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Table of Contents:
Second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion: conclusions and recommendations
Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about Second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion: conclusions and recommendations
These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.
Regional policy > Review and the future of regional policy
Second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion: conclusions and recommendations
1) Objective
To analyse the socio-economic progress made by the EU's less developed regions and the factors likely to stimulate further such advances in a European Union of 27 members, and to open the debate on the future shape of EU cohesion policy.
2) Document or Iniciative
"Unity, solidarity and diversity for Europe, its people and its territory" – the Second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion, 31 January 2001 [COM(2001) 24 final – Not published in the Official Journal].
3) Summary
1. Every three years, the Commission submits a "report on the progress made towards achieving economic and social cohesion and on the manner in which the various means have contributed to it" (Article 159 of the Treaty). This report is, where relevant, "accompanied by appropriate proposals".
2. Following the first Cohesion Report at the end of 1996, the Second Report was presented to delegates at the Cohesion Forum on 21 and 22 May 2001 in Brussels. It brings the statistical data for the regions and the Member States up to date to provide a snapshot of economic and social development within the EU.
3. Since data is now available for the applicant countries in most of the relevant fields as well, the report also provides the very first glimpse of the likely economic and social situation in the Member States and regions of a 27-member EU. Without anticipating when and how the new members will join, the report also presents a series of conclusions and recommendations designed to spark a public debate on what form cohesion policy should take in the enlarged EU. It is these conclusions that are described in this factsheet.
4. The analysis of the socio-economic situation in the EU's Member States and regions shows the notable successes chalked up by EU cohesion policy, especially in the poorest regions. In reforming its regional policy by 2006, the EU will have to bear in mind a number of issues:
- the considerable widening of socio-economic and spatial disparities that will be caused by enlargement;
- globalisation in trade, the EU economy's shift towards more knowledge-based activities and demographic trends;
- the need to improve the performance of EU regional programmes and raise public awareness of them, while also ensuring that other EU policies also help its less developed regions make up their socio-economic deficit.
5. The following sections contain a number of questions and options intended to prepare the ground for a full and frank debate on the future shape of cohesion policy in the enlarged EU. They are intended to ensure that this debate revolves more around the substance of policy than questions of financing.
6. Under its cohesion policy, the EU finances measures identified as likely to reduce socio-economic and spatial disparities in the EU. Since a system based on tax transfers alone would not be sufficient for this task, EU action must be concentrated on those factors of competitiveness likely to close some of the wide gaps between different parts of the EU.
7. Productivity – determined by factors including quality of human resources, levels of physical infrastructure and capacity for innovation – is a key driver in the process of growth and convergence. For example, economic development is dependent on the existence of reasonable levels of physical infrastructure (transport, business services, etc.). In the EU, the foundations of long-term growth will be laid through investment in skills and modern communications technology, enhanced by business' capacity for innovation. It is the task of EU cohesion policy to create a climate in which local economies in less developed regions can fully grasp the opportunities available in the single market. All such efforts should, moreover, be guided by the principle of sustainably managing natural resources.
8. Currently action under the cohesion policy is targeted on several economic and spatial problems that fall within the numerous fields under the EU remit:
- least developed regions – still the top priority for EU cohesion policy, given the persistence of regional disparities in income and development (set to be further widened by enlargement).
- urban development – this issue lies at the heart of economic, social and spatial change. Towns and cities embody strategic potential for balanced and sustainable development. The main challenges they face are manifold internal disparities, the pressure they exert on the environment and their role as engines of growth for the surrounding area.
- diversification of rural economies – this, together with the nature of the town-country relationship, will condition how the rural areas adapt to a changing world. With agriculture no longer a major employer, the task is to revive the countryside and stop the drift of people to towns by promoting a pattern of development likely to foster new competitive activities, especially in the service sector.
- cross–border, transnational and interregional cooperation – to promote integration and reduce the economic fragmentation caused by national borders. Enlargement will increase the need for cross-border activities to further cooperation between old and new Member States.
- post–industrial economic restructuring – this will continue to be a priority for cohesion policy in future. EU support is needed to counter job losses in sectors such as textiles, automobiles and heavy industry and stimulate the development of new activities.
- areas with major geographical or natural handicaps – principally the outermost regions, islands and mountainous areas – these areas face considerable barriers to integrating with the EU economy on account of the extra costs imposed by their situation. They are also dogged by depopulation induced by lack of economic opportunities, and need structural assistance to promote development.
9. The cohesion policy priorities relating to employment must both tackle current problems and anticipate future needs. These priorities are:
- more and better jobs – current low rates of job creation within the EU can be improved by taking a more strategic approach to creating employment and anticipating trends in industrial change;
- nurturing the new economy and the knowledge economy – to counter the possible emergence of a digital divide with its in-built risks of social exclusion, it is essential to improve systems of education, training and lifelong learning and broaden access to information technology;
- encouraging social integration and combating poverty and social exclusion, which are still at unacceptable levels in the European Union;
- promoting equal opportunities and fighting all forms of discrimination, which lead to a waste of talent.
10. In future, cohesion policy must take a broader and longer-term view. Building on the achievements of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), the Commission intends to promote balanced development throughout the EU and is planning to put forward a spatial development strategy that could form the basis of future policy in this field.
11. The Agenda 2000 reform of the Structural Funds improved the management systems for cohesion policy. Now, though, more fresh thinking is needed on the ways the policy is implemented: enlargement is just round the corner, priorities have been revised and programmes need to be more effective. At this stage, all we can do is look at the core issues and propose a set of solutions. In 2004, the third Cohesion Report will clarify future delivery methods for the policy.
12. The sections below address the following: (a) targeting/concentrating limited resources in the enlarged EU (b) the particular challenge of enlargement in the current programming period and (c) cohesion policy after 2006 in the enlarged EU.
A – Targeting limited resources in the enlarged EU
13. The next generation of cohesion policy will apply not just to parts of the new members but also to those regions in existing members where serious economic and spatial disparities persist. The basic principle must be the same as in the past, i.e. to concentrate limited resources on a reduced number of areas where action at EU level can help or on priority geographical areas, with the goal of building a critical mass of financing so that meaningful progress can be made. The programmes need to be refocused.
14. Top priority for funding is still given to underdeveloped regions, and the best way to concentrate resources in such areas is via the direct zoning method, on account of the objectivity and transparency it offers. This method combines the criteria of GDP per capita (measured in purchasing power standards, or PPS) with the level at which the assistance is delivered (measured in statistical territorial units – the NUTS system).
15. Currently, eligibility for assistance is determined by per-capita GDP levels (areas with less than 75 % of the EU average qualify). In future, two considerations will have to be borne in mind:
- by simple mechanical effect, applying this criterion after enlargement would cut by more than half (in terms of population) the regions eligible for Objective-1 assistance in the pre-enlargement members. This raises the question of how to treat the regions in these countries, whose situation will notionally improve relative to the newcomers although their problems remain.
- post enlargement, the disparities between the underdeveloped regions themselves will be more marked than at present, with some having per-capita income a quarter of the EU-27 average.
16. We therefore need a radical rethink of the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used to determine eligibility for structural assistance in the current programming period. For example:
- direct regional targeting is used for Objectives 1 and 2, with the Commission drawing up in advance a restricted list of eligible areas. This system enables assistance to be concentrated objectively and transparently on the really deprived regions but it lacks the flexibility to respond changing socio-economic conditions in these regions;
- indirect regional targeting is used for the Urban and Leader + Community Initiatives. The Member State governments determine the eligible areas using criteria set in advance by the Commission. This system is more flexible than the one above and could resolve some of the problems associated with the Commission's role in the designation of eligible areas. With this method, the criteria are designed to concentrate funding at levels that can make a real impact;
- horizontal targeting is used for Objective 3 programmes. Funding for investment in human capital is programmed at national level.
17. In the light of the above, assistance for underdeveloped regions could be delivered according to one of the four following methods:
- applying the current criterion (per-capita GDP below 75 % of EU average), regardless of the number of new Member States. This approach would automatically exclude many regions in the old members from funding, leaving them dependent for future assistance on other EU programmes (i.e. not those aimed specifically at underdeveloped areas), eligibility for which is subject to different priorities and criteria;
- applying the existing 75 % criterion as above, but including a transitional or "phasing-out" stage for EU-15 regions that are no longer eligible. This would be all the more generous, since the per-capita GDP of these regions would be close to the eligibility limit;
- raising the eligibility threshold above 75 %, to mitigate or eliminate altogether the automatic disqualification from eligibility of certain EU-15 regions, without maintaining eligibility for regions that would no longer have been underdeveloped in the old 15-member EU;
- having two separate eligibility criteria: one for EU-15 regions and another for those in the applicant countries. This would have the de facto effect of creating two distinct categories of aid recipient. The concentration of EU funding would depend on levels of prosperity in each region.
18. One way of accommodating the increase in income disparities among the EU's least developed regions in the wake of enlargement would be to set a specific part-financing rate that takes account both of prosperity and fiscal capacity in the poorest Member States.
19. Other issues are also worthy of consideration:
- should employment rate be added to the criteria already in use (population, regional and national GDP, unemployment)?
- if structurally insufficient, could levels of actual convergence achieved by the eligible regions be included in the criteria for allocating funds?
- should the link between financing levels and programme results be increased by placing more funds in the performance reserve?
20. The EU's poorer regions are not the only areas with development problems. Cohesion policy will also have to provide support for other parts of the EU that are facing an ongoing process of fundamental structural change. With resources limited, efforts will have to be concentrated to build up a critical mass of funding to produce genuine results.
21. For these regions, the indirect zoning method would have the advantage of encouraging such concentration, as witness the experience of the Urban and Leader + Community Initiatives. The Commission would simply to set a minimum level of concentration for EU and national government subsidies -programming in the various priority fields would then be carried out from a budget allocated to each Member State on the basis of the relevant socio-economic indicators.
22. Given the promising results they achieved with specific structural programmes between 1995 and 1999, and their strategic importance for enlargement, the EU's border regions could be included in the mainstream Structural Fund programmes.
B – The particular challenge of enlargement in the current programming period
23. In preparing for accession, the applicant countries have already started familiarising themselves with the management procedures for the Structural Funds, in particular through the Phare programme. An significant proportion of the budget for this programme is used for medium-term Objective 1-style measures which are preparing the way for day when EU assistance will be programmed under the Structural Funds.
24. The concept of regional development is a novelty for the authorities in the applicant countries. Decentralised management of aid programmes is also new, and raises the question of how well equipped the administrations in these countries are to handle and manage EU financing. This heightens the importance of the institution-building process in the prospective members, which aims among other things to:
- create a national-level policy by establishing a qualified administrative framework with the relevant administrative procedures;
- promote decentralisation by consolidating democratic institutions, developing partnerships and boosting economic effectiveness;
- determine a development strategy that will promote balanced growth.
25. It is now highly likely that some of the applicants will join before 2006. This scenario was not factored into the EU's forward budget planning schedule under Agenda 2000 for 2000-2006, confirmed at the 1999 Berlin European Council. Since structural funding will have to be made available to the new members as soon as they join, one solution could be to introduce a transitional or phasing-in stage, with transfers increasing progressively over time.
26. In this scenario, how would funding be divided between the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds? The former would replace ISPA and the latter Phare and Sapard. Given the requirements of the applicant countries in terms of transport and environmental infrastructure, a reasonable budget for the Cohesion Fund in the enlarged EU would seem to be around one third of all future EU cohesion funding. What is more, unlike the Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund involves management at project level, which may be more suitable for civil services still lacking experience of programming and managing EU funding. And it also allows for high levels of part-financing without the need to comply with the additionality principle.
C – Cohesion policy after 2006 in the enlarged EU
27. The structural reforms introduced under Agenda 2000 led to a number of improvements such as extending decentralisation, a greater emphasis on partnership and evaluation and tighter management and financial-control practice based on a clearer division of responsibilities between Member State and Commission. While an in -depth study of how these changes have impacted on EU cohesion policy will have to wait until the next Cohesion Report is produced, some facts are already clear:
- the decentralisation of decision-making processes is progressing well as far as national and EU policies are concerned. The role played by regional and local authorities and local interests should be enhanced by the greater emphasis on working in partnership and especially by the increase in local-level programming where suitable.
- programming could be split into a two-level process, with the Commission devising overall strategy and identifying priorities for EU-level action and the actual programming carried out at the appropriate level (transnational, regional, local, urban, etc.).
- the application of the additionality principle, which requires that EU funding supplement rather than replace financing by national governments, could be reviewed. While its value in making EU cohesion programmes more effective is no longer in doubt, the problem is that it is applied not to individual programmes but rather all programmes under a single Objective in a given Member State, causing a lack of transparency. Compliance with additionality rules can be verified at programme level rather than nationally, especially in the less developed regions.
- the link between programme budgets and performance evaluation should be strengthened.
28. To increase consistency, the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds could be brought together into a single system. For example, the Cohesion Fund would be the sole channel for investment support for environmental and transport infrastructures, regardless of geographical area.
29. What is the financial outlook for cohesion policy in 2006 and beyond? The Second Cohesion Report highlights the more acute need for development assistance in the post-enlargement EU. While resources will be concentrated on the new members, the persistent problems of the existing members cannot be ignored.
30. Under Agenda 2000, the original Commission proposal for 2000-06 was for financing to maintain the levels reached in 1999, i.e. a cohesion policy budget equal to 0.46 % of EU GDP. At the Berlin European Council, the budget for structural measures was set at 213 billion over seven years (2000-2006). To this must be added pre-accession assistance worth 3 billion annually, the amounts set aside for countries joining before 2006 and the planned budgets for the new Member States. Altogether this equates to 0.45 % of projected GDP in the enlarged EU of 21 Member States in 2006.
31. The rules on financing for the 2000-2006 period state that in a given year no Member State may receive transfers under the Structural and Cohesion Funds worth more than 4 % of its national GDP. This cap will have serious implications for the poorest of the new members, called on to make efforts to meet the need for more balanced development and at the same time bear in mind their capacity to absorb funds.
32. Pre-accession assistance, adapted where necessary, should be continued for the countries applying to join on 1 January 2007.
33. For more information on the Second Cohesion Report, see the following:
- the full report on the Commission's INFOREGIO website (January 2001);
- the transcripts of the debates held at the Cohesion Forum;
- the SCADplus factsheet on the situation and trends in economic and social cohesion during the1995-1999 period;
- SCADplus factsheet on the 10 questions for the debate on tomorrow's regional policy.
4) Implementing Measures
5) Follow-Up Work
Commission Communication of 18 February 2004 – Third progress report on economic and social cohesion [COM(2004) 107 final – Not published in the Official Journal]
This report updates the analysis of economic and social cohesion. For the first time, the Commission has set out concrete proposals for regional policy after 2006.
Commission Communication of 30 January 2003 – Second progress report on economic and social cohesion [COM(2003) 34 final – Not published in the Official Journal]
This report updates the analysis of economic and social cohesion presented in the second cohesion report published in January 2001 and outlines the state of the debate on future cohesion policy for the period after 2006.
Commission Communication of 30 January 2002 – First progress report on economic and social cohesion [COM(2002) 46 final – Not published in the Official Journal].
This report updates the analysis of economic and social cohesion presented in the first cohesion report published in January 2001 and outlines the state of the debate on future cohesion policy for the period after 2006.


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In the golden age before computers, college students had to photocopy reserve articles (page by page) and pay for each page. You had to come to the library during open hours to do this (and sometimes wait until the person before you was done.) It's part of the cost of college and you get a bunch of free copies to boot!
From suggestions poster

subset: commoncrawl


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Wednesday, 20 February 2013 07:07 PM EST
Gov. Rick Scott announced plans Wednesday to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 900,000 more people under the federal health overhaul, a surprise decision from the vocal critic of President Barack Obama's plan.
Scott said he will ask the Legislature to expand the program under a bill that would expire in three years, after which it would require renewed legislative support. He's the seventh Republican governor so far to propose expanding the taxpayer-funded health insurance program.
Scott said he would support the expansion as long as the federal government pays 100 percent of the increased costs, which is the deal offered to states by the Obama administration for the first three years. After that, the federal government said it would pay 90 percent of the cost for the additional enrollees.
The governor said he gained new perspective after his mother's death last year, calling his decision to support a key provision of the Affordable Care Act a "compassionate, common sense step forward," and not a "white flag of surrender to government-run healthcare."
"Before I ever dreamed of standing here today as governor of this great state, I was a strong advocate for better ways to improve healthcare than the government-run approach taken in the President's healthcare law. I believe in a different approach. But, regardless of what I — or anyone else — believes, a Supreme Court decision and a presidential election made the President's healthcare mandates the law of the land," Scott said at a news conference.
The governor said he still worries that the president's plan could "lead to less patient choice, worse care, and higher costs" but he can't "in good conscience deny the uninsured access to care." Scott stressed he won't simply deny new Medicaid recipients health insurance after the three years are up, but said he will spend that time measuring how the expansion impacts healthcare costs, quality and access.
Scott, a former CEO of the HCA hospital chain, entered politics in 2009 running national cable TV commercials criticizing the president's plan. Florida led the way in challenging the ACA in a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Scott also made the rounds on conservative talk shows repeatedly expressing concern that expanding Medicaid would put too much of a strain on Florida taxpayers.
At one point, he said the expansion would cost $26 billion over the next decade, but the state's health care agency slashed its estimate to $3 billion after backlash from lawmakers over how the initial figure was calculated. After Obama was re-elected, Scott toned down his rhetoric, signaling he wanted to work with federal health officials. He even flew to Washington to meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius last month to discuss the expansion.
Florida lawmakers must still sign off on Scott's decision, and the Legislature doesn't meet until next month.
"I am personally skeptical that this inflexible law will improve the quality of healthcare in our state and ensure our long-term financial stability," Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford said.
Angry conservatives said Scott owes his support base an explanation.
"I am flabbergasted. This is a guy who, before he was a candidate for governor, started an organization to fight 'Obamacare' in the expansion of medical entitlements. This is a guy who said it will never happen on his watch. Well, here it is," said Slade O'Brien, Florida director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity.
Scott's announcement came hours after federal health officials said they plan to approve the state's longstanding request to privatize its Medicaid program statewide if they agree to beef up transparency and accountability measures. He said that decision signaled that feds were willing to work with the state to give them the flexibility they need.
The other six GOP governors who plan to expand the program are the leaders of Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and North Dakota. So far 21 states plus Washington, D.C., plan to expand their Medicaid programs under the health care law. Fourteen states have said they'll turn it down, although the debate is still going in several of them. Another 15 are weighing options.
Under the federal law, states were given the choice of whether to expand Medicaid to people whose incomes equal 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about $15,000 for an individual and $32,000 for a family of four.
Florida has one of the highest rates of uninsured residents in the country and some of the most stringent eligibility requirements. A family of three with income of $11,000 a year makes too much and single residents are not covered. The bulk of residents getting coverage under the Medicaid expansion will be childless adults.
The federal government's offer to cover most of the cost of expansion is much more generous than the roughly 50 percent matching rate that federal health officials currently pay for Medicaid. The state spends about $21 billion a year to cover roughly 3 million patients — about half are children.
Florida hospital officials have said the state would receive about $26 billion from the federal government to pay for Medicaid expansion over the next decade. That would be a huge boon to hospitals that are losing other federal funding sources for uninsured patients under the federal health law.
Advocates said Medicaid expansion will bring about 54,000 new jobs to the state and have a significant impact on Florida's tourism and hospitality industries.
Hospital executives have said the expansion will significantly reduce the amount of money spent covering uninsured patients by hospitals, insurers and taxpayers by allowing patients to get coordinated treatment whenever they need it instead of waiting to go to the emergency room.
The new Medicaid population will get coverage under the privatization proposal that federal and state health officials are still hammering out. The program would allow for-profit providers to determine the health care for Medicaid recipients with the goal of saving money and improving services
Federal officials are insisting on enhanced accountability measures by requiring the state to use real-time data that evaluates whether the program is actually improving patient care along the way as promised, not just at yearly benchmarks. The state must also hold regular meeting with health advocates, patients and insurers and hire an ombudsmen to oversee the portion of the program that involves tens of thousands of elderly, long-term care patients.
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HOLDZ® was founded in 2000 by Steve Goodair. Steve has worked at the forefront of climbing hold design and manufacture for the past 17 years and he has carved holds for many of the top climbing wall manufacturers such as DR climbing walls, Bendcrete, French Rock and King Kong Climbing Walls and Rockwerx. In addition to designing and carving holds, Steve spent five years travelling worldwide designing, making and installing many different types of bespoke climbing walls having set thousands of indoor routes on all types of climbing wall using many different types of bolt on hold. Steve was uninspired by the range and quality of the holds available on the market. He therefore decided to create his own range of holds which were more realistic to an 'outdoor' experience of climbing, he did this by improving on the design and texture of the holds making you think about how to use them. He works closely with some of the top route setters in the country and incorporates their ideas and needs into his range. HOLDZ® were the first company in the UK to use PU resin and make hollow backed holds as well as dual texture holds.
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text: Built in 1811 by the young architect Robert Mills, the Prison was one of his first designs, and was considered state of the art. Mills went on to direct the design and construction of the US Treasury Building, the US Patent Office, and the US Post Office, as well as the Washington Monument in Baltimore, and the National Monument in DC. No small potatoes. Continue reading


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So you're going to have to excuse me as I go all fangirly here. I love Nicklas Backstrom. Not the kind of love most of us Ladies talk about on here, though. I love this kid's game. I love his little baby face. I love his flowing blonde locks. But most of all, I love that he's a Washington Capital. I love that he plays for my team (and my fantasy team). I love that he's only 22-years-old and hasn't even begun to peak yet. This kid is going to be something special. He's already a top scorer in this year's playoffs, and set career highs in goals and points this season. So if you like his game or his adorable little face, follow me after the jump for some Super Swede lovin!
The last two shots come courtesy of my friend Sal at irockthered.net. Go check out her awesome pictures. Warning: It's all Caps players.


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I leverage the Perceptual Hash to identify similar images, and it works well now.
I got the Perceptual Hash (42 floats) only by command : indentify -verbose -moments , which works very slowly because every images needs to lauch a "identify" process in Mem.
Is there any possible way to get the Perceptual Hash by using Perl script directly? such as the API provided by MagicCore.h C code?
Thanks !
How to get Perceptual Hash in perl code
PerlMagick is an object-oriented Perl interface to ImageMagick. Use this forum to discuss, make suggestions about, or report bugs concerning PerlMagick.
Post Reply
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Re: How to get Perceptual Hash in perl code
Look for the PerceptualHash() method in PerlMagick in the GIT master branch @ https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick later today. The method will be available in the beta releases of ImageMagick @ https://www.imagemagick.org/download/beta/ by sometime tomorrow.
Post Reply
2 posts • Page 1 of 1


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Thursday Night Breakdown: Broncos-Chargers In AFC West Battle
The AFC West always makes for an interesting battle, as two or three teams compete for the divisional crown and playoff spots. Those teams are usually the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers, with the Oakland Raiders as more of an afterthought. But things are a bit different this year with the resurgent Raiders and the struggling Chiefs and Chargers.
And that's what makes this week's Broncos-Chargers matchup on Thursday Night Football so important. The Broncos can move to 5-1 with a win and keep at least a share of the divisional lead. Then the Raiders would have to win Sunday to keep up. A Chargers loss Thursday will push them to 1-5 and effectively end their season.
Last week, the Broncos lost their first game of the season to the Atlanta Falcons, 23-16. And it was obvious that rookie Paxton Lynch is not ready to lead an NFL team. The first-round draft pick struggled to run the Broncos offense, which looks to run the ball and doesn't ask that much of its quarterback.
The good news for Denver is that starter Trevor Siemian, who injured his shoulder the previous week against the Buccaneers, should be back in the lineup. The Broncos will be without head coach, Gary Kubiak, however. John Elway and the organization gave Kubiak a week off after he was hospitalized for a complex migraine condition. Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis will serve as interim head coach for the game against the Chargers.
Denver's coaching situation, if it ends up a distraction, may be good news for the Chargers. They need a win, and anything helps. "The San Diego Chargers are the team losing by the skin of their teeth, and it's been kind of sad to watch," said Tony Gonzalez of CBS Sports. "But they are a very good football team, and they're going against the Super Bowl champs. It's going to be a great game to watch."
Find more about this week's Thursday Night Football matchup.
While Gary Kubiak won't be on the sidelines and Trevor Siemian will still be dealing with a lingering injury, it is the Broncos defense that the Chargers need to worry about. The Chargers have put up a lot of points in the past couple weeks, but couldn't hold off the Raiders or New Orleans Saints late to win.
Now, Philip Rivers has to hope that his injury-riddled team can help him put up enough points to keep the Broncos on their heals. It won't be an easy task. Rivers simply doesn't have the necessary talent around him, and he can't do it alone. Still the biggest problem is that San Diego hasn't played well during crunch time. They seem to disappear in the final minutes of the game, a mistake the Chargers can't afford to make again. Rivers will need his team running on all cylinders to overcome the stout defense of the Broncos.
"One of the things I love about this is when you have a great Hall of Fame-type quarterback like Philip Rivers going up against one of the top defenses in football, and it's a divisional matchup," said Boomer Esiason. "These games are always intense, there's always a lot riding on the line. And because these teams know each other so well... it usually tends to be a close game."
The Broncos, coming off their first loss of the season, will try to turn things around. It won't be easy with a banged-up Siemian and without Kubiak. The rival Chargers are better than their record indicates and essentially playing for their season. But they also tend to beat themselves when it matters most. Look for the Broncos to get the win in a close battle.
Prediction: Denver Broncos 31 - San Diego Chargers 27
Danny Cox has been covering the NFL for the past decade and has been watching it for two more. From injury reports to playoff races, he follows every single team and longs for the months of July to February.
for more features.


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Nick Carr writes of our communication hell, starting with "the ring of your phone would butt into whatever you happened to be doing at that moment" and left you "no choice but to respond immediately", going through false saviors such as asynchronous voice mail and e-mail, and leading to "the approaching [Google] Wave [which] promises us the best of both worlds: the realtime immediacy of the phone call with the easy broadcasting capacity of email. Which is also, as we'll no doubt come to discover, the worst of both worlds."
In all of these communications, the problem is not so much the difference of synchronous or asynchronous but the lack of priority. Phone calls, voice mails, e-mails, and text messages, all of these appear to us sorted by date. Reverse chronological order works well as a sort order when either the list is short or when we only care about the tip of the stream. Otherwise, it rapidly becomes overwhelming.
When your communication becomes overwhelming, when there is just too much to look at it all, you need a way to prioritize. You need a relevance rank for communication.
The closest I have seen to this still is an ancient project out of Microsoft Research called Priorities. This project and work that followed ([1] [2]) tried to automate the process we all currently do manually of prioritizing incoming communication. The idea was to look at who we talk to, what we talk to them about, and add in information such as overall social capital to rank order the chatter by usefulness and importance.
Going one step further, not only do we need a relevance rank for communication, but also for all the information streaming at us in our daily lives. We need personalized rankers for news, communications, events, and shopping. Information streams need to be transformed from a flood of noise to a trickle of relevance. Information overload must be tamed.
For more on that, please also see my Dec 2005 post, "E-mail overload, social sorting, and EmailRank", and my Mar 2005 post, "A relevance rank for news and weblogs".
Monday, October 12, 2009
A relevance rank for communication
Posted by Greg Linden at 2:00 PM
1 comment:
- Jeremy Horn said...
I agree with you completely! I have been writing about Gmail the past few weeks, the pros and cons, and one of the biggest problems of of products like Gmail is Information Overload and no good way to get the most important information to float to the top, nor the ability to zero in on what is being sought or what really matters. I plan to delve deeper into the Information Overload issue as it relates to Gmail more next week, but until then, please take a look and enjoy the series thus far...
Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy
- October 13, 2009 at 6:18 PM
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text: Nasal passage: A channel for airflow through the nose. The walls of the nasal passages are coated with respiratory mucous membranes, which contain innumerable tiny hair-like cells that move waves of mucus toward the throat. Dust, bacteria, and other particles inhaled from the air are trapped by the mucus in the nose, carried back, swallowed, and dropped into the gastric juices so that any potential harm they might do is nullified. The organs of smell are made up of patches of tissue called olfactory membranes. The olfactory membranes are about the size of a postage stamp and are located in a pair of clefts just under the bridge of the nose. Most air breathed in normally flows through the nose, but only a small part reaches the olfactory clefts to get a response to an odor. When a person sniffs to detect a smell, air moves faster through the nose, increasing the flow to the olfactory clefts and carrying more odor to these sensory organs.


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If not, time to discover which key words will work best for your book.
Still plodding along, I'm not sure when or if this book will ever see the light of day at Amazon. Sigh.
But still I type, I read, I learn and who knows one day maybe, just maybe.
So with that far off hope in mind, I collect useful information.
Such as, using the correct Key Words on Amazon. And knowing the difference between categories and Key Words.
If someone searches Amazon make sure your book is keyed properly so they can find it.
People use Amazon six to seven times more often than Google.
To be honest I'd never really thought much about key words and books. But after reading
How to Choose the Best Keywords When Publishing Fiction on Amazon by
I realize this is something I need to add to my to do list. Whenever I do finish my manuscript, I need to know which key words will help readers find my book.
You've made it this far so give me just two more seconds and hit Facebook and Twitter and share.
Thank you!
If you're not already, I'd be much obliged if you would follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!


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Dec 31, 2012
US retailers scramble after lackluster holiday sales
Dec 31, 2012
The 2012 holiday season may have been the worst for retailers since the 2008 financial crisis, with sales growth far below expectations, forcing many to offer massive post-Christmas discounts in hopes of shedding excess inventory.
While chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Gap Inc are thought to have done well, analysts expect much less from the likes of book seller Barnes & Noble Inc and department store chain J. C. Penney Co Inc.
Shares of retailers dropped sharply on Wednesday, helping drag broader indexes lower, as investors realized they were likely to be disappointed when companies start to report results in a few weeks' time.
"The broad brush was Christmas wasn't all that merry for retailers, and you have to ask what those margins look like if the top line didn't meet their expectations," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.
Growth was always expected to slow this season, though an improving employment picture and rising home values had helped mitigate the worst fears. But then Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast in late October, mild weather blunted sales of winter clothing and rising concern about the "fiscal cliff" became more of a reality, dragging down already-pessimistic forecasts.
The latest sign of trouble came from MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse, which reported holiday-related sales rose 0.7 percent from Oct. 28 through Dec. 24, compared with a 2 percent increase last year.
The preliminary estimate from SpendingPulse was in line with other estimates showing weak growth during the holiday season, when retailers can book about 30 percent of annual sales - and in many cases, half of their profit.
"It has been a very uneven industry performance, probably at least for the last year, and that certainly continued into the holiday season," said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, in an interview with Reuters Insider.
The latest holiday season could end up the weakest since 2008, during the last recession, when sales actually declined. The National Retail Federation had previously predicted 4.1 percent sales growth this year, versus a 5.6 percent increase a year earlier.
Markets reacted sharply to the gloomy outlook.
The S&P retail index closed down 1.7 percent, and 14 of the top 20 decliners in the broader S&P 500 were retailers or consumer brands.
To be sure, the actual percentage change in holiday sales can differ substantially, depending on which group is calculating the figure. SpendingPulse and the National Retail Federation, for example, look at different categories, which can cause some variation in their forecasts.
Regardless of how bad the figure is, one concern for retailers is that soft sales will mean an excess of inventory that will force some to slash prices.
The day after Christmas, retailers were using deep discounts to lure shoppers. Among other brands, Barnes & Noble offered 50 percent discounts in stores via email promotions on Wednesday, while Ann Inc had half-off at its Loft stores, and Macy's Inc's Bloomingdale's promoted discounts of up to 75 percent in some cases.
At a Target store in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, most shoppers seemed to be spending more on groceries, toys and small gifts than on gadgets or clothes.
Despite discounts of 50 percent, there were few takers for Jason Wu glass ornaments, Oscar de la Renta canvas totes and other designer goods launched under the mass merchant's tie-up with upscale chain Neiman Marcus.
Even in a good year, retailers would have offered discounts to lure customers, but some suggest a weak year has now forced their hands.
"Retailers are no longer chasing sales, they are chasing inventory management. That means the discounts that they would have liked to be at 50-60 (percent) off have climbed to 75 to even 80 (percent) off," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at The NPD Group.
This week's cold, snowy weather on the heels of a warm start to December could spur people to use the gift cards they received or their remaining discretionary income to buy everything from jackets to snow blowers, said Evan Gold, senior vice president of client services at Planalytics, which tracks weather for businesses including retailers.
In December, he said, "people are out spending anyway, weather can trigger what you purchase, not if you purchase, but what you purchase."
A variety of factors were thought to be at fault for the weak season, starting with Superstorm Sandy, which depressed sales in the U.S. Northeast in late October and early November.
Sales recovered in the second part of November, with early hours and promotions helping drive traffic during the "Black Friday" weekend after Thanksgiving, analysts said.
But there was a deep lull in early December as a winter storm in parts of the United States may have limited sales, said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis at MasterCard SpendingPulse.
On top of that, there were fears that taxes will rise in the new year if Washington cannot negotiate a solution to the end-of-year "fiscal cliff" dilemma.
A recent Ipsos poll for Reuters found that only 17 percent of shoppers were spending less due to cliff fears, though analysts said the damage was still done.
"The government usually does not have a role in holidays but this year they did. They got right in the midst of it, the timing couldn't have been any worse," NPD's Cohen said.
One bright spot has been online sales, which continue to grow at a faster pace.
On Christmas Day, online sales jumped 22.4 percent, outpacing the 16.4 percent increase in 2011, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks more than 1 million e-commerce transactions a day from 500 U.S. retailers.
Whether online or off, some of the winning retailers were expected to be Wal-Mart, which attracted shoppers with early deals on the night of Thanksgiving and kept its focus on value, and apparel chains like the Gap, whose bright sweaters were successful, according to analysts.
Toys sold well, and hot items that were harder to find later in the season included certain Mattel Inc Barbie dolls and LeapFrog Enterprises Inc's LeapPad2 tablet computer, according to B. Riley Caris analyst Linda Bolton Weiser.
For retailers that have struggled, analysts said all hope was not lost. Many have fiscal quarters that end in January, so they still have time to benefit from a post-Christmas rebound. Because Christmas fell on a Tuesday, some said they could even see a boost this week from people who have extra time off.
"There's still a little bit more time to go until the holiday season is officially over," Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom said.
Wal-Mart shares ended down 0.8 percent at $67.99 on Wednesday, while Macy's shares were down 1.1 percent at $37.11, Barnes & Noble shares were down 3.5 percent at $14.49, Amazon.com Inc shares ended 3.9 percent lower at $248.63, and Ann Inc shares lost 5.1 percent to close at $32.06.
© Thomson Reuters 2023 All rights reserved.


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Designed by Yanik Balzer and Max Qwerty, these furniture pieces made from manly tools are perfect for the outdoorsman, lumberjack, 5-o'clock shadow at noon, tree chopper, dirt shoveler, builder with his hands, brouha type of man.
Or also...people who pretend to be manly. Like me, who finds the design to be actually pretty clever. I'm not sure if any wives or girlfriends would approve of them in the house but they'd be perfect for the man cave (and who NEEDS permission from the lady anyway!). The pieces aren't for sale, which is too bad, because I know a few people with furniture in desperate need for some testosterone boosting (aka me). [Stilsucht.de]
Axe bookshelf, my personal favorite.
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Shovel lights.


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After being asked if we are re still alive a few times on twitter, we decided that it is time for another one of our nearly monthly community updates.
Git build numbers and other tweaks to the build process
In addition to a lot of tweaks to the building process from djcj, we've also got a patch ready to make the build number helpful again. What this means is that we'll exactly know what version of Nightingale you have when you report bugs or feature requests.
Moving and copying in play queue
Previously the play queue would only let you copy tracks. Now, thanks to luisgmarine's work you can move tracks. If you press Control (or your OS's equivalent of a copy key) you can copy and then paste the tracks.
Copying in playlists
Playlists already showed the cursor for copying tracks when pressing Control on the keyboard, now they actually let you copy tracks in place.
Libnotify settings
Ever since we added libnotify support to Nightingale we wanted to expose preferences to disable it. Now they are available in the playback section, if your version of Nightingale is able to show libnotify track change notifications.
Lastly, we're currently discussing moving developer meetings to another day of the week. If you previously couldn't attend the developer meetings, or if you plan to keep attending them, head over to the poll on the forum.
See you next month!Got comments? Post them here!


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Debt crisis looming as Washington 'hides the real fiscal cliff numbers'
The US national debt is twenty times higher than is officially reported, approaching $222 trillion, and today's children could soon be paying their parent's debts, reputed American economist Laurence Kotlikoff told RT.
According to Kotlikoff, the true extent of the growing fiscal gap has been concealed by Washington for years, a process that could ultimately result in debt disaster: China and Japan, top American money-lenders, could simply stop the cash flow. Moreover, in the last few years the Federal Reserve has raised the base money cap from $800 billion to $3 trillion, creating the foundation for possible hyperinflation, Kotlikoff said. The whole situation remains unnoticed by the public while politicians try to avoid the problem, leaving it to future generations to reach a solution.
RT: Laurence Kotlikoff, Economics Professor at Boston University, pleasure to have you with us today.Laurence Kotlikoff: It's great to be with you and great to be in Russia.RT: You're the one who stated that America is rogue and in even worse state than Greece and Ireland. How so? What exactly do you mean by that?Laurence Kotlikoff: Well, we economists look at all the bills the government has to pay, and in the US case we have enormous bills that have been kept off the books. They're not the official debts, but they are very real. For example, paying me my social security benefits, my old-age pension – that's a real obligation. It's not part of the official government debt, but it's very important because there are 78 million baby boomers who're going to get their social security payments, and, in addition, medical payments from the government. If you look at all those payments, they are about $3 trillion a year. So we have these huge bills, nobody has thought about paying for them, and Congress and the presidents over the years have just focused on official debt, and basically have not told the public about these big bills.RT: You said the amount of the fiscal gap in the United States is, in your estimation, $222 trillion. This is an astonishing number, which is like three times the world GDP. This is more than what the world makes.LK: Twenty times higher than the official debt in the hands of the public, which is $11 trillion. So if you add all the spending obligations into the distant future, and you compare them with all the taxes, and you include in the spending all the interest payments, and principal payments on the debt, and the official debt, you have $222 trillion of present value. Now, this is 12 per cent of GDP on an ongoing basis, and we need to get 12 per cent more in GDP either in tax increases or spending cuts in order to have the fiscal gap in zero.We're doing far too little, too late. It's like operating on a person with cancer, and you say, "Well, there's a big tumor here, we're just going to take a little bit out today, and we'll come back in five years, and we'll take out some more." But maybe in five years the patient is dead because the tumor got bigger. So this is why we are in worse shape than Greece – in Greece, it's about 10 per cent of GDP they need on an ongoing basis, in Italy it's about 5 per cent, in Germany it's about 5 per cent. So when you look at it from this perspective, it's a whole different story than if you look just at the official debt because these governments are making choices what to call official obligations, and what to call unofficial.RT: So are they intentionally hiding the enormity of it?LK: They're intentionally hiding this. They've been spending in our country six decades, running a massive Ponzi scheme, taking from young people, giving to old people, and then telling the young people, "Don't worry, you'll get yours when you're old," promising pensions, promising healthcare benefits. And you know this is happening in all countries. Russia has a pension system, but it doesn't seem to be in better shape than ours in terms of paying for its benefits in the future.RT: I mean, this number – $222 trillion – where exactly is this money going, who is spending it? I mean, certainly not the average American. What is it, 1 per cent of the superrich? The military?LK: Well, you've got a lot of old people now, they are getting very high benefits, about $30,000 per person. It's scheduled to go up to $40,000 when I retire, which is about 15 years. So you see we're just very generous to the old people in our country.RT: What do you suggest: cut spending, raise taxes? They would be suicidal to any American president.LK: If we're running the country, we have to act like adults because our main responsibility as adults is to make sure our kids have a good future. So we have to reduce the growth rate of the benefits to the elderly, and that requires being much more careful about how much we spend on healthcare because the healthcare benefits have been growing at twice the growth rate of per capita GDP for 40 years. So it can't continue because it's going to kill the country. We have a huge problem, it's being hidden, it's not being described and discussed and disclosed.RT: You just mentioned that you need to take care of the future generations, 'clash of generations' was the term you used to describe what future awaits the American children paying up the debts of their fathers, but the United States when you look at it, really has lived on debt ever since WWII, and increasingly so in the past 30 years, and they have somehow managed not to collapse. Why do think that the new generation will manage it?LK: Well, over time, the official debt will become a bigger and bigger share of GDP, and at some point the Chinese and other people will stop lending us money, and our interest rates will go up dramatically. We'll have a bond market collapse and, at that point, the deficit will get even bigger. The official debt will cumulate even more rapidly. And our government is also printing a lot of money to pay for these bills. So I see big problems, and they might not be in 30 years, they might be in five years or two years. The Chinese and other people start to understand how bad the situation is. And then we will be in situation of Greece where people won't lend us money and then we will have to make big cuts and everybody will be injured.RT: You mentioned China and Japan – they top the list of American lenders. It's more than $1 trillion of US debts. Should they get used to the idea they are not getting their money back? They can't just come out and say: "Hey, I want part of American GDP."LK: If I were anybody – whether Chinese, Japanese or Russian – I would not be buying 30-year US government treasury bonds. They are yielding 3.5 per cent or something right now because we have printed so much money since 2007 – it's really unbelievable. The Federal Reserve has tripled what is called 'the base money' – the basic money supply, the monetary base. It's actually gone from $800 billion to about $3 trillion now. This is more than tripled. So we have the basis in place for more than tripling the price level right now. We have created the foundation for hyperinflation. And the baby-boomers have yet to retire. So right now 12 per cent of all the federal spending is based, being financed and paid for by just printing new dollars – that is what is going on.So we are acting very much like a developing country in terms of actual finances. I have been concerned about this and writing about it and speaking about it since the late '80s. The other economists said about it as well as some politicians, but it's getting worse. It's not like anybody's actually looking carefully at these numbers. The politicians are looking at the official debt numbers and are not really discussing the magnitude of what is coming.RT: A lot of people like you who are critical of the current American financial system have come out in the street. The Occupy Wall Street movement voiced their concerns and protests. Do you think a movement like this is actually capable or able to solve real issues or is it just a red herring?LK: Well, Occupy Wall Street was concerned about inequality, and they were concerned about what Wall Street was actually doing. And I think we need to radically change our financial system because we have too big problems. And this is true in every country including Russia. The traditional banking system, the model, is on a very high leverage. Banks borrow a lot of money, promise to repay and then there is opacity – they take the money and they do something with it but they are not telling you what they are doing with it. So people get very concerned at some points about whether the banks actually can repay. And then you can have runs on the bank, just overnight.So it's a very unstable situation when you promise people things and then you don't show what you are doing with their money. And that's what happening with Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch – these companies went under one after the other. Everybody started worrying because they couldn't see the assets. So what we need to do is get rid of this "faith-based banking". We need to have no leverage and we have to have transparency. The government has to disclose what the assets are. The government has to do verification and disclosure.We should have the government agency verify that somebody's mortgage is actually a reasonable mortgage: that person has a job, that person has an income, that person's house which is collateral to the mortgage has actually this value. So we should not have any liar loans. And we should also have all the banks become what are called 'mutual funds' which just sell shares to these funds. They take all the money on an equity basis. They don't borrow money – they just sell shares of stock: the money comes in and then they buy these disclosed assets – the mortgages, for example. If you have equity-based finance and then if the mortgages don't work out, somebody doesn't repay, the shareholder takes a loss, but the financial intermediary, which is a mutual fund, never fails and never goes bankrupt. So you have a banking system that can never fail. If it's made of equity finance and mutual funds who are buying transparent fully-disclosed assets – that's what we need.The protesters of Wall Street didn't know what they wanted, but this is what they need. Now what we need is also protesters among the young about their fiscal treatment – that's a different thing.RT: That's the thing. The fiscal cliff and the possibility of America defaulting that we hear a lot around us – is this symptomatic agony or is it maybe artificial political crisis?LK: I think the young people don't fully understand how they are being treated. In the debates, in the entire campaign, not one of these two candidates talked about the magnitude of the problem. President Obama said that our social security system, our basic government pension system has a small problem that needs to be tweaked, is what he said. If you actually look at the system and at the trustees report, the thing is 31 per cent underfinanced. So it's not a small problem. According even to social security actuaries. It's a huge problem. So he is on a different planet from the reality.Romney felt we could just lower taxes and get more revenue. So he was equally, you know, crazy on this stuff. And unfortunately we have children whose future is at stake here. And they are also under a lot of pressure in other ways because they are competing with other people all over the world and they are also competing with these new smart machines that are taking people's jobs away. So in our country when you go to a grocery store or a drug store the checkout person is a machine: there is nobody working there, it's just a machine these days. There is actually maybe one person to help you use the machine. And that replaced a lot of jobs, so we have young people who are having troubles finding jobs. Even college graduates are having trouble.RT: Laurence Kotlikoff, thank you very much for a very interesting insight you gave us on the ongoing financial crisis and it's great to have you with us again.LK: My pleasure. Thank you.


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DETROIT — Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan and Toyota all posted October sales increases as the U.S. auto industry rebounded from a lackluster September.
The gains signal that automakers made it through the 16-day partial government shutdown relatively unscathed. Chrysler even predicted stronger industry sales for the month than most analysts.
"After a choppy start to the beginning of the month, Chrysler Group sales accelerated in the second half of the month with renewed consumer confidence," Reid Bigland, the company's U.S. sales chief, said in a statement.
All automakers report October sales today.
Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales jumped 14 percent last month on strong demand for the F-Series pickup and the Fusion sedan. F-Series sales were up 13 percent to 63,803, its sixth-straight month of sales above 60,000. That hasn't happened since 2006. Sales of the Fusion midsize car jumped 71 percent over last October, when the old model was being phased out.
But sales of Ford's small cars, the Focus and C-Max hybrid, fell around 20 percent. Ford recently announced plans to idle the Michigan plant where both vehicles are made to cut down on excess inventory.
At General Motors Co., sales rose 16 percent as its full-size pickup trucks rebounded from a poor showing in September. The Chevy Silverado, GM's top-selling vehicle, posted a 10 percent increase to nearly 43,000, while the GMC Sierra pickup saw sales rise 13 percent to just over 16,500. The Chevy Impala large car posted a 40 percent increase, and Malibu midsize car sales rose nearly 64 percent. But the Chevy Cruze compact, one of GM's biggest sellers, posted a 16 percent decline.
Chrysler Group LLC said it sold 140,083 cars and trucks last month, up from 126,185 in October of 2012. It was the company's best October in six years, and its 43rd straight month of year-over-year sales gains.
Chrysler was led by its two most profitable vehicles, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV and the Ram pickup. Grand Cherokee sales were up 20 percent, while Ram pickup sales rose 18 percent. But sales of the tiny Fiat 500 dropped 36 percent as Chrysler offered a larger version and gas prices fell during the month.
The company sold 579 new Jeep Cherokees in October. Sales of the small crossover SUV had been delayed as Chrysler smoothed out its rough-shifting transmission. Chrysler began shipping Cherokees on Oct. 22.
Nissan Motor Co. sales rose 14.2 percent to more than 91,000, an October record for the company. Nissan Division sales were up just over 15 percent, while the company's Infiniti luxury brand posted a 4.5 percent increase from a year ago.
Toyota sales rose nearly 9 percent last month to nearly 167,000 vehicles despite headwinds from the government shutdown, the company said.
Of the automakers reporting so far, only Volkswagen posted a decline at 18 percent. VW is up against strong growth from last year, but many of its models have faltered in 2013.
Industry analysts predict an 8-to-13 percent sales gain for October, with sales running at an annual rate of about 15.4 million for the month. But Chrysler said its calculations show a 15.7 million annual rate, one that would make October the fourth-best month of the year.
The increase follows a 4 percent drop in September because Labor Day weekend was counted in August figures this year.
Analysts say the 16-day government shutdown in early October kept buyers out of showrooms early in the month, but that apparently was just a temporary slowdown.
"It looks like the government shutdown ended just in the nick of time," said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst at the Edmunds.com auto website. "Consumers started to get jittery by the middle of the month. But with the government back to work, most lost sales should be made up in the latter half of the month."
Auto sales have consistently been a bright spot in the U.S. economy. Sales are closing in on pre-recession rates exceeding 16 million, far above the 2009 trough of 10.4 million.
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Banaji & Greenwald on Edge – Part III
Posted by The Situationist Staff on March 19, 2008
There is a great video interview of Tony Greewald and Situationist contributor Mahzarin Banaji on Edge. We're posting parts of the transcript in several bite-sized installments. Part I is here; Part II is here.
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GREENWALD: The race IAT was critical. It is the version of the IAT that got the widest attention, and it is the one we would most often demonstrate in lectures. That is another of the IAT's virtues: you can give a group demonstration and show a room full of people all at the same time that they have this shared difficulty in giving the same response to Category A and to Category B, but if you the switch the sides of the two categories, it becomes very easy.
We, and also many of our colleagues, have been very motivated by the discovery that the IAT reveals these associations with race effect in our own heads. The effect does not show up in everyone, but in perhaps 70 to 75 percent of those who have tried the test. Some are upset by this observation. They are concerned that the test is, in effect, accusing them of being prejudiced. That reaction has led us to take pains to distinguish what this test measures from what is ordinarily meant by prejudice.
Prejudice is ordinarily understood as a state of mind that leads to intentional discriminatory behavior. People who have no intent to discriminate and no dislike of a racial group might think that their IAT result was characterizing them as prejudiced. We have repeatedly said, no, that it is not what the result means. In describing what the IAT measures, we have been careful to use phrases such as 'implicit attitude,' 'implicit preference,' and 'automatic preference,' while avoiding the unqualified word 'prejudice'. Incidentally, if we did describe the test as measuring prejudice, then we would be accusing ourselves of being prejudiced.
BANAJI: One of the great insights this test has provided for me is the ability to look at what might be evolutionarily "old ways" in which we tend to behave when left to our own devices. Our social preferences must have some roots in our early social groups and interactions. From having evolved in a world where people on the other side of the river were either people you killed or people who would kill you. We now live in a world where we have to outsource to those same people on the other side of the river! We have to be friends enough with them to understand their culture so that we can get them to do things with us and to think about our common fate.
It is one thing to say, "The law says you should do this or that." It is quite another thing to say, Well, if we are really smart, and if we are really the adaptive creatures that we are, we are going to look at the ways in which we behave and see that they are not necessarily to our advantage. And as we learn we will change. And we will change in all of the ways in which we are going to need to. Like the work we need to do and will do to solve our environmental problems. Or our health problems. Eating too much is a problem because our bodies evolved in a world where food was far less abundant that it has come to be (for many people in the world). We cope by thinking about calorie intake and output in new ways. I think one of the tests of human intelligence will be whether we can take insights that are inconvenient truths about our minds, turn them around, and use such knowledge to create a better society – by which I mean, one that is line with our consciously chosen aspirations, rather than one we are being driven toward out of ignorance of who we are and our past.
GREENWALD: The IAT provides a useful window into some otherwise difficult-to-detect contents of our minds. In some cases, we find things we did not know were there. It may be "an inconvenient truth" that what's there is not what we thought was there or want to be there. But I think it is generally something we can come to grips with.
BANAJI: We have to believe that everyone is to blame, or rather everybody is responsible. It is not just the media. It is not just your parents. Instead, we find to be attractive those metaphors that come from air borne pollutants. What our minds acquire comes from the stuff that is hanging around in the atmosphere. It is in the water. It is in the air. When that is the case, you cannot hold individual people responsible. You can hold larger units and larger groups of people responsible in the same way that we do in order to solve the problem of environmental damage.
To come back to the test, I think an intuitive way to understand what it does is to imagine working with a deck of playing cards. If I ask you to sort the cards into two piles—red cards on one side; black cards on the other—you should be able to do so relatively easily. Let's say I measure the time it takes you to put the red cards to the right and the black cards to the left and use a stopwatch to time you. Then I say, "All right, I am going to time you again. This time put the hearts and clubs to one side, and the spades and diamonds to the other", and I start the stopwatch again. . We would all understand intuitively that the second sorting should take longer than the first. And the difference in time is indicative of the cognitive ease of the first relative to the second.
Like that, the IAT is trying to capture the difference between two sortings. When we encounter two things that have not been paired together very much in our experience, it takes a little longer to put them together because they are strangers to each other, making the task difficult. Working from this assumption, the IAT requests pairings of say Obama and good and Hillary and good and looks at the relative speed of judgment and the error rates. What is nifty is that you can replace Obama and Hillary with anything you want. If you are interested in looking at your preference for Coca-Cola versus Pepsi-Cola, you can adapt the test to do that.
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For a eight-minute review of IAT research by Scientific American (including clips of both Mahzarin Banaji and Brian Nosek, who each explain how the biases can operate outside of, or contrary to, one's intentions), watch the video below.


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Jon Lester leaves in 8th, but Red Sox still rock Blue jays
BOSTON -- With one ace already on the disabled list, the Boston Red Sox weren't taking any chances when their other star pitcher landed awkwardly after a pitch late in the game.
By that point, though, Jon Lester had more than done his job.
Lester pitched into the eighth inning before jamming his right hip and leaving the game, and Dustin Pedroia homered during a seven-run second to help the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-4 in the opener of a four-game series Thursday night.
"I slipped a little bit. I guess the doctors were kind of calling it a little jammed hip, a type of zinging sensation down my leg." Lester said. "It just didn't feel normal and like I said, at that point in the game, especially with that offense -- they can score some runs in a hurry -- so there's no point in trying to be a hero. We've got a long way to go the rest of the season."
Toronto, which reeled off 11 straight wins this month, had won 12 of its past 14 games and 15 of 19 to close within 6 ½ games of the AL East-leading Red Sox.
Then the Blue Jays ran into Lester.
The left-hander retired 10 straight to begin the game and didn't allow a hit until the fifth. But he exited the game with a 7-2 lead after giving up consecutive singles to start the eighth and running the count to 3-0 on Emilio Bonifacio.
Farrell came darting out of the dugout as the infielders crowded around Lester. Moments later, Lester walked off the field and Junichi Tazawa came on in relief.
"The final pitch that he threw, his landing foot kind of gave way and he jammed his hip," Farrell said. "Given where we were in the ballgame and the number of pitches he had thrown, he clearly had done his job and we weren't going to take any chances."
It was quite a scare for Red Sox Nation.
Clay Buchholz, who is 9-0 with a 1.71 ERA, hasn't pitched since June 8 because of neck stiffness and a sore shoulder.
Lester, however, isn't concerned about his leg. He has experienced this before and doesn't think he will miss any starts.
"I'm not too worried about it. The doctors didn't seem worried about it," he said. "I actually feel fine now. Walking off the field, it just kind of stays with you for a little while, and then after the docs looked at me, I feel normal. Hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow and we won't have to worry about it."
The Blue Jays capitalized when Lester left the game, cutting the deficit to 7-4 on a sacrifice fly by Jose Reyes and a groundout by Jose Bautista.
Koji Uehara preserved the lead with a perfect ninth for his third save.
Lester (8-4) was charged with four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks in winning for just the second time in his last eight starts.
"I feel that responsibility to go out there and save the bullpen and that's what we tried to do tonight," Lester said. "Obviously would have liked to give (Tazawa) a little better situation than what he came into, but he kept us with the lead and that's the main thing."
After starting the season 6-0 with a 2.72 ERA through his first nine starts, Lester struggled over his past seven, going 1-4 with a 7.30 ERA.
He returned to form just in time to face baseball's best team in June -- and Boston's bats provided him all the support he needed.
The Red Sox jumped all over Chien-Ming Wang, tagging the right-hander for seven runs while batting around in the second. Wang (1-1) lasted just 1 2/3 innings, allowing all seven runs on six hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
"They dropped seven on us," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "Against a good pitcher, you are never going to catch that. Too much to overcome."
Lester needed only 30 pitches to get through three innings and didn't allow a baserunner until Bautista walked with one out in the fourth.
Melky Cabrera singled for Toronto's first hit with one out in the fifth and moved to second on a base hit by Rajai Davis. Maicer Izturis drove them both home with a double to left-center.
Yet it wasn't enough to make up for Boston's blistering start.
Wang allowed the first seven batters to reach base during the drawn-out second.
David Ortiz and Mike Carp walked, Daniel Nava delivered an RBI single off the Green Monster in left field and Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 2-0.
Stephen Drew's double to right scored Nava, and consecutive base hits by Jose Iglesias and Jacoby Ellsbury stretched the lead to 5-0 before Wang even managed an out.
It got even worse.
After inducing a double play, Wang served up Pedroia's fifth homer of the season, a two-run shot that landed in the first row of Green Monster seats and ended Wang's evening after just 45 pitches.
"We swung the bats well," Pedroia said. "A lot of guys strung together some quality at-bats. It was a huge inning for us."
Game notes
The Red Sox played their 81st game, marking the 16th consecutive season Boston has owned a winning record halfway through the season. ... Red Sox RHP Clay Buchholz, on the DL with a neck strain, has been shut down for two to three days with lingering soreness in his right shoulder, according to Farrell. Buchholz (9-0, 1.71 ERA) underwent an MRI on Wednesday that revealed inflammation in the bursa sac area, but no structural damage. Farrell said he hopes Buchholz will resume throwing this weekend. ... Ellsbury has hit safely in eight straight games and 22 of the past 25. ... Wang fell to 6-7 in 16 career appearances against the Red Sox. ... Toronto RHP Josh Johnson (1-2, 4.60 ERA) will face Allen Webster (0-2, 11.25) in the second game of the series Friday. ... Carp returned to the lineup after missing three games and eight of the past nine with right hamstring tightness.
BOS Wins 3-1
Game Information
- Umpires:
- Home Plate Umpire - Mike Everitt
- First Base Umpire - Bruce Dreckman
- Second Base Umpire - Dan Bellino
- Third Base Umpire - Tim Welke


text:
Vikings stadium heads for final committee
ST. PAUL - The Vikings stadium got "another first down" Tuesday, proclaimed the chairman of the state Senate committee that kept the bill's recent momentum going.
ST. PAUL - The Vikings stadium got "another first down" Tuesday, proclaimed the chairman of the state Senate committee that kept the bill's recent momentum going.
The Senate jobs committee unanimously approved the stadium bill, sending it to its final committee, which is expected to debate it Wednesday morning. If approved there, it will head to the Senate floor.
A similar bill awaits a House floor debate, but House leaders have not said when that will occur.
"I do think after awhile it starts to take on a little bit of momentum and an air of inevitability," jobs committee Chairman Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Edina, said.
"We have a few more hurdles to clear, but we're encouraged with today's action and last night's action," Lester Bagley, a lobbyist for the Vikings, said of the bill's recent progression through committees.
The bill was approved on a voice vote Tuesday, meaning individual votes were not recorded.
Lawmakers are trying to end the 2012 legislative session no later than Monday, so little time remains to work out a final stadium agreement.
It is not clear if there are enough votes to pass the bill in the full House and Senate.
"It's going to be a tight vote," Bagley said.
Senate bill author Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, said the Vikings bill probably will be one of the last debated this year.
If the proposal passes the Legislature and is signed by Gov. Mark Dayton, the Minneapolis City Council still must approve the plan.
"The longer we wait to do these things, the more they cost," Sen. Dave Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, said.
Members of the construction and hospitality industries spoke Tuesday about the benefit of a Vikings stadium project, which they said would add thousands of jobs in the area. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak agreed.
"There are very few things you can do between now and Monday to create thousands of jobs," he said. "This is one of them."
Legislators are looking at ways to help St. Paul fund some of its sports facilities or pay off debt in the bill as well.
"It's time for St. Paul to be part of the equation," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said.
The committee accepted an amendment offered by Rosen that would give St. Paul $1.3 million to be used for its sports facilities or debt payments.
Another amendment that was adopted would give the city $43 million for its River Centre. Rosen said that amount "will have to come down."
"I think we need to go back to the drawing board to figure out what's fair for St. Paul," Rosen said.
She and others raised concerns about too many pieces being added to the bill, which topped $1 billion after the committee finished its work.
"This is a fragile, fragile deal," Bagley said.
Sen. Ted Lillie, R-Lake Elmo, tried to include $27 million for a new St. Paul Saints ballpark in the bill, but withdrew the amendment a few minutes later.
Rosen, R-Fairmont, said many of the details of the bill can be worked out when the Senate and House combine their versions of the bill after both chambers pass their own.
Under the stadium bills offered by Rosen and Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, the state's $398 million portion of construction costs would be funded by allowing for electronic pulltab and bingo devices. The Vikings and other private funds, such as National Football League loans, would provide $427 million and Minneapolis would add $150 million.
Without a new stadium, Dayton and other stadium supporters say the Vikings may leave Minnesota.
Danielle Nordine and Don Davis report for Forum Communications Co.


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1. Apocalypse Now (1979)
It's hard to say Apocalypse Now Redux is "better" than Apocalypse Now, since the original is a revered film classic, and the 2001 re-release inserts 49 minutes of footage that mostly make an already episodic film even more episodic. But the film has always been about a stage-by-stage journey to the primordial heart of humanity's worst impulses. (It's based, after all, on Heart Of Darkness.) By reinstating much of the cut footage—particularly a long, lazy sequence set on a French plantation—director Francis Ford Coppola and editor Walter Murch make that journey even more explicit, as the crew of the ship at the story's center is taken further into the symbolic past, with more and more layers of civilization being stripped away with every encounter. That episodic nature suggests that Apocalypse Now could even be as long as Coppola's earliest cuts (reportedly in the five-hour range) and still be as hallucinatory and mesmerizing as it ever was.
2. Blade Runner (2007)
There have been so many versions of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner by this point—including three versions labeled as directors' cuts—that it takes a little poking around to get to the meat of the matter. An original work print from 1982 was shown in theaters in the early '90s as a director's cut without Scott's approval; he disowned it, complaining that it was poorly edited and didn't feature the Vangelis soundtrack commissioned for the film. But the release drummed up enough late-breaking interest in a film previously seen as a flop that Warner Bros. authorized the budget for an official director's cut, one without the theatrical version's studio-enforced voiceover explaining the plot beat by beat, and without the studio-mandated happy ending. Scott's official 1992 director's cut wasn't the final word, though; he felt he still hadn't had enough time to make the changes he wanted, and the early DVD suffered from low transfer quality. So Scott went back to the studio in 2000 for one more shot at turning Blade Runner into the film he originally wanted. The latest version, billed as his "Final Cut," includes an extensive list of tiny technical fixes, from changed lines to "digital stabilization" of the wobbly horn on the unicorn seen in a dream sequence at the end. But it also went through a visual and audio remastering process, and the final result is a cleaner, less visually muddy, more consistent version. Some fans still object to the ending tweaks making it much clearer that protagonist Rick Deckard is an artificial life form, like the renegade replicants he's been hunting down. While the new ending implies his nature rather than definitively stating it, it still irked longtime fans who enjoyed arguing the point more than hearing the director's answer. But that issue aside, the Final Cut version of Blade Runner is in most ways subtler and moodier than the theatrical cut, with less droning explication of Deckard's world, and more time to marinate in it. It's a rare case where post-release CGI tinkering with the visuals improved them rather than suggesting a director who couldn't stop second-guessing his own past decisions.
3. Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)
What is it about Ridley Scott films that seems to lead to lackluster theatrical cuts that later lead to solid—or even great—directors' cuts? Blade Runner is the most famous example, but Scott's 2005 historical epic Kingdom Of Heaven was also greatly improved by a new cut released on DVD. At 20th Century Fox's behest, the theatrical version ran just under two and a half hours and attempted to tell a truncated, action-packed tale of the siege of Jerusalem during the Crusades, but the characters' motivations were often inexplicable, and the character played by Orlando Bloom made little to no sense, abruptly displaying keen military strategy for no apparent reason. The director's cut reinstates around 45 minutes of footage, restoring whole characters, clarifying relationships between characters, and clearing up Bloom's backstory. It also gives the period the appropriately epic sweep it needs, rather than attempting to turn what's fundamentally a war film into something closer to an action picture. It still isn't a truly great movie, but it's much clearer what Scott and screenwriter William Monahan were going for, and it's a much more enjoyable watch.
4. Swing Shift (1984)
Jonathan Demme's dramedy about women working in a factory during World War II is one of the most famous cases in recent Hollywood memory of a film's director and star clashing over the direction a film should take. Demme wanted to make an explicitly political film about how women were pressed into the workforce during the war, then asked to step back once it was over; Goldie Hawn disliked, among other things, how the film made her part of an ensemble and had her character sleeping with one man while involved in a relationship with another. Hawn had her way, and the studio sponsored reshoots, which Demme didn't supervise. In the '90s, Sight And Sound's Michael Vineberg got a look at Demme's original cut and proclaimed it one of the best American films of the '80s. Is it? The director's cut remains unavailable—though bootlegs have circulated for years—so it's hard for laymen to know, but given the praise of Vineberg and others, and the roll Demme was on in the '80s, it seems likely the original cut could have been something special. Here's hoping Criterion eventually clears up which list this film belongs on.
5. Blood Simple (1984)
The Coen brothers' first feature was re-released in 2000 as that rarity, a director's cut shorter than the version originally released to theaters. (In interviews, the Coens said that nothing made by people still in their 20s has any business being made longer.) Even so, they apparently felt they couldn't indulge themselves in revisiting their baby without making fun of the idea of directors' cuts; both the re-release and the DVD came with a mock introduction delivered by a pompous faux film historian. The 96-minute version is tighter and moves a little faster than the 99-minute original, and features at least one clear improvement: M. Emmet Walsh no longer hisses "You are disgusting!" to the departing back of the man he means to swindle and murder, which makes his later actions much more of a surprise.
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6. Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
Sergio Leone's gangster epic premièred at the Cannes Film Festival in a cut that ran almost four and a half hours, before Leone cut 40 minutes for the European theatrical release. But in America, the setting and subject of the director's violent love poem, the film was cut down to 139 minutes, in a version that eliminated the complicated time scheme and ran the action in straight chronological order. This resulted in a movie that was far more incoherent and difficult to follow than Leone's version, which cuts back and forth between three different time periods. The domestic theatrical release in 1984 was a disaster, but the director's cut played later that year at the New York Film Festival, then got some play at a few theaters and was released on video. By 1985, Showtime ran both versions, so TV viewers could make their own judgments. Leone, who died in 1989, never made another movie, but this story still isn't over; a team that includes Leone's children and Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation is currently trying to recreate the four-and-a-half-hour version, and recently showed the fruit of their labors at 2012's Cannes Film Festival. If they succeed, they may be able to announce the ultimate director's cut of the film; right now, they're about 24 minutes short.
7. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973)
A maverick director who died at age 59 and still managed to outlive his career by a few years, Sam Peckinpah is the unofficial king of the posthumous director's cut. Pat Garrett, his last period Western, was an ambitious work meant to serve as an epitaph for his favorite genre and period in American history, and also, perhaps, for the '60s counterculture that helped briefly make him commercially fashionable. During shooting, Peckinpah so antagonized MGM studio chief James Aubrey that he was happy to take the film away from Peckinpah after the director struggled with the editing; MGM released it in a truncated version that emphasized the sexy, violent elements at the expense of pace, character shading, and anything like a coherent storyline. In fall 1988, Turner Entertainment, working from Peckinpah's notes, was able to assemble a version that was longer by some 15 minutes and truer to the director's elegiac intentions. Crucially, it reinstated Peckinpah's framing device, which renders most of the action as a flashback Pat Garrett (James Coburn) experiences in the last moments of his life. It also put back a scene, featuring Barry Sullivan as Chisum, that was cut from Aubrey's theatrical release, but put back when the film was shown on TV to make up for the fact that editing the movie for broadcast standards made it too short. And it removed "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," written as part of the original score by Bob Dylan, from Slim Pickens' death scene; Peckinpah and his usual composer, Jerry Fielding, decided it would be too on-the-nose. The legendary Los Angeles cable station Z Channel, which became famous in the '80s for including directors' cuts of controversial films as part of its adventurous programming, showed Peckinpah's "director's cut" four years after his death in 1984, and just months before the channel itself went off the air.
8. The Wild Bunch (1969)
The success of the recut Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid helped create a demand for more "real Peckinpah" versions of Peckinpah movies, which helped get the preferred version of the director's masterpiece back into circulation. "The Original Director's Cut" of The Wild Bunch released to theaters in 1995 includes 10 minutes of footage cut by the studio between the time Peckinpah signed off on it and the film's general release. Notably, it adds a flashback showing William Holden and Robert Ryan together in a bordello, before the law captures Ryan and turned him into his old friend's Judas goat. It also uses children's reaction shots to contextualize the horror of the movie's violence. None of the additions made the movie any more violent, but the MPAA ratings board slapped an NC-17 on it. (A different board gave the same movie an "R" rating back in 1969.) Quentin Tarantino must have eaten his heart out a little over that.
9. Almost Famous (2000)
Writer-director Cameron Crowe told his own story in Almost Famous: the story of a Southern California teenager who conned his way into writing about rock 'n' roll for Rolling Stone magazine. The theatrical cut of the film came in at just over two hours, which was barely enough time to cover how the Crowe-like protagonist (played by Patrick Fugit) went from fannishly interviewing legendary rock critic Lester Bangs to getting in way over his head while on tour with a up-and-coming band. The DVD cut adds 40 minutes, much of it in the form of short conversations and anecdotal fragments depicting life on the road. But those small additions make a huge difference, fleshing out the hero's unrequited attraction to super-groupie Penny Lane (played by Kate Hudson), and showing more clearly how his evolving relationships with the people he was supposed to be covering wound up compromising his objectivity. All of this is present in the original as well, but in a more schematic way. In the "Untitled" version of Almost Famous, Crowe allows the viewers to live with these people long enough to understand the impossible choices they have to make.
10. Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
In terms of substantial plot elements, the unrated director's cut of Zack Snyder's remake/reimagining of Dawn Of The Dead adds just one small scene—a pleasant but disposable character moment for a secondary character—and an extended take on the main group breaking in to the mall. That's not what makes it the definitive version of the film. That distinction goes to the gore that was sprinkled throughout the film after the fact, necessitating an "unrated" label. This Dawn, like its zombies, relies on relentless forward motion and a visceral sense of danger for its effectiveness, and the longer, bloodier, lingering shots on the results of the zombie apocalypse definitely help get that across. After seeing the director's cut, the original theatrical release seems slightly antiseptic and bloodless, which probably explains why the only version available on DVD is the director's cut. It's amazing how much difference a little gore can make.
11. Touch Of Evil (1958)
Following nearly a decade of exile in Europe, Orson Welles intended to make his Hollywood comeback with 1958's Touch Of Evil. But like so many other things in his brilliant but muddled career, it didn't pan out that way. Welles' rough cut was manhandled by Universal, which recut and reshot certain scenes with the help of journeyman director-editor Harry Keller. Incensed, Welles fired off an insanely detailed (but cordial) 58-page memo detailing dozens of suggested changes. Universal ignored most of Welles' wishes, and the studio's 93-minute version of Touch Of Evil was considered definitive for decades. (A 108-minute version released in the mid-'70s contained some, but not all, of Welles' changes.) The film wasn't fully re-edited based on Welles' original memo until 1998. Most notably, the 1998 version ditches the opening credits and Henry Mancini's great but distracting score from the film's famed opening sequence. Other changes—from restored lines of dialogue to the reshuffling of certain shots—are less noticeable, but equally crucial. About the only thing not addressed in Touch Of Evil's belated director's cut is the curious decision to cast Charlton Heston as a Mexican.
12. Heaven's Gate (1980)
When a 219-minute version of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate was released to vitriolic reviews and terrible buzz, United Artists pulled the film from public viewing and had it re-edited down to 149 minutes. The radically shortened version didn't fare much better with critics or audiences, but the film's reputation began to change for the positive when Z Channel began airing a 219-minute director's cut that restores the film to its original grandeur and ambition. Most importantly, the longer version restores a stunning opening setpiece of protagonist Kris Kristofferson and drunken buddy John Hurt graduating from Harvard, establishing the giddy heights from which Kristofferson falls into the depths of Western hell. In its 219-minute version, Heaven's Gate is a true epic, overreaching and self-indulgent, but littered with moments of absolute beauty.
13. Payback: Straight Up (1999)
Really, no version of Payback needs to exist. Like John Boorman's vastly superior 1967 Lee Marvin vehicle Point Blank, Payback is an adaptation of Richard Stark's pulpy crime novel The Hunter. Trading Lee Marvin's grizzled badass persona for Mel Gibson's schlubby smirking was already a fool's gambit, but the theatrical version of the film bunged things up by overcrowding the wonderfully simple man-on-a-mission plotting of Stark's novel (and Boorman's film) with cartoony mobster figures. For his home-video director's cut, Brian Helgeland pared things down. Gibson's betrayal is seen through inserted flashbacks, a silly kidnapping subplot is axed, and Kris Kristofferson's mob chief is removed entirely. Most importantly, Gibson's character is made less goofy and sympathetic. It's still no Point Blank, but Payback: Straight Up is a marked improvement on the unrulier original.
14-plus. Lord Of The Rings trilogy extended cuts (2001-2003)
When it came to fully adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's sprawling Lord Of The Rings books, sheer practicality got in Peter Jackson's way; studios and theaters alike want to limit the length of theatrical releases, for financial reasons. All told, two hours of additional footage was cut from the trilogy for theatrical release, but restored in the DVD releases' extended cuts, adding plenty of scenes that weren't absolutely essential to the plot, but gave more texture to Tolkien's universe. Whether it's the four hobbits singing and drinking at the Green Dragon in Fellowship Of The Ring, Faramir's flashback detailing his relationship with his father in The Two Towers, or Saruman's death in Return Of The King, the restored scenes helped flesh out Tolkien's vision and provide a richer world, and more time spent exploring it.
Tomorrow: a follow-up list of movies weakened by directors' cuts.