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Duct tape, cardboard and X-Acto knives.
They�re unlikely supplies for building a seaworthy vessel. That is, unless you�re competing in a cardboard regatta.
More than 90 students gathered Monday afternoon at Kollen Park to do just that.
A cardboard regatta was hosted by CultureWorks Institute for Creative Arts and Ambrose and served as the kickoff event for the first of many CultureWorks summer workshops, taking place on Monday afternoons through August 4.
�It is a great kickoff event to get the community involved, to get parents and the community out here,� said Lauren Miller, AmeriCorps member for CultureWorks.
Eleven teams representing seven organizations from the lakeshore and Grand Rapids area, were given three hours to dream up a design for their boat and then make sure it would be able to stay afloat with two people inside when paddled out 75 feet into Lake Macatawa.
Cardboard was donated by Shoreline Container, paddles from Coast 3 and life jackets from Camp Geneva.
Some teams chose to model their cardboard boats after canoes or rowboats, while others decided to go with a pirate ship-inspired design.
After three hours of work, the boats were inspected and christened by Mayor Kurt Dykstra. He also talked to the students about the importance of creativity and innovation.
Representatives from Tiara Yachts and Disher Design and Development served as judges, and awards were given to three teams.
The �Whatever Floats Your Boat� team from Innocademy won the award for the fastest boat, �Nautilus,� a freelance team, won the endurance award and �Saltwater� from Church of the Servant won the best looking award.
Executive Director for CultureWorks Tori Pelz said the event is a pilot for bigger and better future regattas and she hopes it will become an annual tradition.
� Follow this reporter on Twitter @SentinelLisa.
Cardboard creations set afloat in boat race hosted by CultureWorks and Ambrose
Duct tape, cardboard and X-Acto knives.


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HAMTRAMCK — Federal authorities became suspicious: How could a small Hamtramck grocery ring up nearly $1 million in food-aid redemptions in just six months?
The government is accusing the Modhubon Grocery of fraud. The U.S. attorney's office this week filed a lawsuit to seize thousands of dollars from bank accounts.
Authorities believe the grocery is giving cash to food-aid recipients in exchange for a larger swipe of their electronic-benefits card, a common fraud scheme. Stores that let customers use food cards are reimbursed by the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Owners of the Modhubon Grocery could not be reached for comment. The government says similar stores in the area average only $82,000 in food stamp redemptions a year.

subset: commoncrawl


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May is National Stroke Awareness Month
Alexandra M.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
By: Alexandra Murphy
Whilst working onboard Royal Caribbean cruise ships, professional figure skater Alexandra Murphy suffered a major stroke. On November 6th, 2012, immediately following the Navigator of the Seas ice show, her hand began to go numb. Figuring it had something to do with just performing the show, she began to ignore it. While undressing and putting costumes away, she realized she could no longer feel her hand...or her arm...and could no longer speak. Slowly the numbness went to her foot, leg, and face.
After being rushed down to the medical facilities onboard the ship, it was determined that this 24-year-old was having a stroke. The following morning she was evacuated off the coast of Africa and sent to a hospital to spend a week and a half on land alone undergoing tests. Concluding that it could have been a migraine, or a panic attack, or at worst a TIA, the doctors sent her back to the US for more tests.
After days and days of invasive testing, it was determined that Alexandra had a hole in her heart and she had in fact had a full stroke. If not for the right place and right time, she would have suffered paralyzation. Immediately she was taken into surgery to repair the hole and given a small umbrella device in the back of her heart. Being an elite athlete, the hole had not shown up on any EKG tests.
She recovered for a week at home and then immediately decided to get back on the horse!
Less than one month after leaving the hospital, Alexandra traveled to Amsterdam where she competed in "Sterren Dansen op het Ijs"---Holland's Stars Dancing on Ice. She was paired up with celebrity partner Tony Wycynski and went on to win the entire competition!
On February 9th, about three months to the day of her stroke, and less than three months from her surgery, Alexandra won the entire show, becoming a household name in Holland.
To see links to the show and Alexandra speak about her stroke, check out www.youtube.com/user/sterrendansen.
Display of the Faces of Stroke stories does not imply National Stroke Association's endorsement of any product, treatment, service or entity. National Stroke Association strongly recommends that people ask a healthcare professional about diagnosis and treatment questions before using any product, treatment or service. The views expressed through the stories reflect those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of National Stroke Association.
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Everyone in this world would love to have a companion to spend their time with and with all of the dating services available there is bound to be someone out there for every lonely soul. A good way to narrow down the search is to have a dating service that specifically targets a unique demographic. The online dating business is booming and there are so many of them flooding the markets. For those that are interested in starting an online dating business that is different and special there are ways to do that.
How to Start an Online Dating Business
The first thing to do when starting an online dating business would be to research the statistics on the type of service you would like to offer. Look at other dating sites and see what is favorable or not about their websites. Think about how much it would cost if anything to set up the site. Determine which demographic has not been over saturated and build off of that concept. Try and build a site that offers real advice, background checks on clients, astrological matching and self help articles. Once the research has bee done and the type of site is determined it is time to think about funding and publishing set up's. There are the free publishing sites, but they may not offer enough of what is needed. A new business needs support, software, templates, advertising information etc, therefore paying a site to help at the beginning may not be a terrible idea.
Learn the Matchmaking Business
When starting an online dating business there must be some knowledge of that business obtained and studying everything out there is the best way to sharpen ones skills. A client should feel as if they are dealing with a professional dating service that knows their business. Pricing and fees should be examined by looking at other sites and seeing what the going rate is for services. View all of the statistics on running this type of business and develop an e-business plan. Know where the money is coming from, what products if any will be sold, and what skills must be obtained before officially opening for business.
Dating Site Builders
There are several dating site builders out there and they could be of great support to a beginner. They can teach someone about advertising, pricing, competition, and how to run a new and exciting dating service, from your ideas. They can also teach someone to bring traffic to their site and which articles and newsletters are popular among a specific group.
Starting an online dating service may seem like a difficult task but with the right publishing tools and support it is possible. When setting up an online dating service be sure to check with local state regulations to be sure that all of the rules are being followed and everything is being run properly. The small business administration may be able to help further on legal issues of starting an online business. Offering services that are currently being overlooked is the key to starting a successful online dating business.


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My wife and I just spent a weekend downtown, our last for awhile while we await our second child. Two nights on the town (or as far out on the town as an 8-month pregnant woman can go) were an opportunity for us to visit a couple of restaurants we've enjoyed in the past.
The comparison couldn't have been more stark. Friday, we ate at a restaurant owned by one of Seattle's celebrated chefs. The food was decent, but the service was indifferent bordering on rude, and the crowd at the bar was reminiscent of Hooters.
Saturday, however, we ate at the Pink Door, which has been a downtown Seattle institution for nearly 27 years; located at Pike Place Market where the tourists throng, time and easy money could have sent it into a tailspin ages ago. But that sad picture hasn't come to pass. They still offers vibrant Italian and Italian-American food with solid service in a lively, slightly decadent atmosphere. Any whiff of culinary mustiness that you might have experienced a couple of years ago has been swept away by Chef Steve Smrstik, who was at 35th St. Bistro until coming back to the Door about a year ago.
The Pink Door has always operated by word-of-mouth, without advertising and not so much as a sign to draw you up Post Alley. You simply wander down the block, and across from the entrance to Kell's Pub is the eponymous door. A long flight of steps leads you down into a large, romantically lit, L-shaped room with austere concrete walls and decorative touches that might remind you of a mildly ribald renaissance theater. The front room and half of the back is normal table seating; farther back is a lively bar. In the summer, a beautiful patio opens overlooking the market and Puget Sound, nearly doubling the capacity to over 200 diners.
Our waitress for the evening was Leigha, a recent transplant from Flying Fish in Belltown. Her confidence at the table inspired a reciprocal feeling in us. She took Sarina's nut allergy with clear understanding and reassured us that the kitchen was aware. On her way to hand me a glass of wine, she got a whiff of that unmistakable corked smell and replaced it before I had to even ask.
Finally, when a back waiter was about to bring our profiteroles, Leigha caught them and sent them back. She came right over to tell us that there was a new person on the pantry station and they weren't filling them with enough cream. Three minutes later we had the properly made dessert. This kind of service and commitment to pleasing customers is a rare treat, and it made us feel relaxed throughout the meal knowing we were in good hands.
For starters we had the springy Everything Green Salad of bibb lettuce, fava beans, peas, avocado, and asparagus (and usually pistachios, but not for us), and an order of roasted garlic served with baguette slices and ricotta-gorgonzola spread. The garlic was served with tiny forks with which to pluck out the tender cloves. The spread was tasty but might have benefited from one more dimension of flavor, such as rosemary.
The current menu has four vegetarian entrees, along with many choices for omnivores. We passed on the permanently-featured lasagna and the ricotta-orange ravioli to try the risotto with peas and the spaghetti with fresh artichokes.
My risotto was just average. Savory enough, but not truly creamy and actually a bit saltier than most people would like. I have a high tolerance for salt and it was around the outer edge of my preference. Risotto is a notoriously fussy dish, with perfection achieved only in the last minute or so on the fire. My guess is that it often comes out better than this particular specimen.
Sarina's spaghetti, on the other hand, was flat-out spectacular. The bowl was about 50/50 al dente noodles and perfectly trimmed, thinly sliced, lightly sauteed baby artichokes hearts. There is no comparison between the fresh hearts and canned, any more than there is between fresh and canned peas. Each bite was alive with that magical, slightly metallic and intensely vegetal flavor infused into the olive oil. It was as good as any pasta dish we had on our trip to Italy last year.
We both remarked that the crowd didn't seem overly touristy. Most diners were dressed casually but well, with nary a Solar Panel For A Sex Machine t-shirt to be found. The hostess (or was that La Padrona, Jacquelina Di Roberto?) told us that many of the guests are European, which might explain their ability to dine with a bit more grace than some of my traveling countrymen & women.
Our meal was beautifully paced, lasting just under two hours. Unless I inform a server that we are in a rush, I want a meal at a nice restaurant to be relaxing and unhurried. Nothing is more inhospitable to the sense of a pleasurable dinner than feeling as if your waiter can't wait to turn the table and earn another tip.
The Pink Door offers free entertainment every night of the week, and a $12 burlesque on Saturdays, but I don't believe I've ever been there during a show.
Our dinner, including a salad and appetizer, two entrees, one dessert, a mixed drink and a glass of wine came to $99 including tax, which seemed eminently fair for a delightful night out.


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Shaker rocks small Alaska community
Seismologist visits Southeast in wake of large earthquake
CRAIG — In this cozy Southeast Alaska community that smells of red cedar chips used to power a boiler that heats both the school and the pool, seismologist Natalia Ruppert responded to an hour of questions from more than 150 people who gathered in the auditorium of the Craig High School.
The residents of Craig and the outlying areas, many of them wearing Xtratufs and flannel shirts on a rainy/snowy evening, had experienced up to a minute of shaking around midnight on Jan. 4, 2013, the result of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that ripped the sea floor about 80 miles west of Craig.
One-hundred-and-seventy people — about one-tenth of the population of Craig and the nearby village of Klawock, were a rapt audience for Ruppert, an earthquake expert with the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute.
Ruppert traveled to Craig from her home in Fairbanks at the invite of U.S. Forest Service Geologist Jim Baichtal, who lives in Thorne Bay, also on Prince of Wales Island. Baichtal invited Ruppert down, and hosted her at his lovely new home above Thorne Bay, because his "phone was ringing off the hook" after the earthquake and many aftershocks that followed. People were calling one of the few scientists on the island for information; he called north for help.
In a 45-minute lecture and the lengthy question and answer session that followed, Ruppert, the seismic network manager for the Alaska Earthquake Information Center based at the Geophysical Institute, told her attentive audience the following:
• The earthquake released most of its energy in the first 20 seconds, but it took 50 seconds for 85 miles of the Queen Charlotte Fault to rupture. The fault slices Earth's in a north-south swath just west of Southeast Alaska. Ruppert said some residents felt shaking for longer than that because seismic waves take longer to travel through the ground. The great Alaska earthquake of 1964, by comparison, tore the sea floor for six full minutes.
• The Craig earthquake differed from the magnitude 9.2 1964 earthquake in that the Queen Charlotte Fault produces "strike-slip" earthquakes, in which the release of stress along the fault happens in a side-to-side motion similar to when you rub your hands together. The Craig earthquake did not cause the sea floor to thrust upward, which is why it did not produce a noticeable tsunami.
• In the two weeks following the earthquake, residents of Prince of Wales Island experienced about 20 aftershocks of magnitude 4, about the smallest earthquake people could feel that distance from the fault.
• More than 900 people in Southeast Alaska reported feeling the earthquake on the U. S. Geological Survey's "Did You Feel It?" webpage. People felt the earthquake as far south as Seattle.
• Aftershocks will become less frequent for the islanders as time passes. "Within the next six months, you can expect between four and 10 magnitude four or greater aftershocks," Ruppert said.
• "It's very possible" that a magnitude 7.7 earthquake farther south on the same fault in October 2012 may have triggered the Craig earthquake.
• The Craig earthquake did not trigger any volcanic activity.
• If people don't have an assigned area to gather when evacuating their homes to avoid a possible tsunami, they should travel uphill. "The higher the better," Ruppert said. "You never know."
• Though almost the entire Alaska portion of the Queen Charlotte Fault released stored energy by rupturing in previous earthquakes within the past century (including a whopping magnitude 8.1 in 1949), Southeast residents "should be aware," Ruppert said. "It's a big fault in your backyard. It's not if (you'll have another earthquake), it's when."
Addition at column-deadline time: One day after Ruppert flew home to Fairbanks from Southeast, a magnitude 6 earthquake occurred just 70 miles offshore of Craig.
In next week's column, residents of Craig and Sitka will share their experiences and impressive responses to the recent earthquake.
(Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.)


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In Israeli Army, Gays Are 'No Big Deal'
JERUSALEM (Feb. 2) – When Eli Kaplan had his initial psychological assessment when being inducted into the Israeli military eight years ago, he wasn't asked about his sexual orientation, but he told the interviewer anyway that he was openly gay. In Israel, it wasn't a problem then nor is it now.
"The army practices an inclusionary policy," said Yagil Levy, an expert on the army and society and a professor at the Open University. "It doesn't have any options to exclude any Jewish group that wishes to join."
Once Kaplan was accepted into the Israeli navy, he faced a further interview to determine his security clearance level. "The interviewer started asking me a lot of questions about whether I had come out to my family and friends," he said. "He basically wanted to know if my being gay was something that could be used to blackmail me. But it really wasn't such a big deal."
Nasser Ishtayeh, AP
Israel's military has acknowledged openly gay members in its ranks since 1993. "I think Israeli society is much less homophobic than other countries," said Eli Kaplan, who was open about his homosexuality during his time in the service.
Kaplan ended up in one of the navy's most elite units, where he served as a drill sergeant for incoming mechanics. He said that while he was a little less open about his sexual orientation with recruits than he was with his commanders, he never encountered homophobia during his three years in the Israeli military .
In light of that experience, Kaplan, who now works in theater design in New York, finds the current U.S. policy of "don't ask, don't tell" ridiculous.
"It's a reminder of how America still has so many racial and other issues going on," he said in a phone interview. "It makes me really proud of Israel. I think Israeli society is much less homophobic than other countries."
The right to be openly gay has been acknowledged in the Israeli military since 1993, and there is little evidence that policy has caused any problems. Even beyond the army, Israeli law is generally progressive on issues of sexual orientation. Even though marriage is controlled by the ultra-Orthodox rabbinic establishment, Israeli authorities recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad, and same-sex partners receive the same economic benefits as married couples.
"Out" magazine has named Tel Aviv the gay capital of the Middle East in acknowledgment of its thriving gay culture.
Military expert Levy said the editor of the primary army newspaper, Bamachane, is openly gay. He estimates the percentage of gay soldiers at 10 percent in general and somewhat less in field units.
Former soldier Kaplan said certain intelligence and naval units were known for having a large proportion of gay soldiers.
To read about Britain's policy on gays in the military, click here.
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An updated, independent study funded by the United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff shows production of biodiesel continues to positively impact U.S. soybean farmers' on-farm profitability, as well as the bottom lines of U.S. poultry and livestock farmers.
The biodiesel industry's demand for U.S. soybean oil supported U.S. soybean prices by as much as 27 cents per bushel over the past five years, bringing U.S. soybean farmers an additional $2.7 billion in net returns, according to the study.
Soybean farmers' biggest customer, the U.S. animal agriculture sector, which uses 98 percent of the domestic supply of U.S. soybean meal, also benefitted. The increased demand for soybean oil resulted in a larger supply of U.S. soybean meal, decreasing feed prices paid by U.S. poultry, livestock and fish farmers by between $16 and $48 per ton for a total of approximately $4.8 billion from marketing years 2005-2009.
State soybean checkoff boards made the initial investments back in the early 1990s to research the viability and potential market for soybean oil use for biodiesel. Soybean oil remains the dominant feedstock used for biodiesel production in the United States, and the state and national soybean checkoff funds a large portion of the research and promotion of biodiesel through the National Biodiesel Board, much of which has been used on testing to prove biodiesel's performance, economic and environmental benefits.
Biodiesel improves fuel lubricity by 66 percent compared with petroleum diesel and performs similarly to petroleum diesel in terms of torque, horsepower, haulage rates and fuel mileage. Biodiesel bolsters the U.S. economy, supporting more than 20,000 jobs and generating more than $800 million in tax revenue as recently as 2009. And biodiesel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 75 percent.
Biodiesel's environmental benefits, proven in part due to soybean checkoff-funded research, helped it qualify as the United States' first fully-commercialized advanced biofuel under the revised federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2). To qualify for that distinction, biodiesel had to reduce greenhouse gas by 50 percent, compared with petroleum diesel. The RFS2 requirement calls for the use of at least 800 million gallons of biodiesel this year and at least 1 billion gallons per year in 2012 and beyond.
So the U.S. biodiesel industry keeps giving back to soybean farmers, poultry and livestock farmers, the U.S. economy, biodiesel and Bioheat users and the environment.


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Current's Spitzer: LIBOR Story "Hasn't Yet Broken Through To The Mainstream Media. It Should."
In a prerecorded interview that will air on SiriusXM's Media Matters Radio tomorrow, Current TV host Eliot Spitzer points to the media's failure to cover one of the largest banking scandals in history, the LIBOR rate-fixing story. According to Spitzer, the story "hasn't yet broken through to the mainstream media. It should."
Indeed, as we noted [1] this morning many major television news outlets have devoted scant coverage to the allegation that major financial institutions have been manipulating the LIBOR, a key interest rate that banks use to borrow money from one another. As we documented, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC have only spent about 12 minutes combined covering the story during their evening newscasts and opinion programming.
Spitzer, who was known as the Sheriff of Wall Street [2] during his tenure as Attorney General of New York, has provided extensive coverage [3] of the story, airing four [4] segments on [5] his Current [6] TV program [7], Viewpoint, and two Web [8] exclusive segments [9] on Current's website since July 3. Below, Spitzer discusses [7] the scandal with Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone contributing editor, and Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets:
LIBOR is [10] "used as a benchmark to set payments on about $800 trillion worth of financial instruments" and impacts [11] "lending rates for trillions of dollars of credit, from loans between financial institutions to credit cards and adjustable-rate mortgages" but also impacts local government agencies and municipalities that have financial investments directly tied to LIBOR.
The British bank Barclays has already been fined [12] $450 million for its role in rigging the rate, and as many as [10] 20 major financial institutions are reportedly under investigation for their own alleged participation in the scheme.
MSNBC's Chris Hayes has also used his program to deliver in-depth coverage of this critical news story, providing nearly 19 minutes of discussion on last Saturday's edition of Up With Chris.
Listen to Spitzer's interview with Media Matters Radio tomorrow on SiriusXM Left 127 at 10 a.m. ET.
UPDATE: Here's the discussion with Spitzer about the LIBOR scandal from the July 14 edition of Media Matters Radio:
- Posted In
- Economy [13], Media Structures & Regulations [14]
- Network/Outlet
- Fox News Channel [15], MSNBC [16], CBS [17], NBC [18], ABC [19], CNN [20]
- Person
- Eliot Spitzer [21]


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At Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, we recognize that recovery is more than just physical. Our holistic approach treats the whole patient—body, mind and spirit—with exceptional care. And with world-class burn experts and state-of-the-art technology, you can rest assured you're in the most capable hands.
The Spaulding Network offers expert burn care for the full continuum of needs - from inpatient rehabilitation to outpatient follow-up care. At every stage, our goal is to help patients maximize their functional independence, find emotional strength and confidence, and successfully transition back to home, work and the community. Families play an integral role in this process. During hospital stays, families are taught practical skills and therapeutic techniques to assist in the patient's care after discharge.
Spaulding's network provides and coordinates care at multiple levels to meet a full range of burn injury needs, including inpatient rehabilitation, long-term acute care, skilled nursing care, and outpatient rehabilitation. Headquartered in Boston, our Burn Rehabilitation Program features:
In addition to being a key partner in the Boston-Harvard Burn Injury Model System, one of only four such systems nationwide, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston collaborates closely Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriners Hospital for Children to conduct cutting edge research on rehabilitation technology, long term outcomes, contractures and pain. The Model System designation and related grants are awarded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research in five year cycles.
Spaulding's interdisciplinary teams provide comprehensive care to individuals with acute burn injuries in our renowned Boston program as well as at other Spaulding locations. Depending upon the patient's individual needs, team members may include physicians, rehab nurses, physical, occupational and speech therapists; physiatrists and wound care specialists; psychiatrists, psychologists; peer counselors, dieticians, social workers, and case managers. The team is dedicated to delivering the highest quality burn rehabilitation and medical management possible.
Jeffrey Schneider, MD, Medical Director, Burn Rehabilitation Program
With the goal of improving the quality of life for all burn injury survivors, Spaulding's current research efforts are twofold:
The Burn Rehabilitation Program is offered at these Spaulding locations:InpatientSpaulding Rehabilitation Hospital BostonSpaulding Hospital CambridgeSpaulding Hospital North ShoreSpaulding Nursing and Therapy Center West RoxburySpaulding Nursing and Therapy Center North End
The following services are related to the Burn Rehabilitation Program at Spaulding:Adaptive SportsAssistive Technology (ATEC)/ Alternative and Augmentative Communication (ACC)Orthotics and ProstheticsPsychiatry/Psychology ServicesWheelchair Clinic
Please call for more information or to make a referral
Inpatient: 1.617.952.5350
Outpatient: 1.888.SRN.4330


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A Pleasant Survey
The love song survey. Results to be compiled whenever voting stops.
Burt Likko
/// February 20, 2014
The love song survey. Results to be compiled whenever voting stops.
Michael Drew
/// February 20, 2014
[EDIT: SPOILER WARNING: Olympic Women's Hockey Final Result is spoiled in the URL and possibly the comments. Proceed at own risk.] [EDIT: The URL should be safe now.
Michelle Togut
/// February 20, 2014
They were born two months apart. He grew up in a three-room apartment in Leningrad during the Brezhnev era. She came of age in the stucco suburbs of sunny 1970s Southern California. How two people from opposite universes met, fell in love, and managed to stay married despite, or perhaps because of, their cultural differences.
Guest Authors
/// February 20, 2014
Sometimes love is the vehicle for evil. Guest writer zic explains, in what might be the most powerful story Ordinary Times has ever featured.
(A warning to readers that although no graphic language is used, this post does contain disturbing subject matter.)
/// February 20, 2014
Love is built on trust. But how can trust be built with young children? Kazzy explores…
Kyle Cupp
/// February 20, 2014
Modesty is a virtue, but its promotion has an unwholesome side.
June 3, 2019
June 2, 2019
CNN tells me that there is a debate and it is half-over.
What's happening?
Who do you think is winning?
Who do you think that the Republicans think is winning?
(Image is screenshot of a tweet from Our Commander In Chief.)Comment →
[caption id="attachment_315995" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Picture by Gage Skidmore [/caption]
The uninitiated might be forgiven for thinking NRATV is the name of a soap opera or reality show. Like sand through the hourglass, the soap opera that the National Rifle Association has turned into lately continues to churn.
The N.R.A. on Tuesday also severed all business with its estranged advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, which operates NRATV, the N.R.A.'s live broadcasting media arm, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.
While NRATV may continue to air past content, its live broadcasting will end and its on-air personalities — Ackerman employees including Dana Loesch — will no longer be the public faces of the N.R.A. It remained unclear whether the N.R.A. might try to hire some of those employees, but there was no indication it was negotiating to do so.
The move comes amid a flurry of lawsuits between the N.R.A. and Ackerman, and increasing acrimony that surfaced after two prominent N.R.A. board members first criticized NRATV in an article in The Times in March. The separation had become inevitable: The two sides said last month that they were ending their three-decade-plus partnership.
"Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment," Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.'s longtime chief executive, wrote in a message to members that was expected to be sent out by Wednesday. "So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing 'live TV' programming."
By "members expressed" what he really meant was the NRA faithful isn't kicking up enough to fund the organizations eye-popping layouts for elections, ever-increasing office space and executive overhead, Wayne Lapierre's travel and wardrobe, and their new foray into opinion media. This was wholly predictable, since although they are the most prominent 2A advocacy organization, the NRA only represents a fraction of the country's gun owners. Not long ago, the NRA was still a bipartisan organization. No more, and their sallying forth as bannermen for all things President Trump has not helped expand the membership. The drip, drip, drip of financial and personal news leaking and being reported on from the NRA suggests this is going to get much worse for the organization before it gets better.Comment →
The House Judiciary and House Intelligence committees have subpoenaed former special counsel Robert Mueller for his testimony before Congress, according to a press release issued Tuesday evening.
"Pursuant to subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence tonight, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has agreed to testify before both committees on July 17 in open session," according to the release.
Mueller is expected to sit before both committees in two separate open hearings on July 17, according to congressional aides, with the possibility that some testimony will occur in closed session.
Mueller broke a nearly two-year silence when he made a brief public statement at the Department of Justice in late May.
During his comments, Mueller said he had no further plans to speak publicly on mattersthat were addressed in his over 400-page report.
"The report is my testimony," Mueller said.
Expect that last bit to be on repeat for Mueller's two days on the hill. This will be splash headlines and much talking heads debate, but the idea that after 2+ years of iron fist discipline Robert Mueller is going to indulge the worst of congressional grandstanding and silliness by saying anything that isn't already in the report, if he ever says anything other than "that is covered in the report" befuddles the mind. But hope springs eternal, and so let the hype begin.
Just be prepared to be underwhelmed by the congressional hearings. Again.Comment →
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the longest-serving press secretary the Trump Administration has had, is leaving her post and the podium of the Brady Briefing Room.
Mr Trump tweeted that Mrs Sanders would be returning to her home of Arkansas after more than three years on the job.
"She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job," Mr Trump wrote.
She started out as deputy press secretary before replacing Sean Spicer in the top post in July 2017.
Mrs Sanders, 36, has been a fierce defender of the president, famously saying that God "wanted Donald Trump to become president".
At a White House event on Thursday, Mr Trump described Mrs Sanders as "a special person, a very very fine woman".
She said her time in the administration was "the honour of a lifetime".
"This is something I will treasure forever," she said. "I'm going to continue to be one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president."
The mother-of-three said she was looking forward to spending more time with her children as she transitioned into a new role outside the White House.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been a constant lightening rod in an administration that happily calls down the media thunder. She held fewer formal press briefings than her predecessors, and came under intense criticism at times for which side of the "it's spin/it's a lie" line that all mouthpieces for the president have to straddle. Having Donald Trump to run interference for would likely be an impossible task for anyone. Regardless, what say you about the tenure of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now that she has done her last gaggle?Comment →
The Vox Media Union has walked out today. Here's what it looks like in the New York office. pic.twitter.com/erPp4fW1nw
— Vox Media Union (@vox_union) June 6, 2019
(Featured image is the empty Vox offices was posted by the Vox Media Union twitter account to their own twitter feed.)Comment →
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L10, and perhaps L11
Canadian police are, as seen from this side of the Great Likes, very particular about what they enforce. As seen on this clip of that jewel of cinematographic arts, Canadian Bacon


text:
PARTS: 780-960-0225 | Simply Dial #FORD | 99 Golden Spike Road & HWY 16A West
This Escape SE has been well maintained and taken really good care of! With low kilometers, it has features such as Cloth seats, Heated seats, Rear View Camera, Tonneau Cover, Four Wheel Drive and more!
Zender Ford has been your local and regional Ford dealer in Spruce Grove, Alberta for over 30 years. We serve customers from all over Alberta, including Edmonton, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Red Deer, Calgary, Onoway, and more! We carry premium pre-owned vehicles at prices that are competitive in todays market. Drive just 10 minutes west of Edmonton and find out why customers Return To Zender
AMVIC Inspected Vehicles.
* Please note that all the above options, with the exception of 'Installed Options', are drawn from the generic 'base' version of the vehicle. The options listed might not exactly match this specific vehicle.
* Manufacturer warranty may not be available for pre-owned vehicles, please inquire with dealer about availability for this vehicle.
99 Golden Spike Road
Spruce Grove , Alberta T7X 2Y3
* Although every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the data above, due to the possibility of human error, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the displayed information, the availability of this vehicle, or the accuracy of its photo or stock photo. Such information may not reflect exact vehicle colour, trim, options, price or other specifications. Please contact the dealership for verification or if you would like more information on this vehicle. * Prices for the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia include dealer-installed accessories, optional equipment physically attached to the vehicle, transportation charges and any applicable administration fees, but do not include taxes, insurance or licensing fees. For all other provinces (excluding Quebec), prices exclude taxes, insurance, licensing and other applicable fees. Price may not include dealer installed options, accessories, administration fees and other dealer charges. * All prices are in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise stated. * The Payment Calculator is for comparison purposes only and is based on the vehicle price, the entered term in months and the entered percentage rate. Taxes and License are additional. All financing is OAC. Please contact our dealership for more information. Vehicle may not be exactly as shown. Some vehicles may be shown with optional equipment or equipment not available in Canada. Vehicle may not be exactly as shown. Some vehicles may be shown with optional equipment or equipment not available in Canada.
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text:
REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Redford Township police said Thursday they had located a suspect in a stranger danger incident involving a 6-year-old girl.
The Redford Township man is identified as 52-year-old Terry Lee Kostiuk. He will be arraigned Sunday afternoon on charges of attempting to solicit a minor for an immoral purpose after trying to lure a 6-year-old into his car.
What happened
Police said the girl was on a sidewalk Wednesday in the area of Poinciana, south of 7 Mile Road, when a man in a red Ford Fusion approached her and asked if she wanted candy.
"I didn't say anything, I just got on my scooter and rode all the way back home," said the girl, Madison McCue.
Her mother, Christine Romain, said she was watching her little girl walk a few feet to a neighbor's house and saw it all happen.
"She knows. She knows ... not to talk to strangers if they ask if you want to pet an animal, help them find an animal. Say no. He's not getting my kid," said Romain.
Police released a composite sketch of the suspect.
More: Redford Township news
Copyright 2012 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Major Section: PROGRAMMING
(= x y) is logically equivalent to
(equal x y).
= has a guard requiring both of its arguments
to be numbers. Generally,
= is executed more efficiently than
For a discussion of the various ways to test against 0, See zero-test-idioms.
= is a Common Lisp function. See any Common Lisp documentation
for more information.


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This tea is very disappointing. It has very little taste, and what taste there is, is flat and uninteresting. The only way to get any taste out of it is to brew it kung-fu.
A really nice Chinese green tea. Light in body, vegetal, slightly sweet. Just what you want from a standard, straightforward green.
I really like this green tea. It is never bitter and just has a really good taste. I brew it for 3 or 4 minutes.
I totally agree with the description of "...straightforward without anything extra. Just good, pure green tea taste." It's fantastic for making iced tea. Pricing is excellent for the quality.
This green is potent with a great, lingering after-taste that is undeniably pleasant. Initially Guo Lu has a slight astringent flavor that fades into a soft, sweetness.
Strong flavor - some after taste, really authentic. No extra flavors, just great green tea. A little too powerful for me.
I decided to go with this tea because I like organic and I find it absolutely delicious. I will be ordering a much larger bag of this tea.


text:
Public Notices
Public Notice - City of Mount Vernon 12/03/2009
- Details
- Category: Public Notices
- Published on 03 December 2009
- Written by Mount Vernon Optic-Herald
The city council of the City of Mount Vernon will conduct three public hearing at 6:30 p.m., December 8, 2009 in the council chambers of City Hall, 109 N. Kaufman Street, Mount Vernon, Texas.
The purpose of the first and second hearings is to hear evidence for or against a request made by Longhorn MTV, Inc. To rezone the properties located at 1318 & 1320 Holbrook Street from intensive industrial (ii) to local retail (lr).
The purpose of the third hearing is to hear evidence for or against the proposed tree preservation ordinance.
J D. Baumgarner – Mayor
Tina Rose – City Secretary


text:
Welcome to the Reach-A-Peer Helpline!
The Reach-A-Peer Helpline/Online is a peer help line established in 1996 to provide peer support, information, and referrals to any and all students of the University of Pennsylvania. The service is open to all students who wish to share a problem, are in need of information, or just want to talk to someone about anything on their mind.
RAPLine offers two services:
The Line is available every night from 9 pm to 1 am. Reach us at 215-573-2727. Don't be shy!
You can send an anonymous letter to RAP-Line Online and then retrieve the reply within three days. Letters can be submitted online any day, 24/7. To write us a letter, click here.


text:
The Food Of The Central Wyoming Fair And Rodeo [PHOTOS]
Mmm. Fair food is my absolute favorite kind of food in the world. I spent the entire week at the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo, and ate an inordinate amount of fair food. I ate burgers, and hot dogs, and corn dogs, and bbq, and funnel cake, and curly fries and ice cream. It was the greatest week of my life. Here are some pictures.


text:
Major Section: RELEASE-NOTES
A new key has been implemented for the
:ignore-ok. See set-ignore-ok.
It is now legal to have color events, such as
(red), in the
portcullis of a book. More generally, it is legal to set the
acl2-defaults-table in the portcullis of a book. For example, if
you execute
:red and then certify a book, the event
(red) will show
up in the portcullis of that book, and hence the definitions in that
book will all be red (except when overridden by appropriate
declarations or events). When that book is included, then as
always, its portcullis must first be ``raised,'' and that will cause
the default color to become red before the events in the book are
executed. As always, the value of
acl2-defaults-table immediately
after execution of an
certify-book, or
form will be the same as it was immediately before execution (and
hence, so will the default color). See portcullis and, for
more about books, see books.
A theory
ground-zero has been defined to contain exactly those rules
that are enabled when Acl2 starts up. See ground-zero.
The function
nth is now enabled, correcting an oversight from
Version 1.5.
Customization files no longer need to meet the syntactic restrictions put on books; rather, they can contain arbitrary Acl2 forms. See acl2-customization.
Structured directory names and structured file names are supported;
see especially the documentation for pathname, book-name,
Acl2 now works with some Common Lisp implementations other than akcl, including Lucid, Allegro, and MCL.
A facility has been added for displaying proof trees, especially using emacs; see proof-tree.
There is a considerable amount of new documentation, in particular
for the printing functions
fmt1, and
fms, and for the notion of
Acl2 term (see term).
It is possible to introduce new well-founded relations, to specify
which relation should be used by
defun, and to set a default
relation. See well-founded-relation.
It is possible to make functions suggest new inductions. See induction.
It is possible to change how Acl2 expresses type-set information; in particular, this affects what clauses are proved when forced assumptions are generated. See type-set-inverter.
A new restriction has been added to
defpkg, having to do with
undoing. If you undo a
defpkg and define the same package name
again, the imports list must be identical to the previous imports or
else an explanatory error will occur.
See package-reincarnation-import-restrictions.
Theory-invariant and
set-irrelevant-formals-ok are now embedded
event forms.
The command
good-bye may now be used to quit entirely out of Lisp,
thus losing your work forever. This command works in akcl but may
not work in every Common Lisp.
A theory
ground-zero has been added that contains exactly the
enabled rules in the startup theory. See ground-zero.
Define-pc-macro and
define-pc-atomic-macro now automatically define
:red functions. (It used to be necessary, in general, to change
color to
:red before invoking these.)
For a proof of the well-foundedness of
e0-ord-< on the
see proof-of-well-foundedness. [Note added later: Starting with
o< and
o-p replace
e0-ord-< and
Free variables are now handled properly for hypotheses of
type-prescription rules.
When the system is loaded or saved,
state is now bound to
Certify-book has been modified so that when it compiles a file, it
loads that object file.
Defstub has been modified so that it works when the color is hot
:red or
Several basic, but not particularly commonly used, events have been
added or changed. The obscure axiom
symbol-name-intern has been
modified. The definition of
firstn has been changed.
Butlast is
now defined. The definition of
integer-length has been modified.
The left-hand side of the rewrite rule
rational-implies2 has been
changed from
(* (numerator x) (/ (denominator x))) to
(* (/ (denominator x)) (numerator x)), in order to respect the
fact that
unary-/ is invisible with respect to
See loop-stopper.
The `preprocess' process in the waterfall (see hints for a
discussion of the
:do-not hint) has been changed so that it works to
avoid case-splitting. The `simplify' process refuses to force
(see force) when there are
if terms, including
and and
terms, in the goal being simplified.
The function
apply is no longer introduced automatically by
translation of user input to internal form when functions are called
on inappropriate explicit values, e.g.,
(car 3).
The choice of which variable to use as the measured variable in a recursive definition has been very slightly changed.


text:
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Support the Glass Message Board by finding a book via book-seek.com
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As for a particluar maker of the 1930s weights, I have not seen this stated anywhere, but perhaps one day somebody will track down the full story of the American importer and the source of the pieces.
Leni - I have no idea what the "Y" means on your weight. But just imagine if an example was found where the "China" part was wom off completely, leaving just the "Y" ... I can see the ebay listing now, "Rare Salvador Ysart paperweight with previously unrecorded canes". :lol:
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NEW YORK (AP) — A top proxy advisory firm is recommending that Dell shareholders vote in favor of a deal that would allow the company's founder and an investment firm to buy the computer maker and take it private.
Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners have offered to buy Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. for $13.65 per share, or a total of $24.4 billion. Michael Dell believes he can turn the company around by taking it private and diversifying into niches, such as business software, data storage and consulting.
But Carl Icahn, a billionaire investor and Dell's second-largest shareholder, says he wants Dell to remain publicly traded and boost value for shareholders by buying back $16 billion in stock.
The company has backed Michael Dell's proposal and said that Icahn doesn't have adequate financing for his plan. Shareholders will vote on the buyout offer at the company's annual meeting on July 18.
In its report, Institutional Shareholder Services pointed to the offer's hefty premium, about 26 percent over the company's share price before the offer became public, and the certainty that comes with an all-cash bid.
ISS said that if shareholders don't take the offer, they have to be willing to continue to hold shares in Dell as it continues to transform itself amid the risks of a still deteriorating personal computer industry.
The special committee of Dell's board evaluating the company's options said in a statement that it was pleased with the recommendation, noting that it believes not going forward with the sale would expose the company and its shareholders to "serious risks" that would further reduce the company's value.
Icahn said Sunday that he believes Michael Dell is trying to buy the company he founded at a "bargain price." He reiterated the benefits of his alternate proposal, which would involve the repurchase of up to 1.1 billion Dell shares at $14 apiece.
On Monday, Icahn and his ally, Southeastern Asset Management, said in a statement that they would vote against the buyout offer being supported by Michael Dell.
"We continue to believe that Dell's owners deserve better," they said in the statement.
Icahn's plan would be funded with $5.2 billion in debt, $7.5 billion in Dell cash and $2.9 billion from the sale of Dell receivables. Icahn has said he and his affiliates have $5 billion in existing equity and proposed debt financing to help fund their proposal.
Dell shares rose 41 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $13.44 in trading on Monday — 21 cents below the offer price of $13.65.
Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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text:
By ,
Published January 13, 2015
The U.S. Park Police in Washington say the Lincoln Memorial is temporarily closed after someone splattered green paint on the statue and the floor.
The apparent vandalism was discovered early Friday morning by an officer on patrol.
Police say the memorial on the National Mall will be closed until the National Park Service can finish cleaning up the paint. That's expected to happen Friday morning.


text:
I'll come right out and say it: you need to watch this video. It's quite a bit longer than a lot of what we feature here on io9, but the weekend is almost here, and you owe it to yourself to set aside 53 minutes to watch a veritable scientific dream team talk about humanity's future in space.
The video, originally shot back in July at TAM 2011 Las Vegas, is of a panel featuring Bill Nye, astronomers Neil DeGrasse Tyson & Pamela Gay, and theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss—and the entire discussion is moderated by Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait. The subjects raised are consequential, the discussions thought provoking, and the opinions of the panelists refreshingly diverse (and often conflicting).
Among the topics addressed:
- NASA's next Mars Rover, Curiosity (which is slated to launch next month)
- The dawn of privatized spacecraft
- China's Independent forays into space (and their exclusion from the ISS)
- The geopolitical climates responsible for NASA's
- The search for aquatic life on Jupiter's moon Europa
- The James Webb Space Telescope
[Via Bad Astronomy]


text:
- News
- Business
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Lifestyle
- Health
- Travel
- Technology
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said farewell to New Zealand and hello to Australia on Wednesday. The royal couple and their son, Prince George of Cambridge, have been touring New Zealand since April 7 but are now starting the second leg of their tour in Australia.
Before their departure, the couple stopped in for a rain-soaked morning at the Royal New Zealand Police College.
"The Duke and wife Catherine met recruits and paid their respects to those officers killed on duty," reported Hello! Magazine. "Onlookers watched as the royal couple visited the wall of remembrance and parade ground that morning after police had previously been seen lining up waiting for their arrival."
But the highlight was a chance to cuddle some exceptionally cute police puppies. According to the Express, Kate was particularly taken with the tiny German Shepherd puppy that was placed in her arms. (No word about how the couple's spaniel, Lupo, might feel about Kate showering her affections on another canine)
"The royal couple were grinning from ear to ear when introduced to a couple of 12-day old puppies from the dog training centre at the college in Porirua," said the Express. "Kate, 32, seemed especially spellbound as she picked up her puppy and stroked it. She said, 'It wants to hide under my jacket. I think it can smell George.'"
Rain drenched the crowd as William and Kate paid their respects to fallen officers with a wreath ceremony.
"The college's Kapa Haka (Maori cultural) group also gave an impromptu performance of Singing in the Rain — a tribute to the appalling weather — which had the royal couple in stitches," reported the Daily Mail.
The Cambridges will begin their 10-day tour of Australia with a reception at the Sydney Opera House.
And while Australian crowds have often shown animosity to the royals in the past, a new report today suggests that republican sentiment has dwindled to numbers not seen for three decades.
"Support for an Australian republic has slumped to its lowest level in more than three decades just as royal enthusiasm reaches fever pitch over the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate," reported the Sydney Morning Herald. "In a set-back for the long-struggling republican movement, once famously championed by Malcolm Turnbull, more than half of all Australians now believe the switch to a republic is unnecessary with 51 per cent opposing any such move and only 42 per cent backing it. That's down from a high of 58 per cent in 1999 and represents the lowest pro-republican sentiment in 35 years."


text:
Latest Attempt To Deny Obama Credit For Bin Laden Raid Falls Flat
Conservative media figures are suggesting that a recently released memo from Leon Panetta shows that President Obama doesn't deserve credit for ordering the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. In fact, the memo fits the previously reported timeline of the decision to raid the compound and confirms Obama's role in making that decision.
Last August, The New Yorker reported [1] the details of Obama's decision to order Vice Adm. Bill McRaven, who is in charge of the Joint Special Operations Command, to carry out the raid:
Late on Thursday afternoon [April 28, 2011], Panetta and the rest of the national-security team met with the President. For the next few nights, there would be virtually no moonlight over Abbottabad -- the ideal condition for a raid. After that, it would be another month until the lunar cycle was in its darkest phase. Several analysts from the National Counterterrorism Center were invited to critique the C.I.A.'s analysis; their confidence in the intelligence ranged between forty and sixty per cent. The center's director, Michael Leiter, said that it would be preferable to wait for stronger confirmation of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad. Yet, as Ben Rhodes, a deputy national-security adviser, put it to me recently, the longer things dragged on, the greater the risk of a leak, "which would have upended the thing." Obama adjourned the meeting just after 7 P.M. and said that he would sleep on it.
The next morning [April 29, 2011], the President met in the Map Room with Tom Donilon, his national-security adviser, Denis McDonough, a deputy adviser, and Brennan. Obama had decided to go with a DEVGRU [SEAL team] assault, with McRaven choosing the night. It was too late for a Friday attack, and on Saturday there was excessive cloud cover. On Saturday afternoon, McRaven and Obama spoke on the phone, and McRaven said that the raid would occur on Sunday night. "Godspeed to you and your forces," Obama told him. "Please pass on to them my personal thanks for their service and the message that I personally will be following this mission very closely." [emphasis added]
For a recent cover article, Time magazine released [2] a memo written by then-CIA director Panetta on the morning of April 29, 2011. Time transcribed the handwritten note:
MEMO FOR THE RECORD Apr. 29, 2011, 10:35 a.m.
Received phone call from Tom Donilon who stated that the President made a decision with regard to AC1 [Abbottabad Compound 1]. The decision is to proceed with the assault. The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven's hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out. Those instructions were conveyed to Admiral McRaven at approximately 10:45 am. [emphasis added]
So, the memo confirms that Obama met with national security adviser Tom Donilon and others on the morning of April 29. Donilon then called Panetta on the phone and told him that Obama had decided to go forward with the raid, and that McRaven was in charge of operational decision-making, as one would expect with any major military operation.
The right-wing media are twisting this final detail -- that McRaven was in control of the operational decisions -- into a suggestion that there was no "gutsy call" by Obama to go forward with the raid.
Today on CNN Newsroom, CNN contributor Dana Loesch said of the raid, "[W]e learned later that it was really all kind of in McRaven's hands":
Similarly, a Big Peace post [3] is titled "What 'Gutsy Call'? CIA Memo Reveals Admiral Controlled Bin Laden Mission," and an Investor's Business Daily editorial [4] based on that post is headlined "Memo Reveals The 'Gutsy' Bin Laden Call That Wasn't."
Again, the memo that is the basis for all this confirms that Obama ordered the raid. And there was never any question that the operational details were in the hands of the military.
- Posted In
- Government [5], The Presidency & White House [6], National Security & Foreign Policy [7], International Conflicts [8], Terrorism [9]
- Network/Outlet
- CNN [10], Investor's Business Daily [11], Breitbart.com [12]
- Person
- Dana Loesch [13]
- Show/Publication
- CNN Newsroom [14], Big Peace [15]


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text: Big Crowds Expected for California's Annual World Ag Expo February 11, 2013 10:51 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By MILK Editors Email An estimated 100,000 visitors are expected to attend this week's farm and equipment show in Tulare, Calif. Source: World Ag Expo Tulare, Calif. - World Ag Expo will kick off its 46th annual show tomorrow, Feb. 12, 2013 in Tulare, Calif. Gates open at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Shortly before 10 a.m., the National Anthem will be played and will be followed by a two-plane flyover. The largest annual agricultural exposition of its kind, World Ag Expo features more than 1,400 exhibitors who display cutting-edge agricultural technology and equipment on 2.6 million square feet of show grounds. An estimated average of 100,000 individuals from 70 countries attend the Expo each year to learn about the latest advances in agriculture. More than 40 seminars will be offered in beef, dairy, hay and forage, international trade, irrigation and general agriculture categories. Seminars presented by professionals in the industry provide attendees with valuable information to improve their operations. Dairy groups will discuss California's Federal Milk Order possibility at World Ag Expo Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 9:30 a.m. The event will be held in the VIP Tent on Expo Lane between S and T Streets. "Not only do buyers and sellers come together at World Ag Expo to do business, but agricultural producers also attend the show to expand their knowledge of agricultural issues, production methods and international trade," said Jerry Sinift, the International Agri-Center's chief executive officer. Live webcams of World Ag Expo's show grounds, powered by Axis Communications, Valley Ag Software, unWired Broadband and HD Relay, can be viewed online at www.WorldAgExpo.org. Ten cameras on the grounds offer views of activity on the grounds, including exhibitors, attendees and volunteers. World Ag Expo attendees can get the latest news, information and updates about the show by downloading the new for 2013 mobile app. The free app provides mobile access to the schedule of events, an exhibitor directory, map of the show grounds and other visitor resources. The app is available for download by visiting the iTunes store or Android Marketplace, search for "World Ag Expo 2013." World Ag Expo's Entertainment Pavilion will provide entertainment for exhibitors, attendees and the community during the Expo. The largest event, the Ag Warriors Benefit, will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 13 and will feature Colonel Oliver North. The combat-decorated Marine, New York Times best-selling author, small business founder, columnist and host of "War Stories" on the Fox News Channel, will be the keynote speaker at the event which will help returning veterans find careers in the agriculture industry. For a full schedule of events, more information about the show or to purchase tickets for World Ag Expo 2013, visit www.WorldAgExpo.org. Back to news


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When you consider the emotions of defeat and the persecutory feeling of a tight circle of microphone-wielding reporters, a certain amount of leeway should be afforded to an athlete when he answers a question about his performance. Once you have afforded Kyle Kendrick this leeway, you may proceed to the nearest section of drywall and bang your head against it in a steady yet forceful manner. More than two hours after he trudged off the mound in the fourth inning with a 6-1 deficit on the scoreboard, and long past the time most of his teammates had departed from the post-game clubhouse, the right-hander emerged from a members-only section of the premises and fielding questions about the Phillies' 12-6 loss. He was asked about a second inning in which he threw 50 pitches, walking a light-hitting eight-hole hitter and then surrendering a two-run double to the opposing pitcher.
"I just couldn't find the zone," he said.
He was asked about his tempo, which slowed to the pace of a rush hour crawl, about a perceived lack of aggression, which pushed his manager close to combustion.
"When you are struggling to find the zone, that's how it is," he said.
And then he was asked about his security in the rotation, where he is 2-8 with a 5.01 ERA in 15 starts this season, and the potential that he might head to the bullpen, where he is 2-1 with a 3.95 ERA in 12 appearances.
Kendrick shrugged.
"I guess that's how it is with me,'" he said. "It's, 'What have you done for me lately?'"
Whether Kendrick uttered the words in response to the media's constant hunt for a referendum or in response to his coaches' personnel decisions though out the season, the only response he will get is the sound of a record scratching to a halt. That, or a bug-eyed Jack Nicholson slamming his fist on a wooden table and barking in a homicidal rage, "You're (gosh) (darn) right it's what have you done for me lately."
You can forgive his exact words. Again, leeway. But words come from thoughts, and thoughts come from observations, and when you consider the observations required to get from A to B to "Woe is me," you realize that you are traveling a cognitive chain that is in serious need of reconditioning.
What Kendrick needs to understand is that the ability to throw a hard object with relative precision does not have any inherent value to a non-hunter-and-gatherer society. Kendrick does not manufacture a good, nor does he perform a service that is integral to the functioning of the American economy. A fastball does not refrigerate food or cure disease. A pitcher does not earn $3 million because he has a $3 million arm. He cannot call a 1-800 number during a commercial break on the O'Reilly Factor and exchange his sinker for gold bars. Investors are not transferring their money from treasuries to change-ups.
A human being's status as a pitcher does not entitle him to anything. He must create that value himself. He must earn everything. The value of a pitcher's skill is dictated entirely by the open market, and the open market is dictated by the decisions people make about where they spend their money. Kendrick makes $3 million because a lot of people have chosen to invest a percentage of their wealth in the ability to watch a baseball game rather than investing it elsewhere. Last night, one of those investors, a gentleman seated within earshot of the press box at Citizens Bank Park, yelled at the top of his lungs, "Give us our money back!" That, of course, is not the way markets work. But the gentleman's experience at the ballpark on Wednesday night can affect his future spending decisions. And since the game he watched was a pair of handcuffs away from violating the Geneva Conventions, it probably will.
If enough people have enough bad experiences and make enough changes to their spending habits, the Phillies lose money, which affects the earning potential of everybody in the organization, from the front office to the coaching staff to the players to the clubhouse staff. Which is why Charlie Manuel seemed so agitated after watching the second inning unfold on Wednesday night. The manager was so perturbed that he decided that his best course of action was to avoid saying words at his post game press conference. He didn't even bother with his nightly recitation of the pitching line. Manuel is a man who will excuse physical failure, because baseball is a game in which it is expected. What he cannot stomach, though, is a failure to control the controllable. And that, we can only assume, is what he saw in the second inning.
Me? I think the night was lost with one out, when a breaking ball in the dirt got past Erik Kratz and allowed runners to move to second and third. For a brief moment, Kendrick held a crouch, looking in at home, the wrong kind of emotion on his face. It was the kind of body language that Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee detest, the kind that is the arch nemesis of consistency. The consistent ones are consistent because they accept the results that are beyond their control. A failure to do so puts the whole operation in peril. That wild pitch -- a more agile catcher could have blocked it -- enabled a run to score on the ensuing groundout. And from there, the night spiraled out of control. A walk to Paul Janish. A double to Tim Hudson. A walk to Michael Bourn. And then a two-run single by Martin Prado.
One run followed by a quick third out would have sufficed. Instead, one run turned into four. What have you done for me lately? It is the essence of the sport.


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TEHRAN, June 17 (UPI) -- Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani pledged Monday to take steps to increase transparency in the nation's nuclear program and revive the West's trust.
Rouhani announced his plans at a press conference in Tehran after beating out six candidates to win more than half of the votes in a presidential election Saturday.
He denounced as "cruel" Western sanctions imposed during the term of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadenijad and promised to begin "moving on the path of increased transparency," Fars news agency reported.
"Of course, our nuclear programs are fully transparent, yet we are ready to still increase this transparency to clarify it to the whole world that the Islamic Republic of Iran's actions are completely within international frameworks," said Rouhani, who formerly headed Iran's nuclear negotiating team.
"In the second step, we will enhance mutual confidence [building] between Iran and other countries. That is to say, wherever trust is about to be impaired, we will strive to revive this trust."
While sanctions imposed by Western nations in response to Iranian intransigence about the state of its nuclear development program are a "problem," he said they also are "detrimental" to the West.
"If these sanctions produce any benefit, it would be in Israel's interest and have no other benefit for anyone else," Rouhani said.


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QE3: Definition of insanity returns
Herman Cain: 'These people have no idea what they're doing'
Einstein may have been a genius, but it doesn't take a genius to see the wisdom of one of his most famous sayings: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
That's how you know that the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve have lost it. The Fed announced last week that it plans another round of "quantitative easing," which means keeping interest rates artificially low and printing a lot more money (technically through the buying of mortgage-backed securities – $40 billion a month's worth).
This is known as QE3, and it follows the highly unsuccessful QE1 and QE2, but it is different in one respect: QE3 is forever. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says he will put no sunset date on this plan. The Fed will keep doing it until the economy improves, no matter how long it takes.
Bernanke's announcement got immediate results, too, although not the type he wanted. The credit rating agency Egan-Jones immediately responded to QE3 by downgrading America's credit rating from AA to AA-. Explaining the decision, Egan-Jones said what anyone should be able to figure out: All this pump-priming is not going to raise America's gross domestic product, but what it will do is deplete consumer purchasing power.
Remember last year when Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States from AAA to AA+? Democrats and the media insisted that Standard & Poor's had taken this action solely because tea-party Republicans had demanded budget cuts as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, thus introducing a short-term risk of default on the debt.
In fact, Standard & Poor's cited the dysfunction of the policymaking process in general, and rightly so. Rating agencies don't care how you reduce your debt – cut spending, raise taxes – they just want you to do it. What they saw is what anyone with common sense can see. Our fiscal situation is so out of control that we have to borrow money just to pay the interest on the money we've already borrowed. When the debt ceiling showdown resulted in no serious action on the deficit, Standard & Poor's had seen enough. Even so, Democrats and their media allies did everything they could to blame the tea party – as if the people who want put a stop to out-of-control debt are the ones upsetting the credit agencies.
So then, how will they find a way to blame the tea party for Egan-Jones' latest downgrade of the U.S., which is it second this year? The first downgrade resulted from the utter failure of Congress and the White House to deal with the debt. This time, Egan-Jones recognizes that devaluing our currency will do nothing to make the situation better. The only way to do that, after all, is to achieve robust and sustained economic growth.
So why won't QE3 do that? In buying up all those mortgage-backed securities, they'll certainly pump a lot of capital into financial institutions. The banks will turn around and lend it, and Main Street will suddenly be cash flush, right?
Wrong. That was the theory behind QE1 and QE2, as well. Why didn't it work? Because of a little thing called Dodd-Frank, the "reform" through which Democrats presumed to crack down on big banks. Dodd-Frank has introduced so many new regulations and restrictions, big banks are scared to death to make risky loans of any kind. So sure, there's going to be money, but they're only going to lend it to the safest loan applicants – people who would almost certainly have gotten loans even without the pump-priming.
So we devalue our currency for nothing, and we're going to do it endlessly!
I don't know how we maintain a credit rating as good as AA- when we maintain policies like this. These people have no idea what they're doing.


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Blonde Redhead's noisy, dissonant guitars, alternate tunings, and quiet, stilted lyrics have often been compared to early Sonic Youth. After randomly meeting at an Italian restaurant in New York, Japanese art students Kazu Makino and Maki Takahashi and Italian twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace formed the band in 1993. The name was taken from a song by the '80s no wave band DNA. With Makino and Amedeo on guitars and vocals, Simone on drums, and Takahashi on bass, the band's chaotic, artistic rock caught the attention of Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, who produced and released the band's debut album, Blonde Redhead, on his Smells Like Records label. Shortly after the album's release, Takahashi left the band. The remaining members continued as a trio, releasing a second album, La Mia Vita Violenta, on Shelley's label in 1995.
For their 1997 release Fake Can Be Just as Good, recorded for Touch & Go, the trio was joined by guest bass player Vern Rumsey from Unwound. By 1998, the band eliminated bass and scaled back to guitars, drums, and vocals for In an Expression of the Inexpressible. Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons and the Melodie Citronique EP followed two years later. The band's first for 4AD, Misery Is a Butterfly, was released in spring 2004. For 2007′s 23, the group opted for a mix of dream pop and delicate electronic textures. Three years later, Blonde Redhead returned with Penny Sparkle, a more stripped-down, even more electronic-leaning set of songs the band recorded in New York and Stockholm with Alan Moulder, Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid.


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Now that the dust has settled after this month's general election, political observers from across the state are busy examining the results to see just what effect California's efforts at redistricting and electoral reform had in their first full test at the ballot box. Valley Public Radio's Joe Moore reports that in same cases, the result is too close to call.
For most California voters, the trip to the ballot box this November looked much like it always has, albeit with longer lines at some polling places and a record number of "vote by mail" ballots.
But the biggest changes actually took place behind the scenes, as this month's election was the state's first under new district maps drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, and the first complete cycle under the state's new "top two" elections law.
So exactly what effect did those reforms have on election results across the state? Eric McGhee, a policy fellow with the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California says the biggest change was in the number of close outcomes.
"There were a lot more of those this time around than we had seen over the previous five election cycles," says McGhee.
In 2012, 18 percent of races between candidates of opposing parties were decided by a margin of less than 10 points. That's over double the average from elections over the past decade. And in the 28 races where two candidates from the same party faced each other in the general election, 27 took place in districts which had not seen competitive races in the past.
"The same party races [change] was a real innovation. I don't think anybody knew quite what to expect of those. And they made for competitive contests in districts where you just simply would not have had one in the past. Where the number of competitive races would have been zero in the fall election. And now it was a third of those races that were competitive by that standard," says McGhee.
Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, says the new process made the June primary more competitive as well.
"Those candidates that made it into the top two and got onto the ballot in the the general fought very hard in the primary to get there. And many of them found themselves appealing to voters from other parties and independent voters in order to secure a place on the ballot for fall," says Alexander. "So I do think that we saw in this election year, more in June than November, we saw candidates reaching across the isle trying to get supporters that they normally wouldn't be courting to back their candidacy."
She says that the new primary system, combined with new district maps also made life more difficult for incumbents, especially those in districts that lean heavily toward one party.
"It used to be that if you didn't like the incumbent of your party who was representing you in Congress or in the Legislature, you had to wait till that person retired or was term limited out of their seat to actually do anything about it," says Alexander. "Now, because of the top two, I would argue that people don't have to wait anymore. They can actually challenge a sitting incumbent in the primary and we saw a lot of that happen this year," says Alexander.
Still, incumbents had a pretty good track record, with just three losses in the Assembly, none in state Senate and seven in the U.S. House.
Voters ushered in this new era in California politics back in 2010, when Proposition 14 became law, with 53 percent of the vote. Before this election cycle, each party would field its own candidate in the November general election. This year, voters in the primary got to choose from a long list of candidates from multiple parties, and only the top two went on to the general election.
Supporters claimed it would not only lead to more competitive races, but also would bring out more moderate candidates.
"One of the primary goals that people had for these reforms was to elect more moderates to office, people who would be willing to cross party lines to get things done and solve the problems facing the state and the nation. I think it's just too early still to say whether that has happened," says McGhee.
Opponents however claim that the top two primary system also hurts voter choice, and helps to reinforce the two dominant political parties. Many of California's smaller parties are concerned that their candidates might never stand a chance of making to the top two under the current system.
And even in the primary, voters face a different dilemma, according to Michael Feinstein, spokesperson for the Green Party of California.
"The primary voting system, where you have five Republicans and four Democrats, and three Libertarians and four Greens and two this and four that, the dynamic is even harder for us to get our true vote there, than it is otherwise because of the less of evil dynamic," says Feinstein. "If you're somebody who thinks Green but is concerned that the "greenest" Democrat make it into the November runoff of the only top two, there's even less incentive for you to vote Green there, than there is in the general election," says Feinstein.
Keith Smith, an assistant professor of political science at the University of the Pacific, agrees that the system hurts voter choice and reinforces the two party system. He says that while other countries that have tried the top two system have seen it lead to the growth of multiple parties, "that's true except when you switch from a system that has a strong two party system like we have in California, with two dominant political parties, that stays when you make the change," says Smith.
And even supporters like Alexander note that opponents of Prop 14 who claimed the law would lead to more expensive elections were right.
"That is one of the byproducts that you get when you have more competition. On the one hand people think competition is a good thing and we need more of it. On the other hand they say 'wow this is costing a lot of money to have all of these competitive races up and down the state, who is paying for this and what are we going to owe them down the line?' And that's a very fair concern," says Alexander.
So what does the future hold? Kim Alexander says she thinks the major parties and candidates may adapt to the new system.
"One thing that we saw a few instances of this election were candidates who wanted to get in the top two, were eyeing the other candidates in the race, saw someone who they thought was a threat to them, and ended up pushing a different candidate successfully and pushed their leading opponent out altogether. So you do see this monkeying around in the primary, but I think more of that may go on."
But despite the changes, in some ways the future may be more of the same. The average margin of victory for incumbents in the November election was 33 percent, about the same as the average over the past ten years. And even in contests between candidates of the same party, the candidate who won the party's official endorsement most often won at the ballot box as well.
As for the theory that the top two system may lead more more moderates in office, professor Smith says that as long as powerful interest groups, labor on the left, and anti-tax groups on the right retain their influence, little is likely to change.
"Maybe the parties moderate a little bit, but I don't see them moderating their positions that much. And I certainly don't see the affiliated groups moderating their positions in a way that would get us different kinds of candidates running for office," says Smith.
And McGhee says in other states that have tried this sort of election reform, the long term results aren't all that dramatically different.
"If you look at how these kinds of reforms have played out in other states in the past, they haven't had a huge impact. They've had a maybe a very small, on the margins kind of impact," says McGhee.
He says the bigger change in Sacramento in the near future may actually be much more old fashioned, in the form of the supermajority that Democrats now hold in the Legislature.
"How does that change the political dynamic? Is this going to embolden Democrats to be more radical in some sense, or is it going to make some of the key votes that are necessary for any kinds of two-thirds type of decision, any of those Democratic votes more cautious and more sort of moderate as a result. We just don't know the answer to that. But it definitely muddies the water in terms of evaluating the impact of these reforms," says McGhee.
Next week, we continue our series with a look at how the "top two" election reform has some concerned that it may lead to the extinction of some of California's smaller political parties.


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A November 1949 issue of LIFE featured a wonderfully animated addition to the magazine's long-running "LIFE Goes to a [fill in the blank here]" franchise, in which the magazine's photographers chronicled everything from a black magic "hex party" -- convened in order to cast spells on Adolf Hitler -- to a snail-watching society in England.
The 1949 article in question, meanwhile, featured . . . well, let's let LIFE set the scene:
The Charleston craze that splintered dance floors in the '20s is staging a stubborn comeback, so much so that this year the usual elegance of Princeton's annual Prince-Tiger dance was abandoned for a furious foot-shaking, hair-mussing Charleston contest. In spirt with the Charleston theme, enthusiastic revivalists came in ankle-length raccoon coats, their dates in waistless, sacklike flapper dresses. The enthusiasm even spread to the Princeton tiger in the person of a freshman cheerleader named Ed Craig, who took a few Charleston lessons from somebody else's date, a girl named Barbara Pettit.
Pettit, it turns out, went on to win the contest (with another partner, not with Tiger Ed). Ivy Leaguers, it seems, weren't like other collegians back in the day. The more things change . . .


text: WASDE: Meat, Poultry, Milk Production Forecast Higher May 10, 2013 06:09 PM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By AgWeb.com Editors Email LIVESTOCK, POULTRY, AND DAIRY: Total U.S. red meat and poultry production in 2014 is projected to be above 2013 as higher pork and poultry production more than offsets declines in beef production. Tighter cattle supplies and potential heifer retention during late 2013 and into 2014 are expected to limit cattle available for placement, thereby reducing fed cattle slaughter in 2014. Lower cow numbers and herd rebuilding will also limit non-fed beef production. Pork production is forecast to increase more rapidly than in 2013 as lower forecast feed costs provide incentives for producers to expand farrowings and increase carcass weights from 2013 levels. Broiler and turkey production are forecast higher as lower forecast feed prices encourage expansion despite lower poultry prices. Egg production for 2014 is forecast to expand as producers respond to lower feed costs. The total red meat and poultry production forecast for 2013 is lowered from last month as lower pork, broiler, and turkey production more than offsets greater beef production. Higher cattle placements are expected to support higher fed beef production and cow slaughter has remained relatively high. However, recent winter storms have affected cattle weights which are lowered slightly from last month. Pork production is down marginally on lower forecast slaughter in the second of half of 2013. Broiler production is lowered on hatchery and chick placement data to date, while turkey production is cut on lower poult placements. Continued year-over-year declines in U.S. beef production are expected to push beef exports lower in 2014. Pork exports are expected to rebound in 2014 as supplies increase and demand improves. Broiler exports are forecast higher on expanded supplies and moderating prices. Beef imports are expected to be higher in 2014 as U.S. cow slaughter declines and domestic non-fed beef supplies tighten. Pork imports are forecast up fractionally from 2013. The 2013 red meat export forecast is lowered from last month, largely due to lower expected pork exports. The beef forecast is adjusted to reflect lower first-quarter exports. Poultry exports are raised as higher broiler exports more than offset lower turkey exports. For 2014, cattle prices are forecast to rise above 2013 as supplies continue to tighten. Hog prices are forecast to be slightly lower than 2013 on higher production. Broiler, turkey, and egg prices are forecast to be below 2013 as production expands. Cattle price forecasts for 2013 are unchanged from last month. Hog prices are down fractionally from last month on weaker second quarter prices. Broiler prices are forecast higher as prices remain strong. Milk production for 2014 is forecast higher as lower feed costs and relatively strong milk prices are expected to support production. Commercial exports are forecast higher on robust international demand. Imports will be lower on greater domestic supplies. With higher domestic production, cheese, butter, and whey prices are forecast lower than last year, while nonfat dry milk (NDM) is higher largely on continued strength in international demand. Both Class III and Class IV prices are forecast lower. In the case of Class IV, lower forecast butter prices more than offset higher NDM prices. The all milk price is forecast at $18.85 to $19.85 per cwt for 2014. Forecast milk production in 2013 is unchanged from last month. Imports are raised. Exports are higher as abundant U.S. supplies and competitive prices are expected to spur foreign demand. Cheese, butter, and NDM prices are raised from last month while whey is lower. The Class III price is lowered as lower whey prices more than offset greater cheese prices. Class IV is up reflecting higher prices for butter and NDM. The all milk price is forecast at $19.50 to $20.00 per cwt. ………………………… Coverage, Analysis of the May 10 USDA Reports See all of the data, coverage and analysis of the WASDE and Crop Production reports. Back to news


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Some of my friends told me that I am reviewing too much female perfumes – but hello, they are mostly unisex as the niche perfume houses refuse this kind of categorization. Here is something exclusively for the guys! But I tell you in advance, this scent is very smooth and could also be used by a woman. So hide your bottles guys!
I like dark, woody incense scents on men, that's no secret. This is why Carbone is my taste. Before you read more I have to say, that I would recommend this scent for men with darker skin, maybe particularly the olive type of skin, Carbone needs a stronger base, something Mediterranean – so this is nothing for a pale Englishman. I imagine French men in summer, Alain Delon in the famous movie The Swimmingpool (1969) – or some exotic country. The perfume has indeed something that could be very successful in the Arabian world. A saleswoman told me recently that some perfume houses make 50 per cent of their profit in the Arabian world. Imagine!
The opening of Carbone smells like a sweet cocktail of wood, pepper and some green notes – but very reserved green notes, Carbone is nearly a gourmand scent. It has nothing typical for a men's scent with fresh elements like bergamot or so. What you get is a huge, lush, sweet, dark fig mixed with resins, vanilla and incense. When the scent develops on your skin it gets a buttery smell, like you might know it from Ouris by SoOud. It is kind of sweet for a men's scent, but all men I have asked how they like it, were taken by Carbone. So if you love fig scents and are looking for something deeper, mysterious try this one. Fig with butter and incense is very sexy and perfect for a night out. Get ready to seduce. By the way, Carbone has a great longevity! This one stays until breakfast.
Carbone is nominated in the category Men's Exclusive Fragrance at the Perfume Award Duftstars by the German Fragrance Foundation. On May 27 we will know if Carbone is a winner. For me it has already won!
Category: men
Perfumer: Nathalie Lorson (Firmenich)
Art Direction: Christophe Decarnin
Year: 2010
Notes: elemi, musk, benzoin, bourbon pepper, ivy, violet leaf, vetiver, incense, black fig