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Raised in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, Michigan, writer/director/author Paul Feig channeled his awkward adolescent experiences into the NBC show Freaks And Geeks, which aired just 12 episodes in 1999-2000 before being cancelled. The show has since become a cult favorite, and launched the careers of many prominent Hollywood stars, including Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, James Franco, Busy Philipps, Linda Cardellini, and Martin Starr. It also started his partnership with Judd Apatow, who has become arguably the most powerful producer of comedies in Hollywood. After Freaks And Geeks got pulled, Feig's career took a surprising turn when he made his directorial debut with 2003's I Am David, an independent drama about a 12-year-old who escapes from a Communist concentration camp in 1952. He returned to comedy for his second feature, the kid-friendly 2006 film Unaccompanied Minors, and has directed frequently on television, including many episodes of The Office and Nurse Jackie, and such acclaimed shows as Mad Men, 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation, Weeds, and Bored To Death. He's also released two painfully funny memoirs: 2002's Kick Me: Adventures In Adolescence and 2005's Superstud: Or How I Became A 24-Year-Old Virgin.
Feig has teamed up again with Apatow for Bridesmaids, a raunchy femme-driven ensemble comedy that's designed as a vehicle for Kristen Wiig, its co-writer and star. Wiig plays Annie, a single woman from Milwaukee who's trying to get overcome a number of personal and professional setbacks. When her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) asks her to be the Maid Of Honor at her wedding, Annie has trouble making the arrangements, mainly due to competition from Lillian's new friend Helen (Rose Byrne), a wealthy control freak who constantly tries to undermine her. They're joined by an assorted cast of wacky bridesmaids, including Melissa McCarthy in a breakout performance as a Zach Galifianakis-in-The Hangover type, as well as The Office's Ellie Kemper and Reno 911!'s Wendi McLendon-Covey. Feig recently spoke to The A.V. Club about strong women, the wisdom of test audiences, and Freaks And Geeks.
The A.V. Club: How did Bridesmaids come to you, and what did you feel you could bring to it?
Paul Feig: It was actually something that Judd talked to me about four years ago, right after Knocked Up. He had Kristen [Wiig] and Annie [Mumolo] write this, and they asked me to come to a table read to consider possibly directing. He had in mind a couple of other directors, too. So we watched it and gave it a lot of great notes and stuff, and then it just never happened. Like a lot of projects in Hollywood, it sort of went away. But I always stayed interested in it, because I really like writing for and doing things about strong female characters. On Freaks And Geeks, my favorite character—and the one I liked to write the most—was always Lindsay. She was the only character that was really invented out of whole cloth. All the other characters were based on people I knew growing up. But I always liked her character, and came up with it because I was an only child and always wished I had an older sister. I grew up around a lot of girls, and most of my friends when I was growing up were women.
I always feel that women get short shrift in movies and TV and all that. And we know so many funny women, and I'm also such a big fan of Kristen's, who is one of the funniest women on the planet, and so Bridesmaids always stuck with me. Then at the beginning of last year, it popped up again out of nowhere. I had just finished up a bunch of jobs, I was co-executive producing and directing Nurse Jackie and in the middle of directing this Internet campaign for Macy's. And I just got a call saying it was alive again and Judd wanted to talk to me. I got on the phone with him and the next thing I knew the job was mine and we were getting ready to do it. It was great having someone like Judd to be able to protect you and guide it along. He had the power to let us cast whoever we want and not be dependent upon having to get big movie stars and all that. It was really the difference between us being able to launch really funny women who people may or may not be familiar with, so it was exciting.
AVC: You say it was a short period of time between when this project suddenly became alive again and when you had to start shooting. How did you occupy that time?
PF: We had to adjust to Kristen's schedule, because the film had to be made when she was off for the summer from Saturday Night Live. So it's always great when you have a hard date that you have to start at. So we started up in February and began to shoot in June and all that prep time was really filled with just fine-tuning the script, casting it, and then once we had the cast, to really bring them into the writing process by doing a lot of rehearsals and improvs off of written scenes, and getting their input. Kristin and Annie wrote very specific characters for the script, and people like Wendi McLendon-Covey they had actually written the part for, but then other characters were up for grabs. But then, for example, when we cast Melissa McCarthy, she came in with a version of the character that wasn't really on the page. It was written as this nervous weirdo who's kind of tagging along and wanting to be best friends with Annie. Then Melissa came in and laid down this powerful character who's at first sort of ambiguous in her sexuality until you realize she's kind of man-hungry and a force of nature. So then it was like, okay, we had to adapt everything to all these new women. And the process of that just made it more honest because we were really following their lead. It wasn't a couple of guys telling women how to act and what's funny; it was the other way around. We just made sure we were getting the story right and making the story as strong as it could be, and coming up with enough set pieces and themes that could make it both commercial and really funny. We've been getting really great response from men and women, but especially from women. Neither Judd nor I feel like we can say to women, "No, it's this!" We can guide the story along and make sure the emotion all works and tracks and everything, but we really wanted their voices and their input, and they gave it to us quite well.
AVC: Related to the Melissa McCarthy casting, what is involved in getting all these pieces of an ensemble like this to work? Is it simply good casting, or are there other methods to have them cohere as a full group?
PF: It has to be a good script at the end of the day. It has to be a really strong story that has a good emotional core. A lot of comedies fall apart because they just go from joke to joke, and the characters are all sort of being crazy off on their own. We do a lot of improv, but it's not the kind of thing where we're saying, "We don't know what the scene's about. Let's just kind of have fun." That doesn't serve anything. Then you get a movie that sort of has a bunch of funny scenes that don't really coalesce in one actual story. Kristen and Annie gave us a script that had a really strong story in it, that assured that everything was moving in the same direction. And on top of that, the great thing about working with really good comedy people—and especially people who come from improv—is there's not an ethos of, "I'm on my own. I want to get all the laughs. I don't want the other person to get laughs," because they're all depending on each other. Every one of the women in the movie comes from the improv tradition. I don't know how much Rose [Byrne] has trained in improv, but she's like a master improviser. And she's just such a good actress. Good actors and actresses know that you're so dependent on the other person for listening and going back and forth.
The other thing was that by having Maya [Rudolph] play Kristen's best friend in the movie, that allowed us to have a shorthand with the audience, and not have to have the first scene be, like, "Oh I've known you for 20 years since high school," and all this clunky exposition. That first scene at the diner [with Rudolph and Wiig] I probably shot four or five hours of just all improv with them just talking about everything. Their natural relationship comes across so breezily that it just really pops on the screen. What happens is that you just invest in that friendship immediately because it feels authentic. And women seem to love it because they're really talking like women. I'd go, "Okay, talk about sex right now," and we got to throw in some joke and ideas, but they would take it and make it very real, and it feels like the way women talk when guys aren't around.
AVC: Where can things go wrong with improv?
PF: I think things go wrong when there's not a very specific plan and specific emotional roadmap. You need to know what a scene needs to get across, and what story point that needs to be advanced, whether it's discovering someone for the first time or whether it's seeing a relationship get strained. What I do as a director is really create a safe environment that everyone can feel very comfortable in and experiment within so that they don't hold back anything. You never ever want someone to go, "Oh, I shouldn't have done that." There isn't anything you shouldn't try. If it's terrible, who cares? I would never say something was terrible, because, first of all, it wasn't. But even if sometimes you get off on a tangent you know you can't use, you just steer it gently back and go, "Okay that's cool, let's try this now." It allows everyone to be at their best. And whenever possible, cross-shoot things, have both sides of the conversation on camera at once. I always feel in improv that nothing is ever as good once it's repeated. When we were doing all the rehearsals and improv sessions and getting the script fine-tuned, the actors would come up with hilarious lines, and we would always transcribe the lines and have them in the script for the next rehearsal. Generally it was fine, but even though the line would be really funny the next time, it was never quite as funny as the first time it came out.
AVC: Between Freaks And Geeks and your memoirs, you reveal a lot about who you are, but you also have that ability to stand back and serve the material when necessary. Where do you see yourself in this film? Do you have a personal connection to it?
PF: Very much so. We all did a lot of writing on it, though it all went through Kristen and Annie's typewriters and computers eventually. But I felt a very strong connection because everything I do is about people trying to figure out their place in the world, and if they're doing the right thing or the wrong thing. Or are they the weirdo or are they not the weirdo, or is the world around them weird. This was why I think I related to the script so much when I read the first draft of it. It's just a woman struggling to figure her life out. And the fact that she was successful at one time and then had a fall from grace, and has just found herself in a bad period… I really relate to those kind of stories. Anything about an outsider, that's all I like to write about, whether they're a super nerd or just a woman who's in her thirties just trying to figure out what she's doing and how to get her life back on track. It feels very personal to me, and I was also just really invested in wanting to make a really good woman's movie. I felt the pressure of that too, because it's not often that a studio will allow a movie that's all driven by women to be made, and so I felt the pressure of, "If I screw this up, it's going to fuck things up for women." [Laughs.] And then just selfishly I want to keep making movies like this with strong female characters that aren't just in service to the men in the movie. So all that combined to make me feel very invested in it.
AVC: One of the knocks on Judd Apatow since he's become a force in screen comedy has to do with his treatment of women or the non-presence of women in the films he directs and produces. Bridesmaids strikes me as partly intended as a corrective to that.
PF: I know he gets that criticism leveled against him. And I don't think it's quite fair because those movies were about guys. He's great with both characters, both female and male, it just depends what the story is, but I also feel one of my strong suits is writing for women and knowing about women just because that's my history. So I can get through the part of me that felt like, "Oh good, I can help him dispel that rumor about his work by getting to be a part of this." I can't say, honestly, if that's one of the things that drove him to want to make this. He's just a superfan; anybody he thinks is really funny he wants to make a movie with. And we were both fans of Kristen. I cast Kristen in her very first movie, it was this thing I did called Unaccompanied Minors, and she was in it for about three frames, but I was always such a big fan of hers. So there was definitely a feeling like we could accomplish a lot of things with this movie, both in helping rehabilitate this unfair criticism of him and also making women more empowered in the movies. And I feel like I've wanted to see a movie like this because there are so many women I think are funny. I've always wished that Kristen would have a showcase to do everything that I think is funny about her and everything I think is a great actress about her. So it was fun to be able to guide this into a showcase for her and not just something where she is kind of in the middle of a bunch of funny women, reacting and not getting to be funny, which is a danger for this kind of thing, too, because you always think the lead has to anchor it, but it was fun for us to come up with the airplane sequence where she could get drunk and really show off. [Laughs.] And the bridal shop scene where she's trying to pretend that nothing went wrong when everything went wrong.
AVC: When you think of Kristen Wiig, you think of her as a sketch comedian or a supporting player in a much larger comedic ensemble. But there's a huge difference between that and being a lead actress that has to carry the film and has to be this character that you believe in as a human being. Did that take some doing on her part to get out of that one mode and shift into this mode?
PF: No. Honestly, she's such a good actress and her instinct was to write this and make it very grounded, almost to let everyone else around her be funny and for her to be an anchor. Her natural instinct is to be very a grounded, real actor. I don't think she looks at sketch comedy the same as she looks at something like this, which is an actual story. She's really great at separating it. It's funny, the whole time I was doing this movie and directing it and post, everyone's like, "Oh, what are you working on now?" And I'm like, "Oh, I'm making a movie, it stars Kristen Wiig," And I always see their eyes, like, "Oh, okay," like it was gonna be the "Target Lady" movie or something like that. What's so great is now that we're doing these advance screenings, people are just so blown away by her performance. And I had no doubt that she could do it, because I just know that's who she is. But it's really exciting to get people to see that she has this other level.
AVC: Are you a believer in test screenings? With a movie like this, do you trust your instincts about what's funny or does it help to see how an audience responds?
PF: I'm the biggest proponent of test screenings now. There's two ways to face test screenings. For dramas, I don't know if I would rely on them as much, although I still think you need them, because you're making a movie for an audience at the end of the day. But with comedy… look, Judd and I are pretty good at comedy. We've been doing it for a while, but I wouldn't and he wouldn't deign to say that we can tell you at all what's guaranteed to get a laugh. Anybody who tells you they know exactly what's funny and they can guarantee will get a laugh out of an audience is full of shit. I can point to a million examples. You could go through a script or anything I ever worked on, where you go, "This is hilarious," and you put it in front of people and you get nothing. And then the other side of it, is something you're like, "I think this is really stupid," and it gets a giant laugh. So the problem is when you're the director and you're editing the film and you get your ten weeks from the DGA, which is great to put it together, but you become so invested in every cut you've made because you're agonizing over everything that by the time that that 10 weeks is up, you're so in love with every cut that you really can't see the forest for the trees. So you just start protecting what you have and going, "It's perfect. Get away. Don't touch it!" So the minute there's a test screening, you're like, "Oh shit, what do these people know? They don't know." But with comedy, all people know is if it makes them laugh. So it's a much better method to say, "Look, let's just go in, let's edit for three weeks." What it allows you to do then, after that three or four weeks, you just throw it up in front of an audience and you're not precious about anything. You're not like, [Adopting a bumbling, wimpy voice] "Oh no, that cut. I love that one thing."
And then Judd's got this system where they always record the laughs, then you put 'em in the Avid. And so when you're going through, you can literally go, "Does this work?" And you cue it up, hear the audience, and go, "Okay, they laughed." At least it's good empirical data and evidence. A lot of people balk and say, "You don't know if it's a shitty audience or not." And I go, "Okay, well, we'll do a bunch." And then it's also fun to even try to top stuff. Even stuff that's working really well, you go, "Okay, we have a different version of that joke or different scene here. Let's just plug it in for the next screening and see if it does better." And Judd actually has this whole thing they do with side-by-side screenings at two theaters right next door to each other and do a "P" version, which is a polished version, which is the one we think is close to what we want to have be our final cut. And then another one called the "E" version, the extended version, which is the dumping ground for everything we think might work, or we wanted to try, or we're just curious if it's gonna work. And out of all of those screenings, you'll always get about five or 10 new things that you didn't think were ever gonna work that go through the roof and you plug 'em into the polished one. It's all fairly scientific, but I think if you're doing a little personal comedy, then you probably don't need to do it like this. But even then it's a good thing to get the feedback of the audience in your process. But if you're trying to do a big studio comedy that you want both work the most to tear down the house, this is really the way to go.
Because Bill Kerr, our editor, is always saying, "You don't want to see if something works at the première." And that happens a lot when you're too precious about it. Our goal was, once we hit the première, there's nothing that hasn't been tested that we don't know works. We'll always keep in a couple of jokes, just for ourselves. Then you go, "Okay, if it doesn't work, whatever. This is kinda for us." But none of us are brave enough to wait that long to see if it works because you want to have something that you know is clicking with an audience. A lot of filmmakers will hate hearing that. To them, that feels very hacky, But the audience are the ones that are going to come and pay the money and they're the ones who are going tell their friends if it's good or not. I didn't get in the business, and Judd didn't get in the business, to make stuff that nobody sees. I've made a career making stuff that nobody sees, so anything that I can do to help make something that people are going to enjoy and want to see over and over again, then I'm there.
AVC: On television, you've directed a lot of major episodes, including some pivotal episodes of The Office like "Niagara" and "Goodbye, Michael," which will have aired by the time this interview runs. Is there a reason why you're entrusted with these episodes?
PF: It's very flattering. They tend to call me for those. I really get along great with the cast and get along great with the writers. There's a trust level that we all have. And also, I think I'm pretty good with adding things to the production, just coming up with lines, and coming up with different directions they can go within a scene. Greg Daniels is just very respectful if I have any ideas for the script or something we need. He'll listen to me. He's great. He's a lot like Judd. He and Judd are two people I admire the most in the business because they're the most open to input from other people. Nobody gets ahead by creating in a vacuum. If you have a real personal vision you're trying to protect, then that's fine. But there's no harm in getting other people's opinions on stuff, even if you don't listen to it.
That's how Greg Daniels runs The Office. He really empowers everybody around him to challenge everything. It's great because then it allows you to get rid of things that may hang up certain people in the audience or a portion of the audience. Because when you're in the process, it is hard to see the forest for the trees. You get so into the minutiae of building a house of cards. When I was starting in the business that was always my big thing. Scripts are a house of cards and you can't just reach in the middle and pull out the middle card because the house of cards will fall down. But at a certain point you almost have to allow that house of cards to get knocked down a few times because you need to make it sturdier. How many times do you hear, "No, that doesn't make sense," or "Why would this happen?" or "There's a plot hole," or "That wouldn't happen." That was a mistake. That's a house of cards that got built poorly. You shouldn't have those moments, because the moment you're knocked out of the story, then you're dead. And all you can go is moment to moment, or special effect to special effect or joke to joke. And that's just gonna wear people out.
If you're not connected emotionally to a story, then you're dead. You're really just opening the door for people to lose interest and their minds to wander, for them to start picking it apart. That's what people will do, people will naturally tear stuff apart because they're trapped with it, they paid money for it. And they came into it wanting to love it. So all you can really do is piss off the audience. Unless you do things right. [Laughs.]
Our editor is full of quotes. Bill Kerr. He has his whole theory called "the angry villagers." Which is basically if the movie starts out and the jokes aren't funny or they aren't laughing, they become angry villagers and they want to burn the whole town down. And we're always like, "Okay this is an 'angry villagers' moment" where, like, two jokes in a row didn't work and now people are going to start losing trust in us. Because that's all you have at the end of the day as a filmmaker, is the trust of your audience. You think the same way when you go see a drama or a horror movie or something and the director is just letting stuff like jump out at you and scare the shit out of you in like, a cheap way, then you're like, "Okay, I don't trust this director anymore, so I don't trust this movie because it's just going do easy shit to make me jump." Then you almost don't want to deal with it anymore if that's not the experience you went for, but there's a way to scare people, truly, or just be the little kid who hides in the laundry and scares the shit out of mom. And that's a cheap way to do it.
AVC: Do you ever see yourself returning to television as a creator and showrunner? Obviously, you're very busy shooting a lot of different television and have been heavily involved in The Office and Nurse Jackie, but what about something more substantial than that or a bigger commitment than that?
PF: Yeah, that's definitely something I want to do again. I went through a really weird period after Freaks And Geeks. Everybody wanted me to do stuff for them. "We want that Freaks And Geeks feel. We want your voice." And then you develop something and it's like, "Oh, no, we don't want that, really." I went through a number of years of failed development that I found quite demoralizing, so I stepped away. But what's happened now is TV has gotten so much better because of all the good stuff coming out on basic cable and all of the HBOs and the Showtimes, and now all the networks are more open to stuff. It's a much better time now. I'm just waiting for that idea that just drives me so completely the way that Freaks And Geeks did. I really put my heart and soul into everything and I don't want a project that doesn't feel real to me or I don't get invested in. In order to drive a show for eight or 10 years or whatever the target for doing a show is, it really has to be a part of you. Because then I can come up with stories for seasons and seasons on end. I wish I had the ability to just like the idea and get people in and drive it that way through their enthusiasm. For me, it has to be a little more of a personal thing, even if it's not a completely personal story.
AVC: Freaks And Geeks has certainly stuck around longer than most successes.
PF: I don't always use the phrase "cult hit," but I'll use it because I think that's sort of what we are considered. It's really cool, but it's one of those things where, like, if you're in the middle of World War II, you just wouldn't know if it would ever end or if you'll get killed at the end of it. So it's terrifying and really hard, but then, looking back at it, it's like, "Oh that was great! We won!" That's kind of what having a cult thing is. You're just going like, "Oh my God, this is a failure. It just didn't do well. It didn't make money. It lost people money. Nobody watched it." So when it slowly starts getting people back here, it's really cool. All you can personally do is see it as a bit of a failure, even though you're happy with the product. Because we're in the business. It's not like making an independent film. You know, this is a business of dollars and cents and they're giving you millions of dollars to do stuff. You feel like, "Fuck. I wasted your money." But that's what's so fantastic about DVDs and just the extra life that TV has it did not have ten years ago.
The British model, which I've always thought was great, is that you do a TV show and then they sell it. Then you can buy it at the video stores forever, so it never went away. But American TV used to be if you had a show and it got cancelled, then it never existed. It was just this thing you heard about and you couldn't see it again. There is something so great about shows getting released and people getting to watch them over and over again. It definitely takes the sting out of it. But that wasn't there for us when Freaks got cancelled, so for years I'd get, "Hey, how are ya? I heard that show was good. I never saw it." [Laughs.] It's enough that you're well thought-of and well spoken-of, but it's really depressing going, "Oh God, nobody's gonna see it." So I've definitely been able to be a lot more Zen since it's gotten a more life now. It's really heartening to see something you do keep getting people drawn to it and discovering it. It's a real thrill. That's the whole reason we get into the business, because we want to do stuff and we want people to see it.


text: WASHINGTON – For all the talk of recovery, Americans are growing increasingly pessimistic about the economy as soaring gas costs strain already-tight budgets. But so far, people aren't taking it out on President Barack Obama, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. Even so, the survey highlights a central challenge Obama will face in his campaign for re-election. The president will have to convince a lot of voters who are still feeling financial hardship that things are getting better. Obama's approval ratings have held steady at around 50 percent over the past month. But the disconnect between negative perceptions of the economy and signs that a rebound are under way could provide an opening for Republicans at the outset of the 2012 campaign. In the survey, just a sliver of Americans – 15 percent – said they believed the economy had improved over the past month, compared with 30 percent who had thought that in January. Only a third were optimistic of better times ahead for the country, down from about half earlier this year. And 28 percent thought the economy would get worse, the largest slice of people who have expressed that sentiment since the question was first asked in December 2009. 'It's in a poor state,' said Billy Shirley, 74, a Democrat from Commerce, Ga. 'Everything's going to the bad. Everyone's spending more on gas, food, everything. The prices on everything are going up, and that's hurting the nation.' Recent economic indicators paint a more positive picture: The unemployment rate, though still high at 8.9 percent, has been declining, and consumer spending and personal income were both up last month. The gross domestic product was growing at an annual rate of 3.1 percent as last year ended. Americans are acutely focused on their financial well-being, even as turmoil in the Middle East commands international attention. And the foreign unrest is directly affecting them by boosting oil prices. More Americans – 77 percent, up from 54 percent last fall – now say gas prices are highly important to them. Obama's job-performance ratings haven't suffered as people's attitudes about the economy have shifted over the past month. Half still approve of how he's doing his job, and half say he deserves to be re-elected. His rating on handling the economy was unchanged: 47 percent approved. In fact, twice as many people said Obama 'understands the important issues the country will need to focus on during the next two years' as said that about Republicans in Congress. That's not to say that Obama is escaping responsibility for the economic situation. Annale Iltis, 26, of Sarasota, Fla., faults big business, the federal government and, to a lesser extent, the president. 'I do a bit,' she said, 'but at the same time he has good ideas. He just doesn't have the backers in the House and the Senate to get them done.' The self-described independent voter, who supported Obama in 2008 and says she would do so next year, is concerned that deep budget cuts that Congress is considering will hurt the fragile economic recovery. 'It seems stable now but I fear it's going to go downhill quickly,' she said. Henry Kugeler, 49, of Chicago, likened the situation to the fable about the crawling tortoise that wins the race against the speedy hare, saying: 'Right now, the country is the tortoise. I don't think the economy is getting worse. The recovery that's happening is real, but it's incredibly slow.' The Democrat doesn't blame Obama or other politicians, saying: 'They haven't helped but I don't know that they've hurt.' Obama inherited an economy in recession. Republicans angling for the chance to challenge him next fall have been blaming him for the slow recovery and arguing they could do better. Presidential advisers are hopeful that the positive economic trends continue, giving Obama an opportunity to make the case for keeping him in office rather than risk an economic backslide. As the slow-to-start GOP nomination fight starts in earnest this spring, the poll shows that candidates clearly have work to do. More than or nearly half of Republicans surveyed say they don't know enough about the following potential contenders to even express an opinion about them: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. Roughly two-thirds of Republicans expressed favorable views of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got slightly lower marks. Even though many of the candidates aren't well-known, about half of Republicans say they are satisfied with their choices. The poll comes just as Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill wrestle over the federal budget, and there could be a partial government shutdown without further action by Congress. The Republican-controlled House has approved some $60 billion in spending cuts. The Democratic Senate is looking at $33 billion. Without agreement, some Republicans say they won't approve funding to keep the government operating. The issue of federal spending isn't just something lawmakers talk about. It's clearly weighing on the public. Roughly half in the survey said they expected enormous federal budget deficits to cause a major economic crisis for the country for the next decade, and most said they worry that mounting federal debt will hamper the financial future of their children and grandchildren. In the shorter term, people in the poll view everyone negatively when it comes to handling the deficit, but lawmakers get worse marks than the president. Only about a third of those surveyed approve of how Republicans and Democrats are dealing with the issue, while 41 percent approve of Obama on the matter. People also are evenly divided on which party would best handle the deficit. The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted March 24-28 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Charles Lipson is a walking fallcy, a professor of political science who prefers to use that credential that he might promote crackpot theses that ignore the details. To wit:
When presidents become unpopular, they are no longer welcome on the campaign trail. They're trapped in Washington, watching their party abandon them. It happened to Lyndon B. Johnson, whose presidency collapsed amid protests over Vietnam. He left Washington only to visit his Texas ranch and assorted military bases, where he gave patriotic speeches to silent battalions. Richard Nixon, drowning in Watergate, was confined to Camp David and a few foreign capitals, where he was greeted as a global strategist. Jimmy Carter, crushed by the Iranian hostage crisis and a bad economy, stopped traveling beyond the Rose Garden.
Now, the same oppressive walls are closing in on President Barack Obama. He is welcome only in the palatial homes of Hollywood stars and hedge-fund billionaires or the well-kept fairways of Martha's Vineyard.
Well-written, indeed, if it was listed as fiction. But it's not, and that means it's a fraud.
The simple fact is that President Obama is avoiding states where Democrats are running competitively but against the odds. To wit, why would Alison Lundergan Grimes want President Obama onstage with her? She's running against one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader who has so botched his handling of the Senate Republican Conference that Grimes can even run close.
Lipson's criticism about palatial homes is unusual; most political science professors would suggest it very unwise to ignore rich donors during an election season, but Lipson would prefer you believe otherwise because it helps his poisonous narrative. Christopher Keating noted that Obama's second trip to Connecticut in a week—a scheduled rally—was cancelled because, well, he's the president and has a job to do. You know, ebola and all that. The palatial home Lipson refers to would appear to be in Greenwich, where Obama spoke at a fundraiser for Gov. Malloy.
The president is also welcome in Wisconsin, hoping to boost support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke.
One wonders what the political science would say of someplace like Kansas? Would the president's presence in the Sunflower State help or hurt Democratic gubernatorial challenger Paul Davis? Given that the incumbent Republican presently has the slightest edge in an otherwise dead heat (less than a percent), the question might be how Gov. Sam Brownback found himself in such a weakened position that he must actually face the possibility of losing. Then again, it's not much of a question: Brownback and his Republican allies have wrecked the states finances.
In that context, it's hard to lose faith in Obama if one never had any.


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CT: When Enforcing Undocumented Workers Law, One Police Department Dominates
By DAVE ALTIMARI
The Hartford Courant
7:42 PM EST, January 21, 2012
Dealing with immigration law is primarily a federal issue, but over the past 10 years local police departments have issued 14 tickets under an obscure state statute that prohibits businesses from employing someone who is in the country illegally.
Half of those citations have been issued in East Haven, almost all of them by two officers currently under a federal investigation probing charges of racial discrimination within the department.
State Judicial Department records show that two other local police departments, Danbury and Hamden, each issued two citations over 10 years. The only other departments to cite the statute were Bethel, Easton and Norwalk.
East Haven police issued seven "31-51k" violations, including three each by Dennis Spaulding and Jason Zullo, two officers among many in the department who are under investigation by a federal grand jury probing whether they've been violating the civil rights of Latinos. The Justice Department's civil rights division has already determined that the department has disciminated against minorities.
East Haven Police Chief Leonard Gallo declined to comment.
Four of those seven East Haven cases were nolled or dismissed after the business owner challenged the charges in court so the records have been destroyed. In the three other three cases the business owners paid the $250 fine.
One of those who paid was Scott Harrison, who owns a local roofing company.
On Feb. 28, 2008, Harrison arrived at the scene of an accident on Hemingway Avenue involving one of his company's vans, which was being driven by a man named Jose Portillo, according to the police report.
By the time Harrison arrived Zullo had already questioned Portillo, who did not have a driver's license. Instead, he showed Zullo identification issued by the Mexican government.
In his police report, Zullo wrote that Portillo told him he had been working for Harrison's roofing company for about a year and had borrowed the van to run an errand when the accident occurred. Zullo cited Portillo for failing to grant the right of way.
He then wrote out a ticket for Harrison for employing Portillo.
"He gave me a ticket because he said the guy was working for me and he was illegal,'' Harrison said. "I had no idea what he was talking about."
In his report, Zullo said he questioned Harrison about Portillo's immigration status.
"I asked Harrison if he knew that Portillo was an illegal alien,'' Zullo wrote. "Harrison did not comment, but just shrugged his shoulders and turned away."
Harrison said he never told Zullo that Portillo worked for him, only that he had let him borrow the van, but he took the ticket and walked away.
"Whatever the cop wrote in his report is what he wanted to put in there," Harrison said. "I was pretty pissed off and I almost ended up getting arrested.''
The two other cases involve Spaulding, a controversial officer at the center of the federal investigation into whether the department targets Hispanics for traffic stops and violates their civil rights.
Spaulding was involved in an incident two years ago that led to the ongoing federal investigation. The Rev. James Manship was arrested while trying to videotape the arrest of a Latino man inside the My Country Store on Main Street by Spaulding and another East Haven officer.
That arrest led to the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit and the investigation by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. In December Deputy U.S. Attorney Roy Austin called the department "profoundly broken" as he announced the results of the division's investigation.
That investigation found that East Haven police stopped an inordinately high number of Latinos for traffic violations. For some officers, nearly 50 percent of motor vehicle stops over the two-year period involved Latino drivers. The town has a Latino population of less than 10 percent.
Sources have said one of those officers with nearly a 50 percent rate is Spaulding. Sources said he also is one of the officers under criminal investigation by a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport.
When the results of the civil investigation were announced in December, U.S. Attorney David Fein said the criminal investigation was ongoing. Sources said that investigation is now wrapping up and could be concluded as early as next week.
It is unclear whether federal officials have looked at the department's high number of citations for employing illegal immigrants.
Of the cases that were not nolled or dismissed, both of the incidents in which Spaulding cited a business owner occurred in 2008. In the first incident on April 19, Spaulding conducted a motor vehicle stop on a man named Gerardo DeLeon as he was headed to work as a dishwasher at the Foxon Diner.
"DeLeon stated he is not legal in the U.S. and is a Mexican citizen,'' Spaulding wrote.
Spaulding then went to the diner and confronted the owner, Mohammed Uddin, about DeLeon's legal status before issuing him the ticket. Uddin could not be reached for comment.
The second incident occurred on May 28 when Spaulding stopped an Acura driven by Santiago Castro on Main Street.
"I made a [motor vehicle] stop on Main Street which involved an unlicensed driver of illegal alien status,'' Spaulding wrote in his incident report.
When Fernando Benitez showed up to claim his car he told Spaulding he had just let one of his workers borrow it. Benitez could not be reached for comment.
"It was determined that Benitez, who appears to be a citizen, was employing a known illegal alien. This officer cited him for same," Spaulding said.
Spaulding is on paid administrative leave after a Town Fair Tire vice president complained to then-Mayor April Capone that Spaulding was waiting for employees of the company to arrive or leave work, stopping them and checking to see if they had the proper paperwork.
Undocumented Workers: East Haven Cracks Down On Companies That Employ Undocumented Workers - Courant.comSupport our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
01-22-2012, 06:35 AM #2Spaulding is on paid administrative leave after a Town Fair Tire vice president complained to then-Mayor April Capone that Spaulding was waiting for employees of the company to arrive or leave work, stopping them and checking to see if they had the proper paperwork.


text: As capital city of a Indonesia, Jakarta is not only the seat of the national government and the provincial government, this city is also Indonesia's political center. Moreover, Jakarta is also the center and hub of Indonesia's national finance and trade. It is no wonder, therefore that you will find Jakarta an ever dynamic city, a city that never sleeps.Read More


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From Hayes Davis's poem "The Bargain Apocalypse" NER 27.4 (2006):
[read more]
Caldor is going out of business,
prices have been slashed in half
and I believe this is what it will
be like when the world ends.
Children shuffle across the dirty floor,
pointing at undersized baseball gloves
or one-armed dolls, begging parents
who answer with a distracted,
automatic "No." The security guard
is amused. He isn't needed; nothing
here is worth the risk of a criminal record.
Some have found an answer or two,
and they wait in lines longer
than purgatory, gripping cash
or a Visa. All sales are final.


text:
What Google's Creepy Cyborg Glasses Will Probably Be Like: Ad-HeavyMax Read · 04/05/12 10:40AM
The "Google Glasses" video that swept the web yesterday — a point-of-view shot featuring all of the helpful little maps, messages and answers that Google Glasses will theoretically provide for you one day — was ridiculous for a couple reasons: one, who takes the 6 train one stop from 23rd Street to Union Square?? And two, if this is Google — where are the ads? Luckily, RebelliousPixels' Jonathan McIntosh remixed the video to provide a more realistic idea of what Google Glasses will be like. Annoying. [via The Atlantic]


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In recent years, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has struggled to handle the massive deluge of patent applications filed by major technology firms. The volume and complexity of the patent filings exceeds the limits of the USPTO's resources and manpower, leading to long delays and inadequate review. Patent litigation is slowly strangling the technology industry and the USPTO's inability to handle its workload definitely isn't helping. In response to the immediate need for reform, the USPTO is experimenting with a new way to make the patent review process more efficient and transparent: imitate the Wikipedia model and leverage the Internet hive mind.
The USPTO is collaborating with the New York Law School's Institute for Information Law and Policy to implement a pilot program that uses Internet crowdsourcing to evaluate patent applications. Created to facilitate the pilot program, the Peer-to-Patent web site encourages participants to review and discuss patent applications, research prior art, and rate submissions posted by other users. Approximately 250 technology patent applications that relate to topics like computer architecture, software, and information security will be reviewed during the pilot program. The site launched late last month with patents applications filed by Intel, IBM, and Red Hat.
An announcement issued today by the New York Law School reveals that over 1,000 public peer reviewers have already participated in the Peer-to-Patent program. Three new patent applications have been added to the lineup, including a patent filed by Microsoft that covers a mechanism for allowing content creators and distributors to cash in on off-line transfers of digital media.
"We're thrilled with the support and open approach shown by Microsoft, Intel, and so many other companies," says Beth Noveck, the director of the New York Law School's Institute for Information Law and Policy. "In particular, we expect significant interest in Microsoft's application, as it relates to an important topic in the online world, digital rights management."
The Peer-to-Patent web site also gained several new features this week, including broader support for e-mail and RSS notification, automatic hyperlinking of URLs included in comments, and support for longer comments.
Tech industry heavyweights like Microsoft, IBM, and Intel have acknowledged the need for reform. In recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearings evaluating proposed patent reforms, a coalition of technology companies including Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, and Intel jointly called for Congress to pass the Patent Reform Act.
IBM, which already voluntarily publishes all of its patent applications for public review, seems to think that legislative reform is necessary but insufficient. Published earlier this year, a BusinessWeek article written David Kappos—IBM vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property law—argues that collaboration and consensus is the key to solving the patent problem. "Consensus must underpin action," says Kappos. "For while the Supreme Court can adjudicate, Congress legislate, and the USPTO and private sector innovate, we won't have broad progress until all parties work with one another, with the right balance, moderation, and the greater good at heart." Perhaps the Peer-to-Patent pilot program is the first step towards building that collaboration.


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The Coconut Craze – Finding Them Fresh in Kauai
The east side of Kauai isn't called the Coconut Coast for nothing. The term does have its historical roots: the coco palm was one of the 23 plants the Polynesian voyagers took with them in the "canoe garden," when they faced 2,500 miles of open water to sail here from Tahiti. The ali'i (royalty) planted groves on this coast, many of which remain from the last days of the monarchy.
But fresh coconuts are all about today in Kapa'a, as well as other towns and rural areas in east and north Kauai. For a couple bucks, a machette-wielding gardener will whack the top of the coconut so you can drink the water with a straw. The water is highly nutritious, even used for IV's when medics ran out of plasma in the South Pacific during WWII. The meat of the coconut is soft like a melon at this point, and can be eaten with a spoon.
The brown-nut coconut needs to dry for awhile before getting its nutty texture. Those are available at stands too. These babies are hard to crack. Needless to say this island staple is only one of many, many fruits and veggies available at roadside fruit stands. If you want to eat local, Hawaii is the place to be.


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If I were to describe my week in Texas and the weekend participating in the TSCC in one word, it would be fun. I spent two days after that week recovering at home, thinking that this might be the most massive hangover of my life but I was relieved to find out I was just sick. Yes, I was relieved to be sick because massive hangovers can only be the sign of one thing... I am getting older.
This last weekend was the first time I ever met another fashion blogger. I have been doing this fashion blogging thing for two years and it is only now that I have proof that this most special breed of humans exists. I met Kendi and Bryan the first night that Matt and I got to Texas. Kendi and I gabbed our faces off, fell in love and had our first fight within 24 hours (she tweeted my most hated words, nom, nom, nom at me just to set me off). The second night we headed off to the swap and as we drove by the location before finding a parking spot, we caught a glimpse of Suze and Erin's noticeable and fantastic hairs and had that moment of panic. Are these Internet relationships going to pan out in real life? In real life my forehead wrinkle is more pronounced, my language is saltier and my opinions are stronger. But it didn't matter because by the time the whirlwind of the swap was over, I felt like I belonged. Isn't that so sweet that you have a toothache? And meeting an awesome group of women was, hands down, the best part of the whole weekend.
I have to say that no one really surprised me, which was good. I certainly met some awesome new people (and their patient husbands...) and I was excited to check out their stake in the www universe but from the people that I followed beforehand, I got exactly what I expected. And because we already 'knew' each other from our blogs, we didn't waste a lot of time on polite words but skipped right to the sarcasm and deep conversation. I am thrilled to call such stylish, smart and sassy (haha...sassy is a funny word) my friends. And be it negative or positive, people were represented pretty accurately by their blogs. And that's the beauty of fashion blogs... though there are things that bind us together (namely pigeon toes, cupcakes and twitter), there are many things that set us apart. There is room in fashion blogging for the angsty, the over-sharer, the sweet, the snarky... The thing that attracts one person to my blog may be the thing that turns others away.
The conference itself was well-planned and casual. I haven't been to any of the other fashion blogger conferences but the casual vibe led to conversations that went past the business card exchange. Personally, I found the panel day a little frustrating. Not like the panellists weren't well-chosen or well-spoken but the focus of most of the day (not all of the day... don't jump on that) was skewed towards taking your blog to a professional level. That was frustrating because I think many people start a blog thinking about sponsorships before they think about content. There are certainly successful and talented bloggers out there who can make it a full time gig and it is good to aspire to their success but figure out your own voice first (getting preachy here). There are also certainly many great fashion bloggers who have no plans on ever becoming professional, and what fashion blogging means outside of getting free clothes and side bar ads is not often discussed. And though up until now, I have been sponsor free, I can't say that it will always stay like that...who knows what the future holds and what opportunities may arise... However, that doesn't mean that my last two years of unpaid Internet yammering has meant nothing. Meh, maybe it is meaningless..:)
I am sure I could go on and on about the TSCC events but I am trying to be concise and wrap it up within one post. I didn't take enough pictures (at all!) of all the days and nights and the wonderful people, so I just tried to give an honest post of the overall weekend. It's hard to say all you want in one little post; to give opinions on all the panels, to tell the funny stories and inside jokes, togush over some people but I don't want to be still writing the wrap-ups in July. Most of my spare time in July has already been pre-booked with cat snuggling and full leg shaving (as opposed to this) anyways. But if you are a fashion blogger, know this... there are some pretty awesome girls in your peer group.
Amanda, Jessie, Merl, Emily, Kendi, me, Rach and Amy . Like how I just mentioned a group of awesome girls and I then post a picture including myself?


text:
A Schipperke (/ˈskɪpərkiː/; Dutch: [ˈsxɪpərkə]) is a small Belgian breed of dog that originated in the early 16th century. There has been a long informal debate over whether this type of dog is a spitz or miniature sheepdog. In their home country of Belgium they are considered a small shepherd.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Schipperke", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.


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NEC Display Solutions Client Installation DooH
weShop - the store of the future
Combining ecommerce with a physical shopping experience
As traditional high street retailers are increasingly under threat from cheaper and potentially more convenient on-line shopping channels, a new concept known as the weShop seeks to combine the benefits of ecommerce with an enhanced physical shopping experience, generating an emotional engagement and personalised retail experience. NEC, as technology partner, provides the large format POS display interface in this innovative shopping concept.
The Challenge
Internet shopping has been on the rise for years: According to predictions by the Institute for Economic Research (IFH) in Cologne, eCommerce turnover in Germany will rise to around 40 billion Euros in 2014. Traditional physical shops are being put under increased pressure by the competition presented by the often cheaper online outlets. Retailers are being forced to reconsider their traditional business model and to find ways to enhance the shopping experience. With the weShop, NEC Display Solutions, as a technology partner working together with CANCOM, Serviceplan and the Vitrashop Group, is demonstrating the options available to physical traders at the point of sale. The shop, which spans some 50 square metres in the Haus der Kommunikation in Munich, combines the real and virtual worlds in a truly innovative way.
Combining digital technology with classic shop design
Traditional shops cannot fend off online competition by just creating an online store without a concept. Instead, these businesses need to change their business model to incorporate an intelligent integration of the online and the offline. This is precisely where the weShop concept comes into play. The benefits of digital elements are combined with a physical store within the intelligent shop floor. Customers can decide how they want to shop: A selection of products – the core range – is on display, while a larger online range can be accessed in parallel and is available for direct order. Tablet devices, which are displayed on shelves throughout the store, display product availability and also point to alternative options and matching accessories. Customers can use their smartphones to scan both the product label and the QR code from the tablet, which allows them to continue shopping on their mobiles, amongst other features.
The NEC Solution
Visual elements for an emotional shopping experience
In order to present the complete online range in a suitable manner within the shop, large displays are used, such as the premium model of the V Series from NEC - the MultiSync® V801. The monitors allow products to be presented in life-size, in all of the available variants. In addition, touchscreens are integrated into the shop to provide customers with further ways to interact.
Proven hardware for the points of sale of tomorrow
The weShop incorporates a whole range of innovative technical solutions: From Beacon technology, which addresses customers individually, to goods recognition using radio frequency identification (RFID). A retail signage solution is also installed in the shop of the future. When it comes to the displays, the project partners have put their trust in the quality and many years of experience of NEC. The solution incorporates large-format displays like the MultiSync V801; the super-thin models MultiSync X462S and X552S; and the flexible E232WMT touch monitor. The touch display is integrated into the customer service desk in the centre of the shop. RFID technology is used to identify which products the customer places on the desk. Additional information about alternative products, available sizes and matching accessories can then be called up on the screen. Clicking on the "Checkout" button allows customers to pay for the goods directly. A range of payment options are available, including mobile payment, payment by credit card or payment via a store card (debiting the customer account). In addition to the displays, the weShop also includes media players from NEC, which can be combined with all sizes of monitors. These components, which include the OPS Digital Signage Player, complete the installation and round off a retail signage solution from one source.
The Result
Displays are now a key part of retail. They provide customers with information, deliver entertainment, and support retailers in communicating products and prices. In addition, consumers can be addressed in a targeted manner within shops, and can be shown personalised offers in the shop window too. At the same time, they can be used to identify empty and well-visited areas of the shop, and to record them in a targeted way. These principles are also applied in the weShop. The result is an emotional shopping experience that binds customers and increases potential sales.
"The weShop demonstrates under laboratory conditions what is currently possible in physical stores. However, the innovative technology is not the only part of this concept: Partners from the world of marketing, shop construction and technology have provided their expertise. This coming together of companies from different disciplines provides shop operators with a holistic approach and makes the project truly special", believes Joachim Fischer, Manager of Corporate Sales for Germany, Austria and Switzerland at NEC Display Solutions.


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text:
Let's talk science.
We all occasionally listen to the radio. Maybe not as much as we once did, but we still do. Most of us listen to FM radio because the sound quality is better and, as a result, music is more often the stuff broadcast over FM stations. Probably fewer of us listen to AM radio, short of talk news and sports talk stuff.
The difference between AM and FM is radical. FM radio waves, if you could visualize them are your typical sine wave. It modulates between a high and a low frequency and travels through the air like the waves of a sea. FM radio has better sound because this modulation can carry more aural information.
AM radio is far different. It's much more a straight line wave that can't carry as much aural data, so the sound quality is reduced. The tradeoff, however, is that AM radio can travel much farther. In fact, for AM radio, range is determined by amplitude, or strength, of the power generating the waves.
The side effect of this is that AM radio waves travel into the atmosphere and interacts with the ionosphere, the atmospheric layer that protects us from the most harmful radiation from the sun. During the daytime, the AM waves hit the ionosphere and largely fizzle out due to the layer's interaction with the sun, but at night… the sun isn't sending all it's fiery goodness at that part of the earth and so a bounce effect happens. AM radio waves hit the ionosphere and bounces back toward the earth allowing radio stations to be heard hundreds of miles away from their source – often times well over the horizon.
As a result, the FCC has had a decades-old regulation that requires AM radio stations to reduce their signal or alter their night operations so as not to interfere with stations in other markets. Stations typically will do this by redirecting their antennas so that even if the signal is heard hundreds of miles away, it is heard in such a way to not interfere with other stations broadcasting on the same frequency.
Still with me? Whew. Good.
Back in 1995, I was sitting in a dorm room of a religious college I was attending at the time. There were pretty rigid rules for freshman. In my case, we were required to do a nightly "study time" in our dorms. The idea was to train students to focus academically. In later classes, the rules were relaxed and study time was not mandatory.
Still, you know how I am with rules. I sullenly sat in my room night after night and probably didn't do the best job academically. I digress.
September 6, 1995 was kind of a historic day. Besides being my 19th birthday, it was also a big baseball day. It would be this day that Cal Ripken, Jr. would break Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak setting a new record of 2,131 games played in a row and becoming the new Ironman. Back in those days, before the 1997 debacle, I was an Orioles fan before changing allegiances to a much better team (sans this past year). I'm looking at you, Kate.
I grew up with the Orioles and I was understandably upset that I had to be in my room instead of watching the game on TV. I discovered, however, that I could hear WBAL 1090 AM in my dorm 17 miles south of Rochester, NY and some 300 miles away from Television Hill in Baltimore, where the station broadcast from. As a result, I was able to listen to that historic game on the radio thanks to science.
What's the point of this already long-winded story, you may ask.
I'm glad you asked, since I actually do have a point.
I've talked about business a lot here. Startups, projects, whatever. I've been involved in a few in my career. I've advised several. I've been a Co-founder in one. I've been staff for others. There's a concept in startups called the "pivot". Pivots are when you change your business model or approach due to market demands or user feedback.
In some cases, pivots are major. Seesmic pivoted a ton from a video chat service to a video blog comment service to a social mass posting service. Every pivot was essentially a new company.
Other pivots are more minor. A move to focus more on user content aggregation from a company content aggregation. Or a move to a subscription model from an advertising model.
I'm a fan of the second form of pivot which basically suggests the premise of a company is sound, but based on the ability to listen to user demand and appropriately respond in the marketplace, a company can adjust and tweak and run with the concept that made them strong as a company to begin with. If I were to start investing myself, I'd want to be on board with a company that can stay true to itself, while demonstrating the ability to adjust.
Some people, like Jason, advocate doing market research to decide your premise. Ask questions. Conduct interviews. Find out, before putting time in, that the idea is something that someone will pay for. Others, like Eric Ries, also endorse The Lean Startup approach of building, collecting feedback, iterating and repeating to allow a company to evolve organically. These are all good ideas that help set the framework and paradigm for how your company operates and your product evolves.
Which brings us full circle to radio. I was able to listen to Cal's historic day in 1995 because the company (or radio station in this case) was able to perform a pivot (literally) to redirect their signal without changing who they were. They knew FCC regulations when they decided to broadcast on AM. They knew the framework of science they had to live in. They built a radio station for reach and strength and adapted as they were required to and allowed to.
You may never start a company. You may never hire employees. But the universal concept is: Know what you're doing, why you're doing it, don't change who you are or the strategic philosophy under which you operate, but be willing to make the tactical choices needed to succeed.


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Well, we've certainly written our share of letters so far this year, haven't we? Remember the one to AMC about airing a vibrator ad during a prime time showing of The Polar Express the day after Christmas??? Or the one to Kids-in-Mind (who's supposed to help gauge a movie's child-appropriateness) for forgetting to warn us that the Easter Bunny is outed in We Bought a Zoo? I contacted those organizations by email and by phone and never heard a word back. AMC even acknowledged the problem over the phone saying they'd had multiple complaints about the same issue and that someone would be getting back to me very shortly. And then nothing happened.
Shame, shame, shame.
Well, I'm here to tell you that I have no such words of shame for Kleinpeter Dairy. I wrote them an email yesterday. I didn't even send it until about 1:30pm. And I immediately got an auto-response email from a milkbot. (I wonder if they're related to mechanical bulls.) Then, by 2:30pm, I got another email, this time from Jeff Kleinpeter, the president and overlord of all things milk and milk-related.
Seriously, Alec Baldwin, I think you've been majorly dethroned.
Check out Mr. Kleinpeter's awesome response.
Hi Michele,
Thank you for your email. Seriously, we want to know what our customers go through and experience out there. And, you got the "boss," 'cause the buck stops here….really!
What it sounds like is that the gallon of milk you purchased was exposed to excessive heat somewhere. What we do in these instances is we first ask if we can replace the product and bring you some extra goodies for your troubles, like ice cream or orange juice. We also ask from which store you purchased your milk.
We have been experiencing marginal coolers out there in the market place, and we like to bring this to the attention of the store management team right away, because that cooler will be affecting everyone's milk, not just Kleinpeter. So far this summer, and it isn't even hot yet, we have had 5 store coolers with problems, and many customers have been unhappy….
So, please tell us which store you purchased this from, and we'll go there within the hour and check it.
And, I know you didn't want to, but saving the milk so we could check it in our Certified lab would have been nice, but I would not have kept the stinky thing either, and someone may have drunk more out of it, in the middle of the night, half asleep…..yes, my wife gets caught 'cause I see the lipstick on the rim of the jug….
We'll be glad to help you, and give me that store name please. One of my associates with be in touch with you today!
Jeff K
Jeff Kleinpeter
Kleinpeter Farms Dairy, L.L.C.
Well, sure. I'll probably get him in trouble with his wife for posting this letter but … even though he does know about the blog … he's never asked for the web address. Which is probably for the best considering it has the word 'tits' in it. Except that maybe I could convince him that it's pronounced 'teats.' That would probably earn me some extra points with a dairy company.
Anyway … as if this great letter wasn't enough, I then got a phone call around 4:30 yesterday afternoon from a local representative. He asked me all kinds of questions about where I bought the milk, the temperature of our refrigerator, how old I was when I learned to ride a bike … you know, the usual stuff. Then he asked if I would be home tomorrow (which is today) around 10 in the morning. And I, of course, said YES (!!!!) … knowing that whatever else I had planned could wait.
The freakin' milkman was making a house call. To me. How many people in our generation can say that?
Here he is … standing in my kitchen.
He replaced the gallon of skim milk and brought a little something extra, too. Kleinpeter = Awesome.
I still need to reply to the president's email tomorrow. I like those people. A lot. And I fully intend to ask Mr. Kleinpeter for a job. I love writing. And I love milk. Ergo … it stands to reason that I would love writing about milk.


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House of Chaos
by Sarai Henderson
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: September 13th 2016
Summary from Goodreads:
Sixteen years ago, Tabri showed up in the mountains an orphaned child with the magic of the Chaotics running through her veins. She survived the bitter winter, the wrath of a yeti, and mutinied on the flying pirate ship Stallings, but then the Madnesi came.
Nell's Furyon bloodline and elemental magic make her the perfect warrior. Perfect to revenge her sister's death at the hand of a Madnesi Lord, to defend the Chaotic until her magic fully emerges and to defeat the masses of rotting undead who threaten the survival of the Wilders. If only there was more time in the day.
The Earth Stone has given the two companions a path to safety, but Tabri's magic is on the fritz and Nell has completely lost her mind with grief. Can they hold it together long enough to allow Chaos to shine a light in the darkness, or will the Madnesi destroy all magic in the world along with the prophecy?
My magic was going wild inside my chest. I had never felt it so intensely before. It surged from vein to vein, taking over my muscles and thoughts. The burning that had accompanied me all these years of searching, all these years of being on the run from those who would do me harm was present. If only I could understand what it was trying to tell me?
"You might as well knock, but I doubt there will be anyone there to hear you in this kind of weather." Delah watched the stone walls that circled the monastery and kept it safe from what haunted these mountains. She searched for any sign of life beyond, ever vigilant to any danger.
I raised my hand to knock, but found myself touching the wood instead. It was warm to the touch. A sense of something familiar beyond that I couldn't explain. It pulsed almost like a beating heart in the palm of my hand. "There is magic in these walls."
"What?" Delah came close and whispered in my ear. "Are you sure this is safe? You haven't sensed magic before. Why now?"
My cheek pressed to the wood as I tried to make out what was pulsing through its cords. It was old, but not ancient. Warm but at the same time not. The only way to find out what was surging through these walls was to connect with it. Weave my magic with it and hope it gave me answers.
The warmth in my chest flowed down my arm. It filled every inch of my fingers and left my body through my finger tips. The magic on the other side was weak and old but it spoke to me. There was no danger beyond these walls, at least not to me. "We shall be fine."
I rapped on the wood several times with my knuckles. It echoed through the mountain tops above and cascaded into the valley below. Someone must have surly heard me beyond the walls.
With a creak, the gates slowly opened. A sweet smell of flowers filled my nostrils and welcomed me inside the monastery walls. It was an odd smell for winter that didn't go unnoticed.
The courtyard had been cleared of snow for the most part and flowers had been planted in long boxes spread through out the space. They bloomed in all colors and shapes. Most I had never seen before. It was much warmer here. I could feel the sun on my skin, something I hadn't felt in a long time.
It was simple and small, but the edges of the wall were lined with braziers all lit and inviting. A man stood at the entrance. He wore robes of dark red and his head was clean shaven and tanned from many days in the sun. A monk. "Welcome to the monastery in the mountains. We have been waiting for you, young magic wielder."
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About the Author
Sarai Henderson is a retired ballerina from Oregon City, Oregon, where she spends most her time chasing down her three rambunctious boys and writing on her lunch break at work. She enjoys DIY projects, Photography and writing on her blog about life as a mother of an autistic son. Find her online at www.exballerina.com or on Twitter @Shendersonbooks.
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"Age verification" has been a hot topic as of late as a means for keeping children safe on the Internet. Here's how the argument works: if sites such as MySpace and virtual worlds like Second Life used age-verification methods, they could magically cut down on the number of children being exploited by sexual predators online. After all, if we could somehow figure out a way to keep kids and adults separate online, it would certainly take care of many of the concerns voiced by the parents of Internet-using children.
Once you look past the initial sales pitch on these types of solutions, however, the situation becomes much more complex. How effective is age verification at protecting children from online predators? Adam Thierer of the Technology Liberation Front held a panel discussion on that topic with regards to social networking sites, which brought up many of the holes that can be found in currently-proposed "solutions."
One of the major points made several times during the 90-minute panel discussion is that age verification is not a fictional concept and it generally works... in cases where adults need to be verified as adults. Buying cigarettes or alcohol or registering for an adult web site are instances when adults often have to provide some sort of proof that they are over a certain age in order to participate in an adults-only activity. And that proof isn't difficult to come by: a driver's license, a credit card, a Social Security number, or a combination of the above will do the trick.
It's when adults and kids play in the same space that things get sticky and the effectiveness of age verification seems to go out the window. Anyone can very easily verify that they are over 18, as ex-investigator and CEO of Sentinel Tech Holding Corporation John Carillo pointed out, even criminals and sexual predators. None of the age-verification measures proposed by Congress or parental groups involve doing lengthy (and costly) background checks, and so the mere fact that a certain subset of users is over 18 provides virtually no protection against online predators. Additionally, it's easy to fake one's age online by using someone else's credit card or personal information "To me, that says we're giving the pedophile, the felon, a level of credibility," Carillo said during the panel discussion. "We're putting some kind of seal next to their name, saying that they were verified on some level or something. That's just a scary concept to me."
On the flipside, there is no way to verify that a child online is, in fact, a child for the purposes of creating a child-only site or keeping adults and children separate. There is no publicly-accessible record on kids or their existence, Carillo pointed out, which means that it is significantly more difficult to verify the identity of a child. Requiring "parental permission" for children to be online doesn't quite work either, since it's just as easily faked as it is to fake being over 18. Carillo said that he used the real names of four of his adult NYPD colleagues to register as children on Imbee, a site that advertises itself as "the first secure social networking and blogging destination for kids." Imbee requires parental permission for registration by way of credit card entry, which Carillo filled in with random corporate cards from his current company. Five days later, "they sent me what I'm calling the pedophile passport. They sent me my identity 2.0 virtual credential to Chris Clark at my apartment," he told the panel.
Other issues brought up during the discussion were the fact that "verified" identities could easily be sold cheaply online and statistics from researchers at the University of New Hampshire pointing out that in 95 percent of the cases in which a child was assaulted by an adult that he or she met online, they were well aware that they were speaking to an adult. Not just that, but nearly 80 percent of the time, they were aware of the adult's intentions to have sex with them, and they voluntarily met up with said adult 83 percent of the time. Given these statistics, it seems as if age verification on social networking sites would do virtually nothing to stop minors from connecting with predators offline and merely provide a false sense of security for parents.
In response to the false sense of security, some panelists argued that "perfection should not be the enemy of the good." Doing something is better than doing nothing, right? Others disagreed, saying that doing nothing was preferable. "Nobody advocates leaving doors unlocked and not even trying [to protect your home], because, well, there would be a false sense of security," said Jeff Schmidt, CEO of authentication company Authis. "However, you need to make sure that your result is not worse than doing nothing in the first place. In this age verification, we have a unique scenario where you will have age-verified bad guys. Okay? It's not just that the system failed and 'worse' is status quo. I'm saying now with 100 percent certainty that we will have age-verified bad guys.
"My concern is that the false sense of security will actually result in more problems in a less safe environment," Schmidt said later during the discussion. "I believe that if we create something that we call a safe area, or a safer area, or whatever, people's inherently simplistic attitude to that will be 'Oh, okay. I've locked my kids off to the safe area.' Then the people will let their guard down. That's my concern."
It's clear from the discussion that currently-proposed methods of age verification are not only not perfect, but in fact are not effective. Without true identity verification (and reverification to ensure that the person who created the profile is still the person who is now logging into the profile) there will be no way to ensure that even a nominal dent will be made in the effort to help keep children safe from predators on the Internet.


text: The graduate employment market is tough. Can your choice of uni affect your outcomes? Richard Roche/Flickr August 25, 2015 How does your choice of university affect your future? Andrew Norton, Grattan Institute and David Carroll, UNSW Sydney Your choice of university may have a significant impact on your life, so it is worth gathering the information needed to make a good decision.


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Earlier this week, GameStop issued a June 18 "recall" of the 8GB $300 Wii U Basic, the version of the Wii U that smart consumers knew to avoid. (Edit: Okay, okay, see the comments for reasons why some smart people did buy the 8GB version.) Now a tipster sends us an internal flyer from Best Buy that looks like the retail giant is chucking the 8GB next week.
Nintendo had called the GameStop "recall" a "rebalance" of supply. It sure looks closer to a discontinuation from here.
The Best Buy flyer says "stores should pull all new in box units and send them back" on June 10-11. "Stores should expect to see more Wii U deluxe units arriving in the coming weeks."
The black 32 GB Wii U Deluxe, which has sold for $350 and includes a game, doesn't appear to be going anywhere, though a price drop is surely possible. Note that Best Buy is anticipating more Wii U Deluxe units, perhaps a sign that Nintendo is going to start delivering the announced-for-Japan white 32GB unit in North America soon, too.
Expect to find out more on June 11 at 10am ET, 7am PT when Nintendo holds its big online Nintendo Direct to kick off E3. And, remember, Best Buy is partnering with Nintendo next week to let shoppers play Nintendo's E3 Wii U demos at the stores. Surely they're on top of whatever Nintendo's got planned.
To contact the author of this post, write to email@example.com or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.


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Top Reads! September 2019
Here are my top recommended books for the entire month. Each book was read and reviewed here on the blog and these books were the best of the best! Click the Cover to Buy Now! You can read many of these books for Free with Kindle Unlimited! Join Amazon Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial…… Continue reading Top Reads! September 2019


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That piece of paper changed your child's legal parents,
but did nothing to alter their DNA.
Adoption and Birth Mothers
All my life I've looked into a mirror and wondered…
I've wondered who it is that has made the face that looks back at me.
Being adopted one wonders such things.
I turn 60 this year and I still look and wonder.
Whose eyes
Whose mouth.
Whose hair.
Whose lack of eyebrows.
When I first started blogging, this was one of the topics that I would often touch upon because
it was very much a part of who I was…who I am.
I am adopted.
Born in 1959.
Adopted in 1960.
Back at the first of the year I finally decided to do one those popular DNA tests.
My physician and I got to talking about my unknown medical history…as we keep
having little surprises…
What of my son and his medical surprises and that of my new grandchildren??
Plus I had a dear friend in Colorado who had just met her own birth mother…
What did I have to lose right?
As I mentioned, I had grandchildren now and I very much wanted for them to know this
"secretive" past of mine.
I wanted /want for them to know their genealogy, their origins, just as I want them to know their
medical history…just as I want this for my son.
As of now, I have three blood relatives…my son and my two grandchildren.
I was a history major for heaven's sake!
History is so keenly important to me…and yet I don't know my own history.
How pathetic is that?
I have been the unofficial keeper of my family's genealogy…but the fact of the matter is…
this is not really MY family's history.
I feel like a specter on someone else's tree.
Adoption is an integral part of who I am and an integral part of my DNA.
Whether I want to admit it or not, it is the fact of who I am.
I recently stumbled upon a website written by a birth mother, who had given up
her child and her current quest is to dispell misconceptions and set the
facts straight.
Some of her words pierced directly through my heart…
"It's natural and normal to need to know where you come from and how your child is.
It's human nature and the fact that your adopted child
has searched for you is a testament that they are actually quite normal."
The adoptee has a RIGHT to know where they come from.
No adoptee should not have to be a banned as a dirty little secret their whole life.
No one should have to have their very existence denied to protect another's feelings,
even their own mothers.
It doesn't matter that you view them as a stranger now,
they were not meant to be strangers, they were not strangers, your child is not a stranger!
You are still the only person in this universe that created this human who dares
to want to talk to you.
You have a moral responsibility to BE there for your adoptee.
Mothers DO for our children.
We are supposed to provide unconditional love for them.
That is our job and the relinquishment was not a discharge from service.
Adoption and Birth Mothers
This is just a small piece to a long story.
60 years worth of a story I suppose.
Just suffice it to know that I received some disheartening news today
regarding my birth mother.
She is still alive and is 83 years young.
I'll put all of this together into a more coherent post soon, but for now,
my emotions are simply running quite raw.
They say that children who are given up for adoption have a lifelong battle with rejection.
Should that adult child ever find their birth mother and she, though a lawyer,
states that there is to never be any sort of contact as this is a "matter" of the past and
it is in the past that it is to remain…
well, then that becomes a matter of double rejection.
Why does having a lawyer these days seem to be the definitive answer to everything?
Rather than a "by God, this is the way it is"—rather now it is "by the words of this
specific legal eagle, this' is the end of things, capiche?
Because if not, you will be hit with some sort of legal nightmare.
I sat with tears streaming down my face this afternoon looking at a lamp that was my grandmothers.
It is indeed a fine lamp.
A beautifully old lamp.
A coveted lamp by the lamp shop who repaired it.
I have some nice things…
I don't want your nice things.
It is not a matter of my wanting anything from someone.
I am happy, comfortable and not lacking.
There should not be a fear of some sort of monetary want.
There should not be a fear of a knock on the door and the desire for
the need of a mother.
There is no desire to rock your neat and tidy world.
There are only questions and a desire for answers.
Like where in the heck did the lack of these lips come from?
I am a nice person.
I would be a good friend.
But yet you've opted not to know about that.
And you said so through a lawyer.
And for that, I am sorry.
Men who live far away will come and help to rebuild the Temple of the Lord.
And when it is rebuilt, you will know that the Lord Almighty sent me to you.
This will all happen if you fully obey the commands of the Lord your God.
Zechariah 6:15


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by Carole Bartolotto, MA, RD
Many years ago I decided to go to an Oriental Medicine Doctor. One of the first things he told me to do was to stop consuming dairy, which he said was linked to a number of health conditions. Reluctantly, I complied. After about 2 days without it, I noticed something miraculous: I could actually breathe when I woke up in the morning for the first time in my life. And that was it. I cut out dairy for good and have never looked back.
Since I had such good results, I decided to take a closer look at the research related to dairy. And occasionally, I would tell patients to try cutting it out to see what benefits they might receive. In particular, I told people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sinus problems. One patient I saw had IBS. He told me he was committed to cutting out dairy for one month. I never saw him again but I did run into his doctor who said, "I don't know that you did, but my patient is cured!"
How could something we grew up thinking was "nature's perfect food," actually turn out to be far from perfect? As a dietitian, I have been inundated with information and propaganda about dairy for years. However, as I started to read more independent research, I quickly realized dairy caused problems for a lot of people and may not be necessary for anyone at all.
So what are the issues with dairy?
- Lactose intolerance: Some people do not have the enzyme to break down milk sugar, so they get gas, bloating, cramps, and diarrhea. Certain ethnic groups such as Asians, blacks, and Native Americans have high rates of lactose intolerance.
- Sinus problems: Dr. Weil says you can see a dramatic improvement in sinus problems in two months by cutting out dairy. My improvement was practically overnight.
- Dairy is loaded with hormones. Even if you buy organic milk without recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), it will still have high hormone levels. Why? Because dairy cows are almost always pregnant with lots of circulating hormones that pass to the milk. This is not good news considering that hormones have been linked with an increased risk of breast, prostate, and testicular cancer.
- Ovarian cancer: Some research has linked dairy with ovarian cancer. While more research is needed, some of the sugars found in milk may increase risk. One study found a higher risk in women who consumed the most lactose.
- Prostate cancer: Consuming too much calcium appears to increase the risk of prostate cancer. A Harvard study found that men were twice as likely to develop advanced prostate cancer if they drank two or more glasses of milk each day. Another study found that men who consumed 2,000 mg of calcium a day had double the risk compared to men consuming less than 500 mg per day. Until we know more, drinking a lot of milk or talking a lot of calcium is not a good idea for men.
Mark Bittman, a food writer for the New York Times, cut out dairy and his heartburn disappeared in just 24 hours. He wrote about his experience and received 1,300 responses from people reporting that eliminating dairy got rid of migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, eczema, heartburn, acne, hives, asthma, gall bladder issues, body aches, ear infections, colic, seasonal allergies, rhinitis, chronic sinus infections and canker sores.
So what does dairy have to offer?
- Calcium? You can get the equivalent amount of bioavailable calcium found in one glass of milk from 1¾ cups of kale, 1½ cups of bok choy, 2½ cups of broccoli, 1 cup of turnip greens, or just over ½ cup of calcium set tofu. And there are a lot of alternative milks such as almond or soy that are fortified with calcium.
- Protein? There are much healthier sources of protein such as beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and veggies.
- Vitamin D? Sit in the sun, eat some salmon, or take a vitamin D supplement instead.
The good news is that you can easily replace cow's milk with almond, soy, rice, hemp, or coconut milk instead. I love Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond Milk. Cheese is a bit harder to replace in terms of taste, but there are options out there. I really like cashew cheese. I make it by soaking cashews overnight and then blending them with a little water, salt, and lemon juice. There are soy cheeses and cheeses made with tapioca starch, rice, and almonds as well. Nutritional yeast is a nice option to have in place of Parmesan cheese.
Why not try cutting dairy out for 30 days and see what happens? If you derive any benefit, please post a comment and let us know what happened!
Copyright © 2013 Carole Bartolotto, MA, RD. All rights reserved.


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Love, web development, and imaginary friends| geek
There's an interesting thing here I'd like to explore: love and web development. (If only because you'll probably never see Joel Spolsky write about it from this perspective…)
Not passion. Love.
Passion gets all the press. Web development has plenty of opportunities for clever hacks and technical brilliance.
This is a quieter thing. It has to do with why I develop and where I find the energy.
On all the projects I've had the pleasure of building with IBM, I've been able to build sites for friends. Well, not quite. Most of the time they don't know they're friends. There's nothing stopping me from imagining they are. Sure, I'll put my business hat on when negotiating requirements, but when I'm in the groove of development, I build for specific people.
Sometimes it's frustrating. This week I worked my way through a twisty, tangled bug in an app I'm building for a local nonprofit. It was one of those embarrassing "I can't believe I didn't come across this when I was testing it myself" bugs, too, of which I still have far too many. You know that feeling when you disappoint someone? It sucks, even if they don't know it. I'm getting better at pushing aside the self-recrimination and ignoring that feeling of being so limited, focusing instead on moving forward, holding on to this idea of friendly encouragement. One step at a time. I'm learning, too.
It's hard to be patient. I want to get things to people quickly. Sometimes I miss things. I'm working on getting better at placing myself on the other side of the screen, seeing any rough edges, then coming back out and sanding those off.
When it rocks, though, it rocks. Then the work is also a gift, a little change in someone's life. Maybe even many people's lives. I'm looking forward to learning how to make it rock more.
Another thing I'm learning: taking that energy and applying it to a team. I want them to do awesome. I want them to feel awesome doing it. I'm still learning a lot about planning and coordinating, but hey, it'll probably only get better from here.
Maybe someday code will just be code, but I hope not yet. The time is going to pass anyway, and the work will need to be done one way or another. It's better for me to care than to not care.
I'm moving past the imposter syndrome – hooray for experience – but there's still "wish I was even better than this; oh well, learning opportunity" to get through. Maybe sharing this will resonate with people, help you feel you're not alone. When you look at code, do you see people too?