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Want to save some money and help the planet at the same time? Then take a look at some of the gadgets and appliances in your house. By turning off, adjusting or swapping out some of the devices in your house, you can potentially save hundreds of dollars a year while reducing your carbon footprint. I've been thinking a lot about conservation and energy efficiency lately. I've got a 60-year-old house with some fairly old appliances and equipment. One of our toilets is likely is as old as the house. The water heater is more than 25 years old. At around eight years old, our clothes washer is new by comparison, but it's a top-loading model that guzzles up both water and electricity. Unfortunately, I can't afford to replace everything, so I've been trying to figure out what changes might provide the most bang for the buck. Energy experts I spoke to offered some good suggestions that save lots of money, often without big up-front costs. In fact, you can save a good deal of money without spending a cent by adjusting the settings on some of your gadgets and other electronics equipment. Televisions, for example, are often set to look extra bright so they stand out in showrooms. By turning down the brightness, you can save significant power and money. The same is true with computers. Desktop computers in particular often use 60 watts or more. That may not sound like a lot, but it can add up if the computer is left on and in active mode 24 hours a day. By allowing your computer to go to sleep when it's not being used, its power consumption can drop to as little as 2 watts or less. Game consoles, like computers, are often left on, sometimes inadvertently. They tend to be even hungrier for power than desktops, but can be set to automatically shut down when not in use. Consumer Reports estimates that console owners can save more than $100 a year by just turning off the devices when they're not being used. In some cases, though, you'll need to buy new equipment to see savings in power and money. The best place to start, experts say, is with your light bulbs. Although power-sipping compact fluorescent bulbs have been on the market for decades and LEDs have become more popular recently, about 70 percent of U.S. light sockets still have power-hogging incandescent bulbs in them, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That's a huge target for savings because lighting accounts for about 12 percent of the average consumer's electrical bill and the newer bulbs use less than 30 percent of the energy consumed by incandescents. You can now find CFLs for as little as a dollar a bulb and LEDs for less than $10 a bulb. By just replacing your five most frequently used bulbs, you can save about $75 a year, according to the EPA. That means that even if you use the more expensive LED bulbs for those sockets, you can make back your investment in saved energy cost within a year. Another prime candidate for energy and money savings is your refrigerator. Compared with older models, newer ones use as little as half of the electricity, said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Depending on the size and age of your fridge, you could save well over $1,000 within five years by swapping it out for a newer model, according to EPA estimates. The U.S. government's Energy Star program's website has a calculator that can help you estimate how much you could save. Users simply plug in the style and approximate size and age of their fridge and the service estimates how much less expensive a new model would cost to operate. If you don't have the money to buy a new fridge, you can still potentially save money. About a quarter of American homes have a second refrigerator, according to the EPA. Because those appliances are typically located in uninsulated garages or basements, they have to work that much harder to stay cool in hot summers and can cost hundreds of dollars a year to run. By only plugging in that second fridge when it's absolutely needed – say, right before your Thanksgiving feast or other big occasions – you can save $250 a year, says the EPA. One other big appliance to consider replacing is your washing machine. Older models, particularly top-loading ones that are seven or more years old, use two to three times as much energy and water as newer, front-loading ones, Horowitz said. Consumer Reports estimates that today's high-efficiency washers can cost $1,400 less to run over 10 years than the least-efficient models. Since our fridge is only three years old and I've already swapped out most of our light bulbs, that's what I'm likely to target next. Looks like it's time to go shopping. Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or
. Follow him at
. Energy saving resources You'll find some good guidelines and resources online for saving energy and money. Refrigerator comparison: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program has a tool that compares the cost of running your current fridge with a new model.
. calculator
Other appliances:
offers calculators that allow users to figure out if they'll save money by swapping out things such as their clothes washer, water heater or heating and cooling system:
Light bulb lineup: The Natural Reserouces Defense Council provides a side-by-side comparison of using incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs:
Rebates: Utilities often offer rebates to consumers who buy Energy Star-certified appliances. PG&E in particular provides a list of its rebate programs and applications:
Savings checklist: PG&E has also put together a list of energy saving tips:
Helpful tips: The NRDC's Noah Horowitz frequently writes on his blog about how consumers can conserve energy and save money:
Room by room: The Energy Star website allows users to walk through a virtual house, offering efficiency tips for particular devices in each room:


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Prussian Blue | 18mm & 20mm Italian Calf Leather Watch StrapRegular price $49.00 USD Sale price $39.00 USD Save $10.00 USD
- Watch end: 18mm or 20mm
- Buckle end: 16mm or 18mm
Lengths: 115 / 75 mm or 120 / 75 mm
- Thickness: 3mm
Material: Italian Calf Leather
Color: Prussian Blue
Clasp Type: Buckle in Stainless Steel
- Of course! We ship worldwide.
How much is the shipping cost?
- Free of charge!
What is the shipping method?
- For Hong Kong customers, we will ship the product by Hong Kong Post Local Mail, or self-pick at SF Express
- For overseas customers, we will ship the product by Registered Air Mail with tracking number by Hong Kong Post
What kind of payment do we accept?
- We accept Paypal, Visa, Master Card, American Express, Apply Pay, Alipay, WeChat Pay, Google Pay
Can I pay my invoice in other currency, besides HKD and USD?
- Sure, you can. We receive up to 24 foreign currencies through PayPal or Credit Card, such as: Canadian Dollar, Euro, British Pound, U.S. Dollar, Japanese Yen, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Swedish Krona, Danish Krone, Polish Zloty, Norwegian Krone, Czech Koruna, Israeli New Shekel, Mexican Peso, Brazilian Real, Indonesia Rupiah, Malaysian Ringgit, Philippine Peso, New Taiwan Dollar, Thai Baht, Turkish Lira, and Russian Rubble.
International Tracking
We ship our orders using Hong Kong Post. This means that when Hong Kong Post collect the shipments from us here in the HK, they are then taken down to Hong Kong Air Mail Center to be sorted and passed on to the destination country's postal service. When tracking your order, you are able to do it through the Hong Kong Post website or your domestic Postal services website. The links to which can be found below but if your country is not listed then this means that your country does not accommodate the 'Tracked & Signed' service. Your country will accept Hong Kong Post's 'International Signed' service which is not trackable until the package has been signed for.
Tracking your order on the Hong Kong website, please follow this link - Hong Kong Post

subset: commoncrawl


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One audience member rips President Obama as a "traitor" and demands, "Impeach him."
Another charges former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown with wanting to take away Second Amendment rights.
A third criticizes Brown's reaction to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that claimed 20 children and six teachers, after which Brown became the first GOP senator to back a federal ban of assault weapons: "You jumped on the bodies of children and said the gun was at fault."
Brown met with the Gun Owners of New Hampshire on Tuesday and, according to a video of the event, staked out a centrist's turf, clearly on defense as he contended with libertarian-minded activists openly distrustful of a former officeholder from Massachusetts.
The footage lays bare one component of Brown's challenge as he attempts a political transition to a new state. Having lost his 2012 reelection bid to Elizabeth Warren, Brown and his wife have sold their home in Wrentham and moved full time to the family vacation home in Rye, N.H. He is now vying in a Republican primary for the chance to face US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a popular Democrat seeking her second term.
Brown's move has brought with it a new electorate, one far less progressive than the one in Massachusetts and openly leery of outsiders.
The 35-minute video, which was obtained by the Globe and ends abruptly when Brown requests the recorder stop taping, shows an often confrontational meeting, one that Brown aides said lasted nearly two hours at the Holiday Inn in Concord. According to published reports, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the closed-door meeting, protesting what they viewed as Brown's insufficient record of defending the Second Amendment.
In an e-mail, Brown's campaign manager, Colin Reed, said, "Scott Brown supports the Second Amendment and he always appreciates the opportunity to meet with gun owners."
Throughout the video, Brown, who retired earlier this month as a colonel in the National Guard, pushes back against activists eager for better management from the federal government and, in particular, Obama.
"He is the commander in chief. I will treat him with the due respect that it deserves," Brown says.
Impeachment, Brown explains at one point, originates in the House, not the Senate.
"The best way to have a check and balance against the president of the United States right now is to have a Republican Senate," he offers.
On the Second Amendment, he volunteers opposition to gun-free zones, a core issue for gun rights advocates. And he is seemingly supportive of the right to firearms that contain large amounts of ammunition.
"I have no issue with regard to large-capacity magazines, at all. . . . I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. It's not even in the conversation. I'm not quite sure how else to say that," he says.
Brown also attempts to downplay his endorsement during the 2012 race by then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a vocal gun control proponent. Brown says he was "a little surprised" and said the backing "kind of came out of left field."
In the video, Brown says Bloomberg is supporting Shaheen in the current race. Bloomberg has made no public endorsement in the race but has donated to the Senate Majority PAC, a Democrat-backing political action committee that has aired ads attacking Brown.
Brown at one point also notes that "I went to serve in Afghanistan." In 2011, as part of his National Guard training, Brown went to a military base near Kandahar. In the afterword of his memoir, "Against All Odds," Brown wrote, "I dressed in fatigues and battle armor, carried a side arm in my holster, and lived, worked, ate, and slept alongside fellow US soldiers and Guard members."
Brown also encounters friction in a discussion of the United Nations. When he asserts that the international body has a role, at least two men in the audience push back, saying the UN does not have a role in New Hampshire.
"I wasn't talking about here. I was talking conceptually," says Brown.
When Brown encourages one member of the audience to call New Hampshire US Representative Ann Kuster with her complaints about management of the federal government, the woman insists her protests would go unheard.
"Well, I'm here listening," Brown says.
• 12/19/12: Brown reverses stance on gun laws
• 7/24/12: Leave weapons bans to states, Scott Brown says
Jim O'Sullivan can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JOSreports.


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Fewer people applied for jobless aid last week
WASHINGTON – The number of people applying for unemployment benefits plunged last week, reversing a spike from the previous week largely caused by harsh winter weather.
Applications for benefits dropped by 42,000 to a seasonally adjusted 415,000 in the week ending Jan. 29, the Labor Department said Thursday. They had surged in the previous week after snow storms in the South disrupted work and led to temporary layoffs.
Applications are well below their peak of 651,000, reached in March 2009, when the economy was deep in recession. Fewer than 425,000 people applying for benefits is consistent with modest job growth. But applications will need to fall consistently below 375,000 to signal a likely decline in the unemployment rate.
Last week's decline resumes a downward trend that took shape late last year. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell steadily in the last three months of 2010 to a two-year low of 411,250 in the week ending Jan. 1. That raised hopes that employers, operating with lean work forces, would soon step up hiring.
"The drop ... is definitely a positive," Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak, said. While applications are still at an elevated level, "the trend has generally been lower as the bulk of the firings are now behind us."
The average rose in January, mostly because of seasonal factors, such as the harsh weather and the layoff of temporary holiday employees. The average ticked up last week by 1,000 to 430,500. Many economists consider data in January to be less reliable because of seasonal fluctuations.
Unemployment applications reflect the level of layoffs, but can also indicate whether companies are willing to hire.
Despite the decline in unemployment benefit applications, employers have been slow to add jobs. One factor holding back job gains is that workers are becoming increasingly efficient and productive. That enables companies to produce more without hiring more workers.
In a separate report Thursday, the Labor Department said that productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, rose 3.6 percent in 2010, the biggest increase since 2002.
Employers will likely create a net total of 2.2 million jobs this year, according to a survey of economists by the AP. That's double the number that was generated in 2010.
Consumers are forecast to spend a little more freely, boosting economic growth to about 3.2 percent in 2011, up from 2.9 percent in 2010. But the economy would need to grow much faster — closer to 5 percent for a year — to substantially reduce unemployment.
Analysts project that the unemployment rate will fall to 8.9 percent by the end of this year, according to the AP Economy Survey.
The number of people on the unemployment benefit rolls fell by 84,000 to 3.9 million, the Labor Department's report said. Those figures are one week behind the data on applications.
That doesn't include millions more people who are receiving benefits under emergency federal programs enacted during the recession. About 4.55 million people received aid under the extended benefit programs in the week ending Jan. 15, the latest data available. Those programs provide up to 99 weeks of aid in the states with the highest unemployment rates.
Overall, nearly 9.3 million people are receiving unemployment aid. That's down from about 9.4 million the previous week.


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I have four of my stamp designs available exclusively at The Rubber Cafe in honest to goodness real red rubber! Here is one of the stamps (I designed the poppy) on a card made with the sketch over at 2 sketches 4 you:
Here are the others:
They are red rubber stamps mounted on E-Z Mount foam that will cling to your acrylic blocks so you can see where you are stamping and it saves storage space too which is great for me 😉 I drew these stamps last fall and they are just coming out now! I am so excited to have such an awesome company produce my designs!
I stamped the Inked Poppy in waterproof black ink then loosely colored them with watercolor crayons and blended them with a blender pen, it is a very quick way to color something!
If I need to sharpen my crayons I do so over a reusable plastic palette so I can save the shavings. Spray them with water and you can paint with them! Great for blending and getting into tiny spaces. BTW the "pearls" are just little dabs of hot glue that I dusted with pearl ex, for a tutorial click here.
Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!


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Is Vasun | வாஸு a girl or a boy name and what is the origin of Vasun | வாஸு?
Vasun | வாஸு is Boy/Male gender and origin is Tamil
Vasun | வாஸு means: The eight vasus
Is the name Vasun | வாஸு a girl's or a boy's name and what group of people name their babies Vasun | வாஸு ?
The name Vasun | வாஸு has origin as Tamil and Vasun | வாஸு is a Boy/Male gender name
Meaning of Vasun | வாஸு : The eight vasus
Vasun | வாஸு is a Boy/Male baby name and origin is Tamil
Vasun | வாஸு, gender: Boy/Male has meaning: The eight vasus
In Tamil, the name Vasun | வாஸு is a Boy/Male gender name. And in Tamil, the Boy/Male name Vasun | வாஸு means The eight vasus
Like to add more meanings of the name Vasun | வாஸு?
The Horoscope and Astrology meaning of Vasun | வாஸு. Vasun | வாஸு means: With a Life Path 5, your numbers are (5, 14/5, 23/5, 32/5). Five, the most dynamic and energetic is a circular number and the number of the universe. It signifies balance, non attachment, resourcefulness, and harmony. It is characteristic of human beings. The number five spiritually symbolizes meditation, religion and versality. According to Graeco-Roman, five is the nuptial number of love and union. According to Aeppli, five is a number of life and nature. In Hebrew number five means seizure, contraction. Negative traits. Five is considered to be rigid, restless, inconsistent and irresponsible. 14 is a number of greater spiritual perfection. In the bible fourteen represents salvation, good and charity. Example of the use of 14th include the day of the first month, God made two covenants promises to Abraham, fourteen generations from Abraham to David. Others regard it as the number of forgetfulness. To some number fourteen brings trials and dangers from a variety of experiences. In numerology, it is a number expressing personal freedom, independence, and self-determination. In china fourteen is considered as an unlucky number. From the personality point of view, number fourteen tend to be independent, self initiative and justice. They are highly innovative and have higher probability of succeeding in ventures. Twenty three reflects prosperity, either in a physical, financial or spiritual sense. It is the only prime number that consists of consecutive digits, Due to the attributes of two and three, twenty three is a number of duality, charisma, communication and society. Twenty three has the ability to use natural talents and creativity. Optimism and balance while being harmonious are some positive attributes of twenty three. Many regard twenty three to have a mystical significance. The German movie twenty three explored obsession with the number based on a real life story. Number twenty three persons are highly inquisitive and rely greatly on experience.
Vasun | வாஸு name means:
V: Meaning of V in the name Vasun | வாஸு means: V sits on a single bottom end with to arms projecting upwards in a slanted way. It displays remarkable accessibility and its extensions show a desire to grasp. It is also authoritative and painstaking. It's shrewdness is seen in the fact that it converges it's energies at the bottom. It is therefore skilled or masterly in planning.
A: Meaning of A in the name Vasun | வாஸு means: The letter A has two bars connected at a pointed edge and a cross bar holding them together. From an open end to a pointed edge signifies that all energies are trained to a point to achieve the most singularly important goal. The cross bar shows caution. Failure is avoided by stringing all required resources together. A also looks like a Pyramid with the peak as the apex of the Pyramid. Pyramids are iconic. A therefore symbolizes prominence and a desire to be recognized for ones achievements. The cross bar also represents a rung in ladder. To get to the top, one has to first step on the rung. It also means originality, a strong will power and an enterprising ability. The upper-case version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. It shows aspiration, the dominance to be successful, positive attitude, an optimistic world view and egotism.
S: Meaning of S in the name Vasun | வாஸு means: S is a single strand that goes forward and backwards. It shows a willingness to explore. Friendliness, perceptiveness and accommodating are all S qualities. The ends pointing forward and backwards shows a conflicting nature with itself and a degree of puzzlement.
U: Meaning of U in the name Vasun | வாஸு means: Letter U when inverted looks like the the letter N in lower case. It's ends project upwards to indicate creativity, idealism, talent and heavenly fearing. It is receptive to things that fall into its abode. It is caring and compassionate to people who experience failures or tragedy.
N: Meaning of N in the name Vasun | வாஸு means: N has two stable ends on the ground and two upwards displaying confidence. It is willing to explore upwards as well as downwards indicating intellectual curiosity. It becomes sluggish if its spaces get filled with water thereby wasting talent from less agility. This makes it easily affected, but good fortunes always come to it.
: Meaning of in the name Vasun | வாஸு means:
|: Meaning of | in the name Vasun | வாஸு means:
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Female, Male and Baby Names, meanings and phrases similar to Vasun | வாஸு
Vasun means: Wealth
Vasun | வாஸு means: The eight vasus
Vasun means: The eight vasus
LUCILE means: English variant spelling of French Lucille, LUCILE means "little light."
Christof means: He who Holds Christ in his Heart; Carrier of Christ
Gunteerath means: Virtue of Holy Places
Sangmesh means: God Shanker
Neepa means: Name of a Flower
Maah means: The Obliterator of Infidelity
Aanandit means: One who spreads Joy, Joyous, Full of bliss
Charvk means:
Kiani means: Ancient.
Erwin means: White river.
Search popularirity score of the name Vasun | வாஸு. The country name score of Vasun | வாஸு. Daily searches of the name Vasun | வாஸு? Keyword competition of the name Vasun | வாஸு Google search trends of Vasun | வாஸு, Google search history of the name Vasun | வாஸு, search graph of Vasun | வாஸு, keyword cost of Vasun | வாஸு
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text:
Fastest Tongue in the West
Last time I visited my daughter and family, I in the guest room, better known as the cat's room when there are no guests. So naturally I had lots of kitty visits from the three cats. This allowed some photo ops that they don't often allow otherwise. This is Minerva, shown in mid-lap while washing up. Very sweet kitty.
Stare Down
This is Trixie, one of my granddaughter's three cats, the matriarch of the cat "family". The cats like to stay in the guest room when there are no guests, and while I was staying there, we shared the room. At last I was able to photograph them!
At The Ladies'
This fun mosaic type mural was at the entrance to the women's restroom at Tucson Airport. I didn't get the one at the men's.
The Old Town Train
I stopped by Temecula on my way home from San Diego, and wandered a bit in Old Town. There is a very long mural on the side of a building in a central square by the bus station. It was difficult to photograph because of its length, and the railing in front of it, not to mention parked cars. This is one view which shows the old train.
Temecula Mural
This is one section of the mural in Old Town Temecula, CA.
Here Comes the Stagecoach!
This is one section of the very long mural in Old Town Temecula, CA. I enjoyed all the elements that were included in the historical mural of the town and area.
The Train's Coming, The Train...!
This section of the mural in Old Town Temecula, CA shows the old train engine coming into town, being greeted by the local boys.
There He Goes!
This is a photograph of Hayduke, a Harris' Hawk used in the falconry classes and experiences at Sky Falconry in Alpine, CA.
We Three and Hayduke
The Hawk Walk experience was given to me as a gift by my son. This is a shot of he and his wife and me with Hayduke. This was such a fun experience, and for a bird person like me, it was a very thoughtful gift.
This photograph was taken during the Hawk Walk at Sky Falconry, Alpine, CA. This Harris' Hawk was the bird we learned to handle; it was a lot of fun working with the hawk, named Hayduke.
Hayduke is the name of this Harris' Hawk of Sky Falconry, Alpine, CA.
Here He Comes!
This shot show Hayduke, the Harris' Hawk, flying to me on the Hawk Walk experience at Sky Falconry in Alpine, CA.
Hayduke flies off my glove , Sky Falconry, Alpine, CA.
Umbrellas in the Alley
Various renovations had been made to the Orange Street Alley in Redlands, and recently an art installation of colorful umbrellas were added to the upper level of the alley. This view shows the umbrellas.
Art Gazing
I was shooting an art gallery show opening, just the normal reception pics of people standing around talking. One of them showed this young lady looking at drawings and paintings on display. I liked the way she was silhouetted against the art as she stood gazing.
Coming home from Joshua Tree National Park, I made a quick side trip to Pioneertown, which I had wanted to visit for some time. It is less a town and more an attraction from the "old west". I spent a little time shooting some of the buildings and the fun details. This image shows a couple of the town buildings.
Hay & Feed at Pioneertown
Some of the architectural details of one of the Pioneertown building. I liked the textures in the wood, the steer skull, and the Joshua Tree.
Goat on the Roof
One of the stores in Pioneertown had a sign saying Soap, Goats. This metal goat was on the roof of the store.
Marshall in the Window
One of the buildings in Pioneertown was the Marshall's Office, and in this window was a picture of the "Marshall", with lace curtain in the window.
Mr. Cactus
In Pioneertown this cactus was growing by an old fence. Someone had put some glasses on it, giving a very comical look to a rather fluffy looking cactus.


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The Innovator's Manifesto
Deliberate Disruption for Transformational Growth
- 9,99 €
- 9,99 €
Descripción editorial
In this compelling new book, Michael E. Raynor, coauthor of the national bestseller The Innovator's Solution, shows that Disruption, Clayton M. Christensen's landmark theory that explains how fringe ideas come to redefine entire markets, not only explains why new businesses emerge and mature companies fall – it actually helps to predict the future success of new ventures more accurately. Raynor's groundbreaking research, and deeper understanding of the mechanisms and drivers of Disruption make this approach to innovation more powerful and more useful than ever.
Despite the groaning shelves of books offering advice on innovation, most managers continue to struggle to create the profitable growth their companies need. The reason? The vast majority of management theories base their prescriptions on explanations of the past. When it comes to predicting successful innovation, a willingness to apply the empirical and theoretical rigor of the scientific method to prove what will work in the real world has been notable by its absence.
Until now.
In the Innovator's Manifesto, Michael E. Raynor, a director at Deloitte Consulting, LLP., coauthor of The Innovator's Solution, and author of The Strategy Paradox, shows how Disruption theory can help managers more accurately predict which businesses will survive – and which will die. In fact, Raynor argues that Disruption theory is the only theory which has been statistically proven to be an effective predictive tool.
The book draws on the research of the New Business Initiatives (NBI) group at Intel, analyzing forty-eight new ventures that NBI researched, scrutinized, and ultimately funded. The group's success rate was comparable to venture capitalists throughout the industry – roughly 10 percent. However, when the principles of Disruption theory were applied to these forty-eight funded ventures in controlled experiments, the subjects' accuracy rates improved significantly – by almost 40 percent. Raynor replicated these experiments with over 300 MBA students at schools in the United States and Canada, including Harvard, with even more impressive results: systematic improvements in predictive accuracy of up to 50 percent. In other words, not only is disruption effective, it can be readily and successfully taught and applied.
The Innovator's Manifesto is the most significant advance in our understanding of the mechanisms and implications of Disruption theory since Christensen's seminal 1997 work, The Innovator's Dilemma. For the first time disruption theory has been shown to give managers and investors effective tools they can use in their efforts to create the success they seek.


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South End landscape getting a rapid makeover
Major projects on tap for Albany, Harrison corridor
The industrial edge of the South End near the Massachusetts Turnpike has long been on the cusp of transformation. But now, change appears to be happening even faster than city officials and residents could have ever hoped.
Anchored by the dramatic rebuilding of the former Boston Herald property, the corridor of blocks between Harrison Avenue and Albany Street could soon host more than 1,000 new units of housing, dozens of new storefronts, improved roads, and new smaller roadways and sidewalks carved out of the large industrial blocks that dominate the area.
One developer, Nordblom Co., is eyeing a major new apartment and retail complex across the street from the planned redevelopment of the Herald site, while other developers are either changing or exploring additional mixed-use projects in the area.
"It's absolutely amazing what's happening to that area,'' said Justin Krebs, a principal at Normandy Real Estate Partners, whose firm has a massive development on Albany Street that could get underway this year. "It's all coming together quite fast.''
At least four major properties are in different stages of redevelopment in this gritty area between Chinatown and South End proper. The most significant is the former Herald block between Harrison and Albany. National Development has announced it will demolish the old two-story newspaper facility and replace it with four new buildings containing 475 apartments and 85,000 square feet of retail space.
The development firm has dubbed the new project the "Ink Block,'' in honor of its former occupant, which relocated to the Seaport district earlier this year.
Around the corner from the Herald site, at 275 Albany St., Normandy is considering revising an early building plan and going with an apartment tower and separate hotel, with ground-floor restaurants and retail on what are now parking lots.
Normandy previously planned two hotels on the site, but Krebs said the market will not support both, so the firm is thinking of replacing one with a 16-story apartment building. The firm expects to file a revised proposal with city officials this year, and could begin construction then or in early 2013 on its already-approved nine-story extended-stay hotel at the site, Krebs said.
Nordblom Co., which is also redeveloping its massive Northwest Park office campus in Burlington, is apparently planning a major redevelopment of the two-acre Graybar electronics site at 345 Harrison Ave. The real estate firm has the property under agreement, with the deal expecting to close within about a month, according to people who have been briefed on its terms.
Executives at Nordblom declined to discuss their tentative plans, saying they have not yet finalized the purchase of the property.
But Randi Lathrop, deputy director of planning at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said Nordblom officials have told the city their redevelopment plans include new apartments, ground-floor restaurants, and retail shops. The site is directly across from the "Ink Block'' redevelopment of the old Herald site.
Nordblom has already redeveloped the neighboring property at 1000 Washington St., former headquarters for semiconductor supplier Teradyne, into office space that is nearly fully leased to state agencies and private tenants.
Ted Tye, managing partner at National Development, said the tentative changes are almost breathtaking in scope, considering that the area has been largely untouched for more than 50 years.
"There's so much happening - and a lot more will keep happening,'' said Tye, whose firm hopes to start construction of the "Ink Block'' by next year.
The fourth property is the one most up in the air. Owned by the Druker Cos., it is at the corner of East Berkeley and Washington streets and now hosts a service station and parking lot. Druker said it has no immediately plans, but city officials said they have been told the developer wants to put apartments and retail shops there.
City officials say that a recently approved new master zoning plan for the area they call the Harrison Albany Corridor has helped spur all this new development. The zoning plans allow for taller buildings in the area, more park space, a greater mixture of developments, and reconfiguration of some roads and pedestrian walkways so that blocks are not as big as now.
Since several of the redevelopment plans have not been formally submitted, most local residents do not have much information on the scale of changes coming to the neighborhood. The one project under formal review by the city is that at the old Herald site, and South End and Chinatown residents have so far largely embraced the new buildings proposed by National Development.
One local businessman and longtime resident, Jeffrey Gates, would eagerly welcome any redevelopment that would make the Harrison-Albany Corridor "a more vibrant, mixed neighborhood.''
Gates is a partner at the Aquitaine Group, which owns many popular restaurants in the South End. His company is planning to open another establishment, Cinquecento, at 500 Harrison Ave., the site of the former Rocca restaurant. "It'll be great if all these [developments] contribute to the area,'' Gates said.
The 1115 Washington St. property, at the corner with East Berkeley, is home to a service station and parking lot. It is also across from Ming's Super Market and the popular Myers + Chang restaurant.
City officials said Druker has expressed interest in developing apartments and shops at 1115 Washington St.
But company president Ronald Druker said he has not decided what to do there.
"At some point when we decide the market is right, we'll do it,'' said Druker, who served on the committee that helped review and refine the Harrison-Albany Corridor master plan.
"We're excited about the South End. But we have no plans right now.''


text:
The purpose of the Hasler Foundation is to promote information and communications technology (ICT) for the well-being and benefit of Switzerland as an intellectual and industrial centre. The Foundation aims to play an active role in ensuring that Switzerland continues to take a leading position in science and technology in the future.
The Foundation provides its support by financing or co-financing selected educational, research and innovation projects and undertakings in the field of ICT.
The Foundation is politically and religiously neutral and free of any commercial interests. Although it is a non-profit-making organisation, it is not a charity, in that its support is always results-based, in keeping with the purpose of the Foundation.
On our website, you can find out what and whom the Hasler Foundation supports, and how to make an application.
There is also a brief introduction to the foundation itself.
Standard Projects
Even though the scientific committee of the Hasler Foundation has cancelled the standard projects per October 2016, in exceptional cases it will remain possible to submit proposals for projects exceeding the sum of CHF 50'000.00.
Please contact our office prior to submitting your application.
We expect a project abstract, an estimate of the total funds required and any further documents you deem essential to be sent to contact (at) haslerstiftung.ch.


text:
Jaderail is at it Again.
cosmo71 Posts: 3,609
until today I really don´t know how this uber lights work. I just use one Uberenvironment light + distant or spot, depends on what scene I render
Szark my Friend he will be using the Uber Area Tube. It comes with its own mesh.
Thanks Szark and Jaderail !!
I need to upgrade my PC as well... But it too close to Christmas now, so I must struggle through with my 6GB RAM.
Now I am to go to bed. Its almost morning here lol, (I need to change my sleep pattern lol)
I also now got 2499 posts... And I want to post a render on my 2500th post! It's gotta be a wapper lol I'll be on in the arvo.
Thanks for all your help guys! :cheese:
More than welcome. I'm putting the Set to use right now myself. Why build it and not use it?
Title: Before the Fire FightLevel_19.png1400 x 1400 - 2M
bluemoon_524a0e29ba Posts: 0
I have tried to use the Area Lights but as soon as I hit render Daz crashes, using 126.96.36.199 on a Windows 7 laptop, core i7 with 8gig of ram. I have just submitted a ticket to Tech. Support.
Everywhere I have looked in the forums all users are saying they work fine with this release of Daz and am wondering if there is something I am missing. I have just done a fresh install of Daz and content and still have the problem.
That is odd, as you can see they are working for me as well. I hope you get help from support, I've heard good things about them getting people up and running in the last few weeks.
Thank you Ivy.
bluemoon_524a0e29ba Posts: 0That is odd, as you can see they are working for me as well. I hope you get help from support, I've heard good things about them getting people up and running in the last few weeks.
Thanks Jaderail. Great render I love dark moody scenes.
Thank you as well Bluemoon. If I new what was your issue I would help, I'm sure the Help desk will know all the right questions to ask so they can get you working at 100%.
atticanne Posts: 3,009
Good to see a Jaderail render again.
merc-daz3d_c669b168a9 Posts: 0
Gotta love that "light source visible in scene" lighting. Solidly authentic feel!
Scott Livingston Posts: 4,317
Looks good, and really draws the viewer in (I can almost hear the alarms).
Thank You all so much, I'm slower than I used to be but I still love this stuff.
Adams Strawberry render.
Title: Bruuna Berry
Image remove, please check the guidelines in this thread http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/3279_98/Post edited by Chohole on
BlumBlumShub Posts: 1,108Adams Strawberry render.
Title: Bruuna Berry
I've never wanted to be a strawberry before...
Yes unfortunately Jade is pushing the boundaries here, and I am going to have to consult about whether or not it can be allowed I am afraid.
Please DAZ 3D find us some content flags s.........umm tout de suite. :roll:
And yes, sorry Jade, the consensus agreed it was pushing the boundaries too far I am afraid.
Post a link to the DA version, as long as it it has the filters on it.
I cant wait for flags cho. That sucks :(
I know it is most frustrating. Even I have images I can no longer post, and I am not noted for doing "that sort" of art.
Scott Livingston Posts: 4,317
Interesting framing (that I'd have thought would have been okay to post, though it was definitely borderline). Too bad it had to come down...looking forward to flags (though I don't do many TOS-inappropriate renders myself), and in the meantime I should really join DA...
Oh well, you win some you lose some.
You changed your avatar again lol... You going a daily avatar swap ? lol!
My avatars are my how I feel today things, this is my I just had Dialysis Avy. So its how I feel.Avatar-Swap-1.jpg100 x 100 - 9K


text:
Hottie Dogs owners steamed when permit trouble shuts down business
The tank top-wearing housewife owners of the shuttered Hottie Dogs remain in a pickle as town officials offered sympathy for their cause but not permission to reopen their concession trailer.
"I don't believe it's a Planning Board issue," Chairman Anthony Padula said during a frank discussion Monday night. "(But) I think it's a shame that the town's giving you the runaround. I think there are much more important problems with zoning than two people selling hotdogs."
After buying a concession trailer, securing a business certificate from the town clerk and obtaining a license from the Board of Health, housewives Stacey Bower and Sonjalea Katz started selling hotdogs in a West Central Street commercial plaza with the landlord's permission.
However, on their sixth day of lunchtime sales, Building Commissioner David Roche told their landlord to shut them down, Bower has said. He later wrote the women a letter telling them they needed to get a $480 transient vendor license rather than the $62 hawker/peddler license they had purchased through the state, Bower has said.
Even then, he wrote that current zoning laws did not allow their type of mobile business and they would need to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals, Bower has said.
Bower told the Planning Board that other town officials and the director of the state Division of Standards, part of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, had said the cheaper license would suffice. She also said Roche did not explain in his letter how local zoning laws had been violated.
"He hasn't really given me a reason for being here," said Bower, sporting a Hottie Dogs tank top.
Roche did not attend the meeting and previously declined to comment.
Though Planning Board member David Lamberto expressed concern that Hottie Dogs' parked customers had caused a traffic hazard, Padula and other members voiced their support for the endeavor.
"It's too bad he couldn't have been more helpful to you," Padula said of Roche. In the past, Padula has criticized Roche for what the chairman has deemed a lack of zoning enforcement.
Fellow board member James Chilson Sr. agreed with Padula's assessment.
"Everything she was supposed to do she did," he said of Bower. "If it was wrong I don't know why the inspector didn't come up to see you rather than sending a letter."
While he specified that he was not making apologies for Roche, Town Planner Nick Alfieri said Hottie Dogs represented an unprecedented case that had flummoxed several department heads asked to consult on the matter.
"Our conclusion was that there's nothing in this book that talks about what she's doing," he said, tossing aside a copy of Franklin's bylaws. "This is a difficult case and we're trying to figure out the correct way to permit it."
In response, Chilson said, "If the town doesn't know what the law is, why didn't they figure it out before shutting them down?"
No one answered his question, and Chilson suggested the Planning Board immediately vote to change the status of the landlord's property to allow the food trailer. However, the board ultimately decided to send a letter to Roche telling him the matter was out of their jurisdiction, with a single vote against the move coming from Lamberto.
For her part, Bower said, "I just want to go back to work."
Bower said they will likely approach Roche again.
Michael Morton of The Milford (Mass.) Daily News can be reached at email@example.com or 508-634-7582.


text:
Graphic designer, letterer and typographer.
I'm interested in old vernacular type designs, and determined to learn every aspect of manual typography, calligraphy, lettering, or letterpress printing.
I'm part of Familia Plómez, pre-digital typographic collective and letterpress workshop based in Madrid, and Unostiposduros.com, the most important spanish typographic website.
I have teached typography in several places, like IED Madrid and MrMarcel School. I have also taughed type, lettering and letterpress.


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Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing. Where have all the flowers gone? Long time ago. – Pete Seeger I first heard these words sung by a colleague, Len Chandler, at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village in 1960. I felt as I listened to its rolling cadences that I had somehow always known this song; it was a classic and I wasn't at all surprised to hear from Len that Pete Seeger had written it. Pete, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 94, had just given us 'The Bells of Rhymney' and 'We Shall Overcome.' He was embroiled in a court case in which he faced time in jail for contempt of Congress, and he was at the forefront of the fight for civil rights in the North. And now, this haunting song from a Russian poem asked us all: When will we ever learn? In 1963, I approached Pete after a meeting dedicated to boycotting the 'Hootenanny' television show because they were blacklisting Pete. I asked him if I might sing a new song for him, called 'Ramblin' Boy.' He gave me his full attention, and when I had finished, he asked me to record the song for him. A few weeks later, he sang it in Carnegie Hall, with the Weavers, for a live recording. Was I excited? As we said at home, I didn't know whether to get another dog or vote Republican. I once played 'Ramblin' Boy' on his TV show, 'Rainbow Quest.' It was over in New Jersey some place, on PBS, with an extremely limited budget. My main memory was, again, how excited I was. It was Pete Seeger, for God's sake! Pete was the biggest star in my firmament. I was nervous – like you usually get before playing. But he was so supportive that it quickly left your mind that you could screw up. This was his way with all of us young songwriters. He was among the earliest to sing Dylan's songs and the songs of Phil Ochs, to mention only a few. We all knew that Pete believed in us, and that meant everything to us. Pete and I didn't talk much about performing. Jim Musselman, from Appleseed Recordings, once said that Pete told him that he had learned a lot about putting a set together from watching me! What I learned from Pete was how electric he was. That energy came from his belief in the music, an unwavering faith that this was something worth doing. This was a game worth the candle, as Dave Van Ronk would have said. He believed with all his heart in the power of song. Pete was a reserved fellow who was also very warm. He never talked about himself. Instead, he liked to focus on things that he had seen around the world that mattered to him, projects that other people were involved in. That was always reflected in his music. It was about the song and not the singer. The song was always much more important to Pete than he was. Pete's conviction that music unites people rather than divides them was his reason for being. He knew, deep in his heart, that people who sang together had nothing to fear from each other. Was Pete political? Of course. He was political as Walt Whitman was political, as Clarence Darrow and Woody Guthrie were political; as, for that matter, all of us should be political. He felt that ordinary people deserved protection from bullies of all stripes, and his was the gift of being able to express this belief in music and in the way he lived his life. Oh, how we're going to miss him! – – – Tom Paxton is a folk singer who has recorded more than 50 albums. His songs have been recorded by Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, and others. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. He lives in Alexandria, Va.
Tom Paxton on what Pete Seeger taught us
Start the conversation


text:
From the department of "so much to tell, so little time"…
Above: open-vat fermentation at leading Natural wine producer Radikon in Oslavia, Friuli.
My research into the origins of the enonym Negroamaro delivered a small miracle this morning: Notizie e studi intorno ai vini ed alle uve d'Italia (Wines and Grapes of Italy: News and Studies), a census of Italian wines and grape varieties commissioned and published by the Italian government (then a monarchy) in 1896, when Italy was in its fourth decade of unification.
I've posted my findings over at the CanteleUSA blog, which I author for my friend and client Paolo Cantele, whose family produces Negroamaro.
But one of the most interesting finds was an ante litteram definition of natural wine by means of a litotes. (As Joe Dressner used to say, there are those among us who know what a litotes is and those who don't.)
The first chapter of this amazing almanac of Italian ampelography is devoted to the authors' methodology and the requirements for submissions, i.e., protocols for sending them wines to analyze in future editions.
It's fascinating to read (at least for me) because it offers remarkable insights into how wine was made, stored, and shipped in fin de siècle Italy.
The authors will not include "adulterated" wines in their census and the following is their definition for adulteration (translation mine).
- "Adulteration" is defined as the addition of any substance that is not found naturally in wine, any substance that does not belong to the rational processes of vinification, or substances that are naturally found in wine when the added quantity of said substances exceeds the limits found in natural wine or the limits of the reciprocal ratios that are found in the wines themselves.
As it turns out, the notion of Natural wine isn't as young as we may think.
Click here for the new findings that support my theory that Negroamaro means bitter black and not black black as some have speculated.
In other news…
Click here for a fun piece I posted earlier this week on the Bele Casel blog on the origins of the expression ombra de vin.
In other other news…
Today is our fourth wedding anniversary!
Tracie P., I love you. Thank you for what have truly been the four most wonderful years of my life.


text:
New York Yankees Personalized SS Custom Sneakers BG349
$99.99Save 30%
Item Details
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Due to manual measurement, there will be an error of +/-0.3-0.5 cm. Please be understanding.
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text:
The world's largest archive of Nazi German documents will be opened to historians for the first time, after an agreement reached by the 11 countries that control it.
The announcement was made after two days of talks by diplomats from the 11 countries, who were meeting in Luxembourg.
For six decades, the archive - housed in a storeroom at Bad Arolsen, in central Germany - has been used exclusively by a Red Cross agency that helps people trace loved ones who went missing during World War II.
It has taken several years of negotiations to reach this agreement, and the talks in Luxembourg also went on later than expected as diplomats discussed the details of the deal.
In April, the German justice minister, Brigitte Zypries, announced a policy shift when she said Germany would work with the United States to open the archived files.
Delegates in the legal negotiations said the German delegation had shown more flexibility than in any previous round of talks.
The decision taken yesterday will also allow each of the 11 countries to obtain a digital copy of the Bad Arolsen archive and to make it available to researchers and victims' relatives in those countries under controlled conditions.
Still unresolved were issues dealing with how quickly the Bad Arolsen archive could be copied into digital files and distributed to the member countries, and how to speed up the pace of ratification, delegates said. The Red Cross agency, responsible for the archive, says it has scanned 56 per cent of the files since 1999, but it cannot move faster without more funding.
May 17, 2006


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Some damage reported from 5.7 quake in N. Calif.
GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- A moderate earthquake centered in rural northeastern California but felt in two other states damaged some homes and ruptured a tank that supplies residential drinking water in the densely forested region, officials said Friday.
The magnitude-5.7 quake centered near Greenville sent items tumbling from grocery store shelves and downed chimneys when it hit at 8:47 p.m. Thursday. Despite the damage, no injuries have been reported.
The earthquake was felt in Reno, Nev., about 100 miles south; as far away as San Francisco, 230 miles southwest; and in Oregon. About four dozen aftershocks have been reported including a magnitude-4.9 temblor that struck early Friday.
About 300 people were affected by the damaged water system and were under a boil advisory until further notice.
"Without question, it's the strongest quake I've ever felt here. It was very unsettling and it lasted long enough to create a measure of anxiety," Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood said. "The supermarkets and stores had a lot of things come off the shelves."
Pacific Gas & Electric said about 660 customers lost power on the southwestern edge of Lake Almanor at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Electricity has since been restored.
At least three houses had moderate damage including collapsed chimneys and cracked plaster. County officials said the total damage isn't yet known because many homes in the area are unoccupied and seasonal.
Susan Shephard and her husband, Alan Shephard, who run the Quail Lodge at Lake Almanor near the epicenter, said they were watching "The Hunger Games" on TV when the whole building started shaking.
"All of a sudden things started falling off the shelves, mirrors fell off the wall, vases fell down to the floor, everything started crashing," Susan Shephard told the Redding Record-Searchlight. "It felt like the end of our world."
The quake was the strongest to hit the mostly wilderness region since 1934, said Keith Knudsen, deputy director of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.
It appeared to have occurred along a strike-slip fault line similar to the San Andreas. More than 9,000 people including from neighboring states logged onto the USGS website to report feeling the jolt.
"It was a pretty good size quake," said Knudsen.
The quake hit a rugged region where the Sierra and Cascade mountains meet. More than 100 lakes and 1,000 miles of rivers and streams flow through more than a million acres of national forest. About 22,000 people live in Plumas County.
The region's seismicity is not well-studied because the terrain is rugged and dollars have been spent on analyzing faults in more populated corridors like the San Francisco Bay area where the earthquake risk is higher. Since Thursday's quake, scientists are mulling putting more portable monitors near the epicenter.


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Who would have guessed that our former governor would be caught up in a prostitution scandal or that Wall Street would have crumbled so dramatically?
The prominent New Yorkers we asked to predict what 2008 would bring certainly didn't. They saw the state's junior senator as president, not as secretary of state. They thought we would have congestion pricing.
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel predicted we would invest in affordable housing -- not that he would be at the center of a housing scandal.
Knowing that sometimes people swing blindly the first time, we here at Gotham Gazette decided to give them another chance.
This year, some think the economy will recover, the mayor's race will be competitive and the state will bail out our transit system. See what some New Yorkers think is in store for 2009.
City Councilmember Simcha Felder
The mayor and the City Council put a hiring freeze on new elected officials.
Randi Weingarten, president, United Federation of Teachers
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein will teach a class at the UFT Secondary Charter School and become a key advocate for teacher due process (tenure) and lowering class size.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg will abandon his bid for a third term and instead take over the New York Stock Exchange, where he will implement accountability and data initiatives. Traders and hedge fund managers form a union.
The debate over whether to continue mayoral control of New York City schools will come down to a final-hours coin flip on State Street.
Gov. David Paterson will appear on Saturday Night Live, and realizing his true calling, join the cast.
And in all seriousness, the Administration for Children's Services will pay 28,000 home day care providers the money they are owed by state law.
President-elect Barack Obama and new Education Secretary Arne Duncan will work collaboratively with teachers and their unions, and as a result begin to make substantial progress in advancing student achievement. Their philosophy will show naysayers that successful education reform is done with teachers, not done to teachers.
In the midst of this challenging time, New Yorkers are resilient and charitable. This is the time to work together and fight for educational opportunity for our students and economic security for all New Yorkers.
Azi Paybarah, reporter, New York Observer
Michael Bloomberg announces unpopular budget cuts, but spends lavishly on his campaign.
Bill Thompson and Anthony Weiner complain about Bloomberg's budget cuts and lavish campaign spending.
Democrats for Bloomberg make an earlier than expected appearance. David Paterson doesn't officially join that group, but reporters suspect he's a card-carrying member.
Paychex Founder Tom Golisano holds secret meetings with everyone running for mayor; "aides to Golisano" confirm the meetings but don't share any details. Then, Golisano holds a press conference and gets some ink from New York City reporters about his thoughts on the mayor's race, before disappearing upstate.
Golisano then toys with the idea of buying all those media outlets that didn't cover him.
Kevin Sheekey leaves City Hall for Bloomberg's campaign, makes a lot of money and doesn't return.
State Sen. Jeff Klein gets photographed measuring the curtains inside Malcolm Smith's office.
Newspaper publishers apply for a federal bailout.
Twitter becomes so popular that it's no longer cool.
Norman Siegel and Mark Green have a series of historic debates about who truly represents New York's liberal left.
David Weprin sports a pocket protector to bolster his image as a fiscal expert.
Whoever Paterson doesn't pick for the U.S. Senate starts getting talked about as possible gubernatorial candidates.
And Gotham Gazette gets Drudged for its policy-focused interview with Eliot Spitzer, which starts off with the phrase, "If I didn't get caught, I would have told Shelly Silver..."
Debora Spar, president, Barnard College
New York public schools and civic organizations see a flood of hugely qualified job applicants, as newly minted graduates decide that maybe Wall Street isn't the career for them.
The jobs that do remain in finance and the regulatory sector are increasingly filled by women. Big bets decline, as do massive bonuses. But actual scrutiny of transactions increases.
Overcome by schadenfreude, New Yorkers at last learn how to spell it.
Brian Lehrer, The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC
2009 in New York turns out better than anyone expects as I write this on Dec. 13, 2008. At least, people will look back on it that way years from now.
While 200,000-plus jobs are lost statewide, and wrenching decisions are made about tax hikes and service cuts, New York remembers that there's more to economic life than Wall Street. And we discover that Wall Street still has a pulse to boot. The insane bonuses and leverage ratios are gone, but finance is finance and those people will always find ways to make money. New York is still the trophy address to have to compete with London and Tokyo etc. for world-class investment. It is not the year of the Charlotte Stock Exchange. Let's just hope they don't try to securitize zero percent interest Treasury bills!
We remember that other sectors of the economy also really matter around here: higher education and medicine, for example. Boston has nothing on us as an economy driven by smarts.
We have tourism too, plus the arts and entertainment, technology, and exports and imports of all imaginable kinds. Immigration remains a special economic gift to New York as immigrants continue to expand import-export entrepreneurship and decentralized financial networks. Remember why finance took hold here in the first place – New York was an international hub of commerce. It still is.
The credit squeeze slowly eases in 2009. With that and no-interest loans, the dollar remains stable but low, and international tourists flock once again to NY.
Our new U.S. senator, Shirley Jackson, builds visibility for our existing technology sector and helps secure federal funding for a Hudson Valley R&D corridor extending from Manhattan to Troy. And, of course, New York still captures the imagination of ambitious creative people from everywhere else. Whatever decline in real estate values we endure will have the silver lining of sustaining large scale immigration, and making bohemia possible again. Bohemia, like immigration, fuels innovation and long-term value in the housing market.
Anthony Weiner will win the Democratic mayoral nomination as the candidate from the angry middle class. Mayor Bloomberg, running as an independent, also secures the Republican nomination. The winner in November will be determined by the state of the economy and populist anger at the mayor. If he is seen as deftly managing the recession and building for the future, he will win, and Weiner will look like a whiner. If he is seen as raising taxes and cutting services while being tone deaf to people's pain, he'll become "that billionaire" and he will lose.
Similarly, President Obama's change we can believe in will be judged by how much his stimulus package is spent on real innovation and real infrastructure building. 2009 will tell. Weatherizing federal office buildings may give people work, but it won't spur the next generation of economic growth.
The Ravitch Commission's recommendations will be adopted almost unchanged and the city will be grateful for the next 30 years as world-class mass transit infrastructure development attracts sustained private sector economic growth.
On the down side, AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia will both get injured. The new Yankee Stadium will have many gold-plated empty seats. After Citigroup files for Chapter 11, Citi Field will change its name to Debits Field, pleasing Dodger fans of a certain age.
Bernie Madoff and Marc Dreier will both find religion in prison, and vow to devote their lives to helping others. Michael Milken will consult.
Donald Trump will change his name to Chrysler and ask for a federal bailout.
David Letterman will move his show to 9pm.
Doug Muzzio, professor, Baruch College
In a political stunner, capo di tutti capi of New York City politics Mike "Nine Zeroes" Bloomberg is denied a third term, even after spending $100 million plus, making many offers that couldn't be refused but ultimately were, by a majority of NYC voters.
Michael Miscione, the Manhattan borough historian
New Yorkers' disinterest in history will reach new heights in 2009.
After months of media claims that "we are in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression," economists will realize that most people have no idea what the Great Depression is. The New York Times will conduct a survey that will find that 91 percent of New Yorkers think it was "when everyone was sad because they hadn't invented Prozac yet."
2009 will mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Henry Hudson, an English explorer who sailed for the Dutch. Hudson traveled up the river that would one day bear his name in a ship called the Half Moon. Again, New Yorkers will be baffled. Another Times survey will find that most Gotham residents will define the Half Moon as a "wardrobe malfunction caused by low-rise blue jeans."
The Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges turn 100 in 2009. Keeping with the recent trend of renaming our bridges for historically inappropriate persons, the Manhattan Bridge will be rechristened the Senator Caroline Kennedy Bridge, and the Queensboro will be renamed for a Kennedy to be named later. Defenders of the change will invoke the Sarah Palin rationale, claiming that Caroline deserves the honor because she can see the bridge from her penthouse window (with binoculars). The name changes will utterly devastate Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz because his attempts to rename the spans Brooklyn Bridge 2 and Brooklyn Bridge 3 will go ignored.
City Councilmember Letitia James
Atlantic Yards will not be built.
Julia Vitullo-Martin, senior fellow, the Manhattan Institute
We've made it to the end of the year, and our city is still standing. For that, we should be grateful. On the other hand, we're a bit like the man falling off the Empire State Building who, on passing the 22nd floor, says to himself, "so far, so good."
We're in a downward spiral, hoping that we're somehow going to have a happy ending. But we haven't yet crashed to the ground in part because, as the New York Building Congress pointed out in mid-October, momentum from New York's historic 2003-2008 building boom has continued to drive up some residential and nonresidential construction.
The city looks a little bit better off than it actually is. Major projects all over New York are slowing or stopping altogether. The most mesmerizing are the highly subsidized, politically favored, allegedly private sector projects, for which Atlantic Yards is the poster child. Forest City Ratner has halted work and laid off staff while asking for even more government subsidy. Will our elected officials really have the gall to raise our already excessively high taxes while directing hundreds of millions of dollars more into Bruce Ratner's sink hole in downtown Brooklyn?
Let's hope that 2009 becomes the year in which corporate socialism, and its bloated projects, is ended in New York once and for all.
Charles Geisst, professor of finance, Manhattan College
2009 is not shaping up to be a good year. Last year at this time there was no consensus about a recession. What a difference a few months make.
The current recession will last well into next year and beyond, and it will unfortunately prove to be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Cutbacks can be expected in all city services since so much wealth has been destroyed in the markets and with it, tax revenues. On the brighter side, the first years of the Depression coincided with the last years of Prohibition, but there was no shortage of cheer to go around in New York. Speakeasies then outnumbered grocery stores in some parts of the city.
New York City Comptroller William Thompson Jr.
2009 will be one of the most challenging years for New Yorkers in recent memory.
Struggling families and businesses throughout the city will feel the continued squeeze of a shrinking economy, growing job losses, ever-tightening credit, and the persistent threat of home foreclosures.
To respond to these challenges, I predict New Yorkers will demand new leadership that will change the way business is done in our city – fewer give-a-ways to the rich and more protections for hardworking families and small businesses. With strong leadership and a collective spirit, New York City will bounce back as it has done before and show its grit, resolve and resiliency.
Steve Cohen, executive director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
Mike Bloomberg will find his reelection campaign does not turn out to be the coronation he was expecting.
The web-based fundraising and communication techniques pioneered by Howard Dean's campaign and perfected by Barack Obama's campaign will be used in the next New York City mayor's race
Subway fares will not go up 25 percent but the real threat is to the long term capital plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In 2009, we will learn if our political leadership can match the talents and courage of Hugh Carey and Ed Koch, or if we will have the revival of the three guys in a room that got us into this fiscal mess.
By this time next year the media will still be looking for some way to diminish President Obama's stature, but they will not succeed. Our new president will have a tough, but successful year.
The Yankees and Mets will have to find a way to sell tickets to regular New Yorkers or risk losing their fan base. If they are not careful, the new stadiums will reinforce the idea that live major league baseball is not available to the rest of us. Of course we can all watch CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett on HDTV's that just look like real life, and we can just pretend we're at the game.
We will finally have federal policy on global warming here in the United States (I confess, I predicted this for 2008 too).
Columbia and the New School will both recruit new provosts. The one at Columbia will last longer.
We will avoid another great depression and start to climb out of this great recession.
Gene Russianoff, senior attorney, New York Public Interest Research Group and the Straphangers Campaign
The night before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is set to vote on a whopping fare hike and harsh service cuts in late March, the state legislature will pass a tax package that will soften the blow of an increase and block the worst service cuts. The base subway and bus fare will rise to $2.25 and a 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard from the current $81 to $89. However, it will take until the late fall for the legislature to enact a new five-year rebuilding program for the transit system.
A federal judge will rule that the council's vote to overrule two referenda votes of the public to limit the terms of city officials violated the First Amendment rights of city voters - and all hell will break loose!
Mayor Bloomberg will participate in the city's landmark campaign finance law and limit his campaign spending to his total spending in the general election to $6 million - not!
The state will permit the transportation authority to toll the East River bridges, but only for vehicles driven by motorists who are visitors from very, very distant galaxies.
Governor Paterson will flirt with the idea of appointing Tina Fey to the U.S. Senate by only if Al Franken is elected as the junior Senator from Minnesota.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn
My prediction for 2009 is that New Yorkers will do what we have always done during times of great difficulty. We will stand up. We will band together.
I predict that we will see a rise in volunteerism. We will see New Yorkers helping neighbors, friends, family, and complete strangers. We will all find ways to do more with less, and to make up in work and passion what we may lack in resources. We will act responsibly today, lest we face even bigger problems down the line.
No one expects New York City to be able to turn things around quickly. But New Yorkers are used to defying expectations.
Kevin Baker, novelist and non-fiction writer, author of the "New York, City of Fire" trilogy
I would say that the one thing we can count on in 2009 would be the growing disparity of wealth in this city. So far, nearly every proposal made by both the governor and the mayor is for more taxes and fees on working- and middle-class New Yorkers to carry us through the new Depression, along with layoffs and pension cuts for public employees. Meanwhile, the wealthy are being asked to contribute almost nothing. This is not only unfair. It also will not work.
Jonathan Bowles, director, Center for an Urban Future
The city's worsening economic problems will be broad-based, but will have a particularly severe impact on the poor and working poor, nonprofits, real estate brokers, black car drivers and owners of cocktail lounges selling $15 saketinis. There will be a modest spike in the number of outer-borough middle class residents who leave the city altogether, prompted by the weak job market, deteriorating subway service, under-performing public schools and higher fares/taxes.
Dozens of bank branches and a handful of national drug store chain stores across the five boroughs will shut their doors, creating at least some new opportunities for independently owned businesses.
Rising commercial vacancy rates and plunging office rents could lead to a wave of start-ups with growth potential in technology and creative fields, similar to how the weak real estate market of the early 1990s helped give rise to Silicon Alley.
The state legislature's eventual response to this economic and fiscal crisis will remind New Yorkers, yet again, that the city has few friends in Albany and that the legislature truly is the most dysfunctional such body in America.
Paul Steely White, executive director, Transportation Alternatives
NYPD Officer Patrick Pogan is convicted of assaulting a cyclist
during a Critical Mass bike ride, and then ordered by the judge to clear bike lanes of placard abusers and double parked cars.
The city, state and Metropolitan Transportation Authority keep the transportation system from collapsing and will actually increase mass transit service. The State Legislature will pass a law to mandate Paris-style bike share integrated into New York City's public transit system with 50,000 bikes and 3,000 stations reclaimed from parking spaces. The catch: they would charge bikers $20/hour and use the revenue to save the MTA.
Gov. Paterson sells Sen. Clinton's seat to George Soros and uses the revenue to save the MTA.
Geoffrey Croft, president, NYC Park Advocates
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Speaker Christine Quinn will hold a joint press conference to apologize for misleading statements made during the term-limits debate: Both had repeatedly insisted the public could actually choose not to re-elect them in November. They acknowledge that out in the last 107 City Council races, 98 percent of the incumbents were reappointed. They admit council members have only a slightly less chance of returning to office than former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did during his last re-election bid. (He garnered 101 percent of the vote.)
For the first time in more than four decades, elected officials will abide by the City Charter and begin to allocate adequate expense dollars to maintain, secure and program parks.
The Bloomberg administration will apologize for installing more than 100 million pounds of chemically laden recycled tires in our parks and schools and realize natural grass is good for the environment.
The city will voluntarily agree to test all materials installed in playgrounds for heat before they burn more children.
Mayor Bloomberg will initiate community-based planning and consultation for all park projects. He agrees to send out $400 rebate checks to victims of poor park policies. The program will be suspended 24 minutes later after 311 is overwhelmed by calls from residents living near the new Yankee Stadium, the Van Cortlandt Park water filtration plant, Washington Square, the Ridgewood Reservoir, Randall's Island, Union Square, the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park and others. The mayor will respond, "Don't they know we're experiencing the golden age of parks?"
The New York Yankees will give back their city financing and admit the new stadium places an undue burden on taxpayers.
After being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future, all 29 Council members who voted to ignore two voter referendums on term limits will have a sudden change of heart and not seek re-election. Bloomberg holds out. Tipped off about the coming visitation, he posts extra security at his Upper East Side townhouse and prevents entry. However, the next day -- after receiving a note left by the spirit saying he would return soon -- the mayor agrees to participate in the city's campaign finance program.
Randy Cohen, The Ethicist, New York Times
Mayor reads fine print, discovers it is Central Park not Central Parking Lot, bans cars from Olmstead jewel. "If you want to run over a jogger or knock down a child, do it on Queens Boulevard like everybody else."
Patti Lupone leaps from stage, savagely pummels audience member texting during final number of final performance of Gypsy. Although the incident is witnessed by a packed house, Lupone is acquitted and carried from courtroom on shoulders of cheering theater-fans.
City to fund solid gold caps for Yankees and Mets. "We can't do enough for these tobacco-spitting millionaires," says the mayor. "It was this, or squander the money on schools and subways."
Times Square B.I.D. marks 100th Ped-lock day of the year as Ohio family is carried seven blocks, pressed between bodies of strangers. "Our feet never touched the ground! Can we go again?"
Deepening its commitment to public-private partnerships, the city opens bidding for corporate logos to be tattooed on foreheads of teachers, police and firefighters.
Public restrooms finally appear on Manhattan streets. No, wait, hang on… no, they don't.


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Name (Age): Russell Swan (45)
Previous Seasons: "Survivor: Samoa"
Previous Finish: Medical evacuation due to Dehydration. I fainted multiple times during a challenge. Jeff Probst has described this as, "the scariest moment I've ever had on the show."
Tribe Designation: Matsing
Current Residence: Glenside, Penn.
Occupation: Environmental Attorney
Personal Claim to Fame: Being a good Dad.
Inspiration in Life: My dad because he was a very ordinary guy, but a damn good dad. He really loved his family and was a perfect example of what a husband should be to his wife, and what a dad should be to his child.
Hobbies: Riding my motorcycle, mountain biking and skiing.
Pet Peeves: I hate whiners, materialistic people and generally people who are full of crap.
3 Words to Describe You: Energetic, optimistic and focused.
If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why? I would bring my "Terrible Towel" because I'm an avid Steelers fan and I'm always looking for converts. That's it!
Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: First, the game kicked my butt and I want payback. Second, I want to show people that failure doesn't always mean the end.
Why You Think You'll "Survive" SURVIVOR: I bring strength for the physically demanding challenges. I'm cunning – I know how to get my way without being overly confrontational. And, I have a sense of humor. I love making people laugh.
Why You Think You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: Because I've already tried the failure route. I'm gonna take a different path and win this time!


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This is the stuff of nightmares: Melissa Esplin, a 29-year-old mom of two who blogs about crafting and sewing, woke up to discover that a (fully-clothed) photo of her had been posted on a porn site, alongside nude shots of some other woman as if they were also her. The site linked to Esplin's personal Facebook page, shared the city she lived in and her name. In two weeks, the page got over 60,000 hits, she told ABC News.
It gets worse. When Esplin contacted the site to demand her photo be removed, they told her she would have to pay them $400. These instances of womens' images being used online without their consent seem to be happening more frequently — plus-size blogger Rachele Cateyes' ordeal with the diet company who stole her image isn't over yet. But the company's extortion of Esplin is even more outrageous. Read her account of the situation on her blog.
More From Cosmopolitan
Diet Company Uses Plus-Size Blogger's Bikini Shot Without Permission
Follow Anna on Twitter.
Photo Credit: Melissa Esplin


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Americans lived through a frightening week last week. Bombs were sent to prominent Democratic politicians and supporters. Thankfully, none of these exploded. The FBI apprehended a suspect, 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc. Yesterday something far worse happened: eleven people were killed and six injured in an obvious hate crime at a synagogue near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Robert Bowers was quickly arrested for these crimes.
Both Sayoc and Bowers fit the usual pattern for these criminals today: right wing domestic terrorists and big Trump supporters, although Bowers had some criticisms of Trump. Sayoc's van was famously festooned with right wing invectives and pictures on almost every window (which restricted visibility so much it was probably illegal). Both Sayoc and Bowers used social media, in Bowers case to basically announce his attack on Jews was imminent. Bowers' crime might have been prevented if someone had bothered to notice it or if we did not allow people like him to have guns in the first place.
It's not surprising that most of these incidents are by right-wing domestic terrorists. Statistically these people cause 71% of these domestic terrorism incidents, with just 25% domestically by actual Muslim terrorists. This Anti-Defamation League (ADL) heat map makes abundantly clear who's most likely to trigger these incidents and they tend to be male, white, Republican, conservative and loners. With yesterday's latest incident in Pittsburgh, the right wing can now claim 74% of the victims of these incidents. From their social media postings, it's clear that Trump inspired both Sayoc and Bowers. Trump of course with his advanced case of malignant narcissism disclaims any association with these perpetrators. With a case as bad as his, of course you are going to praise a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who body slammed a reporter as "my kind of guy" and feel no remorse. His narcissism would not be malignant if he felt remorse.
What's harder for most people to see is that horrendous incidents like these are entirely predictable. What's new is that we have Donald Trump as a prominent catalyst; no president has ever incited people to violence before. This gives these incidents explicit sanction. To an extent we are all players of this game because we are awash in a world undergoing great change. Certain personality types though are more likely to "go postal" than others: those groups who feel the most threatened. Conservatives at least in theory like things the way they were (and in most cases they weren't actually the way they were) so are more likely to engage in these crimes, as borne out by the ADL's heat map.
Trump of course is a master bully. My own personal theory is that he is empowering other former bullies to be bullies again. Curiously, many of these actions actually amount to cowardice of some form. Sayoc's alleged actions mailing pipe bombs allow him to hurt other people without necessarily being discovered. (He was a particularly inept criminal, leaving fingerprints on his explosives. His crazy van was certainly a red flag and doubtless helped authorities track him down.) Bowers showed up in person with a number of armaments including an assault rifle. When Trump tells people at his rallies that it's okay to beat up reporters at the rally and he'll pay their legal expenses, he's obviously giving explicit sanction to others to act as his proxies. A legal case could be made that Trump is guilty of inciting terrorism.
Change is an inevitable consequence of living. We've been plunging headlong into the future at rates that obviously make a lot of people uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable with it too. Ironically, conservatives are causing much of the change they are fighting against. For example, if you say that businesses should be able to create any product they want because they are innovators and capitalism is great but not consider the consequences, you end up with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter that show us only content that meets our own biases. To deal with their cognitive dissonance, Trump has labeled anything he doesn't agree with as "fake news" and it's clear that the supporters at his rallies largely agree.
They are obviously wrong. My mother-in-law, a lifelong smoker, never agreed that smoking causes lung cancer, even though the research was overwhelming and she died a painful and somewhat premature death from lung cancer. Climate deniers, principally right-wingers, are doing the same thing. It's like the lobster getting out of the pot and turning up the heat then jumping back into the pot. It's counterproductive and makes no sense. And we know it's only a matter of time, should we live so long, when they will be proven wrong. Our species might die off as a result, but to them this is just more fake news.
Liberals are not entirely blame free either. How much freedom can we promote when many of the consequences of freedom also contribute to these problems? For example, if we want a higher standard of living for everyone without figuring out a way to do it in a sustainable way, we contribute to the destruction of our planet. We can't always be sure our proposals will actually solve the problem, or fit the circumstances.
I believe that there are larger forces at work. Most of us will carry the values we learn from our parents and pass them on to our children, so it takes generations to change most of these values if they change at all. We also unconsciously carry many of our parents' issues and anxieties. Unfortunately, we don't have generations to get it right. Anxiety is actually a rational reaction to a rapidly changing world, but paralysis is not. Unfortunately for conservatives, we can't go back to the way things were. And unfortunately for liberals, we don't have the luxury of trying many approaches until we find the right combination. We have only the fierce urgency of now that none of us can escape, with many of us lacking the wisdom for making an informed choice. I hope November 6 proves me wrong.
(For those of you wondering, this blog is not completely dead. I'm feeling the need to continue at least through post 2000, as it seems a good closure point. Ideally I'll get there on our before December 12, 2018, the end of sixteen years of blogging.)


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REPORT: It Sounds Like People Are Losing Interest In Samsung's Best Phone (SSNLF)
Samsung is reportedly cutting its orders for Galaxy S5 components just days after it said that its Q2 operating income has plummeted to the lowest it's been in two years.
Component makers in Taiwan are only ordering 15 million units for Q3 2014, which is down from the 21 million these manufacturers ordered for the second quarter of this year, according to a new report from China's Economic News Daily first spotted by Patently Apple.
The report also notes that Samsung has cut orders for its Galaxy S4 (last year's flagship phone) back to 5 million units from 6 million units.
This comes just it was reported that Samsung's second quarter operating income had dropped by 24% compared to the previous year.
According to the AP, Samsung said its operating income for Q2 was 7.2 trillion won ($7.1 billion), which fell below analysts' expectations for 8 trillion won. Sales also fell by 10% compared to the same period in 2013.
The Korea-based smartphone maker attributed part of this recent decline to its sales in China. It's cheaper low-end smartphones haven't been catching on as much as it had hoped.
That being said, Galaxy S5 sales boomed following the phone's launch. Samsung said it sold 11 million Galaxy S5 units within its first month on the market, which is slightly higher than the 10 million Galaxy S4 phones it sold within its first month in 2013.
The problem is the Galaxy S5 is facing more competition than ever in China. Companies like Lenovo, OnePlus, and Xiaomi are making high-quality phones on par with the S5 that cost much less.
See Also:
- The Phablet Phenomenon: Trends And Growth Forecast For The Device That Is Taking Over Mobile
- Xiaomi Is Reversing A Trend That Has Been Plaguing Android Phones For Years
- Samsung Mocks iPhone Users Whose Phones Keep Running Out Of Battery
SEE ALSO: Now We Know Why Samsung Is Trying So Hard To Make Smartwatches A Success


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Wednesday, 20 February 2013 07:11 PM EST
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, was deposed Wednesday about abuse cases against priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led from 2002 until 2009.
An attorney for the Milwaukee archdiocese and another lawyer representing people who filed the abuse claims confirmed the cardinal was deposed. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, facing allegations from nearly 500 people, sought bankruptcy protection in 2011.
Dolan is one of two U.S. cardinals to be deposed this week. Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be questioned Saturday in a lawsuit over a visiting Mexican priest who police believe molested 26 children in 1987. The Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico in 1988 after parents complained. He has been ousted from the priesthood but remains a fugitive.
Both Dolan and Mahony will soon be in Rome to participate in the conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who is resigning.
Dolan's deposition was first reported by The New York Times.
Frank LoCoco, the attorney for the Milwaukee Archdiocese, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that Dolan was asked about his decision to publicize the names of priests who molested children.
"The names were published so that people would come forward, share their story and begin what Cardinal Dolan and all those involved would be a healing process," LoCoco said.
Church officials deposed in connection with the bankruptcy and lawsuits include another former Milwaukee archbishop, Rembert Weakland; a retired auxiliary bishop; an archdiocese official who helps victims; the archdiocesan chancellor; and others, according to LoCoco and a spokesman for the Milwaukee archdiocese.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the New York archdiocese, said Dolan had long-awaited the chance to discuss his decision to publicize the names as part of his efforts to help victims.
"He has indicated over the past two years that he was eager to cooperate in whatever way he could," Zwilling said in a statement.
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