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Banff will be back in 2017! If you would like to be notified by email when tickets go on sale,
please sign up here.
2016 World Tour Trailer...
Austin 2016 World Tour Lineup
55 Hours in Mexico 9 min.
Classification: Parental Guidance; coarse language
Fly to Veracruz on a Friday, rent a car, climb the third-highest peak in North America, ski down and return to your desk Monday. How hard could it be?
The Important Places 9 min.
Classification: General; coarse language
Using a mix of old 16mm footage and new visuals, a son rediscovers the necessity of returning to and protecting "the important places" in our lives.
Kroger's Canteen 8 min.
Classification: General; coarse language
In 2014, Kilian Jornet won the Hardrock 100 mile race through the San Juan's of Colorado. Along the way he stopped at Kroger's Canteen – an aid station perched on a tiny ledge, 13,100ft above sea level. This is a story about that aid station, about the people who make it happen, and about the spirit one can only find at the Hardrock 100.
Sounds of Paragliding 4 min.
Classification: Genearl; no advisory
Listen to nature's harmony while aerobatic paragliding pilot Théo de Blic dances to the sounds of the sky.
The Search for Freedom (special edit) 44 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
The Search for Freedom is the story of the human desire to live in the moment and do what makes you feel the most alive. This is a visceral, visual experience told through the eyes some of the brightest pioneers, legends and cultural visionaries in the realm of outdoor sports.
Eclipse 31 min.
Classification: General; coarse language
The odds are low, the risks are high – photographer Reuben Krabbe is determined to capture a photo of a skier in front of the 2015 solar eclipse in Svalbard. But the weather's bad, the guide is sketchy, the pressure is massive and the skiers just want to ski.
The Last Dragons 10 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
An intimate glimpse at North America's Eastern Hellbender, an ancient salamander as mythical as it is real. And in many waters, myths are all that remain of these sentinel stream-dwellers.
Nature Rx 1 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
Is life a little too mundane or overwhelming? Feeling tired, irritable or stressed out? Maybe Nature Rx is just the ticket.
Living Rivers - Surf 3 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
There is a new and emerging river surfing scene in Montana.
unReal (special edit) 12 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
Imagine a world where you ride the perfect trail perfectly, and sometime snow isn't the only stuff that falls from the sky. When you spend all of your time at work dreaming about mountain biking, which life is real?
Women's Speed Ascent 4 min.
Classification: General; coarse language
Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter knew that the women's speed record for the ascent of The Nose on El Cap was theirs for the taking. Crushing the old record after just a few days of attempts, Mayan and Libby put their names in the record book of the infamous route in the Yosemite National Park.
Denali 8 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
There's no easy way to say goodbye to a friend, especially when they've supported you through your darkest times. A collaboration between Ben Knight, Skip Armstrong and Ben Moon.
2016 Radical Reels Lineup
The Following Films have been Confirmed.
More Films may be added.
Balloonskiing - Heimschnee 5 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
What if there was no gondola or helicopter? Just the wind and a hot air balloon to lead you and your friends to undiscovered powder and untouched turns.
Beat Down 4 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
Two bikers, one steep trail. It's a race straight to the bottom in Moab. A Slayer-heavy short from Camp4 Collective.
Burning Mountains - Spitzkoppe 12 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
When you've got blue sky, hot sun and slick rock, looking for some new spots to ride in Africa becomes more of a quest than an adventure. Three mountain bikers seek perfection and find it in the red rocks of Namibia.
Degrees North (special edit) 25 min.
Classification: Parental Guidance; coarse language
Snowboarding is more than a sport to world-renowned freerider Xavier De Le Rue. It's a quest for adventure. De Le Rue and Samuel Anthamatten use paragliders to scout and access the biggest lines in the Northern Hemisphere, and film it all from the air.
Golden Gate 17 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
She's been trad climbing for only three years, but Emily Harrington didn't let that sway her from the magnetic pull of El Capitan's 'Golden Gate' (5.13 VI). Six days and 40 pitches later, she stood on the summit with broken skin, aching muscles and a smile that stretched across Yosemite Valley.
Japan By Van 5 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
There are no ski areas on the peaks above the historic village of Shirakawa-go, but it's surrounded by great skiing—as long as you're willing to hike for it. Join Carston Oliver, Eliel Hindert, Pep Fujas and Makoto Takeishi as they discover the meaning of "deep" in the Japanese backcountry.
REEL ROCK 10: Showdown at Horseshoe Hell 21 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
How hard can it be? 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell is a climbing competition that has you climbing day and night and racking up points for your climbs as you go. You just have to beat Alex Honnold.
Rey del Rio 6 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
An old river hosts a new kind of kayaking competition. The world's best kayakers meet in Mexico to see who can huck some big waterfalls with the most style. Come on in. The water's nice.
VIA FERRATA on a Mountainbike 5 min.
Classification: General; no advisory
Don't look down! A mountain biker attempts some gnarly downhill lines in the Dolomites that only normal people using fixed lines and a harness would go up.
Will Sutton: Homefree 4 min.
Classification: rating to be confirmed
Top freerunner and parkour athlete, Will Sutton, in a unique journey across his homeland of the Isle of Man.


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Lifestyle Denver by Gretchen Rosenberg & Libby Levinson>
Denver's Source for Real Estate News, Neighborhood Happenings
and Market Trends.
Wash Park Home Tour – Saturday May 11
Kentwood Real Estate is proud to be the platinum sponsor for the 15th Annual Wash Park Home Tour which is on Saturday, May 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This annual event showcases homes old and new on the east side of Washington Park in Denver. The event benefits Steele Elementary. You can find information about tickets and featured homes here.
Maybe I'll see you there!

subset: commoncrawl


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Argument For I-154
I-154 is the Protect Our Homes initiative. It guards your home, business, and private property against abusive practices by over-ambitious politicians and special interests.
- Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelodecision ruled that government could use eminent domain to seize your property and re-transfer it to a mall developer. You could have a big box store where your living room once was. The only justification needed for bulldozing your home is government's desire to collect higher taxes from a commercial development.
- The Court ruled this broader eminent domain interpretation would apply unless your state passes a law like I-154, that prohibits this abuse.
- Since Kelo, eminent domain abuse has skyrocketed – nationwide, nearly 6000 properties either threatened or taken – working class homes, businesses, elderly widows' houses, even churches. No one is safe. For many families, the American Dream of home ownership is being destroyed by an unholy alliance of ambitious politicians and commercial interests.
- I-154 says "Not in Montana." It preserves the historical purpose of eminent domain – your property could only be taken for true public purposes – highways, utilities, etc.
- Kelo 's eminent domain bulldozer is government theft – plain and simple. That's why laws similarto I-154'seminent domain restriction are already enacted or currently progressing in 35 states.
- I-154protects your property from excessive and abusive regulations that reduce the value of your land and restrict your ability to use it as you would like. Under I-154, you'd have an avenue of legal relief by filing protest within two years. If you're successful, regulators would have three choices:
- Exempt you from the unnecessary regulation , or
- Repeal the unnecessary regulation entirely, or
- Compensate you for your property value loss .
Only if option C is chosen, would government costs result.
- I-154 is balanced. It only targets abusive property regulations – it doesn't apply to any already existing zoning or regulation, new health and safety regulations, or privately imposed subdivision covenants. I-154 includes numerous reasonable exemptions – allowing new regulations for sanitation, fire and building codes, solid waste, hazardous waste, common nuisances, blight, obscenity, junk vehicles, dangerous felons, sexual offenders, and property used in connection with criminal activity.
- The uninformed try telling us that eminent domain abuses "can't happen in Montana." They rely on a 1995 Montana court decision that is no longer relevant, now that federal law has changed under Kelo. The only way to safeguard our homes from the tax-seeking Bulldozer is to pass I-154.
I-154 protects our freedom by limiting the power of government over our property, establishing a fair playing field for appealing regulatory abuses, and ensuring that no commercial interest can use eminent domain to rob us of our property for personal gain. If you believe in limiting government power, if you believe in fundamental private property rights, if you believe in reasonable compensation when government reduces your property value, if you want to protect YOUR home –
- Vote YES on I-154.
Opponents' Rebuttal
I-154 is bait-and-switch. Reforming "eminent domain" is only bait. Beware of the "switch."
Initiative-154 is a tax trap. Supporters barely mention costs to taxpayers. No wonder, because costs are staggering. A similar law recently took effect in Oregon. Already, special interests there are demanding $4 billion from taxpayers, according to the Salem Statesman Journal.
I-154 works by creating a sweeping, new "pay-or-waive" system that guts everyday rules we use to protect our homes, clean water, and property. That system forces taxpayers to pay irresponsible developers just to follow the law like everyone else. If a developer doesn't like a rule, he simply demands a payoff for alleged losses. I-154 hands a blank check to certain developers, which means more taxes for average Montanans.
Imagine the kind of irresponsible development that I-154 could unleash in your neighborhood: An adult bookstore? A high-density development? A motorcycle racetrack? A gravel pit? The choice would be to accept the degradation of your neighborhood and property, or pay the developer not to act. I-154 actually harms your property rights.
Again,I-154 is NOT about eminent domain. Kelo isn't possible in Montana. Even the National Association of Realtors, which defends property rights, reports Montana "explicitly prohibited the use of eminent domain to acquire property for economic development" because of our current laws and legal cases.
The loopholes are enormous. No wonder out-of-state developers are pushing I-154 on Montana — they will benefit at our expense. Vote NO on the tax trap. Vote NO on I-154.
The PROPONENT argument and rebuttal for this measure were prepared by State Senator Joe Balyeat, CPA; and the Honorable Ken Miller, former State Senator.
The OPPONENT argument and rebuttal for this measure were prepared by the Honorable Dorothy Bradley, former State Representative; the Honorable Charles Tooley, former Billings Mayor; County Commissioner Connie Eissinger; County Commissioner Doug Kaercher; and the Honorable Ron Erickson, former State Representative.


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Short Formal Dress by Hannah S
Dazzle everyone with this exquisite formal short dress from Hannah S. This is a stunning strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline that is beautifully pleated and a dazzling A.B. stone design at the empire waist. The short tulle skirt is full with a ruffled hemline that gives this dress the perfect look for homecoming or prom.
Unfortunately, the dress you are looking for (
Style: HS-27813
Name: Strapless Sweetheart Homecoming Dress
) is no longer available at PromGirl.
Don't worry, we have lots more dresses to choose from! See below for other suggestions that we think you will love!


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Programmable Unijunction Transistors (PUT) Information
Programmable Unijunction Transistors (PUT) Information
Programmable uni-junction transistors (PUT) are three-terminal thyristors that are triggered into conduction when the voltage at the anode exceeds the voltage at the gate. The PUT is similar to the UJT, but its intrinsic standoff ratio can be set by two external resistors. Hence, the name "programmable" is used. A PUT is a more advanced version of a unijunction transistor (UJT). In a programmable unijunction transistor, operating characteristics such as base-to-base resistance, intrinsic standoff voltage, valley current, and peak current can be programmed by setting the values of two external resistors. Applications for programmable unijunction transistors (PUT) include thyristor triggers, oscillators, pulse, and timing circuits, with frequencies up to 10 kHz. An integrated circuit can include not only an integrated circuit chip, but also a circuit transistor such as a programmable unijunction transistor.
Performance specifications for programmable unijunction transistors (PUT) include peak current (with RG of 10K ohms and 1M ohms), valley current (with RG of 10K ohms and 1M ohms), gate-to-cathode forward voltage, gate-to-cathode reverse voltage, gate-to-anode reverse voltage, anode-to-cathode voltage, peak non-repetitive forward current, peak repetitive forward current, peak repetitive forward current, DC forward anode current, DC gate current, power dissipation, storage temperature, operating junction temperature. Programmable unijunction transistors (PUT) can be packaged individually or in standard packaging for high-volume requirements, such as automatic insertion equipment.
Programmable unijunction transistors (PUT) that meet U.S. military specifications (MIL-SPEC) are manufactured according to standards described in MIL-STD-750 (Test Method Standard for Semiconductor Devices) and MIL-HDBK-6100 (Military Handbook, List of Case Outlines and Dimensions for Discrete Semiconductor Devices). Like other components made of semiconductor material, programmable unijunction transistors (PUT) that are marketed in European Union (EU) nations should be manufactured in compliance with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directives. RoHS requires all manufacturers of electronic and electrical equipment sold in Europe to demonstrate that their products contain only minimal levels of the following hazardous substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl and polybrominated diphenyl ether. RoHS will become effective on July 1, 2006. By definition, lead-free devices contain less than 1000 ppm lead by weight.


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You're probably all getting tired with me yammering on about my latest animation, but now it's online, I can finally un-earth all the making of it, and what not, because I like to share with you guys. This will be the last topic I make about it until I hear anything more about what they are doing with it, with any luck!
First, here's the (very small) amount of research and sketching work I did before making the film. When I first came up with the idea, I was going to show shots of the bikes in full, and even the characters that drive the bikes, but I ended up going with the much more abstract, less obvious (and easier to animate!) coloured lines.
Next is a storyboard, which I never actually finished. I had the whole idea mapped out in my head, and I felt that I should just get straight to the animation.
I actually animated the ending twice, as I think I may of pointed out before. The first one was, the say the least, a bit rubbish. I had the shoe flying into shot, with the paper in the distance. What really ruined this scene was the fact that I animated it in twos instead of ones, like the rest of the film, because this shot was rather tiresome to do, the way I was doing it. Also, the way I had timed the red line driving along the cardboard, it ended up near the end of it long before I wanted it too, so it started fast then slowed down as it got near the card. Also, in this version the line doesn't blow up, and you hear it (in the rough soundtrack) drive off. Here's some screenshots of that first cut.
When I had shown the animation to the studio, and they had given me their useful critique, more flaws shone through. Not only were the timing and angles bad on the previous ending, but the sudden appearance of a shoe in the film didn't make sense, and thered lines fate wasn't really clear, so when I re-animated it second time, as you saw in the final film, I animated my arm pulling the shoe off, setting up the shot, and showed the arm holding the shoe, rather than it appearing to be floating. This time I also had the red line blow up, to wrap it up better. I animated this scene about 20 times before I was satified with it, unlike the previous one which I rushed together. Compare this to the scene on which I based it vaguely on.
This time, they also recommended us all to add intro and end cards of some sort. The first cut did have a end card, but it was just a static image, which I've posted below. I couldn't use this anyway, because it had a link to MY website on it. Bah, it was worth a try! =P
Finally, here's some screen cap comparisons between the original scene in Tron, and the animation. The references are even more obvious when you listen to the animation in relation to this scene.


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Wiltshire Star
It was launched in 1981 as the Trowbridge Star. From 1987 to 1992 it was renamed the West & North Wilts Star; it then spent just over a year as the Trowbridge, Bradford & Melksham Star before reverting to its original title in August 1993. In March 1994 it became simply the Star, then almost reverted to a former title in 2002 when it was renamed the West & North Wiltshire Star. It's been the Wiltshire Star since 2005.
It's published by Newsquest (Wiltshire) and is a sister newspaper of the paid-for Wiltshire Times, with which it shares editorial offices in Trowbridge.
It has no website of its own; the URL below used to redirect to the Times's website, but now takes visitors to a general website for Newsquest's Wiltshire newspapers.
It claims to be the most widely read of any newspaper in its distribution area. Since 2009 there have been two editions: North and West. A small number of each edition (about 10 per cent of the print run) is distributed via pickup points in supermarkets.
It comes out on Thursdays.
- Wiltshire Star
15 Duke Street
- 01225 773600
- 01225 773692
Latest posts in England - South West
Dorset Echo
Weymouth-based evening tabloid sold across North, West and South Dorset
East Cornwall Times
Weekly tabloid sold in and around Calstock on the eastern edge of Cornwall
Exmouth Herald
Weekly freesheet tabloid companion to the Exmouth Journal for the East Devon town of Exmouth
Exmouth Journal
Weekly paid-for tabloid for the east bank of the Exe estuary, in two editions


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- Christmas on Caddo Fireworks Festival Saturday, Dec. 10, 3:30 p.m.
- Logan Mansion Holiday Home Tour Sunday, Dec. 11, 6-8 p.m.
- Red River Laser Light Show Presented by SWEPCO Saturday, Dec. 10, 4 p.m.
- A Better Shreveport
- Beard & Barrel
- Debbie Hollis: Art, Politics and Equal Rights in Louisiana
- Dianeprince.com
- Endless Bliss Blog
- Focused Linz
- Go Greenly
- Heliopolis SBC
- Kathryn Usher's American South iPhoneography
- Kristine Carrier's My Forever Right Now
- Louisiana Eats! with Poppy Tooker
- Loving This Life Jada
- Moonbot Studios
- Port City Food
- Sarah to Shreveport
- Shreveport Songs
- Shreveportblog
- Speederson: Bikes. Beer. Bald. Beard. Beer.
- The Sci-Port Blogger
- Twang Darkly
"Gumbo Pot Meets Paint Brush" at April 19 Event
Painter Karen La Beau and chef and culinary entrepreneur Panderina Soumas have a lot in common. Both grew up in New Orleans but reside in Shreveport-Bossier, and both are artists who employ the bold colors, flavors and traditions of New Orleans in their work. It makes perfect sense that these two dynamic women will be collaborating for the upcoming event, "What Do You Get When You Cross a Gumbo Pot and a Paint Brush?," 1-4 p.m., Saturday, April 19 at the Naked Bean Café in Shreveport.
During the event, which is free to attend, Chef Soumas will share samples of a Creole dish while selling and discussing a variety of her Soumas Heritage Creole Creations products. Soumas will also have a few copies of her cookbook, a fascinating tome that is part family scrapbook, part history lesson and part recipe collection. La Beau will be selling her original art, prints and note cards. Between La Beau's lovingly rendered memories of life in New Orleans and the aromas that will be drifting out of Chef Soumas' simmering pots, the spirit of New Orleans should be on full display at the Naked Bean Café.
I've been e-mailing Soumas and La Beau about the event, and wanted to share some excerpts from our exchanges.
Chris Jay: What inspired you to collaborate?
Karen La Beau: Panderina and I clicked from the first time we met. After we discovered that we both hailed from New Orleans, our bond became even stronger. So much of what we are as artists has derived from our New Orleans roots.
Panderina Soumas: Karen's art depicts the very essence of New Orleans and much of it relates to food…we hope to share our experiences with food and art, showing the correlation between the two.
CJ: Has working with one another taught you anything about your own medium?
KLB: What I want is for people to realize how close culinary art is to visual art. Especially since it's the beautiful creations that a chef puts together that inspire an artist to put it on canvas.
PS: Oh, yes! Food is an art. Food may smell good, but if it's not appealing to the eyes, you view it differently! Working with Karen, and seeing her unique way of capturing a culture so boldly on canvas – her talent really does leave me speechless.
RSVP to the April 19 event on Facebook.
Visit Karen La Beau's Etsy.com store here to see more of her work.
Visit the Soumas Heritage Creole Creations website or "Like" the company on Facebook.


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Faulty breath tests may doom Pa. DUI cases
Improperly calibrated breathalyzer machines used by Philadelphia PD could jeopardize more than 1,000 DUI cases
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Improperly calibrated breathalyzer machines used by Philadelphia police could mean that more than 1,000 drunk-driving cases dating to September 2009 are in jeopardy, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Some of the Philadelphia Police Department's eight breath-test machines weren't set up properly before November of last year, leading to incorrect readings in 1,147 cases, authorities said.
"We screwed up, folks," police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told reporters at a news conference. "We screwed up, plain and simple, and now we are paying for it."
Ramsey said a defense attorney pointed out a discrepancy in test results last month, prompting authorities to examine the machines and check the readings against pending cases. More than 700 suspects had already been convicted using the faulty tests.
District Attorney Seth Williams said those defendants will be offered new trials, but noted that some cases will hold up without the tests if they're based on other evidence, including blood tests.
More than 400 suspects who are awaiting trial will be informed that the breath tests will not be used as evidence, officials said.
"Our interest is justice, not merely convictions," Williams said.
Ramsey said one law enforcement employee is responsible for maintaining the machines and an investigation is under way.
"The error was human error, and it is inexcusable. Period," Ramsey said. "It should not have happened."
Copyright 2011 Associated Press
Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Loose Is Fast
Are you tired of watching your Days of Thunder laserdisc, wondering when you'll get your chance to drive recklessly fast and loose? When you fly, do you often feel the need, the need for speed? Have you been doing "The Hippy Hippy Shake" when you make your Cocktails? Has your vampire daughter beenwait, sorry. I got sidetracked on a Tom Cruise tangent. Stupid body thetans...Anyway, the racing part is totally doable. You can Rev It Up with Chevrolet's touring driving school, featuring professional instructors, professional race cars, plenty of opportunities to challenge your buddies and tons of driving tips that, frankly, most of you dipshits on 75 could benefit from. Rev It Up claims to be the "best run, funnest [sic], biggest and most affordable performance driving school and national racing competition...[o]n the planet." I don't know about "funnest" but it seems fairly priced. For $40 to $50 you can register for five skills clinics, three of which include track time on a course. Plus there's go-kart racing and "hot laps" in the passenger seat of a Corvette Z06, both for $10 each. When's the last time you got "hot laps" for 10 bucks? Rev It Up Driving School comes to Grand Prairie's Lone Star Park at 1000 Lone Star Parkway, on Saturday and Sunday. Register online at revitupracing.com.
July 29-30, 7 a.m.
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Trades and Transactions
Franchise Encyclopedia: 2005 / 2007
78-84, Finished 4th in AL West (Schedule and Results)
View League Standings and Leaders
Manager: Mike Hargrove (78-84)
GM: Bill Bavasi, Scouting Dir: Bob Fontaine Jr.
Scored 756 runs, Allowed 792 runs. Pythagorean W-L: 78-84
Ballparks: Safeco Field · Attendance: 2,481,165 (6th of 14)
Park Factors Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
multi-year: Batting - 97, Pitching - 97 · one-year: Batting - 94, Pitching - 95
BaseballAmerica.com: Franchise Executives
News & Views: ThinkFactory
BR Bullpen: Find or enter more info for this team (what's this?)
Like this page? Sponsor it for $15. Your message will replace this ad.
Transactions listed are from October 1 of previous year to April 1 of the following year.
October 11, 2005
Miguel Ojeda selected by the Colorado Rockies off waivers.
October 14, 2005
Masao Kida granted Free Agency.
October 15, 2005
Wiki Gonzalez granted Free Agency.
Justin Leone granted Free Agency.
Andrew Lorraine granted Free Agency.
Damian Moss granted Free Agency.
Abraham Nunez granted Free Agency.
October 21, 2005
Bobby Madritsch selected by the Kansas City Royals off waivers.
October 27, 2005
Jeff Nelson granted Free Agency.
October 28, 2005
Dave Hansen granted Free Agency.
October 31, 2005
Dan Wilson granted Free Agency.
November 1, 2005
Shigetoshi Hasegawa granted Free Agency.
Pokey Reese granted Free Agency.
November 7, 2005
Jamie Moyer granted Free Agency.
November 8, 2005
Signed Corky Miller as a free agent.
November 18, 2005
Released Ramon Santiago.
November 21, 2005
Signed Kenji Johjima as a free agent.
December 3, 2005
Signed Andy Dominique as a free agent.
December 4, 2005
Signed Jose Morban as a free agent.
December 7, 2005
Signed Jamie Moyer as a free agent.
Traded Yorvit Torrealba to the Colorado Rockies. Received Marcos Carvajal.
December 8, 2005
Drafted Jason Bourgeois from the Atlanta Braves in the 2005 rule 5 draft.
December 12, 2005
Signed Michael Pineda as an amateur free agent.
December 14, 2005
Released Cha-Seung Baek.
December 20, 2005
Selected Jake Woods off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
December 21, 2005
Ryan Franklin granted Free Agency.
Jamal Strong granted Free Agency.
December 22, 2005
Signed Jarrod Washburn as a free agent.
January 4, 2006
Signed Carl Everett as a free agent.
January 9, 2006
Signed Kevin Appier as a free agent.
Signed Cody Ransom as a free agent.
January 10, 2006
Signed Todd Sears as a free agent.
January 11, 2006
Signed Matt Lawton as a free agent.
January 18, 2006
Signed Tom Gregorio as a free agent.
January 25, 2006
Purchased Adam Pettyjohn from Long Beach (Golden Baseball).
February 6, 2006
Signed Cha-Seung Baek as a free agent.
February 22, 2006
Signed Roberto Petagine as a free agent.
March 20, 2006
Traded Matt Thornton to the Chicago White Sox. Received Joe Borchard.
March 30, 2006
Sold Cody Ransom to the Houston Astros.
March 31, 2006
Selected Guillermo Quiroz off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.
April 6, 2006 (Standings)
Traded Marcos Carvajal to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Jose De La Cruz (minors).
April 17, 2006 (Standings)
Released Corky Miller.
April 20, 2006 (Standings)
Signed Juan Diaz as an amateur free agent.
May 2, 2006 (Standings)
Released Tom Gregorio.
May 3, 2006 (Standings)
Joe Borchard selected by the Florida Marlins off waivers.
May 12, 2006 (Standings)
Received Justin Huisman from the Houston Astros as part of a conditional deal.
May 30, 2006 (Standings)
Released Matt Lawton.
June 2, 2006 (Standings)
Released Kevin Appier.
June 6, 2006 (Standings)
Drafted Brandon Morrow in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 2006 amateur draft. Player signed June 16, 2006.
Drafted Chris Tillman in the 2nd round of the 2006 amateur draft. Player signed June 23, 2006.
Drafted Nathan Adcock in the 5th round of the 2006 amateur draft. Player signed June 20, 2006.
Drafted Adam Moore in the 6th round of the 2006 amateur draft. Player signed June 7, 2006.
Drafted Doug Fister in the 7th round of the 2006 amateur draft. Player signed June 7, 2006.
Drafted Dan Runzler in the 17th round of the 2006 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
Drafted Kam Mickolio in the 18th round of the 2006 amateur draft. Player signed June 11, 2006.
June 12, 2006 (Standings)
Released Todd Sears.
June 21, 2006 (Standings)
Released Adam Pettyjohn.
Released Dan Wright.
June 30, 2006 (Standings)
Traded Asdrubal Cabrera to the Cleveland Indians. Received Eduardo Perez.
July 6, 2006 (Standings)
Traded Eddie Guardado and cash to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Travis Chick.
July 26, 2006 (Standings)
Released Carl Everett.
Traded a player to be named later and Shin-Soo Choo to the Cleveland Indians. Received Ben Broussard and cash. The Seattle Mariners sent Shawn Nottingham (minors) (August 24, 2006) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.
August 17, 2006 (Standings)
Released Roberto Petagine.
August 19, 2006 (Standings)
Traded Jamie Moyer to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Andrew Baldwin (minors) and Andy Barb (minors).
August 28, 2006 (Standings)
Released Jose Morban.
September 23, 2006 (Standings)
Signed Carlos Triunfel as an amateur free agent.
October 11, 2006 (Standings)
Signed Mayckol Guaipe as an amateur free agent.
Francisco Cruceta selected by the Texas Rangers off waivers.
October 15, 2006 (Standings)
Scott Atchison granted Free Agency.
Jason Bourgeois granted Free Agency.
Aaron Looper granted Free Agency.
Clint Nageotte granted Free Agency.
Guillermo Quiroz granted Free Agency.
October 31, 2006
Gil Meche granted Free Agency.
Released Jeff Harris.
November 3, 2006
Eduardo Perez granted Free Agency.
November 10, 2006
Signed Tony Torcato as a free agent.
November 16, 2006
Signed Jamie Burke as a free agent.
November 20, 2006
T.J. Bohn selected by the Atlanta Braves off waivers.
November 24, 2006
Signed Jaime Cerda as a free agent.
December 4, 2006
Signed Jose Guillen as a free agent.
December 7, 2006
Traded Rafael Soriano to the Atlanta Braves. Received Horacio Ramirez.
Purchased Sean White from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
December 10, 2006
Signed Justin Lehr as a free agent.
December 11, 2006
Signed Travis Dawkins as a free agent.
Signed Prentice Redman as a free agent.
December 12, 2006
Joel Pineiro granted Free Agency.
December 14, 2006
Signed Miguel Batista as a free agent.
Bobby Livingston selected by the Cincinnati Reds off waivers.
December 18, 2006
Traded Emiliano Fruto and Chris Snelling to the Washington Nationals. Received Jose Vidro and cash.
January 3, 2007
Signed Sean Burroughs as a free agent.
January 10, 2007
Signed Chris Reitsma as a free agent.
January 15, 2007
Greg Dobbs selected by the Philadelphia Phillies off waivers.
January 25, 2007
Signed Arthur Rhodes as a free agent.
January 30, 2007
Signed Jeff Weaver as a free agent.
February 5, 2007
Signed Jim Parque as a free agent.
February 7, 2007
Traded Yorman Bazardo to the Detroit Tigers. Received Jeff Frazier.
March 1, 2007
Signed Brad Thomas as a free agent.
March 18, 2007
Released Jesse Foppert.
April 1, 2007
Traded Travis Blackley to the San Francisco Giants. Received Jason Ellison.


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2014-06-06 09:45:00
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(Dayton, OR) -- An employee at a Yamhill County meat-packing plant is in a Portland hospital after being attacked by a ram. The animal was set to be slaughtered at Ben's Custom Meat Processing in Dayton when it head-butted the employee. KPTV reports the man was airlifted to OHSU Hospital yesterday morning. There's no word on his condition.
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Just as we had expected, the GeForce GTS 250 SLI configuration showed a very impressive performance in modern 3D games. It was considerably faster even than the GeForce GTX 285 across a number of applications thanks to its advantage in core clock rates as well as in the amount of ALUs (256 against 240) and texture processors (128 against 80). We are going to present the summary data to you now.
At a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels the average performance growth from switching from one GeForce GTS 250 to two such cards amounts to 64%. It varies from 18% to almost 100% depending on the specific application. In one new game (Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.) there was a performance hit because the current version of the GeForce driver does not yet support SLI mode for this application.
The GeForce GTS 250 SLI configuration is also good in comparison with the GeForce GTX 285, enjoying an average 10.5% advantage over the latter. The single exception is Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. which again reminded us of the fundamental vulnerability of all modern homogenous multi-GPU solutions. We mean their dependence on software support.
It is not so easy to name the better one between the GeForce GTS 250 SLI and Radeon HD 4850 X2. If you calculate the average result, the former solution has a 5% advantage over the latter. However, Nvidia's SLI configuration wins only seven out of the 15 tests whereas ATI's solution wins the other eight. And we mean not only the extremely rare Radeon HD 4850 X2 which has only been released by Sapphire but also any Radeon HD 4850 CrossFireX tandem. Considering the recent price cut, the latter configuration is going to be a dangerous opponent to the GeForce GTS 250 SLI. Besides, CrossFireX-compatible mainboards are more widespread on the market than SLI-compatible ones.
When we switch to the resolution of 1680x1050, the efficiency of Nvidia SLI technology with respect to GeForce GTS 250 grows up to 69%, but the average advantage of the corresponding tandem over the GeForce GTX 285 drops to 9%. Besides Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., the SLI configuration is now slower than Nvidia's flagship in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, although by 3% only. The competition with the Radeon HD 4850 X2 gets tougher: the average advantage of Nvidia's tandem shrinks to 1.5% but it wins nine tests now.
The display resolution grows up and so does the efficiency of the SLI configuration built out of two GeForce GTS 250 cards. The efficiency is 75% on average, but rises to 100% and more in three out of the 15 tests. The tested multi-GPU configuration outperforms the GeForce GTX 285 in most of the tests at this resolution, too. The exceptions are Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. and World in Conflict. The GeForce GTS 250 SLI equals ATI's multi-GPU solution that has a similar price and capabilities in speed but wins eight tests and loses seven.
In the highest display resolution the GeForce GTS 250 SLI tandem is slower than the GeForce GTX 285 in four out of the 15 tests, namely Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, World in Conflict, and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. The dual-processor configuration is on the winning side overall. We should note, however, that the single-chip card ensures more comfort in some games, e.g. in Far Cry 2, because it offers a higher bottom speed. The dual-chip solution from Nvidia loses in its competition with the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 but not by much: the ATI solution wins eight and loses seven tests. Moreover, the GeForce GTS 250 SLI can occasionally ensure comfortable conditions for the gamer where the opponent fails, for example in Fallout 3.
Summing everything up, the idea of uniting two GeForce GTS 250 1GB cards, each costing $149, into a SLI tandem is viable because such a configuration is generally superior to the GeForce GTX 285 in performance. The latter is also more expensive as yet. Its retail price starts from $340-350. On the other hand, it does not require a SLI-compatible mainboard as the GeForce GTS 250 SLI tandem does. And the choice will be limited to mainboards with nForce chipsets for both Intel LGA775 and AMD AM2/AM2+ platforms.
The performance benefits provided by the GeForce GTS 250 SLI tandem are generally not crucial and do not open new opportunities for the gamer that are unavailable with the single GeForce GTX 285. Therefore we consider the latter as a better product that does not depend on multi-GPU support in the driver. Building the SLI tandem will only make sense if you cannot spend more than $150 for your graphics card today, but you are going to increase your graphics subsystem performance in the near future. But don't forget that you will also need an appropriate mainboard.


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Follow @DaytimeRoyalty
|Viewing Single Post From: Episode # 12001 Complete Scene-By-Scene
|Dec 17 2012, 05:05 PM
I'm still expecting John and Marlena to be at the wedding. With Kate and Billie on the guest list, I think that it's safe to say that there are going to be a few "shocking" omissions -- omissions that were likely made because those people wouldn't "need" to be there to hear the wedding day revelations. Jennifer, for instance. I know that some viewers might get upset if she's not there (not because they love Jennifer at the moment -- we all know that most people don't right now -- but because she's a Horton), but she doesn't necessarily need to be there (keep in mind that, while some viewers do blame Gabi for Jack's death, we still don't know if the show is going to go down that road), so I won't be shocked at all if she's absent.
Hope is another person who doesn't necessarily need to be there (unless someone's going to be arrested).
Since it has previously been stated that Doug and Julie arrive late (I'm not sure where that came from, but I'm assuming that it's true), it's possible that they might not be included in Jason's guest list.
If Jessica were returning for the wedding, we probably would have heard about it already.
I think that Jason previously stated that the guest list was all-inclusive, so Chad will probably count as one of the twenty guests, even if he crashes the wedding. I could be wrong, though (I could be wrong about all of this, of course).
So, my best guess is...
Billie, Caroline, Eric, Kate, Lucas, Sami, Sonny, Will, Allie, Gabi (self-explanatory), Nick (self-explanatory), Abby (presence required for the reveal about Melanie's kidnapping -- not necessarily because of Jack's death -- and because she's the maid of honor), Rafe (self-explanatory), Maggie (presence required for the reveal about Melanie's kidnapping), Chad (presence needed to tumble Gabi's house of cards), John and Marlena (presence needed for the reveal about the baby's paternity), Daniel (presence needed for the reveal about Melanie's kidnapping), Doug and Julie (I'll count them for now, since we don't know if their apparent tardiness excludes them from this list).
I'm probably forgetting someone (and we don't know if there will be a ring bearer yet), but that's twenty, so I'll stop there. My main gamble is John and Marlena -- I could be wrong about them attending (although I seem to recall wedding photographs posted on Deidre's Facebook page at one point...), but I'll be very surprised if they're not on the guest list. I guess it all depends on which secrets are being revealed at the wedding.
|Episode # 12001 Complete Scene-By-Scene · DAYS: News, Spoilers & Discussion


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Dear members,
Thank you, NarutoBase Staff
No the time gap is tremendous lol fail my friend lol.
If nagato was half uchiha and half uzumaki he would have been able to wield susanoo he was only uzamaki and given the rinnegan so he had enough chakra and body wasnt pressured into tiring to quick when using it as opposed to being a normal person without "holy" lineage
hes obvs not hashiramas son otherwise he would be tsunades uncle and last time i checked tsunade was waaayy older than him when they met and she would have mentioned it i mean she would know her own family right?!
Also if you're still not convinced the 3rd was a young teen when the 2nd hokage was in charge meaning the 1st was dead!!
Meaning nagato would have to be way older than tsunade since the 3rd taught a young tsunade when he was a young adult
Just no man. The characters IKSOKRIPS showed are Nagato's parents. He even said that one of his greatest pains are his parents dying. That clearly states those are his parents and Hashirama is totally not his parent nor Mito.
Tsunade is the grandaughter of the first hokage. She is older than Nagato. Tell me, how could he possibly be hashi's son? Not really possible. He could be related to the senju somehow though
Thread fail Hashirama's son really :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Also quit rating your own threads 5 stars its just pathetic :flaw: :flaw: :flaw:
you see nagato's parents die and he's to young lol
Originally Posted by Prime Rib
sorry but hashirama died long before even jiriya was born,
Dunno about that....
Tsunade, as a kid, was shown sitting on Hashirama's shoulder during the time she was talking about getting the necklace from him. (I am 100% this was in the anime, too lazy to check in manga ~_~)
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How David Cameron Fucked Up Libya and Got Away With It
David Cameron's just an ordinary guy now, accountable to nobody.
David Cameron's just an ordinary guy now, accountable to nobody.
This weekend, up to 700 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean, Japan put its military on high alert, that Chinese soap company said people were "overreacting", and more.
In April of 2011, a bombing in Libya killed photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, and injured Brown. This painful experience is an integral part of his new book, Libyan Sugar.
Is there really a "swarm" of benefits scroungers trying to get into soft-touch Britain?
The story of a migrant's journey from the floors of Milan Central Station to the streets of Paris.
Chris Alexander tells VICE that Canada's immigration system is better than ever.
This weekend, anti-Tory protesters in London demonstrated outside Downing Street, and an anti-Tory protester in Plymouth smeared shit all over the office windows of his local Conservative MP.
Economist Michael Clemens is pretty sure that the continent won't collapse.
So far this year, over 1700 migrants have died in the process of crossing the Mediterranean into Europe. That number is likely to spike as traffic increases in the summer months.
An in-depth look at the situation playing out in the Mediterranean.
Not far from Libya's border, the town of Ben Gardane is rife with smuggling, illegal money trading, and jihadist recruitment.
This weekend, some ravers in Cardiff had to be rescued by the fire brigade after getting themselves stuck in a disused bank vault.
"At a certain point when you're being held hostage, you don't have power to do anything. The only power you have is to listen to your captors and do what they ask you to do."
As Ottawa mulls bombing Syria, the legal case for intervention is basically: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Ottawa is exporting less military aid overall, but upping shipments to India, Egypt, Tunisia, as well as other non-NATO allies with questionable moral records.
The VICE News Capsule is a news roundup that looks beyond the headlines. Today we talk about Libya's deepening political crisis and the deaths of dozens of pilot whales off New Zealand's coast.
This week in our news roundup, Libyan soldiers and militias battle for Benghazi, and tensions heighten between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem.
An extract from Patrick Cockburn's new book, The Jihadis Return: Isis and the New Sunni Uprising.
And ended up almost starving to death as soldiers killed civilians outside my front door.
This weekend, an Italian man was jailed for being too good at sex.
Libya has been plagued with violence since the 2011 revolution.
I gave one of the migrants a disposable camera to take inside the old gym on the Sicilian coast.
Said Ben Suleiman's brigade – and some lions, camels and spider monkeys – are on the frontline of Europe's immigration crisis.


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Prospective Students
The transition from high school to college can often be academically challenging and emotionally draining for every student. The transition for students with disabilities can be even more stressful.
College requires students to take on more responsibility for their education; more specifically, students with disabilities must become their own advocates. Once in college, students are considered adults and are now responsible for meeting the requirements for their education. This means seeking support services available on campus, and interacting with the appropriate members of the college community to discuss academic progress, and any issues or concerns that may arise.
In order for students to receive reasonable accommodations from Student Disability Services (SDS), students must take the following steps:
- Contact Student Disability Services (SDS) to inform them of your disability.
- Make an appointment with Student Disability Services (SDS) to submit required documentation and discuss possible classroom accommodations.


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I have seriously been stepping outside of my comfort zone, testing the waters carefully to see what I am capable of. Last week that came in the form of my second week of higher-than-ever mileage (clocked in at 83.49 miles - this is majorly gigantic for me!), running a timed mile on the track (also majorly gigantic for me!) and doing my 18 mile long run with the last 10 miles of it run in a local race, at or faster than my marathon goal pace (HUGE).
I went into all of it with the attitude that I was attempting to do it because I believed I could, that I would grow for trying and that I would be strengthened in both mind and spirit because I was stepping up to face my fears in light of a strong faith that I could do it ... no matter the actual outcome. But I also knew that I would not risk everything to accomplish these running goals -- that I would listen to my body as well as my heart and if in ANY way whatsoever I felt this was dangerous, I would pull back and keep the BIGGER picture in mind.
Because no matter what, the big picture is always the most important thing to me.
So ... how do I feel after two weeks at over 80 miles? GOOD. Really really really good. Strong. Hopeful! My body is adapting to this build so nicely and I am incredibly grateful for that.
How did 18 miles go with the last 10 at marathon goal pace?
Three words: It. was. amazing.
What is my goal pace anyways?? Well, at the beginning of this training cycle I really believed I could finish somewhere in the 3:20-3:25 range (this would be average pace somewhere between a 7:40-7:50/mile) if all went well with my training. I designed my training plan and decided to attempt to train at paces for a 3:20 marathon. My body was handling it so well - my times on the track and my endurance on long runs as well as my strength in tempos sort of amazed me.
And then I started to DREAM BIGGER.
This past week in particular I found myself wondering ... maybe I can attempt to break 3:20 in my marathon this fall. The doubter in me said HOLD UP -- you already went from a 4:35 to a 3:34 in a year's time, Jess ... don't be all crazy thinking you can chomp off tons more time this cycle! But the thing is, I DO know it sounds crazy, but I am not being clueless about this. I am believing I can do this because in many ways, I am already doing it.
I spoke with a couple of dearly awesome friends who also happen to be incredible runners (one of them is this girl) - friends who really know their stuff and who are also friends who would never feed me B.S. just to sugarcoat me. Friends who I can trust whole-heartedly. Friends who would tell me STRAIGHT UP if I am crazy. And they told me they believe in me. That they are certain I can do even MORE than I think I can. This means SO MUCH to me.
It really helps to have people in your corner who you can trust. People who believe in you and people who can completely relate to where you have been and where you want to go - even though you are completely different and on your own unique journeys. I have a really amazing crew of people like that in my life. We just GET each other. It is awesome and we are beyond blessed.
So when I woke up on Sunday morning to run 8 miles with the Honey Badgers before toeing the line for a local (hilly) 10 miler, I was as ready as I could be to test myself. All of us were. We were each going to go out there and test ourselves, test our training -- **face our fears** -- and find some COURAGE to do what we believe we are capable of doing.
It went as good as or better than we could have hoped.
Miles 1-8 on the trail (trying to approach this like I would the beginning of any long run, start slower and build):
8:42, 8:32, 8:03, 8:09, 7:52, 7:55, 8:22, 8:14.
After finishing our 8 miles Dora, Chris, Maddie and I quickly got ourselves race-ready and drove down the street to the Start. We parked the car and hopped out with 10 minutes to go. We arrived at the Start line and all felt truly crazy, but in a good way. And then I looked over and saw one of my dearest friends who had given me the pep talk earlier in the week!! Dorothy was running this race too - and she was going to truly test what she had and go for her fastest 10 miler ever on a super hilly and tough course (I am not kidding about this!). I was so excited to see her before the start! It was a real treat for both of us and just what I think we both needed.
There I was, standing there with people who I so completely believe in, lined up at the start of this little local race ready to do something BIG. I look at my friends and the people around me and I see nothing but strength and grace. I KNOW right down to my very core that they will accomplish whatever they set out to do. I just know it and I believe in them with all of my heart. And I know that they feel that same way about me - we have the power to lift one another up in running. We really do. It's like fresh wind under our wings, faith from a friend. I am so grateful.
I truly was not sure how I would feel when the gun went off - my legs were tired from the week and the 8 miles beforehand. Yet, I found myself holding back, talking myself into running slower so that I could test out my race pace. This race is very hilly with some pretty major climbs and some seriously steep declines. My goal was to run strong and to be in control and to come out of it with a time somewhere between 7:20-7:30 average per mile. My dear friend (and fellow honey badger) Maddie ran with me and we both felt amazing. We were reminding one another constantly to HOLD BACK. It wasn't a race to try to PR or see how fast we could run 10 miles. It was a race to see if we could run our marathon goal pace on tired legs, and finish feeling strong and as though we had more in our tanks.
Miles 9-18 racing marathon goal pace through my town of Reston (I heart Reston, by the way):
7:17, 7:29, 7:29, 7:40, 7:06, 7:26, 7:34, 7:22, 6:55, 6:52
My time at the finish was 1:13:35, which was a 7:22/mile average. This is only a little over a minute slower than my current 10 Miler PR which was run on a MUCH less challenging course about 5 months ago. And I could have kept running. I am sure I had 8 or so more miles of fight in me.
I surprised myself yesterday. I did what I set out to do - and I showed myself that I am indeed truly capable of achieving my dreams on marathon day.
The average pace for all 18 miles was 7:43. The fastest I have ever run a long run. And arguably the BEST I have ever felt.
|Yayyy US!
|happy honey b's
My family was there - my husband plus all three kids. The race ran through my awesome town and finished on the local high school track - OUR TRACK - how perfect was that!?
I was in RUNNING HEAVEN all morning.
|me chris and maddie - photo thanks to brian kent!
And I am telling you this:


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2004 Trash Sculpture: 'Koi Carp'
Koi Carp 2004
Orange trash was a common sight in the river cleanups of 2004. It inspired this sculpture, representing the exotic koi carp. Trash that can mar public waters (just as this exotic fish can) has been transformed to inspire cleanup of these waters.
Artist: Stephen Bateman


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SOTU Reaction
I'm going to use Taegan Goddard's reaction at CQ Politics as a basis for mine and to show how two people can watch the same thing and react like they hadn't:
President Obama spent more than an hour making arguments he should have been making for months. He forcefully reminded Americans that he was not responsible for the big problems he inherited. He desperately needed to remind people the historical context and he did it successfully.
Did he really? He's been saying this stuff for a year now and I'm pretty sure the world is aware of his opinion on the subject. Whether or not he again "successfully" placed it in a "historical context" is a matter of opinion, but what isn't a matter of opinion is he's had a year to work on jobs and the economy and he's screwed around with health care instead.
Interestingly, it was like a campaign speech designed to appeal to independents. Obama refused to be pulled into the traditional left vs. right polarization that plagues Washington, D.C. It's what got him elected in the first place.
He was right in the middle of the "traditional left vs. right polarization". He was lecturing Republicans during most of the speech. And he even got into the populist side of things with his attacks on banks and corporations. Hell, he even went after the Supreme Court and threw a shot across the bow of the Joint Chiefs.
There were also several political moments you might see again in this fall's midterm campaigns. The video of Republicans sitting on their hands while Obama called for banks to pay back bailout funds will almost certainly come back to haunt them.
This is the inside the beltway mentality speaking. That particular video will mean zip to those who see it. Jobs, economic turnaround, prosperity – attacking banks isn't going to bring any of those.
While everyone knew the president would focus on jobs and the economy, it was nonetheless shocking it took him nearly 40 minutes to get to health care reform. Just weeks ago, it was the most important issue on his agenda. Obama made his case once again but it's far from clear whether Democrats are scared enough or feel the urgency to ignore the confused politics of the issue and pass the bill.
For the 30th time in a year he talked about health care. What part of "we don't want what you're selling" do you suppose he doesn't get? It isn't that they aren't conveying the message properly – it's the message itself that's being rejected along with a procedure that includes such absurdities as "sidecar reconciliation", bribes and closed door meetings. Get a freaking clue.
It was a decent speech, but not a great one.
In fact it was an outstanding speech as far as speeches go, but what does it mean. This is a president who has given more outstanding speeches than any since Reagan. The difference is, things happened after Reagan spoke. Nothing happens after Obama speaks. So while the rhetoric was defiant, pointed, and lofty, it was all "just words".
President's get kudos for words. They are remembered for deeds. And thus far, Obama is very light in the deed department.
42 Responses to SOTU Reaction
I only saw a few minutes of the speech, but when I returned to hear that old stuff about "schoolyard games" I figured he didn't need me.
The fact that he keeps using this "schoolyard games" line make me believe that he wasn't much liked by his schoolmates.
And talk about dropping "Don't Ask .." opens up a whole set of problems that don't have to be addressed with "Don't Ask .."
For instance, this basically sez that gay can be more open .. well, how much more open ?
Some of our Islamic friends (assuming there are any) might not appreciate openly gay Americans, with or without stripes.
"Don't Ask" set this level as not at all. Let's see if Obama et al can define levels of being "openly gay".
Hey, maybe we can have all gay battalions like the spartan Sacred Band of Thebes and have them specifically fight against Islamic fantics. The Islamics would crap themselves. Two problems solved with one solution 🙂
oops remove the spartan part as they fought against the Spartans
The DADT sop was thrown out to draw conservatives fire and allow him to say in a few months, "See, it is those hateful bigots who blindly oppose all of my agenda!" I think (I hope) people have become too politically savvy to fall for that trope.
When Aeschines spoke, they said, 'How well he speaks', but when Demosthenes spoke, they said 'Let us march.'
"The video of Republicans sitting on their hands while Obama called for banks to pay back bailout funds will almost certainly come back to haunt them."
Lets see the banks this guy is talking about fall into 3 categories.
a. Those that didnt take bailout funds
b. Those that took bailout funds either willingly or unwillingly and paid them back with interest.
c. Those that took bailout funds either willingly or unwillingly and havent paid them back yet.
Why is it that liberals see fit to try to get money out of A or B to pay back bailout funds when they either didnt take bailout funds or took bailout funds and paid them back with interest?
Dems love to talk about fairness. How is that fair to group A or B above?
I have said the same thing about the Democrats leaping to their feet to applaud that nothing had been done to fix Social Security 2 or 3 years ago for Bush's SOTU. So far that has yielded nothing, but there is still time.
Pingback: SOTU Reaction | Liberal Whoppers
I actually forgot the speech was last night, so I didn't see it. On health care Obama took on the richest and most powerful lobbies, tried to co-opt some of them, and got farther than most people thought he could. The US is really in the grip of a big business/big government nexus. Big business is probably the most anti-capitalist force, wanting to use government to protect their interests, and needing to be bought off if meaningful reform is going to take place. Obama is up against that, as well as bad economic conditions. For a first year, he got a lot done, in part by being willing to push his agenda despite political costs — that's leadership. But part of his job is to sell the policy and communicate, and he hasn't done that enough. He has focused on policy and the 'inside game' and neglected real communication. Obama stopped campaigning to focus on governing, but his opponents stayed in campaign mode. He now has to better communicate his ideas, and actively seek bi-partisanship. Overall, the GOP is over-optimistic if they think Obama is dead. Much of the negative ratings on Obama come from the left, angry that he is so pragmatic and willing to compromise. They aren't going to swing GOP, however. Independents might, provided the GOP doesn't screw things up by embracing the tea party fringe.
I agree with you about the big government/big business nexus. I'm willing to bet we totally disagree on how to address it. The left seems to think that growing government will break big business. It won't. They have their hands too deep in the regulatory and legislative apparatus already. The way to kill the nexus is by shrinking government in order to keep big business from using it as a weapon to stifle competition.
As for the rest, I honestly think we live on parallel realities or something. Obama has communicated a lot, but he is not driving policy or showing leadership. In foreign policy he has been either tone deaf or hesitant. Despite all the talk, healthcare reform very obviously is being run by Congress not the White House.
Health care reform has to come from the Congress, the White House cannot lead on that — institutionally it's impossible. Even President Bush had to consistently use reconciliation to get big issues passed, even while he had a majority he was beholden to Congress on domestic issues. Nonetheless, Obama did exercise the most pressure possible and got health care reform (for better or worse) farther along than Clinton did, and perhaps the furthest possible — that was impressive. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.
My own view on shrinking the big government-big business nexus is that the problem is the size of the country, and its embrace of a super power role. Only a real shift of power (and revenue) to the states, and a withdrawal from trying to be a kind of global cop intervening all over the world, will create conditions where you can really alter the situation. Growing government won't break big business — the health care reform showed the only way to even get something close to passing is to do it in a way friendly to those with clout. Sometimes I think it's a clever ruse — the right cheers big business and attacks government, the left cheers government and attacks business, and behind the scenes the leaders of each are sitting laughing at how we are so caught up in the spectacle we don't see the reality.
"Health care reform has to come from the Congress, the White House cannot lead on that — institutionally it's impossible."
That's just made up B.S., Scott.
Obama made the same mistake on health care reform that Bush made on Social Security reform: punting to the Congress. Everyone knows that.
He also made the same mistake the Clintons made, which was to put all of his political capital on medical care reform.
The Clintons came up with a Stalinist health care system from the White House, and almost got it passed. Obama let the huge majority Democrats in Congress come up with their own Stalinist healh care system and it was even worse than the one the Clintons came up with.
This guy isn't a "leader," he's a destructive imbecile.
Obama's leadership problem on health care was that while he did twist arms for the final votes, he did next to nothing to lead the process to formulate the legislation.
Some will claim that this was because of HiliaryCare, which was already in legislative form when it arrived on Capitol Hill, showed this method was wrong. On the other hand, during the process, there was Democratic Congressman after Congressman openly expressing frustration that the White House wouldn't lead by indicating what direction to take. Had Obama showed a little more leadership, this legislation may have already been signed before Ted Kennedy past on.
Given the legislative history of this round of health care reform, it seems pretty clear that Obama went the "stealth legislation" route, even reneging on his "C-SPAN" promise, to maintain the amorphous form of "his plan" that to this date remains a real unknown.
An example …
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said health care reform "is on life support, unfortunately," and the president should have been more specific with how Democrats should move forward.
"He should have been more clear, and I am hoping that in the next week or two he will because that is what it is going to take if it is at all possible to get it done," Landrieu told reporters. "Mailing in general suggestions, sending them over the transom, is not necessarily going to work."
Obviously, for Obama "lead" is a 4-letter word
Ok. I will give you a little bit of credit here. You are correct to some extent in saying that our size and superpower status causes big government, and it's corollary which is crony capitalism.
I would be happy to lower our commitments abroad. But that is not going to happen, and neither party embraces it.
But Jeff is correct in saying that the best way to deal with it is to reign in the sort of things government can do, especially the central government. And we can indeed reign it in somewhat. If there is a will to do it.
Remember that most of the abuses of big business, unfair competition, monopoly power, subsidized competition, these things cannot exist in market competition, they only exist because of government.
I can agree with most of what you say, Kyle, though neither party really wants smaller central government either. I am 100% for shifting power and revenues to the states. Unfair competition, monopoly power, and the like may not exist in a perfect market, but they can exist when there is no regulation. Markets aren't magic, absent rule of law and efforts to regulate markets, powerful actors will find away to circumvent markets. Where the state ceases to exist or function, organized crime tends to file the void. So I think it's more complicated than just "limiting government" and letting markets work.
My own view on shrinking the big government-big business nexus is that the problem is the size of the country, and its embrace of a super power role.
To some extent this is true, we aren't going to shrink military spending by fighting wars. But when you crunch the numbers, most federal government spending is social not military. For that matter over-regulation of industry is not a function of being a superpower, it is a function of thinking that more government and more government regulation is the answer to every crisis no matter how minor.
On health care Obama took on the richest and most powerful lobbies, tried to co-opt some of them, and got farther than most people thought he could
>>>> Boy, now you're moving the goalposts backwards to try to praise the guy. Just the other day you were telling us how successful he was! Now it's everybody gets a trophy day with you.
Get your story straight. You never stick to your narrative for more than 2 minutes at a clip.
On health care Obama took on the richest and most powerful lobbies, tried to co-opt some of them, and got farther than most people thought he could.
I'd be far more impressed if those same lobbies hadn't given more to Dems than to Republicans, or if the biggest lobby – Trial Lawyers – were one he was willing to tackle. You think tort reform is ignored for any reason other than "the biggest donor for the Dems doesn't like it"?
ig business is probably the most anti-capitalist force, wanting to use government to protect their interests, and needing to be bought off if meaningful reform is going to take place. Obama is up against that, as well as bad economic conditions
Up against that? Buddy, he's an instigator of that. What do you think these mountains of subsidies for "green" BS is? Capitalist? You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.
For a first year, he got a lot done, in part by being willing to push his agenda despite political costs — that's leadership.
Name five things he promised to do and has. Bonus points if you manage to find a way to count DADT.
But part of his job is to sell the policy and communicate, and he hasn't done that enough. He has focused on policy and the 'inside game' and neglected real communication. Obama stopped campaigning to focus on governing, but his opponents stayed in campaign mode.
The man has given more pressers and briefings and speeches in a year than Clinton did in his first 4. The man does nothing BUT communicate. He has tossed everything onto congress, and then blames Republicans (who are in the minority) when Pelosi and Reid can't get things done.
Reminds me of a line from Dilbert… "What a bunch of leadership".
They aren't going to swing GOP, however. Independents might, provided the GOP doesn't screw things up by embracing the tea party fringe.
That's right… Just pretend that the MA special Election never happened…
It can easily be said that "big business" is not for "open markets" but to not call that "capitalist" is a stretch.
Scott Brown ran a positive campaign, rejected 'tea party' fringe rhetoric, and behaved as one would expect a New England Republican to behave. If I were in Massachusetts, I'd have been tempted to vote for him, in part to force more efforts at bi-partisanship. He even talked up the Massachusetts health care plan, and supported the need for some kind of health care reform. If anything, this is a sign that positive GOP messages that avoid angry name calling and rhetoric can do very well.
He used tea party rhetoric, Scott. He was supported by the tea party movement. He just didn't invite the movement into his campaign.
His campaign was positive in the sense that he positively rejected the health care bill that was on the verge of passing the Senate and declared himself the 41st vote against it.
He rejected Obama's spending and called for tax cuts. He rejected cap and trade. He rejected Obama's handling of terrorists.
Yes, very positive.
Erb: "For a first year, he got a lot done, in part by being willing to push his agenda despite political costs — that's leadership."
Good god. "For a first year?" Inversion of political reality. "For a first year?" That's the big year. The honeymoon year, and what, exactly constitutes "getting a lot done?" In his first few weeks he managed an urban looting that was misnamed a "stimulus." Then he went around the world demeaning the U.S. while the domestic agenda became that scandalous health care push that angered so many people that Obama has lost independent voters.
"But part of his job is to sell the policy and communicate, and he hasn't done that enough. He has focused on policy and the 'inside game' and neglected real communication."
Delusional. The guy never shuts up. He "focused on policy?" But didn't try to sell it? He was omnipresent, not only trying to sell his crappy policy, but attacking Fox News and Tea Party participants and having his proxies go out and accuse everyone who criticized him of racism in an effort to silence opposition.
I gotta tell you, Scott, you sound like you've been getting teabagged by Obama.
Erb: "For a first year, he got a lot done, in part by being willing to push his agenda despite political costs — that's leadership."
For a 1st year Pres. in his honeymoon period with SUPERMAJORITIES in congress, he got sh*t done and you know it.
What did he do besides Porkulus?
List these accomplishments. Go.
"List these accomplishments. Go."
He's done Shark.
I only listened for about 20 minutes. One thing that struck me is that after a full year, he did not seem to have anything to say about what had been accomplished. Perhaps he mentioned that in the larger portion of the speech that I did not hear, but the part I heard was mostly about how bad things are, how he had nothing to do with it, and how he plans to fix it. The latter part was a lot of campaign promises. We'll do this, we'll do that, we'll work together to accomplish this.
If that was the tone of the whole speech, then it will probably flop with the public. Was there anything he was able to point to as a 'mission accomplished?' Or was it 90 minutes of blame and campaign promises?
He took credit for the "stimulus" saying it had "saved or created" 2 million jobs.
I think this matches up with one of the three Administration spokespeople that appeared on the Sunday gabfests.
The delivery was certainly better than what we have had for the last eight years, but the substance is a different story. More of a campaign speech than anything else; promises, promises, all costing money. So much for freezing discretionary spending or reducing the deficit. Then there were the Carteresque remarks about "malaise', aka distrust of government/Washington, and the American people will get the government they deserve. And a lot of negativity; big bad bankers, lobbyists, Republicans, and other things that go bump in the night. Actually, though, the speech was a lobbyist's delight; all sorts of new programs and spending for them to go after.
Dear me, I forgot to list 'the previous administration' among the bogeymen. But then, that is like forgetting to list breathing as one of my daily activities.
Hey, Obama has been quick to action.
Already this morning, he can proudly announce that Congress has banned foreign corporations from running election ads.
(The fact that this was true before his speech is of no consequence)
If he really wanted to work with the opposition, insulting and antagonizing them is not the right way to go about it. He may have had lots of experience as a community organizer, getting folks of different opinions to work together towards a common goal, but he couldn't have been a very good one.
He may have had lots of experience as a community organizer, getting folks of different opinions to work together towards a common goal, but he couldn't have been a very good one.
What diverse opinion are you talking about? The only opinion he worked with was that it was okay to be a redistributive parasite regardless of consequences.
The video of Republicans sitting on their hands while Obama called for banks to pay back bailout funds will almost certainly come back to haunt them.
The refusal to accept the payments offered should come back to haunt the Dems. I guess he missed that being reported in the LapDog media.
Ummm…does he mean the crisis he inherited from the Democrat majority in Congress?
Yeah, I think about that every time he talks about "inheriting" the problems. The Dems had leadership in both the House and Senate since 2006 and Obama was a voting part of that. Shouldn't the fact that Obama voted in favor of of the very policies he's complaining about be news?
Isn't it sad that the MSM and the Dems can get away with this? They know that lots of voters will forget that Obama was in the majority during 2006-2008.
If I'm not mistaken, it was President Obama who signed the 2009 budget, which was held up in congress in order to keep Bush from getting his hands on it.
To listen to what Obama has to say is to already misunderstand him.
1. He wants you to know him by his words because, (a) you are not allowed to know about him, and (b) his deeds are incoherent within the normative context of American politics.
2. He has taken out an extended lease on blame shifting. That's a key element of who he is. He's blaming his predecessor and his opponents and the Tea Party movement and Fox News now. But all Leftists eventually blame the people themselves, something foreshadowed in the attack on the Tea Party movement and town hall protestors.
3. His interest in the United States is marginal, except as he sees its rapid and steep decline as necessary and desirable. The lateral meaning of that will be to bring Americans into much closer dependency on the state, even as the state has less and less to offer. The goal is to eviscerate American exceptionalism and replace American dynamism with a Third World socialist model. This will be explained in the aftermath as "historical necessity" by Leftist intellectuals.
4. The November elections will not solve anything because Obama does more damage in a week than an unintentionally incompetent chief executive could do in an entire term. The November elections come too late in the game; Obama is well aware of that. He will lock in imponderable damage before then.
5. In other words, to say that Obama is incompetent is to miss the point. The damage he inflicts on the United States with each passing day is intentional. That goes to my earlier point that Obama cannot be understood within the normative terms of American politics.
6. The greatest worry? There are three: Economic implosion, the national security apparatus, and the growing of the bureaucratic infrastructure.
7. Trying to characterize Obama as "not getting the message" is to misunderstand him and to not get his message, which can be summarized pretty well in the American vernacular: "Get F****d."
Shorter Imeme – send the bucks to George Bush.
This is the heck w hen one is always on the spotlight: for the democrats, the applaud is great affirming what the Obama tried to present in his sotu; for the republican is there with a "let us see attitude"; for those who are merely spactators, Obama is no good at all. What more shall we say aside from all these???? This is a political game wherein some cannot understand the game based on the normative U.S. political system.


text:
What's Better Than an iPad? A Free iPad. And Possibly Other Tablets, Too.
About a month ago, I scored the chance to win an iPad 2 at a Web Analytics Wednesday in Boston. [The event, sponsored by Acronym Media, also included a brief presentation, a chance to mingle with others in the business, and free food and beer.] To be eligible to win the iPad 2, audience members only had to drop their business cards into a bucket and stay for the entire presentation. I have a tendency to irrationally calculate my chances at winning raffles and lotteries, so I sat comfortably through the presentation with serene confidence that my card was the luckiest in the bucket.
Here's a question: If Acronym Media offered another competing tablet, or a netbook, instead of an iPad 2, would as many people have stayed in their audience? Did Acronym Media even consider such an option?
If you have any interest in tablets, then you probably already knew that the iPad is more popular than its competitors; but you may not have known to what extent that's true. I recently conducted a brief investigation into the shopping habits of people in the tablet market. Specifically, I looked at people who searched for brand names (ipad, ipad2, playbook, bb play book, etc.) as well as people who visited manufacturer, retail, and wireless carrier pages for the Chromebook, Blackberry Playbook, Samsung Galaxy, and iPad. I used these actions as a proxy for shopping for these products.
For the purposes of this study, I define a "researcher" as a user who either searched for a branded term or visited a product site. I define a "cross-researcher" as a user who searched for or viewed pages for multiple brands under study in the same month.
I found that very few people who search for tablets compare more than one brand. On average, for the months under study, cross-researchers accounted for only 4% of our sample.
The lack of cross-research among tablets is probably due to strong loyalty to the iPad brand. In the period from February to July of this year, users in our sample who researched Google Chromebooks, Samsung Galaxies, or Blackberry Playbooks were, on average, more than six times more likely to compare those products to another of the products under study than iPad researchers. In fact, of our sample, only 4.7% of iPad researchers looked at a product page or searched for any of the three competing products under study.
However, in May, Apple lost some market share to Blackberry. 21% of people who fit our criteria in May were searching for Blackberry Playbook or looking at a Playbook product page. That's a jump of more than 12 percentage points from the previous month. This is probably due to the release of the Blackberry Playbook on April 19. The spike in interest in Playbooks petered out quickly, though. By June, patterns of interest among these brands were similar to those recorded in February and March.
My study shows that there is a tough battle ahead for companies that want to compete against Apple in the tablet market. Internet consumers are not comparing products and finding that the technologies offered by competitor companies do not meet their needs. Rather, Compete's data suggest that the iPad is the only tablet on the average internet consumer's mind. Competing companies must invest heavily in advertising and marketing if they even want to come into consideration.
At the end of the presentation came the big drawing, and guess what!? I lost. Next time I'm putting more business cards in the bucket.
What about you? Do you have a tablet? Want one? If so, which one, and why? Do you think that Apple's tablet technology is actually superior to its competitors, or do you think that consumers overpay for the Apple brand?
As an Analyst for Compete, Jody manipulates data to address the information needs of our Online Media and Search clients. Outside of work, her interests include arts and crafts, developmental economics, Scrabble, and dance. Jody has a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with minors in Mathematics and International Studies, from the University of Michigan.


text:
The sample letter below provides a model for wording an effective response to a complainant regarding materials, programs, or exhibits in your library. Select the appropriate word or phrase from those in parentheses. Sentences or phrases appearing in brackets should be replaced with your library's mission and policy statements.
Dear _________ :
The Trustees of the Deweyville Public Library have discussed your concerns about the book (video, program, exhibit ...) (Title) .
As you may know, the library has written policies which provide criteria for selecting materials to add to the collection and for planning programs, exhibits, etc. [Materials must have received favorable reviews in professional library journals to be included in the collection, although high demand items may be considered for purchase even if reviews are unavailable or less than favorable.] [Programs and exhibits are based on community interest in the topic, credentials of the presenter ... ] In a diverse community such as ours, it sometimes happens that materials or programs of great interest to some patrons are considered by others to be objectionable. The library's mission is [to provide for the information needs and interests of all our residents.]
The Trustees examined the material about which you are concerned and read the reviews available at the time of publication [read a description of the program, received requests for a program on the topic, examined the credentials of the presenter ... ] They concluded that the item meets the selection criteria as stated in the policies, is therefore appropriate for the library, and should be kept in the collection.
We appreciate your interest in the library. If you have any suggestions about alternative programs, or materials you would like to see added to the collection, please let us know.
Chair, Board of Trustees
"If you think this novel is bad," you tell the patron, "you should read Catcher in the Rye-it's much worse. Or The Red Pony--much worse. Anything by Danielle Steel, of course, it goes without saying--those books with Fabio on the cover--sex, sex, sex--much much much worse. The Godfather--Puzo means well but gets carried away. Does America need to know that much about the Mafia? Gulliver's Travels--the unabridged version--subversive politics. And that Roald Dahl, another Englishman--the children love him-- but James and the Giant Peach, I'm sorry but it's perverse. The Color Purple, you know what that's about! And Rebecca Rule, The Best Revenge, we're talking twisted. Most of the Nancy Drews are harmless, but that Mystery of the Old Clock," you cluck disapprovingly. "It's all a matter of taste, of course, but goings-on in the Old Testament, all that begetting and begetting. Please!"
"Are all these books in the library?"
"Oh, yes--I think so. If you have any trouble finding them, let me know."
"I'll need a sheaf of complaint forms."
"Of course."
Like most school librarians, I've worked in the same school for many years. I joined the Juneau School District as librarian in 1972; 25 years later I'm still there. Amazingly, we went over 20 years without a formal challenge to any material held by the district's school libraries -- until 1993.
That year, our librarians went through an experience that I hope you never have to. Reading and continuing education can prepare you intellectually for a challenge (and, fortunately, we were prepared), but nothing can prepare you for the emotional toll of an event which consumes a community -- a formal challenge with intense media coverage and emotional public hearings. Recovering from a challenge, I believe, leaves librarians, library users, and the broader community stronger than they were before the turmoil.
In 1993, a group of parents in the Juneau (AK) School District organized as the Parents for Responsible Education to challenge the addition of Daddy's Roommate to the district's elementary libraries. We followed our reconsideration policy to the letter, and, fortunately, months later our School Board voted to retain the book. With their decision, the members of the Juneau School Board sent a message to the community that this book was educationally suitable and that bigotry and intolerance were unacceptable in our schools.
Their decision was a victory and, for us, it was also a relief We had survived a battle which included local and state-wide television news coverage, front-page newspaper stories, hate letters, and other nightmares. For all involved it was like going to hell and back. It consumed our lives and it became all-important.
We heeded all the professional advice: we followed our procedures, we spoke with one voice, we worked with ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom and local First Amendment advocates, and we were uncompromising in our principles. Eventually the challenge ends and its time to pick up the pieces.
After the last board member has voted you will either be elated or depressed. Because, unfortunately, this probably won't be the last censorship battle you ever face, you should use the experience to your longer-term advantage. You may have gathered piles of documents and other useful information -- figure out a way to use them. Make sure that you sit down almost immediately and make a list of what factors made this challenge either a success or a failure, Some factors you may have had control over and others not.
The first item on the to-do list is to write thank-you notes to everybody who helped you in any way during the censorship challenge. Next, make a list of everything that didn't work with your policy and figure out how to bring new policy before your governing body so that next time (yes, next time) the process will be smoother. On your long-term list to think about are ways you can make a broader contribution to intellectual freedom. Serving on your state association's intellectual freedom committee, making sure that Banned Books Week is celebrated in your community, and giving workshops and in-service programs for colleagues are just a few of the ways you can participate professionally. Don't let this be the end of your involvement with intellectual freedom.
On a more personal basis, I encourage those of you who have just gone through a challenge to think about what you personally learned from the experience. I learned first, that a real-life censorship challenge is not the same as learning about censorship in library school or being supportive of intellectual freedom during one's professional career. You must decide where you "really" stand on intellectual freedom, how hard you are going to work to ensure a successful outcome, and you will find out who your "friends" are. There are many positive aspects to a censorship challenge, including the opportunity to educate a community and a generation of high school students. It was an experience I hadn't bargained for, wouldn't wish on anybody, and wouldn't trade away for the world.
Just as you will, I picked myself up, dusted myself off--and went on to write a book with my colleague Charles Harmon. The two most enduring outcomes of my experience on the front lines are the concrete statement our School Board's decision made in my own community and our book, Protecting the Right to Read: A How To Do It Manual for School and Public Librarians.
The book is a lasting contribution to the profession on intellectual freedom. The community's acceptance of the Board's affirmation of the right to read may not always be as lasting. Who is on the governing board of your library or school board is one of the most important factors in any challenge. When your local elections come around make sure that you think about asking the League of Women Voters and the Friends of the Public Library to put on a forum to ask each of the candidates their views on intellectual freedom. We did and it worked for us! All of the "Daddy's Roommate" candidates lost!
Never be afraid to ask for help --
and always let your community know what's going on.
When the challenge has been met and the complaint resolved, be sure to thank all those who helped:
Send letters of appreciation to everyone. If your supporters are willing to be recognized, publicly acknowledge them at a meeting of the governing body, in a news release, or at a celebration.
Last, but definitely not least, be
good to yourself. Eat, drink, nap, exercise, shop, read a book, watch a movie,
listen to some tunes. Relax and do whatever makes you happy. You have earned
it, and you will be getting in shape to face the next challenge.
The library has been big news throughout "the situation", and the attention of the media and the community has been focused on you. Now that everything has been resolved, the community needs to hear a positive re- statement of the library's mission, programs, and services, and the principles of intellectual freedom. You have a narrow window of opportunity to pull a public relations coup and get the word out. Remember, the most difficult part of successful publicity is getting people's attention. You have it now, so make the most of it.
Act fast. If more than a week goes by you will have lost your chance with the media. The library will be "old news".
Contact each of the editors and reporters with whom you have been dealing (you should be on a first-name basis by now!) and ask them to print a follow-up story or interview.
Decide what you want to say, and phrase it in the most positive terms. If you decide to refer to the "recent unpleasantness", explain the whys and wherefores of the library's position but be careful not to blame anyone for the incident. If it has caused you to make major changes in policy, this is a good opportunity to explain these to the community.
Use your explanation of the library's viewpoint as a starting point to talk about other library services.
You may decide that the community has heard enough about the challenge and its resolution. In that case, stress the benefits provided to the community by a library collection developed under the principles of intellectual freedom and how the library is protecting their right to know.
Contact community organizations and offer to speak at their next meeting. Use the opportunity to explain the services provided to the community by the library. Be prepared to listen to their concerns and respond appropriately.
Once everything is settled in some way, the work is not over. The library must not only continue to reach out to the community, but take some time to look inward as well. Have members of the staff withdrawn? Have the rest started gossiping or griping to each other or to patrons? Your once well-adjusted staff may be feeling the effects of stress even after the complainant has gone home.
A staff meeting (or several) is a must in the time following a challenge. All staff members should have the opportunity to talk about their view of the process, how they feel about the outcome, and their vision of the future. The library staff morale will benefit from the renewed sense of unity.
Outside of a formal meeting, the staff will need to feel supported by the director and the governing body. Take the time to tell individuals how their actions or attitudes made a difference.
If the process didn't work as planned, make sure that appropriate policies or procedures are reworked and clearly explained to all staff members. Give the people on the front lines the written support they need to feel confident when dealing with the public.
Find ways to make everyone feel good about intellectual freedom again. It is time to return to a positive way of thinking. Rather than focusing on censorship, focus on the right to read and access information. If appropriate, get staff members involved in a public relations campaign or programming for the community. It may be time for an intellectual freedom workshop for the staff - make it fun and creative to get everyone excited about their role in providing library service.
Think about having a staff get-together outside of work. Give everyone a chance to remember how much you like one another - talk about anything but work. Play croquet and have a cookout, or get silly over a game of PictionaryTm; whatever it takes to break the tension and get people laughing.
All along you have been keeping records. Now is the time to clean up that file, evaluate what you have, and add any additional paperwork you think might be relevant.
Your file should include such items as:
Reconsideration of Library Materials form and any other supporting documentation from the complainant.
Written reviews of materials in question gathered from professional journals and/or other, popular sources. If this is a program, information regarding the credentials of the program presenter, photographic record of a display, reviews of shows, etc.
Your written record of the complaint. It is easiest to keep this in diary form, with the facts only. All oral and written communication regarding the complaint should be noted. In the diary, you may want to note what you said to the media, and how it was interpreted.
Any articles, editorials, or copies of media coverage including tapes of television or radio coverage on the incident.
Your report to the New Hampshire Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee.
Minutes of meetings of the governing body when the incident was discussed.
All correspondence pertaining to the incident, including response of the governing body to the complaint.
Written evaluation of the process.
Keep this file confidential, and
keep it as part of your permanent records. It may be useful down the line if
you have to face another incident. It will help jog your memory of who your
allies were, how the media portrayed the situation, etc.
The "situation" is finally over, and the participants would like to forget the entire process. Now is the time to evaluate the policies and procedures that were followed and methods of communication that were used. Evaluation should be positive, sensitive, include both staff and the governing body, and not focus on personalities.
Did the written policies of the library effectively uphold the principles set forth in the mission statement of the library?
Were the principles of intellectual freedom and privacy upheld? Did we speak with one voice? Was there a point where the library policy became irrelevant or was overruled by a higher authority? If so, why?
Was there cooperation and understanding
between the staff and the governing body?
Once your evaluation of the policies,
procedures, and methods of communication is complete, you will have the information
you need to repair any inadequacies.
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text:
HSN Now Standalone as IAC Breakup Done
September 1, 2008-- Home Textiles Today,
Direct-to-consumer retailer HSN on Aug. 22 became an independent, publicly traded company, as parent firm IAC completed its transition to five separate spinoffs.
The new company, trading via symbol HSNi on Nasdaq, includes both the HSN.com and Home Shopping Network TV assets, as well as mail order catalog-based Cornerstone Brands, which includes the nameplates Ballard Design, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Improvements, Smith & Noble, The Territory Ahead, and Travelsmith.
"HSNi comprises some of the most dynamic brands and experiences in retailing today," said Mindy Grossman, ceo of HSNi. "As an independent company, we'll be able to more fully convey HSNi's points of differentiation, which we believe will result in a more accurate valuation of our company and greater value for our shareholders."
The two former IAC units HSN and Cornerstone had combined 2007 home textiles retail sales of $243 million, which would place them at No.20 in the HTT Top 50 Retailing Giants.
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