text:
Murphy inspects my 1966 Fender Tremolux amp in its custom JD Newell cabinet with two Weber 12A125A speakers; the amp has been at Don Oliver's studio for a couple of years and returned last evening.
Murphy hasn't seen this amp before!
The Tremolux is not a Fender amp that's often seen; they were only made for a couple of years. I had wanted one since I first saw the cover of the Blind Faith album; Clapton is shown here with that amp at the Rolling Stones December, 1968, Rock and Roll Circus event as a member of the one-shot Dirty Mac Band, consisting of Clapton, John Lennon, Keith RIchards on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums.
I believe Clapton endorses a new Tremolux combo amp made by Fender nowadays, but I'm sure it isn't much like the original ones. For one thing, they cost over two grand.
I have the original piggyback head cabinet for my Tremolux, restored by Rocco Egizio of Rockometer Amp Cabinets in Chicago, but I don't have a proper speaker cabinet for that configuration, so it lives as a combo. One day I'll find a speaker cabinet, but it has to be a 4-ohm one for the Tremolux.
The guitar is my Hallmark Barris Kustom, which sounds nice through the Tremolux. For you gearheads out there, the Barris Kustom has a single pickup with just a volume control; the pickup is Bob Shade's recreation of the old Carvin AP-6 classic.


text:
Seafood Festival headliner prepares for fourth album
APALACHICOLA — Country music artist Kellie Pickler has a pretty good idea of the woman she is.
A happily married rising star counting down to the Nov. 11 release of her fourth studio album, "The Woman I Am," Pickler reflected lightheartedly this week on her life these days — about the man by her side, the "children" she's raising and how it's all come together for the small town North Carolina beauty queen. She's waltzed to worldwide television fame through "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars," to a critically acclaimed third album that has her compared to a blossoming version of country music's soulful greats.
"I kind of have kids; they're called my band," she joked Monday afternoon during a telephone interview from New York City, where she was on a radio tour promoting her upcoming release.
"I have to pay child support," Pickler said as her band members carried on in the background.
Set to appear as the headliner Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT at Apalachicola's Battery Park in a concert highlighting the 50th annual Florida Seafood Festival, the 27-year-old Pickler has convinced critics she's for real, packing even more to her artistry than the grace she's shown as reigning champion of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with her partner, four-time champion Derek Hough.
"I love that I was able to tie in two of my passions," she said. "It's really neat to be able to tell a story through the power of dance."
Ever since her first album, "Small Town Girl," debuted seven years ago, Pickler's career has been on a steady trajectory upward, her most recent album, "100 Proof," achieving critical acclaim, including the coveted title of the No. 1 Country Album of The Year by Rolling Stone magazine.
But Pickler isn't letting it go to her head, even taking a moment to rue the album didn't achieve financial success commensurate with the view of critics such as USA Today, which cheered it as "a pretty fantastic country record."
"I don't know. I guess it wasn't as popular as I thought it was," she said. "It wasn't radio-friendly."
Six of the album's 11 songs she co-wrote, and one of them, "Mother's Day," she collaborated on with her husband, songwriter Kyle Jacobs, with whom she eloped three years ago on a private island in the Caribbean.
This week, Jacobs was holed up in a songwriters retreat at Blackberry Farm in the foothills of Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. But when he's not in the studio, he'll join her on the road, and that's a special time for her.
"I love it," she said. "We actually like each other. I know that's surprising.
"My greatest treasure is my husband. He's my best friend; I would absolutely be lost without him," Pickler said. "I don't think you have to have a bad marriage to be a great artist. I don't think that has anything to do with it. I've definitely experienced heartache in different ways, and I can pull from that."
As for children, Pickler said she and Jacobs are raising four canines: Pixie, a Chinese crested hairless from Arkansas; Mumu, a black and white Chihuahua from Portland, Ore.; Maddie, part pit bull and part Labrador retriever from Minnesota; and Tina, a Maltese from California.
'Always watching'
Like the barefoot style she shows in the music video with Hough that features her upcoming album's lead single, "Someone Somewhere Tonight," Pickler is stepping with sure feet through the intensity of her fame.
"I think regardless if you're a singer or you're a waitress or you work at a bank, there's always somebody watching you," she said. "You'd be surprised; people are always watching you.
"To me I'm not perfect. I've never met anyone that's perfect …" she said, stopping to acknowledge the raised hand of her guitarist, before correcting herself. "Other than Drew my guitar player."
Pickler is promising "nothing fancy" tonight.
"It's just me and my band. We just get out there and we play music and we have a good time," she said. "We'll do some songs from my first three albums, throwing in some new songs off the new album."
She's not familiar with eating oysters, but Pickler, a vegetarian for the past five years, does plan on sampling the seafood. "I do love fish; I'm a pescetarian," she said. "That's the only type of meat I eat."
Beyond the demands of her busy career, Pickler has taken the time for some personal outreach. On Sept. 2, 2012, she shaved her head on "Good Morning America" in support of her friend, Summer Holt Miller, who started chemotherapy after breast surgery.
"She's doing good," Pickler said. "She's handled all of this with such grace."
Since 2007, Pickler has done seven tours with the USO, performing before more than 30,000 troops in eight different countries.
"I love doing it; it's something I find so much joy in, that I can take a little piece of home to our servicemen and women," she said.
"The thing about country music is it's about life," Pickler said. "Someone, somewhere … is experiencing love and heartache. We've all experienced those things. I think it's really neat you can put your life in the form of a song, whether it's a sad song or a love song — as long as you're making people feel something."
- What: 50th annual Florida Seafood Festival
- When: Saturday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. EDT
- Where: Battery Park (off U.S. 98), Apalachicola
- Cost: $5 admission for adults, free for kids under 12
- More info: floridaseafoodfestival.com or call 850-653-4720
Saturday's schedule
All times EDT
7 a.m.: Registration for Redfish Run (at Gibson Inn)
8 a.m.: Start of Redfish Run
10 a.m.: Gates open
10 a.m.: Parade starts (U.S. 98)
Noon to 1 p.m.: Musical entertainment, main stage
1- 5 p.m.: Blue crab races (at the top of each hour)
1 p.m.: Oyster shucking contest
1:15 p.m.: Oyster eating contest
3-7:45 p.m.: Musical entertainment
8 p.m.: Headliner entertainer Kellie Pickler, followed by fireworks display
11 p.m.: Park closes

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- I went to the chiropracter this morning and when I scheduled my next appointment it came up for December 10th. December 10th! Can anybody tell me where this year went? And shouldn't I be out Christmas shopping??
- Today I faced one of my life's great fears. The automatic car wash. Stop laughing. I'm not talking about just any car wash that you drive into and the nice little automated arm goes around and sprays your car with any number of mysterious chemicals. I'm talking the one where you have to drive onto the little conveyor thing and put your car in neutral and it tows you through while any number of mysterious chemicals are sprayed on your vehicle and big floppy heavy duty cloths beat on your car and then some guy towel dries your shiny clean vehicle at the end. For some reason, I've always been mildly petrified about this particular car wash - maybe it's the stage fright of knowing when to put your car in neutral, how to maneuver your wheels into the conveyor-y grooves, when to drive away at the end. I mean, jeez, I don't want to look any more idiotic than some moron who would pay 13 freaking dollars for a car wash already looks. However, today I was feeling brave and forked over an exorbitant amount of money to try out the wash. It was not so terrifying, and my car looks like new, but now I have a new fear to face. Am I becoming one of these people who will actually pay $13 for a car wash? Jeez.
- One of the front page headlines on today's local (small town) paper has to do with conjecture that a big evergreen tree from what looks to be somebody's yard in the tiny town across from the river from where I live is being plucked for use in New York City's Rockefeller Center this Christmas. The transporting crew is the crew that normally does this apparently, and they have been taking care of said tree for months now according to the paper, and when asked about the destination of the tree, crews give a number for an NYC publicist. Could it be true? Magic eightball says....Ask again later.
- Did you know that if you spend a grand total of two hours being wildly productive on a Saturday, it totally makes you feel like it's acceptable to do absolutely nothing of consequence for the rest of the weekend? I'm not sure if this is true, it's probably not, but if I don't accomplish anything until Monday, I'm pretty sure I won't feel too guilty.
- I think I'm trying to make a triumphant return to doing Zumba next week. I'm a little nervous because whenever I attempt to give Zumba a shot, one of two things happens... A) I attend the class, love it, get hooked on it, lose some weight and a month later the only class I have time to go to is suddenly and sometimes inexplicably cancelled forever or B) I manage to fall deathly ill or injure myself in some utterly unrelated way that renders me far too physically infirm to attempt anything more physically demanding than getting out of bed. Wish me luck, I'm afraid I'm going to need it.... ;-)
- Okay, a bookish tidbit for those that are hanging in there with me. I've been reading The Legacy by Katherine Webb since last weekend, and it is absolutely perfectly atmospheric and has reminded me how much I dearly love books where you get to roll around in the perfectly pitched atmosphere of the story.
So, what's going on in your life? Or perhaps, you'd like to recommend for me a few good atmospheric books...?


text:
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, my American friends, and a happy weekend to all.
Just a note to say how thankful I am for all of you. Thanks for being here.
I thought this quote was fitting.
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie
From Mary


text:
For a seed to achieve
its greatest expression,
it must come completely undone.
The shell cracks,
its insides come out,
and everything changes.
~Cynthia Occelli
Part of the genius of God's grand design is that we awaken every day to a fresh flowing of His energy and vitality. These things have been stored in the seeds of our being, seeds that possess the same strength as that of the rising sun, earth's swelling seas, and its fertile plains. An excellent time to look for the shining of Yahweh's everlasting light in the sanctuary of the soul is in the first waking moments of each new day. These are moments that are fresh and ripe and full of promise, and regardless of one's age there's simply never a moment when in and of ourselves that there aren't unopened gifts(seeds) of promise. The Almighty's sacred hopes remain within us forever, and heaven's creativity on earth can be born of them at any time. Even if the human soul has grown hard, the catalyst of prayer, as the agonies of life in the world are lifted up, is enough to bring about miraculous new life and hope. Just take a look at seeds which lie dormant in the earth season after season after season; they too can be brought to life with a single spark of the Divine's touch.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. ~Isaiah 61:11 ✝
**Image of flax seed which is used to make linen found on Pixabay


text: Did you know that Menards has another 1 branches nearby? In Menards Appleton, you can buy discounted products featured in the latest weekly flyer valid until 06/18/2023. Shop smart and you can save a significant amount on your shopping at Menards. Take advantage of the great deals on Menards flyers, and you can buy products from the Hobby, DIY and household goods category at less than half of the normal price.


text:
Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft Seeks Partners For a New Run at Yahoo — Plan Would Lead To Effective Breakup; Yang's Second Thoughts — Microsoft Corp., positioning itself for a new run for Yahoo Inc.'s search business, has approached other media companies in recent days about joining it in a deal …
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com: Yahoo shares jump on latest Microsoft report
Kevin Maney / Portfolio.com: To Recap: Ballmer + Yang = World's Worst Dealmakers
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines: Microsoft's never-ending pursuit of Yahoo: More awkward than an 8th grade dance
John C Abell / Epicenter: Yahoo Breakup Part of a Microsoft Plan: WSJ
Stowe Boyd / /Message: Yahoo To Be Sold For Parts
Sardar Mohkim Khan / Startup Meme: Bankers 'screwed the deal'; the Yahoo, Microsoft dilemma continues
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily: MSFT Seeks Partners For Yet Another Yahoo Bid
Staci D. Kramer / Yahoo! Finance: Microsoft-Yahoo: No Real End In SightTo The Scheming, That Is …
Douglas McIntyre / BloggingStocks: Microsoft may take another run at Yahoo!
Luigi Lugmayr / I4U News: Microsoft is aiming again at Yahoo with new Partners
Kara Swisher / BoomTown: Yahoo Board and Investors Burn, While Everyone Else Fiddles
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Ballmer on Yahoo Deal: The Bankers "screwed everything up." — Interesting and surprisingly detailed story in the Wall Street Journal tonight about the ongoing (never ending) Microsoft/Yahoo deal. The headline is that Microsoft, apparently not happy with simply destroying Yahoo's credibility …
Discussion: The Open Road and Electronista
Matt Asay / The Open Road: The dirt on Microsoft's bid for Yahoo!
Peter Whoriskey / Washington Post:
Google Ad Deal Is Under Scrutiny — Yahoo Agreement Subject of Antitrust Probe, Sources Say — The Justice Department has opened a formal antitrust investigation into a deal struck last month that would allow Internet titan Google to provide some search advertising for Yahoo, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
Discussion: Search Engine Land, paidContent.org, The Register, WebProNews, LiveSide, Industry Standard and Silicon Alley Insider
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land: Microsoft Preparing "Another Run" …
John Oates / The Register: DoJ to probe Google Yahoo! deal
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Justice Department Steps Up Google, Yahoo Probe
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
The Humiliating Detail Yahoo (YHOO) Left Out of Its "Microsoft Timeline" — Yahoo seems to be winning some folks over with its PR offensive about how it didn't blow the Microsoft deal (part of the board and Jerry Yang's campaign to ask you to please not fire them at the shareholder meeting).
Steven Musil / CNET News.com:
Justice Department to review Google-Yahoo deal
Justice Department to review Google-Yahoo deal
Discussion: Technology Live, WinBeta and Slashdot
Michelle Kessler / Technology Live: Justice Department to probe Google/Yahoo deal?
Josephine Lien / DigiTimes:
Samsung to reduce NAND flash supply in July amid Apple orders — Samsung Electronics has informed downstream customers it will start reducing its supply of NAND flash chips to them from July as its key customer Apple has placed a large batch of orders, according to sources at the company's customers.
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac, Engadget, Unwired View, Gear Diary and Electronista
Andy Space / 9 to 5 Mac: Huge Apple flash order hints iPod upgrade
Thomas Ricker / Engadget: Apple orders 50 million iPhone NAND chips from Samsung, rest of world put on hold?
Wayne Schulz / Gear Diary: Apple gets its hunger for NAND memory back - orders 50 million 8 Gb flash chips
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
AT&T says original iPhones can be inactivated and used as WiFi iPods — Original iPhone owners who prefer not to give away or sell their old iPhones after upgrading to an iPhone 3G can instead keep their devices and use them as WiFi-enabled iPods, AT&T has confirmed.
Discussion: CrunchGear and I4U News
Luigi Lugmayr / I4U News: AT&T lets you keep old iPhone to use as iPod touch
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
How to launch an iPhone: A tale of two videos — With the July 11 launch of the iPhone 3G less than two weeks away, Apple and AT&T each posted videos Tuesday designed to soften the ground for what's shaping up as another frenzied triumph of Apple event marketing.
Discussion: TidBITS, The PhoneBoy Blog and Webomatica
Glenn Fleishman / TidBITS: Current iPhones Keep Cheaper Plan on Reactivation
Jason Kaneshiro / Webomatica: AT&T Announces iPhone 3G Pricing
Peter Ha / CrunchGear:
AT&T reveals iPhone 3G launch day details
AT&T reveals iPhone 3G launch day details
Discussion: greg hughes, Mobility Today, last100, TomsTechBlog.com, Podcasting News, VentureBeat, MacRumors, Boy Genius Report, Between the Lines and AppleInsider
Daniel Langendorf / last100: AT&T releases official pricing plans for iPhone 3G; total cost …
James Lewin / Podcasting News: The iPhone 3G's Real Cost
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report: AT&T Dishes iPhone 3G Info
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines: AT&T details iPhone plans; Rolls out 'iReady' tips (yes we're serious)
PC World:
AT&T to Sell New iPhones Minus Contracts
AT&T to Sell New iPhones Minus Contracts
Discussion: AppleInsider, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Techdirt, Unwired View, mocoNews.net, InformationWeek, Forbes, Gizmodo, Bits and 9 to 5 Mac
Michael Masnick / Techdirt: The Real Price Of The iPhone: $599
Brad Molen / Unwired View: AT&T iPhone Pricing Revealed
Dianne See Morrison / mocoNews.net: AT&T Will Sell No-Contract iPhone In Future; Reveals Tariff Details
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes: AT&T Is iPhone Ready — For AT&T, it's nearly D-Day.
Laura M. Holson / Bits: What's the iPhone 3G Worth?
Quincy Pince-Nez / 9 to 5 Mac: AT&T selling iPhones sans plan for $600-$700
Alex Iskold / ReadWriteWeb:
Is Email In Danger? — Human history is one of progressive improvement in communication. From the 20th century mail was a fundamental form of communication. The invention of electronic mail (email) changed two things. It became cheap to send short mail, and delivery was instant.
Discussion: broadstuff, Mark Evans, Zoli's Blog and Alexander van Elsas's Weblog …
Alan Patrick / broadstuff: IS EMAIL IN DANGER? — Read/Write Web hypothesises that email is in trouble over here:
Zoli Erdos / Zoli's Blog: Email is Not in Danger, Thank You
Alexander van Elsas / Alexander van Elsas's Weblog …: Email isn't dead yet, but it needs radical innovation
Wall Street Journal:
Chinese Bloggers Scale The 'Great Firewall' In Riot's Aftermath — To slip past Internet censors squashing reports of a weekend riot in China's Guizhou province, some bloggers have started writing backward. — Some 30,000 rioters set fire to government buildings over the weekend to protest …
Discussion: CNET News.com and Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Graham Webster / CNET News.com: Writing 'bass ackwards' to defeat censorship in China
Frank Reed / Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim: China in Tricky Get Bloggers*
PR Newswire:
Blockbuster Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Circuit City — Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI - News, BBI.B - News) announced today that it has decided to withdraw its proposal to acquire Circuit City. — "Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process …
Discussion: Between the Lines
Blockbuster backs out of Circuit City offer
Blockbuster backs out of Circuit City offer
Discussion: PR Newswire, Silicon Alley Insider, Voices and Gizmodo
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider: Blockbuster (BBI) Gets Smart, Drops Crazy Circuit City (CC) Bid
Eric Savitz / Voices: Blockbuster Abandons Bid For Circuit City
Cade Metz / The Register:
How to beat AVG's fake traffic spew — As the AVG LinkScanner continues to spew fake traffic across the internet, web masters say they've uncovered a reliable means of filtering these rogue hits from their log files. — Bundled with AVG's newest anti-virus engine, AVG 8 …
Becky / The Open Rights Group:
ORG verdict on London Elections: "Insufficient evidence" to declare confidence in results — Update:: Demand for the report is pretty high: for those having trouble downloading the report, we've put a copy of the report here too. — ORG's report into e-counting of votes cast in the London Elections is out today.
Discussion: Guardian Unlimited
Sunshine / LiveSide:
Ask Maps Now Using Virtual Earth — Chris Pendleton,Virtual Earth Evangelist, let's us know that Ask.com is now using Virtual Earth as their mapping platform. In this they are following portal sites as YellowPages.com, Superpages.com, and WhitePages.com. — Ask.com has integrated …
Discussion: Search Engine Land and Virtual Earth …
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land: Ask.com Drops Map Product & Outsources To Microsoft Virtual Earth
Chris Pendleton / Virtual Earth, An Evangelist's Blog: Ask Maps Now Using Virtual Earth
Joshua Porter / Bokardo:
Co-evolving — I heard a term the other day that I really liked: co-evolve. It was said in the context of humans and technology...humans and technology co-evolve together. — In other words, we change technology by creating it, and then it changes us as we use it. And we both change in response to each other.
Kelsey Blodget / Beet.TV:
Google Readying Analysis of World's "One Trillion" Images — As it seeks to monetize the exploding universe of uploaded images to the Web, which Google says is nearing one trillion, it is developing image processing to more effectively search and organize images.
Discussion: Search Engine Journal, Startup Meme and VentureBeat
Arnold Zafra / Search Engine Journal: Google Wants to Index and Organize Web Images


text:
Ralph Keyes writes in his book The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life: At one time we had truth and lies. Now we have truth, lies, and statements that may not be true but we consider too benign to call false. Euphemisms abound. We're "economical with the truth," we "sweeten it," or tell "the truth improved." The term deceive gives way to spin. At worst we admit to "misspeaking," or "exercising poor judgment." Nor do we want to accuse others of lying. We say they're in denial. A liar is "ethically challenged," someone for whom "the truth is temporarily unavailable." This is post-truth. In the post-truth era, borders blur between truth and lies, honesty and dishonesty, fiction and nonfiction.
Post-truth politics is a political culture in which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, and by the repeated assertion of talking points to which factual rebuttals are ignored. Post-truth differs from traditional contesting and falsifying of truth by rendering it of "secondary" importance. It is made possible by two threats to public sphere: a loss of trust in institutions that support its infrastructure and deep changes in the way knowledge of the world reaches the public.
While this has been described as a contemporary problem, there is a possibility that it has long been a part of political life, but was less notable before the advent of the Internet. In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell cast a world in which the state is daily changing historic records to fit its propaganda goals of the day. Orwell based much of his criticism of this on Soviet Russian practices. Post-truth is a close cousin of relativism, where my truth and your truth might well collide, but we're not going to get into any informed arguments or debate, out of which truth might emerge.
After much discussion, debate, and research, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2016 is post-truth — an adjective defined as 'relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief'.
Evidently, "post-truth" pipped other buzz words to the post this year because a blithe disregard for facts has characterised both the vote for Brexit in the UK as well as the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. But post-truth politics is having its day in India as well. Increasingly, unpalatable facts are being waved aside and the sceptics shouted down. What seem to sway the masses and mould public opinion are skilful plays on emotion and ancient resentments.
Why was this chosen?
The concept of post-truth has been in existence for the past decade, but Oxford Dictionaries has seen a spike in frequency this year in the context of the EU referendum in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States. It has also become associated with a particular noun, in the phrase post-truth politics.
Post-truth has gone from being a peripheral term to being a mainstay in political commentary, now often being used by major publications without the need for clarification or definition in their headlines.
The compound word post-truth exemplifies an expansion in the meaning of the prefix post- that has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Rather than simply referring to the time after a specified situation or event — as in post-war or post-match — the prefix in post-truth has a meaning more like 'belonging to a time in which the specified concept has become unimportant or irrelevant'.
Keyes said post-truthfulness builds a fragile social edifice based on wariness. It erodes the foundation of trust that underlies any healthy civilization. When enough of us peddle fantasy as fact, society loses its grounding in reality. Society would crumble altogether if we assumed others were as likely to dissemble as tell the truth. We are perilously close to that point.


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Minutes:Board Meeting Minutes 20121113
2012-11-13 i3Detroit Board Meeting November 13, 2012
Chair: Dustin White
Start 7:30pm
Dustin White
Karen Corbeill
Maddy Winans
Steve f00f
Matt Arnold
Roger S.
NAte W
Nate B
Paul K
Ed P (hangout)
Matt O (hangout)
Potlock Money
dustin: i kind of went through and retooled ht elist a bit,. I cleaned up the list a little bit. We need a fence around the kiln.
Karen: burn and melt prevention.
Dustin: is $700 do-able for potlock
Adrienne: yes that is fine
Proposal will be sent to the mailing list to spend up to $700
Camera proposal final
Dusitn: This has been a ticket item for a long time
Tool Crib
One facing the tablesaw
Electronics room
one up that can see both doors
one above the commons area looking towards the CNC machine
one in the metal shop - high injury risk
ONe by the laser cutters
one on the exterior of the building
we have 8 cameras. Does that seem reasonable to everyone? We can tweak to please.
Proposal to be sent to list for camera placements
Large tool forms
Nate W: We just need to make sure we get these filled out of the laser cutters because they haven't been filled out yet.
Dustin: do the injection molders belong to the shop?
Nate B: they need to still be filled out regardless if the shop owns them or not, otherwise people would just dump things here and say it belongs to the space.
Nate B: The Large Dinosaur?
Large Dinosaur is to be moved to a better location or removed from the space
Maddy: Lease is up April 1, 2013
Dustin: we are going to need to negotiate so we don't get a rate increase.
Adrianne: Eric MErrill said he would be happy to help us negotiate
NAte: we could push that we pay our rent on time always.
Ted: We could always move
Dustin: B Nektar doesn't seem to think they will be here past three years, it might be a good idea to stay in this space so we can expand to the open space next door when they move.
Ted: So for points on the lease... 3 years with a 6 month out? We want to try and keep same rent and splitting the electrical service. Does it help to put a minimum on it? How much rent are we willing to pay? We pay $2100 right now
Adrienne: It depends how much money we want left over at the end of the month. We wanna stay where we are at ideally
Dustin: once we get this door thing figured out for i3west we are going to be doing a couple more hundred a month.
Ted: Has anyone negotiated a commercial lease before?
Nate B: Eric merill
I3 west
NAte B: I was going to introduce the notion of abandoning it completely.
Ted: the lock box hasn't been fabricated yet. But I don't think we are going to get it done by the end of November. We might be done by the end of december
Nate B: is anyone going to use it?
Ted: Should we open the discussion back up to the list?
KAren: how much is the rent?
Dustin: $300, everyone has already voted yes. I didn't like the idea of it from the begining
Ted: I was neutral on it, but because it was month to month
Karen: i say we bring it up at the next member meeting to see if people are still interested in it.
Nate B: the act of saving it will hold it's spot.
Nate W: What has to be done
Nate B: Everything is on the mailing list.
Ted: there is a punch list that needs to be done.
Dustin: it's basically the lock box that needs to be completed. We need a project manager, and a champion
Nate B: that was me and i will willing say that i have failed at it.
Ted: We need a champion!
Maddy: we need to bring it up at the regular meeting to see if people still want to use it
KAren: we need to have reasons to have it;
Steve F00f: Should there be an audit period if we don't use it for three months?
Ted: Board meetings can be held over there.
Action: We need a champion by the end of November, it needs to have progress by January 31st and done by January 31 or *plbt* (per Karen)
Moving funds around
Nate W; A handful of us, think that we need to move some money over to savings
Ted: we have a an "oh S***" fund that we sit on. So how much should we bump it up to?
Nate W; We should bump up emergency fund to $5000.
Ted: 5k is two months rent.
Paul K: realistically we want a 6 month survival fund. we want 6 times monthly rent. It's in the tens of thousands of dollars
Funds are to stay where they are. Savings will not be increased except at the discretion of the treasurer.
Zone Coordinators
Dustin: I think we need to refresh these
Brodie: How do you become a zone warden?
Dustin: I will put out an email with a list of zone wardens and people can volunteer.
(doorbell rings)
Action: Mantis ticket made Email will be sent to list
Cleanup reminder
Dustin: Nate and i have talked to Steve (Hermann) several times about cleaning up the metal shop. I am not sure how to approach this.
Nate B: its a habit, there really is not much else we can do. I am going to start walking people through areas and ask them if they have cleaned at the end of the night.
Matt A: its difficult sometimes when you don't know where items go.
Roger: is there an alternate model where spaces clean up once a week?
Karen: can we create a box for each zone that's a box for "i don't know where it goes" at the potlock?
Steve f00f will talk to steve about cleaning the metal shop
new promotional flyer
Matt A: I am interested in helping with this
Karen: I want a new one because the info is extremely outdated
Matt A: It is very vague in certain places. We need some more information on membership levels.
Ted: I think there needs to be a bigger picture of me on the front (lololololozzz)
Matt A: What would help me out would be someone helping with it.
Brodie and Dustin W. offer to help; a day will be chosen to drink hot cocoa and collaboratively create a beautiful new brochure
B-Nektar Membership
Dustin: I'm talking to brad; he wants 6-7 guys that need memberships here because they need large equipment. He wants to know if he can have a reduced fee membership.
Nate B; this needs to be brought up to the whole membership
Karen: this is something that the board needs to create and then present to the membership
Dustin: what is a reasonable amount to charge these people
Karen: $200 for up to 6 people?
Dustin: They won't be using the space nearly as much as anyone else.
Roger: is it still the same amount of access
Nate B; My concern is that they won't be tuned into the mailing list
Dustin: We would need to make sure that Brad is giving the information to his employees.
MAtt A: the first time that communication fails to happen we might need to revisit this.
Steve f00f: if we did give him a reduced rate for his employees what if we have him open up his business for events that we have here?
Ted: I would prefer to have no special cases; so what about this: he has a couple normal memberships for a couple of his guys with keys; and all his other employees come in as guests.
Nate B: I agree except making a family membership. But i think that is worth also revisiting for cases like this. It might be a better way to strike a balance. BUt it comes back to are they put on the mailing list, etc.
Steve f00f: our rates are already extremely low
Brodie: would he still buy memberships if we don't give him a special rate? If we still charge him a regular rate, then he might decide he doesn't want it and we will lose out on that money.
NAte B: Propose we do nothing, and just let his guys come in remotely?
Dustin: he wants to padlock his door on his side for our protection.
Ted : he should buy a membership for 3 or 4 of his senior list and treat them as regular members, anyone else will be considered a guest
Steve f00f: I can agree with nate but i don't think we should pass up 3 or 4 more memberships I agree with ted as long as everyone signs a waiver
Ted: get brads opinion and see what he thinks
Dustin: i will talk to him next time i see him
Teaching Classes Policy
Dustin reads proposed policy to teach classes written by roger
Karen: i think this is an extremely helpful policy
Nate B: Two questions, this is not to be a profit making unicorn? I don't see anything wrong with making profit?
KAren: I think this is a great guideline
Nate B: There is a line on how it must be done and how it can be done.
(dustin leaves in anger) (not really, he just got the whiteboard cleaner bottle)
Ted: we need to establish some sort of structure.
Ted: people do not understand that they can have classes open to the public.
Matt A: I think it should simply be guidelines; not rules or a policy
(agreement from Karen and Maddy)
Guidelines for conducting classes, exceptions can will and can be made,
ACTION: Nate B moves to strike about minimum fees requires and put on wiki. Ted seconds and motion passes
Matis tickets
New Business
Adrienne: With the forklift we never decided how much money we were going to allocate from that
ted: up $200 for forklift repair?
Someone seconds
Dustin: Third
$200 Granted for repair of forklift.
Nate B: I want to teach people things here. The training coordinator at my work let me teach things to people here. We did some soldering stuff here, but do we have a way to invoice people? Rental of lab utilities, etc.? We need an invoice created.
Adrienne: go for it!
Roger: we should set a guideline.
Nate W: is this being written off as a service, how will it affect our taxes?
Ted gets a gold star for raising his hand
Ted: we need a basic price list for people using i3 for a corporate event or something.
Karen: what do you think would be included in that? Should we have options for additional?
Ted: if they want extra things we can add it in as needed. We want to make this available to people
KAren C: Detroit Urban Craft Fair; do we care about our presence? Does anyone want to do it?
(no one is interested anymore)
Adrienne: I need a list of laser donors!
9:01pm end
|Previous Meeting
|Next Meeting
|Board Meeting Minutes 20121009
|Board Meeting Minutes 20121211


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Jonathots Daily Blog
Sitting Thirty-Six
Most people knew him as the editor of the newspaper but were unaware of his name nor anything about his background.
He liked it that way.
It had been his experience that the more people know about you, the less they are truly concerned and the more interfering they become.
He knew who he was. His name was Alexander Omar Percea. He was a confirmed bachelor and he was old enough that it was wise to forget the exact number.
He had been raised by an Egyptian diplomat who had made it his mission to set in motion peace talks between the Arabs and the Israelis. His father was a gentle man, who became more irritated and agonized over the years as there was no progress toward understanding. Yet he taught his son one very important rule: once you have done what is available to be done by you, don't do any more. He explained to his young offspring that lamenting the opportunity to change the world only leaves one hating the people in it.
Alexander considered many occupations where he could pursue his aspirations and finally landed on journalism.
But now that the printed word was becoming less and less appreciated and effective, he took his father's advice. He continued to do what he knew how to do and let it play out however it wanted to play out.
Alexander had the guideline of never getting involved in the type of adventure which had left his father dead of a stroke at age fifty-six. He loved his father very much, but as a young man, he stood back watching the soul of his dad being eaten by the wolves of indifference.
Not for him. Matter of fact, he verbalized his feelings while standing over the coffin of his daddy. "Father, I love you. But I won't be you. The world can have my time. The world can have my interest. But they shall not have my spirit."
Alexander had settled into his role as an editor, behaving like an old chicken, pecking at words and sentence structure, putting out the very best newspaper he could. Confident that he had done so, he was able to sleep at night without having his internal being tugged from all directions.
That is, until Miss Karin (as he called her) lured him into the story of the two boys in the desert. Even while hating himself for allowing his mind to be fluttered away with concern for the lads, he acknowledged that he was entrapped—hoping that just this one time, there could be a merciful happy ending to a story in his homeland instead of death and destruction.
He couldn't sleep. He couldn't think. He found himself worrying, much the way his father had over his two "children"—Israel and Palestine.
But as promised, Editor Alexander Omar Percea sat down and did what he could for the cause and was finally able to convince himself that it was enough—because it was all he had.
He prayed. Not just to one God; Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, Buddha–to every religious icon he could think of. There was no need to leave any deity ignored when Iz and Pal could use all the help that heaven and Earth could muster.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation for this inspirational opportunity


text:
We aim to provide an outstanding and supportive learning environment: one which allows everyone to achieve their best, with high self-esteem and respect for others in the community, so that they are able to take their place in society with confidence and pride. Our aim is to value, support and challenge our pupils to achieve success.
The best way to learn any skill is to take every opportunity to practise and Ifield Life offers pupils the opportunity to do just that. The three bedroom, fully equipped wooden bungalow is situated within the grounds of Ifield School.
Ifield SMILE is a consultation, information and training centre. Professionals from schools, other agencies, parents and carers are welcome to visit the SMILE Centre to attend courses and conferences, seek advice and information or to borrow resources.
The woodland provides an outdoor classroom where pupils not only learn but also experience the world around them. The natural setting of the woodland encourages pupils' learning and independence.
This environment is perfect for pupils who have physical disabilities and restricted movement because it allows them to feel free, comfortable and almost weightless.
The sensory room is a special room designed to develop a child's sense, through special lighting, music, and objects. It can be used as a therapy for children with limited communication skills.
Nestling within the quadrangle at Ifield School is our amazing sensory garden. The garden was designed with learning in mind and is used for quiet contemplation as well as more active pursuits.
The Rainbow room has been divided into three different zones; Soft Space, Work Together and Physiotherapy. Pupils at the early levels of communication development and mobility are benefitting from the calm learning environment. Pupils are enjoying having opportunities to develop personalised learning including Intensive Interaction, TacPac and sensory stories.
The sensory swing room is used by pupils who need the additional rhymical sensory input that is offered by the swing as part of a sensory diet.
Sensory circuits are physical activities that help to alert, organise and calm the senses of pupils so that they are ready to engage in learning.


text:
Hello dear readers! Happy July 🙂 July means that we are in the full swing of summer and that means… a new season of Voice of China is going to be here soon. Or is it not?
While Jay Chou, Na Ying, Wang Feng and Harlem Yu will still be uncovering new voices for us, Voice of China will cease to exist due to a legal dispute over copyright.


text:
A student of mine said something last week that gave me déjà vu. We completed our lessons on "social class" and the student was having difficulty with the notion of cultural capital.
In class, waving an iPhone in the air, s/he said:
"Why would anybody need to know this when you have the whole world's knowledge in your pocket?"
The student was referring to the ability to command cultural knowledge (i.e., cultural capital).
Reminded me of this immediately: And a student said "Ah, so like, people with cultural capital don't need Google…ohhhh, I get it"


text:
Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctors
Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Camarillo, CA
The ear, nose and throat specialists (otolaryngologists) at West Coast ENT are pleased to welcome you to our practice. We want all our patients to be informed decision-makers and fully understand any health issues you face. That's why we've developed a website loaded with valuable information about ear, nose and throat problems and treatments. We encourage you to visit this site whenever you have concerns related to ear, nose and throat health.
Our website also provides you with background about our otolaryngologists, staff, office hours, insurance policies, appointment procedures, maps, directions to our office(s) and other useful information. We know how hectic life can be and are committed to making our practice convenient and accessible. And we want you to feel confident that when you choose West Coast ENT, you're working with ENT doctors and other professionals who are qualified, experienced and caring. Just a few of the services that we offer include sinus surgery, thyroid surgery, and treatment of hearing loss ( sudden hearing loss), ear infections, and allergy-related problems.
Please take a few moments to look through this website to get a better feel for our capabilities and services. We also invite you to email or call us at any time to ask any questions or visit our blog to learn more about ENT services. Thank you.


text:
From now until January 31, 2014, all back issues are 50% off! (Discount is automatically taken in your shopping cart.) Also: receive a free book when you purchase any subscription. Designate your choice in the "Comment" section during the check-out process. Choose from:
- Being Holy in the World, ed. Nicholas Healy, Jr. and D.C. Schindler
- Heart of the World, Center of the Church, David L. Schindler
- Wealth, Poverty, and Human Destiny, ed. Doug Bandow and David L. Schindler
Order before December 16th to ensure delivery by Christmas (applies to U.S. only).


text:
More football indeed.
ABS-CBN's S+A reinforced its football catalog by adding three of the world's best-known football tournaments. In a landmark partnership with Hong Kong-based Triple CH, select games of England's Premier League, Spain's La Liga and Europe's UEFA Champions League will air live on S+A.
ABS-CBN Integrated Sports head Dino Laurena is more than excited to bring top-flight football to Philippine shores.
"Bringing these premier football leagues to free TV is part of our commitment to bring the best sports content to Filipinos. We hope that Filipinos will be more inspired to not just watch but also play the sport, as they get to see the football greats such as Ronaldo and Messi in action."
"The time has come to let the excitement and the bigness of the game of football that has taken the world like a giant tsunami to come to the shores of the Philippines."
Triple CH chairman Bernard Sumayao is hopeful that the partnership will bring in greater opportunities to propagate the sport of football in the Philippines.
"It's a stepping stone for bigger things that we want to do. We brought these matches here because we want to increase the awareness and involvement of Filipinos in football. We want to see the level of football in the Philippines to go higher, to make them a powerhouse in football in the future, especially in Southeast Asia. Our partnership with ABS-CBN is crucial because they will be our distributor for all of the programs and projects we want to do."
"We are prepared to make certain commitments to assist everything from the grassroots level all the way to the national team level."
Sorrakit Lathitham, the managing director of Demeter Corporation, is likewise positive that the burgeoning partnership will help grow football's popularity in the country.
"We believe that the Philippines is a growing market and a very healthy market for sports. We trust the goals and vision of Triple CH and we wish this partnership to grow and strengthen in the days to come."
Airing the likes of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League are nothing new for S+A. Back when the network was still named Balls*, the channel aired select games of the two leagues for a brief period of time.
In fact, it was Balls who first swooped in on the Premier League following the change of rightsholder from Fox Sports Asia to beIN Sport in 2013. However, ABS-CBN Sports was forced to give up the broadcasts once beIN Sport became available to Filipino cable and satellite subscribers.
But now that S+A reclaimed the rights to the two leagues alongside La Liga (not to mention greater availability through free TV), they can only hope that the love affair of football aficionados will endure for a longer period of time. It will be great to see some of football's top stars grace the Filipino small screen in the years to come.
Live games of the Premier League, La Liga and UEFA Champions League on S+A will commence this December. The initial schedule of games can be seen below.
*Note: Studio 23 was renamed S+A SD in 2014, and Balls was renamed S+A HD in 2015. ABS-CBN merged the two networks' programming in April 2017.


text:
|Extremely high intelligence
|High relative income, intermittent wittiness.
|Unwillingness to spend income, intermittent gawkiness, recurring unattractiveness, absolute refusal to concede unpleasant realities.
Mensa is an international society for individuals whose IQ is in the 98th percentile on any of a number of standardized tests. For readers who will never come close on any such test, what this means is that they are wicked smaaht.
Mensa has about 110,000 members, whereas on a planet of 7 billion individuals, the total number of qualifying candidates would be 140,000,000. Clearly, there are other prerequisites than raw intelligence—namely, the burning desire to tell everyone else about your intelligence.
Mensa members meet on a monthly basis. At these regular meetings, typically in a corner of a restaurant or lounge, they do not exude or even discuss intelligence. Rather, they monopolize waitresses and badger and heckle other patrons until the owner permanently disinvites them. Just brilliant.
Barrister Roland Berrill and scientist Lancelot Ware founded Mensa at Oxford in 1946, when their brilliance led them to believe it was hard to meet intelligent people at Oxford. Mensa was to be free of all other distinctions that would upstage intelligence, such as race, sex, social class, or the ability to make interesting conversation.
It was also to be non-political. Its constitution states, "Mensa shall not express an opinion other than the publication of the results of its investigations." This is never a problem; as a typical Mensa investigation concerns the variety of brews served at the host facility, it generally doesn't take until 11 p.m. before the organization is unable to express an opinion of any sort.
Mensa means "table" in Latin, and its logo (of a square table) is meant to signify a round-table organization that embraces the coming together of equals—equals selected on the basis of their sheer inequality.
Of course, anyone who jumps that hurdle understands that the people at the square round table are not equal to each other either. As everyone present accepts high intelligence as an unqualified value, members promptly pursue one of two goals:
- To dominate others by demonstrating even more extreme intelligence, usually through snobbery; or
- To compensate for one's relatively low high intelligence, usually through treachery.
Either case is a basis for truly memorable dinner parties.
Mensa today
Mensa's only membership requirement is a high score on one of many standardised IQ tests. The test score doesn't matter, only that the applicant is in the top 2%. Applicants generally cannot substitute their credit score.
Mensa also has its own IQ test. However, it doesn't tell you what your IQ is, only whether or not you have been accepted. If you flunk the test, you might not be able to re-take it to try to get a better score; even in the United States; even if you threaten to sue them.
The organization has no secret handshake, but accepted applicants are given a yellow hat pin as a subtle indicator of their status. Although few Mensans have the decency to wear hats, many use the subtle indicator with extreme unsubtlety, given what it is an indicator of.
A typical local chapter attracts individuals who believe they must be geniuses based on the number of used cars they can sell in a typical month. These members inevitably take notice of the statistic stated at the top of this article: that Mensa membership is less than 0.1% of what it could be. They promptly organize membership drives, and ways to compel other members to pitch in.
Membership, in somewhat the same way as electing a black President, leads many members to believe that conventional rules can be dispensed with. This explains why many Mensa meetings are full of fat women wearing Spandex who believe it's all right to hug everyone and con them into bed on the first meeting.
Other Mensas
- Individuals who are not especially smart but test in the 98th percentile for aptitude for manual labor, wear little skull caps, and have a fatalistic view of life, can join Menschna.
- The success of Mensa has led to the creation of additional organizations with tighter membership requirements. Their goals are the same as those of Mensa, but they hope in addition to exclude riff-raff like mere borderline geniuses. One such society is the Mega Society. It requires testing to the 99.9999th percentile—and a blood test that proves that the applicant's blood is 20% rocket fuel.
- It has also led to the creation of adversarial organizations deliberately created to exude stupidity. The foremost of these is called the Democratic Party.
Famous Mensans
The Wikipedia article on former Governor John H. Sununu of New Hampshire states that he has "met the eligibility requirements" for the Mega Society. (It does not say that he has ever been to a meeting, as no one in New Hampshire would want to be that all-alone.) Gov. Sununu, while Chief of Staff to George H.W. Bush, demonstrated his exceptional intelligence by repeatedly taking the White House helicopter on personal golf outings.
See also
|Featured Article (read another featured article)
|Featured version: 16 November 2012
|This article has been featured on the main page. — You can vote for or nominate your favourite articles at Uncyclopedia:VFH.


text:
A drug and alcohol counselor who allegedly drove two miles through Los Angeles with a dying man on her windshield was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 52, was also convicted of drunken driving and hit-and-run, DA officials said.
Wilkins testified in her murder trial that the man she's accused of killing, 31-year-old Phillip Moreno, seemed to fly onto her car in the November 2012 crash in Torrance.
"It was a flash, " Wilkins said. "I pretty much felt him landing on my window. To me, it felt like he came from the sky."
Moreno was walking near Torrance Boulevard near Madrid Avenue when he was struck.
Prosecutors say Wilkins drove two miles with Moreno embedded in the windshield of her Mitsubishi Eclipse before another motorist directed her to pull over.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Wilkins, a former addict, wept and said she'd consumed three airplane-size bottles of vodka, a can of Budweiser beer and Clamato before starting to drive. She said she had been "self-medicating" while waiting for knee-replacement surgery.
"As she unsealed each container of alcohol, she unleashed death on Phillip Moreno," Deputy District Attorney John Harlan said.
Moreno was struck so hard that he flipped onto Wilkins' car and punched a hole through the windshield. Witnesses stopped Wilkins near Crenshaw Boulevard and 182nd Street, police said. Moreno died at a hospital.
Wilkins was charged in 2010 with DUI and leaving the scene of a crash that caused damage to either property or a vehicle, according to online court records. The charges were dismissed in 2011, records show.
She has two prior convictions for burglary, according to court records.
Wilkins will return to court March 26 for her sentencing, the DA said. She faces 55 years to life in prison.


text:
Puerto Rico NASA EPSCoR
The new NASA Vision for Space Exploration calls for the development of reliable, efficient, compact power sources, which are of critical importance in support of crewed missions to the Moon for extended periods of time, and to eventually send crewed missions to Mars with a real chance of survival and return.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells address the NASA priority of developing new, efficient, compact, portable, and environmentally friendly energy sources. Achieving a high degree of efficiency and durability that meets the needs and specifications of the Space Exploration Program, is however, a task yet to be accomplished.
Our approach to making significant progress in this area consists in developing novel nanostructured electrochemical materials, understanding their electrochemical behavior under actual device operating conditions, and utilizing this knowledge to enhance their electrochemical properties.
The University of Puerto Rico will undertake an integrated experimental/theoretical research program to address functional issues relevant to the design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of nanoscale materials suitable for enhanced rechargeable lithium ion batteries and fuel cells. Medullar to this program is the development of proof-of-concept and up scaled lithium battery and fuel cell prototypes in collaboration with the Electrochemistry Brach at NASA Glenn Research Center.
The research will focus on applied issues of nanostructured cathode, anode, and polymer electrolyte materials relevant for their usage in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells. The research efforts are aimed at finding the best-performing, robust, most economical, and environmentally friendly nanostructured anode-electrolyte-cathode systems, which would also yield a significant gain in charge capability, along with higher cycleability with stability under harsh conditions. The proposed research is currently a forefront scientific field and our main objective is advancing its technological realization in the context of Space Exploration.
The strong feasibility of this project arises from its multidisciplinary approach and synergistic collaboration with the pertinent device developers at Glenn Research Center from the early stages of nano material selection and synthesis, through prototype testing, until accomplishing a Technology Readiness Level appropriate for technology transferring to NASA scientists and engineers for further refinement.


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Near shutdown situation for Karnataka steelmakers as SC adjourns case, again
My view on the Karnataka mining, steel-makers and the SC.
March 30 was a regular day in the Supreme Court of India with many cases heard and many deferred. One of the cases was of the steel-makers in Karnataka crying for iron ore supply in order to sustain steel production. On that day, the Supreme Court of India adjourned the hearing of the iron ore mining case for the 13th time.
Given the fact that Karnataka accounts for over 20 per cent of India's steel production and close to half of iron ore production, you may very well imagine the impact. Also, steel sector is said to be at the core of the infrastructure development. And we know that the government is stress on infrastructure development like Bollywood heroines' stress on developing fake bosoms/lips. That serious.
Anyway, this slow hearing process has seriously affected the viability of steel-making in the state as the quality of ore is worsening by the day.
Out of the 27 times that the case was listed in the Supreme Court, the hearing has been deferred 13 times. Means nearly every second hearing was deferred/adjourned or whatever legal jargon you want to give. (PS: Dear Supreme Court, I am in complete knowledge of your guidelines for court reporters and let me assure you that I am not a court reporter).
Out of these 13 adjournments, five have happened consecutively since February 24, the latest one being the one on March 30. On March 16, the hearing was adjourned as one of the judges wasn't available and March 23 hearing was adjourned because the CEC panel failed to submit its report to the SC bench. The Supreme Court, in a notice on its website on March 14, said, "Due to non-availability of Honourable Mr Justice Aftab Alam for hearing forest bench matters, special bench comprising of Honourable The Chief Justice, Honourable Mr Justice Aftab Alam and Honourable Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar for hearing the matter will not sit on Friday, the 16 March 2012."
This case if a matter of national importance and the stakes are high. And even though nearly half of the scheduled hearings getting cancelled due to one reason or the other, companies/stakeholders/everyone who is affected by this, are keeping their mouth shut fearing a showdown by the SC.
And this is what I want to ask today. Is it wrong to disagree with the Supreme Court in India? Why is is that disagreeing with a SC order or the way its proceedings are held, in a specific case or in general, are taken as a contempt of the judiciary in India?
The companies are silent. They are scared that whatever they may say will be taken against them by the SC. So, is it that even the SC, the guardian of citizens' rights in this country doesn't tolerate freedom of expression/speech even when its done keeping in mind all the clauses of the constitution?
Is it that difficult to disagree with the Supreme Court or its judgement?
The steel industry in Karnataka is again staring at a near shut down situation because of these delays. Even though the SC had given a respite to the industry in the state by allowing e-auctions every month from the 25 million tonne of stockpiles and allowing NMDC to mine, the industry is unhappy as the grades of ore has been deteriorating sharply.
Steel-makers say that the CEC, in its report to the SC, recommended category 'A' mines to function as no illegalities were found there. " All we are asking the SC to consider this recommendation as soon as possible so that the steel production can carry on," they say.
Currently, with no solution in sight, only a "few" months iron ore supplies are left in the state. Over half of the sponge iron makers in Karnataka have already drawn shutters and rest are bleeding money profusely in the hope of a judgement. The mega steel plants in the state, too, are slowly cutting production.
If the SC allows these mines to function again, then 8.5 million tonne of iron ore will available for steel-making annually.
The steel-making in the state would have shut down last year itself if the SC did not allow e-auctions of the iron ore from the state stock-piles. The companies are relieved by the move, but, are again getting flustered.
They say, "Iron ore is available from the stock-piles but the low grades are affecting the blast furnaces. As a result, cost of producing steel is going up. If relief doesn't come from the SC then the industry will face closure yet again."
A top official from an affected steel company, said, "Out of the 25 million tonne, 17 million tonne has been e-auctioned, however, mostly it has been iron ore fines. The grades of ore has also reduced which is affecting the blast furnaces."
Iron ore is available in two forms, lumps and fines. Lumps are the chunks of iron ore in solid form whereas fines are the ore in powdered form which remain at the mines after lumps are taken out. Ore is fed into the blast furnace with other raw material to make steel.
The total steel capacity in Karnataka is 16 million tonne, of that 3 million tonne is sponge iron. Most of this sponge iron production has been shut down and steel plants are running at low capacities.
JSW Steel, the biggest steel-maker in the state and the second largest in India, production in the month of February fell down by 24 per cent sequentially, at 6.10 lakh tonne. The company, on March 5, said, "As the stock pile of 25 million tonne is getting exhausted, the quality of iron ore being offered in E-auction is deteriorating substantially. Further certain iron ore in E-auctions contained high Alumina, Silica, Manganese and Low Fe which led to poor Sinter quality, high slag formation and low productivity in the Blast Furnaces."
So, I ask the question again. Till when are we going to stick our heads in the sand and ignore the stark realities that face us? The argument that Indian courts are over-worked with millions of cases pending, is valid. But, such cases where the future of our economic development depends, can't be left to such frequent adjournments.
Also, the demons of 'contempt of court' if we say anything against the court or its order, has to be taken out. Else, we are not free.
Tagged: Bellary, iron ore, Karnataka, mining, SC, steel, steel-makers, Supreme Court


text:
Six of the best… landmark jazz recordings
Jazz has undergone many changes of style over the last century, not least with the arrival of rock music. Neil McKim picks out some pivotal concerts
Benny Goodman live at the Carnegie Hall, 1938
AVID AMBX151 (4 discs)
Promoted as 'the first swing concert in the history of Carnegie Hall', a hitherto strictly classical venue, this concert boasts an incredible line-up of musicians from the swing era.
Clarinettist Goodman had started the decade in good company – in 1930 playing in the pit orchestra for the Gershwin show Girl Crazy – notably with Glenn Miller and drummer Gene Krupa. And through the '30s, the fervour of Goodman's own concerts had incited dancing in the aisles.
The Goodman band at this Carnegie Hall concert (on 16 January) includes Harry James on trumpet and Krupa on drums, and importantly, for that era, inclusion of black artists such as vibraphonist Lionel Hampton.
Hearing the crowd respond to 'One O'Clock Jump' and the uproarious 'Sing, Sing, Sing' gives an unrivalled insight into these legendary performers at the peak of their power.
The concert also has a throwback to the early roots of jazz with a medley that includes a version of 'Sensation Rag' by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich at the JATP, The Drum Battle 1952
Verve 559 8102
Gene Krupa, one of the stars of Benny Goodman's band is here pitched against fellow drum giant Buddy Rich in their first epic encounter.
The event was organised by impresario Norman Granz, as part of his ongoing 'Jazz at the Philharmonic' concert series which showcased top artists of the day.
The rhythmic rumble culminates with the track 'The Drum Battle' where the rimshots fly and egos clash in an exhilarating display of thundering drum work, which sends the crowd crazy.
The concert also features pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Ray Brown and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, who rounds off the album with 'Perdido'.
Many other drum battles between the pair followed, and drummers still argue about who was the best. But the volatile Buddy Rich took on one of his most formidable opponents on US television in 1980…
John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard 1961
Impulse 174 8625
By the early '60s saxophonist John Coltrane, having already played and recorded with many of the great innovators in modern jazz such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, was cutting his own path with his classic Quartet.
After the commercial success of his studio albums he opted for a live album and deliberately chose not to include any recent hit tracks. He also filled the second side of the album with one continuous improvised blues track, which at the time was considered by many to be a gamble.
In the intimate setting of New York's Village Vanguard club, the track in question 'Chasin' the Trane' has a 15-minute solo, with pianist McCoy Tyner sitting it out. The result splits opinion, with one critic at the time saying: 'It's more like waiting for a train – a 100-car freight train – to pass.'
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But what it clearly demonstrates is the incredible breadth of Coltrane's technique and a deliberate break with the protocol of past recordings.
Miles Davis Live at the Fillmore East/It's about Time 1970
Sony C2K85191 (2 discs)
With Neil Young having headlined at this year's Glastonbury Festival, it's bizarre to think that this groundbreaking concert by Miles Davis was performed as a support act to Young back in March 1970.
Reluctantly agreeing to play at New York's rock venue, the Fillmore East, Davis and his sextet play a formidable set, featuring tracks that would appear on forthcoming studio album Bitches Brew.
It's not easy listening. Long gone are the cool suits and careful Gil Evans orchestrations. Davis and his band are now electric and refusing to conform to popular tastes. Instead, they sonically assault the unsuspecting audience with wave after wave of darkly creative and eerie improvised textures, held together with pounding rock rhythms.
The key aspect of this concert, is that the line-up of musicians involved such as Davis himself and keyboardist Chick Corea, would go on to be key players in the 1970s jazz/rock 'fusion' movement.
This was also saxophonist Wayne Shorter's last gig with Davis, before he went on to form legendary jazz fusion outfit, Weather Report.
We named Miles Davis one of the greatest jazz trumpeters ever and Chick Corea one of the greatest jazz pianists ever
King Curtis Live at the Fillmore West 1970
Rhino 8122776322 (2 discs)
San Francisco's Fillmore West played host in 1970 to a concert by saxophonist King Curtis (real name Curtis Ousley). For years this album was a rare groove collector's item, owing to the inclusion of the live version of Curtis's seminal floormover 'Memphis Soul Stew', taken from studio LP King Size Soul.
Curtis, a childhood friend of Ornette Coleman had worked with Lionel Hampton before honing his own brand of soul jazz on the Atlantic label, the home of Ray Charles. In contrast to Miles Davis's Fillmore outings, the Curtis formula plays directly to the late '60s young crowd, with cover versions a-plenty from Led Zeppelin to Procol Harum.
The version of the latter's 'Whiter Shade of Pale' crops up at the start of cult movie Withnail and I. Sadly, Curtis was stabbed to death in 1971 but this album fortunately captures him at his height.
It must surely contain one of the best introductory band announcements ever: over four minutes, Curtis introduces each instrument of the band, from Jerry Jemmott's killer bass riff, to Billy Preston's gospel organ and the soaring Memphis Horns, as ingredients for his legendary 'Memphis Soul Stew'.
EST Live in Hamburg 2008
ACT6002-2 (2 discs)
'It was clear that EST had made history that evening.' These are the words of ACT record label owner Siggi Loch, after seeing the last date of pianist Esbjörn Svensson's Trio live tour of their studio album Tuesday Wonderland on 22 November 2006 (hear an audio clip above).
The tragedy of Svensson's accidental death in a diving accident in June 2008 sent shock waves through the jazz world because EST was streaks ahead of anything else around.
The band's concerts attracted stadium audiences of all persuasions, from classical fans through to rock. The combination of Svensson's virtuosity, with longtime friend and drummer Magnus Oström and bassist Dan Bergland won critical acclaim from all sections of the jazz community.
This high quality recording will serve as a valuable record of one of EST's peak concerts and demonstrates how warmly received they were by the crowd at the Hamburg Music Hall. Afterwards Svensson declared: 'What started off just like any ordinary day has become something unique.'
Neil McKim is the former Production Editor of BBC Music Magazine. He is now the production editor of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.


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Thailand military declares coup after 7 months political unrest
BANGKOK -- Thailand's military seized power Thursday in a bloodless coup, dissolving the government, scrapping the constitution and dispersing groups of protesters from both sides of the country's political divide who had gathered in Bangkok and raised fears of a violent showdown.
The powerful army chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced the military takeover in a statement broadcast on national television. It was followed by additional announcements including a nationwide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and an order for 18 government officials - including the ousted prime minister - to report immediately to the country's new governing military commission.
Soldiers kept a low profile in the center of the capital. But as the curfew approached, troops diverted traffic at key intersections and used armored personnel carriers to block some main roads, including the one in front of the U.S. Embassy. Soldiers dispersed most demonstrators from two protest sites where competing groups were camped out - one backing the now-ousted elected government and another that had struggled for seven months to unseat it.
Although the military insisted it wasn't taking sides, its ousting of the government met the key goal of the anti-government protesters. The pro-government "Red Shirt" supporters had earlier said they would not tolerate a coup, but there were no immediate signs of resistance or reports of violence. The military provided hundreds of buses to take the protesters home.
Long lines formed at the city's elevated train, subway stations and bus stations as panicked office workers tried to rush home before the curfew. Exceptions for the curfew were later announced for travelers and night shift workers, among others.
Flanked by the heads of the armed forces, Prayuth said the coup was launched "to quickly bring the situation back to normal, to let the people have love and unity as in the past, and to reform the political and economic systems - and to grant equality to every side."
"We ask the public not to panic and carry on their lives normally," Prayuth said, adding that the military would "provide protection" for foreigners in Thailand.
An army spokesman later announced that it had dissolved the caretaker government and canceled the constitution, but the Senate would remain in place. He said Prayuth would assume the duties of the prime minister until a new one was in place.
The army also ordered the suspension of all television broadcasting and replaced programming with patriotic music to fill air time between announcements.
Thailand's public television station, Thai PBS, continued to broadcast for a few hours over YouTube before those transmissions also ceased. The wife of the station's deputy managing director, Vanchai Tantivitayapitak, said he was detained by soldiers in the master control room while running the program on YouTube and taken to a military camp. He was later released.
CNN, BBC and other cable news channels were also taken off the air, but continued to report from Bangkok.
The coup was the 12th since Thailand's absolute monarchy ended in 1932.
"I hope the soldiers have come out this time to solve the problem once and for all. This is the fourth coup I've seen in my life now," said Pinkaew Pipatada, 65, a flower vendor at the Erawan shrine, a popular tourist site in central Bangkok.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed disappointment, saying there was "no justification for this military coup," and urged the immediate restoration of civilian government and a return to democracy.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the Pentagon is reviewing its military relationship with Thailand in light of the coup, including an ongoing military exercise, but no decisions have yet been made.
On Tuesday, Prayuth had declared martial law in what he called a bid to resolve the country's political crisis, and a day later he summoned the country's rival political leaders for face-to-face talks. After two days of talks, the meeting failed to break the impasse.
Shortly before the coup announcement was made, armed soldiers in military vehicles surrounded the army facility where the politicians were meeting, apparently to block those inside from leaving.
Many of the country's highest-profile figures were summoned for the meeting. They included the acting prime minister - who sent four Cabinet ministers in his place - and anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, as well as Suthep's rival from the pro-government Red Shirt group, Jatuporn Prompan. Suthep and Jatuporn were escorted out of the meeting by soldiers and detained.
A government official, Paradorn Pattanathabutr, contacted shortly after the announcement said the four ministers were still being held by the military.
"The rest of us who are outside are still fine and in the safe places. However, the situation is very worrying. We have to monitor it closely and don't know what else can happen," he said.
Thailand, an economic hub for Southeast Asia whose turquoise waters and idyllic beaches are a world tourist destination, has been gripped by off-and-on political turmoil since 2006, when former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled by a military coup after being accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for Thailand's king.
His overthrow triggered a power struggle that in broad terms pits Thaksin's supporters among a rural majority against a conservative establishment in Bangkok.
The latest round of unrest started in November, when demonstrators took to the streets to try to oust then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister. She dissolved the lower house of Parliament in December in a bid to ease the crisis, and later led a weakened caretaker government.
Since November, 28 people have been killed and hundreds injured, mostly in drive-by shootings and grenade attacks on protest sites.
Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court ousted Yingluck for abuse of power. But the move, which left the ruling party in charge, did little to resolve the conflict.
The army action followed threats by anti-government protesters to intensify their campaign to oust the ruling party, and an attack last week on protesters that killed three people and injured over 20.
Prayuth invoked the military's expanded powers Tuesday and issued more than a dozen edicts that included broad powers of censorship over the media, the Internet and vaguely defined threats to prosecute opponents.
The military had insisted it was not seizing power, but said it was acting to prevent violence and restore stability in the deeply divided country. But he provided little clarity on a path forward, amid speculation both at home and abroad that the declaration of martial law was a prelude to a military coup.
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Anyone who has been involved in local politics even for the briefest of time knows that campaign sign stealing is typical fare for a city council election. However, the practice recently has been raised to an art form in Costa Mesa, with candidates on both sides (the "3Ms" – Steve Mensinger, Gary Monahan, and Colin McCarthy vs. John Stephens, Harold Weitzberg, and Sandy Genis) claiming to be victims. This year, the thieves have gotten out-of-hand. While both sides have reported theft of signs from residential yards and commercial buildings, Mensinger and Monahan have pointed to the theft and destruction of large and expensive banners. In at least one instance, someone scaled a private residence fence and slashed a banner that was placed up between two large poles. Other 3M banners and signs have been cut and defaced with paint. The thefts have become so prevalent that Mensinger and Monahan have put up $500 each for any information leading to the arrest of someone stealing banners (an anonymous donor put up another $100 bringing the total to $1,100.)
At least one vandal has been caught red-handed. A video, taken by a Mensinger supporter, shows a bearded man pulling up signs for the 3Ms and supporting the proposed city charter, tearing them apart, and tossing them in the bushes. At a candidates' forum for Atlas PAC last week, McCarthy identified the man as Steve White, a Costa Mesa city employee and member of the Costa Mesa City Employees Association, the union that has sued Costa Mesa over its attempt to outsource union jobs to private companies to save the city money and reduce the city's unfunded liability for skyrocketing employee compensation and benefits. As the OC Register reported, White has been placed on paid administrative leave and is under investigation, though the city did not say the reason for the investigation. White, classified as a Senior Maintenance Worker, earns approximately $86,000 per year in compensation and benefits (see #382 in the link). Interestingly, though White has a prominent beard in the video, the Register reported that White's Facebook page showed a recently shaven profile picture.
The union has deflected comment about White's purported actions, stating "Sign damaging is something that has happened in every election," said Orange County Employee Association spokeswoman Jennifer Muir, who added all sides' signs have been defaced. "It's not a good thing. It's silly. It should stop." Muir would not comment about White specifically because city administrators have not officially linked him to the signs (don't hold your breath for any comment after they do link him). However, she did not waste a chance to again attack Mensinger and the council majority, stating "Now they can't stand the scrutiny to their plan," she said, "so they're trying to drum up a political diversion." Muir apparently was not asked how a union member, making nearly $90,000 a year from the city, destroying the property of the 3Ms – something which the union-supported candidates have also complained about – is a "political diversion" rather than simply a petty act of vandalism. It begs the question of how the union would have responded if one of the 3M's supporters had been filmed destroying Stephens', Weitzberg's, and Genis' signs. Yes, that was a rhetorical question.


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Simple Foods, Deliciously Prepared- PA.Dutch Style
|Here's a bit of history and basic information to help explain the Pennsylvania Dutch style of cooking. Pennsylvania Dutch recipes often leave much to the imagination. Most have been passed down from one generation to the next by word of mouth or in handwritten notes which were passed from mother to daughter. Each cook had her own interpretation of pinches, handfuls and heaping cups, enough sugar to sweeten, and flour to stiffen.
Public interest in the Amish and the Mennonites, spurred by the tourist industry and the media, have given many people the impression that all Pennsylvania Germans are "Plain People". Actually, the the Amish and related Mennonite sects make up only about 10 percent of Pennsylvania Germans.
Early settlers were mostly farm folk who lived off the land. Economy was a necessity, and that led to the creation of tasty dishes using only foods which were found locally. Vegetables grown on the fertile farmland were preserved for year round use. Some vegetables were dried and others were preserved in a salt brine, a method used today by many gardeners and home-canners to turn cabbage into sauerkraut. Creative farm women made luscious fruit pies, custards, and rich creamy desserts from bumper crops of fruit and berries and a plentiful supply of milk, cream, butter and eggs. All these things led to the creation of the Pennsylvania Dutch style of cooking.
Dough balls such as dumplings, rivels and assorted homemade noodles were used in countless recipes. such as Chicken Pot Pie. This delicious main dish is still a local favorite today. Pot Pie are squares of dough dropped into a pot of boiling broth, and cooked with meat, usually chicken. Potatoes, celery, onion and sometimes carrots are also added. Turkey, beef, and ham are also used to make Pot Pie.
Salads are slso plain and simple ... usually salad greens, topped with slices of hard-boiled eggs and a cooked, sweet and sour, bacon dressing. This cooked salad dressing is also used on dandelion salad. Real "Dutchmen" still head for the fields in early spring to pick dandelion leaves, while they're still sweet and tender. The same dressing is used throughout the year on endive, garden lettuce and other leafy greens.
According to folklore, a well-laden feast should include a first course of "seven sweets and seven sours". A few restaurants in Pennsylvania Dutch country serve home-style meals and continue this tradition. An array of sweet or spiced fruits, spreads, and preserves is served along with tangy salads such as coleslaw, pepper cabbage, and pickled foods.
Many things are pickled around here! Red beets are pickled and eggs are then pickled in the red beet juice. Chow chow is a medley of vegetables, pickled and preserved in a sweet and sour dressing. Yellow string beans are pickled. Peaches are sometimes pickled.
Even meat is pickled...as in pickled souse or pickled pig's feet. I've never tried these oddities myself, but I can remember my grandfather, long ago, coming home from early morning trips to market every Friday morning, with these special treats in his basket. Though he encouraged me to try some, I was never quite brave enough, but my Mother would often sit at the kitchen table and join him. The two of them would share a pickled snack, leaving none until market day next week. Tripe, souse, pig's feet and other pickled delicacies, made from less than desirable animal parts, are still sold in local farmers markets today. I'm sure there are still some vintage Dutchmen around who go to market every week to buy them from their favorite butcher.
Scrapple, a popular local breakfast meat, as legend has it, got that name because it was originally made with the scraps from the butcher shop floor. Bits and pieces of various pig parts were ground up, blended with a filler such as corn meal, cooked and formed into a loaf. Scrapple, which is made from USDA inspected meat today, is cut into slices about 1/2" thick, then fried. It's sometimes eaten with ketchup, syrup, or apple butter on top and served with eggs for breakfast.
A variety of smoked meats, such as home-cured hams, slabs of bacon, smoked sausage and smoked dried beef have been enjoyed by generations of the Pennsylvania Dutch. The most popular lunch meats sold around here in both supermarkets and farmer's markets are Lebanon bologna and Sweet Lebanon Bologna, two versions of smoked beef bologna. Lebanon bologna sandwiches, can now be enjoyed in a wider area, after many years of being strictly a local favorite.
No Pennsylvania Dutch meal would be complete without delectable desserts. Family gatherings often have a variety of end-of-the-meal treats. There's fruit desserts, creamy puddings, cakes, pies, pies and more pies. See A Sampling of Pennsylvania Dutch Pie Recipes.
Pennsylvania Dutch home cooking is a tradition of "wonderful good" food made from simple ingredients. It's deliciously prepared today, just as it was in years gone by... using fine old recipes, passed from generation to generation.
|Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book
The recipes in this book provide the tastes of Pennsylvania German culture and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking traditions. With over 350 recipes, it's an excellent introduction to every aspect of Pennsylvania Dutch cookery from appetizers to desserts.
|Amish-Country Cookbook
This must have cookbook features a large variety of Amish recipes for every course of every meal, for any occasion. The recipes are easy to prepare using simple ingredients.
You Should Also Read:
Chicken Pot Pie - Chicken & Dumplings
A Sampling of Pennsylvania Dutch Pie Recipes
The Home Cooking Recipe Index and Site Map
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Content copyright © 2022 by Sandy Moyer. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Sandy Moyer. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Allyson Elizabeth D´Angelo for details.


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The Astonishing Decline of Homelessness in America
... and why this quiet trend is about to reverse itself
Despite a housing crisis, a great recession, rising income inequality, and elevated poverty, there is some good news among the most vulnerable segment of American society. America's homeless population – an estimated 633,000 people – has declined in the last decade.
This seems incredible – perhaps literally, so. The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a leader in homelessness service and research, estimates a 17% decrease in total homelessness from 2005 to 2012. As a refresher: this covers a period when unemployment doubled (2007-2010) and foreclosure proceedings quadrupled (2005-2009).
It's equally shocking that politicians haven't trumpeted this achievement. Nor have many journalists. Yes, there's a veritable media carnival attending every Bureau of Labor Statistics "Jobs Report" on the first Friday of the month. We track the unemployment rate obsessively. But the decline in homelessness hasn't attracted much cheerleading.
And what about the presidents responsible for this feat? General anti-poverty measures – for example, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit -- have helped to raise post-tax income for the poorest families. But our last two presidents have made targeted efforts, as well. President George W. Bush's "housing first" program helped reduce chronic homelessness by around 30% from 2005 to 2007. The "housing first" approach put emphasis on permanent housing for individuals before treatment for disability and addiction.
The Great Recession threatened to undo this progress, but the stimulus package of 2009 created a new $1.5 billion dollar program, the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. This furthered what the National Alliance called "ground-breaking work at the federal level…to improve the homelessness system by adopting evidence-based, cost effective interventions." The program is thought to have aided 700,000 at-risk or homeless people in its first year alone, "preventing a significant increase in homelessness."
Since then, the Obama administration also quietly announced in 2010 a 10-year federal plan to end homelessness. This is all to say that the control of homelessness, in spite of countervailing forces, can be traced directly to Washington—a fact openly admitted by independent organizations like the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Out of Sight ...
The decline of homelessness over the past eight years is nothing short of a blue-moon public policy triumph. Why don't you know about it?
Could it be because we'd prefer not to hear about it? For the fortunate, one's daily interaction with the homeless is practiced ignorance. Part of any city-dweller's habit is to swiftly pass those on the street, averting one's eyes, or perhaps floating a statement about not having any change on you. In a Gallup poll from early August, just 2 percent of respondents said that the category of "Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness" constituted "the most important problem facing this country today."
Unlike the jobs report, there is no famous, metronomic update on the state of homelessness in America. The "Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress" of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development is a front-page rarity. Since its first iteration in 2007, the report that collects information on homelessness nationwide, has been mentioned in one article of the archives of both the New York Times and Washington Post, combined. Coverage of homeless issues—found extensively in the "street papers" produced in many cities like Chicago's Streetwise—is just not a topic that catches attention for wider audiences.
... Out of Mind
In the next few years, as Washington looks to cut spending across the board, the public's aversion to homelessness could contribute to its return. We have seen that some constituents have successfully lobbied to overturn some parts of the sequester, such as the FAA cuts. But the homeless population has notoriously low voter turnout, and certainly has little money to spare for campaign contributions. They are unlikely to have much power in an age of austerity and there seems to be little recognition or reward to be gained for politicians by serving the homeless.
As quietly a homelessness has fallen, so too it will go up quietly – without major intervention. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that sequestration cuts from homelessness programs are set to expel 100,000 people from a range of housing and shelter programs this year. That's nearly one sixth of the current total homeless population. Far from gently raising the homeless rate, it would undo a full decade of progress.
Unless the 2014 budget remedies some of the change coming to housing services in the second half of this year, the homelessness rate will soon rejoin other bleak indicators of economic recovery. The President can make a public plea for increased assistance for remarkably well-functioning homelessness initiatives. Congress can act to save the surprising success story of Bush era and stimulus programs. The general public can advocate for the vulnerable within their community.
But first, we have to notice what we've learned to ignore.