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D.C. City Council Approves Ethics Legislation
WI Web Staff Report | 12/5/2011, 3:48 p.m.
The D.C. City Council has approved a sweeping ethics bill that was rewritten prior to being introduced by Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser.
The bill, which was approved Dec. 5 in a vote of 3-1, creates a board with the power to punish council members for violations, and for the first time, will disqualify mayors and council members convicted of felony offenses while in office. The legislation also extends the terms for members of the new Board of Ethics and Government Accountability to six years.
However, with the absence of Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas from Monday's meeting that was convened by the Government Operations Committee (GOC), doubt was cast whether the legislation would have had enough support to leave the panel.
Thomas, a GOC member, had his home raided by federal agents on Dec., 2 as part of an ongoing investigation launched by the D.C. attorney general. The embattled councilman faces allegations that he diverted more than $300,000 in District funds for personal use.


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The Swapper Review (PS4)
It has been just over a year since The Swapper first came out. It has been almost five months since I picked up the PC copy in a humble bundle and then proceeded to add it to my backlog and never play it. With The Swapper now releasing on the Playstation 4 I finally understand my mistake. The Swapper isn't a game that should be added to a backlog and left unfinished, it should be at the top of the list. It should have been the first thing I played when I got it and an experience that I'll never forget.
Initially the most striking part of The Swapper is the art style. Using clay models that were digitized into in-game assets, all the environments look beautiful. Admittedly, I have a soft spot for games which use these kind of art styles but The Swapper is definitely one of the prettiest yet. Everything looks dark and eerie as it should given the game takes place in an abandoned colony on some far off planet. It's not the most original setting in the world but it is done justice by the intensely creepy and lonely atmosphere reminiscent of the older Metroid games. The music adds to this atmosphere too and while it's not meant to be particularly scary it definitely feels lonely and empty.
The Swapper itself is a device that allows the main character to create a clone of themselves and transfer their consciousness into it. These clones will die. It's inevitable, there will always be a point where they need to create a clone in mid air, transfer themselves into it, then make another above it and so on to leapfrog to a location. But what about the clones? They fall helplessly to their death, a body that so recently was the main character, that's just how it goes. It's the dropping Yoshi into a pit scenario again but this time you're allowing versions of yourself to die repeatedly to progress. These kind of questions are brought up as the story progresses and are probably what I enjoyed most. The questions about what differentiates the human mind from machines, the essence of what makes us human and whether there is anything or we should even care are intriguing and well explained through journal entries and interactions with the ominous Watcher beings in the ship.
At its core though, The Swapper is a puzzle game. Exploring the colony and finding puzzle rooms which use the cloning mechanic in some interesting ways to unlock the next section of the story is the game here. The puzzles themselves ramp up in difficulty nicely, getting pretty difficult towards the end but always being within reason. Every puzzle feels expertly crafted regardless of the difficulty. I left many of the rooms going "Huh, that was smart." Lighting is used to great effect in these puzzles too with blue lit areas blocking the creation of clones and red lit areas blocking the beam which transfers control between clones. Each of these on their own are relatively simple but the ways in which they are combined create some brilliantly complex and fun puzzles
I wasn't expecting much from The Swapper but it surprised me. So many puzzle platformers suffer from issues like length and boring puzzles but The Swapper delivers on all fronts and then also adds an intriguing story with questions about morality and humanity that are incredibly interesting. I genuinely can't think of a complaint I have about it. If you like puzzle platformers this is one of the best around regardless of whether you play it on PS4, PS3, Vita or PC.
5 Freefalling Clones Out Of 5The Swapper Review (PS4),
3 CommentsLeave A Reply
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I'm a latecomer to what is arguably New York's most hyped band at the moment, and despite a perfectly competent set of delightfully incompetent messy punk-lite, there's just no way they could have possibly lived up to the hype. Guitarist and lead singer Cassie Ramone riffed around as much as she could get away with in less than two minutes while sandwiched between fuzzy washes of guitar and equally fuzzy harmonized vocals. Whether the latter was deliberate or an unfortunate casualty of the house sound system, I can't say; that's one of the perils of the lo-fi world. Drummer Ali Koehler was the most intriguing of the bunch, head down and appendages smashing away with just a hair more precision than the tunes seemed to demand, sometimes able to drive things forward against all odds but sometimes overcome by the tangled power chords. I'd probably have found the apparent on-stage jitters perfectly charming were it not for my nagging suspicion that they've had a little too much buzz for a little too long for them to be genuine. I guess it's not fair to hold the band members responsible for the weight of expectation here, but I was underwhelmed. Maybe it's my fault for waiting so long to get around to them. I had the same problem when I finally went to see Shrek.
Mondo Cozmo "Shine" (Live at Bardot) (video) (premiere) // Music
The Band of Heathens "All I'm Asking" (audio) (premiere) // Music
Crippled Black Phoenix "Scared and Alone" (video) (premiere) // Music
Klimt 1918 "It Was to Be" (audio) (premiere) // Music
Exposition Dumps Don't Need Dialogue in 'Virginia'
// Moving Pixels
"Virginia manages to have an exposition dump without wordy exposition.READ the article


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- Home
- News & Multimedia
- News Releases
- Reclamation and TCID Plan Ongoing Truckee Canal Repair and Maintenance Work
Reclamation and TCID Plan Ongoing Truckee Canal Repair and Maintenance Work
Media Contact: Jeffrey McCracken, 916-978-5100
For Release: April 08, 2008
The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID) and the Bureau of Reclamation have been performing a variety of maintenance and repair activities along the Truckee Canal. These activities are designed to ensure the safety and integrity of the canal as it operates to provide much-needed water for irrigation, ground-water recharge, and wetlands in the Fernley and Fallon areas.
TCID and Reclamation will be performing work to repair a small seep along the Truckee Canal embankment passing through the Green Valley subdivision near Farm District Road and Ricci Lane in Fernley. The repairs should begin this week and take no more than 3 days to complete. The work will involve placing two layers of material on the outside wall of the canal embankment covering an area approximately 300-feet long. Residents of the neighborhood will see dump trucks and other equipment during the period of the repair work.
TCID and Reclamation expect to perform similar work at other locations in the coming weeks. Reclamation will issue a press release prior to the start of each repair. Information on the repair work will be posted on Reclamations Truckee Canal website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/truckee_canal.html, on TCIDs website at http://www.tcid.org, and on the City of Fernleys website at http://www.cityoffernley.org/.For additional information, please contact Ms. Betsy Rieke, Area Manager, Lahontan Basin Area Office, Carson City, Nevada, at 775-884-8344.
# # #
Reclamation is the largest wholesale water supplier and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States, with operations and facilities in the 17 Western States. Its facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits. Visit our website at www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR.
Relevant Link:


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The Style Gallery is a great new way for you to view, love, and share outfit photos. It's meant to showcase
all the expressive, creative, and inspirational personalities of our community!
Love you too!
Your email has been sent!
Announcements, comments, and quips don't always come easily, but this petite guidebook makes social media a cinch by providing a collection of convenient updates! Bound in a hard cover with gold-colored lettering across its crimson face, this book contains a series of carefully composed tweets and other updates, complete with humor and hashtags. Five sections follow the introduction, showcasing short messages for describing your daily life, activities in your office, and sharing among your circle of friends. A final chapter surveys the details and disclosures that prominent famous names could have posted. Whether you're confident and creative in 140 character or the notion of online networking makes you cringe, this hilarious handbook from Knock Knock will inspire followers to flood your page with praise!
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My latest nightbike was to Deptford for a chutney competition in the Dog & Bell pub, a lovely real ale boozer. I thought it would take me an age to cycle from my house, but going across the Surrey Canal path it only took me about half an hour, bikes rule. I was cheering on a friend whose beetroot chutney may not have won a prize, but in my eyes it was the best.
When I arrived in Deptford I had to take a picture of Manze's pie shop, classic. I did get aksed (sic) by a group of girls 'what you taking pictures of moving cars for?!' I hope that goes some way to explain why I didn't take that many photos on this bike trip.
Just round the corner from the pub is a building site and if you peer through the gates you can see the other side of the Thames, a beautiful view. There's the Thames Cycle Path so I'm definitely planning a little bike gang excursion out here, this looks like a real beaut of a trip.
Churches everywhere.
Floral wreath near Surrey Quays.
You have to cycle through an industrial estate, I took a wrong turn and ended up outside Millwall football ground.
You can see Canary Wharf through the derelict arches, amazing.
Here's the aformentioned chutney, my money was on 327.
Apologies for the bad pic, here's my judging plate with a pint of Grasshopper ale. What more could a girl ask for?


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Dear members,
Thank you, NarutoBase Staff
Favorite is Whitebeard and Mihawk
Funny is almost everyone
I like everyone but if I had to pick a top three it would probably look like this:
- Luffy(do I really need to explain why?)
- Zoro or Mihawk can't decide(total bad asses)
- Franky(cause his SUPER!)
Forum Rules


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Evaluating teachers
The Tribune deserves a D-minus for your April 5 editorial on the new Chicago Public Schools' teacher evaluation plan. You commend CPS for making student standardized test score growth 25 percent of the evaluation but claim that 50 percent would be better.
Tribune Math score, C: There's no evidence that simply doubling a percentage improves the result. In fact, doubling a figure that is considered by experts to be unreliable likely yields no value. The National Academy of Sciences has come out strongly against use of student tests for purposes other than those for which they were designed — analyzing student, not teacher, strengths and weaknesses.


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ACParadise Network: American Cosplay Paradise American Cosplay Experience American Cosplay Snapshots
Cosplayer KIRA*KIRA > Costume of Prince Soma Asman Kadar from Black Butler
- Most Recent Photo
- 01-20-2010
- Series
- Black Butler
- Character
- Prince Soma Asman Kadar
- Special Variation:
- Cover Art
- Year Completed:
- Construction Difficulty:
- Easy
- Wig styled by
- | ~º)
About this Costume
- Construction Details:
The trim on the vest are all hand drawn. . . everything gold is pretty much gold vinyl, if not from the dollar store earring section (*3*)b I took the earrings apart and put them together for my own use <3
- Personal Thoughts:
- I hafta thank Yeu for being so patience and do the tattoo on the side of the stomach ;D; Pica for helping me out with the wig earlier >3<;;;;; And thank yeu for housing the shoot *_*;; and everyone's hardwork for the sets >3<);;; <3 <3
Add a Comment


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Hoppin' Jalapenos
Total Time
Prep 15 mins
Cook 15 mins
I can't convince my husband to try these, but I adore them!
Ingredients Nutrition
- 12 jalapeno peppers
- 3 ounces neufchatel cheese, room temperature (light cream cheese)
- 1⁄2 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1⁄4 cup green onion, finely chopped
- Carefully cut each jalapeסo lengthwise.
- Under running water, rinse out the seeds and remove the stems and veins.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix cheeses and onions.
- Use a small spoon to stuff each jalapeסo half with the cheese mixture.
- Bake the peppers in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese melts.
Most Helpful
Have you tried wrapping these with 1/2 strip of bacon and baking on a rack in a cookie sheet? Everywhere I have taken them they have been a hit. Johnnie Terry
I am embarrassed to say that this is one of the first Zaar recipes I made, and the ingredients are so simple, I have been making them from memory for the last 2 years. These are wonderful treats, especially if you are watching fat intake. I make these for DH who has heart issues and use the fatfree cheeses with great success, and top them with panko before baking for a little crunch. Thank you Mirj for sharing the recipe, and sorry for not reviewing sooner.
Jalapeños...are those the small really really hot ones? if so Ouch!...if not...yum!


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Crash kills Caldwell woman
A Caldwell woman died in a head-on crash Sunday afternoon on U.S. 22 just outside of Cambridge.
Jody Bice, 35, of Caldwell was driving a 2008 Chrysler Pacifica east on U.S. 22, a two-lane road about 4 miles east of Interstate 77, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Tim Cunningham, of the Cambridge post, which investigated the crash.
She died when a 17-year-old boy driving a 2005 Dodge Ram pickup truck went left of center and collided with Bice's vehicle, Cunningham said. The Pacifica ended up on top of a guardrail on the side of the road.
The pickup rolled over after the collision. The driver was not hurt. His name was not released by the patrol. No one else was in the truck. Cunningham said tests are pending to see if alcohol may have played a role in the crash.
Two young sisters, ages 4 and 5, were riding in the back seat of Bice's vehicle. The patrol identified the girls, who were not seriously hurt, as Bice's foster children.
Bice was using her seat belt at the time of the crash. The patrol is investigating whether the girls and the truck driver were using their seat belts, Cunningham said.
Bice taught dance to youngsters in the Caldwell area. A candlelight vigil in her memory was held Sunday night at Bice's dance studio.


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Times food critic and broadcaster Giles Coren entertained 180 Wizo women at the charity's literary lunch at St John's Wood Synagogue on Wednesday — and complimented the kosher catering.
During a Q&A session with the director of The Ivy, Fernando Peire, Mr Coren said the meal by Jason Millan had been "marvellous — absolutely delicious".He had particularly enjoyed the "lovely and moist chicken".
The praise was welcomed by a relieved Ben Tenenblat, director of the caterer, who said there had been "a lot of pressure to deliver".
One Wizo questioner took Mr Coren to task for constantly reviewing treif dishes in his columns. He responded that he did not eat much shellfish, but added: "I'm the kind of kosher where you can eat pork."
Mr Coren was on safer ground when asked how a food critic stayed trim. He said he tried to avoid carbohydrates, especially bread, and passed on dessert. But "you don't want to hear that. You want me to say there are these secret pills." He stood by his colourful attack in The Times on Oslo Court — a St John's Wood restaurant popular with Jewish pensioners — after David Cameron had dined there.
"It's the type of place where they serve you cold soup so you can complain," Mr Coren suggested.
The lunch raised £30,000 for Wizo's welfare work in Israel.


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To see views enlarged, click on the individual pictures...
g -- all of the above
All, (any) of these conditions could be present with this type of head tilt.
e -- all of the above
All of these tests should be done.
b -- appropriate surgery
Just watching is not the best choice. Neither would prisms, eye exercises or a neck brace be the best for treatment of this child. Since this child could have any of the conditions (a) through (e), each would be most likely best treated by eye muscle surgery. For example: (a) left medial rectus recession, (b) left inferior oblique myectomy, (c) recession left medial rectus and resection left lateral rectus, (d) right lateral rectus palsy, (e) recession of right lateral rectus and left medial rectus, (f) left superior oblique weakening.
This case demonstrates that abnormal head posture can indicate the presence of a motility disturbance, but that a comprehensive evaluation must be carried out to arrive at the proper diagnosis. In this question, activities are limited to the outpatient clinical setting. In the operating room forced ductions would be carried out.
To learn more about the significance of anomalous head posture, see the Strabismus Minute, Vol. I, No. 8 and in the books �Surgical Management of Strabismus�, and �Strabismus: A Decision Making Approach�.
© 2003-2014 Project Orbis International Inc. / All worldwide rights reserved.


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Health Services for Adults and Seniors
Geriatric Services, P.C. is the universal answer to the question: How do I get the best in Geriatric and Adult care for my family?
The Geriatric Services, P.C.'s healthcare program is a leader in meeting the complex and varied health needs of adults and seniors. Our mission is to keep older adults healthy, active and independent for as long as possible. When your well being, or that of an elderly parent, is at stake, you need professional healthcare services such as those provided by our team of dedicated professionals.
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In addition to our Adult and Senior healthcare practice, Geriatric Services, P.C. is also a third-party provider of professional healthcare services to long-term and rehabilitative care facilities.
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Our professional catering and event staff offers flexibility and the ability to coordinate exciting events, including theme parties and banquet functions. Our executive chef and culinary staff can personally work with individuals or groups in preparing a variety of meal options within various budgets.


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John C. Page letter to William Page, 1834 Oct. 22
Page, John C.
Collection size: 1 item (on 1 fr. of microfilm)
Microfilmed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for the Archives of American Art, 1955.
How to Use this Collection
- Microfilm reel P20 (fr. 697) available for use at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
- The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
- For more information on using the Archives' resources, see the FAQ or Ask Us.


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About That AMA Endorsement
Yesterday President Obama took time out of what one would presume was a busy day to tout the fact that the AMA and the AARP had endorsed the latest House version of health care reform.
But it appears that some of the rank and file are none too happy with the endorsement. In fact many are quite upset that the endorsement was made prior to their meeting in Houston this weekend. There are moves afoot to introduce resolutions at the meeting to rescind the endorsement.
Former AMA president Stormy Johnson is preparing a resolution to rescind the endorsement, sources said. And the surgeons are introducing a resolution that would call on the AMA to actively oppose any legislation that includes a public option or a temporary doc fix or that doesn't include medical malpractice reform.
A number of state associations are also upset with the AMA's endorsement.
And, of course, not mentioned by President Obama were two doctor's associations who came out opposing the legislation:
In fact, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons announced their opposition to the House bill today.
"Sadly, in the ongoing health care reform debate, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We could not support H.R. 3200, the 'America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,' which was introduced in the House last July and unfortunately, we must now oppose this new House bill too. It contains no significant changes or improvements when it comes to the issues we believe are vital for true health care reform in this country," said AANS president Troy Tippett.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of the AMA's meeting, but it appears, given the turmoil this endorsement has stirred, that the significance of the AMA's endorsement should be taken with a grain of salt.
[HT: Abigail R.]
2 Responses to About That AMA Endorsement
The AMA and the AARP are both evidence of O'Sullivan's law. "Any orginization which is not explicitly right wing will in time become left wing."
Jail time (5 yrs) if I don't buy coverage?
I envy people in other states who are able to purchase firearms


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Early Review: The Deepest Night by Shana Abe Book 2 in The Sweetest Dark series Book provided by Edelweiss and Bantam Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Release Date: August 13, 2013 Synopsis from Goodreads: A rich portrait of post-Victorian England, The Deepest Night seamlessly blends thrilling romance with riveting history and adventure—perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Lauren Kate. It's 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England's southern coast. While she's always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: [ Read More of this Review ]
Jul 102013


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Dima, Bogdan and Pirtea, Marilen and Barna, Flavia and Murgea, Aurora and Nachescu, Miruna (2007): The Analysis of the Bucharest Stock Exchange Financial Sector.
Download (187kB) | Preview
The Romanian financial market has passed in the last years through a large "maturating" and consolidation process which has created an unfinished architecture, harmonising step by step with the capital markets from European Union. One possible way to analyse the empirical characteristics of this architecture could be the sectoral approach of the distribution, informational efficiency and volatility, synthesised by the index's dynamic. This paper is oriented on the financial sector of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, reflected in the BET-FI index because this sector has gone through important changes during the last few years, becoming very attractive for the individual and institutional investors. The paper offers an analysis of the static proprieties of the BET-FI index and of the way the financial sector positioned in respect to the other sectors, as well as to the whole capital Romanian market (done through a co-integration between the BET-FI index and the others main indexes of the market namely BET and BET-C). The main results show an asymmetrical distribution of the BET-FI index, bring some evidences of a weak form of sector efficiency, and identify the presence of connections between the BET-FI index and the other indexes. Also some important mutations of the BET-FI short term volatility are registered
|Item Type:
|MPRA Paper
|Original Title:
|The Analysis of the Bucharest Stock Exchange Financial Sector
|capital market, efficiency, co-integration, volatility, rational behaviour
|C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C32 - Time-Series Models ; Dynamic Quantile Regressions ; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models ; Diffusion Processes ; State Space Models
G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets > G14 - Information and Market Efficiency ; Event Studies ; Insider Trading
C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C5 - Econometric Modeling > C52 - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
|Item ID:
|Depositing User:
|Flavia Barna
|Date Deposited:
|21. Dec 2008 13:27
|Last Modified:
|15. Feb 2013 21:19
1. BEECHEY M, GRUEN D, VICKERY J, The Efficient Market Hypothesis: A survey, RBA Research, Discussion Papers, pd200-01
2. BREALEY R, MYERS S., Principles of Corporate Finance, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, 1991
3. COOPER,K.S, DONALD R.F, The capital marketplace, 5th ed.Reading,MA:Addison-Wesley, 1996
4. COPELAND T,WESTON J,Financial Theory and Corporate Policy,3th ed.Addison-Wesley, 1988
5. DRAGOTA,V,MITRICĂ,E –Emergent capital market's efficiency: the case of Romania, European Journal of Operational Research no.155,2004
6. GROSSMAN S.J.,STIGLITZ J.E., Information and Competitive Price Systems, American Economic Review, vol.66, no.2/1976
7. FAMA E.,FISHER L.,JENSEN M.,ROLL R.,The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information,International Economic Review, X, February, 1969
8. FAMA E.F., Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Works, Journal of Finance 25, May 1970
9. FAMA E Forward Rates as Predictors of Future Spot Rates, Journal of Financial Economic ,October 1976.
10. FAMA E. Efficient Markets: II, Fiftieth Anniversary Invited Paper, Journal of Finance 46, December 1991, 1575-1617
11. KAM,C.C.,BENTON ,E.,MING-SHIUN PAN, International Stock Market efficiency and Integration:A study of Eighteen Nations, Journal of Business, Finance &Accounting, 24, July 1997
12. LELAND,H.E, PYLE,D.H, Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation, Journal of Finance, 26 (June1971)
13. MAHDI,M,H, Review of Capital Market Efficiency :some evidence from Jordanian market, International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, no3, 2006
14.MAUBOUSSIN,M, Revisiting market efficiency :the stock market as a complex adaptive system, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, vol.14,no.4,2002
15.POSTA,V.HACKL,Z, Information efficiency of the capital market: a stochastic calculus approach evidence from the Czech Republic, Czech Journal of economics and Finance, vol.57, issue 5-6, 2007
15. SAMUELSON P.A., Proof That Properly Anticipated Prices Fluctuate Randomly, Industrial Management Review (Spring) 1965
16. STANCU I., Finante, Ed.Economică, Bucuresti, 1997
17. STANCU I.(coordonator), Articole fundamentale în teoria financiara, ASE,Bucuresti, 1998
16. VAN HORNE, J.C, Capital market Rates and Flows, 5th ed, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1998
17. WUNDER,G, MAYO,H Study supports Efficient Market Hypothesis, Journal of Financial Planning,1995.


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Author and Page information
- This page: http://www.globalissues.org/article/238/effects-of-consumerism.
- To print all information e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links, use the print version:
Richard Robbins is worth quoting at length on the impact of consumption on the environment and on people.
William Rees, an urban planner at the University of British Columbia, estimated that it requires four to six hectares of land to maintain the consumption level of the average person from a high-consumption country. The problem is that in 1990, worldwide there were only 1.7 hectares of ecologically productive land for each person. He concluded that the deficit is made up in core countries by drawing down the natural resources of their own countries and expropriating the resources, through trade, of peripheral countries. In other words, someone has to pay for our consumption levels. [Emphasis Added]
… Our consumption of goods obviously is a function of our culture. Only by producing and selling things and services does capitalism in its present form work, and the more that is produced and the more that is purchased the more we have progress and prosperity. The single most important measure of economic growth is, after all, the gross national product (GNP), the sum total of goods and services produced by a given society in a given year. It is a measure of the success of a consumer society, obviously, to consume.
However, the production, processing, and consumption, of commodities requires the extraction and use of natural resources (wood, ore, fossil fuels, and water); it requires the creation of factories and factory complexes whose operation creates toxic byproducts, while the use of commodities themselves (e.g. automobiles) creates pollutants and waste. Yet of the three factors environmentalists often point to as responsible for environmental pollution — population, technology, and consumption — consumption seems to get the least attention. One reason, no doubt, is that it may be the most difficult to change; our consumption patterns are so much a part of our lives that to change them would require a massive cultural overhaul, not to mention severe economic dislocation. A drop in demand for products, as economists note, brings on economic recession or even depression, along with massive unemployment.
— Richard Robbins, Global Problem and the Culture of Capitalism, (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), pp. 209-210
As hinted above, within the current economic system of "perpetual growth", we risk being locked into a mode of development that is:
- destructive, in the long run, to the environment
- a contributing factor to poverty around the world
- a contributing factor to hunger amongst such immense wealth
- and numerous other social and ecological problems
Furthermore, as also hinted above, as consumption increases (in a wasteful way, which we shall see a bit later), the resource base has to expand to meet growth and related demands. If the resource base expands to other people's lands, then those people don't necessarily get to use those resources either. This is also quite bluntly captured in this following cartoon image:
This web page has the following sub-sections:
Misuse of land and resources
How land is used to produce food etc. can have enormous impacts on the environment and its sustainability. (This can sometimes challenge assumptions on the instinct and common belief that we are overpopulated by sheer numbers and that this is the major cause of environmental degradation. While populations can burden the environment, the most populous regions in the world use far less resources than the wealthiest nations, and so the issue is more about how resources are used and for what purpose.) Take the following as an example:
Junk-food chains, including KFC and Pizza Hut, are under attack from major environmental groups in the United States and other developed countries because of their environmental impact. Intensive breeding of livestock and poultry for such restaurants leads to deforestation, land degradation, and contamination of water sources and other natural resources. For every pound of red meat, poultry, eggs, and milk produced, farm fields lose about five pounds of irreplaceable top soil. The water necessary for meat breeding comes to about 190 gallons per animal per day, or ten times what a normal Indian family is supposed to use in one day, if it gets water at all.
… Overall, animal farms use nearly 40 percent of the world's total grain production. In the United States, nearly 70 percent of grain production is fed to livestock.
— Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000), pp. 70-71.
Because industrial agriculture is using more monocultures, rather than a diversity of crops, the loss of biodiversity is leading to more resource usage, as described above. This as well as other political situations such as the motives for dumping surplus food on to developing countries to undersell the local farmers, leads to further hunger around the world. For more information on that aspect, refer to this web site's section on food dumping.
Consumption patterns in wealthier countries increases demand for various foods, flowers, textiles, coffee, etc. Combined with more harmful products such as tobacco and illicit drugs, and with input-intensive agricultural practices (including using herbicides and pesticides) the diversion of and misuse of land and the associated environmental damage in unsustainable methods adds up. For additional examples and information on misuse of land, refer to this web site's look at causes of hunger.
As land ownership has become more concentrated in the hands of fewer owners, larger companies, larger agribusinesses etc, and as things like food dumping, mentioned above, increases hunger and drives rural workers out of jobs, there is an increase in urban migration as people move to the cities in hope for a better chance. This then places additional stress on the larger cities to provide for more people. It also results in more slum areas, health problems, increasing crime, over-crowding, and so on.
But cities aren't the only places that the landless move to. Some, being pushed off their own lands, will move to less arable land to hope to farm that, which may conflict with wildlife. In other cases, others may move into forested areas, clearing them with a hope to make a living form farming that cleared land. Destruction of old forests in particular can also mean loss of habitat for many wildlife. In yet other cases, many may try to immigrate to other parts of the world if they feel there is no choice left in their own country. In yet other situations, economic growth can also lead to more urban migration. Sometimes this growth of cities can go in hand with decline in the rural areas.
Due to these and a multitude of other complex socioeconomic and political factors, in different parts of the world, there are different proportions of people in urban and rural areas. For example, the World Bank reported in a 1999/2000 report that 74% of poor in Latin America and Caribbean lived in urban areas, while in Europe and Central Asia it was 67%. In the Middle East and North Africa it was 58%. In East Asia and Pacific, 33% while in Sub-Saharan Africa it was 32%. In South Asia it was 27%. (For more details see the World Bank's World Development Report 1999/2000, Table A.2. The World Bank didn't explicitly categorize North and Central America for some reason, which have approximately 76% and 50% urban populations, respectively. Full country breakdowns are available in the report.)
It is not always the case that, as commonly held, the poor are the ones that end up stripping natural resource to survive. Many communities described as poor (materially) have traditions and practices that encourage protection of their environment because they understand their mutual dependency. In addition, land ownership for the poor provides mechanisms to ensure sustainable and efficient use, because of the need to care for it for their survival, as detailed for example, by Vandana Shiva, in her book Stolen Harvest (South End Press, 2000). Peter Rosset also shows that smaller farms are more efficient when it comes to ensuring a productive yet healthy ecosystem.
Economic policies of the wealthier nations and their consumption demands mean that more land is therefore used to grow cash crops (bananas, sugar, coffee, tea etc) for export to wealthier countries (primarily), while other land is diverted for non-productive uses (tobacco, flowers etc). Additional land is also cleared and used to grow things like cattle for beef exports. In the quantities that some of the products of these exports are consumed, it could be argued that a lot of this production is wasteful and unnecessary. The cost to the environment and local populations is borne not by the consumers of the products, but local people instead. [These economic policies that encourage this pattern are often imposed upon the poorer nations, through things like Structural Adjustment (SAPs) etc.]
And because food is a commodity, then it is those who can afford to pay, that will get food. The following is worth quoting at length (bulleting and spacing formatting is mine, text is original):
To understand why people go hungry you must stop thinking about food as something farmers grow for others to eat, and begin thinking about it as something companies produce for other people to buy.
- Food is a commodity. …
- Much of the best agricultural land in the world is used to grow commodities such as cotton, sisal, tea, tobacco, sugar cane, and cocoa, items which are non-food products or are marginally nutritious, but for which there is a large market.
- Millions of acres of potentially productive farmland is used to pasture cattle, an extremely inefficient use of land, water and energy, but one for which there is a market in wealthy countries.
- More than half the grain grown in the United States (requiring half the water used in the U.S.) is fed to livestock, grain that would feed far more people than would the livestock to which it is fed. …
The problem, of course, is that people who don't have enough money to buy food (and more than one billion people earn less than $1.00 a day), simply don't count in the food equation.
- In other words, if you don't have the money to buy food, no one is going to grow it for you.
- Put yet another way, you would not expect The Gap to manufacture clothes, Adidas to manufacture sneakers, or IBM to provide computers for those people earning $1.00 a day or less; likewise, you would not expect ADM ("Supermarket to the World") to produce food for them.
What this means is that ending hunger requires doing away with poverty, or, at the very least, ensuring that people have enough money or the means to acquire it, to buy, and hence create a market demand for food.
— Richard H. Robbins, Readings on Poverty, Hunger, and Economic Development
When the best agricultural land is used up to produce these cash crops, more marginal land is used for food and subsistence farming. This can also lead to clearing parts of rainforests, or other forms of encroachment on other ecosystems.
It's not just food crops. Other uses of the world's resources by the wealthier nations include metals and other raw minerals to produce automobiles, planes and so on. As nations such as China begin to rise, their appetite for these resources are quite large. However, while there is some concern raised at the amount of environmental resources such nations will eventually require, little is raised about how for decades richer nations have been consuming in further excess and waste. For more details on this, see Richard H. Robbins, as quoted above.
Many wonder why the poor cannot follow the example of the rich and get out of poverty themselves. Numerous mainstream commentators suggest that the poor should follow the example of the rich and that globalization (in its current form) provides the answer. Some may say this because they or their society has followed this ideology to get out of poverty and it worked for them, so it should work for others. Yet, often missed is where the resource base to support the increase in wealth has typically come from. If it comes from other regions then it can (not always) mean that for one society's gain, others may not. This was apparent in imperial and colonial times where vast amounts of the world's wealth was plundered and accumulated in the imperial centers in Europe. Yet, the consumption inequalities of today and the regions of immense wealth and immense poverty, on a global scale shows a similar pattern to those of previous decades and centuries. The U.N. resource consumption statistic mentioned at the start of this section (of 86 percent of the world's resources being consumed by just the world's top 20 percent) is testimony to this.
Hence, the resource base, from which to get out of economic poverty is lacking and so the same process that may have made today's wealthy richer, is not necessarily the best way for all people.
Furthermore, if today's poor attempted to reclaim those resources for their own use and for sustainable development, it will naturally be seen as a threat to the way of life for those who currently use those resources. As described in the poverty section of this web site, wars throughout history have been because of this control of resources. World War II and the resulting Cold War were also such battles. Yet because in the mainstream this is not acknowledged it is easy to just see this as a threat and act on it, without really understanding why it has become a threat. (Side NoteAs a side note, it is interesting to note that there are books and insights popping up that predict future wars will be a new kind of war; resource wars. Yet, this is what it has typically been throughout history, but fortified with ideologies and religions. Ideologies and religions offer different ways to live, and hence different ways to use resources.)
This YouTube video from Journeyman Pictures explains some of the imbalances of power that results from resource exploitation:
The wealthier consume precisely because others are poor — the rich consume at the expense of the poor. Such global inequality is very wasteful of resources, as further resources are expended maintaining this unequal balance of power (be it through military, political, social or other means). As Robbins was quoted above, "someone has to pay for our consumption levels". (The causes of these imbalances are discussed throughout this web site, as well as later on in this section on consumption and consumerism.)
Exporting Pollution and Waste from Rich Countries to Poor Countries
Pollution is also related to increased consumption. That is, the consumption itself, plus the production and waste of products used in consumption. Automobiles are a clear example. Other examples include industrial waste (especially when just dumped into the rivers and oceans), waste from the tourist industry (including cruise liners, air travel, etc.), waste from industrial agriculture, consumer waste such as household waste, excessive product packaging, our "throw-away" culture, and so on.
While pollution is increasing in poorer countries as well, it is not solely due to rising populations, because, as the U.N. points out, and as mentioned earlier, 86% of the world's resources are consumed by the world's wealthiest 20%. Hence, even if pollution is occurring in poor countries, a large portion of it is to meet this consumer demand. In its September 2008 issue, the journal Energy Policy found that around 1/3rd of Chinese carbon dioxide emissions were due to the production of exports and that it is mostly the developed world consuming these.
And long before the fears that the Kyoto Climate Change protocol would encourage western businesses to move dirty industry to poorer countries that were exempt from emissions reduction targets, multinational businesses were already looking for places with lower standards.
In 1991, then Chief Economist for the World Bank Larry Summers, (and US Treasury Secretary, in the Clinton Administration, until George Bush and the Republican party came into power), had been a strong backer of IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Policies, which have proved to be so disastrous to the developing world. He wrote in an internal memo (leaked to the Economist in 1992) that is very revealing:
Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of dirty industries to the LDCs [less developed countries]?… The economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable, and we should face up to that… Under-populated countries in Africa are vastly under-polluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City… The concern over an agent that causes a one in a million change in the odds of prostate cancer is obviously going to be much higher in a country where people survive to get prostate cancer than in a country where under-five mortality is 200 per thousand.
— Lawrence Summers, Let them eat pollution, The Economist, February 8, 1992. Quoted from Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000) p.65; See also Richard Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), pp. 233-236 for a detailed look at this.
Summers was talking about migrating industries. That is, moving them elsewhere, but to still serve their original purpose — produce for consumption by wealthier nations and people. So instead of expensive changes to factories to deal with environmental and other issues that the public and society demand, they have had the ability to move elsewhere and continue on without making these costly changes. As a result, we may see a relatively cleaner environment in the industrialized world, but it is not all explainable by using newer technologies, being more efficient, etc (which are no doubt certainly part of the explanations).
This is a partial explanation of why some of the wealthier countries have cleaner air, water and so on, compared to poorer countries that are facing more pollution, even though they consume a fraction of what wealthier nations consume. Consumption in richer countries can come at a high price for those in poorer countries as well then. (See Robbins, cited above, for a more detailed discussion of this "paradox", who also points out for example, that the "core countries already ship 20 million tons of waste annually to the periphery", or poor, countries (p.235).)
Side Note
A World Bank spoof site, the Whirld Bank, posted the leaked memo. It also had a postscript which contained a reaction from the then Brazilian minister for the environment. The article noted:
After the memo became public in February 1992, Brazil's then-Secretary of the Environment Jose Lutzenburger wrote back to Summers: "Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane… Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional 'economists' concerning the nature of the world we live in… If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility. To me it would confirm what I often said… the best thing that could happen would be for the Bank to disappear." Sadly, Mr. Lutzenburger was fired shortly after writing this letter.
Mr. Summers, on the other hand, was appointed the U.S. Treasury Secretary on July 2nd, 1999, and served through the remainder of the Clinton Admistration. Afterwards, he was named president of Harvard University.
— The Bank Memo, The Whirled Bank Group (A Spoof of the World Bank web site).
Another trend is to also export waste to other regions of the world. As one example, hazardous electronic waste, such as old computers, old computer monitors, etc primarily from wealthier nations, are also being exported to places like China, India and Pakistan, where they are processed in operations that are extremely harmful to human health and the environment. However, minimal or non-existent environmental and working standards and regulations, old technologies for recycling and processing, etc. is putting a lot of people and surrounding environment at risk due to the sheer amount of waste to be processed.
Environmental News Service quotes Jim Puckett, coordinator of Basel Action Network, and one of the authors of a report titled Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia :
"They call this recycling, but it's really dumping by another name," added Puckett. "Yet to our horror, we further discovered that rather than banning it, the United States government is actually encouraging this ugly trade in order to avoid finding real solutions to the massive tide of obsolete computer waste generated in the U.S. daily."
Puckett referred to the fact that the United States is the only developed country in the world that has failed to ratify the Basel Convention, a United Nations environmental treaty which has adopted a global ban on the export of hazardous wastes from the worlds most developed countries to developing countries. The U.S. has exempted electronic wastes from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the nation's export laws, because the material was claimed to be destined for recycling.
— Cat Lazaroff, High-Tech U.S. Trash Floods Asia, Environment News Service, 26 February 2002
Obesity due to Excessive Consumption
A cycle of waste, disparities and poverty
Poverty, land control and ownership, pollution and so on, are largely parts of economic and ideological systems too. As exemplified by the Lawrence Summers quote above, a "value" is placed on the environment, on life, on different cultures and so on.
This is so ingrained into the cultures of the wealthy nations, that the thought of massive adjustment of lifestyles and economic systems to a more sustainable consumption seems too much to consider. Instead the system is continued and maintained. Built into the system itself are mechanisms that encourage this, without realizing the costs.
For example, a population where health is generally getting worse may result in more sales of medicines or a growth in private healthcare and other knock-on industries. Instead of these always being seen as a cost, they are seen as providing more jobs and creating wealth, and as a result it counts towards GDP and other indicators of economic health! It then looks like the economy is dealing with this fine, without realizing that even more resources are used to support these jobs and industries that may not be needed in as much intensity.
It is easy to blame consumers from wealthy countries as the sole cause of these problems elsewhere though. However, as mentioned in the initial pages on this section, much of this mass consumerism culture in the "north" has not been based solely on natural demand, but a created demand. That is, from large businesses and industry wanting to sell more products and make more profits. Politically this has also been encouraged as it helps create a more conforming populous satisfied by material needs. As an effect of this, as such businesses also strive to eliminate competition by becoming bigger and bigger, this has become more destructive than what we might actually realize, and on a wider scale.
Even as the United States began to feel the onset of a recession (due to crisis of overproduction) coming on in the middle of 2001, the economic and political leaders respond by attempting to encourage people to spend more. The Economist is worth quoting to highlight that:
SHOPPING: it's long been one of America's favourite pastimes, but more recently it has taken centre stage in the battle to prevent the world's biggest economy from sliding into recession. As share prices have plunged along with profits, and layoffs have soared, it has sometimes seemed this year as if the American consumer's addiction to retail therapy was incurable. That's just as well, because consumer spending has been the main reason the economy has not dipped into recession this year. But now there are signs that even America's heroic spendthrifts may be losing heart.
— Spend, spend, spend, The Economist, August 31st 2001
This over-production and over-capacity (due to over-estimating the expected demands) partly due to "under" consumption leads to dominant companies attempting to consolidate losses and maintaining profits via things like mergers and layoffs etc. However, even in wealthier nations, it cannot be a guaranteed success.
Yet poor countries suffer immensely. For example, when the financial crisis hit Asia around 1997, at a time of enormous production, collapse meant that western corporations were able to pick up almost entire industries on the cheap. This helped destroy growing competition, as the situation was getting so competitive and fierce, that the best way (for those who can) to ride through this was to buy out others, merge or consolidate. While capital fled to the West and there was a temporary boom, as exemplified by the hi-tech sector in the U.S., overproduction was likely to catch up, as it seems to have now. Hence the West were consuming on "borrowed" time and resources from the poor. As Robbins said, "someone has to pay."
Another way then, for industries to continue growth and profitability etc, is to try and create demand. Markets may have to be created where there were none before. But, as a result, the following effects can occur:
- Demands need to be created where there may have been none previously, or may be minimally.
- Luxuries can therefore be encouraged to become necessities.
- The commodification of food, the impact of policies such as structural adjustment policies and conditionalities have led to mass production of the same commodities from many regions, mostly exported to the wealthy nations.
- But the huge "price war" leads to price depressions.
- Mass consumption increases in the wealthy nations that receive these exports at cheap prices and demands are further increased.
- Poor producers are further marginalized as the wealthy export producers use even more resources for the drive for further profits to meet this demand.
- Additional requirements are made on the environment to produce even more.
- Boom and bust cycles lead to various dynamics, such as
- During booms, there is more consumption in wealthy areas, and from poorer areas there are more people migrating towards rich countries.
- During busts, further poverty, increasing anti-immigrant rhetoric, and in poor countries especially, pushing the already marginalized onto additional lands because the best lands are already owned and controlled. In worse cases, conflicts can also result.
(Of course, there are many other complex factors, both causes and effects. For more examples, see various sections within the causes of poverty part of this web site.)
When looking at the destruction of rain forests in Central America, a similar pattern to what is mentioned above was observed by John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto, in their book Breakfast of Biodiversity: The Truth About Rain Forest Destruction, (Food First, 1995), and also highlighted by editor Douglas H. Boucher, The Paradox of Plenty; Hunger in a Bountiful World, (Food First, 1999), pp. 86—87. Summarizing that here:
The patterns of inter-related issues that would affect forest destruction could be seen in many different areas, such as banana production, citrus and other fruits, rubber tree plantations, and other commodities. Yet, these were "similar politically if quite distinct biologically", and would typically include the following stages:
- "Visionary capitalists identify an economic opportunity for the market expansion of an agricultural product"
- "They purchase (or steal, or bribe into a government concession) some land, including land that may contain rain forest, which is promptly cut down."
- "They import workers to produce products"
- "After a period of boom the product goes bust on the world market" which leads to cut backs, layoffs, etc.
- Those laid off must seek other means to survive, and in poor countries and rural areas that may mean growing subsistence crops on marginal lands
- "The only place the now unemployed workers can find land no one will kick them off of is in the forest, which means yet more forest is converted to agriculture."
They continue to point out the flaws in the accepted Malthusian theories of population growth placing demands on natural resources. An environmental group in India, Centre for Science and Environment, captures this in a simple cartoon graphic:
(See also this web site's population section for more on population debates, and this site's section on biodiversity for more about deforestation and other issues around biodiversity and its importance.)
Some examples/case studies
There are many products and industries where one can identify such patterns. We will look at some of these next.
Tobacco and obesity are, in a way, simpler examples that many can see being related to the more negative aspects of consumption encouraged by "corporate capitalism." These two are looked at first.
On the pages after that, we then look at two stark examples that we may not often think about: sugar and beef consumption.
- The consumption of these have not historically been as high as they are today.
- Yet, sugar plantations during colonial times, for example, was a major employer of slaves and continues to be a major contributor to environmental degradation, poverty, health costs and all manner of wasted and diverted wealth.
- Cattle raising has often led to clearing of rainforests, such as parts of the Amazon — not to feed local people however, but for fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds. Such demands then serve to meet the "needs" of producers.
The example of bananas discussed earlier, and how that has affected forests, environmental sustainability, economies of entire regions, etc. is also discussed in more depth after sugar and beef.
There are also numerous examples of how conflict and war can be fueled partly because of demands placed on resources, the want to maintain a certain way of life, even if it is wasteful, etc. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- various conflicts in Africa (such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, etc) for resources to be exported to the west, such as diamonds, wood, coltan (without which computer chips can't work),
- the historic domination and influence of the Middle East for oil,
- for the support of dictatorships by the west, such as previously in Indonesia to support massacres and invasion of East Timor (also for oil and other resources)
- of oil multinationals being accused for killing local and indigenous people,
- and so on.
- Even the Cold War (which we often just dismiss away as an ideological battle, but behind the ideology was access to resources) was such a battle.
- Many of these are already presented in other contexts throughout this site and links to these are provided at the end of this site's section on consumption.
These are not complete examples, and of course, over time more will be added here and throughout the site.
Looking at some of these examples next will further highlight how in various ways there is enormous waste structured within our system of the current form of "corporate capitalism."
Where next?
Related articles
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Anup Shah, Effects of Consumerism, Global Issues, Updated: August 10, 2005
Alternatively, copy/paste the following MLA citation format for this page:
Shah, Anup. "Effects of Consumerism." Global Issues. 10 Aug. 2005. Web. 03 Dec. 2016. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/238/effects-of-consumerism>.
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Author and Page Information
- Created: Friday, September 07, 2001
- Last Updated: Wednesday, August 10, 2005


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Professional athletes are not only rated by their physical ability, but also by their character and personality. They are judged by how well they can lead their team, or how well they can play their role.
Media does their job well. They will air what the public wants to see. And what the public wants to see doesn't always classify as greatness. Sometimes we would rather see a risky behind the back pass turnover, or a missed under the legs dunk in the playoffs.
While we are watching these attention starved players on ESPN highlights, there are great players out there doing their job the right way, the way the game of basketball should be played. With fundamentals, not windmills.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 2009 NBA All-Underrated Team...


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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A new study released last month says that while Hollywood produced 17 times more R-rated movies than G-rated films between 1988 and 1997, the G movies generated eight times more gross profit than the R's. The average G-rated film also produced a 78% greater rate of return on investment than the average R film, according to the study commissioned by the Dove Foundation here. Study data was compiled by Kagan Media Appraisals, Carmel, Calif., and analyzed by economists ...
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Supports Lavigne, Kurtz for selectmen
I urge Holden voters to send a strong message to the select board by re-electing Bob Lavigne on April 30. Bob provides us with the leadership we need from our elected officials. Bob's desire to build a better relationship with the school district serves as the best example of why he is a true leader.
I further encourage you to bring a new member to the board. We need independent thinkers with fresh ideas focused on making Holden better. My support is going to Jeremy Kurtz. I believe Jeremy is well suited to provide the focus we need to make Holden the community it should be. Some elected officials define what their position should be while others are defined by their office.
Being a leader is more than a top hat and sash saying "selectman." It's more than being "Third Generation Holden." We need leaders, not followers.
Chris Lucchesi
Bailey Road, Holden


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Zack Greinke is reportedly going to remain in the great Sunshine State, opting to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweeted earlier that the deal is done. It should be official as of Monday, pending a physical.
The wait is over. Earlier today, it seemed like the Texas Rangers were going to walk away with the top available free-agent pitcher.
What a difference a few hours make.
The six-year $144 million deal is the largest contract ever given to a right-handed pitcher, according to ESPN. Greinke's deal dwarfs the deal Matt Cain signed for five years and $112.5 million earlier this year.
The lesson to be learned here is: If you are a right-handed pitcher, move to California.
In all seriousness though, this move will certainly fall under some scrutiny, simply because of the numbers that are associated with the deal. But if it leads to the Dodgers holding up a World Series trophy at season's end, does it really matter?
I'm sure Don Mattingly is going to bed smiling tonight.
The Dodgers now have one of the most formidable 1-2 punches in MLB. Now that Greinke is joining the ranks with Clayton Kershaw, we can take a look to see where the Dodgers' top two pitchers rank amongst the other top 1-2 combos in MLB.


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Hey Ladies, just wanted to give you all an update, I went in to urgent care today because I thought I had a stomach virus, I had fever, I was nauseous but something that was very weird to me was I was having extreme cramps and back pain. The MD did an HCG and it was positive YAY!! But.. he said he wanted to rule out an ectopic pregnancy as the cramps were a concerned to him, I went to the ER they did bloodwork which confirms I am pregnant, they also did an ultrasound but I am around 4 weeks so they can't see anything yet. MDS said it could just be a normal pregnancy or I could be experiencing a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy, they don't know yet.
I am going back on Friday to make sure my numbers are doubling. Please say a prayer for me and my bean.


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The Carolina Panthers entered the 2012 season with lofty goals and an optimistic fanbase. After five games, their preseason goals appear unreachable, and the fanbase has grown more pessimistic with each loss.
Cam Newton, who won the Rookie of the Year award last year, has looked lost in three of the team's losses and is in the midst of a sophomore slump.
Injuries have slowed Jonathan Stewart, Jon Beason and Chris Gamble at various points, and their absences have hurt the team.
Head coach on Rivera was supposed to lead the Panthers to relevance this season, but thus far the team hasn't even scratched the surface of mediocrity.
With four losses already, the Panthers find themselves four games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South. In the blink of an eye, the Panthers have lost any realistic chance of winning the division.
While Carolina faces an uphill battle if it hopes to contend for a playoff spot, it is possible if everything from this point on goes off without a hitch.


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« Back
A supporter of Pakistan People's Party mourns the death of Punjab's governor Salman Taseer who was shot dead by one of his guards, at a local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Jan. 4, 2011.
AP Photo
"A Bad Beginning for Pakistan in 2011"
Op-Ed, Asia Society
January 5, 2011
Author: Hassan Abbas, Former Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security
Why Salman Taseer's murder is a setback for democracy
Amid political turmoil following key resignations from Pakistan's ruling coalition, the country received a jolt with the brutal assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer at the hands of a terrorist identified as Malik Mumtaz Qadri-his official security guard, who targeted Taseer on the pretext of his bold criticism of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law.
Taseer called it "black law," and religious extremist elements misinterpreted this statement as anti-Islamic. His political opponents and some local media outlets also criminally used the opportunity to defame and discredit him with malice. Taseer was also a vocal critic of human rights violations, especially those pertaining to minorities. His barbaric murder is an attempt by bigots to silence all those who want free speech and are challenging intolerance in society. This is a setback for democracy in Pakistan.
Continue reading: http://asiasociety.org/policy-politics/governance/national/bad-beginning-pakistan-2011
For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.
Full text of this publication is available at:
For Academic Citation:


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Coming Soon: Olympic Weightlifting Drop-In Sessions
For those who competed in the Open Sectionals, I want to congratulate you all as you gave a valiant effort over the past 6 weeks. Staying motivated for the 6-week long competition got pretty darn tough physically and mentally, but you all stayed determined and put forth awesome performances. Be proud of yourselves.
Now that the stress of the sectionals is over, it's time to get back into the regular swing of things. For many of us, the sectionals taught us many things about our strengths and weaknesses. One that stood out to Nabil and I, was how much more work we need on our olympic Lifts (Clean & Jerk and Snatch). Because of their complexity, working on olympic lifts need to be a weekly routine, whether at the Sweat Shop or elsewhere. Once every month or so just isn't enough to hone in the movements. So, given that we had a great turnout of Sweat Shoppers joining us in the sectional workouts with us every week, we are planning on holding weekly olympic lifting drop-in sessions.
Here's how it will go down:
- Each session will be scheduled on a week by week basis upon availability.
- Each session will be around mid-day and will be one-hour long.
- The open gym will be for working on olympic Lifting ONLY.
- Nabil and I will also be working out during this time
- Each session will be announced on the Sweat Shop FACEBOOK profile. We strongly encourage those who want to make each session to add CrossFit Sweat Shop as a "Friend" on facebook.
This is a great opportunity for those who want to improve their olympic lifts to practice the lifts, get some feedback, as well as watch others perform them. Keep your eyes peeled on our facebook page for the first session.
Legitness of the Week
Clean PR's
Dustin 150×1
Jin 215×1
Joel 195×1
Nik 225
Back Squat PR's
Dustin 150×3
Katherine 115×3
Joe S. 215×3
Rob K. 185×3
Donna D. 140X3
Kasi 150×3
Ron 193×3
Scott 173×3
Colt 203×3
Steve 235×3
- Jessica (13:18) and JB (12:29) have their way with "Nancy". *Sweat Shop Records*
- Looking "so fresh and so clean" Joe W. finally gets a haircut.
- Mufasa Mike S. refuses to engage in an "extremely easy" snatch WOD and performs "The Custom WOD" with fat bar deadlifts, bench press, tire flips, and wall balls (all things a lion needs to maintain his pack).
- Rather than sleep in, bathe in the spring break vacation sun, or sip virgin margaritas by the pool, Dustin, our lone high school Sweat Shopper, decides to spend his spring break in the Sweat Shop at 6am!
- Josh gets a lesson from the "Beast" to not leave his log book out!
Friday's WOD:
A.) Clean
B.) CrossFit Games Open WOD #6
As many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme of:
3 Thrusters
3 Chest to bar pullups
6 Thrusters
6 Chest to bar pullups
9 Thrusters
9 Chest to bar pullups
12 Thrusters
12 Chest to bar pullups
*Continue on until time is up.
Thursday's WOD:
5 Rounds
403m Run
15 Overhead Squats (95#/65#)
Purpose of CrossFit
Running around in some random field – Denmark 2006
Two weeks ago many Sweat Shop members made the trip up to South Lake Tahoe to compete in the 2011 Fittest of the Sierras. JB and I left early Friday morning, arrived just after 12pm, checked in, grabbed our skis and snowboard, and hit the mountain. Although I haven't been snowboarding all year, and only went once last year, it felt as though I'd never taken a day off! Aside from it being great fun, I was extremely happy with how fresh my legs felt during, and even the next day. I'm convinced that the training I've been doing in the gym, helped me to have a more enjoyable time on the mountain. The only thing that would have made it better would have been sunshine and blue skies, hence the random picture above. Now I'll get to my point.
CrossFit is awesome for many reasons. The physical and mental challenge of the workouts. The feeling of accomplishment after the workout. The post workout buzz or euphoria. The physical and mental health benefits. The local community support from within the gym. The CrossFit community of nearby gyms. The national and international CrossFit community. And, as I was able to benefit from, the ability to enjoy recreational activities, and/or do them better or with less soreness or aches and pains. When any or all of these things are your primary reason for doing CrossFit, you will likely experience life-long enjoyment and fulfillment from participating in CrossFit. However, if your primary goal is to be the best male or female during your class time, best performance on the whiteboard for that day, make it on to the leaderboard, qualify for the CrossFit Games, or any other accomplishment that involves gaining praise or the respect from others, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Before I go any further, let me reiterate that the previously mentioned motivators should not be your PRIMARY goal. Many of them are inherent to CrossFit and several of them are exactly what enables us to push much harder than what we would normally be capable of, especially during those really tough workouts. So having them as motivators, not primary goals, is perfectly healthy. I know what many of you are thinking right now, "….making the leaderboard, being the first to finish the workout, etc. isn't my primary goal." But if during a workout you find yourself looking for ways to make a movement easier, or performing questionable range of motion, or after a workout you find yourself disappointed with your results, when you compare it to others, your head is simply in the wrong place. The simple fact is, no matter how much you improve, or how good you get, there will likely be others that are better than you, and thus your insecurities or feelings of inferiority will never end. CrossFit, and exercise in general is an excellent way to have fun and reduce stress, if you are stressed out and/or not having fun, it's time to re-evaluate why you are doing this.
Wednesday's WOD:
A.) Snatch
B.) 800m Run
then 3 Rounds of:
15 KB Swings
7 Burpees
Pastured Eggs
Recently, I cut out yogurt from my diet and replaced it by eating eggs, and since yogurt was what I ate for breakfast every morning, I'm now eating a lot of eggs. For quite a while now I've been purchasing free range, organic eggs, but this post, along with recommendations from Nathan, has convinced me to seek out pastured eggs. Pastured eggs may be difficult to find in most stores, but Whole Foods in Walnut Creek does carry pastured eggs from Shelly's Farm, a local Brentwood farm. Thanks to the guys at Diablo CrossFit for the heads up on this post.
I knew supermarket eggs were bad. The chickens are crowded in cages. They don't even have room to move or turn around. They're pumped with antibiotics and fed genetically modified feed. They're sick and very unhealthy — which is why it's so common to find salmonella with factory farm chickens and eggs.
So I always bought "organic" "free range" eggs. It was about a year and a half ago that I discovered truly pastured eggs. The definition of "free range" or "cage free" is that they give the chickens "access to the outdoors". What does that mean? Uh, nothing. Do they really go outside? No, usually not. They're crowded into large, windowless sheds and they rarely ever go outside.
They may be "organic" and "cage free" but these are not truly healthy birds. Since they're not given antibiotics, they are very susceptible to disease. The people who work at these "big organic" chicken farms have to wear cleanroom suits when they go in to visit the birds.
Read full post here.
Tuesday's WOD:
A.)Back Squat
B.) As many rounds as possible in 9 minutes:
3 Muscle Ups
6 Burpees
12 Single Arm KB Squats
Mufasa Mike has come a long way in terms of his strength, flexibility and overall fitness. However, he has only scratched the surface of what he is truly capable of.
"If you've been doing CrossFit for any significant amount of time and you are stuck on something like not being able to do a pullup, always complaining about being sore, not "leaning out" or feel like you're getting weaker…it most likely is a problem with your nutrition, alcohol intake, & sleep."
Read full post here.
**I'll be filling in at CrossFit Adventure on Wednesday for their 12:30pm class. Any Sweat Shoppers who'd like to get a midday workout in come on by! Also, we'll be doing CrossFit Open Workout #6 at CrossFit Adventure at 1:30pm, immediately after the 12:30pm class.
Monday's WOD:
4 Rounds
15 Ring Dips
15 Deadlifts (225/155)
403m Run
How To Get "cut"
Mike B. performing CrossFit Open Workout #2
Apparently hard work and nutrition have little to do with having low body fat. Check out this post on Fox News Health for a list of sports that will get you "cut" without adding too much of that pesky stuff called muscle. Thanks to TomC for this great find!
Saturday's WOD:
403m Run
30 KB Swings
30 Box Jumps
30 Pushups
200m Run
25 Knees to Elbow
25 Single Arm KB Squats
25 Situps
70m Run
20 Pullups
15 KB Walking Lunges
10 Burpees
*perform (3) rope climbs at some point during workout
A.) Bench Press
Weighted Pullup
B.) Alternating Tabata
Single Arm KB Squat
Jason gets his first muscle up!
Legitness of the Week
Overhead Squat PR's
Chris J 135×2
Matt M. 165×2
Trish 95×2
Michelle 80×2
Donna C. 110×2
Kirstin 90×2
Bryan K. 110×2
Melaney 95×2
Tammy 110×2
Jake 105×2
Dustin 125×2
Patrick 165×2
Jason 205×2
-JB 370 Fight Gone Bad *Sweat Shop Record*
-Although kipping pullups have been performed with ease for sometime now, Kirstin finally reaches her goal of unassisted strict pullup!
-Despite unknowingly ordering a soy burger after an entire day's worth of CrossFit competition, Patrick refuses to let the almost certain adverse effects of soy, as a post workout meal, ruin his always positive attitude!
-Jason … MUSCLE UP!!!!
Friday's WOD:
As many rounds as possible in 18 minutes:
5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats
*start with a 3 rep deadlift (~80 – 85% of 3 rep max) and perform a set of 3 reps every 2 minutes throughout the duration of the 18 minutes
Thursday's WOD:
Fight Gone Bad!
3 Rounds
1 minute of each exercise:
Wall Balls
Summo Deadlift High Pull (75/55)
Box Jump
Push Press (75/55)
Row for Calories
REST 1 minute after completing entire round
Got Complaints?
Think twice before you complain about how difficult certain exercises are, or how you just aren't good at certain movements.
Check out this video of Hector Delgado doing CrossFit Open workout #2.
( Windows / Mac )
Wednesday's WOD:
A.) Overhead Squat
B.) 3 1/2 minutes to complete:
403m Run
Max Reps Double Unders
2 1/2 minutes to complete:
200m Run
Max Reps KB Swings
1 1/2 minutes to complete:
70m Run
Max Reps Burpees
*no rest between rounds
Hero Workouts
U.S. Army First Sergeant Michael "Hammer" Bordelon
"To the average CrossFitter, Hero workouts are symbolic gestures of respect for our fallen. CrossFitters from all over the world, regardless of country or allegiance, throw themselves wholeheartedly at these intentionally gut-wrenching workouts that serve as a tribute to our lost protectors."
Read full article here.
Tuesday's WOD:
5 Rounds
5 Power Cleans (135/95)
10 Front Squats
5 Push Jerks
20 Pullups
REST 90 seconds
Afternoon Personalities
For all the morning Sweat Shoppers that can't make it to the afternoon class, meet some of the "Dirty 5:30″ Sweat Shoppers. No matter how tough the WOD seems to be, they always like to make some fun out of it. Watch out for the "Early Bird" video soon to follow….
Monday's WOD:
403 m Run
24 Kettlebell Swings
24 Push-ups
24 Toes-to-Bars
24 Single Arm Kettlebell Squats
200 m Run
18 Kettlebell Swings
18 Push-ups
18 Toes-to-Bars
18 Single Arm Kettlebell Squats
70 m Run
12 Kettlebell Swings
12 Push-ups
12 Toes-to-Bars
12 Single Arm Kettlebell Squats
Fittest of the Sierras – Results & Pics
Team Sweat Shop at South Tahoe CrossFit – Fittest of the Sierras 2011
Big props to all the Sweat Shop members that competed this weekend at South Tahoe CrossFit Fittest of the Sierras 2011. It was a long, but fun day, filled with 3 workouts, and several people PR'd during the workouts. Also, big thanks to Kasi, Matt, Melaney, and Kirstin, who came up to support and cheer on those competing.
Fittest of the Sierras:
Workout #1
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
60 Bar facing burpees
30 Overhead Squats (120/90)
10 Muscle Ups
Workout #2
10 minute time limit:
1 Rep Max Snatch
Workout #3
15 minutes:
1000m Row, then:
As many rounds as possible
6 Deadlift (225/155)
12 Wallballs
Check out pictures that Kasi took here.
Saturday's WOD:
Front Squat
*403m Run between each round
Friday's WOD:
A.) Push Jerk
B.) 4 Rounds
90 seconds each round to complete:
12 KB Swings
70m Run
Box Jumps for REPS
*no rest between rounds
Josh has only one expectation when he enters the Sweat Shop; to go all out.
Everyday we face new challenges. In the midst of these challenges, we sometimes get overwhelmed by setting such high expectations for ourselves and become unsatisfied with ANY result we didn't expect. In the spirit of the competitions going on, here's an awesome post by CrossFit Lisbeth speaking to how expectations can be the root to our successes and failures:
We do it to ourselves.
We have these expectations. They live in our heads, not in someone else's. And they tell us what we think, what we want to have happen . . . and that's the good thing — these expectations are our hopes, our dreams, our spirits untrammeled. "I'm going to get 15 of those squats unbroken." "I will get a muscle-up." "All A's this semester. All A's." "He's the one."
Expectations can be fantastic things: their very existence tells us that we are alive, that something called hope still burns brightly somewhere within us. And hope ain't no joke: it keeps us breathing some days.
But there can be a problem with expectations. They can bite us in the ass. And keep on biting. Because when they're not met — for whatever reason, whether it is our own failing or that of someone else — often we stay at the scene and beat ourselves up over what we could have done better. We assess the difference between what we expected to happen and what actually did — and then we linger. And the lingering is what gets us in trouble. It feeds our ego but produces nothing.
The seed of tomorrow's victory certainly lives in what we learn today, but not if we're stupid and mired in our failures. So, stop gazing at your own reflection and look up. The world is alive with other possibilities. Grab one of them. Act.
Read full post here.
Legitness of the Week
Deadlift PR's
Dustin 185×5
Rob K. 245×5
Sean 295×5
Kirstin 140×5
Amy G. 155X5
Valerie 140×5
Melaney 145×5
Kasi 175×5
Tom 228×5
Ron 230×5
Shoulder Press PR's
Jeff 115×3
Eric 105×2
Back Squat PR's
Mike B. 235×3
Lones 195×3
Jennifer 150×3
Matt M. 245×3
Dustin 165×3
Donna C. 175×3
Trish 130×3
Patrick 295×3
Nancy 95×3
Laney 120×3
Tom 205×3
Joe W. 245×3
Colt 185×3
Jason 255×3
Helen 200×3
Jin 260×3
-J.B. surpasses snatch goal with 180×1.
-Josh hits a double day on monday.
-Jake surpasses unassisted pullup goal.
Friday's WOD:
A.) Push Jerk
B.) 4 Rounds
90 Seconds each round:
12 KB Swings
70m Run
Box Jumps for REPS
*No rest between sets*
Thursday's WOD:
A.) Deadlift
B.) 403m Run
15 Pullups or 8 Muscle Ups
5 Burpees
200m Run
20 Box Jumps
5 Burpees
70m Run
25 KB Swings
5 Burpees
Free Seminar at CrossFit Adventure
Just a reminder, our good friend Nathan will be holding a free seminar at his gym, CrossFit Adventure, this Thursday evening. Check it out!
Tuesday's WOD:
4 Rounds
4 minutes each round to complete:
300m Row
12 Thrusters (95/65)
12 Knees to Elbow
Double Unders for REPS
REST 2 minutes between rounds


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Whether you own technology exchange traded funds (ETFs) or not, what happens to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in all likelihood affects you.
Many investors are "secret owners" of Apple stock. That is, it's so ubiquitous you may not even realize you not only own it, but own a significant amount.
Brett Arends for The Wall Street Journal points out that Apple is in a rare class of stocks. It's widely owned and affects many retirement portfolios. Its wide ownership flies against convention, since it's a volatile growth stock.
Most stocks that show up in nearly every portfolio are those of more stable, established companies that well past the growth stage.
If your U.S. stock portfolio is up over the past few years, and especially last year, Apple's performance probably had something to do with it. More than 100 mutual funds have invested more than 10% of their assets in Apple. And Apple alone accounts for more than a fifth of the widely followed NASDAQ 100 Index.
Apple is also a major component in a number of ETFs:
- Internet Architecture HOLDRs (NYSE:IAH): Apple is 23%
- PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQQ): Apple is 20%
- iShares Dow Jones US Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:IYW): Apple is 13.4%
- Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSEARCA:XLK): Apple is 12%
- iShares S&P Global Technology (NYSEARCA:IXN): Apple is 10.2%
So, next time you hear a bit of Apple news, make sure you don't own Apple stock before you decide the reports don't apply to you.
Disclosure: No positions


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You may never win an Academy Award, but at least you don't need a designer gown and borrowed baubles to prevail in Oscar bingo.
It's a time-honored tradition; On Oscar night, when Hollywood pats itself on the back again and again ... and again, average folks around the world watch the broadcast and mercilessly pick apart their idols. After all, what's better than questioning the sartorial judgment of people much more attractive and much wealthier than you are?
And if you're going to do it anyway, why not make a game of it? Here, we've collected some of the sights you're bound to see at the very high-brow Academy Awards and paired them with that very mass-market pastime: bingo.
You can get your Bingo cards in the print edition of the Amarillo Globe-News or download and print the .pdf from HERE. Distribute the cards to your Oscar-night guests and discuss the rules beforehand. Will a player only win with horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines? Or can you do four corners? Does the preshow coverage count or only the actual awards show?
Players MUST call out clues for them to count. Decide whether everyone gets to mark their board when they see a clue on TV or just the first person to call it out. If you choose the latter, then everyone else must wait until Jack Nicholson shows up again (don't worry, it will happen).
--MCT News Wire
© 2016. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


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WELCH - A road in McDowell County is open
again, after road crews worked to clear a mound of dirt and debris from a
falling wall.
One lane of
Riverside Drive in Welch is now open, according to Mayor Reba Honaker. The Welch side of Summers Street is still completely closed, so folks in that area will need to use the Coney Island
entrance until further notice.
Part of Riverside Drive in Welch had collapsed
onto Summers Street Wednesday evening. Honaker said crews have since
completed recovery and clean-up. Coal truck drivers traveling through the
area have been advised to use caution.
ORIGINAL: 2/20/14, 5:06 p.m.
WELCH – A road in McDowell County is blocked as crews work to clear a mound of dirt and debris.
Part of Riverside Drive in Welch collapsed onto Summers Street just before 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Crews have the roads blocked as they work to clear and secure the area.
Officials say they are concerned about traffic flow out of the city, and a detour on the bypass will add about 10 minutes to your trip.
Mayor Reba Honaker says the walls in Welch are aging and these types of collapses are becoming more frequent.
"They are somewhere in the vicinity of 100 years old. Well, we know that they are starting to give… and things don't last forever."
Officials say the road block is an inconvenience but it could have been much worse with homes at the bottom of the hill.
Honaker says she has talked to the Division of Highways and plans are in place to secure existing walls to prevent future collapses.


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Today, while I was cuddling with my girlfriend, she looked at me and leaned in. Thinking she was going to kiss me, I leaned too. Just as we were about to kiss, she screamed "COW KISSES" and somehow managed to lick my eyeball. FML
by Brian / 03/17/2012 at 10:32pm / United States (Washington) / Love
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Candelabrum, 1903, Ebonized and gold-rubbed oak, kappa shell, and copper, 17 x 16-3/4 x 7", Private Collection.
Trefoil Table for the Rohlfs Home, circa 1888, Oak, 18-7/8 x 19-3/8", Private Collection.
Octagonal Table from the Rohlfs Home, 1904, Chestnut and copper, 30-1/8 x 32", Private Collection.
Lamp from the Rohlfs Home, ca. 1904, Copper, brass, and kappa shell with replaced glass, 23-1/4 x 15-7/8" diam. Private Collection.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York
The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs
October 19, 2010-January 23, 2011
Praised by the international press and exhibited throughout the United States and Europe at the turn of the 20th century, the American furniture designer Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936) created innovative works that combined elements of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and proto-modernism in surprising and original ways. In a meteoric career that barely spanned one decade, he designed only a few hundred works — many of them for his own home. While Rohlfs's forms were too eccentric for the commercial market of his time, he achieved recognition as a unique voice and seminal force in the history of American art furniture.
The exhibition The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs examines the designer's singular style through 50 examples of furniture and related objects. Many of the works descended in his family; others are on loan from museums and private collections. The presentation at the Metropolitan will include several unusual works from private collections in the New York area that have not been displayed previously. Rare printed advertising cards and pamphlets for Rohlfs's work — all from the collection of the Metropolitan — will also be shown.
The exhibition was organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Chipstone Foundation, and American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation.
The exhibition explores Rohlfs's life and career, including the activities of his wife, the artist and successful mystery novelist Anna Katharine Green; the far-ranging sources of his idiosyncratic motifs; his commissioned interiors; his efforts at self-promotion and marketing; and his attempts to define a conceptual framework for his artistic endeavor.
Born in Brooklyn in 1853 to a German émigré cabinetmaker, Charles Rohlfs studied drafting and design at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. He earned a living as a designer of cast-iron stoves, was a patternmaker for foundries, and also — with less success — pursued a career as an actor. He married Anna Katharine Green in 1884, and the couple moved to Buffalo in 1887. New research shows that Rohlfs's early experiments with furniture design — which furnished the couple's home — involved close collaboration between husband and wife. When neighbors and guests asked Rohlfs to make furniture for them as well, the hobby became a business. He set up a workshop with a few freelance carvers and, by the 1890s, was promoting himself as a designer of "artistic furniture." Rohlfs produced furniture on commission for the great lodges of several wealthy patrons in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York; received critical acclaim for work he submitted to international exhibitions such as the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo and the 1902 Turin International Exposition of Modern Art; and signed a distribution contract with the Chicago department store Marshall Field & Company. Despite these successes, his workshop was in existence for only a few years. As mass-produced furniture became readily available and styles changed, Rohlfs's eccentric ideas did not attract enough of a following to sustain the business. He all but abandoned cabinetry and became active in civic affairs.
Made of oak stained a matte brown, Rohlfs's furniture was embellished primarily by means of elaborate carving. Although the designer denied any connection to a particular movement or style, his inventive silhouettes and imaginative carving combined many different sources, from the abstract naturalism of Art Nouveau to the bold shapes and materials characteristic of the Arts and Crafts movement. His virtuosic carving recalled Chinese and Japanese forms and highly stylized renditions of nature. He claimed that his individual inspiration came from the natural grain of oak and his own creative imagination. As an example, the carving on one desk chair resembles the cellular structure of oak as seen through a microscope. Other unusual works include a table with legs at the mid-point of each side (rather than at the corners), numerous three-legged chairs with sculptural or filigreed arm- and backrests, and a tapered clock.
A fully illustrated catalogue by Joseph Cunningham, published by Yale University Press in association with American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation, will be available for purchase in the Museum's bookshops ($65 hardcover; $50 paperback).
Carved Candle Stand, 1902, Oak and copper, 26-1/2 x 10-3/8" diam. Carnegie Museum of Art, Promised Gift of American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation in honor of Joseph Cunningham.
Desk with Suspended Gallery, 1904, Oak, copper, and iron, Overall approx: 71 x 71 x 36"; each cabinet: 30 x 19 x 35"; desk top: 2 x 71 x 36"; cabinet on top: 18 x 68 x 22".Private Collection.


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Beginning on September 1, 2011, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are requiring appraisers to include a "Quality Rating Code" on all appraisal reports. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the new Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD), was created to improve the quality and consistency of appraisal data on loans delivered to the GSEs, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae." This is done by defining "all fields required for an appraisal submission for specific appraisal forms and standardizing definitions and responses for a key subset of fields."
We'll see if standardizing the required fields and Quality Rating Codes (QRC) has the desired effect of creating consistent appraisals regardless of geographic location. In the meantime, here are the QRC and what they mean:
C1: The improvements have been very recently constructed and have not previously been occupied. The entire structure and all components are new and the dwelling features no physical depreciation.
C2: The improvements feature no deferred maintenance, little or no physical depreciation, and require no repairs. Virtually all building components are new or have been recently repaired, refinished, or rehabilitated. All outdated components and finishes have been updated and/or replaced with components that meet current standards. Dwellings in this category either are almost new or have been recently completely renovated and are similar in condition to new construction.
C3: The improvements are well maintained and feature limited physical depreciation due to normal wear and tear. Some components, but not every major building component, may be updated or recently rehabilitated. The structure has been well maintained.
C4: The improvements feature some minor deferred maintenance and physical deterioration due to normal wear and tear. The dwelling has been adequately maintained and requires only minimal repairs to building components/mechanical systems and cosmetic repairs. All major building components have been adequately maintained and are functionally adequate.
C5: The improvements feature obvious deferred maintenance and are in need of some significant repairs. Some building components need repairs, rehabilitation, or updating. The functional utility and overall livability is somewhat diminished due to condition, but the dwelling remains useable and functional as a residence.
C6: The improvements have substantial damage or deferred maintenance with deficiencies or defects that are severe enough to affect the safety, soundness, or structural integrity of the improvements. The improvements are in need of substantial repairs and rehabilitation, including many or most major components.Share:
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