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In a 2009 segment on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart told viewers that many recession-hammered states had turned to unusual methods to raise money. "Are any of these ideas actually stupid?" Stewart wondered. Cut to Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, who described Arizona's plans to sell its state government buildings for $735 million, lease them back, and keep on using them. Quickly discerning the problem with such a maneuver, Jones confronted Arizona state senator Linda Lopez: "So you've got $735 million for this year. What happens next year, when you don't have that and you've got to pay rent?" Lopez's awkward response: "That's always the problem, but we gotta get through this year."
Arizona is hardly alone in straining budget credibility to the breaking point. Facing scary revenue drops that left their budgets dangerously unbalanced after years of runaway spending, states have employed an unprecedented number of fiscal gimmicks over the last two years to try to make up the difference. They have swiped revenues dedicated to maintaining roads or enhancing emergency medical systems; sold future lottery proceeds for cash today; grabbed unclaimed money in personal bank accounts; and redefined taxes as fees to get around constitutional limits on tax hikes. And they've justified these moves by claiming that voters are in no mood for the spending cuts or explicit tax hikes necessary to shrink deficits legitimately—even though the tricks often circumvent budget restrictions that the voters themselves enacted.
These deceptions may be fodder for TV comedians, but they are likely to have very serious consequences. Indeed, some of the fiscal problems now plaguing states result from budget ploys that legislators and governors created during earlier downturns and then failed to reverse when times got better. The ploys now support programs so generous that they've become unsustainable except through fiscal shenanigans. These never-ending budget tricks undermine democracy, mortgage the future for junkie-like quick fixes in the present, and are a bigger part of states' current fiscal nightmare than most taxpayers know.
Budget gimmicks have become more prevalent in recent years, but they're nothing new; rather, they're one side of an ongoing tug-of-war between politicians trying to keep the spending spigot open and voters trying to impose fiscal discipline on them. The tug-of-war dates from the 1920s, when New York State embraced constitutional reforms that, among other things, prohibited it from borrowing money, except to build long-term projects. The restriction paid dividends: within just a few years, investors deemed New York so creditworthy that the interest rate on its bonds was only slightly higher than that on the U.S. government's obligations. Other states soon followed with their own budget restrictions.
Sure enough, politicians quickly began trying to find ways around the limits without actually repealing them. In the mid-1930s, for instance, Pennsylvania lawmakers exempted "government-owned corporations" from state borrowing restrictions. The result was the creation of dozens of government bodies that started issuing bonds to do things once financed out of the state's general budget.
Another key moment was New York governor Nelson Rockefeller's introduction in the early sixties of "moral-obligation" borrowing. To circumvent requirements that voters approve borrowing, which until that point had always been repaid by taxes, Rockefeller started issuing bonds technically backed not by taxes but by a state promise. Rockefeller relied on the dubious concept to give state authorities a green light to raise billions of dollars for a host of pharaonic building schemes; state debt tripled in a decade, a state agency collapsed, and investors soon rejected moral-obligation debt.
The tug-of-war intensified in the 1970s, an era of tax revolts that saw activists successfully promoting spending caps to curtail fiscal irresponsibility—or so they hoped. Though California's Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978 to constrain property-tax increases, is the most famous of these laws, the Golden State actually came late to the party: bills in Indiana, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and elsewhere preceded Prop. 13 by several years.
But as with earlier reforms, politicians found inventive ways to skirt them. A 1982 study published by James Bennett and Thomas DiLorenzo in Public Choice found that budget restrictions enacted in 32 states in the 1970s did little to reduce public spending because state and local pols simply moved billions of dollars off-budget into quasi-governmental entities, largely controlled by political appointees. "The principal reason for the establishment of OBEs [off-budget enterprises] in the U.S. has been to bypass the wishes of the electorate whenever the voters express a demand for fiscal restraint," the authors noted in their groundbreaking paper. Today, only about half of all state government revenues makes it into states' main accounts and is subject to budget mandates. The rest flows into the off-budget enterprises, where voter-imposed fiscal restrictions don't apply.
And over the last couple of years, states have grown more dependent than ever on budget tomfoolery as they have faced record deficits. From 2004 through 2008, the states jacked up spending by nearly 35 percent, or about double the rate of inflation plus population growth. Then came the post-2008 economic downturn, and tax revenues plunged. Since late 2008, therefore, states have faced accumulated budget deficits of some $300 billion. Federal stimulus money helped cover about two-thirds of that yawning gap, but legislators have had to close the rest themselves. Many have resorted to methods that New York State's comptroller calls a "fiscal shell game."
One of the most common maneuvers is to fill budget holes with borrowed money. Arizona is a prime case. Since the housing bubble burst in 2007 and its economy began to contract, Arizona has borrowed approximately $2 billion, relying on new debt to close 17 percent of its budget deficits, reports the Arizona Capitol Times. Among the loans: $450 million that the state plans to pay back with future revenues from its lottery. The cost to the state over the next two decades will be about $680 million in principal and interest—and to make its payments, Arizona has already extended the life of the lottery, which must be renewed every few years, and added more games. This may turn out to be an economic deal with the devil. According to 2002 research by economist Melissa Schettini Kearney, an associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, state lotteries suck money out of the private economy, reducing household spending by nearly as much as the lotteries take in. If the projected revenue increases don't materialize, Arizona will have to pay off its debt with lottery proceeds that now fund transportation and social services.
When Arizona claimed to be selling its government buildings, it was engaging in a far more deceptive kind of borrowing—a gimmick known as "tax-exempt certificates of participation" and even more preposterous than the Daily Show correspondent realized. There was no new owner in this so-called sale. Rather, the state floated more than $1 billion of notes, promising to repay bondholders with the "rent" that it would pay to lease the buildings. Since rent, not tax revenues, technically would repay the certificates, Arizona could borrow the money, even though it exceeded the state's constitutional debt limit. Yet Arizona will pay the rent on the buildings with tax revenues, so the impact on taxpayers is exactly the same as more borrowing would have been: in this case, $1.5 billion in future taxes. "The Arizona legislature has done everything it can to pretend that life hasn't changed since the housing market collapsed, and borrowing to close its budget gaps is one good example of that," says Byron Schlomach, a fiscal analyst with the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix.
States are employing an array of other techniques that amount to borrowing without issuing debt. One strategy is simply to stop paying the bills. In Illinois, unpaid bills have reached a jaw-dropping $4.4 billion, according to the state's comptroller. California, meanwhile, famously issued nearly 450,000 IOUs, totaling $2.6 billion, in 2009. Creditors kept waiting for months included staffing firms that supplied the state with temp workers and businesses that provided technology services. Even neighboring Nevada got stuck with an IOU (for $33,383) after sending firefighters to battle California wildfires. Nationwide, states' unpaid bills have soared by nearly $100 billion, or 18 percent, since the end of 2007.
California also extracted what was essentially an interest-free loan from its taxpayers. It increased withholding rates for the state income tax for the last two months of 2009, collected about $1.7 billion, and held on to the funds (without, of course, paying any interest to the taxpayers to whom they belonged) until the next spring's tax refunds. But that move worsened California's budget problems in fiscal year 2010 because the state paid the 2009 refunds with 2010 tax revenues, leaving less to pay current bills.
Some state constitutions permit undisguised borrowing to patch budget gaps, provided the debt is quickly paid back. The problem is that it often isn't. Connecticut, for example, will close its current budget deficit with $646 million in borrowing through "economic recovery bonds," which will cost the budget an additional $131 million in interest payments. The state also borrowed money during the 2003 downturn and in the early 1990s. All this borrowing has added up: today, Connecticut's debt per capita is the nation's second-highest, and the fourth-highest as a percentage of household income.
More and more, states pay their bills with borrowed money even in good times. Take Illinois, which doesn't collect enough in taxes to finance public employees' retirements. In 2003, Illinois floated $10 billion in bonds to pay for the pensions. But then the state failed to contribute adequately to its pension funds in the subsequent boom years. Soon, it had to borrow again for the same reason: $3.5 billion in 2009 (and that adds up to $4.5 billion in future principal and interest payments). Last year, it took out yet another $4 billion loan. Meantime, Illinois is still paying off the original 2003 bond offering by diverting tax revenue from other uses. "In Illinois, politicians don't even pretend that their deficit borrowing is to preserve essential programs, like for the needy," says Jim Tobin, head of the National Taxpayers Union of Illinois. "The money is to keep paying union benefits that the state can't afford."
But untrammeled state borrowing becomes most apparent during economic downturns and the big deficits that accompany them. From 2008 through the second quarter of 2010, state and local financial liabilities, including debt outstanding and unpaid bills, swelled by some $290 billion.
Not all of the state budget trickery involves borrowing; some of it simply betrays pledges to taxpayers. One common example is "sweeps," a term that refers to shifting money from adequately funded accounts into depleted ones. In some cases, the revenues that get "swept" come from taxes and fees that politicians had promised would pay for specific tasks—maintaining roads, say, or improving emergency services, or even paying for unemployment insurance. With the transfers, however, the money gets used for something entirely different.
One tempting area for sweeps is taxes designated for upgrading 911 emergency responses. An August survey by the Federal Communications Commission reported that states redirected $135 million in these taxes last year to spending for other purposes. New York is a serial abuser: shortly after enacting a cell-phone tax to fund an emergency-services upgrade in 1991, a Buffalo News investigation found, the state began diverting the revenues, and it has been diverting them ever since. So far, New York has collected an estimated $600 million from the tax and sent just $84 million to local officials for upgrading emergency services. Today, out of every $1.20 in 911 taxes, New York uses $1 for other purposes. Many of the state's counties have been forced to levy their own 911 taxes to pay for actual upgrades.
Other states have followed New York's lead. Wisconsin finished upgrades on its 911 system, diverted $25 million of surplus funds from an emergency-services tax that was supposed to phase out when the necessary work was finished, and extended the tax. In Oregon, the state's attorney general determined that a sweep of 911 funds ran afoul of federal law; undeterred, Oregon's legislature swiped the money anyway.
Fees from expanding industries are a popular sweeps target. In Colorado, for instance, the medical-marijuana business has been growing rapidly since voters legalized it in 2000. The $90 registration fee for users is supposed to finance legal enforcement of the industry. But in 2010, then-governor Bill Ritter siphoned $9 million out of the fund to help close the state's budget gap, leaving just $1 million behind.
Fund transfers have grown so common that some states must now do "reverse sweeps"—that is, send money from their general funds back into accounts so depleted by previous sweeps that they can no longer meet their obligations. In 1991, New York created a fund to finance bridge and road construction and maintenance but quickly began transferring money out of it and borrowing to replace what had been transferred. About a third of the fund's resources now go toward debt service, a figure projected to rise to 70 percent by 2014. So New York is shifting tax dollars from its hard-pressed general fund to help pay off the transportation account's debt. No wonder a state comptroller's report labeled such maneuvers "fiscal manipulations" intended to give taxpayers a "distorted view of the State's finances."
As states have tried to get their hands on more and more dedicated funds, they've provoked intensifying opposition, including expensive legal challenges—especially in cases where states take money from accounts that aren't taxpayer-funded. New Hampshire, for instance, lost a lawsuit when it tried to seize $110 million in surpluses from a state-operated medical-malpractice insurance fund financed by doctors. In Arizona—where sweeps provoked 18 lawsuits in 2008 and 2009 alone—a judge ruled that the state broke the law when it took $160,000 from accounts intended to pay for agricultural research and financed by private donations.
Now states are even eyeing citizens' private bank accounts. If the post office repeatedly isn't able to deliver your bank statement or if your account is otherwise idle, states have long been able to grab the funds in it. But they're starting to shorten the amount of time that must pass before they do. Last year, Michigan shrank the required period from as long as 15 years to just three; the state believes that the move will yield a one-time bonanza of more than $200 million. New York, New Jersey, and other states have likewise shortened the time that money can remain unclaimed.
States have also evaded constitutional and legal limitations on tax hikes by magically redefining some taxes as "fees." In Washington State, raising taxes requires a two-thirds majority in the legislature, but raising fees requires only a simple majority. So the legislature, lacking the necessary votes to increase the tax on tickets to boxing and martial-arts events, simply renamed it a fee. "These forms of revenue boosting are covert and less likely to be noticed or to incite voter outrage," note Amber Gunn and Brett Davis, two analysts with Washington's Evergreen Freedom Foundation.
In California, however—which gets about 17 percent of its revenues from fees—voters did notice. In November, they approved Proposition 26, a ballot measure that supporters dubbed the "Stop Hidden Taxes" initiative, which requires that in the future, many kinds of items that the state has called fees will be called taxes and thus be subject to the state's constitutional requirement of a two-thirds legislative vote for approval.
During the current recession, voters have expressed outrage at public employees' rising numbers, plush salaries, and lavish benefits. States have accordingly enacted reforms to counter the power of government workers—but even these have been twisted into budget gimmicks by politicians. Illinois, to take one example, passed modest pension reforms last year that apply only to new workers, meaning that the savings from the measure won't show up for years. But the legislation also included language that let the state apply up to $300 million of those future savings toward closing this year's budget gap. The deal leaves Illinois right where it was—with a pension system only about 40 percent funded and in danger of running out of money within the next decade.
Early-retirement plans have become another vehicle for fiscal trickery. At first, the plans may seem an attractive way to downsize the government workforce. Michigan, for instance, recently passed a retirement plan to provide generous additional benefits for up to 6,400 retirees, who can step down at 59. The plan supposedly will save the state's general fund about $80 million in its first year.
Or will it? Consider some recent experiences with early retirement. Back in 2003, Connecticut embraced an early-retirement plan to reduce the state workforce by several thousand, booking the savings straightaway. But then the state rehired some 1,000 of its early retirees as temporary workers who collected salaries in addition to their pensions. By 2008, some of those "temporary" employees were still working for the state and collecting pensions, a Hartford Courant investigation discovered.
Or look at Illinois, which launched a massive early-retirement plan during the last recession, in 2002. The state originally estimated that it would cost only about $80,000 extra per retiree, but after legislators added all the union-demanded sweeteners, that price tag ballooned to $200,000. Approximately 10,000 employees rushed to take advantage of the plan, further shaking an already tottering pension system. The system's payouts to retirees rocketed in one year from $640 million to an estimated $1.6 billion. The same thing happened in New Jersey, according to a study performed by the legislature: some 4,000 workers took a 2002 early-retirement plan, which saved the state $314 million in compensation costs, but at a long-term cost of $645.4 million to the pension system. The drain of early retirements is one reason the state's pension funds are running out of money.
Politicians have figured out that these schemes aren't fiscal winners but merely another version of savings today at a steep price tomorrow. That's probably why they rarely bother to estimate the true cost of early retirements. A study by the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center found that New York State used ten different early-retirement programs between 1983 and 2002, but noted that the state had never done a cost-benefit analysis of any of them. Last year, New York offered another early-retirement plan: it ostensibly trimmed payrolls by 3,600 workers, but within a few months, a New York Post investigation found, hundreds of those workers were already on the payroll again in temp jobs while collecting retirement wages. "The 'savings' from early retirement are seldom real savings in the long run," observed Gerard Miller, a strategist with PFM Group, a public finance consulting firm, in Governing. "Ultimately, taxpayers will pay a higher bill for those early pension benefits and retiree medical benefits."
Budget gimmicks may be one-shot revenue enhancers, but their harmful effects reverberate down the years, undermining states' long-term fiscal stability. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than California's recent history. Back in 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised that the state could fix its woeful finances if voters would just approve deficit borrowing in the form of "economic recovery bonds." The voters, who had just removed Governor Gray Davis over his mismanagement of the budget, approved the bonds; the state borrowed $10.9 billion, increasing California's general debt by 31 percent. Relieved by the loans of its immediate financial squeeze, Sacramento then discarded (again) fiscal discipline, hiking spending by nearly a third, or $34 billion, over the next four years. The state found itself in another deep hole by 2008.
But California is only the most obvious example. New Jersey's current inability to pay for infrastructure improvements out of its depleted transportation fund is the result of sweeps that drained the fund to close budget gaps. Illinois' dire pension shortfalls didn't occur overnight, but worsened over years of budget tricks that the state never made right. It has been 20 years since New York, to close a budget deficit, bought Attica Prison from itself with money raised from a bond issue; today, the state is still using current tax dollars to pay off the interest.
Reformers should use the current downturn as a starting point to demand new measures that end many of these abuses. Though reforms will differ from state to state, several sensible principles should govern change. One is for states to switch from yearly budgets to balanced multiyear plans, so that legislators won't be able to employ tricks one year and ignore their consequences the next. Another is for states to tighten restrictions on borrowing to include debt issued by quasi-governmental entities and authorities. States can also increase the amount of money that their reserve accounts must hold during good economic times, which would both restrain the growth of government during the good times and provide a cushion against severe revenue falloffs in recessions. Such reforms would represent the next stage in taxpayers' never-ending battle against budget gimmicks.


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Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Banana Cake
April 17, 2006
No matter how rhapsodic I wax about my city, there are times when it's imperative to just get out. The apartment walls feel like they're inching closer every day, the city's patina looks more like filth than age-old wisdom, and my ability to deal with a full workload, dates with friends and Ben, and the semblance of an inner life flies completely out the window. As luck would have it, an escape lies just up the Hudson River. From time to time, when life in the big city overwhelms us, or when someone's birthday needs celebrating, we pack up our bags, zip to Grand Central and ride up along the river to Beacon, where Ben's mother lives.
From the back bedroom that we claimed this weekend, I could lie awake at night and hear the distant whistle of the train, raising some ancient wanderlust, and in the morning faint chirping readied me for the day. Leisurely meals around the dining table, rousing games of Uno!, and a sunny walk down Main Street where I alternately kept my eyes peeled for Pete Seeger and dreamt of renting out one of the many storefronts to open a bakery or restaurant, were some of the best parts of the weekend. But best of all was celebrating Ben's birthday with his family (though one crucial Spaniard was missing).
Nigella Lawson's article on easy baking in the New York Times several months ago proffered up a recipe for a cocoa-flavored banana cake covered with chocolate icing, fusing two of Ben's favorite things - bananas and chocolate. With high hopes after other Nigella successes in my kitchen, I figured I'd found the perfect cake for Ben, and so I packed up my springform, a bloc of Valrhona and a clutch of browning bananas before our ride upstate. It must have been Murphy's Law that on such an occasion, I was totally disappointed by the results.
The cake's crumb was dry in some spots and leaden with wet bananas in others (looking more like fruitcake than birthday cake). The cocoa flavor was masked by the large amount of mashed bananas and the rustic texture of the cake clashed entirely with the elegant and fruity icing (of which there was far too much - I poured the smooth and glossy leftovers into a pitcher to eat over ice cream). I kicked myself for not making Molly's well-tested and spectacular banana cake instead. Ben and the others, being both darlings and sweethearts, ate their slices gamely (even taking seconds, with vanilla ice cream valiantly gussying up each plate) and Ben's mother asked for the recipe, so it wasn't an unmitigated disaster. But I'd never make it again.
I don't agree with Nigella that anyone can be proficient as a baker - and perhaps that's where the problem lies. Nigella created the recipes in that article for novice bakers - and I think she did them a disservice. Baking is more difficult than making a stew - it does require more effort, a lighter touch, a bit of reverence in the kitchen. Why should novices settle for instant gratification rather than delicious results (and though she calls this cake sophisticated, I beg to differ)? Becoming a good baker takes practice, failure, and run-ins with bad recipes. One newspaper article that promises spectacular results with a dollop of sour cream and a devil-may-care attitude isn't going to do the trick.
Chocolate Banana Cake
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
For the cake:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup best-quality cocoa
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 4 very ripe bananas)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
Pinch of salt
For the icing:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1. For cake: heat oven to 325 degrees. Oil or spray a 9-inch springform cake pan and set aside. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter with olive oil. Remove pan from heat.
2. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar. Mix well. Add sour cream and mashed banana, and whisk to combine. In a small bowl or pitcher, whisk together vanilla extract, eggs and salt. Add to saucepan and whisk until smooth. Pour into cake pan.
3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Allow cake to cool on a rack for about 15 minutes, then remove springform and allow cake to cool completely before icing.
4. For icing: In a medium saucepan, combine cream, chocolate and corn syrup. Place over low heat, stirring gently with a spatula to avoid creating air bubbles, until mixture is very smooth. Place cake on a stand or a plate and spread icing over it with spatula.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Adrian Lowe
Commuters were subjected to a horrifying display of racism and threats of violence on a Melbourne bus when a French woman was abused for singing in her native tongue.
Were you there? Email email@example.com
Video footage of the incident, taken by Melbourne stand-up comedian Mike Nayna, shows three people — including a man pushing a pram — threatening the woman, calling her a c---, a dog and a bitch.
"Speak English or die, motherf---er," a middle-aged man shouted at the woman, who was sitting at the back of the bus.
He later continued: "Everyone on the bus wants to kill ya! You're gonna have to get off eventually bitch. You worked that out yet?"
He then threatened to cut off her breasts if she continued.
Mr Nayna said a woman, believed to be the partner of a man with a pram, heckled the French woman, to which she replied: "Just go; you can go now."
He said that prompted the man with the pram to shout: "I'll f---ing boxcutter you right now, dog, talk to my missus like that.
"Yeah, come on c---, get off. F---ing ding. Look at ya. You've been told about four times, get off."
When the man pushing the pram left the bus, he smashed the window closest to the woman from the outside.
The bus was a rail replacement running on the regular Frankston line from Mordialloc to Caulfield about 10.30pm on Sunday, November 11.
Mr Nayna said it was worrying how the abusers fed off each other and became a mob.
"It didn't make any sense. There was no logic," he said.
"It was just weird mob mentality. They were feeding off each other and breaking off into rants and encouraging each other over some racist stuff — it was like a bonding session."
Mr Nayna, who has light-brown skin, said at one point he tried to stop the fracas but he was also abused with a rant about how black people should sit at the back of the bus.
Another passenger offered one of the abusers his fishing knife and gave him a beer.
"Then he went off on a tangent about filleting people and saying 'They're just scared c---- at the back of the bus," Mr Nayna said.
Mr Nayna said Victoria Police had contacted him about the footage and would speak to them later on Wednesday.
He said he had uploaded the footage to shame those involved and who were featured in the video into realising what they had done.
"I don't care about these people, I feel like they can reap what they sow, so good luck to them, but what I'd prefer to do is ... show how embarrassing it is and get people talking about that maybe racism is a problem," Mr Nayna said.
"I want those people to see it and hopefully it will change the way they think by being shamed.
"There were just a lot of scared faces and confusion ... there was just no sense to be made of it."
The video has had more than 300,000 views on YouTube and has drawn attention of media outlets across the world.
In 2010, three men were the first in Victoria charged with inciting racial hatred, accused of verbally and physically assaulting an Indian man on a bus between Frankston and Rye. All three had charges against them dropped last year.


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Novorussian officials have called a press conference today to warn about the high risks of an Ukronazi assault on Novorussia in the very near future. I have asked our translation team and friends to subtitle the video of this press conference and I hope to get it in the next 24 hours or less.
The press conference was unique in that Edward Basurin, the Deputy Defense Minister and spokesman for the Novorussian armed forces showed a map with what he described as the Ukrainian attack plans:
While I don't doubt for one second that the Novorussians have pretty much near perfect intelligence about the situation in the Nazi-occupied Ukraine and the plans of the junta (all that provided courtesy of the Russian GRU), I have to say that what this maps shows is extremely predictable too and not fundamentally different from what the Ukronazis tried last year: surrounding and cutting off Donetsk from Lugansk and taking control of key parts (or even all) of the Ukrainian-Russian border. Basurin also quoted the figures for the junta forces and those are in line with what others, including Cassad, have reported. The Ukronazi force is most definitely numerically large.
Basurin also warned that the attack would be preceded by a false flag attack organized by the junta and blamed on the Novorussians. Again, nothing new here.
To be honest, we are all getting used to 'cry wolf' about an impending Ukronazi attack. And this is hardly our fault. Such an attack has, indeed, been impending for a long while already and the junta's bellicose rhetoric has only reinforced this sense of imminent danger. Furthermore, the recent visit of the British Defense Minister in Kiev only made things worse as the junta always does something ugly when western dignitaries visit Kiev. Add to this that Poroshenko is scheduled to meet with his German and French counterparts next week and the sense of crisis will be total. And logically so.
So while the tensions are real and definitely based in reality, they are also nothing new here, really. You could also legitimately that all this panic is nothing else but business as usual and that it will remain so until the regime of Nazi freaks in Kiev is finally replaced by something more or less civilized. This will inevitably happen but, alas, not in the near future.
So we are left with this exhausting and frustrating situation where yet another Ukronazi attack might happen anytime but where it also might not. That is the inevitable consequence of having evil, weak and insecure psychopaths in charge of an entire country.
Yesterday a rumor was started indicating that the Novorussians were planning to organize a referendum to join Russia. I still don't know if that rumor is based in reality or not, but I will note that this kind of rumor could also serve as a perfect pretext for a Ukronazi attack.
It is clear to me that something has to give, probably soon. The Ukrainian economy is dead, the stocks of basic goods and energy for next winter are empty, the country is in ruins and social tensions are on the raise everywhere. I personally cannot image that regime change could happen in Kiev before at least one more attack on Novorussia. The junta really has nothing left to lose and by massing a large attack force, regardless of how ill prepared this force is, and at least the theoretical such an attack could possibility draw Russia in and, thereby, save the Ukronazi junta in Kiev.
Nobody in Kiev is seriously thinking that they can occupy Donetsk or Lugansk or pacify the Donbass. Everybody is pretending otherwise, but that ain't happening. Everybody in Kiev is fully aware of the fact that the Donbass is lost forever. So I will repeat this again: the real purpose of an attack will not be to 'reconquer' Novorussia, it will be to draw Russia into the Donbass. How?
Well, in theory, if the junta can launch enough men and armor to overwhelm the Novorussian defenses and if these forces succeed in surrounding Donetsk and Lugansk, Russia will really have no other option than to intervene. Of course, the Russians will easily defeat the Ukronazi forces, in 24 hours or less, but at that point the Nazi regime in Kiev will be saved: it will be able to declare full mobilization, blame every difficulty in Russia, crush any resistance with even more brutality than before and politically force all the US allies to provide aid to the regime in Kiev. The regime itself, by the way, would be safe as, contrary to the hopes of many, the Russians will not push much beyond the current line of contact. At most they will liberate Mariupol and or Slaviansk/Kramatrosk as a "penalty" for the Ukronazi attack. The junta in Kiev will remain safe, at least from the Russians.
The real danger for the junta does not come from the Russian military, but from the disillusioned and impoverished Ukrainian people with whom the regime will remain "one on one" unless the Russians intervene. And as long as this situation will remain like this, a Ukronazi attack will possibly at any moment. Starting right now.
The Saker


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Emacs: Automating the insertion of text
| emacsAs the VP Education of Toast I.T. Toastmasters in downtown Toronto, I'm responsible for assigning people roles in upcoming meetings and confirming these roles by e-mail. We currently do our scheduling in a spreadsheet. Copying and pasting the roles for the spreadsheet results in the following text:
Ari Caylakyan Anthony D'Costa Chris Charabaruk Michael Chan Chris Charabaruk Chris Charabaruk Khalid Ghaffar Natasha Guigova Ari Caylakyan - C&L 5 Anthony D'Costa Jackie Achonu Sacha Chua
Adding role descriptions to this was a bit of a pain, so I wrote a
short Emacs Lisp function that inserted descriptions if and only if
there was a corresponding person assigned to that role.
(defun sacha/toast-add-roles () "Add role descriptions." (interactive) (mapcar (lambda (item) (goto-char (line-beginning-position)) (unless (looking-at "^[ \t]*$") (insert item ": ")) (forward-line 1)) '("President" "Toastmaster" "Sgt at Arms" "Timekeeper" "Ah-counter" "Grammarian" "Table-topics Master" "General Evaluator" "" "Educational Speaker" "Guest Speaker" "Speaker #1" "Evaluator #1" "Speaker #2" "Evaluator #2" "Speaker #3" "Evaluator #3")))
Next step: Personalized e-mail that highlights upcoming roles, just as
I wrote Emacs Lisp functions to make it easier to send students
personalized feedback on their programs.
That's one of the coolest things about Emacs – it's so easy to automate tasks.
You can comment with Disqus or you can e-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
New to BASIX? The details below will help you get started:
How to get a BASIX Certificate?
In order to obtain a BASIX Certificate to submit with your development application and/or complying development certificate, you need to complete the online BASIX assessment. Follow our suggested steps to complete this process:
1. Download and read the Data Input Checklist
This provides you with a list of the information you will require to complete the BASIX assessment tool. Use this list to gather all relevant information before starting the BASIX assessment.
- Data Input Checklist for Single Dwellings (pdf 257kb)
- Data Input Checklist for Multi-Dwellings (pdf 105kb)
2. First time users, register your details
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All season long, and through the post season as well, Benjamin Cardozo senior pitcher Keith Rodgers has been literally unbeatable.
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But a fatigued Rodgers found himself in a pickle in the sixth after walking two batters. With two outs, he gave up a single, which scored one run and tied the game at 1-1. It seemed as though Rodgers could have his first loss of the year in the most important game.
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The win became extra emotional when players began signing happy birthday on the field for head coach Ron Gorecki. Gorecki, who has coached high school baseball for more than four decades around city schools, admitted has never had a team like the 2014 Benjamin Cardozo Judges.
There are a few standouts— specifically seniors Rodgers, Campbell and Lim— but otherwise the team doesn't have many superstars. So Gorecki works on a system of "synergy," which he describes as players substituting for others' weaknesses and working together. He attributed the win to his team philosophy.
"The real bottom line here is that we are synergy, this team is built on synergy," Gorecki said. "We have guys that can run, we have guys that can't run, we have guys that can throw, we have guys that can't throw. So what they do is they substitute for one another."


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Android Phones For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
A colorful guide to make your Android phone do your bidding The popularity of Android phones is simply exploding, so it's a perfect time for popular For Dummies author Dan Gookin to update his bestselling guide to all things Android phones. From setup and configuration to taking advantage of the latest amazing Android features, this practical resource is designed to make new Android users comfortable and to help veterans get the more out of their Android phone. Covering features that are common to the most popular Android phones, this book walks you through the basics of making calls, using the touchscreen, sending e-mails and texts, browsing the Internet, using the camera, staying in touch with social media, and so much more. Includes the Android essentials such as texting, e-mailing, accessing the Internet, using maps, taking photos, recording video, synching with a PC, troubleshooting, and more Shows how to expand your phone's potential with the latest apps, music, movies, e-books, TV shows, and games available from Google Play Covers Android smartphones from leading manufactures including HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, and LG to name a few Android Phones For Dummies, 2nd Edition is your one-stop guide to getting things done and learning the ins and outs of your Android smartphone.


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A Christian apologetics ministry dedicated to demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible through archaeological and biblical research.
Excerpt Since mid-June, 2006 there has been a flurry of reports in the media and on the Internet about the possible discovery of Noah's Ark on a mountain in northern Iran. Robert Cornuke has now focused on what is perhaps the biggest target of all, both literally and figuratively – Noah's Ark... Continue reading
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And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. – Genesis 11:1–2 (KJV)
The Media Blitz Since mid-June, 2006 there has been a flurry of reports in the media and on the Internet about the possible discovery of Noah's Ark on a mountain in northern Iran. Robert ("Bob") Cornuke, who has previously claimed to have found such notable things as the true Mount Sinai, the place of Paul's shipwreck off the coast of Malta, and the location of the Ark of the Covenant, has now focused on what is perhaps the biggest target of all, both literally and figuratively – Noah's Ark. In brief, on a mountain known locally as Takht-e Suleiman in the Alborz (also spelled Elborz or Elburz) range of northern Iran, Cornuke and his team found an "unusual object" at the 13,120-foot elevation which is currently (7/16/06) described on his website (http://www.baseinstitute.org/noah.html) as "dark rock with an uncanny beam-like appearance in several places," having a texture and color unique to the area, and of the approximate dimensions of Noah's Ark. Cornuke adds that some samples were tested by an independent lab and "showed signs of petrified wood," though what those signs were has not yet been announced, and these signs evidently did not apply to the entire object. There was additionally a second finding of wood near the summit that may be from a shrine, reportedly dated to 500 years old. Cornuke says he is not making outright claims that his Iranian find IS the Ark. In the current information posted on his website he notes, "I have been careful to position all comments that I am not claiming to conclusively to have found the ark." That demonstrates what I think is appropriate restraint. It is far improved from what characterized the initial press barrage and commentary. For example, on June 14 a man named Bill Wilson apparently jumped the gun on the "official" announcement and opined on the watch.org website, "Cornuke found what is believed to be Noah's Ark, nearly intact." That posting was subsequently pulled, but as this is written a copy of that first message can still be found at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1649864/posts. Brannon Howse, apparently the primary publicity agent for the find, chose to title his web report at http://www.arkfever.com, "Noah's Ark? For Real." In it he quoted one team member, Arch Bonnema, as saying, "These beams not only look like petrified wood, they are so impressive that they look like real wood – this is an amazing discovery that may be the oldest shipwreck in recorded history." So effective was the promotional push that, as Howse notes, it even got Cornuke on Fox News Channel with John Kasich, Good Morning America, and The Michael Reagan Show. Other media sources soon picked up the story, which was widely distributed. A typical report on this discovery is that from WorldNetDaily, online at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50857. Among the things noted there was, "With the discovery of wood splinters and broken pottery at the remote 15,300-foot level, the team says it also found evidence that ancients considered it an important worship site for hundreds, if not thousands of years." It seems clear that the conclusion one is expected to draw from that statement is that the site was important due to the presence of Noah's Ark. In short, though there was a great deal of initial hyperbole surrounding the find, Cornuke and his team have since toned down the rhetoric. Not entirely, however; as this is written, the heading of the photo section of his website (http://www.baseinstitute.org/noaharkpics1.html) still reads, "Photos from the PROBABLE site of Noah's Ark" (my emphasis). "Possible" would be a much more appropriate word! Since I have a cynical streak when it comes to marketing, I also remain a bit disturbed by the thought that the initial sensationalism was a calculated step to garner widespread free publicity, giving the story the kind of high profile which opens doors for speaking opportunities and selling future books and videos, despite a lack of really persuasive evidence that would stand the tests of time and skeptical analysis. But only God and Cornuke and his team know for sure. Evidence for an Iranian Location Let's lay the groundwork for this study by first noting Cornuke's six primary reasons for putting forth his find as possibly being Noah's Ark on an Iranian mountain. As his website presents them, they are: 1. Ararat refers to a region of mountains, not just a single mountain. 2. Ararat is east of Shinar (Babylon). 3. Ararat is east of Lake Urmiah (also spelled Urmia) in Iran. 4. Other ancient writers put the Ark in Iran. 5. A British explorer in 1894, and an American soldier in 1943, confirm local Iranians believed the Ark landed on Takht-i-Suleiman (east of Lake Urmiah); the British explorer claimed to see a wooden shrine, and the American soldier claimed to see the Ark. 6. BASE Teams in 2005 and 2006 find possible evidence of the shrine and the Ark on Takht-i-Suleiman. Cornuke also notes,
As we offer our possible scenarios about biblical history, we are unapologetically excited about what we believe we have discovered. We believe that others, meanwhile, are free to hold opinions of their own, and that they should be excited about those as well. We leave it to students of the Bible and of history to do enough investigation of their own to formulate their own educated opinions.
It is highly unlikely that the descendents of Noah would migrate from the traditional Mount Ararat in Turkey to the Mesopotamia plain. If they did so, they would have had to traverse impassable mountain ranges to eventually come from the east. The Assyrian invaders found it impossible to cross these mountain ranges thus it would seem that the descendents of Noah would find it equally difficult. If the descendents of Noah traveled from the traditional Mount Ararat in Turkey, then they would have traveled an easy path down the Euphrates River, which eventually pours into the Mesopotamia Valley. This North to South direction would be a contradiction of Genesis 11:2. Noah's descendents journeyed from the east, which only allows for a Northern Iran interpretation.
Jeremiah 51:27 suggests that Ararat is adjacent to Minni (which is east of Lake Urmiah). It states, Lift up a signal in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations! Consecrate the nations against her, Summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. (NKJV) This prophecy by Jeremiah is referring to Cyrus who attacked Babylon in 539 BC. The Scripture specifically says "set up a banner in the land, blow the trumpet amongst the nations." This means that Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenas were closely aligned, not only politically but geographically. Minni or Minnai was a territory lying south and east of Lake Urmiah. The Ashkenas were also known as the Scythians who occupied the Mukan steppe of Azerbaijan. This means that a more likely sight (sic) for Ararat would be east of Lake Urmiah in close proximity to Minni and Ashkenaz (my emphasis).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia agrees with the aforementioned hypothesis that the Ark of Noah would lie in a distinct mountainous region: "The Ark is said to have rested upon the mountains of Ararat, i.e., in the mountainous region of Armenia, the plural showing that the mountain peak known as Ararat was not referred to, this peak lies outside the general region." This also makes sense in light of Genesis 8:5 which states: And the water decreased steadily until the tenth month. And on the first day of the month the tops of the mountains became visible. (NKJV) This verse indicates that other mountain peaks became visible subsequent to the ark of Noah landing on the mountains of Ararat. In the Elborz Mountains of Northwestern Iran, there are fifteen peaks over 14,000 feet. Conversely, Mount Ararat virtually stands alone in Eastern Turkey. The Elborz Mountains seem to line up better with this verse than Mount Ararat.
Takht-e Soleyman "The Throne of Solomon" is the holiest shrine of Zoroastrianism and the former Sassanid Empire. On 3 July 2003, twenty-four sites were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List; one of these sites was the Takht-e Soleyman. It is a World Heritage Site located near the modern town of Takab, West Azarbaijan in Iran.
The name of this mountain is so well known from its mythical, geographical, and ethnological associations, that it may interest some of the readers of the geographical journal, to know that its summit has been reached by Europeans…Many legends attach to it. According to some, Noah's ark alighted here after the deluge.
I was first directed to Mount Suleiman when a man named Ed Davis personally told me that he was taken to an object there (my emphasis) and told that the object was the actual ark of Noah. The men who showed him were from the Lur tribe, an indigenous people in Iran. Ed Davis was working at the time for the Army corps of Engineers stationed in Iran. He was building roads for supply lines from the Persian Gulf to assist the war effort. He was an engineer so it was easy for him to reconstruct a map of the site where he was shown the object. He did not know the mountain's name, but later, he could describe in detail on a map the route and terrain.
One afternoon, as they loaded trucks at a rock quarry near Hamadan, Davis asked Badi where he lived. Badi pointed nonchalantly toward a great range of snowcapped mountains towering in the northern horizon. "That's where I grew up," Badi said. He told Davis the mountains held a sacred, closely guarded secret. Located near the summit of the most imposing peak and locked beneath a year-round glacier, he said, sat the frozen remains of Noah's ark. Davis raised an eyebrow, but Badi remained adamant. "My family has been to the ark," he insisted. "My grandfather has taken me up to see it."
We uh were building a way station at Hamadan for these truck drivers. Abas was the father, and his son uh was from a group that had turned out to be excellent truck drivers. So uh one day we were loading rock and we looked toward the mountain and you could see it very plain with its little white cap on top. And I said "Mt. Arat." "Oh, yeah, yeah that's where his home was." And I said "that's where the ark is." "Yeah" his daddy knew where it was and went up there quite often.
He agreed to accompany his friend to the sacred mountain and secured a short leave of absence. A few days later they bought supplies – three barrels of gas, a case of motor oil, and some coffee – and set out from Hamadan in an army-issue truck. Driving all day and into the night, without a map, Davis noted a number of Russian encampments on the route north and paid casual notice to an otherwise indistinct town Badi pointed out called Casbeen (italics in the original).
So I went to the co. commander and uh told him what was going on. He said I can't do that, said I'd get murdered. And uh I said boy I'd sure like to go. He said I know you would. So I started to walk off and he said listen, he said uh I guess I could send you to Tehran and you could take a delay en route and get up there. And so that uh he said get your truck greased and get an extra barrel of gas and a case of oil and some extra tires so you'd be prepared. So uh it didn't take long to get things goin. So Abas and I left we went almost to Hamadan and to Kazmin and then turned there and went up paralleling the Russian border for quite aways. And then we got in the foothills and sometime after dark uh we arrived at this village but he said that this is the village where Noah drank the wine and got drunk.
[Source: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/persian/photos/map2.jpg] An even clearer map is found at http://www.o5m6.de/persian.html for those interested in seeing a large relief map that includes the WW II roads. The point I am trying to make is that we see Bob Cornuke's "filters" very obviously displayed in these two excerpts from his book, to the point where it sounds like he is practically rewriting parts of Davis' story to match his own presuppositions. Those filters also allow him to overlook the fact that there are numerous little details in Davis' testimony that are only known to be true of Turkey's Mount Ararat. For example, some of the landmarks described by Davis, such as a "St. Jacob's Well" and a cave that Lawrence of Arabia hid in (while spying on TURKS in WW I, not Iranians), cannot be reconciled with an Iranian site. Rex Geissler, on http://noahsarksearch.com/iran.htm, presents a list of 20 aspects of the Ed Davis testimony that are difficult to reconcile with an Iranian site. The Tale of the Polygraph Tape A very significant detail that is little appreciated by Ark researchers, not even by Cornuke who highly values that Davis passed his lie detector test, lies in the specific questions asked of Ed Davis during the test. Dr. Don Shockey, the man who first learned about Davis' Ark adventure and brought him to the attention of others, has shared in B.J. Corbin's book, The Explorers of Ararat and the Search for Noah's Ark, the questions asked during the polygraph test. From page 109, here are the exact questions, emphasis mine: 1. Are you lying when you state that you were taken to Mt. Ararat by Abas and his seven sons? 2. Are you lying when you state that you climbed Mt. Ararat on horseback and on foot? 3. Are you lying when you state that the object you saw was broken in half? 4. Are you lying when you state that the structure was exposed between 100 and 200 feet? 5. Are you lying when you state that you saw a large wooden structure high on Mount Ararat? 6. Are you lying when you state that no one ever told you about the Ark other than Abas and the Bible? By my count, no less than three of these questions specifically name Mount Ararat, and, as Shockey makes clear, he truthfully answered NO to each of them with no stress demonstrated. This ought to indicate to the unbiased observer that there was no question in Davis' mind that he went to Mount Ararat. "The Testimony of Two or Three..." One other thing which disturbs me is that Cornuke has, to all appearances, chosen to intentionally ignore the eyewitness stories of many others, but most particularly (in my humble opinion) those of Armenian George Hagopian and White Russian Army officer Alexander Koor. These two men unambiguously located their sightings on Turkey's Mount Ararat. Cornuke passes over their stories, as well as those of all other alleged eyewitnesses, in complete silence. He focuses exclusively on the slightly more ambiguous testimony of Ed Davis as support for an Iranian site (though Davis' story is consistent with those of Hagopian and Koor – see http://www.noahsarksearch.com/riddleofararat.htm). For those not familiar with these two men, George Hagopian was a native of Van, an important Armenian city. As a small boy he claimed to have gone twice to Mount Ararat in the general time period 1905–1908 and not only to have seen, but even to have climbed onto the Ark. He related that he was herding sheep on the slopes of Masis – the Armenian name for Ararat, which absolutely pinpoints his location there – and his uncle took him up the mountain to see the Ark, which he described as shaped like a flat-bottomed barge, matching the description given by Davis. After the onset of the Armenian Holocaust, he emigrated to America and become a respected businessman in Baltimore. His story is recounted in detail in The Explorers of Ararat, pp. 65–69 and 368–374. Some information can also be found online at http://www.arkonararat.com. Alexander Koor was another reputable man whose story clearly places him on Turkey's Mount Ararat. A colonel in the White Russian Army in 1915, shortly before the Bolshevik Revolution, he confirmed the story of Russian flyers who had flown over the mountain and reported seeing an object buried in the ice. The Czar then commissioned two expeditions, one with 50 men and another with 100. Koor related that these expeditions found the Ark, took photographs and measurements, and made maps of the area. He stated that he saw their findings when they came down from the mountain. Unfortunately, the documentation sent back to the Czar was lost during the Bolshevik Revolution. Koor, however, vouched for the event as an eyewitness. Those who met him found him to be a man of sterling character, and could not imagine him lying about this matter. Besides these two men – who, like Davis, did not bring attention to themselves to "cash in" on their stories, thereby increasing their credibility – Ark researcher Rex Geissler, on his website at http://www.noahsarksearch.com/Eyewitnesses.htm, has compiled a list of some 38 other eyewitness testimonies which almost unanimously point to Turkey's Mount Ararat as the location of the Ark. An honest scholar needs to deal with all of these testimonies in an upfront way, but to the best of my knowledge Cornuke has not done so. He only references Ed Davis, despite the Biblical injunction that we should have at least two or three witnesses for something to be considered a fact (Deut. 17:6, 19:15; Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1). If one looks over the Geissler list, a noteworthy pattern can be seen that deserves comment – the multiple alleged sightings during the 1940s by American servicemen during World War II. With the exception of Davis, all were from aircraft. Given that American planes were criss-crossing the entire area at that time supporting the war effort, a pointed question must be asked: Why is there not one single reputed aircraft sighting of an Ark candidate on any mountain other than Mount Ararat? Surely there were overflights of Mount Suleiman, Sabalon, Damavand and other peaks, both prominent and obscure, during this time – but there is not one single mention of a suspicious boat-like shape on any of them, only on Ararat. To me, that silence speaks volumes. Conclusions For the above and other reasons which space does not allow me to deal with, it appears that Bob Cornuke's "filters" have prevented him from dealing fairly with much information which does not fit into his "Ark in Iran" hypothesis. When such data are considered, they raise great doubt that he has found anything related to Noah's Ark on Takht-e Suleiman. I would love to see his find hold up to close scrutiny so it can be used as a witness to the world of the trustworthiness of the Bible, but if I – who, as a brother in Christ, am "on his team" – can come up with this many problems in identifying the find on Mount Suleiman with the Ark, we can be sure that an unfriendly, secular world full of dyed-in-the-wool skeptics will find many more reasons to reject it. The best I think he can hope for is that many will want to hear his story as an adventure tale – but that may be enough for him, an expected benefit of the aggressive promotion of the site at the beginning. I just hope that in view of the many problems that have come to light, he presents his audiences with the FULL story, warts and all. Rick Lanser graduated with an M.Div. from Biblical Theological Seminary, and serves as Webmaster and Editorial Assistant on the ABR staff. The search for Noah's Ark is his passion.
Recommended Resources for Further Study The Bible and Spade CD ROM Explorers of Ararat The Genesis Record
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It's down to the wire for the lame-duck session of Congress with Democrats still in control but drastically weakened by Republican victories the midterm elections. We get a preview. Also, Charlie Rangel is found guilty of ethics violations, and the heir to the British throne has finally done it. We hear about Prince William's engagement to a genuine commoner, Kate Middleton.
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'Duffy Dock' Proposed as Alternative to Moorings
Byline: Ambrosia Brody
NEWPORT BEACH — There may be a solution to the angst experienced by sailors transiting the sometimes congested channels and mooring fields of Newport Harbor, according to Marshall Duffield, the creator of Duffy electric boats.
His experience with trying to navigate through the crowded harbor, mixed with his knowledge of local waters and the boat-building industry, led to a recent "ah-ha moment."
"I see the future of boat storage changing," he said. "Marina owners are replacing their old docks to provide space for 50-footers and even longer (boats,) if they have room. The dock I propose would allow for different sizes, as demand comes and goes."
Duffield presented an idea to replace Newport Harbor's existing moorings with individual fiberglass docks at the March 13 Newport Beach Harbor Commission meeting. The move, he believes, would "condense" areas currently taken up by mooring fields and open up the bay waterways.
"Essentially cutting all the mooring fields by 50 percent while keeping the same number of permitted holders would add back precious open water for everyone, instead of a chosen few," he said. "Here's a chance to make the harbor bigger — and the moorings safer and more practical for boating."
Each of Duffield's proposed all-fiberglass docks — called a "Duffy Dock" — would be 6 feet wide and 50 feet long, with an option to construct an additional 10 feet of dock to accommodate larger vessels. Vessels on moorings now average from 35 to 40 feet in length.
The proposed docks would have the capability of accommodating several vessels of different sizes: for example, as many as six 20-foot boats, Duffield told the Harbor Commission during his presentation.
Duffield said there are several advantages to the fiberglass dock system, including low-maintenance construction. The dock will not rot, will be durable, will be unsinkable and will contain built-in sea lion deterrents, he explained.
Built to allow light to penetrate to the ocean floor, the docks are designed to have nontoxic ceramic bottom coating to detract barnacle growth. They will also include LED lighting for security and aid to navigation, and they will contain solar panels for battery charging.
Boater amenities such as freshwater and shore power hookups, and storage dock boxes are proposed for each dock. "Securing your boat easily to a safe dock with electricity and water would go along way in helping to justify the cost," Duffield said.
The hookup-equipped docks would provide boaters with a place to wash down their vessels and refill their water tanks, Duffield said. "Boats need at least one washdown per month, to protect their value and usability, however boats on moorings rarely get washed."
The docks also would have non-corroding composite pilings made from fiberglass rods and recycled plastics, as opposed to concrete and steel piles that can corrode, Duffield said. And twice-yearly maintenance of mooring tackle would no longer be required, he said.
In his presentation to harbor commissioners, Duffield showed images of the current mooring field configurations, along with images of what the fields would look like if the city switched over to the fiberglass docks.
Images of Newport Harbor Yacht Club's single-point dock were also shown to commissioners. The Duffy Dock concept is similar to the yacht club's single point mooring dock, which has thus far proved successful.
Along with having corrosion-free fiberglass construction, the Duffy Dock's single-point system would solve other frustrations often voiced by boaters, Duffield explained. Spreader lines that are currently hazards to powerboat props and sailboat keels would no longer be an issue — and mooring uses would not have to worry about trying to catch both their boat's bow and stern lines, which can be a challenge during windy nights.
A side-tie floating dock is projected to cost $5,000, however, that price may be reduced if two or more boats share the dock. "I think this is the most positive thing that the Harbor Commission has seen in 11 years," said Harbor Commissioner Ralph Rodheim. "We have talked about floating marinas, we have talked about how to open up the marina for children and Sabots and sailboats and motorboats in everything that we have done, and we know from Newport Harbor Yacht Club's experiment that a floating dock works. At face value and conceptually, I think it is absolutely fabulous."
Harbor commissioners praised the idea in concept, but they agreed that more vetting was necessary before the idea could be presented to city council members.
Among the issues that may be raised: Liveaboards would have neighbors if they were tied up to floating docks, and residents would no longer have views of single boats bobbing on moorings but instead would see a cluster of boats tied to a dock.
When Harbor Commission chairman Doug West asked if Duffield had a prototype of the dock ready to show the commission, the Newport Beach resident explained one was not currently under construction. He hopes to receive some insight and the go-ahead from the city council before embarking on the intricate construction of a prototype.
Otherwise, "this may not make it out the door," Duffield said, adding that the project that would require a large investment of funding and time.
The prototype is projected to cost between $10,000 and $15,000.
However, a day after the Harbor Commission meeting, Duffield decided to forge ahead and build a prototype of the Duffy Dock. A patent is pending on the dock design.
"We decided to do it," Duffield said, adding that the idea may be "a tad self-serving" because he wants to be able to use the dock himself. The experienced boater said he has had trouble in the past with mooring his sailboat.
"The current that I experience off Bayshores gets to be so radical, I struggle at times to get on my mooring," he said. "Having a dock is much more practical."
Duffield said the difficulties sailors face when tying up to their moorings can sometimes make boaters decide to skip a day out on the water, to skip the hassle. And mooring holders may face the same quandary Duffield has found himself in: Should they sell the mooring and move to a slip, or hold onto their coveted mooring?
Duffield anticipates building the Duffy Dock prototype this summer. Construction could take up to three months.
"This is a very intriguing idea that might change the economics in the harbor," West said. "This would offer a better option for people who have to write a slip check every month."
West, along with harbor commissioners Brad Avery and Rodheim, agreed to discuss the new option with representatives from the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol and the Newport Mooring Association. The subcommittee will return to the commission with ideas on how to implement with the new dock concept.
The presentation will be posted on the Newport Mooring Association web page (newportmooringassociation.org) for public viewing. Newport Mooring Association members and other harbor users are encouraged to email the association with their comments regarding the fiberglass dock idea, said Bill Moses, who sits on the association's board of directors.
"This would set the stage for a modern Newport Harbor — and, with the raising of the taxes, this is the first thing that I've seen where the city is thinking outside the box," Rodheim said. "Here is the city doing something positive for the boaters."
The offshore dock concept would need the city council's approval for implementation.


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When the valve guides are badly worn it's time to replace them and this is a routine overhaul job. That said I am increasingly of the view that very high precision with valve guide manufacture and fitting is imperative. Valve guides are getting smaller and smaller (some 16v models have 10-11mm OD guides and 5mm valve stems. I am going to say from the outset that I am not a fan at all of guide inserts. I cannot see the sense in boring out a thin-walled guide and putting an insert down it. That just weakens an already weak thing. Nuff said on that.
A new valve to guide running fit might be anything from 0.0005" to 0.002" but checking how loose/worn used ones are is very much down to experience. Having OE data helps, because they will cite a limit. Often the best way is compare a new valve and guide with an old pair, waggle the valve with the valve at 1cm lift and see how loose it is. Worn guides lead to excessive oil consumption, and tip-rock damage to bucket, and the more worn they are the more cast iron guides are to fracture around the stem seal region. In the extreme, a badly worn guide can allow the valve to hit the edge of the piston valve relief.
Remember the valve stem must be in good condition or you are wasting your time with new guides. A worn stem will damage a new guide very quickly. Check the stems with a digital micrometer and compare with OE data. You should polish the old stems in a drill or lathe if using old valves using fine Scotchbrite. A low power drill is safest. Mind you don't get your fingers trapped.
Guides are best removed by pressing - in either direction. This can be more difficult than it sounds. It certainly helps some if - before commencing, you decarbonise and hot wash the head and soak the old guides in penetrating oil. You also must use a press (with at least 2 ton press capacity) and a robust jig set up at the right angle. Pressing the guides off centre - or worse - knocking them out with an air hammer or club hammer - can cause damage to the guide bore that will show later when you regrind the valve seats. Which you must do - new guides always throw the valve off centre relative to the seat. A well-pressed guide should come out perfectly intact and leave little by way of damage to the guide bore.
Thick guides like 8V/16V Fiat/Lancia models (14/15mm nominal OD) are no problem to press out from the combustion chamber end. Some models like the thin-wall 11mm OD guides in the Vauxhall 16v have a rather fragile bullet-nose and will just fracture if you try to press them from the cc end, and so I always press from the seal end having machined off the seal region first. Ford Zetec guides are such a loose fit they come out easily on their own. Models like Rover 220 are fantastically tight and I have a special rig for doing them.
New guides & sizes
Regarding the effect of bore-guide fit:
1. The guide bore does not alter significantly from the as-bored factory condition, despite having had a guide pressed into it and having run for years. During factory fit, the guide bore swells within its elastic limit and generates hoop stress, after removal of guide it closes up again. In other words the guide bore - although fractionally out-of-round here and there - will accept a new guide of the same outer diameter (OD) as it had before. Certainly on the 1st overhaul anyway, at later overhauls you really need to check the bore for deviation as pressing can tear metal out of the guide bore.
2. Having got the old guides out measure each one and look out for any oversize. If you have a bore gauge measure the bores in the head and compare the two to examine the fit. It will normally be about 0.002". Fiat for example quote 2-4thou" for guide-head fits, myself I'd rather be nearer 2 thou.
3. Compare the new guides with the old ones. I might typically produce my own race guides with a slightly bigger OD than the originals, say +0.001 because honing them out if they are tight in situ is much more satisfactory than a loose fit. A tight fitting guide will tend to close up and you might not be able to get the valve thru it when fitted (even if it was fine prior to that), this is usual.
4. Be aware the many manufacturers produce oversize guides. These are not meant to be pressed straight into the head, they are for heads where the guide bore (in the head) has been rebored to suit. If you press a guide in that is much more than 0.001-0.002" bigger than the original you can easily split the head open. And remember that bronze material guides will deform and accommodate tightness much more readily than cast iron ones. Moreover the tighter the guide the more likely you are to induce damage to guide during fitting..
New Guides - what to look for
1. Check that the guides are same size or say 0.0005-0.001" bigger than the old ones, no bigger. If the guides are too big you can carefully polish them down yourself in a lathe or press-drill using 220 grade tape wrapped on a flat file, but you must be consistent in removal or you'll generate a taper. It is vital to survey the diameter with a digital micrometer as you go. Thinking they are fine when in fact there is no consistency in diameter or parallel might is great until you come to the seat grinding op and the things are miles out of concentricity with the seat. If you can find a machine shop who can regrind them between centres (accurately) then that's great. But I stress 'if'....
2. New guides (and I never fit cast iron, just too brittle for racing) should be dimensionally checked unless they are OE. OE are never wrong in the sense that they will certainly be up to the job. If you just buy aftermarket guides (and there are some horrors on sale these days) and fit them without checking you only have yourself to blame if the new setup is just as bad as the old one (or worse, and yes, I have see it). In terms of checks I measure:
Valve to guide fit; OD - all over - it can vary on poorly produced guides; variance on ID end to end; OD and bore finish; parallelism; stem seal fit; nose shape - can it be improved?
A word or two on race guide bores and finish.
Bronze guides are NOT easy to make. The surface finish all over should be 2.0 Ra or better. Rough guides are no use to anyone. The best have a ground OD and a precision bored or drilled/precision reamed ID. It's very difficult to precision bore much smaller than 8mm because the boring tool gets jammed with swarf and can shear off. And the longer the guide the worse the problem.
With all turning (machining) ops there is a tendency for the tool to 'climb up' on the material (leading to significant variations on OD that can upset concentricity and fit) and so a properly constituted engineering drawing coupled with detailed discussion with the machinist is essential. I prefer a smooth bore and to do my own in-situ honing with FlexHone brushes. This gives me the opportunity to do 'selective fits' with my valves in the even that one valve is slightly different diameter to another, and allows me to generate an 'oil retentive' finish (as with an engine cylinder) that greatly prolongs the life of the guides. It also allows me to relieve any tight spots in the guides after fitting.
Prior to fitting the new guides you must put a small radius on the entry of the guide bore of the head and lightly dress up the bore with a split fork deburrer in a drill with 220-400 grade tape - or you're going to get really bad tearing of the new guide with consequential damage in the bore and misalignment. Then wash out the bore with brake cleaner and a bottle-brush and airline. The better you pressed out the old guides the less debris there is going to be in the head but it is usual to have some scoring damage, especially if you pressed from the cc end and the guide was heavily carboned up. With some heads, like the TC Fiat 8V I beadblast first, but I wouldn't recommend that op on 16v heads, you are never going to get them clean afterwards.
The head need to be set up accurately with the valve axis vertical. If you press at angle the guide_is_going-to-be-damaged, or at least thrown off centre. The press tool must sit on a strong region of the guide and I have many, many tools to suit different engines.
I much prefer to press COLD because I can feel the fit. I have given up using nitrogen except with heads that have circlips on the guides because you cannot feel the fit. Fitting on new heads where the guide bores are perfectly round, well, nitrogen is great, but on old heads I would not recommend it.
I lubricate the guide bores in the head with copper-based anti-seize lubricant. If you press dry, you'll tear the bores to bits. Some use oil. I don't, as a rule, use adhesive of any kind, and if you have a problem fit - too loose - you can press right out again and put a very light single knurl on the guide upper section adding no more than ½ thou" to the diameter near the stem seal end to restore the fit. With knurling there is always a risk of throwing the valve axis way out (so far out that you cannot get the seat to clean up) so I stress just a 'light' knurl. What happens on the next overhaul is anyone's guess, have only had to knurl once and that was because someone had rammed massively VW cast iron oversize guides into a nice old 1438 TC head - I imagine you might have to get the head rebored.
After fitting
The first thing is to offer up the valves and get the best pair matched up. Then number_the_valves! Before you forget. If you just mark with a marker pen you are sure to wash it off. Never force a valve into the guide, it can get totally stuck.
If the guides are tight reaming might be necessary, but the hand reamer must be near new ie: sharp and that op is best be done by hand. If you use a drill, be extremely progressive, use low speed and cutting oil or you can easily end up off-centre and mis-shape the internal bore of the new guide, or worse, get the reamer stuck.
Try the valve in the guide from both ends before deciding how to tackle a tight region. If it's tight both ends, ream. If it's just tight in the middle, get a 6/7/8mm dia 180 or 240 grade guide FlexHone and dwell in that region. 180 grit and engine oil will open a guide very quickly at 500-1000rpm and 240 grit is for final cross-hatch finish for oil retention. After reaming or honing you MUST wash out the guide bore with brake cleaner and a brush or you're going to score the valve stems.
In the UK you can get Flex-Hones from Pacehigh (sole appointed UK distributors, honing experts and good friends of mine, tel: 01707 327788) The BRM website is http://www.brushresearch.com .
Remember after final checks, the seat MUST be recut or reground and the honing dust/debris in the bore must be cleaned out with a small 'bottle brush' and brake cleaner or lapping and grinding pilots are going to embed that into the soft bronze material and wear out the valve stem and guide very quickly in service.
Valve guide fitting - edited and updated 29 May 07
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Valve guide fitting - edited and updated 29 May 07
- Attachments
- The HS head sits accurately with valve axis vertical and a case hardened mandrel presses the guides out from the cc end.
- HS guide press.JPG (18.3 KiB) Viewed 26986 times
- Having got the guides out I record all their features.
- HS guide dims.JPG (18.16 KiB) Viewed 26986 times
- Precision guides for the GC overhaul of the Vauxhall HS 2.3 produced EXACTLY to drawing.
- NE HSR new guides.JPG (21.14 KiB) Viewed 26977 times
- Fitting guides is always from the stem seal end and you need a mandrel that sits on a robust region of the guide. Press on the end of the bore and it will collapse instantly.
- NE HSR guides fit.JPG (22.38 KiB) Viewed 26968 times
- First thing after fitting is to see how well the valve performs in the new guide. It should be a snug fit and just fall under its own weight. If it's tight it can be lightly honed.
- NE HSR guide fit test.JPG (26.6 KiB) Viewed 26963 times
- Here I am developing a 45 degree cross-hatch honed finish with an 8mm 240 grade FlexHone (powered by a battery operated drill). I use engine oil to hone. I can also 'dwell' to relieve tight spots.
- 020 DT 1592 brush honing guide after fitting.jpg (117.73 KiB) Viewed 27731 times
- At left - mandrels for guide removal, very tight guides need a case-hardened tool or it will just bend. At right, examples of fitting tools
- tools for pressing.jpg (116.56 KiB) Viewed 27072 times
- This is a tool for pressing Vauxhall XE guides that have no shoulder. The depth of the recess sets the guide height in the head - that MUST allow for safe full cam lift and fitment of spring seats, stem seals.
- press tool no shoulder.jpg (114.55 KiB) Viewed 27032 times
- Fiat 8V press tool, guide has a shoulder so you want to press on that strong region. Unfortunately shouldered guides are being phased out.
- press tool with shoulder.jpg (113.01 KiB) Viewed 27053 times
- HOT TIP. do your porting while the guides are out, or you'll end up with a 'right old knife_and_fork' job in the ports.
- A 022.jpg (467.32 KiB) Viewed 27031 times
- Polishing old valve stems with fine carborundun and Scotchbrite is a good thing; often means the difference between GO/NO GO in the new guide, but survey the stem dia first with micrometer..
- Promo Rallye valve stem polish.jpg (109.5 KiB) Viewed 27021 times
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