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Class Notes - FALL 2013
People News
|John P. Laborde ('49)-is the recipient of the 2013 Pope John Paul II Award awarded from the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Mr. Laborde will receive the award from Archbishop Gregory Aymond at the Catholic Foundation's Annual Dinner on Tuesday, November 19 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. The Pope John Paul II Award is presented annually to a deserving layperson or permanent Deacon who resides in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and who exhibits inspirational examples of Christian stewardship.
|Ben R. Miller, Jr. ('61)-of Kean Miller LLP, was reelected to the Board of Directors of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.
|Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson ('69)- was awarded the Joan Dempsey Klein Award by the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) on October 10, 2013. The Joan Dempsey Klein NAWJ Honoree of the Year Award is presented to a judge who brings distinction to her office and to NAWJ as exemplified by its founding mother, Justice Joan Dempsey Klein of California's Second District Court of Appeal. NAWJ is the nation's leading voice of women jurists dedicated to preserving judicial independence, ensuring equal justice and access to the courts for women and minorities, providing education on cutting-edge issues, and increasing the numbers and advancement of women judges at all levels.
|Gene Groves ('70)-of Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips LLP, notes that he is still litigating with the firm in Baton Rouge, and has been happily married for 46 years to the same wonderful woman, Jan, who put him through law school.
|Clifton O. Bingham, Jr. ('73)-serves as General Counsel for the State of Louisiana-Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.
|James Russo ('75)-has retired after eight successive, four-year terms as the elected Public Defender for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida. Russo was the longest serving Republican in the history of the state of Florida and headed an office of 120 lawyers, investigators, administrators and clerical personnel. Prior to election in 1980, Russo was an Assistant State Attorney and was in private practice.
|Kitty Cleveland ('92) - is scheduled to release her ninth CD, a collection of jazz standards to benefit Habitat for Humanity, in October 2013. More information can be found at www.kittycleveland.com.
|Johnny Sanders ('92) -an Assistant District Attorney in the 4th Judicial District, was recently named a member of the Juvenile Prosecutors Leadership Network, a section of the National Resource Center for Juvenile Prosecutors. The NRCJJP is part of the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute's Center for Juvenile Reform. Members will meet to consider juvenile justice reform programs, determine methods to improve reform efforts in their jurisdictions and generate interest in these reforms across the country.
|Matthew M. Fontane ('97)-has joined Holland & Knight LLP as a partner in the firm's new Dallas, Texas office. He will serve as Chair of the firm's Corporate Finance Practice Group. Fontane was previously a partner with Patton Boggs in Dallas.
|Aimee Williams Hebert ('98)-of Gordon Arata, has been appointed to serve on the Council of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute.
|Robert Rideout ('98)-is currently serving as the Command Judge Advocate for the U.S. Forces Garrison Command, 4th Infantry Division in Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. This is his second combat deployment. In his civilian capacity, he is a United States Administrative Law Judge in Raleigh, North Carolina.
|Tiffany Peperone Pitre ('99)-was named General Counsel of TMG Consulting in New Orleans. The firm focuses on planning, economics, and engineering. Tiffany is expecting twins in October.
|Drew Spaniol ('04)-is practicing in the Dallas, Texas office of Bryan Cave LLP. Drew's practice focuses on commercial litigation, with a secondary practice in bankruptcy and restructuring.
|Matthew A. Treuting ('06)-of Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer, LLC of New Orleans, was named "One to Watch" by New Orleans CityBusiness and has been named President-Elect of the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans.
|B. Slattery Johnson, Jr. ('07)-of Blanchard, Walker, O'Quinn and Roberts, was recently appointed by Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, and confirmed by the Shreveport City Council, to serve as Commissioner and Vice-Chairman of Shreveport's first Historic Preservation Commission.
|Jefrrey Coreil ('09)-of NeunerPate, has been named a Crystal Gavel Award winner for 2013 by the Louisiana State Bar Association. Each year this award is given to select attorneys who best exemplify the profession's ideals, including commitment to community service. Coreil was chosen because of his "outstanding work and efforts in providing pro bono legal services," according to Richard K. Leefe, State Bar Association President.
|Vincent Scallan ('09)-has been in private practice since 2011. Vincent P. Scallan Law, LLC focuses on personal injury, workers compensation, criminal defense and DWI.
|Nicholas M. Graphia ('10)-Attorney-at-Law in Baton Rouge, is now Of Counsel to Price Law Group, APC, based in Encino, California. His practice focuses on property insurance claims and insurance bad faith litigation.
|Billy Murray ('10)-of Nelson & Hammons, focuses on representing patients in Medical Malpractice cases.
|Scott Sternberg ('10)-of Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer, LLC of New Orleans, has been named an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University's School of Mass Communication and recently completed the 2013 Leadership Louisiana State Bar Association Program for young lawyers.
|Joshua P. Clayton ('11)-practices law with the New Orleans law firm of Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert, L.L.C. His practice focuses on commercial litigation.
Firm News
Laborde & Neuner law firm has officially changed its name to NeunerPate effective July 1, 2013.
The following lawyers from the law firm of Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC have been selected for inclusion in the 2014 Best Lawyers in America: Malcolm S. Murchison ('77), Kay C. Medlin ('77), Joseph L. "Larry" Shea, Jr. ('78), David R. Taggart ('79), F. John Reeks, Jr. ('79)-Shreveport office; David S. Kelly ('76), Dwight C. Paulsen III ('89), David E. Redmann, Jr. ('94)-New Orleans office; and Jerald N. Jones ('83)-Baton Rouge office.
The following lawyers from the law firm of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2013: Paul M. Hebert, Jr. ('70)-Family Law; Van Mayhall, Jr. ('71)-Corporate Law; David Cassidy ('75)-Litigation & Controversy-Tax; Murphy Foster III ('79)-Construction Law; Gregory D. Frost ('81)-Government Relations Practice; Eve B. Masinter ('82)-Employment Law, Labor & Employment Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants and Plaintiffs; Robert Atkinson ('83)-Banking and Finance Law; David Charlton ('83)-Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law; Michael Hubbell ('87)-Real Estate; B. Troy Villa ('90)-Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions.
Robert Atkinson ('83)
David Cassidy ('75)
David Charlton ('83)
Murphy Foster III ('79)
Gregory Frost ('81)
Paul M. Hebert, Jr. ('70)
Van Mayhall, Jr. ('71)
B. Troy Villa ('90)
|Eve Masinter ('82)
The following lawyers from the law firm of Jackson Walker have been selected for inclusion in 2014 Texas Super Lawyers: Susan Halsey ('83), Michael Baldwin ('93) and Scott McLaughlin ('94). Halsey and McLaughlin were also selected for inclusion in the 2014 Best Lawyers in America by Best Lawyers.
The following lawyers from the law firm of Kean Miller LLP have been named by Best Lawyers as the Baton Rouge Lawyers of the Year for 2014 in Mergers & Acquisitions and Mass Tort/Class Actions respectively: G. Blane Clark, Jr. ('84) and Charles S. McCowan, Jr. ('67).
The following lawyers from the law firm of Leake & Andersson, L.L.P. have been named as 2014 Best Lawyers in America by Best Lawyers: George D. Fagan ('84), Stanton E. Shuler, Jr. ('88) and Patrick M. Wartelle ('84).
George D. Fagan ('84)
Stanton E. Shuler, Jr. ('88)
Patrick M. Wartelle ('84)
The law firm of Bullivant Houser Bailey has announced that Tom Hutchinson ('92) has been included for selection in Oregon Super Lawyers.
The law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP has announced that Robert "Pete" Seale ('67), a partner in the firm's Houston office, has been included on the 2014 Best Lawyers in America list for Tax Law and Trusts and Estates.
The Steeg Law Firm LLC has announced that Randy Opotowsky ('77) has been selected for inclusion in the 2014 Best Lawyers for Litigation-Real Estate "Lawyer of the Year."


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Dive Against Debris
49.072067, -121.977073
Dive Against Debris for Fun, Education and the Environment.
For the third year in a row, the residents of Cultus Lake have invited Langley Diving to do an underwater clan-up prior to the annual Pkeminnow Derby. The Pikeminnow is a fresh water invasive species which kills other fish in the lake including the rare Pigmy Grunt Sculpen. The Pikeminnow, the 'lion-fish' of the lake, is culled out in an annual father and son fishing tournament.
The week-end before the event, Langley Diving does an underwater cleanup and then the debris we collect is dislayed during the tournament to educate the participants in the importance of keeping their local lake clean and free of debris. Last year it was even paraded through the streets during the annual local parade!
The residents then take the debris for recycling and the funds raised are donated to Project Aware.
Contact Langley Diving if you would like to take part in this event.

subset: commoncrawl


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A TV advert promoting Bridgwater Carnival will be aired this month to draw more crowds to the event.
Organisers secured funding from Arts Council England for the carnival's first ever advert, to be aired on screens from Gloucestershire to Plymouth on October 24.
Voiced by Chris Hocking, director and trustee of Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival, the advert will show clips of carts by Gremlins CC, Marketeers CC and Vagabonds CC from last year's carnival, along with squibbing footage.
Dave Stokes, spokesman for Bridgwater Carnival, told the Mercury: "It's the first time we've done it and we're hoping it will encourage people who have not heard about the carnival to come and see it this year.
"We've been doing a lot of work with children and schools, so the Arts Council looked on us with favour this year and agreed to give us a publicity grant."
The committee has also been working hard to expand its marketing strategy using Twitter and Facebook and has distributed 48,000 leaflets.
Bridgwater Mayor Graham Granter said: "I think it's great we are advertising the carnival on national television.
"We have found people coming to watch it often don't know much about it and this way it can be advertised to a wider audience."
The carnival committee's work with children was vital in securing the opportunity and this year there will be three children's parades through the town centre.
Children have also been helping to decorate squibs and there will be a literacy competition for young people to take part in during the daytime entertainment.
Dave added: "We've also had a competition for children and young people to build their own carnival carts.
"We hope by getting schools involved we can secure the future of this fantastic event and maintain the carnival tradition."
The 10 second advert will make its debut appearance on ITV on Wednesday, October 24, at 9.55am during a break in the Jeremy Kyle show.


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Total incontinence is the continuous and total loss of urinary
One cause of total incontinence is neurogenic bladder, a neurological problem that prevents the bladder from emptying properly. Spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, and other
disorders that affect nerve function can also lead to total
incontinence. Total
incontinence in women can also be caused by a vesicovaginal
fistula, an abnormal connection between the urinary
tract and the vagina.
Total incontinence is usually treated by using a thin tube
(catheter) to empty the bladder regularly. This is called intermittent
Absorbent products such as pads or disposable underwear are usually
used when other methods of treating incontinence have failed or cannot be used.
These methods don't treat the incontinence but may make it possible to manage
the problem.
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Last Revised:
September 11, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Avery L. Seifert, MD - Urology
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To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


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Cooking Channel stars and hundreds of Food People celebrated with wine and party bites on Friday night to celebrate The New York City Wine & Food Festival. Meatpacking Uncorked, sponsored by The Corcoran Group, offered food and wine enthusiasts a chance to mingle with top Cooking Channel talent at hot Meatpacking District stores — and try Cooking Channel-inspired recipes. Most importantly, all proceeds from the events went to benefit Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength.
Eden Grinshpan, host of Eden Eats, strikes a pose at Anthropologie.
After stints in various stores, The stars greeted party-goers at Cooking Channel's party hosted at Bagatelle, while waiters served up glasses of wine and whisked out the stars' finger food from the kitchen. One of our favorites was Eden Grinshpan's Bunny Chow, a South African curry dish traditionally served in a hollowed loaf of bread. At Bagatelle, it was elegantly served on triangular toasts for the perfect cocktail canapé.
Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos, hosts of Extra Virgin, dazzled at Meatpacking boutique Diane von Furstenberg.
Roger Mooking, host of Man Fire Food, having a blast on the red carpet outside the Cooking Channel party at Bagatelle.
Get Uncorked at Home:
- Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos' Fried Artichokes
- Bonus Video: Watch how to make it.
- Ben Sargent's Lobster Roll
- Bunny Chow from Eden Eats
- Roger Mooking's Lamb Kebabs with Tamarind Sauce
- Chuck Hughes' Chorizo and Preserved Lemon Couscous
DEVOUR More NYCWFF:


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5 Days Of Quick & Easy Weeknight Dinnersby Dana Angelo White in Healthy Recipes, August 30, 2010
It's tough getting back into the swing of things after the lazy days of summer — don't let dinner be a source of stress. Here's a week's worth of healthy menus for even the busiest weeknights.
Monday: Fresh and Fast Grilled Chicken
Cheese, chicken and a combo of fresh and frozen veggies make an all-around delicious dinner in only 25 minutes. Finish it off with a seasonal berry salad for dessert.
MENU: Pepper-Jack Chicken with Succotash and Mixed Berry Salad
Tuesday: Egg-cellent Option
Eggs are a quick-cooking protein option– team them up with leftover cooked pasta for a fun and satisfying one-dish.
MENU: Spaghetti Fritatta
Wednesday: Easy Fish Dish
Flavorful ingredients like salmon and sugar snap peas don't need much help to taste delicious. If a lighter white fish is more pleasing to everyone in the house, make the same 5-ingredient recipe with tilapia or cod. Top the meal off with make-ahead 3-ingredient frozen yogurt for dessert, or pick up one of our favorite brands and top with fresh fruit.
MENU:Mustard Roasted Salmon with Tarragon Snap Peas and Peach Frozen Yogurt
Thursday: Better Burgers
Ground turkey breast is lower in unhealthy fat than beef, and cooks up faster, too. Roasting broccoli is just as easy as steaming, and gives it a whole new flavor.
MENU: Stuffed Turkey Burgers with Roasted Broccoli
Friday: BBQ Sammies and 5 Ingredient Salad
Fire up the slow cooker and come home to a flavorful meal. Cool things off with a refreshing, simple cucumber salad, then use the leftover brisket for steak salads later in the week.
MENU:Slow Cooker Brisket Sandwiches and Cucumber Salad
Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC, is a registered dietitian, certified athletic trainer and owner of Dana White Nutrition, Inc., which specializes in culinary and sports nutrition. See Dana's full bio »


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THE impact of the cuts to the people of Somerset will be discussed this morning (January 31) at a second scrutiny meeting.
Tuesday's meeting concentrated on policies with infrastructure and places but issues surrounding children's centres, home care, sheltered housing services and mental health, and their effects on individuals will be discussed tomorrow.
In the proposals as part of Somerset County Council's medium-term financial plan, they plan to cut £3.6million over the next three years from home care, residential care and nursing care.
About half the 3,800 households supported by Somerset County Council in sheltered housing could lose out under plans to save £500,000.
The authority is looking at pulling assistance for people with "lower and medium support needs" and only keeping the most vulnerable on its books as it cuts the current £1.5million budget.
Funding will no longer be directed at anyone who is "very independent and requires little or no support or care" as the council concentrates on "people with higher level support needs".
Sheltered housing consists of two elements – accommodation equipped with an interactive alarm system and support in the form of welfare checks and sometimes basic household chores.
Fears have been expressed that people who lose out could be "adversely affected" – in a survey of service users, there were claims it could lead to a loss of independence, people being "totally abandoned" and vulnerable people being "more isolated".
The council says the change will give people an improvement in the range of choices available to them, enabling increased independence.
The Adult and Health commissioning budget is set to be slashed by 57% over a two-year period while housing-related support services are also planned to be cut by 58% with the council saying it will develop a more efficient service to be introduced.
As part of the cuts, around 100 jobs will be lost as the council says it needs fewer support staff to provide the range of finance, legal, governance and performance roles and functions.
The job losses will save the council around £2.5million over a four-year period and they stress that people who currently use services 'should not be affected'.
The proposals are being discussed by the scrutiny committee tomorrow (Friday) before going to full council.
n THE meeting is in Taunton Conference Centre auditorium at Somerset College and will start at 9.30am.


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Topic: Taxol?
Hi everyone. Has anyone had experience with taxol? My oncologist switched me due to nausea and pain I lost 30lbs! Apparently it's supposed to be easier on the stomach but I don't know how well taxol works for bile duct cance. Every site says it's good for breast cancer. Hopefully it will help. So tired of throwing up and being sick. I wish there was a cute for this illness.


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According to a family friend, Britney Spears is "seriously thinking about" giving away a digitally re-mastered copy of her sex tape for free so Kevin Federline can't make any money off of it.
"Brit figures she'll beat that sucker to the punch, just like she did by giving away pictures of Jayden James," said Spears family friend Nyla Price, 55, the owner of Nyla's Burger Basket. "Half of nuthin' is nuthin', and that's what her lying skunk of a husband will get if she gives that video away before he can find some sleazeball to buy it." Federline has been saying the sex tape is four hours long, however, Price says the tape is closer to forty-five minutes
This is like a battle of wits between Britney Spears and Kevin Federline to see who can screw each other over the most. I'd compare it to an intricate game of chess but it's really more like a pig wrestling contest. I picture each of them staying up late at night trying to put together battle plans, furiously scribbling on a notepad with their tongue sticking out. Then when you look at the notepad it's just a bunch of numbers, with some of the 3's facing the wrong way.


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Yesterday I did a photoless cook: "Lord of the 'Que" spareribs from "BBQ USA". I used Premium Farms pork and the spares were actually kind of small, but the rack had already been trimmed St. Louis-style and the rib tips and brisket were pretty meaty.
They cooked faster than I planned so Sunday supper consisted of a plate of ribs and no sides at 3:30pm. It's a recipe with a little bit of heat and good flavor, so anyone thinking about trying something new might want to keep it in consideration.


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Our dedication to serving the needs of our internal and external communities continues to be a priority for Angostura. Approximately 15000 requests for donations, sponsorship and general assistance are received annually and we are able to facilitate the majority of these in one way or the other, either financially, through product distribution or the volunteerism of staff.
Some of the key projects that Angostura was able to achieve over the years were far reaching. The company continues its relationship with the Morvant /Laventille Agricultural Network, which it started a few years ago, assisting with their agricultural endeavours, which provide opportunities for several young men and women in the area, from learning farming skills, to selling their products.
The schools in the area have benefited from our generosity as we have sort to assist them with various activities throughout the years. We provide books, uniforms and shoes to students to enter school who would otherwise not have had a chance to go to school. We have also done a week long project with Anna Maria Mora, who spoke to teenagers about HIV AIDS – what it is, what causes it, how to prevent it, and on the negative effects of underage drinking; brochures on Alcohol and its effect were given to the students as a takeaway. It is important to instill discipline, education and endurance in the youth of today. This is also achieved through the kid's camps and workshops that we run every year, in the Laventille/Morvant area. Working with the youth in this way could only open their minds to a host of alternatives.
Generally, our corporate social responsibility spans a wide range of areas, finding us assisting with organizations dealing with culture, education, sport, terminal diseases, environmental issues, other spiritual and humanitarian issues, while supporting fellow corporate citizens and other entities.
The Quality control department of the company, has also been very active, as they were able to achieve several developmental activities with staff; including first aid and CPR classes, advising of emergency criteria and instructions, education on the OSHA act and health and environmental safety training. Several recycling and environmental awareness initiatives are practiced at Angostura including recycling paper in all departments, as well as ways of conserving water and energy.
Going forward, Angostura will continue to develop its social responsibility activities with structured projects within the community in partnering with community leaders in their efforts to create a better environment for those in the area through educational, environmental, social, cultural and sporting activities.


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Harvey handles Phils, Doc as Mets cruise to victory
Righty strikes out nine over seven strong innings to outpitch Halladay
PHILADELPHIA -- There was no ceremony at Citizens Bank Park, no official changing of the guard. But the juxtaposition was nonetheless stark in a 7-2 Mets victory over the Phillies on Monday, reflecting what the Mets hope might be a permanent shift.
Roy Halladay, a New York nemesis for more than a decade, labored through four-plus ineffective innings in losing to the Mets for the first time since 2001. Meanwhile, Matt Harvey, a rising Mets star, continued his assault on the National League.
The result was a lopsided victory that encapsulated one team's struggles and another's bright future.
"Anytime you face Doc, it's something special," said Harvey, who admitted to feeling a bit star-struck. "We put up runs against him, and fortunately I was able to put up zeros for us."
Halladay's trouble began when Marlon Byrd, who authored Sunday's walk-off victory against the Marlins, punched a one-out double into center field in the second inning. Halladay plunked the next batter, Lucas Duda, bringing the NL's RBI leader to the plate.
Once again, John Buck converted, crushing a Halladay cutter to the opposite field for a three-run homer.
"It feels like I'm doing what I'm capable of doing," said Buck, whose 12 RBIs are the most by any player in franchise history over the first seven games of a season. "I'm not trying too hard to do too much. I'm just letting it come to me, and the results have been good."
The Mets plated another run off Halladay on Duda's single in the third inning, then knocked the two-time Cy Young Award winner out of the game with three consecutive hits to open the fifth.
The Mets were not completely done with their rout of Phillies pitching, breaking the game open on Ruben Tejada's two-run single off reliever Chad Durbin. That officially closed the book on Halladay, who allowed seven runs on six hits and three walks. He recorded a dozen outs.
"That's not Doc," said Terry Collins, who had never previously beaten Halladay in two-plus years as manager of the Mets. "I don't want to face him all that much, but if you're going to get him, you'd better get him when things aren't right."
No such trouble awaited Harvey, who struck out nine batters in his second start of the season. The Phillies scored their only run off him when Jimmy Rollins doubled to open the fourth inning, moved to third on Chase Utley's single and scored on Ryan Howard's sacrifice fly. Otherwise, Harvey was brilliant, allowing three hits and two walks.
He lowered his career ERA to 2.33 in 12 starts, striking out nearly 11 batters per nine innings.
"He's a top-of-the-rotation guy," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.
Though Harvey did allow his first run of the season, his second outing was in some ways more impressive than the first. Lacking the same type of fastball command that defined his season debut, Harvey relied more heavily on his offspeed pitches -- his second-, third- and fourth-best offerings. But the results were nearly identical. Several Phillies hitters looked overmatched vs. Harvey, the same way the Mets have against Halladay for a decade.
Not since the days of Mike Piazza and Benny Agbayani had the Mets beaten Halladay, who lorded over them with an 8-0 record and 2.12 ERA from 2002-12. Halladay walked a total of six batters in his nine most recent starts against the Mets, allowing a total of 16 runs.
So it was almost jarring to see him continually falling behind hitters Tuesday, walking three and giving up seven runs -- the equivalent of half a decade's worth of offense. His struggles were even more pronounced because they came on the same Citizens Bank Park mound that Harvey dominated, reaching 98 mph with his fastball.
Mets hitters cautioned afterward that it will not always be like this. At age 35, even with eroding abilities, Halladay is still respected by the opposition.
"People can say he's struggling or whatever you want, but he's still Roy Halladay," Buck said. "He still throws good."
It's just that on this night, on this mound, Harvey threw better. And it probably won't be the last time that happens.
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyDicomo. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Computex 2014 ADATA Booth Tour: 2TB SX930 SSD, Micro SSDs, Power Banks, Wireless Chargers and Moreby Kristian Vättö on 6/9/2014 10:00 AM EST
15 Comments
Back to Article
isa - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkWith the megaflop that the SF3700 has become (huge development delays, apparent heat issues, merger distractions, etc), I hope these guys also consider using Marvell's competing controller. Reply
Flunk - Monday, June 09, 2014 - link"The SP910 was launched just before Computex and it's based on the Marvell 88SS9187 controller"
Read the first paragraph, they have Marvel-based drives too. Reply
Flunk - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkShould have said fourth paragraph, I blame autocorrect (it wasn't autocorrect). Reply
Kristian Vättö - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkADATA is definitely considering other options and Marvell is definitely one of them. I have ton of info regarding their future plans and will be writing it all up over the next two weeks or so. Reply
isa - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkGreat news! By "competing controller (to the SF3700)", I think that's the Marvell 88SS9293 or similar. I impatiently await upcoming m.2 pcie x4 SSDs and the laptops that make good use of them. Reply
anastasiawayne10 - Saturday, August 27, 2016 - linkDid you check this site <a href="http://www.best-power-banks.com/">Best-Pow... ? Reply
jhoff80 - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkiSSD would blow away eMMC in terms of performance, wouldn't it? So why haven't we seen it in ANY tablets yet? Reply
bleh0 - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkI think cost and it being relatively new (I hadn't heard of them before this article) hurt iSSDs in competing with cheaper eMMC for the moment. Reply
jhoff80 - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkWell the original Sandisk one was announced in 2010. Reply
name99 - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkThe question is what the power usage is compared to the (crappy but presumably very low power) flash used in tablets today. There may also be an issue not with mean power but peak power --- the power required to sustain a long series of writes may simply be beyond what a tablet (at least one that is not specially engineered for the task) can handle. Reply
hojnikb - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkSoC and display is a much bigger power hog than a tiny ssd based storage :) Reply
hojnikb - Monday, June 09, 2014 - linkSo basicly SP920 is a highend drive, SP910 is a midrange (using older controller) and sp610 is supposed to be entery level ?
Also, i wonder what performance that micro ssd will put out. JMF608 Reply
hojnikb - Monday, June 09, 2014 - link...because ssds based on that controller are not that bad. A single chip solution like that would be perfect for motherboards and laptops as a cache using intels lates 9 series chipsets. Reply
drew.J - Friday, June 13, 2014 - linkI purchased a wireless charging pad from ravower at amazon. I'm thinking about built it into my desk, so I can just put my phone on the desk to get it to charge. Reply
imran999 - Monday, March 06, 2017 - linkdo check amazing power banks on this website http://www.brandedbatteries.com/ really i love this idea of promo .. Reply


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Homeowners Have Rights During Utility Construction
March 19, 2009
News Highlights
More Information
What should homeowners do if a contractor or subcontractor arrives at their property unexpectedly and begins digging in the yard? Often times, utility companies dig to install new cable or work on gas, electric and other lines, but they must have a valid easement to perform the work. An easement is a legal document granted from the property owner to another party for a specific use of a portion of the owner's land.
In some instances, homeowners are not aware that the work will be performed or whether the utility company has legal authority to begin construction. Some common questions include:
- Whose property is the easement on?
- What is the scope of the easement?
- Is the easement current or has it expired?
- What are the boundaries of the easement?
- What obligations does the utility company have to repair a yard after the easement work is completed?
If homeowners experience these or other issues, they should start by checking their homeowner's documents and deed to determine exactly what was approved at the time of purchase. Deeds can be obtained from the Fairfax Circuit Court Land Records Division. Land records information is available online.
Often times, it may be necessary to contact legal counsel and/or a title examiner to review all of the relevant documents to determine the property rights implicated by any easements.
Residents also may contact the Consumer Affairs Branch of the Fairfax County Department of Cable Communications and Consumer Protection for advice or file a complaint online. Consumer Affairs can offer assistance to county residents by serving as an intermediary between a homeowner and a utility company.
For more information, contact Consumer Affairs at 703-222-8435, TTY 711.
Contact: Merni Fitzgerald, Director, Office of Public Affairs
703-324-3189, TTY 711, Media Pager: 703-324-NEWS (6397)
To request this information in an alternate format, call 703-324-3187, TTY 711


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"Taylah was a fantastic pet sitter! Our little kitty cat was very well looked after and our home..."
"Thank you Ellie for looking after Dino so well. We're very happy and will bring him back again soon."
"Lauren took great care of Fina, gave plenty of piece of mind to both my wife who is away at the..."
"Kayllah did a wonderful job of looking after my two kitty's whilst I was travelling for two weeks...."
"Best pet sitter ! From the first meet up I knew my Samoyed liked her and you have to trust a dogs..."
"I highly recommend Shadia to everyone who is looking for a loving family (not just a carer) to..."
"Thank you . "
"Awesome service. "
"Thanks for taking such good care of Roco - he loved his holiday with you!!"
"Michelle was fantastic and very accommodating for my dog. Would definitely trying to use her again."
"Always a great job!"
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text:
A COMMUNITY has lent a hand painting the inside of a new centre they campaigned to keep.
Along with members of Sovereign Housing staff, residents got stuck in decorating the inside of the former United Reformed Church in Someford.
A campaign by residents, councillors and Somerford Community Partnership to save the former Somerford Community Centre at Southey Road, led to an agreement between both sides to redevelop the hall for housing and provide a new community hall at the former church.
The Southey Road centre will now be redeveloped to provide nine houses with a £46,000 refurbishment of the former URC.
Chris Hopkins, who chairs the management committee, and is also chairman of Somerford Community Partnership said: "I'd like to thank those people who gave up their weekend to help out, and make it a success. Everyone who took part enjoyed the day."
The newly refurbished centre is being handed over to the residents' committee and a contractor is carrying out work to make the building ready for opening around April.
Winston Nelson, Sovereign's regional housing manager, said: "This 'paint day' was a success – and not just because most of the paint ended up on the walls; it was yet another example of how the community is pulling together to bring about improvements to Somerford.
"The existing community centre is no longer fit for purpose, so it's great that we will be able to redevelop that site to provide much-needed affordable homes, while the people of Somerford will get a brand new, fully refurbished community centre."
The event was supported by the local McDonalds, who provided lunch to the volunteers for free.


text:
I have a php script that for some reason sometimes either goes into an endless loop or it just fails & ends. Eitherway, the session is not released which causes other requests from the same session to wait endlessly.
What could cause this? How can my script run endlessly OR fail without releasing the lock on the session?
If the script goes into an endless loop it looks like it does so when I do a quite simple sql-query.
Any hints?
Can you post code? If not, I'd focus on getting xDebug installed and running a profile. You may have to abruptly killing the process to stop the endless loop, but then you could review the profile report and see directly where the endless loop is located.
Thank you. Problem with xdebug will be that the problem only happens now and then. While we must let xdebug run all the time.
I have the feeling that ist is the PDO/Mysql driver that is crashing without properly closing the script and handling the error. Have any one seen this before with PDO?
On a problem like this, you need to create your own debug. In the problem-zone try something like this
if( !isset($_SESSION['_passed_']) ) {
$_SESSION['_passed_'] = 0;
} $_SESSION['_passed_']++;
echo $_SESSION['_passed_'];
This will check if you are into a loop.Now, about the PDO, make sure you use a try-catch so when things will stop you'll know the reason.
The problem is, there is a 'global/catch-all' try-catch but it does not catch anything.So either I am in an endless loop, or php crashes without being able to handle the exception. And all this I expect to happen somewhere in PDO because the problem area seems to be a rather simple 'select * from table where...'.
If you have crack that does not appear in logs it might be a require stuff or some memory crash.To debug you just have to add die("here and there"); over some key places so you'll see when it blows.A simple PDO error will not crash you PHP, will just send you a warning.
I have been able to trace down the a bit further. What I now see is that some queries take (exactly) 930 sec. to complete. These are normal queries over the unique index. Nothing special.
Could this be some issue in PDO or mysql?
I've yet to run into such a problem with PDO or MySQL, are you sure your query is good? And that the query itself isn't running a long running query? Or maybe you are stuck executing the query in an endless loop? Maybe a networking issue is happening? Memory limit?
I don't believe my eyes either. But here is an extract from the logs:
DEBUG --> 930.808... row-count: 0 ; select * from tblUserDevice where deviceId = ? order by 1... tO/lbqCtVxrDEBUG --> 931.006... row-count: 0 ; select * from tblUserDevice where deviceId = ? order by 1... tO/lbqCtVxrDEBUG --> 931.223... row-count: 0 ; select * from tblUserDevice where deviceId = ? order by 1... tO/lbqCtVxrDEBUG --> 931.283... row-count: 1 ; select * from tblUserDesktop where UserID = ? order by 1... 75DEBUG --> 930.922... row-count: 1 ; select * from tblUser where id = ?... 75DEBUG --> 930.805... row-count: 3 ; select * from tblUserPersonalDesktop where UserId = ? order by 1... 75
These are al simple indexed queries on table with less then 500 rows. The 930.xxx is the execution time of the query.
Is anything locking the query? An Update, Insert, Delete, Transaction of some sort? A transaction that was never committed or rolled back could be a candidate for these sporadic issues.
select * from tblUserDevice where deviceId = ?
The ? is what matters so you canot be sure that those 500 rows are matched unless you know the ? If you can, try to trigger an echo OR add the value into the SQL (just for debug)
It turned out that we were using pdo-persistent connections and they broke it. We are now running for 2 weeks on non-persistent connections and no more problems.
I've read so many times that persistent connections are bad! In some cases I've seen people say that they've been forced to use them, but so many people have had some really difficult problems to find, and they've ended up being as a result of persistent connections. Personally, I never use them unless specifically required


text:
A HUMOROUS sports book written by a rugby mad author has been shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards.
The Mud, the Beer and the Rugby is the first book written by John Collier, 66, who has been a member of Burnley, formerly Calder Vale, rugby club for decades.
Whilst the book is about amateur rugby, it is not intended to be a factual or historical account but an examination of the game's wealth of humorous material from both on and off the pitch.
While raising laughs, John is ambitiously trying to raise £100,000 for the Injured Players Foundation, a charity which looks after players from all levels who suffered serious spinal injuries.
John moved to Reedley in 1951, attending Walter Street Primary School in Brierfield and Nelson Grammar School, followed by Nottingham University. He now lives in Waddington and is semi-retired, working part-time as a solicitor. He is married with two adult children.
The book begins with John's experience as a young soccer enthusiast when he thought rugby was a crazy game played by crazy people.
Then after a chance incident draws him in, there is no escape from the mud, the beer and the rugby. After receiving news of his nomination for best rugby book, John said: "I'm not expecting to win.
"There are six on the shortlist, including record-breaking Irish international Ronan O'Gara's autobiography and books by established writers.
"But the awards ceremony at Lords Cricket ground will be an experience. It will certainly be the nearest I'll get to the Oscars".
Former England and British Lions captain, Bill Beaumont, from Chorley, has contributed a foreword to the book.
As for his charity target, he said: "It's a tall order but if we can sell an average of 20 copies per club affiliated to the Rugby Football Union we will get there.
"I also hope people outside rugby, who just enjoy a good laugh, may also buy a copy."
The star studded ceremony, hosted by Jonathan Agnew, is at Lords on Wednesday, May 21.
John will be accompanied on the trip to London by former international referee, Peter Hughes from Higham, who has also been a member at Burnley for many years and who has been helping John with the fundraising project.
The book can be bought online at www.themud thebeerandtherugby.com.


text:
1 Margate beach – South Coast
A choice destination for domestic holidaymakers, Margate is a popular bathing beach fringing a holiday town of the same name. The beach is close to restaurants and a safe pool, and lifeguards are on duty. more
2 Ramsgate
A nice stretch of beach combined with a warm lagoon makes this Blue Flag beach a holiday favourite with families, especially during the school holidays. Ramsgate is nestled in coastal vegetation and has a wide beach located in an estuary where pedal boats operate. more
3 Marina Beach
Located between San Lameer and Southbroom, Marina Beach offers a quiet Blue Flag haven on an otherwise busy coastline, and includes a tidal pool and ideal swimming conditions. more
4 Umzumbe
Umzumbe (Pumula) lies on the Hibiscus Coast. This is a beautiful and unspoiled beach with dense coastal vegetation extending to the sand. There is a small tidal pool and lifeguards are on duty. more
5 Durban's Beaches
South Beach, North Beach and Bay of Plenty are all popular, accessible beaches. Favourite hangout spots for local surfers and swimmers, these long stretches of beach epitomise the Golden Mile for which eThekweni (Durban) is famous. more
6 Umhlanga Rocks
Located 15 minutes' drive up the north coast from eThekwini (Durban), Umhlanga offers up an upmarket stretch of beach known for its high-rise hotels, holidaymakers, fishermen, swimmers and surfers. more
7 Lucien
Lucien is a popular South Coast family beach that offers year-round safe swimming. Lifeguards are on duty throughout the year and there is an adjacent tidal pool. more
8 Trafalgar
Trafalgar is a quieter choice of beach located near the Mpenjati Nature Reserve. Lifeguards are on duty every day, but there are no restaurants and shops nearby. more
9 Umdloti Beach
About 15 minutes north of eThekweni (Durban) lies Umdloti, a popular enclosed lagoon-type swimming area with many rock pools. Laid back and relaxed, Umdloti is ideal for families, while an open section to the right is suited to surfing.
10 Sodwana Bay Beach
With rock pools to one side and a sweeping bay to the other, this is the preferred destination of deep-sea fishermen, scuba divers, snorkelling fans and swimmers. more


text:
A Life of Sustainable Business in Solar Energy
Death is the final mystery. This is especially true when the one passed on has reached back and grabbed hold of the living, as is the case today. A correspondent of mine sent me an announcement about a new award for people who use solar power technology in socially progressive ways.
Though the requirements for the prize quite possibly suggest a marketing ploy, the fellow whose memory the award celebrates reveals a story among the most bizarre and compelling that I've encountered. Since a primary reason that I'm a writer is that people regularly bring me implausible, seemingly impossible, yarns that turn out to be true, my statement about Walt Ratterman's life ought to carry some weight.
In any event, I've been unable to tell myself, "Now, Jim, just let it go; he's gone, and it's just too filled with weird and unanswered questions and highly dubious components." I mean, I've told myself those things, but it hasn't worked. His life as a proponent of solar electricity for cousins in the direst straits, generally speaking at some border between conflagration and penury, kept insisting: "Write something, even if it's tentative and partial."
Critical distance unfortunately plays a role here; I say 'unfortunately' because I'm no expert on the idea, but, especially in regard to the work of an 'intellectual' or 'thinker,' and ultra-especially in relation to technical matters like renewable energy and economics--'sustainable business,' for instance, the notion is important.
Basically, it makes requisite that thinking about an intellectual product, say a laudatory or critical obituary of a person's life, means being responsible about the political meaning or social impact of the thought-product. And that responsibility is difficult, perhaps impossible, when one is either too far removed or too close to a topic. A person's life and death, precious and sacred, is also a subject for review--we all are, from this perspective.
In regard to the phrasing that several chroniclers of Walt Ratterman's life have used, "Sir Ratterman" is both too close and too far for me to grasp in a way that is responsible. Yet, as I indicated above, the story has its hooks in me deeply enough that I'm giving things a try here, offering another thematic notion for readers to consider as I do so.
Ultimate motivations almost always come up in my thinking about the characters in the stories that I tell. I reject out of hand the idea that objectivity is obtainable; on the contrary, the notion is absurd as a category of human experience, despite its seductive and frequent utility. Honesty, on the other hand, and fairness, and empirical estimation, are all essential pieces of assembling a narrative puzzle.
And parsing motivation powerfully elevates the capacity to deploy these important investigative aspects of the work that I do. In the case of Sir Ratterman, I am at sea in a small, open boat.
Here is a fellow who connects with a pair of other merry Catholics in an organization they name after an often conspiratorially-viewed 'Knighthood,' while he also decides to follow a powerfully charismatic Buddhist nun who has invented a new set of strictures along the 'eightfold path,' all the while teaming up with a 'known' CIA front to do basically gratis work in solar engineering in various frontline situations that involve a high likelihood of torture and death.
"It don't make no sense," as my brother likes to screech. And Sir Ratterman left behind a loving wife and a happy home, by all accounts, in the process of peregrinations that barely paid a dime. Man, Jimbo is far outside his comfort zone.
Mastering mysteries by revealing the unknown in a light that reshapes the conundrum is what essays, reports, journalism, all narratives are about, however. Perfection is not only not the purpose, but also a pretentious trap for the sanctimonious to fall into. So here goes in regard to a heroic and Zen and indecipherable fellow who now has a solar engineering prize named in his honor, "The Walt Ratterman Award for Creative Community Energy," as well as a scholarship fund established in his name by none other than the redoubtable Solar Energy International (SEI) association.
A Catholic, who turned to Buddhism, might be typecast for a role like the one that Walt Ratterman played--passion and compassion in a wild dance--with star turn after star turn, at least after he left a successful corporate career, and then the fulfillment of entrepreneurial predilections that began when he appointed himself the twelve-year-old CEO of his first company, to embark on a high road to selfless adventure, like, well, like a crusading, chivalrous knight.
The memorial award in his honor puts this in perspective. "The annual Walt Ratterman Award for Creative Community Energy was created to recognize and honor Walt Ratterman, one of NABCEPâs first Certificants, who was killed while working in Haiti when the devastating earthquake struck. Waltâs astonishing renewable energy work among some of the worldâs most needy was truly inspirational. Walt channeled his efforts into the non-profit company he co-founded, Sun Energy Power International (SunEPI). The companyâs mission is 'to promote an increased quality of life in remote, rural regions of the world through the use of renewable energy.'"
I make no promises whatsoever about follow-up to this story. However, I would like to know more about this amazing fellow's life before he set out, like one of the Three Musketeer's in search of Dartagnan. I have discovered a bit about his work life, in which he rose from a grunt's' position with Foley Electric Contractors to become a hard-working Vice President who oversaw huge projects involving power supplies to oil pipelines, villages on the tundra, and more.
And for a time, after leaving oil and gigantic power operations behind, he formed TRC Electrical Construction Services, a company that installed solar technology in homes in Pennsylvania and Maryland. From this, I infer, though I am miles away from anything other than supposition and assertion, another turn away from the social SOP, which necessarily involves large-scale electricity as the default methodology.
Whatever the motives, given that he was only 33 years old when he left Foley, having started as a whippersnapper of 18 with the company, he still had plenty of youthful oomph to offer to his entrepreneurial efforts. In any event, these went on for years, pioneering efforts in photovoltaic applications, before the period of his life came to fruition that led to his memorialization, about which we'll learn more below.
Perhaps the most interesting sidetrack along which Sir Ratterman perambulated was his joining his life to the work of Tzu Chi, a Taiwanese spiritual and service offshoot of Buddhism. This religious body, in which he became one of just 100 worldwide adepts, or 'commissioners,' out of five million followers, eschews politics and other earthly compulsions to deliver medical and material assistance whenever disaster strikes.
Interestingly, China allows this outfit from Chiang Kai Shek's redoubt on Taipei to work on the mainland; the disavowal of politics at least passes muster in Beijing. Also interestingly, Tzi Chu has become a prominent player in calamity-services here in the U.S., in the aftermath of 9/11, following the mayhem that accompanied Hurricane Katrina, and otherwise.
As fascinating as these facts are, the simple reality of the conjunction between Tzi Chu's founding master, the charismatic nun Cheng Yen, and this not-yet-knight in search of a grail is more captivating still. Several sources describe it as akin to "Indiana Jones meets Mother Theresa."
Another major turning point in his life resulted from Sir Ratterman's first connecting with Edward Artis, a former Special Forces medic turned social entrepreneur and fiscal wizard, in 1999, at which juncture the not-as-yet-annointed Sir Ratterman joined Knightsbridge International(KBI), a Knights-of-Malta styled disaster relief and medical-assistance NGO that Artis had formed in 1995 with cardiologist Jim Laws.
A few years later, Walt Ratterman--having run gauntlets in Afghanistan, the Southern Philippines, and elsewhere with his new friend and mentor--received his own christening. Thereafter, the world deemed him worthy of the moniker Sir Ratterman.
He took this oath:
|"I do swear by the Eternal Power of the Trinity, to be both a true and chivalric Knight, to obey my Commanders and to aid my bretheren. I also swear by all that is holy and dear unto me, to aid those less fortunate than I, to relieve the distress of the world and to fulfill my knightly obligations."
The formation of the SunEnergy Power Corporation(SEPC) followed shortly thereafter, and his own calling realized its fullest expression in the funding, by the for-profit and largely domestic operations of SEPC, of SunEnergy Power International(SEPI), a 501-C-3 non-profit of which he was the founding partner who became, for all intents and purposes, CEO-fof-life in 2008.
Rapidly, SEPI queued up a substantial list of projects, for which Ratterman and the staff who were his friends and colleagues and daughter worked persistently on the four corners of the earth. At this intersection in Ratterman's life, as well, a key partner for moving everything forward came on board.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is one of those outfits that looks darned good on paper. In some senses, USAID represents the best face of the USA, with its wealth, its technical acuity, and its pragmatism all available for those in need.
The bureau avers that
|"The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. It is this caring that stands as a hallmark of the United States around the world -- and shows the world our true character as a nation."
Only a true troll could argue with such goals as these, coming from the "Global Partnerships" page of the agency. It proffers models that "Promote Clean Energy, Expand Access to Energy, Finance Energy, Create a Favorable Policy Environment, Train Energy Professionals," and serve "Energy at the Base of the Pyramid," the last of these templates relating to projects that bring power to the poorest households.
Sir Ratterman and SEPI, providing the most secure financing outside of the company's own profits that the group had ever had, were about to embark on truly world-shifting work. With USAID and its other partners, SEPI "(wa)s in the kick-off stages of a multi-year, multi country project aimed at improving access to reliable energy for Health Care facilities in remote locations."
Just prior to these capstones for Sir Ratterman, an award winning documentary film-maker, with his own astounding back story, having encountered the charming and turbo-charged Edward Artis on one of Knightsbridge's first-among-equals peripatetic sojourns, enlisted this trio of knights-errant as the subjects of a film that would serve to document their intertwined lives and purposes on this plane of existence, as it were.
The edgy tension and overwhelming fulfillment of leaving the feedbag behind is an important part of the message of "Beyond the Call," which shows Sir Ratterman, Sir Artis, and Sir Law as they dodge bullets and deliver renewable electricity and medicine from Rwanda to Chechnya to Afghanistan to the Philippines and beyond. The movie's impact resounds in viewers' comments.
Bill Morse noted, "The work that these guys are doing is absolutely amazing. I run an organization that helps clear land mines in Cambodia and I know how difficult it is to sustain this type of work. Ed and his cohorts are an inspiration to all of us. This film should be required viewing for everyone."
Another Californian said,
"This reflects the American Spirt of winning 'Hearts and Minds'. I believe Ed Artis should be considered as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. To accomplish what he has done with such minimal assets is truly extraordinary."
An inspired woman from Maine admitted, "I ... am amazed that men are in this day and age willing to become knights and to take their oath seriously. The Knights oath and prayer are pledges to make a difference in serving humanity. The documentary revealed the desperate needs of humanity and the terrible consequences of ineffective leadership that exist in our global world - and illustrates that individuals can make a difference."
And Nila, from Eastern Washington, offered this:
|"It was high adventure by such three unassuming personalities. I identified w/ Ed Artis' feelings about not wanting to be associated w/ religious organizations for these trips. I saw the Gospel being lived out in the actions of Artis, Laws, and Ratterman. There are times when religious words just are not necessary. Thank you for letting us see what determination and a wonderful combination of gifts and skills has done in behalf of unfortunate but deserving people. They appeared to be having the time of their lives."
This lesson, of joyous engagement, appears repeatedly among scores of notes, highlighting what could easily be the central component of sustainable business: the passionate pursuit of having a positive impact. Without that, none of the subjects of the film, for example, would have shown up, the 'call of duty' would have diminished, or it might have absented itself altogether, yielding another set of gritty, grubbing, greedy geniuses on the make.
Instead of such selfishness, every photo of Sir Ratterman shows the glow of this calling--one might see a tinge of concern or patina of fatigue as well, but the quiet commitment to a life of passionate purpose gleams forth from each shot. He literally hop-scotched over every ocean and touched down in every inhabited region, seeking, with minimal material reward as incentive, to power-up the lives of the poor, to provide the essence of all capacitaiton, in the form of good health, to touch the lives of those in need with deft skill and gentle kindness.
*He spoke to one interviewer about the period after the release of "Beyond the Call," noting, "I have been pretty constantly on the road since ... film(ing) . I have been working primarily in renewable energy projects in very remote locations around the world, mostly where we started working in the years of the original Knightsbridge missions. I have been working to combine the solar energy work with the medical work and it is coming along quite well."
*He listed as examples of such work, in the flashing passing of a year that also required commercial contract fulfillment, fundraising, and occasional nods to wife and family, efforts in half a dozen different countries--"Solar power for a Buddhist monastery high in the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Bhutan; (P)articularly risky Solar water pumping(projects in)... NW Pakistan... . due to the bombing that the U.S. has allegedly taken part in recently;... (T)raining and equipment for clinics inside Burma (that we built earlier and where) the military were burning villages and killing people in the largest offensive in the past ten years. ... We will return in April of 2007 to do more solar systems for clinics;...Working with the Shuar Indians in southern Ecuador to provide electricity to VERY remote villages there. ...Working with more than 20 (Rwandan)medical centers to provide training, equipment, and installation for diagnosing and treating of HIV/AIDS and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis."
*He later mentions efforts in Haiti and Guyana, along with Nicaragua, in this hemisphere; in the first two, he led teams in the design and installation of remote-area photovoltaic electric capacity, while in Central America, he was building water pumping and purification projects that also relied on solar power.
*He made literally dozens of treks to Afghanistan with Knightsbridge, always in the company of comrade Sir Artis, and often with Sir Laws and others. On one occasion, "we asked the teachers what they needed the most. They said that they have not been paid for six months, and they did not know how long they could keep this up, when needing to tend to the needs of their families as well. We donated funds to the school to pay the salaries of the 17 teachers for one year, starting this past July 1st. This came to about $2000 since the teachers' salaries are $10 / month."
*He hit the ground running as CEO of SEPI, projects both independent of USAID support and a part of that 'Global Development collaboration' unfolding as 2010 dawned on us. Work in Haiti and elsewhere in Latin America, in the Pacific Islands, in South and Central Asia were among the programmatic efforts that he was leading to employ his knowledge, American technology, and the power of the sun in tandem to improve the lives of benighted folks.
These examples just give a glimpse of the surface tip of the vast oeuvre of his efforts. He combined with governments, with colleagues, with other organizations to achieve truly miraculous results. Adhering to a schedule that would leave onlookers winded, Sir Ratterman was always, as my dad liked to say, "loaded for bear, raring to go, and ready for more."
In addition to funding from the government and foundations, such financial gurus as John Mauldin fronted appeals for both SEPI and KBI. Mauldin sells loads of books, and plenty of investment grade advice emanates from his print, broadcast, and web portals. Unless I am much mistaken, people listen to him.
In one appeal, plugging moral responsibility more so than tax deductibility, he wrote that "Long-time readers are familiar with Ed Artis and Knightsbridge. They walked into jungles in Rwanda to rescue nuns at the height of the craziness there. They took food into Afghanistan months before our soldiers were there. Sri Lanka? They took drugs into Tamil Tiger territory after the tsunami, when no other aid agency would go. They went to Burma (and figured out how to get in with relief supplies after the last typhoon, when other agencies couldn't). Ed is one of the really good (if somewhat crazy) guys. He and his friends like to get an adrenalin rush as they do their good deeds, which generally means going places where others will not. Thankfully, they keep coming back. They take no salaries. They pay their own way. And there are people all over the world who are alive today because of their work."
This network-building was not exclusively at the upper reaches of the food chain either. A pair of younger women in L.A. freshly minted graduate degrees and good jobs in hand, encountered our good gentlemen. "Most little girls dream of meeting a Knight in Shining armor⦠we were lucky enough to meet 3⦠well 3 Knights in RUSTY armor anyway. When we met Sir Ed, Sir Jim and Sir Walt⦠and learned about their legendary humanitarian efforts, we immediately wanted to get involved and help. ...(and realized) the best way to contribute would be to ... raise funds to bring much needed relief to the region of Sudan that we all know as DARFUR."
"A dollar for Darfur" was on the way, and other strategic partnerships were unfolding on the sidelines as 2010 drew nigh. People spoke of Nobel Prizes. Acolytes everywhere spoke of KBI and SEPI as 'designs for living' and as pathways to survival.
And then, working with USAID prior to the Haitian quake, while staying at the Hotel Montana near Port au Prince, moments after he sent his wife a spirited missive of love and devotion, the quiet doer, the accomplished capacitator, the gentle helper met an entirely unanticipated end. A bullet, a machete, a missile, a crushing blow from a barbaric onslaught; a virulent infection, bad water, rotten food; any number of brutal confrontations were part and parcel of Sir Ratterman's daily fare.
But a collapsing building in the aftermath of one of our planet's routine shrugs ended his life, earlier this year, on January 12. As he ran for his life to extricate himself before the trap had sprung, the trembling structure crashed down around and on top of him, extinguishing the steady flame of this knight's bright light..
And the outpouring of grief testifies to the man's magnificence; to his potent contribution to making the world a bit easier to live in; to that sense of selflessness to which all of us aspire, but which so few of us can attain.
*An obituary from Anchorage, Alaska, where he worked in the 1970's, eulogized him: "In 2004, he was one of three founders to start up SunEnergy Power (Corporation), where he became CEO in 2008 of their nonprofit division. Walt's true passion came in his missionary work. He was one of two non-Asian commissioners of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation. He worked in disaster relief for the Afghan people, making numerous trips from 2001-2004. He introduced sustainable energy to the newly appointed Afghan Assembly Government, appeared in the documentary by Academy Award nominee Adrian Belic's 'Beyond The Call' about his missionary work in Afghanistan, the Philippines and Burma, and traveled to more than 30 countries for aid, relief and sustainable energy efforts."
*One chronicler extolled the bravery of Jeanne Ratterman, Walt's partner of nearly forty years: "Most inspirational among the posts on this (FaceBook)page are those of Jeanne, Waltâs wife, whose serene courage shines through. Jeanne extends her own condolences to well-wishers, telling them, 'I didnât lose Walt, we lost Walt.'" The memorial continues, "Waltâs principal expertise and endeavors focused on solar energy systems--(h)is objective was to bring micro-solar capability to Burmese refugee groups); but much of this work was imbued with the same spirit of humanitarianism and ever-present peril as his Knightsbridge exploits. His projects in Burma give a perfect illustration of the rock-hardness and intense thoughtfulness of this most complete and complicated man. ...At night in these encampments, when all were asleep, Walt would sneak from his pallet and sabotage the very systems heâd just helped assemble; and troubleshooting lessons would commence first thing in the morning. ...It is not difficult to understand how, in the days after the earthquake, so many people held out hope that Walt might have survived somewhere within the collapsed hotel. If anyone had the physical strength, presence of mind, and mental toughness to make it, Walt did. As days turned to weeks, however, we secretly knew what we would not admit until confronted with bitter proof."
*A prominent solar energy blogger mourned as follows. "Walt Rattermanâone of the most dedicated and intrepid solar pioneers that I have ever had the honor of knowingâwas tragically killed last month. ...The world has lost a truly great man, solar professional and global humanitarian. ...Aside from Waltâs deep technical knowledge and experience installing photovoltaic (PV) systems around the world, one of the things that struck me most about Walt was his tireless work ethic. He never seemed to take a rest.
Typically up by 4:00am, Walt would spring into action with a series of calisthenics, followed by a checklist review of everything he aimed to accomplish over the next 24 hours. And after a long, grueling day in the field followed by a quick supper, instead of relaxing over a beer or two, Walt would inevitably fire up his laptop and respond to a string of emails and/or do some additional planning for his next project.
A couple of other attributes come to mind when I think about Walt. First, he loved to teach and always took special pleasure in training local technicians and villagers in the basics of PV installation and maintenance. One of my favorite photos of Walt is the one below, which features him and a couple of Rwandans wiring the back of a solar panel. Second, Walt had a profound sense of kindness and compassion towards those less fortunate and treated everyone with the utmost respect and dignity. He also possessed a fierce sense of social justice, which no doubt helped to fuel his passion to provide solar electricity to some of the worldâs poorest and most disadvantaged peoples."
*Sunplugger, another solar afficianado, collected many memorials, including this one. "Walt was a true solar maestro. For him, there was no problem that was too big to take on, or environment that was too intimidating to operate in. But what I loved most about Walt was his indefatigable spirit, his mountain of compassion, and his relentless drive to make the world a better place by teaching the poor and disadvantaged how to tap into and draw sustenance from the boundless energy of the sun."
*Finally, for now, a renewable energy site also gathered evidence of this marvelous human being, again starting with his wife. "'Walt was about partnering and networking, getting so many like-minded folks to share their strengths and resources to help the most people they can in the best way they can. It is not about the glory but the humanitarianism that is needed in the world, the service we can truly be to others in need. ⦠I am glad his life inspires others.'" The organization punctuates Jeanne Ratterman's compassionate words.
"When Walt Ratterman passed away during this winter's devastating earthquake in Haiti, he left behind a legacy defined by hard work, creativity, and the drive to help people in need."
Thousands, even tens of thousands more such expressions of solidarity and grief are available. They all speak to a man's greatness and to the greatness of which each of us is capable who can recognize the outstanding achievements of this fine cousin of ours.
Of course, "born a critic" as I was, I want JustMeans readers to pause a moment. I'm going to ask that everyone consider a few ideas that call us to an even greater sense of responsibility, even a higher expression of heroism. I would bet, though obviously proof now will never be forthcoming, that Sir Walt Ratterman would welcome the ensuing conversation with quiet delight, rubbing his hands in contemplation of wrestling with necessity again.
Whatever the big picture may reveal, however, whatever the more nuanced telling of the tale will show, Sir Walt Ratterman deserves the legacy of goodness that has followed his untimely and unlucky demise. He should inspire all of us, especially those among us who truly desire "business...better," who envision a world powered by the sun and conjoined by people with equivalent chances to blossom, wherever they start out.
Most critical to those who seek to actuate a model for 'business better,' no superior guidelines are available than what Sir Ratterman and his comrades displayed in their work. They show that the intersection of demand, empowerment, networking, capacitation, and commitment is simply unstoppable as the underlying components of a sustainable business plan.
The easy summation of this report would be something like this: 'we have born witness to a solar power hero here today.' Though I stand in awe of the efforts and output of Sir Walt Ratterman, 'Decidedly not!' would nonetheless be the comment that resonated with this humble correspondent.
We have scanned, ever so briefly, the life of an amazing man. He should be canonized, of that no doubt exists. The only miracle that he failed to manifest in his long life full of risk was getting out of that hotel from his room when he knew that the end was near.
Nothing could diminish the powerful legacy of good and compassion and grit and fearlessness that Sir Walt Ratterman displayed with every waking breath. But none of these things make him a 'hero.' I don't mean to split hairs. This, in my estimation, is of crucial importance.
A hero, if he or she does anything, defines a problem and leads the way to a solution. Sir Ratterman abhorred the poverty and helplessness of his more or less blameless fellow creatures. Thus, he stood against what we can call 'problems.' Moreover, he delved the potential of solar technology to the roots and as such learned to create 'solutions' to one sort of powerlessness.
Nevertheless, he shied away from--spit at and rejected is probably more accurate, a conceptualization of these matters in political, or even in policy terms. He saw the evils of social division and corruption but refused to countenance their essential relation to matters of power.
Tzi Chu explicitly rejects political action--an 'interest in politics is OK, but any involvement is poison.' So too with Sir Ratterman, one can sense from his reticence and relative quietude that matters of ideology and infighting are anathema to him. This was readily apparent in the film in his case, and it was the surface orientation of the entire Knightsbridge project.
Such an orientation, though, only results in the transformations that we seek if in fact the human world is malleable outside of a political context. Does this strike anyone as plausible? Spiritual people might raise a tentative, or even--when they are decidedly political behind the scenes, sharpening knives for the next Crusade of 'knights' and knaves--an enthusiastic hand to suggest, or insist, that spiritual change can lead to temporal transition.
I hope that my readers will forgive a little outburst here. At the best, such a view is a load of horse sh**. Of course I could be wrong, and "Pie in the Sky" will somehow rule the day yet. But we don't have any evidence of that, and almost nobody really believes it, at least not at the level that they believe that breathing water is suboptimal, at the level that they believe that being kind to children is sensible, and so on.
And a bunch of less than salubrious results follow on this rejection of politics, of which I will mention three, and a few truly nasty effects are also detectable of which I will note a pair. I'm going to develop this point briefly here. If I write further about the amazing life and gentle genius of Sir Ratterman, as well as of his arguably less genial comrades in arms, then this is where I will focus.
The first symptom of ill that attends the KBI and SEPI choice to forego politics concerns choice of venue. Folks in Western Michigan desperately need better sources of jobs and power. Georgia, way down South, is even in worse shape. Why do the likes of such 'missionaries' as Sirs Ratterman, Artis, and Laws so frequently travel so far afield for their 'adventures?'
The photos that I take of the Appalachians, which suggest vast potential in wind and sun and water renewable energy sources, evidence a gorgeous landscape fraught with all manner of excitement. Why go to Afghanistan? Or Chechnya? Or the Southern part of the Philippines, for heaven's sake, instead of Manila or Vietnam?
And why go to Afghanistan for the very first time in the Spring of 2002? I think of these inquiries and have difficulty retaining my equanimity. The reason that I feel a tad testy is that the rationale for choosing to be 'helpful' in Afghanistan just prior to a big U.S. decimation of the country, after twenty-three years of decimation of the country in which the U.S. had played a key part, is political. DUH!!!!
Thus, any demurral that making that choice, at that time, could avoid politics is like someone saying the following when gangsters are about to invade my home. "Hey, I just wanted to come along here and make sure your water lines were good, reassure you that everything is cool, and duck out of the way of the incoming; but don't mind me. I haven't got anything to do with those guys, even though we're from the same place and I get some of my money from their bosses."
My goodness, I need hip waders and eye shades. Now, I understand that this is not the way that most people want to think about energy. I realize that people say they don't want to get involved in politics. But 'Heaven's to Betsy,' as my granny used to cry at any outrageous absurdity, can we be a little real? A little 'responsible?'
In reflecting on this, what Wendell Berry says about community is critical to remember as well. If one thinks about it, a key to carrying out all of the eight parts of Buddha's path--or any other moral, ethical, or spiritual engagement-- is a definition of community something like Berry's. "⦠the commonwealth and common interests, commonly understood, of people living together in a place and wishing to continue to do so. To put it another way, community is a locally understood interdependence of local people, local culture, local economy, and local nature.â
Reflecting on this, not only is going halfway around the world to 'help' someone inherently presumptuous and condescending, it is also inherently political in the most invasive sort of way. Does no one recall the priests' actions in Mexico, the joyous crusade to bring the heathens to God in our own land, and so on? Simply saying, "I'm not trying to change your mind or your religion" doesn't eliminate the political nature of the act.
And this is especially true in regard to the avoidance of similar engagement in the communities to which we do belong. I know for a fact that poor people live in Washington, where Sir Ratterman's home was, and in California, from whence Sir Artis haled, and in Ohio, which is the neighborhood from which Sir Laws traveled forth.
To ignore these needs, and focus on needs far away, in cooperation with the chiefs and pawns of empire must contain all sorts of political implications to consider, implications that are not altogether friendly and may suggest a basis for the $50,000 bounty that the Taliban had on the heads of our Knightsbridge comrades. Overlooking such issues is at best disingenuous.
And what I have mentioned about history's relevance is also paramount to integrate into our contemplation here. The United States has conducted covert war in and around Afghanistan for half a century; the British have plied the same territory for three times that figure. Ignoring this long standing meddling, bias, employment of divide-and-conquer ploys and assassination and subterfuge, while insisting, 'but we just want to help,' is insupportable.
Malalai Joya is someone who is a hero. Her book, A Woman Among Warlords, provides a response to the KBI and SEPI approaches to doing business. Her point is simple. Those who would honor and support, or otherwise 'help' Afghan communities cannot simultaneously side with the butchers who have worked hand in glove with both the Soviet and United States occupations.
She lists, and documents, the Northern Alliance atrocities which the U.S. has either ignored or assisted. One can uncover multiple facts, if one looks, that KBi collaborated with, and celebrated its connections with, this group of thugs. They also gave money to girl's schools teachers, well and good. But that does not unravel the political, and venal, nature of the initial acceptance of criminals.
The same line of reasoning applies to the likely indisputable connection between USAID and empire. Even in the agency's own words--pushing 'free trade' and plugging 'America's foreign policy goals'--one has to detect a whiff of gunpowder unless one refuses to look at reality.
So here is an honest take on the work of SEPI, KBI, and so on. Such 'non-political' interventions are always political, and any denial of this risks not only falsehood, but also fundamental misunderstanding that inevitably goes far beyond the dangers of incongruency and 'unintended consequences.'
This has been brief. A rich plowing of these furrows is arguably essential if one wants to understand energy policy, sustainable business, social justice, and many other topics in which JustMeans readers have an ongoing interest. One thing, however, bears repeating.
Examining Walt Ratterman's life with such a clarifying lens as I suggest doesn't mean that this man's life was a lie. Nor could we say that the heartfelt efforts, and substantial gifts, that this 'knight' doled out so generously are somehow evil, or even tainted, in and of themselves. And no one would reject the potential empowerment that Sir Walt Ratterman promulgated for at least fifteen years of global service.
But we would have to acknowledge, at the very minimum, a measure of complexity. We would need to take stock of the forces in play, the fields sowed and harvested compared to those left to lie fallow, And in taking the measure of the man, we would have to take the measure of the historical circumstances in which he operated.
Most importantly, perhaps, this willingness to consider such subtleties and complications would have to occur without chagrin or defensiveness. As the therapists like to chant, "What we resist will always persist." Too much is at stake in these matters to do anything other than consider very carefully what I am offering to readers here. Sir Ratterman should indeed join the holy ranks of the canonized among our ancestors.
Thousands upon thousands of expressions of love and grief attest to Sir Ratterman's clearly saintly significance. Few and far between, on the other hand, such critical assessments as this report may serve to balance how we can both perceive this amazing fellow most accurately and try to signify most elegantly what lessons he can inculcate in the rest of us.
To a certain extent, our collective survival depends on our acknowledging Walt Ratterman's model, and then turning to each other, or inside of ourselves, and asking, "So what can we do about it?" On the other hand, our recognition of what Sir Ratterman stood for and contributed will only effectively deconstruct the viciousness and poverty that he so loathed if we qualify our acceptance of how he went about doing 'business better.'
The arguments about this appear in sum above. They have shown up throughout my articles here. Hopefully, readers will understand the points that I am making, whether they find themselves uncertain about, agreeing, or disagreeing with these contentions.
Everything fits together. Everything is therefore political. We cannot 'fix' anything in isolation. Powerlessness and oppression anywhere requires a response that is most like the 'solidarity forever' in the old union song. And, go figure, there's more. I end the main section of this posting with a couple of illustrative examples, and a continued insistence that Sir Walt Ratterman was a sainted soul.
One of the folks who wrote a laudatory comment to the Public Broadcasting Service about "Beyond the Call" came from Century City, California. "I have traveled with Sir Edward Artis and Sir James Laws to Nicaragua on a relief mission," he reminisced. "I personally saw that the items collected went to the people in need. We delivered an electro-cardiogram machine to the hospital in Bluefields and delivered antibiotics and other medical supplies to various villages on the East Coast of Nicaragua during a time when the infra-structure had been decimated by revolution resulting from the politics of the Cold War."
Now that all sounds swell, doesn't it? But here's what caused the 'decimation' in Nicaragua: murderous thugs whose employer was one arm or other of the United States of America; some of the criminals wore U.S. uniforms, and, to the credit of this land of ours, went to prison for their lies. But to the discredit of our accounting methods, the likes of Oliver North never went to prison for criminal conspiracy, drug cartel collusion, or murder, all of which crimes evidence exists that points to their having committed.
Once again, delivering a machine to help people whom you have brutalized and abused does not redress the brutality and abuse unless they sign off on that. I'll hope this makes sense. As such, this commentator's conclusion is also close to worthless.
"The work that is chronicled in this film is of the utmost importance to the world as it provides a true message of the spirit of Americans. Each of us has the power to make a small change to the world and if Ed and Jim's message takes hold and millions make the commitment to make a small difference then the world will be a much better place. I am looking forward to participating in just such a world. Dont miss this film."
I'd agree with the last clause. The rest is fatuous, feel-good, irrelevant diversion. What we need is a truly responsible accounting of the sort that Malalai Joya prays that we promote eventually. And settling for three 'knights-in-rusty-armor' simply delays or even deflects the real efforts that we must make.
The second example is from a story I reported nearly a decade ago. A friend of mine is a Catholic Worker, bless Dorothy Day's heart, and he was planning to have himself arrested at Fort Benning's Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation, which used to have the title School of the Americas.
This institution, in its various guises, arose after Smedley Butler's testimony about being a strong-arm "gangster for capitalism" in Latin America, but it carried out the same task--protecting empire and enforcing submission. I was reporting a series of features about the folks who were getting ready to spend as much as a year or more of their lives in jail because they insisted that our government close this terrorist establishment within our midst.
"Why are you doing this?" always came out near the beginning of the interviews that I did.
The story that he told is harsh. It will sicken some of my readers. I nearly wept when I heard it. It is a nauseating indictment of America's patrimony to our neighbors in the world. My friend, Rich, just out of college and, like a younger version of Sir Ratterman, fixated on making a difference and helping out people who didn't have the nice clothes and nice car and nice stuff and plentiful plenitude that he did, went on a mission trip to El Salvador.
Those not familiar should study up a bit, to discover that, indeed, U.S. agents were active in mass-killings in this little land of Volcanoes and jungle. Rich knew this vaguely but did not really connect it with his 'mission' work, which stemmed from a more generalized desire to do good, ease suffering, and so on, again not at all dissimilar to what impelled Sir Ratterman to his actions.
Within three hours of his arrival at the San Salvador airport--this was sometime in the mid-to-late '70's; I'd have to dig to pin down the date--he had humped and bumped up steep and winding roads with a gear-grinding nun to reach the village that his church had offered assistance, one manifestation of which was my friend's willingness to pitch in.
However, things began to go badly as he and his hard-driving escort approached the encampment--the actual village had been burned to the ground with the help of CIA and School-of-America anti-insurgency school Salvadorean officers. Mortar rounds started to drop all around them. Rich nearly wet his pants when one explosion seemed to lift up the rear of the jeep and he thought he felt metal whizzing past his ear.
When the nun braked hard and parked, he leapt out of the vehicle and followed her toward a large tent where people had huddled. Just as they arrived, a mortar shell blossomed on the opposite side of the clearing, where a few people also had gathered. A young girl's agonized scream split the air.
A little wisp of a fellow, who turned out to be the Salvadorean doctor who had attached himself to the camp--the Army didn't like the peasants getting doctors, because that meant they might receive advice that was antithetical to 'submission'--jumped up and went to where the girl writhed on the ground.
My friend, good hearted soul that he is, followed. When the doctor, weeping in fury and frustration, turned to him, the little girl's eyes had glassed over as she bled her life away from her left arm, severed at the shoulder. Unable to contain himself, Rich turned and wretched.
Wiping vomit from his mouth, though, he turned back, and asked simply, good-heartedly, like a slightly less skilled if not less well-intentioned manifestation of Sir Ratterman, "What can I do to help?"
The doctor's response does not undermine the feelings of goodness and generosity that inhered in Sir Ratterman's heart. His reply does not diminish the tangible technical benefits that Sir Ratterman's skill brought to hundreds of places. Nor do the physician's words in any way impute that Sir Ratterman was acting from self-serving or evil intentions.
They do, however, effectively eviscerate any notion of this generous, skilled, and compassionate man's being a hero. He was politically naive, and his work served the wrong master because he did not recognize, in the words of Bob Dylan, "Now you might serve the devil, or you might serve the Lord; but you're gonna have to serve somebody!"
In words that could have severed a limb were they 'weaponized,' the sobbing doctor, about half my giant friend's size, spit into his face. "Go back to America and fix your f****** country!"
Whether capital and social justice are more likely cat and mouse than natural allies, sometimes a powerful human witness can join even the most unlikely qualities in a sublime partnership. This was clearly a purpose of Sir Walt Ratterman's life.
He sought to bridge the noisome divide between privilege and oppression with the sacrifice of his own safety and the provision of all of the skills of head and hand and all of the love of a big-hearted man. I'm not nearly so certain about his collaborators, who did a lot more talking in the movie. 'Walking the walk' is more important, but they too could be similarly inclined.
Despite the fact that this story still just bursts with unresolved tension and moments of drama and comedy and tragedy, however, and even if all of the motives of each of the actor's measured up to Walt Ratterman's high spiritual standard, the actions of these folks were deeply flawed if what they wanted was to heal the difficulties that they all said troubled them--poverty, ignorance, starvation, mass murder, and so on.
These problems are not issues of a lack of technology: no amount of solar collectors will deconstruct empire. These criminal deficiencies are not matters of a lack of individual caring: no amount of love, from the outside of the imperial system, can successfully dismantle the engines of suppression. These horrific disparities do not result from a lack of individual knowledge: all of the schooling that the universe might proffer cannot, of itself, raze the vicious cupidity of any ruling class, let alone the one that is managing the throttle these days.
Solving these problems requires political consciousness. Solving these problems is impossible outside of a shift in collective behavior. Solving these problems necessitates a mass movement for power-to-the-people, or something similar. Or, in the alternative, we can solve these problems with another World War, which will get rid of most of the starving poor in one fell swoop. That last choice does not strike me, in any way, shape, or size, as "business...better."
To paraphrase an earlier note, someone in the position of a Walt Ratterman, as magnificent as he is, or facing the daily choices that JustMeans readers do, as decent as we are, must, if we want to be responsible for our beliefs and actions, find the 'space to be critical' about the impacts of what we say and do. I'm guessing that this is one reason that Sir Walt Ratterman was more about action than speech, because he at some level recognized this tangled web.
Malalai Joya has advice for all Americans of good will, but especially for those of a passionately philanthropic bent, who feel compelled to travel ten thousand miles to 'help.' Her book is one that I have thought about reviewing; I recommend it as highly as any volume in print just now. This young woman, under threat of death, dismissed and disrespected by the U.S. government instead of raised high as the hero she is, has the intelligence and courage to lead us. She insists that we gain some perspective, that we garner the capacity to see.
She views the threats against her, and the multiple attempts on her life, as vindication. "I am truly honored that I have been vilified and threatened by the savage men who have condemned our country to such misery. I feel proud that even though I have no private army, no money, and no world powers behind me, these brutal despots are afraid of me and scheme to eliminate me. But it is not really me these men fear. ...They know that they cannot evade justice indefinitely, and the Afghan people have already decided the verdict."
She asks for an audience. Can we hear the reality of her courage? She begs us to attend to her passion and purpose. Can we feel the wisdom of her stalwart stand? If so, then we are ready to hear how she closes her book.
"Today, we Afghans remain trapped, between two enemies: the Taliban on the one side and the U.S./NATO forces and their warlord hirelings on the other. We are feeling the squeeze, and it is costing us in blood and tears. But the situation is not hopeless. I believe in the power of the people, and I know that there are millions of women and men standing and waiting--eager to play their role in history."
She is speaking directly to us. Honor and honesty are her only defenses. She awaits the favor of a reply.
Furthermore, she is saying that the approach of Sir Walt Ratterman, bless his loving heart, is inadequate to the demands of history. At best, a wider marketplace for terror to operate is the result of such methods, whatever the happy eventualities of a few kilowatts or megawatts of power here and there. That does not sound like a sustainable business.
Photo Credits:
Memorial Service: Oregon Live
Walt with solar panel, FB snapshot, Hotel Montana before/after, solar: <a href="http://currentmissions.blogspot.com/"KBI Current Missions
Muslim women:
Solar Panels in Rwanda: Rwanda - SELF & Partners In Health
Walt installing solar panel: Bob Freling's Solar Blog
Afghanistan gathering: Croatian World Network
Bald Eagle: Frank Kovalchek


text:
My Special PaPa
Feb. 8, 2013 — Ada, Oklahoma
I am the oldest child of PaPa's youngest son, Robert Earl Turner. My PaPa always had Hersheys kisses hidden for me. I was the only grandchild that ever got to sleep with Granny and PaPa. I used to get tickled because PaPa slept in red one-piece long johns and I would tease him about the trap door in the back of his pj's. When my PaPa died, my dad and uncles were helping my Granny get rid of stuff so they could move her into town. In PaPa's closet, they found three (3) unopened bags of Hersheys Kisses. My dad's parents were absolutely incredible grandparents and I still miss them! Granny and PaPa, I love ya'll and one of these days I'll see you in Heaven!
Miss and love you both,
Cindy (Turner) Lindsey


text: I recently presented an online seminar on Photoshop CS3 and Dreamweaver CS3 integration/workflow late last month, and I got a lot of requests for the demo files and additional documentation. Now, to be honest, I didn't create the assets or the workflow script, so I wasn't sure what the official line was on sharing these things with seminar attendees.. well, as it turns out, there is a publicly available document on Adobe.com that provides step-by-step instructions plus the source files. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find this document on the site myself, so I've just shared the PDF and source files here:


text:
I always enjoy reading speeches by Paul Fisher, executive director for markets at the Bank of England. They clearly set out his views and appear to come straight from the central propaganda unit of the BoE. If you want to know the official line on the new Financial Policy Committee or macroprudential policy, read Paul's speech from last night, for example.
The speech blames the lack of powers available to the BoE for officials' inability to control the crisis, but reassures us that the new FPC is now seeing its recommendations implemented.
The logic of the speech is that the BoE's voice could not work before the crisis so the BoE cannot be blamed. Yet voice is succeeding now, so the BoE must get the credit.
What is remarkable is that Mr Fischer seems to forget that the powers available to the BoE now are precisely the same as those available to the BoE in the crisis. New powers will come only when legislation is passed and certainly not until 2013.
Read the speech to feel the full righteousness of the BoE official line. Or you can read the best quotes below. Read more