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The Politics Hour – June 23, 2017
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham discusses the ACLU lawsuit against MPD officers for their actions during Inauguration Day protests. And Democratic candidate for Maryland Governor Alec Ross is in studio.
Guest Host: Marc Fisher
Last week, three Somali men were convicted by a federal jury in a Norfolk, Va., court on charges that included piracy. It's one of a number of recent cases prosecuting piracy that some think is helping to curb a flurry of thefts, kidnappings and murders on the high seas over the last several years. Others say deterrents like more armed guards on cargo ships are stemming the tide. We explore how companies and individuals are responding to the threat of piracy and the challenges of prosecuting the crime.
MR. MARC FISHERWelcome back. I'm Marc Fisher on "The Kojo Nnamdi Show." Forget the eye patch, the peg leg and schooners. Modern day piracy involves all of the high stakes danger and none of the romance we might expect from tales of yore. The problem burst into our collective conscience in dramatic fashion in 2009, when the cargo ship Maersk Alabama was boarded by Somali pirates. A tense hostage situation ended only when Navy SEALs were called in and rescued the ship's captain.
MR. MARC FISHERSince then piracy in the Gulf of Aden where armed men hold cargo's ransom has continued to pace. At the same time piracy problems are brewing off Africa's opposite coast in the Gulf of Guinea. Here to help us understand the piracy picture and why so many piracy cases end up being tried in Virginia, Sam Lagrone is the news editor for the U.S. Naval Institute's news site. Martin Davies is joining us from New Orleans where he's a professor of maritime law at the Admiralty Law Institute. And he's director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University.
MR. MARC FISHERAnd joining us from Broomfield, Colorado is John Huggins. He's director of Oceans Beyond Piracy, a nonprofit that works to develop a response to maritime piracy. And you can join our conversation at 1-800-433-8850 or you can email us at email@example.com. Let us know if you've worked for a maritime company that has experience with piracy, if you think the United States and the International Community are doing enough to address piracy.
MR. MARC FISHERAnd what do you think of putting armed guards on ships carrying valuable cargo? Well, Sam Lagrone, last week three Somali men were found guilty of piracy. And the way that Somali pirates are thinking about their targets apparently has gone through something of a shift. What's happened?
MR. SAM LAGRONEWell, the specific incidents where these pirates were convicted were related to the seizure of a 58' motor -- or sailing yacht, pardon me, back in 2011, February. So there were four people and they were hijacked by a group of Somali pirates. And there was a standoff between them and the United States Navy, which ended up having the pirates -- actually now, convicted pirates who ended up killing hostages.
MR. SAM LAGRONEAnd that was new -- or it wasn't new but I mean, it was a trend in Somali piracy. Instead of going after cargo you would go after individuals and then hold them for ransom. And that ties back to a 2009 incident where a British couple had been taken and brought into the Somali inland and had been held hostage for more than a year until about a million dollar ransom was paid for them. And typically when you see Somali pirates out in the Gulf of Aden, they go after cargo and they go after ships. And they hold those for as long as it takes for the shipping companies to round up the insurance money for the ransom -- typically insurance money for ransom. And so...
FISHERSo the pirates want the money, not the cargo.
LAGRONEThe pirates want the money. In the Gulf of Aden they specifically want the money. So we'll hold a high value asset and we'll keep that as long as we can until we can negotiate a settlement for it. And, you know, these are very sophisticated -- not on the actual pirate end but on the -- you know, these are -- the organizations that run the pirates are relatively sophisticated.
LAGRONEAnd, you know, I mean, there've been reports of stock exchanges. And there've been ideas that, you know, they have public relations officials. And it's a relatively sophisticated operation on the upper ends of the management. But the people who are typically seizing the ships are 16-, 17-year-old typically Somali people.
FISHERAnd so once the insurance company says yeah, go ahead and pay them and the cash is released and given to the pirates, what's to prevent the authorities from just picking up the pirates at that point once the hostages have been freed?
LAGRONEWell, the primary goal of, you know, the military introduction is to make sure that, you know, everyone's safe. And I think probably the other guests would agree that the difficulty in prosecuting pirates has almost become a secondary consideration. You'll have a couple of rare incidents -- or instances like the SV Quest that happened in 2011 that actually go to prosecution. But for a lot of these pirates, depending on who gets them and what the circumstances were, a lot of them are caught and released.
FISHERMartin Davies, one of the advantages of piracy on the high seas, I would imagine, is the confusion or uncertainty about who's in charge out there. What -- who's responsibility is it to protect these cargo ships and the people aboard them?
MR. MARTIN DAVIESThat's a question of responsibility is the right to take action against pirates. Piracy is the classic example of what international law calls universal jurisdiction, which means that any country anywhere in the world can prosecute a pirate. And that's because piracy by definition takes place on the high seas, which is outside the territory of any country. And it's long been regarded -- like for centuries been regarded as a form of a crime against humanity. Therefore can be convicted -- can be prosecuted rather by any country regardless of whether that country has any connection with the incident.
MR. MARTIN DAVIESNow in order to do that the country has to have laws making piracy an offense, as the United States does. And it also has to be bothered to take steps to prosecute the pirates. Most countries would only take steps to prosecute pirates if there were some connection with that country. But if, for example, India or Switzerland had antipiracy laws, they could just as well have prosecuted the pirates that took the vessel that Sam referred to. Of course they would be unlikely to have any interest in doing so. But the bottom line is that any country anywhere can take action against pirates.
FISHERJohn Huggins, given that sort of free for all legally on the high seas, how -- is there any way that countries can come together or have come together to cooperate in attacking this problem?
MR. JOHN HUGGINSYeah, I think so. And I think you've seen some real success stories, off the coast of Somalia in particular. I think the reasons that the piracy has gone down, which it has somewhere around 80 percent over the last year-and-a-half, we have -- navies are better coordinated. They are more aggressive towards following these pirate action groups. Industry itself has done a lot to harden their vessels and to pick certain transit routes and transit speeds that discourage pirates.
MR. JOHN HUGGINSAnd I think the third thing that's been a real game-changer now is a lot of these ships are now employing private security teams onboard, which I think really changes the risk reward ratio for a lot of the pirates. So I think that's why you've seen success at sea. Of course, this doesn't get into a longer term rule of law solution which I think is much more difficult for the issues that have been emphasized by the other guests.
FISHERAnd how often do the pirates get away with piracy? How often do they get the money and either take it for themselves or pass it on to their organized groups, John?
HUGGINSWell, I think at the height of this you were seeing somewhere around 175 attacks a year off -- or attributable to Somali pirates between 2009 and 2011. You saw around 50 successful ship-takings in 2009 and 2010. So it occurs quite often but as I mentioned the defensive measures put in place now make it much more difficult.
HUGGINSWe still assume there's about 50 to 70 hostages being held in Somalia. And those that are still being held are in pretty dire straits because a lot of them have been abandoned perhaps by their shipping companies or the shipping companies have gone bankrupt. So it's very difficult for the pirates to negotiate a ransom for a crew like that. So what we see now are some very desperate situations where the pirates are held on land.
HUGGINSWe even had news last week that one of the few remaining ships, the Albedo, has actually sunk. And we're not sure exactly what has happened to the hostages that were onboard that vessel.
FISHERAnd in general, is there any general rule about where those hostages are from? Are they from all over the world or...
HUGGINSYeah, a lot from all over the world. I think each crew is kind of a separate mix of four or five different countries. You may have -- Filipinos make up the largest percentage of seafarers in the world, followed by India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, some of these other countries. But we also see a lot of the other crews made up of people from say Denmark or Ukraine and some of the other countries in Europe as well.
FISHERYou can join our conversation by calling 1-800-433-8850 or email us at email@example.com. And Martin Davies, was -- I mean, with people being held hostages and the ships in question being from many different countries, what is the American role here? And does the U.S. government see this as something that -- where we need to take a leading role?
DAVIESWell, I believe so. I mean, the United States has taken a very prominent role in the naval task forces that have been patrolling the area affected by Somali pirates. And the United States as I mentioned before does have legislation making piracy an offense. So it is able to prosecute any pirates that it picks up, although understandably the prosecutorial authorities have been most interested in cases like the Maersk Alabama where U.S. citizens are involved. But the role of the U.S. Navy in that area is very significant.
FISHERAnd Sam Lagrone, each hijacking is different obviously. So what brings the U.S. Navy into these kinds of situations? How do they decide which of these to engage in?
LAGRONEWell, for any of the navies in any of the task force, I mean, there's a very sort of specific set of criteria to when you respond to a piracy attack. The most stressful is the one where you have hostages onboard that are under control of the pirates. So they're -- and that's the situation that the Maersk Alabama was in, which was probably the most dramatic and the one that we're most familiar with. And then the SV Quest, the most -- the one where the conviction just came out on the 9th.
LAGRONEIn those situations where the pirates have control of the hostages, it escalates the situation to where you really have a very limited amount of people that can respond to that effectively. When you're looking at some of the more elite United States Special Operations Forces, specifically the Navy SEALs. And Navy SEALs were both involved in the taking of the Maersk Alabama and then the SV Quest. After the Quest incident went bad, Navy SEALs immediately responded. And they had been deployed there as part of that three-day standoff to be able to interdict in the case that they did.
LAGRONEYou have sort of lower level hostage situations. A lot of the maritime companies are installing what's called a citadel on the inside of their ships. So in the instance of a hijacking or a potential hijacking, the crew will go and secure themselves in the citadel and they'll be...
FISHERWhat is the citadel?
LAGRONEThe citadel is a hardened room on the inside of the merchant ship. And it's a place where the...
FISHERLike a safe room.
LAGRONELike a safe room. It's like a panic room. And it's a situation where the crew can be able to be safe and then you can have forces that are kind of a slightly lesser, not quite as sophisticated to go and intervene. And there have been a couple of examples where Dutch troops have been able to rescue folks that have been in a citadel. Because once the hostages are taken out of the equation it becomes a much easier military operation.
FISHERAnd, pardon my ignorance, but how do these pirates in a small vessel stop one of these big cargo ships in the first place?
LAGRONEWell, typically what the pirates look for is they look for ships that are slow. And they look for ships that have what's called the low freeboard or the distance between the water line and then the top rail of the ship. And so actually the trailer for the new Tom Hanks movie about the Maersk Alabama does a pretty good job of showing how the pirates kind of come in. So you'll come in on a skiff and you'll have a ladder. And if you're -- run alongside the ship and if it's got a low enough freeboard you'll be able to kind of throw that ladder over the edge of the ship and then climb onboard.
LAGRONEAnd it's particularly -- and if you think about it, one of the suggestions from the international maritime organization on best practices, particularly in the region of the Gulf of Aden is you need to go really fast through there. You need to be able to protect your freeboard with razor wire or concertina wire. There's -- you know, you can have fire hoses onboard in additional to other sort of nonlethal ways including the armed security teams, which we're starting to see a lot more of since 2009.
FISHERAnd John Huggins, you mentioned those armed security teams earlier. What -- who's organizing those and is that something that the shipping companies do on their own or are governments involved?
HUGGINSI think what we saw was most governments were really hesitant to bring armed teams onboard a couple years ago. They were afraid about an escalation in violence. But I think the geographic nature of the problem is so massive that you could not guarantee a military response. So I think a lot of flag states then rethought policy and brought these teams onboard.
HUGGINSNow, when they first came onboard many of them did not have a lot of experience in the maritime realm. And we had up to 200 companies entering into this business. A lot of them are based in UK mostly, but also in the U.S. So the decision to bring one onboard is one the actual contract is between the shipper by the security team and then it's reviewed and approved by the flag state.
HUGGINSSo we're seeing -- we estimated mid time last year a little upwards of 60 percent of the vessels now having these private security teams -- the larger merchant vessels that is -- in this high risk area.
FISHERAnd Martin Davies, this most recent case in which three Somali men were found guilty was (unintelligible) five-week jury trial in Norfolk, Va. How does a case like that end up in Norfolk, Va.?
DAVIESWell, as I said, I mean, it can be prosecuted anywhere where the pirates are brought into the country that has the legislation in question. And it's just been chosen that that district in Virginia has been selected as the place where prosecutions are going to take place. For a while Kenya kind of volunteered itself to do pirate prosecutions because it was a country that both had piracy -- antipiracy legislation and was actually on -- you know, had an Indian Ocean coast.
DAVIESBut apparently the number of pirate prosecutions brought the Kenyan legal system to a bit of a standstill. But it's just a question of where the pirates are brought. And that's where the United States has chosen to bring those people for prosecution.
FISHERWhen we come back after a short break we will talk more about piracy on the high seas and look at the human and economic costs of piracy and take your calls at 1-800-433-8850. I'm Marc Fisher sitting in for Kojo.
FISHERWelcome back. I'm Marc Fisher, and this is "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," and we are talking about piracy on the high seas with John Huggins, director of Oceans Beyond Piracy, Martin Davies, who is director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University in New Orleans, and Sam LaGrone, news editor for the U.S. Naval Institutes news site. And Sam LaGrone, the range of movement of these pirates we're seeing this spreading now from the Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Guinea. Where is that, and what's going on there?
LAGRONESo this is the other side of Africa. So if think of the Gulf of Aden, it's a transit zone to the Suez Canal, and it's a major international shipping lane. The Gulf of Guinea is a little different. It's primarily what you're dealing with there, it's completely on the other side of Africa. It's on their western coast, And it's close to Nigeria and Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and there's a new type of piracy. Well, it's not so much it's new, but it's reemerging where you're dealing with a very different breed of pirates there that are primarily looking to get petroleum products to sell on the Nigerian black market.
LAGRONESo what you will have, is you'll have pirates take a tanker, and instead of the Somali pirates which will hold a ship for in upwards of a year, you have sophisticated operators that are able to offload a large amount of petroleum in about a week or so and then make a killing in the black market in Nigeria. So it goes, you know, there's sort of a small saying among piracy experts, Somali pirates hold a ship for a year and they might get, you know, anywhere from five to $10 million, whatever the negotiated rate's going to be from the insurance thing, and then Gulf of Guinea pirates will hold a ship for a week and they'll make 30 million.
FISHERAnd who gets that money?
LAGRONEWell, that money is going into very sophisticated crime elements inside Nigeria and that region. Sophisticated criminal groups that are going to be able to offload that material and that petroleum in a way that they can able to reap the profits back, and those mean that there are criminal groups that are obviously well connected. I mean, if you think about Somali piracy it's very much, okay, we got the ship, we've got the hostages, we get paid, and then it goes into the coffers of the pirate masters on shore.
LAGRONEThis is a much more sophisticated operation that, you know, has implications dealing with the Nigerian government, and there's ideas of corruption there, and it's a lot more gray problem. It's not as black and white as the Somali issue, and there's much more interconnectedness in the existing Nigerian government with potentially these organizations.
FISHERMartin Davies, has there been any success anywhere in the world in tracing these organized crime rings to the top and making inroads into them or breaking them apart?
DAVIESSo far as I'm aware, very little. In fact, surprisingly little, given that they're obviously very well connected, but there's been very little attempt -- I mean most of the on (word?) focus has been on the relatively young people who are out there actually taking the vessels. There's been very little attempt to try and sort of follow the food chain up to the big cheeses at the top. Now, having said that, there is a case that's presently on appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, again, in Virginia, about one of the shore-based fixes, so to speak.
DAVIESAnd the question on appeal there is whether he can be guilty of piracy given that what he did was concerned with bankrolling these operations on shore. Piracy is traditionally -- well, and by definition indeed, actions that take place on the high seas, and this person's argument is, well, he can't be a pirate if what he has done is confined to action on the land. Now, the prosecutors say, well, it is in essence an organized crime activity, and therefore, anybody involved in this organized crime activity is guilty of the offense. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals hasn't yet decided that, but that's an interesting legal question.
FISHERJohn Huggins, you mentioned earlier that the number of pirate incidents is off considerably in the waters off Somalia, but over in the Gulf of Guinea it's a different story. Is the same kind of enforcement efforts and strategies, have they been put into place in the Gulf of Guinea, or do you have different actors there who are not prepared to cooperate in the same ways?
HUGGINSYeah. I think that there's a different piracy model, as Samuel mentioned, on the East Coast that's about getting hostages and getting ransoms for that. Because there's really no way to offload cargo. On the west coast, there appears to be -- and this is where you wonder how much organized crime, or there perhaps might be pollution with officials because the ships are held for a very short amount of time. There always seems to be an easy way to offload some of the refined product that is then sold on the black market.
HUGGINSSo it's a little different type of crime. The other challenge that you have is, on the east coast with an ungoverned space off Somalia, there was a decision that international navies and others could be involved very close to the Somali shore to fight piracy. On the west coast in the Gulf of Guinea, you have established nations there, and so it's a question of getting those nations now to police their own regional waters.
HUGGINSAnd there is no international navy effort as of right now. The states there are just beginning. Last month they had a state summit to come up with a regional plan to how they're going to fight piracy. So you're seeing the urgency starting to tick up, especially now that the focus appears to be more on West Africa.
FISHERAnd John, we have an email from another John in Bethesda saying, "Some of the cases sound disturbing, but isn't this just the cost of doing business for these big oil companies? They simply have to secure their ships even if it costs them. They make enough profit." Is that a fair analysis at all?
HUGGINSAgain, some of the things that we saw industry that they were able to do on the east coast, and I think we talked about the private armed teams that are able to be there at the point of attack, a lot of the attacks on the west coast defer within these regional waters where these armed teams are not welcome. So there's limited options for industry to do, and I think it's -- again, it's (unintelligible) of the governments needing to do more to police their own waters.
FISHERAnd tell us -- yes.
DAVIESIf I can chip in there...
DAVIES...in response to that question. It should be realized that most of the -- both the ransoms on the east coast, and the cargo loss on the west coast, are covered by insurance. Now, the insurers, there are various different kinds of insurers involved. There are cargo insurers, there are hull insurers, and there are insurers called war risk insurers. And those insurers have been in fairly sort of heated negotiations with one another, mainly in the London market, about which of them is going to cover this loss.
DAVIESBut, you know, your questioner asked about, you know, the profits of insurance companies -- sorry, the profits of the oils companies. It may well be that the premiums that they have to pay have gone up considerably, but the loss itself is covered by insurance.
FISHERBut in the end someone is paying for this.
DAVIESAbsolutely. Absolutely. The insurers (unintelligible) at the moment.
FISHERThere is obviously both a human and an economic cost that stems from this kind of piracy. Can you give us a sense of how large that is? John, do you want to take that?
HUGGINSYeah. When we looked at piracy off the west coast of Africa, the thing we wanted to look at was how many seafarers are actually affected by this. And again, there's two different models. On the east coast, there was some sense that we have to protect the hostages in order to get this ransom. On the west coast, there's a big emphasis on intimidating the crew very early in the process so that they're not interfering with the activities that are going on.
HUGGINSAnd so we see some of these can actually be more violent on the west coast, and the number of seafarers that we found was around 950, a little upwards of that, that were -- participated or were there during an attack, and up to 800 of them actually came in close contact with the pirates as the ship was boarded. And so there's long term effects to this on the seafarers. It's a very traumatic crime that they have to go through, and like we said, right now the numbers have been steady, and it's been a challenge to try to lower those figures.
FISHERAnd there was just a story yesterday on the AP that said the group that monitors piracy says well-armed pirates are using new strategies to hijack ships and widening their area of operations amid a worrying surge in attacks, kidnappings and armed robberies in the Gulf of Guinea, and this story put the cost of piracy at about $2 billion over the past year, and it's changing the way shipping companies arrange routes, and they're avoiding some the ports in the danger zones. So clearly there's kind of an international imperative to do something. And Sam LaGrone, do you see the strategies that are being used shifting at all. Is -- as the threat morphs as well?
LAGRONEThe strategies for interdicting West African piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is a much, much more complicated situation, and it's much more difficult, I feel, to get international buy in to be able to police this. You're looking at a relatively isolated population, I mean, container ships and other cargo ships get taken as well, but you're looking primarily at petroleum manufacturers that are getting targeted here.
LAGRONEThe other thing is the -- there's no real organization -- international organization that's kind of taken this up as a priority. So if you look at east African piracy at the Gulf of Aden, you've had NATO step in because they had an awful lot of members that were affected by this. You also had the European Union come up EUF, or -- which was their navel contribution to the Gulf of Aden piracy, because you're talking about a bunch of ships that are ultimately headed for the Mediterranean.
LAGRONEYou don't have that same intersection of -- that same intersection of priorities in the Gulf of Guinea. What the United States has been doing a lot lately, they have a lot of international exercises they -- west African partnership station is part of that as part of U.S. Africa Command. And Africom and the U.S. Navy has been sending ships down to train.
LAGRONESailors in Ghana and sailors in Nigeria and other places in the region, it was like, okay, this is how you act as a regional anti-piracy force, and it's much more education and putting the emphasis on the individual countries to be able to interdict this, because as the other guests have said, a lot of these attacks happen in regional waters where the jurisdiction is of Nigeria or any of these other countries that are there, and it makes it a much more difficult problem internationally because you don't have the same freedom of movement close to sure that you do in Somalia which is essentially a rogue state.
FISHERJohn Huggins, the non-profit that you direct, Oceans Beyond Piracy, works to develop responses to maritime piracy. Is this work that you do supported by the cargo industry, by the insurance industry, or what, you know, where's your support coming from?
HUGGINSWe're actually self-funded organization. Our chairman has a large real estate company here in Denver, and this is one of the issues that he sees an industry could be involved with, and so he's trying to set the example on getting industry involvement in this particular issue.
FISHERIs there -- do you see a disconnect at all between industry and the various governments involved in this?
HUGGINSWell, I think on the east coast you do have this organization called the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, which really has done a good job of incorporating industry viewpoints as well as advocacy groups and NGOs like us into the process. And we think that that is the ultimate solution because a lot of these crimes occur in international waters where there's not a single state jurisdiction.
HUGGINSWe see that industry is paying 80 percent of the costs, and operating at sea you can't compel them to act a certain way, you need their cooperation. So we see that this fits right within our mandate of our larger foundation, and we're going on three years being involved in this problem.
FISHERMartin Davies, the piracy has its own set of connotations, but when you learn about how these incidents occur and their impact, it certainly brings up the specter of terrorism, and what is -- what are the distinctions in the law between piracy and terrorism, and do they in any way inhibit enforcement?
DAVIESThere's a very important distinction between piracy and terrorism, one, that the pirates themselves are very acutely aware of, because under the law of most countries, giving money to terrorists is very clearly against the law. So those insurers that I mentioned, for example, many of whom are based in the U.K., are forbidden by U.K. law to give money to terrorist organizations.
DAVIESThey're not forbidden by U.K. law to pay bribes or ransom to pirates, and the pirates are very acutely aware of this and make their best efforts to give the impression that this is just a business operation rather than having anything to do with terrorism, because if it had any taint of terrorism about it, they wouldn't be getting their ransom. Now, whether in fact any of the money ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations like al Shabaab in East Africa is another question. But the pirates do their best to give the impression that it doesn't have anything to do with terrorism.
FISHERWe have an email from Sarah saying, "Shouldn't we also be helping to stabilize the countries where these pirates come from?" John Huggins?
HUGGINSYeah. I think that's a very good point, and I think in Somalia this is particularly difficult because of all the challenges that are involved. But just recently we've finally been able to pull the regions together and work on a common maritime strategy to at least lay out the assets required to both police their coast and also, which is important to them, to protect their assets, and, you know, the resources that they have there in their economic exclusion zone. So some of that work has started.
HUGGINSIt's very challenging, but I think that this piracy incident, for as many bad things as happened, it's kind of refocused international efforts there to begin to look at ways on how we can start to stabilize the coast. So I think that's a very important part that we're working on as well.
FISHERJohn Huggins is director of Oceans Beyond Piracy, a nonprofit that works to develop responses to maritime piracy. Martin Davies is director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University. He joined us from New Orleans. And Sam LaGrone is news editor for the U.S. Naval Institute's news site, and he's here in the studio with us in Washington. I'm Marc Fisher sitting in for Kojo Nnamdi. Thanks so much for listening.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham discusses the ACLU lawsuit against MPD officers for their actions during Inauguration Day protests. And Democratic candidate for Maryland Governor Alec Ross is in studio.
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I know I appear to have a White iPhone 4 obsession. But really I am actually very happily married to my black iPhone 4, and these stories just keep on arriving on my desk, while other members of the Touch Reviews team hide in the corner and snigger! Yesterday we reported that the White iPhone 4 will probably not show … Read More
New White Color iPhone 4G / HD casing photos
During the interview at D8 Steve Jobs commented on the lost iPhone 4G debacle and said that he is unwilling to "let it slide". It is still not clear if the prototype device was stolen or lost and the DA is still investigating the case. Last month we reported on the possibility of Apple introducing iPhone 4G / HD in white and … Read More

subset: commoncrawl


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My fave is the SIG P220
OK, sure....overstated? Maybe, maybe not.
But...this is by far the best .45ACP semi-auto I have and have used.
The FNH FN .45ACP Tactical (Flat Dark Earth).
Here's an overview of the handgun, with unboxing, introduction, close ups, and shooting demo.
Enjoy, I know I sure am.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
My fave is the SIG P220
Take care of your wepon and your weapon will take care of you
My heroes don't wear capes, they wear dog tags.
Send it to me, and I'll try it out and let you know what I think.
: )
I do not like SIGS only because I'm used to the "high thumb" position and I am forever hitting the slide release on the SIG.
Just about every make and type of firearm has its fans. I know a guy who loves his Hi Point .45. I personally carry a 1911. I've shot plenty of others I have liked but My preference isn't everyones. If you love shooting what you have, great. Keep shooting and have a good time doing it.
Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither...........Benjamin Franklin
If it's made by SIG Sauer, HK, Glock, Beretta, FNH, it's top drawer.
Take care of your wepon and your weapon will take care of you
My heroes don't wear capes, they wear dog tags.
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|Patriots Look Poised For Another Super Bowl Run
|Bruins Trade For Drew Stafford
|Black and Gold Bruins Turn Yellow On Parade Day
|Inconsistency Will Continue For Bruins Unless A Change Is Made
Red Sox General Manager, and erstwhile boy wonder, Theo Epstein graced Boston sports talk radio with his presence, and his opinions on Thursday. The results were interesting, to say the least. Among other things, Theo unequivocally defended his right fielder, David Jonathan "J.D." Drew, and, in fact, referred to him as "one of the two or three most valuable outfielders in the league." Judging by the responses of the callers, Red Sox Nation was not amused.
Drew is a polarizing figure, who draws the ire of fans for reasons both real and imagined. Essentially, the criticism of Drew boils down to three things: (1) he is vastly overpaid, (2) he doesn't seem to care, and (3) he is injury prone. I will argue that only the third criticism is valid.
Durability is not J.D. Drew's strong suit. In eleven full seasons in the Major Leagues, he has never played more than 146 games. In three seasons in Boston, Drew has averaged 129 games played. He reminds me of another smooth, oft-injured Sox outfielder—Fred Lynn. When he is on the field, he is productive. He is not, however, going to remind anybody of Cal Ripken, Jr.
As for his demeanor, or the fact that he is "overpaid," I don't think they have any relevancy at all. Why should any of us care how much money he makes? We are not shareholders, so why does it matter how much of John Henry's cash he deposits in his bank account? The Red Sox are among the wealthiest teams in baseball, so do not believe for one moment that Drew's contract will prevent them from signing any, and I mean any, player they want to. What about high ticket prices, you say? I could write a whole piece on why ticket prices are not correlated in any way to team payroll, but I won't—I promise. As for his demeanor, who cares what a player looks like. Players should be judged by their numbers, by their productivity, if you will.
Back, then, to his production, for a moment. In arguing his case for Drew, Theo stated, inter alia, that "primitive" baseball statistics such as batting average, home runs, and RBI are a poor judge of a player's value. This is, in fact, the rub. To fans of a certain age—this author included—the value of a player was measured by the "back of his baseball card" numbers. It was only grudgingly that I accepted the superiority of the Sabermetric approach pioneered by Bill James. Many have still not accepted the James approach; and if you haven't, then Drew is a hard sell indeed.
A brief digression into basic Sabermetric theory is, I believe, in order. At its most basic, the James approach seeks to remove context-dependent statistics from player evaluation. For instance, RBI and Runs Scored are often cited as proof that a player is "productive." It is obvious, however, that those stats are heavily dependent upon context. A player can only drive in runners if they are on base, and can only score a run if somebody drives him in. So far, so good. Batting average is context-independent, and thus seemingly a valuable tool for judging a player. Closer examination, however, demonstrates an obvious problem: a player with a high batting average who does not walk very much or hit home runs (Juan Pierre) is less clearly less "productive" than a player with a low batting average who walks a lot and hits home runs (Adam Dunn). Fans know this intuitively, and the numbers back this up.
As anyone who read Moneyball knows, the "hot" statistic of the last decade is On-Base Percentage (OBP). The reason OBP is so critical is that the most important number in baseball is three—the numbers of outs allotted to each team in an inning. Every out made dramatically affects the probability that runs will be scored. Thus, the importance placed upon "not making outs," which is the concept neatly expressed by OBP. Most of us who played little league were once told that "a walk is as good as a hit." This is, of course, not quite true. A walk is (almost) as good as a single. Doubles, triples and, especially, home runs are better. Thus, Slugging Percentage is a valuable statistic. In an attempt to measure the overall value of an offensive player, the two statistics have been combined as On Base Plus Slugging, or OPS. If you look at the history books, or, actually, Baseball-Reference.com, you will find that the all-time leaders in OPS are, almost certainly, the five best hitters in baseball history: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, and Jimmie Foxx. The active leader is Albert Pujols.
Now that we have that out of the way, let us return to Mr. Drew. In 2009, Drew was second, to teammate Jason Bay, in OPS among American League outfielders. He was second in OBP. A fluke, you say? In 2008 he was third in OPS, and second in OBP. It is these numbers, along with his strong, and underrated, defense, that Theo is thinking of when he defends Drew. Not convinced? Then the this will really disturb you. Statisticians formulate what is called Adjusted OPS (OPS+), which normalizes the raw data for era, league, and ballpark factors; on this scale 100 is average. J.D. Drew has a career OPS+ of 129, which means that he is 29% more productive than the average player. Hall of Famer, and current NESN contributor, Jim Rice, had a career OPS+ of 128.
Tags: J.D. Drew, Red Sox, Theo Epstein, WEEI
In Defense of J.D. Drew: Red Sox General Manager, and erstwhile boy wonder, Theo Epstein graced Boston sports t.. http://bit.ly/OAiNk
All hail sabermetrics!
"a player with a high batting average who does not walk very much or hit home runs (Juan Pierre) is less clearly less "productive" than a player with a low batting average who walks a lot and hits home runs (Adam Dunn)"
…and all hail Adam Dunn!
really good article, i never really saw the purpose of OPS as a stat…an eye-opener.
This is a penetrating analysis of Drew's value via Sabermetrics. We need more articles like this!
Nice piece, and spot on. I was a little behind in writing about this, but I just put up a similar (though longer and probably more boring) piece in defense of Drew:
More than just saying "who cares," I'd go so far as to say he's not overpaid at all. Compared to other high-dollar free agent signings — Magglio, Guerrero, Hunter, Guillen — he's an out-and-out steal.
[…] Epstein is behind Drew 100 percent. In a recent interview, Epstein expressed why he thought Drew was worth every penny they spent to […]


text:
|Johnson, Jerry
|Chen, Zhenbang
|Kim, Wook
|Wang, Ming
|Seo, Young
Submitted to: International Wheat Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/20/2005
Publication Date: 11/27/2005
Citation: Johnson, J., Chen, Z., Kim, W., Wang, M.L., Seo, Y. 2005. Marker assisted selection for fusarium resistance in wheat from double haploid populations. 7th International Wheat Conference Proceedings, Nov 27 - Dec 2, 2005, Mar Del Plata, Argentina. 2005 CDROM. Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe. The fungus can degenerate the wheat grain tissue and produce deoxynivalenol (DON) which is toxic to both human and animals. Epidemics of FHB can result in severe loss of yield and grain quality. Cultural or/and chemical control of FHB is difficult because infection of FHB occurs during the time of flowering. Release of FHB resistant cultivars is the most effective option to control incidence of FHB. In the southeast region of the US, resistance to FHB in local adaptive soft red winter wheat is limited. Introduction of resistant genes from exotic sources could enhance the resistance of local adaptive germplasm. Two Virginia line, VA01W-476 and VAW-461, which have the most widely used major QTLs on chromosome 2A, 3B and 5 A for FHB resistance, were used as donor parents in our program. A total of 146 double haploid individuals and 28 backcross progenies were screened with SSR markers, indicating the integration of novel FHB resistant QTLs on 3B, 5A and 2A from donor parents and native adaptive gene pool of ASG2000. Two double haploid plants from backcross of VA01W-476/GA98186 and four double haploid plants from backcross of VA01W-476/AG2485 were identified to have VA01W-476/W14 type QTLs on 3BS and 5AL. Three backcross progenies showed the genotype of VA01W-461 for FHB resistant QTLs. Further evaluation for agronomic traits is under investigation.


text:
I first encountered the Guardian as a medical student during the war. My landlady, Mrs Linaker, who wrote novels under her maiden name of GM Attenborough, had a brother who worked for the Manchester Guardian. She would hand me her copy of the paper when I returned each evening. She died suddenly, intestate, and thanks to her brother's links to the paper, I traced a relative. I have continued to take the paper ever since, only missing it when I was living abroad, including a spell in America as a Rockefeller fellow. There have been many highs for the Guardian during my readership: opposing Suez, deducing that Eden was a liar; opposing Iraq; the current exposure of the press, and uncovering politicians and police who have been economical with the truth. Lows have included the illiberal attitude to homosexuality (now corrected); and abandoning the refusal to publicise gambling. Still my daily pleasure at 93, I read you from cover to cover, apart from sport and travel. My favourites are the daily editorials and, among a brilliant team of writers, Gary Younge and Marina Hyde. I only regret that spelling software has almost eliminated any Grauniad moments. As a cardiologist, I have spent much of my life teaching at Oxford University and I have recently celebrated my 56th wedding anniversary. The Guardian is my heroine – I need my fix every day!
This former cardiologist, who at 93 still gets his daily fix from the Guardian, once linked up with the paper to find a relative of his old landlady, who died intestate


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NEW PAJAMAS; Wide Trousers Look Like Skirts Like Evening Clothes Roman Stripes Liked
IF there really is a woman in this bustling city who has unhurried hours for lounging, let her shop about and acquire a costume in which she can lounge gracefully.
September 21, 1930
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Why Australians should pay more tax. According to Miriam Lyons, Adam Stebbing, Adrian March and Shaun Wilson, Australians say they want improved services and greater equality of opportunity, all of which come at a cost that we should be prepared… more
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Experts line up to challenge tax discontent CPD Fellows have won us exposure in international publication, The Economist. No less than three articles about Australian tax policy in the respected magazine last week benefited from the expertise of John Quiggin (pictured)… more
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Australian newspapers online: Four business models revisited
Lewis, Kieran J. (2004) Australian newspapers online: Four business models revisited. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy: quarterly journal of media research and resources, 111, pp. 131-144.
|PDF (131kB)
This article revisits four online news business models, first documented in 1997, to discuss current worldwide newspaper website trends and new research data on Australian newspaper websites. The data are from a survey of Australian newspapers and their websites, and show that the Australian experience mirrors international experience in terms of the growth of newspapers online and their lack of profitability. The survey shows that, while there is international evidence that providing news content online reduces offline newspaper subscriptions, a third of the newspapers studied registered circulation increases after setting up their websites. While there is international evidence that generating revenue through online advertising is difficult, for nearly half of the newspapers studied, overall advertising revenue increased after setting up their websites. The survey also found that, while newspaper publishers worldwide continue to rely mainly on the subscription and advertising business models to generate revenue online, there is evidence that Australian newspapers are forming online alliances with other media and non-media businesses to facilitate their online business activities
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Citation counts are sourced monthly from Scopus and Web of Science® citation databases.
These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science® generally from 1980 onwards.
Citations counts from the Google Scholar™ indexing service can be viewed at the linked Google Scholar™ search.
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Full-text downloads displays the total number of times this work's files (e.g., a PDF) have been downloaded from QUT ePrints as well as the number of downloads in the previous 365 days. The count includes downloads for all files if a work has more than one.
|ID Code:
|Item Type:
|Journal Article
|Additional URLs:
|Online newspapers, business model, Advertising, Profitability
|Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > LANGUAGES COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE (200000) > COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES (200100) > Communication and Media Studies not elsewhere classified (200199)
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > STUDIES IN CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING (190000) > JOURNALISM AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING (190300) > Journalism Studies (190301)
|Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Creative Industries Faculty
|Copyright Owner:
|Copyright 2004 University of Queensland
|Copyright Statement:
|Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
|Deposited On:
|21 Jul 2004 00:00
|Last Modified:
|09 Jun 2010 12:21
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The Cardinals take the final game of the series against the Pirates, but they're still just 13-25 over their past 28 games. One thing they need is more bullpen efforts like Sunday night's, as four relievers combined for one hit over three scoreless innings. The Cards have seven losses when leading entering the seventh inning -- and now they're 4-7 when tied thanks to a four-run seventh.
Will Cardinals be second-half sellers?
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West LA Meet & Topanga Canyon Drive - November 24th 10am
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Vegas
Posts: 219
My Ride: 3 pointed star
View My Garage
Pictures and write-up courtesy of Durkalton:
Awesome day today!! We had about as many cars as there were on the sign-up sheet if you took out the (Maybe)'s . The guy with the Noble didn't show! Boo!! Was really looking forward to ogling that car. Oh well.
From this forum we had Mike ("CA SLK55"), Guy ("gizx1020") and Jason ("LynxFX", in the Audi TT-RS) and myself. I think the Maserati is owned by "B R" who is also a forum member here.
At the initial meet-up point (Denny's in Santa Monica). A little of everything; Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Maserati, BMW, Mini Cooper, S2000, Corvette.
The drive itself got off to a rocky start. We were all looking for 10-W but there is no such thing when you are that close to the coast, so we passed over the interstate, and then pandemonium with cars scattering in every direction. Everyone individually and in small groups started making their way to Topanga Canyon and when we got there, some folks were already waiting. After hanging out at the base of Topanga for a while to allow more people to catch up, we were off!:
Break at the supermarket near Mulholland Highway. The organizer Amir ("Juggarnaut") raffled off a track day at Willow ($175 value) courtesy of Extreme Speed Track Events (extremespeedtrackevents.com) and Mike won it!!!!!
After the break we took part of Mulholland to Stunt Road, then Saddleback and finally down Tuna Canyon. I don't think anyone in the group left at that point, besides Jason and me was familiar with the road. It is always awesome to take new people down this. Very enthusiastic responses all around . At the bottom of Tuna:
So after that run led by Jason, several of us were up for another jaunt down Tuna, which means finding another way up, since Tuna Canyon itself is one-way.
I took the matte M5 and the Mini Cooper back up along Malibu Canyon, Piuma, Schueren, Saddle Back and down again to Tuna Canyon. The second run was just as fun as the first. The Cooper was keeping up with me, but the tires were squealing something fierce. I was afraid he was gonna lose it, but he never did.
Some pics at the Saddleback from the second run
All in all a great day. I had a lot of fun and got my money's worth considering that it was a 2 hour drive each way to get to this. Very fun. Tuna Canyon and the other roads around Malibu are still some of my favorites in Southern California. Let's do it again soon, guys!!!
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Member since 10/4/2012
- 2 total posts
- 2 questions
Questions from gummybearx1
Tip Plasty vs Alarplasty? (photo)
I am a mixed asian with somewhat harsh/sharp features. after losing some weight on my face through puberty, i have found that the round nose doesn't really match. the tip is... READ MORE
Fat Graft for Asian Forehead? (photo)
I have a flat and depressed forehead which contrasts with the rest of my features, also giving my eyebrows a protruding, masculine look :( !! it's so obvious in profile (big... READ MORE


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A trial for a man accused of fatally stabbing a 57-year-old Bountiful woman six years ago has been delayed after he was once again deemed incompetent to stand trial.
Phillip Joseph Simmons, 41, is charged with first-degree felony murder for allegedly stabbing Susanne Fry more than 20 times at her home on Jan. 19, 2008.
Since the charges were filed, Simmons had twice been found incompetent to stand trial, and has been receiving treatment at the Utah State Hospital. However, last January, he was found competent to proceed with trial, and a December trial was set.
That trial was cancelled, and last week, Simmons was found incompetent for trial once more. A judge ordered him back to the state hospital to receive further treatment.


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Saturday, 17 November 2012
Letterbox Love (#24)
32 comments:
Nice haul this week! I really like the design of the Stephen King covers- I haven't seen those before. Happy reading, and thanks for stopping by!ReplyDelete
The Stephen King books have very different covers than I remember. Yet a nice week for you. I see lots of awesome books in there.ReplyDelete
I've been seeing Pantomine a lot today, hope its great.ReplyDelete
Happy reading,
Brandi from Blkosiner's Book Blog
Great haul! Looking forward to your thoughts on all of these!ReplyDelete
New Follower!
Kristen @OCA
I loved Carrie and Pet Semetary. Those covers are great! Great haul!ReplyDelete
Congrats on winning those awesome books! Everything else looks like super good reads. I hope you enjoy all you got :)ReplyDelete
Here's my STS!
Thanks for stopping by my STS! Stephen King has some great horror classics, awesome books this week! New follower =)ReplyDelete
Great haul! Stephen King books are awesome, but oooh so creepy lol. Thanks for stopping by my StS!ReplyDelete
Great haul! I hope you enjoy them all.ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by mine, Brittan
I haven't heard of some of these books and some I have. I'll be adding some books to my TBR pile though!!! :D The Declaration series sounds great.ReplyDelete
Great Haul and thanks for stopping by!!!
Awesome haul! :) I refuse to read any of Stephen King's books lol His movies creeped me out as a child! :)ReplyDelete
My Haul!
Congrats on your wins and other goodies! Can you believe I've NEVER read a Stephen King book?! I promised myself I would read one this year, but I'm quickly running out of time... it's almost December already!! Any suggestions on which one I should give a try? :)ReplyDelete
Great haul! Happy Reading!ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by my STS post
Sabina @ Delirious About Books
Oo, looks like a spooky week for you! Hope you enjoy them :D Thanks for stopping by my blog!ReplyDelete
Stephen King are always great books. Congrats on the wins too.ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by.
I'm not a fan of Stephen Kings, but I also heard a lot of good stuff, so I hope you enjoy those, together with your won horror stuff. This looks like a Halloween readathon stack. x) The books you got for review interest me the most, looking forward to see what you made of them!ReplyDelete
My Haul
Oh I love the covers! you had a lot of amazing books this week. Happy reading and Enjoy!ReplyDelete
Jepp, Who Defied the Stars sounds absolutely amazing! I think I´ll add it to my wishlist. Enjoy!ReplyDelete
You have some very creepy books there! I hope you enjoy them all!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by our StS for the week =)
Sweet haul this week! I also received Pantomime and can't wait to dig into it! Love the Stephen King novels. Enjoy all that you got this week! Thanks for sharing and happy reading!ReplyDelete
MaryAnn | Chapter by Chapter
What we got this week!
Great haul! Congrats on the books you won. I never win anyhing lol.ReplyDelete
my STS and giveaway
Those are some old school King books! Look at all your lovely titles! I've just recently run across the Declaration/Legacy/Resistance and they look lovely. Thanks for the visit!ReplyDelete
So many great books, have to look them up. :) Happy reading!ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by :D
Love the Stephen King covers. :)ReplyDelete
Great Haul!! Thanks for stopping by my STS!ReplyDelete
Nice haul, congrats on all the goodies you got and won this week! Enjoy, thanks for sharing & for stopping by my StS earlier :)ReplyDelete
Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows
I love the new covers for the King books! just awesome! a box of horrors sounds super cool, too. ;)ReplyDelete
Great haul! Can't go wrong with King! Interesting other horror novels too, I'll have to look some of those up!ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
So many beautiful books! I am really curious to see what you think of Jepp Who Defied the Stars and Pantomime which Netgalley declined me for! Arghhhhhh!ReplyDelete
Anyway, You got a great haul this week. I hope you enjoy them. You must be very excited.
Wow! Pantomime! I'm still thinking if I going to request for that one. :DReplyDelete
Ah, haven't read any of these :D But they all look amazing ;) Hope you'll love them all. <3 :)ReplyDelete
Thank you for commenting on my mailbox. <3
Love, Carina @ Carina's Books
Nice haul!! Specially the one which you won!! :DReplyDelete
Happy reading
Thanks for dropping by!
Aditi @ READioactive Book Blog
I really do appreciate all the comments I get. I love hearing from fellow readers. If you have a blog, post a link and I'll pop over. My Blog is an Award Free Zone I appreciate the gesture but I will not be accepting Awards. Thank you for stopping by, remember to come back if you like my posts!


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I finally had the opportunity to test drive and then buy a 2002 black WRX. Completely stock except for factory short throw and OEM gauge pod. It drives rather nice, and I hope it will serve me well in the winter time with a set of ice/snow tires up here.
A couple questions:
The short throw is exactly that, but seems rather clunky in its action, more so than my family's old 88 Honda 5sp or Isuzu Rodeo manual trannies. The synchros seem fine, but it is just....clunky. Is there anything I can do to help this out? Shifter bushings, or different short throw kit?
The OEM gauge pod's temp gauge swings wildly, if at all. Where should I start to try to fix it?
There's a few minor paint scratches on both rear doors. The whole car appears to need a full wash/wax job. Will polishing help remove these small claw marks or will it need to be professionally fixed?
I'll get some pics if people would like some, but I bet you've all seen a stock bugeye before. Perhaps after I clean it up a bit.
Other than that, this car is quite zippy compared to anything else I've driven. First real mod will be to upgrade the stereo, speakers/door deadening, head unit and perhaps an amp, in that order.


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The shock warning from IBM sent computerrelated shares plunging in Tokyo, and added more gloom to rising fears that higher oil prices could stall an expected economic recovery around the region.
IBM blamed a lack of corporate spending on technology for a huge shortfall in its first-quarter figures. This dimmed hopes that a US recovery would spur the profits of Asia's chip and computer makers. The Nikkei 225 dived 239.81 to 11,113.08, led down by blue-chip technology companies.
Fujitsu, the top computer manufacturer, lost 2.3%, NEC, a major chip supplier, fell almost 4%, and falls also hit Sony, Hitachi and other sector leaders.
The damage to the Nikkei would have been heavier but for a steady performance by the major banks. A leaked report of a survey to be published on Friday by the Financial Services Agency showed the bad-loans total has reached 8.4 trillion yen (£44.6bn), but there was relief that the figures were not even worse.
Mizuho Holdings, the country's biggest lender, led the rally with a 3.5% rise. The gain flew in the face of possible government court action following an embarrassing glitch in Mizuho's cash machines network which left customers unable to access their accounts over the weekend.
Fears are growing in regional markets that Iraq's threat to reduce production for 30 days will push oil prices higher, threatening the nascent recovery in Asia.
The Asian Development Bank forecast that the region's economies, ex-Japan, will grow by 4.8% on average in 2002, up from 3.7% in 2001, and accelerate to 5.8% next year. The caveat was that higher oil prices could mean a reworking of the numbers as most Asian countries rely on imported oil for the their energy needs.
Stocks in South Korea, which is heavily dependent on Middle East oil supplies, slid 1.25% as falls in big oil users pulled the Kospi down 11.23 points to 889.46.
Taiwan tumbled, with the Weighted Average off 112.69, or 1.8%, to 6078.14. Recently-strong financial services stocks were among the hardest hit on concerns that the economy will fall back once more.
Some bottom-fishing among Hong Kong blue-chips generated small gains in morning trading that took the Hang Seng index up 10 to 10,733.7.
As the worst-performing market in the region this year, some international investors are expecting a period of catching up. The overall advance was limited by a big fall in Legend Computer, the largest manufacturer on the mainland, which suffered from the IBM blues. The prospect of higher oil prices continued to weigh down Australian stocks, although the All Ordinaries ended ahead 23.1 at 3363.4.
News Corp shares were knocked nearly 3% on worries about the future of Kirch pay-TV in which the media giant's BSkyB offshoot has a 22% stake.
Singapore technology stocks pulled the Straits Times index down 12.3 points to 1753.4, but Malaysia continued to rise, and the Kuala Lumpur Composite added 3.78 points to 776.04. Thailand's SET index put on 2.92 points to 372.91, while the Jakarta Composite firmed 1.35 to 516.44.
- More about:
- Energy
- Kuala Lumpur
- Malaysia
- Manufacturing
- Nikkei


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Factbox: Senate looks at plans to cut ethanol subsidies
(Reuters) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to eliminate $6 billion in subsidies for the ethanol industry, although the measure must clear high political hurdles before it would take effect.
While farmers and the ethanol industry like biofuels programs, the incentives have been targeted by environmentalists and lawmakers looking to cut spending, as well as the World Bank, which says they are driving up world food prices.
The Obama administration said it wants changes to U.S. ethanol policy but not a complete repeal of incentives.
The U.S. government has mandated that 13.95 billion gallons of renewable fuels be produced this year, and 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel must be blended by 2022.
Here are some details about proposals for ethanol subsidies:
The Senate voted 73-27 to cut the 45 cents given to refiners for every gallon of ethanol blended with gasoline. The amendment also would cut the 54 cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol from Brazil and other countries. If enacted, it would save $6 billion annually.
The tax credit is set to expire at the end of the year. The amendment received bipartisan support, but it was attached to an economic development bill that will face a difficult time passing the Senate.
A previous vote on a similar amendment earlier this week failed. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who co-authored the amendments, said that was because Republican Tom Coburn forced a vote too quickly. Continued...


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Aimee Blessed Momma to 4 amazing boys, P ~ 9 H ~ 7 J ~ 4 and B ~ 1. Happily married to D Living my almost dream life on an urban homestead, hoping for our forever land to find us soon!
~Manessa mama to one teenageer, one tweenager, and a toddler
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But pretty sure that won't happen, SOOOO I am set on getting Essure done. I started researching 'permanent solutions' after our last loss. I get pregnant FAR too easily these days even with barrier methods, and NFP! Vasectomy, tubal ligation (various methods), and Essure. Of the 3 Essure had much lower risks than the others. It makes sense, is less invasive, and won't compromise blood supply to the ovaries. (I'm just not ready to deal with the possibility of an accidental chemical hysterectomy)
DH&Me Christ follower, homeschooler, gardener, (insert lots of additional crunchiness here) chicken mama, & occasionally blogger. Mama of boys 9,7,3.5,&11months....& SURPRISE expecting a BOY in November! 7 sweet-babes gone too soon.
I do think I'm going to get a traditional tubal if I end up with a c section for whatever reason, but I'm not planning on that! It will be in my birth plan though just in case, it would be nice to get it all over with at once.
Welcome to baby Fiona with a giant omphalocele, 6/17/10!
JENNY, 38~ preschool teacher, birth activist, sun worshiper, singer, married for 17 years and mom to
Karan 15, Fiona 12, Bodhi 10, Bjorn 6, Devon 3, and Robin Taylor born January 16th!
It's funny, but with dd, I was pretty sure she was going to be our only child until just in the last year. Now that we finally decided to have a second, I'm not sure anymore! I feel less confident this time than I did the first time, and we ended up having a second anyway, sooo.... who knows!
Christina, loving being a Mama to three and serving as a Co-Leader of the Holistic Moms Network, Tri-City Area, CA Chapter.
Me 41, single mom to dd 4/2001 and ds 7/17/2010
I can't take hormones (even if I wanted to) and I had a Mirena once, years ago, and HATED it, so I don't think I want to repeat the experience. Also for sure don't want to mess with hassles of condoms, diaphragms, caps, etc...
Karyn, wife to Colby (9/4/04) and homeschooling mama to Ryan (3/11/08), Tyler (7/15/10), and a new little bean (10/24/12)!
We used a diaphragm for a couple of years with no pregnancies (until I lost it...that's why I'm PG now!) so we may do that again until we decide what to do permanently. We're only 31 and 34 and apparently plenty fertile...don't want to take chances!
DD, 8, DS, 6, and Baby DS born July 1, 2010 Married to DH for 10 years!
Im pretty sure we are done, but Im not ready to permanently give up our fertility, ya know?
Mom to 9 ~*~ 4 4 & 1(MtF) ~*~
actually he had a vasectomy schedule for November but this little one seems to have had other plans for us! So here we are adventure #3
Canadian mom of Myron born in Japan, March 2007. Our second son born at home, wonderful HBAC in July 2010. I am a jeweller, I love creating things!
1***5****10****15****20****25****30****35***40****45, Due June 10th, 2014
We're A C E S
Had a copper IUD last time which was great except for the CRAZY bleeding during my period. Ugh. I hated that part though.
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Ds(4.5 yrs)
I guess our only options left are either the copper IUD, or the withdrawal/timing method. I'll probably give the IUD a try, and if that doesn't work we'll just have to try the old fashioned way. Seeing how I probably have around 20 more years until menopause...I'm really hoping we can find something that works!
I'm also allergic to latex, so conventional condoms are out...and we have way too much sex to be able to afford the non-latex condoms
Someday there'll be a fantastic, non-permanent, non-hormonal method we can all use. Maybe a sperm-deactivator for guys?
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By Richard Clarke
Arsène Wenger wants one or two "real quality" additions to his squad over the summer.
It was evitable that the Arsenal manager would soon be questioned on his transfer plans in the wake his side's failure to lift the Champions League and Premier League trophies.
Wenger contends his squad does not need major surgery after reaching the Quarter-Finals in Europe and taking their title bid into April despite a raft of injuries. However he concedes that a couple of major contributors are needed.
"At the moment, I don't know [how many we need]," he said at Friday's press conference.
"If you look at the numbers we had Rosicky, Van Persie, Eduardo all out for a period when one of them could have produced a goal for us.
"Van Persie did play at Liverpool but that was a Van Persie of 60 or 70 per cent. He was out for five months and he is just coming back a little bit now. Even Diaby was out for a big part of the season.
"So if you ask me how many players I want to buy, it is not a question of quality, it is a question of one or two quality, real quality, players."Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source


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Titans still working out kinks in run game
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ The Tennessee Titans need to quickly work the kinks out of their run game if they want to help quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick have success filling in for the injured Jake Locker.
The Titans spent more than $100 million this offseason with a big chunk of that going toward the offensive line and backfield help for Chris Johnson so that running the ball was an option for coach Mike Munchak.
Well, five times the Titans couldn't pick up a single yard in their 26-17 loss to the Chiefs _ including from the Kansas City 1 with first-and-goal. Munchak said Monday the Titans are not playing nearly as well as they hope to be later this season.
The Titans (3-2) visit the Seattle Seahawks (4-1) on Sunday.


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I think I'll start a thread every other month or so, crap talking about your Sig's, or your Glocks, or your Younameits, just to level the playing field. I like Kimber pistols, and you're opinion is just that, your opinion. Intelligent statements like " Kimber makes great paper weights" must be designed to provoke fights on here. Just don't get it I guess.
LAPD Swat, arguably the finest Special Weapons and Tactics Team in the United States, are still issued Kimber 1911's, to the best of my knowledge. Guess they don't read the CCW forum huh?
You guys crack me up.


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Fact is, survivors of sexual trauma have higher rates of experiencing addictions, eating disorders, serious health issues and of course PTSD symptoms and more. I know because I spent many years going through all sorts of health and emotional issues myself and thankfully I am here today to share hope, inspiration, wisdom and tools to help you along your path. Survivors have a tendency to become ungrounded, be disconnected and "out of their bodies" and experience episodes of anxiety, reactive patterns, panic attacks and more.
The body quite often can be perceived not as the beautiful miracle is it, but as something to be harmed, destroyed or battled with. Add on toxic emotions to the mix and you have a breeding ground for disease of both the mind and body. Yoga and meditation became my saving grace to heal. If you are a survivor of sexual trauma, the path to loving yourself may not be immediate, but do know that in time, when you plant the seeds in your garden of self love, before long your garden will bloom, and it will just be a matter of continuing to give it nourishment and pulling some weeds occasionally to keep it in full bloom.
Here are some tips to help you learn to love yourself and your body and heal after sexual trauma:
1. Practice Loving Kindness Meditation.
This will help plant the seeds of kindness and compassion for yourself as you go along your path. It will also greatly help reduce stress on your mind and body and empower you to release toxic emotions from your heart that will help you move into health and wellness and away from stress and overwhelm.
2. Breathe and Get Into Your Body.
Whether you choose yoga or some other mind/body activity, it is important to be able to connect your breath with your body and turn on the relaxation response. This is why yoga is so powerful, as it does this and removes excess tension and stuck energy in the body to help facilitate healing. Grounding and restorative poses are especially helpful to help create a sense of safety and connection with the earth and your body when you can feel so disconnected and ungrounded. Learn how to use your breath and movement as a tool to become empowered within your own mind and body.
3. Reach out and ask for support.
You don't have to do this alone, you don't have to live in silence or shame and you can have all you need to heal. You just have to be willing to ask and receive.
4. Drink plenty of pure filtered water and eat organic real, whole foods.
The more you put the good food in, the better you will feel and the clearer your mind will become. I know you may not feel like it, but trust me, just take that first step and eat some real food because it will start momentum in the way you need to go. Say a gratitude prayer before each meal and take a few deep breaths.
5. Thank your body.
Each morning show some love and gratitude to your body and before you go to bed at night, be sure to thank your body for all it did during the day. Your body responds to what your mind thinks. Thanks and gratitude will help change the cellular structure. Send your body love and it will bloom. I hope this helps you find your way out of the darkness and into your light. It gets better. Believe and trust it will. I am leading a special workshop just for survivors in NYC on Saturday July 19th that you can find more info about on my website.
With lots of love,BY: Jody Mello Jody Mello Nourished Self www.nourishedself.com Facebook.com/NourishedSelf @nourished_self Short Bio Jody Mello is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, 500 hr Certified Yoga Instructor, Meditation Teacher and Certified Reiki Practitioner. Her passion is empowering other women to heal themselves from the inside out by diving deep into their soul and healing the root cause of their health and emotional issues. After healing her own health and emotional issues holistically, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, disordered eating and pelvic issues, she aims to support other women to truly heal and love themselves on a deep level. She works with women who have a past history of sexual trauma that are experiencing health or emotional eating issues that wish to heal holistically on a deep spiritual level.


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Hello and welcome to Seize The Day Project – a community embracing adventure, travel, creativity, gratitude and living an inspired life.
What do you want to be remembered for? What will be your legacy? Have you ticked some items off your bucket list?
If you want to make the rest of your life the BEST years of your life, you've come to the right place. Our mission is to inspire you to dust off your bucket list and start living a life you love – it's never too late!
We're about nurturing yourself, feeding your soul, having fun and feeling happier and more fulfilled. Whether it's simply enjoying a sunrise or sunset, taking the trip you've longed for, writing that book, helping others or quitting your job to follow your dreams, you can start in the smallest of ways and you can start today.
Join the Seize The Day Project adventure – simply enter your name and email address in the orange box above, and you'll receive our regular inspiration, updates and special offers, direct to your inbox. It's free and don't worry, we promise NEVER to sell your email address to anyone – we hate spam as much as you do! Thanks for joining our supportive community – welcome and Namaste!
Hi, I'm Lyndall
I'm a writer doing my best to live an inspired life filled with adventure, fun, sunrises and a quiet obsession with Italy.
I want to make sure I tick some items off my bucket list before I kick that damn bucket! How about you?
Life is short. Join me in making the most of it 🙂
Inspirational Stories
Share in the joy of others who have seized the day! Remarkable tales from people like you and I.
Share your story!
Do you have an inspiring story to share? Click here to find out more about having your story published.


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Get in the Driver's Seat to help Raise Money for Local Non-Profits - 04/23/10
8:00A.M. PT, April 23, 2010
Mitch Massey, SVP
(Santa Maria, CA) - Heritage Oaks Bank, the Central Coast's community bank for 27 years, is taking a racing approach to assist three local non-profits in the Santa Maria Valley.
"We created matchbox-size race cars to match our bank's street stock race car that races at the Santa Maria Speedway," says Mitch Massey, Senior Vice President, Marketing Heritage Oaks Bank. "For every $10 donation you make at any of our three Santa Maria branch locations, your donation will go directly to support one of the selected non-profits; as a small token of our appreciation, you will receive a commemorative matchbox-size race car," adds Massey.
The three non-profits who will be supported are the Special Olympics of Northern Santa Barbara, Domestic Violence Solutions Organization and the Pajama program.
Special Olympics of Northern Santa Barbara is a non-profit organization that empowers individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition.
"Special Olympics Northern Santa Barbara County is honored to be the charity of choice for Heritage Oaks Bank," says Rudy Gutierrez, Special Olympics Operations Coordinator.
Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS) is Santa Barbara county's only full-service domestic violence agency, committed to ending the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence through prevention and intervention services and through challenging society's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to effect social change. DVS provides the county's only 24-hour shelter service for battered women and their children, as well as the county's only transitional housing program for domestic violence survivors.
"Domestic Violence Solutions for Santa Barbara County appreciates the leadership of Heritage Oaks Bank and for being part of the solution," says Marsha Marcoe, Associate Executive Director, Domestic Violence Solutions.
The Pajama Program provides new pajamas and new books to children in need, many who are waiting and hoping to be adopted.
"Its bedtime and our own children change into warm cuddly pajamas and grab a book for us to read together. It is a special time that most of us cherish so to find out so many children in our community don't have pajamas to change into but sleep in their clothes is heartbreaking. Quota International of Santa Maria has chosen to partner with the Pajama Program to collect pajamas and books to give children that warm fuzzy time of day we take for granted," says Vicki Conable, President, Quota International of Santa Maria. "Having this support from Heritage Oaks Bank will bring many smiles to those in need," adds Conable.
Heritage Oaks Bank plans to raise close to $1,000 for each of the charities selected. "We had our staff at each office decide on which charities they wanted to support," says Massey. The race cars have the bank decals on them along with those of KCOY/KKFX, our media partner in this fundraising program.
"We're proud to be a part of our community and in partnership with Heritage Oaks Bank on this project," says Kevin Harlan, General Manager KCOY CBS 12/ FOX 11.
The following three Heritage Oaks Bank Santa Maria Valley locations where you can make a $10 donation and receive a commemorative race car include:
2339 South Broadway, Santa Maria, CA 93454
361 Town Center West, Santa Maria, CA 93458
1125 E.Clark Avenue (Orcutt), Santa Maria, CA 93455


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We offer discount to nonprofits, government agencies, and federal contractors
Watch AILA's Featured Issues page for more informationRead Today
AILA Doc. No. 03092247 | Dated September 22, 2003
Section by Section Analysis of The L-1 Visa (Intracompany Transferee)
Reform Act of 2003.
On September 17, Senator Chambliss (R-GA) introduced the "L-1 Visa (Intracompany Transferee) Reform Act of 2003." Narrower in scope than previous L legislation, this bill would modify only the L-1B visa program, re-instate the 1 year work requirement for blanket applicants, and mandate collection of L-1 program statistical data.
Specifically, this legislation would:
Cite as AILA Doc. No. 03092247.
American Immigration Lawyers Association
1331 G Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Copyright © 1993-2017
American Immigration Lawyers Association.


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Money Talking
Why Big Banks Like Citigroup Are Downsizing
The nation's biggest banks are facing job losses, falling revenue, big spending cuts, not to mention core questions about their very size and scope.
The latest bank to show strain is Citigroup, which announced Wednesday it will cut 11,000 jobs and close 44 branches.
This week on Money Talking, WNYC contributors Joe Nocera with the New York Times and Rana Foroohar with Time magazine discuss why Citigroup and other banks, like Bank of America, are cutting and who's to blame for falling revenues.
Plus, is there a distinction between these mega, Wall Street banks and smaller, regional banks when talking about the health of the financial sector.