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This is a formal thank you for the excellent support you provided us last year. As you remember, we installed a new machine that was both late in getting here and initially didn't do a good job. You immediately went into action, expanding your plant, installing more systems and hiring more people.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Quarterback Kyle Orton has not been taking part in the Cowboys' offseason work, but coach Jason Garrett maintains that he anticipates seeing Orton for the team's mandatory minicamp next month.
Garrett isn't sure whether Orton will be coming to play or just to avoid a $70,000 fine for missing the workout, though. He said "you'll have to ask" Orton about that theory, which is tied into the notion that Orton does not want to play for the Cowboys but also does not want to retire and repay $3 million of a $5 million signing bonus that the Cowboys gave him when he signed with the team in 2012. If the Cowboys cut him, Orton would be under no such obligation but neither Garrett nor quarterback coach Wade Wilson's comments suggested that's imminent.
"We're still hopeful that Kyle will be here, but if he doesn't, we feel really good about Brandon [Weeden], especially since he's going through our off-season program," Wilson said, via ESPNDallas.com.
If Orton does show up to minicamp, his physical condition will likely determine where things go. If Orton isn't staying in shape, the team will have to consider making a move to drop him from the roster and perhaps use the $3.25 million in cap savings that would bring to find other backup options. While Weeden is in the program and learning what Scott Linehan wants to do on offense this season, his performance in Cleveland shouldn't make anyone feel too comfortable with him as the only option behind a 34-year-old coming off back surgery.


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Iran Live Coverage: The Battle Within --- Ahmadinejad v. the Larijanis
Happier Times: Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, President Ahmadinejad, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani
See also Iran Opinion: Condemning the Nuclear Talks --- and Tehran --- with Ill-Informed Analysis br>
Wednesday's Iran Live Coverage: Nuclear Talks Resume on 26 February
2200 GMT: The House Arrests. Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili has reportedly clashed with the Supreme Leader over the house arrests of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
Mousavi Ardebili visited Ayatollah Khamenei to demand the release of Mousavi and Karroubi, held for almost two years. Khamenei replied that they must obey velayat-e faqih [the rule of the Supreme Leader] and show regret for their actions over the disputed 2009 Presidential election in which they were candidates.
Mousavi Ardebili said that Mousavi and Karroubi had obeyed the rule of the late Ayatollah Khomeini and added that President Ahmadinejad's performance "has proven they are right". When Khamenei refused to shift in his position, the Grand Ayatollah left the meeting angrily.


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DALLAS—Last September, when Monitronics changed its name to MONI Smart Security, it also said it would be pushing its brand toward consumers more. In line with that, MONI started a new initiative: its Customer Bill of Rights.
"Products and price are relatively similar across companies within the industry. The true differentiator, in this industry, can be customer experience," Jay Autrey, recently promoted chief customer officer at MONI, told Security Systems News. "We want to be disruptive when it comes to the customer experience in the home security industry."
According to the company, customers have the right to local service, easily moving their system to a new location, understand their contract, voice their opinions, have all issues addressed in one business day and a simple cancellation process.
The company relied on customer feedback, as well as a collaborative effort from dealer support and customer service organizations within MONI, to identify the most important customer rights.
Moni has in the last nine months been instituting more channels for direct customer feedback, Autrey said, and can use that information to gauge whether or not it is upholding the customer's rights.
The company wants to "make sure that customers fully understand what they can expect from MONI, up to choosing us but obviously [also] well after choosing us."
Chief customer officer is a newly created role at MONI, and Autrey said that the role shows a commitment to customer service, both internally and externally.
MONI is also looking to improve relations with customers by more frequently contacting them and giving them information on new products and services, Autrey said, which was a request the company heard from customers.
Smart-home product U.S. dollar sales grew 57 percent in 2016 compared with the prior year, according to recent findings from market research firm The NPD Group.
According to the study, security and monitoring products led the category, making up more than 60 percent of dollar share, with smart entry devices, such as smart doorbells, growing 171 percent in dollar sales and 206 percent in unit sales compared with 2015.
The market research firm said awareness levels of smart home devices have fluctuated, but cited the smart doorbell as a category that witnessed growth in both awareness and ownership; ownership of smart doorbells inched up 2 percent while awareness grew 4 percent.
According to IHS Markit, the global market size for video doorbells, which was at $78 million in 2015, is expected to experience a 28 percent CAGR over the next five years, with North America leading the way.
Video doorbells, many times, are a homeowner's first foray into video surveillance in and around the home.
"Video doorbells are only just beginning to gain traction among residential consumers," Anna Sliwon, analyst, residential security, IHS Markit, said in the study. "As the market continues its rapid ascension, partnering with video doorbell providers could prove lucrative for home alarm manufacturers and service providers."
In the NPD study, networked video cameras led as the most commonly found product in smart homes. Nearly one-third of smart homes owned a networked video camera, and demand for multipacks of IP cameras grew 129 percent in dollar sales for the year.
"Network cameras have long been considered the entry point into the smart home, but growing demand for items sold in sets shows that the market is maturing," Ben Arnold, executive director, industry analyst for The NPD Group, said in a prepared statement. "We fully expect the next two years will see a broadening appeal of smart-home devices and estimate that the category will nearly double in that time."
Voice command is also becoming more commonplace in smart homes, with nearly half of these homes using voice commands in some manner, and one-quarter using them to control a home-automation device, with Siri being the most commonly used digital assistant, according to NPD.
John Buffone, executive director, industry analyst, NPD Connected Intelligence, said one in five Amazon Echo owners use the device to control another device in their home.
EDMONTON, Canada—FillQuick, a CRM company that has worked with MONI, UCC and AvantGuard, will now be integrated with ADT's API.
FillQuick has "done a fantastic job in developing a customer relationship management tool that will allow our dealers to run their businesses more efficiently and more effectively," Clay Fearrington, senior director of strategic initiatives, business architecture & dealer development at ADT, told Security Systems News.
"In the past, a dealer would have a CRM, but didn't have the connection into the ADT systems," Fearrington continued. "The big benefit here is it's reducing keystrokes."
ADT is also working to integrate other CRMs into its API, such as Engarde and SecurityTrax. ADT dealers specifically requested an integration with FillQuick, which led to the companies' collaboration, Fearrington said.
Since FillQuick's last wave of announcements in 2016, FillQuick has added several new features to the software, including auto-generating account numbers for installation and connection to central stations, expanded reporting features of its software and uploading features for proposals or images in a range of different formats. "Sales reps, they write proposals and take a picture, and attach it to a lead. So, if they ever come back to that lead, they can take a look at what they offered to that customer," Paul Shakuri, FillQuick's founder said.
"Another big feature update was notifications for users within the software when statuses change on accounts, such as [when] an account gets installed, an account gets cancelled [or] an account gets paid on," he said, adding that this now brings this information to salespeople.
Shakuri said that the company has a high rate, close to 95 percent, of converting companies that demo the software into customers. "[A] huge percentage of people who were not joining was because we were not integrated with ADT," Shakuri said.
The company is currently working on new communication capabilities in the software between a dealer and its sub-dealers. "We're looking to have it complete within quarter one [2017]," Shakuri said.
What else is on FillQuick's agenda for 2017? "Our sights are set on integrating with a couple more central stations," Shakuri said. FillQuick will also focus on data and dealer feedback to further improve the software.
Allied Universal, a national facility services company and security force with more than 150,000 employees, has acquired the security services portion of Yale Enforcement Services, Inc., a Belleville, Ill.-based company that offers a full range of solutions, including uniformed security professionals, mobile patrol, physical security and life safety. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"What we really liked about Yale is that they do very strong business in the healthcare vertical, and that business is spread throughout multiple regions," Allied Universal CEO Steve Jones told Security Systems News. "And we feel we have a variety of really good service offerings to offer in that vertical."
Yale was also looking to provide ancillary services such as electronic security systems and security technology, an area "that we are highly committed to, so we feel those customers will fit very nicely into our organization," said Jones. "Also, our service offerings that we have will not only enhance the relationship but also be something that the customers are excited about and embrace."
Yale Enforcement's 1,800-plus employees serve a range of vertical markets including healthcare, manufacturing, industrial, warehouse/distribution, commercial real estate and retail throughout the Central, Midwestern and Southern states.
"Allied Universal sets the industry standard for professionalism and we know our security services clients will be well taken care of," Barbara Yale, president and CEO, Yale Enforcement said in a prepared statement.
On the acquisition front, the company "will continue to be inquisitive in 2017," said Jones. "We plan on making at least one but hopefully two, sizable acquisitions in the security systems space by the end of the year as well."
With the mega-merger in August between Allied Barton and Universal Services of America, 2016 was a very busy and successful year for the combined companies.
"We are now fully integrated, so we are completely rebranded and integrated," said Jones. "We achieved the goal of doing that is six months and also made three other acquisitions and got some good mid-single digit organic growth, so we are pretty excited about all of that. In 2017, we project that we will end the year in 2017 somewhere between $5.2 - $5.3 billion in revenues and that is without any additional acquisitions."
Allied Universal also announced a partnership with the Clery Center, a national, non-profit training and policy organization dedicated to creating safer campus communities, to develop video-based training tools for line campus public safety personnel. The roll-call training program for campus public safety and security professionals is scheduled to be released during National Campus Safety Awareness Month in September.
As a leading security services provider to the Higher Education sector, Allied Universal services nearly 200 colleges and universities at over 500 campus locations nationwide.
LOUISVILLE, Colo.—Biometrics are coming of age, and 2017 has the potential to be a big year for the continued adoption of biometric technologies, according to Acuity Market Intelligence, which released its "Ten Top Trends for Biometrics and Digital Identity" for 2017 this week.
"Biometrics and digital identity are often perceived as threats to privacy and security," Maxine Most, Principal of Acuity Market intelligence said in the announcement.. "However, taken together these technologies have the potential to enhance privacy, increase personal data control, and shift power relative to the monetization of consumer data."
No. 2 on the top ten list is iris biometrics, which will have a "breakout year as smartphone availability drives consumer acceptance up and price points down," according to Acuity.
This is not surprising. During Security Systems News' Battle of the Biometrics session at last year's TechSec Solutions conference, our panel of expert judges chose iris technology as the top pick over other biometrics, including fingerprint and facial. This year at TechSec, which is Feb. 27-28 in Delray Beach, Fla., the reigning champion from last year's session, Blaine Frederick, VP of product management for Eyelock, returns to continue the conversation with Jeff Kohler, product line and business development director for Princeton Identity, as they look at how lower price points are increasing demand and opening up new applications across many different verticals.
Another interesting finding, and one that does not surprise us here at SSN—the creator of the Cloud+ conference—is the rise of cloud-based biometrics.
According to Most, "2017 will be a tipping point as cloud-based biometrics, secure mobile credentials, and fintech innovation coalesce into consumer-centric solutions offering previously unobtainable levels of accessibility, security, and individual control over PII (Personally Identifiable Information)."
The following is Acuity's ten top trends for biometrics and digital identity:
1. Behavioral biometrics on smartphones, and the associated privacy issues and PII concerns, become mainstream.
2. Iris biometrics "breakout" as smartphone availability drives consumer acceptance up and price points down.
3. Security impact and liability implications of PII via IoT (Internet of Things) begins to influence Enterprise Executives.
4. Cloud biometrics are recognized as critical Infrastructure for global digital payments and commerce platforms.
5. Links between digital identity, smartphones, and mobile and stationary smart devices begin to be monetized.
6. New monetization models for digital identity emerge, shifting power from commercial enterprises to consumers.
7. Secure mobile smartphone credentials drive infrastructure development with migration from tests and pilots to deployments.
8. Many fintech innovators are swallowed by BFSIs thwarting their impact on industry transformation.
9. A handful of fintech standouts, committed to disruption, emerge as potential threats to the status quo.
10. Biometrics and digital identity begin to be understood as forces for social justice, equity, privacy, and accessibility.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—ManitouNEO, Bold Technology's latest version of its central station automation platform, is commercially available as of today.
Rod Coles, Bold's CEO, called ManitouNEO "the first major re-architecture of the software. … This is version two." Bold Technologies released its first version of Manitou in 2003, 14 years ago, and Coles expects this version to hold up just as long. Bold has about 600 customers using Manitou; the upgrade is free for current Manitou customers.
ManitouNEO will be browser-based, and feature a new user interface. "The reason that we've chosen a browser-based application means that its portable," Coles told Security Systems News. The software can now run Windows, Linux, Mac and even on a phone or tablet, he continued.
"With ManitouNEO, we can use exactly the same application for dealers as well as central station staff. It's just permissions based," Coles said. This makes Bold's maintenance and dealer support easier, according to Coles.
ManitouNEO is starting out with options for both a new user interface and Manitou's existing interface. This allows companies and their employees to learn the new interface at their own pace, according to Coles. "We've done a lot of work to allow them to have both [user interfaces available], and they can gradually move from one to another."
Many of NEO's new features are also available in the previous Windows interface. Previously, Bold had offerings in separate interfaces, such as its GPS-focused BoldTrack. "Now we've been able to pull that and other things all into one user interface. It just brings a lot of different parts of our products together," he said.
Bold, in addition to the new interface, has enhanced its action patterns, which give users specific instructions and information on alarm handling. These action patterns now include more conditional items, Coles noted.
Bold's cloud-based automation platform, Manitou Cloud Services, will be upgraded to ManitouNEO as well. "This application will work within a central station, just like our existing platform does. But, of course, it's a natural fit for the cloud," Coles said. This upgrade should take place in the next few months, he said.
"NEO itself will improve the upgrade process," according to Coles. "Because it is web-based application, then all we have to do is literally update the server and then all of the work stations are effectively upgraded."
A new feature coming soon to NEO is a communications center that will allow operators multiple avenues to connect with alarm users at the same time, such as text messaging capabilities while also being on the phone.
Training new employees could become easier, as people are generally familiar with browser-based applications, according to Coles.
MONI Smart Security, formerly Monitronics, recently promoted its SVP of operations, Bruce Mungiguerra, to the role of COO.
In this new role, Mungiguerra will be "Shifting some focus off of customer care leadership and increasing focus on dealer operations, innovating our dealer channel through dealer enablement, sales training and building a stronger more efficient field operations group within in MONI," he told Security Systems News in an email interview.
Since joining the company in 2006, Mungiguerra has served in several roles in the organization, including as director of consumer sales, VP field operations, VP Sales and dealer development, and most recently SVP operations.
"In the 10 plus years I have been with the organization, we have seen a tremendous amount of change," Mungiguerra said. When Mungiguerra started, the company "Had just over 300,000 customers, with 100% of our business coming from dealer generated sales with a heavy concentration in summer sales activity, no internal field service technicians and a brand that was unknown to most consumers."
He continued, "Today, we sit with over 1 million customers, a new brand in MONI Smart Security, national advertising in print, radio and T.V., close to 100 field technicians across the country in MONI wrapped vans servicing our customers and several national lead partnerships driving sales and leads both internally and for our dealer channel."
The vision of the truly intelligent home where your security system and all of its connected smart home devices, from Siri to your stove, can be controlled by your smart phone, is starting to become a reality.
This leap in technology is good news for the industry, and good news for dealers, who are finding that this brave new world of connected devices is fueling interest in security systems, especially from customers who want to know how the two can work harmoniously together. And this is making for "stickier" or more loyal customers.
Following Parks Associates' research that came out of the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month showing approximately 26 percent of U.S. broadband households today now own a smart home device—up from 19 percent at the end of 2015—several more studies on the growth of the smart home have popped up.
For example, a new report out this week from Zion Market Research, titled "Smart Home Market: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 2016-2022," finds that the global smart home market—valued at around $24.10 billion in 2016—is expected to reach approximately $53.45 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of slightly above 14.5 percent between 2017 and 2022.
"The advanced technology has enabled various devices to be connected and controlled by one device and this technology is used by smart homes. Homeowners are enjoying more convenience and comfort from basic security monitoring and customized access to window coverings, appliances, lighting, irrigation, entertainment systems and many others," according to Zion. "Prominent drivers of smart home adoption are energy efficiency, home security, entertainment, convenience/productivity, remote health monitoring and connectivity."
Speaking of connected home appliances, the U.S. market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 39.47 percent during the period from 2016-2020, according to another study released this week, this one by Wiseguyreports.com.
"Connected home appliance companies are focusing on the untapped consumer segments to boost market revenue," according to the study. "The market is expected to witness rapid growth in the forecast period due to the increased awareness of connected devices."
Just when you thought that there couldn't be another report on connected home devices, there is even one on the global smart home shade market, which is also set to grow rapidly in the coming years. According to Technavio, the global smart shade devices market is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 90 percent during the forecast period from 2017-2021. The study considers revenue generated from the business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) of smart shade devices to individual customers in the global market to calculate the market size.
Region wise, North America leads the market, holding a share of almost 50 percent in the market (2016 figures).
"The region is currently witnessing an increased adoption of smart homes and related devices, owing to the benefits associated with their use," according to Technavio. "Additionally, consumers are increasingly adopting window-covering products that can be controlled automatically or by the intervention of electronic remote control equipped with wireless technology or by smartphones and tablets. These factors are impacting the high penetration rates of smart shades in the market segment."
AMAG Technology, Inc., a G4S company headquartered in Torrance, Calif., announced this week that Kurt Takahashi, senior vice president, sales, has been promoted to president.
Takahashi, who began at AMAG in February 2015, successfully grew the business through his management of the sales, sales engineering and business development teams.
Prior to AMAG, Takahashi was the vice president of global sales and marketing at Quantum Secure, helping increase the global pipeline and revenue growth.
Takahashi told Security Systems News that he looks forward to helping AMAG Technology sustain the strong 20 percent year-over-year growth the company experienced from 2015 to 2016.
"We had a great year and part of the reason why we have had good growth is because the industry is now starting to understand that AMAG is more than just an access control company," he explained. "That message is really starting to resonate, because if you look at the growth of the company, we grew in every category of our business."
Last year, AMAG released its Symmetry product line with Symmetry GUEST, the company's web-based visitor management system, and Takahashi said he will continue to focus on delivering unified solutions that will help end users mitigate risk, meet compliance requirements and reduce costs.
"Our visitor management solution, which is a hosted service, is more than just a basic visitor management system—it is a policy-based system that has lots of full-featured integrations with third party products with calendaring systems," he noted. "It automates how we manage different types of visitors, whether international visitors or different types of MBAs or safety certifications or acknowledgements, and things like that—really automating the experience of how companies actually manage their visitors."
This year, the company is going to be releasing a rewrite of its Symmetry Connect platform. "We are looking forward to releasing that this year and that is going to help us to automate all of the onboarding and off-boarding and audits and compliance requirements for a lot of our customers."
He pointed out that the success of these products can be attributed partly to the effort the company has put toward understanding the needs of its customers.
"We spend a lot of time sitting down with our customers in the command center next to the guard or the officer watching every click, asking, 'How do I simplify it?' These are the things that we are building into our application to simplify that process, whether it is through Connect or through new applications that we are building to augment things within Symmetry."
He said that the company also gets a lot of great feedback and direction from customers at its annual AMAG Security Engineering Symposium. This year, the event is being held from Feb. 17-20 at the La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio, Texas.
"That is really a big event for us that helps us determine if we are on track or if we need to make some adjustments," he said. "We invite consultants, integrators and end users all to the same event and we feel that the collaboration of all three entities brings tremendous value to us in terms of how we define what features need to be changed within our application, what new types of technology or products need to be looked at, from either developing it ourselves or seeking out another third party to enhance their experience."
In the spirit of new ideas, the company is releasing around mid-year 2017 a new Linux-based security panel called Crypto, which Takahashi said is "moving toward a much more nimble, flexible API that is incorporating more Web services, so it makes it easier for us to make updates and add new integrations with other third party companies," he explained. "So it gives us more flexibility down the road and puts a lot more technology in the panel. We are looking at some good increases in that area for our business."
He continued, "Overall, we are going to continue to look at the industry as a whole and see where we can enable new technology."
HAGERSTOWN, Md.—Throughout the past year, Dynamark entered some new areas: it moved into a new 24,000 square-foot facility, launched a funding program for its dealers, and entered the mPERS space through working with Numera's Libris device. Company CEO Trey Alter looks ahead at 2017 as the "year of improvement."
"This year our theme is it's all about service, both for Dynamark customers and helping our dealers provide better service to their customers. It's easy to create accounts in this industry, but it's hard to fulfill the expectations of the customer," Alter told Security Systems News.
"It's a more competitive marketplace than it's ever been," Alter said, pointing to the cablecos and DIY offerings. "[We're] trying to help our dealers understand that it's going to take more each and every year to both get new customers and keep the customers you have."
The company grew by 36 percent in 2016, which is somewhat consistent with Dynamark's previous growth according to Alter. He also said that dealers have been showing interest in the new funding programs since its release.
The company previously said that it is looking to acquire another central station, and Alter said it's a "must do" for 2017. "We're very focused on finding a second central station this year—whether it means opening a new location or purchasing an existing location—and adding it to Dynamark," he said.
"I think, ideally, we'd like to see something more in the Western market; but, we would never overlook a quality central station," Alter said. Purchasing an existing central, instead of building one, "gives us the chance to meet a bunch of new dealers, to roll out some new technology to them, and to just make more relationships."
What is the company looking to improve on? "Helping dealers understand early warning signs of bad customer behavior." Alter gave a couple of examples, "If your customer's not arming their system, and has not done so in a month, they will cancel on you—earlier than you'd like them to—because it means they have not found value in the system."
Alter continued, "If you are not talking to your customers about the new offerings, about the camera systems that are available today, about the ability to integrate home automation devices, someone else is going to take your customers."
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Review: Our second nForce 650i SLI motherboard in our lab.
Our second nForce 650i SLI motherboard in our labs.
We will see how it will do compared to the MSI P6N-SLI Platinum.
nVidida 650i SLI MCP/570i SLI MCP
8-phase VRM
VIA VT6308S Firewire controller
Realtec ALC888
2x Marvell 88E1116 network PHY
1x Silicon Image SIL3135 PCIe SATA II
ITE IT8718F-S Super I/O controller
1x NEC µPD720404 PCIe x4 to PCI-X 133MHz bridge IC
passive cooling of chipsets
8Gb BIOS, version 0305
2x PCIe x16, 1x PCIe x16 @ x1 speed
2x PCIe x1
1x PCI-X 133MHz
1x PCI
2x Dual-Channel DDR2-slots for PC2-4300U/PC2-5400U/PC2-6400U memory up to 8GB
6-Port SATA II featuring RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD
1-Port eSATA II
1-Port IDE
Backpanel ports:
1x PS/2 keyboard
1x PS/2 mouse
1x parallel port
1x eSATA II
2x Gb LAN
1x Firewire
4x USB 2.0
7.1 Audio analog
1x SP/DIF digital out
1x SP/DIF coaxial out
1x 2-port Firewire bracket
1x 2-port USB bracket
6x SATA cable
3x HDD-power to 2x SATA power cable
1x Floppy cable
1x IDE cable
1x 1-port serial bracket
1x SLI Bridge
1x ASUS Q-Connetor Pack
BIOS features:
Bus Speeds: Auto, 533 to 3000 (133~750MHz) in 1MHz increments
Memory Ratios: Auto, Linked, Unlinked
Memory Speed: Auto, Manual, 400-2000MHz
PCIe Speeds: 100MHz~200MHz in 1MHz Increments
CPU VCore: 0.93125V to 1.70000V in 0.00625V increments
CPU Clock Multiplier: Auto, manual
Core 2 Duo: 6x-11x in 1X increments - Core 2 Duo, downwards unlocked
Core 2 Extreme: 6x-16X, downwards unlocked
DRAM Voltage: 1.800V to 2.575V in 0.025V increments
NB Voltage: 1.20V to 1.55V in 0.05V increments
SB Voltage: 1.500V to 1.750V in 0.025V increments
NB<->SB HT Voltage: 1.20V to 1.55V in 0.05V increments
CPU VTT: 1.20V to 1.50V in 0.10V increments
SB Standby: 1.50V to 1.80V in 0.10V increments
ASUS P5NT WS is of course an "all-solid" design, which was expected at an €200,- price target. Instead of using the 430MCP, ASUS decided to use the older nForce 570i SLI chipset. The only benefit compared to similar boards is SLI in x16 mode for both cards. Of course the 570i SLI is more power-hungry.
The power-voltage-regulator is a 8-phase analogue part, we would have wished for an digital VRM. The power-connector is positioned under the memory slots. The 8-pin CPU-power connector is well placed on the outer edge next to the cpu socket. The CPU area is clear, mounting big coolers is easy.
The colour-scheme is quite pleasing, black PCB on the front, dark-blue PCB on the back. Dual Channel memory is easy identified with the yellow and black memory slots.
nForce 570i SLI supports six SATA II ports and one IDE. An extra SATA port is provided by the Silicon Image controller, but for eSATA only. Four of the SATA ports and the IDE port are angeled 90°, this should help with the cable mess.
Network connectivity is provided by two Marvell 88E1116 PHY, each MAC of the chipsets are utilized. Additional a VIA VT6308S firewire controller is integrated. Very odd for an ASUS highend board, this one comes with an Realtek ALC888 instead of an Analog Devices ADI1988B.
The panel-connectors are not colour-coded, but ASUS provides Q-connectors. You can assemble all cables to the Q-connectors and put them later into the board.
While other SLI boards needs a PCIe switch card, ASUs does not, because it has two chipsets, means that the x16 from 650i and 570i do the SLI without any performance loses. nVidia is using Hypertransport to connect its chipset and of course any board manufacture can combine any chipset with Hypertransport they want.
The configuration of the slots is not perfect, using a SLI configuration you will loose the only PCI slot.
The heatpipe-construction can barely keep the temperature of the 650i SLI low. It also covers only three of the eight phases. ASUS did use heat-pads instead of a better thermal compound. There is no chipset fan inclucded, so good case-cooling is paramount.
ASUS P5NT WS (provided by ASUS)
nForce 650i SLI SPP/570i SLI
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (provided by Intel)
Scythe Andy Samurai Master (provided by Scythe-Europe)
Kingston 2GB PC2-9600U Kit KHX9600D2K2/1G (provided by Kingston)
CL5-5-5-15-CR2T at 1.80V
CL4-4-4-12-CR1T at 2.20V
Graphics Card:
AMD ATI Radeon X1950XTX (zur Verfügung gestellt von AMD)
Power supply:
Silverstone Element SF50EF-Plus (provided by Silverstone)
Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500GB SATA (provided by Seagate)
Case fans:
SilenX iXtrema Pro 14dB(A) (provided by PC-Cooling.at)
Scythe DFS122512LS
The successor of nForce 570i SLI is faster, the ASUS board is sometimes faster with CR2T compared to the MSI P6N-SLI Platinum with CL4-4-4-12-CR1T settings, especially with very high CPU-clocks. CR1T was not possible with higher clocks then 800MHz, some benchmarks will crash. The same downside comes to the chipset-cooling compared to the P6N-SLI. Temperatures do easily exceed 60°C especially during overclocking, but ASUS doesn't provide any additional fans, to cool it down.
ASUS has choosen an AMI BIOS, which looks still beta. The CPU multi won't work on our CPU, it shows correct frequency on boot up, but does boot with full multi. So we could not test FSB 400 or more. The overclocking settings are in different menues, standard for ASUS, but user-unfriendly. The rest is fairly common nothing special.
FSB overclocking:
As mentioned above, without a lower multi, we where not able to check out how high the FSB can go. We tried the usual 373MHz, which worked fine, but the CPU was not stable to complete our benchmarks. The same CPU was used with the MSI P6N-SLI Platinum where all benches worked.
memory overclocking:
The board worked with 1000MHz but did not boot up with our rated 1200MHz kit. The CR1T setting is not possible with clocks above 800MHz, synthetic benches do work, but Gordian Knot/XVID is always crashing.
CPU overclocking:
Due the BIOS multi-bug we could only reach stable 3666MHz, but we doubt we would have reached more. The worst problem ist the VRM. "Eight-phases" sounds cool, but that's it. The VDrop was above Intel specifications of 5mV. While the MSI run the 3666MHz with a VCore of 1.5000V, ASUS needed 1.53750V. As you can see VCore drops to 1.472V. This is not exactly the voltage, because the sensor is only able to give 8mV granulars, even when you can set the VCore in 6.25mV steps.
We didn't bother with synthetic benchmarks, because they won't tell you anything interesting, we concentrate on real world applications, especially multimedia encoding. Everest will report above 9300MB/s and SiSoft above 7200MB/s when benching memory-read, nobody has explained yet, while there are differences in the results.
Gordian Knot/XVID 1.1.2:
For our Gordian Knot testing we took an PAL epsiode from "Babylon 5" with a length of 41 minutes, 57 seconds and 8 frames.
We tried to "emulate" the most common usage of Gordian Knot:
1st: We have a perfect master, so we only de-interlace the content and resize it, without any other manupulations, we marked this as "fast".
2nd: You get bad mastering on many DVDs, especially "old" stuff or when the studios are in a hurry for the release. In this case you like to improve the picture quality, which is done by filtering the content. You can choose from tons of filters for any purposes you can think of, we only used the most common "undot", "FluxSmooth" and "MSharpen". Of course we also de-interlaced, filters were done before any resizing took place (which is slower). We marked this as "slow".
If you need more infos about filters, we recommand reading the doom9.org forum.
The same episode we encoded, we used for our MP3-testing. We don't recommand using MP3 for encoding, because AC3 can do the job better, but nearly 42 minutes gives us approximately the length of any given album.
A measurement in seconds, as many sites do, is useless, because the differences are too small. So we used the built-in play/CPU ratio, this means the CPU is encoding x-times faster then the track-length. Fast memory does not play an important role here. For your convenience we show you also the single-threaded benches, they will be produced with any other L.A.M.E. version, because only lameMT can do more than one thread and take advantage of a second dice.
We used this setting: lamemt --vbr-new -q 2 -V 2 -m j --strictly-enforce-ISO --resample 48
Using the ASUS P5NT WS gives you a power penalty of some watts, especially when you will overclock higher. Also the "Southbridge" which is defacto a single-chip chipset will add to the penalty. Of course the consumption will vary if you use other equipment.
If workstation is an issue for you, needing SLI and PCI-X than you don't have much choice. When PCI-X is no use for you, choosing an other board is wise. While the difference between x8 and x16 is only a couple of frames, such boards are much cheaper. The issues with the VRM also is a reason not to purchase this board. We got in contact to ASUS and asked if this is just an BIOS-issue or a bad design, because we have seen such behaviour also on the newly P5K board. When ASUS provides an answer, we will update this article and let you know. Compared to the MSI P6N-SLI Platinum the price is too high.
The ASUS P5NT WS is selling for about €195,-.


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Kefalas graduates
Ashleigh Kefalas, daughter of John and Carolyn Kefalas of Ash, was one of 170 members of the class of 2008 at St. Andrews Presbyterian College.
Kefalas received a bachelor of arts in biology with a specialized program of study in equine science during commencement exercises on May 3 on the college campus in Laurinburg.
St. Andrews Presbyterian College is a four-year liberal arts and sciences college situated on 600 acres around a 70-acre lake in the Sandhills region of North Carolina.
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National Endowment for the Humanities and Dodge Foundation extend partnership
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Morristown, N.J.-based Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation have agreed for a second year to support the Humanities Scholar in Residence Program now in place in New Jersey schools. The program brings outside humanities educators into selected New Jersey schools to serve as consultants for improving the schools' humanities curriculum.
The NEH-Dodge Humanities Scholars in Residence Program is open to public middle and high schools in New Jersey. The application deadline is October 16, 2000.
The program is a pioneering effort to help schools rethink how they teach history, literature, and foreign languages and cultures-the subjects known as the humanities. Dodge provided $50,000 for the program in the 1999-2000 academic year, with grants of $10,000 to each of five schools, and will make identical contributions to five additional schools for next academic year. NEH administers the program and conducts the review process.
"The Humanities Scholar in Residence Program taps the expertise of master educators to enrich the K-12 learning environment," said NEH Chairman William R. Ferris. "Before the NEH-Dodge partnership, this idea had never before been tried in a systematic way. Dodge has shown great leadership in education by coming forward with funding for the program, and we at NEH see our partnership as a model for providing K-12 educational enrichment in each state."
"We are pleased with any effort that takes the scholarship of K-12 teachers seriously," said Alexandra Christy, the Dodge Foundation's senior program officer. "All the better if we can partner with an agency of the NEH's stature, reach and commitment to teaching and learning."
For information and guidelines, call the NEH Division of Education Programs at (202) 606-8380 or e-mail your request to @email.
The Humanities Scholar in Residence Program provides grants to individual schools to cover visits by an outside humanities scholar or teacher, who will meet with administrators, teachers, librarians and students, and help them prepare an action plan for improving humanities teaching in the school. Follow-up consultations by the scholar will refine the plan, and in a report in the following year, the school team will assess changes that have been made and identify improvements in curriculum, environment and teaching.
The five schools that have each received a $10,000 grant under the program for the 1999-2000 academic year are:
- Burlington, Burlington City High School
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Kathy DeCristofaro, (609) 387-5823
PROJECT: Integrating study of international relations and world history into the social studies curriculum
DESCRIPTION: A team of four social studies teachers and the school principal are working with a scholar to infuse international themes and materials into required social studies courses.
- Linwood, Mainland Regional High School
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Judith C. Perkins, (609) 927-4151
PROJECT: Recreational reading environments and the high school language arts curriculum
DESCRIPTION: A team of three teachers, a librarian, and a language arts supervisor are working with a scholar to identify a wider range of literary works to expand the language arts curriculum.
- Pennsauken, Howard M. Phifer Middle School
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Curt R. Wrzeszczynski, (856) 662-8511
PROJECT: The Story of Us
DESCRIPTION: A team of four teachers and a curriculum coordinator are working with a scholar to integrate the personal stories of significant individuals in history into the existing 8th-grade curriculum.
- Ridgewood, Ridgewood Public Schools
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Jane M. Blakely, (201) 670-2624
PROJECT: Realigning the 9th-grade English and world history curriculum
DESCRIPTION: A team of four teachers and a humanities curriculum supervisor are working with a scholar to realign concepts and content in a newly established world history/English pilot program.
- West Caldwell, James Caldwell High School
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Sarah Van Gunten, (973) 228-6981
PROJECT: Exploring the rights of children in China and India
DESCRIPTION: A team of teachers and the school vice principal are working with a scholar to create interdisciplinary units on children's rights in China and India for the 9th grade World History course.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The California Public Utilities Commission is considering fining utility PG&E Corp (PCG.N) $2.25 billion over the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas line rupture and fire, requiring the utility to spend the entire fine on safety.
The Commission's staff recommended the record fine against PG&E's Pacific Gas and Electric. It would be the largest fine ever imposed by state pipeline regulators in the United States, the California Public Utilities Commission said on Monday in a statement.
In response, PG&E CEO Tony Earley said on Monday in a statement that the proposal reflected a desire to punish his company, ignoring what it had done in the fire's aftermath. The fine would make it more costly to finance remaining safety improvements.
A natural gas pipeline explosion in the city just south of San Francisco destroyed a neighborhood and killed eight people on September 9, 2010. The National Transportation Safety Board later blamed the utility's lax approach to pipeline safety and weak oversight by state and federal regulators.
PG&E already has spent more than $1 billion on safety, which would be counted toward paying the fine, the regulator said.
PG&E may now respond to the Commission. A decision is expected in late summer, the regulator said.
Reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Jan Paschal


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Al Raihe cements champion trainer status
Ali Rashid Al Raihe, who has successfully defended his title as UAE Champion Trainer, continued his great run of form with a first and last race double at Jebel Ali on Friday afternoon.
The victory of Glen Nevis in the opening 1950m handicap, under stable jockey Royston Ffrench, was a remarkable seventh straight winner in Thoroughbred races for the trainer who won the last five races at Meydan last Saturday and the Group 3 Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday.
That was the only Thoroughbred race on the card in the Capital and the win of Glen Nevis completed his `magnificent seven`.
He than supplied the 1-2-3 in the concluding 1200m conditions race with Tadhg O`Shea in the saddle on winner Mujaazef who ran on too strongly for stable companions Murbeh and Green Effort.
The trainer said: "It has been a brilliant season from the start and the horses have continued to run well throughout. The five winners at Meydan last Saturday was a remarkable achievement and then to win at Abu Dhabi and the first here is just amazing but testament to all the hard work the whole team put in."
O`Shea was completing his own double having also won a second 1950m handicap on Jutland for Doug Watson and his brace leaves him on 37 winners for the season, five more than Ffrench. With only nine races left in the UAE season, at the Dubai World Cup meeting next Saturday, he looks certain to regain Champion Jockey status from Wayne Smith.
O`Shea said: "Winning the last two races today was a great way to finish the final Jebel Ali meeting of the season and it has been a good campaign from the start. I have been lucky to get on some good horses throughout, which makes the job a lot easier!"
The afternoon`s official feature was a 1400m handicap, sponsored by Shadwell, the UK arm of the breeding operation of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
It was won by Spirit Of Battle, trained by Abdulla bin Huzaim and ridden by Jesus Rosales who said: "We were hopeful of a good run as he was weighted to go very close after his run here six weeks ago when narrowly beaten over course and distance."
Musabah Al Muhairi saddled the other two winners on the card with stable jockey Wayne Smith aboard Alnashmy who landed the 1400m handicap with Silvestre De Sousa performing the steering on Straight Talk in a maiden over 1600m.
Al Muhairi said: "That is a good way to finish the season here and at Jebel Ali where we have had a lot of luck this year, winning all three of their Listed races."
Richard Hills, retained jockey for Sheikh Hamdan and set to retire after next week`s Dubai World Cup meeting, was the recipient of a special presentation from the racecourse with the whole weighing room and all the trainers joining him in the paddock.
Hills received a great ovation from a large crowd and said: "I would just like to thank everybody for all their well wishes and kind messages since the announcement and of course everybody who has made the last 20 years so enjoyable for me.
"It has been a real privilege to ride for His Highness Sheikh Hamdan and UAE racing has been a major part of my time wearing these famous silks. It is time to move on though."


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Players March On
Once the Phillies were eliminated, it was time to focus on the future. Several moves have taken place and chances are none will return to the Phillies, but you never know.
J. C. Romero, Jamie Moyer and Greg Dobbs have departed.
While they may be gone, they won't be forgotten as they were members of the 2008 World Champion Phillies. They will forever be remembered and revered because they are champions.
For decades, the 1950 Whiz Kids lived in the memory banks of our fans. Then, the 1980 World Champions. Father Time has reduced the Whiz Kids to a few and the '80 bunch are now 30 years removed from their Broad Street parade.
But, the 2008 champs are fresh in our minds and will live there for many generations.
Thanks, J. C., Jamie and Greg. You'll always be in our hearts.
2 Comments
I'm sure there are many people that are better Phillie's fans then I. I have rooted for them since the mid 50s.
The frustration during that time was hugh. Some of that time the team was rumored to be a tax dodge for a rich Philadephia family. But I supported them all that time. I played against some of the pitchers on a visit from them to my high school. Trying to name drop, Green, Simmons, and Short. I'm not sure because it was a long long time ago. I lost a lot of sleep and cash in 1964. At Gitmo their games was broadcast on radio in early morning.
My point is the team did a lot of amazing things on the field. They won and lost games the were trailing by 6 runs or more in the 9th inning. They made fantastic plays all over the field.
But I do not remember any front office person give an enormous contrat to a person with two years to go on their contract. The team is the Phillies not the Howards.
Anyway I got this off my chest. Go Phillies.
Thanks to all the players you gave us a fun year. I remember the Whiz Kids – had an autograph book with all the players names in it. My brother lives in Hawaii now, Shane, and when we are on the phone during a game and you have a hit, home run his neighbors go wild. Went to visit again this summer and his neighbors and John from Kaneohe say Aloha to Shane and the Phillies. See you next year. Love, Cate


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Jean Becker is the group operating officer for Accenture's Products operating group which serves clients in the air, freight & travel services; automotive; consumer goods & services; industrial equipment; infrastructure & transportation services; life sciences; and retail industries. In this role, she is responsible for executing the business strategy and leading the business operations globally.
Prior to this role, she was the Finance Director for Accenture's Products operating group and in commercial roles.
Before joining Accenture in 2007, she held roles as the head of engineering at McDATA, President of Qwest Solutions, CTO of US WEST and was a registered nurse.
Jean holds an electrical engineering degree and an MBA from Portland State University and an Associate of Arts in Nursing from Spokane Community College. She is passionate about the arts and serves on the board of Theater Latté Da. She resides in Eden Prairie, Minnesota with her husband and two boys.
© 2019 Accenture. All Rights Reserved.
© 2019 Accenture. All Rights Reserved.
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More than 100 scientists from universities in the United States lobbied Vice President Joe Biden, asking him to allow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to once again fund research into the public health impacts of guns.
The scientists signed a letter to Biden last week, urging him to consider making "direct investments in unbiased, scientific research and data infrastructure" related to firearm safety.
The CDC isn't allowed to pursue many kinds of gun research due to the lobbying strength of the National Rifle Association.
As a result of the National Rifle Association's lobbying efforts, governmental research into gun mortality has shrunk by 96 percent since the mid-1990s, according to Reuters.
Prior to 1996, the Center for Disease Control funded research into the causes of firearm-related deaths. After a series of articles finding that increased prevalence of guns lead to increased incidents of gun violence, Republicans sought to remove all federal funding for research into gun deaths.
In 1996, Republican Rep. Jay Dickey removed $2.6 million from the CDC budget — the precise amount the CDC spent on gun research in 1995 — at a time when the center was conducting more studies into gun-related deaths as a "public health phenomenon," according to The New York Times. The NRA and some pro-gun Congressmen perceived this as more of an attack.
Here's an excerpt of a 1997 article in Reason about the fight to kill gun science:
Since 1985 the CDC has funded scores of firearm studies, all reaching conclusions that favor stricter gun control. But CDC officials insist they are not pursuing an anti-gun agenda. In a 1996 interview with the Times-Picayune, CDC spokeswoman Mary Fenley adamantly denied that the agency is "trying to eliminate guns."
At the behest of the NRA, Congressional Republicans successfully removed all federal funding to the Center for Disease Control that would have gone into researching the effect of guns and the root causes of gun violence.
That funding was eventually reinstated, but has been decreasing since, and the CDC re-designated the money to conduct research on traumatic brain injuries.
The current law reads: "None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control."
Because of the NRA's successful campaign to eliminate the scientific research into the public health effect of firearms, very few researchers specialize in the field anymore, University of California, Davis, professor Garen Wintemute told Reuters. He said there isn't enough money to sustain research.
Since there is a lack of funding for independent research, the gun debate has been lacking in unimpeachable statistics that could effect a change in the status quo.
As it stands, the main available statistics regarding the gun debate are raw gun homicide and suicide stats collected through the FBI, international data and data from groups with a direct stake in the gun debate — for instance, pro-gun stats from the NRA and pro-gun control stats from the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence.
The scientists writing the letter to Biden wrote that, effectively, the NRA has successfully hamstrung a credible gun control conversation. When the only statistics available are imperfect, it becomes that much easier to disregard them.


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The Gene Pulser Xcell™ System is a modular electroporation system for transfecting every cell type. The system includes a main unit, a ShockPod™ cuvette chamber, and your choice of accessory modules: the capacitance extender (CE module) and the pulse controller (PC module).
Features and Benefits
• Universal electroporation — transfects all cell types, from primary and stem cells to bacteria and yeast
• Preset protocols — include the most common mammalian and bacterial cell types
• Flexibility — choice of programs for preset protocols, optimization protocols, manual operation, and/or user protocols
• Protocol library — collection of electroporation protocols for every cell type including primary, immortal, and bacterial cells
• Data management — enables storage and recall of parameters used in the previous 100 experiments, useful for troubleshooting
• Reproducibility — uses PulseTrac™ circuitry and arc-protection features to ensure reproducibility and sample protection
System Options
• Gene Pulser Xcell total electroporation system - the complete electroporation system for transfection of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells; includes both the CE module, and the PC module
• Gene Pulser Xcell eukaryotic electroporation system - for the electroporation of most eukaryotic cells, including mammalian cells and plant protoplasts; includes the CE module
• Gene Pulser Xcell microbial electroporation system - for the electroporation of bacteria and fungi, as well as other applications where high-voltage pulses are applied to samples of small volume; includes the PC module
Manufacturer Bio-Rad
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Accenture has described cyber risk as a top 10 challenge facing investment banks. Where would you rank cyber security, from 1 to 10?
I'd say it's a top-3 risk for most investment banks. Firms face many risks, including operational, credit, liquidity and others. But cyber risk (and, more important, the ability to be cyber resilient) has emerged quickly. It has been hidden in the background because it sat primarily with the Chief Information Officer and was not on the Chief Risk Officer's radar.
This is an area where investment banks aren't always prepared. Their other risks are easier to model, quantify or hedge, but cyber risk involves a lot of unknowns, both internally and externally.
What are the most vulnerable cyber access points for capital markets firms?
It's people. The human element—that's the most vulnerable point of entry. People are emotional. They can be fooled. They are the easiest to manipulate.
Attacks can range from phishing to social engineering and many things in between. Hackers and fraudsters are looking for the path of least resistance; they're shifting from brute-force attacks to profiling customers, clients or employees who can lead them to the "crown jewels."
What happens in the aftermath of a cyber attack? Is a capital markets firm still exposed?
In the aftermath of an attack, there's a lot of chaos. There are definitely a lot of ongoing costs incurred, both tangible and intangible. There's an immediate need to build a work-around solution, clean up data, handle remediation, notify clients. Reputational damage can be quite painful, clouding the firm's judgement on how to best respond while managing public perception.
At the same time, a cyber attack can be a catalyst for change. It allows an institution to ask, "How can I make sure I'm protected, end-to-end?" Or "where am I also vulnerable to attack?"
What more can businesses do to protect themselves and their customers?
Capital markets firms should build their resilience because attackers themselves are resilient. They are able to evolve rapidly to come up with new ways to attack. If a firm has modeled a scenario and thought about a way to execute an attack, the criminals have already thought of it too. They are constantly scanning for the next vulnerability, which makes most firms reactionary in protecting against the next attack.
Financial firms need to build controls, to detect where—internally and externally—issues may occur. They need to monitor, catch or prevent attackers in the process. We've seen firms start employee profiling, or using behavior-based analytics to keep tabs on internal gaps. Others are looking at social media behaviors and other pattern-based activities.
What excites you about working in risk management?
Risk management looks at the financial services business paradigm in a whole new light. The traditional paradigm is for firms to earn revenue—and to earn it profitably. But from a risk management standpoint, the goal is to protect revenue, and therefore to protect the assets that help generate revenue profitably. The most expensive control solution may protect the revenue, but may eleminate all profits. For me, this is a whole new opportunity to work on the complex issues facing financial businesses.
Coincidentally, I also face some risk in my personal life. I love flying—I've earned my private pilot's license. It may seem like a dichotomy: I work in risk management, but I love to pilot my own plane. When you become a licensed pilot, that means identifying and addressing the risks proactively. A lot of learning and preparing goes into earning your license. Before you ever get off the ground you will have planned for and learned ways to identify and manage the risks you'll face while in the air.
As I see it, when it comes to cyber risk management, the difference is that firms find themselves learning to manage this risk in mid flight.


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Suarez IntnlIt is easy to pigeon-hole all the threats and cast broad stereotypes about which we can comfortably assert absolute conviction (knowing that there is no empirical evidence which can contradict us). Reality is that the BGs are as varied as we ourselves are.
Some BGs are stupid. But that doesn't render them safe. Their ability to calculate risk/reward is diminished and so they do retarded things--often in an attempt to feed a drug habit. They could elect to commit crimes that are both more profitable and less likely to result in their own deaths. But they continue to stick guns in the faces of late-night convenience store clerks because they can't think of anything better to do.
Some BGs are of average intelligence. They were born into a culture of sloth and violence, and they have been taught that the path to "respect" is in subjugating others. They may percieve danger in attacking you but still accept this danger because they believe that you would make a good trophy to prove their manliness.
Some BGs are brilliant. For most of us, our combination of a lack of assets and a thickened hide will lead these BGs to skip us and look for fatter, slower sheep. But perhaps you have something special that they want--and that may tilt the risk/reward scale against you. The worst kind of BGs fall into this category. I have much less concern for the BG who is interested in my truck than I do for the BG who is interested in my wife.
Ultimately, you have to develop a strategy that will effectively deal with every possible threat. The stupid BGs are the most common. But you shouldn't structure your entire defense around the lowest common denominator. Focusing entirely on the upper-level BG, however, will result in overlooking those violent actions that are economically illogical and yet very commonplace.
Defense is a multi-layered approach. If you add into the mix the BGs of the government variety, then the plan becomes exponentially more difficult. Crackheads, gangbangers, psychopaths and JBTs all present a threat. None of the threats can be dealt with in exactly the same manner.


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Bills coach Marrone had cancerous mole removed
Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone said Tuesday night he had a cancerous mole removed, and added it will not have any effect on him doing his job.
Marrone made the announcement in a statement released through the team.
Marrone said the cancerous mole was discovered during a recent visit to the doctor. He said the only follow-up requirement is to have his moles checked every three months.
"That's basically the end of the story," Marrone said. "The recent extraction procedure will have no effect on my ability to coach the team moving forward."
Marrone is entering his second year on the job following the team's 6-10 finish last year. A former NFL offensive lineman, Marrone spent the previous five seasons turning around a struggling Syracuse program. He was also an assistant with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.
The news comes at a difficult time for the Bills. Owner and founder Ralph Wilson died last month, and Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is currently being treated for the recurrence of sinus cancer.
Marrone made no mention of the illness during a news conference earlier in the day after Bills players reported for the first day of the team's voluntary conditioning program.
Marrone did touch on the uncertainty raised by Wilson's death, which will lead to the franchise being put up for sale, a move that raises the possibility of the team relocating.
In addressing his players earlier in the day, Marrone reminded them of the importance of staying focused.
"We talked today about one of the things that I've always talked to the coaches and players about is to make sure you learn or you understand that you control what you can control. And I think that's important," Marrone said. "For us, we understand that we have to go out there and win, and that's what our focus is. And that's what our mission is."
He added: "If we start thinking about the things we can't control and get sidetracked, then we will lose our focus and that will hurt us in losing football games."
The Bills have not made the playoffs in 14 seasons, marking the NFL's longest active drought.


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Bryanna Clark Grogan's Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 21st Century Table: The kitchen journal of a vegan food writer.. I'm on Facebook and Twitter (see links in sidebar at right).
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
|Vegan Haggis and Typsy Laird ( a special kind of Trifle)
I've attended only one formal Burns' Supper, in honor of the immortal Scots bard, oh, about 40 years ago (I remember because I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, Justine). My late husband, Wayne Clark, was working with a bunch of "Geordies" from northern England and they invited us to the dinner. These folks were so much fun-- kept me in stitches all night. I wasn't drinking (I can't tolerate hard liquor anyway, even when NOT pregnant!) but, boy, could they drink! It was a really enjoyable evening, despite the elderly band .(I was all of about 23, but they were really pretty elderly.) There was the ceremony of piping in the haggis, which I actually didn't think it tasted too bad--kind of like a bland meat loaf (this was pre-vegan or even vegetarian days.).
Years later, here on Denman, I tasted haggis again at a friend's house. There was memorable for the moment when one young lady of about 7 years-old put some haggis in her mouth, promptly spit it out and deposited it on the first available receptacle, which happened to be my husband's plate!
In England and Scotland you can actually buy vegan haggis at butcher shops, but here in North America we have to make our own, as far as I know. With my, albeit limited, taste memories, and some knowledge of the ingredients, a few years ago I headed into the kitchen to develop a vegan haggis recipe (I do have some Scots blood on my maternal grandmother's side), for vegans of the Scots persuasion, or Scots of the vegan persuasion.
The recipe is in my new book World Vegan Feast, and it tastes better than the traditional version, in my opinion. BUT you can also make it from this vegan "meatloaf "recipe on my blog (also with a gluten-free alternative), with about half the amount of herbs seasonings. You steam it for 2 hours over simmering water in a well-greased 2 qt. ceramic British pudding basin or bowl that will fit into a large pot, covered with 2 layers of foil. (The blog recipe will give you a larger Haggis than the recipe in the book.)
(BTW, if you don't know what a traditional haggis is or how it is made or what it is made from, see this page but, be warned, it isn't pretty!)
I use some oatmeal, of course--it's traditional-- but also potato, which is not, but it is common in Scottish cooking. I tried it originally with ground seitan, then with textured soy protein, then with vegan "hamburger crumbles". It works with all of them. You don't want it too spicy, but I find that vegan foods often need more seasoning, so I use plenty of onion and some traditional spices. I make it in an authentic way called "pot haggis", which means that it is formed in a bowl or pudding basin, packed into a bowl and steamed. You can wrap it in a cloth first, like a real savory pudding, if you like. It's actually very tasty, especially with some vegan gravy.
An alternative could be a dish of mashed potatoes and kale (in old Scotland, vegetable gardens were called "kaleyards"). You can alter a recipe of mine for Mashed Potatoes with Sauteed Kale and Garlic, also from my book "World Vegan Feast", but easily adaptable to a Scots meal by using kale instead of chard and chopped green onions instead of garlic.
|Vegan Sponge Cake baked in mini-Angel Food pans
Chairperson's opening address:
A few welcoming words start the evening and the meal commences with the Selkirk Grace.
"Grace be here, and grace be there,
And grace be round the table;
Let ilka ane take up their spoon
And eat as muckle's they're able.")
The company are asked to stand to receive the haggis. A piper then leads the chef, carrying the haggis to the top table, while the guests accompany them with a slow handclap. The chairman or invited guest then recites Burns' famous poem To A Haggis (translation included), with great enthusiasm. (My friend Fireweed can read Burns' To a Haggis in its original form -- quite a feat, and she does it beautifully!), in translation, and also in a veganized translation, clever girl. I'll have to ask her transcribe that..
(An aside: Reading To a Haggis reminds me of an incident when my stepson Sean stopped in Aberdeen, Scotland after serving for a few weeks on a Dutch tall ship where no one would speak English to him. He thought, "Finally, they speak English here!" No such luck-- he couldn't understand a word they said! The Aberdeen brogue was like another foreign language.)
PS: Another day when haggis is often served is St. Andrew's Day (patron saint of Scotland), November 30th. I have even read of "Haggis Puffs" being served-- I assume that refers to the haggis mixture being baked in puff pastry.
4 comments:
- Carrie™ said...
Bless you Bryanna! Like I needed any excuse to get your new book. But if I did, this would be it. My husband is first generation Canadian. His father arrived from Glasgow as a young man, so Robbie Burns Day gets a fair bit of attention in our house. I tried to make veggie haggis once and it was just barely OK. I've bought it canned and it was tasty enough, but I'd like to be able to make it from scratch. I like both of the methods you pictured here. My husband says his Gran used to make haggis throughout the year, but it was basically just the filling in a casserole dish; less formal, but all the taste. He buys a little haggis at the Scottish shop in town and I have my canned haggis with all the fixin's....but next year, I'm making yours!
- Wed Jan 25, 10:17:00 PM PST
Who knew there would be such pomp and circumstance?? Thank you for the sociology lesson (I found that entirely fastinating) as well as the lovely (as usual) recipes. Really...thank you for all you do.. I will probably never make evena vegan haggis, but the rest of the meal.. definetely will be gracing my table.
- Thu Jan 26, 08:36:00 AM PST
I ate haggis in Scotland once, in my pre-vegan days. I was surprised at how peppery it was--very hot and spicy, way more pepper than I was used to eating in a meatloaf. It was at a hiking center, and everyone else was either English or Scottish. No one commented on the amount of pepper so I assumed that is how it was supposed to be.
- Thu Jan 26, 01:11:00 PM PST
- Bryanna Clark Grogan said...
Anonymous, I guess that chef liked pepper! The ones I tasted were quite bland.
- Thu Jan 26, 01:20:00 PM PST


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Because you are Agnostic, you are being honest with yourself by saying that you do not know. By using your logic and reasoning you have set yourself up to be able to find the truth.
The good thing about being Wiccan is that you dont need or want any inequality. This opens your mind and heart to treat people fairly. Even if the world as we know it now, has an issue with the way that you believe, you are still a step above most people as long as you stay true to this path.
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STOCKTON - The San Joaquin County Planning Commission voted 3-2 Thursday night to deny a long-debated moratorium on wine marketing events that some say blur the lines between a winery and an events center disguised as one.
STOCKTON - The San Joaquin County Planning Commission voted 3-2 Thursday night to deny a long-debated moratorium on wine marketing events that some say blur the lines between a winery and an events center disguised as one.
The commission vote is not the final say in the matter; it is only a recommendation against a 12-month moratorium. The Board of Supervisors, which has asked for a moratorium to be considered while new wine rules are written, are scheduled to make the final vote in January.
The moratorium proposal has sparked a heated debate. Local business and tourism proponents have called limiting wine events such as weddings and concerts a "job killer" for one of the county's few growth industries. Others have said the county needs to take a step back from the industry's growth to take a more structured approach to how it should govern wineries and under what criteria newly proposed wineries would need to meet to gain approval.
"I come here every other Thursday to wine amateur night, ... and nobody can expect to find any kind of consistency in what it is we're doing. ... It's just unprofessional," said Commissioner Clem Lee, who walked out of the meeting in frustration after his motion to approve the moratorium was denied.
He was outvoted by Commissioners Randy Hamilton, Miguel Villapudua and Stan Morri, who all agreed event requests can be approved or denied at the county's will, so a blanket moratorium is not needed.
Commissioner Chris Kontos is the second commissioner who voted in favor of a moratorium.
A moratorium would not change the number of events wineries would have, only disallow them from applying for more. Currently, 33 wineries do marketing events, from as few as four per year to as many as 37.
All parties agree that the 13-year-old ordinance that determines how wineries can operate has become outdated and needs to be rewritten to fit the needs of an exploding wine industry - largely in Lodi - that wants to promote its products with weddings and concerts and other events but can also cause disruptions for neighboring residents and agricultural businesses.
Lodi resident Nancy Hennefer said she lives on Turner Road and can hear loud music all spring and summer. She said the winery near her home "doesn't promote wine, it promotes the bands."
Winery owners and business leaders say that for the most part, noise problems are being "self-policed" since the issue became prominent last year. Most wineries are measuring decibel levels and taking other cautions to be good neighbors, Lodi Chamber of Commerce CEO Pat Patrick said.
"We don't believe a moratorium is needed today like it might have been in February 2012," he said, noting that a committee has devised a document it hopes can be a guideline for wineries to use during marketing events.
Lodi's tourism marketing office, Visit Lodi!, cited statistics indicating that wine marketing events are a huge draw. Among them:
� Approximately 2 million wine-related visitors come to Lodi each year and spend $400 million.
� A survey of four large Lodi hotels showed that approximately 5,000 room nights are reserved each year in connection with the wedding business, many of which are held at local wineries.
� Corporate events at wineries can generate thousands of dollars.
Catering companies, photographers and other workers in the wedding and event-planning industry would be hurt by a moratorium, opponents of the proposal added.
Larry and Teri Lawrence, who recently purchased the Viaggio Estate and Winery, also weighed in. Viaggio is one of the first wineries to be accused of being an events center.
Teri Lawrence said she increased wine production by 400 percent in 2012 over 2011, and it is 50 percent above her 2012 production so far this year.
"We're making wine. I need events to sell it," she said, adding that she requires large wine purchases for every wedding held at the Viaggio.
Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/lodiblog.


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This year is on track to be the most expensive ever for drivers, as gasoline prices soared to all-time highs for September, the fifth record-breaking month in 2012, according to AAA.
U.S. drivers paid an average $3.83 per gallon of regular gasoline last month, surpassing the previous September record of $3.72 in 2008. With ongoing social unrest in the Middle East and refinery troubles in the United States, fuel-price trackers say motorists' wallets will be pinched through the rest of the year.
With gasoline hitting $3.78 a gallon Monday – 16 cents higher than the previous record for the date on Oct. 1, 2008 – pump prices have been at record levels for 43 days straight.
"They'll break daily records through the end of this year," said Michael Green, AAA spokesman. "There have been a whole host of refinery issues this year. With the combination of high oil prices and low gas supplies, we are really seeing prices rise."
The highest U.S. gasoline prices ever occurred in July 2008, but the averages for that year were lower because pump prices later plunged along with the economy, and regular dropped from above $4 per gallon to below $2 in less than four months.
Last year set the record for the average annual price, at $3.51.
But the average so far this year is $3.64.
The year of pricey gasoline started in January, with Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for petroleum shipments. The strait has stayed open, but political disputes and social unrest in the Middle East have kept crude prices steep on the world market, contributing to higher gasoline prices.
Trouble at refineries
The average cost per gallon broke U.S. monthly records in January, February, March and April.
Typically, gasoline prices drop at the end of the summer driving season, as demand slows and refiners switch to the lower-cost winter blend fuel. But Hurricane Isaac disrupted production, causing power outages and floods near several Gulf Coast refineries in late August. Then a major fire shut down Chevron's Richmond refinery in California, taking part of a key West Coast supplier temporarily out of service.
Meanwhile, European refiners have curbed their exports to the United States, said Fred Rozell, retail pricing director for the Oil Price Information Service.
As a result, September prices remained high.
"We had import problems on the East Coast and refinery problems on the West Coast and a number of other snafus that have kept the prices higher," Rozell said. "We still anticipate the prices to go down, but they won't come down as much as we expected them to."
He expects the national average to fall to $3.50 by year's end.
Texans pay less
Drivers are faring better in Texas, where prices are among the nation's lowest. A gallon of regular averaged $3.55 in the state on Monday. Drivers in South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama are the only ones filling up their tanks for less, according to AAA.
Regular fuel averaged $3.54 Monday in Houston.
firstname.lastname@example.com twitter.com/SimonesNews


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Virtual Events on Facebook [Case Study]
Inspired by the launch of the 2011 Ford Explorer.
On the 26th of July, 2010, Ford ended a decades old tradition of unveiling new models at flashy expensive auto shows, and took a leap of faith with Facebook. If you didn't see this event as it happened, take a look on Mashable. In a nutshell, Ford used a dedicated fan page to build hype before, during and after the unveiling of the 2011 Explorer.
This event was extremely successful, surpassing its pre-launch fan target of 30,000, and I wanted to experiment with this concept. One of the Facebook pages that I moderated was about to surpass 100,000 fans and we were about to launch a new app exclusively for this community. I initially wanted to have live videos via USTREAM, but with limited time and resources, we narrowed the scope to text Updates, and Photo shares.
Tip: Always narrow scope before pushing dates, otherwise dates will continue to slip and nothing ever gets done. Check out this great post by Matt Mullenweg, 1.0 Is the Loneliest Number.
Objectives of this event
- Increase fan interactions
- Deliver valuable content to our fans
- Soft-launch a new application that adds features to our existing page
We created a custom landing page for new fans, as well as a new profile image to commemorate the milestone.
With our 3 objectives in mind, we focused on 3 types of posts:
- "Cisco Ripple" promotions
- Text posts in 5 different languages (Filipino, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic)
- Story based on Inside Cisco building's photos with captions that build up a story
- What's a "Ripple"? Any thoughts? Get your dictionaries! Who can explain that properly? [8:00 am]
- Rippling Fact #1: You don't need to leave Facebook to try "Cisco Ripple". You can access it from inside Facebook! Register and Connect now! http://csc0.ly/60371zt [11:20 am]
- Did you start "rippling"?http://csc0.ly/60311zx – Hilal @ Cisco [11:40 am]
- NetAcad говорит по-русски: Какую тему Вы изучали на этой неделе? Вам понравилось? [12:00 pm]
- How do you find our "inside Cisco" photos until now? Are you planning to visit us anytime soon?http://csc0.ly/60351MB [1:00 pm]
We have a global fan-base, so we wanted this all day event to start on Monday at 9 AM in Singapore. We targeted Monday because it seemed to be the most active day for our fans. This isn't the case for most US users, so know your fans. Our assumption is the majority of our fans are students in the developing world with limited Internet and computer access. Thus they can't check their Facebook page until they get back to school on Monday.
If you hadn't realized it yet, 9 AM in Singapore is 6 PM on Sunday in California. We wanted hourly updates; similar to what Ford did, so we leveraged Spinrklr to schedule all of our posts for the 24-hour event. This allowed for us to focus on interactions and not the pre-planned updates.
The Results (Courtesy of @HilalChouman)
The results of September 20th, in respect to an average day, were awesome! Logged-in and unique pages views increased by a factor of 1.5 (150% increase). Likes and comments also saw an enormous increase, the most interesting finding was the ratio of likes to comments (almost 1:1). We witnessed 1500 likes (usual average 400), an increase of 275%, and 1250 comments (usual average 400), an increase of 212%.
Logged-in page views, unique page views, likes, comments, and .. unsubscribers
However, the day witnessed a slight increase in number of unsubscribers. A few people during the day complained about the updates filling in their newsfeed. This was a good sign that we had cracked into Facebook's newsfeed algorithm, but we felt obligated to adjust to the feedback. The scheduled updates were adjusted, and a few of the redundant updates were removed from the schedule.
Another insight we had from this event was the value of rich media like photos. While on platforms like Twitter, photos don't have much of an impact; on Facebook the results were astounding, almost 5000.
Further Analysis
We compared the responses to the three different types of updates, and it was clear that NetAcad students wanted to reply to posts made in their native languages. The feedbacks to the language posts outperformed the application launch and the inside Cisco photo posts.
Languages perform better than all other updates
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.
2 Comments
Thanks for posting this informative article.
Fadi Salloum
Great insights on a successful marketing campaign
Thank you for sharing


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November 17, 2006, saw the end of the COP that was hailed as the adaptation COP. Activists however were disappointed about the outcomes and asserted that very diluted decisions had been taken by the developed world where its future commitments and providing funds to the developing world for adaptation was concerned.
"Nothing important was achieved during this conference. The review of the protocol was important, but the developed world said wait. All that was important here was men and women wearing expensive suits and just debating. When I go back to my rural area and I am asked what was discussed, I would say nothing, as nothing of relevance to us was seriously taken up," said Sharon Toormetta, an activist based in Kenya.
"Lack of urgency from the ministers forestalled the process of constructive debate. There was very little collective spirit, despite the fact in numerous events during the conference it was underlined that future delay would just increase the cost of mitigation and adaptation. What we would have liked to see at the end of COP was strong deadlines on Article 3.9, which relates to future commitments of the developed countries. But this was never done," said Catherine Pearce of Friends of Earth.
The day saw decisions being taken about Article 9 review, the Belarus proposal and the Russian proposal. In the days preceding the end of the COP important decisions were taken on issues related to the special climate change fund, adaptation fund and the five year programmme. Where the highly debatable Russian proposal was concerned, the delegates again did not reach a major decision. "What has been decided till now is that in this meeting they would vote to make this proposal a formal part of the agenda of the high level segment of the next COP.
It is not clear at present whether the Russia proposal is getting support from the EU. The latter has not shown open position against the project, as is the case with the G77 group that fears that this proposal may mean future binding commitments. Where Article 9 is concerned, we want to see a clear deadline of either 2007n or 2008. Any date beyond that would be of no use," says Alexey Kokorin, climate change programme coordinator, WWF-Russia.
According to Kilaparti Ramakrishna, chief policy adviser, office of the executive director, United Nations Environment Programme, the reason why Russia is pushing so hard for voluntary emissions for developing countries is because it would mean an expanded market for the JI and CDM process.
The Belarus proposal also met the same fate. Decision on it was deferred till the next COP. The Belarus proposal entails amendment of Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol so that the nation can be a part of Annex B group and can take yup quantified emission reductions. Its proposal further includes among other things that Belarus will not account for anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks resulting from forest management under article 3 of the Kyoto protocol….Right now Belarus is part of the Annex 1 countries, and hence it cannot participate in activities such JI. But because of the collapse of its economy, it has a lot of carbon emissions that can be traded.
Steve Sawyer of the Climate and energy programme of Greenpeace International said that if the Belarus proposal was to be accepted it would leave a lot of hot air in the entire Kyoto system, and that would mean diluting its purpose. Hence, the proposal should never be accepted. He said that the civil system would protest strongly if the proposal was given a green signal.
Song Dong, Third secretary of the department of treaty and law, ministry of foreign affairs, People's Republic of China, said the developing countries support the Belarus proposal, whereas the EU is not very keen on it. According to him, a compromise was reached in a working group meeting in which Belarus agreed among other things that it would not participate in JI and CDM activities in the first phase of the commitment period. However this is not going to be of any use, as by the time the protocol is amended and Belarus is included in annex b (if this happen at all) the second commitment period is going to start.
Article 9 review got stuck when a proposal on it by the COP president was not taken well by China. As per the proposal the review was to be concluded by 2008. But China wanted to wait till 2009, after the fourth assessment report of IPCC comes out. The other parties said they would not clear the draft if a single word of the proposal was changed.


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Big game in the Big Apple
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin calls it "January Football."
OK, so technically the Super Bowl has become a February event (and one of these years will probably drive a flying wedge through some relationships on Valentine's Day). But by "January Football," our favorite Omar Epps lookalike means "playoff football."
When I think of January, I think of cold. I think of breath coming out of people's mouths like steam. And, yes, I think of snow. Sometimes lots of it.
This has been the backdrop for many NFL playoff games.
Why should the Super Bowl be any different?
That's why I'm in favor of having Super Bowl XLVIII in New York.
Let's get full disclosure out of the way now. Yes, I live in Yonkers (a Yonkers Yinzer!), which shares a border with the Bronx. So I'm a few Hail Marys away from New York City. But I grew up as a New Englander hating New York. And I'm obviously not a fan of the Giants or Jets. So when it comes to football, I have no emotional ties to the city.
I won't rule out my stance being influenced by the fact that I'm a fan of the Steelers, a "cold-weather" team (tell that to the 1994 Chargers). But regardless of the Steelers' fortunes, I think there should be a weather asterisk next to the names of any warm-weather or indoor Super Bowl champion that did not win at least one playoff game, or even a crucial late-season game, in cold weather.
The Saints barely make the grade. All their playoff wins came in the comfort of the Superdome. However, in Week 13, they did win 33-30 in overtime at Washington to improve to 12-0. Gametime temperature was 36 degrees. That's borderline. Maybe I'm just giving them a pass because they whipped the shit out of the Patriots.
The 2006 Colts get immunity because as an indoor team they had to play Super Bowl XLI in the rain at Miami. Come to think of it, they beat the Patriots in the AFC championship game. OK, so maybe I'm playing favorites.
Anyway, that leaves the 1999 Rams as the most recent Super Bowl champion to bear my weather asterisk. Not only did they have both of their playoff games at home, they didn't even have to go outside for Super Bowl XXXIV, which was played at the Georgia Dome.
The Steelers kept another asterisk out of the books by beating the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. The indoor Cardinals, labeled by Charles P. Pierce of Slate.com as "glorified Arena Football League team," defeated the Panthers on the road in the playoffs that year. But the temperature was in the upper 40s. Not cold enough.
Warm-weather or indoor teams who gripe about possibly playing a Super Bowl in the cold should take a lesson from the 2002 Buccaneers.
I think I might have mentioned this once or twice, but the Steelers were the last team to beat the Bucs that year, 17-7 in Week 16 on a Monday night in Tampa. With a first-round bye still up for grabs, the Bucs had to play at Chicago on the final weekend of the regular season. The franchise carried a heavy albatross, never having won with the temperature below 40 degrees. Temperature in Chicago at kickoff? 38 degrees.
Not only did the Bucs brave the elements and win 15-0 to lock up the No. 2 seed, they went to Philadelphia for the NFC championship game (game-time temperature: 26 degrees) and socked the Eagles 27-10 to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl. They beat the Raiders 48-21 in the Super Bowl. Yeah, that Super Bowl was in San Diego. But had the Super Bowl been outdoors in a cold-weather city, the Buccaneers would have been prepared.
OK, so cold is one thing, but snow is quite another. Let's imagine snow falling on the new Meadowlands during Super Bowl XLVIII.
Who doesn't love to watch a football game in the snow, with players slipping and sliding all over the place? If that, with a bitter cold and howling wind thrown in, is the setting for Super Bowl XLVIII, you and I will be enjoying it from the comfort of home while those who can afford $1,000 tickets freeze their asses off. It would be a victory for the common man.
A snowy Super Bowl won't be the disaster that opponents of a New York Super Bowl say it will be. The Super Bowl can get away with a 6-3 game in a blizzard because, well, it's the Super Bowl. The NFL is taking a big risk here because it can.
The Super Bowl is already sawed off from the flow of "January Football" because of the two-week break after the conference championship games. The contrast is even more stark with the utopian atmosphere of Chamber of Commerce weather, or worse, room temperature.
Super Bowls in San Diego, Miami, New Orleans and even Jacksonville (they can have a Super Bowl in Jacksonville but not in New York? C'mon) are surrounded by an atmosphere of parties, MTV reporters and hookers. Football is almost an afterthought.
A foot of snow would change all that.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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