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Lawrence Baron
San Diego State University
Although some American movies released before the 1930s featured plot lines about anti-Semitism in Europe, Hollywood studios avoided the subject of American anti-Semitism in order to represent an idealized image of religious toleration in the United States; they also sought to avoid censorship once the Production Code Administration was established. The portrayal of domestic anti-Jewish sentiment remained taboo until after the news of the Holocaust seeped into public consciousness through newsreel footage of the Nazi camps and press coverage of the Nuremberg Trials. During the next decade, several social problem films revealed contemporary discriminatory policies and bigotry against Jews. Gentlemens Agreement is the best-known of the pictures that aimed at discrediting native anti-Semitism.
With the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, directors quickly focused on the plight of African-Americans. From the 1960s on, most American movies about anti-Semitism located the phenomenon in the past or abroad, implying it was no longer a force in the United States. Fearing controversy, American studios rarely have tackled the issues of Black-Jewish tensions or the increasing anti-Semitic overtones of opposition towards Israel.
Ariella Brown
SUNY Farmingdale
In 1945, Bess Myerson was the first (and to date only) Jewish Miss America. Though she was not at all religious, she insisted on maintaining the name that proclaimed her Jewish identity. Her victory was viewed as a triumph for all Jewry, an affirmation that Jews in America had truly arrived. As it happened, Myerson possessed the attributes that were to redefine Miss America: she not only looked good in the Catalina swimsuit in which she was crowned, but exemplified talent and aspiration as the first college graduate to win. Beleaguered by first-hand experience of anti-Semitism, when denied the jobs of representing products of the pageant sponsors who did not want to be associated with Jews, she spoke out against hate against the advice of the contest sponsors. Myerson not only furthered her own self-definition but contributed to the redefinition of Miss America. Initially, the political ramifications of her actions were regarded as contradictory to the image of Miss America; subsequently, though, the contest came to mandate that the winner devote herself to a social issue.
Ironically, Myerson had a lasting impact on the pageant but not on redefining the self-image of Jews. Her achievement showed that a Jewish woman could exemplify the ultimate standard of American beauty. Nevertheless, for all the supposed celebration of ethnic difference in modern times, there is still a dominant beauty standard that is not altogether inclusive. The features qualified as Jewish are considered sub par, particularly by Jews themselves.
Steven Alan Carr
Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne
Though explicit references to the Holocaust in Hollywood films were relatively rare before the 1960s, a number of Hollywood films presented implicit and symptomatic responses to a shifting postwar cultural and institutional landscape that indicated a growing public awareness of the full extent and impact of the Holocaust. Nonetheless, the significance of anti-Semitism and the Shoah in relation to important changes taking place in the American film industry between the 1930s and 1965 has remained largely ignored. This presentation, based on a larger research project, will address the relationship between the Holocaust and the American film industry examining cinematic representations, not just from a few explicit films, but from an array of references to the Holocaust that have appeared in American film. Using historical documents, including government transcripts, film industry memos and material published in newspapers and magazines, as well as film clips, we will consider the Holocaust and Nazi anti-Semitism as having far-reaching consequences for Hollywood before 1965, not just in terms of image and narrative, but for a set of institutional behaviors and practices that helped shape and justify the American film industry today.
Dan W. Clanton, Jr.
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
This presentation examines the treatment of Hanukkah in popular television and film. More specifically, it addresses the historical circumstances surrounding the events in 1 Maccabees 4, and argues for three basic reactions during the 2nd century B.C.E. to the influence of Hellenism. Our sources show that Jews in the land engaged in a spectrum of behavior characterized by three primary responses: (a) assimilate; (b) acculturate; or (c) cling to ethnic and religious pride and resist. Following this, I will demonstrate that these three alternatives for Jews in terms of reaction(s) to the dominant culture in the U.S. are still presented to the viewing public via television shows and films dealing with Hanukkah. Through my examination of such series as South Park and Friends as well as the 2003 film The Hebrew Hammer, I will show that dominant cultural attitudes in the U.S. still expect Jews to make these choices in regard to their own religious identity.
Dereck Daschke
Truman State University
In the 1960s and 70s, a terrible anxiety settled on America. Many interpreted the incessant threat of war and total annihilation, from the start of the Cold War to the Cuban missile crisis to the war in Vietnam, as constant reminders that the end, the apocalypse, could very easily be at hand. In the early 1960s, a young artist became a major figure in the protest movement. In particular, his apocalyptic message, which drew from his isolated Jewish upbringing in a remote town in Minnesota and featured alternately unmistakable and obscure Biblical allusions and contemporary finger pointing, gained him a nearly unprecedented following and made him a cultural force. Bob Dylan (né Zimmerman) uniquely blended modern concerns with fundamental Jewish (and, briefly, fundamentalist Christian) themes, making himself an iconic figure in the process. By exploring Dylans use of Jewish prophetic and apocalyptic themes, from the 1960s to the present (assisted by clips of his music), this presentation will illustrate the impact that his personal and religious history has had on the way that heand to no small extent, America itselfcame to view the countrys politics and history through his music.
Ben Furnish
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Fiddler on the Roof, adapted from the Tevye stories of Sholem Aleichem, shows a turn-of-the-century Russian Jewish peasant coping with modern romantic love as it overtakes each of his daughters in turn. Americans from the full range of ethnic backgrounds have come to see themselves in Tevye. Today, love continues to create social dislocation. Some key Jewish-American playwrights and filmmakers who are in some sense Sholem Aleichems artistic descendents have created works that help their audiences come to terms with complications of love that Tevye might never have been able to imagine. In the plays of Wendy Wasserstein, for example, Jewish women might choose to forego marriage altogether as an act of self-affirmationwhile still choosing motherhood. And amid the current debate over gay marriage, it is timely to consider how Fiersteins works, particularly Torch Song Trilogy, led the way for a number of plays and films that show how gay Jews form authentic families with love as their sanctifying bond. Contemporary Jewish-American performance has thus drawn upon its dual cultural inheritance to entertain audiences thatlike Tevyepuzzle over the social dislocations wrought by romantic love.
Jeffrey S. Gurock
This presentation is derived from my recently-completed book, Competing Cultures: Judaisms Encounter with American Sports. The focus of my is how in 1999-2001 myth-making in the popular sports media created in the person of Tamir Goodman a larger-than-life figure. This young Jewish athlete came to represent the fulfillment of a modern Orthodox fantasy as it exemplified the possibilities for full integration into American culture without surrendering core religious principles.
Richard Hecht
University of California Santa Barbara
This presentation will largely focus on portions of a longer study on religion in the American tabloids. I have been following how religion is spoken and reported of in the tabloids for many years, and in this presentation will discuss how the tabloids have discussed the Israeli-Middle East conflicts and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in specific from the Oslo Agreement to the present.
Steve Horowitz
University of Iowa
Jewish Americans have played an important role in the growth and development of rock and roll from its earliest days in their roles as record company executives, promoters, and songwriters (i.e. Morris Levy, Alan Freed, Mike Leiber, and Jerry Stoller). Identifiable Jewish American stars such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon became popular during the 1960s and were known for their combination of literate lyricism and social and moral concerns. Other Jewish American artists like Carly Simon and Randy Newman prospered during the 1970s as the singer/songwriter style became one of rocks best selling genres. The appearance of punk rock during the late seventies and eighties introduced a whole new style of Jewish rock and roller as the authentic street rebel (for example, Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer). These were soon joined by a host of Jewish American rap artists (The Beastie Boys and Blood of Abraham, to name just two) who proudly proclaimed their Jewish heritage. These trends in Jewish American rock continued through the 20th century, producing brilliant new work by a host of self-proclaimed Jewish American rockers working in a wide range of rock fields.
Today, identifiably Jewish American rock musicians continue to emerge and produce great music, especially on the independent music scene. Record labels like Absolutely Kosher and artists like The Silver Jews proclaim their Jewish heritage as part of their essential rock and roll identity. This presentation will use video and audio tape segments to trace the roots of Jews in rock and roll to reveal what it has meant and currently means to be a Jewish American rock and roller.
Thomas A. Kuhlman
Creighton University
This year is the centenary of the birth of Sidney Joseph Perelman (1904-1979), whose humor filled the pages of the New Yorker Magazine, the Broadway stage, and Hollywood films through much of the twentieth century. His friends and associates included Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, Groucho Marx, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Daryll Zanuck, and many other popular culture celebrities. Greatly admired by literary figures like E.B. White and Paul Theroux, and an acknowledged influence on Woody Allen and Steve Martin, Perelman consistently exhibited an uproarious, almost anarchic erudition, balancing his love of Yiddishisms with an Ivy League Anglophilia. Ogden Nash wrote of his work, Perelman, like [Alexander] Pope, is not for high school dropouts. It is not essential that to savor him fully, you be reasonably well up on modern art, the Rover Boys, Proust, the promotional material of the Morticians Association, the Georgics of Virgil, the lore of the Safari and the exotic customs of the mystical East. But it helps.
Perelmans Jewish background in his native Providence, Rhode Island, influenced both his character and his writing. At Brown University, his humor writing for The Brown Jug was identified by his initials rather than his obviously Jewish full name; in the 1920s he knew the sting of anti-Semitism at an elite institution. But with his brother-in-law novelist Nathaniel West (born Nathan Weinstein in New York 101 years ago), whom he met when both were Brown students, he used his background and subsequent New York and Hollywood Jewish cultural experiences to bring a mordant sophistication to decades of American popular culture creations. He won an Oscar for his script for Around the World in 80 Days and a National Book Award in 1978. The point of view in all his works is that of the urban and urbane Jew; his love of language and civilization and the hatred of sham can still endear him to all who are wise and human.
Judith Neulander
Case Western Reserve University
This presentation will open by defining popular culture as it is understood in folkloristic terms. Within this broad classification, the category tchotchke will be defined, along with its subset shmata. Using slides from the Tchotchkes! exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Maryland (2000), we will examine a topic not addressed by the exhibition: 350 years of anxious reporting on the Americanization of Judaism versus the less frequently monitored Hebraization of America. We will gauge the winning side according to tradition and transformation in popular commonplace objects such as home, car, decor, trinkets and gadgets, baubles, curios and souvenirs, toys and other novelty items. While these visual images maintain an extremely high delight quotient, their interpretation will address the highly serious business of illuminating the ethnic past to explain the ethnic present, and to indicate directions for the ethnic future. We will examine the role of tchotchkes as indicators of social transition within American culture: from mere subsistence to working class consumer, the first tier of economic ability required for tchochke consumption. We will observe tchotchkes as great democratizers through mass production, and the mass distribution, of elite art and sculpture on easily accessible objects from calendars to coffee mugs, paperweights to placemats.
Above all, we will examine the tchotchke as an advertent, and sometimes inadvertent, ethnic marker, at once Americanizing the traditionally Jewish, and Hebraizing the traditionally American, always reflectingand powerfully reinforcinglines of cultural confluence and distinction. In this way, we will come to understand the means, methods, and motivations by which tchotchkes impart. Jewish identity from generation to generation, as well as the Jewish identity they steadily impart, in the ever-changing flow of the American mainstream.
Lynn Rapaport
Pomona College
Until the late 1930s, the American movie industry was economically dependent on a world market for the success of its products. Movies that dealt realistically with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were likely to be banned overseas. Hollywood feared that unless they avoided social and political issues, and only produced films considered wholesome and pure entertainment, the federal government would censor the movies or break up the industry. The United States, in the throes of the Great Depression, followed an isolationist foreign policy to keep out of the war. Most Americans were unwilling to be drawn into European power struggles or to take sides between Hitler and his intended victims. Despite the widespread presence and significant influence of Jews in the American film industry in the 1930s, Hollywood discretely avoided making overtly anti-Nazi films.
However, two-reelersthe shorts that were shown before the feature filmwere not regulated in the same way as feature films. My presentation explores a pair of Three Stooges shorts, You Nazty Spy (1940) and Ill Never Heil Again (1941), that were produced and released in this political climate. In fact, Moe Howard was the first American actor to impersonate Hitler (preceding Charlie Chaplins The Great Dictator by nine months), which landed him on Hitlers death list.
I explore aspects of historical accuracy, the role of slapstick comedy as social commentary, and the controversies surrounding Holocaust representation in popular culture. I argue that the Three Stooges were anti-heroes, flaunting their Jewishness at a time when assimilation and ethnic self-denial were integral to the American film industry. I also show how the Stooges, using comedy, shatter the image of Hitler and the Nazis, and in a small way helped bring the Nazi threat to the forefront of moviegoers attention.
Nora L. Rubel
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
This presentation examines popular representations of u1tra-Orthodox Jewish women and men in contemporary novels and film, tales coinciding with a growing polarization between Orthodox Judaism and the more liberal Jewish movements. Directed or written by non-Orthodox Jews, these works typically feature women being oppressed or repressed by a father, a husband, or (usually male) religious leaders. The blame also falls at the feet of the societal structure of the ultra-Orthodox community, with other women occasionally reinforcing the patriarchal nature of these closed communities.
These narrativespart romance, part escape talefollow a formula that highlights the gender inequalities in these communities as well as demonstrates growing anxieties regarding the rise of fundamentalism within contemporary Judaism. I argue that the bulk of these narratives, usually written by Jewish, non-Orthodox outsiders, come about and are successful due to changes in the political and cultural world of both American and Israeli Jewry. Using contemporary novels and film from the last two decades, I will discuss popular imaginings of the ultra-Orthodox as they reflect anxieties of the non-Orthodox about gender and religious authority, as well as the fear of the rea1 or imagined growing political power of the Orthodox.
G. Andrew Tooze
Rockville, Maryland
This presentation will examine the different depictions of Davids Jewishness found in a number of films, including David and Bathsheba, David and Goliath, and David. Although it is inappropriate to speak of King David as a Jew in any modern sense of the term, this lack of appropriateness does not diminish his identity or importance as a paradigmatic figure of Judaism. However, David is claimed not only by Judaism, but also by Christianity, because of his place in the New Testaments lineage of Jesus. These dual claims on David mean that any artistic representations of him must chose from elements of potentially conflicting identities. The films examined in this presentation paint a portrait of David, a portrait that includes his identity as a Jew. Because these cinematic portraits reflect their cultural and historical locations, careful analysis of both the way they negotiate the multiple claims to Davids identity and the way they depict David as a Jew, offers a window into the attitudes towards Judaism and its place in American culture when the film was produced.


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Computer Sciences Corp. has won a Navy contract for overseas network support that could be worth as much as $145 million if all options are exercised, according to a Nov. 10 Defense Department announcement.
The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract calls for CSC to support the Fleet Cyber Forces' operation and maintenance of the Navy Enterprise Network (ONE-NET) outside the continental United States.
The major functional areas of ONE-Net support include theater service desk support; network and systems operations; field support; information assurance; and network technical support, the DOD said.
The work, which with options is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2016, will be performed in Yokosuka, Atsugi, Sasebo, Okinawa and Misawa, Japan; Naples and Sigonella, Italy; Bahrain; Guam; Rota, Spain (4 percent); Korea; Soudan Bay, Greece; Diego Garcia and Singapore.
This contract was competitively procured, with seven offers received. NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity.
CSC, of Falls Church, Va., ranks No. 11 on Washington Technology's 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.
About the Author
David Hubler is the former print managing editor for GCN and senior editor for Washington Technology. He is freelance writer living in Annandale, Va.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Blue
The swell inched her further away, another half metre.
"They're coming back," I whispered.
She closed her eyes. "No…" Her voice rippled across time, right back to the beginning.
I kicked towards her, tried to reach out. Another swell broke us apart.
She looked at me; peaceful, intelligent, like a whale telling a story with its eyes: you know. Yes. I know you want to go, into this blue, your favourite colour. But please try… stay!
"Bye my love…"
As she dipped beneath the surface, she left not a trace of who she was, of ever being there with me.
Another 100-word short story from the prompt at Julia's Place: http://jfb57.wordpress.com/ Check out other efforts on the website. This week we had to include 'beneath the surface'.


text: This was kinda an inside joke between me and a buddy. We were talking about what kind of professions we wanted to go into after school and after realising that I have nothing to fall back on he came up with the idea of Otter farming. Apparently Otters are pretty low maintenance so it would be good to farm them. I added the whole lasers on teh head thing because lasers on creatures is always cool. But anyways, enough of the whole background story. please criticise my design:


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Welcome to Radiology Associates, Inc.
Southern Indiana's premier radiology practice. Founded in January of 1969, we are a group of board-certified radiologists dedicated to serving patients in the Southern Indiana area in a hospital-based setting. This includes facilities in Jeffersonville, New Albany, and Corydon, Indiana as well as Louisville and Elizabethtown, Kentucky.


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CollegeHumor picks UTA to guide growth
EmptyNEW YORK -- InterActive Corp.'s CollegeHumor.com has signed with UTA, the company is due to announce todayWednesday, as it continues its work on a movie for MTV Films.
CollegeHumor was founded in 1999 as a comedy site for the college-age crowd and has grown steadily into a highly trafficked and profitable destination. The company is working on a movie as well as several shortform films each week, projects that make representation by UTA a necessary move.
"We're in New York, and we know about the Internet world," said Ricky Van Veen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the site. "We don't have eyes and ears in Los Angeles. Partnering with UTA is a way to bridge that gap."
The untitled movie, which was announced last year and was to be released by Paramount before moving over to MTV Films, will be about college but it won't take place in a dorm, Van Veen said.
Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky of NBC's "The Office" are writing the script, and Van Veen said a new draft should be coming soon.
The company has a long-term goal to release the movie, which has yet to be cast, by Christmas 2008. Van Veen, however, said that the deadline was far from a certainty.
CollegeHumor also has had success with short films on its site. The site runs a series featuring Michael Showalter ("Wet Hot American Summer") interviewing comedic actors and the short "Prank Wars" has been getting national attention.
"We can take something like that to UTA and ask, 'What can we do with this in the television and film world?' " Van Veen said.
CollegeHumor was purchased by Barry Diller's IAC in August 2006; Van Veen said that the media mogul has been supportive of the group and gives them feedback on their projects.
"Barry has a lot on his plate," Van Veen said. "But he's a content guy and he still has a soft spot for looking at our projects and short films."


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Rhubarb. Every vegie patch should have one!
Rhubarb is a perennial vegtable that can be grown in sun or part shade. It may be known as an old fahioned vegtable but it is easy to grow and makes the most wonderful sweet crumbles and desserts.
If you want to grow rhubarb winter is an ideal time as the rhubarb crowns are available bare-root in the garden centre. Start by preparing the garden bed with some compost and blood and bone. If you live in an area where the temperature has extreamly hot and cold weather dig the rhubarb crown in a little deeper about 5cm below the surface of the soil. If your temperature is mild all year round the crown can be covered with about 1cm of soil. As the plant grows feed with powerfeed or thrive.
Leave your rhubarb plant undisturbed for the first few years to allow the clumps to establish.
After 2-3 years the rhubarb crown can be dug up in winter and divided and replanted.
Tip: The leaves of the plant are poisonis so never eat them.
Sprinkle a little slug and snail pellets around the plant in spring and summer.
Rhubarb can be grown in pots.
See our rhubarb cooking adventures at the Serenity Nursery here


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Carrie Cheeseman suffered major injuries during the horror crash outside her Morley home in November 2009 just a fortnight before she was due to get married, and was airlifted to hospital by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA).
Carrie and both her children, Scarlett and Maxwell, recovered and she walked down the aisle at the Marriott Hotel, in Leeds, in August 2010.
The 41-year-old will be back at the venue in her wedding dress on Saturday October 10 for a special fundraising ball in aid of the YAA.
She said: "Although you can wear anything for the ball, a group of my friends are also going to be squeezing into their wedding dresses to help me celebrate which is just great.
"People and companies have been incredibly generous with auction lots and raffle prizes and the evening is all about having an amazing time for a fabulous cause."
Carrie is now hoping hundreds of charity-minded guests say 'I do' to tickets to support the rapid response charity that helped to save her life.
During the 2009 car accident Carrie suffered breaks to her neck, back, pelvis, collar bone, several ribs, both legs, right shoulder blade and her right arm. Scarlett, who was nine months old, broke her ribs, pelvis and lacerated her liver, while Maxwell, then two, had a blow to the head, but they all fully recovered.
Carrie was due to marry partner Stephen 12 days after the accident, but the wedding was postponed. Six months later the YAA was also dispatched to rescue Stephen, 34, after he was involved in a cycling accident and he later recovered.Read more at:graduation dresses


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Dropbox is a free carrier that allows you to deliver your entire pictures, doctors, and movies anyplace.
After you install Dropbox to your laptop, any file you save to your Dropbox will robotically store to all of your computer systems, your Android instrument, and even the Dropbox website online! With the Dropbox app, which you can take the whole thing that issues to you on the go.
Learn your doctors or flip thru your albums if you end up out and about. Keep images or movies to your Dropbox and share them with friends in just a couple taps. Even if you unintentionally go away your Android in a taxi, your stuff is at all times secure on Dropbox.
• Always have your stuff with you, no matter where you are.
• Store pictures and movies to your Dropbox.
• Share your photographs and medical doctors with household and chums.
• Keep electronic mail attachments straight to your Dropbox.
• Easily edit docs in your Dropbox.


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The Nikken Magnetic comforter helps your body to relax so that you can get a great night's sleep. Nikken has a few choices for comforters. The white comforters are sized for beds and are available in two weights. The travel comforter is sized for personal use and does NOT have magnets. Click on the picture below of the item you are interested in for more information and to order.
I think that having a Nikken comforter, a magnetic blanket, on your bed is a key element to getting great sleep at night.
Staying a comfortble temperature is an important part of getting a good night sleep. If you get too warm you wake up sweating. If you get too cold you wake up shivering. Either way, if you wake up, you aren't getting good sleep.
What's Special About the Nikken Magnetic Comforter?
The Nikken magnetic comforter isn't like other blankets and comforters that you have used before. The magnets help your body to relax. The most important benefit of any magnetic device that you may use on your body is its ability to help your muscles and tendons to relax.
The Nikken blankets also contain ceramic fibers that absorb excess energy and reflect it back to you to help keep you warm, but not too warm, while you sleep.
The Dream and Dream Light comforters are great-looking white blankets that contain both magnets and the ceramic fiber that I just mentioned. The magnets in the Dream and Dream Light comforters complement the magnets in the Nikken mattress pads and, along with the Naturest magnetic pillow, create a relaxing and rejuvenating magnetic field around your body.
I do have to point out that the white comforters are dry clean only.
Nikken Blanket for Travel
Nikken also has a smaller travel comforter without magnets for when you are away from home. It also works great for people who cannot use magnets, like people with pacemakers or other implanted batter-operated devices. It just contains the ceramic fibers that help the blanket keep you just the right temperature.
One benefit of the travel comforter not having magnets is that it is machine washable.
These comforters work so well at moderating body temperature that we use them on anyone in our family if they run a temperature. We just wrap them up in one of the comforters and their temperature is usually back to normal the next day. Naturally, if there is something serious going on then you should see your doctor.
My Thoughts on the Nikken Magnetic Comforter
We bought our first Nikken magnetic comforter 11 years ago when I first became a distributor. We chose the Dream Light comforter because we live in the South and it doesn't often get cold enough to warrant the heavier insulation in the Dream Comforter. After 10 years it was starting to fall apart so we bought a new one.
BTW, the magnets in the comforter make great refrigerator magnets. I cut our old comforter up to see how it was made and removed all of the magnets. They are held firmly in place, so they won't come loose on their own.
With all of the magnets in the mattress topper, pillow and comforter I sleep very well. I usually fall asleep within a few minutes.
There are 2 things that I don't care for about the Nikken magnetic blankets:
- They are white
- They are dry clean only
The Nikken magnetic blanket looks absolutely beautiful when they are brand new. We have kids and a cat though, so there is no way they are going to stay white for long. We could get it dry cleaned more often but that quickly gets very expensive. Also, the chemicals that dry cleaners use are not exactly good for you, and no matter how good the cleaner is there will be residues left on the comforter.
Regardless of that though, I absolutely love the Dream Light comforter that we have. I wouldn't trade it for anything. We keep it covered with another comforter during the day so that it doesn't get any dirtier than it has to. At night we pull the top sheet over the top edge of the comforter so that it doesn't absorb the oils from our skin. With a little care it can stay white.
The most important thing is how the comforter works, and it works very well.
Nikken Travel Comforter
I also have 2 of the travel comforters. They make a great throw blanket to cover up with if you take a nap out on the couch or just want to cover up while watching TV. The travel comforter also works well when traveling. It doesn't take up much space and the kids can wrap up and take a nap.
It makes a good pillow too when it is folded up.
As an independent Nikken wellness consultant I do not represent or speak for Nikken. The contents of this website represent my opinions based on my use of my Nikken comforter. Also, none of these statements have been reviewed or approved by the FDA. I am a massage therapist and therefore do not diagnose, treat, or prescribe magnetic blankets for any specific conditions.


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Though it has grown into an entirely different species, the luxury performance DNA of the Cadillac STS can be traced all the way back to the special range-topping Seville hardtop coupe of the 1950s. At that time one of the fastest, flashiest and most luxurious cars on the road, it evolved and re-emerged several decades later as the buttoned-down Seville luxury sedan, capable of sharing company with Europe's finest.
2008 Cadillac STS Luxury Sedan Shown
Handsome, contemporary styling, tighter build quality and a new high-performance STS sport model set the stage in the early 1990s, and the addition of a sophisticated and powerful new DOHC Northstar V8 engine and detail refinements throughout the decade made the most of -- and tended to somewhat mask -- its limiting front-drive architecture, the STS's one performance Achilles heel. As it entered the new millennium, however, Caddy's flagship had aged and lost some of its appeal as trimmer, more sophisticated, and in most cases, rear-wheel-drive European and Japanese competitors overtook it in terms of refinement and performance.
Evolution gave way to revolution in 2005 as Cadillac dropped the Seville moniker in favor of its alpha-centric naming strategy, coinciding with a quantum leap forward in technology, build quality and overall refinement. Based on GM's global Sigma rear- and all-wheel-drive platform and utilizing powerful new V6 and Northstar V8 engines, the Cadillac STS is once again capable of taking on all comers.
If you're in the market for a finely tailored luxury sedan with the power, roominess, comfort and value to outpace many of its smaller German and Japanese rivals, we recommend that you take a serious look at the Cadillac STS.
A full-size luxury sedan in its physical dimensions, the Cadillac STS is priced in line with premium midsize sedans and available with a V6 or V8 engine. Common features on all models include leather seating, 17-inch wheels, dual-zone climate control, a Bose sound system and OnStar. Popular options include a navigation system, a head-up display and heated/ventilated front seats grouped in two available Performance and Luxury trim packages.
The two available engines -- a surprisingly responsive 3.6-liter V6 rated at 255 horsepower and 252 lb-ft of torque, and a 4.6-liter Northstar V8 that generates 320 hp and 315 lb-ft of torque -- both feature variable valve timing and electronic throttle control. A five-speed automatic transfers power from the V6, and a six-speed automatic helps V8-equipped STSs achieve impressive acceleration and fuel economy for this class.
In reviews and road tests, our editors have found the strengths of the Cadillac STS to be its nimble road manners, powerful engine options and high-quality audio system. Downsides include an interior that lacks the quality of materials found in competing high-dollar sedans, along with seats that some might find overly firm.
Those in search of a satisfying balance of performance and economy may want to focus on the basic V6/rear-drive model, while STS shoppers looking for maximum performance in all conditions can lean toward the all-wheel-drive V8 version. No longer hampered by the compromised front-drive layout of old, all STS owners now enjoy world-class performance and value fully competitive with the best of the rest from around the globe.
The Cadillac STS officially debuted for the 2005 model year. Only minimal changes have occurred since. Those interested in a used model previous to this date will want to check out the front-wheel-drive, fifth-generation Seville-based model produced from 1998-2003.


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|27 May 2012
Windows 7 HP x64
BSODs on new install of Windows; driver issue?
I recently reinstalled Windows 7 HP x64 on my home-built PC.
Core i5 650 3.2GHz dual-core
2x4GB Patriot RAM
Radeon 5770 1gb
Corsair cx500 psu
WD Blue 1TB and 640GB HDDs
I'm getting BSODs every few hours, and it's starting to get annoying. I was getting BSODs on my old install as well, but it wasn't saving minidumps for some reason, so I reinstalled (plus it was getting bloated).
I ran memtest86 for about 10 hours and it showed no problems, so I think this is a driver issue.
|My System Specs
|27 May 2012
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Crashes are pointing to memory problems or driver conflicts.
Also, make sure you have the most up to date version of LogMeIn. Yours appears to have caused at least one of the three crashes.
|My System Specs
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I've been watching a series on economic theories that have shaped the history of the last two centuries. It has been fascinating, and sometimes a little depressing, as I listen to the ideologues who 'cherry pick' the bits of each theorists ideas to support their own Utopian vision. There are, at present, a series of shows on television discussing the ideas and theories of various economist who have shaped our current society, among them Keynes, Marx and Smith. The discussions of their work is inclusive, with people from all sides represented.
At present they are dealing with Marx and it struck me today as I listened to his family background, how typical he was of his class. Not many, I suspect, of his adherents, would know or bother recalling that he was the son of wealthy landowning parents. Their vineyards generated enough money for them to give him a very good education and send him to university - no inexpensive venture in that day and age. His home in Trier is certainly not the hovel the poor of his generation huddled in, the Marx family lived in a large and commodious house and had servants to attend them.
Marx, as was pointed out, made a number of important points in his treatise, but some are not remembered, or are perhaps overlooked. For one thing, he did not anticipate that, even as he wrote, education and opportunity were changing the world he lived in. He predicted the working classes would rise up and overthrow their masters - no doubt including himself - to seize their 'rightful share of wealth.' I wonder if the irony of the fact that the 'revolution' he predicted happened, not in the wealthy western European societies he deplored, but in the impoverished and downtrodden east? Worse, it was led by the sons of several minor 'noble' houses, chief among them being the man we know as Lenin. Like Marx, he came from a monied family, had been very well educated and had travelled, sustained no doubt on the 'stipend' his family paid him - and which he and Marx would have said was 'stolen from the workers.'
Marx had some things right, but he had a great deal wrong. One of the commentators, a professor of economics made the case a few days ago that Classic Marxism is unworkable, Leninism, Socialism and Communism can only be sustained by force and threat. Some form of Capitalism, he said, is the natural form of economics in every society.
I had to agree with his final point though. That there will always be inequalities is human, what we need to do is find a way to make our capitalist economies more fair and less biased. Only then can we hope to create a more balanced sharing of wealth.
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Last summer I wrote about the amusing and curious love square that was going on between Scorpio Ryan Reynolds, Sagittarius Scarlett Johannson, Aquarius Justin Timberlake and Pisces Jessica Biel. In essence, all of these lovelies were dating one another and from the lovefest emerged two astrologically mismatched couples; the Scorpio (Ryan) with the Sagg (Scarlett) rather than with fellow water sign Pisces (Jessica), who ended up with the Aquarius (Justin). Amazingly, all of these couples have stood the (relative) test of time and Ryan and Scarlett have recently announced they are even getting married!
I hypothesized in that article that the reason for this coupling had to do with picking a partner who was the opposite sign of your ex, rather than somebody of the same element. Ryan went for Scarlett because she was the opposite sign of ex-fiance Gemini Alanis Morrissette. Justin went for Jessica because she was the opposite sign of ex-girlfriend Cameron Diaz.
Now on to curious love square part deux. Amongst her string of lovers in the wake of her split from the aforementioned Aquarius, Justin Timberlake, Virgo Cameron Diaz dated Libra John Mayer. Last spring Jennifer Aniston briefly dated British model, Capricorn Paul Scolfur. Now, go figure, John is dating Jennifer and Cameron is dating Paul. This is a different type of switcheroo. Virgo Cameron and Libra John, as well as Aquarius Jen and Capricorn Paul, were pairs of adjacent signs. Adjacent signs (much more than opposite signs) have a very different orientation to the world! Now the two air signs, Jen and John, and the two earth signs, Cameron and Paul, have paired off and these are much more harmonious couples!
And just to add even more fun and confusion into the game, before dating Jen and Cameron, John was in a relationship with Cancer Jessica Simpson. Her first love was, of course, her ex-husband Scorpio Nick Lachey. She then jumped into a relationship with a sign that was adjacent to Scorpio (very different) and square to her own sun sign, Libra John Mayer. Not a good choice. She is now with Taurus Tony Romo, who is the opposite sign of her ex-husband. They are a very good match.
So let's think about this for another moment: why would people be interested in dating people who are opposite signs from one another? I think because whatever theme that pair together represents, are some of the lessons that person is learning in their life at the time. For example:
JENNIFER ANISTON: Aries Vince Vaughn/ Libra John Mayer. Jen is going through a period of learning about self assertion vs. balance and compromise.
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: Virgo Cameron Diaz/ Pisces Jessica Biel. Justin's life has been focused on finding physical, mental and emotional health and well being.
RYAN REYNOLDS: Gemini Alanis Morrissette/ Sagittarius Scarlett Johannson. The emphasis in Ryan's life is on finding his beliefs through education, learning, philosophy and travel.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Scorpio Nick Lachey/Taurus Tony Romo. Jessica has been dealing with issues of intimacy, possessiveness, stability and sexuality.
Now, Just to round out all six pairs of opposites signs lets look at two other stars who have a thing for dating opposite signs. Interestingly Lauren is an Aquarius and Sienna is a Capricorn so they are both extremely involved in the lessons these opposite sign relationships are providing.
LAUREN CONRAD: Aquarius Stephen Colletti/Leo Brody Jenner. Lauren has been learning about the boundaries between friendship and personal autonomy.
SIENNA MILLER: Capricorn Jude Law/Cancer Rhys Ifans. Sienna's relationships have been teaching her about both the private and public side of herself and how to balance personal life and career.
Just as it is very important for all people to get in touch with the energy of their own opposite sign to strengthen and empower their solar energy, dating opposite signs gives people the opportunity to work through certain issues in their life from different perspectives. But ultimately, as always, the success of the relationship would have more to do with the intrinsic harmony and compatibility in their charts.


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Routes : North America : United States : Nevada : Red Rock Canyon : Juniper Canyon : Rainbow Wall : The Swainbow Wall
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Category: "Pinot Noir"
2006 Robert Stemmler Nugent Vineyard Pinot NoirMarch 31st, 2011
I did not pick this bottle out, nor do I think I ever would have. I like Pinot Noir, but I typically find it to be a safe pick with guests and generally unremarkable. This wine was picked out for me at a dinner recently and I had an open mind. Delicious. Russian River Pinots, in my experience, have a reputation for minerality. And that quality is something that I feel needs to be handled with care. Robert Stemmler made it easy for me; this wine did not have that Earthy flavor. It was probably a little more "new world," so keep that in mind if you prefer the old style. According to the website this producer has an intense focus on Pinot Noir (they feature 3 different Pinot Noirs and a Chardonnay). From that specialization you hope to taste the expertise and I certainly did. A quick google search suggests this is a $40 bottle. On my budget, this is a celebration wine, but maybe I will be more lenient now with what qualifies as a celebration so I can have another bottle of the 2006 Robert Stemmler Nugent Vineyard Pinot Noir.
2006 Kiwi Red Pinot NoirApril 10th, 2009
This was the first pinot I have had from New Zealand, a wine country popular primarily for its Sauvignon Blanc. I was excited to try another varietal from the area. This was a very fragrant wine. It smells good and tastes good. My only complaint is that this wine finishes like Jesse Owens -- at Olympic speed. The taste disappears so fast it will play games with your memory -- Did I just have a sip or not? -- but then again this is a $8-9 bottle of wine. You want long-lasting finishes, maybe you should spend a little more. All in all this was a decent effort. At this price point I think this is a fine pick to take a bottle (probably two) to a friend's house for dinner. This would also be a good wine to have on hand one night when it's time to open that third or fourth bottle of pinot noir.
2007 Chateau Bianca Pinot NoirApril 3rd, 2009
This wine sort of dispells two of my theories on Pinot Noir, well the one that Pinot Noir from Oregon's Willamette Valley is super, super overpriced is not necessarilly my theory. The one that is mine is a little strange. I normally think that the worse a Pinot smells, the better it will taste. I cannot explain it, but there you have it. Admittedly I am unable to decipher many different aromas, but I typically find Pinot to be quite pungent on "the nose." This particular bottle was more subdued. But I think this wine is very drinkable. Most Willamette Pinots will run you north of $30 and you're paying for the reputation of the Valley. This wine is $16-17 (and is even available at Whole Foods).
This is not a great wine, but it is the most moderately priced Oregon Pinot I have stumbled upon that I consider to be worth drinking.


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The City of Dania Beach is a Commission-Manager form of local government.
The City Manager is appointed by the elected City Commission.
The City Manager is responsible for the administration of the City and carrying out the policies and directives of the City Commission. The Manager's duties include providing leadership and direction to the City departments; preparation of the City's annual operating budget; working with federal, state and, local officials; attending meetings of the Dania Beach City Commission.
City Manager Robert Baldwin
Dania Beach's City Manager Robert Baldwin began serving the City in 2009. He was previously City Manager of the City of Lake Worth and has served the Cities of Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Sunrise, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Broward County and the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Mr. Baldwin, with a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Florida, has more than 25 years of experience in local Government. He is a life-long resident of Broward County.
Mr. Baldwin welcomes comments and would love to hear from and meet with citizens.
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Lift High the Cross
Students returning to class this semester at Boston College found a surprise: crucifixes adorning their classrooms. This traditional Catholic image has been a lightning rod in many Catholic colleges and universities over the last few decades, as schools struggled to make all students, no matter what their religious belief (agnostics and atheists included), feel welcome and at the same time strove to maintain the elusive goal of "Catholic identity." The move stirred dissent among some students and faculty at B.C. "I can hardly imagine a more effective way to denigrate the faculty of an educational institution," said one faculty member to a campus newspaper. In response, William P. Leahy, S.J., the college's president, said, "By what logic would someone expect a Catholic college or university to be non-Catholic?"
The presence or absence of crucifixes in the classroom has too often proven a cudgel with which one side beats the other. Without them, so goes the faulty logic, a school is insufficiently Catholic; with them, it is resolutely religious. But this is too facile an understanding of the symbol. For some Jewish students, the crucifix is not simply a benign token of another faith, but a sign of centuries of Christian domination over their culture. On the other hand, for some Catholic students a crucifix is not just another symbol, but a visible reminder of a school's religious underpinnings. At B.C., the move was the culmination of a project begun in 2000 to incorporate more Christian art on campus. Despite the danger of sending a message of exclusion, Boston College deserves applause for returning a central Catholic symbol to its classrooms, and we hope that naysayers will see that the Catholic world is still truly catholic, welcoming all students of good will.
The Curious Case of Steve Jobs
Even before the advent of the iPhone, the founder and C.E.O. of Apple, Steve Jobs, was treated like a god. Macintosh computer users praised his products for their sleek design and ease of use, while techies lionized him for his pluck in taking on the Microsoft behemoth. Today Jobs is a dot-com icon, a father of the digital revolution who also somehow managed to transform the music industry with the introduction of the iPod. His annual Macworld Conference & Expo is anticipated with an excitement usually reserved for bands from Liverpool or movies that begin with the word Star.
Jobs also appears to be a sick man. Five years ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he quickly returned to work after surgery and treatment. This past June, however, he appeared at an Apple event looking gaunt and pale, prompting widespread speculation that the disease had returned. At first Jobs said the weight loss was due to a hormonal imbalance, but he has since admitted the situation is more complex and has taken a leave of absence. Meanwhile, Apple investors have seen their stock prices rise and fall with each health report, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Apple is guilty of securities fraud for failing to report accurately Jobs's condition.
It is a strange story, to be sure, a narrative that combines the personal and the professional in a highly unusual manner. What impresses most is not Mr. Jobs's accomplishments, remarkable as they are, but the vulnerability of his company in the face of personal frailty—a stark reminder of the ephemeral nature of all of our creations.
Blessed Are the Pure of Breed
The 133rd annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at New York's Madison Square Garden, held this year on Feb. 9 and 10, once again captivated huge and avid crowds. It is the second-oldest continuously running sports event in the United States (after the Kentucky Derby). More than 2,500 dogs representing over 150 breeds were brought from around the world to compete. The 2009 winner is a 10-year-old Sussex spaniel named Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee (aka Stump). He meets one of the many stiff standards put forth by the W.K.C.—no more than seven parts are allowed in the dog's name. Without question, there is great prestige attached to membership in this club; but it has set the bar so high that winning breeds quickly become the dogs of choice. This leads to over-breeding (including inbreeding), at puppy mills as well as among "backyard breeders," to meet demand.
The Pedigree Foundation is to be commended for its sponsorship of the event; their ads on the W.K.C. Web site promote awareness of homeless dogs—25 to 30 percent of which, according to the Humane Society of the United States, are purebreds. Still, seven million adoptable pets in shelters across the country are euthanized each year because of overpopulation. Unfortunately, overemphasis by the W.K.C. on the physical appearance of breeds has in some instances over time had a negative impact on the natural, innate abilities of certain breeds—hunting skills, for example—and posed health problems too. The perfect dog is not necessarily the pampered purebred. You can find him or her at your local animal shelter.


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Alexander Ossia, born in Siegen/Germany in 1983, graduated in 2011 with a BA in History and Culture of the Middle East from the Freie Universität Berlin.
He worked as a travel photographer in 2011 based in Barcelona bringing modern architecture and landscape into focus. Also his photos were published in Michael Axworthy's Iran – Weltreich des Geistes: Von Zoroaster bis heute (original title: Iran – Empire of the Mind: A History from Zoroaster to the Present Day) Verlag Klaus Wagenbach Berlin, 2011.
His personal projects pursue a social approach to mainly Oriental and European cultures.
The artist lives and works in Berlin.


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What Will, and Won't Be Announced At MACWORLD SF
December 31st, 1999
What is it about good friends? The enjoyment of good company is one of those things in life that simply can't be described. Perhaps you can. I guess my Mac is a good friend. That's why I am going to be sheening halfway across the continent (in that I am already in the middle) to spend the week with several thousand other rabid Mac users.
Speaking of MACWORLD, there seems to be a lot of nonsense circulating from the usual suspects about what we can expect to see from Apple. I will be honest in that I fully expect this MACWORLD to be somewhat lackluster when compared to the last two. At MACWORLD New York, we got the new iBook, which was delightful. AirPort was cool too, though QuickTime TV was a little less sexy. MACWORLD San Francisco was also very exciting due to the colored iMacs and the Blue & White G3.
Much of the last 18 months was spent waiting for Apple to unveil their new product lines. The anticipation was a turn on. Now that the full product line has been revealed, the anticipation has been lessened. That doesn't mean that new iMac, PowerMac, iBook, and PowerBook models won't blow our doors off in the future. It also does not address the issue of an Apple branded hand held. I am very stoked about that and wish I knew when it was going to come.
With that said, it's time for me to debunk the crap out there.
New 17" iMacs
The first thing on my hit list is this nonsense about a 17" iMac hitting the market. Someone was smoking a bit too much crack when they made this up. For one thing, the iMac DV line was just introduced 3 months ago. There is no way that Apple will confuse their marketing message on the iMac DV so soon after its release. More importantly, the company is not going to dilute its iMovie marketing by bringing a new focus on a new iMac. Apple has a brief window to fully exploit their lead in the Desktop Video market and it is important that they milk it for all they can. Throw in a new iMac DV 17" and the press will focus solely on the new bigger screen. Most of the mainstream press has already proven they don't grasp the importance of Desktop Video as it is, so there is no need to offer them more opportunity to forget about it.
So I could be wrong, but I am not. Apple will release 17" iMacs, and will probably do so during 2000, but not just yet.
The Bottom Line: No new iMac models at this MACWORLD.
A New PowerBook
I am pretty sure that Apple will indeed release a new PowerBook at MACWORLD. The current PowerBook was introduced at the WWDC in May, more than 8 months ago. More importantly, Jason O'Grady of O'Grady's PowerPage <http://www.ogrady.com/> thinks that the new PowerBook, code named Pismo, will be released. That works for me. Mr. O'Grady is one of the most connected journalists in our industry, especially in the portable area, and I have no problem tipping my hat to his knowledge in this area. So, I can go with this. Since I have no specific 1st hand knowledge of the Pismo model, I will leave the specification speculating to Mr. O'Grady and those other sites in the rumor business.
Bottom Line: A definite announcement for this MACWORLD.
A New iBook
I go both ways on this. I think it would behoove Apple to release a faster iBook. I personally thought that the 300 MHz was a bit slow when the product was released, and it's been long enough that a speed boost is inline. Apple could go ahead and add a microphone at the same time, but I am not holding my breath. I don't see FireWire making it either, though if Apple wants to gain critical mass for FireWire, then they will have to do this sooner, rather than later. I think this will be a revision for later on down the road.
MACWORLD San Francisco is a great venue for releasing a speed-bumped iBook, but so is MACWORLD Expo Tokyo. The iBook has been a raging success in Japan, and since that is coming up shortly after MACWORLD San Francisco, I think Apple may wait until then to introduce it.
The Bottom Line: I am going to be wishy-washy on this one. I will not be surprised either way if Apple does, or does not release a faster model.
Apple's Internet Strategy
Apple is going to announce some sort of new Internet strategy. I am not sure what that will be, though it will certainly involve some sort of new dial-up service. There will be a portal (who really thinks that portals are all that great?), and blah, blah, blah. I think there will also be something pretty cool that no one besides Mr. Jobs and his team know about. I have absolutely no idea what that is, but I will be very surprised if something very cool is not sprung upon us.
The Bottom Line: Apple will introduce something at this MACWORLD that involves a new Internet strategy.
Rebranding The Apple Image
Whatever. This is nothing but more crack being smoked by those whose claim to fame is making up crap.
The bottom line: nope, nada, nothing.
Speed bumped PowerMac G4s
I think that Apple will announce faster G4s, hopefully they will at least announce models that match the original specs of a 400, a 450, and a 500 MHz model. My only concern over this "prediction" is that it was not that long ago that Apple announced the low end 350 MHz machine was being bumped to the Sawtooth motherboard. This had to happen at some point anyway, so I will stick to my guns on this. This is about the right time frame that Motorola originally gave for having the production problems solved for the high end G4s. Mum's been the word since then, but I think we will have a treat. It sure would be great if Apple surprised us by bumping everything to a 450, 500, and 550 MHz lineup, but I don't think that will happen. In any event, this will be an evolutionary improvement to the line, not a sweeping change.
The bottom line: Apple will announce faster PowerMac G4s.
There you have it. New PowerBooks, a new Internet strategy, and faster PowerMac G4s. We may get faster iBooks. We won't see new iMacs, and we won't see any rebranding of the Apple image. As I did for MACWORLD New York, I will grade myself soon after this MACWORLD is over.
And hey, Happy New Year! May 2000 be even better than 1999!
Your comments are welcomed.
Bryan Chaffin began using Apple computers in 1983 in a high school BASIC programming class. He started using Macs in 1990 when the Kinko's guy taught him how to use Aldus PageMaker, finally buying a Power Computing Power 100 in 1995. Today, Bryan is the Editor of The Mac Observer, and has contributed to the print versions of MacAddict and MacFormat (UK).
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That would be me.
Who made the 3d printed vent insert for kyle_eagleton? I would like one made for two or three 2 1/16" gauges.
Is there a picture of the vent in question?
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Cool, I remember seeing that now
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Associated Press
YIDA, South Sudan (AP) – First they ate leaves. Then they ate roots, soaked for five days and boiled until they were just edible. Now many have eaten the planting seed _ and their future with it.
There is no food left in the Nuba Mountains, so the stream of tens of thousands of hungry refugees pouring across the militarized Sudan-South Sudan border has almost doubled in the past two months.
The Yida camp now holds 31,000 refugees and is bracing for thousands more, as desperate families rush to make the five-day trek south from Sudan on foot before seasonal rains arrive, turning the rough dirt road muddy and impassable, and choking off food deliveries for months.
Back in their homeland, the refugees have endured bombardment from Sudanese warplanes and a crisis-level food shortage they blame on Sudan's president. Aid groups say Sudan _ a mostly Arab nation _ is intentionally trying to starve the black residents of the Nuba Mountains.
Refugees report the deaths of young and old back home.
"There's no food where we live. People are eating the leaves of trees, said Amira Tia, who arrived at the camp last week after walking in green flip flops for four days with her four children.
"Every morning they go to the bush to collect leaves. There is also a root of a tree that if you soak it for five days and then boil it, it is edible," she said.
Sudan does not allow aid from U.N. or international groups to be delivered to Nuba, and no official assessments have been done about the conditions there.
Geoffrey Pinnock, the World Food Program's emergency officer in Yida, fears that unknown.
"What we hear from refugees is that things are bad and getting worse," he said. "Some people haven't had solid food in two months and then walk five days" to reach the camp.
Muniara Kamal walked for six days, carrying her 9-month-old daughter, Safa, who wore a red sweatshirt with white hearts and swatted feebly at flies while getting medical care. Tia said the group she was walking with was attacked by Sudanese Antonov bombers twice. One man was cut in half by shrapnel, she said.
When South Sudan voted to break away from Sudan last year after decades of war, the people of the Nuba Mountains were caught in the middle. They are black, like those of the south, not Arabs like the northerners of Sudan. Now a full-on war is under way in their homeland.
Even once they reach the relative safety of the camp, the threat of war remains. South Sudan's military is on alert in case border skirmishes with Sudan escalate into a full-scale conflict.
The Yida camp is far more militarized than aid workers would like. South Sudan troops move through, as do northern rebel groups fighting Sudan. U.N. and other aid workers quietly say the rebel fighters use the camp for food and rest. International aid groups have dug deep foxholes in their compounds in case Sudan bombs again.
New arrivals must walk within 20 yards (meters) of an unexploded bomb dropped by a Sudanese aircraft in November that landed on the road leading to the camp from the north.
The rate of new arrivals has risen rapidly in recent days. Aid workers and Nuba leaders say 15,000 or even 30,000 more Nuba could reach Yida in coming weeks.
With the rains expected to start around June, WFP is rushing to deliver 5,000 metric tons of food. On a recent day, dozens of Nuba men erected large storage facilities and unloaded sacks of food from the U.S. government's aid arm, USAID.
The camp has a dirt airstrip, but the rains threaten to make it unusable. Goods could be parachuted in or dropped by helicopter, but both methods are extremely expensive for a large refugee population.
Ibrahim Kallo, the head of the International Rescue Committee in Yida, said he's not counting on the runway being usable after the rains set in. A recent emergency evacuation of a pregnant woman underscores the danger of being isolated by rain.
The group sent the woman to Bentiu, the nearest city, a three to four hour journey by truck over a jarringly bumpy dirt road even when it's dry. The mother made it to the hospital just before some early rains arrived. But on the way back to the camp the truck got stuck, and the mother and her 3-day-old newborn had to spend the night in the truck without food, Kallo said.
At Yida, straw huts covered by blue or white UNICEF tarps sit among trees and towering termite mounds spiraling 12 feet high or more.
The stick-thin children wear torn or dusty clothes. Most are barefoot. The women vastly outnumber the men, many of whom stayed behind to fight the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The U.N. calls Yida a transit camp and wants the residents to move to two camps farther south, but most refugees prefer to be closer to home _ and to the tree cover in Yida that provides protection from the merciless sun.
Aid workers say the proud Nuba don't like to take handouts. Conor Lucas-Roberts, the 29-year-old head of Samaritan's Purse, the largest aid group here, noted that the refugees build their own homes. People are even starting their own churches and businesses, setting up small shops and a "movie theater" _ a tent with a few chairs and a TV.
Hussein Algumbulla, the chief representative for the camp's residents, said the Nuba hate asking for help. "We need only scythes and next year we can say to WFP, you can come buy food from us," he said.
Algumbulla says he expects the camp's population to swell to more than 60,000 people in coming months, a number the U.N. refugee agency is also bracing for, according to Peter Trotter, the head UNHCR official at Yida, noting that conditions in the Nuba Mountains will only get worse.
"They should be preparing land now but are not. There are reports of people eating their seed stock, so they have nothing to plant," he said.
Amjuma Ali Kuku, a 24-year-old teacher, cares for the camp's unaccompanied children. At first the job was manageable, but there are now 2,000 children without parents.
"For some of them, when the war broke out, they ran with the teachers and that is why they are here," she said as dozens of girls played with a tattered ball nearby. "Some of them don't know if their mothers or fathers are alive."
Of the hundreds of children Kuku oversees, only 16 have been reunited with their parents. Kuku's compound of teenage and young girls has no security, and food has disappeared, leaving the girls hungry. The WFP is trying to improve security.
But Kamal feels safer in Yida than in Nuba, which she hopes can somehow be annexed by the south, something Sudan President Omar al-Bashir is not likely to allow anytime soon. She plans to stay away until there is peace.
That may take a long time.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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This tour is based around some of the products that Italy excels in; in a nutshell, food and motor cars. The tour starts with a visit to the Lamborghini factory. Here, you will get to see these iconic cars being produced and visit the museum, exhibiting cars from the past and right up to the most high tech racing cars of today. From here, continue to the centre of Modena, where you'll be in foodie heaven. This area is the home of Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, some of the finest cooked meats in Italy, including salami and mortadella and of course, pasta. Have lunch like a king (not included), then make your way to a famous balsamic vinegar producer. Here you will be shown how the vinegar is produced and matured for years and get the chance to taste and stock up on some to take back for your friends and family.
Day Tour
Lamborghini factory and food tradition in Modena (6 Hours)
I.D.I Travel - Italian Dream Inc.
Valid for Travel Now Through: 09 Apr 2019
Lamborghini factory and food tradition in Modena (6 Hours )
Tour Features
- Culture, History & Arts
- Family Vacations
- Romance, Weddings & Honeymoons
- Sightseeing
- Walking & Biking
Recommended Ages
All Ages
Activity Level
About Us
ABOUT US: Renowned for creating the utmost in unique travel experiences, I.D.I. Travel boasts extensive knowledge in crafting the perfect Italian vacation. Whether your clients desire an intimate dinner with Michelangelo's famous David as the backdrop or a brisk day out truffle hunting, the company can realize your clients' wishes. Centrally located just outside Venice with branches throughout the country, I.D.I. has fostered long-standing partnerships with the owners of Italy's leading hotels and villas, as well as the country's finest guides, artists, chefs, winemakers and designers. These relationships afford I.D.I. private access to exclusive wineries, along with special events at historical sites and museums. In addition to its extensive travel itineraries, I.D.I. also maintains a fleet of luxury vehicles with experienced drivers for all your clients' travel needs during their Italy vacation.
Insider TipPrivate boat evening excursion to Borromean Islands-Evening walk at Valley of Temples -Ski Trip on the Etna Volcano. To visit Capri, make sure you arrive in the evening and spend at least two night.
Terms & Conditions
The client's credit card will be charged in the local currency (Euro) and will be exchanged by the client's bank at the exchange rate applicable on the day the bank processes the charge. For this reason, there may be a variation in the U.S. price quoted and the actual rate processed on the client's credit card Immediately upon booking I.D.I. will charge your credit card 30% of the total amount of all travel fees. Full and complete payments for travel are due no less than 60 days prior to the first provided service and your credit card will be charged accordingly. Bookings made within 60 to 15 days prior to the first provided service require full payment within 7 days of booking. Bookings made within 14 days of the first provided service require full payment within 24 hours of booking. Bookings are subject to cancellation if deposit/payments are not received within the periods stated above and cancellation fees will be imposed as set forth below. Any changes to the itinerary will be charged according to the schedule above. Any changes to the itinerary made while on location in Italy will be charged and paid at the moment to I.D.I. Payment can be made by Credit Card or Wire Transfer To enable the wire transfer payment to be processed efficiently please note on the wire transfer order the name of the travelers and your agency name Wire Transfer Information is as follows: International Bank Routing Number: UNCRITB1A40 Inter. Bank Acc. Number: IT 08 O 02008 61800 000097190508 Italian Bank Routing numbers: ABI 02008-1 – CAB 061800-9 Bank Name: UNICREDIT BANCA SPA Telephone Number:+39.041.5936299 Bank Address: Piazza Duca D'Aosta, 20-Mogliano Veneto (Treviso) Name on Account at Receiving Bank: I.D.I S.r.l. CIN: O as in Ohio CANCELLATION POLICY: In the event the client wishes to cancel the travel plans made through I.D.I. the following penalties will apply (the percentages below are percentages of the entire cost of the travel arrangements made through I.D.I, not the amounts paid to date) All dates listed below are business days, meaning Monday through Friday between 9a.m. and 5p.m. calculated by the date and time in Italy: • 10% from confirmation to 45 days before the first provided service; • 30% from 44 to 25 days before the first provided service; • 50% from 24 to 15 days before the first provided service; • 75% from 14 to 7 days before the first provided service; • 100% if 6 business days or less from the first provided service.
The trademarks VIRTUOSO, the Globe Swirl Logo and SPECIALISTS IN THE ART OF TRAVEL are registered trademarks of Virtuoso, Ltd. Virtuoso, Ltd. has a U.S. copyright registration for the Globe Swirl Logo, ©2000. All rights reserved. Virtuoso CST#2069091-50. California CST# 2069091; TA# 808 - Registered Iowa Travel Agency; Washington UBI # 601 554 183. Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California.
Reviews and Recommendations for I.D.I Travel - Italian Dream Inc.
of 44 guests


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[ Author's Note: I really don't know what to say. It was just one of those days. If you don't feel like reading a broad rambling on loosely connected ideas, please don't read this! ]
good place to start -- as always -- is with a few definitions. For this
particular discussion it works better if I create them loosely and use
somewhat non-conventional meanings. I'll try to explain why that helps
as I go along.
first thing I want to define is a 'system'. For this discussion it is a
set of rules that act on 'stuff', where I intend stuff to be nearly as
vague as possible. Stuff could mean static objects, or it could mean
dynamic processes, or anything in between.
can be broken down into two loose categories: formal and informal. A
formal system rigidly constrains the stuff, so that it stays within the
space occupied by the rules. That is, stuff is in the formal system when
it obeys the rules, and it is invalid or outside the system otherwise.
Thus the rules are 'formal' and essentially unbreakable.
systems, on the other hand, obey the rules most of the time but there
are plenty of things that can occur within the system that are outside
of the rules. That is, an informal system loosely defines what most of
the rules are, what the boundaries are, but there are always exceptions
and somehow by some 'stickiness' these still fall within the system.
put these two definitions in more candid terms: a formal system is
black and white and an informal one is just shades of grey. Both are
systems and have what amounts to deterministic behavior, but one only
approximately follows its rules, while the other is bound by them.
why these definitions? Because we can apply them to many things within
our world. The rigid abstract formalisms of mathematics are obviously
formal systems. The rules are the axioms, the definitions, the lemmas,
the theorems, etc. that are built up on top of the stuff which is the
underlying well-defined mathematical objects. There are many different
branches in mathematics and all of them have a plethora of underlying
formal systems. Formal systems can also be built on top of other formal
systems, by creating relationships between them.
a very simple formal system in mathematics is a set of operators like:
plus, minus, multiply and divide, that works on objects like: the set of
all whole (positive) numbers. What is interesting about this system is
that the subtract operator, when used on a small number and a much
larger one, will produce a new number that is no longer within the whole
numbers. That is 3 - 10 = -7, which is a negative number.
are a number of ways to view this, but again I'll go a little
unconventional and say that the above formal system has an 'exit' point
into a larger formal system. That is, if I had chosen integers, which
include the negatives then there would be no problems with the subtract
operator. Thus we can consider the first formal system as being an
incomplete subset of the second, with respect to subtraction. We can
also consider it to be an incomplete subset of one based on the
continuum of real numbers, with respect to division. This gives us a
large set of structural relationships between the various systems. These
distinctions may seem a little weird, but they will come in useful
contrast to a formal system, an informal one is not so well-defined.
There are rules and there is stuff, but there is also a great deal of
flexibility built in. That is, there are no real 'exit points'. If
something does not fit within the system, somehow it still seems to
remain there. The types of informal systems I am thinking of include all
different sizes of groups of people. Companies, clubs, governments and
all other organizations are informal systems. They have rules which bind
them together, but do change from time to time. Other examples are
markets, schools, disciplines, professions, soft sciences, etc.
may note that all of the informal systems I've listed so far are based
around people. That's more of a coincidence rather than a deliberate
intent, for there are plenty of systems out there that we have tried to
rigorously formalize but our underlying knowledge is incomplete, or the
basis of the system is just too chaotic. Evolution, physics and weather
are good examples. These too are informal systems, but our underlying
comprehension of the rules is gradually approaching formalization. That
is, rather than an exit point, outliers get feed back into the informal
system to enhance our understanding of it as it approaches, but never
quite reaches, formalization.
this brings up a very important point. At the bottom of everything, as
far a s we know, are particles. And although we don't know all of the
rules that define their behavior, we are pretty sure that the rule set
is static. Thus there is one underlying formal system that quite
possibly binds everything. That is, nothing can happen unless it is a
physical possibility. On top of this we get ever increasing
'epiphenomenon'; larger and larger collection of particles that at their
collective levels behave within a set of what are essentially
meta-rules. So we get galaxies, planets, stars, etc. And built on these
we get even more: water, earth, plants, people, etc. And on these we
build up even higher to stuff like buildings, farms, etc. And some
epiphenomenon that are less physical, but still bind together stuff like
organizations, companies, countries, etc.
it would seem that for all of our informal systems, they exists within
the bounds of lower and lower systems that eventually fall back to one
rather low-level formal system.
is rather odd though, is that we are also aware of the multitude of
mathematical formal systems out there, and these seem to exist without
any ties to those based on the many layers of epiphenomenon ones. We do
however, use them to explain the others. That is, physics is a set of
formal systems that are remarkably accurate in explaining the physical
world around us. So in that very sense, mathematics is the
meta-formality that binds together the epiphenomenon with some degree of
precision. Thus it has its roots in our physical world, even if it just
appears as an abstraction based on our intellectual thinking
real argument about the how tangible the formal systems of mathematics
are has to take in consideration computers. For the first time, our
species has manager to instantiate one of our previously abstract-only
formal systems -- Turing machines and/or lambda calculus -- into a
physical reality. Well almost, since computers are still bound by finite
resources and by the occasional hardware failure. Regardless, it is
still a tremendous accomplishment and their existence has been rapidly
transforming our societies ever since. One might argue that how physics
models the world is similar, but we need to consider that that link
between math and reality depends on a person utilizing the models in
their head, in order to act on the knowledge. Thus the formal systems
that underpin physics stay internal to our minds. Computers, on the
other hand, do their computations entirely independently of people, and
thus are a concrete physical manifestations of a formal system. A very
different ballgame.
why are these definitions of formal and informal systems useful? One of
the main tasks of software developers is to construct useful formal
systems that solve problems for people working in informal ones. That
is, any software we write must be formal in its construction, but its
usage lies in one or many informal systems.
you are writing a system to track how a company deals with its clients,
the company and the behavior of the clients is entirely informal. Most
things happen according to plan, but lots of exceptions occur and the
nature of the relationship changes as the market expectations change.
But those rules need to be formalized, so they can be coded, so the
computer can execute a deterministic series of instructions with each
interaction between the client and the company.
this angle, you can see the problem right away. The informality of the
base systems leads to difficulties in finding a formal one that both
precisely matches them and remains matching for any prolonged period of
are ways around this. The underlying formality of the computer still
allows for it to be dynamic with respect to its resources. The resources
may be finite, but these days memory and disk are so large that their
finiteness isn't a significant factor. So, instead of coding a large
number of finite static rules to contain the system, the designers find
dynamic ones that bend and shape as the underlying informal systems move
about. One of the great failures of software development these days is
to ignore this reality most of the time, and rather just blame the
inherent mismatch on contrived issues like 'scope creep'.
simplify this discussion somewhat, we can combine any underlying
informal systems together and take a subset. This somewhat monstrous
informal system is the object that we need to mirror with a formal
software one. As one could easily guess, this type of combination can
easily be contradictory or incomplete. And that is an all too frequent
reality when building software systems.
the relationship between software systems and the informal ones that
the software is trying to solve is interesting, these days I am more
interested in the general behavioral characteristics of informal systems
by themselves. One thing we can do is use the size of an informal
system as the metric of the underlying complexity. It isn't the only way
to view complexity, but it does prove useful in understanding how and
where the complexity grows.
an example, we can look at law. Since we're generalizing, we won't
distinguish between civil and criminal law, nor tie the discussion to
any specific country or international organization. Law is basically a
set of rules that the people of a society have agreed to follow. There
are often a lot of rules, and generally through government action they
are always increasing. The laws define which actions are right or wrong
but that is really a black and white view, where the world is rather
grey. So along with the laws are the precedents from legal judgements
that together often define how the law is interpreted and applied. Both
of these can also rely on a vast number of legal definitions, that do
not necessarily match the more common definitions used by industries or
people. To add to this, some laws or interpretations of them have never
been fully tested in the courts, so there is some ambiguity as to
whether or not they are valid.
the informal system that binds the laws of a country consists of the
laws themselves, the history of precedence and some unknown guesses or
assumptions about what is, and what is not, legal. And this is
constantly being added to with new laws, or new interpretations of the
laws. Thus it is perpetually getting larger all of the time.
least from the outside there doesn't seem to be any real mechanisms to
reduce the size of the system. I'm sure there are some instances of
people replacing laws with simpler ones, or laws just getting ignored,
but in general this does not seem to be the trend. The system just gets
larger every year, there are more lawyers and judges, and the complexity
get worse. New interpretations that form precedence get added, but the
old ones hang around and can always be dredged up again.
irony is that at some point the sheer size of the system prevents
people from being aware of the full scope of it. That seems to
contradict its usefulness in being there as a common set of rules that
everyone in a society should obey. Why have rules if most people are not
aware of them, or they are not properly enforced?
a formal system, one could likely find an equivalent system, but with a
less complex set of rules and then reduce it to it. In an informal one,
while that option may exist, it doesn't seem to be the path chosen. The
system gets larger, it get more convoluted, and any earlier
discrepancies instead of getting fixed just get built upon for the later
insider's perspective on a informal system is generally predicated on
familiarity. They understand the rules, or at least a subset of them,
and they accept that this is the way it was, and the way it will be. An
outsider's perspective, particularly if they need to dig down into the
depths and see all of the ugly warts and bumps that are being ignored by
others, is quite different. They can see the twistedness of the
informal system for what it is. The gradual accumulation of the rational
and irrational, over a long period of time.
software developers, if they are building systems to handle very
specific domain problems, they are the outsiders. That is, they come at
it from a distant perspective, and they get to evaluate the rules based
not on history growth, but rather a rational logical foundation. They
have no choice, they must map the informal system onto a very rigid and
precise formal one. Any impedance mismatches between the two systems is
both obvious and problematic.
does give developers a rather unique point of view. We're not looking
at informal systems like law from the vantage point of acceptance. We're
looking at it from the vantage point of complexity, and mapping it to
something simpler. Software systems, almost by definition, are going to
be simpler and less complex than the informal systems they are
mirroring. That's a product of the sheer amount of resources to build
them and keep them running, but also because they generally focus on
just a small number of problems contained within the informal system,
not the full system itself.
all of my experience digging to many different informal systems there
are a couple of things which really worry me. One is that virtually all
of the informal systems I've seen contain some type of irrationality.
There is always at least one thing there that is just not the product of
rational thinking. It just gets built up at the cross roads between
other parts of the system. Nothing that would even be constructed
deliberately. It's easy to see these because any domain expert
explanations are contrived, messy, hidden or seem to change. That
usually points to some underlying irrational component.
other thing that worries me is that there is always a way for the
system to grow, but almost never a way for it to shrink. One can see the
consequences of this all over our societies. Everything gets more
complicated and more convoluted. People try to justify the growth, but
these often are just hollow excuses.
might consider computerization a simplification method, and sometimes
it is. It is not infrequent that implementing a new computer systems
means changing the process to some degree to fit the new limits of the
code. However development of systems often goes on for decades, and
gradually the complexity heads back to its former glory.
in general make it easier to manage complex informal systems. They can
do a lot of the grunt labour for people, and they can do it fairly
accurately, if they were correctly instructed to do so. We can see this
shift as well. Part of the transformation of computers has been the
ability to manage informal systems of such complexity that they would
have easily collapsed without the aide of a computer. Overall, however,
I'm not sure that this is a good thing.
while back I read in a blog somewhere, that once a complex informal
system gets large enough, the only remaining option is for it to
collapse. That is, it falls apart suddenly and dramatically. History
seems to confirm this view, as we have seen the rise and fall of many a
great civilization. At some point the system can no longer increase, it
can't remain as it is and there is no 'release valve' for complexity.
There are no other options. It basically implodes on itself.
notion, if true, does not bode well for our current societies. We can
see that our complexity has dramatically increased over the last half
century, and we can see examples of systematic failure showing up at
ever increasing rates, but we seem to have no viable paths of fixing
what is wrong. We should be concerned.
there is some way out of our historic fate, my sense is that we would
need to rely on both computers and aggressive simplification to get
there. Computers, because they can show us alternatives to our current
informal systems, and help us model and control the side-effects of
changing what are essentially chaotic systems of n-dimensional
variables. And with that initial knowledge, we can start the slow
gradual changes needed to simplify our informal systems. The changes
have to be slow, just because in general people don't adapt well and
their fragility generates another form of complexity. No doubt it is
easier said than achieved, but given the alternative of imploding it
doesn't seem that bad.
is lots more I could say about formal and informal systems. Defined
this way, they provide a general underpinning for a great deal of what
happens in our lives. And along with the way we model things internally
they help to organize the way we see the epiphenomenon around us.
Perhaps, someday I'll get more of a chance to delve deeper into this
area, although all things considered, keeping up with modern life's
requirements is probably too time-consuming and complex these days for
me to get another chance :-)