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(CNN) - Republicans on Wednesday opened another line of attack against President Barack Obama and his White House, reviving doubts they have cast on the administration's transparency.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus alleged on a Wednesday conference call organized for reporters that the Obama Administration was "failing follow the law under the Presidential Records Act."
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Priebus and Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Republican who chairs the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, based their claims on a report published Tuesday by Stearns and other Republicans on his committee which juxtaposes news reports with White House statements on transparency. They charged the Obama Administration - including Obama's campaign manager, who was previously a top White House official - was skirting the records preservation law and creatively reneging on their own transparency pledges.
White House press secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday suggested there was little behind the Republicans' charge in the report and conference call that former top White House official Jim Messina "used his personal email account on several occasions to conduct official business," which the report characterized as a "potential failure to abide by the Presidential Records Act."
"Mr. Messina had a longstanding personal email account at which he got traffic," he told reporters traveling with the president. "In an effort to comply with all the regulations pertaining to emails, he would forward emails to his White House account, copy his White House account so that those emails would be part of the presidential record."
Priebus saw the emails differently, saying on a conference call the RNC organized for reporters that the "stunning revelations... show the Obama Administration has not only found loopholes in their own self-imposed transparency rules, they're also failing to follow the law under the Presidential Records Act."
President George W. Bush's administration was confronted with questions about emails sent by top White House officials on a private, unofficial domain.
Pressed by a reporter about whether similarities existed between his allegations and those regarding the Bush Administration, Priebus said, "look, I'm not here to relitigate any of those old fights that took place."
Perhaps one of the juciest bites cites a 2010 New York Times report that some lobbyists have met with White House officials "hundreds of times over the last 18 months with prominent K Street lobbyists" at a coffee shop nearby the White House "which is not subject to disclosure on the visitors' log that the White House releases as part of its pledge to be the 'most transparent presidential administration in history.' "
"They [the Obama administration] have been using the Caribou Coffee shop across the street from the White House as an executive branch annex to hold secretive meetings with lobbyists and political cronies," Priebus said on his conference call.
"So we have no way of knowing what insider deals they're cutting with lobbyists with taxpayer money," he charged.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Wednesday that he had no details to share "on this specific issue."
On the call, Stearns said, "I think it's obvious that the administration is really talking lofty rhetoric but the bottom line is they're concealing."
these repub have passed the thresh hold of hyprocricy, they've got the most secretive presidential candidate in American history, a candidate who buys his government hard drives so he wouldn't be implecated, destroy Olympic financial data, wont release his tax returns, this is the personal resume the people who are suppose to hire him needs. who ever apply for a job without a resume, let alone the most powerful job on the planet. the people can't even give him a back ground check. next time I go get a job I will tell them that I dont need a resume, nor a back ground check, because the candidate for president, who is suppose to set the example for our country as a potential leader, said it wasn't necessary and it will descriminate against him if he did.
Let's see – Romney wont release his tax records, when he left office of governor of MA he took the unprecedented step of destroying his files, he has secret closed door meetings with his wealthy donors, he wont talk about his time with Bain, and he bars the press from certain campaign events.
But it is Obama that has the transparency problem?
By all means, push the Obama transperancy issue. And while we're talking about transperancy, we can also talk about Mitt's inability to answer questions in a meaningful way, Mitt's failure to provide follow-up answers to the press on numerous issues despite his promises to do so, and Mitt's tax returns - or lack thereof.
And while they're at it, they should also keep running the Romney ad that explains how the auto bailout was a bad thing. I'd actually contribute to his campaign if they just promised to run that ad in every state from now till the election.
Secretive meetings in a coffee shop across the street from the white house? Sounds like a bad episode of CSI. All's I can do is shake my head in disbelief.
Mr. Priebus, this ploy to distract voters from the real transparency issue in this campaign won't work. The elephant in the room is your candidate's tax returns. Until he reveals them, there is a shroud of secrecy and mistrust that just won't go away no matter how hard you try. He should have released them months ago when his primary rivals called for them but better late than never.


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Skydiver Craig Stapleton spun out of control and plummeted to the ground when his parachute and backup chute broke. Anderson Cooper asked Stapleton and his jump partner about the frightening ordeal.
For more on the incident, read Skydiver's treacherous fall after parachute breaks
Post by: Anderson Cooper
Filed under: 360° Interview
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subset: commoncrawl


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Boating season off to a slow start
Michael Lund walked out of his office at the Borden Light Marina and looked out at a field of sparkling water.
It was not an entirely welcome sight.
On yet another cold Friday in April, about one in 10 of Lund's slips were filled. Those were occupied by big boats that tucked into a safe harbor for the winter and would head out to Newport, Martha's Vineyard and Boston when the weather broke.
Behind him, his parking lot was filled with 35-foot Catalina sloops or 40-foot Carver power cruisers. All of them still wrapped in plastic and balanced on boat stands.
"We put our first boat in for the year today," Lund said on April 4. "Normally, we have a lot more in by now.
"It has been cold and there has been a lot more wind than usual. It is 20 degrees colder here on a windy day than it is downtown. No one wants to come out and work on their boats."
And so it goes for marinas. As the weather improves, their days get worse. From now until the Fourth of July, boat yards will be working overtime to get pleasure craft into the water. Every cold day in April will make June that much worse, they say.
This year has not been kind.
"Everything we do depends on the weather this time of year," said Tom Ransley of Shaw's Boat Yard, 86 Main St., in Dighton. "The weather this year hasn't been helpful.
"And, of course, the economy has been tough, too. We'll have to see what kind of year we have."
Marina operators are a lot like farmers. No matter what they do, no matter how much they prepare or plan, their fate hinges on both the weather and the economy. If either is bad, it makes for a bad year.
In this area, with a natural resource like Mount Hope Bay, and the Taunton and Sakonnet rivers, marinas dot the landscape and provide hundreds of jobs. What happens to them effects the economy of the region.
Lately, despite some good summers, the economy has beaten the industry. Boats have been abandoned in the yards. Every boatyard has cut abandoned project boats into pieces that will fit into a dumpster.
Everyone is hoping for that to change.
It hasn't, yet.
"It is still a little slow here," said a worker at Somerset Marina and Yacht Sales, 3828 Riverside Ave., in Somerset. "People are still hibernating, waiting for a warm day."
Kara O'Connell, the fourth generation of her family to work at Captain O'Connell, 180 River St., spent a cold, rainy Thursday in early April operating machinery to launch the yard's first boat, a 42-foot Silverton yacht. Another 200 boats were still on stands.
It is a late start for the season, she said. She knows. The whole yard knows.
"My grandparents, Joseph and Miriam O'Connell, started the yard in 1925," she said. "In one building, we won't paint the wall because it was where my grandmother wrote her accounts. She kept track of who belonged to what boat and when they went in and what they owed.
"This is a slow start."
But a few good weekends could change that. When the rain stops and the temperature promises to stay above 50 degrees, boat owners will come down to scrape and sand boat bottoms and apply a coat of anti-fouling paint. They will polish their props, change zincs, flush fresh water tanks, struggle with hoses and fuel and mold left over from the year before and rediscover the dozen small problems they forgot about as soon as the boat was covered last fall.
"We try to stay ahead of the work," Lund said. "But what happens, a lot of boat owners plan to do the work themselves. Then they run out of time, especially if it rains on the weekend, so they'll call us.
"The more cold and bad weather we get right now, the worse it will be in June.
"But we'll get through it. We always do."


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Overspending and government overreach will only be curbed when politicians are forced to comply with formal rules.
Quentin Skinner
To make sense of the "nationalism" debate, it helps to know what the term means.
Thinking of exercise and athletics in terms of a left-right divide reflects the unfortunate tendency to absorb everything into politics.
Hundreds of judicial positions sit vacant while a rudderless government dithers about what to do.
The consumer welfare standard for antitrust regulation is under assault, leaving a situation where "the Government always wins."
We should not settle for the nominal freedom of a relentlessly micromanaged society.
Not only does a politicized religion fail to carry with it the virtues of the genuine article, it actively encourages the opposite vices.
In West Virginia v. US Department of the Treasury, the Eleventh Circuit ruled against the American Rescue Plan Act in favor of state sovereignty.
The kind of feminism championed by Sheryl Sandberg doesn't particularly value the choices women make for themselves when they are genuinely empowered.
A newsletter worth reading.
The venture capitalists, crypto promoters, and billionaires who funded Silicon Valley Bank clearly knew the risks.
America's history of appreciating the military is worth keeping, but the country doesn't need the military in politics.
Spielberg's The Fabelmans is a confrontation between 1950s and 1960s America.
With employment demands, assessment requirements, and skill training gone taken over by AI, what will be left for the university to do?
Progressives will never understand violent incidents until they look to human nature itself.
Faith in America's founding principles, and the integrity of American efforts to promote human rights, has been undermined.


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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Adios, Armani. Hasta la vista, Louis Vuitton.
The world's most luxurious designer brands are abandoning Argentina rather than comply with tight new government economic restrictions, leaving empty shelves and storefronts along the capital's elegant Alvear Avenue, where tourists once flocked to see the latest in fashion.
Kenzo is the latest to go. The Japanese label's owner, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, issued a statement Tuesday blaming Argentina's "complex economic context" for the closure of its store on Oct. 10. Government trade restrictions kept Kenzo from importing its spring and summer clothing lines, store employee Stella Christianopol said.
It joins a long list of top luxury brands pulling out of Argentina: Emporio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Escada, Calvin Klein Underwear, Polo Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Cartier. The labels have become collateral damage as the government tightens its hold on the Argentine economy with measures aiming to encourage domestic production and capture more wealth to aid the poor.
For millions of Argentines it may make little difference: the Louis Vuitton handbags President Cristina Fernandez likes to carry would cost a month's wages for a typical factory worker. But it is leaving hundreds out of work, and critics say it's a symptom of broader problems that are stalling the economy.
"It's a shame because Alvear is betting on becoming like 5th Avenue in New York or the Champs Elysee in Paris," said Constanza Sierra, a consultant with 20 years' experience marketing top name brands in Argentina.
"So this damages the country's image. That's what to me seems the most sad," she said.
Argentina's populist government isn't sweating the loss. Tourism minister Enrique Meyer's response boiled down to a "let them eat empanadas" swipe at the nation's elite. He suggested the labels are overrated and said their departure would have minimal impact on Argentina's economy.
"Louis Vuitton is all over the place," Meyer told Radio Mitre last week. "On the other hand, we have brands that keep on growing," and cited Argentine labels Cardon (leather jackets, purses, and other clothing), Pampero (gaucho-style khaki pants and other sturdy clothing), El Noble Repulgue (meat pies) and Freddo (ice cream).
Most of these brands have little in common with the high-end labels fleeing Argentina, which by their nature are particularly exposed to an ever-tighter combination of import and currency restrictions imposed to protect domestic producers.
Sierra agrees that designer goods are bought by a tiny elite in the country of 40 million, but said "there's a ton of people who are losing their jobs, not only in stores but in advertising and events. There are satellites that surround this."
The fundamental problem is that Argentina's currency is overvalued, said Ramiro Castineira, an economist with the Econometrica consulting firm in Buenos Aires. At 4.7 pesos to the dollar, it's more profitable to import goods than produce them inside the country, he said.
But rather than address this directly, Fernandez put bureaucrats to work holding up import licenses until businesses promise to match the cargo's value by shifting an equal amount of production or investment to Argentina.
The import controls have reduced supplies to Argentine consumers who are desperate to spend or trade their pesos before they lose value, fostering an inflationary spiral and illegal currency trading, Castineira said.
The black market for dollars effectively devalues the peso, which now trades informally at 6.2 or more to the dollar — a steep discount from the official rate, but still better than watching inflation of 25 percent or more a year destroy savings.
In response to the dollar frenzy, the government created still more controls, requiring companies and individuals to get tax agency approval before buying the foreign currencies needed to move money out of Argentina.
Many businesses have managed to find ways of surviving in this climate: Christian Lacroix and Izod Lacoste have opened Argentine factories to finish goods using imported fabrics, and Research in Motion set up a plant where Blackberry smartphones are assembled. Other companies found Argentine goods to export that have nothing to do with their core businesses, but satisfied the demand to foment domestic production.
Designer brands, though, are stuck because they have to import all their products: Escada's fashions are supposed to flow from its headquarters in Luxembourg, after all, and who would buy Louis Vuitton knowing it's stitched in provincial Argentina, rather than some glamorous corner of France?
"Companies that directly import finished products will continue to face difficulties getting those goods to market," Castineira warned. Argentina should be able to maintain a positive trade balance of $10 billion next year given high soy prices, but the government isn't expected to relax its control over the goods flowing in and money flowing out of the country.
The rich will survive, Sierra said: The diminishing number of Argentines with the means to spend their money on high-end fashion can afford to do what the president did: travel to New York or Paris to buy the latest designs.
But a sense of gloom has descended on Buenos Aires' Recoleta neighborhood, where high fashion and luxury hotels have long given Alvear and Callao avenues a European feel.
The situation is so grim that even historic, made-in-Argentina institutions are calling it quits.
"I've got to get out. We've reached the point where commercially this business has nothing more to give," said Alberto Vannucci. In December, he plans to close the shop on Callao where his family has sold hand-stitched leather goods to the world's top polo players for 127 years.
"The economic situation of this country is done for. The good tourism is gone — tourists who come now come to eat lunch and dinner, nothing more. And even this tourism is pulling out, because they're discovering that everything's incredibly expensive," Vannucci said.
Gustavo Munoz and Roger Dwarika contributed to this story.


text: List Folks: Several things of merit need attention by us all from time to time: a) This is a Rollei List, not a general photography list. I don't mind an occasional wandering off-topic, but I would ask that we keep such diversions to a bare minimum. If it doesn't involve the care and feeding of Rollei cameras, I would suggest that the topic be taken up elsewhere. And, PLEASE! Every off-topic comment should be so marked in the SUBJECT block by adding, at the beginning: OFF-TOPIC so the unwary can be alerted and read or delete as they wish. b) PLEASE change the subject block when a thread grows away from its original subject matter. That is, a thread might begin, honestly enough, marked with a subject heading of OLD STANDARD ROLLEIFLEX LENSES but the topic might shift, over days, to coverage of modern Xenotar lens design. When this happens, please have the courtesy to your fellow list members to change the subject block to: MODERN XENOTAR LENS DESIGN or somesuch. c) When those taking the digest respond, PLEASE reset the subject block! d) Please be careful to trim the quoted text in the message to which you are replying. That is, please block-and-cut or whatever your software requires to reduce the quoted text to the bare minimum necessary to maintain continuity. Most of you are already doing this quite nicely, but it would be best if we all were quite conscientious in doing so! e) Should you be out of the loop for a few days, pray, do NOT use an auto-response message of any sort, or I will simply unsubscribe you! Such messages will be replayed, ad nauseam, to the entire list. Please unsubscribe if you must for the period you will be gone. f) Please send your messages in plain-text only. HTML and similar codings are NOT looked on with favor by the undersigned! g) Thankfully, we are a polite and communal lot, so I will only say that we have never experienced the sort of flaming agonies which occasionally afflict other lists. I would like to see this collegial spirit of good-will and honest debate continue. To that end, please remember that postings to the Rollei List are in the nature of conversations between good friends, and these ought not be repeated outside the List without the explicit permission of the original poster. If you disagree with something someone has said, then this should be taken up directly with that person either on-List or by direct off-List contact. h) Searchable archives are available at: http://digistar.com/rollei (suffix '.com', previously '.net' : update your files) http://www.digistar.com/rollei is an alias of the previous and the search engine does work: http://digistar.com/rollei/search.html The actual List Archives are not directly searchable. These can be accessed as follows: To find out exactly what is available, send the following command to <majordomo (NOTE: This command goes to MAJORDOMO and NOT to the entire List!) index rollei-digest You will then receive an index of all of the Digests available, going back to May, 1996. To receive a specific Digest, you then send the following message to MAJORDOMO at the same address: get rollei-digest v01/v01.n001 The Rollei Digest is divided into volumes, while each Digest has a name which includes the volume number, so it is a tad confusing. To get Volume 10, Digest 19, the command would be: get rollei-digest v10/v10.n19 Again, these Digests are not searchable. i) Frequently asked/answered questions (FAQ) sites: http://www.stutterheim.nl/rollei/faq.html http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/3762/Rollei/index.html Marc Small Rollei List Administrator msmall FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir! ------------------------------


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Why should we shed a tear for a killer?
January 24, 2011 2 Comments
So we learn that a convicted murder has been put to death, though he tried to kill himself because he was so scared of the lethal injection. This is the same person according to the report who killed Steven Moss, 37, his 11-year-old son Bryan and 15-year-old daughter Kris. I wonder how terrified they were before they were killed.
Sorry but I have little sympathy. People may object to the death penalty. That is an honourable position to take. They should, however also see that it is just as justifiable to hold views which supports the death penalty. Of course if they believe in democracy maybe they would like the public to have a referendum on the issue, given historically the British public have supported it's reintroduction. You may think it harsh and inhumane but I would not shed a tear if the likes of the Ian Huntleys of this world faced capital punishment.
Oh – and yes, I have lived in a state that has had the death penalty and still does (unlike many people who comment on the issue). And to be clear, I am fairly consistent. I believe in the right to choose and living wills. How many people are pro choice and anti capital punishment yet can square that circle in their mind.


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Escapee Shot By Police In Downtown Casper [AUDIO]
An escapee from the Casper Re-entry Center was shot in downtown Casper Friday morning, after police say he pulled a gun on an officer.
Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said the shooting occurred early Friday morning October 12th, at the parking lot near 1st Interstate Bank at 1st and North Wolcott.
According to Chief Walsh, around 2:30 a.m. Friday, an officer was on routine patrol at the downtown parking garage, near 2nd and South Wolcott, when he encountered a suspicious person while investigating an open door.
While attempting to talk to the person, the Chief said 28-year-old Ryan Burgess drew a handgun and the officer took cover.
Burgess fled the scene, and a search began to locate him.
He was found again around 5:45 Friday morning at 104 North Wolcott.
When confronted by the officer, Walsh said Burgess again drew his weapon, and was shot in the arm by the officer.
Burgess was hospitalized and is expected to recover.
The investigation is now being handled by the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Burgess escaped from custody Wednesday, while on release to visit the Social Security office.
Burgess had been serving time on a manslaughter charge.


text:
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Atomic Learning is an online technology training and resources site that provides access to thousands of short tutorial movies and to a variety of educational resources.
Renaissance Home Connect allows parents and students to view a students reading progress.


text:
By Anne Fisher, contributor
FORTUNE — Dear Annie: For the past two and a half years, since I graduated from college and got my first real job, I've been lucky to have a terrific mentor, a couple of levels above me in the company. We get together for lunch, coffee, or just a quick chat at least twice a month, sometimes more. Not only do I really enjoy these sessions, but her advice and insights have helped me get some great assignments (and a promotion).
Now, she's been chosen to spend a year running a new operation we are starting up in China. It will be very demanding and, on top of the 12-hour time difference between here and there, she is going to be extremely busy. I'd like to continue our relationship, but I'm wondering, how realistic is it to expect that? — Waving Good-Bye
Dear Waving: The short answer, from Nicki Rich: "If you both want it to work, there's no reason why it can't." Rich, a cloud computing executive at IBM (IBM) in Beaverton, Ore., has worked with about 25 mentees since she started at the company 14 years ago. While on an eight-week assignment in Asia in 2008, Rich began mentoring a junior colleague in Jakarta, and the two have stayed in close touch ever since.
That's not to say the time difference presents no challenges. "It's nine hours later here than in Indonesia, so the best time for her to talk might be when I'm sitting down to dinner with my family — or she'll send me a text at 3 a.m.," Rich says. "But it's not a problem. We both want to maintain the relationship, so we make adjustments."
It helps that IBM, No. 5 on this year's list of the Most Admired Companies, has built a culture of knowledge sharing, including a strong emphasis on mentoring. Since about 40% of Big Blue's 426,000 employees worldwide are virtual or mobile — meaning they work from the road, or from one-or-two-person outposts where they rarely meet bosses or colleagues in person — the company has a wealth of experience with long-distance collaboration.
"If there's a commitment from both parties, and a clear set of expectations, distance really becomes immaterial," says Sheila Forte, IBM's global chief of mentoring, based in Raleigh, N.C. and co-author of a book called Intelligent Mentoring: How IBM Creates Value through People, Knowledge, and Relationships. "In addition to our formal program, we encourage employees to seek out mentors and mentees anywhere in the world."
Forte and Rich suggest four steps toward effective virtual mentoring:
1. Agree upfront on how often you'll meet, and via what medium. "Decide between you whether you'll have a formal session, say, monthly or quarterly," says Forte. "Once that's been agreed on, it's up to the mentee to schedule those dates ahead of time. If you're going to speak quarterly, set up those virtual meetings for the whole year ahead." Not that you won't sometimes reach out on the spur of the moment, she adds, but making appointments well in advance is "part of using your mentor's time wisely."
At the same time, Forte advises, "Agree on what form of communication you both want to use — email, IM, web cam, a combination? It sounds basic, but it's especially important when you're connecting across time zones."
2. Tap into all the available technology. Nicki Rich and her mentee "started out scheduling meetings once a month, then went to once every quarter as her needs changed," says Rich. "But I see her on Facebook every day. She posts a lot, both about what she's doing at work and her personal interests, which really helps us stay in touch. We also tweet and text."
3. Be specific and direct in asking for guidance. Once she gets to China, your mentor is going to be so busy that she probably won't have time to figure out what you need help with, so articulating that is going to be your job. Rich has coached her Jakarta mentee on large questions (should the mentee accept a bigger job at a competing company?) and smaller ones (whose technical expertise should she seek out for a particular project?).
"She is very direct in asking me for exactly the information or insight she really needs at that moment," says Rich. "That helps me give her my best answer." Along the same lines, Forte adds, before each scheduled session, send your mentor an email description of any changes in your situation or other issues you want to discuss. "That way, you can get right into the substance of the discussion," she says.
4. Follow through between meetings. First, after each conversation, "send a summary of what came out of the discussion, just to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks or was misunderstood," Forte advises. "It's always a good idea, but especially when great distances are involved."
And second, says Rich, let your mentor know how her advice worked out. "I appreciate knowing whether what I suggested was successful, or less so. It's valuable for me to know what works and what I need to rethink," she says. "I learn a lot from hearing how a situation turned out. It really is a two-way street."
Talkback: If you've ever had a virtual mentor — or been one — what worked for you? Leave a comment below.


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After admitting that their PowerBalance bracelets are worthless pieces of plastic in Australia, the company has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States following a class action suit filed in a Los Angeles' federal court.
What a surprise. Citing "sources with direct knowledge of the situation," TMZ claims the settlement amount is $57 million. The stupid makers of stupid bands with stupid holograms claim is only $1 million and said that they are "not going out of business" in Twitter, despite filing for Chapter 11. In fact, spokesman Jason Damata told the NY Daily News that PowerBalance "is actually in the process of launching a new product, dubbed performance mouth gear in markets over the next few weeks."
I hope this one has at least two holograms, one for performance, another one to whiten your teeth. [TMZ via NY Daily News]


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Dave Grusin
June 26, 1934
Country of origin
United States
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Born on June 26, 1934 in Littleton, Colorado, USA.
Sometimes credited as:
David Grusin.
One of the top ten film scorers of his generation, Dave Grusin is possibly even more renowned as a jazz artist and founder of the prestige independent record company GRP.
A piano graduate of the University of Colorado in 1956, he grew up with a classical music background, his father, Henri Grusin, having been a professional violinist.
First break in show business came as musical director for Andy Williams, playing piano on a string of singles and more than a half dozen of the singer's best-selling albums, in addition to serving as leader of the Dave Grusin Orchestra on "The Andy Williams Show."
During the period Dave Grusin also cut three headliner jazz LPs for Epic and Columbia. Developing a reputation as the man to call when a record project was struggling or required that something extra, his participation in numerous recording sessions through the following dozen years was then "limited" to being sideman, arranger, conductor and/or producer.
However, his prime focus from the late sixties onwards was on composing for the screen. Initial theatrical release was the 967 "Divorce American Style" with Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke, followed by groundbreaking "The Graduate." Two other noteworthy scores in the sixties were those for the literary classic "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and the star-studded "Candy."
At the same time, Dave Grusin was penning scores and themes for some of the top shows in television, notably "It Takes a Thief," "Name of the Game" and "The Bold Ones."
In the seventies he began working with producer/engineer Larry Rosen, putting together albums for young jazz artists on Blue Note and CTI. Their company, Grusin Rosen Productions, then evolved into the record label Arista/GRP in 1978.
Dave Grusin finally returned to the limelight as a featured artist with the 1976 Sheffield Labs landmark album "Discovered Again," followed the next year by "One of a Kind." These included some of his own compositions, and set the tone for a jazz orientation which was strong on electronic elements complementing acoustic ones, putting him at the forefront of the fusion jazz movement.
Meanwhile, he was scoring some five pictures or more a year, and formed a working arrangement with Sydney Pollack, whereby he composed the music for such films as "Bobby Deerfield" and the thriller "Three Days of the Condor." He was also nominated for two Academy Awards, for " heaven Can Wait" and "The Champ" during the decade. TV themes included "Maude" and "Baretta."
His career was sparking on all cylinders in the eighties with such Oscar-nominated scores as "On Golden Pond," "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Milagro Beanfield War" (winning the award for the latter), in addition to those for "Tootsie," "Racing With The Moon," "The Little Drummer Girl," "Falling in Love" and cult film "The Goonies" (plus theme for long-running hospital drama "St. Elsewhere").
He also rode high in the jazz charts with albums "Mountain Dance," "Out of the Shadows," "N.Y./L.A. Dreamband," "Night-Lines," "Harlequin" and "Migration," each of which featured Dave Grusin the composer as well as performer.
In 1982, along with Larry Rosen, he formed the record company GRP, and produced a score of fusion-oriented jazz albums for their stable of innovative performers. With a focus on artistic freedom, GRP was a pioneer in both digital recording and compact discs. Enjoying both artistic and financial success, GRP stood out as clear leader among contemporary jazz labels.
The nineties represented a watershed in Dave Grusin's career as a musician, with the return to acoustic piano and four critically acclaimed tribute albums to Gershwin, Ellington, Mancini and Bernstein. GRP was sold to MCA in 1991, but Dave Grusin stayed on in management, and presided over the translation and packaging of many historic jazz recordings onto compact disc.
Two more Academy Award nominations were received in the nineties, for the lush music for "Havana" and the solo piano score to "The Firm," with the decade being rounded off by the jazz-oriented "Random Hearts."
In the new century, with frequent colleague Lee Ritenour, he released a melodious mixture of classical, folk and jazz under the title "Two Worlds" as well as completing the score for "Dinner With Friends" among other projects.
Dave Grusin's musical career has been distinguished by a mastery over a diverse range of styles, counterbalanced by a touch at the piano which makes his keyboard signature totally unique. Integrity, exquisite taste, and impeccable musicianship have consistently been the cited keynotes of his work, which has been honored by numerous entertainment industry awards and nominations as well as doctorates from the University of Colorado and Berklee College of Music.
The emminent producer director Sydney Pollack, with whom he has collaborated on nine films, has summed it up succinctly with the words, "he can do anything, and he has done everything."
the filmo/discography of Dave Grusin
Other interesting sites:
The Dave Grusin Archive.
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Cartier launched its first trinity band in 1924—a piece comprised of three interloping rings, each crafted of a different precious metal. It could be, "easily worn during the day, which was very innovative at the time and very surprising coming from a fine jewelry house," explained Pierre Rainero, the accessory magnate's director of image, style, and heritage. Now the maison's taken trinity one step further, fashioning the iconic piece in platinum and white gold with injections of black ceramic and pavé diamonds. It's more graphic than the well-loved original, expressing a new modernity with sleek design. Nonetheless Rainero says that it still "combines very pure shapes and very simple ideas into a symbolic expression of fidelity, love, and friendship—it has very strong symbolic value."
The ring is accompanied by a matching bangle, pendant, and pair of earrings which express its predecessor's trademark sentimental elegance—fitting for a brand that Rainero describes as an, "artistic merchant." The collection is available in stores now.


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Brew Free! Chili
Serves 8 to 10
Note: This assertive, spicy chili comes from the 21st Amendment Brewery.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 large yellow onions, diced
3 large carrots, peeled, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Two 12-ounce cans 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die IPA or a similar American IPA
1/3 cup chili powder, or to taste
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon Tabasco
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
15-ounce can red beans, drained, rinsed
Salt, pepper
1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot; add ground beef and cook, stirring to break up meat, until browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic; cook, stirring often, 5 minutes longer.
2. Stir in tomato paste. Pour in beer and enough water to cover the beef mixture. Add chili powder, bay leaves, Tabasco and Worcestershire; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.
3. Add beans to pot; simmer 15 minutes more. Season to taste.
— John Holl, "The American Craft Beer Cookbook" (Storey, $19.95, 344 pages)


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Welcome, one and all, to our first ever round of Movie Malarkey!
The aim of the game is thusly: an obscure and vague movie title will be selected. Without looking it up, two of us will attempt to guess what the movie is, based solely on the title, and the third will write up a synopsis of the actual movie. Your job, dear reader, is to guess which one is the REAL movie, and you shouldn't be looking it up either. You can vote via poll or by comment. Anyone who wants to participate in the coming weeks can leave a comment. Same goes for anyone who's go the perfect vague title.
This week the movie title is: Phffft! Our entries are:
a) When a washed-up Broadway actor's girlfriend is kidnapped, her captors demand $3 million dollars in ransom. To raise the money, he must reassemble the cast of his hit musical Phffft!, including his volatile ex-wife and two men sharing a horse costume, in order to raise the money.
b) An acrimoniously divorced couple can't seem to stop running into each other in various surprising ways while being counselled by their confidantes to keep their distance, until one night they find themselves in a nightclub doing the mambo together. Can a rekindling be far behind?
c) Roslyn and Kara were the two most popular girls in school, until the bus crash. Now Kara is in a coma, trapped in limbo, with the ability to move things with her mind and only helping her friend from beyond will wake her up. But what will Kara do when Roslyn starts crushing on Kara's boyfriend? Find out in the latest teen comedy from the writers of She's All That.
As many of you guessed, the answer is b) – the divorced couple who end up "doing the mambo." Although I'd venture to say that if you guessed a) you are even more correct since that is clearly the superior movie synopsis, and one I wish existed. Phffft is a 1954 film starring Jack Lemmon. It gets its title, rather randomly I think, from Walter Winchell's gossip column of the times. When a celebrity couple split, he called it a phffft. So there you have it.


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Tom Hardy to Star in Ridley Scott Period Series Taboo for BBC
Tom Hardy has signed on to star in an eight-part period series for BBC from executive producer Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steven Knight, Deadline reports.
Knight, who directed Hardy in Locke, created the drama based on an original story the actor and his father Chips Hardy wrote.
Set in 1813, the series stars Hardy as James Keziah Delaney, an adventurer who recently returned from Africa seeking to avenge his father's death. James' refusal to sell the family shipping and trade business results in a complicated battle with the East India Company, which Knight described as "the equivalent of the CIA, the NSA and the biggest, baddest multi-national corporation on Earth, all rolled into one self-righteous, religiously motivated monolith."
Delaney soon finds himself caught between Britain and America in a time "when the rising power of the Empire seeped into every dark corner," Scott explained.
Shooting will start in January. Are you excited for Taboo?
View original Tom Hardy to Star in Ridley Scott Period Series Taboo for BBC at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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This period I follow a course in System and Control Theory. This is all about linear systems
$$\frac{dx}{dt}= Ax + Bu $$ $$y = Cx + Du $$ where A,B,C,D are matrices, and x, u and y are vectors.
To describe my (little) background, I should know things like linearization, Impulse/Step Response, Equillibrium points, (asymptotic) stability (routh, lyapunov), controllability, observability, stabilizability, realization, hankel, etc.
Given my background, I would like to ask some questions about poles and zeros of linear systems. If you know the answer of just one of the questions, please dont hesitate to write it down :-)
1.) What are poles and zeros of linear system {A,B,C,D} exactly? What does it mean for a system to have a pole at a certain value, or a zero at certain value?
2.) The author writes about 'poles of a transfer function matrix H(s)'. What is a transfer function matrix? The only thing I know is how to compute it and that it describes some relation between input/output of the system. But why do we need tranfser function matrices?
3.) To calculate the poles and zeros, the author says that we need the Smith and Smith-McMillan Forms. These are matrices that have only diagonal entries. What is exactly the algorithm to calculate the Smith-(McMillan)-form of a transfer matrix?
4.) What is the relation between the poles of a system and the controllability, observability, stability and stabilizability ? The same for a zero ?
5.) What is an invariant zero polynomial of the system {A,B,C,D} ?
6.) What is 'a realization of a system'?
7.) Where can I find more good information about this subject?


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The Georgia woman who contracted a deadly flesh-eating disease continues to beat the odds. A zip line accident forever changed the life of 24-year-old Aimee Copeland, but it never took her spirit.
Aimee Copeland's father on her recovery: 'She's determined to not be handicapped'
Last May, the zip line Copeland was holding snapped. She fell and what seemed to be a simple gash on her leg - it took 22 staples to close - was actually much more serious. Still in pain days later, doctors determined she had a rare flesh-eating bacteria called Necrotizing Fascitis. The disease ravaged her body, forcing doctors to amputate her hands, both feet and her left leg.
Aimee Copeland's miraculous recovery
OutFront tonight: CNN's Erin Burnett reminds us of the story that captured the hearts of many Americans and talks to Aimee Copeland about her miraculous recovery.
Tune to Erin Burnett OutFront 7p & 11p ET on CNN.


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At 27 weeks pregnant, my husband and I have flipped through plenty of books on healthy pregnancies, deliveries and names. One of those books written for the soon-to-be daddy is entitled "How To Make A Pregnant Woman Happy." Authored by Uzzi Reiss, MD, and Yfat Reiss, the book had us both raising an eyebrow at the advice offered about beef in the diet section.
According to the book, as a pregnant woman, I should be extremely worried about the safety of ground beef.
Here is the advice the book gives to dads: "Often ground meat has been produced from the meat of numerous animals, increasing the chance of exposure to disease. If she must have a hamburger, buy a single piece of meat and ask your butcher to grind it."
Subscribe now to Cow-Calf Weekly to get the latest industry research and information in your inbox every Friday!
While this was just a small blurb in an otherwise fun book, I thought it was worth debunking the myths presented in this paragraph.
Myth: Ground beef is contaminated because it's made from hundreds of animals. False.
Factsaboutbeef.com just released a new blog post on this topic entitled, "There Is Meat From 100 Cows In My Hamburger, So There Will Be No Ground Beef In My Fridge."
The blog debunks that misconception about ground beef, and I think it's worth sharing
Here is an excerpt: "All ground beef trim must meet stringent food safety guidelines set forth by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, therefore the number of cows whose lean trim is used doesn't represent the safety of your food. Ground beef, commonly used in hamburgers and tacos, is made from beef trim that results when steaks and roasts are cut. In order to get the right mix of lean to fat, processors combine trim from a number of different animals.
"Our food system comprises various sources. A carton of milk contains milk from a number of different cows. A glass of orange juice contains juice from a number of different oranges, and a loaf of bread contains wheat from many different acres of a wheat field. However, the USDA food safety procedures that our food supply undergoes, including ground beef, help prevent any harm to consumers and you can be confident in the safety of your ground beef."
Myth: Only locally processed and prepared beef is safe. Meat from a major packer is probably contaminated. False.
Buying local may be the hip thing right now, but that doesn't mean conventionally raised and processed meats aren't safe and healthy to eat. While beef recalls in the news may have some consumers wary about the safety of their meat, most food-borne illnesses can be avoided by the consumer in the kitchen.
Explorebeef.org is another great resource for debunking beef myths. Here is what the site has to say about the strict testing that beef undergoes in packing plants to be safe, plus how practicing food safety in the kitchen can avoid food-borne illness:
"Rigorous testing and inspection ensures that the beef industry distributes only the safest food to the public. Nonetheless, it is important for those who prepare food — either at home or in restaurants— to know the proper cooking techniques to ensure optimal safety.
"The four keys to proper preparation of beef include: properly refrigerate beef until time of preparation; prepare beef on a clean work surface; test the internal temperature of beef as it cooks; and store and refrigerate leftovers in an air-tight container."
Please help me pass along this important information to our beef-loving friends on social media. Also, what other myths and misconceptions are you seeing out there? Send me your thoughts, and I will do my best to write follow-up blog posts to counteract these myths. Thanks for your help!
More articles to enjoy:
B-PIKE Program Offers Vet Students Real-World Experience In Feedlot & Stocker Cattle
Experience Winter Wonderland On The Ranch
USDA Estimates 16% More Beef Cows in 10 Years


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Mehdi Hasan / The Huffington Post and the New Statesman – 2013-02-16 00:03:19
The Hawks Were Wrong:
Iraq Is Worse Off Now
Saddam Is Gone — But at What Cost?
(February 14, 2013) — On Saturday 15 February 2003, more than a million of us — students, toddlers, Christians, Muslims, nuns, Telegraph readers — gathered in Hyde Park for the biggest public demonstration in British history. "Not in my name," we chanted, as a series of speakers — from Charles Kennedy to Jesse Jackson — lined up to denounce the impending invasion of Iraq.
In Glasgow, a sombre yet defiant prime minister delivered a speech to Labour Party activists. Responding to the march in London, Tony Blair declaimed: "The moral case against war has a moral answer: it is the moral case for removing Saddam." He continued, "It is not the reason we act. That must be according to the United Nations mandate on weapons of mass destruction. But it is the reason, frankly, why if we do have to act, we should do so with a clear conscience."
Whether or not Blair's conscience remains "clear" is, as he once pointed out, between him and God. But a decade on from the debate about dodgy dossiers, WMDs, 45-minute warnings and various clauses and subclauses of UN Resolution 1441, those of us who marched against the war stand vindicated. We were right; the hawks were wrong.
It isn't the size of our demonstration that those of us against the war should be proud of, it is our judgement. Our arguments and predictions turned out to be correct and those of our belligerent opponents were discredited.
Remember the rhetoric? There was "no doubt" that the invaders would "find the clearest possible evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction" (Blair) as well as evidence of how Iraq had "provided training in these weapons [of mass destruction] to al-Qaeda" (Colin Powell); the foreign troops would be "greeted as liberators" (Dick Cheney); "the establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East" would be "a watershed event in the global democratic revolution" (George W Bush).
It was a farrago of lies and half-truths, of delusion and doublethink. Aside from the viewers of Fox News, most people are now aware that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, no ties between secular Saddam and Islamist Osama. The fall of the Ba'athist dictatorship failed to usher in a democratic or human-rights revolution. Every argument advanced by the hawks proved to be utterly false.
The Iraq war was a strategic disaster — or, as the Tory minister Kenneth Clarke put it in a recent BBC radio discussion, "the most disastrous foreign policy decision of my lifetime . . . worse than Suez."
The invasion and occupation of the country undermined the moral standing of the Western powers; empowered Iran and its proxies; heightened the threat from al-Qaeda at home and abroad; and sent a clear signal to "rogue" regimes that the best (the only?) means of deterring a pre-emptive, US-led attack was to acquire weapons of mass destruction (see Korea, North).
There may have been a strong moral case for toppling the tyrant and liberating the Iraqi people — but there was a much stronger moral case against doing so. Brutal and vicious as Saddam's reign had been, a "humanitarian intervention" could not just be justified in March 2003, given the complete absence of an ongoing or imminent mass slaughter of Iraqis. Some of us warned that the cost of action, in blood and treasure, would far outweigh the cost of inaction.
And so it came to pass. The greatest weapon of mass destruction turned out to be the invasion itself. Over the past ten years, Iraqis have witnessed the physical, social and economic destruction of their country — the aerial demolition of schools, homes and hospitals; the siege of cities such as Fallujah; US-led massacres at Haditha, Mahmudiyah and Balad; the biggest refugee crisis in the Middle East since the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948.
Between 2003 and 2006, according to a peer-reviewed study in the Lancet medical journal, 601,000 more people died in Iraq as a result of violence — that is, bombed, burned, stabbed, shot and tortured to death — than would have died had the invasion not happened.
Proportionately, that is the equivalent of 1.2 million Britons, or six million Americans, being killed over the same period. In a typically defensive (and deceptive) passage in his memoirs, Blair described the Lancet report as "extensively challenged" and said its figures were "charged with being inaccurate and misleading". Sir Roy Anderson, the then chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defense, told ministers in an internal memo that its methods were "close to 'best practice'" and the study design was "robust".
Presumably, denialism is how hawks sleep at night. They dispute the studies that have uncovered the human cost of the war — whether it be the civilian casualties across the country, or the torture and abuse inside Iraq's prisons (which a UN investigator described in 2006 as "worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein"), or the fivefold increase in birth defects and fourfold increase in cancers in and around Fallujah. Or they try to blame the violence and turmoil in Iraq exclusively on terrorists, "jihadists" and "Islamofascists."
Few would dispute that most of the killings in Iraq have been carried out by the sadistic monsters who fight for al-Qaeda and its affiliates. But to focus only on the crimes of AQI (or "al-Qaeda in Iraq") represents a gross moral evasion.
First, according to the Lancet survey, 31 percent of the excess deaths in Iraq can be attributed to coalition forces — about 186,000 people between 2003 and 2006. Second, most studies show that only a minority of Iraqi insurgents were card-carrying members of AQI.
The insurgency kicked off in Fallujah on 28 April 2003 as a nationalist campaign, long before the arrival of foreign jihadists but only after US troops opened fire on, and killed, 17 unarmed Iraqi protesters. Third, there were no jihadists operating in Iraq before our Mesopotamian misadventure; Iraq had no history of suicide bombings. Between 2003 and 2008, however, 1,100 suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the country. The war made Iraq, in the approving words of the US general Ricardo Sanchez, "a terrorist magnet . . . a target of opportunity".
The Iraq invasion turned out to be the best recruiting sergeant that Muslim extremists could ever have prayed for, radicalizing thousands of young men from the Middle East to the Midlands. Listen to the verdict of the former head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller: "Whatever the merits of putting an end to Saddam Hussein, the war was also a distraction from the pursuit of al-Qaeda. It increased the terrorist threat . . . [and] spurred some British Muslims to turn to terror."
Ultimately, say some hawks, such arguments are irrelevant. Didn't Iraqis welcome the removal of Saddam? Despite the bloodshed, isn't their nation better off as a result of the war? Not quite. "Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts," wrote the Iraqi blogger known by the pseudonym Riverbend on her blog Baghdad Burning in February 2007. "It's worse. It's over. You lost… You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi when the Abu Ghraib pictures came out… You lost when you brought murderers, looters, gangsters and militia heads to power…."
In September 2011, a Zogby poll found that 42 percent of Iraqis thought they were "worse off" as a result of the Anglo-American invasion of their country, compared to only 30 percent of Iraqis who said "better off". An earlier poll, conducted for the BBC in November 2005, found a slim majority of Iraqis (50.3 percent) saying the Iraq war was "somewhat" or "absolutely" wrong.
Should we be surprised? The post-Saddam government, observes the noted Iraqi novelist and activist Haifa Zangana, is "consumed by sectarian, ethnic division, but above all by corruption". The Human Rights Watch 2012 report shows how the rights of the Iraqi people are "violated with impunity" by their new rulers.
In his book Iraq: from War to a New Authoritarianism, Toby Dodge of the London School of Economics documents how the war has produced an Iraqi system of government not so different from the one it replaced. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Dodge argues, is leading his country towards "an incredibly destructive dictatorship". The establishment of a liberal democracy on the banks of the Tigris remains a neocon pipe dream.
So, Saddam is gone — but at what cost? Iraq has been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of innocent people have lost their lives, as the direct result of an unnecessary, unprovoked war that, according to the former chief justice Lord Bingham, was a "serious violation of international law."
"It was worse than a crime," said the French diplomat Talleyrand, responding to the execution of the Duc d'Enghien by Napoleon; "it was a blunder." Iraq turned Talleyrand's aphorism on its head — it was worse than a blunder; it was a crime.
Mehdi Hasan is the political director of the Huffington Post UK and a contributing writer for the New Statesman. This piece is also published on huffingtonpost.co.uk
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.


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iTunes U: an Institutional Perspective
Posted by Jeremy Speller on 25 Oct 2010
Recent posts which provided surveys of institutional use of third party services for content delivery generated a fair amount of interest and discussion. As a follow-up to the post on "What are UK Universities doing with iTunes U?" Jeremy Speller, Director of Web Services at UCL, has been invited to provide a guest post which provides an institutional perspective on use of this service.
Brian Kelly recently asked What are UK Universities doing with iTunes U?As an early adopter Brian invited me try to answer that question and to pick up on some of the comments which his post generated.
Let's be clear on one thing – no one is fooling themselves. Apple is a hardware vendor intent on sales and iTunes U is just one of many ways in which it drives custom to its devices. Some have a philosophical objection to engaging with "trade" in this way, but for me the post-CSR university world demands that we use of the best that the commercial sector can make available to us. Have I sold my soul for the Yankee dollar? Maybe – but I'd kind of like a job next year. Strangely those that argue otherwise seem to accept Microsoft, Google and the rest.
Having dispensed with that argument let me examine why I believe that Apple has a positive contribution to make to higher education. I can think of no other major hardware vendor which has had such a clear policy over many years of engagement with education. And I'm not talking discount here – I mean services and assistance.
During 2004, Duke University bravely decided to issue iPods to its intake and to populate the devices with course material, timetables etc. Since there was no easy way to update the content en masse, Duke approached Apple to see what could be done. "Project Indigo" was born and iTunes U was the result. What's important here is that Apple reacted to the requirement of a university and worked with Duke to deliver something that met its need.
It's worthy of note too that many of the iTunes U team have backgrounds in education rather than software engineering or sales. Indeed Jason Ediger, who has a typical corporate title but for the purpose of this article heads up iTunes U, is a former teacher and educational technologist in the public sector.
Anyway, here are some of my views on "popular" opinions.
iTunes U is a closed ecosystem
Yes it is but the arguments for not using it are thin. In a comment on Brian's post Andy Powell worried that:
… the overarching emphasis of sites who have bought into iTunesU is that they have bought into iTunesU – the other routes to content are presented as secondary to that. To me, that implies that users and lecturers who choose to use that route are somehow second class citizens of the institution.
I can only speak for UCL, but I would worry about any institution which bought into iTunes U as the only or primary means of distribution. Apple positively discourage use in this way – their take is "we provide the tool as one channel of communication". UCL's engagement with iTunes U came out of our desire to develop podcasting and other means of multimedia distribution as part of our mission to increase reach as London's Global University. We were developing in that direction before iTunes U came to Europe. As far as primary teaching materials are concerned the Moodle course page remains the focus – the podcasts (whether taken from iTunes U or via feeds) are a value-added service to students. This is important for a metropolitan institution where students spend time offline on trains and buses getting about.
It is expensive to run
It depends. If you buy in to iTunes U without a background in multimedia distribution it could be, but I would argue that if you have not worked out a content or media distribution strategy taking into account a range of channels you shouldn't be looking at iTunes U anyway. I have a department of around 30 souls of which a part (0.25 – 0.5 fte) of one post is a direct result of iTunes U, and that came a year after we joined. We have a multimedia unit who have been producing video since before U-matic was the format of the future. Over time the unit has moved with technology and now concentrates on streamed output and download formats – the staff complement hasn't varied, they just do things differently. And we'd be doing all that to support a variety of distribution channels anyway.
It is PR fluff
For some reason this view is quite prevalent among those who don't use the system and in my opinion misses the point of iTunes U completely. Sure, there is publicity to be had and, in UCL's case as a launch partner, was valuable. Of course general PR shorts can be provided. But the real assets should be educational and examples of your institution's scholarship. How you choose to do this and what material you provide is down to you. We increasingly provide course materials via the internal authenticated part of iTunes U to complement other teaching materials – others would argue that the provision of OER of high quality is the best PR there is for a university.
What wider and innovative uses could be made of the system in future?
Brian asks what the future holds in terms of innovative use of the system. Some of the most interesting uses we heard about at the iTunes U Conference in Munich involved the provision of primary sources for research. Duke University Libraries showed AdViews, a collection of 16mm movie film which had been digitized and which included thousands of TV commercials from the 1950's through to the 1980's. At Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich over 10,000 PDFs are available as LMU has chosen to provide all dissertations stored in its library back to 2002 as downloads. I'll admit that at UCL we have yet to fulfill one of our original goals which was to open the system up to students as a collaborative environment and to submit work for assessment but that's a matter of resource priority internally rather than a limitation of the system. Julie Usher has posted some other thoughts on innovations discussed at the conference.
Will institutional users regret lack of flexibility if Apple move in a different direction?
The lack of future-proofing is to my mind another non-argument because of the way iTunes U is architected. Apple maintain the framework and the serving of links via the iTunes Store mechanism while the feeds and media files themselves are hosted at the institution. This used not to be the case but all new sites since mid-2008, including all UK institutions, are split-hosted. This means that even if Apple pull the plug tomorrow all of your feeds and content remain yours and intact, and deliverable via whatever other channels you have in place.
Those who don't buy into the ecosystem are 2nd class citizens
Again, if you are only providing iTunes U content this could be seen as an issue but not if you're adopting the multi-channel model. I accept that at UCL we do sometimes plug iTunes U over other channels and that it's something we should address. The content is nonetheless available for pretty much any modern device.
The content has poor discoverability
Because the iTunes software is a proprietary browser it does not afford discoverability to search engines. Apple fully accept that this has been an issue and have recently been including iTunes U in their iTunes Preview service. This is a conventional Web-based service which lists and includes metadata for all content in the system. Although it is early days and usage has not pumped too much to the top of Google rankings yet, search for a specific item by title and Google will return a top result. Audio content can be played directly in the page though it is still necessary to link out to iTunes to play video at present. Try searching for "Why species are fuzzy" for an example. We also provide links to the preview service for the most popular items from our iTunes U launch page.
… is there a cost-saving to adopting iTunes U as opposed to creating custom portals? Certainly the development grunt is removed and the system offers students who come to us with their own devices (another saving as I argued at the recent FOTE10 event) having bought into the ecosystem access to our content. For those of us committed to the distribution of media content whatever the channel the issue remains that the content has to be created and managed and therein lies the cost. I believe therefore that our efforts should lie in keeping the creation process efficient and demonstrating the value of the content to our users and paymasters. Content is, after all, still king – but as noted at the Munich Conference:
@thStamm: RT @jeremyspeller … content is king or there's no point … I agree but we all want king arthur not king richard II #itunesuconf2010
Jeremy Speller has been involved with the UCL Web presence since 1995. Having headed UCL Web Servicesfor a number of years, Jeremy is now Director of Learning & Media Services which, along with the Web, covers AV, design, learning technology, multimedia and photography. Prior to full-time involvement with the Web, Jeremy's background was in planning and statistics at UCL and previously at the University of Birmingham. Way back when he ran the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme at what was then CVCP.
Some of Jeremy's presentations are on SlideShare. You can also follow Jeremy on Twitter: @jeremyspeller
Twitter conversation from Topsy: [View]
7 Responses to "iTunes U: an Institutional Perspective"
25 Oct 2010 at 11:53 am
Just to clarify…
Re: I can only speak for UCL, but I would worry about any institution which bought into iTunes U as the only or primary means of distribution.
Note that I didn't mean to imply that iTunesU was being seen as the "only or primary means of distribution" and I accept that isn't the case in general.
I was specifically referring to the emphasis that is given to the use of iTunesU.
In general people don't stand up in conferences and say, "We've made a lot of podcasts available on the web. Oh, and by the way, we also disseminate them using iTunesU". Rather, they say, "We're using iTunesU. Oh, and by the way, we've also built a web interface to the same content as well".
The problem (or not!) is the extent to which that emphasis is carried over into the way things are discussed internally as well. As I said, if the emphasis is always on one particular 'channel' rather than on the content, then I think there is a valid concern to be raised because it has a tendency to disenfranchise some users and to encourage lecturers to cite one particular channel rather than the content itself.
In response to that, you say:
As far as primary teaching materials are concerned the Moodle course page remains the focus – the podcasts (whether taken from iTunes U or via feeds) are a value-added service to students. This is important for a metropolitan institution where students spend time offline on trains and buses getting about.
That's good and really what I wanted to hear. So I presume that lecturers cite audio/video material in Moodle, rather than citing iTunesU?
27 Oct 2010 at 1:29 am
A key remit of a university is to disseminate knowledge . iTunes U provides an incredible platform to do this and reach audiences that could only been dreamed of in the past. One only has to look at how well the Open University has done in terms of content downloads, since the launch of their iTunes U site in 2008.
For some people being involved with Apple is unpalatable, but iTunes U allows an organisation to associate their brand with one of the strongest brands in the world. If you have some killer content that demonstrates your universities expertise in a particular subject area, there is a distribution ecosystem in place that can reach a global audience over a sustained period. In more practical terms, from experience I know that senior management love iTunes U!
In the age of austerity, I think the benefits of joining iTunes U far outweigh the drawbacks.
28 Oct 2010 at 10:18 am
[…] Sichtweise auf das Thema hat dagegen Brian Kelly von der University of Bath, UK. In seinem Beitrag iTunes U: an Institutional Perspective beschäftigt er sich mit einer Reihe von Argumenten gegen iTunes […]
11 Nov 2010 at 2:53 pm
[…] iTunes U: an Institutional Perspective […]
12 Nov 2010 at 11:39 am
[…] benefits or challenges of 'using' iTunes U, Jeremy Speller did a great job in his guest post over at Brian Kelly's blog. I'm more interested in the overall market trends for mobile and what the implications […]
10 Jul 2012 at 12:16 pm
[…] benefits or challenges of 'using' iTunes U, Jeremy Speller did a great job in his guest post over at Brian Kelly's blog. I'm more interested in the overall market trends for mobile and what the implications […]
19 Feb 2016 at 1:13 pm
[…] iTunes U: an Institutional Perspective […]


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The Wisdom of Batman
From the Batman TV show in 1966, some words to live by:
General Wisdom:
Batman: "An older head can't be put on younger shoulders."
Batman: "That's one trouble with dual identities, Robin. Dual responsibilities."
Robin: "Gosh, Batman, this camel grass juice is great."
Batman: "Beware of strong stimulants, Robin."
Robin: "Holy molars! Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!"
Batman: "True. You owe your life to dental hygiene."
Dick: "Awww, heck! What's the use of learning French anyway?"
Bruce: "Dick, I'm surprised at you! Language is the key to world peace. If we all spoke each other's tongues, perhaps the scourge of war would be ended forever."
Batman: "The green button will turn the car a la escarda o a la drecia."
Robin: "To the left or right. Threw in a little Spanish on me, huh, Batman?"
Batman: "One should always keep abreast of foreign tongues, Robin."
Dick: "Wow! The rings of Saturn! This is sure some fun, Bruce."
Bruce: "Astronomy is more than mere fun, Dick."
Dick: "It is?"
Bruce: "Yes, it helps give us a sense of proportion. Reminds us how little we are, really. People tend to forget that sometimes."
Dick : "What's so important about Chopin?"
Bruce : "All music is important, Dick. It's the universal language. One of our best hopes for the eventual realization of the brotherhood of man."
Dick: "Sorry, I'm not interested in dance lessons."
Bruce: "Wait a minute, Dick. The junior prom's coming up, isn't it?"
Dick: "Yes, but…"
Bruce: "Well, we don't want you to be a wallflower, do we? Dancing is an integral part of every young man's education."
Robin: "You can't get away from Batman that easy!"
Batman: "Easily."
Robin: "Easily."
Batman: "Good grammar is essential, Robin."
Robin: "I guess you can never trust a woman."
Batman: "You've made a hasty generalization, Robin. It's a bad habit to get into."
Batman to Robin: "When you get a little older, you'll see how easy it is to become lured by the female of the species."
Batman: "Better put 5 cents in the meter."
Robin: "No policeman's going to give the Batmobile a ticket."
Batman: "This money goes to building better roads. We all must do our part."
Dick: "Gosh, Economics is sure a dull subject."
Bruce: "Oh, you must be jesting, Dick. Economics dull? The glamour, the romance of commerce… Hmm. It's the very lifeblood of our country's society
Robin: "Gosh, there could be diplomatic repercussions if we fail this time, Batman."
Batman: "That's not the point, Robin. What's important is that the world know that all visitors to these teeming shores are safe, be they peasant or king."
Robin: "Gee, Batman, I never thought of that. You're right."
Batman: "It's the very essence of our democracy."
Batman: "Nobody wants war."
Robin: "Gee, Batman. Belgravia's such a small country. We'd beat them in a few hours."
Batman: "Yes, and then we'd have to support them for years."
Who knew Batman was so full of wisdom?


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I dont like drink....
i dont drink too though i stay in USA and work there too.It is a matter of personal choice.nobody can force you to act against your will and i am a strong believer of that.
I dont like drink....
i'd always **** anjali mary pothen.
Nobody can pressure for me. I know its disadvantages for the health. I drink but not for enjoyment but as medicine. Due to the stone problem I have take the some level of the alcohol in a month otherwise it is painful to me.
to kya karu amra
Even me dude...
Yuk I hate alcohol..
(I say this to myself to avoid it )
I don't drink either . .not much to bother about
Hi Gytha, I am also not drinking. We all know it's bad habit. If we will try it for one's than it gonna be habit for us. My friends are drinking but if they are going for drinking than i am not going. Why can't we have Fruit Juice or Milk shakes instead of drinking. They will very beneficial to our health.


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West Wittering Beach website: http://www.westwitteringbeach.co.uk/
Offering wonderful views of Chichester Harbour and the South Downs beyond, the natural and unspoilt sandy beach of West Wittering has been a favourite destination for a family day out for generations. The highest water quality and excellent facilities have made it one of the premier Blue Flag beaches in the country. Click here to read more about the bathing water quality.
The extensive acres of neatly mown grass close to the beach are perfect for parking, and picnics. The sea is popular with wind and kite surfers, while shallow lagoons are left on extensive sandy flats at low tide. The whole area is internationally recognised for its wildlife, birds and unique beauty.
Trained and dedicated staff endeavour to maintain and protect this special environment, and to provide a warm welcome to our visitors whether here for a carefree traditional bucket and spade day in summer, or a brisk winter walk.
Where to find us:
All information courtesy of http://www.westwitteringbeach.co.uk/


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http://mmajunkie.com Keith Jardine said his key career victories were "flashes of greatness," and that pretty well describes his opponent, Matt Hamill.
Hamill has bulldozed most of his opponents by KO or TKO, and though he won his most recent fight against Jon Jones, he considers it a setback he'd like to overcome.
The two non-cast members co-headline The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale tonight at the The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The night's main card airs on Spike TV.
Hamill defeated Jones when he took illegal elbow strikes that earned him a paper victory this past December at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale. Until that point, the "TUF 2" veteran fought with one arm due to a separated his shoulder after Jones injured him with a throw and ground and pound.
The sequence shocked Hamill, a collegiate wrestling standout, who said he never before had been taken down and dominated. He sat out several months as his shoulder healed, and he made a resolution never to be bullied again.
Hamill (8-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) said this week that he has unfinished business with Jones. But first, he needs to address Jardine (15-7-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC).
"Keith Jardine's a great fighter, and we're both real hungry," Hamill said. "It's not going to be easy. He's lost three fights, and he doesn't want to lose again. But he's the real deal."
Hamill has fallen short just twice inside the octagon after ostensibly starting his career on the third season of "The Ultimate Fighter." One of those setbacks, a decision loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 75, is widely considered one of the worst judges' decisions in the sport's history. Another setback at UFC 88 was at the hands of his friend, Rich Franklin, and was a fight under admittedly difficult circumstances.
But until Jones tossed him, Hamill had racked up five KO or TKO victories, including a highlight-reel headkick knockout of Mark Munoz. Hamill has shown the ability to withstand punishment and finish opponents with his own.
Against Jardine, we're likely to see the same approach. Hamill will walk the bearded fighter down time and time again and look for the punch that will end the fight.
Jardine, meanwhile, wants to show UFC fans that his greatness has not been extinguished by three straight losses and two recent lights-out KOs. "The Ultimate Fighter 2" veteran said he's learned to relax in the gym and will make a fresh start on tonight.
Quite simply, he didn't make his unorthodox style work for him like it had before in his victories over Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell.
"Sometimes I got caught because I was trying to be a little bit too orthodox, actually," Jardine said. "Too clean, like I read a how-to boxing book. A little bit too planted in everything I was doing. Now, it's more that I just relax and flow free and have fun."
At this point, Jardine's reputation as an unorthodox striker has been replaced by a vulnerability to hard punches. He's been knocked out cold in his two most recent performances against Ryan Bader and Thiago Silva. Prior to that, he's gone out against Wanderlei Silva and Houston Alexander.
This now is likely Jardine's last shot at headliner status and could be his last UFC appearance should he meet another knockout.
"I'm not really worried about that," Jardine said. "I'm in a good place with all that."
It's absolutely essential for Jardine to flow free in this bout. He's unlikely to take Hamill down and unlikely to get a knockout. As in his fight with Liddell, a career-making performance, he'll stay on his bicycle and snipe from outside while avoiding power punches.
Court McGee and Kris McCray make most of second chances
"The Ultimate Fighter 11" featured a new format in which the coaches picked two "wild-card" fighters who deserved a second shot in the reality-show tournament. And true to the anything-can-happen nature of MMA, one wild card and an injury replacement made both it to the finals.
Court McGee (8-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who was defeated in the tournament's first round by Nick Ring, struck gold when he replaced an injured Rich Attonito in the show's quarterfinals. He took on fellow injury replacement James Hammortree and picked up a second-round submission victory. He then choked out semifinalist Brad Tavares to earn his spot in the finals.
Meanwhile, McCray (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) defeated Cleburn Walker during the elimination round and fell short against Josh Bryant in the opening round. But Tito Ortiz, his coach at the time, gave him a second shot as a wild-card pick, and he put it to good use. In what undoubtedly would be considered an upset victory on the professional circuit, he submitted veteran Kyacey Uscola in another first-round tournament bout and went on to grind down Kyle Noke and avenge his loss to Bryant in the semifinals, both via decision.
Both fighters are gracious for the second chance.
"To redeem myself would be to win the whole thing," said McCray, a former U.S. Army Reserve soldier. "I had a tough road, as Court did. I came back from a loss. My team was all arguing. The coaches quit, and I had to fight my teammates and friends.
"It's good to be here."
McGee, who lost a split decision to Ring, said the experience taught him a lesson never to leave a fight in the hands of judges.
"I was given an opportunity, and McCray was given an opportunity, and we both took advantage of it and didn't sit and dwell on it," McGee said. "I think it shows [McCray and me] have heart and skill."
McGee, a former alcoholic and drug addict, saw the show as another way to prove he could turn his life around and succeed. He approached it as he did in recovery: one day at a time.
"It's a victory that I'm here today in my hotel room with the opportunity to fight someone like Kris McCray," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) earlier this week. "That's winning regardless if I win or lose (tonight). I've done everything I can do to show up in shape and healthy."
Both agree that the gap between the show's production end and the live finale will make for a better fight because they aren't fighting hurt, which they were during taping.
There is not an ounce of bad blood between them going into the fight.
"I remember the last day when everybody went out; I gave Court my wallet because I was like, 'I know me, and I know you,'" McCray said. "He's a strong-willed guy, and he has my back. Even though we're fighting each other, I feel like I could call him up for anything."
In other main-card action, middleweight Chris Leben (19-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) attempts to build on a recent resurgence when he takes on two-time Division I All-American wrestler Aaron Simpson (7-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC).
Leben escaped a UFC pink slip with a decision victory over Jay Silva in January, and he'll look to lay his heavy hands on Simpson, a decorated collegiate wrestler who's taken hard to the stand-up game. The primary question in the match-up is whether Simpson can dodge the big shots and land straight punches in return. On the mat, he'll have the edge on top. But if he's put on his back, we could see Leben inch out a decision win. Old habits die hard, though, and Leben likely will headhunt after he takes a few punches.
Lightweight Spencer Fisher (23-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) returns to action after a recent injury and takes on tough German Dennis Siver (15-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC). Also, "TUF 11" loudmouth Jamie Yager (2-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) takes on fellow cast member Rich Attonito (7-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
The full card includes:
- Court McGee vs. Kris McCray
- Matt Hamill vs. Keith Jardine
- Chris Leben vs. Aaron Simpson
- Spencer Fisher vs. Dennis Siver
- Rich Attonito vs. Jamie Yager
- John Gunderson vs. Mark Holst
- Seth Baczynski vs. Brad Tavares
- Josh Bryant vs. Kyle Noke
- Chris Camozzi vs. James Hammortree
- Travis Browne vs. James McSweeney
For complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.


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Dear Editor:
Jewish War Veterans Post 76 in North Bergen echo their support for the renaming of the Wittpenn Bridge in honor of the four US Army Chaplains who went down when the USS Dorchester was torpedoed in WWII.
According to Post 76 Commander, David Kronick, there are a number of reasons for their support, including the fact that Chaplain John Washington was from Hudson County and author, Dan Kurzman who wrote their story in "No Greater Glory" was a member of Post 76. Author Kurzman joined Cmdr. Kronick with their wives to attend the memorial service at St. Stephen's Church in Kearny in 2004.
Attached photo taken at St. Stephen's after the memorial service in 2004 when Post 76 Cmdr. Kronick and Chaplain Howard Barmad presented a copy of Dan Kurzman's book, "No Greater Glory" to Pastor Joe Mancini.
David Kronick


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All aboard the overall train! Celebs have been rocking jumpsuits galore this season, and Peyton List is the latest star to catch onesie fever. Her black overalls are a cool update on the denim version, and the perf way to look trendy and cute, whether you're hitting the mall, grabbing dinner with friends, or headed to a group hang. Just add a cute cropped tee and fun booties to keep the look flirty and fun. Check out where you can score the look on the cheap below.
MORE: 6 Ways To Wear Overalls
1. Denim overalls are great, but Peyton's black pair are way easier to pull off! They're sleek, so they make the slouchier shape look more polished. Street-Chic Overalls, $28.40, forever21.com
More From Seventeen
2. A plain white tee gets an upgrade with small embellishments. Spikes, sequins, or lace, pick whatever goes best with your personal style. Try a fitted slightly cropped top to balance the overalls' baggier fit. Spiked Shoulder Crop Top, $7.50, charlotterusse.com
3. Peyton's leopard booties break up her black and white outfit and dress up the whole look. These are super comfy, and go with practically everything. Above The Foldover Bootie in Leopard, $34.99, modcloth.com
4. If you'll be going straight from the mall to your friend's house on Saturday, a medium-sized crossbody bag will hold all your essentials, but still look chic. Lulu Quilted Crossbody Bag, $30, nordstrom.com
What are you wearing this weekend? Would you rock overalls? Sound off in the comments below!


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Margaret C
My Evidence for APGAW
by, 25th July 2010 at 02:12 PM (4615 Views)
There has been some interesting discussion about breed clubs and breeders attitude to health testing, so I thought I would blog some of the written evidence I submitted for the APGAW report that followed on from the film Pedigree Dogs Exposed.
I'm pleased to say that the health monitoring system mentioned at the end, in point 5. is be trialed, thanks to the RSPCA........
I would like to ask that secondary legislation of the Animal Welfare Act, 2006 be used to protect dogs from the suffering caused by inherited diseases and exaggerated breed features.
I believe that legislation is necessary because the breed clubs and the Kennel Club are unwilling and unable to self-regulate.
There are loving and responsible breeders & exhibitors, but many breeders regard their dogs as a commodity.
Four out of five puppies are sold as pets, but health problems that affect the quality of life for the dog, & place a financial and emotionally distressing burden on their owners, are disregarded.
Breeders are very reluctant to change their breeding practices even when they cause welfare issues. 'Type' is thought to be more important than health.
The Kennel Club has tried to address some public concerns since the broadcast of the BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, but many of their leading figures are long established breeders and part of the same culture. Chairman Ronnie Irvine, in the January Kennel Gazette, criticised interference from the outside world and described the media, the politicians and the so-called do-gooders as terrorists lobbing hand grenades into a casualty hospital. This is probably indicative of the true mind set that remains within the KC.
Successful dog show exhibitors are very influential. They are usually the top judges and they own the top stud dogs.
People that show dogs are highly competitive. Every week they will spend hours preparing their dogs, rise in the early hours & travel hundreds of miles to a show.
They will be reluctant to disagree with top breeders for fear of not winning in the show ring, or being unable to mate their bitches to the best dogs.
There is a prevailing culture within the dog showing and breeding community that actively discourages recognition of health issues within pedigree dogs
Successful breeders are those most threatened by buyers knowing about health problems There is an unspoken rule that inherited health issues should not be acknowledged or discussed because this will ruin the breed.
In conclusion, I would like to make the following points:-
1. Owners of pedigree dogs do not breed because they want to produce healthy pet dogs for sale to the general public.
The commercial breeders are financially motivated, the show breeders want to produce winning show dogs. In both cases they will not want to health test their stock & find they must remove their most prolific producer, or their champion stud dog, from their breeding programme
2. Breed club committees usually consist of the most successful breeders, the people most threatened by buyers knowing about health problems. This means that health issues are minimized or suppressed. Club members that raise awareness of health conditions often do so in an atmosphere that is discouraging and sometimes intimidating.
3. What is good for the breeder is often not good for the dog. The breed clubs operate for the benefit of their members, not for the dogs or the future of the breed.
3. The Kennel Club's policy of working through the breed club committees ensures that the health information given to the KC, and the advice given to puppy buyers, is within the control of the breed clubs.
There should be a system in place where concerned breeders and pet owners can raise health issues independent of the breed clubs or the Kennel Club.
4. The Kennel Club's Accredited Breeder Scheme, which could possibly provide a basis to encourage breeders to health check their stock, is very flawed. The health tests required under this scheme are very few and the dogs that fail can still be bred from.
Legislation making it mandatory that relevant breed health checks are carried out on the permanently identified parents of all puppies could ensure that KC registration becomes a mark of quality, but the scheme would need to be properly monitored by an independent animal welfare body such as CAWC or the RSPCA.
5. Unbiased systems to monitor established & newly emerging health problems in all dogs need to be put into place. The Veterinary profession, perhaps through the central collating initiative suggested by Paul McGreevy, would be better placed to give accurate health data rather than Kennel Club officials who rely on breed clubs for information.


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By Anita Brookner
By Anita Brookner
Part of Vintage Contemporaries
Part of Vintage Contemporaries
Category: Literary Fiction
Category: Literary Fiction
An Absolute Scandal
Three-Martini Lunch
A World of Love
Hunting and Gathering
Fools of Fortune
The Granny
The Cleaner of Chartres
Life Drawing
The Chateau
"With such prudence and steely humor … Brookner creates an affecting and unexpectedly dynamic portrait of an ordinary man in extremis." —The Washington Post Book World
"The beauty and precision of Anita Brookner's writing is rightly praised each time she publishes a novel, but what is less often remarked on is her daring…. A novel of sober brilliance." —The Times (London)
"Brookner faithfully presents the elderly person's dilemma: trying to figure out what to do with your old age…. Her astringent sense of humor, often unappreciated, is slyly evident." —The Wall Street Journal
"[Brookner's] subject is the best one: the definition of human nature…. In Brookner's hands, in her descriptions so vivid and exact, it can be exhilarating." —The Independent (London)
"Brookner … can't write a paragraph that doesn't engage your mind or tug at your heart…. Lovely." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Characteristically Brooknerian: at once tense and highly controlled, and distinctly comic." —The Boston Globe
"Anita Brookner, the most intelligent of observers, a Barbra Pym with sinew, brings such refined intellect, candor and irony to her intense tales of small lives that once you read her work and grasp her intent, she becomes a valued constant." —The Irish Times
"There's something undeniably fascinating about [Brookner's] protagonists." —Los Angeles Times
"Shares keen insights on the emotional toll of a painful past." —Entertainment Weekly
"In the hands of a lesser novelist, [Brookner's] stories of human frailty would be depressing, but she manages to make them sparkle with life—and always with hope…. Absorbing." —The Sunday Telegraph (London)
"Marvelously atmospheric." —Vogue
"[Brookner's] technique as a novelist is so sure and so quietly commanding that we forget the essential artifice, and as soon as we meet the inhabitants of her rooms we start to advise them on redecoration; to psychoanalyze them; to fantasize about introducing them to other Brookner characters, whom surely they have narrowly avoided bumping into at the Wallace Collection or the Royal Academy." —The Guardian (London)
"An elegant, heartfelt novel—seldom have the afflictions of old age had such an astute chronicler." —Tatler
"Every sentence that falls from Brookner's pen is beautifully curated and carefully weighted…. Handsomely, sighingly sad, [Strangers] is tackled with beauty and aplomb, resulting in a tender elegy of lament. —The Scotsman
"With clarity and an elegant simplicity, Brookner exposes Paul's deepest yearnings and longings…. Intricate and nuanced, Strangers is about aging, loneliness, and acknowledging the past as Paul's fragility and silent tenacity are slowly exposed." —Curled Up With a Good Book
"A story about empowerment in making life choices, a lesson in breaking away from old habits to find the spirit that drives you and makes life worthwhile…. Extraordinary in how thoughtful it is and how truthful it feels…. Strangers flows with an easy formality that is a joy to experience in and of itself." —Bookreporter
21 Books You've Been Meaning to Read
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[Editor's note: This Mac-only application provides GPS track library and display functions for the recreation or fitness folks not entranced by the Nike+ solution. Includes iPhone companion app (pro | lite) or use with standard GPS device export files. Desktop app features include calendar view of activity, charting of pace, speed, elevation, and map overlays with automatic labels for distance and time intervals.]
Republished from Mac News Network.
March 9th, 2009.
Toolsfactory has released an update to its GPS-enabled activity-tracking application for the Mac, rubiTrack 1.5. The program is designed to help log and organize outdoor activities, while enabling users to store information that can be displayed in detailed maps. The update offers several new features such as power charts, time-driven diagrams and direct sync with WinTec WBT201. Users can now import TCX files, heart rate information, cadence and power data from compatible devices.
The latest version also provides enhanced import capabilities for indoor activities lacking GPS data. The company also addressed a number of bugs with the update.
RubiTrack is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or later and can be purchased directly from the company for $40.
Tags: activity, fitness, gps, iphone, macnn, recreation, rubitrack, track


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Pittsburgh, 25/09/2009 - Welcoming the adoption of the Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth by G20 leaders gathered in Pittsburgh for the G20 summit today, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said new sources of jobs and growth needed for the global economy to effect a sustained recovery, will only emerge if the right structural policies are adopted by the world's leading global economies.
Gurría cited the benefits to be derived from reforming education systems: "one additional year of education (can) raise GDP per capita …by 4-7%". "Improving the functioning of labour markets, by raising the effective labour supply also has the potential to raise living standards significantly."
Gurria's remarks to G20 leaders reflected the fact that the focus on structural policies will constitute the principal element of the OECD's contribution to future work on the G20 Framework Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth.
Further reading
Related Documents


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From the Sabbath Recorder, Alfred, New York, July 1856:
In Rushford, N. Y., on the 25 ult., (of last month) after an illness of eight weeks, FLORETTE W., daughter of Ira and Serena C. Sayles, aged 8 years, 8 months and 19 days. A few days before her departure, while in her father's arms, she told him she was not afraid to die and be with Christ. She also assured her mother, during her last hours of consciousness, of the same confidence. She moreover reproved her mother for weeping, saying, "It can do no good."
In grief we lay our daughter down To sleep the sleep that knows no waking' In faith, we look beyond the tomb-- We see the glorious morning breaking, Brightly dawning through the gloom: We see, by faith, her spirit come, Midst the joyous angel throng, To proclaim their Jesus King-- King o'er heaven and earth most glorious-- King o'er death, and the grave victorious-- King omnipotent to save All who put their trust in him. Then where's thy victory, boasting grave? O death! where is thy venomed sting? Then triumph! triumph, weeping mother! Triumph, little trusting brother! Triumph, father, in thy faith! Jesus hath won life from death!
Obituary accessed with the help of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society.
Poem is not attributed to any person, though I suspect that Ira Sayles is the author.