text:
The dollar slid as US business activity shrank for the first time in more than three years and investors bet the Federal Reserve won't reduce its bond buying program. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fluctuated near a record high while industrial metals led commodities lower.
The Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency versus six major peers, fell 0.4 per cent for a fourth straight loss, its longest slump since February. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to 1,595.19 at 2:54 p.m. in New York, poised for a sixth straight month of gains. French 10-year yields set a record low of less than 1.70 per cent and bonds in Italy, Spain and Portugal rallied. Ten-year Treasury yields traded near their lows of the year. Zinc, copper and aluminum lost more than 1.3 per cent to lead commodities lower.
The Federal Reserve will also consider renewing its commitment to bond buying at a two-day meeting that starts today. The MNI Chicago Report's business barometer fell to 49 in April, the lowest since September 2009 and less than the reading of 50 that signals contraction. Euro-area inflation slowed more than economists forecast in April, data showed today, and most economists in a Bloomberg News survey predict the European Central Bank will cut interest rates this week.
'Disinflationary Tendencies'
"The disinflationary tendencies that are building into the US and the risk that the debate shifts to expanding rather than tapering QE has conspired to keep the US under pressure," Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London, said in a phone interview. "The fact we've now seen US 10-years testing the lows of the year is keeping the US dollar on the defensive."
The dollar weakened against all 16 major peers except Taiwan's currency. The US currency lost 0.4 per cent to $US1.3151 per euro, near the weakest level since February. Ten-year Treasury yields were little changed after slipping as much as 3.5 basis points to 1.64 per cent, the lowest since December.
The S&P 500 swung between gains and losses after the benchmark gauge closed yesterday at an all-time high of 1,593.61.
Pfizer Inc. declined 3.6 per cent as the world's biggest drugmaker reported earnings that fell short of analysts' projections. Newmont Mining Corp. lost 5.8 per cent as the biggest US gold producer reported profit that missed estimates. Avon Products Inc. gained 3.4 per cent after earnings topped analysts' estimates.
Earnings Season
The bull market in US equities entered its fifth year last month and the S&P 500 has surged 135 per cent from a 12-year low in 2009, driven by better-than-estimated corporate earnings and three rounds of bond purchases by the Fed. Earnings beat the average analyst estimate at 73 per cent of the 306 companies in the S&P 500 that reported results so far in the latest reporting season. Profit at S&P 500 companies rose 1.1 per cent in the first three months of the year, according to analysts' projections compiled by Bloomberg.
"Given the strength we've seen in the market here and with earnings being a mixed bag, you're just getting a little bit of pause," Kurt Brunner, who helps manage $US1.5 billion at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia, said in a telephone interview. "We've had a good month in here, now there are some concerns over 'are we heading into that growth problem again?"
The slump in business activity overshadowed another report showing consumer confidence climbed more than forecast in April. The Conference Board's index rose to 68.1, exceeding the highest projection in a Bloomberg survey, from a revised 61.9 in March, data from the New York-based private research group showed today. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast an increase to 61.
Home Prices
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 9.3 per cent in February from the same month in 2012 after rising 8.1 per cent in the year ended in January, the group said today in New York. The gain exceeded the 9 per cent median forecast from economists in a Bloomberg survey.
Norway's $US730 billion sovereign-wealth fund, the world's largest, warned that the current upbeat mood in global stock markets may not last even as low interest rates offer scant returns on bonds.
"The safest investment alternative will provide a return after inflation below zero," Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive officer of Norges Bank Investment Management, said in the text of a speech held today at parliament in Oslo. "Many countries are heavily indebted and monetary policy implies low, and in some cases negative, real interest rates ahead. Moreover, today's favorable stock market conditions may be based on expectations that do not materialize."
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2 per cent while still capping an 11th straight month of gains, the longest winning streak since 1997.
European Movers
UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, rallied 5.7 per cent as first-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates on higher revenues at the investment bank and in wealth management. BP rose 2.1 per cent as Europe's second-largest oil company reported profit that exceeded projections because of an improved performance at its fuel-trading business. Deutsche Bank AG surged 6.1 per cent on plans to raise as much as 4.8 billion euros ($US6.3 billion) in capital.
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world's biggest brewer, lost 1.2 per cent after posting first-quarter profit that missed analysts' forecasts on weaker-than-anticipated beer sales in Brazil and the US
The Frankfurt-based ECB will lower its benchmark rate to a record 0.5 per cent when central bankers meet in Bratislava on May 2, according to the median estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Europe's 'Elephant'
"The chances of an ECB cut this week have been revised upwards so the market has been chasing fixed-income, particularly in Europe," said Francesco Garzarelli, the London- based co-head of macro and markets research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse" with Francine Lacqua and Guy Johnson. For the Fed, "the big question mark, or the elephant in the room, is whether they taper these purchases" of bonds, he said.
Reports from the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg today showed the annual inflation rate in the euro area fell to 1.2 per cent in April, the lowest since February 2010, and the March jobless rate advanced to 12.1 per cent, the highest since the data series began in 1995.
Germany's 10-year bund yield rose one basis point to 1.22 per cent after touching a nine-month low of 1.18 per cent.
Spain's 10-year securities capped an eighth monthly gain, the longest streak in eight years, as yields declined two basis points to 4.135 per cent, the least since October 2010. Italy's two-year note yield fell to 1.09 per cent, the least on record.
'Could Consolidate'
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 1 per cent to a six- week high, led by technology companies, as investors speculated global monetary stimulus will boost demand for riskier assets. Benchmark indexes in Brazil, South Korea, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates rose more than 1 per cent.
"There's plenty of liquidity around the world, and so one would presume we will continue to see the rally for the next six to 12 months," said Khiem Do, the Hong Kong-based head of Asian multi-asset strategy at Baring Asset Management Ltd., which oversees about $US51 billion. "In the short term, some markets like Japan and the US have been overbought and could consolidate from day to day."
Chinese markets were closed today for holidays, while Japan's were shut yesterday. There are holidays tomorrow in most of Asia's emerging markets.
Gold for immediate delivery slipped 0.1 per cent to $US1,474.27 an ounce and tumbled 7.8 per cent this month as assets in bullion-backed exchange-traded products shrank by the most on record.
West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 1 per cent to $US93.46 a barrel and lost about 4 per cent this month. US inventories probably increased to the highest level in more than 22 years, a Bloomberg survey showed.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi is scheduled to speak at the Center for Strategic & International Studies today in Washington.


text: Scott Cox ran across the field that separated his home from his parents', but when he got there, nothing was left. A milk truck lay in the yard, its windshield wiper still flapping. The driver, who'd been flung from the truck, was nobody Cox recognized. He told a stranger to stay with the man so he could find his parents.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We'll rename the blog for one night, since you guys are so excited.
So here is some stuff from TSN on Tortorella's debut tonight.
And here is TSN's report (on the right side of the page) in a preview of Tortorella's first game, from today's morning skate. They interview Kubina (who was with Tortorella in Tampa and says that, if the bus leaves at 5 p.m., and you're there at 4:50, you're on time; if you're on time, you're late. Sounds like Coughlin!). They interview Redden, too.
Also, here is a story about Toronto GM Brian Burke asking an awful lot for Kaberle before the trade deadline.
Once again, Mara remains out, and Voros is expected to be the scratch (along with Bell, presumably).
Finally, here is the official announcement of the Mark Bell acquisition, even though I think he's going to Hartford:
New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has acquired forward Mark Bell off re-entry waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bell, 28, has appeared in 56 games with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season, registering 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points, along with 34 penalty minutes. He ranked fifth on the team in goals (12), sixth in points (27) and seventh in assists (15). He also tied for fourth on the Marlies with five power play goals. Bell recorded a season-high, five-game goal scoring streak from January 14 at Chicago to January 23 at Syracuse. He has registered three multiple-point performances this season, including a two-goal game on January 2 vs. Iowa.
A veteran of seven NHL seasons, Bell skated in 35 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2007-08 season, registering four goals and six assists for 10 points, along with 60 penalty minutes. He missed 31 games due to injury after sustaining a broken orbital bone on January 3, 2008 at Pittsburgh. He notched a goal in back-to-back games, on April 3, 2008 vs. Ottawa and April 5, 2008 at Montreal, to close out the regular season.
The 6-2, 220-pounder has appeared in 445 career NHL games with the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs, registering 87 goals and 95 assists for 182 points, along with 597 penalty minutes. Bell established career-highs in goals (25) and points (48) while skating with Chicago during the 2005-06 season. His 25 goals and 48 points ranked second on the club, while he finished fourth on the team with 23 assists. In 2003-04, he set a career mark with 24 assists and was one of only four Blackhawk players to appear in all 82 games. Bell has skated in nine career NHL playoff contests with Chicago and San Jose. In addition, he has appeared in 117 career AHL games with the Norfolk Admirals and Toronto Marlies, registering 27 goals and 42 assists for 69 points, along with 160 penalty minutes.
Prior to turning professional, Bell spent four seasons with the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), registering 105 goals and 102 assists for 207 points, along with 291 penalty minutes in 212 games. In his final season with the 67's, Bell established OHL career-highs with 38 assists, 72 points and 95 penalty minutes, and his 34 goals tied his career-high set during the 1997-98 season. He also appeared in 48 OHL post-season contests with Ottawa, tallying 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points, along with 35 penalty minutes.
The native of St. Paul's, Ontario was originally selected as the Chicago Blackhawks first round draft choice, eighth overall, in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.


text:
To really explore St. Lawrence national park, created in 1904, visitors need a boat to reach more than 20 islands and some 83 islets and shoals.
(Parks Canada)
St. Lawrence National Park Islands are part of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO protected region that forms a bridge of islands connecting the Canadian Shield and the Adirondack mountains.
(Parks Canada)
Kayaking in the Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence Islands National Park.
(Parks Canada)
Digging into a generous lunch prepared by our guide at 1000 Islands Kayaking Company.
(Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail)
With 80 kilometres of protected land, the pitch pine stand for years and wildlife is abundant: We saw enormous loons, 10 turtles sunning on a log and a majestic great blue heron around every corner.
(Parks Canada)
Next story


text:
MOST children who need foster carers are in care because of absue or neglect according to the head of fostering in the town.
Christine Howley spoke of the importance of finding more people to offer a home to children in need as Foster Care Fortnight gets under way.
And in the next two weeks videos featuring interviews with foster carers will be available from Warrington Borough Council's YouTube channel.
She said: "We want to encourage people to consider fostering, and hearing the stories of people who have already fostered could help potential foster carers make their decision to come forward.
"We've also launched a 'Guess Who Fosters' quiz on our website and might help people realise that they'd be eligible to become a foster carer.
"You might decide you'd like to hear more about becoming a foster carer, and Warrington definitely needs a lot more people to take that step and help change lives through fostering."
To try the quiz visit warringtonfostering.co.uk/guesswhofosters or call 444100 for more information on fostering.
Drop in sessions will also be held across the town detailed below:
Thursday, May 16 from 10am-4pm at Sainsbury's on Church Street
Saturday, May 17 from 10am-4pm at Golden Square Shopping Centre
Tuesday, May 20 at 10am at Starbucks, Golden Square Shopping Centre
Friday, May 23 from 10am-4pm at Morrisons, on Wilderspool Causeway
Saturday, May 24 from 10am-4pm at a family fun day at Warrington Market
Thursday, May 29 at 6pm at Orford Jubilee Hub


text:
Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, treatment and possible prevention of disease and injury. It is both an area of knowledge – a science of body systems, their diseases and treatment – and the applied practice of that knowledge.
7 repetitions, relaxing short stay and again, up to 5 series. Tip: a sense of proportion would be appropriate, not to turn a pleasant evening into something that will want to forget; arranging a romantic outing, choose a secluded, but not prohibited or dangerous places; do not rush to be given passions directly in nature (let place for boardwalk will be close to home), it is unsafe.. Herbal infusions Since ancient times, people have noticed the beneficial effect on virility some wild herbs. Simple and effective. To increase potency and prolong time of sexual intercourse there are a lot of drugs. Meanwhile, to support men's health is not so difficult. No wonder so great is the population of China and India, which are actively used drugs to enhance potency based exclusively on natural raw materials. You first need to adjust and balance the power. The course is 2 weeks. And it's not just about treating erectile dysfunction or the treatment of impotence, increased potency is also important for healthy males. How to increase male strength The hormone testosterone performs in a man's body is very important functions: regulates metabolism, supports the immune system, control of reproductive processes, stimulates libido. Taken on average 50 grams (one stack) before eating. Humanity knows a huge number of herbs that have a healing effect on weakened the male body. Also, sometimes, under the potency refers to the male erection, necessary for carrying out sexual intercourse. Very well for potency helps freshly prepared with herbs tea: mint, St. You are not the first familiar and probably consider each other the native people. Also there is a whole range of exercises to improve potency. Simple and effective.


text:
Chris Redfield (Revision 501)
Edit Page Last Edit:
Also known as: Chris
EditUltimate MvC3 Changes
EditOfficial Changelog
- Can act immediately after a dash.
- Increased float of cr..
- Decreased startup of j. and increased active frames.
- Normal gun moves, Low Shot, cr., Air Low Shot can be empty canceled.
- Minimum damage scaling on special attacks has been increased.
- Increased active frames of Shot Gun.
- Decreaed damage of Shot Gun.
- Decreased untechable time of first hit of Combination Punch .
- Decreased gap of Prone Shot.
- Machinegun portion of Sweep Combo can OTG.
- Can wave-dash
- Normal gun attacks can be canceled with specials
- Faster startup on some specials
- Magnum in the air can OTG
EditHow to Play
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text:
By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Ang Lee is undeniably one of the finest directors in modern cinema. No contemporary filmmaker has crafted such a radically varied body of work with so many illustrious individual pieces.
But reserve dampens the passion in Lust, Caution, his beautifully mounted but rather unmoving film. It feels surprisingly cold, despite this erotic thriller's ultra-explicit sex scenes.
A deliberately paced tale of espionage and double-crosses, Lust, Caution is set in Shanghai in the early l940s during the Japanese occupation. One longs to be more deeply involved in the tale, given the exquisite beauty of the film and the painstaking attention to detail in period accuracy, production design and such ambient sounds as crickets chirping.
Part of the problem is that the movie, at more than 21/2 hours, is just too long. Then there is the matter of protracted scenes of mah-jongg. Though there are subtleties meant to be conveyed while the moneyed women play, these scenes feel tedious.
And the lusty portions don't always ring true. It's hard to imagine that Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), the shy and inexperienced girl masquerading as a sophisticated and adulterous wife, would throw herself into a relationship that begins on a sadistic and abusive note.
There is deception, suspicion and self-delusion, but it all seems rendered at arm's length, despite the consummate artistry of the filmmaking. The film, based on Eileen Chang's beautifully written short story, has a literary feel, unfolding at a stately pace.
"If you pay attention, nothing is trivial," says Mr. Yee, a key character. And it seems to be Lee's message to the audience.
But we are left to infer too much. Wong Chia Chi's father has escaped to England and left her behind. But is this something that truly upsets her and fuels her choices? She gives no indication. The plot centers on Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), the head of the intelligence service of the wartime collaborationist government. As such, he is the target of angry Chinese students and an underground resistance effort.
Wong Chia Chi discovers acting in school and comes alive on stage. She joins the resistance planning Yee's assassination, seemingly more out of a desire to play the toughest role of her career than for political reasons. It is decided she is to become his mistress, first posing as a new family acquaintance and befriending his wife (Joan Chen).
Wong Chia Chi speaks of feeling empty in an interim period when she was not acting. We can assume she feels most alive in her toughest —and most dangerous — acting role ever, as Yee's mistress.
Lee has chosen a fascinating vehicle as his follow-up to the acclaimed Brokeback Mountain. But where a key scene in Brokeback tore at our hearts, Lust, Caution has no counterpart. After the death of Jake Gyllenhaal's character, the taciturn character played by Heath Ledger is undone by the sight of his lover's denim shirt. In that detail we feel the depth of his love and grief. Lust, Caution has no equivalent sequence, making it hard to understand Wong Chia Chi's choices, especially her climactic one. Though the performances are strong (especially Leung's), one longs for the depth of emotion of Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the chemistry between Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh.
Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.


text:
Geelong is fit, healthy, on a three-win run and building towards what coach Chris Scott believes will be its most consistent form of the season. But the Cats will use this week's trip to play Greater Western Sydney to identify and iron out any last kinks in their on-the-road routine.
They have won all of their games in Victoria this year to sit inside the top four, and their only four losses were interstate, albeit against three top-eight sides and the ninth-placed Gold Coast.
The Cats' loss to Sydney also came after a second consecutive six-day break leading in, but Scott said the club had examined how it had handled its interstate trips and would appreciate further practice against the Giants on Saturday.
"I think you're kidding yourself if you try to pretend it's not an issue, particularly with the way the competition is,'' Scott said. ''If you finish towards the top, there's a fair chance you're going to have to play a very good team interstate in a final.
"We would have liked to have played better than we have this year against those teams, and we've gone through a few things to try and address any potential issues we might have within our program or the way we prepare.
"We haven't identified anything major, but we're just looking at it as another opportunity to get our system right and play well away from home. We're not pretending that we've been model performers on the road because we haven't, but we get a chance to fix it this week to a degree."
The Cats will consider bringing Mathew Stokes back from a four-week ankle injury against the Giants, but they will factor in the club's bye next week.
Ruckman Dawson Simpson will also push for a recall, despite experiencing some back problems in his VFL game last weekend, with the coaches planning to take another look at how he, Mark Blicavs and Hamish McIntosh can work together before the season is out.
For Scott, Geelong's biggest challenge in the last six rounds is to avoid the sorts of lapses within games that the top sides will not allow it come September even though the Cats were going "better now than certainly we were a month or six weeks ago, and the plan is in another six weeks to be going even better''.
Scott was grateful that both a well-managed program and some luck meant the Cats were in a position to start the last stretch of their season with a mostly fit, settled side, with the graduation of some players from young to established allowing him and the team to stick with a steadier structure than in the past few years.
"The ruckmen being available has helped that," Scott said. "Last year we had a bit of a difficult time with our forward structure given Tom Hawkins was struggling a little bit. He's solidified that part of the ground a little bit for us and we're now getting to the stage in our development where we've got some third, fourth and fifth-year players who are a bit more consistent and have nailed positions.
"What tends to happen with young players is they go well for a couple of weeks then you need to shift them around a little bit. We're a little bit more stable in the way we set up and I think we'll be more stable again in a month. Hopefully that's going to contribute to some good form."


text:
I've been using Reader daily for years, sad to see it go.
Does anyone use alternatives, what are they like?
I used it too, but now, since it's "dying", I started using feedly dot com
Just got put onto http://theoldreader.com/ & so far so good! Much nicer interface.
:/ whyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Lol funny thing is that there are alot of apps on windows 8 app store which rely on google reader.
mudi said
Lol funny thing is that there are alot of apps on windows 8 app store which rely on google reader.
A lot of Android & iOS apps too which will need to find new RSS API's to integrate. Apparently Feedly is working on their own, and will switch to it when Google Reader officially closes.
Shame. I read about this earlier this morning… via Google Reader haha
Ok I understand why my thread was locked, because there is another thread opened about that subject.
Let me tell you that this forum sucks. Not the mods or the user or the staff, no, no, no, those are awesome but the forum app itself.
It sucks big time! You can't follow and keep update on what happening here if you manage to miss 10 hours because you need to sleep.
Ok, now I've said this, what a liberating feel.
Was expected to happen something – a big update or shutting down – because was a service that had not updates like the rest of the stuff. Kinda sad.


text:
July 12, 2014 at 12:33:52 Jul 12, 2014 @ 12:33
Anyone know of any legit online sneaker stores that sells Nike Flyknit Racer Game Royal - Pink Flash size 9.5?
Thanks man!If you are in UK (or even if you are not) this online sneaker shop is legit, with free returns. They have Nike and hundreds of other brands, but I don't about the flyknits in pink!


text:
Today's letter, sent on Sunday, Feb. 23, comes from Immaculate Heart Sr. Annette St. Amour of Monroe, Mich. After 25 years of working in South Africa, she recently arrived in Juba to help Solidarity with South Sudan's pastoral development work. They are forming diocesan teams to assist groups with programs for peace and reconciliation.
I arrived safely in Juba, South Sudan, on Thursday morning. Two members of the Solidarity community I live with met me at the airport, a DeLaSalle Christian brother from Australia and a Vincentian priest from the Philippines. The heat is intense, 100 degrees or more these days. We drink much water. Conversations around the table are most stimulating about what is happening in the various parts of the country and what needs to happen too in pastoral planning to deal with the situation.
This Sunday morning I had the privilege of going with the Maryknoll priest in our community here to the U.N. camp housing 20,000-plus refugees from the current crisis. About 400 gathered on chairs in an open area to celebrate the alive African liturgy. The readings for today were such a profound challenge in light of what this community has experienced. Being with the people in this liturgy, where prayer for all those still hiding in the bush and or suffering on both sides of the conflict, as well as thanksgiving for survival in attacks, was heart-felt crying out to God. It was a most moving experience. I feel I can be here because of your support and prayer. I thank you for that and ask that you continue to pray for peace in this land.
This is the fourth installment of Letters from South Sudan. In the weeks to come we will continue share letters with NCR readers, giving a fuller picture of the complexities of political violence and hopes for peace.
[Colleen Dunne is an NCR Bertelsen intern. Her email address is email@example.com. Follow on twitter @coldun14.]
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text:
Robots All: A Letter to Kurt Vonnegut on the Anniversary of Breakfast of Champions
by Rob Drew
Dear Kurt,
I've been re-reading your 1972 classic Breakfast of Champions, in which your perpetual alter-ego Kilgore Trout encounters the Midwestern car dealer Dwayne Hoover in a cocktail bar and brings his world crashing down by handing him a copy of Trout's book Now It Can Be Told, which purports to reveal that the reader is actually the only living human on the planet. Other than the reader, Trout's book claims, the planet is inhabited by machines put there by the Creator of the Universe to test this new creature (the book's reader), who is the only human with free will. In your book, this revelation introduces "bad ideas" that mix with Dwayne Hoover's "bad chemicals" and drive him insane.
I am writing you this open letter 40 years after the book's publication to work out for myself what sort of mind would produce this visionary little tome which was so instrumental to my own youthful development. There's still a great deal I can relate to in your book. By temperament I identify with its cynicism and alienation, and having settled in a Midwestern "rust belt" town that has seen better days, there is even more today that I recognize in the flat terrain and culture of your book's central setting of Midland City, a place where the streets are lined with franchise restaurants and hotels and car dealerships and the creeks are full of chemicals from the local industrial plants (I suspect it also shares a lot with your own hometown of Indianapolis). Yet as the book proceeds, I see troubling parallels between your own book and that of your literary alter ego Kilgore Trout. I feel I am in the hands of an author who himself sees this planet as inhabited by automatons or robots, much like the world laid out in Trout's Now It Can Be Told. Although this perspective troubles me, I must admit it is one I have always harbored myself.
There are a number of things about Breakfast that give me the sense that the solipsistic vision of its book-within-a-book is more than a story but very much a reality in your mind. First, you write about characters and phenomena on this planet (our planet) as if you were observing them from quite far away. To take just one example, you refer to Reader's Digest as "the dying planet's most popular magazine." Phrases like this appear frequently in your book. They are jarring to the reader precisely because they seem irrelevant to your story. The observation that Reader's Digest is (or was at the time of publication) the most popular magazine in the world is phrased in the spirit of an anthropological observation of our planet for the benefit of non-inhabitants, and thus puts the reader in the position of a non-inhabitant (I know from your biography that you studied anthropology as a graduate student). Moreover, the fact that you refer to Earth as "the dying planet" rather than "our planet" or "the world" or "the Earth" (like most Earthbound authors would) leads me to suspect that you see yourself as "not of this world" and that you expect your reader to relate to this otherworldly perspective.
Another point worth noting is the role of machines in your book. Machines often seem to control the lives of your characters, just as they do in Trout's Now It Can Be Told. For instance, you make a point of how the Robo-Magic washing machine (the first product manufactured by Barrytron, the largest company in Midland City) made some women's lives easier when it appeared (i.e. rich white women) while throwing other women out of work (i.e. black servants). Beyond this, you often refer to the characters in your story themselves as "machines." You refer to Dwayne Hoover's real mother, who died in childbirth, as a "defective child-bearing machine." There are other motifs in your book that convey the sense that your characters are machines carrying out pre-programmed actions: i.e. your frequent references to the physical proportions of characters' body parts, and your use of the phrases "etc." and "and so on" in recounting your characters' lives, as if they were programmed computers stuck in infinite loops. By writing about your own characters as if they were programmed machines in a sense you extend the premise of Now It Can Be Told to the larger fictional world of your own book. It's worth noting how seemingly heartless and amoral this view is (a woman who dies in childbirth being "a defective childbearing machine"). The universe you create in your book is radically Cartesian; I get the sense that you believe, as your character Trout does, that the Creator of the Universe has set this world going like a machine without any moral compass.
In Trout's view, as in your own, the Universe itself seems to be a highly defective machine. Trout tells a truck driver whom he hitches a ride with, "I realized that God wasn't any conservationist, so for anybody else to be one was sacrilegious and a waste of time. You ever see one of His volcanoes or tornadoes or tidal waves?" Trout blames the Creator for floods and tornadoes, and falls back on this as an excuse for not being a "conservationist" himself. This is a deeply pessimistic and cynical view but of a piece with the rest of Breakfast, which is not just about a man who reads another man's book and loses his mind, but about the inhabitants of a dying city in a dying industrial region of a "dying planet," and about the hopelessness and cynicism such a place breeds (in your characters and in their author). Our fate appears to be sealed in your work by the entropy of the universe and our own flawed engineering. Like Chekhov's gun, if industrial toxins appear in the first act they're bound to end up in the river by the last. Your pessimism in this regard is even more clearly captured in your Cat's Cradle by the fictional polymer Ice Nine, a substance whose destructive potential (it could freeze all the world's oceans) exceeded even the nuclear stockpiles that in your time seemed fated to blow us all to bits. If you were still alive today (since I understand that you yourself are dead), would you despair even more of the planet's fate as global warming seems to push us toward catastrophe? Or might you find hope in the fact that with the help of science at least some of the planet's inhabitants are coming to see these catastrophic conditions for what they are and trying however feebly to reverse them? And wouldn't you agree that the science of global warming has exposed Kilgore Trout's view that the Creator is not a conservationist as something of a cop out? After all, although there have always been and always will be natural disasters, scientists have now made us aware that weather catastrophes are not just the doings of an amoral Creator but something we humans have a hand in.
Your book gives the impression, not only that most humans act like machines, but that the universe itself is like a machine. One device you employ frequently is jumping to events later in the story and even to events long after (or before) the timeline of the book. In particular you intermittently remind the reader that at the climax of this story Dwayne Hoover will go over the edge into a violent rage. Most writers recount the events in their stories chronologically. This not only creates suspense but also the sense that "anything can happen." In contrast, your way of writing makes it feel as if everything that happens in your fictional world is predetermined. This becomes especially apparent toward the end of your book when you introduce yourself as a character in order to highlight your own puppet-like manipulation of the other characters in the book. I get the feeling this is kind of a power trip for you, but also a kind of therapy. Perhaps pulling the strings of these characters as they gravitate toward their violent fates provides some catharsis for violence in your own past. What sorts of horrors did you witness as a prisoner of war in World War II? Was there a relative in your own childhood who spouted the sort of hateful, racist rhetoric that Dwayne Hoover's stepfather spouted at him? Writing in the early 1970s at a time of rampant war, crime, assassinations, and assorted violence, you resolved to "write about life" and "adapt to chaos." Your characters sometimes do terrible things, not out of any clear motive, but because they are "defective machines," and because, as you so often remind us, they are predetermined to do such things by you, their author.
This question of predetermination has vexed us mortals for ages. The degree to which one feels the future is predetermined partly depends on the context of one's own time and place. I can understand how you might have felt fatalistic when you published Breakfast in 1972. Back then, the "old media" of television and movies and radio produced an endless supply of homogeneous content. Manufacturing plants ground out industrial goods just as they had for decades. America was hung over and exhausted in the aftermath of the 1960s. Perhaps this is why your book, even as it is animated by the futuristic fantasies of a science fiction author, seems so nostalgic. It dwells on the past, even if those aspects of the past that it dwells on are not always happy ones. As Kilgore Trout says, "It is the past that scares the bejesus out of me." Forty years later, however, it is the past that seems dull and the future that both terrifies and excites us with its possibilities. New manifestations of media and culture appear almost daily. Forces of destruction from war, disease, terrorism, and climate change loom over us even as new possibilities for renewing our lives constantly emerge. With so much seemingly at stake, it is difficult to feel that the future is fixed or that humanity consists of mere robots.
Although its preface states that you wrote Breakfast of Champions as your fiftieth birthday present to yourself, and although I find myself rereading it just after my fiftieth birthday, I also find there is something adolescent about its point of view. This is not intended as an insult; it is precisely why I enjoyed the book so much when I was an adolescent and why I'm eager to pass it on to my own children. Regarding the world from their perspective, I suspect that much of what they see around them, particularly the behavior of adults and especially of their own parents, must seem entirely predictable and robotic. My younger son gave me a Father's Day card last year with the heading "Dad Libs," a parody of the Mad Libs word game, which made fun of the fact that so much of what I say to him can be represented by filling in the blanks of standard phrasal templates ("Do you want to go to the gym," "Do you want to watch a movie," etc.).
It's only natural for our kids to see us and often treat us something like machines at this stage; as teenagers, they are in the late stages of Freud's "family romance." Freud noted how pre-teen kids often will develop fantasies that their parents are not in fact their birth parents and that their actual pedigree makes them somehow special and gifted. The obvious manifestation of this in contemporary young adult literature is the Harry Potter series. In a sense Kilgore Trout's Now It Can Be Told is not a far cry from Harry Potter, though the main character of Trout's book (the person addressed by the book) is in fact far more special and far more alienated than J.K. Rowling's main character. Rather than all the other creatures on Earth being inferior non-wizards (as in Harry Potter) or "phonies" (as in Catcher in the Rye), they aren't even humans. Thus Now It Can Be Told (and, by extension, Breakfast) may be the ideal book for a young person in the throes of adolescent alienation. Granted, the main character of your book is not an adolescent boy but a grown man, but the only way such a man is likely to experience such feelings of alienation and paranoia is if he is so run down by life as to have lost his mind (like Dwayne Hoover). For adolescents, such feelings of alienation and paranoia are part of normal everyday life.
I first read your book at a time when I was going through just that life stage of loneliness and identity crisis. I spent most of my time at home in my room. Sometimes it felt difficult to communicate even with old friends. Reading your book, it was tempting to see the world as you seemed to see it, from very far away, as if I were placed on Earth as a test case among a planet full of machines by a cold and amoral Creator of the Universe. A few years later I could see that this wasn't true, and I hope that a few years from now it won't feel true for my children. We can see the ultimate consequences of regarding the rest of humanity as a collection of machines in the fate of Dwayne Hoover: insanity and unfeeling violence.
In closing, I suppose I should thank you for capturing in prose those thoughts and feelings of utter isolation that we all sometimes experience. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I should thank you at all. We are quite used to celebrating the edifying potential of great literature and art; one lesson of your book is the destructive potential of art. Kilgore Trout's book provides the bad ideas that mix with Dwayne Hoover's bad chemicals to drive him insane. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye provided some of the bad ideas that mixed with the bad chemicals of murderous assassins like Mark David Chapman and John Hinckley to drive them insane. As far as I know Breakfast of Champions has never driven anyone insane, nor has Harry Potter. My kids began their descent into adolescent alienation with Harry Potter. At the risk of their destruction I will encourage them to cap it off with Breakfast of Champions. And so on.
Rob Drew teaches Communication at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. His book Karaoke Nights: An Ethnographic Rhapsody is published by AltaMira Press. Photo of Kurt Vonnegut mural in Indianapolis, IN from rowsdowr.com.


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dtm racing News Stories
Four BMW DTM Drivers in the Points at Norisringby Mark Jurista on July 14, 2013 at 05:25:00 PM
The four BMW teams experienced an eventful fifth DTM race at the Norisring (DE) in temperatures soaring to over 30 degrees Celsius. Bruno Spengler (CA), who started the race from second on the grid in the BMW Bank M3 DTM, was the best-placed BMW driver, coming home in sixth.
Joey Hand (US, BMW M3 DTM), Andy Priaulx (GB, Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM) and Marco Wittmann (DE, Ice-Watch BMW M3 DTM) finished eighth, ninth and tenth.
BMW Finishes 1-2-3 at Third DTM Race in Spielbergby Mark Jurista on June 03, 2013 at 08:59:00 AM
BMW Motorsport has added another chapter to its remarkable success story in the DTM: at the end of 47 laps, reigning champion Bruno Spengler (CA) crossed the finish line first in the BMW Bank M3 DTM to win the third race of the 2013 DTM in Spielberg (AT).
Marco Wittmann (DE, Ice-Watch BMW M3 DTM) came home second, just 1.550 seconds later. He was followed by Timo Glock (DE, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M3 DTM), Wittmanns BMW Team MTEK team-mate, who completed the first one-two-three for BMW since returning to the DTM in 2012.
Podium at Brands Hatch for DTM champion Bruno Spenglerby Mark Jurista on May 22, 2013 at 10:32:00 AM
Following the successful season-opener in Hockenheim (DE), the podium at the second DTM race of the year again featured a BMW driver: BMW Team Schnitzer driver Bruno Spengler (CA) crossed the finish line in second place in the BMW Bank M3 DTM.
The second best-placed BMW driver was Marco Wittmann (DE) from BMW Team MTEK in only his second DTM race. The 23-year-old was fourth in the Ice-Watch BMW M3 DTM, ahead of BMW Team RBM driver Joey Hand (US) in fifth. This marked the best result of both drivers DTM careers.
BMW Opens DTM season with One-Two Finishby Mark Jurista on May 05, 2013 at 03:31:00 PM
Fantastic start to the 2013 DTM season for BMW Motorsport: at the end of the 42 laps, Augusto Farfus (BR) won the opening race in Hockenheim (DE) at the wheel of the Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM.
25 Years Ago a Champion in Touring Car Racing, The E30 M3, was Bornby Tim Jones on April 30, 2012 at 08:00:45 PM
In August 1985, a rumor surfaced in motor magazine Auto-Deutschland which emanated from a new sports car. An A Group Car from BMW that was a thoroughbred racing car according to the rules but was also to be produced in a version licensed to drive on open roads for everyday use. Speculation about this dream car that could take to normal roads and was intended for the ***8220;Most dynamic among BMW 3 Series...
BMW DTM E92 M3 Testing at the Hungaroringby Tim Jones on September 22, 2011 at 05:31:19 PM
BMW is returning to DTM racing for the 2012 season with a DTM racer version of the E92 M3. BMW took the stock E92, replaced everything with carbon fiber, then stretched the fenders to fit massive rubber front at rear. To get their new racer into shape the three DTM teams took their new hotness over to the Hungaroring for over 700 laps of the 2.72 mile circuit. Pictures of the DTM E92 M3 Press Launch BMW is...
Launch of the BMW M3 DTM Concept Car - Details and Picturesby Tim Jones on July 15, 2011 at 02:40:01 PM
Just two weeks after the official roll-out of the new racing car for the 2012 DTM season, BMW presented the BMW M3 DTM Concept Car. Dr. Klaus Draeger, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for development, and BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt unveiled the car on Friday evening in the Double Cone building at Munich's BMW Welt. As part of the DTM event in the Olympic Stadium, the BMW M3 DTM...
BMW Motorsport presents the teams for its DTM projectby Tim Jones on March 10, 2011 at 06:25:19 PM
This is the first official information that BMW has released on what we should expect from their DTM racing effort. For those not familiar with DTM, its sort of a German equivalent to NASCAR but where the cars turn left and right. BMW was big in DTM racing before and then, like so many of its other racing efforts, left. With the sell off of their F1 team BMW has more motor sports money to go around and jumping back into DTM is just one of many things they're doing. Stay tuned to...


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SMA-Induced Deformations in General Unsymmetric Laminates
Date of defense:
April 22, 1997
Document Type:
PhD Dissertation
Doctor of Philosophy
ngineerin Science and Mechanics
General unsymmetric laminates exhibit large natural curvatures at room temperature. Additionally, inherent to most unsymmetric laminates is the presence of two stable configurations. Multiple configurations and stability issues arise because of the geometric nonlinearities associated with the large curvatures. The laminate can be changed from one stable configuration to the other by a simple snap-through action. This situation offers the opportunity to use shape memory alloys (SMA) attached to the laminate to generate the snap-through forces and change the shape of the laminate on command. Presented is a model which can predict SMA-induced deformations in general unsymmetric laminates and, particularly, the occurrence of the snap through. First, a methodology is developed to predict the deformations of flat general unsymmetric epoxy-matrix composite laminates as they are cooled from their elevated cure temperature. Approximations to the strain fields are used in the expression for the total potential energy, and the Rayleigh-Ritz approach is used to study equilibrium. To further study the laminate deformations, finite-element analyses are performed. Experimental results are presented which confirm the predictions of the developed theory and the finite-element analyses regarding the existence of multiple solutions and the magnitude of the deformations. Results are compared with those of several other investigators. Next, the deformation behavior of general unsymmetric laminates subjected to applied forces is studied. The principle of virtual work is used to derive the equilibrium equations relating the laminate deformations to the applied forces. By solving the equilibrium equations as a function of the force level, relations between the laminate deformations and the applied force are derived, and the force level at which the laminate changes shape is determined. Finally, an existing SMA constitutive model is implemented into the developed theory to predict the deformations of simple structures to SMA-induced forces. Experiments on a narrow aluminium plate with an externally attached SMA actuator are conducted. The experimental results show good agreement with the predictions from the developed theory. Next, the deformation behavior of general unsymmetric laminates subjected to SMA actuators is predicted using the developed theory. Experiments using SMA actuators to generate the snap through of unsymmetric laminates are conducted. Good correlation with the developed theory is obtained.
Shape Control, Modeling of Smart Structures, Instability, Snap Through
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In the Manor Rose Romance Palest Celadon Fabric
This is another one of my favorite fabrics that NEEDS to be made into something. Though at this rate I'm going to have a fabric stockpile for ages. But with fabric as pretty as this I don't mind at all! I really enjoy the green and floral together it's pretty and feminine without being over the top (though over the top can be fun at times).


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General: Time Management
How Busy Moms Can Save Time
The best time-saving tips, from quick dinner recipes to ingenious beauty shortcuts.
10 Ways to Cope With Anxiety
Need help managing your worries? Follow this psychologist's advice.
15 Minute Time-Savers
From getting dinner on the table to fitting in your workout, make your busy day run easier with a few smart, time-saving tips for busy families.
Back-to-School Organizing Tips
Smart ideas to start off the new school year right—and with less stress.
The Simple Trick That Will De-Stress Your Weekend
Here's how to put the fun back into free time.
Here's How to Get Your Partner to Schedule a Playdate Every Once in a While
In the pilot episode of "Domestic Disturbances," Real Simple's new podcast series, we figure out how to split up scheduling duties before both parents go crazy.
9 Ways to Speed-Up Your Morning Routine
Getting your family up and at 'em is no small feat. Follow these simple tips to start the day on the right foot.
5 Ways to Make the Most of a Slow Week at Work
It's the holidays. The office is quiet. You could dedicate your 9 to 5 to Candy Crush and returning gifts. Or, as work-place expert Lynn Taylor points out, you can use this downtime to beef up your presence in the office and get pumped for the year ahead.
15 Ways to Become a Better Learner
Your homework assignment for the month: School your kids (and yourself) on these smart strategies for gaining knowledge.


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I was invited to a cocktail party where the concept is that everyone brings an appetizer and drink. there will be about 20 couples and the best combinations wins a prize! this being said, i really want to win and would love if you guys have any ideas! So, what's your favorite pairing that you've tried, or make at home?
some general things to keep in mind:
- appetizer should be able to travel at least 1 hr in the car, so perhaps room-temp to cold when served
- need to have about 40 mini servings (i'm not on a very tight budget but i can't afford cavier for 40 people!)
- can be paired with any alcoholic beverage (beer, wine, spirit) or cocktail (sangria, mojito etc)
- i suppose store bought apps are ok....if you're thinking this, i live in Canada. :)
also any websites you know about how to pair food with drinks would be helpful as well. thanks everyone for your help!!!


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WOOSTER -- A long campaign paid off for the United Way of Wayne and Holmes Counties, which met its $1.4 million goal for the 2012 campaign.
"The community really needs to be proud. With their help we can continue to address the bumps in the road we continue to face," said Brenda Linnick, executive director.
"We beat the bushes hard in the end. We tried to leave no stone unturned," said Linnick, adding the main reason people don't give to the campaign is because they're not asked.
Linnick said they left the campaign open longer than they ever had "because we were so close."
The campaign officially closed Feb. 28.
Ultimately, the amount raised fell short of meeting the total number of requests from its partner agencies by $113,562. However, the final amount raised was still about $80,000 more than last year.
"We had organizations this year who came to the table and literally pulled out all the stops," said Linnick.
Some companies that participated in the campaign raised $10,000-$20,000 more than in previous years.
Assistant director Todd Jasin said there were about 50 companies that stepped up and raised more than last year.
"That was really powerful," Jasin said.
Additionally, Linnick said, there were many first-time donors who gave at many different levels.
"The more people that have a stake in how things go...the better we are," said Linnick.
She added that part of that was because some companies had more employees in the workplace for the first time in a few years.
"When people can take care of their own families (again) ... they remember what its like when they couldn't," Linnick said.
An anonymous donation toward the beginning of the campaign, as well as a challenge grant donated at the end of the campaign, helped push the amount toward the goal.
Jasin believes that in addition to there being moral reasons for giving, there are economic reasons as well.
"If we're taking care of the community, we're going to drive more business here," he said. "We're helping ourselves by helping the community."
Linnick added that when an employee has access to services, such as health care or child care, "then they can give 100 percent when they're on the job."
With the end of the campaign came the process of dividing the funds among the community agencies, known as allocations.
The process, which wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, is completed by community volunteers. It is something that is taken seriously by those involved, Jasin said.
"(The volunteers) know the fate of people is in their hands," said Jasin.
During allocations, agencies give presentations to the volunteers. The volunteers are divided into four different panels, one for each of four categories, which include financial stability, health, education and core emergency services.
This year, the volunteers were asked to meet with their panels prior to the first night of presentations and one last time before the final night of allocations.
"That was very beneficial," said Christy Harris, allocations chairwoman.
Harris said the extra meetings gave the volunteers time for discussion and helped the panels decide ahead of time how to best allocate the funds, especially when there aren't enough dollars to grant every agency's requests.
"A lot of times, as much as we would love to fully fund the programs, (we) don't have enough donations," said Harris.
When it came down to the last night, the panels had arguments and points in place to help explain their reasoning.
"What we found happen, when we went into the final nightwe got down to a number that was much more manageable," said Harris.
According to Linnick, this year's volunteers were able to keep the programming of various agencies "more whole" in comparison to recent years.
"I think people left much more upbeat this year," she said.
Additionally, partner agency Goodwill Industries of Wayne and Holmes Counties did not bring a request to the table this year because it had the ability to generate enough income.
"We really appreciate the agencies coming when they need it ... (and) managing when they don't," said Linnick.
Reporter Amanda Gallagher can be reached at 330-287-1635 or email@example.com.


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(Thanks to Peter T. Chattaway for noting this so quickly.)A movie that gives audiences the opportunity to watch human beings tortured, decapitated, having their throats cut, their heads smashed in, parts of their body chopped up and thrown in a furnace, shot point blank, their eyes dangling from their sockets and eventually cut (to relieve the pain), poked full of holes with a drill, having digits snipped off, throwing themselves in front of trains, having their chest cavities opened for … [Read more...]
Hostel takeover: "Horror pornography" tops the box office, defeats Aslan
January 8, 2006 by
Specials: Wong at Cannes. Vote against Pedro. Chattaway's Top 10. "New World" cut. "Pan's Labyrinth." "Horror porn." "Scanner Darkly." "Fateless."
January 4, 2006 by
Wednesday's specals:President of this year's Cannes Film Festival jury... Wong Kar-wai! Fantastic. This should make for some very interesting choices. Can't wait to see who else is on the jury. (Thanks, Opus, for the link.)No more Pedro the Lion. Please welcome... David Bazan! It was bound to happen. Bazan's dropped the band name, officially declared himself a solo artist.Peter Chattaway and Roy Anker post contrary top ten lists at Books and Culture I like titles on both lists. I … [Read more...]


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Nicki Minaj Dresses as Lil Wayne in Birdman's 'Y.U. Mad' Video
Nicki Minaj recently flew down to Miami to appear in Cash Money boss Birdman's video for 'Y.U. Mad,' which also features Lil Wayne, and is the lead single from Birdman's forthcoming fifth album, 'Bigga Than Life,' which drops on Nov. 21.
Rocking a Lil Wayne costume, replete with long blonde dreads, a wifebeater, camo pants and an iced-out chain and watch, the Young Money diva let Birdman and Weezy do all the talking regarding the Gil Green-helmed visual, which was shot on Friday (Oct. 14). The 'Pink Friday' creator was content with merely standing by, arms crossed and attempted to keep a straight face, despite Wayne's antics.
"Nicki gave me that song," Baby explained. "She called me one day like, 'Stunna, I got a record for you I think you would like.' I jumped on it, and put my son on it. I liked it from the start. Working with Nicki is just special anyway, and it was something she gave me, and I felt good about it, so we rocked with it."
While Baby praised his artist for her loyalty, Lil Wayne took a far less serious approach as he playfully described the "female Weezy's" intentions."
"Honestly though, I don't think no one is actually mad. It's just a figure of speech," Weezy deadpanned. "I think Nick just sounded good saying 'mad' at that point in the song. I don't think it would've been cooler if she said, 'That's why you glad.' I think that's why she went with 'mad,' we have to ask her next time I see her … we don't want you guys to be mad. That's what it is."
Watch 'Y.U. Mad' Behind the Scenes
Watch Birdman & Lil Wayne's 'Stuntin' Like My Daddy'


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If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, you can return your order to the warehouse for a full refund (Bottles must be unopened, in the state you received them, and in the original packaging). We believe that in order to have the best possible online shopping experience, our customers should not have to pay for domestic return shipping. So if you're not happy with your purchase, just contact us right away and we will provide you with details for returning the unopened bottles - your domestic shipping costs are prepaid by us.
With the WineChateau.com 365 day return policy, there are no special catches or exceptions. All we ask is that you send the items back to us in the original packaging, unopened, and in the same condition you received them.
Have questions? Prefer to order by Phone? The Wine Chateau Customer Loyalty Team (WCCLT) is happy to help!
Call WCCLT Monday - Friday 10am - 7pm EST:
1-888-423-8079 or
Email Wine Chateau Customer Loyalty Team
This wine is from United States, California region. Surrender to the enticing fresh berry flavors and heady peach aromas! This carefree, uncomplicated red wine brings together all the refinement of Merlot, the sensual spirit of Zinfandel and the lovely floral notes of Moscato in a most delightful and unexpected way. Our rich blend of premium California wine is crafted in an easy-drinking style with a luscious mouth feel and natural residual grape sweetness that delivers a velvety smooth finish. Voluptuous and smooth, this is the kind of everyday wine that goes well with just about everything.. Try our softer-styled red served chilled as an aperitif or with grilled meats, delicately-spiced Asian cuisine, and light cheeses. NON-VARIETAL RED BLEND Wine
Try our softer-styled red served chilled as an apéritif or with grilled meats, delicately–spiced Asian cuisine, and light cheeses.
Tasting Notes
Try our softer-styled red served chilled as an apéritif or with grilled meats, delicately–spiced Asian cuisine, and light cheeses.


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As a political Independent, I don't have a party horse in any political race. I don't vote for Democrats or Republicans. I don't vote for men or women, liberals or conservatives. Neither do I vote for blacks, browns, reds, whites or yellows nor for Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims or those who have not yet learned enough to believe in God.
I vote for those candidates I think will support policies that will allow my children and grandchildren to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities this country has always offered its citizens. I want them to be free to worship, or not, as they please, to be able to speak their minds without fear of censure or prosecution, and to have the opportunity to work for what they want. I also want them to learn to accept responsibility for their choices, good or bad, and to face the consequences, good or bad, that are the results of those choices.
When I see opinions like the two in The Advocate on Nov. 9, I have to wonder who we as a nation have become. One said, "GOP must offer more to minorities" and the other asking, "Who will protect young generations." These, in my opinion, describe one of the major problems we face as a nation. The concept of "the greater good of the taxpaying citizen" has either been lost or has been pushed so far back it is no longer relevant. A nation cannot be successfully governed when the focus is on hundreds or thousands of special interests as opposed to the best interests of the country as a whole.
In generations past we were taught to work for what we wanted, to face life as it came, and to do whatever was necessary at the time. I don't remember as a child, a young adult, an adult or now as a senior on Social Security and Medicare worrying about being protected or asking for more. I was told decades ago that if things got really bad I could always strap on a tin bill and peck "stuff" with the chickens. I still can, and will if necessary.
If these two opinions really reflect the new normal in the country, I am afraid "the greatest generation" really is behind us, and that makes me sad for my children and grandchildren.
Bo Bienvenu
retired businessman


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Ideas From Readers
Submit your story about how you've taught with The Times.
This idea comes from a high school teacher in Ann Arbor, Mich.
If you've used The Times for teaching and learning and would like to see your idea in our blog, write in and tell us what you've done.
Teacher: Julee Boland
Institution: Washtenaw Technical Middle College, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Grade Level of Students: High school
Idea: Students first read an objective description of the controversy surrounding New York City's teen pregnancy prevention campaign and viewed and discussed the posters that are part of the campaign. They then read two editorials with opposing viewpoints on the subject. Students then composed a RAFT in which they took on the perspective of one of the writers, and responded to the other.
Why We Chose It: We admire lessons that ask students to work deeply via a variety of perspectives on a topic that is relevant to them. That this Reader Idea also uses New York Times Op-Eds and a series of posters for which teens are the intended audience is a bonus.


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|Nano Simulation Course
|Submitting Dean
|G. K. Haritos
|Submitting College
|Engineering -- Gara Alderman x5536
|Departments Generating the Proposal
|Objection Deadline
|March 16, 2005
|Proposal Status
|Final Approval Granted
|Proposal Last Updated
|April 08, 2005 by PR Yvonne Brooks
|Effective Date
|Fall 2005
|Brief Summary of Proposal
|A course in nanoscale and molecular scale simulation is added (4400:666 Simulation of Nanoscale and Molecular-Scale Systems). FACULTY CONTACT: Iqbal Husain
|Type of Proposal
|Program changes
|Graduate School Endorsement Status
|Graduate School Endorsement Updated
|February 28, 2005 by GS Heather Blake
|Institutional Research Status
|IR Status Updated
|February 04, 2005 by IR Dolores Bezilla
|Library Status
|Library Status Updated
|February 03, 2005 by UL Jo Ann Calzonetti
|Distance Learning Review Committee Status
|Not required
|DLRC Status Updated
|Resource Requirements
|No additional resources
|Resource Requirements Updated
|January 05, 2005 by EN dean's ofc Gara Alderman
CPS Menu


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OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project
- 2313-2612 (online)
- 2313-2604 (print)
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/23132612
Addressing base erosion and profit shifting is a key priority of governments around the globe. In 2013, OECD and G20 countries, working together on an equal footing, adopted a 15-point Action Plan to address BEPS. Beyond securing revenues by realigning taxation with economic activities and value creation, the OECD/G20 BEPS Project aims to create a single set of consensus-based international tax rules to address BEPS, and hence to protect tax bases while offering increased certainty and predictability to taxpayers. A key focus of this work is to eliminate double non-taxation. However in doing so, new rules should not result in double taxation, unwarranted compliance burdens or restrictions to legitimate cross-border activity.
Developing a Multilateral Instrument to Modify Bilateral Tax Treaties
- Author(s):
- 16 Sep 2014
- Pages:
- 64
- 9789264219250 (PDF) ;9789264219243(print)
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264219250-en
This report identifies the issues arising from the development of a multilateral instrument that modifies bilateral tax treaties. Without a mechanism for swift implementation, changes to model tax conventions only widen the gap between the content of these models and the content of actual tax treaties. Developing such a mechanism is necessary not only to tackle base erosion and profit shifting, but also to ensure the sustainability of the consensual framework to eliminate double taxation. This is an innovative approach with no exact precedent in the tax world, but precedents for modifying bilateral treaties with a multilateral instrument exist in various other areas of public international law. Drawing on the knowledge of experts in public international law and taxation, the Report concludes that a multilateral instrument is desirable and feasible, and that negotiations for such an instrument should be convened quickly.
- Neutralising the Effects of Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements
- Preventing the Granting of Treaty Benefits in Inappropriate Circumstances
- Guidance on Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting
- Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting
- Countering Harmful Tax Practices More Effectively, Taking into Account Transparency and Substance
- Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy
- Guidance on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles
- Addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting
Table of Contents
Executive summary
1. A multilateral instrument is desirable and feasible
2. The nature of the treaty-related BEPS measures will facilitate the conclusion of a targeted multilateral instrument, which could be further expanded at a later date
3. Next steps: Scoping the International Conference
Annex A. A toolbox for a multilateral instrument for the swift implementation of BEPS measures


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Mohan, Murali and Singh, AK (1989) Calculation of transformed fraction using resistivity data: A comparison of various conductivity models. Technical Report. National Aeronautical Laboratory, Bangalore, India.Full text available as:
Restricted to Archive staff only
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Various models of-effective electrical conductivity of a two phase system have been used to calculate the kinetics data from the resistance-time (t) data recorded during the a=w transformation in titanium and fcc+bcc transformation in ytterbium. The transformed fraction, for titanium, as calculated from the different conductivity models lie within 14 percent at = 0.02, .7 percent at = 0.5 and 0.5 percent at = 0.95. The - t data for titanium satisfy Avraml equation = l-exp-( ,t/T)n in all the cases and the values of the constants, the time exponent n and the characteristic time T lie within 3.5 percent. However, for ytterbium the values differ by a factor 4 at = 0.01, a factor 1 .5 at = 0.5 and a factor 1.05 at = 0.9. The values for ytterbium.obtained from the Landauer model fit Avrami equation better than those obtained from other conductivity models. The values of n and T for ytterbium differ by factors 1.4 and 2.8 respectively. It is seen that the values obtained from different conductivity models differ appreciably as the magnitude of the resistance change at the transformation increases
|Item Type:
|Proj.Doc/Technical Report (Technical Report)
|Uncontrolled Keywords:
|Effective conductivity;Various models
|AERONAUTICS > Air Transportation and Safety
|Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division
|Depositing User:
|Poornima Narayana
|Date Deposited:
|14 Jul 2006
|Last Modified:
|24 May 2010 09:45
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Notice: On April 23, 2014, Statalist moved from an email list to a forum, based at statalist.org.
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st: Accessing failure function from sts list
"Watson, Shashi" <email@example.com>
"'email@example.com'" <email@example.com>
st: Accessing failure function from sts list
Thu, 7 Jun 2012 11:53:11 +0000
Dear Statalisters
I would like to access and store the failure function that is output from sts list. It does not appear to be an r-class nor e-class command.
For example, after I stset my survival data:
stset followup, failure(hvevent)
I can see the data I want using
sts list, failure at(2 2)
under Failure Function. I want to access the Kaplan-Meier failure function at t=2.
And a separate, related query: is it possible to output the failure function at only one time value? The help for using "at" in sts list does not mention this, hence I used at (2 2) as above but I imagine there must be a better way.
This is my first query to statalist so apologies if I'm not asking in the clearest way.
Thanks, Shashi
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/


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When Nico Libby was 10, debilitating seizures disrupted his life every day. The Libby family, living overseas at the time, then received the diagnosis: Tourette's Syndrome.
They got on the first plan back to the United States. "We knew the United States would have the best care for Nico," said Nico's father Fritz Libby. "We just wanted to come home."
Yet it wasn't so easy once the family moved to El Dorado Hills. Last year Nico still suffered anxiety attacks at Marina Village Middle School so severe his parents were called every school day for 52 straight days to help calm him down.
"It was a very stressful time," said Nico's mother Christine. "I never left the house during the day for fear the school would call."
Doctors suggested rigorous exercise five to six days a week could help ease Nico's anxiety and Tourette's syndrome, but it was hard to find the right fit. "We tried every sport there is, but it wasn't until last April we stumbled upon something that finally helped Nico start to get better," said Fritz and Christine.
Now the Libbys want others to know about El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, something they call "the hidden gem of El Dorado Hills."
Under the guidance of Eliot Kelly, El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has operated out of West Coast Martial Arts in the Business Park since 2010. Kelly, 28, who first learned Jiu-Jitsu while growing up in Japan and wrestled at UC Davis, said Jiu-Jitsu is "a grappling, self-defense martial art. There is no striking in Jiu-Jitsu, but the fighting is taken to the mat."
Nico signed up for a free 30-day trial last spring but wanted to quit after three sessions. His parents said they'd allow it if Nico told Eliot Kelly himself — that conversation changed everything.
"I'd still like you to come for the rest of the 30 days and watch class; you don't have to take part," Kelly told Nico at the time. "You (Nico) looked me in the eye when you signed up for the trial and you shook my hand. Honoring your commitment is part of being a man."
Used to others letting him off the hook because of his challenges, Kelly's words started to help Nico get stronger mentally and helped raise his self-esteem. From that day forward he has become one of Kelly's best students, and the school hasn't called his parents once so far this year.
Nico has learned to master his moods under the guidance of Kelly and has also grown stronger from taking on the responsibility of helping others, a major tenet of Jiu-Jitsu, said his parents. This, in turn, has helped with the physical symptoms of Tourette's and anxiety. His parents said they believe the transformation they've seen in Nico is nothing short of a miracle.
"JiuJitsu is a lifestyle approach," said Kelly. "We focus on the whole person."
At the end of every class Kelly spends a few minutes talking about issues beyond the mat. Sometimes it's bullying, other times it's a charity opportunity in which he'd like his students participate.
It takes six to 10 years to go from beginner to earning a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
And what has Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu meant to Nico thus far? The 12-year-old sums it up in one sentence: "It's made me a better person."
For more information about El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu call (916) 595-4064 or visit edhbjj.com.


text: Home > How To > Roofing > Aluminum Roofing Roofing Q&A Aluminum Roofing By Todd Miller Login or Register to download the PDF version of this article. (201.51 kB) Q. How common is aluminum standing-seam roofing? It seems that this profile would be better suited for heat-related expansion and contraction than corrugated aluminum panels fastened through their face, but my local suppliers carry only steel standing seam.A. Todd Miller, president of Classic Metal Roofing Systems in Piqua, Ohio, responds: Aluminum is a perfectly viable material for standing seam, though probably 85 percent of metal standing-seam roofing is produced from either galvanized steel (which has a protective metallic coating that is primarily zinc) or galvalume (which has a protective... Login or Register to continue reading


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Building Dark Bamboo Accents on the Windows
Every time I walk up the hangar stairs and into our future loft home, I lose my breath. It's not from hiking the stairs, mind you. It's opening the door and seeing this:
Do you like it? Maybe you lost your breath, too? ha!
Martin and I wanted awesome windows so badly. I think it's okay to say, "Baby, we got 'em!"
It all started one year ago when we were designing the windows with a homemade CAD drawing and spray paint:
The steel beams made it extra challenging. Those guys couldn't move or be altered. This tango definitely took two very different minds. As luck would have it, Martin and I happen to be experts at thinking in totally opposite directions. It's like we're from different countries or something.
(Oh! And so you're not thrown off, the 2×4 framing on the left side of the below picture was from the preexisting pilot training room. See how it doesn't follow the slope of the hangar ceiling? Anyway, winter was coming, so we figured we'd better get window plans together and ordered before ripping down the rest of that framing. And now – sigh – winter is coming again.)
Here's where I'll add a checkmark to "Katie's good ideas" list. Or maybe it's the "things Katie gets crazy stubborn about" list.
We have three vertical red beams that jut into the house. We hid two of them in the walls: one's behind the pantry, and one's in the wall to the bedroom. Sneaky, right?
The third beam is poking out behind me in our window spray painting photo. I really (and I mean really) wanted to disguise it as a wood beam. I was channeling old German architecture I'd seen. Or maybe my grandparents' house. We have no idea, but it was big on the stubborn list.
Once we got the windows in, Martin added it to his stubborn list, too.
Fast forward to, say, a week ago, and my idea came true!
Here's my clear varnishing station. (The faux beam has my paintbrush on it.) My beam is hollow; it's like a slipcover to wrap around the wood framing we've already put around the steel red beam.
Martin had the great idea to build a few wood frames for our windowsills, too. It was love at first mention.
All of these pieces are sustainable bamboo. We built them downstairs in the hangar.
This one is waiting for his turn with the sander while his glue dries.
Our floors are also sustainable bamboo. We wanted a matching wood grain and rich brown color around our windows. You can't see it so much in my little photographs, but matching wood makes all the difference in person.
I did all the staining in the hangar. I'm very pleased with the eco product I found. It cost about $25 + $8 shipping, which isn't cheap for such a small can compared to conventional products. But I've used it for all the trim in the house as well as these projects today, and I still have half a can. Off-gassing from traditional stains and varnishes is, in my opinion, the nastiest.
In case you're lost like Moby Dick, here's the ol' rundown of our bamboo sheets:
- chillin' at the eco store
- banged up on accident; marked down
- snagged by Katie and Martin
- hauled home on a trailer
- built into window sills and a beam slip cover
- sanded til' the sun went down (using this technique)
- stained in the hangar
- varnished in the house (natural light is my bff so the glossy finish is consistent in the room where the wood's going to live)
Want to see the final product one more time? Come on back up…
We've still got 2 1/2 weeks left in the month. Cross your fingers. We want to move in!
And you'll visit, yeah?


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Excelerate Consulting is a boutique management consulting firm focused on delivering value, ROI, and sustainable results for your company's business and technology projects. From planning and managing projects, to ensuring their adoption and optimizing performance, our goal is to improve your organization with program and project implementations that realize long term results.
We have expertise in utility and regulatory environments, as well as, public sector, retail, financial, and automotive industries. With our commitment to excellence, we have helped transform Supply Management, Supplier Diversity, Operations and IT organizations.
Planning is essential preparation to guide your business. To maximize your resources and reach your goals. It is important to know what to do, but also what not to do. Your plan is your road-map. It provides a common focus for you and your ogranization to better manage dealing with distractions and stay on track. We will help you create a process that produces plans with specific and measurable actions.
Regardless of company size, organizing your people and processes around your plan increases execution success. Do your processes and policies support your objectives? Do the people in your organization understand your business vision and know how their performance ties to your bottom line? We can help you develop processes that promote greater accountability and direction.
A disciplined approach in implementing your plans help move them to action. By monitoring and measuring your performance, you can determine what is and is not working and make the necessary adjustments. Are your processes repeatable to support growth? Having standard processes promote understanding and consistency throughout your business. We will help you pinpoint your opportunities for implementation improvement and strengthen them for better execution.
At Excelerate Consulting, we draw on our consulting expertise, as well
We strive for excellence in not just what we do, but
Your time, personnel and financial resources are valuable. Selecting the right
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