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Current Controversies in Bioethics
S. Matthew Liao and Collin ONeil
Moral Brains: The Neuroscience of Morality
S. Matthew Liao
Don Garrett
Rationality Through Reasoning
John Broome
How Propaganda Works
Jason Stanley
The Possibility of Practical Reason, 2nd edition
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The Right to Be Loved
S. Matthew Liao
Konrad Morgen: The Conscience of a Nazi Judge
J. David Velleman
Tetralogue: I'm Right, You're Wrong
Timothy Williamson
Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights
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The View from Here: On Affirmation, Attachment, and the Limits of Regret
R. Jay Wallace
Being Realistic about Reasons
T. M. Scanlon
Death and the Afterlife
Samuel Scheffler
Bioethical Prescriptions: To Create, End, Choose, and Improve Lives
F.M. Kamm
Foundations for Moral Relativism
Morality, Authority, and Law: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics
Stephen Darwall
Meaning and Normativity
Allan Gibbard
The Geometry of Desert
Shelly Kagan
Writing the Book of the World
Theodore Sider
Constructing the World
David J. Chalmers
Taking Morality Seriously: A Defense of Robust Realism
David Enoch
Rethinking the Good: Moral Ideals and the Nature of Practical Reasoning
Larry S. Temkin
From Normativity to Responsibility
Joseph Raz
Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Thom Brooks
Reflective Knowledge
Ernest Sosa
Semantic Relationism
Kit Fine
The Beloved Self: Morality and the Challenge from Egoisim
Alison Hills
Depth: An Account of Scientific Explanation
Michael Strevens
Killing in War
Jeff McMahan
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December 19, 2017
Panel with "Downsizing" Screenwriter Jim Taylor at the Museum of the Moving Image
By S. Matthew Liao
As readers of Ethics Etc may know, I had co-written a paper in 2012 called Human Engineering and Climate Change in which we suggested, among other things, that having smaller humans could be a way of combating the effects of climate change. The paper received a lot of attention in the media (see, e.g., here, here, and here) and I gave a talk at the Sydney Opera House and a TED talk on this topic. Paramount has a new movie coming out this December called Downsizing, which is also premised on this idea. Paramount is sponsoring a prescreening of Downsizing at the Museum of the Moving Image on Dec 20 at 7pm (http://www.movingimage.us/visit/calendar/2017/12/20/detail/downsizing ), after which the screenwriter Jim Taylor (who also wrote Sideways, Election, About Schmidt, Jurassic Park III), a cognitive scientist Heather Berlin, and I will discuss the ideas behind the film. You can watch the trailer for Downsizing here:
Posted on December 19, 2017 at 11:38 pm in S. Matthew Liao's Posts
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text:
These roasted pears are up first. I saw a recipe for these ONLINE and thought they looked delicious. I always link back to my inspiration, but I especially want you to pay attention to this link. If you don't mind extra work and you reallyyyy like real whipped cream, she has a great recipe to add to these pears.
If you want a faster (and much lighter on the waistband...) version, then keep reading!
These were extremely easy and so delicious. In fact, I'm planning on giving them a second go tonight. I can't get enough of them!
For my version, I skipped the homemade whipped cream (which they don't really even need) and spiced up the actual pear with cinnamon & agave.
(1) Prep them. Wash your pears (1/2 -1 per person) and slice them in half. Cut the seedy section out of the center. You'll also want to remove the stem.
(2) Stuff them. Take a tablespoon of brown sugar and pack it into the center of each pear. Next, dust the pears with cinnamon, or a spice mix (cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.). Finish off with a drizzle of agave (or honey).Toss them in the oven at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes, face down. I ran a stick of butter over a glass pie pan, which worked really well. Make sure you use some sort of grease + glass combo.
Add a little whipped cream on top and a bit more cinnamon- or else, just enjoy!
They were incredible. I can't begin to explain how delicious our home smelled while these were baking to perfection in the oven. I strongly encourage you to try these, especially since they're one of those recipes that you *really* can't mess up!
This is officially my last post for today! I have to start getting ready for tomorrow ;) Wishing you all the best and as always, thanks for reading!
** Update: we made them again tonight. Divine. Word to the wise? There should be some leftover sauce in the bottom of the dish. Spoon it back on to the pears before you serve them. And by all means, serve them warm. Beyond good.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Python Programming, news on the Voidspace Python Projects and all things techie.
Release: ConfigObj 4.6.0 and Validate 1.0.0
Finally a fresh release ConfigObj and Validate.
ConfigObj and Validate development is now done in Google Code project and subversion repository. Please post any bug reports or feature requests on the project issue tracker.
The best introduction to working with ConfigObj, including the powerful configuration validation system, is the article:
ConfigObj is a simple to use but powerful Python library for the reading and writing of configuration (ini) files. Through Validate it integrates a config file validation and type conversion system.
Features of ConfigObj include:
Nested sections (subsections), to any level
List values
Multiple line values
Full Unicode support
String interpolation (substitution)
Integrated with a powerful validation system
- including automatic type checking/conversion
- and allowing default values
- repeated sections
All comments in the file are preserved
The order of keys/sections is preserved
Powerful unrepr mode for storing/retrieving Python data-types
Release 4.6.0 fixes bugs and adds new features, particularly making configspec handling more flexible.
The full changelog for ConfigObj 4.6.0 is:
- Pickling of ConfigObj instances now supported (thanks to Christian Heimes)
- Hashes in confgspecs are now allowed (see note below)
- Replaced use of hasattr (which can swallow exceptions) with getattr
- __many__ in configspecs can refer to scalars (ordinary values) as well as sections
- You can use ___many___ (three underscores!) where you want to use __many__ as well
- You can now have normal sections inside configspec sections that use __many__
- You can now create an empty ConfigObj with a configspec, programmatically set values and then validate
- A section that was supplied as a value (or vice-versa) in the actual config file would cause an exception during validation (the config file is still broken of course, but it is now handled gracefully)
- Added as_list method
- Removed the deprecated istrue, encode and decode methods
- Running test_configobj.py now also runs the doctests in the configobj module
- Through the use of validate 1.0.0 ConfigObj can now validate multi-line values
As a consequence of the changes to configspec handling, when you create a ConfigObj instance and provide a configspec, the configspec attribute is only set on the ConfigObj instance - it isn't set on the sections until you validate. You also can't set the configspec attribute to be a dictionary. This wasn't documented but did work previously.
In order to fix the problem with hashes in configspecs I had to turn off the parsing of inline comments in configspecs. This will only affect you if you are using copy=True when validating and expecting inline comments to be copied from the configspec into the ConfigObj instance (all other comments will be copied as usual).
If you create the configspec by passing in a ConfigObj instance (usual way is to pass in a filename or list of lines) then you should pass in _inspec=True to the constructor to allow hashes in values. This is the magic that switches off inline comment parsing.
As the public API for Validate is stable, and there are no outstanding issues or feature requests, I've bumped the version number to 1.0.0. The full change log is:
- BUGFIX: can now handle multiline strings
- Addition of 'force_list' validation option
You should be able to install ConfigObj (which includes Validate in the source distribution on PyPI) using pip or easy_install.
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-16 22:35:49 | |
Categories: Python, Projects Tags: configobj, validate, release
Innapropriate Python
Python is not always appropriate in every circumstance. As if proof was needed two recent news stories confirm it:
- Man bites Python (sounds like self-defense though)
- Real life snakes on a plane (Pythons naturally)
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-16 19:31:12 | |
Sod This! Another Podcast
Sod This is a new podcast by well known .NET MVPs, Devexpress evangelists and all round (figuratively of course) raconteurs: Gary Short and Oliver Sturm.
Episode 3 is now up, and it's an interview with me on dynamic languages in general and IronPython in particular. (Before becoming a .NET programmer Gary was a smalltalk developer.)
The interview took place during the BASTA conference in Germany; in a bar, so the audio starts of a bit rough but improves as the interview progresses. I even reveal my mystery past and what I did before programming in Python.
Oh, and just for the record - I was the first Microsoft dynamic languages MVP.
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-15 22:36:22 | |
Categories: IronPython, General Programming, Life Tags: podcast
Setting Registry Entries on Install
On Windows Vista setting registry entries on install is hard. It is likely that Microsoft don't care - the official guidance is to set entries on first run and not on install, but there are perfectly valid reasons to want to do this.
The problem is that for a non-admin user installation requires an administrator to authenticate, and the install then runs as the admin user not as the original user. So if you set any registry keys using HKEY_LOCAL_USER then they will be set for the wrong user and not visible to your application when the real user runs it.
The answer is to set keys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, which is not an ideal answer but at least it works. The problem comes if you need write access to those registry keys; the non-admin user doesn't have write access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. When you create the key you can set the permissions though,but you need to know the magic incantations. In IronPython (easy to translate to C# if necessary) the requisite magic to allow write access to all authenticated users is:
from System.Security.AccessControl import RegistryAccessRule, RegistryRights, AccessControlType
from System.Security.Principal import SecurityIdentifier, WellKnownSidType
REG_KEY_PATH = "SOFTWARE\\SomeKey\\SomeSubKey"
key = Registry.LocalMachine.CreateSubKey(REG_KEY_PATH)
ra = RegistryAccessRule(SecurityIdentifier(WellKnownSidType.AuthenticatedUserSid, None),
RegistryRights.FullControl, AccessControlType.Allow)
rs = key.GetAccessControl()
Of course the next issue is what happens when you make your application run as 32bit on a 64bit OS (to workaround in part the horrific performance of the 64bit .NET JIT). Hint, the registry keys will have been created in the WOW6432Node. If you want to use the standard locations and share between 64 and 32 bit applications then you need to look into reflection (which copies keys between the 32 and 64 bit registry trees) with RegEnableReflectionKey (although it's not entirely clear whether you need to enable or disable reflection to share keys, but thankfully I haven't yet needed to experiment with this).
If this wasn't all enough fun for you, under some circumstances you can end up with registry virtualization. This is where your registry keys end up in an entirely separate registry hive called VirtualStore under the root node.
You can find a reference on virtualization (which can also cause file locations to be virtualizaed - making them visible to some applications and invisible to others) on this page.
In our case deleting the VirtualStore restored sanity.
Most of the details in this entry only apply to 64 bit Windows Vista.
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-15 16:58:37 | |
Categories: General Programming, IronPython Tags: windows, vista, registry, installers
More Fun at PyCon 2009
PyCon 2009 was awesome fun, as many others have charted. The highlights of the conference were, as always, meeting and mixing with such a rich combination of clever and fun people - all of whom I have Python in common with. It was a mix of new friends and old friends, far too many to mention all of them.
The Hyatt hotel in which PyCon was held in had the rooms on all four external walls, interconnected with a grand structure that someone nicknamed the fragatorium:
The tenth floor made an ideal launching point for the balsa aeroplanes being given out by the Wingware guys.
The fleet:
Mr. Tartley getting ready to launch:
We did manage to get one to the other side, and even caught a photo of plane in flight.
Unfortunately I'm rubbish at remembering to take photos, about the only genuine conference photo I took was of the VM panel discussion.
During the sprints there was much ridiculousness around the Django Pony, that somehow ended up with the domain ponysex.us being hosted on my server! As an added bonus I was elected to membership of the Python Software Foundation (PSF) during the conference. This means two things in practise; a new opportunity to bikeshed on the PSF mailing list and new opportunities to volunteer for extra work! D'oh.
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-11 17:31:22 | |
Categories: Fun, Python Tags: pycon, planes, psf, djangopony
Distributed Test System at Resolver Systems
There is quite a discussion going on the Testing in Python mailing list. A lot of it was kicked off by Jesse Noller discussing the new distributed testing framework he wants to build.
Just for the record, here is a rough outline of how we do distributed testing over a network at Resolver Systems. It is a 'home-grown' system and so is fairly specific to our needs, but it works very well.
The master machine does a full binary build, sets up a new test run in the database (there can be multiple simultaneously), then pushes the binary build with test framework and the build guid to all the machines being used in the build (machines are specified by name in command line arguments or a config file when the build is started). The master introspects the build run (collects all the tests) and pushes a list of all tests by class name into the database.
When the zip file arrives on a slave machine a daemon unzips and deletes the original zipfile. Each slave then pulls the next five test classes out of the database and runs them in a subprocess. Each test method pushes the result (pass, failure, time taken for test, machine it was run on, build guid and traceback on failure) to the database. If the subprocess fails to report anything after a preset time (45 mins I think currently) then it kills the test process and reports the failure to the database. Performance tests typically run each test five times and push the times taken to a separate table so that we can monitor performance of our application separately.
The advantage of the client pulling tests is that if a slave machine dies we have a maximum of five test classes for that build that fail to run. It also automatically balances tests between machines without having to worry about whether a particular set of tests will take much longer than another set.
A web application allows us to view each build - number of tests left, number of passes, errors and failures. For errors and failures tracebacks can be viewed whilst the test run is still in progress. Builds with errors / failures are marked in red. Completed test runs with all passes are marked in green. Easily being able to see the total number of tests in a run makes it easy to see when tests are accidentally getting missed out.
A completed run emails the developers the results.
The web page for each build allows us to pull machines out whilst the tests are running. If a machine is stopped then it stops pulling tests from the database (but runs to completion those it already has).
Machines can be added or re-added from the command line.
We have a build farm (about six machines currently) typically running two continuous integration loops - SVN head and the branch for the last release. These run tests continuously - not just when new checkins are made.
This works very well for us, although we are continually tweaking the system. It is all built on unittest.
The system that Jesse Noller will have as its foundation a text based protocol (XML or YAML) for describing test results. These can be stored in a database or as flat files for analysis and reporting tools to build on top of.
For a test protocol representing results of test runs I would want the following fields:
- Build UUID
- Machine identifier
- Test identifier: typically in the form package.module.Class.test_method (but a unique string anyway)
- Time of test start
- Time taken for test (useful for identifying slow running tests, slow downs or anomalies)
- Result: PASS / FAIL / ERROR / SKIP
- Traceback
Anything else? What about collecting standard out even if a test passes? Coverage information?
We sometimes have to kill wedged test processes and need to push an error result back. This can be hard to associate with an individual test, in which case we leave the test identifier blank.
Extra information (charts?) can be generated from this data. If there is a need to store additional information associated with an individual test then an additional 'information' field could be used to provide it.
A lot of the other discussion on the mailing list has been around changes and potential changes to the unittest module - changes that started in the PyCon sprint. I'll be doing a series of blog posts on these in the coming days.
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-11 16:55:48 | |
Categories: Work, General Programming Tags: testing, distributed
Essential Programming Skills: Reading and Writing
As a programmer there are two basic skills vital to your productivity: how fast you can type and how fast you can read.
On typing, Steve Yegge said it best of course in Programming's Dirtiest Little Secret.
I often mock Mr. Tartley for being a hunter pecker, but he can really type quite fast with his two fat fingers. I taught myself to touch type with Mavis Beacon back when I was selling bricks and found it enormously freeing. Being able to type without having to look at the keyboard makes a massive difference.
There are a host of tools that will help you learn or practise touch typing. I've just discovered (via Miguel de Icaza) a fun web based one, that you can fire up at any time. You race against other players typing short passages from books, with visual cues when you make mistakes. It even lets you setup private games to race against a set of friends. My only criticism is that there isn't enough punctuation to really practise typing for programmers (programmer specific version anyone?):
The combination of competition, short doses and interesting passages make it fun, addictive and actually useful. My average WPM is 52 at the moment, but I reckon if I practise a few times a day I'll pick up speed.
The correlating skill essential for programmers needing to browse countless pages of documentation and information from blogs that may or may not be useful is speed reading. The following tool is great for practising, but I'm also finding it useful for quickly reading long passages of text.
It shows you the text a line at a time, moving the focused part quickly (at a speed you can configure and control from the keyboard) from left to right. This mirrors (unsurprisingly) the way I skim read blogs etc. The problem is that I often involuntarily skip passages whilst skim reading - this tool is good for practise but also helps me to read quickly without missing bits.
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Posted by Fuzzyman on 2009-04-11 16:26:32 | |
Categories: General Programming, Life, Fun Tags: typing, reading, tools
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 License.


text:
Norway Population: 5,265,15825 VISITORS FROM HERE!
« Previous Country | Next Country » Back to Flag Counter Overview
|Two centuries of Viking raids into Europe tapered off following the adoption of Christianity by King Olav TRYGGVASON in 994; conversion of the Norwegian kingdom occurred over the next several decades. In 1397, Norway was absorbed into a union with Denmark that lasted more than four centuries. In 1814, Norwegians resisted the cession of their country to Sweden and adopted a new constitution. Sweden then invaded Norway but agreed to let Norway keep its constitution in return for accepting the union under a Swedish king. Rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence. Although Norway remained neutral in World War I, it suffered heavy losses to its shipping. Norway proclaimed its neutrality at the outset of World War II, but was nonetheless occupied for five years by Nazi Germany (1940-45). In 1949, Norway abandoned neutrality and became a member of NATO. Discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes. In referenda held in 1972 and 1994, Norway rejected joining the EU. Key domestic issues include immigration and integration of ethnic minorities, maintaining the country's extensive social safety net with an aging population, and preserving economic competitiveness.
About two-thirds mountains; some 50,000 islands off its much-indented coastline; strategic location adjacent to sea lanes and air routes in North Atlantic; one of the most rugged and longest coastlines in the world
|Northern Europe, bordering the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Sweden
|Geographic coordinates:
| total: 323,802 sq km
land: 304,282 sq km
water: 19,520 sq km
Size comparison: slightly larger than twice the size of Georgia; slightly larger than New Mexico
|Land Boundaries:
|total: 2,566 km border countries (3): Finland 709 km, Sweden 1,666 km, Russia 191 km
|25,148 km (includes mainland 2,650 km, as well as long fjords, numerous small islands, and minor indentations 22,498 km; length of island coastlines 58,133 km)
|Maritime claims:
| territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 10 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm
|temperate along coast, modified by North Atlantic Current; colder interior with increased precipitation and colder summers; rainy year-round on west coast
|glaciated; mostly high plateaus and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented by fjords; arctic tundra in north
|Elevation extremes:
|Natural resources:
|petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, titanium, pyrites, nickel, fish, timber, hydropower
|Land use:
| agricultural land: 2.7% arable land 2.2%; permanent crops 0%; permanent pasture 0.5% forest: 27.8%
other: 69.5% (2011 est.)
|Irrigated land:
|900 sq km (2012)
|Natural hazards:
|rockslides, avalanches volcanism: Beerenberg (elev. 2,227 m) on Jan Mayen Island in the Norwegian Sea is the country's only active volcano
|Current Environment Issues:
|water pollution; acid rain damaging forests and adversely affecting lakes, threatening fish stocks; air pollution from vehicle emissions
|International Environment Agreements:
| party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
|^Back to Top
| noun: Norwegian(s)
adjective: Norwegian
|Ethnic groups:
|Norwegian 94.4% (includes Sami, about 60,000), other European 3.6%, other 2% (2007 est.)
|Bokmal Norwegian (official), Nynorsk Norwegian (official), small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities note: Sami is an official language in nine municipalities
|Church of Norway (Evangelical Lutheran - official) 82.1%, other Christian 3.9%, Muslim 2.3%, Roman Catholic 1.8%, other 2.4%, unspecified 7.5% (2011 est.)
|5,265,158 (July 2016 est.)
|Age structure:
| 0-14 years: 18.02% (male 486,408/female 462,178)
15-24 years: 12.8% (male 345,785/female 327,969)
25-54 years: 40.98% (male 1,112,006/female 1,045,791)
55-64 years: 11.7% (male 311,528/female 304,267)
65 years and over: 16.51% (male 398,203/female 471,023) (2016 est.)
|Dependency ratios:
| total dependency ratio: 52.2%
youth dependency ratio: 27.3%
elderly dependency ratio: 24.9%
potential support ratio: 4% (2015 est.)
|Median age:
| total: 39.1 years
male: 38.4 years
female: 40 years (2016 est.)
|Population growth rate:
|1.07% (2016 est.)
|Birth rate:
|12.2 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
|Death rate:
|8.1 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
|Net migration rate:
|6.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
| urban population: 80.5% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 1.35% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
|Major urban areas - population:
|OSLO (capital) 986,000 (2015)
|Sex ratio:
| at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
|Mother's mean age at first birth:
|28.5 note: data is calculated based on actual age at first births (2012 est.)
|Maternal mortality rate:
|5 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
|Infant mortality rate:
| total: 2.5 deaths/1,000 live births male: 2.8 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 2.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
|Life expectancy at birth:
| total population: 81.8 years male: 79.8 years
female: 83.9 years (2016 est.)
|Total fertility rate:
|1.86 children born/woman (2016 est.)
|Contraceptive prevalence rate:
|88.4% note: percent of women aged 20-44 (2005)
|Health expenditures:
|9.7% of GDP (2014)
|Physicians density:
|4.28 physicians/1,000 population (2012)
|Hospital bed density:
|3.3 beds/1,000 population (2011)
|Drinking water source:
| improved:
urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population
urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2015 est.)
|Sanitation facility access:
| improved:
urban: 98% of population
rural: 98.3% of population
total: 98.1% of population
urban: 2% of population
rural: 1.7% of population
total: 1.9% of population (2015 est.)
|HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
|0.15% (2014 est.)
|HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
|5,800 (2014 est.)
|HIV/AIDS - deaths:
|less than 100 (2014 est.)
|Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
|24.8% (2014)
|Education expenditures:
|7.4% of GDP (2013)
|School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
| total: 18 years male: 17 years
female: 18 years (2014)
|Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
| total: 7.9% male: 9.1%
female: 6.6% (2014 est.)
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|Country name:
| conventional long form: Kingdom of Norway
conventional short form: Norway
local long form: Kongeriket Norge
local short form: Norge
etymology: derives from the Old Norse words "nordr" and "vegr" meaning "northern way" and refers to the long coastline of western Norway
|Government type:
|parliamentary constitutional monarchy
| name: Oslo
geographic coordinates: 59 55 N, 10 45 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
|Administrative divisions:
|19 counties (fylker, singular - fylke); Akershus, Aust-Agder, Buskerud, Finnmark, Hedmark, Hordaland, More og Romsdal, Nordland, Nord-Trondelag, Oppland, Oslo, Ostfold, Rogaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Sor-Trondelag, Telemark, Troms, Vest-Agder, Vestfold
|Dependent areas:
|Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen, Svalbard
|7 June 1905 (Norway declared the union with Sweden dissolved); 26 October 1905 (Sweden agreed to the repeal of the union)
|National holiday:
|Constitution Day, 17 May (1814)
|history: drafted spring 1814, adopted 16 May 1814, signed by Constituent Assembly 17 May 1814 amendments: proposals submitted by members of Parliament or by the government within the first three years of Parliament's four-year term; passage requires two-thirds majority vote of a two-thirds quorum in the next elected Parliament; amended over 400 times, last in 2015
|Legal system:
|mixed legal system of civil, common, and customary law; Supreme Court can advise on legislative acts
|18 years of age; universal
|Executive branch:
| chief of state: King HARALD V (since 17 January 1991); Heir Apparent Crown Prince HAAKON MAGNUS, son of the monarch (born 20 July 1973)
head of government: Prime Minister Erna SOLBERG (since 16 October 2013)
cabinet: State Council appointed by the monarch, approved by Parliament elections/appointments: the monarchy is hereditary; following parliamentary elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the monarch with the approval of the parliament
|Legislative branch:
| description: unicameral Parliament or Storting (169 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)
elections: last held on 9 September 2013 (next to be held in September 2017)
election results: percent of vote by party - Center-Right Coalition 54.0% (H 26.3%, FrP 16.3%, KrF 5.6%, V 5.2%), Red-Green Coalition 40.6% (Ap 30.8%, SP 5.5%, SV 4.1%), MDG 2.8, other 2.7%; seats by party - Center-Right Coalition 96 (H 48, FrP 29, KrF 10, V 9), Red-Green Coalition 72 (Ap 55, Sp 10, SV 7), MDG 1
|Judicial branch:
| highest court(s): Supreme Court or Hoyesterett (consists of the chief justice and 18 associate justices) judge selection and term of office: justices appointed by the monarch (King in Council) upon the recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Board; justice retirement mandatory at age 70
subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal or Lagmensrett; regional and district courts; Conciliation Boards; ordinary and special courts; note - in addition to professionally trained judges, elected lay judges sit on the bench with professional judges in the Courts of Appeal and district courts
|Political parties and leaders:
|Center Party or Sp [Trygve Slagsvold VEDUM] Center-Right Coalition (includes FrP, H, KrF, V) Christian Democratic Party or KrF [Knut Arild HAREIDE] Conservative Party or H [Erna SOLBERG] Green Party or MDG [Rasmus HANSSON and Hilde OPOKU] Labor Party or Ap [Jonas Gahr STORE] Liberal Party or V [Trine SKEI GRANDE] Progress Party or FrP [Siv JENSEN] Red-Green Coalition (includes Ap, Sp, SV) Socialist Left Party or SV [Audun LYSBAKKEN]
|Political pressure groups and leaders:
|Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (Naeringslivets Hovedorganisasjon) or NHO [President Tore ULSTEIN; CEO Kristin SKOGEN LUND] Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge) or LO [Gerd KRISTIANSEN] other: environmental groups; media; digital privacy movements
|International organization participation:
|ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council, Australia Group, BIS, CBSS, CD, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EFTA, EITI (implementing country), ESA, FAO, FATF, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINUSMA, NATO, NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMISS, UNRWA, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
|National symbol(s):
|lion; national colors: red, white, blue
|National anthem:
| name: "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (Yes, We Love This Country)
lyrics/music: lyrics/music: Bjornstjerne BJORNSON/Rikard NORDRAAK
note: adopted 1864; in addition to the national anthem, "Kongesangen" (Song of the King), which uses the tune of "God Save the Queen," serves as the royal anthem
|Diplomatic representation in the US:
| chief of mission: Ambassador Kare Reidar AAS (since 22 August 2013)
chancery: 2720 34th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 333-6000
consulate(s) general: Houston, New York, San Francisco
|Diplomatic representation from the US:
| chief of mission: Ambassador Samuel HEINS (since 10 March 2016)
embassy: Henrik Ibsens gate 48, 0244 Oslo; note - the embassy will move to Huseby in the near future
mailing address: PSC 69, Box 1000, APO AE 09707
telephone: [47] 21-30-85-40
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Norway's has a stable economy with a vibrant private sector, a large state sector, and an extensive social safety net. Norway opted out of the EU during a referendum in November 1994; nonetheless, as a member of the European Economic Area, it contributes sizably to the EU budget. The country is richly endowed with natural resources in addition to oil and gas, including hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. The government manages the country's petroleum resources through extensive regulation. The petroleum sector provides about 9% of jobs, 15% of GDP, and 39% of exports, according to official national estimates. Norway is one of the world's leading petroleum exporters, though oil production in 2015 was close to 50% below its peak in 2000; annual gas production, conversely, more than doubled over the same time period. In anticipation of eventual declines in oil and gas production, Norway saves state revenue from petroleum sector activities in the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, valued at over $800 billion as of early 2016. The government allows itself to use up to 4% of the fund's value, its annual expected real rate of return, to help balance the federal budget each year. After solid GDP growth in 2004-07, the economy slowed in 2008, and contracted in 2009, before returning to modest, positive growth from 2010 to 2015. Lower oil prices in 2015 caused growth to slow, increased unemployment, and weakened the Norwegian krone. The latter trend has mitigated the negative impact of lower oil and gas prices by making Norwegian exports cheaper for foreign buyers. The government has expressed willingness to increase public spending from the sovereign wealth fund to help prevent a recession.
|GDP (purchasing power parity):
| GDP (purchasing power parity): $364.7 billion (2016 est.) $361.7 billion (2015 est.) $356 billion (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
|GDP (official exchange rate):
|GDP (official exchange rate): $376.3 billion (2015 est.)
|GDP - real growth rate:
|0.8% (2016 est.) 1.6% (2015 est.) 2.2% (2014 est.)
|GDP - per capita (PPP):
| GDP - per capita (PPP): $69,300 (2016 est.) $69,500 (2015 est.) $69,100 (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
|Gross national saving:
|35.3% of GDP (2016 est.) 37.6% of GDP (2015 est.) 40.2% of GDP (2014 est.)
|GDP - composition, by end use:
| household consumption: 44%
government consumption: 24.3%
investment in fixed capital: 23.3%
investment in inventories: 5.4%
exports of goods and services: 36.1%
imports of goods and services: -33.1% (2016 est.)
|GDP - composition, by sector of origin:
| household consumption: 44%
government consumption: 24.3%
investment in fixed capital: 23.3%
investment in inventories: 5.4%
exports of goods and services: 36.1%
imports of goods and services: -33.1% (2016 est.)
|Agriculture - products:
|barley, wheat, potatoes; pork, beef, veal, milk; fish
|petroleum and gas, shipping, fishing, aquaculture, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles
|Industrial production growth rate:
|-0.5% (2016 est.)
|Labor force:
|2.794 million (2016 est.)
|Labor force - by occupation:
| agriculture: 2.7%
industry: 18.3%
services: 79% (2015 est.)
|Unemployment rate:
|4.8% (2016 est.) 4.4% (2015 est.)
|Population below poverty line:
|Household income or consumption by percentage share:
| lowest 10%: 3.8%
highest 10%: 21.2% (2014)
|Distribution of family income - Gini index:
|26.8 (2010) 25.8 (1995)
| revenues: $199.8 billion
expenditures: $188.8 billion (2016 est.)
|Taxes and other revenues:
|53.1% of GDP (2016 est.)
|Public debt:
| 32.2% of GDP (2016 est.) 31.8% of GDP (2015 est.)
note: data cover general government debt, and includes debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data exclude treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data exclude debt issued by subnational entities, as well as i
|Fiscal year:
|calendar year
|Inflation rate (consumer prices):
|Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.5% (2016 est.) 2.2% (2015 est.)
|Current account balance:
|$26.23 billion (2016 est.) $35.04 billion (2015 est.)
|$92.4 billion (2016 est.) $102.9 billion (2015 est.)
|Exports - commodities:
|petroleum and petroleum products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, ships, fish
|Exports - partners:
|UK 22.2%, Germany 17.9%, Netherlands 10.2%, France 6.6%, Sweden 6.1%, Belgium 5%, US 4.5% (2015)
|$73.02 billion (2016 est.) $75.79 billion (2015 est.)
|Imports - commodities:
|machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, foodstuffs
|Imports - partners:
|Sweden 12%, Germany 11.8%, China 10.9%, UK 6.7%, US 6.6%, Denmark 6% (2015)
|Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
|$57.46 billion (31 December 2015 est.) $64.8 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
|Debt - external:
|$642.3 billion (31 March 2016 est.) $640.1 billion (31 March 2015 est.) note: Norway is a net external creditor
|Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
|$206.2 billion (31 December 2016 est.) $201.1 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
|Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
|$195.1 billion (31 December 2016 est.) $192.2 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
|Market value of publicly traded shares:
|$193.9 billion (31 December 2015 est.) $219.4 billion (31 December 2014 est.) $265.4 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
|Exchange rates:
|Norwegian kroner (NOK) per US dollar - 8.615 (2016 est.) 8.0646 (2015 est.) 8.0646 (2014 est.) 6.3021 (2013 est.) 5.82 (2012 est.)
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|Electricity - production:
|142 billion kWh (2014 est.)
|Electricity - consumption:
|126.4 billion kWh (2014 est.)
|Electricity - exports:
|21.9 billion kWh (2014 est.)
|Electricity - imports:
|6.3 billion kWh (2014 est.)
|Electricity - installed generating capacity:
|33.7 million kW (2014 est.)
|Electricity - from fossil fuels:
|4.7% of total installed capacity (2014 est.)
|Electricity - from nuclear fuels:
|0% of total installed capacity (2014 est.)
|Electricity - from hydroelectric plants:
|92.7% of total installed capacity (2014 est.)
|Electricity - from other renewable sources:
|2.5% of total installed capacity (2014 est.)
|Crude oil - production:
|1.61 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Crude oil - exports:
|1.255 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Crude oil - imports:
|22,400 bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Crude oil - proved reserves:
|5.1 billion bbl (1 January 2010 es)
|Refined petroleum products - production:
|352,700 bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - consumption:
|218,200 bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - exports:
|403,100 bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - imports:
|98,760 bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Natural gas - production:
|108.8 billion cu m (2014 est.)
|Natural gas - consumption:
|5.87 billion cu m (2014 est.)
|Natural gas - exports:
|114.4 billion cu m (2015 est.)
|Natural gas - imports:
|0 cu m (2014 est.)
|Natural gas - proved reserves:
|1.922 trillion cu m (1 January 2016 es)
|Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy:
|41 million Mt (2012 est.)
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|Cellular Phones in use:
|total: 5.841 million subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 112 (July 2015 est.)
|Telephone system:
| general assessment: modern in all respects; one of the most advanced telecommunications networks in Europe
domestic: Norway has a domestic satellite system; the prevalence of rural areas encourages the wide use of mobile-cellular systems
international: country code - 47; 2 buried coaxial cable systems; submarine cables provide links to other Nordic countries and Europe; satellite earth stations - NA Eutelsat, NA Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), and 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note - Norway (2015)
|Broadcast media:
|state-owned public radio-TV broadcaster operates 3 nationwide TV stations, 3 nationwide radio stations, and 16 regional radio stations; roughly a dozen privately owned television stations broadcast nationally and roughly another 25 local TV stations broad (2008)
|Internet country code:
|Internet users:
|total: 5.042 million percent of population: 96.8% (July 2015 est.)
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|95 (2013)
|Airports (paved runways):
| total 67
2,438 to 3,047 m: 14
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 22
under 914 m: 21 (2013)
|Airports (unpaved runways):
| total 28
914 to 1,523 m: 6
under 914 m: 22 (2013)
|1 (2013)
|condensate 578 km; condensate/gas 220 km; gas 8,044 km; oil 3,794 km; oil/gas/water 457 km; water 96 km (2013)
| total 4,250 km
standard gauge: 4,250 km 1.435-m gauge (2,518 km electrified) (2014)
| total 93,870 km
(includes 393 km of expressways) paved: 75,754 km
unpaved: 18,116 km (2013)
|1,577 km (2010)
|Merchant marine:
| total 585
by type: bulk carrier 55, cargo 105, carrier 5, chemical tanker 121, combination ore/oil 12, liquefied gas 47, passenger 3, passenger/cargo 121, petroleum tanker 54, refrigerated cargo 9, roll on/roll off 4, vehicle carrier 49
foreign-owned: 81 (Bermuda 24, Canada 1, Cyprus 1, Denmark 7, France 5, Iceland 2, Lithuania 1, Saudi Arabia 3, Sweden 27, US 10)
registered in other countries: 974 (Antigua and Barbuda 9, Bahamas 186, Barbados 38, Belize 2, Bermuda 5, Brazil 3, Canada 4, Chile 1, Comoros 1, Cook Islands 8, Croatia 2, Curacao 2, Cyprus 14, Denmark 2, Dominica 1, Equatorial Guinea 1, Estonia 2, Faroe Islands 13, Gibraltar 46, Hong Kon (2010)
|Ports and terminals:
|major seaport(s): Bergen, Haugesund, Maaloy, Mongstad, Narvik, Sture LNG terminal(s) (export): Kamoy, Kollsnes, Melkoya Island LNG terminal(s) (import): Fredrikstad, Mosjoen
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|Military branches:
|Norwegian Army (Haeren), Royal Norwegian Navy (Kongelige Norske Sjoeforsvaret, RNoN; includes Coastal Rangers and Coast Guard (Kystvakt)), Royal Norwegian Air Force (Kongelige Norske Luftforsvaret, RNoAF), Home Guard (Heimevernet, HV) (2013)
|Military service age and obligation:
|19-35 years of age for male compulsory military service; 16 years of age in wartime; 17 years of age for male volunteers; 18 years of age for women; 1-year service obligation followed by 4-5 refresher training periods through ages 35-60, totaling 18 months (2012)
|Military expenditures:
|1.59% of GDP (2015) 1.58% of GDP (2014) 1.4% of GDP (2013) 1.4% of GDP (2012) 1.47% of GDP (2011)
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|Transnational Issues
|Disputes - International:
|Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf); Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission; Norway and Russia signed a comprehensive maritime boundary agreement in 2010
|Refugees and internally displaced persons:
| refugees (country of origin): 13,490 (Eritrea); 8,600 (Somalia); 5,684 (Afghanistan) (2015)
stateless persons: 2,561 (2015)
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« Previous Country | Next Country » Back to Flag Counter Overview
Source: CIA - The World Factbook


text:
How to Design a Knockout Bitcoin Mobile App
Bitcoin is incredibly complicated, and making complicated things simple -- in ways that even your grandmother can understand -- is ironically anything but simple. What good is something so technically, beautifully complex if no one can figure out what it is and how to use it?
It's the same way with building mobile Bitcoin apps, says Dan Held, co-founder of ZeroBlock, a sleek, chart-rich trading platform app that delivers the latest Bitcoin prices and news.
In this video, Held spills the insider design secrets needed to create a simple, yet fully featured Bitcoin app. (If you're not into cryptocurrency, you can still apply his helpful design pointers to just about any app.)
Held's practical tips stem from his and his co-founder Kevin Johnson's own trial-and-error experiences designing, tweaking and launching ZeroBlock. Here Held shares the finer points of some key mobile app user interface features, like navigation, the number of steps a user has to take to get to what they want, maximum pixel-to-data ratio and more.
Why Bitcoin Is 'Like Email For Money'


text:
|Find impressive savings at over 150 outlet stores including Barneys New York Outlet, Burberry, Coach, Diesel, Fendi, Gap Outlet, Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss, Kenneth Cole, Lacoste, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tommy Hilfiger and more.
|Orlando Premium Outlets is more than just a great collection of the finest designer labels and brands; it's the area's only upscale outlet center. Include a shopping stop during your next GayDayS® vacation or any trip to Orlando. Located minutes from Walt Disney World. Each outlet store is individually owned and operated by leading designers and manufacturers and offers savings of 25% to 65% every day.
Orlando Premium Outlets


text:
A few words for Temple's Fox School of Business students: get to know and use the Center for Student Professional Development (CSPD). To see why I say this and to read even more advice from others, check out the following page on their website where I was recently featured!
On this page, I describe some of the things that the CSPD did for me in my undergrad career which ultimately led me to my current post-graduate position as a Junior Product Manager:
"Fox Spotlight | When it comes to success stories, these alumni are writing their own chapters."


text:
Civil War Historian James M. McPherson Named the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities
Princeton University history professor James M. McPherson, considered among the greatest historians of the Civil War, has been named the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced today.
"James M. McPherson has helped millions of Americans better understand the meaning and legacy of the American Civil War," said NEH Chairman William Ferris. "By establishing the highest standards for scholarship and public education about the Civil War and by providing leadership in the movement to protect the nation's battlefields, he has made an exceptional contribution to historical awareness in America. I am delighted to name him the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities."
The annual NEH-sponsored Jefferson Lecture, named in honor of the scholarly accomplishments of the third president of the United States, is the highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. Dr. McPherson will present his lecture, titled "'For a Vast Future Also': Lincoln and the Millennium," on Monday, March 27, 2000, at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The lecture is open to the public, and attendance is free. Those interested in attending should call (202) 606-8446 or send e-mail to @email to request an invitation.
McPherson has authored a dozen books about the Civil War and more than 100 articles and reviews. His Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), is considered by many the best single-volume history of the American Civil War and is credited with generating widespread popular interest in the subject throughout the nation. Published as a volume in the Oxford History of the United States series, Battle Cry of Freedom helped pave the way for the success and critical acclaim of the 1990 PBS documentary "The Civil War," for which McPherson served as an advisor.
In addition to his scholarship, McPherson is a vigorous preservationist. He has served on the boards of two nonprofit organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting Civil War battlefields-the Civil War Trust and the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites. The two organizations, which have saved nearly 10,000 acres of endangered battlefield land at more than 50 sites in 15 states, merged in November 1999 to form the Civil War Preservation Trust.
McPherson also served on the Civil War Sites Advisory Committee created by Congress in 1991, which reported in 1993 that "more than one-third of all principal Civil War battlefields are either lost or are hanging onto existence by the slenderest of threads." In 1993 and 1994, McPherson served as president of Protect Historic America, which successfully opposed a plan to build a commercial historical theme park near Virginia's Manassas battlefield.
McPherson has taught for nearly four decades at Princeton, where he holds the title of George Henry Davis '86 Professor of American History. In addition to Battle Cry of Freedom, his books include For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997), Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War (1996), What They Fought For, 1861-1865 (1994), Gettysburg (paintings by Mort Kunstler) (1993), Images of the Civil War (paintings by Mort Kunstler) (1992), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (1992), Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (1982; 2d ed., 1992), The Abolitionist Legacy: From Reconstruction to the NAACP (1975), Marching Toward Freedom: The Negro in the Civil War (1968), The Negro's Civil War: How American Negroes Felt and Acted During the Civil War and Reconstruction (1965) and The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction (1964).
Born in Valley City, N.D., McPherson has a B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minn., from which he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a Ph.D. with highest distinction from Johns Hopkins University.
McPherson was chosen to be the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer by the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory board of NEH. The lectureship carries a $10,000 honorarium.
Previous Jefferson Lecturers have been Caroline Walker Bynum, Bernard Bailyn, Stephen Toulmin, Toni Morrison, Vincent Scully, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Conquest, Bernard M.W. Knox, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Bernard Lewis, Walker Percy, Robert Nisbet, Forrest McDonald, Leszek Kolakowski, Cleanth Brooks, Sidney Hook, Jaroslav Pelikan, Emily T. Vermeule, Gerald Holton, Barbara Tuchman, Edward Shils, C. Vann Woodward, Saul Bellow, John Hope Franklin, Paul A. Freund, Robert Penn Warren, Erik Erikson and Lionel Trilling.
Popular interest in the Civil War has led many Americans to trace their family ancestry to the war's participants. Anyone interested in tracing his or her family ancestry is invited to participate in NEH's "My History Is America's History" project, which encourages Americans to do research into their family history and share the results online. The project's guidebook, available for free while supplies last, can be ordered by calling 1-877-NEH-HISTORY (1-877-634-4478). There is a nominal postage and handling charge for delivery. Family stories can be shared online, and the guidebook can also be downloaded for free, at http://www.myhistory.org, the project's website.


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Q&A with Gordon K. Uyehara, metal clay master artist!July 31, 2012, 16:14 pm Posted by Lark Jewelry & Beading
Gordon K. Uyehara is a fabulous artist working in metal clay. He teaches, creates, interacts with the metal-clay community online, and inspires with his beautiful, elegant designs. He is the author of Metal Clay Fusion: Diverse Clays, Detailed Techniques, Artful Projects. Learn more about Gordon at his website www.honudream.com.
Why metal clay, Gordon? How did you discover this medium, and why is it such a good fit for you?
There was just something about it that set my imagination off. I could spend hours working with it and then when I wasn't, my mind was still engaged to the point of obsession.
How do you describe your work and your aesthetic sensibility?
I'd describe my work as organic and nature-inspired, with sculpted features, in restrained refinement.
Artistically, it's an ongoing process about observing the world around you and learning how to express yourself in every aspect of living.
What are your hopes for the book Metal Clay Fusion? What do you want your readers to receive in practical and artistic terms?
I would like the book to inspire as many people as possible. I hope readers will try different techniques and that the book will help them discover their own artistic voice. And I always hope artists are thoughtful as they create.
What most impresses you about how metal clay is maturing as a medium today? And in which areas do you think growth is still most obviously needed?
I think the amount of experimentation people are willing to undertake is impressive.
Growth is needed in all areas. Having said that, it is proceeding just fine, under its own momentum.
I'm not going to make you name your favorite metal clay artists, but would you name a few who you think are doing exciting new things, and say what it is about each that you find exceptional?
There are a lot of artists doing terrific work. As far as exciting new things, a few people come to mind:
Wanaree Tanner: youthful exuberance with a willingness to experiment, coupled with a keen aesthetic sense and natural talent
Hadar Jacobson: tireless innovator with super accessible projects
Samantha Braund: wild and beautiful shell-scapes (as they look to me) combined with wire-wrapping and stone setting
Lisa Lynn Barth: outstanding metal clay and leatherwork/knotting combinations
Speak to someone who has worked with other materials but not with metal clay: Please explain what you find most appealing about the medium.
I like that it is pliable and picks up deep texture effortlessly. Plus, it is easily sculpted. The entire transformative process is fun. It can be used in a myriad of ways.
Do you feel a community has developed in metal clay, with artists really knowing one another and the work intimately, offering ideas, feedback, and support? Or is that still nascent?
There is definitely a real community where ideas are shared freely. But it is also still very young. So it is both.
What do you do for fun, Gordon? And what are a few things that might surprise people about you?
Other than playing with clay, I like to relax outside in the sun, play guitar, and watch movies. It might surprise people that I have a mischievous side that I struggle to keep under wraps.
In what ways does your home state of Hawaii influence your work?
The flora and fauna definitely play a part—to what extent I do not know.
What's next? Where do you see yourself going from here professionally? What are your biggest ambitions that you're willing to share?
I'm not sure. The possibilities are endless, and you never know where you'll end up. I'm just going to keep creating and see what life presents before me.
Thank you, Gordon!


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McDonald's of Shallotte recently hosted a charity night where portions of the profits for purchases made between 5-8 p.m. were donated to a local nonprofit.
The management and staff of McDonald's chose the SECU Hospice House of Brunswick as the recipient of its fundraising. The event also included face painting for children; the Gatorettes, the Brunswick County seniors cheerleading team; an appearance by Brunswick County's "pink fire truck" and music by Charles Danford, a local singer and guitarist.
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Compare prices of over 29 Decorations sold online & save money on every purchase by getting the best details offered by retailers.
Whats the best Decorations to buy online?
Robert Dyas, Ryman and many other retailers have got some great deals on Decorations. Simply browse products listed on UK Price Comparison and see whats the best price available on Decorations in UK
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i have to admit this off the bat, alice in wonderland's soundtrack has to be one of my favourites. i know the words to every single song, and almost nothing gives me more joy than singing along to 'golden afternoon'. hah! i'm not ashamed.
here's a trippy video & awesome electro mashup of 'very good advice' (you know, when she's all sad and lonely – walking through the dark forest and the little critters want to comfort her, shame.) it has over 2 million views, i can't believe i've never seen it before!
via uno. it's even more trippy if you watch it like this (recommended)


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I have to look at SSL/TLS (in the context of Intraweb) and I have read that the Indy components may have to be update to accomodate the latest SSL/TLS libraries.
I am using for this project XE7 Enterprise; I can't immediately see how to check the bundled Indy version (but it must be a few years old), so please..
How do I check the version I have (or if it's not even worth bothering...)
How do I update (and at what cost).
Sorry to bother, but I found lots of conflicting and some very complicated info on the Web.


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During the past week, the Lamar County sheriffís office made the following arrests:
Jelita-Akisha Danyale Robinson, 18, Barnesville, serving time;
Janice Buchhamerr, 55, Juliette, arrested for another agency;
Kevin Aron Williams, 21, printing or executing checks/drafts, deposit account fraud, first degree forgery and theft by taking;
Richard James Smith, 26, Griffin, DUI alcohol;
Mary Kelly Harshbarger Jr., 23, Barnesville, DUI alcohol and weaving over roadway;
Christopher Phillip Turner, 18, Barnesville, obstruction of an officer;
Sean Nolan Ryan Stewart, 24, Milner, arrested for another agency;
Joshua Wayne Love, 21, Milner, disorderly conduct;
William Clay Boggs, 39, Barnesville, no charges given;
Jennifer Lynn Dodson, 32, no address given, probation violation;
John Ray Scheu, 45, Culloden, state sentence;
Corsay Faison Ivory, 18, Atlanta, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana;
Taurean Terell Dallas, 20, Barnesville, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and weaving over roadway;
Joshua Briss Jennings, 33, Newnan, terroristic threats and acts and harassing phone calls;
Carlos Ahmed Wilson, 29, Griffin, state sentence;
Cornelius Duran Walker, 23, Barnesville, obstruction of an officer, traffic misdemeanor, no tail lights, possession of marijuana and probation violation;
Travis Jermaine Dumas, 34, Barnesville, state sentence;
Glenda Bernice Goodman, 47, Barnesville, disorderly conduct;
Katherine Elizabeth Rissanen, 23, Barnesville, disorderly conduct;
Jasmine Victoria Brown, 19, Barnesville, arrested for another agency;
Jeffery Dewayne Hoard, 33, Barnesville, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, false imprisonment and sexual battery;
Adarius Demond Lyons, 27, Atlanta, criminal trespass and theft by taking;
Cortney Contia Adams, 28, Barnesville, theft by taking and criminal trespass;
Benjamin Davis English, 33, Jackson, family violence simple battery;
David Michael Freund, 26, Columbus, DUI less safe and weaving over roadway;
Leonard Collier, 45, Barnesville, child support;
Amanda Lynn McDade, 21, Griffin, cruelty to children.
Deputies answered 172 calls and the 911 center answered 112. Deputies responded to 39 calls, the Barnesville police department responded to 26, Lamar County firefighters to 18, the Barnesville fire department to three and Mid Georgia Ambulance to 45. There were 15 accidents. Deputies issued 25 traffic citations and served 27 warrants.
and eight subpoenas or civil papers.
Sheriff's report
No Trackbacks


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Theme Directory
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modernize is a modern, simple and beautiful WordPress theme. I made it for blogging. Customizer, social menu icon, several templates, logo addition, switching function between one column and two columns, etc. are also available.
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Code is Poetry.


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VFCU Watch & Learn
The Visions Federal Credit Union, is a not-for-profit financial institution, completely owned by its members and organized for the economic benefit of its communities and its members.
You can use your smartphone to deposit checks. The Visions Federal Credit Union expert explains how you can make a quick and easy mobile express deposit.


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Globalization Revisited: Who Will Get the New Wave of Knowledge Process Jobs?
- Authors:
Publication Date:
April 2013
Offshoring is not always the best or the only answer for management of knowledge process jobs. A combination of factors—labor availability, experience, cost, innovation skills, and customer service—may dictate a different solution that relies less on India, China, and other traditional destinations. The emergence of terms such as "reshoring," "inshoring," "onshoring," and "nearshoring" in recent years is a trend that bears watching as global competition for knowledge jobs intensifies.


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Sometimes I Google just to see what other people are Googling. If you use Google often, you know that as you start to type a word or phrase, it will offer suggestions based on what other people have searched for in the past.
I decided to simply type the words "Do Latinos" and "Do Hispanics" to see what would pop up. Here are some amusing screenshots.
It's interesting the questions people ask behind the anonymity of Google. Some of the questions are good questions, some show a bit of ignorance, some are silly or funny, some seem like innocent curiosity and others may be tinged with a bit of racism, but behind all those questions are people and it's better that those people are asking questions to learn something new instead of being content not knowing.
And now, to be fair, I also Googled "Do White Girls"…
I had to laugh at this one. Apparently white girls are equal opportunity sluts :)
Oh, and to answer the question in the title, "Where do Latinos come from?"
Answer: Latinoland … por supuesto :)


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Global line of portable cord, cordsets, datacom and electronic products. General Cable acquired the Carol product line in 1992 and the origin of the Carol Brand is traced back to 1949.
Go "ALL IN" with any of our 3 program options and get the competitive edge you need in today's tough business market.
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Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong.
As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true. Bruce Weber, a New York Timesreporter, not only interviewed dozens of professional umpires but entered their world, trained to become an umpire, and then spent a season working games from Little League to big league spring training.
As They See 'Em is Weber's entertaining account of this experience as well as a lively exploration of what amounts to an eccentric secret society, with its own customs, its own rituals, its own colorful vocabulary. (Know what a "whacker" is? A "pole bender"? "Rat cheese"? Think you could "strap it on" or "take the stick"?) He explains the arcane set of rules by which umps work and details the exasperating, tortuous path that allows only a select few to graduate from the minor leagues to the majors. He describes what it's like to work in a ballpark where not only the fans but the players, the managers and coaches, the announcers, the team owners, and even the league presidents, resent them -- and vice versa. And he asks, quite sensibly, why anyone would do a job that offers the chance to earn only blame and never credit.
Weber reveals how umps are tutored to work behind the plate, what they learn to watch for on the bases, and how proper positioning for every imaginable situation on the field is drilled into them. He describes how they're counseled to respond -- or not -- to managers who are screaming at them from inches away with purposeful inanity, and tells us exactly which "magic" words result in an automatic ejection. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn't every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn't a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really?
In addition to professional umpires, Weber spoke to current and former players including Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine, Barry Zito, Paul Lo Duca, Kenny Lofton, Ron Darling, and Robin Yount, as well as former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, and many others in the professional game. He attended the 2006 and 2007 World Series, interviewing the umpire crews who called those games and who spoke candidly about the pressure of being scrutinized by millions -- maybe billions! -- of fans around the world, all of them armed with television's slo-mo, hi-def instant replay. As fans know, in 2008, a rash of miscalled home run balls led baseball, for the first time, to use replay to help big league umps make their decisions.Weber discusses these events and the umpires' surprising reaction to them.
Packed with fascinating reportage that reveals the game as never before and answers the kinds of questions that fans, exasperated by the clichés of conventional sports commentary, pose to themselves around the television set, Bruce Weber's As They See 'Em is a towering grand slam.
About the Author
Bruce Weber, a reporter for the New York Times, began his career in publishing as a fiction editor at Esquire. His first piece for the Times was a profile of Raymond Carver for the Sunday magazine in 1983, and he has been on staff at the newspaper since 1986 as an editor, metro reporter, national cultural correspondent, theater columnist and theater critic, among other things. His writing about baseball includes three cover stories for the Times Magazine (for whom he has also profiled E. L. Doctorow, Martin Cruz Smith, the Harvard Admissions Department, the New York Public Library and Cher) and he has regularly contributed first-person essays and participatory features to the paper. These include accounts of several bicycle journeys (from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and from San Francisco to New York City, among them); of a walk the length of Broadway, from Yonkers to the Battery; of canoeing down the Hudson; of skating on all of New York City's skating rinks and of batting in all of New York City's batting cages. He has written for Sports Illustrated, Sport, Esquire, Manhattan Inc., Vogue, Mademoiselle, Redbook, Harpers' Bazaar, the Hartford Courant and the St. Petersburg Times. He is the author, with the dancer Savion Glover, of Savion! My Life in Tap (William Morrow, 2000), and the editor of Look Who's Talking: An Anthology of Voices in the Modern American Short Story (Washington Square Press, 1986). Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTIONThe Land of UmpiresWhere do you find such a man: A man involved in a game who has the authority of a sea captain, the discretion of a judge, the strength of an athlete, the eye of a hunter, the courage of a soldier, the patience of a saint and the stoicism to withstand the abuse of the grandstand, the tension of an extra-inning game, the invective of a player and the pain of a foul tip in the throat? He must be a tough character, with endurance and the ability to keep his temper and self-control, he must be unimpeachably honest, courteous, impartial, and firm, and he must compel respect from everyone!-- Branch RickeyJust about the first thing they teach you at umpire school is how to yank your mask off without upsetting your hat. Umpires place great stock in their appearance, and if you're trying to make a call or follow a play with your hat askew or caught in your mask straps or -- the worst -- spilled in the dirt, you look foolish, inept, exactly the image you don't want the ballplayers, the managers and coaches, or the fans to have of you.Like everything else in umpiring, or at least in umpire instruction, the method for removing the mask is reasoned and precise. You keep your head straight, your eyes forward, and move your hand to your mask, not the other way around. The only reason you remove your mask in the first place is to watch a play on the field, and you never want to turn your eyes down, away from the play, even for a moment. There's no worse feeling, umpires will tell you, than looking up from an instant's distraction, seeing the ball on the ground, and not knowing how it got there.Anyway, you grab the mask with your left hand, wrapping your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger around it at seven o'clock. You don't use your whole hand. You can't, really, because your ball-andstrike indicator is also in the left hand, held snug against the palm by the ring finger and the pinkie. So with the three available fingers, in one swift motion you pull the mask straight out from your face to clear the bill of your cap, then straight up and off. You don't toss it aside; the catcher is the only one who ever throws a mask. If you have to come out from behind the plate and run to a spot to make a call, if you have to hold up your arms to signal foul, even if you have to use your left hand and pump hard with your elbow to sell the call that a ball was touched in fair territory, you hold your mask tight.This is all, of course, rudimentary, something a professional umpire will do with muscle memory and a shrug, the way a concertmaster will toss off a warm-up arpeggio. But the reward is real. When you do it right, with the casual adroitness that approximates instinct, it looks both graceful and aggressive, leaving you, the plate umpire, properly possessed of the authority and dignity of your office.Naturally, for a beginner it is a harder trick to perform than it sounds, and for me, a fifty-two-year-old student umpire, it was the first of many skills that looked simple and proved annoyingly resistant to mastery. During school drills, I'd get it right a couple of times, then let my concentration slip, undoubtedly because of something else to focus on. I'd come out from behind the plate to follow the path of an outfield fly ball or to straddle the third-base line to judge a line drive fair or foul, pull off the mask, and my hat would end up on the ground -- usually smack-dab on the baseline so it was marked with a telltale streak of lime -- or merely jostled and tipped crooked, the bill off-center like a rapper's, or tipped forward and shading my eyes. How you can pull your mask upward and have your hat tip forward I don't know, but that it is possible I am a witness. It wasn't until school was done and I went out on the field to work an actual game and my frustration continued that I solved the problem for good (or thought I did) -- by buying a hat with a narrower brim. Who knew different-size baseball-cap brims even existed?It turns out that an ordinary baseball cap has a brim about 3 1Ú4 inches wide, with eight seams sewn into it. The brim of a base umpire's cap is a little narrower, maybe 3 inches and six seams wide, and the brim of an ordinary plate umpire's hat, which is what we were issued in school, is narrower still, 2 1Ú2 inches and four seams. The gradations downward continue until you get to a kind of skullcap with a 1 1Ú2-inch brim that looks like an appetizer portion of cantaloupe. Umpires call this version the beanie, and when you remove your mask, it makes you look like a refugee from the nineteenth century. But I liked the eccentricity of it and bought one.Umpires, however, cannot afford eccentricity. Later I would discover a scene in the popular film A League of Their Own in which the actor Tom Hanks, playing a manager, accosts an umpire wearing the beanie. "Did anyone ever tell you you look like a penis with that little hat on?" he says. But I wasn't aware of this at the time, and the first game I wore it, I noticed the teenaged players giggling at me behind their hands. Whenever I made a call one of them didn't care for, he rolled his eyes and gave me a look -- what a geek!Immediately after the game, I went back to the store and bought a hat with a two-inch brim, and when I came back the next day to work a game in the same league, I held much more authority in the eyes of the players. Or so it seemed to me, which is really all that mattered.At this point perhaps you are thinking, okay, taking the mask off, enough already. This is far too much detail about a mundane thing. And that's correct, except that the process I just described is a perfect analog of learning to be an umpire. You master the fundamentals, you cast them off when they don't serve, and in the end you accommodate yourself to the game and its participants. It turns out you're not alone out there. It only feels that way.The impetus for this book was a visit I made in January 2005 to the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in Kissimmee, Florida, in order to write a story for the New York Times, where I work as a reporter. I thought it would be a lark, a chance to talk baseball rules and baseball trivia -- I'm the kind of baseball fan who has never gotten over his boyhood obsession, who reads the sports page before the front page and pores over box scores as though they were hieroglyphic finds -- not to mention a chance to wear short sleeves in midwinter.But what I found there in three days of observing -- the whole course of instruction runs five weeks -- was weird and intriguing, an amalgam of strict vocational schooling in subject matter as concrete as auto mechanics and behavioral instruction as delicate and interpretative as you'll find in any acting workshop. Moreover, virtually everything I saw was new to me.The experience persuaded me to write two more stories for the paper that year about umpiring. For one, I went on the road with a crew of Double A umpires, three young men locked together for a season, traveling long distances in a van packed with their belongings through Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. For the other, I met in major league ballparks and four-star hotels with Bruce Froemming, then the senior umpire in the major leagues.I came away from these three stories convinced that a land of umpires exists, that it has citizens, laws, and a culture, and that it is exotic enough -- both in the context of baseball and the context of, well, the known world -- to warrant further exploring. Indeed, the presumption of this book is that professional umpires are an unusually isolated and circumscribed group, sort of like the inhabitants of a remote country that few people have ever visited, and that I am the sociologist who was dispatched to send back word of what life is like there.I spent just about all of 2006 and 2007 and part of 2008 in the land of umpires, beginning when I went back to the Evans academy and enrolled as a student in the five-week program. From then on I went where the tales of professional umpires took me, sort of like a ball bouncing erratically across a pebble-strewn infield. It wasn't a comprehensive investigation, but for the most part it was a lot of fun.Among other places, my travels took me to Cocoa, Florida, where a team of former professional umpires was evaluating umpire-school graduates for jobs in the minor leagues; to Cedar City, Utah, where a former air force engineer, Grant Secrist, was keeping alive his quest to create a simulator, akin to the one used by fighter pilots, to train major league umpires in calling balls and strikes; to the exurbs of Phoenix, Arizona, and the farm country of Ohio, homes of two former umpires -- Don Denkinger and Larry Barnett, respectively -- who made two of the most controversial calls in World Series history; to southern Connecticut to visit with the candid ex-commissioner of baseball, Fay Vincent; and to central California, where Doug Harvey, the legendary National League umpire who narrowly missed being the ninth umpire inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, waxed formidable and egocentric about what it takes to make it in the major leagues.I spent several weeks with minor league umpires in places like Boise, Idaho; Huntsville, Alabama; Omaha, Nebraska; Bowie, Maryland; Des Moines, Iowa; Fresno, California; Trenton, New Jersey; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and Portland, Maine, getting to know some of the young men (and one young woman) who were willing, remarkably, to put up with endless indignities -- rotten pay, long road trips, mediocre hotels, cramped locker rooms, not to mention the utter thanklessness of the umpiring task -- for up to a decade or more in pursuit of the unlikely possibility of a major league job opportunity.To talk to major league umpires, I went to spring training in Florida in 2006 and Arizona in 2006 and 2007. I went to the 2006 All-Star weekend in Pittsburgh and over two seasons spent regular-season s...


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A Better Life
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part
The Trip
Winnie the Pooh
Eureka (season premiere, 8 p.m. Monday, Syfy)
MLB Home Run Derby (special, 8 p.m. Monday, ESPN)
Warehouse 13 (season premiere, 9 p.m. Monday, Syfy)
HGTV Design Star (season premiere, 9 p.m. Monday, HGTV)
The Closer (season premiere, 9 p.m. Monday, TNT)
Rizzoli & Isles (season premiere, 10 p.m. Monday, TNT)
Alphas (series debut, 10 p.m. Monday, Syfy)
MLB All-Star Game (special, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Fox)
It's Worth What? (series debut, 9 p.m. Tuesday, NBC)
Ghost Hunters International (season premiere; 9 p.m. Wednesday, Syfy)
Roseanne's Nuts (series debut; 9 p.m. Wednesday, Lifetime)
Legend Quest (series debut; 10 p.m. Wednesday, Syfy)
The Franchise: A Season With the San Francisco Giants (series debut; 10 p.m. Wednesday; Showtime)
Rescue Me (season premiere, 10 p.m. Wednesday, FX)
Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? (season premiere, 10 p.m. Wednesday, ID)
Damages (season premiere, 10 p.m. Wednesday, DirecTV)
I Married a Mobster (series debut, 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, ID)
Haven (season premiere, 10 p.m. Friday, Syfy)
Breaking Bad (season premiere, 10 p.m. Sunday, AMC)
NEW ON DVD/BLU-RAY (Tuesday unless otherwise noted)
Arthur (Friday)
Damages: The Complete Third Season
Entourage: The Complete Seventh Season
ER: Season 15
Foo Fighters: Back and Forth
The Lincoln Lawyer
My Dog Tulip
Rango (Friday)
Robot Chicken: Star Wars III
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
ALBUMS DROPPING (Tuesday; subject to change)
Alkaline Trio, "Damnesia"
Cali Swag District, "The Kickback"
Colbie Caillat, "All Of You"
Incubus, "If Not Now, When?"
Brian McKnight, "Just Me"
Mellowhype, "Blackenedwhite"
R.E.M., "Lifes Rich Pageant (25th Anniversary Edition)"
Blake Shelton, "Red River Blue"
Ashton Shepherd, "Where Country Grows"
Sublime With Rome, "Yourts Truly"
Theory of a Deadman, "The Truth Is..."
Washed Out, "Within & Without"
William Elliot Whitmore, "Field Songs"
Yes, "Fly From Here"
Chris Young, "Neon"
RAMS HEAD LIVE: Old 97s (Monday); Johnny Lang (Thursday); LoCash Cowboys (Friday); Taking Back Sunday (Saturday)
PIER SIX PAVILION: Pat Benatar/Neil Giraldo (Friday); Peter Frampton (Sunday)
SONAR: Welcome 2 the Court Vol. 9 show (Thursday); Scarlet O Hara (Friday); YOB (Sunday)
GOLDEN WEST: Cass McCombs/Lower Dens (Saturday)
OTTOBAR: Hate Eternal, et al (Monday); Wild Nothing, et al (Tuesday); Dwarves, et al (Wednesday); The Ladybug Transistor, et al (Friday); Jesse Malin and the St. Mark's Social, et al (Saturday); Torche & Big Business/Helms Alee (Sunday)
MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION: Miranda Lambert/Josh Thompson/Josh Kelley (Friday)
MEYERHOFF: k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang (Thursday)
RECHER: Bishops Garden, et al (Thursday); Crack the Sky (Friday)
POWER PLANT LIVE: Mr. Greengenes (Friday)
RAMS HEAD ON STAGE: Dave Mason (Tuesday); Committed (Wednesday); Regina Belle (Thursday); Tom Meadows & Friends (Friday); Gilded Lily Burlesque (Saturday); Joseph Arthur (Saturday); Cracker (Sunday)
METRO GALLERY: Artscape's DJ Culture Stage (Friday-Saturday)
9:30 CLUB: Interpol (Wedneday, sold out); Stephen Marley and Ghetto Youths Crew (Thursday); Marc Broussard (Friday); Wild Beasts (Saturday)
DAR: A Perfect Circle (Sunday)
PATRIOT CENTER: Soundgarden/the Mars Volta (Tuesday)
JIFFY LUBE LIVE: Lil Wayne (Saturday)
BOURBON STREET: Underoath (Wednesday); Colunist (Saturday)
Buyers Market of American Craft (Monday-Wednesday; Baltimore Convention Center)
Films on the Pier — "The Social Network" (Wednesday; Fells Point)
Flicks From the Hill — "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (Thursday; American Visionary Art Museum)
O's v. Indians (Thursday-Sunday; Camden Yards)
2011 Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize Semifinalists Exhibition (opens Thursday, on view through July 31, Fox Building, MICA)
Seventh Brew at the Zoo (Thursday; Smithsonian's National Zoo, Washington)
Girls Night Out shopping event (Thursday; The Mall in Columbia)
All Good Music Festival (Thursday-Sunday; Marvin's Mountaintop, Masontown, W.Va.)
Artscape (Friday-Sunday; Mount Royal, Mount Vernon, Station North)
Little Italy Open Air Film Festival — "No Reservations" (Friday; Little Italy)
Tuna Tournament (Friday-Sunday; Ocean City Fishing Center)
M.A. In Community Arts Exhibition (Opens Friday, on view through July 30; Fox Building, MICA)
MICA Art Market: Special Edition (Friday-Sunday; Brown Center, MICA)
"Premiere," new works by Reggie Cole/In Conert and The Campbell Dance Experience (Friday-Saturday; Baltimore Museum of Art)
Columbia Lakefront Film Festival — "Red" (Friday; Columbia Town Center Lakefront)
Kevin McNicholas Memorial Short Track Motorcycle Racing Series (opens Saturday, dates through Aug. 12; Timonium Fairgrounds)
Surf and Turf Summertime Fun Festival (Saturday; Carroll County Farm Museum, Westminster)
Caleb Stine hosts Woody Guthrie Dreams (Saturday; Creative Alliance)
Drop Three Improv (Saturday; Spotlighters Theatre)


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Police in Arizona wrestle with new law on gun disposal
A state law passed last year prohibits law-enforcement agencies from destroying many weapons.
PHOENIX — Thousands of seized guns could be offered for sale or trade to licensed firearms dealers because of a new Arizona law designed to prohibit police agencies from destroying weapons they confiscate.
The law went into effect in early August, forcing some agencies to stockpile weapons they used to scrap as they try to establish agreements with federally licensed firearms dealers.
STORY: Pace of gun bills continues without Congress
COLUMN: Giffords and Kelly fighting gun violence
It raises questions about what police can do with weapons collected through gun buyback programs such as one that happened Tuesday in Tucson, Ariz., on the two-year anniversary of the mass shooting that killed six and wounded 12 others including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Residents turned in 206 guns and received $50 grocery gift cards for each of them, according to The Associated Press.
Police and the city councilman who proposed the buyback, Steve Kozachik, intend to destroy the weapons.
The law also raises broader policy questions about whether putting weapons back into circulation makes good public-safety sense.
The law was the result of a years-long effort to establish a uniform statewide police policy on the disposal of weapons collected through forfeiture cases in which the weapon is surrendered to authorities via a court order after the owner is convicted of a felony in which a deadly weapon was used.
State law previously attempted to mandate the sale of confiscated weapons, but it allowed Arizona cities and towns to turn their own police policies into municipal ordinances requiring the destruction of seized weapons.
Phoenix has collected more than 180 forfeited weapons since the law took effect, and police are storing them until city officials can find a vendor to whom the department can trade or sell the weapons.
The Arizona Citizens Defense League, a Tucson-based nonprofit organization that advocates for gun rights, supported the bill. The group's spokesman, Charles Heller, cites several reasons to support the notion that Arizona cities and towns cannot make their own decisions about the disposal of forfeited weapons.
Destroying perfectly good weapons is a waste of resources that could benefit taxpayers, Heller said. He also noted that Arizona cities are not allowed to create their own ordinances when it comes to other weapons regulations.
Ultimately, destroying forfeited weapons does nothing to make a community safer, Heller said.
"It's a (self-gratifying) process, thinking if you take a gun out of circulation that isn't being used, it will affect crime," Heller said. "(The law) is in part addressing waste by government. It's also addressing intent to do something inane."
Yet some current and former law-enforcement officers worry that the law forces police to put weapons back on the streets in communities where guns are already in abundant supply, and removes the latitude to make what should be a local decision. What works in Springerville, Ariz., population 2,000, might not be appropriate in south Phoenix, part of a metro area of 4.3 million people.
Phoenix Councilman Michael Johnson, a former homicide detective whose district includes areas that have traditionally struggled with gun violence, said he wants Phoenix police to continue destroying weapons if that is what administrators believe is best.
"Certainly, from being a law-enforcement officer, and having the opportunity to investigate homicides and robberies and crimes involving the use of weapons, I'm just a firm believer that the more ability people have (to get a gun), the more opportunity it provides for them to have a violent encounter with a weapon," Johnson said.
Little opposition
The bill prohibiting weapon destruction went through the state Legislature without much opposition.
At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2012, the League of Arizona Cities and Towns expressed nominal opposition on the record, but no one spoke against the proposal.
Ken Strobeck, the league's executive director, was unaware the bill passed until a reporter contacted him.
"We're not opposing the sale of weapons," Strobeck said, but he added that the group is opposed to the one-size-fits-all approach the law enacted.
"We felt like it was an imposition on a decision that should have been made at the city level, as to how we wanted to deal with them," Strobeck said. "We didn't think it was appropriate to insist that all forfeited weapons be returned to the public."
A member of the Citizens Defense League told the Senate Judiciary Committee last year that local agencies were "leaving money on the table" by not selling the weapons.
Heller could provide no estimate of how much the bill could save taxpayers, nor could any law-enforcement agency that now trades weapons or is preparing to do so.
Arizona's House minority leader, Phoenix Democrat Chad Campbell, said he plans to introduce a proposal to repeal the bill.
"There's no significant gain to the taxpayer whatsoever. I don't believe that for a second," Campbell said. "Local agencies should be able to do what they want with any type of weapon law enforcement confiscates."
Awaiting court orders
Mesa, Ariz., police say they destroy most weapons the agency receives through forfeiture. The department's legal advisers focused on language in the legislation that requires a court order to sell the weapon, said Detective Steve Berry, a department spokesman.
"Although the legislation has changed on this issue, our policy has not changed," Berry said. "If we received a specific court order to sell a gun, then we would comply and do so. Barring any court order, we will continue to dispose of them as we have in the past."
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has had a policy in place allowing the agency to sell or trade forfeited weapons, but it has not been the practice to do so. No forfeited weapons have been traded for at least 10 years, Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre said.
More than 1,500 weapons have accumulated through the years, and MacIntyre said the agency is processing each gun now to determine which are eligible to hand over to licensed firearms dealers.
The agency, like others, will not sell or trade fully automatic weapons or those that have been modified, such as a sawed-off shotgun. MacIntyre said administrators also are reluctant to put cheap or poorly constructed weapons on the market.
"They have to have some appreciable value that would make them less likely to fall into the hands of the average street hood," MacIntyre said. "The destruction of anything that is remotely suspect or looks cheap or has marginal market value and therefore minimal resale value is really a policy decision by the office. I don't think it's mandated by the legislation."
The bill's supporters likely would differ with the Sheriff's Office's point of view, which is exactly the problem with the legislation, Campbell said.
"If an agency wants to put them back on the street, that's great," he said. "If they feel there's a need not to put them back on the street, they should be able to do that."
In Tucson, Sgt. Maria Hawke said her department would not have to sell any weapons received through Tuesday's buyback because the guns technically were not forfeited and so would not be subject to the new law.
Heller, the Citizens Defense League spokesman, disagreed, pointing to another statute that defines "property" as goods that have been abandoned or unclaimed.
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