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Poppins for Parents
In a batch of new fiction, it's the grown-ups who need nannying.
Click here to read more from Slate's "Book Blitz."
It was an American, Walt Disney, who designed the sugar-coated icon of ideal nannyhood in the mid-1960s. Granted film rights to Mary Poppins after years of begging for them, he gave us a spunky interloper who rallies the fractious Banks family—and, not least, helps brittle Mr. Banks get in touch with his inner child. But revisit the British original, and you're in for a surprise. Vain and imperious, the nanny created by P.L. Travers in the mid-1930s refused to supply her employers with references and "never wasted time being nice" to her charges. Michael, Jane, and the baby twins got dragged around on her peculiar errands—drugged, as you may recall, into obedience. And then she abandoned them all with a change in the wind.
The American tradition of romanticizing nannies goes way back, and surprisingly enough, it still thrives—but with a curious twist. The chief responsibility now assigned to the in-home child-care provider, you'll discover if you sample the recent boomlet in nanny fiction (and TV fare, too), is to help hapless parents grow up. It is a thankless task, of course: Nannies get their share of hard knocks as they cope with bossy, touchy, fickle employers who exploit them—and then drop them. In the end, though, the nanny is still the savior. But her edifying authority no longer derives mostly from her genius at winning children's confidence. It lies in exposing adult incompetence, which leaves parents guilty yet finally grateful for the maturational experience. What the kids get out of it is anyone's guess.
The theme has lurked in nanny-related literature all along, dying to get out. You can find the Mammy who knows better than mama in Uncle Tom's Cabin and in Gone With the Wind, but it goes without saying that she hides her light under a bushel. She's there, rounded out, in Harper Lee's wise Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird, a mother substitute happily spared any direct competition with Atticus Finch's dead wife. Eloise's nanny, though she goes "absolutely wild" on fight night and drinks "three Pilsner Beers," puts Eloise's jet-setting mother to shame; that woman "knows Coco Chanel, goes to Europe and to Paris," but never lays eyes on her daughter—or, for that matter, her nanny. And Harriet the Spy is blunt: As she writes in her journal, "my mother isn't as smart as Ole Golly," her nanny. But like her predecessors, Ole Golly skirts entanglement with her employers, by moving out when Harriet's parents get in her way.
It was with Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus' The Nanny Diaries in 2002 that parents conspicuously moved into the spotlight and nanny fiction ceased to be mainly children's fare. The former-nannies-turned-co-authors, by demonizing Mrs. X of Park Avenue, produced a surprise hit in the form of a witty fable for frazzled mothers (hen, rather than chick, lit). The authors who have lately turned to the topic—Gish Jen in The Love Wife, Benjamin Cheever in The Good Nanny, Mona Simpson in the story "Dependents"—are readier to empathize and eager to downsize from the super-rich to dual-career dynamos. Subtler social satirists, they've converged on a basic domestic revenge comedy in which nanny gives the grown-ups a piece of her mind. And fathers, not mothers, turn out to be the ones who take it most to heart.
Where nannies used to induct children into the harsh realities of family instability and money (without undermining their sense of security), now it's parents whose dreams, and nightmares, about having it all need to be shaken up. On television, where several stateside imitators of the successful British Supernanny series are soon to be broadcast, a tough-love nanny sets mom and dad straight by imposing traditional order on chaos. But in Gish's, Cheever's, and Simpson's work, nannies—small and quiet, every one of them—enlighten their employers less confrontationally, by example rather than exhortation. Is this a new home-grown nanny paradigm in the making? A household interloper who comes with her own baggage, proceeds to disrupt precarious balances, and helps naive Americans face up to the fact that domestic life isn't about fairness and happy sharing. In the inner workings of families, as the father in The Love Wife comes to see, "nothing is natural."
Cheever's and Gish's nannies aren't magical, like Mary Poppins, but they are outlandish—caretakers from another culture, balancing competing allegiances with remarkable success. In fact, they're too good to be true, is the suspicion of the anxious professional mothers involved—a suspicion heightened when the kids and dads become fierce partisans of "the paragon," as the father in The Good Nanny calls theirs. Cheever gives this classic dynamic one surreal multicultural turn, and Gish another. Miss Washington, the black woman hired by Stuart and Andie Cross in The Good Nanny, not only outshines her New York hot-shot employers on the home front. She also turns out to be a successful artist on the side—or is she, both Crosses begin to wonder, really a con artist? The Love Wife is propelled by a similar mystery: Is the woman who arrives from China to help out the hybrid Wong family—which consists of a second-generation Chinese dad named Carnegie, a WASP mom called Blondie, two adopted Asian daughters, and one blond biological baby son—really a nanny? Or is Lan, as Blondie suspects and Carnegie begins to fantasize, going to turn out to be the wife that Carnegie Wong's fierce mama always thought he should have?
In both books, the confusion that ensues is tragicomic—in fact, melodramatic. Yet what the nannies teach the parents (and, in The Love Wife, at least one child, too) is meant to be realistic: that no tidy nuclear family model can guide their lives. As Stuart Cross and Carnegie Wong show more signs of learning than their wives do, the ties that bind are based not just on love, or on bonds of blood, but also on money and divided loyalties—and if that fuels insecurity and envy and crimps autonomy, it can also create a family blessed with wider sympathies and rich in stories. Reversing the usual downstairs-imitates-upstairs drama, Jen and Cheever suggest that it's Miss Washington and Lan, strivers with grim histories of negotiating work-family pressures, who are in a sense the forerunners of scrambling upper-middle-class families.
Mona Simpson explicitly enshrines her Filipino nanny narrator, Lola, as the parental model in her story, which centers on a marital crisis between two new Hollywood-area parents. "Lola is my mother and Dr. Schneider's my father," Lola once overheard the wife say, pairing nanny and shrink. But what Lola prides herself on providing is pragmatic, rather than therapeutic, advice, drawn from her own split experience: She's juggling long-distance concerns about her own family back home—a husband she never sees, daughters she's determined to see get ahead—with the daily demands of handling her American babies, big and small. She sighs, though, that her old-world wisdom about being more hard-headed about family trade-offs (including marriage) is likely to be wasted—on the mothers she works for, that is. The movie-director husband in her current job joins other fathers in seeming to get the message. "The women … want it all to be pretty. They want it to be all about love," Lola observes. "The men are the ones who know I am working a job, with many tasks, and for that I am paid a salary. The women, they want to believe it is because I love their children. I do love their children. But I am working too for money."
Making fathers the eager allies of nannies—as Walt Disney did, too—is, when you think about it, more plausible than evoking a gauzy mother-nanny sisterhood. After all, domestic help at home has meant that men get to continue shirking their fair share of grunt work, so they should be nanny boosters. Still, wishful American idealism lives on in Simpson's movie director, who promises a hit film about Lola, and in Cheever's Stuart Cross, who hopes to salvage his career with a biography of Miss Washington—and in these writers themselves, who've presumed to offer readers the nanny's-eye-view. P.L. Travers certainly didn't dare speak for her unusual nanny about life with the Bankses. "Nobody ever knew what Mary Poppins felt about it, for Mary Poppins never told anybody anything …"


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Police search for man who robbed Alton bank
October 10. 2013 8:51PM
ALTON — Police are searching for a man they say robbed the Meredith Village Savings Bank at gunpoint Thursday afternoon.
Police Chief Ryan Heath said a man described as white, 5 feet, 7 inches and 170 pounds carrying a red duffle bag and wearing a black ski mask entered the bank about 4:30 p.m. Thursday and jumped over the counter.
Holding a bank employee at gunpoint, he emptied the teller drawers and fled the scene in a silver four-door sedan.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call police at 875-0757.

subset: commoncrawl


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When you fly into the Philadelphia International Airport you will find that renting a car is easy and convenient. Upon exiting your plane and heading to baggage claim you will see information phones for each of your car rental options at this airport.
Note that if you happen to need a special vehicle that has hand controls, you will easily be able to obtain one from anyone one of the companies that serve Philadelphia International Airport passengers. However, also note that if you do need one of these cars you must request one from the company of your choice a minimum of 72 hours before you will need the rental. While sometimes they can accommodate you right away, other times they can't. This is why it is best to make arrangements in advance if you need a car with hand controls. When you place your reservation be sure to let the agent know about your needs.
Zone 2, located outside the airport, is the location where you can pick up your rental car. You will find Zone 2 right outside of baggage claim. No matter when you arrive at the airport obtaining your rental car is always a quick, easy and convenient process.


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crewsings on Family Tree Circles
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Journals and Posts
Looking for Webb in Kentucky
I am just starting research on the Webb family. My grandfather was born in Kentucky, moved - I think - to Mississippi, and then moved on to Oklahoma. Again, I'm not sure of the Mississippi move but am pretty sure he moved to Oklahoma. He married Louise Lenoir Germany, who was from Mississippi. Oh, my grandfather is Thomas Edward Webb.
Looking for Cox of Texas & Oklahoma
I am just starting to research the Cox side of my family. I know my grandfather was in Texas but not sure where. I know he moved to Enid, Oklahoma in the 1920's. At least that's a start. My grandmother was a Strain. Most of her relatives lived/live in Texas.
- Displaying 1-2 of 2 Journals
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MONTFERMEIL, France (AP) — The streets in one of the Paris region's toughest housing projects, burgeoning with immigrants, bear names like Cezanne, Picasso and Utrillo, as if to stamp the French heritage onto the psyches of its residents.
But neither the names of the great masters nor the idyllic images conjured up by the name of the project, Les Bosquets, or The Groves, capture the daily realities of the French-style ghetto, an enclosed world where many residents don't speak French.
Delinquency soars and the unemployment rate is estimated at some 40 percent, nearly four times the national rate. Montfermeil's town hall could not provide an official figure.
Just 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from Paris, Les Bosquets is light years from the world of Parisians.
Les Bosquets, like other projects that surround the big cities of France, belies this nation's special brand of integration whereby newcomers from afar assimilate into the French culture, becoming one with it whatever their origins. Despite quiet debate, French authorities, whatever their political colors, have stood by a French model that's colorblind to differences, in total contrast to the U.S. notion of a vibrant melting pot.
The story of France is often viewed as the antithesis to the U.S., one in which race and ethnicity are not counted in the government census and minority rights need not exist, due to residents who share a common identity of "French." Many French shudder at the word "multiculturalism."
But housing projects such as Les Bosquets, often cut off by poor public transport from the cities, raise questions about how much assimilation is really happening in France and whether the French model of integration, long the nation's pride, is wearing thin.
Even Muslim immigrants from France's former North African colonies, many in their third generation, and making up a large portion of residents of Les Bosquets, are far from melding with the mainstream.
For Patrick Simon, a leading demographer, the French model has a basic flaw that is becoming increasingly evident as time goes by.
"It's a model founded on the invisibility of differences," Simon said. The problem is that minorities are increasingly visible, many of them with origins in France's former colonies in Muslim North Africa, and because "we see them, we can't ignore their existence."
Even second- and third-generation citizens of foreign origin are perceived as different and treated thus.
Statisticians are not allowed to count people by their origins, complicating research.
But the postcard vision of France with church steeples perched over a contented populace wearing berets and carrying baguettes has been upended in the Seine-Saint-Denis region northeast of Paris.
French kings are buried in the great cathedral of Saint-Denis, the main town, but traditional minorities have become the majority in the region.
A study by Simon puts immigrants and their descendants through the second generation at 75 percent of the city's population. It includes people from French overseas departments (8 percent), who are French but of color. The jobless rate was 16.5 percent in 2009, according to Insee, the national statistics agency. But the economic leaders are in the white minority, Simon said, putting new stress on the notion that immigrants and their children are being successfully assimilated.
In Les Bosquets, the most widespread complaint remains poor public transport and the isolation that keeps Les Bosquets at a distance from mainstream France. It takes nearly 90 minutes to get to Paris.
"They've done everything to keep us closed among ourselves," said a 34-year-old born in France of Algerian parents. "It is they who don't want us to integrate." Like most residents of the projects, the man, who works with a private fire department, refused to identify himself by name.
Discrimination is a fact of life in France for minorities, and a poll by the Ipsos firm published this year in the daily Le Monde showed no sign that that might lessen. A full 70 percent of those questioned felt there were "too many foreigners in France." The finger was pointed, above all, at those of the Muslim faith.


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U.S. backed forces began an offensive to rout the Islamic State from Raqqa, their de facto capital in Syria, the American-led coalition announced Tuesday.
The offensive will be difficult but will deal a decisive blow to the terror group, which has been losing ground over the past year in both Iraq and Syria, said Lt. Gen. Steve Townsend, the coalition commander.
Raqqa is the remaining stronghold of the terror group's so-called caliphate. Iraqi forces are close to clearing Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from Islamic State control.
"It's hard to convince new recruits that ISIS is a winning cause when they just lost their twin 'capitals' in both Iraq and Syria," Townsend said in a statement.
The offensive is being led by a coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces, which are backed by coalition advisers and airstrikes. The Trump administration recently announced it would begin supplying the Kurdish forces with arms and equipment to help in the offensive against the Islamic State, which is also called ISIS.
Turkey, which is helping in the anti-ISIS fight, is opposed to the support for the Kurds because of fears the ethnic group will push for its long-time goal of carving out an independent state in parts of Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
The U.S.-backed forces have been working to surround the city since November to cut off supply routes in and out of the city in northeastern Syria.
The Pentagon announced recently that the coalition's tactics are designed to annihilate the terror group so that its fighters cannot escape to establish strongholds elsewhere or launch terror attacks against Western targets.
"We all saw the heinous attack in Manchester, England," Townsend said in the statement. "ISIS threatens all of our nations, not just Iraq and Syria, but in our own homelands as well. This cannot stand."


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University News
Fall '12 Enrollment
September 6, 2012
MACOMB, IL -- Western Illinois University's Fall 2012 total enrollment is 12,205, down 2.7 percent (349 students) from Fall 2011, while new freshman enrollment has decreased by 201 students compared to the Fall 2011 freshman cohort, according to 10-day enrollment reports.
The Fall 2012 student headcount of 10,003 at the Western-Macomb campus is down from 10,423 in Fall 2011. Macomb extension has increased to 825, up 66 from last fall. The total headcount for the Quad Cities and Quad Cities extension is 1,377 compared to 1,372 last year.
Total new freshman enrollment for Fall 2012 is 1,754 from 1,955 in Fall 2011. While new freshman numbers are similar to Fall 2010 numbers, new transfer student enrollment has increased to 1,328 from 1,301 in Fall 2011. New graduate student enrollment has decreased from 605 in Fall 2011 to 580 in Fall 2012.
"It is certainly understandable during these difficult economic times that we, along with some of our peer institutions, have experienced a decline in enrollment. However, our goal is to further work on containing costs so that students can, and will, continue their education at Western Illinois University," said President Jack Thomas. "We remain hopeful that as the Western Commitment Scholarship gains momentum and as admissions staff work to market Western throughout the state and beyond, that we will begin seeing an increase in our new student numbers.
"Seeing an increase in the number of freshman applicants tells us that there is a growing interest in our institution," Thomas added. "Now, we must work harder to get these applicants to select Western as their school of choice, and we must also turn our attention and energies to retaining our students."
According to Andy Borst, director of admissions, while Western did not see an increase in new freshmen, the University did receive a record number of freshman applications (10,326). Borst noted that with the declining number of high school students in Illinois, admissions is focusing on crossing the state's borders. New freshmen from Illinois' border states total 86, which is nearly 5 percent of the new first-year class.
"The new Western Commitment Scholarship is beginning to have an impact on the academic quality of our student body. We have seen increases in our average ACT scores and grade point averages for our regularly admitted students," Borst added. "As of August 1, we offered 1,621 Western Commitment Scholarships. We are optimistic about the future of the Western Commitment Scholarship program as yet another incentive for high achieving students to enroll at Western."
In addition to scholarship incentives for incoming students, the University has launched a new retention program this fall. The goal of the new Building Connections program is to provide the necessary support for incoming freshmen, many of whom are first-generation college students. As part of the program, nearly 220 staff and faculty at Western have volunteered to serve as mentors for incoming freshman students.
For more information about Western Illinois University's Commitment Scholarships, visit wiu.edu/student_services/undergraduate_admissions/western_commitment/index.php. For more information about Building Connections, visit wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php?release_id=10030.
Posted By: WIU News (firstname.lastname@example.com)
Office of University Relations


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(13 days - Departs Daily on a Private Basis)
Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Siem Reap, Hong Kong
Southeast Asia is a wonderful destination for family travel, and this private tour features the best of the region, including extraordinary cultural sites, great food, fascinating cities, incredible hotels and resorts, and activities family members of all ages can enjoy.
Begin in Bangkok, Thailand, one of Asia's great cities.
During flexible touring with your private guide, explore the city according to your family's interests. Some of our favorite family-friendly activities in Bangkok include riding a longtail boat through the canals to see how the locals live, listening to monks chanting at temples covered in sparkling tiles, attending a Thai puppet show or dance performance, learning about the Thai silk industry, or perhaps watching a muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) tournament.
Next, fly to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, and stay at a luxurious resort built in traditional Thai style that has serene views of rice fields and mountains. With your private guide, visit the best local markets and tour interesting Buddhist temples, including one on top of a mountain. Perhaps interact with elephants at a local elephant sanctuary. During free time, enjoy your resort's many facilities or opt for activities such as river rafting or hiking.
Continue to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to explore incredible Angkor, the wondrous ruins of the ancient Khmer empire. With your private guide, tour the most interesting parts of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, including Angkor Wat, an enormous temple city built as a model of the Hindu universe in stone; Angkor Thom, an ancient capital filled with iconic sites such as the Bayon, Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King; Ta Prohm, a temple being devoured by the jungle; and serene Preah Khan, a former monastery and school. Also visit Banteay Srei, a petite temple with elaborate carvings in pink sandstone, and other lesser-known temples. If desired, enjoy special activities customized to your family's interests, such as riding bikes to temples and local villages, a private Khmer cooking class, visiting children's centers, touring local villages, photography excursions, visiting traditional Cambodian art centers, specialized shopping, private yoga, a helicopter ride to remote jungle temples, or attending traditional Khmer dance performances. Another option is an excursion to Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake and an ecological wonder. Enjoy a boat cruise among the lake's floating villages, markets and gardens. Also cruise through the flooded forest to learn about the Tonle Sap ecosystem and spot birds and other wildlife.
The tour concludes in Hong Kong, one of Asia's most attractive and exciting cities. During touring with your expert private guide, take in Hong Kong's spectacular skyline, beautiful harbors and beaches, superb restaurants, bustling markets and much more. See incredible skyscrapers in Central, ride the Peak Tram to the top of Hong Kong Island, tour interesting residential neighborhoods in the hills, dine on dim sum at teahouses, explore local markets to learn about traditional Chinese medicine and unusual food products, and ride in a traditional sampan boat across Aberdeen Harbor. Opt to visit Hong Kong Disneyland or Ocean Park, a favorite local theme park, or go for a hike together in the lush green hills of the New Territories. Throughout your stay in Hong Kong, enjoy unbeatable views across Victoria Harbor from your luxurious room in the city's finest hotel.
This tour can be fully customized or combined with other destinations in the region, including Japan and China.
|Itinerary Overview


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Set CL or CH.
Switch to Live View, mirror flips up. Set bracketing to 3F 2.0
Then hold down the shutter and you have your 3 bracketed shots captured with no mirror flipping. Only the shutter moving up and down.
Hope this works! Cheers Al
Edited by albert kok, 03 March 2012 - 11:40 AM.


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Ryan Trapp | Staff Writer
Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs are making their second straight appearance in the SEC Championship game, with hopes to avenge last year's 42-10 loss to the LSU Tigers and earn the right to play for their first national championship in over 30 years. Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are on a quest to win their second straight BCS National Championship (and third in four years). Standing in between these two teams and BCS glory is the SEC Championship Game, which we'll take a closer look at in this week's Orange Bowl Game of the Week.
Typically known as a defensive juggernaut, Georgia's relied on their high-powered offense to navigate through the turbulent SEC waters to the conference title game. At the helm is their prolific quarterback Aaron Murray. This season, Murray became the first quarterback in conference history to throw for more than 3,000 yards in three consecutive seasons, and he's currently tied with former Tennessee-great Peyton Manning for second on the SEC touchdown list with 89. The junior leads the nation in passer rating (177.1), yards per attempt (10.0) and his 30 touchdown passes rank 10th in the country. However, he'll go against the nation's top big-play defense in the Crimson Tide. Alabama has allowed only 89 plays of 10 or more yards this season, nine fewer than the closest FBS team. The Bulldogs defense has been a different animal since scraping by Kentucky in a lethargic 29-24 win. Safety Shawn Williams impassioned speech lit a fire in Georgia's belly, and have allowed just 10.6 points per game while forcing 15 turnovers in the five weeks since. Linebacker Jarvis Jones and safety Bacarri Rambo have been at the forefront of the defense's resurgence, combining for 64 tackles, six sacks and three interceptions over that span.
Since their perfect season was derailed by Texas A&M three weeks ago, the Crimson Tide have gotten back on track thanks to a pair of 49-0 beat downs over Western Carolina and Auburn, where they allowed just 326 combined yards. For the second straight year, Alabama finished the regular season with the top-ranked scoring defense (9.3 points per game), and also sports the country's top overall defense this season (233.7 yards per game). On offense, the running back tandem of Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon make for one of the deadliest and most talented backfields in the country. They've combined for 1,847 yards and 24 touchdowns on the season, with Lacy tallying 230 yards and five scores in the past two contests alone. Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron, fresh off a 249-yard, four-touchdown performance over the Tigers, is hoping to become the first starting quarterback to lead his team to two BCS titles. McCarron's 176.3 passer rating ranks second in the nation, trailing only Murray in that category. He and the rest of Alabama's offensive weapons have the luxury of playing behind one of the top offensive lines in college football, anchored by likely first round picks Barrett Jones and Chance Warmack.
It's the first time these two schools have met since 2008, when running back Glen Coffee led the Crimson Tide past the Bulldogs and number one overall pick Matthew Stafford, 41-30. This weekend will also mark the first time the two have met in a conference championship game, giving Nick Saban and Mark Richt the opportunity to make history in a storied rivalry that features the likes of Bear Bryant and Vince Dooley.
Back to All News


text: CalendarCategory / Academic Home IconFront of a house with a slanted roofHomeCalendarAdd these events to your calendar Today Feb 12–18 Monday, February 12 Submit an item All day Spring Semester Begins · First day of classes for Spring Semester. · Gustavus Campus Academic Gustavus Campus Tuesday, February 13 Submit an itemWednesday, February 14 Submit an itemThursday, February 15 Submit an itemFriday, February 16 Submit an itemSaturday, February 17 Submit an itemSunday, February 18 Submit an item Today Feb 12–18 All items Audience Category Location Sport Search Bjorling Recital HallBonnier Multifaith Center in Anderson HallChrist ChapelGustavus Adolphus College CampusGustavus CampusLund 224 (Aerobics Room)Lund 2nd Floor-TRX RoomNorthfield, Minn.St. Paul, Minn.St. Peter, Minn.AlumniCampusEmployeesFacultyInvited GuestsPublicStudentsAcademicAnnouncementAthleticFine ArtsGeneralLectureMeetingSignature EventWorkshopWorshipBaseballBasketballCross CountryFootballGolfGymnasticsHockeyNordic SkiingSoccerSoftballSwimming & DivingTennisTrack & FieldVolleyball Search terms


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30% OFF! - A Tomato Color 12x12 Alb1
By Caroline B
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Decorative Holidays - Father's Day Holidays - Mother's Day Holidays - Valentine's Day Love
Product Information
- Type: Album Template
- Designer: Caroline B
- Download Size: 82.4 MB (approximate)
Design Elements
- Digital Papers: 4
- Page Elements: 12
Designer Notes
A 4-page Album made with my "A Tomato Color Serie" kits. NOTE : With albums, you have not only perfect templates created by designers, but also the papers and embellishments used in it, put in separate folders, that you could re-use separately in another projects.


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There are few certainties in farming — but California almond growers are on a definite fast track to produce 1.5 billion pounds of almonds annually in the very near future.
As Richard Waycott, president of the Almond Board of California, was driving from the board's offices at Modesto to Arbuckle for the 30th annual Nickels Almond Field Day, he visualized the certainty of that future.
"My Lord, what a big crop we've got coming on (in 2007)," says the CEO of the marketing and promotion arm of the California industry.
He told the 200 growers and others at the field day that the almond board has been sharply focused for several years on marketing those projected huge future crops.
Experts are predicting almonds could take a quantum leap toward 1.5 billion pounds annually, with a 2007 crop possibly as large as 1.3 billion pounds.
Waycott notes that bearing acreage is now at 616,000, a 30,000-acre leap from last season, en route to 730,000 to 740,000 acres within the next four to five years, and the 1.5 billion pound crops that have been long anticipated.
The almond board staff of 35 employees and its $37 million budget (funded by an annual assessment of 3 cents per pound) are facing the marketing challenge head-on, with research on how to continue expanding consumption. It is now centered on markets in North America (U.S. and Canada) and 27 European Union countries. Together, these two mega-markets account for 80 percent of California's annual almond sales.
In analyzing the smartest place to spend promotional money to achieve the most rapid growth in consumption, research came up with Poland, a country growing in population and economic growth. "It's one of the key countries for European expansion," says Waycott, who will soon go to there to strategize how best to market California almonds.
There is continued focus on markets in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, to "determine who influences whom across that region."
There is also focus on India, now the fourth largest export market for California almonds. Both India and China will be "mega markets for almonds in the future."
The rapid growth in almond production in California has come through rapid expansion of markets, largely due to the promotional efforts of the almond board. For the past several years, demand has outstripped supply, and grower prices have been nothing short of phenomenal.
This hasn't been lost on other countries, but Waycott, in assessing possible world competitors, indicated that there don't seem to be major competitors on the horizon.
With any major American ag product, China is the first place everyone looks to see if they are poised to cash in on a good thing.
Last summer, almond board representatives visited all possible almond-growing regions of China and, Waycott says, "at least for now, there doesn't look like there is much opportunity for them to produce almonds.
"It appears that climatic difficulties of growing almonds are insurmountable until new varieties are developed, but we will keep an eye on that area."The same goes for Turkey.
There are too many other ag interests and urban problems to expect much of an expansion of almond production in Europe.
Australia is about the only country where there can be significant expansion. They currently produce 30 million pounds, expanding to 100-million pounds. But, there are water availability challenges in meeting that production level.
The 1.5-billion pound U.S. almond crop projected by 2010 will make almonds a $5 billion per year ag commodity and a very important commodity for the U.S.
"Almond exports are the largest U.S. agricultural export to India, France, Spain, the UK, and Germany," notes Waycott. "We're No. 2 to Latin American countries. We're no longer 'the little almond farmers in California.'"
The California industry is 6,000 growers strong and belongs "at the table" where the future of American agriculture is determined," he says. "We need to be better organized to make sure the almond industry's voice is heard on regulatory and foreign trade issues."
When the industry was small and struggling, it wasn't involved, "but now we need to be involved as never before at Sacramento and Washington."
Although there seems to be little competition standing in the way of marketing 1.5-billion-pound crops of the future, food safety is an issue that could derail the juggernaut.
Waycott says the industry is "much too vulnerable" to salmonella and aflatoxin outbreaks. A pasteurization program, scheduled to begin this fall with the '07 crop, will go a long way in dealing with the threat of a food-borne illness issue.
The board is also working to win approval for certified food safety inspections to be conducted in California before the almonds are exported, rather than the inspections taking place at the destination point.
Waycott admits there are increasing rejections for aflatoxin at European destinations and containers returned to the U.S. for more processing.
The almond board does not set price of directly marketing the nuts, buy Waycott pledged it will "do everything to keep demand up where it needs to be to meet the supply" and keep almond growers profitable.
email: [email protected]


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60W Large Clear Globe Item # C2165
Standard Base
For any fixture that exposes the bulb, we almost always recommend choosing that bulb in clear. The look of the filament through the glass adds another decorative element, and more often than not, enhances the period authenticity of the light as a whole. In the case of this bulb, we added it to our assortment especially for our late 1960s Mod fixtures to wear.
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60W Large Clear Globe
Standard Base


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CARSON, Calif. (Tuesday, December 10, 2013) – LA Galaxy midfielder Pablo Mastroeni announced today that he has elected to retire from the game. Mastroeni's decision brings an end to a 16-year MLS career that saw him captain the Colorado Rapids to their first MLS Cup championship in 2010. A veteran of two FIFA World Cups and a nine-time MLS All-Star, Mastroeni currently ranks eighth in MLS history with 334 regular season games played and fifth all-time with 316 regular season games started, scoring seven goals and adding 27 assists in that time.
After more than 11 years with the Colorado Rapids, the 37-year-old was traded to the Galaxy in mid-June, debuting for the club in the 0-0 draw with Portland at StubHub Center on June 19. He went on to appear in nine regular season games for LA, collecting one assist, while also playing in three games in the CONCACAF Champions League.
"After spending the last 16 years playing in Major League Soccer and with the U.S. National Team, I have decided that this is the appropriate time to retire from the game," Mastroeni said. "I am honored to have spent my entire professional club career playing in MLS and I now look forward to watching this league continue to grow as I begin the next stage of my life."
A second round pick by the Miami Fusion in the 1998 MLS College Draft following a successful college career at North Carolina State, Mastroeni spent the first four years of his MLS career with the Fusion, appearing in 100 regular season games for the club. He enjoyed his best season with Miami in 2001, scoring twice and earning a spot on the MLS Best XI while helping the Fusion claim the Supporters' Shield. After the Fusion were contracted following the completion of the 2001 season, Mastroeni was selected by the Colorado Rapids with the first pick of the MLS Allocation Draft, beginning a run of more than 11 years with the club. An immediate starter for the Rapids, Mastroeni would go on to set club records in games played (225) and minutes played (18,669) for Colorado while also being selected as the club's Most Valuable Player in 2007, 2008 and 2010 when he captained the Rapids to their first MLS Cup title.
"We'd like to congratulate Pablo on his 16-year professional career," said LA Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena. "Pablo is a special player who made every team he was on better. His presence, work ethic and enthusiasm for the game made him a successful player on both the club and National Team level. We wish Pablo well in the next step of his career."
In addition to his distinguished club career, Mastroeni also spent nine years playing with the U.S. National Team, collecting 65 caps, 50 of which came when Bruce Arena served as the National Team's head coach. A member of Arena's team at both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, Mastroeni made five appearances at the two tournaments, playing three games at the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea before then playing in two games at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. In addition to representing the U.S. in the World Cup, Mastroeni was also a member of the U.S. squad in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007, helping the United States win the tournament in 2005 and 2007, while also appearing in the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2003. He also helped his country qualify for the World Cup 2006 and 2010, appearing in 15 all-time World Cup Qualifiers. Originally born in Mendoza, Argentina, Mastroeni made his National Team debut in a friendly against Ecuador in June 2001 and made his final in June 2009 in a World Cup Qualifying victory over Honduras.


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Unfinished prototypes of both Perfect Dark and Conker's Bad Fur Day have been released online.
Ahh rare please release something good it could be this old stuff and it would demolish your current projects you know unless your working on kameo 2
I still have very good memories of Rare games on the N64.
Then Microsoft turned them into a casual Kinect developer.
here is what we can expect from rare, i mean Microsoft
Really looking forward to seeing what they have for the next Xbox at E3. Really loved everything they've done this generation, Kameo, Perfect Dark, Viva Pinata 1 & 2, Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts and Kinect Sports! The HD remasters of Banjo Kazooie and Perfect Dark on XBLA were awesome as well! Hopefully they push the next Xbox.
People are quick to kill Rare under Microsoft but they made some great games. Viva Pinata is and will always be a great game and even though it was a different take on the series Banjo N&B was also a great game.


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Family fight ends with mom, son in handcuffs
February 26. 2013 12:58PM
MANCHESTER - A mother and son were arrested Monday after police said the son hit his mother's boyfriend in the head with a coffee mug and she tried to get into the prisoner transport wagon to reach her son, police said.
Ryan Bouchard, 18, of 943 Bridge St., is charged with second-degree assault, while his mother, Patricia Bouchard, 47, of the same address, is facing charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
It was Patricia Bouchard who called police at 5 p.m. to report a fight between her son and her boyfriend, Joseph Suzedelis, 48. When police arrived, they found Suzedelis bleeding from wounds to the top and back of his head, while Ryan Bouchard was covered in blood.
Police said Suzedelis and Bouchard got into a fight in one of the bedrooms because Suzedelis wanted Bouchard's friends to leave the home.
Suzedelis was transported by ambulance to the Elliot Hospital where it took several staples to close his head wounds.
As officers were arresting Bouchard, police said his mother became belligerent, swore at officers outside the home, and then tried to get to her son in the transport van, despite officers' warnings. As a result, she was arrested.
What's next: Ryan Bouchard posted $1,000 cash/surety bail, pending arraignment Tuesday in 9th Circuit Court, Manchester District Division. Patricia Bouchard was released on personal recognizance bail with a March 7 arraignment.


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Street closures for Fourth of July holiday
Boston area roads impacted by fireworks displays
Street closures for Fourth of July holiday
Boston area roads impacted by fireworks displays
Officials are urging those planning on coming into Boston to enjoy the festivities to use the MBTA.
A number of events will be taking place to celebrate the Fourth of July. Many streets, parkways and highways will be closed to vehicular traffic and parking will be restricted.
Officials are urging those planning on coming into Boston to enjoy the festivities to use the MBTA.
July 3
12:00 p.m. OR AT A TIME TO BE DETERMINED BY THE INCIDENT COMMANDER:
- Storrow Drive will be closed to westbound traffic from the Lee Pool to the Bowker Overpass. All westbound traffic will be diverted to Charles St. Circle. Westbound traffic may re-enter Storrow Drive westbound by heading down Charles Street, to Beacon Street, to the westbound entrance at the Bowker overpass.
- The exit to Arlington Street from the Storrow Tunnel (eastbound) shall be closed until 6:00 a.m. on July 5.
- Mugar Way at Beacon St. closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Pedestrians will be directed to Berkeley St. for entrance to the Esplanade
- Berkeley St. @ Beacon St. closed to vehicular traffic.
- Storrow Dr. East bound will be closed at the Bowker overpass. It will remain closed until July 5, at a time to be determined by the Incident Commander.
July 4
12:00 a.m.:
- No parking on Memorial Drive (either side) from Massachusetts Avenue to the Longfellow Bridge. All vehicles remaining after this time will be removed.
7:30 a.m.:
- Access to Storrow Drive westbound from Leverett Circle to Kenmore Square will be closed to traffic.
- The Storrow Drive Exit Ramp in the Tip O'Neil Tunnel will be closed to all traffic except emergency vehicles.
- The Leverett Circle entrance to Storrow Drive West will also be closed. Traffic will be allowed to travel on Msgr. O'Brien Highway to Cambridge and Martha's Road to Boston.
The following Storrow Dr. on-ramp closures will remain in effect from July 3:
- Berkeley Street
- Charlesgate Area (heading eastbound)
- Bowker Overpass from the Park Drive
- Charles Street Circle. (heading westbound)
- No Parking at Magazine Beach Area. No boat launching in this area.
- Pedestrian footbridge at Charles Street Circle going to the Esplanade closed.
- Fiedler footbridge from Beacon Street going to the Esplanade closed.
- Mugar Way @ Beacon Street closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Pedestrians wishing to enter the Esplanade will be directed down Beacon Street to Berkeley St. and Clarendon St. for entry.
3:00 p.m.:
- No access to Storrow Dr. westbound from the Kenmore Square overpass.
- No access to Sorrow Dr. westbound from the Beacon St. on-ramp under the Bowker overpass
4:00 p.m.:
- Memorial Drive in both directions from Mass. Ave. to the Longfellow Bridge closed.
- Main Street, Cambridge from Third Street to the Longfellow Bridge, closed
- Ames Street from Main Street to Memorial Drive, Cambridge, closed
- Wadsworth and Amherst Streets, Cambridge, closed
- Land Boulevard (Cambridge) from Binney Street to Longfellow Bridge closed.
- Hayward, Carlton, Charlotte's Way and Dock Streets in Cambridge, closed.
- Access allowed to One Memorial Drive only with issued permit.
- Longfellow Bridge closed in both directions. Pedestrians will be allowed on the inbound (Cambridge to Boston) side.
- Mass. Ave. Bridge closed in both directions from Beacon Street in Boston to Vassar Street in Cambridge. This year, the bridge will be closed to pedestrian traffic and viewing.
- Memorial Drive from Mass. Ave to the B.U. Bridge closed. Access will be allowed for patrons going to the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Hyatt patrons will be directed to the Vassar St. road closure.
- Vassar Street in Cambridge from Mass. Ave. to Memorial Drive. Access will be allowed for residents.
9:15 p.m.:
- Third Street in Cambridge becomes one way from Main Street to Msgr. O'Brien Highway
- Craigie Draw Bridge (@ Leverett Circle) to remain closed for approximately 2 hours to allow traffic to subside.
- Smaller boats that can pass under bridge while in the down position" will be allowed to pass.
- All closures subject to change at the discretion of the Incident Commander


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JUNE 13 — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the administration was considering "all options," including military action, to help the government of Iraq fend off advancing Sunni Muslim extremists. But we would be surprised — and disappointed — if the administration injected American forces into a conflict from which the U.S. finally extricated itself only three years ago. Ominous as they are, this week's developments justify neither American boots on the ground nor airstrikes carried out by American pilots.
This week's upsurge of violence is partly a spillover of the civil war in Syria — the group that gained control of Mosul and Tikrit is called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — but it also reflects the failure of Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to establish legitimacy with Sunni Iraqis. It's thus another reminder of the naivete of U.S. strategists who thought that the sectarian hatreds unleashed by the ouster of Saddam Hussein could be easily subdued in a Western-style democracy.
The New York Times reported that even before this week's victories by insurgents, Maliki pleaded with the Obama administration to launch airstrikes against areas used by the rebels to launch attacks. The administration refused, but it will now be pressured to reconsider. How should it respond?
Obama should apply the principles he outlined in a speech last month at West Point's commencement. In that speech, he pledged to assist Iraq (along with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey) in combating terrorist violence. In Iraq, that assistance has taken the form of munificent military aid including F-16 fighters, attack helicopters and Hellfire tactical missiles. If those resources haven't sufficed to enable Iraqi forces to resist the insurgents, that isn't a sufficient argument for putting American pilots in harm's way.
In his West Point speech, Obama also said that he would approve direct U.S. military action in response to specific threats against Americans, and cited drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia. While we're uncomfortable with the number of drone strikes the U.S. has carried out there and in Pakistan, if a terrorist is plotting an attack on Americans, it shouldn't matter whether he is located in Yemen or Iraq. But that doesn't mean the U.S. should deploy aircraft — manned or unmanned — to shore up Maliki's government.
Obama's critics glibly blame the spiral of violence in Iraq on the president's failure to secure an agreement with Iraq that would have kept a residual U.S. military presence there. But it's not clear that a few thousand American trainers would have made a major difference in the readiness or resilience of Iraqi soldiers. If there was a time when the U.S. could control events in Iraq, that time has long passed. Obama should remember that as he ponders his "options."


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2013 Volkswagen Jetta Sedan Values
Select a 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Sedan trim level
2013 model year changes
Following a redesign in 2011, the Jetta sedan sees several changes for 2013. For starters, a hybrid model joins the lineup, due out later in the model year. Volkswagen claims it will return close to 45 mpg on the highway. Across the rest of the Jetta lineup, many interior appointments and options get reshuffled and updated. Jetta S, SE, SEL, TDI and GLI models carry over with various changes. Models from the Jetta S trim with a sunroof and up get a standard adjustable front center armrest. SE and TDI trims get power reclining front seats, metallic trim on the dash and door panels and a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, all standard. Both trims also get more exterior chrome on the grille and window seal trim. The SEL receives a 6-way power-adjustable driver's seat with manual lumbar support, as well as a new "soft-touch dash." Launch control is new in GLI models with the optional DSG transmission for 2013, which allows for a perfect launch with controlled wheelspin.
Competitive comparison
Affordability; excellent fit and finish; good handling and braking; fuel economy on TDI hybrid models
Special features for 2013
In 2011, Volkswagen revised the Jetta's packaging to better compete with the Honda Civic, Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla. Previously, price kept it just out of reach of potential buyers of the competition, but with an attractive redesign, Volkswagen also reconsidered options packaging and the Jetta's price level. They've done so again for 2013 and now buyers can get a premium German sedan at an entry-level price, with fit and finish similar to that on cars that cost two and three times as much.
Now offering a 6-way power seat on the SEL and GLI trim levels, the 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Sedan is a compact car powered by a standard 2.5-liter inline 5-cylinder engine that produces 170 hp and 177 lb-ft of torque. For the "green" driver an optional 2.0-liter TDI® diesel engine that produces 140 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque is also available. Both engines can be paired with an optional 6-speed automatic transmission, however the standard engine comes standard with a 5-speed manual transmission while the diesel engine comes standard with a 6-speed manual transmission. Fuel mileage for the standard engine is an EPA estimated 23 mpg city and 33 mpg highway while the diesel engine gets a boost to an EPA estimated 30 mpg city and 42 mpg highway. Features include panoramic sunroof, 8-speaker sound system, touch-screen sound system, multi-function steering wheel and touch-screen navigation. Safety is comprised of crash optimized front end, pinch-protection power windows, Intelligent Crash Response, electronic stability control (ESC), and anti-slip regulation (ASR). The Jetta SportWagen is backed by a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty.


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Ainifeel Women s Padlock Handbags Bucket Shoulder Handbags Purse Crossbody BagHot Pink Hot Pink -
Full grain cow leather. Synthetic lining.
Included lock and key(please take out all filling papers to find lock and key set at the bottom inside of the handbag)
Attached an adjustable and removable shoulder strap or crossbody strap
Three compartments. A zippered pocket and a cell phone pocket in one of compartments
13'' (L) X 7'' (W) X 7.87'' (H), handle: 5''
Top-Handle Bags


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Select two or more artificial grass varieties in Bonita, CA to compare. Need help deciding which of our synthetic golf grasses is the right one for you? Give us a call and one of our professional Bonita landscaping experts will be happy to help outfit your backyard golf facility with the right turf for every aspect of the game.
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Fringe & Collar
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- Putting Performance: The fastest, truest ball roll across the surface.
- Chipping Performance: The ability to 'hold' a shot under 25 yards, any shots that stay below your shoulder.
- Pitching Performance: The ability to 'hold' a chip shot under 50 yards.
- Shot Stopper System: Recommended for holding shots over 50 yards.
- Rough: Any SYNLawn Landscaping product will work for a "Rough" on a golf project. However, the products recommended above provide the most realistic match between putting green and fringe surfaces.
- SYNLawn Tee Strike: The only Tee Line surface that SYNLawn recommends.
- SYNBermuda 214: The only Fairway product SYNLawn recommends.


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Google invests in Iowa data center and wind farm
Google invests in Iowa data center and wind farm
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Google is investing another $200 million in its Council Bluffs data center operations as it invests $75 million in a wind farm in central Iowa.
Google announced the additional investment in the data center on Friday at a Statehouse news conference.
The Mountain View-Calif.-based tech giant has an existing $600 million data center it announced in 2007. In April, Google said it would build a $300 million data center near the existing campus. Friday's announcement would add $200 million to that new site.
Google said Thursday it was investing $75 million in the Rippey Wind Farm in Greene County as part of its effort to encourage development of cleaner energy sources.
Google's investment in Iowa now stands at $1.1 billion.


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Innovator Chip Kelly set for pro debut with EaglesBy DAVID WEINBERG
MCT Information Services
September 08. 2013 9:43PM
PHILADELPHIA -- It didn't take long for Eagles center Jason Kelce to realize he wasn't playing for Andy Reid anymore.
Soon after arriving for the team's first training camp in late July under new coach Chip Kelly, Kelce found himself in a room listening to former Navy SEAL officer Coleman Ruiz talk about his experiences leading 85 combat missions during six deployments to the Middle East.
Afterward, Kelce and the rest of the Eagles practiced while Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and other music blared from giant loudspeakers. After practice, he gulped down a protein smoothie, then went back to the team hotel for a mandated rest-and-recovery period.
"From the very first day I walked in here, Coach Kelly told me that he was never going to do anything just for the sake of 'That's the way it's done in the NFL,'" Kelce said. "Players are creatures of habit, and he wanted to break our habits."
Reid and Kelly couldn't be more different, both on and off the field.
Reid drew constant criticism for his clock management and stubborn reliance on a pass-happy, West Coast offense. He was unbelievably boring at news conferences, starting them with the infamous phrase "time is yours" and seldom offering any pertinent information.
But his personal life was an open book. Reid's wife, Tammy, attended every regular-season and playoff game over 14 seasons, even when their older sons, Garrett and Britt, were embroiled in drug-related legal trouble. Reid was also married to football. He took only a few days off following Garrett's death from a heroin overdose at training camp in 2012.
Kelly is extremely guarded about his past. The third of Paul and Jean Kelly's four sons grew up in Manchester, N.H., and maintains a tight circle of friends there. He played for and graduated from Manchester High School Central and the University of New Hampshire, and was a longtime assistant coach at UNH before leaving for the University of Oregon. The 49-year-old is not married. He was engaged a few years ago, but is no longer.
He often spars with the media during his press conferences, though he provides a little more insight than Reid. But he will be the first Eagles coach in decades who will not be conducting a coach's radio show during the season with longtime Eagles radio announcer Merrill Reese.
Kelly makes his NFL regular-season debut tonight, when the Eagles open at Washington.
Departure from Reid
Veteran Eagles players were used to doing things a certain way under Reid.
Training camp was held at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pa. Players were given Mondays and Tuesdays off during the regular season. The locker room at the NovaCare Complex was arranged according to position, with quarterbacks, running backs, linebackers, etc., dressing together.
Everything has changed since Kelly was hired Jan. 16.
Training camp was moved to the team's NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia, just down the road from Lincoln Financial Field. Players will only have Mondays off. Linebacker DeMeco Ryans is no longer dressing next to his fellow linebackers. He's now between tackle Jason Peters and wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
"I think the changing of the lockers was a good idea," Ryans said. "It's allowed us to bond with each other. Jason, DeSean and I just have fun and enjoy each other's company. When you're with your position group all the time, you usually wind up talking about nothing but football. With Jason and DeSean, we just relax and talk about life."
Kelly, who had never coached in the NFL before the Eagles hired him, initially had some qualms over whether his unorthodox methods would be accepted by older, more established veterans the same way they were by impressionable teenagers at Oregon.
He was worried for nothing.
"That part, I think, was the biggest unknown going into this," Kelly said. "If you're a guy from the outside and haven't been part (of the NFL), you hear about how it's tough to coach professional athletes because they've got their own mind set and want to do things their own way.
"I've never encountered that with one player on this team. They've embraced everything, and that's a real credit to them. Since day one, there was not a whole lot of salesmanship in terms of why we do all of these things. Their thought process was, 'If you can help me become a better football player, I'm in,' and everyone has been that way. That part, as a coach, has been refreshing. It makes you excited to come to work every day."
Change was needed
The Eagles definitely needed to shake things up.
They had enjoyed tremendous success earlier in Reid's tenure. Between 2000 and 2008, the Eagles made seven playoff appearances, won five division titles, earned five berths in the NFC championship game and reached the Super Bowl in the 2004 season.
But the team has been fading the past few years.
It was one-game-and-done in the playoffs in 2009 and 2010. There was no postseason in 2011 and 2012. Last season's 4-12 record — its worst since going 3-13 in 1998 under former coach Ray Rhodes — seemed to confirm the suspicion that Reid's messages and methods had grown stale.
Reid was fired and subsequently hired by Kansas City. Kelly has instituted a steady diet of changes that includes the players' diets.
One of his first moves was hiring sports science coordinator Shaun Huls, who previously served as head strength and conditioning coach and combatives coordinator for Navy Special Warfare. In April, Kelly had the players participate in a sleep study to determine the proper amount of rest they needed between workouts. They wore GPS tracking systems on their shoulder pads during minicamps to measure speed and agility.
Huls also overhauled the menu in the cafeteria to include more nutritious choices. No more Taco Tuesdays or Fast-Food Fridays.
"All the stuff he does is designed to make us physically and mentally ready for game days," Kelce said. "Players go through peaks and valleys during the day, and he wants to make sure we're able to rest and recuperate during the valleys so that our peaks will be higher than ever."
Practices are conducted with music to make players concentrate. At first, it was a novelty and welcome distraction. Players could be seen dancing to the "Cha-Cha Slide" on the sideline. But they no longer seem to notice.
Various tools are used during practices as well. Assistant coaches tug on ropes attached to footballs while running backs try to avoid fumbles. Other assistants don shoulder pads with screens resembling giant flyswatters attached to simulate pass rushers in quarterback passing drills.
"It's the exact height of a 6-foot-4 defensive end with his arms in the air," Kelly said.
Players look forward to the after-practice offerings that include smoothies. The dining hall staff prepares one for each player depending on his tastes. Tight end Brent Celek has pineapple and coconut in his drink. Linebacker Trent Cole likes chocolate and banana.
"I have to have chocolate and peanut butter," defensive end Cedric Thornton said. "I love them."
Kelly's creativity is making waves in the NFL. The Eagles, who open at Washington tonight, are viewed as one of the most intriguing teams in the NFL this season.
The various changes, combined with his fast-paced offense, have also created a level of excitement among fans and players. About 110,000 fans showed up for the Eagles' five open workouts at Lincoln Financial Field.
The players can't wait for the season.
"It's definitely different," Celek said. "We were so used to coach Reid for so long. But things change, and I love what coach Kelly has brought here so far. It's awesome. Between the smoothies, the food and everything else, he's giving us everything we need to be successful."
David Weinberg reports for The Press of Atlantic City, N.J.


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2013 Rogers Research Program Brown-Bag Presentations
May 10, 2013
Olin Hall
Tuesdays 12:00-1:15, Olin 301
Presentations are free and open to the public
Dessert provided
Students discuss their research projects during a series of brown-bag talks on Tuesdays in June and July. Each presentation is 15 minutes; there are generally 3-4 talks per session. For more information about projects see project descriptions.
Parallel computing with higher-level languages and compelling examples
Student presenters: Kyle Barton, Samuel Dodson, Ben Whitehead
Faculty collaborator: Jens Mache
Cybersecurity Competition Platform to Enhance Security Analysis Skills
Student presenters: Miles Crabill, Evan Damon, Kaleb Ganz, Claire Humbeutel
Faculty collaborator: Jens Mache
Fundamental Mechanistic Investigations of (Pseudo)pericyclic and (Pseudo)coarctate Reactions via CASSCF, CASPT2, and DFT Computational Studies
Student presenter: Mackenzie Batali, Henry Kreiman
Faculty collaborator: James A. Duncan
Conducting Research Responsibility
Sarah Schaack, Reed College
Investigating Forest Recovery in River View Natural Area After Removal of Invasive Plant Species
Student presenters: Michelle Garfias, Janel Hull
Faculty collaborators: Paulette Bierzychudek, Peter Kennedy
Research in the Vocal and Auditory Learning Laboratory
Student presenter: Devin Owen
Faculty collaborator: Christopher Olson
Design and analysis of bipartite inhibitors of proprotein convertases
Student presenter: Josh Spegman
Faculty collaborator: Ujwal Shinde
Investigations of Response Inhibition and Risky Behaviors in Young Adults and Preschool-aged Children
Student presenters: Melissa Newton-Mora, Juliana Pirkle
Faculty collaborator: Todd D. Watson
Using Laser Noise to Build a Magnetometer
Student presenters: Alaina Green, Aojie Zheng
Faculty collaborator: Shannon O'Leary
Using Holographic Optical Tweezers to Study Microbubble Dynamics
Student presenter: Amaya Lucas, Reuben Peterson
Faculty collaborator: Shannon O'Leary
Super-resolution microscopy studies of mechanisms underlying delivery of dense-core granules to synapses in hippocampal neurons
Student presenter: Benjamin Robinson
Faculty collaborator: Bethe A. Scalettar
Constructing cellular compartments during embryonic development
Student presenters: Alec Barrett, Logan Harper, Kent Tubbs, My Van Vo, Heidi Wade
Faculty collaborator: Greg J. Hermann
Ribosome biogenesis and export
Student presenters: Ben Herken, Ryan McBride, Becca Zilk
Faculty collaborators: Deborah E. Lycan, Jason Merwin
Serious Games for Scaffolding Creative Problem Solving and Motivating Healthy Behaviors
Student presenters: Desiree Etzel, Steven Lucas, Marjorie Pichon
Faculty collaborator: Erik Nilsen
Controlled Growth of Metal /Metal Oxide Thin Film Composite Electrodes for Energy Storage and Generation
Student presenters: Keira Roberts, Luciano Santino
Faculty collaborator: Anne K. Bentley
Statistical Artificial Intelligence and the Game of Go
Student presenters: Brandon Cieslak, Kal Johnson, Samuel Kelly, San Levenick
Faculty collaborator: Yung-Pin Chen, Peter Drake
Computational models of hair bundles in the inner ear
Student presenters: Daniel Blasher, Sreyhiek Seng
Faculty collaborator: Liz Stanhope
Synaptic Secretion of Neuromodulatory Proteins from Dense-Core Granules
Student presenter: Sarah Lowenstein
Faculty collaborator: Janis E. Lochner
Mapping neuronal circuitry using Brainbow zebrafish
Student presenters: Kyla Hamling, Audrey Smith, Teresa Stackhouse, Jonathan Torres, Derek Warner-Reyes, Leah Weston
Faculty collaborator: Tamily Weissman-Unni
Image-guided Setup Reproducibility for Lung and Liver Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy
Student presenters: Mayadah Yahya
Faculty collaborator: James Tanyi
Structural Studies and Functional Characterization of Neurotoxic Venom Peptides from Sicariidae Spiders
Student presenters: Kathryn George, Francesca Goodstein
Faculty collaborator: Nikolaus Loening
Genetic and Environmental Impact on Learning and Memory and Anxiety
Student presenters: Alicia Callejo-Black
Faculty collaborator: Jacob Raber
Contributions to Infant Intention Understanding
Student presenters: Caitlin McCormick, Kaitlyn True, Mark Brown
Faculty collaborator: Jennifer LaBounty


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Wed 8th Feb 2006 18:27 UTC
It seems like Linus Torvalds cannot make up his mind about whether or not to use the GPL3 for the Linux kernel. After clearly rejecting the idea of using the GPL3 ('and I don't see that changing'), he now opens the option up again. "It's 'quite possible,' said Torvalds that the GPL 3 could be used, 'but on the other hand, there's a purely practical problem with any change of license when you have tens of major copyright holders and hundreds of people who have written some part and thousands who have submitted one-liners and small fixes. There are, after all, benefits to putting the kernel under the GPL 3,' Torvalds said."


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monkeyxian Hi, My name is Xian, Im a bio chemistry major student here in chicago area. I want to explore the world as well before i find a job then i WOuldnt have time to do anything lol. Anyhow, I was wondering if you would like to come on a trip with me as well when school is over. Leaving around may 25th or 30th and come back 1 month later. I have a house in china around Fuzhou area and we can use that as our center point. Im planning on landing in hong kong first then go to fuzhou to settle for a day then explore the area aroudn like Yellow mountain, guilin, fuoshan, etc as well as variety of food. I know the area really well so if you would like to tag along just email me, firstname.lastname@example.com
The estamate of this trip will be about 1600 for the ticket and about 800 spending money. We wouldnt have to worry about hotel cause i have a house we can crash at.
Travel Forum 6 years ago


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Conference Primers: #22 – IvyPosted by rtmsf on October 22nd, 2007
Predicted Order of Finish:
- Penn (20-10) (11-3)
- Yale (17-11) (10-4)
- Cornell (17-10) (9-5)
- Columbia (14-14) (7-7)
- Brown (15-13) (7-7)
- Harvard (10-19) (5-9)
- Princeton (9-18) (4-10)
- Dartmouth (6-19) (3-11)
WYN2K. For possibly the first time in two decades, the Ivy League basketball championship is wide open. The twin towers of power – Penn and Princeton – have held the Ivy title on one of their campuses each of the last twenty seasons. This year, however, Princeton will be recovering from the Joe Scott disaster (18-24 in three seasons culminating in an atrocious 2-12 debacle last year), while Penn will have to deal with the loss of the core group that won three straight Ivy championships. Penn has enough returning to make another run at the title, but don't expect another 13-1 blitzkrieg through the league, as several other contenders will make their own push toward an NCAA bid.
Predicted Champion. Penn (#14 seed NCAA). Ok, ok, so we're too chicken to pick anybody else here. We know that on paper there are other Ivy schools with more returning talent (ahem, Yale), but consider the weight of history that Penn has behind it – 5 of the last 6 titles… 7 of the last 9… 10 of the last 15. Every other champion during that time was Princeton. With the Tigers almost completely out of the picture, how can we not make our pick for Penn? Despite losing two-time Ivy POY Ibrahim Jabber and Mark Zoller, the Quakers still have the most depth of any team in the league to go along with the best home court advantage at the Palestra. This year's squad will be led by Brian Grandieri and Justin Reilly, the latter of whom showed some decent post skills during the NCAA Tourney loss to Texas A&M last year. Sorry, Ivy faithful, but we just can't pick against Penn until someone outside of Princeton knocks them off their perch.
Others Considered. Should Penn crash and burn this year, Princeton assuredly will not be the beneficiary, which means that a team not used to winning this title will be doing so for the first time in a generation. We like Yale as next in line. The Bulldogs return four starters plus their top two reserves, including prohibitive POY favorite Eric Flato, a do-it-all guard who nailed 71 treys last season. The only reason to lend a skeptic's glance toward Yale is their maddening tendency to lose "shoulda" games, such as when they dropped a home game vs. Columbia immediately prior to a big showdown at Penn last year, effectively ending their conference title hopes. Cornell is another team that appears ready to make the leap on paper, but simply hasn't been able to get past the monolith in Philly. Coach Steve Donahue is a tidy 0-14 in his career vs. the Quakers, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence in winning a conference race that depends solely on regular season performance. Still, the Big Red, who was the last non-P&P team to make the NCAA Tourney back in 1988, has a nice set of guards returning (Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale) along with the 2006 ROY Adam Gore (redshirted last year) and USC transfer Collin Robinson.
Games to Watch. Since the Ivy League decides its champion via round-robin and not a conference tournament, there are a few key home-and-homes to watch this season.
- Cornell @ Yale (02.02.08) & Yale @ Cornell (02.22.08)
- Yale @ Penn (02.16.08) & Penn @ Yale (02.29.08)
- Penn @ Cornell (02.09.08) & Cornell @ Penn (03.07.08)
RPI Booster Games. Last year the Ivy League went 2-17 against BCS schools, but surprisingly, middle-of-the-packers Cornell (defeated Northwestern 64-61) and Brown (defeated Providence 51-41) were the two winners. Penn, on the other hand, was 0-5 – go figure. There are 23 games on the slate this year, and here are a few highlights.
- Yale @ Stanford (11.20.07)
- Virginia @ Penn (11.23.07)
- Brown @ Northwestern (11.24.07)
- Michigan @ Harvard (12.01.07)
- Cornell @ Syracuse (12.20.07)
- Penn @ Miami (FL) (01.02.08)
Odds of Multiple NCAA Bids. Zippo.
Neat-o Stat. With the hiring of Tommy Amaker at Harvard and Sydney Johnson at Princeton, six of the eight head coaches in the Ivy League are now black. Unthinkable a generation ago, this means that the Ivy has a higher percentage of black head honchos (75%) than all but the two historically black D1 conferences, the SWAC and MEAC. We're not sure if that will necessarily translate to more wins at those two schools, but it can't be a bad thing in terms of inspring qualified minority hiring practices at other schools (ed. note – we guess that assumes Amaker is qualified. Apologies).
64/65-Team Era. The Ivy League has gone 3-23 (.115) over the era, with all three wins concentrated in the mid- to late-90s. The Ivy tends to receive a favorable seed from the NCAA committee, averaging a #12.8 over this period, which equates to an expected value of around seven wins. This shows that the league has really underperformed compared with its seed over the years. Of the three wins, two belong to Princeton (1996 – #13 Princeton 43, #4 UCLA 41; 1998 – #5 Princeton 69, #12 UNLV 57) and one to Penn (1994 – #11 Penn 90, #6 Nebraska 80). With that said, the league's NCAA representative (well, Penn, really) has in recent years consistently played its first round opponent tough before ultimately succumbing to superior talent.
- 2003 – #11 Penn down four to #6 Oklahoma St. with 2:25 remaining
- 2006 – #15 Penn down one to #2 Texas with 6 mins left
- 2007 – #14 Penn tied with #3 Texas A&M with 11 minutes to go
Nothing says thrilling like Gus Johnson, so we'll leave you his call of 1996 Princeton-UCLA.
Final Thought. We actually look at this year's Ivy a little bit like we look at the Big South. You have one program (Penn and Winthrop, respectively) that has clearly been the class of the league for the better part of a decade going through some serious changes, and you have a smattering of challengers ready to stake their claims on the league crown. The problem in both cases is more psychological than physical – can the likes of Yale and Cornell overcome the mental hurdles that Penn has constructed for them over the years by winning a key game in late February on the road when it really counts? It should make for an interesting winter in our nation's smartest league, that's for sure.


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Jack Boyce – an alum gives back to benefit students
As an active alumnus it's been a busy spring semester for Jack Boyce '81.
First, he appeared on campus as keynote speaker for the second annual induction of the Girard School's Sigma Iota Epsilon chapter, the national management honor society.
A month later, he hosted a luncheon for 20 finance students at his Boston office, the U.S. headquarters of Standard Life Investments, a Scottish asset management company.
"As an alumnus, it's been great to have the opportunity to give back to the school and to share experiences," said Boyce.
From his experience of more than 30 years in investments, Boyce offers today's students a wealth of advice.
He says students need to find out their passion. In his SIE speech, he recommended students watch Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University to learn the Apple co-founder's story.
Boyce recalled his message from the SIE speech to the 68 new members, the top-ranked management students at Girard: "Some of you may know what you love or may learn right away. For most, it's a weeding-out process. What's important to remember is you have many opportunities to change your mind. The fact is, you have a responsibility to change. From your honors today, it's clear you have the ability. This should give you the courage. That courage is very important."
A Merrimack Psychology major, Boyce took a heavy concentration of business courses at a time when the college had no minors. Having enjoyed a labor relations course, he discovered the field focused mostly on health care and retirement benefits. He began administering pension plans, then went into client relations and sales and marketing.
People entering the business world need to seek advice, Boyce said.
"Find a mentor or a coach," he said.
"As a mentor, I hope I can help you avoid many of the buckets I may have put my foot in."
Everyone can learn from his or her mistakes, he said: "It all depends on how you look at failure. Don't resign yourself to it. Look at it as an experience, a data point, if you will.
There is often more than one right answer. The investment business is a case in point: there are many ways to win in the investment world."
As head of U.S. distribution for Standard Life Investments since June 2012, he said, "We are working to build up and develop the distribution and client relations for Standard Life here in the U.S." Globally, the company manages more than $272 billion of assets for more than 5 million customers; most of those assets are in the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe and India.
Prior to Standard Life Investments, Boyce was co-head of global institutional sales at PineBridge Investments, responsible for the U.S. and Japanese business development. Before joining PineBridge, he spent eight years as senior vice president at GE Asset Management, where he established global distribution and oversaw the consultant relations team; and 11 years as vice president at Diversified Investment Advisors, a subsidiary of Aegon USA.
Boyce welcomed the 20+ senior finance students to Boston for lunch on the day they also visited Bloomberg's Boston office for certification testing on Bloomberg terminals. The lunch program included appearances by four of his staff, talking about their career paths and investment strategies. Among them were an investment specialist, the head of U.S. Equity Trading, along with the head of U.S. credit and global high yield.
"These are very successful people, from very different backgrounds," Boyce said. "The head trader, his father was a roofer. Through persistent hard work he went to Brown. The Head of Credit was a History major. In investments, you will find a host of backgrounds among highly specialized areas of expertise."
At Merrimack, Boyce also met his wife, Maryann, also '81. They have served on the President's Advisory Board. He was captain of the club squash team his junior and senior years and worked in campus ministry all four years. Maryann Boyce taught elementary school, worked in business and raised their two daughters.
While the Boyces live in Boston's Back Bay, they visit North Andover often, to see Maryann's family and Jack's sister.
Those visits also allow him to engage more fully with Dean Cordano. "The Girard School is making remarkable progress in establishing a world-class business school."
For new hires in the investment business, Jack Boyce '81 says he looks for "for a certain level of being a self-starter, someone who will take responsibility, who's willing to listen and learn, who has a sense of reliability."
He also seeks people who understand the nature of their chosen business.
As he says he told the Girard School's 2013 Sigma Iota Epsilon students: "Today you're a business student. You will become a student of business. Know the game."
He referred to author Simon Sinek, noted for his TED talks, who urges employees to know their company's purpose. "In every company, everyone knows what the business does," said Boyce. "Some people know how the business does it. Very few know why."
Those who know why are often the most successful.
Boyce also has these tips for students:
Want to learn more?
Watch Steve Jobs' Stanford University commencement speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHWUCX6osgM
To hear Simon Sinek discuss "What's Your Company's Purpose?" go to http://www.inc.com/simon-sinek/leadership-how-to-identify-your-companys-purpose.html


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Course Sequence
The course sequence consists of five courses:
1. An institutional research course (3 credit hours)
2. A research methods course (3 credit hours)
3. A statistics course (3 credit hours)
4. An elective related to research methods or statistics (3 credit hours)
5. A practicum or internship in institutional research (3 credit hours)
Because students come from a variety of departments, the IR Certificate Program is designed to allow students to complete the research methods, statistics course, and research/statistics elective requirements within their own disciplines. The various course options are given below in the course listing.
Course Listing by Course Requirement Area (3 credit hours each)
Curriculum Criteria


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By Liana B. Baker
(Reuters) - Satellite television provider Dish unveiled on Monday the latest version of its controversial digital video recording device, dubbed the Hopper, with new features such as the ability to stream live TV and recorded programs outside the home.
Already embroiled in a legal battle with all the major broadcast networks over the DVR's first iteration, Dish could engender a new round of lawsuits with its updated version, which it is calling "Hopper with Sling."
Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the updated Hopper uses "sling" technology that redirects a live or recorded TV signal from the set-top box to Internet-connected devices. That means that Dish subscribers with the new version can watch live TV wherever their mobile device or computer has Internet access.
The updated Hopper also features an app that allows customers to transfer saved TV programs to an Apple iPad so they can access shows on planes, subways or other areas where Internet access is unavailable. Such a transfer can only occur once.
Vivek Khemka, vice president of product management at Dish, said that the updated Hopper falls within "fair use policy" and does not violate copyrights.
"We believe this is consumer initiated. The consumer is choosing to watch their content, so it's well within the fair use policy," Khemka said.
But a source familiar with programming deals, who asked not to be named, said Dish may be violating contracts with media companies by offering Internet streaming of TV outside the home.
"The definitions are really tight and primarily talk about residential use and define the delivery technology," the source said about programming contracts.
In terms of transferring a copy of the iPad to content, the source said that Dish could find itself in legal trouble because "download rights are specifically negotiated," and often complicated.
A Fox spokesman had no comment on Dish's new Hopper. Representatives for CBS, NBC, ABC did not immediately return requests for comment.
When Cablevision Systems Corp released a similar app in 2011 that allowed for streaming in the home it was sued by Viacom for violating its contract with the programmer. The case settled in August 2011.
Dish, which ranks as the nation's second-largest satellite television provider with 14 million subscribers, is using the new Hopper as a way to attract customers to its service. The company plans to give it away for free to new customers who sign up for a two-year contract. The price for existing Dish customers will be revealed later.
Dish's sister company, EchoStar Communications, acquired Sling Media, the company that developed the technology, in 2007 for $380 million. Both Dish and EchoStar are controlled by eccentric billionaire Charlie Ergen.
Currently, all of Dish's channels ranging from ESPN to premium channels such as HBO or Showtime are available for live viewing on devices other than the TV depending on what programming package customers have. Subscribers can also watch any recorded programs that are saved on their DVR.
"If you get it at home, it's here (on the Hopper). Any channel on the guide is available, or anything you've DVR-ed," Khemka, the Dish executive, said.
Dish last year introduced DVRs with an "autohop" function that allows subscribers to skip commercials entirely when they are watching recorded shows, drawing the ire of broadcast network television owners such as CBS and News Corp's FOX.
Analysts at the time said Dish was using its Hopper DVR as a way to fight back against retransmission fees, which are payments cable and satellite companies pay to broadcast stations to carry their networks.
The autohop feature is also available on the new Hopper, which Dish touted as being twice as fast as the last one.
Watching TV over the Internet on mobile devices or computers through a pay TV provider is not new. In fact it's part of an industry effort dubbed "TV Everywhere" that's aimed at stopping consumers from cutting the cord in favor of cheaper online services such as Netflix or streaming on Amazon.com.
But these TV Everywhere services have not been widely adopted by consumers largely because the offerings are limited. Not all channels can be viewed on mobile devices and only a few networks can be streamed live, depending on specific agreements. Time Warner, which has the "HBO GO" app is considered a rare success.
Dish CEO Joe Clayton said that "consumer behavior of watching Internet video is not going away" and Dish needs to adapt as the pay TV market shrinks.
"With Hopper, the value equation for pay TV becomes radically different. Customers pay only once for their content and can access it anywhere they choose, in the home, or on the go," he said.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Lauria, Cynthia Osterman and David Gregorio)


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A nuclear watchdog pushes feds on safety
On April 14, California State Sen. Sam Blakeslee grilled Nuclear Regulatory Commission official Troy Pruett on the seismic hazards facing California's nuclear plants. It was roughly a month after a tsunami generated by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Blakeslee, whose Central Coast district includes Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, wanted his colleagues on the Senate's Energy Committee to understand the seismic risks at both Diablo Canyon and the San Onofre plant farther south.
He posed a simple question: Does the Shoreline Fault, discovered in 2008 a few hundred yards from Diablo Canyon, pose a greater threat than the Hosgri Fault a few miles away, which produced a 7.1 in 1927? Pruett bobbed and weaved ("There's the new Hosgri Fault and the old Hosgri Fault"), then waffled. ("It's not a simple yes or no question.")
Finally, the senator put it plainly: "(The Shoreline Fault) represents the greatest danger to the site, yes?"
"In terms of ground acceleration?" Pruett responded, referring to the shaking that makes earthquakes damaging -- as if Blakeslee had asked whether an approaching fire was dangerous in terms of heat.
"No," Blakeslee fired back. "In terms of pixie dust."
A geophysicist with a Ph.D. in earthquake studies, Blakeslee, 55, admits he's "hardly what you'd think of as an environmental activist. I'm a Republican!" But throughout his seven years in the state Legislature, he has insisted that science outweighs economics when it comes to nuclear safety. Other legislators, such as U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., have also aggressively questioned the safety of California's nuclear plants. Diablo Canyon in particular has faced formidable anti-nuclear activism since long before it went live in 1984. The right-leaning and scientifically astute Blakeslee, however, has proved harder for utilities and regulators to ignore. "He has been," says Rochelle Becker of the California nonprofit Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, "a tireless voice of reason."
Blakeslee, Becker and Capps are among a growing bipartisan chorus who believe that the NRC has done an inadequate job monitoring the country's 104 nuclear reactors, most of them built in the 1960s and 1970s and intended to last only 40 years. As the NRC renews those reactors' licenses, some observers wonder: Why is a lawmaker who represents fewer than a million people stepping into the role of a federal agency that represents us all?
Even Blakeslee wonders. "(Many of us) believe the NRC has taken away the safety role from the state of California," he told Pruett. "And so the NRC had darn well better do its job."
The NRC -- one of two agencies teased out of the boosterish Atomic Energy Commission in 1974 -- has long faced charges that concern for utility finances influences its decisions. ProPublica's John Sullivan recently found text written by industry lobbyists quoted verbatim in official NRC safety literature. But what worries Blakeslee is that NRC staffers rarely think skeptically before they relicense. "They only feel an obligation to assess and review data that exist," he says. "They never identify new hazards."
NRC spokesman Victor Dricks argues that the relicensing process is only for "evaluating the effects of aging on key plant systems"; regular safety inspections happen on an ongoing basis. "The NRC oversight process is highly intrusive," he says. "Every day, inspectors are walking through all the plants all over the country." NRC inspectors recently evaluated plant emergency systems in light of Fukushima, and flagged weaknesses in a special report.
But new evidence from fresh disasters rarely alters the NRC's aging-plant analysis. "Anything generic -- that applies to more than one reactor site -- can't legally be brought up in a relicensing process," says Michael Mariotte, executive director of the nonprofit Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). The design flaws in the nation's many General Electric Mark I reactors -- the same type damaged at Fukushima -- were never raised in the reviews, and 22 of 23 of them have been relicensed.
And on April 22, the NRC relicensed all three reactors at the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant near Phoenix, Ariz., without broaching the issue of the plant's meager water supply. The only nuclear plant in the world that doesn't draw cooling water from a major source, Palo Verde uses recycled municipal water. "That's not enough to handle a Fukushima-style situation where you have three meltdowns going on at the same time," Mariotte says.
Blakeslee is determined to compensate. In 2006, he pushed a bill through the Assembly directing the California Energy Commission to assess the seismic setting of the state's two plants. When Diablo Canyon broke ground in 1968, PG&E asserted that there was no seismic threat at all. "What other fault systems exist out there," Blakeslee wonders, "wholly unexplored or even undetected?"
Until such questions are answered, opponents suggest postponing attempts to renew Diablo Canyon's reactor licenses, which expire in 2024 and 2025. On April 10, PG&E capitulated, asking the NRC to delay until it could complete a series of 3-D seismic studies -- the "geological CAT scans" that Blakeslee recommended.
"My goal has never been to stop the plant from being licensed," Blakeslee says. "It's just part of my role as an elected official to make sure regulators are doing their jobs."


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X-Photographer JR Miller shoots macro with the new XF80mmF2.8
I'm one of the odd-balls in professional photography. Unlike most of the working pros I've met, I'm among the few who came to this line of work from the corporate world. I've spent most of the past 20 years in suits and ties holding roles in Investing, Banking, Law and Insurance. Photography was nothing more than a serious hobby during that time, my escape from the pressures of business.
One Spring morning in 2010 I decided that I hated my job and didn't want to spend another moment in one tedious strategy meeting after another. Since then I've worked as a photographer based in Toronto and while most of my assignments are commercial in nature i'll point a camera at just about any work my clients need.
My photo resume features Engagements & Weddings, Portraiture and Travel. I also do a fair bit of design and retouching for other creative professionals.


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Message Board
Denise M. Clark Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Clark has written!
Author Clark's Book Reviews
Cross The Line
A young woman's search for her place in a man's world in the trenches of World War One. Josie battles not only the enemy, but the desires of her heart as well, surviving not only repeated conflicts with her commanding officer, but the horrors of combat, though not without a price....


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Zdeno Chara didn't do enough to impress the voters in the Norris Trophy election that went to perennial winner Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit this season.
That doesn't mean Chara wasn't the best defenseman in the game.
While plus/minus obviously has his flaws, that Chara was able to post a league-best plus-33 rating while skating an average of 25:26 of ice time a game against the league's best offensive talents night after night tells you all you need to know about the season Chara enjoyed.
In the end, he was able to raise the trophy that matters the most — the Stanley Cup — after he and Dennis Seidenberg turned Henrik and Daniel Sedin into ghosts, just the latest and most-impressive shutdown job done by the Bruins' top pair.
Although so much of his energy was focused on defense, he still doubled his goal total from the previous season and surpassed 40 points for the seventh straight season while skating on a team that was in the bottom half of the league in power play for most of the season.
Chara did it all for the Bruins on the ice, and quieted all critics of his leadership abilities by helping to keep the team together long enough for the ultimate win. It wasn't just an award-worthy season for Chara, it was one that will go down in Bruins history.
Regular season: 81 GP, 14-30-44, plus-33
Playoffs: 24 GP, 2-7-9, plus-16
Contract status: Signed through 2017-18 at a cap hit of $6,916,667
Best regular-season moment: It was maybe the moment that Chara looked the most human on the ice in his entire Bruins career. After scoring his third goal of the night to complete his first career NHL hat trick in a 7-0 rout of Carolin Jan. 17, Chara turned toward center ice and pretended to toss a hat off his own end just as the fans' hats started to rain down on the TD Garden ice. Just so no one could accuse him of focusing too much on his offense that night, Chara also helped shut down Carolina star Eric Staal and his line.
Best playoff moment: The Bruins maintained the momentum they built by winning Game 3 and 4 at Montreal in their first-round series with the Canadiens by winning Game 5 back home in overtime. They never would've made it to the extra session were it not for a "save" in the crease by Chara on Michael Cammalleri, which was his lone blocked shot in 37:06 of ice time. Chara was also credited with five hits that night.
Worst moment: His inability to stop Alex Burrows after an Andrew Ference giveaway in overtime of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final and the illness that kept him out of Game 2 of the Canadiens series were tough to deal with, but nothing was worse for Chara than the hit on Max Pacioretty March 8 at Bell Centre.
We all know how things turned out for both players — a fractured vertebrae and concussion for Pacioretty, no suspension for Chara — and that there's a debate that just won't die about the legality of the play. But worst of all, the play caused some to demonize Chara as not just a vicious hockey player but evil human — which couldn't be further from the truth. To his credit, Chara was able to battle through the controversy and play some of his best hockey down the stretch of the regular season.
Regular-season grade: A
Playoffs grade: A-minus. There were some mistakes and a couple off nights for Chara in the defensive zone, and he could've done a better job of finishing on the power play, but for the most part he was the same great defenseman from the regular season during the championship run.
Carnac predicts … with the way he keeps himself in shape, Chara won't feel any Stanley Cup hangover when he gets back for next season and no one will battle harder to defend the Cup title or get back to the Norris winner's circle.


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NASHVILLE, TN – 92 Middle Tennessee art students took home Gold Key awards, 115 Silver Key awards and 263 Honorable Mentions in the most recent Scholastic Art Awards competition, with the Gold Key winning pieces on display in Cheekwood's Museum of Art February 1 through March 3.
Five students, Micah Atkinson, a Homeschooler, Claire Frankenfield of Harpeth Hall School, Caroline Harwood of Harpeth Hall School, Charlotte LaCroix of Independence High School, and Emily Martin of Harpeth Hall School each received an American Vision Award nomination. One of the five will be chosen as a national finalist in the American Vision Award competition to be held in New York.
Artworks by Middle Tennessee's Gold Key award-winners will go on to be judged by the national panel in New York. An awards celebration will be held in June with the winning artists' works to be displayed in The National Student Art Exhibition in New York City.
Students from 38 Middle Tennessee schools submitted 1,338 entries in the regional competition which was judged at Cheekwood. For the second year, all student art was submitted digitally. The judges include local artists and art educators, Jerry Atnip, Chris Cheney, Melodie Grace, Kathryn Gonzalez, Ryan Hogan, JC Johnson, Kelly Kessler, Carrie Lancaster, Marilyn Murphy, W. Paul Proctor, Katie Ries, and Cliff Tierney. The Scholastic Art Awards are the oldest continuously run art competition in the nation. Past winners include noted artists such as Red Grooms and Andy Warhol. The regional portion is sponsored by The Tennessee Credit Union and Cheekwood.
A reception for the Gold and Silver Key winners will be held in Massey Auditorium at Cheekwood on Saturday, February 2 (snow date is Feb. 9). The Awards Ceremony will be held for Group I (Grades 7-8) is at 1:30 pm and Group II (Grades 9-12) begins at 2:30 pm. Mayor Dean will be attending and addressing the groups.
About Cheekwood
Cheekwood is a 55-acre botanical garden and art museum located on the historic Cheek estate. Cheekwood's mission is to preserve Cheekwood as an historical landmark where beauty and excellence in art and horticulture stimulate the mind and nurture the spirit. Cheekwood is located at 1200 Forrest Park Drive in Nashville, 8 miles southwest of downtown Nashville. Open Tuesday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults, seniors $10 and children 3-17 are $5. Parking is $3 per car. Admission during Bruce Munro Nights will be $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, $8 for children 3-17 and $5 for Cheekwood members. For further information call 615-356-8000 or visit www.cheekwood.org.