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Starting Jan. 18 and continuing every weekend through to March 1, longtime Montreal rock writer Juan Rodriguez tells the story of his rock 'n' roll life. Check back every week for a new instalment, a new playlist of songs (viewable only on the web), a new video featuring more of his stories and an invitation for readers to share their own music stories. Here is the first instalment.
MONTREAL - The epiphany occurred one night in September 1964, when I placed my father's Telefunken reel-to-reel tape recorder next to the kitchen radio and self-consciously made a document of musical times a-changin' as I turned the dial from station to station. At night you could catch American stations with mind-blowingly clear reception; Boston and New York often came in clear as a bell. But clarity wasn't necessarily the objective. Static and fuzz, due to sudden shifts in wind or interference from other power sources, only added to the authenticity of the moment, of great distances bridged by the discovery of a new and exciting spirit of sound. This dial-turning was my first intensely interior listening experience, sounds colliding like atoms inside my head.
The airwaves were dense with exploding pop music — supercharged, magic. The Beatles led the blitz with A Hard Day's Night; the movie of the same name premièred in theatres the previous month. (I stayed for two screenings.) Their hits from earlier in the year — and from late 1963, when they topped the British charts while Americans mourned JFK with teen pap — were now being played as oldies alongside the current releases. The Stones' Tell Me was beginning a slow fade off the charts — it always sounded like it was fading in and out of the ozone anyway, with its dissonant harmonies and echoed tambourine — replaced by their spanking cover of Bobby Womack's R&B classic It's All Over Now.
I often confused the Shangri-Las' Remember (Walkin' in the Sand), with its seagull sound effects and haunting fade-out ("the night was so exciting ... smile was so inviting"), with the Ronettes' Walking in the Rain, with its dramatic thunderclap beginning. (The latter group — which I'd read about in Tom Wolfe's portrait The First Tycoon of Teen, published in the New York Herald Tribune — spurred my weekly search for 45s on producer Phil Spector's label Philles, featuring his famous Wall of Sound.)
The Animals' The House of the Rising Sun was instantly recognizable, its syncopated guitar-and-bass intro booming as if the radio station had turned the volume up a notch. Many stations played the extended version, which included a snaky, rococo organ solo. (When CFCF DJ Dave Boxer dissed the Animals for the song's length, and ran an essay contest for opinions pro and con, I won. "Very articulate," muttered Dave.) Roy Orbison had a similar "listen to this" opening guitar grabber — we didn't use the term "riff" until a year or two later — on Oh, Pretty Woman.
You could always recognize a Motown record (The Sound of Young America): high treble notes, echoed rhythm sections (as if recorded inside a barrel), tambourines, surreal jazzy underpinnings (pithy hints of vibraphone). Echoed stomping noises heralded the Supremes' Where Did Our Love Go. (Or was it their newer, rush-released Baby Love?) You couldn't miss the yearning of the Four Tops' heartbreaking Baby I Need Your Loving ("got to have all your lovin' ").
There was the surf sound: I Get Around by the Beach Boys, standing up for America in the onslaught of the British Invasion (with the immortal line of teen dissatisfaction, "I'm gettin' bugged drivin' up 'n' down the same old strip / I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip"), and Jan & Dean's funny, cool The Little Old Lady from Pasadena. There was nonsense funk as fashioned by Manfred Mann's Do Wah Diddy Diddy — sometimes you could switch stations and hear another diddy-diddy almost at the same time, like a tape loop. Foot-stomping announced Glad All Over and Bits and Pieces by the Dave Clark Five. Sometimes you might be tricked into thinking it was the intro to Where Did Our Love Go.
All this stuff was crammed in and spewed out. Just a short time earlier, radio had been oozing sappy ballads, manufactured pap. This was a breath — a gulp — of fresh air. From my perspective, it was what Dylan meant when he sang, a year later, "You know something is happening, but you don't know what it is / Do you, Mr. Jones?"
This was something I wanted to study, maybe write about. Only problem was, nobody was writing about it, except as social phenomena like the Beatles, Elvis or Sinatra.
Flash-forward to 1979. Rock had exploded as show business throughout the decade — necessitating rock critics at newspapers — and concerts were like Dante's Inferno to me: spewing smoke and flashing lights and godawful din; the roars and chants and raised arms, like Nazi rallies. And the puke, in the toilets and the aisles. At a Kiss show, I slipped on a puddle of hurl and for the longest moment was twisting in the aisle, desperately trying to avoid landing in it. I returned to The Gazette to be told I had 12 column inches to fill. "Are you kidding!?" I blustered. "They're not worth 12 f---ing inches! Run some photos — that's what they're all about, anyway!" I managed, in a desultory fog, to type out four inches, including: "For every heavy rocket fire of sound, there was a change of lighting but, after a while, it got pretty dull. ... There was no real emotion put into the music — perhaps there was no real emotion to be had."
I could've been writing about myself. It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Watching Elvis Presley's debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 was my first major pop experience, at age eight. The occasion was so keenly anticipated that my parents dimmed the living room lights. I still hear screams and squeals from the studio audience, and see Ed's stone face betrayed by his wildly darting eyes: Chaos could reign without warning.
Elvis was a gyrating blur, flashing a lascivious yet oddly shy leer. A couple visiting from Ohio — hubby with a crewcut, wife with a starched hairdo — gazed in stunned horror. My father commented with his usual "I don't see what all the fuss is about." My mother was more charitable, noting Presley's "good voice." Of course, young people didn't care whether or not his voice was "good." We cared that Elvis was us, dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock and busting out.
My first radio was a yellow crystal kit. I positioned it on the wall next to my bed at night to receive its one flickering signal — a station that played rock 'n' roll. It sounded like something from New York City, but it was actually from St-Jérôme in the Laurentians. Soon, when I graduated to a transistor radio — the iPod of its day — I actually did receive New York City (with DJ "Cousin" Bruce Morrow). When they played one of Roy Orbison's painfully lonely hits, with a voice that seemed operatic — The Crowd, It's Over, Running Scared and, of course, Only the Lonely — the world stopped in its tracks.
By the late '50s, graduating to folk music was a sure sign of growing up, leaving behind the teen world of puppy love and becoming socially conscious. Folk was pure, steeped in the tradition of the troubadour from Elizabethan times, the country singer (preferably from Appalachia), the Mississippi bluesman. Rock 'n' roll was strictly commercial, and hence corrupt. The payola scandals that nailed Alan Freed, the first R&R disc jockey, and implicated American Bandstand's clean-cut Dick Clark — whose Teflon demeanour was as impenetrable as the anti-acne Clearasil he flogged — were proof that without crass record companies paying DJs to get their product on the radio, such bilge might vaporize. Besides, pop stars were puerile: "Splish splash, I was takin' a bath," gurgled Bobby Darin.
Popsters were flavours of the month; folkies were in it for the long haul. Teen idols were phony, manufactured; folksingers were real people, untainted by a craven desire for fame and fortune. While pop acts larded albums with filler, folksingers loaded theirs with substance. Pop stars were monosyllabic; folkies were thoughtful. My socialist parents, friends with impresario Sam Gesser, took me many times to see the morally superior Pete Seeger, who, fresh out of Harvard, had lived the itinerant life — hooking up with the legendary Woody Guthrie — and now lectured us on the ways of the wicked world as if he was our grandfather. It was a black-and-white, one-or-the-other world.
Then the Beatles — followed by legions of other British groups — invaded America, and folk was dead.
In the summer of '64 I wore a wool pullover, and sometimes a scarf, aping Mick Jagger's look in teen magazines. I sweated bullets, but it was a small price to pay for feeling cool.
The Rolling Stones' eponymous debut album blasted black rhythms; their copycat music reeked of authenticity, codes to a cool world. The Stones were mod esthetes who gave us an insider's carte blanche into outsider music, black music — blues, R&B, soul and jazz. (Charlie Watts, we were informed, was a jazz drummer who worshipped Charlie Parker.) We wanted to dig everything the Stones dug: Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye. And yet on their disastrous debut U.S. tour in June 1964, the Stones virtually disappeared in the vortex of Beatlemania. But we fans — the select few in the underground — just knew.
Of course, you couldn't mention the Stones without referencing the Beatles. The Beatles were cute; the Stones — standing in the shadow, baby — were ugly. The Beatles were melodists with a beat; the Stones rolled black and blue. The Beatles sang barbershop harmonies; dissonance was as close to harmony as the Stones came. Though I was a Beatles fan, I was a Stones man.
The biggest surprise was how small the Stones were. On April 22, 1965, with The Last Time riding high on the charts, they arrived in Montreal to kick off their third crack at North America. My friend Simon Schneiderman and I tracked them down to what is now the Hôtel Espresso on Guy St.; when the front-desk guy nervously said "no Stones here," we knew we'd hit pay dirt. We took the service elevator out back to the top floor.
It was like a scene from The Shining: an empty hotel corridor, luggage outside each of seven wide-open doors. Mick was stretched out on a bed intently poring over fan mail! Charlie Watts was sacked out trying to sleep off the flu. Bill Wyman — "old Stone face," not nearly as ugly as he appeared in photos — chatted amiably in a surprisingly light voice.
Keith Richards, in a choirboy bob, wearing new blue jeans and cowboy boots, aimlessly twanged on a gleaming, rust-coloured country guitar. When I asked him, awkwardly, "Is this all real? Like, is all this really happening, man?" — in the parlance of the day — he awed us: "We haven't come this far not to play for keeps."
Brian Jones — pale, bags under his eyes, in natty Italian tweed trousers, black turtleneck and two-tone canvas-and-leather shoes — silently passed a large comb through his blond bouffant in front of a mirror, interrupting his concentration to curse a bellhop over his drink order: "When I say double, I mean double!" Bitch.
I clipped The Gazette's coverage of their airport press conference: Asked about the average age of their fans, Jagger said, "About 3½, but I don't really know. We try to educate them from the cradle to the grave." A week later, Jagger and Richards had written (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.
Little did I know that four years later, the Stones would provide me with my big break in becoming a rock critic — a species that did not yet exist.
You couldn't ask for a more extreme pair of opposites than Frank Zappa and Jesse Winchester, who in 1967 played huge roles in my musical education and, it turned out, my so-called career.
LSD and Afghan hash had hit town and most everyone was dropping out, turning on, tuning in — except me, fearing drugs would bust my brain. (A year later, a professor, aptly named Malcolm Stone, got me stoned on Afghan hash. He put my head between earphones, turned on the Doors' second album and said, "You'll never hear things the same way again." Flying high in a friendly sky, I realized: People are strange when you're a stranger. But I digress.)
I was two months shy of 19 when Zappa arrived on Jan. 7 for a two-week gig at the New Penelope coffee house (Sherbrooke at Bleury). Hanging out, I was the gofer for owner Gary Eisenkraft, a tall ex-folkie with a goofy laugh who wore granny glasses and a mod three-piece suit; I also designed the Penelope's posters and flyers. Thus I accompanied Zappa to the nearby Banque Nationale to vouch for him after tellers, frightened by his extreme mien — unruly black hair falling over an ankle-length raccoon coat — refused to cash his paycheques. On the basis of the Mothers of Invention's debut album, the double-disc Freak Out!, Zappa was my hero. While he had a reputation for fearsome put-downs, the ice crystals that formed on his moustache seemed to make him merely mortal.
"It was 20 degrees below zero," he recalled in a 1993 Playboy interview. "We walked from our hotel to the club, and the snot had literally frozen in our noses by the time we got to work. The wind instruments got so cold that if you tried to play them, your lips and fingers would freeze to them. The instruments couldn't even be played until they were warmed up. It was pretty primitive. If we hadn't experienced that, we probably wouldn't have come up with some of the more deranged types of audience participation and audience punishment things we were doing at the time.
"The question became, how far would they go?" Zappa said, regarding the fans at his shows in those days. "What could we get the audience to do? The answer seemed to be anything. ... So long as the person telling them to do it was onstage, they would do it."
This degenerate Dada act included band members throwing stuff (food, rubber chickens) at each other and the audience, lasciviously pawing an inflatable doll and getting creative with a can of Cool Whip. All the while, Zappa conducted the Mothers with swift, assured arm-waving and sudden stabs of a finger — classicism perversely run amok, free-form absurdities never before seen in rock. Many of their songs were brand new, composed for the upcoming album Absolutely Free: Call Any Vegetable, The Duke of Prunes, Brown Shoes Don't Make It and, of course, Plastic People, which became an anthem the following year in Czechoslovakia's anti-Communist spring thaw: "Take a day and walk around / Watch the Nazis run your town / Then go home and check yourself / You think we're singing 'bout someone else." Our jaws dropped, eyes locked in a fascinated gaze, wondering what was next.
Zappa had ferocious dark brown eyes; his laugh was a sarcastic sneer. He wore construction boots and marched like a man on a mission. As for me, maybe it was my sycophantic earnestness — or my cheque-cashing cachet — that revealed Zappa's fatherly side. (His wife, Gail, also in town, was months away from giving birth to their first child, Moon Unit.) He indulged me, taking the time to explain Where It Was At.
He invited me to late-morning breakfasts — with keyboardist Don Preston and saxophonist Bunk Gardner — at the nearby Swiss Hut, a log-cabin-style joint favoured by separatists, lefties, country music fans, bikers, poets, painters, McGill students, lost and searching souls, dealers, freaks, journalists and gadflies. Zappa and mates mustered laughs comparing their oily ham and eggs to plastic Warhol pop art. I listened with rapt attention as they spritzed cultural eclecticism — about Igor Stravinsky and Edgard Varèse (the French-American inventor of organized noise in the 1920s, quoted by Zappa on his album cover: "The present-day composer refuses to die!"); about how Freak Out! was the first underground record sold in Los Angeles supermarkets ("right near the checkout"); about outlasting the Beatles ("In two years, we'll be as big as them"); about how damned cold it was and how they wished they were back in L.A.
When I summoned the nerve to show Zappa some college-paper clippings, he dutifully said, "Keep up the good work." Made my day — well, maybe my life. I've remained an unrepentant Zappaphile ever since, despite the so-called arrogant sneer that rubbed rock critics the wrong way. Then again, he uttered a line that lives in infamy: "Most rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read." Ouch.
Jesse Winchester came across as a quiet anti-star. He was an oasis of good music, sensitively singing his own songs and a reservoir of standards, accompanying himself on a slightly jazzy guitar. Born in Louisiana, son of a military man, raised in Memphis, he received his draft notice and split for Montreal, where he played in French-Canadian bar bands (not understanding a word) through his first winter in the bitterly cold hinterlands, finally striking out on his own, tenuously, at the Penelope.
Winchester was hesitant, thoughtful, both driven and comforted by a staunch regard for tradition. He was shy, scared, trembled on stage ("treading on thin ice" was the way he put it). His haunting, elegiac songs, recalling Americana — loving it, leaving it — were to be savoured like fine wine: Yankee Lady, Brand New Tennessee Waltz, Biloxi. He painted vivid yet understated scenes — you could "see" his songs — with minimal fuss. He had an innate way with love songs — affection, not lust; classic beauty, not pop art. He delivered them resolutely (including a yearning rendition of Chuck Berry's Memphis).
We got to know each other in a halting kind of way. So it came to pass that Winchester's first write-up in his adopted land was the first performance review I penned, freelance for The Gazette in 1968. Two years later, upon the release of his debut album (produced by Robbie Robertson of the Band), I interviewed him for Rolling Stone; that same year, he opened for the Band at Place des Arts. I designed the cover and wrote liner notes for his lo-fi follow-up, Third Down, 110 to Go.
His songs were instant classics, covered by many. When Jimmy Carter offered amnesty to draft evaders in 1977, Winchester paid a visit — but returned to Montreal. After all, where else could he effectively sing his paean to "that four-letter word," Snow?


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Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Torn between his best friend and the love of his life, Sesto has a hard decision to make. Vitellia, the embittered daughter of Romes late emperor, wants Sesto to assassinate the new emperor, Tito. Rumor has it that the emperor will ask Servilia, not Vitellia, to marry him.
Mozarts next-to-last-opera, La Clemenza di Tito may have the emperors name in the title, but the sulfurous relationship between Vitellia and Sesto fuels the plot. This odd tale of hatred, bad communication and mercy was popular during the Enlightenment.
The MET Live in HD will bring the opera to its worldwide audience by live transmission Saturday at Fort Lewis College. With a big screen raised high, theres not a bad seat in the house.
Tito is Italian for Titus, the emperor who ruled Rome for a short but tumultuous period in the first century of the common era. Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus (39-81 CE) responded to two cataclysmic events with calm deliberation. In 79 CE, when Vesuvius erupted, the volcano destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. Titus reacted with compassion. The next year Rome burned, and he remained calm. Both events figure in the opera. His style of leadership made him a hero to his people and the epoch that celebrated Reason.
Mozart was one of many artists who created a work about Titus. In 1791, Mozart got a commission to create an opera for the coronation of Leopold II, King of Bohemia. The subject; Roman Emperor Titus. Mozart co-opted a 1734 libretto and hired a colleague, Caterino Mazzolá, to turn a long string of solos into various ensembles. The result is Tito. The MET performance will run a mere three hours instead of five or six, which was the probable length of Antonio Caldaras 1734 version.
History tells us that Emperor Leopold arrived late for his coronation opera on Sept. 6, 1791. And his empress didnt appreciate the treatment of her counterpart, the villainess Vitellia. But opera fans, up to 1830 and especially in the last century, have cheered this late Mozart work.
The MET is reviving the spectacular 1984 production created by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. The French director-designer also made a film of the opera in 1991. Set in the ruins of the real Roman Forum, the movie is visually spectacular.
The 2012 MET cast features two pants roles, originally created for castrati singers. Mezzo Elina Garanca will sing Sesto and Kate Lindsey will sing the doggedly loyal Annio. Soprano Barbara Frittoli has the juicy role of the villainess. Soprano Lucy Crowe sings the spunky role of Servilia, and tenor Giuseppe Filianoti rises above it all as Emperor Tito.
The plot has more reversals than a bad mystery novel. Normally I dont give away endings, but you can count on the emperor dispensing clemency and one other hard-to-believe action in an 18th-century version of a Hollywood ending.
Amid plot twisters and people behaving badly, there are arias and duets that may make you weep. Such is the beauty of the opera Mozart finished just before he completed The Magic Flute. Three months after the September premiere of Tito, on Dec. 5, 1791, Mozart died at age 35.
Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, artist and critic. Reach her at email@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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State of the Union addresses � for those who pay attention outside political cable pundits and the internet blogosphere � are about big-picture goals that, in the end, are nearly impossible to realize.
That�s particularly true for second term presidents anxious to make a mark that will not only be considered historic but laudably so.
Tuesday night President Obama unveiled an agenda that on the one hand met the visible objective of big ambitions but on the other seemed very much like unfinished business. He talked about creating jobs, boosting pay for middle class Americans, immigration reform and improving infrastructure.
Sounds a lot like issues he ran for office on.
And achieving those goals will be difficult at best. According to the Chicago Tribune of 24 proposals in last year�s address, Washington Post fact-checkers rate five as accomplished, four as partly complete and 15 � notably gun control, immigration reform and a minimum wage hike � as dead.
Tuesday night, Obama didn�t dwell on his lost 2013, a year shrouded in the problems associated with rolling out the Affordable Care Act, issues so vast it eroded the president�s approval ratings and made any legislative agenda tougher sledding. There was a nod to his gridlock with Congress last year: �Let�s make this a year of action,� he said.
Obama then made it clear that he will try to circumvent Congress by marshaling his powers of office. Presidents of both parties have done that although it�s often a frustrating way to rule: Congress can thwart (or refuse to fund) executive orders that lack the force of law. And subsequent presidents can undo those orders as breezily as they were written.
Listening to Obama, though, we heard two takeaways that should be his realistic agenda before the acceleration of presidential campaigning in 2015 certifies his lame-duckery. The point isn�t that he can get Congress to do his bidding; he cannot. On these two issues, though, he can help Republicans and Democrats realize that it�s in their best interests to do as he asks:
▪ Immigration reform should be a win-win-win for both parties and Obama.
▪ He also can achieve some economic priorities for Americans. To do so he should abandon his political base and go to Congress as a solutions-oriented pragmatist. Obamas 2013 plea for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit went nowhere. Tuesday night he doubled down: Lets work together to close those loopholes, end those incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs here at home.
That�s an accurate if too limited prediction of all that a reform to federal taxes and transfer programs could deliver. Even before his presidency began, Obama was saying the right things about the unsustainability of entitlement benefits; in budget wrangles with Republicans he has agreed to Medicare reforms.
Imagine the potential power of a president who�ll never run again gathering his economic priorities into one package. A path to debt reduction, encouragements to hire more workers, elimination of tax deductions and credits that tend to benefit the wealthy, incentives to drive new growth: In one afternoon, Obama�s policy team could draft an omnibus plan for financing federal operations, expanding the nation�s workforce and assuring that today�s benefits will exist for tomorrow�s retirees. Stable and lower tax rates, paid for by scaling back those runaway deductions and credits, would benefit individuals and employers alike.
Granted, with Obama inclined to govern by executive order rather than joust with Congress, this wouldn�t be easy. But it could be done. Democrats and Republicans proved that with their tax megapackage late in Ronald Reagan�s presidency.
Immigration reform, coupled with a rescue of federal finances and entitlement programs? Good for Obama, good for the historians who�ll grade him � and good for the future of America.
Parts of this editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune/


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The fiscal cliff negotiations currently taking place in Washington will have both good and bad effects on states' revenues, a panel of tax experts said Friday.
While state budgets are still reeling from the great recession of 2008, which caused states to face their "biggest challenges in 70 years," they face further budget upheaval as the federal government addresses the fiscal cliff and sequestration cuts, said Nicholas Johnson, vice president for State Fiscal Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Johnson joined a panel of tax experts during a conference at the National Press Club sponsored by Tax Analysts, which provides non-partisan tax news and analyses. The panel of tax experts examined issues related to "state fiscal cliffs" and their implication for state tax policy.
"Not only do states face their own cliffs, both short and long term, they also will be greatly affected by what happens in the coming weeks in Washington," said Tax Analysts President and Publisher Christopher Bergin. "There's a real connection between the federal budget and state budgets that many people in Washington don't spend much time thinking about, one that could ultimately wind up with states feeling some of the greatest effects of the fiscal cliff."
Bergin moderated the discussion, which in addition to Johnson included Donald J. Boyd, co-executive director of the Task Force on the State Budget Crisis; Joseph Henchman, vice president for Legal & State Projects, Tax Foundation; and Cara Griffith, legal dditor of State Tax Notes.
Johnson noted that states are still feeling the effects of the recession, including "reduced funding for K-12 education, the drain of rainy day reserve funds, and the underfunding of pensions, with little prospect of improvement in the coming months."
He noted that there are potential "huge threats" from the deficit reduction process where costs will be shifted to states. While Medicaid is off the table, he said, "non-defense discretionary funding–the funding of vital services such as education, infrastructure, and more is threatened at a time when states can ill afford it."
Griffith added that the tax changes that are scheduled to occur on Jan. 1 "include both good and bad news for state tax revenue." The good news, she said, is that "lower federal deductions could mean more income being taxed at the state level, resulting in higher state tax revenues for some states." However, the bad news is that "reductions in federal spending will significantly affect funding for the states, many of whom rely on up to one-third of their budget from federal grants. State credit ratings are also at risk."
Griffith went on to say that "the combination of the federal fiscal cliff and state's long-term fiscal challenges means that states must plan for the future." Given the tight budgets since the recession, "the potential for a decrease in federal funding as a result of the fiscal cliff, a possible elimination of the deduction for state and local taxes, and the fact that most states must balance their budget each year, states do not have the ability to put off planning for the future."
Boyd with the Task Force on the State Budget Crisis highlighted six primary issues affecting states that were identified by the Ravitch Volcker Task Force on the State Budget Crisis: "Medicaid spending growth, a focus on federal deficit reduction, underfunded pensions, volatile taxes and a narrow and eroding tax base, local government fiscal stress, and state budget laws and practices are some of the major issues that states face today," he noted. "We recommend that states undertake greater transparency, better disclosure of liability, better forecasting, and increased risk disclosure and funding of pensions. For the federal government, we believe that there needs to be a federal process that considers the impact of policy decisions on states."


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These five expert tips on janitorial/custodial training are just a fraction of what you'll learn from
1. First Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Start off on the right foot
Even if you're training a group that works regularly together, go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves — including yourself as the instructor.
People are more relaxed when they know the people around them, and when relaxed, they are more likely to participate in the discussion.
2. Second Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Set expectations
Let the people in the room know what you expect from them and let them know what they can expect from you.
Tell them what you'll be covering, how long the training will last and if there will be any sort of exam — either written or verbal.
3. Third Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Don't be afraid to get personal
If you're working
Talk about a cleaning challenge that you overcame or a difficult management situation you were faced with.
And, encourage your students to share their experiences as well.
People retain new information best when the content of the training means something to them.
4. Fourth Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Repeat yourself
Our brains like to recognize patterns; we've been taught that, when we hear information or instructions repeated, they must be important.
Don't be afraid to repeat certain keywords, phrases or concepts throughout your training session.
5. Fifth Janitorial/custodial Training Tip: Tell them, show them and then tell them again
The idea here is that people learn different things in different ways, so you should spend some of your training time in a classroom setting as well as doing hands-on tasks.
People will find it easier to concentrate on the big picture information in a classroom setting, but the applied information is best taught via hands-on demonstration.
Click here to see dates and locations for CMI's Train the Trainer course.


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Floridians prioritize water quality over quantity, even though they have taken some steps to limit their water consumption to ensure water conservation, according to a recent University of Florida survey.
Floridians prioritize water quality over quantity, even though they have taken some steps to limit their water consumption to ensure water conservation, according to a recent University of Florida survey.
The Center for Public Issues Education at UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences launched its first survey on water resources of 469 people in the state. Other surveys in the series will cover immigration, invasive and endangered species, and food production practices, said Alexa Lamm, an assistant professor of public opinion analysis at IFAS and the author of the water survey.
"The public perceives that water quality is important to them … having clean drinking water, bays and estuaries, and they are willing to limit some of their water consumption in order to be sure there are clean resources available," Lamm said.
According to the survey, more than half the respondents use low-flow shower heads and toilets, and 65.5 percent turn off the faucet when they brush their teeth.
However, fewer respondents are willing to lower their shower times to 5 minutes, Lamm added. "It's a personal choice in terms of their own comfort level," she said. "I think there are areas that could be improved upon."
People are also trying to conserve water when it comes to the outdoors: 18.7 percent use rain barrels to collect rainwater, and 65.3 percent use recycled wastewater to irrigate their lawn or landscape.
Lamm said it was also encouraging that people considered conserving quality water for agriculture to be a top priority. This was followed by the need for water for recreational purposes such as golf courses.
A smaller percentage of respondents said that preserving water quality for aquifers, springs, rivers and lakes was highly important. Also, only 37.7 percent of respondents said that the problem of hypoxia, or water with low levels of oxygen, was highly important. Hypoxia poses a number of environmental problems, including widespread dying off of fish and harmful algae blooms.
Jack Payne, the senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources at UF, said that although he is pleased with the results of the survey, it didn't delve into some of the larger issues such as climate change.
"If you are a recreationist, a rancher, a developer or just a public citizen, water will affect your quality of life, and a changing climate will impact that resource," Payne said.
He added that water storage will become an important part of preparing for climate change.
"People may think it is only in Nevada or Utah, but because of our exclusive karst geology, we have a problem with storage, so we need a lot of rainfall, and traditionally we have had a lot, but we just went through a pretty serious issue last summer (with drought)."
More than half the people surveyed also perceived saltwater intrusion to be an important issue. Lamm said, "There are portions of the state that have had negative intrusion of saltwater in tap water," especially in southern Florida and along the Gulf Coast.
People in rural areas throughout the state, who use a lot of well water, also said they experienced poor water quality more often than people in cities, with nearly half reporting a bad experience with water quality — most because of poor water quality at home.
Contact Kristine Crane at 338-3119 or email@example.com.


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Weekly 'Who Said It?' Quiz: November 10, 2017
Test your knowledge of Howard Stern Show happenings from the week
Sure, you heard every second of the Stern Show this week, but how closely were you really listening? Take our "Who Said It?" quiz and match the phrase to the individual who said it to determine just how attentive a Howard Fan you really are!


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A Purim to Remember
(A letter received from the Sanhedria Childrens Home in Jerusalem)
A former student of your institute, Mr. Yonatan Eisenberg, contacted us about two weeks ago. He offered to come with some Ohr Somayach students to our facility and to provide the children with an afternoon of fun and games, all in the spirit of Purim.
A bit of background information. Sanhedria integrates young children at risk (boys aged 7-14) who have been removed from the parents home by court order and are referred to us by Social Services. The children come from dysfunctional households, where there is often a history of alcoholism, physical and emotional abuse, in the backdrop of a lifestyle considerably below the poverty line. Our goal is to nurture the children in a Torah-true and trusting environment where they will interact with their peers and be able to communicate within a social framework.
With their high spirit and energy, Yonatan and his team shed light and happiness upon children who otherwise would not receive the very special attention that they thought to bestow on them. Additionally, Mrs. Eisenberg and her friend baked hamentashen and prepared goody bags for each and every child what a treat!
We feel it is important for you to know from the outside, what a Kiddush Hashem these young men made with their maasim tovim. They are an asset to your organization, to the community and to Am Israel. We would be glad to welcome them any time thanks to their warm souls and to their generosity, our boys had an afternoon that they will long remember.


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Browsing Working Papers (INO) by Author "Bathelt, Harald"
Now showing items 1-1 of 1
The Effects of International Trade Fairs, Conventions and Other Professional GatheringsMaskell, Peter; Bathelt, Harald; Malmberg, Anders (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Business people and professionals regularly come together at conventions, congresses, conferences, trade fairs and exhibitions. Here, their latest and most advanced findings, inventions and products are revealed and evaluated by peers and competitors, as well as by customers and suppliers. Organising or participating in such events are means to identify the current market frontier, take stock of relative competitive positions and form future plans. These events exhibit many of the characteristics ascribed to permanent clusters, albeit in a temporary, periodic and intensified form. The temporary clusters are hotspots of intense knowledge exchange, network building and idea generation. In investigating the extent and nature of these phenomena, the present paper explores a number of issues. First, it shows that international trade fairs and other professional gatherings are events which enable firms to compare their own products with others which are available to the world market. Comparisons to and interactions with other firms stimulate processes of knowledge creation. Second, it demonstrates how trade fairs are important for firms when selecting partners with whom to develop global pipelines, enabling access to distant markets and technologies. Third, it compares such temporary clusters with permanent territorial hubs within their respective sector or industry. If regular participation in temporary clusters could satisfy a firm's need to learn through interaction with suppliers, customers, peers and rivals, why is the phenomenon of permanent clustering so pervasive? The answer, it is claimed, lies in the restrictions imposed on economic activity when knowledge and ideas are transformed into valuable products and services. The paper sheds new light on how interaction among firms in current clusters coincides with the configuration of knowledge-intensive pipelines out of the cluster. It examines the procedures selected by firms in developing ideas or gaining access to new knowledge and compares these organisational forms to those chosen when using knowledge for commercial purposes. Keywords: economic geography, knowledge creation, clusters, temporary clusters, trade fairs, conventions, pipelines JEL-codes: D83, L22, O17, O18, R12 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7222
Files in this item: 12004-04.pdf (1.004Mb)
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Jay Bradford, director of Arkansas Insurance Department, said the state will stay with its current stance which requires insurance policies that do not meet the standards of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to end by Dec. 31, 2014, or be amended to meet the federal law's requirement.
The state's largest insurers already planned to give customers the option of renewing in late December of this year for coverage under the act rules that would extend to December 2014.
About 50,000 Arkansans are in plans that already were considered "grandfathered" because they were in effect before March 2010 when the law was signed. Bradford said some people will likely want to keep their plans for another year, while others, especially those who qualify for subsidies will want to switch to plans offered on the exchange. A total of 7,430 in Arkansas were found to be eligible for Medicaid.
The Board of Corrections is still working on policy changes. They amended a policy that addressed concerns about parolees who did not follow the rules or commit new crimes while under state supervision. The rules that had been put in place has had the county jails being overcrowded while these parolees were waiting for revocation hearings.
However, some of the changes to the policy are contingent on a new GPS monitoring system which should help ease the backlog in the jails. This system is monitored by a company rather than parole officers. That means more parolees could be outfitted with ankle monitors instead of remaining in jail until revocation hearings are held.
The Game and Fish and Wildlife Services listed the Neosho mucket as an endangered species and the rabbitsfoot mussle as threatened. The area where these are found could be on the critical habitat proposal. The Association of Counties said the critical habitat designation would put federal restrictions on one third of private landowners in the state.
A combined legislative committee voted last week to ask the attorney general's office to intervene in discussions over a proposed "critical habitat" designation. The committee also approved drafting a resolution expressing support for reducing the size of the habitat and challenging how economic analysis for designations are performed.
The Charter School Authorizing Panel passed out two applications for charter schools. It rejected three more and tabled the decision for two more. Charter schools are public schools and receive state funding. However, they are exempt from many state regulations and are allowed to experiment with innovative teaching strategies, in many cases in order to better prepare children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Parents and school officials in every state are continuously debating the merits and the scope of charter schools. It is expected that when the legislature convenes in regular session in 2015, that it is likely that some lawmakers will file bills to open up the charter school process. There are two basic types of charters now. An open enrollment charter is run by a tax exempt organization and a district conversion charter is one that had been a traditional public school and was converted into a charter by the local school district. Arkansas has 18 conversion charter schools and 19 open enrollment charters.
If you would like to contact me, email me at firstname.lastname@example.com or call my office at 650-1884 or write me at P.O. Box 2387, Greenwood, AR 72936.


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Brixmark necesitaba un nuevo diseño de papelería y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 56 diseños de 5 diseñadores freelance.
AdvenShare is currently being groomed within a prestigious tech incubation program in Silicon Valley California. We're exposed to some of the most successful CEO's in the tech industry and will be presenting our idea to some of the most influential Venture funds in the United States. We want your business card design to be in the pocket of investors and partners who matter. Help them remember us!!
The following is the description of our business:
Why own 100% of something you only use 20% of the time?
AdvenShare.com facilitates joint ownership of big-ticket items that are often underutilized, such as RVs, boats, and even cars. We're helping people to stretch their buying power at a time when we're all more cautious about spending and debt. AdvenShare helps people locate compatible co-owners and provides services that assure peace of mind while you're out enjoying your toys.
What you want at a fraction of the price. Save money. Save time. Save hassles. Come to AdvenShare.com and remember again why sharing is fun.
Mission Statement:
Unlock the value of under-utilized assets, increase consumer buying power, and enable more people to enjoy the benefits of owning big-ticket items such as cars, boats, and RVs at a fraction of the cost and hassle.
While the target audience of our business is consumers, the target audience for our business cards is mostly potential investors and business development partners. Your design should quickly stir their memory of our business. It must be professional, convey trust and reliability, but should also be fresh- not stogy. We are a web startup after all.
Use the colors already in the logo (attached). I'm comfortable with various background colors for impact. I prefer a two-sided card. I'm generally not interested in rounded corners or odd sizes, but will consider it if it has impact.
I'll want the design in both ai and a pdf file compliant with template found on the PrintPlace website (here: http://bit.ly/16PUcY). Files must be delivered no later than 5pm PST on Sunday 8/22. And I will select a winning design no later than noon PST on Sunday 8/22. Here is the vital info for the card:
Tagline being added (please keep separate as it may change):
Your key to affordable ownership
Chris Farkas, Founder & CEO
516 Walnut St.,
Petaluma, CA 94952
Twitter: @AdvenShare
FB Page: AdvenShare
*Note please keep address as text for now, as it may change


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Free Lightroom Preset "Vintage Piazza"
"Vintage Piazza" Free Preset from Chic Presets. This is The Vintage Piazza Preset! This preset was designed to transform your photos with one simple click. Vintage Piazza will bring out those lovely warmer tones and add a faded, retro feel to your images. The result is impossibly chic and would be perfect for professional photos, social media and blog posts. Download and enjoy! Search for more Free Lightroom Presets – Chic | Vintage | Portrait | Landscape | Cityscape | Retro Film | Nightscape | Details | Lightroom
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What an ideal situation—vacationing with a nanny you trust and depend on. It means more down time for you and your spouse and the comfort in knowing your kids are safe and accounted for. It's perfect! Before you throw a trip together, involving both the kids and the nanny, make sure you evaluate the needs and interests of all the parties involved: the parents, the children, and the nanny. It's easy to overlook the fact that the nanny is not on vacation, but working. It's a lot more than providing a free trip to a new and exciting place. While your nanny might appreciate this opportunity, she may encounter some difficulties on her trip. Communication about expectations can drastically help in maintaining a healthy and positive relationship with your nanny before and after the trip.
A lot of nannies and babysitters enjoy taking vacations with families. Although it's quite possible that they will be flexible with compensation because you're paying for the plane ticket and hotel room, never assume and make sure you communicate all expectations beforehand.
When discussing the trip, specific details and criteria must be addressed.
- Be clear of the time commitment and pay. If you tell your nanny she is in charge from 9-5 and given a certain addition to her salary, make sure you honor this. Don't assume that she is free to provide her childcare services 24/7. If circumstances arise and she must devote more time and effort than previously decided, first ask if she is willing and if so, provide the extra compensation. Furthermore, it should be clear on what the nanny is responsible for paying on her own. Will she pay for one meal a day or all meals?
- Be consistent with discipline. Because the parent is naturally the greater authority, the nanny will leave it up to you to discipline the kids accordingly if you are present. If you decide not to give out consequences for bad behavior, the child may assume the rules don't apply on vacation. This will only make it more difficult for the nanny to control your children and enforce
- Plan a schedule of activities. It is extremely hard for a nanny to keep your child entertained and safe especially in an unfamiliar environment. Provide her a list of possible activities that will be enjoyable for both her and your children. The whole day at the hotel arcade and watching HBO movies is not only mundane, but does not take full advantage of all the destination has to offer!
- Give your nanny time off. Also, make sure you provide your nanny with the means to enjoy her time off. Give her the keys to your rental or provide monetary compensation and let her explore the city. Allotting her time to relax and enjoy her stay will motivate her to take better care of your children and be eager to accompany the family on future vacations!
- Reward your nanny. Whether this involves monetary compensation or a free scuba diving lesson on the trip, make sure your nanny knows you appreciate her work and efforts. A simple gift or hand-written card can convey the same message. It ends the trip on a positive note and leaves your nanny open to future vacations!


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This week's political money news: California Democrats, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are spending big to fight reform of how legislative districts are drawn, a process known as redistricting.
The question is why. The decade-long fight over redistricting reform has been a black hole, sucking in time, money and political energy that would have been better spent on something that -- you know -- matters.
Here's the problem: it doesn't much matter who draws the legislative lines if those people are limited to drawing single-member districts in 21st century California. Voters in this state are so segregated by party -- Californians, like Americans -- are increasingly living among the like-minded -- that it's nearly impossible to draw competitive districts.
The redistricting commission established by Prop 11, an initiative approved by voters in 2008, represents a minor advance in that its establishment eliminates the conflict of interest involved in having state legislators draw their own districts. But expectations that the commission would produce lots of new competitive districts that would elect more moderates and create more space for political compromise are overblown. The commission itself is prohibited from using data on party registration that would allow them to try to create competitive districts.
The only thing stranger than all the money and energy that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and good government types have devoted to fighting for this reform is all the money and energy devoted to fighting against it. The Democrats are putting big money into supporting an initiative this November, Prop 27, which would repeal Prop 11 and abolish the redistricting commission before it does any redistricting, and into opposing Prop 20, which seeks to extend the redistricting commission's mandate to the drawing of Congressional districts too.
They should save their money. And voters can safely ignore both measures. Real reform of legislative elections is needed, but it involves much broader changes in a system, including the establishment of regional districts with multiple members who are elected using some form of proportional representation, which makes every vote count. To understand what that would look like, take a look here.


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Shadow Morton, the songwriter and producer behind such 1960s pop classics as "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" and "Leader of the Pack" -- both recorded by the Shangri-Las -- is dead. According to the New York Times, Morton died Thursday in Laguna Beach; the cause, said a family friend, was cancer. He was 71.
A Brooklyn native who spent his adolescence on Long Island, Morton reportedly couldn't read music or play an instrument. But he used a feel for the highs and lows of teenage emotion -- a deep understanding not unlike that of his girl-group contemporary Phil Spector -- to create huge hits that tapped into the addictive torment of young love.
And he did it with the song-factory efficiency that defined the era: Morton claimed he wrote "Remember" in approximately 22 minutes while en route to the studio where the Shangri-Las were to record it. The song, released in 1964, went on to become a top 5 hit and ranked at No. 404 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Beyond the Shangri-Las' other hits (including "Leader of the Pack," which he co-wrote with the great Brill Building veterans Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry), Morton also produced records by Janis Ian and the New York Dolls. In 1968 he's said to have unofficially overseen the recording of Iron Butterfly's 17-minute-long "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."
On Twitter early Saturday Mark Ronson tipped his hat to Morton, writing that Morton's songs had helped inspire "Back to Black," the 2006 Amy Winehouse album Ronson co-produced. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats added that "plenty of the music [Morton] produced is as eternal as anything gets."


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Cisco IOS XE, Release 2 provides an optimized and predictable plan to deliver software and hardware features in a time-based release sequence.
Cisco IOS XE Software is a modular operating system built on a Linux kernel. Cisco selects specific features and code from the Cisco IOS Software 12.2 SR release train for inclusion in Cisco IOS XE Software.
An included software module incorporates Cisco IOS Software features into a Cisco IOS XE Software release image. This release plan, and a careful selection of the Cisco IOS Software features, enhance ASR 1000 functionality.
Cisco IOS XE Software releases offer greater stability and shorter qualification time.
The software that powers the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches is designed to create a strategic SAN platform with superior reliability, performance, and scalability.
See highlights of the Cisco IOS XE Software release plan.


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COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Wednesday, January 30, 2013) – Colorado Rapids midfielder Martín Rivero is expected to miss 2-3 months while recovering from a fracture in his right foot suffered in Tuesday's preseason match against the Portland Timbers. Rivero will return to Denver today to receive further evaluation on the injury.
The injury occurred in the 44th minute of the Rapids' 3-1 preseason match against the Portland Timbers held in Tucson, Ariz., as part of The Desert Friendlies presented by FC Tucson. More information on Rivero's injury and expected recovery time will be made available in the coming days.
The Rapids have two remaining matches in Tucson, facing the Houston Dynamo on Thursday and the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday before traveling back to Denver. The club opens the season on March 2 and plays its home opener on March 9 against the Philadelphia Union.
Rivero tweeted the following on Tuesday evening:
with a lot of anger and pain. now to get ahead! Con mucha bronca y dolor. Ahora a salir adelante!! twitter.com/tinchorivero10…— martin rivero (@tinchorivero10) January 30, 2013


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Top China Stories from WSJ: Nobel Winner, Visa-Free Visits, Property
Your daily round-up of the best of the Journal's China coverage:
Coming Soon, Visa-Free Beijing Visits: Beginning in New Year's Day, some foreigners will be able to visit Beijing without visa for 72 hours, provided they can prove they are in transit and have a plane ticket to leave the capital city. (Free)
Cheung Kong Expects China Property-Sales Boost in 2013: Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's property flagship Cheung Kong Holdings expects stronger sales in China in 2013 as the real-estate market continues clawing its way out of a two-year downturn. (Subscriber Content)
Detained China Nobel Wife Speaks Out: Stunned that reporters were able to visit her, Liu Xia cried Thursday as she described her confinement in the two years since her jailed activist husband, Liu Xiaobo, was named a Nobel Peace laureate. (Subscriber Content)
Nobel Literature Winner Skirts Support for Dissident: Nobel literature prize winner Mo Yan dodged requests Thursday to repeat comments supportive of Chinese countryman and jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, and said censorship may be necessary to stop the dissemination of untrue rumors and insults but that he was against censoring the truth. (Subscriber Content)


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Bigger Decepticon threats? Epic 3D action? More elaborate stunts? "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" star Shia LaBeouf appreciated all of these things - but for him, the best thing about a third go-round with the Autobots is the fresh perspective of a new leading lady in Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
"It's actually beneficial to have a new set of eyes," says LaBeouf, "because in the first movie what you had was this discovery of people seeing these robots for the first time, and that was one of the most magical parts of the movie, that discovery. And you lose that in the second movie because the two characters are vetted, and Mikeala and Sam almost become one character with no arc in the second movie. So selfishly, it hindered my performance because I had less to chew on, and it hindered her performance as well, and I think it hindered the movie."
He continues: "Here you have a fresh set of eyes in Rosie, and what that does is make Sam more heroic. When two people have been vetted at the same status and they've been through the wars together, there's nobody for Sam to be heroic to or for. For this just ups the heroism in Sam and therefore makes my character more interesting, so selfishly, I was very happy that Rosie was here."
U.S. & World
There were, the actor admits, other reasons to be selfishly happy, since the "Transformers" films have paired him with Huntington-Whitely, a former Victoria's Secret model, and previous co-star Megan Fox.
"Obviously these women are very beautiful, so that's very enjoyable on a purely 14-year-old male level," he admits. "I'd be lying if I said it's not a pleasure to be around these women, for everybody – especially because there's so much machismo on this set. Rosie would always come to set with levity, joy, a break in the monotonous – sort of like the mascot, the cheerleader for all of us."


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Google chairman Eric Schmidt admitted that the search titan's acquisition of Motorola was all about the patents.
"We still have a problem where too many overbroad patents are used to shut down other companies," Schmidt told CNBC. Schmidt also said called the Motorola Mobility patents "second-to-none" and will help defend the company when it faces "patent challenges from people who want to stop our products."
And although the Motorola acquisition threw the company into the hardware business, Schmidt did his best to quiet the fears of Android's other hardware partners. "We are going into the hardware business, but we're going to keep it separate and we're going to treat everybody else on a fair basis," he said. "If we somehow piss them off ... it would be a disaster to the Android strategy."
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Schmidt is known for his plain, often blunt, speaking, and this interview highlights that his delivery can sometimes be termed abrasive. How many top company execs use the term "piss them off"? Still, Schmidt did confirm most of our beliefs -- that the Motorola purchase was all about the patents, while also using the interview to his advantage by trying to calm its Android partners.


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A recent study in C-JASN by Perazella et al looked at the ability of the urinalysis to distinguish between ATN versus pre-renal AKI on 267 consecutive inpatients with AKI in the Yale-New Haven Hospital system on whom a renal consult was called. Participating nephrologists were asked to assess a cause of either "ATN", "pre-renal", or "other" at two different time points: (1) just after history & physical but before microscopy diagnosis, and (2) after patient discharge or death. As biopsies were not done in this study, the 2nd & final diagnosis--based on clinical judgement--was the "gold standard." The urinalysis itself was carried out in a standardized fashion and a scoring system based on the number of casts or renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) was developed.
Not surprisingly, patients with a high "urine sediment score" (indicating many casts or RTECs) had a high rate of ATN as a final diagnosis while those with lower scores were more likely to have pre-renal AKI as a final diagnosis. While this is not groundbreaking, what is worthwhile about this study is that (a) they prove that the urinalysis is a valuable tool for diagnosis by showing that a significant number of patients had their diagnosis changed following urinalysis, and (b) they tackle this problem in a systematic fashion.


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This is on a MacBook Pro, Mountain Lion 10.8.1, Accordance 10.0.2. It happens any time I place the little magnifying glass over a hyperlinked scripture reference. In other words, instead of displaying the verse/passage in Instant Details, I get this dialog. How do I make this stop?
Attached Files
Edited by Christopher Heard, 17 September 2012 - 01:35 PM.


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Change the look of any interior with a trendy affordable coffee or side table. All manufactured from mild steel, welded and powdercoated a colour we feel to be the best suited to that particular style. Made by hand and therefore no two items will look identical.
R 1,395.00 Incl VAT
Total Available: 0
Back orders only, lead time 20 Working Days.
Name:Country Side Table - White
Care Instructions:Not meant for outdoor use. Wipe with a damp cloth. Avoid abrasive cleaners as they can scratch or dull the surface of your table.
Height:60 cm
Width:42 cm
Depth:42 cm
Weight:0.00000 kg
Material:Mild steel
Colour Description:Texured White
Wire Type:None


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Australia take control of third test
Mitchel Johnson helps Australia bowl South Africa out for just 287 in deciding test
Australia's Michael Clarke sets the field during the third day of the third test match against South Africa. Photograph: Shaun Roy/Reuters
Australia took complete control of the deciding third test against South Africa on an elongated third day in Cape Town.
Replying to Australia's 494 for seven declared, the Proteas were bowled out for 287 as Mitchell Johnson took four for 42 and Ryan Harris three for 63.
Australia closed on 27 without loss in their second innings for a lead of 234.
Following a rain-abridged second day, Australia declared on their overnight total — stranding South Africa part-time spinner JP Duminy on a hat-trick — and made early inroads in the hosts' reply.
Captain Graeme Smith made just five before edging a ball angled across him by Harris behind to keeper Brad Haddin.
Alviro Petersen and Dean Elgar put on 35 but the latter was dismissed for 11, Haddin this time changing direction to take a magnificent catch off James Pattinson's bowling.
Petersen put on 53 with Hashim Amla and pushed Johnson for three to reach a run-a-ball half-century, but then had to dig in for a battle as the left-armer produced a hostile spell.
After unflinchingly taking one on the upper arm, Petersen was less secure against the next short ball and gloved down the leg side, giving Johnson a trademark wicket and Haddin his third catch.
The build-up to the match had been dominated by talk of reverse swing, with David Warner fined for his comments about Proteas wicketkeeper AB de Villiers.
And Harris found some as he brought a superb delivery back in to Amla (38) to bowl him through the gate and leave South Africa 121 for four.
The ball was reversing for Johnson as well and he induced a loose edge from De Villiers (14), Michael Clarke taking the catch at second slip.
That was 133 for five and it became 146 for six when Duminy (four) edged Harris on the walk and Haddin took the catch.
By tea, though, Faf du Plessis and Vernon Philander had staged a recovery of sorts to 200 for six.
It was not without alarm, though, for Du Plessis in particular — starting from his very first delivery, as Australia's appeal for caught behind was turned down. They opted not to review, but Hot Spot appeared to show a slight mark on the inside edge.
Du Plessis should certainly have been stumped for 30 after missing a Nathan Lyon delivery, but a rare error from Haddin reprieved him.
A sweep two balls later burst straight through Alex Doolan at short leg, who had little time to react, and Haddin got a glove to an equally difficult leg-side chance but could not hang on as Du Plessis reached tea on 42 with Philander on 18.
Du Plessis clipped Lyon wide of mid-on for four to reach his 50, his fourth boundary from 118 balls, and produced an exact replica next up.
On 67, though, he drove away from his body at Johnson and was neatly caught by Warner at point to end the stand five short of 100.
Kyle Abbott (three) played inside a Shane Watson delivery that shaved his off stump but Dale Steyn carved the same bowler for two fours.
Steyn edged one Johnson bouncer for four but was struck on the head by another and after upper-cutting the same bowler for another boundary, he fended him to Watson at slip to depart for a defiant 28.
Morne Morkel pulled Pattinson for four but slashed to Watson two balls later.
That left South Africa short of the follow-on mark but Clarke chose not to enforce it and Australia openers Chris Rogers and Warner made 27 in the six overs before the close.


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Bills G.M. Buddy Nix wants to add depth at linebacker in the draft.
The Dolphins may consider some aging veterans to bolster their defense in free agency.
The Boston Herald looks at the polarizing reaction Patriots QB Tom Brady's new contract has drawn.
Texas S Kenny Vaccaro could be a target for the Jets in the NFL draft.
A deep safety class could benefit the Ravens.
The Bengals may try to draft a backup to QB Andy Dalton.
The Browns have had more misses than hits in free agency lately.
Keeping CB Keenan Lewis will be the Steelers' top priority in free agency.
The uniform worn last season by Texans DE J.J. Watt will be on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Colts quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen is joining Peyton Manning and Austin Collie to visit U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
New Jacksonville coach Gus Bradley says his unpredictable defense will make it harder for teams to run on the Jaguars.
The Titans seem to be getting ready for an active start to free agency.
Broncos coach John Fox has a lot of friends in the AFC West.
Texas A&M OT Luke Joeckel still appears to be the favorite to be the Chiefs' first overall pick.
The Raiders' statement on the possibility that Mike Holmgren will join the team didn't clear anything up: "As a general policy, the Raiders don't comment on personnel matters, so the team isn't able to confirm or deny the report."
Chargers coach Mike McCoy knows he has a big task ahead of him.
Free agent WR Steve Breaston could be a target of the Cowboys.
Could Jarvis Jones or Barkevious Mingo drop to the Giants?
Vera Wang is redesigning the Eagles' cheerleaders' uniforms.
Washington owner Dan Snyder may just be bluffing about suing the NFL in an attempt to get the league office to give him back some of the salary cap space that was taken away last year.
Former Michigan QB Denard Robinson looks a lot like Bears return man Devin Hester.
Alabama CB Dee Milliner looks like he could be a big part of the Lions' defense for years to come.
Here's a look back at the day when the Packers signed Brett Favre to what was supposedly a contract for life.
Former Vikings offensive coordinator Brian Billick said this of the current state of the Vikings' offense: "I think it's time to start holding Christian Ponder accountable. But only if they give him the proper weapons. Percy Harvin is a heck of a weapon. And when he was healthy, he was a great way to go. They don't have that big shot down the field. They were hoping Jerome Simpson could be that. They don't have that. That's got to be a top priority. For me, I've got to come out with a big play weapon down the field."
The Atlanta City Council has a public meeting set for tonight to hear residents' thoughts on a new stadium for the Falcons.
Said Panthers coach Ron Rivera of the need for a defensive tackle in the draft, "I think it's a need. Is it one of our top needs? We'll see as we go through the free agency process and the process of scouting these college football players. But I do know having stout, physical defensive linemen is important. Just ask the linebackers. They'll tell you how important it is so they can run and make plays."
Cameron Jordan tops the list in this assessment of the Saints' defensive talent.
City leaders in Temple Terrace, Florida, want to get back more than $186,000 in tax dollars set aside to help build a Buccaneers training facility.
The Cardinals would like to have their quarterback situation figured out before March 17, when they owe Kevin Kolb a $2 million bonus.
Rams RB Steven Jackson has seen his role in the offense decline steadily, so it's no surprise that there's talk he may be done in St. Louis.
The 49ers now have an "exclusive solar technology partner" for their new stadium.
The Seahawks have shown a knack for finding first-round talents on the third day of the draft.


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Ruben Wills, Allan Jennings and Albert Baldeo are also interested in the seat in a neighborhood that might just have the highest percentage of home foreclosures in the country.
This week, this newspaper endorsed Ruben Wills, who has been chief of staff to State Senator Shirley Huntley, to fill the seat. Although few legislators have been able to cut a clear plan to making sure the neighborhood rebounds from the visible foreclosure dent in the community, we think he can.
But we here at Pol Position aren't a bunch of glasses-wearing policy wonks, we like the juicy stuff, and the real story behind the race might just be the key to which political faction will be prevalent in the future of the southern area of Queens,
Senator Shirley Huntley and Councilman Leroy Comrie support Wills, while Congressman Gregory Meeks is supporting Paultre-Bell. The competing political camps and factions have worked pretty hard to get their candidate the seat. Both camps have a good deal riding on the race, which Pol Position sees as a big factor in shaping the political future of South Queens.
In unrelated news in this race, one of the candidates might not be able to even cast a vote for himself on Election Day, and it just so happens that that candidate is the one we support! Yes, Wills went down to the Board of Elections last week to register to vote at his new residence, but was turned away by BOE officials.
It seems that a written notice was sent out stating that the last day to register to vote in person in the Special Election was October 23. As it turns out, that was a typo, and actually the last day to register to vote in the Special Election was October 8. Instead of accommodating Wills, BOE workers told him "our bad" and sent him on his way.
So you better get out and vote for Wills, and don't hold it against him if he isn't able to do the same.


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Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee on proposed Constitutional amendment
July 09, 2014
Dear Senator:
On behalf of the three million members of the National Education Association and the students they serve, we urge you to support S. J. Res. 19, scheduled for full committee markup tomorrow. This proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States would expressly grant Congress the authority to regulate and limit the amount of money raised for—and spent on—federal political campaigns, and allow states to regulate campaign spending at their level. Votes associated with this issue may be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 113th Congress.
Since the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC four years ago, corporate money has flooded our political system, drowning out the voices of ordinary Americans. In McCutcheon v. FEC, issued earlier this year, the Court lifted the cap on the total amount a single individual can contribute to candidates, political parties, and political committees, further tipping the scales in favor of big money donors. In 2012 alone, "Super PACs" and 501(c)4 entities spent hundreds of millions of dollars to influence the outcome of elections.
Congress and the states are helpless to prevent the resulting distortion of our democracy. In effect, the Supreme Court decisions cited above are denying regular people an equal say in determining the future of our country. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow Congress to turn down the volume on corporate speech and big money donors, so individual citizens could be heard as our nation's founders intended.
The power to speak freely is a hollow freedom for the millions of Americans whose voice is drowned out by the booming echo of big money as speech. We were encouraged when S. J. Res. 19 passed out of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, and urge you to support it to protect democracy and the voice of the American people.
Mary Kusler
Director, Government Relations


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Former Oscar nominee Will Smith fueled this year's Academy Award diversity debate when he announced he would not be attending the annual ceremony along with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, whose viral video helped initiate the movement.
While celebrity after celebrity added their vocal fuel to the fire, the Academy's president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced a historic list of changes to voting membership guidelines meant to limit inactive members and encourage a wide-ranging voting pool – music to Smith's ears.
"I was very pleased at how quickly and aggressively the Academy responded," Smith told the BBC Friday. [[361398801,C]]
U.S. & World
However, he also took a beat to answer his critics, who have alleged that the Smith's outcries are really in response to the "Concussion" star's lack of a nomination this year.
"I want to be very clear about the spirit of what I'm saying. This is far beyond me. This has nothing to do with me. This has nothing to do with awards," he said. "That's a really frivolous reason for me to put my hand up and make a statement. For me this is much more about the idea of diversity and inclusion."
He drove home the point that this is a problem that must be addressed in unity.
"I think that it's not us and them – t's we," he concluded. "I'm a member of the Academy, so it's much more a domestic family issue than it is a civil rights issue, so it's a problem we all have to solve." [[238904721,C]]
PHOTOS: Celebrities Discuss Diversity in Hollywood
READ: Will Smith Reacts to Wife Jada's Oscar Boycott Video--Will He Attend This Year's Ceremony?


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About The Review
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SACSCOC at VSU
VSU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The current accreditation period is effective from January 2011 through December 2021.
The Commission on Colleges and its Committees on Compliance and Reports met officially December 4-7, 2010 to make final decisions on accreditation statuses of institutions eligible for reaccreditation. Public announcements of reaccreditation were made at the SACSCOC Annual Conference on December 7, 2010.
A SACSCOC review team of 10 members conducted VSU's on-site review from April 6th through 8th, 2010. Based on an extensive review of VSU's compliance materials, the committee concluded that no recommendations for corrective action were necessary. To learn more about the on-site review, read President Schloss' Notes from April 2010.
Statement of Accreditation Status
Valdosta State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, bachelor's, master's, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of VSU.
Related Resources
- 229.333.5950
- 229.333.7400
Campus Address
Academic Affairs
West Hall Suite 1004
Mailing Address
1500 N. Patterson St.
Valdosta, GA 31698
- Mon.-Thurs. 8:00-5:30
Fri. 8:00-3:00