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- January 10 2011 Updated Scansion.
- May 10, 2009 – New Post : Bright Star by John Keats, His Sonnet
- March 19 2009 John Donne & his Sonnet Death be not proud… . [This sonnet is so misread by contemporary readers that it might as well be a companion to this post on Shakespeare's sonnet.]
- Feb. 23 2009 Milton, Blank Verse, and Paradise Lost.
- A companion guide to this one is the Annotated To be or Not to be. Don't forget to check out some of my poetry while you're picking my brains – I do write some good stuff. And let me know if this was helpful or if, especially, there's a question you would like answered. I have written other posts on Iambic Pentameter including guides to the scansion of Iambic Pentameter (with more examples from Shakespeare) and a look at Chaucer's Iambic Pentameter. I just completed a guide to Shakespearean, Petrarchan and Spenserian Sonnets. I've also written a detailed guide to Haiku (if you're interested). (Further links on other Sonnets are at the bottom of this post.) According to my Stats page, this has become one of my most popular posts; and no one is commenting! Just say hello or thanks – I like hearing from readers.
- February 22, 2009 – If you enjoy Frost, you might like reading Birches along with a color coded scansion of Birches included in my post on Frost's Mending Wall. To find all the posts I've written on Robert Frost, click here.
- April 23 2009: One Last Request! I love comments. If you're a student, just leave a comment with the name of your high school or college. It's interesting to me to see where readers are coming from and why they are reading these posts. :-)
What possible use could scansion be?
A masterfully written metrical poem has two stories to tell – two tales: one in its words; the other in its meter. In Shakespeare's hands, the meter tells us about the writer, the speaker of the sonnet – something we might easily miss.
Meter is of no use to free verse poets or reader's of free verse. But to poet's writing meter, it provides a tool, an extra layer of meaning, counterpoint and play. And to readers of metered poetry, knowing that there's an underlying pattern informs the language and meaning of the poem. In the hands of a skilled poet (Shakespeare, Keats, Wilbur, Frost, Browning), the tension between language and meter is an art form.
I'll look at other poets and poems, because it's fun to do, like sleuthing, but I wanted to start with Sonnet 116 because it's so famous and so frequently misread. These days, I suspect most readers, without a knowledge of meter, would read the poem as follows:
This reading would be acceptable if this were a free verse poem. Since there's no metrical pattern in free verse one is free to put the emphasis (ictus) wherever one wishes (within reason) , depending on ones subjective interpretation of the poem. But, in Shakespeare's day, so many variants in so short a space would have landed him in critical hot water with his contemporaries and with the reading public. (In his shorter poems, at least, Shakespeare was much more conservative, leaving the more daring flights of metrical variation to his contemporary, John Donne – who was, regularly, skewered for his turgid meter and blank verse.) But the first line's two trochaic feet (Let me | not to ) would have been daring even for Donne – (trochaic feet are the reverse of iambic feet in that the stressed syllable is first and the unstressed second). Two such variant feet at the start of a sonnet was practically unheard of. Only one of John Donne's Sonnets, the most controversial metrist of the day, could be construed to begin with two trochaic feet.
Yet even here, knowing that Donne was a skillful master of diction and meter, one could consider an alternate reading (and one should, whenever diction appears to run against a meter's pattern):
Stressing the preposition of isn't as awkward as it might seem. Even in modern speech we sometimes stress the preposition of – as in: Well, you know, part of the fun is getting drunk. It's a sort of sly tone of voice which, in the case of Donne's sonnet, fits with his argument. It's a tone of voice Donne could be angling for, made possible only if one considers the meter. The same can be said of the second line. The temptation is to read Son as strongly stressed and Thy as weakly stressed. But in keeping with the tone of the first line, putting the stress on Thy reinforces that Donne is addressing "Father" and doing so with a direct, knowing tone of voice. There is no way to know whether this is actually what Donne intended, but the reading is reinforced by the poem's Iambic pattern.
Likewise, there's a tone to Shakespeare's sonnet that we miss if we fail to take the meter into account. Here is how Shakespeare most likely expected his sonnet to be read.
- January 10, 2011: I decided to bring this scansion "up to date". As opposed to before, I've left all Iambic feet unmarked so the scansion is less cluttered. I've chosen to mark the "weak" Iambic feet, marked in yellow with weak stresses, as Pyrrhic feet, although others might be inclined to mark them as Iambic. The two feminine endings, ne|ver shaken and be taken are marked green. The Spondaic feet are purple.
The sonnet takes on a different tone and, to a certain extent, meaning. Where the first scansion has a sort of elegiac sound to it – a sort of contemplation on love – the second reading gives it a more inflected sound, as if the poet were writing with an unspoken agenda – (Shakespeare was nothing if not a dramatist).
For example, in the iambic version, the line sounds almost defensive: Let me not admit impediments – as if he were responding to some sort of accusation. Don't accuse me of denying true love. Here is what I believe. In this wise, taking into account the pull of the iambic meter, we are already starting with a very different tone to the sonnet – in keeping with the other sonnets of his collection. They are all written as though in conversation – as though the speaker of the poet were responding to another speaker, or character, whose statements we can only hear through Shakespeare's responses. Each one is like a monologue in a play.
Consider the change in line two:
The first is how a modern reader usually reads the close of the second line. The second reading follows the Iambic pattern of the sonnet. The second reading, putting stress on the verb – is – adds emphasis to Shakespeare's argument, emphasis which a modern reading lacks.
At the start of the third line we have another choice:
While a pyrrhic foot isn't unheard of in sonnets of the time, the iambic reading adds emphasis to the argument of the sonnet. Love doesn't alter when it alteration finds. The emphasis almost lends a tone of sarcasm or perhaps scorn. Again, the iambic pentameter acts as a sort of prompter, hinting at how the sonnet should be read, in what tone and inflection.
Line five tends to be misread by inexperienced readers, especially when reading unaccented versions of the poem, which frequently print the word fixéd as fixed:
O no, it is an ever fixed mark.
The accented é indicates that the -éd of fixéd makes the word two syllables rather than one. Even in an unmarked edition, however, experienced readers of Iambic Pentameter, simply through familiarity with metrical poems, will quickly hear the missing syllable and instinctively read fixéd as two syllables.
The seventh line is the next that typically diverges between modern readers and the iambic pattern. The iambic reading renders that line as follows:
Notice that, once again, the verb is is accented. While modern readers might read this first foot as being pyrrhic (two unaccented syllables), accenting the verb adds emphasis to Shakespeare's argument. No, he seems to be saying, it is the ever fixéd mark, it is the star. It almost feels as though he is disagreeing with someone who claims that love isn't any of these things. And notice too, the -ery of every is elided, making it a two syllable word -though most modern readers would read it this way.
The eleventh line is the next where the emphasis differs between the iambic line and modern readers. Notice the emphasis on his implied by the iambic meter.
It's the equivalent of saying: His brief hours and weeks won't alter love! Once again, it's a difference of emphasis. The iambic reading is more emphatic and more dynamic. Immediately following is a line that most would read as a variant iambic line – reading even as two syllables. Although Shakespeare doesn't use syncope to change even to e'en, the tradition of eliding these words is well-enough established, especially in poetry of this period, that we can safely do so.
If a line can be read so that it conforms to an iambic pentameter reading, especially in poetry during this period (and for the two centuries following too) then it probably should be read that way. (Note: Robert Frost took to calling these feet loose iambs, by which he meant that a foot could conform to an iambic rhythm depending on pronunciation. It's a useful term and reflects a convention that metrical poets have known about for hundreds of years.) Anyway, the elision of words in metrical poems is like the performance of trills in baroque and classical music. It was simply assumed that the reader (or performer in the case of music) understood the conventions of the day. Those conventions didn't need to be spelled out. That was a long time ago, though. Nowadays, those conventions need to be relearned if one wants to read a poem the way it was read in its day. In a similar vein, and during the last thirty years, old conventional practices were relearned and rediscovered in classical music performance. These days, such performances are called Historically Informed Performances. Likewise, reading a Sonnet or Blank Verse passage with an awareness of the metrical pattern underlying it, might as well be called Historically Informed Readings.
[Just as an aside. Tooting my own horn. Helen Vendler states the following: "No reader, to my knowledge, has seen Let me not to the marriage of true minds as a coherent refutation of the extended implied argument of an opponent, and this represents an astonishing history of critical oversight." Well, I've been reading this sonnet (most of them for that matter) in just this fashion for over 20 years. Her book was published in 1997. So, Helen, if you should read this blog, take comfort. You weren't the first.]
So far, the rhymes have alternated ABAB, CDCD, EFEF. Now comes the final couplet, GG – a Shakespearean Sonnet. Shakespearean Sonnets heat the metal through the first 12 lines then, when the working out of the argument is white hot, he lays it to the anvil and strikes:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
My intention hasn't been to interpret the poem, though some interpretation arises simply by reading it through the lense of meter. Many critics are troubled by the series of negatives in this poem and in its last line – never, nor, no. I'm not as troubled by the negatives. Shakespeare's last line is almost a dare. I dare you to prove me wrong! Even in offering the possibility that he could be proved in error, he (almost sarcastically) refutes the possibility by offering the impossible retort that proving such an error would mean he never writ and that no man ever loved. Since we know already that he wrote and that men have loved, Shakespeare urges us toward the inevitable conclusion that he will never be proven in error.
The one metrical nicety to notice is in the final line. An iambic reading urges the following:
Notice the iambic emphasis on no. The modern reader might be tempted to gloss over the third foot as pyrrhic (see the "modern" scansion above), putting the emphasis on man. The iambic reading gives extra force to no, lending to the poet's voice a kind of anger – as if both daring to be proven wrong and contemptuously dismissive of any effort to try. Go ahead, he seems to say, try! Prove me wrong! If you do, then no man ever loved! The equanimity of a modern reading, of an innocent love poem, vanishes. This is a sonnet with a transcendent axe to grind.
Reading the poem by the meter, we discover a very different kind of poem – one of refutation, of a speaker refuting an unspoken argument, not of impersonal definition. In this third post on Iambic Pentameter, I wanted to demonstrate just how powerfully a knowledge of scansion can inform and alter a poem's meaning. If you have any questions or comments, please post.
February 4rth 2013: I was asked if I could read 116. What follows is about my 21rst try. I wanted to communicate the sense that this is half of an argument, like a speech in one of Shakespeare's plays. See what you think:
I'll be examining more poems as time permits – especially Robert Frost.
Follow up posts:
Thomas Middleton's Blank Verse
Geoffrey Chaucer's Iambic Pentameter
John Milton's Sonnet: When I consider…


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Hewlett-Packard is planning to "aggressively" seek recompense for alleged accounting fraud related to the acquisition of its Autonomy unit, which resulted in the vendor taking a non-cash impairment charge of $8.8 billion.
HP acquired Autonomy in 2011 for $10.3 billion under the leadership of then-CEO Leo Apotheker, who was ousted after a short and tumultuous run at the troubled company. On Tuesday, HP said an internal investigation has found Autonomy was "substantially overvalued at the time of its acquisition due to the misstatement of Autonomy's financial performance, including its revenue, core growth rate and gross margins, and the misrepresentation of its business mix."
[ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First Look newsletter. | Read Bill Snyder's Tech's Bottom Line blog for what the key business trends mean to you. ]
HP had been roundly criticized by observers who believed it had paid far too high a price for Autonomy.
An unnamed "senior member of Autonomy's leadership team" came forward after Autonomy's founder, Mike Lynch, left HP earlier this year, and alleged "that there had been a series of questionable accounting and business practices at Autonomy prior to the acquisition by HP," according to a statement. "This individual provided numerous details about which HP previously had no knowledge or visibility."
The alleged wrongdoing appears "to have been a willful effort to mislead investors and potential buyers, and severely impacted HP management's ability to fairly value Autonomy at the time of the deal," HP added.
More than $5 billion of the charge was related to these alleged improprieties, with the rest tied to HP's stock value and market conditions, according to the statement.
HP has referred the matter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, as well as the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office.
After the whistleblower came forward, HP launched its own "intense" investigation, which is ongoing, the company said. This included a forensic review of Autonomy's books by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Apart from the SEC and Fraud Office investigations, "HP is preparing to seek redress against various parties in the appropriate civil courts to recoup what it can for its shareholders," according to the statement.
It's not clear when HP will actually file suit, or against whom.
"This will take a long time to work through, but we're committed to seeking redress," CEO Meg Whitman said during a conference call Tuesday. "I'm expecting this is going to be a multi-year journey through the courts."
It also wasn't clear whether any executives remaining at HP will suffer consequences for the alleged fraud.
"The two people who should have been held responsible are gone," Whitman said, referring to Apotheker and HP's former chief strategy officer, Shane Robison. "That's the way I see it right now. I feel good about the stability of leadership."
"With regard to the board, most of us were here and voted for [the acquisition], and we feel terrible about it," Whitman added. But HP relied on Autonomy financial documents that had been audited by Deloitte. "In the end, you have to rely on audited financials, and we did."
However, HP has changed the way it conducts mergers and acquisitions, according to Whitman. "Due diligence now reports to the CFO," she said. "At the time, due diligence and M&A reported to strategy instead of the CFO. I've never seen that before and it's a change I made right away."
Apotheker, Robison and Lynch couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Lynch was reviewing HP's announcement on Tuesday and is planning to make a statement, according to one published report.
Autonomy was supposed to kick-start HP's push into enterprise software, which can be more profitable than servers, PCs and services. The company's software focuses on data management, search and archiving, with its core product being the IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) Server.
But HP's probe turned up a "mischaracterization of revenue from negative-margin, low-end hardware sales with little or no associated software content as 'IDOL product,' and the improper inclusion of such revenue as 'license revenue' for purposes of the organic and IDOL growth calculations," according to its statement. "This negative-margin, low-end hardware is estimated to have comprised 10-15% of Autonomy's revenue."
In addition, Autonomy allegedly used "licensing transactions with value-added resellers to inappropriately accelerate revenue recognition, or worse, create revenue where no end-user customer existed at the time of sale," HP said.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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When discussing the ethics of sexual orientation, it is not uncommon for people to draw comparisons between being gay and being a rapist, pedophile, practitioner of bestiality or a necrophiliac. My stock response to such comparisons is that there is at least one glaringly obvious difference between being gay and engaging in the sexual behavior mentions. To specific, rapists, pedophiles and so forth engage in sexual behavior that does not involve the consent of their victims. This, in part, makes their behavior immoral. There is also the fact that cases involving sexual coercion inflict harm on the victim. As such, consensual sex between homosexuals would seem to be nothing like those other things. Obviously enough, homosexual rape and homosexual pedophilia would be wrong—but because of the rape and pedophilia.
While it seems impossible to deny that consensual homosexual sex differs from rape and such in regards to consent, there are those who do claim that homosexuality is itself wrong. The question is, obviously enough, this: in what does its wrongness consist?
I'll run through some scenarios and questions that I hope will lead to some consideration and discussion.
Imagine two married couples: Sam & Ashley and Mel & Fran. Suppose that Sam and Ashley have the following relationship: they love each other, treat each other well, only have consensual sex, and are faithful to each other. Suppose that Mel and Fran have the following relationship: Mel does not love Fran, Mel treats Fran badly, Mel rapes Fran when Fran is unwilling to consent, and Mel has affairs regularly.
Given just this information, which relationship is morally superior? Why? Now, suppose that Sam and Ashley are the same sex while Mel and Fran have different sexes. Given this information, which relationship is morally superior? Why? Now, suppose that Sam and Ashely are different sexes while Mel and Fran are the same sex. Is this worse than the scenario in which Sam and Ashley are a straight couple? Why? Or why not?
Based on arguments I have seen before, some might argue that the scenario in which Sam and Ashley are a same sex couple is impossible. That is, people of the same sex cannot love each other, or have only consensual sex, or treat each other well, or be faithful. This could, of course, be argued—but arguments would be what is needed. However, even if it is argued that the scenario could not occur, there would still be the interesting question of whether such a (hypothetical) scenario would be morally superior to the scenario in which the straight couple's situation involves rape, infidelity and abuse.
Overall, this matter can be distilled down the following question: what is intrinsically wrong, if anything, with being homosexual—even in the context of what would be considered an ideal relationship if it held between heterosexuals.


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State's New Power Source
Fledgling diplomatic bureau plays energy and economic development role on the international stage.
Now and again, the times call for a new organizational chart. At the State Department last fall, officials commandeered a wing and installed signage for the brand-new Bureau of Energy Resources. The reorganization capped a five-year bipartisan effort to "focus greater attention on energy diplomacy questions" during a time of unstable markets and emerging new energy sources, says the bureau's director, Carlos Pascual, a 30-year foreign policy hand who most recently was ambassador to Mexico.
The new entity's goals are to reinvigorate energy diplomacy with users, producers and consumers; stimulate alternative energy markets; and expand energy access to the world's poor. "The new bureau marks a recognition that the energy issue plays a central and cross-cutting role in conduct of foreign policy, in U.S. national security issues, in national economic development, and in the availability of affordable and reliable energy," he says. "Just witness the impact of $130-a-barrel oil last spring when the Libya crisis began."
Pascual's staff of 55—culled from employees originally brought to State for other projects—now is laboring to fulfill his goal of "gaining credibility within the bureaucracy by adding value and helping others do their jobs more effectively."
Concrete steps to winning over any skeptics involve presentations to senior staff on the bureau's services and travel to key countries as different as Nigeria and Pakistan to meet with U.S. envoys and foreign ministers. "Nothing is more powerful than being asked to present by the secretary of State, which focuses people's minds on the role we can play," Pascual says. Also helpful in establishing the bureau's visibility were Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and the bureau's boss, Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats.
The areas in which Pascual's team provide expertise include helping Iraq resurrect its oil industry, flagging relevant players in Brazil's renewable energy field, and strategizing on sanctions against Iran. The one urgent issue that does not involve Pascual is the State Department's central role in consideration of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would traverse the United States from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. His new bureau is recused from that complicated issue because of a departmental desire to stick with an existing team of specialists.
The idea for an energy bureau got rolling in a 2006 bill championed by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who has long been concerned that U.S. dependence on foreign oil is a major national security challenge. But it was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who steered State into compiling a Pentagon-style Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review that set the bureau in motion. Clinton tapped Pascual in May 2011 as her special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, and he began assembling a team so the bureau could set up shop in November.
Asked why such a bureau wasn't created in the 1970s during the two energy crises, Pascual noted that "markets have changed, global demand has grown and supplies relative to demand are more diversified. Back then the U.S. produced sufficient oil, we were the stability factor" in partnership with Saudi Arabia, he says. "Today, the fastest growing demand is outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries—China and India. Addressing our goals effectively requires engaging a wider range of players, both on the consumer and the supply side."
Much of the work involves liaison with the private sector, "which has all the innovation and resources," says Pascual, who stands ready to take calls from major oil companies about the bureau's agenda. Similarly, State officials also coordinate with companies marketing wind and solar power, energy efficiency and clean energy products, as well as environmental groups and nongovernmental organizations advocating for transparency in the policy process.
Equally important is coordination with other agencies, the most intense of which is the relationship with the Energy Department. Energy, which has its own Office of Policy and International Affairs, "is one of the premier technical agencies in the world, and we complement it by bringing geopolitical expertise—advice on market drivers in particular countries such as tariffs, regulation policy and standards," says Pascual. The bureau also reaches out to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior and Commerce departments, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Energy export policy is coordinated with the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Whether the energy bureau can grow "will be up to future presidents and secretaries of State," Pascual says. "Engaging in questions relative to energy is nonpartisan in nature, and support for the bureau is strongly bipartisan."
NEXT STORY: Around Government


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Today is Ada Lovelace Day, an internet-wide recognition and celebration of women in technology. (Here's my post about women telegraphers from last year.)
One common narrative early women in technical professions had constructed for themselves was that of downplaying the challenges (or any role at all) of gender in their careers. Nora Stanton Blatch, a fiery women's rights activist and civil engineer, broke this mold in the early 20th century. She was a rare technical woman working to connect her profession and her suffrage activism. Trained at Cornell as part of the first classes of women accepted to its Sibley School of Engineering, she once said that she had chosen civil engineering as her major because it was the most male-dominated field she could find. Her feminism was no accident: the granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and daughter of Harriet Stanton Blatch, she was raised in a milieu of struggle. Ruth Oldenziel suggests that her "rich feminist heritage enabled her to envision a narrative device in which to frame her life story."
For a short period of time, Nora was married to the electronics engineer and radio and TV inventor Lee de Forest. As an engineering partnership, they pioneered radio broadcasting and, as a first transmission of their wireless phone in 1909, Harriet Blatch gave a speech declaring "Travel by stagecoach is out of date. Kings are out of date: communication by canalboat is out of date; an aristocracy is out of date, none more so than a male aristocracy." But after their first child was born, Lee began to rail publicly against Nora's insistence on continuing to work as an engineer at New York City public works departments and as a suffrage activist. They divorced soon after: Nora was now an engineer and a single mother, continuing to value both her work and family.
Nora's feminist activism in engineering included professional societies. She was accepted into the American Society of Civil Engineers as a "junior member" in the early stages of her career, but once she turned 32, their age limit, she was booted out, despite her experience at bridge and hydraulic firms and in government, including supervising draftsmen. The ASCE was trying to stake out the rapidly professionalizing field of engineering as a high-status, high-class profession, and one way they did that was by strictly limiting membership, excluding surveyors, for instance, and certainly excluding women. Nora sued the ASCE for membership in 1916, but lost her suit; no women joined the society until 1927. Nora died in 1971 after a long life of activism.
Further reading:
Ruth Oldenziel, Making Technology Masculine
Margaret Rossiter, Women Scientists in America


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The last few days of staying in the Hebrew University dorms mostly involved wandering around Jerusalem in search of last-minute souvenirs and procrastinating on packing up our apartments. Ben and Alex invited the students to join us for dinner one evening, so with six or so students in tow we headed off along Jaffa Street in search of a meal. We stumbled across a Chinese restaurant (the Mandarin) and proceeded to teach several of our students how to eat with chopsticks. The menu was in both Hebrew and English, with one very bad pun.
Eugene ordered entirely in Chinese, resulting in some dishes that I'd never seen before (chicken with candied pecans and vegetables in a flour shell?). After mandating that all of our students speak in English all summer, it was fascinating to watch our pupils' expressions as someone carried on a conversation in a language they could not understand at all.
The final night in the dorms, Anna and I decided to create a feast of our remaining foods. We had both stoves in two apartments going, and wound up with Moroccan lentils, corn fritters, garlic Swiss chard, polenta, pasta sauce, pasta, sauteed onions, sauteed mushrooms, and fresh dates with quiona for desert. Yum!
The next morning, I woke up early and made omelets for my fellow instructors who were also awake and packing. We managed to get everything out of the dorms on time, then we packed up the vans and dropped off at the MEET office armloads of linens and kitchen supplies. Thank you MEET for giving us things to sleep on and cook with (though not at the same time!).
I spent the next three days near Jerusalem visiting with the parents of a friend from MIT. First off, it's incredible that you can pick up any one of seven cell phone carriers from three different territories/countries.
Despite it being a very hot August, the grape arbors, and loquat, olive, and pomegranate trees were very verdant and some were burgeoning with fruit.
The chili peppers were also beginning to ripen.
The figs here are incredible. As soon as they begin to split their skin, you know they are ripe. Oh, to have a fig.
We visited one home that had an early copy of the Communist Manifesto in Arabic.
I then went to Mishmar Ayalon to stay with my cousins on a moshav, a small agricultural community with a little less of a socialist streak than the kibbutzim: land is owned individually, and not everyone is involved with agriculture. They too had a fig tree which was readily climbable. Oh, glorious figs. (Their passion fruit tree was just starting to mature, resulting in slightly tart fruit.)
My cousin then took me to Mini Israel, which is like a model village but has miniature versions of major landmarks of the region. Some favorites included the Baha'i Gardens, complete with the staircases and red-roofed houses of the surrounding German Quarter of Haifa.
The gardener is a nephew of my cousin, and had studied in Holland how to grow bonsai trees. When the nephew tried to introduce the Dutch techniques to the Middle East, the trees wound up growing too big due to the abundance of sunlight! He was eventually successful in growing tiny plants at Mini Israel: a tiny pomegranate tree had perfectly small fruits and flowers.
The Basilica of the Annunciation had the architectural details down, but didn't have the wonderful murals and mosaics of the original.
The Dome of the Rock was very impressive, and even had a small Mount of Olives behind it.
At the Western Wall (Kotel), you could leave notes and someone would transport them to the actual wall.
There was even a small version of the ruins at Caesarea.
MEET did a great job of showing us the area from north to south in six weeks, and it was wonderful to see a concise summary of our travels in one place.
And so ends my updates about MEET. I loved exploring the Middle East both gastronomically and geographically, but I especially loved teaching the brilliant, creative, and very adult students that compose the program. Thank you to everyone who made this summer incredible!


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San Francisco vs. Seattle Seahawks a physical matchup
RENTON, Wash. – Packers-Bears. Steelers-Browns. Cowboys vs. anybody in the NFC East.
Those are long-standing NFL rivalries.
Add to them 49ers-Seahawks, with a history of nastiness emanating from the college ranks for their coaches, and a hefty animosity built up in annual doubleheaders in their division. Now they meet for a spot in the Super Bowl.
Are those hard feelings for real?
"I think so, but it'll always be that way when you have two good teams in the same division," 49ers receiver Anquan Boldin said. "You play each other a couple times a year and if you're good enough, possibly three times a year. It was the same way when I was in Baltimore playing against Pittsburgh. You respect each other as foes, but there is really a dislike."
It's a healthy thing, really, because it makes for even more uncompromising action — on the field and on the sideline.
One of these teams will emerge Sunday from ear-splitting CenturyLink Field headed for New Jersey to play for the sport's biggest prize. The other will carry into the offseason even more loathing for this opponent.
"There is no love lost; there is no love found," said Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who will find himself lined up often against Boldin in the NFC championship game. "It's going to be intense. It's going to be physical. I don't know if there are going to be handshakes after this one."
That almost goes without saying with the coaches. When 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was at Stanford — where, incidentally, Sherman played after being recruited by current Seahawks coach Pete Carroll when he was at Southern California — he ran up the score in a 2009 win at Los Angeles that prompted Carroll to ask him at game's end: "What's your deal."
Harbaugh's deal has always revolved around being a hard-edged player and coach. His teams embody that attitude, and it certainly has worked in San Francisco. The 49ers are 41-13-1 in his three seasons in charge, are in their third straight conference title game, and back down from no one.
That can make for some uncomfortable moments, whether it's Harbaugh's overzealous handshakes and back slaps after wins or his team playing up to (and sometimes beyond) the whistle.
Carroll claims the acrimony between them is overblown.
"For whatever reasons, you guys have had a field day with this," Carroll told reporters Thursday. "We have not been friends over the year, we just know each other through the games. We have a very confined relationship.
"I have great respect for Jim. That's it — you guys have had a blast with it."
Carroll's Seahawks aren't exactly wallflowers, either. Defensively, at least, these are the NFL's two most physical and intimidating units.
That, in turn, can lead to ill will.
"I don't hate anybody," All-Pro cornerback Sherman said. "So I don't think (there's) hate. But passion, definitely. There will be some passion, some dislike — some strong dislike. But there will be some intensity. It's playoff football.
"So even if we weren't two teams that are familiar with each other … there's going to be a lot of intensity, a lot of chippiness, and a hard-fought game."
Where might this antipathy show most?
Try whenever Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch — his nickname, "Beast Mode," says it all about his style of play — meets up with All-Pro NaVorro Bowman and his fellow linebackers, the best group in the NFL.
Or when Boldin, among the best clutch receivers in football, uses his physicality against Sherman, safety Earl Thomas, a fellow All-Pro, and the rest of the game's top secondary.
All of the matchups for Sunday are familiar to both sides, of course. And when division foes meet for the conference title — each team won at home this season — the results hardly are predictable.
Since the 1970 merger, there have been 15 third meetings in conference championships, 10 in the AFC, including the Seahawks losing to Oakland when Seattle was an AFC franchise in 1983. The 49ers beat the Rams in such a meeting in 1989. In 10 of those games, the host won.
What can be forecast for Sunday: hard feelings all around, even if 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis tones it down slightly.
"There's no question there's a lot of hostility between us," Willis said, "but at the end of the day they're another football team. So, there's always going to be dislikes. They're an opponent of ours and we want to win.
"If we weren't in this race right now there'd be no doubt that if they were playing against someone else, I would wish them well because it's in our division. But it's us playing, so there's not going to be any like at all there."


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Edward Snowden timeline of events
LONDON (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russian soil, ending weeks of limbo. This is how the story developed:
May 20: Edward Snowden, 29, arrives in Hong Kong, just after taking leave from his National Security Agency contracting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
June 5: A British newspaper, the Guardian, reports that the NSA is collecting the telephone records of millions of American customers of Verizon under a secret court order. Security experts say the records of other phone companies are also involved. Subsequent stories by the Guardian and The Washington post contain further surveillance revelations.
June 9: Snowden, who claims to have worked at the National Security Agency and the CIA, allows himself to be identified as the source of disclosures about the secret U.S. surveillance programs. Snowden tells the Guardian his "sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."
June 10: Snowden checks out of his Hong Kong hotel, new whereabouts unknown. A day later, Booz Allen Hamilton says it has fired Snowden "for violations of the firm's code of ethics and firm policy."
June 12: The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong says it interviewed Snowden at a secret location. "I am not here to hide from justice. I am here to reveal criminality," it quoted Snowden as saying.
June 14: British government issues worldwide alert to airlines, urging them not to allow Snowden aboard flights to the United Kingdom.
June 19: Iceland says a spokesman for secret-spilling organization WikiLeaks who claims to represent Snowden has contacted to government officials about a possible application for asylum.
June 22: Unsealed criminal complaint shows the U.S. government has charged Snowden with espionage and theft, and the National Security Council says U.S. officials have contacted authorities in Hong Kong for Snowden's extradition.
June 23: Snowden leaves Hong Kong on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow.
June 24: Snowden has a seat booked on an Aeroflot flight bound for Cuba, but is not seen on board. WikiLeaks officials say Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries.
June 25: Russian President Vladimir Putin says Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and will not be extradited to the United States, adding that he is free to go anywhere. Without a U.S. passport, Snowden is effectively stranded. The White House says Russia has a "clear legal basis" to expel the leaker.
June 27: President Barack Obama says he won't engage in "wheeling, dealing and trading" to get Snowden extradited to the U.S.
July 1: Putin says Snowden will have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wants asylum in Russia — which he says is something Snowden doesn't want to do.
July 2: Wikileaks says Snowden is seeking asylum in 19 more countries, including China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and India.
July 3: A plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales was rerouted to Austria after various European countries refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that Snowden was on board. European nations later apologize.
July 5: Wikileaks says Snowden has put in asylum applications to six new countries, which it does not identify. The next day, the presidents of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia say Snowden is welcome in their countries.
July 12: Snowden meets activists and Russian officials, says he is willing to stop leaking secrets about U.S. surveillance programs if Russia will give him asylum until he can move on to Latin America.
July 16: Snowden asks his lawyer to submit a request for temporary asylum in Russia, claiming he faces persecution from the U.S. government and could face torture or death.
July 26: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder tells the Russian government that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty for Snowden.
Aug. 1: Snowden leaves airport after Russia grants asylum for one year.


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Sony has officially taken the wraps off of the Xperia Z and ZL, and they're a beautiful pair of devices. While we've always been fans of Sony's design aesthetic, its hardware tended to be a little lacking, but that's certainly not the case with their latest phablet devices. We got a chance to take the devices for a spin, and here are some initial impressions
Both the Xperia Z and the ZL rock a 5-inch HD Reality display, compliments of Sony's Bravia Engine 2, along with the blazing fast 1.5Ghz Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, and 13 megapixel cameras. Both devices will also ship with Android Jelly Bean out of the box.
For the size of the device, the Xperia Z feels pretty great in the hand. Both the front and back panels are glass, but are covered in a plastic layer that makes the device spill resistant and can handle being dropped in water, and Sony was showing just that off at its Pepcom booth. The boxy shape of the device reminds us of the LG Optimus G, but we hardly think that's a bad thing.
The face of the device is clean, with the 5 inch Reality display dominating most of it. You'll find the expected ear piece, sensors, front facing camera up top, as well as Sony's logo.
The sides of the device have more going on than you'd expect a smartphone to, starting with the power/lock button. It's on the right side of the device, like many phones today, but this button is smack dab in the middle and is huge. It provides a nice tactile feel, but chances are you're immediately going to assume it's a camera shutter button, but it's not. Below the massive button is the volume rocker. You'll also find your standard assortment along the sides of the device, including the volume rocker, 3.5mm headphone jack, and micro USB port.
The Xperia ZL may be similar in specs, but it's still its own, interesting monster. The first thing any tech geek is going to notice is the front facing camera is on the bottom right of the device. Whatever Sony's thought process was to place it here is beyond us, but it will likely be come useful when the ZL is in landscape mode.
Unlike the flat and glossy glass back of the Xperia Z, the Xperia ZL's black variant is textured backing. While it might not scream sexy like the Z, the ZL feels great in the hand, and you can thanks the beveled edges on the back for that, which is something you won't find on the Z.
Overall, both devices are pretty solid, but our one complaint would be that they seem a little thick. We're not talking Lumia 920 thick, but we'd have liked a skinner profile on both the Z and the ZL. Still, it's hard to say we don't like what we see here, and if you're looking for a phablet device this year, be sure not to discount Sony during the search!
Check out the gallery below


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Wireless AP placement basics
Many installers make the mistake of treating 802.11 WLANs just like Ethernet, placing access points (APs) in locations that facilitate outsider access to corporate networks. But, from a security perspective, WLANs should be treated like the Internet -- a network composed of trusted and untrusted users. This tip offers network topology and physical positioning recommendations for safer AP deployment.
Some installers make the mistake of treating 802.11 WLANs just like Ethernet, placing access points (APs) in locations that facilitate outsider access to corporate networks. But, from a security perspective, WLANs should be treated like the Internet -- a network composed of trusted and untrusted users. This tip offers network topology and physical positioning recommendations for safer AP deployment.
Position matters
APs with factory-default omni antennas cover an area that's roughly circular, impacted by RF obstacles like walls. It is therefore common to place APs in central locations, or divide an office into quadrants, deploying one AP per cell.
This approach is straight-forward, but may not optimize cost, performance or security. Actual AP coverage areas not truly circular -- especially for 802.11n APs that use Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas to exploit multipath signal reflections. To fill resulting gaps, you may end up purchasing more APs than you really need and "leaking" quite a bit of signal. Site modeling, directional antennas, and/or 802.11n beamforming can help you avoid this.
- Modeling tools try to satisfy user location, density and throughput requirements by combining building material characteristics, AP capabilities and site survey measurements to predict where APs should be placed and verify results. Up-front planning takes more time and effort, but can pay off in the long run, especially for large WLANs. For example, see AirMagnet Surveyor, AirTight SpectraGuard Planner, and Motorola WLAN Planner.
- Replacing your 802.11a/b/g AP's "rubber ducky" omni antennas with directional antennas can better focus radiated power where it belongs, improving inside coverage and reducing outside signal leakage. On 802.11n APs, transmit beamforming can adjust transmissions to create a similar effect. To learn more about various types of antennas and their coverage patterns, read this three-part Wireless Advisor tip: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Physical placement, and associated steps like transmit power adjustment, can make it harder for intruders to stay connected to your APs. But you should never count on physical placement alone to stop attackers.
Physical or logical LAN segmentation
Next, prevent wireless LAN traffic from mixing with "other" LAN traffic. Stations connected to your Ethernet LAN form a trusted workgroup. They exchange broadcast/multicast traffic and depend on shared resources like Layer 2 hubs or switches, DHCP servers, DNS servers, and layer 3 switches or routers. Toss untrusted devices onto that LAN and you're putting everyone at risk. Bad actors can cause broadcast storms, poison ARP caches, chew up IP address pools, etc. This risk can be reduced by physically or logically segregating your APs.
- For example, cable all of your APs to a new Ethernet switch, rather than connecting them to an existing Ethernet switch used by nearby wired devices. Better yet, cable "thin" APs to wireless controllers (e.g., Aruba, Cisco, Meru, Belkin/Trapeze) that are responsible for managing and monitoring them. Clumping all APs into one physical LAN is easy to understand, but does not scale. On the other hand, centralized controllers can become bottlenecks in large networks, so consider WLAN architectures that centralize management, not the data path.
- Larger WLANs should create logical workgroups using Virtual LANs (VLANs). VLANs tag packets or ports with identifiers used to control traffic flow. For example, connect your APs to existing Ethernet switch ports, but assign those ports their own new VLAN. To learn more about segregating wireless traffic with VLANs, read our companion tip Using VLANs to compartmentalize WLAN traffic.
Note that segmenting LANs can impact both security and performance. For example, Quality of Service measures can be applied to physical or virtual LANs to give employee traffic priority over guests.
Creating network barriers
At some point, WLAN traffic will encounter a network layer device, where it may be forwarded to the public Internet or other internal subnets. This is where many employee-installed APs wreak havoc. Connecting an untrusted device to a trusted subnet creates an unsecured "back door." Security measures enforced at the trusted subnet's "front door" -- firewall rules, VPN tunnels, network antivirus -- are circumvented by stations connected to misplaced APs.
For this reason, wireless APs should always be separated from trusted subnets using some type of network layer policy enforcement device, like:
- Routers
- Firewalls
- VPN gateways
- Wireless gateways and Layer 3 WLAN controllers
- Network access controllers
For example, your APs could be connected directly to an access router, configured to relay wireless traffic towards the Internet and not your company's network. Or your APs could be connected to a VPN gateway that authenticates VPN clients and blocks all other traffic. Or your APs might be placed on a firewall DMZ, allowing wireless access to a few DMZ-protected servers, but preventing passage through the firewall into trusted networks.
When creating a network barrier, consider functions that device must perform. To enforce security policies, you may need access controls (based on MAC, VLAN, IP, port or application traffic inspection), station or user authentication, VPN tunneling (with or without subnet roaming), session accounting, virus scanning, content filtering, intrusion detection/prevention, and bandwidth limits. A general-purpose firewall can do much of this, but a wireless gateway or Layer 3 WLAN controller may fill this role AND provide 802.11-specific functions like AP discovery, provisioning and RF management.
Different barriers may be appropriate for different users -- for example, a Web-based access controller for guests and a VPN gateway or WLAN controller for employees. Network Access Control (NAC) architectures can help you apply a more consistent security policy, independent of network access type or enforcement device.
Finally, no matter which device you choose, configure incoming and outgoing policies to meet business needs and deny everything else. For example, there's probably no reason that SNMP requests, routing messages, or DNS zone updates should originate from your WLAN. Granular policies may require more effort to maintain, but can reduce the risk of core network compromise by wireless-borne attacks.
Wireless Security Lunchtime Learning


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During the most recent quarter (January-March 2012), Immigration Courts issued 2,429 fewer deportation orders[1] than in the previous quarter (October-December 2011). The proportion of cases resulting in an ordered deportation also fell slightly to only 64.1 percent. Thus, in over a third of all cases, the individual was allowed — as least temporarily — to remain in this country.
In most respects the latest figures mark a continuation of the historic drop in deportation orders reported by TRAC in February. This change was touched off last August when the Administration initiated a review of its nearly 300,000 court case backlog. The stated goal of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) review was to better prioritize and reduce the backup of pending matters that had led to lengthy delays in the Immigration Court proceedings of noncitizens the agency wanted to deport. To achieve this longer term objective, ICE attorneys assisted by others had been redirected in a crash effort — part of the prosecutorial discretion (PD) initiative — to review all 300,000 cases to prioritize which to focus on. A consequent drop in overall case dispositions has occurred while these reviews were being carried out.
Details on the change that has taken place nationally during the last nine months are shown in Table 1. These results are from an analysis of case-by-case Immigration Court records obtained from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Overall court dispositions last quarter fell to 50,489 — the lowest level seen since 2002. (These are preliminary figures and are likely to rise slightly once late reports are recorded.) Regular closures numbered 48,134; the remaining cases (2,335) were closed under the PD initiative.
Not only did the number of deportation orders fall, but so did court orders granting relief — such as asylum, withholding of removal, etc. Last quarter grants of relief numbered 7,132, down from 9,612 the previous quarter and 8,540 in the same period a year ago.
Administrative closures while much smaller in number (4,350) were up significantly, both because of an apparent rise in regular closures of this type, as well as from 1,801 closures under the PD initiative. (See Table 1.) For an analysis of the closures under the PD program see TRAC's April 19, 2012 report.
Another way of looking at these numbers is in percentage terms, tracking the percentage of closures in which individuals were allowed to remain — at least temporarily — in this country rather than be deported. Figure 1 tracks quarterly trends over the last four years. The sharp rise in administrative closures this past quarter is clearly evident in the graph. (For earlier time periods, see this chart from TRAC's immigration report of November 9, 2010.)
The challenge of taming the growing Immigration Court backlog during a period of fiscal austerity is readily evident in the figures from last quarter. Faced with a large and growing Immigration Court backlog and little prospect of obtaining more budgetary resources, ICE initiated a review of all pending court matters with the goal of winnowing these down to better focus on high priority cases. Through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, low priority cases would be dismissed or administratively closed.
This special case review resulted in 2,335 closures this past quarter, and 254 during the previous quarter. However, these numbers were dwarfed by the overall drop in number of court closures, even after including these discretionary closures. For example, in a normal January-March quarter, Immigration Courts nationwide disposed of an average of around 60,000 cases — much higher than the 50,489 that occurred this past quarter[2] (see table). Case closures also slipped the previous quarter compared with numbers for the same period in prior years. This drop in case closures overall has apparently been caused by the diversion of staff time devoted to the review, and by the disruption of regular court proceedings.
While discretionary disclosures no doubt will continue to rise, it remains an open question whether their numbers will rise sufficiently to make up for the sizable drop off in ordinary court closures as a result of the dislocations caused by the review process itself. Already, new partial suspensions of court hearings in seven additional cities stretching into July have been announced as ICE's review process continues. Thus, below normal closures in regular court proceedings appear likely to continue. Yet the goal of this initiative was not to reduce case completions, but to increase closures by weeding out low priority cases.
Despite concomitant declines in new court filings, the Immigration Court backlog has continued to rise. The latest figures show that the backlog reached 305,556 last month, a new all-time high.
Full details of the growing backlog — by charge, state, nationality, Immigration Court and hearing location — can be viewed in TRAC's backlog application, now updated with data through March 28, 2012.
The prosecutorial discretion initiative also includes efforts to better target new cases that ICE files in Immigration Court. Refocusing efforts in a large bureaucracy takes time and energy. To the extent the review process combined with other actions the agency is taking help the agency refocus its targeting efforts on noncitizens with serious criminal convictions and individuals who pose clearer public safety or national security threats, the agency may also find that it is more successful in obtaining deportation orders.
In a 2010 report titled "ICE Seeks to Deport the Wrong People," TRAC found a "significant and increasing proportion of [ICE] cases" rejected by judges who found the individuals were entitled to remain in this country. Deportation orders nationally failed to be granted in at least one out of every four cases ICE brought, and the proportion was rising. In some parts of the country the majority of cases were being turned down. In contrast, in criminal immigration prosecutions the typical conviction rate is 96 percent, even though the government bears a higher burden of proof. And, unlike in Immigration Court proceedings, persons criminally charged are entitled to representation at government expense.
Thus, better targeting in cases brought to Immigration Court could have a significant impact. Over time the same number of court dispositions could actually translate into more deportations if a higher proportion of ICE's filings were successful. Further, because cases in which ICE is unsuccessful tend to consume a disproportionate amount of the court's time, better targeting also could result in increasing the pace and thus the volume of court-ordered deportations. Other things equal, this could begin to bring down the Immigration Court backlog.
The growing Immigration Court backlog is not a recent problem, and it won't be quickly erased. The backlog has been steadily growing since at least 2005. One important origin for the problem was the failure — largely during the Bush Administration — to fill vacant and newly-funded Immigration Judge positions. Government filings seeking deportation orders increased between FY 2001 and FY 2008 by 30 percent while the number of Immigration Judges on the bench saw little increase and for some periods actually fell (see earlier TRAC report). Subsequent hiring of more judges to fill these vacancies during the Obama presidency has not been sufficient to handle the cases that await attention.
[1]Figures for the most recent quarter are preliminary and likely to change somewhat when late reports are included. The term "deportation" is used in a generic sense — whether legally labeled as removal, deportation, or expulsion based upon inadmissibility grounds. Further, under the heading deportation we have also counted orders of voluntary departure. See glossary.
[2] Excluded in these counts are closures where a case is simply transferred from one court to another or there is a change in venue.


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Care in food
Number to Know
89 percent: A recent survey conducted by Pillsbury reveals that 89 percent of Americans say preparing homemade foods shows their loved ones how much they care. However, many think the Thanksgiving meal is the most stressful of all holiday meals to make, and 72 percent are always looking for tips and tricks to prepare their dishes quicker.
— Brandpoint
Food Quiz
How many points are on a star anise fruit?
Answer at bottom of rail.
Wise to the Word
pho: A hearty broth-based Vietnamese soup most often made with beef, pho (pronounced "fuh") is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Different recipes abound, but a traditional beef broth base is made with charred onions, ginger, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and star anise. Thin slices of beef are added, as well as rice noodles and a variety of garnishes that include scallions, coriander, Thai basil, lemon, lime, bean sprouts, fish sauce and sriracha.
— Cookthink
The Dish On…
"The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner Again!" by Liz Edmunds.
Television personality Liz Edmunds, aka the Food Nanny, is back with a second helping of her no-frills approach to getting dinner on the table. With more of her signature "Theme Nights" meal plans for getting the whole family involved, Edmunds' brilliant formula and refreshing simple solutions will save unorganized food preparers hours each day.
— Amazon
Food Quiz answer


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Chick-fil-A® Icedream® Cup
A delicious, frozen dairy treat with an old-fashioned vanilla taste.
140 Calories
3.5g Fat
24g Carbs
4g Protein
**Prices vary by location
Chocolate Syrup$0.30 | 30 Cal
Strawberry Syrup$0.30 | 50 Cal
Whole milkfat and nonfat dry milk, sugar, water, contains less than 1% of: whey, corn starch, mono and diglycerides, guar gum, carrageenan, calcium sulfate, cellulose gum, brown sugar, natural and artificial flavor, salt, caramel color, annatto & beta carotene (color)
*Nutrition is calculated from the base recipe. Nutritional information may no longer be accurate if ingredients are added or removed. Learn more here
**2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice, but calorie needs vary. Additional nutrition information available upon request.


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Cream Merchandise
See also Eric Clapton merchandise – click here
Cream were a 1960s British blues-rock band and supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer/vocalist Ginger Baker. Their sound was characterised by a hybrid of blues, hard rock and psychedelic rock, combining Eric Clapton's blues guitar playing with the voice and basslines of Jack Bruce and the jazz-influenced drumming of Ginger Baker. Wheels of Fire was the world's first platinum-selling double album.Cream is widely regarded as being the world's first notable and functioning supergroup.
Cream's music included songs based on traditional blues such as "Crossroads" and "Spoonful", and modern blues such as "Born Under a Bad Sign", as well as more eccentric songs such as "Strange Brew", "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Toad". Cream's biggest hits were "I Feel Free" (UK, #11), "Sunshine of Your Love" (US, #5),"White Room" (US, #6),"Crossroads" (US, #28), and "Badge" (UK, #18).
Cream, together with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, made a significant impact upon the popular music of the time, and along with Jimi Hendrix popularised the use of the wah-wah pedal. They provided a heavy yet technically proficient musical theme that foreshadowed and influenced the emergence of English bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and The Jeff Beck Group in the late 1960s. The band's live performances influenced progressive rock acts such as Rush,[9] jam bands such as The Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead, Phish and heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath.
Cream was ranked #16 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and Rolling Stone Magazine named them the sixty-sixth greatest artist of all time.
* 1966 - Fresh Cream
* 1967 - Disraeli Gears
* 1968 - Wheels of Fire
* 1969 - Goodbye


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Chalgrin, Jean François
Chalgrin, Jean François zhäN fräNswä´ shälgrăN´ [key], 1739–1811, French architect. He studied under Servandoni and in Italy as a winner of the Grand Prix de Rome (1758). He rebuilt (1777) part of the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris. His most influential work was the Church of St. Philippe-du-Roule, in which he reintroduced a basilica plan to French ecclesiastical architecture. He also enlarged the buildings of the Collège de France and, after the Revolution, altered the palace of the Luxembourg to serve as headquarters for the Directory. In 1806 he was commissioned by Napoleon to design a commemorative arch to the victorious armies of France, and the executed scheme for the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile was chiefly Chalgrin's, although he died shortly after commencement of the actual construction.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Architecture: Biographies


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You will never be bored at Temple. On a daily basis, you can choose from an eclectic array of cultural, athletic and social activities, such as student-run clubs, community-service projects, athletic events and musical performances.
These activities aren't simply time fillers. They're also opportunities to meet fellow students and expand your personal and professional networks.
Arts and Culture
Arts and culture are alive at Temple. Nearly every day brings theater and dance performances, concerts, art exhibits and visiting lecturers. And that's just on campus. Thanks to our location in Philadelphia, you also have easy access to the city's world-class museums, art galleries and performing arts venues. Learn more about arts and culture at Temple.
Clubs and Organizations
Temple is home to hundreds of student-run clubs and organizations covering a wide variety of personal and professional interests. Each gives you the chance to become involved in campus life and connect with students who have similar interests. Learn more about Temple's clubs and organizations.
Housing and Dining
"Variety" is the best word to describe the housing and dining options available at Temple. We offer nine residence halls, various living arrangements and numerous dining options and meal plans from which to choose. Learn more about housing and dining.
Health and Wellness
Your college experience includes more than just academics. When not in class or hitting the books, be sure to take advantage of our impressive selection of health, fitness and recreation options, including world-class gyms and a comprehensive student health center. Learn more about health and wellness.
City Life
When you come to Temple, you also come to Philadelphia—one of the nation's most diverse and vibrant cities. Here, you'll find a hotbed of nightlife, culture, entertainment and cuisine, just minutes from campus. Learn more about city life.
Sustainability and Safety
The protection of our students and our environment is of utmost importance to Temple. That is why we place such an emphasis on student safety and lessening the university's impact on the community in which we live. Learn more about sustainability and safety at Temple.


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The Problem With Pointwise Convergence
I wrote this up yesterday between my sections of college algebra, but forgot to post it afterwards. Oops.
We've got a problem with the topology of pointwise convergence. The subspace of continuous functions isn't closed. What does that mean? It means that if we take a sequence of continuous functions, their pointwise limit may not be continuous.
Here's an example in the real numbers. Let , which is a sequence of well-defined continuous functions on the entire real line. But if we take the pointwise limit we find that for , that for , and that for . So the functions in the sequence are continuous at , but the limiting function isn't. It would be one thing if the sequence just failed to converge at some points — closedness doesn't require all sequences to converge — but the pointwise limit clearly exists, and it fails to be continuous.
What we need is a stronger sense of convergence: one in which fewer sequences converge in the first place, and hopefully one in which the continuous functions turn out to be closed. But it should also obey the same definition as that of the pointwise limit when it does exist. And to find it we'll need to recast the question of continuity in the limit.
Remember that a function is continuous at a point if it agrees with its limit there. That is, if . But the function should be the pointwise limit of the sequence : . And each of these functions is continuous: . Putting these together, the condition for continuity in the limit is
So our question is really about when we can exchange limits. For which sequences of functions do the dependence on and that on play well enough together to allow these limits to be exchanged? We'll answer that question tomorrow.
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Pulled Pork with Ginger Bourbon Sauce
This recipe was the third place entry for the 2012 Wisconsin Pork Association's Mouthwatering Pork competition at the Wisconsin State fair. Recipe submitted by Gerry Cofta - Milwaukee, WI.
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3-4 lb boneless pork shoulder
½ cup water
4 pretzel buns or your favorite type of bun
Sauce ingredients
1 cup apple jelly
1 cup ketchup
½ cup apple cider vinegar
⅓ cup bourbon
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Place the sliced onion in an even layer on bottom of the cooking vessel. Trim the skin and any excess fat from the pork. Place the pork over onions and add water.
Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, about 8 hours.
When done, remove the pork to a cutting board and drain cooking liquid from the onions. Shred pork then return to the cooing vessel with onions.
Prepare the sauce:
Whisk the apply jelly with ketchup, vinegar, bourbon, Worcestershire, Tabasco, and ground ginger in a large saucepan set to medium meat.
Bring to a boil, whisking occasionally until the apple jelly dissolves and sauce is smooth.
Mix the sauce into the shredded meat and onions and stir until well combined. Turn slow cooker onto the low setting to keep warm until serving.
Serve on your favorite buns and top with coleslaw.
- Tags: Main Dishes Slow Cookers
- West Bend Admin


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Story by
Paul Sawers
Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check h Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check him out on Google+.
We're less than two weeks away from the first ever TNW Conference USA, taking place in the Big Apple from October 1 – 2.
We have a ton of top speakers lined up for the two-day event, including Adam Leipzig, former Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios, former President of National Geographic Films, and current CEO of Entertainment Media Partners.
Leipzig has been a producer, distributor or supervising executive on more than 25 films, including March of the Penguins; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; and Dead Poets Society, garnering in the region of $2 billion in revenue along the way.
Last week, we caught up with Leipzig ahead of his keynote at TNW Conference USA, to whet our appetites and get a little insight on the main topic of his talk: how technology is disrupting entertainment.
From DVDs to Streaming
Broadly speaking, Leipzig identifies one of the biggest technological changes in recent times as being the advent of DVDs round about the turn of the century.
"In the the year 2000, DVDs really exploded," he said. "Remember we all went out and bought lots and lots of DVDs and we went to IKEA and bought shelves to put all these DVDs on?"
Granted, VHS preceded this by some margin, but with DVDs came affordable, digital-quality movies to homes around the world. Dim the lights, hook up your player to a 50″ TV with surround sound, and you could at least get close to pretending you were enjoying a theatrical experience.
But the next big 'thing' to really change the entertainment world order was, of course, streaming. YouTube and the like were already acclimatizing the masses to the concept of on-demand video, though it often just featured home-made skits of giraffes on rollerblades (not really). That said, the scourge of people uploading clips and even full episodes of films and TV shows has garnered many criticisms for Google's video platform, which has led it to develop a range of tools to combat piracy.
Meanwhile, Netlix ensured it didn't suffer the same fate as Kodak, by staying ahead of the game and embracing emerging technologies. Having offered a DVD delivery service since the late 90s, Netflix shifted its attentions to streaming in 2007 and that was really the beginning of it all.
"Streaming really exploded around the year 2010," says Leipzig. "We shifted from a commodity economy of entertainment, where we had to own CDs, DVDs and so on, into a pure experience economy – where we just want it, we want it now but we don't have to own the physical things. The biggest technological changes that we've seen in entertainment have been how audiences receive their content, moving from experiences that are away from the home, towards experiences that are inside the home. It's a shift in technology, but also a shift in marketplace and distribution, these changes – the explosion of DVDs and the explosion of streaming – supercharged the entertainment business economically for periods of time."
What we're talking about here, of course, is the shift from ownership to access. This isn't restricted to the movie and TV industry, but the music industry too, with the likes of Spotify, Rdio, Deezer and all the rest proving that many people simply want unbridled access, rather than shelves full of discs.
Sticking purely to the visual entertainment realm for now, however, what does this shift from 'away from home' to 'inside the home' mean for movie theaters?
"The quality of the in-home experience has really increased – both in terms of picture quality, sound quality and also the quality of content," says Leipzig. "It's completely competitive with what we might see in a cinema – in fact, I'd argue that the best writing and the best character development is generally happening on Web or TV series. I would include shows from Netflix, as well as cable networks. There's better character work, better writing, than we see in most studio movies."
So why is this the case? A quick glance down your local cinema listings will likely surface a slew of sequels and remakes, and that reveals a lot about the current state-of-play in Hollywood.
"Studio movies are big economic plays – most summer movies cost $200m to make, and another $200m to market," says Leipzig. "The day that they open, the studio is risking $400m on that opening weekend. There is a propensity to play it somewhat safe."
Franchises are the name of the game these days, because with franchises you don't have spend multiple millions of marketing dollars to tell people what a movie is about. "The story has pre-awareness, and that makes it easier for audiences to decide that they want to go and see the movie," continues Leipzig. "At the same time, it make movies repetitive, it makes movies less innovative, and I've actually begun to get a sense that audiences are getting tired with franchises and reboots because they all feel so similar."
So movie theaters will become obsolete, right? Well, maybe not.
RIP cinemas?
"These technology disruptions aren't going to destroy the theatrical movie business, but they are going to change it," explains Leipzig. "Because I believe audiences now decide – even before a movie opens – whether they will see it in a cinema, or see it at home.
"There are certain types of films that people really love to see at home, and they are experiencing a renaissance," he continues. "Documentaries are a perfect example. Documentaries have a very limited theatrical cinema life, but they are exploding on online services such as Netflix and Hulu."
On the flip-side, some genres of movie are simply better enjoyed in a group setting.
"I think there will always be a demand for getting out of your house and experiencing things with other people, in a communal setting," continues Leipzig. "Comedies are a great example – comedies are not so funny if you're sitting alone at home. But they're really funny in a theater with 400 other people. We're communal creatures, we're social creatures, we love to get out and experience things with our fellow citizens, but I do think it changes what people will want to experience out of the house."
Crowdfunding has emerged as a powerful tool for anyone looking to get their projects financed and off the ground, including movies such as the UK filmmaker who crowdfunded the DVD release of his 'First Orbit' documentary, which had become something of a YouTube hit.
There was even an Indiegogo-funded Oscar-winning film, and Indiegogo recently partnered with Forest Whitaker's production company too – a partnership that isn't so much about funding his films, but more as a market validation tool. When the global masses put their money into a project, this means they're really on to something. It's a little like market research, and gets the big guns interested.
So how are the movie studios responding to this new funding model?
"Studios are responding to it in a minor way," says Leipzig. "They are throwing a lot of money at social media campaigns, and they're looking closely at crowdfunding. There have recently been some crowdfunded movies, such as the Veronica Mars movie, that actually are studio films. The crowdfunding isn't so much about providing money, it's about market validation and proof of the audience.
"But even more than market validation, now there's a large crowd of people who have contributed money, whom the filmmakers and studio can have direct, two-way communication with," he continues. "These people will become the ambassadors, and evangelists, for that movie when it comes out. I believe that crowdfunding is 40% about the money, and 60% about connecting with your audience, building your audience and creating those evangelists and ambassadors for when the project is ready for launch."
Though Leipzig reckons crowdfunding has a big future in the entertainment industry, he says it will be more powerful for non-studio, independent movies, and funders may soon be able to share actual movie profits – something they're not currently able to do. "There's changes coming in the SEC rules in the States, which will allow crowdfunded projects to also offer profit participation to the individuals who make contributions. That will make a big difference."
Profitability and patterns
Despite what you may have been led to believe, it seems that movie studios are actually doing rather well. For the moment, at least. They have taken stock of the situation, and Leipzig says he anticipates this profitability will continue for a number of years – though not indefinitely.
"Studios are incredibly profitable now, and studios will continue to be highly profitable for the next 3-4 years, largely because they have reduced the number of movies they make, and also because they are being much more conservative in the way they manage their finances," continues Leipzig.
"In the future though, 5 or 6 years down the road, this cycle will come to an end," he adds. "The studio profitability will go down, and there will be cause for much introspection – and I think that's the point where things really start to turn around, and the content starts to change in concert with whatever the next disruptive invasion is that will take us through the following decade."
And this is where things start to get interesting, from a predictive perspective at least. Leipzig has worked in the industry for decades, and has established patterns that help inform what lies ahead.
"One of the things I'll be talking about at the conference is that there is a predictable pattern of rising and falling profitability and innovation, that we see in the entertainment business," says Leipzig. "This will allow us to predict what is about to come, and I'll be making some predictions on this front. The reason it's good to look at the media business, is it's one we can actually have some data on, but also the media business is one that mirrors our culture and mirrors our society, so it serves as a good bell weather for what's happening generally."
In his talk, Leipzig will start way back, in a place and a time when people didn't even realize technology was disrupting entertainment, before rocketing forward to the turn of the century, going from the 1800s to 1900s, and look at the last 110 years at the changes that have occurred in technology and how it's impacted the entertainment industry.
"I think the predictions are going to be very interesting, it will help people make decisions about how to stay ahead of the trends," he says.
Meanwhile, if you'd like to be at TNW's first ever US conference, there are still a few tickets left.
➤ TNW Conference USA | Adam Leipzig
Image Credits
Feature Image Credit – Flock Studio | Image 1 – Thinkstock | Image 2 – Thinkstock | Image 3 – Thinkstock | Image 4 – Thinkstock
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Developed by the Project Aces team, ACE COMBAT™ ASSAULT HORIZON intensifies the franchise, escalating combat to the next level with aircraft that are literally torn apart, spewing oil and debris across the sky. Players will engage in combat across the globe, dodging skyscrapers, and turning their enemies into fiery supersonic debris in both single player and online multiplayer. Never before has combat been so fast in-your-face.
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Fast Home Finance is a Western Canadian company that specializes in financial aid services across Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Leduc, Spruce Grove, Fort Saskatchewan, Camrose, Whitecourt, Lloydminster, and neighbouring regions throughout Alberta. Even if you have no proof of income or have a bad credit rating, you can be rest assured that our Edmonton home loan lenders can help you get the funds you need. With a wide selection of financial services, you can depend on our Edmonton home loan lenders and our team of financial aid experts to help you get back on your feet no matter what your current financial situation looks like.
Fast Home Finance is our Edmonton home loan lenders priority to help as many people as possible throughout Alberta. Fast Home Finance's application process has 4 simple to follow steps. You apply, our company approves the application, you receive your funds, and you adhere to the predetermined repayment plan. It is as simple as that. With our simple application process, our financial aid team of professionals may approve your application on the day you apply, and you should receive the funds the following day! This cannot be done without the help from our Edmonton home loan lenders. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information on our Edmonton home loan lenders, our private lenders, or the mortgages, loans, or debt consolidations that Fast Home Finance offers.
Our mortgages specialists can help you get the funding you need and assist you in every step of our mortgages application process.
Our private lenders and Edmonton home loan lenders can reliably deliver the funds you need, when you need them.
Fast Home Finance offers loans to almost anyone as our application process does not require verification of income or credit checks.


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Brussels, 27 June 2012 - The EU and South Korea mark the one year anniversary of the implementation of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement on 1 July 2012. The agreement is the first of a new generation of free trade agreements that went further than ever before at lifting trade barriers and making it easier for European and Korean companies to do business together. As the FTA has lowered import tariffs for European products at the Korean border, it's estimated that EU firms have already made cash savings of €350 million in duties after just 9 months.
"The successful implementation of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement shows that EU trade policy is on the right track. This agreement is already proving its worth as an important step on Europe's path to economic recovery" said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "This next-generation trade agreement, along with others in the pipe-line, is a key part of Europe's growth strategy."
The EU-South Korea FTA has been in force since 1 July 2011.
The deal eliminates tariffs for industrial and agricultural goods in a progressive, step-by-step approach. The first tariffs cuts took effect on 1 July 2011. By 1 July 2016, 98.7% of import duties of EU and South Korea in trade value for both industrial and agricultural goods will be eliminated. In July 2031, 99.9% of EU-South Korea bilateral trade will be duty free. Overall, only a limited number of agricultural products is excluded from tariff elimination.
As most of the tariff benefits will only be felt after a longer time period and as most of the regulatory changes have yet to be implemented, the trade benefits of the agreement can only be assessed with certainty after five or ten years. Hence, one year after the application of the agreement, it is only possible to get a very first picture of the impact.
For this assessment, given that full first-year figures will only be available in autumn 2012, we compared EU trade figures with Korea over nine months – from the entry into force in July 2011 until March of this year - with an average of the figures from the same months over the previous four years, to reflect the fluctuation in trade due to the crisis1.
Accordingly, in the first 9 months of implementation EU exports to South Korea increased by €6.7 billion or 35% compared to the same period since 2007. EU exports to other countries also grew during this timeframe (by 25%) but the level of increase of exports to Korea (35%) indicates that the early tariff eliminations are already having some effect.
This is also supported by the fact that EU exports to Korea have grown faster where the tariff was eliminated or partially removed under the agreement:
• Exports of products where the tariff was eliminated on 1 July 2011 (such as wine, some chemical products, textiles and clothing, iron and steel products, machinery and appliances, representing 34% of EU exports to South Korea) increased by €2.7 billion or 46%.
• For products that were only partially liberalised on 1 July 2011 (such as cars and agricultural products, representing 44% of EU's exports to Korea), the increase is €3 billion or 36%.
• For products where there was no change to the tariff (such as some agricultural products, representing 18% of EU exports) the increase is €1 billion or 23%.
This means that exports of the products affected by Korea's tariff liberalisation in the agreement grew €1.7 billion more than they would have done otherwise.
Exports of some specific products have grown faster than the average, for example:
• Exports of pork are up by almost 120%, which translates into new trade of almost € 200 million.
• Leather bags and luggage exports increased by over 90%, worth € 150 million of extra trade.
• EU's Machinery used for manufacturing of semiconductors proved to be very successful and it imports to Korea went up by 75% and represented € 650 million in additional exports.
• EU cars exports increased by over 70% - which translates into € 670 million in new car sales in Korea.
Besides eliminating duties on nearly all trade in goods, the agreement addresses non-tariff barriers to trade, many of which were identified as particular obstacles. It also includes provisions on issues ranging from services and investments, competition, government procurement, intellectual property rights, transparency in regulation to sustainable development. To ensure enforceability of commitments efficient mediation and dispute settlement mechanisms have been set up. The agreement also established various institutional bodies to monitor the implementation, such as the EU-Korea FTA Trade Committee, co-chaired by Commissioner De Gucht and the Korean Trade Minister, as well as several Sub-Committees and Working Groups such as the Customs Committee, the Automotive, Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Working Groups that work on the implementation of the deal.
Background – EU-South Korea trade flows
South Korea's economy is the EU's sixth most important trading partner outside Europe (behind the US, China, Japan, India and Brazil) and tenth overall. The EU is among South Korea's top four largest export destinations together with China, Japan and USA.
In 2010 value of EU services exports to South Korea reached € 7.5 billion, while EU absorbed € 4.5 billion of Korean services.
European companies are also consistently the largest investors in South Korea, representing according to the 2010 data a cumulative total of close to € 40 billion since 1962 (when records became available).
From: Europa.eu


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Canon imageCLASS D1150 Laser Multifunction PrinterCanon Updated: 2010-09-02 RSS
The imageCLASS D1150 - a step up from the D1120 base model - provides robust copier features in an easy-to-use, compact package and adds the ability to transmit documents with the Super G3 Fax.
In today's office environment, keeping your costs low is essential for a successful business. The 50-sheet Duplex Automatic Document Feeder (DADF) will allow you to copy or color scan from one or two-sided originals and produce two-sided output with ease, cutting your paper usage as much as half. The intelligent Energy Saver Mode reduces your power consumption to approximately three watts of energy and the product meets Energy Star guidelines helping you save money on energy costs.
Incorporating user-friendly business tools with productivity enhancing features gives you added flexibility. Designed for ease-of-use, the D1150 provides access to the control panel, consumable, and paper tray from the front of the machine. There is no need to reach around to locate your prints or to change the consumable. The smart paper handling of the D1150 lets you fit up to 1,050 sheets (including the optional 500-sheet cassette) of all different sizes and types, up to legal size.
Fax and receive documents with speed and ease. Documents will transmit with Super G3 (33.6 Kbps) modem speed, which keeps phone line costs down. Send or receive two-sided documents from the fax to lower your paper usage.
The D1150 also incorporates the Canon Single Cartridge System, which combines the toner and drum in one easy-to-replace unit, resulting in excellent image quality retention and eliminating the complication and warehousing of separate toner and drum consumables.
The Canon imageCLASS D1150 provides convenient multifunction features that consolidate all of your office machines into one durable, fast and energy-efficient networkable copier.
imageCLASS D1150 Starter Guide
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Treatment plant put on hold — again; Ice making company given OK by county planning commission
An ice making company received approval and a proposed sewage treatment plant was tabled again during Wednesday's meeting of the Cheboygan County Planning Commission.
Lee Schley addressed the panel on behalf of Michigan Pure Ice Company. His request was for a special use permit for the manufacturing, production and processing of ice on property located at 126 S. Straits Highway in Tuscarora Township. The parcel is zoned for commercial development.
Schley explained he has a 5-ton ice machine and all machines are electric and will not generate any exhaust or emissions. The building is fully insulated, and there is very little noise inside the building. Ice making is typically a 3-man process with the equipment Schley has, and bagging of ice will generally take place in the afternoon, he noted.
According to Schley, his current equipment will use just over 1,400 gallons of water a day. The Planning Commission clarified that the Health Department evaluated the well on site and approved the water supply.
The site of the ice company had previously been approved for several uses, including shuttle bus assembly, auto sales, wholesale activities and outdoor storage, it was noted.
The Planning Commission approved the request with the stipulations that Health Department requirements be met, a trailer connected with the business be parked behind the building and Construction Code requirements be met.
In other business, the panel again tabled a request to allow a sewage treatment plant in Tuscarora Township that would be part of a new sewer system for Indian River. The request was also tabled at the March 20 meeting.
The township asked for the request to be tabled until the April 17 meeting so further information could be obtained.
"Our engineering firm, Gourdie-Fraser, is still waiting to hear from the DEQ on a variance for the isolation zone and we are working out details with property owners to provide water service in the event that the variance is not granted," according to an e-mail from Tuscarora Township.
The plant is be located on Brudy Road in Tuscarora Township, near the township's industrial park. The proposed property is zoned as a Light Industrial Development District, in which this use is allowed by special use permit.
Plans for the plant include a building for filtering operations, three or four open lagoons and one permanent employee. The site will be fenced in, and an area has been reserved for potential expansion if need be in the future. Additional setbacks and requirements will be required by the District No. 4 Health Department and the Michigan DEQ.
The project is part of Tuscarora Township's plans to install a more than $4 million sewer system. The project is to be funded with a USDA/Rural Development $2.6 million loan and a $1.5 million grant. However, the loan will be paid through a special assessment district, so residents and businesses that fall within its boundaries will be required to pay, which has been the subject of some controversy.
Despite the fact that it was tabled, several audience members spoke about the request, expressing concerns about the treatment plant's location and the overall sewer project.
Paula Paolino, who owns Paula's Cafe in Indian River, said the proposed plant would be located near a former garbage dump, and said the application was misleading about the number of employees and funding arrangements. Others cited concerns about the project's cost and the site of the proposed treatment plant.
Staff of the Planning Department said the project's engineer was planning to attend the April 17 meeting.


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Elbit Systems Schedules First Quarter 2018 Results Release for May 29, 2018
Conference Call Scheduled for May 29, 2018 at 9:00am ET
Apr 29, 2018, 05:32 ET
HAIFA, Israel, April 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT) & (TASE: ESLT) ("Elbit Systems") announced today that it will be releasing its first quarter 2018 financial results on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.
The Company will also be hosting a conference call later the same day May 29, 2018 at 9:00am Eastern Time. On the call, management will review and discuss the results and will be available to answer questions.
To participate, please call one of the teleconferencing numbers that follow. If you are unable to connect using the toll-free numbers, please try the international dial-in number.
US Dial-in Numbers: 1-888-668-9141
Canada Dial-in Numbers: 1-866-485-2399
UK Dial-in Number: 0-800-917-5108
ISRAEL Dial-in Number: 03-918- 0609
INTERNATIONAL Dial-in Number: +972-3- 918-0609at 9:00am Eastern Time; 6:00am Pacific Time; 2:00pm UK Time; 4:00pm Israel Time
This call will also be broadcast live on Elbit Systems' web-site at http://www.elbitsystems.com. An online replay will be available from 24 hours after the call ends.
Alternatively, for two days following the call, investors will be able to dial a replay number to listen to the call. The dial-in numbers are:
1-888-326-9310 (US and Canada) or +972-3- 925-5904 (Israel and International).
About Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems Ltd. is an international high technology company engaged in a wide range of defense, homeland security and commercial programs throughout the world. The Company, which includes Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries, operates in the areas of aerospace, land and naval systems, command, control, communications, computers, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance ("C4ISR"), unmanned aircraft systems, advanced electro-optics, electro-optic space systems, EW suites, signal intelligence systems, data links and communications systems, radios and cyber-based systems. The Company also focuses on the upgrading of existing platforms, developing new technologies for defense, homeland security and commercial applications and providing a range of support services, including training and simulation systems.
For additional information, visit: http://www.elbitsystems.com, follow us on Twitter or visit our official Youtube Channel.
This press release contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) regarding Elbit Systems Ltd. and/or its subsidiaries (collectively the Company), to the extent such statements do not relate to historical or current fact. Forward Looking Statements are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results, performance and trends may differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: scope and length of customer contracts; governmental regulations and approvals; changes in governmental budgeting priorities; general market, political and economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates or sells, including Israel and the United States among others; differences in anticipated and actual program performance, including the ability to perform under long-term fixed-price contracts; and the outcome of legal and/or regulatory proceedings. The factors listed above are not all-inclusive, and further information is contained in Elbit Systems Ltd.'s latest annual report on Form 20-F, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. The Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements.
Company Contact:
Joseph Gaspar , Executive VP & CFO
Tel: +972-772946663
[email protected]
David Vaaknin,
VP, Head of Corporate Communications
Tel: +972-772946691
[email protected]
IR Contact:
Ehud Helft
GK Investor Relations
Tel: 1-617-318-3096
[email protected]
SOURCE Elbit Systems Ltd