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I .Scope of validity
- These general terms and conditions are applicable to contracts for the letting of guest rooms at this hotel for the purpose of accommodation and for all other services rendered and deliveries made by it to its guests.
- The hotel's prior written consent shall be required to any sub-letting of the rooms, spaces or display cases let, for public invitations, other promotional activities, job-seeking interviews, sales and similar events, with § 540 para. 1 second sentence BGB being contracted out unless the customer is the consumer.
- General terms and conditions of the customer shall only apply if this was expressly agreed beforehand.
II. Closing, contracting parties, liability, limitation of actions
- A contract comes into effect through acceptance by the hotel of the customer's order. The hotel is free to confirm room bookings in writing.
- Where a third party makes a reservation on behalf of the customer, such third party shall be liable to the hotel together with the customer as joint and several debtors for all obligations under the event-hosting contract provided that the hotel has obtained a corresponding declaration from the third party concerned.
- The customer is obligated to inform the hotel, without being especially asked to do so, no later than at closing, if the event sponsored by him/her is apt, on account of its political or religious character or on other grounds, to affect the hotel's business activities, security or public image.
- The hotel is liable for its contractual obligations with the diligence of a prudent businessman. Claims for damages by the customer are ruled out. Exempt are damages associated with the loss of life, bodily harm or injury to health if the hotel is answerable for the underlying breach of duty. Likewise exempt are damages based on a deliberate or grossly negligent breach of duty by the hotel and damages based on a deliberate or negligent breach by the hotel of duties typically associated with a contract of the given kind. A breach of duty by the hotel shall be deemed on a par with a corresponding breach by one of its legal representatives or vicarious agents. In case of interference with or shortcomings of the hotel's services, the hotel shall endeavour, on learning or promptly being notified thereof by the customer, to take remedial action. The customer is obligated to reasonably assist in putting an end to the disturbance and in minimising any potential damage. Moreover, the customer is obligated to draw the hotel's attention in time to the possible occurrence of an exceptionally heavy loss.
- Messages, mail and deliveries addressed to guests are handled with the diligence of a prudent businessman. The hotel shall deliver and/or store such items and shall, on request and for a charge, send them on. Sentences 2 to 4 of the above para. 4 shall analogously apply.
- Where the hotel provides car parking space at its garage or parking lot, this does not give rise to a custody agreement even if a charge is billed therefor. The hotel is not obligated to guard such parking sites. It is not liable for any loss of or damage to motor vehicles parked or stopping on the hotel's grounds and their contents except in case of intent or gross negligence. Sentences 2 to 4 of the above para. 4 shall analogously apply. Any damage shall promptly be communicated to the hotel. In all other respects, the conditions governing contracts for and the use of parking space on display at the hotel's garage shall apply.
- All claims against the hotel become statute-barred, as a matter of principle, within one year of the commencement of the regular period of limitations pursuant to § 199 para. 1 BGB provided that the claimant is aware of that period. Claims for damages shall become statute-barred, irrespective of such awareness, within 5 years. Reduced periods of limitation are not applicable to claims based on any deliberate or grossly negligent breach of duty by the hotel.
III. Services, prices, payment and set-off
- The customer is obligated to pay the hotel's prices applicable to and/or agreed for the services booked and any additional services claimed. This shall also apply to services rendered and amounts advanced by the hotel to third parties on the customer's instructions, notably to accounts receivable owed to copyright collecting societies. Rates always include service charge and always include any VAT or sales tax.
- Where an agreed minimum turnover level is not attained, the hotel is entitled to 60% of the shortfall by way of profit lost unless the customer proves that a lesser or the hotel proves that a higher loss has been sustained.
- If the interval between closing and performance exceeds four months and if there is an increase in the price generally charged by the hotel for the given service, the hotel may reasonably raise the contractually agreed price, not, however, by more than 5%. This upper limit shall increase by 5% in respect of any one year by which the interval between closing and performance exceeds the above four-month period. No account is taken, in this context, of price changes made pursuant to sub-para. 3.
- The hotel's bills shall be due and payable without deductions, unless agreed otherwise, upon receipt. A bill is deemed received by the customer no later than 3 days after its dispatch unless earlier receipt can be proven by the hotel or later receipt by the customer. The hotel may at any time declare accrued accounts receivable mature and ask for immediate payment. In case of default in payment, the hotel is entitled to charge the applicable statutory default interest. The hotel reserves the right to furnish proof of a heavier loss.
- The customer shall refund dunning charges to the Hotel for each reminder after default has occurred in an amount of € 5,00. The customer is free to prove that substantially lower or no charges at all have been occurred.
- The hotel is entitled to ask, at closing or thereafter, for a reasonable down payment. The amount of such down payment and the dates of payment may be specified in the contract in writing.
- Only uncontroversial or non-appealable claims may be set off by or credited to the customer against claims of the hotel.
IV. Customer's withdrawal (countermanding, cancellation)
- For gratuitous withdrawal from the contract concluded with the hotel the customer requires the latter's written consent. If it is withheld, the contractually agreed room rate and third-party services rendered on the customer's instructions shall be payable even if the customer does not claim the services contracted for provided that alternative letting is no longer possible. This shall not apply if the hotel infringes its obligation to take account of the customer's rights, objects of legal protection and interests provided that the customer cannot therefore be expected to adhere to the contract or is entitled to another statutory or contractual right of withdrawal.
- Where the hotel and the customer have agreed in writing on a date by which the latter may withdraw from the contract without a charge, the customer may do so by that date without triggering payment or compensation claims of the hotel. The customer's right of withdrawal lapses if he/she fails to exercise that right vis-à-vis the hotel in writing by the agreed deadline unless the withdrawal is governed by para. 1, third sentence.
- If the customer cancels a booked event as late as between the 8th and the 4th week before the date scheduled therefor, the hotel may, in addition to the agreed rate and the cost of third-party services, if any, charge 35% of the catering turnover lost. This rate shall rise to 70% where a booked event is cancelled later than assumed above.
- Catering turnover is calculated according to the formula: menu price at the given event plus beverages multiplied by the number of participants. If no price had previously been agreed for the menu, the lowest-priced three-course menu of the offer applicable to the given event is applied. Beverages are charged at one third of the menu price.
- Where an all-inclusive rate per participant in the event has been agreed, the hotel may, if the event is cancelled between the 8th and the 4th week before the date scheduled therefor, charge 60% and, if it is cancelled later than that, 85% of the all-inclusive rate multiplied by the agreed number of participants.
- Paras. 3 to 5 take account of the discount for expenses saved. The customer is free to prove that the above claim has not arisen at all or not in the amount claimed.
V. Withdrawal by the hotel
- Where it was agreed in writing that the customer may withdraw free of charge by a certain deadline, the hotel is for its part entitled to withdraw from the contract if there are inquiries by other customers about contractually booked conference rooms and the customer, on inquiry by the hotel, refuses to waive his/her right to withdraw. The same shall analogously apply where the customer has been granted an option, but is not prepared, on inquiry by the hotel, to make a firm booking in a situation where the hotel has other inquiries.
- Where a down payment that has either been agreed or is asked for pursuant to the above section III para. 7 is not made, the hotel may likewise withdraw from the contract.
- Moreover, the hotel may withdraw from the contract for good cause, e.g. if the performance of a contract is rendered impossible by force majeure or other circumstances for which the hotel is not answerable, if conference facilities are booked on the basis of the misleading or false presentation of material facts, e.g. relating to the customer's identity or the purpose of the event, if the hotel has reason to believe that the event may affect its business operations, security or public image provided the cause is not rooted in the hotel's sphere of control and/or organisation, or if there is an infringement of section I, para. 2.
- The customer may not claim damages if the hotel withdraws for good cause. In the event that the hotel is entitled to damages from a customer in the context of a withdrawal pursuant to the above paras. 2 or 3, it may consolidate its claim into a lump sum. Paras. 3 to 6 of section IV shall analogously apply.
VI. Changes to the number of participants and the date/time of an event
- The hotel needs to be informed of any change to the number of participants by more than 5% five business days before the event is scheduled to begin. Any such change is subject to the hotel's written consent.
- Any reduction by the customer of the number of participants by up to 5% will be recognised by the hotel in accounting for its services. Where the shortfall exceeds 5%, the originally agreed number of participants minus 5% is applied. The customer may reduce the agreed price by the expenses saved on account of the lower number of participants. Proof of such savings shall be furnished by the customer.
- Where the number of participants is higher than agreed, billing is for the actual number.
- Where the number of participants differs by more than 10%, the hotel may fix new prices and exchange the rooms confirmed except if the customer cannot reasonably be expected to accept the new arrangements.
- Where the dates/times appointed for the beginning and/or end of an event are postponed with the hotel's concurrence, the latter may appropriately bill the customer for its flexible response unless the hotel is at fault.
VII. Bringing in food and beverages
The customer may not, as a matter of principle, bring in food and beverages for consumption at the event. Exceptions need to be agreed with the hotel in writing. In that case, a contribution to overhead is charged.
VIII. Technical equipment and connections, public permits
- Where the hotel procures technical and other equipment for and on the instructions of the customer, it does so in the name, by authority and for the account of the latter. The customer is liable for the careful handling and proper return of such equipment. It indemnifies the hotel against all third-party claims under the transfer for use of these facilities.
- Any use by the customer of own electrical equipment powered by the hotel's electricity supply system is subject to the hotel's written consent. The hotel may make its consent contingent on the non-gratuitous enlistment of the services of one of its engineers. The customer shall bear the cost of any interference with or damage to the technical equipment of the hotel caused by the use of the customer's equipment unless the hotel is answerable therefor. The cost of electricity consumed in this context may be consolidated into a lump sum and charged as such.
- The customer may, with the hotel's concurrence and for a connection charge, use telephone, fax and data transmission equipment of its own.
- Where, due to the use of the customer's own equipment, pertinent facilities of the hotel remain unused, down-time compensation may be charged.
- Defects of technical or other equipment provided by the hotel shall ideally be remedied promptly. Payments may not be retained or reduced unless the hotel is answerable for the defect.
- In so far as the Hotel provides Internet access, connections and networks, the customer shall hold the Hotel free and harmless of all and any third-party claims arising from the unlawful use of the Internet connection. Nor shall the Hotel be liable for any damage to property suffered by the customer from using the Internet or the networks. Otherwise, the above Clause II, Paragraph 4 Sentences 2 to 4 shall apply mutatis mutandis.
- Any official permits required for the event shall be procured by the customer in time and at its own expense. Likewise, the observance of conditions imposed under public law and of other regulations is incumbent upon the customer.
IX. Loss of or damage to objects brought in
- The risk of bringing exhibits and other objects, including privately-owned items, into the venue of the event shall be borne by the customer. The hotel is not liable for their loss, destruction or damage, including pecuniary loss, except in case of gross negligence or intent by the hotel. Exempt is any damage associated with the loss of life, bodily harm or injury to health. Likewise exempt from this release from liability are all instances where the provision of custody, in light of the specific circumstances, is a duty typical of the given type of contract. Barring the cases referred to in the fourth sentence, an express custody agreement is required.
- Any decorative material and other items brought in by the customer must conform to the requirements of fire protection and other public regulations. The hotel may require the submission of official proof of such conformity. Where no such proof is furnished, the hotel may remove any material already brought in by the customer at the latter's expense. To guard against damage, prior co-ordination with the hotel is required where the placement and mounting of such objects is concerned.
- Exhibits and other objects brought in shall be promptly removed after the event. If the customer fails to do so, the hotel may arrange for such items to be removed and stored at the customer's expense. If the items remain at the venue, the hotel may charge an appropriate compensation for the given period. The customer is free to prove that the above claim has either not arisen at all or not in the amount claimed.
- Objects left behind by participants are only sent on at the request, risk and expense of the person concerned. The hotel shall safe-keep such objects for a period of six months after communicating the find to the entitled party or the competent authority. Upon expiry of that time limit, the finder acquires ownership of the object if the identity of the entitled party has not been established or if that party has failed to file his/her claim with the competent authority. The above para. 1 shall analogously apply.
X. Customer's liability for damage
- If the customer is an entrepreneur, it is liable for any and all damage to the building and its inventory caused by participants in and/or visitors of the event, by staff members, other third parties from the customer's sphere or by the customer proper. The same shall analogously apply if the customer is a public law entity, a political party or a trade union.
- The hotel may require the customer to furnish adequate collateral securities (such as insurance policies, sureties or guarantees).
XI. Final provisions
- Modifications of or amendments to a contract, confirmation of an order or the present terms and conditions governing the hosting of events shall require the textual form in order to be effective. Unilateral modifications or amendments by the customer are ineffective.
- The place of fulfilment and payment shall be the hotel's domicile.
- Exclusive venue - including for disputes involving cheques - shall be, in commercial intercourse, the hotel's domicile. The same applies if the customer has no general venue inside the country, thus satisfying the requirement of § 38 para. 2 ZPO (Code of Civil Procedure).
- German law shall apply. UN law on the international sale of goods and the conflict of law rules may not be invoked.
- Should individual provisions of these general terms and conditions governing the hosting of events be or become ineffective or void, the effectiveness of their remaining provisions shall not be affected thereby. In that case the Parties shall agree on a new arrangement which comes as close as possible to the meaning of the ineffective provision.
- Berlin, November 2009


text:
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (July 27, 2009) According to a study in a special issue of Medical Decision Making, a large-scale, covert anthrax attack on a large city would overwhelm hospital resources even with an extremely effective public health response, primarily because of expected delays in detecting the attack and initiating a response to it.
The article "Predicting Hospital Surge after a Large-Scale Anthrax Attack: A Model-Based Analysis of CDC's Cities Readiness Initiative Prophylaxis Recommendations," examines one of the CDC's principal bioterrorism-response programs, the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI), a program that recommends the medical countermeasures necessary to minimize the hospital surge resulting from anthrax-related illness and response in the first two days after a major bioterrorism attack.
The researchers found that a CRI-compliant prophylaxis campaign starting two days after exposure would protect as many as 86% of exposed individuals from illness. However, each additional day needed to complete the campaign would result in as much as 3% more hospitalizations in the exposed population. Unsustainable levels of hospitalizations would result from delays in detecting and initiating response to large-scale, covert aerosol anthrax releases in a major city, even with highly effective mass prophylaxis campaigns.
The article, written by Nathaniel Hupert, incorporates some of the latest type of modeling techniques scientists use in the disaster preparedness.field. Such models have become increasingly important to public health officials and hospital administrators. To improve the consistency and quality of these models, the Society for Medical Decision Making convened experts to recommend best practices for modeling the public health response to a terror attack. Their article, also published in the current issue of Medical Decision Making, is entitled
- "Recommendations for Modeling Disaster Responses in Public Health and Medicine: A Position Paper of the Society for Medical Decision Making"
The authors examined a large selection of published mathematical and simulation health sector disaster response models to generate a set of best practice guidelines. They made several recommendations, including striking the appropriate balance between simplicity and complexity, designing a plan to evaluate the many uncertainties inherent in disaster response, and good model reporting of the disaster response.
- "Evaluating the Capability and Cost of a Mass Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Clinic via Computer Simulation"
This research set out to determine the best way a clinic could vaccinate as many as 15,000 clients in 17 hours, including such factors as how to best configure the personnel to maximize the number of clients vaccinated; and to estimate the costs and revenue of such an undertaking. The researchers found that it was possible for the clinic to reach its target and that using a computer simulation could help them determine the most efficient use of staff, machinery, supplies, and time.
"How hospitals and public health agencies are prepared for an attack--and how they respond to the surge in patients seeking care--will determine our success in containing an attack if one happens."" said Mark Helfand, editor of Medical Decision Making.
These articles in the July/August issue of Medical Decision Making on "Bioterrorism and Disaster Preparedness" are being made freely available by SAGE for a limited time at:
"Predicting Hospital Surge after a Large-Scale Anthrax Attack: A Model-Based Analysis of CDC's Cities Readiness Initiative Prophylaxis Recommendations" by Nathaniel Hupert, MD, MPH, Daniel Wattson, BS, Jason Cuomo, MPH, Eric Hollingsworth, BS, Kristof Neukermans, BA, MBA, and Wei Xiong, PhD http://mdm.
"Recommendations for Modeling Disaster Responses in Public Health and Medicine: A Position Paper of the Society for Medical Decision Making" by Margaret L. Brandeau, PhD, Jessica H. McCoy, MS, Nathaniel Hupert, MD, MPH, Jon-Erik Holty, MD, MS, Dena M. Bravata, MD, MS http://mdm.
"Evaluating the Capability and Cost of a Mass Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Clinic via Computer Simulation" by Michael L. Washington, PhD http://mdm.
Medical Decision Making (MDM) offers rigorous and systematic approaches to decision making that are designed to improve the health and clinical care of individuals and to assist with health policy development. It is the official journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making (www.smdm.org). The Journal presents theoretical, statistical, and modeling techniques and methods from a variety of disciplines, including decision psychology, health economics, clinical epidemiology, and evidence synthesis. MDM promotes understanding of human decision-making processes so that individuals can make more informed and satisfying choices regarding their health. http://mdm.
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Oceania Fantasy (OFS) is a casual guild base on oceanic timezone, which includes Australia and Asian countries. We are peaceful guild who never restrict our members and everyone is allow to make decisions here. Guild facilities and upgrades include guild bank, and all sorts of banners and buffs. The long duration buffs will be used on guild group events, weekends, and holidays.
OFS focus on socialising, relax and fun teamplaying. Members are friendly and they love to talk, we joke around, chat a lot, in all different topics. Our member mainly on PvE, Dungeons, WvW, and we do PvP sometimes. We currently pulling up a team mainly focus on WvW to distribute more efford in our world, members at all level is welcome to put your hands up and be part of it.
Our guild had been established for a while and thanks to our members, we have our guild website and forum http://oceaniafantasy.enjin.com/home, facebook group (Oceania Fantasy OFS), and also voice chat channel on C3. If member has any requests or new ideas, we happy to apply and follow.
Oceania Fantasy's recruitment is open to all level and all professions. Our guild has levels of management to look after the guild, but all member, even a new member, will have the full right lead on by your profession experience of the game. We have quite a few level 80s, and they are ready for parties and help outs on events, dungeons, etc. We have almost all crafting full leveled on active members, and any guildies can request for crafting items and equipments in game or on our forum.
If you interested to be a part of us, please reply here or PM me, or register in our guild website and drop off a joining request in our recruitment section of the forum.
Mr Sephy
Edited by Mr Sephy, 14 November 2012 - 02:00 AM.


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: [Pokémon OPEN]
The Pokémon Trainer Academy (T) [Best Veteran 4Q '11]
View Single Post
October 4th, 2012 (4:46 PM).
Join Date:
Aug 2011
Rosalyn Smith
Academy Hallways
Rosalyn looked over at Alice and nodded. "Valorie, I think her names Valorie" she said still holding onto Jimmy's hand as they watched the battle. The Swampert was dealt with quickly Rosalyn noticed, and for some reason she found herself looking at every detail no matter how small. With her memory she'd be able to draw what was happening here later. It would make a great picture, and hopefully she could get some money for it, Arceus knows she needs some.
The boy sent out a Braviary and when it attacked Valorie's Pokemon Rosalyn flinched and moved closer, and slightly behind Jimmy not releasing the grip she had on his hand. She didn't like the look of this Pokemon, almost as much as she didn't like the bad vibe she was getting from the Pokemon's trainer. Suddenly though a teacher broke up the fight someone she recognized as Sabrina
so cool
. Sabrina asked what had happened when suddenly the odd colored Zorua that Valorie had jumped down and transformed into a small boy, listening to what he was saying Rosalyn paled at the mention of the R men. She stopped paying attention there as Jazz stood more in front of her, Rosalyn spoke loud enough for only Jimmy and Alice to hear.
"Team Rocket...he means Team Rocket"
Genevieve Molyneux
Academy Grounds
Genevieve grew more worried as she nodded at the teacher that had showed up. She was scared she was going to get in trouble. She was already emotional from what was going on in her life. Holding the Togepi egg with one hand Genevieve moved closer to Maxwell and grabbed his hand. "y-yes Sir" she said shakily taking a deep breath.
Right now, she had to keep calm and take them to the Emergency room. She could be nervous about the questions later. "Just follow us, it's not far from here." she continued sounding a bit calmer. "we'll get him there in no time at all"
Joined Aug 2011
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text:
Book World Live
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; 3:00 PM
James Loewen is the author of "Sundown Towns," a new work about the alleged thousands of American towns that were kept deliberately whites-only. His book was reviewed in the Oct. 23 issue of
Loewen will be online Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 3 p.m. ET to discuss his book and a hidden dimension of American race relations.
Loewen, who taught race relations for 20 years at the University of Vermont, has a Ph.D in sociology from Harvard University.
Join Book World Live each Tuesday for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.
James Loewen: I am really looking forward to this "talk," although since I have not participated in prior forums, I'm nervous about the technology of it all.
SUNDOWN TOWNS is a new "topic," in a way, never writen about before, and I hope I can convince you during this session that they are worthy of your investigation. When I began my research, I expected to find maybe 10 such towns in Illinois, my native state, where I planned to do more research than in any other single state, and maybe 50 across the country. To my shock, I found 472, I believe, in Illinois, and there are about 10,000 in the US -- a majority of all incorporated communities in Illinois, and probably in Oregon, Indiana, and various other Northern states. Come along, as we journey to some of them.
Washington, DC: Growing up in Southern Illinois, I heard it said that Omaha, Illinois, got its name from the day some blacks tried to settle in the town. As the white residents ran the blacks out of town, the blacks cried "Oh ma ha!" -O, my hair].
Wanda Avila
James Loewen: I suspect "Oh ma ha" is an urban legend, if you can have an urban legend in so small a town. [I looked up Omaha, IL, in my atlas, and could not find it!] However, like many urban legends, there is probably a kernel of truth: probably Omaha, wherever it is, did drive out a family of black would-be immigrants.
Reston, Va: From the review, there's not much statistical analysis, or maybe the reviewer wasn't interested in the data. Why wouldn't Census data show these towns--certainly they've always collected racial breakdowns?
There's also an absence of the statistical universe--1,000 or 3,000 or more towns sounds like a big number, but is the U.S. total 10,000 or 100,000?
Finally, any idea on the effect of the laws. Did they evict residents or keep out potential migrants? One thinks of the migration from the South to the big cities of the North being based on Southern repression and poverty and the greater freedom and opportunity to be found in Chicago, Detroit, etc. Does your research challenge or modify that generalization?
James Loewen: Census data certainly show the racial breakdown of American towns, and in the portfolio of illustrations in SUNDOWN TOWNS I even publish a page of the 1970 census for Indiana. It shows an overwhelming proportion of small towns (on this table, pop. 1,000 to 2,500) with NO blacks at all, even though these little towns DO have sprinklings of "others" (non-black nonwhites).
Yes, there are some statistics in SUNDOWN TOWNS. Not enough to numb the mind, but enough to convince you, I think.
Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C.: Mr. Loewen,
First of all, I am a big fan of your books "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and "Lies Across America." The former inspired me to work towards my doctorate in history, even though my BA is in English. Fascinating, inspiring stuff. I will be reading "Sundown Towns" soon.
To get to my question: I have frequently thought about the implications of segregated housing in America, and the ways in which it affects the educational experience of students. Everything I know about this correlation is in regards to inner cities (such that Chevy Chase would apply, given the high concentration of African American students in Washington, DC schools). Do you think a similar effect occurs in rural areas as well, or are most of the sundown towns you know of in proximity to an urban area? In other words, if a rural town refused to allow black residents, thus creating a segregated housing situation, would that have an educational impact on school-age black children, or would they not necessarily live on the fringes of such a neighborhood?
Thank you!
James Loewen: Thanks for your kind words about my "LIES" books.
Chevy Chase was invented as a sundown town (well, legally, four different sundown towns), and one of the principal reasons for the invention of Rock Creek Park, by Sen. Newlands, developer of Chevy Chase, was to keep it that way.
There are many independent sundown towns as well. Many of these would allow blacks to live or at least spend the night nearby -- in the rural so long as it was outside the city limits. Peru, IL, for example, hosted a band from the U. of Mich. in maybe 1970 and it included a couple of black players, and the LaSalle-Peru HS band hosted the players overnight, so they put the black players with white LPHS players who lived in the rural, and no problems emerged.
Harrisburg, Pa.: The review shows that you have written a fascinating book. I had always argued there is definite economic segregation with zoning and building laws to create de facto racial segregation. It is interesting that this was literally stated policy during the past century. How were you able to document all this? Were was information about these practices kept?
James Loewen: Several people have asked: how did I document all these places? There is half a chapter in SUNDOWN TOWNS telling how. Briefly, I often had to rely on oral history. This is a topic where oral history can be more accurate than written. Anna, IL, for example, drove out its black population in 1909 and has been known from that day to this as "Ain't No Niggers Allowed -- ANNA." In 1954 it published a fat coffee table history, "ANNA, IL., A CENTURY OF PROGRESS," 450 pages, a paragraph on every single local business, even the Dairy Queen. But not one word on 1909, on the origin of the slang meaning for "Anna," not one word on Anna as a sundown town. Conversely, people will TELL you about it, with details, verbally, especially face-to-face.
North Haven, Conn.: How did the discoveries you made overlap and reinforce covenant laws?
James Loewen: Sundown suburbs arose somewhat after sundown towns -- most in the period 1905-1968. They used a variety of methods to form and stay all-white, usually relying, like indep. towns, on violence as the final resort. But many used "restrictive covenants," and I have amassed a collection of these from Vermont to San Diego. Typically they said, "No portion of these premises shall ever be sold to or occupied by anyone other than members of the white or Caucasian race." Then they often added, "Nothing in the foregoing shall preclude live-in servants."
Annapolis, Md: good afternoon, VT's coming up big on-line today: the BW review quotes you, "3000 -15,000 independent towns went sundown, mostly between 1890-1930." What percent is that -- how many ind. towns were there total? What about other minorities, were they too kept out? In my own lifetime, born 1956, it seems to me that nearly all people tend to 'segregate' themselves. Maybe we're not color-blind or rascism free. Yet. thank you.
James Loewen: I don't know how many towns there are in the US. Of course, it depends on size. In Illinois, I DO know: in 1970 (the peak year for sundown towns), Illinois had about 650 towns larger than 1,000 (up to and including Chicago, of course). I show that 422 were probably sundown towns, and in addition I have evidence of 50 towns with sundown policies but fewer than 1,000 population. Therefore I conclude that about 2/3 of all Illinois towns were sundown towns.
Indianapolis, Ind.: Mr Loewen,
I look forward to reading your book. Having spent almost 50 years living throughout the state of Illinois, I am appalled at hearing your statistics of how rampant the racism was in that state. I am a recent transplant to Indy, and wonder did you find a lot of Sundown towns in Indiana, due to the fact (so I hear) that there was a large KKK presence in this state?
James Loewen: Indiana has JUST AS MANY sundown towns as Illinois, perhaps slightly more. It has at least fifteen whole counties that kept blacks out pretty much throughout the entire county, often enforced by the sheriff. There are two reasons why I only found maybe 190 sundown towns in Indiana: (1) I did less research in Indiana, and (2) Indiana is smaller, with fewer people, so it has fewer towns, hence fewer sundown towns. The proportion of sundown towns is at least as high, though.
Anonymous: Hello,
did you research any other types of discrimination other than prejudice against African-Americans? I know the name of the high school teams in the town of Pekin Illinois was the "chinks" until very recently. I hear you can still buy "Chinks" t-shirts if you ask for them in certain sporting goods stores in the area to this day.
James Loewen: Yes, two years ago I bought a "Pekin Chinks" t-shirt and include a photo of it in SUNDOWN TOWNS. (I do not wear the shirt, tho.) :) Pekin, a city of about 30,000, was a notorious sundown town, and I include the shirt to indicate how bad the rhetoric can be in sundown towns. Of course, Washington, DC, can name a professional team "Redskins," so a town does not HAVE to be a sundown town to use white supremacist rhetoic. But it helps.
Rockville, Md.: There's a phenomenon I've only seen in the South, of twin towns in rural areas, one all-white and the other all-black. I'm from New England and I had never seen this until I started traveling in the South in my mid-twenties.
Is this the same kind of thing you're talking about with sundown towns? The article makes it sound like sundown towns are mostly a Midwestern phenomenon.
James Loewen: You might email me off-list, email@example.com, and tell me of these paired communities. I know this phenomenon more in the Midwest, Long Island, PA, CA, and less commonly in the South.
The traditional South rarely indulged in sundown towns, for reasons I discuss in the book. Why would you make your maid leave?! Made no sense to them.
On Long Island, however, there are at least ten little majority black "townships" where black working class folks lived, then communited to sundown suburbs at dawn to start the coal furnace, cook breakfast, etc. And we see "Colp," near Herrin, IL, and "Chevy Chase Heights," next to Indiana, PA, etc., etc.
Prince George's County, Md.: Thank you Mr. Loewen for being on-line to talk about this topic. This is an uncomfortable question to ask, and likewise probably a difficult one to answer: What was the real reason whites wanted to keep out blacks. Racism (based on skin color) is too general a term; what was the real basis. At the risk of being the devil's advocate, was it because of cultural differences. For example, black neighborhoods do have a disportionally high crime rate. For example, Prince Geroge's County has the greatest number of wealthy blacks, and a high number serving in high offices, yet the crime rate is way too high. Also, today, there may not be forced, blatant white-only neighborhoods, yet white liberals never choose to live in black neighborhoods, no matter how nice they look.
James Loewen: I hope this question was indeed uncomfortable to ask. Read my chapter, "Origin Myths and Historical Causes," and it'll help your thinking. Many towns became sundown -- expelled their blacks -- upon learning of the misbehavior of one black person. For example, Vienna, IL, burned out its black community quite late -- 1954 -- because one (perhaps two) black(s) molested a white woman and her daughter. Vienna has no black household to this date. This kind of collective responsibility is NEVER done to whites. How could we -- do it to ourselves?
Greenbelt, Md.: I've just moved from a Sundown town - Shelby, Ohio. I'm a minister and one of the first things I heard when I got there from Hyattsville, MD was that there "usta be" a sign at the edge of town telling "n....s" to be out of town by sundown. Didn't surprise me as that part of Ohio was settled mostly from the South during WWI and WWII and Ohio has/had more Klan members than Alabama. I was, however, surprised by the fellow who told me. Didn't figure him to be a racist. Your critics seem to be worried that your sources are anecdotal. Go survey Shelby and anyone who has lived there 10 years or more will fill you another volume of true anecdotes.
James Loewen: Yes, Shelby was a sundown town. Ironically, so was Greenbelt. Indeed, Greenbelt was one of seven towns invented during the FDR administration to employ people and provide examples of well-planned towns of tomorrow. Of course, "well-planned" equaled "all white."
Washington, DC: Are you optimistic about the future of American race relations? As a student of sociology, your books and others (particularly "Savage Inequalities") lead me to wonder if we will ever achieve true racial equality. I have to say, I am not hopeful, although I intend to work towards fostering it as much as I can.
James Loewen: Yes, I am optimistic, although the current administration has not helped matters. Both Pres. Bush and Vice Pres. Cheney chose to live in a sundown town for many years -- indeed, they both chose the SAME sundown town, Highland Park, TX. The very first black family ever to buy a home there did so in Feb. of 2004, I believe (perhaps 2003). Of course, Mssrs. Bush and Cheney now live in an interracial town -- Washington -- but their lack of knowledge and concern about race relations may date to their sundown town experiences or may explain why they chose to live there.
I must say, however, that at least half of all sundown towns have given up their exclusionary policies in the last 15 years or so. So I remain optimistic.
Atlanta, Ga.: Indiana is an intersting state. I lived there during a fellowship in the 80s. The state is oddly insular---you see licnese plates from neighborhing states, but the Indiana plates largely stop at the stateline. The Klan ran the Democratic party in the 20s and xenophobia reportedly led the town fathers of Indianapolis from accepting auto factories in the early 20th century because of the European imigrant workers they'd bring.
When I lived in Bloomington, Indiana, I was told that this sizable, university town had no Blacks (other than students) until they were literally brought in with the appliance and electronics factories that located there in the 50s and 60s. Are their similar tales about ostensibly conservative corporations integrating other sundown towns?
James Loewen: In many communities, corporations have played a positive role. In Danville, IL, for example, Quaker Oats refused to locate until Danville passed an open housing law. (And Danville wasn't even a sundown town, just a highly segregated one.)
Washington, DC: I'm looking forward to reading your book, actually I plan to buy it after work today.
My family is from Illinois as well. My parents grew up in Chicago (NW side) and Waukegan in the 50s and 60s. It seems to me that they both lived in fairly integrated neighborhoods, and I certainly did as a child in Waukegan in the 80s. Were many of these Sundown Towns in the Chicago area? Or were they further "downstate?" Were they geographically concentrated or spread evenly throughout the state? Thanks for answering my question!
James Loewen: Sundown towns are all over IL, but the Chicago suburbs were about 80% sundown. (So were the L.A. suburbs, and so are the Detroit suburbs.)
Columbia, Md.: What led to the demise of most 'sundown towns'? Was it prevailing sensibilities of new whites moving in from elsewhere or the old guard dying off or some other reason?
James Loewen: I think the reason sundown towns are now on the wane is a change in the zeitgeist -- the spirit of the times -- owing originally to the Civil Rights movement. Also, in 1968, two specific changes: (1) in the aftermath of the assassination of MLK Jr., and probably only do-able at that moment in time, Congress passed and LBJ signed what is commonly known as the "Fair Housing Act," and the federal government finally changed sides, from fomenting sundown towns and neighborhoods, to opposing them. And (2) a Supreme court decision , JONES V MEYER,held that housing discrimination was illegal. Little enforcement, but at least it was not openly illegal.
Clifton, Va: Very interesting article. Since I am a Penn State alum, I was wondering if you had researched the town of State College PA. While I was a student there in the early 80's it was 'discovered' that housing ordinances specifically prohibited minorities from living in certain areas. I'm sure the people living there knew about it, but it was a shock to most of the students there at the time. Pennsylvania was also the only northern state under court ordered desegragation at the college level, since the state policy had for a long time been to have black students go to Lincoln University.
James Loewen: Thanks for this information about State College. Indiana, PA, was a near-sundown town (and another college town). Indeed, I suspect that PA had/has more than 600 sundown towns, more than any other state -- partly because PA has more towns than any other state, just about. If you learn more about State College, tell me via email -- email@example.com.
Re Annapolis, MD: Mr. Loewen, would you contend that people do not "segregate themselves" across the board, but that white people are the primary motivators of segregation? I've read sociological studies reporting that black citizens tend to want to integrate neighborhoods, but that white citizens do not want them to, hence blowing a hole in the idea that racially segregated housing now is a preference. Would you agree?
James Loewen: Every group has some members who want the comfort of living in a neighborhood with lots of folks who share their culture (and even their looks). But mainly re African Americans (and to some degree Jews in suburbia and Chinese in the West) have OTHERS required them to live in certain places and only those places. In sociology we have an index, "D", that goes from 0 (total equality, every block mith about the same mix) to 100 (total apartheid, not one black in a white block and vice versa). For Italian Americans, at their most concentrated, D - about 50, maybe 45. Same for other ethnic groups. For blacks in 1890, about 45, maybe 40. But then, during the 20th century, D grew and grew, reaching 88 in Chicago, 90 in Detroit, and an incredible 96 in West Palm Beach by 1970. This was owing to sundown suburbs and sundown neighborhoods. Not free choice!
Baltimore, Md.: I'm a black man and I stayed in Vienna, IL during my road trip vacation five years ago. I didn't notice any hostile attitudes while there, but then again they've got to be pretty overt for me to pick up on them.
However, I did feel a little uncomfortable in other southern Illinois towns along US 45 such as Harrisburg. I got some odd looks at stop lights and at a gas station. I thought it was just the Maryland tags on my car, but now I know better.
I look forward to reading your book.
James Loewen: Actually, Harrisburg was never a sundown town. We have reached the interesting point now where black tourists can spend the night safely and comfortably in a sundown town (as you did) but cannot live there.
Houghton, Mich.: Based on my own casual obversations and heresay evidence, "sundowning" is still very much alive, even if not institutionalized. For example, a sheriff visiting a black householder, and telling the family they can expect trouble - not from him, but their neighbors.
That is, I don't think sundowning practically ended with the advent of civil rights.
James Loewen: No, sundown towns are alive ane well, and I did not mean to imply otherwise. The 1964 civil Rights Act, for example, was not enforced by the federal government, not really, but by African Americans. That is, after a black family was denied service by a restaurant, motel, etc., it might complain to the Justice Dept., and while the latter would not do much, often it did at least send FBI agents to interview the management, which has a certain chilling impact on the practice of exclusion. But in sundown towns, there was no one to complain! No one to integrate the schools! etc. So they have remained in a time-warp dating back to before 1954.
Munich, Germany: Was the term, "Sundown Town" in common usage in the 1930's? Were articles written about the original town in California?
Also, where did blacks move to after being run out of Sundown Towns? Did they create black towns? It almost sounds like South Africa's township concept under Apartheid if this was the case.
James Loewen: "Sundown town" was commonly used in the '30s, yes. There was no one "original town" in CA. I must have typed in haste if I implied there was. There ahve been a couple of towns, at least, that were sundown since before the Civil War. Most went sundown during the terrible Nadir of Race Relations, 1890-1940. Yes, sometimes blacks did end up in what I call "black townships," a deliberate allusion to South Africa. More often, they wound up in places like the South Side of Chicago.
In 1890, you see, blacks in Illinois, for example, were more rural than whites. The population of Illinois blacks in Chicago was 23%, while that for whites was 28%. Then between 1890 and 1940, blacks are driven from town after town and end up in the larger cities.
Washington, DC: Where are you from in Illinois?
James Loewen: I grew up in Decatur, IL, right in the middle of the state. As I was growing up, I knew that all the little towns around Decatur were all white -- Monticello, Niantic, Pana, etc. It never occurred to me, however, that they were all white ON PURPOSE.
Then, in Oct. 2001, when I was the keynote speaker for the Decatur Writers Conference (owing to the success of LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME), I had an "aha" experience. At the end of my talk, I mentioned this new topic I was working on, and invited folks to come on down and talk with me if they knew something about it. To my amazement, 20 people came down, and told me stories, with details, abut Monticello, Niantic, Pana, Villa Grove, etc., etc. And I realized they were all all-white ON PURPOSE!
Herndon, Va.: There was an editorial in the Post just a day or two ago about a trend in some areas of D.C. where more and more white people are moving into overwhelmingly black neighborhoods, and how many of the current residents are uncomfortable with this "gentrification". How does this fit in with your view that it is mostly whites who are more comfortable living among their own kind?
James Loewen: I did not write "whites are comfortable among their own kind" and am fully aware that some blacks want their neighborhood to stay all-black or overwhelmingly so.
I have a long take on gentrification. Can't type it all here. Two quick points: (1) rich white folks have to live SOMEWHERE, do they not? We cannot just take them out and execute them! So where would we have them choose? a segregated enclave, all-white and rich? or a neighborhood with all sorts of folks? (2)Gentrification rarely drives out blacks, and gentrifying neighborhoods stay multi-racial and multi-class for decades.
Arlington, Va.: Can you talk more about the oral histories you used to determine sundown towns? I am just maybe a bit skeptical. If I went to Northern Minnesota and took oral histories from everyone, I might be convinced there was a giant woodsman with a blue ox who cleared huge forests. Can you explain more?
James Loewen: Is there a reason to privilege something written over something spoken? The blue ox legend, incidentally, was written, not spoken.
What do YOU think, when a perfectly reasonable person -- let's say, a college professor, seems to teach her classes OK, seems not to be crazy -- has this conversation with me: I know Pinckneyville had a sundown sign, because I remember the following conversation with my Dad, when we were returning to Pville in the car, after a trip to the country. I saw the sign, and I said, "No, Daddy, that's not right, they meant "Colors." (Colors was our word for crayons.) "No Colors allowed." And he laughed and laughed and said, no, no, Susie, "Coloreds," you know, a word for darkies, for niggers, "no Coloreds Allowed." Do you think she made up this entire story? Or that Pville had such a sign?
Philadelphia, Pa.: Have you looked at the subject of racial segregation within communities? For instance, I recall researchers claiming that Philadelphia was one of the most racially segregated cities in America even though, in total, it appeared to be an ethnically diverse city. There were whole blocks that not only racially segregated yet often 90 percent or more of its residents were ethnically segregated.
James Loewen: Sometimes I treat "sundown neighborhoods," especially when these are huge. West Lawn, Chicago, for example, depending on how it is bounded, has 25,000 to 101,000 residents.
But there are other books, good ones, on the segregation within cities. What is amazing, and what I tried to remedy, is the complete lack of treatment of entire towns that excluded blacks totally. Large cities like Appleton, Wisc., for gosh sakes!
Washington, DC: Interesting issue about covenants. I recently found out that in the WV city where my parents live, many of the homes were originally sold with covenants prohibiting sale to Italians (the main population imported to work in the coal mines there). The homes have been kept in the families since the 1940s, so only now are the children and grandchildren of the original owners discovering this fact. All of this is amusing because Italian families now run the city.
James Loewen: If you would share such a covenant with me, I'd love to have a copy.
Alexandria, Va: How did you determine which towns in America were "Sun down towns." In other words, what were your criteria for determining if any given town made the list.
James Loewen: Very good question. I devote considerable space to telling my criteria and defending them. We're out of time here, but you'll find my defense in the book. I think you'll find I was pretty thorough.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.


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Speaking in Los Angeles, senior Democratic Politico Harry Truman ventured a prediction: "I am telling you that the man, in my opinion, who will not be nominated for President on the Democratic ticket is one who will divide the country on race, religion or foreign policy." That prediction could be taken as a poke at such leading Democratic possibilities as Massachusetts' Jack Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, and Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey, who has strongly liberal foreign policy notions. But Truman's reverse description of The Man Who was also carefully tailored to promote the Democrat...
National Affairs: A Man Who
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State of Our Union
"The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." - Article II, Sec. 3, U.S. Constitution.
These words, written at the birth of our nation, draw attention to the importance of open lines of communication between the Executive and Legislative branches of our federal government.
Ever since the early days of our country, the Chief Executive has given Congress an assessment of the condition of the United States and the union which binds us as Americans together. Presidents have used this "State of the Union," as it would eventually be known, to present their legislative proposals and agenda for the upcoming year.
President George Washington personally delivered the first annual message to Congress on January 8, 1790, in New York City's Federal Hall - the seat of the federal government at the time. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of personally giving the address, feeling it too closely resembled the monarchy-style of government of England.
Instead, Jefferson sent copies of his written message to Congress. This practices was continued until Woodrow Wilson personally delivered his annual message to Congress in 1913. Ten years later, Calvin Coolidge's speech was the first annual message to be broadcast on the radio, while Harry Truman's address in 1947 was the first State of the Union to be broadcast on television.
On January 28, President George Bush gave his seventh and final State of the Union address before a joint session of the House and the Senate.
A far cry from the days of George Washington, President Bush's address was shown live on news channels and computers around the world and translated into Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, and Spanish, among other foreign languages.
He used the opportunity to look forward at the challenges facing our nation, shying away from spending much time reflecting on his seven years as President. This was a good choice. We need to look to the future on issues such as energy, health care, and education.
The President challenged Congress to take action to address the economy in the short and long-term. He reiterated the need to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and arm our intelligence community with the tools it needs to keep our nation safe.
He dealt with the need for economic growth, both as it relates to the average American as well as for our economy in general. Congress needs to act quickly on an economic stimulus package for individuals, and we must act to provide businesses incentives to invest and access to capital for job creation.
We have the opportunity to act on these initiatives - from passing important fair trade agreements, expanding opportunities for Nebraska's products, to protecting taxpayers from future tax increases. But we can only carry out these agenda items if both bodies of Congress are able to work together, in a bipartisan manner in the coming months and put our country back on the right track.
The State of the Union is a chance for the world to see our government - with its many different ideals, political beliefs, and priorities - at its best. Showing respect for the office of President, as well as each other, it is a rare moment of civility in an increasingly politicized environment.
As we begin the second session of the 110th Congress - and as we take up some of the issues discussed in the State of the Union - I hope we can continue with the same sense of respect and duty which was on display that Monday night.
Source: http://www.adriansmith.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=244


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Logo design is a very special niche and thus logo designers are a very
special creed. This is because, a logo designer not only needs to have a flair
and skill for good design but also have a good understanding of business as well
as consumer psychology to create an effective and impact-making logo design.
As a business owner interested in branding if you are looking for a logo
designer, you may have to try out a few before you actually select the right
person for your need. A better technique to save time, money and resources would
be to conduct a logo design contest through a proper agency. If you can offer a
good prize as an incentive and get a lot of logo designers to participate in the
contest, it could bring in fantastic results because:
You will get all custom designs a lot of variety to choose from.
The designs will be ready by a specific date when the contest closes and will
not take infinite time.
You can get to know a lot of more logo designers probably from different
countries as opposed to limiting your options in a traditional selection
Get your logo designs in the formats you choose and ready for print.
You can get a full copyright ownership of a lot of logo designs for a lesser
amount of money spent.
The agency would guarantee a certain number of entries without which you can get
your money back.
By getting into or organizing a logo design contest through a proper agency, you
can rid yourself of the headaches of going through proofs and selecting the
right design. The process becomes much simpler and the logo designers
participating in the contest will send in only their best designs.


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San Diego's economic future lies in retaining and growing existing businesses more than in stealing them from elsewhere.
That was the key observation by a panel organized this week by the local Urban Land Institute chapter.
"My contention is that attraction is a real tough thing to do," said Ruben Barrales, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. "To attract a company to move from somewhere else to California has got to be a unique situation."
Brendan Foote, a tax specialist at the Hughes Marino commercial brokerage said Texas, for example, can tap a "bottomless" account in its enterprise fund to pay companies to relocate.
"Six states have no income tax," he said. "Colorado's is very low, and they are aggressively campaigning. So it is is a very challenging environment."
Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., said business growth is more doable locally by focusing on existing companies already here.
"Where job growth happens, contrary to what's being said politically all over the country, is in small- and medium-sized businesses," Cafferty said.
Kris Michell, president of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, said one way to grow small businesses is to make the working environment attractive. A key target is the startup, high-tech or software company, whose founders typically employ urban-loving 20-somethings, the so-called "Millennials" or Generation Y born between 1982 and 2004.
"We want to attract the Millennials and their talent who don't want to be in the suburbs," she said.
She said her group is working to lessen some of downtown's downsides, such as homelessness -- through better homeless shelters -- and parking, through a shuttle system that would make it possible to park once downtown and then take low-cost or free public transit for all other business and leisure needs.
The resources will come through a proposed commercial marketing district, now in formation, that would use $375,000 annually in special tax assessments collected from large downtown property owners.
"I think the product is good but it can be so much better," Michell said.
Foote said beyond marketing, small businesses should be taking advantage of the state enterprise zone that covers much of the urbanized county south of Mission Valley and which is proposed to extend northward to Kearny Mesa.
Employers can obtain $37,000 in tax credits for employees who previously were military veterans, unemployed or in other hard-to-employ groups.
"We need to focus on current business owners and make sure they are aware of the tools out there," he said.
The program was recommended for elimination by Gov. Jerry Brown but continues to retain political support in Sacramento, Foote said, in contrast to redevelopment that went out of business in February.
While reforms might be accepted by tax credit supporters, Foote said companies remain somewhat leery of jumping in if the program's future remains in doubt.
"Companies spend millions building infrastructure based on these incentives," he said. "What false promises does California send if a company invests $50 million to create an activity and a year later, the program is eliminated?"
Cafferty, who recently returned from an international aerospace convention in London as part of a delegation from Tijuana touting regional economic opportunities, said London is attracting many startups in its old industrial zones. San Diego operates two incubators in modern office buildings but could use many times that, he said.
He also said San Diego could generate more interest if it trumpeted the achievements of its local universities.
"We don't lead enough with our universities," he said. "We aren't promoting the universities in the San Diego area in the way that the (San Francisco) bay area and Boston-Cambridge do."
He also said San Diego could better promote its health-care and biotech sectors as economic drivers.


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Top 5 Stories this Week: Turn your iPad in to a Mac wannabe, iPhone mini pricing, Tim Cook call and more
We made it through another week relatively unscathed, and there's been a nice variety of news and content to report on over the past 7 days. Whether it's some cool jailbreak tweak ideas, rumors of iWatches and cheaper iPhones or the well publicized call Tim Cook took part in. Check out this week's top stories.
1. How To: Turn your iPad into a MacBook wannabe [Jailbreak]
Kyle runs down a couple of really cool tweaks and settings you can use to transform your iPad OS to look exactly like Mac OS. It's a worthwhile read for anyone who's ever wanted a desktop experience on their tablet.
2. Analyst: 'iPhone mini' pricing to be between $250-$300
Although analysts are far from reliable when it comes to predicting Apple's movements, we can't help but bump in to a few along the way. The most recent to make the headlines is one analyst's prediction that the low-cost iPhone will costs somewhere around $250-$300 off contract. Virtually half the price of the iPhone 5.
3. Tim Cook call lowdown: Cheaper iPhone, Larger Displays, Apple's success and future all mentioned
Tim took time out of his busy schedule to answer questions on a call organized by Goldman Sachs. He was asked a variety of probing questions. I found his answers very calming. Apple is still Apple.
4. Rumor: Apple will make iWatch
Yet another rumor to make the headlines this week. Many sources and publications are certain that Apple will release an iWatch. It's not a matter of if, but when.
5. Apple to rebuild iOS to support more processor cores?
And finally, another tidbit of speculation. Could iOS be rebuilt to support processors with more cores? Do we want to see quad-core phones? Or is the iPhone 5 speedy enough?
As always, leave your questions and comments below, or tweet me: @TiP_Cam


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There's another new supergroup of sorts on the horizon: two members of Fall Out Boy are using their time away from the band to provide riffs and beats for a new heavy metal side project called the Damned Things. FOB guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley have teamed with Anthrax's Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley and bassist David Karon in the new band, which Ian describes to Rock Sound as "Kyuss meeting Thin Lizzy."
Check out supergroups from Cream to Them Crooked Vultures.
According to Rock Sound, the Damned Things have already written and demoed 15 songs with the hope of entering the studio in December. "It's super fun and it's something that we do totally take seriously because we love the music we've created," Ian said, describing new song "A Great Reckoning" as worthy of "any Thin Lizzy record." The band's roots can be traced back to at least October 2008, when the Damned Things' MySpace page was created. Judging by the comments on that page, a Damned Things song was initially posted there but has since been deleted.
As Rolling Stone previously reported, after years of constantly recording and touring, Fall Out Boy are going on a hiatus — even though Wentz told RS it was more like an indefinite vacation — but Trohman and Hurley won't be catching up on R&R during the break, instead taking the opportunity to step out of Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz's shadows. "People think of Fall Out Boy and they think of Pete Wentz and Patrick," Ian told Rock Sound, "These two guys, man, they're fucking hardcore dudes. Joe writes some amazing riffs."
Related Stories:
• Pete Wentz on the Art of Rocking in Underwear, Fall Out Boy's Plans
• Pete Wentz Talks Schemes Behind Fall Out Boy's Tour With Blink-182


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Go to Encyclopedia of Life...
Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2007. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3.
Life habit: lichenized Thallus: crustose, areolate or sub-squamulose, margin abrupt at edge, without elongated lobes; prothallus: absent surface: orange, smooth, sorediate soredia: granular, in delimited or irregular, laminal or marginal, irregular soralia cortex: cellular, 16-35 µm thick, granules absent; medulla without granules Apothecia: adnate, 0.2-1 mm, lecanorine disc: orange, flat, epruinose margin: persistent, slightly raised; thalline margin present, concolorous with thallus; proper margin visible, concolorous with disc or little lighter than disc parathecium: cellular (paraplectenchymatous) including exciple below hypothecium epihymenium: golden, K+ red, C- hymenium: hyaline, 55-70(-85) µm tall paraphyses: 2-3 tip cells slightly swollen, frequently branched; subhymenium hyaline asci: cylindrical, 8-spored ascospores: hyaline, 2 locules, ellipsoid, (10-)11-14 x (4-)5.5(-7) µm, isthmus 3-4 µm, spore end wall thin Pycnidia: present, mostly immersed, ostiole orange Spot tests: apothecial margin K+ red, C-; thallus K+ red, C- Secondary metabolites: parietin, fallacinal, emodin, and teloschistin. Substrate and ecology: on wood or bark World distribution: Europe, Africa and North America Sonoran distribution: southern California, Arizona, Baja California, Baja California Sur, western Chihuahua, and Sonora. Notes: Caloplaca microphyllina is a common species is characterized by the distinctly subsquamulose dark orange thallus usually without a prothallus:. The soredia are about the same color as the thallus and the apothecia are dark orange. Caloplaca persimilis has a tan to greenish orange thallus that originates under the surface of the substrate and the soredia are tan-orange. Species 5 is very similar to C. microphyllina but has globose isidia and no soredia.


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Sting Confirmed to Appear in 'WWE 2K15′
7.14.14, the infamous tweet that Sting sent out teasing wrestling fans around the world and preparing us a for a big announcement. That big announcement was the Sting will be included in 'WWE 2K15' which is the first time he's ever appeared in a WWE video game. Sting is the pre-order character for the game which will be released on Oct. 28th.
It's been no secret that Stinger has been talking with WWE, and when he appeared in the Ultimate Warrior documentary on the WWE Network the hyperbole reached an all time high. So what's next Sting?


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A US judge says Michael Jackson's mother should pay the promoter of her son's ill-fated comeback concerts more than $US800,000 ($A853,925) in costs associated with her failed negligent hiring lawsuit.
Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos issued a tentative ruling in Los Angeles on Monday against Katherine Jackson.
The five-month trial ended with a jury determining that AEG Live LLC did not negligently hire the doctor convicted of causing Michael Jackson's death in 2009.
AEG Live initially sought more than $US1.2 million to cover the cost of court reporters and exhibits. Katherine Jackson's lawyers claimed only about a quarter of that amount was justified.
Both sides have agreed not to argue the tentative ruling, although once finalised it can be appealed.
Originally published as Michael Jackson's mum should pay costs


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SEWARD -- He's only 4 months old, and mostly does what all babies do -- sleep, eat, play.
But this little guy -- with his wormy little body, big flippers and tiny ears -- is a big deal at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. He's a northern fur seal rescued from Sand Point, a Aleutian Island community of just under 1,000 people about 570 miles southwest of Anchorage, and he's been a surprise in more ways than one.
He's the first northern fur seal the center has ever rehabilitated, according to Stranding Supervisor Halley Werner. Werner has been charge of caring for the little guy -- who tips the scales at 18 pounds -- since he arrived about four months ago.
When the seal -- now dubbed Chiidax, which is an Aleut word meaning "small young animal" -- was found on July 24, he was a 9.5-pound newborn -- underweight and dehydrated when he arrived in a box at the doorstep of Alaska Department of Fish and Game offices in Sand Point with only a note saying the mother must have died during birth.
Northern fur seals are considered a depleted stock of marine mammals, whose populations have dropped significantly since the 1950s. The mammals primarily feed off of pelagic fish and squid, and spend most of their lives at sea. Northern fur seals are best known for their extreme sexual dimorphism, with the females reaching about 120 pounds while males peak at around 600.
Chiidax's arrival was a surprise to nearly everyone at the SeaLife Center. The nearest rookery is 200 to 300 miles away in the Pribilof Islands. Northern fur seals spend most of their lives at sea and usually only come to land to breed. Because of that, they are rarely spotted on shore, and it's even rarer for pups to be rescued, Werner said.
Aleria Jensen, Alaska marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said every year a few dozen fur seals become entangled in fishing gear, though they are rarely found stranded on shore. She said in the nine years she's worked with the service, she's never heard of another northern fur seal being rescued and rehabilitated in Alaska.
The distance and lack of information about how the seal ended up in Sand Point kept the NMFS, which has jurisdiction over fur seals, from being able to release the pup back into the wild.
"We don't know exactly where he came from, so we don't know where to release him," Werner said.
Instead, the Alaska SeaLife Center has been raising Chiidax in preparation to send him to his eventual home at the New England Aquarium in Boston. The aquarium is home to the largest aquarium population of northern fur seals in North America, according to spokesman Tony LaCasse. The aquarium has seven seals in the exhibit, three of which are under 2 years of age.
While the little pup is technically a seal, Werner noted that he's an eared seal, with more physiological similarities to a Stellar sea lion than a seal. He moves quickly on land, with rotating hips and front flippers that peel out, which allows him to easily walk along instead of the more traditional seal scoot.
Since Chiidax is the first fur seal the center has taken in during its 10 years of operation, raising him has been a challenge. Werner said he's needed more care than expected. He eats more than harbor seals, and learning to care for him was a matter of trial and error. That meant he had more human interaction than other animals, another reason he would not be suitable for release.
And despite his cuteness, Werner said he's not much of a cuddler. When trainers do handle him they have to be careful -- he's a bit of a biter, "and he has really sharp teeth," she said.
This week the little pup is just starting move from formula to fish. Werner said he's most active in the morning, playing for 2 to 3 hours at a time in his own private pool with the little fish workers give him. They hope he'll eat them eventually, though he's still figuring that out, Werner said. After all that playing and eating, Werner said the pup spends a lot of time napping, often with his long front flippers as blankets, his hind flippers tucked up behind them.
Until the little pup gets moved, he remains an Alaska attraction. Last week SeaLife Center officials completed a distance education course with 50 students at the Sand Point school, said Darin Trobaugh, education specialist with the Alaska SeaLife Center who led the discussion.
"It was awesome," he said, noting the students were especially excited about the pup's extreme cuteness.
Trobaugh said the kids were given the task of naming the pup, with the Center making the ultimate decision on Tuesday.
Contact Suzanna Caldwell at suzanna(at)alaskadispatch.com
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She might be drug-free, sober and on the comeback trail, but, finds Tom Leonard, Paula Hamilton is as dotty as ever
The middle-aged Frenchman lying beside the pool at Marrakesh's ritziest hotel had at least 30 seconds to stare surreptitiously at the bikini-clad woman being photographed a few yards away before his wife clocked him and he quickly pretended to be asleep. Paula Hamilton might be 45, but she still has the power to turn men's heads and worry their wives.
If her admirer had had the nerve to keep watching, he would have seen her do what she calls her "dolphin poles" - swimming butterfly to allow the photographer to "catch the rivulets dripping off my body as it comes right out of the water". He might even have heard the photographer insisting that Paula keep her mouth shut - a mild request compared with one weeks earlier when Paula urged a male photographer to tell her he wanted to "---- her".
But then she'd probably say that's how photographers used to talk in her day, darling. Paula remains best known as the classy-looking model from the 1987 "If only everything was as reliable as a Volkswagen" commercial, although she's also been described as the first "It Girl" and "the face of the 1980s".
She powered her way through that decade and much of the next on a diet of drink, drugs, depression and outrageous behaviour that almost, at times, ousted Diana, Princess of Wales - whom, crucially, she resembled - as the tabloids' favourite flawed heroine. "Tragic Paula", as she was usually known, threw away a successful modelling career as petulantly as she chucked away her pearls, fur and wedding ring (but not the car keys) in the VW advert.
Discovered by David Bailey, she became the muse of Sir Hardy Amies, the Queen's couturier. Lord Lichfield reputedly called her "One Roll Paula" because she was such a professional. Her private life was less successful - a brief marriage to a cameraman, Danny Mindel, was followed by a stormy affair with Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory party chairman, and a broken engagement to Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, a former Life Guards captain, that lasted just two days before he abandoned her. Afterwards, she tried to hang herself from a chandelier, but the chain broke. Another time, she tried to drown herself.
Revelations about her troubled upbringing added further angst to the Paula story. Brought up in South Africa by her mother and an abusive stepfather, she was 11 when her grandmother told her that her real father was actually a family friend in County Durham. She met him once, but her mother later insisted he was not her father. It wasn't until Paula was 27 that her mother admitted she had been lying, but, by then, the man had been dead 13 years after being murdered with a pickaxe handle.
Attempts to overcome her drink problem floundered and Paula moved to New Zealand, only to notch up a couple of drink-drive convictions, one of which involved her lying in the road in protest after three terrified hitchhikers snatched her car keys after she started to swig from a bottle of vodka while driving.
She came back to England three years ago, was treated for a nervous breakdown and then settled quietly in Buckinghamshire. But now she has signed up with the agency Models 1 as part of a new wave of older women, and is a judge in the forthcoming series of the television reality show Britain's Next Top Model. She says she hasn't touched drink or drugs for years and has never been happier.
But one thing hasn't changed - she's as dotty as ever. How else might one describe someone who talks about herself in the third person (she calls herself Polly, as her father did on the one occasion they met) and whose favourite exclamation is "cool bananas"?
Looking tanned and lean in a gym-enhanced way, Paula rolls cigarettes as she talks 19-to-the-dozen about modelling, drink, drugs and a secret treehouse she has built in Buckinghamshire. She hasn't been in 11 different treatment centres for nothing - her conversation is thick with psychobabble in which she was "damaged" by her "traumas" but is now "mended", and in which her determination to think positively about herself repeatedly comes up against what seems like extreme insecurity and loneliness.
Paula admits she has hang-ups about her father, but one wonders if her difficult upbringing is really as much to blame for her subsequent troubles as she seems to think. She clearly feels very hard done by and I suspect the therapists haven't helped matters.
"A lot was put on me as a child - my stepfather, my mother, my identity, my face being smashed [by her stepfather] into my mashed potatoes if I dropped a fork, and being made to sit there with blood on my face suffocating. If that's not mended and someone is a bit nasty to you in the business and then you've got a broken relationship, you just think, '---- it, why do I try so hard?' I was a bag of open wounds really and everyone could stick their finger in and have a little wriggle. Today I can say I've mended those wounds, but I needed to reach rock bottom. I needed to lose everything."
It's not easy always to work out what to believe with Paula. After all, she admits she bluffed her way into modelling, and a photographer who worked with her long ago in New York has a wonderful story about how she once turned up an hour late for a shoot, covered in grime and oil. She said she'd been kidnapped the previous night by men who bundled her into a limo. She couldn't remember any more, but was sorry she was late.
Paula says she hasn't taken cocaine for 19 years and hasn't touched alcohol for two. How has she managed it? For a start, she doesn't live in London but on a farm, near her mother, with whom she is now "best friends". She goes into town rarely and her social life revolves around her family and a few old friends - she mentions the actress Sarah Miles and her son Tom Bolt.
The past year has been the happiest she can remember, she says, chiefly because she has been getting to know her mother's family, whom she had largely walked out on when she left home at 16. "I gather them up at the train station and take them off to my secret hideaway, where I've built a treehouse and have evening soirees there. It's an open-air dining room in the middle of nowhere. I was raised in Africa and we used to make camps - I've never grown out of it."
She hasn't had a boyfriend for six or seven years. "I'm romancing Polly. She's getting the best of everything - good food, relaxation, friends, and when she gets a bit freaked out, she sits down and talks about it to someone."
Therapy hasn't done anything to overcome her model-like addiction to her appearance, which Paula - in apparently constant communion with a vanity mirror - rarely misses an opportunity to extol. She has just had her eyelashes "extended", she says, which raises questions about what else she's had enhanced. She's coy on the subject and I suspect it's more than the Botox she admits went in around her nose, chin and temples.
As a judge in Living TV's Britain's Next Top Model, which was wrapping up in Morocco, she has earned a reputation as the nasty one who tells it how it is, but she insists she admires the contestants - all beginners - for "putting their heads above the pulpit".
"All my life, people have said, 'You just stand there and wear clothes,' and the public are now getting a look-see into the industry for the first time. Modelling is incredibly difficult and I think it's rather refreshing for someone like myself to come along and blow the lid off the industry."
Here, for the record, is Paula's top tip: "On set, when you're sweating your absolute titties off, if you can ask for a glass of ice and put them between the pulses of your wrists, it will stop you from sweating in two minutes."
Paula is cagey about how she makes a living, but the fact that she was on benefits when she had her last round of treatment suggests she isn't rich. She says she exists on an allowance handed out by her financial adviser.
Her new career has yet to bring any modelling work, but she says there are things in the pipeline. "I still have a marvellously beautiful body. And I do not have the bitter, twisted face of the 45-year-old who's had a s--t life. I've got a happy face."
With that, she's off to slip that body into a bikini, pausing for a moment of reflection. "I have to come across full on, darling, I have to. It takes a lot of balls to come back in this industry."


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By TERRY COLLINS
Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A jury convicted the leader of a financially troubled community group of three murders, including the shotgun shooting death of the first American journalist killed on U.S. soil for reporting a story in nearly two decades.
Yusuf Bey IV, former head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, was found guilty Thursday in a month-long spree of violence that culminated with the August 2007 shooting of Chauncey Bailey while he walked to the newspaper where he was investigating the financial woes of Bey's group.
Jurors also found co-defendant Antoine Mackey guilty in the murders of Bailey and Michael Wills, but deadlocked on a murder charge against him in the death of Odell Roberson Jr.
"I hope that it sends the message that the First Amendment is not going to be murdered by murdering journalists," prosecutor Melissa Krum said of the verdicts. "You cannot kill the man and expect the message to be killed."
Founded some 40 years ago by Bey's father, the bakery, which promoted self-empowerment, became an institution in Oakland's black community while running a security service, school and other businesses. In recent years, the organization was tainted by connections to criminal activity.
Prosecutors argued that Bey felt he was above the law and was so desperate to protect the legacy of his family's once-influential bakery that he ordered Bailey murdered. The Oakland Post editor had been working on a story about the organization's finances as it descended toward bankruptcy.
Bey and Mackey, both 25, appeared stoic during the reading of the verdicts, which prompted tears from the families of the victims and defendants.
"Justice has finally been done," Bailey's cousin, Wendy Ashley-Johnson, said outside court. "Now Chauncey can rest. This chapter is over."
Bey's attorney, Gene Peretti, said he had thought the case would end in a mistrial because jury deliberations had entered a third week.
"It's a surprise and very disappointing frankly," Peretti said, adding that his client was "a little bit stunned."
Mackey's lawyer, Gary Sirbu, said his client was a victim of guilt by association because he was tried alongside Bey.
"In this particular case, I think Mr. Mackey should have had a separate trial," Sirbu said.
Both lawyers planned to appeal. Bey and Mackey could get life in prison without the possibility of parole when they are sentenced on July 8.
Bey's mother, Daulet Bey, who wept before and after the verdicts were read, said, "I believe in my son's innocence, I do."
Bey was charged with ordering the killing of Bailey, 57, as well as the slayings of Roberson, 31, and Wills, 36, in July 2007.
Mackey, a former bakery supervisor, was accused of acting as the getaway driver for Devaughndre Broussard, who confessed to killing Bailey on a busy city street with three shotgun blasts, including a final shot to the face to ensure his victim was dead.
Mackey was convicted of murder for shooting Wills. He was accused of aiding Broussard in Roberson's shooting, but jurors couldn't decide whether he was guilty.
Prosecutors said Bey ordered Broussard to kill Roberson in retaliation for the murder of Bey's brother by Roberson's nephew.
Mackey was accused of killing Wills at random after Mackey and Bey had a conversation about the Zebra murders, a string of racially motivated black-on-white killings in San Francisco in the 1970s. Bey and Mackey are black, and Wills was white.
Broussard, the prosecution's key witness, testified that Bey ordered him and Mackey to kill the three men in exchange for a line of credit.
The two-month-plus trial featured more than 70 witnesses for the prosecution and only a few for the defense, including Mackey.
Broussard struck a plea deal of 25 years in prison in exchange for serving as the prosecution's key witness. The former bakery handyman inexplicably laughed several times while testifying for more than a week, including while describing Bailey's shooting on Aug. 2, 2007.
Lawyers for Bey and Mackey questioned Broussard's credibility. Prosecutor Krum told jurors that while Broussard, 23, is a "sociopath," his testimony was credible.
Before the killing of Bailey, Cuban-American Manuel de Dios Unanue, an outspoken journalist, was shot in the head in a New York City restaurant in 1992.
Police believe drug traffickers and businessmen plotted to murder him in retaliation for hard-hitting stories he had written about their operations, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Frank Smyth, CPJ's journalist security coordinator, said Thursday's verdicts were reassuring.
"This sends a signal to those who would violently attack the press in the United States that they will not get away with it," Smyth said.