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Paradise for sale?
To the Kuna Indians, home is a narrow coastal strip in the north of Panama. Cut off from the outside world for a long time, they are now discovering tourism as a source of income – and coming into conflict with their culture in the process.
Piler Stocel glides smoothly from his dugout into the water and takes a last deep breath before diving to the depths. He stays down for an entire minute that feels like an eternity. When he resurfaces, the current has carried him perilously close to the razor-sharp coral. Dangling in the sling at the end of his stick is an orange-brown spiny lobster that's sweeping its feelers back and forth. Stocel, 21, is not happy with his catch, though: "Too small," he says, disappointed, and throws the creature back into the sea.
Stocel regularly works the reefs off the island of Digir, combing them meter by meter. But the young man, a Kuna Indian, has a problem: He only earns money when he catches sufficient full-grown crustaceans. And thanks to his people's self-imposed close seasons, fishing quotas and protected zones, he often returns home with empty cages. The environmentalists are happy, but Stocel stays hungry.
The Kuna Indians' home is the Guna Yala province of northern Panama: a roughly 200-kilometer strip of land bordering the Caribbean, protected by a ridge in places 750 meters high, and off the coast, hundreds of islands, the San Blas Islands – no one knows exactly how many. Some claim they number exactly 365 – an island for each day of the year. The approximately 32 000 Kuna living here are one of the few Central American peoples to enjoy a large measure of autonomy. They gained their independent status in bloody battles fought back in 1925, when they defended themselves against the colonial police force. Since then, they have been effectively cut off from the rest of Panama. For a long time, the only way to reach the region was to fly there or spend days tramping over hills and battling through the rainforest.
This isolation earned Guna Yala a reputation for being the "last paradise," and the Kuna were assumed to be the happiest people on earth. All that changed when a crack appeared in their natural shield in 2008: an asphalt highway. Since then, it's been just a five-hour drive from Panama City to the harbor in Cartí, the gateway to Kuna country. Now more and more tourists arrive every year, so many in fact, that the congreso general, the Kuna parliament, fears a sell-out of the tribe's culture as capital invades paradise.
Concerns first arose when photos of Kuna women with their typical bob hairstyles were found to be circulating in the capital at two dollars apiece – without the women's consent. Quite a lot has happened since then: Most Kuna men and young people today wear western clothes, while molas, the Kuna's traditional, colorful embroidered artworks, have become coveted items in the boutiques of Manhattan's 5th Avenue. What's more, only with great effort could foreign investors wishing to build opulent resorts all around the islands be kept at bay.
Many Kuna removed to the hot, humid islands of San Blas in the late 19th century to escape the malaria, jaguars and venomous snakes of the mainland. Whereas there, they had grown yams, corn and cassava, on the islands, they lived mainly from the coconut trade. Even today, the individual clans alternate their harvests month by month. But the trade that once sustained entire families is barely worth engaging in today. Dealers pay just 40 cents per coconut, and 400 is the maximum that can be gathered in a month. The alternative to that starvation wage is tourism.
Stocel also sees doing business with foreign visitors as his only chance of a decent life. For a pound of spiny lobster, the middlemen pay him and the other fishermen a paltry four dollars – income from which they have to cover their children's schooling, doctors' fees and the general costs of living. But they also dream of smartphones, televisions and convenience foods.
If Stocel could earn his money another way, he would leave the shellfish in peace. Instead, he would build cabañas, simple beach huts, rent them to tourists and organize boat trips. But no one comes. The last guests to sleep in the handful of cabañas on his native island of Digir came five months ago. The huts, just two years old, are already in a desolate state, their toilets and showers rusting in the salty ocean air – there are too many other dream islands between the harbors of Cartí and Digir.
One of those is Achudub, the most popular destination in the archipelago. It has coral sand as soft as baking soda, palms that sway in the wind, and a shipwreck with clownfish for snorkelers to explore. Hundreds of visitors come every day, most just for one night. A dozen pleasure boats lie unused on the beach. Four young Germans spending a few months traveling Central America enter the postcard panorama. "You really just want to set a stripy tiger duck on the water and keep on singing "Panama is the land of our dreams!" says Martina Furrer, 26, from Stuttgart. "Making this trip was a spontaneous decision after someone at the hostel mentioned the place," adds her companion, Nick Kohler, "we only found out later that this is where the Kuna live." They don't actually come into direct contact with the indigenous people, "but our guide tells us a lot about their culture."
When Rainald Framhein first visited Achudub in 2008, he slept in hammocks and was the only white person far and wide. Framheim is Swiss but has been living in Panama for 20 years now, where he organizes tours, including some to Guna Yala, and has friends among the Kuna. They find the temptation of tourism hard to resist, he says. "And for the congreso, it's difficult to take everyone's interests into account. If only a handful of people profit from the tourists, envy and resentment arise." Very few stick to the rule banning an individual from operating more than two tourist boats. Refuse and coral bob on the fringe of the densely populated islands, and garbage is piling up even on the small, uninhabited islands.
"Their independence is very important to the Kuna," explains Framheim, "but that also means that they have to solve their environmental problems themselves." And the greater the influx of holidaymakers, the more difficult it becomes for the Kuna to preserve their traditional way of life. Gorgidub, a tiny heap of sand in the ocean, is closed at present because it has no toilet – although an application has been filed for one. "It's only a question of time before the first guesthouse opens here," Framheim prophesies.
More and more tourists arrive every year – some Kuna fear a sell-out of their culture
Lorenzo Rodríguez, a 45-year-old hotel manager on Icodub, also believes that tourists are the only way to earn money. Icodub is one of the easily accessible islands, where you can see the lights of Panama City shimmering against the sky at new moon. Tourists began coming here 14 years ago, says the man with the resolute voice and freshly pressed polo shirt. His grandparents still produced coconut oil, he says, but after a series of poor harvests, his family has now turned to tourism. The problem is that the island has only 50 tourist beds. "We need to invest," says manager Rodríguez, "and have put together a million-dollar business plan which we are hoping will earn the congreso's blessing." He sees it as the right step to take because it will create jobs. Higher revenues are important because the profits must be distributed among all 82 families, each of which owns an equal share in the island.
The more time you spend with the Kuna, the more clearly you realize that there is no such thing as a simple answer, as right or wrong. And that goes for Corbisky Island, too. Its three blue cabañas stand on stilts in the water, their wastewater draining untreated into the ocean shallows, where stingrays and garfish feed. The upside here is a sense of still undiscovered world. Fish clean the fishermen's nets and children romp among the boats. The village chief, who also happens to be the medicine man, invites us in to his palm-thatched hut and quietly explains which herbal tinctures he administers to his patients for fever and mosquito bites. Beside him on the dirt floor, a small woman sits stirring a large pot of corn porridge for the school meal, her colorful bangles jingling. That done, she goes into the neighboring hut and helps with the sewing of molas. Younger women with babies look on. They joke and laugh, drawing the black line on each other's forehead and nose that is believed to ward off evil.
In the stillness of the following dawn, man sits on the jetty beyond the village with his small son in his arms. They are watching the pelicans dive for fish as the sun rises and the village gradually awakens. For now at least, this small paradise belongs to them.
This story first appeared in Lufthansa Exclusive, the frequent traveller magazine. For more information about Lufthansa Miles & More offers, please click here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Louis Farrakhan, the rabidly anti-Israel, anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam, is full of praise for Chuck Hagel. Farrakhan delivered his praise yesterday during a speech in Chicago.
According to Betsy Woodruff at NRO, Farrakhan began by arguing that the media is controlled by Jewish interests. He then praised Hagel for, among other things, standing up to the "Jewish lobby." And he complained that Hagel is "in trouble" as a result.
Quoting Hagel's comments on the power of the "Jewish lobby," Farrakhan said that this is what he has been arguing for decades. Accordingly, the Nation of Islam leader concluded that the nominee is being punished for taking the same position as Farrakhan.
Farrakhan is half right. Hagel has taken a position similar to Farrakhan's on the alleged undue power of the "Jewish lobby." But Hagel isn't going to be punished for it. Instead he will be confirmed as the U.S. Secretary of Defense.


text:
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And you are done. It pretty good to see the overall system usage wrt to CPU, Disk and network.


text:
On raising a son on the autism spectrum, progressive politics, pop culture, and coffee addiction.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The thought I dare not think
The details build up and fill my head until I'm dizzy, and though the words on the screen spin in front of my eyes I scan each update on Yahoo news and CNN and MSNBC, and think: please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it.
I've been afraid to name my fear, to say the words out loud - as though by giving them shape I will somehow make it so. And so it's continued to build inside me as I've wondered, Is anyone else bracing for it? Does anyone else see the storm clouds forming?
I've just discovered that Bev at Asperger Square 8 shares my trepidation. And now I know that I have company as I continue to hold my breath and hope the storm passes us by.
49 comments:
- Club 166 said...
I just cruised over here, after posting my own fears on the subject.
This is something that constantly lurks under the surface for a lot of us.
- April 18, 2007 2:43 PM
- Agatha said...
You're not alone. And I expect that even if there are several words that could be used to describe him, only one will be said.
- April 18, 2007 3:00 PM
- Mamaroo said...
I've been holding my breath here ever since the descriptions of him have been coming out more.
- April 18, 2007 3:40 PM
- Steve said...
Yes, I thought the same thing this morning as I saw a bit of his background on the news this morning.
Tick, tick...
- April 18, 2007 3:42 PM
- Wendy said...
You are not alone. I've been feeling the exact same fear.
- April 18, 2007 4:05 PM
oh. no.
- April 18, 2007 4:19 PM
- Maddy said...
So when would be a good time to exhale in a sigh of relief, when 'someone' says it aloud [say on the radio] or after someone else says hogwash.
We could club together and buy a catering vat of ear plugs!
- April 18, 2007 4:31 PM
Sometimes I'm glad I don't watch/read the real news and only barely understand what you are talking about, unfortunately probably too much, but barely all the same.
- April 18, 2007 5:38 PM
- Amy said...
My husband and I just had the same conversation over the morning paper. Our son's official diagnosis is selective mutism (I'll save my thoughts on whether that's really a separate diagnosis from autism spectrum stuff for another day). You're not alone.
- April 18, 2007 6:50 PM
- Bev said...
Thanks MOM-NOS, and others. I feel less alone with this fear, knowing I'm not the only one. It's eerie how similar our posts are, MOM, both in what we say and don't say. Something very universal and specific about this kind of fear.
- April 18, 2007 8:03 PM
do you fear that he was never really diagnosed and that he lived for so long with all the pressures of Autism with no assistance pr do you fear that your child will be guilty by association?
Did you feel the same way while waiting for the shooter's identity to be revealed: oh, I hope he's not white, or not black, or not green (whatever color you happen to be).
Maybe if someone says it, and it's true, awareness will increase. I think it is steretypical of you to assume that people will think your son has psychotic tendendicies if it is shown that this boy also was on the Spectrum. Do you expect people to assume that all South Koreans are capable of such a thing? Aren't you just perpetuating the discrimination you are so afraid of?
- April 18, 2007 8:18 PM
- Ange said...
On Oprah today there was discussion of the fear of backlash on Asians because of this tragedy. It seems that people look for someone, something tangible to blame, someone/something to focus their anger on... and then it is unfortunately generalized. I haven't watched much on the tragedy because I get sick of all of the speculation the media does to fill in the gaps inbetween [somewhat] factual airtime. I too hope that inaccurate 'diagnoses' aren't carelessly tossed out to the masses and that generalizations aren't further perpetuated.
- April 18, 2007 8:35 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
Anonymous, I don't really fear that people will make sweeping generalizations about South Korean people as a result of this incident, because the descriptions that are emerging in the news are not qualities that are typically characteristic of most people of South Korean descent. However, they are characteristics shared by many people with ASD. (And by characteristics, I don't mean the violent writing or things like that. Did you follow the link to Bev's post? She enumerates them well.)
I am already concerned that because of many of the messages in the media lately, people are forming a negative view of children with autism. On Oprah a couple of weeks ago, I heard someone say something like "A bad day with autism is a bad day. A good day with autism is a bad day waiting to happen." When messages like that sit out there unchallanged, I think about who is hearing them and what kind of contact they might have with my son.
For example, what about the parents of the neurotypical children in Bud's class? Do they worry now that they are sending their child to school every day with a child who is a "bad day waiting to happen"? And if so, then what does that mean for Bud?
And the stakes are so much greater in a situation like this, as was clear in the aftermath of a horribly tragic incident in Massachusetts several months ago. (Joe from Club 166, who left the first comment on this post, makes reference to that incident in his most recent post, if you're not sure what I'm referring to.)
- April 18, 2007 8:39 PM
- Ange said...
I thought I should add that that was the comment made by Lisa Ling. It was something she thought when the media first released that the shooter was "Asian" before they new who he really was, that he was from South Korea, before they started with all of the loner, horrific writing, etc. business. When Oprah asked Ms. Ling if she still feared a backlash, I don't recall her giving a clear answer one way or another.
- April 18, 2007 8:48 PM
MomNos--I totally understand your concerns and thoughts--nobody wants to be assumed to be like anyone else.
But I fear that by saying we assume that people will think the worst of our children because they may/may not share the same diagnosis, we are perpetuating a type of stereotype/prejudice where we think that THEY can't possibly understand what it means to be US
Does that make sense?
- April 18, 2007 9:25 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
That does make sense, Anonymous. I don't mean to suggest that I think the average well-meaning person would think ill of Bud because of narrow-mindedness or mean-spiritedness, but because in the absence of real-life experience, we all tend to fill in the blanks with the information that's provided to us. In this case, I fear that there could be overwhelming suggestions, innuendo, or framing of the issue in the media that could result in inaccurate assumptions being made by the "average" person who has no real-life experience to balance it.
The communication theorist Marshall McLuhan posited that "the medium is the message," suggesting that cultural and societal changes result (often in unanticipated ways) by the emergence of any new medium (with medium being defined as anything from which a change emerges).
McLuhan said, "Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it. Anticipation gives the power to deflect and control force." So, in this situation, with the medium being a tragic event, I am anticipating the possible message that might emerge, and wondering what can be done to ensure that the resulting societal change doesn't have significant negative implications for my son.
That's a long-winded response, I know, but it's how I tend to deal with things when I'm under stress.
- April 18, 2007 9:59 PM
- neil said...
Wow, I hadn't considered any of this till I got here, but what I will say is that there were 30,000 odd gun related deaths in America last year, were these shootings all by autistic people? A lot of these deaths, about half, are suicides from people suffering with depression, which by the way also matches some of the descriptors being assigned to the gunman. So who are all the other people doing the shootings? Should we worry that all of them are autistic? I can't and I won't, neither should any of you. I'm as proud of my daughter as any parent and as a school councillor at her autistic school, I have contact with many of the students and do not think that any of them are potential killers any more than someone I pass by in the street. I think that I would have more chance of being struck by lightning than being murdered by someone with autism, certainly the chances are greater that I could be murdered by someone without autism and I have never seen any evidence to suggest that autism is making murderers out of anyone. People kill for a variety of reasons, terrorism, anger, greed and so on, and sure, someone with autism could be a murderer, but autism wouldn't be the reason.
- April 18, 2007 10:30 PM
- Club 166 said...
Well, now that the killer's "manifesto" that he sent to NBC has been released (and broadcast all over the airwaves), it is obvious that Seung was anything but autistic. Perhaps paranoid schizophrenic, but definitely not autistic.
But it is still true that when catastrophes happen (natural or otherwise) we, as humans, tend to try to categorize things and make associations. We also seem to have an inbred fear of "the other". These things can combine to make the public make generalizations that are totally uncalled for when thinking about those that are strange to them, like autistics.
- April 18, 2007 11:04 PM
- Joeymom said...
Still holding my breath here. I am sorry this person did not get the support and services they needed. Desperately. But every time I read the description from the English professor, I pray hard. Please don't say it... please don't say it...
- April 19, 2007 1:22 AM
- Kev said...
On a certain Yahoo message board they're already saying it. Fore Sam is (as you can see) blaming it on Neurodiversity but even there, this view is not very popular.
Once demonisation begins, the thin end of the wedge becomes the thick end very, very quickly.
- April 19, 2007 4:19 AM
Mom-Nos--thank you for your further explanation. I appreciate your writing, your thoughtfulness, and a chance to delurk :)
- April 19, 2007 9:42 AM
- Mom said...
I blogged about this the day it happened and mainly because it was so like my son. Not the autistic kid, but the schizophrenic one. I hate to say I told the blogosphere so, but I did. Every mass shooting by young men brings this back to the front of my mind when I try so hard to push the memories back.
He wasn't autistic. But there is a very strong possibility that he was schizophrenic and most certainly psychotic. Scary thing is that there are a lot of people like him out there.
- April 19, 2007 10:42 AM
- lizziehoop said...
I just saw it on CNN.com. The dreaded A word is right in the article. I screamed at that top of my lungs and came here. My husband is on his way to Virginia with his students for a couple of days and 3 of his Korean students are worried about their safety. Now I need to worry about the safety of my son. I am 2 hours away from a team meeting at the school where all out war is going to be waged against a teacher who is prejudice and discriminates against my son because of his disability. What is this revelation going to do to the rest of us that have been working so hard??
- April 19, 2007 12:08 PM
Here it is in case anyone missed it:
"Cho's great-aunt, Kim Yang-soon, said Cho was diagnosed with autism after coming to U.S. in 1992. Speaking from her home in South Korea, she described Cho as "very cold" and said her niece was constantly worried about him."
from cnn.com
- April 19, 2007 3:24 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
Lizzie and Kristen, can you post the link to the quote you saw? Someone e-mailed me this link, which apparently had the text Kristen quoted when she read it. But by the time I followed the link, the article read:
"Cho's great-aunt, Kim Yang-soon, described Cho as 'very cold' and said her niece was constantly worried about him, according to a translation from the AP."
My hunch is that the Korean word for "autism" must be very similar to the Korean word for "very cold", and the real meaning of what she said was misinterpreted in the first report.
- April 19, 2007 3:47 PM
Interestingly it's been removed and updated. You can see on Kev's blog how the original quote read, as jypsy posted it exactly from the earlier version of the CNN on-line article.
- April 19, 2007 4:00 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
I just read this article on cnn.com, titled Virginia shooter spoke little as child, which quotes his uncle:
(He) was a worry to his family because he didn't speak much as a child, his uncle said Thursday, and there were even concerns he might be mute.
But there were no early indications that the South Korean student who killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech had serious problems, said the uncle, who requested to be identified only by his last name, Kim.
(He) "didn't talk much when he was young. He was very quiet, but he didn't display any peculiarities to suggest he may have problems," Kim told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We were concerned about him being too quiet and encouraged him to talk more."
No mention of any particular diagnosis anywhere in the article.
- April 19, 2007 4:05 PM
I read that quote from the uncle yesterday. The quote from the great-aunt, in a separate article, was posted on-line earlier today. That article has been revised at least three times.
- April 19, 2007 4:09 PM
There are a lot of reasons that a child doesn't talk much. Autism is probably the most benign of those possible causes.
When my son was in 4th grade, one of the room parents stared telling everyone he had been abused. She didn't know about his diagnosis of autism. While I was quite upset by the allegation, I couldn't deny the similarites in autistic and child abuse symptoms.
I think it's important to remember that antisocial personality disorder is more prevelant than autism, and that it IS at the root of this kind of violence.
Just because two things might look alike, doesn't mean they are at all alike. If parents of autistic people can't understand this, then how can we presume to protect our INNOCENT children?
- April 19, 2007 4:41 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
I should have explained why I posted that quote, Anonymous. I was taking it as a good sign that the uncle and the article were NOT making autism claims. I didn't mean to suggest that I think the article points to a diagnosis.
I agree that "Just because two things might look alike, doesn't mean they are at all alike." That's the point I've been trying to make all along... though perhaps I haven't made it as well as I'd hoped if you drew the opposite conclusion.
- April 19, 2007 5:22 PM
- lizziehoop said...
It has been revised since I saw it. I did email the link to someone (Susan - you out there? Did you save it?). I thought it would stick around forever in cyberspace. I know it was there and it was the great aunt that said it. She also called him an idiot at the end of the article. I hope it was a mistake.
- April 19, 2007 6:17 PM
- lizziehoop said...
in the intro under the picture it says autism. it is no longer in the article. I now have a screen shot I can email if you need it :)
- April 19, 2007 8:11 PM
I have the same fear. Not only that, I am afraid that because the paper I read felt the need to point out that he was a loner, that there will be people who draw the conclusion that ALL introverted people people are potential mass murderers.
- April 19, 2007 8:54 PM
Did someone post thisbr/>
Ack. The grandfather sounds like a lovely man. Cringe.
- April 20, 2007 3:08 AM
Here's the link to the article on CNN that confirms what the aunt said.
AutismLink has already put out a statement. I posted about it earlier.
I think it would be better for them to come out and say it so they can back it up. But I also think the Wrights are making NBC and MSNBC keep this under wraps.....
- April 20, 2007 10:24 AM
OK, I just read that they changed it. Sneaky.....
Grrr. o
- April 20, 2007 10:55 AM
OMG Mel, NO but I Will post it!!!
How stupid was it of CNN to take that down??? I mean, why would AutismLink make a statement if they hadn't seen it SOMEwhere???? Hmm?
- April 20, 2007 10:58 AM
Many of us in the autism community have had that sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs that there was going to be some link or potential link between the VT shooter and autism. Personally, I don't want to give this person any more spot light. I do however want to help the autism community to remain strong through what could be a rough blow to the progress that we have been making in educating the general population about autism.
Now more than ever we need to remain strong and confident. We need to voice ourselves calmly and rationally. We can share our first hand knowledge and information about what autism is and how it affects our families. In general, people do not realize what autism is, what the spectrum is, and how very different it can be from individual to individual.
We need to be clear that the Virginia Tech shooter had many more
issues than just autism or aspergers. IF autism was even part of the long list of issues that he was diagnosed with.
I am mom to 3 children. Two are on the spectrum. I have always stated that my sons are not defined by their diagnoses. If the only thing you know about my sons is the fact that they are diagnosed with autism, you do not know them at all. Even if you are a person familiar with autism. They are even very different from each other!
The reverse is also true. To know one person with autism is just that - you know ONE person with autism. That one person does not define autism.
We need to continue to progress in educating the public about autism. Please be certain to help raise awareness of the many wonderful facets of autism, of the blessings we have been so lucky to have in our families. Help to educate others, to help them understand and accept.
This is a great mission. We have been fortunate to have the opportunity to improve the world. Please continue to bring positive light to the world of autism.
- April 20, 2007 12:38 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
Well said, mom4ckp! Thank you.
- April 20, 2007 12:45 PM
Here's Autism Speaks' response:
- April 20, 2007 2:03 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
I have to say, regardless of whatever other issues I may have with Autism Speaks, that was very well stated. Thanks for passing it on, redhead.
- April 20, 2007 3:50 PM
It turns out Autism Speaks pulled their statement. Durn - I wanted to read it!! Did anyone make a screen shot? I guess we have to get in the practice of doing that from now on. @@
What is going ON here, though? This is too weird... We have to be able to do damage control. It's still all over the internet from the South Korean newspaper and a lot of other newspapers all over the world (links are on my blog). Someone went from the Mirror to South Korea and talked to these people.
Oh, and Mom4ckp - very well said!
- April 20, 2007 5:59 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
Moi, I can still access it. It says:
"Autism Speaks Statement Regarding the Virginia Tech Tragedy:
Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and we hold them in our thoughts and prayers. Autism is a serious developmental, neurobiological disorder that impairs a person's ability to communicate and interact socially. To imply that people with autism are violent and that Cho Seung-Hui's rampage occurred because he may have suffered from autism is irresponsible and incites prejudice. This is not what the Virginia Tech community, families living with autism or the country needs at this time."
- April 20, 2007 6:05 PM
- Ginger Taylor said...
Hello all,
Even if his diagnosis is rock solid confirmed, I just don't think that
it will end up making much of a ripple.
I wrote about it today in a long post here:
Autism is to common and autistic killers are to rare for people to really believe that this guys actions were a direct result of his autism. (again if it is confirmed) I really believe that people will at worst see it as Autism+Psychosis=Shooter.
I was watching Heraldo, King of Drama today(God help me), and the autism theory was brought up and discussed for a minute, but the role that bullying or SSRI side effects were discussed at 10 times the length.
If the media is not jumping on the Autism as a direct cause, I think that is a sign that the rest of the world will not really do it either.
- April 20, 2007 6:55 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
Thanks, Ginger. Susan Senator and Kim Stagliano have powerful posts about it today as well.
- April 20, 2007 8:43 PM
Thanks MOM - I got some other thing when I cut and pasted the link into my browser before. Maybe they took it down for a while and put it back up....
- April 20, 2007 8:45 PM
- MOM-NOS said...
MothersVox also has a great post on the subject.
- April 21, 2007 7:18 AM
- MOM-NOS said...
There's a great article in the Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch today called Experts: Autism not the cause.
- April 21, 2007 9:14 PM
- Kim Rossi Stagliano said...
One tiny bright spot of hope from this tragedy is that it has brought together the disparate voices of autism like nothing I've ever seen. That feels pretty good to me. We all kids our autistic kids goodnight and pray for the best for them. So, for today we kind of hold hands and hold good thoughts for our kids. We can bicker as adults - but it's the kids I think about. All of them. Maybe we've realized we're in this autism boat together - even if you're on the lido deck and I'm on the "poop" deck. ;)
Kim "Crapisode" Stagliano
- April 22, 2007 7:05 PM


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Today marks the start of my dirty thirties. I am 30 years old. Thirty. Three-zero. Fourth decade of life.
Alright I went too far with that last one, because that's some freaky shit right there.
What better time to revive my hilarious and not-award-winning blog? Exactly. Glad we're on the same page again, readers. And by readers, I mean my mom. Hi mom.
It seems pretty standard for people to lose their shit when one of these milestone birthdays peer deep into their souls and cause them to stare in a mirror, crying about all the insane expectations we had when we were younger about where we'd be at 30. Hey, weren't you supposed to be an astronaut and take a few spins around Mars like, five years ago? No? What a loser.
What I learned in my twenties was to scrap all your preconditioned ideas about what you're supposed to be, where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed be, how you're supposed to be, and why you're supposed to be at a certain age. It's just total bullshit to have those expectations because the best parts of life are the unexpected moments and people who rock your world without any formulated plans.
My boss, Ron Swanson, gave me the perfect gift to accompany this wisdom. Lagavulin 16 scotch whisky and a note that ended with OMNIA PARATUS: Ready for anything.
In my now thirty years, I'd like to think one of my best qualities is being scrappy, an improv master, and all around make it work aficionado. Our teachers, parents, and coworkers will continuously tell us to ask as many questions as possible. No question is dumb, they said. I'm here to offer an amendment to this rule: take some time to think, let shit sink in, because you can probably answer the question yourself. Or just fucking Google it. Whatever means you choose, you are capable of being the answer, the solution, the method. Find your way, goddammit.
Here's a list of 15 things I want to achieve this decade, no questions asked:
1. Visit my homeland, Ireland, and relish in all the pale glory.
2. Watch more good television, and stop assuming Parks & Recreation is still going on.
3. Start writing a best-selling novel that JK Rowling lauds as the best thing since Harry Potter.
4. Start writing my biography that will become a feature film starring my celebrity twin, Emma Stone. Emma Watson will be my second choice, but only if she keeps the British accent.
5. Work with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
6. Become best friends with above.
7. Be the "Freakshow" guest at Britney's Piece of Me show and be whipped by a fucking goddess.
8. Become best friends with above and begin concocting a plan to unite her and Justin in holy matrimony.
9. Invent a flying car so we can do this future shit right already.
10. Become an Avenger. I already have hardware in my back, Stan Lee. Come at me.
11. Witness Leonardo DiCaprio win an Oscar.
12. Be in the audience and watch my brothers HardNox perform on Saturday Night Live.
13. Finally have that sleepover party with my BFF Miri (Jennifer Lawrence, for those out of the loop).
14. Play Tina Fey in her lifetime movie about her beginnings and career. I'd be so good, you don't even know.
15. Experience 7 minutes in heaven with Ryan Gosling. My husband is fully supportive of this.
This will be a piece of cake.


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"Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves" (Quraan 13:11)
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." – Mahatma Gandhi
Many of us are prone to complain and moan; about how our country is going in the doldrums the government is corrupt and inefficient, the people are uneducated, the roads are filthy, there is poverty all around, etc. However, very few realize that the change that they are seeking will come from none but themselves. Luckily for Pakistan there are many who decided to stop complaining and become agents of change.
In 2012, Engro Corporation launched a small initiative to recognize these true stalwarts of society who have worked tirelessly to improve access to education, health-care and livelihoods for Pakistan's poorest of the poor.The initiative aims to collaborate with the corporate and the philanthropic sector of the country and help individuals and institutions who are pioneering initiatives to improve lives across the spheres of Livelihoods, Education and Health.
I Am The Change (IATC) celebrates those who decided it wasn't enough to moan and groan but to start the rebuilding of our nation one brick at a time. These heroes would have served their causes without fame and recognition but to magnify these causes we need to highlight them, to support them, and to spread their deeds far and wide.
I had the opportunity to meet some of these heroes last year during a bloggers meet that Engro organized at T2F. This year, I was invited to the awards ceremony by Xenith Public Relations, along with very limited people from the Social Media community. I wish there had been more of Social Media representation at the dinner who could have spread the word far and wide through our collective 'pens'.
The event was an extravagant affair, some may even call it a bit over-indulgent. However, as a Trustee of a charitable trust (Ihsaas Trust), I understand to some extent why Engro wanted to splurge on it. The ugly truth is that money attracts money. The dinner was for the high and mighty of society, a bid to attract them and to get them to fill out pledge forms to support this cause of highlighting the heroes of society. And sadly those type of people don't show up to eat daal chawal outside your local masjid. However, I still think the event could have been equally grand with a little less spent on decor, food and 'shashkay'. For 10% saved off the cost of the event, we could change several lives at Ihsaas Trust or any of the IATC award winners.
This year's recipients included the Azat Foundation in the category of education, working to provide education and youth empowerment opportunities to individuals from various areas of Baluchistan including Noshki, Kharan, Awaraan amongst others.
In the category of Livelihoods, the award was given to Orangi Pilot Project that continues to focus on urban development and works with the underprivileged in the arena of micro-finance and micro-enterprises, helping set up small businesses such as embroidery, footwear manufacturing and other small cottage industries reaching out to over 100,000 individuals through various projects. The winner in the category of Health was Child Life Foundation (CLF) — an NGO providing comprehensive child health care services from emergency care to prevention. CLF provides free medicines, essential oxygen systems, medical monitors and most importantly trains doctors and nurses to help save the lives of children at imminent risk reaching out to approximately 800 child-patients every day.
Previous winners of the IATC Awards in the various categories include organizations such as The Dream Foundation; The Garage School; Patients Welfare Association; Karachi Vocational & Training Centre; Child Aid Association; KhwendoKor (Peshawar); Akhuwat (Lahore).
Speaking at the occasion, Ali Ansari – outgoing President & CEO, Engro Corporation said, "We strongly believe in empowerment of communities by highlighting change agents who are working in high-impact areas such as education, health and livelihoods. Pakistan has a growing young population which will be in need of job opportunities. Coupled with the fact that half of the country cannot read or write and up to 25 million children not having access to school, the country is faced with an education, health and livelihood emergency. In this scenario it is imperative that we join hands to empower agents of change who are working to improve these social issues – IATC is a partnership platform that creates awareness and provides recognition to the unsung heroes from across Pakistan in order to support and multiply their efforts."
The IATC platform also announced a major development in terms of cross partnerships with different corporate organizations of Pakistan which included Coca-Cola, Mitsubishi Corporation, National Foods, K-Electric amongst others. The winners of the competition were selected based on the scope of their social work; level of impact, number of beneficiaries and the ability to replicate the program amongst other key considerations.The IATC award entails a financial grant along with aiding the NGO in terms of its capacity & organizational development whilst also ensuring employee volunteerism activities.
The evening included Ayesha Tammy Haq moderating a panel discussion with Ali Ansari and representatives from the corporate sponsors: Abrar Hassan from National Foods Limited, Kimihide Ando from Mitsubishi, and Zohair Sharif from Asiatic Public Relations representing Coca-Cola.
The one message that I found very useful from Ali Ansari's speech was:


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YouTube Killed The XM Star
December 8, 2011 7 Comments
An intriguing phenomenon has been slowly materializing recently in Southern Gospel: concept videos. The Ball Brothers did one for "About The Cross", the Booth Brothers just released one for "She Still Remembers Jesus' Name", the Dills had "God Is In Control", and Red Roots also released one fairly recently for "Double Wide Church." There are probably more than this floating around on YouTube, these are just the ones I could think of in a pinch.
Those of you who are of my generation will probably recognize the title of this post as a play on the rock song "Video Killed The Radio Star", which came out shortly after the rise of MTV. It seems there is truly nothing new under the sun, as the YouTube concept video phenomenon is seemingly a return of the music video, just on the net instead of over the cable "airwaves". Of course, this is also not an entirely new phenomenon, YouTube has been creating celebrities for a while now. Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, and the entire premise of the Nickelodeon show iCarly (which my 6 and 4 year olds LOVE) have gotten their notoriety due to the influence that YouTube has had on our culture, among others.
During the music video TV heyday, the phenomenon really never took off in Southern Gospel. I remember watching GMTV on my cousin's satellite a few times, but it never became readily available, and the quality of videos shown, especially in the early days, left a lot to be desired. So call me skeptical in the ability of the YouTube concept video to catch on and have any staying power, but you never know. Maybe the fact that some better known artists are participating this time will create more sticking power. What do you think?


text: Cheap-Textbooks.com was started in 1999 as a tool to help me find the cheapest textbook prices onine. It originally was a desktop widget and was moved to a website to share with other students. I like finding the cheapest textbooks and hope it helps you find the cheapest textbooks also.


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About Nellius
The first tweet in the article accidentally hits the nail on the head. Kickstarter backers who get a game key in exchange for early backing of a game ARE the most passionate fans... but that doesn't mean they're the best suited to reviewing a game, because they already have a stake in how it's perceived.
Regardless of this, how do you prevent people giving away keys in exchange for a good review, but still allow keys from kickstarter or humble bundles (which can still be given away to just anyone) to have reviews "count"?
I believe the UK had to extend it in order to bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe, thanks to EU law.
You can opt out of using google if you don't like how they use your data. You can't opt out of the NSA.
The difference between theft and infringement is simple.
Here is a detailed definition of theft under UK law:
Notice "with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it". When you infringe copyright by downloading something, you have not deprived the copyright owner of anything, and thus it is not theft.
Google has a visible privacy policy. The US government does not.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I have pirated a fair number of comics.
One of the biggest problems comics have is that individual issues are fairly expensive, so buying back-issues to catch up is almost impossibly expensive, especially in large shared universes such as those of Marvel and DC. Pirating comics let me catch up with a large number of ongoing comics, and I now happily spend roughly Ł50 per week on new releases. I definitely wouldn't be spending that money if I had not been able to pirate some comics and catch up.
Ironically, Game of Thrones is one of the few US TV shows I don't pirate.
I'm British, and most american shows, if they come to British TV at all, come weeks or months behind the USA. Some of the most popular ones air a few days to a week later. Game of Thrones airs on the Monday evening, about 18 hours after the US release, meaning that when I get home from work on Monday, and am ready to watch the show - it's on TV! Now, I'm a "cable cutter" - I don't own a TV, and do all my viewing through the internet. But Game of Thrones is on the Sky Atlantic channel. Sky offer a great online service - SkyGo, which I am happily subscribed to without having a TV in the house. Perhaps if more TV networks/providers had a similar outlook, and made it easier to pay them money to watch their shows, many more would!
I visited the website from the second image, but was unable to find ANY information on piracy and the economy - even misleading propaganda.
The Daily Mail's moved onto attacking porn now, eh? Perhaps they've run out of things which cause or prevent cancer
You make a great point. Often I (as a UK TV license payer) will pirate a BBC or Channel4 show rather than watch it on iPlayer or 4OD, because the quality of streaming video can be patchy - especially at peak internet times. I've not taken anything I don't already have legal access to. Is that still wrong?
I suspect the main argument against this is that the content provider is not selling you the media or the content. They are selling you access to the media and content in a specific way. It's a pretty flimsy argument, which doesn't make a lot of sense in the digital age; but I suspect it would be a winning argument in any relevant court cases.
With the Kindle, you can either transfer a book to your device by plugging it in via USB, or by using the device's wifi/3G connection to download it directly. This restriction means that these particular books must be transferred over the USB method, not downloaded over a wireless connection.
For regular Kindle users, it's only really an inconvenience. I tend to acquire a book on the amazon website, then turn on the wireless on my Kindle, and it will download. If I were to get one of these books, I'd have to get the cable, plug it into the computer, and figure out how to download books that way.
For people who use the kindle apps on their iOS/Andoids, it means they cannot use these books at all.
I know I'm just feeding the troll here, but I agree 100% with feeling entitled to products which are available in one country, but not mine. The internet has no borders. If friends of mine in a different country can view something; I should be able to view it at the same time. I would be completely willing to pay for it, but the MAFIAA seems to hate the idea of people paying for the content the produce, since there's often no legal way to pay for it.
The main issue for me is that "illegal" only refers to, I imagine, the USA's laws. Age of consent differs wildly from country to country. In Spain, for example, the age of sexual consent is 13. In large numbers of countries, such as Japan and France, incest is completely legal between consenting adults.
Incest is legal and accepted in many non-USA countries, surely? Is this yet another case of the USA forcing its own moralities and laws on the rest of the world?


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The Winds of WikiLeaks' War
Dec 11, 2010 5:00 AM PT
The fallout from WikiLeaks' late-November release of hundreds of thousands of private U.S. State Department messages continues to spread, and it's grown well beyond the spewing of outraged rhetoric. Feeling pressure from the public and possibly the U.S. government itself, businesses are attempting to lay siege to WikiLeaks, cutting it off financially and technologically. Those who support what WikiLeaks has done have begun to fight back in their own way.
Meanwhile, Julian Assange, the site's founder, has been arrested on a Swedish sex crime allegation. But before turning himself in to authorities, he issued something of a threat: If any harm comes to him personally, or if WikiLeaks is somehow wiped off the Web, there will be consequences. He's sent a heavily encrypted file with a surprise inside to supporters around the world. It's locked up so tight that even sophisticated military computers can't crack it open. Assange has said that if he or WikiLeaks croaks, the key gets sent out as well, and the whole world gets to see the great big secret inside. Unless that happens, though, what's in that file is anybody's guess -- and the mystery is what makes it such a powerful life insurance policy.
Despite that threat, WikiLeaks has seen some outfits turn their backs on it. For instance, it came to light recently that Amazon was hosting WikiLeaks for a period of time, and its cloud services were actually giving the site a good amount of protection from DDoS attacks. Soon after that news spread, though, Amazon kicked WikiLeaks off its cloud and washed its hands of the whole thing. That didn't seem to leave WikiLeaks vulnerable, though -- as much as its adversaries have tried, wiping the site off the Web completely may be damn near impossible at this point. It's been mirrored and spread so far and wide throughout the Internet that if anyone manages to shut down one instance, there are many more places still providing access.
It seems WikiLeaks has an army of supporters willing to fight back on its behalf. When companies like Visa and MasterCard refused to process donations people were trying to make to WikiLeaks, a group called "Operation Payback" targeted them for DDoS attacks, temporarily knocking out their websites. This did not crash the credit card operators' ability to conduct transactions; it was more an act of protest that gummed up their front-facing websites, not the vital foundations underneath.
The group reportedly also tried to knock out Amazon's home page, which would have had much more severe implications for that company, since that's really where most of its business is actually done. But that blow apparently failed to connect.
For now, the war continues. High-profile companies are doing everything they can to distance themselves from WikiLeaks -- refusing support, declining to do business, pulling the plug on pro-WikiLeaks groups, so on. The site's supporters just keep pushing back, flooding those companies' servers to the point of collapse. That kind of attack likely won't kill off an entire business, but it can be costly, and the more famous the target, the more publicity the reprisal campaign receives. So who's next?
Listen to the podcast (13:58 minutes).
Are You Finished?
I guess it turns out that App Store that Apple built for the iPhone was kind of a good idea. Now that it's hosting hundreds of thousands of apps and doing millions in sales -- not to mention being a driving force for iPhone and iPad sales and serving as a template for other platforms to emulate -- Apple's decided that Macs can have an App Store of their very own. In fact, it might just arrive any day now, and when it does, Mac users will be able to buy, download and install full-sized software packages for notebooks and desktops just like with iOS.
But there's one catch, and it applies to developers. With the iOS App Store, developers can, and many do, release trials, demos, betas -- in other words, pared-down or not-quite-done versions of the software that are supposed to maybe whet the buyer's appetite for the full version, or at least test the consumer waters before finalizing the product. That's not going to be an option with the Mac App Store -- the only way Apple will let devs sell there is if their products are fully baked.
That's bad news for some developers. Putting out a so-called lite version is standard operating procedure for a lot of vendors in the iOS App Store, and the try-before-you-buy approach has no doubt played a big role in all that money Apple's raked in with it. Not having a bunch of different trials and betas lying around might help reduce clutter and improve the user experience somewhat, but it's not like it's that hard for the buyer to tell the difference between a demo and a full version. It's usually right there on the name. And the icon. And the fact that it's free. We can read words.
But Mac developers do have an option iOS developers don't. Just because there's going to be a Mac App Store doesn't mean that'll be the only way to distribute Mac software. Regular channels, like a developer's own website, will still work just fine for demos, betas, trials, even full versions. That's not something iOS users can do -- unless they've jailbroken their iPhones, they're stuck with the App Store as their one and only source of software.
So in the end, perhaps this rule isn't necessarily based on a presumption that users are idiots. It's about control. That's Apple's way -- it wants a vise grip on its platform, but it doesn't want to choke it to death. So with iOS, you get a locked-down OS balanced with an App Store that isn't 100 percent liberated but does carry half-pint versions of software. With Mac, the OS is less restricted, so Apple has seen fit to clamp down on the store.
What's Eating AT&T?
Consumer Reports has offered up a preview of a recent survey regarding U.S. wireless carrier customer satisfaction, and it really put AT&T through the meat grinder. After hearing from about 58,000 people, AT&T came in dead last and was the only major carrier to drop significantly in overall satisfaction from a year earlier.
In its defense, AT&T whipped out the science, saying that independent drive tests confirmed that its mobile broadband network is the fastest in the country, beating the next best competitor by 20 percent. And it said the difference between its dropped call rate and the industry leaders is downright negligible -- one tenth of one percent.
It also whipped out the balance sheet. AT&T's customer numbers really did grow pretty well in the third quarter this year.
Those claims may have merit, but users are obviously unsatisfied, and waving studies and subscriber numbers in their faces isn't going to fix that. So what's making them so unsatisfied in the first place? What's the big difference between AT&T and other carriers? It might have to do with AT&T's frequency band. It uses a chunk of bandwidth that's relatively high in frequency, which makes it harder to penetrate buildings. Verizon uses a lower band. There could also be a difference in the strategy these two use to build out their networks -- quantity of covered areas vs. quality of signal.
And I'd be remiss not to mention the iPhone factor. More than half of Consumer Reports' AT&T-using respondents own iPhones. It uses a huge amount of data, it's sold incredibly well over the last three and a half years, and AT&T is apparently still having a hard time keeping up with user demand. And who knows, maybe it even caused the carrier to get lazy -- millions of new customers saw a shiny new iThingy and signed two-year contracts, and it all looked so good on paper that too many people at AT&T just decided to kick back and call it a day. Why bother building a better network when people are sitting in line literally overnight to get that phone -- and in the process sign a service agreement?
It's clear that AT&T will take some kind of blow when the iPhone expands to another U.S. carrier. The question is whether it'll be a soft blow that actually ends up helping the company by giving its network a break from all the data demands while still letting it retain a good number of customers, or whether it'll be a massive, angry exodus. The timing doesn't look good -- the official report comes in the magazine's January issue, and there are still rumors that that's exactly when Verizon will make its move.
The Next Nexus
Google set its mind on sorting out its plans for its operating systems with a three-strike combo move this week, focusing on netbooks, smartphones and tablets.
First, it moved another step ahead in the dessert buffet, picking up a nice plate of gingerbread, just in time for Christmas. Gingerbread is the code name for Android 2.3, the next edition of the mobile operating system.
Gingerbread will first be served up by the next edition in Google's Nexus line of phones, the Nexus S. For this one, Google partnered with Samsung, resulting in a sort of cross-breed between the Galaxy phone and the original Nexus One, which was made by HTC. It'll feature a refined touchscreen keyboard, a 1 GHz processor, and a front-facing camera that works with Skype video calls.
A few of the improvements Android 2.3 will offer include support for Near Field Communications hardware, the technology that enables your phone to act as your wallet in certain situations. There's also support for Internet telephony over SIP, which is important if your business is big on unified communications systems.
Google isn't sending Gingerbread updates to Android phones just yet. First it's going to have to hand it off to developers so they can get a leg up on it.
Back with the Nexus One, Google tried a new way of selling the phones -- it did it only through its own online channel instead of putting it in carrier stores like usual. I guess that could be called kind of a flop, because this time around, when the Nexus S comes out, it's coming to Best Buy stores for $199 with a T-Mobile contract, or $529 unlocked.
Tablet Tension
Then Google turned its attention to tablets. The company's long held that Android is mostly for smartphones and its upcoming Chrome OS would be targeted at netbook and notebook computers. That stance has relegated tablets to the role of an awkward and confused middle child, and it's affected how tablet makers can build their products if they want to use Android.
Obviously, there are Android tablets in existence -- several, in fact, the most famous probably being the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It does a fine job running Android, but its screen size is 7 inches compared to the Apple iPad's 10. That's because the OS and the apps it's running were built for smaller screens -- scale them up any further and resolution starts to suffer. A 7-inch screen isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some users prefer the smaller-sized device. But it's still a limitation.
This week, Google took the time to show the world that a 10-inch Android tablet is possible -- if you happen to have a hardware partner willing to build a prototype and a version of Android that's two steps ahead of the one the rest of the world's using. That's not Gingerbread, the one I was talking about earlier -- it's Honeycomb, the next next version, which will be Android's official leap to 3.0 status.
At the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, Google whipped out a prototype tablet built by Motorola. Its screen looked to be the same size as the iPad's -- about 10 inches -- and it was running Honeycomb.
As he did the demo, Android head Andy Rubin revealed only a few choice details. The tablet doesn't even have an official name, but we do know that it has a 3D Nvidia processor. The tablet, or at least something like the design he showed, should be out sometime next year.
It's hard to know anything for sure from surprise prototype demos like this one, but if there really is a 10-inch Android tablet coming soon, that could mean that the Honeycomb update will give Android the ability to scale up properly in larger-screened tablets.
The No-Logo NoBo
Finally, Google put the spotlight on Chrome, the name it uses for both its increasingly popular Web browser and its open source operating system.
The Chrome OS still isn't out in the open yet, but Google has kicked off a slightly unusual beta program to get it started. You can't just hit a website, download a software package and boot up Chrome OS on any old PC. Nope -- you have to audition. Or at least apply. If selected, you get an actual notebook computer, the Cr-48, an all-black, no-logo laptop that looks sort of like the plastic dummies they have sitting on the desks in Ikea. Chrome OS is pre-installed, and you have to agree to use that computer as your primary PC and respond to questions about the product. Big bonus points for students, business people and people working in nonprofits.
Chrome OS may eventually find its way onto computers that would have otherwise been running Microsoft Windows, but that doesn't mean Chrome works exactly the same way we think of a traditional PC operating system working. This is an OS that evolved out of a Web browser. It may share a common ape ancestor with Windows, OS X and most desktop Linux distros, but it's shooting out on its own branch in the family tree. It's an Internet-based OS, it's built for lightweight and highly portable computers, its apps will be Web apps, and if you put its blood cells under a microscope, they may more closely resemble those of Android than Windows.


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Browsing Department of Marketing (MARKETING/AØ) by Title
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Development, Validation and Application of a ModelMartensen, Anne; Grønholdt, Lars (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop a reputation model for higher education programmes, provide empirical evidence for the model and illustrate its application by using Copenhagen Business School (CBS) as the recurrent case. The developed model is a cause-and-effect model linking image to reputation via rational and emotional evaluations as well as relevant corporate identity determinants. As reputation, image and identity are very complex concepts, it is important to determine which of the many elements should be included in the model. This paper discusses why a given aspect is important for higher education reputation and which relations exist between the included determinants from a theoretical perspective. It is demonstrated how the model and measurement system may be a useful management tool for the improvement of the reputation of a higher education. In this way, the model can help leaders of higher education institutions to set strategic directions and support their decisions in an effort to create even better study programmes with a better reputation. Finally, managerial implications and directions for future research are discussed. Keywords: Reputation, image, corporate identity, higher education, structural equation modelling. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6646
Files in this item: 1
Onarheim, Balder; Gabrielsen, Gorm; Christensen, Bo T. (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The presented study utilizes data collected from an extensive real world concept selection process in new product development (NPD), to investigate whether department specific dominant logics and competences influence the selections made by a marketing department, and what might be driving this logic. The study specifically investigates the impact of the departmental viewpoint onto idea selection in the innovation process, by comparing the selections made by the marketing department (n=31) with those of R&D (n=25) and company executives (n=8). In the NPD project seven concepts were screened for continuation through an individual pairwise comparison, to test eight hypotheses all based on h0: There is no difference between the innovations selected by marketing, R&D, and executive groups. Through an analysis of the between-department variance h0 was rejected (F(12, 366)= 2.312, p<.001), and the results from the eight following hypotheses lend support to extending the concept of dominant logics to the department level, providing some explanations for the large variance found in the evaluation of the three groups. The reported findings have important managerial implications, as they point to which type of logic, and thereby screening of ideas, can be achieved based on which departments are involved in the critical selection of ideas and concepts for continuation in NPD. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9201
Files in this item: 1Onarheim_Gabrielsen_Christensen.pdf (159.1Kb)
Drivers for influenceBeckmann, Suzanne C.; Jalving, Michala; Rohde Olsen, Sarah (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The role of marketing within companies and organisations has been discussed for a long time, as well as its opportunities for influence – not least in times of financial constraints and difficult economic contexts. Through in-depth interviews we investigated how nine Danish top executives see the marketing department's potential for influence within companies in general and in their specific organisations. The objective was to gain deep insight into the informants' experiences with marketing and its position within Danish companies and to relate this insight to the level of market orientation. We found strong similarities with other research into the antecedents of marketing's influence and established another key factor, namely employee competencies and thereby the responsibility of human resource management as well as a cultural moderator, namely creativity bias of marketing employees. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8760
Files in this item: 1Beckmann.pdf (183.5Kb)
An Empirical Analysis in the Hotel IndustryGrønholdt, Lars; Martensen, Anne (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper examines the links between employee attitudes, customer loyalty and company profitability. From a conceptual point of view, this employee-customer-profit chain, also known as the service-profit chain, is well founded and generally accepted. But for many companies, it seems difficult to demonstrate such links, and several issues must be addressed to uncover the links. To investigate these links empirically, a hotel chain provided data matching employee and customer measures with measures of profitability. We have successfully employed a modeling approach, and the paper reports empirical evidence of the employee-customer-profit chain. As it is possible to estimate the links, we have demonstrated their effect on company profitability. The research findings provide a better understanding of the service-profit chain and may help practitioners in improving company financial performance. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9274
Files in this item: 1
A Discussion of In-Vivo Evidence in and Beyond Existing Creativity FrameworksWiltschnig, Stefan; Onarheim, Balder; Christensen, Bo Thomas (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper presents evidence for shared insight moments in real world design processes in the context of product development for a large international medical appliance manufacturer. The findings are discussed related to the existing literature of insight in creative processes and regarding possible explanations from analoguous fields of interest, like brainstorming and multiple discovery. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8278
Files in this item: 1
Business Relationship Resroration After Severe Norm Violation Episodes.Houman Andersen, Poul; Ellegaard, Chris (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Relational norms provide behavioural guidelines for individual actors interacting in business relationships. Frequently, norms are violated and the involved actors initiate a normalization process to restore exchange order. However, in rare instances violations occur with a severity where the exchange cannot be normalized by the means available in the interpersonal relationship. Furthermore, dissolution is not an option due to high perceived dependence. In this paper, we report on an investigation of three such severe norm violation episodes. We identify the violated norm sets and violating behaviours of core actors along with emotional reactions and effects on the business exchange. In addition, we map the processes of violation and normalization. We find evidence of serial norm violations, causing the interpersonal relationship to enter a state of suspension. Furthermore, cross case analysis shows that exchange was normalised through an organizational level process of alternative actor channel activation and executive intervention. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8228
Files in this item: 1Ellegaard_2010_IMP.pdf (223.0Kb)
Rydén, Pernille (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This dissertation contributes to the strategic cognition research by exploring how managers' cognitive representations of an emerging, but potentially disruptive technology, influence their identification of strategic options. Managers tend to talk of social media as technology that changes customer behavior and disrupts industries, however, this attitude is not reflected in their strategic framing and implementation of social media. As behavioral theory seems inadequate to account for such paradox of social media sensemaking, two qualitative studies purposefully account for the sociocognitive challenges of understanding and using new, disruptive technology in business-customer interaction and provide theoretical frameworks for overcoming barriers to business transformation in the digital age. Departing from a thorough review within the marketing and business management disciplines, the studies illustrate how managers' strategic perspective is delimited, at the subconscious level, by experience, knowledge, and assumptions of businesscustomer interaction, market dynamics, and social media acumen, and how these biases are often confirmed in a social context instead of being challenged, despite of a market-driven, as well as an organizational demand of rethinking. Elicitation of the underlying conceptual structures of social media is based on in-depth interviews with 39 strategic decision-makers on B2C markets in Europe and the US. The first study across companies empirically investigates how strategic decision-makers cognize, formulate, and implement social media differently, and how managers' cognitive understandings of social media are acquired. A detailed study within a media company further demonstrates how managers' identified strategic framings of social media can express different operations of conceptual change of strategies through reflective thinking as higher-order learning. These framing operations can be the basis for discovering possible reorganizations of strategies (strategic reframing) to become aware of new opportunities with social media. The identification of the conceptual structures underlying managers' strategic cognition of social media through mental models and framing mechanisms contributes to the discussion of how strategic cognition of social media can strengthen the development of business and customer value, as well as individual and organizational capabilities. The findings lead to more nuanced understandings of the microfoundations of strategy at the intersected levels of management, cognition, market, and media. To my knowledge, this is the first attempt to comprehensively capture the variety of conceptual representations of social media at managerial level, and to theoretically and empirically account for how these socio-cognitive operations underpin a strategic change process involving social media at organizational level. The findings suggest how reflective thinking - at individual and collective levels - can help strategists and companies to better meet future challenges of adopting new technologies. The ability to challenge own and others' assumptions through reflective thinking can be initiated through reframing techniques and models developed from this research. Such practices become important to establish when businesses become increasingly dependent on fast-moving technology. Strategic processing becomes a critical precondition for understanding the nature of change and transformation and to be able to relate to customers in an appropriate manner. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9217
Files in this item: 1Pernille Rydén.pdf (2.436Mb)
A framework for understanding the choice behaviour of the modern food consumerHansen, Torben; Thomsen, Thyra Uth (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6644
Files in this item: 1wp 2006-001.pdf (247.0Kb)
Lyck, Lise (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This survey relates to the EU project AGORA 2.0 work package 4 item c) a contest on innovative heritage product ideas among students/universities. The survey should have been carries out by another partner, but it was not done. It was therefore decided on the last meeting and seminar in the AGORA project in Poland in November 2012, which TCM/CBS should undertake the survey and fulfill the AGORA 2.0 requirements. On this background a survey among students of tourism, hospitality and service management at the Copenhagen Business School was carried out. The students include students from many countries, and the studies are taught in English. This publication presents the survey and the results of the survey. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8712
Files in this item: 1Lise_Llyck_3.pdf (2.379Mb)
Lyck, Lise (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In the past decades tourism has grown rapidly in connection with globalization. Business tourism especially has increased heavily and represents one of the largest and fastest growing sectors within the tourism sphere (Lyck 2012:2). Alongside, the growing globalization and consumption have created a need for an increased awareness of the threats posed by an overuse of non-renewable resources. Subsequently, the concept of sustainability has come into focus. A commonly accepted definition of sustainability was made by the Brundtland Commission in 1987: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED 1987:43). The concept of sustainability is often associated with the three pillars: Environment, society and economy (Lyck 2012:1, Weaver & Lawton 2006). In relation to the industry of tourism, sustainability can be described as: Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee long-term sustainability. (UNWTO, Lyck 2012:1). The focus in this article will be on how to 2 establish social and environmental sustainability in a way that is compatible with economical sustainability within the meetings industry. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8782
Files in this item: 1Lyck_3.pdf (442.6Kb)
Value Creation and Strategic PositioningVedel, Mette; Geersbro, Jens (, 2010)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8192
Files in this item: 1BMM_2009_Vedel__Geersbro.pdf (261.7Kb)
Et studie af 10-12 årige danske børns brug af internettet, opfattelse og forståelse af markedsføring og forbrugRasmussen, Jeanette (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Denne afhandlingen har haft til formål at udvide den viden, vi har om markedsføring rettet mod børn. Børn i dag lever i en mere kommercialiseret barndom, børn betragtes i højere grad end tidligere som selvstændige forbrugere, markedsføringsmetoder på internettet er karakteriseret ved at være mere sofistikerede og mindre gennemskuelige, og der er stor markedsføringsmæssig fokus på yngre børn, og specielt de såkaldte tweens (defineres typisk som de 8-12 årige). Det har derfor været afhandlingens sigte at undersøge i et hverdagsperspektiv, hvordan 10-12 åriges brug af internettet, deres oplevelse og forståelse af markedsføring på internettet er relateret til deres forbrug (køb og forhold til mærker). Det er tweens oplevelse og forståelse af medier og forbrug, som er i fokus. Afhandlingens teoretiske grundlag er tvær-disciplinært, og derfor er relevante dele fra barndomsforskningen, medieforskningen og forbrugerforskningen blevet inddraget. Metodisk er der brugt en triangulering af empirisk materiale, da dette er specielt godt i forhold til undersøgelser om børn. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8563
Files in this item: 1Jeanette_Rasmussen.pdf (2.213Mb)
Introduktion, problemstilling og analysetilgangLyck, Lise (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8930
Files in this item: 1Lise Lyck Folkemøde 2014.pdf (352.0Kb)
Understanding the Influence From Web-shop Design on Consumers' Visual Attention and Product EvaluationClement, Jesper; Kokkoli, Maria (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Buying behaviour theory goes back to the start of the 50's and over the years different models have been developed influenced by different sociological views and trends. In the age of digitalization and e-commerce these theories seem to be less useful and need revision. In the early days of the Web, research argues for a broader view on the complex decision process (Bettman et al., 1998; Hansen, 2005) and regards consumers having constructive decision processes. In the light of on-line sale additional perspectives on decision-models are still needed and recent research emphasizes the important in studying relations between human visual attention and intention to purchase (Clement, 2013). Several companies have found an additional market place on-line, whereas the appearance of the products is often very similar to the physical shop. This goes especially for pharmaceutical products, where pictures of the product package together with pictures of the pills are used as eye-catcher on-line. The market for e-health is increasing (Usher and Skinner, 2010) and distribution of consumers purchasing on-line health products looks similar to the distribution in average populations. As the on-line drug store goes across culture and national borders it also challenges marketer to make the right set-up for a web-shop. In this paper customers' visual attention during search for drugs on-line is investigated, relating visual attention and evaluation to a particular web-design. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9109
Files in this item: 1EIRASS_Clement_ Kokkoli.pdf (187.9Kb)
Percy, Larry (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6643
Files in this item: 1lp rp.pdf (143.1Kb)
Case Study: the landscape architecture for people in CopenhagenYang, Binzhang (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Urban green spaces have a significant impact on the balance of urban ecosystem, the adjustment of urban environment and especially the enhancement of urban citizens' life and work quality. A city's image and its citizens' health and well-being is to a certain extent directly affected by whether the quantity of urban green spaces is sufficient, whether the distribution is reasonable and whether the functionality is complete. Therefore, the planning and construction of urban green spaces are already being viewed as a city's green infrastructure as well as the guarantee of a city's sustainable development. Currently, China is on the fast track of an urbanisation process. How to handle environmental protection and how to maintain the relationship between ecosystem, urbanisation and city construction are crucial projects China is facing. In this respect, developed Western countries is one step ahead of China and have aggregated massive valuable experience which China can learn from. With this as aim, this Ph.D. research discusses the relationship between urban green spaces and citizens' life by studying the creation and evolvement of green spaces in Copenhagen. The research focus is to discuss the development situation of this city's urban green spaces and what can be learned by China. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8795
Files in this item: 1Binzhang_Yang.pdf (13.35Mb)
Competitive paper, IMP ASIA Conference, December 6-10, 2009 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaEllegaard, Chris; Geersbro, Jens; Medlin, Christopher J. (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper explores the interplay between value creation and appropriation of value by firms within a business network context. These two value processes are inter-linked. Collectively firms create a product of value to an end consumer and a part of that value is appropriated by each firm in the network. Value appropriation is composed of a number of different negotiation processes, value and cost moving between exchange parties and price making and taking spread across time. Value appropriation is a process. Value appropriation is important to a firm's survival. Firms that appropriate a greater proportion of the value captured by the network, relative to their resource base and costs, will be more profitable. These firms are able to invest in new technologies, resources and business relationships to continually develop their network positions. Value creation in a business network is a result of individual firm efforts, either independently or in relationships. Equally, firms work alone and in groups to appropriate value. Understanding the dynamics and linkages between value creation and appropriation allows a better understanding of how value is created by business firms and by value nets. In the final sections of the paper we present propositions for further research and make recommendations for managers. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8231
Files in this item: 1
Interaction, Interconnection and PositionVedel, Mette (Copenhagen, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis reports the findings of one of three co-financed research projects under the heading: "Customer driven innovation in the building articles industry". The issue is value creation in triadic business relationships, and the aim is to explore in what ways the expansion from a dyadic level of analysis to the level of micro-networks can inform our understanding of value creation in intermediated systems. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8165
Files in this item: 1Mette_Vedel.pdf (4.461Mb)
Distribution Reform in the People´s Republic of ChinaJaffe, Eugene D. (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6636
Files in this item: 1wp 2004-001.pdf (211.7Kb)
Multiple Level Brand Meanings in Retail BrandsGyrd-Jones, Richard; Jonas, Louise Rygaard (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The alignment of employees around the corporate brand has emerged as a major area of study in corporate branding literature generally and in the service branding literature in particular. Simultaneously, corporate brand scholars are focused on achieving coherence in brand expressions. Traditionally focus has been on using corporate communication to align employees around the corporate brand to achieve this. Through in - depth, longitudinal, ethnographic research this paper suggests that coherence can only be achieved by und erstanding the complex interplay of identities between occupational groups and management levels in the organisation. It is argued that responsibility for brand expressions should be more decentralise URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9129
Files in this item: 1Jones_Living Brands.pdf (1.692Mb)
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Known for its spectacular landscapes and adventurous spirit, New Zealand is a special destination for a special occasion.
Whether you're looking for an intimate ceremony or an exclusive function with a large circle of friends and family, there are many stunning settings to choose from. You can shout your love from the mountain tops or clink your glasses at one of the country's finest vineyards – and then take off for the honeymoon of your dreams.
Add to this the country's luxury lodges, gourmet food and exotic wines – and you have a match made in heaven.
When you plan your wedding in New Zealand, make sure you consider these Top 10 spots to get married.
Wellington and weddings are a match made in heaven. Make your vows on the stunning marae at Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum. Or, choose the glorious Gothic-revival surroundings of Old St Paul's in the historic suburb of Thorndon.
Get married on a luxury catamaran – sail from bay to bay on romantic Lake Rotoiti in Rotorua or charter the Ipiriri and cruise the sparkly waters of the sub-tropical Bay of Islands.
Spoil yourselves and your guests with an exclusive wedding at one of New Zealand's luxury lodges – with four course meals and matching wines served in some of the country's most beautiful settings.
Rise to the occasion with a hot air balloon wedding – but don't let the unfolding landscapes of the Canterbury plains or the rugged mountain ranges of Queenstown take your breath away.
Mark the start of your lives as a married couple in the romantic Marlborough Sounds as you overlook ancient sunken river valleys, secluded bays and sandy beaches.


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REVIEW: Don't expect Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" to shake the screen with the action of "Jurassic Park" or "Saving Private Ryan." But that doesn't matter. The biopic is an engrossing look at what exactly our beloved sixteenth president had to do to get enough votes in the House of Representatives to abolish slavery.
It sounds like a tough sell for a Spielberg film. Marvel -- as congressmen are bribed with promises of jobs! Gasp -- as they quietly mull their options! Thrill -- as a politician debates about crossing party lines! But this is Spielberg we're talking about, and the gifted Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe, and the entire package is so well-wrapped that two and a half hours of politicking fly by.
You can't help but think Day-Lewis will be a major contender for a best actor Oscar. It's easy to convince yourself that the real Lincoln was quite a bit like he's portrayed here. Day-Lewis carries a sad gravity with him -- he's not only trying to steer the country through a war that split it in two, he's still grieving the loss of son Willie three years prior. But he's still a gentle genius who spins out stories that manage to both entertain and educate his audience at the same time. If Lincoln wasn't like that in real life, he surely is in the enshrined images we hold of him.
While Day-Lewis sinks into his character and is almost unrecognizable, Sally Field as his wife Mary Todd Lincoln remains undeniably Sally Field. Her voice and look are distinctive as ever, but she does help you understand the much-maligned first lady, who was all but broken by her son's death. (A line she delivers saying she knows history will judge her for that felt a bit too 2012, but this is Spielberg after all.)
Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, James Spader and Hal Holbrook also have memorable roles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's turn as son Robert Todd Lincoln is brief if bright.
"Lincoln" will likely live on long after it leaves theaters -- it deserves to be shown to American history classes for years to come. If political schmoozing and backroom debating was really this interesting in the 1860s, it's a shame there wasn't some primitive version of C-SPAN in those tobacco-spattered, smoke-filled Capitol backrooms.
Related content:


text:
A quiet seaside community in California known for its surfing and liberal attitudes erupted in violence when two detectives were shot and killed while trying to question a sex crime suspect who later died in a police shootout.
The Santa Cruz police chief said Tuesday's bloodshed in the city made it the darkest day in the department's history.
Sgt. Loran Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler were shot and killed outside the home of coffee shop worker Jeremy Goulet, 35, who was suspected of making inappropriate sexual advances toward a co-worker at her home, authorities said.
The shootout occurred about 60 miles south of San Francisco in the town with world-class surf spots, historic downtown with bookstores and coffee shops, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Its boardwalk is a major summer draw for tourists hoping to escape inland heat or enjoy a classic California experience.
Lately, the city of 60,000 people had seen a spike in assaults that community leaders had planned to address Tuesday during a downtown rally that was cancelled along with a City Council meeting by teary-eyed leaders after they learned of the deaths.
"There aren't words to describe this horrific tragedy," said Police Chief Kevin Vogel.
The mid-afternoon shooting about a mile from the boardwalk prompted the lockdown of two schools and an automated police call to nearby residents, warning them to stay locked inside. The ordinarily quiet neighborhood echoed with a brief barrage of gunfire that killed the suspect about a half-hour after the officers were shot.
A store clerk a few buildings from the shooting said the shootout was terrifying.
"We ducked. We have big desks so under the desks we went," said the clerk, who spoke on condition of anonymity and asked that her store not be identified because she feared for her safety.
In May 2008, Goulet was convicted in Portland, Ore., of peeping on a 22-year-old woman who was showering in her condominium, and of carrying a concealed weapon, according to The Oregonian newspaper.
Goulet had been on probation but was later sentenced to two years in jail after a dispute with his probation officer.
His father, Ronald Goulet, of Rosamond, Calif., told the San Francisco Chronicle that his son had texted his twin brother to say he was in trouble. He may have been reluctant to return to jail but had never been violent, Ronald Goulet said of his son.
"Why was he on the run? I'm just trying to hang with it, to make sense of it," he said.
Baker, a 28-year veteran of the force, and Butler, a 10-year veteran, had been shot at and called for backup before arriving officers found Goulet, who was killed after opening fire on them, authorities said.
A concrete wall at the site was riddled with bullet holes and splattered with blood. The shots on the wall and a garage were marked with identifying letters placed by police that went from "A" to "K."
Baker's son, Adam Baker, served as a community service officer, and father and son had mailboxes side-by-side at the Police Department.
Loran Baker told the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 2010 that his son's choice to pursue a career in law enforcement surprised him, but he saw glimpses of himself in Adam.
Loran Baker said he told his son to work hard for the department.
"It's a great community to be a cop," he said. "You don't get bored."
Butler came to Santa Cruz to study at the university and stayed, the newspaper said.
"You have to be a people person down here," she told the newspaper in a 2005 interview. "I really do know people's names."
After the shootings, police went door-to-door in the neighborhood, searching homes, garages, even closets, to determine whether there might be additional suspects.
Law enforcement officers filled intersections, and helicopters and light aircraft patrolled the neighborhood.
Mayor Hilary Bryant said the community was "heartbroken at the loss of two of our finest police officers who were killed in the line of duty, protecting the community we love."
The recent violence in Santa Cruz included the killing of a 32-year-old martial arts instructor who was shot outside a popular downtown bar and restaurant; the robbery of a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was shot in the head; a 21-year-old woman who was raped and beaten on the UC campus; and a couple who fought off two men during a home invasion.
Associated Press writer John S. Marshall in San Francisco contributed to this report.


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Ever since the KKI TLC creations are full of characters who have their personality - kings, heroes and vilains who actually have to rely in warfare on noone but themselves and a couple of friends. Being an army officer myslef I am well aware that this means nothing but a certain defeat in battle.
To prove it here is a little historic refference. Following the capture of Constantinopolis (the capital of the Byzantian empire) the knights of the Fourth Crusade turned northwards against Bulgaria in 1207 AD (although they were expected to fight muslims in Holly Lands not Christian states in Eastern Europe). The Crusader army was fearsome with its heavy cavalry composed of feudal knights - the "tanks" of the middle ages. On the contrary the Bulgarian army was structured like the modern armies where numerous soldiers were devided into different units with hierarchial command. As a result in the very begining of the battle the crusaders rushed against the Bulgarian lines in search of personal glory and were either captured or slaughtered by the light armoured but disciplined platoons composed of peasants and craftsmen. Most of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade died that day and their emperor was taken prisoner and spent the rest of his life in captivity serving as a war trophy.
That's how important the generic soldier is and why many people on this forum feel the absence of the sturdy nameless warrior no matter how many jellybeans there are.


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Javy Guerra gives the Dodgers six players who will be gone for anywhere between eight and 18 days for the World Baseball Classic. That doesn't mean six minor-leaguers will get called up to take their place.
"What we'll do," Don Mattingly said after the Dodgers' loss to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, "is use the guys who are here for the most part."
Some exceptions will be made.
Mattingly said he wanted to get a look at Scott Van Slyke at first base. Van Slyke didn't do much in 54 major league at-bats last season, collecting nine hits and 14 strikeouts. But the manager has been underwhelmed by Dallas McPherson's defense at first base ("it's not been great for me" were Mattingly's exact words) and might be looking for a new emergency first baseman if Adrian Gonzalez gets injured. Word is that Van Slyke has slimmed down since last season.
Van Slyke was in the Dodgers' major-league camp a year ago but was removed from the 40-man roster in December.


text:
Easy Peach Sorbet Recipe
I scream, you scream, we all scream for...
There's no easier trip from fruit to dessert than sorbet. Especially this one, which is also kind to frozen peaches, and doesn't even make you remove the skins.
Note: If your peaches are very tart, use less lime juice. If very sweet, use slightly more lime juice.
- Yield:makes 1 quart
- Active time: 30 minutes
- Total time:3 hours
- 3 pounds fresh or frozen peaches (about 8 whole), diced (leave peels on)
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed juice from 1 lime (see note)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Combine peaches, lime juice, and sugar in a food processor and purée until very smooth with no large chunks. You should have about 1 quart of purée. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into an airtight container and add salt to taste. Press a piece of plastic wrap against surface of purée and chill for 2 to 3 hours, or until very cold.
Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container and chill in freezer for 2 to 3 hours, or until firm.