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Reviewed by Lenny K. (age 9)
This is the first book of the series. I like this book because it's a curious mystery, like my personality. Make sure you have a lot of time to read this book because you will not be able to put it down, it has tons of cliff hangers that need to be answered. This book has interesting words like splendid and zappy, and hilarious dialogue that will make you roll around on the floor with laughter.
I recommend this book to people ages 9 and up who like juicy mysteries, and I recommend this book to…the Cahills.


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Various Artists, "Wagner at the Met: Legendary Performances from The Metropolitan Opera" (Sony Classical)
Yes, there really was a golden age, and this was it.
To mark the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth on May 22, a 25-disc set taken from the archives of Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts documents performances of nine of the composer's 10 mature works — "Parsifal" was excluded. The recordings date from 1936-54 and while some of these had appeared previously on CD, these are the first authorized releases. The sound from the original lacquers and tapes has been improved and cleaned markedly, but don't expect the clarity, depth and width of the digital era, especially from the 1930s broadcasts. And the conductors of the day made cuts that would be unacceptable to the 21st century Met audience.
But, oh, the singing.
Hans Hotter's booming Dutchman from "Die Fliegende Hollaender" is paired with Astrid Varnay's excitable Senta under Fritz Reiner's baton from 1950. George Szell's "Tannhaeuser" from 1954 shows interesting tempi choices in the overture, which includes a sudden speedup in the Venusberg theme.
Ramon Vinay's clarion tenor is featured as Tannhaeuser, this time matched with Varnay's sultry Venus, Margaret Harshaw's hefty Elisabeth and a young Roberta Peters as the Shepherd.
For a 1943 "Lohengrin," a fresher-sounding Varnay's Elsa is together with Lauritz Melchior in the title role under Erich Leinsdorf's baton that emphasized flow over energy. Melchior's "In fernem land (In a far-off land)" is a model of diction, breath control, pacing, color and inflection.
Melchior is a central part of the Ring Cycle, as Siegmund in a 1940 "Die Walkuere" with Marjorie Lawrence's Sieglinde, Flagstad's Bruennhilde and Julius Huehn's Wotan (under Leinsdorf), a 1937 "Siegfried" with Flagstad and Freidrich Schorr's Wanderer (under Bodanzsky) and a 1936 "Goetterdaemmerung" with Lawrence (again under Bodanzsky).
Melchior's seemingly effortless soft singing in "Winterstuerme (Wintry storms)" highlights how often the role is shouted these days by tenors lacking his technique, and Lawrence's "Du bist der Lenz (You are the spring)" builds tension and pace along with Sieglinde's ardor. Varnay combines iciness and affection in her opening "Siegmund! Sieh' auf mich! (Siegmund! Look at me!)" from the Todesverkuendigung (Annunciation of death). While Huehn's "Leb' wohl (Farewell)" is low on emotion, Flagstad and Melchior sparkle in the closing duet from "Siegfried."
A 1938 "Tristan und Isolde" with Melchior, Flagstad and Bodanzsky reveals an incendiary love duet that lifts the opera to an even higher level, and Flagstad follows with an ecstatic, mournful Liebestod (lovedeath), although here the thin sound of the recording detracts.
Finally, there is a "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg" from 1953. Reiner carefully blended Hans Hopf's lyrical Walther, Paul Schoeffler's thick-voiced Sachs and Victoria de los Angeles' sweet and innocent Eva.
While Sony had released 20 individual sets of Met broadcasts in recent years, including a 1968 "Walkuere" and 1972 "Meistersinger," the historic recordings have far more impact when packaged together here. A similar Verdi set is planned for the fall.

subset: commoncrawl


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Dexamethasone Irrigation of the Parotid Glands in Primary Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)Gren s Syndrome Subjects
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01316770
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : March 16, 2011
Last Update Posted : October 19, 2017
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- Results Submitted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
- Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome is an autoimmune disease (where the immune system attacks normal body tissues) that affects the salivary glands. Many people with Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome are not able to make enough saliva because their salivary glands are inflamed. The dry mouth that results can interfere with daily activities and can lead to dental cavities, mouth sores, and infections. Injections of corticosteroids into the parotid glands can improve saliva production in people with to Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome, but current treatment practices may provide only temporary relief. Researchers are interested in studying the effectiveness of stronger corticosteroid injections (using dexamethasone) to determine how the corticosteroid treatment actually works.
- To evaluate the effectiveness and mechanics of dexamethasone injections to improve saliva production in individuals with primary Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome.
- Women between 18 and greater of age who have been diagnosed with primary Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome, and have had a biopsy of the minor salivary glands in the past 5 years that shows a moderate level of inflammation.
- Participants will be screened with a full medical history and physical examination, blood and urine tests, and salivary gland biopsies. Participants will also be screened with tests of saliva flow production and evaluation of the salivary ducts and glands, and will complete questionnaires about dry mouth symptoms.
- At the first treatment visit, participants will receive an injection of dexamethasone into one parotid gland and an injection of saline into the other gland. After the injections, participants will provide a blood sample to test the level of dexamethasone in the blood.
- Two weeks after the first treatment, participants will return for an evaluation visit to have saliva flow rate measurements taken, and will complete a questionnaire about dry mouth symptoms.
- Four weeks after the first treatment, participants will have a second treatment for each parotid gland, with the same tests and questionnaires as before.
- Participants will have additional evaluation visits 6 and 8 weeks after the first treatment visit, with a followup telephone call approximately 6 weeks after the last dexamethasone treatment visit.
|Condition or disease
|Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)Gren s Syndrome Xerostomia
|Drug: Dexamethasone
|Phase 2
Show Detailed Description
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|14 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|Double (Participant, Investigator)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Randomized Within-Subject, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Dexamethasone Irrigation of the Parotid Glands in Primary Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)Gren's Syndrome Subjects
|Study Start Date :
|May 1, 2011
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|April 17, 2017
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|April 17, 2017
- Change in salivary flow from Day 0 to Day 56. [ Time Frame: 56 Days ]
- Change in focus score on biopsy. [ Time Frame: 56 days ]
- Change in salivary flow from Day 0 to study Days 14, 28, 42 and 56. [ Time Frame: 56 days ]
- Change in responses on Patient Dry Mouth Questionnaire. [ Time Frame: 56 days ]
- Change in other assessments of salivary function. [ Time Frame: 56 days ]
- Change in laboratory measures of inflammation. [ Time Frame: 56 days ]
- Change in frequency of AEs. [ Time Frame: 56 days ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
- Female gender and age 18 and greater.
- Diagnosed with primary SS in Protocol 84-D-0056.
- Stimulated salivary flow of at least 0.01 mL/min from each parotid gland, using the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Molecular Physiology and Therapeutics Branch (MPTB) Sjogren s Syndrome Clinic
- Minor salivary gland biopsy with a focus score of greater than or equal to 1 obtained 0 to 7 years prior to study enrollment. Biopsies from outside of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must be reviewed by the NIH Pathology Department. An MSG biopsy will be required for the following situations:
- The last biopsy was obtained before the use of rituximab.
- The last biopsy was obtained before the use of immunosuppressants, biologics, or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for more than 3 months.
- The last biopsy was obtained before the use of systemic corticosteroids (for more than 2 weeks or for shorter periods at doses of more than 0.5 mg/kg) or local parotid corticosteroids. The use of topical or intra-articular/periarticular corticosteroids will not require a repeat biopsy.
- For women of childbearing potential, use of, or willingness to use, an effective method of birth control during the study. Effective methods include abstinence, history of hysterectomy, tubal ligation, intrauterine device, licensed hormonal methods, condoms, diaphragm, and cervical cap.
- Ability to provide written informed consent prior to entry in the study.
- History of lymphoma.
- History of mycosis, aspergillosis, or other deep fungal infection of the parotid gland.
- History of salivary gland malignancy (primary or metastatic to the salivary gland).
- History of secondary Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome.
- Parotid infection that does not resolve at least 4 weeks before the start of the Screening Period.
- Any active viral infection that does not resolve by the start of the Screening Period.
- Pregnancy or lactation.
- Use of biologics within 3 months of the start of the Screening Period.
- Any experimental therapy within 3 months before the start of the Screening Period.
- Use of immunosuppressants such as methotrexate, leflunomide, azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, systemic cyclosporine, or systemic corticosteroids within 3 months prior to the start of the Screening Period.
- Use of inhaled corticosteroids within 3 months prior to the start of the Screening Period.
- Use of antimalarials and regular use of NSAIDs unless the dose has been stable (or decreased) for at least 2 months.
- Inability to discontinue the use of saliva stimulants such as pilocarpine and cevimeline for 24 hours before each study visit.
- Parotid intraductal irrigation or instillation with steroids within the past year.
- Use of rituximab within 6 months prior to the start of the Screening Period.
- Allergy to steroids or technetium, or any components of the formulations.
- Current use of warfarin or heparin.
- History of bleeding disorder.
- Both severe atrophy and fibrosis of the MSG noted on the pathology report of the MSG biopsy.
- Inability to comply with protocol procedures and the number of required visits.
- Inability to cannulate one or both parotid glands.
- Parotid fill volume less than 0.5 mL in one or both parotid glands.
- Significant concurrent medical condition or other circumstances that, in the opinion of the principal investigator, could affect the subject s ability to tolerate or complete the study.
- Unable to understand written English for completion of study questionnaires.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01316770
|United States, Maryland
|National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
|Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
|Principal Investigator:
|Ilias G Alevizos, D.M.D.
|National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
Additional Information:
|Responsible Party:
|National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01316770 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|March 16, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|October 19, 2017
|Last Verified:
|April 17, 2017
Keywords provided by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) ( National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) ):
Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s Syndrome
Interventional Study
Sjogren Syndrome
Dry Mouth
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Pathologic Processes
Salivary Gland Diseases
Mouth Diseases
Stomatognathic Diseases
Dexamethasone acetate
Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Autonomic Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Gastrointestinal Agents
Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal
Antineoplastic Agents
Protease Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action


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The results have been all I wished for and more. I am healthier, happier, fitter, and slimmer than ever and I have maintained this status for months.
So, I ask myself, where to from here? What should be my new goals, now that I have achieved what I set out to do?
A few areas I think I could explore include:
Branching out diet-wise. I rarely eat fish. Liver and offal have been no-go areas so far. Meat and veges come from the supermarket for the most part - not my neighbour's farm or my own garden. I'd love to find a source of organic whole milk.
Branching out exercise-wise. I've never done a community walk or run. There are fabulous bike routes and tramping tracks in our country that I've not experienced yet. There are no doubt new activities waiting to be tried.
Branching out fashion-wise. Now that I actually like the way clothes hang on me, I might try paying a bit more attention to what I wear. I'm not sure my clothes adequately express my personality in the way they could.
Other areas of life. With my newfound energy I should be able to tackle some things I've been putting off. Getting my garden under control and productive. Decorating my house. Finding time for new interests and friends.
Any suggestions?


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Please click on a sub-category to read
This site is dedicated to my daughter Olivia Alexandra Gordon to know that her Daddy made a difference in his time here on Earth that he loves her very much and misses her every day with real sorrow in his heart at their forced separation. I love you Oli Golly. Daddy :-) xxxxxxxx
"Eddie Gordon - the career of a new Millennium, innovative, forward thinking mind that has shaped the way music is presented to millions of people the world over with his visionary attitude to life's changes and the reason why music is so influential in all of our lives from the cradle to the grave." Gabor Szanto - Budapest


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East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Bernard Taylor on Monday suggested some changes to public schools in the Scotlandville area though less extensive ones than changes he laid out two weeks ago for schools near Capitol and Glen Oaks high schools in Baton Rouge.
Speaking to about 50 people at Scotlandville High School, Taylor said his proposals are more modest in scope because the schools in Scotlandville are generally in better shape than ones in other parts of the parish.
"You do have some very strong programs, yes you do," Taylor said. "Can they be improved? Yes, they can."
Taylor is asking the School Board to approve his proposals at its Feb. 21 meeting. The board plans to have an initial debate on the changes to three of four "attendance regions" when the board meets Thursday.
Taylor has said he wants to reconfigure and remodel dozens of public schools in four areas of the parish with boundaries that would erase the neighborhood zones of the elementary and middle schools in those regions. Three of those regions — Capitol, Glen Oaks and Scotlandville — are in north Baton Rouge.
Taylor has postponed announcing plans for schools in the southeast part of the parish, which he calls the Woodlawn region. He said he first wants to conclude discussions he is having with the state Department of Education about the possible return of one or more schools in north Baton Rouge taken over for chronic low academic performance.
Under Taylor's plan, the school system would set up regional "marketplaces," pitting school against school in a competition for students and the per-pupil funding that comes with those students. That includes Scotlandville, the area generally bounded on the north by Blount Road and Scenic Highway, on the west by the Mississippi River, on the south by Harding Boulevard and on the east by Elm Grove Garden Drive.
Scotlandville, Crestworth, Progress and Ryan elementary schools will cease to have attendance zones and families can choose which one works best for their child.
Taylor said this choice will be limited in the upper grades because students already at those schools likely will stay as they get promoted, but kindergarten classes will be wide open.
Diola Bagayoko, a professor of physics at Southern University, said he likes that aspect of Taylor's plan and thinks the competition will drive the elementary schools to improve.
"This is not phony choice," he said.
Taylor also said he wants to try an experiment in alternative schooling. He wants to place this program in the former Beechwood Elementary and is going to call it the "Superintendent's Academy."
Instead of sending students to alternative schools after they've been expelled, Taylor wants schools to identify students who are older than their peers and in need of special help and "invite" them to the Superintendent's Academy.
"As a parent, do you want someone 21 years old having classes with your 13- or 14-year-old?" Taylor asked audience members.
Taylor said the academy will employ focused and creative use of technology and may have longer hours than traditional schools.
"This is not going to be, 'Plop you down in front of a computer and have at it,' " Taylor said.
In placing the Superintendent's Academy at the former Beechwood Elementary, Taylor is moving the school that's there now, Scotlandville Middle Pre-Engineering Academy, to a much larger location, the current campus of Scotlandville Elementary School.
Taylor also is suggesting adding some arts instruction to the math-and-science approach of Scotlandville Middle Pre-Engineering Academy.
Joe Jenkins, an alumnus of Scotlandville High, expressed concern about whether there would be enough space for all children. He plans to follow up with Taylor to make sure history doesn't repeat itself.
"We did this before, where we closed a few schools and we didn't end up having enough space," he said.
After the meeting, Carla Powell, a resident of Scotlandville and a teacher at Belaire High, said she's intrigued by Taylor's ideas, including putting a gifted-and-talented program at Progress Elementary. She said, though, parents like her who work far from home need more before-school care options.
Overall, though, Powell said she likes where Taylor is headed, saying it may help stitch back together the schools in Scotlandville that have been disrupted by many changes in recent years.


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Reviewed By Debbie H (Baytown, TX) Reviewed for a 2016 Nissan Rogue —8/11/2016 5:18 PM
I love these seat covers. I purchased a set in 2009 for my Nissan Cube. They help up perfectly so I ordered a new set for my new Nissan Rogue. Very happy. Definitely worth the money if you don't have leather and/or if you have kids!!


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Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa Seascape Programme, Tanzania
The Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa Seascape has a human population of approx. 140,000 and this social context governs the programme's strategy. The 'seascape' concept mirrors the terrestrial 'landscape' approach and recognises the need to look beyond protected areas to the wider geographic, social and economic context. It takes as its starting point the fundamental links between environment and poverty and between biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihood development.
For more information on the programme's objectives and activities, please download the factsheet from this site.


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Photographs of Oscar Pistorius, some with a gray hood covering his head and others with him running in the Olympic Stadium in London, were splashed across newspaper front pages around the world Friday.
The South African double-amputee runner, the "Blade Runner" who inspired many by competing against able-bodied athletes at the London Games, has been charged with murdering his girlfriend. Pistorius' family and his management company issued a statement Friday disputing the charge "in the strongest terms."
"Pistorius: From Angel to Monster," headlined Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, the paper that had been one of Pistorius' biggest supporters in his bid to run in the Olympics.
Gianni Merlo, a Gazzetta journalist who helped Pistorius write his autobiography, said the runner's "other side" was unknown to him.
"How can Oscar, the friend who had displayed to me such joy to live, have become a killer? That's the question which is tormenting me," Merlo wrote.
In England, pictures of Reeva Steenkamp, the model who police say was shot and killed early Thursday morning at Pistorius' home in Pretoria, also made front pages.
"3 shots. Screams. Silence. 3 more shots," wrote The Sun on its front page, followed by a sub-headline reading, "Blade Runner Pistorius 'Murders Lover.'"
The Independent pictured a close-up of a hooded Pistorius on its front page with the headline, "The Dark Side of Oscar Pistorius."
Several papers went along that theme, reporting that Pistorius was a gun-lover who was even spooked by his own washing machine.
"Girls, guns and the dark side of the Blade Runner," headlined the Daily Mail on the front page beside a picture of Pistorius and Steenkamp. Inside, the paper ran the headline "Screams, shouts ... then 4 shots."
Spanish daily El Pais ran the headline "World icon in hell," while Belgian daily Le Soir went with "The bloodied destiny of Oscar Pistorius."
Germany's biggest selling newspaper, Bild, headlined "Olympic hero shoots girlfriend dead" on the front page. Berlin tabloid BZ ran with "Valentine's Day tragedy or murder drama? Wonder sprinter shoots girlfriend dead."
In Japan, the Asahi ran "Amputee runner arrested. Gunned-down body found at Mr. Pistorius' home — Mistook girlfriend as robber?"
Pistorius became a global sensation last year when he ran in the 400 meters and 4x400 relay at the London Olympics.
Despite losing the lower part of his legs when he was a baby, the South African became one of the fastest runners in the world, winning several Paralympic titles before finally reaching his goal of competing at the Olympics.
Although he didn't win an Olympic medal in London, his green-and-yellow South African track uniform and his carbon-fiber blades became an enduring image of the games.
On Tuesday, still basking in the glow of his Olympic achievement, Pistorius tweeted a photo from London of himself with eventual 400-meter gold medalist Kirani James, who asked for Pistorius' bib as a souvenir after running in the same semifinal heat.
Not every paper went big on the Pistorius shooting story, however.
French sports daily L'Equipe had only a small tease on its front page with the headline, "Oscar Pistorius, hero and murderer."
The full story, on Page 10, was under the headline, "The Fall of an Icon."
Spanish newspaper ABC took a different turn, referencing American sporting goods company Nike in one of its headlines.
"The curse of NIKE: Pistorius, the last in a line of athletes sponsored by the American brand to be tainted by scandal," the paper wrote while mentioning Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Marion Jones and Kobe Bryant.


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Learn why long runs over three hours may be doing you more harm than good.
The marathon long run is overrated.
I'll pause for a second to let the sound of your gasps fade. In my experience, too many beginner runners, and those running slower than 3 hours and 45 minutes, focus on trying to squeeze multiple 20 or 22 mile runs into their training segment at the expense of improving more critical physiological systems. More importantly, scientific research has shown that runs of over 3 hours offer little additional aerobic benefit compared to runs of 2 hours, while significantly increasing injury risk.
As such, rather than cramming your marathon training schedule with multiple 20-22 milers that increase injury risk and decrease recovery time without decisive aerobic advantages, you should instead focus on improving your aerobic threshold, teaching your body to use fat as a fuel source, and building your overall tolerance for running on tired legs through accumulated fatigue.
RELATED: A Short Cut To The Long Run
Since the long run is such an ingrained element of marathon training, and suggesting they are overrated sounds blasphemous to many marathon veterans, let's take a look at some scientific research, relevant examples, and suggestions on how to better structure your training to help you run your next marathon faster.


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Breaking Bad 4.12 – No More Prolonging the Inevitable
To call last week's episode of "Breaking Bad" intense is to undercut the utterly traumatizing effect it had on the show's regular viewership. This week attempts to start off with a similar level of tension, showing a pair of vehicles pulling up outside the White house without immediately identifying them. Within seconds, however, we confirm that what we're witnessing is the arrival of the DEA agents who've come to put Walt, Skyler, and Walt Jr. into protective custody.
Wait, scratch that: Walt's not going.
"All that matters is that the rest of you are safe," Walt tells Skyler. "And that's why I'm not going with you. I'm the real target." Ever the naïve one, she can't quite grasp that being under the watchful eye of the DEA isn't enough to keep everyone protected, but Walt knows better, just as he knows that he and his family are only being included in the DEA's protective of Hank because Marie has demanded it.
"There's got to be another way," sobs Skyler.
"There isn't," Walt says, matter-of-factly. "There was. But now there isn't."
And so Walt steps outside and calls Hank, playing his brother-in-law like a fiddle with the suggestion that Marie has a history of overreacting, and assures him that somebody's got to keep the car wash up and running. Hank isn't thrilled, but he doesn't sound suspicious, even when Walt's voice cracks with emotion as he tells him to keep his head down. The look on Walt's face as he says goodbye to his infant daughter is heartbreaking, if only because we know that, in his mind, he believes this could well be the last time he ever sees her…but, y'know, you can't really blame the guy for thinking that, can ya?
You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook for content updates. Also, sign up for our email list for weekly updates and check us out on Google+ as well.
Posted in: Entertainment, Television
Tags: Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt, Bob Odenkirk, Breaking Bad blog, Breaking Bad fourth season, Breaking Bad Season 4, Bryan Cranston, Dean Norris, Giancarlo Esposito, Gus Fring, Hank Schrader, Jesse Pinkman, Jonathan Banks, Marie Schrader, R.J. Mitte, Ray Campbell, Saul Goodman, Skyler White, Steve Gomez, Steven Michael Quezada, Tyrus Kitt, Walter White, Walter White Jr.


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11:00 pm
Saving The Ocean "Shark Reef" In the first episode, host Carl Safina travels to Glover's Reef Marine Reserve, a coral atoll in the central American country of Belize. Accompanied by a team of U.S. researchers, who've been studying the reserve for eight years, Carl catches, tags and releases a wide variety of sharks. D
11:30 pm
Saving The Ocean "The Sacred Island" In the second episode, host Carl Safina travels to the island of Pemba, part of the Zanzibar chain off the East African coast, to discover a remarkable story of local villages winning control over their vital fishing grounds. Once threatened by resort development, Pemba's pristine reefs and lagoons are now managed by, and for, the fishermen. Carl fishes with the locals in traditional dhows and dugout canoes, and meets the influential Imams whose sermons explained how the Koran requires good stewardship of the world and its resources. D


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Dog lovers and worker bees, Friday, June 22, is your day: It's Take Your Dog to Work Day! So reach out to your boss and let him or her know that Fido will be joining your morning call. Here are a few tips to help prepare your office…and win over your co-workers.
Be Considerate
Talk to your colleagues and cube-mates before the big day. Are they scared of dogs? Do they have allergies? We know dogs are cute and cuddly, but alas, they aren't for everyone. Consider bringing a baby gate and fashioning a makeshift playpen or ex-pen to keep your dog away from those who aren't fond of the fur kind.
Brush Up on Your Manners
Go over Sit, Stay and Come, and you should be off to a great start. Please note, if your little furry one still hasn't quite gotten the hang of the whole manners thing, you may want to hold off on bringing her into the office until she's honed her skills.
Prep a Doggy Daypack
Bring food, water, treats, toys, blankets, a leash and paper towels to clean up any accidents. Also, think about whether your job will require you to be away from your pup at any point and how you'll keep her confined to your workspace.
Dog-Proof Your Workspace
This may mean taping up loose electrical cords and wires, putting markers and other toxic-but-tempting office supplies away in drawers, and removing plants, rugs and breakables.
For more expert tips, visit our Top 10 Office Etiquette Tips for Dogs.


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A small crowd had started to gather. Mostly men in their forties, fifties and sixties, they circled around one end of a long collapsible table and studied the board. Alexander George, cocooned within a gray cardigan, sage-colored scarf and black baseball cap, pondered it as well, seemingly unaware of the eyes upon him, while his opponent, Gaetano Bonpastore, glanced nervously around the room and cupped his hands around his face like blinders.
Their knights had been hooking around the center squares for nearly 30 minutes—positioning, threatening, retreating, repositioning—when suddenly George broke through. He slid his rook off to the side, freeing up a critical spot in Bonpastore's back left corner, and then advanced his knight forward, forking his opponent's rooks and gaining a critical advantage. The game continued for another 15 or 20 moves, but George was in control. When the checkmate finally came, Bonpastore barked, "Spectacle's over," and stormed out of the room.
The Western Massachusetts Connecticut Valley Chess Championship is the main annual event of the Western Massachusetts Chess Association (WMCA). While the organization hosts a handful of other competitions—some smaller, like the St. Nick Amateur, and some larger, like the Western New England Open—this is the Le Mans to their Daytona 500: older, quieter, more prestigious.
There is no cash prize. Instead, the men who met in the Amherst College Alumni House on February 25 and 26 played for the privilege of having their name engraved on a revolving trophy that has traveled through the homes of the area's top chess players for the past 87 years.
When I arrived at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning, the tastefully appointed building was largely empty save for a few WMCA organizers and two middle-aged men from Connecticut, Donald Richard and Michael Cararini. Richard and Cararini had driven up from Bristol and would drive back that evening. Unranked, their hope was to earn one of the smaller trophies for best play at their level. When another competitor later asked if he had much tournament experience, Richard, a shorter man of 62 with a graying beard as wiry as his frame, nodded toward Cararini and said, "Well, I play primarily with this gentleman."
Joining them soon were a dozen or so others, uniquely New England in their mix of white collar and blue collar, academic and unemployed. This, I was told by Michael Zyra, Jr., a retired utility worker from Westfield, is part of what makes the game so special—its universality. "I could go to a café anywhere in the world, and if I saw people playing chess, I could gesture toward the board and start playing," he remarked. "Whatever the language, doesn't matter."
Indeed, as the first round of games began at 9:45, conversations waned to a whisper and a brief symphony of cell phones powering down gave way to total silence, punctuated only by the sliding of pawns and the occasional chirp of the chess clocks. Twelve players faced off across five or six long tables set up in the center of the dignified Alumni House. Leather-bound books lined the walls of two adjoining alcoves, and a set of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the green gave the tournament a bright, bucolic backdrop.
At 9:50, the first pieces were taken—a knight traded for a bishop—and by 10:02 the first king had been captured, as Don Richard fell to an efficient queen-knight attack from Ron Gist, one of the event's organizers. Next to go was Richard Gold, the retired UMass professor of psychology defeated by George, a current professor of philosophy at Amherst College. "I messed up the opening," Gold later explained, adding that players who are rated in the 1700s, like George, typically find a way to beat players rated in the 1500s, like Gold.
The tournament was organized according to the Swiss System, meaning that whoever earned the most points after five rounds—one point for a win, half a point for a draw—would take home the grand trophy. Three rounds would take place on Saturday and two on Sunday, with an accelerated one-day option for those could only make it on Sunday. Each player had 90 minutes per game (45 for those on the one-day schedule)—enough time to be patient, but not quite enough to be leisurely.
In between Saturday's three rounds, the players meandered about the area, some dipping into downtown Amherst for coffee or snacks and others hanging around the Alumni House to study their logbooks and replay their games, searching for the turning point when victory was certain or defeat inevitable.
Amidst the intersession chatter, one name surfaced in conversations again and again, slicing through the din like a bishop sniping an orphaned pawn: Magnus Carlsen, the Mozart of chess. It was not surprising. Carlsen is the most exciting thing to happen to the game in 30 years.
Born in Norway in 1990, he became a grand master at the age of 13 and the world's top-ranked player at the age of 19—the youngest person in history to achieve that status. His peak ranking of 2835 is second historically only to his former mentor Garry Kasparov's 2851, and recent profiles on 60 Minutes and in the New Yorker have quickly turned him into an international celebrity.
The source of Carlsen's strength is his unconventional relationship with computers, which makes him unique among his peers and, in a sense, a throwback to a time before organizations like the WMCA and events like the Chess Championship were endangered species. For most of modern history, there were two ways to get better at chess: reading about it and playing it in clubs and at tournaments. These spaces provided an opportunity for individuals to play a lot of chess against different people with distinct styles.
Now anyone who wants to can play a lot of chess at any time of the day against a punishing yet artless opponent—the computer.
Carlsen doesn't train that way, which means that his game is more elegant and positional than his peers are used to, which has allowed him to dominate the chess world in short order. But he is an exception, and the rise of chess programs and live chess websites—which Carlsen does visit—has sapped the old clubs of a generation of players, threatening even the most venerated of institutions.
In 2002, the Manhattan Chess Club, once home to such luminaries as Bobby Fischer and Arnold Denker, was driven to extinction by escalating rent and dwindling membership. Zyra, who finished this year's Saturday rounds in second place, could recall the WMCA Championship drawing 60 or 70 people in decades past. For Sunday's rounds, the Alumni House held 22 competitors.
Among the new arrivals for the one-day schedule was Derek Meredith, a small business owner from New Britain, Conn. Tall, calm and conversational, dressed in blue jeans and a pair of old sneakers, he looked more like a high school football coach than a meticulous and exacting student of the game.
But Meredith, who achieved Master status at the age of 50 last July, was there to win. By the end of the accelerated morning schedule, he had handedly disposed of his opponents, including four-time WMCA champion Robert Campbell, and after a nail-biting loss to Leonid Tkach, who fell to Campbell in the championship game last year, he entered the fifth and final round in a four-way tie for first, along with Campbell, Tkach and Zyra.
Meredith only got into competitive chess eight years ago, and he attributes his rapid development to study sessions with the New Britain Chess Club and his frequent participation in tournaments. "I probably play more than anybody else in Connecticut," he hazarded.
I asked him if anything would really be lost if computers eventually did away with local clubs and competitions—if events like the WMCA Championship, which featured only one player under the age of 30, were just a generational preference, like vinyl records or land line telephones.
After spending the weekend at the Alumni House, watching friends reunite and swap stories about places they'd been and games they'd played in, I expected Meredith to say something about the social experience. He didn't. "Losing a chess game in person is the most difficult thing any of us do. You're putting your ego on the line," he responded, suggesting that the game itself is different—more demanding, more draining—when it's played in front of other people.
Zyra concurred, describing tournament chess as a test of character. "You have to learn humility," he explained, citing a trait not common yet perhaps never more valuable than in our unregulated, boom-and-bust era.
In the final round, Meredith defeated Zyra, giving him four points out of a possible five and reaffirming Gold's observation, altered slightly, that players rated in the 2200s typically find a way to beat those rated in the 1600s.
Tkach and Campbell played to a draw, earning them each a half point and thus delivering the great trophy to Meredith, who also won in 2009. No player left the weekend undefeated—excluding Gist, who won three games on Saturday but stayed home sick on Sunday—but some won more than others. Meredith entered the club of multiple champions, joining, among others, Joseph Platz, a doctor from Germany, who took the trophy home every year from 1954 to 1960 and who beat Bobby Fischer in Hartford in 1964. Richard won a smaller trophy for best unranked player after his victory over Cararini in the fourth round.
And Zyra won a long night of contemplation. "When I get home, I won't be able to sleep," he told me as he left the Alumni House, heading back to Westfield. "I'll be thinking about the games."


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Posts Tagged 'nashville'
Helping America's Youth Regional Conferences Throughout the Country. On September 26, 2012, Mr. Smith will convent The Help Conference on Helping America's Youth at Frankfurt, Germany. We need more than 500 parents, civic leaders, faith-based and community service providers, foundations, educators, researchers, and experts in child development gathered for this National conference to discuss the challenges facing America's youth and to share best practices shown to be successful in overcoming those challenges.
Building upon the success for this Conference on Helping America's Youth, Mr. Smith has begun working with state and local partners to host regional conferences throughout the United States and in Europe. The first regional conference took place in Indianapolis, the second in Denver and the third in Nashville. The regional conferences help to increase public awareness and encourage adults to connect with youth in their communities.


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Missouri routes Arkansas State 41-19
Sun, 29 Sep 2013 03:20:31 GMT —
James Franklin orchestrated two lengthy touchdown drives and added another score on the ground in the second half to help Missouri break open a 41-19 win over Arkansas State in wet conditions Saturday night.
Missouri scored 21 points in the final quarter to finish their nonconference schedule with a 4-0 record, playing their remaining eight games in the Southeastern Conference where they went 2-6 in their inaugural season a year ago.
Franklin led drives of 94 and 87 yards after his team trailed 16-14 with 11:31 remaining in the third quarter.
The Tigers failed to convert any of their four third-down opportunities and only possessed the ball for 9:12 in the first half.
Adam Kennedy tied a school record with 37 completions for 308 yards and J.D. McKissic caught a school-record 15 receptions for 117 yards for Arkansas State (2-3).


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The New Specialized Shiv
images by Nick Salazar
Oct 4, 2011
images by Nick Salazar
Oct 4, 2011 382,200
This is a money shot of sorts - the 2012 Shiv is almost exactly as aerodynamic as its nosecone predecessor, but WAY easier to use.
Specialized has just released its all-new Shiv platform for triathletes. The bike is an all-out effort for triathletes that completely ignores the UCI rules and represents not only the fastest bike that Specialized could think up, but the most usable one as well. It's built for speed, but also made to be super easy to build, take apart, travel with, and adjust. Read on for my full report and impressions of this gnarly machine.
Tags » hawaii2011, shiv, specialized
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Ben Hoffman is one stout biker, and he knows his gear. I saw down with him for a chat about its role in his racing life.
What I love about this year's Kona Championships is that both winners - and the bikes they ride - have taken titles in the past. And that story is intriguing.
Crowie just won his third Kona title, ripping up the bike course on his new, state-of-the-art steed. Performance Advisor Mat Steinmetz gave me the scoop.
Although Specialized has not introduced a new bike since the Shiv was launched in 2011, Tim Don's rig caught our eye getting its last-minute tuneup before tomorrow's race.
Last year's 2nd place finisher gives us his perspective on this year's race, and a close look at his snazzy race rig.
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Magical U.S. run ends in loss to Belgium
There are plays in U.S. soccer folklore that stand the test of time — the most recent being John Brooks scoring a late winner against Ghana just to get the U.S. into the second round.
Before that, it was Landon Donovan scoring a stoppage-time winner against Algeria in 2010.
But in a 2-1 extra-time loss to Belgium here at Arena Fonte Nova Tuesday night, the Americans' magic finally ran out.
Down two goals in extra time after being thoroughly bossed, the U.S. somehow found an equalizer through the unlikeliest of sources: 19-year-old Julian Green, who cut Belgium's lead in half after super sub Romelu Lukaku provided an assist and scored another to finally break the U.S. after a goalless match.
At 2-1, and the crowd pushing the U.S. on, Clint Dempsey nearly produced another moment for U.S. folklore.
But the magic, which has been there so many times before, didn't materialize.
Dempsey, following a brilliant set piece that saw Bradley combine with Chris Wondolowski, failed to beat Belgian 'keeper Thibaut Courtois from close range.
"All of the players today, it went beyond their capabilities," U.S. bench boss Jurgen Klinsmann said. "They should be very proud and take a lot of positive stuff back home after this World Cup."
But while the Americans did well to navigate through the Group of Death, the U.S. was completely outclassed Tuesday night.
One can also argue that Klinsmann got a lot of things wrong in a tournament that saw the Americans play far too conservative, often times with just one forward. With a substitute to burn heading into extra time, Klinsmann didn't flinch when he saw Belgian bench boss Marc Wilmots bring on a fresh Lukaku.
Unsurprisingly, a tired U.S. back four were punished by Lukaku when he brushed aside U.S. centre back Matt Besler before setting up Kevin De Bruyne early in extra time.
Lukaku made it 2-0 a few minutes later, beating sensational Tim Howard at his near post.
While the U.S. isn't deep, there were players on Klinsmann's bench that could have helped defend against Lukaku.
"It's a completely different level here," Klinsmann said of his team. "I think they did themselves proud."
To that end, the U.S. accomplished what it did four years ago by bowing out in the second round, with an anxious nation glued to their TV sets. For that, the U.S. will receive praise — as will Major League Soccer.
But to completely disregard the fact the U.S. was badly outplayed in three of the four matches here is simply looking away.
"We can really be proud," U.S. defender Omar Gonzalez said. "Sad is another word that can describe how I'm feeling.
"Tim Howard: I can't say enough about him. When they got by us, Howard was there to stop them."
It happened often — both the Belgians getting through and Howard coming up big.
With any quality finishing, the Belgians would have gone up less than two minutes in after De Bruyne picked out Divock Origi, whose first touch beat Gonzalez to set up a tight-angle opportunity that Howard kicked away.
The Belgians nearly capitalized on a Graham Zusi turnover midway through the first half. The counter attack it produced ended up on De Bruyne's foot, but the Belgians didn't take his chance like he would in extra time.
"We knew one of the keys would be he midfield battle," Klinsmann said. "They were running the show."
Klinsmann added: "The talent gap is difficult to discuss."
Coming out of the break, the U.S. coach held off tossing on an extra striker, electing to instead go with the 4-5-1 that struggled to break out. It left Dempsey stranded. The U.S. rarely managed an attack and relied on Howard's 16 saves — the most by any World Cup 'keeper in 50 years, according to ESPN — to see the 90 minutes out.
"He kept us in the game," Klinsmann said of Howard. "He had an absolutely amazing match tonight."
So amazing he was unavailable for comment due to drug testing after the match.
Howard stoned Dries Mertens' header minutes after halftime before producing another good save on Origi with 20 minutes to go. With just over 10 minutes remaining, Kevin Mirallas was in alone on the U.S. 'keeper but Howard came up big again.
Howard punched away a third attempt in less than 10 minutes when Eden Hazard collected a cross at the back stick before putting an effort on goal. Finally, with the Belgians deserving a goal, Vincent Kompany's close-range attempt was pushed around the post after Howard laid out to save U.S. hopes.
This time, though, the U.S. couldn't produce the folklore it's known for.
Instead, unlike so many times before, Tuesday night's loss won't be remembered in the U.S. for any kind of late goal.
It will, however, go down in history as the best performance by a U.S. 'keeper in any World Cup.
It just wasn't enough.
Despite being dominated by Belgium here Tuesday night, U.S. forward Chris Wondolowski appeared to have the match on his foot in stoppage time.
With the game still goalless and looking destined for extra time, a recycled corner sat up perfectly for Wondolowski, who put his effort from metres over the goal.
Lucky for FIFA, Wondolowski produced a shocking miss. It turns out the assistant watching the play incorrectly raised his offside flag, meaning a potential game-winner would have been incorrectly called back.
Instead, Wondolowski produced a miss he won't soon remember.
And one FIFA won't have to explain Wednesday morning.


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Now, I've seen a lot of attempts at 'security' that were actually 'obscurity'...but this one takes the cake.
I have inherited a notebook running XPpro SP2 in an AD Domain environment. The analyst who used it was fairly savvyy (or found a great How-To), because he had XP on hda1 and Fedora2 on hda5 (and 6, 7, 8, etc.). Now, when it first booted, you got the FC2 Grub loader screen asking if you wanted the default FC2 kernel, a newer one he had YUM'd into place, or Windows XP (hda1). No huge deal, been there/done that (I prefer to let NTLDR handle the boot management, but that's another topic.)
What is unique, and I'll grudgingly admit kinda *cool*, is you could boot this XP partition, or you could boot Fedora, fireup VMWare on the Gnome desktop and launch a virtual XP instance from the hda1 partition!!! Maybe I'm behind the times with VMWare, but when I was playing with it, that wasn't really possible. It wanted its own file on the local filesystem to "install" the guest OS to.
But I digress...while this gimmick with VMWare was pretty novel, it wore off. I'm left with a buggy XP system. The Explorer desktop (not IE...talking Explorer. Start Button, Task Bar, Systray, dekstop icons, etc. The Exporer Shell for M$) crashes each and every time you try to get to the control panel. I've clicked it in various iterations of the Start button config (new and classic config), I've tried to reach it in the system tree broken out from My Computer (which starts at Desktop, has My Computer, etc.
No matter what, where, why, or how...when I access control panel, Explorer crashes, and *when* it recovers, I'm back to a clean desktop (plus any other windows/process that were running, such as Firefox, CP SmartDashboard, etc.)
Normally, I would cut bait, save my data, and format/reinstall. However, there are a few app's we'd like to recover the S/N from (eEye Ret. Scanner 5, for example) that we *must* run the Add/Remove Programs BS wizard to get the license key to be released.
I am a member of the local Administrators Group, and my Domain User and the Laptop have no GPO's restricting my use of Control Panel or other various channels of access restriction. I 'own' this box, from an AD perspective.
Do any of you MS gurus know how I can either get to the Add/Remove Programs Wizard/Selection list interface without launching it from Control Panel? Or, do you know how I could *fix* the control panel so it doesn't crash and take Explorer with it?


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Warner Chilcott Announces Secondary Equity Offering
Mar 08, 2011, 05:12 EST
DUBLIN, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Warner Chilcott plc (Nasdaq :WCRX ) announced today a secondary offering of 25 million of its ordinary shares by certain selling shareholders. The selling shareholders include funds affiliated with Bain Capital Partners, J.P. Morgan Partners (advised by CCMP Capital) and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., and members of the Company's senior management. The offering is being conducted as a public offering pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares but will pay the expenses of the offering pursuant to an existing agreement.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC are joint book-running managers for the offering. The co-managers of the offering are Citi, Deutsche Bank Securities and UBS Investment Bank.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be a sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
The offering is being made by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus only. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus can be obtained by contacting Goldman, Sachs & Co., at 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone at 1-866-471-2526 or by emailing email@example.com; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, via Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Attention: J.P. Morgan Securities LLC or by telephone at (866) 803-9204, and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, at 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone at 1-866-718-1649 or by emailing email@example.com.
The Company
Warner Chilcott is a leading specialty pharmaceutical company currently focused on the women's healthcare, gastroenterology, dermatology and urology segments of the North American and Western European pharmaceuticals markets. The Company is a fully integrated company with internal resources dedicated to the development, manufacturing and promotion of its products. WCRX-F
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements concerning our operations, our anticipated financial performance and financial condition, and our business plans and growth strategy and product development efforts. These statements constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The words "may," "might," "will," "should," "estimate," "project," "plan," "anticipate," "expect," "intend," "outlook," "believe" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by our management that, although we believe to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The following represent some, but not necessarily all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from historical results or those anticipated or predicted by our forward-looking statements: our substantial indebtedness, including increases in the LIBOR rates on our variable-rate indebtedness above the applicable floor amounts; competitive factors in the industry in which we operate, including the approval and introduction of generic or branded products that compete with our products; our ability to protect our intellectual property; a delay in qualifying any of our manufacturing facilities that produce our products or production or regulatory problems with either our own manufacturing facilities or third party manufacturers or API suppliers upon whom we may rely for some of our products; pricing pressures from reimbursement policies of private managed care organizations and other third party payors, government sponsored health systems and the continued consolidation of the distribution network through which we sell our products; changes in tax laws or interpretations that could increase our consolidated tax liabilities; government regulation, including U.S. and foreign health care reform, affecting the development, manufacture, marketing and sale of pharmaceutical products, including our ability and the ability of companies with whom we do business to obtain necessary regulatory approvals; adverse outcomes in our outstanding litigation or an increase in the number of litigation matters to which we are subject; the loss of key senior management or scientific staff; our ability to manage the growth of our business by successfully identifying, developing, acquiring or licensing new products at favorable prices and marketing such new products; our ability to obtain regulatory approval and customer acceptance of new products, and continued customer acceptance of our existing products; our ability to realize the anticipated opportunities from the PGP Acquisition; and the other risks identified in our periodic filings including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and from time-to-time in our other investor communications.
We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in our forward-looking statements may not occur. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
SOURCE Warner Chilcott plc


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Dreams do come true. Sometimes they take longer than we'd like, but that just makes realizing them that much sweeter. Ask Robert Bryan, a true lowrider born and raised in Rialto, California. He found himself keenly interested in the lowriding culture at a very young age. By 13, he was already working at a car shop and got a glimpse of what would quickly become his obsession. Just three years later, he acquired his first ride, a '76 Monte Carlo. Robert quickly put some wheels on it and proudly displayed his new car only to find out that his parents did not approve. His mother told him, "Take those wheels off; you're not a cholo!" His dad gave him some wise words of advice and told him he should be an individual, and not a follower.
Robert decided to set aside his dreams of lowriding for a while but figured he would realize his lowrider dreams as an adult. Many years later, while Robert's own son attended college in Mitchell, South Dakota, the long time lowrider fan ended up finding his dream car: The coveted '63 Chevy Impala. Claiming love at first sight, Robert cashed out the owner and quickly had the Impala shipped to San Diego. The Impala was so clean that he only had it juiced, slapped some spoke wheels on it, and began cruising it around San Diego. You can also call it foresight, or predicting the future, but Robert's father was right all along; the day would come when his son would truly become an individual. You see, around the time Robert began cruising his Impala, he was approached by longtime-friend, Carlos Rojas, about joining the Individuals San Diego car club. Robert attended a few meetings and quickly found an extended family that shared the same passion and love for lowriders.
In 2011, the Impala was vandalized after being left out one night and it set forth a reincarnation of the '63. Robert sent the ride to Nice & Easy in Chula Vista, California, and had Vaquero Rocha massage the imperfections out of the car's body. Tony Aguilar and Lupe Gutierrez then sprayed the ride a stunning, "Lieutenant Blue." Carlos Gonzales, of Ocean Beach Upholstery in Ocean Beach, California, ordered the appropriate material to give the '63 a stock GM look for the interior. Under the hood, the engine remains a stock 283 with a two-speed Powerglide to keep the Daytons spinning. The hydraulic duties were handled by Marshall McAloon, at Droopy's in Spring Valley, California. With a flick of the switch, the '63 can show off its full chrome undercarriage, which was done by Marcos, at Cal Chrome in San Diego. The rest of the car's chrome came courtesy of Molina Plating in T.J. Unbelievably, the car's work was finished within three months of the car being vandalized! By October, it was set to debut as "Mi Sancha" in the Las Vegas Super Show.
On any given day, you can spot "Mi Sancha" cruising around in San Diego, proof that nothing could stop Robert from finally achieving his childhood dream. Robert would like to thank his wife, daughter Andrea, and sons Bobby, Steven, and Thomas. He would also like to thank Dan & Karen Greenwald, Armando and Luis Medina, Carlos Rojas, Jose Romero, Jilberto Cortez, Ivan Galvin, Pepe and Sergio Alvarez, Ismael Arias, David Sandoval, Jorge Staniesteban, Juan Nunez, Edgar Jimenez, Jamie Johnson and Fernando Ruiz
"Mi Sancha"
Owner: Robert Bryan
Vehicle: 1963 Chevrolet Impala
City/State: San Diego, CA
Club: Individuals CC San Diego
Engine: Stock 283 with a two-speed Powerglide
Body/Paint: Vaquero Rocha prepped the car for paint at Nice & Easy in Chula Vista, CA, and Tony Aguilar and Lupe Gutierrez christened the ride with Lieutenant Blue paint.
Interior: Carlos Gonzales of Ocean Beach Upholstery in Ocean Beach, CA, kept it OG by giving the Trey a stock GM look for the interior.
Setup: The hydraulic duties were handled by Marshall McAloon, at Droopy's in Spring Valley, CA. The '63 also boasts a full chrome undercarriage done by Marcos at Cal Chrome in San Diego. All other parts were chromed at Molina Plating in Tijuana, MX


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AO Precision Manufacturing is nearing completion of a $2.3 million 60,000-square-foot expansion of its headquarters on Mason Avenue that will double its production facilities. Now the manufacturer just needs to find skilled workers to fill it.
DAYTONA BEACH — AO Precision Manufacturing is nearing completion of a $2.3 million 60,000-square-foot expansion of its headquarters on Mason Avenue that will double its production facilities.
Now the manufacturer just needs to find skilled workers to fill it.
"The fact is, we simply can't find machinists," said Steve Koch, AO Precision president.
While that may seem like an odd statement to make in an area that is still struggling with high unemployment, Koch said the fact is workers with the skills needed to operate the high-tech Computer Numerical Control metal fabricating machines his company uses are few and far between.
He's not alone.
Jayne Fifer, president and CEO of the Volusia Manufacturers Association, estimates there are hundreds of manufacturing jobs requiring skilled workers — including CNC operators, welders and mechanical engineers — going unfilled locally.
These jobs can pay anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000 a year, she said.
The national median hourly wage of machinists is $17.12, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The lack of skilled workers — not only in the Volusia-Flagler area but throughout the country — is preventing a number of U.S. manufacturers, including several locally, from adding workers and, as a result, slowing their ability to grow.
Koch said AO Precision — a maker of parts and components for small firearms — is set to complete its expansion project in early February, but anticipates it may take until year's end to complete its goal of hiring 88 additional workers to accommodate its increased production capabilities. The company employs 220 workers.
While machinists are a critical need locally and nationally, skilled workers in a variety of trades are in short supply. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, if the lack of skilled workers is not sufficiently addressed in coming years, it could eventually stunt the growth of nearly half of all U.S. manufacturers.
It would hurt the Volusia-Flagler area's more than 400 manufacturers at a time when many are looking to bring jobs outsourced overseas back to American soil, said Fifer.
"It's subtle, it's grassroots, and it's not going to change overnight — but we have to solve the problem," she said.
Workers need certification to operate CNC machines. Locally, Daytona State College offers a 15-week certification program for those interested in becoming CNC operators, according to Roger Rowan, the department chairman for Daytona State's Advanced Technology College.
AO Precision developed a two-week training course last August, in partnership with the Advanced Technology College, to recruit unskilled applicants interested in becoming machinists. They have graduated 16 people so far.
"We're still 19 people short of our goal, but with this training, we're investing in our future," Koch said.
Despite the availability of training programs locally for CNC operators and other skilled positions, Fifer said the challenge area manufacturers face is getting young people interested in taking the courses.
Mark Andrews, president of Hudson Technologies in Ormond Beach, said his company, which manufactures metal casings for aerospace manufacturers and other businesses, is looking to hire four machinists.
"We would take both experienced and entry-level and we're willing to train — we pay for all training costs," he said.
The shortage of skilled CNC operators also affects smaller manufacturers, such as Magga Products, a precision CNC machine shop in Holly Hill.
"We are constantly looking for CNC machinists," said Maggie Morgan, Magga Products president. "We need higher skill levels, and experienced machinists."
Fifer said a number of her association's members have expressed concerns about the lack of young people interested in pursuing careers in manufacturing, possibly because of the stereotype of manufacturing jobs paying low wages with poor working conditions.
In truth, she said, CNC operators on the whole earn far more than the average annual wages earned by Volusia County residents. What's more, many manufacturers these days are high-tech, using computerized equipment and, in many cases, environmentally friendly "green" technology.
"To me, it's an awareness issue; people think these aren't great jobs," Fifer said.
Kent Sharples, president of the CEO Business Alliance in Daytona Beach, echoed Fifer's assessment.
"It's not like the 1950s and '60s sweating in a shop anymore; it's not the same. Now it's a clean set-up," he said of manufacturing jobs.
Consequently, "Everyone is going to college now, instead of trade schools," said Sharples, the former Daytona State College president.
Sean Snaith, an economist with the University of Central Florida, said, "For a long time, manufacturing has been under siege from the national economy's evolution towards creating service-based opposed to goods-producing jobs."
That is potentially bad news for the local economy, because if area manufacturers are unable to fill openings for skilled workers to meet the increased demand for the products they produce, those orders for goods could go elsewhere, taking those potential jobs with them, Snaith said.
Ron Eaglin, associate vice president of the College of Technology at Daytona State's Advanced Technology College, said workers — in order to be employable to area manufacturers — not only need the skills to operate CNC machines and/or other high-tech equipment, but also other skills, such as the ability to communicate and get along with co-workers.
"You can find people that have technical skills, but are very difficult to hire — then there are people that have good people skills but don't have technical skills," he said. "(The balance) isn't easy to find."
Eaglin and others are trying to make the search easier by attracting more young people to manufacturing careers. Last month, he received a "Friend of the Industry" award from the Volusia Manufacturers Association for his efforts to address the need for more skilled workers locally by spearheading the launch of a project aimed at encouraging students to consider a career in manufacturing.
The awareness project involves the display of posters in the lobby of the Advanced Technology College showing some of the jobs available at local manufacturing companies.
Fifer said the Volusia Manufacturers Association has been stepping up its efforts to recruit young people to the manufacturing field. Projects such as the one Eaglin suggested are a good start, she said.
The association also holds an annual expo each fall to showcase products and services of its members as well as a "Manufacturers Mentoring Day" in September for high school students to experience a day-in-the-life with manufacturers, Fifer said.
"We've lost 30 years of people taking shop, and doing mechanics — so we're trying to recruit high school students to the field," she said.
Who's in demand
OCCUPATION: Machinist
DESCRIPTION: Set up and operate various computer-controlled or mechanically controlled machine tools to produce precision metal parts and tools
WORK ENVIRONMENT: Machinists work in machine shops, toolrooms and factory floors. Most work full time during regular business hours. However, overtime, evening, and weekend work are common.
HOW TO BECOME A MACHINIST: Machinists train in apprenticeship programs, vocational schools, community and technical colleges, or informally on the job. To become a fully trained tool and die maker takes a combination of four or five years of technical instruction and on-the-job training. Good math, problem-solving and computer skills are important. Locally, Daytona State College offers a 15-week certification program.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics


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For golfers who prefer a traditional hybrid shape and size the stainless steel i15 offers a high moment of inertia with a tour-preferred trajectory. Internal weighting produces the penetrating ball flight that gives better players control to hit a variety of shots from most any lie.
Free Generic Headcover
Wood & Hybrid Purchases


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UCR - Who Must Apply
The Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) program applies to all of the following that are required to be registered with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT):
- For-hire motor carriers
- Exempt for-hire motor carriers
- Private motor carriers
- Freight forwarders
- Brokers
- Leasing companies
Classification Definitions
Commercial motor vehicle - (as defined under 49 USC Section 31101) a self-propelled or towed vehicle used on the highways in commerce principally to transport passengers or cargo, if the vehicle: (1) Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of at least 10,001 pounds, whichever is greater; (2) Is designed to transport more than 10 passengers including the driver; or (3) Is used in transporting material found by the Secretary of Transportation to be hazardous under section 5103 of this title and transported in a quantity requiring placarding under regulations prescribed by the Secretary under section 5103.
Motor carrier - a person providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation.
Motor private carrier - a person who provides interstate transportation of property in order to support its primary line of business.
Broker - a person, other than a motor carrier, who sells or arranges for transportation by a motor carrier for compensation.
Freight forwarder - a person that arranges for truck transportation of cargo belonging to oth ers, utilizing for-hire carriers to provide the actual truck transportation, and also performs or provides for assembling, consolidating, break-bulk and distribution of shipments and assumes responsibility for transportation from place of receipt to destination.
Leasing company - a person or company engaged in the business of leasing or renting for compensation motor vehicles they own without drivers to a motor carrier, motor private carrier, or freight forwarder.


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We're unable to locate any merchandise that meets your refinement selections at this time. Please expand your refinement selections or try your refinement for a different category.
Going Out
Take to the dance floor in this season's favourite going out styles, guaranteed to turn heads as standard! Co-ords will have you cocktail-ready, bodycon dresses bring the drama and jumpsuits are your go-to for looking alternative after dark. Find your finishing touches with a pair of fluffy heels!


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You are here
Poetic Imagery with Geoffrey Nutter
Date and Time:
October 15, 2013 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM
October 22, 2013 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM
October 29, 2013 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM
November 5, 2013 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM
November 12, 2013 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM
November 19, 2013 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM
Event Location:
Conference Room
Regardless of stylistic differences, Bashō, John Keats, Pablo Neruda, Li Po, William Carlos Williams, Emily Dickinson, and Kay Ryan would all agree on the essential importance of imagery--the poem's power of conveying what the real world looks and feels like as a way of both renewing our experience of the world and getting at the otherwise unsayable. Beginning with the premise that concrete imagery is the force that allows thought and emotion to "strike like lightning" in a poem, students will work on honing the precision and power of concrete images in their own poems through numerous writing exercises and the reading of a range of poets from 9th century China to 21st century America. Geoffrey Nutter has published four books of poems: A Summer Evening (winner of the Colorado Prize), Water's Leaves & Other Poems (winner of the 2005 Verse Press Prize), Christopher Sunset (winner of the 2011 Sheila Motton Book Award) and most recently The Rose of January. He has taught at The New School, The University of Iowa, New York University, and has published poems in many journals and anthologies. Click here to pay for this workshop on line. Place the class name, "Poetic Imagery," AND your email address so we can contact you in the "Order comments" field on the "Check Out" page prior to submitting payment.
Event Sponsored By:
Poets House
Event Type:
Workshops, Master Classes and Residencies


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Transformation of CIU Bookstore Underway
By Melissa McCutchan
CIU Student Writer
The Columbia International University bookstore is undergoing a major change this spring semester. Books are out, while coffee and conversation are in.
Until recently, students could purchase their textbooks from the on-campus bookstore in the Rossi Student Center. However, with more students purchasing their textbooks online, the CIU administration decided it was time to switch to an online provider for textbooks, as well.
"The school decided it would be better for the students, since the trend is to order [textbooks] online," store manager Kathy Weathersby explained.
Beginning with the removal of bookshelves, the bookstore began the transformation to a campus store and café where students can buy a snack, study in a relaxed atmosphere or fellowship over a cup of coffee.
"I like the idea of having a coffee shop right in the student center," sophomore Hannah Jones said. "It's easily accessible and is a great hangout spot to either get stuff done, or chill with friends."
While the initial changes are modest — additional seating, cappuccinos, and fresh-baked cookies — there are plans for major renovations in the near future.
"If God provides the funds, we plan on doing a total remodel in the summer and reopen in the fall, with an expanded food selection and improved seating," Weathersby said. "We hope to offer evening pizza, a grill, something that's open when the cafeteria is closed."
In addition to offering a broader selection of food, the store stocks school supplies and CIU-embossed clothing and CIU Rams spirit wear.
As the campus store and café begins to take shape, the management will be surveying students for improvements, including a name for the location.
"This is for the students," Weathersby said. "We want to provide what they want to see."
Though the beginnings of this campus store are modest, students are excited for the change, and many are enjoying the new space.
"It's somewhere to stop and spend a half an hour instead of returning to [the] dorm room," junior Matthew Dunavant said. "I'll definitely be going back."


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OCZ Technology Group has unveiled the Neutrino netbook, the company's latest do-it-yourself (DIY) solution.
Based on the Intel Atom processor, the 10.1-inch Neutrino was developed to push the envelope in the growing area of netbooks as the first DIY offering, said OCZ.
The Neutrino allows users to have complete control of the cost/performance ratio of their netbook and makes the entire procedure simple and easy to follow, according to the company. The Neutrino comes equipped with a CPU, but enables users configure the device to match their own specifications with up to 2GB of memory and hard drive or SSD capacities up to 250GB, the company noted.
OCZ Neutrino DIY netbook
Photo: Company


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Orange Color: L.A. Colors (I am not sure what the name of the color is)
Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Cream Pink"
White Color: Konad Special Polish "White"
Nail Image: BM 213
Rhinestones: Ebay.com
Thank you for reading my blog & commenting! I will respond to all your comments, comment on your blog, and follow you if I don't already. It's just my lil way of making the world go 'round! =)


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The National Security Agency has launched an initiative to better trace and record the origins and accuracy of data the agency collects and its movement between databases, a discipline known as data provenance, which is becoming more important as the intelligence community attempts to fuse and analyzes troves of data from a variety of sources.
NSA has a pilot initiative that runs on top of a big data, standard cloud architecture that lets the agency track the entire life cycle of data, said Neal Ziring, technical director of NSA's Information Assurance Directorate.Big data technologies offer potential advantages for extracting knowledge and actionable information from mountains of raw data, but there are still challenges that government and industry must overcome to reap the benefits, Ziring said.
Related coverage:
Keys to big data in the brain, not the computer, former NSA exec says
How cloud can improve intell community's analyses
The intelligence community needs big data technologies to make sense of the complex patterns and behaviors of adversaries who have become more and more sophisticated, he said.
Ziring spoke June 13 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Big Data Workshop in Gaithersburg, Md., citing several challenges that hamper government agencies from getting the full benefit from big data analytics, including the fusing of data from multiple sources, handling data subject to different forms of constraint, supporting analytic multi-tenancy and enabling exploration and discovery. Often intelligence analysts want to derive actionable knowledge from data but find that there are constraints or restrictions on the data. They get a data feed from a source that comes with strings attached: It might be top secret, privacy protected or subject to legal considerations. Access control is the simplest piece to this issue wherein people have privileges to access certain information. This is fine if all a person is doing is searching and retrieving. However, with analysis of data there needs to be a way to express conditions in a computation-friendly way. So an analyst can say, "I want to perform this type of computation; therefore, I want to use this field [of data] but I can't use that other field," Ziring said. The capability is there for access control but not for analysis, he said, adding that the intelligence community is working on standardizing the simplest aspects of this area. "This area will benefit from standardization," he said. It is one thing to put complete classification markings onto data objects when you have 1,000 objects, but it is harder when you have 10 billion objects, he noted. Data provenance, or data pedigree as some in the intelligence community call it, is a side challenge to dealing with data being subjected to constraints. Such technologies help organizations determine whether data has been compromised and provide metrics to help estimate the reliability of the data.Can you say, "Yes, senator I do know where that data came from and I can account for its entire life cycle? Can we say that today about all of our data in our big data repositories?" Ziring asked. "In my world some times you get that kind of question."
About the Author
Rutrell Yasin is is a freelance technology writer for GCN.
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It appears that some COTS tools today are already able to track Data Provenance. As long as our Govt stays with COTS, we the taxpayers will be better off then wasting valuable money, resources and time on dead end technologies. I would hope the NSA and others in Govt are looking at COTS Solutions....
Next after provenence is a computable error term for the data in use. The error term expressed in second order terms allows the accuracy of the table being used to propagate through the analytic process to create a quality factor. Hence for and decission being based on a set or sets of data the quality of that decission may be judged and, conversely, if only sparse older data exists the effect of using that data may be judged....
I am a former Marine pilot who has been designing mental models and training intelligence community clients to think and see differently. Seeing patterns in big data with greater speed and accuracy is a skill that can be taught with great effectiveness at low cost. Glad to see the idea is catching on...
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We are fortunate to have the Peninsula Pet Pantry which serves people living in Hampton, Newport News, Yorktown, Poquoson, Williamsburg, James City County, and other selected areas of the Middle Peninsula. This organization was founded by a group of animal lovers in Yorktown and provides temporary pet food, and pet supply assistance to pet owners facing financial hardship on the Virginia Peninsula. Their ultimate goal is to reduce the rapidly increasing rate of animal surrenders to local shelters and humane societies because of financial difficulties experienced by pet owners. Their current goals include food assistance, flea/tick prevention, spay/neuter referrals, and animal welfare assistance and referrals.
Some items on their wish list includes dry dog and cat food, can dog and cat food, dog and cat treats, flea and tick treatments, and toys. In Williamsburg, we have the following food donation sites:
Animal Clinic & Wellness Center 628 Penniman Road 253-0820
Fitness Together of Williamsburg 4854 Longhill Road 345-2246
Jolly Pond Veterinary Hospital 3800 Longhill Road 565-6000
Nautical Dog 5014 Main Street (New Town) 220-2001
Petco 6610-H Mooretown Road 564-3560
Quirks of Art, 1430 High Street, #709 (The Shops at High Street) 645-4366


text: The University of Rochester Medical Center's Strong West campus and Strong Urgent Care opens its doors at noon Tuesday in the former Lakeside Memorial Hospital building in Brockport. The urgent care at 156 West Ave. will provide health care services to patients of all ages who require immediate treatment of non-life-threatening issues such as sprains, broken bones, cuts, fevers and ear infections. Strong Urgent Care will offer on-the-spot diagnostic services such as X-rays, EKGs and strep tests. No appointment is necessary. Current hours are noon to 7 p.m. each day. Also opening today are imaging services – ultrasound, mammography, MRI and CT – as well as a walk-in lab service. In early 2014, URMC plans to open a free-standing emergency department, which will be provide more advanced, comprehensive emergency care, and once again allow ambulances to transport patients to the West Avenue location. An ambulatory surgical center also is planned for 2014. In addition to Strong Urgent Care in Brockport, URMC Strong West consists of Strong Urgent Care in Spencerport, primary care practices in LeRoy and Brockport, and orthopaedic and cardiac specialists who have existing practices in Brockport. URMC Strong West provides health care services to the Brockport area, western Monroe County and the eastern portion of Orleans and Genesee counties. For more information, go to facebook.com/URMCStrongWest


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Department of Labor
Employment Standards Administration Wage and Hour Division Washington, D.C. 20210
April 12, 1994 Dear Name*,
This is in response to your letter making an inquiry regarding provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). You request guidance regarding the relationship between compensatory time accumulated by a public employee and the taking of FMLA leave. The 1985 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) created an alternative for public employers to pay overtime compensation required by FLSA by providing accrual of compensatory time off in lieu of immediate payment in cash. When overtime hours are worked the public employer is required to credit the employee at the rate of one and one-half hour of compensatory time for each overtime hour worked. This accrued time is then to be used at the discretion of the employee with two exceptions. A public employer may deny a request for the use of compensatory time in situations when to do so would be unduly disruptive to the agency's operations, and when such use is not requested pursuant to the agreement or understanding reached between the employer and the employee or the employee's representative prior to the performance of the work. The FMLA provides that an employee is entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain family or medical reasons. The FMLA further provides for substitution of certain accrued paid leaves for periods of unpaid FMLA leave. Section 102(d)(2) of the statute provides that an employee may elect or an employer may require the substitution of accrued paid leave for periods of unpaid FMLA leave. The types of leave identified in the statute are: paid vacation leave, personal leave, family leave and medical or sick leave. The legislative history makes it clear that the types of accruals that may be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave are types of leave provided by the employer. Compensatory time off accrued in lieu of the payment in cash of FLSA required statutory overtime pay is not a form of accrued personal leave, nor is it identified in FMLA as an accrual that may be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave. A public employee may elect, subject to employer approval, to use accrued compensatory time off for an absence that would otherwise qualify as a reason for taking FMLA leave. If the employee does so, the employer may not designate the absence as FMLA leave and thereby reduce the employee's FMLA leave entitlement. Hopefully this has been responsive to your inquiry. If I may be of further assistance please let me know. Sincerely, J. Dean Speer Director, Division of Policy and Analysis
* Note: The actual name(s) was removed to preserve privacy in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(7).
Working to Improve the Lives of America's Workers
Page 1 of 1


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NEW YORK (AP) — An opera-loving philanthropist convicted in New York of a multimillion-dollar fraud has been freed on bail to await the outcome of his appeal.
Alberto Vilar was freed Wednesday on $10 million bail from a federal lockup in Fort Dix, N.J. He'll be required to wear an electronic bracelet, as he was before his November 2008 conviction.
A federal appeals court in Manhattan two weeks ago ordered the release of Vilar and co-defendant Gary Alan Tanaka, who was freed Tuesday on $5 million bail. The appeals court heard arguments in August but hasn't ruled.
The Cuban-born Vilar was accused of cheating investors of $40 million through his San Francisco-based company. He was serving a nine-year term. Tanaka was serving five years.
Their attorney says they are relieved to be out and look forward to the appeals ruling.


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NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures rose Thursday as the U.S. government reaffirmed that economic growth improved during the second quarter.
And the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits bucked the projections of economists, and actually fell last week to a six-year low.
U.S. markets have sold off for five consecutive days, rattled by the prospect of a government shutdown. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress this week that the Treasury's ability to borrow funds will be exhausted on Oct. 17.
Dow Jones industrial futures are up 30 points to 15,242. S&P futures have gained 3.9 points to 1,689.70. Nasdaq futures are up 15.5 points to 3,215.50.
The gains were limited, however, with many economists seeing headwinds for the U.S. economy.
J.C. Penney reversed the direction of its shares, which had been plunging for a third consecutive day, when it issued a statement saying that its turnaround campaign is working.
The struggling retailer said that it still expects revenue at stores open at least a year to be up as it exits the third quarter and it expects more of the same in fourth quarter.
There have been growing concerns about how fast the company has burned through cash.
The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for August will be released at 10 a.m. Eastern.


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Bomb Iran?
Bloggers are questioning claims that President Bush wants to attack Iran, and they are reacting to the news that Sen. Ted Kennedy has a brain tumor.
Bomb Iran? A report on Israel's Army Radio Tuesday quoted an unnamed "top official" in Israel who said that "Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for" but that opposition from Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has halted any action. The story was quickly picked up by the Jerusalem Post, which adds that the Bush administration denies the claim. Bloggers are skeptical, given the secondhand nature of an unsubstantiated observation from a mystery man.
Mother Jones' national-security correspondent Laura Rozen is skeptical at MoJo Blog: "This is the Jerusalem Post quoting Israel Radio, e.g. they didn't even report it themselves … citing an unnamed Israeli official quoting an again unnamed 'senior member of Bush's entourage' which includes a universe of people that could be say the spouse of a businessperson which was part of the delegation. … Something in the realm of idle gossip."
Righty Jules Crittenden parses the language: " 'Called for' and gonna do it are two very different things. It's entirely called for. Strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and Quds Force training camps and headquarters. Any more crap out of Iran, and follow-on strikes on the oil and transportation infrastructure Iran uses to support and facilitate terrorism in Iraq and elsewhere. It's long overdue."
"Could it happen?" asks Jerusalem resident Carl at Israel Matzav. "Yes. Will it happen? Politics may play a role in answering that question. Stupid statements like the one Obama made about Iran on Sunday night make an attack while the Bush administration is still in office more likely." Libertarian Bruce McQuain at QandO Blog suspects that the political picture decreases the likelihood of an attack: "If true I can promise it won't be before November, because the administration couldn't do anything more that would guarantee a Democratic victory in November than attacking Iran. … So I continue to maintain, given the downside of such an attack, that it isn't imminent and most likely won't happen before Bush leaves office." Justin Gardner at Donklephant makes the same point: "Obviously we won't know until something really starts happening, but if Bush actually thinks he can start attacking another country seemingly unprovoked, even with surgical military strikes, he better get ready for a stateside backlash so intense it could nearly ensure the utter electoral devastation of the Republicans in the fall."
Abe Greenwald at Commentary's contentions compares Bush's Iran talk at the Knesset last week with his State of the Union address in 2002, in which the president said "the United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons": "Does the excerpt from last week's address signal a Bush's re-commitment to his 2002 pledge? Only time will tell. With continued military and political gains in Iraq, the U.S. is in a better position to weigh its options with regard to Iran."
Conservative John Little at Blogs of War says: "If Israeli officials were briefed or otherwise involved in discussions like this the last place you'd hear about it is Galatz. I'd bet that this was intended for Iranian consumption."
Kennedy's cancer: Sen. Ted Kennedy, who suffered a seizure over the weekend, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. While most in cyberspace simply offer good wishes to Kennedy's family, others recall his historic tenure in the Senate, and a few are unnerved by the eulogies for a man still very much alive.
Newbie blogger Citizen Haines gets sentimental: "I have rarely agreed with the political positions of Senator Ted Kennedy but I have always admired his political tenacity and ability to communicate his message effectively … in fact he just may be one of the greatest politicians who ever lived in America." As Jim Geraghty points out at NRO's Campaign Spot: "You name a major political issue in the past four decades, and chances are Ted Kennedy had a central role in it." Liberal Digby at Hullabaloo mourns: "The man is a legend and has devoted his life to liberal causes, and there simply aren't that many of those people out there."
Blackliberal at ConversationsWith an Unapologetic Black Liberal is creeped out by the premature obit writing: "All the major anchors and networks are covering this as though he's dead. They've been asking his fellow senators for their thoughts about him, co workers who worked with him about what it was like working with him etc, etc and their tone has been so somber that if you weren't following closely you would really think he's past on." Kind of like this from Daily Kos diarist Johnny Venom: "No, indeed, here was a man who was a true statesman. Here was a man who, despite having an upper-class upbringing, felt himself as part of the working class; and his work in government proves that. From civil rights to the poor to the environment, he was on the forefront."
Conservative Laura at Pursuing Holiness is on guard for hagiography: "The same impulse that forced much—certainly not all—of the media and the left to grit their teeth when Reagan died and not say what they really thought about him is now going to lead them to wear sackcloth and ashes and lionize their 'Lion of the Senate' beyond all recognition."


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Активность (лет)
2010 – сегодня (8 лет)
Место основания
Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, США
Night Moves is an American indie band from Minneapolis.
For such a patently American locale, the Twin Cities have lacked a remarkable group that evokes the American rock canon in a classic manner for a long time. Enter Night Moves. Formed in 2009 by guitarist and vocalist John Pelant, bassist Micky Alfano and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ritsema, Night Moves is a distinctly original concoction. Their honey-dipped sound seethes with a kind of down-home tenderness – and like the best glittering music – the arrangements are colossal in shape. Night Moves' powerful debut Colored Emotions is this Minneapolis group's first album.
The three core members of Night Moves first met at Southwest High School in Minneapolis. Following the tangential fits and starts typical of early music projects (including a detour to college and back), the ensemble took definite shape as Night Moves and is the crowning achievement to the long-standing collaboration between John Pelant and Mark Ritsema, who first met as freshman.
Pelant's taste for Dylan, Blind Lemon Jefferson, et. al, would prove most propitious for their future work together in Night Moves. Ritsema describes himself as being into electronic music at the time - a Daft Punk fan - when he met budding folknik Pelant. Pelant throughout high school would write some solo material but hadn't been keen on sharing. Whatever musical differences there were between them faded as the motivation to play music together persisted over the next years.
In 2009, with the group at last solidified with the addition of bassist Micky Alfano, Night Moves began the long, astounding odyssey that was recording their meticulous debut album Colored Emotions. Nearly two years in the making, the debut exudes the craft and professionalism of a seasoned band. It was these painstakingly self-recorded tracks Night Moves prepared themselves that attracted interest from Domino, further developed with the appointment of studio guru Thom Monahan to take the album and set it free, so to speak.
Monahan's easy-going nature was a relief for this perfectionist ensemble, who had already made something wholly precious in private. According to Pelant, Monahan's mountainous pedigree of producing terrific psychedelic pop and freak-folk outfits immediately eased their mind: Vetiver, Devendra Banhart, Beachwood Sparks… Night Moves were indeed in good company, and so they hauled down to Los Angeles to put the final touches on Colored Emotions.
Pelant's tone-perfect vocals on Colored Emotions serves Night Moves not just as its lyrical core but also its glittering adornment. With an extensive vocal range, his voice ventures where lone guitar solos cannot. Hence, there's no cornball guitar hero antics in Night Moves. Instead, they carefully built their songs around strong acoustic and rhythmic grounds, the clarity of crystal-clear production, and Pelant's deft howl. The reverb of hollow-body guitars, the bright wash of crash cymbals, the haze of harmonica and organ tremolo – this is the album's bedrock and it shines like gold.
And just as The Zombies' classic Odyssey and Oracle has surprising melodic twists and shape-shifting choruses but never beats you over the head with them, the epic arrangements throughout Colored Emotions are sophisticated but not overbearing. Standouts "Headlights" and "Country Queen" are both perfect examples: seamless segues and hook-laden bridges defy conventional song structures, yet remain altogether memorable.
The songs of Night Moves conjure a spiritual energy only twenty-somethings dislodged by adversity and isolation could produce. An album like Colored Emotions seems intent to turn inward to create a joyous universe within its own boundaries. Certainly, the group's musical abilities are innate without ever being too self-conscious about it. It's as if Colored Emotions came second nature to them and the arrival of the rest of us took them by surprise.
– by Anthony Atlas
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