text:
Mentioned in:
Friday Night Fumble: When Mediocre TV Masquerades as High Art
For six days in the fall of 1996, I was an excellent tight end for the Warriors of William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. I ran the post route and the flag route and once in practice nearly caught a very long pass. I was only a second-stringer for the freshman team, but I had the underdog's irrepressible optimism: here comes JV, Varsity, a scholarship to Ohio State, the NFL draft, the first celebration in the end zone at the Meadowlands while thousands upon thousands cheered.
It never quite panned out. There was an inauspicious 76 on a geometry test: I had been too busy studying quarterback signals to learn the defining characteristics of an isosceles triangle. This is a woeful mishap for the son of a mathematics teacher. The day before a game against either Windsor Locks or Enfield, I was pulled by my father from the team. Later, I participated in the far less demanding sport of volleyball, my infrequent spikes resounding in a gymnasium that had never known much glory.
That's all just to say that I wanted very badly to fall in love with Friday Night Lights, the football drama that recently concluded a five-season run on NBC. I was primed for its cavalcade of disappointments, because I had known those disappointments myself.
In addition, both my wife and I came of age in that golden age of the artistic television drama. We are both in our thirties, and remember when TV was impossibly crude (Married…with Children), low-brow (Walker, Texas Ranger), and utterly untroubled by reality (Saved by the Bell).
With the advent of NYPD: Blue in 1993, that started to change. TV, all of a sudden, could be serious and real. You didn't need Don Johnson anymore, and you didn't need a laugh track. And with The Sopranos and later The Wire, even with Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, TV could be something even greater than that. "Television had always been a pleasure, a mass entertainment…But in the aughts, the best TV-makers displayed the entitlement of the artist," wrote Emily Nussbaum in a 2009 New York magazine article entitled "When TV Became Art."
And we had arrived with it. Freshly minted graduates of liberal arts institutions, we were primed to treat the new TV drama like an object worthy of our Catholic, overripe intellects. We could do a Derridian reading of Breaking Bad. We could watch Mad Men with Foucault.
For many people, Friday Night Lights, which first appeared in 2006, represents the pinnacle of the new TV drama. It is less polished than Mad Men and less dour than The Wire, and somehow more relatable than both, as far as its numberless fans are concerned.
I am not one of those fans, despite having watched all five seasons. In fact, my distaste for Friday Night Lights only increased as the seasons went on, so that I was taken with launching lengthy diatribes at the television. I am fortunate to still be married.
Now, there is still plenty of bad television around, and I am content to render Dancing With the Stars unto those who want to watch it. But Friday Night Lights has somehow became a cause célèbre among the sort of crowd that would much rather spend its Sunday afternoons brunching in Brooklyn than watching a Houston Texans game. They have elevated the show to high art, with appreciations of resident hunk Tim Riggins in the same Paris Review where Norman Mailer once roamed and, on ever-so-sober NPR, "A Late-Blooming Love Letter to NBC's 'Friday Night Lights.'"
"Heartbreakingly good," says Entertainment Weekly; "an exquisite bit of anthropology," opines the New York Times. Bullshit, I say to all of them. Friday Night Lights is bad television. And if it is art, then it is art that is purposefully misleading, which is art of the worst kind.
Forget the amateurish acting, which vacillates between maudlin enthusiasm and shrill discord. Forget, too, the recycled plotlines that always have the hometown fans of Dillon pinning their hopes on fourth and long. Something is truly rotten in the state of Texas.
It begins with the whole "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" mantra, which coach Eric Taylor, the show's protagonist, delivers with all the growling gusto of Churchill before the Battle of Britain. Now, every sports team – and every sports show – is entitled to its inspirational bromides. But on Friday Night Lights, "clear eyes, full hearts" is elevated to a central tenet to which the characters subscribe as if it were religious truth.
There's nothing wrong with optimism, not even with optimism that crosses over into delusion – that's the kernel of nearly every Raymond Carver story. That unmoored optimism we reference when we call something "Ahabic" or "Quixotic." But in a Carver story, the careful use of irony allows the reader to make an independent judgment of the characters. Each one of Carver's down-and-outers thinks his break is right around the corner, even though the narrator subtly broadcasts to us that it isn't. This is the situational irony that Aristotle found in Oedipus – the arrogant king is looking for the transgressor who has cursed Thebes, unaware that it is himself.
Mad Men has its Oedipus in Don Draper, an outwardly successful man living a life as transparent as tissue paper. Baltimore is the Oedipus of The Wire, a sick city that nobody is capable of healing. In watching Don sink deeper into alcoholism and drift farther from his family, in witnessing the failure of every institution in "Body More" except for the drug trade, we feel pity and fear – the two emotions that, for Aristotle, give great art its pathos. Three thousand years after he wrote the Poetics, all is as should be.
But Friday Night Lights has no Oedipus of its own, no fallen king – and it has no irony, either. Nobody here is ever in danger of ever really losing. Characters do not so much overcome their troubles as they are saved from them providentially – every pass in FNL is a Hail Mary caught by a diving, flailing wide receiver for a last-second, game-winning touchdown. As such, all that overcoming is superficial and rushed.
Tyra Collette, a rebel with no interest in her studies, suddenly becomes inspired and crams for the SAT. Presto, she's into the University of Texas's flagship Austin campus. Matt Saracen, a middling athlete if there ever was one (and I should know), becomes a Manning brother overnight and wins the state championship. His friend Landry Clarke walks onto the Varsity squad of a championship team, though he appears to have minimal knowledge of and enthusiasm for football. More troublingly, he kills his girlfriend's assailant, but they get over the body-dumping in the span of a couple of episodes. Because what's the law when love is on your side?
Then there's queen bee Lyla Garrity, who leaves paralyzed quarterback Jason Street for the aforementioned Riggins. Then she leaves Riggins for Jesus and ends up having a dalliance with a youth leader at her megachurch. Then she comes back to Riggins. Then she leaves Riggins and goes to Vanderbilt.
I don't dislike Lyla nearly as much as I dislike what Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg and his writers did to her – or failed to do with her, rather. Is she tortured like Anna Karenina? Is she yearning for freedom like Emma Bovary? She can't just smile through every scene in her cheerleading outfit. It can't always be all-good, all the time. If it could be, I would have long ago moved to East Texas.
The Season 2 case of Santiago is especially infuriating. He is a young criminal with apparently boundless athletic potential, and Buddy Garrity takes him into his own home so that he can qualify to play for the Dillon Panthers. He does, but just as he starts to excel on the field, and just as his old criminal friends start to intrude on his new life, he is gone from the show without even the most peremptory explanation. This isn't Stalinist Russia; you don't just disappear a character like that.
And the treatment of race is just absurd. Is this not the same Texas where James Byrd was killed in 1998 by three white men who dragged him behind their truck until his head came off? Apparently not, since every social event is a Rainbow Coalition of well-dressed, happy families. There is no color line, no class divide, only the love of football.
This robs Friday Night Lights of any pathos and makes it instead an unwitting champion of the bathetic, which Alexander Pope called a work of art's fall "from the sublime to the ridiculous." You can be sure that if Oedipus were on Friday Night Lights, he would soothe the pain of his sin by joining the football team. His mother Jocasta would cheer from the stands, and he would wear a patch on his jersey with his dead father's image.
I don't care if art is realistic, but I want it to be true. This is what Aristotle demanded in the Poetics and it is what we should demand today, whether from our novelists or our television producers.
To be realistic, art has only to have fidelity to material reality, which is easy enough and not that important anyway. Beowulf and The Odyssey are not real, but that doesn't diminish them in the slightest. It doesn't diminish Harry Potter, either.
Truth is much harder. What Keats said about beauty and truth hasn't changed in the 127 years since he wrote "Ode on a Grecian Urn" – the two are still one and the same.
This is where Friday Night Lights fails – there is nothing true about it. It ignores hard battles in favor of superficial ones. I know enough about the world, and you surely do as well, to know that Vince Howard's mother could not turn, in the span of two episodes, from a drug addict to a spry middle-aged mother. It would be pretty to think so, as Hemingway once wrote, but all experiential evidence is against it. This kind of ease with fate may be uplifting in the space of forty-five minutes, but it makes for a hollow show. It's not that I want Matt Saracen to fail; I just want him to struggle the way real people do, the way that Oedipus struggled against his fate. That will make his victory more meaningful in the end.
There is one great scene in Friday Night Lights. Julie Taylor, the coach's daughter, does not want to return to college in the middle of Season 5 because she has had a disastrous affair with a teaching assistant. Her father is furious and insists that she go back to school and face the consequences of her romance, but when he tries to drag her out of the house, she resists in a paroxysm of tears. The scene is unexpected but inevitable, as Aristotle said great drama should be. It is real, it is true, and you don't know where it's heading. The show needed more of that – much, much more.
What bothered me most, though, was Tim Riggins's hair. It is always unfairly perfect, a surfer's locks falling over his face. It is perfect when he is playing football, it is perfect when he is drinking beer in the afternoon, it is perfect when he drops out of college, it is perfect when he goes to jail, and it is perfect when he schemes to buy an enormous plot of land without, seemingly, enough in his bank account to pay for a round of drinks.
My wife told me to stop screaming at the television, but I couldn't. Nobody has hair that perfect. It isn't real, it isn't true, and it certainly isn't art. You don't need Aristotle to tell you that.
Words Behind Bars: Avi Steinberg's Running the Books
Avi Steinberg's memoir Running the Books: Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian is the sort of book that you attempt to put down partway, only to wander around your apartment, disoriented, picking up random objects and placing them elsewhere for no reason, before finally relenting and returning to read. The premise, like the pace, is catchy, almost irresistible: Steinberg, former yeshiva student, Harvard graduate, freelance obituary writer, and (perhaps needless to add) self-proclaimed "loner and romantic," takes a job running a Boston prison library and serving as the resident creative writing teacher.
There is a voyeuristic thrill to peering inside a prison, not merely at the incarcerated, an isolated community of sinister and curious social outcasts, but at the entire mini-civilization – the guards, staff, rules, rituals – which all seem so foreign and exotic compared to our own. Television shows like Oz and Prison Break in particular capitalized on the dark glamour that prison holds for the outside, and did their part in shrouding it with as much urban mystique as The Sopranos did for mob life. We want to look in; we just don't want to go in.
But it's through the eyes of a fellow outsider that we get to observe in Running the Books. With his orthodox Jewish upbringing and witty, literary reference-laden commentary, Steinberg, like many of his readers, clearly does not belong in a prison – on either side of the law – as much as he doubts this at times. Or as one inmate remarks, "You're an undercover playa – I like that." But this is exactly what renders the reading experience so much more honest: the book doesn't force its readers to adopt a false attitude of worldliness and blasé to accommodate it; we're afforded our natural reactions because they are more often than not Steinberg's reactions. As a narrator, he is infinitely relatable. He likewise has naive and uselessly emotional responses to what amount to commonplace injustices. He is just as prone to passing superficial (though bitingly funny) judgments, as in the case of his first five creative writing students who remind him of the famous line from Leviathan, with which Thomas Hobbes envisions life without a central sovereign as being "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Writes Steinberg: "Here they were, reunited in one room, sitting in front of me: Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and Short."
Prison is not short for characters, and like Steinberg, you'll find it impossible to remained detached. There is the female inmate who sees through the prison yard window that the son she abandoned as a child is incarcerated in the same walls; the convict who dreams of hosting his own hood cooking show "Thug Sizzle"; the gang of prison guard union buddies who call themselves the "Angry Seven"; the charismatic pimp whose memoirs Steinburg edits until learning the hideous truth about his past.
As the prison librarian, the "Bookie," Steinberg's memoir is as much about the inmates' interactions with literature as with himself. He assembles a Sylvia Plath shelf in the library at the request of her ardent (and depressed) female fans, which causes him no small amount of concern: "Ariel would never arouse the suspicions of myopic prison censors, who reserved the right to remove books of incitement and violence. But just because Ariel was art didn't make it less dangerous — in fact, it made it potentially far more so." Shakespeare month for the prison film group begins badly ("I can't say I wasn't warned. There was plenty of Shakespearian foreshadowing,") until Othello (the Laurence Fishburne version) and Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet are explosive hits. One inmate tells Steinberg he will refuse to speak to him until he reads The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. Dubois. When he argues that he's already read it, the inmate scolds: "Read it again…Cause you missed the whole point."
But literature is not merely interacted with in Running the Books; it is alive. In prison, as in literature, all of the flaws of our own society appear exaggerated, often even grotesque. Violence is as inescapable and inherent a mechanism of justice as it is in Icelandic blood feud literature like Njal's Saga or Egil's Saga. More than once Steinberg finds himself a victim of the Kafkaesque arbitrary and impenetrable bureaucracy that governs both inmates and staff alike. (Coincidentally, you might recall Steinburg's name from Elif Batuman's recent piece "Kafka's Last Trial" for the New York Times Magazine, in which she and Steinberg visit the house of Eva Hoffe, longtime custodian of Kafka's last manuscripts.)
Nonetheless, it's the words of the inmates themselves – whether in "kites," secret notes that prisoners hide for one another in library books, and through "skywriting," words spelled out backwards by male prisoners in the yard toward female prisoners' windows – that are most affecting. We know prison to be something of a "Civil Death," that the political (and to a great extent legal) voices of inmates go unheard. But Steinberg, who retains a reverence for the written word from his years studying the Torah, is consumed by how often the words of prisoners go unread. Kites must be unearthed and confiscated: "Books are not mailboxes," a sign fastened to the library walls grimly declares. Skywriting, where it's never quite clear who is signaling to whom, let alone what words they are spelling, is as predestined for misinterpretation, confusion, and jealousy as the communications in a French farce. And words from the inside out are equally unfortunate: it is not easy to write letters home from prison (in fact, one inmate runs a successful freelance poetry business designed to ease this burden), and prisoners often end up shredding or abandoning letters to loved ones.
Why do people write, knowing they might ultimately be writing to no one? And what is the worth of all of these words that are doomed to go unread?
For days I kept imaging the fate of the world's misplaced letters. I started noticing them everywhere. All the right letters sitting on desks and dressers, slipped into purses, abandoned in email Draft folders, forever sealed and unsent…And the wrong letters, placed in someone's hands – which, once delivered, may never be taken back. Emailed and immediately regretted. When I looked around the world, I couldn't see these letters. But I became aware of their indirect presence. They contained life's great subtexts… bound to a person by an almost invisible string. Even the unsent ones are very much present. Especially the unsent ones.
On one level, Running the Books is effortlessly readable. The stories weave in and out of each other, and through this the narrative turns compulsive: you need only become invested in one power struggle, one absurd operation, one hopeless endeavor to become invested altogether. But there is a profound weight to the memoir, too. Steinberg is not merely relatable as a narrator; he relates – his frustration, his ego, his susceptibility – and as my endless stretches of page-turning inevitably gave way to wandering about my apartment, I realized it was Steinburg's own disorientation that I was feeling.
In the moral ambiguities of prison, the comforting ideals of "good" and "right" are luxuries that have no place. They provide useless road maps. And yet, Steinberg must still aim for something. He must still retain some grace. Even then, his efforts often amount to nothing, or worse. You might not agree with all of his decisions, but you spare him censure because he is a far harsher critic of himself. And you cannot deny that he is trying really, desperately hard.
For all of its vivid characters, Running the Books is thus ultimately a book about character, a virtue most notable for the constant (and often wasted) effort it requires to be maintained. In literature, as in prison, all of the flaws of our own society appear exaggerated. But, however muted, the flaws here are the same. Life on the outside is just as rife with vulnerability, doomed optimism, moral ambiguity, and unsatisfactory compromise. And with this insight, when you re-enter society from the haze of a book, you orient yourself once more.
One Fast Move Or I'm Gone: A Review
I didn't have a costume for Halloween. I did, however, attend a horror show, in the form of a documentary called One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. After a short junior high love affair with On the Road, I've never been particularly interested in Jack Kerouac. But I didn't have anything else to do, and I miss California, and I thought I could enjoy the scenery and learn a thing or two. In retrospect, I think that my past disinclination to revere Kerouac stemmed from a spooky presentiment that a movie like this would be made about him. The promise of this foul enterprise lurked in every high school yearbook page, in every reference to the mad ones and the roman candles and the burning sensation. In this film, all of the maudlin silliness which Kerouac unwittingly spawned is made manifest.
The premise of the film is as follows: Several fixtures from Kerouac's life (Carolyn Cassady, Joyce Johnson, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, among others) were interviewed about Kerouac and specifically, his breakdown in Big Sur. Additionally, a bewildering crew of actors and artists was assembled and given a paperback copy of the book. I'm sure the people involved are great people and good performers in their respective milieux, but they were such a very motley crew, with so little obvious connection to the work and people and places involved, that it was comically weird and distracting. Instead of listening to their insights about Kerouac (such as they were), I spent a lot of time racking my brain, trying to figure out if Donal Logue was in The Lord of the Rings (he's not).
There is also Amber Tamblyn (her dad was Dr. Jacoby on Twin Peaks, and she is particularly criminal in this movie when she shakes her head and says "Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack," as though he had once taken a pair of her underpants), John Ventimiglia (who was on The Sopranos and has a very nice reading voice), S.E. Hinton (she wrote The Outsiders, which is neat), Aram Saroyan (minimalist poet, novelist, son of William), and Dar Williams (a singer-songwriter who is responsible for the shocking nadir of the film, when she cries on camera). Then there are Tom Waits and Patti Smith, whom I suspect were brought in because they are perceived as having a never-ending fund of "cred." I have seen Fishing With John, and I know that Tom Waits is a veritable one-man cred festival, but all he does here is flip pages and rub his face and growl.
I will say, though, that Tom Waits did have the good sense not to participate in the beach bonfire, during which some members of the crew hang out in the sand, drink, and talk about Jack (Jack, Jack, Jack). Which was probably really fun to do, but is excruciating to watch.
To make things even more confusing, sometimes you hear this crooning, and you think, "Is that the guy from Death Cab for Cutie," and it is that guy.
This is a cast that, when describing the purportedly tragic death of Kerouac's cat, not only makes it not sad, but actually raises a chuckle from (at least two) members of the audience. The film also does the near-impossible and makes San Francisco and Big Sur look hideous. Perhaps this was to show the twisted darkness of Jack Kerouac's soul. I'm not sure, but the whole thing is very grainy and made for unpleasant viewing.
Carolyn Cassady was a highlight of the film. For one, people who knew the subject are always more interesting to hear from than someone who was on hundreds of unrelated TV shows long after the subject's death. Also, Carolyn Cassady had relations with both Neal Cassady and Kerouac, and it's neat to hear what she has to say about it all (I think what she actually says on that particular aspect was something like "It was nice for me," which I thought was a hoot, especially since it came after a shot of the famous photo of Kerouac and Cassady, this photo being why I think they invented the lewd expression about wanting to be the meat in a given sandwich.)
My understanding is that Kerouac and his contemporaries were zany and drug-addled and sometimes brilliant and sometimes just crazy, and as such there are a multitude of stories and anecdotes about all of them; it's an embarrassment of riches. This movie, in trying to showcase a handful of the riches, is mostly just an embarrassment (I don't know what Dar Williams' music is like, but I'm telling you, the crying scene was very, very bad).
I was moderately happy I saw it, though. It is kind of an unintentional laugh riot. Also, the production and most of the commentary are so comically bad that they highlight Kerouac's writing, which in part narrates the action (such as it is). I have avoided Kerouac's work for so long that I had forgotten, if I ever knew, how startling and beautiful it can be, even if it is often responsible for bone-chilling jazzy readings and scat flights.
It is marginally interesting to hear from the people who knew Kerouac. And there is nothing intrinsically wrong with making a movie about how a group of unrelated randoms perceive a particular work. This group, though, was like a drunken, barely-prepared book club, whose members interrupt one another to say "Oh shit! I loved that part! That was so awesome!" Which, as I said, is fun to do and not fun to watch.
Two thumbs down!


text:
DLGL participates in the MAKE-A-WISH Québec fundraiser
For the fourth consecutive year, a team of six DLGL employees
took part in the 48-HOUR RIDE benefiting the
Make-A-Wish Québec Foundation.
This year, the event helped the organizers raise $1,614,000 to grant wishes for children whose health is seriously threatened.
Credit: Make-a-wish Québec
Congratulations to our team! See you there in 2018!
This post is also available in: French

subset: commoncrawl


text:
by Charles Gruenspan, Special to the CJN | ClevelandJewishNews.com | July 1, 2011
Last week's opinion piece in the CJN by Dr. Martin J. Plax (Pictured), "Why Obama may not be Israel's enemy," generated reaction from those who think the U.S. president and U.S. policy may not be serving Israel's best interests. See column and letters below and on next page. To read Plax's column, visit http://tinyurl.com/cjnplax.
Dr. Martin Plax implores us not to ignore history but then proceeds to distort the historical record beyond recognition. It saddens me that in his opinion piece "Why Obama may not be Israel's enemy" (CJN, June 24), my good friend would attempt to defend the record of the most anti-Israel president since George H. Bush.
Plax claims Obama is merely warning Israel to reconsider its "intransigent policies regarding Palestinians" in light of the radical changes in Arab leadership. However, uncritically accepting Obama's theme of treating Israel as the intransigent party turns history on its head.
Israel reached out to negotiate with Arafat while he was safely in exile in Tunisia. Israel withdrew from the major Arab population centers of the West Bank under the Oslo Accords and then unilaterally withdrew from all of Gaza. (Israel did not "return" Gaza, as Plax formulates, as it was previously under Egyptian control.) The resulting George W. Bush letters to Israel, which formally promised that Israel would not have to abandon its large settlement blocs, were rendered not binding by Obama.
Israel previously offered the Palestinians essentially everything Obama is now parroting as if it were his own initiative, at Camp David and again at Taba and yet again by Prime Minister Olmert, only to be summarily rejected by the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under Obama's coercion, explicitly called for a two-state solution and froze settlement construction for 10 months. Yet, despite its relentless pursuit of peace, Israel has never received anything of tangible worth in return for any of its concessions and initiatives. To label Israel as "intransigent" is blatantly false and defamatory.
Obama's intifada against Israel started well before the so-called Arab Spring. Plax's linking of Obama's Israel policy to the Arab uprisings is chronologically incorrect.
Plax's comparison of Hamas to Irgun is even more disturbing. Ben-Gurion turned his guns on Irgun to get them to submit their arms to one government rule, something the Palestinian Authority has not done with Hamas. Menachem Begin was democratically elected to the Knesset for more than a quarter century before being elected prime minister. Hamas was elected once and immediately began throwing its political opponents off buildings.
To contrive expectations about Hamas based on Irgun is beyond delusional. Is it impossible for Hamas to reform? No. Is it rational for Israel to take existential risks based on that unrealistic hope? Only Obama and his apologists apparently believe so.
Israel was created by the United Nations and recognized, de jure, by all of Europe, the Americas, the Soviet Union and many others. It did not need de facto recognition. The only significance of the Madrid Conference, which otherwise accomplished absolutely nothing of substance despite forceful pressure from the first President Bush, was that it bestowed de facto recognition on the Palestinians, not on Israel, as Plax states.
Obama's setting of the 1967 (actually 1949 armistice) lines as the basis for negotiations can hardly be called "neutral," unless, of course, he had also called for the Palestinians to commit to a demilitarized state and to give up their demand for a "right of return," which he did not do. Neutrality better describes President Clinton, who, in contradiction to Plax's depiction, played no role in negotiating the Oslo Accords other than to provide a venue for photo ops. The ensuing treaties with Jordan, India and others were not the result of any pressure or intervention by the president of the United States.
Israel gave up the Sinai in 1956, which led to war in 1967. Israel entered into pacts with Gemayel of Lebanon, Sadat of Egypt, and the shah of Iran, who were all either assassinated or deposed shortly thereafter. Withdrawal from Lebanon resulted in 8,000 rockets and war. Withdrawal from Gaza resulted in 6,000 rockets, which were smuggled in from Egypt, to whom Israel had twice ceded the vast and mineral-rich Sinai peninsula in the pursuit of peace, and then war. And finally, the election of President Obama resulted in the abrogation of U.S. commitments regarding Israeli settlements.
Plax is correct that Israel must learn its history lessons well. Its very existence depends on it.
Charles Gruenspan is an attorney with Charles Gruenspan Co., LPA, and a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Source: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2011/07/01/opinion/commentary/doc4e0cebc66b21e310868737.txt


text:
Only 1 episode remaining until our big 50, and for this week we decided to go "down unda" to "Ozzieland" for our special guest, the one and only Marcus Santoro!
Marcus has been shaking up the business for almost a decade now. The Melbourne native had a humble beginning, with his debut single I'll Never Forget on Effectz Recordings back in 2011. He kept on working, always with the aim of something bigger in mind, which came in 2014 with All The Way, a progressive house anthem that saw him work with The Potbelleez and that would define Marcus's melodic and energetic sound for the next years. 2015 saw him get called up to the big leagues, with two back-2-back releases on Revealed Recordings, one of which a remix of Sick Individuals's iconic Lost & Found.
Over the following years, Marcus released on labels such as Enhanced Recordings (and its sublabels), Armada, Garuda, Protocol, Virgin, and most recently, Axtone – a home in which he had already been a couple of times prior. Nowadays, Marcus' sound has shifted, and his music can be described as eclectic, captivating and innovative, constantly breaking boundaries wherever he goes. So, when the opportunity of having Marcus Santoro on our Future Connection radioshow, we couldn't say "no"!
Marcus certainly rocked the airwaves and delivered everything we expected from him, setting the grounds perfectly for our celebratory 50th episode! Check out Ep.49 of Future Connection below, as well as Marcus latest remix of Fangoria's De Todo Y De Nada!


text:
- Bill Greider
LEAN & the 4th Industrial Revolution Part 1: Jidoka
First, a quick history lesson. The first three "Industrial Revolutions":
The First (18th-19th centuries)-farmers became small urban manufacturers. Think iron, textiles and the steam engine.
The Second (1870-1914)-electric power allowed small urban manufacturers to become large urban manufacturers, especially, steel, oil and electricity. Highlight was the development of the internal combustion engine.
The Third (1980s-today)-aka the Digital Revolution-the advances from analog electronic and mechanical devices to digital technology. People suddenly rely on computers, a cell phones and the internet.
The phrase 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' was first coined by Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2016, and introduced the same year at the World Economic Forum. 4IR is characterized by "the fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres". In other words, The Jetsons. Think robotics, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. Think additive manufacturing and 3D printing on steroids.
Now lets talk about the lean concept "Jidoka". which is defined as autonomation or "automation with a human touch". I suppose this very narrow definition comes from the story of how Sakichi Toyoda (Toyoda Automatic Loom Works LtD) in the early 1900s invented a self-stopping loom that avoided the hours and hours of untangling woven fabric. Watching people struggle to untangle fabric bothered Toyoda, and believed that work to be disrespectful to human beings. Which brings me to what jidoka really means: RESPECT FOR PEOPLE.
The goal of a lean strategy is to leverage operational excellence to create market disruption by methodically eliminating the 8 wastes. People do more productive work and much less waste (non-value added work). Companies successful in lean see huge improvements in productivity (often measured as sales/labor hour). The 4IR will be marked by quantum, exponential leaps in productivity (our ability to do more with the same human effort). More important, the 4IR can result in quantum leaps in human's quality of life. My friend Lenord Hahn of Ulbrich Steel alerted me to a 15 minute Ted Talk you may enjoy where Kai-Fu Lee discusses how artificial intelligence can save our humanity.
More and more, humans will be doing fulfilling human work and machines will be delegated to repetitive, tedious tasks!
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this discussion, which will talk about the 4IR and the concept of Nemawashi.


text:
Use GPT-3 Demo with Appium
TestingAutomation Frameworks
GPT-3 Demo & Appium
Are you interested in a GPT-3 Demo and Appium apps? Let us know!
About GPT-3 Demo
Get inspired and discover how companies are implementing the OpenAI GPT-3 API to power new use cases.
About Appium
Ready to start building?
At Apideck we're building the world's biggest API network. Discover and integrate over 12,000 APIs.Check out the API Tracker


text:
Everyday Savings Up to 68% Off + Free Shipping for Nurses
Extra 5% Off for Nurses
U.S. & Canadian Nurses get 15% off Razer gaming gear and 5% OFF Razer Blade laptops
2.5% Off for Nurses
Extra 5% Off for Canadian Nurses
Sign in to use features like saving stores and offers, earning cash back, accessing exclusive community offers, and more.
Sign In
New to ID.me Shop?
Start Here


text:
Read your way through the holidays at library
Brighten up your holidays with one of these titles available for checkout at T.B. Scott Free Library:
•Suspense lovers are sure to enjoy "A New York Christmas" by Anne Perry, arriving just in time for a great seasonal read.
•For those who are looking for a "good listen" to get them in the mood for the season, "The Mistletoe Promise" by Richard Paul Evans is now available as an audiobook on CD just in time for the holidays.
Increasingly popular at T.B. Scott Free Library are e-books, downloadable audiobooks, music and videos. Look no further than your library for hundreds of free titles from our library's website, www.tbscottlibrary.org.
Looking for a few thrillers to take your mind off the holiday rush? "The Cinderella Murder" by Mary Higgins Clark and "The Escape" by David Baldacci will keep you wondering until the last page.
•Don't forget nonfiction either. Bestsellers like Barbara Leaming's "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis" and "The Innovators" by Walter Issacson will make you sound smarter at your next holiday party.
Meanwhile, your relaxing holiday read could work your way to a cool prize in T.B. Scott Free Library's Adult Winter Read-In! Pick up entry forms at the library starting Jan. 2. For every five books you read or listen to — even e-books — you can complete a form that might be selected in several prize drawings live on WJMT-AM 730. Check with the library for more details.
Need more suggestions? Contact T.B. Scott Free Library and a librarian will be happy to assist you. Happy Holidays!
Don Litzer is assistant director and head of Adult Services at T.B. Scott Free Library.


text:
Posted by Tessa Zindren on April 10th, 2020
Posted in: Weekly Postings
See something of interest? Please share our postings with colleagues in your institutions!
COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation.
Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov
Get the latest research information from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus
Reducing Stress with My MedlinePlus: In the latest edition of the My MedlinePlus Newsletter you can learn relaxation techniques to help your body relax and lower your blood pressure and heart rate. Subscribe to receive My MedlinePlus via email.
Celebrate National Minority Health Month: This National Minority Health Month the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) will feature the theme Active & Healthy and focus on safe ways all communities can stay physically active and advance mental and emotional wellness. Download the bilingual OMH NMHM2020 Toolkit to access resources, sample social media messages and downloadable graphics to increase awareness about #NMHM2020 and encourage others to get involved in this effort.
Funding Available: The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region (NNLM MAR) invites applications for health information outreach and programming projects. Review our available awards and submit your proposal by April 30 at 12:00 PM ET.
Share your story with us! NNLM MAR is always interested in learning about health outreach projects and activities that are happening in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Currently, we would love to hear about how you are connecting with your patrons and/or community members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Blog submissions must be a minimum of 200 words (preferably in 3 paragraphs).
National Public Health Week 2020 – PHDL Me This
Earn the Disaster Information Specialization – SEA Currents
Citizen Science Needs You! Help Fight COVID-19 – The Dragonfly, News from the Northwest and Beyond, by PNR
Libraries Closed! Painful Decisions in Response to COVID-19 – NER Update
New on YouTube: Food for Thought: Exploring Nutrition Information Resources, March 19, 2020
Answering the Call: Academic Health Sciences Library and COVID-19 – The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting public health crisis have had a profound impact, reshaping patient care, training, research, learning, and community engagement across academic medicine. Academic health sciences libraries are answering an urgent call to implement the virtual library as an extension of our embedded and integrated roles on campus. – NLM Musings from the Mezzanine, Innovations in Health Information from the Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
How to Wash Your Hands, Historically – A simple act of personal hygiene that practically every human carries out daily is key to preventing the spread of viral infections. That act? Washing one's hands. – Circulating Now, from the Historical Collections of the National Library of Medicine
Can Smart Phone Apps Help Beat Pandemics? – When the time comes for people to come out of their home seclusion, how will we avoid a second wave of infections? One thing that's crucial is developing better ways to trace the recent contacts of individuals who've tested positive for the disease-causing agent—in this case, a highly infectious novel coronavirus. – NIH Director's Blog
Subscribe to the NLM Technical Bulletin for the latest updates on NLM tools you may be using! The current issue recently highlighted continued updates to the New PubMed.
NLM Welcomes Applications to its Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine for 2021 – The NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine provides up to $10,000 to support onsite research in the historical collections of the National Library of Medicine. To receive consideration, all required materials must be submitted to the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES), via the online application portal, by midnight ET, September 25, 2020. Selected fellows will be notified and awards will be announced in December.
NIH News in Health: The April 2020 issue is now available, featuring, "Autism Spectrum Disorder: Engaging in a Social World," and, "Protecting Against HPV: Common Viruses Can Lead to Cancer." Other topics include how stress causes grey hair and opioid facts for parents.
NNLM and NLM classes are free and open to all. Please feel free to share our training opportunities!
Connecting Communities to Health Information: Graphic Medicine Kits at the Public Library – April 15, 2:00-3:00 PM ET – To combat health misinformation and stigma, Darien Library in Connecticut created Graphic Medicine Kits to circulate within their community. During this webinar with the New England Region (NER), hear about the creation, promotion, and circulation of these kits, successes and potential improvements in the process, and the NNLM grant that made it all possible.
Make it Work—Managing Your Solo or Small Hospital Library – April 15, 4:00-5:00 PM ET – Whether you work by yourself or with a small staff, the nitty-gritty of successfully delivering your services can be challenging. Join the Pacific Northwest Region (PNR) and two successful solos in this webinar as they discuss the importance of building partnerships throughout their organization, staying visible and valuable, all at the best possible price.
"Testing the Waters" Program in a Box Kit Reveal – April 16, 2:00-3:00 PM ET – Through citizen science, NNLM can engage communities in addressing societal needs and accelerating biomedical science, technology, and innovation. Collaborations between communities and researchers build capacity to address problems and meet research goals. Join the NNLM Training and Education Center (TEC) and Cornerstones of Science for this webinar to learn about a new Citizen Science Program-in-a-Box Kit. Discover the activities, contents, and how you can order a kit!
ClinicalTrials.gov: Results Reporting, Unique Evidence, and the Role of Medical Librarians – April 23, 2:00-3:00 PM ET – ClinicalTrials.gov is the openly available federal registry and results database of publicly and privately funded clinical studies conducted in the United States and around the world. ClinicalTrials.gov is a vital resource for researchers, healthcare providers, and health sciences librarians who wish to consult the entire body of evidence on any particular topic. Join the Pacific Southwest Region (PSR) for this webinar to learn about the significance of ClinicalTrials.gov, how to search and interpret the results database, and how health sciences librarians can advocate the importance of complying with the results submission requirements to clinical researchers.
Genetics, Genomics, and Precision Medicine – Past, Present and Future – April 28, 2:00-3:00 PM ET – Sponsored by the southeastern Atlantic Region (SEA), this webinar will present an overview of the topics of genetics and genomics. Presenters will explore why genetics is relevant to everyday life, where it shows up, why you should care and why having a basic knowledge is important. There will be discussion of key terminology, technology supporting modern precision medicine, and the role of computing in genomics. No experience with bioinformatics computing is needed to take this class. The goal is for participants to leave comfortable talking about modern genomics and precision medicine, some key parts of its history and the future of the field.
Getting Started with Information Outreach in Your Community – April 30, 2:00-3:00 PM ET – This class will provide a background in cultural competence and outreach skills as librarians make outreach efforts to underserved, underrepresented minority populations in their community. Join the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) for this class to learn more about the following topics: locating community demographics, the importance of developing relationships, the basics of building and developing community-based partnerships, recognition and acceptance of cultural differences, and the importance of cultural competency. Some basic concepts of program planning and evaluation within a culturally diverse environment will be covered as well
Health and Wellness @ the Library: The Essentials of Providing Consumer Health Services – May 4-June 1, 2020 – Sponsored by the Pacific Southwest Region (PSR), this interactive 4-week online course provides a rich learning experience to build all the essential skills for providing consumer health information services. A new topic area each week will expand on familiar concepts and provide exposure to new concepts, techniques and resources to take your skills to the next level.
How PubMed Works – May 5-14, 2:00-3:30 PM ET – Join our National Training Office (NTO) for this series of four 90-minute classes on PubMed. Attendees must register for each class separately.
Exploring Data Literacy Needs at Your Institution – May 6, 1:00-2:00 PM ET – Sponsored by the Southeastern/Atlantic Region (SEA), this webinar will discuss how data literacy initiatives can be integrated into different institutions. Join Theresa Burress and Emily Mann, Science Librarian and Student Success Librarian at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, respectively, as they discuss some of the successes and challenges they experienced as they co-led a faculty learning community at their institution to start a campus conversation about data literacy.
I am…Safe Zones: Sticks and Stones LGBTQA 101 – May 13, 12:00-1:00 PM ET – What better ways to learn about sexual identities than to list out social norms, stereotypes, media images, rumors, jokes, and slang! Sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Region (PNR), this is a safe space for any and all kinds of interactive discussions regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Heterosexual identities.
Looking for self-paced learning opportunities? Check out the classes below that are available to begin at any time! You can also watch recordings from past NNLM classes on a broad range of topics.
A Bird's Eye View of Health Data Standards – This one-hour training session with videos and exercises is intended to introduce you to health data standards and how they are used, including relevant National Library of Medicine (NLM) products and services.
Bibliometric Training – Provided by the NIH Library, this series is a collection of thirteen free online videos that introduce viewers to the theories and practices of bibliometric analysis, as implemented by the NIH Library's bibliometric service program. The goal of the series is to show how NIH does bibliometrics for research evaluation, to act as a springboard for others to get started with bibliometrics so that they feel more comfortable moving beyond this series on their own.
Chemicals, Drugs, Genetics: Searching PubMed and Beyond Online On Demand – This specialized class will help improve your effectiveness in searching PubMed and related NLM and NIH databases for literature information on chemicals, drugs and genetics. The course begins with searchinag PubMed for drug information with MeSH terms, Supplementary Concept Records (SCR), and Pharmacologic Actions (PA). Additional topics include searching related databases for drug information, chemicals and with chemical nomenclature, and lliterature related to genetics and genomics.
Cool Creative Communications: Dazzling Data Visualization Online On Demand – This class is intended as a quick-start guide to creating effective data visualizations and is geared toward a general audience with no prior experience creating visualizations. Participants will use Tableau Public, a popular free tool, to visualize data.
Dissemination and Disasters: Using Information to Save Lives – This hour-long, asynchronous course will introduce you to the four phases of emergency management. You'll be shown demonstrations on how to utilize tools from the National Library of Medicine to access life saving information about hurricanes, opioids, radiological incidents, and chemical spills. Specifically, demos of MedlinePlus, DisasterLit, REMM, and WISER will be shown.
Drug Terminologies and RxNorm – This course will introduce you to the basic concepts of medical terminologies (including what they are and why they are important), followed by a deep dive into RxNorm, an NLM-authored medical terminology specializing in drug information.
Finding and Using Health Statistics – Written by staff at AcademyHealth and provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, this tutorial on finding and using health statistics is aimed at students, librarians, and other professionals interested in an introduction to the principles behind health statistics.
Getting the Right Information to Patients Using MedlinePlus Connect – This one-hour training session with videos and exercises is intended to introduce you to what MedlinePlus Connect does and how, and point you to resources for implementing MedlinePlus Connect at your institution.
Grants and Proposal Writing – Designed for beginning grant proposal writers, this class presents a general overview of the grant and funding processes as well as the level of detail required in a successful proposal.
In Case of Emergencies: Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning – Provided by the NLM Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC), this asynchronous online course defines and describes COOP planning, why it is important for libraries to have a continuity plan, and provides a one-page COOP plan template with instructions that librarians or information specialists can use to develop their own plan.
Introduction to Health Reference: Ethics and Best Practices – Learn how to conduct a health reference interview using ethical and effective communication strategies through interactive, self-paced tutorials and a synthesis exercise.
MedlinePlus for Public Librarians – This hands-on, narrated tutorial explains why MedlinePlus should be the first choice for public librarians when answering health information questions. The class takes about an hour to complete and provides an auto-generated certificate of completion at the end.
Online Resources to Support Evidence-Based Practice on Population Health – This course is designed to teach public health professionals and librarians to use MedlinePlus, PubMed, and HSRProj to find reliable health information and data related to population health and Healthy People 2020.
PubMed Essentials – Are you looking for a way to kick start your PubMed search skills? PubMed Essentials is made up of 9 very short video-modules with built-in, interactive exercises so you can explore PubMed at your own pace.
Serving Diverse Communities – this three-part series of online trainings is focused on accessing health information resources related to working with diverse communities, including accessing health information in multiple languages, finding data on health disparities, and building cultural competence and humility into the workplace.
*Please note that the class registration system requires obtaining an NNLM account prior to registration. Learn how to register for classes from the NTO.
Job Postings:
Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19: Survey of Response & Activities – Public Library Association (PLA)
Survey of US academic libraries documents COVID-19 pandemic responses – Illinois News Bureau
Free online courses from Penn State Extension – Penn State Extension is offering more than 50 courses from their online library for free through the month of April! Get on-demand access from Penn State subject matter experts in areas like food safety, nutrition and preparation, environmental stewardship, healthy families, and more.
Host or Facilitate Remote, Live-Streamed Citizen Science Events in a Pinch – Looking to host a virtual event, or transition your previously in-person event to a virtual format? Then this is the virtual training for you! The Science Friday and SciStarter teams share tips to facilitate citizen science virtual events for schools and general audiences in April via this recorded webinar that was presented on March 25, 2020.
Coping and Caring in the Time of COVID-19 – Join the Medical Library Association for this series of free, live, online conversations! These weekly conversations for MLA members and the wider health information professional community are designed to help you address professional and personal pain points related to the current crisis. You can also share ideas for topics and presenters, or volunteer to present.
Make Fun of Learning! Game-Based Learning for Student Success – April 15, 2:00-3:30 PM ET – This course will explore the use of games in the classroom to enhance student participation and learning. The instructor will discuss the differences between gamification and game-based learning, why those distinctions are important, and the psychology behind both philosophies. Participants will learn how to spot opportunities for games in their own classrooms, the board game design process, and when games are appropriate in a class setting. Sponsored by MLA; $65 for members / $85 for non-members.
Health Information for Distance Learning – April 21, 1:00 PM ET – As nearly all academic training and support has moved to remote learning, supporting students and faculty in health sciences programs can be a challenge. At the same time, many librarians are worried about their own health and the health of their families. In this session free session provided by the Pennsylvania Library Association, two experienced academic health sciences librarians will provide tips and resources for supporting health sciences programs and finding high quality health information remotely.
MAR Postings is a comprehensive weekly news series authored by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region (NNLM MAR)
Receive MAR Postings via email


text:
Book Title: Liftflapfairytales Goldilocks
By Author(s):TUCKER STEPHEN
By Publisher:PAN MACMILLAN UK
In Lift-the-Flap Fairy Tales: Goldilocks, the traditional fairy tale is retold in Stephen Tucker's irreverent, playful rhyme that's perfect for reading aloud, and brilliantly accompanied by Nick Sharratt's bright and vibrant illustrations.
There are flaps to lift and pop-up surprises on every page: open the door to the three bears' house, see Goldilocks eat their porridge, and watch her leap out of Baby Bear's bed and run away home!
Includes a free audio CD read by Anna Chancellor, with two tracks: listen to the story alone, or follow along with the book by turning the pages when you hear the chime.
Look out for the other five stories in the Lift-the-Flap Fairy Tales series: The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.


text:
I am going to the the Spotlight Author at Jessewave on Wednesday. Come by and leave me a question in the comments. I'll do my best to answer as truthfully as I can. *winks*
Pretty much anything is on the table. Even plans for Bobby's book.
Stop by Wednesday! Jessewave Reviews


text:
Taking a few moments to do for me seeing modern beach style residence sydney ideas that are inspiring and what you should participate your everyday existence is is amongst the the items that I don't bargain. Therefore seize a fresh walk, look for a spot that is peaceful !
News display:
In this article, we're likely to reveal you a great assortment of 31 sophisticated modern beach style residence sydney ideas, nowadays. Take a peek at these innovative and get motivated for your next task. Let us hit the pattern now!
Beneath here you can see our gallery you will find various images you could search. Don't forget around the world to discuss and Flag!
You should be all modern beach style residence sydney pictures below inspired by this! Take records on all of the details shared by the developer.
Beach House Design Sydney Interior Waplag Architecture
Are you really searching for beach house design sydney interior waplag architecture? Here, you have found the proper location to get a start. We are going to provide the gallery with a few pictures that are beautiful. We're happy to assist you. Today, this is actually the first photo:
Modern Box House Openings Inspiring Freedom Sydney
This pictures that are modern box house openings inspiring freedom sydney appears beautiful and appealing. Are hey searching more professionally? If you're, do you think it is challenging to find what amuses you? Then feel free explore and to seize our site. We've lots of of pictures for inspiration.
Uniquely Hamptons Riverstone
This uniquely hamptons riverstone concept might be really daunting and intimidating, but our professional will assist you enormously. You'll visit a big variety of different.
Hamptons Style Beach House Sydney Australia Living
This hamptons style beach house sydney australia living idea can be quite daunting and intimidating, but you will be helped by our expert tremendously. You'll view a sizable variety of diverse.
Let's recap:
I 'd love to notice your viewpoint, if you could discuss this task along with your buddies, and in case you like it, I might so love. This approach mo-Re individuals might join the fun. We can be also followed by you on sociable media and keep up with their newest projects!


text:
An important part of learning how to tell hypnotic stories is to listen to many examples, which is why I started the Hypnotic Stories Podcast.
I'll be posting episodes and other helpful material here, but I want to start off just by listing the various places you can access the podcast. I'll update this post as more ways to access it become available.
Podcast Homepage: www.HypnoticStoriesPodcast.com
YouTube Playlist: https://youtu.be/WqKzuKAF7vI


text:
Sorting Out the Differences in Different Powers of Attorney
"What's the difference between a power of attorney and a durable power of attorney?"
Estate planning documents may not be the most exciting discussion, but understanding what you need to make sure your wishes are followed is essential for everyone, says NJ 101.5 in its recent post, "Understanding power of attorney documents."
A power of attorney (POA) is a legal document that's used to give a trusted friend or family member (known as the attorney-in-fact or agent) the authority to act on your behalf on financial or legal matters. You can specify the scope of powers, which can be very broad or limited.
You would typically use a POA if you need help with a single task, like requiring someone to represent you in a legal matter that you can't attend to yourself. When that's done, the agent's powers automatically end. In addition, your agent can't act on your behalf if you become incapacitated even though you're not able to act for yourself.
Although there may be instances where this arrangement is preferred, a durable power of attorney (DPOA) is the right document to use when the agent's powers need to endure while you are incapacitated. As an example, seniors might be concerned about their capacity diminishing over the years, so they designate a family member as agent in a DPOA to help them with day-to-day finances.
You can revoke a POA or DPOA at any time—provided you're not incapacitated. If you are, the DPOA is still valid, and you no longer have capacity to revoke it. In all situations, your agent's power stops upon your death.
A DPOA can give you and your family peace of mind that you have a trusted individual selected to handle your affairs in an emergency. This also saves time and the expense of a legal proceeding to get someone appointed to take care of your affairs.
Unless you specify otherwise, your agent's powers are effective immediately upon execution of the document—although you are still able to manage your own affairs. In some circumstances, it is preferable for the agent's powers to be predicated on a certain event, which is called a "springing" power of attorney. You might use a springing power if the agent is a non-spouse.
You can also name an agent for medical decisions, but this is usually done with a separate document in concert with a living will.
Reference: NJ 101.5 (August 22, 2016) "Understanding power of attorney documents"


text:
MIA - Welcome - Edited by - Miami, Florida, USAYou can contact the editor of this information with your ideas and corrections; there are more pages like this covering other areas of the country
- John December: Editor of this information since 2006
- Suggestion?: Please send a correction of any information you find here or your suggestion to email@example.com via email with the subject line places-mia
- Going elsewhere?: Access other pages like this; explore: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco, Washington DC, Madison WI, New York State's Capital District, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and a reference page for the whole United States


text:
All posts tagged "Porsche"
Consumer Reports: Tesla and other U.S. car manufacturers drop in rankings
Asian automakers again top list for most reliable
- Posted October 24, 2018
Strong Fleet Purchases Help Auto Sales
Spurred by rise in tourism overall sale jump in December
- Posted January 18, 2017
From Ferraris to SUVs: 5 cars that shone at the Paris show
PARIS — An obscenely powerful hybrid sports car, a family-friendly SUV with enough space for seven adults, and an electric vehicle that promises to keep going for over 300 miles (500 kilometers) on a single charge —...
- Posted September 30, 2016
All-New 718 Porsche Boxster, Boxster S Make Local Debut
Entry-level model gets turbocharged flat-four engine
- Posted August 16, 2016
Garage Europa-Porsche Center Exhibiting Replica of 919 Hybrid Race Car
Cutting-edge vehicle was 2015 winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race
- Posted May 25, 2016
Bad Week for German Automakers: Huge Costs, New Probe
Mercedes, Opel Volkswagen and its subsidiaries Audi and Porsche
- Posted April 22, 2016
Study: Lexus, Porsche and Buick Are Most Dependable
DETROIT — Lexus, Porsche and Buick are the most dependable vehicle brands, according to a new study by the consulting firm J.D. Power. Dodge, Ford and Smart are the least dependable, with owners reporting the most problems....
- Posted February 24, 2016
Nearly 10,000 Fake Goods Worth $1.6M seized in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN – Federal agents have seized nearly 10,000 counterfeit products imitating the brands of Apple, Cartier, Gucci, BMW, Porsche and others in one of the biggest seizures of its kind on the island. Authorities say the products are worth...
- Posted February 10, 2016
Porsche LatAm, Caribbean Sales Grow 2.5% in 2015; Puerto Rico in Third Place
SAN JUAN – Sports car manufacturer Porsche delivered 3,209 units to customers in Latin America (LatAm) and the Caribbean during 2015, which represents an increase of 2.5% compared with 2014. For the German automaker, the achievement is...
- Posted January 20, 2016
Scandal-hit VW Lags Rise in European Car Sales
MILAN – Volkswagen lagged while other major automakers cashed in on record European car sales in December as the German company struggled with the fallout from its emissions-cheating scandal. The ACEA carmaker's association said Friday that sales...
- Posted January 15, 2016


text:
We spoke to our Connections Weddings ConnecTALK speaker, António Paraíso to find out a bit more about the fascinating luxury market
Q:There are many different definitions of luxury. What does it mean to you?
I believe one should try to understand luxury both from the perspective of the consumer as well as that of the brand. If I am a brand manager, I believe that luxury is the subtle combination of perfect tangibility and seductive intangibility. And I should work in order to make sure that my brand and respective offering mirrors that blend. If I am a well-educated, wealthy consumer, then luxury to me is a state of mind and a way of life. Brands should understand it and make sure to deliver at the level so that I feel connected to the brand and become a loyal customer.
Q: How has the perception and consumption of luxury shifted in recent years?
I see three changes. When I studied Luxury Brand Management ten years ago, most luxury brands were sceptical about the internet and digital marketing, consumers were much more interested in owning luxury objects rather than living memorable experiences and luxury was still very much about extravagance and wastefulness.
In this past decade, mainly because of Millennials and later Gen Z, all high-end brands are using digital marketing, luxury services and sophisticated experiences in hotels, travel, gastronomy, healthcare, wellness, entertainment have increased sales tremendously and finally, luxury brands are increasingly concerned with the planet and the society, acting to promote and place sustainability as well as social responsibility at the core of their strategies.
Q: What does this mean for luxury brands? What should they be doing to appeal to today's consumer audience?
According to "Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study 2018" by Bain & Co., generations Y (Millennials) and Z represented 47% of the global consumers of personal luxury goods, last year. This study predicts that in 2025 these generations will represent 55% of luxury consumers and nearly all luxury purchases will be influenced by online interactions.
Hence, high-end brands will have to invest more in using digital to 'seduce' their target audiences, in communicating purpose and values, in offering enticing, unforgettable experiences and take adequate action in protecting the planet and people in need.
Q: Is there such a thing as 'true luxury'?
Luxury is a sociological phenomenon of consumption, which consists in building brands that represent elegant lifestyles and fully connect with the ego of consumers. Consumers will then buy products and services because they wish to live those lifestyles.
According to Danielle Allerès, a French luxury expert, brands can be organised in a pyramid with three layers: Accessible luxury, Intermediate Luxury and Inaccessible Luxury.
You can buy products and services from brands in the first two layers as long as you have enough money. But, you also need power and influence, and not money only, in order to access "inaccessible luxury brands". For instance, Ferrari and Hermès do not sell certain iconic products to everybody. Certain Chefs and Event Organisers do not accept to serve customers who are not powerful and influence. Money is not enough. And that's when customers feel really exclusive, special and unique. Luxury is not for everyone and eventually true luxury lies up there at the tip of the pyramid.
Q: What advice would you give to luxury brands who are navigating the benefits of new technologies, with personal, human-to-human service?
The use of new technologies is growing every day. But luxury is the business of making people feel special and you can only achieve it with personal interactions and exceptional human-to-human service.
According to the study I have mentioned above, the global luxury market has recorded worldwide sales of nearly €1,2 trillion in 2018, where global online luxury sales totalled €27 billion. So, only 2,25% of worldwide luxury sales were made online.
In the luxury industry, digital is used mainly to communicate the dream and lifestyle of the brand, but then human interaction with a lot of attention to detail and clearly exceeding expectations is key to seduce customers, sell and make them loyal.
The main advice I would give to luxury brands in this context is to make sure the 5 Es are developed with creativity in the customer relationship, both online and face-to-face.
- Memorable experiences, which demand all the senses, are decisive in building customer loyalty.
- Emotion is mandatory in customer relationship. When clients are touched by emotion, they are happier, less rational and spend more. Without emotion, there will be no luxury experience.
- The exclusivity of the products or services along with customized interaction add high value to the offer and make the recipient feel unique and special.
- Brands that allow customer engagement in the processes of building customized offering, clearly increase the sense of belonging and loyalty.
- Finally, all of this has to be developed with elegance, charming behaviour, a touch of sophistication and plenty of authenticity.
Q: Which luxury brands do you believe are raising the ceiling & challenging the status quo?
Traditionally, luxury has been about wastefulness, extravagance and ostentation. Nowadays, brands challenging the status quo are those actively committed to reducing their impact on the planet and setting the example for other brands. Inspiring examples in fashion are Stella McCartney, Gabriela Hearst and the Kering Group. L'Oréal Group are doing an incredible job to make the beauty industry more sustainable. And in Southeast Asia, luxury resort groups Song Saa, Soneva, Alila and Bawah Reserve are really raising the ceiling in sustainable action. These brands bring a fresh debate, a new approach and true inspiration to the luxury industry.
Q: What do you believe the future holds for luxury?
People will always wish to feel special and will always be willing to pay a premium price for something that makes them feel unique.
Global luxury sales in 2018 increased 5% from 2017 and I believe this trend will be kept in future. Younger generations will be the primary engine for growth in coming years. By 2025, it is expected that half of all luxury purchases will be digitally-enabled, with the help of virtual reality and mobile payments, and nearly all luxury purchases will be influenced by online interactions.
Q: How can luxury brands keep up with the changes?
In my opinion, luxury brands should not be so obsessed with changing and adapting all the time, just like consumer brands do, otherwise they might banalize, lose their purpose, charm and power of attraction. In the end they risk losing relevance, if they try to adapt to any trend every time. Luxury brands are trend-setters, not followers.
Having said that, the luxury industry must of course take the lead in adopting measures in accordance to the evolution of the world, like the digital transformation and the survival of the planet.
Q: You have worked with such a rich selection of luxury brands across industries. What have been some of the most memorable moments, & why?
I would select the work with LOEWE, Porsche, Armani and Procter & Gamble.
When the LOEWE family sold the brand to LVMH Group, the new Managing Director has selected four industry experts and invited them to the headquarters to listen to their opinion about the future of the luxury market. I felt honoured with that invitation. A true privilege. I loved working for Porsche and Armani because I love their products. Finally, being invited by P&G to be the keynote speaker at their annual convention in Singapore was a fantastic moment in my career. I had to research and learn a lot about the Asian affluent consumer and I got the opportunity to inspire 300 delegates with my ideas. It was marvellous!
Q: What would our readers be surprised to find out about you?
I am not exactly a man full of surprises. Eventually, they will be surprised to learn that my passion is travelling the world, visiting amazing places, experiencing the local culture and buying beautiful coffee table books of each city I visit around the world. I have a huge collection of books from cities in about fifty countries, in the five continents.


text:
Published: 10th June 2019
How Girish Karnad took art films to Dharwad and why he refused to stop screenings despite thinning audiences
Karnad set up the Chitra Film Society in 1971 because at that time, small towns did not have access to art films
Today, no matter what movie you want to watch, you know that there's a platform through which you can access it. Things weren't the same back in the 1970s, while popular films did release all over, it wasn't the same for what we call 'art films'. The smaller towns like Dharwad didn't get a chance to experiencing art films and Girish Karnad wanted to change this. This is when he along with Vijay Nilekani and Professor Shafi Khan from Karnataka Arts College set up the Chitra Film Society in Dharwad in 1971. Their objective was clear that even the people in smaller cities must be getting to watch art movies in English, Hindi, Kannada and other languages.
Abdul Khan, the Secretary of this Chitra Film Society says, "Girish was an alumnus of Karnataka Arts College and he always wanted people to watch all these great films and so he started screening movies from this college. Those days, the width of the gauge of a film was 16 mm and it was huge. Which is why Girish thought that the college was the best place to have a screening since it had a huge gallery. He was shooting the film 'Samskara' and even that was screened here. About 83 members had become part of society at that point."
The show must go on: Srijana Ranga Mandira located in Karnataka Arts College in Dharwad is where the movies are screened now (Pic: Karnataka Arts College)
Chitra Film Society kept growing steadily and at one point had over 300 members. "Those were the golden days, Abdul said fondly. "We saw some dark days too when. When TV began to air mega serials, people stopped watching these art films. There were no new memberships. But at that time Girish said whether or not people come to watch, the movie screenings should continue and so we kept going. Till date, the society has screened over 1,000 movies and we currently have 63 members in our society." At present, the movies are screened at Srijana Ranga Mandira located in the Karnataka Arts College Campus.
Apart from the screening movies, the Society also invited directors and actors to interact with the audience. "Many times, when we did not know what to screen, Girish would make suggestions over the phone," he said.
Abdul said that was never a dearth of English art movies, "We are affiliated to the Federation of Film Societies of India and the societies get the movies through the embassies of different countries. So we never fall short. Recently too, Devara Naadalli, The Post, Hasiru Ribbon and a series of films on women empowerment were suggested by the famous actor, Amol Palekar. We screen movies once in two months and people come during their weekends with their families to watch them," he concludes.
Chitra Film Society is easily one of the oldest film societies in India, it will celebrate its Golden Jubilee next year. But without its founder, Girish, it might not be as joyous. But let's hope they carry on, no matter what happens. That's what he wanted after all.


text:
A better network is also a network that enables you with a much better experience. Firewalla is now providing tools to help you monitor and achieve better network performance.
(Firewalla Red and Blue are not supported)
Firewalla network performance and quality are divided into:
These are all important measures of your network's performance and can be used to find where any issues may be.
Before jumping into these features, you might wonder why not just use something like speedtest.net, speedtest.googlefiber.net, or fast.com? Often people run these from whatever device they have at hand. That means they are measuring their Wi-Fi or possibly their ethernet and switches, and their ISP. To assess any problem, we need to measure each part of network traffic separately to identify the source of any issues.
We will start on the left side of this diagram and walk through all of the measurements available to you.
Wi-Fi and LAN Performance
For most of us, Wi-Fi is very important. Starting with 1.49, the Firewalla app has a built-in Wi-Fi test that you can use to test LAN speed between your phone and your Firewalla box. It helps you to:
- see how fast your LAN really is independent of how fast your ISP service is
- determine if you placing your mesh or AP units in the right places to avoid wi-fi dead spots
- tune appropriate AP settings such as which Wi-Fi channels you should use or how powerful your AP's radio's should be if your APs have such fine controls.
With a little experimentation, you can get the best possible performance from your Wi-Fi gear. See, Wi-Fi Tuning below.
Wi-Fi Testing
Under Network Performance you will see the last test results and their settings. Near the bottom, you will find Test Wi-Fi Speed. You can run this as often as you like and it has no impact on any traffic to your ISP if you have a data cap.
You may well have brilliant Wi-Fi like shown above. If so, this means that you can move files around your network very quickly; stream music or a movie from a DLNA server in your home, for example. This tells you there are no issues with your Wi-Fi network.
Wi-Fi Tuning
All you need to do is go to various places in your house: your desk, your bedroom, or living room; and run a Wi-Fi test with the Firewalla app. If you find performance is lacking, adjust your AP locations or settings based on manufacturer recommendations and test again. Repeat until you get the best possible "real world" results that your Wi-Fi provides. Rest assured you have removed your Internet connection from the equation so you are always comparing apples to apples with this test.
You can even evaluate if it is worth buying faster Wi-Fi. If your Wi-Fi is already faster than your internet you might decide to wait for that upgrade. If on the other hand, your internet is faster than your Wi-Fi, this can help justify an upgrade.
Wired Networks
Similarly, you can use http://fire.walla:8833/ss/ from any device (connected to your local network via ethernet or wifi) to test the connection between your other devices and Firewalla. For example, you can test an ethernet connection this way by running it on a device connected to ethernet.
In addition to the upload and download speed, you are given ping and jitter measurements. We'll cover those below under WAN performance.
WAN Performance
The best network is one that's fast, has low latency, and has no packet loss. Here we will test all three aspects. To better present the network performance, we have included a summary widget on the main Firewalla Screen.
Here, a colored bar chart represents the total outage time, max latency, and max packet loss over the last 24 hours. If the bar shows:
- RED: the Internet was down.
- YELLOW: the Internet was unstable because the system has detected high latency, high packet loss, or secondary WAN (if you have a dual WAN setting) was down.
- GREEN: your network performance was good.
Any unusual behavior (in Red or Yellow) will also trigger an event. In the example below, one of the WAN connections went down. We see that as yellow in the Summary bar to the right. We also see the cause in the Recent Events below.
Internet Speed Test
Network speed is the throughput between your Firewalla Box and a test server. The test server is a server (nearest) in the speed test network close to you. The network speed test can be run manually any time you wish and can be scheduled to run daily at any hour you select. Though running the test won't impact your internet experience, you may want to run it when there isn't much going on so that nothing impacts the measurement. Note this test will count toward any data usage limits with your ISP. This test does not measure your Wi-Fi, so if the results aren't what you would expect, it could be an issue with your ISP.
The Firewalla app will show the internet speed test results for a running 7 day period, and provide you with a chart showing your download/upload speeds over time. You can also tap in to see precise results.
- Due to how speed test servers are located (and also test load), the accuracy of the tests depends on where you are at, the time of the test, and the load of the test servers. If you see results that are not accurate, please verify with a desktop speed test program. (Firewalla can not guarantee the test results to be perfect)
If the Automatic Speed Test is activated, a chart with download speed will be shown on the box main page, to help you identify any significant drop in performance.
- Firewalla primarily uses measurementlab.net services for speed tests. We may add other speed test services/networks (such as speedtest.net) as we mature.
- Since speed test servers are not always the same, you may get different results between tests. This result may vary more if you are near gigabit speed.
- Speedtest also depends on the distance between you and the nearest server.
- Please see measurementlab.net and speedtest.net for details such as how they share/use the speed test results.
- To verify firewalla speedtest, please use an ethernet-connected PC/MAC and use these services
Provide Feedback:
Inaccurate speed test results can be reported directly through the app without opening a support case. By making the reporting process more reachable, we hope to collect more feedback from you and improve the system further.
Network Latency
Network latency measures the round trip time from you requesting information to that information comes back to you. The cumulative effects of distance between you and a server thousands of miles away and the Internet infrastructure equipment that gets data there and back mean that latency can never be eliminated completely. "Normal" latency depends greatly on your internet connection. Here are some rough estimates:
- Cable modem between 5 and 40 ms
- A cellular link between 200 to 600 ms
But if the latency spikes, it can drastically affect your online meeting, phone, or real-time interactions. It can even effectively limit the throughput of your network.
Network Packet Loss
Packet loss can slow down your network (particularly TCP or HTTP for example) because when a packet is lost, a request will be sent to the origin to resend the lost packet and the application will try to restore the content as it was intended. Packet loss will impact real-time content, such as zoom meetings, streaming video or VOIP calls that may be distorted or choppy.
When Internet Quality is turned on, the Firewalla box will ping the test target at the selected interval. The test results will be kept for 24 hours, and the app will show you a chart for how Latency and Packet Loss change over time.
The Internet Quality Test will use the ISP-provided DNS server of your primary WAN as the default testing target. This default was chosen because DNS is likely the most sensitive service to latency.
If you changed your ISP, you might want to also update the Internet Quality Test Target as well.
When editing Test Target, Firewalla will list out several suggested servers including your WAN DNS servers and some public DNS servers with their ping latency, you can tap on any of them to adopt or enter any preferred IP Address or domain and save.


text:
Get FREE SHIPPING with purchase of 100$ and more!
Log in if you have an account
Having an account with us will allow you to check out faster in the future, store multiple addresses, view and track your orders in your account, and more.Create an account
Adidas skateboarding
We do not present Adidas as a brand of sports shoes, so here is the Skateboarding division! Adapted to the practice of skateboarding, the models have been developed and tested by a strong team including Mark Gonzales, Denis Busenitz, Silas Baxter-Neal and many others.


text:
You want to sell your West Palm Beach house, and you want to get top dollar.
Excellent! Lets try to get this as CLEAR as possible.
Give us a call too if you just want to talk about it at 561-220-2563.
So… "What do I need to do to sell my house in West Palm Beach"?
Here are some tips on how to get your home ready to sell if you're looking for top of the market dollar:
*NOTE: These instructions are if you're looking to get full retail value for your house sale. However, if you don't want to do the things below… or don't have the time or money to do the things below… you can still sell your West Palm Beach house fast for a clear and fair value in a win-win sale that'll save you a bunch of time and expense.
1) Clean, clean and keep it clean. As a matter for fact, so fresh and so clean! Even totally vacant houses get dusty and dirty, so keep it up! Nothing short of gleaming perfection will impress buyers. I hear they are walking through properties with white gloves these days. Ok, I didn't really hear that, but they might as well be. If you're not a total clean person, hire someone who is to help you out until you sell.
If you're a
slob, not so neat person, consider finding somewhere else to live while you show your house. Maybe you can ask your cleanest friend to trade houses with you? Seriously, keeping everything immaculate really helps buyers feel comfortable in your space. Nothing stops people faster from buying faster than feeling grossed out. This includes smells, be the foul, or lets just say interesting.
2) Keep it simple, neutral style. You don't have to paint everything off-white. You have to paint it light grey. Just kidding, but, In fact, some subtle colors can really help change the perception of spaces – for example, a soft yellow will help brighten up a dark kitchen, while a deep dark blue or green will help a bright bedroom to feel like a calm place to sleep (but be careful, dark colors will also make rooms feel small). Use plenty of caution on paint colors. See what is trending now. Would a person buying NOW want that?
Spend the money to get high-quality paint and professional help. Subconsciously people will pay more money for a property with just the right colors and very neat lines – it makes the home feel better built, even though it's just paint. It feels like GOOD QUALITY, even though it has nothing to do with actual construction.
Optical illusions are real, and psychologists study this stuff. Don't believe me?
Look it up. And don't neglect the outside and just do the inside, or anything else that's unbalanced.
3) Fix or replace EVERYTHING that's broken. True, it might feel like a waste of money to spend an extra couple hundred bucks on a dishwasher that someone else might just pull out and replace again. But really, quite a few buyers will get a home inspection and use the opportunity to negotiate with you. As the seller, you'll often end up paying more if you try to hide neglected maintenance from the purchaser – and of course you don't want to be guilty of fraud. Will that purchase help the property move two months faster? It may be the best return on your investment. Shiny beats dull every time.
Make sure you stay in compliance with all the laws.
It's often a good use of money to hire a home inspector to come through before you put the property on the market. If you ask in advance, they'll often charge you a tiny rate to come back after you've done a bunch of minor repairs and deliver you a clean bill of health. Prospective buyers love to see an independent report on the condition of the house – it makes them feel very comfortable with the purchase.
4) Only Necessary Improvements. The biggest mistake people make when getting their house ready to sell is over-improving. They often spend too much money on customized frills that can't be recovered in the sale.
Paint is about the only safe investment – it's easy to overspend on almost everything else, and it's easy to get ripped off by unscrupulous contractors. Tread with caution here as well.
It's important to know what improvements will produce a return on investment to avoid wasting money. Ultimately, it might help to sell the property, but it will cost you.
5) Get expert opinions. You should definitely find at least a few decent real estate brokers who will help you price your property, but be honest with them. If you're going to market the property on your own, don't make enemies by lying about your intentions. Great brokers are rare, but they make more money for their clients than they earn. Simply put, you really should contact a professional, especially one in your market.
6) Have a really great marketing plan. Again, great brokers earn their value by doing this work and spreading the advertising expenses across many clients. It's pretty expensive and time-consuming to start from scratch on your own, but if you're already a marketing expert you're ahead of the pack.
If you're not, spend the time listening to what the best brokers do to sell houses in West Palm Beach – just to educate yourself on the options.
7) Get a cash offer. We buy houses all over the West Palm Beach area, and we do all the work so you don't have to deal with any of this stuff. From dusting, all the way to rotting cars on the property and more. Just reach out to us, I could be the one call that makes your life move to the next level.
Don't Want To Do The Things Above Yourself? But Still Want To Sell Your West Palm Beach FLORIDA House Fast?
While everyone wants to get as much as they possibly can from their house sale… not everyone can do the things or wants to do the things required to sell it at full retail value to an end buyer.
Doing the repairs, cleaning the property up, upgrading the property, marketing the property… those all take money and can take lots of time.
If you have the funds to do these things... AND you can wait the 3-9 months (no guarantees here on the open market though) it takes to sell houses in this market… then you'll be better off financially to do those things then list it on the MLS (the main property listing service that real estate agents use).
If you don't have the funds to do these things... AND can't wait months to sell your house… then you may be a perfect fit for our local West Palm Beach house buying service. You'll submit basic info about your house over here on our website, we'll evaluate your house, we'll make you a fair all-cash offer on your house, and you can decide if it's a fit for you.
Then we can close FAST (often times within 7 days) if you need us to. You're choice.
Take a look at what we'll pay you not to do anything versus the time, expense and hassle involved with doing it on your own.
So if you're still asking "what do I need to do to sell my house in West Palm Beach"… now you have 2 solid options.
- Fix the property up and get it all nice and ready with the steps above to sell it at top dollar
- Let us do all of the work and we'll make you a cash offer on your house in AS-IS condition. This saves you time, money, and gets the hassle off of your hands.
If you need to sell a property near West Palm Beach, we can help you.
We buy properties like yours from people who need to sell fast.


text:
Yes, it is true! Images taken from cameras aboard the Cassini spacecraft have discovered one more moon orbiting Saturn. This finding now takes the total number of moons that orbit Saturn to 60. Preliminary estimates advocate that the moon is about 2 km wide and its orbit is somewhere between two other Saturnian moons, Methone and Pallene.
The new found moon has been nicknamed as Frank by the Cassini imaging team, though it has the prosaic designation of S/2007 S4. It first showed up on May 30, 2007 as a dot on a series of images from Cassini's wide-angle camera. Scientists also found that Frank is made up of ice and rock and they feel that there could be a group of Frank-sized moonlets circling Saturn, which may have a common origin, maybe a protosatellite, which broke into pieces very long ago.
Professor Carl Murray is a Cassini Imaging Team scientist from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL). He remarks, "After initially detecting this enormously faint object, we carried out a comprehensive search of all Cassini images to date and were able to find further detections. Naturally we are going to use Cassini's cameras to look for additional family members. The Saturnian system continues to amaze and intrigue us with many hidden treasures being discovered the more closely we look."
However, there is a huge possibility that Cassini could get an even closer look at S/2007 S4. The probe's present trajectory would put it inside 11,700 kilometers (7,300 miles) of the moonlet in December 2009. Discoveries like these are very important especially to planetary scientists. These findings aid researchers in answering those big questions about the formation of planets and their satellites.
Saturn now has sixty moons, but that number is small if you compare it with the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter. The mammoth planet has around 63 moons that orbit around it.


text:
If the Pentagon does not receive financial help from Congress relatively quickly, the department will be compelled to cut modernization spending even further and eliminate infrastructure, the Defense Department's number two civilian said on Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Read More
Tag Archives: Chuck Hagel
Huntington Ingalls CEO 'Concerned' Over Delays in U.S. Navy Carrier Contracts
Mike Petters — chief executive officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) — said delays in U.S. Navy contracts for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of USS George Washington (CVN-73) and construction contracts for the second Gerald Ford carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) are causing the shipbuilder concern, during a Thursday call with investors. Read More
Hagel: Returning U.S. Troops From Ebola Hot Spots will be Quarantined
All service members returning from West Africa will be quarantined for 21 days to ensure they are Ebola free, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday. Read More
Document: Pentagon's Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap
The following is the 2014 Department of Defense Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, issued on Oct., 13 2014. Read More
Opinion: Searching for a Strategy to Defeat ISIS
The news on the crisis with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) is moving so fast that last week's top story on the situation now seems like ancient history. Last week global news outlets repeatedly made the point that by fighting to defeat ISIS, the United States is, by default, aiding the regime of Bashar al Assad in Syria. Read More
Hagel: Pentagon Seeking To Improve Technological Edge With New 'Offset Strategy'
The Pentagon is launching a new "third game-changing offset strategy" to maintain America's decisive technological military edge well into the future. The new strategy will be developed by deputy defense secretary Bob Work and Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall. Read More
U.S. Edges Out Russia To Become India's Largest Military Equipment Vendor
In the last three years, the U.S. has surpassed Russia as the number one military vendor to India, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told the Indian parliament on Tuesday. Read More
Dempsey: Iraqi Forces Will 'Probably Not' Be Able to Retake Lost Territory Alone
PENTAGON — The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) — in their current state — were capable of defending Baghdad on their own from advancing forces of the Iraq and Syria Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) but unlikely to retake lost territory without help. Read More
Forbes to Pentagon: Don't Give 'Beijing a Veto' on Discussion about China
A senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has called on the Navy and the Pentagon to have more open discussion about Chinese military capability and not grant, "Beijing a veto over what we can and cannot say." Read More
Opinion: Is There a Frigate in Your Future?
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's recent direction to the Navy to develop proposals for a "capable and lethal small surface combatant, generally consistent with the capabilities of a frigate" could have a major affect on several Navy programs. Read More


text: Otay Ranch is a 5,300-acre master planned community with 3,400 homes in Chula Vista. The Lomas Verde and Vista Verde communities included three (3) school sites, a church site, parks, and a mixed use commercial development. Project infrastructure included the design of more than 15 miles of streets, a mass transit corridor, improvement of the SR-125/Birch Road interchange and the re-creation of an ephemeral stream. Millenia is a 200-acre urban center in Otay Ranch that includes enhanced streetscape components and bio-retention facilities. This development achieved certification under the United States Green Building Council LEEDND (Neighborhood Development) Program and the 2017 ACEC California Commendation Award.


text:
I was a bit iffy when I logged into Aion this weekend. I just wasn't sure how it would pan out, and I had a bit of fear that it would be cheesy. Although, now I will be preordering the game. It is a lot of fun. I haven't found a new MMO in years that I have enjoyed. They all seem to fail in one way or another. This game is beautiful, engaging, has fun combat, and the emotes flat out do it for me!
Aion = Fun
July 4, 2009 by JW
One Response
on July 5, 2009 at 6:05 pm | coppertopper
I just discovered your blog and enjoyed reading your Metaplace review. Had no clue it had been released, but after reading your piece, look forward to trying it out! I love the WoW/FR graphics look to it. And the ease of world building, from what you experienced, makes it that much more appealing. I wonder if mmo devs understand how some of us who live in bland (landscape wise) areas really use immersive and beautiful mmo-scapes as a way to truly escape the view out our window?
Anyways i'm also looking forward to Aion. Haven't tried the beta but everyones comments are so positive it looks like a go for me when it releases.