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NU32: Introduction to the PIC32
The Microchip PIC32 is a family of complex and powerful microcontrollers that can be purchased for less than $10 in quantities of one. This microcontroller offers many peripherals useful for mechatronics purposes, such as several channels for analog-to-digital conversion, digital I/O, synchronous and asynchronous serial communication, pulse width modulation, etc. For our purposes, the primary advantages of the 32-bit PICs over the 8-bit PICs we have used in the past are that they are faster (max clock rate of 80 MHz compared to 40 MHz), have more peripherals available, offer more program memory (flash) and data memory (RAM), and have significantly more computational horsepower due to the 32-bit address and data buses and single-cycle multiply for 32-bit math. The primary disadvantages are that they come only in surface mount packages, making them harder to work with for fast prototyping compared to the DIP (dual-inline packages) 8-bit PICs that can be plugged into a breadboard; and they must be powered by 2.3-3.6 V, unlike the 5 V of DIP 8-bit PICs and some DIP chips we would like to interface with. (Of course surface mount and lower operating voltages are vastly superior for commercial embedded products, and we will find ways to work around the disadvantages mentioned.)
Particular numbers referenced on this page refer to the PIC32MX795F512L chip, which is the PIC32 used on the NU32 board. (You may wish to compare the capabilities of our PIC to others on the Microchip PIC32 parametric table.) The NU32 development board is shown on the right. The NU32 board was designed by Nick Marchuk to easily plug into two standard prototyping breadboards, allowing easy prototyping with the PIC32. The NU32 board also has two voltage regulators, a DC input jack, a USB connector, an FT2232 dual serial-to-USB converter, USER and RESET push buttons, and two LEDs to allow you to get up and running quickly with only the assembled NU32 board, a USB cable, a DC power supply, and a computer with free software (once a "bootloader" is installed on the PIC to allow you to program it from your computer). The NU32 board was created with inspiration from the UBW32 board and the NU32vX's designed by NU graduate student Andy Long and Nick Marchuk.
The purpose of this page is to provide a brief overview of PIC32 and NU32 hardware. Microchip provides many reference manuals, data sheets, application notes, and sample software, and there are many other helpful web resources to take you further.
Also see
- NU32: What is in the NU32 Kit,
- NU32: Software to Install,
- NU32: Starting a New Project and Putting it on the NU32, and
- NU32: A Detailed Look at Programming the PIC32 on the NU32
pages for information specific to programming the NU32.
PIC32 Hardware Overview
Our PIC32MX795F512L features a max clock frequency of 80 MHz, 512K program memory (flash), 128K data memory (RAM), multiple interrupt sources and handling routines, 16 10-bit analog-to-digital input lines (multiplexed to a single ADC), many digital I/O channels (with outputs that can be configured for open-drain), USB 2.0, Ethernet, five I2C and four SPI synchronous serial communication modules, six UARTs for RS-232 or RS-485 asynchronous serial communication, five 16-bit counter/timers (configurable to give two 32-bit timers), five pulse-width modulation outputs, and a number of pins that can generate interrupts based on external signals, among other features. This PIC has 100 pins.
To cram this much functionality into 100 pins, many of the pins serve multiple functions. For example, pin 20 can serve as a comparator input, an analog input, a change notification input which can generate an interrupt when the pin changes state, or a digital input or output. Which function a particular pin serves is determined by "Special Function Registers" (SFRs) that contain configuration bits specifying the desired use of the pin. Typically your program sets these configuration bits at the beginning of execution, and the functions of the pins are fixed while your program runs. (It is possible, though rarely needed, to change the configuration bits and change the function of pins on the fly.)
A figure showing the pin-out of the PIC32MX795F512L is shown at right. Shaded pins tolerate up to 5.5 V as inputs. All pins are brought out to the pins of the NU32 board, except for pins 63 and 64 (OSC1 and OSC2, to the external oscillator), pins 54 and 55 (VBUS and VUSB, brought out to pads), and pin 85 (VDDCORE). Click on the image for higher resolution.
Below the different pin functions are briefly summarized. The most important functions for ME 333 are indicated in bold. To learn more about these functions, you can consult the data sheet, but for the most part you will learn how to use these functions by modifying sample programs. See also the Further Reading section at the bottom of the page.
|Pin Label
|ANx (x=0-15)
|analog-to-digital (ADC) inputs
|positive supply and ground reference for ADC
|clocks for infrared (IrDA) comm encoding and decoding for 2 UARTs
|CxIN-, CxIN+, CxOUT (x=1,2)
|comparator negative and positive input and output
|clock input and output (for particular clock modes)
|CNx (x=0-21)
|interrupts generated on change of these inputs
|comparator reference voltage low and high inputs, output
|USB communication lines
|EMUCx, EMUDx (x=1,2)
|used by an in-circuit emulator (ICE); not relevant in ME 333
|enable for on-chip voltage regulator that provides 1.8 V to internal core (set to VDD to enable on NU32)
|ICx (x=1-5)
|input capture pins for measuring frequencies and pulse widths
|INTx (x=0-4)
|pins used to generate external interrupts
|MCLR (overbar)
|master clear reset pin, resets PIC when low
|OCx (x=1-5)
|"output compare" pins, usually used to generate pulse trains (pulse width modulation) or individual pulses
|fault protection for output compare pins; if a fault occurs, can be used to make OC outputs be high impedance (neither high nor low)
|crystal or resonator connections for different clock modes
|PGCx, PGDx (x=1,2)
|used with in-circuit debugger (ICD)
|latch enable for parallel master port
|PMAx (x=0-15)
|parallel master port address
|PMDx (x=0-15)
|parallel master port data
|enable and read/write strobes for parallel master port
|Rxy (x=A-G,y=0-15)
|digital I/O pins
|real-time clock alarm output
|SCLx, SDAx (x=1-5)
|I2C serial clock and data input/output for I2C synchronous serial communication modules
|SCKx, SDIx, SDOx (x=1-4)
|serial clock, serial data in, out for SPI synchronous serial communication modules
|SS1, SS2 (overbar)
|slave select (active low) for SPI communication
|TxCK (x=1-5)
|input pins for counters when counting external pulses
|used for JTAG debugging
|TRCLK, TRDx (x=0-3)
|used for instruction trace controller
|UxCTS, UxRTS, UxRX, UxTX (x=1-6)
|UART clear to send, request to send, receive input, and transmit output for UART modules
|positive voltage supply for peripheral digital logic and I/O pins (3.3 V on NU32)
|capacitor filter for internal 1.8 V regulator when ENVREG enabled
|external 1.8 V supply when ENVREG disabled
|can be used as negative and positive limit for ADC
|ground for logic and I/O
|monitors USB bus power
|power for USB transceiver
|output to control supply for VBUS
|USB on-the-go (OTG) detect
The figure at right is a block diagram of the architecture of the PIC32. The CPU (which operates at 1.8V, provided by a voltage regulator internal to the PIC32 as it's used on the NU32 board) interfaces with data memory (RAM) and the program flash memory (along with USB, CAN, ethernet, a direct memory access controller, and in-circuit debugger and JTAG interfaces that can be used for programming and debugging purposes). It also interfaces with peripherals, which are what make microcontrollers useful for embedded control. These peripherals consist of PORTA ... PORTG, which are digital I/O ports; five 16-bit counters (can create 32-bit counters by chaining) that can be used for a variety of counting operations, and timing operations by counting clock ticks; analog-to-digital converter (ADC) multiplexed to 16 input pins; a real-time clock and calendar (RTCC) that can maintain accurate year-month-day-time; two comparators that compare which of two inputs has a higher voltage; six UARTs for asynchronous serial communication (e.g., RS-232, RS-485); a "parallel master port" (PMP) for parallel communication; five I2C and four SPI synchronous serial communication modules; five pins for "input capture", where interrupts can be triggered by rising or falling edges; five pins for pulse-width modulation (or "output compare"); and 22 change notification pins to generate interrupts when signals change.
Note that the peripherals are on two different buses: one is a bus clocked by the system clock SYSCLK, and the other is clocked by the peripheral bus clock PBCLK. These may be the same frequency, or PBCLK may be a lower frequency, depending on how you set clock configuration bits. The top of the figure shows the timing generation, which uses either an external crystal or timing circuit (for more accurate timing), or an internal circuit, to create SYSCLK, PBCLK, and 48 MHz USBCLK (which is used for USB communication). The NU32 board uses an external 8 MHz crystal resonator to generate a SYSCLK and PBCLK of 80 MHz using a phase-locked loop (PLL) to multiply the frequency. This is set by the software, as discussed below, not by the physical design of the board. If the Watchdog Timer is used by your program, your program must periodically reset the timer counter. Otherwise the PIC will reset. This is a way to have the PIC recover and restart if your program has entered an unexpected state.
The CPU also interfaces with a "pre-fetch (cache) module." This module fetches blocks of program instructions from flash program memory in advance of their use by the CPU, to try to limit delays due to relatively slow flash memory.
NU32 Development Board Overview
Here is a schematic of the NU32 development board, showing how the PIC32MX795F512L is used on the board, and showing which pins are made available to the user. The board layout is shown at right as and can be clicked on to view a high resolution image. It is also available as a pdf file. The mapping from the 84 pins on the NU32 board to pins on the PIC32 is also shown in the figure below. In total, 82 PIC32 I/O pins are carried to the NU32 board pins.
Some of the features of the NU32 board are highlighted in this image.
Options for powering the NU32 board:
- Plug a power jack (2.1 mm ID, 5.5 mm OD, center positive, >6V, <16V) into the barrel connector on the board and slide the power switch to side toward the USB connector side of the board.
NOT RECOMMENDED: * Short the bare pads on the bottom of the board to bypass the 5V regulator and use the 5V from your computer to power the board. The USB cable provides up to 500 mA. IF YOU USE THIS METHOD, COVER THE POWER JACK WITH TAPE SO THAT YOU DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY PLUG IN AN EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY
Note on using the 3.3V and 5V output pins: The DC power supply that comes with the NU32 kit provides ~6V at about 1000 mA total. Take this into account when you decide how much current to try to draw from these pins. Even if the NU32 board is powered by a higher-current supply, such as a battery, keep in mind that the onboard 5V and 3.3V regulator can only source approximately 800 mA. You should not try to draw more than, say, half that. Usual rule of thumb: don't try to drive motors, which often draw hundreds of mA, up to a few amps in typical ME 333 applications, using current flowing through your NU32 board. THE VOLTAGE REGULATORS WILL BE WARM, AND WILL GET HOT AS YOU DRAW MORE CURRENT. This is normal, but take care to not draw too much current from your 5V or 3.3V rails.
Further Reading
You can find some code snippets and circuit suggestions here. There are many references out there to learn more about the hardware and programming of the PIC32. Some of these are more accessible than others. A good book that discusses both the hardware and programming of the PIC32 at an introductory to intermediate level is DiJasio's Programming 32-bit Microcontrollers in C: Exploring the PIC32. It was published in 2008, soon after PIC32's were released. It does not make use of many peripheral library functions, but instead provides low-level code to develop your own libraries. Still, it is a good first book to understand how the PIC32 works.
The most useful Microchip reference documents are:
- PIC32 Family Reference Manual, by chapter. Lots of useful and detailed information on the PIC32 architecture and how the peripherals work, including detailed description of their SFRs.
- "short" PIC32 Data Sheet (254 pages, 5 MB pdf): Has overlap with the Reference Manual, but the Reference Manual contains some information you can't find here, and the Data Sheet contains some information you can't find in the Reference Manual.
You can also visit the Microchip documentation page.
To better understand how to program the PIC32, your best bet is to modify sample code in the Microchip distribution (see in particular the code in C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPLAB C32\examples\plib_examples), help files in C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPLAB C32\doc, on this wiki, and elsewhere on the web. You might also wish to look at some of the many Microchip Application Notes. You can also look at the peripheral source code to see what exactly the peripheral libraries do in the cases that the functions are not completely described in the help files. The MPLAB C32 C Compiler User's Guide (122 page pdf) contains information on programming the PIC32 in C, and the MPLAB C32 Libraries Manual (150 page pdf) discusses some standard C libraries as well as libraries for functions such as Fast Fourier Transforms, FIR and IIR filters, and functions on arrays.
As you find other useful resources for programming, feel free to add them here!


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Blind Item #2
For the past five days this former B list actress who divided her time between movies and television fairly equally has been stalking a Columbia University student. They hooked up last Thursday night and since he left her place she has followed him pretty much non-stop or camped out in front of his place. She freaked him out when she claimed they were soul mates after they had known each other for three hours which also included the time for sex in that three hours.

subset: commoncrawl


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Had hoped for cheaper coverage on exchange
- Name: Nathan Swisher
- Age: 30
- Hometown: Greeley, Colo.
- Job: Clinical psychologist
We are a young family of five, just welcoming our third child. I work full-time but we couldn't afford the group rates so we purchased a private plan through Rocky Mountain Health Plans.
Our original plan was canceled. We were recently informed that our monthly health insurance premiums would increase from $627 to $1,350 in order to keep similar coverage. The increase is due to both adding a child and ACA requirements, but our plan without the third child would be $1,147.
So we signed up for the exchange and looked over plans. We were told we didn't qualify for any subsidies.
The only affordable plans through the Colorado exchange are with Kaiser, which would not allow us to keep our family doctors. The plans with low enough premiums have very high deductibles and minimal coverage.
We recognize the need for reform, and we are certainly glad that many families previously unable to obtain coverage will now be covered. However, we're in a group that's in a tough situation where all of a sudden we're not able to afford really quality health coverage. That's kind of a first for us. We're still scrambling to find some coverage that works for our family.
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FUJIFILM Europe GmbH announced today that CAD EYE™ is now commercially available in Europe. CAD EYE™ is a new software with two functions for colon polyp detection and characterisation utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on deep learning. The official presentation will take place during an ESGE Connect 2020 Satellite Symposium, on Monday 21st September 2020 at 5:00 pm.
The characterisation function together with the polyp detection function is available with software EW10-EC02 and the compatible expansion unit EX-1 in combination with Fujifilm's ELUXEO 7000 system and the 700 series colonoscopes.
CAD EYE was originally developed to support real time detection of colonic polyps utilising AI technology. When a suspicious polyp is detected within the endoscopic image, a Detection Box indicates the area where the suspicious polyp has been detected accompanied by a sound signal. The CAD EYE Characterisation module will assist clinicians by generating a suggested histological prediction by displaying whether the suspicious polyp in the image is hyperplastic or neoplastic.
CAD EYE functions while the moving endoscopy image is being observed and does not require complicated techniques or operations such as magnification and image capturing.
Prior to CAD EYE, Fujifilm has developed two different types of image enhancement technologies called LCI (Linked Color Imaging) and BLI (Blue Light Imaging) for supporting detection and characterisation respectively due to their characteristics of light wavelength used (2*). Fujifilm has applied this idea to the development of CAD EYE, and CAD EYE's functionalities are automatically activated depending on the current observation mode.
CAD EYE Detection is activated when the clinicians are observing in White Light Mode or LCI Mode, and it automatically switches to CAD EYE Characterisation when the observation mode is changed to BLI Mode. CAD EYE can be activated or deactivated simply with just one click of the scope switch, which is also considered important when the functions are no longer necessary such as during therapeutic procedures.
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) was designed to minimise the endoscopists' eye movements during a procedure, displaying the characterisation result and the Visual Assist Circle around the circumference of the endoscopy image. The Position Map is placed directly next to the side of the clinical image to show which area of the video image CAD EYE is focusing on.
Increasing the number of endoscopists who can properly detect and characterise colon polyps is one of the critical issues in the gastroenterology field," says Prof. Helmut Neumann, Professor of Medicine and Director Interdisciplinary Endoscopy Center of University Medical Center Mainz. "With the combination of CAD EYE Detection and Characterisation, the learning curve of colonoscopy examinations can be largely improved. With the assistance of CAD EYE Detection, we can possibly see an increase in the Polyp Detection Rate (PDR), and even those who are not endoscopy experts may be brought considerably closer to this level. CAD EYE Characterisation has the potential to decrease the cost of histopathology by reducing unnecessary biopsies taken during endoscopy procedures. It is helpful that CAD EYE is available with any 700 series colonoscopes which are already in the market, and it does not require any additional operation to be activated such as magnification. Endoscopists can simply use the scope just as normal, instantly providing us with this powerful supporting tool.
As for the detailed information regarding the instructions for use, warnings, and precautions, please refer to the operation manual. For further inquiries, please contact Fujifilm's subsidiaries or authorised distributors in each country or region.
The webinar consists of pre-recorded lectures with live Q&A, with the participation of Prof. Pradeep Bhandari, University of Portsmouth, Solent centre for Digestive Diseases, Queen Alexandra Hospital,Portsmouth, UK; Prof. Dr.Emmanuel Coron Digestive Diseases Institute University Hospital of Nantes, France; Dr. Emanuele Rondonotti Gastroenterology Unit, Hospital Valduce, Como, Italy
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer after lung cancer and breast cancer in terms of the number of cases, and the second most common cause of cancer death after lung cancer (3*). And in order to reduce the incidence of cancer, colonoscopy is widely considered the gold standard for detection of colonic neoplasia. Also, it is widely believed that accurate endoscopic diagnosis of colonic polyps could decrease the number of unnecessary polypectomies, which can lead to the reduction of medical expenses. However, there is a gap in diagnostic capability of colon polyps between endoscopy specialists and non-specialists, and filling this gap has been one of the major issues in colonoscopy. (4*, 5*)
Fujifilm is working to develop a unique collection of image processing technologies and continues to develop the practical application of AI technology, and will continue to develop and supply a wide range of products and services that meet the needs of frontline medicine in various fields, contributing to streamlining clinical work, enhancing the quality of medical care and maintaining and strengthening people's health.
(1*) Fujifilm's brand name of function to assist computer-aided-diagnosis (CAD) in endoscopy utilising AI technologies. Fujifilm has applied for trademark protection of CAD EYE.
(2*) BLI Portal
(3*) WHO database
(4*) Ladabaum U, Fioritto A, Mitani A, et al. Real-time optical biopsy of colon polyps with narrow band imaging in community practice does not yet meet key thresholds for clinical decisions. Gastroenterology 2013;144:81–91.
(5*) Rees CJ, Rajasekhar PT, Wilson A, et al. Narrow band imaging optical diagnosis of small colorectal polyps in routine clinical practice: the Detect Inspect Characterise Resect and Discard 2 (DISCARD 2) study. Gut 2017;66:887–95.


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Legendary actor Christopher Lee, who has appeared in such cinematic milestones as "Lord Of The Rings", "Star Wars", "The Man With The Golden Gun" and "Dracula", has released Christmas heavy metal singles"The Little Drummer Boy" and "Silent Night" via iTunes and Amazon.
Audio samples of the songs can be heard below.
Christopher Lee may have turned 90, but it doesn't look like he plans to retire any time soon. He appeared in "Dark Shadows" earlier this year, you can catch him in "The Hobbit", and he isn't afraid to try something a little bit different like this heavy metal Christmas project.
Vocals: Christopher Lee
Backing Vocals ("Silent Night"): Michelle at StudioPros
Guitars: Hedras Ramos Jr.
Bass: Hedras Ramos Sr.
Drums: Ollie Usiskin
Musical arrangements by Hedras Ramos Jr.
Recorded at: Bonafide Studios, StudioPros and Audio 7
Engeneering: Leopoldo Lopes and Hedras Ramos Sr.
Mixed and mastered at Sound Pressure Studios
The singer-actor's first creation, "Charlemagne: By The Sword And The Cross", which won critical acclaim, was more symphonic than the upcoming "Charlemagne: The Omens Of Death", which is due in 2013.
He told BBC Radio 5 "Up All Night"'s Jamie Stangroom how he got involved in the genre.
"I was first introduced to metal when I sang with a [band] calledRHAPSODY," he said. "But what I sang was not heavy metal; I sang with a tenor. Then I worked with MANOWAR as a narrator, I think it was in Germany, and again, that was not me singing metal. I became rather fascinated by this, 'cause in terms of history of music, it's fairly recent, really. And if it's properly done and you can understand the story and you can understand what the people are singing and you have the right bands and the right singers, I think it's rather exciting.
"When I was approached to do the first 'Charlemagne' album, 'By The Sword And The Cross', it is heavy metal, of course, but what I sang was more symphonic. Now on the second one, 'The Omens Of Death', it is 100 percent heavy metal. I've done my bits and pieces, and they areheavy metal. I'm not screaming or anything like that, but it is definitely 100 percent heavy metal."
Lee also spoke about being presented with the "Spirit Of Hammer" prize byBLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi at Metal Hammer magazine'sGolden Gods awards in London in June 2010, Lee said, "It was a most amazing occasion for me — very exciting — and something I'd never had happen to me my whole career, my whole life, in terms of awards," he said. "I have received quite a few. But I was interviewed, actually in this room, by Tony Iommi, who founded BLACK SABBATH. And I hadn't heard them, but I made it a point [to do so]. [And] I thought it was extraordinary. And then I went to O2 [in London] in front of a fairly large crowd, I would say, all, of course, very young. And I got a greeting, which was really quite amazing. The decibel level was very high. Very high, very high."


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To effectively leverage the power of social media, you need to equip your people with the technical know-how, judgment, and strategic insight to do social right.
That means finding a social media education program that fits your unique needs—and that is educationally sound.
Our Evaluation Guide: Social Media Education Programs provides a solid framework for choosing a program that can unlock the potential of your people—while driving real business results.
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To learn how to find the right education program for your organization, just fill in the form on the right side of this page, and you'll get instant access to your Evaluation Guide: Social Media Education Programs.


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November 1, 2019 by Doug "Uncola" Lynn: The "Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle" is a mathematical law of the universe involving "trade-offs". In fact, it could be summarized as the law of having your cake but not being able to eat it too. Or, as applied for the sake of this article, it means either position or … Continue reading A Video Exposition: Quantum Theory, Waves, and the Bulbous Bow of Confusion
Tag: Double Slit Experiment


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Inside the Baseball Winter Meetings
If you follow baseball closely, then you've probably heard of the annual baseball winter meetings. But, if you've never attended, do you actually know what's going on?
The 109th annual Baseball Winter Meetings will be in Florida for the second time in five years. The annual gathering of baseball executives, player agents, managers, and occasionally players, will take place at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort near Orlando starting next Monday, Dec. 6 through Thursday, Dec. 9. More than 200 Major League and Minor League Baseball clubs, leagues and organizations attend these meetings.
The meetings are four days to plan for the 2011 season and to honor the achievements of the past year, but the biggest attention around these meetings centers on trades and signings by the MLB general managers. For Major and Minor League Baseball, league meetings for clubs and executives occur throughout the day behind closed doors. There are also other organizations that are affiliated with MLB and MiLB that hold meetings, including the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) which holds its annual meeting to determine which applicants may or may not gain inclusion into the Association.
The organized events surrounding the industry include the baseball Trade Show, Awards Luncheon banquet and the main social event, the Gala. The trade show attracts nearly 300 exhibitors and includes a lot of different items pertaining to baseball. Companies such as Rawlings or New Era show off what's new or what's hot and try to get baseball teams to upgrade and make purchases.
The events are covered by the media who usually hang in the hotel lobby waiting to report on the signings and trades that go down. MLB Network, ESPN Radio and Sirus XM Radio are also there reporting any breaking news.
Officially, the Baseball Winter Meetings are not open to the general public. To gain access to the media workroom where press conferences and announcements take place, you'll need a credential from MLB. You'll also need a separate credential from Minor League Baseball to gain access to the Trade Show, or you have to register to attend the Job Fair.
Stay tuned as next week I'll write another blog post with updates/photos from Orlando. And for all Giants developments, make sure to follow us on Twitter @SFGIANTS.


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FBI probe of Universal focuses on $25 million consultant fee company now disavows
The FBI and Philippine investigators probing potential bribery related to Universal Entertainment Corp's bid to build a casino in Manila have zeroed in on a $25 million payment the Japanese company now says should never have been made.
Rodolfo Soriano, a consultant with ties to the former head of the gaming regulator in the Philippines, received the fee in 2010 to secure land rights for the $2 billion casino, Universal had said. But records reviewed by Reuters show those rights were obtained for free in 2009.
The FBI is involved because the payment originated from a Universal subsidiary based in Nevada. Both the FBI and the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have been looking into a total of $40 million in transfers to Soriano as a possible bribery case since last year.
In a closed-door, three-day hearing with the Nevada Gaming Control Board that concluded on Friday, Universal directors, including the company's billionaire founder Kazuo Okada, were questioned about the payment, a source familiar with those proceedings said.
In a statement issued to Reuters as that hearing ended, Universal said it now believed the $25 million payment to Soriano should not have been made.
Universal said its board had not been aware that the land rights problem had been resolved without any money changing hands between Universal and the owner of those rights in late 2009.
It blamed three former employees for the mistaken payment and said one of them had withheld information from the board that could have prevented the transfer.
Universal sued the three Japanese men last year, claiming they were to blame for $15 million in payments to Soriano without proper authorization. It offered no evidence to support its additional claim they were also responsible for the $25 million it has now disavowed and said its investigation into the matter was still ongoing.
The three former employees declined to comment. They have challenged the company's previous claims in filings to the Tokyo District Court.
Soriano could not be reached for comment and his whereabouts are unknown.
Universal generates the bulk of its profits from pachinko machines - a cross between slots and pinball -- in Japan. The Philippines marks its first independent foray into casino operations and is a key plank of its push to expand overseas.
It has said it conducted its business in the Philippines lawfully, and in December announced a defamation suit against Reuters for its reporting on the payments to Soriano.
Universal said it was still investigating how the $25 million payment to Soriano was used.
"We have no information at this time that this money was used to pay any government officials," the company said in a written statement to Reuters.
When Universal paid $300 million for reclaimed land for its Manila Bay casino project in 2008 it failed to secure the rights to develop more than a dozen "road lots", representing about a quarter of the site of a luxury complex it hopes to open in 2014. The titles to the lots were held by local developer Asiaworld Properties Philippine Corp, records show.
Universal turned to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the industry regulator, to find a solution to the road problem, according to the people with knowledge of the matter. PAGCOR declined to comment on its involvement.
A PAGCOR lawyer assigned to the case helped broker an agreement in November 2009 under which Asiaworld gave Eagle I Landholdings Inc, a Universal affiliate, a free hand to consolidate and develop the road lots as it saw fit.
Eagle I agreed to bear the cost of building an equivalent area of roads and open space, after which it would turn the land over to Paranaque City, the local municipality. The move relieved Asiaworld of its legal duty to develop the lots and donate them to Paranaque.
There was no financial transaction written into the agreement, a certified copy obtained by Reuters shows.
Paranaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe told Reuters that FBI agents visited him in January to ask about the agreement, which he signed, and related documents.
Asiaworld did not have the funds to develop the roads and was happy to authorize Eagle I to shoulder that cost, a lawyer for the developer said. "For us it was a welcome development," said Arcel Fetizanan, noting the move also eliminated its tax liabilities. "It was a simple agreement. No cash involved."
The FBI declined to comment on the existence of a probe into the Soriano payments, citing its media policy. Philippine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said an investigation by the NBI into the transfers to Soriano had been extended, but did not comment on specifics of the case.
Universal initially accounted for $35 million paid to Soriano with an invoice and a corresponding contract indicating his firm be paid $28 million for solving the road problem and $7 million as a consultant fee, copies of the documents seen by Reuters show.
Last month, Universal determined that $10 million was improperly routed through Soriano and back to the company, and revised its accounting for the payments. At the time it stood by the $25 million outlay as an investment in its Philippine project.
A panel of experts hired by Universal to look into the payments determined the $25 million had been properly authorized but it has yet to pass judgment on whether the consulting fee was justified based on the services provided by Soriano.
Universal's acknowledgement that the $25 million was unnecessary raises the prospect of another accounting revision. The Osaka Securities Exchange, which oversees its stock listing, had given Universal until Monday to present evidence justifying the payment, people familiar with the exchange's probe said.
(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in Manila, and Taro Fuse and Kevin Krolicki in Tokyo; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Dean Yates)


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January 28, 2014Jesse Freeman
Note: Effective 08-26-2015 Free App of the Day (FAD) has been replaced with Amazon Underground.
In August of last year we enabled HTML5 developers to publish hosted web apps next to native Android apps in the Amazon Appstore, making HTML5 web apps discoverable to millions of Amazon customers. Starting today, developers can set a list price for their web apps, giving them another way to monetize web content to Amazon Appstore customers in nearly 200 countries across the globe.
Prior to this update, web apps published to the Amazon Appstore were automatically set to free. In the latest update developers can now set a list price in specific currencies based on the local markets they're publishing their web apps to. This is great news for developers looking to publish their first web app to the Amazon Appstore, and the feature is now retroactive to all web apps that have already been published. That means existing developers simply need to log into their Developer Account to see an updated "Availability & Pricing" tab with the option to charge for the app.
Now with the ability to set a price for web apps in the Amazon Appstore, HTML5 developers can take part in our Free App of the Day (FAD) promotion. For developers not familiar with this program, qualifying apps gain greater exposure that could drive significant traffic to their apps. Opting into the FAD promotion and being selected enables us to work directly with the publisher to be featured in some of our most visible marketing placements. This includes placements on mobile devices, Kindle Fire, and the Amazon Gold Box Best Deals page, which are complemented by social media exposure including Facebook and Twitter announcements. These placements and the exposure they provide can drive significant traffic to the featured apps and allow the developers to grow their install base quickly.
To learn more about qualifying for the Free App of the Day program, check out this post on how to get approved, and make sure you opt to have your web app considered for the program during the app submission process.
To republish an existing app as paid, simply edit the 'Availability & Pricing' tab and enter a list price, which is already defaulted to free. The same list price changes can also be made to any submission set to "IN PROGRESS" that is waiting to be approved for release.
This is just one new feature we've added to help make publishing HTML5 Web Apps to the Kindle Fire best in class. For more information, check out the HTML5 Web Apps detail page
-Jesse Freeman (@JesseFreeman)


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A New York City food truck is selling a $666 hamburger dubbed the "Douche Burger," which contains lobster, caviar, truffles, and a beef patty wrapped in six sheets of gold leaf. How much gold leaf can you safely consume?
Theoretically, you could eat your fill of 24-karat gold without falling ill. Pure gold is chemically inert and passes through the human digestive system without being absorbed into the body. Since 24-karat gold is very soft and fragile, most edible gold—whether leaf, flakes, or dust—also contains a little bit of silver, which is also inert. Non-edible gold leaf, which is used for gilding, sometimes contains copper, which can be toxic in high doses. Consuming impure gold preparations such as colloidal gold or gold salts can lead to a change in skin pigmentation and other adverse health effects. Eating too much pure gold might give you a stomachache, just like eating too much of anything else might, but it won't have any more dire effects unless you're among the minority of people who are allergic to gold.
The FDA hasn't evaluated edible gold leaf for safety, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry doesn't consider gold a toxic substance. Gold is an approved food additive in the European Union, and an independent European food-safety certification agency, TÜV Rheinland, has deemed 23-karat gold leaf safe for consumption. Gold and silver leaf are also certified kosher.
Europeans have been adding gold leaf to food and liquor (like Danziger Goldwasser) since the Renaissance, and gold leaf can also be found adorning certain Japanese candies and South Asian pastries. Homeopaths have prescribed gold as a treatment for heart disease, arthritis, depression, and other ailments for hundreds of years, but gold's usefulness as a medicine has not been demonstrated.
Edible gold leaf has no taste, texture, calories, or expiration date. It can cost $120 to $160 per gram. A gram of edible gold would add a dash of glitter to 150 to 200 champagne flutes, or wrap about 4 Douche Burgers.
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Franz Aliquo of 666 Burger and Tobias Freccia of ediblegold.com.
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After graduating from the INA, they traveled throughout Mali to research the traditions and practices of bogolan. The most important findings had to do with the symbolic alphabet, the traditional structure, the traditional uses and the symbolism of the traditional colors encoded in the bogolan cloths used as skirts by women (pagnes). This information enabled the Groupe to read the significance and the teachings of the cloths.
The Groupe abandoned modern painting in favor of the traditional technique of bogolan. Western art materials are and were very expensive in Mali. Paint, paper, brushes and the rest have to be imported from Europe. This pushed the Groupe to use the traditional art materials which exist in Mali.
The name of the Groupe, Kasobane, means in bamanankan, prison is finished, we are free. Free from the need to express themselves creatively with materials that are not their own. Free to use the materials which occur naturally in Mali and which are embued with a wealth of tradition and significance.
Until this time, mudcloth had been used only for clothing. The Groupe moved the technique of mud-cloth from craftsmanship to art. The innovation lies in the compositions, the style, the color range and in the presentation of works.
The art of the Groupe Bogolan Kasobane is tied to the context in which the work is conceived and elaborated. It is the consequence of a collective inspiration, the joy of the work and is rooted in the community tradition of Malian society.
It is this intimate and specific connection to Malian culture that distinguishes the art of the Groupe. In order to appreciate the work, viewers must be open to reading or learning at least a bit of the symbols and traditions of Mali. The work blooms in the symbiosis of traditional and contemporary art.
With their collective creations, the artists of the Groupe go beyond the individualism, the subjectivity and the 'I' that comes from the West. In the artistic practice of the Groupe, whether the inspiration is collective or individual, there is always the intervention of the Groupe in the points of disagreement and difficulty that inevitably arise. When the sources of inspiration are collective, the composition is execuited communally as well and the final realization is given to one of the members of the Groupe who is the most interested in the chosen theme. The work is always finished by the whole group.
Over the course of the Groupe's twenty years of collective work and with the close ties that have developed between the artists, the reciprocal influences have played an important role in unifying the work of the Groupe. This work has become a school of thought that is ripe for inspiration both for the Groupe itself and for other artists as well.
Today the Groupe is known because of their numerous exhibitions in Mali and around the world. In 1995, American artist Janet Goldner became interested in the Groupe and their work while in Mali on a Fulbright research grant. When she returned to the United States, she began to explore exhibition opportunities for the work of the Groupe in New York and in the United States.
Since 1994, The Groupe Bogolan Kasobane has been responsible for the costumes and sets for many films including Malian directors Cheick Oumar Sissoko¹s Guimba and Adama Drabos Taafe Fange (Skirt Power). Their work received first prize for Guimba at FESPACO, 1995 in Ouagadougou. This was the first time in the history of FESPACO that a prize was given for costumes and sets. Taafe Fanga received the prize for art in Japan.
The costumes from the Lincoln Center exhibition were shown at The Kennedy Centers (Washington, DC) African Odyssey program as part of the African Mosaique- Haute Couture fashion show presentation in May 1998. The show featured the work of 33 African and African American designers and was hosted by Mrs. Colin Powell.
The Groupe maintains a studio and shop in Bamako and a gallery in Segou, Mali.


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Perfect for the Aussie lifestyle, Salt Water, are crafted from durable, leather. They mould to the shape of the foot with repeated wear, a process that speeds up when wet, so they're perfect for wearing to the beach, splashing in the sea, pounding pavements or just hanging out.
Best of all, when they need a clean they come up sparkling new with a hand-wash in cold water with mild detergent.
Sizes: Infant 3-8, Child 9-12, Youth 13-3, Adult 4-9


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The month of May blossoms annually with commencement ceremonies honoring students graduating from high schools, colleges and universities. For each graduate, the occasion represents a major milestone along their road to adulthood. It's also an appropriate time to assess their dental development.
Although our teeth and gums continue to change as we age, the greatest change occurs during the first two decades of life. In that time, humans gain one set of teeth, lose it, and then gain another in relatively rapid succession. The new permanent teeth continue to mature, as do the jaws, up through the time many are graduating from college.
Of course, you don't have to be in the process of receiving a diploma to "graduate" from adolescent to adult. If you are in that season, here are a few things regarding your dental health that may deserve your attention.
Wisdom teeth. According to folklore, the back third molars are called wisdom teeth because they usually erupt during the transition from a "learning" child to a "wise" adult. Folklore aside, though, wisdom teeth are often a source for dental problems: The last to come in (typically between ages 17 and 25), wisdom teeth often erupt out of alignment in an already crowded jaw, or are impacted and remain hidden below the gums. To avoid the cascade of problems these issues can cause, it may be necessary to remove the teeth.
Permanent restorations. Though not as often as in adults, children and teens can lose teeth to disease, injury or deliberate removal. Because the jaw is still in development, dental implants are not generally advisable. Instead, patients under twenty often have temporary restorations like partial dentures or bonded bridges. As the jaws reach full maturity in a young adult's early 20s, it's often a good time to consider a permanent implant restoration.
Smile makeovers. An upcoming graduation is also a great reason to consider cosmetic smile upgrades. When it comes to improving a smile, the sky's the limit—from professional teeth whitening for dull teeth to porcelain veneers or crowns to mask dental imperfections. It's also not too late to consider orthodontics: Braces or the increasingly popular clear aligners can straighten almost anyone's teeth at any age, as long as the person is in reasonably good health.
This may also be a good time to update your own personal care. Regular dental visits, along with daily brushing and flossing, are the foundation stones for keeping your teeth and gums healthy throughout your life. So, as you "commence" with this new chapter in your life, make a dental appointment now to "commence" with a renewed commitment to your dental health.
If you would like more information about adult dental care, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine articles "Wisdom Teeth" and "Teenagers & Dental Implants."


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Confirming two items that I've mentioned on this blog over the past month (here and here), Emmanuel Christian Seminary President, Dr. Michael Sweeney, confirmed via two separate emails sent to all Emmanuel students the following two items:
- Emmanuel is close to signing a $3,000,000 donation from a donor, who has offered the money to be used in debt reduction.
- Milligan College has voted to pursue acquiring Emmanuel Christian Seminary, including its assets and debts.
The October 29, 2012 email reads as follows:
The November 7, 2012 email reads as follows:
Let us set aside for a moment that fact that the President of Emmanuel Christian Seminary sent these emails to the entire student body.
These emails from the Emmanuel President all but confirm what many have been saying throughout Emmanuel's scandalous attempt to dismiss a tenured professor: that Emmanuel's "very direct answer to prayer" appears to have involved an attempt to terminate Dr. Chris Rollston in exchange for a large donation. There is certainly evidence to support such a claim.
Likewise, the letter reveals that Emmanuel Christian Seminary's financial woes are far greater than many thought; Emmanuel's present administration appears to have led Emmanuel into such a deep financial hole that discussions of the acquisition of Emmanuel's debt and remaining assets have been ongoing with Milligan College for some time now. Likewise, President Sweeney explicitly hopes that "the result of this process will be to integrate Emmanuel into Milligan College". That is, according to an email Emmanuel's President sent to its students, Emmanuel wants Milligan to assume control. Thus, we're past the point of if it's going to happen, but we are now talking about when.
Beyond violating the rule of never announcing a major donation until the deal has been inked, Emmanuel appears to have handed Dr. Rollston more evidence than he needs to argue, quite compellingly, that financial factors played at least some role in his attempted termination – evidence that can only add to Emmanuel's (and apparently now Milligan's) financial woes, as a wrongful termination case appears to be all but inevitable.
So not only has President Michael Sweeney led Emmanuel into a financial position that can only be solved by the wholesale assumption of the seminary by another school, but he has publicly announced a forthcoming donation, adding support to earlier claims that at least part of Dr. Rollston's attempted dismissal was, in fact, based on financial reasons that, according to Dr. Sweeney's letter, originated "about a month ago".
What is no longer in question is that Emmanuel Christian Seminary, for all intents and purposes, will cease to be what it has been: an independent Christian seminary.
And as Milligan College picks up the remaining pieces of Emmanuel Christian Seminary in this forthcoming fire sale, Emmanuel has done its students no favor by casting itself the symbol of academic and intellectual suppression, and of selling out good professors for quick cash. I shudder to think how Emmanuel students have watched as its administration has damaged the school's academic credibility, and therefore the reputation of an Emmanuel degree – which their students are paying good money to receive! What good is a degree from a seminary that has so quickly come to be associated by many scholars as the poster child for ultra conservative, religious fundamentalism, and a place where the religious thought police prohibit professors from saying anything out of line with a predetermined statement of beliefs required as a condition of employment?
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the students – both present and future – who are associated with Emmanuel School of Religion (and apparently soon to be Milligan College) might begin to transfer to other schools so as not to sully their chances of getting into PhD programs. Given the overwhelming number of faculty members who have written in support of Dr. Rollston from a wide array of schools, both confessional and secular, what are the chances that these institutions are going to accept Emmanuel students into their PhD programs?
Beyond putting Emmanuel in a precarious legal and financial situation, President Michael Sweeney may very well have destroyed Emmanuel's one true asset: its reputation as a school that produces quality, critically thinking biblical scholars.
What is more, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Emmanuel students will begin to demand refunds for they education that they've paid for, but which has now arguably lost value because the "Emmanuel brand" has become associated with the suppression of scholarly inquiry.
It is time for President Sweeney and Emmanuel Christian Seminary to admit what many scholars already know: they made a HUGE mistake. They tried to pressure a good scholar out of a tenured position, in part at least, to secure a donation from a donor that did not like Dr. Rollston. The emails from President Sweeney to the Emmanel students certainly support this claim, as does the disciplinary action letter from Dr. Sweeney to Dr. Rollston.
It is time for Emmanuel to apologize and settle this case quickly, before any further damage harms the Emmanuel brand, and before the lack of academic credibility begins to stain Milligan College.
Filed under: scholarship | Tagged: acquisition, assumption, Bill Greer, christopher rollston, Dean E. Walker, donor, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Inside Higher Education, law suit, merger, Michael Sweeney, Milligan College, Stone-Campbell Movement, wrongful termination | 12 Comments »


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Previous Lesson
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Mixing and Mastering with Ableton Live
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Our Time: Modern Mixing (2:46)
Prescriptions and Mixing Myths (5:07)
Blend and Balance
Blend and Balance Intro (0:57)
A Balancing Act with Ableton (3:53)
A Balancing Act with Ableton: Results (6:07)
Understanding Signal Flow in Ableton Live (4:50)
Loudness vs Gain vs Volume / Intro to Gain Staging (8:00)
Level Up: Metering RMS and Peak (4:05)
Best Practices Moving Forward
Session and Arrangement View (2:36)
Lets Get Organized (10:59)
EQ Eight 1: Overview and Filter Modes (8:33)
EQ Eight 2: The Frequency Spectrum (11:28)
EQ Eight 3: The Spectrum Analyzer in Action (14:38)
EQ Eight 4: Treating Resonant Peaks with Audition Mode (18:18)
EQ Eight 5: EQ for Conflicting Tracks (13:39)
EQ Eight 6: Scale Carving Trick (7:25)
EQ Eight 7: Lets EQ a Mix! (17:34)
The "Solo" Switch (3:25)
The Stereo Field
Understanding Panning (7:32)
Review: Panning in Action (15:04)
Widening 1: Izotope Imager Metering (11:49)
Widening 2: How Width is Made (6:15)
Widening 3: Haas Delay and Comb Filtering (27:20)
Widening 4: EQ Eight L/R Mode (7:43)
Widening 5: EQ Eight M/S Mode (15:41)
Widening 6: Modulation Effects for Adding Width (16:36)
Working with Stereo Image in a Mix (20:34)
Returns: Reverb, Delay, and Beyond
Space Commander: Designing Space (2:13)
The Return Tracks (12:21)
Designing Space with Reverb (Deep Dive) (18:10)
Using Reverb for Widening (14:57)
Ableton Delay Deep Dive (17:17)
Ableton Echo Deep Dive (21:02)
Adding Subtle Reverb for Realism (12:53)
Hybrid Reverb Deep Dive (21:21)
Automation: A Living and Breathing Mix
Views and Workflows (6:48)
Automation Techniques (17:47)
Automation in Action (13:02)
Dynamics Processing
Intro to Compression (1:55)
Compressor 1: Threshold & Volume Compensation (13:02)
Compressor 2: Ratio, Attack, Release, and more (21:22)
Compressor 3: Using Compressor as an Auto Volume Control (6:15)
Compressor 4: Using Compressor as a De-Esser (5:12)
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Glue Compressor vs Compressor (12:38)
Ableton Gate (8:36)
Inverse Gating Your Effect Sends (5:53)
Multiband Dynamics 1: Multiband Downward Compression (19:11)
Multiband Dynamics 2: Add Punch with Upward Expansion (10:15)
Multiband Dynamics 3: Multiband Upward Compression (8:24)
Multiband Dynamics 4: Downward Expansion Gating (5:41)
Multiband Dynamics 5: The Infamous OTT Preset (12:21)
Limiting with Ableton Limiter (15:10)
Should I Mix into a Limiter? (3:38)
Saturation and Harmonic Distortion
Why would I Want Distortion in My Mix? (1:55)
Ableton Saturator Overview (11:27)
Using Saturator in a Mix (9:31)
Peak Clipping: Saturator's Dirty Little Secret (15:15)
Ableton Overdrive to the Rescue! (17:05)
Saturation for Width (8:50)
What is Referencing and Why You Should. (1:52)
Referencing Workflow & Voxengo SPAN (13:03)
Home Studio Setup and Sound Treatment
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Room Layout: Listener and Speaker Placement (7:45)
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Can't I just Mix on Headphones? (5:04)
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Sound Treatment 3: Diffusers (4:04)
Seed to Stage Studio Treatment Walkthrough (8:33)
Mastering and Limiting
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The Almighty Peak Limiter (3:03)
Loudness 1: Normalization vs Loudness Units (8:50)
Mastering w/ Ableton's Limiter and Youlean Meter (free option) (8:59)
Limiting with Ozone Maximizer (15:27)
Limiting with Fabfilter Pro-L2 (8:22)
Loudness Targets & The Loudness Wars (8:17)
Mastering EQ 1: Baxandall EQ with Free CORAL BAX-TER (20:11)
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Pro Exporting 1: Sample Rates and Intermodulation Distortion (21:52)
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Bus Processing & Top Down Mixing
Getting Organized with Grouping (13:12)
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Bus Processing 1: Bus Compression (25:55)
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Advanced Side Chaining
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Ableton Envelope as a Side Chain Compressor (19:05)
Xfer LFO Tool as a Side Chain Compressor (15:20)
Audio Split Rack Processing
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Mid / Side Processing Rack (16:03)
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How to build credit for teens
Get your teen off to a good start with their own savings, secured credit card and more.
Even before they're old enough to get a credit card or apply for a loan, teenagers can get a head start on developing a strong credit historyHere's how to help your teen get started.
Encourage your teenager to get a job
Your teen will be more invested in managing his or her money if it's hard-earned. And holding down a job reflects favorably on your teen's responsibility.
Open checking and savings accounts
Responsibly managing and maintaining these basic accounts will show a financial institution that your teen can handle money. If the account comes with a debit card, your teen will get a feel for using a card for transactions.
Consider putting one of your household bills in your teen's name
Encouraging your teen to pay the bill teaches responsibility. Even if you're helping to supplement the payment, having the bill in your teen's name establishes a payment record. You also can add your teen as an authorized user on your credit card. Your teen receives a card in his or her name, and any purchases go on your account, which allows you to closely monitor spending habits. And, purchases and payments made under your teen's name will be recognized on his or her credit report.
Obtain a secured credit card
These cards can be put in your teen's name. Make the initial deposit together, which is the credit limit for the account. Then he or she uses the card to demonstrate expenses can be handled and payments made on time.
Monitor your teen's activities as he or she gets into the credit habit, allowing more flexibility as responsibility is demonstrated. Once several months of purchases and payments are under your teen's belt, access his or her credit report and review it together to make sure everything is correct.
Learn more teen money management tips.


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Someday Twitter tips will seem as unnecessary for most journalists as notebook tips. But in the past few weeks, I have encountered several journalists who were not using Twitter yet. A couple just within the last week asked my advice, so I decided to update my tips for journalists using Twitter, originally published in July 2009.
Most of the advice here is elementary to intermediate. If you're an experienced Twitter user, this might not be helpful to you. The tips here are intended for journalists with no Twitter experience or those who have dabbled a little, but haven't made Twitter part of their regular journalism tool set. I cobbled pieces of this from another previous post or two, and have tried to update throughout and added some new sections.
If you aren't familiar with the jargon of Twitter, I have a brief glossary at the end of this post and you might want to skip to the end and read that early. I think Twitter has been around long enough that most people know the terminology, even if they don't use it, so I put that at the end rather than early.
Why use Twitter?
You need to use Twitter because it's the most valuable tool developed for journalists in my 40-year career (possibly rivaled by the cellphone, but since you can use Twitter on your cellphone, they make each other more useful and arguing which is more useful is pointless; you should use both). If you don't use Twitter, you're going to find yourself continually behind if you're competing with a journalist who uses Twitter effectively.
With news staffs shrinking and journalists facing growing demands on our time, we need tools that help us work more efficiently, and Twitter helps make you a better and more efficient journalist. I know lots of journalists who are skeptical about the value of Twitter, but they are people who seldom, if ever, use Twitter. I know hundreds of journalists who use Twitter every day and find it useful. Some of them prefer other tools (such as Facebook; more on that later), but they all recognize the value of Twitter. I don't know any journalist who has used Twitter daily for as little as a month or so who decided to stop using it. If you use it, it will prove its worth to you quickly. (If you are, or know of, such a journalist, I would like to hear from you. I'll do a blog post on your experience with Twitter and why you didn't find it useful.)
One thing you need to do to understand and use Twitter effectively is get over the name. Twitter is a silly name and that invites ridicule. The silly name has spawned other silly words such as tweeps, retweets and tweetups. The New York Times (despite having several Twitter stars on its staff) can't bring itself to recognize "tweet" as standard English. I sometimes wish Twitter had a more enticing name, something like "journo whoop-ass" or "Pulitzer secret sauce," but it's Twitter. Jill Geisler muses that journalists would have reacted better if it were named "teletype" or "wireservice." But it's Twitter. And those updates are tweets, as nouns or verbs. Deal with it. If they had called cellphones "giggles," you would get past that and recognize that you needed to use them. Bulldog editions had a silly name, too, and we still took them seriously.
I don't know how long Twitter will remain important and useful for journalists in the swiftly changing digital world. Two or three years ago, people would tell me frequently that Twitter would be gone in a year or two. They might be right eventually, even if they were wrong about the timeline. (And, if they are right, I will learn about the next new thing faster on Twitter than they do on whatever they read.) But right now a journalist who doesn't use Twitter is running a huge risk of missing important news and connections. As tenuous as journalism jobs are in today's economy and upheaval, you can't risk missing important news and connections.
Journalists can use Twitter for a variety of purposes:
- Monitor the activities and discussions of people in your community and on your beat.
- Connect with people who will provide you helpful tips and information.
- Connect with colleagues and share ideas with them or get ideas from them.
- Crowdsource stories by asking the community for story ideas or information.
- Quickly find people who witnessed or experienced a news event.
- Break stories quickly.
- Provide live coverage of news events.
- Drive traffic to your content.
- Report a story by text message using Twitter in disaster situations when you can't transmit data, as the New York Times' Brian Stelter did in covering the Joplin tornado.
- Improve your writing as you learn to make points directly in just 140 characters. (If a lead doesn't fit in a tweet, it's probably too long. It really helps me write better leads on my blog and columns.)
Getting started in Twitter
If you don't already have a Twitter account, Mandy Jenkins walks you through the steps in her blog post, How to sign up and start your Twitter account. Be sure to activate Twitter on your cellphone ("mobile" is one of the options in "settings") and to load a Twitter app onto your smartphone (if you have one).
Don't follow lots of people immediately. When you follow someone, they get an email notice that you're following them (unless they've asked not to receive notices). They might check your Twitter page to see whether to follow you back. So don't follow anyone until you give them something to see when they check you out. Fill out your profile, identifying yourself as a journalist in your bio, including a link to your blog or site and uploading a photo (nothing screams "newbie" like the generic Twitter avatar).
Also tweet a few times about your work before you start following people. Crowdsourcing won't work immediately, since the crowd isn't following you yet. Tweet a link to a story or blog post. Retweet an interesting tweet by a colleague. Reply to someone in your community. Tweet about the story you're working on. Show a little personality or humor, if you feel like it. Give people at least a half-dozen or so tweets, offering a little variety, before you start following anyone.
A couple things journalists should keep in mind in starting and developing their accounts:
- Identify yourself in your profile by real name, position, affiliation and city. Any journalist who is using Twitter professionally should be explicit in identification, even if you mix personal with professional in your Twitter profile.
- Don't protect your updates. Twitter works best when you are open and transparent.
- Under the "notifications" tab, be sure to ask for emails when someone follows you. This will help you identify people in the community to follow.
- Open an account on Twitpic, Yfrog or Instagram, or sync Twitter with your Flickr account, so you can post photos to Twitter. These services are easy to use. Create an account and they will tell you how to email photos from your cellphone to post to Twitter.
Your first week on Twitter
I didn't understand Twitter until I spent a week tweeting pretty seriously when I was at the American Press Institute. I still had a lot to learn, but just using it heavily for a week taught me enough that I knew I'd never turn back. My recommendations for understanding and getting up to speed:
- Tweet about 10 times a day when you're getting started. That will help you learn Twitter. Then you can speed up or slow down to the pace that's right for you. (And the right pace is probably an uneven pace, reacting to the flow of news.) A tweet doesn't take very long, so 10 tweets a day is not a large time commitment.
- Follow about 10 new people a day (many of them will follow you back). Adding too many followers too fast can be overwhelming. But as you add followers, you will get a broader range of views and experiences from your community and your colleagues. I recommend following a mix of people in your community and colleagues around the country (and beyond). And certainly follow some colleagues in your newsroom. Again, this pace will be more irregular after that first week, but make a point of adding about 10 a day for the first week or so.
- Live-tweet an event. If you're a reporter, you should live-tweet a meeting or other event early in your time using Twitter (ignore the 10-per-day suggestion this day). Don't feel like you need to provide play-by-play coverage, but tweet frequently when someone says or does something interesting. Be sure to tweet when you get started what the event is and who's speaking. Use a #hashtag.
- Click on some hashtags, at least one a day (more on hashtags later).
- Reply to some tweets and send some direct messages. Twitter is really about interacting with the tweeps, so you need to start experiencing that right away.
- Browse your Twitter stream a few times each day, clicking on some links and replying to some people. Twitter is a conversation, and if you're always talking and never listening, people will stop listening to you.
- Search for a keyword (or several) that pops up in the news to see whether people are tweeting about it.
- Join a Twitter chat about journalism such as #wjchat (Wednesdays at #spjchat, #jrcchat or #journchat. Don't just lurk. Participate, answering or asking a few questions and retweeting some good answers.
Following people
After you've completed your profile and tweeted a few times, choose some people to follow (this means their updates will show up on your Twitter home page).
- At the top of your home page, click "who to follow." Click "find friends" and you can see which of your contacts on gmail, hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL or LinkedIn are already on Twitter.
- A search box lets you look for specific people by name.
- Ask regular sources and new sources if they are on Twitter and exchange user names if they are.
- As you encounter new sources, search for them on Twitter if you don't have a chance to ask them.
- At Twellow, you can check for people to follow in your community or for other journalists to follow.
- At NearbyTweets, you can check for people who are twittering now in your community (or a community you are writing about).
- At WeFollow, you can look for people who have chosen topical and geographical tags, ranked in order of their numbers of followers.
- As you follow people in your community or colleagues in the business, take a look at their followers and see if you see anyone there you want to follow.
- When someone follows you, check the profile and the recent tweets to see if this is someone you want to follow.
- When someone you enjoy following tweets a link to something interesting, click on the username of the third party and decide whether that's someone you want to follow.
- Don't follow too many people too fast. Twitter will feel less overwhelming if your tweeps grow gradually.
- Consider using a Twitter app such as TweetDeck or HootSuite to help organize your tweets by kind of follower: officials on your beat, people in the community, other journalists, etc. These apps make the Twitter stream less overwhelming.
- If you're not interested in someone's tweets, you can click on their profile and click "unfollow." (You can still keep them on a list of local tweeps to check when news breaks.
- Check out my earlier post on building engagement on Twitter.
One of Twitter's best uses is to share links to interesting blogs and other web content with people who share your interests. (This blows away the argument that Twitter's 140-character limit leads to shallowness. Your tweet may be little more than "read this," but if the link takes someone to journalism of quality and depth, you share way beyond the 140 characters.)
- Compress links. Don't waste your precious character limit on huge URLs. Cut and paste the URL you want to share into one of the web sites that compress URLs for you: tinyurl.com, is.gd, bit.ly. WordPress gives me a "get shortlink" button above my toolbar as I am writing my blog. Twitter will shorten the URL for you, but bit.ly gives you metrics on how much your link is used. And shortening the link yourself lets you see how many characters you have left after the link.
- Write a headline. Tell people something about the link you're passing along. Actually, 140 characters (about 120 without the link) gives you way more space than many newspaper headlines, so this kind of tweeting is right in an editor's sweet spot. A more conversational tone than a headline is even better.
- Share links liberally. If you read a good blog or see something online that's thought-provoking or funny, tweet a quick link to it. You will find that this sharing of links among colleagues is one of the best uses of Twitter.
- Link to your content. When you have new content — story, blog, photo, video, multimedia — tweet a link to it, telling a little about it. If this is all you do, some followers will be annoyed. If you interact with your tweeps, some promotion of content is welcome and expected.
- Link to related content. Link to content by your colleagues or even your competitors or to content from distant media sources that may be of interest to people who share your interests.
What should you tweet about?
As with any other writing format, each tweep develops a personal style. Find the right style for you. Some suggestions of things to tweet about (reject any that don't work for you):
- As noted above, tweet links to new posts on your blog (and then check to see how many page views come from Twitter — and Facebook if you're using the Twitter app there).
- Retweet links when someone in the community tweets a link to something interesting or when a colleague tweets a link to a blog you found interesting.
- Reply to some people in your community, especially (but not only) when they are commenting on something in your paper or on your site.
- When you have something funny or insightful to say, tweet.
- Don't tweet when you don't have anything to say.
- Don't be too serious in your tweets. Twitter is a bright and breezy communication tool and you're not going to fully understand it if you don't experience it the way your tweeps do.
- Decide whether you want to use Twitter for what Jay Rosen calls "lifecasting" (tweets about what you're doing) or "mindcasting" (tweets about what you're reading and thinking) or both. I do both, but I enjoy some tweeps who lean each way.
Using Twitter in news coverage
Twitter will be useful to reporters and other journalists in a variety of ways:
- Reporters should follow the feeds of any officials on their beats using Twitter. They may break news on Twitter, using it as a format for press releases or quotes. They may tweet from closed meetings (probably not a lot, but if they do, you won't know unless you follow).
- As you build a following of people in your community, they are a quick resource when you're seeking sources, examples for a story, questions to ask in your reporting or even story ideas. A quick question to your tweeps will frequently bring a response that helps for a story. Keep in mind that you are crowdsourcing to a small segment of the population, so don't use this as your only crowdsourcing tool. Take the steps to seek diversity in your sources. But Twitter is a good place to start (and Twitter may help diversify your sources, because the tweeps may be younger than your average news-story source and less likely to interact with the print edition).
- Twitter is valuable for story ideas, either to ask people about a good angle to take on one of those routine or annual stories or simply to follow the community chatter on Twitter and be alert for tips and ideas as they pop up.
- Tweet live coverage of an event, either on Twitter alone or as a feed into CoverItLive.
- Curate tweets (yours and/or the community's) on a topic you're covering, using Storify or Storyful.
- When you post to a blog or post a video, story, photo, slideshow, multimedia project or database online, tweet a link and, if you've been active enough to develop a lot of followers, you'll see a bump in traffic coming directly from Twitter.
Using Twitter for breaking news
Breaking news is probably where Twitter shows its greatest value again and again. When news breaks in your community, you can connect with sources and gather information in a variety of ways:
- If you're following lots of people in your community, you may see tweets from some eyewitnesses or some people feeling the impact.
- You can use Twitter's Advanced Search to search for keywords that might be likely to pop up in tweets about the breaking story, such as "flood," "tornado" or "crash."
- You can use Twitter Search to find hashtag discussions already forming around the event, again trying different keywords. You can save searches for a keyword or a hashtag as a column in TweetDeck or HootSuite or as a saved search in your Twitter account (searches are a column on the Twitter home page).
- If you jump on a breaking story quickly, try to promote a hashtag that others will pick up. If the hashtag catches on, you will see tweets from people you aren't following. NewsOK.com promotes #okstorm during bad weather.
- As you find tweets indicating that people have first-hand experience with the story you are covering, reply to them (or direct-message them, if you follow them), asking them to call you directly for an interview.
- Search also for photos posted on services such as Twitpic or Instagram. Ask people for permission to publish their photos
- Use NearbyTweets or advanced Twitter search to see what people near the news site are tweeting.
- Feed a hashtag or some feeds of people witnessing the news into your blog or story, using CoverItLive, ScribbleLive or a Twitter widget that feeds them in automatically or using Storify to curate the best tweets or to group tweets by topic or weave them into a story.
- Embed individual tweets or a group of tweets into a story using QuoteURL or Blackbird Pie.
I have blogged frequently about Twitter's use in covering breaking news, including a detailed case study on a particular story: @statesman: A case study in using Twitter on breaking news
Checking your tweets
Don't feel as though you need to read every tweet by the people you follow. You can check your "mentions" quickly and respond to people who are tweeting to or about you. You can use TweetDeck or HootSuite to organize tweets by type of source or by searches that you have saved.
Just as you can't and don't read every interesting story or blog post on the web, it's OK to catch a smattering of tweets now and then, and not feel obligated to read every tweet since the last time you looked.
Think of Twitter as a lovely, refreshing mountain stream. You can visit occasionally to enjoy the scenery, wade in the water or fish for trout. But you don't have to drink every drop or catch every fish.
Twitter and Facebook
Some journalists tell me they like Facebook better than Twitter. That's fine. This is not an either/or thing. A good journalist is going to use both and understand that they are different tools, each useful in different ways. Some differences:
- More people use Facebook than Twitter, so you have the possibility of reaching a larger audience on Facebook.
- Active Twitter users tend to tweet more times per day than Facebook users tend to update.
- While Facebook has good mobile apps, Twitter tends to get more instant use for breaking news. If an active Twitter user and an active Facebook user both witness the same thing, the Twitter user is more likely to post about it immediately with multiple posts.
You can use Facebook and Twitter simultaneously. Services such as TweetDeck or HootSuite let you update both services at once. You also can sync your Twitter and Facebook accounts. (I do this, but I don't recommend it. I tweet more than most people update on Facebook, so some friends have hidden my updates.)
Competition on Twitter
You should follow competing journalists on Twitter. But you shouldn't worry too much about whether they are following your tweets. Maybe you don't want to tweet that you're heading off to an exclusive interview with a particular source. But don't be bashful about breaking news on Twitter. People in the news business used to fret a lot about "scooping ourselves" online. If you had the news on Twitter, you didn't scoop yourself. You scooped everyone.
Twitter is a conversational platform. Reply to tweeps who address you. Retweet things you find interesting. Pass on links you enjoyed or found useful. Thank tweeps who help you. Use a conversational tone. Don't be a bore. Correct your errors quickly and humbly. Be yourself. Be fun to follow.
Ethical issues
As you start using Twitter (and other social networks), keep journalism ethics in mind. The principles of journalism ethics – seek the truth and report it; minimize harm; act independently; be accountable – don't change, but social networks present unfamiliar circumstances for making ethical decisions. Some matters to consider and discuss with your supervisors:
- Identification. If you might ever use a profile professionally, you should identify yourself by name, position and affiliation.
- Personal vs. professional. Decide whether you should maintain separate personal and professional Twitter accounts. Some journalists do and I respect their decisions. I don't keep separate accounts. My view is that we need to learn how to use social media tools the way the world uses them and lots of people mix the personal and professional when using social media. So I use my Twitter account for personal and professional communications, but I do so knowing that my tweets reflect on me as a journalist as well as on my news organization. So I conduct myself professionally on Twitter, even if it's a more casual, personal and fun version of professional conduct than I'm used to. Personal communication helps build the connections that make Twitter a strong form of community connection.
- Verification. Reporters should be as careful and skeptical about facts they learn and contacts they make through Twitter as they would be about facts or contacts encountered elsewhere. Remember a reporter's most important question: "How do you know that?" Check the context – earlier tweets, location (if the person has enabled location), link to the person's blog or website. Google the name listed to see if you can validate that your tweep is who he or she claims to be. NPR's Andy Carvin is showing how effectively you can validate (or debunk) information swiftly using Twitter. (With his 50,000-plus followers, that will work better for him than it will work for you, at least at first.) Mandy Jenkins, my former TBD colleague, says to think of Twitter as a tip service.
- Language. The language of Twitter can get pretty casual and foul, with abbreviations such as WTF and BS thrown around casually. Journalists should be careful with the language they use on Twitter. If you use language that you would not use in print or on the air, consider how you would justify that to your supervisor.
- Opinions. The Twitterverse can be pretty opinionated. Discuss with your supervisor whether opinions are acceptable in your tweets and whether any particular topics might be off-limits for opinionated tweets. Some journalists are advocating greater transparency about opinions, and you might want to reassess your own thinking about this or to encourage a discussion about whether your organization should reconsider its own rules or guidance on this issue.
Time management
Using Twitter will take some time, particularly when you're learning. But it's worth the investment of your time. It will save you time in breaking news stories and in crowdsourcing. I blogged some Twitter time management tips that might be helpful if you find yourself spending too much time with Twitter (or not enough because you are using the time excuse). ASNE was way off-base in its social media "best practices," referring to social media as a "gigantic time suck." Email can be a time suck, too, but we learn how to use it. Effective use of Twitter helps you use your time efficiently.
More resources
I compiled a list of Twitter resources for journalists last year. It could stand updating, but still provides helpful links. My beat reporting course at News University has been updated to provide lots of social media tips for reporters. I also recommend the social media resources developed by my former TBD colleague Mandy Jenkins. John Robinson provided a "quick-start" guide to Twitter (and a list of journalists to follow) for ASNE. Twitter also provides some newsroom resources (though I was disappointed in them when they first came out; I hope Twitter has added more helpful advice but haven't checked lately).
Basic Twitter vocabulary
These are just some basic terms that are used widely in Twitter. For more Twitter terminology, check the glossary links in a separate post on Twitter resources and blogs.
- @ is how you identify a tweep you are addressing or tweeting about. Put @ in front of the user name (@stevebuttry) and people will know you are addressing or writing about that person. In addition, Twitter will automatically turn the username into a hyperlink to his or her profile.
- Applications. Lots of applications such as TweetDeck and HootSuite help you use Twitter more effectively on your computer or phone. You can enjoy Twitter without using any of the applications, though.
- Direct message or DM is a tweet sent directly to another tweep. This should not appear in either person's public Twitter stream. (But just as some people accidentally reply to a list-serv with a message intended to be private, some people tweet publicly when intending to DM, so DM prudently.) You can only DM someone who follows you.
- Favorite. If you really like a particular tweet, you can designate it as a favorite by clicking the star on the mobile app or "favorite" under the tweet on Twitter.com. This is a way of "bookmarking" tweets and links you like. Favorites are a tab on your profile where you can check the ones you've marked.
- #Hashtags are a tag to help group tweets about a particular event or topic. The tag is designated by #sign in front of a word (sometimes a couple words without spaces). For instance, #wjchat, as I mentioned before. When looking for information on a topic, you might want to try multiple hashtags because they occur spontaneously. For instance, in checking tweets about flooding in Fargo, N.D., in 2009, I found lots of messages using #flood09, #redriver and #fargoflood.
- Reply means to respond to a particular tweet. You can reply by starting a tweet with @username. It's better, though, if you click the arrow on the Twitter app or click "reply" beneath the tweet. This lets people looking at the tweet see the full conversation thread. This helps other tweeps (and sometimes the person you're replying to) understand context. You can read your replies (and any mentions of you) in the "mentions" tab on the Twitter home page or the "a" tab on the mobile app. Most clients such as TweetDeck have a default column of mentions. This is helpful when you don't want to catch up on all the tweets you've missed on several hours away from Twitter, but don't want to miss something about or directed at you. If you reply by starting a tweet with @ and a username, only people who follow both you and that person will see that tweet in their Twitter streams (they will see it if they go to your page). So if you want the tweet to be more public, start with a period in front, like this: .@stevebuttry.
- Retweet means to pass along something you read from one of your tweeps. You start a retweet with "RT @tweep'sname." You don't have to retweet verbatim, though you may if you have room (if the original tweet was the full 140 characters, you will need to condense a little). If you edit the original tweet heavily, use "MT" (modified tweet). Links are a great thing to retweet. Don't feel the need to repeat your tweep's comment about the link. Retweet the link with your own comment. If you're just passing along a link you saw from someone else's tweet, but making your own comment rather than retweeting the original comment, nod to the tweep who called it to your attention with "via" or "h/t" (heard through): "via @stevebuttry" or "h/t @stevebuttry." You also can retweet automatically, using the "retweet" option at Twitter.com (it's an icon with two arrows arranged in a square in the mobile app).
- Tweeps are the people who follow you and those you follow.
- Tweet, when you post something to Twitter, that's a tweet. Noun or verb, and it's in wide use, regardless of what the New York Times says. Tweets are limited to 140 characters, including spaces.
- Tweetup means some tweeps are gathering physically, often at a restaurant or bar. Join a tweetup in your community sometime.


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Wealth with Purpose
Planning, ascending, and enjoying the rewards, Alterra Advisors® will be here to guide you every step of the way.
Let the Journey Begin
Getting to Know You
Taking the First Step
Creating Your Plan
Viewing the Horizon
Honored By Others
Recognition by the community that inspires us
Are We a Fit?
Let's start a conversation. We're not a match for everyone. But, if you're looking for a collaborative guide in your financial life, Alterra Advisors could be a fit for you.
Success Stories
John and Cindy have paddled Lake Chelan together for 35 summers. They have three successful children and are raising a pup they call "a Jack Russell terrorist." John was referred to Alterra Advisors by a son who simply said, "You can trust these guys."
Originally, John's son, one of 11 partners in a downtown law firm, had come to Alterra with a few complex challenges. We earned his loyalty after guiding them to strategies that reward their key executives and simultaneously enable the retirement of three founding partners. His business thrived and, as a result, he was anxious to refer his parents when they neared retirement.
John and Cindy's goal was more focused – create a legacy for their children and charities. In John's words: "Grow and preserve our wealth, keep me informed, and talk to me face-to-face." That's just what we do. Cindy now says we're like part of the family.
Success Stories
Lisa and David are partners in every sense. They were married in dental school and launched their own practice after graduating. In addition to running a business, they somehow managed to be full-time parents, active charity volunteers and still get the kids to piano lessons on time. Now they have a thriving practice, but it came with a significant cost as they tried to balance debt and growth.
Lisa was referred by her mentor who built a practice and his retirement plans with Alterra's help. By the time their third child had lost her baby teeth, Lisa was convinced Alterra Advisors could help turn the corner to wealth accumulation. She found we had their best interest at heart, offered innovative financial ideas, easy-to-follow advice, and tax strategies that were game changers, both for their practice and their future goals.
Success Stories
Robert and Maria have successful careers. They have done very well for themselves. She is an HR director and he is an electrical engineer. They have two college-bound children, and the eldest son is already a proud Husky, just like his dad. Maria was anxious to plan the next stage of their lives. In her words, "We simply wanted to do all the things we've put off for years."
A consummate planner, Maria saw to it that they saved for education and retirement. But, she wanted a guide to help protect their nest egg, and clear confusions about how taxes affect their retirement distributions. And she needed a guide for the complicated considerations of tax-differed distributions. She interviewed several wealth managers and settled on Alterra Advisors "because they were different." According to her, Alterra was the only firm that met her three basic requirements: Don't try to impress me with "investment speak." Don't have pre-determined solutions. And, ask about my goals first. We always do.
Success Stories
Debbie was 63 when Bill passed away. That was five years ago, and Bill had already retired as a senior executive from an iconic Seattle-based company. Debbie's elderly mother also needed regular care, which fell on Debbie's shoulders. She was happy to help but wanted to be sure she had sufficient income for her own life. Fortunately for Debbie, she and Bill did a great job accumulating assets to prepare them.
Debbie came to Alterra Advisors looking for a way to give generously to the charity they both served for over 30 years without worry of outliving her money. Our plan showed her that she could meet her personal needs while having a greater impact on her favorite charity than she thought possible. We've since had the privilege of helping her many like-minded friends make a similar impact.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
— Winston Churchill
People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.
—Henry David Thoreau
The greatest wealth is to live content.
It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
—Charles Spurgeon


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Stefan Sagmeister on Design and Happiness
Amidst today's rash of April Fool's pranks, here's an alternative: a 2004 TED talk that's both sober and entertaining. In this talk, designer Stefan Sagmeister discusses the things in life that have made him the happiest. He goes further, trying to understand why these things made him happy, and how design relates to happiness. I really appreciate his story of the combination of a Walkman, motorcycle, and the album Synchronicity combining to form one of his happiest moments.
Viewers of the documentary Helvetica may recognize Sagmeister as the creator of a 1999 poster in which (gross alert) he scratched text into his own skin, then photographed his body. Truly an interesting guy.
One warning -- some happiness-related paintings containing nudity are briefly shown in the middle of the talk. If you can handle those, you'll get to some truly entertaining public art projects afterwards:
Has something made you particularly happy lately? Share in the comments -- or just have a nice Tuesday!


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CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday approved using federal Medicaid money to buy private health insurance for thousands of poor adults, with supporters emphasizing the benefits to the state's economy and the health of its residents and opponents arguing taxpayers would be stuck with the bill when federal money drops off.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 18-5 in favor of the bipartisan plan, which has a good chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled House by early April.
New Hampshire is one of six states that have not decided whether to expand Medicaid under the federal health care overhaul law. Under the Senate bill, it would create a 2 1/2-year pilot program using 100 percent federal funding to expand health care coverage. Anyone under 65 who earns up to 138 percent of federal poverty guidelines – about $15,856 a year for a single adult – could qualify.
The state estimates 12,000 adults could begin receiving coverage in as little as a month under an existing program to subsidize employer-based coverage while 38,000 others would receive coverage through the state's Medicaid managed care program starting this summer. The adults on managed care would be moved onto private insurance in 2016 if a federal waiver is approved by March 31, 2015. If the waiver is denied, their coverage would be phased out over three months.
Under the plan, the expansion would end if federal funding drops below 100 percent and would end regardless at the end of 2016 if the Legislature doesn't reauthorize it. Critics argued that once taxpayer subsidized coverage is provided, lawmakers will lack the courage to end it.
"This bill is going to cost the people of New Hampshire – when the federal government stops paying for it and when the Legislature doesn't have the conviction to stop it – $400-$800 million," said Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford.
Sanborn said taxpayers struggling to pay their own insurance premiums shouldn't face higher taxes to provide better coverage for others.
"We're telling the taxpayers of New Hampshire that we're going to charge them with buying other people's mansions while they have to live in tents," said Sanborn, who also questioned whether the federal government will live up to its funding promise.
Sen. Jim Rausch, R-Derry, took exception to that argument. "I just lost a dear, close friend yesterday – under 50 years of age. There is no guarantee. I don't know what tomorrow brings, but what this bill brings is 100 percent paid for by the federal government," he said. "It does protect the taxpayer. I'm getting a little tired of hearing about what might happen in the future, because I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."
Other supporters argued that the bill will improve the health of currently uninsured residents by providing access to affordable preventive and primary care. That would reduce the amount of uncompensated care provided by hospitals, which could help drive down premium costs and help struggling businesses, they said.
"When I go and talk to business leaders, they tell me the largest problems they face are, Number 1, the high cost of health care, Number 2, the high cost of health care and Number 3, the high cost of health care," said Sen. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro. "This hidden tax is larger than any other tax we have in New Hampshire, and who's paying it? We're all paying it, and business leaders are crying out for help."
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AMITY – Daniel Schnable, 18, of Douglassville has been charged with burglary, criminal trespass, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, police said.
Schnable was arrested after allegedly breaking into a house in the 200 block of Lilac Lane on Monday, Feb. 4, around 3:37 p.m. and taking various items including money, police said. The rear basement door of the house had been forced open, police said.
Schnable was not at the house when police arrived. After an investigation, he was apprehended at 4:30 p.m., police said.
Schnable was arraigned in the Berks County Central Processing Center, police said.
If anyone has any information about the burglary, call the Amity Township Police Department at 610-689-6002.


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It's always a treat when Colbert gives face time to the geeks—or in this case to a handful of geeky 3D-printed versions of himself. If you didn't crave a MakerBot before, you will after experiencing the Colbert teddybear.
MakerBot honcho Bre Pettis visited Colbert Nation last night, bringing with him one of his patented printers and a few clever Colbert mock-ups. Oh, MakerBot. If you were a human lady and not an expensive machine, I really think there might be something between us. [ColbertNation]