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Resilient agricultural growth needs proactive policy design and investment driven by political leadership that demonstrates the necessary vision and will. The authors of the Montpellier Panel's 2012 report, titled "Growth with Resilience: Opportunities for African Agriculture", recognize this and have outlined what this resilient growth entails.
Gordon Conway – agricultural ecologist, professor of international development at the Centre for Environmental Policy, and director of Agriculture for Impact in Imperial College, London – chairs the panel that authored the report. In this interview, he reiterates that investment in "resilient agricultural growth … can achieve sustainable food and nutrition security for the continent and significantly contribute to the African and global economy."
What do you understand by the concept of resilience as applied to smallholder farming systems and livelihoods in Africa?
It is about the stresses and shocks that farmers experience and how they cope with them: pests, diseases, a collapse in the market or, increasingly, the effects of climate change, increasing heat, drought or cataclysmic events such as cyclones.
Farmers are used to coping when things go wrong, whether they are in France, the United Kingdome, Niger or Malawi. But the burden of stresses and shocks is increasing. Farmers need to improve their capacity to be resilient. Resilience has to be built at different levels, from the individual farmers, to the community and to the government.
What roles do you see for both the private and public sectors in contributing to resilient farming systems and livelihoods?
Both need to understand that farmers are part of the private sector and they are private sector actors. The larger private sector has to help farmers by linking them to – or by creating – fair and stable markets. This includes both input and output markets. On the input side, the private sector can consist of village shops (so-called agro-dealers) that sell feed, seed, and fertilizer in small quantities. The farmers need to find these inputs close to where they farm the land so they do not have to walk long distances – and the seeds must be certified.
On the output side, farmers should be able feed their families, but also have more crops to sell. With new [certified] seeds, it is possible to feed your family and to have extra grain or maize to take to a warehouse and a bigger market.
For this to happen we need aggregation; that is, small companies set up to buy grain or maize and take it to a warehouse and eventually the bigger market, maybe even the regional market. It may be that in the private sector there is a quasi-private cooperative that organises the sale or there could be contract farming. There are many ways to do this, but for it to be efficient, it must be done by the private sector.
The public sector is also crucial because to start up a seed company, a government or donor subsidy is needed – or a subsidy might be needed for the seed. The public sector is responsible for creating the right business environment, which means implementing the proper regulations, especially to ensure that the seed is properly certified and that markets act fairly. Government must also provide extension and education for farmers.
Most importantly, sufficient infrastructure is essential: physical, or hard infrastructure, such as all-weather roads to service input and output markets; and soft infrastructure such as weather information and communications technologies to connect farmers to markets. This involves a public and private component and perhaps a joint subsidy.
Transactions with individual farmers are small, but the costs of these transactions are large. Farmers need to be provided with credit by banks. However, sometimes it costs banks more money than the loan itself to process credit. Systems are needed for the money to go to intermediaries – cooperatives or agencies – that provide microcredit.
If all of these elements are in place, you have the basis of a resilient agricultural economy, which means everything is working as well as it can despite what happens. It won't shield farmers completely from shocks and stresses, but it makes them more resilient.
The Montpellier Report calls on governments and the private sector to work together in a number of areas, including reducing food price volatility, facilitating private investments and building better enabling environments. What incentives exist – or should exist – to encourage the private sector to invest responsibly in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa? How can governments encourage private sector investments?
The potential for high productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is enormous. Today there is an average grain yield of 1 tonne per hectare. This used to be the yield in the time of the Romans! This is not good. India and China get much more and in Europe, the yield is up to 10-12 tonnes per hectare.
The potential exists – good soil and water are available. But good quality, certified seeds are needed, the soils must be fertilised and the water must be properly channelled. I have seen farms inZambiagetting more than 5 tonnes per hectare and in Malawi, the yield is 2-3 tonnes per hectare per year with subsidies.
There is money to be made, but farmers must be treated fairly. They need a decent return as well. An ideal way to do this is to create a pilot or 'nuclear estate' whereby a company sets up a large area of land and a plantation for a crop – soy, sugar, coffee cocoa, maize or horticultural products – and smallholders around the estate are organised into a cooperative.
This model helps to build resilience because there is a foreign or indigenous company behind the nuclear estate that brings in modern technologies and carries a great deal of the risk. A big company can cope with price fluctuations much more easily.
Think about a value chain, from farmer to consumer. You want to get as much of the value back to the farmer at the bottom of the chain while the risk is being carried at the top of the chain. That is what fair trade organisations do – there are benefits at the bottom of the chain with risk at the top – that leads to growth with resilience.
What can the international community do to enhance the resilience of food systems in developing countries?
The big funders of agriculture in Africa are the European Commission and [the U.S. Agency for International Development]. Others are active, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Montpellier Panel, coordinated by Agriculture for Impact at Imperial College, London, brings together 10 of the best Europeans and Africans to provide expertise.
Several things need doing. The most important is to get much better trade in food crops and agricultural crops generally. Regional trade, particularly in maize, will ensure that large numbers of people are not deprived of food. Another is for the donors to invest in or facilitate the development of public-private partnerships.
It is important to help countries create better governments. This is not just about exporting European parliamentary systems, but governments themselves must provide significant investment in agriculture. Agriculture is a significant contributor to growth rates. Under the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa [endorsed by African Heads of State and government in 2003], countries committed to allocating at least 10 % of their national budgets to agriculture and rural development policy implementation in five years. There are also commitments under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program. Governments should meet these commitments.
If they do this, there will be more donor funding available. The African Development Bank, China, and the United States are making investments in infrastructure, which is key.
Governments should also ensure the markets have a good reputation at the local level and all levels. For example, a simple step is to ensure that individuals selling at local markets have sets of scales. When contract farming is involved, governments need to ensure contracts are drawn up and followed. Getting rid of corruption, implementing good regulations and ensuring benefits flow to the poor, not the rich, are the elements of good infrastructure and good governance.
Do you think that developing countries are adopting the right policies?
The Maputo Declaration is important and so is the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program, or CAADP. Both have made a big difference in giving countries and donors a lot more confidence, and have resulted in a greater alignment of policies moving forward. Both the European Commission and USAID are focusing on CAADP countries.
Malawi was plagued with food crises for most of its history, but today the country is regarded as having moved from 'basket case to food basket'. The government used an extensive program of fertiliser subsidies, which went against the advice of the World Bank and other agencies.Did the Malawi government do the right thing? Can this model be scaled up?
I don't think we in Europe can tell people they cannot subsidise. It is a question of using smart subsidies. Because of subsidies in Malawi, farmers invested time and effort into higher yields. The subsidy was enormous and comprised a high proportion of the government's budget. How on earth do you wean farmers off it?
There is controversy about whether subsidies should be distributed by a state agency or through the private sector. In Malawi, for example, the private sector buys the seed or fertilizer; the government gives the private sector the subsidy and the grain is sold for a lower rate. The more difficult thing is targeting the subsidies to the poorest. What you don't want is to subsidise the better-off farmers.
These examples of success stories – can they be scaled up?
There are many success stories. You have to sit down and talk to farmers to find out what is working and what is not. It takes time to get the right information. If you ask the right questions and you are patient, you get remarkable results. The big challenge is not a lack of progress; it is that it is not being made enough at scale. We at Agriculture for Impact are currently running a research program looking at how to get things to scale.
Unless you connect small farmers to good markets, nothing will go to scale. You need good inputs – seeds, fertilizer and water – and the markets have to be fair, efficient and sustainable. It's important to ensure that most of the value goes to the farmer at the bottom of the value chain and risk has to be carried at the top. Government must invest in protecting farmers from the effects of climate change, including building better riverbanks and shelter from cyclones. In addition, public and private research is needed into drought and heat resistant crops.
Put all of this together, and you get growth with resilience.
How can we ensure global food security? Weigh in via Debating Europe, an official partner of the European Development Days. Excerpts re-published with permission; read the original article.


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Brian Leatart
The perfect ending to a springtime brunch. Use the best strawberries you can find for that "real berry" flavor.
- Yield
- Makes 6 servings
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 cups quartered hulled fresh strawberries (about 18 ounces) plus additional whole strawberries for garnish
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Combine 1 cup water and sugar in medium saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl and chill until cold.
- Puree quartered strawberries in processor until smooth. Add lime juice and sugar syrup; process until blended. Chill mixture until cold, about 1 hour.
- Transfer strawberry mixture to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. Spoon sorbet into container; cover and freeze until firm, about 4 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep frozen.
- Scoop sorbet into individual glasses or bowls; garnish with strawberries. Serve Shortbread Cookies alongside.

subset: commoncrawl


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1304.6 - Tasmanian Key Indicators, Oct 2008
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/11/2008
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National Health Survey: Summary of Results; State Tables (cat. no. 4362.0)
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"Brown has once again produced a graphic novel of rare and striking intelligence. It tackles the subject of sex work from a fresh and surprising angle and challenges more than one myth along the way"The Rumpus
The iconoclastic and bestselling cartoonist of Paying for It: A comic-strip memoir about being a john returns with a polemical interpretation of the Bible that will be one of the most controversial and talked-about graphic novels of 2016. Mary Wept over the Feet of Jesus is the retelling in comics form of nine biblical stories that present Chester Brown's fascinating and startling thesis about biblical representations of prostitution. Brown weaves a connecting line between Bathsheba, Ruth, Rahab, Tamar, Mary of Bethany, and the Virgin Mother and reassesses the Christian moral code by examining the cultural implications of the Bible's representations of sex work.
Mary Wept over the Feet of Jesus is a fitting follow-up to Brown's sui generis graphic memoir Paying for It, which was reviewed twice in the New York Times and hailed by sex workers for Brown's advocacy for the decriminalization and normalization of prostitution. Brown approaches the Bible as he did the life of Louis Riel, making these stories compellingly readable and utterly pertinent to a modern audience. In classic Chester Brown fashion, he provides extensive handwritten endnotes that delve into the biblical lore that informs Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus.
Praise for Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus
In this unique work which proposes that God prefers free thinkers to the blindly obedient, and that many key Biblical women were sexually forward or sex workers, Chester Brown reminds us that he is a truly original voice in comics, who uses his immense artistic and storytelling talent to propose carefully thought out, challenging ideals.The Quietus
His evenhanded pace of four small panels on each page keeps the tone understated, and he gets a lot of comedic mileage out of rendering biblical dialogue into modern vernacular… But Brown zeros in on the human drama in each story… and his visual craftsmanship is as sharp as it's ever been.The New York Times
Leave it to someone of [Chester's] very particular mind to have snuck in a whole theory of belief in the clothes of a prostitute ... [Mary Wept's] combined spirit of inquiry and incredulity might be the best one for approaching Mary Wept: it is above all a challenge to its readers to turn their thinking around, to look beyond accepted teachings and actually wrestle with this wisdom and what it might have to teach you. And God love it for that.The National Post on MARY WEPT
Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus is a spiritual successor, of sorts, to the acclaimed 2011 memoir/manifesto Paying For It... In a way, the 55-year-old Brown has been building toward this book, which combines a deep interest in Christian theology and sex-work advocacy, his entire career.The Globe and Mail
For Mary Wept Brown collected Biblical parables with direct and interpreted references to prostitution, a task aided by his lifelong study of all things Christian, resulting in one of the most provocative and spiritual comics of the year.The Fader
Chester Brown's Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus may be the most provocative comic book published this year... Though he tells familiar stories, Brown often pushes them in surprising—and sometimes even shocking—directions... Brown defends [his] conclusion[s] in a series of lengthy exegetical endnotes that capture both the scope of his inquiries and the shape of his own fascinations.Slate Book Review
"[Mary Wept] includes stories about Ruth, Bathsheba, Tamar, Job, and, of course, Mary of Bethany. Brown doesn't tell these stories to demean the women involved: he advocates for the legalization of sex work and respect for its practitioners."Salon
...Brown's new graphic novel is a stunning piece of exegesis.Publishers Weekly
Brown's ability to meld honesty with argument might be unique, and his gifts in the medium have not weakened ... it sure is a special graphic novel.Paste
[In Mary Wept] Brown's other graphical triumph is his lettering. He hand-wrote all 76 pages of his afterword, endnotes and bibliography ... You can practically feel him pressing each letter of his argument into the paper.NPR
…this graphic interpretation of tales of sex and personal politics from the Bible is revelatory and brilliant. That Brown is an excellent artist is a given, but the research and documentation here is scholarly and insightful.Miami Herald
Chester's work never fails to surprise and delight me. Since I always enjoy mythic and legendary tales of harlots, I knew I would like Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus, but I was pleased and impressed by the way he used all these stories to illustrate a larger theme about humanity's relationship to Divinity and the role my profession plays in that relationship. Chester shows that spirituality and sexuality, which are so often depicted in our culture as opposed to one another, are actually deeply intertwined.Maggie McNeill, The Honest Courtesan
...a Canadian cartoonist whose script deftly combines arcane and contemporary English—makes the old sand-and-sandals Bible reruns riveting again.Maclean's.....
The Bible is Chester Brown's holy harlot. He plumbs the mysteries of her depths while she schools him in the ways of love. Like all of Chester's work, this book is confounding, yet addictive, instantly re-readable, and expands with revelations in his hundred pages of notes. A work of passion, research, and elegant clarity. My new favorite.Craig Thompson


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Hey let's rally! I'm available for singles tennis weekday evenings around 7p on Mondays and Thursdays, and weekend mornings at 9a. Currently 4.0 although with the right tennis partners I can be a 4.5 again.
I started playing in 4th grade (1994) and played competitively in USTA Leagues from 5th grade until the end of high school (varsity all 4 years). Joined the tennis club during undergrad and played for fun.
Mobile is the best way to reach me. Text/call me! 619-518-5454.
Talk soon,
© 2020 Created by Mark / The Mayor. Powered by


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The new Instron® Precision Series Manual Wedge Grips provide accurate, repeatable, reliable gripping for alignment-sensitive tensile testing applications. They are based on the proven "moving body" approach, where the grip faces move horizontally to ensure minimal induced loads and excellent repeatability. Suitable for testing in compression with the proper adapters, the grips can be used from -80⁰ C to +250⁰ C (-112⁰ F to +482⁰ F) without changing lubricants.
These 100 kN (22,000 lbf) and 250 kN (56,000 lbf) capacity grips are designed specifically for applications where alignment is paramount - such as those governed by Nadcap maximum bending requirements. They are machined to tight tolerances, are symmetrical side to side and front to back, include a "floating base" for X-Y alignment, and provide anti-rotation for highly repeatable testing. In the proper load frame with the proper accessories (check with the factory), these grips are guaranteed to meet Nadcap AC7101 (metals) or AC7122 (composites).
Grip Lifting Accessory
The Grip Lifting Accessory facilitates easy movement and placement of the precision manual wedge grips for use on an Instron floor-mounted testing system. Ideal in situations where safety regulations limit the amount a person can lift without risk of injury, the grip accessory does all the heavy lifting of accessories weighing up to 500 lbs (250 kg).Features Made for Alignment The Precision Wedge Grips include a "floating base" that allows the user to align the upper and lower grips to eachother by making small adjustments to the lower grip in the X-Y plane. Front Loading Flat specimens are easily loaded from the front of the grips. Easy Clamping A standard female 1/2" drive is provided on the front of the grip for opening and closing. An internal "worm gear" provides high torque magnification so only a small amount of torque is required to clamp/unclamp test specimens. Furthermore, the gear ratio is such that only one ot two turns of the handle are required to clamp or unclamp each specimen. Removable Handle The female drive socket allows the clamping/unclamping tool to be removed between each test. Therefore, for non-ambient testing, the handle is always at room temperature (outside the chamber), making grip operation much safer for high or low temperature testing. Compression Testing Whereas the grips are designed for tensile testing, they can also be used for compression testing with the proper adapters. "Piggy-back" compression platens and adapters allow compression fixtures and lower force load cells to be attached in series, thus avoiding the need to remove these heavy grips between setups. High and Low Temperature These grips can be used over the range of -80⁰ C to +250⁰ C (-112⁰ F to +482⁰ F) without changing lubricants. Debris Resistant Special sealing is built-in to prevent carbon fiber or corrosion/surface materials to contaminate the gripping mechanism. Easily cleaned surfaces makes for a high-use, low-maintenance grip. Simple Jaw Face Changes The 250 kN Precision Grips use jaw face carriers with spring-loaded pins to make changing faces easy. Specimen Stops Heavy-duty, machined specimen stops are designed to ensure repeatable specimen positioning under the most demanding applications.


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Szenczak necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 111 diseños de 31 diseñadores freelance.
Triad Investments, Inc.
This company manages investments in private equity. Originally there were 3 partners in this business which is what drove the name "Triad". The business has expanded beyond that scope but the name still stands. A website will be created once the logo and name has been created. The logo should identify that the company is progressive, technologically advanced yet solid and capable of standing the test of time.
The audience that will see this logo and header are companies that also manage private equity investments or those that have opportunities that need private equity investment. The same features identified above will be important here as well.
Many of these people are sophisticated, financially savvy business people that interface with hundreds of organizations like Triad during their careers. We would like our logo to stand out!
We need a logo the respects the Triad name yet communicates that this is a progressive, technically astute firm. The existing logo for our letterhead is attached to give you an idea of where we are now.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Question: We've just upgraded to SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition and we're looking forward to saving backup space using the native backup compression feature. I've heard that I should never enable it at the instance level. Can you explain why?
Answer: The SQL community was really pleased when Microsoft listened to everyone's feedback and made backup compression available in Standard Edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 (it was only available in Enterprise Edition in SQL Server 2008).
I like backup compression not just for the space savings, but for the time savings during backup and restore operations. During a restore, the more compressed the backup is, the shorter the restore time (generally) and so the more precious downtime is reduced.
The catch is in the phrase 'the more compressed the backup is'. Just because the backup compression algorithm ran, it doesn't guarantee that any compression was able to be done of the backup data. The compression algorithm used is proprietary to Microsoft, but like most common compression algorithms, the amount of compression achieved depends on what is being compressed.
For instance, mostly a database containing nearly empty data file pages might compress well, but a database that has transparent data encryption enabled (and so is a stream of small, random integers) will not compress at all. There's no telling how much compression will be achieved without trying backup compression for each database.
The downside of trying to compress uncompressible data is that the CPU cycles are still used to run the compression algorithm, even when the compression achieved is zero.
For this reason, it can be detrimental to enable backup compression by default at the instance level without first checking which backups are not worth trying to compress. What the threshold is for 'not worth it' is going to vary based on achievable space savings, how desirable it is to save space in a company, and how CPU-bound the SQL Server instance is that will be performing the backups.
If you find that the majority of the backups on the instance compress enough for your needs, it can be easier to enable backup compression at the instance level and then specify WITH NO_COMPRESSION for those few backups you do not want to waste CPU cycles trying to compress. And of course the opposite is true – you can leave backup compression disabled at the instance level and specify WITH COMPRESSION for those backups you do want to compress.
To summarize, what you've been told is incorrect. It's perfectly feasible to enable backup compression at the instance level – you just need to make sure that you take account of each database's compressibility appropriately.
Learn more from Michael K. Campbell's "Don't Forget about Backup Compression."


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Argument recap: Court considers role of (possibly) new evidence in federal habeas proceedings
On Tuesday, the Court heard argument in Cullen v. Pinholster (No. 09-1088). The wide-ranging argument demonstrated the complexities and confusions that can arise when the Court reviews a state prisoner's federal habeas petition under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). The Court grappled with two intertwining questions presented: first, a procedural question regarding the proper role for evidence first presented in federal court; and second, a substantive question regarding the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel in presenting mitigating evidence at the sentencing phase of a death penalty case.
Representing California warden Vincent Cullen, Supervising Deputy Attorney General James W. Bilderback II argued that the Ninth Circuit erred in granting habeas relief because the California Supreme Court decision denying Pinholster post-conviction relief was not an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law.
Justice Sotomayor began the questioning by probing an issue that would occupy the Court throughout the argument: the extent to which Mr. Pinholster's federal habeas petition relied on a new "factual basis." Justices Sotomayor and Kagan pushed Mr. Bilderback to provide a "full catalogue" of facts in the federal court record that differ from those in the state court record. In particular, two categories of facts were at issue, regarding: (1) trial counsel's minimal preparation for the sentencing phase of trial; and (2) the mitigating evidence that trial counsel failed to discover and present at trial. The Court pressed both advocates to explain whether the trial lawyer's billing sheet showing he had only worked 6.5 hours on the mitigation case, and the medical diagnosis that he had failed to introduce, were presented in the state post-conviction proceedings.
Justice Kagan later characterized the issue before the Court as a "level of generality" problem: is the proper scope of a "claim" simply ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase? Or ineffective assistance by failure to present evidence of brain damage? Or is the scope even narrower: ineffective assistance for failure to present evidence of brain damage of a particular kind, such as frontal lobe damage? Determining what the level of generality should be then affects what a habeas petitioner must have presented or alleged in state court to avoid the bar under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e) on presenting a new "factual basis" unless he diligently attempted to present it to the state court. In other words, when Pinholster introduced new expert opinions diagnosing him with organic brain damage, did this evidence constitute a new factual basis for his ineffective assistance of counsel claim? Or was it instead just new evidence supporting the same factual basis that he had presented to the state court?
The argument then turned to AEDPA's standard of review under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). Mr. Bilderback argued that under § 2254(d)(1), federal courts must evaluate whether the state court's decision was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of federal law from the perspective of the state court "" that is, only in light of that evidence that was available to the state court when it made its decision. Justice Sotomayor pointed to the difference in the text of § 2254(d)(1) and § 2254(d)(2): the latter explicitly limits federal courts' review of state courts' factual determinations to the evidence before the state court, while the former has no such limitation. Mr. Bilderbeck replied that § 2254(d)(1) should nonetheless be similarly limited because the language in § 2254(d)(2) was targeted at pre-AEDPA federal court practices, both provisions are phrased in the past tense, and because the overarching purpose of AEDPA was to increase deference to state courts.
The Justices then turned to the role played by § 2254(e)(2), which outlines the scenarios in which evidentiary hearings are available to habeas petitioners who did not develop the basis for their claims in state court. Justice Sotomayor asked Bilderback why it wasn't "logical to start with (e)(2) . . . why are we excluding those facts from the decisionmakers' consideration?" She expressed skepticism at his response "" that AEDPA's various provisions provided for a "methodical, calculated, and logical" progression of steps in the federal courts' review, with an evidentiary hearing under (e)(2) coming last.
Responding to a question from the Chief Justice, Mr. Bilderback then told the Court that § 2254(d) did not apply because "the introduction of organic brain damage evidence fundamentally changes the nature of this claim," such that it is "not the same claim that was presented to the State court." Several Justices "" especially Justice Kennedy "" appeared taken aback at this apparently new tack from the state, but no time remained to probe the issue further.
Representing respondent Scott Pinholster, Federal Public Defender Sean K. Kennedy argued that, even if it were viewed only in light of the evidence available to it at the time, the California state court's decision was still unreasonable. When Justice Scalia disputed this contention, pointing out that the Ninth Circuit's decision was based on the additional facts introduced in federal court and that Pinholster has "to live with the decision they wrote," Mr. Kennedy emphasized that the Ninth Circuit in fact found alternative grounds for granting relief "" first, that the state court's decision was objectively unreasonable in light of the evidence before it at the time, and second that the state court's decision was unreasonable in light of the new evidence. Justice Scalia located this passage in the lower court's opinion, leading to laughter in the courtroom after Justice Breyer commented "" and Kennedy eagerly agreed "" that if Mr. Kennedy's characterization of the lower court opinion were correct, then "this case presents no question . . . you win."
However, the Chief Justice Roberts immediately questioned whether the state court's decision was in fact objectively unreasonably, thereby turning the argument to the second question presented regarding the substantive ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Both the Chief Justice and Justice Alito suggested that Pinholster's trial counsel may have made strategic decisions about the best mitigation case he could present, and thus the California court's decision was not objectively unreasonable to find his performance constitutionally adequate. Mr. Kennedy responded that there was no strategic justification for a failure to investigate and present Mr. Pinholster's severe brain damage and mental illness.
Justice Kennedy quickly pressed Mr. Kennedy on whether a federal court may grant habeas relief "rel[ying] on different evidence . . . that was not in the State hearing." The Justices spent several minutes attempting to sort out the status of evidence (in particular, regarding the billing sheet which established that Pinholster's trial counsel had only spent 6.5 hours preparing mitigation evidence) at the state court proceeding that rejected Mr. Pinholster's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. During his rebuttal, Mr. Bilderback was largely preoccupied with answering questions on this issue as well and whether, because the billing records had formed part of the state court record via the clerk's transcript, this evidence was not newly presented in the federal district court.
The argument concluded with Justice Breyer's attempt to summarize Mr. Bilderback's position: to rule in his favor, the Court would have to find that the state court decision was not unreasonable (and therefore reject the Ninth Circuit's alternative holding), and that either (e)(2) did not permit an evidentiary hearing or that the new evidence fundamentally transforms the claim and state procedure allows the habeas petitioner to present that new claim in state court. And with that, the case was submitted. Clarity on the relationship between § 2254(d)(1) and § 2254(e)(2) will have to wait until the Court issues its opinion.
Recommended Citation: Matthew Seligman, Argument recap: Court considers role of (possibly) new evidence in federal habeas proceedings, SCOTUSblog (Nov. 12, 2010, 12:26 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2010/11/argument-recap-court-considers-role-of-possibly-new-evidence-in-federal-habeas-proceedings/


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Motley Crue – Shout At The Devil (1983, Elektra)
- In The Beginning
- Shout At The Devil
- Looks That Kill
- Bastard
- God Bless The Children Of The Beast
- Helter Skelter
- Red Hot
- Too Young To Fall In Love
- Knock'em Dead Kid
- Ten Seconds To Love
- Danger
Band Lineup:
Vince Neil – Vocals
Nikki Sixx – Bass
Mick Mars – Guitars
Tommy Lee – Drums
Producer: Tom Werman
Total Time = 44:10
Motley Crue
Motley Crue MySpace page
I was already a Motley Crue fan by the time SHOUT AT THE DEVIL came out because I had the band's first record, TOO FAST FOR LOVE (1981). I bought that cassette based on the 'Live Wire' video I saw on MTV at some point in late 1982 so when I saw the video for 'Looks That Kill' I knew I had to buy this album. Back in '83, I was in the 6th grade and everyone was into the Crue so having the album was considered cutting edge and extremely cool. My friends and I would listen to that cassette on the walk home from school and then we would play it to death on weekends. It was important listening!
The album was so exotic for us kids. First, the band was from L.A., if you read Circus or Hit Parader then you knew that L.A. was a Heavy Metal hotbed. Second, the vinyl was black with a pentagram on it…..anything to do with the devil was cool. Same thing with the song titles, you had the title track, a song with "kill" in it, a song with "beast" in it, a swear, knocking someone dead and danger…..they were dangerous and evil sounding so they were cool. Then you had the band pictures in all the magazines!
Listening to the CD today is a little weird because I was so used to the cassette and vinyl versions…..you know, with Side 1 and Side 2? Side 1 was my favorite because all the two big singles were on it: 'Shout At The Devil' and 'Looks That Kill'…..two of the biggest Metal songs of the '80s! The opening intro of 'In the Beginning' was always looked upon as a waste of space, as was the instrumental 'God Bless The Children Of the Beast'. Why could they just give us a real song? And what a waste of a good song title! 'God Bless The Children Of The Beast' always reminded me of Iron Maiden's 'The Number Of The Beast' so I had hoped it would be just as good a song. Today I skip both to get to the album cuts. 'Bastard' was always a favorite if for nothing else than the title and 'Helter Skelter' just sounded evil, that is until I found out that it was an original by The Beatles. Normally I disregard cover song, especially in my later years, but I didn't care when I was 11 years old. Even today I still listen to it.
Side 2 was the side that only the guys with the long walk home from school would get to hear during the week, the others had to wait until the weekend. I always skipped Side 2 when I listened at home until i saw the 'Too Young To Fall In Love' video and then I started to listen to the whole album a lot more. 'Red Hot' is still a scorcher that I always thought sounded like something off TOO FAST FOR LOVE, a great tune. 'Too Young To Fall In Love' is a great single but gets forgotten by many, so does 'Ten Seconds To Love. I wish Motley Crue would kick these into the live set once and a while, they do occasionally but not regularly since 2005. 'Knock'em Dead Kid' is a another cool song with a big catchy simple chorus but 'Danger' is the low point. Nothing like album sequencing back in the old days! You could just start the album with 'Shout At The Devil' and end with 'Ten Seconds To Love' and only have to deal with a minor instrumental interruption.
Bottom Line:
One of my favorite albums from the '80s and definitely a classic! I grew up with this record, I listened to it so much that I wore the cassette out and this was one of the first CDs I bought when I got my first CD player. This was Motley Crue at their polished Metal best and they could easily compete with any band from Europe not only with music but image too. There are two throwaways with 'In The Beginning' and 'God Bless The Children Of The Beast' but the rest of the album is top notch radio-friendly Heavy Metal. The worst song for me here is 'Danger' but I still give it an occasional listen and the Beatles cover is one that I actually like. I just wish the band continued with this sound and look for the next album…..THEATER OF PAIN (1985).
Favorite Songs:
'Shout At The Devil', 'Looks That Kill', 'Too Young To Fall In Love', 'Red Hot'. 'Ten Seconds To Love'


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Here's Oscar Pistorius, who seemed well on his way to an overwhelming victory in the men's 200m at the Paralympics, losing to Brazil's Alan Oliveira. Oliveira finished the race in 21.45 seconds, .07 seconds faster than Pistorius. The video above is worth watching if only for the deafening silence that greets Oliveria's win—while shots of the stands make the 200m final look very well attended, the crowd showed its rooting interests by pretty much shutting up after Oliveria overtook Pistorius. Immediately after the race, the silver medalist alleged foul play:
These guys are a lot taller and you can't compete (with the) stride length. You saw how far he came back. We aren't racing a fair race. I gave it my best. The IPC have their regulations. The regulations (allow) that athletes can make themselves unbelievably high. We've tried to address the issue with them in the weeks up to this and it's just been falling on deaf ears.
He's already apologized for stealing Oliveria's thunder, but maintains that the blades gave Oliveira an unfair advantage. The International Paralympic Committee has granted him an audience some time in the near future.
Pistorius fought long and hard for the right to compete in the Olympics, and contended with rulings from the IAAF—later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport—that said the blades themselves (unrelated to their height) gave him an advantage over able-bodied athletes. Not only that, but Pistorius himself has been accused before of using disproportionately tall blades, exactly what he said about Oliveira yesterday after the 200m. When he was only 17, American single-amputee racers Marlon Shirley and Brian Frasure accused Pistorius of "racing tall." Usually, one uses "wingspan and femur measurements to come up with a conservative estimate" of "anatomical height" in the case of double-amputee track athletes. If they fudge that estimate in choosing their prosthetics, they can lower their times through increased stride length. The accusation didn't stick to Pistorius then, and it doesn't appear to have been an issue since, but it's interesting to see him throw it out against another runner having faced the rumor himself.
Oscar Pistorius Apologizes After Loss [ESPN]
Racing Tall: A Paralympian Stands Accused Of Getting An Illegal Leg Up [Slate]


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AMD Intros ATI Vista Ready Chips
2006-10-29 AMD 18 Comments
At an event in Mumbai, soon after the completion of the acquisition of ATI, AMD announced a line of latest Vista-ready ATI Radeon graphic processors. According to Chris Jones, corporate vice president - Windows Core OS Division, "Microsoft will deliver a series of graphics innovations with Windows Vista that provide a customer experience that is second to none. We could not have achieved this without our partnership with ATI. From day one, ATI has played a key role in helping us design and validate the new driver model at the heart of Windows Vista, and ATI has since developed robust and performant drivers that highlight the capabilities of our new operating system."


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Hollandbikeshop.com is passionate about cycling and has many years of experience in the bicycle industry. We sell just about everything to do with cycling, from children's bicycles to bicycle parts and bicycle accessories. Thanks to years of experience, we're able to offer you a product range of the highest quality and diversity for the most competitive prices. For all your bicycles, bicycle parts and bicycle accessories, you've come to the right place at Hollandbikeshop.com.
Can't find the product you're looking for in our webshop or do you have other questions? Send us an email, we'll be happy to help.
Shipping Costs €3,95 - Delivery Time 1 to 2 business days (in the Netherlands)


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After a man threw urine on a California McDonald's employee because he was angry about his order, police asked for the public's help to identify the man Thursday.
Around midnight on July 26, two men and a woman ordered bundt cakes at a McDonald's drive-thru at the intersection of Mariposa and Bear Valley roads in Victorville, said Det. Mike Mason of the Victorville Police Department.
A man sitting in the back seat of the car became angry and started arguing with the woman working at the window because she had their order wrong, and told the customers their total would cost a dollar more than the previous amount.
Local news from across Southern California
Mason said they still purchased the cakes.
About 10 minutes later, the man came back to the McDonald's, parked, and walked up the the drive-thru window and peeked in, Mason said.
When the woman working walked back toward the window, the man started screaming at her and threw a large cup of liquid at her, police said. The liquid, later identified as urine, covered her head, face, body, and entered her mouth.
He left in what police described as a small, compact, four door vehicle.
Although they purchased the order with a credit card, it was a prepaid card, Mason said.
Anyone who may have information about the incident, or recognizes the man was asked to call Det. Mason at 760-241-2911.


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Black Bean and Butternut Squash Quinoa Wraps
This Black Bean and Butternut Squash Quinoa Wrap recipe caught my eye for a few reasons. Number one, I love black beans. Secondly two, I already had a butternut squash in the panty. Number three, I love my vegetarian meals as much as I love my meat!! And fourth, it was made by one of my favorite sites and that is Peanut Butter and Peppers!!!
I have known Jennifer through blogging from almost the beginning. She has a wonderful site filled with healthy and fantastic meals, salads, desserts, cookies, smoothies and so much more. Check out this amazing drink. I have stared at this one for a long time, not only wanting that wonderful Frappe but maybe a dip in that pool too!
Look at how gorgeous this drink is, a Rise and Shine Tropical Smoothie.
Trader Joe's!
Jennifer is also a huge fan of Trader Joe's which makes me jealous, I have to admit because I love that store and we don't have anything like that up here in Canada. I have to say I am a huge fan too!
Anyway to the meal at hand. This quinoa dish can be made as a salad but also a taco and that is how we all enjoyed it. How delicious was this all wrapped up in a flour tortilla.
I love roasting the squash so that it turns out sweet and slightly caramelized. We added a bit more spice with some Frank's hot sauce and some sour cream and salsa on the side and man was this good.
Amber and Ken both loved it and we had some for leftover lunches for the next day! I know you will enjoy it too!! Thanks Jennifer for a great recipe!!
- 1 cup qunioa, uncooked
- 2 cups water
- 1Tbsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
- ⅓ cup onion, diced
- 1 large sweet red bell pepper, diced
- 1-15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 butternut squash
- ½ tsp. cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Flour tortillas
- Romaine lettuce leaves
- Frank's hot sauce
- Sour cream
- Salsa
- Parchment paper, optional
- Preheat oven to 400F. Peel, remove seeds and cut up squash into small cubes. Drizzle with the Tbsp. of olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20min. or until they start to brown, flip over and cook for another 10min. or until tender.
- Meanwhile cook quinoa according to package. Then in a large skillet heat the tsp. of olive oil and saute the onion and bell pepper for about 5 min. Add the black beans, cumin and butternut squash. Cook until warmed through. Add the quinoa and toss.
- Lay out the flour tortilla topped with a lettuce leaf and add the qunioa mixture. Sprinkle with hot sauce, salsa and sour cream or serve them on the side. Wrap them up in parchment paper if you like and serve.


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December 19, 2018 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
We meet every Wednesday at the Grand Ely Lodge and welcome guests and visiting Rotarians to join us at noon for lunch. For weekly program information, please visit our Facebook page.
Fees: Cost of lunch More information
Location: Grand Ely Lodge
400 N Pioneer Road, Ely, MN, 55731


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Machado plays first extended spring game
Brittany Ghiroli is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Britt's Bird Watch, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @britt_ghiroli.
BOSTON -- Orioles third baseman Manny Machado went 2-for-4 over five innings in his first extended spring game on Saturday morning.
Manager Buck Showalter said the report on Machado, who also played the field, was good, and the plan is for the 21-year-old to take his scheduled off-day on Sunday before playing seven innings at third base on Monday. Machado will serve as designated hitter on Tuesday.
Assuming he sticks to the plan, Wednesday would be the earliest date for Machado to start his rehab assignment. The Orioles are optimistic when he does go to a Minor League affiliate that he won't need the full 20 days allotted since Machado has been doing baseball activities for months.
Machado is rehabbing back from left knee surgery in October.
Read More: Baltimore Orioles, Manny Machado


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|Elian Gonzalez saga could haunt Obama
|Gitmo trial looms in election homestretch
|Back at Senate, Clinton treated like royal
|GOP favoritism in new IG report
|How Hoyer got the deal done
|LA Times/Bloomberg Poll: Obama +12
|IN Polls: Prez Race Even, Gov Race Close
|McCain's Psychological Benefits
|VP Watch: Michigan Numbers
|The Charm Offensive Continues
|A Transportation Stimulus
|McCain's Speech in Santa Barbara
|A Serious Energy Policy for Our Future
|The Imitators
|'Victims' of Cut-Rate Loans
There's been a lot of hand-wringing over the spectacle of presidential candidates campaigning during Christmas thanks to the front-loaded primary schedule. But I like it. It provides a nice reminder of how unimportant politics really are.
Think about it. Most of these candidates insist that this is the most important election in our lifetimes. (Funny how they say that every four years.) But if you're remotely normal, you haven't spent two minutes in the last few days fretting over Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan or Mitt Romney's scheme for securing the border.
You may be short on cash, but you probably haven't set aside time to ponder Mike Huckabee's 23% sales-tax proposal. If you live in Iowa or New Hampshire, you might have been moved by John McCain's POW-at-Christmas TV ad. You might have thought about how nice Barack Obama's family seems. Beyond that, you probably wish they'd all just shut up.
In short, the grandeur of the season diminishes all of the candidates because it reminds us of the smallness of their trade.
Washington pundits and politicians have a habit of equating America's collective political mood with our feelings about our own lives. When Americans say the country is "on the wrong track" -- as three-quarters of us now say -- the pundits proclaim that Americans are in a "funk" or a "sour mood." When approval ratings for Congress or the president are in the toilet, news reports call Americans "angry" and the climate "poisonous." But walk along any American Main Street during Christmas week and you'll find the atmosphere is hardly poisonous, the mood far from sour.
Obviously, dissatisfaction with the government is hugely important in political terms, and politics are significant. But Washington needs to get over itself. Very few people define their lives politically -- a fact for which we should all be eternally grateful.
Imagine if the consumer research division of McDonald's found that a majority of Americans were dissatisfied with the golden arches or felt that the fast-food industry was on the "wrong track." It wouldn't occur to anyone at Hamburger University to conclude that Americans were in a foul mood. So when voters say they're unhappy with one or another branch of government, why does that mean that Americans are in a bad mood?
It may rate higher than Big Macs and Happy Meals, but politics still accounts for only a fraction of our lives. In Iowa, where residents are told every day for a year that the fate of the world hangs on their vote, fewer than 1% of the population attends the caucuses. And Iowans are supposed to take "the process" extremely seriously.
No wonder then that an extensive poll conducted by the Associated Press and Yahoo News in November found that although 77% of Americans said they believed the country was heading in the wrong direction, 66% said they were personally either very happy or somewhat happy. Only 18% said they were unhappy.
I have much more direct interaction with my local government -- that of the District of Columbia -- than I do with the feds. And you know what? I have loathed City Hall from the time I moved here on Marion Barry's watch to today. And yet these have been the best years of my life. I grew up in crime-ridden, high-tax, drug-addled, blackout-plagued New York City, when every day seemed to bring the place closer to collapse. Getting mugged every now and then was simply the price you paid for walking to school. And yet I look back on my childhood and smile.
The burgeoning field of "happiness studies" tells us that happiness is a peculiar state of mind, surprisingly immune to government or economic manipulation. USC economist Richard Easterlin first observed this more than 30 years ago. In 1947, 42% of Americans told a pollster they were very happy. In 1970, despite the fact that the average American family was 60% richer, the share of Americans reporting they were very happy had ticked up only slightly to 43%.
Today, a whopping 86% of Americans report feeling satisfied with their jobs, according to the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey. Nearly two-thirds, a Harris Poll found, expect their life to improve in the next five years, while only 7% expect it to worsen. The Pew Global Attitudes survey from 2007 found that Americans have one of the highest rates of personal satisfaction in the world.
That's not exactly the picture one gets from listening to John Edwards deliver another "Two Americas" stemwinder.
Political junkies constantly wag our fingers at "normal Americans" for not being more engaged. There's merit to the complaint; but there's also truth to the notion that Americans understand that the most important stuff lies elsewhere. That the holiday season crushes the political season is a sign Americans have their priorities in the right place.


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The Central Connecticut volleyball team fell to the Temple Owls in four sets on Friday. The Blue Devils (5-6) won the opening set before dropping three straight to end the match. The match was the first of the Temple Invitational.
The Blue Devils opened the match with a 25-13 victory in the first set. Senior Blaike King and freshman Makenna Lommori each had long service runs, which were split up by just three points for the Owls. Over the stretch the Blue Devils were able to increase their lead from 3-2 to 15-5.
The Owls (8-4) made 12 attack errors in the set, which helped fuel Central's 12-3 run. The Blue Devil offense registered 11 kills in the set with King, Lommori and senior Jennifer Waddill all registering two kills. Senior Jamie Rademacher led the team with three kills in the set. She finished the match with seven kills.
Temple captured the final three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-19. The Blue Devils were tied with the Owls late in the fourth set, but Temple pulled away from the 18-18 tie for the victory.
King led the Blue Devils with 13 kills and Waddill recorded 10 to join her classmate in double-digits. Lommori was the primary setter for the Blue Devils and recorded 39 assists.
On defense, four Blue Devils reached double-digit digs. Sophomore Brittany Schumacher led the way with 18, followed by 12 from senior Emily Cochran and Lommori. Junior Amalia Ashley had 10 in the match.
At the net Rademacher and Lommori each assisted on six blocks. As a team CCSU finished with 11.0 total blocks.
The Blue Devils will play a pair of matches against Cornell and Navy on Saturday. The first will begin at 10 a.m. and the second match will follow around 1 p.m.


text: Chris Campbell 1,224 Report post Posted July 9, 2012 In another thread there has been a lot of rancor over issues of 'critiques' of another's work ... who is to judge whether work is good or lacking? Well, we all know there are plenty of people who are more than qualified to give almost any potter a USEFUL critique of their work. Also, there are those who can take the critique as a statement about their WORK and not them, and others who cannot. BUT ... my question lies in whether this can ever be done on a public forum. A good critique is a collaboration. You choose a person you admire or whose work or credentials show they know what they are talking about. You don't choose your fans. I just don't believe it is useful to get one from strangers whose credentials and ability for giving good evaluations of work are totally unknown. A good critique is a gift that you should be thankful for. Letting your work be critiqued honestly leads to good places if you choose people who don't always agree with you. A good critique is NOT a personal attack, its a comment on the work. Having a flaw pointed out does not mean you did a bad job, it just points out what someone else sees. If you want to learn, you look for what they saw and go from there. A good critique is a collaboration. I choose the people I ask to critique my work because I know they know pottery and will talk about the work ... it has nothing to do with me as a person. "I love it" is totally useless to me. "I like the idea but you need more personal content" is useful. "I know where you were headed but you missed here" is useful. So what do you think? Is there any real value to an online critique whether it is good, bad or whatever? 1 BetsyLu reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Help BPTO slay the World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships! We'll be doing a draw at midnight for a Gallant Bicycles custom bike at midnight! Lots of other prizes to be won from local businesses.
Tall bike jousts! knife fights! (that's a polo thing). killer tunes and cheap beverages.
All proceeds will help Toronto bike polo players get to Fort Lauderdale for the Oct 17-19 world champs of bike polo. To get in on the draw for the custom bike, go to http://bikepolo.to/raffle


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Page One
New: FCPC Meeting to Discuss Possible Violations by Landlord-Financed TUFF Rent Board Candidates
On Thursday, Berkeley's Fair Campaign Practices Commission (FCPC) will consider possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act by Berkeley Tenants United For Fairness (TUFF) rent board candidates.
Also before them are possible violations by Diablo Holdings and Premium Property Management who gave $5000 and $1000 respectively to TUFF's Slate Mailer Organization (SMO).
The Commission could determine that there is probable cause to set hearings or take other action on these possible violations. A crucial question, which the Commission could direct staff to investigate further, is whether the TUFF SMO was also a candidate controlled committee, in which case it would fall within the Commission's purview.
The TUFF SMO
Most of the money spent in support of the four rent board candidates on the TUFF slate was spent by the TUFF Slate Mailer Organization (SMO), which produced and mailed five mailers to Berkeley voters. The four candidates were incumbent Nicole Drake, and Judy Hunt, Kiran Shenoy and Jay James. Only Judy Hunt was elected on November 6.
The TUFF SMO provided a way to fund a campaign for this slate of candidates that circumvents Berkeley's $250 limit on contributions to candidates. There is no limit on contributions to oppose or support ballot measures. The TUFF SMO produced slate mailers that supported the four TUFF rent board candidates, but which also opposed Measure U.
The TUFF SMO raised a total of $44,920. After Berkeley resident Patti Dacey filed a complaint with the FCPC on October 25 pointing to the TUFF SMOs receipt of prohibited contributions from business entities, three contributions totaling $1,440 were returned. These contributions were from Stuart Street Properties, Lower Carleton Properties and Ellis Street Properties.
With the return of these prohibited contributions, TUFF SMO's total receipts amount to $43,480. Of this, $6,050 was reported, in the TUFF SMO's campaign filings (Forms 401 and 498), to have been given to support the four rent board candidates. That's 14% of the TUFF SMO's total.
$37,000, or 85% of the total, was reported as received to oppose Measure U, the "Sunshine Ordinance", which was defeated by a 77% to 23% margin. 1% was in contributions of less than $100, which weren't itemized.
While 85% of the money raised to pay for the mailers was reportedly received to oppose Measure U, only about 15% of the space in the mailers was devoted to Measure U. In the first two mailers, there were some bullet points and text against Measure U. But total Measure U space amounted to about one quarter of one side of the mailers, with the other side devoted only to the rent board candidates.
In the last three mailers, there were only two small "Vote No on U" logos, one on each side, one of them measuring only .5" by 1", with no accompanying text or bullet points related to the Measure. The rest of the space was devoted to the rent board candidates.
So the candidates got far more space and reached far more voters than would have been possible with the $6050 given to the TUFF SMO to support the slate of four candidates. State law does not require that allocation of space in slate mailers be related to the proportion of funds received for each candidate or measure included in the mailer.
Where the money came from
Apart from $1600 received from the TUFF rent board candidate's own campaign committees, virtually all of the money received by the TUFF SMO came from landlords, or people involved in property management or real estate.
The East Bay Rental Housing Association PAC gave $32,000 to the TUFF SMO, $31,000 of it ostensibly to oppose Measure U. That's fully 74% of TUFF SMO's total. A further $5000 came from Diablo Holdings, a property and asset management company, with an office on Center Street in Berkeley.
In addition to its contributions to the SMO, the East Bay Rental Housing Association PAC filed with the City Clerk Independent Expenditure Reports (Form 496) reporting independent expenditures of $9950.26 for "advertising" to support the TUFF candidates.
Use of a slate mailer organization and independent expenditures allowed landlords to put large sums to work for the TUFF slate, sums much greater than what they could have contributed directly to the candidate's own committees, where the $250 limit set by Berkeley's election law applies.
There have been 15 elections for Berkeley Rent Board held since 1984 when rent board commissioner first became an elective office. There has never been an election where one slate received such a high percentage of its funding from landlords and related real estate interests. Over 95% of the money raised and spent to support the TUFF slate candidates came from those sources.
The large sums of rental property owner money channeled to the support of the TUFF candidates via the SMO and independent expenditures gave the TUFF candidates a major advantage over their opponents, who were not able to send as much mail to voters.
The opposing slate consisting of Judy Shelton, Igor Tregub, Asa Dodsworth, and Alejandro Soto-Vigil, received a combined total of $24,038.67 in contributions according to the campaign statements filed with the City Clerk. Filings can be viewed here on the City's Web site.
Issues Before the FCPC
In preparation for tomorrow's FCPC meeting, Deputy City Attorney Kristy Van Herick, the secretary of the FCPC put together a twenty page initial staff investigative report. That report reviews and responds to the complaints received from Patti Dacey, both her original complaint of October 25 and a November 30 amendment.
The full report can be viewed as part of the packet for the December 13 meeting on the Commission's Web page.
The staff report reveals some interesting details about some of the contributions received by the TUFF SMO.
Staff talked to John Lineweaver, president of Diablo Holdings, about Diablo Holdings donation of $5000 to the TUFF SMO. The report says that Lineweaver stated on the phone that he "made the $5000 payment to support the mailer for the rent board slate, and that he knew the mailer included other items, but off the top of head he did not know what they were."
The TUFF SMO Form 465 filing, however, says that the Diablo Holdings contribution was a contribution against Measure U.
The staff report says that Lineweaver clarified, via an e-mail sent later the same day, that it was a contribution to the rent board candidates and against Measure U.
The issue for the FCPC is that any portion of the contribution from Diablo Holdings to rent board candidates constitutes a contribution from a prohibited source since Diablo Holdings is a business entity and such contributions violate Berkeley's election law unless made by an independent expenditure committee.
Mr Lineweaver told staff that his contribution was not an independent expenditure. If it had been an independent expenditure, it would have had to have been reported within 24 hours, and that did not happen.
When contacted again by staff, Mr. Lineweaver said that the contribution was solicited by Sid Lakireddy on September 27. Lakireddy is president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association (BPOA). It seems clear from the staff report that the primary reason that his business made a contribution was to aid rent board candidates.
Premium Property Management, with an office on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, may also have violated the law as it also failed to file an independent expenditure report. If it was not an independent expenditure committee, its contribution of $1000 would, like Diablo Holdings' contribution, be a prohibited contribution by a business entity. It did not respond to a letter from FCPC staff.
The BPOA sent a fundraising email, cited in Patti Dacey's complaint to FCPC, encouraging donations to Berkeley TUFF. They were told that they could "donate to each candidate or you can send your check made out to Berkeley TUFF to 2437 Shattuck Ave, St. 17, Berkeley, CA 94704." That is the address listed for rent board candidate Jay James' campaign committee.
The Staff report notes that "it is difficult to ascertain who made the decision as to how to allocate the donations, the party writing the checks or Berkeley TUFF's officer or treasurer upon receipt of the funds."
The "primary officer" of the TUFF SMO is Jay James, who was himself a candidate. This raises the issue of whether TUFF SMO was a de facto local candidate controlled committee that would fall within the FCPC's purview. If Jay James and perhaps his fellow candidates did not control the TUFF SMO, then who did?
The staff report raises the question of whether Jay James' role in the committee violates state election laws. The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) adopts regulations and investigates alleged violations of those laws.
The report states: "The more active position taken by Jay James as Officer of the SMO, including use of his personal address for receipt of contributions to the SMO and presumably making decisions about how to earmark certain contributions, appears to be prohibited by the FPPC."
In addition to directing staff to further investigate whether TUFF SMO was candidate controlled, the commission could direct staff to forward the matter to the FPPC.
Staff also found possible violations by the candidate committees for the four rent board candidates, James, Hunt, Drake and Shenoy. The violations include "receipt of contributions from a prohibited business source", "receipt of contributions in excess of $250 from a single source" and "failure to timely disclose nonmonetary contributions."
The staff report notes that "none of the four candidates timely disclosed the contributions allocated to them on the Berkeley TUFF SMO filings on either their first or second pre-election statements. The candidates therefore did not comply with the BERA."
Judy Hunt is the only member of the TUFF slate who was elected. On Thursday night while the FCPC considers whether her campaign committee violated BERA, she will be the featured speaker at the BPOA Winter Dinner and Award Presentation at King Tsin Restaurant on Solano Avenue in Berkeley.


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techlynx necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 157 diseños de 25 diseñadores freelance.
We are an Australian owned private company who have developed a revolutionary new performance product for the motorcycle industry in particular sports bikes. The product plugs into the motorcycles on board computer which increases power, efficiency and the overall performance of the bike.
The target audience for the brand/logo is the world wide sports motorbike owner/industry.
The age group we are targeting is between 18-50yo.
We are looking to upgrade/enhance our current brand/product logo,
which is called: Interceptor
Attached is our current logo which has already had some market exposure so we would like to keep a similar feel for the text ''interceptor'' but you are free adjust the overall feel of the text whilst keeping a similar style.
We would also like to add a symbol to the logo, we would like the symbol to become a key part of our branding to be used as a secondary logo on key rings, etc. It needs to be worked in with the interceptor text, but also be used as a stand alone symbol that reflects the feel of the brand.
This symbol should have a feel of: speed, power, performance, in the sports motorbike industry.
This logo will be the starting point for our entire market and promotional materials of this brand so it must be clean, memorable and easy to read.
An example of how this logo will be used:
Stickers on world superbikes
Posters in motorcycle shops
Used in retail brochures
And other misc marketing material
The successful designer will also have the option of doing ongoing design work for this brand.
Thank you for your time.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Whacking of Don Hussein
Author: Chris Cook
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday, 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, on the internet at: cfuv.ca, and archived at: www.gorilla-radio.com. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, www.pacificfreepress.com, which you can now support at Petreon.com. Check out the GR blog at: gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/. G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media. Some past guests include: M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, Ramzy Baroud, David Barsamian, Eva Bartlett, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Paul Cienfuegos, Jon Elmer, Yves Engler, Laura Flanders, Eva Golinger, Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Patrick Henningsen, Julia Butterfly Hill, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Chalmers Johnson, Diana Johnstone, Malalai Joya, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Frances Moore Lappe, Ingmar Lee, Dave Lindorff, Andrew Gavin Marshall, Janos Maté, Stefania Maurizi, Jennifer Moore, Alexandra Morton, Sharmine Narwani, Andrew Nikiforuk, Ken O'Keefe, Greg Palast, Dawn Paley, Michael Parenti, Robert Parry, John Pilger, Kevin Pina, Ted Rall, Paul Craig Roberts, John Ross, David Rovics, Joan Russow, Danny Schechter, David Schindler, Vandana Shiva, Tim Shorrock, Norman Solomon, David Swanson, Linn Washington, Jr., Andy Worthington, Mickey Z., Howard Zinn and many others. View all posts by Chris Cook


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IPL3 - 3rd Place Play-off: Bangalore v Deccan Chargers
Hello ,, Friends ,,
now it's clear ... Mumbai and Chennai will play final match. but i like to do dusscuss about IPL3 – 3rd Place Play- off .
The finalists of the IPL have been decided, but in this edition of the tournament, there will be a third place play-off game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Deccan Chargers, to decide which one of the sides join Mumbai and Chennai in the Champions League T20 later this year.
Both sides, Deccan and Bangalore had suffered rather one-sided losses in the semi-final and will need to pick themselves up before this important clash on Saturday. Given the manner in which they have played in the tournament so far, Bangalore go into the game as marginal favourites, but it is very evident that the side batting first will have a huge advantage going into the match.
More details on : http://www.holdingwilleylive.com/
IPL3 - 3rd Place Play-off: Bangalore v Deccan Chargers
Talk about anything not sport related here.
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The breaking fashion news is that Frank & Oak, a millennial-style online men's clothing company, released on Tuesday a new limited edition of "summer-in-the-winter" gear called — unplugged guitar fanfare, please — "Escondido."
The admittedly snarky sidebar, however, is that Frank & Oak, based in Montreal, appears to have had no clue what — or where — Escondido actually is.
Not since the great Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale released "The Road to Escondido" has the Hidden Valley received such an unexpected boost to its international brand.
As you'll recall, the bluesy album's cover depicted Cale, a longtime Valley Center resident, hitchhiking on a country road. He's holding up a handmade cardboard sign with "Escondido" in block letters. Clapton is strumming a guitar on the bed of an old broken-down pickup.
The photograph, it turned out, was not shot in Escondido or its environs but at the Paramount Ranch north of Los Angeles, proving — as if we needed proof — that on most days, summer or winter, SoCal's inland back roads look pretty much alike.
But no matter where it was snapped, the widely disseminated picture reflected the rural identity of the 125-year-old city, the historical capital of inland North County.
Yes, Escondido boasts a downtown arts center and galleries on Grand Avenue, but its global tourist draw is anchored by the nearby Safari Park. Come May, the much-anticipated first stage of the Amgen Tour of California will send swarms of pro cyclists up Palomar Mountain and all around the backcountry, a pastoral world of avocado groves far from the hip beach cities along Highway 101.
So you can imagine the confusion sown by an Esquire Q&A in which Frank & Oak founder Ethan Song discusses his new Escondido collection and its organic connection to the California town that inspired it.
"A big part of the ideas and feel behind this collection," Song says, "goes back to my teenage years growing up in Montreal. My father used to work in the animation industry so I would travel to California in the summer to surf and skate in places like Santa Monica and Huntington Beach. Over the last few years, this desire to escape the normalcy of daily life and the cold of Canadian winters took me all over the U.S., Mexico and beyond to places like Escondido. So Escondido is a reflection of one's need to venture out, to seek the ocean."
Seek the ocean?
The interview went on to discuss the collection's artfully beaten-up colors, '90s skate vibe, French terry crewnecks ("lighter and washed to create a worn-out feel right from the start") and what to pack for a cool weekend getaway. (For shoes, "a pair of worn kicks like Vans or old school Nikes.")
In a video linked to the Esquire interview, Song does a voice-over as he skateboards through his Canadian headquarters.
"What is my dream summer?" Song asks himself. "Escondido is a trip where you plan on doing nothing."
He imagines "waking up, putting on the clothes you feel good in and you're not going to think about it. Out in the nature and the open. ..."
"Everybody has their own Escondido," Song goes on. "It's a space, it's that place, that village, that seaside town that you wish you go back and just live there. ... I've always had this dream of, like, actually living on the coast. What the ocean means to me is a sense of freedom."
It's all quite personal and poetic, Song's lyrical celebration of Escondido-by-the-Sea.
But there's just one little problem.
Escondido is miles (about 20 of them) from the Pacific. And during bad rush hours on state Route 78, seemingly hours and hours.
Escondido is many things, but seeing it as a seaside village is almost as loopy as imagining it as a ski resort because it's close to Big Bear.
It would appear that the real Escondido, the one that exists in time and space, was lost in the French-to-English translation and, as in a margarita, blended with Puerto Escondido, the Oaxacan port famous for its beaches.
Either that or Song confused Escondido with Encinitas, home to Swami's and smoothies.
In an email exchange, Frank & Oak's spokeswoman couldn't seem to grasp my point that Escondido appeared to be wildly miscast as a symbol for California dreamin'.
"We named the collection Escondido not to referencing (sic) a particular city," Elisabeth LePage wrote. "Escondido means to us that place you go when you want to let go."
Well, seeing as how I spend a lot of time in Escondido, maybe I should let go.
Still, I'm tempted to order a Frank & Oak T-shirt with an Escondido logo stitched on the front. It could wind up a cool collector's item.
The sonorous Spanish name — pronounced es-CONE-dee-do with Latin precision; es-CUHN-dee-do with American lingual laziness — always hits me in the right place, in a hidden valley of the heart.


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2012 Hurricane Season will have reduced activity
MIAMI – Dr. Klotzbach and Dr. Gray out of Colorado State University issued their April outlook for the upcoming 2012 Hurricane Season. Here is what they had to say:
"We anticipate that the 2012 Atlantic basin hurricane season will have reduced activity compared with the 1981-2010 climatology. The tropical Atlantic has anomalously cooled over the past several months, and it appears that the chances of an El Niño event this summer and fall are relatively high. We anticipate a below-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the United States coastline and in the Caribbean. However, coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them, and they need to prepare the same for every season, regardless of how much activity is predicted."
SPECIAL SECTION: 2012 Hurricane Headquarters
I can't stress the last point enough. Remember in 1992 when Andrew struck south Florida that we only had 6 named storms, well below the average of 11.
They also list the probabilities for at least one major hurricane landfall on the entire U.S. coastline at 42% (average for last century is 52%), the U.S. east coast including Florida at 24% (average for last century is 31%) and the gulf coast from the Florida Panhandle westward to Brownsville at 24% (average for last century is 30%)
Dr. Klotzbach and Dr. Gray will issue another seasonal update on the 2012 Atlantic basin hurricane forecasts on Friday June 1st and again on Friday August 3rd before we reach the peak of the season.
Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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In seven years, the ICC Table Tennis Center has grown to be premier developer of table tennis talent in the United States. 2012 USA Olympic team members Timothy Wang, Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang all train at the ICC Table Tennis Center.
The ICC Table Tennis Center is located in Milpitas, CA. Milpitas is located in Santa Clara county and is just north east of San Jose. The ICC Table Tennis benefits from being located in the Bay Area, which is a hot bed for table tennis talent. In fact, the ICC Table Tennis Center was chosen by the International Table Tennis Federation as one of 22 hot spot training centers in the world.
Because of its track record for producing many of America's best table tennis players, the ICC Table Tennis Center has been selected as a National Center of Excellence. Head coach Massimo Constantini leads the table tennis program at the ICC. Constantini represented his native Italy in international table tennis competition for 23 years before becoming a full time coach. Constantini's ability as a table tennis coach was validated when USA Table Tennis named him the 2011 USA National Coach of the Year. The ICC Table Tennis Center also employs six other full time staff members to coach its athletes.
The ICC Table Tennis Center will host the California State Open tournament from May 25th to the 27th.
ICC web site | ICC facebook | ICC twitter


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Incredible Hulk vs the Marvel Universe TPB (2008 Marvel) comic books 2008
Tags: Avengers, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor$19.99
1st printing. Collects Fantastic Four (1961-1996 1st Series) #25-26, Thor (1962-1996 1st Series) #112, Tales to Astonish (1959-1968 1st Series) #92-93, Daredevil (1964-1998 1st Series) #163, Incredible Hulk (1962-1999 1st series) #300 and 340, Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1999-2003) #14, and Hulk vs. Fin Fang Foom (2007) #1. Written by STAN LEE, ROGER MCKENZIE, BILL MANTLO, PETER DAVID, and HOWARD MACKIE. Art by JACK KIRBY, MARIE SEVERIN, FRANK MILLER, SAL BUSCEMA, TODD MCFARLANE, JOHN ROMITA JR., and JORGE LUCAS. Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR. Before WORLD WAR HULK, before PLANET HULK, the Green Goliath spent years fighting the finest the Marvel Universe has to offer! Hulk vs. the Thing! Hulk vs. Thor! Hulk vs. the Silver Surfer, Wolverine and more! Whether facing a tag-team match from the Fantastic Four and the Avengers or going one-and-one against Spider-Man and Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk's the strongest one there is no matter who his opponents are! Also featuring the X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fin Fang Foom! Softcover, 200 pages, full color. Cover price $24.99.


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Something mildly bizarre is happening on our nearest star, the Sun. Or should we say, a lack there of… This weeks astro-event is a sort of non-event, but one of the big mysteries of 2009; where exactly are the sunspots? Turning that newly constructed white-light filter we built last week on our mild-mannered star shows a definite lack of activity in the solar photosphere. This isn't entirely abnormal, as the Sun is just coming off of a solar minimum that occurs every 11 years. What is unusual is the length of this minimum; we've had over 600+ spotless days since 2004, a quarter of which have been in 2009 alone. A typical minimum consists of an average of 485 days. You have to go way back to 1913 to find such comparable a lull! Two tiny sunspots appeared last week, which prompted the discussion as to whether the latent solar cycle #24 is finally amping up or not. Both spots belong to the new cycle, their reversed polarity giving them away. Using the technique of helioseismology, Frank Hill and Rachel Howe at Tucson's National Solar Observatory have discovered that the Sun's internal dynamo isn't dead, just sleeping. They predict that the subsurface tachocline should begin intersecting the surface at the junction of 22 degrees latitude by the end of 2009, and activity should resume. It'll be a wait and see mystery that will only deepen if the spots don't return to roost; and does this portend a stronger than usual maximum around the solar bend? Stay tuned!
This week's astro-term of the week is Sporer's Law. First worked out by astronomer Gustav Sporer, this law simply states that sunspots form at higher latitudes at the beginning of a solar cycle, and then gradually progress downward to lower latitudes in both hemispheres as the cycle progresses. We never see spots above 45 degrees of latitude, and astronomers aren't quite sure why. The link between the solar cycle and the climate isn't yet fully understood. Could a spotless Sun mimic or mask the effects of global warming? Both Earth and space bound telescopes are keeping a constant watch on our Sun. Cries of another Maunder minimum, a time from 1645 to 1715 that was marked by harsh winters and almost no sunspots were seen, may be a bit premature… cycle #24 were art thou?


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Millions of motorists in recent weeks suddenly found themselves thinking about the things they needed in their cars in case of a cold-weather crisis. But what about the stuff you need to take out of your car when the mercury plunges?
Here are some things to remove from your ride in subzero temperatures:
- Your smartphone. Apple warns iPhone users, for example, that winter temperatures inside your car can dip below the -4 degree minimum the manufacturer recommends for storage of the devices. Below-freezing temps could shorten your battery life and cause the device to turn off — and possibly just when you need it the most.
- Canned beverages. If you're tailgating at the football game the next day, you might be like, "You can put six of b… soda in here!" But if you load your car up with canned beverages the night before, and it gets below freezing, you may find yourself missing the big game to go have your interior detailed. See, if it gets too cold, the liquid inside those cans is gonna freeze and expand beyond the confines of the can, possibly even resulting in an explosion, which could be dangerous — but almost certainly sticky.
- Groceries. It may be tempting to bolt into the house and warm up after getting home from the supermarket on a frigid evening. But for the same reason as canned beverages, canned foods should be taken inside immediately or you may find yourself scrubbing pork 'n' beans or Chef Boyardee off your upholstery. Similarly, the USDA warns that eggs can freeze, as well, and that eggs with shells cracked by the cold should be discarded.
- Your meds. Extreme temperatures, including cold, can cause medications to lose their effectiveness. According to the New York Times, these could include anything from insulin to "suspended medication" that must be shaken before it's taken.
- Musical instruments. According to a report in USA Today, extreme cold could throw your instruments out of tune as they contract, while wooden instruments may crack beyond repair — and let's face it, your kid's playing sounds bad enough as it is.


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This is a very informative site regarding the works of John Keats.
As a Keats, Shelley,Wordsworth admirer, I find your site especially
appealing in the manner people become attracted to poetic works. The natural world of the romantics appeals to many.The responses
on the site are refreshing and genuine.I hope to have internet access someday.Two ideas, internet links, and a forum for great verses, personal favorite verses from Keats' works.
"While her robes flaunted with the daffodils." Lamia
"Instead of sweets, his ample palate took
savor of poisonous brass and metal sick:"
"And as we show beyond that Heaven and Earth
In form and shape compact and beautiful,
In will, in action free, companionship,
And thousand other signs of purer life;" Hyperion
"The flower must drink the nature of the soil" To Spenser
I hope you have enjoyed my homage poem to Keats.The poem has many themes.It is a tribute to Keats' moments of creativity, rather than a deathbed poem as some have cited it to be.
Thank you for a great site.


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Johnson makes trip to play in hometown
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Usually, Chris Johnson lets the manager post the lineup card. This time, he listened to his mother. Johnson, coming off a tremendous season for the Braves, asked to come on a long road trip to his hometown, Fort Myers, on Friday so he could play in front of friends and family.
Johnson -- who grew up right off Daniels Parkway and attended local Bishop Verot High School -- said he couldn't really resist the temptation to play at home. Johnson asked to take the road trip despite the fact that he had played in three consecutive games, and he spent the morning feeling nostalgic.
"Today's my scheduled day off, but I can't pass up coming home," he said. "Of all the things my mom has done for me, if she asks me to be on a trip, then I've got to do my best to be on the trip."
Johnson, Atlanta's third baseman, logged a career-best .321 batting average last season, good enough to finish second in the race for the National League's batting title. The 29-year-old said that he'd have about 20 family members at Friday's game, including his mother and five siblings.
Johnson's dad, Ron Johnson, is currently the manager for Triple-A Norfolk in Baltimore's organization. That kept him away from Friday's game, but the younger Johnson said he'd try to make the trip to Sarasota later in the spring. But this, a trip to Fort Myers, was something different. Johnson relished the chance to play at home because he credits the community with helping him succeed.
"The coaches did a lot for me," said Johnson, who later attended Stetson University and Florida Atlantic University. "That's kind of where I grew up and learned that I wanted to play baseball for a living. I had great coaches that stuck with me and helped me mature both on and off the field."
Fredi Gonzalez, Atlanta's manager, had nothing but high praise for Johnson before the game. Gonzalez stressed that Johnson was coming into a difficult situation as a replacement for eight-time All-Star Chipper Jones, and he said that he handled the pressure with aplomb.
Gonzalez raved about Johnson's hitting approach, and he said that on defense, the former fourth-round draftee has an outstanding arm. "If he catches it, you're out," said Gonzalez. But the bigger deal, for Atlanta and for Johnson, is the way that he was able to seamlessly integrate to his new team.
"People said he was a throw-in in the Martin Prado for Justin Upton trade, but we knew what we were getting," said Gonzalez. "We didn't know we were going to get a guy that was going to be fighting for the batting title all the way to the last 10 days of the season, but we knew we were going to get a guy with a good approach at the plate, and a guy that knows what he's doing hitting. He uses all the fields. He's comfortable hitting with two strikes. It was a pleasant surprise."
Johnson, originally drafted by the Astros, was traded to Arizona at the 2012 non-waiver Trade Deadline and then found his way to the Braves right before the 2013 campaign. And now, after he's had such an exceptional season, how does he feel about entering a new season with expectations?
"It's good, but I've got to keep working," he said. "When you do good things in this game, people kind of expect it now. I've got to work that much harder to try to make sure I can do it again. I'm a confident guy. This game's hard enough. If you fail seven out of 10 times, you've got to be confident in yourself at least to go up there and know that you can do it at this level."


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MNN published this interesting article that looks at possible reasons that Americans overall are running marathons more slowly now than in the past.
https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well ... ing-slower
Ultimately, the answer is a mystery, but some theories are shot down and others are suggested. One possibility is increasing obesity. Another is that marathons have turned into parties and shopping events.
I often bike in and around Balboa Park in San Diego. It has some hard hills to enjoy. I have noticed that most people in the park are not active and a substantial majority are over weight, including the children. On Friday evening the City brings in food trucks to feed them. Crowds flock to this event. The food is greasy, sugary stuff. People drive to the park to eat the bad stuff and then leave after resting from their meal. Increasingly, people move around the park not by walking, but by riding in electric carts.
Balboa Park is where the Rock n Roll Marathon starts and ends.