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In 2013, policymakers began discussing when and how to 'taper' the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policy. This column presents evidence on the effect of Fed officials' public statements on emerging-market financial conditions. Statements by Chairman Bernanke had a large effect on asset prices, whereas the market largely ignored statements by Fed Presidents. Emerging markets with stronger fundamentals experienced larger stock-market declines, larger increases in credit default swap spreads, and larger currency depreciations than countries with weaker fundamentals.
The quantitative easing (QE) policies of the US Federal Reserve in the years following the crisis of 2008–2009 included monthly securities purchases of long-term Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities totalling $85 billion in 2013. The cumulative outcome of these policies has been an unprecedented increase of the monetary base, mitigating the deflationary pressure of the crisis. The resultant lower interest rates and flattened yield curve improved financial conditions and helped stimulate real economic activity, yet the QE policy raised pertinent questions regarding the timing and the nature of the exit strategy (Williams 2012). These issues came to the fore in 2013, with vigorous and intensifying debate among policymakers and market participants about the exit strategy from the massive monetary stimulus. This process culminated on 18 December 2013, when the Fed decided at the FOMC meeting (as announced in the public statement) to taper its quantitative easing policy by $10 billion per month, to $75 billion.1 In a recent column, Eichengreen and Gupta (2013) investigated the impact of the tapering talk between April and August 2013, to analyse who was hit and why. They concluded that better fundamentals did not provide insulation. Instead, countries with larger markets experienced more pressure on the exchange rate, foreign reserves, and equity prices.
Tapering 'news' and emerging-market financial conditions
In Aizenmann et al. (2014), we investigate the impact of tapering 'news' announcements by senior Fed policymakers on financial asset prices in emerging markets. The emerging-market financial asset prices of interest are national stock markets, exchange rates, and credit default swap (CDS) spreads. These reflect a broad spectrum of the potential effects of tapering. We would expect a greater likelihood of tapering, and hence capital outflows from emerging markets, to cause a fall in equity markets, a depreciation of exchange rates, and an increase in CDS spreads (reflecting greater uncertainty and risk in sovereign bond markets).
In terms of Fed 'news', we focus on statements from Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, Federal Reserve Board Governors, and Federal Reserve Bank Presidents, as well as FOMC statements and minutes. Our presumption is that it is important to differentiate between announcements/statements by the Chairman, as the public face and most important Fed policymaker, and other Fed policymakers (Governors and Presidents). We employ daily data from November 2012 to October 2013. Statements about the likelihood of future tapering, or scaling back the large-scale asset purchase programme, began to emerge in late 2012, marking the beginning of our sample period. However, during this period there were also frequent and forceful statements by Fed officials about the need to continue quantitative easing, so these statements were also included as 'news' in our investigation both to address issues of symmetry and to judge market impacts.
The methodology of the paper is a quasi-event study, akin to that of Dooley and Hutchison (2009), tracing the impact of the evolving narrative about the expectation of future tapering, as revealed to the public through the news media, on key emerging-market prices. We use a panel fixed effect framework using daily data with a variety of models to evaluate the impact of 'news' on the three assets prices (stock markets, exchange rates, and CDS spreads). However, we do not expect the market responses to tapering 'news' to be identical across emerging markets, but rather to depend on their relative strength in international markets. In particular, we exploit the heterogeneity among the emerging markets, evaluating the association between market prices and key characteristics associated with the 'fragility' or 'robustness' of a country, where these characteristics are defined (below) by their current-account, international reserve, and foreign indebtedness positions.
Markets focused on Bernanke and largely ignored Fed Presidents
We find that emerging-market asset prices responded strongly to tapering statements by Chairman Bernanke, and largely ignored frequent statements in support of tapering by several Fed Presidents (no Governors made public statements favouring tapering during our sample period). This finding is consistent with the power of the Chairman to set and impact the agenda, and with the advantage of more frugal and clear communication.
Countries with stronger fundamentals were more adversely affected
We group emerging markets into those with 'robust' fundamentals (11 countries) and those with 'fragile' fundamentals (16 countries). Intriguingly, we find that stronger countries, on average, were more adversely exposed to the tapering news than the weaker countries. News of a higher probability of tapering coming from Chairman Bernanke are associated with a large fall in the stock market and an increase in the sovereign spreads of the stronger group, yet had an insignificant impact on spreads and stock markets in the weaker group. The exchange rate depreciated in both groups following tapering news from Chairman Bernanke, yet the depreciations of the stronger group were three times as large as those of the weaker group.
A possible interpretation of these findings is that countries with weaker fundamentals were less exposed to the inflows triggered by quantitative easing, in line with the conjecture that being closer to financial autarky provides deeper insulation from financial news. The flipside is that tapering news had less impact on countries experiencing less inflow of funds in the first instance during the quantitative easing years. Yet, these findings are also consistent with a less sanguine interpretation, reflecting financial markets' initial inattention to tail risks, overlooking the vulnerability of the weaker emerging markets to the adverse implications of higher future global interest rates. Indeed, in the last quarter of 2013, financial markets refocused attention on the fragile emerging markets, with depressed financial asset prices of the 'fragile five' (Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey) – a subgroup of the weaker emerging markets.2 While there is no decoupling of emerging markets from US Fed policies, there is systematic heterogeneity in the burden of adjustment. Prices of stronger emerging markets may adjust more swiftly, possibly allowing smoother adjustment of the real economy to the challenges associated with higher future interest rates.
Concluding remarks
Chairman Bernanke's tapering news had large effects on emerging markets, resulting in substantial drops in stock market indices and large exchange-rate depreciations. This indicates the expectation of reduced capital inflows and carry-trade activity to emerging markets, with less investment in equity markets. By contrast, numerous and frequently quite vigorous statements in support of tapering by Fed Presidents had little discernable effect on emerging-market financial prices – equities, exchange rates, and CDS spreads – during our sample period. Our analysis also identified strong and systematic heterogeneity of adjustment to Fed tapering (and QE) news across emerging markets. The initial impact of Chairman Bernanke's tapering news had the largest effect on financial markets in emerging markets that had robust/strong international positions. Tapering news by Fed Presidents had little or no discernable impact on countries' exchange rates, regardless of whether they were classified as robust/weak in fundamentals, had current-account surpluses or deficits, had high/low international reserves, or had low/high external debt.
It appears that emerging markets with more fragile international positions – especially the 'fragile five' – were also affected, over periods extending beyond the initial impact effects of Fed tapering announcements. These results suggest that, in the era of financial globalisation, emerging-market financial markets are not insulated from expected changes in the Fed's policy stance, although it is sensitive to the heterogeneity among countries (Powell 2013). Understanding the factors accounting for the timing and the intensity of market reactions deserves further exploration. The greater impact of Fed news on the robust emerging markets may be explained by anticipated balance-sheet adjustments, where the size of positions and the liquidity of markets play a role (Eichengreen and Gupta 2014). Alternatively, market attention may shift over time from the short-run adjustment of positions, to the reassessment of the greater adjustment challenges facing the fragile countries in the post-tapering world (Sims 2010). Investigating the possible linkages between the speed of asset-price adjustment and the volatility of future growth patterns is left for future research.
1. Chairman Bernanke also projected the programme to wind down steadily through 2014 and conclude by year-end, assuming the economy remains healthy.
2. The market's inattention to tail risks was vividly illustrated by the euro crisis, where the pre-crisis sovereign spreads of Greece, Portugal, and Spain were comparable to that of Germany and other Eurozone core countries (Aizenman et al. 2013).
•Aizenman, J, B Mahir, and M Hutchison (2014), "The Transmission of Federal Reserve Tapering News to Emerging Financial Markets", NBER Working Paper 19980.
•Aizenman, J, M Hutchison, and Y Jinjarak (2013), "What is the Risk of European Sovereign Debt Defaults? Fiscal Space, CDS Spreads and Market Pricing of Risk", Journal of International Money and Finance, 34(1): 37–59.
•Eichengreen, B and P Gupta (2013), "Tapering talk: The impact of expectations of reduced Federal Reserve security purchases on emerging markets", VoxEU.org, 19 December.
•Dooley, M and M Hutchison (2009), "Transmission of the U.S. Subprime Crisis to Emerging Markets: Evidence on the Decoupling-Recoupling Hypothesis", Journal of International Money and Finance, 28(8): 1331–1349.
•Powell, J (2013), "Advanced Economy Monetary Policy and Emerging Market Economies", Speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco 2013 Asia Economic Policy Conference, San Francisco, CA, 4 November.
•Sims, C A (2010), "Rational Inattention and Monetary Economics", in B M Friedman and M Woodford (eds.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, 1(3), Elsevier, Chapter 4: 155–181.
•Williams, C J (2012), "Monetary Policy, Money, and Inflation", FRBSF Economic Letter 2012-21, 9 July.


text: Patrick Geoffray <patrick at myri.com> writes: > So, if you set rx-frames to 1, there will be an interrupt after each > packet. Isn't that turning off coalescence, as you recommended? > Not many devices implement rx-frames, since it does not > distinguish between small and large frames. Adaptive coalescing methods > do look at the size of the frames to figure out if the traffic is mostly > latency or bandwidth sensitive, but it's just a guess. Yes. With e1000, I saw 28.2μs omx_perf latency using InterruptThrottleRate=1, v. 19.5 using InterruptThrottleRate=0. With forcedeth, optimization_mode=1, it was 20.2, v. 10.4 with optimization_mode=0 (the default). These weren't with the same setup as the figures on the web page I referred to, by the way. > On GigE, each 1500 Bytes frames takes more than 10us on the wire so even > with interrupt coalescing turned off, you won't get more than 100K > interrupts per second. Good point. > In the worst case, you would lose a core if you don't let the OS move > the interrupt handler to do load balancing. What is one core these > days ? :-) I guess that depends on what everything else is doing. It's normally recommended to use the default (non-)affinity of interrupts, isn't it? I'll try to collect anything useful from this for the Open-MX FAQ. This stuff seems generally badly documented (such as ethtool not even telling you what the coalescence parameters actually are). Thanks (and thanks to Myricom for funding Open-MX, by the way).

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Truth Wins Out has created a petition to demand that Marcus Bachmann immediately end his harassment of our organization:
Marcus Bachmann, the husband of presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, has launched a petty and vindictive campaign to personally harass Truth Wins Out. He is upset that in July TWO exposed his clinic for practicing "ex-gay" therapy. Prior to this disclosure, Bachmann lied to the American people and denied that his office engaged in these backwards and barbaric techniques. The revelation rocked Michele Bachmann's campaign and became her first major roadblock.
Now that the campaign is foundering, she and Marcus are looking for scapegoats – and have settled on Truth Wins Out. They are spitefully taking aim at TWO's John Becker, trying to punish him because he went undercover and gathered video evidence of "ex-gay" therapy at the clinic.
Like the bullies they are, Bachmann & Associates is illegally demanding that Becker pay $150 for appointments that he had canceled in accordance with the clinic's guidelines. Amazingly, Marcus Bachmann personally called Becker this week threatening to send the bogus bill to collections if it was not paid by Friday. Truth Wins Out retained the services of an attorney and steadfastly refuses to be intimidated or pay the fake bill.
Clearly, Marcus Bachmann is angry with Truth Wins Out for exposing his clinic's fraudulent practices, and is engaging in malicious and vindictive strong-arming for the sole purpose of defaming and discrediting TWO and John Becker.
Stand with us today — demand that Marcus Bachmann end these spiteful and malicious pursuits immediately and stop harming clients with discredited and harmful "ex-gay" therapy.


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Let me just state off the bat that Miles music, from Bitches Brew on, is my favorite music on this planet (for a lot of reasons, some of which Ill touch on in my closing paragraph). Im going to structure this writeup around the albums which have been released from what I believe to be Miles most exciting and fertile years (1969 through 1975) : classics like Bitches Brew, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, On The Corner, Get Up With It, and Pangaea.
By the time 1969 rolled around, Miles had been looking towards and striving for new sounds for a while. His famed 60s quintet had been together with only one personnel change for a five year-plus run; this band had consisted of Tony Williams on drums, Herbie Hancock on keyboard, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter (who replaced George Coleman in 1964) on saxophone. Five years is a long time for a jazz unit to be together. What once seemed inventive and exciting had probably started to sound like cliché to Miles. That band featured great tone and instrumental virtuosity - but by Miles own account simplicity and directness had been lost. One can compare the straightforward, soulful reading of Wayne Shorters "Footprints" done on his own Adams Apple album (its also available on Blue Notes excellent The Best of Wayne Shorter) with the version done by Miles quintet on Miles Smiles, where the tune becomes a backdrop for the usual pseudo-Spanish tinkling around and theatrical flourishes that characterized that bands sound, at the tunes expense, for an example of this.
Miles had been moving in a simpler, more "modal" (a term that he helped to popularize during the 50s) direction for a while. Miles In The Sky from 1968 started with a brilliant, 16-minutes plus track "Stuff" which cycled and floated in a gentle soulful manner and sounded unlike anything that anyone else was up to at the time. Filles de Killemanjaro from 1968 marked the end of the old quintet, with Chick Corea and Dave Holland coming into the band partway through the album - the music occasionally rumbled and exploded, but was also marked by long, rather lovely modal sections. To me it sounds like ambient jazz. The buzz on this album in retrospect is that Miles was "flirting with rock forms". (This is actually one heck of an album - well worth purchasing. In addition to its other charms, and great playing by all concerned, Chick Coreas lovely, peaceful cycling through the lengthy "Mademoiselle Mabry" is more than worth the price of admission).
Miles continued to flirt with what were certainly different forms, perhaps related to rock, or to soul. His next LP, In A Silent Way, was hailed as a groundbreaking effort although I feel its a bit overrated. The music was somewhat hypnotic and repetitive. Joe Zawinul and John McLaughlin had been recruited to play on the album, and their presence together with the restraint shown by the other musicians (for once, Tony Williams does not run rampant on the drums - he plays simple "rock" rhythms primarily) yielded what was again a very "ambient" album.
Miles wanted his music to get more basic, more in touch with a blues feeling. In his autobiography he states "See, when I used to listen to Muddy Waters in Chicago down on 33rd and Michigan every Monday when he played there and I would be in town, I knew I had to get some of what he was doing up in my music. You know, the sound of the $1.50 drums and the harmonicas and the two-chord blues". At this point he started to focus in on the more modern and aggressive sounds that would inform the rest of his works. His girlfriend Betty Mabry introduced him to Jimi Hendrix, and the two of them hit it off immediately. Miles appreciated the power in what Jimi was doing, as well as appreciating its grounding in blues and other black forms. Sly Stone and James Brown were also by Miles account big influences on what was about to become his new sound. Things were about to get a lot more African. "My Funny Valentine" was about to go out the window.
In August of 1969 Miles assembled numerous massively talented musicians into a New York City studio for the Bitches Brew project. He brought in "musical sketches" moreso than tunes - as he had 10 years previously during the Kind Of Blue sessions. The musicians would jam on themes according to Miles direction (during three "all-day" sessions), and the jams would be edited into pieces. It was an abstract way of working, a bit different than anything done previously by an artist with commercial viability - the tape recorder would deliberately be used, in "artistic" fashion, to shape the pieces after the fact. Hence musicians could explore ideas at length, without a burden of knowing that everything that they played during a "take" would necessarily be presented to the public with their name on it.
What makes the album superb is the playing. The music swings gently, in multiple directions at once. It is a new kind of swing. Jack DeJohnette and the other drummers on this recording deserve a world of credit for their subtle, tugging playing. Multiple electric keyboards, usually two per track, swing and swagger across this musical landscape (Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, and Larry Young are at the keys). John McLaughlin contributes electric guitar playing which is occasionally possessed of brilliance. Bennie Maupins bass clarinet, Wayne Shorters sax, Airtos percussion, and the basses of Dave Holland and Harvey Brooks also contribute towards the musics tonal palette. On top of it all we have Miles. His playing had always been minimalistic, and he had always been comfortable playing blues-based forms. Here he found his most natural expression, and contributed forcefully to the music. He laid down the real stuff, the essence of music, on his trumpet and topped the whole thing off brilliantly.
A rough guide to the Bitches Brew album - Side 1, "Pharoahs Dance", is an abstract keyboard-oriented piece. Due to its absence of a memorable central theme, its a strange choice to open the album with, but it is a nice slice of music and of subtle swing. Side 2, "Bitches Brew", is massive. The composition, a combination of ambient theme and deep groove, comes together perfectly. Side 3 features the deeply rhythmic, gently bouncing "Spanish Key" (built on an interesting drum figure) and the shorter, slightly chaotic "John McLaughlin" (McLaughlin claims to have been as surprised as anyone when the LP came out and he saw that Miles had named this tune after him). Side 4 features the gritty, juke-joint-ish, artfully extended funk of "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" and the albums closer "Sanctuary" which builds towards a frightening climax. The pieces provide landscape portraits more than they do traditional tunes or "featured player" improvisation. It was a new way of playing, based on cooperative effort which was centralized and focused on rhythm. In that regard the album reminds one of African cultures and of their music.
It was one heck of a record and was promoted as being such. Miles proceeded to put out a couple of live 2-LP sets during the next year. Black Beauty was the first (Im not sure that it was released in the U.S. at the time). Its a fairly honest and straightforward recording of his band in April of 1970 with Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Airto, and Steve Grossman. The sound is a bit cacaphonous; its the sound of jazz players raising flashy, energetic hell on electronic instruments. The band keeps things swinging along throughout the whole set. Chick Corea fans will especially want to hear this as his electronic keyboard is the most prominent voice in much of the music, and as always he plays extremely well. The recording gets a bit "psychedelic" in part through his use of effects. It reminds me a bit of the German rock scene from the early 70s; its easy to imaging getting stoned to this record and digging it. I consider it a good but not great album.
At Fillmore came out next and drew some attention. It documents a 4-night stint opening for Laura Nyro at the Fillmore West; each 25-40 minute set is edited down to an approximately 20-minute album side. The intention was apparently to show that the band had an organic flow and that even when they played the same material night after night that it would be a "unique" experience. In retrospect the approach seems silly; who wants to hear the same basic set, chopped and diced different ways, four times in a row? The band sound is a bit difficult and cacaphonous and the editing only makes things more confusing. Of course there are some good moments; I always love it when that keyboard riff (sounds like a clavoline, usually) kicks in to start off the deep Bitches Brew groove. However, I believe that this album is basically a mess.
At this point in time Miles was opening for rock performers, dressing in his flashy manner of the time, and was generally thought to be courting a rock audience. The majority of critics, pundits, and listeners didnt seem to understand what was going on with him. Miles was occasionally criticized from this point on for deserting jazz, and for "losing the beauty which had been present in his music".
The intended follow-up to Bitches Brew was Live-Evil. The majority of this 2 LP set consists of some lengthy jams done at the Cellar Door in Washington DC (these were augmented with a few new studio recordings). The live tracks are oriented around Jack DeJohnettes aggressive and energetic funky drumming, Keith Jarretts pulsing, squealing, and frequently soulful keyboards (for a guy who has since gone on to decry the popularization of electronic instruments, Jarrett could really raise some hell when he was in the mood to), Michael Hendersons repetitive basslines (Henderson had just joined the band - his playing here is not as dead-on as it later became), guest star John McLaughlin playing some fantastic electric guitar solos, and Airto putting some funky percussion on in places. Davis and sax player Gary Bartz play (and play well), but also lay out for huge periods of time while this band grooves. This, to me, really does sound like a "fusion" of rock (and soul) and jazz. The aggression and form of rock are present, but the players still have a tendency to meander and show off in the general style of jazz players. If you are in the mood for extended jam pieces (and it seems as if in the early 70s, everybody was), these are pretty good for the most part. The opening track, "Sivad", might burn a hole through your stereo system with its relentless funk for a while before it moves into the soulful, minimalist piece later known as "Honky Tonk". "What I Say" is a nice 21-minute slice of frenetic modality, too. Sides 3 and 4 feature a band grooving at length in a manner that has its charms, but probably isnt the kind of thing that youd want to start your morning with every day.
Miles cut what I regard as his next masterpiece in 1970, during five sessions which were fused into 2 sidelong pieces. A Tribute to Jack Johnson was done as a soundtrack for a film about the legendary heavyweight boxing champion. Side 1, "Right Off", is an extraordinary jam. In addition to some bouncing bass (Michael Henderson, I believe), rock-solid drums (Billy Cobham, I believe), and some rollicking organ (I wont hazard a guess), John McLaughlins electric rhythm guitar playing is right on the mark. Imagine Keith Richards crossed with Jimi Hendrix crossed with a classically trained guitarist - he sounds something like that. The rhythm of the piece is deep and constant, and greatly hypnotic. Just try to shut the music off in the middle - see if it keeps playing in your head. Each member of the group displays a perfect, close-to-the-bone devotion to the groove and the whole things rocks massively. Side 2, "Yesternow", is spacier. It seems put together from a few different takes (it actually includes some of the "In A Silent Way" music towards the end). It generates some ghostly groove and eventually makes way for a memorable freak-out guitar solo by Sonny Sharrock (with Chick Corea working Sonnys echoplex box, apparently).
Sharrock remained uncredited on this album, as did many other of the players present on the sessions. For some reason, only the players signed to Columbia received credit on the cover. I was told some of the participants by Sharrock once - I probably dont remember everyone that he mentioned to me, but I do remember the names Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, and himself as participants in addition to the musicians listed on the cover (Davis, Steve Grossman, Michael Henderson, Billy Cobham, John McLaughlin, and Herbie Hancock).
Miles continued to play and continued to record. His music was starting to bewilder the buying public, who had been confronted with a stream of 2-LP sets that didnt conform to their expectations of what Miles Davis should be doing (namely, playing lyrical trumpet over a jazz background). Some of his sessions, like the ones which eventually came out in 1974 on Big Fun, had to wait for years before being released. Big Fun has 4 side-long pieces : "Great Expectations/Mother Laranja" which is a 27 ½ minute slice of almost prototypical Miles, based on a repeating phrase over a flowing backdrop; "Ife", a long static piece with a repetitive bassline which is really a drag (it sounds more like an experiment in audience tolerance than it does music); "Go Ahead John" which is a small-band jam featuring John McLaughlin on guitar (playing choppy strokes with wah-wah, just like Reggie Lucas & Pete Cosey would go on to do), with some nice soloing over Jack DeJohnettes busy drumming (which is heavily phased for the sake of funkiness); and "Lonely Fire" which is a bit aimless. The music throughout this album is not Miles best, but Teo Maceros production here is quite creative, and the record ends up being a decent ambient-styled listening experience thanks to the strength of Sides 1 & 3.
Some other early 70s sessions came out even later, in the early 1980s, on a couple of 2-LP sets : Circle in the Round and Directions. Among the highlights to be found on those sets are the killer McLaughlin/Cobham-fueled funk of "Duran", the impressionistic, multiple keyboard-based floating of "Ascent", an alternate take of "Sanctuary", and an extended take on the David Crosby tune "Guenneviere" which flows wonderfully and sounds like the missing fifth side to Bitches Brew. Both are good collections with some important stuff on them (lined up alongside a lot of moderately interesting stuff).
Next up was another change of direction : 1972s On The Corner. Now this is abrasive stuff. It grooves, and it grooves hard, and it makes no apology for doing so. Miles was getting deeply into funk and also more deeply into dissonance. The album plays like one continuous suite of chattering funky percussion and deep bass topped with sitar, trumpet, and whatever else was on hand as a vehicle for self-expression. It is a "black thing" for sure, and a deep dark one at that. Ive always felt that this album was a primary influence on the Public Enemy sound which started in the late 80s and has had a large effect on popular music ever since (even the most "popular" artists these days are prone to augmenting their songs chorus structures with screeching background noise, or at least with light abrasion. I hear it all over the place). Miles was simultaneously interested in deep funk ala Sly Stone and James Brown, and musical abstraction ala Stockhausen. The end result was a fairly startling album. The cover art, with a funky "street" illustration by Corky McCoy, and a complete absence of personnel listings, was also a notable departure from the norm.
The album was not promoted heavily by Columbia and was not embraced heartily by the listening public or by critical reaction. Miles was not going to be "the next big thing" commercially, was not going to outsell the ranks of white boys playing electrified blues guitar which is what a lot of people were into at the time. Fortunately, he kept at his music anyway (rather than backtracking or waiting for the general populace to catch up with him), because the best was yet to come.
Miles staffed his next working band with musicians whose backgrounds were in the kind of funky music that Miles wanted to be working with, rather than in a jazz tradition. Michael Henderson was still on bass, and Al Foster came on to augment him with his fat, rock-steady drumming style. Mtume (who now lays down those funky soundtracks for the TV show "New York Undercover"), the son of Miles old pal saxophonist Jimmy Heath, came in on percussion (and managed to outdo his well-known predecessor, Airto). A band with these players, plus Reggie Lucas on guitar (its been said that he managed to play guitar "like a water drum" - his playing was perfect for this band - think choppy strokes and wah-wah pedal), Dominique Gaumont on guitar, Carlos Garnett (a sax player who seemed to understand what was going on and could fit into the music well), Cedric Lawson (a keyboard player), and a sitarist and tabla player augmenting things, toured in 1972 and had the live In Concert released subsequently. It showed a band which had dispensed with any perceived need for the bop-like chatter of jazz and would get down deeply into groove for extended periods of time. They jam on pieces which Miles had cut or would soon cut on "studio" albums, energetically and loosely. Its like On The Corner come to life (the instrumentation is similar), but longer and with different themes. Its not a perfect album; the music gets interesting and kicks out jams for a few minutes at a time, but tends to stay in one place for longer than might be preferable. It alternates between impressing the listener and annoying the listener. Fidelity is limited, too. Still, its an uncompromising furtherance of something that was new, and documents this period well. Its just come back into general U.S. release.
1973 saw more touring, and the occasional bit of studio recording by Miles band. In 1974 a unit of Davis, Henderson, Foster, Mtume, Lucas, and Gaumont, plus new feedback-freakout-oriented guitarist Pete Cosey, with Dave Liebman and/or Sonny Fortune on sax and flute, cut the majority of tracks to be released on Get Up With It. (Some sessions from preceding years were used as well). This record could be seen as the culmination of Miles career; its some serious business. The key to the album is Hendersons bass - his playing is perfect and huge. Fosters drumming provides the perfect foil to him, and youve got a thoroughly grounded musical maze starting already. Then add Mtumes shifting, inventive percussion to that, and stack two rhythmic guitar players on along with one feedback-oriented player (who does some nice soloing on this album) - now youve got some great shifting funk going on. Then put Miles on in a surly mood, playing some serious, no-frills trumpet and raising some hell on organ too. Its quite a trip. I shouldnt forget Dave Liebmans contributions - there are some who say that he was partially responsible for "Mayishia", a thoroughly perfect musical act in two parts on here. And Sonny Fortune plays well, and some other names pop up on the recordings as well. Side 1 of this record is a bit strange, a tone-poem dedicated to Duke Ellington who had recently passed away. Side 2 contains "Mayishia" and the strong, deeply funky "Honky Tonk" (actually recorded years previously with a whole host of famous musicians), as well as the bizarre "Rated X". Side 3 is an out-of-control madhouse piece called "Calypso Frelimo" which shows this band at their most anarchic, but clears way for another killer bassline after a while. Side 4 features the dense, energetic "Mtume" (an amazing cut which typifies this bands sound) and the funky "Billy Preston", along with a relatively traditional piece, "Red China Blues". Each side is about 30 minutes long. If I had to describe this record with one word, the word I would choose would be "massive". This is one that youll be taking the measure of for years and years..
That band (more or less - different sax players came through the band, and Gaumont left) cut a number of live albums. Dark Magus from early 1974 is a pretty good one. Its only with the current wave of Miles reissues actually come into print in America. The sound is starting to center on Al Fosters fat and flexible drumming, which is in a class of its own. Side 1 opens with a hot theme which turns up again on next years Pangaea as "Zimbabwe". There are large chunks on the album where the band starts improvising around some fairly flat figure, but through their now-patented "collective improvisation" method manage to build the sound up into something nice. It makes you aware, though, of how truly awesome they could be when they got themselves wrapped around memorable material. Its amazing how contemporary this music sounds, all the more so as it comes from a live concert. It could be heard as a stream of sublime drumnbass music being DJd on stage by Miles Davis using real players instead of records.
Miles and the boys played at Osaka Festival Hall in Japan on February 1, 1975, one set in the daytime and one at night. The daytime set was issued on 2 LPs as Agharta. Ive never been totally crazy about Agharta as a whole; to me most of the second half sounds a bit flat and directionless. However, the opening 33 minutes or so of "Prelude" (thanks to compact disc technology, we can now hear this continuously without having to flip a record over partway through) is a great extended exploration of funk and soul, and I rank it with my favorite Miles live performances. I love the whole of the nighttime set, Pangaea, which remained unissued in the U.S. until some kind soul rectified this in 1991. Its consists of two lengthy pieces, each of which is the length of an LP. The first, "Zimbabwe", lays down a thick groove and plays around that. The second, "Gondwana", is built around a peaceful, circular figure. It flows lazily and naturally for a great length of time, and contains some rather nice flute playing by Sonny Fortune. The CD liner notes accurately note that this piece is reminiscent of some of Sun Ras music.
To me, this music (especially Pangaea) has a real naturalistic flow to it. He and his band had found their niche. The same type of "collective improvisation" which had been used to create Bitches Brew was being used to create natural, straight-forward music (groove music, really). These guys put up a nice, thick wall of sound which could be easy to get into, and easy to stay with for a while.
After that, Miles retreated into his house and rarely came out of it for the next 5 Years, making no new music and no formal appearances. Miles was suffering from health problems, didnt feel like making new music, and spent much of his time doing drugs.
Miles died in 1991 after making a comeback in the early '80s (most impressively on a live set from '82 We Want Miles, where the compositions contain brilliance and the playing is dead-on). He left behind him an amazing legacy of music, and an interesting autobiography (done with Quincy Troupe) entitled "Miles: The Autobiography" where he explains himself, his life, and his music in a straightforward manner (I recommend the book highly for anyone interested in any of Miles music, or in jazz history, or just in interesting stories). He was a funny guy and the book reflects this, while touching on his relationships with some of the most significant figures in 20th Century music. The key to understanding Miles is to realize that he was a reserved individual and a minimalist. He would just as soon not say anything unless he had something he really wanted to say, and when he did speak, he tended to tell the truth regardless of how anyone might react to it. And his music reflected this aspect of his personality totally.
In closing, why do I love Miles electric music so much? Why do I consider it the greatest music yet made on this planet? Well, of course ones enjoyment of music is entirely subjective, but I present for your consideration the following virtues regarding Miles music :
- You can dance to it. (Try "Black Satin" on On The Corner).
- You can relax and unwind to it. (Try "Mayishia" on Get Up With It).
- You can use it to get your adrenaline pumping. (Try "Fast Track" on We Want Miles).
- You can sit and reflect on it. (Try "Gondwana" on Pangaea).
- You can nod your head to it. (Try the bass break in "Calypso Frelimo", on Get Up With It. If even more head-nodding is desired, try Sides 2 & 4 of that album as well).
- You can make love to it. (Try "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" on Bitches Brew. If your partner doesnt dig it you can always masturbate to it. Or try "Ascent" from the Directions collection for something a bit more romantic, in its own strange way).
- It reflects the black experience and consolidates previously disparate musics into a coherent whole. (Try Bitches Brew and On The Corner).
- So many artists have been influenced by this music that you may as well cut out the middle-man and go straight to the source, for the real deal.
- Its timeless; you can still listen to it decades from now without shame. In fact, it may make more sense to most of us decades down the line.
- Its genuine art, created through an individuals (considerable) experience, intellect, and desire for self-expression. Plus its lovely and it swings like a mother.
Also see this interview with Teo Macero about producing Miles and our article on Miles' Get Up With It


text: US / timeless news Canceled Wedding Turns Into Dinner for Homeless Atlanta family donates swanky event, brings in 200 people By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff Posted Sep 24, 2013 8:24 AM CDT Copied (Shutterstock) Willie and Carol Fowler were prepared to lose their deposits. Their daughter canceled her Georgia wedding with just 40 days' notice, and the venue, food, and entertainment were already paid for. Then Willie had "a vision," his wife tells ABC News. "I was in the process of canceling out the venue and he said, 'No, what we'll do is donate it to Hosea Feed the Hungry.'" Their daughter had volunteered for the organization, which helps homeless people in the Atlanta area, when she was younger. And that's how, on Sept. 15, the Fowler Family Celebration of Love was born. Two hundred guests were bused to Villa Christina for a four-course meal complete with coconut shrimp and salmon (the 50 kids in attendance got chicken fingers). The family hopes to get sponsors and make it an annual event, Carol tells WBUR. A rep for Hosea Feed the Hungry said the nonprofit initially thought the Fowlers were pulling their leg: "It's a very creme de la creme wedding venue, so to say that you're going to host 200 homeless individuals at Villa Christina—it sounds like a prank call." The Fowlers' daughter attended the event, and her dad says it was a "bittersweet but rewarding" experience; her mom tells Today Tamara found it "surreal but incredibly rewarding." Carol has this advice: "If you have canceled an event, do not walk away. Pick up the phone and call your favorite charity and offer it to them. We're regular, working people and anybody can do this. This is not star stuff." (In Boston, a homeless man who did a very good deed is being handsomely rewarded.) Report an error


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DANIEL CURRAN KENNEDY is the founder of The Leader, the oldest newspaper in Springfield, a breezy sheet, which enjoys a good circulation and is published in the interests of the community, especial attention being paid to local affairs, making it a history of the events that transpire in this locality. Moreover it reviews intelligently the public issues of the day, and its advertising columns are well filled and show that the business community of Springfield and neighboring towns appreciate it as a medium for making themselves known to the people at large. The intelligent and able editor of this journal is a native of Dublin, Ireland, where he was born February 14, 1842.
His father, Michael Kennedy, was obliged to flee from Ireland on account of political complications, and in 1843 came to America with his family and settled on land in Alabama, where he became a tiller of the soil. Later he came West to Missouri, settled at St. Louis and engaged in steam-boating on the Mississippi River, rising to the rank of captain. He prospered in this business and continued it until his death, which occurred about 1853. He was a Democrat politically, and he and his wife, Elizabeth Candron, whom he married in Dublin, were devout members of the Catholic Church; and in that faith reared their children: Catherine, Anthony, Mary, William and Daniel C., all of whom were born in the Isle of Erin.
Daniel Curran Kennedy was educated in the public schools at St. Louis, after which he attended a commercial college for some time, where he acquired a sound and practical education. Upon leaving this institution, he, in 1858, began the study of law, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar, the interruption in his legal studies being caused by his enlistment in the Confederate Army at the breaking out of the war. He was first a member of the Missouri State Guards, and on May 6, 1861, his regiment was encamped at St. Louis. On the 10th of that month an attack was made by the Federals under Gen. Lyon, and the entire brigade under Gen. D. M. Frost were taken prisoners, and Mr. Kennedy was paroled and exchanged in December, 1861. He then enlisted in Guiber's battery, Green's brigade, with which he served from the battle of Pea Ridge through the Vicksburg campaign, where Gen. Green was killed and Col. F. M. Cockrell was promoted to brigadier-general. He was in the battles of Camp Jackson, Pea Ridge, Arkansas, after which he was transferred east of the river, and was at Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, the second battle of Corinth, Grand Gulf, Champion Hill, Big Black, thence to Vicksburg, in which engagement he was taken prisoner and sent to a parol camp where he remained until December, 1863, after which he was in the battle of Franklin and the Atlanta campaign. He first held the rank of sergeant, then quarter-master-sergeant, and after the battle of Vicksburg was promoted to lieutenant. On April 9 his brigade was disbanded near the city of Mobile, and he returned to St. Louis with a view of becoming a lawyer, but owing to the Missouri Constitution of 1865, which debarred any person who was engaged in the Confederate service from practicing law, preaching the Gospel or holding any office of honor or trust, etc., he was unable to resume his legal career. By the advice of friends he came to Springfield in 1867, and established the Springfield Leader. Some time after the law of prohibition having been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Kennedy was examined and admitted to the Missouri bar, St. Louis, in 1867. He, however, continued his newspaper enterprise, and The Leader has continued to be published to the present time, as it was established on broad Democratic principles. In the years immediately following the war the paper experienced great opposition, the bitterness of war partisanship freely expressing itself, at times to such an extent as to endanger the personal safety of the editor and employes of the paper. The Leader was fearless and outspoken and advocated its principles so freely, as it saw fit, that in those days a man was considered disloyal who was one of its patrons. At one time, after an exceedingly bitter political campaign, the office building was destroyed by fire, the work of an incendiary. In 1890 a substantial and commodious brick building was erected as the home of The Leader, and the facilities for publication were increased. In size and editorial ability it compares favorably with its contemporaries, and is recognized as the leading Democratic organ in that section of the county, if not in the Southwest. Whatever cause he sustained he espoused because he believed it with his whole heart, and being a man of strong convictions, whatever he believed in he clung to with tenacity. He is a versatile writer-decidedly original, sometimes unique, and always interesting and entertaining. Nothing is suffered to lag that he takes hold of, and the success of the paper, which was started with very small capital and in the interests of an unpopular cause, has been due to his push and perseverance. It has been a great benefit to the town of Springfield, for it has always advocated all public improvement, and is decidedly public spirited in its tone. Mr. Kennedy has been liberal with his means in behalf of public improvement, and assisted in the erection of the St. Louis & Santa Fe Railroad, being one of the delegates of Springfield men who visited the State Legislature in 1868, and secured the passage of an act for its establishment. About the same time Mr. Kennedy advocated in his paper the construction of a railroad from Kansas City to Springfield and Memphis, which resulted in the building of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad, to which Greene County sub-scribed $400,000. Mr. Kennedy has also given liberally of his means for the building of mills, foundries, the Metropolitan Hotel and the Gulf Railroad shops, the Sewerage Water Works, street car lines, besides many other enterprises of a like nature. In 1887 he was appointed by Gov. Marmaduke, with-out solicitation, as a member of the Board of Managers of the Insane Asylum No. 3, at Nevada, Missouri, and was reappointed by Govs. Morehouse, Francis and Stone. While at all times active in politics, and arduous in his devotion to his political friends, he has never been an office seeker. Socially he is a Mason of Solomon Lodge No. 271, Springfield, and in the chapter has held the offices of high priest, captain of the host, master of the veil, and in St. John's Commandery has held the office of captain-general. He is also a member of Aarat Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and a non-affiliated Knight of Pythias and Odd Fellow. He was married November 20, 1866, to Miss Lulu Boyd, daughter of Hon. Marcus and Lucinda (Price) Boyd, and to their union three children have been born: Robert L., Daniel C. and Norman. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are members of the Episcopal Church, and have many and faithful friends, consequent on their correct mode of living.


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Two of my most favorite birthday presents this year (thanks, mama & Josiah!) were two of a kind, so I had to snap a photo of them together!
A beautiful glass-glitter Starlette Sparkler made by Sweet Sue (special nickname: toots), and Tocca "Stella" perfume, which I had been not-so-secretly wishing for!
They're now easily two of the loveliest things in my dressing room. There are more star-themed items in there to rival them, but I think these are the nicest!
The perfume just kills me. I haven't fallen in love with a bottled scent like this probably since my teenager days of enrapturement with "Ralph Lauren: Romance".
And I can't wait to wear my glittering silver star on some special upcoming occasion.
Or, you know, maybe just out to coffee.


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Researchers have developed an early warning system to predict the risk of dengue infections for the 553 microregions of Brazil during the football World Cup.
The estimates show that the chance of a dengue outbreak is enough of a possibility to warrant a high-alert warning in the three northeastern venues (Natal, Fortaleza, and Recife) but is likely to be generally low in all 12 host cities.
Dengue is a viral infection that is transmitted between humans by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. In some cases, it causes life-threatening illness. There are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments against dengue. So far this century, Brazil has recorded more cases of dengue fever than anywhere else in the world, with more than 7 million cases reported between 2000 and 2013.
"Recent concerns about dengue fever in Brazil during the World Cup have made dramatic headlines, but these estimates have been based solely on averages of past dengue cases. The possibility of a large dengue fever outbreak during the World Cup, capable of infecting visitors and spreading dengue back to their country of origin, depends on a combination of many factors, including large numbers of mosquitoes, a susceptible population, and a high rate of mosquito-human contact", explains lead author Dr Rachel Lowe from the Catalan Institute of Climate Sciences in Barcelona, Spain.*
In particular, climate has an important effect on dengue transmission in epidemic-prone areas where temperature and rainfall drive both mosquito and virus transmission dynamics. The risk of an epidemic increases shortly after a season of heavy rainfall, as occurred in the Amazon during the summer in Brazil.
"Our aim was to take the available evidence on real-time seasonal rainfall and temperature forecasts, transmission dynamics, and social and environmental variables (e.g., urbanisation), and combine it with the latest in mapping and mathematical modelling to produce robust risk estimates for the 12 host cities where matches will be played", says Dr Lowe.*
The researchers estimate little risk of dengue outbreaks during the forthcoming World Cup period in the southern and central capitals of Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and São Paulo. However, they predict that there is some chance of dengue risk exceeding medium levels in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Manaus. The three cities with the highest risk are Natal, Fortaleza, and Recife, although the risk still remains relatively low.
According to Dr Lowe, "The ability to provide early warnings of dengue epidemics at the microregion level, three months in advance, is invaluable for reducing or containing an epidemic and will give local authorities the time to combat mosquito populations in those cities with a greater chance of dengue outbreaks."*
Writing in a linked Comment, David Harley and Elvina Viennet from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia say, "Travellers, particularly those attending matches in high-risk cities, identified as Recife, Fortaleza, and Natal by Lowe and colleagues, might return home with dengue… Those who return home unwell will seek treatment. Doctors must be aware of causes for febrile illness in World Cup spectators… We expect that few spectators will originate from tropical low-income and middle-income countries, and those who do will probably be wealthy, able to access good medical care, and likely to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Even in those who infect mosquitoes on their return, most will live in dengue endemic countries where the introduction of Brazilian dengue virus will make little difference to local epidemiology.
Perhaps a few will return to tropical centres in wealthy countries where A aegypti is present but where the incidence of dengue is low. One such example is Cairns in far north Queensland, Australia, where dengue epidemics causally linked to, but geographically distant from, the World Cup in Brazil are possible."
Canadajournal/Press Releases


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Saturday, August 8, 2009
1984 – Questprobe
Writer(s): Bill Mantlo/Al Milgrom/David Michelinie
Artist(s): Mark Gruenwald/John Romita Sr./Al Milgrom/Ron Wilson/Joe Sinnott
Scott Adams, not to be confused with the creator of the Dilbert cartoon, was the most widely recognized microcomputer programmer in the world and a pioneer in the development of adventure games for the PC in the late 70s and early 80s.
The original concept developed by Scott Adams and John Byrne is rather straight forward. An alien race, which has known peace for many centuries, is confronted by an alien threat. Unable to defend themselves, one of their own devises an indirect method to defend themselves. An artificial construct referred to as the Chief Examiner makes its way to Earth and uses a mysterious portal to gather the energy of various heroes. There was also a rather curious subplot about sentient energy eggs and bio-gems and how they hoped to manipulate the power that the Chief Examiner was gathering.
What was supposed to be a 12-issue miniseries published over 4 years, ended rather abruptly. Unfortunately in 1985, Adventure International went bankrupt as it was developing the game. Only three issues were published:
Questprobe #1 – Hulk (quite a treat because of Romita Sr.'s inks)
Questprobe #2 – Spider-Man
Questprobe #3 – Thing and the Human Torch
The fourth issue was published later in the pages of Marvel Fanfare #33.
Each issue was a self-contained story involving a Marvel superhero and fed directly into the tie-in Questprobe computer game. Each issue was also done by a different creative team that actually had ties to that spotlighted characters. For example, at that time, Mantlo was writing the Incredible Hulk and Ron Wilson was drawing The Thing.
You can still find fragments of the game here:
Apparently, the story was finally wrapped up almost ten years later in Quasar, written by Mark Gruenwald.
As for the actual computer game, it was one of those text adventure games (I played it on the Commodore 64). Playing it again, I can't help but laugh at the fact that I was entertained by this type of a game. However, it doesn't take long for the game to get really frustrating.
You start off as Bruce Banner and are tied to a chair. No explanation. After multiple tries, I finally tip the chair over. This action gets Banner angry and he turns into the Hulk. Go right? Nope, gas pours into the room and turns you back into Banner. Sigh.
Looking around, I find a metal ring on the floor, but I can't lift it. I move east into a tunnel. I push a button on the wall and it tells me the "Delay is on". I continue east and out of the dome only to be crushed by the high gravity outside.
Grumble, grumble. Was there any wonder why so-called Adventure International went out of business?
Even typing help get you nowhere: "Sorry, I can't do that. But ask for a Scott Adams Hint Book at your favorite store!"
I'm ready to tear my eyes out at this point. Time to move on…
If you need the solution, here's a link to it:
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Apple's pricey iPhone chargers have traditionally been the target of a thriving black market, with knockoff versions of the easy-to-copy cables available online for mere pennies. That could stop with the iPhone 5, which includes a new connector that's much, much harder to fake.
When Apple (AAPL) announced and released the iPhone 5 last month, it ditched the so-called 30-pin connector it used for almost a decade for a smaller, 8-prong setup dubbed "Lightning." The smaller size wasn't the only change.
The operator of Double Helix Cables, an online cable shop, tore apart the Lightning connector just after the iPhone 5's release -- and discovered a chip that wasn't included in the 30-pin version. His findings, which were first published on the blog AppleInsider, revealed that the intricate architecture of the new cables makes them difficult to rip off. That's in stark contrast to the simple and often-copied 30-pin connector.
A source with knowledge of Apple's manufacturing confirmed that the Lightning connector does have an authentication chip, and the 30-pin does not.
The Double Helix Cables owner (who asked that his name not be used) told CNNMoney that the new chip sits in the path of the Lightning's power wire -- making the setup "much more complex" than that of the 30-pin connector.
"Chinese manufacturers are currently working to clone this new connector -- but they cannot do it with the same ease and low cost as before, I don't think," he said.
Apple runs a "Made for iPhone" licensing program (better known as "MFi") for third parties that want to make legitimate accessories, and many manufacturers work with Apple to certify their products. Still, cheap knockoffs are prevalent.
An official version of Apple's old 30-pin to USB connector cable, for example, costs $19 in the Apple Store. On eBay, you can buy similar cables from Asian manufacturers for mere pennies -- free shipping included. (An eBay spokeswoman said the company "has zero tolerance for criminal activity on its platforms; counterfeits and stolen items are illegal and not welcome on any of its sites.")
Don't expect those kinds of rock-bottom prices for third-party versions of Apple's Lightning accessories, which range in price from $19 (for a Lightning-to-USB cable) to $39 (for a Lightning-to-30-pin adapter with a cord).
Several apparent Lightning knockoffs have already appeared on sites like Amazon (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY), but they're listed as pre-sale or "currently unavailable" -- meaning they probably don't exist yet.
Most sellers advertising cut-price Lightning accessories use generic names, don't have websites, and don't make their contact information available. CNNMoney's attempt to reach iTronz, a seller with Amazon listings, went unanswered.
It will likely take months for counterfeit companies to develop working cables, the Double Helix owner believes.
"Unlicensed knockoffs are going to happen eventually, but now there is even more of a reason to just use Apple's cable -- the circuitry is much more complex now and so there is a lot more to go wrong," he said.
Related story: You'll need a $30 adapter to link iPhone 5 to old gadgets
If those knockoffs do hit the market, they may not be much cheaper than the real thing. The 30-pin dock cables are worth about 30 cents wholesale, he estimates, but he predicts that the Lightning connector will cost $3 to $8 at wholesale prices.
John Brownlee, a deputy editor at Cult of Mac who closely tracks Apple's adapters, told CNNMoney he thinks Apple "currently only legally pursues unlicensed 30-pin dock connectors if they are a business of a certain size." He expects that to change with Lightning. An Apple representative declined to comment on the issue.
"Apple will crack down pretty hard on anyone it can who tries to rip off Lightning," Brownlee predicts. He thinks Apple will try to create a significant revenue stream from signing third-party licensing deals for Lightning accessories.
In any case, the old crank-'em-out model for black market Apple cables will no longer work.
"Lightning's sophistication should make it a lot harder for anyone to make a Lightning connector without paying a licensing fee," Brownlee said. "Which is, of course, by design."


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In response to the racist incidents that took place last week on campus, several campus constituencies have organized four dialogue spaces for students, staff, and faculty. Please consider attending one of the dialogues and forwarding this information to others who may be interested. Join us to stand united against hate and ignorance. Thank you.
Student-Led #ITooAmOSU Roundtable
Wednesday, March 12, 2:15 pm
Native American Longhouse (NAL)
A space for intentional dialogue about the recent hate incidents on campus, immediately following the student-led march. Please join the start of the march at 1:00pm at the Pride Center.
Sponsored by Black Cultural Center (BCC)
Contact info: email@example.com
#ITooAmOSU in our Halls, Discussion Forum
Wednesday, March 12, 6:00-8:00 pm
Marketplace West Dining Center, Large East Conference Room
A space for on-campus residents and supporters to discuss the current environment of inclusion in our halls and pathways for building an even more inclusive community.
Sponsored by the Residence Halls Association (RHA) and UHDS Diversity Initiatives and Programs (UHDS DIP)
Contact info: firstname.lastname@example.com
Women of Color Dialogue Space
Thursday, March 13, 3:00-5:00 pm
Kerr Administration Building, Basement Level, B008, Career Services Classroom
A space for dialogue regarding experiences of Women of Color on campus. Information about the new Women of Color Coalition will be discussed.
Sponsored by Intercultural Student Services (ISS) and UHDS Diversity Initiatives and Programs (UHDS DIP)
Contact info: email@example.com
#ITooAmOSU Dialogue for Anti-Racist Allies
Friday, March 14, 3:30-5 pm
Marketplace West Dining Center, Large East Conference Room
A space for dialogue regarding opportunities for White-identified anti-racist allies to support education and action about racial identity and racism on campus.
Sponsored by Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI) and Intercultural Student Services (ISS)
Contact info: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Facebook's f8 conference is shaping up to have quite a few improvements in store for developers, and we think we've come across another one: a change to Facebook's data retention policy. Yesterday, Facebook employee Monica Keller (who left MySpace to join the company last month), took part in a conversation on Twitter that seemed to indicate that developers may no longer have to delete user data. The possible change came to light after Gnip CEO Eric Marcoullier gently chided Keller about developers being unable to store any user data, to which she responded, "come to f8!".
Since that tweet, we've heard further whispers about a change to Facebook's 24 hour policy retention, and that Facebook is already briefing developers on the upcoming changes.
So why does this matter? Facebook has historically been quite restrictive with regard to what developers are allowed to do with user data; in particular, it only allows developers using Facebook Connect to store user data for 24 hours before they have to delete it, or ping Facebook's servers for a refresh. There are some exceptions to that rule (you can get a sense for them here), but the majority of the 'meaty' content can't be stored by developers. As a result, applications have to constantly connect with Facebook's servers, which multiple developers we've spoken with say is very inefficient.
If Facebook does extend that 24 hour window, developers would be able to do things that generally require locally stored data, like batch processing (this isn't feasible now because the application would have to make an API call for each user). Likewise, if these applications had the data stored locally they would be able to boost load speeds because they wouldn't have to wait for a call to Facebook's servers after their applications loaded.
Of course, such a change would also have privacy implications (we'll wait until we have all the details before we analyze those). That said, we've also heard that many developers simply ignore some of Facebook's data retention policies, in part because Facebook has a very hard time enforcing them. So it's unclear just how big an impact this would have on the applications being developed.


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Table of contents
TomTom navigation products and services need location data and other information to work correctly. This section explains what kind of information TomTom collects and how we use it.
Devices and mobile phones may run operating system software or other apps, or use communication networks which also obtain and transmit personal and location information. When switched on, your device uses a mobile network that inherently tracks location details about your device. Your network operator may be legally required to retain this location data for law enforcement purposes. TomTom has no control over this. You can consult your mobile operator for more information.
To read who has access to your information, get information about your rights and where we store your data, jump to more information.
TomTom products and services come with features that need location information from your device to work correctly. Your location can be established using satellite, mobile, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other network-based positioning methods. We collect your location data and additional personal information for different purposes as described hereunder.
MyDrive is a TomTom product that saves your settings, preferences, favorite locations and destinations of your planned routes. When you enable MyDrive, this data becomes automatically available to all devices and apps that you have authorized. You could also grant access to others. You can set up and change this authorization via your TomTom account or with an account from a supported provider. MyDrive will retain references to all your devices or apps associated with your account and doesn't have access to your passwords.
When you disable MyDrive on a specific device, any adjustment of your data such as a planned route via another device will no longer be synchronized to that specific device. Your data in MyDrive will remain available via MyDrive until you actively delete it via Mydrive.tomtom.com or by using devices and apps that support deletion. MyDrive data is securely stored in the EU and apart from service providers that processes this data subject to contractual safeguards, TomTom will not give anyone else access to MyDrive data or use it for any other purpose than communicated to you unless we have been lawfully ordered to do so.
With your permission and after we have made sure that data is no longer linked to you, TomTom could use MyDrive data to improve its products and services, more details can be found in 'Help us learn' section. You can change your approval status at any time via the privacy settings. TomTom keeps records of MyDrive access by authorized devices and apps for a limited period to use this information for technical diagnostic purposes and aggregated statistics and reports.
In case third parties such as car manufacturers select TomTom as service provider to deliver MyDrive as part of the product portfolio offered to their clients, these parties make MyDrive available under their own brand through their devices and apps. The collection and usage of data occurs under the full responsibility of these third parties providing services, devices or apps in accordance with their privacy policies. TomTom is only allowed to use this data within the limits as instructed by these parties while adhering to contractual privacy arrangements at the same time.
Using Map Share you are able to make map corrections and report map errors. Your corrections, which include location information, are sent to TomTom and associated with your device or MyTomTom account, as long as this account exists. TomTom uses these reports to improve TomTom maps.
Roads change every day. To keep TomTom maps fresh, we collect information about these changes via various sources. One of these sources are the TomTom Mobile Mapping VANs. These vehicles are equipped with 360 degree camera's, highly accurate GPS-receivers and other sensor technologies to gather information.
TomTom only uses the imagery and the other information we capture (such as data related to shapes of roads and buildings) for our legitimate interest to improve TomTom maps. In the case imagery is being transferred to countries outside the European Union, TomTom protects the imagery in the best possible way via official safeguards such as EU model contracts. TomTom deletes the imagery when it's no longer needed for TomTom map productions and improvements. We do not publish any of the imagery and other information online or make it available elsewhere. Some of the imagery is made available to third parties under a license contract similarly restricting use and prohibiting publishing.
TomTom or its service partner blur elements in the imagery that could lead to recognition of individuals (such as faces and license plates) or apply other measures when permitted by local regulations to protect personal data before making it available to these third parties. TomTom uses secured data transfer methods to make the imagery available to contracted third parties upon their specific request. These third parties typically use the imagery for their own internal business purposes such as road construction or road maintenance.
Please contact your local TomTom customer support for any questions you might have in this respect.
Click here for Collection planning.


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Joel Osteen Says Sandy Hook Tragedy a 'Wake Up Call' for Americans
Correction appended
Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas has recently made multiple media appearances to discuss the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in an attempt to offer spiritual guidance to those searching for answers in the wake of the tragedy.
The Lakewood Church pastor recently spoke about how to move forward from the Dec. 14 tragedy, saying that in a roundabout way, he believes the tragedy "teaches us to prioritize what's important in our lives."
"There is no guarantee of tomorrow, I wish there was, but it makes us all realize, even as a nation, how fragile life really is, and every day are we taking time to tell the people we love how much we love them and taking the time for what matters most," Osteen told Entertainment Tonight in a Dec. 17 interview.
"We can take this, as a nation, to say, 'you know what, here's a wake up call, are we taking time for those closest to us?'"
Religion has been referenced by many leaders seeking to find answers to this recent act of violence.
On Monday, Pastor T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House went on MSNBC's "News Nation with Tamron Hall" to say that he believes now is an important time for Americans to come together.
"We all have to be watchmen on the wall, and answer the great question of the Scriptures: 'Am I my brother's keeper?'" Jakes told Hall.
While attending an interfaith prayer vigil on Dec. 16 in Newtown, President Barack Obama cited the Bible passage found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, telling those in attendance:
"Do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly, we are being renewed day by day."
"For light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal," the president added.
On the morning of Dec. 14, police reported that 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and began shooting children and staff members, ultimately killing 26 victims before taking his own life as first responders arrived at the scene.
Nancy Lanza, the gunman's mother, was also found shot to death at her home in Newtown.
An FBI investigation is now underway to determine what exactly may have prompted Lanza to commit such a heinous crime.
It was reported on Dec. 17 that the hard drive obtained from Lanza's home had been smashed to pieces, most likely by a hammer or a screwdriver, prior to Lanza's killing spree, and is possibly unsalvageable.
Additionally, police reported Monday that no mental health medications were found at the home of the shooter.
Correction: Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012
An article published Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, about Pastor Joel Osteen's comments regarding the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., reported that the Lakewood Church leader visited the survivors. Osteen did not visit with survivors in Newtown.


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This article is more than 1 year old
PayPal privates exposed after breach on SECURITY shop
Aghast Avast: It was a reseller, not us
Antivirus firm Avast has said that it was not responsible for a breach on a website of a German reseller selling its security products that resulted in the apparent leak of the payment details of thousands of consumers over the weekend.
Turkish hacker Maxn3y defaced avadas.de on Saturday (archive here) before dumping what the hacker claimed were customer details online.
The purportedly leaked information included incomplete configuration files for the shop.avadas.de domain, what appeared to be authentic admin login details with encrypted passwords, and (most seriously), what security experts believe is the PayPal payment information for an estimated 20,000 consumers.
According to Cyberwarnews.info, which analysed the data dump, the hackers also grabbed the email addresses, user names, encrypted passwords as well as certain bank and payment details of the customers.
Procello, the German distributor that ran the site, admitted its customer database had been breached and that some of its customers info had been compromised but said it was unclear how many Avast customers were among those affected.
It played down the possibility of that the breach might result in fraud by saying that passwords were encrypted and it stored only the minimum information on its website, according to a German language statement on the front page of its website. It said the attackers had been trying to penetrate its systems for weeks before the breach, and that it had taken temporarily taken its systems offline as a precautionary measure.
Avast, the Czech security firm best known for its freebie antivirus scanner, said in a statement that the breach involved an unofficial website (run by a local reseller), that has since been suspended.
We are aware that a site appearing to be an official site, AVADAS.DE (linked from AVAST.DE), was hacked and compromised. However, this is not an official site and does not belong to Avast Software. Instead, it has been owned and operated for many years by Procello, a German reseller. We have demanded, and we have been refused, the return of the AVAST.DE domain name many times over the past years. We expect with this latest incident that the site will shortly be disabled and will never again be used by Procello.Since yesterday [Monday], the reseller has shut down the AVAST.DE domain [including] its subdomains and is only using his own website.
More on the fallout from the breach can be found in an English language report by Softonic in its OnSoftware blog here. Several German language reports on the breach from the likes of Heise and others can be found here. ®


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E-Force Competition Air Intake kits provide the increased air flow needed for racing applications. They include a high flow Mass Air Flow Sensor (on some applications), reusable open element filter, plastic shroud and all necessary hardware for installation. Mustang GT kits include a 7 long, reusable, open element filter and a plastic intake shroud. Camaro kit utilizes a 9 long, reusable, open element filter and plastic intake shroud. Kit #15803 is intended for use when upgrading from system #1580, which already includes a sensor. These kits are for Competition use only.
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Year | Make | Model | Submodel |
2005-2009 | Ford | Mustang | GT |


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What This Work Is All About
My brethren and sisters, I am confident that I speak for all of you when I express appreciation to President Kimball for his message just read by his able and faithful secretary, D. Arthur Haycock.
Thank you, President Kimball, for your counsel, and particularly for your testimony of God our Eternal Father and his Beloved Son, our Savior and Redeemer. We add our witness to yours that we too know that God lives and that he is the Ruler of the universe, our Father in Heaven; that Jesus Christ, his Only Begotten in the flesh, was born in Bethlehem of Judea as the promised Messiah; that he was the Man of miracles, the one perfect Man who has lived upon the earth; that he was crucified and gave his life as a sacrifice for the sins of all men; that through that great act of atonement, he became the Redeemer of all mankind; that he arose from the grave the third day, thus becoming "the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Cor. 15:20); that he was seen by many in and about Jerusalem, and in this hemisphere also, who testified that they saw and felt and were instructed by the risen Lord. By the power of the Holy Spirit, which has borne witness to us, we can and do testify of these great, transcendent truths. And we add our witness that this, "the dispensation of the fulness of times" (D&C 112:30), spoken of in the scripture, was ushered in by a glorious visitation of the Father and the Son for the blessing of all who will seek and learn.
President Kimball, we assure you that the prayers of this people across the world ascend to our Father in Heaven in your behalf. We sing anew the beautiful hymn of Evan Stephens, written for Wilford Woodruff's ninetieth birthday:
We ever pray for thee, our Prophet dear,
That God will give to thee comfort and cheer;
As the advancing years furrow thy brow,
Still may the light within shine bright as now.
(Hymns, no. 386.)
While speaking of prayers, may I express appreciation to the members of the Church throughout the world for your prayers in behalf of all of the General Authorities. We recognize the great and sacred trust reposed in us. We are aware of our inadequacies and of the need for divine help in carrying forward the great work that must be done if this cause is to roll on to its promised destiny.
We thank you for your demonstrated faith and devotion, for the immeasurable service you give in behalf of others, for the virtue of your lives, for the goodness of your families, and for your personal integrity. Of course, there are some who do not measure up, but even with many of them, there is a desire and an effort. May the blessings of the Lord be with all of you who strive to walk according to his teachings.
Now, I should like to read portions of a letter that came to my desk. I have changed the names to preserve anonymity and have somewhat abbreviated it, paraphrasing a few words in the process. The letter reads:
"Dear President Hinckley,
"When I met you in the elevator at the hospital I had the urge to write you and tell you of some of the things that have happened to me.
"When I was sixteen or seventeen I cared nothing for the Church and would not have anything to do with it. But a bishop who was concerned about me came over to see me and asked me to help build some scenery for a road show production, and of course I told him no.
"Well, about ten days went by, and the bishop came back to ask me to build the scenery, and again I told him no. But then he went on to explain that he had asked others, and they had told him that they didn't know how. He indicated that I was needed. I finally gave in and proceeded to build the scenery.
"When I got it done, I said, 'There is your scenery,' and decided I had done my part. But the bishop insisted that they needed me on the stage to move the scenery and make sure it got put up right and that it got moved carefully as the road show moved from ward to ward. So I finally gave in again.
"That bishop kept me busy for quite a while, and pretty soon I was involved and enjoying it. He then moved from our area and we got a new bishop, and he picked up the challenge and kept after me.
"Bishop Smith had asked me to go on a mission, but I was undecided on that, and when Bishop Sorensen was put in, he asked me also, and I finally decided that I would go.
"Well, the bishop and I went to tell Mom and Dad about my decision. They told the bishop they couldn't pay for it. Dad told the bishop that if I was really sincere about going that I should work and save, and pay for the mission myself.
"My eyesight was not the greatest, as you know, and when I went places I had to be taken. When I became sixteen, I wanted to drive a car more than anything, and Dad took me to several eye doctors, all with the same result. The vision in my right eye was 20/800, and the vision in my left eye was 20/50, and I had astigmatism. So earning enough money to go on a mission was not an easy task. I worked in the sign shop at a department store for six to eight months to save some money. The bishop finally felt it was time for me to go, and we went to talk to my parents again. I had a thousand dollars saved, and the bishop told my Dad that the elders quorum would support me for the rest. Dad sat there for a while and said if anybody was going to support his son, he would. I filled out my papers and got my call in May of 1961.
"I went to Japan, where I loved the people and the missionary experiences that I had there. My companions and I baptized several people into the Church. After I came home, I went to work again in the sign shop. During the time I worked there, whenever I went to lunch, I would see a young lady walking up the street, who evidently worked in the same general area. I knew I had met her somewhere before but could not place her.
"Well, one of my missionary companions came home, and after some time we ran around together. Of course, he did all the chauffeuring because of my eyesight. One night he called and wanted to go out on a date, and so I frantically called around to find a date. Well, we went to a party, and guess who he took out. Right, he took out Sister Marilyn Jones who also had been in Japan, and whom I now remembered meeting briefly there on one occasion. She was the girl I had been passing on the street for several months and had not recognized.
"After this party, I went to California with my family for two weeks, and when I got home I found that my missionary friend had been dating the girl I had taken to the party. I thought I'd fix him, so I called Marilyn to go out on a date. You have to realize that it's not easy to do that when you don't drive, so my younger sister drove, and we had eight other youngsters accompany us to a ball game. That should have been enough to discourage any young lady from ever dating me again, but I tried again when my family went to the canyon to pick chokecherries.
"Finally came our date alone, and Dad had to drive me to pick up Marilyn, and then we drove him home, and went out on our date, and then back to our house to pick up Dad, who drove us back to her house, and then we went home. On the next date I asked her to marry me, and she told me no. Well, I went out with her some more, and asked her to marry me a couple more times, and I finally got a maybe. I thought that was a step in the right direction, and persisted. Six months after we started going together you performed our marriage in the Salt Lake Temple.
"President Hinckley, I thought that I loved this young lady at that time, but seventeen years later I find that I love her more than I could ever imagine. We now have five wonderful children.
"I have held many positions in the Church: chorister, senior Aaronic adviser, everything in the elders quorum, assistant ward clerk, seventies president, executive secretary, and now I am a counselor in the bishopric.
"I am still working in the sign shop at the department store. I bought a small house about thirteen years ago, and as my family got larger, my house got smaller. I had to do something, so I added on to my house and made it twice the size. I started this a little over three years ago and have been working on it ever since. It is coming along really well.
"Now for the most amazing piece of news ever. Two years ago in June, I went to a new eye doctor who examined my eyes and asked me what restrictions I had on my driver's license. I told him that I didn't have a license. He said that my eyesight was probably acceptable.
"I sat there in shock, and my wife said, 'Does this mean he could get a driver's license?' The doctor said, 'I don't see why not.' The next day my wife had me signed up for a driver education course, and after I finished it I went to get my license and they checked my eyes. The doctor had written a note explaining my eye problem, and that maybe I should not drive at night. The examiner put the letters up and I read them right off. He went to talk to his supervisor, and came back and approved my license with only a minor restriction.
"President Hinckley, the Lord has blessed me more than I can ever deserve. People say how lucky I am that my eyes have improved so much, but I know that it is the Lord's doing. I feel it is because I have tried to serve the Lord and do what I can to build up his kingdom here on the earth. I am sure there are times he is disappointed in me, and I'm sure he should be. But I will try to do my best and be worthy of his blessings upon me and my family."
He concludes with appreciation and testimony and signs his name. I have taken your time to read this somewhat lengthy letter because I feel it tells so simply and yet so eloquently what this work is all about.
Under the sacred and compelling trust we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, ours is a work of redemption, of lifting and saving those who need help. Ours is a task of raising the sights of those of our people who fail to realize the great potential that lies within them. Ours is the responsibility of building self-reliance, of encouraging and cultivating happy homes where fathers and mothers love and respect one another and children grow in an atmosphere of peace and affection and appreciation.
If you will recall what I have just read, this man, when he was a boy of sixteen or seventeen, was drifting aimlessly and dangerously as so many young men do at that age. He was walking the broad way which leads to destruction. Noting the course he was taking, his bishop, a prayerful and dedicated man, recognized his creative talent as an artist and found a way to challenge him to use that talent in the service of the Church. That bishop was wise enough to know that most young men will respond to a challenge when they know they are needed. No one else in the ward was quite capable of building the kind of scenery the bishop wanted. This inactive boy was capable of this, and the bishop complimented and challenged him with a request that his service was needed.
Here is a great key to reactivation of many of those who have fallen by the wayside. Each has a talent that can be employed. It is the task of leaders to match those talents with needs, and then to offer a challenge. The boy of this letter, whom I shall call Jack, responded, and he soon found himself moving in the direction of the Church rather than away from it.
Then came the challenge to go on a mission. Jack, who was now accustomed to saying yes rather than no, responded affirmatively. The father was not fully converted, and responded that his son would have to earn his own funds. That was not all bad. There was something of good in the requirement that he develop self-reliance. He went to work, he provided much of what he needed, he saved his money, and when he had a thousand dollars, the bishop, again under inspiration, felt the time had come when he should go. Jack's brethren in the elders quorum would assist, and that is proper. But the father, with an awakened sense of pride and of responsibility toward his own son, rose to the occasion, as men usually do when properly confronted.
I first met Jack in Japan when he was serving as a missionary there. I interviewed him on two or three occasions. That was before we had the Language Training Mission. Young men and women were then sent with no language training and simply plunged in to work at the task when they arrived there. I marveled that this young man, with serious eyesight deficiencies, was able to grasp that difficult language and speak it with power. Behind that was a great effort and a great sense of devotion, and above all, a certain humility and reliance on the Lord with anxious, prayerful pleadings for help.
I can tell you, for I witnessed it, that it was a miracle in his case as it was in the case of many others.
I also first met in Japan and interviewed on a number of occasions the young lady he was later to marry. She had a wonderful spirit, a deep faith, and a moving sense of duty. Their acquaintance in the field was nothing more than having seen one another on one occasion. They worked in widely separated areas. But out of their experiences had come a common touchstone—a new language in which each had learned to share testimony with others while laboring in the great and selfless cause of service to our Father's children.
As he indicated in his letter, they asked me to perform their marriage. It was done in the Salt Lake Temple. Each knew that only in the Lord's house under the authority of the holy priesthood could they be joined in marriage for time and for all eternity under a covenant which death could not break and time could not destroy. They wanted the very best for themselves; they would not be satisfied with anything else. Be it said to their credit that each has remained true to the sacred covenants they made in the house of the Lord.
Five beautiful and handsome children have graced that marriage. They are a family with love and appreciation and respect one for another. They have lived in a spirit of self-reliance. A small home which has been enlarged is a home in which father and mother and children gather together and counsel and learn one from another. It is a home in which there is a reading of the scripture. It is a home in which there is prayer: family prayer and individual prayer. It is a home in which service is taught and exemplified. It is a simple home; it is an unostentatious family. There is not much of wealth, but there is much of peace and goodness and love. The children who are growing up there are growing in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4.) The father is faithful in his service to the Church. For these many years he has responded to every call made upon him. The mother likewise, in the organizations for women and children. They are good citizens of the community and the nation. They are at peace with their neighbors. They love the Lord. They love life. They love one another.
Now they have witnessed a miracle in the improvement of his eyesight. To a kind and gracious God goes the credit. This, too, is of the essence of the gospel, the power of healing and restoration, followed by acknowledgment and thanksgiving.
Is not this what the work is all about? Said the Savior, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10.) Without great abundance of the things of the world, these, my friends, live abundantly. Such as they are the strength of the Church. In their hearts is a quiet and solid conviction that God lives and that we are accountable to him; that Jesus is the Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life (see John 14:6); that this work is their work; that it is true; and that gladness and peace and healing come in walking in obedience to the commandments of God (see D&C 89:18), as set forth in the teachings of the Church.
I do not know whether the two men who served as Jack's bishops know what has become of him. If they know where he is, there must be sweet satisfaction in their hearts. There are thousands of bishops like them, who serve night and day in this great work of reactivation. And there are tens of thousands of Jacks in this Church whose hearts are touched and who are brought back into activity by a great sense of concern, a quiet expression of love, and a challenge to serve from bishops and others. But there are many, many more who need similar attention.
This work of ours is a great work of redemption. All of us must do more because the consequences can be so remarkable and everlasting. This is our Father's work, and he has laid upon us a divine injunction to seek out and strengthen those in need and those who are weak. As we do so, the homes of our people will be filled with an increased measure of love; the nation, whatever nation it be, will be strengthened by reason of the virtue of such people; and the Church and kingdom of God will roll forward in majesty and power on its divinely appointed mission. Of this I testify and for this I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


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Hurricane Sandy: How Government Uses Social Media for Disaster Response
The government is using social media in innovative ways to get help where it's needed fast.
As Hurricane Sandy approaches, how are government agencies using social media to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters?
Systematic usage might include:
- "using the medium to conduct emergency communications and issue warnings";
- "using social media to receive victim requests for assistance";
- "monitoring user activities and postings to establish situational awareness"; and
- "using uploaded images to create damage estimates, among others."
In each phase, agencies are turning to a different mix of tools to help them achieve their goals. Of course, all government agencies at every level should adhere to the roles and responsibilities laid out in the National Response Framework, which lays out the responsibilities of the federal and state governments as:
- "Coordinating with private-sector and nongovernmental organizations involved in donations management and other recovery activities."
- "Establishing Disaster Recovery Centers. Federal, State, tribal, local, voluntary, and nongovernmental organizations determine the need for and location of Disaster Recovery Centers."
- "Coordinating with the private sector on restoration and recovery of CIKR [Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources]. Activities include working with owners/operators to ensure the restoration of critical services, including water, power, natural gas and petroleum, emergency communications, and healthcare."
- "Coordinating mitigation grant programs to help communities reduce the potential impacts of future disasters. Activities include developing strategies to rebuild resilient communities."
CRS's Lindsay also writes that "According to [FEMA] Administrator [Craig] Fugate, possible future applications include using smartphone-friendly mobile versions of FEMA websites to allow users to access information and request assistanceand using social media to facilitate communication between citizens, first responders, volunteer groups, the private sector, and all levels of government."
Responding Social media have dramatically changed how the government can respond in the dynamic environment of a disaster. Lindsay writes that social media can be used to:
- alert emergency managers and officials to certain situations by monitoring the flow of information from different sources during an incident;
- increase the public's ability to communicate with the government;
- [allow members of the public to communicate with one another because] information can flow in multiple directions (known as backchannel communication); and
- supplement to "911" emergency system lines.
Lindsay notes that a "study commissioned by the American Red Cross, younger people generally use social media more frequently than older segments of society. They are also more likely to request help through social media, believe agencies should monitor their postings, and have high expectations that agencies will respond quickly to their requests"
Recovering Social media has yet to play a major role in recovery efforts, Lindsay writes, but he also notes that "if FEMA adopted social media use for recovery, the agency could provide information concerning what types of individual assistance is available to individuals and households, including how to apply for assistance, announcing application deadlines and providing information and links to other agencies and organizations that provide recovery assistance, such as the American Red Cross, or Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans for homes and businesses."
The federal government's role in recovery, however, is usually circumscribed, and consists largely of coordinating and facilitating activities of local governments, nonprofits, and private-sector organizations, as noted in the excerpts from the National Response Framework (NRF), above.
There are groups that have robust social media tools to aid in recovery. One example is Hands-on-network, which, according to its Web site, "inspires, equips and mobilizes people to take action. . . ." The site offers visitors the ability to "start a project," which other people may then join.
In a slightly different vein, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) describes itself as a "forum where organizations share knowledge and resources throughout the disaster cycle-preparation, response and recovery-to help disaster survivors and their communities." Their Web site features a map where people who are interested in volunteering can find local coordination centers all across the US.
Additionally, many other organizations allow people to assist government agencies both in routine maintenance and disaster recovery. An example is SeeClickFix, which some government agencies used to collect information about the damage from Hurricane Irene. The site ran a pilot program through which citizens could not only report issues, but to self-organize to address them directly.
As part of their coordination responsibilities, government agencies could partner with groups like these during disaster recovery activities.
Perhaps the strongest case for using social media for disaster planning, response, and recovery, however, is that it is available even in the midst of almost any kind of event. Through home computers, people far from an event can keep track of the details and the latest information, and through mobile technologies, people affected by an event can communicate with first responders, each other, and their extended networks beyond the event's perimeter.