text:
I no longer call you servants… but friends.
People search for life's meaning in many ways. Wealth. Power. Status. Possessions. As alluring as these may be, people who achieve them are seldom satisfied. Often it's not until our later years that we fully grasp the extraordinary value of our relationships.
I am grateful to have been able to achieve much in life. Many would view me as "successful." Yet my greatest treasures by far are my relationships — with my wonderful wife, Wendy, and our children, grandchildren and close friends — and with the Lord Jesus — a bond that is absolutely unique!
Even when we are denied the intimate relationships of marriage, family and friends, there is One who always will be, without fail, our friend. Recall His pledge: "I will never leave you or forsake you."
By the time Billy Graham (mentioned on Day 5) was in his 90s, he had lost his wife, Ruth, and many close acquaintances through death. But he always had a friend in Jesus. He stated, "It is the greatest discovery you will ever make: You were created to know God and be His friend forever. This is a staggering truth. Think of it. The infinite, all-powerful holy God of the universe wants to be your friend. He wants you to know Him personally."
Take a moment now to embrace this profound reality, for in it you touch the very meaning of life: You were created to be God's friend.
How does it feel to have a relationship with God? Does that feel impossible to you? Talk to someone about it.


text:
2014 Emmy Nominations Announced: 'Game of Thrones' + 'Fargo' Dominate
The 2014 Emmy nominations were announced today (July 10) during an early morning ceremony featuring 'The Mindy Project' actress Mindy Kaling and 'The Voice' host Carson Daly.
It was a big day for cable dramas, as HBO's 'Game of Thrones' slayed everyone else with 19 Emmy nominations, including Best Drama. FX's 'Fargo' and 'American Horror Story: Coven' followed with 18 and 17 nominations, respectively. AMC's 'Breaking Bad' received 16 nominations, including Best Drama, Best Actor (Bryan Cranston) and Best Supporting Actor (Aaron Paul).
Our friends at ScreenCrush have compiled a list of the key categories. You can find the complete list of nominations at Emmys.com.
Congratulations to all the nominees!
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Bryan Cranston, 'Breaking Bad'
Kevin Spacey, 'House of Cards'
Jon Hamm, 'Mad Men'
Matthew McConaughey, 'True Detective'
Woody Harrelson, 'True Detective'
Jeff Daniels, 'The Newsroom'
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Claire Danes, 'Homeland'
Robin Wright, 'House of Cards'
Kerry Washington, 'Scandal'
Julianna Margulies, 'The Good Wife'
Lizzy Caplan, 'Masters of Sex'
Michelle Dockery, 'Downton Abbey'
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Benedict Cumberbatch, 'Sherlock'
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 'Dancing on the Edge'
Idris Elba, 'Luther'
Martin Freeman, 'Fargo'
Mark Ruffalo, 'The Normal Heart'
Billy Bob Thornton, 'Fargo'
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Jessica Lange, 'American Horror Story: Coven'
Sarah Paulson, 'American Horror Story: Coven'
Helena Bonham Carter, 'Burton and Taylor'
Minnie Driver, 'Return to Zero'
Cecily Tyson, 'The Trip to Bountiful'
Kristen Wiig, 'The Spoils of Babylon'
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Jim Parsons, 'The Big Bang Theory'
Matt LeBlanc, 'Episodes'
Don Cheadle, 'House of Lies'
Louis C.K., 'Louie'
William H. Macy, 'Shameless'
Ricky Gervais, 'Derek'
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Melissa McCarthy, 'Mike & Molly'
Taylor Schilling, 'Orange is the New Black'
Lena Dunham, 'Girls'
Edie Falco, 'Nurse Jackie'
Amy Poehler, 'Parks and Recreation'
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 'Veep'
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
'The Amazing Race'
'Dancing With the Stars'
'Project Runway'
'So You Think You Can Dance'
'Top Chef'
'The Voice'
Outstanding Variety Series
'The Colbert Report'
'The Daily Show With Jon Stewart'
'Jimmy Kimmel Live'
'Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon'
'Real Time With Bill Maher'
'Saturday Night Live'
Outstanding TV Miniseries
'American Horror Story: Coven'
'Bonnie and Clyde'
'The White Queen'
Outstanding Comedy Series
'The Big Bang Theory'
'Modern Family'
'Orange is the New Black'
'Silicon Valley'
Outstanding Drama Series
'Breaking Bad'
'Downton Abbey'
'Game of Thrones'
'House of Cards'
'Mad Men'
'True Detective'
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Aaron Paul, 'Breaking Bad'
Peter Dinklage, 'Game of Thrones'
Mandy Patinkin, 'Homeland'
Jim Carter, 'Downton Abbey'
Jon Voight, 'Ray Donovan'
Josh Charles, 'The Good Wife'
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Anna Gunn, 'Breaking Bad'
Maggie Smith, 'Downton Abbey'
Lena Headey, 'Game of Thrones'
Christine Baranski, 'The Good Wife'
Christina Hendricks, 'Mad Men'

subset: commoncrawl


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The Unemployment Surprise
- John Mauldin
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- October 8, 2012
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- Comments
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- View PDF
You Know You Were Surprised
The Eat, Drink, and Get Sick Sector
The Really Important Employment Numbers
Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, and South America
The unemployment number surprisingly dropped to 7.8% last Friday, and the shoot-from-the-hip crowd came out in force. To say that the jobs report was met with skepticism would be a serious understatement. The response that got the most immediate airplay was ex-GE CEO Jack Welch (who knows a few things about making a number say what you want it to say) tweeting, "Unbelievable job numbers ... these Chicago guys will do anything ... can't debate so change numbers."
Not be left out, Fox Business quoted Ed Butowsky of Chapwood Capital Investment: "'No way in the world these numbers are accurate,' he said. 'Somebody needs to do an investigation.... Investigate these numbers.'"
Such a significant drop in the unemployment rate does not seem, at least on the surface, to be consistent with the slowing economy. It certainly wasn't what most Republicans were expecting one month prior to the elections, and the partisan reaction from my fellow Republicans was sadly predictable. So, since an investigation has been called for, this week we will do just that: we will investigate the numbers. What we will find is that the falling unemployment number was perfectly consistent with a slowing economy, if you look at the details. That seemingly contradictory conclusion gives rise to a question, gentle reader, that will take more than one paragraph to answer. It will make for some interesting reading, I think.
Let me start by acknowledging that one of the most dangerous things one can do in the writing business is try to separate a man from his pet conspiracy theories. But this is one conspiracy that needs to be thoroughly debunked, as the reaction to it is an example of the coarsening of our American culture. If some bit of data does not dovetail with our favorite meme, our immediate reaction is to shoot the messenger rather than examine the facts as presented. With that proviso, let's jump right in.
You Know You Were Surprised
Like anybody else who is paying attention to the current economic situation, I was surprised when the headlines said that unemployment had dropped to 7.8%. A drop of that magnitude does not seem to be historically consistent with an economy growing less than 2%, with job growth – at least as measured by the Establishment Survey – barely keeping up with population growth, or with tax receipts that were relatively flat for the last month. My immediate reaction was "Show me the data." There was clearly going to be something interesting lurking down among the details. And there was.
Before we wade into the data, though, I want to analyze the reaction. What if someone said, "The military is manipulating the data from Iraq and Afghanistan in order to help the election of the current administration," (whether Republican or Democrat)? The appropriate response to such a statement would be to suggest that such a characterization was demeaning to the professionalism and integrity of our military professionals. I think it is doubtful that a statement like that would get much airplay or gain much credence in the public discourse. The military is a well-respected institution in the United States.
Yet we seemingly dismiss quite easily the professionalism of the employees of the Bureau of Labor Statistics when their data doesn't fit our perceptions of reality. Let's look at what they do. First and foremost, they collect data. In regards to employment data, they do two surveys. The first is the Establishment Survey, which polls 400,000 companies about the number of employees they have, whether they are full-time and part-time, and other details (along with income data). Then there is the Household Survey, which asks 60,000 households each month how many people live in the household and who is working, again distinguishing between full-time and part-time. If the job is part-time, they try to determine whether the part-time work is voluntary or whether it is for economic reasons, such as poor business conditions or because the person could only find part-time work. If a person does not have a job, they try to determine whether they have looked for a job within the past month or the past year.
The data they compile is surprisingly detailed. Want to know the unemployment rate in your city or metropolitan area? It's likely to be found in the BLS data.
The problem with conspiracy theories is that there have to be people involved. In order to manipulate data within the BLS, you would have to get a surprisingly large number of people to cooperate. The fact is that many of these people have been with the BLS for many years and started working there during many different administrations, so presumably, they have different political affiliations, making it very unlikely that everyone would have cooperated in a conspiracy to cook the books this past month. Someone would have blown the whistle. It would be a career-ending move to try to manipulate the data, not to mention that I'm sure there are many laws against such manipulation.
The BLS process is rather straightforward. The data is collected and the numbers are crunched according to a very transparent formula. And then the results are published.
The Establishment Survey is what is known as contributory. By that we mean that this data feeds into other statistics we use in the government and business. It is considered to be accurate data. But note that it is constantly being revised as new and better data comes in. The monthly numbers we see first are the result of a survey, and that survey is as accurate as they can make it. But then actual data comes in the form of contact reports from state authorities and other sources, and the numbers are adjusted. Only a few of us data wonks pay much attention to the revisions.
The Household Survey is not, to my knowledge, contributory. The only major number we really get from it is the employment rate. As we will see in a few paragraphs, this survey is quite "noisy" from one month to the next, although over a period of about a year it conforms rather well to the Establishment Survey.
The following chart, courtesy of The Big Picture, shows a rather tight correlation between the two surveys. "Separately, and almost certainly unknown to Mr. Welch, the BLS issues a technical document every month that address the trends in both surveys. That document can be found here and contains the following chart:
"Among the objectives of the monthly analysis is to produce an Adjusted Household Survey (seen above). BLS:
"This [Adjusted Household Survey] is a research series created from household survey employment to be more similar in concept and definition to payroll survey employment. Household survey employment is adjusted by subtracting agriculture and related employment, nonagricultural self employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and workers absent without pay from their jobs, and then adding nonagricultural wage and salary multiple jobholders. The effects of population control revisions also have been smoothed out in the historical data in this series.
"But you knew that, right, Jack [Welch]? The Adjusted Household Survey shows that 1.836MM jobs have been created over the past 12 months. The Payroll Survey? 1.806MM. The difference between the two over the course of a year? A paltry 30,000. While there may occasionally be wide month-to-month swings (and the Household Survey is known to be the more volatile of the two), the two series generally track fairly closely over time, which is how data should generally be observed." (The Big Picture)
In past letters, when commenting on the employment situation, I have noted that there are times when the Household Survey seriously underestimates the number of jobs, as compared to the Establishment Survey. This month the disparity is in the other direction. That is a function of the methodology of the survey. I'm sure that if BLS spent more money it could survey more households and get a more accurate picture, but I doubt it would be worth the money.
In summary, the fine people at the BLS do their best to collect the data is accurately as possible and make it available as quickly as possible. The formulas by which they interpret the data are well-known. To suggest otherwise demonstrates a lack of understanding of the process and essentially defames the people involved. If you don't like what the data says, don't shoot the messenger.
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This is not a recent problem. In 2003-04 Democrats were constantly deriding the positive statistics coming out of the BLS. Dr. Austan Goolsbee, Obama's ex-chief economic advisor, accused the government of "cooking the books" on the unemployment number in a New York Times article in late 2003 entitled "The Index of Missing Economic Indicators; The Unemployment Myth." I actually agreed (and still do) with his analysis, just not his partisan rhetoric and conclusion, but that's a story for another letter. (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/opinion/the-index-of-missing-economic-indicators-the-unemployment-myth.html – hat tip Bill King)
Now, with that out of the way, it is totally fair game to question the basis for the interpretation of the data. The way the government derives the unemployment numbers has changed significantly over the last 30 years. No surprise, then, that whatever administration is involved, the new equations for determining unemployment result in a lower unemployment rate than they would have if the 1980s methodology were still in place.
You are not counted as unemployed if you have not looked for a job for the last four weeks, by the current BLS methodology. That policy is very clear, and to my knowledge the policy was the same during the Bush administration.
I find that methodology rather bizarre. There are many people who have not looked for a job in the last four weeks; but if you asked, I bet just about every one of them would consider themselves unemployed. They would take a job if they could find one. That, to me, should be the definition of unemployed. And if you use the raw data, you can come up with that number on your own. Or you can create whatever definition of unemployment you want.
(There are literally hundreds of BLS data series. Want to know how Vietnam vets are doing? Hispanic women under 25? Married Asian males over 55? Unemployment just in your state or city? It's there somewhere if you care to look. I am constantly amazed at the granularity of the data.)
John Williams of ShadowStats calculates his own unemployment and CPI numbers based on the older methodology (from the early '80s); and, no surprise, it shows unemployment to be much higher than the government says. The Gallup organization would like us to measure the payroll-to-population ratio. If you're not disabled and you're receiving unemployment or welfare benefits I think you should be counted as unemployed.
Now we can come to the question of how we can have a drop in unemployment that is consistent with a very slowly growing economy. Bill King noted that employment taxes actually fell in September, then asked, how can 873,000 jobs have been generated, according to the Household Survey?
Median Real Disposable Income is up only 0.2% annually over the past few years, against the postwar average of 2.9%. The increase in average hourly earnings hasn't kept pace with the rate of inflation, which means that workers are losing ground. Dr. Lacy Hunt estimates that about 1.5% of GDP growth in the first quarter was from manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs have been flat for the last two quarters.
For the last three years, while we were averaging between 120,000-160,000 new jobs a month that paid between $20,000-40,000, we were losing anywhere from 20,000-60,000 jobs a month that paid more than $70,000. A detailed study of job status earlier this year by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University found that more than 53% of college graduates under 25 were underemployed last year – working in jobs unequal to their college or postgraduate attainment.
All of this is to say there is a reason why we don't feel that unemployment dropped by 6% last month: we're not seeing a brighter jobs outlook reflected in our paychecks.
The Eat, Drink, and Get Sick Sector
The Establishment Survey found only 114,000 new jobs. (Philippa Dunne of the Liscio Report noted wryly, "Our old friend the eat, drink, and get sick sector (bars and restaurants plus health care) accounted for 52% of total job gains." There were significant revisions to the prior two months, but almost all of those jobs were in government (education-related) jobs. This bump in government jobs is part of a pattern and not a conspiracy of politicians to make things look better.
As noted above, the unemployment rate is taken from the volatile Household Survey. This month it shows 873,000 jobs created. 582,000 of those jobs were part-time for economic reasons. That means people wanted more work but could only get part-time jobs. 7.25% of all part-time jobs were created just last month!
The BLS also gives us something called the U-6 unemployment rate, which is the total unemployed plus all marginally attached workers employed part-time for economic reasons. Right now the U6 unemployment rate is 14.7%, which is exactly where it was one month ago. The chart below is for the last year, and you can easily see that there's been no change in the last month.
That means the entire drop in the headline unemployment rate is from the increase in part-time workers. That such significant numbers of people can only find part-time work is not a sign of a strong and growing economy. It is however completely consistent with a flat, lackluster economy.
If the next 0.3% drop in the unemployment rate is again due to a gain in the number of part-time workers, I don't think anybody will be talking about how strong the US economy is.
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And it makes sense, at least to me, that the number of part-timers rises in September. There is something in the American experience that says September is the time to go back to work. It comes from our public school system, which traditionally had the school year beginning in September. You can see this phenomenon when you look at the non-seasonally adjusted numbers for part-time workers. They show a big drop-off in summer and a correspondingly big increase in the fall. Look at how volatile the annual numbers have been for the last 10 years. And we can show the same thing for the last 60 years. (This is one of the reasons why we look at seasonally adjusted numbers rather than the volatile raw data.)
People graduating from college, for instance, might spend the summer looking for a job, but when September rolls around they take what they can get, even if it is a part-time job.
The Really Important Employment Numbers
Look at the next few charts. What they show is the devastation from the last recession. There is a reason that people call it the Great Recession.
"We've now regained close to half – 48% – of the jobs lost between December 2007 and February 2010 (the low in employment, eight months after the recession's formal end). It's still going to take about 40 months at current rates of job growth to regain all the losses, but it's worth acknowledging the progress that's been made. (The Liscio Report)
Note that we regain all the losses only if there is not a recession in the next 40 months. If there is a recession, recovery will take even longer as we once again lose more jobs. Now, we're back only to roughly where we were at the beginning of 2009, when Obama took office.
The labor-force participation rate is now below where it was in 1980. This statistic has been in decline for 12 years, and precipitously so since the beginning of 2008.
Even more distressing is the civilian employment-to-population ratio. While it might only take us another four years or more to get back to the number of jobs that we had in 2007, the population is growing each and every year; so it is going to take us even longer to get anywhere close to the '07 employment-to-population ratio. Five years? Seven years? Ten years?
The unemployment rate is a function of the number of people looking for work and/or participating in the labor force. The drop of 2.5% in the participation rate masks the severity of the unemployment rate. Do we really think that, since 2007, 2.5% of the population has decided they don't want a job?
We are employing almost 5% fewer people as a percentage of our population than we were at the beginning of 2008. That means our real unemployment-to-population level is well over 12%. So we're not even close to where we were in 1999, during the last year of the Clinton administration.
And that doesn't take into account the 50% of college graduates who are underemployed.
A significant part of the problem is simply the fact that we are trying to recover from a deleveraging recession. The data suggests that such recoveries may take 10 years. For Japan it is more than 20 years, and counting.
The solution, of course, is to once again grow the economy over 3% per year for a decade, as we did for the 60 years following the Great Depression and for almost the last two centuries, up till the beginning of the new millennium. This is something we have not done for 12 years, averaging much less than 2%. Analysts are now estimating that corporate earnings were down for the last quarter. Yet it is the private sector that we need to both create jobs and to generate additional income that will enable us to afford the level of government that we want.
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Increasing oil and gas production will help, of course, especially if we can turn natural gas into chemicals made in the US for export. But we will need whole new industries, just as computers created such growth in the '80s and '90s. And of course we must rein in the size of government and our deficit. But those are topics we'll return to in another letter (and book!).
Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, and South America
I fly some 60-80 times a year. I have to say I was rather surprised to hear Al Gore suggest that it was perhaps the altitude of Denver that was responsible for Obama's off night. I can remember landing in Denver and speaking two hours later and being just fine. Then again, I have flown into cities at sea level and been flat as a pancake. I don't think it happens often, and I'm not sure of the reasons, but sometimes I am just not as sharp as usual on the podium. It happens to the best of speakers. Obama still has two debates to go. I know style counts, but I would like to think that most Americans were listening to the discussion of the issues. We're not voting for class president. The decisions that the next president makes will affect us profoundly.
I leave Wednesday morning to go to Portland to speak for Common Sense Investments, and they have invited me to stay the next day and go pheasant hunting. I will get to be with my good friend and hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, whose insights I greatly admire. The next week I will be in Chicago, once again speaking for Common Sense Investments, and then move on to Atlanta to speak at Hedge Funds Care. Then it's home for a week before I ship off to South America at the end of the month (Sao Paulo, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires).
To help do our part in creating job growth, Mauldin Economics is looking for a high-quality marketing copywriter to assist us with writing assignments related to our letters. Rather than send a resumé, I'd like to encourage experienced candidates to submit a short sample (250-500 words max) of their writing, along with their contact information. The team will review your work and, if we are interested, we'll contact you. Candidates should have an understanding of finance, economics, and direct marketing, and ample respect for my readers. In other words, fraudsters and hypers need not apply. You can contact us at email@example.com.
This coming weekend I really do want to get down to Houston for my 40th Rice University class reunion. It also coincides with Rice's centennial year, so there will be lots of interesting things going on, as well as many old friends to reconnect with. I turned 63 last week, and as I was graduating from Rice, that age sounded rather ancient. Now I feel like I am just hitting my stride, albeit with a few more aches and pains in the joints than 40 years ago.
It really is time to hit the send button. I had to go to Houston yesterday (Sunday), so I got started rather late on my first day of writing this letter on what was supposed to be Sunday afternoon. Oh well, the best laid plans and all that. Have a great week, and thanks for your comments and suggestions. I do read them.
Your looking forward to the next 40 analyst,
John Mauldin
P.S. If you like my letters, you'll love reading Over My Shoulder with serious economic analysis from my global network, at a surprisingly affordable price. Click here to learn more.
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text:
Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Edition
When a program does not know how to continue, and no active handler is able to
advise it, the ``interactive condition handler,'' or ``debugger,'' can be
entered. This happens implicitly through the use of functions such as error
and cerror, or explicitly through the use of the function invoke-debugger.
The interactive condition handler never returns directly; it returns only through structured non-local transfer of control to specially defined restart points that can be set up either by the system or by user code. The mechanisms that support the establishment of such structured restart points for portable code are outlined in sections 29.3.5 through 29.3.10.
Actually, implementations may also provide extended debugging facilities that
allow return from arbitrary stack frames. Although such commands are frequently
useful in practice, their effects are implementation-dependent because they
violate the Common Lisp program abstraction. The effect of using such
commands is undefined with respect to Common Lisp.


text: "Robert G. Brown" <rgb at phy.duke.edu> writes: > On Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Carsten Aulbert wrote: >> Which corresponds exactly to the maximum achievable mounts of 358 right >> now. Besides, I'm far from being an expert on TCP/IP, but is it possible >> for a local process to bind to a port which is already in use but to >> another host? I don't think so, but may be wrong. > > AFAIK, no they don't. The way TCP daemons that listen on a > well-known/privileged port work is that they accept a connection on that > port, then fork a connection on a higher unprivileged (>1023) port on > both ends so that the daemon can listen once again. Try netstat on a heavily loaded SMTP box. You'll see all these connections from some random foreign port to port 25 locally -- lots of connections to port 25 at the same time. You don't switch to a different port number after the connection comes in, you stay on it. You can in theory talk to up to (nearly) 2^48 different foreign host/port combos off of local port 25, because every remote host/remote port pair makes for a different 4-tuple. > Many daemons have a limit that can be set on the number of > simultaneous connections they can manage. That's a resource issue, not a TCP architecture issue per se. You might not have enough memory, CPU, etc. to handle more than a certain number of connections. By the way, you can now design daemons to handle tens of thousands of simultaneous connections with clean event driven design on a modern multiprocessor with plenty of memory. This is way off topic, though. > However, this is for TCP ports that maintain a persistent connection. > UDP ports are "connectionless" and hence somewhat different. I'm assuming they're doing NFS over TCP. If they're using UDP, things are somewhat different because of the existence of "connectionless" UDP. However, they *should* use TCP for performance. (I know people used to claim the opposite, but it turns out you really want TCP so you get proper congestion control.) Perry -- Perry E. Metzger perry at piermont.com


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text:
MzTEK V&A Workshops: Sound Oddities
Be inspired by the David Bowie exhibition, and design your own wearable electronic noise instrument.
Learn to build a simple synthesiser by soldering components onto a specially designed Printed Circuit Board, that can be embedded into a garment using conductive thread and soft circuit techniques. The tone of the instrument is manipulated using home-made stretch and pressure sensors.
This project was designed by MzTEK as part of the Hacked Human Orchestra, a production in collaboration with Guerilla Science.
The V&A Digital Studio, Sackler Centre
Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Saturday 23 March, 10.30 – 17.00
Sign up here


text:
/ Source: The Associated Press
The Washington State Patrol says former "American Idol" star Sanjaya Malakar was caught speeding 110 mph on Interstate 405 outside of Seattle at Kirkland.
He was stopped about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday and given a $411 ticket.
Trooper Dan MacDonald told The Seattle Times there was no one else on the freeway at the time so Malakar does not face a reckless endangerment charge.
The 20-year-old singer from Federal Way gained fame four years ago on the "American Idol" talent show.


text:
Student from Satanta earns College of Business Administration's Outstanding Senior Award
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013
MANHATTAN -- When it comes to dedication and involvement at the Kansas State University College of Business Administration, Kendal Clawson is at the head of his class.
Clawson, a December 2013 bachelor's graduate in finance and agricultural economics, is the recipient of the college's fall 2013 Outstanding Senior Award. Clawson, Satanta, was recognized at the college's commencement ceremony Dec. 14 on the Manhattan campus.
The award is based on service contributions students have made to the college as an undergraduate, including involvement in the college, engagement in the university community and personal academic success. A committee from the college dean's Student Advisory Council selects the recipient.
"Kendal has a been a great student of extremely high character who has made significant contributions to the college's key initiatives," said Scott Hendrix, finance instructor, Gates Capital Management faculty fellow, Edgerley outstanding instructor fellow and adviser to the Kansas State University Student Finance Association.
"He's been a great representative of the college in his many dealings with finance professionals, employers and alumni on campus and during many college trips in the United States and abroad," Hendrix said. "Whenever the college or a fellow student has had a need, Kendal has always stepped in to help in a selfless way and I'm thrilled to that he is being recognized."
Clawson has been actively involved in the college, serving as the information technology chair for the Student Finance Association, student senator for the College of Agriculture, president of the Financial Management Association and the first college fellow for the university's Center for Risk Management.
He has represented the university in sales and marketing competitions across the country, and was a member of the team that made it to regionals at the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Research Challenge in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
"The CFA Research Challenge was one of my most memorable experiences at K-State," Clawson said. "I was able to work with three other individuals, all smart. Being surrounded by them helped me focus more on finance, pick up on details that I was missing and applying what we learn in the class. Application makes everything more fun and enjoyable."
During his time at the university, Clawson has participated in several study abroad programs, including faculty-led trips to London, Paris, Munich and Dublin. He completed internships with Koch Industries Inc. in Wichita and at Western Bank in Garden City.
Clawson recently took the level 1 Charter Financial Analyst test and is considering applying to Master of Business Administration programs at a later time.
The son of Kenby and Lana Clawson, Satanta, Clawson will join Koch Pipeline as a market analyst.


text:
TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) – Apple Inc's new iPhone went on sale in stores across the globe on Friday, prompting thousands to queue around city blocks to snap up the final gadget unveiled during Steve Jobs' life.
Shares of Apple rose 2 percent in early trading after queues wound down the streets of Sydney, Tokyo, London, Paris and Munich to get their hands on the iPhone 4S, despite criticism about the lack of a design revolution and reports of software glitches.
"I am a fan, a big fan. I want something to remember Steve Jobs by," said Haruko Shiraishi, waiting patiently with her Yorkshire terrier Miu Miu at the end of an eight-block queue in Tokyo's smart Ginza shopping district.
In new York, some consumers got up early to buy the phone. While the line outside Apple's flagship Manhattan store no longer extended around the block after a half-hour of sales, more people joined it as the morning progressed.
The new model looks similar to the previous iPhone 4, but has an upgraded camera, faster processor, enhanced security and voice-activated software, which lets users ask the phone questions. The voice software drew glowing reviews.
"I had been thinking of this phone for a long time," said Chad Bullar, 23, a new York University student who is buying the phone for its new messaging service and the voice software. "I was going to wait for the iPhone 5, but that seems like a year away, so I got this one."
The phone — unveiled just a day before Jobs died — was initially dubbed a disappointment because it looks the same as the last iPhone. But anticipation of the "Siri" voice software helped it set a record with initial online orders on October 7.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device sold without their visionary leader at the helm will protect the company against a growing challenge from the likes of archrival Samsung Electronics.
The South Korean company, which powers its phones with Google's Android software, expects to overtake Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of unit sales for the third quarter.
"(Jobs) made everything better and the products he released were thought through in such detail," Duncan Hoare in London said, after a loud roar greeted the opening of the store. "It was about the beauty of something and the simplicity."
Apple does not release sales on launch day, so gauging initial figures is difficult. however, it took more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after its release, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, which was sold in fewer countries initially.
"Despite the initial disappointment that this wasn't an iPhone 5, the reality is we're still seeing the usual frenzy that we've got used to on launch day," analyst Ben Wood at CCS Insight told Reuters. Analysts expect global sales of a few million phones on the first weekend, he added.
Unlike many in Tokyo, shoppers in European cities told Reuters they wanted the phone because it was a "lifestyle choice" and not necessarily a tribute to Jobs.
"I need a new one since my dog destroyed my old 3GS," said Gaby Wunder-Sambale, 45, shivering in Frankfurt.
Despite the enthusiasm at Apple stores, the launch was marred somewhat by widespread complaints this week on the Internet about problems downloading iOS 5, the latest version of Apple's mobile software.
There were also problems with iCloud, Apple's online communications, media storage and backup service formally launched on Wednesday, with users reporting glitches such as losing their email access.
Queues in Paris were smaller than those normally seen for a brand-new iPhone, with some fans there wondering if the somewhat underwhelming introduction had put people off, but in London and elsewhere the lines were as long as ever.
On Regent Street in central London, the queue wound down a side street and into a park, where Starbucks had a mobile stand to serve coffee. Of the 40 people to whom Reuters spoke in London, 13 were switching from other phones.
"This is rubbish," one buyer at a north London store said, holding his Blackberry after owner Research in Motion struggled for days to fix an international outage of its email and messaging services.
JOBS SHADOW OVER iPHONE LAUNCH
The vast majority of the iPhone 4S buyers who Reuters interviewed in Sydney, France and Frankfurt were existing Apple customers, many having bought the original iPhone and subsequent upgrades.
"Since Jobs died, I wanted to make sure I had a new iPhone with some advantages over the old," said iPhone devotee Mark Du, who expressed concern about future gadgets without Jobs in charge.
Apple fans in Sydney, Tokyo, Frankfurt and London made sure Jobs was part of the iPhone 4S launch, with flower, candle and photo shrines to the late Apple boss erected outside stores. A black-and-white picture of Jobs in Covent Garden carried the line, "Let's make a dent in the universe."
Underscoring the enthusiasm for the new phone, Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp had to temporarily stop contract applications after its computer system was overwhelmed with more requests than it had expected.
Some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments to reach 30 million or more, almost twice as many as a year ago.
Apple's fifth-generation iPhone uses chips from Qualcomm Inc, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked the device open on Thursday.
The iPhone — seen as the gold standard for smartphones — is Apple's highest-margin product and accounts for 40 percent of its annual revenue.
Analysts point to several factors in Apple's favor: a $199 price that matches up well with rival devices; availability promised on more than 100 carriers by the end of 2011, far more than its predecessors; and glowing reviews.
Apple shares were up 2 percent at $415.56 in early trading.
(Additional reporting by Michael Perry in SYDNEY, Edwin Chan in LOS ANGELES, Isabel Reynolds in TOKYO, Marie Mawad in PARIS, Jens Hack in MUNICH, Christoph Steitz in FRANKFURT and Giles Elgood, Matt Cowan and Kate Holton in LONDON, Liana B. Baker in NEW YORK; Editing by Mark Bendeich, Alex Richardson, Sophie Walker)


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In response to President Obama's proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement yesterday: The annual release of the President's budget provides an opportunity to consider how our nation's values are reflected in its spending. The budget is a moral document, making a clear statement of our priorities for the coming year and beyond. In crafting his budget, President Obama has made many difficult choices, acknowledging the trying times our nation, and the world, face. Not surprisingly, we are pleased by some of the choices and disappointed by others. Above all, during this economic turmoil, our national commitment to guarding the most vulnerable in our society cannot be abandoned. We applaud proposed extensions to unemployment insurance benefits and the payroll tax cut as critical to helping unemployed and working Americans alike. We are further pleased to see that the President restored cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that were part of the 2010 child nutrition bill and were scheduled to occur in the coming fiscal year. We also welcome the strong funding of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.
So too do we welcome President Obama's commitment to ending the tax cuts enacted under President Bush for the wealthiest Americans. As we stated in a resolution adopted at our URJ Biennial in December, it is vital that tax policy distributes the tax burden equitably in accordance with individuals' and corporations' ability to pay and provides a just and fair method of producing the revenues necessary for the well-being of our country. At the same time, we note the President's proposed decrease in the amount individuals earning more than $250,000 would be able to deduct in charitable contributions, from 35% to 28%. Charitable nonprofits do vital work, particularly assisting those who are in need of aid beyond what other support systems, including the government, can provide, and they rely on donations to continue their good works. We applaud as well President Obama's commitment to the health and well-being of women across America. Continued funding for programs to prosecute violence against women and help victims of such violence are important investments. A renewed commitment to evidenced-based teen pregnancy prevention is also welcome, as it empowers the next generation to make the best choices for their bodies and themselves. The budget funds anti-bullying initiatives in schools and increases funding to combat hate crimes generally. It includes increases in funding to assist Americans living with HIV/AIDS through initiatives such as the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program and HIV/AIDS research and prevention efforts. Our Jewish tradition requires us to use all our knowledge and abilities to partner with God in healing and tending to the sick, and we are pleased to see a budgetary commitment to help care for all members of our national community. The proposed budget for FY 2013 includes provisions that will do much to continue our commitment to take care of the earth l'dor v'dor, as it is passed on from one generation to the next. Increases in funding for pipeline safety and investments in green energy and infrastructure, and cutting tax breaks for fossil fuel producers all will help to forge a greener and healthier planet. We applaud the Administration's efforts to support initiatives that will spur growth in the present, while guarding the well-being of the earth into the future. We also note with gratitude the continuation of a strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel, reflected in the ongoing financial and military aid agreement in place since 2007. These funds are a testament to the longstanding and fruitful relationship between the two nations and the United States' commitment to its democratic partner in the Middle East. The funding is also an investment in the U.S. economy, thanks to the more than 75% of American aid to Israel that eventually returns to our shores to be spent on domestic goods and services. At the same time, we are concerned by several areas in which the budget falls short. An increase in funding for E-Verify rewards a program that has no place in our national tradition of welcoming immigrants seeking the opportunity to contribute their talents and skills while bettering their lives. We are also disappointed to see cuts in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, especially as some in Congress are seeking to undermine the agency. And the 21% cut in the Department of Housing and Urban Development budget is more troublesome still, as HUD provides vital services to many of the most vulnerable in our society including the elderly, disabled, and those living in poverty. Moving forward, we commit ourselves to making sure that the final budget reflects the highest values of compassion and caring for those most in need while also ensuring that our nation remains fiscally sound and secure. Image couresty of CNN


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UC Alumni Cleveland Network
Welcome! Are you a UC alumnus living in the Cleveland area? Stay up-to-date on all of the wonderful developments happening at your alma mater and with your fellow Cleveland-based Bearcats. There are more than 13,000 alumni living in the Cleveland area and we all share one thing in common – we'll always be Bearcats.
Get Involved
There are many ways to get involved with the UC Alumni Association via the Cleveland Network. Here are a few things you can do to get started:
- Join fellow Bearcats at one of our local events
- Follow UCAA on Facebook and share news from our alma mater
- Help recruit students from your area to attend UC
- Join the Loyal Bearcat Society
- Network Leader: Carmen Pescatrice


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After a day's of work at my MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.6.5, Activity Monitor shows that the majority of my computer's 8 GB of memory is "Inactive", and only a tiny sliver of the pie chart is "Free". This is even when I have closed all applications, with only the Finder running.
What does that mean? Is the "Inactive" memory taken up by something? Or is it actually still available for applications to use? Thanks.


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Yesterday I shared with you my wicker chair makeover.
The makeover wouldn't be complete without a new box cushion cover for the seat.
Years ago when I first bought the chair, I had a cushion cover made for it with fabric that coordinated with our bedroom at the time (it was twenty years ago).
I decided to make my own cushion cover without piping.
I used the same foam since it was in perfect shape and fabric I had left over from another project.
Using the old cushion cover as a pattern, I traced around the fabric and cut out two (one for the front and one for the back). I could have also just traced around my foam if I didn't have an old cover.
Using a new rotary cutting tool I bought a while back, I cut out my fabric. I've never used one before - it make for very easy and perfect cuts. I also cut out a 4" wide strip of fabric for the sides the length of the perimeter of my foam.
I then pinned the strip of fabric (the side fabric) right side to right side all along the front panel of my seat cushion fabric.
Then I sewed it all around.
Then I pinned the other panel of the fabric to the side fabric all around, right side to right side, leaving the back open enough for me to be able to turn the cover right side out and stuff in the foam.
I could have sewn in a zipper, but knowing me, the odds are that I will get sick of the fabric long before I have to take the fabric off to wash it. So instead I just hand-sewed the final edges together. It is on the bottom of the cushion anyhow and not visible at all.
In less than an hour the box cushion cover was complete.
It's that easy. If you can sew a straight line, you can make one of these.
I hope you will give it a try - let me know if you do.
Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Fall into Fall party.
The link opens at 8pm EST.
Hope to see you then.
Sharing with Savvy Southern Style


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A Semiahmoo Peninsula man whose elderly father is recovering after a bout with COVID-19 is concerned for other isolated seniors battling the virus at home, after learning how Fraser Health is supporting some of those patients.
Jeff Garrad told Peace Arch News earlier this month that in late February, his 87-year-old father went to Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock after not feeling well for a few days. During a follow-up phone call a few days later, the senior – now back at home, where he lives alone – learned he had tested positive for COVID-19.
And while his dad is now "fortunately on the mend," Garrad told PAN he was surprised at the lack of follow-up calls from medical professionals that his father – who also suffers from a condition called dysphagia, in which swallowed food can end up in a person's lungs – received.
He noted a colleague, who is in his 60s, received daily calls from a nurse while battling the virus last year.
Fraser Health officials told PAN that the health authority changed some of its procedures over time, as more was learned about the virus and its impacts. However, "assistance remains available to everyone," a spokesperson said.
• READ ALSO: COVID vaccines for seniors in B.C. – here's how to sign up
Garrad said early in his father's 14-day quarantine period, they received calls from contact tracers, but noted that "any medical information provided was basically in the form of a (PDF)." The documents, he noted, "contained mostly information already known from watching the news."
"I was advised to watch for symptoms for my father. Trick is, most of the symptoms described are things 87-year-olds experience every day," Garrad said.
"So I was left without medical monitoring to assess my dad's symptoms and severity of his condition, while having a virus that seems to specialize in killing people exactly like him – old with pre-existing conditions.
"There were no calls from any medically qualified people from Fraser Health to monitor my Dad's condition – that apparently was up to me. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I hadn't even been there. I wonder how many other 87 year-olds with COVID have been left to self-monitor a pandemic disease that may very well kill them?"
Garrad said when he recently asked a contact-tracing supervisor why more medical follow-ups were not being done, he was told that "we no longer make those calls to COVID patients."
"Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have learned a lot about the virus, including how it impacts patients and how patients need to be supported. This knowledge has helped us refine our support for patients and the services we provide," Fraser Health's Aletta Vanderheyden told PAN by email.
"Over the past year, we have learned that not all people with COVID-19 need daily phone calls as many are able to follow instructions provided by the contact tracing team and can seek medical support if needed.
"Currently, we support up to 500 calls daily from people who are at home with COVID-19," she added.
Garrad noted that his dad was lucky to have someone stay with him and care for him, but reiterated that not all seniors or vulnerable people have the same luxury.
"This whole series of events had me thinking about others in Dad's situation who were not so lucky, and makes me wonder how many of them have been included in the very high case count and COVID death numbers in Fraser Health," he said.
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Problems? Is your data what you think it is? | |
PerlMonks |
73 chars, called on a foul (Re: LFSR golf)by tye (Sage) |
on May 08, 2001 at 18:32 UTC ( [id://78832] : note . print w/replies, xml ) | Need Help?? |
I don't mind the departure in how you call the generating function but I'm going to disqualify this one for having the closure return "50101" instead of 0 and "51100" instead of 1. If you were shifting the other direction, then a simple &1 at the end of the closure would solve the problem and give you a 73-character solution (not counting the "sub l{" and "}", as usual). I'm sure this general approach can be modified such that I'd accept it but I'll leave that to you or whoever beats you to it. (: - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")
In Section


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I own a 2008 Euro Civic Type-R which has almost the same engine as the US Civic Si (K20Z3 vs K20Z4).
Since a bit of time I have a really annoying high pitched noise coming from the engine. It's constantly present, completely tied to revs, and persists when clutch is disengaged (so it's not coming from the gearbox). It sounds a bit like an electric motor from a radio-controlled toy car.
About six months ago (maybe a year) the sound could not be heard inside the cabin when cruising unless windows were open, but started being heard when opening the windows, especially in an underground parking lot. I brought it to the dealer who said it was normal engine noise, and that "fixing" it would require a new engine (quotes meaning that it was, to him, not requiring being fixed).
The sound is stronger now as I can hear it in the cabin when cruising with windows closed, to the point of being distractive, if not painful on long journeys, so I don't really buy it that this is normal.
THe car is completely stock. I'm running on 0w40 oil, am regularly pushing the car but have always respected warm up time, and since I bought the car new, did (to the best of my knowledge) proper break-in. FWIW the K20 engine has a chain transmission and an accessory belt.
Here is a video recording where I rev at a standstill, with clutch disengaged (watch in 720p HD for clearer sound).


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(visited by Bruce Wilson)
22-Oct-2000 -- A continuation of my Quest: to visit all confluences around my home in Brookings South Dakota. This is my third visit. Unfortunately, I chose a rather overcast day for my visit.
The confluence is (surprise surprize) in a field. This was one of the tidiest fields I've seen, having been harversted, gleaned, disked and plowed. Nice pretty dirt, with some soybean plant detritus on the surface. Actually, the field was rather smallish for this part of the midwest, where most fields are about a square mile. This one was interrupted by a chruch on the hilltop. Soybeans were grown here most recently, alternating with corn.
This field is quite a contrast to the other fields I've visited. One was freshly harvested (44N 96W) and one was grown using a no-plow method (45N 97W). It has the advantage, I'm told, of composting the cornstalks more rapidly and holding the nutients in the soil better. It has the disadvantage of having more dry soil blow away in a good wind, common in these parts.


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Pagan Paths
Cat Treadwell — professional Druid and nature-mystic - gives us a perspective from the English countryside.
Titles, Labels and Names
This week, I was acting as Public Druid at two (fortunately) well-attended events. The first was a talk I was giving on Paganism at a local University, as part of their Equality & Diversity initiative; the second, the launch of my first book.
Two very different situations, but in both, I was clearly The Pagan in The Room. Even though I was dressed relatively normally at both (jeans and neutral blouse), people were aware of me and my role, and viewed me accordingly.
Now, I'm not just trying to give myself airs, as my ancestors might have said. I try my damnedest not to be one of those egotistical 'Big Nose Pagans' that everyone knows about; I'm just me, doing my thing, and trying to represent Druidry and Paganism as well as I can, as a real person, not a stereotype.
Officiating at a Handfasting (photograph © J. Baxter)
But clearly there's a way to go yet. One of the questions at the talk was about how I refer to myself: 'Druid/Druidess, Priest/Priestess, or something else'. The enquirer genuinely wanted to know out of interest but also because he was concerned about potentially causing offense by using the wrong terminology.
At the book launch, jokes were made about my being 'High Priestess', and a 'big, famous Author'. At least, I hope they were jokes.
To me, words have power. By which I don't mean that if you know something's true name, you have power over it (that just means you can yell at it with a reasonable chance of a reply). Look at the labels above. The simpleness of adding 'ess' to a title immediately changes that word, making it female in connotation - thus making the original male, and thus 'default'.
I know full well that adding 'High' to Priest or Priestess is incredibly loaded within the Pagan community. To everyday Muggle folk, it's a honorific; to others, it may mean that I'm a teacher, community leader, organiser of a coven or group, bestower of initiations... any number of things.
My favourite introduction was a colleague at the Healing Centre where I work, asked to describe me. She pondered for a moment, before saying: "Well, Cat's just... Cat."
Private Connection - from book jacket (photograph ©Peacock Pix)
I know that we need labels as useful tools to quickly categorise things. I know that we do understand them more deeply than as just a name. But it's difficult to communicate the truth of a thing so simply. A label is the start of an understanding, not a total description.
And yet, in the Pagan community, we set such store by those titles. I've spoken before of it, being aware of the minefield that I'm about to step into with this discussion, but it genuinely confuses and frustrates me.
If you're worked hard for your title, then I'm very glad - but I would learn that not simply from the title alone, but by your actions.
If you bought the title on the Internet, exactly the same applies. This is true of anything worked for (or not) - quite often, those who feel the need to wave their honorifics around are often least qualified to do so.
At the end of the day, I'm just me. I live my faith as best I can, walking my path, and trying to inspire by example. Every person's path is their own; nobody can be in exactly the same situation, with exactly the same background experiences. But my experiences don't entitle me to claim authority over those of others; mine are not somehow 'more valid' because I'm out there in public.
I love to hear the stories of those who chat to me, be they active students, family members at their first Handfasting, or those seeking help. I think that would be true just because I love to hear stories - that's part of my make-up.
It took me a long time to take the decision to call myself 'Priest' (in the same sense that female Actors call themselves Actor, not Actress) - but that was because that word carries huge weight in my head. I wanted to ensure that I was worthy of the title, more than the gender issues. And to be honest, I'm really not bothered what people call me. As I told the questioner at the University, as long as it's not rude, I'm generally fine.
I prefer people to ask, to learn, rather than to take a title, label or name and place assumptions onto that. These are based on associations rather than real experiences, and so are basically groundless, fiction. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been asked about Druidry being male-oriented, why I don't wear white robes (grass stains), or my partner being assumed to be in charge (I refer to him as my 'stunt beard', as Druids seem to require one).
It's my challenge to remember to hold on to myself while working in public. To not buy into any vague notion of 'celebrity', but to keep my integrity to myself, my gods and my ancestors. I know that if I don't, I'll be tripped up soon enough - but deterrent alone is not the reason.
If I'm representing Druids and Pagans in the wider world, I'm doing my best to do right by them. There's a multitude of beliefs out there; there's no way that I can strike exactly the right chord with them all. But by walking my path honestly, living my truth and trying to learn as I go (as well as teach), I hope to inspire that same curiousity and integrity in others - and create interest rather than fear.
So when you next step out as a Pagan, Druid, Witch or whatever... why are you taking on that label? Do you represent it well? And does it best represent you?
Me and Partner walking the dog, while photographer hides in a bush to catch us 'naturally' (photograph ©Peacock Pix)
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text: O the Indignity - Gordon is horrified when Sir Topham Hatt announces that he is to take charge of Whiff's Waste Dump for the day. Gordon arrives at the Waste Dump and decides that the only thing for him to do is to hide when other engines arrive at the dump. Gordon just cannot be seen at such a smelly place! As the day progresses, Gordon hides from Spencer, Diesel and Thomas. As Gordon hides from each engine, the waste trucks get higher and higher and Whiff's Waste Dump becomes smellier and smellier. Sir Topham Hatt arrives with Whiff to a state of chaos. What Gordon didn't know is that the Island Inspector is arriving to view the Waste Dump. Gordon realizes he has been a silly engine! He gets straight to work to clean up the mess, and with Whiff's help, everything is clean and tidy for the Inspector's visit. Pop Goes Thomas - Thomas has to take crates of lemonade to the children's picnic. He goes over bumpy track and a cork pops. Thomas doesn't know what the sound is, only that he likes it. To make it happen again, he goes over more and more bumpy track. All the corks pop, wreaking havoc! Mr. Bubbles the Clown is delayed, the picnic cakes are spoiled, and James has a bump. When Thomas realizes what he has done, he goes back for more lemonade, stopping on the way to pick up more cakes and Mr. Bubbles. He arrives back at the picnic just in time to the cheers of the children.


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TalkReason provides a forum for the publication of papers with well-thought out arguments against creationism, intelligent design, and religious apologetics.
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Letters Index
A simple god
Aug 24, 2004
Mariana Fuzaro said:
"Try to imagine god as being a simple, uncomplete CONSCIENCE and INTELLIGENCE that exists by chance."
I cannot think of intelligence as "simple". I suspect that Dr Dembski would not either. His argument for Intelligent Design relies on showing that ID cannot arise by chance, but that it requires intelligence. If intelligence is simple and can arise by chance then Dembski's argument is destroyed; chance causes design indirectly through a chance arising of intelligence. For Dr Dembski, intelligence is too complex to have arisen by chance.
I deal with the case of a simple God in section 2.1 of the article. Dembski's Filter assigns a simple God to chance. As I say in the article, I do not think that any Christian would agree that their God arose by pure chance, so I reject the possibility of a simple God.
Mariana further said:
"But this simple being is omnipotent and can increase its attributes, getting complex and creating complex things."
As I understand it the standard description of the Christian God includes "unchanging", "eternal", "rock of ages". I am not sure that a changing God would be allowed within Christianity. Certainly a changing God cannot be eternal, since whatever changes cannot be eternal.
As to something that can "increase its attributes, getting complex and creating complex things"; that is a good description of the evolution of human intelligence and our own creation of complex things. I agree with the description, I just do not think that it applies to the Christian God as usually defined.
My object in writing the piece was to poke a little fun at Dr Dembski's proposed Explanatory Filter, it was not intended as a discussion on the nature of God. I am Buddhist so I am generally indifferent to the nature and properties of Gods.
rossum (Martin Ross)
Related Articles:
God and the Explanatory Filter


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Today, it's Libya. Now, let's see. Are we there to unearth Moammar Gadhafi's Weapons of Mass Destruction? Or is it to bring liberation and democracy to the Libyan population? Oh, no, this time, it's to keep Gadhafi from "killing his own people." The missions just keep changing, don't they? Well, that's the way it is when you have the responsibility to police and supervise the entire world.
When you're in the driver's seat, it matters not how much the lies pile on top of one another. All that is necessary for such lies to succeed, writes Paul Craig Roberts, "is for the government to have its story ready and to have a compliant media. Once the official story is in place, thought and investigation is precluded." As is now conventional, the capper at the top of the lies is the one that claims that even the most contemptible actions are performed "for the sake of national security," that is, in defense of our homeland. Who could have a problem with that?
Paul Gottfried, in describing the ease with which the supposedly leftist Barack Obama incorporated all those conservative patriotic rhetorical themes into his January State of the Union address, shows how the phony "vision" thing is accomplished, whether by Republican "patriots" or by cynical neocons, or by even more cynical liberals.
All one has to do is follow Obama's lead as he gushes over how good we Americans are, and how the unfortunates who happen to live outside the U.S. simply "dream" of enjoying a democracy such as ours. We see that Obama quickly learned the tricks of the trade, and this is how the trade works: Talk ceaselessly about American "exceptionalism," the neocons' clever bit of hyperbole designed to convince the slow-witted public that America was conceived as a "propositional" nation, not one founded on a specific ethnic or cultural identity.
Once the "propositional" thing has been established, it matters not if you're a left-wing progressive or a Republican Evangelical Tea Party patriot. This is why Obama can successfully co-opt right wing rhetoric in such a bald-faced manner. Gottfried writes, "Once we've defined our country as some kind of propositional thing, then the leader is free to identify what the country is and how to force its citizens to comply with that proposition." Whatever the "proposition" of the day might be. Egalitarianism, inclusiveness, diversity. George W. Bush managed this trick very well.
Gottfried contends that once you enunciate this propositional idea, "then you can fit your own program into it, e.g., launching wars to spread democracy or throwing tax money at one's favorite donors such as teachers' unions." Instead of challenging the Republicans' hubristic notions of "exceptionalism," Obama learned that, "It's better to celebrate America as an exceptional place held together by an 'idea,' as long as you get to define that idea and use it to push your own stuff."
It should be clear by now that no President who comes along will ever have a problem pushing the Pentagon's "stuff" on this country, since there will never be any significant noise of protest from the white boys on whom falls the primary responsibility to suit up and lead the fight in these worthless entanglements. There is little chance you will ever hear complaints from these misguided patriots who are ever eager to serve as cannon fodder. They can't get to the next front soon enough. Their right wing evangelical Moms and Dads have done too good a job teaching them their duty to obey any and all calls issued forth by the Pentagon's Puppets. What, me question?
Even as the wheelchairs filled with broken, mutilated bodies come rolling home, there's another batch of prospective heroes waiting to become the next victims. One would think that the dauntless Major General Smedley Butler had never opened his mouth to disclose the heartless truths he had learned in his 33 years in the Marines. What is it he called himself? "A muscle-man for Big Business." Essentially, a sucker.
One supposed good piece of news for these wounded young men, according to a New York Times report, is that their survival rates are now higher, even though a great many are missing multiple limbs (multiple, mind you) and genitals. Well, what's a lost testicle or two for your country? To sacrifice your body when fighting an invading enemy in your own homeland, while defending hearth and home, is horrible enough. However, to end up as a 21-year-old basket case at the behest of war racketeers is insufferable.
And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
Never knew there was worse things than dying.
For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
All around the green bush far and free --
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.
Last year, in Afghanistan, greater numbers American soldiers fell from explosive devices, suffering what is described as "grievous injury," that is, bodies that will never be the same again. But, hey, what 20-year-old warrior still harbors plans to date another girl, anyway? After engaging in the vicious wars of the 20th century, white men are accustomed to dying before passing on their sperm. In the last century, they were kept busy expiring as youth in their country's misrepresented World Wars of I and II, to say nothing of Korea and Vietnam. Who needs more white folks, anyway? Whites don't appear to give a damn about their own race's demise, so why should anyone else?
Speaking of white folks, when are we going to have that candid discussion about the possible connection between genes and the warrior mentality, that the soon-to-be-former Senator James Webb hints at in his remarkable book Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America? It may not matter who appears to be running the military machine, but what do we know about why the machine is driven at all? What propels this machine? Is it merely dirty lucre, or is it some natural internal engine at work in the hearts and souls of particular white ethnics, that cannot be turned off, although totally irrelevant to the genuine welfare of this country?
Is this military machine genetically-driven by a people who just can't help themselves and must create reasons to make war, so they can be excused for killing? Are we dealing with an unstoppable Terminator of sorts, a relentless machine that just cannot be shut down? Let's face it, this country has never, ever required military protection. There has never been a country less in need of military protection throughout its history.
Webb, along with other observers, recounts what appear to be deep-seated behaviors among the population that migrated to the colonies in the 18th century, mainly from the borderlands of Scotland and northern England. He tells of "this peculiar culture," in which the surest way for an ambitious young man to make his mark was through military performance or "conspicuous acts of bravado." Webb writes, "By selecting leaders based on military skill and a penchant for action rather than educational or commercial acumen, a dilemma would evolve in later centuries, manifested clearly in the Scots-Irish of today's America."
But how well these men did fit into yesterday's America. As cited by historians like Grady McWhiney, Frederick Law Olmstead and David Hackett Fischer, this population from the British Isles brought cultural mores and social patterns that appeared so inborn they would almost guarantee ongoing conflicts and violence. They persisted in finding ways to justify fighting with everybody, from outsiders to those within their own familial circles. Was it their DNA? Was this behavior chromosome-driven?
As far as the rulers of this new world were concerned, what better breed of men could be asked for in a society that would forever devote itself to war making? These new migrants were first put to work helping to mop up the Indians, and would henceforth become the indispensable warrior force in all of this country's subsequent battles and wars. Fischer called the migrants from that turbulent region of northern England, where the Scots and English had made war and committed atrocities against each other for centuries, "some of the most disorderly inhabitants of a deeply disordered land." This disorderly band found their own unique niche in the new world.
After political leaders finished setting American citizens against one another in a bloody civil war, they then set about warring against the world. Here's some of what the twice-decorated Medal of Honor winner, Major General Smedley Butler, speaking in 1933, had to say about America's "noble" wars:
I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street.
The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
If General Butler lived today, would he be charged as a WikiLeaks snitch? Even after these right wing patriots learn, via leaked cables, of this government's use of deceit and intimidation to undermine the governments of other countries, and to control the American public, this information is merely looked upon as real politik. In other words, this is how the real world works, these wild-eyed evangelicals will tell you. And they send off the next generation of their sons to die or lose their genitals for the deceivers.
It ain't me, It ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, It ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,
Nothing reaches these religious sycophants, whose perverted sense of patriotism is second only to their perverted attachment to the Republican party. Not even the wisest men among them can get a hearing. Take the case of Rev. Chuck Baldwin, for instance, an evangelical himself. He writes:
George W. Bush and Karl Rove have made mincemeat out of the Religious Right. They have shown everyone that once you win the support of the Christian Right with rhetoric, you can get by with just about anything.Rev. Baldwin is exasperated with those he calls "gullible pawns" and "robotic foot soldiers for universal and everlasting war," who will not resist even the most reprehensible government policy, if it is demanded by The Leaders. "They see no harm in the decimation of individual liberties," says Baldwin, "as long as it is a Republican who is stealing them."
Sadly, this is what the Christian Right just doesn't get: ninety percent of the time, it doesn't matter a tinker's dam whether a Republican or Democrat wins the White House. Both parties are mostly dominated and controlled by the same interests. Both major parties carry water for Big Money conglomerates. Both parties are heavily influenced by globalists and internationalists. Neither party has any loyalty to the U.S.
Constitution or the principles of liberty.
This is why even a blatantly unconstitutional law like the Patriot Act meets with no resistance on the part of this "conservative" camp. If the phony Tea Partiers possessed just an iota of regard for the Founders' Constitution, they would be out in the streets protesting the existence of this travesty. Instead, it is their camp that recently voted for its renewal.
Susan Lindauer, one of the first victims of this un-American legislation, who was imprisoned for more than a year without trial, writes: "Nobody who has supported that wretched law should ever be allowed to brag of defending liberty again. That goes for the Tea Party. By voting to extend surveillance of American citizens, they have abandoned the principles of freedom that brought about their rise to power. They have shown their true face."
These right wing, military-loving robots will not tolerate any messing with a chance to engage this country in war. At one time, they were enthusiastic supporters of Patrick Buchanan, whom they even put forward as a presidential candidate. He was considered a super patriot among them. That is, until Buchanan took positions against George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. At that moment he became toxic, and was drummed out of the patriot corps. Buchanan put his money where his principles were and, along with two partners, founded a new magazine to give voice to obstinate dissidents like himself.
During the clamor over the comments of the singing Dixie Chicks, who dissed the execrable George W. Bush at one of their concerts, for which they were duly punished by southern "patriots," an interesting thread appeared on the Country Music Television site. In it, a commenter, Leanne, wondered out loud if country music fans would be respectful towards the incoming President Obama. She speculated:
"Will they get up in arms if someone like Trace Adkins or Toby Keith [both adamant rightwing supporters of Bush and critics of the Dixie Chicks] says something disrespectful about soon-to-be President Obama -- here in the U.S. or even on foreign soil? I'm thinking Mr. Keith will be able to say whatever he wants about Obama at his concerts and the majority of country music fans will simply cheer him on.
"So, it's somewhat disingenuous to suggest that the uproar over [Natalie] Maine's remarks was a result of someone saying something negative against the President. I'm more inclined to believe that the anger was because she dared to say something about a Republican president, because I'm sure Obama will not be shown such patriotic respect by the fans who currently claim to be so respectful of the office of the president.
"I just don't believe that they would have been so angry if Natalie had spoken out against Clinton in the '90s, and I don't believe they will be angry if country artists say something disrespectful about Obama in the next four years, no matter what soil it's said on."
I wondered about this, too. But I wondered more specifically if the white boys would be so willing to suit up and take their bodies abroad to fight in a war attributed to Obama, such as we have today in Libya. Well, as it turns out, there was nothing to wonder about. Just put a military uniform on any one of these men, point him in the direction of something to bomb or some civilians to slaughter ("collateral damage"), and he will salute and shout "Hallelujah!"
Indeed, it matters not who sits in the White House. Who cares if a white or a colored or a Klingon orders the charge? Besides, the white boys probably are smart enough to figure out that Obama, like every other President, amounts to nothing more than a Pentagon Puppet. They understand where the orders really come from.
After all, these are the descendants of those sturdy combatants of World War I, a worthless enterprise of murder, if ever there was one. And soon followed by yet another worthless excursion of murder, dubbed World War II, the symbol of white heroism, the ultimate propaganda offered up by Hollywood in more films than it's possible to count. General Butler could have told us that the race or ethnicity of the Pentagon's Puppet in the White House matters nothing. For it is the military machine that runs the show.
Because so many of the military and political leaders come from the same stock and culture as the young men they recruit, they know not only how to dupe these boys through the language and terminology they employ, they're clued in to the right clichés to use, even down to the biblical references. And, what with dear, old Mom and Dad egging them on, in their own blind Christian fervor, these young men don't stand a chance to offer rebuttal.
He's five foot two, and he's six foot four,
He fights with missiles and with spears,
He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen,
He's been a soldier for a thousand years.
He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist, a Baptist, and a Jew.
He knows he shouldn't kill, but he knows he always will,
Kill you for me, my friend, and me for you.
Eric Peters describes the breathtaking stockpile of weaponry supposedly required for our "national defense" – fleets of aircraft carriers, a million-man army, fleets of "stealth" aircraft, nuclear submarines loaded with ICBMs – any one of which could lay waste to most of the world and would certainly, utterly destroy any single country. He writes: "It's really all about projecting power on others, who have done nothing to us, other than resist American hegemony, or otherwise behave uncooperatively. All for the sake of the military industrial cartel."
In keeping with these facts, some time ago, Paul Craig Roberts offered this droll suggestion. He claimed that since the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with America's national interests, but everything to do with armament profits for the military-security complex, why not just allocate a percentage of the federal budget to this dangerous gang? Why work at concocting reasons for invading country after country, so that special lobbies can extort entitlements for their weapons manufacturing clients?
Roberts says we should skip the middlemen in these transactions and simply give these arms manufacturers and their shareholders the money directly, with the provision that they cease producing new armaments. He explains, "No one, at home or abroad, would have to be killed, and the taxpayer would be better off." This ought to keep the Lockheed-Martin missiles crowd happy, while not threatening their big bonuses. And there would be no more young men without limbs, eyes, or genitalia.
Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the damn little war
And we can't make it here anymore
Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore
Read more!


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What are Waldorf Toys?
Written by Sarah Baldwin from Bella Luna Toys
When I am asked by a new acquaintance what I do for a living, I explain that I am a former Waldorf teacher and that sell and share my love of Waldorf toys. I am frequently met with a blank stare, in which case I know that more explanation is needed.
I will go on to explain that the kinds of toys we carry are wooden, eco-friendly and organic toys. You know, "green toys." This gives most people a better idea, but there is so much more to it than that. Beyond simply being natural toys, what exactly makes a toy a "Waldorf toy?"
Nourishing to the Senses
Since families have become more eco-conscious in recent years, toymakers are producing many more eco-friendly and natural toys to meet the increasing demand. But Waldorf schools, which originated in the 1920's, have always provided children with toys made of natural materials, such as wood, silk, wool and cotton.
Yes, these kinds of toys are good for the environment, but most importantly, they are good for children! I've written previously here about the importance of sensory experience in early childhood, so one important hallmark of a "Waldorf toy" is that it be nourishing to a young child's senses.
Imagine the sensory experience of a toddler cuddling a rigid, hard plastic doll with synthetic hair, and then cuddling a Waldorf doll stuffed with wool, covered in cotton with a head of soft mohair. Not only is the Waldorf doll more aesthetically pleasing, but its softness and warmth will having a calming and soothing effect on a young child.
Beautiful to Behold
Waldorf toys should also be beautiful to behold, because sight is as important as touch. We want to nurture children in a beautiful environment and their playthings should be beautiful as well. By surrounding children with beauty, we are not only contributing to their sense of wellbeing (or "sense of life," as Rudolf Steiner referred to it), but also developing their aesthetic awareness and appreciation.
Toys that are made from natural materials, with rich, natural colors, and that are lovingly handcrafted are inviting, and contribute to a child's "sense of life." A child is much more likely to feel reverence for a beautiful handcrafted toy and care for it accordingly than he is for a mass-produced plastic toy. As Plato so eloquently recognized, "the most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things."
Inspiring the Imagination
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, suggested that children's playthings should be largely unformed in order to stimulate a child's imagination. What does this mean? Waldorf toys are often simple, without a lot of detail.
Waldorf teachers believe that toys should be simple and open-ended. Baskets of tree branches (like our Tree Blocks), play silks, stones, pinecones and shells all can be transformed into a myriad of objects. During a typical morning in a Waldorf kindergarten, one would likely see shells become money; wooden blocks become food; a small piece of tree branch become a telephone; silks become skirts and veils; and so on. By giving children objects that are not highly formed and detailed, they can easily become more than one thing, and give children's imaginations free reign.
If you are familiar with a Waldorf doll, you no doubt have noticed that such dolls have minimal facial features, and sometimes no faces at all! As is the case with most aspects of Waldorf education, the reason is not arbitrary. Waldorf dolls have minimal or no faces in order to encourage the imagination of the young child—to cultivate her "inner picturing" abilities.
Again, think of a hard, formed plastic doll, with a highly detailed face, and a fixed, frozen smile. If a young child is playing "house" and caring for this baby, it is hard to imagine this baby to be sad or crying. Children want to imitate real life. Real babies smile and laugh, but they also look sad or cry when they are hungry or need changing. If a doll has just two eyes, and a suggestion of a mouth, the child is more easily able to imagine this baby expressing a range of emotions, living richly in her imaginative life. For the same reason, Waldorf puppets have only the barest suggestion of faces.
Imitation: Play is a Child's Work and Toys Are Her Tools
Children naturally want to imitate adults and their daily activities. As Waldorf teachers, we strive to be adults "worthy of imitation" and bring consciousness to our gestures as we engage in the daily tasks of living, such as cooking and cleaning in the classroom. Knowing that children will imitate our activities we attempt to work in an unhurried and careful way.
Bringing consciousness to one's daily activities at home, and providing children with child-sized versions of household items such as a play kitchen, wooden play dishes, adn tools such as a broom, or dust pan and brush will allow children to fully engage in their imaginative imitation of daily life, and build real life skills as well.
As I've tried to stress to parents over the years, choosing toys is not about "good toys" vs. "bad toys." Rather, it's about bringing new consciousness to selecting children's playthings. Is it beautiful? Does it feel good? Does it leave room for the imagination? Will it inspire imitative play? If you can answer yes to these questions, you will be providing your child with all the tools needed for years of healthy play!


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A Bronx Tale's Adam Kaplan on Not Being Italian & Giving 'Hugs and Sass'
Fangirls and boys probably know Adam Kaplan from his stint in Newsies as the Jack Kelly understudy. Now, after leading the national tour of Kinky Boots as Charlie Price, he's back on Broadway in A Bronx Tale at the Longacre Theatre. This origin-story musical, based on Chazz Palminteri's 1989 semi-autobiographical one-man play and subsequent film, follows Calogero, a youngster who is torn between a flashy mobster and his straitlaced father. "This is the first time I'm leading a Broadway show," says Kaplan. "I still get the giggles and freak out about it every now and then." Kaplan, a "Jewish boy from Connecticut," told Broadway.com what it's like to play an Italian boy from the Bronx, and why it's nerve-racking that the man he's playing could very well be in the theater.
Typical Theater Kid
Kaplan describes his adolescent self as the "typical theater kid" who would dance and sing around the house. Growing up in Westport, Connecticut was geographically ideal for the aspiring actor, since he could easily hop the Metro North to go see Broadway shows. "I would come in with my friends in high school, and we would rush shows all the time," he remembers. "Broadway was always on my radar, but it always kind of seemed like this far-off, very distant dream, even though we lived so close."
Broadway Magic
Like so many young people, The Phantom of the Opera was the first Broadway show Kaplan saw. "It was magical to me," Kaplan says. "That will always stay with me—that feeling of seeing a show for the first time." Kaplan says he makes sure to spend more time at the stage door with people who say A Bronx Tale is their first Broadway show. "That's a really special thing for me." Kaplan's still a Broadway fan, even though he's also a star. "My current theater obsession is Once On This Island," Kaplan says. "That show blew my mind," Kaplan says, heaping praise on the direction and performers. "Hailey Kilgore! She is a superstar!" Not to mention the musical's livestock. "The goats! I hear the goats have their own Instagram."
I'd Like to Buy a Vowel
Kaplan says his upbringing was certainly different from Calogero's. "I saw the original Broadway cast of A Bronx Tale when they were first in previews, and now I find that I watch shows differently because you're always looking for the next gig," he says. "I found myself just sitting back and enjoying the show as opposed to trying to figure out where it was that I fit in because I'm not Italian. I read all the bios in the Playbill, and it was "Brittany Conigatti and Bobby Conte." He references the joke Mary Delgado makes in Jersey Boys when Frankie "Vally" needs a more Italian last name ("Delgad-o, Castellucci-o, Vall-i, Pizz-a"). "You have a vowel at the end of your name. And I'm Kaplan."
On Meeting Chazz Palminteri…Twice
After Kaplan's audition for the role of Calogero, A Bronx Tale's famous scribe Chazz Palminteri came out to meet him, shook his hand and complimented how prepared he was. "I think my heart was beating out of my chest," Kaplan says. "He was like, 'Have we met before?' And I said, 'Yes, but there's no way you would remember.'" Back when Kaplan was nine years old, he met the veteran stage-and-screen actor years before at a family friend's party. "My brother and I used to watch [the movie version of] A Bronx Tale all the time when we were kids. He's this legend and this icon, but he's got heart." Kaplan admits that playing a character based on the musical's creator adds only a little bit of stress. "[Co-director] Jerry Zaks and Chazz Palminteri and all of the creatives really didn't put on the pressure that they needed this to be an imitation of Chazz," he says. "They wanted me."
Hugs and Sass
As the main character and narrator of A Bronx Tale, Kaplan doesn't get much interaction offstage with his cast. That's why he makes the rounds to say hi to co-stars before each show. "Once the show starts, it's like a freight train. I don't stop," he says. He was inspired after appearing alongside John Dossett in Newsies, who Kaplan says would always shake everyone's hand and give out mints before the show. "We would call them 'Dossett Mints.'" What does Kaplan give out? "I'm giving people hugs—hugs and sass—instead of mints."
On Bribing Audience Members
Around 40 of Kaplan's family members and friends packed into the Longacre Theatre to see his first performance as Calogero. He got great entrance applause that night, but the next night: crickets. "So, I'm just going to keep filling the house with family and friends," he jokes. "I'm going to slip people in the audience some twenties and just be like, 'Hey, as soon as I come out, please clap. Please?'"


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I led drop-in art at the OKCMOA this weekend and we had a great time exploring warm and cool colors with watercolors and weaving.
First I gave each student two pieces of watercolor paper. I explained warm colors and cool colors and we looked at examples on the board. Now we get started painting.
We used our yellow, red and orange watercolors to completely cover our first piece of paper.
Then we filled our second sheet of paper with cool colors. Our paint was blue, purple and green.
We used salt and paper towels to add fun effects to our papers while they were wet.
We used a hairdryer to speed up the drying process and then worked on cutting our papers to prepare them for weaving.
Looking at your paper vertical, or portrait style, bring the bottom of the paper to the top making one fold. We made our cuts from the folded end almost to the top of the paper. You do not want to cut all the way through the paper.
You can make straight cuts, wavy cuts, zig-zag, etc.
Now we cut the second sheet of painted paper into strips. You want the strips to be as long as your loom paper so looking at your paper vertically make horizontal cuts creating strips for weaving.
With our paper vertical we weave our strips of paper going over and under our loom paper. The second strip will go opposite of what you did the first time. If your first strip began on the top, your second will start on bottom. As you move along the paper will take on a checkerboard effect.
To finish we mounted our papers horizontal on construction paper that was a little bit bigger than our weavings creating a mat for our piece. I laid out a lot of colors so the kids could see how putting their piece on different colors could really change the overall look of their piece. This was so much fun, here are some of our finished creations!
You will need:
-Student grade watercolor paper
-Brushes and washout bowls
-Salt and textured paper towels (optional)
-Hairdryer for speed dry (optional)
Color Mixing Flash Cards
4 days ago