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The Promise movement is gathering momentum
Many historically industrial-based U.S. communities are searching for cures for what ails them.
A three-day conference recently held in Kalamazoo, Mich., which was attended by the three authors of this column, brought together people interested in Promise programs from across the country. While the specifics of the programs vary greatly, each Promise is designed to increase access to post-secondary education by eliminating or reducing financial barriers.
The grand-daddy of all Promise Programs, Kalamazoo Promise, is only 8 years old and offers the most robust post-secondary financial aid package to Kalamazoo's public high school graduates. Anonymous donors provide the funding. Kalamazoo has a socioeconomic and educational history that closely parallels Rockford.
After 32 years of declining enrollment, the Promise and its halo effect on other community initiatives has given rise to one of the fastest-growing public school enrollments in the country. Juvenile crime is down 44 percent; the dropout rate has declined significantly; advanced placement course enrollment has exploded among all ethnicities; all-day kindergarten enrollments have increased from 170 to 900 students; and there has been a 68 percent increase in the number of children participating in summer reading programs.
Kalamazoo is a community that is focused on improving the educational attainment of every student. Community leaders firmly believe that the Promise is equally about social justice and economic development.
The regional economic development entity, Southwest Michigan First, presented the many benefits to the community following Promise implementation. They stated that without the Promise, Kalamazoo would be a markedly different community.
The Promise is a key element in the fabric of the community. Conference participants heard elementary school students enthusiastically speak about the Promise and their futures as college students.
Sixth-graders spend a day at Western Michigan University to further imprint the excitement and attainability of attending college. Representatives from the local community college described an array of initiatives adopted to improve student success. We witnessed heartwarming testimony from college students, recent college graduates and parents describing how the Promise has changed their lives.
Individuals representing more than 30 communities were at the conference, some with Promise programs in operation while others were exploring the merits of offering a Promise program. Other communities with operational Promise programs include Denver; Pittsburgh; El Dorado, Ariz.; Hartford, Conn.; Peoria; and Lynchburg, Va.
There are 10 state-sanctioned Promise Zones in Michigan, each having a Promise program. The source of program funding varies, but often has a large donation component. Some communities generate funding from a local economic development sales tax or a state tax pool generated by community-wide tax increment financing.
Materials presented by the Lumina Foundation illustrated that for individuals, the higher the educational attainment level, the reduced likelihood of job loss during the recent recession. In fact, among those holding a bachelor's degree or higher, there was increased employment.
The economic vitality and health of a community is shown over and over to be directly linked to the educational levels achieved by its community members. While this may take the form of college, it can also be other post-secondary specialized training.
The Lumina Foundation, recognizing the importance of an educated citizenry, has established Goal 2025 — to increase the number of U.S. citizens with quality post-secondary education to 60 percent. A community that settles for having its students earn their high school diplomas without additional training will simply not thrive.
The incubating Transform Rockford initiative is commendable. Addressing the educational aspirations of our community must be an integral part of returning Rockford to greatness. Make no mistake — this will not be easy. It will require community-wide involvement and a great deal of patience.
Brian Kobischka is Rockford Promise Board president. Elaine Breck and Matt Vosberg are on the board of directors.


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Today's placental and marsupial mammals range in form from mice and whales to koalas and kangaroos. Yet despite their considerable differences, these creatures share a striking dental similarity: they all have so-called tribosphenic teeth, specialized mortar-and-pestle-like molars that enable them to slice and grind their food efficiently. The third group of living mammals, the monotremes (represented today by the platypus and the echidna), lack teeth, but their ancestors, it seems, had the tribosphenic variety. The morphology of tribosphenic molars is so complex that researchers had largely assumed that they emerged only once in evolutionary history. A study published today in the journal Nature, however, suggests that in fact it happened twice on different continents, painting a radically different picture of mammal origins.
Paleontologist Zhexi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and his colleagues analyzed the teeth, jaws and skeletal remains of more than 20 mammal species, both extinct and extant. Whereas conventional wisdom holds that tribosphenic mammals arose on the northern supercontinent, Laurasia, the new results reveal two distinct tribosphenic lineages. One, the team reports, evolved on Laurasia and subsequently gave rise to the placentals and marsupials. The other arose on the southern landmass, Gondwana, and led to the monotremes.
As to the likelihood of the shrew-like ancestors of today's mammals evolving tribosphenic teeth in parallel, Duke University researcher Anne Weil writes in a commentary accompanying the Nature report, "This view of events does not require as unlikely a convergence as it might seem. Early mammals were small and endothermic (loosely speaking, warm-blooded), with high surface-to-volume ratios. They probably had high metabolic rates and correspondingly high nutritional requirements. Living shrews, which face the same constraints, have prodigious appetites. So survival probably depended on efficient food processing, and the tribosphenic dentition provides just that."

subset: commoncrawl


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Our Company
Dana Engineering, Inc. (DEI) is a small local business established in 1992 serving the Northwest USA, with an office in Richland, Washington. As the website demonstrates, DEI provides multi-discipline (mechanical, electrical, civil, structural,managerial, field support, base closure, etc.) professional and architect/engineering, including staff augmentation support. We assemble highly experienced professional teams for each contract or task. Services include conceptual and detailed designs, studies, and assessments and field inspections for a variety of facilities, utilities and infrastructures. Our employees are experienced in nuclear waste cleanup and nuclear power plants, and in plant operations, startup and commissioning. Local customer support satellite offices are established at customer locations whenever necessary.
DEI is a "small business as defined by the Small Business Administration, which allows us to compete on short-lists for "small business set-aside" government contracts. Dana Engineering also provides individual "Staff Augmentation" where our employees are assigned directly to the customer at their location.
Our registered professional engineers and designers have recently completed more than 30 scopes of work that require highly complex engineering solutions. These designs included gas distribution systems; roads; pipelines; fall protection compliance certifications; roof inspections; military telecommunications planning; metering,power distribution and UPS electrical systems; remote automatic valves and controls; tanks; and adapting PLC system controls for water plant operations. DEI's core competencies include not only A/E design, but also independent assessments and oversight, design and installation certified reports including field inspections and professional engineer stamped certifications. Other services include plant systems engineering,operations and construction support, operational readiness reviews, maintenance programs, quality assurance, training and corrective action assessments and reports.
Company Stability
Dana Engineering has excellent credit and financial ratings as noted by Dun & Bradstreet. We are fully capable of supporting payroll at any anticipated level without financial hardship. Dana Engineering has a co-employer relationship with a reputable payroll and benefits company for excellent management of payroll, full benefits, employee perks and the 401K program.
Security Clearance
The Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration has made a favorable Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI) determination for Dana Engineering and the facility clearance has been registered in the U.S. Safeguards and Security Information Management System. The President of Dana Engineering has held United States Q (US-DOE) and Secret (USN). clearances. .
Company Specialization
Dana Engineering specializes in:
Quality Assurance
Dana Engineering implements work in accordance with our NQA-1 and ISO 9000 Quality Assurance programs. We ensure contract compliance and program effectiveness by implementing a wide range of ISO-based requirements from project concept through closure. Dana Engineering has a dedicated NQA-1 quality assurance program for use on nuclear related projects.
Our Customers
Customers include Federal, State and Local government and private contractors, and the U.S. Army. Complex project assessments have been completed at DOE- nuclear, NRC-nuclear power, State-Ecology and U.S. Military base facilities.
Recent Dana Engineering customers include Washington River Protection Solutions (independent qualified registered professional engineers and inspectors), Mission Support Alliance (engineering designs, programming, training and assessments), State National Guard (electrical and telecommunications plans), Umatilla Depot Local Redevelopment Authority (U.S. Base Realignment and Closure - BRAC), Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (organizational assessments), Washington State Department of Ecology (hazardous waste permit compliance), the U.S. Army, U.S. Forest Service (HVAC design), the City of Kennewick Values Mapping conflict resolution. Dana Engineering is experienced in networking with other specialized teaming partners such as Arculus, LLC (architecture), Beacon Engineers, Inc. (structural), and Spink Engineering (civil).
As an example, Dana Engineering opened a branch office in Umatilla, Oregon, DanaEngineering led the "Dana Mission Support Team's" redevelopment planning efforts at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. We authored the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) redevelopment plan that allowed successful transition of the base ownership from Federal to local control. The "Dana Mission Support Team" worked for the Local Reuse Authority which is comprised of two counties, two port districts, the Confederated Tribes, the Oregon National Guard, and the State of Oregon.
For U.S. Army chemical and weapons facilities at both Umatilla, OR and Pine Bluff, AR Dana Engineering provided Quality Assurance (construction), Professional Engineer (P.E.) "Facilities Construction Certification" (FCC) program management & implementation Dana Engineering was the major support contractor for the "Operational Readiness Review" of the Umatilla Chemical Disposal Facility, allowing this complex facility to start-up.
Our Team
Dana Engineering's employees are seasoned engineering and management professionals with an average experience in excess of 30 years. The engineering and designer disciplines include Mechanical, Electrical, Control Systems, Civil and Structural. Our engineering team provides design engineering, environmental compliance, technical planning, training, risk analysis, and constriction and operation of complex industrial facilities. When it comes to managing risk, or designing, operating, and maintaining technology we can help you meet your most challenging goals. We work under rigorous deadline pressures to produce the highest quality results. Dana Engineering has gained a reputation for working alongside our customers at jobsite locations; thus achieving the highest customer satisfaction and meeting schedule commitments.
Dana Engineering Christmas Party
Employee Thank You Lunch by Client for
Operational Readiness Review


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We know that college is a major investment, not just for students but for their families as well.
At Pacific University, your student will receive a rich educational experience both in and out of the classroom. Our focus is the liberal arts and sciences — we believe in a broad education that prepares students for any journey they may take in their lives. But we also know that our graduates need jobs. That's part of why our students complete senior projects, work in internships, and gain real-world experience throughout their undergraduate experience.
In a recent survey, our undergraduate alumni from the last 10 years said that they felt well-prepared for the working world after attending Pacific University. Even better, 82 percent of them said they were working within six months of graduation.
Learn more about financial aid offerings, scholarship opportunities, and the support our Career Development Center offers soon-to-be and recent graduates.
And, remember, when your child attends Pacific University, you become part of the Boxer family as well. Find out how our Office of Parent Support can help you with the transition.


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"Basic Human Anatomy" is the funniest Community episode of the season. Granted, that's not saying as much as it might have in the past, but this still has more funny jokes than you'll find in many other shows, and once things get rolling—right around when the Dean is trying to convince everyone he's switched bodies with Jeff, but nobody's having any of it—there's a lot of great stuff going on. The storytelling is a little weak, in that it leans heavily on one of the season's weakest elements, but this is also an episode for people who wouldn't mind seeing Donald Glover impersonate Danny Pudi's Abed performance (and vice versa) for a half-hour, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Let's get out of the way the fact that this is a body-switching episode, something that shouldn't really work, even with a Community-esque spin on it. But Jim Rash's script immediately switches up from "Did Troy and Abed switch bodies?" (which they didn't) to "Why are Troy and Abed acting like they've switched bodies?", which makes the whole thing go down more smoothly. Glover and Pudi are both committed to the bit—and both have bits of playing each other that are absolutely hysterical (I particularly liked Pudi's take on Troy's default smile)—but it wouldn't work if it felt like the show were trying to suggest something impossible had actually happened. That the show almost immediately has everybody realize they're doing a bit saves the storyline from getting too precious, too quickly, and even if it's all a bit gimmicky (which it is), it's almost worth it just for the performances.
One thing that makes the episode work is that it's almost entirely set at Greendale. The show has been heading off campus quite a bit this season, with varying degrees of success, so it's nice to see an episode that just takes place on the familiar Greendale stomping grounds (okay, and at Señor Kevin's). In particular, it's great to have an episode that features large sections that take place just around the study table, and I liked how the episode began with an incident that sent everybody off on their own adventures. See, the group has a final history project due, and Annie and Shirley are battling to be valedictorian, so they're not just going to let everybody half-ass it. (If they do, then Leonard might be valedictorian, and who wants that?) This season has really returned Joel McHale to the center of the show, and I enjoyed watching Jeff's growing consternation with all of the bullshit standing in the way of him getting to do a "doable, passable" history project.
The episode's biggest weakness ends up being that it places so much emphasis on the Troy and Britta relationship. I can accept that the show's writers were handled something they didn't entirely know what to do with in the montage from the end of "Introduction To Finality," but the choice the writers made didn't work at all. For the first few episodes of the season, there was a distinct emphasis placed on the two as a couple, and then the show mostly seemed to forget about it, sending it all the way to the background of what was going on. Now, apparently, it's the one-year anniversary of their first date, and that's not just hard to believe but also seems chronologically impossible. (If last week was Christmas, then this episode seems to have caught up with where we are in late April. I demand to see the missing tapes!) They haven't even realized it's their anniversary, which prompts some soul searching about whether either member of this couple even wants to be a couple anymore. Hence, the body swap bit, which allows Troy a "safe space" to work out some of his feelings, while also having Abed be the one to break up with Britta.
Practically speaking, though, that ends up being a bit of a mess. The episode ends with Britta giving Troy a big hug in the study room, because they've talked about how they know how to be each other's friend and blah blah blah. But I just don't buy that, no matter how crazy this group gets, Britta would appreciate having her breakup with her boyfriend initiated by somebody else. Yes, Troy comes in and completes the conversation, but the whole thing doesn't work when it comes to recognizable human behavior, even for this show. Theoretically, this is supposed to be a story about Troy and Britta's relationship, but it becomes yet another story about Troy and Abed, which means that Britta becomes a passenger in her own storyline. I liked the ultimate reveal that Troy asked Abed to do the bit, and I liked the way that it was used for the two of them to skirt around some uncomfortable emotions, but it still runs the risk of infantilizing essentially everyone in the vague proximity of the storyline.
But, also, weirdly, I liked it. Some of that was Glover and Pudi's sense of playfulness, but some of it was also the ending, which doesn't make sense on a logical level but ends up making sense on a weird emotional level. When Britta goes in for that hug, it feels earned, even though it has no right to. I think some of this is just the fact that the show has been on for four years and can coast on some of those character relationships, and some of it is just that this is a potentially potent area the show hasn't bothered harvesting, and some of it is just the sheer forward momentum from having Gillian Jacobs and Donald Glover present and in that moment. I can't put my finger on why I ended up liking this storyline, despite finding so much of it logically unbelievable, but I found myself weirdly moved by it. (Oh, there it is: I think that Jacobs played Britta's ultimate moment of sympathy—when she realized that the "body swap" was Troy's coping mechanism—just about perfectly, allowing me to overlook the logical problems with the story.)
Now, that's a lot of stuff to dissect for an episode I liked quite a lot, but that's because that central plot didn't work as well for me as the other stuff did. In particular, I loved Jeff's tour through Greendale as he tries to just find this DVD so he can get back to his "real" life, and every time that the Dean impersonates Jeff—and gets Annie a little excited by doing so—it's a tremendously funny moment for Jim Rash, who essentially stands alone as the season MVP at this point, so far as I'm concerned. The Annie-and-Shirley storyline could have done with an extra scene or two—they pretty much just forgive each other because the episode runs out of time for them to do anything else—but this is a frequently fertile character pairing that the show should utilize more often, and they play well off of Rash's delirium.
Is "Basic Human Anatomy" the finest episode of Community ever produced? No. But it's an episode that takes a potentially insipid and unbelievable premise and finds something strangely heartfelt in it. The back half of the fourth season is piling up a nice number of episodes that I would classify as, "Episodes I wouldn't change the channel for, if they came up in the syndication package," and "Anatomy" is another one of those. It captures just enough character nuance and has just enough great jokes to succeed both on its own terms and as an episode of the show. Furthermore, it suggests a version of the season that had 22 episodes and gave the Troy and Britta relationship time to flesh out, a season that might have absolutely nailed that dynamic and made this episode all the more heart-breaking. Instead, we get a Cliff's Notes version of something that looks like a story, and thanks to some deft acting and some good jokes, it all comes together well enough.
Stray observations:
- I trust you all caught the October 19 reference on the whiteboard in the study room. That was surely for you.
- This is pretty clearly one of those episodes where Pierce was just left out of the action so Chevy Chase couldn't cause any wackiness on set, which makes the conclusion—where he finishes the group's project by making a bunch of Revolutionary War banners in a little under a half-hour—all the more poignant, in a weird way.
- The tag was one of my favorites the show has done in a while. Troy and Abed acting out outtakes, then the Dean plowing into the door, makes for some funny stuff.
- When the Dean is pretending to be Jeff, is he texting on a calculator? My screener was too small to make it out, but it sure seems like he is.
- The scene where the Dean says, "When Jeffrey was inside of me" over and over again is a great example of repetition killing a joke, only to bring it back around to where it's funny again.
- Leonard's had plastic surgery? Who knew?! It would explain why he looks so youthful, wouldn't it?
- I liked the bizarre, random gag of the janitors all having a murder-mystery night during the daytime. It was just weird enough to make me laugh.


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About the frames
Neostyle eyewear is one of the biggest heritage brands in the world, made up of classic frames from the 70's, 80's and early 90's. The "Neostyle Nautic 2" frame was most famously worn by the "King of Rock n Roll" himself, Elvis Presley. During his historic performance in 1972 at Madison Square Garden, Mr. Presley rocked the frames, contributing to the quick rise of the brand, as well as the high demand, making vintage classic Neostyle eyewear extremely popular still today. Vintage Neostyle eyewear has a knack for being funky and giving individuals a creative stylish flare. We have a great collection of vintage Neostyle eyewear here at the Vintage Frames Shop! Check it out!
These Vintage Sunglasses are brand new DEADSTOCK. You will be receiving the exact ones you see in the picture, please make sure you check out the whole frame. Should you have any questions, please contact us for details. We have staff available 24hrs a day to help make your shopping experience as easy as possible!
Add Extra Lenses
Add an extra pair of custom lenses with your vintage frames. We will custom cut these lenses to fit your frames. Let us know if you'd like them installed right away. You'll receive the original lenses with your order as well.


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Forensic & Laboratory Testing Expert Witnesses
You will find expert witnesses who may consult and testify in the area of forensics and laboratory testing by clicking on these links. Pathologists found here may advise regarding DNA, autopsies, and criminology. Consultants on this page may provide reports concerning fingerprints, footprints, forensic pathology, and forensic medicine, as well as related issues.
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This was indeed what we agreed upon last year in Lyon at TPAC. -----Original Message----- From: email@example.com [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] On Behalf Of Brian Birtles Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 4:55 PM To: David Dailey Cc: email@example.com; 'www-svg' Subject: Re: Dropping angle-bracket syntax for animation Hi David, Thanks very much for your feedback here. I just want to clarify a couple of things in defense of those who suggested dropping SMIL: a) No one's proposing dropping declarative animation altogether. Rather, the option that many seemed to prefer was replacing SMIL with CSS Animation. b) Everyone recognises that the folks who developed SMIL know their domain best. Everyone wants to build on that experience even if they don't use SMIL syntax per se. The real concern is that currently we have two competing models for animation which is not a good state of affairs for the Web platform. Myself and others have been considering how to harmonise the two models but some implementors expressed concern about investing time in implementing SMIL when CSS Animations already appears to have wider adoption. Regarding the last point about adoption however, we're mostly just guessing, I don't think anyone really has hard data on this. Also, it was recognised that there's a lot more HTML on the Web than SVG so it's not really a fair comparison. I believe Dean Jackson is going to look into what is required to bring CSS Animations up to feature parity before any resolution is made about how we go forward. I think it would also be useful to draw up a concrete proposal about how to merge the two models into one. It is something I would like to do but may not have the opportunity (although I made a start [1]). Thanks again, Brian [1] http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/WG/wiki/F2F/Seattle_2011/Agenda/Animations/HarmonisationReceived on Wednesday, 3 August 2011 14:51:12 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 19:49:38 UTC


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@UML(identifier="GM_Arc", specification=ISO_19107) public interface Arc extends ArcString
NOTE: In the model, anIn its simplest representation, the three points in the control point sequence for an
Arcis a subclass of
ArcString, being a trivial arc string consisting of only one arc. This may be counter-intuitive in the sense that subclasses are often thought of as more complex than their superclass (with additional methods and attributes). An
Arcis simpler than a arc string in that it has less data, but it is more complex in that it can return geometric information such as "center", "start angle", and "end angle". This additional computational complexity forces the subclassing to be the way it is. In addition the "is type of" semantics works this way and not the other.
Arc shall consist of, in order, the initial point on the arc, some
point on the arc neither at the start or end, and the end point of the
Arc. If additional
points are given, then all points must lie on the circle defined by any 3 non-colinear points in
the control point array. All points shall lie on the same circle, and shall be given in the
control point array in the order in which they occur on the arc.
NOTE: The use of the term "midPoint" for the center position of the control point sequence is not meant to require that the position be the geometric midpoint of the arc. This is the best choice for this position from a computational stability perspective, but it is not absolutely necessary for the mathematics to work.
|Modifier and Type
|Method and Description
Calculates the center of the circle of which this arc is a portion as a direct position.
Calculates the bearing of the line from the center of the circle of which this arc is a portion to the end point of the arc.
Calculates the radius of the circle of which this arc is a portion.
Calculates the bearing of the line from the center of the circle of which this arc is a portion to the start point of the arc.
asArcs, getControlPoints, getInterpolation, getNumArc
getBoundary, getCurve, getNumDerivativesAtEnd, getNumDerivativesAtStart, getNumDerivativesInterior, getSamplePoints, reverse
asLineString, forConstructiveParam, forParam, getEndConstructiveParam, getEndParam, getEndPoint, getParamForPoint, getStartConstructiveParam, getStartParam, getStartPoint, getTangent, length, length
@UML(identifier="center", obligation=MANDATORY, specification=ISO_19107) DirectPosition getCenter()
Arc. In some extreme cases, the direct position
as calculated may lie outside the domain of validity of the coordinate reference system used
by this
Arc (especially if the underlying arc has a very large radius).
Implementations may choose an appropriate course of action in such cases.
@UML(identifier="radius", obligation=MANDATORY, specification=ISO_19107) double getRadius()
@UML(identifier="startAngle", obligation=MANDATORY, specification=ISO_19107) Bearing getStartAngle()
start point of this arc.
@UML(identifier="endAngle", obligation=MANDATORY, specification=ISO_19107) Bearing getEndAngle()
Copyright © 1996–2023 Geotools. All rights reserved.


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If you haven't heard of Thomas McDonell yet, you will very soon. The relatively unknown actor managed to score a major lead role in Disney's new movie,Prom
(it hits theaters this Friday, April 29!). And with his brooding good looks, he will definitely be on every girl's hot-guy radar in no time. Read on to see what Thomas had to say about his new movie, falling in love, and meeting fans for the first time.
17: How is Prom different from other high school movies?
TM: Everybody involved in Prom wanted the tone of it to be reminiscent of a John Hughes movie (Ed Note: think The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink). It's the stories in those classic teen films that are relatable, so you can still watch and enjoy them today. Prom is definitely relevant to today's teens, since there's a Facebook scene and there are cell phones and things like that, but it also feels timeless.
More From Seventeen
17: Are you similar to Jesse, the bad boy character you play in the movie?
TM: Not really. When I was in high school, I wasn't a troublemaker. I didn't get in fights. I was a good student and I had a lot of friends.
17: A big part of this movie is finding that perfect prom date. What's your perfect girl like?
TM: The truth is, I don't really have a type of girl. I mean, I like nice girls, and I like people who are generous. And I also like really beautiful girls.
17: What's the best relationship advice you can give?
TM: That makes it seem like I might know anything about the subject! Well, it's really important to be honest with the person that you're seeing. Another thing I believe is that if you're going to be involved with someone, you'd better really do that and not be 'in-between.' Because what are you doing if you're just halfway there, in a relationship?
17: Are people starting to recognize you in the streets and now?
TM: The Prom cast and I have been going to Macy's stores in malls to work with this charity that gives dresses to underprivileged girls (Donatemydress.org), and we've been meeting fans there. I didn't know that I even have that many fans, because no one has necessarily seen that much of what I've done! And yet, they are still there, wanting autographs. So it feels strange sometimes—but it's fun.


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Some people are perfectionists. You cannot imagine them any other way. They strive again and again to be the best, to fulfil their wildest, finely crafted, unblemished dreams. We all know people that work themselves into an unfathomable, illogical frenzy about the slightest flaw. You worry about what will happen to them if they ever completely lose perspective and fall through the cracks of their own expectations. How far can they push themselves, what lengths will they go to in the quest for perfection? Will you lose the person you know as they struggle towards faultlessly achieving their goals?
Black Swan is a film about the extremes of the perfectionist and the mania that can ensue in the dizzy rush for excellence in art. It's packed full of themes about creativity and control, trust and tantrums. Is talent about honing your skills again and again until they're technically sound, or something more intangible you must simply give into, like desire? Can anyone ascend to stardom and maintain their youthful innocence? Just how destructive can all consuming ambition be? Most of all, whatever questions Black Swan raises, it is a piece of beautifully pure, utterly gripping drama.
Drama as powerful and captivating as this is rarely found at the cinema these days. Perhaps because of the influence of and sizeable chunks of Swan Lake used in the film, Black Swan has the sensual quality of a stage production. Frequently it is flinchingly shocking. Acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky ratchets up the tension and paranoia to chilling, unsettling but completely compelling levels. The whole thing is a visual feast. Most surprisingly of all, given the sheer number of scares jostling for position and all the hype around the film, there were more than a handful of moments in which the auditorium was plagued by infectious giggles.
Most of these laughs come via Vincent Cassel's Thomas Leroy, director of the New York ballet company. He is amusingly frank with Natalie Portman's Nina, as is Mila Kunis as Nina's dancing rival Lily. Both of these supporting cast members give excellent performances but it's Portman's Oscar worthy turn rightly stealing the headlines. In the past I've found her acting irritating, especially her regular appearances as an English rose type figure, with stereotypical accent. She was the only thing I mildly disliked about V for Vendetta. But here Portman's character is meant to be prissy and annoying, and despite this as her delusions worsen and multiply you find yourself rooting for her to overcome her demons. Her portrayal of mental confusion and paranoia spiralling into madness is startling.
Barbara Hershey plays Nina's controlling mother, who has projected her disappointments from her own curtailed career onto her daughter. In a sickly sweet, cotton ball world at home Nina lives as a little girl, primed only to succeed as a dancer. This suffocating environment is far from helpful as Nina works to try and embrace the role of evil, seductive Black Swan as well as the pure, fragile and perfect White Swan Queen. Her director continually tells her to loosen up and the suffocation from Nina's home life spread throughout the film, haunting her and the audience. Nina projects her own anxieties onto the confident, relaxed Lily, who soon becomes a recurring, taunting theme in her fantasies.
At the beginning of the film, Cassel's director tells his dancers his will be a "visceral" reworking of Swan Lake. And Black Swan is certainly visceral. Of course it touches on all the themes I mentioned earlier, but in reality it's far too over the top to explore them properly. Above all else it is a fantastical and theatrical story. You'll be gripped by the drama, haunted and confused by the plot. Sucked in by claustrophobic visuals, charmed by stunning dance sequences and engaged by superb acting; Black Swan has a bit of everything and its vividness is inexplicable. You won't see anything more sensual this year.


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That's for a single brick, mind you. Not a set. Just a single 4x2 brick.
That brick is made from 14-carat gold, though, and between 1979-81 was given out to employees who had worked at the LEGO company for 25 years.
So it's not only made out of gold, it's incredibly rare too, and is bordering on being an antique.
No wonder it's priced at $14,450. Still, if this makes any difference, it's to scale, so it'll work with normal bricks.
14k Solid Gold LEGO Employee Brick 2x4 Brick in Display Box [Brick Envy, via TAXI]
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The successful distance education program SowBridge begins its third year in January 2010.
The program has received great reviews from a wide range of participants and that helped solidify the decision to continue offering it, according to Ken Stalder, Iowa State University animal science associate professor and Extension swine specialist.
"We asked participants for suggestions on topics and speakers, and are happy to provide a greater variety of session subjects and speakers from university, public and private entities this year," Stalder says. "SowBridge provides all participants with the opportunity not only to hear directly from experts, but to contact those experts following the individual sessions."
Stalder, also the Iowa contact for SowBridge, describes the program as intended for people involved in managing or caring for boars, sows, and/or litters. SowBridge is designed to improve the understanding and application of various tools and techniques involved in daily care of the breeding herd and piglets.
"People from 13 states, four Canadian provinces and Ireland took part in the past year's program, and they told us they appreciated having all employees participate in the sessions without requiring any travel or other expenses," he says. "With the live phone presentation and slideshow viewed on computer, participants do not need internet access and can take part from anywhere."
Each subscriber receives a CD for each session prior to the presentation, along with information on accessing the live speaker presentation. Most participants will call a toll-free conference line to listen to and interact with presenters. Each subscription costs $250, which provides access to one phone line per session and all program materials. Each session begins at 11:30 a.m. Central Standard Time and lasts about 45 minutes.
Stalder says the year-long program is offered by subscription only with a Dec. 1 deadline to ensure participants will receive materials for the first session on Jan. 6, 2010. The materials, delivery process and program costs are slightly different for non-U.S. residents and advises potential subscribers from outside the United States to contact the Iowa Pork Industry Center (IPIC) at (515) 294-4496 for more information.
The program topics and speakers for 2010 are: Jan. 6: In Barn Communication Amongst Workers, Beth Ferry, Michigan State University; Feb. 3: Your Role in the Public Perception of the Pork Industry, Jerry May, Michigan State University; March 3: Geriatric Sows: Keep or Cull, Ken Stalder, Iowa State University; April 7: Keeping Workers Safe from Swine Disease, Jeff Bender, University of Minnesota; May 5: Beating Summer Heat for Sows, Billy Flowers, North Carolina State University; June 2: Air Filtration Systems for Sow Barns, Steve Pohl, South Dakota State University; July 7: Timing of Artificial Insemination, Tim Safranski, University of Missouri; Aug. 4: Pregnancy Detection Technology for Troubleshooting, Rob Knox, University of Illinois; Sept 1: Emergency Action Plans for Hog Barns, Jim Fisher, producer from Middleton, MO; Oct. 6: Managing Feed Drops in Gestation, Joel DeRouchey, Kansas State University; Nov. 3: Heat Detection Methods, Jeff Clapper and Chris Hostetler, South Dakota State University; and Dec. 1: Winter PRRS (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) Protection, Locke Karriker, Iowa State University.
A brochure with information and a registration form are available on the IPIC Web site at http://www.ipic.iastate.edu/SowBridge/2009brochure.pdf. Iowa residents who want more information should call Stalder at (800) 808-7675.
SowBridge is sponsored by a group of 11 state universities with Mark Whitney and Lee Johnston of the University of Minnesota serving as program coordinators.


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Wird aktualisiert
A young man leaves Massachusetts on a ship bound to harvest ice and deliver it to Charleston. When they encounter an impossible iceberg and haul a mysterious fragment on board events are set in motion that will lead our young hero on a journey to his horrible destiny on an island off the coast of South Carolina.
Kein Eintrag


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We've seen a wave of legislation being passed and proposed the past several years that have sought to bring further regulation to both receiving information from, and publishing information to, the internet. Whether it be attempts at mandating age verification for materials "not suitable to minors", or even legislation that would require ISP-level filtering of content, the end result would be the same: a chilling effect on the free exchange of information and ideas.
The vast majority of this legislation has been spurred under the guise of protecting minors. A common argument in Senate Subcommittee meetings is that parents simply aren't as technologically sophisticated as their children, and lack the understanding and ability to properly protect and monitor their own computers. Truth be told, this is probably a very valid argument, even if the proposed solutions would lack effectiveness.
It would seem to me then, a priority for those who care about freedom of expression and who wish to see the internet remain an open medium for communication, would be to help educate those who currently lack an understanding of ways to monitor and control their private home computers.
One of the quotes I used often to describe AntiOnline was that it was source of information for everyone from "sysadmins to soccer moms". The "fight-back" section, which now lingers on this site horribly out of date and neglected, was once the cornerstone of that ambition.
However, it seems obvious that many of you, perhaps even most, feel that the exchange of ideas and the consideration of opinion should be reserved only for the most "advanced" of you. That indeed those that lack a mastery understanding of security architecture are "lesser" than you, and in fact, they don't even belong on here. Or perhaps on the internet period?
An information security expert is an enabler. His or her job is to make sure that others can use data systems with confidence. Perhaps that confidence is that their work will remain "secret", or perhaps that confidence simply needs to be that their work won't "disappear". Whether we're talking about a mother trying to keep inappropriate material away from her child and her credit card numbers away from scammers, or a governmental agency trying to keep state secrets away from adversaries, at the end of the day, the information security expert's role is still the same.
To be frank, the past several threads that I've read on here seem to demonstrate that many of you don't grasp that concept. While acting like an antisocial tough guy on AntiOnline might score you some of those AntiPoints that you seem to prize so much, that attitude won't serve you well when a client seeks to understand your recommendations, nor does it serve the greater goals of someone who supposedly seeks to protect information for a living.
While I am certainly accustom to the insecure amongst the AntiOnline community using personal attacks against me as a way to validate themselves (Attacking people on the internet is after all, a great way to build self esteem after years of being beaten up on the playground), I was very upset to see attacks against some of the "soccer moms" that are here to gain an understanding of the systems that they use.
Perhaps some of you should spend some time reflecting on what exactly it is you're hoping to accomplish as a "security professional".
"Don't you see what JP is trying to do here?"
You can now all go back to bitching about my gold dot, and the fact that I don't reply to the immature rantings that usually follow my first post in any given thread.
I've also noticed the trend of giving negative AntiPoints to anyone that attests properly expressed opinions similar to my own in a thread, some to the point it's caused them to nearly get banned. Censorship of ideas, how ironic coming from this community of people?
All perfect examples of what happens if you allow children to write on the walls with crayons, without receiving proper discipline for doing so.


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Kurt Nimmo
Dianne Feinstein's effort to pass an assault weapon bill is almost certainly doomed to failure. Photo: David Lee.
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans today to markup and prepare for debate a number of bills attacking the Second Amendment and the right to own firearms.
The good news is that Dianne Feinstein's effort to introduce a draconian so-called assault weapon bill outlawing a large number of semi-automatic firearms is almost certainly doomed to failure. Feinstein admitted her legislation would face "very tough" opposition on the Senate floor.
Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to introduce three separate bills instead of one comprehensive piece of anti-Second legislation because a single bill with the assault weapon ban included would be rejected by the full Senate.
A bill introduced by New York Democrat Charles Schumer, a long-time arch enemy of the right to own firearms without government intervention, calls for universal background checks, in short universal firearms registration with the future prospect of confiscation. Registration schemes in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all resulted in confiscation and the wholesale disarmament of the public by government.
The Schumer bill initially included measures to strip the Second Amendment from veterans the federal government has declared mentally incompetent or disabled by PTSD. In February, we reported on an effort by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to nullify the Second Amendment rights of thousands of veterans.
Schumer's legislation hinges on bipartisan efforts in the Senate. Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, has decided not to support Schumer, thus relegating the bill to failure as well unless it can be amended to appease Republicans next month.
A bill sponsored by Leahy proposes to combat illegal gun trafficking and a third piece of legislation introduced by California Democrat Barbara Boxer is focused on so-called gun safety, a euphemism used to make heavy-handed and unconstitutional gun control by government seem palatable and preferable to a literal reading of the Second Amendment.
Earlier today, the establishment media highlighted a study produced by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence purporting to show that states with the most restrictive gun laws have fewer people shot to death than states respecting and upholding the Constitution and the Second Amendment. The conclusion in favor of gun control efforts is based on 2007-10 statistics on gun-related homicides and suicides from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study was published online Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.


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The Spouse: Married to a Nonrunner
By Sarah Bowen Shea
Husbands fall into two camps: those who run, or do similar sweaty endeavors, and those who don't.
How do I know? Because I've had one of each. Yup, that's right, a fact even my own children don't know yet: I had a different husband before I married their dad.
Jack, the cute, quick-witted, warm-hearted man I'm married to now and the father of my three kids, is hubby number 2 for me. Hubby number 1, charming and sensitive, was named John. To confuse matters, John is also the name of my son, but he's named after Jack, whose real name is John. So, really, I've been married to two Johns and given birth to one. Got that? I don't want to call Jack a couch potato because the term is so hackneyed. But when we first met, Jack's blue-and-green plaid sofa had a deep gully smack dab in front of his TV, tuned eternally to ESPN. Early in our dating life, I asked, "Is SportsCenter a channel?" because the show seemed to be on a continuous loop.
John, on the other hand, had been the captain of the men's rowing team in college the same year I was head of the women's crew. We started running together in college, and we kept it up for the rest of our relationship. Because John and I were kid-free, we always ran together before work. We'd trot about six miles through the Presidio when we were in San Francisco or along the Charles River after we moved to Boston, chitchatting about articles I was writing, his clients, a movie we had seen, or what restaurant we'd go to that night. Our pace was evenly matched, and John was always agreeable about whatever route I chose. The miles and the minutes passed quickly, and they are some of my favorite memories of my first marriage.
To this day when I navigate a city street corner on a run, I still think of John, who often quoted his high school ice hockey coach during our outings. "Cut corners in practice, you cut corners in a game," he'd remind me. "Cut corners in a game, you cut corners in life." While we were together, John struggled to live up to his potential—the weight of the world often seemed too heavy for him—so this was a bittersweet mantra for him.
When our marriage broke up unexpectedly (to me, anyway), I was bereft of a running partner as well as a life partner. Both were tough losses, so I daydreamed about replacing both by meeting a supersporty guy, someone with even more get-up-and go than I have. Oh, yeah, and I also wanted him to be a few years younger than I was—maybe five or six years—so that he wouldn't predecease me. An amateur mountain-bike racer, for instance, who would rouse me at 7 a.m. on a Sunday to do a three-hour ride in the Marin Headlands. Or a triathlete who'd suggest run-bike-run brick workouts we could do together. I went on a few dates with a marathoner and envisioned us running together with our chubby-cheeked firstborn in a jogging stroller.
[In Other Words]
"When I started training for my first marathon, my husband and I ran around a track. He's much faster than me and would smack my butt as he lapped me. Now I prefer to run alone." —Kami
And then I met Jack. A guy who had last sprinted while trying to catch the El on his way to work in downtown Chicago. A man who actually preferred 20-yard pools to 25-yard ones because it meant more rest. A fellow who knew every sports bar in Chicago and which teams' fans frequented them but who had never heard of Bill Rodgers or Joan Benoit Samuelson.
One warm day in April, about five months into our courtship, Jack and I decided to go for a run together on the path by Lake Michigan. I don't remember who suggested it, but we were both willing participants. Or so I thought. We ran side by side, heading north along the lakefront. I had to slow down, but it was a blue-sky day, and I was once again running with a man I loved. At least for 20 minutes. Then Jack stopped at a water fountain and said, "You go ahead. I prefer to run alone." I took his words at face value and chugged ahead. I mean, I appreciate alone time when I run, too. A few weeks later, I told this story to a bunch of work buddies, and this guy Mike blurted out, "Yeah, I use that same excuse when I am being outgunned by a woman." Oh.
Needless to say, that was our one and only run together.
Years have passed, and we now have three young children. SportsCenter isn't on the endless loop it once was, Jack has gotten moving by shooting hoops with the kids, and I'm running more than ever now. Like so many mommies, I run on weekdays while the rest of the clan is still deep in sleep.
But on the weekends, I head out after the sun has risen, and that leads to resentment. Our main sticking point: Mass. Jack goes, I don't. During marathon training, when my runs surpass two hours, he goes to church at 7 a.m., then I go running immediately when he gets back. On the days he opts to sleep in, then he's stuck either skipping Mass or taking all three kiddos along to 9 a.m. services. I've never been with them, but I know the ordeal involves sitting in the "cry room" the entire time and trying to keep preschooler Daphne from hitting other kids. Oh, yeah, and bribing them with promises of being able to light a candle afterward—and blowing it out, of course. Something tells me Jack has to squelch the twins' attempts to sing a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" in the vestibule.
When I'm not in marathon mode, we settle into a third alternative: I head out at 7 but get back by 8:45, in time for him to dash to 9 a.m. Mass. Jack gets to sleep in and visit with his Maker on a weekly basis. I realize my Sunday runs are an imposition, and even though I don't practice anymore, I'm Catholic enough to feel guilty about it. I usually try to circumvent a confrontation about Sunday morning scheduling by discussing it in advance. Still, every few months, Jack lets me know he doesn't like my eating up a chunk of time on what could otherwise be a lazy family morning. Unlike a lot of moms I've talked to who remind their husbands their sanity is tied to their mileage, I haven't yet vocalized that no one would be happy in the house if I skipped my run; by midday I'd be blowing my spout more often than Old Faithful. I'm not sure he'd grasp the sanity-saving premise.
Instead, I take it upon myself to carry the load for the rest of the weekend. I take the kids to the park or the science museum, leaving Jack with what I consider the ultimate luxury: a quiet, deserted house. I make dinner both nights, then I herd our three cats from PJs to toothbrushing, book reading, and lights out.
Most of the time I feel fortunate because other than church, I don't have anything else to conflict with my weekend workouts. Since we're not a two-jock household, Jack and I don't need to juggle my runs with his bike rides or golf games. The only sports Jack cares about are on TV, and the kids can always join him in watching a Kansas City Chiefs game (or they can trash the house while he's intent on touchdowns and turnovers). But what does bug me about this arrangement is that often Jack doesn't seem appreciative enough of all the benefits that go with having a runner wife. A wife who weighs the same after having three kids as she did when we first started dating. (Actually a few pounds less.) Or one with slender legs toned by countless miles and hill repeats. And a sparky attitude fired up most days by conquering a run. I know Jack is impressed by my running accomplishments—and the physique and temperament they have produced—but usually he's too blase to comment on them.
[In Other Words]
"My husband is a builder, so he gets plenty of exercise on the job. He's my biggest supporter, though, and loves to cheer me on at races. He's even volunteered at several of them." —Angie
I have discovered one surefire, running-related way to get his attention, though. Jack should say a prayer of thanks at church to the running skirt. Because I want to stay, um, well groomed, I get a bikini wax every so often, especially during skirt season. When I'm freshly waxed, it just takes mere mention of that fact, and Jack thinks having a runner for a wife is the greatest thing since, well, SportsCenter. Maybe even better.
The Two-Jock House: If You Aren't Going to Run, I Will!
By Dimity Mcdowell
My husband likes to sweat. Exercise is like a toy both our kids are yanking at; somebody can play with it now, somebody has to wait to play with it later. We don't have a secret formula for working out our athletic schedules. We generally just alternate, both with daily training and bigger goals. These days, for instance, I have mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do what I want, and he has Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I get three days because he has the potential for lunchtime workouts during his work week, which I don't. For weekends, we generally talk on Friday about what we want to do. For example, I run Saturday morning, home by 8:30, he rides at 9, home by 11; switch it up for Sunday.
Same with races: We can't both be training for something epic at the same time. Speaking from experience, two physically fried, mentally tapped parents don't translate to anything close to a healthy home environment. So I take a turn, training for a triathlon while he goes into maintenance mode, then he signs up for a 50-mile mountain-bike ride and I dial it back. Sometimes I feel a little shortchanged, especially when he doesn't heed the (informal, unwritten) rules and starts training for something before I'm officially done.
But a physically present and not exhausted spouse doesn't necessarily mean a parent superattentive to the needs of the house and the family. After a long run, I want more sympathy (the floor swept, my back rubbed) and I imagine he wants the same after a big ride—or at least an hour to clean his bike in peace. Instead, my mom-switch gets flipped on as soon as I step inside the house, and I am often emptying the dishwasher and coloring pictures of butterflies before I shower or even eat. As imperfect as the system is, I console myself by thinking we're setting a good example for our kids, through both our sweat sessions and playing fair.
What Kids, Dogs, Husbands Teach You About Running
* Go all out or don't go. There is no such thing as long, slow endurance pace.
* The best race is the kind with a prize at the end.
* Don't fret your shoe choice: You can run in bare feet, Crocs, Mary Janes, flip-flops. But in tie shoes, be obsessive about the bow tie. Make sure the rabbit goes solidly through the hole and you've double knotted.
* There is no shame in wetting yourself.
* Keep your nose open to possibilities. If you get an intriguing whiff—or view—stop and take it in, because it may not be there tomorrow.
* There is never a bad time to run.
* Running is best done in packs, or at least in pairs.
* The mere sight of a pair of running shoes should make your tail wag.
* When you get too hot, let your tongue hang out a bit.
* Squatting by the path is acceptable.
* A leash—whether it's real or an I-can't-do-this virtual one—will only hold you back.
* The best recovery from a run is a nap in the sun.
* If your body is hurting before a run, walk first. If it still hurts, go home.
* Be methodical. He's completed marathon training plans without having entered a race just so he can monitor his improvement.
* Don't fret about not running on vacation, holidays, or when you're building a Lego alligator.
* There are more important things than running. My grandmother's funeral was the weekend of the Chicago Marathon, and he immediately canceled his plans to run the race.
* Know there's always Plan B. Ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes's 2006 50 states/50 marathons/50 days tour passed through Minneapolis the same time we were there for the funeral. My husband joined the pack and ran his 26.2.—D.M.
The Kids: Why Do You Have to Run, Mommy?
By Dimity McDowell
There are two ways my kids relate to my running.
Way one: They hate it.
When I change into my running clothes, Ben, who is looking at a machine book on the bed, says, "Mom? Are you going running?" I whisper, "Yes," and he goes back to examining street sweepers. Meanwhile, Amelia, who was happily chatting to her dolls in her room five seconds ago, suddenly streaks into the bedroom. "MOM! DON'T GO!" she screams as she leeches onto my quad and forces tears from her eyes. Never mind she might have spent the next 45 minutes—the amount of time I'm planning to run—in her room, oblivious to my absence. Never mind we spent 12 full hours together yesterday, and today, we've got another full day planned. Never mind I've gone for a run at least 1,000 times in her six years, and every single time, I return.
Doesn't matter. She acts like I'm going on a six-month trip to Turkmenistan. Her histrionics usually tip Ben over the edge, too, and he crawls off the bed and commands the other leg. "Grant, can you help me please?" I yell to my absent husband, unaware that he's parked in the bathroom. His lack of response sets off my impatience, so I extricate my legs from the octopus arms, cruise down the stairs, and focus my eyes on the prize: the front door. I open it a crack, slip out to the wails of, "Mom! MOM-MA!" and don't look back. I'm surprised my neighbors haven't called Child Protective Services on me yet.
It goes without saying that when I finish, the pair, perched in front of the tube, doesn't even acknowledge my return. Way two: They want to be like me. When she was 4 years old, Amelia ran one race, the Scream Scram, around Halloween. Dressed as a butterfly, she ran the 100 meters as fast as she could, her antennae bobbing along. Afterward, she couldn't stop talking about it—and the gift bag. She hung her race number on her door. The following Monday, Ms. Jenny, her preschool teacher, told me she'd never seen Amelia so proud as when she recounted the race.
The Jekyll/Hyde scenarios strike signature feelings of parenthood: guilt and pride. The former is easy to summon. Just think of that training adage, "Somewhere out there, somebody is working harder than you are," and you pretty much have parenting in the uberambitious 21st century in a sentence. Somewhere out there, a mom spends Saturday morning hovering over her first-grader doing addition tables, schlepping her kid to tae kwon do lessons, organizing a playdate for five kids at her house, or patiently making blueberry muffins with him and not losing it when the new bag of fl our spills all over the floor.
Somewhere out there, a mom is not running. That mom is not me. I typically don't feel like I should be reading Frog and Toad All Year for the fifth time in two days instead of doing a tempo run. But I'm not immune to maternal guilt. As relief fills my body when I run down the block, out of my kids' formidable vocal ranges, I do wonder: Will their early memories of me be dominated by an image of my back, heading out the door, as they scream bloody murder? It's a possibility. Memories are so random. I remember things vividly from my childhood—things that have shaped the person I am, I believe—that my two sisters can't even recall, and vice versa. There's no guarantee which of my actions will stick to their souls and which will bounce off.
Then Amelia busts out a race like the Scream Scram, and guilt is replaced by a ridiculous amount of pride. Rosy cheeked, she held my hand, swinging it as we walked to the car. I'd trade mastering silent "e" any day for a moment like that.
Maternal guilt seems to be inversely proportionate to the child's age. The younger the kid is, the guiltier you feel for leaving him. When you walk out the door, unsure if your wailing 2-month-old will take a bottle of freshly pumped milk, your heart weighs heavy. When you walk out the door, certain your 6- and 3-year-olds will stop their dramatics in approximately 15 seconds, your heart kind of laughs. And when you walk out the door, leaving behind a moody, monosyllabic 13-year-old who is driving you crazy, I'm guessing your heart wonders if it's fit enough to run for three hours instead of one.
I also think guilt subsides when you accept that the time you spend alone running—time spent strengthening your spirit, confidence, and spunk—is far more valuable than simple face time. Plus, running is a practical thing to do for a mother who is interested in keeping an even-keeled house. The miles defuse frustrations, create mental order, instill calmness, and reignite flames barely flickering. Delicious memories of my kids and husband often come to me during a run, and they help me remember why I am where I am in life.
My mom wasn't a runner, but she did have her own outlet: horses. During my childhood, we boarded up to five horses in our battered red barn. She stacked their hay, cleaned their tack, and chopped out their water buckets when the Minnesota winters turned them to ice. At various points in her life, she coowned The Horse Habit, an equipment store; ran multiday horse shows; and, when my parents divorced, got a full-time office job at the local track. I don't think I ever screamed, "Don't go!" when she went off to ride, but I never enjoyed throwing my leg over a thousand-pound beast. But with her love of horses, my mom demonstrated how to be passionate about something, how to delicately weave an activity into your life so that it marks you but doesn't define you. She showed me you can be a mother, have another job, and still carve out time for yourself.
Her most lasting lesson, though, was that some of the deepest, truest friendships form through sport. Debbie, my mom's best friend, whom she met at the local barn, drifted a bit after my parents divorced and we sold our horses. Nearly two decades later, Debbie was losing a battle with multiple sclerosis and Lou Gehrig's disease, and she and my mom picked up exactly where they left off . In between my mom driving Debbie to the dentist for a mouth guard so she could talk, massaging her clawed fingers, and completing other emotionally daunting tasks, the two laughed as hard as they did when they hung out in a horse trailer at the end of a long day, drinking Diet Cokes and gossiping.
[ In Other Words ]
"When I was 9 months pregnant with my second son, I was watching the women running the Olympic Trials. My toddler pointed to the TV and said, 'Look, there's Mommy! Go, Mommy, go!'"—Carmen
I've done this mothering thing for long enough to know that what I want for my kids has little bearing on what they actually want to do. When I'm intent on us all going to the pool, they want to paint. When I'm ready to set up the easel, they've moved on to setting up the Slip 'n' Slide. As every parent learns, "force" is not a verb that works well with kids. Still, I'm going to, um, strongly encourage them to find their own version of running, something that challenges and calms them, makes them feel alive and proud, and surrounds them with lifelong friends.
When this strategy inevitably fails, I'll turn to the other two signature emotions of parenthood: hope and faith. I'll hope they stumble into their version of running, as I did into mine. In the meantime, I'll have faith in the all-too-accurate message from a magnet my mom surreptitiously stuck on my fridge: "Sooner or later, every daughter becomes her mother."
Excerpted from Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving—and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2010).
The Great Escape
Husbands who don't run, and don't get it. Husbands who do, but need their fix, too. Children who can't let go. Here's how two women reconcile marriage, motherhood, and the glee and guilt of breaking away.
The Spouse: Married to a Nonrunner
Watch Next
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My dear Jagjit,
I am in a well here and hoping you are also in a well there.
I'm writing this letter slowly, because I know you cannot read fast.
We don't live where we did when you left home. Your dad read in the newspaper that most accidents happen 20 miles from home, so we moved 20 miles.
I won't be able to send the address as the last Sardar who stayed here took the house numbers with them for their new house so they would not have to change their address. Hopefully by next week we will be able to take our earlier address plate here, and that our address will remain same too.
This place is really nice. It even has a washing machine, situated Right Above the toilet I'm not sure it works too well. Last week I put in 3 shirts, pulled the chain and haven't seen them since. The weather here isn'ttoo bad. It rained only twice last week. The first time it rained for 3 days and second time for 4 days.
The coat you wanted me to send you, your Aunt said it would be a little too heavy to send in the mail with all the metal buttons, so we cut them off and put them in the pocket.
Your father has another job. He has 500 men under him. He is cutting the grass at the cemetery.
By the way I took Bahu to our club's poolside. The manager is Badmash. He told her that two piece swimming suit is not allowed in his club. We were confused as to which piece should we remove?
Your sister had a baby this morning. I haven't found out whether it is a girl or a boy, so I don't know whether you are an Aunt or Uncle.
Your uncle, Jetinder fell in the nearby well. Some men tried to pull Him out, but he fought them off bravely and drowned. We cremated him and he burned for three days.
There isn't much more news this time. Nothing much has happened.
Love - Mom.
P.S . Jagjit, I was going to send you some money but by the time I Realized, I had already sealed off this letter.
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- Guest 8 years ago
These are the same Sardars that protected us from the muhgals and british, the ones who single handedly beat the chinese and pakistanis, yet shilpa you find it decent to poke fun at them?
I do not understand, we as indians and hindus have betrayed the Sikhs/Sardars by launching operation bluestar and the genocide that followed from 1984-1994. We have denied them the right to be Sikh by forcing the hindu marriage act on them.
That is how we repay our heroes, by making jokes and denying them their human rights.


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Assault alleged at camp run by ex-NFL QB's family
- Teen%27s lawsuit seeks unspecified amount of money
- Fiedler recently became a full-time director at camp
- Counselor also worked as teacher%27s aide at Queens%2C N.Y.%2C school
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- A teenager is suing a summer sports camp in New York owned by the family of former NFL quarterback Jay Fiedler, alleging that a popular and charismatic counselor sneaked into his bed while he was sleeping and sexually assaulted him in a cabin in 2006.
The 18-year-old, listed as "John Doe" in the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Westchester County, claims counselor Willie Barron, who also works as a teacher's aide at a Queens, N.Y., school, performed oral sex on him at the sleep-away camp when he was 11.
Fiedler, a former starter for the Miami Dolphins who recently became a full-time director at the camp, is listed as a defendant, along with his brother Scott and their parents, Ken and Donna, accused of being negligent in supervising Barron. The teen is suing Barron for the alleged assault, which the teen said in court papers he reported to state police.
Asked about the case, state police Senior Investigator Jan Golding confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation at Brookwood Camps, but declined to release details.
The teen told a therapist about the assault at the coed camp in Glen Spey roughly five years after it happened, said his lawyer Debra Cohen.
"Now that he has finally come forward to his parents and been under the care of excellent therapists, he's doing much better," Cohen said. "It was a very difficult decision for him to come forward, but he's a very brave young man. He feels a responsibility for preventing this from happening to others."
The lawsuit filed last month seeks an unspecified amount of money.
Ken Fiedler, who bought the camp in 1986, declined comment and would not say whether Barron is still employed. A man who answered the telephone at the camp's office in Oceanside also declined comment. Barron could not be reached.
Barron, of Queens, has been suspended without pay since September from his roughly $30,000 a year post at P.S. Q224 in Queens, a pre-K-through-8 school, where he has worked more than 12 years, New York City Department of Education spokesman David Pena said. He was suspended because of the state investigation into child sexual abuse allegations, Pena said.
The teen, now a first-year college student, hopes the lawsuit "will help bring out more information as to Mr. Barron's activities that might actually help the criminal investigation," Cohen said.
"Apparently he (Barron) had extensive contact with campers in the offseason," said Cohen. "He would vacation with campers sometimes without parental supervision."
According to the lawsuit, the boy was reluctant to return to camp in the summer of 2006, but Barron called him and told him he could sleep in his cabin. Barron, who was the victim's head counselor and slept in the same cabin as the boy and 14 other campers, engaged in other inappropriate contact with campers, the lawsuit says, including "tweaking nipples, 'bear hugging,' tickling and rubbing up against boys." He also allegedly asked the boy to show him his penis.
The lawsuit claims the Fiedlers and other directors failed to adequately screen and supervise their counselors and other employees to prevent "sexual assaults and other unwelcome behaviors."


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SportsStuff SKILL TUBING 53-1400
Skill Tubing is a challenging new experience, not just another towable that you simply hang on to. The TEAM SLALOM is a new Doable; a controllable towable that you can maneuver, slalom, jump, veer, and do a combination of moves through the boat wake or crest in a straight-line boat pattern. Doables are PATENT PENDING new shapes that have less drag with smaller footprints for reduced gas consumption. A new PATENT PENDING bottom "VEER" tow system, combined with strategically located extra large PATENT PENDING Tiger Tooth Fins enable the rider to control the Team Slalom in various shoe-lace type moves. Skill is acquired via multiple riding attempts. You will learn that slaloming is achieved by leaning left or right away from the boat. As you gain balance and the ability to maneuver, you will have plenty of spills and chills. All riders, boat drivers and spotters are novices. Start slowly at reduced speeds until you gain confidence, then create your own thrilling ride.


text:
LOS ANGELES — An earthquake has shaken a wide swath of Southern California but there's no word of any damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey's monitoring system places the epicenter in the desert near Anza, about 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The quake struck at 9:55 a.m. Monday and was initially estimated at magnitude 5.1 but that was quickly downgraded to 4.7
It was felt sharply in the local area and also rolled through downtown Los Angeles, San Diego and in Orange County.
Palms Springs police Sgt. Harvey Reed says the department has received no reports of damage or injuries.
There are no other immediate reports of damage in the region.