text:
Think of the principals involved in selling off schools, Barry
–, Wednesday, October, 17, 2012, (5:19pm)
Anyone who has ever come up against a community mobilized by an issue influencing their school knows how powerful school communities can be.
Inner city citizens can be particularly politically savvy as Ultimo public school parents are about to display in their showdown with the state government over the appalling proposed sale of part of their school grounds to fund a new high rise school.
Premier Barry O'Farrell is in a unique position. His attempted sell off of Ultimo public school land is heralding a much bigger fight, not with one small public school community but with every school community in the state.
In an historic alliance, secondary school principals across all regions and all sectors in NSW have joined forces to fight against the NSW State Government's massive $1.7 billion cut to state education funding.
I have never seen anything like it.
All peak secondary principal organisations in the state - the NSW Secondary School Principals Council and the NSW branches of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia and the Catholic Secondary Principals Australia - met today to plan the next step in their fight. They jointly represent every secondary school in the state.
They have already asked for a joint meeting with the premier and have been fobbed off by a we-will-consider-your-request type response. They are in the process of more forcefully asking again.
They believe cuts to funding will reduce the quality of education in all NSW schools - that it is shortsighted and damaging government policy and must be reversed for the sake of the future for everyone in NSW.
The extent of the shortsightedness is starkly evident in the attempted sale of precious Ultimo public school land.
I am betting parent organisations across all the sectors will soon join this joint principals' campaign. Parents of Ultimo PS students will not battle alone. Public primary school principals are already involved.
I think Barry O'Farrell has no idea what is about to hit him.
In so many ways principals are the sleeping dragons in school education politics.
School principals, especially secondary school principals, are often community leaders in their towns and suburbs though normally they are reluctant to personally participate in state-wide politics.
This joint action of the professional organisations that represent them could change all of that.
It has the potential to cut across all official and traditional restrictions, including the outdated public school Code of Conduct.
Those involved in running these school leader organisations and the cohort of current school principals and heads in NSW include some of the brightest people I have ever met.
Many are already adept in social media - as Twitterers and Facebookers would know. The change.org action against Alan Jones may pale into insignificance if they decide to join forces on a cyber level.
Barry O'Farrell could arrogantly choose to continue to ignore them. If he does I predict an onslaught of a kind none if us have ever witnessed before.
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Sounds good to me and it's about time. This is the best news regarding public education that I have heard for ages. Go principals!
Wed 17 Oct 12 (07:26pm)
Hoping this will generate into something - but not confident that these groups could organise a chook raffle.
I bet the government is sitting on this one- and will only change tact if the uproar is large.
In this age of 'who cares about anyone other than themselves' I have doubts about the 'power of the people.'
Just look at schools struggling to get anyone to staff their P and C or do school canteen or get parents to help out with reading. The numbers are dwindling daily.
Hope I'm wrong and that the uproar is large – but getting these groups to agree on anything and mobilize as one will be a big task.
Thu 18 Oct 12 (10:28am)
Thu 18 Oct 12 (11:16am)
You're on the right track here, but did you stop to consider this attitude may be a result of people becoming accustomed to being given everything for free and therefore not appreciating what they have? Of course, being a realist, you would realise that nothing is really free, including government services such as public education. Also, being a realist, you would realise that if you spend more of other people's money than you receive, and rely on debt instead, sooner or later you have to pay that money back. Either that or get more of other peoples money, which is pretty much the main problem with everything run by governments. But you already know all this; because, you're a realist!
The kind of pessimism expressed by Realist can be self-fulfilling - if we reckon it's all too hard and unlikely to succeed we help persuade ourselves and others to do nothing in case it's a futile waste of effort. Dare to struggle - dare to win. If you don't fight, you lose.
I believe there is a groundswell of public anger at the NSW government's education cuts which has the potential to translate into political action. I do agree that the government "will only change if the uproar is large". 2GB and its advertisers took note when the uproar at the serially execrable Jones finally became large enough - and that had no self-interest involved, whereas vast numbers of students, parents and teachers are directly affected by the proposed cuts, as is the entire community and economy in the longer term.
Which brings me to Gaz, whom I remind yet again that education is an investment, not just a cost. Nothing is free. Public schools and TAFE colleges are funded through taxes on the community. They return large benefits to that community through a more productive workforce - a point made by the economically 'dry' Grattan Institute, among others. There are other social benefits about which he may or may not care, but I'd assume that leaving Australia forever dependent on exhaustible mineral quarries and the volatile overseas markets for their products is not a future that any economic rationalist would advocate.
As for the capacity of NSW to pay:
travel for ministers and bureaucrats costs $hundreds of millions;
government advertising $256million;
consultant reports $230million;
an extra $14million in 2012/3 for functions and 'support' for ministers and government boards and committees;
$4.43million for furniture and fittings for the Treasury offices in Governor Phillip Tower;
$300million tax cut for poker machine operators.
And that pales into insignificance compared with the proposed road funding referred to in the previous thread.
Thu 18 Oct 12 (02:19pm)
Thu 18 Oct 12 (07:14pm)
You should do better than regurgitating "savings or excesses " no doubt prepared by the brothers bratty.
No doubt one man's priorities ( sorry cant say that can we without upsetting the handbags) lets say inanimate objects priorities are another's irrelevancies
The education cuts if they really are cuts pale onto insignificance v the health cuts - as always self interest prevails.
Posting in fear of being bullied by realist
Thu 18 Oct 12 (09:27pm)
A conversation dominated by ists and isms is rarely worth having.
Also, I take your point about the health cuts. Health and education are areas that must be adequately funded. Maralyn reports a gathering momentum against the education cuts (from various interest groups). Is there any equivalent pressure group making waves about the health cuts?
Fri 19 Oct 12 (10:58am)
The word you seek, Harry, is 'person'; to my knowledge, it has not been redefined recently by any dictionary. I'm also not sure how words can upset handbags; I hope any that are upset have been securely fastened to avoid spillage.
While I totally agree with you and Jean regarding health cuts, challenge their rationale and support campaigning against them, I'll pursue the priorities I regard as important just as poker machine operators have successfully pursued theirs; I'm quite happy to engage in any public debate on that - but I cannot compete with their polititical donations. Some of the other expenditure/savings mentioned may be more defensible, but they do not speak of a state that is broke. I reiterate yet again that education is an investment ; it will lead to productivity increases and (one of my repeated points) lower expenditure on corrective services and welfare provisions in the future.
I'm not sure how you can question the existence of the cuts - the government itself has admitted them. Oh - that's right - the private schools are only temporarily losing indexation, a pretty small cut, especially with the low CPI. Harry - there are public schools and colleges out there in the real world.
And how does a 9.5% increase in fees for TAFE students compare with CPI? As well, more courses are being offered only on a full cost recovery basis. As we all know, the apprentices and school leavers from low-to-middle-income families that dominate TAFE enrolments can pluck extra money from the air any old time.
When the Victorian Coalition government launched its attack in schools in this state 20 years ago, principals jumped up and down at first. Then they were bought off by being made exempt from the cuts to superannuation that mere teachers had to endure. The principals caved in immediately. They loved the extra power, used it to exploit teachers and then, years later, complained about their increased workload.
The rort works by compensating principal class personnel for the closure of the defined benefit superannuation scheme in 1988 by adding the notional employer superannuation contribution to their salary packages. Thus, while teachers get 9 per cent employer superannuation contributions, principals and assistant principals still get 21 per cent, which is hidden in their salary packages, No such compensation is paid to teachers of course.
Perhaps NSW principals have more principles than their Victorian counterparts.
Thu 18 Oct 12 (02:20pm)
The one thing I have learnt about the many secondary and primary school Principals I have met, known and worked with is that they achieved their unenviable position through self-belief, self-promotion and connections, much like any other politician. Surely they could use their considerable political skills to fight fire with fire. Come on boys and girls, don't just roll over to the boss, get those parents (the voters of this state) on board the way that only you can do with your authority and persuasive powers. Who among them would really be willing to sacrifice all that they have worked for in their careers, risking all for a noble cause? If they do fight Barry together and win then my faith in human altruism will be restored. Go get 'em.
As for Realists comments about NAPLAN and his/her selective kids, I repeat, my son goes to a selective high school and just scored off the charts in all those little NAPLAN categories (last one he has to do thank goodness) but still trundles home without a single A in anything LOL. NAPLAN does not measure how personable (getting the teachers to like you and halo you), executive skilled, bored, bully-resistant or artistic you are. NAPLAN is not a true reflection of the person obviously, otherwise the child would be coming home with A's in everything, n'est-ce pas? God, I hate NAPLAN. Teachers don't need it to know what the skill level of their students is. Even the argument that it is a "diagnostic" tool of any real value to the child fails to impress me because it is just a snapshot of the child on one particular day--vacuousness in a vacuum. NAPLAN is really just a truncheon used to beat up anyone who makes a good victim. Oops, better stop now.
Eight weeks to go.
Fri 19 Oct 12 (11:01am)
Fri 19 Oct 12 (03:53pm)
Hi Claratee
You obviously have a very bright son, but to score off the chart on NAPLAN and yet not get a single A on a school report (even in a selective cohort) sounds bizarre. I thought that school reporting was meant to be standardised as well because it is based around expected benchmarks. Isn't that the case? I have a Year 9 boy in a selective class too, and his report is always mostly "A"s, but he only scores off the NAPLAN charts in maths. His NAPLAN results have been boringly consistent, but so have his reports, regardless of the relationships he has had with his teachers.
To me, all results are small pieces of a very large and complex puzzle. Occasionally they tell you something you don't already know, but mostly just add to a weight of available evidence. Evidence can be used to manipulate opinion, but that is not a reason to do without evidence altogether.
Sun 21 Oct 12 (08:14am)
Yes, Sealy, it is bizarre, isn't it. The response to my questions about ability and potential to his principal is met with the response that NAPLAN is not a "contexturalised" indicator of "A" getting. The child's performance in "school assessments" supposedly has not much to do with their NAPLAN results, apparently. Now, I'm a teacher and I think and have opined back that this surely is a lot of BS and what else is going on in these "school assessments" that is preventing the child from receiving a contexturalised "A". Differentiation between bright and gifted labels is not something that some of these selective schools understand and quite frankly I have given up trying to educate his teachers on what gifted is. Just because the kid is gifted doesn't mean his teachers are. Like I have told my son, you will find your own level--stop worrying about A's and enjoy learning. I find all assessment abhorent but then that is what this society uses to sort and classify people and it would take a massive rethink of societal values to move to a less passive agressive win/lose mentality to a win/win position.
In addition to NAPLAN, now we have to put up with the government intervening in a child's sexuality. I say it is none of the government's business to socially engineer anything, although it happens all the time. When one's sexuality becomes a political position then I think we have lost the plot. Sex education has no place in schools, it should be the parent's responsibility to deal with these delicate matters. My crap detector has sensed a move to start playing around with my kids' ethical and moral constructs at school without my permission. Well, guess what, I shall be telling their respective principals that they are not to be making assertions to my children about anything to do with their sexuality without my permission. Children are impressionable and just who is counting on that? My children know that some people are homosexual and that most people are not and that some people are bisexual and that most people are not. Accepted. We don't need to go into all of the details with them, but we don't devalue these people's preferences either. They will make their own choices when the time comes for them to form, or not, partnership relationships and I for one do not want some government policy idiot confusing the issue for them. Can you tell I'm really cranky about the NSW Proud Schools Progam. Go away and leave my kids alone.
Sun 21 Oct 12 (12:22pm)
Did the principal really say 'contexturalised' (sic) or did you mishear him/her? Also, you find all assessment abhorent (sic) and yet, as a teacher, you must know that effective assessment/evaluation drives quality teaching. Feedback from assessment (in its many forms) is essential to planning where to go next (and with whom).
It seems to me that if selective schools catered for truly gifted children - as opposed to mostly clever and/or professional prepared ones - there would be little need for more than handful of selective schools. Truly gifted individuals are few and far between and because of the enormous impact of professional coaching on shaping the intake of selective schools, I suspect that gifted students do not attend them, anyway.
Without wishing to discuss particular individuals (as you have), my interaction with gifted children has convinced me that many do not (and do not wish to) conform to our expectations or norms ... such is the nature of the beast and I, for one, would not want it any other way.
As far as I know, parents may elect for their children not to attend personal development lessons on human sexuality and I am guessing that participation in the Proud program will offer the same option. As for me, I think that knowledge is always power and I think that if a program is approved by the Board of Studies and the DEC then it is appropriate for all students to participate in it. I have not seen the Proud program but I do not believe the Board of Studies or the DEC would approve a program that actively promotes homosexuality. Sadly, in my experience, it is the female students from some community groups whose parents opt to deny them essential access to information about their sexuality.
Sun 21 Oct 12 (12:53pm)
Hi again Claratee
Thanks for your response. Your advice to your son to stop worrying about 'A's and enjoy learning is fantastic, but I know from my own son that getting him to believe that learning can be fun is the biggest hurdle. He is very bright, but he is also a cynical know-it-all.
Sex ed in schools is controversial, but I think it must have a place, because otherwise some parents would never discuss sex with their children at all and all the information would come from the internet and the schoolyard. It is highly politicised, but better to have a qualified educator to give the basics than rely on (mis)information from other quarters. Sexually transmitted HIV is on the rise again in Australia, but if everyone used condoms correctly there would be no new cases - it is as simple as that. And IMO, schools have a duty to the wider community to educate children on health and social issues as well as academic. No hat , no play is a policy to protect children from skin cancer as adults, and most parents are grateful for it.
I don't know the details of the Proud Schools program, but I have certainly pulled my kids up over the use of the word "gay" to mean bad. Churches and other religious institutions have intervened in childrens' sexuality for generations, perhaps the pendulum needs to swing a bit further to the left before it can comfortably settle in the centre.
I've argued sexism with my son fairly exhaustively, but watching a few episodes of the Hamster Wheel has given him a better understanding of sexism in the media at least.
Bratty - your recent, unjustified dismissal fo the state government funding that goes to the pokies industry over public ed and health concerns me. Your views are decidedly unAustralian.........
Sat 20 Oct 12 (11:03am)
John, I fear I am profoundly unAustralian. Not only do I find poker machines off-putting (having played played quite a lot of real poker in my youth, moderately successfully, I have a quite alien concern about odds and control of the game) I also regard Patrick White, Fiona Woods and Fred Hollows as more important Australians than Don Bradman, Shane Warne and Wally Lewis. No hope for me - must be the reffo background.
I have to disagree with claratee about the broad issue of sex education in schools. While she is probably one of those parents who can and do provide it adequately in the home, many cannot or do not. I do not believe that such education should go into inculcating belief systems about desirable relationship types (just as religion should not be inculcated in schools) there is an absolute need for a certain amount of factual information about health issues, fertility control options and the meaning of 'consent'.
There are, unfortunately, many parents who are too ignorant and/or too prejudiced to convey such factual information adequately. A scientifically based program is needed for such information to be understood. How young people use that information is indeed up to them, but they should have it, just as they should have some knowledge about religious and ethical beliefs, history, science generally, nutrition etc to assist in informing their choices about morality, politics, theories of evolution and climate change, diet etc.
Sun 21 Oct 12 (12:08pm)
Sun 21 Oct 12 (01:53pm)
I wholeheartedly agree with your remarks on the broad issue of sex education in schools. In the case of human sexuality, ignorance has very serious consequences. Human sexuality, as it is taught in schools, seeks only to provide young people with essential information about themselves, enabling them to make informed decisions - much better, surely, than having them find out by trial and error. Also, I think it is wrong to give parents the choice to withhold permission (on cultural or religious grounds) for their children to learn about human sexuality; promoting such ignorance is out of step with the time and place in which we live.
It seems to me selective schools are designed/intended not for the specifically gifted, but the generally academically competent. The former may have enormous abilities in visual arts or mathematics or creative writing or music, but not necessarily 'across the board', so their overall results may not provide them access into selectives. They can often (by no means always) be perceived as somewhat 'odd' by peers.
I guess the creation of 'specialist' schools for performance arts etc is an attempt to provide for the specifically gifted (and the Conservatorium High School has been doing it for yonks). I'm not altogether convinced it always works; the nurture of highly specific and outstanding talent is, in its own way, as problematic as dealing with specific learning difficulties (and sometimes the 2 co-exist).
If Sealy's son enjoys and can learn from The Hamster Wheel, he's well on the right track! And I recommend Gruen for understanding communication techniques.
And on topic - keep up the pressure on the education cuts!
Sun 21 Oct 12 (04:29pm)
It seems Piccoli has been rolled by the 'dries' on TAFE - breaking a written promise on the way. Poor bloody students!!
Tue 23 Oct 12 (11:38am)
Tue 23 Oct 12 (03:54pm)
That's an uncharacteristically brief comment from you and I am left wanting more detail. Can you oblige?
Bratman doesn't want to get in the way of the thousands of people mobilised by maralyns post to rise up to action - well all 18 of them half of which are talking about their children's genius!!
Apparently an opposition spokesperson signed some letter pre election on funding for TAFE and Bratman seems to think this is binding lol lol
As I said before their aren't any cuts until an appropriation bill is actually assented to by the governor - lots of kite flying going on here
Tue 23 Oct 12 (10:36pm)
Wed 24 Oct 12 (08:14am)
Your first point has articulated my thoughts precisely. (sigh)
I also saw (and read) Bratman's Letter, obviating the need for him to expand on his post above.
Since we are on the 'same page', I also note that the NSW Business Chamber's chief executive, Stephen Cartwright, said a competitive and fairer playing field between TAFE and private providers would produce better training and qualification outcomes. (http://tinyurl.com/9ewgntq) Well .. why wouldn't he? Apparently, he is oblivious to all those shonky private colleges ( famously ripping off foreign students) that have provided neither fair nor better training opportunities for their students.
I am also pleased to note (in the Terror) that Mr Piccoli hasn't yet abandoned the notion of scrapping the school bus transport subsidy. (http://tinyurl.com/cmykbd6)
Last, but not least, teacher' poor spelling has recently been in the news, too.
Education - controversial one day, problematic the next
I don't think Maralyn's post (good as it is) or the blog responses to it are the measure of mobilisation against education cuts. That remains to be seen, Harry. You are correct that actual 'cuts' don't happen until the legislation is enacted, which is precisely why (i) campaigns are necessary while there is some prospect of mitigation, and (ii) campaigns can be difficult to develop while people don't yet feel the effects. Been there, done that, for many years.
The most recent proposal announced by the NSW government is to remove all or most (not entirely clear) guaranteed funding for TAFE and have it compete for funds with private providers. The original education budget cuts announced earlier involve a reduction of TAFE staff by several hundred (800 seems the figure) with no exemption for teaching staff (unlike schools). It also involves a 9.5% increase in student fees for subsidised programs and having more courses run on a full cost recovery basis. Some courses wil have a HECS-type student loan regime.
A number of opposition members signed a '5 point pledge' about guaranteed funding for TAFE, increased permanent teaching positions and affordability for students, during the election campaign, including the now Minister and now Deputy Premier. I actually believe Piccoli and the Nationals have some sympathy for delivering this, as they recognise that regional areas are more dependent on TAFE than cities - but there is Eccles (who should have stayed on the Goon Show, instead of destroying TAFE in Victoria and now trying to in NSW).
I'm perfectly aware that election promises are not binding, but they are certainly a legitimate basis for holding governments to account - look at the hysterical furore about the carbon tax (even though a carbon price was promised and there were the demands of a hung parliament). The state TAFE promises were far more specific and unequivocal and there is no hung parliament (unless you count the Guns and Moses mob in the Legislative Council - and I'm unaware they have any specific demands to cut TAFE; they probably couldn't spell it). See excellent letter in this morning's SMH!
TAFE and school teachers are certainly ready to campaign on the proposed cuts, and many students, parents and community groups are starting to get the message. Now I'm off to meet the Secretary of Unions NSW, about services (including TAFE and schools) in the Blacktown LGA. We do what we can.
Wed 24 Oct 12 (11:31am)
Massive groundswell of public opinion Maralyn.
20 posts by the same half a dozen people - much of which is off topic.
Any chance you can take a hint and write a story about education that does not involve money or funding ?
I'm starting to understand why posters (including me) start attacking each others grammar and spelling and other such trivial things.
It's because we are bored. We have some intelligence and we want to use it - how about something new in the area of education - come on I know you're up to it.
Wed 24 Oct 12 (02:56pm)
Wed 24 Oct 12 (05:44pm)
Quite apart from the fact that funding, proposed school closures etc are important topics (without funds education doesn't happen - boring but true) your reference to posts 'off topic' provides the opportunity you seek if you don't like the topic. Maralyn may not thank me for revealing this (although it's pretty obvious) but she is extremely tolerant of posters going 'off topic' and raising educational issues of concern to them - e.g. a debate on sex education in the middle of a funding topic, or even TAFE funding in a thread on school closures.
I seem to recall that issues on curriculum and pedagogy haven't always attracted much interest either - but dress codes and religion usually provide the big numbers. Sad.
But forward issues which interest you, by all means.
The problem with 'the Ultimo solution' is that DEC assets branch is only planning for 4-5 years, not 30 or 50 or even 20. Selling off the air space over schools for residential dwellings is just another near sighted, short term fix which will mean that in 10 years time, when schools have run out of room again because the Sydney Metro Plan is forcing so many extra dwellings into our area over the next 20 years (44,000 on lower North Shore alone, 29,000 upper North Shore, 29,000 Northern Beaches and so on for rest of the metropolitan area) , there is nowhere else for schools to expand and accommodate the additional students. There are lots of developers circling, keen to promote this concept as the best thing since sliced bread, but as the Infrastructure NSW Strategy is for 90% of the forecast additional 225,000 students in public schools in the next 20 years to be accommodated in existing school footprints, the Government can't allow 'Ultimo Solutions'.
Fri 02 Nov 12 (05:43pm)
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Things to Do
Acadia National Park
NileGuide Expert Says:
No matter what your outdoor passion, Acadia National Park has opportunities for enjoying nature in all its glory.
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By Ms. Jacqueline Boucher (CECOM)January 30, 2013
TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. --Brian Dooley, a metal photo processor here, begins manufacturing a silksceen by stretching fabric across a wooden frame table. Dooley works in the depot's Components Plating Branch, Systems Integration and Support Directorate.
Branch employees perform electroplating processes for all fabricated items produced at Tobyhanna Army Depot as well as items scheduled for overhaul.
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The Components Plating Branch consists of two sections, the Plating Shop and the Photo Fabrication Shop. The Plating Shop is a large, modern facility, while the Photo Shop boasts the newest Individual Unique Identification plate-making technology and updated computerized engraving machines.
Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department's largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna's missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.
About 5,400 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.


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a1 Centre for Oral Health Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
a2 Institute for Ageing and Health, School of Dental Sciences, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4BW, UK
a3 Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Objective There are few data on the dietary intake of children in Libya, and none on free sugars intake. The present study aimed to report the intake of macronutrients and eating habits of relevance to dental health in a group of Libyan schoolchildren and to investigate any gender differences for these variables.
Design Dietary information was obtained from a randomly selected sample using an estimated 3 d food diary. Dietary data were coded using food composition tables and entered into a Microsoft® Access database. Intakes of energy, macronutrients, sugars and the amount of acidic items consumed were determined using purpose-written programs.
Setting Benghazi, Libya.
Subjects Schoolchildren aged 12 years.
Results One hundred and eighty children (ninety-two boys and eighty-eight girls) completed the study. Their mean age was 12·3 (sd 0·29) years. The average daily energy intake was 7·01 (sd 1·54) MJ/d. The percentage contributions to energy intake from protein, fat and carbohydrate were 16 %, 30 % and 54 %, respectively. Total sugars contributed 20·4 % of the daily energy intake, and free sugars 12·6 %. The median daily intake of acidic items was 203 g/d, and of acidic drinks was 146 g/d. There were no statistically significant differences in nutrient intakes between genders. Intake of acidic items was higher in girls (P < 0·001).
Conclusions The contribution to energy intake from macronutrients was in accordance with global nutrition guidelines. The acidic drinks intake was low compared with other populations, while free sugars intake was above the recommended threshold of 10 % of energy intake.
(Received July 20 2012)
(Revised January 28 2013)
(Accepted January 30 2013)
(Online publication April 03 2013)
c1 Corresponding author: Email firstname.lastname@example.com


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In our last blog, we touched on the importance of listening and responding when social users reach out to the brand. Today, let's go a bit deeper into just how much customers want to use social for this purpose, and bigger picture – how the right social customer service execution gets you significantly down the road toward the dream CX.
The days of "you'll take what we give you" are over. Not only are customers empowered by social to amplify experiences both positive and negative to peers, they're also empowered to set their own customer experience expectations.
No, you didn't set those expectations, but it's your task to address them. Failing to do so makes your dream CX more of a nightmare. When expectations are violated, the result is frustration, anger, resentment, and ill will. Also, friends are told the sad story of how the customer was "done wrong."
Entire books have been written on CX. Thick ones. But as a loyal Social Spotlight reader, I'll boil CX success down for you in two phrases.
Class dismissed.
That's it. Nail those two things and you've built a dream CX. Unfortunately, as obvious as that sounds, organizations are quite tangled up and bogged down in their efforts to deliver it.
A recent infographic outlined how customers are connecting with brands and how they increasingly want to. The top 3 ways they're connecting are quite traditional; phone (84%), email (80%) and company site (72%).
Though they're traditional and have been around forever, the CX in these areas is often still a nightmare. Multi-level phone trees designed to keep you away from humans and that never seem to offer the option you need, automated form-response emails followed by radio silence, and site navigation resembling cluttered mazes even the most skilled lab rat couldn't negotiate their way through in under a day.
Increasingly, customers are trying to get satisfaction through social and mobile. Why? Partly because the social networks instantly solve the "easy to use" dream. Customers are using platforms they already know, so on the customer-facing side, the social networks are doing half the brand's CX job for them.
That leaves the other half, "delivers the desired result." And that's where bad traditional CX threatens to extend itself to bad social/mobile CX if not addressed.
The infographic tells us 56% of customers who connect with social feel a stronger connection to the brand, and 50% are more likely to buy from a brand they can contact with via social. There's the opportunity customers are offering.
-79% of smartphone users say they always or sometimes know more about the product/issue than the brand's customer service rep (!)
-80% of smartphone users still haven't been marketed to by their favorite brands via mobile (!!)
The socially enabled enterprise can pull social/mobile customer touch points into an overall CRM system so that integration with traditional customer service vehicles benefits and informs both, in every customer interaction. Inquiries can be easy for customers to make, and the answers they get back can be fast and usable.
They'll think they're living in a CX dream.
Photo: stock.xchng


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2013 Year-end Good News from Afghanistan: Project Artemis Graduate Updates
written by: Wynona Heim '08, Client Director, Thunderbird for Good
Sania, who graduated from Artemis this year, has grown her fashion business, Wonderland Women (link to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wonderland-Women/343380599078958) significantly in just the past 10 months.She has been able to add 6 full time employees and an additional 5 home-based part time employees since returning from Arizona. She has attended exhibitions in Kyrgyzstan and India, and held two fashion shows in Kabul where she made very good sales and additional contacts for exporting her clothes (all made in Afghanistan). Additionally, she reports her Gross Margin has increased by 40% over last year.
Wonderland Women fashion show in Kabul
Wahida, another 2013 graduate, owns an organization called Tahminah which provides mental health counseling and services, headquartered in the Western province of Herat. Wahida was able to open a second location in Kabul this year, and is working diligently with her mentor on a strategic plan which will make her organization financially self-sufficient. Wahida's mentor, Mojdeh Gharbi, volunteers significant time and expertise in mentoring as well as bringing in experts in Wahida's field to help advise them. Mojdeh spends her days as the Senior Marketing Director at Certain Affinity, a video game development company in Austin, Texas. This mentor/mentee team has formed an especially close working relationship over the past year. Wahida's dream is to have a mental health clinic in every province, and a high-quality psychiatric hospital someday to help the people of Afghanistan recover from a generation of war and chaos.
Wahida and her mentor, Mojdeh, working together in February at Thunderbird
Malalai graduated from the program in 2010. Since graduation, she and two other 2010 graduates, Laila and Fahima, have joined their businesses together creating a very strong textiles and hand-crafted décor business which has grown steadily since they returned from Artemis, adding more than 10 full-time and 25 part-time jobs in the process.Malalai has taken several leadership positions since 2010 as well – leading the Afghan Women's Business Federation (AWBF) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Afghan-Womens-Business-Federation-AWBF/130209897153788 and the 10,000 Women Alumni Network, and leading a program through the AWBF to train women in several Afghan provinces in how to access finance for a woman-owned business.On top of all of this, Malalai had been mentoring many other women in how to start and grow their own businesses – five of these mentees have received funding for their organizations this year.
It is so rewarding to see these women growing their businesses and finding success for themselves and their communities. These women are working hard to make a better future for themselves, their communities, and their country.
Please join us in helping them make a difference – donate to Thunderbird for Good online at https://secure.thunderbird.edu/Artemis.aspx


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Lecture Series in Global Oncology
Global Academic Programs hosts lectures on timely topics in oncology from distinguished clinicians and scientists from our member institutions. The intent of the lecture series is to further enable discussions and collaborations between faculty at MD Anderson and at like-minded institutions and agencies across the globe.
Next Global Oncology Lecture -
Thursday, June 5, 2014, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
MD Anderson Hickey Auditorium
Lawrence N. Shulman, MD
Chief of Staff, Senior Vice-President for Medical Affairs
Chief, Division of General Oncology
Department of Medical Oncology
Director Center for Global Cancer Medicine
Director of the Department of Regional Strategy and Development
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
As Director for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Center for Global Cancer Medicine, and in collaboration with Partners In Health, where he is Senior Oncology Advisor, Dr. Shulman is helping to lead the development of structured cancer programs in Rwanda, Haiti and Malawi.
Lunch will be provided for to the first 50 attendees.
Bookmark this page for more lectures sponsored by Global Academic Programs.


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Relations are strained between Madeleine Albright's State Department and the reporters who cover it. Lower-level officials have been kept off-limits, their bosses discouraged from talking. But as a new press spokesman takes command, hopes for a thaw are in the air.
By Dean Fischer Dean Fischer was State Department spokesman in 1981 and '82 and diplomatic correspondent for Time magazine from 1995 to 1998.
A LBRIGHT PROMISED A partnership of sorts with the press when Rubin became spokesman in August 1997. Introducing him to the State Department press corps, the secretary said: "I believe that conveying our views publicly to all of you and to the American public is a key responsibility.... We have...talked about the role of the press in not just the conveying of information, but in helpful criticism of the information, and our role in making sure that, as we enter this new era, that the public is well informed." Two years later, Rubin sounded a different note, one that affirmed an atmosphere of growing alienation that has undermined the tradition of respect between diplomats and journalists. In a speech last fall at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, Rubin said: "Thanks to Vietnam and Watergate, there is an underlying assumption among many in the media that those in government are either incompetent or corrupt.... Today, it is strictly an adversarial relationship." Indeed, to an unprecedented degree, the relationship between State Department officials and the correspondents assigned to cover them has become hostile and antagonistic. Instead of communicating the views that shape American foreign policy in a complex post-Cold War world, Rubin claims he has spent "most of my time playing defense." His admission underscores an extraordinary reversal of fortune for Albright. She entered office three years ago on a wave of public approval and enjoyed a remarkable honeymoon from an admiring press corps during her first year as secretary. Initially hailed as a heroine for her tell-it-like-it-is rhetorical style, Albright increasingly is dismissed by Washington's foreign policy community as a lightweight lacking influence on President Clinton's global agenda and as a hectoring, finger-wagging scold by leaders of other nations. Peter Krogh, Albright's academic patron and former dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, wrote in the Wall Street Journal last April that she "appears to be trying to prove that she is tougher than the men with whom she is dealing. She does not need to do so; she could simply rise above them." For Rubin, defending his boss from such skewering presented a monumental challenge. As Albright's direct conduit to the press, Rubin perceived himself as a combatant struggling against the negativism that he believes has infected journalism since the end of the Cold War. "We have entered an era in which the government seems mostly in a defensive crouch against the media onslaught,"Rubin said in a graduation address last May at Columbia University. Compounding the problem, he added, is the advent of the 24-hour news cycle, with its incessant demand for information. The pressure for news, complained Rubin, "often tilts reporters' balance toward speed at the expense of accuracy and fairness." In response, the State Department "is expected to be ever-ready with an answer." In an interview, Rubin tempered his critique of the journalists covering the State Department. "I still generally believe that the State Department press corps as a whole is interested in nuance, in substance, and in understanding the thinking that goes behind our actions,"he says. "What I was hoping to communicate...is the fact that the new media and the new speed and the new climate of government and the press has pushed even the State Department press corps towards a more adversarial posture." Alienation has intensified, says Rubin, with the advent of 24-hour cable news channels and Web sites, which compete for attention by concentrating on exclusives. They have put pressure on the mainstream media to keep pace. Not so long ago, he says a secretary of state could call in a handful of journalists and explain the motivation behind what the State Department was doing. And those journalists would define conventional wisdom. "Those days are gone,"Rubin says. Today, asserts the spokesman, even the major newspapers--the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times--are more interested in exposés than in-depth explanations of complex foreign policy issues. "I think a lot of the trust...has broken down,"he says. Is the process irrevocable? "No, assuming journalists realize that government is not the enemy. Often we're too defensive, we fail to explain the complexities of a problem, and then we complain when the press shortchanges it. Government can be wrong; it can be ill-intentioned; it can be stupid. But government sometimes is smart, well-intentioned and right." Rubin's accusation that correspondents engage in "gotcha"journalism while ignoring important policy initiatives is countered by their complaints that he has spun the news and restricted their access to policymakers. Spinning, which Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz has defined as a gray area between candor and outright falsehood, has traditionally been employed more by White House operatives and political campaign strategists than by State Department spokesmen. It is a technique Rubin has vehemently denied using. But spinning can take many forms: It can encompass intimidation of journalists and diplomats and retribution against them. It can also entail the planting of classified intelligence information in press stories to deflect criticism of top officials. It appears instances of both have occurred during the Albright/Rubin regime.
R UBIN CITES COVERAGE of the Kosovo conflict as evidence of journalistic bias against the Clinton administration. "Of the thousands of news articles and television segments devoted to the conflict,"he says, "you can probably count on one hand the number that were not negative."He faults the press for concluding the NATO bombing campaign was a failure soon after its inception. "On the first day, it was OK,"he says. "On the second day, it hadn't worked yet. By the third day, it was a big mistake."Acknowledging he is exaggerating to make a point, Rubin nonetheless argues that the media's pronouncements were premature--and demonstrably wrong. After all, he notes, the administration achieved its three basic objectives: getting the Serb forces out, getting the refugees back and getting NATO in. "The impatience of the media is one of the phenomena of the 24-hour news cycle,"he says. "Three times a day, a new story line has to develop. And that creates an institutional impatience, where policies that require time...are not given their full, fair view." For Albright, whose muscular support of American interventionism prompted descriptions of the Kosovo conflict as "Madeleine's war,"it was a high-stakes gamble. She had predicted that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would capitulate shortly after the bombs began to fall. In fact, it took 78 days of bombardment, plus the threat of a ground invasion, to persuade the Serbian dictator to back down. The prolonged campaign prompted both administration backbiting and media criticism of Albright's forecast--and led to CIA and FBI investigations into leaks of highly classified intelligence data to the press, a flagrant breach of national security. According to a source aware of the investigation, Albright asked her aides to scour intelligence data for evidence supporting her prediction of a quick victory. Stories extensively quoting from highly classified material, some of which predicted Milosevic would yield to bombing threats, subsequently appeared on April 18 in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Albright's advocacy of military action was prominently featured in both accounts. Asked about the outcome of the investigations, Rubin replied: "I don't know anything about them. That's not my job."He acknowledges hearing concern "about inclusion of intelligence information in those stories,"but rarely, he adds, is it possible to discover the sources of such articles. In any event, Rubin's reaction to publication of the intelligence estimates is surprisingly benign. "So long as the intelligence information doesn't really damage the sources of that information,"he says, "I say good for the reporters. That's their job." If the Kosovo conflict was a crucible for Albright, it seemed at times to be a personal torment for Rubin. A year ago, Albright failed to achieve a peace agreement at a conference in Rambouillet, France. During the conference, Rubin had a confrontation with Carol Giacomo, a Reuters correspondent covering the State Department. Giacomo complained that Rubin had not briefed the traveling press on the negotiations until after he had met with a separate pool of newsmen staking out the site of the talks. Rubin stalked off and later summoned Giacomo off the press bus for a dressing down. "He had no sleep, he was strung out, and I felt embarrassed for him,"she says. Rubin agrees he was under pressure. "It was what I would call a press management issue,"he recalls. "I sort of exploded, and I said, 'Why are you confronting me with this now?' " At a briefing in October 1998, the spokesman was angered by the questions of Newsday's Roy Gutman, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his reporting of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Gutman challenged Rubin's assertion that redeployment of Serbian military and police forces suggested movement toward compliance with NATO demands to cease attacks on Kosovar Albanians. Pressed for specific evidence of withdrawal, Rubin accused Gutman of "having an agenda"advocating airstrikes. After the briefing, Rubin warned Gutman that if he ever again challenged Rubin's integrity by implying he misled the press, he would never talk to him. "It took me more than two months to resume a conversational relationship with Jamie,"says Gutman. "I'm a reporter, and I need the access." Reflecting on the episodes, Rubin says that after a couple of years on the job "I developed a thicker skin and an easier ability to brush off that kind of thing." In addition to his duties as spokesman, Rubin briefly served as a diplomatic negotiator during the Kosovo conflict. Following the ill-fated conference at Rambouillet, Rubin conducted negotiations with Hashim Thaqi, a leader of the Kosovar Albanians. In the judgment of some journalists and State Department officials, Rubin's personal stake in the outcome compromised his credibility as spokesman. Says a senior diplomat: "Here was a spokesman who was publicly ordained as a negotiator. Until then, the unwritten, unspoken assumption had been above all to preserve the credibility of the spokesman by rising above partisan attitudes and being dispassionate in support of a policy. The spokesman reports on policy; he doesn't make policy." Rubin makes no apologies for his dual role during the Kosovo conflict or for his forceful advocacy of Albright's policies as spokesman. "I was in the secretary's morning meetings at which the day's events were spelled out, not as the spokesman, but as a policy adviser,"he says. "I hope that because I have a direct impact on policy it has made me a better spokesman, more informed, and more willing to be forthcoming in briefings."Certainly in the case of Kosovo, "I believe reporters benefited from my intimate knowledge of what was going on each day." Rubin cites the absence of dispassionate journalism as the rationale for his impassioned advocacy. "You have to push a little harder,"he says.
I T IS AN AXIOM of journalism that a reporter is no better than his sources. In Albright's State Department, officials have been discouraged from talking to the press. Assistant secretaries with policy-making responsibilities were instructed not to grant interviews without permission from Rubin or his deputy, James Foley. Lower-level officials were warned that unauthorized press contacts could jeopardize their careers. Rubin defended the practice as essential to the conduct of a coherent information policy. But journalists--and some State Department officials--saw a different motive. "Jamie's goal,"says a State Department reporter for a major newspaper, was "to ensure positive coverage for the secretary. He wants to be the sole spokesman, to control her and to know who else speaks to the press." If he were a journalist, concedes Rubin, he would want regular access to policy-makers and their aides. But from a spokesman's standpoint, the requirements of today's instantaneous communications preclude it. "Every utterance and every grunt that comes over the telephone from a policy-maker to a sophisticated reporter tells him something,"Rubin says. "Some guy may be terrific on his policy issue, but he may not be so terrific at communicating it, or he may be too terrific at telling more than the government is ready to see instantly known in another country." The State Department, insists Rubin, has the right to organize the way in which information is communicated about its policies and actions. "I would argue that there would be a lot less restrictions on talking to reporters if we didn't have this adversarial relationship."In any event, says Rubin, "I don't believe our policies have prevented reporters from getting what they need to know on a timely basis. They may have prevented them from learning what we weren't ready to share with the world, but there is no limit in the minds of journalists about what ought to be shared instantly." The department's efforts to control the flow of information have not been entirely successful, but they have had a chilling effect on many of the officials to whom journalists seek access. Martin Indyk, former assistant secretary of the bureau of Near Eastern affairs, now on his second tour as ambassador to Israel, was always careful to seek Rubin's approval before speaking to newsmen. The bureau's agenda is sensitive--it includes Iran, Iraq, terrorism and Arab-Israeli relations--and Indyk was often blamed for leaks involving Middle East policy. "I have the scars to prove it," he once said. Three years ago, Edward Abington, a respected career diplomat then serving as consul general in Jerusalem, aroused Albright's ire by speaking without authorization to the press. Reflecting the conclusions of a CIA study, Abington was quoted in the New York Times as saying that Israel's settlement expansion in the occupied territories was "ideologically driven"rather than based on natural growth. According to a senior State Department official, Albright wanted to fire Abington, even though he apologized. Counseled by cooler heads that there was no legitimate basis for his ouster, the secretary proposed sending notice of a reprimand of Abington to all U.S. diplomatic missions abroad as an object lesson of the consequences of an unauthorized disclosure. Finally, she settled for a personal reprimand. Says Rubin: "The secretary doesn't want her representatives around the world essentially creating new public policy without authorization. That strikes her...as Rule No. 1 for a senior foreign service officer." But that was not the end of Abington's ordeal. Returning to Washington in 1997, he was asked by Phyllis Oakley, head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, to serve as her principal deputy. Their primary role: to provide the secretary daily intelligence and analysis. Last summer, as Oakley prepared to retire after 42 years as a diplomat, she was told by two senior officials that Albright wanted Abington to simultaneously relinquish his post as her deputy. Although there had been vague hints of dissatisfaction with Abington from Albright's inner circle, no explanation was offered. Faced with the secretary's ultimatum, Abington elected to end his 29-year diplomatic career in December and join a public relations firm to represent the Palestinians he dealt with as consul general in Jerusalem. Some foreign service officers are convinced that Albright's action affirmed that she never forgave Abington's "indiscretion"in the interview. To them, his fate suggests that she does not distinguish between dissent and disloyalty--particularly when it involves speaking to journalists.
R UBIN ARGUABLY HAS had more influence with Albright than any previous spokesman has exercised with a secretary of state. In addition to his responsibilities as spokesman, Rubin was a key member of her policy-making team and a participant in her daily strategy sessions. From his mahogany-paneled office just a few steps down the hall from the secretary's seventh-floor suite, he enjoyed unrivaled access to his boss. A New York City native, Rubin brought a partisan background to his role as spokesman. Five years after receiving a master's degree in international affairs at Columbia University in 1984, Democrat Biden hired him as his senior foreign policy adviser on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In May 1993, Rubin was named Albright's spokesman after her designation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In 1997, soon after Albright was sworn in as secretary of state, Rubin's news management skills were tested. Michael Dobbs, a Washington Post reporter, uncovered Albright's Jewish ancestry while researching a story on her Czechoslovakian background. In an interview with Dobbs, Albright acknowledged that his evidence was "fairly compelling"and said the deaths of her grandparents and other relatives in Nazi concentration camps was new to her. Post editors wanted to incorporate the disclosure in a Sunday magazine article previously scheduled for publication 10 days after Dobbs' interview. Albright and her advisers had other ideas. Three days after the Dobbs interview, at a taping for CBS' "60 Minutes," Albright said she had just learned from Dobbs of her Jewish origins. The next day, Rubin called Barry Schweid, the State Department correspondent for the Associated Press, and granted his earlier request to interview the secretary. Albright disclosed to Schweid that Dobbs' research had convinced her that her grandparents on both sides were Jewish. With AP bulletins ricocheting around the world, the Post was compelled to run a page-one news story. Defending the pre-emptive strikes that deprived Dobbs of his exclusive, Rubin asserts that the Post editors were unjustified in seeking to delay publication to promote their magazine. "They believed that they owned her life and could force her to not talk about it,"he says. He warned the Post editors that he didn't think the story would hold and informed them once it was out. "If I had it to do all over again,"says Rubin, "I would have been even more forceful with the Washington Post in insisting that they put it in the newspaper immediately. Failing that, I would have issued a statement." The disclosure created a furor in the news media: Had Albright known of her Jewish background before Dobbs presented his evidence to her? Dobbs, who had avoided addressing the issue, later concluded in his biography of Albright that she learned the essential details of her family's past long before he met with her. Journalists covering the State Department have appreciated Rubin's access to Albright and his ability to articulate foreign policy issues, but they have disliked his occasional arrogance. At briefings, Rubin frequently has resorted to sarcasm; his attempts to make reporters the butt of his jokes often backfired. Most correspondents overlooked Rubin's put-downs. But his attempts to control access to policy-makers, including his strict rationing of Albright's press contacts, were deeply resented. Says a veteran Washington journalist, "He's very smart, he has terrific access to Madeleine, but he's very difficult for reporters to work through, around or with." Washington's growing perception of Albright as ineffectual complicated Rubin's task. Despite her knack for sound bites, Albright simply is not seen by many journalists as a major formulator of Clinton's foreign policy. National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger dominates the policymaking process. Writing in the New York Times last December, State Department correspondent Jane Perlez concluded that Albright "has been effectively eclipsed"by Berger since the Kosovo conflict. Berger, reported Perlez, "has brought his physical proximity to the Oval Office and his personal relationship with President Clinton to bear on every foreign policy issue."The judgment of journalists that Albright's influence has diminished has been echoed by diplomats. Today's climate of suspicion between State Department officials and the press is a far cry from the informal dialogue that prevailed in an earlier era. Marvin Kalb, who covered the department for CBS and NBC for 24 years, fondly recalls the Friday afternoon sessions he and his colleagues had in the 1960s with Secretary Dean Rusk in an anteroom adjacent to his suite. Seated on sofas, sipping drinks, the shirt-sleeved secretary and a dozen State Department "regulars"discussed the issues the United States confronted. Although Vietnam already was dividing the country, Rusk candidly explained and defended American policy in Vietnam and everywhere else the journalists inquired about--always on background, confident that his anonymity would be respected. "If you had half a brain and half a sense of dedication to your job,"says Kalb, "you could be one helluva good State Department reporter."
I T IS MORE difficult today. In contrast to most previous administrations, what is lacking in Albright's State Department is trust, not only between officials and journalists, but also between the secretary of state and many career diplomats. Rubin's control of information has made it harder for journalists to interview State Department officials at all levels--even though Rubin insists he authorized such contacts whenever he considered it necessary. "If the regulars have a burning question they really have to get answered and they call me and I can't answer it, I get them to somebody who can,"he says. Trouble is, no State Department correspondent wants to depend solely on the spokesman, directly or indirectly, for information. In an era of unparalleled American engagement in the world, Rubin's concentration of authority has amounted to interference in the effective transmission of information, from officials to the media and to the public. To the Washington Post's Dobbs, the practice has been "pernicious and counterproductive, reducing the discourse to a level of spinning on one side and 'gotcha' journalism on the other." To a former senior State Department official, it is reflective of Madeleine Albright's suspicious nature: "She only trusts her inner circle." Don Oberdorfer, a former Washington Post diplomatic correspondent who now teaches at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, believes it is vital to maintain trust between State Department officials and the journalists who cover them. "There is one level of communication when you talk to the spokesman, and another when you talk to the principals," he says. Without that higher level of exchange, he adds, "there is not the level of information on diplomacy and foreign affairs from the government to the press, or from the press to the government, that has been important and healthy in the past. To the extent there is a disconnect between the State Department and the press, it is a serious problem for democracy." Rubin agrees with Oberdorfer's diagnosis, but he differs on the cause and the cure. For democracy to function effectively, he says, there should be a consensus between the government and the people on objectives. "But because of the tension between the media and government, discussion and debate and resolution of big foreign policy issues suffers." Foreign policy, argues Rubin, ought to be treated by the media with a perspective beyond the 24-hour news cycle. "But far from giving us breathing room, the media are breathing down our necks every day, looking for the slightest shift in policy, the slightest error and the slightest change in what we say from one day to another,"he says. "The result is press coverage of foreign affairs that focuses relentlessly on the negative and the ephemeral." Ultimately, the problem can only be solved by the restoration of trust between the State Department and the reporters who cover foreign policy. Journalists should resist the temptation to rush to judgment--particularly on policy issues that defy sound bites and instant analysis. At the same time, State Department correspondents and their editors should hold Albright and her spokesman publicly accountable for circumscribing access to senior policymakers and career diplomats. Their depth of knowledge and nuance would add a dimension to the dialogue between the department and the press that is sorely lacking. Perhaps Boucher can persuade Albright and her top advisers that in dealing with the press, "There's always something to say, and we need to say it."


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- Version 5.0 | Release Date: 2014-03-07 | Download
Added: FlashGot (free add-on for Firefox) support, allowing downloads to be automatically caught by Folx in Firefox.
Fixed: incorrect display of Folx Agent icon in Status Bar on Retina displays
Fixed: sudden switch to File Manager tab when trying to invoke right-click menu
Fixed: issue when a scheduled task stopped abruptly if started manually
- Version 3.0 | Release Date: 2013-10-09 | Download
- We've improved interface for even better user experience;
- Folx gained support for Apple's Retina displays;
- Folx has a totally new mini controller allowing managing tasks when Folx is in compact view;
- File Manager for easier browsing through completed downloads
- Quick Look integration;
- Now you can either add tasks in few clicks via "Quick Add" option, or set up advanced options in "New Task" window;
- We've added integration with all Mac OS X browsers;
- Improved mechanisms of catching the download links.
- Version 2.0 | Release Date: 2010-03-09 | Download
Greatly refined torrents search directly from the application;
Added: integration in Firefox 3.6 context menu;
Added: "my uploads" tag is automatically assigned to a torrent file you create;
Added: Spotlight comment can be added now to a folder with more than one file
- Version 1.0 | Release Date: 2009-03-18 | Download
Added: browsers integration
Added: adding and editing of multiple download tasks
Added: cookies support
Improved: AppleScript
Some interface enhancements
- Version 0.8 beta | Release Date: 2008-11-24 | Download
- No changes specified


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I was vaguely afraid to come into this forum. Now I so remember why.Oh God.shelle, you're my only friend in the world Too Dizzy
You're welcome.I'm a bit disappointed that no one guessed the samples, so here are the answers:1) There's dear old Adolf shouting "Deutschland!" several times.2) De Gaulle shouting "Paris outragť !" on the day the town was relieved from German rule.3) Daddy's aggressive "God!" from Pallas Athena is used in the background throughout most of the song.This also reminds me that I wanted to record Breaking Gas, but haven't been able to find the time in the past 3 months. Maybe it's for the best.When Bowie meets Satie | Froggy does Bowie
Nice!__________________________________________Jareth's speech: Love Me, Fear Me, Do as I say, and I will be your slave. Heathen track: Show me who you are And I would be your slaveCoincidence? I think not.


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not very costly, and got the job done
Well don't listen to the other guy, if you know what you are doing it will work just fine. See I have a gob of wire left over and it only snapped on me...Read complete review
Well don't listen to the other guy, if you know what you are doing it will work just fine. See I have a gob of wire left over and it only snapped on me once, and the reason it snapped was because when i was cutting out the windshield ,there was a piece of metal at the top right corner that was catching the wire, and it broke from that, i went to cut the other direction and it went all the way around. So i only used about 2 2to3 foot pieces, and the handles made it really nice. So broke once, got a windshield and still enough to do more if i needed. So If you KNOW what you are doing, you can get things to work. I work on cars all day and im very mechanically enclined as they would say it, so i had no problem using this.
Most Liked Negative Review
less than satisfactory
This product resembles a professional kit but the enclosed piano wire, the actual cutting device is about as useful as dental floss, in other words, buy the kit then purchase from body supply...Read complete review
This product resembles a professional kit but the enclosed piano wire, the actual cutting device is about as useful as dental floss, in other words, buy the kit then purchase from body supply house the professional piano wire to use with this kit, or your will use up all the dental floss that is in the kit, and still be looking at a embedded windshield.
Reviewed by 23 customers
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Windshield tool
By Crawdaddy
from Michigan
About Me Avid Do-It-Yourselfer
Comments about Pittsburgh Automotive Professional Windshield Removal Kit:
This tool worked great for me, I don't do this work a lot but it saved me big money by removing the windshield at the parts yard and installing it myself.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Safer style to remove glass you intend to reuse
By Mike S
from Manorville, NY
I finally retired my wood dowels and piano string to buy this kit. I have used this style for many years in auto restoration and find it much more safer to remove glass, compared to the angled blade w/pull handle style, that you intend to reuse without causing stress cracks on the edges. Depending on the cars body style you can do it safely with one person though two is better because once the seal is cut you will eventually need two people to safely pull the glass out of the frame if you plan to reuse it.
Well worth the money
By Jazey
from Ny
Worked great removing windshield, still had lots of wire left over but the handles save your hands.
Worked great
By Bill
from Maryland
About Me Auto Enthusiast
Used this tool to remove a windshield from a Mustang at the junkyard for reuse. Can't be used without two people. The tool worked really well, there were no issues with it. The wire snapped once, but that's because we cut through about 4 inches of metal left from the windshield molding unknowingly. If we hadn't hit that metal piece, the wire would not have snapped and could even have been used again. Takes some patience and technique to use correctly, but once you have the technique down, it's a breeze.
(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
Worked as it should have
By Frank
from Eureka, Mo
I used this kit to remove both of my Mustang's quarter windows. (The windows were replaced with louvers) I had no problems, the wire held up perfectly and the kit worked exactly as it should have.
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
worked great for me
By steve
from colorado
Not too sure what the other guy's issue was, but it worked great for me. After struggling to remove the windshield using a different kit, I bought this one and had the windshield out within 20 minutes. Have someone help you because it's too awkward for one person to use.The directions don't mention it, but make sure to secure the wire by drawing it up through the "post" and then stick the wire through the little hole before pushing the "post" back down into the handle.Only used about 10' of the wire (it's a 70' spool). The wire never broke or got clogged up.
(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
By mrnewguy
from amelia, oh
About Me Casual Driver, Mechanic
works well
By archemedes74
from Mobile AL
About Me Professional
See all my reviews
worked perfect for what I needed, also works great for removing the taped on trim and moldings, only complaint is the handles take a little getting used to. No issues with wire breaking when used properly
works good
By Do it yourselfer
from iowa
works good once you get the hang of it,but you will go through alot of wire.
By slamen2005
from Pa
About Me Mechanic
Wire works fine, it just doesnt cut metal so thats why it breaks on you when using it.
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- freely available
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Simulations of Prebiotic Chemistry under Post-Impact Conditions on Titan
AbstractThe problem of how life began can be considered as a matter of basic chemistry. How did the molecules of life arise from non-biological chemistry? Stanley Miller's famous experiment in 1953, in which he produced amino acids under simulated early Earth conditions, was a huge leap forward in our understanding of this problem. Our research first simulated early Earth conditions based on Miller's experiment and we then repeated the experiment using Titan post-impact conditions. We simulated conditions that could have existed on Titan after an asteroid strike. Specifically, we simulated conditions after a potential strike in the subpolar regions of Titan that exhibit vast methane-ethane lakes. If the asteroid or comet was of sufficient size, it would also puncture the icy crust and bring up some of the subsurface liquid ammonia-water mixture. Since, O'Brian, Lorenz and Lunine showed that a liquid water-ammonia body could exist between about 102–104 years on Titan after an asteroid impact we modified our experimental conditions to include an ammonia-water mixture in the reaction medium. Here we report on the resulting amino acids found using the Titan post-impact conditions in a classical Miller experimental reaction set-up and how they differ from the simulated early Earth conditions.
Share & Cite This Article
Turse, C.; Leitner, J.; Firneis, M.; Schulze-Makuch, D. Simulations of Prebiotic Chemistry under Post-Impact Conditions on Titan. Life 2013, 3, 538-549.View more citation formats
Turse C, Leitner J, Firneis M, Schulze-Makuch D. Simulations of Prebiotic Chemistry under Post-Impact Conditions on Titan. Life. 2013; 3(4):538-549.Chicago/Turabian Style
Turse, Carol; Leitner, Johannes; Firneis, Maria; Schulze-Makuch, Dirk. 2013. "Simulations of Prebiotic Chemistry under Post-Impact Conditions on Titan." Life 3, no. 4: 538-549.
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An internally displaced Afghan girl plays with a dog outside their shelter on the outskirts of Jalalabad
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Ethiopian Orthodox Christians pray during the Timkat festival in Gondar. Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian festival which celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river
Abdullah Sholeh kisses Mulan Jamilah, a six-year-old Bengal tiger, in the garden beside their home in Indonesia. The tiger and her minder are said to be inseparable
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Complaint Review: advance america payday loans
advance america payday loansmedina, Texas United States of America
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Summer has arrived. In my opinion, there is nothing better on a hot summer day than spicy food. Interestingly enough, the greatest spicy cuisines come from very hot regions such as Southeast Asia, Central America and North Africa. Some studies show that eating spicy food on a hot...
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Truffle Oil
Black Truffle Oil, La Truffiere Condimento aromatizzato al Tartufo Nero
Black truffle oil is Italian olive oil infused with rare black truffles. Use it as you would any upscale olive oil, but anticipate the lovely addition of the truffle bouquet. We also carry white truffle oil.
This is a luxurious flavored oil that high end foodies are sure to enjoy. It can be used in the same manner as any upscale olive oil. The truffle flavor is an added bonus.
The truffle is a tuber of unusual flavor and aroma savored in Italian and French cookery. The truffle has yet to be successfully cultivated and its scarcity commands a high price. Due to their short growing season and high demand, truffles can sell for up to $800 per pound.The truffles of Piedmont are especially prized for their exceptional flavors.
This oil is a lovely way to experience the flavor of fresh truffles without taking out a second mortgage. The black truffle oil is stronger than the white. It is very nice to add to marinades and vinegarettes. You can bring out a fuller truffle flavor in your dish by finishing with a drop or two of the oil. The oil pairs very nicely with any dish containing mushrooms, as the flavor of truffles and other mushrooms compliment each other. White truffle oil will get stronger if added to a dish before cooking, whereas, the black truffle oil is strong enough right away to add as you finish a dish.


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Rapid publication of high quality organic chemistry research
Impact Factor 3.559 48 Issues per Year Indexed in Medline
Flow synthesis using gaseous
ammonia in a Teflon AF-2400 tube-in-tube reactor: Paal–Knorr pyrrole formation and gas concentration measurement by inline flow titration
Corresponding authors
Whiffen Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, UK
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012,10, 5774-5779
Received 24 Feb 2012, Accepted 21 Mar 2012
First published online 21 Mar 2012
This article is part of themed collection: Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 10th Anniversary
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Jackie Lee Turner
Position: Small Forward ▪ Shoots: Right
Height: 6-4 ▪ Weight: 170 lbs.
Born: June 29, 1930 in Bedford, Indiana
College: Western Kentucky University
Draft: New York Knicks, 1st round (8th pick, 8th overall), 1954 NBA Draft
NBA Debut: October 30, 1954
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