text:
University of Hawai'i works to close college achievement gap
UH President David McClain and 18 other leaders of state college and university systems participate in "Access to Success," a joint effort of the NationUniversity of Hawaiʻi
Associate Vice President
HONOLULU — The National Association of System Heads (NASH), in partnership with The Education Trust, announced last month a major multi-state initiative to increase the number of college-educated Americans and ensure that graduates include far more young people from low-income and minority families. The University of Hawaiʻi System is one of 19 university and college systems participating in the NASH "Access to Success" initiative.
The initiative's goals are to improve overall student success and, by the year 2015, close the gaps by at least half in both college-going and degree completion that separate low-income and minority students from others. Each university system has particular gaps that it hopes to close.
"This initiative is in line with our public agenda for higher education in the state of Hawai'i," said UH Acting President John Morton. "It supports a number of steps we have already taken to improve access through financial aid and various other programs while providing us with a strong network to collaboratively collect and analyze data to increase our effectiveness in achieving our goals."
Disparities exist within the University of Hawaiʻi System in graduation and retention rates by ethnicity. For example, the average six year graduation and retention rate for Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian students is 52 percent at UH Mānoa; the overall graduation and retention rates for the Asian/Pacific Islander category is 68 percent. At UH Hilo, the average six year graduation and retention rate for Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian students is 33 percent; the overall average for the Asian/Pacific Islander category is 37 percent.
UH, in conjunction with Access to Success partners, will work to identify roadblocks that suppress retention, improve student success rates in introductory and developmental courses, re-examine and re-focus the ways financial aid resources are being utilized to assist target groups, and work with K-12 institutions to ensure improvement in college preparatory classes.
The partner universities will work to uniformly publish the data on all students served at their institutions, not just traditional, full-time students. It will also provide a common set of metrics that will define a system's success in the real context of economic and racial/ethnic diversity of its state's citizens, in turn making data more visible and higher educational systems more accountable to its citizens.
After the analysis of data, best practices will be shared widely across the systems and each college or university will be responsible for designing and implementing a plan to meet the goals of the initiative by the target deadline.
"Increasing access and success for low-income and minority students is essential to restoring the promise of public higher education," said Kati Haycock, President of The Education Trust. "Because these systems educate such a large proportion of the country's undergraduates," Haycock said, "they are well-positioned to drive America's higher education conversation about 'excellence' and 'equity.'"
The systems participating (see list below) educate about 2 million students, about 12 percent of the nation's total and about a third of all low-income and minority undergraduates at four-year colleges.
NASH is the association of chief executives for 52 college and university systems of public higher education in the United States. The Education Trust was created to promote high-academic achievement for all students and at all levels, from pre-kindergarten through college. The Trust works with colleges and universities that are most often left behind in plans to improve education—those serving African-American, Latino, Native American and low-income students.
To lean more about the Access for Success Initiative, visit The Education Trust website at http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/default.
Participating Institutions:
California State University System, City University of New York, Connecticut State University System, State University System of Florida, University of Hawai'i System, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, University of Louisiana System, University of Maine System, University System of Maryland, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, University of Missouri System
Montana University System, University of Puerto Rico System, Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, South Dakota Board of Regents, Southern University and A&M College System, State University of New York, Vermont State Colleges
For more information, visit: http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/default


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Corn prices tumbled for a second straight trading day on Monday, following a government report last week that corn supplies are higher than expected.
Corn skidded by nearly 8 percent, down 53 cents to $6.4225 per bushel. That also pulled down wheat, which fell more than 3 percent, and soybeans, down 1 percent.
On Thursday, the most recent trading day, the Agriculture Department said that corn supplies were higher than analysts and traders previously expected. The USDA also said that farmers intend to plant more corn than they did last year. Those two developments combined to push corn prices down 5 percent on Thursday.
Todd Hultman, a grain analyst at DTN/The Progressive Farmer in Omaha, Neb., said the reasons for the surprising report are still a matter of debate. Some analysts think it's because demand for corn has been muted so far this year. Others think the crop estimates were too low in the first place.
"Either way," Hultman said, "it looks like we have more corn than expected."
That's a different atmosphere than last summer, when prices for wheat, corn and soybeans shot higher because a crippling drought slashed crop supplies. Still, Hultman said that some traders are concerned about the drought's lingering effects: A lot of crop-producing states still have soil that is too dry. That could impact harvests this year,(equals) and eventually push prices higher.
On Monday wheat fell 23.75 cents to $6.64 per bushel. Soybeans lost 14 cents to $13.9075 per bushel.
Oil fell after an industry group, the Institute for Supply Management, said growth in U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in March.
Benchmark oil for May delivery fell 16 cents to $97.07 per barrel in New York. It was the first decline since March 21.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 1 cent to $3.10 a gallon. Natural gas fell 1 cent to $4.02 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil was the outlier, rising 2 cents to $3.07 a gallon.
Metals were mixed. June gold edged up $5.20 to $1,600.90 per ounce. May silver fell more than 1 percent, down 37.9 cents to $27.944 per ounce.
May copper fell 2.75 cents to $3.3745 per pound. June palladium jumped 2 percent, up $15.70 to $783.95 per ounce. July platinum rose 1.5 percent, up $24.20 to $1,598.80 per ounce.

subset: commoncrawl


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Born in Xi'an, Shanxi Province and graduating from Xi'an Fine Art Academy. Min Yiyao's figurative works have been featured in major exhibitions in China, with solo and group exhibitions spanning Beijing, Xiamen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Taipei, Belgium, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Singapore. In Min's works, the language of his technique draws the viewer in rather that the image itself. He alludes to fauvist influences and a tinge of surrealism. The artist fascinates the viewer with a reversal of the norms expected of a portraiture piece.
Read More
Taipei International Art Exposition, Taiwan
Shoreman Art International, Neijing, China
Art Beijing 2006, Beijing, China
"Unreal East", Belgium
"Dialogue - China" United Kingdom
"Deep-In-Space - Contemporary Art", Beijing, China
"Deep-In-Space", Xiamen, China
"Irrationality", Contemporary Art Exposition, Xiamen, China
"Eclecticism", Shanghai, China
"Images Coordinates", Xi'An, China
Rafts of Medusa, Vancouver, Canada
"Close To You And Me", Xi'An, China
"Exchange Sights", Australia
"Excursion Focus", Xi'An, China
We ship using DHL.
Estimated delivery time to United States is up to 4 weeks. Please be advised that taxes may be imposed at the country of destination. More info


text:
Discipline: Mathematics
Copyright: 2015
Grade(s): 6 - 8
Program Type: Core
Delivery Method: Digital
Device: Tablet, Computer
Operating System: Android, iOS, Windows, Chrome OS, Mac OS
Savvas is proud to introduce a middle grades math program like no other - completely written from and to the Common Core State Standards. digits combines a comprehensive math curriculum, powerful best practices in teaching, and easy-to-use technology so you can deliver personalized instruction effectively and save valuable time. We realize that you need a variety of tools to accommodate all the learning styles in your classroom. Instead of providing you with a multitude of ancillaries to juggle, digits streamlines instruction through point-of-need resources that are intuitive for teachers, optimize effective time on task, and allow you to address the individual needs of every student – in and out of class.
What are the best practices a middle grades math teacher is expected to execute flawlessly and without fail?
Digits incorporates an Understanding by Design guide throughout the program, giving students a broader context for the lessons they're learning. Learn more about Understanding by Design in Savvas programs at http://Savvasubd.com.
Web-based training around your busy schedule. Choose from online tutorials and professional development services from trained, educational consultants.


text:
Home Helpers provides a comprehensive set of senior home care services provided by skilled, trained, professional and compassionate caregivers dedicated to meeting your family's needs. We work with you to create a customized care solution for the best possible quality of life for your loved one in Olivette, and peace of mind for you.
Home Helpers caregivers are trained to offer a wide array of non-medical services to seniors and others in need of assistance in Olivette, Missouri. Our services allow clients to remain active and independent as they age or recover from an injury, surgery or illness.
Our non-medical care is designed to allow clients to remain safe and healthy in the comfort of home.
Care is provided wherever it is needed: in the home, retirement community, nursing home, hospital or rehabilitation center. Our carefully screened and highly trained caregivers are available to step in wherever and whenever they are needed.
Home Helpers offers affordable elder in-home care services in Olivette, Missouri, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If you need senior home care for a loved one, please call us at (636) 391-0000 or click the button below to email us.
Our senior home care services are also available in St. Louis, Manchester, Ballwin, Clayton, Maryland Heights, Kirkwood, St. Louis Hills, Richmond Heights, Ladue, Crestwood, Concord Village, Webster Groves, Town and Country, Creve Coeur, University City, Maplewood, Sunset Hills, Brentwood, Olivette, and Clifton Heights.
Other Care Services in Olivette, Missouri:
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Under Linux you can use strace or valgrind tool for reporting and finding a bug. However, under *BSD / Mac OS X you need to use ktrace as replacement for strace tool.
kreace runs on the following platforms:
=> FreeBSD
=> OpenBSD
=> Mac OS X
=> NetBSD
The ktrace utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes. Kernel trace data is logged to the file ktrace.out. The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei translations, sig nal processing, and I/O. Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until either the process exits or the trace point is cleared. A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly; It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before attempting to trace a process.
To trace all kernel operations for process id # 2546, enter:
$ ktrace -p 2546
To disable all tracing of process # 2546, enter:
$ ktrace -cp 2546
To disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all processes in the system:
# ktrace -C
Attach to process id # 123 and log trace records to myapp.dbg.log instead of ktrace.out.
$ ktrace -p 123 -f myapp.dbg.log
To enable tracing of I/O on process # 123
$ ktrace -ti -p 123
The -t option is very useful to trace various kernel trace points, one per letter. The following table equates the letters with the trace points:
- c : trace system calls
- n : trace namei translations
- i : trace I/O
- s : trace signal processing
- u : userland traces
- w : context switches
- + : trace the default set of trace points – c, n, i, s, u
Run the command called myapp and track only system calls, enter:
$ ktrace -tc ./myapp
Please note that the output of ktrace is not as informative as strace, but it does help to solve many problems.
truss: trace system calls
FreeBSD has another tool called truss. It traces the system calls called by the specified process or program. Output is to the specified output file, or standard error by default.
Attach to an already-running process # 123, enter
$ truss -p 123
Follow the system calls used myapp
$ truss ./myapp -d /tmp -f 120
Same as above, but put the output into a file called /tmp/myapp.dbg
$ truss -o /tmp/truss.out ./myapp -d /tmp -f 120
strace under FreeBSD
You can install strace under FreeBSD and other *BSD like oses.
Further readings:
- ktrace man page
- truss man page


text:
I fucked up with the camera angles, sorry about a few awkward shots.
Several pirates split off and head towards the DSM.
Captain One-arm headshots the armoured Ork, killing him.
The squad of pirates then fall back so that they're out of range.
Bavarian Royals
Karl "Gustav" Von Bavaria: Und wir sind jaeger.
Gus can't shoot for shit however, and the pirate is little more than bemused at the German Prinz.
Not even the horses care about the terrible aiming.
Anton's guards fire at the approaching Orks.
Both of them missing their targets.
Anton isn't really being a coward, he's just using the old Finnish strategy of hiding behind a tree.
This is the reverse-engineered Scythian Miniaturized Laser Cannon. Because it utilizes a combination of anti-matter, blue-transparent and red transparent it's very expensive (63 Million Reichsmarks a rifle), and very powerful. A single shot is enough to annhilate a fighter.
Yodork, known for his fast reactions is unable to block a spear with an OTC.
The DSM charge forward towards the Yankees,
And lay down an impressive amount of firepower that kills nothing.
The Ork lawyer successfully sues the Bavarians for $100 each, as well as their rifles.
Captain One-arm: You're suing me in the middle of a battle for shooting at Orks?
Captain One-arm: Have $100, a rifle and my daughter. Condoms are under the sink.
The Orks may spend their $100 bills on anything for next turn. Anything.
The Orks charge forward at their now unarmed opponents.
Anton's Guard #1:
The Shaman has no problem with choking a bitch.
The big Ork's gun breaks before it can fire. A true tragedy.
American Rednecks
Tattooed Redneck: Go back to Kremlin hell, you cosmonaut pinko bastards.
Dirty Uncouth Redneck: And tell Castro who sent you there, socialist heathens.
Two of the three DSM are dead.
This Drop Trooper shoots the one part of the head that explodes when shot.
Everyone moves up.
One guy attempts to shoot from behind cover, but he misses.
The horses are mainly just spooked, two of them lost a hitpoint.
If there's any confusion about who has what left, please don't hesitate to ask.


text:
Rick Rubin is listening. A song by a new band called the Gossip is playing, and he is concentrating. He appears to be in a trance. His eyes are tightly closed and he is swaying back and forth to the beat, trying at once to hear what is right and wrong about the music. Rubin, who resembles a medium-size bear with a long, gray beard, is curled into the corner of a tufted velvet couch in the library of a house he owns but where he no longer lives. This three-story 1923 Spanish villa steeped in music history — Johnny Cash recorded in the basement studio; Jakob Dylan is recording a solo album there now — is used by Rubin for meetings. And ever since May, when he officially became co-head of Columbia Records, Rubin has been having nearly constant meetings. Beginning in 1984, when he started Def Jam Recordings, until his more recent occupation as a career-transforming, chart-topping, Grammy Award-winning producer for dozens of artists, as diverse as the Dixie Chicks, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neil Diamond, Rubin, who is 44, has never gone to an office of any kind. One of his conditions for taking the job at Sony, which owns Columbia, was that he wouldn't be required to have a desk or a phone in any of the corporate outposts. That wasn't a problem: Columbia didn't want Rubin to punch a clock. It wanted him to save the company. And just maybe the record business.
What that means, most of all, is that the company wants him to listen. It is Columbia's belief that Rubin will hear the answers in the music — that he will find the solution to its ever-increasing woes. The mighty music business is in free fall — it has lost control of radio; retail outlets like Tower Records have shut down; MTV rarely broadcasts music videos; and the once lucrative album market has been overshadowed by downloaded singles, which mainly benefits Apple. "The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content," David Geffen, the legendary music mogul, told me recently. "Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it's no longer about making music, it's all about how to sell music. And there's no clear answer about how to fix that problem. But I still believe that the top priority at any record company has to be coming up with great music. And for that reason, Sony was very smart to hire Rick."
Though Rubin maintains that his intention is simply to hear music with the fresh ears of a true fan, he has built his reputation on the simultaneously mystical and entirely decisive way he listens to a song. As the Gossip, which is fronted by a large, raucous woman named Beth Ditto, shouts to a stop, Rubin opens his eyes and nods yes. This is the first new band signed to Columbia that he has been enthralled by, but he is not yet sure how to organize the Gossip's future. "Let's hear something else," Rubin says to Kevin Kusatsu, who would, at any other record company, be called an A & R executive. (Traditionally, A & R executives spot, woo, recruit and oversee the talent of a record company.) "We don't have any titles at the new Columbia," Rubin explains, as Kusatsu, the first person Rubin hired, slips a disc out of its sleeve. "I don't want to create a new hierarchy to replace the old hierarchy."
Rubin, wearing his usual uniform of loose khaki pants and billowing white T-shirt, his sunglasses in his pocket, his feet bare, fingers a string of lapis lazuli Buddhist prayer beads, believed to bring wisdom to the wearer. Since Rubin's beard and hair nearly cover his face, his voice, which is soft and reassuring, becomes that much more vivid. He seems to be one with the room, which is lined in floor-to-ceiling books, most of which are of a spiritual nature, whether about Buddhism, the Bible or New Age quests for enlightenment. The library and the house are filled with religious iconography mixed with mementos from the world of pop. A massive brass Buddha is flanked by equally enormous speakers; vintage cardboard cutouts of John, Paul, George and Ringo circa "Help!" are placed around a multiarmed statue of Vishnu. On a low table, there are crystals and an old RadioShack cassette recorder that Rubin uses to listen to demo tapes; a framed photo of Jim Morrison stares at a crystal ball. In Rubin's world, music and spirituality collide.
"That's why they call him a guru," Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, explained to me in August, calling from her home in Los Angeles. Maines, who has been with the label since 1997, first worked with Rubin in 2004. "At first, I didn't know if I was down with all that guru stuff. I thought, We're making a record — I don't want to be converted. But Rick's spirituality has mostly to do with his own sense of self. When it comes to the music, he's so sure of his opinion that you become sure of his opinion, too. And isn't that what gurus do? They know how to say the right things at the right time and get the best out of you."
Kusatsu, who has elaborate tattoos on both forearms and a match stuck behind his ear, puts the CD into Rubin's wireless system. This is the fourth male singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar that Rubin has heard today. The music is heartfelt, spare, poetic. "There were a lot of girls in the audience," Kusatsu says as the track begins. Rubin closes his eyes and gently rocks back and forth. His hands are resting on his stomach, and he seems to be almost meditating. "Everything I do," Rubin told me earlier, "whether it's producing, or signing an artist, always starts with the songs. When I'm listening, I'm looking for a balance that you could see in anything. Whether it's a great painting or a building or a sunset. There's just a natural human element to a great song that feels immediately satisfying. I like the song to create a mood."
He also seeks a melody. As a kid growing up in Lido Beach, on New York's Long Island, Rubin loved the Beatles. "I never really liked the Stones," he said. "Although, I loved the Monkees — they had all the best songwriters." Through his passion for the Beatles, he became fascinated by the seductive, addictive power of songs. From the first hip-hop records he produced for L L Cool J and the Beastie Boys, he insisted on classic song structure. "Before Def Jam, hip-hop records were typically really long, and they rarely had a hook," he continued. "Those songs didn't deliver in the way the Beatles did. By making our rap records sound more like pop songs, we changed the form. And we sold a lot of records." The Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill" (released in 1986) went on to sell what was then an astonishing four million plus records; earlier that year, "Walk This Way," which combined Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith, was the first crossover rap single and revitalized Aerosmith's career. Rubin masterminded both.
Whenever he agrees to produce an album, Rubin scrutinizes the songs before going into the studio. Currently, he is producing records for the hard rock band Metallica, the nerd power-pop band Weezer (it is part of his deal with Columbia that he can produce albums for acts that are not signed to the label) and the legendary Neil Diamond. At the moment, Metallica is touring in Europe, Weezer is writing a new batch of songs and Diamond has just started in the studio. Rubin works slowly — it can take him years to finish an album. "A lot of that is because of the songs," Rubin explained. "I try to get the artist to feel like they are writing songs for the ages rather than songs for an album. As they write, they come over and play the songs for me. For some reason, most people will write 10 songs and think, That's enough for a record, I'm done. When they play the songs for me, invariably the last two songs they've written are the best. I'll then say, 'You have two songs, go back and write eight more.' "
His responses are instant, specific and constructively definitive. "He doesn't even take notes," Maines recalled. "He listens with his eyes closed, presses 'pause' and then says, 'You need another chorus,' or 'There isn't enough of a bridge.' He's really precise, and you go back to work." In the early Metallica sessions, Rubin has been exacting about different drum sounds. "Lars" — Ulrich, the drummer — "will play two things for me, and I'll say, 'This one is great and that one is terrible,' " Rubin recalled. "Lars will say: 'How do you know? They both sound good to me.' Well, I just know. The right sound reaches its hand out and finds its way. So much of what I do is just being present and listening for that right sound."
Back in the library, the singer-songwriter's demo is ending. Rubin opens his eyes, blinks and says to Kusatsu: "We may have found one. Does he have any other songs I can hear?" While Kusatsu cues up the next sampling, Rubin texts an assistant on his BlackBerry. Within minutes, a chocolate protein drink is brought to him. As Rubin sips, he listens to the next track — a derivative, meandering song that drones like early Dylan without the lyric sophistication. With his eyes closed, Rubin begins to shake his head slowly. He looks disappointed. "And you wonder why people don't buy CDs anymore," Rubin says. "One song is great and the other is. . . . "
His voice trails off. As a producer or the head of a small independent label, Rubin could afford to be very particular. But Columbia, which is the home of established stars like Bruce, Beyoncé, Bob, Billy and Barbra, desperately needs a jolt of the new. It has also been years since Rubin worked with an artist who is not yet established. Since producing System of a Down in 1998, he has focused on reinvigorating the careers of Johnny Cash and producing records for well-known musicians like Tom Petty, U2 and Justin Timberlake. One of the biggest challenges of the Columbia job is to find unsigned artists and help chart their course.
"I don't know about this guy," Rubin says diplomatically. Kusatsu nods. "I don't want to make a decision for the wrong reason," Rubin continues. "The most important thing we have to do now is get the art right. So many of the decisions at these companies have not been about the music. They sign artists for the wrong reasons — because they think somebody else wants them or if they need to have a record out by a certain date. That old way of doing things is obsolete, but luckily, fear is making the record companies less arrogant. They're more open to ideas. So, what's important now is to find music that's timeless. I still believe that if an artist gains the belief of the listener, then anything is possible." Rubin pauses and looks at Kusatsu. "What else can I hear?" he asks.
This summer, Columbia Records began a program called Big Red. The company invited 20 college students from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami to work on various music projects. The interns concentrated mostly on the digital marketing and promotions departments in Columbia's offices in Midtown Manhattan, which are on Madison Avenue in a granite skyscraper designed by Philip Johnson.
At the end of their paid internships, the students took part in focus groups that were closely observed by Steve Barnett, Rubin's co-head at the label, and Mark DiDia, whom Rubin brought in as head of operations, as well as by other Columbia executives. The focus groups may have been the real point of Big Red — Barnett and the New York executives, especially those who had been at Sony for years, wanted to try to take the pulse of the elusive music audience. "The Big Red focus groups were both depressing and informative, and they confirmed what I — and Rick — already knew," DiDia told me afterward. "The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don't consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."
Few of the kids knew that record companies participate only in the profits from records — that they derive no income from a band's merchandising or touring revenues. And they all thought that the Columbia logo stood for something prestigious, except in the hip-hop world. There it was deemed too commercial and corporate, but anywhere else it still represented a kind of impressive imprimatur. "Which was good news," DiDia continued. "It means we still have a brand that commands respect."
His insecurity on this point reflects the trepidation that is consuming the music business. Seemingly overnight, the entire industry is collapsing. Sales figures on top-selling CDs are about 30 percent lower than they were a year ago, and the usual remedies aren't available. Since radio is no longer a place to push a single, record companies have turned to television and movies. "High School Musical," which originated with a Disney Channel television show, was the top-selling album of 2006, and not only has "American Idol," with its 30-million-plus audience, created best-selling singers like Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry, but an appearance on the show can also boost sales. When Jennifer Lopez performed on "American Idol," it was considered worth noting that her album "Como Ama Una Mujer," already out for four weeks, dipped only 7 percent rather than falling by the usual double digits. More impressively, songs that are heard on popular shows like "Grey's Anatomy" become instantly desirable. When the Columbia artist Brandi Carlile's song "The Story" was featured on the ABC show, it posted a 15 percent jump in sales and was downloaded 19,000 times in one week. Before being heard on the show, the song had been available for nearly two months without any notable interest.
"Until very recently," Rubin told me over lunch at Hugo's, a health-conscious restaurant in Hollywood, "there were a handful of channels in the music business that the gatekeepers controlled. They were radio, Tower Records, MTV, certain mainstream press like Rolling Stone. That's how people found out about new things. Every record company in the industry was built to work that model. There was a time when if you had something that wasn't so good, through muscle and lack of other choices, you could push that not very good product through those channels. And that's how the music business functioned for 50 years. Well, the world has changed. And the industry has not."
Steve Barnett, who is 55 and was the sole head of Columbia until he agreed to split his role with Rubin, was president of Epic Records, also a division of Sony, until 2005 and was well aware of the seismic shifts in the business. Barnett's corner office on the 25th floor of the Sony building is like a miniversion of the Hard Rock Cafe — autographed guitars belonging to Jeff Beck, Korn and Angus Young from AC/DC rest in their stands, and the walls are covered with vintage posters from the celebrated New York rock venue the Fillmore East. To the right of Barnett's large desk, above the framed Johnny Cash portrait, is a sign that reads, "Your Faith Needs to Be Greater Than Your Fear." "I have always believed that," Barnett told me in mid-August, "but it seems particularly relevant at the moment."
Barnett, who is English, is a sharp counterpoint to Rubin. He lives with his wife and two of their four sons in Connecticut. He has neatly parted sandy brown hair, and on the day we met, he was dressed in a blue button-down shirt, tan slacks and Gucci loafers with dark socks. Barnett is polite, careful, aware of his corporate status. Yet he supported recruiting Rubin. "My wife's father is Dick Vermeil, the former coach of the St. Louis Rams," Barnett explained. "My sons would go to training camp, and when Marshall Faulk started playing for the team, they called me and said, 'Not only is this guy a great player, he makes everyone around him better.' Of course, the Rams went on to win the Super Bowl. I think Rick Rubin is our Marshall Faulk. I knew he would change the culture here."
By the time Barnett first approached Rubin about coming to Columbia, Rubin had already decided that he would have nothing more to do with Columbia Records. This was because of the company's handling of the Rubin-produced Neil Diamond record "12 Songs" in 2005. Diamond was a hero of Rubin's, and he spent two years working on the album, persuading Diamond to record acoustically, something he hadn't done since the '60s.
"The CD debuted at No. 4," Rubin told me at Hugo's, still sounding upset. "It was the highest debut of Neil's career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record. The spyware became public knowledge, and people freaked out. There were some lawsuits filed, and the CD was recalled by Columbia. Literally pulled from stores. We came out on a Tuesday, by the following week the CD was not available. Columbia released it again in a month, but we never recovered. Neil was furious, and I vowed never to make another album with Columbia."
But when Barnett flew out to Los Angeles to discuss the job with Rubin, Rubin was intrigued. "I felt like I could be a force for good," he explained. "In the past, I've tried to protect artists from the label, and now my job would also be to protect the label from itself. So many of the decisions at these companies are not about the music. They are shortsighted and desperate. For so long, the record industry had control. But now that monopoly has ended, they don't know what to do. I thought it would be an interesting challenge."
As a kind of test, Rubin made some unusual demands. "Oh, God, I would have liked to have heard those negotiations," Natalie Maines exclaimed. "Rick knows what he's worth, and I can just hear him telling them, 'You might never see me, I may never wear shoes, you're not the boss of me.' And I'm sure they were saying, 'Whatever you want, Mr. Rubin.' I was surprised Sony made such a smart decision: someone who knows music should be running the company."
In addition to his "never wearing a suit, never traveling, never going to an office" demands, Rubin also suggested (strongly) that Columbia become the first major record company to go green and abolish plastic jewel boxes for all its CDs. "They thought about it and agreed," Rubin said. "And that made me think they would listen to me. It was also a turning point in terms of how big my reach could be. In the past, I would not normally have access to that kind of sweeping change. At Columbia, I'm able to operate on a much larger scale."
That was in late April. By August, Rubin still sounded optimistic, but a weariness had crept into his voice. "It's a big ship to turn around," he told me in the Hollywood Hills house. Simon and Garfunkel was playing in the background and Rubin was padding through the templelike rooms. "Columbia is stuck in the dark ages. I have great confidence that we will have the best record company in the industry, but the reality is, in today's world, we might have the best dinosaur. Until a new model is agreed upon and rolling, we can be the best at the existing paradigm, but until the paradigm shifts, it's going to be a declining business. This model is done."
While Columbia has made some small changes in its organizational structure, it has not instigated the kind of extensive alterations that Rubin says are crucial to the salvation of the business. Barnett is promoting the division at Columbia that sells music directly to TV, so that a network or cable show can introduce an artist to audiences the way radio once did. At Rubin's suggestion, he has also set up a "word of mouth" department, which will probably employ some members of the Big Red focus group along with dozens of other 20-somethings. The "word of mouth" department will function as a publicity-promotional arm of the company, spreading commissioned buzz through chat rooms across the planet and through old-fashioned human interaction. "They tell all their friends about a band," Barnett explained. "Their job is to create interest."
Rubin has a bigger idea. To combat the devastating impact of file sharing, he, like others in the music business (Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine at Universal, for instance), says that the future of the industry is a subscription model, much like paid cable on a television set. "You would subscribe to music," Rubin explained, as he settled on the velvet couch in his library. "You'd pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you'd like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home. You'll say, 'Today I want to listen to ... Simon and Garfunkel,' and there they are. The service can have demos, bootlegs, concerts, whatever context the artist wants to put out. And once that model is put into place, the industry will grow 10 times the size it is now."
From Napster to the iPod, the music business has been wrong about how much it can dictate to its audience. "Steve Jobs understood Napster better than the record business did," David Geffen told me. "IPods made it easy for people to share music, and Apple took a big percentage of the business that once belonged to the record companies. The subscription model is the only way to save the music business. If music is easily available at a price of five or six dollars a month, then nobody will steal it."
For this model to be effective, all the record companies will have to agree. "It's like getting the heads of the five families together," said Mark DiDia, referencing "The Godfather." "It will be very difficult, but what else are we going to do?"
Rubin sees no other solution. "Either all the record companies will get together or the industry will fall apart and someone like Microsoft will come in and buy one of the companies at wholesale and do what needs to be done," he said. "The future technology companies will either wait for the record companies to smarten up, or they'll let them sink until they can buy them for 10 cents on the dollar and own the whole thing."
Given the competition among record companies, the subscription model is bound to be tricky to organize and implement. One problem with iTunes is that, with some exceptions, all the songs are priced equally — a Justin Timberlake smash costs the same as an Al Jolson classic. Since a listener would, ideally, pay more for a Top 10 hit, that egalitarian system costs record companies potential millions of dollars. The opponents of the subscription model feel that making all music by all artists available for one flat fee will end up diminishing the overall revenue stream. They would also have to pool their talent, which is difficult for companies that have spent decades fighting over who signs with whom to accept. "There would have to be a new economic plan," Geffen explained. "And it would have to be equitable, depending on the popularity of the artists."
Steve Barnett is nervous about the subscription model. "Smart people have told me if the subscription model is not done correctly," he said, "it will be the final nail in our coffin. I've heard both sides of the argument, and I'm not convinced it's the solution to our problems. Rick wants to be a hero immediately. In his mind, you flick a switch and it's done. It doesn't work like that."
Barnett has other ideas, which he is discussing with Rubin. For instance, asking Columbia artists to give the record company up to 50 percent of their touring, merchandising and online revenue. This is unprecedented — even successful artists like the Dixie Chicks make a large percentage of their income from concerts and T-shirts. "Artists should never give that money up," Natalie Maines told me. "The companies are all scrambling because of the Internet, and they will screw the artist to meet their bottom line. I can't imagine Rick will go along with that."
Rubin won't say — he'd rather concentrate on honing the new model for the industry. "I don't want to waste time," he said, sounding a little frustrated. "The existing people will either get smart, which is a question mark. Or new people will understand what a resource the music business is and change it without us." Rubin paused. "I don't want to watch that happen."
One sunny day in June, Rick Rubin was trying to decide where the new Columbia Records headquarters in Los Angeles should be located. He may not want to go to an office himself, but he still recognizes the influence that a workplace can have on a staff. "I told the corporate Sony people that we have to get out of our old space in Los Angeles as quickly as possible," Rubin said as he disembarked from his Range Rover, which was parked outside a large, one-story former factory that now functions as a sound stage. "The Sony people thought I was insane. I'm also trying to get them to move out of their offices in New York. That space is tainted with the old way. And it's not an artist-friendly place — they search you when you walk in."
Rubin, who was wearing, as usual, khaki cargo pants and a white T-shirt, was trailed by two architects who had flown in from Manhattan for this meeting. He discovered these architects, Dominic Kozerski and Enrico Bonetti, when he saw a chair they designed in a magazine layout. Rubin loves research. He's always on a quest to find just the right thing, whether it be a book or a building. Recently, he hunted down the brand of water that claims to have the greatest level of purity (Ice Age); he pored over architectural manuals to determine what kind of hinge would have been used in 1923 (for his house); and when Johnny Cash was ailing, Rubin discovered a kinesiologist whom Cash credited with extending his life. And so on. Rubin has always been passionate, even compulsive, about his interests.
"From the time I was 9 years old, I loved magic," Rubin recalled as he walked around the cavernous loftlike space. "I was an only child, and I think that had a big impact on me. I always had grown-up friends even though I was a little kid. I would take the train from Lido Beach into Manhattan, and I'd hang out in magic shops. When I was 14, I had magician friends who were 60. I learned a lot from them — I still think about magic all the time. I always think about how things work, the mechanics of a situation — that's the nature of being a magician."
In high school, around 1980, Rubin started listening to a mix of heavy metal and punk rock. (He recalls buying the Germs' record "GI" and "Back in Black" by AC/DC on the same day.) "I saw the Ramones play every week," he said. "I was the only punk in my high school." Rubin paused. "I've always been an outsider. When I did magic, I was the only kid. When I worked with Johnny Cash, I was completely out of place in Nashville. And when I started Def Jam, I was the only white guy in the hip-hop world."
Although Rubin's parents — his father was a shoe wholesaler, and "my mother's job was me" — wanted him to be a lawyer, he had other ideas. In 1983, while he was attending N.Y.U., he borrowed $5,000 from his parents and recorded "It's Yours" by T La Rock and Jazzy Jay, a 12-inch single that became a local dance hit. Rubin then invented a label, calling his company Def Jam ("Def" meaning great, and "Jam" meaning music), and ran the business out of his dorm room. "The clerk at the front desk handled all the shipping," Rubin recalled.
Russell Simmons, who was then a hip-hop producer, loved "It's Yours" when he heard it on the radio. "I thought for sure that Rick was black," Simmons said. In 1984, a 16-year-old named L L Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) sent a demo tape to Rubin's dorm room/Def Jam. "He was much better than anything else I heard," Rubin recalled. "And he still is. 'I Need a Beat,' L L's first single, was the real birth of Def Jam." Rubin did not release the track right away — he tightened up the structure, editing the rhymes so they more closely resembled verses in a song. The result is a spare, clean sound, rather than the endless repetitions of most early rap. "I thought the record would do well, and I asked Russell to be my partner at Def Jam. I did all the work from my dorm, and he did the promotion. Russell was five years older, and he was established. By myself, I was just a kid making records. He gave me credibility."
"I Need a Beat" sold 100,000 copies, and in the next year, Def Jam released seven more 12-inch records, selling a total of about 300,000 units. The major labels had ignored rap, dismissing it as a regional fad, but they took notice of Def Jam. CBS offered Rubin and Simmons $600,000 to pick four acts a year, a kind of finder's fee. "I was 20," Rubin said. "I sent a Xerox of the check to my parents. That's when this stopped being a hobby. At that point, I wanted to live the life of an artist."
By 1987, Rubin had already discovered the Beastie Boys, three upper-middle-class guys from New York City who could rap. The trio's anthemic hit, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)," which was produced by Rubin, was an instant classic: the rhythms of the words form a hook that circles and loops around your brain and will not leave. The Beasties' debut album, "Licensed to Ill," was the first rap album to go to No. 1 on the Billboard chart. "And we were still in the dorms," George Drakoulias, a successful producer who worked with Rubin for a decade, told me. "Rick didn't want to leave. He got college credits for running the record company. He stayed until he graduated. And by then, he and Russell were fighting over the direction of the company."
Each had a different idea of which bands Def Jam should produce. The partnership fell apart during renegotiations for their contract with CBS. Simmons wanted to get the biggest monetary advance possible from CBS, while Rubin wanted to bet on Def Jam, take a small amount of money for the sake of independence and make most of the cash on the back-end profits. They couldn't agree, and Def Jam was split in two, an arrangement that took nearly three years to finalize.
When things went sour, Rubin flew to Los Angeles to work on the soundtrack for the film "Less Than Zero." "I never really moved here," Rubin said now, still walking around the former factory space. "I never packed and moved. But I never left Los Angeles, even though I hadn't planned to stay." He lived in the Chateau Marmont for nine months and started a new record company, Def American. Rubin changed gears: he signed the hard rock bands Slayer and Danzig and gave a record deal to the misogynist comic Andrew Dice Clay. "At every stage of my career, there have always been people telling me not to do whatever it is that I'm doing," Rubin said. "After my initial success in rap, I started making rock records, and people said, 'Why would you do this?' I made a comedy album, and they said, 'Why this?' Now people ask me, 'Why do you want to do this Columbia job?' It's always the same answer: 'I've always liked doing the stuff that I like.' I just like good music or comedy or whatever it is, and now I have the chance to bring that to a big record company. I have no training, no technical skill — it's only this ability to listen and try to coach the artist to be the best they can from the perspective of a fan."
The architects were still daydreaming about where to put the lobby and the conference room in the factory-turned-soundstage when Rubin suggested that they drive over to another potential site for the new Columbia offices. They piled into his Range Rover, which was being driven by Nino Molina, one of his assistants. In the front seat, Rubin turned on the satellite radio and Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" flooded the car. "Where we are going could not be more different than this spot," Rubin told the architects. "In a way, this factory is like a cool, old vintage Mustang convertible and the next building we're seeing is a Rolls-Royce. In the end, they are both great and they probably cost the same money, but they are completely opposite in style." Rubin fiddled with the radio. "Every Picture Tells a Story" by Rod Stewart replaced Sinatra. "They couldn't be more different, but both work," Rubin continued.
We drove east until we arrived at the former CAA building on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. I. M. Pei designed this curvy, cream-colored travertine structure, and the most dominant feature of the space is its vast, soaring, three-story lobby. "This is a significant building," Rubin said. "How often do you get a chance to reinvent a landmark? Los Angeles doesn't have too many marquee buildings, and this is one of them."
The two spaces — one raw and full of promise and the other established and perfect for reinvention — are a neat metaphor for Rubin's divergent music tastes. "I've always been attracted to both new stuff and older stuff," he said as he opened the door to a plush screening room. "When I came to Los Angeles and started producing more, that became clearer to me."
At Def American, Rubin concentrated on a harder rock sound: Slayer's "Reign in Blood," which is considered to be a heavy metal classic, or the Geto Boys, whose rap song "Mind of a Lunatic" depicted vivid scenes of necrophilia and murder. "I just couldn't put out a record about sex with dead bodies and cutting off women's breasts," said David Geffen, whose company Geffen Records was the distributor of Def American. "I begged Rick not to put out the Geto Boys. In the end, I lost. He left and went to Warner Brothers."
Although Rubin claims that Geffen fired him, he stood by the Geto Boys: "I thought the art was good. As a fan, the Geto Boys were thrilling in the same way that a horror movie might be thrilling." In 1993, Rubin saw that the word "def" was now in dictionaries, and he decided to change the name of his company. Inspired by a documentary he'd seen about the hippie movement, Rubin held a formal funeral for Def. "When advertisers and the fashion world co-opted the image of hippies, a group of the original hippies in San Francisco literally buried the image of the hippie," Rubin explained. "When 'def' went from street lingo to mainstream, it defeated its purpose."
The funeral was lavish. The Rev. Al Sharpton was flown in from New York to deliver the eulogy, the Amazing Kreskin performed and Rubin purchased a cemetery plot and engraved headstone. The death of Def also marked a change in Rubin's career. He had never signed what he calls "grown-up artists," and he wanted to work with someone with enormous talent whose career had been eclipsed. "The first person I thought of was Johnny Cash," Rubin said now. "He was a little like this building — already a legend, but ripe for something different. I knew I could do something great with him."
In many ways, the Cash phase of Rubin's life, which lasted 10 years and produced five albums, has overshadowed all his other accomplishments. Rubin had worked intensively with artists before. When he produced the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1991, he helped reinvent their sound by persuading them to incorporate melody and a more lyrical approach in their songwriting. The Chili Peppers defined their music narrowly — as rap infused with funk — and Rubin imagined a different quality. "My job was to break down those boundaries," he explained. "No band has to fit into a little box. I saw the Chili Peppers as being like the Beach Boys in some ways. They represented Los Angeles, a place of dreams." Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer, showed Rubin his notebooks, and the producer homed in on a poem about drugs and alienation called "Under the Bridge." He persuaded Kiedis to set the words to music, and the resulting song was a career-altering hit for the band.
Rubin installed the Peppers in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills that was rumored to be Harry Houdini's former home. It actually wasn't, but the house did have secret passageways, and the rumors of its history lingered. A studio was built, and the Peppers moved in with Rubin's personal chef at their service. As he always does when he produces a record, Rubin came and went. "I do not know how to work a board. I don't turn knobs. I have no technical ability whatsoever," he said. "But I'm there when they need me to be there. My primary asset is I know when I like something or not. It always comes down to taste. I'm not there to hold their hands and baby-sit, but I'm there for any key creative decisions."
And yet it was different with Cash. While Cash was an excellent songwriter, Rubin handpicked rock songs like "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode and "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden for Cash to reinterpret. (He also suggested "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, but that didn't work.) He was much more involved with every aspect of the production — from the choice of songs to the arrangements to the videos — than he had been with any other artist. Rubin and Cash also had a deep spiritual kinship: during the final months of Cash's life, they took communion together every day, even though Rubin, who was born Jewish and now sees himself as not having any specific religious orientation, should not be eligible for the holy sacraments. Even after Cash's death, Rubin would close his eyes and hear Cash's voice as he said the benediction. "It was like hearing a song that you love," Rubin said. "He was there with me."
When Cash was in Los Angeles, he often stayed at Rubin's house. His bedroom, with its view of the city, was on the third floor, and Cash would take the elevator down to the recording studio in the basement. "I was always aware of how important Cash was," Rubin said. "But no one under 40 who didn't live in the South knew much about Johnny Cash besides a few hits and his name." What seems so clear now was not obvious when Rubin began working with Cash — it was risky to reinvent a living legend for a new generation.
After Cash's death, Rubin was searching for a challenge with an even higher degree of difficulty, a greater test for his powers of listening. The Columbia job is a different kind of reclamation project, but Rubin knows that, just possibly, he could restore an entire institution to greatness. "I can imagine people coming up with brilliant, creative ideas here," Rubin told the architects as they finished their tour of the building. "But Sony has to agree. I'm not sure they realize that they are selling art. Right now they could be selling any product. That's why we have to move — we're in the art business."
For the last two years, Rubin has lived in a house in Malibu that overlooks the ocean. In a way, this house is a return to his childhood in Lido Beach, where he spent his days near the water. "It's inspirational to live out here," Rubin said as he settled into a lounge chair with linen cushions facing the sea. "You feel the rhythm of the planet more keenly. I am never this aware of sunrise and sunset when I'm in town. The daily changes of nature at the beach can be deeply affecting."
Rubin has many of his business meetings here now. The '70s architecture of the house is nondescript, but the views from every room are spectacular. There's an old, elaborately carved grand piano in the living room alongside an enormous four-poster brass bed with a striking white linen canopy. When I arrived, Amanda Santos, Rubin's fiancée, was having a private yoga session. While we sat on the terrace, a small Yorkshire terrier named Henry ran between the living room and Rubin's lap. Despite a state-of-the-art sound system, there was no music playing. Only the sound of the waves.
All this Zen calm notwithstanding, Rubin, who was drinking ginger tea, was working. "Do you know about Paul Potts?" he asked as he went to the kitchen to get his laptop. "You have to see this. It totally blew my mind." Rubin found the proper link and turned the screen to face me. The clip was from a British show called "Britain's Got Talent," a version of "American Idol." Despite its popularity, Rubin has never seen "American Idol," and he had never heard of Simon Cowell, who is a judge on both programs.
"This is insane," Rubin said enthusiastically as the clip began. In the video, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man waited nervously backstage. When he faced the judges, he told them he worked at a mobile-phone store and wanted to sing opera. The studio audience looked annoyed — they clearly wanted to hear a pop song — and the judges were cold and dismissive. No one expected anything remarkable from this dull-looking, forgettable guy.
But then Paul Potts sang — "Nessun dorma" from "Turandot." He had an improbably beautiful voice. "Where does that come from?" Rubin said as he watched. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. "I can't look at this without crying," he said. "His voice is so beautiful." When Potts finished his song, Cowell said, "I thought you were absolutely fantastic." The studio audience roared with approval, and Potts beamed.
"It's August now — that show was eight weeks ago," Rubin said. "In England, Paul Potts is already gigantic, but we are going to launch him in America. This just blew my mind."
No one could have predicted that one of the first new Columbia artists to excite Rick Rubin would have been a would-be opera singer from a televised talent contest. "I certainly didn't expect his response to be so positive," said Steve Barnett, who originally brought Paul Potts to Rubin's attention. "I was surprised and pleased that he wanted to jump on it."
Rubin has an immediate plan for Potts — he wants to test the powers of his "word of mouth" department. "I want to see if we can create interest without there being a record to buy," he said. "I've told our whole staff to send it to everyone, to tell everyone, to mention it everywhere. I want to get Paul Potts out to the world." Rubin stopped for a moment. "Although, if someone tells you how great this is, it's not as moving. It's the element of surprise that makes you interested in Paul Potts: he looks so bland, and then he sings so well. If you expect him to be great, will the clip still be great?"
The question cannot be answered. A word-of-mouth campaign, like so many possible remedies for the ills of the record business, feels forced. "I just don't know how else people will see Paul Potts," Rubin said. "And I'm really glad I saw him." He paused and looked out at the surf. "I know this sounds hard to believe, but I never had any expectations of success," he said finally. "I knew what I liked, and I didn't really care if anyone else liked it. I still never assume that anyone will like anything. But I can't imagine that they won't, either."
"Sam Cooke built this," Neil Diamond said as he greeted Rubin at ArchAngel Studios in West Hollywood on a gray afternoon in late July. "I bought the place around 30 years ago. It's not open to the public, but I let Rick use it sometimes."
Rubin smiled. "I think the Doors made their first demo here," he said as he followed Diamond down the hall, past the walls of gold and platinum Neil Diamond records, past the framed album covers and into a glass recording studio. "And now, Neil."
For the past two weeks, Rubin and Diamond had been working on new material, and Diamond wanted Rubin to hear some songs that were near completion. "You know, initially I stalked Neil," Rubin said as an engineer prepared the first track. "Yes," said Diamond, who is trim and was wearing a suede baseball hat, dark shirt and jeans. "At first, it was a little scary — I didn't know what to make of it."
A classic Neil Diamond song about the renewing power of a relationship boomed from the speakers. Diamond looked down, a little self-conscious. Rubin, eyes closed, was seated at the engineer's console with his arms resting lightly on the mixing board. When the song ended, Rubin paused, opened his eyes and said: "You really caught a good mood on that. It lived for the first time." Diamond nodded. They discussed the merits of adding strings or changing the structure so that the bridge didn't sound so much like a chorus. "Some strings might inspire you," Rubin said. "And maybe some amplification near the end. It needs a little polish."
Diamond agreed, and four more tracks were played for Rubin's opinion. He was encouraging and specific — "a little percussion element could go here," he said. Or, "Let's shorten that rolling piano." After about an hour, Rubin hugged Diamond goodbye. They agreed to reconnect in a month, after he'd written some more songs. "I'll settle in without distraction," Diamond promised. "And then I'll be in touch."
Rubin headed back to his Range Rover. In the car, he said he had some live footage of the Gossip that he wanted to show me. "I saw the group at the Troubadour, and they blew my mind," he said. "It was the best show I've seen in five years. Afterward, I met with the band. They felt stressed, and they were having trouble writing songs. The energy in the room when they were performing was so intense, and I'm not even sure how we'd get it to feel like that in the studio. So we decided to record a live show during their European tour, and we're going to release a DVD of the live album as their first release."
Rubin looked pleased. Beth Ditto, the lead singer of the Gossip, is exactly what he has been looking for since he took this job at Columbia: she is an outsize personality in an outsize body with a Joplin-esque, bluesy voice. Ditto is the kind of artist Rubin loves — unique, ambitious and open to guidance. "For a band like the Gossip," Rubin continued, "the support of a record company like Columbia is still really important. I grew up in the independent music business, and you still really need the muscle of the majors. A record company call can still get you heard like nobody else."
Rubin paused. "That's the magic of the business," he said. "It's all doom and gloom, but then you go to a Gossip show or hear Neil in the studio and you remember that too many people make and love music for it to ever die. It will never be over. The music will outlast us all."


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text:
Protogame 0.0.0-SHAe15c7c930afd106b66356d5d0db9f88dcaa9c3f4
Protogame is a powerful cross-platform game engine for C#, built on top of MonoGame.
This is a prerelease version of Protogame.
There is a newer version of this package available.
See the version list below for details.
See the version list below for details.
Install-Package Protogame -Version 0.0.0-SHAe15c7c930afd106b66356d5d0db9f88dcaa9c3f4
dotnet add package Protogame --version 0.0.0-SHAe15c7c930afd106b66356d5d0db9f88dcaa9c3f4
<PackageReference Include="Protogame" Version="0.0.0-SHAe15c7c930afd106b66356d5d0db9f88dcaa9c3f4" />
For projects that support PackageReference, copy this XML node into the project file to reference the package.
paket add Protogame --version 0.0.0-SHAe15c7c930afd106b66356d5d0db9f88dcaa9c3f4
The NuGet Team does not provide support for this client. Please contact its maintainers for support.
This package has no dependencies.
GitHub Usage
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text:
Big Boi Interview On Chelsea Lately!
Chelsea Handler from The Chelsea Lately Show interviews one of the stars of Outkast and Law and Order-SVU, Big Boi.
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Delicious Liquid Sweetener - Tastes Just Like Sugar!
NEW CUSTOMERS SAVE 10% ON FIRST ORDER - At checkout, use Coupon Code: NEWCUSTOMER-SAVE10
|2 Drops (1 Serving) = 2 Tsps of Sugar = 1 Packet
|The 1.05 oz bottle makes about 400 servings
|Made in USA
EZ-Sweetz© liquid Sucralose made from same sweetener in Splenda© packets and other similar Sucralose packets.
The difference between EZ-Sweetz© and Sucralose packets is that EZ-Sweetz© has no filler so it costs substantially less. The Sucralose packets are filled with 99% of bulking materials, such as Maltodextrin and Dextrose, which have no nutritional value but add calories and carbs, and they cost much more to the consumers too.
EZ-Sweetz© is specially formulated by a proprietary technology and offers many advantages over the traditional sweetener packets to support today's healthy lifestyle.
* %Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet


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Your analysis of your local problem should give you a better understanding of the factors contributing to it. Once you have analyzed your local problem and established a baseline for measuring effectiveness, you should consider possible responses to address the problem.
The following response strategies provide a foundation of ideas for addressing your particular problem. These strategies are drawn from a variety of research studies and police reports. Several of these strategies may apply to your community's problem. It is critical that you tailor responses to local circumstances, and that you can justify each response based on reliable analysis. In most cases, an effective strategy will involve implementing several different responses.
Law enforcement responses alone are seldom effective in reducing or solving the problem. Do not limit yourself to considering what police can do: carefully consider whether others in your community share responsibility for the problem and can help police better respond to it. The responsibility of responding, in some cases, may need to be shifted toward those who have the capacity to implement more-effective responses. (For more-detailed information on shifting and sharing responsibility, see Response Guide No. 3, Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems).
1. Using traffic calming. Traffic-calming describes a wide range of road and environmental design changes that either make it more difficult for a vehicle to speed or make drivers believe they should slow down for safety.17 The measures are also intended to make roads easier and safer for pedestrians and bicyclists to use. Traffic-calming measures are particularly effective at reducing speeds in residential areas.18 Common traffic-calming measures are divided into three main categories: vertical deflections, horizontal deflections and horizontal narrowing:
The U.S. Transportation Department prepares traffic-advisory leaflets that provide illustrations and technical details about many road design features. There are also a number of useful web-based summaries and descriptions of traffic-calming measures: see, for example, TrafficCalming.org, the Federal Highway Administration, at www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/tcalm/, and the Los Angeles County Public Works Department's neighborhood traffic-management-plan toolbox, at http://ladpw.org/TNL/NTMP/.
1a. Vertical Deflection
Speed humps. Speed (or road) humps are different from speed bumps. Speed humps are about 12 feet wide and 2 to 3 inches high, and can be crossed safely at 20 to 30 mph. Properly designed, they can accommodate large vehicles such as fire trucks. Speed bumps are shorter and narrower, and can be crossed safely only at lower speeds. They can damage large vehicles. They are more appropriately installed in parking lots than on roads.
Although the street sign describes them as "street bumps," these "speed humps" can be crossed safely by cars traveling 20 to 30 mph. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
Some jurisdictions have experimented with placing optical illusions of speed bumps, potholes or other obstructions on the road. These devices tend to have at least a short-term effect of reducing speeds until drivers realize they are illusions. There is an obvious risk that drivers might subsequently come to believe that real obstacles are illusions and fail to slow down when they should.
Speed tables. Speed tables are similar to speed humps, but are usually long enough for the entire wheelbase of a passenger car to rest on top of the flat, top section. They are often made with brick or other textured materials to draw attention to them or improve their appearance.
Raised crosswalks. These are speed tables placed at crosswalks and outfitted with crosswalk markers to improve pedestrian visibility to motorists.
Speed cushions. Speed cushions are narrow, rectangular humps that are placed close enough to reduce the speed of passenger vehicles, but that allow vehicles with wide tracks, such as emergency vehicles and buses, to straddle them and not affect their speed.
Raised intersections. These are similar to raised crosswalks, but cover the entire intersection, identifying it as a pedestrian zone.
Textured pavements. Pavements made from brick or cobblestone can be used for entire street blocks and can substantially reduce vehicle speeds.
1b. Horizontal Deflection
Traffic circles. Traffic circles are raised islands placed at intersections where traffic volume is not a concern.
Traffic circles, of varying sizes, reduce speeds and crashes in residential areas. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
Roundabouts. Roundabouts are similar to traffic circles but are used in areas where traffic volume is also a consideration.
Chicanes. Chicanes are traffic deflections that narrow or redirect the road.
Realigned intersections. Realigning intersections involves putting bends and curves in the road at "T" intersections to help reduce speeds.
It is essential that vehicles traveling in the roundabouts have the right-of-way, rather than those entering the roundabouts, for them to be effective in reducing crashes (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 1999).
1c. Horizontal Narrowing
Neckdowns. Neckdowns are built-out curbs at intersections that reduce the width of the road and the distance needed for pedestrians to cross.
Center islands. These are raised islands in the centerline of a road. They can be installed as gateways to residential neighborhoods.
Neighborhood gateways remind drivers that they are entering residential areas where lower speeds are appropriate. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
Chokers. These are mid-block build-outs (sidewalk-area extensions into the road).
Other strategies include:
The speed reductions achieved by permitting parking must be offset against the increased risk to pedestrians who dart into the road from between parked vehicles.
Traffic-calming measures can be expensive, however, so you must determine their cost-effectiveness over the long term. Traffic-calming measures work best if they are understood and accepted by the public, take into account the special requirements of emergency response vehicles and are reinforced with adequate levels of police enforcement.19 Properly designed, traffic-calming measures can also reduce noise levels by reducing vehicle acceleration. Without traffic-calming measures, it is difficult for police to reduce average vehicle speeds below 25 mph.20
2. Posting warning signs and signals. Painting speed limits or "SLOW" on the road surface, in combination with posting roadside signs, can help reduce speeds.21 Transverse pavement markings create the illusion of high speed, and when placed ahead of traffic hazards, have been shown to cause drivers to slow down.22 Strobe-light signals, flashing signals and warning signs painted in eye-catching fluorescent colors can improve drivers' awareness of special hazards and reduced speed limits.23 Where there are many other signs and sights competing for drivers' attention, it is hard to get drivers to notice speed warnings. Warning signs and signals are more effective if they convey why drivers should slow down (e.g., curve ahead, school zone, road construction).24 Other signs, such as those that warn of children in the area, are not known to effectively reduce speeds.25
Warning signs such as these pedestrian-crossing and school-zone signs remind drivers to slow down. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
3. Blending motor and non-motor vehicle uses of public space through urban design. In some communities, urban planners are rethinking the conventional separation of driving and nondriving uses of public space. They are removing standard barriers, signs and road markings that delineate where vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians belong, replacing them with gateways, new surface materials and street furniture, such as benches, short posts or pillars, streetlamps, waste bins, fountains, and bus stops. This reduces the traditional separation between motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians by eliminating wide, straight routes and blurring the lines between public and private space. The results are greatly reduced speeds because motorists recognize that they are sharing the space with non-motorized users and therefore must be more cautious.26 First pioneered by the Dutch, these designs are being used successfully in the United States in Seattle; Portland and Eugene, Oregon; and West Palm Beach and Sarasota, Florida.
The goal of education responses is to make speeding socially unacceptable. But given the current acceptability of speeding, there is the potential for a negative backlash against anti-speeding campaigns.27
4. Conducting anti-speeding public awareness campaigns. Anti-speeding public awareness campaigns have been recommended, even though their effects may not be immediate and substantial; they can help change the social acceptability of speeding and alter drivers' beliefs that they are better and safer than other drivers. 28 Public awareness campaigns need not be overtly accusatory, but should convey facts about the dangers and consequences of speeding so as to debunk common myths about speed and driving. Because many drivers say they speed merely to keep up with traffic, encouraging voluntary compliance with speed limits can help slow down those drivers who consciously or subconsciously follow other drivers' lead.
Targeted information campaigns can be even more effective than publicly broadcast campaigns. Police can issue warnings and requests directly to groups of chronic speeders if they can identify them. For example, Raleigh, North Carolina, police determined that students' parents were the most common speeders near schools: police set up warning signs in the school zones, published speeding education information in the school newsletters, and distributed warning and education information to parents stopped for speeding and those dropping off their children at school, resulting in a doubling of the percentage of drivers obeying the speed limit.29
A twist on the conventional public awareness campaign that discourages speeding is a campaign that encourages obeying the speed limit. In some campaigns of this sort, police have achieved positive results by stopping drivers and thanking them for obeying the speed limit; in others, signs have been posted indicating the percentage of drivers obeying the speed limit.30
An interesting method for making the public aware of the hazards of speeding in school zones comes from Lithuania. There, drivers are required to keep their headlights on at all times during the first week school is in session as a reminder to one another to drive carefully where children are present.
Some public awareness campaigns are professionally developed, using television, radio and billboards. These campaigns typically convey official, government-sanctioned messages about speeding risks. Anti-speeding campaigns developed at the grass-roots level are potentially even more effective than official campaigns. Using simple lawn signs, speed display boards, warning letters, or personal appeals to speeders who have been stopped, these campaigns can convey more heartfelt messages to speeders about the risks they create.
Grass-roots anti-speeding signs convey more heartfelt messages to speeders. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
5. Informing complainants about actual speeds. Complainants do not always estimate vehicle speeds accurately. Vehicle speed almost always seems faster to a stationary pedestrian than to a moving motorist. Where you suspect that complainants' concerns may be exaggerated, you might have a police officer monitor speeds with complainants present. Some complainants may be surprised to learn that vehicles are in fact traveling the speed limit. This does not necessarily mean that speeds are appropriate for the conditions, but at a minimum it helps complainants better understand what responses might be most appropriate to remedy the problem.
6. Providing realistic driver training. Realistic driver training similar to what police officers receive can help drivers better appreciate speed's effects on their ability to control a vehicle.31 Proper, realistic training courses require skilled instructors, special safety equipment and protected driving areas.
7.Enforcing speeding laws. Long-term changes in drivers' attitudes toward speeding depend on drivers' perceived risk of being stopped.32 However, a considerable investment of resources is required to significantly increase the risk of getting caught.33 The public generally supports speed enforcement, especially in residential areas and other areas where there are children.34 Speed enforcement works best if
With respect to the last condition above, you must balance making the public aware of the enforcement campaign against allowing drivers to anticipate precisely where and when officers are conducting enforcement. For example, you might consider advertising on the radio that the police will be enforcing speeding laws on particular roads on particular days, but not give visual cues to drivers of the exact location of the speed detection devices and officers. This will enhance the deterrent effect for drivers listening to the radio, without reducing the deterrent effect for those who are not. You should vary the enforcement times and locations enough so that drivers do not become confident that they can avoid detection. Advance publicity of enforcement campaigns also increases public support for enforcement by establishing a sense of fairness to drivers. Explaining why police have targeted particular locations for enforcement (e.g., there's a high rate of crashes or citizen complaints) also increases public support. You should conduct enforcement both at problem locations and at randomly selected locations to maximize deterrence. Stationary marked police vehicles are more effective than moving marked police vehicles in reducing speed.36
The Silverthorne, Colorado, Police Department surveyed the community to determine the thresholds at which the public believed the police should issue speeding citations at specific locations. The police issued the survey results to drivers stopped for speeding, thereby enhancing police authority to enforce speeding laws and minimizing citizen complaints about speed enforcement.
An Australian study concluded that posting police officers in marked police vehicles on randomly selected stretches of road at random times generally is a cost-effective way to maximize deterrence and reduce traffic crashes (Leggett 1997).
Police enforcement is expensive to maintain consistently, and it quickly loses its effect where the enforcement effort is not visible to drivers.37 Intensive speed enforcement also loses its effectiveness because of the typical incentive system for traffic officersthey are rewarded for issuing citations rather than for maintaining reduced average speeds. Consequently, as soon as the enforcement effort has the positive effect of reducing speeds, there are fewer violations and traffic officers move on to other locations, after which speeds quickly resume their pre-enforcement levels.38
Drivers should not be able to easily detect when and where police are enforcing speed limits. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
8. Enforcing speeding laws with speed cameras. Speed cameras, also referred to as photo radar, are cost-effective in reducing speeds, crashes, injuries, and fatalities, particularly when detected violations are prosecuted.39 Police determined that speed cameras, used in conjunction with other responses, have proved effective in reducing the percentage of speeders, vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities in Victoria, Australia.40 There, police mounted speed cameras either in unmarked police vehicles or on tripods along the roadside, without advance warnings to drivers about the cameras' location. The police could move the cameras around so drivers could not predict where they placed them. Speed-camera use can be effective in residential neighborhoods as well as on major arteries and highways.41 Some drivers slow down when approaching speed cameras, but quickly speed up once they pass.42 This can be countered by hiding the cameras better and otherwise preventing drivers from knowing exactly where they are. In some jurisdictions, the relatively inexpensive protective boxes in which speed cameras are placed are mounted in many locations, leaving drivers uncertain as to which boxes actually contain cameras at any particular time.
The public has generally accepted the use of speed cameras, especially in high-risk zones, although there are some strong objections to the invasion of privacy and preferences for personal interactions with enforcers.43 Some jurisdictions have experienced significant vandalism to speed cameras.44 The United Kingdom first authorized speed cameras by law in 1991; now, all British police forces use them. Norway has used them effectively since 1988.45 Not all U.S. jurisdictions have specifically authorized speed cameras for prosecution, and some states and municipalities have specifically rejected proposals for their use. You should first gauge public support for speed cameras before formally attempting to use them. In addition, some issues exist regarding the fees companies that install and operate speed cameras charge, and how the jurisdiction uses revenue generated from fines.
The first generation of speed cameras required that someone take film from the cameras, to be processed. More-advanced technology allows for more-efficient remote-image processing.46
9. Using speed display boards. Speed display boards measure oncoming vehicles' speeds and prominently display the speeds to drivers. Research has shown that speed display boards reduce speeds and crashes, seem at least as effective as speed cameras and are more cost-effective.47 Speed display boards are particularly effective with drivers who do not pay attention to their speed. Large, changeable-message signs that combine site-specific messages with speed displays have effectively reduced speeds by as much as nine mph in and around school speed zones.48 They are more effective when supplemented with police enforcementin this combination, the effect can last several weeks after they are removed. Unattended display boards, however, are vulnerable to vandalism.
Speed display boards are a cost-effective way to reduce speeds. (Photo credit: Kip Kellogg)
10. Arresting the worst offenders. As one method for changing public attitudes toward speeding, some police agencies have amended their policies and arrested serious offenders (those driving much higher than the speed limit) rather than merely releasing them with a citation. The intent is to convey a strong message that driving well over the speed limit is a seriously dangerous offense and not a harmless technical infraction. This response may require special legislation and policies.
The Glendale, Ariz., Police Department (1998) used this response as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce speeding. State law specifically authorized the police departments custodial arrest policy.
11. Having citizen volunteers monitor speeding. Some police agencies have recruited and trained citizen volunteers to operate speed detection devices in residential areas.49 The volunteers record the vehicle speeds and license plate numbers and turn them over to the police. Police then send official warning letters to the registered vehicle owners. Other police agencies, such as the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department, have had citizens join police officers on traffic stops to explain the community's concerns about speeding to drivers.
12. Reducing speed limits. Speed limits alone have little effect on actual vehicle speeds. Reducing posted speed limits will typically decrease actual average vehicle speeds by only one-fourth of the reduction.50 So, for example, reducing the posted speed limit from 30 to 25 mph will reduce actual average vehicle speeds by only a little more than one mph. When police set speed limits lower than what most drivers consider safe (typically, the 85th percentile), the net effect is to cause many drivers to ignore those speed limits, as well as other posted speed limits;51 if police enforcement of the reduced limits fails to establish a credible deterrent, drivers may increasingly lose respect for all speed limits. In some jurisdictions, a posted speed limit lower than the 85th-percentile speed may constitute a legal defense to enforcement. Researchers should conduct careful speed studies before police change speed limits. Similar roads should have similar speed limits so drivers do not come to believe that police arbitrarily set speed limits.52,
The Wisconsin Transportation Information Center (1999) published a guide for setting speed limits on local roads. Although it specifically refers to Wisconsin, much of the information applies to any jurisdiction.
Traffic and road engineers may inadvertently increase vehicle speeds when they build extra safety margins into the road design and speed limit.53 For example, if they want vehicles to travel 25 mph along a particular road, they might set the speed limit at 25 mph, but design the road using accepted guidelines for 30-mph travel, thinking this will provide an extra safety margin. However, the accepted guidelines already have a safety margin factored into them, resulting in a double safety margin that actually makes the road seem travel-safe at 35 to 40 mph. Because most drivers travel at what they perceive as safe speeds rather than the posted speed limit, they will end up driving 10 to 15 mph faster than the engineers originally intended. This unintended effect reflects an underlying tension in road safetya desire on the one hand to build roads that encourage drivers to drive at slower, safer speeds, and a desire on the other hand to make roads safe enough for drivers who choose to drive faster. Road and traffic engineers have often tried to resolve this tension by making roads wider, straighter and more obstruction-free. More recent trends have turned in the opposite direction, to get drivers to slow down.
13. Increasing fines and penalties. Higher fines and penalties, beyond the threshold that offenders consider meaningful, do not continue to reduce speeds.54
14. Erecting stop signs. Many aggrieved citizens believe that erecting stop signs along residential roads will force drivers to slow down. They pressure elected officials and traffic engineers to erect new stop signs. However, the unintended effects may be that drivers speed up mid-block to make up for lost time, thereby keeping average speeds high, increasing acceleration noise and decreasing fuel efficiency.55
15. Installing speed bumps or rumble strips. Speed bumps, as opposed to speed humps, do not effectively reduce speeds, and can prove hazardous.56 Rumble stripsintermittent series of bumps across the roaddo not reduce speeds directly; they serve merely to warn drivers of a hazard ahead.57
16. Reengineering vehicles. New vehicle technology holds some potential to control speeding, but most features are not yet standard or widely accepted by the public.58 Speed limiters prevent a vehicle from going faster than a set speed. Speed limiters can be programmed to receive electronic signals from transmitters along the road and adjust maximum speeds automatically. So-called smart cards can electronically record a vehicle's speed and automatically report it to police. Electronic speed indicators, reading electronic roadside signals, warn drivers they are speeding, or speed indicators in the vehicle electronically trigger roadside warning signals.
There is currently available more practical and increasingly popular in-vehicle technology that records speeds and other data for later or real-time monitoring by drivers' guardians, commonly teenage drivers' parents. Prosecutors might also consider such technology as a conditional sentence for convicted chronic speeders.
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The FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the country have reported the resurgence of an old trick known as the jury duty scam.
In this scam, potential victims receive calls from people posing as court officers. The caller informs the victim that he or she failed to appear for jury duty and that a warrant has been issued for his or her arrest. After alarming the victim, the caller then seeks to "confirm� the victim's Social Security number and other personal information. After divulging this information, the victim is often told that the entire matter can be instantly dismissed by paying a fine. All the victim needs to do is provide a credit card or checking account routing number.
By the time the call ends, the scammer has all the information necessary to open lines of credit under the unsuspecting victim's name. Identity thieves can quickly empty the victim's bank accounts or run up staggering credit card bills.
As with many ploys to obtain consumers' personal information, it is likely that many of these identity thieves are actually thousands of miles away, often in other countries and out of reach of U.S. law enforcement. Under this scheme, criminals simply go through the phone book hoping that sooner or later someone will provide the sensitive information they need to steal an identity.
This ploy is particularly effective because it causes victims to react immediately out of fear, rather than taking the time to reflect about the information being requested. While citizens could face legal consequences for failing to respond to a valid jury summons, legitimate court officers would never leave threatening messages on someone's voicemail to demand personal information and immediate payment of a fine.
Consumers who receive such a call can verify whether they must appear for jury duty by calling their local courthouse or district court. Consumers should NEVER hand over personal information in response to an unsolicited telephone call or e-mail, no matter how legitimate it might appear.
For more information, contact the Office of the Attorney General at (800) 252-8011 or visit the Attorney General's Web site at www.oag.state.tx.us.


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1. January is National Mentoring Month, and my ministry's blog, Serve Our Youth Network News, has posted several items related to mentoring, our mentoring program and National Mentoring Month.
2. Chuck Colson on "Truth, Love and Endurance: Dr. King and Christian Activism" you can also listen to his commentary.
3. Justin Taylor interviews Robert P. George, a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, and director of the school's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, on Roe v. Wade, 35 years later.
4. Bill Clinton Has a Dream during Martin Luther King Jr.'s son's speech at Ebeneezer Baptist Church.
5. Chicago Tribune: "The Use and Abuse of Ronald Reagan" by Victor Davis Hanson reminds readers of President Reagan's record as GOP candidates try to out-Reagan one another.
6. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is being criticized for being "un-French" by talking about religion in society.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is drawing criticism from opponents for his frequent and increasing talks on religion in society, which critics say is a very "un-French" thing to do.
Sarkozy broke a taboo last December when he emphasized France's Christian roots at a speech in Rome basilica, referring to France as "the eldest daughter of the Church" and stating that "the roots of France are essentially Christian."
Some say his speeches, including his latest in Saudi Arabia's capital city, ignore a French law separating church and state.
"A speech citing God not only on every page, but on every line, creates a fundamental problem for the republic," argued Socialist Jean Glavany at the National Assembly last Wednesday referring to Sarkozy's speech earlier in the week on providing state subsidies for faith-based groups.
Source: Christian Post
7. This gives soul food an entirely new meaning.
But did they actually say anything that helped voters make a decision?
9. Starbucks can test this in Des Moines anytime. Like right now would be good. Coffeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
10. Try this for a campaign pledge.
11. Great Quote
A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.
– Soren Kierkegaard in Christian Discourses HT: God's Politics
12. American Christians are self-indulgent according to Erwin McManus:
In a recent article in Christian Today, Erwin McManus contends that the reason why churches are declining in America is because they are self-centered. "My primary assessment would be because American Christians tend to be incredibly self-indulgent so they see the church as a place there for them to meet their needs and to express faith in a way that is meaningful for them…there is almost no genuine compassion or urgency about serving and reaching people who don't know Christ."
Source: Christianity Today HT: Monday Morning Insight
13. There has been some controversy at Young Life when eight of their Durham ministry leaders either resigned or were terminated over disagreement with a new statement of non-negotiables made by senior leadership of this 66-year old ministry. Six imperatives fleshed out in this proclamation are:
- We proclaim the person of Jesus Christ in every message.
- We proclaim the reality of sin and its consequences—that apart from divine grace, we are estranged from God by our disobedience and incapable of a right relationship with God.
- We proclaim the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as the ultimate proof of God's love and the only solution to our problem of sin.
- We proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- We proclaim the risen Christ's offer of salvation by inviting our middle school, high school, and college friends to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior.
- We proclaim God's call to discipleship by encouraging all who respond to grow in their faith.
Tony Jones has three blog posts related to this… here, here and here. What do you think?
14. Greg Steir writes on The Coming Apostasy, what he sees today with some in the Christian speaking circut:
A growing emphasis on quasi or full on universalism.
A tendency to de-emphasize, question or outright attack core theological truths.
An overemphasis on "the red letters" of the Bible.
An increasing skepticism toward certainty about anything.
An overwhelming focus on conversations rather than conclusions.
A redefining of the gospel without propositions.
15. A new tract delivery system (see left) – evangelism by stealth. I don't know, it might be effective. People like to read while in the bathroom. Could work… could work… I don't think I'll be trying it anytime soon.
16. New Republican Leader Map – some shocking changes with new polls coming out.
17. Mom, help! A politician is trying to relate to me!!!!! Warning, the following video is very painful to watch. Mitt Romney meeting with some youth in Jacksonville, FL.
HT: Allen Thornburgh at The Point
18. Job Security
HT: Naked Pastor – David Hayward
19. Muslims are not the only ones who are militant and persecutes Christians. Hindus do as well.
20. Evidently Pakistan isn't hunting Osama. Is that really a surprise?


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No-Bake Fudge Brownies
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Total Time to Serve: 4 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 16
1 can 14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate, cut up
1 box Keebler® Vanilla Wafers
3/4 cup chopped nuts, divided
1. In medium heavy saucepan combine milk and chocolate Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
2. Stir cookie crumbs and 1/2 cup of nuts into chocolate mixture. Pat into 8 x 8 x 2-inch pan lined with wax paper. 3. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup nuts on top, lightly pressing into chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until firm. Cut into squares.
-$1.00/2 Keebler Cookies, 8/7 RP (exp. 10/2/11)
Thanks Stretching Your Budget!