text:
Public Spaces
Teens and young adults aren't mosquitoes
If you're under 25, you're not quite welcome in Chinatown. A new "Mosquito" device at the street level of the Metro entrance at 7th & H Streets in Chinatown is emitting shrill noise at 18 KHz, a high frequency that only young people can hear.
Similar devices have been installed in Britain with the same purpose of discouraging young people from congregating outside shops. According to Councilmember Jack Evans, the founder of the Gallery Place development had the device installed on his company's Gallery Place building.
These devices are wrong and most likely illegal as well.
This device was placed at a popular Metro entrance and just a few feet from a popular bus stop. Toddlers, teenagers, and young adults waiting for the bus or emerging from the Metro will now have to endure a shrill screech purposely aimed at annoying them and driving them away. WMATA's Lisa Farbstein voiced concerns about this to the Post.
Though I too am concerned about the incivility and criminal behavior that occurs in Chinatown, police supervision is the proper response. Though I'm 25 now, as a teenager I strongly resented our society's habit of treating young people as criminals and nuisances.
Before the age of suburban development and private shopping mall, cities always included grand public spaces for relaxation and socializing. Sometimes these spaces were formal, grassy parks and sometimes these places were paved plazas like the piazzas in Italy.
Unlike private shopping malls, which serve as the de facto gathering places in most suburbs, public streets, squares, and parks in cities are by their virtue open to the public. With the bright lights, movie theaters, restaurants, and ample seating space on the steps of the museum, Chinatown is a unique attraction for nightlife of all ages. The fact that it sits atop three Metro lines makes it accessible and a convenient meeting place for people coming from all over the city.
Criminal behavior and ill-behaved teenagers do reduce the enjoyment of the space for everyone else, including the vast majority of well-behaved teenagers. This must be addressed through police patrols; Chinatown's popularity and importance warrants a continuous MPD presence the way the NYPD constantly patrols Times Square.
Even still, public spaces by definition are open to the public and must remain that way. Part of the charm of Chinatown is that it is unpredictable and boisterous. Its liveliness, let's remember, is largely owed to the liveliness of excited, but law-abiding, youth.
Just as teens skateboarded in Silver Spring's plaza because they had no better place, if young people are hanging out in Gallery Place, the better approach would be to give them a better place to go that meets their needs instead of just trying to annoy them away somewhere else.
More importantly, this device probably violates the law.
The DC Human Rights Act makes it illegal "to deny, directly or indirectly, any person Unequal treatment is illegal if it is "wholly or partially for a discriminatory reason based on the actual or perceived: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, or place of residence or business of any individual." (Our emphasis)
Whoever installed this device clearly did so with the intention of driving away young people who have an equal right to be at the Metro entrance. The device's manufacturer doesn't mask the age-discrimination motivation of the Mosquito and even markets it as "a simple, safe and benign way to disperse crowds of anti-social youth." There's no explanation as to how the device knows who is "anti-social" and who isn't. Few people would describe a toddler or infant as "anti-social", but the device doesn't care for such nuance.
The ethical problem with the device is clear: it purposely aims to annoy and deny equal use of public accommodations to law-abiding people solely on account of their age. All insidious forms of discrimination derive from desire to withhold one's goodwill from a person for characteristics that don't merit distinction.
Several papers are reporting the installation, but few are addressing the civil rights aspect of it. Young people are equally entitled to use these public places lawfully and social interaction in the public sphere is a key part of urban life, even if it occasionally gets rowdy. Police patrols are a more effective means of maintaining order in Chinatown as they can address activities that are actually illegal.
The developer probably doesn't care much for the ethics of the matter, but the DC Human Rights Act makes its use illegal. An investigation by the city's Office of Human Rights is a call the developer will hear loudly.
Unequal treatment is illegal if it is "wholly or partially for a discriminatory reason based on the actual or perceived: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, or place of residence or business of any individual." (Our emphasis)
Whoever installed this device clearly did so with the intention of driving away young people who have an equal right to be at the Metro entrance. The device's manufacturer doesn't mask the age-discrimination motivation of the Mosquito and even markets it as "a simple, safe and benign way to disperse crowds of anti-social youth." There's no explanation as to how the device knows who is "anti-social" and who isn't. Few people would describe a toddler or infant as "anti-social", but the device doesn't care for such nuance.
The ethical problem with the device is clear: it purposely aims to annoy and deny equal use of public accommodations to law-abiding people solely on account of their age. All insidious forms of discrimination derive from desire to withhold one's goodwill from a person for characteristics that don't merit distinction.
Several papers are reporting the installation, but few are addressing the civil rights aspect of it. Young people are equally entitled to use these public places lawfully and social interaction in the public sphere is a key part of urban life, even if it occasionally gets rowdy. Police patrols are a more effective means of maintaining order in Chinatown as they can address activities that are actually illegal.
The developer probably doesn't care much for the ethics of the matter, but the DC Human Rights Act makes its use illegal. An investigation by the city's Office of Human Rights is a call the developer will hear loudly.
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 11:30 am • link • report
Great post.
Also, I am fairly sure teenagers and the various unemployed 20 year old do not contribute anything to the "liveliness" of the place. That has to do with the paying customers, all of whom are staying away from the area. My GF refuses to go out in Chinatown anymore, and she doesn't bring her other gf there as well.
The following words and terms when used in this chapter have the following meanings:
§ 2-1401.02. Definitions.
The following words and terms when used in this chapter have the following meanings:
(2.) "Age" means 18 years of age or older.
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 11:36 am • link • report
However, I'm pretty sympathetic to the merchants involved here. Gallery Place has a real problem. Police enforcement can only do so much. A great deal of the offensive behavior is not illegal, just obnoxious and aggressive.
Teens don't need a "better place" to hang out. They should be able to hang out here, take in a movie, and do all the other stuff that draws people to Gallery Place. However, they need to behave themselves by not starting fights; heckling women, white people, and perceived gays; blocking sidewalks; etc. This is all behavior I've seen there, not some misplaced "oh my gosh, black kids are hanging out, what shall I do".
Any suggestions on modifying behavior? The mosquito is not the answer. What is?
Cops on the beat. That's how other cities like NYC have dealt with these problems.
Anyway, that said, I think they should just use the time-honored suburban 7-11 practice of playing classical music through the loudspeaker, instead. It's proven effective elsewhere for decades and doesn't annoy anyone except people who think classical music is uncool.
Those who are against this may have a soft heart but must not frequent the area. Also there are plenty of common spaces (perhaps not as grand as a piazza) but I think the mall and the hundred or so other parks in this city are pretty good. No need to congregate on the sidewalk / street.
@jcm: People under 18 aren't the only ones who hear it. People who have the hearing of an average 25-year-old or under can hear it.
Furthermore, there's additional legislation, both local and national, that gives human rights to people under 18. Not the same rights, I'm sure, but rights nonetheless.
Deliberately annoying and alienating teenagers is not going to solve any of the District's perceived social problems. If anything, this is pouring fuel into the fire.
And, seriously... What sort of city-dweller is actively fearful of large crowds? The chaos that occurs after an event at the Verizon Center is far, far worse than occasional loiterers by the Metro entrance.
(On the other hand, the other half of Charlie's comment rang true... When people complain about loiterers, it's usually about black people)
If more cops is the answer, then what happens when allegations of police racial profiling and harassment are raised? Or is the answer more money for "youth programming" so that kids will be doing whatever it is that occurs durng programming, rather than hanging out at Gallery Place and acting like idiot teens?
If the Mosquito is a violation of the DC Human Rights Law, then surely when a bar offers "ladies night" drink specials, that too must be a violation of the law because of it's discriminatory effect.
Likewise, if I'm trying to get into a fancy trendy club wearing shorts and sandals and the bouncer says I'm not getting inside because of the dress code, is that also a Human Rights Law violation?
If you're going to make a legal pronouncement, then you need actual legal citations and arguments, rather than simply self-righteousness.
by David Alpert on Sep 2, 2010 12:00 pm • link • report
All of them? Really?
Is this the new version of "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"?
What if DC deployed a bunch of these next time the anarchists came for the World Bank protests? I bet most of those people fit the "spectrum" that this device targets. Is that defensible?
This device is set so that people off all ages can hear it:
It is anti-loitering device. It is absolutely legal to be annoying within the confines of the law. They are not targeting teens.
As long as it does not violate the sound ordinance (it doesn't appear to), then the company has a right to be just as annoying to the people gathered as the people have a right to gather.
It's not large crowds that bother me. It's small groups of kids who deliberately threaten people and have no problem getting into fights publicly.
I'm fed up with abusive behavior. That doesn't make me a racist. Or even a suburbanite.
Basically, DC needs to extend their "Drug Free Zone" law to incorporate non-drug related violence (including sexual harassment that includes cat-calling).
Even liberal San Francisco got so fed up with violence, that they instituted a very specific loitering law:
Such laws have to be conducted with the utmost recognition that they are treading into First Ammendment territory, and therfore must be crafted carefully. But when an entire metro area becomes wary of visiting an area because of real violence (verbal harassment, 70 person brawls), then the municipality must take action to protect its citizens.
Plain and simple, if people don't feel safe going to Gallery Place on weekends evenings, the city has a responsibility to fix the problem. They haven't despite repeated requests.
The business decided to take action. They are annoying. They may annoy real potential customers and hurt their business. But the fact is, they see that potential as being less problematic than the current one, so they are trying this.
If it doesn't work, they will stop using the device.
Could one of the supporters of this device explain exactly why it's okay that a 25-year-old who's waiting at the escalator to meet friends to go to a movie and bothering no one should be subjected to this?
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 12:10 pm • link • report
When I'm out in public, I only like to see people like me. If the result is that _all_ people, well behaved or otherwise, not like me can't go about their business and enjoy themselves, so be it.
If you don't count people under 18 as real people (with real rights), you're still annoying the tons of people in their early 20's who live in Chinatown. And, I bet those early 20'ers spend more money in Chinatown than anyone else. If you're worried about scaring anyone away you should be worried about the early 20's population, and their free-spending happy hour ways.
I fully agree that it doesn't work, which is the real issue. But I don't have any sympathy for the "rights" argument.
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 12:16 pm • link • report
Police don't care, and can't do anything when there are 30-40 people or more there - you can't prove who spat at me (or my girlfriend, filthy bastards) unless you're looking up and that's a recipe to get spit in the eye and who knows what kinds of shit is in their saliva.
Bring the "Mosquito" on. More of them. Until the little bastards leave us to commute in peace.
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 12:21 pm • link • report
@ Jersoph; early 20's? I wish...try early 30s. Look at some of those HH prices?
And don't forget gay bars that prohibit all "persons" wearing high-heels.
If the Mosquito thing is set to a frequency that everyone can hear - and I'm not a teen, yet I can hear it just fine - then the "discrimination" case falls flat rather fast. The question then becomes whether it's within the noise control laws, which MPD apparently thinks it is.
On the bigger issue of crowds of unruly teens, the answer may be more police presence. But that would come with the undoubtedly ensuing claims of racial profiling and, once again, age discrimination for the cops hassling the loitering teens.
The DC loitering statute is, I believe, rather weak and hard to enforce (thanks Phil Mendelson!).
And the DC disturbing the peace laws are also very weak and hard to enforce (thanks again, Phil Mendelson!).
So what's the solution if you're the property management company and owners of the development? Is your concern focusing on what the city's bleeding hearts will say? Or is your concern focused on what your stores' patrons and condo residents' quality of life is?
I don't think that distinction is really important for the purposes of the legality of this.
You can sit on a public street corner and yell about Jesus through a megaphone all day, can't you?
Those unruly teens will just go somewhere else and bother someone else. The point is that we need better policing, not just a way to push the problem off on someone else by removing an entire class of people away from our public areas.
And this is a public area. These metro stops were funded by the taxes of all teens parents. If my tax money paid for a subway stop I would want my child to be able to use it without being subjected to an ear assault. And I would want to be able to use it without being harassed by thugs.
What is the unemployment rate in the metro area? Hire some security guards.
But they lost today....
In its unanimous ruling, the court's three-judge panel also said that Den Hollander "paints a picture of a bleak future, where 'none other than what's left of the Wall Street moguls' will be able to afford to attend nightclubs"
Asked Wednesday about what he thinks the odds are of the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to hear his case, Den Hollander told the Daily News: "About the same as some pretty young lady paying my way on a date."
It tickles me that the cheapskate whol filed the case is called Den Hollander. Apparently, it's not only being Dutch that makes one cheap. Being called "Hollander" suffices. :-D
I've heard the noise (I'm 25). Annoying, yes. Annoying enough for me to stop going to Gallery Place, no. That's because I don't go to Gallery Place to loiter by the metro and harass people. I go to Gallery Place to go to movies, restaurants, and the bar. You can't hear the noise in there, it's been shown that the device does not discriminate in that it annoys everyone equally, so what's the big deal again? I'd rather put up with an annoying sound for a few seconds than feel unsafe going to one of my favorite areas.
I was intrigued to read that the device is used to prevent unlawful skateboarding in other locales. If so, I would really like the National Park Service to install them in Indiana Plaza and Freedom Plaza, where unlawful skateboarders have inflicted hundreds of thousands of dollars on the granite and marble surfaces. The skateboarding is also hazardous to pedestrian activity and extremely noisy. The Navy Memorial Plaza has also seen frequent stakteboarder activity, but is somewhat better patrolled by volunteers from the visitor center there. These areas are posted against skateboarding (unless the boarders remove the signs), but the Park Police can't camp out in the plazas full time to protect them. Bring on more Mosquitos!
by Penn Quarter Urbanist on Sep 2, 2010 12:56 pm • link • report
Second, they could easily shut down the people shouting through megaphones if they really wanted to. I am sure there are any number of laws they could use to do so. They can't stop people from handing out pamphlets, or even speaking publicly in loud voices, but I bet they could justify it with the volume the megaphone creates. Maybe the police think it isn't worth it, especially given a potential lawsuit (albeit one that would probably be decided in their favor).
Finally, this is questionably legal and almost certainly not a good idea even if it is. I would be shocked if there is actually nothing the police can do, but if that's the case, then the Council needs to act to give them authority to deal with the situation. Noise pollution is already so bad in much of the world that nearly everyone suffers from some degree of tinnitus. Putting more loud sounds in public spaces is not a good thing.
This has come up many times in the past, in particular an incident in which a homeowner who lived on the corner where one of these guys set up every day. He tried again and again, including trying to have the law changed to lower the decibel limit. Police came an measured the noise, but as long as it doesn't exceed the limit (which is pretty high) there is no legal recourse.
Civil rights violation: highly unlikely
Noise violation: MPD already has said no
I'd agree that it may not be best solution, and perhaps not even a good idea. But it certainly seems legal.
Besides, every time I've been there on Friday or Saturday evenings there have been cops, Guardian Angels or private security on the scene. If kids are causing problems at other times then cops need to be there at those times, as well.
The lack of police patrols within the station itself also astounds me. I was in NYC this weekend and I saw cops on the subway several times. At major transfer stations on weekend evenings the NYPD seems to patrol pretty much constantly, and in some cases they even have offices within the station. Meanwhile, I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a cop on Metro.
And I will say I have seen police presence at green line stations now.
Just tase everybody age 25 and younger. The police would be happy to practice their skills and the courts and public opinion seem to be totally on board with this form of semi-lethal "behavior modification".
Problem solved.
You can't say it won't help things any more than I can say for sure it would work, but it's an idea someone came up with with a valid reasoning behind it. It's irresponsible to dismiss it under the guide of "tried it, didn't work" when the Verizon Center wasn't even built until 1997.
That is, what about a pedestrian mall along 7th between E or F up to H Street? Or perhaps a single NB lane which is bus/bike only.
Bus-wise, SB 70 and 71 would be diverted to either follow the SB Circulator down 9th; or over to 6th.
Car-wise it'd have to be evaluated what the impacts would be to 6th & 9th; and perhaps give consideration of operations as far as K&R operations for Metro, Verizon, or in general for the area.
It'd be easy to test... just close it with cones and barrels for a week & evaluate the results. A week wouldn't yield ideal long-term data, but it'd at least give a sampling of traffic effects as well as public opinion.
Not saying I necessarily support or oppose it... just offering it as food for thought.
Is it legal to subject the general public, loitering or not, to health effects without their consent? I doubt it.
That said, teenagers hanging out is perfectly legal if they're not doing anything wrong (fights, harassment, etc), and if any of them has any harm because of this thing I hope the developer thought about the liability consequences. He has no dominion over a public street.
I wish someone would inflict that much money on me!
This isn't the sort of thing that requires months to see the effects. It should be immediate. It's been going on for at least days now. Have the troublesome teenagers disappeared from the area? If not, it's a failure, regardless of whether it's legal to assault the ears of the general public.
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 2:24 pm • link • report
Some people legitimately wait for the bus at that bus stop, but the majority of the people I see there are there when I come in to work, walk by for lunch, and head home in the evening. I'm particularly annoyed by the "entrepreneurs" who are clearly selling cigarettes and bootleg CDs/DVDs out of their backpacks in plain sight of police officers who don't seem to care. By the end of a summer day that area smells of cigarette smoke and body odor the likes of which I've only previously experienced when I got lost in Shanghai's ghetto.
We need to go beyond the "logic" of "Something must be done. This is something. Therefore this must be done." How would this even theoretically help the Portrait Gallery steps at all?
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 3:20 pm • link • report
We need to go beyond the "logic" of "Something must be done. This is something. Therefore this must be done."
You must not read the streetcar discussion on this blog.
1) 14th Amendment Section 1 states that citizens must be treated equally (there is NO age limit on citizenship nor in section 1). So that applies. END OF STORY.
2) 25 and under are not exempted from the HUMAN RIGHTS law and since it affects them...guess what? TWO STRIKES AGAINST IT (see #1)
3). Under 18s aren't human? You dick.
Why do you expect the property management company/developers to care about where the kids go so long as they're not on the property? Yes, the kids may be displaced from one location to somewhere else a few hundred feet away. But is it the property owners' responsibility to address the "root causes" of why some kids hang out there and act like uncivilized buffoons? Clearly the city hasn't dedicated the resources to "do something." But MPD has regularly complained to the Council that the current disorderly conduct and loitering laws don't allow officers to properly deal with public nuisances like some of the kids here (thanks again Phil Mendelson!). What's the property owner supposed to do?
Not exactly what the 14th Amendment says, unfortunately.
I think you might be able to imagine some problems that it might pose in our society if that were the case. For example, the drinking age, child protection and labor laws, and so on.
These seem to have withstood the test of time without challenge on the basis that "all citizens must be treated equally."
"So that applies. END OF STORY."
Or not.
I won't board at Gallery Place, save for the Portrait Gallery entrance, if I can help it. I've seen exactly the boorish behavior that others have described. This is not a racial thing, it's a thug thing, and the recent fight only confirms it. There are plenty of well behaved kids in the area: what do we do with those who haven't quite figured the whole "civilization" thing out yet?
by Keith Ivey on Sep 2, 2010 3:45 pm • link • report
LOL. funny. don't know if i'd go with the name-calling, but the basic sentiment is correct.
this surreptitious behavior does remind me another incident in history. maybe we can call this, The DCegee Experiment?
What if DC deployed a bunch of these next time the anarchists came for the World Bank protests?
we'd be happy to take them down for you. ;-D
the point is not to annoy everyone who walks through there (although it seems to be doing just that), but to annoy the people, teenagers or not, who stay there constantly and loiter.
Wrong. the device was specifically designed to annoy young people -- to single out a class of people. if you made the device annoying to _everyone_, then we could talk about whether this was a reasonable fix or not.
The government has a substantial interest in protecting its citizens from unwelcome noise
if this is true then we need to ban most motorized traffic from not only Gallery Place, but all of DC immediately -- including, but not limited to, cars, trucks, buses, and scooters/mopeds/motorcycles.
i'm actually very sympathetic to the idea of preventing this type of loitering-to-terrorize anti-social behavior - and this type of behavior often is a form of terrorism. out in San Francisco, there have been a recent spate of attacks of roving groups of mostly-minority black/Latino teens harassing/robbing/attacking/murdering people (yes, i said murdering people).
it does seem like a difficult problem to solve overnight, but there are things we can do, like:
1) get the police on it. if there are crimes being committed, and there obviously are, then it can be a police matter,
2) talk about it openly, in public,
3) get input from the teens to talk about it,
4) figure out the root causes of the behavior:
- is it lack of jobs? i know DC has near-full employment, at least compared to the rest of the country, but is that true for blacks, and in particular, black teens who, around the country, have not seen worse job prospects since this type of data was first starting to be collected decades ago?
- is it some strain of tv/music/culture, like the violence promoted on shows like Jersey Shore?
- is it soldiers returning from Iraq telling their stories or rape and murder of innocents?
- is it ongoing surfacing of police torture-of-minorities scandals from Chicago and other police departments?
- is it a lack of a safe/dignified/convenient way for teens to ride their bikes in the city, so they're confined to spending what little money they have on Metro, thus forcing them to end up at Metro stations, and then have no money left to spend on goods/services at Gallery Place, and/or they are forced to skip fares on Metro altogether, which helps contribute to an anti-social environment?
- is there a general lack of things to do for young people? no nice lit skateparks and basketball courts (where, in NJ, I and our entire neighborhood used to hang on late summer nights)?
i'm very happy to see this blog call out a private developer over this behavior.
we should work to prevent anti-social behavior first, instead of addressing it after the fact -- ounce of prevention/pound of cure and all that.
also, it'd be nice if groups/entities/businesses/organizations/governments felt free to contact this blog or other groups within the city -- like any of various non-profits -- to brainstorm about possible solutions to any number of city/urban problems.
@Keith - You're arguing the Mosquito is a "fake solution" b/c it doesn't solve the problem of kids hanging out around the area. My point is: so what? I think the property owner is simply trying to deal with uncivilized behavior closest to its property, rather than solving societal ills. What would you suggest they do if having private security isn't solving the issue and MPD also isn't solving the problem?
Ok, I think it's safe to say we've gone off the deep end...
Without liberty, there is no avenue for personal responsibility, only control from a dominant external force. Indeed, the author demands this external force, personified in the local police agency, to remove all personal responsibility from the individuals whose liberty they seek to protect. Without responsibility, liberty becomes license to do or say whatever this group may want without having a single thought of any consequences or cost of injury should any arise. Both are required.
I'd suggest the author read this: http://www.maxmore.com/libresp.htm and consider the ramifications of a world where liberty is defended while responsibility is never required. If the teenagers in question demand liberty to assemble and gather in public places as they please, then they MUST also exert personal responsibility in their actions and demand it of their peers.
LOL. If these little thugs had parents who cared about raising good kids, the problem wouldn't exist to begin with.
by M.V. Jantzen on Sep 2, 2010 4:50 pm • link • report
We should not have a blame all for one person what should be done is you get rid of that person.
It cant be just because of stores because of Union Station it use to have a movie theater etc and they never had the same problems.
Teenagers are loud in general go to any country you will find problems with youth. I have been to Russia, Australia, Egypt, Brazil & Germany and have witnessed annoying teenagers doing the same stuff.
Totally agree with your last paragraph. Teenagers are loud, and left to their own devices can be quite disruptive. This transcends our local issues of race and class.
And the movie theater at Union Station was also pretty bad. I quit going about 8 years ago as it was very disruptive.
Meanwhile, actual commuters won't be bombarded with an uncomfortable noise
I dont remember there ever being any problem like it is at Gallery Place at least when I went there (last time was when it was still a AMC theater).
I forgot about the riots in Greece, France, & the Netherlands were done by people where the majority was under 25 or 30 and there were minors present.
The mosquito tone is the worst thing that could be done
1 you are effecting more than those who cause the trouble.
2 will have a mad group of people who caused the problems and did not.
3 people between 0-35 might not shop there
4 parents with small children/babies; babies can hear the sound perfectly and they will constantly cry until removed from the sound and parents wont know why they are crying.
The ending result will be the damn machine broken and in this case i'm willing to accept that because a person decided to put this up and blaming all for one persons problem.
I agree that something should be done; but it should not effect innocent people who are there walking pass, waiting for a bus or going in/out of the subway and dont have a damn thing to do with it.
This is present throughout history go read any book about riots, society, youth, culture etc. Ancient Greece, the Pilgrims, England, ancient Egyptians, ancient India, the Near east etc.
It doesn't matter what time you get alot of youth, substance intoxicated people of any age, or a majority group of people from one gender and a minority of another gender you will have a damn problem.
Somethings of the past centuries and decades has made this easier and or more often but thats another issue.
Yes, but do the means justify the end? We can ban all people from the streets or shoot litterers on sight, which would solve the littering problem quite quickly. Of course, that's not a reasonable means to this end.
Similarly, is it worth it to indiscriminately ban all people of a certain age (or hearing level) from an area? I honestly can't say that the conditions at Gallery Place are any worse than your average crowded urban downtown. (Actually, I'd argue that it's cleaner and more civil!)
I really don't buy the "They have nothing better to do" argument. I don't own a car, I don't own a gun (to go to a firing range), I can't buy booze and until last year I couldn't gamble. Yet my friends and I still managed to enjoy ourselves. Walking around, seeing movies (and not talking through the whole god damn thing), playing video games etc.
I spend ten minutes panicking, trying to figure out why my child is going into a fit. Finally, I leave the store in frustration and attempt to enter another establishment, also equiped with a Mosquito. My child once again erupts into hysterics because of a noise only the child can hear. Other shoppers - and possibly a store clerk hasn't been filled in - now get to experience the whining of a newborn infant child, once again for absolutely no reason anyone but the baby can discern.
So now I'm a mortified parent, my child is an emotional wreck, and all the shoppers are disgusted with my inability to control my kid.
Once I figure out what is going on, is it within my legal right to rip this device off the wall and cram it down the business owner's throat?
No one is keeping anyone away from these places, they're just making it more annoying to be there. No one is infringing on your (non existent?) right to walk around where ever you want. Its just something that makes a buzzing sound. Its not that loud.
Deal with it, nerd.
Hahaha, "nerd", goddamn.
It just keeps them from loitering, forcing them to "move along." While it doesn't technically ban older people from loitering in the area, adults generally have better things to do than stand around in large groups harassing passers-by.
They should learn to gather in groups in the parking lots of 7-11s, like the rest of us suburbanites did when we were teenagers.
I don't know about you, but when I was a teenager, if I'd assaulted adults on the sidewalk, spit on them, or hurled racial epithets at them, I'd *still* be grounded, and I'm over 40 now.
The base problem seems to be that these kids don't understand consequences, and everyone is too afraid of the race card being played to impose any.
Deal with it, nerd.I thought I was dealing with it pretty well. I just wanted some legal advice.
That said, I'm pretty sure if you walk around a mall blasting an air horn, you can be arrested for creating a public nuisance. It seems like Mosquitos would fall under the same statute.
They've got the sounds posted up here.
What on earth happens to you when you hear an amublance go by or a baby start to cry - insta-migranes, bleeding ears, death? Do they infringe on your right to walk on a sidewalk too? Is it enough for you to never go outisde for fear of hearing a loud noise?
It's NOT loud enough to cause damage (and it's laughable to even attempt to compare it to an airhorn), it's not meant to prevent you from ever using that area. Just don't hang around there for no good reason (i.e., loiter), which you should not be doing anyway, and your delicate sensibilities will be juuuust fine.
I, for one, would much rather endure the "torture" that you all seem to think these things are, than those crowds of kids harassing, yelling, shoving, spitting on me. Franky they're much louder and annoying.
by David Alpert on Sep 3, 2010 10:06 am • link • report
I, for one, would much rather endure the "torture" that you all seem to think these things are, than those crowds of kids harassing, yelling, shoving, spitting on meIn my three decades of existence, in the thousands of malls I've visited, through the millions of teenagers I've passed by, not a single one has spit on me. I've been harassed a few times by kids, but I've been harassed far more often by adults. And yet both situations were extremely rare, given the number of times I've gone shopping. This from a kid who grew up in Jersey and made frequent visits to Manhattan and the Bronx.
So maybe I'm just not wearing the same "Shove me, harass me, spit on me" sign you're wearing. Or maybe some of these Mosquito enthusiasts are just anti-social assholes who run around provoking people and acting shocked when they push back.
A high frequency buzz isn't going to make anyone treat you with additional respect.
The high frequency buzz is't trying to instill respect in the punks who have made it an annoyance and danger for normal people of all ages to walk through and around that area. It's trying to get them to stop loitering. I hope it succeeds.
I guess they are unwelcome as well
How many of you car hear it, go into the att store (you can hear it inside there) or take the bus at those stops (x2, P6, 80, 70, 71 or 79) I excluded the circulator because it runs frequently and you wont be there that long.
If you are waiting for the bus there and are present there for 10, 20 or 30 minutes that noise will get on your damn nerves.
How about putting one on 18th Street and U street and turn them on Friday & Saturday nights only.
What this crowd needs is something to do. For example, host free concerts over in the Navy Memorial featuring local acts. Do a "DC's got Talent" or "Night at the Apollo" type of format. Give the kids a place to hang out and dance. Other venues could include the NGA Sculpture Garden, the Mall, or one of the Gallery Place performance theaters in the winter. For a production and stage team, the DC Community College could open a Audiovisual/Stage Production program that could run the shows.
I'm 30, and can hear them clearly. I also have autism and synesthesia. I've known of these things for a while, but first heard one on NPR a few days ago. The noise literally crippled me. I really can't begin to describe the pain it caused. Having these in any area completely bar me equal access that's promised to me by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
I hope I never see one of these in person, but the rate things are going, I have a feeling I will. :(
If certain young people are causing problems, let's have actual police on the beat to deal with the specific individuals causing the problem, not paint everyone with the same discriminatory brush: "those people" are "just like that".
@hillguy: "we have subsequently decided that America's young are not responsible enough, even at 18, 19, or 20, to have a credit card or buy alcohol. I don't think it's a very far stretch to say they also can't be responsible enough to congregate in groups without throwing trash on the street, being loud and boisterous, blocking sidewalks for others, and in some cases, engaging in violent attacks or thefts."
That's funny, because I congregated in groups with my friends when I was a teenager and we didn't throw trash on the street, block sidewalks, or engage in violent acts. (I'll give you "loud and boisterous.") And the majority of teenagers do not.
I've said it before: if you have little to no money and can't drink legally, "loitering" is your social life. Do none of you remember what it was like to be 17?
I know exactly what you're talking about and I think you're right. This device is discriminatory towards most people on the autism spectrum. For those who are unaware, most people on the autism spectrum have sensory issues which cause extreme discomfort and are often incapacitating. I can't imagine how anyone on the spectrum is going to be able to tolerate this.
It's bad enough to have a disability. It is morally reprehensible to selectively target people with disabilities.
by Kevin Saucedo-Broach on Sep 5, 2010 12:17 pm • link • report
Excluding them from an area with this heinous device and telling them to move along does not accomplish this. Only having a cop or security guard get in their face will work, IMO. Then of course, when it is understood by both sides what the rules are, over a period time the issue will be abated or at least minimized to a reasonable level.
Then of course its not the job of a shopping mall manager to care about this if it bothers their snooty customers, and I figure most "city" people who cry on about "community" don't really give a shit either, do they? Just move the problem along.
Would anyone like to issue a legal pronouncement as to whether they are also a violation of the Geneva Conventions and therefore are clearly a war crime?
That sort of permissive attitude is also what allows DC's black population to have a 5% AIDS rate and black males in DCPS graduate at a rate of ~40%.
If time was spent studying instead of harassing people, crime would go down and graduation rates would go up.
White DC liberals tend to justify fights in and around the Metro system by black youth along the lines of "well that's what kids do", but I've never heard of one of these stories not involving black youths.
I will be labeled as a race-baiting troll, but as veterans here know, I actually use facts (as above) to show my points, even if the conclusions sit uneasily with the social liberals.
Please let me know if any of my points are factually or logically incorrect.
Ultimately, the trouble-making youths are not simply misguided youths. How often do you hear about pervasive harassment out of Fairfax or Montgomery county hangouts?
The problem is that these youths do not understand self-discipline and have been told their whole lives by sensitive white liberals that all of their outlashes against society are justified because of their skin color. If their families will not subject them to discipline, perhaps these youths ought to be disciplined by police (preferably) or local business owners (as it appears to have come to that point).
As a final thought, simply consider this. If you were a property owner, how would you feel about youths engaging in harassing behavior on a 'public' sidewalk in front of your property?
by another native on Sep 5, 2010 8:32 pm • link • report
I would be curious how many of the troublemakers at Gallery Place are white.
Please refrain from ad hominem attacks. If you disagree with another commenter in one of our threads, I would encourage you to use logic and reason to refute his or her claims. Do not resort to name calling or attacks on the person with whom you disagree.
Thank you for understanding.
by Matt Johnson, Assistant Editor on Sep 5, 2010 9:41 pm • link • report
It's funny that you label MPC a racist and then cite "cultural reasons" for the black youths' unruly behavior. What you're essentially saying is that black people, by virtue of their culture, are inherently violent, disrespectful, and less civilized than white people. That, by the way, is the definition of racism. Stating that blacks have low graduation rates and that, as a result, they are more likely to engage in behaviors outside of studying (such as loitering) is called drawing a conclusion based on a fact. Any moral high ground that you might claim was also rapidly lost when you engaged in direct personal attacks.
"I would be curious how many of the troublemakers at Gallery Place are white."
Here's the great thing about deploying actual, live police rather than employing automated broad-brush exclusionary tactics: it doesn't matter! If a particular kid is causing problems, discipline that particular kid. That way, you don't have to conclusively figure out which demographic group should take the hit for the crimes of their cohort, or how best to harass and persecute Group A while leaving Group B alone.
Instead, you simply treat people as individuals and hold them responsible for their own actions, not those of whatever "undesirable" group they happen to belong to. A radical concept, yes, and one that requires more work than All Teenagers Are Bad or All Black Teenagers Are Bad. And yet, some might consider this approach of judging each individual on his/her own behavior alone to be fundamental to a just society.
If their families will not subject them to discipline, perhaps these youths ought to be disciplined by police (preferably) or local business owners (as it appears to have come to that point).
Please actually read my posts before commenting in the future.
Try again.
And then moan about racial profiling when the arrests are predominately from one ethnic group? Because you know that that is exactly what is going to occur.
Really there is no way to win this, it seems: and the thugs know it. Their apologists will defend them to the end, so they can act as they please. And the worst part of it is that the thugs are a tiny minority of the teenagers who hang out at Gallery Place, but a very visible one. Since nobody will do anything about them, the other kids get tarred with being exactly the same.
by another native on Sep 6, 2010 2:22 pm • link • report
It makes the same constant buzzing/humming noise as an old analog TV does when it's turned on. I could hear it at the top of the Metro stairs and could barely hear it across the street by Starbucks. It didn't cause me to go into convulsions, give me a migraine, or make me feel that my ear's rights had been violated. It's simply a slight, annoying buzzing that doesn't discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or apparently, age.
I didn't say that all black kids are troublemakers. I said that all the troublemakers at Gallery Place are black.
Based off of all known accounts, I am correct.
When I heard about this technology I originally thought it would be illegal for general use in the USA as it is an electronic weapon(an electronic version of mace).
You should consult with an attorney and sue the crap out of the developer for risking potential harm against D.C's youth.
Also contact local Prosecutors as this may be a violation of criminal law's(akin to misusing a gun).
If that fails your in D.C, protest in front of Congress or the White House.
I feel for you guy's, if they even tried this technology in NEPA, I am sure the speakers wouldn't last 24 hours.
But what I suggest you do immediately is get a a bunch of young people who have legitimate reason to be there(paying customers) to go to that area to do business and call the cop's.
These devices emit a kind of sound, sound is regulated under "noise disturbances", and it may even be a general violation of the peace.
Just don't give it, grab ear muffs and stage sit-ins. If you guy's and gal's plan a protest around October-November(if it isn't resolved by then), try and make it well known to us, that technology isn't right.
Also try and find out who put it up, what their address and home phone number are, we can't let them get away with this.
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Awhile back, fast-food chain KFC offered to fix potholes for municipalities free of charge as long as the city allowed the chain to stamp the patched spots with an advertising message. The advocacy group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) cried foul, offering double the money to fix the potholes in exchange for a chance to stamp them with THEIR commercial message slamming KFC, which they accuse of serial chicken abuse. The KFC program offered $3,000 to four cities to fill ...
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I think I've been pretty open about my love for the Galaxy Fairy on this blog. Sheryl Nome is one of the few anime characters which I can say wholeheartedly that I like, a LOT!!! So it's a bit of a mixed bag when I say that she has quite a few figures on the market. Far more than Ranka at least (Hurrah!). And so far, I've managed to get a fair chunk of the Sheryl figures available, as my images of my Sheryl Nome army will attest. But a few items have eluded me thus far. Specifically, the Ichiban Kuji lottery figures. One was self inflicted. The first Ichiban Kuji Sheryl figure with her last concert costume is HIDEOUS!! I would never stain my collection or waste my money with that monstrosity! But when the Macross F movie came out, they released 2 more Sheryl figures in 2 new costumes from the movie, dubbed black and white bunny. And those 2 looked rather good. Well, now I've finally gotten around to actually acquiring them!
Yeah, I know! I fail at outdoor shoots! I much prefer the clinical (and infinitely warmer) feel of my makeshift studio anyway! I got these 2 from Mandarake for a reasonable price. Not too expensive, and the conditions were really great (though I don't think they were unopened like the description claimed). While I was there, I also nabbed pretty much everything else Sheryl which I didn't own yet!
I'll leave the DX figures out of this post and focus on the bunnies. I also tried something a little different and shot the photos in RAW format instead of JPEG like usual. That's also why this post is a little late this week. I had to put in a whole bunch of addins and stuff to get Lightroom to recognise the olympus RAW format before I could do anything! It did make things easier to edit in photoshop but since I don't really fiddle with them too much, I don't think that it made that much of a difference. Let me know if you think otherwise.
Guess I can unload some more failed outdoor shots first. I don't normally do these kinds of shoots, and with good reason. GK are really fragile things and taking them out will invariably damage them and require constant repairs. PVC figures are more robust but I don't have many of them and none really felt like they deserved the effort. But these 2 did.
There was a light source just underneath the steps which helped to create the glow effect here. Sadly, the steps were also very shallow, which made it difficult to get a good angle for the photo.
Black bunny on her own.
A shot taken slightly further away from the opening image. You can probably tell the landmark in the background this time!
I had thought of doing a few more but then I hit a little snag. The 2 Sheryls (black in particular) are rather fragile and Black bunny got a little damage in transit so I decided to cut things short to repair her. It wasn't a major issue. The red ribbon on her hair snapped off so I needed to glue to peg back in. The later shots were done after the repair. I doubt anyone would notice.
Back to more familiar territory with the 2 standing side by side. Let's tackle white bunny first!
White bunny kinda stands out from the other Sheryl figures in that she's not being portrayed as a sexpot like most other figures. In fact, this is one of her most subdued costumes but that's not without its charms. It's also a rather nice break from the usual T&A fest.
The costume spreads out a little at the back due to the large tail but it still doesn't take too much space.
Side shot to complete things. And if you're thinking that she may be a little *too* conservative, do not worry! She's castoff-able!!
Well, partially. The figure also seems to have a fair few little pieces of details as well. From the cherry pattern on her skirt to her heart on her right cheek…
To this really bizarre bit here. From what I can tell, it's a seashell hanging off her fingernail!
Since I'm not a follower of fashion or trends, I have no idea what that is about. I did see something similar in real life many years ago but it faded even quicker than it arrived so I just assumed it didn't catch on.
The base also deserves a mention. A cog design with various icons printed on it. The heart and butterfly motif at the top distinguish this as the white bunny base. It's possible to lock this base with the corresponding black bunny base but the 2 figures make it very difficult to put the 2 too close together due to their designs.
And now, just because…
Well, I had to put Sheryl down while I took the photo of the base and she just happened to be at this angle, facing the camera. SERIOUSLY!
OK, I turned her around for this one…
Next, we have black bunny. No upskirts this time because… well It's pretty unnecessary, don't you think?
For whatever reason, black bunny gives the feeling that she was the favourite of the designers. While both look like a fair bit of effort was put into making both of them, black bunny simply feels like more effort was put into her design and build. Heck, even the packaging was overdone compared to white bunny!
Look at all that wrapping! white bunny Sheryl had none. NONE!!!
And here's the damaged part. Easily fixed but it was a minor shock when it broke off so easily.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am a little snobbish when it comes to PVC figures. They have to work very hard just to get my attention and even when they arrive, I tend to think that they look nice but they don't "grab" me like a good GK will. The last figure I bought which I was really taken aback by was Triggerheart Excelica by Alter!! Since then, I've acquired several Sheryl Nome figures, Saber Lily ~ Distant Avalon, Fate T Harlawn from Volk… All were pretty good but none truly impressed me. This one did!
You wouldn't think that if you just went for the promotional images from the ichiban kuji site. The promo images look rather flat and don't really convey her very well.
More than any other PVC in recent memory for me, Black Bunny Sheryl simply has a commanding presence. The extra little touches like the shiny black on the cape and the flowing hair at the back all help to grab your attention but unlike Saber Lily or Fate, somehow, this figure manages to keep my attention while the other 2 lose it rather quickly. Maybe I'm biased because it's Sheryl Nome, one of my fave anime characters, but I'm very fond of adult Fate as well.
The staff is actually made of very flexible rubber and can bend quite considerably. On the down side, the hands of the figure aren't really designed to hold the staff like others may have been. Instead, the fingers have been positioned so that you can rest the staff on them and it won't slip but it is still very loose and it effectively boils down to you balancing it as best you can.
Neither black nor white bunny Sheryl come with instructions of any kind. That isn't a problem for white Sheryl because she doesn't have any accessories to worry about. But it took me an age to figure out where this scabbard went!! The tip is meant to rest on the loops near the ankle but I raised it for this shot to make it easier to see. I had honestly no clue where it was meant to go originally. It was just a black triangular thingy which came in the box! I lucked out when I looked at my chibi black bunny figure as I was able to work out where it was meant to go from there.
Now, I'm not a follower of fashion or anything but is it just me or does leaving the ankle exposed like this look a little, I don't know, odd? I guess it's good if you have an ankle fetish or something (Lightning saber?) but I found it to be rather peculiar.
Look to the left. I said the LEFT!! see the glitter on the inside of the cape? Yeah, I missed that too first time around. And stop looking at the right hand side!! Yes, Sheryl herself said that they are real! The makers even sculpted some details on the fabric to make it look like it's being stretched to cover the "essentials." That kind of detail is often missed on PVC figures.
I think some kind of karmic balance must be in order here because while I think the Black bunny Sheryl is much better than the White bunny, the same cannot be said of their bases. The base for Black bunny is pretty boring!
Along with the 2 main figures, I also nabbed a couple of SD Ichiban Kuji Kyun-Chara figures. Each were about the size of a nendoroid.
Sadly, I was unable to get the regular colour Black bunny figure and gor this weird gold colour instead. Out of the 2 I prefer the white bunny Sheryl in this instance.
Gold really doesn't suit the costume IMO. But even as a SD character, they managed to give her a rather mischievous facial expression!
The white bunny Sheryl is much more suited for the SD form, don't you think? Though the shoulders do feel like a little throwback to the 80s… Both were on sale at one of the Mandarake stores where I bought one of the full sized Sheryls (I bought everything through 2 different stores) and were only a few hundred Yen each so I think they were a pretty good additional purchase.
A few shots of the "big sisters" to finish. Played a little with the lighting to get the bloom effect at the back. Black bunny Sheryl doesn't benefit as much because she's tilting her head forward.
Both figures really did impress me. After the catastrophe that was the first ichiban kuji Sheryl Nome figure, I really didn't have any hopes for future releases but these 2 are very good. White bunny Sheryl gives a version of her which you don't really see in the figures, which clearly are focused on her sex appeal. This figure is more subdued and more about emphasising a more cute image than sex and it works! One can't really say that the Sheryl Figures are all about sex appeal now! Though any attempts at moving Ranka away from cute and into sexy will probably fail horribly! Ranka is, as Taokaka in BB puts it, a "lacking lady!"
But it was black bunny which really impressed. While I bought these 2 mainly because I wanted to add to my Sheryl army they both exceeded my expectations (which were't very high if I was to be brutally honest) but white bunny was cute and different and black bunny was just amazing. I don't think I've just sat down and admired a PVC figure like I did with black bunny Sheryl for a long time! She's my fave Sheryl figure in my collection thus far.
I can compare getting the bunny Sheryls to when when I got Celia Kumani Aintree and Laila Ria Sorel from Volks and the 2 kits easily became favourites after I got to see the details and extras for myself and I kept thinking "I'm glad I got these." The same applies to the bunnies. I'd definitely recommend Sheryl fans to try and track down the 2 figures if they can. Be warned though. For whatever reason, the twin set, which has both figures in a single box, goes for a ridiculous sum (¥100k) and you don't need to go to that length to get them, unless you REALLY want the limited colours they contain. I'm not too fussed on recolours so these 2 are more than satisfactory!


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The 2013 NHL trade deadline actually happened, mostly, prior to deadline day.
This could be the year that we revisit when examining when, exactly, the deadline broke. After the dust settled and the smoke cleared, a lot of the big names ended up being shipped out for little more than middling prospects and second-round selections.
All I know is that the draft board for the second round of the 2013 draft is going to be an absolute mess thanks to the last week or two of trades.
It was established quickly that a second-round pick and a depth prospect was the price for rentals such as Derek Roy and Jaromir Jagr, and that price point stuck. Not a lot of "hockey" deals here. Just a few teams trying to turn fading assets into picks, while other teams try to turn those fading assets into a Stanley Cup run.
All told, almost every big name on the market was dealt before deadline day, leaving us pundits without much to do besides keep an eye on the Luongo/Kiprusoff-to-the-Toronto Maple Leafs rumors and hope for something mildly unforeseen and surprising.
And did we ever receive a surprise!
The New York Rangers dealing Marian Gaborik to the Columbus Blue Jackets gave everyone something to take about, and the Buffalo Sabres burned off almost every one of their tradeable assets as they prepare for a rebuild.
We saw several teams Cup-up in big ways, solidifying blue lines and bolstering offensive units. We also saw several teams tip their hands a bit on how they felt the rest of 2013 was going to go, as they made trades with the future in mind.


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Former U.S. Senator and Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Bradley to Deliver 2009 LBJ School Convocation Address on Saturday, May 23
In a world being transformed by rapidly increasing globalization and far-reaching technological advances, change is constant and dramatic. Successfully meeting the challenges of a world where the unexpected becomes the norm requires a sound grounding based not only on a honed intellect, but also on the capacity to see, to feel, and to give.
- Bill Bradley, Ithaca College Commencement Address, May 14, 2006
AUSTIN, TX, Monday, April 20, 2009—Former U.S. Senator, Rhodes Scholar, best-selling author and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame Bill Bradley will deliver the 2009 convocation address at The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, on May 23, Interim Dean Admiral Bobby R. Inman, USN (Ret.) announced today.
"Bill Bradley is a highly respected bipartisan statesman whose remarkable achievements span the political, business, sports, academic and civic arenas," said Inman. "Here at the LBJ School, our goal is to equip our students with the skills they need to solve problems in settings that require mobilizing key institutions and the public – which is the essence of leadership. Sen. Bradley has embodied this quality throughout his career and done so with a rare combination of integrity, tenacity and grace. We are honored to have Bill Bradley as our convocation speaker.""The LBJ School is a fitting legacy for one of America's great presidents," said Sen. Bill Bradley. "It's faculty and students are world class and they embody the American spirit of public service. I'm honored to be the convocation speaker."
"We are pleased to have Sen. Bradley address this year's graduates of the LBJ School of Public Affairs," said Ellen Satterwhite, president of the Graduate Public Affairs Council (GPAC), the student governing body for the LBJ School. "Senator Bradley inspires notions of excellence in public life and truly understands the challenges of good policymaking and one who is willing to tackle complex issues—he's the policymaker's politician."
Bradley served in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1997 representing the state of New Jersey. Whether passing legislation or shaping national opinion, Bradley focused on large-scale reform while serving his three terms. He was an advocate for expanded global trade and federal budget priorities that bolstered the national economy and met critical human needs. His signature accomplishment was the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which simplified the tax code, lowered tax rates for millions of Americans, and eliminated tax shelters worth billions of dollars to special interests.
In 2000, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Prior to serving in the Senate, he was an Olympic gold medalist in 1964 and a professional basketball player with the New York Knicks from 1967 to 1977 during which time they won two NBA championships. In 1982, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Sen. Bradley holds a BA degree in American History from Princeton University and a MA degree from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
Bradley has also written six books on American politics, culture and economy, including his latest book The New American Story, in which he explores how all countries are bound together as never before. Bradley observes that in order to solve our nation's most pressing problems we need to embrace an "ethic of connectedness," which he describes as a combination of collective action and individual responsibility.
In 1996, he authored a best-selling memoir, Time Present, Time Past, about his life as a senator and his travels throughout the country. In 1998, his book of basketball-inspired essays, Values of the Game, was a New York Times bestseller.
Bradley sits on the boards of several nonprofits including the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States; QuestBridge, a program that links low-income students with educational and scholarship opportunities; Sound Portrait Productions, an independent production company dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected American voices to a national audience, and DonorsChoose.org, a Web site where teachers submit proposals for materials or experiences their students need and are paired up with donors.
Bradley is currently a Managing Director at Allen & Company LLC. From 2001 to 2004, he acted as chief outside advisor to McKinsey & Company's nonprofit practice. Bradley was a Senior Advisor and Vice Chairman of the International Council of JP Morgan & Co., Inc. from 1997 to 1999. During that time, he also worked as an essayist for CBS Evening News and was a visiting professor at Stanford University, University of Notre Dame and the University of Maryland. Bradley currently hosts a weekly talk show, American Voices, on Sirius Satellite Radio that highlights the remarkable accomplishments of Americans both famous and unknown.
Bouncing back from both victory and defeat requires a reservoir of self-knowledge. Making adjustments in your playing style is sometimes wise, but altering what you believe about the game in order to break a skid will never work." — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game
Frequently, for the benefit of the team, you have to sacrifice what you would like to do on the court. Scoring 12 points a game and playing your role on a winning team is better than scoring 20 points a game on a losing team. For you to get those 20 points would require a change in team balance and make victory less likely." — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game
It takes real character to derive enjoyment from the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the basket." — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game
Leadership means getting people to think, believe, see, and do what they might not have without you. It means possessing the vision to set the right goal and the decisiveness to pursue it single-mindedly." — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game
The right path is really very simple: Give respect to teammates of different race, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your common humanity, share your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal, help one another achieve it. No destructive lies. No ridiculous fears. No debilitating anger." — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game
When a reporter asked the English runner David Moorcroft why he had never dropped out of a race even in the worst of circumstances, he replied, 'I think that once you do, you've given yourself an option for the future.'" — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Journey_From_Here_Bill_Bradley.htm - back cover
http://www.billbradley.com/about/biography Main Bill Bradley Page
"Bravo, Bill Bradley! — for reminding us, so emphatically and with such insight, conviction, and plain old Missouri common sense, that a new American story is truly ours to choose." – David McCullough
"Bill Bradley is one of our most valuable public citizens. What he has given us in this wise and thoughtful book is a chilling portrait of a nation that has lost its way politically, economically, and socially — and a road map to help us find our way back." – David Halberstam
"Bill Bradley has always been a brilliant, original, and creative political thinker, and this book shows him at his best. The New American Story is a thoughtful, incisive blueprint for action at a moment that is a crossroads for America." – Robert A. Caro


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A huge new underground ocean has been discovered (hat tip: Very Spatial), but it is actually more of an aquifer than ocean. The ocean lies about 400 to 800 miles below the surface of eastern Asia. While it is located well into the mantle, the ocean does play a moderating effect on some of the seismic activity in the area.
While some think of underground seas when considering the moon's of Jupiter there are many on earth. It has been estimated that there are over 145 lakes underneath Antarctica's snows. America has The Lost Sea which is a 13 acre cave system completely filled with water.
The idea of an underground body of water is not new. Many ancient mythologies like Egyptians and Greeks had seas and rivers below the surface. Even the drugged out Samuel Coleridge dreamt of a sunless sea in his "Kubla Khan" poem. However, one must remember the "ocean" is really just wet rocks before one makes plan to buy a submarine.


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Event: Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar walked the ramp on Day 3 of IIJW for Golecha.
Guest List: Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar
Bollywood celebs Hrithik Roshan, Athiya Shetty, Kanika Kapoor among others were seen at Anandita De's blog launch.
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra was snapped at the inaugurationof jewellery showroom of Varti Jewells.
Bollywood celebss Varun Dhawan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arjun Kapoor were snapped at Ravi Chopra's house.
Sexy Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor was snapped at the airport.
Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha was snapped at the airport.


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Seven sellouts in 16 matches, three million in total league attendance surpassed, and Robbie Keane carried the Galaxy to six points: these were the stories of the 19th week of the 2013 Major League Soccer season.
In the busiest week of the season to date, 16 matches were played and 37 goals were scored for an average of 2.31 per game. Bernardo Anor of the Columbus Crew scored the 400th goal of the season at Los Angeles, finding the back of the net in the 78th minute in what would ultimately be a losing effort by his side at the StubHub Center on July 4.
Major League Soccer (Home Clubs on Left)
(Brockie 6', Caldwell 21', O'Dea 24') Toronto FC 3-3 Montreal Impact (Romero 1', Camara 69', Di Vaio 70')
All three tallies by Toronto FC were MLS firsts for the goalscorers … The opening goal of the match by Andrés Romero took just 23 seconds and was the fifth fastest in league history … Toronto FC remains winless at home in league play this season … Second draw between the two clubs in the fifth all-time league meeting (Montreal leads the series 2W-2D-1L) … Following a five-match losing streak earlier in the season, TFC has collected at least one point in four of its last five matches.
(Duka 36', Nyarko 47', Rolfe 84') Chicago Fire 3-2 San Jose Earthquakes (Gordon 14', Lindpere OG 72')
Chicago's fourth win in five league matches … The Fire is now undefeated in nine matches across all competitions … Chicago is just six goals from 900 in all competitions since joining MLS (588 matches) … San Jose continues to struggle in MLS matches played at Chicago, as the Earthquakes have now posted a 2W-6D-8L record in 16 Windy City meetings.
(Collin 35') Sporting KC 1-1 Vancouver Whitecaps (Camilo 45')
Vancouver saw its three-match winning streak come to an end, but the Whitecaps have picked up points in seven of their last eight matches … Sporting KC is on a similar run, as the club has lost only once in its last seven league contests … Vancouver is just three goals away from 100 in MLS regular-season play (85 matches) … The Whitecaps remain winless against SKC in four league matches (0W-2D-2L) … Camilo has scored in five straight matches for the 'Caps.
(Gil 75'. Morales 90 + 7') Real Salt Lake 2-2 Philadelphia Union (Le Toux 13', Casey 76')
Real Salt Lake remains unbeaten in seven matches (five wins) … First time in three meetings between the clubs at Rio Tinto Stadium in which RSL didn't come away with the full three points … Philadelphia remains winless in six all-time MLS meetings between the clubs (0W-4D-2L).
(Martins 19', 90 + 1') Seattle Sounders 2-0 D.C. United
Seattle's 98th win in the club's 199th match since joining MLS … Seattle's third win in four matches … The Sounders picked up just their second win over DCU in four matches at home … Seattle manager Sigi Schmid improves his record over D.C. United to 17W-5D-10L in 32 matches … Seattle remains unbeaten (7W-2D-0L) this season when scoring the first goal.
FC Dallas 0-0 Chivas USA
Third straight draw for FC Dallas and 14th straight match unbeaten … Second straight draw for Chivas USA … Through 18 matches this season, FC Dallas has only been beaten three times.
(Sturgis 47', Brown 68') Colorado Rapids 2-0 New York Red Bulls
New York has lost three of four and has been shut out twice in the last three matches … Following a rough end to the month of June which saw the Rapids lose three straight, Colorado has picked up back-to-back wins … First time Colorado has won back-to-back matches since early May … This series remains very close, as Colorado holds a 17W-5D-15L edge in 37 MLS meetings.
(Keane 85', 90 + 2') Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Columbus Crew (Anor 78')
A brace from the penalty spot by Robbie Keane gave the Galaxy its second win in the last three league matches … Columbus, on the other hand, is struggling in a big way: three straight losses and four losses in its last five MLS matches … The Crew does hold the all-time series lead despite the loss, having gone 15W-9D-14L in 38 MLS meetings with the defending MLS Cup champions … Keane's second goal of the match was the club's 1,100th across all competitions (681 matches).
(Sene 13', Imbongo 78') New England Revolution 2-0 San Jose Earthquakes
New England continues to make a case for the 2013 playoffs, picking up three points to solidify its sixth-place standing … The Revolution's 200th MLS regular-season victory (544 matches) … Broke a three-game winning streak which the Earthquakes held in the series against New England … San Jose still holds a significant edge in the series at 20W-5D-12L.
(Clark 59') Houston Dynamo 1-0 Philadelphia Union
Houston's first home league win in 84 days (hard to believe, right?) … Breaks a five-match unbeaten run for the Union … Evens the all-time MLS series between the two clubs at 3W-2D-3L for each … First time the Union was held scoreless since April 27.
(Miller 4', Mattocks 79') Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 Seattle Sounders
Vancouver's first-ever win over a Cascadian opponent in 13 attempts … The Whitecaps are now just one goal away from 100 in MLS regular-season play (86 matches) … Vancouver's 30th win across all competitions since joining MLS (99th match) … Seattle has been shut out in five of its six league losses this season.
(Magee 38') Chicago Fire 1-2 Sporting KC (Feilhaber 6', Zusi 8')
Sporting KC is on an unbeaten streak of four matches, its second longest of the season (five matches unbeaten from March 16 – April 17) … Chicago's season-long six-match unbeaten run has come to an end … Just SKC's fourth win in 21 opportunities at Chicago.
(Anor 5') Columbus Crew 1-0 Portland Timbers
Playing a man down since Pa-Modou Kah's sending off in the 11th minute, Portland made a game effort of this one in Columbus … The loss brings an end to Portland's club-record 15-match unbeaten streak … Bernardo Anor has scored in two straight matches for the Crew … Breaks a three-match losing streak for the Crew.
(Bernier 80') Montreal Impact 1-1 Chivas USA (Avila 55')
Chivas USA isn't winning, but the club is showing significant improvement by picking up its third straight draw … Montreal has hit a bit of a skid of late, picking up its second draw in a row and is currently winless in its last three league matches … The draw was just Montreal's 10th in 51 league matches since joining MLS.
Colorado Rapids 0-0 D.C. United
Colorado's two-match winning streak comes to an end as D.C. United's two-match losing streak comes to an end … D.C. United is now two draws away from 100 in league play (545 matches).
(Sarvas 65', Jiménez 80') Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 FC Dallas
Robbie Keane capped off a terrific week with two assists Sunday night, adding to his two goals scored vs. Columbus on Thursday … LA has picked up wins in three of its last four outings … FC Dallas has a perfectly level goal differential through 545 MLS regular-season matches in club history, having scored 802 goals and allowed the exact same number.
Total goals scored (Week 19): 37
Average goals per match (Week 19): 2.31
Total goals scored (Season): 415
Average goals per match (Season): 2.39
(All attendance figures gathered here are found in MLSSoccer.com's match recaps.)
The 19th week of the 2013 Major League Soccer season was incredibly well attended. With 324,569 tickets sold to the week's 16 matches, the league generated an average figure of 20,286 per contest. This is the fourth highest average attendance figure achieved to this point in the campaign.
The league also surpassed the three million mark during Week 19, specifically during the Houston – Philadelphia match on July 6. Total attendance has reached 3,121,046 throughout the 174 matches of the year, netting an average of 17,937 per contest.
Seven sellouts were achieved during the course of the week, with five of them coming in Western Conference markets. That brings the season total to 50, with 30 of the capacity crowds coming from Western Conference clubs.
This is Brett Compton's 297th post for WeFollowFutbol. Read more about him here.


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NEW YORK — Josh Groban has acknowledged hesitating to reveal himself as more than a guy with a big voice who performs ballads.
"For so much of my career, I think I was a little bit protective of the brand or the image of the voice," he said. "And that's half of me. But I think I've been less afraid to let my 'freak flag' fly a little bit — it has waved gloriously in the wind — and it's been fun."
Groban, 33, has shown his quick wit on social media and as a guest host on Live! With Kelly before Michael Strahan was named Kelly Ripa's co-host.
"I scoffed at Twitter when it first started," he said. "And then I started doing it, and I realized that I could send a tweet like I send a text. And every time I make my friends laugh, and they'd go, 'Man, nobody knows how funny you are.' And I'd go: 'No, no, no — well, they couldn't. They couldn't possibly know. I have a billboard of me staring at them from a desert, and my new Christmas album is climbing the charts. They can't possibly know that I have a funny bone.' "
He finally realizes that "We're not all one thing."
Groban credits late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel for recognizing his comedic abilities.
"People like Jimmy Kimmel have been unbelievable to me in giving me skits and funny sketches to do when nobody else was giving me couch time," he said.
He is stepping further outside his comfort zone these days as host of the singing competition Rising Star, with Brad Paisley, Kesha and Ludacris.
The show has an interactive element by allowing real-time voting.
Groban understands why some people might be hesitant to tune in: They are tired of such shows.
"I wouldn't have signed on to it," he said. "if I didn't think that this was going to be different."


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The first preseason game is designed to wet the appetite of the observer.
The second game is slightly less of a tease, but is still as savory as a jalapeno lollipop.
With the first-team taking snaps for the duration of the first half, some parts of the 53-man landscape will become clearer to envision, others murkier.
For the Philadelphia Eagles, it is much less a proving ground for key players as it is a tune-up for an anticipated, high-octane season.
Bear in mind these items to watch out for in the Eagles' match-up against the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight.


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Celebrity Style
Beyonce accused of Photoshopping her thighs in latest Instagram pictures
- From: news.com.au
- April 11, 2014
BEYONCE'S latest Instagram pictures have got everyone talking — but it's not her putting skills that fans are interested in.
The superstar shared the snaps on social media while on holiday with her family in the Dominican Republic.
Almost instantly, followers began to point out the odd-looking gap between Bey's thighs.
Gossip sites are suggesting that the "thigh gap" bikini photo is the result of some clever (or not so clever) Photoshopping.
One fan commented: "really @Beyonce? we all love your thick thighs. NO reason to photoshop a thigh gap in there.."
Another wrote: "With her money, Beyoncé should be able to pay someone who is better at Photoshop."
But the Drunk in Love singer has been sporting a much smaller frame for a number of months now. Jaws dropped when she stepped out at the Grammy Awards in January wearing a sheer, white dress that revealed just how much weight she had lost.
The mother-of-one reportedly lost more than 30kg in the lead-up to the Grammys after embarking on a vegetarian diet and attempting the now-famous 22-day vegan diet with husband Jay Z.
She's also been posting plenty of pics of late showing off her slimmer figure, so we're inclined to think it's more a case of an odd camera angle rather than a poor attempt at Photoshopping.


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KINDT Genealogy in All Regions
Search criteria: All Regions, Surname KINDT
What can you do here?
Search online databases for your ancestors:*
Find related genealogy web sites:
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1. Sandpoint, Bonner County, Idaho: Lakeview Cemetery
2. Pennsylvania Land Applications: Volume I: East Side Applications 1765-1769
3. Noble County, Oklahoma: Polo Cemetery
4. Genealogische gegevens Familie Poot
Search for KINDT at partner sites:
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What does 'LEB' stand for?
Linaro Engineering Build
What is a LEB/Linaro Engineering Build?
A full system build of popular linux open-source products that come with Linaro improvements pre-integrated; currently products supported by the LEB program are Android, OpenEmbedded and Ubuntu.
What hardware is supported by LEBs?
LEBs are only made available for SoCs produced by Linaro Members; typically we target the official (low cost) development boards for the most recent, publicly available member SoC.
How frequently are LEBs released?
Linaro platform produces monthly LEB releases.
When are LEBs released?
LEBs are getting released on the last Thursday of the month.
Is Linaro a distribution?
Linaro neither is, nor aims to be a distribution.
How is the LEB different to a distribution?
Linaro provides engineering builds that come with significantly different priorities and requirements than the product and end-user focused distribution business. As such we heavily focus on middleware, kernel and hardware enablement topics, but deprioritize typical distribution specific domains such as providing safe upgrade paths, security or stability updates. Also we don't provide end-user support and we are not aiming to build an end-user community around our LEBs.
Why do LEBs exist in first place?
- One motivation of Engineering Builds is to provide a common integration target for all Linaro engineering that allows efficient development and full system validation of Linaro work facing most of the requirements and code paths as found in real products.
- Due to the relatively high fixed cost of maintaining an efficient full system integration target that can be used by whole of Linaro engineering, we found it useful to go one step further and provide a polished and validated build for Linaro member boards on a monthly cadence.
What is the primary audience for LEBs?
Internal Linaro engineering teams, ARM enthusiasts, OEMs that want to start with a very recent BSP, ARM developers.
What product baselines are currently tracked as part of the LEB program?
We currently produce LEBs for latest publicly available Android, OpenEmbedded and Ubuntu
What are the ingredients of an LEB?
- We track all Linaro work that gets integrated and make it transparently available and individually consumable alongside the LEB release
- LEBs focus on integrating landing teams and working groups output; those are typically developed against the upstream trunk. Hence, you will find very recent/bleeding-edge kernel versions and other optimizations in user space in the LEBs.
- If you need recent hardware enablement on an old kernel version for your product, the LEB is the wrong place to look for it.
What are the enablement requirements for an LEB?
In general, we require all enablement needed for delivering a basic user experience. This includes primary enablement for user interaction devices such as touch screen, USB mouse and keyboard as well as networking, primary monitor, and graphics hardware acceleration support. On top, we aim to not release an LEB that significantly regresses the hardware enablement and stability delivered in the best LEB release so far. The goal therefore, is that LEBs always improve from month to month.
LEBs are trunk focused builds? What does that mean?
Linaro focuses on the future. Therefore we focus on stabilizing product components like the Linux kernel before they hit product requirements. Also, all Linaro work is heading upstream. The only viable way to develop and maintain changes staged for upstreaming is to keep the code base fresh, very close to the upstream trunk.
What happens if the "tip" LEB for my platform does not meet the LEB requirements at the end of the month?
If the monthly validation shows that there are significant regressions or that a required feature such as hardware accelerated graphics is broken, we won't release a fresh LEB, but rather continue to ship the last known good LEB. Development efforts continue to focus on tip with the goal to release a new LEB that meets the requirements as soon as possible.
Are LEBs of product quality?
An LEB cannot be of product quality as it is not driven by real product requirements; instead we focus on the specific quality properties needed to fulfill its primary purpose of being the development and integration target for all Linaro engineering.
What is done to validate the LEB?
Linaro Platform team validates all monthly LEBs using a semi-automated sign off plan; the plan and the results are published alongside the release
The results can be found when following the "Status" link next to the download entry on the www.linaro.org/downloadspage. Details on the tests referenced in the spreadsheet can be found at
- https://wiki.linaro.org/Platform/QA/TestCases/Ubuntu
- https://wiki.linaro.org/Platform/QA/TestCases/Android
Does Linaro provide end-user support for LEBs?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is that we are usually happy to discuss issues seen by ARM enthusiast users that are providing good input and actively help debug issues. However, don't expect us to fix issues that are not related to our focus areas: kernel, middleware and hardware enablement. And even there, we don't provide any guarantees that your individual pet bug will get fixed in a finite amount of time.
Are there any other support options for LEBs?
Linaro Member Services offers various services that help Linaro members leverage LEBs or parts of LEBs or individual Linaro components in your products. If you are a member and are thinking about using Linaro output as ingredients for your product development you should definitely get in touch with Member Services.
Is see that testing around enablement and Working Group topics has a high priority on your list. Isn't this leaving out lot's of testing we would need to do for a product?
The majority of issues we find during our monthly release validation are related to hardware enablement. We anticipate that the main challenges that cause this will be solved sooner rather than later and in turn we anticipate that we will get to a point where distributable and working hardware enablement can be taken more for granted. Once we get closer to that we will probably add more priority to general system stability and stress testing.
I am not a member, but want to participate in the LEB program. Is that possible?
No, the LEB program is an exclusive service offered to Linaro Members.
I am a member, but I don't have a Landing Team. Can I get an LEB for my board?
Unless your board is very well supported in the mainline kernel, there is no sustainable way we can produce an LEB for your board. The results would be underwhelming. Please talk to your Member Services contact to explore options.
Should I start building my Android Product from the LEB?
We believe that starting with the Android LEB will give you a noticeable head start if you use one of our supported member SoCs and if you want to make use of any Linaro optimizations including the latest Linaro toolchain.
Can I just use component X from the LEB in my products?
All integrated components and improvements are made available as individual components that can be downloaded and consumed individually. Support for individual components is not provided through the standard LEB program, but for Linaro members there are options for support offered through Member Services. See next question.
I have used component Y from your most recent Android LEB. Now I see random crashes. Can you help me?
The LEB program focuses on providing full system integrations stack for developing, validating and staging Linaro optimizations. Since interactions of software components can be quite complex, we cannot provide support for your individual version mix through our standard LEB program. However, there are services offered to Linaro members by Member Services that might help you. Let's discuss your case!
How do you provide a head start for using the Linaro toolchain on Android?
- Our Android LEB comes with improvements that enable you to make use of bleeding edge toolchain optimizations as present in Linaro GCC releases.
- The Linaro Android team provides a binary toolchain build for the most recent Linaro toolchain releases. By using the binary toolchain with the LEB platform code combination you will free resources to focus on improving the actual Android experience instead of toolchain integration issues.
- For the convenience of product builders that want to make use of Linaro's toolchain without basing their Android code base off our LEB platform, we release distinct patchset for the Android platform that enables product builders to adopt Linaro's toolchain independent of other Linaro improvements.
I am not happy with the amount and type of tests run during LEB validation, what can I do?
- Please support the Platform QA services team to extend automation and manual test plans used for continuous validation; this will over time ensure that the quality converges closer to what you expect.
- Sponsor general and board specific test automation (talk to your Member Services Project Manager and we will setup a project to integrate your tests) …


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Jones downplays Jennings comments about Rodgers
Green Bay - James Jones and Greg Jennings are friends. They have been for a long time.
When Jennings was deciding whether to leave the Packers and sign with the Vikings, he consulted with Jones, telling him at one point he didn't know whether he could see himself wearing purple.
The two remain friends and Jones hasn't turned his back on Jennings even though the former Packer took some shots at QB Aaron Rodgers and the Packers organization.
He made it clear that he doesn't agree with Jennings, but he isn't kicking him to the curb.
"Everybody has their own opinion," Jones said Sunday. 'G's' (Jennings) still my dog. A-Rod is still my dog. G ain't my dog when I play him on Sunday."
Jones played down the comments Jennings made, especially those where he referred to Rodgers as "!2" instead of his name.
"He said '12' when he was here," Jones said. "Sometimes things can get blown up a little bit more. The comments he made shouldn't be made, but I mean, he called him '12' when he was here. Everybody has their own little nickname of some form.
"But the comments he made were not cool at all. A-Rod's a tough dude. He knows enough not to let that get under his skin. It's about playing football."
Jone said he hadn't heard about the Jennings comments until reporters asked him about it because he isn't active with social media. It's a bit of stretch to think that he hadn't heard anything about it, especially with Rodgers addressing it on the first day of camp.
But he said he truly tries to stay away from this kind of stuff.
"I'm not on Twitter," he said., "I'm not on Facebook. I don't hear half the comments that are said. I hear them when I come in here (the locker room). So I don't pay attention to them. We're here to win football games. We're not here to follow Greg on Twitter."
Asked about the rivalry with the Vikings and how he might view them now that Jennings is there, Jones gave the standard line: it's important because it's a division game.
"Not because Greg is over there," he said. "I'm not on defense. I don't even guard Greg, so I ain't worried about Greg. I'm on offense trying to score some points."
- Familiarity brought Starks back to Green Bay
- Video: Breaking down Saturday's Packers practice
- Packers haven't forgotten about ILB Beniquez Brown
- Packers heighten emphasis on punt return after 2015 struggle
- Packers WRs learning Getsy's way of doing things
- Thompson: 'We're starting a new year and we're playing for a championship'
- Video: Breaking down Packers' first padded practice
- Spriggs earns valuable lesson from Peppers
- Linsley still fighting through hamstring injury
- T.J. Lang eager to return for contract year


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The release date, as well as the track list to the Halo Wars soundtrack has been announced! The Halo Wars Original Soundtrack 2-disc set features over 50 minutes of "the adrenalized and sublime original score from the Halo Wars game."
The music was composed by Stephen Rippy (Age of Empires series, Age of Mythology) with performances by the FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir Prague. The second disc is a DVD with nine additional bonus tracks, nine 5.1 mixes of tracks from the music disc, two cinematic trailers and one behind-the-scenes video. The full track list is under the cut.
Track Listing:
Spirit of Fire
Bad Here Day
Money Or Meteors
Just Ad Nauseum
Unusually Quiet
Flip And Sizzle
Put The Lady Down
Six-Armed Robbing Suit
Action Figure Hands
Status Quo Show
Part Of The Plan
Work Burns And Runaway Grunts
Freaked Out
Rescued Or Not
Best Guess At Best
One Problem At A Time
De Facto The Matter
Part Of The Problem
Fingerprints Are Broken
Out Of There Alive
Through Your Hoops
Under Your Hurdles
Insignificantia (All Sloppy / No Joe).