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Mihaela has 6 years of experience as a live out carer.
Mihaela was responsible for providing personal care such as assisting the clients with bathing and personal grooming, managing any medication and helping with mobility support.
Mihaela helped with the housekeeping duties as well as running daily errands for the client. She helped in keeping the home clean at all times, was responsible for doing laundry, ironing, hoovering and other related household duties.
"She is always presentable, offers a welcoming greeting with her warm personality that is very reassuring."
"I am passionate about providing exceptional care to my clients and making sure that they will feel safe and comfortable at all times, says Mihaela.
Having a bilingual carer who speaks your native language will enable you to maintain your culture and traditions. You will be able to maintain familiarity and form a stronger bond with a bilingual carer in your home.
Elderly carers are there to support your independence at home, no matter the need. An elderly carer will take care of any requirements you may have, so you can continue to enjoy your life at home.
A housekeeper-carer is equipped to provide you with the care you need, as well as look after the home. Housekeeper-carers will be in charge of running the household, so you don't have to.
Our housekeeper-carer cooks are the best addition to your home. A housekeeper-carer cook will look after your health, your home and also ensure you receive the most nutritious meals.
A housekeeper-companion will be there for you with a kind word or to support you in your favourite activities. Your housekeeper-companion will also ensure the home is kept up to standards.
Live-in care is the most comprehensive type of care. A live-in carer will be there to ensure your comfort, safety and security at all times. A live-in carer will ensure you are living a happy and healthy life in the familiarity of your home.
Live-out carers are a seamless addition to your home. Live-out care can be set up to support you and your schedule. A live-out carer will take care of any necessary tasks around the home, as well as any care needs.
Part-time care is an excellent option if you just need minimal support at home. A part-time carer can visit your home only when you need them to, making sure all your needs are attended to.
Post-discharge care may be arranged to help get you back on your feet after being discharged from the hospital. Your post-discharge carer will look after you as directed by your doctor in your post-discharge care plan.
Respite care allows for another carer to step into the shoes of your regular carer, while they take a break or leave of absence. Respite care can be arranged stress-free, making a seamless transition from your carer to a respite carer.
For a no obligation discussion about your elderly care, please call or send us an enquiry.Call 0207 183 1395 Send Enquiry


text:
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The Art Of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. (Chronicle Books 2009) 272 pages of awesome concept art and beautiful vistas.
Interior pages from The Art Of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, via Parka81 on Flickr.
Interior pages from The Art Of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, via Parka81 on Flickr.
Interior pages from The Art Of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, via Parka81 on Flickr.
Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles: Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away A stunning 568 pages worth of toys, memorabilia and weird products, including a giant Lego statue, Boba Fett Pez dispensers, and "Cream Of Jawa" soup. Umm, Eww?
A.I. Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg: The Vision Behind the Film Wow, how did we miss that this book came out a few months ago? Chock full of concept art by original artist Chris Baker, this book traces the evolution of A.I. from Kubrick's original concepts to Spielberg's final execution. Plus excerpts from Kubrick's legendary notebooks, and stills from the finished film.
The Pixarpedia — aimed at younger readers, this nevertheless sounds like something you'll want to have on display, with 300 pages of huge images from all of Pixar's films, including behind-the-scenes info and bios of real Pixar employees.
Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide by James Cameron. Just in case you weren't sure that James Cameron spent way too much time thinking up the fauna of Pandora for his new science-fiction epic, he's put out a complete guidebook. Hours of xenobiology fun. Scan from Black Book Magazine.
The Art Of Avatar. If you'd rather just marvel at the jillions of beautiful designs and concept images this movie spawned, then check out this book, which is worth hours of drool. We featured a ton of images from this book a while back, but there's tons more where those came from.
The Art Of Star Trek. We already featured some exclusive concept art from this book a while back, and it's full of tons of other great stuff, including early looks at the different versions of the ice monster, and enough spaceship designs and blazing action paintings. It opens up the already-exciting universe of this movie still further, and you'll be poring over it for hours. I mean your friends will.
The Complete Vader. If you want a Star Wars book that doesn't waste your time with Ewoks or Ahsoka, then this is for you. 192 pages of nothing but Vader, tracing his evolution from the beginning, as well as his life as an inflatable punching bag and so much more.
Interior pages from The Complete Vader. Learn what Vader was up to in 1973 — probably smoking a lot of weed, which explains the breathing. Via Battlegrip.
More pages from the Complete Vader via Battlegrip. Even more scans at the link.
Heads On And We Shoot: The Making Of Where The Wild Things Are. A detailed look at the making of this intense film, including production sketches, storyboards, drawings and behind-the-scenes photographs, plus interviews with Maurice Sendak, Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze, among others.
Original production sketch, from Heads On And We Shoot.
Watchmen: The Art Of The Film. This was another movie that generated tons of amazing world-building, as a team of artists struggled to bring Dave Gibbons' visions to film sets and props. There are hundreds of pages of jaw-dropping concept art and storyboards.
The Art Of Monsters Vs. Aliens. This Dreamworks 3-D animated film featured some nice designs, including the big cyclops robot and the alien spaceship... and it turns out there was some stunning concept art generated, as you can glimpse from our next image.
Here's a couple pages from the book, showing the amazing concept art, including one really nice alien spaceship interior. via Parka81 on Flickr.
Watchmen: Portraits. Photographer Clay Enos managed to snap some incredible shots of the movie's characters in costume, and it's portrait art of the highest order. We posted an exclusive image from this book a while back, and there are hundreds more incredible images of major and minor characters from the film.
Tim Burton. The companion book to the Museum Of Modern Art exhibition, this features tons and tons of Burton's sketches, from childhood to today, plus concept art, stills, puppets and maquettes, storyboards and more.
Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy Of Horror. This is 252 pages of insane details about the heyday of Universal monster movies, from the 1920s to the 1950s. Dracula, Frankenstein and Creature From The Black Lagoon all get their stories told, with behind-the-scenes photos and lavish shots.
The Batman Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles from the Batcave. Includes "removable artifacts," as well as never-before-seen sketches and plans. It's the complete history of Batman in all media, and apparently it takes the "museum in a book" thing seriously by trying to present tons of cool artifacts.
The Halo Encyclopedia. Edited by Tobias Buckell with intro by game developer Frank O'Connor, this book details the origins of the games, plus characters, weapons, vehicles, equipment and various locations. 352 pages of art and revelations.


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New Booking:
Tue Sep 1, 2020
Back to Upcoming
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Welcome! Please book your River Cruise!
There are dates on the calendar marked in green, there are cruises available on these dates. Please click on the 'green' date you want to book, and the page will display which cruises are available on this 'green' date.


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Christmas Time Is Here
1. Children sing, caroling of Jesus' birth tonight.
Falling snow, a fire's glow that warms the hearth so bright,
Holly wreaths and Christmas trees that bring the fam'ly near.
Christmas time is here!
2. Light burst forth from the sky, and angels did appear.
Shepherds, watching flocks by night, fell to the ground with fear!
"Peace on earth, good will to men." The angels' anthem hear.
Christmas time is here!
3. Frankincense, gold, and myrrh were gifts the Wise Men gave.
Jesus came, his life to give, the mortal world to save.
Let us give to all mankind our comfort and good cheer.
Christmas time is here!
Text: Richard Ferre
Music: Tia Rix
Artist: Ferre/Rix
Album: Music Published in the Church Magazines: New Era
Composition Date: 1997-12-01
More Info: New Era


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Visit the garden city of Toowoomba, where the Darling Downs and Great Diving Range join forces to attract nature lovers seeking crisp winter air, clear summer days, the burnt shades of autumn and a riot of colour in spring.
Sip chilled white wine amongst 252 acres of olive trees and grapevines in Crows Nest or lay out a blanket at Picnic Point, with views over the Lockyer Valley. See the Valley of the Diamonds gorge from Crows Nest Falls at Koonin Lookout, with water plummeting 25 metres below. Breathe in the annual carnival of flowers and the jacaranda trees lining the historic railway station.
Stroll country markets for treasured antique pieces and marvel at the size of nearly 50 horse-drawn vehicles assembled in one museum collection. See a gigantic elephant sprouting a tree, a floating polar bear and birds with human hands (and more!) on a wander around one of Australia's largest outdoor galleries in Toowoomba CBD. Or take a self-guided walk past traditional Queensland homes from the 1860s and watch a local performance in the heritage-listed art-deco theatre.


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NEW YORK (CNN) -- With just one day of direct testimony and three witnesses, the defense has rested in the trial of a New York police officer accused of conspiring to abduct women in a cannibalism plot.
Jurors are expected to hear final arguments in the trial of Gilberto Valle on Thursday, with Wednesday devoted to lawyers from both sides and the judge working without the jury present.
Valle, who was suspended without pay after his arrest last fall, is charged with conspiracy to kidnap and accessing a law enforcement database illegally. The government concluded its case Monday, with prosecutors contending that Valle was "deadly serious" about online plans allegedly to kidnap, rape, torture, cook and eat women.
Defense attorneys have argued that their client's conduct was "pure fiction," "make believe" and fantasy role-playing. None of Valle's alleged targets was ever victimized.
Valle did not take the stand during the trial.
Testimony Tuesday underscored the fantasy argument by the defense.
The Russian creator of a website and an online fetish network allegedly frequented by Valle said in a taped deposition that the site he created was for "legal" fetishes and is intended for "fantasy only."
Earlier prosecution testimony centered on Valle's involvement with the site and its network. He carried out extensive e-mail and electronic conversations with users of the site discussing kidnapping and cannibalizing women, according to prosecution witnesses.
Speaking from Moscow on tape and in Russian, with his remarks translated into English for the courtroom, Sergay Merenkov said he created his site of "dark fetishes" because "we saw a niche in the market and we created this website for these people that have this kind of interest -- (for) all fetishes that exist, that are legal."
But on cross-examination, Merenkov admitted he saw discussions of rape and murder on members' pages.
"We wrote the rule so people could distinguish between reality and fantasy," said Merenkov, defending the site and a message he posted on safety.
In the taped deposition, which was recorded last month, Merenkov admitted he has had to kick users off because of conversations they were having through the website, explaining in those cases, "It could have led to something bad."
Merenkov said that photos on the site are supposed to feature models playing out fantasies and not real victims, but he conceded that in some instances there were real photos on the site that users had posted, specifically crime-scene photos.
Alexandra Katz, a paralegal for the defense, testified that she looked up Valle's profile under the screen name "girl meat hunter." On his account she testified she read comments he wrote about himself such as, "I like to push the envelope but no matter what I say it's all fantasy."
Micheal McDermott, who has worked for the NYPD for 24 years, was the defense's final witness. During McDermott's last eight years, he was the union delegate for the Patrolman's Benevolent Association. McDermott testified that it was a very common thing among police officers to give out PBA cards, something the prosecution previously argued Valle did as a ruse to obtain home addresses from his alleged victims.
CNN's Raelyn Johnson contributed to this report.


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Thursday, 18 August 2011
Intervals & cultural lessons in post-partum exercise
4 mile warm up. Perfect temperature, almost no wind. 8:30 am.
Arrive at Herlufsholm's old dirt track. 6 x 1 mile intervals with exactly 2 minute breaks between.
You know that when you feel like doing more after you're done that you did not go hard enough. But maybe it was my legs that were my limiting factor today and not my heart and lungs?? (I don't know why that until today I had never though of going the opposite direction on the track on alternating miles - to sort of even out the effort of the legs)
Am I wrong in thinking this means I could run a 10k in under 42 minutes right now? Suddenly I'm excited by the idea of shorter races. Honestly, I never get a runner's high during long, slow training runs, but, intervals, well, I certainly had one today!
Now, let me just say a few words about post-partum exercise (granted this section doesn't apply to everyone, but I've gotta get it out of my system). I've just gotten tired of so much bad advice based on old-fashioned beliefs, especially here in Denmark.
Women are told here by physicians to wait 8 weeks before beginning any kind of exercise besides walking (happily, my midwife said I could start running whenever I felt ready as long as I stopped if I had an increase in bleeding).
According to the Danish pregnancy book given to me at my first prenatal visit: Graviditet, fødsel og den nye familie (2009) p. 125:
- "No matter what kind of shape you are in, you will not be able to run or hop for three months."
- "Maybe you dream of a flat stomach again, but you should avoid sit-ups."
Then again, if you consult The Mayo Clinic's patient guide from the US, they advise the following:
"In the past, health care providers often instructed women to wait at least six weeks after giving birth to begin exercising. The waiting game may be over, however. If you exercised during pregnancy and had an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, it's generally safe to begin exercising within days of delivery — or as soon as you feel ready."
Of course, I didn't need to look these two sources up. It was simply of cultural interest. I am not aware of any evidence that post-partum exercise quickly after birth gives an increased risk for any health problems down the road - or even at the time.
I very much believe that the more quickly you are able to start exercising again after giving birth, the more quickly you'll begin to feel like your old self again.
And I know I'm not alone in thinking this. Here is Joy (American, of course)
out for a run less than a week after having here baby boy, Zeke. Looking beautiful, Joy!
One risk I have heard is prolonged incontinence. Clearly right after you give birth you'll have problems leaking urine when you run or jump. But there is no evidence that you will have a prolonged recovery/incontinence down the road if you start running early post-partum. Here is a good review article that helps debunk that theory:
Jiang K, et al. Exercise and Urinary Continence in Women. Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. October 2004 - Volume 59 - Issue 10 - pp 717-721.
(personally, I was over the incontinence problem after between 1 and 2 weeks when running and I totally forgot about doing Kegel exercises this pregnancy).
There has also been some discussion in the comments section of this blog about running or exercise affecting milk production. SR came up with a cow analogy that I like: "What would you rather have your milking cow do, roam around in a field all day or be penned up in a cage?" But if you prefer human evidence: exercise even seems to also be okay with concomitant weight loss during lactation. See this study for more: McCrory MA, Nommsen-Rivers LA, Mole PA, Lonnerdal B, Dewey KG. A randomized trial of the short-term effects of dieting vs dieting with aerobic exercise on lactation performance. Am J Clin Nutr.1999;69 :959– 967.
What other concerns do people have? For me, the biggest concerns would be eating disorders, osteopenia, stress fractures - but these are concerns for all exercising women, though maybe even more so in the post-partum period.
Now finding the opportunity to exercise as a new mom - THAT is another matter. Especially in Denmark where there is absolutely NO day care available until a child is 9 months. 9-12 month's maternity leave for a mother in Scandinavia sure sounds luxurious, but with no possibility for a break, it is way more than a full-time job.
Is it any wonder with the above factors that there were 1197 men finishers at Challenge Copenhagen ironman and only 169 women?! (it's not quite 50/50 at US ironmans, but it is much closer).
Interval running song of the day: Dance Floor by Apples in Stereo x 12 (why change it if it works??), cool down song by a Dane living in the US: We Turn it Up by Oh Land
14 comments:
- sea legs girl said...
Weird. Does anyone else suddenly see the sidebar at the bottom of the blog? Anyone know how to fix this???
- 18 August 2011 at 18:28
- Olga said...
Wow, speedy, wow. Didn't read any stuff on post-pregnancy research (apparently, I had been in menopause for the last 5 years and never told, and to think we had to contemplate and make a decision on having a baby in this second marriage...could have avoided that talk). But the numbers wow'd me. Great job.
- 18 August 2011 at 21:17
- Stefanie Schocke said...
- 19 August 2011 at 04:17
- sea legs girl said...
Thanks, Olga. I think you intuitively know everything I wrote about post partum exercise anyway!
Stefanie, I would have expected faster from you had your stupid injury not happened. It can't be long now before you can run again??!!
Re- the sidebar (my above comment) it just fixed itself.
- 19 August 2011 at 07:00
- heather said...
One word: Badass.
Here in Germany the official line is no exercise until 6 weeks postpartum. Obviously I'll wait and see how I'm doing after the birth, but my gut reaction is "yeah, whatever"...
- 19 August 2011 at 09:13
- Diana said...
Whoah! You're crazy fast!
Can't wait to read all the studies you posted. My midwife here has been very supportive of my exercise during pregnancy. We'll see what she says about running after the birth. I believe the rule here is no exercise for six weeks, but I generally ignore those kinds of things and go with what actually works for me.
If you're looking for a shorter race to run, we've got some spaces free on our team for the Dam tot Damloop here in September. ;)
- 19 August 2011 at 10:26
- Kirsten said...
You are just so great and I can only admire you. Pity that I'm to old to have more children, would have been nice to try your way.....
- 19 August 2011 at 12:36
- Kinthelt said...
I'm like you; I really get pumped up when I do intervals. Long runs are fun, but it's when I break myself down doing intervals that I really get the "runner's high".
- 19 August 2011 at 14:12
- Jacqueline said...
You are doing great!
I began running again 2 weeks post-partum with my son, and maybe 3 with my daughter. My OB had no problem with it since I ran through the pregnancies for the most part and had easy deliveries. Like you, it made me feel sane to get out and be my old self for a while (though I was pretty slow at first).
I also marathon trained with both kids post-partum, and it didn't affect milk production at all. Even with high mileage. It also didn't suppress ovulation, damn it! Ha!
I did get two pubic-ramus stress fractures almost a year after my son was born. But I attribute that 100 percent to overtraining, looking back. Bone scans, density tests, etc., all came back completely normal -- no osteopenia, nothing.
My point? You are doing great listening to your body. My bigger post-partum overdoing it worry is always, always mastitis. Which I just tend to get, I guess (5x!).
Mattias is gorgeous.
- 19 August 2011 at 17:58
Wowzers. You are fast! It is so interesting to me that many female runners seem to make a big jump in ability post-childbirth.
I had a c-section, and began running before 6 weeks. I felt good, and it felt so amazing to run and not be toting around that extra weight. I don't know where the 6 weeks thing comes from...maybe the same antiquated place that contends that an elevated maternal heart rate is bad for the fetus.
- 20 August 2011 at 05:58
- sea legs girl said...
Heather, I had been wondering what your German input would be. You're allowed to call me a "bad ass" anytime, by the way.
Diana, I want to run in the Dam tot Damloop. And I though løb was a cool word for run. Loop is even better. Funny that we didn't end up calling it "leap" in English when all the other germanic languages seem to have such a similar word. Some crazy brit was just like, "I'm gonna call it to RUN".
s.a. regarding leap in ability after giving birth, this article is really interesting on the doping effects of pregnancy. I think Stefanie S will like it, too. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article6831281.ece
- 20 August 2011 at 16:32
- sea legs girl said...
Article link again: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article6831281.ece
- 20 August 2011 at 16:33
- sea legs girl said...
Trying again:
- 20 August 2011 at 16:33
- Helen said...
Wow - no day care until 9 months?? There is one major downside to long maternity leave!
loved SR's cow analogy. so true!
- 25 August 2011 at 06:59


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The country's cities may no longer be the epicenters of poverty.
After 18 months of unemployment that has refused to budge below 9.6 percent, it will come as no shock to learn that poverty is on the rise in the United States. The latest data from the Census Bureau reveals that 44 million Americans—one in seven—are currently struggling at the U.S. poverty line, $22,050 a year for a family of four. Twenty-one percent of all U.S. children are growing up poor. That's up from 16 percent just 10 years ago, and it's the highest measure of poverty in the country in more than 50 years.
But what may come as a surprise is where the poverty is. The Brookings Institution reports that poverty is increasingly migrating to the suburbs. Though concentrations of poverty remain highest in urban communities, there are now 1.5 million more poor citizens living in the suburbs than in cities. The recent rapid growth of poverty in America's commuter belt has been unprecedented, and it has only been accelerated by the Great Recession.
Demand is spiking among suburban social aid providers. According to Brookings, almost three quarters of suburban nonprofits report seeing more clients with no previous connection to safety net programs. A majority are seeing more families with food needs and more frequent requests for mortgage or rent payment help.
Suburban poverty is a significant problem because, while social services of all sorts can be found in the nation's urban centers, these critical safety valves simply aren't available in the suburbs. It's unlikely that such agencies are going to be relocated or reconstructed there by hard-pressed local and state governments. And the nation's poor aren't likely to "commute" to social services when just getting through the day is challenging enough.
According to Brookings, suburban safety nets for the poor are comprised of relatively few social service organizations that stretch operations across much larger areas than their urban counterparts. And when funders are considering where to direct their dollars, suburban providers are often overlooked. The structural problems generated by "commuting poverty" may take years to address—particularly at a time when the only civic war U.S. legislators seem keen on waging is against the nation's annual budget deficit.
But few social ills benefit from inattention. Will critical services and interventions for a generation of at-risk children simply go undelivered because public focus and political winds have abruptly turned?
Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) at least appears intent on keeping poverty somewhere on the national agenda, even as demands for fiscal austerity drown out everything else. In 2010 CCUSA helped prepare the National Opportunity and Community Renewal Act, which calls for the modernization of measures of poverty in the United States—currently based on a formula first concocted in 1963—and outlines a plan that mandates greater flexibility, local autonomy, and systemic innovation in the way poverty is confronted. Before it starts swinging its budget ax, the new Congress should take a look at this important legislation.
The nation will be forced to make some difficult choices over the next few years as it confronts both the lingering effects of the Great Recession and the jaw-dropping annual deficits created by decades of bad tax and spending decisions. The nation's poor have few lobbyists to defend their interests.
There will be a terrible temptation to throw the greatest burden of the nation's budget woes across the backs of the poor at a time when their suffering has been magnified. Such ruthlessness would be an affront to human dignity in a country which, despite its economic travails, still remains one of the richest on earth and which still manages the obscenity of a defense budget that approaches $1 trillion a year.
The church's preferential option for the poor pertains: Society's wisdom and justice will be measured by how well it provides for its most vulnerable members, wherever they live.
This article appeared in the January 2011 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 76, No. 1, page 39).
Image: Illustration by Clare Rosean.


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- Balancing the Books
Netflix's Rise and Fall and Rise Again
- Order Reprints
- Print Article
Reviewed by Farran Smith Nehme
In hindsight, it's easy to say that you knew Netflix was going to be a hit as soon as that distinctive red DVD envelope landed in your mailbox. But successful entrepreneurs are called visionaries for a reason. And as Gina Keating's Netflixed engagingly demonstrates, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, whatever his missteps, is definitely a visionary.
Hastings, while "never mean-spirited" in Keating's telling, is not what you'd call a people person. He's a patrician by birth and a mathematician by training who is more comfortable with numbers that do his bidding than humans who often don't. Netflixed includes many who found that out the hard way, such as co-founder and co-visionary Marc Randolph. Hastings spent years quietly giving his partner's tasks to someone else, until Randolph left in part because he didn't have much to do. Let's not forget Netflix customers themselves, who awoke one day to find that Hastings wanted to raise certain rates by 60% and split the DVD-by-mail business into something with the baffling name of Qwikster—a decision that battered Netflix shares.
But vision the man certainly has—and a sense of his own image that turns out to be quite cinematic. The all-too-perfect anecdote he fed Fortune magazine of how he conceived Netflix because he didn't like the late fees on his Apollo 13 rental? Co-founder Randolph describes that as "a lot of crap."
Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs
by Gina Keating
288 pages, $26.95
In 1997, Randolph and Hastings already had an idea for an online video-rental site, but realized the venture would depend on whether small, light DVDs could withstand the rigors of bulk-mailing. It was so early in the development of DVDs that they couldn't get their hands on one. Instead, they mailed themselves a CD, which came back unscathed. Emboldened, the two forged ahead, even though there were then only about 500 DVD titles available, mostly older films.
The story of how Netflix harnessed the astonishingly swift adoption of DVDs and, in the process, destroyed the once-ubiquitous video store, makes for a great plotline. Along the way are cliffhangers like the dot-com bust that almost killed Netflix when it was barely on its feet, and the constant threat of Blockbuster, which the seers of Wall Street expected to crush the company.
The battle with Blockbuster involves an executive with the cinematic name of Shane Evangelist, who tried to drag the store-chain into the 21st century. This story has well-known scenes, like Hastings offering to sell his company to Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000. (Netflix's market value is now more than $12 billion.) But certain details still have the power to drop jaws—like the fact that in 2006, when Shane Evangelist and Blockbuster CEO John Antioco were working to establish Blockbuster Online, most of the chain's outlets still weren't connected to the Internet.
It's a tale well told, filled with characters a screenwriter might envy. There is Mitch Lowe, the Netflix employee who, after Hastings sniffed at a plan to put rental kiosks in McDonald's, jumped ship and turned his energy to Redbox, which competes with Netflix to this day. There are smaller figures who fascinate, such as Eric Meyer, the French programmer who designed "the queue"—that Netflix list of to-be-seen programs so dear to film nerds.
An ongoing business doesn't lend itself to a neat ending. The book takes Netflix through the Qwikster debacle, and then the story cuts out like a glitchy download. Hastings believes that "streaming"—the direct transmission of films to video screens—will soon do to DVDs what Netflix did to Blockbuster, and he's trying to ensure his company won't share his old adversaries' fate. His actions so far include a move into original programming with the buzz-generating series House of Cards, new episodes of Arrested Development, and the recently released Hemlock Grove.
Netflix shares have more than doubled this year on news that it has been picking up streaming customers. The Netflix sequel may therefore have potential. Meanwhile, the original story has the better hook.
FARRAN SMITH NEHME, a Barron's copy editor, writes about film at her blog, Self-Styled Siren, and for publications including the New York Post.
Best-Laid Plans
Hocus-pocus on focus
Reviewed by Joe Queenan
This engrossing volume is filled with unintended irony. In the course of advising the reader on how not to get sidetracked, the Italian-born author inadvertently demonstrates how not sticking to the plan can lead to happy outcomes.
A case in point: Francesca Gino's own story about how she chose her career. On the way to taking an exam that she hoped would lead to a career in engineering, high school student Gino was handed a colorful brochure advertising programs at the University of Trento. She was so impressed that she ditched her dream and instead enrolled in the school's economics and management program. Today she is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, with no regrets about switching horses in midstream.
So Gino did not stick to her plan; she got derailed, sidetracked. Fittingly, she often gets sidetracked in her book, presenting data and anecdotes that are tangential and sometimes extraneous to the case she is trying to make.
Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan
by Francesca Gino
Harvard Business Review Press
272 pages, $25
Things start off well enough with an account of her husband visiting the Gold Souk in Dubai, seeking some "authentic" product that would remind him of his visit to the Middle East. Instead, he bought himself a knockoff of a $7,000 wristwatch for about $100. As Gino observes, "This was exactly the opposite of our original plan: having an authentic experience at the souk."
In other words, people easily allow external forces to deflect them from their initial objective. "When you know that your emotions can derail your decisions, you can plan ahead to circumvent them," Gino advises. She proceeds to an analysis of various forces that can exert a subtle but powerful influence on the human psyche, ultimately sabotaging the decision-making process.
Huge portions of the book are dedicated to clever studies that are meant to underscore her theme. The studies are fun to read about, and often rely on misdirection–making the subject think that the study is about X when it is actually about Y. The only problem is, they do not really show how people get sidetracked; they show how people get tricked.
For example, one of her studies contends that Good Samaritans are not necessarily more virtuous than other people, but are simply people who have more time on their hands. She demonstrates this with an experiment involving students at Princeton Theological Seminary who are manipulated into entering an alley and walking past a person "lying in the doorway, doubled over, coughing, with his eyes closed." According to her, students who were in a hurry to get to an important meeting not only ignored the suffering man, but "a few even stepped over the apparently injured man." Students who were not in a hurry were more than six times as likely to offer help as those who were fighting the clock.
This is a nice story, except that the person who ends up getting sidetracked is in fact the Good Samaritan. What's wrong with that? As with the author's own formative experience when choosing a career, she has chosen an example of sidetracking that is actually laudable, and to be emulated. In which case, the book might better have been titled Sidetracked: How to Avoid Being a Good Samaritan. But I digress.
JOE QUEENAN's book about reading, One for the Books, was recently published by Viking.
You Can't Say That Here!
How the Thought Police patrol the academy
Reviewed by Michael Strong
Our nation's colleges have been "unlearning liberty," as Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, sadly informs us in this compelling book. Speech codes that institutionalize politically correct standards of discourse have now become ubiquitous. At the University of Delaware, for example, a speech code state that "any instance that is perceived by those involved as being racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, or otherwise oppressive" requires immediate intervention. By such a standard of subjective perception, almost all comedy would be banned, along with much of our literature.
University of Delaware students are also expected to develop "competencies" that include the recognition "that systematic oppression exists in our society." These themes are common. Columbia University's Teachers College formally adopted a "conceptual framework," which states that students are expected to recognize that "social inequalities are often produced and perpetuated through systematic discrimination and justified by societal ideology of merit, social mobility, and individual responsibility."
Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate
by Greg Lukianoff
Encounter Books
336 pages, $18.19
With those biases, you can automatically blame "systematic oppression" and "discrimination" for almost any social or economic pattern, without seeking alternative explanations. For example, discrimination has been routinely blamed for the fact that whites are more often approved for mortgage loans than blacks. But as economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, few bother to notice that Asian Americans are more often approved for mortgages than whites by white-owned banks. "Taking into account the data for Asian Americans threatens to reduce a moral melodrama to a mundane matter of economics," observes Sowell, "in which lenders are more likely to lend to people who are more likely to lend them back."
There was a time when college students had vigorous debates on the role of merit, social mobility, and individual responsibility. Now the penchant for moral melodrama has pre-empted these critical categories of thought. How can freedom of thought exist in such an Orwellian atmosphere?
In 2010, the American Association of University Professors conducted a survey of 24,000 students in which they were asked if it was "safe to hold unpopular views on campus." Just 40% of freshman "strongly agreed" and only 30% of seniors did. Even more frightening, in a related survey, only 17% of faculty "strongly agreed." The more time one spends at a university, apparently, the more fearful one becomes.
Conservative and Christian beliefs are often the target of double standards that would be comical were they not so pernicious. At one of the largest community colleges in Florida, an administrator threatened a campus Christian group with punitive action if they showed the film, The Passion of the Christ, on the grounds that it was "controversial" and "R-rated." At the same time, the university was hosting a skit with an obscene title about masturbating to an image of the Christian Messiah. After months of public pressure from author Lukianoff's organization, the college backed down. But the fact that these incidents take place at all is jaw-dropping.
Through the accumulation of mind-boggling outrages against free speech at our universities, this book amasses evidence for its larger thesis: that our institutions of higher learning have indeed unlearned liberty. While there was an era in which university professors and administrators were principled advocates of free of speech, many have forgotten why such freedom matters. This book should help remind them, while alerting the rest of us to a shocking reality badly in need of remedy.
MICHAEL STRONG is the lead author of Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems.
The Objectivist Ethicist
Why Ayn Rand viewed selfishness as a virtue, not a vice
Reviewed by Joshua Shnayer
Yaron Brook and Don Watkins of the Ayn Rand Institute believe that most defenses of capitalism miss a crucial ingredient: the morality put forth by Ayn Rand in her Objectivist philosophy. That's a tough sell. While millions love Rand's novels, her name provokes negative reactions across the political spectrum.
She advocated capitalism on the grounds that it is the only economic system that protects the pursuit of self-interest. A family does not get in line for Space Mountain at Disney World to stimulate the economy or help its neighbor, but rather because it is in the interest of its members to be happy and enrich their lives.
Rand's conception of selfishness is illustrated in a contrast the authors present between Bernie Madoff and Steve Jobs. Because selfishness means concern with one's own rational, long-term self-interest rather than mere whim worship, Bernie Madoff was not selfish. He destroyed his life and the lives of everyone he knew, and openly admits that every moment of scheming was a "nightmare." What selfish person would crave this lifestyle?
Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government
by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins
Palgrave Macmillan
272 Pages, $27
Steve Jobs was often labeled with the pejorative "selfish." Indeed, the technology magazine Wired, which might be expected to honor Jobs, published an editorial calling him "nothing more than a greedy capitalist who's amassed an obscene fortune. It's shameful."
Brook and Watkins see this demonization of self-interest as the source of the moral opposition to capitalism. Jobs was selfish, the authors insist, but that is a moral virtue. He made his own life better through a passion for good products—and his investors, employees, and customers also benefitted. This fair exchange in which all parties to a trade prosper—Rand called it the "trader principle"—is the essence of capitalism and ethics. But because there is no sacrifice involved in this win-win exchange, it does not generally receive moral approbation.
Most Americans don't totally embrace sacrifice, Brook and Watkins note, and follow their self-interest in practical matters. "But our altruistic notions of morality tell us: This is not what we should be doing in life. We feel guilty." Guilt prevents people from defending capitalism on matters of principle. But once Americans realize that self-interested behavior, so long as it is rational, is a virtue, not a vice, they will no longer feel a "temptation to dilute selfishness with a little sacrifice—any more than there is a temptation to dilute a glass of water with a little cyanide." This would translate into unabashed and committed advocacy for free markets.
Perhaps, when "selfish" and "self-interested" become honorable terms, rather than insults, we'll have earned "an Apple economy, not a Madoff economy."
JOSHUA SHNAYER, who works in compliance at a brokerage firm, has written for The Objective Standard.
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Updated at 1:45 a.m. ET Wednesday
Members of Congress have not made life easy for the leaders of the Justice Department this month, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was next in line on Tuesday.
McCabe testified behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
His appearance follows attacks by President Trump and Republican allies on him specifically, the FBI, the Justice Department and special counsel Robert Mueller, including accusations of political bias.
The latest front opened over the weekend when a lawyer for Trump's presidential transition sent a letter to Congress alleging that Mueller improperly obtained emails used by the Trump administration-in-waiting as it prepared to take power in the transition from late 2016 to early 2017.
"It's quite sad to see that," Trump told reporters on Sunday. "My people were very upset about it."
Outside legal experts and lawmakers have raised doubts about the allegations contained in the letter, and one congressional oversight committee said the dispute is for a court to resolve, not Congress.
Mueller's office said his team has properly obtained all the evidence it's using in its investigation.
Nonetheless, the claims added to the political storm buffeting the special counsel's investigation and, more broadly, the FBI and Justice.
McCabe, the No. 2 official at the FBI, walked straight into those headwinds in his interview with the House intelligence panel, where members likely focused on what Republicans charge is anti-Trump political prejudice.
Topping that list is the question of Peter Strzok, a senior FBI agent who played a significant role in the Russia investigation as well as the bureau's probe of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Strzok was removed from Mueller's inquiry after it emerged that he had exchanged politically charged text messages with an FBI lawyer that disparaged Trump.
In one text, Strzok referred to Trump as an "idiot." In another, he said Clinton should win the election "100 million to zero." But some Republicans have focused on another message that they suggest signals something more sinister than political bias.
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Dec. 13, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, cited a reference to a conversation that may have taken place in McCabe's office.
In the text, which was provided to Congress by the Justice Department, Strzok says: "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration at Andy's office — that there's no way he [Trump] gets elected — but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40 ..."
Jordan said that's evidence that the people at the FBI and Justice having conversations "in Andy's office" — McCabe's — have it in for Trump.
"This goes to intent," Jordan said. "He says, 'We can't take the risk.' You know, the people of this great country might elect Donald Trump president. 'We can't take this risk.' "
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro seized on that narrative, telling viewers that Strzok, McCabe and others at the highest levels of federal law enforcement are trying to steal the country from voters.
"I doubt in American presidential election history, that there has been as great a crime or as large a stain on our democracy than that committed by a criminal cabal in our FBI and the Department of Justice, who think they know better than we who our president should be," Pirro said Saturday on her show, Justice with Judge Jeanine.
A week earlier, Pirro called McCabe "the man at the hub, protecting Hillary and attempting to destroy Trump" — and called for him to be put in handcuffs.
McCabe has made no comment about the latest chapter in the saga.
Lawmakers on Tuesday also likely grilled McCabe on the so-called Trump dossier, which was compiled by a former British intelligence officer at the behest of a Washington-based strategic research firm called Fusion GPS. Hillary Clinton's campaign helped pay for the dossier as opposition research on Trump.
Republicans want to know whether the FBI used the dossier to launch its investigation into Russian interference in last year's election. Mueller took over that probe when he was named special counsel in May.
Republicans allege that if the Russia investigation is founded upon a Democratic-funded dossier, then the whole inquiry is politically motivated.
Then-FBI Director James Comey told Congress earlier this year that the bureau's counterintelligence investigation into the Trump camp began in July of 2016, but he did not detail what spurred it.
Comey also was a supporter of McCabe, who began his career at the FBI in 1996 in the New York Field Office, where he investigated organized crime. He later shifted to counterterrorism and held senior positions in the FBI's National Security Branch and Washington Field Office.
In January 2016, Comey named McCabe as the bureau's deputy director, which gave him an oversight role in all of the FBI's domestic and international investigations and intelligence operations. McCabe briefly served as acting director after Trump fired Comey in May.
His visit to the Hill on Tuesday was not his first run-in with Republicans. In 2015, McCabe's wife, Jill, ran as a Democrat for the Virginia state Senate. She lost the race before McCabe became the deputy director at the FBI, but then-candidate Trump and others complained about the McCabes taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in Democratic donations.
The FBI has said McCabe consulted with ethics officials at the time and followed bureau protocol. He has continued to be a target for Trump and Republicans. Trump asked on Twitter in July why Attorney General Jeff Sessions hadn't gotten rid of McCabe.
The president can't fire McCabe on his own authority because McCabe is a career appointee — not a political one — and therefore enjoys stronger job protections. McCabe is, however, eligible to retire in March.
The FBI's No. 2 official, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, will be testifying today before the House Intelligence Committee. McCabe's appearance behind closed doors comes as some Republicans are stepping up their criticism of the bureau and special counsel Robert Mueller's team, alleging what they say is an anti-Trump political bias. NPR's Ryan Lucas has been following this and joins us. Hey, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So Andrew McCabe - not exactly a household name. Why are lawmakers so interested in him?
LUCAS: Well - because of his job as deputy director, he is the number No. 2 official in the FBI, and that gives him a key role in kind of overseeing domestic and international investigations. And of course, two of the biggest investigations in the past couple years that we've seen have been the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server and the Russia investigation. So he's really been kind of at the center of two of these really big, really important, politically charged investigations. But it's also important to note here that he is not a political appointee. He is a career FBI official, and he's risen up through the ranks over the past 20 years.
GREENE: So the middle of political controversy - not always where a career official wants to be.
LUCAS: Right.
GREENE: Well - so he goes before a House committee today. It will be behind closed doors. But any idea what lawmakers are going to ask him?
LUCAS: Well, one big thing he's expected to be asked about is a senior FBI agent by the name of Peter Strzok, who's been in the news a lot lately. Republicans say that Strzok played a role in changing language in then-FBI Director James Comey's statement ending the Clinton email investigation.
Now, Strzok was also a member of the special counsel's Russia investigation, and Mueller removed him from his team after it emerged that Strzok had been sending politically charged text messages. And these are texts that Republican lawmakers say show political bias. They reference one text in particular that appears to reference a conversation that took place in McCabe's office in which Strzok talks about a, quote, "insurance policy." And Republican lawmakers haven't explained exactly what they fear here, but they have portrayed it as something sinister.
Now, the other big thing that Republicans are expected to ask about is this infamous Trump dossier. Republican lawmakers want to know what role, if any, that dossier played in the FBI's decision to open its Russia investigation.
GREENE: That's the dossier that was prepared by that former British spy, that there was damaging allegations about Trump. And the Republicans are suggesting that the FBI may have played some kind of role, so they're looking at that. They're looking at these text messages, and they're really just latching on to this to say - what? - that Mueller and the bureau are out to get Trump?
LUCAS: That's basically it, yes. Now, they've grabbed onto that. They're running with it. You've seen a lot of that sort of narrative in conservative media. Now, Strzok's emails - it has to be said - have certainly given them a lot of ammunition. In one, he called Trump an idiot. That certainly doesn't look good. But it's important to remember here that with all of the sort of political churning around this, the White House legal team says it is cooperating with the special counsel's office and the investigation. But the president's allies really have seized on these revelations and interpreted them as evidence that the investigation is slanted and not going to give the president a fair shake.
GREENE: They've also seized on this suggestion that Mueller's team may have improperly obtained some emails from Trump's transition team. A Trump transition lawyer has suggested that in a letter to Congress. What is that?
LUCAS: Well, basically, what you just said. The problem with it is that legal experts have questioned the arguments that the transition lawyers have made, saying that they're basically groundless. And the special counsel's office has said that it has done everything properly. But, you know, this is an argument that Republicans can lean on when raising questions about the investigation.
GREENE: All right, NPR's Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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After roughly one-quarter of the season is complete, the Los Angeles Galaxy will have a chance to measure up against a different kind of rival.
The Galaxy will host South American giants Boca Juniors on May 23 at the Home Depot Center. The match will be the Galaxy's first international friendly of 2010, and will give area fans the chance to see somewhat of a rarity: a South American power in person.
"They're one of the biggest clubs in South America and it will give fans a good opportunity to come out and see a South American opponent and a historic club," Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter said.
Boca Juniors have as much history as any South American side, having won 23 Argentina league titles and an unmatched six Copa Libertadores championships. However, Boca are struggling in league right now, finding themselves near the bottom of the Apertura table. Through 15 matches, Boca Juniors are in 15th place out of 20 teams, having just beaten San Lorenzo 2-0 to move up from 17th.
"Perhaps not … their best year this year," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. "It shows that that happens even with the great clubs."
So desperate were Boca to turn things around that the club offered their managerial position to Columbus Crew star Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who turned down the job to remain in MLS.
Still, seeing Boca Juniors' famed kit take on the Galaxy should be an interesting duel.
"It's going to be at a little bit of a difficult time for us as we have a game Thursday in Dallas," Arena said, "but I think it's an opportunity for our fans to see one of the great clubs in South America. It will be great to have them here at Home Depot Center. It should excite our fans and it's going to be a game where we'll also give an opportunity to some of our players who haven't had too many minutes as well."
The Galaxy won't be done bringing in foreign clubs to the HDC as the club's summer schedule could shape up to be an interesting mix of teams from points abroad.
"It's a great game and we'll bring another great club in here in August, plus all the Champions League games we're having," Arena said. "So we're going to bring a lot of teams in from outside the country that our fans should obviously enjoy."


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Liberty to host live webcast of ACHA DI selection show
February 12, 2013 | Lynchburg, Va.
March Madness will arrive a month early for fans of Liberty University's Division I men's hockey team and other American Collegiate Hockey Association DI programs around the country.
On Wednesday at 9:45 p.m., the announcement of the season's 17th and final ACHA Men's DI national poll will be broadcast live from Liberty University's LaHaye Ice Center through streaming web TV. This will be the first time the ACHA has held a selection show.
The top 20 teams, including six automatic bids, qualify for the March 1-6 national championship tournament at The Edge Ice Arena near Chicago. The seedings, brackets, and tournament schedule will bedisclosed at this time.
"That's real exciting," Liberty head coach Kirk Handy said. "We're very, very privileged to have Liberty University's School of Communication so involved in what we do and it makes such a big difference.It'll create a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement."
Members of the Flames' team will be on the ice to watch the show as Liberty's Club Sports student broadcast staff provides all of the on-site production work, staying in close contact with the ACHA for up-to-the-minute rankings updates and tournament bracket information.
Rett McGibbon, a Club Sports broadcaster who covers both the Flames' hockey and lacrosse programs, will host the live rankings and tournament bracket reveal show.
The show will offer additional commentary and special interview segments with coaches and players from teams across the country as each portion of the tournament bracket is unveiled.
"This is a very exciting addition to our usual process of releasing rankings and the National Tournament berths," ACHA Public Relations Director Chris Ostrander said in a statement on the league's website. "Adding a live broadcast of the event will hopefully add the feel of March Madness for those programs who have earned a ticket to Chicago."
Followers of the webcast are encouraged to offer feedback and ask questions by logging in to their Twitter or Facebook accounts and submitting tweets or posts before and during the show using the hashtag #ACHAChicago2013.
The Flames came in at No. 10 for the sixth consecutive time in Friday's 16th poll but could slip out of that spot after being swept by No. 12 Oakland over the weekend at home.
Adrian College remained No. 1 in the nation for the third week in a row, when the top 10 spots also stayed the same for thethird-straight week. Adrian already received an automatic bid to nationals as champion of the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League, along with tournamenthost Robert Morris Illinois, the No. 4-ranked team; Central States Collegiate Hockey League champion Illinois, ranked No. 9; Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association champion Navy, ranked No. 14; Northeast Collegiate Hockey League champion Niagara, ranked No. 20; and College Hockey Mid-America champion John Carroll, which debuted at No. 25.
In the past 10 seasons, eight different schools have won the ACHA DI national tournament, twice each by Lindenwood, now an NCAA Division I team, and Illinois.
Penn State claimed an ACHA DI record five titles before moving up to the NCAA Division I level last year.


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Sudden cardiac arrest isn't always so sudden, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013.
In a study of middle-age men in Portland, Ore., more than half had possible warning signs up to a month before their hearts stopped abruptly.
Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops due to a failure in its electrical system. People can sometimes survive if they receive CPR immediately and a defibrillator is used quickly to shock the heart into a normal rhythm.
About 360,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are reported each year in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. Only 9.5 percent of people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.
"By the time rescuers get there, it's much too late," said Eloi Marijon, M.D., study lead author and a visiting scientist at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles.
The new research is part of the 11-year-old Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study, which involves 1 million people in the Portland metro area. Researchers gathered information about the symptoms and health history of men 35 to 65 years old who had out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in 2002-12.
Among 567 men who had out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, 53 percent had symptoms prior to the cardiac arrest. Of those with symptoms, 56 percent had chest pain, 13 percent had shortness of breath and 4 percent had dizziness, fainting or palpitations.
Almost 80 percent of the symptoms occurred between four weeks and one hour before the sudden cardiac arrest.
Most men had coronary artery disease, but only about half had been tested for it before their cardiac arrest.
Researchers are conducting similar work in women.
"The lesson is, if you have these kinds of symptoms, please don't blow them off," said Sumeet Chugh, M.D., associate director for genomic cardiology at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. "Go see your healthcare provider. Don't waste time."


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When you copy music, pictures, and videos from your PC to a blank CD or DVD, it's called "burning." When you copy music, pictures, and videos from a CD or DVD to your PC, it's called "ripping." You can use Windows Media Player to do both.
Burn CDs (or data DVDs)
Rip CDs
When you rip music from a CD, you're copying songs from an audio CD to your PC. During the ripping process, the Player compresses each song and stores it on your drive as a Windows Media Audio (WMA), WAV, or MP3 file.
Ripped files are automatically saved to the Music folder, but you can change the location using the options on the Rip settings tab.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of copyrighted material may be a violation of copyright law in the United States and/or other countries/regions. Copyrighted material includes, but isn't limited to, software, documentation, graphics, lyrics, photographs, clipart, animations, movie and video clips, as well as sound and music (including when MP3 encoded). Violation of U.S. and international copyright laws may subject you to significant civil and/or criminal penalties.


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Padres designate O'Sullivan, recall Boxberger
SAN DIEGO -- The Padres designated right-hander Sean O'Sullivan for assignment on Monday afternoon, clearing space for fellow righty reliever Brad Boxberger to be recalled from Triple-A Tucson.
The move also opened a space on the club's 40-man roster, meaning the Padres could add a prospect, though manager Bud Black hinted that would not happen before Sept. 1, when rosters expand.
Black said the O'Sullivan decision was an especially tough one to make. The Valhalla High (El Cajon, Calif.) graduate grew up a Padres fan and signed a Minor League contract in December.
He impressed during Spring Training and had his contract selected by San Diego on July 12. In seven appearances this season, three of them starts, O'Sullivan posted a 3.96 ERA.
"He pitched his butt off in Tucson -- probably the best overall starting pitcher there for a long time," Black said. "When we brought him here, he came up and did some nice work for us.
"He was on board, a native San Diegan who grew up a Padres fan, nice guy, good on the team, all those things. So it was tough. But we just felt at this point we made a baseball decision."
Boxberger was told he would be recalled Sunday and joined the club Monday. Boxberger has made just six relief appearances for San Diego this season -- most recently June 22 against Los Angeles. He has allowed four earned runs in nine innings.
Both Black and Boxberger mentioned the word "consistency" when asked what exactly they would be looking for in Boxberger's fourth stint with the big league club this season.
"Overall, I've worked on the command of my pitches and being able to throw any pitch in any count, being able to get ahead of hitters and being able to pitch every day," Boxberger said.
Spending time back and forth between Triple-A and the Majors initially took a toll on the 25-year-old Boxberger, who had progressed evenly to the Majors -- never being sent down to a lower level.
"Bouncing up and down and not staying in one spot is a little different," he said. "It took me a little while to get used to. But once I figured out the mental side, it's a good transition."
Black wants to see Boxberger's back-and-forth journey end, saying, "Hopefully this is the time he [comes up], and he never goes back."
So how can Boxberger accomplish that?
"He's just got to get his pitches in good areas, get ahead in the count and put guys away," Black said. "He's got the weapons; there's no doubt about it. I think each time he comes back he feels more secure as a Major League pitcher."


text:
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For Immediate Release
Patricia Kiernan Johnson;
Boston Lyric Opera & Opera Boston to Co-Host
Press Contacts:
For Boston Lyric Opera: Paysha Rhone, 857-891-4483,
For Opera Boston: Joyce Linehan, 617-212-9890,
New York, NY —
OPERA America
, the national service organization for opera, is pleased to announce details of
Opera Conference 2011 — Opera Entrepreneurship: Building on Tradition
, to be held in Boston, MA, from May 7 to 11. Co-hosted by
Boston Lyric Opera
Opera Boston
, this largest gathering of opera professionals in North America will convene in Boston's Theater District.
OPERA America's annual conference presents a unique opportunity for the field's leaders to examine the issues affecting the opera community today.
Anticipated highlights of
Opera Conference 2011
will include the Opening Keynote Address by
Nicholas Negroponte
, founder of the MIT Media Lab; a tour of the Lab led by
Tod Machover
, composer of
Death and the Powers
, one of the year's most noteworthy new operas; the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase; the
New Works Sampler
in the American Repertory Theater Underground Cabaret, OBERON, hosted by American Repertory Theater Artistic Director
Diane Paulus
, one of the most important stage directors working in theater and opera today; the Co-Production Marketplace; and performances of Britten's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by Boston Lyric Opera and Donizetti's
Maria Padilla
by Opera Boston. (
See attachment for more program details.
General sessions, which engage the entire conference community in meaningful discussion, include "Think Like a Startup," led by visionary author and international consultant
Stan Davis
; "The Audience Knows Best," a session led by
Dr. Thomas Wolf
, in which conference attendees will hear from audience members themselves; and "Here to Stay: Capitalizing on Digital Transmission Technology," a timely and important topic to the field.
A series of seminars and sessions will provide broad perspective and specific leadership training in the areas such as audience development, fundraising, governance, marketing and artistic planning. Capitalizing on the unique educational and cultural resources of Boston,
Opera Conference 2011
will also feature a special Artist Weekend, with sessions on musical entrepreneurship and strategic planning for artists.
In addition to these sessions, members of Opera Europa and Opera.ca in Canada will join OPERA America members in an international forum on global challenges and opportunities in the world of opera.
"We are delighted to hold
Opera Conference 2011
for the first time in Boston, a culturally rich city with an opera ecology that is flourishing on many levels," stated OPERA America President and CEO Marc A. Scorca. "The opera field is transforming — companies are taking risks and retooling business practices, repertoire and venue selections, audience cultivation efforts and modes of presentation. Boston offers us the perfect setting to probe this entrepreneurial energy animating the field."
"Boston Lyric Opera is incredibly honored to co-host
Opera Conference 2011
with our colleagues at Opera Boston and the numerous other organizations here in Boston," said Esther Nelson, Boston Lyric Opera's General & Artistic Director. "We look forward to showcasing Boston's thriving opera scene and reinforcing the vitality of the art form on a national stage."
"We want to extend a warm welcome to conference attendees from around the world. There is nothing quite like Boston in the spring, and we look forward to seeing our colleagues at the opera," said Opera Boston General Director Lesley Koenig.
In addition to Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Boston, 25 other Boston-area arts institutions will join the two companies in welcoming the national opera community to the conference. Boston's vibrant arts community, world-renowned educational environment and rich history make it a fitting venue for this gathering.
For more information, including a detailed schedule of events, or to register, please visit the conference website at
Opera Conference 2011
participating organizations include Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston, Boston Baroque, The Boston Conservatory, Boston Early Music Festival, Boston University College of Fine Arts, Guerilla Opera, New England Conservatory, American Repertory Theater, Arts Boston, Boston Metro Opera, Boston Opera Collaborative, Boston Singers Resource, Cape Cod Opera, Commonwealth Opera, Emerson College, Harvard University, Intermezzo Opera, Longwood Opera, Longy School of Music, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metrowest Opera, North of Boston Arts Center, Opera del West, Opera Hub and Worcester Opera Works.
OPERA America gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Opera Conference 2011 sponsors:
Amtrak; The Arts Insurance Program, LLC; Arts Consulting Group; ArtsVision; Boston Lyric Opera; CLASSICTIC.COM; Deloitte; Fisher Dachs Associates Theatre Planning & Design; Greater Boston Convention & Visitor Bureau; Opera Boston; Schuler Shook Theatre Planners and Wells Fargo.
OPERA America leads and serves the entire opera community, supporting the creation, presentation and enjoyment of opera.
Artistic services help opera companies and creative and performing artists to improve the quality of productions and increase the creation and presentation of North American works.
Information, technical, and administrative services to opera companies reflect the need for strengthened leadership among staff, trustees and volunteers.
Education, audience development and community services are designed to enhance all forms of opera appreciation.
Founded in 1970, OPERA America's worldwide membership network includes nearly 200 Company Members, 300 Associate and Business Members, 2,000 Individual Members and more than 16,000 subscribers to the association's electronic news service. In 2005, OPERA America relocated from Washington, D.C. to New York as the first step in creating the first-ever National Opera Center. With a wide range of artistic and administrative services in a purpose-built facility, the Opera Center is dedicated to increasing the level of excellence, creativity and effectiveness across the field.
OPERA America's long tradition of supporting and nurturing the creation and development of new works led to the formation of
The Opera Fund
, a growing endowment which allows OPERA America to make a direct impact on the ongoing creation and presentation of new opera and music-theater works. Since its inception, OPERA America has made grants of nearly $11 million to assist companies with the expenses associated with the creation and development of new works.


text:
Debbie Buchanan is the longest-tenured coach in Idaho volleyball history as she enters her 17th season at the helm of the Vandal volleyball program. She has compiled a 244-228 overall record during her time with the Vandals and led Idaho to two NCAA tournament appearances.
Buchanan led the Vandals to the Big Sky North Division title in 2015, going to 10-6 in conference play. Idaho defeated North Dakota in the Quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament, earning its first tournament win since returning to the Big Sky.
The 2014 season was Idaho's first back in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals had two First Team All-Conference selections in Alyssa Schultz and Meredith Coba to go along with the Big Sky Newcomer of the Year in Stephanie Hagins. Idaho finished 15-14 overall and 11-5 in its return the Big Sky, earning the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky Tournament.
Buchanan entered 2014, coming off of three of her most successful seasons at Idaho. She helped lead the Vandals to a combined 52-37 (.584) record and a 34-14 (.708) Western Athletic Conference record and two second-place WAC finishes. In 2011 Buchanan earned WAC Coach of the Year honors, and had a program-high six players earn WAC postseason honors. Also in 2011, Buchanan became Idaho's winningest coach in program history, breaking Tom Hilbert's record of 174 career wins, finishing the season with 179. For her efforts, Buchanan was chosen as the 2011 College Coach of the Year by the North Idaho Hall of Fame.
In 2012 Idaho went 13-5 in the WAC, 17-14 overall and won two WAC tournament matches to reach the league's championship match. The Vandals finished 19-11 in 2013, the program's highest single-season win total since 2008, and earned a third-place WAC finish.
Idaho enjoyed success in the WAC advancing to the WAC semifinals in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and the program's first WAC championship match in 2012. Buchanan's teams have not finished below .500 in conference play since 2002, and went 91-52 (.636) in WAC games in nine seasons as a member of the conference. Also impressive is Idaho's 103-52 (.665) record at home since Buchanan took over in 2000, which includes a 86-36 (.705) mark at home since 2003.
While the team continues to work toward a conference championship and its next trip to the NCAA tournament, the program and individual players have accomplished several notable milestones.
Idaho's trip to the 2013 WAC semifinals was the teams' sixth since joining the league in 2005 before breaking through to the program's first WAC championship match in 2012. The 2011 Vandal squad also featured five All-WAC players and four more earned conference honors in 2012.
In 2010, Idaho had two All-WAC players, and in 2009 Buchanan's Vandals boasted three first-team All-WAC players, a three-time WAC Player of the Week, four WAC All-Academic selections, an 11-5 WAC record, including a 7-1 mark in home WAC contests, and a third place conference finish.
Under Buchanan's tutelage, Idaho players have earned one All-American honor, two AVCA All-Region selections, 36 All-Conference honors, 12 All-Freshman team selections, and 23 Conference Players of the Week. Buchanan has also coached a player to a first team all-conference selection in 12 of her 15 seasons and boasts the only Vandal player to earn four all-conference honors in her career.
The Vandals knocked off the highest-ranked opponent in the program's history during the 2004 season as they topped No. 13 UC Santa Barbara. That followed Idaho's first victory over the Gauchos in 2003. Idaho also defeated No. 18 Santa Clara on the Broncos' home court in 2001 and No. 18 Utah State at Memorial Gym in 2000. During the 2003 season, Vandal senior Anna-Marie Hammond became only the second All-American in Idaho volleyball history as she earned honorable mention honors.
Off the court, Buchanan's players have thrived to the tune of 80 All-Academic honors, one Academic All-District selection, and a Big West Scholar Athlete honor in 2003. Idaho has seen at least four volleyball players earn All-Academic honors in each of the last eight seasons, including nine in 2013-14, the most ever for Vandal volleyball.
In just her fourth season as Idaho head coach, Buchanan led the Vandals to their first NCAA appearance since 1995. What was even more impressive was the fact the Vandals received their first at-large bid to the tournament after finishing in fifth place in the Big West. Idaho finished the 2003 season with a 19-11 overall record, its best finish since the 1996 season. The 2004 season yielded more success for Buchanan and the Vandals as they received their second consecutive at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after a 17-13 season.
Buchanan expected this kind of excellence, however, and it is easy to understand why. The adage is "success breeds success." A St. Maries, Idaho, native, Buchanan's record, from high school player to student-coach to full-time assistant, is superb. Simply put, she has won on every level, and won a lot.
"The support from the university, the athletic department, and the Moscow community are outstanding," Buchanan said. "I know what it takes to reach a very high level and Idaho has all of the ingredients to become an elite program."
Buchanan's last stop as an assistant coach at Colorado State (under former Vandal head coach Tom Hilbert) saw the Rams reach the upper echelon of college volleyball. In 1999, CSU won a school record 30 matches - in 33 outings - and was among the final 16 teams at the NCAA Tournament. Buchanan also helped the Rams win the inaugural Mountain West Conference Tournament title with a victory over Brigham Young on the Cougars' home court. With the success, CSU reached a 12th-place national ranking.
Buchanan knew something of helping build programs before she arrived at Fort Collins. She served as Hilbert's top assistant at Idaho in 1996, a season the Vandals went 25-6 and won the Big West Conference Eastern Division title.
Prior to coming to Moscow in 1996, Buchanan had already established herself as an up-and-coming member of the coaching ranks. A knee injury cut her playing career short before it ever started at the University of Southern California. Rather than give up the game, she became a student assistant for the Women of Troy. She proceeded to learn the art of coaching from then-USC mentor Lisa Love. The precocious student performed a variety of tasks for Southern Cal, including management of vendor contracts, home event management, and assistance with booster club and fund-raising events. In addition to off-the-court duties, Buchanan also assisted with practices, camps and edited game film.
She also coached a highly successful club program while still in college - serving two years as the director and coach of the Santa Monica Volleyball Club. She graduated from Southern California in 1996 with a degree in education with an emphasis in science.
Buchanan went to USC following a standout high school career in northern Idaho at St. Maries High School. In four years, she led the Lumberjacks to four consecutive state A-2 championships (1987-90). She was a three-time conference MVP (1988-90) and an all-state selection three years (1988-1990). After her senior season, she was chosen second-team All-America. Buchanan also played on St. Maries' 1987 state basketball title team and was a three-time all-conference player for the Lumberjacks' basketball squad.
Buchanan, who was born March 7, 1973, is married to Buck and they have two children, Austin and Blake.


text:
The Berkeley Optometric Group is pleased to welcome you to our downtown Berkeley optometry practice.
Berkeley Optometrists, Drs. Stephen R. Chun and Mark A. Fujikawa, have been providing comprehensive vision and eye care services to East Bay residents since 1976.
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text:
Although the spring semester ended less than a week ago, I have been planning for my fall courses for several weeks now. Such is the life of a teacher—we often live at least six months in advance of the date on the calendar. My teammate in the freshman first semester segment of the four-semester interdisciplinary program I direct and have taught in for years and I have already made our book order with wonderful texts ranging from Aeschylus to Boethius in store for the incoming eighteen-year-olds we will meet in September.
Virtually every team teaching the first semester of this course includes one of Homer's epics on the syllabus—the question always is "which one?" Iliad or Odyssey? This is not quite the academic equivalent of "boxers or briefs" or "Red Sox or Yankees," but it is close. I have led discussions on each epic multiple times over the years; which is most appropriate often depends both on the interests/tastes of the faculty on the team and the chosen organizing themes for the semester. Two years ago we used the Iliad; last year my team went for the Odyssey. I profess a preference for the latter, but as my Fall 2014 colleague and I discussed the Homer issue during a planning meeting a few weeks ago, she expressed a marked preference for the Iliad for a number of good reasons. I'm senior faculty, she's in her third year, I did not want to pull rank (imagine an academic choosing not to pull rank), I appreciate the Iliad's greatness, so I deferred. She's a classicist after all, has forgotten more about ancient Greek literature than I think I know, and (I suspect) just really likes the overall violence and bloodshed of the Iliad. But over the past few weeks I've wistfully thought "I really like the Odyssey better." A couple of days ago I found out why.
"Which Classical Character Are You?" the latest Facebook quiz asked.
Which Classical Character Are You?
This quiz was from an Oxford Dictionaries blog, so I expected that it might be a bit more erudite and serious than most. But no, it was pretty much at the same level of complexity (about eighth grade) as the others I've taken over the past months. It asked first whether I was male or female, and shortly after the first couple of questions I could pretty much tell that the available options were Achilles, Hercules, Orpheus, Aeneas or Odysseus. I was not surprised when I found out that
You are Odysseus. You are renowned for your cunning wiles and fantastic plans. You've always got a trick up your sleeve. You are also a home-loving type and will do anything to protect your family.
I am more than happy to be Odysseus, although the quiz description hardly does him justice, nor does it sound that much like me. Odysseus was not the strongest soldier in the Greek army at Troy, nor was he the swiftest or the bravest. But he was definitely the smartest. He's the one who manages to keep Achilles and Agamemnon from fighting to the death at the beginning of the Iliad (a good thing, or it would have been a rather short book). Other than that, he's a relatively minor character in the Iliad. We find out from the Aeneid that the Trojan horse scheme that ended the Trojan War and sent Aeneas off looking for a new place to live was Odysseus' brainchild.
In the Odyssey we get to know Odysseus intimately—full of hubris, always thinking and scheming, a good leader (most of the time) although all of his men die by the time he gets home, comfortable in his own skin, an introvert who has no trouble spending lots of time alone, incurably in love with his wife whom he has not seen in twenty years, and intensely focused on his one motivating goal—getting home. Tell me something I don't know about myself.
Just for the fun of it, I decided to retake the quiz as a female. My options appeared to be Dido, Clytemnestra, Penelope, Medea and perhaps Eurydice.
You are Penelope. Loyal and patient you tend to avoid conflict. Everyone admires your restraint and elegance but sometimes you can be a bit of a doormat – but you never give up on someone you believe in.
This makes me even happier, because Penelope is my favorite female character in all of classical epic and drama (with the possible exception of Medea, who's just a total bad ass). Once again, the quiz description does not do Penelope justice. She is undoubtedly loyal, patient and elegant (I am also loyal and patient, although inelegant), but she is anything but a doormat. She is a consummate manipulator, putting her long-absent husband to shame in that category as she keeps a crowd of suitors at bay for years by weaving a death shroud for her supposedly dead husband during the day and unraveling it at night. She is a dedicated mother who is struggling with how to let her young adult son Telemachus go so that he can become a man, something every parent can resonate with.
And Penelope is a brilliant match for Odysseus, his complete equal in cunning, intelligence, and insight. He is a man of action, as all Greek heroes are; given the restraints on women in the classical age, her action is limited but highly effective. My favorite passage in the entire Odyssey is in Book 23, after Odysseus has, with a bit of help, slaughtered all of the suitors who have been plaguing Penelope for years in the banquet hall. Penelope is not entirely convinced that this is Odysseus—they have not seen each other for twenty years, and she is aware that gods show up in disguise at the drop of a hat in the classical world. Odysseus, grudgingly, agrees to give her all the time she needs to be sure—he'll sleep on the couch, so to speak, until she's ready. When Penelope instructs her maid to have the bed from the master bedroom moved into the hall for Odysseus, he goes nuts. "What the fuck are you talking about??" (my free translation). He knows that growing through the center of the house, and hence the center of the bedroom, is an olive tree that at the time of the house's construction was used as the center post of the bed. In other words, unless the olive tree has been chopped down, this bed cannot be moved—something that only Odysseus would know. "Gotcha!" Penelope says, they embrace and live happily ever after. Not exactly, but close enough.
All of this reminds me of one of my favorite descriptions of The World's Most Interesting Man: "He would be in touch with his feminine side—if he had one." Psychologists tell us that everyone—other than The World's Most Interesting Man, of course—has both a feminine and masculine side. In my case, I am thrilled to learn that my masculine and my feminine side are so well attuned that if they met, they would get married. Talk about integrated! So Robin, if you read this you will now know what a great sacrifice I made when I agreed to do the Iliad instead of the Odyssey with our sixty-four freshmen this fall. The Odyssey is more than just one of the greatest works of Western literature. It is the story of me!


text:
I just finished reading Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, the economics work du jour that has been called the most important book of the century. Rather than take the time to collect my thoughts and organize them into a coherent, sensible review, I decided I'd just dump my initial impressions in a scattered fashion and let you wade your way through. I'm not sure why anyone would even by interested in what I have to say about the issue (as opposed to people much more informed than I am), but this is the Internet and being unqualified never stopped anyone before!
—It seems to me that, in all the discussion of Piketty's book, a lot of people are misconstruing the argument he's really making. The summary you'll see a lot is that Piketty is saying inequality has been getting worse for the last 30 years or so. And that is sort of what he's saying, but that's not the crux of his argument, and he's very open about the lack the clarity on that issue. Indeed, he says, "It is by no means certain that inequalities of wealth are actually increasing at the global level."
Still, inequality is the central theme of the book, and Piketty paints a harrowing portrait. But the full picture he creates is not just one of the present and recent past. He goes all the way back to the eighteenth and nineteenth century and illustrates a few key points. The first is that inequality decreased substantially throughout the twentieth century. This is kind of obvious, but his next point is crucial: This decrease was essentially a historical accident. It was the result of a global Depression and two world wars of unprecedented scale, which destroyed a ton of wealth* and, as Piketty puts it, "wiped the slate clean" for the generation after World War II.
*The way this happened was not as obvious as you might think. Some of it was just the physical destruction of the wars, sure, but it also came from nationalizations caused by the war, loss of European colonies, and the huge national debts and subsequent inflation that followed. Piketty explains it all better than I could.
In other words, the decrease in inequality wasn't some natural result of the forces of capitalism, but the legacy of specific disasters we're only now emerging from.


text:
I'll never forget playing Descent back when it first came out. More specifically, playing the demo, which I think came with PC Gamer magazine. I played the demo over, and over. Eventually I stopped spinning around in place and actually completed the demo mission, too.
I would play the heck out of a new Descent game, one with with updated graphics and physics. And while that may not be happening, modder MadMaxBLD is singlehandedly working on making something of a Black Mesa-like Unreal engine remake/mod of the original. Check it out in this prototype video.
Godspeed, Max.
(Via RPS)


text:
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Sold by the 5 meter reel, foot and sample kit.
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Ambient Temperature -20°C to 45°C Average Lifetime 50,000 hours Beam Angle 120° Brightness 1370 lumens/meter Efficacy 131.7 lumens/watt Brightness 2 4960 mW/meter Efficacy 2 476.9 mWatt/watt CCT 5,000K CRI 90+ Finish White Height (English) 0.08 in Height (Metric) 2 mm IP Rating IP20 Input Current 250 mA Input Voltage 12 DC LED Density 120 LEDs/meter LED Node Size 2835 LED Spacing (English) 0.33 in LED Spacing (Metric) 8.3 mm Length (English) 11.80 in Length (Metric) 299.7 mm Manufacturer EnvironmentalLights Min. Cutting Increment (English) 1.31 in Min. Cutting Increment (Metric) 33.3 mm Power (Watts) 3 Power (Watts/ft) 3.00 Power (Watts/m) 10.00 Rating UL Listed, IP20CE, RoHS Strip Width 10 mm Warranty 5 years limited Width (English) 0.39 in Width (Metric) 10 mm
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Write Your Own Review
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Female SM2 - White - 20AWG - 72in
Male SM2 - White - 20AWG - 72in


text:
Swype was the first keyboard to bring the gesture typing implementation on mobile devices and especially to Android devices. However, Swype was never available as a download-able keyboard on the Play Store, and was only available on certain Android devices that it came pre-installed with.
Today, all that changes since the new owners of Swype, Nuance Communications, have finally released the keyboard on the Play Store. The keyboard is available in a trial as well as a paid version. The paid version is up for grabs for $0.99 right now, with its price set to increase after a few days.
While Swype truly was revolutionary when it first came in the keyboard scene, it is now barely able to keep up with its competition. SwiftKey, the most popular keyboard and one of the most popular applications on the Play Store, recently implemented its Flow technique of typing that is similar to Swype's implementation. SwiftKey's implementation is arguably superior since it allows users to have up to three languages active simultaneously. This makes typing in different languages simultaneously much more easier in SwiftKey compared to Swype.