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When you do a set visit, you often sit around for hours waiting for the opportunity to do an interview. It's no one's fault that you have to wait, because most delays are a result of the actor being involved in the shot, so you sit around until they have some free time. But when I visited the set of The Avengers last June with a few other reporters, as soon as we got out of the van, I turned my head and standing to our right was a very large man with long blond hair. As you've probably figured out, the large man was Chris Hemsworth and he proceeded to take the elevator with us upstairs and then sat down for an interview.
During the wide ranging conversation, Hemsworth talked about where Thor is when the film begins, who he has the most scenes with, how the rest of The Avengers act around Thor and whether or not they're intimidated, if he feels like The Avengers is a bigger movie than Thor, if Asgard plays a factor in the film, and so much more. Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.
As usual, I'm offering two ways to get the interview: you can either click here for the audio or the full transcript is below. The Avengers opens May 4.
Question: How long have you been filming and how's it been going so far?
CHRIS HEMSWORTH: It's going good. We've been, trying to think now… a couple months. It's going good. Really busy. Much different sort of schedule to Thor. For Thor, I was there every single day and it was all about Thor's journey, whereas this is obviously an ensemble and much more spread. It's been a different sort of work pattern, but I am still having fun.
Where is Thor when we pick him up here?
HEMSWORTH: We end Thor with him certainly matured from where he was in the beginning of the film and ready for that next stage of evolution of his character and journey. I am just now thinking, how much am I allowed to say?
PUBLICIST: We can give the general gist of how they got to come together in the movie.
HEMSWORTH: Thor is obviously here on earth now, because things are unsettled and … Am I allowed to talk about this? We could do this the whole time.
PUBLICIST: That's fine.
HEMSWORTH: He's returned because his brother is involved in the chaos that's happening on Earth, so there is some family business to take care of.
Who do you play the majority of your scenes with?
HEMSWORTH: It's been pretty mixed. I probably have some bigger, intimate moments with Tom [Hiddleston], but the rest of my stuff is certainly the group together and the first couple of weeks. That was heavily the case when we first started shooting. It was a trippy sort of set to walk on to—meeting these people for the first time in full costume, and Iron Man and Captain America and the whole deal. It was exciting.
It's fair to say there are some pretty big egos on the Avengers. Do we expect to see some of those egos clash when the team starts to get together?
HEMSWORTH: Sure. Absolutely. I think that conflict is what makes it interesting. Having seen these people in the individual films, it's probably pretty safe to say that a lot of the team coming together is having to be about them managing their own egos or each others, and how they fit in. What sort of part they fill.
In Thor, the interactions with the human characters made it easier to show you as a god compared to humans. Is any of that interaction here with the superheroes? How does it work?
HEMSWORTH: I guess they're heightened humans. I think it's probably an easier sell, an easier entry in the sense that he's not the only one standing in a ridiculous costume. So that's probably an easier entry.
Are they impressed by Thor?
HEMSWORTH: I think they are all sort of scratching their heads. There are certainly a few reactions of, "This guy thinks he's a god? He's got a cape." And my reaction to that is, you are wearing a metal suit and you are wrapped in an American flag. I think we all have our odd opinions. Joss [Whedon] has said it before: they are all very lonely characters in a sense because they are… "outcasts" is probably the wrong word. But they're certainly individuals. And because of that, I think they find, maybe, some comfort in that coming together. As hard as it is at first, they also probably feel at home in some way.
Robert is known for working on a scene the day he is going to film it, shaping it, rewriting, doing stuff like that. How has he been on this particular film and have you been able to work as a team on set rewriting stuff?
HEMSWORTH: It's interesting. I heard that as well. I'd never worked with him before. There wasn't rewriting going on. There was very much what was on the page was what was being said. His interpretation I certainly admire, the way he has such different versions of the same thing. He gets different reactions out of everybody. I talked to him about his preparation and how obsessive he can be at times. He said, "You've got to be. You've got two weeks beforehand. Drill it, hours and hours and hours on end. That's how you prepare for a scene." It's funny because I find a lot of the time I do that, being new to this business, as a safety net for myself. You look at people like that and think, by this point in their career they must just wake up and half read the lines and do it. But it was nice to hear that he still does that kind of prep and gives it that much attention.
Are their love interests in this film? How much of your personal story in Thor carries over to The Avengers?
HEMSWORTH: Natalie [Portman] is not in the film, That is no secret. It's definitely not a love story for Thor. I think it's certainly taken care of, nicely, that story. There is a nice moment to it to sum up why that's not his focus at the time.
Given how many of you guys have been at the top of the call sheet of a Marvel movie, what is the adaptation process like of being in an ensemble suddenly?
HEMSWORTH: For me, I have only really been on the top once. So for me it was, "Oh, I'm back down there again." Honestly, it's all felt very evenly spread. We all have a great section in it. It's not necessarily one person's story and everyone else supporting them. It really is a good script. For me, I certainly look at Downey as say, the godfather on it, because he started this whole journey. He was the first one to take on the Avengers character, and he is two films ahead of most of us in that sense. Watch and learn. But everyone is proven in their own right, whether they've been nominated for Academy Awards or just done a bag full of films over the years.
At what point filming your movie, or even afterwards, did you get wind that Loki would be joining you? Did you know that while you were filming last time?
HEMSWORTH: No, not while we were filming. It was pretty soon after and then we had to keep it a secret for a long time. Even on the Thor press tour, I thought everyone knew. I'd go to say it and someone would go, "No, no, no. Don't."
Is it tough to keep secrets like that? Even now, you're always checking to see what you can say.
HEMSWORTH: You just become really boring. You end up saying nothing all the time. Like a politician you side step your way out of everything and generalize everything. It would be nice to not have to be secretive and give you some detail.
You got to interact with Samuel L. Jackson at the end of Thor. Do we get to see a lot more of that in this movie?
HEMSWORTH: Yeah. We have some good stuff. He, obviously in the comic books, is sort of coordinating it all. If there is a problem with the assembly of it all, then you want to go talk to who's in charge or who started this. I think everyone at one point heads to him.
Is there any kind of recognition with Hawkeye when you first see Hawkeye?
HEMSWORTH: No, I was in the mud crying [in Thor], I didn't really notice the guy up there with a bow and arrow. I have never met him before but I wonder if he knows who I am. He's like "Hey, I almost shot you in the head one time."
What does Joss bring to the table as a director that you didn't experience on Thor with Kenneth [Branagh]?
HEMSWORTH: Very different styles. I worked with Joss a couple of years ago [on Cabin in the Woods]. It's great having a writer as the director because they know the story back to front. And that's not to say Ken didn't. Ken knew it as well. But in this instance, I guess having just such a detailed version in his head of what's happening and what he wants. He knows what he wants. He's great, he's got a great sense of humor. Like I said, when you have it on the page, and I really think we do in this, then it makes all the difference. You're not trying to fix things or band-aid things as you go through it. And if there needs to be something rewritten or tweaked, all of a sudden there he is to do it and have it for you in a second.
How much has Marvel laid out for you in terms of future movies. Like the sequel to Thor, have they already started saying to you, "Leave this part of the calendar open"?
HEMSWORTH: They have the option on me. I'm just waiting for the call, I guess. I hear rumors about it. I haven't heard an official "Yes we are going ahead" yet. I hope so though, because the last one was so much fun and I'd like to do it again. So yeah, I am hearing the same rumors a lot of people are hearing. A few months ago, there was a report: "Oh yes, they are going ahead." And I was like, "No one has told me yet, maybe I am not in it."
How much notice do you get on something like that?
HEMSWORTH: I think contractually they have to give you a three-month window or four months or something. I think there is some deal, I don't know the specifics. I know, if they wanted to shoot in, say, December, they have to let you know by August or something. That's what it says in the fine print, I think.
Going back to Loki, are we going to see that same brotherly relationship that you guys had in Thor, or is it going to be more of a general relationship?
HEMSWORTH: No, it is definitely the brotherly stuff, which has been nice to play with. Thor has a different angle with this. There might be the attitude of, "Let's just go in there and kill him or beat him up." Whereas Thor is like, "Wait a second, I'll do that. It's my brother." So there is an interesting dynamic with that. And you know we left Thor, the end of that film, with… Thor really felt upset that he was gone. He wasn't like, "Yes! I was beating the bad guy." It was mixed feelings. In the same sense that carries through to here. There's a lot of questions unanswered for him, why, and how this happened, and what exactly went wrong. That's been great to play with.
I have heard this described as Marvel's disaster movie. I am wondering if you could talk a little bit about that.
HEMSWORTH: As in the world coming to an end? Sure, it is a huge scale of destruction and very negative outcome if the Avengers don't succeed. So I understand that.
Does it feel like you are making a bigger movie?
HEMSWORTH: Yeah, it does. I mean, it's still huge sets as there was on Thor. But I think having a much more scattered schedule makes you go, "Okay, obviously I am not taking care of all of this. There are so many more elements. And it does feel so much bigger than the other film. It does. The amount of sets that I am either on or not, oh my god, there are warehouses full of them.
You assume that a lot of this is about the relationship between heroes trying to form a team. Does the actual fighting turn into physical fighting? Or are they already coming together?
HEMSWORTH: Oh, no there is some physical tension. There has to be.
Do each of the heroes have their own character arc? A subplot in the movie?
HEMSWORTH: Yeah, I think they do. They certainly all have a strong motivation for what they want to achieve. You can't have the same arc you have when it's solely your movie, just because it would be a seven-hour film. But I think that's why I am so impressed by what Joss did. He was able to give everyone a strong throughline and motivation for why they were there, and purpose.
Is your costume essentially the same one you wore in Thor? Have there been any updates or tweaks?
HEMSWORTH: There are some tweaks. It's certainly more comfortable. We took the last one and said, "Okay, it looked great, but this and this and this was a little difficult." It's more comfortable. I think it looks better, too. There is a bit more edge to it. It's a nice evolution.
You guys are part of S.H.I.E.L.D. Are you getting to some kind of uniform between all the heroes?
HEMSWORTH: From the comic books, the idea of forming an alliance because of what else is out there and what else exists in the world. I think that's the goal.
I mean as far as the costumes go, do we know you're members of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
HEMSWORTH: The members of S.H.I.E.L.D., yes. But the rest of us turn up with our own outfits. Maybe later we'll say, "Lose the cape."
Does Asgard play a factor in this film?
HEMSWORTH: It does, I guess. Without giving away what the story is. Well, I can say this, because the tag at the end was about the cube in Thor, too. So that obviously is going to play into this somehow. And that is an Asgardian, otherworldly energy source.
HEMSWORTH: We aren't necessarily back in that world, but it certainly has an influence, sure.
Is it explained how Thor gets back to Earth? Because at the end of the film he's stuck.
HEMSWORTH: It is, yep. Rebuilt the bridge.
Tony Stark, and Captain America and the gang, do they believe that you are a god? Or is it more the Ultimate version of Thor?
HEMSWORTH: It's a bit of both, I think. They start to see things and go, "I don't know how many humans can fly." But I think at first, their reaction is, "What is this? This is ridiculous." But then again, they also know, that guy can turn green. There are bigger possibilities here.
Have you read any comics to get in to the role?
HEMSWORTH: Actually, funny enough, I read more of The Avengers, or my introduction to Avengers was when I was working on Cabin in the Woods with Joss. Because Joss and Drew Goddard, when I was auditioning, said "Read this." They gave me Avengers comics randomly, which is so funny that's come full circle.
HEMSWORTH: It's kind of the beginning of it. I remember the scene of Tony Stark and Fury coming to see Thor. And he's on a beach, sort of a hippie having a beer at some sort of rave party. And they're like, "Eh he's not a god." And then he clicks his fingers, and it starts to thunder and lightning and then they're like, "Maybe he is."
I am curious about the hierarchy of S.H.I.E.L.D. Who do you take orders from? Do you except these orders? Is Nick Fury in control?
HEMSWORTH: That's certainly what they come up against. They want to serve their individual quests and motivations and realizations, and maybe have to become a team to pull this off and defeat whatever enemy there is. I think that's they certainly what they all come up against: "Who do I answer to? I don't want to, actually. Who runs this and who's the captain?"
Does S.H.I.E.L.D. have some new equipment in this movie? Or some fun toys?
HEMSWORTH: Oh yeah, plenty of fun toys.
HEMSWORTH: It's awesome. I don't know what any of it does. It's like being on the Star Trek set where I pressing one of the buttons and things would break off. It's amazing. There is sort of a science-fiction-y thing, but it's futuristic. Weapons and all sorts of gadgets.
Have you got a chance to work with Mark [Ruffalo] as Hulk yet?
HEMSWORTH: Not yet, no. I haven't. Actually, I have done some of the action sequences but he's not there. There are times when he's in the jumpsuit with dots on it and what have you. I keep wondering how the hell do they turn that into [the Hulk]?
Are they actually using New Mexico like they did in Thor? Does it actually take place in the desert?
HEMSWORTH: There are some exteriors. We were somewhere up in the mountains at one stage. And then we go to Cleveland and we had street sets there. But a lot of the stuff here is the studio, in the warehouses.
Is it going to actually be in Cleveland? Or is it just going to be a random city?
HEMSWORTH: I'm trying to think, I don't know that I've read this in the script. In the comics, it's New York. And I think that's what they're trying to do.
How long was the Thor shoot and how long is this shoot? Can you sort of compare how many days?
HEMSWORTH: Thor was about five months. It's about the same, actually.
How would you describe the action set pieces in Thor versus this one? Does this one have a lot more?
HEMSWORTH: There is probably more in this, just because there are more characters fighting. We can have a couple of scenes of Thor fighting. You've got to show each of them in their piece.
This is a character that people thought was going to be tough to realize on the big screen. Is there something that was a real challenge the first time that maybe came very easy when you stepped back into it? Physically, psychologically…
HEMSWORTH: I think it was just, you know who he is. I really walked into Thor knowing my lines and being at rehearsals. But you kind of go, "Ken where do you want me?" Because I just wasn't sure what they wanted or how they were going to pull it off. So having done that, it's certainly easier to go, "This is how he reacts, this is his attitude, this is how he speaks." So all the things you found there, are definitely easier to pull in. But you also want to have an evolution, and have something new.
Hypothetically speaking, what have you borrowed from the Thor set and what have you borrowed from the Avengers set? Props, toys…
HEMSWORTH: I planned on taking the hammer on Thor, and sort of missed my opportunity. But it's not happening this time, I guarantee it. I'll say it publically, too. The hammer is coming with me. I thought, oh maybe they will give it to me, but that didn't happen.
For more from our Avengers set visit:
35 Things to Know About The Avengers from our Set Visit; Plus a Two-Part Video Blog Recap and 8 New Images
Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans The Avengers Set Visit Interview
Mark Ruffalo The Avengers Set Visit Interview
Tom Hiddleston The Avengers Set Visit Interview
Director Joss Whedon The Avengers Set Visit Interview
Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson The Avengers Set Visit Interview
Clark Gregg The Avengers Set Visit Interview
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige The Avengers Set Visit Interview


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SOG SOG-TAC AUTO Folding Knife 3.5" Black TiNi Plain Blade, Aluminum Handles - ST-06
SOGST06: ST-06 SOG-TAC Auto
The SOG-TAC is an invigorating automatic design like nothing else. It is big but relatively slim and specifically designed for action. Blade travel is definitely fast and once open it locks up like a floor safe. The handle is machined out of 6061T6 hard-anodized aluminum. There is also: a safety button that double locks the blade in the open/closed position, our reversible bayonet style clip and a tactical drop point blade.
- Blade Length: 3.5"
- Closed Length: 4.5"
- Overall Length: 8"
- Product Type: Folding Knife
- Locking Mechanism: Automatic
- Belt Clip Type: Reversible
- Finish: Hardcased Black TiNi
- Edge Type: Straight
- Blade Steel Type: AUS8 Stainless Steel
- Blade Shape: Drop Point
- Handle Material: Anodized Aluminum 6061-T6
- Handle Color: Black
- Hardness: RC. 57-58
- Weight: 3.8 oz.
- Assembled in the USA
UPC Code: 729857993371
Customer Reviews
Make: SOG
Model: ST-06
Price Paid: $140
First Thoughts...
Initial Impressions: Cool looking knife with a unique handle design. Very thin for an auto.
Packaging: The box has a silk screened company logo, their URL, address, etc. Basically, it looked very professional (although it was about 50% larger than it needed to be). Nothing else protecting the knife though, like a plastic bag.
Accessories: None.
Documentation: None.
Observed Quality: Very good. This knife looked to be screwed together quite well.
Sharpness: Very. About a dozen passes over a strop and it was like a razor.Speed of Deployment: Average. Neither slow nor fast.
Solidity of Lockup: Very. The blade deploys, hits the bumpstop and locks into place with a reassuring 'clunk'.
Blade Wobble When Deployed: Just a touch. There is some side-to-side play but it's very minor, to the point I almost didn't even mention it.
Feel: Very nice. It fits my hand really well.
Size: Almost perfect. I never thought I would say this about an EDC knife, but it actually might be too thin. For most tasks it work quite well, but when getting aggressive I sometimes wished for more handle to grab a hold of. The individual finger choils make the thinness a lot more tolerable.Impressions: Solid design with a unique pattern etched into the sides. Lots to like about the appearance and feel.
Clip Strength: Ideal. Stiff enough to make it snug, but not so much so that it's impossible to get in/out of your pocket.
Carry Options: Right side, tip up only. The end of the clip is actually sandwiched between the two handle sides, so there are no exposed screws. Perhaps if you disassembled it you could go left side tip up, but I never tried that.
Value: Good. Solid, well built knife with a lot to like.
Buy Again: Yes.
Overall Assessment: Very nice knife that will be spending a lot of time in my pocket. It's a little on the thin side for me, and the rough thumb jimping on the blade spine could use a bit of smoothing over, but beyond that I really don't have any complaints.

subset: commoncrawl


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AWOOOOO! VFDC is the ultimate Virtua Fighter website run by the fans, for the fans, and it needs your help to... stay on its feet. Information on how you can officially support us can be found in the Become a VFDC Supporter Today thread. Because, to be a supporter is... beautiful.Dismiss Notice
You may filter results by keywords using the form to the right.
Jul 20, 2017 at 12:56 AM
Posted By Blitzball Champ
Casual Matches
XenMedio PRO © Jason Axelrod from 8WAYRUN.COM


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This tutorial teaches you how you can load Active settings modules into your app, and create your own modules.
Active Settings is an app, much like Plasma Desktop's kcmshell that shows and loads configuration modules. These configuration modules are plugins providing a QML package and an optional C++-plugin which exports custom-written configuration objects as QObject to the declarative environment.
You can query available modules using the --list argument to active-settings:
$ active-settings --list org.kde.active.settings.web Settings for history, caching, etc. org.kde.active.settings.configtest Test Module for the Config Bindings org.kde.active.settings.time Settings for timezone and date display
You can load an individual module by supplying its plugin name as argument to active-settings: active-settings org.kde.active.settings.time will open the active-settings app and load the "Time and Date" module on startup.


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Premade 6mm Solar Cable with Male to Female MC4 connectors, quick and easy to install.
(Please note if using as a cable run from panel to controller, you would cut in half giving you 2 x 5m lengths, MC4 to bare wire.)
Double Insulated UV protected solar cable
Max load: 50A
Housing: PPO
Contact resistance:5mΩ
Contacts: Copper.Tin plated
Degree of protection: IP67
Flame class: UL94-V0
Pin dimensions:Ø4mm
Wire size range: 6mm2


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BEXUS balloon campaign gets under way
The latest campaign for Balloon Experiments for University Students, or BEXUS, was kicked off on 3 October as students from several Member States and Co-operating States arrived at the Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, Sweden.
Over the past weekend, five teams of university students sponsored by the ESA Education Office, and two more sponsored by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), have been performing final integration and testing activities with their experiments, which will culminate with two balloon flights to the stratosphere this week.
If the weather is kind and all goes according to plan, the giant helium balloons will be inflated and launched on two separate days. Over a period of about four hours, the gondola containing the student experiments will soar to an altitude of about 29 km, before the cable is cut and the payload parachutes to the ground.
Since the drop zone covers a sparsely populated region with a surface area larger than the Netherlands, a helicopter is essential for the initial recovery of the experiments. Once the gondola is delivered to the nearest road, it will be picked up by truck and returned to Kiruna.
"The launches can take place at any time of the day or night, although a daytime launch is preferred," explained Helen Page of ESA. "However, weather conditions must be right, with a wind speed of less than 5 metres per second and a low level of precipitation."
"A Euronews TV crew will be on hand to capture the excitement and pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the students. The programme is scheduled for transmission in the first week of November."
Due to the uncertainty of the launch conditions, the organisers have prepared a flexible programme of space-related activities, which includes two sessions by students from the Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE) group from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The DARE presentations will cover a forthcoming attempt to break the world altitude record with their Stratos rocket and an account of the Delfi-C3 CubeSat mission, which is currently in orbit.
ESA sponsored experiments
The five experiments sponsored by ESA for the BEXUS 6 and 7 balloon flights are:
TimePiX@Space - Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, Charles University, Prague and Czech Technical University, Czech Republic. Detection of particles in the stratosphere using a hybrid imaging pixel detector developed at CERN.
Stratospheric Census - An international team from the 'Erasmus Mundus' Space Masters course, currently based at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. Using innovative nanofilters combined with a strong airflow to gather dust particles from the stratosphere.
Aurora – School of Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome, Italy. A study of the physical properties of the stratosphere, including temperature and magnetic field intensity.
Low Cost Inertial Navigation System (Low. Co. I. N. S.) – La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Validation of an inertial measurement unit built with low cost sensors and components.
Icarus - Romanian Space Agency, Romania, and Warsaw University of Technology, Poland. A study of lifting body technology by releasing a glider from the balloon and piloting it to a designated landing zone by remote control.
2009 BEXUS campaign
The call for proposals for BEXUS 8 and 9 is now open and will close on 17 November 2008. More information can be found at www.rexusbexus.net.


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
For today's entry (and after a brief side trip through my own experiences), I move just slightly out of the SQL realm to a Microsoft Clustering MVP. Ok, in reality he is very much a SQL Server expert/guru (having taught for the SQL Server
2008 Microsoft Certified Masters courses), and has been for many years. He just spends more of his (at least public) time working on failover clustering than he does in the more general type of DBA/TSQL/Business Intelligence role tasks that most of the people I have interviewed so far have been involved with.
I have known Allan for quite some time now, and while we may not share a ton professionally in common (other than a love for SQL Server), I talk to him often about one of
my favorite hobbies, going broke at Disney Theme Parks. His twitter handle is @SQLHA, and his website/company website is http://www.sqlha.com/.
Allan is a prolific writer, having written several books for
Apress, including
Pro SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering and
Pro SQL Server 2005 High Availability, and most recently a very soon to be out, self
published book called Mission Critical SQL Server.
His blog has a very steady stream of on average 4 or 5 entries a month that are very interesting and useful to read. Today, I ask Allan to answer my questions about why he writes to continue my quest to find out why other people are writing.
1. There was a point in time when you didn't have a blog, didn't tweet, and had no public presence whatsoever. And then, one day, you made the decision to put yourself
out there. What prompted you to get started writing, and what was the first public work you produced?
I can't ever remember not writing or doing something like drawing (little known fact: I designed the CD covers for all three of the CDs I've released to date).
I'm inherently a creative type and very verbose. I've never loved writing fictional things, though, so I won't be the next Clive Cussler or even Mark Russinovich. I've always liked more factual-based writing.
Speaking to the public presence thing, it's always been part of who I am. I think I had one going back to when I was a kid. Even prior to starting to play
bass in third grade with performing publicly and getting attention that way (I was already playing with high school kids I think less than a year after starting to play), I participated in services at our synagogue doing one thing or another (leading part
of the service, reading Torah/Haftorah, whatever). In fact, during high school, when the rabbi went away sometimes either myself or another friend of mine would lead the Friday night or Saturday service from time to time. So "being out there" and doing public
speaking/appearances has always been a part of my oeuvre. I can remember one time where it was myself, my Mom, and a handful of other people in the synagogue. They were setting stuff up or cleaning something up. I went up to the bimah and started hamming it
up over the microphone. I couldn't have been more than 5, if not younger. Funny how we remember things like that even later in life.
I can also remember in high school when our jazz band made the finals for the Berklee Jazz Festival in Boston, we played the Berklee Performance Center. It
wasn't until years later when I went back and saw a concert there that I realized how big that place is. I would say my experiences with music and in synagogue have certainly benefitted me later in life.
What was the first public writing I've done? That's a tough one. It depends what you define as public work, because it would probably go back to elementary
school. I was underclass editor for the high school yearbook as a sophomore, and editor-in-chief as both a junior and senior. I was the co-editor of our bus' compendium for USY on Wheels (USY is a youth group). I have a very long history of doing things that
paved the way to where I am today. I don't think anything I'm doing today would be a complete surprise to those who knew me back then.
The writing I had the most fun with was in the 90s when I used to do a bit of music journalism. I got to interview some of my favorite artists, including members
of Styx, Genesis, Geddy Lee of Rush, and Howard Jones. That really paid poorly (if it was paid), but it was a blast. A running theme you'll notice in this entire interview is I've had a pretty good life to date and lots of luck.
Funny aside – even in elementary school I would be up at all hours of the night working on projects such as reports only to have to be up and out by 7AM or
so. Not much has changed today.
With regards to blogging and tweeting, it's a matter of making sure you are putting yourself out there. I was very late to the club on both of these social
media aspects. As an independent consultant and business owner, it'd be just stupid not to have some sort of presence. I won't lie. But I tend to go into these things more reluctantly than people think since I'm inherently a private person. I'm a risk taker,
but other things I'm more conservative about. I'm not about tweeting my life story, and I only blog when I'm inspired – quality over quantity. I don't schedule tweets or blogs. No slam on those who do, by the way. It's a perfectly valid way of doing things,
it's just not mine.
2. We all have influencers that affect our trajectory as a writer. It may be a teacher who told you that you had great potential, or another writer who impressed you
that you wanted to be like? Or perhaps on the other end of the spectrum it was a teacher who told you that you were too stupid to write well enough to spell your own name, much less have people one day impressed with your writing? Who were your influences
that stand out as essential parts of your journey to the level of writer you have become?
I've been tremendously lucky my entire life. Many people have championed me and pushed my potential along the way, and I'm indebted to all of them. Those who
have championed me have seen something in me going back to being a wee tot that they wanted to help foster. I have no idea what it is. If I did, I'd sell it and retire.
I can remember being my usual precocious, outspoken self even in kindergarten. Here in the US, there's not too much deep learning going on in kindergarten
– at least that's what I remember. I think one day I raised my hand and said I was bored. The exact circumstances of what happened next are a bit fuzzy since we're probably talking about 1976 or 77, but they put me in an advanced reading class by myself a
few hours a week. I remember they had to throw my US History II midterm out of the grading curve since it covered more than we learned but I knew the answers anyway because I was a history buff. I've been lucky like that my entire life; education was a positive,
not a negative. This isn't meant to boast or sound cocky at all. Plenty of people know more than me.
It was unprecedented to be a junior and the editor-in-chief of the high school yearbook; I was the underclass editor the year before including doing all of
the layout work. That particular English teacher who headed the yearbook, Mr. Schroyer who unfortunately passed away, was a great guy. All of my music teachers (Mr. Forte, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Schlenker, Mr. Peraino, Mr. Lesser, and a few others) in school really
helped me out, too. I never took a formal paid lesson; I had whatever I got in band or the brief lessons in school itself. I never really practiced. When Mr. Cohen came into our third grade class to try to talk band up, I told him I wanted to play guitar.
I was insistent. He took me in the hall and told me there was bass guitar, and the rest is history. I'm not always good at being subtle or taking no for an answer. I was first chair trombone in high school my senior year, yet I only really played the thing
in band class and only took it up in fifth grade because a) I couldn't be in band and play bass since marching band was a requirement b) I didn't want to learn a new clef. Mr. Lesser drove me to audition for being in the state high school jazz band. That was
over and above. I can remember making the all South Jersey jazz band five years in a row (grades 8 – 12). Mr. Lesser always helped me prepare. One year I beat someone more senior than me (I think I was in 9th grade at the time); the guy was pissed
off and looked like he thought he deserved it because he was older. I never made state; whoever else auditioned was better than me. That's the way it works. I took it all In stride, but he never stopped believing in me or my talent. I remember those years
very fondly.
It's one reason I take mentoring seriously; the right person/people can really set you down the right path. A good mentor knows what buttons to push, and when
to leave you alone … and possibly even let you fail. But they know you'll learn from the failure and be better for it. I think anyone who has had any kind of success also knows failure which makes you appreciate the success that much more.
Another influence on me was my manager at a company called PC Docs (later bought by Hummingbird), Bob Toth. I was the database and OS jack of all trades since our product needed to support Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, and for a time, Informix, on a variety of platforms including Windows NT, Solaris, HP-UX, and Netware. It was my job to be the first person to run our product on these platforms even before anyone else touched it. That meant I was figuring out how to get this stuff installed and working on the backend all the time. Sound familiar? When the NLM version of Oracle is your favorite of the Oracle flavors, you know you've touched too much stuff. As part of this process, I realized there was no roadmap; I needed to figure things out and make it simple as well as repeatable. So it was at PC Docs I started doing full instruction guides for internal use for getting the platforms up, but at some point some of our public guides were not up to snuff. I remember contributing some of that content to them. From a database perspective, that was my first formal public appearance with writing. I also remember speaking with Bob at Docsummit in Florida (Orlando?) around 1997 or 1998, which I guess kicked off that aspect of my public speaking. Docs is also where I first saw Wolfpack, which later became the clustering we all know and love in Windows – failover clustering. Docs was my second job out of college and lasted for about 3 years, but it was arguably three of the most influential of my formative years in the working world. It set me up well for working at Microsoft, and as they say, the rest is history.
3. What would you say has been your greatest success story as a writer, even if it was not a commercial success? And conversely, have there been any projects that were
just complete disasters that you probably could have looked back and realized that before you got started?
I think my biggest success is reflected when people e-mail me, come up to me at a conference or talk, etc. who tell me that something I've done has helped
them or they like it. It's still odd to get comments on my 2008 book 4 years later! It shows all those hours put in were worth it even if others didn't agree with the vision. It's very humbling. Writing really isn't a vanity project for people just to recognize
me since inherently I'm a private guy who happens to wear things that are sometimes eye catching. (Wendy Pastrick likes to remind me of the purple cords I wore at one Chicago SQL Saturday; I still have and wear them.) I mean, have you seen my mug? Modeling
agencies won't be contacting me any time soon!
As far as writing disasters go, I can think of one nightmare whitepaper which has since been published (won't say which one it is) that was pure hell. The
content owner had no clue what they wanted, but they did know it wasn't what I wrote. By the third complete rewrite (and we're talking a whitepaper of 50+ pages – not an insignificant amount of work!), I basically drew the line in the sand and said take it
or leave it. Why hire a SME who knows the space if you don't either trust them or know what you want? That paper nearly ruined a vacation, too. My travel companion was not happy with me. In retrospect, I should have walked away. The situation got a bit ugly
behind the scenes and its side effects lingered for quite some time.
4. As I mentioned in the intro, you are a Disney fan. Does this or any pop culture affect your writing? I know I frequently want to infuse Monty Pythone-sque tidbits
into my writing (even if the occasional editor strips it out as non-essential,) and my latest trend is to name my presentations like a Goofy cartoon, starting off all names with "How To".
Ironically enough, I really don't use Disney in my examples. It's a bit too obvious.
I have a whole blog post (http://www.sqlha.com/2011/10/19/fun-with-naming-conventions/)
which talks about how I use bands and musicians for things like server and instance names. It's in all of my books. Some people get it, others don't. After years of doing it, people have caught on. I like seeing the reaction of people when I'm talking and
say things like, "So when you join Dennis and Tommy to the Styx cluster …".
Speaking to your Goofy "How To" point, if people haven't seen the Goofy short made a few years back entitled "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater" (http://video.disney.com/watch/how-to-hook-up-your-home-theater-4be387e52d43da0e1266b068),
go watch it. It's fun stuff and was great to see them take the classic Goofy themes and update them for modern times. I also like the just released Mickey Mouse short "Tokyo Go" (http://video.disney.com/watch/disneychannel-tokyo-go-4e09ee61b04d034bc7bcceeb).
Since I love visiting Tokyo as well as like trains, that plus Mickey = winner. Nice nod to Walt at the end. I'm glad they're reintroducing Mickey to a modern audience in a way that's not just for kids (i.e. Clubhouse) but in some ways, a bit more true to his
early essence. "Runaway Brain" from 1995 was good, but nearly 20 years ago now! Nice seeing Mickey be more than just a character in a theme park since that's the way it used to be.
5. And now for the silly question…Assume a time machine has been created, and you are allowed to go back in time to speak to a group of potential writers, in which you
and I are in attendance. What would be the most important point you want to make sure that we hear and follow up on? Do you think your advice would have help current you to do a better job? Or perhaps to do something els?
Write because you are passionate, not for the payday. Some things may be more lucrative than others, but if you factor in the time spent into writing something,
you really don't make a lot when all is said and done. I love doing it, otherwise I wouldn't bother.
Worry about quality and staying true to yourself, even if it means walking away. Look at what I'm doing with
Mission Critical SQL Server. This isn't some drama filled split with Apress; we just disagreed on what the book should look like so I'm doing it the way I believe it needs to be done. Am I nuts for doing it? Ask me in a few months. It's certainly a lot
of work and it's stressful, but also very exciting.
Ensure your personality shines through in your writing. For better or worse, people who know me say they can hear my "voice" when they read what I write. In
other words, I'm no different no matter what I do. That has led to some problems along the way, since I write in a way people can read and try not to create a dry, boring document. Some have a vision that a whitepaper or book can't have any personality or
must be formal 100% of the time; I disagree. Sometimes it's true, but most of the time there's some latitude.
IP ownership is a huge topic that every writer today needs to think about and deal with. Data is a company's IP, and what I generate in terms of writing is
mine. I do scrutinize the IP clauses of any contracts we sign. A big part of what I do (and why I'm an MVP) is about giving back; what I give freely I do so with no remorse. However, that doesn't mean I think everything I do should be free. This is the art
vs. commerce argument. Since I'm a musician, this topic of free vs. paid also hits home. How many people pay for music today? A topic for a different time, but relevant here.
My last book I know is up on torrent sites; I wish I could say it wasn't and people respected me not to do it. I really don't have that much spare time to
write something as large as a book only for grins and yucks. I know some consultants who won't speak at a conference unless they are getting paid, let alone write a book! Despite what people may think, there's nothing wrong with that. Writing a book is a long,
tedious, painful yet rewarding process those of us who write say we'll never do again, but we do it over and over. We must be masochists at heart. DRM isn't the answer to fight piracy – I wish it was; it's a gnat in the big picture. In theory DRM is good,
but the practice causes other problems. I think I dealt with it in a decent way with
Mission Critical SQL Server. Time will tell.
I don't think I would have done a better job since my experiences formed who I am today, but things like IP ownership are things I never thought about until
later in life, whether you are monetizing your writing or not. Plagiarism where people steal whole blog posts and repost as their own is common; plenty of people have talked about their experiences. I wish someone had sat me down when I was younger about the
business side of things. Writing is easy. Business, legal, and doing the right thing is apparently harder,
6. Finally, beyond the "how" questions, now the big one that defines the interview series. Why do you do write?
I think I have a somewhat insatiable quest for knowledge and I like to share that if I can in some way. Paraphrasing someone I used to work with years ago
when I worked at Microsoft: "I came to Microsoft thinking I'd find all the answers. Instead, I had to create them." I've always been inquisitive. Most of what I do stems from wanting to truly understand what goes on as well as a frustration with most documentation
and how poorly it is done. Given what people have said about my books, I seem to have a knack of taking concepts that are sometimes difficult and explaining them in a way that they understand them. Some say it's a gift. I don't know what "it" is, but I'm glad
I have whatever "it" is.
Earlier, I said I don't write fiction, but I do tell stories. That's the one things that frustrates me with most technical writing – people don't have a story
they are trying to tell. There's no flow, no purpose, no beginning, middle, and end. The writer meanders with no thought, leaving you more confused than if you never read whatever it is you just digested.
I also hate really dry reading. Something you read may be factually correct, but it's impossible to get through because the author is a poor writer. I never
want someone to label me in that way. I'm continually trying to improve. I'm never satisfied with 'good enough' if I can help it. And people wonder why I sleep very little …
I think the bad writing out there fuels me a bit, too, truth be told. And for heaven's sake, the people who do text speak in writing drives me crazy. ("Where
r u going 2?") I'd like to think I'm keeping real words alive somehow ha ha
Bonus Question: Are there any projects coming up that you would like to tell people about?
<feel free to tell us about, or advertise anything, work, fun, speaking, writing, etc.>
The pre-release content for the first edition of
Mission Critical SQL Server be starting to roll out soon (see the intro for link), and I hope to have it competed (fingers crossed) before the end of calendar year 2013. I like the subscription model I've come up with for providing updated content, and
I hope others do as well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I'm starting to schedule a bunch of my 4-day mission critical class which has labs. I do it a lot privately, but I'm getting more requests to do it publicly
so I'm dipping my toes in the water. I'm going back down to Australia for two weeks to teach it at the end of October/early November in Melbourne and Sydney, and have a Chicago class in December. Yes, Chicago in December. Buy a coat and show up! See
http://www.sqlha.com for more details on all of these and any other dates which may crop up.
I've got two upcoming online webinars with Penton – the yearly SQL Server foundations one with Ben DeBow (my business partner in SQLHA) which is six sessions
over two days (August 27 and 29;
http://sqlmag.com/sql-server-foundations) as well a one day, three session one on SQL Server high availability coming up on September 10 (details coming soon).
Not surprisingly I'll also be at PASS Summit again. I've got both a pre-con (sign up!) on clustering and a spotlight session. SQLHA along with a couple of
other consultants will have a booth at Summit, so stop by. We may even wind up giving stuff out – you never know! It's going to be a really busy fall.
In the non-work world, I've been working on my big band project since 2009 or slightly before. It's on hold at the moment largely due to time issues since
I'm busy as well as travel quite a bit. Most of it is recorded, and there's been a bit of pre-mix work. I still need to do a bit more writing and arranging. All of the arrangements except one are mine. The album will be a mixture of originals and my interpretation
of some of my favorite tunes from artists like Styx (a medley I'm going to arrange), King Crimson ("Red"), Rush ("Cygnus X-1"), and Genesis ("Behind The Lines/Duke's End") but with a jazz slant. Some of the arrangements are more literal, others are not. I'm
hoping that after this fall's craziness and the completion of Mission Critical SQL Server, I will get back to it.
I also have an upcoming gig with the big band I play with when I'm home on September 1st
down in Norwood, MA. Unfortunately, a sub will be filling in for me at rehearsals for much of the fall due to my schedule.
Big thanks to Allan for all of his great replies. It has been a few days laying in my email box, but Allan was *the* fastest in returning the questions, passing right by two other people who I am currently waiting on. Not that I mind people being slow, I know that it takes me longer to edit the questions for another person than Allan took to reply, and it took me nearly a week to finish my answers to questions I wrote! I sometimes wish I was a lot faster of a writer, but I spend a lot of time editing myself over and over to make sure I get it just right (or as right as I can be without going crazier.)
One thing he mentions about writing is about his (and really pretty much any trade/tech book writer's) material being available on torrent sites. This one has burned me up for years, but it is something that even publishers have seemingly given up on. I think that they have given up, thinking that. 1. People who wouldn't buy a book at all might see your work and at least tell others. 2. People who would buy a book might check out a book like this but they would actually purchase the book if they want to keep it. Stolen PDFs of books or not, there is no question that you will get a lot less coin for book writing than you could doing something else. But still to this day, having a book has enough prestige that I can minimally delude myself into thinking that it is worth it.
Admittedly, as Allan says "I think my biggest success is reflected when people e-mail me, come up to me at a conference or talk, etc. who tell me that something I've done has helped them or they like it." I frequently say that a well thought out negative comment/review is extremely helpful, but for me, one "Thanks!" from a stranger I have never met is worth hundreds of dollars in terms of motivation. Just knowing that someone actually read the material and possibly applied it makes it all feel worthwhile. And admittedly, I have never asked to see verification that they purchased the book.
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Merlin's weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
Merlin's weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
"What's 43 Folders?"
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann's website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.
Five fast email productivity tips
Merlin Mann | Feb 15 2005
There's been a lot of great discussions about email productivity going around on sites I enjoy, so I thought I'd throw in five no-brainers that I've seen help a lot of folks.
Update 2005-10-18 07:33:45
Yep, you read it right: in the eightish months since I posted this, I've set my email to check every hour. The result? I ain't missing much. A lot of stuff that can wait, a lot that resolves itself, and a huge mass of items that previously would have sent me on a 50-yard-dash to nothing.
Friends: stop letting your email poke you with a stick. It's just not worth it.
My Mac dictionary says it...
Submitted by Mel (not verified) on April 28, 2005 - 4:26pm.
My Mac dictionary says it can be either e-mail or email. Both are proper.
|EXPLORE 43Folders


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NUI Galway Scientists Discover New Deep-Sea Habitats in Irish Waters
Scientists from NUI Galway's Ryan Institute photographed a vertical rock face half a mile below the sea's surface covered in bivalves and corals
Scientists from NUI Galway's Ryan Institute have published the discovery of novel deep-sea habitats in Irish Waters. Published in the international academic journal PLOS ONE, their findings describe for the first time a rock face half a mile below the sea's surface.
NUI Galway Zoologist Dr Louise Allcock led the team which explored the Whittard Canyon, an undersea canyon system, using the Irish deep-water remotely operated vehicle, ROV Holland I. The scientists discovered a vertical rock face half a mile below the sea surface, which extended upwards for about 150 metres, and was covered in a rich assemblage of bivalves and corals.
"It is really unusual to see so many conspicuous animals so close together at these depths" explains Mark Johnson, Professor of Marine Environment at NUI Galway. "The bivalves are also remarkably large, and we know that deep-water oysters of this size elsewhere in European Seas may be more than 200 years old. So we are probably seeing an exceptionally long-lived and stable community".
The bivalves and the corals are filter feeders and are reliant on particles derived from surface waters for their food. The researchers studied the water column to work out how sufficient food might be arriving at the site to support such a large and vibrant community.
NUI Galway oceanographer Dr Martin White said "We were particularly intrigued as to how food particles might be concentrated into one particular area and we found evidence for an internal wave caused by the shape of the canyon, which could be delivering food to the foot of the wall."
Deep-sea habitats are known to play many important roles in ecosystems, including recycling of nutrients, carbon sequestration and can act as nursery areas for other species, so the scientists are keen to discover more. Remote-operated-vehicles (ROVs) have made many of these habitats accessible for the first time.
This deep-sea research is guided by ocean floor mapping around Ireland's coast (INFOMAR) and the knowledge that similar canyon systems around the world are home to the kinds of organisms likely to yield novel pharmaceuticals; an aim of Ireland's biodiscovery programme.
Dr Allcock says "this habitat, because of its age and fragile structure is potentially extremely vulnerable to damage. We need to establish where else it occurs and what measures are needed to protect it."
NUI Galway's Ryan Institute was formed in 2010 by the merging of the Environmental Change Institute and the Martin Ryan Institute for Marine Science. It promotes interdisciplinary excellence in environmental, marine and energy research. It is committed to international collaboration, and a regional, national and EU sustainable development agenda. This research survey was carried out under the Sea Change strategy with the support of the Marine Institute and the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007–2013.


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I have here an e-mail from Mike Nauer, a loyal Jalopnik reader from Nevada. He writes, and I'm quoting here: "You must get a lot of chicks in that thing. Am I right? Eh? Eh?" I get the feeling that Mike would also like to wink at me and jab me in the ribs with his elbow just to make sure I "get his drift," but you can't do that over e-mail.
The "thing" Mike is undoubtedly referring to is my Ferrari, which is bright red and really low and basically an excellent way to tell strangers that you think you're cooler than they are. You'd know all this if you followed me on Twitter, where I post pictures of it constantly. For instance: this weekend, I posted a picture of a dog sitting in the passenger seat, and a clever reader replied: "bark twice for faster." I was still chuckling about that, days later, as I tried to remove dog vomit from the CD slot.
Anyway: back to the e-mail from Mike. Like many men, Mike assumes that owning a Ferrari automatically means women will fawn all over you. I hear this a lot. There are thousands of men, probably millions of men, who believe the reason they haven't hooked up with a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model has nothing to do with their unkempt hair, or bad breath, or the fact that they have stains on their clothes older than many NBA rookies. Instead, they think it's because they don't have a Ferrari.
Well, guys, for those of you nodding your heads, I'm here today with some bad news: having a Ferrari won't get you women.
Regular readers will note that I've covered this topic before, back in July, when I wrote a column entitled Sports Cars Don't Really Attract Women. In that piece, I mentioned that my old Lotus Elise never attracted women. Instead, it only attracted men, who would approach me at gas stations and tell me stories about how much they wanted a Lotus, but instead they got a Nissan Sentra that's a lot like a Lotus because the previous owner ripped all the foam out of the seats.
But I've decided to devote some new attention to this topic, because this time I've really upped the ante. I mean, let's be honest: you probably read the old column and thought: Of COURSE women don't notice that Lotus! It's like a bright orange children's toy! But if you got a Ferrari, I bet women would THROW themselves at you!! So I got a Ferrari. And guess what: women still don't throw themselves at me.
Now, before I go any further, I would like to state that I'm perfectly aware there are some women who really appreciate cars. I know this because every time I write a column that mentions any sort of gender differences, I get e-mails from women who are the eighth-mile Clay Surface Drag Racing Champion of somewhere like New Brunswick, and they're aghast at the very idea that I could be so disrespectful to the fairer sex.
But I think we can all agree that those women are the exception rather than the rule. That's because the rule – in general – is that women just aren't that interested in cars.
Any man who has ever taken his wife to the Pebble Beach Concours knows this is true. What happens at Pebble is, you're walking around amidst a sea of exotic cars, cars that won famous races, cars that are one-of-one, cars worth millions of dollars, and you turn around to discover your wife is 20 yards behind you, where she's managed to find another wife and strike up a conversation about shoes.
This same thing happens on the road. Even if you're driving a Ferrari with the engine at full melodious throttle, passing most women elicits the exact same reaction it did in the Lotus. This primarily involves women briefly looking up at the car and then thinking: Hmm. I wonder if I have any text messages.
And here's the other thing: even if your car does get you noticed by the opposite sex, it's often the wrong type of women doing the noticing. Here I'm referring to women who see the car and don't think "Cool!" but rather "Rich!". To find out which one you've attracted, I strongly suggest striking up a conversation. The moment she says the words "my car only has a V4," it's time to excuse yourself and drive away quickly.
So, Mike Nauer, I do get your drift. But unfortunately, I don't get "a lot of chicks" in my Ferrari. In fact, I don't really get any – and for further proof, you should really watch my video. If you need me, I'll be vacuuming dog hair out of the center console.
@DougDeMuro is the author of Plays With Cars. He owned an E63 AMG wagon and once tried to evade police at the Tail of the Dragon using a pontoon boat. (It didn't work.) He worked as a manager for Porsche Cars North America before quitting to become a writer, largely because it meant he no longer had to wear pants. Also, he wrote this entire bio himself in the third person.


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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The pool of potential Los Angeles jurors to hear a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Jackson's mother has grown to 43 after three days of questioning.
The group has been given a 24-page questionnaire assessing their knowledge and opinions on Jackson, his family and concert giant AEG Live.
Katherine Jackson is suing AEG, claiming it failed to properly investigate the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her son's June 2009 death.
More than 200 potential jurors have been screened since Tuesday, but most do not have enough time to serve on the trial, which may last three months.
AEG has denied wrongdoing and says it never hired former physician Conrad Murray to care for Jackson. Jackson's family is seeking $40 billion, although jurors would have to determine any damages.


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Average teacher salary in US (2014) is $56,383 plus benefits. With est. fringe of 25% = $70,000.
Average training period for a sworn police officer is six months; we might assume three months for limited-duty training. There is ample reason to doubt that police-training agencies could gear up for this effort, but we won't count that for now.
Cost of training = one-fourth of a teacher's annual salary plus cost of training a police officer. Averages $7,000 across the US. Total with three months teacher salary $18,500 approx. The trainees might reasonably ask for a bonus for giving up their summer vacation, but we won't count that.
Presumably the teachers accepting the risk would get combat pay, let's say 25% bonus for half their career span. Figure 25% of $70,000 for 20 years or $300,000. Of course that would raise their pensions by a commensurate amount; est. 10% rise in pension cost; we won't try to calculate that permanent cost either.
So to summarize.
- Initial costs
- N/teachers (20% of 3,000,000), 600,000.
- Initial training @ $15,500.
- Training, first year (600,000 X $15,000), approx. $9.0 billion one time.
- Annual costs thereafter
- Retraining est $2,000 + one month salary (5800/12), total @ $7,800.
- Combat bonus, $15,000.
- Total/teacher, $22,800.
- All teachers (600,000), $13.7 billion.
- Continuous training of recruits @ 600K x 1/40 = 15,000 recruits/yr @ $18,500, total $342 million/yr.
- Combined annual costs
- Recruit training, $342M.
- Armed teacher extra pay, $13.7B.
- Min. total, $13.7B+342M=$14.022 billion per year, FOREVER, NOT including hiring more teachers when an unknown number are removed from classrooms to roam the halls at all times.
- Ten year program cost $9+14=$23 billion or $2.3 billion/year. That's $115 per adult (taxpayer). You might ask your local T-bagger how he feels about that.
Ban and collect all "assault" weapons (define it yourself).
Government(s) might reimburse owners @ $400 each (currently advertised price of used AR-15 on 26 Feb 2018). (This is a good deal for most owners, whose guns are mostly hidden in closets, improperly maintained and rusting away.)
This would put a lot of money into circulation, almost entirely at a scale conducive to re-spending, which could be a boost to the economy, or perhaps equally to savings, which has lagged in recent decades.
If 10M are in circulation the one-time cost would be (400*10M)=$4 billion — about one-fifth of the armed-teacher plan — with no annual incremental cost.
To assuage anti-"Big Gub'mint" fears, there could be a federal license to carry with reasonable qualifications, e.g., an age limit; training requirement and certification; documentation while in possession; storage and protection obligations... Such a license might carry fees roughly equivalent to a passport, around $200 initially plus a periodic renewal. Further open and honest dialogue could work that out. Thus we protect the Second Amendment, as we should for a host of reasons.
Summary of Alternative
- Less expensive
- Radically reduces the likelihood of mass murder with assault rifles.
- Losers: Gun manufacturers.
- Winners: Everyone else.
- We won't count those, either, but you might want to.
The nay-sayers are probably right that nothing can entirely eliminate the possibility of mass shootings, but this is about probabilities, not metaphysics, and imperfection is no excuse for inaction.


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For simple potentials like square wells and harmonic oscillators, one can explicitly calculate the product $\Delta x \Delta p$ for stationary states. When you do this, it turns out that higher energy levels have higher values of
$\Delta x \Delta p$.
Is this true for all time-independent potentials?
Certainly, it is possible to find two states $\mid \Psi_1 \rangle$ and $\mid \Psi_2 \rangle$ with $\langle \Psi_1 \mid H \mid \Psi_1 \rangle > \langle \Psi_2 \mid H \mid \Psi_2 \rangle$ and also $\Delta x_1 \Delta p_1 < \Delta x_2 \Delta p_2$. For example, choose a quadratic potential, let $\mid \Psi_2 \rangle$ be the first state and let $\mid \Psi_1 \rangle$ be a Gaussian coherent state (thus with minimum uncertainty) and fairly high energy. So I'm asking here just about the stationary states.
As Ron pointed out in the comments, this question is most interesting if we consider potentials with only a single local minimum, and increasing potential to the right of it and decreasing to the left.


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There are 2 news items
32 million euro for top-level technological research
In the coming years almost a hundred researchers are going to develop innovative technologies together with industry and social organisations. That will happen in six new Perspectief programmes, which have been given the green light by NWO, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. The programmes should lead to a new 3D printer for large metal components, more efficient deep-learning systems, extreme microscopy, new bacteria for the chemical industry, injury-free exercise and wearable robotics for people suffering from muscular disorders.
Vici grants for 34 scientists
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded 34 leading scientists a Vici grant worth one and half million euros. Vici is one of the largest grants for individual scientists in the Netherlands and is part of NWO's Talent Scheme. The funding will enable the scientists to develop their own innovative research line for the next five years and build up their own research group.


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MIT Report Faults Neutrality Toward Aaron Swartz in Downloading Case
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while maintaining a "neutral" stance toward the prosecution of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, failed to live up to its commitment to the free exchange of ideas, a report found.
MIT didn't take into account that Swartz was a "well-known contributor to Internet technology," according to Tuesday's report, led by professor Hal Abelson. Swartz killed himself in January as he awaited trial on charges he broke into the school's network to download millions of research articles.
The university, which prides itself on promoting openness, and the U.S. Justice Department have faced criticism for their roles in pursuing Swartz, considered a hero by many in the movement to make information available for free. The law used to pursue him was "poorly drafted" when "applied to modern computing," according to the report.
"MIT's position may have been prudent, but it did not duly take into account the wider background of information policy against which the prosecution played out and in which MIT people have traditionally been passionate leaders," the report said.
While the report presents an opportunity to "learn and lead" on questions of open access, intellectual property and ethics, it also dispels myths about the case, L. Rafael Reif, MIT's president, said today in a letter posted on the school's website. Two days after Swartz's suicide, Reif asked Abelson, a computer-science professor who has been a prominent advocate of maintaining free access to software, to lead the review.
'A Whitewash'
"It makes clear that MIT did not target Aaron Swartz, we did not seek federal prosecution, punishment or jail time, and we did not oppose a plea bargain," Reif said.
Swartz's girlfriend Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, in response to the report, called MIT anything but neutral in the case. MIT's lawyers gave prosecutors access to witnesses and evidence while refusing access to Swartz's attorneys, she said.
"All MIT had to do was say publicly, 'We don't want this case to go forward,'" Stinebrickner-Kauffman said. "MIT's behavior throughout the case was reprehensible, and this report is quite frankly a whitewash."
In a blog posting, Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor and Internet activist, faulted MIT's position of neutrality, saying it had intervened in an earlier case, involving an MIT student, and that it could have told prosecutors that Swartz was authorized to have access to the research under the school's open-access policies.
MIT's 'Failure'
"'Neutrality' does not justify failing to pick up the phone, and telling the prosecutor, 'Hey, in fact, his access was authorized,'" Lessig said. "Maybe it wouldn't have mattered. Maybe the prosecutor would have stayed the course. But then that would have been (yet another) failure of the prosecution, not MIT's."
On a conference call with reporters, Abelson said the inquiry was conducted independently of the MIT administration over more than six months. Those working on the 180-page report interviewed about 50 people, including members of law enforcement, Swartz's lawyers and MIT faculty, and reviewed 10,000 pages of documents, he said.
"We tried to give a full account of the facts," Abelson said. He and his colleagues sought to avoid judgments "so people can reach their own conclusions."
Until his arrest in January 2011, MIT was unaware that Swartz was the person downloading information, according to the report. The university didn't issue a statement about Swartz's prosecution or advocate on his behalf, contrary to the wishes of his family and legal team and two members of the faculty, the report said.
Father's Plea
Swartz's father, Robert, a consultant to the MIT Media Lab, asked the school to make a "settlement" with his son, similar to the one reached with the organization that maintained the digital library of academic articles he had downloaded. Swartz complained that his son's defense team couldn't get assistance from MIT, such as access to documents and employees, and the university violated his rights by turning over items to the government, the report said.
"Why are you destroying my son?" Robert Swartz said in a meeting with MIT officials in September 2011, according to the MIT review. The school remained silent because of "the good-faith belief, based on private conversations with the lead prosecutor" that it would make no difference and could make matters worse for Swartz, according to the report.
An MIT attorney told the lead prosecutor on June 21 that "some people at MIT would be likely to view the prosecution negatively," according to the report. An outside lawyer for MIT told the lead prosecutor in August 2012 that the government "should not be under the impression that MIT wanted a jail sentence for Aaron Swartz."
Before the 26-year-old Swartz hanged himself, the MIT community "paid scant attention" to the case and few expressed concern about the prosecution or the questions it raised about the free exchange of information.
"We as a community failed to live up to the high standards that MIT has set for itself in the past," Abelson told reporters.
Image: Wendy Maeda/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
This article originally published at Bloomberg here


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Central Connecticut senior Elizabeth Montemurro was named to the 2011 Northeast Conference Softball All-Tournament Team. Central's top hurler this season, Montemurro started both of her team's games in their first NEC Tournament and allowed only three earned runs in 10.1 innings pitched.
Montemurro pitched a complete game in the Blue Devils game one loss to Robert Morris. She pitched six innings and allowed a single unearned run. She scattered seven hits in the game while striking out five Colonials.
She returned to the mound for the second game of the day against Quinnipiac and allowed three earned runs in 4.1 innings. Unfortunately, she also allowed four unearned runs which led to the Blue Devils being eliminated from the NEC Tournament.
Montemurro became the Blue Devils all-time leader in wins on May 3, when she defeated Holy Cross. She extended her record to 36 wins with a victory over Seton Hall on May 5. She is also second all-time in strike outs and innings pitched at CCSU.


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MALTA — A 69-year-old retired police officer killed his wife inside their upstate New York home last week, then spent several days with the body, authorities said Monday.
A sheriff's deputy looking into the welfare of 65-year-old Kathleen Wilkinson found her body Sunday on a bedroom floor in her home in Malta, 20 miles north of Albany, Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III said.
She was killed during a domestic dispute last week with her husband, Charles Wilkinson, a retired officer in Long Island's Nassau County, Murphy said. The man spent the weekend in the house with the body before letting the deputy in after police received calls from her acquaintances saying they hadn't heard from her for several days, the prosecutor said.
Friends of the woman had gone to the home, but Charles Wilkinson wouldn't let them in, Murphy said.
Information on the time and cause of death won't be determined until after an autopsy is conducted Monday afternoon, he said.
Wilkinson was charged with second-degree murder and was being held in the county jail without bail. Murphy said he didn't know whether Wilkinson had a lawyer.
Wilkinson retired after 13 years with the Nassau County Police Department. The couple had lived in Malta for about 10 years and have two adult children who live in the Boston area, Murphy said.
The slaying occurred in a tidy suburban development a few miles south of Saratoga Springs. Neighbors spoke highly of the couple and said they weren't aware of any domestic issues, Murphy said.
"We're very lucky to have very few murders," he said. "Certainly it's very disturbing to have it happen in a very quiet neighborhood."
Retired police officer killed his wife, lived with her body for days, say cops
MALTA — A 69-year-old retired police officer killed his wife inside their upstate New York home last week, then spent several days with the body, authorities said Monday.


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ABC's Obama Super PAC: Network Devotes 38 Minutes to Pushing First Lady
Over the course of two programs, ABC on Tuesday devoted 38 fawning minutes of time to Michelle Obama and her new book, American Grown. Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, who admitted getting a "chill" during her last interview with Barack Obama, happily announced that "everybody [on GMA] is on their best behavior" during the First Lady's visit.
Roberts's interview with the First Lady stretched for 13 minutes and included penetrating questions about Obama's "great admiration for Beyonce."
Mrs. Obama appeared on The View for 25 minutes. Supposedly serious journalist Barbara Walters repeatedly wondered whether "racism will be a part of this campaign."
Roberts-host kicked off the segment by gushing over the fact that
Michelle Obama came to the studio: "Usually we have to go to your house.
You're on our turf right now...And everybody is on their best
The GMA co-host did offer a solitary tough question, wondering about the First Lady's healthy eating crusade: "[Some people] feel it's all part of big government. How do you respond to that?"
In 2008, GMA featured town halls with candidates Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Sixty four minutes were devoted to these Democrats and zero to Republicans. In 2012, ABC failed to offer a town hall to a GOP contender.
So, 38 minutes in one day for Mrs. Obama should not be a surprise.
Roberts has a history of fawning over Michelle Obama. Yet, the journalist talked to Laura Bush on October 22, 2007. She challenged, "Desmond Tutu went even farther, saying the generosity of Americans, that's what we should export instead of our bombs."
Roberts also lectured Mrs. Bush, informing her that New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman believes America "should export hope instead of fear."
A transcript of the May 29 GMA segment can be found below:
ROBERTS: We are delighted to have First Lady Michelle Obama here live in our studios today. She has a brand-new book out. It is called American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. It is a beautiful book and all proceeds go to the National Park Foundation. Has an important message about the healthy foods we should eat as she continues her fight against the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country. Good morning, Mrs. Obama.
MICHELLE OBAMA: I am happy to be in the studio. I've never been here before.
ROBERTS: Usually we have to go to your house. You're on our turf right now.
OBAMA: I came to you. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
ROBERTS: And everybody is on their best behavior.
OBAMA: They're well dressed too. Kind of, sort of.
ROBERTS: Even my producer has her pearls on today. You never wear pearls, Emily! But it is a privilege to have you here and you have so much that's going on as always and this book is a passion of yours. It's a passion project.
OBAMA: It is and it turned out exactly as I envisioned. It's a beautiful book, wonderful pictures, it really tells the story of not just our garden but what folks are doing in communities all across this country. But it is definitely a passion. You know, getting our kids in this country eating healthy, helping families make good choices about how they eat and stay active and this book is a way to talk about our journey but also talk about the challenges we face as a nation around health and what we can do to move forward on some of these issues.
ROBERTS: As we said, all proceeds go to the National Park Foundation.
OBAMA: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: The White House is a national park.
OBAMA: It is.
ROBERTS: And you weren't sure if you would be able to have a garden there, were you?
OBAMA: I absolutely was not. I mean, as we were moving through the campaign, the idea of nutrition being at one of my issues and children's nutrition and I thought wouldn't it be amazing to plant a vegetable garden in the White House? But I had no idea whether or not you could dig up some dirt in the south lawn and actually plant anything. So the minute we came to the White House, we started having conversations with the national park services and all the folks who have been a part of the garden and the answers throughout were yes, yes, absolutely, yes and, you know, months in we started digging. We brought some kids over and we now have more than 1100 square feet of vegetables growing and we've got and we've had hundreds of kids coming to help us harvest and plant. It's just been more than I could ever have imagined.
ROBERTS: These are pictures from the book. Their face, they just light as they're seeing things growing. And we're going have some of the kids a little bit later. All part of your movement to get kids moving.
OBAMA: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: But you know there are critics who say, wait a minute, don't need government telling me or telling my children what they should eat or should not eat.
OBAMA: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: They feel it's all part of big government. How do you respond to that?
OBAMA: You know, that's not really what Let's Move has ever been about. We know that there are many reasons why we're in this dilemma with our children. One in three of our kids are overweight or obese. So there is an issue. But this isn't about government telling people what to do. What we know we need to do is give parents, community, families the tools and information they need to make choices that are right for them and there's no one size fits all solution. I experienced that myself as a mom. Really trying to figure out in a hectic life how do you take the time to cook a meal? How do you afford it if you don't have accessible affordable food in your community? How do you get your kids active in a culture where they're spending 7.5 hours a day in front of a screen? I mean, these are modern problems and challenges and many families aren't aware of them. It kind of sneaks up on you and they don't know how to tackle it. So, Let's Move is a way of giving people the tools and information and it really requires everybody to step up. We need our mayors stepping up, restructuring cities so that kids have safer places to play. We need our food manufacturers stepping up and really thinking about how to reformulate food products so that they are a little more healthy.
ROBERTS: And affordable.
OBAMA: And affordable. Yeah, we need big super markets to locate grocery stores in under served communities. So, it's a little bit of everything. Exercise is a key of all of this. We've got to get our kids up and moving and we've got to make it fun.
ROBERTS: I saw your kids up and moving at the Beyonce concert over the weekend.
OBAMA: Oh, yeah. We got a little movement in there.
ROBERTS: Very much so. And you said if you could be anyone, that you had great admiration for Beyonce.
OBAMA: Well, anybody who's got talent I'm all for, but, you know, Beyonce has just been a tremendous supporter of Let's Move. I mean, without asking, she reformulated Move Your Body to do a flash mob for kids across this country and I visited a middle school when we launched -- kicked it off. A middle school in D.C. the entire middle school class was up and dancing. They had spent weeks learning this video and, oh, yeah, there we go.
ROBERTS: [Video of Mrs. Obama dancing.] Of course, we're going to show that.
OBAMA: Right. But this was happening all across the country, all around the world and, you know, Beyonce stepped up in a way that so many of our celebrities and athletes are stepping up on behalf of this issue so I love her to death. And was glad to be out there moving my body with her.


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Petite Glass Pitcher - White
Made in Morocco
by artisans preserving Moroccan culture
Serve cold drinks in this beautiful hand-painted pitcher. Each purchase empowers artisans at Chabi Chic in Morocco.
Fair Trade Petite Glass Pitcher - White | The Little Market
As with all handmade items, no two pieces are the same. Variations in size, color, and design will occur.
- Approximately 3.5" x 4" x 8"
- Holds approximately 18 oz.
- Materials: glass
- Food-safe
- Do not use in the microwave or in the dishwasher. Hand wash.
- As with all handmade items, variations will occur.
Chabi Chic
Located in Morocco, Chabi Chic works with talented artisans with a mission of protecting Moroccan culture, preserving beautiful traditions and techniques, and improving the quality of the artisans' lives. Chabi Chic's story began in Marrakesh with a former architect and a former home decorator. Their goals include creating high quality and handmade home goods that are ethically made from natural materials; benefiting the artisans' livelihoods, creativity, and vast skill sets; and sharing the traditions nationally and globally.
Chabi Chic works with approximately 18 artisans and suppliers between the ages of 20 to 60. While some of the artisans, such as those who work on pottery and ceramics, are based out of workshops, some also work out of their homes. They work hard to preserve a tradition that has been passed down through generations and that is facing competition in today's environment. Chabi Chic is part of the Marrakesh Cultural and Creative Industries, a program started by the United Nations. Through this program, Chabi Chic is given access to funds for the artisans looking to improve their skill sets and sell their work. Each purchase of the products in this collection empowers these skilled artisans and their families.
Learn More
Artisans at Chabi Chic in Morocco create beautiful glassware collections. They use recycled glass to make these products, and these fair trade goods are hand-blown by the artisans.
Learn More
Morocco, or the Kingdom of Morocco, is a North African country with a fusion of cultural heritage, including Arab, Berber, European, and African influences, according to the BBC. Located along the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the only country in Africa to have coastlines along both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The highest population density is along both coasts, while some dense segments are spread out through the Atlas Mountains.
Learn More
Fair Trade Products
Fair Trade is an approach to international trade centered around equitable partnerships, transparency and respect. It seeks to empower marginalized producers by providing them safe working conditions, fair pay, and a means to establish a sustainable business free from exploitation. As a member of the Fair Trade Federation, we are committed to the Fair Trade principles.
Learn More


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A: How can I trust your website?
B: We accept the IPS payment which is a globle payment method. In order to make your order secure, you can ask for refund if you don't get your order after you pay. And as you see, we want and will try our best to do long-time business with you.
A: How long will I receive the order after pay?
B: We will ship out the order in 24-48 hours after you make the payment.Usually, it will take 5-8 days to USA, 5-10 days to France, Australia, Canada and Spain.
A: How much of the shipping cost?
B:Shipping to USA, UK, Australia, Spain, Canada, France etc. These country, we can offer you free shipping cost for order more than 500 dollars.
A: How can I make an Order?
B: 1. Register for free.
2. Log in your account.
3. Search or browse products, And if you wish to buy them, type a number in the quantity box and click "Add to cart". There is no minimum order.You can add just one item if you want. And you can remove them later or adjust the quantities if you change your mind. Products you've added to your shopping cart are saved there while you are looking at more items. Your cart is even saved for next time if you log out or accidentally close your browser.
4. If you want to find out the total price including shipping, click "Estimate Shipping Costs" in the shopping cart page.
5. The first checkout page is "address book", you can edit you billing address or change shipping address. e.g. to an different dropship address.
6. You can choose shipping methods on the second checkout page. We offer free shipping for certain amounts. If you have got the free shipping, you can not choose shipping methods. On the same webpage you can also choose the payment method you prefer. In the message box textbox" Special Instructions Or Comments", You can add special request for your order. e.g. the declared value of the package that you wish for customs purposes.
A: What kind of payment method do you accept?
B: We accept Credit Card, Western Union, MoneyGram and Telegraphic Transfer.
Payment: You can pay money directly to us in our shopping system if you want to pay by Credit Card. For other payment methods,pls contact our sales representative
A: Could I return the goods?
B: Yes, But you should mail us all the proofs which will show the problems of the products you got from us. If You can not prove that is our fault, we will not refund all the money.


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Introduction to Computers
Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
This class is for beginners! Through this class you will learn about the parts of a computer, how a computer operates, how to use a computer, and how to open, use, and close basic programs. Registration is required, so call (706)356-4307 or stop by the Circulation Desk soon!


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"Lost" fans may have a new dial to switch to in the coming months to see some familiar island faces together again. A rep for NBC confirmed to Access Hollywood on Wednesday night that the reports are true — the Peacock network has secured the rights to the upcoming J.J. Abrams show starring former "Lost" co-stars Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn.
According to New York Magazine's Vulture blog, which first reported the news, the currently untitled program has "Alias" alumni — Josh Appelbaum and Andreme Nemec – writing and executive producing. Additionally, Abrams and another "Alias" alumnus, Andre Nemec are executive producers.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Access Top 10: 'Lost's' Most Mystifying Moments
U.S. & World
"I'm thrilled to be involved with Warner Bros., J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot, NBC and the incredible team of Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec on this new venture," Michael said in a statement to Access Hollywood on Wednesday night. "I'm absolutely delighted to be given the chance to work with Terry [O'Quinn] once again, and we're all very excited to get started."
The show, described as a comedic drama by Vulture, would likely see the two actors starring as ex-black-ops agents. Vulture reported that NBC has "commited" to a pilot of the program.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Sexy Men Of Sci-Fi
Michael, who played Ben Linus on "Lost," told AccessHollywood.com in May that he and pal Terry, who played John Locke (and later, the smoke monster) on the ABC show, had come up with a host of television ideas to keep them working together.
"We've been joking for a long time about what we ought to do together when this is all over — stuff like we were gonna do a play on the front porch of the old actors home, you know that kind of thing — just jokes," Michael previously told Access. "But Terry had a couple of really good, strong ideas and he pitched them to someone in the world of producers and they seem to respond to it. So I don't know where it's at or whether it will come true, but there's a good idea out there kicking around and if it comes to life, it would make me very happy."
Michael added that he and Terry became good pals on the "Lost" set, the result of several seasons of being paired opposite each other in dozens of scenes.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Primetime Hunks
"We were close and we had many days where it was he and I working together and those days were great working days, some of the best of my career," Michael said at the time.
Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: 'Lost': The Final Season
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Terry O'Quinn & Michael Emerson On The Final Season Of 'Lost'
PLAY IT NOW: Dish Of Salt: 'Lost' Stars Talk Series Finale
More from Access: [ Michael Emerson NBC TV ]


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I have never been an early riser. Left to my own devices, I'm almost never up before 8:30 and usually not before 9. But for some reason on October 27, 1989, I was up early enough to witness the above moment in television history, and I was livid. Jane Pauley was being let go from the Today show under circumstances reportedly not quite voluntary, and the advance publicity was apparently bad enough that this public display of making nice seemed necessary.
I asked my editor if I could write an opinion piece about it, and he let me go ahead, even though I wasn't the TV critic. The tension of the piece is that there are two somewhat inharmonious elements, not in contradiction, but existing uneasily side by side. The first element was that I was outraged that that they could get rid of Jane Pauley on what seemed to be the basis of age. If true, this was an incredible injustice. At the same time, I couldn't quite restrain myself from observing that, even if they thought they were running a beauty pageant and not a news show, they should still keep Pauley. I found her the more attractive. I went at this the way I'd advise a journalism student, not by trying to hide the slight discord but by emphasizing it.
Anyway, I thought I would never see the above moment again — and actually I can't quite sit through it. It still makes me cringe, even though I find some of my reaction at the time a little extreme. I got to like Bryant Gumbel, and I have nothing against Deborah Norville, though my appreciation of Jane Pauley remains undiminished all these many years later.
Speaking of years later, when I talk about turning "the dial," that wasn't a figure of speech in those days. Most TVs still didn't have remotes in 1989.
Excerpts from Friday's Today show announcement have been
played over and over, but excerpts can't do justice to the
full version that I happened to catch when I stumbled out of
bed that morning.
This was the HANDMAID'S TALE in my living room, a
ceremony in which the beloved courtesan, having reached
retirement age after a successful career, agrees to do the
right thing and drink poison.
Bryant Gumbel, who has all the warmth of an electric
eel, made his best effort to appear human and caring,
talking about all the good times he's shared with his
"buddy," Jane Pauley, who will be leaving the Today show
at the end of the year. "She has more than earned the right
to focus her life in different directions," he said with a
straight face. Yeah, right.
Meanwhile everyone in the country knows that Jane Pauley
is leaving the Today show for one reason. She's 39. Oh,
yeah, and there's the other reason. Deborah Norville is 31.
End of reasons. Pauley may go on to have a successful career
in prime time, but that won't change the fact that she was
squeezed out of her Today Show job.
Friday's announcement was a creepy thing to watch, an
obvious, smiley-faced attempt to white-wash something cruel,
and it was all the more painful because Jane Pauley seemed
to be genuinely moved by the nice things that Gumbel and
Norville said about her. She sat between them, smiling and
laughing nervously, like someone trying hard to see the good
in something awful.
I'm not so callous a guy that I can wake up with a woman
on and off for 13 years without getting upset when she
disappears. Besides — let's talk TV-cosmetic-cruel over
here; no one else in the country has been tasteless enough
to mention this, so I will — Jane Pauley is prettier than
Deborah Norville. Jane Pauley is lovely.
When I turn on the TV and Jane Pauley is on the screen,
there's a nice feeling. There's warmth and intelligence
there. When I turn on the TV and Bryant Gumbel is on screen
– well, he's a pain-in-the-neck but I can tolerate him
because if Jane Pauley likes him, maybe there's something to
the guy.
At 39, Pauley should be entering her queenhood on the
Today show. I don't know who exactly is being pandered to in
replacing her with a woman who has nothing on her except
that she would probably look better dancing on a table.
Deborah Norville's behavior during the announcement was
fun to watch. She sat there, looking both wildly ambitious
and a little uncomfortable. She was looking at her own
future, in more ways than one. Sisterhood may not be
powerful in network TV, but there is a glimmer of race
Norville's remarks were gracious, but also carefully
designed to assure viewers that she deserves the job. She
let everyone know she is intelligent ("I was always the
girl in fourth grade saying, `How come?"') and that she has
paid her dues ("I was pounding the pavement for 11
Programs like the Today show don't depend on substance
but on coziness, an illusion of family. Events like the one
on Friday not only upset that illusion but come into our
living rooms with a threat. Are we all disposable? One day
you see a great lady, composed and in charge of herself,
doing her job. And the next day she's there, like Jesus
between the two thieves.
I got enough aggravation, I don't need to get upset at
seven in the morning. I'm turning the dial.


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A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Memoir, Letters, and Remains of Alexis de Tocqueville. Translated from the French by the translator of Napoleon's Correspondence with King Joseph. With large Additions. In Two Volumes (London: Macamillan, 1861). 2 vols. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2434,
A 2 volume collection of material originally edited by Gustave de Beaumont after his death. Vol. 1 contains an autobiography, some previously unpublished essays, France before the Consulate, and letters. Vol. 2 contains additional letters.
The text is in the public domain.
This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.


text:
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