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The boys Tom, Glen and Joe will be there morning till night, EVERYDAY till its done. This is a 100% community and volunteer project. Built by skaters for skaters. Go and help out or regret it later!
After losing 32 lbs Justin Strubing is feeling a lot better! He just came down to SD to hang for a few days and was eating everything in site. Watch out for Justin Strubing and friends in the May issue of Strength.
Corey Duffel is nursing his broken collarbone from his run in with a High School wrestling coach. Word is he lost his board while skating a roof gap. When Corey made it down to get his board he was greeted by the wrestling coach. He chased the coach into the jim trying to get his board back where the coach then proceed to show his students how to do a typical blindsided jock move that ended up breaking Corey's collarbone. Other than that Corey is amped to get better so he can show everyone how to get things done. Watch out for a lot of cool things and some badazz coverage of Corey real soon. I heard he gots the cover of both Slap and Thrasher!
Keep your eyes peeled for the Foundation's new Pop-Top boards. The Top ply is a secret in construction behind the snap composite. It's 4 times stronger than other boards and has a lasting pop. Ethan Fowler rode the same one for 2 weeks while in Australia.
And the fabled new Foundation day pack is available now! Lightweight and strong with all the amenities, comes with a main compartment, lots of pockets, a patented "EZ Access" board holder, CD holder and contoured straps.
Why are yous sitting infront of yous computer? Go eat or something!
Also look out for new METAL hardware. Available in sizes: 7/8", 1", 1 1/8".
Special features include:
* Half tread bolt for tighter fit.
* Added board strength.
* Superior grade steel.
* Bonus silver bolt fot directional.
Pinapple, Hackett, and some of the Tum Yeto family of hard core pool rippers have been seen hopping fences, barging backyards, and infiltrating backyard pools from San Diego to Salba land - ripping, tearing, and shredding all coping and Deathboxes in sight compiling footage for their first video "TALES FROM THE DEATHBOX" to be released sometime next year.
The new line of Deathbox Pro decks will be out and available by the end of March / early April (right around the time of the release of the award winning "Dogtown and Z-Boys film in theaters everywhere (check out Jay Adams and Hackett in that one.) Look for some very different shapes, sizes, concaves, graphics, and just about everything you've never seen as Deathbox riders Adams, Hackett, Pineapple, Folmer, Inouye, Bowman, Blackhart, and Ruml go against all the rules to once again tweak the minds of the current skate grommet and population at large...
Speaking of grommets, Deathbox has signed mini ripper Nathan Groff (8) to it's competition / flow team and is on a worldwide search for all around hard core skaters ("all around" means you skate EVERYTHING) to represent, so if you think you got what it takes to "Ride The Box" send in your photos, vid's, emails and photos of your girlfriend to: email@example.com
Shoe news: Jay Adams has been signed and is working on a new signature shoe with Osiris along with David Hackett. This shoe will blow minds. Hackett is now sponsored by Osiris, Indy, and Black Leather Racing for this years TLP slalom racing series. The first race "Battle by the Bay" will be held in San Francisco's Presidio Park on March 23-24.
Deathbox is also one of the sponsors of the Kona Skate park annual Banked Slalom event - look for Pinapple and Hackett to represent speed.
On a personal note, Deathbox pros and legendary Z-boys Jay Adams and Wentzle Ruml have been getting some killer surf lately. Jay stuffing 8-10 foot barrels at Rocky Point in Hawaii, while Wentzle has been slashing and carving 6-8 foot perfection in the British Virgin Islands.
Pineapple, Hackett, and Bowman were seen sessioning the Coronado skate park testing their new prototypes. Bowman blew minds with Inverts, and airs until Pineapple devastated everyone with a 30-foot+board slide in the deep end, which included a high speed, blur down the elevator section of the coping.
Tom Inouye was last reported tearing up some deep, deep powder and hucking his body off some sick cliffs up on Mt. Hood. This year both High Cascade and Windells' snowboard Camps have added Skate camps. Look for Tom up there on a recruiting mission for new Deathbox riders.
Folmer and Blackhart were last seen leaving on a secret pool/pipe mission and have been missing for 6 days and 7 nights. Anybody with any information of their whereabouts should immediately contact -firstname.lastname@example.com
On March 27th most of the Zero team is flying down-under for a 3-week tour of OZ. In attendance will be: Jamie, Mumford, Ryan Smith, John Rattray, Adrian Lopez, Jon Allie and Lee-Dog. Check out www.zeroskateboards.com for a schedule of cities and going onses.
I told you once before, I'll tell you again, Lopes' new Circa shoe is selling like hotcakes. Get a pair now if you haven't already, it's not hype, it's a damn good shoe.
Check out the Transworld photo issue for a nice shot of Mumford b/s nose blunting...
The new issue of 411 has a day in the life of Jamie Thomas. It documents the trip Jamie took to Kansas City earlier this year. Some cold weather skating, ramp building and autograph signing definitely go down. Wiggins and Mirko even have cameos. Good stuff. Get it now cause JT's spot alone is worth shelling out some loot for.
Rattray is hanging tight in Scotland awaiting the arrival of his Visa.
Watch for an Adrian Lopez interview in an upcoming Strength.
Lindsey Robertson has a check out in the works for Strength.
The Architect is a real champion for the cause. He is the same guy who drew Robb Feild in Ocean Beach. Some features of the park that are being considered are to create famous street spots, such as the Gonz gap, UCI ledges, Carlsbad gap and more! Plus a secret one that I don't want to say cause someone else may snake the idea. Trust me it's amazing!
Stay tuned to this channel for more Memorial Park updates.
You heard the stories now check the photos. Plus check out the new Thrasher for a full on article!
Black Leather Racing. You must have quicktime to veiw this bitchie.
Legislation is coming up in Califonia that may jeopardize skateboarding in California which may raise the attention of politicians from around the country. Skateboarding needs your help. Go here now and see what you can do.
I command you! Yuck
Don Nguyen backside lip fakie.
Jamie Thomas frontside smith grind.
Steve Leon Pelham, NY - Afterschool Special
Brian Magar York, PA - Certain Death
Nick Pritchard York, PA - Jock Destroyer
Huschang Pourian Germany - Lorry Culture
Alex Ngo Ridgewood, NJ - Motherboard
Go check out BD4D to see the winning decks and the 35 runner ups.


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It started off as an experiment, but Microsoft now wants to speed up and return more accurate Bing search results with the help of reconfigurable chips called FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays) in data centers.
Next year, Microsoft will start installing FPGAs in its data centers, hoping to speed up and increase the accuracy and relevancy of search results.
"Increasing capabilities and reducing the cost of Microsoft cloud services relies on increasingly efficient hardware," said Andrew Putnam, a researcher at Microsoft, during the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino, California, on Wednesday.
The FPGAs are intended to help Microsoft deliver text and image search results much faster. Their use will also reduce the number of servers for processing search requests in Microsoft's data centers.
The FPGAs will be used in specially designed servers and will be connected through a specialized cable called Catapult.
"Hardware specialization is ... possibly the way to gain efficiency and performance we need to improve data center services. The Catapult reconfigurable fabric offers a flexible, elastic pool of resources where we can build these kind of accelerators," Putnam said.
Catapult started off as the name of an experiment in 2011 to put FPGAs in servers, and as a way to circumvent traditional data center designs. Microsoft was playing with the idea of specialized hardware to tackle processing for Bing, which would be much faster on FPGAs than through traditional CPUs.
"Technology has not been a friend ... in the last handful of years. It becomes more and more difficult to get those kind of efficiency gains and cost reductions by just waiting for technology to get better," Putnam said.
An experimental deployment of FPGAs in 1,632 servers in Microsoft's data center yielded promising results.
"The FPGAs provided two times improvement in throughput and 29 percent reduction in network latency. Half the servers were required to do all the processing," Putnam said. "If we need to improve the efficiency of the architecture, we can do it via hardware specialization."
But the decision to deploy FPGAs took a while. Microsoft initially looked at FPGAs and ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits). ASICs would be better on the power-efficiency scale than FPGAs, but they would be less flexible regarding software. But FPGAs, with their ability to be quickly reprogrammed, can be repurposed much more easily.
"As soon as the software changes, that FPGA accelerator can be updated along with the application change. But the ASIC is going to be a waste of power, or going to hold software development back," Putnam said.
The FPGAs run code to determine query results, which are then sent back to the CPU for delivery to the Web. The faster computing through FPGAs allows for more services to be separated, differentiated and applied.
One service could allow filtering and ranking of results. A separate service within the FPGAs could provide scores and measure relevancy of queries to results. The scores are then sorted and returned as results. It also allows more math and image recognition services to be applied to the results.
But as the number of FPGAs grows, it could be a challenge reprogramming all of them.
Microsoft's data center administrators hated the idea of FPGAs in servers. There were many reasons for the FPGA model not to fit well in data centers.
"First of all, it's a single point of failure and it really complicates the rack design, the thermals and maintainability. You have an FPGA box that's spitting out a ton of heat, all the other servers are at a different level and it becomes really hard to control," Putnam said.
It's also a security nightmare, as the FPGAs run different operating system images and software than conventional servers. FPGAs on the main network would also create latency problems, limiting the elasticity of a data center, Putnam said.
In 2011, Microsoft designed prototype boards with six Virtex-6 FPGAs and Intel Xeon CPUs, The plan was to put these boards into 1U, 2U and 4U rack-mount servers and slip them into racks across data centers. But that didn't work out well.
So when reconsidering implementing FPGAs in data centers, Microsoft set up two design requirements. The FPGAs would go into dedicated servers that could be used for tasks outside processing Bing search. Also, the server couldn't increase the hardware failure rates or require network modifications.
Limitations were also set for Microsoft's server design team: The FPGAs had to be less than 30 percent of the cost of a server, and couldn't draw more than 10 percent of the overall power drawn by the system.
And that led to the birth of the Microsoft Open Compute Server, a 1U-tall server with a PCI-Express slot that could squeeze in a single FPGA. The compact server had two eight-core Xeon CPUs, 64GB of DRAM, two solid-state drives, four hard drives total and a 10-gigabit Ethernet slot. The servers were used in the experiment earlier this year.
"Your only slot for adding accelerators was tiny, about 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters," Putnam said.
The FPGA accelerator board was an Altera Stratix V G5 D5 card, which had an 8GB DDR3, 32MB flash and eight-lane Mini-SAS connectors. It was plugged into a PCI-Express slot. The FPGA on each server had a heatsink of its own.
The CPUs and other components generated a lot of heat, and the FPGA were getting baked in a 68 degrees Celsius (154.4 degrees Fahrenheit) inlet. "That's the air we're supposed to cool the [FPGA] with," Putnam remarked.
The FPGAs were built on a specialized network connected through cables. Search requests were bounced from the CPU to a local FPGA, with the request then rerouted across a separate network of PGAs covering computer vision, math acceleration and other search services. The FPGA network was scalable, and didn't rely on the network connecting the computers.
"From the perspective of a CPU, its local FPGA can handle what actually took a lot of FPGAs," Putnam said. "You can add a bunch of services to this kind of FPGA network. Every CPU thinks it's attached to all of these services."
As the number of FPGAs in a data center piles up, programming them could become a nightmare. Microsoft has ported over filtering, ranking, relevancy and sorting tools so FPGAs remain relevant and are easier to reprogram.
"They are actually going to push [FPGAs] into their data centers, but of course, in order to keep them there, we're going to have to really improve the future of programmability," Putnam said.
Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Learning the laws regulating the use of firearms is a must for responsible ownership. Local regulations differ and laws vary from state to state. Citizens must check with the jurisdiction where the gun is to be used.
Generally, laws require the following:
Please visit the below website for further information regarding NC Firearms Laws and reciprocity:
NC Firearms Laws
Gaining competency with firearms is like learning to drive a car or fly an airplane. You need expert instruction and practice. There is no shortcut. If you are not willing to invest the time and effort to become competent, then having a firearm and trying to use it can, in many instances, be more hazardous than any impending threat.
North Carolina General Statute 14-404(e1) requires applicants to sign a release of court orders concerning mental health and capacity for pistol purchase permits.
After completing the online portion of the application, you MUST come in to the Sheriff's Office within five (5) business days to complete or provide this release.
Your application process will not begin until this final step has been completed.
Applicant Must:
Please note that as part of the application process, you will authorize the Wayne County Clerk of Superior Court to inform the Sheriff of Wayne County whether or not the clerks' records contain the record of any involuntary mental commitment proceeding under Article 5 of Chapter 122C of the General Statutes in which you have been named as a respondent. The purpose of this release is to enable the Sheriff to determine your qualification and competence to purchase and handle a handgun.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office offers this online service as a convenience to the community. In addition to the per permit fee of $5, the system will charge a per transaction fee for the convenience of applying and paying for your permits online. The convenience fee is not collected by the Sheriff. This fee is paid to the company that provides this order, payment and processing system to the public. You do have the option of applying and paying via cash in person at the Sheriff's office. By doing so, you will not be charged the convenience fee.
Please visit the below website for further information regarding NC Firearms Laws and reciprocity:
NC Firearms Laws
Please note that this website has been certified to work using the following browsers: IE 8 or higher, Firefox, Safari or Chrome.
Wayne County Sheriff's Office
207 E. Chestnut Street
Goldsboro , NC 27530
Phone: (919) 731-1481
Permitium Software
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: (855) 642-2453
(a) Any person who resides in the same premises as a minor, owns or possesses a firearm, and stores or leaves the firearm (i) in a condition that the firearm can be discharged and (ii) in a manner that the person knew or should have known that an unsupervised minor would be able to gain access to the firearm, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if a minor gains access to the firearm without the lawful permission of the minor's parents or a person having charge of the minor and the minor:
(b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from carrying a firearm on his or her body, or placed in such close proximity that it can be used as easily and quickly as if carried on the body.
(c) This section shall not apply if the minor obtained the firearm as a result of an unlawful entry by any person.
(d) "Minor" as used in this section means a person under 18 years of age who is not emancipated. (1993, c. 558, s. 2; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 14, s. 11.)


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This post originally went up on January 15th, 2018.
What exactly is banter these days? I know the official definition is a 'playful or friendly exchange of teasing remarks'. Not exactly like what you see in one of the above examples, but I keep seeing examples of banter that ignores the playful or friendly part. Since comedy/humor is subjective, this is going to be a tough topic to write about. I know what I believe might not be shared by others, so I'm going to try my best to keep it within the mechanic of banter and what I always thought it was.
Keep in mind that I grew up with The Marx Brothers, who excelled at cutting remarks and comedic banter. That tends to be my baseline, which was expanded by me reading older Spider-Man comics where he flung insults. Now, the superhero stuff tends to be labeled as banter even if there's no back and forth. I keep running into people saying that they love Deadpool's banter . . . He's usually just cracking jokes and insulting enemies. It's more antagonizing a foe in a similar vein to Spider-Man, but that doesn't always fall into the banter category. So, what do I think you need for banter?
As stated in the definition, there's supposed to be a friendly and playful aspect to banter. You don't typically get this between enemies. Savage insults getting hurled faster than bullets isn't really banter due to the emotions. The audience might be having fun, but it's the participants that denote banter. They have to be the playful and friendly ones. For example, Fritz Warrenberg and Nimby would get into back-and-forth insults at times and that would be banter because they were being playful. Luke Callindor and the Lich doing the same isn't the same because they're trying to hurt each other. Banter is supposed to be something that friends do and is easily shrugged off because it was 'done in good fun'.
I've seen a lot of people mistake puns for banter as well. That can be part of it, but a character spitting out jokes isn't bantering. Not really sure of the term, but it's missing an important aspect to be banter. That would be somebody replying. This is a two or more person comedy because you need responses to keep the whole thing going. If a person is flinging insults and jokes without anything going back to them then they're probably the comic relief. Hey, I think I remember the term I was thinking of. Anyway, you can have back-and-forth puns, but it's that first part that's necessary for true banter.
This is why I mentioned in the title that banter is harder than people think. Not everything funny falls into this category, especially when you consider that comedy is as varied as music and movies. There are genres of comedy just like every other type of entertainment. Banter is a style and technique that can be used in any of them, but that doesn't mean it's always the answer. In fact, it shouldn't be the only one used or it loses it's appeal. Kind of like how horror movies and video games overdid jump scares a while back, you can eliminate the appeal of banter by overusing it or extending the definition to ridiculous lengths. This is the challenge: You need to know what a technique really is before you try to use it or say you're using it.
If I had to give a tip to how to use or learn about banter, I would suggest looking at older comedies. Not as far back as the Marx Brothers, but I remember a lot of good banter from Eddie Murphy, Gene Wilder, and Robin Williams movies. Many times, a sharp and quick wit leads to banter because you need to be fast with the responses. There's that comfort level between participants that allows banter to move at a fast pace to give it a the natural playfulness. This also requires that you have a deep understanding of the characters and their relationship when you do it in your own works. Are they close friends that can get away with such comments? Do they have enough knowledge of each other to bounce off each other? Are they really friends or merely coworkers/partners with nothing more than a working relationship? Weird question at the end, but I've seen plenty of 'banter' that comes from two characters that show no sign of friendship and the exchange ends up being out of place. Comedy can't be forced.
What do you think of banter? Do you think it's being either overused or simply being used to define witty comedy in general? Do you have a favorite banter example?


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Ron Shaich, Panera Bread chairman and CEO, said, "As previously reported, I sold 100,000 shares of Class A Shares from November 28 to November 29, 2000 at prices ranging from $21.00 to $22.00 per share. This represented less than 5% of my economic interest in Panera Bread. I remain absolutely confident in Panera Bread's ability to continue its rapid growth in sales and profits.''
Panera Bread owns and franchises bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread and Saint Louis Bread Co. names. The company is the leader in the emerging specialty bread/cafe category due to its unique bread combined with a quick, casual dining experience. As previously reported, as of Oct. 31, 2000 Panera Bread operated 241 bakery-cafes (90 company-owned and 151 franchised bakery-cafes) in 27 states. Additional information is available on the company's website, www.panerabread.com


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Once Upon a Time…. I Thought the Worst We Had To Face Was Foreclosure Hell, I WAS WRONG!
Ya know, I used to think that Foreclosure Hell was the worst thing we in this Country had to face. Wow, Was I Wrong!
I didn't realize that just like in Japan, they will cook us to death with radiation, and not even bother to tell us. I have condemned the Japanese for nuking the world and not telling us the truth about it, but fuck me, this country is doing the same thing.
While most people go about their daily business, they never think about the fact, that a pleasure of getting rained on is killing them. We are the walking dead, and being asleep to the fact is just fucking us up more.
I would apologize for my slang, no, crude language, but something needs to wake these sleeping zombies up!
So, they are not only going to take every house they can get their grimy paws on, but they are going to continue the slow kill of humankind from the planet.
It is not the kids growing up now that will suffer so much, it is like the butterfly test in Fukushima. It is the children's children that will be riddled with deformities.
No matter what they try to tell us, we cannot be stupid, and believe that radiation is ok. The thought of believing that, well, it is, stupid. The sheeple that make up this country now, is amazing. If the government says the radiation is not hurting us, we'll just believe them. Because the government says so? Yall need to get out from under the rock, and out of the sun, cause damn! You been drinking too much water with fluoride in it, for too long, and it has made you dumb! I take that back, it has made you dumber than dirt!
For years, they have been doing things with the weather, with our food, with our prescriptions, our health! They have taken healthy human beings and turned them into out of shape, fat slugs that have lives that are meant for cattle. Chemtrails is no lie either. What about HARP? I guess that you also believe that 911 was not an inside job.
No, I am not a conspiracy theorist, I believe in taking what is put before me, studying it, seeing it for what it is, listening to scientists, listening to experts, and deducing my own opinion. You see, we woke up. We quit drinking the tap water. We quit watching the regular news. The news media is brainwashing you sheeple, which is not hard for them to do.
Terrorists are here, they are going to get you, so we have to militarize the Police forces. These false flag shootings, are to outrage you sheeple, so that you will agree that guns are bad, and they can confiscate our guns. We are told that our rights have to be taken, so that we can be protected from the terrorists, etc.,
If you are so blind you cannot see your nose on your face, you will not notice that Fannie Mae, and the banks are throwing our elderly out on the street. Right now, in Goodyear, Arizona, an 83 year old woman and her 86 year old husband are being thrown out of their home. No one cares. In Colorado Springs, CO, an 82 year old woman is being thrown out of her home. No one cares.
What the hell is wrong with you sheeple? It's not you, so it is Ok? The Bank With the Most Homes in the End Wins, Get Used to It!!!
Sheeple Awaken!


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The May issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands tomorrow, but it's already made the cover of the New York Post. The issue features a photograph of Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel's mega-hit Hannah Montana, clutching a satin sheet to her otherwise naked torso. Cyrus quickly disavowed the photograph, which was taken by Annie Liebovitz: "I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," she said in a statement. "I never intended for any of this to happen, and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about." Disney, for its part, shared Cyrus' outrage. Disney spokeswoman Patti McTeague told the New York Times that "a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."
Reading McTeague's comment over coffee yesterday morning, I couldn't help but think of an advertisement I'd seen a few months ago while on a reporting trip to China. I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison. Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing's Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney's signature mouse-ear design. In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.
Not believing my eyes, and on an assignment that touched on images of Westerners in the Chinese consumer's imagination, I snapped a photo:
After reading of the Cyrus flap, I e-mailed my photo to Disney's McTeague. I was curious: How did the company square its position on the Liebowitz photo with its risqué billboard in China?
McTeague passed on commenting and forwarded the image to Gary Foster, a spokesman for Disney's consumer-products division. He called me from a business trip (to China) to disavow the ad. "It has caught us totally by surprise," Foster told me by phone from Guangzhou. He explained that Disney contracts with a host of licensees, who produce and market products for the Disney brand. Foster said that licensees are contractually bound to clear all advertising with Disney's corporate offices. "We have literally hundreds of licensees making our products. They are supposed to submit any kind of imagery to us before it is used, but it's hard to enforce that sometimes," he said.
Foster said he didn't know which ad agency prepared the ad, how old the model was, or where the photo shoot took place. But he was sure it was the work of a Disney licensee: Shanghai Zhenxin Garments Co. Ltd., which makes underwear for girls and teens. China is notorious for its intellectual-property pirates, and Disney is a frequent victim, with people illegally slapping the Disney name and logo on items all the time. Could this have been the case with the billboard, I asked Foster. "No. Unfortunately not this time," he replied. He assured me the billboard would be removed immediately.
It is legitimately difficult for a company as big as Disney to keep track of all its subcontractors. Then again, Disney has learned the hard way the importance of keeping track: Disney's response to the billboard recalls its response to exposés of labor conditions in the factories of its Chinese licensees', where subcontractors were actually breaking local wage, health, and safety laws. Here, of course, it's rules of taste and propriety that are involved, and the ad may play differently to a local audience than it did to me and Foster. The age of consent in China is 14, compared with 18 in Disney's home state of California. "I don't want to make excuses for them at all because it is not anything that we would ever approve, but in other parts of the world this is not unusual at all," Foster said. "In fact, in Europe, they have similar type of taste, if you will. Here in China that's not unusual at all, but it's not usual for the Disney brand."
It may be a small world, after all, but not everyone shares Burbank's mores, and you can't be too careful protecting your brand: You never know when a Chinese licensee, or an American glossy, will deviate from the Disney way.


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Media Advisory
New Podcast Heralds Progress Made in Tobacco Prevention
November 13, 2007
Archived. This is an older press release from 2007 and may not contain the latest information. Please view our current press releases for 2023 items.
The continuing effort to protect people from secondhand smoke and help smokers in Contra Costa County quit is the topic of a new podcast from Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) on cchealth.org, the department website.
The two-minute podcast features CCHS Director William Walker, MD, talking about how attitudes about tobacco have changed in the past 20 years as Contra Costa County has been at the forefront of the fight to protect to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke and youth access to tobacco.
The podcast was posted Thursday at, cchealth.org, the CCHS website, and is accessible from the home page by computers with MP3 capability.
"Podcasting is a way for Internet users to hear me talk about a subject in my own voice," Dr Walker says. "This is a good topic for a podcast, because the issue of secondhand smoke affects everyone."
For more information about tobacco prevention or to hear the podcast about it, visit cchealth.org or call the CCHS Communications Office at 925-313-6823.
# # #
- Denice Dennis
- 925-313-6825


text:
When I tell people I spent the last year of my life studying abroad in Israel (search), they usually look at me funny and respond politely.
When I tell them I'm planning to move there permanently in August, the flabbergasted look on their face demands an explanation.
I'm a 21-year-old student at NYU majoring in journalism. I have blonde hair and blue eyes and a boyfriend. I come from the average American family, and look like the average American girl. So why am I leaving the land of opportunity to live, permanently, in a land ravaged by war?
A rabbi once told me that when God took Abraham to Canaan (search) and showed him the land, promising it to Abraham's future generations, He also showed him every Jew that was ever to be born. The rabbi went on to explain that, according to the legend, when a Jew stands in the exact spot where thousands of years ago Abraham first beheld him, he becomes intimately and eternally bound to the land.
Like many Jews, I had been to this land, now called Israel, numerous times, to see the holy sights and visit the home of my forefathers. And while I felt a connection, and perhaps had the feeling of "coming home" that many Jews boast of, I never viewed the country as anything more than a place of religious and historical significance to visit every once in a while.
But two summers ago, when I visited Israel with my family, something was different. I suddenly felt a visceral need to identify with the people and the culture, and so I decided to spend a year abroad studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (search). The only explanation, albeit fantastical, that I can offer is that perhaps that summer I stood in the very place where Abraham first regarded me, so many years ago, and my soul anchored itself in the sacred soil.
I was overcome with the realization that there was a country whose land had been promised to me, where millions of my people lived, yet their lives were so different from mine. I wanted to see that land and that life, learn about it, be part of it.
I quickly became part of life in Israel. I got used to having my bag checked every time I went into a store or restaurant, I got used to seeing my Israeli soldier friends walking around with huge M-16s on their shoulders. I mastered haggling with the taxi drivers. Taxis, not buses – that was the rule my parents, and many of my friends' parents, issued before we left. With all the suicide bombings on buses, it just isn't worth the risk. And though I don't travel on buses, I'll admit I still feel frightened walking by a bus, or sitting at a red light in a taxi with a bus in the next lane. It's just too hard to get the television images of blown-up buses out of my head.
Two weeks after I arrived, I was lucky enough to land an internship at The Jerusalem Post, which was an invaluable opportunity for me as a young journalist. There, I was thrown right into the thick of things, with no choice but to learn quickly. On my very first day, I wrote an article that appeared in the newspaper, and while it wasn't front-page news, it was my debut into the world of journalism.
The internship was my first step into the "real world." The Post staff treated me like a full-fledged reporter, giving me assignments and deadlines and sending me around the country to gather information. It was great training, and it was often fun.
But, living in Jerusalem was also often very stressful.
I remember one night that was particularly nerve-racking. It was a Saturday night. My parents' plane had just taken off after a brief visit, and all my friends were on a weekend get-away hiking in the Golan. I was in my dorm at Hebrew University when I got a phone call from a friend in the Israeli army. He said he couldn't talk, but he wanted to warn me not to leave my dorm that night.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we're on our way to Jerusalem right now to look for a terrorist who's on the loose, who according to intelligence is planning on blowing himself up in Jerusalem tonight."
I was terrified. I was all alone. I couldn't call my parents, and I was scared to leave my dorm. I had never before experienced such real fear and danger.
But in Israel, that sense of fear and danger is the norm. In Alaska, it's normal to wear snow boots all year round. In New York, that would be absurd. In Israel, the snow boots are simply bulletproof vests.
Life is about adjusting, and I'm still struggling with the adjustment.
When I told my best friend that I was going to Israel for a year, she couldn't believe it. She couldn't understand why I was going to spend a year of my life in a country filled with angry extremists who would jump at the chance to kill me.
She was correct in that what we see on TV is scary – images of the burned frames of blown-up buses or cafes, the Israeli military in the slums of the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza.
But the majority of the cafes in Israel are modern, popular places where Israelis spend their evenings or lunch breaks, and many Palestinians are not the suffering, impoverished people we see on TV. Many live in mansions in developed Arab villages.
I explained all of this to my friend as best I could, but I didn't say what I was really thinking: Honestly, how safe is it to live anywhere these days? Today, terrorism is a global threat. How many New Yorkers were scared to go to work at the World Trade Center on that Tuesday morning in September 2001? But today, everybody is wary, everywhere in the world. The point is that we still go on living. Not just existing, but actually living. We can't live life scared to go around every corner, or none of us would ever leave the house.
It's no different in Israel. Living means putting the fear behind you.
Of course, managing the fear is a personal battle. On the one hand, no one wants to forget the 3-year-old child killed by a Palestinian rocket while he was walking to nursery school with his mother. On the other hand, we do want to forget. We want to move on and not dwell on all the sorrow and tragedy.
Yet while their survival requires Israelis to harden their hearts to the pain, to take a deep breath and push the grief out of their minds, doing so is slowly turning Israel into a very hardened country. I fear once I live there, I might harden with it; so while some may worry that I will lose my life, I worry more about losing my heart.
It is Israel's mostly futile effort to block out the pain of all the death that is causing them to lose the media war. The Palestinians bring the journalists and cameras into their homes, showcasing their anguish for the world.
Everyone can remember the last time they saw an Israeli bulldozer destroying a house, or an Israeli tank plowing through a Palestinian village. But rarely do we see the footage of the Israeli mothers, wives and children crying for lost relatives. We hear the names of the dead, but rarely do we see the victims who remain maimed and crippled. They do exist, but Israel avoids revealing its vulnerable side.
So instead, Israelis appear tough and military.
Oddly, once I arrived in Israel, I felt further from the war-torn country I was familiar with than when I was at home, watching suicide bombings and shootings on the news every day. There I was, living in what is technically considered East Jerusalem, and I was oblivious to the danger around me. Despite the terror, bombings and deaths, there is a living side to the country, and that's the Israel I became a part of.
And that's my answer to those who can't understand my decision to live in Israel, exactly what Israelis want the world to remember: People are actually living life there. It's not a third-world regime. It's not Afghanistan or Iraq. It's a modern democracy, just like the United States, trying to exterminate terrorism. The roads are paved, there are prestigious hospitals and universities and they even have The GAP and IKEA.
But none of that makes news, so we don't see it – hence the flabbergasted looks when I say that after spending a year in Israel, I'm moving there permanently this summer.
So while perhaps it was my religious beliefs that led me to explore the country in the first place, it was the country itself, the people, the culture and the life, that kept me there.
Erica Chernofsky will graduate from NYU with a degree in journalism in January 2005, completing her last semester at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She was an intern with Foxnews.com this summer, and moved to Israel earlier this month.


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KARACHI: Pakistan need to "stand up and be counted" against South Africa's pace attack in their series with the world's top-ranked test nation starting next month, captain Misbahul Haq said on Friday.
"This series is one of the biggest challenges of my captaincy tenure but I am confident that we can pose a serious threat to South Africa," Misbah told Reuters.
The 16-member Pakistan squad leave on Sunday for a two-month tour that begins with a three-test series from February 1. Pakistan are touring South Africa for the first time since 2007.
"The coming series is very important for Pakistan cricket because we have mostly played our cricket in South Asia or the UAE since 2010," Misbah added.
"The last few years have been a big challenge for Pakistan cricket and the players have come through well most of the time. But this is a tour where we have to play our best cricket."
No test playing nation has visited Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
Misbah said he was confident about the series because Pakistan, like South Africa, had a strong bowling attack.
"Until now our spinners have come through for us now it is the turn of the pace bowlers to deliver. I am confident that players like Umar Gul and Junaid Khan will be our strike bowlers and we have a good spin backup in Saeed Ajmal," he said.
Misbah said his biggest concern was putting substantial runs on the board agsinst an attack boasting Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.
"South Africa has one of the best pace attacks in the world so we have to stand up and be counted. If we can post decent totals in the tests I know our bowlers will deliver."
Misbah said his team's main strength had been their unity which had helped them whitewash England in early 2011 in a three-test series in the UAE.
"No one gave us a serious chance of beating England but we did that because we have gelled well as a team. That will be our main strength in South Africa despite their formidable batting and bowling resources," he said.
South Africa completed a 2-0 series win over New Zealand on Monday after thumping the visitors by an innings and 13 runs, only their second home test series win in four years.
The Proteas have risen to the top of the International Cricket Council's test team rankings thanks to their wonderful away form during which they have won back-to-back series in Australia and England and remain unbeaten on their travels since 2006.
You are a good leader Misbah. Good luck. Doing well in a series like this is bigger than WC.
Best of luck Green shirts, do us proud, doesn't matter you win or lose but we want to see you fight like lions.
Go Misbah......
Best of luck Pakistan team. Difficult but not impossible
Misbah when you have SA on the ground don't be defensive...........CHOKE THEM!!!
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Sometimes acne isn't restricted to your teenage years. If you're dealing with adult acne, there may be simple things you can change to banish breakouts. Dr. Ava Shamban, board-certified dermatologist and author of Heal Your Skin, pinpoints the unhealthy skin habits to break. Just read more.
Related: 7 Incredible Edibles That Combat Dull Skin
More From Prevention
1. Can't touch this: "Adult acne can appear anywhere you apply repeated or extended pressure on your skin," Dr. Shamban explains. "Resting your chin on your hand while you work, pressing your cell phone on your chin, or wearing tight clothing can contribute to acne." Touching your face can be a hard habit to break. To break the acne cycle, try using a headset with your cell phone and wearing a ponytail to keep hair out of your face.
2. Sweat it out: "Surveys show that we often touch our faces 10 to 12 times an hour," Shamban explains. "This can increase during the summer months as we wipe sweat from our faces." Unfortunately, you can't control your bodily functions, but sweat contributes to clogged pores. Instead of wiping sweat with your hands, invest in makeup-removing wipes like Ole Henriksen Truth to Go Wipes (Sephora.com, $15).
3. Spectacle snag: It's the season for sunglasses, but for acne-prone skin, glasses are an extra opportunity for nose pimples. "Wearing glasses makes it easier for oil, dead skin, and dirt to remain on the skin and clog pores beneath the frames," Shamban says. To avoid breakouts caused by glasses, give the area added attention during your cleansing routine. Also, keep wipes nearby to clean your frames and skin throughout the day.
4. She bangs: Your fringe may be on trend, but it can cause forehead acne. Dr. Shamban recommends pinning hair back when you can. Also, apply product with fingers or a comb instead of spritzing on your hair and face. Styling products can block your pores and start a breakout.
5. Sunscreen side effects: We hope you're wearing sunscreen every day, even if it's overcast. But any beauty products without noncomedogenic on the label can set your acne-prone skin off. Choose water-based foundations, mineral-based powders , and oil-free sunscreens to minimize your blemish count.
6. Cool down: Even though vacations can be fun, all the planning can be stressful. "Stress can trigger heightened levels of androgens—hormones which can contribute to adult breakouts," Dr. Shamban explains. "Additionally, stress releases cortisol and other adrenal steroids, which can stimulate the sebaceous glands and result in acne flare-ups." Deny the urge to reach for carb-rich snacks and junk food, which may only make your acne worse.
Related: 6 Grooming Products to Steal From the Boys
Related: How to Summer-ize Your Daily Acne Routine


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Remember "sticker shock"? After several years of heavily discounting their products in a desperate bid to keep assembly lines rolling, automakers are finding themselves back in the driver's seat once again – pushing prices to record levels.
And it's "not a blip," warns one senior analyst, who expects the trend to continue for several years. The good news for shoppers is that trade-ins are also yielding better prices – and while that new car, truck or crossover may command more money than ever before it's also likely to include significantly more features and markedly better fuel economy than the vehicle it replaces.
The average new vehicle sold in the U.S. in March cost $30,748, according to data tracking service TrueCar.com. That was up from $28,771 a year earlier and marks an all-time record.
"It's not a blip. It's a trend we've been seeing for months," said Jesse Toprak, TrueCar's chief automotive analyst. That's despite the fact, he says, that "This might seem counter-intuitive at a time you might expect to see people buying cheaper cars because fuel costs are rising so fast."
But there've been a number of counter-intuitive trends in the industry in recent months, notably the surge in overall car sales, which have been rebounding faster than the U.S. economy – despite the fuel price spike that, in decades past, might have been expected to result in a sharp downturn in demand.
There are a number of reasons why new car prices are spiking. One key reason is "There's a better equilibrium between supply and demand," noted Toprak, "which means discounting isn't needed as much."
While March saw vehicle sales surge to an annualized rate of around 14.5 million, that's a long way from the decade-old industry peak of around 17.1 million. In years past, makers would've been tacking on massive rebates and other incentives to boost sales. But in a significant move during the recent recession, many makers slashed production capacity, especially Detroit's Big Three.
And so, with the remaining plants operating at or near – in fact, often above – their rated capacity, carmakers don't need to be so generous. March incentives, according to TrueCar, slipped 1.8%, year-over-year, to an average $2,440 per vehicle.
There's another reason why the run-up in pricing might seem unlikely. There's been a significant upturn in the small car market, motorists trading big SUVs for compact crossovers and full-size sedans for subcompacts. Nearly one in four vehicles sold in March fell into the small car category, up from barely one in six as recently as December, according to industry data.
But don't think of them as the classic "econoboxes" that proved so popular – briefly – in the wake of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s. Products like the 2012 Ford Focus and the latest-generation Hyundai Accent are far more stylish and well-equipped.
Consumers, meanwhile, "are upgrading the vehicles they're buying," no matter what class they fall into, noted Art Spinella, lead researcher at CNW Marketing.
In the decades that CNW has tracked automotive buying patterns, the typical vehicle will fall into the 50th percentile — almost exactly halfway between the base price of a specific nameplate and the most heavily loaded version. In other words, if the entry model was $20,000 and a fully loaded version was $40,000, the typical buyer would spend $30,000.
But now, said Spinella, the average vehicle is falling into the 82nd percentile. Using the same example, the typical shopper now drives off in a vehicle costing $36,400.
"People are trying to stuff all the bells and whistles they can in a car" in part, Spinella explained, because "they plan to keep longer." Prior to the Great Recession, buyers told CNW they plan to hold onto a new vehicle, on average, about 42 months. That's now up to 57 months.
The good news is that buyers aren't necessarily spending a lot more out-of-pocket. That's because used car prices have also surged over the last several years. During the first quarter of 2012, the price of the average previously owned vehicle sold through a franchised new car dealer rose 12.5%, or about $1,400. For the consumer, that meant a bigger trade-in allowance to apply to a new vehicle.
The upward trend in pricing is almost certain to continue, at least barring a sharp setback to the economy, industry analysts agree.
"The long-term trend is gradual price increases continuing for several more years as sales recover to 15 million and even 16 million," forecast TrueCar's Toprak. "But the pace (of the increase) we've seen over the last several years isn't sustainable."
He anticipates prices will start to level off as they reach an average $31,000.


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Cornelia Walker Bailey's Pear Bread from Southern Cakes
- 3 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 c. chopped walnuts
- 3/4 c. softened butter OR or 3/4 c. vegetable oil
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 c. sugar
- 2 c. peeled and finely grated ripe but firm pears
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl, and stir with a whisk to mix everything well. Stir the nuts into the dry mixture and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the butter or oil, eggs, sugar, grated pear, and vanilla, and stir to mix everything well. Scrape the pear mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the flour disappears and the batter is evenly moistened.
Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350°F for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and firm on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack or folded kitchen towel for about 10 minutes. Then turn it out onto a plate or a wire rack to cool completely, top side up.
NOTE: I doubled this recipe and made 4 loaves- 2 in glass pans, and 2 in metal pans. They baked for 55-60 minutes. The loaves in the glass pans peaked a little higher and made a rustic chasm down the center, as opposed to the loaves in the metal pans that baked a little more evenly. Both beautiful and totally delicious.
I just wanted to say, I first found this recipe from Bake or Break and saw it again on Leite's Culinaria, which confirmed that I needed to make this bread. And you do too! Go on now...


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(NAPSI-According to a recent EdChoice and Morning Consult poll, half of parents of school-aged children said they were very or somewhat comfortable with their children returning to school "right now." However, when asked when they thought COVID-19 would be contained enough such that in-person education was safe, just 34 percent thought it would be before the summer. One in five thought in-person education would be safe at the beginning of the next academic year, while 30 percent said the pandemic would keep classrooms unsafe even later than that. Meanwhile, the share of school parents with a much more favorable opinion of homeschooling has risen.
…but not every day
In fact, many parents indicate substantial long-term interest in hybrid education. Among all school parents, roughly two in five report their children are learning entirely online, while the rest say their children are participating in at least some in-person education. It seems a mix of in-person and online education would appeal to families even after the pandemic-45 percent would most prefer their children learn 1-4 days at home and spend the remaining time in a learning environment outside the home.
They're also choosing choice
Support for school choice policies is also up.
*Support for charter schools increased to 68 percent in February. Support from parents of school-aged children is especially high at 75 percent.
*Young adults (72%) and Democrats (71%) are the two non-parent demographics most supportive of Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs). These let parents get public funds for private school, online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, higher education expenses and other approved customized learning services and materials. Middle-aged adults (70%), Black families (69%), and urbanites (69%) are also particularly supportive of ESAs.
*There's strong support for home-schooling in light of the pandemic. The share of Americans reporting COVID-19 has been "very disruptive" to their communities, family and household routines, and personal routines all rose.
EdChoice is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that serves as the clearinghouse of information related to school choice research and policy in the United States.


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Post Mortem: Ghost Master (Part One)
September 02, 2005
Two years after the release of Ghost Master (PC) seems a little late for a post mortem, but there is much to be learned from examining just what went wrong with this game. Of particular note is that what went wrong wasn't, for once, the result of 'bad design'. In fact, the design was perfectly serviceable for a first title in a franchise, although this doesn't mean there wasn't room for improvement (there always is room for improvement!) What went wrong, broadly speaking was a total lack of marketing.
As background, I should explain that this is in response to perfectly reasonable questions raised by Deacon over at Design Synthesis, following on from genre discussions at Man Bytes Blog. I should also explain that I was the game designer on this project - although the project director, Gregg Barnett, made the content decisions and worked closely with me on the game design. A good way to understand the relationship between Gregg and myself on this project: Gregg made all the decisions; I gave him the options and generated all the design documentation. The game would be utterly different without our creative partnership.
Let's begin with why I don't consider the game design to be 'bad'. Well, subjective issues aside, the 81% metacritic review score is a fairly convincing vindication for a game developed on about a quarter of the budget of most other critically-acclaimed games. Since it didn't have the budget to wow players with its production values, it came down to the quality of the game design and the skills of the programmers and artists. This latter point should not be overlooked: the Sick Puppies team was built from the ground up by Gregg and was exceptional. A game designer can only be as good as the team behind them, and this team was first rate.
Note that one of the reviews listed on metacritic is PC Gamer (US) magazine, which gives it a 90% score. PC Gamer is allegedly the most influential video game magazine in the world; certainly it is the game magazine with the largest global circulation. Industry wisdom claims that getting a 90% in PC Gamer all but guarantees a top ten best selling game.
That's not what happened to Ghost Master. In fact, it vanished practically without a trace.
What went wrong?
I'm going to look at two particular elements in the game's commercial failure - audience model errors (which were my responsibility) and marketing failure (which was not). I'm also going to look at the extent to which genre confusion hurt the game, although this is at best a secondary issue.
Audience Model Errors
When I designed Ghost Master, our audience model wasn't very sophisticated. It was the Hardcore-Casual split, the most basic model at use in the industry. Still, it is better than nothing, and I can hardly be blamed for not having a better model since until we researched ours, there wasn't a better model (Nicole Lazarro's Four Keys didn't exist yet either).
I badly misread the Hardcore on a number of points, chief of which were:
- Hidden Fiero: Believing that innovation and well designed gameplay would meet the play needs of the Hardcore. It did for some players - but not for those for whom fiero was a key play need. There is fiero to be found - but only in going for the "Triple Pumpkins" (effectively gold medals). Since most fiero-seeking (Type 1 Conqueror in DGD1) players found little or no fiero in their initial play through, they never tried for the Triple Pumpkins and hence never found the fiero. Also, the esoteric name for the medals (Gregg delighted in maintaining the consistency of a game's identity) meant they weren't interpreted as medals. We would, in fact, have done better to call them Medals - as then at least some of the Type 1 players would have felt more compelled to tackle the more difficult Triple Pumpkin challenges.
- No Micromanagement: The gameplay was designed to allow the player to genuinely be in charge of a team, reacting to dynamic situations by making leadership decisions. Strong ghosts in your team could compensate for the lesser skills of an inexperienced player, whilst adept players could enjoy the satisfaction of commanding a well-oiled team. The key to this was a simple but effective AI subsystem for the ghosts themselves, who acted as quasi-autonomous agents. (This is one of the few games to have such complex agents, in fact). Because of the highly dynamic environment - you can never reproduce exactly the same results even with the same haunters - the game supports Tactical and Strategic play but not Logistical play. Say goodbye to the players fitting the Type 1 Conqueror archetype once again.
One other problem - the game was too short. This was not strictly our fault, since most of the game budget was required to get everything up and running, and the environments required a lot of care and attention to produce. Furthermore the method used to develop the game locations did not support the option for a level editor without a great deal of additional time and expense. This particular problem would have been fixed had we got a sequel - we all agreed it would have been a priority for Ghost Master 2, a game that now can never happen.
The trouble with games being too short is that they don't stay in circulation. Even if a large proportion of Hardcore players love a game, if they complete it in a week and there's nothing to go back for, they go on and start playing something new. That only gives you a week for them to recommend it to someone else in real terms. It's what we have termed the 'play window' of the game - and for Ghost Master, it was cripplingly short. Part of the secret of the success of the recent GTA games is a huge play window - it allowed word of mouth to build. I'm not saying we could have been as big as a GTA game on our tiny budget, but the point still stands.
So we don't have the support of the Type 1 Conqueror players, and the game is too short for word of mouth to build up momentum... Both of these elements hurt us, because with the support of players fitting the Type 1 archetype (who are in general vocal supporters of the games they love) and a long enough play window, we might have been able to survive the game's other problem.
Marketing Failure
How can I competently tell that this was a case of marketing failure? Well, there are two key pieces of evidence. Firstly, the news that Gregg reported to me from his contacts in the US which described Vivendi's promotion of the game at release as "the worst campaign Vivendi has ever mounted". If you saw any promotional materials for the game anywhere in the US - any advertising, point-of-sale fixtures, posters or anything else at all, please let me know - you might be the only witness to this unbelievably lacklustre affair.
The second piece of evidence is my first hand observation of what happened at launch. I was able to find the game on the shelves in the States, but I had to look, it wasn't stocked in every store (only one out of four chains in the region I was visiting had it), and in all cases the staff in the video games shops had either not heard of the game, or was only aware of it sufficiently to know it was on the PC shelf. This generally happens only when the publisher drops the ball on its marketing campaign (or when there is no marketing campaign).
I may never know exactly why this happened but there are two schools of thought. The first school says: Empire (the publisher who owned Sick Puppies) basically pissed off Vivendi, and so Vivendi snubbed the game. The second school says: whoever made the decisions inside Vivendi assessed the game as not very significant, and assigned a marketing budget accordingly; when the PC Gamer review came in, nobody thought to shift gears and initiate a second round of marketing. Perhaps they figured it was too late at that point.
Combined with the Audience Model errors, the marketing failure meant the game was never to have any commercial success, despite a very positive critical response.
"But It's a Strategy Game"
Although it's a small point, part of the problem with the game was that it didn't go down well in the UK, and so the assumption was that there was a problem with the game. Well, there was a problem with the UK release - it was rushed, and we hadn't ironed out all the bugs until the US release, but of course, this wouldn't have mattered if we'd had the Hardcore support. At the time (and possibly still now) the specialist press in the UK strongly resembles the Type 1 Conqueror archetype, and agon (competition) and fiero (triumph over adversity) appear to dominate the play needs of most UK specialist press reviewers. As already mentioned, it was a bad fit to the audience - but it shouldn't have mattered, because Gregg and I had always known that the German and US audiences were the key to the game's success. (I have no idea what went wrong in Germany, incidentally - probably similar problems to the ones already mentioned).
Chatter in the forums behind the scenes of the specialist press showed up all manner of extremely negative response, characterised by one particularly vitriolic individual who declared the game "the easiest strategy game ever" - meaning this to be an insult. (Presumably the point here was that the player in question couldn't manage to get the game to provide any fiero for them). Consider also this extract from the PC Format review:
The puzzle elements are more like extremely simple exercises that you have to complete, rather than challenging problems that need solving, and the same is sadly true for the strategy.
This person sounds like they are closer to the Type 2 Manager archetype - interested in puzzles and strategy - but clearly the failing point here a mismatch between their skills and the level of challenge the game provides. (Fiero is not just for players preferring Type 1 play, of course). Now it must be said, some of the puzzles in the game are in fact seriously challenging, and only an extremely expert adventure game player could possibly dismiss all the puzzles in the game as 'extremely simple exercises' - but this is beside the point, as I didn't actually intend for the puzzles to be hard. They were supposed to be relatively simple, because they weren't supposed to represent the core gameplay, which is about how you use your team. Again, this player almost certainly never tried for the Triple Pumpkins, which are really quite challenging strategically, especially Full Mortal Jacket and, to some extent, Haunting 101.
As an aside, let me just say that I never wanted the puzzles - it was something Gregg made me put in. According to him, the publisher asked for puzzles because they couldn't understand what the game was about otherwise. This may not be the whole truth, however. Gregg has a love of puzzles, and a gift for making them which far outstrips my own talents in that particular area. I wanted to just focus on the gameplay inherent in the haunting itself, although in retrospect having the puzzles wasn't significantly problematic.
From responses like those above, it seems there was a definite intent to interpret the game as a strategy game. I'm not an expert on the genre, but I would predict that many popular strategy games are sources of fiero because the player fails certain battles over and over again (thus experiencing fiero when they beat it). Ghost Master isn't like that - the levels are relatively easy to beat, they are just hard to beat completely.
Seeing the game as a strategy game therefore hurt us in some indefinable way, although as mentioned above, the biggest problem in this genre mismatch was probably that it hurt how the game was marketed. On the one hand you have a box which suggests "this is like The Sims", and on the other you have some reviews or word of mouth which say "this isn't a very good a strategy game". We strayed too far from genre expectations, and this hurt us simply because there wasn't a ready-made cluster of game evangelists waiting to support the game.
Instead, there was a ready-made cluster of strategy fans who, apparently, didn't get to grips with the idea of a strategy game in which you lead your units (your ghosts), rather than controlling their every move. This probably reflects the fact that most strategy games are in fact tactical games - very few real time games require Strategic skills to play well; most require quick thinking responses (Tactical skills) or methodical planning and optimisation (Logistical skills).
The lack of direct control also probably hurt us: we should probably have given the player the capacity to directly control the ghosts if they wanted to. We didn't because it would have destroyed the original gameplay we'd created (turning novel new gameplay into a modified FPS). For anyone for whom watching the ghosts act out your plans was insufficient, having direct control would have been some compensation, though. It was planned for the sequel (but would have been designed such that it would not have been in any way necessary).
Lessons Learned
I learned a lot from Ghost Master, much of it about the importance of marketing a game, the treacherous landscape of the games market, and the problems of trying to promote a game without a clear genre to inform people how to interpret it. Collectively, people do not accept new approaches to play with an open mind. Everything is assumed to be related to other things, things that have already been seen. This isn't true for every individual, of course, but when you average over a large enough group of people...
If we had got a sequel, I believe we could have ironed out a lot of the problems the game had - but sadly the games industry is a vicious marketplace which throws away a lot of the value that it creates. When EA bought Bullfrog, they threw away all its IP because there was nothing in their portfolio with a big enough following to operate at EA's scale. But a smaller publisher could have made a profit on franchises such as Dungeon Keeper, Populous and Theme Whatever - not that EA would sell on the IP, because that would be helping their competitors. The fact that their competitors are so small as to make such a sale practically foreign aid from a superpower to a banana republic is somewhat beside the point. So these franchises are lost forever, just as the Ghost Master franchise that never was is now lost forever.
It's not really a huge tragedy, when all is said and done, after all, it's only a game. Mind you, it does demonstrate that the constant talk of desire for "innovation" in games is either a minority desire, or is only a half truth. I suspect what people want are new variations on established themes - why else would God of War, the most advanced and expensive scrolling beat-em-up ever made, be oft praised as 'innovative' rather than being considered an especially slick and impressive take on a genre which is almost twenty years old? Why else would Halo often be considered an innovative FPS, rather than a skillfully crafted pinnacle of an already codified form?
I feel truly innovative games should transcend, expand or defy genre, but this in turn may make them harder to sell to the audience at large. It certainly didn't help Ghost Master that it wasn't designed to belong to a particular genre, but that doesn't mean that it should have done - it just means one should be careful straying too far from the genre norms unless you either have marketing on your side, or you don't need to capture too large an audience.
One final note: although I'm certain the delusion was in our heads at the time that we would capture some of the audience of The Sims with Ghost Master, it is now abundantly apparent that this could never have happened (from the perspective of our DGD model, at least; the game doesn't really support Type 4: Participant play) . Still, in an online appearance, Wil Wright said that Ghost Master was the best 'Sims-like' game he'd seen so far, which is a nice compliment in anyone's book, although perhaps not the most fitting epitaph to this unusual but commercially doomed game.
Note: We didn't work on the console versions, and I have never played them. This is solely about the original PC version. Thanks for your patience with this excessively long and rambling post which is probably of limited interest to most people.
Update Halloween 2018: Ghost Master fans, please sign up for the ihobo Newsletter we might yet have some spooky news for you soon...


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The Night Market is wide open day-to-day from 5 pm to around 10 pm. It really is found along Sisavangvong Streets from your Noble Palace Gallery. Every evening a kilometer-very long stretch out of highway is sealed to automobile visitors and transformed into a walking and store shopping street as the marketplace happens.
A lot more than 300 handicraft providers sell their hands-manufactured items here every evening. Displayed is an assortment of handicrafts made by neighborhood racial teams which include textiles, superb ceramics, collectibles, works of art, caffeine and herbal tea, quilts, shoes, metallic, luggage, bamboo lighting fixtures of numerous hues and styles, and even uncommon seasoning.
There are a variety of fascinating things on display in the evening industry that can be difficult to get somewhere else. Furthermore, these are inexpensive.
The traders quote quite low prices contemplating a lot of the merchandise is hands made. So even when you're not great at negotiating, you can rest assured that you receive the best value. Even so, if you enjoy or want to exercise your bargaining talent you can do so, though don't count on massive special discounts.
Shopping followers is going to be thrilled to know that they are also helping the community men and women whenever they commit their funds. Acquiring items here is not going to only assist the investors to generate a full-time income, but it is going to inspire the neighborhood households who develop merchandise to increase produce their capabilities and assist them to get free from poverty.
For those not into shopping, just wandering about observing this lively market pass by or chatting with all the suppliers will improve your Lao cultural experience. When you find out about their merchandise most is going to cheerfully cater to your request.
Most nearby investors in the Luang Prabang night industry articulate small English language. If you speak some Lao, the traders are going to be happy should you train it together.
What most shoppers like about the forex traders here (along with Laos in general) is simply because they don't force customers to get anything at all.
Taking a relaxing walk throughout the nighttime marketplace is pleasurable expertise in itself. It is not necessarily unconventional to shed tabs on time when you walk among the stalls. Actually, in the event you browse around, you will realize numerous tourists relocating gradually, somewhat transfixed while taking pleasure in their purchasing.
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amnesia ămnē´zhə [key], [Gr.,=forgetfulness], condition characterized by loss of memory for long or short intervals of time. It may be caused by injury, shock, senility, severe illness, or mental disease. Some cases of amnesia involve the unconscious suppression of a painful experience and everything remindful of it including the individual's identity (see defense mechanism). Retrograde amnesia is loss of memory of events just preceding temporary loss of consciousness, as from head injury; it is evidence that memory proceeds in two stages, short term and long term. One form of the condition known as tropic amnesia, or coast memory, affecting white men in the tropics, is probably a variety of hysteria. Aphasia of the amnesic variety is caused by an organic brain condition and is not to be confused with other forms of amnesia. To cure amnesia, attempts are made to establish associations with the past by suggestion, and hypnotism is sometimes employed.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Psychology and Psychiatry


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Globe art critic Smee wins Pulitzer
Sebastian Smee, art critic of The Boston Globe, yesterday was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for criticism.
In announcing the award, the Pulitzer board pointed to Smee's "vivid and exuberant writing about art'' and his knack for "bringing great works to life with love and appreciation.''
Other winners of Pulitzer Prizes, which are administered by Columbia University, included composer Zhou Long, who won the Pulitzer in music for "Madame White Snake,'' premiered by Opera Boston in February 2010 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
Former Globe reporter Ellen Barry, who is now on the staff of The New York Times, won a Pulitzer (shared with Clifford J. Levy) in the international report ing category for coverage of abuse of power in Russia. New York Times economics columnist David Leonhardt also won a Pulitzer in the commentary category.
The Los Angeles Times was the only other newspaper to win two Pulitzers (in the public service and feature photography categories).
Smee, a 38-year-old native of Australia who lives in Somerville, came to the Globe in 2008 after four years as the national art critic for The Australian, a Sydney-based newspaper. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer two years ago.
"Now he's won the big one,'' Globe editor Martin Baron remarked before a packed newsroom, which moments earlier had burst into sustained applause at the news. Baron said to Smee: "Thanks for crossing an ocean and a continent to be here with us in Boston.''
The award represents the third time in the past decade that a Globe critic has been singled out for the prestigious honor. Arts writer and photography critic Mark Feeney won the prize three years ago and then-book critic Gail Caldwell won it in 2001.
"My reaction is one of just total surprise and, obviously, pleasure,'' Smee said in an interview. "I just feel so lucky to be at the Globe. I feel so fortunate the Globe saw fit to employ this guy that no one had heard of from Australia.''
In remarks to the newsroom, Smee lauded the newspaper's editors for holding to "a belief that the arts matter, and that good writing about the arts is going to be an important part of newspapers as they evolve.''
In an interview, Baron called Smee "incredibly deserving of this honor.''
"His criticism is so inviting, so approachable, and so funny, often,'' Baron said. "It's a delight to read. The thing about him is that he has this broad expertise, this deep expertise, but he never really smothers readers in all that he knows. To read him is to dine off a tasting menu, with his knowledge and his insights delivered in digestible portions, and by the end you've had quite a feast.''
Smee is the author of "Side by Side: Picasso v. Matisse,'' a book on the relationship between Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Before he began writing art criticism for The Australian in 2004, Smee lived for a few years in Britain, where he wrote for The Art Newspaper, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Spectator, The Financial Times, and The Daily Telegraph. He also wrote a regular art column for Prospect magazine.
Smee was joined at the Globe by his wife, Joanne Sadler, a professional violinist and music teacher; their 6-year-old son, Tom; their daughter, Leila, who turned 4 yesterday; and Sadler's mother, Hilary. (At Smee's suggestion, the Globe newsroom serenaded Leila with "Happy Birthday.'')
Smee's writing is characterized by a disarming blend of erudition, insight, and wit. In addition to reviewing new exhibitions and writing longer features for the Globe, Smee launched a popular series titled "Frame by Frame,'' in which he turns his focus each time to a single piece in the permanent collections of the area's museums, seeking to spark appreciation of great art that is, in his words, "hiding in plain sight.''
One of the prize-winning pieces was a June 8, 2010, column on Cornelia Parker's "Hanging Fire (Suspected Arson)'' at the Institute of Contemporary Art, a work in which shards from a burned building are gathered together in midair. "From chaos, she creates order,'' Smee wrote. "From collapse, she creates effortless ascension. And from confusion (who did it, and how?), she creates transparency (I did it, and you can easily see how).''
Ten days later, in a review of "Picasso Looks at Degas,'' an exhibition at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Smee observed:
"Good exhibitions reveal to us things we didn't already know. This show's thesis — that Picasso was looking closely at Degas at regular intervals throughout his long career — has never seriously been proposed before. The difficulty, of course, is that Picasso absorbed influences in the same way that Bill Clinton absorbed doughnuts: There was no stopping him. He inhaled them. Who's counting?''
Globe publisher Christopher M. Mayer said Smee's Pulitzer illustrates that the Globe "continues to be a beacon of great journalism.''
Doug Most, deputy managing editor for features, told Smee that the prize is "a testament to how much you love what you do — and it shows in your writing every day.''
Arts editor Rebecca Ostriker read excerpts of enthusiastic letters about Smee from readers, including some who said he is the primary reason they subscribe to the Globe.
"Making sense of the art world is what you do so beautifully,'' she told Smee. "Now the whole world knows what we, and our readers, have known all along.''
Smee's award is the 21st Pulitzer the Globe has won, and the sixth in the past decade. In addition to the three awards for criticism, the newspaper won in 2007 for national reporting, in 2005 for explanatory reporting, and in 2003 for public service.
Don Aucoin can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Golf Quick Shots: Women's City finishes on weekend to attract more golfers
The Women's City traditionally runs Monday-Friday. To combat dwindling numbers, the 89th annual Women's City at Ingersoll has been moved to July 17-20, with the final two days falling on a weekend. Tee times begin at 7:30 Thursday and Friday and noon Saturday and Sunday.
"They are working on trying anything just to get more numbers," 13-time champ Salley Wessels said. "The numbers are horrid. I am not sure what else can be done, but people used to say they can't take a whole week's work off."
The cost is $80 and there are still a few days left to sign up for any female entering ninth grade (or older) from Winnebago, Boone, Ogle or Stephenson County. The Women's City has been THE local women's sporting event for nine decades and this year could be one of the best. Defending champ Melissa VanSistine, 2012 champ Cynthia Bounleutay, 2011 champ Hui Chong Dofflemyer, who finished second in the Women's State Amateur earlier this summer, and Madasyn Pettersen have all been playing exceptional golf. The Women's City has never been short on quality. It just needs more quantity.
Junior foursome
Alpine Bank is sponsoring a youth foursome at the Rockford Pro-Am for the sixth year in a row. Lena-Winslow's Lexi Graf, Rockford Christian's Aren Boxleitner, Hononegah's Reid Anderson and Harlem's Joey Watts will play Monday at Forest Hills Country Club. Last year's foursome got to play with headliner Kenny Perry.
Pro-Am changes
Billy Hurley III signed up for the Rockford Pro-Am last Tuesday and was gone by the weekend after the former U.S. Naval officer tied for fourth in the Greenbrier Classic to qualify for the British Open. Chesson Hadley also qualified for the British last week. But the Pro-Am replaced them with two other young potential stars. Robert Streb has made 13 of 15 cuts, including a runner-up finish in the Zurich Classic. Bobby Wyatt, who shot 57 in the 2010 Alabama Boys State Championship, led Alabama to back-to-back NCAA championships. Wyatt and Stanford's Patrick Rodgers and Cameron Wilson give the Pro-Am the three most famous golfers from this past college season.
Matt Trowbridge: 815-987-1383; firstname.lastname@example.com; @matttrowbridge


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One of the fascinating aspects of privilege is the way in which it totally skews your perception of what 'average' is. I would think, for example, that things like street harassment or sexual assault or other forms of misogynistic abuse are fantastically rare. After all, I'm a guy who spends a lot of time with and around women, and I almost never see street harassment or hear stories of people getting assaulted. It wasn't until I actually asked the women in my life about their experiences that I saw just how widespread and pervasive these behaviours are – they just don't happen when guys like me are around to see them. My male privilege makes the 'norm' of a safe and fair society seem plausible, when the lived experience of my friends and family is anything but.
So when one is confronted about their privilege, or when their privilege is even simply discussed openly, an interesting thing happens. From the perspective of the privileged, the critics are attacking what is right and normal! Why on Earth would someone criticize a just world? There's certainly no rational reason to do that. Nobody without a particular axe to grind, or maybe even an outright hatred of a particular group would level such accusations against the norm, right? And when those criticisms continue unabated, there's only one possible way to see it: as demonization:
With the elections behind us and with the President having won a clear victory, the divisive language is behind us and there will be a close working relationship going forward. The demonisation of Wall Street has been hard to take. The financial industry is proud of its contribution; it's an industry that has really powered America's success as leader of the global economy. But the contributions of the industry have been forgotten during this period. They obviously made some mistakes but they feel they're taking outsized responsibility for problems that should be more broadly shared. I think the rhetoric and demonisation have been a very sore point. Hopefully, we're going to get beyond that.
Now to be sure, a lot of this is just political posturing and an attempt to re-cast the landscape as though Wall Street didn't actively campaign against the President's re-election. Still though, this feeling that the President brought it upon himself by "demonizing" Wall Street executives has been a constant rallying cry (or maybe "rallying whine" is more accurate) for the past several months. You may have heard of it in its alternative form – liberals "hate success"*, and therefore demonize those people who make money out of jealousy because they (we) couldn't do it ourselves.
And here's where we see the manifestation of the privilege of being a high-ranking wealthy executive in a country that mistakenly confuses wealth with business acumen: Wall Street CEOs don't see themselves as being part of the problem. As far as they're concerned, everything they did was fair. They applied to get laws changed, then obeyed those laws (for the most part – some 'bad apples' didn't, but you can't blame all Wall Street CEOs for the mistakes of a few, right?). It's not their fault that bad things happened – the regulators should have done a better job of curbing abuse. Or maybe the lawmakers should have just not written the new laws that the Wall Street CEOs asked for. And hey, there were people out there taking bad loans – how come we don't blame them for the economy tanking? Shouldn't they accept some of the blame for being stupid enough to take advantage of the clearly risky products that the Wall Street CEOs sold them?
And now Wall Street CEOs are being targeted with such awful and abusive language! People are calling them "fat-cats"! That hurts their feelings! This harsh language is the real problem. That's the reason that there's been no progress! How can you expect anyone to want to participate in fixing an economy (and who really cares who caused the damage, right?) when people are saying such awful things? It's divisive! Oh sure, people bring up the "47%" comments and a general attitude of dismissiveness toward people who aren't wealthy as lazy parasites (thanks to policies created by Wall Street CEOs that make it much more difficult to alleviate debt, or make a successful business that competes with giant corporate entities, or to rise out of poverty if you weren't born with wealth), but can't we just agree that there's wrong on both sides? Maybe if both sides just stop bandying about this kind of harsh language, we can start working on solutions.
And so what if Wall Street CEOs have had a long history of reaping out-sized benefits like undue political clout and prestige – many of which are given to them for the simple fact that they are Wall Street CEOs? So what if CEOs of other sectors are not accorded the same deference; nor are people who work on Wall Street but aren't in that particular echelon of income? That doesn't justify the kind of mean-spirited witch hunts and widespread hatred leveled against Wall Street CEOs! Most Wall Street CEOs are good people who would never defraud anyone or ruin their economy!
So how dare anyone say anything about Wall Street CEOs as though they are part of the problem! Wall Street CEOs have built immense wealth for the economy; and while mistakes were made, shouldn't the blame be placed on some Wall Street CEOs rather than blaming them all? After all, this demonization and cruel language is simply dividing Americans, when what we need is unity to fix the economic issues. If Wall Street CEOs are going to be subjected to this kind of harsh and unwelcoming environment, well maybe they'll just take their trillions in totally legitimately-obtained wealth and sequester it in offshore accounts even more! Why should they help if people are just going to hate them because they're successful?
And of course that's crazy, right? Almost nobody hates successful people for the mere fact of being successful. The attacks on, for example, Mitt Romney for his moneybags ways weren't about "well he's rich, so therefore he's a bad person" – they were almost entirely focused on how he made his money. Most people recognize the merit in a capitalist system in which hard work and ingenuity is rewarded with profit; what they object to is when rules are circumvented or changed or simply ignored so that people can reap huge cash windfalls at the expense of those people who cannot afford high-priced lobbyists. The exploitative practices and preferential treatment of financial executives on Wall Street are the reason why they're "demonized", not the mere fact that they're rich.
It's the fact that Wall Street CEOs won't do the necessary work to see past their own blinkered view of reality and deal with the actual reasons that people are criticizing them – seemingly preferring to invent a parallel universe of excuses so they don't have to actually confront the way their own behaviour makes them complicit to a grotesquely unfair system that is deeply harmful – that is the reason why I can't really take the feverish and beleaguered complaints of
white men Wall Street CEOs seriously.
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*Or that terrorists "hate our freedoms" – we must somehow learn to avoid the seductive temptation of substituting swaggering machismo for thoughtful responses. I'm not holding my breath though.


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Designer Ro Gregg is back with Spring Bouquet, a collection that combines vintage floral patterns with an updated color palette. Spring Bouquet includes a beautiful arrangement of florals like roses, pansies, and lilacs. Individual blooms can be cut out to use in beautiful collage art quilts. Use this versatile collection in both traditional and modern quilts, as well as beautiful home décor accents.
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First image shown represents a 12 inch swatch of fabric.
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Ro Gregg is recognized in the market for excellence in quilt, craft and home decorating. She has been designing fabrics for quilters for more than two decades with style and distinction. Ro is the recipient of thirteen prestigious Tommy awards and over fifty nominations from the American Printed Fabric Council for "Outstanding Design". She has also been featured as an American quilt and home designer at Liberty of London in the U.K. and is a member of the American Quilter's Society.


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In Miami-Dade, Economic Upheaval Ushers In Change
Part 6 of a six-part series
The economic upheaval of the past several years has had a big impact on the nation's politics — from the president down to the precinct level.
In Florida's Miami-Dade County, it's changed the whole tone of local government.
Carlos Gimenez has been a fixture here for many years — as a member of the Board of County Commissioners, and before that as city manager and fire chief in the City of Miami.
But now he suddenly finds himself in a new job.
Miami-Dade County is no different than the rest of the country. There was a groundswell against increasing taxes. There was a groundswell against labor unions, in terms of their contracts and all that. ... I just don't think that some of the powers-that-be in the county hall ... were listening to what really was going on. And it cost them their jobs.
On July 6, Gimenez was sworn in as the mayor of Miami-Dade County. It's Florida's most populous county with 50 departments, 27,000 public employees and a $6 billion annual budget.
It's a job he ran for and won in a nonpartisan election, after the previous mayor, Carlos Alvarez, was recalled. That recall, in March, was part of a national wave of voter anger over taxes.
The former mayor, recalls Gimenez, pushed through a budget that — during a time of high unemployment and falling housing prices — raised property taxes and gave salary increases to unionized public workers.
"It was unfortunate for the taxpayer because they had to pay more," he says. "And it was unfortunate for the mayor."
A Budget That May Be Tough To Swallow
Shortly after the county commission approved that budget, a recall campaign started that eventually ousted the mayor. Gimenez — a just-the-facts kind of guy, never known for his wit or sense of humor — voted against that budget.
He's often been a dissenting voice on the county commission, opposing government spending plans. He recognized an opportunity in that recall campaign.
"You know, Miami-Dade County is no different than the rest of the country," he says. "There was a groundswell against increasing taxes. There was a groundswell against labor unions, in terms of their contracts and all that. And so, I just don't think that some of the powers that be in the county hall ... were listening to what really was going on. And it cost them their jobs."
Gimenez won a special election, and one of his first acts was to produce a county budget nearly 20 percent less than the current $7.6 billion. The plan rolls back property taxes, cuts 1,300 county jobs, and depends on more than $200 million in concessions by police, firefighters and other unionized employees.
Gimenez concedes that the last piece — asking workers to pay more for health care and retirement, and at the same time to accept a salary cut — will be tough for unions to swallow.
"I fully expect that we're going to go to impasse with labor," he says. "I will try to work with them as much as I can to see how we can work things out. But at the end of the day, we have to balance this budget, and a lot of it is ... counting on those concessions."
The final word on those cuts rests with members of the county commission. But the commission has already given the mayor's plan preliminary approval and now has little wiggle room left. Commission Chairman Joe Martinez says that his main concern is with county workers on the low end of the wage scale.
"When you add up the concessions that will be taken, [for] some people it's about a 20 percent cut. When you're talking $40,000 that you make a year, you're leaving some people with $32,000," Martinez says. "And these are people who are residents, taxpayers, who have mortgages, rents; they pay the light bill, the phone bill, everything else, just like you and I do."
Decisions Based On Fear?
Given the message of the recall, and the county commission's near unanimous support of Gimenez's austerity budget, even the public employees' unions seem resigned to the cuts.
Greg Blackman represents some 5,000 county professionals who are members of the Government Supervisors Association. In a county where the unemployment rate is near 14 percent, he believes these cuts aren't good for his members or for the county economy.
It's no surprise, he says, that they're being proposed by Gimenez — a longtime fiscal hawk. What's disappointed Blackman, and other union leaders, is how the rest of the commission has fallen in line behind the mayor.
"There is a fear in the commission," says Blackman. "They're scared of being recalled, so they're making decisions that are not really based on what's best for the county. They're making these decisions, I think, based on fear."
As a reform candidate, Gimenez says he'll also work to change the county charter — to impose term limits on county commissioners, plus restrictions on lobbying and a ban on outside work.
He has limited time. In winning a special election, Gimenez knows that he has just over a year to carry out his agenda before going back to the voters once again.
"They're taking me out for a test drive, and so I better hit all the gears and I better make all the turns," he says. "I have a listing of what I said that I will do — I'm going to do it. And then the voters will decide next November."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Weekly Briefing (8/1/2011 – 8/5/2011)
August 2 In an interview with PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah stated that the U.S. is easing restrictions to speed the aid to Somalia. "We are working hard to make sure that authorities in Somalia allow access for humanitarian organizations and NGOs and the United States has been supporting those organizations and will continue to support those organizations going forward," Shah said.
August 4 Appearing on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah discussed the latest developments in Somalia and what can be done to help the region. "The United States…has been aggressive about providing as much support as we possibly can," Shah said. "We have been about 50 percent of the total global response." The Administrator also discussed the Famine Early Warning System.