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White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. We'll start on the record, just some general comments and answer a couple of questions. And then if you feel like you want to go off the record, then we'll ask them to turn their tape recorders off.
The President. Okay, I'd like to go off the record. [Laughter]
Q. Give us a couple. [Laughter]
The President. We'll start with the older people first. [Laughter]
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice/Iraq
Q. Well, one of the things that we were all interested in is Secretary Rice going to Iraq. When did you decide about that, and what's that all about?
The President. Decided when it looked like that there was serious momentum on the legislative front, that she could help push the momentum by her very presence. So I can't remember the exact moment; I would say it was maybe 10 days ago or something like that, when we were getting word that their budget moving, the deBa'ath law was on its—it had gone through two readings, I think, before the holidays. So it seemed to make sense that she go sit down with the—and the Presidency Council happened to meet yesterday, which was good. So she's going to go and sit down with the leaders and encourage them to continue making progress.
Q. But not you, you decided it wasn't right for you to go.
The President. Yes. Yes, I decided it was best for Condi to go. I'm not going.
By the way, I talk to the Prime Minister quite frequently on secure SVTS, which is a real-time feed from our Embassy in Baghdad to the Situation Room in the White House. And we meet biweekly. I meet with Ryan Crocker and David—General Petraeus weekly, and it's like a meeting.
Q. So she's just in and out? This is real quick?
The President. Yes, she'll be back this evening; probably hold a press conference here this evening. The Saudis want to have a press conference with the Foreign Minister and Condi. Yes, it's just a quick trip.
White House Press Secretary Perino. Timing and location are still being worked out.
The President. Time and location because, you know, you don't want to set the time and have her not be back for it. But her intention is to get back here for dinner at the King's ranch.
Q. What time——
The President. She left this morning at 6:40 a.m.—or left the facility here at 6:40 a.m. And I presume it's, like, on the news, right?
Q. Yes.
The President. I haven't seen the news.
Q. It's been reported.
Q. So is it basically to promote——
The President. It's to, first of all, be there. And secondly, is to—there's a momentum; there's a political process that has been working that is—with some of those laws coming to fruition. Her job is to be there, sitting down with them, explaining how much we appreciate what they've done, how they need to do more and keep moving the process.
Progress in Iraq
Q. You know, we've been talking about these benchmarks for so long. Do you really feel like maybe now it's starting to turn a corner a bit, or is that too early to say?
The President. First of all, I think—we've been talking about the benchmarks for how long? When you say "so long"——
Q. Almost a year now, isn't it?
The President. Yes, I think that's right; it has been almost a year. A political system evolves and grows. It grows when people have confidence. It grows when the grass-roots begins to agitate for change. It grows when there's alternatives. There's competition emerging. Those are all the forces necessary to bring people together to get things done. And the leadership is more confident. The grassroots is more involved. There's been more reconciliation taking place at the local level. And the Government is beginning to respond.
This is—we assume that democracy is a natural phenomenon for people out there. These are people that lived under tyranny. They lived in a society that was divided by a dictator. And they're beginning to form the habits of self-government, manifested in laws being passed. I'm not going to predict, Steven Lee [Steven Lee Myers, New York Times], about moving this forward. I can only assure you that we will continue to work the process as hard as we can.
I reminded everybody last year, you know, people did focus on the benchmarks, and so do I. But I also reminded everybody last year that one way to determine whether or not a government is functioning is to look at their budgeting process and how they distribute revenues from central Government out to the Provinces, which is a key component of a federalized-type system. And the definition of federalism, by the way, has yet to be clearly defined in Iraq, and that's part of the issues they're working through. But it's a proper role between the state government—central Government and the Provinces, and that's another piece of legislation that is part of the benchmark process.
But nevertheless, even though they haven't passed that, there is revenue sharing. In other words, there is a process. There's a way to allocate revenues. Do they have an oil law yet? No. Are they sharing oil revenues that would be inherent under an oil law? Yes, they are.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Q. Sir.
The President. Yes, Holly [Holly Rosenkrantz, Bloomberg News].
Q. Thank you.
The President. I knew you were anxious to ask because you're waving your hand. Look, this is not like the White House press conferences.
Q. I never know when you're going to be shuffled out before I get a chance. [Laughter] It's been a long day. [Laughter]
The President. Atta girl. Stand your ground, whatever you do. [Laughter]
Q. I just wanted to ask you if you could just clarify a little bit your statement this morning to OPEC. What specific action would you like them to take at their first meeting coming up February?
The President. I would like for them to realize that high energy prices affect the economies of consuming nations, and that if these economies weaken, those economies will eventually be buying fewer barrels of oil. And having said that, there is not a lot of excess capacity in the marketplace. What's happened is, is that demand for energy has outstripped new supply. And that's why there's high price. And I fully understand how it affects the U.S. consumer. And my point to His Majesty is going to be, when consumers have less purchasing power because of high prices of gasoline— in other words, when it affects their families—it could cause this economy to slow down. If the economy slows down, there will be less barrels of oil purchased.
Now in our case, just so the American people know, most of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico. But oil is a market; it's globalized; it's fungible. That's what I meant.
Q. ——brought it up with King Abdallah already?
The President. Excuse me?
Q. Did you bring it up already?
The President. No, I have not. I brought it up with members of his administration and will do so with him tonight on the farm.
President's Visit to Saudi Arabia/Iran
Q. Can you talk a little bit about your discussions with him so far and whether you've had a meeting of minds on any issues, whether it's Iran, Iraq——
The President. I appreciate that. He is most interested in two subjects, right off the bat: first, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. I think what he really wanted to determine was how—when I said, "optimistic about a state being defined," why? So he's interested in the meetings, interested in the behind-the-scenes observations that I was able to share with him.
He is—part of my mission was to make it clear that one reason why the talks failed in the past is that there wasn't participation by the neighbors. And I thanked him, in front of the people assembled there, for sending his Foreign Minister to Annapolis, because the presence of Saudi at Annapolis inspired the Palestinians as well as sent a message to the Israelis—Israeli population, for example.
We did spend time on Iran. The interesting issue on Iran is the effect of the NIE. And I went over the NIE with him.
[At this point, the interview continued, and no transcript was provided. The remarks later continued as follows.]
The President. I assured him that our intelligence services came to an independent judgment. I reminded him of what I said at my press conference when we got involved with that story. They were a threat, they are a threat, and they will be a threat if we don't work together to stop their enrichment. So we spent a fair amount of time on Iran. I have spent a fair amount of time on Iran in every stop.
It is not the only subject. There's probably more interest in my discussions on the Middle Eastern peace. Many of the leaders in the region, many of the people I have spoken to, equate troubled times with no peace between the Palestinian and Israelis. It's the subject matter that, if you follow this subject, you know that this is on a lot of people's minds.
And so they were—they wanted to make sure that the efforts by the United States were real and how we conducted our policy wise. It's interesting; they weren't all that interested in, okay, give me the negotiating points, or where are you, or what are the talking points on both sides, or where are we in the negotiations. They're interested in commitment and vision.
I would like to share a universal concern I've heard on this trip, and that is, the United States will not welcome foreign capital or does not welcome foreign capital. I heard it from entrepreneurs; I've heard it from government leaders. They are concerned about reinvestment of dollars back into the United States. There's a genuine concern about protectionism. And there's— our visa policy concerns the leaders because they know full well that the best way— these are pro-American leaders, and they know the best way to defeat some perceptions that may exist on the street is for their people to go see America firsthand, like colleges and business travel. And our visa policy is getting better in some fronts, but we've still got some work to do.
So I came away with the distinct impression about a concern by government and citizen alike that the United States says, "not welcome." And that troubles me because that's not the way our country is.
National Intelligence Estimate
Q. Just a couple quick follow-ups on Iran. On the NIE, did you—were you, in effect, distancing yourself from the conclusions of the NIE, and these guys——
The President. No, I was making it clear it was an independent judgment, because what they basically came to the conclusion of, is that he's trying—you know, this is a way to make sure that all options aren't on the table. So I defended our intelligence services, but made it clear that they're an independent agency, that they come to conclusions separate from what I may or may not want.
Q. And on the issue of Iran, did the question of a possible military strike either by the United States or Israel come up?
The President. I just made it clear that all options are on the table. But I'd like to solve this diplomatically—and think we can—and talked about making sure consistent messages emanated from all parts of the world to the Iranians.
Strait of Hormuz Naval Incident
Q. Related to that, this confrontation in the Straits with the Iranian gunboats, are the rules of engagement going to change on that? You've warned of serious consequences if they do it again.
The President. I did. I said, "If they destroy our ships," yes. If they destroy our ships, there will be serious consequences.
Q. Yes, but I'm saying, if they——
The President. I didn't say, "If they do it again." If they do it again, I don't know. What do you mean, "If they do it again"?
Q. Well, if they approach the ships and would there——
The President. Well, there is clear rules of engagement. Our captains—I was briefed by the admiral in Bahrain about the rules of engagement. But please don't confuse hitting our ships with explosives or attacking our ships and serious——
Q. Okay, I won't. But I just was wondering whether the next time something like that is attempted by one of these Iranian boats, they might be fired on.
The President. I don't know. It's going to be up to the captain to determine whether or not his vessel is in jeopardy. My only point is, they shouldn't be doing it. It was provocative in the first place, and our captain showed restraint. These are judgment calls, and there are clear rules of engagement. Our people operate under very strict rules in the Straits, and so should the Iranians. And they better be careful of—and not be provocative and, you know, get out there and cause an incident, because there's going to be serious consequences. And what I said in my statement was, if they hit one of our ships, there are going to be serious consequences, and I meant it.
Q. Do you have any sense of what they were up to? What motive——
The President. I don't know.
Q. Were they test——
The President. I don't know.
Q. Do you think they were playing some sort of game?
The President. I don't know. I don't know. I was briefed; I spent some time in Bahrain with—you know, when I went over there for the breakfast with the troops, command briefed us, our security team, on what are the rules of engagement, you know, and how do they work, how does it react. This is one of these moments where there's no time to be spending a lot time on the phone trying to figure out what to do. And there's—these are highly trained professionals who, I thought, dealt with it in a very professional way.
Q. Sir, are you sure of whether or not this was actually directed out of Tehran, the President's office, or whether it's some separate——
The President. It could be. IRGC or— versus the military, but you know something? It's not going to matter to me one way or the other if they hit our ships, and the Iranian Government has got to understand that. This is serious business. We lost lives when one of those boats loaded with explosives attacked us—called the USS Cole. In this case, it would be states—it would be the actions of a state. And so my message was clear to the Iranian Government: Whoever made the—is in control of these boats best be careful.
Q. You were suggesting that this could be—could have been directed by the Revolutionary Guard?
The President. No, I'm not. His question was, do we know the chain of command? There's several chains of command inside the—it was a very perceptive comment by the lad, and it was—there are separate military organizations, separate organizations inside Iran, and so we don't know.
Q. The IRGC, was that the——
The President. The IRGC could be—is a player inside Iran. I don't know. Do not write the story that I'm predicting who made this decision, because I'm telling you—I can't be any more plain about it—I don't know. I do know it was a provocative incident.
And my other was, it's not going to matter who made the decision. If they hit our ships, we will hold Iran responsible.
Q. Okay. Can we ask you on——
The President. You can ask me anything you want. If I don't want to answer, I'll say, I don't want to answer it. [Laughter] I'm feeling quite feisty here, Steven Lee. [Laughter]
Q. You are? Are you in a good mood?
The President. Yes, a great mood.
Q. I do.
The President. Dates put you in a good mood, right? I'm in a great mood.
Q. Which kind of dates are you talking about? [Laughter]
The President. Not bad. Not bad. [Laughter] Pretty good. A wordsmith. [Laughter] All right, go ahead.
Q. In your discussions with King Abdallah and other Gulf Arab leaders, were they in any way urging restraint? There's been some concern——
The President. What?
Q. Were they in any way urging you restraint in your dealings with Iran?
The President. I told them that I want to solve this issue diplomatically. My position has not altered. I explained to them the diplomacy we're going through. They need to help. They need to make it clear to nations that do business with Iran that if we want to solve this diplomatically, there needs to be pressure on the regime so that some—the hope is, is that somebody shows up and says, "We're tired of being isolated, and we're tired of the economic deprivation that comes from our desire to enrich."
I also explained to them why I support the Russian position. And for those of you who follow the White House and have listened carefully to what I've been saying, know full well that's been my position for quite a while. Because I said early on that I supported the Iranian desire for—they said, every sovereign nation has the right for a civilian nuclear power. I said, you're right. I said, the problem with you is, you haven't honored the international agreements—"you" being the Iranians. And secondly—therefore, we can't trust you with enrichment.
But because I believe that you have a sovereign right for nuclear power, I support the Russian idea of providing you with enriched uranium and collecting the spent uranium, thereby undermining their position that they need to learn to enrich in order to have civilian nuclear power. And the danger with enrichment for civilian— so-called civilian purposes is, is that that technology can be transferred easily to another covert military program. Knowledge is transferable, and so what I've explained to our friends in the region is the best way to stop any potential weapons program is——
[There was an interruption, and the remarks continued as follows.]
The President. I'm not starting over. I'm not starting over. [Laughter]
Q. That's all right; you don't have to.
The President. Good, yes. Anyway—is to start a weapons program—to stop a weapons program is to stop their ability to enrich. I've also explained to them our position is, is that if they verifiably suspend their program, there is a way forward for dialogue through the P-3 process. What do you call—what do we call that? The group of five——
White House Press Secretary Perino. The P-5-plus-1.
The President. The P-5-plus-1 process.
Q. Mr. President——
The President. Are you hogging this?
Q. Yes. [Laughter]
The President. I'm teasing. Go ahead.
Q. Just one quick follow-up on Iran, just because it comes up, I mean, this issue of what Israel will do has been out there ever since Vice President Cheney raised it with Don Imus in the very beginning of your second term, about the Israelis having a——
The President. I don't remember that. What did he say?
Q. Oh, he said there was concern about what the Israelis might do. And particularly in the weeks since the NIE, there has been murmuring in Israel—Israeli defense circles. One of your own former officials, Bruce Riedel, told me a few weeks ago——
The President. Who?
Q. Bruce Riedel—he used to work on the NSC—said that he came back from a visit to Iran——
[The interview continued, and no transcript was provided. The remarks later continued as follows.]
Press Secretary Perino. I would recommend—you have about 10 more minutes.
National Economy
Q. Can we ask you about—let's go back on the economy. You talked about the threat of the economy slowing down if consumers buy less oil, or can——
The President. The price of energy can have an effect on economic growth. I was talking about—they were asking me about what I'm going to say to King Abdallah. And I'm going to say, high energy prices can affect economic growth because it's painful for our consumers.
Q. My question is, you've talked about inheriting a recession when you came into office. You're a year away from leaving office. Do you think that your successor is going to wind up in the same boat?
The President. I've always said these are times of economic uncertainty, but I have confidence in the future—immediate future because the underpinnings of our economy are good. Inflation—core inflation—is low; we've still got some. And employment has been strong. We've still got some issues, obviously, and one of them is the housing market. That's one of the things the leaders have been interested in, is my views on the economy.
Q. But, sir, since——
Q. It's the "R" word.
The President. No, I'm optimistic, as I said. My position hasn't changed from 3 days ago, or whatever it was, when I commented on this.
Q. The fact that you're optimistic, that suggests—does that mean that you are not going to suggest any change in your tax policy or——
The President. Look, I'm going to watch very carefully. And we'll let you know if I decide one way or the other.
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about what you're hearing from Arab leaders——
The President. Sorry, Mike [Mike Emanuel, FOX News], I've already answered that. Next. [Laughter] No, I'm teasing.
Q. I'm used to it.
The President. He actually was a Texas reporter.
Q. About the Palestinian-Israeli issue, what kind of feedback are you hearing?
Press Secretary Perino. We did cover that before you——
The President. I'll be glad to tell you again. The first question in their mind is, one, why do I sound optimistic? Two, are we going to spend the time and effort to help move the process? I made it clear to them that in order for this to work, they've got to be supportive of the Palestinians and make it clear that Israel is an important part of the future of the Middle East.
Q. Do the Arab States recognize Israel? I mean, do they want to—have they shown any sign that they want to improve relations with Israel?
The President. I think the fact that they sent major players in their administration to Annapolis was a sign. That answers your question. And they want to see a deal done, and they want progress because the issue frustrates them. As I said earlier, Michael, this issue is kind of the touchstone in their mind for a lot of other problems in the Middle East; you solve this, then a lot of other problems go away. I hope they're right on that. But this is, no question, a very important issue, and it's one that— go ahead. I'll be glad to go off the record and tell you why now.
Q. Sir, if I could just follow on that point. I noted that the King of Bahrain mentioned the peace process in his statement when he welcomed you. We haven't heard similar statements. I understand that they sent their representatives. Do you think that many of the Arab leaders are still holding back a little bit; they want to see, perhaps, a little more progress towards a deal before they're willing to come out and start talking about things like recognition of Israel?
The President. That's an interesting question. First of all, after years of disappointment, those of us directly involved in the process have a lot of work to try to instill confidence in the people. And I think laying back is too strong a word, but I think wondering whether this can happen is the right way to put it, Steven Lee.
They definitely want it to happen. They're willing to send a—in the Saudis' case, their Foreign Minister to Annapolis. They are most interested—we spent a lot of time on this subject in each stop because they're most interested in getting my point of view about how I think the process is going to unfold, what are the problems, what can the U.S. do to help, and will we be actively involved. They have this great hope that the United States involvement will cause the process to be more likely to move forward.
Q. I want to apologize for our tardiness.
The President. It's my fault—roadblocks.
Q. If you covered this, I apologize for that too.
The President. Which reminds me of the question, did you get what I mouthed to you there?
Q. I did.
The President. It was—I thought it was a really interesting question.
President's Visit to Saudi Arabia/Oil Supply
Q. What do you hope to get out of the King, or what do you hope to accomplish with this talk about our economy and the impact of high prices?
The President. Well, first of all is a realization that high energy prices can damage consuming economies. It can hurt the economy. And it hasn't—it's been—it's affected our families. Don't get me wrong; paying more for gasoline hurts some of the American families. And I'll make that clear to him. But I also understand the dynamics behind the issue, and that is growing demand from U.S., but more particularly, China and India, relative to supply.
Oil is a commodity; it isn't something you just turn a tap. I mean, it requires investment, exploration, a lot of capital. I talked to His Majesty early on in my Presidency in the hopes that they would explore for new fields; they have. They've increased their capacity. But in the meantime, demand has gone up quite substantially.
Oil Prices
Q. Well, do you want him to open the spigot more? Do you want him to lower the prices?
The President. Well, that's the question: What does that mean? That's what—I hope that OPEC, if possible, understands that if they could put more supply on the market, it would be helpful. But a lot of these economies are going—a lot of these oil-producing countries are full out.
Press Secretary Perino. We have time for one more on-the-record question. And we will get the transcript to you, Peter [Peter Maer, CBS Radio] and Mike, as soon as possible.
The President. I hope I answered the second way the same way I did the first way.
Q. I'll just ask—[laughter].
Middle East Peace Process
Q. I would follow up on that—the security barrier—what I was trying to get out of my question was the notion that if——
The President. You didn't think of it until I said, "Nice question."
Q. No, no, no.
The President. You were coming with this?
Q. I wanted to ask, but the mike went down, remember. And so I didn't get a follow-up.
The President. I wasn't going to give you a follow-up in front of the cameras anyway.
Q. Fair enough. The question I had is, do you see a day someday when some President in the future will come and say to some Israeli leader and Palestinian leader that it's time for that wall to come down, not unlike Ronald Reagan's——
The President. You know, I don't think in the short term that day will come. I do think there will be a day—your question was not the wall; your question was checkpoints, which I guess is the wall.
Q. I meant barrier, is what I meant, the barrier you drove through——
The President. Well, barrier—this is not barriers.
Q. It's the same question, really.
The President. Well, no, it's not, in all due respect to the questioner. It was your question; of course, it's the same question. [Laughter]
Q. What I meant to say was—[laughter].
The President. Yes, exactly. [Laughter] Look, first of all, the state comes into being subject to the roadmap, which requires security measures being in place so that the Israeli population is comfortable that it's not going to have a state that harbors people that want to destroy them. The reason why you articulate a vision is to give people inside the Palestinian Territories, who don't want violence and who don't want to destroy Israel, a chance to be for something. This is how I answered the question.
The wall is a—was necessary, in the Israelis' minds, to protect themselves. It is that sense of security which I hope will give them a chance—their politicians a chance to negotiate the deal. The deal becomes more security. In other words, it's a series of security measures that will eventually cause a state to come into being. And whether or not the wall comes down or not, I can't predict that to you, Steven Lee. I can tell you, though, there's no such thing as a state if it's going to be occupied. In other words, when I said contiguous, that means contiguous territory that does not—Swiss cheese, that it's—and I thought that's actually what you were referring to with those interior roadblocks.
Q. Thank you.
NOTE: The interview was taped at 1:16 p.m. at Nasiriyah Guest Palace. In his remarks, the President referred to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq; Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, commanding general, Multi-National Force—Iraq; Minister of Foreign Affairs Saud al-Faysal bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud and King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia; Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, USN, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces; and Cmdr. Jeffrey James, USN, commanding officer, USS Hopper. A reporter referred to radio personality Don Imus; and King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this interview.
George W. Bush, Interview With Journalists in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/277036


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This sign was at our local shopping mall. Like any good blogging geek, I stopped and took a picture of it – to the chagrin of my kids, I'm sure ("Mom – Dad's taking pictures of signs again!†– eye roll!)
But the sign made me think of a few things that I thought I'd share:
- The sign is nicely done – large, easy-to-read words.
- Just an interesting side-note – the sign's in the shape of a smartphone. A few very short years ago, a phone that did wifi wouldn't have made any sense. But we all easily get it now, don't we?
- The message is clear, the service is obvious, the sign is hard to miss. You know exactly what they're advertising.
Contrast that with the average wifi sign in a library. In most of our libraries, we make little, tiny, dinky-winky signs that say "wifi.†Usually provided to us by our wifi vendor. If we have signs at all [hmm… I wonder what our wifi signs look like? I'll need to check].
But at the mall … where they really want you to stay awhile … the wifi sign is HUGE. This sign was almost as tall as me, folks! And right out in the walkway, standing close to the food courts (one place people would possibly use wifi for an extended period of time).
What do they want you to do at the mall? Stay awhile. Eat some food. Use their free wifi. And buy more stuff!
Now translate that to a library. What do we want our customers to do? Stay awhile? Eat more food (if you have a cafe)? Read/watch/listen to/download more content? Ask us questions? Attend our events? Probably all of those things (though I'll bet most of us don't spell those goals out quite like that).
Define what it is you want your customers to do, then make your branding, your promotion, your signage – what you want people to do while engaging with you – make it obvious.

subset: commoncrawl


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MANHATTAN, Kan. – Bill Snyder is as frustrated as anybody by Kansas State's penalties and turnovers, yet he also knows how quickly those kinds of things can turn around.
"In 2003 we lost our first two (conference) ball games," Snyder said this week. "Both of them were close ball games, I think four points each one. Our ball games this year have been reasonably close. That team was able to put it all together."
The Wildcats went on to win the Big 12 title that year, and Snyder hopes this year's team (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) can do the same starting Saturday against No. 15 Baylor.
There is plenty of work to be done.
They have already surpassed last season's 12 turnovers with 14 through their first five games. Things were especially bad in last week's lost to Oklahoma State, when Kansas State turned the ball over five times while committing 12 penalties.
Kansas State is currently 121st nationally in turnover margin, worse than all but two teams. Only two teams were better than the Wildcats during their Big 12 title run last season.
Now, the Wildcats face the nation's 14th-ranked scoring defense, one that has often been overlooked by the prolific scoring of Baylor's offense this season.
"We have to be a more disciplined football team and that encompasses the penalties and the turnovers," Snyder said. "It's just a matter of doing things the appropriate way."
Last week, all three of Oklahoma State's second-half field goals came after a turnover. An early second-half fumble thwarted a comeback attempt against Texas the previous week.
"It's deflating for the entire team," center BJ Finney said. "It takes points away from us and gives points to them so it's something we can't do. It's something we can't have in order to win a game. It's not how we've won games and it's not our identity in K-State football."
It's not just that the Wildcats are turning the ball over, either. They're also failing to take the ball back, and that's partly why their turnover margin is so skewed. They forced 31 turnovers through their 13-game schedule last season, but have caused just five turnovers so far this season. Only two teams nationally are worse than that.
"We were 5-0 last year and now we're 2-3," wide receiver Kyle Klein said. "It's not hard to see where the train left the tracks."
Penalties also have been a big problem.
The Wildcats drew 12 flags for 92 yards last week against the Cowboys. They didn't commit that many penalties last season until their sixth game against Iowa State. Kansas State already has been penalized 28 times this season, 20 of them in its first two conference games.
"Discipline, focus, concentration, whatever the case may be, the right decision making that you have to make — all of that goes into play," Snyder said. "Not that they're not trying, we're just not disciplined as we need to be."


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San Francisco activists and labor filed an appeal of the controversial commuter shuttle (aka, the Google buses) pilot program to the Board of Supervisors today, alleging it was pushed through without a proper environmental review.
The appeal was filed by a coalition of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, SEIU 1021, The League of Pissed Off Voters, and Sara Shortt of the Housing Rights Committee.
The shuttles, mostly to Silicon Valley tech firms, pick up passengers in Muni bus stops. The use of public bus stops would incur a $271 fine for private autos, and often do, but the shuttles have largely received a free pass from the city. Last month, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency approved of a pilot plan hatched behind closed doors that allows use of 200 bus stops by the private shuttles, charging only $1 per stop, per day.
The appeal alleges that the program needed review under the California Environmental Quality Act, which asks for projects to be analyzed for, among other things, land use, housing, and public health impacts.
"CEQA actually identifies displacement as an environmental impact," attorney Richard Drury, who filed the appeal on behalf of the coalition, told us. "Almost no one knows that. Honestly I didn't know that, until I started researching all of this."
If the Board of Supervisors doesn't back the appeal, there may be a court battle on the environmental impact of the shuttle stops, which increase rents and home prices nearby.
Paul Rose, spokeserpson for the SFMTA, responded to the complaint in an email to the Guardian.
"We developed this pilot proposal to help ensure the most efficient transportation network possible by reducing Muni delays and further reducing congestion on our roadways," Rose wrote. "We are confident that the CEQA clearance is appropriate and will be upheld."
In the meantime, Drury told us, the coalition is performing environmental research of its own. It has experts from the US Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations analyzing diesel outputs from the shuttles, as well as the impact of shuttles on displacement.
"CEQA review needs to have a review before they start the pilot, not after," Drury said. "They're basically doing it backwards: let's have 200 stops and 35,000 people in the service, and figure out what happens."
Some studies conducted already show that affluence rises wherever the shuttle stops are placed. One by Chris Walker, a 29 year old in Mumbai, India, shows rising property values in and around the Google bus stops from 2011 to 2013.
This heatmap shows a rise in property values appreciated near shuttle stops.
"We see the Google Bus as a part of a larger effort to privatize public spaces and services, displacing both current residents and the public transportation system we rely on," said Alysabeth Alexander, Vice President of SEIU Local 1021, in a statement. "San Francisco has a long history and tradition as a union town. With the tech takeover, San Francisco is becoming inhospitable to working class families. Our wages are stagnant, as the cost of everything is skyrocketing. This is a shame."


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While most of us are never audited, when it happens it can feel a lot like a lamb thrown in the room with a lion. The IRS auditor does these audits every day. They know what to look for and can ask leading questions that you may easily answer incorrectly. So what are some good tips when you are in the cross-hairs of an IRS audit?
- Address correspondence issues with the IRS timely. Do not let the problem get to a point that a face-to-face examination is required.
- Ask for help. Do this right away. Too many clients think the problem is easy to resolve, but inadvertently say the wrong thing or open another audit issue inadvertently.
- Understand what is being asked. Clearly understanding the core question can simplify the solution. Why is the IRS asking to see your 1099's? Do they have a form that you do not? Why are they asking about your small business profits? Are they thinking your business is a hobby?
- See the Audit the way the IRS auditor is trained to see it. The IRS has certain areas in which they focus training for their auditors. These are published in Audit Technique Guides (ATGs) and are available for review on their web site at www.irs.gov. They are invaluable in identifying areas for potential audits AND can help you understand what the IRS likes to question. While most of the ATGs are in the business area, reviewing the topics can be useful in understanding where audit risks are and what you can do to prepare yourself in case of an audit.
Common ATGS
If you have activity in one of these areas, it may make sense to understand what the IRS auditor is trained to look for prior to getting too far into the audit process. By reviewing the specific ATG you will know the process of the IRS audit and understand how the auditor will proceed.For further assistance with IRS audits, reach out and schedule time with our team here: https://bas-pc.com/appointment-center/


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LispWorks IDE User Guide (Windows version) - 25 Nov 2011


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Don't get 2e2'd: How to survive when your IT supplier goes titsup
Why you should always see it coming
Analysis I used to know a finance director who had a favourite mantra: "Minimise fixed costs."
The concept's a simple one: by all means use permanent staff to deal with the aspects of your business that don't change much, but where your revenue streams go up and down, think of ways of allowing the cost of servicing those revenue streams to vary in unison with the ebbs and flows.
Outsourcing is an obvious way to look, and companies all over the world are doing it. Yet in the last couple of weeks one of the UK's major service providers, 2e2, has gone spectacularly pear-shaped.
Customers have been sent into a major panic over retrieving and relocating their data and services, and difficulties in cash-flow have prompted the administrators to place a letter on 2e2's website asking data centre users to contribute a sum between £4,000 and £40,000 to keep them running.
Although big news today, this is nothing unique and the trick to making sure your trousers don't become fast friends with your ankles is all in the preparation.
Back in the dot-com era, for instance, a cluster of startups all used a particular London-based web development house for their implementation and hosting services. This development house in turn used one of the big London data centre companies for its hosting services.
Everything became more than a little confused when the company in the middle went out of business: the hosting provider's bills stopped getting paid, and so the hoster cut off the services and refused access until someone paid the outstanding balance. Thankfully, due partly to luck but largely to diligent record-keeping, it was possible to prove to the hosting provider that the equipment belonged not to the defaulting service provider but to the end client. So they scooted in, claimed the kit, and installed it elsewhere.
Our kit! Oh God, our kiiiiiit...
Outsourcing doesn't just mean hosting, though: what about when you decide to lease kit instead of buying it? Atlantic Computers was an IT leasing company that blew up in the late 1980s. This was back in the day when IT was properly expensive, and a company I worked with leased its IBM System/38 (remember them?) from Atlantic.
Everything happened too quickly, and the upstream owner of the kit decided to give notice that it was going to come and repossess the equipment – which, thanks to the fact that it ran our entire business's enterprise resource planning system, would have meant utter disaster. Salvation came in the lateral thinking of one of the senior managers, who simply told the owners: "You can have it, but as it contains classified defence material we'll have to destroy it before it's removed from the premises". Not too surprisingly, a far more calm process of negotiation followed and the equipment remained.
Next, consider one of the services we all get someone else to do instead of doing it ourselves: telephony and data circuits. Not many of us run our own fibre from centre to centre, deciding instead (quite sensibly) to rent services from companies that already have thousands of miles of fibre under the street. But what happens when the telco lets you down?
Consider the case of one UK SME that relied on its internet and voice lines to keep the call centre running. One day, of course, everything stopped working and they gazed with awe upon the facial expression of the JCB driver in the street outside as the latter realised what he'd just done. Again the story is only partly sad: thankfully one of the lines ran the alarm system and had a priority-fix SLA on it, so the engineer that was soon on site was plied with tea and biscuits and persuaded to re-splice all the lines, not just the one he was obliged to do.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail
The thing is, though, there is seldom an excuse for falling victim to a service provider getting it wrong or going out of business. Occasionally I'd say it's forgivable: the demise of Atlantic, was, for instance, quite hard to predict and its clients couldn't necessarily expect to see that one coming.
A UK SME relied on its internet and voice lines to keep the call centre running. One day, of course, everything stopped working and they gazed with awe upon the facial expression of the JCB driver in the street outside as the latter realised what he'd just done.
The 2e2 example is, however, just daft. Do these clients not have lawyers who go through the contracts asking: "What if"? And have they not said to themselves: "Our data is critical, so what happens if we lose an entire data centre"? If they've agonised over having a secondary data centre and decided they can't afford it, they're entitled to a little sympathy. If they've not considered it, though, the same isn't true.
I've had complex telecoms contracts in the past, for instance, and it's always seemed sensible to understand the entire context of the connection. Take a leased-line internet connection to an office in North London, for instance; our supplier was COLT but the last kilometre or so was provided by BT as it was off-net for COLT.
The exercise was one of risk assessment and risk acceptance: because of the need for a different upstream provider we had to accept a degraded SLA to cover the fact that the call-out time for a fault was the response time in the SLA between us and COLT plus the response time in the SLA between them and BT.
Helpfully the consideration of the stability of either company was an easy one, as both BT and COLT were going strongly at the time. For that type of service, with the particular usage patterns and mission-criticality (not much) in our setup, it was fine; in other situations it wouldn't be and we'd have considered resilient links, multiple providers and the like.
I live and work in the Channel Islands, which makes life interesting with regard to service provision. We have three hosting providers on Jersey, so consideration of single points of failure is always fun. Say you're starting from nothing and you want a resilient data centre setup. You could go to one provider that has two data centres in different parts of the island, and benefit from the low cost of connecting the two (they're both connected to that provider's resilient metro network, after all). Or you could decide to go with two providers, which reduces the risk should one provider go under, but the interconnects will be more complex and expensive as you're going partially off-net. Or you could say that having two data centres on the same island is in itself too risky, not least because the power provision into the island as a whole resembles a bit of damp string and some hamsters in a wheel, and look to Guernsey or the mainland instead.
There's no right answer in the general sense – it's very much horses for courses – but you have to have these debates with yourself and justify the end decision.
Suppliers go under and when they do sink, your business can suffer. And if and when you sign up for a service and you don't give due consideration to the eventualities of one of your suppliers failing you, you're wasting both your money and time, and, potentially, your business. ®
Dave is a senior network and telecoms specialist who has spent 20 years working in academia, defence, publishing and intellectual property. Founding technical editor of Network Week and Techworld, Dave's specialisms include design, construction and management of global telecoms networks, infrastructure and software architecture, development and testing, database design, implementation and optimization. Dave and his family live in St Helier on the island paradise of Jersey.


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As of Dec. 31 county officials are reporting 33,222 Coronavirus COVID-19 cases in Montgomery County, including 1,018 deaths from the virus, which includes 2,092 cases and 60 deaths in Norristown. Please refer to the CDC's website for daily updates about the virus as it pertains to symptoms, treatment and travel information. All of this can be found on their website at c0dc.gov/coronavirus/20… En español aquí: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index-sp.html
Dec. 2020 update: Masks must be worn at all times* whenever you leave your house. (*- when out in stores, when being socially distant is not possible, on public transportation) Exceptions granted to persons with medical conditions where wearing a mask may be harmful to their health. Masks must be worn inside at all times, unless with persons of your household. When inside with persons outside of your household a mask must be worn, even when socially distancing.
For information at the state/local level, the PA Department of Health can be accessed here: https://www.health.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx
It is important to take proactive steps to protect yourself by simple means like washing your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, covering your cough/sneeze, disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, and staying home if you are not feeling well.
The Montgomery County COVID-19 testing site in Norristown is located at 1401 DeKalb St. (Norristown Regional Health Center parking lot) Testing hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments are mandatory! You can sign up for a test here starting at 7 a.m. everyday, or by calling 610-970-2937 starting at 8:30 a.m. everyday. Anyone who works, lives or attends school in Montgomery County may be tested here, or at the county's other testing sites.
What about unemployment? Please see the state's Unemployment Compensation website about filing a claim and if you qualify to do so: https://www.uc.pa.gov/COVID-19/Pages/UC-COVID19-FAQs.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3WYHIu7Ueez4CMVywhCGFN7zZzg_R8NfRpd-51s9UgYiK8YHdOQo6VJNU
What about evictions and forclosures? Through Aug. 31 there is a hold on any foreclosures or evictions. Legal Aid of Southeastern PA has provided a list of resources and information about staying in your home during this pandemic.
¿Puedo ser desalojado? ¿Puede un juicio hipotecario ser presentado en contra de mi casa? Leer aquí
Mortgage/rent assistance: The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has just advertised that they are accepting applications for rent and mortgage relief for those who lost income due to the economic slowdown. If you meet the qualifications you can apply for assistance at https://www.phfa.org/pacares/
Montgomery County has established communication tools to answer your questions about COVID-19. You can call 610-631-3000 (from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) or email email@example.com. Go to http://www.montcopa.org/COVID-19 for local information and to see what communities are affected.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is tracking the outbreak throughout the state and can be viewed here. The department can be reached at 1-800-724-3258.
A disaster declaration for the Municipality of Norristown was issued on March 16 and will be in effect indefinitely. This is a proactive action being taken so the municipality can get access to the resources and tools it needs to keep residents safe.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is tracking the outbreak throughout the state and can be viewed here. The department can be reached at 1-800-724-3258.836
Municipal Hall reopened to the public on July 1. Mask wearing and social distancing is enforced for employees and visitors.
Meetings will still be held on virtual platforms (and at council's discretion). Meeting access information will be posted before each meeting. The meeting agenda with public participation information will be posted on our website the Friday before the meeting. Meetings will still be conducted on the first and third Tuesday of every month unless otherwise noted.
Starting May 1, permitted construction work may resume in Norristown. Workers at job sites are asked to respect workspace guidance established by the state. The Codes department will be out to ensure that safe working standards adhere to guidance; if not, citations may be issued. Rental Inspections; property transfer inspections; non-emergency housing complaints; and scheduled non-emergency inspections with the fire department have all been suspended until further notice. Please call 610-270-0441 or email email@example.com if you have any questions.
NOTICE: The discount period to pay your municipal real estate taxes will be extended to May 31. Taxes are due by Dec. 31. Full payment of the face value of your tax bill is extended to Dec. 31. Payment should be made with a cashier's check, money order or personal check and dropped off at the mail slot at the front of the Municipal Hall entrance during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Cash will not be accepted! As of November payments can be made online at https://taxpayments.norristown.org/.. A 2.65% ($3.00 minimum) convenience fee charged to each transaction. This fee is retained by the card processing service Payments can be processed over the phone. Call 610-270-0426 if you have any questions.
Business Privilege Taxes: The deadline to file 2019 final/2020 estimated Business Privilege Tax return and payment has been extended to July 15. The extension does not apply to delinquent taxes.
Street sweeping resumed on July 1.
The Norristown Recreation Center and parks reopened on July 1 (an early-August flood further shutdown the Rec Center until Nov. 2). The Rec Center will be open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. M-F and 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Mask wearing and social distancing will be adhered to.
Parks will be open with social distancing guidelines in place.
Weekly trash and recycling collections will continue.
Service has been restored to most lines in the SEPTA system as of June 20. More information at http://septa.org/
Community events are limited.
Norristown Area School District
Schools will have VIRTUAL instruction through the start of January. Full re-opening plans can be found at the school district's website: https://www.nasd.k12.pa.us/domain/596
Elmwood Park Zoo
Open, but reserved ticketing is required. www.elmwoodparkzoo.org.
Montgomery County- Norristown Public Library
The main building (at Powell and Swede streets) reopened to the public on Aug. 24. Curbside pickup of materials is available. Some virtual resources are available to cardholders at www.mc-npl.org. All programs are canceled until further notice.
PAW restores water service to customers
Pennsylvania American Water announced that it is putting a moratorium on service shut offs and reinstating service to previously shut-off customers. More information can be found at amwater.com.
PECO is suspending service disconnections for non-payment until further notice. In addition, PECO will continue to remind customers of existing bill assistance resources and energy assistance programs to support them through temporary or extended financial hardship. Go here for more information: PECO expands customer assistance programs.


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Dr Vijay (Jackie Shroff) is happily married to Aarti (Radhika), they have a lovely daughter called Munni
He ignites the anger of the elder local Dharam Raj ( Om ShivPuri) when he disrupts the beating of a local man. Everyone in the village fears Dharam Raj and are unable to stand up against him,
Dr. Vijay however is keen to put an end to Dharam Raj's tyranny and sets out on a mission to expose him
However his househelp is an aide of Dharam Raj and she alerts him about Vijay's plan.With her help, Dharam Raj sets Vijay up for murder when a dead body is found in Vijay's hospital cupboard
Vijay tries to plead his innocence but the local man he had rescued gives a false testimony saying Vijay had killed the man in anger when he caught him having an affair with his wife, he is sentenced to 7 years in jail
Following Vijay's imprisonment, his wife Aarti and daughter Munni are considered unclean and then handed over to the police by the village councillor
Aarti declares her innocence to the policeman who promises to help, he takes her home and while there he tries to get her to lay with him, Aarti is having none of it and he tries raping her forcefully, her daughter Munni tries helping her but Inspector Pandey strangles her to death
Aarti is furious and she leaves with her dead daughter to seek the minister Charandas's help, he promises to do his best. He makes arrangements for her daughters burial and promises to bring Inspector Pandey to justice
Unknown to poor Aarti is the fact that Minister Charandas is after her as well, he rapes her and a depressed, shattered Aarti proposes to kill herself in front of a train
Bharati Devi (Hema Malini) a lawyer spots her and rescues her, she tells her how she's never lost a case and propose to get her justice
loved Hema Malini as the fast talking lawyer
At court Aarti is accused of killing her child by Inspector Pandey and Minister Charandas who conspire against her, she's sentenced to 6 years in Jail
A few years later and Aarti is back with a vengenace as a the glamorous Princess Julie Singh and dressed to kill in some fabulous fashions
she stages a fake political campaign and charity dance show and catches the eye of Minister Charandas, he takes a liking to her and begins dating her not knowing she is the same Aarti he had violated years ago
Watch as Aarti plots, connives and wrecks havoc in the lives for those who wronged her
better don't mess with Aarti
Aarti is also confronted by her husband Vijay, what will she tell him? How will she explain thigs to him?
loved Jackie in this, he's one of my fave actors from 80's bollywood
I really enjoyed this movie, it was so camp and fabulously over the top, while also highlighting the immense corruption of the judicial/political system of the state.
I've come to realise that the 80's is one of my favourite decades in terms of bollywood cinema, this might have something to do with me being born in the '80's and also movies from the '80's were my introduction to bollywood, and of course my taste for camp melodrama
This movie is very similar to Khoon Bhari Maang, both movies feature female protagonists wanting to avenge the wrongs done to them by an evil patriarchal figure, these wrongs were mostly avenged through the power of their beauty of course. This lends credibility to the line of thought that with beauty comes power, as it was the beauty Aarti as Julie possessed in this film and in the case of Rekha as Jyoti in khoon Bhari Maang, that they were able to gain access to the men who wronged them and then ultimately conquer them
I absolutely adored Radhika (now known as Raadhika Sarathkumar) in her role as Aarti/Julie, i liked her as the traditional vulnerable Aarti but loved her even more as the fearless, no nonsense glamourpuss Julie, i loved the last few minutes in the film when she decides enough is enough. I know very little about her and this is my first film with her in it, from my research on her, it seems she was a southern actress who did a few bollywood films but her career in hindi movies never really took off
She gave us some fabulous 80's fashions too
Check out that hat and those earrings
Aarti also works the power shoulders & sequins trend and check out those earrings (you go girl)
there were some down outright fugly ones which i shall be sending over to bollywood fugly, i'm torn over this black and gold sequin gown though, its complete with a headgear and matching wristbands, part of me thinks fab and part of me thinks fugly
Good soundtrack from Laxmikant Pyarelal too the joyful 'tujhe itna pyaar kare' the bolly disco sounds of 'Abhi to padi hai' where we get to see our beloved black and gold sequin gown complete with matching headband and matching wristbands my favourite has to be the super mujra 'O mukda chand ka'
Total Score: 6/10 ( One of my favourite 80's masala drama)
also spotted was this sshhhh picture,i've seen this picture so much in 70's/80's bollywood films, can someone confirm if this was a best selling painitng in india, why was it so popular, remember I also spotted it in Love story


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Photos by Rita Maas
In every corner of the world, people distinguish the important moments of life by eating and drinking together. During these celebrations, foods do more than nourish; they symbolize a tapestry of traditions central to each culture's heritage. The end of the calendar year—dark midwinter in the northern hemisphere—is often marked with the lighting of candles and fires, accompanied by a special meal, perhaps the one time each year when extended families gather, share food, remember, and give thanks for the journey.
During Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, tables are ablaze with candles and loaded with dishes enriched with oil, particularly fritters and doughnuts, to commemorate the miraculous renewal of the oil in the temple lamps. At Christmas, the Christian celebration of Jesus' birth, blazing fires, flaming puddings, and roasted meats are enjoyed in a spirit of merriment that owes much to the saturnalia of Roman times; on Christmas Eve, Mediterranean Roman Catholics redress the balance with a simple, meatless meal known as the fasting supper.
The modern African-American festival of Kwanzaa, now celebrated by millions, expresses the deep-rooted desire to join together and honor a common ancestral heritage at the dawn of a new year with foods reminiscent of African culture. At No-Rooz, the ancient Persian festival celebrating renewal and rebirth at the time of spring planting, a copy of the Koran is placed on the table alongside the food, and the most senior person present recites from the sacred text.
Other ritual celebrations, secular or religious, are similarly marked by feasts and fellowship. But always, festive foods are rich and carefully prepared, often with children at hand to ensure that the next generation learns the traditions of its ancestors.
This year when you cook up your midwinter feast, give thanks. Nature's good things—harvest, birth, changing seasons, even a peaceful death—are rites of passage that can be honored with a wonderful celebratory meal.
Soupe de Lasagnes (Provencale Pasta Soup)
Serves 6 / The traditional Christmas Eve "fasting supper" in Upper Provence is a delicious winter-vegetable soup, meatless but fortified with pasta. The ribbon noodles' frilled edges are said to remind participants of the curls of the infant Jesus. Olive oil or a garlic mayonnaise (aioli) is passed around separately to allow participants to adhere as strictly to the rules of fasting as they please.
3-4 stalks celery, washed and cut into short lengths
3-4 large carrots, scraped and roughly chopped
3-4 young turnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
8 cups cold water
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces lasagne or papardelle (frilly edges optional), broken into bite-size pieces
5-6 stalks chard, washed and cut into short lengths
1/4 head cabbage, cut into fine strips
3-4 leeks, trimmed, well-washed and cut into thin rings
Salt and pepper
Olive oil or garlic mayonnaise (aioli)
1. In a large pot, cover celery, carrots, turnips, garlic, and herbs with water. Add salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are nearly done, 10-15 minutes.
2. Add pasta and return to a boil. Add chard, cabbage, and leeks in order, bringing back to a boil between additions. Cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, or until pasta is tender. Taste and adjust seasonings.
3. Ladle broth and vegetables into deep soup plates. Enrich with oil or aioli, if desired.
Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
Calories: 205
% fat calories: 4
Fat: 1g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Carbohydrate: 43g
Protein: 7g
Reprinted with permission from Sacred Food: Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment by Elisabeth Luard (Chicago Review Press, 2001).
Pongal (Sweet Rice with Cardamom and Fruit)
Serves 10 / Also called pukkai, this is always served at the Tamil festival of Thai Pongal, held in mid-January at the time of the rice harvest. Only pure white rice and very fresh milk will do for this Hindu temple offering; the fruit, spices, and sugar make the dish particularly fragrant and worthy of the deity's attention. To husk gram (mung beans), lightly roast in a dry pan, crush with a rolling pin to loosen skins, and toss to separate out kernels. Serve the pongal warm, with fresh mango to refresh the palate. Best spooned onto banana leaves, although bowls will do.
5 cups fresh whole milk, plus more as necessary
1-1/2 cups long-grain rice
1/4 cup husked green gram (mung beans; optional)
2 short cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds
2-3 handfuls chopped dates or raisins
1-2 ripe bananas, sliced
2/3 cup brown sugar
1. Place milk, rice, optional gram, cinnamon, and cardamom in a roomy pot. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 1 hour or so, until rice is perfectly tender and has absorbed most of the liquid.
2. Add more hot milk if mixture appears to be drying out. When consistency is thick and gooey, stir in dates or raisins, bananas, and sugar. (Be careful: If sugar is added too soon, rice will remain crunchy.) Remove from heat and let sit for about 20 minutes to allow dried fruit to rehydrate.
Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
Calories: 297 calories
% fat calories: 13
Fat: 5g
Saturated Fat: 3g
Cholesterol: 16mg
Carbohydrate: 58g
Protein: 8g
Reprinted with permission from Sacred Food: Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment by Elisabeth Luard (Chicago Review Press, 2001).
Sfenj (Orange Doughnuts)
Makes about 20 / These doughnuts, fragrant with orange, are eaten in Morocco to celebrate Hanukkah. Pack some in a basket to take into the street and hand out to passers-by, fulfilling the feast-day duty of almsgiving, observed by most religions.
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt<<br> 2 teaspoons dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
3 medium eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup orange juice
Grated zest of 1 orange
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Vegetable oil for frying
Powdered sugar
Finely grated orange zest
1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature.
2. Toss flour and salt with yeast and sugar. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in eggs, orange juice, zest, and oil. Knead until the dough is soft and pliable but no longer sticky (you may need a little more flour or water). Work into a ball.
3. Rub dough surface lightly with oil and drop back into bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour (rich dough takes longer than regular dough).
4. Punch down dough with your fist. Form dough into a rope. Cut into 20 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Transfer to a floured tray and set in a warm place to rise for another hour, until again doubled in bulk.
5. Heat just enough frying oil to submerge doughnuts. As soon as oil is very hot, slip in a few balls of dough at a time. Fry, flipping once, until golden brown and well-risen. Remove and drain on paper towels. Finish with a dusting of powdered sugar and grated orange zest.
Nutrition Facts Per Piece:
Calories: 160 calories
% fat calories: 33
Fat: 6g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 32mg
Carbohydrate: 23g
Protein: 3g
Yassa (Pot-Roast Chicken with Greens and Peanuts )
Serves 6 / A perfect choice for Karamu, the central feast of Kwanzaa, this fragrant, slow-cooked chicken casserole is served at weddings, initiations, and other tribal gatherings by the Senegalese people of Equatorial Africa. African chickens are lean little birds with a gamey flavor; Cornish hens make a good substitute. Serve piled high on a dish, with mashed yam, white rice, and fried plantains.
2 Cornish hens or 1 chicken, cut into serving pieces (with bone)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup sesame or peanut oil
1/2 cup crushed peanuts (or sesame seeds or crunchy peanut butter)
2-3 hot chili peppers (for example, jalapeño, serrano, malagueta), seeded and finely chopped
2 large onions, finely sliced
2-3 large ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 pound tender okra, trimmed
4 handfuls mustard greens or spinach leaves, well washed
1. Preheat oven to 300°. Rinse chicken pieces, pat dry, and season generously with coarse salt and black pepper. Have ready a roomy casserole dish or Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry chicken pieces, turning to brown on all sides. Remove and reserve.
3. Add crushed nuts to remaining oil and fry for a moment. (If using sesame seeds, keep a lid handy to catch seeds that jump; if using peanut butter, no need to fry.) As soon as nuts begin to brown, add a splash of water and stir in chopped peppers. Remove from heat.
4. In casserole dish, layer chicken with onions, tomatoes, okra, and mustard greens, sprinkling layers with nut sauce and seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Cover tightly and transfer to oven. Cook for 30 minutes at 300°, then reduce heat to 275°. Continue cooking for 2 more hours.
5. Remove dish from oven. Turn layers over so top is on the bottom. If more liquid is needed, add a little boiling water. Cover, return dish to oven, and cook for 1 1/2 hours more (4 hours total cooking time).
Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
Calories: 463 calories
% fat calories: 64
Fat: 34g
Saturated Fat: 7g
Cholesterol: 52mg
Carbohydrate: 21g
Protein: 23g
Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)
Makes about 30 / Many beloved holiday cookie recipes originated in northern Europe. These nut-and-spice-infused cutouts—this month's cover recipe—hail from Germany, also the source of decorated Christmas trees and blown-glass ornaments.
2 egg whites
1-1/2 cup almonds, toasted and ground
3/4 cup hazelnuts or pecans, toasted and ground
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
Powdered sugar
1. In a large mixing bowl, let egg whites come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. In another bowl, mix ground nuts, flour, and spices.
2. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high until stiff peaks form and sugar is incorporated. Fold nut mixture in to egg whites. Cover and let stand 30 minutes to let nuts absorb moisture.
3. Preheat oven to 325°. Sprinkle powdered sugar on work surface. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough using a floured star-shaped cutter. Place cookies, about 1 inch apart, on nonstick or greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition Facts Per Serving (2 cookies):
Calories: 185 calories
% fat calories: 54
Fat: 12g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Carbohydrate: 18g
Protein: 4g
Kookoo-ye Sabzi (Omelet with Saffron and Greens)
Serves 8 / No-Rooz, the ancient Persian festival honoring spring and the Iranian new year, is celebrated with an open-air picnic and the eating of a thick round egg-cake the color and shape of the sun. The correct accompaniments are a bowl of thick, creamy sheep's-milk yogurt from the flock's first milkings and a buttery, saffron-tinted pilaf lavishly flavored with herbs.
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 cup finely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
1 cup chopped scallions, including green parts
1 tablespoon shelled walnuts, roughly chopped
1 cup shredded spinach leaves
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
1 tablespoon self-rising flour
10 eggs
1/2-1 teaspoon powdered saffron
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3-4 tablespoons oil
1. In a large bowl, toss chopped herbs (they must be really dry), scallions, nuts, spinach, berries, and flour. In another bowl, whisk eggs with saffron and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large, nonstick frying pan. When oil is hot, slowly pour in egg mixture, stirring in herb mixture as you pour, so base is golden but interior is green. Shake to loosen base, reduce heat to low, cover loosely, and leave to cook very gently for 20-25 minutes. (If heat is too high, eggs may become leathery.) As omelet cooks, shake to loosen base, and neaten sides with a spatula to build up a deep, straight edge.
3. When the top looks set, invert a large plate over the pan and flip the whole thing over so the omelet ends up on the plate, cooked side up. (Be brave—it's no harder than flipping a pancake.) Slip omelet back in pan for another 5-10 minutes to brown other side (you may need a little more oil). When it feels firm, slide it out onto its plate; it will set a little more as it cools. Pat off excess oil with a paper towel. Serve at the temperature of a spring evening in the desert.
Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
Calories: 160 calories
% fat calories: 68
Fat: 12g
Saturated Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 266mg
Carbohydrate: 4g
Protein: 9g
Prasopita (Greek Lenten Leek Pie)
Serves 4-6 / In Greece, phyllo-pastry pies filled with white cheese and greens are sold in every bakery throughout Lent, the forty days when meat is forbidden during the preparation for Easter. Throughout the growing season, Greeks gather dozens of wild greens, whose refreshing bitterness is considered blood cleansing. Serve with Kalamata olives for nibbling and a crisp lettuce salad dressed with lemon juice and sea salt.
1 package (about 1 pound) phyllo pastry
4-5 tablespoons olive oilFilling
4 medium-size leeks or 8 scallions, finely sliced, including greens
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound mixed wild greens, beet greens, or baby spinach, rinsed and shredded
8 ounces light or regular cream cheese
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled or grated
1. To make the filling, in a heavy pan gently cook the leeks, garlic, dill, mint, salt, and pepper in the oil over medium-low heat. Add the greens and cook, stirring, until all the moisture has evaporated. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little.
2. Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly oil a 9-inch, round cake pan. Line with 5-6 layers of phyllo, brushing between the layers with olive oil, overlapping the sheets and leaving the flaps long enough to fold over to make a cover.
3. Beat the cream cheese with the feta cheese and mix in the cooled greens mixture. Season well.
4. Spread the mixture evenly over the phyllo layers. Cover with a layer or two of phyllo and fold over the flaps to enclose the filling completely. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the pastry browns and crisps and the filling has set. Serve at room temperature.
Reprinted with permission from Sacred Food: Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment by Elisabeth Luard (Chicago Review Press, 2001).
Symbolic Foods
Certain foods carry special significance in all traditions. Enhance the meaning of your meals with the following choices.
Birth and spring growth: small edible seeds (poppy, sesame); grains (quinoa, amaranth); lentils; nuts; dried fruits
Good fortune: quince, apples, peaches, pomegranates, grapes, red-dyed foods
Rebirth, fertility, renewal: eggs; foods dyed yellow with saffron or turmeric
Life: bread, maize, rice
Pleasure: sweets of all kinds, including those made with honey, cane sugar, date sugar, and palm sugar


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Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.
Are you making reliable backups and performing regular maintenance on your Mac? Too few Mac users take the time to do so, and they regret it when something goes wrong. That's where Macintosh expert Joe Kissell can help. You'll learn how to keep your Mac running smoothly with a set of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks, plus get advice on preparing for Mac OS X updates. You'll also find out how to monitor your Mac to detect problems early and where to turn if trouble raises its ugly head.
But the most important aspect of maintenance is a rock-solid backup strategy that protects all your important data in the event of catastrophe. To that end, Joe provides an at-a-glance comparison of different strategies, explains the pros and cons of each type of media, and helps you pick the best backup program for your needs. You'll find time-tested recommendations that help you set up, test, and maintain your backups, complete with instructions on how to restore after a crash. Important lessons you'll learn along the way include the utility of having both a duplicate and an archive, the necessity of testing backups, and the importance of offsite backups.
In this book you'll find the answers to questions like these:
Mac OS X Security Part 1: Investigating Security Breaches and Illegal Use
Mac OS X Security Part 2: The Mac Forensic Toolkit
Mac OS X VPN Solutions, Part 1: Connecting to a VPN
Mac OS X VPN Solutions, Part 2: Configuring VPN Under Mac OS X Server
Mac OS X VPN Solutions, Part 3: Using SSH Port Forwarding


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For CS undergraduate students working on a 2-semester capstone course without any prior exposure to revision control systems, what would be a good one to use?
Desirable qualities would be easy to use (ie this should be a tool they can use rather than spend a lot of time fighting it) and still be relevant for subsequent professional work once they graduate (doesn't have to mean it has to be the same tool later on as long as the concepts survive).
Easy to install and maintain for the person who does this. Not sure if I am missing anything else important.
I am aware of subversion (centralized), git (distributed) and mercurial(also distributed?) - but don't know enough about any of them to have an informed opinion. Are there others I should consider? This will be on a predominantly Windows environment.
EDIT: I am really interested in the pedagocial aspect of teaching/learning these systems, not so much from the perspective of an already experienced software developer.


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One of the holy grails in diabetes research is to discover molecules that stimulate beta cell growth and to find drugs that target these molecules. Now, JDRF-funded researchers in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, have done both, discovering not only a protein that regulates beta cell growth, but also a chemical compound that stimulates it. The work appears in the September 7 issue of Cell Metabolism.
The discovery, led by Markus Stoffel, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, represents a significant advance in identifying a new drug target for beta cell regeneration.
The work builds on a discovery made five years ago, when Dr. Stoffel and his team first showed that a once obscure protein, called Tmem27, is localized on the surface membrane of beta cells, the insulin-producing cells that are located within islets in the pancreas. At the time, they found that increased levels of Tmem27 on beta cells were associated with increased islet mass in mice. They also found that if Tmem27 is cleaved, it left the protein completely inactivated.
"We hypothesized that if we could prevent Tmem27 from being cleaved and increase the levels of this protein, we could get more beta cell growth," says Dr. Stoffel, who is also a 2010 recipient of JDRF's Gerold & Kayla Grodsky Basic Research Scientist Award. "This observation gave us the rationale to look for what was inactivating Tmem27."
After screening possible molecules that could snip Tmem27, Dr. Stoffel and his team found the culprit: Bace2, an enzyme protein that, like Tmem27, also resides on the outer surface (known as the plasma membrane) of the beta cell. The researchers confirmed their theory by finding that mice that lacked Bace2 had larger islets and the beta cells in the islets increased in number, a process known as proliferation or regeneration. They also found that these mice were able to clear glucose from the blood more efficiently than control mice with Bace2.
Dr. Stoffel and his team next aimed to inhibit Bace2 in an effort to control and promote the growth of beta cells. To do so, they teamed up with scientists at Hoffmann-LaRoche who developed a chemical compound that could inhibit Bace2. When the scientists gave this compound to mice, they saw that it inhibited Bace2 and stimulated the growth of new beta cells. Importantly, Bace2, and not its close relative Bace1, which is implicated in other diseases, cleaves the Tmem27 protein, suggesting the potential for developing a Bace2 inhibitor as a diabetes-specific therapy.
In addition to identifying a new drug target for promoting beta cell regeneration, Dr. Stoffel's work may also help in developing tests to measure the amount of Tmem27 fragments in the blood -- a biomarker that could be used as an index of beta cell number.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Cite This Page:


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TJ Jackson -- Tito's Son -- Seeks Temporary Guardianship of Michael Jackson's Kids
Tito's Son TJ To Seek Temp Guardianship of MJ's Kids
Tito Joe Jackson, aka TJ, the 34-year-old son of Michael Jackson's brother Tito, is having his lawyer draft legal docs in a bid to become temporary guardian of MJ's 3 kids ... TMZ has learned.
People familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... Paris, Prince and Blanket all want TJ to be their guardian because they believe Katherine -- their current guardian -- has effectively been kidnapped by MJ's siblings. The kids haven't seen Katherine in 9 days.
Under California law, a judge would not grant a temporary guardian for teenagers unless the kids were on board with the selection, and we're told all 3 kids are down with it. We're told TJ has often acted like a parent to the kids and they love him.
As we first reported ... the Michael Jackson Estate is standing by and will support TJ's bid to become the temporary guardian if asked by the Probate judge.
Just 15 hours ago, TJ tweeted to Paris, "I know it's completely unfair for them to do this to you and your brothers. We will keep trying. I love you."
By the way, TJ is married with kids and is in a band with his 2 brothers. And get this ... he was Kim Kardashian's first love. Check out what looks like their prom pic.
One final point ... sources connected to MJ's siblings tell TMZ Michael's brothers and sisters are turning on each other. One brother has secretly been telling people he does not support what the others are doing to Katherine.


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I've been a bit of a busy bee lately buzzing through writing the first draft of my second novel, so I haven't had a ton of time to post. But I have had some fun decorating the dining room for Fall with some of my recent finds.
It started with wanting to use the Croscill tablecloth and valences I found at the Goodwill Outlet Store a few weeks back. The fabric was so nice and the colors had just the right feel for autumn. The tablecloth was a perfect fit on my round table, while the valence got easily repurposed as a mantle scarf.
The colors seemed to work nicely with some of the Roseville pottery I've uncovered at surprisingly affordable prices lately.
Here's a view of the mantle and table together. I went with 70s era Carnival glass for the table setting.
You can see a close up of the table. The plates and the goblets and candlesticks are not the same pattern, but the color is close so I think it works.
The candlesticks are actually a new find for me. They're a Harvest Grape pattern and match the goblets. I got the pair for $5, which seemed to be a pretty good buy.
The dinner plates are called Anniversary and they're made by Jeanette Glass. I bought these a while ago and I love the many iridescent colors they reflect back.
Wishing you all the bounty of the harvest at your dinner table and in your thrifting adventures!


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This article is more than 1 year old
Spam levels bounce back after botnet takedown
Even botnets have backup now
Spam levels are returning to normal following the recent takedown of crime-friendly ISP 3FN, which temporarily interrupted the operation of a significant spam spewing botnet.
Junk mail volumes dropped 30 per cent after the Federal Trade Commission forced the closure of 3FN in early June, according to Google. Google's latest quarterly spam trends report records a 14 per cent rise in junk mail volumes from the 3FN takedown low by the end of June.
Stats from Postini, the online spam and virus filtering service acquired by Google, reveal that average spam levels in the second quarter of 2009 were 53 per cent higher than in the first quarter and six per cent higher than in the same period of 2008.
The latest figures from security services firm MessageLabs, which is now a part of Symantec, tell a slightly different story. It reckons that the Cutwail botnet experienced a short period of downtime following the shutdown of California-based 3FN ISP (AKA Pricewert LLC and APS Telecom) on 5 June.
However, for the month of June as a whole, spam level were unchanged at around 90.4 per cent of overall mail volumes, after MessageLabs' first level filters threw out email from known bad sources.
Cutwail, one of the largest and most active botnets, was quickly back blitzing email inboxes with useless junk, in sharp contrast to the disruption to the spam economy created by a similar takedown last year, MessagLabs reports.
"Cutwail's recovery to one-third of its original levels, after only a few hours, highlights the progress spammers have made since the McColo shutdown in November," said Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence senior analyst at Symantec. "Spammers have learned the importance of having a backup for command and control channels."
MessageLabs reports that spam from botnets accounted for the vast majority (83.2 per cent) of all junk mail in June, with the remainder spewing out from compromised mail servers and webmail accounts. Image spam accounted for eight to ten per cent of all junk mail last month, it adds. ®


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This month, we're going to focus on mic'ing guitar cabinets in the studio, but keep in mind that much of the info can be applied to the stage as well.
As a professional guitarist, to feel like I'm covering all the bases I need a healthy balance of road and studio work. I really enjoy playing gigs and touring, but I also love creating new music in the studio. And the art of recording guitar well is a passion of mine. When I'm not on tour, I'm generally doing sessions and producing video gear demos for amp and pedal manufacturers. So having a studio of my own where I can record world-class guitar tones has become essential for me. I've had a good home studio for 10 years or so, but recently, I was presented with an opportunity to move my studio to an available room in a commercial facility. I learned many things in the process, so I'm going to give you some ideas in my next two columns for getting the most out of your own studios. This month, we're going to focus on mic'ing guitar cabinets in the studio, but keep in mind that much of the info can be applied to the stage as well.
Mic that cab. The biggest change between my new space and my old home studio is that I now have an actual live tracking room. In my old studio, I used a coat closet to isolate and mic a 1x12 Bogner cabinet, but now I have enough space to record virtually any size cab. Yes, speaker simulators have come a long way (more on this in a minute), but there's still just something about mics and speakers moving air.
In my old space, I surrounded the cab with 24" x 24" acoustic panels from ATS Acoustics to absorb volume and reflections. To isolate it from the floor, I also positioned the cab on sandbags I bought at the hardware store, and sometimes I'd cover it in packing blankets. Not only did all this work to eliminate reflections and absorb sound, cutting down the volume also helped ensure I wouldn't disturb the neighbors.
Though the closet worked really well, it sure is nice to have a big room now. I can mic cabs in ways that I just couldn't before. For example, I recently made a video demo of a Jim Kelley Reverb amplifier and I mic'd an open-back cab with an SM57 and an sE VR1 in front, along with an AKG C 214 in the back. Using a mic on the backside can add depth and air to the sound, but it was something I just didn't have the room to do in my old space. If you do use a mic on the back of an open cab, just make sure you flip the phase of the rear mic because otherwise it'll be out of phase with the front mic(s).
Fig. 1 This illustration shows the distance at which I normally place a SM57 from a speaker.
When using just one mic on a cab—which I still often do—I normally use the tried-and-true SM57 on a Celestion or Celestion-style speaker and place it at the distance shown in Fig. 1. This position always seems to work because I get a great balance of lows to highs. You can move the mic forward or back an inch or so, depending on how much proximity effect you need—the closer you get, the more the bass will be boosted.
If you do add a second mic, however, just be sure the diaphragms are aligned by making them equidistant from the speaker. Otherwise, you can get phase cancellation that can wreak havoc with your tone. (See the "Phase Coherency Test" sidebar for an easy trick to establish phase coherency between two mics.)
Phase Coherency Test
1.)Without a guitar plugged
in, turn up the gain of the amp
you are using until there is a fair
amount of hiss coming from the
speaker cab. Send this signal out
through a headphone send.
2.) Next, invert the phase of your
second mic on your mic pre or in
your DAW using a plug-in.
3.) Listen to the sound of the
amplifier hiss in your headphones.
When you move your second mic
towards or away from the speaker,
you will hear the hiss level change
as the mics go in and out of phase
with one another. The position
where you hear the least amount
of hiss is where the mic should
be placed. This is because when
the second mic's phase-reversal
switch is flipped on, the sound
should cancel out as much as
possible. Unflip the phase on the
second mic, and voilà, you should
have a great tone when the two
mics are blended. My SM57 and
sE VR1 mics shown in Fig. 2 are
aligned for proper phase. You'll
notice that the VR1 is placed
slightly back from the SM57.
Or don't mic that cab. As I mentioned, speaker simulators have come a long way in recent times and they offer a viable alternative to mic'ing cabs. With the advent of impulse responses (IRs), it's now possible to accurately capture the unique tonal signature of any speaker, mic, and preamp combination, and then turn it into an IR. I recently acquired a useful box that facilitates using IRs with tube amps. It's called the Two Notes Torpedo Live, and this MIDI-compatible unit lets you safely connect and load any amplifier up to 100 watts. (Note: Tube amps must see a load, which is what your speaker cabinet serves as normally.) You can then use any of the included IRs—or make and use your own—and send a line-level signal out of the unit to your recording interface. What you end up with is an incredibly realistic mic'd amp tone.
Fig. 2 Had I not used the phase coherency test, I wouldn't have known that this is precisely where the VR1 (second mic) should be placed in relation to the SM57.
From recording silently with headphones to being able to quickly audition different cabinet and mic combinations for your recordings, the advantages are obvious and many. The live application possibilities are also pretty incredible, since you're able to switch between different virtual cabinets to get the tone you are going for, be it a closed-back 4x12 for dirty sounds or an open-back 2x12 for clean sounds. I've just started using this box, so I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but so far I'm definitely impressed with what it can do.
Next month, we'll look at the control room. Meanwhile, happy tracking!
Peter Thorn is an L.A.-based guitarist, currently touring with Melissa Etheridge. His solo album, Guitar Nerd, is available through iTunes and cdbaby.com. Read more about his career at peterthorn.com.


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How to Stop Your Husband's Impulse Spending
Dear Dave,
My wife and I are on Baby Step 2 of your plan, and we're paying off our debt. I've been trying to sell my motorcycle and listed it for $5,000 on Craigslist. The other day, a guy offered me $2,000 cash and a boat for the bike. I've always really wanted a boat, but I'm not sure this is the time. And the money would only make a small dent in our debt. Would this kind of deal be legal in the Dave Ramsey universe?
Dear Matt,
It's an interesting deal, but at this stage of the game I think you have to ask yourself what your goal is. If it's to get a boat, then you've accomplished that goal. However, if your goal is to get out of debt, this deal doesn't get you where you want to be. Plus, it could add even more expense and hassle to your life. Upkeep and maintenance on some boats can really add up.
But this is Matt's universe, not Dave's. In my mind, getting out of debt comes first. There's plenty of time later for you to save up and buy a nice boat after you get control of your finances. In this scenario, you're simply trading one recreational vehicle for another.
If you're on Baby Step 2, it means you've already got $1,000 in the bank for emergencies and have moved on to paying off all your debt, except for your home. This tells me you guys are motivated, but the idea of a boat has caused your resolve to waver a little.
So, if you're looking for someone to tell you to forget the boat and stay on track with getting control of your lives and money, then I'm your guy. Don't do the deal!
Dear Dave,
I'm trying to convince my husband to leave his debit card at home when he goes to work. He says he wants it for emergencies, but he's always using it for other things. I'd rather him just carry a very small amount of cash so he's not so tempted. What do you think?
Dear Haley,
I understand your concern, but I think you're wrong on this one. I carry my debit card with me everywhere I go, and I want my wife to do the same. What your husband needs to stop doing is having "emergencies." The translation? Stop the impulse spending!
Now, this could be happening for several reasons. It could be that he's a good guy, but he's just not paying attention to how much he's spending. On the other hand, you guys may not be budgeting for fairly reasonable things—like if he wants to eat out for lunch once in a while.
But even if he's not using it, he should still be carrying a debit card. I mean, what if he has a real, actual emergency? The idea that you shouldn't carry a debit card just because of impulse spending isn't a good plan. Things like that aren't debit card problems. They're either maturity problems or a lack of realistic budget planning.
* Dave Ramsey is America's trusted voice on money and business. He's authored four New York Times best-selling books: Financial Peace, More Than Enough, The Total Money Makeover and EntreLeadership. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 5 million listeners each week on more than 500 radio stations. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com.


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Missing the Mark
Friday, August 31, 2012
About Gov. Romney's speech last night, William Kristol at the Weekly Standard asks:
What about the civic propriety of a presidential nominee failing even to mention, in his acceptance speech, a war we're fighting and our young men and women who are fighting it? Has it ever happened that we've been at war and a presidential nominee has ignored, in this kind of major and formal speech, the war and our warriors?
While the economy certainly is the number one issue, I agree that the war in Afghanistan needs attention and the Governor missed an opportunity last night.
However, Gov. Romney did address defense and veteran issues at the American Legion's National Convention earlier this week. Here is the video of that speech.
Focus on jobs, tri-care, and the VA were good points.