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Read the rest of Slate's coverage of the Sandy Hook school shooting.
In 1985, when I was 13 years old, a woman suffering from schizophrenia brought a semiautomatic rifle to our local mall and began shooting. This was the mall where I picked out clothes from the Gap, where I sat for photos with Santa Claus as a toddler, where kids my age were just starting to hang out and flaunt their independence. The woman, 25-year-old Sylvia Seegrist, killed three people, including a 2-year-old child, and shot several others before being subdued by a man who thought she was shooting blanks. When asked why she had done it, Seegrist said, bizarrely, that "my family makes me nervous." In other words, there was no reason at all.
As a middle-schooler, I registered the event only in the haziest terms: I knew something terrible had happened, I was glad it hadn't happened to me, and I figured the adults would take care of the rest. Now, as an adult, what seems shocking is just how little was done. There were calls for keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, for better treatment and commitment laws, for more restrictive gun control, for greater community vigilance to identify people prone to violence. But none of it, apparently, mattered quite enough. Fourteen years after the Springfield Mall shooting came Columbine, then Virginia Tech, and now Sandy Hook Elementary.
Like millions of other heartsick people, I am inclined to despair at this list, to think that though all of this must change, it never will. But as a historian I am reminded that change often comes slowly, and with great pain and effort. A century ago, there were forms of graphic, brutal violence considered so thoroughly American that they could never be banished from the national landscape. Today they no longer exist. In the story of how these changes happened, there may be a model—or a least a bit of hope—for the present.
One example is class violence, once seen a shameful but ineradicable feature of American life. Beginning in the 1870s, the United States became infamous around the world for the brutality of its labor clashes, in which gun battles, dynamitings, and hand-to-hand combat produced what seemed to be an unending stream of senseless death. Sometimes the violence came at the hands of police: 100 strikers killed during the rail uprising of 1877, 11 children burned to death in the 1914 Ludlow Massacre. On other occasions, it came as retaliation from below. In 1910, men employed by the Bridge and Structural Iron Workers blew up the headquarters of the anti-union Los Angeles Times, killing 21 printers and laborers working inside.
Compared to today's gun massacres, it is easy to see these earlier events as a more comprehensible form of violence, with obvious political motives and straightforward political solutions. Yet Americans at the time experienced them as a cause for national soul-searching, as well as a kind of helplessness and even despair. Muckraker Lincoln Steffens put it best, after the L.A. Times bombing. "What are we Americans going to do about conditions which are bringing up healthy, good-tempered boys … to really believe … that the only resource they have … is to use dynamite against property and life?"
The arguments that followed were fierce: Should the country enact new labor laws? Engender Christian renewal? Regulate guns and explosives? But the answers were obvious even then. Americans needed a better process, enforced by the federal government, for managing labor-employer relations. Until the 1930s, advocates simply lacked the political will and public support to make it happen.
An even more intractable debate accompanied the rise and fall of lynching, one of the most gruesome forms of violence ever to take root in the United States. Today, we tend to remember lynching as a clandestine crime, a young black man pulled from his bed in the dark of night and brutalized or hanged in the Southern woods. For most of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though, it was a community phenomenon of almost unthinkable cruelty, in which hundreds if not thousands of people gathered to witness a victim being disemboweled, castrated, tortured, or burned, then killed in full view.
To modern sensibilities, the injustice once again seems obvious, as do the solutions: Prosecute lynchers, fight for racial justice, strengthen the rule of law, and mobilize public opinion to condemn rather than excuse outbursts of brutality. And yet it took more than 100 years for lynching to begin to disappear as a feature of American life, and even longer for Americans to fully acknowledge the depth of its horror. In the meantime, thousands of influential people, including many esteemed congressmen and senators, argued that lynching was simply a fact of life, a random act of violence about which nothing could be done. It was not until 2005 that the U.S. Senate, spearheaded by Mary Landrieu, apologized for failing to pass federal anti-lynching legislation, and for leaving hundreds of innocent people to be sacrificed to official inaction.
The parallels between past and present are not perfect, of course. Today's violence is more random, without rational motive or political purpose. Yet these examples tell us something important about how social change happens around violence, and about what we now need to do. Ending both lynching and class violence required efforts spread over many decades. And those efforts attacked the problem at multiple levels, from the passage of new federal laws to campaigns aimed at mobilizing public opinion.
Most of all, they required a mass rejection of the argument that this is just what America is like, and that there is nothing to be done. We've now lived with gun massacres for two generations. That's long enough.


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Good morning, here are our early stories:
-- In Europe: Obama Will Seek Support For Syria Strike.
-- Ohio Man Who Held Women For Decades Found Dead In Prison.
-- Social Media Erupt On News Of Ariel Castro's Death.
And here are more early headlines:
Iraqi Gunmen Kill 16 Members Of One Family In Brutal Attack. ( Reuters)
Yosemite Park Fire Now 80 Percent Contained. ( San Jose Mercury News)
Powerful Earthquake South Of Tokyo; No Injures, Damage. ( The Associated Press)
Power Blackout Shadows Most Of Venezuela. ( BBC)
Killer Seeking Revenge For Sexual Abuse Targeting Suspected Mexican Bus Drivers. ( The Guardian)
Montana Judge Sets New Hearing In Controversial Rape Case. ( Billings Gazette)
Florida Family Finds Valuable Pirate Gold Treasure Just Off Beach. ( ABC)
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

subset: commoncrawl


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Goonies Director Reveals Sequel Is in the Works
TV Guide
Bust our your best Truffle Shuffle! Goonies director Richard Donner has revealed to TMZ that a sequel to the '80s classic is in the works.
Asked if he will direct a comic book movie soon, Donner told the site, "If you call Goonies a comic book. We're doing a sequel."
And if you thought this news couldn't get any better, Donner said he hopes to bring back the entire cast, which includes Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin,Sean Astin and Jeff Cohen.
In 2012, Astin told IGN that he's "100 percent certain there will be a sequel. I will bet my children on it."
Goonies never say die, right?
Are you excited about a potential Goonies sequel?
View original Goonies Director Reveals Sequel Is in the Works at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Thanks to Dr Michael Hausenblas of the Linked Data Research Centre in Galway, Ireland for posting an excellent example on their website (http://lab.linkeddata.deri.ie/2010/star-scheme-by-example/) of how Tim Berners-Lee's "five star" model of government data might operate in practice on the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) e-government group. The model may explain to a wider audience what "open data" is and is able to permit. The "five star" model is briefly summarised as:
* on the web, open licence
** machine-readable data
*** non-proprietary formats
**** RDF standards
***** Linked RDF
Some of us will need to be reminded about what TLA's like RDF and URI mean, so I've linked off to W3C.
The W3C is also looking at establishing a Government Linked Data Working Group to focus on the technical issues needed behind all this and it now has a draft charter to operate by.
An end to reinventing square wheels – lets have some international standards for e-government fit for the World Wide Web!


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This was developed as an age test by an R&D department at Harvard University. Take your time and see if you can read each line aloud without a mistake. The average person over 50 years of age can't do it!
1. This is this cat
2. This is is cat
3. This is how cat
4. This is to cat
5. This is keep cat
6. This is an cat
7. This is old cat
8. This is fart cat
9. This is busy cat
10. This is for cat
11. This is forty cat
12. This is seconds cat
Now go back and read aloud the third word in each line from the top down.


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It is axiomatic in the investment world that as an asset class becomes more popular, it suffers from both falling expected returns and rising correlations. In other words, good trades get crowded and their advantages tend to disappear. This crowding happens because success begets copycats as investors chase returns. Mean reversion only tends to make matters worse. In effect, it results in "investing while looking in the rearview mirror" or, as per the title of William Bernstein's fine new book, Skating Where the Puck Was.
The evidence suggests that this overcrowding is precisely what has been happening with respect to the Yale Model. Despite Yale's annual net average investment return of 13.7 percent over the past 20 years, returns haven't been nearly as spectacular of late and, significantly, the great bulk of Yale's imitators have not done nearly as well as Yale. Those facts alone suggest overcrowding.
The Yale Model became the focus of much attention on account of its performance during the tech bubble. From July 2000 through June 2003, while the S&P 500 fell 33 percent, Yale's endowment actually gained 20 percent. Yale's portfolio continued to perform well until 2008 (returns of 19.4 percent in fiscal 2004, 22.3 percent in fiscal 2005, 22.9 percent in fiscal 2006, 28.0 percent in fiscal 2007 and 4.5 percent in fiscal 2008 – through June 30, 2008).
However, the poor performance of the fund and others like it during the financial crisis beginning in 2008 precipitated some intense questioning of the Yale Model. Yale lost 24.6 percent in its fiscal year 2009 (compared to an S&P 500 loss of roughly 26 percent over that time), considerably worse than the average endowment, which lost 18.6 percent over the same period. As a result, a report by the Tellus Institute and the Center for Social Philanthropy boldly called for "a transformation of the Endowment Model of Investing" on account of what it perceived to be excessive risk-taking. Moody's issued a report with similarly solemn tones, particularly criticizing the Model's liquidity management. The Yale Model received its share of academic criticism too.
Obviously, one difficult patch (even a really difficult patch) is hardly sufficient evidence to discredit Swensen's approach in toto. The idea that a broadly diversified portfolio is a low-risk portfolio is common but wrong. A well-diversified portfolio has higher average expected return for a lower average risk level, but that is not to say that it is somehow sheltered from significant drawdowns. Swensen's own research (outlined in the Endowment's 2010 Report) discloses the extremity of the risks associated with the Yale Model. Swensen concedes that the "average endowment" runs a 28 percent likelihood of losing fully half of its assets (in real terms) over the next 50 years based on its asset allocations and a 35 percent risk of a "spending disruption" over the next five years. Clearly, the Yale Model postulates a very high risk portfolio.
However, Yale's performance since the crisis has not regained its prior heights. Indeed, it has been decidedly lackluster, suggesting more than a temporary down cycle (mean reversion) is at work. In fiscal 2010, Yale achieved 8.9 percent return while the S&P 500 gained 12 percent. In fiscal 2011, Yale earned 21.9 percent, roughly even with the S&P 500. And in, fiscal 2012 (ending June 30, 2012), the most recent period for which data is available, Yale earned 4.7 percent, less than the S&P 500's 5.5 percent over that time (the big equity market rally kicked in during the second half of 2012, after the reporting period).
That said, Yale's longer-term results remain in the top-tier of institutional investors. Yale's endowment earned 10.6 percent per annum over the 10 years ending June 30, 2012, well lower than 20-year return numbers but well surpassing results for domestic stocks, which returned 6.2 percent annually, domestic bonds, which returned 5.6 percent annually and college and university endowments generally, which on average returned 6.8 percent annually.
Even so, a closer look at the data, and particularly at Yale's imitators, suggests that the Yale approach may have passed its peak. As per the Yale Model, most endowments, many institutions and a sizable number of individual investors have sought to add alternative investments to their portfolios. The average endowment holds roughly 15 percent of its assets in U.S. stocks as compared with 54 percent in alternatives. As a diversifier, non-correlated assets cannot be expected to perform when traditional assets do. However, many of these investments are sought out for their return characteristics rather than as diversifiers. Moreover, many of these alternatives are positioned as absolute return vehicles, nimble enough to provide positive returns in any environment. The data suggests that neither approach is all that successful.
Indeed, data compiled by the National Association of College and University Business Officers for the most recent fiscal year show that large, medium and small endowments have all underperformed in recent years. Nacubo and Commonfund gathered data from 831 U.S. colleges and universities managing over $400 billion in assets. The average return for U.S. college endowments was minus-0.3 percent in the 12 months ended in June 2012 (the most recent period for which data is available). Longer-term returns are not a lot better. College and university endowments returned an average of only 1.1 percent annually over the past five fiscal years and 6.2 percent over the past decade, net of fees.
A simple 60/40 portfolio invested 60 percent in an S&P 500 index fund and 40 percent in a fund tracking the Barclays Aggregate bond index would have gained 12.6 percent annually over the last three years and 2.8 percent over the last five years, as compared with 10.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, for the average endowment. Yale did somewhat better than the average endowment with three-year returns averaging 11.83 percent and five-year returns averaging 3.08 percent.
Significantly, the largest endowments, those with more than $1 billion in assets (not to mention the most resources generally), posted the best returns, gaining 0.8 percent in fiscal 2012 and an average of 7.6 percent annually over the past 10 years. Endowments with $51 million to $100 million in assets lost 1 percent last year and returned an average of 5.7 percent annually for the past 10 years.
Even more significantly, more than 90 percent of endowments with less than $1 billion in assets underperformed in every time period since such records have been kept. Since multiple reports suggest that current year returns have been even more problematic, this trend is likely to get worse before it gets better, largely due to the rally in stocks commencing during the second half of calendar 2012. To the extent that the Yale Model remains strong, its value is heavily concentrated in the largest endowments, suggesting that smaller institutions and individual investors are particularly at risk if they try to emulate Yale. As my friend Tadas Viskanta wrote recently, "institutions have capabilities, access and expertise that individuals simply don't have."
Here are some actual numbers, with a bit of tweaking to the 60/40 portfolios, demonstrating the outperformance of 60/40 portfolios versus the average college endowment over three, five and ten years as well as the better drawdown protection they provided during the financial crisis.
60/40 Index Portfolio = 42% Russell 3000 Index, 18% MSCI All Country World ex. US Index, 40% Barclays Aggregate Bond Index, rebalanced annually
60/40 Asset Class Portfolio = 9% S&P 500 Index, 12% DFA US large value index, 21% DFA US targeted value index, 6% DFA international large value index, 6% DFA international small value index, 6% DFA emerging market value index, 40% Ibbotson 5YR T-Note index, rebalanced annually
This problem is not limited to endowments, consistent with the overcrowding hypothesis. State pension fund trustees are just as bad as university endowments when implementing the Yale model in that pension returns also fall short of a simple index fund portfolio.
Thus the return numbers alone suggest a very strong possibility that the Yale approach may well be overcrowded, with ongoing outperformance difficult to achieve. Further analysis supports that conclusion as well. Multiple studies (for example, here) together with Swensen's own analysis have determined that Yale's outperformance has largely been predicated upon the success of its private equity exposure together with a (related) illiquidity premium. Research indicates that heavy exposure to common equity risk factors and manager skill in private equity drove Yale's returns. Although the liquidity risk premium is significant (about 3 percent annually – consistent with a growing body of research that supports the idea that illiquid assets provide the potential for higher return), private equity returns are pretty well explained by their exposure to the overall risk of the stock market, the risks of value stocks, the risks of investing in less liquid securities and leverage.
Moreover, the illiquidity comes at a cost. When Harvard tried to get out of illiquid private equity funds in the depths of the financial crisis, it found it would have to take a haircut of 40-60 percent to do so and alternative assets were frequently liquidated at less than 50 percent of the previous year-end net asset value. Simply put, institutions with insufficient liquidity in 2008 got crushed. As a consequence, Swensen took pains to point out that he "never took the position liquidity wasn't important, just that it's generally overvalued."
The bottom line here is that Yale's success has been driven largely by private equity – mostly venture capital – returns. Outside of private equity, the research suggests that Yale appeared to underperform appropriate risk-adjusted benchmarks.
Significantly, endowment funds as a whole dramatically outperformed during most of the 1990s largely due to the success of their private equity investments. On the other hand, for funds raised during 1999-2006, endowments underperformed.
The 1990s outperformance was largely driven by endowment investments in older, more established venture capital firms which were frequently difficult to get into and size-constrained but with great results. By 1999-2006, the performance advantages of these types of funds had largely dissipated. In other words, the trade had gotten increasingly crowded. For further support of this idea, Cambridge Associates estimates that 3 percent of venture capital firms generate 95 percent of the industry's returns and adds that there is little change in the composition of those 3 percent of firms over time (more here).
The table below from Abbott Capital (a private equity fund of funds) via Sober Look illustrates this history. The top half is a table that shows returns for various private equity sectors. For example, the 2000 "large buyout" funds produced an 18.6% annualized average return over their lives (typically 7-9 years). The lower half shows the dollar amounts raised for the two major private equity groups (venture and buy-out) over the same time period.
The upshot here, emphasized by the red circles immediately above, is that by the time large amounts of capital poured into the asset class, the trade was already too crowded and the party was over. Not surprisingly, endowment returns across-the-board reflect this same trend, as shown above. It's a consistent problem – chasing returns and buying assets that have already peaked.
It is also highly significant that hedge funds are responsible for a very large proportion of endowment investments in alternative strategies. Simon Lack, a hedge fund insider from his long tenure at JPMorgan Chase, raised a real ruckus last year with his book, The Hedge Fund Mirage, in which he argued that the hedge fund industry as a whole lost more money in 2008 than it had made in the previous 10 years. Even worse, "[i]f all the money that's ever been invested in hedge funds had been put in Treasury bills instead, the results would have been twice as good," especially since nearly all the hedge funds' gains had gone to managers rather than clients.
Of course, hedge funds are susceptible to overcrowding too and hedge funds now manage $2.2 trillion in assets, up fourfold since 2000. Even so, Swensen argues that "[h]igh quality hedge-fund exposure that produces returns that are fundamentally independent of what's going on in the markets can be a great addition to an institutional portfolio." However, in 2012, the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, reflective of industry returns, gained just 3.5 percent and has returned just 1.7 percent over the past 10 years. Thus the S&P 500 has outperformed the HFRX for ten straight years, with the exception of 2008 when both fell sharply. More significantly, a standard 60/40 portfolio has delivered returns of more than 90 percent over the past decade, compared with a meager 17 percent after fees for hedge funds, as shown below.
Source: The Economist
"If you look at the data, hedge funds have underperformed a simple 60/40 stock/bond mix every year for the past 10 years," Lack asserts. "They did well in the downturn of 2000-2. But that's when assets under management were less than half what they are now. There's no disputing that as assets have grown, performance has declined." No matter how you slice it, hedge fund performance has been disappointing and money is now migrating elsewhere. Hedge fund investing looks very crowded indeed.
The available evidence provides a pretty good case for the idea that the Yale Model is past its peak due to overcrowding. A more traditional approach may simply make more sense, even if such an approach is decidedly less "sexy," especially for those who don't have Yale's access and expertise.


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President Obama announced last week that 7.1 million people had signed up for private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. It was a celebratory speech, because the administration had met its sign-up projections before last week's deadline. 'This law is doing what it's supposed to do,' Obama said. 'It's working.' Really, though, it's too soon to say. Getting people to sign up is only part of making the law work, and the sign-up process, even if the projections were met, was anything but smooth. Remember when the Obamacare website crashed last year on the first day of enrollment? The rollout was a disaster. The bigger test is yet to come – we can judge the system only now that people are in the system. One gauge will be how premiums trend. The White House might have its own projections on premium costs, but only time will show how they behave under ACA. Another gauge is whether the administration is successful in attracting healthy young people to the program. Inclusion of this demographic in the ACA rolls is crucial to its success. The ACA is Obama's signature domestic accomplishment, and his legacy rests largely on whether it works or fails. Opponents once called for the law's repeal, but those efforts are all but abandoned, so every American now has an interest in seeing the act succeed. In his speech, Obama acknowledged ACA's imperfections and problems, but he said its on the right track. 'The idea that everybody in this country can get decent health care – that goal is achievable,' Obama said. The implication in that statement is correct. The goal has not yet been achieved.
Editorial: More work to go on Obamacare
Start the conversation


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Shall We Dance?
Some parties just seem to have more going for them than others. Take this year's annual CAN Dance, sponsored by the Community AIDS Network. It's in a category all by itself, with an electric atmosphere, professional dance partners, and a grand ballroom competition in which six local celebrities vied for a trophy to the cheers of the crowd. It even had a star: the mysterious "M" (rumored to be local florist Jimmy Neal), who dazzled the crowd with stunning attire and won the competition hands-down with a hilarious version of the Masochism Tango.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is the sixth year for the CAN Dance; each year it gets more exciting but also more labor-intensive-particularly for the contestants, who rehearse for weeks beforehand. If it sounds like Dancing with the Stars, the show that was such a hit on TV last summer, well, it is. But CAN was there first-by five years!
Still, the wild success of the TV show ratcheted up interest in this year's event. "Everybody wanted to come," says chairman Renee Sheade, and by everybody she meant a large and happy mix of society, the gay community, medicine, and the ballroom dancing world, which was suddenly getting the respect it deserves as both entertainment and fundraiser.
Put together by local ballroom legend Stephen Seig and dance entrepreneurs Andrew and Anna Smart and catered by Michael's on East at the Chelsea Center, it was a night unlike any other. People danced up a storm, more than $75,000 was raised to fight AIDS, and most exciting of all, "M" changed gowns three times!
Shall we dance?
Volunteers had been working feverishly all day on the décor and were still applying the finishing touches as the first guests began to arrive. The theme was "All That Glitters," and great neo-classical backdrops were giving the Chelsea Center a very grand touch, indeed.
After cocktails, Renee and Dr. Michael XXXX led the first dance. The crowd of 250 then enjoyed the taxi dancing portion of the evening, with much lobbying go on at the tables and in the corners for their favorite contestants. The competitors themselves put on confident faces as dinner progressed, although we did detect several crises de nerfs as the contest drew nearer. Only "M" sat magnificently through it all, dining lightly on salmon, in an elegant silver gown with DESCRIBE.
The plates were cleared.
The lighting was dimmed.
Backstage, the dancers prepared. Mary Ann Robinson, the Y's Citizen of the Year and a high-profile philanthropist and party giver who claims to be 77, slipped into an all-in-one in the girl's dressing room; Terry McKee, who's moving his hair salon downtown, where it's garnering raves from not just the ladies who lunch but the design community as well, put on basic black; Peter Selevsky, prominent realtor for XXX and part-time host on Home Shopping Network, worked on getting just the right amount of hairspray; old pro and professional director/choreographer Bob Trisolini was confidence itself; and Nikki Nilon, another member of the social set but equally known for the ministry she and her husband, Jim, conduct for the homeless, was getting zipped into a spangly blue number.
Places were called.
A deep breath.
All the contestants were rewarded with thunderous applause, but the moment "M" appeared on the floor in black velvet and size 12 heels, well, we knew we had a winner. Congratulations to all and onto next year, when contestants will include Michael Klauber and Dick Smothers.


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Joseph Amodeo, a former member of the Executive Committee of the Junior Board of Catholic Charities, today launched a Change.org petition asking Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, who also serves as the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, to meet with leaders from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and homeless LGBT youth. Amodeo, a New York City resident and religious education teacher, resigned from the Executive Committee of the Junior Board of Catholic Charities, the social service arm of the Archdiocese of New York.
Speak out in support of LGBT youth here.
An openly gay man, Amodeo was committed to the mission and ministry of Catholic Charities. Instead of simply resigning and walking away from his faith, Amodeo is using the attention around his resignation to rally other Catholics to the plight of LGBT homeless youth. He is launching a Change.org petition, calling on all pro-LGBT Catholics to send a message to Cardinal Dolan that they support LGBT youth. It also calls on the Archdiocese of New York to meet with LGBT youth and speak out in support of all of God's children.
Amodeo witnessed an exchange between Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Carl Siciliano, the executive Director of the Ali Forney Center. Siciliano, a former Benedictine monk and a member of the Catholic Worker movement, wrote an open letter to Cardinal Dolan, asking the Cardinal to stop his anti-LGBT rhetoric and support LGBT homeless youth. After Cardinal Dolan's terse and defensive reply, Amodeo felt that he had enough. He penned his own open letter, offering his resignation from the Executive Committee. In his letter, Amodeo stated that he did not make this decision lightly.
As a gay Catholic who teaches religious education…is active in parish life and supports Catholic organizations, I'm afraid that the Archbishop has caused my heart to ache and my soul to feel pierced. With a discerning mind, I have tried to overlook the Cardinal's actions and comments, but this has now become impossible in light of his curt words to Mr. Siciliano and New York City's homeless LGBT youth.
Joseph Amodeo is a faithful Roman Catholic gay man, which is a voice that is often missing in mainstream media. GLAAD's 'Missing Voices' study finds that Roman Catholic voices in mainstream media are disproportionately negative, despite the fact that a majority of Catholics are supportive of LGBT equality. Amodeo accurately points out that there is a divide between the Roman Catholic hierarchy and Roman Catholic people in America. This past week, we have seen an increasing number of Roman Catholic parishes in Washington state who are refusing to facilitate petition drives to repeal marriage equality in that state.
In a Huffington Post article published today, Amodeo asks all people of faith to speak out and call on their own churches to be beacons of social justice and love.
As Catholics and others listen to the messages coming from those in positions of power in the Church, I hope they will realize that the heavy-handed approach to LGBT issues is not shared by all Catholics. Although those in the hierarchy may have the pulpit, there are far more pews than there will ever be pulpits…We can only hope that those in the Church leadership will turn and listen to our voices, so as to see that our prophetic witness is merely asking them to look into our hearts and see the people God has created us to be.
Amodeo's initial resignation letter from Catholic Charities received media attention in the Associated Press, New York Daily News, and hundreds of news outlets, prompting an international dialogue about the growing support for LGBT people among Catholics. As Amodeo's story and the 'Missing Voices' report demonstrates, the media needs to share more stories like Joseph and spotlight the growing support for LGBT people among Catholics and all religions.
You can speak out now too. Sign the Change.org petition and add your voice to those who are calling for a more inclusive church and world.
Suggested tweet: Ask Cardinal Dolan to stand with #LGBT youth in need - sign the petition http://chn.ge/DolanHearUs #DolanHearUs #Catholic


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A roll call of 40 Xbox Live games coming to Windows 8 has been unveiled, including some new, some classics and the now-obligatory Angry Birds.
This is the first wave of games heading to the new OS and as such they'll be available on all Windows 8 PCs, laptops and tablets from October 26; more games will be announced in due course.
Of the list of 40, some 29 come by way of Microsoft Studios; the rest come from outside studios including Rovio, Gameloft and Glu Mobile.
Some of the games (although it's not yet clear which) will be exclusive to Windows 8, while others are already big hitters in the mobile arena (Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope…).
The list in full:
4 Elements II Special Edition
A World of Keflings
Adera: Episode 1
Adera: Episode 2
Adera: Episode 3
Angry Birds
Angry Birds Space
Big Buck Hunter Pro
BlazBlue Calamity Trigger
Collateral Damage
Crash Course GO
Dragon's Lair
Field & Stream Fishing
Fruit Ninja
Gravity Guy
Gunstringer: Dead Man Running
Hydro Thunder Hurricane
iStunt 2
Jetpack Joyride
Kinectimals Unleashed
Microsoft Mahjong
Microsoft Minesweeper
Microsoft Solitaire Collection
Monster Island
PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX
Pinball FX 2
Reckless Racing Ultimate
Rocket Riot 3D
Shark Dash
Shuffle Party
Skulls of the Shogun
Team Crossword
The Harvest HD
Toy Soldiers Cold War
From Major Nelson via The Verge


text: 3 years & up. Encourage cooperative and imaginative play with these beautifully detailed dolls. A mother, father, son, and daughter, all dressed in colorful clothes, are sure to delight and excite your child. Made from recycled rubber wood and coated with a non-toxic finish. All colors are made from vegetable dye. Adult dolls are approximately 5" high.


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The following events were supplied to us by festival organizers and tourism offices throughout the state, and selected by Midwest Living editors. This is not intended as an all-inclusive list of all events in this state. If you decide to go, call first: Dates and specific events can change at the last minute.
For Events Outside Wisconsin:
Illinois Events
Indiana Events
Iowa Events
Kansas Events
Michigan Events
Minnesota Events
Missouri Events
Nebraska Events
North Dakota Events
Ohio Events
South Dakota Events
Outside the Midwest Events


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[SALE] Karmi Tea Canister {MOTO}
Measurements: 7.1 x 19.3cm / 2.4 x 7.6 inches
Material: Cherry Birch
Designed by Satoshi Yasujima, Tomoko Honda
Handcrafted in Japan
Orders are shipped from Japan using Japan Post mail services or Yamato Transport/UPS.
*Shipping options are currently limited due to COVID-19 and the current situation in Russia-Ukuraine.
See here for the full information on shipping.
Shipping cost is determined by weight or the size of the package and destination and it depends on the shipping option you select. You will see the available options for your chosen items at checkout.
Orders are typically shipped within 1-5 business days of your purchase if all items are in stock.
Yamato Transport / UPS Worldwide Expedited*: 4-8 Business Days / Starts from $20
UPS Worldwide Saver*: 2-4 Business Days / Starts from $23**
EMS (Japan Post/USPS): Available upon request - it can be more costly than Yamato/UPS but if you'd like a PO Box delivery please select EMS option.
*For purchase above $800, you will be collected custom/import fee upon arrival of package and this is responsible of the customer not Uguisu.
**Additional fee will apply for remote/extended areas.
*There are certain items that can not be sent by Yamato Transport such as tea and aroma mist. We may change the shipping method accordingly.
Yamato Transport / UPS EXPEDITED*: 5-8 Business days / Starts from $21
Registered Airmail (Japan Post/Australia Post): Starts from $9
*You may be collected custom fee upon arrival of package and this is responsible of the customer not Uguisu.
*There are certain items that can not be sent by Yamato Transport such as tea and aroma mist.
UPS Worldwide Saver*: 3-5 Business Days / Starts from $20
Additional fee will apply for extended/remote area.
*You may be collected custom/import fee upon arrival of package and this is responsible of the customer not Uguisu.
UPS Worldwide Saver: 2-4 Business Days / Starts from $19
*VAT, Import Tax & Fee will be collected upon delivery)
*Please remember there is 2~4 days processing time before we dispatch orders.
Registered Airmail: 5-15 Business Days / Starts from $13
Yamato Transport/UPS: 5-8 Business Days / Starts from $28
*Postal services for many countries in Europe are temporarily unavailable due to the current situation in Russia-Ukuraine.
We ship using UPS service to those affected countries for the moment, shipping cost starts from $25 and is determined by the size of the box.
Return Policy
Returns Policy
We will only provide a refund in the event of damaged or defective items that we cannot replace. If you wish to return or exchange an item you must first contact us within 7 days of arrival by email at hello [at] uguisustore.com
Pre-ordered or Backordered items, sale or discounted items can not be returned.
We will not be able to accept return or exchange of items if contacted after 7 days of arrival, so please make sure to open the package and check the contents as soon as the package arrives.
All customers are responsible for shipping costs as well as duties on all returned items. We can not refund shipping if the package has already been shipped.
When the package for your order gets returned to us after no re-delivery is arranged when you needed to, we can resend you the package but you will need to pay for the postage again. If you choose to cancel the items, we can refund the amount for the purchased items but not the postage as it has already been shipped and is totally non-refundable.


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It is not often that an established global brand comes to market. It's even rarer for that brand to be a professional sports franchise.
But if all continues on schedule, English soccer club Manchester United will price its IPO (explain this) on Thursday night and trade Friday on the NYSE.
Despite some warning signs from the club's balance sheet and ownership, the roadshow is scoring well in advance of the offering. Well, at least there are a lot of fans — sources tell CNBC that the presentation Monday in New York was full to capacity.
According to filings, the team will offer 16.7 million shares, priced between $16 and $20 per share. At the high end, the IPO will raise $330 million and value the team at $3.3 billion.
It's an appealing concept: Own a piece of the best-know pro sports team on the planet that has won 19 English league titles. But the question remains whether this will be an appealing investment.
When Malcolm Glazer bought the team in 2005 for $1.2 billion, it had no debt. Seven years later, the debt is approaching $700 million. Half of the funds from the IPO are expected to pay down debt, but the .
On paper, it's been the type of leverage buyout that gets criticized in mainstream media: Load it up with debt, take some money out, and then put it back on the open market.
In addition, a dual-class share structure will allow the family to retain full control. That's part of the reason this icon of the United Kingdom is listing in the United States. The London Stock Exchange does not allow it, and initially, the listing actually was slated for Singapore — which does allow a dual-class structure. But last fall, market conditions were too volatile, and it was moved to the United States.
That, in and of itself, is not a reason to be pessimistic about a franchise that turns a profit every year and actually has a track record of being a solid equity investment. Manchester United averaged better than 20-percent annual appreciation in the 14 years it traded prior to the Glazer family taking it private seven years ago.
Ultimately, it's not even a lopsided stock-ownership dynamic that has some hedge fund managers hedging on this deal. It's the debt. Just servicing it has been a drag on the team's budget. In recent years, pressure to service Man-U's debt has sucked hundreds of millions out of team coffers that could have been used to improve the product on the field (er, pitch). Because of that, hundreds of thousands of fans are disappointed that more money isn't going toward buying decent players.
Performance on the field has become a concern. Last season was a disappointment, made doubly damaging because Manchester United lost the league title to cross-town rival Manchester City, which is owned by a uber wealthy group from Abu Dhabi.
If the team doesn't win, it makes less money.
And there is the rub for the fans. But even though the use of proceeds is a frustrating topic for the faithful, the team made a huge financial splash in early August, announcing a sponsorship dealwith General Motors that will bring in more than $550 million through 2021. The team is clearly trying to send the message that even though it's been around since the 19th century, growth is still in the franchise's future. In fact, the IPO roadshow states that Manchester United is only in the early stages of monetizing its supposed 659 million fans across the world.
Another issue surrounding the IPO is accountability. Because of a loophole for foreign companies, which is buried in the JOBS Act, Manchester United will not have to report results every quarter. The franchise also does not have to give forward-looking guidance.
Pretty sweet deal ... for ownership. But what about investors?
Who wants shares in a company saddled with debt where shareholders - even big ones - have no control?
Some will buy for the same reason people bought shares in the Green Bay Packers, a stock that is such a novelty that shares have no dividend and cannot be sold for a profit. There will be appetite from wealthy fans who love the team and want that cocktail party power of claiming ownership of the famed Red Devils.
But that doesn't mean they'll make any money off of it.
What's more, there is very little in the way of comparison because it is a rarity to get the chance to exclusively trade a professional team. In the U.S., you can buy MSG — you get the NBA's New York Knicks. But you also get the NHL Rangers, a WNBA team, an arena and a TV network. Sorry, no Jeremy Lin.
With a company like Liberty Media , the Atlanta Braves baseball team is just one component in a huge portfolio of companies. Also in baseball, Nintendo owns most of the Seattle Mariners, while Rogers Communications has a small piece of the Toronto Blue Jays.
All of these are indirect ways to own a sports team.
In terms of direct ownership, outside the U.S., there are a handful of soccer teams that actively trade. For example, AJAX trades in the Netherlands; Juventus in Italy; Benfica in Portugal. Fenerbache is a lesser-known name. It is listed in Turkey, but has an annualized return of almost 14 percent.
The other aforementioned teams all have had NEGATIVE annualized returns.
Those are losing investments, and it is yet to be determined which category will fit Manchester United.


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Poor Pierson. Look how sad he is. His foot hurts and he doesn't understand why. He was so intent on chasing those wily squirrels that he only barely noticed when he snagged his toe. I didn't notice either because he didn't yelp. I only realized after he came back inside with a limp.
I admit I didn't take him to the vet right away. I checked his foot over myself and didn't notice anything extraordinary. I made him rest, though. Then I took him in the next day. They didn't do x-rays. But the vet felt his feet and found the fracture. Pierson was very brave. He didn't yelp once. But he did piddle on himself. Poor baby. 😦
There was nothing the vet could do about the fracture except give him some pain meds. I was a bit wary of giving meds because I knew it would mean Pierson would be back to running and chasing bunnies and squirrels, and then possibly aggravating his toe more. But I gave him the meds anyway and only let him out on a leash for the next few days.
The squirrels were thankful for the reprieve. But poor Pierson.
If you ever notice your dog limping, inspect his feet. Look on the skin pads, between the skin pads, the toe nails, and look for any noticeable breaks in the skin. Pay attention to if your dog whines or yelps. This could indicate a sprain or even a break. Pierson didn't whine or yelp and his fracture was too small for my inexperienced hands to feel. Even though the vet didn't do anything other than give Pierson meds, it is a good idea to take your dog to the vet to have them check the injuries. In some cases, more can be done. Also, you will have peace of mind in knowing exactly what's wrong and what, if anything, can be done about it.
*Update* It has been nearly a month since this happened. Pierson's toe is still a little swollen, but he's no longer limping. He's back to chasing bunnies and squirrels every chance he gets. Lesson not learned.


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Central American leaders convening at White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is summoning Central American leaders to the White House to discuss the influx of young immigrants from their countries to the U.S., hoping to show presidential action even as Congress remains deeply split over proposals to stem the crisis on the border.
The meeting comes as the administration is considering creating a pilot program giving refugee status to young people from Honduras, White House officials said Thursday. The plan would involve screening youths in their home country to determine whether they qualify for refugee status. The program would be limited and would start in Honduras but could be expanded to include other Central American countries.
Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, speaking Thursday in Washington, said he hadn't heard about the plan but expected it to come up Friday. He said Central American nations have sought to pursue a unified approach. "We expect that the solution to this problem also is equal for the three countries," he said.
Besides Molina, Obama was to host Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren on Friday, the day after they met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are considering Obama's requests for emergency funds and additional authority to send unaccompanied children back to their home countries more quickly. Those lawmakers appear unlikely to resolve their differences on either front before leaving Washington late next week for their annual August recess.
More than 57,000 minors have arrived since October, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The trio of nations has become one of the most violent regions in the world in recent years, with swaths of all three countries under the control of drug traffickers and street gangs that rob, rape and extort ordinary citizens with impunity.
In recent weeks the number of children being apprehended daily has fallen by roughly half, but White House officials said seasonal patterns or other factors unrelated to the administration's efforts may be to thank for some of the decline.
Republicans in the House of Representatives were holding special meeting Friday morning to discuss a way forward.
With critics claiming Obama's own policies triggered the crisis, the president has been eager to demonstrate an aggressive approach to reducing the flow of immigrants and returning those found not to have a legitimate claim to stay here.
The U.S. has mounted a communications campaign to inform Central American residents that they won't be allowed to stay in the U.S., and Obama sent a team to Texas this week to weigh the possibility of dispatching the National Guard to the border.
Under the in-country screening program the White House is considering, the legal standard for youths to qualify for refugee status would remain the same as it is for those who seek the status after arriving in the U.S., officials said, adding that the goal is to deter children who would not ultimately qualify for refugee status from attempting the dangerous trek. The officials briefed reporters ahead of Obama's meeting on the condition they not be identified by name.
Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with the Guatemalan and Honduran presidents Thursday. He said he was impressed by what the leaders were doing to crack down on human trafficking. Yet he said he also made clear the responsibility those governments had to follow through as the U.S. considers sending more money to Central America to help address the problem.
Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency spending, but lawmakers were looking at cutting that number down significantly. At the same time, Republicans said they wouldn't agree to any money without policy changes to give the government more authority to turn kids around fast at the border and send them home.
Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP


text: I have a 330ST Aircrafter in my shop that I inherited when I came onto the project. When I first began using it for TIG a few months ago, I was able to establish an arc from about 1/16" - 1/8" away from my work. Now, for some reason I can only establish an arc by way of a scratch start. Is there a switch or setting I'm not aware of that may have been bumped which might have directly affected this problem? I have downloaded the users manual but can't find anything specific to "scratch start" options.


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Wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous New Year in year 2011. May this new year bring many opportunities your way to explore every joy of life. I Hope this New Year fills your life with happiness and perfect health always, much more success and happiness.
As we wind up with year 2010, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the visitors, readers, followers of my blog for their encouragement, feedbacks and support. Please keep visiting and send me your feedback. Based on your feedback, I have launched another site Dailydotnettips.com explicitly for .NET Tips.
In a personal note, one of my best moment in year 2010 was getting married with Ananya.
There are many new things coming at "Abhijit's World of .NET" for all of you in year 2011. So, Keep visiting here and follow me @AbhijitJana for quick update.
Again, Thanks you and a very very happy new year 2010 !
Thanks !


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SAN ANTONIO – Years after discontinuing treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin), the benefit as measured by overall survival continues to accrue to women with breast cancer who took the drug for a year as adjuvant therapy, researchers reported here.
At a median of 8.4 years, 84% of women with operable HER2-positive breast cancer who were treated with chemotherapy and trastuzumab were alive, compared with 75.2% of women who were treated with similar chemotherapy but not with trastuzumab – an absolute 8.8% reduction and a 37% relative reduction in the risk of death (P<0.0001), said Edward Romond, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington.
Action Points
- Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
- Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer had improved disease-free and overall survival if they received 1 year of adjuvant trastuzumab in addition to chemotherapy, researchers found.
- Note that compared with those receiving chemotherapy alone, the addition of trastuzumab also decreased distant metastases and local progression out to a median of 8.4 years of follow-up.
The women in the combined National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-31 study and the North Central Cancer Treatment Group N9831 trial received trastuzumab therapy for a year, but treatment difference in favor of trastuzumab therapy widened at every time point, Romond said at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
At 4 years the absolute difference in overall survival was 2.9%, he said. At 6 years it was 5.5%; at 8 years the difference was 7.6%, and now at 10 years, he said, it was 8.8%.
Overall survival wasn't the only benefit to patients who took trastuzumab in addition to chemotherapy, Romond said. "For patients with high risk HER2-positive breast cancer, treatment with this regimen reduces the risk of a disease-free survival event at 10 years by 40% (P<0.0001)," he said.
In the combined trial, patients received chemotherapy of doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel and were randomly assigned either trastuzumab for 1 year or no trastuzumab. The two trials were combined when it was argued they were basically treating the same cancers with similar therapies, Romond said.
Of the 2018 women who were treated with chemotherapy alone, 680 events occurred, compared with 473 events among the 2028 women who also were treated with trastuzumab. Those events were mainly the appearance of distant recurrences - 391 cases in the chemotherapy group and 227 with trastuzumab. There were 124 local/regional recurrences among those patients getting just chemotherapy, compared with 84 cases in the trastuzumab group.
In addition, 40 cancers were observed in the contralateral breast among those on chemotherapy compared with 46 cases among the trastuzumab patients. A second primary cancer was observed in 74 chemotherapy patients and 67 trastuzumab patients. Romond said 31 women in the chemotherapy group died without recurrence, as did 38 women in the trastuzumab group.
"The relative risk reduction benefit for disease-free survival and overall survival was present and of similar magnitude in virtually all subsets of patients analyzed," he said.
"The results of these studies confirm that trastuzumab therapy should be the standard of care for woman with HER2-positive breast cancer," Steven Isakoff, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, told MedPage Today.
"In the United States this has been a very well accepted standard of care for several years," he said. "These results show that there is more than a one-third reduction in the risk of death from HER2-positive breast cancer. This is quite impressive."
Romond and Isakoff had no disclosures.
Primary Source
San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Source Reference: Romond E et al, "Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-positive breast cancer: Final planned joint analysis of overall survival from NSABP B-31 and NCCTG N9831" SABCS 2012; Abstract S5-5.


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McDavid's shootout goal lifts Oilers past Blues 3-2
ST. LOUIS — Connor McDavid hasn't always looked like a natural in shootouts.
The work he's put in showed up Wednesday night.
McDavid scored in the shootout after Oscar Klefbom tied it late in the third period, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Wednesday night.
McDavid improved to 7 for 13 in shootouts for his career. It was his fifth game-deciding shootout goal.
"You know we're a pretty confident team once it gets past 60 minutes," McDavid said. "We felt pretty good about the overtime period, but obviously it was our first shootout, but we got the win."
Klefbom scored with 55.2 seconds remaining to tie it at 2, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid scored in the shootout. Nugent-Hopkins also scored in the second period, and Edmonton won for the fourth time in five games.
"The timing's been good lately with my goals and I'll take that," Klefbom said. "It gives us so much confidence to win a game like this."
Cam Talbot made 28 saves, plus two more in the shootout to win for the first time in seven tries dating to Oct. 28.
"Guys did a great job in front of me," Talbot said. "After that first period, we adjusted some things and tightened up and that's what we needed to do tonight. It was a big team win, and that's a good confidence booster going home."
Ivan Barbashev and Brayden Schenn scored for the Blues, who lost for the fourth time in their last five games. Jake Allen made 34 saves as St. Louis lost for the fourth time this season after taking a two-goal lead.
"We got caught in a three-fourths ice game there," Blues interim coach Craig Berube said. "We just stopped making plays, and when you stop making plays, you get the puck out and they just pound it back in and that's their game."
Klefbom scored on a slap shot through traffic from just inside the blue line with Talbot pulled for an extra skater. Klefbom has a point in five straight games.
"I saw the big wind-up," Allen said. "I knew he was going far side so I tried to push over there, but I just didn't get a good enough read on it."
Barbashev gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 6:05 of the first, burying Oskar Sundqvist's feed from behind the net short-side. Schenn made it 2-0 with 6:28 left, banking the puck off the far post at a severe angle. Schenn has 13 points in 13 career games against Edmonton.
Nugent-Hopkins got Edmonton on the board at 4:04 of the second. After Darnell Nurse's centering pass went off of Blues center Robert Thomas' skate, Nugent-Hopkins chipped it in from in between Thomas' legs.
"We didn't have a good first period," Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I thought the first period was one of the poorest periods we've played, and I thought the second period was the best period we've played on the road by a mile."
Wayne Gretzky and Curtis Joseph were in attendance. Gretzky played for the Oilers from 1979-1987 and finished the 1995-96 season with the Blues. Joseph, who played for the Blues from 1989-1995, was promoting his autobiography, "Cujo."
NOTES: Oilers C Leon Draisaitl had his four-game point streak snapped. ... Blues C Ryan O'Reilly has won at least 15 faceoffs in a game 10 times this season. ... Hitchcock coached the Blues from 2011-2017 and amassed a 248-124-41 record. ... The Oilers scratched D Chris Wideman, D Jason Garrison and C Drake Caggiula. ... The Blues scratched LW Sammy Blais, LW Alexander Steen and D Jordan Schmaltz.
Edmonton: Host Minnesota on Friday.
St. Louis: Play at Winnipeg on Friday


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Verizon annual cybersecurity report: 'The bad guys are winning'
It's not just your imagination. It's getting uglier out there in cybersecurity land.
The latest grim picture comes courtesy of Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report. Scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday, the report taps information from more than 50 organizations around the world to analyze more than 63,000 security incidents and 1,300 confirmed breaches.
Amid the onslaught of breaches and statistics, the report also tries to offer some hope that organizations such as Verizon are starting to better leverage information about cyberattacks to craft strategies to fight back.
"After analyzing 10 years of data, we realize most organizations cannot keep up with cybercrime – and the bad guys are winning," said Wade Baker, principal author of the Data Breach Investigations Report series, in a statement. "But by applying big data analytics to security risk management, we can begin to bend the curve and combat cybercrime more effectively and strategically."
This year's report says that 97% of attacks fall into nine categories, including denial of service attacks, cyberespionage and point-of-sale intrusions.
Because each report includes more sources of information than the year before, it doesn't serve as a benchmark as to how much cybercrime is increasing each year. Instead, it serves as an overview as to what types of hacking methods are being used and who is being attacked.
One particularly alarming development this year comes in a chart that compares the amount of time it takes on average for someone to hack into a network compared to the amount of time it takes to detect that intrusion. While hackers are taking less time to gain entry, it's taking organizations longer to spot them.
"The bad guys are getting in really fast," said Chris Porter of Verizon Enterprise Solutions. "And the good guys are only detecting that some of the time. That's probably one of the most sobering charts in the report. It really shows the gap between our detection capability. We need to figure out how to detect things faster."
RadioShack cuts price of iPhone 5s to $99
Venture capital spending at highest level since end of dot-com bubble
Heartbleed: Most of the Web's top sites now immune to bug, firm says


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Always Fresh
Our independent restaurant is dedicated to serving artisan quality food in big portions that are always fresh. Once you have an item from our menu, you'll be back for more.
Lakeside Pizza and Grill is a proud to support Steiner Ranch families and schools. Click the button below to learn more about our community efforts.


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When Sherri entered the first grade at Vera Kilpatrick Elementary in the fall of 1970, she was your average, toe-headed little girl whose whole family adored her.
Sherri was the third of three children born to James and Barbara (Bobbie) Harris. Her mother was thirty-five when she was born and we were all soon to know that we had ourselves a "rotten" little girl. This was just fine as would testify any member of the family including her big sister Trudie and big brother Mike as well as half-sister Pat.
You could not keep from loving her!
She had a little mischievous grin and a twinkle in her eye and loved to have fun. She loved to get hugs and return them!
On a weekend in May 1971, while playing with some neighborhood children – one of the boys kicked Sherri in her side as they fell while playing on a tractor inner tube. To this day, her older sister, Trudie, can tell you the kid's name.
Later, Sherri complained to her mother that her side was hurting. While giving her a bath, Bobbie noticed that her side seemed swollen. She called the doctor and he said to bring her on to the emergency room now or I'll be hearing from you at 2 a.m. with a stomach ache.
That trip to the hospital would prove to be the worst news that anyone could imagine. After tests, it was determined that Sherri had a growth in her side and arrangements were made to travel to Houston, Texas and enter the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Minds went back to the boy kicking Sherri and questions of how and why? No, the kick did not cause the growth – which was later identified as a Wilms' tumor, it just caused enough pain that the bad tumor was noticed.
Her daddy, James had total support of his employer as did Bobbie. This was only the beginning of such support from family and friends that it is still unbelievable.
Her grandmother, Mrs. Julia Pittman, sisters, brother and aunts, cousins, neighbors, teachers and folks they really didn't know too well made trips to Houston numerous times. Monetary gifts, clothes for this precious six year old and gifts, gifts, gifts!
During the next six weeks, time flew and also was too slow. James sat vigil there at the hospital making craft items, such as key chains, billfolds and other things. Most of the family received some of these that made you know – the making of these had possibly helped him hold his sanity.
Even though the team of doctors worked night and day to help, the end came for Sherri Lea Harris on the morning of May 20, 1971.
The world seemed to stop!
Memories are treasured and live in our hearts!


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|CAS Number
|Molecular Formula
|Molecular Weight
|InChI Key
cis-Tetrahydropentalene-2,5(1H,3H)-dione can be analyzed by this reverse phase (RP) HPLC method with simple conditions. The mobile phase contains an acetonitrile (MeCN), water, and phosphoric acid. For Mass-Spec (MS) compatible applications the phosphoric acid needs to be replaced with formic acid. Smaller 3 µm particles columns available for fast UPLC applications. This liquid chromatography method is scalable and can be used for isolation impurities in preparative separation. It also suitable for pharmacokinetics.
The Newcrom columns are a family of reverse phase-based columns. Newcrom A, AH, B, and BH are all mixed-mode columns with either positive or negative ion-pairing groups attached to either short (25 Å) or long (100 Å) ligand chains. Newcrom R1 is a special reverse phase column with low silanol activity.Select options
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text:
February 24, 2009— -- The Chicago-based Northern Trust bank may have received $1.6 billion in federal bailout funds, but that did not dampen the lavish long weekend featuring a golf tournament and headliner music the bank threw in Los Angeles last week, much of which was caught on tape by the celebrity news outlet TMZ. Critics are up in arms over yet another apparent boondoggle hosted by a bank that received federal bailout funds.
Members of Congress are now asking Northern Trust for their money back, saying the bank should "immediately return to the federal government the equivalent of what Northern Trust frittered away on these lavish events", according to a letter sent by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, along with 17 Democrats on the committee, to Northern Trust's CEO.
"At a time when millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, businesses and consumers are in dire need of credit, and the government is trying to keep financial institutions – including yours – alive with billions in taxpayer funds, this behavior demonstrates extraordinary levels of irresponsibility and arrogance," the letter states.
"They didn't get the message," said Tom Schatz, President of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. "Somewhere along the line they have to be more accountable."
This is the second year in a row that the bank has hosted the Northern Trust Open, a golf tournament held at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. The bank described it as "an integral part of Northern Trust's global marketing activities". But according to TMZ, the parties surrounding the event featured multiple rock concerts, gift bags from Tiffany's, and private dinner parties at luxury hotels.
TMZ's cameras were rolling when Sheryl Crow took the stage at the House of Blues in West Hollywood for a small private party. (Click here to see TMZ's video of the Sheryl Crow concert)
They also took video of the band Chicago performing at the Ritz-Carlton after a dinner hosted by Northern Trust. (Click here to see TMZ's video of the Chicago concert)
Northern Trust says it did not approach the federal government for bailout funds, but rather "agreed to the government's goal of gaining the participation of all major banks in the United States."
"The key point is Northern Trust is a business that earned an operating net income of $641 million last year," said senior vice-president Douglas Holt. "We paid for these events ourselves. They were paid for as part of a business decision regarding an annual event to show appreciation for clients. Northern Trust is not a bank that was or is losing money and therefore had to go to the government for assistance."
Northern Trust Recently Cut 450 Jobs
But the bank took a strikingly different tone in December when it announced it would eliminate 450 jobs.
"The macroeconomic environment has been extraordinarily difficult and has impacted all segments of the global economy," said the bank's CEO Frederick Waddell.
"Our decisions, while difficult, will further enhance Northern Trust's position amid challenging conditions, while maintaining our focus on clients and those activities in which we have significant competitive advantage and continue to see opportunities for growth," said Waddell.
Some in Congress say whether or not the bank sought the funding, once they accepted it they have a responsibility to the taxpayer.
"This type of spending is outrageous and disgraceful. The government did not hand over $1.6 billion for Northern Trust to go off partying or give away taxpayer-subsidized trinkets from Tiffany's," said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) who sits on the House oversight committee.
"This is money that should be used to expand lending or pay the salaries of the hundreds of employees that the company recently laid off," said Rep. Cummings.
Northern Trust says it is using the bailout money to support lending and that the expenses for the golf weekend came from their operating expenses, which do not include the federal funds.
"The CPP [Capital Purchase Program] capital is also supporting high quality loan growth, benefitting clients and institutions. As of December 31, 2008, our loans and leases totaled $30.8 billion, a 21% increase from 12/31/07 and a 3% increase from 9/30/08," said Holt.
Critics Say Bank Could Have Cut the Costs of the Event
Northern Trust did not reply to ABC News' inquiries about the cost of the performances nor about the costs of the accommodations for Northern Trust's clients and executives. A spokesperson did issue a statement saying the bank signed a five year contract to host the golf open in the fall of 2007, a year before the bank accepted federal funds, but made no comment on when the concert commitments were made. (Click here to read Northern Trust's full statement)
Critics say even if the bank has contractual obligations, money could have been saved by canceling concerts or staying in budget accommodations.
"That's really the issue more than prior commitments," said Schatz. "You can cancel a concert."
"You've recently fired 450 employees," said Schatz, "so this certainly isn't great for the morale of other employees or for the morale of taxpayers."


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If you just bought a Surface Pro, get ready to upgrade by July 2017, because that's when Microsoft will drop support for the Windows 8 Pro tablet.
Microsoft's support website (opens in new tab) reveals that the Surface Pro will be subject only to "mainstream" support, which will end halfway through 2017, PCWorld reported on Tuesday.
That gives the Surface Pro a nearly four-and-a-half-year lifespan, matching last year's announcement that support for the Surface RT will expire in April 2017.
Four and a half years may seem like a decent lifespan, but it could also be construed as an indication of how Microsoft sees the Surface tablets in regards to business customers.
None of your business
Microsoft's business-oriented products are usually granted an additional five years of support after mainstream support dries up, called the "extended" support phase.
Neither Surface tablet gets that extended support, demonstrating that Microsoft apparently considers even the Surface Pro, with its full version of WIndows 8, more of a consumer-facing tablet.
TechRadar considered at length whether the Surface Pro is right for business users, but now it seems like Microsoft has provided us with an answer.
On the other hand
Microsoft is just following the lead of its competitors, though, and that four years plus of support seems downright generous in comparison with Apple, which ceased support for the original iPad just two years after its launch. The 2010 tablet was never updated to iOS 6.
If Microsoft offers annual hardware iterations for the Surface, then customers will likely be itching to buy a new one by 2017 anyway.
During the Surface RT and Surface Pro's mainstream support phases, Microsoft will offer hardware repairs (free under warranty), replacement parts and units, and telephone-based support for the Windows 8 tablets.
Windows 8 itself will be supported for the full 10 years (five mainstream, five extended) of support, according to a support website FAQ (opens in new tab).
It states that "the software embedded in [the Surface device] is subject to the Microsoft software lifecycle support policy, as is any software that is installed or downloaded on that Surface device."
Via PC World


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In Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), I enjoyed seeing Ranbir revise his baap Rishi Kapoor's Bachna Ae Haseeno tune from Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (1977), with playback singer Kishore Kumar and music by R.D. Burman. Out of respect, let's view the senior's version first:
Now here's a modern reworking of the tune with Rishi's son, Ranbir:
Great job Ranbir, but sorry to tell you your dad wins this round, simply for the fact that he wore that great heart necklace. Old is gold. Which one do you prefer? Now here's a bit about the movie:
The film follows the journey of Raj Sharma (Ranbir Kapoor) from the age of 18 to 30 and how he meets three girls at different stages of his life : Mahi (Minissha Lamba) – a small-town girl from Punjab, Radhika (Bipasha Basu) – a model from Mumbai and Gayatri (Deepika Padukone) – a NRI taxi driver and student from Australia. The film is about a boy who goes from one love affair to another, only to run into true love. (source)
Raj has had 2 girlfriends, Mahi and Radhika. He leaves them both without too much thought about their feelings and the consequences of his actions. Then he finally falls for a girl who can't commit to him, the taxi driving, convenience store working, college attending Gayatri.
So now the shoe is on the other foot. (Is that also a saying in Hindi? The shoe is on the other foot?) Finally Raj understands how Mahi and Radhika must have felt when he wouldn't commit to them. To make amends for his playboy living and redeem himself for true love, he goes back to apologize to the 2 women he's hurt years earlier.
When he first met Mahi, Raj played into her romantic DDLJ inspired fantasies. Mahi overhears him talking crassly about her to his friends at the airport. She'd been tricked! She's devistated and looses her trust in love.
Years later we return to Mahi's home in the Punjab, and to place us in Amritsar, there's a requisite shot of the Golden Temple. Her husband is the super hot Kunal Kapoor, I mean Joginder Ahluwalia. Joginder is a proud Sikh man, who loves his wife. Joginder is wealthy, and wears a Hermes scarf.
I must add that I was in Amritsar a few months back and saw nobody wearing a Hermes scarf, but I did see a guy wearing a shower cap covered in strawberries. I drove by him so fast, but I wanted to shout to him, "Yaar, did you ever see Strawberry Shortcake?" See the Strawberry Shortcake Sikh.
So Raj makes the trek to Amristar to apologize to Mahi, but encounters her husband first. Jogi has all the trappings of marriage from Mahi, but not her love, since Raj robbed her of her belief in romantic love years before. Joginder takes Raj out to the woods to so he can talk man to man, drink some Johnnie Walker (Black Label) and threaten him with a gun.
Raj finally gets his chance to apologize to Mahi who wears this smashing sari. I LOVED that sari!
Look at her bangles, and all that gorgeous fabric in the sari:
The song I really loved from the film wasJogi Mahi. Can you listen to it and not move? Impossible not to at least bob your head, or tap a toe to this. Vishal-Shekhar wrote the catchy tune and it's picturised on Ranbir Kapoor, Minissha Lamba & Kunal Kapoor. The playback singers are Sukhwinder Singh, Shekhar Ravjiani & Himani Kapoor
The second woman Raj goes back to apologize to is Radhika (Bipasha Basu). They been shacking up in Mumbai are all set to get married. Radhika and her pals plan on meeting Raj for a civil shaadi ceremony…
He leaves her waiting on the stop of city hall in Mumbai, and she never gets that marriage license.
Then he goes to Australia, just to make it clear he's really gone.
Fast forward several years and Raj now wants to apologize to Rahdika, who has now become a huge diva with a new naam: Shreya!
In order to gain forgiveness, Raj agrees to be Shreya/Rahdika's personal assistant. For days she treats him horribly and attempts to humiliate him. Raj's rejection fueled Rahdika to fame, yet she's bitter and afraid to love.
At last she breaks down and forgives him, only after telling him how she felt when he left her years before.
As they say in India: Why buy the holy cow, if you can get the doud for free?
Let me know what you thought of the film, and as always my mitr, all the best!


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You Don't Even Know Winona
In This November's Homefront, Winona Ryder Returns To The Cineplex With Her Very First Action Role. It's Another Unforgettable Character In A Body Of Work That's Left An Indelible Mark On The Movies As We Know Them. Here, The Mercurial Muse Spills On The Specter Of Success, Surviving Hollywood, And The Tragedy Of Strategypreorder V86
In This November's Homefront, Winona Ryder Returns To The Cineplex With Her Very First Action Role. It's Another Unforgettable Character In A Body Of Work That's Left An Indelible Mark On The Movies As We Know Them. Here, The Mercurial Muse Spills On The Specter Of Success, Surviving Hollywood, And The Tragedy Of Strategypreorder V86
Photography: Mario Testino
Styling: Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele
"Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, my first relationship, the air-quotes 'incident' that happened, and then the couple of awkward years of 'comeback, question mark?'"
Winona Ryder, star of more than 50 films, is laughing while reciting the usual topics brought up on interview junkets. "It's no fault of the press, they only have a few minutes with each person. But it's like, Does everybody have AMNESIA?!" She delivers this last sentence with a shrill Midwestern accent, because she's quoting Kathy Bates in Misery. Conversations with Winona come peppered with major movie moments such as this—a habit both endearing and dangerous, should any reporter unschooled in film trivia fail to notice she's merely being playful. Here's another:
"In one way, it's not offensive at all. But it's like, the word 'comeback' makes you feel like you're standing in line for another chance, like in Oliver when he steps up and says 'Please sir, can I have some more?' 'MORE?!'"
When paparazzi photos of Ryder looking gorgeous in a tank and jeans on the set of her new film, Homefront, surfaced, the "comeback" conversation began to percolate. Her new look has the fashion industry pointing its antennae in her direction once more, but she prefers to address another topic, one that's a bit unusual for an actress conducting an interview with a fashion magazine: she talks about movies. A lot. If this comes as a letdown, then you haven't heard the tale of the comedic Americanization of Jean-Pierre Jeunet during the filming of Alien: Resurrection, or the story of how Winona "looking like Joan Collins in an 80-pound sequin dress" approached Nicholas Hytner at the 1995 Academy Awards and told him she wanted to play teenage Abigail in The Crucible, or the one about the time she gave herself a cheap makeover at the Beverly Center to land the role of Veronica Sawyer in Heathers (after Jennifer Connelly turned it down). There are dozens of these anecdotes, which are so engrossing they could populate their own book, a behind-the-scenes volume on the highs, lows, and sheer absurdity of being a famous movie star at the turn of the millennium. This is, after all, the actress whose filmography includes roles in Heathers, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Mermaids, Reality Bites, Dracula, Night on Earth, Little Women, The Crucible, Celebrity, and Girl, Interrupted, as well as countless other contemporary classics.
Earlier this year, Ryder earned raves for her deep and haunting performance in The Iceman as Deborah Pellicotti, wife of contract killer Richard Kuklinski and a woman whose cluelessness belied a fervent level of denial. This month sees the release of Homefront, a Sylvester Stallone–penned drug-world action flick—a rare first for the 42-year-old actress, who has tried just about every type of role.
In the small town of Petaluma, California, there is a suburban legend that every kid hears about Winona Ryder's adolescence there. As the story goes, Ryder had attended Kenilworth Junior High School and dropped out after she was gay-bashed by a gang of male bullies who mistook her for an effeminate boy. "The lore! That did happen," she confirms with a nostalgic laugh. "I was obsessed with Bugsy Malone and had cut my hair short. I remember the halls were empty and these kids started shouting 'faggot,' and I didn't think they were talking to me. Walking home after leaving the nurse's office—and I've never talked about this—I remember pressing on the bandage because I wanted it to look more dramatic. I had this inner monologue going of Humphrey Bogart, like, 'being roughed up!' I was pretending I was in some gangster movie. It was oddly my way of dealing with it, because if I didn't, I probably would have been really scared." She had the instincts of an actor before she realized she was one. Once she transitioned to homeschooling in the wake of the incident, she found herself with spare time, so her parents enrolled her at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco—where she was ultimately discovered and cast in the movie Lucas. "Had I not been homeschooled I would not have been able to go," she reasons. "It's almost weird fate that it happened that way."
The rest is now Hollywood history, but perhaps what's most impressive about Ryder isn't the oeuvre that followed but her encyclopedic knowledge (and genuine love) of film. As we talk, she lavishes praise on fellow actresses from Jennifer Jason Leigh to Veronica Cartwright to Angela Bassett to Sandra Bernhard. She also fondly recalls the experience of making Girl, Interrupted with Angelina Jolie, whom she was adamant about casting (Ryder was the film's executive producer). The talent of others is something she is incredibly articulate about, and her memory for the names of any and all the crew she's worked with, from casting directors to makeup artists to stunt doubles, is astounding. "I love movies," she says. "What I love about Martin Scorsese is that he finds something good about everything—he never has anything bad to say. He finds the one good thing in movies that are kind of unbearable. So, I'll find the moment and I'll sit through something, even when it's on TV. It's why we keep going back—we're waiting to relive that moment, and it's wonderful! I've worked with actors who make a big point of telling you that they don't go to the movies. And you're like…then why are you doing this? And how can you be so good? I always wonder if it's true or not." At the time of our interview, Winona has just returned home to New York after spending a month shooting David Hare's Turks & Caicos on location, with Bill Nighy, Christopher Walken, Dylan Baker, and Helena Bonham Carter. "We are all sworn to secrecy about the plot," she says of the 2014 TV movie, second in a trilogy revolving around an ex-MI5 agent caught in a web of corruption. "It's an amazing piece of writing. I was completely floored because I hadn't read anything like that in such a long time, and David Hare is a legend."
Despite her vast experience on movie sets, she still gets starstruck. "The other night Christopher Walken, who is one of my favorite actors, was in hair and makeup and some of us were talking, but they were filming like ten feet away. He just looked at us and put his finger up to his lips, and I was like, Oh my God. I'm having an At Close Range moment! Remember when they're drowning the guy and Sean [Penn] is watching and there's that epic shot of Chris Walken going, 'SHHHHH.' All these iconic—I just can't! I feel so lucky that I still get those feelings where my heart skips a beat. The direction I got from David was, 'You're beaming too much! You're actually not supposed to be completely in love with all of these people.' So in some ways I still feel like a kid, even though I'm not a kid at all. When that goes, I'll probably hang it up."
Ryder's enthusiasm for choosing projects has put her career on an unpredictable path. Now in her early forties, she's reached an awkward age for film actresses—something she's managed to circumvent largely by accepting idiosyncratic roles that jump around in the age department. In recent years, she cosmetically matured herself to play Spock's elderly mother in Star Trek and stole each of her scenes as the aging ballerina Beth MacIntyre in Black Swan, her performance culminating in a pivotal scene where she stabs herself in the face with a nail file. "If you look at Bette Davis, she did all these incredible movies and then she didn't work for a little while, and then she did All About Eve. I always wondered if she was jumping the gun with age, which she also did in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But in my eyes she was still so beautiful and unique. There's no one like her."
When asked to comment on what it is about Winona Ryder that enchants time and again, her close friend designer Marc Jacobs is effusive. "She's not someone who's all over the red carpet or the gossip magazines," he says. "She's reserved and keeps to herself. I remember we had a show in L.A. and there was such a ruckus when she arrived, the photographers were so enthralled. I asked someone, 'Why is everybody freaking out?' And they said it's because she rarely goes out. She's a bit of an enigma. She's an incredibly present actress. I think of her as being very strong, but there is also that private side. She's super informed and it's something she keeps to herself, you don't really know that about her. And she's not overexposed. There is a surprise in seeing her and realizing there is no smoke and mirrors. She really is that beautiful and that smart."
Ryder admits that she isn't working and going out all the time simply because she doesn't want to. "It used to be that you commit to something and then basically you spend your year doing that. Now there's a constant conversation of how you have to keep working in order to remind people that you're around. You have to work to be relevant. If you don't then people will forget and the studios won't want you because they won't remember the last thing you did that made money. It's all about knowing when to listen to that conversation and—without sounding really hokey—when to tune it out and follow your heart. I was fired from a movie because I did Heathers! I was cast in a movie and the director saw an advance screening and was offended by it and fired me. It wasn't until years later that it became more appreciated."
Today, a new generation of actresses is navigating territory charted by Ryder from the '80s till now. When pressed about what type of advice she might give to a young star hoping to cultivate a similarly iconic career, Ryder is overtly cautious. "I was recently asked about Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence," she recalls. "In answering I was very genuine, and I did say I thought they were both incredibly talented. But I mentioned something about their privacy and how my heart goes out to them, and the feedback I got was like, 'How dare she!' It's just another example of something being taken out of context, the interpretation was that I pitied them or something. I guess people decide to take things a certain way for headlines or Internet hits. But these are great actresses! I don't know what they think of me. I would never give advice because I would feel very presumptuous. Their success is very different than mine was, and it's a different time."
Though she balks at offering her insight, she does see the big picture when it comes to her own trajectory in the limelight. "For me, half of it has been the sheer luck that I had with Tim [Burton] and Heathers. Honestly, if it wasn't for Beetlejuice, where would I be? That movie was a big thing for me. Subsequently I think what has kind of worked—and if this is a luxury, I don't know how I was afforded it—but I was not strategic at all. I do remember feeling a lot of pressure. I remember a lot of conversations where I was constantly hearing, You've gotta do this movie so you can do that movie. You've gotta make a big movie so you can make a small movie. But I can't act like that. When I think about the stuff I've turned down or the stuff I wasn't interested in, I don't have any regrets. Yes, there were some movies that went on to be really popular. But now how do they really fit into things? It's very interesting. My whole thing is anti-strategy, and I was constantly being told that I was going to go down in flames for certain decisions [laughs]. But I am sure that for as many roles that I turned down, there are some that I was never really offered to begin with!"
Now her anti-strategy has her selling meth, riding motorcycles, and kidnapping children. "She's this woman who had been in a biker gang, and that is a hard-core scene," Ryder says of her character, Sheryl, in Homefront. "What's creepy is that she's sober and she's running this drug operation with James Franco's character, and to me it's the epitome of evil, in a weird way. If it's possible to be a victim and be diabolical at the same time, I had never explored that. There was also a slightly campy, arm-candy element to her that appealed to me. She's such a complete CHICK. She's what you think of when you hear the words 'biker chick.'"
"We had a great understanding because we share so many tastes," costar Franco says of filming together. "She lives in her own world, but it's a nice world colored by literature, film, and all the best artists. I also had a crush on her when I was younger, so it was nice to actually play her lover."
In response to potential Oscar buzz about her role in Iceman, the two-time nominee takes it like a true pro—with a grain of salt. "It's easy to get lost in the pressure. But there is a general sense of support and there's a very nice camaraderie. I remember when Tom Hanks had won for Philadelphia and then won again for Forrest Gump the next year. I was sitting in his row and I was eavesdropping on some of the other actors talking, and he said something like 'It's kind of better to be one of the four who should have won than the guy people think didn't deserve it.' It's kind of a perfect metaphor for fame and success, and it's a funny thing with awards. There's always the inevitable backlash. But I love voting, and I always love watching them when they're on TV." Spoken like a true movie fiend. HOMEFRONT IS IN THEATERS NOVEMBER 27


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Adam Ondra Makes First Ascent of Iron Curtain (5.15b)
Adam Ondra has done it again, making the first ascent of yet another 5.15b on Saturday in Flatanger, Norway.
Adam Ondra has done it again, making the first ascent of yet another 5.15b on Saturday in Flatanger, Norway. The route, called Iron Curtain, was originally bolted by Lars Audun Nornes. According to Ondra's 8a.nu scorecard, he worked the route for six days and was forced to wait out several days of bad conditions. On the day of the send, Ondra describes how he "fell off one meter below the anchor because of wet hold in the morning, wanted to rest for the next day, but strong wind breaking the pole of the tents made me go out and send in a beautiful evening."
Ondra has established himself as one of the best sport climbers in the world in recent years. He has climbed at least 25 routes rated 5.15a or harder. In October 2012, he became the first person to climb a 5.15c when he redpointed Change, also in Flatanger. In March of this year, Ondra redpointed Chris Sharma's project La Dura Dura (5.15c) in Oliana, Spain. More recently, he became the second person to onsight 5.14d when he climbed La Cabane au Canada in Switzerland one month ago. With better weather in the forecast for Norway, Ondra hopes to spend the rest of his time in Norway working a few projects he bolted back in May.


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Violence escalates in eastern Ukraine, Odessa
ODESSA, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces battled pro-Russian militants Monday in eastern Ukraine as militants in Odessa vowed to retake buildings they were forced out of amid clashes that left more than 40 people dead.
Ukrainian troops pressed forward with an offensive against militants in Slovyansk, a city in eastern Ukraine that has become a center of militant unrest.
Gunfire and multiple explosions could be heard in the city of 125,000 people. The United States and Kiev say the takeovers are an illegal attempt by militants to overthrow the elected government of Ukraine with the help of Moscow.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said about 800 pro-Russia forces deployed large-caliber weapons and mortars, Russia's state-controlled Interfax news agency reported. He said four officers were killed and 30 wounded in the fighting.
Pro-Russian Ukrainians in the Black Sea port city of Odessa vowed to take city buildings after attending the funeral of a politician who died in a fire that killed more than 40 people.
Regional parliament member Vyacheslav Markin, an opponent of the Ukrainian government, was buried Monday while about 300 pro-Russian supporters shouted, "Hero, hero!"
Markin died Sunday after he and 41 others were caught in a building fire during clashes Friday between pro- and anti-government factions.
Many people at the funeral wore the St. George black-and-orange ribbon that is a symbol of pro-Russian armed militants who have taken over government buildings.
"This city has never seen such upheaval. Such moments in history are not forgotten," said Pyotr Volkov, a doctor and a former lawmaker who was a friend of Markin's.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk visited Odessa and said Russia is directing "well-prepared and organized action against people, against Ukraine and against Odessa." He blamed government security forces for failing to prevent the fighting in Odessa, calling the deaths a "tragedy of all of Ukraine."
Pro-Russian demonstrators stormed police headquarters Sunday and won the release of 67 people detained there after the weekend fighting.
The fighting in Odessa escalated Friday when supporters of Ukraine's government tried to clear an encampment of Russian sympathizers on Kulikovo Field Square, burning their tents. Pro-Russians took refuge in the trade union hall on the square. Gas bombs thrown by both sides could have triggered the fire.
"I am shocked that this happened, I can't believe it," said Svetlana Lvova, a teacher who came to lay flowers in the burned-out trade union hall. "Husbands and wives are fighting with each other about what side to take."
Flowers, candles and the bloodied clothes of the dead activists mingled with debris, broken glass and ashes. Men sobbed.
"I don't want to be called a separatist. We don't want to secede from Ukraine," said Anatoly Kuznetsov, an archivist in Odessa whose family, like those of many here, has Russian roots. "But we hope that Russia won't leave us in our sorrow. We are weak. We are not aggressive."
Moscow annexed Ukraine's breakaway republic of Crimea and has threatened to invade Ukraine to protect the Russian-speaking population after demonstrations in Kiev toppled the pro-Moscow regime of President Viktor Yanukovych in February amid street clashes that killed about 100 people.
"Maybe we should have spoken out louder about what the people wanted, but we could not be heard," said Volkov on the sidelines of Markin's funeral. "[Markin] spoke out louder than most. Maybe his death will unify and awake people."
Volkov said he supported wider autonomy for Ukraine's regions. He said this should be achieved without Russia's help.
"I think we can decide on our own fate, but for that to happen, the people have to be heard. We have to learn to listen to people with different opinions," Volkov said. "We don't need help from America or from Russia."


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These are some images from our visit to the TECO (Tampa Electric Co) Manatee Viewing center and the nearby Apollo Beach.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron, it looks like it is surrounded by sudsy water. Not sure what the foamy white stuff is, not snow. Whatever it is, it comes out of the TECO plant.
Tricolored Heron
Teco Manantee Viewing Center
The cold weather or water temps drop in Florida, the manatee arrive at the Teco Plant.
Closeup of the nose and face of the Manatee
What a cutie!
Snowy Egret
As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!