice.
Since LFTRs don't operate under pressure, high-strength valves and fittings and high-pressure pipes aren't needed, either. Off-the-shelf parts will do. Back-up generators, emergency cooling systems, control rod mechanisms, spent fuel storage pools, the crane for replacing fuel rods, the reactor pressure vessel, the airtight containment dome – all of these pricey items and more are eliminated.
For various reasons, every Uranium power reactor in America was designed and built from scratch, which significantly added to their build time as well as their cost. The plans alone would often exceed $100 Million in today's dollars.
But LFTRs will be small and standardized, allowing them to be mass-produced in factories and shipped by rail. Their low-pressure components will be much easier to assemble, allowing for faster and simplified inspection. LFTRs will be modular, so a power plant will be able to grow along with the city it serves. All these factors and more will combine to produce a trickle-down effect, greatly reducing the complexity, cost, size, and build time of each project.
The current estimate for 1-gigawatt Thorium power plant is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 Billion. That makes Thorium competitive with coal.
CONCLUSION: Liquid fuel is the killer app of nuclear power. It's a whole new ball game. In fact, LFTRs could even replace the furnaces of our existing fossil fuel power plants, including coal. (Don't get me started about coal…) LFTRs will provide carbon-free power wherever it's needed, 24/7/365.
We've already mined enough fuel for over 400 years. They'll be mass-produced right here in America, providing plenty of good jobs, and they'll get us off of foreign oil and domestic natural gas, and even King Coal, by providing us with all the safe, clean energy we need.
Will they work as promised? Let's build one and see. Power to the Planet!
Mike Conley Los Angeles p.s.
One more thing: Last fall, a delegation from China visited Oak Ridge National Labs. When they returned home, they announced that they would be embarking on an aggressive Molten Salt Reactor program, and would be patenting everything they can think of along the way. The Chinese are eating our lunch again, and using our own damn recipe. If this isn't a Sputnik Moment, then I don't know what is.
[I recall he did improvise a few words at the end in regard to building.the LFTR: Let us build one even if we make total fools of our selves as if to say "What if we're right?"]
"THE THORIUM PARADIGM" soon to be a one-hour documentary
from B2MR PRODUCTIONS
Executive Producer: James Blakeley III
Producer: Marina Martins


text:
I still have a question about VPN. What should I do?
If your question is about installing, or running VPN:
- Students: visit the Student Computer Consulting Service; you can make an appointment online.
- Faculty and Staff: contact the IST Service Desk
- firstname.lastname@example.com
- 510-664-9000, option 1, option 1, option 1
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
If your question is about accessing library resources:
- Contact the Library via the Library Web Comment Form
For more information about VPN:


text:
Definition of animus in English:
1Hostility or ill feeling: the author's animus toward her
More example sentences
- They also required the University to take no action motivated by hostility, animus, or disapproval toward Brady's pregnancy.
- The animus and hostility and the intensity of feeling evidenced by this act of the accused does not outweigh its prejudicial effect.
- Ponting's animus toward Churchill never reaches Irving's level of contempt but he has his moments.
2Motivation to do something: the reformist animus came from within the Party
More example sentences
- Motivation refers to the animus for behavior and includes the affective aspects of attitudes, desires, ends, aims, goals, objectives, desired end states, and the like.
- It is true that a nationalistic animus did not rally the Russian people into a cohesive national body with the idea of restoring the country's international standing regardless of the cost, as was the case in 1933 Germany.
- Yet while in other French cities the violence continues, in Marseille the animus soon fizzled out.
3 Psychology Jung's term for the masculine part of a woman's personality. Often contrasted with anima.
Example sentences
- In that sense, the power that a female feels from the male - the animus, in Jungian terms - is a specification of the female power, a mode of application of the power.
- This is specially true of the animus and anima, for their quest for completion is rendered more imperative by the nagging insistence of sexual desire.
- Should art - high or low - only inspire the animus, not the anima?
Early 19th century: from Latin, 'spirit, mind'.
Words that rhyme with animusequanimous, magnanimous, pusillanimous, unanimous
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: an·i·mus
Definition of animus in:
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= trending


text:
SIKESTON -- A rural Sikeston man has been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in connection with a 2007 murder.
The trial of Lee Roy "Chuck" King II, of 7698 Route E in rural Sikeston, began on Wednesday in Butler County, due to a change of venue. King was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the March 2007 shooting death of Richard L. Sterling, 37, of Morehouse.
The verdict was handed down Friday evening, according to the Butler County Circuit Clerk's office.
According to initial reports from the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, a call was received around 9:30 p.m. March 27 outside Cronies Sports Bar and Grill in reference to the shooting. Upon arrival, they found Sterling lying on the ground east of the business. Sterling had apparently been shot several times with a shotgun and was pronounced dead at the scene.


text:
- Potdevin FJ, Alberty ME, Chevutschi A, Pelayo P, Sidney MC. Effects of a 6-week plyometric training program on performances in pubescent swimmers. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Jan;25(1):80-6.
- Bishop DC, Smith RJ, Smith MF, Rigby HE Effect of plyometric training on swimming block start performance in adolescents. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Oct;23(7):2137-4.
- Cossor JM, Blanksby BA, Elliott BC. The influence of plyometric training on the freestyle tumble turn. J Sci Med Sport. 1999 Jun;2(2):106-16.
- Swanik KA, Lephart SM, Swanik CB, Lephart SP, Stone DA, Fu FH. The effects of shoulder plyometric training on proprioception and selected muscle performance characteristics. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2002 Nov-Dec;11(6):579-86.


text:
Pris Campbell, Titanic
Pris Campbell
Layla, one legged hooker
watches Titanic again,
cuts to the scene
when Leo shows Kate
Layla's Paris twin.
She figures it's better
to be drawn by a gonna-die
guy in an iceberg-doomed ship
than live in Belle Glade,
dust-bowl of mid Florida.
Poverty Central. HIV rampant.
Pit stop for hundreds
of black-eyed migrant workers
backs bent like wishbones
hands rough as emery boards.
Smoke from burnt cane
drifts through her open window.
A truckload of migrants roars past.
She's lucky to get two tricks
a night, wishes she could marry,
a rich man, live near the sea.
but no man wants a 'death till
we part' one legged hooker
to ride into the sweaty night.
She hits the back button, sucks
on an ice cube, dreams she's floating
out over that Titanic ocean,
slippers tumbling from two perfect feet.
Author's Comment : To my best knowledge, Belle Glade remains the poorest town in Florida. During the early to mid-1980s, it had the highest rate of AIDS infection per capita in the United States. My husband and I drove through the town twice in the mid-eighties en route to the west coast of Florida. The town could've been abandoned it was so run-down and dirty. Despair radiated from the people we saw on the streets. Surrounded by sugar cane fields, the smoke from bi-annual burning permeates the town for weeks both times. Ash has even reached as far as our home in West Palm. Drug use/sales and hooking were high, both for income and escape. Layla became a symbol of that town for me.
3 Responses
Good portrait of a run-down person who can still dream a little.
Robert, thanks for commenting. I like to write about people who struggle, people who live on the edge of society.
A poignant poem, Pris…penned so masterfully, I could feel the despair…and hope.


text:
Emergency Dial 911
Non-emergency (541) 693-6911
Date: 1/27/2014
Lost Hiker, Horse Ridge Trail Head,
Badlands Wilderness Area.
BY: Sgt. Ronny Dozier
SAR Operations Manager
Reporting Person/Hiker
Roxanne George, 46
Bend, OR
On 01-27-2014 at about 5:30pm Deschutes County 911 received a call from a female (Roxanne Jones) requesting help as she had become disoriented and lost due to the dense fog during a hike in the Badlands area east of Bend and it was getting dark. Five Deschutes County Search and Rescue Teams comprised of 23 volunteers, three deputies and a USFS Law Enforcement Officer responded to the call. Jones stayed in contact with deputies via text message.
At about 6:47 pm Jones advised that she could see the police lights and hear the sirens of the USFS Officer and safely walked to his location. Jones had started her hike at about 3:30hrs and had taken plenty of water and was dressed for the weather.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office would like to remind all Back Country users to prepare for changing weather, take a well charged cell phone, water and other basic needs in case they encounter adverse conditions and need to be out in the weather for a prolonged period of time.


text:
Category:Noack, Friedrich/Editor
Free public domain sheet music from IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library(The following text was automatically transcluded from Category:Noack, Friedrich.)
We need more information on Friedrich Noack
You can help by adding biography links
You can help by adding biography links
|Works by this person are most likely not public domain within the EU and in those countries where the copyright term is life+70 years. They may also be protected by copyright in the USA, unless published before 1923, in which case they are PD there as well. However, this person's works are public domain in Canada (where IMSLP is hosted), and in other countries where the copyright term is life+50 years.
Friedrich Noack(10 July 1890 — 21 January 1958)
→Table of Contents: Top - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z - Chart
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External links
- Detailed biography: None given
- Recordings: None given
Miscellaneous information
not to be confused with, though perhaps related to (?), Friedrich Noack (aka F. Idus) (1858–1930) (cultural historian) (see Wikipedia.)
Pages in category "Noack, Friedrich/Editor"
The following 22 pages are in this category, out of 22 total.


text:
The Heroes that Were Pigeons
Overview ... Alternate (Global) Names
Distribution / Habitat ... Subspecies, Ranges and ID
Description ... Calls / Vocalizations
Breeding / Nesting ... Diet / Feeding
The Mantanani Scops Owls (Otus mantananensis) - also known as South Philippines Scops Owls - are small scops owls found on small islands between the Philippines and the island of Borneo.
The Mantanani Scops Owls occur naturally in
- Malaysia: on several small islands between the state of Sabah in northern Borneo (including the Mantanani group for which this species has been named); and
- central Philippines; and the Philippines island of Palawan, including Calamien, Rasa and Ursula, as well as islands in the Sulu Archipelago
Their preferred habitats are coconut groves and other wooded areas, where they are locally common. However, this species is classified as "Near Threatened" (since 2004) due to their very small natural range, and small and fragmented populations which appear to be declining due to disturbed and degraded forest habitats.
BirdLife estimates that only about 10,000 - 20,000 of them have survived over their entire range and only about 100 of them are found on Mantanani Island.
The Mantanani Scops Owls measure, on average, 7.1 inches or 180 mm in length (including the tail). The average wing is about 6.1 inches or 155 mm long.
The upper plumage is dark brown with pale markings on the scapulars (shoulder feathers). The plumage below is paler with dark streaks and barring. They have buff facial disks with narrow, dark borders. The bill and feet are grey and the lower legs are feathered. Their eyes (irises) are yellow.
They mostly feed on insects, hunting at the forest edge or in clearings.
Mantanani Scops Owls are believed to breed from March to May. Their eggs are deposited in the cavities of trees.
Their vocalizations consist of simple waa and a goose-like honks; during territorial disputes with a descending series of short wa's.
The females' voices are described as being lower and harsher than those of males.
Chinese: 南菲律宾角鸮 ... Czech: Výrecek jihofilipínský, výreček jihofilipínský ... Danish: Mantanani-dværghornugle ... Estonian: kookosepäll ... Finnish: Filippiinienkyläpöllönen ... French: Petit-duc de Mantanani ... German: Mantananieule, Philippinen-Zwergohre, Philippinen-Zwergohreule ... Italian: Assiolo delle Filippine meridionali, Assiolo di Mantanani ... Japanese: boruneokonohazuku ... Malay: Hantu Mantanani ... Dutch: Mantanandwergooruil, Mantanan-dwergooruil, Mantananidwergooruil ... Norwegian: Suluugle ... Polish: syczek rafowy ... Russian: Совка с острова Мантанани, Сулавесийская совка ... Slovak: výrik kokosový ... Spanish: Autillo de la Mantanani, Autillo Malayo Sureño, Autillo Moluqueño ... Swedish: Mantananidvärguv
Species Research by Sibylle Johnson
For updates please follow BeautyOfBirds on Google+ (google.com/+Avianweb)
Please Note: The articles or images on this page are the sole property of the authors or photographers. Please contact them directly with respect to any copyright or licensing questions. Thank you.
The Avianweb strives to maintain accurate and up-to-date information; however, mistakes do happen. If you would like to correct or update any of the information, please send us an e-mail. THANK YOU!


text:
Today's Boston Globe reports on a study to be released today about the persistance of the gap between men and women in the legal profession. The Globe opens with this statement:
"For women, the law remains a frustrating profession. Female lawyers continue to face intractable challenges in their attempts to become partners, causing them to abandon law firm careers -- and the legal profession entirely -- at a dramatically higher rate than men. . ."
The study, conducted by the MIT Workplace Center and several bar associations surveyed 1,000 Massachusetts men and women lawyers in the state's 100 largest firms. The study highlights the gap between the experience of men and women in the profession. According to the report, men and women enter the law firm in essentially equal numbers, but women leave the partnership track in far greater numbers than men. As a result, only 17% of law firm partners are women. The study finds that 31% of women associates leave private practice entirely, as compared with 18% of men.
But the clear message behind the study is the difficulties women continue to confront balancing work-family issues. According to the Globe, the study finds that 35% of women with children leave private practice entirely as compared with 15% of men with children. Moreover, nearly 40% of women with children have worked part-time at some point, while almost no men have done so. Then too, when women leave private practice, they tend to seek out work with more flexible schedules such as careers with nonprofits or government agencies. Despite these attempts, some 46% of women who leave the law firm, leave the practice of law entirely, while fewer than one-third of men who leave law firms also leave the practice of law entirely. A summary of the report from the MIT Workplace Center notes that nearly 70% of men with children have spouses or partners with less work-related commitments. Women, on the other hand, tend to have spouses or partners with equal or greater career commitments.
The Globe also notes the important consequences of these gender gaps for the presence of women in leadership positions. Indeed, as women either leave the law firm or the law entirely, the pool for talented women judges, law professors and law firm managers either stagnates or shrinks.
The study is a depressing commentary on our profession, but hardly a new one. One key problem is that for years people in the profession have clung to the notion that as women enter law schools and law firms in greater numbers, they will ascend to leadership positions in greater numbers. This notion has enabled many in the profession to be satisfied with making changes at the margins without any real adjustment in the law firm culture as a whole--which tends to be problematic for both men and women. This recent study only confirms what we already know and what many other studies have confirmed--the changes at the margins are not working and as a result the legal profession, particularly law firms, are losing talented women.
The question is, will this study do anything more than its predecessors to prompt genuine change in the profession or will it create a flurry of intense discussion followed by business as usual?
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Links to weblogs that reference Why Aren't We There Yet?:
1. Posted by M. Hodak on May 2, 2007 @ 15:29 | Permalink
My guess is the flurry and business as usual. What I'm wondering, though, is why this necessarily affects women's representation in law firm management and academia. Was this part of the study, or speculation? Anecdotally, I see the proportion of women growing in academia. Non-partner management and professorships offer much more life-work flexibility.
2. Posted by Hmm on May 2, 2007 @ 16:36 | Permalink
I know you've probably heard this before. But I'm not sure that the study points to anything that we should consider problematic. It can be read as merely indicating that women are more likely than man to conclude that they want to spend more time raising their children than climbing the career ladder. Is this a bad thing? Women have a natural connection to their children that men lack: Birth. Women must take some period of time off of work to give birth and recover (though I've heard that some superhuman female partners barely miss a beat). Isn't it natural that they'd want to take more time off to nurture their newborn child?
Also, if the solution to this problem is that firms must be more accommodating of women who want to work part time, then I argue that it would be unfair not to extend similar benefits to men. We men want to spend time with our kids, too!
3. Posted by anonymous on May 2, 2007 @ 17:48 | Permalink
Perhaps women think that they are entitled to equal representation at all levels, and do not compete or work so hard as to really earn the advancement. Men have been conditioned from day one that they will have to compete to rise (despite the truth that connections, wealth and luck play a factor). I don't want to see women up there for the sake of women being up there. I want them to earn their way up. Some do, but many women are competing against the group, the curve so to speak, and thus are not achieving excellence individually. This idea of being the best in the limited group is a woman way of competing often, instead of it coming from a personal drive for excellence. Thus the comparisons of where women as a group are at, and the idea of bringing down women who succeed individually perhaps ignoring the women group of peers.
4. Posted by anonymous on May 2, 2007 @ 17:54 | Permalink
Also, Hmmm's comment is telling.
Because women can bear, an individual woman is lumped into that category, regardless of whether she takes that time off, and spends her time immersed in a childlike world, rather than competing continually in the adult world. It takes plenty of time, sacrifice, and excellence to reach the top for women, and some are help back by the individual choices of others in the group sadly. These women are measured as potentially being in that mother/childhood world, while men are assumed to have someone else playing that role, sitting through those movies, reading those books while the more adult centered women can focus that time more on work, or adult activities.
Men surely benefitted more than non mothers in this family-friendly push to accommodate women in the workplace. It's kind of why I cringe at all the Harry Potter, and sixth grade reading reviews here, occasionally from Gordon, but more and more frequently from Christine.
5. Posted by Jake on May 2, 2007 @ 19:35 | Permalink
Anonymous is quite unfair to Gordon and Christine. Agree with M. Hodak's apparent point that bearing children should not interfere with women lawyers being successful in law firm management and legal academia. The same is true of women who practice law for governmental agencies. If the emphasis is working smarter, rather than harder, as it logically ought to be, women should face no barriers to advancement in the legal profession. Where they do face barriers, it arguably is a product of legal institutions that value working hard more than working smart.
Women lawyers will get the final say in any event since, by and large, they outlive male lawyers. Talk about having the last laugh. One pictures venerable law partner in the afterlife questioning whether he should have been more fair to women lawyers at the Firm. Meanwhile, in his absence, the women lawyers at the Firm are glad the Paleolithic old fart is gone.
Evolution takes millenia, and the practice of law emulates nature in this regard.
6. Posted by anonymous on May 3, 2007 @ 5:41 | Permalink
Agree with M. Hodak's apparent point that bearing children should not interfere with women lawyers being successful in law firm management and legal academia.
Of course it does.
Time spend with childrens books takes away from reading in your chosen field. Every minute spent watching kiddie flicks might be spent by a childless person on adult work. Why should the one who works harder, longer and focuses more on the goal of career success not be more successfull. The athlete who trains hardest and longest to improve themself is going to be better than he who trains part time, or full time but then knocks off when another continues on.
For merit's sake, the numbers of high ranking men and women should not automatically stay the same. That artificially elevates some, who perhaps for whatever reason don't work as hard or as long at their craft as others. Sure motherhood is a fine option, but all options come at costs.
Expecting to be the top performer and a mother can work, if you sacrifice and dedicate yourself to it. But to want it just to even out the men who have been competing competitively presumably (acknowledging wealth and connections factor again) makes for a less competitive model overall.
Sorry if that's unfair Jake, but the childless woman has more resources, more of herself to give, as she hasn't spent that energy elsewhere. Work for better childraising help situations so that more women can continue to concentrate on their work, instead of incorporating their kiddie work into the legal world?
7. Posted by y81 on May 3, 2007 @ 16:08 | Permalink
Maybe the study will prompt self-examination and geniune change among women. At present, very few women are interested in marrying less successful men who might stay at home, raise children, and support their wife's carreer. If more women realized that such a man is the key to professional success, and changed their dating and marriage preferences accordingly, maybe they would be more successful in the law firm world.
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Student and Departmental Account Services
Affordable Care Act and the Student Health Insurance Deadline
January 24, 2014
The message below is for undergraduate and law students:
If you waived enrollment in the Aetna Student Health Insurance Plan in the fall and you still have comparable insurance coverage, you do not need to do anything. You will not be enrolled in the Aetna Student Health plan for spring semester.
If you are a new student in your first semester at the College (or if you were on an overseas program last fall and did not submit a waiver in the fall), you will automatically be enrolled in the Aetna Student Health Insurance Plan at a cost of $958. If you have insurance that is comparable to the College's plan, and you want to waive enrollment in the Aetna Student Health Insurance Plan, you must submit an online waiver by February 4. (This online waiver can only be completed by students in these categories.)
If you had Aetna Student Health Insurance in the fall and have become eligible for a new health insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act, and this plan meet the college's comparability criteria, you may request a waiver out of the Aetna plan for spring. Please complete a Paper Insurance Waiver, and return it to Student and Departmental Accounts before February 4th. If you do not waive by February 4, your account will be charged $958 for student health insurance that runs from January 1 to August 14.
If you had comparable health insurance in the fall, filed a fall waiver to opt out of the Aetna Student Health Insurance Plan but have now lost your insurance coverage (or if your coverage is no longer comparable), you can rescind your waiver and be added to the Aetna Student Health Insurance Plan. You need to complete the Rescind Waiver Form, submit written confirmation of your loss of coverage from your previous carrier, and return it to the Student and Departmental Account Services (firstname.lastname@example.com) by February 4th and make a payment of $958.
For more information on changes in insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, please refer to the Student Health Insurance web page and the FAQs.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR STUDENT ACCOUNT BALANCE TO CONFIRM IT REFLECTS CHARGES FOR THE INSURANCE OPTION YOU HAVE SELECTED. THE DEADLINE TO MAKE CHANGES IS FEBRUARY 4th.


text:
As a general rule, I try to remain as neutral as I can regarding most political occurrences, so that I am able to analyze problems and interactions from an unbiased, scientific perspective. But the transportation bill that has been introduced in the House is fatally flawed in so many ways, and would threaten much of what I hope to accomplish professionally if passed. So in a rare moment of activism, I've joined in today's campaign to produce letters and phone calls in opposition to the bill. I imagine that I'm preaching to the choir here a bit as Ms. Bonamici is almost a certain "no" vote, but here is the letter I sent to her this morning.
February 9, 2012
The Honorable Suzanne Bonamici
2338 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative,
Congratulations on your recent election as Representative of the 1st District of Oregon! I wish you the best as you serve our terrific region in the Capitol. You assume this position just in time to vote on one of the most pivotal pieces of transportation legislation of my lifetime, H.R. 7, and I am writing to encourage you to resoundingly vote "no" on this bill.
Secretary LaHood said of this bill that it's "the worst transportation bill [he's] ever seen during 35 years of public service," and it's not difficult to understand why. The bill reinforces our reliance on oil for transportation and fundamentally alters the way transit is funded in the US, essentially replacing all transit monies with a promise for future funds that will be hard to keep. It doubles down on an unsustainable approach to transportation that has reduced the livability of our cities, polluted our air and water, and compromised our national security by rendering us dependent on politically unstable nations for fuel.
This bill addresses none of the fundamental problems facing the transportation sector. It reinforces the false notion that our 18.2 cent-per-gallon gas tax is adequate to fund our freeways, while relegating the other modes of transportation to second-class status. The truth of the matter is that we must find other revenue streams to supplement the gas tax, and put these toward a multi-modal, sustainable transportation system that is both solvent and capable of accommodating aggressive economic growth. These are big, systemic problems, and meeting the challenges they represent requires much more than the backward-thinking, politically motivated bill that is under consideration.
As I'm sure you know, Oregon has a history of leading the way on transportation issues. Our willingness to challenge orthodox thinking and innovate when faced with transportation challenges is unmatched, and we must not be too humble to suggest that other regions would be well-served by following our model. I am confident that you will represent this spirit with your "no" vote on H.R. 7, and I appreciate your leadership in this matter.
With best wishes,
Brian A. Davis
M.S. Candidate, Transportation Engineering
Portland State University


text:
My Instagram friend Bia, in Brazil has asked for my recipe :)
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Chocolate Meringue Pie
My Instagram friend Bia, in Brazil has asked for my recipe :)
7 comments:
- see you there! said...
Your pie looks delicious. I must admit that fruit pies are my favorite but you might convert me to chocolate.
- August 12, 2013 at 7:18 AM
- Kathleen Grace said...
Can you believe a chocoholic like me has never had a chocolate meringue pie? Only lemon meringue. I can't wait to try this! Is this a southern thing?
- August 12, 2013 at 9:43 AM
- susan@avintagefarmwife said...
I loove Chocolate pie. My mom makes them and I can almost taste my grandma's chocolate pudding right now. Yum.
- August 12, 2013 at 9:56 AM
- Deb @ Paper Turtle said...
Yummmmmm! I haven't had chocolate meringue pie in years. Thanks for sharing the recipe! It sounds similar to what my grandma always made. I know my hubby would love it if I made this...
- August 13, 2013 at 11:42 AM
- Lea said...
Beautiful Phyllis! What a pretty pie... bet it's divine! I'm not a good crust maker at all... so usually cheat and buy the premade ones.
- October 2, 2013 at 8:23 AM
- Lena said...
Seeing your oh so beautiful meringue has brought back memories of my mom's oh so good, lemon meringue pie, and banana puddings. We didn't usually have chocolate pies, but when I visited my Aunt Helen in Indiana, she served chocolate pie for dessert, and it was really good.
I hope you and yours are doing well Phyllis. I think of you often.
- October 15, 2013 at 9:50 AM
- ricky albert danganan said...
Hello there,
Great foods!! Thank you so much for sharing these, we are truly inspired!!! We would like to add your blog to the Top Food Blog list in www.mytaste.com/ with over 6 million users worldwide... Your blog is impressively BEAUTIFUL and deserves to be included on the Top list!!
We will feature your blog and create shout outs about your recipes to our fan pages.
MyTaste is a social platform for foodies and blogs/sites owners like you and it helps to reach more people, get more visibility from the web and share/save foods and recipes. Some of them receive at least 10,000 visits from us on a weekly basis.
If you'd like to be featured, expand your readership and JOIN TOP FOOD BLOGS, here's the link where you can add your blog to the list>> http://www.mytaste.com/top-food-blogs (Joining won't cost you any cents)
Kind regards
- October 28, 2014 at 7:53 AM


text:
Lynn Casey, CEO of PadillaCRT:
Building and Protecting Reputations in Real Time
February 12, 2015 at 5 p.m.
Lynn Casey, CEO of PadillaCRT, will present about "Building and Protecting Reputations in Real Time". Casey is a dynamic, caring leader and Auggie parent, who will share her personal story of building reputations throughout her tenure at PadillaCRT. Casey has served on and chaired numerous nonprofit boards. Currently, she is vice chair of the Greater Twin Cities United Way, secretary of the University of Minnesota Foundation, and is an active member of the Minnesota Women's Economic Roundtable and the Itasca Project.
Time: 5 pm
Location: Sateren Auditorium, Augsburg College
Title: Building and Protecting Reputations in Real Time
Registration: www.augburg.edu/alumni/events
All are welcome to a reception immediately following the presentation in the Christensen Center.
2014-2015 Calendar
- November 13, 2014, Stan Hubbard chairman of Hubbard Broadcasting
- February 12, 2015, Lynn Casey CEO of PadillaCRT
- April 9, 2015, Maykao Y. Hang, CEO & President of the Wilder Foundation
Link to Past Presentations
Interested in having your corporation or organization's executive speak at Augsburg? Email Amanda Scherer, firstname.lastname@example.com, or call 612.330.1720.


text:
Austin, TXUSA
Austin, Texas
July 23, 2010
Not a total Newbie.
Help support your Meetup
The reality is - Drupal moves so fast and is so broad in its applications that we're all n00b's in one way or another!
This group is designed to support those folks coming to the Drupal CMS who prefer meetups focused around learning the ins and outs of this amazing CMS! Drupal is great - but there is a learning curve! Lots of folks end up "stuck" in one way or another - we've all been there.
We'll spend our time in discussion and learning - that's what we're about. Each meetup will revolve around a specific topic announced well in advance so that you can come with questions and contribute your solutions.
So, come and learn how great Drupal is! We're friendly and happy to help you on your learning path...!
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Unexploded Cow
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Product Description
So you've decided to make a little spending cash this summer using Mad Cows (which are going cheap in England) to clear fields of unexploded bombs in France (which apparently pays pretty well). Okay, but you'll have to remember to play better than all your friends, or you're just as likely to lose money.
Unexploded Cow is a money game in which the players are trying to collect enough points to win the Pot. On every turn you will buy Cows and pay for special effects by putting money into the Pot, then try to discover bombs with your own Cows in an effort to take money out of the Pot. All along, you will be earning points from the French as you liberate town after town from the terrors of unexploded bombs, and the player who scores the most points gets whatever's left in the Pot.
Unexploded Cow is best played as a series of short games, each of which takes about half an hour. The game is quite simple and very chaotic, and we think you'll have a blast.
Product Information
James Ernest, Paul Peterson
Cheapass Games
Year: 2001
Players: 3 - 7
Time: 30 minutes
Ages: 10 and up
Weight: 323 grams
Product Reviews
Average Rating: 4.4 in 5 reviews
Ok. I have a friend who said she had found this great new game. At first, i was sceptical. Come now, you have to admitt that the whole thing sounds a little absurd. A lot as a matter of fact. And then i played it and my view changed. This game is a wonderful waste of time and perhaps even a good opportunity to talk European politics (laughs). Yes it is a little geeky, but what good board game isn't. And it's cheap which never hurts.
We played over new years, but improvised and used poker chips in place of the phony cash. What a blast. It's not every day you see a goofy game like this being played by a conservative like my dad. We played non-stop for four hours! Great alternative to cow tipping, and less dangerous.
This is a great game to play for a relaxing good time. It's kind of silly, so it's hard to take too seriously (eliminating the often-annoying 'I must win at everything' problem some players have). It's quick so you don't get bored before you finish playing. It's easy to learn and to play so a beginner can play against an old-hand without feeling stupid. Great for getting-to-know-you get togethers.
Show all 5 reviews >
Use England's cows to detonate France's unexploded bombs and make the most money. Everyone begins with $2,000, and the pot with $0. Money is paid to and from the pot throughout the game. You'll pay to play cow cards and/or event cards. Event cards let you do nifty things like swap, discard, or sell cows. Then roll a die, determining which cow explodes (gets discarded) and thereby profits its owner. If that's you, take a city card. Having the most city cards wins you the pot at game's end. We admit the theme's "a-bomb-in-a-bull," but the game's a blast.


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By Mr. Paul Boyce (FORSCOM)July 21, 2008
The U.S. Army launched a new web site today, July 21, called "Gifts to Army" which is an online resource developed to streamline and process gifts that American citizens and organizations contribute to benefit Soldiers and their Families.
Soldiers, their Family members, and Army civilians often get questions from people about how they can support the Army. People often want to know how they can help men and women in uniform with gifts, money, goods, or services to show their support for the troops. This web site provides an online resource to answer the question: "How can we help'"
"Many individuals have asked how they can help the Army," said Ms. Joyce Morrow, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. "We appreciate how generous the public is and the concern they have for the welfare of our Soldiers and Families. We've developed this Web site to provide information on how to contribute money, goods or services to benefit Soldiers and their Families."
The launch of this web site centralizes the many venues and paths for the public whose offers of support fall within the Army's overall Gift Program, which is managed by the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. Contribution options addressed in the Web site include support for the Army, Soldiers and Families, Wounded Warriors, Army installations, and more.
"This web site is not intended as a solicitation, but merely as a way to provide information on the options and programs available to those who have expressed a desire to make a donation," Morrow said.
The Army Gift Program has existed for many years under the authority of Title 10 United States Code, Section 2601. On Jan. 28, President Bush signed into law, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181, Section 593), which expanded the Army's gift acceptance authority to include acceptance of gifts on behalf of Wounded Soldiers, Wounded Civilian Employees, and their Families.
This new Web site provides a central source of information to refer those interested in contributing to and supporting Soldiers and Army Families and ways for them to express that support if they choose.
For more information, visit the "Gifts to Army" Web site at http://giftstoarmy.army.mil/ .
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Findings for PPC in Alexandria
Alexandria Ranks Amongst Least Expensive Markets for Google Adwords in USA
SEP's ongoing research into PPC Campaigns has revealed that Alexandria was the 186th least expensive city in USA in keyword bids in Google Adwords for the month of May 2016. Alexandria also ranks amongst the least expensive cities in Virginia, ranking as number 7th. In the study, San Buenaventura ranked as the most expensive city in the country, while Ontario ranked as the least expensive city.
Year over Year Google Adwords Prices for Alexandria are up in May 2016
SEP's research shows that the average price of a click to advertisers targeting Alexandria keywords increased by (Yr/Yr increase %)% versus the same keywords one year earlier.
Google Adwords Keyword Prices 54% Lower in Alexandria than Arlington
SEP's research also tracks Google Adwords price changes and trends in cities across Canada and the U.S. Recent data shows that average prices in Alexandria are 54% lower than in Arlington. The average price of a click in Alexandria is $9.55.
This price differential is expected however, as Arlington has a larger population than Alexandria.
The Price Rank shows how expensive keywords are in certain industry and segment relative to other cities in a country, region and province.


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Hatcher answers call to American Hall
Friday, 10.22.2010 / 3:58 PM CT / News
By Bob Matuszak
| Hatcher Induction Video
Hatcher Interview Video
Playing on a squad that boasted players with multiple Stanley Cup rings, Derian Hatcher was the perfect leader for a Stars team that went to three straight Western Conference finals starting in 1998, and back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals in '99 and 2000. While Muller, Mike Keane, Guy Carbonneau and Craig Ludwig opened their mouths in the locker room, Hatcher did all of his talking on the ice.
Those intimidating actions, for him, spoke much more volumes.
"He was the backbone of the team in Dallas," Muller said. "When I joined there, I really appreciated his competitiveness and his consistency."
So did Hatcher's country, as he, brother Kevin, Jeremy Roenick, Art Berglund and Dr. George Nagobads were formally inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame on Thursday night in a ceremony in Buffalo, N.Y. at HSBC Arena. Fittingly, he accepted the highest honor bestowed on a U.S.-born player in the very same building that he and his teammates won the NHL's biggest prize over 11 years ago.
"I never dreamed I'd get so much out of hockey," Hatcher said. "The adventures I've had to share with my wife, children, parents, brothers, sisters and friends, it's remarkable. It's absolutely amazing."
It was also ironic that the 6-foot-5 behemoth defenseman went in with Roenick. At the end of that '98-99 season, Hatcher broke Roenick's jaw with a flying forearm that caused Roenick's face to rattle against the glass in a game against the Phoenix Coyotes at Reunion Arena. The play was in retaliation for Roenick leveling Mike Modano a few weeks earlier in Phoenix.
Hatcher was suspended for seven games, including the first five of the playoffs, while Roenick had his jaw wired shut and missed the first six games of that year's postseason.
But ask Roenick today about the event and he'll tell you that's just the way Hatcher played the game -- tough, strong and physical.
"He was one of those players that you were glad you played with him and not against him," Muller added. "He played at the right time for him because that's when you could play that type of hard style. He made it hard to play for guys like (Colorado's Peter) Forsberg and that. You'd pay a price if you played against Hatch."
Indeed. Originally selected eighth overall by the Minnesota North Stars in 1990 after playing junior hockey for North Bay of the OHL, Hatcher's rise within the organization came quickly. He was named Minnesota's rookie of the year in 1991-92 when he played in 43 games, then was named the franchise's 20th team captain at the ripe old age of 22 after Neil Broten was traded to the New Jersey Devils in February 1995.
In the team's first season in Dallas in 1993-94, Hatcher showed North Texas what hockey was all about by racking up career-highs in penalty minutes with 211, and points with 31. In 1997 he was named to his first NHL All-Star team, and two years later became the first American-born player to captain a Stanley Cup winner.
"He was a huge part of why we won the Stanley Cup in Dallas," former teammate Pat Verbeek said. "He was just a mean and tough guy to play against."
During that magical Stanley Cup-winning season, Hatcher was paired with Richard Matvichuk, and the two played against the opposing team's top line night in and night out. Matvichuk had a knack for blocking shots, while Hatcher blocked bodies from getting in front of goalie Ed Belfour.
It was also up to the captain to look out for his teammates with his fists, something Hatcher did with authority.
"He fought, and he fought a lot of tough guys," Verbeek said.
But it was the other parts of the game that made Hatcher so much more important for coach Ken Hitchcock and the Stars on the back end.
"He had deceptive skills," Verbeek said. "He played in all situations, whether it was the power play or penalty kill. He brought a lot of different elements to the game. I think he probably was an underrated player overall."
Muller agreed.
"Derian did the little, unnoticed things like getting pucks out and making that little play under pressure," he said. "His ability to move the puck was really good. He didn't have real soft hands, but he always made a strong play with the puck. So he was pretty good for a big guy."
One of Hatcher's biggest disappointments was how things eventually flushed out after the Stars obtained his brother Kevin from the Washington Capitals in exchange for captain Mark Tinordi and Rick Mrozik in January 1995. The pair may have pressed a little bit too much before Kevin was ultimately dealt to Pittsburgh in the summer of 1996 for defenseman Sergei Zubov.
"I was just thankful for that opportunity," Kevin Hatcher said. "The first year I was defenseman of the year for them, but the second year really didn't work out as well. The team didn't really do very well, and you can't pinpoint anybody, but when that happens unfortunately there's changes. That happened to be me. But they got a great player for me."
Derian Hatcher also thrived when playing for his country. He was an integral part of the 1996 USA team that won the World Cup, accumulating five points in six games. He also played on the 1998 and 2006 Olympic teams, as well as the '93 and '02 U.S. National teams.
After 12 seasons with the North Stars/Stars, Hatcher toiled one year with the Detroit Red Wings before finishing his career with a three-year stint in Philadelphia. But his time in Dallas is what he remembers most.
"I spent 10 years in Dallas and have a lot of great memories there," he said. "You almost have to call it your home. It was tough leaving there."
Hatcher currently lives in South Jersey and is the Flyers player development coach, a position he's held for two years now.


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Incredibly, Japans Hoshi Hotel has been functioning on all cylinders as a family business since 718AD. The Hoshi family is in its 49th generation with no end in sight, while a few relative youngsters on the other side of the globe date their founding and continuous family ownership to a time well before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. The venerable Venetian glassmakers, Barovier & Toso, were established in 1295. A Tuscan winemaker, the famous Antinori dynasty, has been producing its vintages since 1385. World renowned firearm manufacturers, the Beretta family, has been crafting guns in Italy for kings and sportsmen since 1526, and the oldest family firm in the United Kingdom, textile makers John Brooke & Sons, Ltd. has been in business since 1541.
New World family businesses cannot, of course, claim any such antiquity. However, the Institute for Family Enterprise (IFE) at Bryant College thought it would be interesting to take a look at the relative longevity of businesses started and run by families in the USA. We made some interesting discoveries along the way, which, combined with the accompanying list, provide a profile attesting to the rich history of American family businesses.
Our project was launched in 1997. After making preliminary inquiries, we realized that the qualifying definition for our survey was in need of refinement. Family business locations prompted one of our initial questions. Should a family enterprise that relocated to another state be allowed to qualify as the oldest business in the new state? We decided that, in order to maintain the true historical context of the search, we would say no to this possibility and require that our oldest family businesses be no more and no less than the family enterprises that have lasted longest in the states in which they were founded. For example, in Massachusetts, Zildjian Cymbal happened to have been founded in Constantinople, Turkey in 1623, long before it relocated to Norwell, Massachusetts in 1929. So even though it was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as the oldest family business in the USA, this excellent company didnt make the cut in our study.
A second issue involved our decision to include public corporations. Considering that 40% of Fortune 500 companies are family businesses, we decided that any public corporation that met all the other criteria of the study would qualify so long as family members retained meaningful input regarding the firms operations.
Finally, we chose to include family farms among our oldest enterprises. Agriculture is a business, it was decided, like any other enterprise. In all, 13 of the 52 businesses listed are farm-related, including two ranches Glaser Land & Livestock (Nevada) [1869], and Penner Angus Ranch (Oklahoma) [1855], and one dairy farm Coleman Dairy (Arkansas) [1862].
In sum, the project's definition of a family business was: "An enterprise that has been in the control of a single family since inception. It can be either private or public, so long as family members have an input in the operation and future of the business. Furthermore, the enterprise must currently be located in the state in which it originated."
Since most family firms are privately held, and the well-known business indexes such as Standard & Poor's only list public companies, finding information about family businesses is always a challenge. Many sources provided us with critical assistance, and we are grateful to them all. Our joumey started with inquiries to historical societies, economic development offices, and Chambers of Commerce in each of the 50 states. Academics from around the country who are members of the Family Firm Institute, based in Boston, responded with great interest and cooperation. Newspapers, especially regional business journals, offered good leads and invaluable historical perspective concerning the oldest businesses in their circulation areas. And, of course, the Internet proved a fruitful resource in finding possibilities.
In the end, we merged the input from all these sources, and verified our information with each business directly. The result was a list of the oldest, ongoing family business in each of the 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Twists of fate
As might be expected, the age differences between the oldest family businesses in the various states reflect the dates of settlement of the East, Midwest, and Far West. Generally, the oldest business in a young state has not been around nearly as long as the oldest in an old state. There are some interesting aberrations, nevertheless. The oldest ongoing family enterprises in several Western states preceded statehood. We were also puzzled that the longest lasting family business we could find in New York, G.H. Peters Inc. of Buffalo, reached back only to 1825. It would have come out differently, we discovered, if wine importer Schieffelin & Co. of New York City (1781) had not been sold in 1988.
We found one forerunner of statehood in Rhode Island. The John Stevens Shop in Newport has been in the gravestone business since 1705. It was run by eight generations of Stevenses until 1926 when it was purchased by John Howard Benson. The Benson family, now in its third generation, continues the tradition that has carved markers for John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Robert F. Kennedy, Tennessee Williams, and more recently, a monument for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. The fact that ownership did not reside in a single family disqualified it under the survey's definition, however. Ashaway Line & Twine Manufacturing Co. (1824), therefore, is Rhode Island's oldest continuing family business.
Fate has played a fascinating role in the establishment and survival of many of the enterprises. Twenty-seven year old E. R. Jaeger, who hailed from Eureka, Wisconsin, followed his brother west to Tacoma, Washington, at the end of the 19th century, where he worked in his brother's laundry. In the fall of 1894, he decided to go out on his own. His destination was going to be either Alaska or Hawaii. He flipped a coin, and Alaska won. The Alaska Laundry Co. continues in the family and was fortunate enough to celebrate its centennial four years ago in Juneau. Jaeger's coin flip left the field open for Servco Pacific, a diversified company founded in 1919, to become the oldest family business in Hawaii.
The rush west to find gold was closely followed by an army of entrepreneurs, and prompted the beginning of some unexpected family business dynasties. Levi Strauss & Co. was there to outfit the 49ers in California, and their blue jeans eventually became a cultural symbol rivaled only by Coca-Cola.
Mathias Glaser, a German immigrant, would never attain Strauss's worldwide fame, but his business was fated to become nearly as successful. After boarding a covered wagon in St. Louis in 1852, he eventually stopped in Nevada and began to supply mining equipment to settlers and trading posts across the Carson Valley and the booming mining camps of Gold Hill and Virginia City. Glaser grew to like the Nevada Territory so well that he settled there and began to build his dream. Today, Glaser Land & Livestock utilizes over 600,000 acres of land, and according to Mathias's descendant, Norman Glaser, "the ranch is not only the oldest in Nevada, but is bigger than the state of Rhode Island when the tide is out."
Last but not least in the twist-of-fate department is Tuttle Market Gardens. Founder John Tuttle set sail from Bristol, England, with his wife and four-year-old daughter on June 4, 1635, on the "Angel Gabriel" headed for New England. The Gabriel's first stop was at Pemaquid Point, Maine, to drop off supplies for a small settlement there before heading south. During the night, a hurricane struck, destroying the ship and its supplies. The Tuttles continued their journey on foot and settled at Dover Point, New Hampshire, where, as they say, the rest is history. The Tuttle Farm was established on or before 1640 and has continued its family operation for more than 350 years.
Oldest of the old
As the survey progressed, we were, of course, eager to learn which is the oldest existing family business in America. The answer seemed easy: the C.P. Washburn Company (1632) of Middleborough, Massachusetts. Then came the crushing news: on November 1, 1998, The Boston Globe reported the company's untimely demise. Charles P. Washburn IV, a member of the 11th generation, was apparently unable to pay $120,000 in back taxes and the town closed the company's doors, bringing an end to a noble family business that got its start as a granary in nearby Duxbury, long before this country became a nation.
Thus, according to our research, Tuttle Market Gardens inherits Washburn's mantle as America's oldest ongoing family business. Tuttle grows vegetables and strawberries, and operates a retail shop on its site. Other East Coast farms were early contemporaries of Tuttle: The Barker Farm (Massachusetts, 1642), the Miller Farm (Delaware, 1684), and the Lyman Farm (Connecticut, 1741) were working to feed colonial soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
Family businesses from colonial times are certainly not all agricultural. The Laird family of New Jersey was the first large-scale distiller in America, making applejack brandy as far back as the early 1700s. A Virginia farmer named George Washington wrote to the family around 1760 to request the recipe. The beverage became so popular that by 1780 the Lairds had established a commercial distillery, Laird & Co., that has continued to operate ever since. The distillery even continued during Prohibition when it produced brandy for medicinal purposes.
In 1785, after serving in the Revolutionary War, Christian Bixler III began making clocks in Easton, Pennsylvania, having purchased a piece of property there from John Penn, son of William Penn, for 38 pounds and change. Bixler began making tall-case time pieces, and handcrafted 465 exquisite clocks between 1785 and 1812. Today his company bears the sign "America's Oldest Jewelers and Silversmiths."
Several name-brand family firms other than Levi Strauss have survived competition and overcome obstacles within their families to achieve not only longevity but national and, in some instances, worldwide recognition. The rich French menus at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans have been delighting diners since 1840. A beer-making family from Michigan, the Strohs, kickstarted its brewing vats back in 1850, and a thousand miles away and 23 years later, Adolph Coors began brewing his own beer in Colorado.
Supplying the basics
Etna M. Kelley, the noted business historian, once observed, "...for reasons unknown, funeral homes and seed companies - symbolic of death and life - seem to last a long time." Ms. Kelley wisely observed that business responds to basic needs. Her book, the "Business Founding Date Directory," which records business start-ups in America (subsequently called the United States!) from 1687 to 1915, was an inspiration and source of leads for our study.
Family firms tend to dominate in certain industries, and we found a historical basis for the highly familial funeral business. Having grown up in New Haven, Connecticut, it seemed to me that all of the funeral homes bore a family name and had an ethnic connection. At an early age, one learned that it was just not proper to bury an Irish-Catholic "O'Hara" using a Protestant funeral home, or even one that catered to the city's large Italian-Catholic population.
Funeral homes have held an important place in the social and religious rituals of our nation, and family owned funeral parlors have shown remarkable endurance over the years. Although no longer a family firm, Kirk & Nice of Philadelphia maintained its operations in a single location from 1761 until 1993, when a ninth-generation, childless Kirk descendant, J. Malcolm Henderson, sold the business. Kirk coffins were used to bury Revolutionary War soldiers killed in the 1777 Battle of Germantown Pennsylvania.
Almost as old, and still functioning as a family business, is the Rogers Funeral Home in Frankfurt, Kentucky. Started in 1802, it is in its sixth generation. Next door in Indiana, Gardner & Son Funeral Home has been operating since the state came into the Union in 1816. Other notable funeral homes include Holman's Funeral Service in Oregon (1854), Davis Funeral Chapel in Kansas (1855), and J. Henry Stuhr Inc. in South Carolina (1865).
The oldest seed company recorded in Kelley's business directory is D. Landreth Seed Co., established in Philadelphia in 1784 but later moved to Baltimore. Among the other earliest companies listed in the book were several in basic industries including banking, manufacturing, retailing, wholesaling, railroads, utilities, newspapers, magazine and book publishers, and trade associations. Our study confirms many of these listings. It again and again reflects business activities that are related to daily living: Food, spirits, construction, information (news), adornment (clothes and jewelry), burials, and music are well represented.
St. John Milling Co. (1778) was the oldest continuing family food-maker we could find. Located in Watauga, Tennessee, an area known as "The Bread Basket of the Southeast," its operation has changed from a feed and milling business to one specializing in a variety of farm needs. George Ruhl & Sons (1789) of Maryland, a bakery supply house, is equally well known for its ability to reinvent itself. Conrad Ruhl began a flour and feed mill in 1789. Over the years its continuity was often in jeopardy. It had to survive Baltimore's Great Fire in 1904. (Disaster was avoided by tossing flour barrels into the harbor.) In 1915, as cars began to replace horses, the company abandoned its feed business and continued to phase into sugar and other baking supplies; today it is a robust business providing an extraordinary range of baking products. Pioneer Flour Mills in (Texas, 1851) and the Holsum Bakery in (Arizona, 1884) are other providers of essentials.
The Delaware Gazette of Delaware, Ohio (1834), is one of the entries on the list linked most closely to famous historical figures. During his early days, co-owner Abram Thomson was fortunate enough to learn his craft under Horace Greeley-"the Father of Modern American Journalism" and owner of New York's Tribune. Both bolted the Whig Party in 1860 to join the new Republican Party and give support to Abraham Lincoln, who, following his election, repaid the debt by appointing Thomson postmaster of Delaware, Ohio. Abram eventually turned over control to his son, Henry Clay Thomson, in 1897.
The furniture-related businesses on our list include Sawyer Bentwood (Vermont, 1801); Hussey Seating (Maine, 1835); Suter's Handcrafted Furniture (Virginia, 1839); and Richardson Industries (Wisconsin, 1848). In the early 1800s, Daniel Suter, a skilled Mennonite cabinetmaker and carpenter, settled in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and began making furniture. Today, William Suter and his daughter, Carol, of the sixth generation, carry on the family tradition of quality craftsmanship, turning out beautiful colonial reproductions in cherry, mahogany, and walnut.
The musical Daynes in Utah and the Langlois family of Washington State carry on from great-grandparents. Daynes Music (1862) got its start in Salt Lake City, and today the business is recognized as the oldest music store in the West and the second oldest in the United States. (The oldest, Steinert's of Boston, opened in 1860 but is no longer owned by the original family.) Daynes is a dealer for Steinway & Sons, which began in New York City in 1853 and remained a family business until 1971 when it was purchased by CBS. Paschel L'Anglais established his music store in 1865, and his great grandchild, Ira Langlois, and wife, Sherry, sell, tune, and rebuild pianos to this day at Langlois Pianos in the Seattle area.
I could go on with many tales of fascinating businesses. The most heartening outcome of our study, however, is the evidence it provides of the rich contribution family enterprises have made to the history and success of our country. Family business forms an extremely valuable segment of our society, yet it has steadfastly received insufficient attention. We hope the results of our survey help cultivate wider awareness and appreciation of those families who have played, and continue to play, an essential role in the American economy.
Senior citizens: The oldest in each state
In compiling the first-ever listing of the oldest continuously owned and operated family businesses in the United States, we tried to be as comprehensive and accurate as possible. However, we can't say, unequivocally, that there might not be a few family enterprises lurking in particular states that are even older than the businesses we uncovered and verified. For example, in Louisiana, we listed the famous Antoine's Restaurant (1840) in New Orleans despite learning about Parlange Plantation, an eighth-generation business begun in 1750 whose history we were ultimately unable to confirm.
Written verification of founding dates and number of generations (as of December 1998) was received from company owners or managers in all but a few noted cases. Nonetheless, even in these instances, contact was made and eligibility confirmed over the phone. Readers with contradictory or supplemental information are invited to email us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call the Institute for Family Enterprise at Bryant College (401-232-6477).
William T. OHara is founder and executive director of Bryant
College's Institute for Family Enterprise. He wishes to acknowledge
the research support of Bryant MBA candidate George A. Kinnear.