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On a High Note
Operatic supertenor Luciano Pavarotti enjoys a fine cigar.
The rain beats relentlessly and the wind howls on a nasty autumn afternoon in New York. Luciano Pavarotti, a self-described homebody, is not home. A few hours ago, he went to visit a friend in the hospital.
Pavarotti's secretary, Nicoletta, becomes concerned about his uncommonly long absence. She phones his driver. No one answers. Nicoletta summons Veronica, the opera singer's full-time masseuse, who is ensconced in the adjacent apartment. They compare agendas: both have the same cell phone number for the driver. Nicoletta redials, and again no one picks up. We are in Pavarotti's Central Park South apartment, huddled around his desk.
The desk is in a catercornered position at one end of a large, light living room with views of Central Park. A cluttered shelf behind the desk holds a small wooden humidor and plastic Groucho Marx glasses. On the wall above it hangs a photograph of Giacomo Puccini, composer of La Bohème, the first opera Pavarotti ever performed on stage, and, next to it, a portrait of Giuseppe Verdi, the composer of Rigoletto, the second opera Pavarotti did. There is also a photograph of Caruso, the original supertenor (who was the highest paid performer in the world when he died in 1921), and a small note, handwritten in Italian, which says, "With a most sincere wish for a big, big success. Affectionately, Enrico Caruso." (Caruso died 14 years before Pavarotti was born--the note was written to a former director of the Metropolitan Opera and willed to Pavarotti by the former editor of Opera News.)
In front of the desk is a black Baldwin grand piano. It is covered with snapshots of Pavarotti posing with: Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela, Gerald and Betty Ford, Bob Hope, Dr. Christiaan Barnard, Herb Breslin (his manager of 30 years) and his parents. The largest, not-yet-framed photo on the piano is a recent one of the 61-year-old singer embracing his 27-year-old secretary, Nicoletta, her head resting on his shoulder. Even though he is not here, his larger-than-life presence permeates the place.
The telephone rings, and it is Pavarotti, calling from the car. "I am underwater," he says, exaggerating slightly. "There is wind, rain, even ice water, and traffic...it is incredible. We are only five blocks from home but it may take a half hour to get there."
Ten minutes later Pavarotti enters with his personal assistant, Tino, whom he affectionately calls "Ciccio," in tow. The tenor's brow is wet, as it often is, this time either from the rain, the exertion or a combination of the two. He wears white jeans and a cotton-candy-pink shirt, unbuttoned at the top. (All of his shirts must be custom-made to fit his circa 300-pound frame.) He replaces the pink, yellow and green Hermès silk scarf wrapped around his neck with a white cotton towel, which he uses to mop his brow.
Taking his place behind the desk, Pavarotti asks Nicoletta, whose lips are tinted a shade darker than his shirt, to bring some water and a grissino (bread stick). Last night he performed Andrea Chenier on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, and tonight he is scheduled to fill a seat in the audience, for fellow tenor Placido Domingo's performance of Fedora, a lesser-known opera written by Umberto Giordano, the composer of Chenier. Due to the weather, he calls to cancel.
"Buon ora," (his own variation on "good afternoon") he says, the accent on the upbeat, to Herb Breslin. "I don't think I go out tonight--the weather is terrible. We will try another night. With better weather. I would really like to see it because I have never seen Fedora--can you believe that? Please call them and let them know. Thank you."
Bowing out seems rather painless for Pavarotti, who has been criticized for canceling many a scheduled performance (as well as interviews, photo shoots and other appearances). The performance cancellations are almost always due to feeble health or, more specifically, ailing vocal chords.
It was another tenor's cancellation (Giuseppe di Stefano's) that gave Pavarotti one of the early breaks in his career: the opportunity to fill in for di Stefano as Rodolfo in La Bohème at London's Covent Garden Royal Opera in 1963. He ended up doing almost the whole run, and the Royal Opera staff nicknamed him "Lucky."
One of the luckiest overtures made at Covent Garden was by Joan Sutherland and her husband, the conductor, Richard Bonynge. They were so taken with the tall 28-year-old tenor that they signed him immediately, two years in advance, for an Australian tour with a stop in Miami. The 1965 Miami stop was his U.S. debut. After that, he sang in San Francisco and Chicago. In the fall of 1968, he contracted a brutal case of the Hong Kong flu, and canceled out of a schedule of 10 New York performances of La Bohème halfway through the second night. Disappointed at having aborted his first New York Metropolitan Opera stint, he flew back to his home in Modena, Italy, and was sick in bed for almost three months.
In 1972, four years after the ill-fated Met debut, he dazzled the New York crowd, bringing it to its feet after his nine-high-C aria in a Met production of La Fille du Régiment. Since that night, the resounding triumphs have far outweighed the disappointments in Pavarotti's 36-year career.
"You can be disappointed by a friend, a woman, a political party, an organization. I have had all of these. But they have been few, and I have had so many other big things that I am a privileged person," the maestro says, exchanging the towel at his neck for the Hermès scarf. He covers his neck at all times, irrespective of the season, to protect his instrument.
"I know I am a privileged person," he continues. It is four days before his 61st birthday. "I have realized even more than I ever even dreamed of." Among his proudest accomplishments: the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, a competition of young opera singers he established in 1982 (he performs with the winners); a horse competition and concert he has done in Modena every year since 1990 called the Pavarotti International-CSIO San Marino; the Three Tenors concerts--he has done 14 to date and plans at least four more; the War Child foundation, which is expected to raise more than $4 million to build a children's music center in the war-torn Bosnian city of Mostar; and the concerts with pop stars such as Sting, Elton John, Liza Minelli, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton and Bono.
Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena, a small city in northern Italy, on Oct. 12, 1935. From the start, cigars and food were connected in his life. His mother, Adele, worked long hours in a Toscano cigar factory and his father, Fernando, was a baker. (Both are "sensationally alive.") They lived in a 17-family apartment building on the outskirts of Modena. His grandmother, Nonna Giulia, took care of him.
Luciano's father, a "very fine" tenor with inconquerable stage fright, loved vocal music. At home he played records of the great tenors of the era--Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli and Giovanni Martinelli. When he was five, Luciano would close the door to his room and sing "La Donna é Mobile" (the famous aria from Rigoletto) at the top of his lungs. That same year he plunked himself down in a child's chair in the courtyard of the apartment house, played a toy mandolin and sang full out for all the neighbors. They tossed candy and nuts in approval.
After that, approval was harder won, but it prevailed. He joined the Corale Rossini, the local opera chorus, of which his father was also a member. When the young Pavarotti was 19, the group went to Wales for an international choral competition and came back with first prize. Around the same time he began studying voice with Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor who lived in Modena. Pola gave the lessons gratis because he saw potential in Luciano and because the Pavarotti family didn't have the means to pay.
The aspiring tenor, svelte in those years, earned a living as an elementary school teacher (the profession his father chose for him) and then as an insurance salesman. He was so successful at selling insurance that he was offered a position managing a branch office in a nearby town. Urging him to take the job, his boss said, "As a singer you will undoubtedly die of starvation, while in insurance you will have bread for life." Pavarotti seems to have been destined for bread either way. He finally abandoned insurance because "all that speaking from my sales talks was damaging my voice. Talking can be harder on the voice than singing." He's still a good talker.
In 1961, at age 25, Pavarotti won the Achille Peri international singing competition. The prize was a chance to perform in a bona fide opera production. The date of that production was April 29, 1961, in the northern Italy city of Reggio Emilia. The opera was Puccini's La Bohème. "The best thing about winning that competition was proving to myself, more than anyone else, that I could perform an entire opera. It was not until that performance on that day in 1961 that I realized that I would really be an opera singer," he recalls 36 years later.
Rodolfo, the lovelorn Bohemian artist, has become his signature role, a favorite among the 30 he has sung. Even closer to his heart is the character of Nemorino in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. "He [Nemorino] is a peasant-poet-dreamer, a bit nearer to my own personality," says Pavarotti. "Despite the fact that I was born under the [astrological] sign of Libra [balance], I am a person who calculates little and dreams a lot. With the grandissimi advantages and the grandissimi disadvantages. But, the advantages are 90 percent and the disadvantages, 10 percent. So it's worth living as a dreamer."
If Pavarotti is not calculating, his manager certainly is. Herb Breslin was an adman before managing Pavarotti, and Michael Walsh, Time magazine's former music critic, calls Breslin's methods "a bread-and-circuses approach to art." A virtuoso breadwinner and marketer, Breslin is credited with masterminding Pavarotti's one-man shows and "arena" concerts around the world. While Pavarotti relies on Breslin's ability to calculate, many attribute the singer's longevity to the fact that he has paced his own career, selective about when to sing which roles and careful never to push his voice--renowned for a pure, open quality that presents the words with clarity-- beyond its limit. He does push the Casanova envelope. Famous for being a flirt, he was once interviewed on television by Pia Lindstrom, Ingrid Bergman's daughter. She made some reference to a critic's comment that Pavarotti's vocal chords were kissed by God. "I think He kissed you all over," Pavarotti replied without missing a beat.
Just five months after that first performance of La Bohème in 1961, he got married. It wasn't exactly unexpected--he and Adua Veroni had been engaged for eight years. Within six years they had three daughters: Lorenza (now 34), Cristina (32) and Giuliana (30). Adua, originally a school teacher from Modena, eventually started an agency for young singers called Stage Door Opera Management, with which she is no longer connected. She was involved with her husband's career until 1996, when they separated.
There had been scores of rumors over the years. Often seen with other women, the tenor had remained a family man, at least on the record. Last year when he left Adua after 35 years of marriage, it was for his secretary, Nicoletta Mantovani. Also from Modena, she is 34 years his junior. The press, particularly in Italy, has lambasted him for it. For his part, Pavarotti has said little about the issue, simply stating that he is in love. Famously protective of his privacy, Pavarotti politely dismisses the issue when I try to get him to elaborate.
In his second autobiography, Pavarotti: My World (written with William Wright, Crown 1995), Pavarotti wrote, "I love Ballo [Un Ballo in Maschera--The Masked Ball, a Verdi opera] for many reasons.... The tenor character, Riccardo, is a good man who is deeply in love with his friend's wife. I sympathize with him, not because I have ever been in love with a friend's wife, thank God, but because I know how powerful love can be and how it can make a man do things that he knows are wrong." Perhaps that is one of the disadvantages of being a dreamer.
"I care a lot about the people in my life--the ones who were my friends even before I started to sing, and have remained close all these years," says Pavarotti. "These are the friends in whom I have no doubt, whereas I might have doubts about the friends who have approached me since I've become a singer." Although he is one of the most outgoing, visible singers alive, he values his privacy. His greatest fear has always been "some-thing happening to the people that I love. And there are a lot of people that I love."
He's also loyal to Villigers, the Swiss cigars he's been smoking since he bought them on a whim at a London airport about 20 years ago. He turns to the humidor behind his desk, opens it and pulls out a Villiger. "These are my cigars--very simple. Gentle and dry, they are perfect for me, because they are just the right length and not too heavy for my delicate throat."
His cigars are the only small-scale component about the larger-than-life star. The big man has huge appetites for big audiences, big houses, big cars, big meals and big deals. He is big box-office fodder and makes big bucks.
He's been known to smoke a big Cuban cigar or two. At a New York Metropolitan Opera gala celebrating the opening of the '93-'94 season, Pavarotti sang Otello and Domingo sang Act I of Valkyrie. At the party afterwards, the renowned tenor José Carreras made a surprise appearance. In his pockets were Cohibas for all three tenors. "We had a big smoke on the Grand Tier!" exclaims Joseph Volpe, the general director of the Met, who is an aficionado of Cohiba Esplendidos and Partagas.
Pavarotti likes to smoke in the summer, during his annual August vacation at his sprawling beach house in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic Sea. "After a meal, a cigar relaxes me. And, I like the smell," he says, dragging out the word "smell" as he might sustain a high note.
The smell was what got him started, but it was from a pipe rather than a cigar. "In 1962, in the second year of my career, I had just finished performing in Budapest, where I boarded a train for Vienna. I was to sing there next. I was seated alone in a compartment. At the second stop, a well-dressed man got on and entered my compartment. He had two pieces of luggage: a large one and a small 24-hour bag. He sat down, opened the small one and asked if I'd mind if he smoked a pipe. 'Well, I am a singer,' I protested. 'I just finished singing and I'm going to Vienna to sing the day after tomorrow.' He got up to change compartments, but I asked him to stay, because there was something very charming about him. After a while he asked if I'd like to see the pipe. He opened the smaller bag and it was full of 10 or 12 different pipes. The smell was wonderful. He was going to Vienna for a pipe competition. They give you a quantity of tobacco, and the longer you can keep it lit, the better. Very, very interesting," says Pavarotti, who is fascinated with competitions and endowed with a propensity for winning them.
"The Hungarian said, 'Promise me you'll try smoking sometime.' I told him I couldn't possibly smoke because I was a singer. 'But you don't inhale a pipe,' he said. The first thing I did when I got off the train in Vienna was buy a pipe and some beautiful tobacco flavored with Cognac. I went to my hotel room and lit up. But [smoking a pipe] was a little complicated because you can't smoke at the table--it's too messy. So I thought I'd try cigars--there was less preparation and fuss. I've smoked them ever since."
While he may be consistent, he is not predictable. He tells of an episode that occurred in May 1987 while shooting a PBS special called "Pavarotti Returns To Naples." The show involved the tenor exploring various famous scenic locations in and around Naples. One scene put the big man in a small boat, rowing alone in the Bay of Naples while singing "O Sole Mio" (which he had pre-recorded). It was a key scene, meant to embody the quintessential image of Neapolitan song: the fisherman on the water making beautiful music, solo.
On the final day of shooting, Pavarotti had a bad knee. When the time came to shoot the rowboat scene, it was almost dusk and the air was "dangerously damp." With a concert scheduled the next day, he was not willing to risk getting sick and doing further damage to his knee by getting into the cramped boat. To accommodate the star, the director found a heavyset double who could do the distant shots in the Bay of Naples. He asked Pavarotti to get into the boat for one quick closeup. The singer refused, and there was a long, tense pause.
Suddenly, Pavarotti plunged into the boat, took a cigar out of his jacket pocket, lit up and told the director to dismiss the double, resolving to do the whole scene himself. "If I was going to take chances with my throat, I might as well have all my forbidden pleasures at the same time," he recalls. Another forbidden pleasure--food--was broken out at the big buffet celebration minutes after the scene was in the can.
There is no concealing the fact that eating is one of the tenor's principal pleasures. He also loves to cook. "I'm not a great cook," he maintains, with characteristic precision on the subject of greatness. Pavarotti is careful to distinguish between what is good and what is great. "Great" sopranos Mirella Freni and Joan Sutherland recall many a memorable pasta meal produced by the maestro in makeshift kitchens all over the world.
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'Barbells for Boobies' to help local woman fighting cancer
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- A Roseburg woman is in the fight of her life, and the community has rallied around her.
33-year-old Hayley Ziebart was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma in September.
Since then, she's had chemo treatments every week.
Hayley had to stop working as a music instructor in order to focus on her health, and she says finances have gotten a bit tough. "This is scary, we have bills piling up on our counter."
But, at a time when she and her family need it most, she says the community has stepped in ways she never would have imagined. "It's just overwhelming, and it's awesome," she said. "And it's just a reminder of how good people are to people, out of the good of their hearts."
A local gym has taken on Hayley's cause.
Roseburg Crossfit is hosting an event called 'Barbells for Boobies' that is taking place Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.
Participants have raised money to take part in a workout, and everything raised will go to Hayley and her family.
She says that she, her husband and her two young sons can not say 'Thank You' enough. "We are so grateful, and we feel so blessed, it's hard for me to say without tears, because we really do just feel so humbled and so blessed," she said.
For more information on how you can help Hayley, you can visit this website.

subset: commoncrawl


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Intercept Pharmaceuticals: Too Much Selling Going On
In what's turned into a bad day for biotech stocks, Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT) is among the worst performers.
Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals have dropped 8.3% to $295, lagging the 3.3% drop in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) and the 4.7% decline in the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI). Gilead Sciences (GILD) has fallen 2.1% to $72.44 and Amgen (AMGN) is off just 1.8% at $121.88.
Blame SAC's decision to drastically cut its position and a secondary offering for Intercept's decline.
Wedbush's Liana Moussatos explains the purpose of the secondary offering:
Intercept raised approximately $183.3MM in a follow-on offering of 600,000 shares at $320/share. We project runway into Q3 2016 from Q3 2015, which covers major milestones, including regulatory review and potential approval of OCA in PBC in 2015...
Reiterate OUTPERFORM rating and acquisition value of $493. Our acquisition value is calculated by applying a 30% annual discount to our net peak WW revenues for each drug/indication and applying a 1-10x multiple depending on stage of development to reflect risk. Each combination is added in a sum-of-parts to calculate an acquisition value for [Intercept Pharmaceuticals] and projected to the end of 2015 to include the time frame we see for potential acquisition.
Just expect a heck of a lot of volatility before then.


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BOOKSLots of these books feature buildings we've worked on in the past. When we go for a new job you have to have slides of buildings you've created. It's all about what experience you havemodel chairsThese were given to me by the people at Vitra, the Swiss furniture manufacturer. We designed their factory in Germany and built it in just six monthsprototypeThis is a rapid prototype of the Eden Project in Cornwall, showing its spherical geometryDESK CHAIRThis is a classic Eames office chair. I'm always amazed at how, nearly 60 years after they were designed, these chairs still dominate the boardrooms of modern workplaces. It's quite a featCASTThis is a lost-wax casting of a support that was part of the roof truss from Paddington Station in London. People sometimes forget that when you design a building, you design every single element of it, even down to things like this castingDESKIt was designed by Jan Kaplický when he was at Norman Foster's. Funnily enough, Norman was talking at the RA the other day and came into my office there to compliment me on my deskEDEN PROJECT PICTUREThis was taken before any of the landscape went in. All the trees and shrubs were grown off-site for about three years before they were planted. The big feat was making it seem like it had always been there, from day one. It's still, I believe, the biggest greenhouse in the world
With some rather epic projects under his belt, including London's Waterloo International railway station, Cornwall's Eden Project, the Southern Cross Station in Melbourne (which won the Lubetkin Prize), and a great many more yet to come, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the quiet man of British architectural design, has much to boast about. Yet, at 71, he shows no signs of bragging, or of packing away his sketching pencils. With nearly 50 years of creating some of the world's most distinctive and complex modernist designs, he is still working a busy five-day week, both as chairman of his global, East London-based practice Grimshaw Architects, and as president at the prestigious Royal Academy.
You've had such a long and brilliant career. How do you manage to come up with new ideas?
Ideas are, thankfully, still endless. I fill my sketchbooks up every few months. I've now got to number 67 and I've given them all to the Royal Academy library, some of which are being, or have been already, published.
Where did your love of construction develop from?
It goes quite deep into my family. One of my great-grandfathers built dams on the Nile, another laid the sewer system under Dublin and my father was an aircraft engineer. A lot of my mother's family were artists. People say these things aren't genetic - but there it is. I also inherited a Meccano set from my father, which was used religiously.
What was your last big project?
Frankfurt Exhibition Hall was a huge project, and one that's become quite talked about in the publishing world as the book fair is held there. We also completed a new front on Zurich airport quite recently - another mammoth task.
the details
CHAIRSWhenever Vitra make a new chair they bring out a miniature edition and send one to me at Christmas. It's become quite an extensive collection
SketchbookI'm sketching all the time. It's a dying form, of course. If I ask anybody in the office for a concept sketch they won't have one, as everybody uses a computer these days
DUBAI TOWERThis was the main model for a competition entry that was never built. It adapted the vernacular mushrabiyah screen, the "window" of timber latticework, and maximised the benefits of daylight without being subject to the sun's heat
MODELSOn the left is the Core Building from the Eden project. It opened in 2004 and is made of laminated timber, with a sculpture by Peter Randall-Page at its centre. At the back is a structural example of the Waterloo International Terminal span, and to the right is a sample façade for an energy-from-waste facility we are designing for SITA in Suffolk
ProTOTYPEThis rapid prototype of the Eden Project has been carved out completely by a computer. Before computers all these things would have to be done by hand. It's probably a bit seditious, but I do think you tend to think less if you are in front of a computer screen all the time
What do you think sets you apart from your architectural contemporaries?
Clients appreciate our belief in detail and quality. We're currently doing St Petersburg airport and although it's being built by a local architect they have kept us on there as what they call "concept guardians" in order to keep an eye on all the details as it's being built. I like that idea.
You have travelled the world extensively throughout your career; which city has particular appeal?
St Petersburg is the most extraordinary place. It's right at sea level on a collection of islands, on marshland originally. So all the buildings seem to be floating on the water. I love water, I'm a terrific fan of Venice and Amsterdam - anything to do with boats or water basically. I have a house in Norfolk with a couple of dinghies and I try to sail as much as possible. I even have a 1956 Melbourne Olympics boat. It's beautiful. I still sail it occasionally in fine weather.
You are known for being rather stylish. Does your obsession with clean lines stretch to your wardrobe?
I suppose as an architect you do take an interest. When I was at the Architectural Association (AA) in the Sixties I did live it up a bit in my silver PVC suit. Then there's that picture of me talking to Buckminster Fuller in a lovely black frock coat, kipper tie and flat-front sailor trousers. I have moved on from then, luckily.
And where are your glasses from?
During the time I was at the AA with Peter Cook, he recommended a tiny shop on Holloway Road for good glasses, and suggested I ask for a man called Tony Gross. Now of course today the brand is known as Cutler and Gross and their glasses have consequently become rather expensive but I still buy them. I think I must be their oldest customer. They were very cheap back then, made from a flat sheet of Perspex. I had my round spectacles long before bloody David Hockney!
How did your relationship with the Royal Academy come about?
It happened around 2004, during a time I was trying to restructure the office and give more responsibility to the younger partners. It felt like a nice point to step back a bit and somebody suggested I stand for president, which hadn't really occurred to me before. I wrote a manifesto and they elected me. My life changed overnight really as it's quite a responsible job. I've tried to make changes and to not just sit there, ticking over - that's not quite my style.
Has there been one building in particular you've been really proud of?
It would have to be Waterloo. So much time and effort went into it. It was five years of my life and at the time it was by far the biggest project we'd ever done. It also had such glamourous billing, being named as possibly the most exciting commission in Europe at the time. It was a huge win for us. There were serious celebrations. Oh and it was opened by the Queen.
You must have met her several times by now?
Yes about a dozen, I believe. She's awfully nice. Sharp as a needle. Last time I met her she said, "I know who you are", which is nice I suppose! I wonder how many people she says that to...?


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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Few signs of spring are being found in parts of the Midwest as a snowstorm tracks mostly along Interstate 70, bringing heavy snow and high winds.
The National Weather Service said parts of Colorado and northwest Kansas saw 10 to 15 inches of snow Saturday, and southwestern Nebraska had up to 7 inches. Winds gusting at speeds of up to 45 mph created snow drifts of 2 to 3 feet in the three states, said Ryan Husted, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Goodland, Kan.
"We have pretty much cleared out. Sunny skies. It's starting to melt a little bit," Husted said Sunday.
But points eastward weren't as lucky as the system moved on. Winter storm warnings and advisories have been issued for Sunday and Monday as far east as Pennsylvania.
The storm dumped 7 to 9 inches of snow from eastern Kansas into central Missouri before tapering off Sunday morning, Dan Hawblitzel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in suburban Kansas City, said.
College basketball fans in Kansas City had little to worry about though, as the snow didn't affect the NCAA men's tournament schedule.
"It's no distraction, unless the roof goes off, we'll still be able to play and the whole bit like that," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams, whose team plays Kansas early Sunday evening.
Snow began to fall in earnest in St. Louis and western Illinois on Sunday morning. St. Louis is forecast to see accumulations of 8 to 10 inches and Illinois 6 to 9 inches, Hawblitzel said. The storm also was brushing northern Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Forecasters predict that the storm will arrive in Indiana late Sunday afternoon and into night, dumping 6 to 10 inches of snow. The system then will move into Ohio on Sunday night, bringing between 5 to 9 inches, Hawblitzel said.
The storm is expected to weaken as it moves into Pennsylvania late Sunday and into Monday, with totals ranging from 3 to 8 inches. Before it exits off the coast of New Jersey on Monday night, the storm could leave 1 to 3 inches in southern New York and New Jersey.
"It's definitely a wide-hitting system," Hawblitzel said.
Associated Press writer David Skretta in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.


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Posted 7 years ago
(42 items)
I found this lovely and superb conditioned porcelain dog bowl at the boot sale this morning. I paid the princely sum of 50 british pence.
I have managed to do some research on the item but have not been able to completely confirm my findings. The sites I have looked at date it to around the turn of the century, I personally thought it was more 1940's. Spratts were the first commercial dog food manafacturers and one of their first employies was a MR CRUFTS who went on to form the CRUFTS dog show. If anyone has more knowledge of this item and could advise me as to the date and value I would be much appreciative.


text:
Floating RocksScience brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
As Axton and his good mate G were driving along the mighty River Murray, Axton said, "I bet you I can make a rock float on the River." G said, "That's impossible! I bet you $10 you can't."
Axton drove home with the $10 in his pocket.
How is this possible?
AnswerAxton threw a rock called PUMICE into the river.
Pumice is created in volcanic eruptions and is loaded with gas bubbles. Pumice is known to float in small quantities.
What Next?
See another brain teaser just like this one...
Or, just get a random brain teaser
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of
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text:
NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Ear, Nose, and Throat Disorders
My boyfriend`s hearing is very exceptional. .
What can my boyfriend do about his hearing? We were at an outdoor mall while a band was playing very loudly. About twenty feet away were two young girls running holding hands. He was facing in the other directions when his head jerked towards them because above all the loud noise he heard the girl say we have to stop running, my boob fell out of my top! I`m not lying. I saw this with my own eyes. I couldn`t believe it. He was inside his house with the air conditioner on watching tv. He heard a smack. He ran outside to see the neighbor rubbing her face and wiping tears from her eyes. She just got smacked in her car by her husband before she left the driveway. How in the world did he hear that? I`m dumbfounded. This situation bothers him a great deal because he can`t sleep well at night. When he had to go to the emergency room a doctor asked him if he was physic because he hear a nurse`s shoes squeak on the floor. The doctors heard nothing. They told him no one was coming down the hallway. Then the nurse passed by a few minutes later. It amazed both of them. My boyfriend assumed they could hear her shoes like he could. Even when she passed by, the doctors could not hear her shoes. Please tell us what this is and what is going on. We would be so happy. He says this has been happening for a long time now. I think he`s tired of his exceptional hearing and would like to get a good night`s sleep.
Some people are blessed with better hearing than others. It is probably nothing to worry about. That being said, I recommend that he see an otolaryngologist and obtain an audiogram.
Ravi N Samy, MD, FACS
Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, Director of Skull Base Surgery Fellowship, Director of Adults Cochlear Implantation Program
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati


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The title of this post "What time is the 3:00 parade?" is taken from Disney lore and is touted as being the most frequently asked question in the Magic Kingdom. It may sound stupid, but it's really not. When a Guest asks this question, they really want to know what time the parade will be passing their current location. As you can probably guess, many of the thousands of Guests we serve each day at Morey's Piers will likely have some questions during their visit. Since many are the same, we have to remind ourselves that each Guest is an individual and that they don't know it's the 10th time we've heard the same question that day. So, I decided to present to you the most frequently asked questions on our three amusement piers:
- "Where is the restroom?" Many times, this question is asked of an associate while they are standing next to a sign that says "restrooms." I'd say this is probably the most frequently asked question at most amusement parks.
- "Where is the entrance to this (Guest points up) ride?" This question is most often asked while pointing to the Sea Serpent Roller Coaster. This ride has been thrilling Guests in the same location for over 25 years, yet we probably get this question 50 times a day. We've added signs, changed the entrance configuration, even placed a big "Serpent" head with glowing red eyes over the entrance, but we still haven't gotten it right.
- "Can't you just let him/her (guest points to child) on the ride? Can't you make an exception?" This is one of the nicer ways our Guests ask us to let their child onto a ride that is inappropriate for him or her. Most of the time, the child just doesn't meet the height requirement and we cannot make any exceptions if we are to ensure the safety of all our Guests.
As a team, we meet to discuss these questions and others every year to see if we can figure out a way to enhance our service level. If you have any questions that you think we need to do a better job answering, we'd love hear about them – as well as your thoughts on what we can do to answer the question before it's asked.
-Dino, Director of Pier Operations


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Pastor John Ball joined the staff at the United Methodist Church of Lake Orion recently.
Ball and his wife, Cyndi, along with their two sons, Dillon and Brayden, recently moved from Brighton, where he served as a pastor at the United Methodist Church of Brighton.
Over the 14 years that Ball has served as a pastor, he has developed a passion for creating opportunities for dialogue with those who consider themselves to be spiritual, but not religious. He believes that the intentional effort of sharing ideas, beliefs and life experiences while gathering with others makes a difference in the world.
Ball believes that these conversations and the relationships that are formed help make the world a better place in which to live.
Ball's first Sunday will be July 7, where he will be preaching at 10 a.m., followed by a welcoming reception.
For more information about the United Methodist Church of Lake Orion, call 248-693-6201. The church is located at 140 E. Flint St. in Orion Township.


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Basketweave Teak Coffee Table
Basketweave Rectangular Table, Large
Item# 36-351
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Additional Information
Basketweave Teak Coffee Table
- Solid teak construction
- Durable mortise-and-tenon joinery
The classic basketweave pattern of this coffee table will still be in style when trendy looks have come and gone. Note the thin channels in the pattern; they let rainwater drain away just as effectively as wide channels, but without making the surface precarious for beverages. The Large Rectangular Table is sized for sofas or large benches.
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Comments about : Basketweave Rectangular Table, Large:
We love our new table that we use on our deck at our lake home. We get lots of good comment on it.
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Pre-orders begin May 27th...
For a great selection of action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, SmallJoes.com, PastGenerationToys.com, MonkeyDepot.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
For a great selection of pop culture t-shirts and apparel, check out TShirtGurus.com and 80sTees.com.
Ashley Wood and 3A Toys are expanding beyond the relam of World War Robot and tackling the Popbot universe with 1:6 scale action figures.
Package deals to be offered this Thursday, May 27th, at 9pm U.S. EST on bambalandstore.com include:
SINGLES (Both include Kitty) $150 each
- Popbot standard
- Badbot standard
3AA CLUB EXCLUSIVE 2-PACK (no Kitty) $220
- Day 1 Popbot and Shōwa Tomorrow King
UNDERVERSE 3-PACK (All include Kitty) $360
- Popbot standard
- Badbot standard
- Ascended Popbot
- 2-Eyed Badbot
All prices include worldwide shipping.
In typical 3A fashion, images of all the Popbot variations have rolled out over time in a series of reveals. 'Bots unveiled so far include Badbot (both versions), Day 1 Popbot and Ascended Popbot. Pictured top is a prototype image of the star of the show, Popbot himself. Popbot will feature an orange color scheme similar to Day 1, though more weathered. In addition to pistols standard to all the bot's, the classic Popbot will also include a chain and hook hand. All 'bots measure approximately 15 inches tall and are fully articulated.


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New fantasy figures for May, 2011...
For a great selection of video game action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, ToyWiz.com, PastGenerationToys.com, Urban-Collector.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with our sponsor Collectibles Insurance.
No new images other than our San Diego Comic-Con photos, but DC Direct has revealed the line up and release date for World of Warcraft Series 8. Slated for release May 11, 2011, this assortment includes:
* Argent Nemesis: The Black Knight - 7.50" h (pictured top)
* Forsaken Priestess: Confessor Dhalia - 6.75" h
* Gnome Rogue: Brink Spannercrank vs. Kobold Miner: Snaggle 2-Pack Gnome - 2.75" h, Kobold - 4.50" h (below)


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Spurred by the Demise of a Feudal Farming System, a New Generation of Italian Winemakers Has Finally Realized Its Potential
It's not breaking news, but news it is: France no longer holds irrefutable title to the fine-wine pinnacle. Right alongside, fetching comparably breathless prices, is Italy.
For many wine buyers, the Italian achievement is still a revelation. After all, it's only been in the past few years that the average Barolo costs as much as a good Burgundy, between $50 and $100. Or that a good Chianti sells for $20 to $30 a bottle. * And now, with the impending appearance of the 1997 vintage, all heaven is about to break loose. Italy's '97 vintage is widely thought to be one of the greatest in years, if not decades. Virtually everywhere on the boot, from the snow-flecked Alpine foothills to sun-drenched Sicily, growers are describing their grapes in terms better suited for the flesh trade: fully ripe, luscious, breathtakingly structured and so on. "It's an incredible vintage," boasts Angelo Gaja, a producer in both Piedmont and Tuscany and not, usually, a man given to hyperbole. Comparable comments are filtering in from almost everywhere in Italy.
Whatever the true greatness of the landmark '97 vintage--we won't really know until the wines appear over the next few years--one thing is certain: Italy has arrived in a big way. All this has happened so quickly that the effect still startles. It was a revolution, and the good growers won. Stick a candle in someone else's wine bottle, they triumphantly declared. Now, there's an explosion of labels, grape varieties and small family producers issuing distinctive, lovingly individual wines. It's overwhelming. So many of the names are unfamiliar. Who can blame anyone for wistfully wanting to return to the simplicity of ordering a California Cabernet Sauvignon, or sticking with the name-brand reliability and familiarity of a Bordeaux chateau? But the Italian wine game is worth the candle (in someone else's bottle, of course). It's a renaissance moment. No wines--not even California's--are more significant to twenty-first century fine wine.
How did Italy recalibrate the old folkloric image of checkered tablecloths and straw-wrapped bottles into a vision of elegance, sleekness and modernity? I'll tell you how--the real, inside, structural story. Behind all the glitz, the Armani suits and snazzy labels, the high-stylishness Italians call la bella figura, there are two words that explain why Italian wines are at the top: the arrival of the autostrada and the departure of mezzadria.
Italy's first freeway (autostrada), really a toll road designated A1, opened in the 1960s. It connected Rome to Milan. For the first time since the ancient Romans, you could travel quickly between Italy's political and industrial capitals. So?
Well, in between Milan and Rome lies beautiful Tuscany, with its ancient stone farmhouses (crumbling) and their attached vineyards (neglected). Postwar rural Italy had no money, certainly not in the quasi-feudal Chianti countryside. But money was pouring out of Rome and, especially, Milan. For the first time, ambitious, successful, make-it-happen urban Italians could get out of town quickly and drive on A1 to arrive in a couple of hours at a lovely stone farmhouse in the ravishing Tuscan landscape. Their houses had vineyards. And they applied the same drive, capital and marketing to their new vineyard acquisitions as they did to the businesses that made their fortunes. The native Tuscans, especially the aristocrats, had been snoring for generations.
One of the few who wasn't was Piero Antinori, aristocratic owner of Marchesi L. & P. Antinori, one of Tuscany's best and biggest wine producers. Antinori points out that, "It's not only the fact of money, though. It's also a question of mentality. More than the advent of the autostrada was the attitude of many producers of the new generation. They were interested in traveling around the world to see what other producers were doing--in France, California, northern Italy. So maybe more than an autostrada running from north to south, it was really a willingness to travel at all." What Antinori says is true, but all that travel came later, in the late '70s and through the '80s. The impetus to explore-- in Tuscany, anyway--came from the example of outsiders.
These outsiders were not tied to the old feudal bonds of the mezzadria, or sharecropping, system, which suffocated ambition. As long as mezzadria existed, which it did for centuries, aristocratic landowners had effectively free labor and no incentive to improve their multiple farms. The workers, for their part, were excluded from even dreaming. All of agricultural Italy was a Sleeping Beauty in need of an awakening kiss, which only occurred when sharecropping was abolished in 1956 and outsiders poured in their money, lives and ambition.
One such outsider is Mario Schwenn, who runs the revived estate called Dievole (pronounced Dee-EH-vo-leh), located in the small village of Vagliagli, seven and one half miles from Siena in the heart of what is known as the Chianti Classico zone. Schwenn, 33, is one of the few proprietors in Chianti who publicly celebrates his workers. Until recently, these peasants--for that is what they were until the late 1960s--lived under the mezzadria system. In Chianti it was these people, working for half-shares (mezza) of the olive crop, the grape crop, the sheep flock, the cow herd and anything else that could survive in or on Chianti's daunting rocky soil, who made the place work.
"When my father bought Dievole in 1979," says Schwenn, "there were [a number of] mezzadri families working at Dievole. The estate was moribund. In fact, it was virtually given up for lost. No wine had been commercially produced here since the '60s. We replanted more than half of the 200 acres of vines we have today.
"The entire estate, which dates to the year 1090, is about 800 acres," notes Schwenn. "It used to be owned by the Terrosi-Vangnoli family of Siena, who are still, I believe, the biggest landowners in the province of Siena. Frankly, they didn't care about it. Dievole was just one of their many properties. And they certainly didn't care about the sharecroppers. They were just tools to them. That was how all the great landowners in the Tuscany region saw them."
The Schwenn family is not old Tuscan stock. They are outsiders, like so many of today's Tuscany success stories. They are German and today live in Switzerland, except for Mario, who lives at Dievole. "In the old days," he says, "the landowners would allow the mezzadri to build a house on the estate which they worked. But if they retired, they had to leave the house. So this insured, if any insurance was needed, that the next generation of the family would remain on the estate.
"It didn't matter anyway," Schwenn adds, with just the barest note of bitterness. "There were always plenty of mezzadri to go around. After all, they had no education, no money, no opportunity. The landowners never dealt with them. They saw only the fattore, or overseer. He was the go-between. He would settle up with the mezzadri--usually telling them that they were always in debt--and show the accounts to the landowner."
Dino Petri, one of Dievole's vineyard workers, recalls the system well, despite his being only 49 years old. His older brother, Armando, a grizzled 73 years old, has longer memories, but their recollections are largely the same. At a dinner in their simple house, which was built generations ago for their mezzadri forebears, they recount tales of being mezzadri over a classic Tuscan dinner of beans, bread, olive oil and grilled meats washed down with homemade red wine of the latest vintage.
"There were 10 people living in this house," recalls Armando. "It's not that big a house." That is an understatement. Although handsome enough, with timbered ceilings and thick masonry walls, the home has no central heating. Its four rooms, excluding the kitchen, are frigid during the winter. Only the kitchen, with its enormous hearth, boasts any heat. One room is used today for potato storage and other utilitarian purposes. "We used to keep some animals in there," says Armando.
Evidence of newfound wealth is inserted into the rooms like shiny pennies in a pair of worn loafers. The kitchen has a washing machine tucked in one corner. The bedroom has a color television. And the hallway, already narrow, is clogged by a deep-freeze chest. Otherwise, the place has not likely changed, except for running water and electricity, from what its residents a century ago would have found familiar. The walls are whitewashed and soot-covered and, apart from various religious pictures, devoid of decoration. The floors--part tile, part concrete--are bare. It is a dwelling of extreme simplicity.
The dinner conversation is not always easy to follow, what with the Petris' thick country speech and the peculiar Tuscan accent of turning most "c's" into "h's" (Coca-Cola in Tuscany is pronounced "Hoha-Hola"). The brothers haul out thin paperback ledger books (called libretto colonico) for my edification. Every mezzadro had one, in which the year's accounts were kept by the overseer. Inside, pages of ledger sheets detailed every expense. For example, every sheep that was born, died, vaccinated, seen by a veterinarian or otherwise entailed a debit or a credit was accounted for. All transactions, no matter how minor, were listed, including, one year, the sale of a tiny quantity of artichokes.
Today, Dino Petri freely and happily announces that he has money in the bank. For someone who was shoved out of school at age 13 to work in the fields, this is a marvel. He receives a substantial wage, as well as a variety of fringe benefits, including health care. A union represents his interests.
Although the mezzadria system was legally abolished more than 40 years ago, the mentality--and, effectively, the reality--lingered until very recently. "My hardest job when I came to Dievole in 1986," recounts Schwenn, "was to educate them to the existence of a client. In other words, that what they did had a direct effect on their fortunes. That there even was a client. And that this client has needs and demands."
Italy's most famous winegrower, Angelo Gaja, lives hundreds of miles away from Tuscany in the Langhe district of Piedmont, in the northwest corner of Italy. It's where the famous Barolo and Barbaresco wines are produced. Mezzadria was pervasive there as well.
"Today it's all grapevines everywhere you look," says the 58-year-old Gaja. "But back when I was a boy and even a young man, it was a polyculture. The mezzadri kept cows and oxen for milk and meat. Our Sorì San Lorenzo vineyard used to be planted one-fourth to grass for grazing. But the yield even for grass was poor. You could cut the grass no more than three times a year." Today, the eight-acre Sorì San Lorenzo vineyard is the source of one of Gaja's "collector" Barbarescos that sell for as much as, or more than, a first-growth Bordeaux, or about $175 a bottle.
Nevertheless, the system did change. The beginning of the end can be traced to the Second World War, which brought a glimmering awareness that things could be different. "If the mezzadri and the poor of the village didn't go about the world themselves, the world had come, in the war years, to awaken them," wrote the great Piedmontese writer Cesare Pavese in his 1950 novel, The Moon and the Bonfires.
With urban industrialization offering an employment alternative, indeed a siren call, the glacial mezzadria system began to recede. The lawyers and aristocrats who owned two or more farms soon found themselves saddled with properties that, because they were so badly managed, could not support workers earning a decent wage. Certainly they could not compete with factory wages. Only the cheap labor of mezzadria had once kept these farms economically plausible for their owners.
Even farms worked by their owners could not compete. Every-where in Italy the countryside began to be drained of its farmers, who fled to the cities in search of a living, or at least a future. They simply walked off their land. The government was alarmed at this prospect of deserted farms where mezzadria was waning. So, in the 1950s, it offered Italian farmers a deal that they hoped they would not refuse: if the farmers stayed on the land and made money only from crops on land they owned or leased, they would be excused from paying any business income tax. Effectively, that meant no income tax.
In the beginning this didn't cost the Italian government very much simply because the farms generated so little income anyway. But when the Italian economy improved in the 1960s and '70s, these once negligible incomes became more substantial. In the case of winegrowers, as long as they made wine only from grapes they grew on land they owned or leased--buying not a single grape or a drop of juice or wine from anyone else--their income was gravy. By the '80s that gravy was lip-smacking.
I recall being baffled in the early '80s when I would visit tiny Italian wineries whose owners would proudly show me their gleaming new stainless steel fermenting tanks and their $100,000 German-made bottling line. All to produce, say, 5,000 cases of wine that sold locally for maybe five bucks a bottle. It didn't pencil out. Later I learned about the tax exemption law.
Given the notorious inefficiencies of Italian government, to say nothing of its endemic corruption, allowing farmers to legally keep their money was probably the best use of that money that Italy could ever have hoped to achieve. It was trickle-up economics at its best. The farmers took their money and reinvested it. They bought more land and better machinery and sent their sons--and sometimes even their daughters--to agricultural schools. For vintners, the result was better-quality wines, an awareness of marketing and, eventually, a higher return. (The tax law was rescinded in 1987.)
Unlike the working owner-farmers, the mezzadri had no land. The government recognized that what the mezzadri lacked was not a willingness to work the land but access to capital with which to buy it. So another government program emerged: if a landowner put up for sale a property worked by a mezzadro, the mezzadro had first rights of refusal to buy it. The government offered him low-interest loans, with the stipulation that the mezzadro must work the land himself for a certain number of years. It was a clever idea, serving the interests of the landowners--they had a ready buyer on the property--as well as the mezzadro, whose labor could make the land economically viable.
I mention this legislation, admiringly, to Aldo Conterno, 67, who is considered Barolo's most talented winemaker. He grunts and says, "Let me show you something." Frankly, I didn't know what Conterno thought of the program. Professionally adventurous but politically conservative, Conterno is forever complaining about the government. "Nobody wants to work anymore," he says with mantra-like repetition.
So I didn't know what to expect. Certainly, it wasn't a tour of his vineyard, which I've seen at least a dozen times. But I dutifully trot along. We stand at the edge of his steep hillside vineyard.
"Look at that," Conterno barks, pointing across the valley at another Barolo vineyard. "You see that?" He likes to make sure that listeners, especially suspected liberals, are not about to miss a profound conservative truth. "That vineyard over there was worked by a mezzadro and his family since the late 1940s. Then it went up for sale. And he was able to buy it by getting one of those loans you were talking about. You know how much he paid for it?" he demands. I have no idea, especially considering how cheap vineyard land in Barolo was then.
"I'll tell you how much: 800,000 lire. For something like 20 acres." It sounds pretty cheap to me. When I say as much, Conterno looks at me with the same despairing forbearance for the perennially weak-minded that P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves had for Bertie Wooster. "Of course it was cheap," Conterno replies with asperity. Having got that clear, he continues, "You know Prunotto, of course?" Prunotto is one of Piedmont's best wine shippers. It was purchased a decade ago by, as it happens, Tuscany's Marchesi L. & P. Antinori.
"You know the Prunotto Barolo, the one they label Bussia Vineyard? Prunotto always bought the grapes for it from that guy down there," Conterno instructs, pointing to the nonexistent guy. "Well, anyway, in 1989 Prunotto bought the vineyard from him. And you know how much they paid?" he demands, his voice reaching a Pavarotti-like pitch of incredulity.
"How much?" I ask, as meekly as possible.
"Eight hundred and twenty million lire," he replies, pronouncing each word slowly, with awe, satisfaction and amazement (it works out to about $500,000). "Without that program, that mezzadro could never have bought that vineyard," Conterno says, noting approvingly, "He worked like a dog."
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It's early but with the way things are going at the moment the Reds are slipping further from the top of Division and further from the top of the Wild Card. I still have to think the Reds will be Buyers come the July 31st deadline. With us playing the likes of Houston, St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwalkee all within the next two weeks.. we could easily be right back in it or out of it.
My question is if we are "Buyers" who do we go after?
If we are "Sellers" who do we deal?


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Authorities are asking for the public's help in the ongoing investigation of an Albion house fire that is considered suspicious, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
The Albion Fire Department responded at 6 p.m. March 9 to a call for a residential structure fire in the 30000 block of Albion Ridge Road in Albion, the MCSO reported Thursday.
The house was vacant and without electrical service, and no cause for the fire was discernible, according to the MCSO. The fire was extinguished without incident before it could endanger other homes in the area.
The MCSO and CalFire are investigating the cause of the blaze. Anyone with information that would aid in the investigation is urged to contact MCSO deputy Jonathan Martin at 961-2421.
Fort Bragg woman arrested in domestic fight
Authorities on Tuesday arrested a 41-year-old Fort Bragg woman in a domestic fight with the man she lived with, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies were summoned at 10 p.m. March 12 to a home in the 33000 block of Jefferson Way in Fort Bragg for an unknown problem. They spoke with Shelly Hottell and her cohabitant when they arrived, and learned that there had been an altercation between them, according to the MCSO.
Deputies investigated, interviewing witnesses and evaluating physical evidence at the scene, and arrested Hottell on suspicion of domestic violence and vandalism, according to the MCSO.
The victim received minor injuries that did not require immediate medical attention, the MCSO reported. Hottell was booked at the Mendocino County Jail under $25,000 bail.


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I quite like the idea of this ordination subforum. Well done!
My current interest is to get to Sri Lanka, but it seems that there is no dedicated topic on this matter. Is there anybody who has some detailed information about the related tasks and duties? I have worries about visas and other administrative complications.
Information and tips about specific monasteries and meditation centers also seem quite scarce. For example, I am not sure what my chances are with this sutta, samadhi and seclusion based approach that I have been conditioned to by some Venerables. Of course I am open to improve that samma ditthi, and I can even keep quiet, but no voodoo dolls, no animal sacrifices and no gardening workshops, please...
I have heard good things about Venerable Wattegama Dhammawasa Nayaka Thero's Sri Subodharamaya Buddhist Center -- this is a recommendation from the very kind Venerable Samahita. And I also have another recommendation: Na Uyana meditation center, from Venerable Sujato.
I kindly invite your knowledge and your opinions.


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02-21-2013 #21vicju Guest
Very good, it is worth it.
02-21-2013 #22mikele13 Guest
i'm looking forward to see the price of PS4....
02-21-2013 #23Transient Guest
I understand what you're saying, but I think rumblpak is right about it being 64-bit. x86 is the architecture which most PCs have been using since the early days. It used to be 8086, 80186, 80286, 80386, 80486, etc, which is where x86 comes from. Eventually Intel changed to brand naming, but the processors are still based on the original 8086 (even the latest i7s).
x64 does typically refer to x86-64, which is a 64-bit extension of the x86 platform (one of many extensions). Sony could just as well have said that, however it's basically a given that it will be x86-64. We already know that the CPU and GPU will be on the same die from yesterday's presentation. The PS4 is rumoured (or is it official?) to be using AMD's GPU. That means we'll see a hybrid AMD CPU+GPU chip and if we look at today's offerings from AMD, you'll see they only manufacture x86-64 products. It wouldn't make sense for them to leave out the 64-bit instruction set.
One final thought. Intel does make a 64-bit only processor called Itanium. This processor requires specialized software to run on it as it is not compatible with x86 instructions, whereas x86-64 processors will happily run x86 32-bit code.
02-21-2013 #24NbAlIvEr100 Guest
02-21-2013 #25ils Guest
You should read more/research a little bit first
1. yes PS4 will be using "64 bit" processor. its x86_64, 32 bit processor with 64 bit extension like AMD and Intel offering right now
2. no comment on GPU, since isn't revealed yet, but from its "1.84 TFlops" many assume its Radeon 78XX (not "last gen" GPU)
3. HDD 120GB really ? in my country smallest 2.5" HDD is 320GB
4. PS3 life won't end when PS4 launch, so 10 year lifecycle still a possibility
5. its 8GB GDDR5 RAM, do you understand what this mean? if no, then search
6. your "5 years old PC" isn't optimized for gaming. every PC game isn't optimized for single platform.
how much $$ is your "5 years old PC"? specs?
i do agree about "PS3 never delivered the hype", but as far as hardware concern, i'm quite impressed with PS4 (with the price constrains < $600) your "latest PC" will need approx $2000 (GPU Titan $1000, i7 Ivy Bridge $300-$500, 8GB RAM GDDR5 still not available in PC RAM, HDD, Motherboard, PSU, controller, Windows OS) comparing console with PC is stupid if you really love PC so much, then buy your "latest PC"
FYI, AMD Jaguar IS "latest CPU" from AMD (it's low power CPU) and (rumor to be used in PS4) Radeon 78XX is "latest GPU" offering from AMD (aside their rebranding into Radeon 8xxx)
02-21-2013 #26Shadowstitch Guest
I think the one reason they didn't show the actual console was because they are still designing it for cooling issues because with all that power heating will be a huge issue so i think they will nail a design by e3 thats why i'm gonna wait before i buy one so i know the failure rate isn't so high.
02-22-2013 #27Administrator
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- Apr 2005
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- 25,143
Sony Confirms PlayStation 4 / PS4 Won't Block Second-hand Used Games
Following up on yesterday's PlayStation 4 / PS4 announcement and PlayStation 4 / PS4 trailer videos, today Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that PlayStation 4 / PS4 won't block the use of second-hand (used) games.
To quote from Eurogamer (linked above): "Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has told Eurogamer that PlayStation 4 will not block the use of second-hand games, contrary to various reports, speculation and even a Sony patent unearthed last month.
I sat down with Yoshida a few hours after the PS4 reveal tonight and one of the first things I asked was whether used games would be blocked.
"Do you want us to do that?" he asked.
No, I said. I think, if you buy something on a disc, that you have a kind of moral contract with the person you've bought it from that you retain some of that value and you can pass it on.
Do you agree, I asked?
"Yes. That's the general expectation by consumers," said Yoshida. "They purchase physical form, they want to use it everywhere, right? So that's my expectation."
So if someone buys a PlayStation 4 game, I asked, you're not going to stop them reselling it?
"Aaaah," was Yoshida's initial answer, but seemingly only because he'd forgotten his line. "So what was our official answer to our internal question?" he asked his Japanese PR advisor. The advisor stepped in but didn't seem to answer clearly, at least to my ears. Yoshida then took control again firmly:
"So, used games can play on PS4. How is that?"
I said I thought that was fine.
Interestingly, I also spoke to a Sony source elsewhere at the event this evening who told me that the anti used-game patent discovered last month was actually nothing to do with PlayStation 4 at all.
The patent suggested that discs would come branded with a contactless tag that could be recognised and read by your console, which would then bind it to you and prevent you from selling it on.
But whatever reason Sony did have for patenting it, it sounds like it wasn't for its next-generation console. Hopefully Microsoft will also avoid this ludicrous technology with its next-generation Xbox as well."
More PlayStation 3 News...
02-22-2013 #28Administrator
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Sony CEO Jack Tretton Confirms PS4 / PlayStation 4 Game Pricing
In a recent interview with CNBC (linked above), Sony CEO Jack Tretton has confirmed PS4 / PlayStation 4 video game pricing as ranging from $0.99 to $60 with demos available as well.
Below are the details, to quote: "On pricing, Tretton said that the PS4 is "designed with the game developer in mind and the consumer in mind," and will offer games with prices ranging from $0.99 to the more traditional $60 range with the ability for players to sample games before they buy.
"I think people are willing to pay if they see the value there," he said. "The heat for the true gamer is on the console."
He said that games on mobile devices are "additive experiences" and that gamers won't "migrate down the food chain" for their primary gaming experience."
In related PlayStation 4 news today, IGN reports that PS4 supports PS Move, but not the DualShock 3 controller.
To quote: Today during a roundtable discussion with the president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, news about the role of PlayStation 3's two controllers – DualShock 3 and PlayStation Move – were revealed in terms of their functionality with PlayStation 4.
In short: DualShock 3 won't work with PlayStation 4, but PlayStation Move will. "No, [PS4] doesn't support DualShock 3," noted Yoshida, "but it does support PS Move."
Update: PS Nation has also discovered (pictured below) within the Ubisoft Web site source code that the special editions for the next-generation versions of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will fall in line with the pricing of the current-generation versions, £119.99, with the PC version getting the mandatory £10 reduction as is standard with PC titles.
More PlayStation 3 News...
02-22-2013 #29elser1 Guest
strange how eb australia has pre orders for ps4 games at $120 then
total rip off bs., unbelievable eh!!
02-22-2013 #30kalberto Guest
NOPE, I think PS4 is not using HDD anymore, back to basic like PS1 and PS2.
because I read inside specification PS4, it wrote HARD DISK DRIVE: BUILT IN... here is the pdf PS4 specification


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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – NASCAR has suspended four members of defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski's team and three more from Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano for seven races each, saying they used parts without prior approval before last weekend's race at Texas.
The series also stripped the drivers and their owners of 25 points each Wednesday, meaning Keselowski will drop from second to fourth in the Sprint Cup standings and Logano will drop from ninth to 14th. Penske vowed to appeal.
Before Saturday night's race, NASCAR confiscated the original rear-end housing from Keselowski's No. 2 Ford and Logano's No. 22. Logano finished fifth and Keselowski was ninth.
NASCAR suspended Keselowski crew chief Paul Wolfe and three others for seven races and fined Wolfe $100,000. Logano crew chief Todd Gordon received the same fine and he and two other crew members received the same suspensions.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Yuma, AZ, United States
About Bekah Jennings
Our handmade banners are made of a heavy weight paperboard making them durable enough for many years of use. Each card is hand stamped with acrylic paint and then the edges are distressed with ink to create a finished, vintage look.
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use the coupon code FIRSTSHIPFREE to receive free shipping on your first order


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Book a School Visit
To book a school visit for the current exhibition, please contact us below. Requests for school visits will be processed on a first-come-first-serve basis. Once your booking has been successful, you will receive a confirmation letter.
To apply, please call +852 2103 9512 or email: [email protected] for more information.


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found a new home!
Plenty of my friends are looking
for one too. Find a pet to adopt.
I am already neutered.
****My adoption fee is $75****.
The Animal Rescue Project is committed to the best possible veterinary care for the pets it rescues and it is looking for adopters who will be similarly committed.
All cats and kittens are given a general check-up when they enter our program. They receive medical to remove any intestinal parasites (worms), fleas, and mites they may have. All cats and kittens are feline leukemia tested, and cats at least a year old are also tested for feline immuno virus. Each cat or kitten receives the FVRCP vaccine; if a kittens stay with us is long enough, two or three boosters will be given after the initial vaccination.
Most cats and older kittens are spayed or neutered before adoption. In the case of kittens not old enough to be safely sterilized, a $25 deposit is required at the time of adoption and is refunded to the adopter with proof of sterilization.
The Animal Rescue Project requires every adopter to establish an active relationship with a veterinarian no later than 10 days after adoption. Adopters will receive a plan for routine veterinary care at the time of adoption and are expected to work with their vet to complete the plan.
Peace - PetSmart, a Kalamazoo Domestic Shorthair cat was adopted! Here's how you can benefit by looking at adoption as an option to buying a Domestic Shorthair for sale in Kalamazoo, or seeking a Domestic Shorthair cat from a breeder in Kalamazoo.


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MOTUC Sorceress, Panthor, Marshmallow Mess Ray, more...
For a great selection of action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, SmallJoes.com, PastGenerationToys.com, Urban-Collector.com, ZoloWorld.com, MonkeyDepot.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
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To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with our sponsor Collectibles Insurance.
There were several subtle MOTUC hints at the Mattel booth at Comic-Con this year, such as the Screech perched on top of Castle Grayskull. Is this a hint that the Sorceress will coming in 2011?
Can you please shed some light on the dark green horned helmet that was on display next to the Godess figure on the last day of Comic-Con?We actually had that same bird on display at SDCC 2009 if you look close. It is a hand-painted sample we did to liven up the diorama. We do plan to get to the Sorceress in time, but this hand-pained Zoar is not a hint of anything other then us wanting to do something fun in our display.
Many collectors have been anxiously wanting to see how Panthor will look. When will fans get their first glimpse of this highly-anticipated figure?It is an accessory for a MOTUC toy not shown in full at SDCC. You'll just need to wait and see who it is for.
We are very excited about the MOTUC SDCC reveals this year. Can you give us more insight on the army-builder two-pack and Shadow Beast in regards to pricing?This will happen in time. He is slotted for 2011, but at SDCC we only showed through February/March. There is a lot more 2011 product to show off!
.The Guards will be $40, Shadow Beast will be $30
Will the army-builder two-packs always consist of two solar characters such as palace guards or can we also get different characters that belong to the same faction/army? (For example, a Kobra Khan and Rattlor Snakemen pack)
When can we look forward to seeing a 200X version of King Randor? Perhaps a Captain Randor from the first episode of the MYP cartoon?At this time the plan is to offer two of the same type of character with mix and match parts. That does not rule out other two-packs, but the army builders will follow this strategy.
Will the Marshmallow Mess Ray figure be a new sculpt or just a re-release of the orginal ray with painted on Marshmallow stains?In time. Nothing to confirm now, but we do want to get to this look for the good king.
Is there a possibility for quarterly oversized figures in the club Ecto 1 subscription?It is the existing sculpt with layered paint. The goggles and walkie talkie he comes with are new.
Not in 2011 but maybe down the line.
For even more Ask Matty Q&A, visit SuperHeroTimes.com!


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As the calendar closes on an election year that seemed like it would never end, it provides a last-chance opportunity to recount the year's most significant political story in California that hardly anyone noticed.
It was the passage of Proposition 39, a $1 billion corporate tax increase that somehow slipped under the radar.
It received more than 61 percent of the vote, an unheard-of level of support for a tax measure.
That didn't happen by accident, but amid all the coverage of the ballot-measure wars over Propositions 30 and 32, the story of Proposition 39's landslide win has not been well told.
It was a story jointly written by a brassy political consultant whose style was forged while fighting off scandals in the Clinton White House, a billionaire Silicon Valley investor with a passion for public policy, and a dogged state senator who waged a three-year crusade to change a tax policy he believed was shortchanging California businesses and taxpayers.
In large part, they succeeded because of a guerrilla campaign tactic that eliminated potential opposition before it could materialize.
Consultant Chris Lehane had seen how similar proposition campaigns had recently played out.
In 2010, businesses poured more than $15 million into a successful effort to crush a measure that sought to eliminate a package of corporate tax breaks. In June of this year, a proposed cigarette tax increase narrowly defeated after the tobacco industry spent more than $40 million to snuff it out.
Lehane had an idea how to change the script.
"These guys had one free layup after another," Lehane told me. "Why wouldn't they do it? It's in their fiduciary interest."
The solution, Lehane believed, was "to change the value proposition" for companies considering whether to finance a campaign to defeat Proposition 39.
Because Sen. Kevin De León, D-Los Angeles, had fought for three years in the Legislature to change the tax formula, he knew what to expect. "The multistate corporations were so effective in their lobbying. They killed every effort," De León told me. "I knew who the players were."
He knew that the most likely opposition to Proposition 39 would come from the out-of-state companies that had most aggressively lobbied against the idea in the Legislature: Chrysler, General Motors, International Paper and Kimberly-Clark.
Full-page newspaper ads, featuring photographs of the companies' CEOs, were purchased, asking them not to oppose the measure. De León sent a letter to the CEOs challenging them to a public debate "so voters can plainly see how devastating your efforts are to our state."
By Sept. 26, only GM and Kimberly-Clark were still holding out. The Proposition 39 campaign threatened to start running TV ads and to "unleash a relentless barrage" calling out those two companies.
Because venture capitalist Tom Steyer had deposited $21 million into the Yes on Proposition 39 campaign, potential opponents knew this was not an empty threat. And they knew it would be impossible to wage an opposition campaign on the cheap.
"Tom was not going away," De León says.
By Sept. 28, all four companies had promised not to oppose the initiative.
"We defanged the opposition," De León said. "We won a major tactical battle that defined the war. I think corporate America was very nervous about being maligned to the electorate in California."
De León believes the tactic was blunt, but fair. Had the campaign been compelled to follow through, he says, it would have done so only by arguing the facts — chiefly that the previous system allowed out-of-state companies to compute their California taxes by using an advantageous formula not available to companies based in California.
"We always knew that, on the merits, we were on the right side," he said.
To Lehane, the important thing is that De León and Steyer weren't squeamish about employing a tactic that others might have considered heavy-handed.
"Tom and Kevin wanted to play to win," he said. "A lot of people go into a campaign thinking it's a Harvard-Yale debate."
Lehane co-wrote a film called "Knife Fight," a political drama to be released Jan. 25 in which actor Rob Lowe plays a political operative whose character resembles Lehane.
Lowe's character advises a potential candidate what it takes to win a high-stakes campaign.
In real life, Lehane said, those involved with Proposition 39 exhibited the exact trait that the character in the movie references. "The people on the other side knew that we were going to be bringing a gun to a knife fight."
Timm Herdt is a columnist for the Ventura Star.


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I bet you didn't know that today is National Homemade Bread Day. Who knew homemade bread got its own day? I thought any day you made bread at home would be homemade bread day… Well, it turns out that today, November 17 is the official day to celebrate homemade bread. Instead of limiting our focus to just more bread recipes, we're going to share some recipes for turning that loaf of delicious homemade bread into stuffing.
Stuffing made our list of intimidating items and my guess is that it's the actual bread component that causes the stress- after all, stuffing is pretty basic. The principles of a good stuffing are the same whether you use gluten free bread or conventional bread—you want to use day-old, or oven-dried bread, so plan ahead. To really save yourself time, bake a loaf of bread this weekend and let it sit out overnight. Then dice it and freeze it until Wednesday night.
It's hard to boil down the basics of stuffing when every region of the United States has its own way of doing things. Here are some pretty simple gluten free bread recipes that you can use in the basic gluten free stuffing recipes that follow. Want a truly simply way to make stuffing? Try our Gluten Free Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix– it's fairly basic and a great place to start your gluten free bread baking education. We also have a great Gluten Free Cornbread Mix, if that's more your style.
Basic Gluten Free Breads
- Delicious Gluten Free Bread from Gluten Free Goddess
- Gluten Free Multigrain Bread from Gluten Free Girl
- Basic Gluten Free Sourdough Bread from Jean Layton, the Gluten-Free Doctor
- Basic Gluten Free Bread from Celiac Chicks
- Basic Gluten Free Cornbread from Carol Fenster via Bob's Red Mill
Stuffing Recipes (make sure you use a gluten free broth or make your own to avoid any hidden sources of gluten)
- Homemade Wonderful Stuffing: This recipe uses our Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix as a base, but you could use any gluten free bread in this recipe.
- How to Make the Best Gluten Free Stuffing from Elizabeth Barbone via Serious Eats (great step-by-step guide!)
- Basic Stuffing (Video Guide) from Gluten Free Girl
- Cornbread Stuffing Recipe with Curried Apples and Cranberries from Gluten Free Goddess


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Just wanted to let you know hat the A. fires occupied a lot of space in our news here.
Not only the human suffering, but also the high number of animals which died in the fires.
We are being kept updated here on how for instance Koala bear Sam is doing.
It was very moving what the ranger said, when he found her.
A compassionate goodhearted man.
I wish all the injured animals a quick and complete recovery as well.


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Epson PowerLite 1761W Wireless WXGA 3LCD Projector - 2600 Lumens Color Brightness, 2600 Lumens White Brightness, 1280 x 800, 16:10,2000:1,HDMI,USB Plug'nPlay PC/Mac (V11H478120)Item#: 9106171 | Model#: V11H478120
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Free The Animal: Lose Weight & Fat On the Paleo Diet
What's in the book?
Learn how to get fit and lose weight with Paleo!
Now one of our highest-rated books, with 18 five-star reviews on Amazon!!
- The Paleo, Primal, Ancestral Lifestyle
- Your Inner Animal
- The Standard American Diet And Other Diet Health Disasters
- Fat Is King
- The Cholesterol Con
- Not All Carbs are Created Equal
- Natural Disease Prevention
- Eat Like A Caveman
- The Power Of Fasting
- Evolutionary Exercise And Fitness
- Cold Therapy
- A Primal Weight Loss Plan
- Recipes and Supplements
- Success Stories
Drawing on evolutionary logic, scientific research, and his own personal experiences, blogger Richard Nikoley of Free the Animal (freetheanimal.com) presents a complete guide to losing weight and fat the natural way.
After many frustrating years of trying to lose weight by adhering to mainstream nutritional guidelines, Richard made a radical decision to throw the rules out. Instead of eating whole grains and lean meat, he ate what his body had always craved: animal fat, and lots of it—and the extra weight started falling away.
In Free The Animal: How To Lose Weight & Fat On The Paleo Diet, Richard shares his tips for eating, fasting, and exercising as wild humans did for millenia. Find out how to embrace your primal cravings for nutritionally dense animal fats and fiber-rich plant sources. Learn to stop listening to the "experts" and start tuning in to your body's natural signals. Richard's approach to the Paleo lifestyle will help you lose fat, gain muscle, and unleash the energy of the animal inside you.
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Ackman's Pain Point on Herbalife
One of the most fascinating trades of 2013 so far has been the war over Herbalife (HLF).
It's pitted Bill Ackman of Pershing Square and hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, who both have short positions in the multi-level marketing company, against Third Point's Dan Loeb, who owns 8.2% of the company in a passive long stake, and Robert Chapman of Chapman Capital. Others who are long or rumored to be long are Carl Icahn, George Soros and John Hempton....365 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
There's no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.
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Currently celebrating their 25th year anniversary, Majestix Car Club also held their 8th annual Memorial Day Picnic this past May in Dallas, Texas. Car clubs, solo riders, and various auto shops came from near and far to support an event that is quickly taking on legendary status in the North Texas area. This fact is undeniable, given the many participants who came to Dallas from throughout Texas and as far as Kansas and Oklahoma. Estilo Car Club brought in their Midland, Texas chapter to show support with their clean rides. This unity and support from one car club event to another car club event has been gaining momentum within the last decade, and is quickly becoming a staple within the Lowrider movement. It is this camaraderie that has undoubtedly helped take Lowriding into the 21st century.
Awards are always a given at the Majestix picnics, and this year there were two clean sweeps. Majestix Car Club, utilizing three of their chapters, provided a line-up that was a true display of quality craftsmanship. Majestic member Tony, a.k.a. "Skim," brought his 1964 drop top Impala, which is still a relatively new addition to the Dallas/Ft. Worth scene. Together, they were awarded with Best Car Club Line-up, complete with a 6 foot trophy sponsored by Street Kings motorcycle club, and Best Traditional Lowrider of the picnic, respectively. Bad Boy's Hydraulics has been a part of the Majestix picnics since its inception. This year, they provided all of the hopping entertainment. Bad Boy's swept both single and double pump class categories. All awards were voted on and given by Majestix Car Club members based on categories which included quality, craftsmanship, participation and innovation. It could have easily been a car show, due to the fact that so many rides that represented at the picnic had not yet been seen on the street.
Awards aren't what drives this traditional Lowrider car club to keep their tradition alive; the real motivation is the spectators. Majestix members had a vision 8 years ago to give back to their gente as well as their families. By providing the community a day to celebrate Memorial Day, raza style, the club can see that their work is all worth it. Majestix would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support. See everyone next year!


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Ubaldo feeling good following first rehab start
O's right-hander waiting for next step, may throw this weekend at Triple-A
BALTIMORE -- A day after allowing one unearned run in 4 2/3 innings of his first rehab start for Class A short-season Aberdeen and splurging on steak and lobster for the IronBirds' clubhouse after the game, Ubaldo Jimenez returned to Camden Yards on Wednesday.
"I feel really good," said Jimenez, who was placed on the disabled list with a right ankle injury on July 13. "I was able to throw all my breaking balls, mostly for strikes. I was able to throw 74 pitches. I covered first base and third base. That was the main thing, just seeing how the ankle would respond."
Jimenez allowed five hits, three walks and struck out three batters. He also threw a wild pitch.
Jimenez said his ankle "feels good" and he is awaiting the next step. He will throw a side session later in the week before pitching in a game this weekend, either on Sunday or Monday for Triple-A Norfolk or for the O's in the following week.
"I want to see how his ankle feels today," manager Buck Showalter said before Wednesday night's game against the Angels. "I think if that feels well and the side goes well, then we know we have basically two options."
Baltimore's rotation has gotten by without Jimenez, who signed a $50 million deal this past offseason. Only Bud Norris, who was working his way back from injury, has an ERA higher than 3.43 since Jimenez last pitched on July 5.
Jimenez is 3-8 with a 4.52 ERA and 88 strikeouts. His 60 walks are still the most in the American League.
"You don't want to be the guy to mess it up for the other guys," Jimenez said. "I know that the guys have been doing a really great job, so you just want to be part of that kind of rotation."
David Wilson 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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By the numbers
$1,811,244.26 accused of stealing
Average of $226,405 a year
Average of $4,354 a week
Eight counts of embezzlement by a public or private officer
Eight counts of a public officer crime
Up to 11 years in state prison
Oakes' original bail amount: $50,000
Oakes' new bail amount: $1.8 million
Date she became Rialto Unified's lone Nutritional Services Department accountant: July 1, 1999
Alleged to have embezzled over 14 years: $3.1 million
Staff report
Rialto >> Three out of four days at work, Judith Oakes stole money from the Rialto Unified School District, according to an independent audit commissioned by the district.
The audit shows that Oakes, a former accountant for the district, stole more than $1.8 million since 2005, and that over a four-year period, she stole on 913 out of 1,277 days when money was counted.
Prosecutors charged Oakes on Wednesday with eight counts of embezzlement by a public or private officer and eight counts of a public officer crime. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to 11 years in state prison. She pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning in Fontana Superior Court.
Oakes' San Bernardino attorney, C. Patrick Milligan, said he has yet to review the evidence in the case and is waiting for the District Attorney's Office to provide him their packet of police reports and a forensic audit commissioned by the school district, which he said he should receive no later than next Oct. 16.
"I need to see the factual information that they have provided before I could make any kind of intelligent and well-considered comment," Milligan said.
The audit, conducted by Stewart Investigative Services, Inc., was presented to the Rialto Unified school board on Sept. 25. At that presentation, investigator Jeff Stewart told the board that Oakes may have stolen more than $3.1 million over 14 years. But due to the statute of limitations, the charges only cover her alleged crimes since 2005.
The 10-page Stewart report spells out the way that Oakes, 49, allegedly stole from the district:
"For 14 years, Ms. Oakes was involved in some capacity in counting the cash coming into Nutritional Services from the school sites," the report reads in part. "She eventually was in charge of those who counted the money and oversaw their training."
She also had a hand in purchasing and setting up a video camera to monitor what happened in the department's money counting room.
"Ms. Oakes was involved with the installation of the camera system and was aware of what areas in the room were visible to it," the report continues.
The department has a money-counting machine that counts bills, and informs workers when there's enough to "strap" into batches. Oakes reportedly would bind the bills up at the back counter of the room, rather than on the table next to the computer, where she couldn't be seen on camera.
"Ms. Oakes would then quite frequently take a strap or two of twenty-dollar bills or other denominations and stuff them down her top after checking to make sure the person at the computer was not looking."
Oakes would then provide a falsified deposit slip when the money was collected, according to the audit.
Accounting irregularities weren't reported by staff out of fear of reprisals, according to the report.
Oakes also allegedly provided a spreadsheet she prepared to the staff member responsible for reconciling the bank statements with the district's deposits, rather than the breakdown of checks and cash collected from each school site each month.
Had she done it the way she was supposed to, "that person would have then noted if the cash sales did not match the cash deposited and notified the director accordingly."
Oakes was arrested Aug. 7 after twice being caught on camera putting money into her bra, according to a Rialto Police Department search warrant.
At the time of her Aug. 7 arrest, she had two packets of $2,000 in $20 bills on her person, and more was found at her San Bernardino home later. She resigned from the district the next day.
Staff writers Doug Saunders and Joe Nelson contributed to this story.


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The power of the Empire will never die...
For a great selection of film, comic and TV action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, PastGenerationToys.com, ZoloWorld.com, MonkeyDepot.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
For a great selection of film, TV and pop culture t-shirts and apparel, check out TShirtGurus.com and 80sTees.com.
Every now and then a unique Star Wars item comes along that makes you pause and utter "whoa". Such is the case with Gentle Giant's unveiling of their latest 1:6th scale resin mini-bust, the Death Trooper. Combining the collectible power of the Force with the morbid popularity of all things undead, the Death Trooper is pulled from Joe Schreiber's Star Wars horror novel of the same name: DEATH TROOPERS. The 6" tall mini-bust will release this November as two versions:
* Standard limited release of 2500 pieces worldwide (above) priced at a MSRP of $70 which will include a copy of the paperback novel.
* Deluxe version (below) priced at a MSRP of $75 featuring detachable armor plates revealing the decay of the Imperial walking dead, including the fiendish face behind the mask, as well as a blaster and 3 additional Interchangeable arms. Edition size to be determined.
Pre-orders are now open at GentleGiantltd.com to Gentle Giant Premier Guild members until June 15th. Pre-orders will be opened to the general Public on June 16th OR you can head on over to BigBadToyStore.com right now where this bust is up for pre-order priced at $69.99.