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About this project
Elevation Dock: The Best Dock For iPhone
Thanks for checking out our project! If you missed out, you can get your Elevation Dock at ElevationLab.com, along with updates and future projects. And thanks again to all the backers, these would never have been made without your support. - Casey
Wired: "The Dock Apple should have made in the first place."
John Gruber: "An exquisitely well-crafted, beautiful, useful iPhone dock. I'm in."
New York Times: "...but wow, what a stand. It's exquisitely milled from solid, Appleesque aluminum."
Gizmodo: "I'm tempted to buy an iPhone just so I can use the Elevation Dock"
SlashGear: "Elevation Dock for iPhone blows up on Kickstarter"
UberGizmo: "Dock aims to make undocking your iPhone a piece of cake"
Jason Fried: "Love the thinking that went into the design!"
Marco Arment: "Elevation Dock for iPhone raised $75k in 8 hours"
MJ Siegler: "out Apple'd, Apple."
Cult of Mac: "Elevation Lab Has Designed The Most Gorgeous iPhone Dock Ever Made"
GigaOM: "A dock becomes a darling of the tech world"
Digital Trends: "Great design if you ask us. Why didn't Apple think of this?"
Electronistra: "Upscale, case-friendly home"
Uncrate: "...you're going to want a dock. But not just any dock. The Elevation Dock."
TNW: "The Elevation Dock for iPhone blows away Apple's crap options"
Cool Material "The Elevation Dock is, to put it bluntly, perfect."
Silicon Florist "I... Yeah. I don't even really know where to begin."
AIGA: "...perfect blend of form and functionality... much like Dyson's fan."
*Update* Just added Back Multiple Rewards to make it simpler for everyone wanting multiple docks.
There is a growing FAQ section at the bottom of the page to help answer your questions.
If you have tried using docks for your iPhone, you have probably felt our frustration: Undocking is difficult, many aren't designed to work with cases, they are lightweight, and are generally made as a cheap afterthought accessory.
That's why we designed the Elevation Dock - Simple to use, quick undocking, and it works with or without a case. We didn't stop there - It's beautifully precision machined from solid aluminum and it comes in a gorgeous set of surface finishes, setting a new bar for quality and something that looks really good on your desk. It complements the high-level craftsmanship of the iPhone like no other.
Undocking is a breeze. Just pull up the phone up - no violent shaking or using two hands to hold the dock down required. This is achieved by a special low-friction connection, the heft of its solid metal construction, and tacky rubber feet.
Case, no case, doesn't matter. Again, the Elevation Dock is designed to just work. That's why a clever movable support pad allows you to use the dock with or without a case and in a range of case sizes.
Obsessive attention to quality. Elevation Docks are individually CNC machined from solid billets of aircraft grade aluminum, no expense spared. The result is a level of precision that can't be achieve through molding or casting. They feel heavy, strong, durable and look gorgeous.
We could have easily made them cheaper with injection molded plastic filled with sand or something, but this is something we want for ourselves and we appreciate good craftsmanship - this probably why we're such big fans of Apple hardware (well... except for those damn docks!).
Gorgeous finishes. We worked with a specialized metal finishing company to help achieve the gorgeous finish you find on Apple's unibody Macbook Pro's and iMacs - its hand buffed, glass bead blasted, electro-chemically micropolished, hard anodized and sealed.
Makes FaceTime Better. The dock's acoustics make the iPhone sound great and less tinny than when laid on a desk, so speakerphone and FaceTime calls sound better. And its angled back 8 degrees, so you are perfectly in frame of the video.
Perfect for your nightstand too. Know exactly where your phone is in the dark and be able to just easily grab it. Friends we gave prototypes to loved this and used them more often in the bedroom than at their desk - and they all wanted more than one.
The Elevation Dock+
Step up to the Elevation Dock+ for the addition of a shielded Line Level audio out and a USB wall power adaptor.
If you are playing your iPhone through a stereo, Line Level is better than outputting from the microphone jack because it bypasses the iphone's internal amplifier for higher fidelity sound.
The Dock+ comes in your choice of the Apple style bead blasted finish or Matte Black.
The Matte Black is heavy etched for a true matte finish. Very beautiful how it reflects no light, but watch out for greasy fingers as they will leave fingerprints.
Compact USB Wall chargers come with the Dock+ versions. You will have the option for international plugs as well.
Kickstarter Exclusive Finishes
Pledges at the limited edition level can get LimeGreen or SunOrange multi-shade versions. These gorgeous finishes subtly change color depending on the angle you look at them. They are exclusive only Kickstarter backers who have helped get this to market and won't ever be available at retail. They will be individually serialized by laser from 1-999.
Hidden USB
We listened - the cord will now be replaceable. But just having a USB port out the back would mean a big plastic USB housing residing there full time and take away from the clean aesthetic.
So we designed the USB port to recess inside the housing and the bottom plate will be be machined to fill in around the cord and maintain weight.
The result is a cord that you can now optionally change in length - short if it's right next to your computer, long if it's on your nightstand going to a wall outlet - and easily swap out if it gets damaged. And it maintains the beautiful, minimal look of hard mounted cord.
Machined & Assembled in Oregon. Not many consumer electronics can say that. Unmatched quality control, speed to market, and the advanced and efficient machining capabilities of machine shops in our area make it an easy choice to manufacture the bodies domestically.
Thank you, thank you. We at ElevationLab design products for a range of industries - from action sports, to hydration, to medical devices - and always see opportunity to make our own, but the upfront cost and risk is overwhelming for our small shop. So we are looking to crowdsource demand upfront through KickStarter and see if we can make a product that would otherwise never see the light of day.
Please share with any friends that like well-made products and have iPhones.
Apple is a trademark of Apple Inc., no endorsement implied.
Select "Back Multiple Rewards". Add up the total of the rewards you want and enter that as the pledge amount. International orders may add only one shipping charge.
We will send you a form when the funding is completed so we can reconfirm the exact combination and will be getting.
For example:
If you located in the USA and wanted two Matte Black Dock+ and one Ltd Edition SunOrange dock, you would enter $320 as the pledge amount (85+85+150=320).
If you were located in France wanted two standard docks and three Matte Black Dock+ , your pledge amount would be $393 (2x59 + 3x85 + 20 shipping = 393).
Yes. It works with all iPhones, iPod Touch and Nanos.
Yes of course, they all have a USB cord coming out of them.
The Dock+ adds a wall charger like this one - http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB352LL/C…
Yes, we can provide adapters for UK, EU, or AU plugs.
Yes. We will send out a questionnaire after the funding is complete and we will ask for it at that time.
Cases will generally work if the back is less than 4mm thick, the front is less than 3mm, width is under 70mm wide, and a standard apple cord can plug into them on the bottom.
Cases tested to work: Apple Bumper, Element Case Vapor Pro, Incase Slider, Snap and Feather, CaseCrown Glider, Elago Breathe and S4, Incipio Feather Ultralight, Speck Pixel Skin and CandyShell.
Cases that don't work: LifeProof (hard plastic bottom door is in the way).
The Otterbox Defender and Commuter will work if you snip it off the bottom rubber flange with scissors.
If you really want your OtterBox to work with the flange, we will mill you out a dock with a larger opening to accommodate it. We will give you this option when the funding closes and we verify everyone's order.
Just hit the blue "Manage Your Pledge" button and adjust it there.
Support this project
Funding period
- (60 days)


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Wildlife at Sunriver Resort - The Rut We Enjoy
A Gas company just concluded their annual Board meeting here at Sunriver Resort. When I asked the group's Event Manager, what she enjoyed most about coming to Sunriver, she said without hesitation, "The deer".
We had twelve deer run across the Great Hall Bachelor Lawn during their visit last week. It was truly picturesque watching these beautiful animals dashing across the lawn stopping to graze on the plentiful grass here. From our view in the historic Great Hall it was a quintessential Northwest moment.
It's not uncommon to see deer in public places during the fall months. Late September and early October marks the beginning of the deer breeding season known as "The Rut". Technically, The Rut begins as soon the bucks have no velvet on their antlers. During The Rut, bucks display behaviors like rubbing, scraping, charging, striking and chasing does. The season lasts for several weeks with the primary breeding occurring in mid-November. During The Rut, bucks can become very aggressive and disoriented. They will go wherever does can be found.
In the case of the herd on the Great Hall Bachelor Lawn the other day, a young buck was chasing a group of does and was not at all happy to encounter one of our Convention Managers. So while it's enjoyable to watch the deer, we advise our guests not to get close to them. According to Sunriver Resort's Risk Manager, Sally Heise, "Whether they are rutting or not, our guests should be reminded that deer are wild animals, as are the coyotes, squirrels, etc. and would be best observed from afar".
For wildlife enthusiasts or anyone who appreciates vibrant scenery and picture-perfects sunsets, there is no better time than the fall months to enjoy an escape to Sunriver.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Bare Buns - Page 5
"I've seen people wear tops and no bottoms, start the race fully clothed and finish naked, register with clothes and then run naked," says Horn. "We say anything from a snow suit to a birthday suit is acceptable. Run in whatever you feel comfortable wearing."
Whether the appeal is simply a tick off the old bucket list or the draw of competition in a novel setting, nude racing provides an opportunity to experience nature at its most basic. If nothing else, it makes the age-old dilemma of what to wear on race day a lot less stressful.
Jen Burn is the Subscriptions Manager at Trail Runner.
Bare Your Buns
Bouncing Buns 7K Trail Run
Sunny Rest Resort // Palmerton, PA // June 2012
A well-marked, wooded trail race with age-group prizes, a cash bar and access to all the amenities of the resort with your entry. www.pretzelcitysports.com/bouncingbuns
Wreck Beach Bare Buns Run
Vancouver, BC // August 2012
Enjoy age-group awards, a finisher's certificate and race shirt for racing the scenic 5K on the sands of Wreck Beach, Canada's first and largest clothing-optional beach. www.wreckbeach.org/main2.html
The "Original" Bare Buns Fun Run
Kaniksu Ranch Family Nudist Park // Deer Lake, WA // July 2012
Follow an out-and-back 5K course through a scenic forest then indulge in a weekend of recreational activities. www.kaniksufamily.com
Coventry's 5K XC Run
Coventry Club & Resort // Milton, VT // June 2012
Open to all ages (under 18 must have signed consent by a legal guardian), the race is entirely off road, and access to resort amenities is included with entry. www.coventryresort.com/aboutus.htm
Sunny Streak 5K
Sunny Sands Resort | Pierson, FL // June 2012
Compete for a custom Sunny Streak medal (top three male and female runners), but stay for the random prize drawings and giveaways, post-race pool party, nine-hole golf course and more. Registration fee includes resort entry for the weekend. www.aquasunevents.com/16.html


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Neenah - Classic Crest Fine Paper, 24lb, Solar White - Ream
by Neenah | Item #: 950568 | Model #: NEE04631 |
We're sorry, this item is not available in your selected Club. Check another Club
About this item
Premium watermarked papers. Guaranteed for use in laser or inkjet printers and high-speed copiers. Acid-free for archival quality. Smooth finish enhances professional identity. Perfect for letterhead, business proposals and newsletters. Ideal for desktop and other printing applications requiring sharp reproduction.
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SwissStop Brake Pad RacePro 2011 Campy/Zero Gravity Yellow (set of 4)
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Huge Saturday of games. Only two tilts on Thursday and two on Friday. UTEP-Houston could be a real shootout and a fun game if you like a lot of offense.
Just found out that my online book has Nickel Night on Tuesday from 6-9, so I need to be looking at the early lines a lot closer for the following Tuesdays.
Anybody jumping on an early line?


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Highlights from the Marine Programme at GRID-Arendal for April 2010:
1. Featured Project
Deep Sea Minerals
GRID-Arendal is preparing to contribute to SOPAC's (Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission) large EU funded project on marine mining - Deep Sea Minerals in the Pacific Islands Region: Legal Framework and Resource Management.
Initially our role will be to produce a regional Pacific Islands deep sea minerals assessment. Key themes to be addressed include: 1) a synthesis of scientific knowledge pertaining to the geology of deep sea marine minerals, 2) an examination of potential adverse environmental impacts of improperly regulated development and 3) an examination of the socio-economic benefits and consequences of marine mineral resource development.
For more information, please contact Elaine Baker
2. Events
Recent events
Seminars/meetings/conferences related to the marine environment where representatives from GRID-Arendal have participated:
Upcoming events
Cambridge, UK: Meeting with colleagues at UNEP WCMC to discuss marine data and information issues as well initial concept linking Green Economy and marine themes.
For more information, please contact Yannick Beaudoin
Wellington, New Zealand: The Circum Pacific Council board meeting. UNEP/GRID Arendal will present a number of projects including the University of the Sea and the Pacific marine mining project.
For more information, please contact Elaine Baker
Wellington, New Zealand: The annual GEOHAB (Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping) conference. UNEP/GRID Arendal is co-hosting a special conference session with Geosciences Australia, entitled GEOHAB Atlas of seafloor geomorphic features and benthic habitats.
For more information, please contact Elaine Baker
Paris, France: The 5th Global Oceans Conference. The three major and interlinked conference themes are: Ensuring Survival, Preserving Life, and Improving Governance. The 5th global oceans conference will be hosted by the government of France and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic commission, UNESCO.
For more information, please contact Emily Corcoran
3. Other
Great opportunity: MPhil in Conservation Leadership at Cambridge University
Our collaboration partner UNEP-WCMC announces four UNEP-WCMC Chevening MPhil Scholarships in Conservation Leadership beginning in October 2010. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to spend a year at the Cambridge-based Centre, whilst undertaking the MPhil. Applications will be considered from candidates from any country other than those in the European Union (except for the 2004 Accession States), North America and Canada. Priority will be given to candidates from developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
NB: Application deadline is 30 April. For more info and application guidelines, see:
Did you know that…
…currently, just 0.8% of the ocean is under protection? By contrast, around 12% of the world's land area is already protected.
…almost all of the world's MPAs currently occur within areas under national jurisdiction (typically from the coast out to 200 miles)? The ocean area beyond this, the 64% of the ocean called the high seas, remains virtually unprotected.
Source: Mission Blue: http://www.mission-blue.org/sites/default/files/orginfo/Galapagos-Flyer-6printRev.pdf.
Our favourite website of the month
Mission Blue: http://www.mission-blue.org/
If you would like your website to be featured here, please contact Rannveig Nilsen
EarthWire Marine
EarthWire Marine is a free online news service provided by GRID-Arendal. You can get marine environment news e-mailed to you every day or sign up to an RSS feed. Registering is simple. We pledge to protect your privacy, and users can at any time unsubscribe from the service. To subscribe visit http://www.earthwire.org/marine/


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Generation X Sold Out Cobain and Biggie
-- Kurt Cobain, from Nirvana's Serve The Servants
Spread love, it's the Brooklyn way.
-- Notorious B.I.G., Juicy
PORTLAND, Ore. (TheStreet) -- Well, Generation X, we hope you enjoyed nodding or banging your head along to the songs above, because you sure weren't listening to them.
Within the last month, attempts to bestow posthumous accolades on both Kurt Cobain and Christopher Wallace -- Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls -- said more about the generation that grew up on their music than it probably would have liked. In mid-October, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that Nirvana had been chosen as finalists for induction in 2014. Around the same time, an effort to name a street corner in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood after Christopher Wallace -- the exact wording was "Christopher Wallace Way" -- made its way to that neighborhood's community board.
The end result of either platitude was likely not what either of the deceased artists ever had in mind.
Let's get something out of the way first: Cobain silenced his voice in any of this when he took his own life on April 5, 1994. He hasn't had a say in nearly 20 years and all of the posthumous album and video releases, big-money multi-disc reissues, films, documentaries and everything else that has surrounded Nirvana since then is strictly in the hands of Courtney Love and Cobain's former bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Any "that's not the way Kurt would have wanted it" discussions after the time he left this earth are moot.
That said, this induction isn't exactly a Nirvana decision or that of an organization that existed during Nirvana's tenure. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was the pipe dream of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and a bunch of attorneys and record executives. Please note the lack of, you know, musicians in that lineup.
This group basically picked artists it liked and started "enshrining" them in their offices in 1986. It wasn't until 1995, after the Hall of Fame folks passed the hat around the country and got $65 million in public funds from Cleveland, that they gave the Hall of Fame its current home on Lake Erie. While a nice tourism draw for Cleveland, the Hall is basically filled at its braintrust's whim, takes few token votes from the public, ignores petitions and overlooks entire genres. Its induction ceremonies are $25,000-a-table back-patting sessions for the recording industry that surviving members of the Sex Pistols famously referred to as "a piss stain" while spurning their own induction in 2006.
Cobain had already formed a few not-so-favorable impressions of the industry just before his death. Nirvana's third full-length studio album, In Utero was an aggressive push back against the surge of popularity, press and industry approval the group received in the wake of 1991's Nevermind and its anthemic breakthrough single Smells Like Teen Spirit.
In Utero turned 20 years old this year and is still the brash, unwelcoming work it was then. Serve The Servants opens the album with an indictment of the Nevermind period, while the wall of noise behind Milk It, Tourette's and the executive jargon-titled Radio Friendly Unit Shifter defied the suits to find a single. "They want another Nevermind, but I'd rather die than do that. This is exactly the kind of record I would buy as a fan, that I would enjoy owning," Cobain told writer Michael Azzerad, who later used the quote in his 1994 book Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana.
But In Utero didn't make it stop. Cobain's stomach ailments, the heroin he was using to self-medicate them and his loathing of the industry and the artist he'd become all grew too much to bear. In his suicide note, he went into depth about how the music and the process were not only no fun anymore, but killing him. "..when we're back stage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begins, it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love, relish in the the love and adoration from the crowd which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact is, I can't fool you, any one of you. It simply isn't fair to you or me. The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I'm having 100% fun. Sometimes I feel as if I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on stage. I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it (and I do, God, believe me I do, but it's not enough).
So would Cobain want to shell out five figures to sit at a banquet table among the execs and big stars and play in a big, show-stopping jam with Paul Westerberg, Kiss, Public Enemy and whoever else jumped up on stage? Maybe not but, again, he lost his opportunity to weigh in on that a long time ago.
The B.I.G. Sleep
Christopher Wallace, meanwhile, didn't get the choice. Shot to death in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997, on his way home from a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum by a still-unknown assailant, Wallace left behind only his children, his mother Voletta, his friends including Sean "Diddy" Combs and his music.
Wallace's life was by no means uneventful or even enviable. From his debut single Juicy off the 1994 album Ready To Die, Wallace referenced "all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin' in front of that called the police on me when I was just tryin' to make some money to feed my daughters." He was arrested on multiple occasions before his career for dealing crack cocaine and on various weapons charges. Even during his career, he was arrested for attacking autograph seekers and having guns and drugs in his home in Teaneck, N.J.


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Davies, Ray(mond Douglas)
Ray(mond Douglas) Davies 1944–
British songwriter, singer, musician, and actor.
Davies is a founding member and lead singer of the Kinks, a rock group which achieved success during pop music's "British Invasion" in 1964. Davies writes nearly all of the band's material, and his blend of catchy melodies and uniquely British subjects has established a cult following for the Kinks which continues to grow. Davies has gone through various stages in his songwriting career. He has written top 40-oriented pop songs, social satires, concept albums, vaudeville-type stage shows, and New Wave music with topical overtones. Through all of these changes, Davies has maintained the stance of a loner, and his songs most often reflect the alienation and unfulfilled aspirations of the lower middle class.
Davies first became involved in music while an art student in England. With his brother Dave, Peter Quaife, and Mick Avory, Davies began a rhythm-and-blues band called the Ravens. Soon after changing their name to the Kinks, the group signed a recording contract. After releasing two cover singles with little success, the Kinks recorded Davies's composition "You Really Got Me," which was highly successful worldwide. Davies continued to write popular hits through the mid-sixties, including "All Day and All of the Night," "Tired of Waiting for You," "Set Me Free," and "Till the End of the Day." These songs feature a basic beat embellished by distinctive guitar work and repetitive lyrics which reflect the experiences of young people. The Kinks's early albums were overshadowed by these singles, however, since Davies rarely surpassed the lyrical and musical limitations of his hits. Nevertheless, listeners were intrigued by Davies's quirky songs about aggressive women and passive men. The best example of this type of song is "Set Me Free," in which Davies, unlike other pop songwriters of the time, asks the girl to set him free. This sexual ambiguity is apparent both in Davies's soundtrack for the English television movie Percy, which concerns a homosexual, and in "Lola," a song about a person who "walked like a woman but talked like a man."
The release of the single "A Well Respected Man" in late 1965 saw a marked shift in Davies's song topics. This song centers on the themes of corruption and appearance-and-reality rather than love relationships. From this time on, Davies's work began to depict "serious" situations which are felt to be related from a specifically British viewpoint. These works include "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Sunny Afternoon," and "Deadend Street," and the albums Something Else and The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Village Green is seen as a "concept album" with a surprising theme for a rock group: the preservation of traditional ideals and morals. The Kinks's next album, Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), is considered the most successful of Davies's concept works. Written for an English television musical, Arthur shows the decline of English values through the life and views of one character. The Kinks's popularity in England reached its peak with Arthur, but the British nature of Davies's writing alienated American fans, and the Kinks were regarded in the United States as an eccentric cult band.
The Kinks had a hit single in 1971 with "Lola," a Davies song with a typically offbeat theme: transvestism. However, "Lola" is not representative of Davies's work in the early seventies. Davies continued to rely on specific themes for his albums, but his songs veered more toward music-hall vaudeville routines. Beginning with the album Muswell Hillbillies, Davies incorporated brass and a distinctly un-rocklike sound to many of the group's songs. The album was a popular success, but it proved to be the last one the Kinks would have for a few years. Davies's Preservation trilogy, Soap Opera, and Schoolboys in Disgrace are the most theatrical Kinks albums, and Davies took his ideas one step further by acting out his stories in elaborate stage shows. These shows were highly regarded by fans and critics, and were likened to Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill themes and productions. However, the albums are felt to be little more than soundtracks for the stage musicals and were not commercially successful. Also, there was dissatisfaction among other members of the band toward the direction Davies's music was taking; this resulted in some halfhearted performances and caused Davies to reevaluate his songwriting theories.
Sleepwalker, released in 1977, showed distinct changes in Davies's work. He was no longer writing theater pieces, opting instead for the Something Else/Village Green idea of individual songs working toward a collective theme. Critics heralded Davies's creative rebirth on Sleepwalker and the next Kinks album, Misfits. Misfits is considered to be one of Davies's most personal works, and the title song and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" are felt to be among Davies's most beautiful and significant lyrics. The Kinks achieved commercial success with Low Budget, which was recorded while Davies was living in New York and contains lyrics which reflect American society much more than previous albums. The music on Low Budget has a harder edge to it, and Davies's topical themes and pessimistic viewpoint seems influenced by the songs of numerous new wave bands. Accordingly, the Kinks have attained a greater level of popularity in the United States than at any time since the years of their first albums, and they have become more popular in America than in England. This American resurgence proves that Davies still speaks to young people with his songs while working with the ideas and problems that have become his trademark.
- Ray Davies
- Paul Williams
- Sandy Pearlman
- Paul Williams
- Mike Daly
- John Mendelsohn
- Roy Hollingworth
- Bob Palmer
- Mike Saunders
- Mike Saunders
- Bob Palmer
- Nancy Erlich
- Jim Miller
- Ken Emerson
- Steve Simels
- Ian Massey
- Loraine Alterman
- Steve Lake
- Michael Watts
- Fred Schruers
- John Swenson
- Steve Simels
- Allan Jones
- Linda J. Frederick
- Peter Reilly
- Allan Jones
- Billy Altman
- Allan Jones
- Jim Green
- Ken Emerson
- Jon Pareles
- Mark Fleischmann
- Janet Maslin
- John Rockwell
- Dave Schulps
- Nicholas Schaffner
Ray Davies
On the subject of songwriting, I try to put my own feelings in our records, apart from making them commercial….
["All Day and All of the Night"]—despite what many critics say—is a sincere effort to convey the attitude of many people today. It seems that when a thing is "down-to-earth" and factual people always try to stamp it out, but eventually it becomes the established thing.
I could really call myself an apprentice songwriter at the moment and I hope eventually to become sufficiently capable of expressing people's everyday moods, thoughts and emotions in music.
Maybe we should be called the Francis Bacons of pop music!
Ray Davies, "Kink Is Still a Naughty Word," in Melody Maker (© IPC Business Press Ltd.), November 28, 1964, p. 9.
Paul Williams
If you are not a Kinks fan, you are either a) uninformed, or b) not a Kinks fan. If it's the latter, there's nothing you can do about it. The Kinks, rather like Johnny Hart's B.C. or the novels of Kurt Vonnegut, are absolutely indefensible (and unassailable). I can't tell you why they're great: there are no standards by which the Kinks can be judged. Ray Davies' music has nothing to do with almost anything else. It's in a category unto itself, and if you don't like it, well, there you are.
I would like to say that Face to Face is a tremendously funny lp. I'm uncomfortably aware, however, that there are those, even those I respect muchly and love warmly, who do not find B.C. at all funny. I hesitate, therefore, to urge upon them an album that starts with four rings of a telephone and a pristine male voice saying "Hello, who is that speaking please?", followed inexorably by a lead guitar and bass who sound like they've been perched for hours just waiting to play their little run and get into the song (a righteous complaint against whatever it is that interrupts phone conversations). The humor of the thing is indescribable: it's all in the timing, and I break down every time I hear it. But there are those who sit unmoved. It must have something to do with taste.
The Kinks are mostly—but not entirely—Ray Davies. Ray is … [the] motive force for the group, and it is his curious personality that comes through in every note the Kinks play. Some people think Ray is a genius (albeit a misguided one). I think it's more accurate to call him an amazingly articulate musician; his mood at any given time is reproduced impeccably in his songs, with no apparent effort on his part. Playing around with a familiar melody and an unusual break—"Rosie Won't You Please Come Home?"—he lets the words fall where they may. "And I'll bake a cake if you'll tell me you are on the first plane home." Sheer nonsense … but it all falls in place so perfectly, it's hard to imagine any other words could belong there. Ray's gift is his control of his music: whatever he does, it's right. (p. 36)
There's a lot of depth to this album. "Rainy Day in June," for example: how can anything that starts with a thunderclap not be a pretty damn serious song? But it is, and it's a major work. The piano/bass thing rainy days all over you,...
(The entire section is 975 words.)
Sandy Pearlman
[Ray Davies is not] the sort of hero to inspire faith. But he is pretty cynical. Thoroughly disenchanted. (p. 21)
On Kinks Size [the Kinks] do "Louie, Louie." This is highly significant because it seems that the Kingsmen and their "Louie, Louie" are the source for the Kinks' style. Recall that "Louie, Louie" was the big hit on the eve of the Beatles in late 1963. And realize that the Kinks loved it well enough to even do it again on Kinks' Kinkdom (a double cover). Played back-to-back …, "You Really Got Me" seems the plausible—if long awaited—sequel to "Louie, Louie." And "Louie, Louie" becomes archetypically astringent, an influential song in the tradition of "Can I Get A...
(The entire section is 1227 words.)
Paul Williams
I certainly love the Kinks; it's been fifteen months since I've had a new Kinks album in my house, and though I've been listening to them I've missed that pleasure…. I've played [The Village Green Preservation Society] twice since it arrived here this afternoon, and already the songs are slipping into my mind, each new hearing is a combined joy of renewal and discovery. Such a joy, to make new friends! And each and every song Ray Davies has written is a different friend to me.
Ray makes statements, he says the sort of stuff that makes you delighted just to know that someone would say stuff like that….
Now why is it Ray's songs always sound like something else, a different...
(The entire section is 923 words.)
Mike Daly
The Kinks' image is so strange, a group making it on the fact that they've never made it. The ultimate recording group—that's all they do, they just make records, you never see them but once a year they put out an album—a gift from themselves to their audience. The Kinks' last two albums, Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society sold a combined total, in America, of 25,000 copies—that ain't very many. I don't know whether people actually don't like their stuff or if they've just never heard it—whatever the reason, somebody's missing something, because the Kinks, since 1964, have been making some of the finest rock music this side of the Stones and the Beatles.
(The entire section is 693 words.)
John Mendelsohn
So, apparently having forgotten the Byrds' words of caution, you wanna be a rock and roll star, eh? Before you trade in your stereo components toward the price of an electric guitar, there's [Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround (Part One), a] rock and roll essay by Ray Davies and his boys that your ears just have to read….
"The Contender"—silly quasi-bluegrass yielding to some of the most energetic rock and roll noises the Kinks have made since their live-at-Kelvin-Hall LP. Impatient to get out of the life you're presently leading …, you resolve to bust out by playing rock and roll….
"Get Back In Line"—the album's masterpiece: lovely musically, most...
(The entire section is 610 words.)
Roy Hollingworth
Well, we all know what "Percy"'s about, don't we? Nudge, nudge, and a nod's as good as a wink.
Well this length from the film score, laid flat by Ray Davies, performed by the Kinks, hangs I'm afraid, limp, rather lank, cold—and lacking in guts.
But how can one really criticise a movie film score, how can one talk creatively about sets of music laid down to slip in, and fuse with a film? All tracks fail to rise, fail to reach any form of climax…. Possibly the best track is "The Way Love Used To Be," a drifting ballad…. "Whip Lady" would I thought, have been a Kinky movement, but there's no naughtiness to get into…. Davies has undoubtedly been successful with the score—if...
(The entire section is 168 words.)
Bob Palmer
The Kinks are craftsmen in a musical genre that often relies on flash and force, literate chroniclers in a post-literate medium. They are also the most consistent band in rock and roll. Each of the Kinks' preceding twelve albums … is an absolutely integral piece of work. While other groups have dried up, broken down, spawned generations of side-man/superstar spinoffs, the Kinks roll on.
Ray Davies, the group's lead singer and songwriter, seems to be an inexhaustible source of pithy, self-contained songs…. All 12 songs on "Muswell Hillbillies" … are his, though the spirit of pub philosophy that dominates the album owes much to Dave's brand of tipsy populism.
But this is...
(The entire section is 587 words.)
Mike Saunders
Musically, the Kinks' roots in the British Music Hall tradition really show up strongly on Muswell Hillbillies. At least five songs could be described as this type, and when the countryish material is added, the two styles account for almost the whole LP…. Most of the music-hall style songs come over pretty well, even if the genre is minor compared to things the Kinks have done in the past. "Have A Cuppa Tea" is reminiscent of previous Kinks quaintness, and "Alcohol" is particularly delightful—sort of a followup to Ray Davies' Maurice Chevalier tribute "Just Friends" on Percy.
The country stuff is another matter. A portion of it is fine, but some of the songs are so positively...
(The entire section is 437 words.)
Mike Saunders
The Kinks started out by being raunchier than any group in history. "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," "I Need You," and "Till The End Of The Day" were truly the Kingsmen unleashed, and for my money more thrillingly raucous records have never been recorded.
After such successful rock and roll albums as You Really Got Me, Kinda Kinks, and particularly The Kink Kontroversy, not to mention Well Respected Kinks, Ray Davies decided it was time to explore some different alleys. This is precisely what the Kinks' work since Kink Kontroversy has been—a probe down one alley of expression, and once the genre has been satisfactorily mined, a move on to something...
(The entire section is 817 words.)
Bob Palmer
Ray Davies continues to wear his English citizenship like a badge. The Kinks have often used American musical idioms … but Ray has regularly used his considerable songwriting talents to anatomize situations of class and culture that are peculiarly English…. His nostalgia for the afternoon of the Empire, and his interest in the music hall/vaudeville traditions of his youth, continue unabated. His early efforts at the stand-up crooner idiom were often exquisite, especially "Sunny Afternoon" and "End of the Season," and most recently he has shown ingenuity in adapting fashionable rock currents to his obsession….
Everybody's in Showbiz, a double album containing a studio and a live record,...
(The entire section is 637 words.)
Nancy Erlich
The first question to be asked about a new Kinks album has to be: What is Ray Davies going to say about the world this time?… It is a fairly well-accepted opinion among people who listen to lyrics that Davies is a master songwriter, an unexcelled painter of people and scenes. In the course of 16 or so Kinks albums, he has created dozens—maybe hundreds—of incisive, bittersweet, funny-sad observations on the ways that people live. The British group's past several American tours have established an irreconcilable contrast between Ray Davies, the sensitive and intelligent songwriter, and the onstage buffoon of the same name.
"Everybody's In Show Biz" is about that contrast….
(The entire section is 252 words.)
Jim Miller
Ray Davies has enjoyed two periods of Kinky creativity, one marked by crude energy, raw nerve and powerful rock ("All Day and All of the Night"), the other by accomplished artiness, social commentary and wistful vignettes ("Waterloo Sunset"). The Great Lost Kinks Album … concentrates on this second period, which ran approximately from "Sunny Afternoon" to "Lola"; together with last year's Kink Kronikles, it brings to light on album almost the complete Kinks works (although I do quibble with the exclusion of "Sitting on My Sofa").
The world of the Kinks as it evolved after "Sunny Afternoon" evinced a characteristic blend of nostalgia for a quieter period of English history, coupled...
(The entire section is 400 words.)
Ken Emerson
[The songs on The Great Lost Kinks Album] marvelously cohere to make this a real album and not merely an assortment of unrelated curios. This of course says a lot for the organic consistency of The Kinks' work. File TGLKA between Something Else and Village Green.
Like most Kinks albums since 1966, this one is sad. Oh, some of the songs sound happy enough, but they're wistful thinking, pathetically evanescent fantasies. There's no getting away from pain, ugliness, and isolation, which a few tracks face squarely. "Where Did the Spring Go?" is an extremely upsetting song about an aging man who has gotten nothing from life but varicose veins. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is...
(The entire section is 406 words.)
Steve Simels
[The odd thing about the Kinks] is that despite their frequent inability to remain vertical on stage, and despite the fact that they've been known to give performances in which they sounded like, in John Mendelsohn's phrase, "the first rehearsal of an inept teenage garage band," they've managed to create a body of recorded work that is quite clearly in the Beatles/Stones/Dylan class. Yet they've never really achieved the commensurate superstardom….
Discussions of the Kinks have invariably centered around Ray Davies…. But in the beginning it was the Kinks as a band that knocked people out. And, strangely enough, they made their initial reputation as avant-gardists. But there really is no...
(The entire section is 754 words.)
Ian Massey
There are snatches of the Who in ["Preservation Act 1"], the first of a two-act musical by Ray Davies. In fact, insidious as most of them are, the influences of "Tommy" abound, and detract from this album.
That said, there are some Kinks gems, a pretty good, if somewhat hackneyed, storyline, and enough good music to swell the ranks of the Kinks Preservation Society.
At first listen "Preservation Act 1" is disappointing. It hasn't quite the impact of "Muswell Hillbillies" on the rock numbers, nor the lovability of "Village Green Preservation Society," which, for me, must be the definitive Kinks "musical." Ray Davies inevitably has his eyes on the past. Now he's looking to the future;...
(The entire section is 427 words.)
Loraine Alterman
"Preservation Act 1" is actually a full-length development of themes Davies began in 1968 on "The Village Green Preservation Society" album. The songs on this new album relate how greed in the guise of progress is swallowing up individuality and humanity as personified by the inhabitants of a small town. The concept may sound rather grandiose, but Davies … could never get swept up by pretension.
Sparked by his sardonic wit and keen sensitivity, Davies makes his point in very down-to-earth terms. The lyric sheet indicates that each song is to be sung by a different character in this musical so Davies, the songwriter and lead singer, gives us all sides of the story including the villain who gets rich...
(The entire section is 273 words.)
Steve Lake
[If] the Kinks haven't taught us anything else, they've showed us that you can be real and make it….
Who else but Ray Davies would sing about Waterloo Station and Muswell Hill and village greens?
It wasn't always that straightforward, though….
[With "You Really Got Me"] The Kinks proved that they could execute a pretty mean boogie with two chords and a key change….
Maybe it's the type of situation that occurs when a group achieves a measure of success before it's mature enough to handle it, but Ray Davies wrote a large number of variations on a theme of "You Really Got Me," that filled up the bulk of the early albums and B-sides....
(The entire section is 1229 words.)
Michael Watts
To my mind the Kinks have always excelled at short, simple pop songs, the best of which—like "Waterloo Sunset," "Autumn Almanac" and "Days"—have contained a warm, slightly old-fashioned sentimentality that cuts across any prejudices I have about the band's musicianship and general performance….
[Ray Davies] has sharp ears and eyes for the ways of a world that seems to lap at his doorstep while eternally he gazes, hand on chin, behind the upstairs window; and of course, that world is specifically British. However, observer though he may be, satirist he is not. His eyes may be sharp, but his pen draws no blood, essentially because he's too kindly and loveable when he should be savage, cranky and...
(The entire section is 653 words.)
Fred Schruers
Some sweet irony has Ray Davies posted on [the cover of Preservation Act 2] as a demagogic hustler when his refusal to merchandise himself has long impeded widespread recognition of the Kinks.
Because Ray, on this album, mingles his persona as a reluctant rock star and querulous love object with the characters of Flash, Mr. Black and the Tramp (with a bogglingly well-realized cameo as Flash's Special Floosie Belle), then marches these composite characters into a scenario that clicks (musically and narratively) with Preservation Act 1: because that scenario is informed by a superbly intuited moral sense of history, utterly germane to this year of deposed monarchies; and because the whole...
(The entire section is 517 words.)
John Swenson
British rock stagecraft has flirted with theatrical conceits for over a decade. What began as a performance dynamic in which movement was a direct function of the music itself (for example, the early Who and Stones) has evolved to the self-conscious spectacle of David Bowie's Cecil B. DeMille imitations and Jethro Tull's ridiculously cluttered, absurdist program pieces….
What's missing from this Grand Opera approach to rock performance is the solid conceptualization which can only come from strong songwriting point-of-view. The clarity and simplicity of statement which has always been one of rock's most positive songwriting attributes is gone from the tangled web of solipsistic allusions which...
(The entire section is 980 words.)
Steve Simels
It's no secret that Ray Davies has, in comparison with his early work, dished out an awful lot of substandard dross of late. In this he is like most of the rest of the great songwriters of the Sixties rock explosion….
The question of why Ray Davies' work has declined is a mite puzzling, however. Granted, he has tried of late to adapt his usual themes—the lives of little people, English traditions and their decline—to larger canvases than he's accustomed to. Even though his first attempt, the concept album "Arthur," was a rousing success, I still maintain that he is primarily a short-story writer, if you will, rather than a novelist: into such songs as Do You Remember Walter, Deadend...
(The entire section is 576 words.)
Allan Jones
"Schoolboys in Disgrace" is, without any doubt, the most impressive and enjoyable album that Ray Davies has written and produced since those halcyon days when the Kinks delivered that essential series of records which includes "Face To Face," "Something Else," "Village Green" and "Arthur."
Davies' recent work, particularly the ambitious "Preservation" trilogy, has not been entirely without its memorable moments, but all too often his vision has lacked that spectacular clarity which characterised many of his earlier compositions.
This album is a celebration of those qualities one admired so completely in Davies as a writer. He's not fully recovered his impressive facility for...
(The entire section is 367 words.)
Linda J. Frederick
[Looking through my collection of the Kinks's] early Reprise albums, I was struck by how very many Kinks songs deal with the wish to be somewhere, sometime, someone, or even something else (King Kong is a good example). Long before it became fashionable in rock, Ray Davies was a master at creating a nostalgic mood…. And, now that it's once again out of vogue (for which mercy God be praised), Ray has returned to this genre [on "Schoolboys in Disgrace"], if indeed he ever left it. Even given all that, the last thing in the world I expected now was an album full of yearnings for "those happiest days of your life" as a carefree student. I've always regarded Ray as, among other things, unalterably opposed...
(The entire section is 635 words.)
Peter Reilly
The Kinks and their mainspring, Raymond Douglas Davies, are presented [in "The Kinks' Greatest Celluloid Heroes"] in a ragtag collection of material dating as far back as 1972. Davies, who writes, produces, and arranges the group's material, seems to be making a lifelong career out of cheeky irreverence. Sometimes it works, as it does in Muswell Hillbilly, and sometimes it is woefully inappropriate, as it is in Alcohol—there's nothing really funny about that subject if you've read any of the new statistics on teenage (or any-age) alcoholism. But most of the time, as in Everybody's a Star and Celluloid Heroes, it comes across as a creaky bore. Somehow the Seventies have made a lot of pop...
(The entire section is 149 words.)
Allan Jones
["Sleepwalker"] emphatically testifies to the dramatic artistic revival of Raymond Douglas Davies, whose supreme talents as a writer have been so distressingly overlooked during the first half of this decade.
Davies' restless imagination and determination to pursue, over the last six years, a unique musical course which paid no homage to prevailing fashions and ideas, undoubtedly cost the Kinks the praise of the popular audience they deserved and the commercial success that would have justified their leader's uncompromising idiosyncrasies in the face of often universal critical disdain and popular indifference.
But their achievements have been no less entertaining during this time,...
(The entire section is 876 words.)
Billy Altman
Even as a staunch Kinks supporter, I was beginning to have my doubts. Although the band's following has grown steadily since they made it into the Seventies (by the skin of their teeth) with "Lola," they seemed to have peaked with Muswell Hillbillies. Ray Davies seemed hopelessly stuck on a thematic dead-end street (perhaps he had started believing all those notices about personifying the "voice of the little people"). But Sleepwalker … is a clear-cut triumph both for Davies and the band.
A few of these songs smack of the self-righteousness that's hindered Davies' recent writing; but the beautiful "Stormy Sky," in which clouds become a symbol for romantic conflict, and "Full Moon," a...
(The entire section is 233 words.)
Allan Jones
Raymond Douglas Davies is a metaphorical continent, removed from the archetypal macho-monster breathing blood and venom upon his audience as he carves a violent passage through their collective consciousness. Rather, he has the breezy bravado of a comic turn in an end-of-the-pier revue….
Raymond Douglas Davies is unique….
The Kinks' third single … was an event of some significance: the raw power and indefatigable exuberance of "You Really Got Me" … virtually introduced the genre of heavy metal in one devastating three-minute explosion of rabid sexual energy.
Ray Davies followed "You Really Got Me" with a further seven singles cast principally in the same...
(The entire section is 825 words.)
Jim Green
The Brothers Davies—better known as the Kinks—have survived a decade and a half of the rock wars. As Ray puts it in "A Rock and Roll Fantasy," "it's a miracle we're still here." Last year's Sleepwalker was the debut on their third label, Arista, and made the biggest impression in the charts of any Kinks LP yet. Considering the brilliance of their recorded output, it's about time [the Kinks had a commercial success].
On the evidence of Misfits, perhaps Ray Davies thinks so too, and decided to hasten the band's attainment of the commercial success they so richly deserve by doing what he could to homogenize the music for mass acceptance. Or maybe, after having worked on the album so...
(The entire section is 393 words.)
Ken Emerson
After twenty-odd albums, either you follow the Kinks or you don't. If you don't ("Gently pity those you can't persuade," as Jonathan Swift put it), it's unlikely you'll acquire the habit with Misfits, especially since none of the songs sounds like an immediate hit single. But if you do, this LP can make you cry. Not because Misfits is a bad record—on the contrary, it's the Kinks' best since, at the very least, 1974's underrated Preservation Act 2. No, what makes it heart-rending is its candor bordering on cruelty. And both the victim and the victor are Ray Davies.
It's as if the voice that has probably whispered for years inside Ray Davies' head, murmuring, "Come out, come out,...
(The entire section is 877 words.)
Jon Pareles
With the Era of Lowered Expectations upon us like a toxic thermal inversion, the Kinks are suddenly topical again. Ray Davies's pragmatic yet romantic pessimism—which he's maintained for 15 years—seems reasonable now, no longer a minority outlook. So when he names an album after the refrain "low budget," he doesn't sound petty or mundane; he sounds tough-minded, resonant, inspired. "Low Budget" (the song) lives up to its title; it's a monologue from a character who's forced to sacrifice quality for economy, a nigh-universal predicament. You don't have to be a Davies cultist or an expert on the English working class to know what he's singing about—and that shot of reality is exactly what the Kinks have needed....
(The entire section is 511 words.)
Mark Fleischmann
[If you doubt that Low Budget's] unifying idea is modern urban malaise à la Davies, you may have a bit of trouble accounting for the claustrophobic outlook of "In a Space," the dancing whore and babbling street loon who meet Ray's compassionate eye in "Little Bit of Emotion," his view of Captain America as a helpless giant in "Catch Me Now I'm Falling," the disco arrangement of "Superman," and the very existence of a song called "Pressure"—all on the same record. As the Kinks enter the '80s Ray's idealized village green is long gone, having been formally razed on Preservation, and perhaps even Arthur's suburban haunt may well have grown a little dirtier and more impersonal in the decade since 1969, as...
(The entire section is 273 words.)
Janet Maslin
At first I thought the biggest problem [in being stranded on a desert island with just one record] would be one of acoustics, but then I thought again. No friends. No enemies. No Christmas shoppers, but no Christmas presents, either. No way to start a stamp collection. No date at the movies. Hold the phone—no movies at all! Or books! Or talk shows! Or magazines (except for one yellowing copy of People, with Gregg and Cher and Baby Elijah on the cover)! Or records! No records!
Hah. One record, and—this being something of a trumped-up dilemma—all the time in the world to choose it. The final selection process didn't take me anywhere near that long: Something Else by the...
(The entire section is 1584 words.)
John Rockwell
[The] Kinks have never really matched the top British groups in terms of mass success, and the reasons seem to be twofold. First, Ray Davies, the band leader, is too anarchic to conform to the rules and regulations of rock careerism. Rock may seem like an arena of wild men to outside observers. But it has its own rules, too, and for all their apparent eccentricity and iconoclasm, stars like Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend obey those rules.
The other reason is that the distinction of the Kinks's songs has to do more with Mr. Davies's lyrics and his charisma than with any purely musical virtues. This makes him the darling of some rock writers, the kind that fastens first on the words instead of the...
(The entire section is 180 words.)
Dave Schulps
What [the live album] One for the Road shows so well is how vital the Kinks are as we enter the '80s. After years on the fringe of mainstream rock, unwilling to compromise themselves for the sake of trendiness, it's no accident that the Kinks are currently more popular than at any time since the mid-'60s. Rock has come back to the Kinks' way of thinking, and for the first time in a while the group is in a position to reap the benefits. If the Jam can have an English hit with "David Watts," and the Pretenders score with "Stop Your Sobbing" why shouldn't the Kinks restore both to their set? Why shouldn't the Kinks, who fooled around with calypso in the early '70s ("Apeman," "Supersonic Rocket Ship"), concoct a...
(The entire section is 314 words.)
Nicholas Schaffner
There's been a lot of talk about "dinosaurs" these past few years. It's gotten to the point where many longtime rock fans … might reluctantly vote in favor of banishing some of their aging heroes to a remote cave. (p. 63)
The Kinks, however, are one "Sixties" act that has never had to face the dilemma of living up to (or living down) an identity forged from teen anthems … Following several rewrites of his first youthful power-popper, "You Really Got Me," Ray Davies grew up almost overnight. Most of the understated narratives he penned in the latter half of the Sixties are not only timeless but ageless…. Davies might well have soldiered on into the next century, writing and singing such wry and...
(The entire section is 649 words.)


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More:2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony
On May 29, 2012, President Barack Obama recognized 13 Americans, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the highest honor awarded to civilians in the United States. Established by President Kennedy in 1963, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is presented to those who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
When President Obama presented Albright with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he said:
"As the first woman to serve as America's top diplomat, Madeleine's courage and toughness helped bring peace to the Balkans and paved the way for progress in some of the most unstable corners of the world. And as an immigrant herself -- the granddaughter of Holocaust victims who fled her native Czechoslovakia as a child -- Madeleine brought a unique perspective to the job. This is one of my favorite stories. Once, at a naturalization ceremony, an Ethiopian man came up to her and said, 'Only in America can a refugee meet the Secretary of State.' And she replied, 'Only in America can a refugee become the Secretary of State'."
From 1997 to 2001, under President William J. Clinton, Albright served as the 64th U.S. Secretary of State, the first woman to hold that position. During her tenure, she worked to enlarge NATO and helped lead the Alliance's campaign against terror and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, pursued peace in the Middle East and Africa, sought to reduce the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons, and was a champion of democracy, human rights, and good governance across the globe. From 1993 to 1997, she was America's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
See the full list of honorees here.
Editor's Note: This video appears courtesy of the White House and can be found on the The White House Blog.


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Topic: BBCodeize and h()
I am in the process of implementing the BBCodeizer plugin and have noticed a little bug that I can't quite seem to fix.
The plugin allows for quotes with citations as follows (I put a space after all opening brackets to make the actual bbcode show up here):
[ quote="Albert Einstein"]e=mc^2[ /quote]
The plugin recommends using the bbcodeize function with the h function to clean out the text first:
This however breaks the quote with citation tag because all quotation marks get converted to their html equivalent before getting converted to bbcode.
The quote with citation tag is defined as follows:
:start_quote_with_cite => [ /\"(.*?)"\ wrote:
'
\1 wrote:
' ]
I tried simply changing the quotation marks to their html equivalent but it didn't seem to help. How might I modify this expression to identify bbcode that has already been passed through the h() function?
Last edited by jfredrickson (2008-09-30 12:07:23)


text:
Topic: Rolling over log files
Hi Folks,
I was wondering if anyone could let me know how to automatically rollover log files in manageable sizes?
I'm not ready to reduce the amount of logging I'm doing with my app, but trying to debug a 30mb text file is a pain in the butt!!
I've seen people talk about Cron jobs, and have read the section in Agile Web dev with rails about setting it up to copy, but wondered if there is a non-cron based solution.


text:
Debates of May 9th, 1996
House of Commons Hansard #43 of the 35th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was amendment.
- Point Of Order
- Government's Response To Petitions
- Committees Of The House
- Canada Labour Code
- Food And Drugs Act
- Equal Treatment Of People Cohabiting In A Relationship Similar To A Conjugal Relationship Act
- Department Of Labour Act
- Committees Of The House
- Petitions
- Questions On The Order Paper
- Canadian Human Rights Act
- Forestry
- Figure Skating
- Canadian Human Rights Act
- National Unity
- Firefighters
- Bill C-33
- City Of Montreal
- National Nursing Week
- National Forest Week
- Prison Reform
- Westray Mine Disaster
- Parti Quebecois
- War Crimes
- Westray Mine Disaster
- Human Rights
- Hiv-Aids
- Unemployment Insurance Reform
- Taxation
- The Senate
- Taxation
- Natural Resources
- Benefits
- Coast Guard
- Poverty
- Benefits
- Coast Guard
- Benefits
- Laval Space Camp
- Cuba
- Fisheries
- Presence In Gallery
- Business Of The House
- Point Of Order
- Petitions
- Canadian Human Rights Act
- Immigration Consultants
Canadian Human Rights Act
Government Orders
1:45 p.m.
Marlene Catterall Ottawa West, ON
Mr. Speaker, the member commented that if certain amendments had been adopted this legislation would have been acceptable to him.
I refer to one of the amendments he put forward, that the bill be amended to define family as meaning a heterosexual couple with their natural or adopted children.
As I pointed out to the member in a note, does that mean if I were a woman with four young children and my husband had the bad grace to die on me, I would not be considered a family under Canadian law? If I were living with my husband, having raised our children and maybe our mother was living with us, sharing our meals, bathing in the same bath tub, using the same washing machine, looking after each other, that we would not be a family?
According to his definition we would not be. I would like him to explain why that amendment to the legislation would have made sense to him. Is he aware the Canadian Human Rights Act is already being interpreted as if discrimination based on sexual orientation were in it?
Does he not think employers, providers of services, have the right to know they cannot discriminate? Right now they do not by reading the legislation.
Canadian Human Rights Act
Government Orders
1:50 p.m.
Ian McClelland Edmonton Southwest, AB
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for raising these questions because it gives me a chance to put on the record clarification.
We exchanged some notes last evening during the vote. The amendments which came forward in my name, had I had the opportunity to withdraw them I would have. I think the point was very well made. When the amendments went in it was to refer to marriage and family. When the amendments were printed it was family. I should have caught it but I did not and I apologize.
This is one of the reasons for the good faith of the members assembled here. They are able to have a look at legislation and say that it does not make sense, and it was deservingly defeated.
However, there are other members who brought forward amendments which would have served the same purpose and they were defeated as well.
Canadian Human Rights Act
Government Orders
1:50 p.m.
Svend Robinson Burnaby—Kingsway, BC
Mr. Speaker, I accept what the hon. member said, that some motion went in in his name which did not reflect his position.
My question to him is a very straightforward question. If that is the case, why did he vote for an amendment which excluded single parent families? Why did he vote in favour of it?
Canadian Human Rights Act
Government Orders
1:50 p.m.
Ian McClelland Edmonton Southwest, AB
Mr. Speaker, it was in that long silent walk home, as I was considering the events of the day, when I thought perhaps I blew it that time.
Canadian Human Rights Act
Government Orders
1:50 p.m.
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
Nova Scotia
Francis Leblanc Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my 20 minutes with the hon. member for Burlington.
I welcome the decision of the Prime Minister to permit a free vote on this legislation. The subject matter of Bill C-33 is a human rights issue. It is also a moral issue. As a moral issue it is important that members of Parliament be permitted to vote according to their conscience.
I do not wish to have my support for this legislation misconstrued as having been coerced. I realize many of my constituents have different views on this question. I know those views are deeply held and the product of sincere conviction. I respect those views. I want to explain how I have come to my position.
Those who oppose the bill fear it will have the effect of giving social approval to homosexual relationships, to same sex marriages and to same sex benefits through the courts, or that it will make it possible for crimes such as pedophilia to be protected by human rights laws. They argue Bill C-33 grants special rights to gays and lesbians.
Are these concerns valid? Let us remember what Bill C-33 does. Bill C-33 makes a slight amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act. The Canadian Human Rights Act is a federal law which prohibits discriminatory practices in the workplace and in access to goods and services in activities which are the legislative responsibility of the Parliament of Canada. For the purpose of this legislation, these activities include the Government of Canada itself, banks, airlines, railways and telecommunication companies.
The Canadian Human Rights Act is about discrimination related to employment and access to goods and services in these sectors of our economy. It sets out what is discrimination and the recourse and remedies available to individuals when it occurs.
Under the current act the prohibited grounds of discrimination are race, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, sex, marital status, family status, disability or conviction for which a pardon has been granted. Bill C-33 adds the words sexual orientation to these categories.
It is important to emphasize the words are sexual orientation. This ought to provide reassurance to Roman Catholics, of which I am one. I quote from a recent letter to the Prime Minister by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops by the Most Reverend Francis J. Spence, Bishop of Kingston.
The letter, which I obtained through the courtesy the Most Reverend Colin Campbell, Bishop of Antigonish, has been helpful to me in considering my position on this legislation. In his letter Bishop Spence points to a distinction made by the church which he says "is not often made in the public debate between orientation-inclination-and behaviour".
Bill C-33 is entirely about orientation. It has nothing whatsoever to do with behaviour. The term is entirely neutral. It applies equally to persons who are victims of discrimination because they are heterosexual as to those who are victims of discrimination because they are homosexual.
It has nothing to do with whether a person is sexually active or not. The celibate homosexual gets the same protection under Bill C-33 as the most promiscuous sexually active heterosexual. What counts is whether the individual is the victim of discrimination in the workplace or in terms of access to services strictly because of his or her sexual orientation. The bill has nothing to say positive or negative about the behaviour itself.
At the same time, Bill C-33 does not in any way invite or encourage an individual to express or practise or flaunt his or her sexual orientation or desires in the workplace. It in no way changes what are acceptable social norms of behaviour in this regard. If an employee or a customer in a federally regulated institution chooses to behave in a lewd or sexually aggressive or inappropriate way he or she can expect no protection from discipline under Bill C-33. They are subject to the same actions related to sexual harassment or sexual assault or immoral conduct and so on as exists under present laws. However, even in those cases the individual is entitled to due process before the law and not to be the object of systematic discrimination.
Will Bill C-33 lead to the legalization of such crimes as pedophilia? The answer is now. Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation. It is a crime. It a crime regardless of whether the offender is heterosexual or homosexual. It is an offence under the Criminal Code which is a totally separate statute in no way affected by the bill.
Will Bill C-33 end up sanctioning same sex marriages or the granting of same sex benefits? No. These are completely separate issues that have nothing to do with the Canadian Human Rights Act. The Canadian Human Rights Act has to do with discrimination in terms of employment and access to goods and services. It has nothing to do with marriage. Nor does it apply to same sex benefits.
Bill C-33 is not about homosexual unions. It is not about same sex benefits. It is not even about sex. It is about human rights. Bill C-33 advances the moral proposition that it is a violation of fundamental human rights to deny a person access to services or to discriminate against someone in terms of employment purely on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Canadian Human Rights Act
Government Orders
1:55 p.m.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)
I ask the hon. member's co-operation and I will certainly see that he has the opportunity to complete his remarks in the fullest following question period.
Statements By Members
1:55 p.m.
Stan Dromisky Thunder Bay—Atikokan, ON
Mr. Speaker, the week of May 5 to 11 is National Forest Week, a time when public awareness of Canada's forest resources is encouraged by the Canadian provincial forestry associations.
Canada has 10 per cent of the world's forests. These forests form a vital part of our economy, supporting over 350 communities and providing jobs for over 800,000 Canadians. With $50 billion of shipments annually Canada is one of the world's largest suppliers of forest products. In my riding of Thunder Bay-Atikokan the forest and lumber industry is a significant employer.
This year's National Forest Week theme is "Forest Regions: Varied Treasures". This theme reflects the fact that various parts of the country support different types of forest ecosystems. In Canada we have 10 distinct forest areas, each of which offers its own treasures.
Figure Skating
Statements By Members
1:55 p.m.
Pauline Picard Drummond, QC
Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise in this House to recognize the determination and relentless hard work of Josiane Fréchette, from Sainte-Perpétue-de-Drummond.
Josiane is a brilliant figure skater. She won a gold medal in the Canadian championship, Atlantic division, pre-novice level, and she came first in the short program, novice level, in an international invitation competition, the Residential City Cup, which was held in the Netherlands this year.
Having been selected by the Quebec figure skating federation for the fourth year in a row, Josiane will attend a provincial figure skating seminar.
Thank you, Josiane, for giving those around you this example of faith and perseverance. Our hearts are with you.
Quebec has another reason to be proud of its young people.
Canadian Human Rights Act
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Sharon Hayes Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Mr. Speaker, the bill amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation has been shrouded in a deliberate campaign of misinformation by the justice minister.
The minister is doing this dance of deception in order to deny the truth and consequences of Bill C-33. He portrays the bill as the simple addition of two words in an act, a simple two clause bill that this House should dispose of quickly that will simply address discrimination. Not so.
The truth is this bill will have profound consequences that will impact Canadian family by redefining it, and that undermine the fundamental principles of equality.
The minister continues to mislead and dodge the truth, while the government rams the bill through the House in record time. Under false pretences, the government has disabled democracy.
History will be the judge of these nine days that have mocked our parliamentary institution and the Canadian people.
National Unity
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Andy Mitchell Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate two high school students in my riding for their contributions to the pursuit of national unity. To Sarah Boyd and Michael Holmes, both students at Parry Sound High School, I say well done.
These two young constituents tied for first place in an essay contest that I launched in all of the high schools in my riding to promote pride in Canada.
In her essay Sarah urges Canadians to speak out and to contribute their skills to helping Canada remain strong and united. She suggests linking towns of similar sizes to promote understanding and strengthen community bonds.
In his essay, Michael advocates encouraging corporations to make unity their responsibility. He advocates pairing community newspapers to facilitate a shared letters to the editor venue that fosters kinship and understanding.
I am proud of the efforts of all those who entered my national unity essay contest. Today I ask my colleagues to join with me in saluting Sarah Boyd and Michael Holmes.
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Bill Blaikie Winnipeg—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, this week the International Association of Firefighters is in town.
A number of statements have been made in the House lauding the work of firefighters and the risks they take on behalf of all of us. I would like to echo those sentiments.
However, the best way we can honour firefighters is for the House and the government to take their policy recommendations seriously with respect to Operation Respond, a proposal they made for dealing with hazardous materials which they would like to see set up in Winnipeg as a pilot project. I encourage the government to get moving on that. It should also get moving on the proposal with respect to a public benefit for firefighters and similar service people who lose their lives in the line of duty, and also recommendations with respect to the Canada pension plan.
The government should take all these recommendations to heart and we should see some action on these very soon.
Bill C-33
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Alex Shepherd Durham, ON
Mr. Speaker, the public wants individual members of Parliament to have more say in reflecting their opinions.
I note that the British system allows for a degree of independence provided by a tiered disciplinary system. I am most pleased that my leader has provided a free vote on Bill C-33.
With free votes it will be even more important to attempt to understand and represent the views of all constituents. To this end I have had a personal and professional poll prepared in my riding of Durham, asking the people what their attitudes were to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
While there was a clear case of polarization, it was evident that the majority was in favour of the changes which they saw as a matter of human rights. I hope this will herald a new era of relaxing to some degree the discipline in this place in order that members can more effectively represent their constituents.
With this newfound liberty, members will have to be more diligent in ensuring that they fully understand the views of their constituents. I look forward to a more liberalized parliamentary system
City Of Montreal
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Nick Discepola Vaudreuil, QC
Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday, Montreal launched a promotional campaign under the theme "Montreal, you are my city".
This two-year operation was the fruit of concerted efforts by the City of Montreal, the Government of Canada, 11 private corporations, and the vast majority of local media.
This multimedia operation offers concrete proof that the climate in Montreal is changing and that all stakeholders will now work toward a common goal.
The hon. member for Outremont and Secretary of State for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec was happy to announce, on behalf of the Canadian government, a financial contribution of $1 million.
This is another fine example of this government's commitment to work in partnership with other socioeconomic stakeholders to improve conditions in Montreal and Quebec.
National Nursing Week
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Bernard Deshaies Abitibi, QC
Mr. Speaker, this week being National Nursing Week-whose theme this year is "Ask a nurse"-I take this opportunity to draw attention to the important role played by nurses in keeping everyone healthy.
I wish to pay them a special tribute in this House so that these professionals know we are aware of the upheaval their profession is going through: the job cuts in hospitals, the shifting of part of the work to patients' homes, the review of duties and of the training required to practice their profession in this new environment. That is quite a lot.
I therefore want to recognize their strength of character, their dedication and their determination to provide quality care despite the uncertainties of tomorrow.
They are true professionals. On behalf of all my colleagues, I want to commend the nurses of Abitibi, Quebec and Canada for their professionalism and their strong dedication to their communities.
National Forest Week
Statements By Members
May 9th, 1996 / 2:05 p.m.
Darrel Stinson Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Ed MacDonald, a forester from Vancouver Island, for donating 300 coast cedar seedlings to help celebrate National Forest Week. They are available today in the opposition lobby.
The seedlings remind us that trees clean the air and protect watersheds, in addition to sheltering wildlife and providing both recreation and jobs for people. Eight hundred and eighty thousand people work directly or indirectly in forest industries which produced $49 billion in products in 1995, more than half of which was in the export industry, making us number one in the world.
Even given the limitations of the new softwood lumber agreement with the United States, forestry contributes more to the balance of trade than agriculture, fishing, mining and energy combined. The people of Canada, primarily through their provincial governments, have a big say in what happens in our forests because most of them are publicly owned.
Therefore we must choose wisely regarding land use decisions, including native land claims, to protect forestry, the backbone of Canada's economy.


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FoS: Hana
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Author Comments
Rated 5 / 5 stars
No words
No words can dicribe how awsome this pic iz
Rated 5 / 5 stars
Awesome pic :P
really nice picture :P i love it
Rated 5 / 5 stars
A new series!?
so can you send me some information on the series?
sorry, but I didn't really make this series into a big project like a comic.
i have a story but it can be changeable :/
Rated 5 / 5 stars
A wonderful piece and I'd love to see more artwork of Hana.
P.S. I was wondering if I could use this pic cause I would love to make my own version of your lovely character. PM me if you'll allow me to use it.
thanks! :)
Rated 5 / 5 stars
Kewl, pretty nice
She's well represented, the colours are perfect, and it's well-drawn. Way to go.


text:
Two new diabetes treatments for type 1 diabetes could offer real hope.
Anyone who has type 1 diabetes knows what a demanding disease it is, requiring round-the-clock vigilance of diet, exercise and blood sugar levels. The disease occurs when your body destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. RELATED: Exercise for Diabetes? But scientists are making discoveries that may prevent and even cure type 1 diabetes.� Below are descriptions of two potential diabetes treatments. A Wonder-Working Immune Protein In a 2013 study at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Melbourne, Australian researchers found that an immune protein called CD52 can prevent and cure early stage type 1 diabetes in animals. The discovery involves T-cells, key players in the immune system that, in type 1 diabetes, recognize proteins expressed by cells of the pancreas, explains Dr. Simi Ahmed, program scientist in the Immune Therapies Program at JDRF (formerly called the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) in New York City. �We found that a subset of T cells suppressed other T cells and kept the growth of the T cell population in check,� says lead study author Len Harrison, a diabetes researcher and professor at the institute. �The suppressor T cells were characterized by a high expression of the CD52 molecule.� RELATED: Diabetes Health Terms You Need to Know� The researchers also found that when they blocked CD52, the good T cells stopped acting as suppressors, says Harrison. �If you look at the T cells of people who have type 1 diabetes, you see that that number of cells that express high levels of CD52 are fewer [than in a healthy population],� says Ahmed. The next step, says Ahmed, is to find ways to increase the expression of CD52 on T cells. �Potentially, [increasing CD52] could work on any autoimmune disease that has a T cell component,� she says. An autoimmune disease, like type 1 diabetes, is characterized by the body�s attack on itself. The measurement of CD52 expressing cells may also eventually be used to detect the presence of type 1 diabetes earlier than it can now be detected. Says Ahmed, �It may allow scientists to identify a patient population at greater risk for developing type 1 diabetes.� Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed currently through blood tests. If human studies go well, the use of CD52 as a diabetes treatment may only be a few years away, says Harrison. A New Drug called Ig-GAD2 In a 2013 study, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that combining cells similar to adult stem cells with a new drug called Ig-GAD2 may result in production of new insulin-producing beta cells. �Ig-GAD2 acts to [lessen] the autoimmune attack on beta cells,� says Dr. Andrew Rakeman, senior scientist at JDRF. By lessening the attack, the beta cells begin to operate again. To develop the drug, researchers combined Ig-GAD2 with progenitor cells�similar to adult stem cells--drawn from bone marrow in mice. To the researchers� surprise, the progenitor cells turned into endothelial cells that line blood vessels, among other things.� Those cells generated new blood vessels that provided the beta cells with the nourishment they needed to survive. The drug was given for 10 weeks, and the bone marrow transplants were given intravenously on weeks 2, 3 and 4.� The mice were cured of type 1 diabetes for 120 days, their lifespan. Although it�s not yet clear if the diabetes treatment will work in humans, the results are promising, says Rakeman. �In principle, therapies that promote endothelial cell function and the formation of new blood vessels could be applied to many diseases.� Brought to you by: Spry Living


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Signup for your free XtreemConneX profile and chat with people from redding.
People looking for free online local and adult chat rooms in redding
The people listed above are just some of the XtreemConneX users looking for adult chat rooms near redding or adult chat rooms around redding. register to see see more users.


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Just got a call from a gal I work with. She runs the Ohio Mortgage Society, which has had its golf outing at Orchard Hills in Chesterland for the last 7-8 years.
Allegedly, it's been sold, and the new owners are turning it into a park.
That's really a shame. I always really liked that course. The whiff of apples in the air from Patterson's fruit farm right next door. Toughest practice green in NE Ohio. A tricky course with several dogleg lefts, which wreaked havoc with my natural left to right ball flight.


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QUOTE (RetireChrebet @ Jan 28 2007, 02:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
i said if he didnt get hurt in 05' and 06' then i believe he wouldve won both
and if your aunt had balls, she'd be your uncle.
I agree with most of the other posters that this seems to be a deep draft. The top 10 may not be loaded with stars a la the previous years, but i think the fact that people are hyped about getting a potential pro-bowler in the 2nd round shows that from i'd say the 10th pick to about the 50th pick, there isn't much of a talent drop off... maybe even more than that.


text:
LINGUIST List 22.2974
Thu Jul 21 2011
FYI: Call for Participation: GIVE-2.5 NLG Challenge
Editor for this issue: Brent Miller <brent
LL's Multitree project
for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:
To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
1. Konstantina Garoufi ,
Call for Participation: GIVE-2.5 NLG Challenge
Message 1: Call for Participation: GIVE-2.5 NLG Challenge
Konstantina Garoufi <garoufi
Call for Participation: GIVE-2.5 NLG Challenge
E-mail this message to a friend
Help us evaluate NLG systems by going on a virtual treasure hunt!
GIVE-2.5: NLG Challenge on Generating Instructions in Virtual Environments
Part of Generation Challenges 2011
Endorsed by SIGGEN and SIGSEM
Dear colleagues,
For the third time now, the GIVE Challenge has invited research teams
to develop systems that generate natural-language instructions to
assist users in solving a puzzle in a virtual 3D environment. This
year teams of undergraduate students, graduate students, and
researchers from six universities in five countries have built eight
systems, and you can now play with these systems over the Internet.
If you go to
one of the systems will be assigned to you. Follow the instructions it
produces for you, and see whether you can find the trophy. It
shouldn't take more than 10 minutes and you are contributing valuable
evaluation data. Play as many games as you like: there are 3 new game
worlds to explore.
If you could help us spread this invitation by passing it on to your
colleagues (not necessarily NLP experts), friends, and students, we
would be most grateful.
You can find more information about the GIVE Challenge at
The GIVE-2.5 Organizing Committee
Alexandre Denis, Loria, Nancy
Andrew Gargett, U.A.E. University
Konstantina Garoufi, University of Potsdam
Alexander Koller, University of Potsdam
Kristina Striegnitz, Union College
Mariet Theune, University of Twente
The GIVE Steering Committee
Donna Byron, Northeastern University
Justine Cassell, Northwestern University
Robert Dale, Macquarie University
Alexander Koller, University of Potsdam
Johanna Moore, University of Edinburgh
Jon Oberlander, University of Edinburgh
Kristina Striegnitz, Union College
Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics; General Linguistics
Read more issues
LINGUIST home page
Top of issue
Page Updated: 21-Jul-2011
About LINGUIST
Contact Us
While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.


text:
Pacific Partnership 2012 (PP12)/USNS Mercy is currently anchored about 10 minutes off shore near the city of Calbayog, Samar Island, Republic of the Philippines. U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas attended the opening ceremony on June 19, and noted in his speech that USNS Mercy first visited Calbayog on its maiden voyage 25 years ago. Pacific Partnership 2008 also stopped in Calbayog, so we are finding many old friends in the community. As always, the interaction with local communities and people is the highlight of the mission.
Pacific Partnership offers an experience of a lifetime, but the day-to-day work is hardly a pleasure cruise. To describe volunteer life, the U.S. Peace Corps often uses the phrase, "The toughest job you'll ever love!" Many PP12 participants can relate to that motto. Living spaces are cramped, and include bunk beds and a sink, with restrooms and showers down the passageway. Meals are served at fixed times, and there is no raiding the refrigerator overnight. The work day starts at first light, or prior. Those traveling and working ashore need to muster in Mercy's casualty reception area, then board either a Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) hovercraft (LCAC) or one of our small utility boats; the hovercraft normally carries equipment on its open deck, but for our purposes a large metal "personnel module" is bolted to the deck, and as many as 130 passengers file into the four rows of facing seats. (This is not for the claustrophobic!)
The JMSDF ship Oosumi, a 584-foot amphibious landing ship, joined Pacific Partnership here in the Philippines, and will also participate in the mission to Vinh, Vietnam in July. Once ashore, PP12 personnel pile into 12-passenger vans to be driven to individual towns and work-sites from 10 minutes to two hours away. Most of the work sites are open air, or schools/clinics without air conditioning, and the heat index usually hovers around 120 degrees.
In spite of the hardships, personnel at clinics, seminars, and communities up and down the coast are emphatically upbeat. PP12 has set new "records" for the highest number of surgeries (36) in a day on Mercy and the highest number of patients (749*) seen during a daily Medical Civic Action Program, or MEDCAP. At a VETCAP (veterinary clinic) I visited on June 23, one of the participants was teaching local kids how to throw a Frisbee; at a MEDCAP, several of the JMSDF officers were demonstrating origami folds, and making very cool origami hats from newspapers -- much appreciated in the scorching courtyard where lines of patients were forming. Creativity and high morale remain in impressive supply.
Editor's Note: DipNote originally reported that MEDCAP saw 689 patients in one day. On June 26, Pacific Partnership provided an update that the correct number was 749 patients, a record for the mission. This correction has been made to the text of the entry.
John F. in Japan writes:
Good to see our presence their with our Filipino Allies, literally making folks smile (dental) and healing hearts (medical).
DipNote Blogger Tom Weinz writes:
@ John F: Watch for a story coming out, about a young Philippine man who went into septic shock at a MEDCAP (badly infected leg which had not been treated), was flown to Mercy by USN helicopter and had his leg amputated. Currently doing well.
Ashim C. in India writes:
USA and other big powers have large number of nuclear power ships , which may have become redundant as battle ships and therefore are neing prepared for dismantling. The sight of Mercy anchored off the shore of Phillipines triggers the thought such old nuclear powered battleships of US navy can be converted into purely civilian ships after removing millitary hardware from them, anchored along coastal line of India to serve as nuclear power stations for power generation subject feasibility otherwise under mutually agreed terms and conditions. One's sense is that such an arrangement would give value to US war ships, help US earn substantial revenue by selling power, save India huge capital expenditure on building nuclear power plants and the cost of interest there on, which can be deployed in alternative areas. Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement having been signed and so long as the converted ships would be without any millitary character, neither US nor India can have any reservation about the proposal, which should be seen as part of a larger issue of Indo US economic cooperation. As a person interested in energy security by clean methods, one thinks even environmentalist won't have too many objections. By taking up this proposal in the right forum and by involving people at grassroot level, governments of our two countries can add substance to diplomacy. Mere talks and exchange of ideas is not enough.
Eric in New Mexico writes:
@ Ashim,
Regarding the subject of your question regarding decommissioned warships, you will find some thoughts posted on that here;
Ashim in New Delhi writes:
@ eric, thks but can't access that post...
DRR in California writes:
I think one's sense is that such an arrangement would give value to US war ships, help US earn substantial revenue by selling power, save India huge capital expenditure on building nuclear power plants and the cost of interest there on, which can be deployed in alternative areas.


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Karyn Williams- "The Takeaway"
Today Melissa Montana talks with Karyn Williams, who, together with her father, wrote the book "The Takeaway". Karyn talks about how the book was started by her writing a note of gratitude to her dad about things he taught her that stuck when she was gearing up to move to Nashville to persue a career. She shares a few of those things her dad taught her.
Posted on Apr 3, 2013 | Conversations | Melissa Montana
No comments are available at this time. Maybe you should start the conversation!


text:
NEC Corp., a company known for electronics chips and supercomputers, said that it would like to double its global supercomputer market share in the following four years. The company hopes that sales of supercomputers in Europe will pick up and the offerings from the company will be enough competitive there.
"NEC will increase to 5% its share of the supercomputer market by 2014," said Fumihiko Hisamitsu, general manager of NEC's high-performance computing division, in an interview with BusinessWeek.
At present 80% of the supercomputer market is controlled by IBM and HP. But smaller players are going to boost their market share in the following years as a result of rising demand towards high-performance computing (HPC) in Europe. Earlier this year Fujitsu promised to raise its supercomputer share from 2.2% now to 10% in the following five years.
"The barrier to entry in Europe is lower than in the U.S., where there's a 'buy American' mentality. There's a potential for us to grow our business there," said Mr. Hisamitsu.
The world market for high performance computers, including machines that cluster standard servers, will expand 10% annually to $14.6 billion.
At present NEC prefers to build supercomputers based on its own microprocessors, which stipulate customers to develop software that only works on nodes made by NEC. However, there is a trend towards x86-based supercomputers these days and many HPC systems even utilize special accelerators – such as AMD FireStream or Nvidia Tesla – that are powered by highly-parallel graphics processing units. It remains to be seen whether NEC shifts its strategy to off-the-shelf x86 chips or even GPUs or will continue to offer proprietary microprocessors.
Tags: NEC, Fujitsu, HPC, GPGPU, Tesla, FireStream, , Intel, AMD, x86