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On July 13 in World Cup history: First ever tournament starts in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930.
When France faced off against Mexico, and the United States met Belgium in matches at different venues in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, few people could imagine what had been unleashed on the world. A quarter of a century or so after the idea of a global footballing tournament was first mooted, 13 teams, including the host, gathered in Uruguay. Many European countries, including Italy and Spain, opted against making the multi-week boat trip, while the four British associations had withdrawn from FIFA. Uruguay, which won the gold medal in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games, was given the right to host the competition for the Jules Rimet Trophy, the World Cup's original name, and termed in honor of the then FIFA president who had done so much to make the tournament a reality. For the record, France beat Mexico 4-1, while the U.S. defeated Belgium 3-0. France's Lucien Laurent scored the first goal in World Cup history. On July 30, Uruguay became the first World Cup champion when it beat Argentina 4-2 at Centenario Stadium.


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With the recent storm damage from Hurricane Sandy, it might seem like a strange thing to recommend, but playing something as simple as a game with your family can temporarily relieve a little stress. It also tightens the bond of family and helps kids take their minds off of current situations.
Besides, with the economic news these days, we are all looking to save money and still have a little fun. If your family doesn't already have a 'Family Game Night' now is the time to institute this tradition. Once you have purchased a game, and they're really not expensive anyway, you can have fun for free on an ongoing basis.
Playing games, as a family, is a memory that will last forever. Choose games that the entire family can enjoy. If you have toddlers, there are even some games that are made for this age group that the whole family can play and not be bored to tears. One of our favorites in this category is Zingo, which is a preschool take on Bingo, but actually more fun.
If you have kids in the tween and teen age group, or older, try games like 'Catch Phrase' and, one of our favorites, Up Words. We, actually, have two Up Words games that we just combined so that we can play even longer.
So, besides 'Movie Night' add "Game Night' to your family activites ... make a little popcorn and let the games begin!

subset: commoncrawl


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There is no excuse for the Justice Department bypassing the courts to secretly seize two months of phone records for reporters and editors of The Associated Press. It is an unconscionable violation of the news organization�s First Amendment rights to gather and report the news.
There is no excuse for the Justice Department bypassing the courts to secretly seize two months of phone records for reporters and editors of The Associated Press. It is an unconscionable violation of the news organization�s First Amendment rights to gather and report the news.
The Justice Department informed AP on Friday that authorities had obtained records for more than 20 telephone lines of its offices and journalists, including their home phones and cellphones. The records were seized without prior notice.
AP was not told the reason for the seizure. But the timing and the journalistic targets suggest they are related to a continuing government investigation into the leaking of information about a terrorist plot a year ago, The New York Times reported. On May 7, 2012, AP reported that the Central Intelligence Agency had disrupted a Yemen-based terrorist plot to bomb an airliner. AP had held off publishing it for several days at the White House�s request because the intelligence operations were still unfolding.
In an angry letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt called the seizure a �massive and unprecedented intrusion� into its news-gathering activities. �There can be no possible justification� for the Justice Department collecting records so broadly, he said.
�These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the news-gathering activities undertaken by AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP�s news-gathering operations, and disclose information about AP�s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know,� Pruitt stated.
This assault on the nation�s pre-eminent news organization raises serious questions about what other constitutional rights the Justice Department may be secretly violating. It makes us wonder whether Holder is a renegade who has mistaken the Bill of Rights for a �Bill of Suggestions.�
The scandal represents the latest collision of news organizations and federal investigators over government efforts to prevent disclosure of national security information, and it comes against a backdrop of an aggressive policy by the Obama administration to rein in leaks, the Times reports. Under President Barack Obama, six current and former government officials have been indicted in leak-related cases so far, twice the number under all previous administrations combined.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the White House was not involved in the subpoena. �We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,� he said.
Before the news broke Monday, Obama spent part of a news conference trying to deflate a lingering scandal about last year�s terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya, and expressing outrage over news the IRS has targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
When the president penned his memoir, �The Audacity of Hope,� surely this was not the kind of audacity he was talking about. The president and Holder have a lot of explaining to do, but it is hard to imagine any justification for such a blatant trampling of fundamental rights.


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Saturday, September 13, 2014 - 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Natural History Museum of Utah - Dry Caves
Meet the Bugs! Observe and handle live bugs to learn about their anatomy, behavior and important ecological roles. WIth this program we encourage you to overcome misperceptions that bugs are creepy pests and offer a deeper understanding of these creatures.
Every second and fourth Saturday from 2-4 p.m.


text: Experts believe a key ingredient in Viagra called PDE5i, which relaxes blood vessels, also prevents damage to heart cells. Heart failure is caused by the heart failing to pump enough blood around the body at the right pressure. It most often occurs because the heart muscle has become too weak or stiff to work properly and is usually treated with medication which supports the heart. Despite diabetics being prone to heart problems, the study participants did not suffer as many incidents as similar patients not on the drug.


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You've undoubtedly noticed a fair number of desperate Valentine's Day pitches from various companies, but this one is the real deal. Say what you will about its aesthetic properties, but Ego-Lifestyles' "Love Edition" laptop is a product designed especially for the holiday--as opposed to those that just have an inscription or some other after-market afterthought.
Finished in pink and red leather, this Ego sports an unmistakable heart on its handmade case of custom leather, according to Sybarites. It's also finished with a red bow and silver heart charm, just in case you missed the rest of the theme. No price or specs have been released, though its features are probably similar to others from the Ego line. But if you really need to make a statement (or amends), there's always the "Otazu Ego Diamond" if you have a spare $350,000 lying around. (Yes, Sparky, that's not a typo.)


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The countdown is on
Volunteers and exhibitors worked through the weekend making final preparations for Farm Technology Days, and while rain necessitated temporary closing of some Tent City roads to vehicles, things were rolling along Monday morning.
Opening ceremonies will begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with the River Falls High School band playing at the Family Living Tent. All tents and exhibits will open at 9 a.m.
Vendor and exhibitor traffic was "real constant" this morning, said Dan Pearson, chairperson at the Grounds Committee office.
He said a pump was used to drain water off some low spots Sunday, but most of the water drained off or dried on its own.
"Today it looks real good," said Pearson of the area. "Today it's wide open."
He expected exhibitor traffic, especially from smaller vendors, to continue heavily through the day.
Nearly 80 acres of exhibits and hundreds of displays await visitors when FTD opens Tuesday for its three-day run.
The event will be held on the Roger and Bev Peterson family farm two miles southwest of River Falls on Hwy. 29/35.
FTD is an outdoor event that showcases the latest improvements in production agriculture. It is the largest agriculture exposition in Wisconsin and is held each year in a different county and on a different host family farm.
There will also be displays and entertainment by educators, craftspeople and performers. Farmers and non-farmers, including children, will be invited to take tours and visit demonstrations.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, July 20 and 21, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, July 22
Admission is $5 for adults and children 12 and older. There is no charge for younger kids.
General parking, which is free, will be along County Road E just south of Hwy. 29.
Two parking lots on the east side of Tent City can hold over 8,000 vehicles. Also, nearly 330 handicapped parking stalls are provided at the site.
Visitors wanting to avoid the hassle of fighting traffic are invited to use off-site parking at the Pierce County Fairgrounds in Ellsworth and catch a bus to Tent City.
There is parking space for 1,200 vehicles at the fairgrounds. Signs on Hwy. 10 and 63 will direct people to the off-site parking. The bus service will be free to FTD visitors, and the shuttles are scheduled to leave and return to the fairgrounds every 20 minutes.
Driving directions
Coming from Wisconsin (east): Take I-94 to Exit 19/Baldwin; take Exit 19 and go south on Hwy. 63 through Ellsworth to Hwy. 10; go west on Hwy. 10 to Pierce County Road E; go north on Pierce County Road E.
From Minnesota (west): Take I-94 East to Exit 3/ Hwy. 35 to River Falls; take the Exit 3/ Hwy. 35 River Falls south to Cemetery Road; go west on Cemetery Road to Hwy. 29; go south on Hwy. 29 to Pierce County Road E.
From Minnesota via Prescott: U.S. Hwy. 61 south to U.S. Hwy. 10 in Hastings, Minn.; east on Hwy. 10 to Pierce County Road E; north on County Road E.
From Minnesota via Red Wing, Minn.:North on U.S. Hwy. 63 to U.S. Hwy. 10; west on Hwy. 10 to Pierce County Road E; north on Pierce County Road E.


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Steven received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Finance, from the State University of New York at Albany. He received his Advanced Insurance degree from the Wharton School of Business and his Trust and Estate Practitioners designation from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Steven plays a central role in advancing WaxmanLawson Financials leadership in the Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) marketplace and is in charge of the Firm's expansion in the NY, NJ and CT area. He also works with clients and their advisors to implement M proprietary life and disability products since off-the-shelf products cannot meet the needs of Ultra High Net Worth Clients. He advises both domestic and international families and their advisors on the efficient use of private placement life insurance and annuities to help enhance after tax yields on their investments.
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posted on 13 Apr 2016 | News storyPGDC is pleased to welcome new contributing author Steven Zeiger.
posted on 8 Apr 2016 | Article | 7 commentsAs life expectancy continues to increase, planners need to re-think how they plan life income gifts for their donors. Using the mortality tables that the IRS allows may not be enough to keep your...
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Steven, guided by the book "Blue Ocean Strategies", (Harvard Business Press) helps advisors create market niches for their new business development plans.
Steven, his wife and two young sons recently moved from New York City to Westchester NY. Steven enjoys playing tennis, skiing, ping pong and is currently training for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Pan Mass Challenge.


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It's so hard for me to commit to one style of Christmas decor because I know the next year, there will be something new that catches my eye. That's probably why our ornament collection is a random mix, from traditional to eclectic. Instead of fully investing in one style, I like the idea of buying inexpensive clear glass bulbs and customizing them to your mood.
Feeling glam? Try these pretty gold ones made by Jennie by using washi tape and tinsel. See four more perfectly festive ideas below.
Keighley made these pretty painted bulbs by simply swirling around acrylic paint and letting them dry. I love the colors she chose.
Ornaments aren't just for the tree. Melanie made this ornament chandelier with clear glass bulbs filled with feathers, tinsel, and glitter.
Keep the tissue paper out from wrapping gifts and add bits of it to ornaments for this decoupage look.
Or you could make your own mini winter scene. A cute sledding hill perhaps? Each one is like a mini diorama.
What style of Christmas decorations are you going with this year? Would any of these ornaments fit it?


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Lenovo Group Ltd. is a Chinese multinational computer technology company with headquarters in Beijing, China and Morrisville, North Carolina. Lenovo designs, manufactures and sells computers, smartphones, workstations, servers, electronic storage devices, smart televisions and IT management software.
Founded in Beijing in 1984 (as Legend), Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computer business in 2005 and its Intel-based server business in 2014. Lenovo acquired the mobile phone handset manufacturer Motorola Mobility from Google in October 2014.


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Kate Walsh to Star in Grey's Anatomy Spinoff; Pilot Episode Planned For MaySteve Marsi at . Comments
In a bold and controversial move, ABC is surgically removing part of Grey's Anatomy to see if it can survive on its own.
The plot is still a work in progress and Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes - who will lead production of the new series - hasn't settled on a title, says an ABC spokeswoman.
A two-hour pilot of the series is likely to air in May, the Journal said.
Rhimes recently told the cast about the project and agreed to write the special two-hour episode that will serve as the series pilot. This type of old-fashioned spinoff is rare in the risk-averse TV business.
ABC will likely air the show in May so that it is broadcast in time for the network to decide whether to pick up the spinoff before unveiling its fall schedule to advertisers and media buyers.
ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson declined to comment. ABC confirms it has inked a deal with Walsh, but said Rhimes and Walsh are both unavailable to comment further at this time.No new show is a safe bet in the fickle TV business, but a spinoff is a safer bet. Rather than launching cold, spinoffs come with a built-in audience already invested in the concept or character.
There's a strong marketing hook - a crucial element as networks battle an
expanding array of entertainment options for viewer attention. And some
of TV's most popular shows have been spinoffs, including The Jeffersons, spawned by All in the Family, and Frasier, a spinoff of Cheers.
Although McPherson has dramatically transformed ABC over the past two years from the last-place broadcaster to a contender for No. 1, the network still has holes on its schedule that would benefit from a new hit.
Wednesday night has started to struggle - the castaways drama Lost is down 23 percent among adults age 18 to 49 this season compared with last - and the network has been keeping some Friday slots warm by airing reruns.
In many ways, a Grey's Anatomy spinoff would mark a departure for the modern TV industry. True spinoffs - where ancillary characters leave an established show to become the leads of a new one - are less common today than in decades past.
A big reason: There are fewer smash hits, particularly comedies, to spin off. The TV schedule is replete with strong dramas, but shows such as CSI tend to spawn new franchises with entirely new casts of characters, notes TV historian Tim Brooks, author of The Complete Guide to Prime Time.
Indeed, networks rarely have confidence to pursue a character spinoff of an hour-long drama. One of the few successes was in 1979 when Gary and Valene Ewing departed Dallas to launch Knots Landing.
More often, attempts have been spectacular flops, such as the 1987 bid to spin off Hill Street Blues by sending detective Norman Buntz, played by Dennis Franz, and his snitch Sid, played by Peter Jurasik, to California.
Beverly Hills Buntz failed within a season, although Franz went on to greater things in NYPD Blue.
With Grey's Anatomy, ABC has a white-hot hit, fueled by complex story lines and charismatic characters. Despite moving to highly competitive Thursday from Sunday last fall, Grey's Anatomy is notching some of its best ratings ever. Last week, 26 million people tuned in to watch "Drowning On Dry Land," in which the Seattle Grace team copes with the fallout of a ferry crash.
The ensemble show, now in its third season, also has an abundance of strong characters, including Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey and Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd. Indeed, Rhimes recently told a gathering of critics that it is getting more and more difficult fitting all 12 Grey's Anatomy regulars into storylines.
She wants to be intimately involved in the potential spinoff and, to free up her schedule, has shelved another pilot of hers about a group of female journalists, which Jeffrey Dean Morgan was scheduled to appear in.
Walsh's Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd joined the show in May 2005, appearing in the last few minutes of the Season One finale. She abruptly showed up at the Seattle hospital looking for her estranged neurosurgeon husband, Derek, and discovers he has a girlfriend.
Addison confronts him with a pointed - and explicit - remark.
Although Rhimes and ABC think Walsh's character can continue to evolve on Grey's Anatomy, it became clear in recent months that her position on the show was changing, say people familiar with the matter. Now divorced from Derek and friendly with Meredith, Addison has had fewer ways to keep busy - and fewer fireworks to entertain viewers.
ABC is approaching the spinoff in a smart way, says Norman Lear, the TV producer who refined the art of the spinoff in the 1970s when his All in the Family spawned a record five new shows.
Too often networks try to force audiences to embrace a character just because they have an actor amenable to a spinoff - NBC's ill-fated Friends spinoff Joey, starring Matt LeBlanc, for instance. Instead, networks should "see who's popping and try to build something" around them, he says.
His advice to Rhimes: "Trust your instincts and don't force anything." He also notes that successfully juggling monster-sized egos - particularly those of the cast members not getting their own show - is a crucial to the spinoff process.
If the Grey's Anatomy special episode doesn't lead to a new series for ABC's fall schedule, the network has several high-profile projects in the pipeline to fall back on. One of them is Life on Mars, a remake of a BBC drama about a modern-day detective who finds himself transported back to 1973.
ABC also has hopes for a pilot called Dirty Sexy Money, a drama from Greg Berlanti (Dawson's Creek, Everwoo) focusing on an idealistic lawyer hired to tend to the legal - and often illegal - needs of a megarich New York family.
Talk about your Wednesday morning bombshell. While we'll miss Addison on Grey's Anatomy, we're hopeful that with Shonda at the helm, the new series will be a success. Congratulations to Kate for landing her own show!
Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.


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This website will show you discounted Forest Park, OH hotels that get similar quality scores of a Hampton Inn.Need 5+ Rooms? Get group bids from hotels in Forest Park OH
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Program Contacts
Prof. Chris Boyatzis (psychology)
210 O'Leary Center
Child Development in Denmark
Required Course: PSYC 337
The program will be based at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), situated in the heart of charming medieval Copenhagen. Students will be housed in a Danish kollegium, with other American students and Danish university students.
The program focus will be a comparative analysis of child development in Denmark and the United States. We will focus on the contexts of the family and education as well as surrounding cultural issues (e.g., history, ideology, economics, government) that influence child development.
The 1 credit core course will be Child Development in Denmark. In addition, students will have the option to complete a .5 credit research Independent Study related to the core course.
The three-week course will be comprised of nine class sessions (three hours per) and three full days at a practicum in a Danish school. We will go on field trips to educational and cultural sites in and around Copenhagen and take a 3-day tour of Western Denmark.
Class sessions will blend discussion, lecture, small-group work, student presentations, and guest lectures. Students are expected to read primary-source articles, participate thoughtfully in class, write daily in a journal, give a presentation on practicum experiences, write a final paper (due one week after the course ends), and show full engagement during our many outings and study tour to W. Denmark. Analysis of two themes will permeate all of our experiences and your assignments: how culture shapes child development and childhood, and how your experiences in Denmark influence how you view yourself and your own native culture.
Graded assignments:
Graded assignments will be on participation and full engagement with the program, journals, a presentation based on practicum experiences, and a final paper that will be due roughly a week after the program ends.
Themes and Issues for the Course
We will examine how culture shapes childhood in Danish and Nordic culture as well as make regular comparisons to the United States and other cultures. Foremost in our minds will be the Danish philosophy of en god barndom, or "the good childhood," which posits that children are competent and trustworthy, should enjoy "liberation" from excessive adult supervision, and should have full participation in the life of a democratic society. Below are some other aspects of Denmark that we will study and experience:
The course allows students to fulfill various University and major requirements:
Psychology: counts toward one of the two 300-level credits
Core Curriculum: The course can fulfill a Social Science requirement within the new university core curriculum.
Children's Studies Minor: The course may count towards the Children's Studies minor.
Estimated Total Program Cost: $5,500 approximately
The program cost includes course tuition, round-trip airfare from Newark to Copenhagen, lodging and transportation in Denmark, study-tour/field-trip fees, and some food costs. Additional costs will include some meals and personal expenses.
Prof. Chris Boyatzis (psychology)
210 O'Leary Center
Students live in a kollegium, a dorm-like building where other American and International students studying in Denmark live. The kollegium is in Copenhagen, though the specific kollegium and location is not determined by the host institution (Danish Inst. for Study Abroad) until June.
Tuition, academic instruction, group round-trip airfare from a NYC area airport, housing, global medical insurance, on site orientation, and all program activities (excursions, etc.)
There are many excursions every week to a variety of types of sites.
Many of our outings are formally academic and are central to our program focus on child development in Denmark; in these cases students spend several days working hands-on with young children and teachers at schools and other days visit forest schools or construction playgrounds; other excursions are more cultural (e.g., castles, museums) and some are recreational (e.g., Tivoli gardens and amusement park, Carlsberg Brewery).
The following links are virtual breadcrumbs marking the 27 most recent pages you have visited in Bucknell.edu. If you want to remember a specific page forever click the pin in the top right corner and we will be sure not to replace it. Close this message.


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Christopherxx wrote:Hey guys,
So what is up with the lack of sleep in the Theravada context.
I know many individuals leave many western standpoints behind when embracing buddhism - however I think we can all agree that 4-5 hours of sleep a night on a day to day basis is not recommended for health.
I'd love for people that have experienced the forest monasteries either in the chah lineage, mahasi, or Dhammayutika Nikaya, etc to chim in.
And hate to say it but it's okay to think this custom should be changed. We don't have to think every tradition is inspired just the teachings .
The less you meditate the more you sleep. Sleep is useless. More time for meditation. Does it affect the body? I don't think so but body shmody


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In nature, chemicals are hardly ever pure. No wedding ring is pure gold, and no natural water is pure. Copper ores are never pure either, and all smelted copper contains impurities. The ancient smiths who exploited the first easy native-copper nuggets, and the dramatically colored surface malachite and azurite carbonate ores could select relatively pure ores for their smelters, and they did not have to worry too much about impurities in the copper that they produced. But as demand rose and the first early ore discoveries were worked out, they mined deeper, and began to reach copper sulfide ores that were more difficult to smelt and less pure.
The "copper" that began to come from the smelters now had relatively more impurities in it. Smiths were inadvertently smelting batches of metal that were not pure copper. Each batch was now an alloy, a metallic substance that is not a chemical compound, but a physical mix of two or more metals that may act as if it were a different metal. In our modern hardware stores, for example, we can buy solder (an alloy of tin and another metal [often antimony] which doesn't behave like either of them).
Almost all copper ores contain some small proportion of arsenic, tin, zinc, antimony, or nickel, which mixes at the molecular level with the copper during smelting‹in other words, a tremendous number of subtly different alloys can emerge out of a smelter after a mixture of ore has been smelted, even though the geologist has been skilled enough to select ores that are rich in copper. The alloys are still dominated by copper, but the alloy has a lower melting point than pure copper, which allows easier melting and casting. The castings are better quality, and the alloy is much harder than pure copper after it has been worked by hammering. Paradoxically, the less pure copper ore that was available, the greater the variety of alloy the smith would produce from his smelter. By trial and error, early metallurgists (smiths) would soon come to associate a particular mixture of ores in the furnace with a particular result. In time, a skilled smith would be able to have some control over the end product, producing not copper, not a random unknown alloy, but a specific alloy to suit the job at hand. The Bronze Age marks the time at which smiths became metallurgists, makers of magic, heroes, and gods. Bronze Age smiths were often buried with the tools of their trade: hammers, an anvil, knives and molds.
Bronze is any alloy that is 85-95% copper, with the other 5-15% made up of mainly of tin or arsenic, though other metals can be present in small amounts. It turns out that this range of chemistry produces an alloy that is harder than copper even though it melts at a lower temperature. A low amount of tin or arsenic does not improve the copper enough, and a higher amount makes the alloy so brittle that it is useless. Tin bronze is not too difficult to work, and melts at 950 degrees C rather than the 1084 degrees C of copper, making it easier to cast. Both bronzes make strong hard tools and weapons that retain an edge as well or better than stone, once they are strengthened by hammering. Other metal alloys were not available to bronze-smiths. Zinc (which alloys with copper to make brass) or nickel are rarer and much more difficult to smelt, and antimony/copper alloys are brittle.
In the Chalcolithic period in which copper and stone artefacts co-existed, we can see smiths producing bronzes, without realizing what they had done, and without using the bronze to its best advantage. For a long time, smiths used copper of greater or lesser purity without much discrimination. For example, many early Chalcolithic objects are made from copper with more than 5% arsenic. They were not made with the properties of arsenical bronze in mind, however, because there is no correlation between the object and the arsenic content: tools are made with low-arsenic copper and ornaments are made with high-arsenic copper. Probably arsenical copper was used only because arsenic lowered the melting point and made casting easier.
When and how were the mechanical properties of bronzes deliberately produced by smiths? I expect that at first, a skilled smith would be able to sense the different properties of each batch of metal that came from the smelter, and would keep the rough ingots arranged by property. He would quickly find that bronzes varied in hardness along a scale, with the optimal balance between softness and brittleness at 510% tin/arsenic. It's not that he had a chemical analysis, but he had a feel for hardness as he hammered the hot ingot. Once he was that far into the analysis, it would be an obvious step to combine two ingots at the ends of the scale to try to mix them into the best-quality alloy in between, and he would discover that the process worked as long as he melted then together completely. From that point, the smith with the best analytical skills (his touch with the hammer) would be able to produce the best artefacts.
At some point, a smith would connect the properties of the bronze ingot with the properties of the ores going into the smelter, which would save him a lot of work and charcoal blending ingot together. At this point the smith is truly master of his craft, and one can easily imagine that the best smiths would have routinely produced bronzes of much higher quality than normal. Smiths take on legendary or god-like form for the first time.
Arsenic ores are more common than tin ores, and make high-quality bronzes: there are no tin bronzes in Western Asia before 3000 BC. Arsenic bronzes do not cast as well, but are as hard as tin bronzes. The choice between arsenic and tin bronze may not have been easy, even when it became available. The choice may have depended on the ores available locally: arsenic/copper ores are common, while copper/tin ores are rare. We don't know accurately how often arsenate ores occur in copper deposits because the question is not important in modern mining. In this case, it is just possible that Chalcolithic miners were better informed than we are!
After 3000 BC, Cretan and Western Mediterranean bronzes were largely made with arsenic, Egyptian bronzes almost exclusively with arsenic, but Anatolian bronzes were made with both. We suspect that Anatolian bronzes were first made with tin extracted from the mineral stannite. It is difficult to distinguish tin-bearing stannite from the arsenic-bearing minerals arsenopyrite and enargite. Possibly the first use of tin ores stemmed from a simple mistake by prospectors searching for more arsenic-bearing ores.
Eventually smiths turned to tin ores even though they were more difficult to obtain than arsenic-bearing ores. Smelters work outside, so fumes can be dispersed in the wind, but a smith cannot help breathing in arsenic fumes as he heats, casts, and hammers hot arsenic-laced bronze. The symptoms of low-level arsenic poisoning develop slowly, usually over a period of years. The most obvious symptoms are gradual nerve damage in the limbs. Eventually smiths must have realized what was happening to them, and what was responsible; and eventually they recognized the danger of working with arsenic alloys. Except in Egypt, where arsenic was used until 2000 BC, tin bronze gradually became the alloy of choice, and the dominant metal of advanced civilizations in the Western World for 2000 years. The long agony of so many Bronze Age smiths has come down to us in legend, however: the Greek smith god Hephaestus and his Roman counterpart Vulcan were lame. This is not an occupational hazard of the Iron Age smiths that forged spears for the Greek hoplites and swords for the Roman legionaries. It reflects the centuries-old folk memory of their predecessors.
Bronze gave its name to the Bronze Age, a major innovative period in human history. Bronze artefacts are found at Ur and other Mesopotamian cities after about 3000 BC, then all over the Near East. A "bronze age" can only occur where copper and tin are both available, where the mining and smelting technology are developed, and where trade networks can disseminate the new technology and the new artefacts. Many regions did not have a bronze age, but changed directly from Chalcolithic to iron use.
Cassiterite, the dominant tin ore, is tin oxide. It occurs as distinctive black grains in alluvial sands, and in some areas it is left behind as a resistant mineral after granite has weathered down to sand and clay. It is possible that its properties were examined closely by potters: kaolinite deposits often occur around old granite bodies, and cassiterite grains could be caught up in potters' clay. Since cassiterite melts at only 600 degrees C, it would be noticed, and perhaps accidentally smelted to tin.
An ancient tin mine was discovered in the Taurus at a site named Göltepe, which was a large village from around 3290 BC to 1840 BC. The mine has narrow steep shafts, and at least some of the underground work may have been done by children (several skeletons of children have been excavated from the mine). Cassiterite ore was then crushed at the surface, washed, and smelted with charcoal in rather small crucibles rather than the large furnaces characteristic of copper smelting sites. Goltepe has yielded many crucibles in which the tin was smelted into a slag that contained globules of pure tin, which had to be separated out by crushing and re-washing. The small scale of the crucible operations, and the crushing of the slag for multi-stage refining, make it difficult to detect the scale of the operations. But since over time the industry produced enormous deposits of slag in the district (600,000 tonnes in one pile), Göltepe was probably a major site for much of the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Some of the slag may date from more recent times, at least some of it is ancient, and some of it is very rich in tin.
The Taurus mountains, then, probably provided the tin for alloying into the earliest tin bronzes of the ancient Near East. There is no copper at Göltepe, and the tin was clearly exported to other centers for making bronze. However, other cities close by were centers that were famous for metal trading and metal working in the second millenium BC: Kültepe and Acemhüyük.
The metal-working found in the royal tombs of Sumer (about 26502500 BC), whether it was done locally or was imported, is breath-taking in its beauty and skill. Riveting and soldering were invented, and by 2500 BC the value of tin was well known for soldering and brazing. Casting techniques were good enough to make human-sized statues and small lost-wax figurines.
Metal began to play a part in international relations, especially during Akkadian times (23502200 BC). About 2350 BC Sargon of Akkad invaded Anatolia from his lowland base. He set up a short-lived empire of secure trade routes, and he boasts that a single caravan carried about 12 tonnes of tin, enough to make 125 tonnes of bronze‹and to equip a large army.
After the fall of Akkad, the Assyrians ended as the dominant power in what is now northern Iraq. We have known for a long time that tin was brought in to Kültepe, in Anatolia, by Assyrian merchants and sold to local metal workers at prices that are recorded on local tablets as very high. A major trade in tin is recorded in Old Assyrian letters from about 1950-1850 BC. Tin shipments were sent on donkey caravans from the Assyrian capital, Assur, to Assyrian merchants living in Kültepe, who sold it to the local smiths, presumably for bronze-working in and around Kültepe. The shipments record well over a tonne of tin per year, enough to make about 1015 tonnes a year of bronze.
This trade is subject to several interpretations, of course. The most likely is that foreign tin was imported to the processing area as local ores ran out, in the same way that South American tin was shipped to South Wales after the Cornish tin mines could no longer supply enough to the tinplate industry. (Today the British steel industry depends on imported iron.) Probably tin, the smaller and scarcer component of bronze, was shipped into Kültepe because the district was rich in copper, fuel, and technological skills, even after local tin ores were mined out. This policy would certainly make economic sense for the smiths of Kültepe, even if they had to import the tin to keep their bronze industry going. Presumably the Assyrians bought much of the bronze, though this is not recorded in the letters: the tin was sold in Kültepe for silver or gold. Kültepe by this time may have been very much a "smokestack" city, working bronze but with the profits skimmed off by the politically dominant Assyrians. (The letters indicate that the tin was marked up 75100% between Assur and Kültepe, while transport costs were about 10% of the price in Assur.) Certainly any wealth from the industry did not support the same glittering power at Kültepe that is seen often in Bronze Age centers, though the Assyrian merchants in Kültepe were buried with gold and silver ornaments!. By 2000 BC Kültepe was an industrial city: political power was elsewhere.
Tin must have been a very important strategic metal, even though bronzes could also be made with arsenic, at great occupational hazard for the smelters and smiths. All around the Mediterranean, copper and tin mining were dramatically stepped up in this period.
The Timna workings are some of the best-studied industries of the Early Bronze Age, typical of the entire desert copper-mining and smelting operations, even though the quantities mined were small, even by the standards of the time. The miners at Timna were digging for nodules of malachite in fairly soft sandstone. They used hafted stone hammers, digging vertical shafts connected by galleries. The shafts and galleries were rather haphazard, presumably following rich ores without any overall plan. The ore preparation sites contain broken pieces of malachite copper ore, granite mortars and pounding stones, other stone tools, and pottery shards. The smelting furnaces were not on the valley floor, but high on the ridges, so that the wind would help raise the furnace temperatures by forced draught. Pieces of slag are scattered round the furnaces, some containing little blobs of metallic copper created in the furnaces. The furnaces themselves are bowl-shaped, with a clay layer lining a sandstone cavity about 80 cm (nearly 3 feet) high. The fuel was collected from the desert acacia trees in the region, and fuel shortage was probably the main reason for the rather small production from Timna.
Experiments show that the Timna furnaces reached temperatures between 1180° to 1350°, which could only have been achieved with some forced draught other than natural wind currents. Perhaps goatskin bellows were used. Charcoal makes a hotter fire than wood, and may have been used also. The Timna furnaces produced rather impure masses of metal that needed further cold working by hammering, or a further firing to produce much purer copper ingots. (Later technology, with larger furnaces and hotter fires, allowed smelting to be carried out in one step.)
At Fenan, which was mined for copper in Chalcolithic times (Chapter 3), Bronze Age workings began around 2000 BC. The Fenan miners now followed the ores far underground, in inclined shafts that were as much as 15 to 20 m underground and at least 55 m long. The ore-bearing layers were carefully mined on a chamber-and-pillar system, with pillars left to support the roof. The best ore was separated from waste rock underground by lamplight, and the waste either packed into old galleries, or piled up into artificial support pillars, with the addition of large boulders dropped down from the surface from the bed of the wadi. These methods exploited the ore efficiently, avoiding the labor of carrying too much material up out of the mines.
Bronze Age production at Fenan has been studied only superficially. Fenan production was large, and it must have been a strategically important area. The copper was eventually worked into very finely executed objects, many of them ornamental pieces that presumably had high value. Copper objects were traded and hoarded at this time all over the region from Anatolia to Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The smelting centers nearby were highly organized, with areas for ore crushing, storage pits for ore, charcoal, and iron oxide flux. Scores of furnaces were clustered close together, this time on the valley floor rather than on the ridges, because the Egyptians now relied entirely on bellows to pump air through the furnaces. Each furnace was sunk into the desert sand, and was lined with cement. Each had one or more complex tuyčres in it, nozzles to which a bellows were connected.
The copper was sent off to Egypt to be made into bronze: tin bronze by this time. Copper and tin ingots were melted together in the right proportion, and the molten bronze used to make the desired objects. These were sometimes as large as temple doors. The Sinai mines were not the major source of copper for ancient Egypt, however: there was extensive trade with Cyprus, too.
Once smelting of sulfide ores became economic from about 1600 BC, Cyprus became a vital link in the trade of Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age cultures for 500 years, serving not just as a convenient island in the center of many trade routes, but producing large quantities of copper for export. Every major copper body mined in the early 20th century in Cyprus had already been discovered and mined in ancient and/or classical times. Altogether, Cyprus has more than 40 slag heaps containing more than 4 million tonnes of historic slag, showing the massive scale of the industry over time.
Homer says that his heroes wore Cypriot bronze armor in the Trojan War (about 1100 BC?). The Cypriots used copper and bronze to pay debts and tribute: for example, about 1470 BC the ruler of Cyprus paid tribute to Pharaoh Tutmose III with 108 ingots of copper. The ingots weighed about 30 kg (65 pounds), and were poured into molds that resemble ox-hides‹a rectangle with four projecting corners. The size of the ox-hide ingots means that furnaces had reached much larger size than those at Timna a few centuries before: the ingots are ten times as big. The shape is probably convenient for pouring and handling, rather like the "pigs" of later iron-workers, but it may also refer to the bull-worship of the region. Ox-hide copper ingots have been found all over the Mediterranean shoreline, reflecting two facts: first, that most large-scale trade was shipborne; and second, that copper ingots were an acceptable form of currency. A shipwreck from about 1300 BC, discovered at Ulu Burun, near Cape Gelidonya on the Turkish coast, was carrying a tonne of copper ingots and several dozen small tin ingots, new bronze tools, and scrap metal, and a blacksmith's forge and tools. Thus the cargo of one ship could have equipped the army of one of the small Mycenean city-states: 50 suits of bronze-sheathed armor, 500 spear points, 500 swords. This ship was also carrying enough valuable gift goods (ivory scepters, shell rings from the Red Sea, and a complete ostrich egg) that excavators are beginning to suspect it may have been carrying a diplomatic mission along with its cargo of strategic weaponry (probably not a new concept in international politics).
Copper and bronze were precious enough that old artefacts were recycled. (A Middle Babylonian document says that if a slave escaped with his copper chains, the guard responsible would be charged twice that amount in copper. In other words, the chains were valued as much as the slave.) Smithies were often as much recycling centers for old bronze tools as they were centers for alloying new copper and new tin into bronze. Archeological sites often contain as much scrap bronze as they do new ingots.
Bronze became widespread in the central plain of China in early Shang times. The Shang dynasty ruled from its capital at modern Anyang, in Henan province, for 300 years until its collapse in 1122 BC. Anyang was close to the most abundant deposits of lead, copper, and tin in China, and bronze-making apparently spread from here to the rest of China. Shang metallurgists had discovered that a small percentage of lead in the bronze made casting easier. They produced ceremonial cast bronze cups and bowls of all sizes up to massive cauldrons, intricately decorated with raised or incised relief designs taken from nature. The largest Shang cauldron weighs 875 kg (nearly a ton), and is the largest metal casting from anywhere in the world from the second millenium BC.
Casting large objects is not easy. It requires large crucibles and efficient furnaces, and casting the largest objects requires coordinated melting in many crucibles that resembles a modern factory.
A problem with the quality of the Shang bronzes is that they are so impressively large, leading some scholars to feel that somewhere else there must be an earlier bronze-working culture still to be discovered. However, the Shang metallurgical tradition probably arose very quickly from pottery making. The Chinese made porcelain in Neolithic times: pottery kilns found near Xi'an were designed to maintain temperatures as high as 1400 degrees C as early as the 6th millenium BC, more than enough to melt copper. Many of the ritual Shang cups and crucibles, including their ornamental relief, are shaped in direct continuity with earlier clay objects. Shang metallurgists did not use stamping, or engraving, or hammering in their work: they simply cast their works of art. Probably, then, the Shang used casting methods almost exclusively because their pottery industry was so advanced they could readily reach the high sustained temperatures that made smelting and casting comparatively easy. The Western tradition of hammering metalwork and the Chinese tradition of casting it (at least from Shang times onward) are in stark contrast. .
The Chinese became more sophisticated bronze metallurgists than their Western counterparts. The famous terracotta army of the Emperor Qin, made for him about 220 BC and buried with him, have weapons that are basically bronze, but they have been deliberately alloyed with metals such as titanium, magnesium, cobalt, and so on, no doubt after empirical trial and error, to give superior hardness and penetrating power. This weaponry, combined with technological advances such as fast-loading crossbows, united China under the Qin dynasty and defended it against invaders.
Other Chinese bronzes, designed for other purposes, have lead alloyed to improve casting fidelity and to make polishing easier. These alloys were used to make bronze mirrors and bells. In 1978, 64 bronze bells were found in the tomb of a nobleman named Yi, dating from about 450 BC. The largest bell weighs 203 kg (about 450 pounds), and is 1.5 m (over 4 feet) tall. The bells together allow a complete 12-tone scale to be played by a team of five to seven musicians.
Overall, the Chinese bronze industry was very large: an enormous mine dating from around 400 BC has been excavated at Tonglushan: it covered an area of 2 km x 1 km, and had deep timbered underground galleries.
As cities developed around the seasonally dry eastern Mediterranean, they had to build large cisterns for water supply; most often their construction demanded large quantities of cement and plaster. Mediterranean private and public buildings all contained large quantities of cement, plaster, brick, and terracotta, all of which required far more wood for production than the equivalent amount used directly for construction. The effects on local fuel supplies would have been increasingly severe.
Egypt, which has practically no trees, was trading with Byblos (on the Lebanese coast) for cedar for shipbuilding, temple construction, and furniture-making as early as 3000 BC. But perhaps the most famous documentation of the shortage of wood around the ancient Mediterranean is the Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest epic poetry that has survived. Gilgamesh was a Sumerian, king of Uruk around 2700-2500 BC. He conquered Kish, Uruk's great rival city, thus gaining power over all of southern Mesopotamia. Apparently the first epics about him were written in Sumerian around 2000 BC. We do not have the originals, but we have copies made by scribes in Old Babylonian times for their libraries. They were separate stories, and the welding of these separate pieces into an Epic was an Akkadian literary innovation, not a Sumerian one. This means that the central theme of the Gilgamesh epic may date to 1500 BC rather than Sumerian times, but it is still illuminating.
Stripped of sex and violence, the Gilgamesh epic is about deforestation. Gilgamesh and his companion go off to cut down a cedar forest, braving the wrath of the forest god Humbaba, who has been entrusted with forest conservation. It's interesting that Gilgamesh is cast as the hero, even though he has the typical logger mentality: cut it down, and never mind the consequences. The repercussions for Gilgamesh are severe: he loses his chance of immortality, for example. But the consequences for Sumeria were even worse. It's clear that the geography and climate of southern Mesopotamia would not provide the wood fuel to support a Bronze Age civilization that worked metal, built large cities, and constructed canals and ceremonial centers that used wood, plaster, and bricks. Most timber would have to be imported from the surrounding mountains, and deforestation there, in a climate that receives occasional torrential storms, would have led to severe erosion and run-off. The loss of Gilgamesh's immortality may be a literary reflection of the realization that Sumeria could not be sustained.
Theodore Wertime suggested that massive deforestation of the eastern Mediterranean began about 1200 BC, for construction, lime kilning, and ore smelting. Probably it began earlier in the drier regions further east. King Hammurabi's laws (around 1750 BC) carried the death penalty for unauthorized felling of trees in Mesopotamia. The problem may have been even worse in intensive metal-working regions like Anatolia. Metal smelting and forging had been going on in Anatolia for at least 3000 years by 1200 BC.
At any rate, most likely the Bronze Age saw a westward spread of a timber crisis. By 800 BC an extensive new use (ornamental and roof tiles) added to the burden, and around 500 BC the rise of the classical civilizations brought the final intolerable strain on the forests immediately round the Mediterranean. Eratosthenes, writing of the Late Bronze Age, say 1200 BC, reports that Cyprus was so heavily forested at that time that even smelting copper and silver, and felling trees for shipbuilding, had made little inroads on the forest. Farmers were even encouraged by gifts of land to clear the forest for agriculture. But soon after this a boom in mineral production, and a major improvement in the technology of tree-felling tools (as well as military weapons) both allowed and encouraged major forest clearing.
The great silver mines of Laurion, near Athens, required not only the fuel to smelt the ores, but the fuel to build and maintain the water cisterns. Wertime estimated on the basis of 3500 tonnes of silver and 1.4 million tonnes of lead production for classical Athens over perhaps 300 years, that the Laurion mines had consumed 1 million tonnes of charcoal and 2.5 million acres of forest. It is, in fact, quite likely that the mines declined, not because they were exhausted of ore, not because the miners had reached the water table, but because the fuel costs had risen to the point that they were uneconomic to run. It is clear that deforestation, accompanied by soil erosion, was already a severe problem in Attica, the region surrounding Athens. Plato wrote that the region is
a mere relic of the original country.... What remains is like the skeleton of a body emaciated by disease. All the rich soil has melted away, leaving a country of skin and bone. Originally the mountains of Attica were heavily forested. Fine trees produced timber suitable for roofing the largest buildings: the roofs hewn from this timber are still in existence.
Shipbuilding timber had to be imported from the Balkans and southern Italy to build the great Athenian fleet that beat the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. Timber was a vital strategic commodity during the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. In 422 BC the Spartans conquered the Athenian trading cities on the coast of Macedonia. This alarmed the Athenians greatly, because it cut off their gold supplies and their ship-building timber, which had been shipped down the coast from the inland forests of Macedonia. By 415 BC Alcibiades of Athens was arguing for a major expedition to try to seize control of Sicily because of the supplies of timber there‹and the failure of this expedition was the critical point at which Athens lost control of the war and went down to defeat.
[A similar situation faced the British during the war against Napoleon. Napoleon had ordered an embargo on trade with the British, and in 1801 the French armies controlled Denmark. The Danes controlled seaborne trade with the Baltic Sea, because all ships had to pass by Copenhagen on their way out through the Kattegat into the North Sea. The Baltic trade was vital for the British because it provided them with their only supply of fir trees for ships' masts for the Royal Navy. (The American colonies, with their vast forests, had been lost in 1783 or 1776, depending how you like to count it.) The British fleet bombarded Copenhagen, destroyed the Danish fleet, and opened that vital strategic route. History might have taken a very different turn if the British had failed. It was close. Admiral Nelson ignored orders to withdraw (by putting his telescope to his blind eye) and pressed home the critical attack on the Danish fleet.]
The crisis in wood continued to plague Athens. By 313 BC the only available ship timber in or close to Greece itself was in the far northern forests of Thrace and Macedonia: overseas supplies had to come from the Black Sea coasts, southern Turkey, Lebanon, or Italy. By the 4th century BC it was no longer economic to transport charcoal overland and uphill to the mines at Laurion: instead, the ore was smelted down on the coast, and charcoal was shipped in on barges. Even then, an increase of lead content in the slag shows that the smelting was being done with minimum fuel.
The island of Elba was once called Aethaleia, "the smoky island," because of the massive smelting industry there. But the Romans had to give up smelting ores from Elba on the island itself in the first century BC because they ran out of wood: they had to ship ore to Populonia on the mainland to continue the industry. By late medieval times, even the productive forests of Germany could usually support iron smelting for only three months a year.
The Rio Tinto mines in Spain probably needed 260 tonnes of wood a day even in Roman times. Fuel shortage may have been the single most serious constraint on copper production as early as the Bronze Age in some areas.
Copper smelting needs a great deal of fuel, especially if the ore supply is dominantly sulfide. About 300 kg of charcoal are needed to produce 1 kg of copper by smelting 30 kg of sulfide ore. A tonne of charcoal needs somewhere between 12 and 20 cubic meters of wood.
Archaeologists have estimated that the Bronze Age copper mines at Mitterberg, in the Austrian Tyrol near Salzburg, must have employed about 180 miners and smelters to produce about 20 tonnes of copper a year. Then one has to add the woodcutters, carpenters, charcoal burners, and carters who cut, carried, and processed the wood needed for the gallery timbers, the firing of the working face, and the fuel for the furnaces, and then add the farmers that fed all these. This was a very large-scale operation.
In copper smelting we find, perhaps, the first major environmental effect of mining. The Mitterberg copper mine probably required about 19 acres of forest to be felled each year, just for the smelters. Even with efficient natural regeneration of the forest, this is a sustainable harvest from perhaps 2 square miles of forest. In fact, however, the cleared land was probably used not for re-growth but at least partly for agriculture, to support the mining community.
On a time scale longer than 10 years, however, a Bronze Age copper mining operation must have caused local deforestation on a large scale, and ever-increasing costs for hauling the wood to keep the industry going.
The problem may not have been so great in the Alps, where there were smaller populations, and where the forest regrew comparatively quickly. But in the drier Mediterranean countries, there was an irreversible change in the vegetation and landscape. On Cyprus, the magnificent pine forest that once covered the island was cleared in a comparatively short time, mainly for charcoal for smelting. Cyprus has a classic Mediterranean climate with a long dry season, and winter rains on steep deforested slopes quickly degrade the soil by washing it downhill. Seedlings have difficulty in re-establishing the forest, especially after clear-cutting, and the soil quickly degrades to the point that pine forest cannot recover even by deliberate planting. Certainly the Mediterranean island of Seriphos has been deforested for a long time, although there are large copper slag heaps on the tops of the ridges, evidence of former forest and former massive wood consumption.
The tremendous tonnage of ancient copper slag on Cyprus suggests that the Cypriot copper industry collapsed around 300 AD simply because the island ran out of cheap fuel. The slagheaps suggest a total production of perhaps 200,000 tonnes of copper, and that in turn suggests that fuel equivalent to 200 million pine trees were cut to supply the copper industry, forests 16 times the total area of the island. Even given that high-altitude Cypriot forests can regenerate quickly in the right conditions, this suggests that wood fuel was a critical constraining factor on the Cypriot copper industry, and must have been a persistent problem on the island for other industries too.
The landscape of Cyprus today (and Greece, and Turkey, and Lebanon, and in fact most of the Mediterranean seaboard) is quite unlike its appearance 5000 years ago. The magnificent cedar forests of Lebanon were felled largely for timber for buildings and ships, but copper smelting must take most of the blame in Cyprus. This Mediterranean ecological disaster used to be blamed on the Arab introduction of goats to the region several centuries AD, but the change was much earlier. There are secondary effects of deforestation, of course: hillsides are exposed to greater run-off, and erosion can be greatly accelerated. Part of the story of the later Bronze Age seems to be the silting of coastal ports and cities. The city of Tiryns, for example, spent a great deal of effort just before its end building a diversion structure to keep floods out.
Page last updated April 1999.
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Development Partners and Yemeni Election Commission Sign Common Resources Framework for Biometric Voter Registration Phase to Enhance CoordinationSep 15, 2013
SANA'A, YEMEN. Implementing agencies and Multi-Donor Basket Fund partners gathered at the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) on Sunday, 15 September 2013 to sign a comprehensive coordination document known as the Common Resources Framework, ensuring greater cooperation and coordination for the rollout of the nationwide Biometric Voter Registration campaign.
As one of the three inter-related electoral phases during the political transition in Yemen, the current electronic voter registration phase will set a concrete foundation for the forthcoming constitutional referendum and for the remaining elections during the transitional period based on the outcome of the current national dialogue conference.
Representatives from a group of international partners and implementers such as Sweden, Saudi Arabia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Japan, Turkey and the European Union gathered at the SCER alongside the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) Support to Elections during the Transitional Period (SETP) project team and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, which have been supporting the SCERs efforts for the operational and planning arrangements for the Biometric Voter Registryphase.
The Common Resources Framework is a guiding document meant to ensure coordination at all levels, including budgeting, expenditures, priorities, and responsibilities for the BVR process, which aim to reform the outdated and controversial voter registry previously used for past elections. The Common Resources Framework will continue to be a working document, updated in instances of increased donations and technical modifications to the BVR process.
The Common Resources Framework is a step forward to ensuring that all priorities in relation to successful, transparent and fair elections are the foundation of this transitional period in Yemen, said Ismail OuldCheik Ahmed, the Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme in Yemen. He added that with this document, priorities, procedures and processes will be streamlined in an increased coordination mechanism in order to enhance all aspects of this highly technical and critical project for a new Yemen.
Development partners and implementers toured the SCER, visiting the warehouse where 2,950 BVR kits are currently housed while the SCER, UNDP SETP and IFES, arrange and coordinate training, operations, and the media and outreach campaign for the eventual rollout of the new technological advanced registration system.
The SCER held a private screening for portions of the media and outreach campaign for the BVR rollout, including a mini-documentary titled "The Future Begins with a Fingerprint," to be used as an educational tool about the process and the preparations by the SCER for the BVR process.
In the coming weeks, another 1,950 BVR kits will be arriving in Yemen and transported to the SCER, which will require elections experts and technical counterparts at the commission to format and tailor the software programming for the planned rollout of the voter registry endeavor.
Donors have been an integral part of this process since the inception of the project concept, said Darren Nance, Chief Technical Advisor for the UNDP/SETP project. He added that we will be seeking greater coordination and cooperation throughout this BVR process, as the planning stages are finalized and the SCER begins the monumental task of rolling out BVR across the country.Contact information
Mr. Darren Nance, Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP/SETP
Mobile: (+967) 712221511
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
www.mdbf.undp.org.yeor www.ye.undp.org


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When I think of "jazz," the music of Bourbon Street or from a favorite Broadway show pops into my mind. But Jazz encompasses a wide range of music from hip hop, reggae, contemporary, and other countries, just to name a few. With such an eclectic mix of music, what exactly is jazz dance?
Several classes at the Butler Community School (BCS) fall into the "jazz" category: Broadway Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Jazz Turns & Jumps, Jazz Funk, and just plain ol' Jazz! Because I get so many questions about jazz as well as the differences between each class, I decided to share some interesting facts about the dance form.
Jazz dance has a rather long and rich history that has evolved over the years. Jazz had its roots in African culture, where people depended on dance to tell stories and express their beliefs. This interpretive dance was brought to America. The style later changed even more with European influence, but it still continued to be a dance of expression.
Since the 1920s, Jazz has continuously evolved – Jazz dance changed as our culture changed. From the Charleston of the 1920s, jazz evolved into swing jazz during the 1930s big band era. People like Jack Cole, Bob Fosse and many others made theatre jazz popular in the middle of the century. In the 80s, FAME, FLASHDANCE, and FOOTLOOSE left their mark. Each decade brought something new and fresh. The evolution of Jazz has lead to jazz funk, lyrical, and the contemporary jazz of today. But even today, despite the range, just mention jazz to one person and it will mean something quite different than it might to another.
In spite of such diverse influence and change, or maybe because of it, jazz classes are some of the most popular dance classes around today. At the BCS, the legacy of Jack Cole can still be found in a Broadway Jazz class. Contemporary Jazz offers a more commercial style with a mix of lyrical, pop, and contemporary often seen on So You Think You Can Dance. Jazz Turns & Jumps is a technique class, designed to work on movement and learn tricks. Jazz Funk falls in line with the hip hop classes, cool and funky to the hottest pop music. And then there is just Jazz, a fun, upbeat, New York style jazz class.
Despite all the changes over the decades, and all the different styles, one thing's for sure: Jazz is fun. There's a style for everyone, too, so let go and express yourself. It's what Jazz is all about!
Click for more information on Jazz classes at the Ballet Austin Butler Community School.


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EMR Permissions, EMR and mHealth, and EMR Adoption
John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 10 blogs containing over 8000 articles with John having written over 4000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 16 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John is co-founder of InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit and LinkedIn.
My #EMR is really messing w/ me right now. It is telling me that I don't have permission to ck my electronic tasks. But I did qualify 4 #MU.
— LindaGirgisMD,FAAFP (@DrLindaMD) December 12, 2013
I think these are the types of issues that annoy EMR users the most. It's something that could no doubt be easily solved, but finding the right person to solve it is often hard.
Evolving question at mHealth Summit: will mHealth make the EMR more effective or obsolete? #mHealth13 #mHealthsummit
— Eric Wicklund (@eriwick) December 10, 2013
I think the answer to this is that it will make EMR more effective. I've already seen it start to happen with a number of EHR.
Use of electronic medical records is much higher in practices with five or more full time physicians
#her #emr #WSJ
— MY EMR CHOICE (@myEMRchoice) December 4, 2013
This isn't surprising. Clinics with more doctors are able to share the cost of EMR.


text: Last week Kansas football coach Charlie Weis singled out six players who have had encouraging starts during the Jayhawks' training camp. Running back Brandon Bourbon was one of the most highly rated.� Others on the list were defensive back Cassius Sendish, linebacker Ben Heeney, wide receiver Rodriguez Coleman, quarterback Jake Heaps and offensive tackle Aslam Sterling.� Weis was particularly high on Bourbon, saying, "If we asked everyone to rate the best six players in camp, he'd be on everyone's list."� About Sendish, Weis said, "Sendish is a corner-type guy who can rush the passer, drop into zones and also play man coverage.� And at that position, you need to be able to do all those things."� Weis has been pleased with Heaps' progress, saying, "If what we've seen so far is what we get, I think we're all going to be happy.� The whole tempo changes now. This isn't spring ball anymore."� Starting left tackle Sterling has wasted away to almost nothing.� Last season, Weis said he was just a cheeseburger away from 400 pounds. He's lost 85 pounds since then.� "Aslam's the most changed player we have on our team," Weis said.�"Last year, whatever weight we had down was a lie. He was probably about 400.� He's 315 and has done a great job on and off the field.� He's a totally different person."� With all the new players on the roster, it's a positive that the Jayhawks don't open their season until Sept.7 against South Dakota. Weis can put the extra week of practice to good use.� Kansas State opens their football season against North Dakota State on Aug. 30.� There's good news for college football fans in Kansas:� The Wildcats' opening game will be televised at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports 1, a new 24-hour sports channel.� Fox Sports 1 will be part of Cox Cable's programming and will be available to Cox viewers in Kansas on channel 60.� The Big 12 is receiving better and better TV coverage of almost all their games.� During the offseason, many pundits in the media have questioned Kansas State's ability to put a competitive Big 12 defense on the field this fall.� As the season draws near, those fears appear to be groundless.� Coach Bill Snyder has a number of promising prospects on the defensive line, led by sophomore Travis Britz.� Britz played in 11 games last season and showed terrific promise as a freshman.� JUCO transfer Chris Brown is a late arrival on campus.� Brown is a physical specimen who adds untapped potential for the defensive line.� Also in the battle for playing time are senior Chaquil Reed and two sophomores who redshirted, Demonte Hood and Matt Seiwert.� Two other recent JUCO transfers who could earn playing time are Valentino Coleman and DeAndre Roberts.� In addition to these mature players, K-State has four freshmen that are considered outstanding prospects on the defensive line.� The guess here is that opponents will have a hard time running up the middle against the 2013 Wildcats.� There's cause for worry concerning K-State's vaunted offensive line.� Preseason All-Big 12 pick Cornelius Lucas has been missing from practice with no explanation from Snyder.� If Lucas isn't on the offensive line at left tackle, that will be a major problem for the Wildcats. Mac Stevenson is a longtime columnist on collegiate and professional sports in Eastern Kansas.


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Any feedback to my PS would be greatly appreciated.
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Any feedback to my PS would be greatly appreciated.
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Any feedback to my PS would be greatly appreciated.
December 09, 2010, 02:25:32 PM »
Five years ago, while home from school for the Jewish Holiday of Succot, I was finally ready to share with my parents where I stood on my path to becoming my own man. I was an Atheist. I did not believe in God and found the existence of anything supernatural highly improbable. Coming from family of strict Orthodox observance, with parents who have made it their lifes mission to educate Jewish people about their heritage, I knew my news would be devastating for them to hear. I was hardly the stereotypical rebel. I was a good child to them. I followed their rules, behaved respectfully, performed well in school, and kept good company. I always made them very proud. As far as they knew I was a superb rolemodel for my eight younger siblings.
My parents sat with me for hours, trying to understand what had happened. Where had they gone wrong? How had I slipped through the cracks of a rock-solid belief system they kept me so securely within? They could not fathom a life outside of Judaism; existence was dark and lonely without it. They worked daily with Jews of little or no affiliation, but rarely of no belief. To them, denying Gods existence indicated a rotten core, plagued by depravity and an exaggerated sense of selfimportance. It was the ultimate chutzpah. It was impossible for my parents to reconcile what they knew of their son with what he was now telling them.
In truth I had been away from home exploring life on my own for quite some time. I had left to study in the great yeshivas of Israel soon after my bar-mitzva. Unmoored from the bonds of home, my mind drifted freely in a new environment of intellectualism, saturated with the exploration of existential philosophy and Chassidic theology. Over time I developed a personal ideology, an ideology sans God or religion, but still true to the Jewish values of social justice and constant selfrefinement. I rejected the Yeshivas dogmatic perspective on the world around me and sought to explore and create for myself a personal world-view borne of my experiences. Time after time, on issues ranging from religious to social, my process led me to conclusions directly opposed to those of my friends and family. I differed on everything from the role of women in a family to the necessary preconditions for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. I argued for a two state solution while my friends burnt tires on the highways of Jerusalem in protest to Ariel Sharons Disengagement Plan of 2004 for violating their divine right to all of the land of Israel.
Challenging the most fundamental values of those closest to me, a strong tension developed. My beliefs and ideas were threateningeven offensiveto the very people I cared about most. I struggled with internal tensions as well. I held my teachers in high regard, yet I was refusing what they taught. How would I separate what I no longer believed from what I still held dear? I was determined to resist falling into a rebel culture or becoming the token opposition. I could not accept sacrificing my identity and background on the altar of my atheismthat would be a religious thing to do.
Even within my communitys rigid framework there is still plenty of room for dissenting opinions and even attempts to spur growth and change, provided the fundamental tenants of their belief remain untouched. I can respect their code, recognize the underlying premises, but still challenge the way those premises are applied or even defined. Recently, I was involved in the campaign of a candidate for the local Rabbinical Court. I strongly believed that this candidates addition to the court would successfully break the stalemate between two factions in the community that was rendering the court powerless. I actively pushed the campaign into adopting a nonpartisan, non-fundamentalist tone to unify those elements in the community that wished for a functioning court. The campaign was a major success. Standing by my principles and passions while remaining a welcome, active and contributing member of my community has become my challenge.
Today, I still keep a semiweekly telephone studysession in Talmud with a Rabbi in Jerusalem. I unabashedly share my unique perspectives and sometimes staunch opposition, in discussions with my observant peers. As I head down to Augusta for family gatherings, be they celebrations or religious holidays, I partake of the beautiful traditions and enjoy the warm atmosphere. Despite their reservations, my family takes some interest and a lot of pride in my path towards a legal education. My father regularly boasts that his son will attend Harvard law school one day. I only hope that, when the day finally arrives, he will be just as proud.
firstname.lastname@example.com | (888) WRIT-TRK
Re: Any feedback to my PS would be greatly appreciated.
Reply #1 on:
December 14, 2010, 08:55:09 AM »
Hi btl2t14,
I like your statement. It is indeed very personal and makes you a unique candidate. However, I do caution that you should not imbue your statement with too much religious overtones because, it can be divisive if not done with the utmost sensitivity as many of your future classmates may be of other faiths as well as the reader of the admissions committee. Rather, I would always keep in mind to paint yourself as a person who is embracing of all peoples. Moreover you should save some of this "diverse" information for the diversity statement rather putting it all in the personal statement. Let me know if you have any questions.
Re: Any feedback to my PS would be greatly appreciated.
Reply #2 on:
December 14, 2010, 09:20:32 AM »
I would work on using more active verbs and watch the meandering sentences. For example, your first sentence could use some restructuring (especially as that is the first thing a reader sees.) You talk about the Jewish holiday, and how you are "finally ready" etc. but we don't know what the point of this information is.
Also, I'd cut "I was a good child to them" as this slows down the pace and seems a bit redundant considering your follow-up sentences which illustrate your statement of "I was hardly a rebel." and how you made your parents proud.
"They could not fathom a life outside of Judaism; existence was dark and lonely without it. " Instead, something like, "To my parents, an existence without their faith, without Judaism, was dark, lonely, and utterly unfathomable."
I'd be happy to go through this line by line, but it's hard to do on the board. PM me and I'll send you my email for a word file.
Good luck!
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IOC: Russia Will Create Special "Protest Zones" For Sochi Olympics
A bit of a bright spot in the ongoing Sochi Winter Olympics saga today as the IOC reveals that Russia has agreed to let protesters have at it during the international event.
The announcement came during a news teleconference held by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
"This was under discussion with the IOC for quite some time," Bach said. "This is a measure we welcome so that everybody can express his or her opinion."
The Games in Sochi have become particularly controversial because of Russia's recently enacted anti-gay legislation threatening prosecution of anyone who, in the presence of minors, promotes "nontraditional sexual relations." Critics worldwide have condemned the law as a violation of the right to free expression, saying the measure effectively bans events such as gay rights parades.
Bach did not offer any details about the size or location of the zones. He said Russian officials have assured him protesters will not face negative consequences.
"I think this is the purpose of these protest zones," Bach said. "This is what we've been discussing with Russian authorities."
On the other hand, Bach also confirmed that the IOC has sent letters to all national Olymic Committees, instructing them to let their citizens know not to protest Russia's heinous gay law at sporting venues.


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Ross helps No. 25 Washington edge Hawaii 17-16
HONOLULU (AP) — A win was about all Chris Petersen got in his coaching debut with No. 25 Washington. Questions about the Huskies' offense will continue into next week after Saturday night's 17-16 victory at Hawaii.
Jeff Lindquist completed just 10 passes while filling in for a suspended Cyler Miles, earning most of his yards on one long play. Lavon Coleman and Dwayne Washington split carries in a mediocre rushing game. And Washington punted on eight of nine possessions in the second half, every one except its final snaps to run out the clock.
"We didn't play nearly as well as we think we can play," said Petersen, who left Boise State to take over Washington. "I think it's going to be a big wake-up call."
John Ross scored on a reverse and a 91-yard catch, and Washington held off the Rainbow Warriors despite giving Hawaii repeated chances for the upset.
"It was real frustrating," Ross said. "People might think I'm pleased with my first-half performance, but I'm not because we left so many points on the field, but we have to get better and we will."
Lindquist threw for 162 yards in his first start for Washington. Miles was suspended for the game for his role in an offseason fight.
But most of Lindquist's total came on the big play to Ross. He was 3 for 15 in the second half for 28 yards.
Asked whether he thought he did enough to earn another start, Lindquist said it's up to Petersen and the other coaches.
"Obviously I want to do my best to help this team wherever I can, whether that's starting or whether that's supporting people from the sideline, but the cards fell how they did today and I want to see where that puts me next week," he said.
Petersen said he would make a decision early next week.
Hawaii managed two field goals for the only scoring in the second half. It finished with 424 yards of offense.
"We had our chances both offensively and defensively," Hawaii coach Norm Chow said. "We played with a lot of energy, which I thought we would."
Washington's defense improved after struggling early and spotting Hawaii a 10-0 lead on its first two possessions. The Rainbow Warriors lost the advantage in one quick second-quarter burst, turning the ball over on downs and then allowing the Huskies' second-longest pass play in school history.
Hawaii's Joey Iosefa rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown. Coleman had 78 yards rushing for Washington.
Both of Washington's touchdowns came after Hawaii mistakes. First, Hawaii's Ne'Quan Phillips lowered his right shoulder and hit Lindquist in the chest well after a throw on a fourth-and-9 play, setting up Ross' 20-yard reverse for the first Huskies touchdown.
Hawaii turned the ball over on downs later in the first half on a trick play, with Marcus Kemp throwing a pass on a reverse that fluttered 2 yards short of tight end Harold Moleni in the end zone.
On the next play, Lundquist threw the ball 55 yards in the air to Ross, who covered the rest of the field himself. It was the longest play for Washington (1-0) since Jake Locker connected with Marcel Reece in 2007 for 98 yards.
The Rainbow Warriors (0-1) missed another chance to tie it or get closer just before halftime when Ikaika Woolsey overthrew Kemp streaking toward the end zone, and then Tyler Hadden missed a 40-yard field goal off the left upright.
Woolsey threw for 207 yards while running a scheme that included several trick plays. Iosefa had a 1-yard TD on Hawaii's first possession.
Petersen was hired by Washington in December after eight seasons in charge at Boise State, where he compiled a 92-12 record, made bowl games each year and finished in the rankings six times.
Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia


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Author: Edward Falzon
Edward Falzon is the outspoken author of a controversial book titled "Being Gay is Disgusting."
He has written guest op-eds for the Bilerico Project and Times Union, and is a contributor for CNNGo and Shanghai City Weekend.
Edward is adored by more than half of his immediate family.
If any of Edward's posts cause offence to your religious sensitivities, it is unintentional ... but he doesn't care.


text: Wheat Stocks Dropping; Seedings Lower than Expected January 21, 2013 12:08 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Fran Howard AgWeb Contributing Writer Email Global supply remains secure, however. While both the U.S. and world supply of wheat is declining, wheat supplies remain ample around the world. That could be one reason why growers of hard red winter wheat surprised analysts by not seeding as many acres as expected. According to USDA's recently released Wheat Seedings reports, the projected seeded area for 2013 winter wheat is 41.8 million acres, up 1% from 2012. Wheat producers seeded about 29.1 million acres of hard read winter wheat, down 2% from 2012. Producers in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas planted significantly more acres this year while large acreage decreases occurred in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, and North and South Dakota. "People were surprised that the winter wheat seedings were are low as they were," says Charles Soule, market analyst with CHS Hedging, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. "We had been hearing that they would seed a lot more acres this year." Widespread drought and lack of moisture continues to be a concern across much of the hard red winter wheat region, and if wheat growers want to collect on crop insurance, they need to seed their fields. There's still a lot of old-crop spring wheat in the bin, Soule says. Producers have been reluctant to let go of it with conditions as dry as they are because they are unsure whether they'll get another crop this year. "With one or two weeks of good soaking rains, they would sell it," Soule says. Choices limited It's possible that some producers with better soil moisture conditions are planning to switch to corn or soybeans this year, Soule says. In the hard red winter wheat region, producers don't have the option to plant spring wheat; they need to plant corn, soybeans or sorghum if they are not going to stick with hard red winter wheat. Drought conditions in the hard red winter wheat belt have been brutal and tenacious. "We haven't had enough precipitation to even begin to pull us out of the drought conditions," says Natalie Umphlett regional climatologist with the High Plains Regional Climate Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. "For the most part, 60-day precipitation is 75% below normal for most of the region," Umphlett says. "The main thing we need to keep an eye on is snowpack in the Rockies." Snowpack will determine river flow and impact water available for irrigation in some areas this summer. Colorado's snowpack is 62% of normal, but Wyoming's is nearly normal, Umphlett says. Growers of soft red winter seeded about 9.42 million acres, a 16% increase from last year with North Carolina producers seeding record-high acreage, according to USDA's Wheat Seedings report. Producers planted 3.27 million acres of white winter wheat, which is a 2% decline from 2012. Planted acreage in Idaho, Oregon and Washington was down. USDA estimates durum wheat seedings in Arizona and California at 170,000 acres, down 31% from last year. Stocks declining Wheat stocks, while ample, have been declining. USDA lowered its estimate for wheat ending stocks to 716 million bushels, down from December's estimate of 754 million bushels, according to USDA's latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE). The latest stocks-to-use ratio is 29%, down from last year's 33%. Global wheat supplies for 2012-13 are projected slightly lower at 176.95 million metric tons, based on lower expected output in Argentina and lower production in Russia, according to USDA. The world stocks-to-use ratio is now 26%, compared with 28 percent for the 2011-12 world wheat crop. Back to news


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Gere does here what he does best
- 'Arbitrage'
- Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon
- Directed by: Nicholas Jarecki
- Rated: R
This slick high-finance thriller is the perfect vehicle for Richard Gere. The role is no stretch for the silver-maned actor, and so many years after he put Armani for men on the map in "American Gigolo," he still cuts quite a dashing figure in a well-tailored suit — de rigueur accouterment for the role he plays in this.
On the eve of his 60th birthday, Richard Miller (Gere), the head of his own investment company, has everything: a loving wife, Ellen (Susan Sarandon); a whip-smart daughter, Brooke (newcomer Brit Marling), who serves as the firm's chief financial officer; and the usual trappings of a very wealthy man, including a mistress, Julie (French actress Laetetia Casta), the owner of an art gallery he has invested in.
Richard is also in the midst of selling his company and as we learn, he needs to transact the deal quickly to avoid anyone uncovering a $412 million shortfall he's cooked into the books. The buyer, a Mr. Mayfield (Graydon Carter, better known as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine), is moving at an overly methodical pace while, with each day that passes, Richard sweats the discovery of his misdeed.The last thing he needs is a headline-screaming scandal to squelch the deal, and when he gets caught up in fine mess with criminal implications unrelated to the missing money, he turns to an old friend's son, Jimmy (Nate Parker), to help him cover it up, but a relentless NYPD detective (Tim Roth) is on to him.
Nichoas Jarecki directs what is a fast-paced, tight thriller that is in many ways predictable but still manages to maintain an air of suspense. As the noose tightens around Richard's neck, you might think you know how it will end, but there are a few twists.Gere is spot on as the ethically compromised billionaire who, over the course of several days, finds himself as chief firefighter in charge of putting out the multitudes of hot spots that keep igniting in his life. The character is imbued with enough ambiguousness to leave you wondering if he is a good guy caught up in something he can't control, or just another Bernie Madoff-type bad guy with a rotten moral core. Honestly, he's a bit of both, but Jarecki seems to let us draw our own conclusions.
This is a compelling piece that offers a look at the very, very rich — and one of its more interesting components is the relationship that Richard has with Jimmy. For most of the film, his fate is in Jimmy's hands and yet he treats him as a subordinate. The irony is hard to escape — Jimmy, a Harlem-born reformed juvenile delinquent, has a stronger moral code than Richard.
Shot in and around New York with familiar cityscapes such as Central Park used in the settings, the film has crisp, understated production values. A strong supporting cast features Stuart Margolin as Richard's attorney, who becomes his confidante out of necessity, and Bruce Altman as the auditor compromised in Richard's scheme.
Sarandon and Marling are not given as much to do, but what's there is first rate. Higher praise goes to Roth as a the dogged detective determined to smoke out his suspect whatever it takes and Parker, a young actor who holds his own with Gere in every scene."Arbitrage" is just the kind of classic Gere film you have come to expect. While it doesn't stretch his range beyond his comfort level, he plays the character to the hilt, and it's one you've seen him play many times.


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First Watch: Ben Sollee, 'Unfinished'
Ben Sollee is a classically trained cellist whose forays into Americana have led him to work with Abigail Washburn, Bela Fleck and Daniel Martin Moore. But over time, Sollee has drifted ever further into sweetly anthemic rock: His forthcoming album Half Made Man positively soars, with cellos used to feed the drama and fuel Sollee's ruminations on the pursuit of meaning in modern life.
"Unfinished" perfectly captures both the album's themes and his band's capacity to match Sollee's lyrical ambition; the song gets ever more grandiose as it swoons and swells. Its video doesn't bother to pile on visual storytelling, but opts instead to capture the intimacy of a studio recording. It's a simple approach, artfully and gorgeously shot, and in the process it does justice to a song that aims high and hits its mark.
Here's Ben Sollee on "Unfinished":
"'Unfinished' is a self-portrait in song, and the idea with the video was nothing more than to give a portrait of the tracking: peaceful, focused and musician-oriented. They were such pros that they crafted their own parts, constantly refining them till we got this magic take."
And here's producer Chris Witzke:
"Even though it was January in Kentucky, the light in the old house was so warm. As the musicians tracked live, I bounced around and captured a collage of moments. We didn't try to do anything other than capture the performance in the hopes that the viewer could feel like they were a part of the session."
Ben Sollee's new album, Half Made Man, comes out Sept. 25 on Tin Ear Records.


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News » Politics
GOP Lawmaker Suggests Dem. Touching Him Is Gay
A committee meeting in Pennsylvania's capitol was briefly derailed by a Republican representative who asked a male colleague to stop touching him, suggesting the Democrat might be gay.
Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton; District Manager Penny Crider; and the general public
Office hours
When and where:
Friday, March 16, 2018
11:30 a.m.-12:30 *Please note the time change
Livonia Senior Center
15218 Farmington Road, Livonia, MI 48154
State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, and District Manager Penny Crider will hold monthly office hours for March in Livonia on Friday, March 16, from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The office hours will be held at the Livonia Senior Center and will be open to the public.
Sen. Colbeck will be on hand to answer questions and respond to concerns any residents of his district may have. No appointment is necessary.
"I encourage anyone who needs help, has questions, or wants to express a viewpoint to stop by," Sen. Colbeck said. "I'm looking forward to continuing a regular series of office hours throughout the district and hearing directly from constituents about state and pocketbook issues."
Sen. Colbeck represents the 7th Senate District, which encompasses the cities of Livonia, Northville, Plymouth and Wayne, as well as the townships of Canton, Northville and Plymouth.
For more information or to contact Sen. Colbeck, please visit www.SenatorPatrickColbeck.com or call 517-373-5713.