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Your decision to terminate a pregnancy is an important one that requires careful consideration. We believe in your right to make an informed decision and to obtain a safe abortion if that is your choice.
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Space junk – as big as a broken satellite or as small as a speck of paint – is potentially catastrophic, according to Northeastern University student researcher Evan Sankey.
"Two clouds of junk could collide with each other and render entire orbits unusable," says Sankey, a third-year economics major whose research on space law was recently published in ECONPress, an undergraduate research journal founded by Northeastern students last year.
Students celebrated the release of the fall 2010 issue of ECONPress on Dec. 7, in the Curry Student Center Ballroom.
Students from Northeastern, Harvard University, Boston University and New York University were published in the latest edition, which features top-quality research on topics ranging from arbitrage pricing theory to the relationship between high birth rates and economic growth.
Sankey's paper argues that giving space agencies property rights to specific locations on the moon would mitigate the impact of space junk. The issue also features an analysis of the history of poverty in the United States by Northeastern alumnus and ECONPress cofounder Angel Roque.
The publication provides student-centric learning opportunities and builds relationships with faculty through the encouragement of excellence in applied research in economics. It's an outlet through which students can share their research with classmates, professors and other students around the country.
"Students are formidable minds," senior economics major Franco Solleza, the journal's editor-in-chief and cofounder, told some 50 students who attended the event. "ECONPress allows them to explore economic principals beyond the scope of the syllabus to create smart, insightful work."
Sankey, who wants to work in the commercial space flight industry, says the experiential learning opportunity taught him to conduct research in a more rigorous manner and accept constructive criticism more willingly.
"I've become better at cherry-picking the information that I need out of other journals," he adds, noting that he read a number of books on space law in preparation for writing the paper for his Law and Economics class.
Roque wrote his paper for a directed study with economics professor Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern. Sum suggested articles to read and economists to study.
"Professor Sum led me the in right direction," says Roque, who concluded that poverty has shifted from urban to suburban areas over the past several decades. "The hardest part was the editing process. I was constantly reflecting on how to write the paper in a way that captured what I discovered."
– Courtesy of CSSH Dean's Office

subset: commoncrawl


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A group of current and former contractors at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) may file a lawsuit due to the possible exposure of personal information stored on an agency laptop stolen last month from a locked car, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The laptop, stolen on Oct. 31, stored the personal data of some10,000 NASA employees and contractors.
Some members of the group were part of a lawsuit filed against NASA five years ago over what they claimed were overly intrusive background checks the agency was conducting in connection with a mandatory federal smart card credentialing program.
At that time, the group contended that the data being collected by NASA was highly personal. They had expressed concern over NASA's ability to protect their private data.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which last year ruled that NASA was within its rights to conduct such checks as a condition of employment.
All of those involved that suit were contractors working as senior scientists and engineers at JPL in Pasadena, Calif. The facilty is staffed and managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology.
The Oct. 31 theft of an unencrypted agency laptop from the locked car of a teleworking NASA employee validates the privacy concerns raised in the earlier lawsuit, said Dan Stormer, a lawyer with Hadsell, Stormer, Richardson & Renick, LLC, the firm representing the group.
According to NASA, the stolen laptop contained unencrypted Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, birthplace information and other data. The laptop also stored "sensitive information" gathered as part of background investigations, NASA acknowledged.
"NASA's handling of the data was in direct violation of the Privacy Act," Stormer said. "They violated the right to privacy by releasing confidential information."
The Supreme Court's ruling in favor of NASA last year noted the private data being collected by NASA would be adequately protected under the provisions of the Privacy Act, Stormer said.
"Clearly in light of NASA's cavalier disregard for the privacy right of others," Stormer said, that did not happen.
Stormer said the group is considering whether to file a class-action suit against NASA over the recent breach, alleging negligence and violations of the Privacy Act.
Former NASA scientist Robert Nelson, who worked as a NASA astronomer for 34 years and was a senior member of the Cassini Orbiter team, said his data was compromised in the recent breach.
"The issue is how did this happen?" Nelson said in an interview with Computerworld. "When we sued them five years ago, one of the arguments we made was that we didn't believe NASA was capable enough to protect our data. When we lost our lawsuit they went ahead and completed those investigations." he said.
"What would be useful to figure out is how NASA, after all this scrutiny, was so incredibly incompetent to allow this to happen," said Nelson, who left NASA earlier this year.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Nelson and other JPL workers called on Congress to investigate the computer theft and NASA's data collection practices.
"Six years ago I and my colleagues at JPL were ordered by NASA to submit to background investigations of unlimited scope into the most intimate details of our private lives," Nelson noted in a statement. He said the data was collected from schools, residential management agents, retail businesses, employers and others .
"We warned of this possibility five years ago when we filed our lawsuit. We were ignored by the courts. Now, unfortunately, by virtue of the cavalier behavior of a NASA bureaucrat our argument has been proven," Nelson said.
In a letter addressed to several lawmakers, Nelson reiterated the concerns he had raised in the 2007 lawsuit, and asked Congress to intervene.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of lawmakers to whom the letter was addressed, today expressed concern over the breach.
"During hearings before the House Science Committee last spring, there was testimony on the slow pace of IT security upgrades at NASA," Schiff said in a statement.
"As a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees and funds NASA, I will be calling on the agency to report on and accelerate its efforts to maintain data security. The low-tech theft of a laptop is troubling enough, but it only scratches the surface of potentially far greater data vulnerabilities,'" Schiff noted.
NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs today said the agency understand the concerns employee concerns and regrets the inconvenience the theft has caused. "We regret that it happened and we are taking steps to ensure that it never happens again," he said.
An agency-wide full disk encryption initiative that NASA launched in the immediate aftermath of the October 31 is making solid progress, Jacobs said.
So far about 80% of NASA computers containing sensitive data have been encrypted, he said. All affected NASA computers should be encrypted by the Dec. 21 deadline, Jacobs added.
Teleworkers will no longer be allowed to take unencrypted laptops outside NASA facilities, he said.
Jacobs noted that the stolen laptop was not supposed to be taken from the JPL facilities. "That is one of the things we regret the most. That laptop was not supposed to leave the building," he said.
Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan, or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed . His e-mail address is email@example.com.
Read more about security in Computerworld's Security Topic Center.


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Expert's Rating
Our Verdict
If you like to listen to music while you work (or play) at your computer, how many times has this happened to you: You're jamming away to your favorite tunes, then something prompts you to pause playback—perhaps the phone rang, or a co-worker stopped by for a chat, or an email message or tweet suggested a funny online video. Though the interruption likely lasted only a few minutes, an hour or more later you realized you'd been sitting in silence. You forgot to click Play again. (Yes, this is clearly a First-World Problem.)
Take Five ( Mac App Store link) is a nifty app that ensures you'll never have to endure such absent-minded silence again. Whenever a temporary interruption occurs, just click the Take Five icon in the Dock (or click the pause button in Take Five's systemwide menu, or press Take Five's configurable keyboard shortcut), and media playback is paused for the length of time you specify. When that time is up—the countdown appears in the menu bar—Take Five automatically resumes playback, your music gently fades back in, and you're back to jamming.
I admit to being a bit skeptical of Take Five when I first tried it—my first thought was essentially, "Is this really necessary?" But once you pause playback and then, 10 minutes later, hear the music fade back in—often after completely forgetting you'd paused it—you begin to appreciate how Take Five can come in handy.
You choose the default length of Take Five's pause—1, 2, 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes—in Take Five's preferences window, or you can choose a different length of time for a particular pause using Take Five's menu. (If you want to pause playback indefinitely, you just Option-click the Pause button. Of course, you can manually resume playback at any time.) By default, Take Five controls iTunes, but you can instead choose to have it control Ecoute, Pulsar, Radium ( ), Rdio, or Spotify. When controlling iTunes, you can also configure Take Five to take over the Play/Pause key on Apple's keyboards and compatible third-party keyboards with a Play/Pause key.
As an all-day music listener, Take Five's temporary-pause feature alone is useful—if admittedly frivolous—to me. But Take Five has a number of other features that add utility. For example, the Take Five window (which is really more of an iOS-style pop-over) that appears when you click the program's menu-bar icon shows the current track's name, artist, album name, and cover art; clicking the cover art reveals the track in your music player (if the player supports this feature). But what I really like here is that, similar to Mac Gems favorite CoverSutra, Take Five can temporarily display this informational pop-over whenever the track changes, and you can set up a keyboard shortcut to show this display whenever you want to see what's playing.
Unfortunately, Take Five doesn't provide any other playback controls—you'll need to switch to your music-playing program to change tracks or playlists, though Take Five does let you configure a keyboard shortcut to open that music program. I'd love to see at least Previous and Next buttons in Take Five's pop-over display. But Take Five does exactly what it aims to do, and, in typical Iconfactory fashion, it does so with a beautiful and easy-to-use interface.
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Alvarez update
There seems to be no end to this story, with things changing all the time. Media all over the country are writing and talking about it. Here's the latest, as I understand it, both in terms of what's being reported and what I've been able to ascertain.
The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette's Dejan Kovacevic reported earlier today that, according to his source, "The Pirates' disputed contract agreement with Pedro Alvarez will be the
primary focus — and not that of any other player — of the Major
League Baseball Players Association's grievance with commissioner Bud
Selig's office." The story goes on to say that the union will contend that the Alvarez agreement is the only one in question and that there are phone records to show a call coming in to Scott Boras' office at 12:02 a.m.
Here's my main question with that. If that is indeed the case, how come the Commissioner's Office has pulled Eric Hosmer off the field until the matter is settled in that Sept. 10 hearing, as reported by MLB.com's Dick Kaegel? Maybe the Commissioner's Office is just doing due diligence, but would it really be necessary to keep the kid from playing if the grievance only mentioned Alvarez? In fact, an unnamed source refutes the Post-Gazette story, saying the grievance filed by the Players Association does not center only around Alvarez.
I've received a copy of the Notice of Grievance, sent from the Players' Association to Rob Manfred, the Executive Vice President of Labor Relations and Human Resources for Major League Baseball. The memo, dated August 27, 2008 with a subject titled, "Grievance No. 2008-11 (August 15 deadline)" is signed by Michael S. Weiner, General Counsel for the MLBPA. While this two-page memo doesn't directly contradict the Post-Gazette report, there is no mention of a specific agreement or club in the document. The second paragraph reads:
The Commissioner's Office, without notice to the MLBPA, unilaterally determined to permit Clubs to negotiate with drafted players after the August 15, 2008 deadline, and unilaterally determined to accept agreements by Clubs after the August 15, 2008 deadline.
I've added the bold-face to point out that it's all plurals the grievance refers to. Again, not the be-all, end-all in this, but it didn't claim there was permission to a Club — it was Clubs. It was more than one agreement, according to the grievance. I think you see what point I'm trying to make. To me, that combined with the fact that Hosmer can't suit up, means this isn't just about Pedro Alvarez at this point.
Some other things to chew on:
Kovacevic has a really interesting piece on the bad blood between Scott Boras and Pirates president Frank Coonelly. One of the more intriguing things I took from it is the possibility of Boras still lingering over the fact the Pirates — albeit under other management — dismissed his client Matt Wieters in the previous year's draft. Don't know for sure how much of that figures into all of this mess, but you never know.
In terms of the implications that much of this stems over the Boras Corp. being steamed that Buster Posey — and the agency who represents him, CAA — got more money than Alvarez did, here's some food for thought.
- Someone in the industry told me that both Pedro Alvarez and Buster Posey had CAA and Boras Corp as their final two choices for representation. That's been somewhat refuted in that someone else informed me Posey never met with a representative from Boras Corp in person. Could that add fuel to this fire, that Posey got more money — with Jeff Berry and CAA advising him — than Alvarez and wouldn't even let Boras in the door to talk pre-draft?
- White Sox pitcher John Danks and his younger brother Jordan, fired Boras Corp after the first day of the draft this June, as reported by Scott Merkin on MLB.com (and other places). The younger Danks was drafted in the seventh round (day 2) of the draft and the University of Texas outfielder ended up signing for an above-slot deal, while being represented by… you guessed it, Jeff Berry and CAA. No reasons were given for the Danks-Boras split at the time, but I've learned that it stems from the Dankses learning Boras turned down money — that would have seen Jordan get selected in the first day of the draft — without checking in with his advisee.
This thing is far from done, folks. Hang tight, I'm sure there'll be a lot more to come


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Faye Dunaway
Destiny (Expression) Number 6
" You are an athlete when you're onstage. You can't get tired."
Faye Dunaway is an American actress whose career began in the early 1960s on Broadway, and has won an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, a BAFTA, an Emmy, and was the first recipient of a Leopard Club Award for leaving a mark on collective imagination.
She was born on Tuesday January 14th 1941, in Bascom, Florida, United States.
Faye Dunaway is a loving and caring individual with a tendency to put the needs of others before those of herself. Faye is responsible and trustworthy with a high regard for justice and honesty. Duty will follow her all her life and it sometimes feels a little too much of a burden.
Dunaway is artistic. Harmony and beauty are high on her list of priorities. She has musical talent but the creative talents of Destiny 6 are sometimes left undeveloped or suppressed as a result of their tendency to sacrifice their time and pleasure to the service of others. Faye Dunaway is highly creative in all areas of life, particularly the visual. She is also a talented business person and can work methodically toward the realization of her goals.
Faye Dunaway has a natural gift with flowers, gardens, and animals. Her love of children has caused numerologists to dub Destiny 6s the "Cosmic Mothers and Fathers". The very shape of the 6 resembles and symbolizes "Pregnant with Love".
Faye is a natural counselor and healer. But she must be careful not to interfere with the freedom of others. Dunaway is recognized as an idealist, mainly regarding marriage, friendships and humanity.
The 6 is the most balanced of all numbers, but also contains within itself the greatest paradoxes. It is as if opposite tendencies were tenuously poised. Because of its gift for harmonizing these opposites, Faye Dunaway is uniquely qualified to handle and integrate contradictions within herself. It is for this reason that 6s so frequently find themselves in the role of healers or counselors, creating a peace between opposing points of view, or internal conflicts within themselves.
While Dunaway can be very idealistic, there may also be a temptation to acquire beautiful objects by improper means. Faye Dunaway must also guard against other meddlesome behavior and domestic tyranny, or always having to have her own way in a family dispute.
Conversely, she has it within herself to understand another person's dilemma and come up with a creative solution. Faye Dunaway's natural ability to give comfort and warmth can smooth over hurt feelings like a healing balm. She attracts love and appreciation. And rightly so, because Faye gives the same in return.
Faye Dunaway makes an outstanding teacher (especially young children or special education), healer, counselor social worker, psychologist, artist, designer, gardener, florist, and farmer. She can be successful in business, especially those that involve dealing with people.
You and Faye
About Faye's Destiny (Expression) number
The Destiny number reveals the talents, abilities, and shortcomings that were with Faye Dunaway when she entered her human body. Her name, and the numbers derived from it, reveals Faye's development, as well as the talents and issues she will be working with during this life.
Read more about our interpretation of Faye Dunaway's destiny (expression)


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I was recruited by the PTSO Bakers Club from my daughter's school to bake 2 dozens of muffins for the Grandparents Breakfast that will take place tomorrow. I couldn't just give them some plain muffins! I had to make it special! :) I made labels saying "Happy Grandparents Day 2011" and "I LOVE my Grandparents!"
You can too use them as cupcake picks or to label water bottles.
I made Zucchini with chocolate chips and Banana Muffins from allrecipes.com.
I also made some mini muffins to give to my daughter's teacher.


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Amnesty says UN must impose arms embargo, send international monitors immediately 20Nov12 November 20, 2012
Amnesty International - 19 November 2012
As the conflict escalates between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, Amnesty International is calling for an international arms embargo and for the immediate deployment of international monitors.
Since 14 November, dozens of civilians in Gaza and three Israeli civilians have been killed. Both sides have been violating international humanitarian law, according to information gathered by the UN, local human rights organizations and Amnesty International.
"International monitors with the ability to investigate human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law need to be on the ground as soon as possible in both Gaza and Israel to carry out independent, impartial assessments of violations by both sides," said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
"The UN Security Council should meet urgently to impose an international arms embargo on Israel, Hamas, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza."
Pending such an embargo, all states should immediately suspend transfers of weapons, munitions and related equipment to Israel, the Hamas de facto administration, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.
The Israeli military reports that it has attacked more than 1,350 targets in the Gaza Strip since 14 November. Israeli military forces have fired artillery into densely populated residential areas, attacked government and media buildings, and bombed the family homes of members of Palestinian armed groups, killing and wounding Palestinian civilians.
By Monday afternoon, Amnesty International had collected the names of 66 civilians killed in Gaza, including 17 children and 9 women. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported at noon on Monday that 622 civilians in Gaza had been injured, including 175 children and 107 women, many of them severely.
"The number of civilian deaths in Gaza raises stark questions about the extent to which Israeli forces are fulfilling their obligations to protect civilian lives," said Ann Harrison.
"We have serious concerns that some civilians in Gaza have been killed or injured as a result of indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks by Israeli forces."
Palestinian armed groups have fired more than 1,100 rockets into Israel since 14 November. Most of the rockets cannot be targeted and some have been fired from civilian areas.
These unlawful attacks have killed three Israeli civilians and injured at least 51, two of them severely, according to Magen David Adom, the Israeli branch of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Some of the rockets have landed within the Gaza Strip itself, resulting in civilian casualties.
"Palestinian armed groups are firing rockets which cannot be directed to military targets. Their very use endangers civilians and violates international humanitarian law," said Ann Harrison.
"All members of the international community should urge both sides to prioritise the protection of civilians and strictly adhere to international humanitarian law. The silence of some highly influential states has been deafening."
Amnesty International is also extremely concerned by reports that Hamas' military wing carried a summary killing of a suspected collaborator in Gaza on 16 November.
Hospitals in Gaza are struggling to cope with the emergency situation, exacerbated by pre-existing shortages due to the Israeli blockade imposed since June 2007. Before the current round of hostilities, they already lacked 40 per cent of the essential medicines list, according to the World Health Organization.
Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned the blockade of the Gaza Strip as collective punishment of Gaza's 1.6 million residents and called for it to be completely lifted.
There has been no accountability for war crimes committed by all sides during the 2008-2009 Gaza/Israel conflict, which were documented by Amnesty International and the UN Fact-Finding Mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone.
Amnesty International has called repeatedly for the UN General Assembly to refer the Fact-Finding Mission's report, known as the "Goldstone report" to the Security Council so that it could consider referring that situation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes by both sides.
Such an investigation would cover war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by all sides during the 2008-2009 conflict, in which some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians. Three Israeli civilians were also killed in the conflict.
Since the end of the 2008-2009 conflict, Amnesty International has condemned the continued firing of indiscriminate rockets from Gaza as well as Israeli military strikes on Gaza which have killed and injured civilians.
The lack of impartial and effective investigations into past crimes raises concerns that patterns of violations will be repeated and victims of crimes in the present conflict may be left without access to justice and reparation.
Thank You.


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Step-by-Step Customer Segmentation for Personalized Marketing
January, 2013, By Pini Yakuel, CEO of Optimove
In the old days, companies sent the same marketing campaigns to all of their customers. Later, marketers began to understand that even simple grouping of their customers allowed them to run more relevant, effective and profitable campaigns. More recently, sophisticated marketers and retention experts – particularly in Internet companies – have discovered that applying the latest technologies to this challenge delivers far more targeted (and profitable) campaigns.
May 23, 2012, By Arthur Hughes
|Recent Articles
|Questions about e-mail or database marketing?
|Double your direct mail response rate using a free download of RFM for Windows 4.5. Includes sorting, graphing, import & export to Excel
|Calculate the Lifetime Value of your customers. Download a free LTV calculator. This easy to use tool will get you started understanding and using LTV


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Christians often struggle with the question of whether to get insurance and if doing so demonstrates a lack of faith. This is a healthy struggle, and believers need to examine the Scriptures and come up with an answer they can defend biblically.
First, let us agree that insurance is not specifically mentioned in the Bible. If something is not specifically mentioned in the Word of God, then we must draw from the principles and teaching of the whole testimony of Scripture. After gleaning all applicable scriptural principles, different believers may come to different personal convictions. Romans chapter 14 says that such situations call for respect of others' convictions. In that same chapter, believers have a responsibility to make up our own minds (Romans 14:5). The wording of the text indicates that we are required to do a thorough study of the Word of God and then to form godly personal convictions. The final verse of that same chapter states that whatever we decide must be an act of faith.
Here are some of the biblical principles to guide us. We are to obey the authorities over us. Thus, when we are required by law to have insurance, such as auto liability, we must comply. We are to take care of our families. Thus, we should plan ahead for the future benefit of our families. This could also include preparing for the undesired and unforeseeable early demise of a parent. Life insurance can be seen as a lack of faith, love of money, prudent planning, or possibly wise stewardship of funds. Each person's conditions and convictions may differ in these areas. God certainly advocates planning ahead. The story of Joseph and his wise planning not only saved the nation of Egypt but also the people of Israel and the lineage of Christ (Genesis 41).
The bottom line is we must study the Word of God and call out to Him, asking what He would have us do in this and all areas of life. Hebrews 11:6 states that without faith it is impossible to please Him. This is the real question: "Will this please my Father in heaven?" Another verse to consider is James 4:17, which makes it clear that if we have a chance to do good, we must do it, or else we sin. Another verse that addresses this issue is 1Timothy 5:8, which states that if we want to minister to others, we should start with our own families. Insurance can be a good and proper tool to assist us to achieve these goals.


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Nephew of rapper Benzino arraigned in his shooting
BROCKTON – The man who prosecutors say shot his uncle while in a funeral procession on Route 3 was arraigned Tuesday in Brockton Superior Court.
Gai Scott, 36, of Randolph, pleaded not guilty to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Scott is accused of shooting his uncle Raymond Scott in March while they were driving in separate cars on Route 3 in Duxbury on their way to Plymouth for the funeral of Raymond Scott's mother.
Raymond Scott is a rapper and cast member on the reality TV show "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" who goes by the name Benzino.
Just before his arraignment, Scott spoke to his newly hired defense attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, for the first time.
Scapicchio asked Judge Cornelius Moriarty for time to be able to gather witnesses for a dangerousness hearing, which she hoped would include Raymond Scott.
She said she would be filing paperwork to have Raymond Scott subpoenaed to appear in court.
Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Flanagan said Raymond Scott currently lives and works in Atlanta.
He said Raymond Scott had previously provided sworn testimony in the case to a grand jury.
Flanagan said he was not aware of any evidence that would be favorable to the defendant in Raymond Scott's testimony to the grand jury.
Scapicchio disagreed, saying, "From my understanding, after speaking to the prosecutor this morning is that Raymond Scott went into the grand jury and took the position that he didn't know who shot him, had no idea who shot him. That would be somewhat exculpatory (favorable) to my client."
Flanagan said Gai Scott had previously told police and others that he shot Raymond Scott that day.
"The issue of who the shooter was, judge, is not a issue in the case. Essentially, Gai Scott, the defendant … told anyone that would listen and some people that didn't want to listen that he was the shooter and that he had shot at Raymond Scott."
Gai Scott was ordered held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court June 23 for a dangerousness hearing, which would determined if he would be released or continue to be held without bail for up to 90 days.
Benjamin Paulin may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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BERKELEY – Nobody should be surprised that Rand Paul got so warm a welcome Wednesday, even in a city whose name is often preceded in conversation by 'The People's Republic of…' After all, the junior U.S. Senator from Kentucky and likely contender for 2016's Republican presidential nomination is following in his father's footsteps by
drawing crowds of enthusiastic young followers
, particularly on college campuses, wherever he goes. And his policies – particularly criticizing government surveillance programs, avoiding military actions that aren't vital to national security, and rethinking the war on drugs – draw voters from across the spectrum, including some of Berkeley's famed lefties. 'He's a serious contender,' said Bruce Cain, a political expert who directs Stanford University's Bill Lane Center for the American West. 'He can come to the Bay Area and plausibly look for money, which is not the case with Sarah Palin or some of the other people on the right.' The younger Paul has found that money at a series of local fundraisers Tuesday and Wednesday, and tapped his young activist base with a speech Wednesday afternoon at UC-Berkeley's International House. In a speech peppered with references to Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451? and Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here,' Paul told a crowd of about 400 that he will call for creation of a bipartisan committee to probe and reform the intelligence community. Much like the post-Watergate Church Committee of the 1970s, 'It should watch the watchers.' 'Your rights, especially your right to privacy, are under assault,' he said, noting the National Security Agency has said its surveillance programs treat lawmakers like any other Americans. 'Digest exactly what that means. If Congress is spied upon without their permission, who exactly is in charge of the government?' Just as Edward Snowden broke the law by leaking information about these programs, so too did Director of National Intelligence James Clapper break the law by lying to Congress, Paul said. The nation is under watch by 'an intelligence community that's drunk with power, unrepentant and unwilling to relinquish power,' he said. 'The sheer arrogance of this: They're only sorry that they got caught. Without the Snowden leaks, these spies would still be doing whatever they please.' Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich watched from the back of the room. 'There are not too many people who can get a standing ovation at CPAC and a standing ovation at Berkeley,' said Reich, now a UC-Berkeley professor.
Yet Ericka Chiara, 34, drove down from Oakdale for Paul's speech because she sees him as 'a great voice for a liberty movement in the Republican Party, and he can draw the young voters.' Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom walked over from the UC Regents meeting to hear Paul speak. 'The issue of privacy is the issue of our time,' Newsom said. 'We're all figuring this out in real-time… and his voice is an important one in this conversation.' To many, it sounds familiar. Paul's father, former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, might've stayed in the 2012 presidential primary campaign all the way through May of that year in part to keep building the national network of youthful volunteers and contributors that his son can now leverage for a 2016 run. The elder Paul raised about $40 million for 2012, finishing a not-so-distant third in the Iowa caucuses and second in New Hampshire's primary, testament to the strong ground games he had built in both states. Though he stopped campaigning about a month before California's 2012 GOP primary, he finished second behind Mitt Romney with about 10 percent of the vote and did better in parts of the Bay Area: 13 percent in Alameda and San Mateo counties, 14 percent in Santa Clara County, and 18 percent in San Francisco. Throngs of young, screaming Paulites often made his events seem more like rock concerts than political rallies. Even as he lagged badly in delegate counts, Ron Paul's UC-Berkeley rally in April 2012 drew about 1,200 supporters. Likewise, a crowd of young supporters carried Rand Paul to decisive victory March 8 in the Conservative Political Action Conference's straw poll. His early jump on building networks and enthusiasm might put the younger Paul ahead of most other potential 2016 Republican contenders except for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who both ran before and has a 'dark money' group already raising funds and sponsoring his trips around the country – including his visit to the Bay Area this week. Even 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan might not have as easy a time leveraging Romney's infrastructure as Rand Paul will have leveraging Ron Paul's. But the Kentucky senator is making his own inroads, too. His Bay Area visit included a breakfast ($500 to $2,500) and a separate reception ($500) Tuesday at the Olympic Club of San Francisco and a dinner ($1,000 to $5,200) Tuesday night at the city's Alexander's Steakhouse; another dinner at the same price was scheduled for Wednesday night at North Beach Restaurant. 'I am a big fan of his courage and leadership on privacy issues and constitutional limits on the government,' California Republican Party vice chair Harmeet Dhillon of San Francisco said after meeting him Tuesday. 'He has great things to say about appealing to minority voters, fairness, fiscal restraint and a prudent foreign policy based on US interests.' Dhillon said the GOP has too many single-issue voters among its activists, 'and we often lose elections as a result. Objectively, I would say that 95 percent of what I heard today should be palatable to most Republican and many non-Republican voters. Heck, even some Democrats, because it's common sense.' In a Field Poll of California voters last year, Paul trailed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But Christie is at least temporarily tarnished by his 'Bridgegate' scandal. Cruz might've lost ground by leading the charge into a government shutdown last fall and then letting the House take the heat. Bush is busy raising support and money for other Republicans, and says he'll decide his own future by the end of this year. 'There's nobody who's running away with it at the moment, so he can plausibly see himself as a contender,' Cain said of Paul. 'Whether in the end the party establishment is going to let that happen is another matter.' Some Republicans fear Paul's social stances could scare off some of the Christian-based conservative right, Cain said, while his talk of auditing and perhaps ending the Federal Reserve Bank might turn off the financial sector and businesses – a disaster for the party. 'They see this as a problem but it's too early at this point for them to panic,' Cain said.


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Ellen Zipper's summer Saturdays start early.
Throughout the season, the Owings Mills resident rises around 5 a.m. She checks her computer, visiting Craigslist for the umpteenth time that week, making last-minute adjustments to her plans for the day.
Around 7, with a strategy in place, she boards her white minivan, heading out for a warm morning tour of Baltimore County and Baltimore City yard sales, consignment shops and flea markets, hoping to find bits of treasure along the way.
"The hardest decision is where to go first," she says. "You want to pick the best place. And that's hard."
Zipper searches sales for clothes, furniture, kitchenware and vintage jewelry, which she restores or redesigns. Her passion for yard sales and consignment shopping was sparked during the 1980s, when she was young and newly married.
"I moved with my husband into our first apartment in August of 1986," she says. "I needed to furnish it. I started going to yard sales and finding cute pictures for the walls and furniture and decorative items. My hobby grew from there."
According to the Statistic Brain Research Center, each week in the U.S. an average of 165,000 yard sales take place and 690,000 people purchase something at a yard sale.
Lutherville yard sale enthusiast Karl Pfrommer notes that generations of Americans have embraced the thrill of yard sale shopping. "Norman Rockwell summed it up in a 1925 issue of Saturday Evening Post," he says. "He said, 'One man's trash is another man's treasure.' "
More recently, that famous line was co-opted by rapper Macklemore, whose catchy hit song "Thrift Shop" promotes the benefits of shopping for clothes in consignment shops. Those positives, according to Macklemore, include finding cool stuff that is dirt-cheap with a side of history, as well as sticking it to "big business."
Pfrommer's daughter-in-law, Rebecca Barney, also of Lutherville, echoes Macklemore's sentiments. "I like the reuse factor and not getting caught up in the retail world. I love the idea of not going out and buying things new," she says. "And you can get better things for far less money if you're willing to put forth that extra effort."
Like deep-sea fishermen, serious yard sale shoppers are full of tales about big, exciting finds. Pfrommer recently snapped up a painting that turned out to be a work by Hungarian artist Miklos Neogrady. Zipper, whose interest in vintage jewelry finds her scanning tables filled with costume jewelry, even found her custom-designed engagement ring while shopping a yard sale. She calls it her "dollar diamond."
"You can find the best things at these sales," she says.
The popularity of the song "Thrift Shop" — which hit No. 1 one on the Billboard charts in January — may be part of a larger national trend glamorizing yard sale and consignment shopping.
"When I first started going to yard sales, people thought I was crazy," says Zipper. "But in the last few years, with cable shows like 'Storage Wars' and 'Auction Kings,' the whole dynamic has changed. People used to think it was weird, but now it's the chic thing to do."
However, there are drawbacks to that popularity. Zipper says increased publicity means tougher competition. "It's like yard sale wars on Saturday morning now."
Another popular reality show, "Hoarders," raises the question: Where do serious yard sale enthusiasts keep all their loot?
The answer varies, but storage is a topic on everyone's mind. "I try not to have stuff in our living area," says Rebecca Barney. "I'm not to the point of hoarding. I don't personally collect much, but I do have storage for things I might use later."
Barney resells some of her finds at Emporium Antiques in downtown Frederick. Reselling, either in shops or online, is a common way to manage the constant flow of goods. According to the Statistic Brain website, yard sale shoppers average a 462 percent profit when they resell their finds on eBay.
Zipper says she doesn't specifically buy to resell, but she does manage to fund some of her hobby through the resale of jewelry or furniture she no longer needs. "In the end, I don't make money, but when I recycle, it pays for what I keep," she says.
Zipper concedes that she rarely throws yard sales of her own, but she resells some items at consignment shops like Ruth's Closet in Owings Mills and Repeat Performance in Pikesville.
Pfrommer has found a way to enjoy his hobby without accumulating too much stuff: He puts his treasure-finding skills to use buying gifts for his family and friends, and finding bargains for charitable organizations. "For years I've bought furniture, electrical appliances, bedding and other items for At Jacob's Well, which provides housing and services for the homeless and mentally ill," he says. "When I was Scoutmaster for Troop 35, I often bought camping gear for the boys. At an estate sale last week, I paid $2 for about thirty cans of food for my church's CARES Food Bank."
From cans of food to dollar diamonds, for yard sale experts, the next treasure is always right around the corner.
Tips for throwing a stellar yard sale
There's more to putting on a successful yard sale than depositing the contents of your attic on the front lawn. Here, yard sale fans share what makes for a fantastic sale:
Get the word out: Expert yard sale shoppers troll websites like Craigslist for mentions of sales. Be clear in your post, explaining the types of goods you'll be selling. "Descriptions are very important," says Baltimore yard sale shopper Meg Fairfax Fielding. "Because I don't have children, I skip everything that says 'children's clothes and toys.' " Fielding skips those sales, but shoppers looking for kids' gear will focus on them.
Start early: "I usually start around 7," says Ellen Zipper, explaining that the best yard sale shopping usually ends well before noon. Yard sales courting serious shoppers will be ready to go first thing in the morning.
Put it out there: When it comes to yard sales, bigger is better, says Rebecca Barney. "With quantity, I can always find stuff," she says. "And I think people like to root through — they like to hunt." So don't worry if your goods are a bit jumbled; that adds to the fun.
Band together: Neighborhood yard sales featuring lots of houses are more popular among yard sale enthusiasts. "I don't put all my eggs in one basket," says Barney. "So I like community yard sales, especially."
Price it: "It's nice when things are priced!" says Barney. Seeing a price saves time and trouble for both the shopper and seller.
Be nice: "The best yard sales have good selection, good prices and nice people," says Zipper. So keep a smile on your face — it just might help you make that sale.
Weekend Watch
Shop like an expert
It's early Saturday morning. You've got coffee in hand and a yen to yard-sale shop. There are a thousand sales going on — so where to start? Let the experts guide your way:
Identify key words: Hard-core yard sale shoppers roughly map their route the night before or early in the morning the day of yard sales. They quickly learn to identify the sales that will be most fruitful, paying attention to words like "vintage" and signs that certain sales will focus on their particular interests (like jewelry, kitchen equipment or kids' stuff).
Apps: Craigslist is a popular yard sale advertising tool; experts continue to check the site for new sales until just before they head out shopping. But a variety of additional tools and programs can also help you identify sales in your area. "Yard Sale Treasure Map is a good one," says Meg Fairfax Fielding. "It plots your route."
Hop around: Experts suggest hitting multiple sales or flea markets in one day, starting early in the morning. And don't discount the power of paying attention while you drive. "I generally count on serendipity to find sales," says Fielding. "Some of the best sales are only advertised on signs in the areas where they're located." But keep your focus tight. Karl Pfrommer recommends sticking to a fairly small area, noting that "the less time you have invested in traveling, the more sales you can see."
Don't be afraid to bargain: Use marked prices as a starting point, suggests Pfrommer, who recently scored a set of Gorham crystal wine glasses for just $2 apiece, down from an original yard sale price of $25 each. "At $25 apiece, I decided to wait. Later, they were $18. I left again and returned just before the sale was finished. I asked, 'What's your best offer?' At $2 apiece, that's a deal I couldn't refuse."
Do what you love: "You have to like it," says Ellen Zipper. She explains that the love of the hunt is an important key to successful yard sale shopping. If you don't love it, you should probably just head to the mall.


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LONG BEACH >> What happens when a mad scientist, his monster, a 20-foot monster puppet and a bunch of scared villagers storm onto a stage? Well, hilarity, of course, and obviously a lot of dancing and singing, too.
Musical Theatre West opens its 61st season with Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein," a musical comedy based on the acclaimed 1974 film.
Opening night for the two-and-a-half hour show is Saturday. The 13-performance production runs through Nov. 17, with a preview performance scheduled tonight.
"It will be very funny and something that will draw in the younger audience," said Paul Garman, executive director and producer of the Long Beach-based theater company.
With music and lyrics by Brooks, the musical made its debut on Broadway in 2007. It followed the comic legend's 2001 musical "The Producers," which was also based on one of his films and has also been performed at MTW.
"Mel Brooks is a genius and a great comedian. He creates the most fun and wacky world and this really works on stage," said Lauren Kadel, director and choreographer for the Long Beach production at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
The musical comedy is the first of four productions by the company this season. It's followed by Meredith Willson's "The Music Man," which runs Feb. 14 through March 2 and "'S Wonderful," a compilation of five "mini-musicals" featuring the music of brothers Ira and George Gershwin which runs April 4-20.
The season ends with "Beauty and the Beast," the fairy tale classic that Garman said is meant to attract a new generation of fans to musical theater. It runs July 11-27.
"We try to do something that draws in the younger audience and, in the end, to preserve art form of musical theater," he said of the final play.
The philosophy seems to be working.
Garman said that when it comes to season-ticket buyers, which make up about half of the ticket sales for the company, they are ahead of last year's figures by about 200 subscribers. A total of about 7,500 people have already bought season tickets for this year's performances so far.
Some of those subscribers are likely fans of Brooks' film, which was written by the comedian and actor Gene Wilder. The actor also starred as the main character who is a descendant of the original Dr. Frankenstein.
The story follows young Frankenstein after he inherits his grandfather's castle. There he finds Igor the hunchback, Inga the attractive lab assistant and an old housekeeper. He's not a fan of his grandfather's work until he discovers an old book that describes a reanimation experiment.
"This works so well because the characters are so large to begin with and the path of the story is just so ridiculous and it's a familiar story to a lot of people," said Zachary Ford, who plays the part of young Dr. Frankenstein in the Long Beach show.
The show's score will include songs like "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend," and the likely crowd favorite "Putting On the Ritz," which will bring a 20-foot puppet of the monster dressed in a tuxedo to the stage. The puppet is supposed to represent how the villagers view the monster.
"People can expect to laugh all night long," Kadel said. "It's a great way to kick off the season."


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The use of the Va expeditions web site (here referred to as "the Web Site") is subject to the terms and conditions stated below. The use of the Web Site constitutes an agreement by you, the user (here referred to as "the Client"), that your use is governed by these terms and conditions.In addition, when using particular Va expeditions services, you will be subject to any guidelines or rules applicable to such services that may be posted here. Make sure you check terms and conditions regularly for any updates.
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Note: This policy applies to all new bookings beginning May 1st, 2021.
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With written notification 7-10 days before departure, the client may postpone their trip to any date in 2021 or 2022 and receive a 65% credit for the future trip. With written notification of less than 7 days before departure, the client may postpone their trip to any date in 2021 or 2022 and receive 50% credit for the future trip.
Period before departure when written notification is received, postponement fee as a percentage
Va Expeditions will cover all price increases between 2021 to 2022. For trips postponed to 2022 or later, additional standard inflation rates apply.
International and domestic airfare is not applicable. Va Expeditions will use the airline's postponement and cancellation policies. In most cases, a $20 change fee and difference in airfare applies
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Please note that for large groups (e.g. 10 or more traveling together) or special quotes and services, different postponement deadlines may apply.
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All Clients are expected to assess that their physical fitness aligns with the requirements of the itinerary of their choosing prior to booking. Travellers with pre-existing medical conditions are advised to check with a healthcare professional before traveling on the chosen itinerary. No unaccompanied minors (those under 18 years of age) can be accepted on tours operated by Va Expeditions however older teenagers may be considered provided they are accompanied by a parent or guardian who accepts full responsibility for the minor. Va Expeditions reserves the absolute right to decline a booking at their discretion. Clients agree to accept the authority and decisions of the employees of Va Expeditions, tour leaders and agents, while on the tour with Va Expeditions. If, in the opinion of such persons, the health or conduct of a Client before or after departure appears likely to endanger the safe, comfortable or happy progress of a tour, the Client may be excluded from all or part of the tour. In case of ill health Peru for Less may make such arrangements as it sees fit and recover the costs thereof from the Client.
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HONG KONG—As Hong Kong prepares to usher in the Year of the Snake, an increasing number of the reptiles are slithering their way into local households, with sales of the uncuddly pet rocketing.
Keeping snakes has become increasingly popular in the densely populated city in recent years as animal lovers seek out less space-hungry pets.
And with the spotlight firmly on the reptile in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year today, sales have surged.
At Reptile Paradise, a store which first opened its doors in Hong Kong's Mong Kok neighborhood in 1994, dozens of baby snakes, not more than a few weeks old, frantically try to climb their way out of small plastic boxes.
As well as turtles and lizards the shop sells milk snakes, corn snakes, king snakes and ball pythons, plus containers of live white mice to feed them.
Rising sales
Its director, Vincent Cheung, said snake sales have been rising steadily for several months prior to the arrival of the new year.
"The increase for the past month and what I expect for the coming month is about 20 percent to 25 percent, compared with the last year," Cheung said.
He has sold 100 to 150 snakes in the past three months and remembers a similar spike in 2001, the previous Year of the Snake, with 20- and 30-something Hong Kongers the most eager customers.
"When the Year of the Snake comes, they really want to save their money to buy a snake for it. Keeping snakes is very simple compared to keeping other types of reptiles," said Cheung, adding that clients often learn how to raise and breed them on the Internet.
Mixed reputation
With real estate at a premium and rentals sky high, snakes appear to fit with the compact high-rise lifestyle of most of the city's residents, popular breeds in Hong Kong like the North American corn snake and milk snake only measure 10 inches when they are young, growing to around 47 inches.
But while popular pet reptiles such as the turtle represent luck, longevity and fortune, the snake has a mixed reputation in Chinese culture.
Although it can signify intelligence and happiness, it is also associated with tragedy—some believe that if a snake is found in the home it means impending disaster for the family concerned, though others feel that such a discovery brings good luck and peace.
In culinary terms it is held up as a delicacy in southern Chinese cuisine as well as a health booster, with thick soup made from snake meat thought to quicken the blood and ward off illness in winter.
Impress girls with snakes
In Hong Kong, practicality and a certain cool factor are fuelling sales, as well as money-making potential.
"Some people think it's a good idea to impress the girls with snakes and some people want to keep them to make money through breeding," said Gourry Chan, a director at Mong Kok's Turtle Park pet store.
Demand has also spiked in his shop in the lead-up to the new year, though he criticized those who simply want to get on the Year of the Snake bandwagon.
"There are a number of people who are genuinely interested in keeping snakes—but lately there have been more people coming in, and if they say they are doing it for the Year of the Snake, we discourage them," he said.
A snake can live up to 20 years and it takes dedication to keep one. Some are sold online when their owners get bored or they die from neglect.
Unsuitable pets
Animal protection groups also warn against buying a snake on a whim.
"There are many species of snake and all require unique habitats, including the right temperature and humidity to accomplish various physiological and behavioral processes. There are huge commitments behind keeping snakes and the SPCA [Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] does not recommend it to be a suitable household pet," said the SPCA's Dr. Fiona Woodhouse.
Bad diet, poor care
Bad diet and poor care often leave pet snakes dehydrated and with bone deformities, while keeping them in small containers leaves them stressed and prone to disease.
The reality may also be more gruesome than buyers realize.
"Many snakes require the feeding of live mice and although some can be trained to eat dead food, many can't," the SPCA said, adding that it feared that unwanted snakes would end up abandoned.
Turtle Park's Chan says he'll make sure his customers know the nitty-gritty before snapping up a snake.
"As a pet enthusiast myself, I feel that I have a responsibility to tell them it isn't right to buy on impulse," he said.
First posted 12:23 pm | Saturday, February 9th, 2013


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Blue Caprice
The Beltway snipers movie is spare, eerie, and insubstantial.
After you've seen Blue Caprice, come back and listen to our Spoiler Special:
It's very clear what the French-born, U.S.-based director Alexandre Moors was trying not to do in his first feature, Blue Caprice, which tells the story of the "Beltway snipers" who terrorized the Washington, D.C., area for three awful weeks in the fall of 2002, killing 10 people and critically wounding three others. Moors didn't set out to make an explicit, factually accurate account of the crimes—rather, his approach is elliptical and allusive, given to sudden shifts in time frame and long, often dialogue-free takes of the blighted American landscape through which his antiheroes move. Nor did Moors want to shock the viewer with graphic images of violence: Blue Caprice's depiction of the actual killings is so non-exploitative it's almost muffled, as the crimes for which the whole movie has prepared us flash by in a hasty montage at the end. What's less obvious is just what the director did set out to do. For all its tasteful spareness and eerie, diaphanous mood, Blue Caprice feels, in the end, insubstantial. It's a true-crime story that illustrates little about the crime in question and a character study whose characters, even when haunting, remain stubbornly opaque.
That opacity is in part inevitable, given that no one has yet fully understood the motives of John Allen Muhammad, the middle-aged man who masterminded the random shootings, and Lee Boyd Malvo, the teenage boy who, for the most part, carried them out. When Muhammad was executed by lethal injection in 2009, he refused to make a final statement, and Malvo, who is serving six consecutive life sentences, has said (in an interview that took place 10 years after the killings) that "there [was] no rhyme or reason or sense." But Moors' close-up portrait of the relationship between Muhammad (Isaiah Washington) and Malvo (Tequan Richmond) always seems just on the edge of revealing some truth about their toxic bond that it never quite delivers.
After a prologue made up of real-life media coverage of the D.C. shootings, the film takes us back in time to the Caribbean island of Antigua, where the teenage Lee is abandoned by his mother and then saved from (possibly intentional) drowning by Muhammad, who's vacationing there with his three young children. (In real life, Malvo and his mother befriended Muhammad together, and she left her son in the older man's care.) Later, Muhammad brings Lee back to the U.S. (again, a significant compression of real-life events), now passing him off as his son. Muhammad is forbidden to have contact with his three real children after his ex-wife takes out a restraining order against him, leaving him increasingly isolated and bitter. Meanwhile, he begins to train his quasi-adopted son as both a marksman and a crackpot, giving him a military-sniper training manual to read and outlining a vague plan to bring down "the system" through a series of random crimes.
In the movie's weakest section, Muhammad and Lee drift around Tacoma, Wash., first crashing on the couch of one of Muhammad's girlfriends and later at the home of his old Army buddy, Ray (Tim Blake Nelson) and Ray's wife (Joey Lauren Adams.) Ray is a gun nut with lax safety standards, which allows his houseguests access to a whole garage full of heavy weaponry. Moors and his co-screenwriter, R.F.I. Porto, drop hints about how and why Muhammad and Lee's aimless discontent congeals into murderous rage; we see Lee absorbed in a first-person shooter video game, and watch as John tries various ruses to find out about his ex-wife's and children's whereabouts. There's a frightening scene in which the older man ties the younger one to a tree in the woods, forcing him to escape and make his way home in an apparent attempt to break his spirit and make him more dependent and pliable. But Lee's transformation from damaged orphan to cold-blooded killer is so imprecisely delineated that later in the film, when Muhammad observes with chilling pride that "I've created a monster," the viewer feels the need to rewind to figure out just when, and how, such a thing could have happened. It's only Washington's and Richmond's quietly disturbing performances (Richmond's is all the more impressive given his near-total lack of dialogue) that sustain the film's tone through this creepy but momentumless middle section.
Moors has said that his original plan was to end the story just before the Beltway killings took place, and perhaps he should have. A late scene in which the killers' specially tricked-out vehicle—the blue Caprice of the title—drives slowly down the highway toward D.C. over the sound of mournful choral wailing would have made for an appropriately ambiguous ending. But the rushed montage that follows, in which we get a few unsettling glimpses of the results of the killing spree with no sense of how many people died or over how long a period (not to mention what Malvo and Muhammad did, thought, or said in between murders) makes for a frustratingly abrupt conclusion to this slim 93-minute film. I understand Moors' impulse to avoid both tidy moral explanations and sensationalistic gore, but we don't spend long enough with either victims or perpetrators to get a sense of what those terrible few weeks in Washington were like.
The elegant, monochromatic cinematography by Brian O'Carroll often uses extreme soft-focus effects, allowing the blurred figures in the background of a shot—usually, Muhammad and Lee themselves—to emerge very slowly into sharper focus as they approach the lens. It's too bad that Moors and Porto's script relies so heavily on a kind of reverse effect: The closer Blue Caprice gets to the two killers at its center, the less we understand them.


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Christmas is a couple of days away and tomorrow you'll probably be spending most of your time cooking and setting the table. However, allow yourself some time for last minute spruce-ups before the guests arrive. Here's what you can do in minutes.
Clean the bathroom that guests will be using. Wipe down the sink and clean the toilet. Then quickly go over the mirror. Rid the vanity top of clutter. If possible, make this room off limits to your children. If not, put out fresh towels and pick up stray items on Christmas morning.
Straighten up your entry foyer, inside and out to make it welcoming. Sweep leaves and cobwebs from your doorsteps, and make sure the front lights are working. Inside remove the family coats to make room for your guests' winter coats. Stash away any mail.
Sit at the dining room table and look up to check the chandelier. Be sure to have the lights on as that's when the dust and webs really show. If have a long handled duster, use it to wipe away hanging dust bunnies. If you have an extra minute, use a microfiber cloth to dust around the crystals.
More From Good Housekeeping
After dinner, several guests will go straight to the couch and plop down to watch the big game. Make sure the television and entertainment center are dusted and shake any debris from the couch cushions onto the floor. Then pick up the dirt when you make your final vacuum run.


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We know that by heating things up can make them explode. How about by cooling them down? For those of you who doubt that you can make something explode by cooling it, just grab some white erasers and liquid nitrogen. Then stand back.
Things explode because the contents inside them suddenly expand to be a great deal bigger than the shell that contains them. This is most easily done by heating the object. When water or solid turns to gas, it expands in volume. Putting liquid nitrogen or dry ice inside a sealed container and then leaving them around at room temperature will lead to an explosion. Even gas expands to the point where it will explode its container, if it heats up enough. This is why cooling something generally doesn't work to burst it. Cooling a substance makes it denser and more close together.
But what if, instead of expanding the stuff inside the container, you're shrinking the stuff outside? This is harder to do, but the effect is the same, which you'll see if you grab some white erasers and a container of liquid nitrogen. The erasers are made of rubber, which doesn't conduct heat very well. Cool down something made of metal, for example, and the heat will drain away in an efficient and orderly fashion. As soon as the heat has radiated out of the parts that are in direct contact with the liquid nitrogen, heat from the inside radiates outward - through efficient conduction - and get sucked out by the liquid nitrogen as well. The entire structure would cool. Put a rubber eraser in liquid nitrogen and, although the heat will radiate out of the parts in direct contact with the nitrogen, the heat will stay snug in the center. This is fine, except that we've already demonstrated that objects generally constrict as they cool. The outer surface constricts, the inner contents strain at the outer surface, and the entire thing is cooled until it explodes!


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Story highlights
Website has posted purported personal information about top U.S. officials and celebrities
Names include Vice President Biden, former Secretary of State Clinton, and George Clooney
Latest name on site is new Secret Service Director Julia Pierson
FBI and Secret Service are investigating
The FBI and the Secret Service are investigating another incident involving a website that has divulged purported personal information about senior U.S. government officials and celebrities. This time it is the new Secret Service director.
A website posted information allegedly about Julia Pierson, who was named in March to head the agency charged with protecting the president and other top-level government officials.
The Secret Service would not comment beyond acknowledging it is looking into the matter.
The FBI would not say whether the information on the Internet, including Social Security and financial data, was accurate nor would they say whether investigators believe those materials were obtained by hacking.
As with some past reports on other people, it appeared that some of the information for Pierson is dated. For instance, it lists a Florida address although she has lived and worked in the Washington area for years.
Other information allegedly linked to the Secret Service director included a credit report, bank and mortgage information, and retail credit cards, including Macy's, Sears and Home Depot.
The website, which CNN is not naming, has posted materials in the past claiming to belong to an assortment of public figures. These include first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
The site also posted alleged personal information about a number of celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Beyonce, George Clooney, and Tiger Woods.
Earlier, the Secret Service confirmed it was investigating the incidents involving Obama, Clinton and Biden. The FBI said it was investigating those cases as well as those involving celebrities.
No arrests have been announced.


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The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland share an ambitious 40% target for electricity from renewables by 2020, consistent with Ireland's EU obligation to generate 16% of its energy use from renewables by that date. Between 4GW and 5GW of renewables capacity is expected to be needed — although some green proponents are striving for 11GW by 2020.
The review has been examining the effect that around 4.6GW of variable wind will have on system operation. As well as looking at how generation should be scheduled and dispatched, the review is also studying rules for constraining generation off the system at times of congestion.
Its findings are due to be published in the first quarter of 2011 as the last grid-connection offers are issued under Ireland's lengthy Gate 3 process dealing with 3.9GW of applications from generators wanting to connect to the network.
New direction needed
Developers that have received Gate 3 offers will be examining the implications of the review very carefully, says Michael Walsh, chief executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) . "It's a very significant milestone in the whole development of the industry in Ireland," he says. "People will be making decisions as to whether to accept those offers or not."
Following Ireland's general election late last month, IWEA will be urging the new government to take a joined-up approach to formulating policy.
"There are too many different things happening on the policy front — maybe ten or 11 items up for review at any one time," explains Walsh. "We should be looking at how all the different issues interact, rather than looking at them one by one and coming up with different answers that don't gel together — which is what is happening at the moment."
The dire state of the Irish economy affected the rate of new wind installation, with just 153MW completed in 2010, down from 221MW installed in 2009 (see table). But the pace is expected to pick up this year. Some 340MW is currently under construction, the majority due for completion by the end of 2011.
Total wind capacity in Ireland now amounts to 1.43GW, enough to meet some 15% of total Irish electricity demand. Most of the new capacity last
year was built by large, mainly utility companies better able to weather the economic storm raging in the country. Leading the pack were two of the biggest market players: ESB with 48MW followed by Ireland's market leader, SSE Renewables, with 40MW. The latter company boosted its share of total Irish wind capacity to around 33%.
Economic woes
John Ward, director of small independent generator Redwind Energy, says the banking crisis has caused huge problems for the wind sector, making it difficult for smaller players with consents and grid-connection offers in place to proceed to the construction stage. If they are lending at all, banks are only lending to people with a strong track record, he suggests, adding that raising equity is also hard
But Ward believes that "the fundamental economics of wind have not deteriorated" and notes that civil engineering and turbine supply costs have fallen, making projects cheaper to build. "If you look at any other asset class, wind is probably the best," says Ward.
Michael Walsh says that some financing is still available for wind farms. "But it's taking a lot longer to bring them across the line and get all the due diligence done," he says. "Others are finding it much more of a challenge than maybe it was even two years ago."
Yet, Walsh is optimistic that this year will see up to 300MW of projects completed. And there are a lot of projects in the pipeline, he adds, despite the permitting, grid and financing challenges wind power faces in Ireland.