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COLUMBUS -- The Republican state auditor is demanding access to financial documents, Democratic lawmakers are demanding more public scrutiny of the nonprofit JobsOhio, one Republican leader is chastising both of the former, and Gov. John Kasich is calling the whole thing a misunderstanding over a complicated issue.
Such was the status Thursday in a growing controversy over the private office that coordinates the state's economic development programming, the millions of dollars in public funding it has received and the lack of public information on the nonprofit's spending and donors.
"Sometimes you read things and it appears one way," the governor told reporters Thursday. "It's really just a little disagreement about how we should proceed. The simple fact of the matter is I favor all public money being able to be audited by our state auditor, plain and simple. ... But you don't want to go in and audit the private books of private industry by the auditor. That's beyond his authority."
The brouhaha focuses on JobsOhio, the nonprofit created by Kasich and lawmakers two years ago to reach out to existing companies and firms thinking about expanding into Ohio, negotiating economic incentive packages and helping to commercialize research and technologies developed at the state's universities.
Most of JobsOhio's dealings are conducted outside of the public spotlight, a setup supporters say is needed during business negotiations. However, the nonprofit is required to publish an annual report disclosing its completed deals.
According to that report, which was released this month, JobsOhio worked with 277 companies that committed to creating 20,979 jobs and retaining another 54,633 in 2012, with $5.8 billion in new capital investment.
But documents also indicated the nonprofit has received more than $5 million in public funding, and a number of employees received six-figure salaries.
Yost issued a subpoena seeking financial statements, "bank statements for ALL accounts," lists of JobsOhio contributors and other documents.
The subpoena requires JobsOhio representatives to appear at the auditor's office at noon on March 19 to turn over the documents and provide additional testimony.
"The governor and I have the same goal: To make sure JobsOhio's money is working for the people of Ohio -- creating jobs and growing this economy for our families," Yost said in a released statement. "It's important to look at the total picture. The private bond proceeds trace directly back to the public money."
Development Services Agency Director Christiane Schmenk sent a letter to Yost earlier this week seeking "agreed-upon procedures" for auditing public grants provided to Jobs Ohio.
And Laura Jones, a spokeswoman for JobsOhio, indicated the office would provide information on public funding.
"We welcome the auditor's review of the funds DSA provided to JobsOhio and looking forward to working with him in those efforts," she said in a released statement.
Both Kasich and Batchelder said they fully expect an accounting of the public funds used by JobsOhio.
"We think that the auditor should audit all public money that's involved in anything, whether it's JobsOhio, whether it's a company that gets a tax incentive," Kasich said. "... We're in full agreement that when it comes to the use of public dollars, the auditor ought to be able to look at all of it, and we welcome him to do that."
But both also said the state auditor and others do not have authority to demand public review of private financials.
Kasich said such requirements would be "disruptive" and "unworkable" for private businesses and nonprofits.
"I'm waiting for him to try to get into Chrysler Motors or Fiat, whatever they call it now," Batchelder said. "We bought a lot of cars this year. Where'd that money go? What's going on over there?"
He added, "It's very distressing to those of us who have a really strong feeling about the necessary success of (JobsOhio). ... Our problem here is that you have somebody who for whatever reason wants to try to intervene into this."
State Rep. and Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern called JobsOhio "Gov. Kasich's reelection slush fund" and criticized the nonprofit for being "shrouded in secrecy."
"... We still don't know what corporate interests or campaign donors fund JobsOhio," Redfern said, adding later, "... $4.3 million has been appropriated from (the Development Services Agency, formerly the Ohio Department of Development) into JobsOhio and no one over the course of the last couple of days has told you where any of those dollars were spent."
Rep. John Carney, a Democrat from Columbus, said he planned to introduce legislation requiring public audits of JobsOhio's books. Comparable legislative attempts last session were unsuccessful.
"Unfortunately, our legislature, led by the Republicans, abdicated their responsibility and authority over the spending of those dollars and gave a blank check to JobsOhio ...," Carney said. "The taxpayers giving a $100 million blank check to an entity that is afraid to come forward to explain how they spend 5 million of your dollars has to make taxpayers wonder why would the legislature give that sort of broad authority to this entity."
Marc Kovac is the Dix Capital Bureau Chief. Email him at email@example.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.


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Click on the image to enlarge
I saw that film, as did millions and millions others, and felt thoroughly disgusted by the "experiments" these folks did with the tiger sharks.
Here we have the Discovery Channel with their hugely popular Shark Week. Over the years, the quality of these features, presented as entertaining and at the same time 'educational' documentaries, has been going down alarmingly. So much so that a group of dedicated shark conservationists decided to approach the Discovery Channel executives toward the middle of 2007 with a view to induce them to stop portraying sharks in the best of "Jaws" tradition.
Preceding the meeting with some top people of the Discovery Channel in April 2008 was a petition directed to them - the message was crystal clear. Click here to read it.
The impression the shark delegation had after the meeting was that, yes, the Discovery Channel would endeavor to give the sharks more of the credit they so much deserve now that the general public is slowly beginning to realize that many species are being hunted down to the brink of extinction.
Unfortunately, the 2008 Shark Week features were already 'boxed', so everybody was hoping to see an improvement in this year's Shark Week.
While we have no idea what will be shown in 2009, we can expect that it will be pretty much more of the same. One of the titles will be "Deadly Waters" - what else is new?....
The production company in question has only one goal in mind: Shoot something as catchy as possible, never mind the accuracy of the "documentary", never mind the truthfulness of the message on which they base their "experiments". This company will do almost anything to show the sharks in the worst possible light because they know, the sharper the teeth, the juicier the deal they will get.
What is really deplorable other than wilfully misleading the public, perhaps as many as many as 100 million TV viewers around the globe (!!), is the fact that it is they who attack the sharks without any mercy thus thwarting the conservationists' relentless efforts to de-demonize the sharks.
By vilifying the sharks these irresponsible producers implicitly perpetuate the old saying: Only a dead shark is a good shark, whereas we, the ludicrous "green nuts", are desperately trying to spread the message that all sharks are good, especially the ones that are still alive...
These producers, and others like them, not the majority, are definitely the bad guys; they are the real enemies of the sharks.
So, what about the Discovery Channel? Are they also the bad guys? I wouldn't go as far as that judging them - but they are certainly not the good guys they could be.
If they were, they would not buy "documentaries" without closely scrutinizing them in a professional manner. But maybe they don't know better. Well, could that really be?? Hard to imagine...
What the Discovery marketing pros have to do is to keep the attention level of their viewers high because of the advertising business they depend on (it's all about ratings, ratings, ratings), hence the hype they are convinced is needed without really giving the negative aspects of distorted information much thought.
That, I believe, is the crux: How to find the right balance between suspenseful entertainment without falling in the trap of cheap sensationalism, and imparting solid, enlightening facts which in my view do not have to be dry at all if presented in an engaging way, both artisitically and technically.
Two suggestions come to my mind:
First: As a test, the Discovery Channel should show one feature of sharks focusing exclusively on their beauty, their paramount importance as apex predators, and the imminent peril of extinction many species are facing mainly due to the ever growing appetite of the Chinese and other Asians for their fins.
A "Sharkwater" type of documentary without the irritating ego element that devalued the otherwise praiseworthy movie. No attacks, no blood, no gaping jaws - just the serene world of sharks to gauge the reception by the viewers.
I simply refuse to believe a priori that blood draws more attention than beauty. It is an assumption that would need to be corroborated.
Second: The Discovery Channel should intensify the dialogue with knowledgeable shark people, and involve them in an ad hoc advisory committee for the specific purpose of screening the Shark Week features offered to them by independent film and TV production companies.
If we want to make - and see - a difference, all of us in the shark world - writers, film producers, photographers, shark dive operators, media pros, researchers, aficionados - have the responsibility and the moral imperative to respect the sharks, depict them how they really are, and be as little invasive as possible when entering their realm, be it for recreational or scientific reasons.
One last thought -
It is perfectly OK to make good money with sharks while furthering their cause; it is not OK at all to make money exploiting them in any way.

subset: commoncrawl


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• Lady Gaga Twitpic-ed her album cover (right) for Born This Way and it's already getting flak. Apparently it's a Kylie Minogue ripoff. At least according to Entertainment Weekly. Whatever. Pop musicians rip off each other all the time.
The title song is now supposed to debut Friday instead of previous reports of Feb. 13.
• Boy George appeared on Larry Flick's The Morning Show on Sirius XM OutQ gay radio Tuesday with some big news. At least big for '80s music fans. The decade's iconic band Culture Club is slated for a reunion marking the 30th anniversary of their inception. And they are going all out with a tour and an album. I just hope they make a stop in Dallas and that Mr. George isn't so bitchy.
Listen to what he told Flick here. And after that, enjoy my favorite CC song below.


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Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 3:48 PM
Come on a cone! man i freakin love that song...especially the part where she says,"If you weren't so ugly i'd put my dick in ur face". HAHAHA HI-larious! Keep it up NIcki saty crazy...but speaking of being CRAZY ppl decide not to listen to nicki minaj cuz she IS CRAZY..what?? that makes no since what so EVA! I luv nicki minaj cuz she IS CRAZY and because she is not afraid TO WEAR SOMETHING INSANE! Not alot of celebs these days have the balls to do dat. so because of that I HAVE PROFOUND RESPECT 4 MY GURL NICKI TO THE MUTHERF****** MINAJ!
LATERZZZZ...its barbie BITCHES!


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Each month, Business Solutions reports news on business in the channel. This month in Access Control And Video Surveillance news, OnSSI partners with Code Blue to deliver a security solution, Samsung offers a new 3 MP panoramic camera, and MOBOTIX adds a new camera line.
OnSSI Partners With Code Blue To Deliver Security Solution
OnSSI, provider of Ocularis video management software, is partnering with Code Blue Corporation, creator of Help Point emergency communication devices. Bringing the two technologies together enables users to manage video surveillance images and access control data, fire alerts, and emergency communication from a single interface. When an individual presses the emergency speakerphone button on a Help Point, the call is routed to Blue Alert EMS, Code Blue's advanced event management software. That immediately triggers a notification to Ocularis, accessed by security personnel.
Samsung Offers 360˚ Panoramic 3MP Camera
Samsung Techwin introduced the SNF-7010 360˚ megapixel camera. It features a 3-megapixel, 1080p HD imaging sensor with a fisheye lens to capture omnidirectional views with up to 120dB Wide Dynamic Range (WDR). The SNF-7010's optics also dewarp images in panoramic, quad, and focus plus global viewing modes with electronic PTZ operation to provide wide-area and close-up viewing with minimal distortion. The SNF-7010 can transmit streaming video at 20fps, and it features Samsung Super Dynamic Range (SSDR), Samsung Digital Noise Reduction (SSNRIII), bidirectional audio, automatic day/night operation, tamper detection, privacy masking, SDXC memory card support, and alarm triggers for motion detection and network disconnection. The SNF-7010 is available in both indoor and outdoor versions.
MOBOTIX Adds New Camera Line
MOBOTIX has added a new line of 5-megapixel IP cameras. The D25 is a compact dome camera for indoor and outdoor use and can be equipped with vandalism protection. The M25 includes a microphone and is designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, and the Q25 produces 180-degree panorama images. All three models provide high-contrast images without motion blur, even in poorly illuminated scenes. The cameras also feature the integrated MxActivitySensor that only records video or triggers an alarm if an important event occurs, ignoring interference such as trees moving in the wind, shadows, passing clouds, or snowfall. All new camera models now feature an MxBus connection to easily integrate additional features and "decentralized" recording that takes place both internally on an SD card and externally on a USB stick or via the IP network. With the MOBOTIX App for iPhone and iPad, users can access the video remotely at any time.


text: Is there relief ahead for exorbitant credit card fees? The answer is yes. But first, there's a fight to be fought. According to NACS in Alexandria, Va., credit card payments have grown from 21% of transactions in 1995 to 49% today, with the trend expected to grow to more than 50% by next year. The


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Rogers confident going into first start since '11
TORONTO -- The Blue Jays' starting rotation continues to be in a state of flux, and right-hander Esmil Rogers will become the latest to enter the fold when he takes the mound on Wednesday night in Atlanta.
The season hasn't even reached its two-month mark, but when Rogers gets the call, he'll become the 10th starter used by Toronto this year. That's not how this season was expected to go, but it became a reality after injuries to Josh Johnson and J.A. Happ were accompanied by the prolonged struggles of left-hander Ricky Romero.
The club's decision to move Rogers from the bullpen into the rotation caught some people off guard, including the 27-year-old from the Dominican Republic.
"I wasn't looking for the opportunity, but they gave it to me. I'll take it, and I'll try to do my best," Rogers said.
"They surprised me a little bit, but I know after getting the opportunity the last couple of games to throw three innings, I think they saw I can start, and they gave me the opportunity to start now."
Rogers came up through the Minor Leagues as a starter, but hasn't taken on that role in the big leagues since 2011. He's made 22 career starts at that level and is just 6-6 with a 6.24 ERA while striking out 85 in 114 innings.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Rogers' spot in the rotation isn't expected to be a long-term solution, but the club is searching for temporary fill-ins until Johnson returns from a right triceps injury.
The decision to go with Rogers came after rookie left-hander Sean Nolin was unable to pitch his way out of the second inning when he started on Friday. Rogers has thrown three innings in each of his past two relief appearances, and he should be stretched out enough to possibly throw five on Wednesday.
Rogers threw a bullpen session on Sunday in preparation for his first start, and he made a few changes which will hopefully make his transition a little bit easier.
"As a reliever, I just used three pitches, but as a starter, I'll have to use my changeup," said Rogers, who has a 4.56 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. "The last couple of days, I tried to use my changeup a little bit more and throw from my windup.
"Everything is good. My confidence is there, so we'll see how it goes in the game."
Gregor Chisholm is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, North of the Border, and follow him on Twitter @gregorMLB. Evan Peaslee is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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FOR many of us the idea of rigging masts and manning the helm in freezing conditions might not be our idea of a holiday.
But for one Hampshire woman it's her idea of bliss.
Former Peter Symonds student, Rachael Sprot, might not look it but she's sailed with the best of them and now she's set to take on the world.
Growing up in the small land-locked village of Owslebury wouldn't seem like the best place to learn about sailing but for the fanatical Rachael and her sailing journalist mother, Miranda, it was just a stone's throw from the Hamble where they would spend many a summer setting sail.
But now the 27-year-old ex-Kings' School pupil has decided to venture a little further than her mum's cottage on Main Road and has started her own sailing business to take people on unexplored paths.
Rachael's new-found love for exploration began while working as a full time sailor couriering engineers to and from wind turbine sites in Denmark, Germany and the North Sea. She'd get up every day at 5.30am to prep the 80ft jet powered catamaran before making way for the engineers.
"I was living on the Isle of Wight at the time as a full-time sailing instructor and wanted to put my sailing skills into the commercial world so I could see a different side to the industry and decided to see it all for myself," she said.
"My favourite place was Anholt, an island off the coast of Denmark. It's a very serene place and it's relatively unseen in terms of visitors and I think it really opened my eyes to what the area offered."
"I think the idea behind wind turbines has a lot of potential and a lot of the technology will be useful but it's all yet to prove itself," she added. "It will be interesting to see if the turbine blades last as long as they're meant to. The set up of these is costly but we have yet to anything back from the investment so I don't think people can claim that the notion isn't fruitful. You have to wait for things like this before you start to see the benefits but whether it proves itself to be as efficient as is claimed I just don't know."
After having sailed around the Nordic isles for some six months Rachael quit her job in June and set up Rubicon 3 with business partner Bruce Jacobs. Mr Jacobs had been working in America and the Caribbean working on "super yachts" before that – yachts that measure over 100ft in length and are worth over £1m a piece.
She went ahead and bought Hummingbird, a 60ft ex-Clipper racing boat, in August.
"The owner of Clipper, Robin Knox-Johnston, had eight identical boats made in 1996 for a round-the-world race," she said. "We have one of their first boats and she's been around the world three times.
"We want to explore areas of the world people don't normally explore by boat; places like St Petersburg all the way to the Arctic Circle. We want to adapt the idea of a modern adventure and give people a chance to develop any sailing skills they already have and also give them a chance to see parts of the world that perhaps otherwise they wouldn't. There are cruises that visit some of these places but they don't offer the depth of exploration that you can only get by actually sailing.
"We'll be training people along the way," she added. "And there's no experience required so some people will be getting their qualifications with it and others will simply be coming along for a holiday.
"It's about making a change; sailing, training and exploration. We don't just sail to places; we train people so they go away with some skills and have adventures of their own.


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Keep track of your observations on your Moon Journal print-out, or draw your own moon circles by tracing a quarter each day. In the circle, sketch the shape of the moon as you observe it.
For each observation, record the date, time, and—if you know it—the direction. If weather conditions keep you from observing the moon, make note of that, too.
Did you know the moon's shape doesn't actually change? It's always round. What changes is how much of it we can see.
The side of the moon that faces the sun is brightly lit. The other side is unlit. We can see the sunlit part easily, but the unlit part is very faint, it if shows up at all.
Why does this happen? It's because the moon travels around the Earth in an orbit. Check out this orbiting moon diagram. When the moon is between the Earth and the sun, the bright side is facing away from us and the moon looks totally dark. This is called a new moon. But when the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun, the whole sunlit side faces us and the moon looks full. All the other shapes appear in between those positions, as the new moon grows to full and then turns back to new once again.
These changing shapes are called phases of the moon. It takes 29.5 days (about a month) for the moon to orbit Earth. That's why the moon cycles through all its phases in a month's time.
A lunar month is the time between phases of the moon (ie., from one full moon to the next full moon). Based on your observations, how many days long is a lunar month? What do you notice about the time and direction you recorded in your first and last observations?
The moon follows the same approximate path across the sky as the sun but it may rise very early or very late, depending upon its current phase. Remember, too, that during the "new moon" phase, there will be no visible moon in the sky.
Find out when the moon rises and sets in your area and other fun lunar info by visiting the moon page of the Old Farmers Almanac.
You can check out your work with this calendar of this month's moon phases.


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Grateful Dead's Shakedown Street and Blues for Allah Get Deluxe 180-Gram Pure Virgin Vinyl Treatment
In a move sure to delight audiophiles and collectors of classic pop music albums, the Audio Fidelity label will reissue of two classic Grateful Dead albums on 180-gram pure virgin vinyl, in limited numbered edition gatefold packages on June 7th, according to label president Marshall Blonstein.The band's 1975 BLUES FOR ALLAH and 1978's SHAKEDOWN STREET will be available from both online and brick-and-mortar retail outlets as the latest offerings in Audio Fidelity's continuing program of audiophile reissues.
Audio Fidelity, which Blonstein founded in 2002 after leaving the pioneering DCC Compact Classics label that he started in 1986, has become synonymous with high-quality album reissues geared toward the audiophile market. Since 2009, Audio Fidelity has reissued some of the best-known and most significant pop and rock titles in both 24Karat Gold CD and 180-gram virgin vinyl editions.Continuing the policy Blonstein established at DCC, all Audio Fidelity titles are produced from original sources and feature the original artwork. Among the imprint's growing catalog are key recordings by Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, Rod Stewart, the Doors, Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
The two Grateful Dead reissues occupy special places in the fabled San Francisco band's history. BLUES FOR ALLAH, originally released in September of 1975, was the third of only four albums issued on the group's Grateful Dead Records imprint. While the LP's best remembered cuts, "Franklin's Tower" and "The Music Never Stopped," remained in the band's concert set list for some 20 years, the title track-the first part of an ambitious suite-was performed only a few times in 1975 before being retired from the band's repertoire. BLUES FOR ALLAH reached No. 12 on Billboard's album chart; from the LP, "The Music Never Stopped" was the Dead's highest charting single since "Uncle John's Band."
First issued in November 1978 on Arista Records, SHAKEDOWN STREET was the Dead's tenth album, its eighth to go Gold. Produced by Little Feat founder Lowell George, it was an eclectic collection that featured updated versions of venerable live Dead favorites ("Good Lovin,'" "All New Minglewood Blues") and also introduced songs that would become staples of the band's concerts for years to come, most notably "I Need a Miracle" and "Fire on the Mountain." The lighthearted SHAKEDOWN STREET cover illustration was done by renowned underground-comics artist Gilbert Shelton, famous for The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Wonder Wart-hog strips. The album remained on the Billboard chart for close to six months, peaking at No. 41.
The Grateful Dead vinyl reissues represent Audio Fidelity's expanded vinyl release schedule, which has recently included titles such as Cheap Trick's IN COLOR, Laura Nyro's FIRST SONGS, Harry Nilsson's A LITTLE TOUCH OF SCHMILSSON IN THE NIGHT and Kate Bush's HOUNDS OF LOVE. While the label often issues a title in both Gold-CD and virgin-vinyl formats, Blonstein admits some of the impetus for producing the latter comes from the renewed interest in vinyl LP's. According to the R.I.A.A., vinyl sales surged 26% in 2010 over the previous year.
Blonstein is bullish on the public's appetite for audiophile reissues of classic albums, and Audio Fidelity's capacity to satisfy it. "The traditional music retail stores as we once knew them are gone," he continues. "At the same time, there's a strong traditional 'unique' retail base of retailers that has found a way to do more than survive; they're thriving. When CDs first came out, they were unique. It was a new format. Vinyl and cassettes starting declining rapidly in sales. The uniqueness and the improved sound quality made the CD an almost instant success, but it lacked the emotional connection consumers experienced with vinyl. The resurgence of vinyl shows us that connection is being made again ... the consumer likes to hold a vinyl LP, to study the artwork. It's now become a very hip format again, and when you see consumers shopping for vinyl at stores, you see them spending more time looking to buy music in general. It's obvious that there is an audience for top-quality remastered CD and vinyl pressings."
Marshall Blonstein's professional career comprises a virtual history of the modern music and entertainment business. The Los Angeles native started in the business in 1965 as a promotion executive at Epic and ABC Records. As a principal of Ode Records, he helped make Carole King's Tapestry one of the best-selling albums of all time and built two of the longest running cult-film franchises in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke. Blonstein subsequently served as president of Island Records, working with artists such as Bob Marley and Steve Winwood, and, in 1986, founded DCC Compact Classics to take advantage of the technical advances offered in the digital medium. DCC quickly grew into the premiere audiophile imprint, issuing sets by Elvis Presley, the Eagles, the Doors, Frank Sinatra and many others.
Upon leaving DCC in 2002, Blonstein created Audio Fidelity, which has assumed a similarly prestigious perch among imprints serving the audiophile and music-collecting communities. In addition to its audiophile catalog, Audio Fidelity, based in Camarillo, California, also releases compilation CDs, a variety of reissues and DVDs, such as Soupy Sales, Elvis Presley, Tim Allen and Hugh Hefner's legendary series Playboy After Dark.
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Movie Details
November 2, 2012 | 2h 19m
Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Tamara Tunie, Nadine Velazquez, James Badge Dale, Garcelle Beauvais, Melissa Leo, Peter Gerety, Justin Martin, Carter Cabassa, Adam Ciesielski, Conor O'Neill, Charlie E Schmidt Jr., Will Sherrod, Boni Yanagisawa, Adam Tomei, Dane Davenport, John Crow, E Roger Mitchell, Ravi Kapoor, Jill Jane Clements, Susie Spear, Philip Pavel, Piers Morgan, Tom Nowicki, Jason Benjamin, Ric Reitz, Timothy Adams, Ron Caldwell, Dylan Kussman, Bethany Anne Lind, Sharon Blackwood, Rhoda Griffis, Michael Beasley, Steve Coulter, Ted Huckabee, Sarah Clark, Randy Thom, Hal Williams, Kwesi Boakye
Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke, Cherylanne Martin, Heather Smith
In this action-packed mystery thriller, Academy Award winner, Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot, who miraculously crash lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane?
- Denzel Washington Nominee for the 2012 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
- Denzel Washington Nominee for the 2013 Academy Award for Actor In a Leading Role
- Denzel Washington Nominee for the 2013 Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor
- Denzel Washington Nominee for the 2013 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
- John Gatins Nominee for the 2013 Academy Award for Writing (Original Screenplay)
- John Gatins Nominee for the 2013 Critics' Choice Award for Best Original Screenplay
- John Gatins Nominee for the 2013 Writers Guild of America Award for Original Screenplay
- John Goodman Winner for the 2013 National Board of Review Award for Spotlight Award
PhotosView All (23)
More on FlightCheck Out The Blog
WATCH: Director Robert Zemeckis on Denzel and returning to live-action


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Photo Gallery: Christmas Country Home
A classic home in rural Quebec gets a festive touch.
Greet guests with a warm and welcoming front hall.
Two substantial lamps sit on either side of a hefty mirror, making a grand first impression upon entering the house. A pint-size artificial tree is a playful decorative touch for the holidays that doesn't require too much upkeep.
Play with scale to give the illusion of a larger space.
A master of symmetry, designer Rollande Vachon kept this living room casual yet elegant. Two large armoires flank the couch, which Rollande had reupholstered in a beige linen. A pair of eye-catching lamps create interesting silhouettes in front of the window. For a touch of holiday charm, Rollande chose a smaller Christmas tree for a festive, yet understated look.
See more of this Christmas Country Home in our photo gallery.
Add height in unexpected places.
This very high mantle has an imposing, theatrical quality that adds dimension to the room. The casual holiday decor is a great example of less-is-more.
Add drama with statement floor-to-ceiling drapes.
The imposing window treatment adds a sense of height to the room and frames the outdoor view beautifully. A stunning carved chandelier and shapely chairs offer classic style.
Glass cupboard doors create a pretty display and add sparkle.
An oversized centre island makes a perfect working surface, as well as a gathering space for family and entertaining during the holidays. The white subway tile backsplash and modern light fixtures give this room youthful kick, too.
An upholstered bench makes good use of minimal space.
A simple banquette makes for comfortable seating in this small dining nook, and turns into a perfectly-sized dessert table for Christmas. The burnt-oak, x-back wood chairs add rustic flair and mimic the finish on the heavy-framed mirror.
Add a warm glow to your stairs.
Tealight holders placed on the edge of the stair's treads draw attention to the staircase and the subtle festive decoration made of olive branches. A cosy throw and bench are a welcoming touch for those coming in from the cold.
A perfect writing desk for hours spent penning Christmas cards.
The desk's classic profile pairs nicely with the chair's contemporary bistro look. A handsome chrome task lamp adds sparkle to the neutral space. Bookends and frames continue the home's symmetrical trend.
Don't forget to decorate the bathroom; guests will appreciate the festive touch.
A cushioned wicker chair is a cosy addition to this master bathroom. The warm wood floor, ornate mirror and lantern candle holder grant this room country charm, while the bright white paint and unadorned windows update the look.
For more contemporary country spaces, visit our Photo Gallery: Farmhouse Style.


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Advice: 'I have been seeing a married woman for 15 years'
Updated 12:48 pm, Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Dear Carolyn:
I have been seeing a married woman for 15 years. She was my childhood sweetheart and we never really got over each other. I know I need to break away, but whenever I try I get pulled back in (I know, I know).
She doesn't know if she can ever leave her marriage. I know she wants to, I have no doubt. I just don't think she has the strength to. The marriage is not good, but she has adult children that I feel will never accept me and she is afraid they will reject her if she ends her marriage.
She is "content" with our relationship the way it is, but I want more. I have woken up alone for 15 years, don't vacation, don't do the things a "normal" relationship would include. I just read a letter I wrote her nine years ago explaining I need more, and it could have been written yesterday. I feel like my life is passing me by.
I know in my heart it will never work out, but it is hard to imagine my life differently. Help! Is counseling something I should consider?
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-- Tell Me I Am Stupid for Wanting Only One Person for 40 Years
Yes, counseling, but skip the "consider" stage and just go.
I'm not going to call you stupid, though. I actually think you've been quite ... well, I won't say smart, but effective at getting what you want. For whatever reason, you want to be the loving-only-one-person-for-40-years guy. You get something out of the pining, even.
Why do I say that? Because otherwise you wouldn't put up with it. People are unique little snowflakes and all that, but we're all quite consistent on finding ways to do exactly what we want. (See, "she wants to" leave her marriage, above. Ahem.)
Again -- I don't know what emotional vacancy this vigil of yours fills; I just see the consistency and certainty of your choices.
Try framing this not as an unrequited-love story, but instead a misapplication-of-free-will story. The mind is so powerful that if you don't enlist it as your ally, and don't turn it to something that it has the power to achieve, then you're royally stewed. Changing other people's choices isn't in your mind's power, right? And yet it's trained on that. You have the stasis to prove it.
Please break the spell by recognizing the reason you haven't been able to "imagine my life differently": You haven't actually wanted to.
Changing what you want is wrenching, but possible. Ask people who have broken out of ruts of all kinds -- generally you'll find one of three catalysts at work. One is necessity, where someone dumps you or dies or fires you, or you become seriously ill, or life otherwise cuts stasis off your list of choices. Another is the surprise appearance of a healthy alternative. A course-changing opportunity can end a 15-year drama inside of a week.
The third is achieving a state of self-loathing -- or just abject boredom with your own stalled self -- that inspires you to tear the list into little bits and just DO something.
You're on the doorstep, I suspect, perhaps wishfully, of No. 3. Go see if counseling can heave you over the threshold at last.


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Seattle Fire Department Harold Scoggins, Fire Chief
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|Home > Public Education > Home Safety > Escape Ladders
What to Look For
Fire escape ladders provide a second means of escape from second and third floor rooms. One of the most important features of a home fire escape ladder is the presence of standoffs. These are protrusions which help steady the ladder and allow room for a secure toehold. The more standoffs on a ladder the better.
Home escape ladders come in two standard lengths - 15 feet and 25 feet. The shorter length is adequate for most two-story bedrooms, while the longer is used for three story rooms. Check the load limit, ladders should be rated for at least 1,000 pounds.
Where to Get Them
How to Use Them
Read the manufacturer's instructions before you use the ladder. After purchasing a ladder, make sure that it fits the specific window for which its intended. If the ladder is for a child's room, have the child practice putting the ladder out the window. Then have them practice climbing out from a ground floor window. Do this as part of a family fire drill.


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Review: AKG 272 HD headphones - retro look, modern sound
During his tenure as a Crutchfield staff writer, Marshall Chase wrote about home theater receivers, sound bars, and in-wall and in-ceiling speakers.
More from Marshall Chase
Heads up!Welcome to this article from the Crutchfield archives. Have fun reading it, but be aware that the information may be outdated and links may be broken.
My personal history with headphones goes back to the time when I worked at my college radio station (WBSU at SUNY Brockport). I think the term "cans" was an accurate description for the headphones of that era. Headphones weighed about as much as a big can of beans and the padding looked as if it had been cut from the seat cushions of my '65 Dodge Coronet. Having said all this, the AKG 272 HD headphones may have the look of those old style headphones, but that's where the comparison ends.
Plenty of comfortable living space
The 272s are light and easy to wear. Their padding is a delight. Not only do they breath well, but they do a decent job of blocking out the sound of editors calling out deadlines and cell phones ringing with dental appointment reminders. I like the over-the-ear style of the 272s but as a fellow who wears glasses, I'm especially sensitive to the tension of ear-cups and headbands. Some headphones literally put the squeeze on me to the point where I can't wait to take them off.
The 272s provide a feeling more akin to a pair of slippers that I can't wait to wear when I get home from work. These headphones also have an aesthetic that harkens back to my college days. Now, in some circles, headphones may be a modern fashion statement, but the real rebels among us don't mind a little "sticky-buns-over- the-ear" style. This is, after all, how I looked when I queued up album tracks from the latest Talking Heads record.
Burning down the house
Since I mentioned the Talking Heads, it just made sense to take a listen to them with the 272s. There's lots of action on Burning Down the House, beginning with acoustic guitar. Great detail from the 272s, down to the click of the pick on the strings. The percussion makes an entrance with some tom-tom hits, rolling back and forth, through a slack snare and bass drum. These were clearly identifiable beats with the depth you'd expect from each part of the kit. The acoustic guitar stayed clean throughout, even with the electronic instruments calling in the background. David Byrne's lead vocals were live and energetic, and the overall effect of the headphones was spacious. This is a very different experience from the headphones of olden times, though back then, sound fidelity was not high up on my list of priorities.
Going to the Dawgs
David Grisman affectionately calls his unique style "Dawg-music". This amazing confluence of bluegrass, folk and jazz made for a fantastic acoustic test of the 272s. With fiddles, acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, and mandolin all at full-steam, Minor Swing connects and sends the ball screaming. There isn't a single note lost in this organized mayhem of heavy-hitting musicians, including one of the composers, jazz violin maestro, Stéphane Grappelli. Honestly, it's hard to keep up with these guys but with the clarity and realism presented by these headphones, it was sure fun to try. You could almost hear them sweat.
Singer, Songwriter Punctuation
My daughter kindly drags me kicking and screaming into the new millennium with artists like Sara Bareilles, a singer, songwriter, and pianist with multiple Grammy nominations. Who knew? I listened to Bareilles 2009 nominated tune, Love Song, which makes the karaoke top ten at my house. There is a passion and energy to Sara's singing and piano playing, with no detectable separation of the two, as if voice and piano were a single instrument. I listened to the recording through the 272s and all of this verve came through nicely. I felt as though I were in a great little acoustic venue with a cup of strong java and a hubcap sized cookie in front of me. I would have stood to applaud at the end, but it would have resulted in just more funny looks from my coworkers.
Great for daily wear
The thing I like best about the AKG 272 HD headphones is that they have the fit and comfort I desire and the sound quality I need to have when I'm listening to music I love. They are a very real sounding headphone. I found them just a little shy on the deep bass side of the spectrum, but this was not a big deficit. I wore them for a two-hour stretch without needing a seventh inning stretch. I could have worn them longer if I liked and listened to a lot more of my favorites with great contentment.


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Sorry I can't find a link anywhere.
I'm in the middle of watching the Cubs/Mets game on ESPN and I thought I saw it flash on the bottomline that the Colts signed QB David Greene
If I'm not mistaken he played for Georgia a few years back.
Not the biggest, nor an important signing, but I was curious if there was any truth to it?


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A motorist accused of leading police on a chase and then lying to officers about his car being stolen is to face trial by jury.
Matthew Rogers pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice when he appeared at Swindon Crown Court on Friday.
The 23-year-old is said to have been behind the wheel of a Ford Focus when it was driven away from officers in Canal Road, Trowbridge on Sunday, August 4 last year.
The vehicle was then allegedly driven dangerously on Shails Lane, Wicker Hill, Hill Street, Hammond Way, and the B3106 Holt road before being dumped in Broughton Gifford.
He is then alleged to have falsely reported the vehicle as stolen when he contacted the police the following day.
Rogers, of Downs View, Bradford on Avon, admitted a charge of possessing cannabis. The case was adjourned to Tuesday, August 12, and he was released on unconditional bail until then.


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Topic: Possibly Operable After Six Months of Chemo Treatment...
Last week my mother had her six month PET scan and has just finished her cycle of Gemzar. My mother's oncologist has just placed her on Xeloda as my mother's platelets have been low the past few chemotherapy treatments.
Initially when my mother was diagnosed we were told that a resection was not an option as the cancer had spread to three lymph nodes. Based on the reports from the PET scan last week the interpretation of report is:
Mild interval decrease in activity and extent of right liver lobe disease. However, significant metabolically active disease is still present in the liver.
Interval resolution of FDG-avid left internal mammary and porta-hepatic adenopathy
Mild residual activity in small left supraclavicular, left peri-coeliac and right retrocrural lymph nodes are equivocal for post-therapy inflammation versus residual low-volume metabolically active nodal disease.
Has anyone had experiences where surgery has become an option with the same or similar results as my mothers (understanding that each and every CC case if different). My mother's oncologist still saying that surgery is not an option.
Regards, Kylie


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azithromycin (generic name)
Zithromax Z-Pak (brand name)
It is used to treat or prevent certain kinds of bacterial infections
(az ith roe MYE sin)
Table of Contents
Top Learning Centers(Recursos en Español)
What is this medicine?AZITHROMYCIN (az ith roe MYE sin) is a macrolide antibiotic. It is used to treat or prevent certain kinds of bacterial infections. It will not work for colds, flu, or other viral infections.
What should I tell my health care provider before I take this medicine?They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
How should I use this medicine?Take this medicine by mouth. Follow the directions on the prescription label. Take this medicine on an empty stomach, 1 hour before or 2 hours after meals. Drink your full dose at once. Do not split the dose. If you vomit within 1 hour of taking the dose, let your health care provider know immediately, you may need more medicine.
Talk to your pediatrician regarding the use of this medicine in children. Special care may be needed.
What if I miss a dose?This does not apply because you will take all of the medicine as 1 dose.
What may interact with this medicine?Do not take this medicine with any of the following medications:
This medicine may also interact with the following medications:
What should I watch for while using this medicine?Tell your doctor or health care professional if your symptoms do not improve.
Do not treat diarrhea with over the counter products. Contact your doctor if you have diarrhea that lasts more than 2 days or if it is severe and watery.
This medicine can make you more sensitive to the sun. Keep out of the sun. If you cannot avoid being in the sun, wear protective clothing and use sunscreen. Do not use sun lamps or tanning beds/booths.
What side effects may I notice from receiving this medicine?Side effects that you should report to your doctor or health care professional as soon as possible:
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your doctor or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
Where should I keep my medicine?Keep out of reach of children.
Store at room temperature between 15 and 30 degrees C (59 and 86 degrees F). Keep the bottle closed tightly until ready to use. Use within 12 hours.
Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medication only for the indication prescribed.


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Beijing -- Starbucks Coffee Co. advanced its growth plans in China with the opening of its 100th store in Beijing. The company also announced the launch of Starbucks China University, its talent development program.
Starbucks has announced that China will be its second largest market by 2014 and will have 1,500 stores by 2015 across more than 70 cities. It currently operates 700 locations throughout Mainland China."
The Beijing store is staffed by Starbucks "Coffee Masters," baristas who have completed a rigorous certification process and have earned the right to wear the distinguished Black Apron after intensive coffee skills and knowledge training, the company said.
Starbucks China University will also offer training curriculums that encompass a broad range of areas and functions of the Starbucks China business, including coffee knowledge and culture training, and provide tailor-designed curriculums on retail and related functional training as well as leadership competency.


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Southern Arizona law enforcement officials say the desert's cold nighttime temperatures can be just as dangerous as scorching summer days for illegal immigrants.
U.S. Border Patrol agents say a group of 27 men, women and children was found last month in the mountains south of Sierra Vista.
They say about half of the group was taken to a hospital for treatment of possible exposure.
Border agents say dehydration is a leading cause of distressed people and deaths due to excess layers of clothing, rugged terrain and the false assumption that less water is needed during cold weather.
The Arizona Daily Star says many immigrants try to cross the desert during the winter holidays because they believe there's going to be reduced immigration enforcement.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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LOS ANGELES — The city of Los Angeles has reached a $4.2 million settlement on injury claims by two women who were injured when police mistakenly opened fire on them during the manhunt for disgruntled ex-cop Christopher Dorner.
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich announced the sum to KNBC-TV Los Angeles and an attorney representing the women has confirmed the amount to The Associated Press.
The settlement means they cannot pursue any future injury claims against the city.
The agreement is in addition to a $40,000 settlement reached earlier for the loss of the women's pickup truck.
Margie Carranza and her 71-year-old mother, Emma Hernandez, were delivering papers around 5 a.m. Feb. 7 when LAPD officers blasted at least 100 rounds at their pickup. Hernandez was shot in the back and Carranza had minor injuries.


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|September 13, 2008, 12:08 AM
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Join Date: July 24, 2008
Location: NC
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Shotgun in the wrong hands
Tonight I was at a friends apartment complex. It is a college complex, very nice and not the place I would expect to see what I saw tonight. We were just inside watching TV when I heard a lot of yelling outside. I went out onto the front porch with my friends to see what was going on. The porch is on the second floor (you have to go up the stairs to get the the front door and porch landing). There were about 10 guys on each side of the porch yelling and taunting each other in the parking lot in front of us. A fight was obviously about to happen. Pretty much as soon as I stepped outside 2 guys ran at each other and started going at it. They were brawling as the rest of the crowd yelled at each other looking like it was about to turn into a full on street brawl. The two main guys fighting actually ended up between 2 cars swinging furiously (one of the cars just happened to be mine). As they bounced off the cars beating the crap out of each other I saw another guy about 3 cars away emerge with a 12 gauge pistol grip shotgun. He immediatly fired 2 shots into the air. Before he even got the second shot off I had already gotten my cell phone out and was back inside the apartment dialing 911. The dispatcher said that they had already gotten a couple calls about the fight and I told her that they needed to get the cops out there immediatly because shots had been fired. I went back outside to see what was going on. The police were there in about 2 minutes. For some reason none of the thugs had left and they were all pretty much still there when the police arrived. Guns were drawn and people were patted down. The cops ended up staying and trying to sort things out for about an hour or so. My friends and I were on the porch watching the whole process when one of the cops emerged from an apartment a few doors down with the shotgun. I never saw anyone get arrested. during the whole process. The only thing I can figure is that they never really knew who it was that shot the thing. The cops talked to everyone who witnessed it and no one seemed to know exactly who it was that shot. Everyone pretty much ran inside as soon as they saw the gun. I never got a good look at him either.
If I had to witness it over again I would have taken a good look at exactly what the guy looked like before calling the cops. After a while the cops finally found the gun and I saw them take it out of an apartment that the guy ran into but I never saw anyone get arrested. I just bugs me that someone could do something so stupid and dangerous and not get arrested and I think that if some of us would have been thinking more clearly we could have ID'd the guy.
So basically the moral of the story is that these things happen so fast. Take 3 seconds and get a look at the perp. so that they don't get away with putting dozens of lives in danger just because their friends won't rat them out and no one else got a look at them.
|September 13, 2008, 01:26 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: July 7, 2006
Location: Reno, NV.
Posts: 1,026
Good story, good moral and good reaction on your part
Rock out with your Glock out!
|September 15, 2008, 01:42 PM
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Join Date: January 25, 2006
Location: Oak Harbor, WA
Posts: 1,719
And yes, things do happen incredibly fast. I was in an electronic simulator trainer - where they play videos of scenarios and you have laser guns to shoot back. I discovered very quickly that there was not even enough time to bring the gun up from the low ready, aim and shoot. After that, I learned as soon as the situations start getting ugly to come up to full ready, aim and be ready to shoot.
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Philadelphia Orchestra caters to the under 10 set
The Philadelphia Orchestra got a look at their future patrons over the weekend, when hundreds of parents brought their children to the Kimmel Center to see the Fabulous Philadelphians for the first time.
"Derek, my son, has been practicing his Christmas songs. He was very excited. He thought it would be a very fancy day in the city," said Sarah Hughes of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, calling out to her rambunctious 4-year old. "Did you wear a nice sweater? No sweat pants today!"
The holiday Family Concert, a programming tradition going back several generations, is a kid-friendly matinee where singing along, getting up from your seat, and making random noises is part of the occasion.
Romanian conductor Cristian Macelaru led the orchestra through a holiday song from his homeland (Strauss' "Eljen a Magyar"), from France (Bizet's "Farandole"), and excerpts from "The Nutcracker" completed by dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet. Macelru was coaxed off the podium by Santa Claus (using a teddy bear as a lure) so the Jolly Old Elf could give his own swinging spin to "Sleighride."
"Twas the Night Before Christmas" was read by Charlotte Blake Alston, with backup by the Orchestra, and the concert was wrapped up with a few sing-along carols.
"I love the family concert. I went to them as a kid," said Barbara Hoyer of Swarthmore, Pa., who brought her 7-year old son and 5-year old daughter to the show. "We used to ride buses from King of Prussia down the expressway. I remember driving past the rocks with all the ice on them."
Back then, the Orchestra performed at the Academy of Music. "It was incredible," said Hoyer. "The Academy was so ornate, with beautiful lights. I still remember it."
There was no ice display along the expressway on Saturday, as the weather was flirting with 60 degrees, and the Kimmel Center was not outfitted with lights or garlands. Many young patrons arrived with the own holiday finery. Girls wearing red-and-green plaid dresses over white or red leggings were not uncommon. Caroline Blakesley, 5, added silver shoes to the festive ensemble. "Those silver shoes go everywhere with us," said her mother, Lauryn. "They're her favorite."
"I liked it when they were dancing a the end, when the princess came a danced," said Caroline, who had the opportunity to meet the Pennsylvania Ballet dancers in the lobby after the show.
The Family Concerts are marketed as appropriate for children as young as 6, but many kids were much younger than that. Jeanette Bezinque brought her 17-month old daughter and strapped her 3-month old daughter to her chest during the concert. "For a toddler, it was a challenge. She was up, down, up, down," said Bizinque, who grew up playing the violin. "But she was engaged. It's a matter of balancing her energy."
For many, it was a day in the city, to hear the Orchestra, see the lights at Macy's, and get lunch downtown. "Classical music is such an important part of their cultural experience, Said Hoyer. "They need to have it in their head and heart. I need to show them what world-class musicians are like."
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text: Politics 24 January 2008 Peace remains a dream The BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen explains that without a miracle, political reconciliation Sign up for our weekly email * Ehud Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier, former prime minister and current defence minister says he will not allow Palestinians in Gaza to have lives that are "pleasant or comfortable" while Israeli towns are being hit by rockets. Life in Gaza has not been pleasant, or comfortable, for a long time. It is an unfolding horror show, brutalised by years of occupation and, more recently, by vicious competition between the two factions, Hamas and Fatah. Sanctions are squeezing Gaza's people to the edge of their endurance: 80 per cent of Gaza's population is fed by United Nations agencies; 90 per cent of all businesses in Gaza have collapsed. The suffering in Sderot, the Israeli town closest to Gaza, is less extreme, but it is still real. Rocket attacks make life miserable and dangerous. One Israeli survey says that 74 per cent of children aged between seven and 12 in Sderot suffer from anxiety. The task now for Palestinians and Israelis should be about making things better, instead of even worse. As the weeks go by, the serious structural weaknesses in the peace process inaugurated by the Americans in Annapolis at the end of last year are becoming more obvious. One of the biggest is that it does not directly address the grave crisis in Gaza, except by keeping up the pressure on Hamas. President Bush explained in Ramallah recently that Gaza's problems would be solved if a much better life could be created for Palestinians on the West Bank. The idea is that Gazans will want what West Bankers have, and that Hamas will have to get with the programme or collapse under the weight of its contradictions, as did the German Democratic Republic. If you start from the position, as Israel and the Palestinians of Fatah do, that Hamas is an illegitimate organisation that needs to go, it might not be a bad strategy - if it were workable. But there may not be enough time to see if it is. Developing the West Bank is a long term process, dependent first and foremost on Israel relaxing the complex system of barriers, checkpoints and permits that put severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians. So far, that isn't happening. At the conference in Paris just before Christmas that pledged more than $7bn to the Palestinians, Tony Blair showed that he has been a fast learner since becoming Middle East envoy for the Quartet of the US, UN, Russia and the European Union. He said that Palestinians would find it hard to believe in the process unless the gap could be narrowed between the optimistic language used by international delegates and the reality of daily life in the territories. So far, the gap is as wide as ever, and negotiations that President Bush says should settle, by the end of the year, the most politically toxic issues in the Middle East - the futures of Jerusalem, of Palestinian refugees and the route of a border between Israel and a Palestinian state - have barely started. In the background looms the prospect of a big Israeli offensive in Gaza. If a Palestinian rocket were to kill a substantial number of Israeli civilians it would most likely happen. The last big push, in 2006, killed hundreds of Palestinians but did not stop the rocket fire. Recent, lower-level military operations and the closure of Gaza's borders have not stopped the rocket fire either, though they have been a partial answer to political pressure on the Israeli government to take the pressure off Sderot. But the embargo is creating a feeling of solidarity in Gaza rather than a desire to overthrow Hamas. This week, Lynn Pascoe, the UN secretary general's representative, told the Security Council in New York that the embargo has also stopped international building projects that should be creating jobs and building homes, including ones that would be lived in by people whose houses were destroyed by Israel Defence Forces operations. Pascoe also complained that the embargo even prevented UNRWA, the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, from bringing in bulletproof windows to protect its Gaza offices. So here is the conundrum. Israel has a policy, in the words of the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, "of pressuring the civilian population of Gaza for the unacceptable actions of militants. Collective penalties are prohibited under international law." Hamas has shown no inclination to stop firing rockets. It has proposed a truce, but Israelis ask why they should trust an organisation whose charter calls for their state's destruction. In the long term, the only way forward is political reconciliation between Israel and a reunited bloc of Palestinians. Barring a miracle, that does not look likely. So, the secretary general among others has suggested, why not take the pressure off Palestinian civilians by opening the borders? President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have offered to arrange supervision of the crossings. It might even make Palestinians less sceptical about how the outside world can help. The prospect of any agreement seems remote if you stand in a furious, seething crowd of the kind that gathers around a burning car, or a wrecked building, after Israeli missiles kill Palestinians in Gaza. And peace must feel as fanciful a notion in a bomb shelter in Sderot. But, longer term, life will become steadily more unpleasant and uncomfortable for both Palestinians and Israelis unless their leaders, and their allies abroad, find a way to nudge them closer to some kind of deal. Jeremy Bowen is the BBC Middle East editor Subscribe from just £1 per issue This article first appeared in the 28 January 2008 issue of the New Statesman, Merchant adventurer More


text: "THE LION IN WINTER": First Presbyterian Theater presents this play set in 1183. An aging and conniving King Henry II plans to name his successor. He summons his wife, Queen Eleanor; his young mistress, Princess Alais; his three sons, all of whom desire the throne; and the crafty young French King Philip (also Alais' brother). With the fate of the empire at stake, the family members engage in their own brand of deception and treachery to stake their claims on the future. This comedy of corruption stars the real-life spouses Bob Haluska and Kate Black as the king and queen. The preview show is at 7:30 p.m., with performances continuing at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $10 for the preview performance and $18-$24 for regular performances. The theater is at 300 W. Wayne St.DISCOVER THE DINOSAURS: This hands-on exhibit features more than 60 museum-quality and animatronic dinosaurs, some of which you can control with the push of a button — moving their heads, arms and tails. Static dinosaur displays are anatomically proportioned to reflect paleontologists' findings. Some are close enough to touch. The display features a walk-through exhibit of dinosaur scenes with special lighting, sound effects, animatronics and fog. It is open noon-9 p.m. at Memorial Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Ave., and continues 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday. Cost: $16 adults, $11 children 2-11 and ages 65 and older. Children under 2 are free. Admission includes entrance to the dinosaur exhibit, Dino Dig, Dino Den, Dino Theater, Dino Coloring Station and Scavenger Hunt. Other attractions, such as triceratops and T-rex rides, inflatables, gem and fossil panning, mini golf, and dino face painting require separate tickets that are purchased within the event.BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE: That makes it a perfect day to explore a county park: Fox Island, which is southwest, or Matea Park, which is northeast. Walk the trails (be sure to dress warmly) or check the website at www.allencountyparks.org/ parks/cross-country-ski- to see whether conditions allow cross-country skiing, which requires more than 4 inches of accumulated snow. Both parks rent cross-country skies for $6 an hour for adults and $5 per hour for children. Limited sizes are available, especially at Metea County Park. They stop renting around 4 p.m. each day. Metea also has a sledding hill open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. every day if there's enough snow. By the way, if you're hiking, please stay off the trails designated for skiing. Fox Island is at 7324 Yohne Road, and Matea Park is at 8401 Union Chapel Road.TOBOGGAN RUN: Why not wrap up the weekend with a quick trip to Pokagon State Park, about an hour north on Interstate 69, for a day of tobogganing? You can reach speeds of 35-40 mph on the quarter-mile toboggan track. With a 30-foot tower and all of the dips and valleys, the total vertical drop is 90 feet. It takes about 20 to 30 seconds from the time you are launched to the time your toboggan slides to a stop. Then you get back in line and do it all over again. The toboggan run will be open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. The cost is $12 to rent a toboggan per hour, with a maximum of four people per toboggan. You must use the park's toboggans. Park entry fee is $5 for in-state vehicles, $7 for out-of-state vehicles. Cash, checks and Visa/MasterCard are accepted.


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And it's horrible. I've never uninstalled something so quick
Apple also released updates to there Remote app for ios devices. Stay away as the new version of the App caused both of my ATV's to get stuck in a reboot loop. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with my ATV's being jailbroken, but the update renders the app and the ATV'suseless.
I like it too. Good to see some change.
The only thing that saved me: View -> Show Sidebar
Still NO Queue feature?!?
Jailbreak safe???????
Holy crap this is slow! Before anyone asks, I have a rather highend PC. While my music files are stored on a traditional hard drive, my applications and windows are stored on a SSD. That also means my iTunes library files (ie "iTunes Library.itl") are also run off this SSD. Everything should be lightning (see what I did there?) fast, but it's not! I have a huge library (60,000+) and searching for a track literally goes one letter at a time. For example, if I'm searching for Bjork it does this: B... (1 second) ... J... (1 second) ... O... I think you get the idea. I realize that Match is limited to 25,000 non-iTunes tracks, but some of us music hoarders have large libraries and that's why we use iTunes. Heck, I started using iTunes when the second generation iPod came out and didn't own a single Apple product for the next two years. I just like iTunes' organization and now it's whacked! Additionally I can only use the column browser in a few categories and that has always been my go to item. Worse still it no longer saves your place in a search if you jump to another playlist then back again.


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Longtime pro skateboarder Adrian Lopez founded Loser Machine in 2009 with the vision of creating a clothing line inspired by skateboarding, motorcycles, and old cars. In the few years since, this California-based brand has steadily grown in influence, delivering fashionable and functional tees, sweatshirts, pants, buttondowns, hats, and more, known for incorporating dark and edgy design work. During his long stint as a sponsored skater, Lopez made sure he was always extensively involved with the creation of his signature shoe. As he transitioned over to his own brand, he drew upon these experiences to help set a standard of quality that Loser Machine strives to surpass with each collection. Loser Machine has quickly become a go-to brand for skate fashion, and is well positioned to continue to grow in the future.
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As One Cigar Aficionado Discovered, U.S.customs is playing hardball with smugglers of Cuban cigars
It was Bill's second trip to Cuba. The first was just a quick stopover the previous year, but that was enough to launch an obsession. Bill went home and read voraciously--literature, history, everything. This time he was back for 10 magical days of diving, fishing and boating in unspoiled blue waters, among other adventures. (As a condition of the U. S. Customs Service granting Cigar Aficionado an interview with Bill, certain details have been altered and his name has been changed.)
What Bill liked most about Cuba was that it was stuck in the 1960s. Clothes, cars and calendars are frozen at the height of the Cold War, when Fidel Castro and Jack Kennedy faced off over the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro's actions in the early '60s had prompted Kennedy to slap an embargo on Cuba. Together with the criminal penalties of the Trading with the Enemy Act, the embargo prohibits even the most minute business transactions with Cubans and makes an unsanctioned visit to the island or importing a Cuban cigar tantamount to sedition.
But prohibition is often counterproductive. Illegal moonshine poisoned casual drinkers and helped enrich bootleggers, while the war on drugs helped arm the inner city and made marijuana America's fastest growing cash crop. Likewise, the Cuba embargo has provided an opportunity for smugglers to become the exclusive U.S. importers of the world's most popular cigars. Moreover, Cuban cigar factories can't grow or roll tobacco fast enough to fill chronic back orders, while demand in Europe, Canada and Asia should account for future crops into perpetuity. So whether or not an American ever smokes another Cuban cigar will have minimal impact on the fiscal condition of the Cuban government.
"Can the Cuban economy survive without the United States?," asks William LeoGrande, professor of government at American University. "I think the answer is yes. If you look at use of economic sanctions around the world, they are only effective when almost everybody applies them. In the Cuban case we're the only ones applying them."
"We're not striking at the heart and muscle of the Cuban economy by going after cigars," he adds. "The cigar industry is much less important than sugar or tourism. They're just picking on a product that's sort of emblematic of Cuba."
In early 1996, however, the extreme fringe of the Cuban immigrant community was concerned that the White House was on the verge of overturning the 35-year embargo and that Castro was becoming a little too closely associated with the sweet smell of success. So the exiles made their move. In private planes, the exile organization "Brothers to the Rescue" conducted repeated overflights into Cuban airspace. When Cuban diplomatic overtures failed to stop the incursions, Castro's military advisers prevailed and shot the planes off the Havana skyline. After the kamikaze mission, President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act.
The State Department says Helms-Burton was intended to expand the "government's ability to impose civil penalties against U.S. citizens who violate the U.S. embargo," and related laws. Asked what human rights or democratization aims would be met by enforcing these penalties, however, the National Security Counsel could not come up with any. A spokesman for Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms had nothing to add. Those opposed to the act claim that seeking favor with Cuban-American fund-raisers and swing voters in Miami can be the only reason for such strong, bipartisan support.
But Helms-Burton did not concern Bill either way. His time in Cuba was precious. He concentrated only on affixing his soul to the Cuban countryside. Although he couldn't carry the waves, the mountains or the people back home with him in his suitcase, he could easily bring back cigars. Cuban cigars that smelled like the tobacco huts. And no unreasoned law was going to get in the way of that. So he made a habit of stocking up on his favorites every trip.
He took home only as many cigars as he could give away or smoke. Customs doesn't suggest that his imports were for anything other than personal use. He knew he'd have to forfeit his prized smokes if he was nailed at the border, but personal-use smugglers are merely entered into the Treasury Department's TECS database (Treasury Enforcement Communications System). Bill had already brought back two or three boxes of Habanos three times now, always coming and going through a third country. Customs never checked.
He was lucky, but not exceptional. In general, it's hard to get caught if you stay cool.
"We develop somewhat of a sixth sense," says George Burns, a Customs inspector at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. "You see something a person exhibits in conversation that isn't natural or normal. They can get nervous, like when they're stopped for a traffic ticket or dealing with an authority figure. Or when they're trying to hide something. Their perspiration and pulse rate increase with excitement. If they're lying, the rate goes up even higher. They avoid eye contact." In addition, the government sometimes uses dogs to sniff for contraband, and Customs inspectors randomly search people's luggage.
But even "if you happen to be the 'lucky' person who gets searched, you don't have to worry about that," says a Customs staff member at JFK. Unless, of course, the amount of cigars brought in exceeds what's considered by the Treasury Department to constitute importation for personal use (officials won't specify how many that is), in which case "the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control gets notified." On the books, the civil penalty for violating the embargo is a fine of no more than $55,000 per count; criminal prosecution calls for penalties of up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines, or both. Reggie Manning, a passenger service representative for Customs at JFK, explains that there's not too much inspectors can do when passengers are caught with unlabeled cigars in unmarked boxes. However, passengers showing up with, say, 10 unmarked boxes of cigars with no labels on them "may be detained for questioning, to determine possible Cuban origin," says Manning.
The majority of seizures are of labeled cigars in labeled cigar boxes, and loose ones stuffed under clothing, he says. Body cavity concealment, which is often used to smuggle narcotics, is "still too extreme for cigars," he adds. "When cigars are detected during a search, inspectors look for brand names. The country of origin of the cigar is written right on the box." If you do get caught, your name may be entered into the TECS database and you'll be subject to a physical inspection every time you cross a border into the United States.
"I can't understand why people still keep bringing these cigars into the country," says Manning. "Like they don't know. They even come back a second time, and do it again. They know what the law is, yet they don't comply."
Bill was one of those people. Long before he ever tasted a Cubano, he was already the prototypical cigar aficionado. His father had taught him the virtues of a good cigar, showing Bill how to clip the cap, how to light it, how to savor it and how to blow smoke rings. By the time he was in college, Bill was smoking on a regular basis, though mostly Garcia y Vega or Antonio y Cleopatra. "Hated the green wrappers," he recalls, "loved the dark ones."
He smoked his first premium cigar at a fraternity party freshman year, a Macanudo Portofino in the protective tube. Partly because the tube ensured a good clean smoke when he pulled one out of his golf bag, the Portofino became a favorite. On occasion he'd light up at study sessions, meetings or formal functions.
Years later he stopped in a California tobacco store and bought a box of Honduran Hoyo de Monterey Double Coronas and his first copy of Cigar Aficionado. Using the magazine as a reference, he began sampling various sizes of Dunhill, Ashton, Arturo Fuente, La Gloria Cubana and Cuba Aliados. Before long he was smoking four or five premium cigars a week.
"He is a connoisseur of cigars," says Assistant U.S. Attorney Johnny L. Griffin III. "Loved them all his life. I won't say he's addicted, but some guys love women. He loves cigars."
Back in Havana in June 1996, sitting by the pool at the Hotel Nacional, Bill met Joe Hybl, whom law enforcement officials have targeted as the chief defendant in the cigar smuggling conspiracy. "We talked about many things," Bill says. Hybl told Bill that he was there to explore business opportunities before the embargo was lifted. "We talked about cigars, and I told Joe I had some friends in the factories and offered to set him up for a tour," says Bill. Since it turned out they were both from the northern California area, they exchanged numbers and agreed to keep in touch.
A month later he rang up Hybl to shoot the breeze and to see how Hybl made out in Cuba. Hybl said he and a friend were already packing up for another run to Havana. "I went down there for a lot of reasons," says Bill. "But he was there primarily for business." Bill rated Hybl a novice when it came to discerning cigar quality. "His whole thing was price. It was pure, pure business." And it was good business. According to seized documents, Hybl's markup ranged from about 200 to 300 percent on high-priced Cohiba Esplendidos to around 800 percent on Fonseca No. 1s.
If that kind of markup makes you cringe, then Hybl's alleged sale of counterfeits at an even higher margin should convince his lawyer to keep cigar lovers off the jury. Bill says Hybl found a Havana counterfeiter who could deliver 100 boxes of cigars for about $60 to $80 per box. They were good quality fakes, fetching about $400 for a box of 25. Even after $20 per box for the fake receipts needed to get them past Cuban authorities, these profit margins are, according to Customs, higher than cocaine.
In a lengthy affidavit on Hybl's operation, Bill provided the details of what a Customs agent calls its "first big ongoing kind of conspiracy" cigar prosecution in history. One of Hybl's partners, a Mexican with U.S. citizenship named Xavier Abrego, helped get up to 100 boxes out of Cuba each trip. According to the affadavit, Hybl and Abrego packed seven or eight close friends like rented mules and put them on short flights to Mexico. Since Cuba allows individuals to leave the country with up to $1,000 worth of cigars (roughly four boxes of Cohiba Robustos or 10 of Fonsecas), carrying 10 or 12 boxes per person is stretching it. Hybl explained to Bill that he and Abrego learned how to push the Cuban limits with a few bucks to the border guards.
Bringing cigars into Mexico worked much the same way. Mexico limits the import of cigars for personal use to only one box per person. Abrego claimed that contacts with Mexican senators and other politicians helped grease the wheels.
Once on his home turf, goes the story, Abrego or an associate would drive the cigars overland to a safe house--a Roman Catholic church in Tijuana. His connection was a priest who appears to have understood the meditative qualities of a good smoke. The priest allowed Abrego to put the goods in his rectory for an undisclosed consideration. But the real key to the operation was getting the stuff across the U.S. border. Smugglers know that the heavy cross-border traffic in Tijuana makes it impossible for Customs to inspect each vehicle thoroughly. But rather than attempt risky sorties with tons of valuable cargo, Abrego arranged with a friend at a Tijuana moving company to take only two or three boxes per truck per day into California for just $20 a box. According to the affidavit, Hybl bragged he'd only lost three boxes out of a thousand.
In the fall of 1996, Hybl reportedly told Bill that his cigar business was booming and his list of customers was growing. Among them were high-end tobacconists in Las Vegas and the San Francisco Bay area, a major hotel in Vegas, a private cigar club in Beverly Hills and a fancy five-star restaurant around San Francisco. New customers were taking UPS shipments all the time. Hybl could go door-to-door to top-of-the-line places all over the West Coast, name a price, and they'd pay it. No haggling. At $20 per cigar, Customs estimates Hybl was grossing about $500,000 a year. The Cigar Association of America in Washington, D.C., says the sale of legal premium smokes in the United States reached about $700 million in 1996 and is still rising. At the same time, the prohibition of Cuban cigars has made smuggling Habanos increasingly attractive--CAA values illegal imports at $75 million to $100 million per year. Their forbidden nature, high quality and scarcity push prices to the ceiling.
Market growth doesn't appear to be slowing. Shortly after the enactment of Helms-Burton, "there was a price revolution right before my eyes," Bill says. "Prices for Churchills went from $9 to $18 [in Havana]. A Montecristo A went from $11 to $25." Bill got wind of it and stocked up, keeping his humidors full until he became a key player in the cigar bust, dubbed "Operation Smoke Ring." Smoke Ring was run out of the Sacramento office of U.S. Customs Service Special Agent Marshall Heeger. Assistant U.S. Attorney Johnny L. Griffin III from California's Eastern District is scheduled to prosecute the case later this year or early 1998.
Heeger has been a criminal investigator with Customs since 1987. He's worked on investigations of importation, production and distribution of child pornography, illegal eavesdropping equipment, narcotics and weapons, and on money laundering cases. After the Helms-Burton Act, Treasury instructed Heeger to bone up on Cuban cigar smuggling, he says, so he read back issues of Cigar Aficionado very closely. Then he started hanging around the cigar haunts of Sacramento and the Bay Area looking for someone with a steady supply of Habanos.
It may have been at one of these establishments that Heeger came into contact with one of Bill's business clients. Heeger asked the client to get Bill to buy 15 boxes of Cubanos from Hybl, and Bill obliged. Bill figured that providing the cigars would stop that particular client from continually bumming smokes from Bill's own private stock. "It was not a source of income, and I was not making a profit," says Bill. "People wanted cigars, I knew this guy who had cigars, so I said, 'OK. I'll get them to you.' "
On Nov. 24, 1996, Bill drove to Hybl's house--maybe an hour away--where Hybl kept hundreds of contraband cigars in plastic coolers, plastic bags and various rooms. Bill loaded the 15 boxes into the trunk of his car and wished Hybl well. When Bill got them home, he called the client to tell him he could get them anytime. He might as well have been signing his own search warrant.
The next day was a workday. On the drive home, Bill opened his car windows and lit up an Esplendido. It'll be a long time before he lights another. As his family was sitting down to dinner that evening, there was a knock on the door. Bill opened it to a half dozen men in street clothes and Customs raid jackets with 9mm automatics drawn. Heeger, five Customs agents and Griffin walked in.
"We effected a nonforcible entry," says Heeger. Asked about the heat, Heeger is defensive. "We don't want this to come across as the 'heavy-handed government thugs.' We treated this as a normal search warrant. You've got to take precautions. You never know what's awaiting you on the other side."
What awaited was Bill's own stash of about 20 boxes of mostly Cuban cigars, nicely arranged, and also the boxes he bought from Hybl. His private collection would not have induced Customs to carry out such a bust, says Heeger. But Bill's "involvement with Joe [Hybl] took it to new levels. Bill was not a doper," Heeger explains. Nor did he sell contraband cigars to make his living. As a result, Heeger says Customs treated him with "kid gloves."
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I am not in the camp that says another recession is coming, even though this can't be ruled out. However, I am in the "Rally making me uncomfortable because it is not supported by fundamentals" camp.
If the S&P 500 manages to have an "average" year of up 9%, it's booked most of those gains already, so the rest of the year could be quite volatile. Keep in mind that, at this time last year, the S&P was up even more than it is now, and the market basically did nothing for the balance of 2012. A pattern is being established: a strong first-quarter rally, then "Sell in May and go away for one to six months," then a year-end rally.
I won't be bullish about further gains outside of this pattern unless fundamentals -- economic statistics or earnings estimates -- start improving more strongly.
In that vein, Goldman Sachs points out that the firm's "Current Activity Indicator" is cooling off, and that upside surprises to economic data have ended. The U.S. economy may not be as "hot" as the stock market had indicated over the last couple months.
Of course, we also see that the eurozone is slipping into recession, which is not helpful for U.S. markets.
U.S. consumer demand may be set to soften, as well. One driver of consumer spending in the first quarter -- the inflow from tax refunds -- is lagging previous years due to delays in the Internal Revenue Service's ability to process returns, which is thanks to the fiscal cliff. This chart from Piper Jaffray shows the contrast from 2012.
Bulls are hanging their hats on this massive rotation into stocks. I agree that there were substantial inflows in January, but the trend appears to have tapered off. Investment Company Institute statistics show that only $638 billion went into U.S. equity funds last week, while $6 billion went into bonds and $5 billion into foreign stock funds.
Flow-of-funds watchers need to keep in mind that the massive influx of special dividends at the end of 2012 landed in brokerage accounts, and were probably responsible in large part for the reinvestment into stocks. Between the special dividends, 401(k) matches, year-end bonuses and the like, it was almost inevitable that January would have huge flow of funds. February appears to be going back to a slower "normal."
Finally, pundits are noting that retail sales look OK. I pointed out early in January that retail sales may have been distorted by people spending their gift cards they received at Christmas. Everyone I know had run around the first couple weeks after the holiday, spending them like crazy. So now the gift cards are gone, and paychecks are perhaps a few hundred dollars smaller due to the 50% payroll tax increase folks are suddenly discovering. February retail sales will be the test as to whether any January strength was real, or whether it was transitory.
Color me cautious for now. I am not a seller per se, but I am not pouring in now, and I would be a profit-taker on spikes up.


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I've often written that the reason to respect momentum is that the market tends to move in one direction much longer than most people think is reasonable. That certainly is well illustrated in this market, which has suffered yet another poor day.
Not only has the market been steadily sinking for weeks, but it has consistently closed poorly. The last close near the highs was 11 sessions ago and, prior to today, there were six straight closes in the bottom of the intraday range.
The market finally managed a little better action into the close today, and that makes me a little more optimistic that we may finally see a better bounce soon. It doesn't hurt that tomorrow is Friday, which is often a good excuse for the bears to book profits and stand aside.
Although there was a very slight late bounce, there was still an ocean of red on the screens. Apple (AAPL) continues its miserable action and there is no positive leadership. The upside action that does exist is primarily just oversold bounces. There are only 24 stocks on the new highs list today, which makes it clear that there are no pockets of momentum.
While I'm a bit more optimistic about the chances of a bounce, that doesn't mean that I'm betting that the market has seen its lows. The likelihood is that any bounce at this point will eventually fail. While we may want to try to trade it, we definitely don't want to trust it.
This is a very tiresome and tedious market. It is very easy to feel frustrated if you are trying too hard to make things happen. The market just isn't offering us much. We need to accept it and keep watching for a shift.
Have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow.