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Xmart Power
Let a Professional Electrician do the Job Right.
X Mart Power offers comprehensive electrical services, including repairs and inspections, maintenance, as well as commercial power needs. We are experienced enough to do any type of work, whether it's residential or commercial. We have the knowledge needed to meet all your electrical service needs in Miami, Broward, FL and surrounding areas.
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Xmart Power
291 Majorca Ave #1Coral Gables Florida 33134USA
About Coral Gables
Coral Gables, officially the City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Downtown Miami. The city had a population of 49,248 as of the 2020 U.S. census.Coral Gables is home to the University of Miami, one of the nation's top private research universities, whose main campus spans 240 acres (0.97 km2) in the city. With 16,479 faculty and staff as of 2021, the University of Miami is the second largest employer in Miami-Dade County.The city is a Mediterranean-themed planned community known for its historic and affluent character reinforced by its strict zoning, popular landmarks, and tourist sights. == History == Coral Gables was formally incorporated as a city on April 29, 1925. It was and remains a planned community based on the popular early twentieth century City Beautiful Movement and is known for its strict zoning regulations.
Neighborhoods in Coral Gables, Florida
Beverly Terrace, Biscayne Neighborhoods Association, Buena Vista, Chinese Village, City of Miami Coral Way NET Office, Coconut Grove, Coconut Grove WH Center, Cocoplum, Coral Gables Historic Resource, Coral Gables Section, Coral Gate, Coral Groves, Coral Way, Crafts, David Siddons Group - Realty
Things to do in Coral Gables, Florida
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You picked it, and now it's here, the shirt we all hope will ease the world's Enzo crisis. Right now, somewhere on planet earth, there's an Enzo in trouble. Its owner is an overzealous nitwit, whose skills behind the wheel can't possibly match the capabilities of this late-model supercar, and yet he insists on going to the limit. But it only takes a second, 150 mph and an errant burro to cause an irreversible drop in the Enzo population. With your help, we can prevent the ruthless Dietriching of the world's Enzos. Won't you please do your part to save these troubled cars from extinction? Thank you.
Jalopnik T-Shirt Slogan Contest: The Finals [internal]

subset: commoncrawl


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May 13, 2010— -- Carla, one of my patients, stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs just over 250 pounds.
She finds it difficult to walk more than 50 feet without extreme shortness of breath.
Her weight has brought on diabetes, requiring insulin shots. It has made it so difficult for her to breathe while asleep that she needs a breathing machine at night to keep her airway open.
She is ashamed of her appearance and dreads being around her peers. She is isolated and cannot enjoy activities most people take for granted.
Carla is 15 years old. She is just one of my young patients who are overweight or obese.
As most people know, the United States is in the midst of an epidemic of overweight and obesity. In fact, two thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese.
And that is just adults. Unfortunately, this epidemic also affects children like Carla.
This week, the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity released its report on how we as a society can attack this enormous challenge.
The future they outline -- and which they hope to prevent -- is scary. Today, one third of all children ages 2-19 are overweight or obese. The authors point out that most of these children will end up with diabetes sometime during their lifetime.
The costs of obesity, even today, are staggering. About 112,000 Americans die each year due to obesity-related diseases. Care for overweight- and obesity-induced conditions bring on $150 billion in health care expenditures each year, a figure that is bound to increase.
The generation of children born in 2000 will likely live shorter life spans their parents. Economic productivity of this generation will probably be less than their parents as well. Indeed, an obese adult adds $1,400 excess health care costs annually compared with his or her non-obese peers.
And these figures represent only the economic costs.
Obesity among youth impacts military readiness, for example. And it exacts a tremendous emotional toll the individual -- adult or child.
Like Carla, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy.
Action Needed to Stem Childhood Obesity
As bad as all this sounds, there are steps we can take as a society to reduce, if not eliminate, the impending calamity.
Many of these steps suggested by the Task Force involve societal action.
Starting in 2011, for example, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require nutritional information to be listed on chain restaurant menus. This can promote healthier food choices.
The federal government can also work to limit children's exposure to marketing of junk food and sugary cereals and drinks.
Federally sponsored school lunch and breakfast programs can offer a greater selection of lower-fat, lower-sugar foods.
The federal government, at the national level, can also tax sugar-sweetened beverages. This action is something the beverage industry, including Coca Cola and Pepsi, have vigorously fought against.
Local and state governments can also join the fray.
School boards might reinstate physical education programs, for example. Or eliminate vending machines in schools. Municipalities can lay out walking paths, or make it easier (and safer) for children to walk to school.
In many of these activities, organized medicine should take the lead.
One glaring example would be for the American Academy of Family Physicians -- the professional organization to which I belong -- to rescind its sponsorship by the Coca Cola Company for "health education."
The AAFP's patient website, familydoctor.org, recently received a grant "in the strong six figures" to promote "education" on sweetened beverages and hydration. All supported by Coca Cola, which, coincidentally, is fighting against a beverage tax.
In 2007, the AAFP supported a similar tax policy -- a tobacco tax to reduce smoking and to help pay for the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
(Editor's note: Following the publication of this column, the president of the AAFP, Dr. Lori Heim, responded that the organization does, in fact, support a tax on sweetened beverages.)
Childhood Obesity a Societal Problem
Other national organizations can also take the lead. One outstanding example is the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood, which has already been tackling the problem of unhealthy marketing to children.
In the final analysis, though, it all comes back to individual patients with names, faces, parents and siblings. Families that often struggle with weight-related conditions together, in cultures that promote unhealthy lifestyles.
Emotions aside, we literally cannot afford to forget children like Carla.
Dr. John Spangler is director of tobacco intervention programs and a professor of family medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina.


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Almond milk seems to be growing more and more in popularity and it is probably my favourite non-dairy milk. Soy milk with its eggy taste never quite grew on me and I tend to find rice and oat milk either thin or starchy. Almond milk, preferably the unsweetened kind, has a really subtle flavour, is wonderful poured over cereal and creamy enough to make a decent dairy milk replacer in milky coffees.
There was a summer when I still lived in London when I made a lot of my own almond milk – a great alternative to the rather pricey packs of almond milk stocked by most organic supermarkets and that somewhat surprisingly tend to be full of a whole lot of sweeteners, thickeners and emulsifiers (and shockingly small quantities of almonds). Thankfully, this now appears to be changing, thanks in part to the girls behind The Pressery who sell their own freshly made almond milk across London. I was hoping to pick up a bottle of The Pressery almond milk when I was over in London the other week, alas my chicken pox had other plans for me.
Back in Brussels I stocked up on some organic almonds and thanks to a few rather warm summer days decided that the first thing I was going to make with my almond milk was Moroccan almond milk. Like the mint tea served all over Morocco, whether you go to a restaurant or someone's house, Moroccan almond milk tends to be almost unbearably sweet but, just like Moroccan mint tea, it is also irresistible. Typically served over ice (just like Horchata), a few drops of orange blossom water and a sprinkling of cinnamon is what makes Moroccan almond milk so unique (and so delicious).
While the weather in Brussels is currently pretty horrendous (think days and days of rain and big fat clouds hogging the sky), there were just a few days last week where we had perfect summer weather and where nothing felt better than starting the day sitting on my balcony with a glass of this iced Moroccan almond milk. As much as I don't miss the weeks and weeks of 40 degree weather I had to endure in Rome last summer when baking, cooking, heck any kind of movement, was out of the question during most days, I do hope Brussels has a few more days of real summer weather in store for us this year to enjoy iced drinks like this almond milk and iced coffees (especially as I have just discovered the first place selling cold drip coffee here in Brussels!).
Moroccan Almond Milk
Note: The recipe below is effectively two in one, or maybe one and a half: a recipe for homemade almond milk, which really could not be simpler (and while having a nut milk bag is useful it is by no means essential, a piece of cheesecloth or a clean tea towel will do the trick), and a recipe, or rather a suggestion, for giving your homemade almond milk a Moroccan touch with some orange blossom water and cinnamon. While you could use store-bought almond milk, unless you have access to really good quality fresh and creamy almond milk I would recommend you make your own. It tastes so much better, will keep in the fridge for a few days and is very straightforward to make. While most recipes for almond milk recommend using blanched almonds, I always use the unblanched almonds – they are cheaper and it saves me the hassle of blanching them myself. And while the almond milk in Morocco is tooth-achingly sweet just use however much sweetener feels right to you – I often don't use any sweeteners for this or just a small amount.
For the almond milk
250g almonds
1l water
Water for soaking
2 tsp orange blossom water
Ca. 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Optional: simple syrup, honey or another liquid sweetener
1. Place the almonds in a big bowl and cover with water. Place somewhere cool to soak for 8h or overnight.
2. Discard the soaking water and add the almonds to your food processor. Add 500ml of the water and process until the almonds are finely ground.
3.Strain using a nut milk bag or a clean cheesecloth or clean tea towel resting in a sieve or a colander suspended over a large bowl. You might want to strain the almond milk twice to remove even the finest almond pieces. Add the remaining 500ml water and whisk to combine.
4. To serve, add a pinch of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water per glass (250ml), stir and serve over ice. If you prefer a sweeter almond milk, stir in some simple syrup, honey or other liquid sweetener to taste (most Moroccan recipes call for 150g sugar per litre of almond milk – for me that is far too sweet, but gives you an indication as to how sweet you can make this recipe should you so wish).
5. The almond milk will keep fresh for about 5 days if stored in the fridge. The milk may separate but this is normal in homemade almond milk – just shake the closed bottle before using if the milk separates.
For my next batch, I might add some macadamia nuts to the mix as this article in the New York Times has made me curious to see how much creamier a nut milk I might be able to make at home with that.
As for the leftover almond pulp, you can add this when making granola, baking bread or making nut-based porridges.
In case you are not going to use it within a couple of days, you should freeze the almond pulp as it spoils fairly quickly, even when stored in the fridge.


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What Are the Dev Logs?
In an effort to remain as transparent and communicative about the development of Limit Theory as possible, I will post my work statistics each day to give you an idea of how I spent the day. Indeed, you'll actually get to see (in excruciating detail) my work habits!
The goal behind publishing the logs is twofold: first, it provides a constant reminder that LT is alive and well, and that I am still working as hard as possible to deliver the game to you! Second, it helps keep me accountable for working at maximal efficiency. Just knowing that I have to publish daily logs will mentally help me to stay efficient, since I'll always know that I don't want to disappoint by publishing bad stats for a day!
How Accurate are the Logs?
Extremely. I run a software called Manic Time in the background on my computer at all times, and it tracks the exact amount of time that I spend in each application. I then assign certain "tags" to applications, which allows me to generate reports of how I spent the time in a day.
Granted, these reports don't account for everything. There are some things that I don't have tags set up for, like Windows Explorer, since it's too general to say what I was doing at the time. Still, the tags that I will publish account for roughly 90% of my time on any given day.
For the business and thinking tags, I tag these manually, since they are not associated with a particular program.
What Does Each Tag Mean?
Business - I'm doing something business-related for LT like responding to press, meeting with someone, etc.
Coding - I'm in my code editor or debugger.
Internet - I'm in Google Chrome (could be forums, email, researching, stack overflow, etc.)
Testing - I'm in the Limit Theory executable (playtesting a new feature or having fun)
Thinking - I'm spending some quality time with pen & paper, working out functionality before coding it
What's the Goal?
My rather-lofty goal is 11 hours coding + thinking per day, a maximum of 2 hours internet (mostly forum time), and as little playtest time as possible (force myself to playtest efficiently and only when necessary). I have found that coding and thinking hours are equally productive, and one without the other is not productive. Hence, a rough metric for how productive I've been during the day would be coding + thinking time (although I still report them separately, for the sake of precision).
Granted, I won't hit that goal everyday, but setting a high target ensures maximal efficiency!
Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:01 am
About the Dev Logs
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right." ~ Henry Ford


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Justin Timberlake has finally been invited back to the Super Bowl halftime show, 14 years after the "wardrobe malfunction" with Janet Jackson cause a national controversy.
The NFL announced Sunday night that Timberlake will headline the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 4 in Minnesota.
Road to Super Bowl LII: Stream, start time, highlights and more
This will be the third time for Timberlake to perform at halftime, the most for any entertainer. Timberlake performed at the 2001 Super Bowl with N'Sync, and he sang "Rock Your Body" with Jackson in 2004 in Houston. That performance concluded with Timberlake ripping her costume to reveal her right breast bare except for a nipple shield.
That drew CBS a $550,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission that was later overturned.
Timberlake has won 10 Grammys, and the Tennessee native also has won four Emmys.


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This Week's Big Winners – April 26th
The United States Government. Check back next week to see if anything changes.
In all seriousness, the last week and a half has been a dark one for the industry, and last week didn't necessarily feel like the appropriate time to recognize the few people who were fortunate enough to make a few dollars in poker. We must, however, realize that no matter how bleak the situation is with online poker, the live game will continue to go on. The numbers will change, how yet we don't know, but as long as there are people playing cards, there will be winners and losers. And some version of this column.
Mercier and Selbst Succesfully Defend Titles at Final NAPT Stop
Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Connecticut
It was big news for all of about 14 hours, but there's no disputing the incredibly impressive accomplishments of Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier at NAPT Mohegan Sun.
Selbst won the inaugural NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event in 2010 in a dominant performance. She lead the tournament from wire-to-wire and earned $750,000, putting her on the path that would lead to her becoming a member of Team PokerStars Pro. The logo on her shirt was different, the final seven standing in her way were different, but the ending was the same. Instead of huge chip advantage, she entered heads-up play with Dan Shak in an unusual spot for her, a three-to-one deficit. Shak was no match for fate, as Selbst quickly closed the gap and captured the title for a second straight year, this time for $450,000
The next day was Jason Mercier's opportunity to repeat history. His 2010 effort was a $25,000 event that drew 35 players, and paid him a juicy $475,000. This year's high roller lowered the buy-in to $10,000 but drew more than twice as many players (78 to be exact), and again Mercier won his first table to put himself in contention. He reached heads-up play against fellow Team PokerStars Pro member Eugene Katchalov at a slight disadvantage, but quickly erased it. When the final river hit the felt, Mercier had completed the highly unlikely exacta with Selbst and accumulated $246,600 between bounties and his first place prize. For their sake, lets just hope they didn't get paid out via their PokerStars accounts.
Erik Seidel is Proven to be Human, Finishes 2nd at WPT Hollywood
Hollywood Casino, Lawrenceburg, Indiana
Erik Seidel's accomplishments thus far in 2011 can be put up against any individual year by any player in the history of the game, and the year's less than 1/3rd of the way done. To put things in perspective, 4 of the top 5 top money accumulators are the top four finishers in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, the only anomaly on the list being Seidel. So when the final table was set at WPT Hollywood, Seidel was a prohibitive favorite, and by the time he got down to heads-up play with a part time player from Cincinnati, most of the media already had their reports typed up with their finger hovering over their mouse, ready to click send.
Perhaps we should have taken the events that took place in Indiana in to account when trying to make sense of the pokerpocalypse. Just 97 players showed up for a WPT event, the most famous ginger in poker quite literally abandoned her roots, and in the end, the stranglehold that Erik Seidel has held on poker was loosened, if only slightly. Mike Scarborough played an impressive tournament, and succeeded in overcoming a tough final table on his way to a $273,664 payday.
Everyone I Mentioned At WSOPC St. Louis Won a Lot of Money
WSOP Circuit, Harrah's St. Louis, Missouri
In my last tournament recap, I mentioned La Sengphet had made her second final table at WSOPC St. Louis, and right after I posted she won the tournament for over $17,000, giving her her second ring of the season. I added a bit at the end to recognize it, and Dan put up a post congratulating her. In it, I mentioned Kyle Cartwright as one of only two players to win two rings at the same stop this season, both of his coming in Tunica. He won a final table that was going on concurrently to La's, which just happened to be the Main Event in St. Louis.
449 players showed up for the $1,600 tournament, generating a sizable prize pool that would award over $142,000 to the eventual champion. On this day, Cartwright was indeed that man, adding a third ring and an automatic seat in the $1 million championship to what is likely the most impressive resume on this year's WSOP Circuit.
Local Man Makes Good at LAPT Peru for Over $200K
Atlantic City Casino, Lima, Peru
Amidst the chaos that enveloped the poker world on Friday, a couple of the best that the American poker media has to offer (Shamus and Pauly) soldiered on with their reporting duties. As usual, their updates were top notch and captured the compelling action well, and it was some exciting play to be sure. Local Peruvian player Kemal Ferri went on a rampage when play got down to four-handed, eliminating all three of his opponents on the way to his first LAPT title and $207,400.
Michael Kanaan Makes Dozens of Media Friends After Quick Win in Sydney
ANZPT Sydney, Australia
The unofficial rule amongst the poker media is not to openly root for any one player at a final table. That rule is usurped by the fact that all media subconsciously roots for the big stacks to win during the big confrontations in order to facilitate an early exit from the casino. It is by this that we can judge Michael Kanaan the most popular player of every member of the media present for his win at ANZPT Sydney. The prohibitive chip leader entering play, Kanaan triumphed over his final eight opponents in less than four-and-a-half hours of play, sending people home at just after 5 pm after collecting his $195,714 first place prize, of course.
Luckily For the Pokerati Game, 2-Time WSOPC Omaha Ring Winner Plays Tournaments… For Now
WSOP Circuit, Caesers Las Vegas, Nevada
So much for sharing the wealth. Yet another player added his second WSOP Circuit ring of the season this past week as action moved to Caesers in Las Vegas. Army veteran Jessie Bryant's job while he was enlisted was similar to the soldiers who were featured in "The Hurt Locker", but these days his focus has been directed more towards the game of Omaha. Bryant won an Omaha-8/b event a few months ago in Tunica, and to show off the versatility in his skills he decided to change it up a bit in Las Vegas, adding a PLO championship to his poker resume. He is the early leader in the player of the series race in Las Vegas thanks to his score of just under $10,000.
Online Poker? Chip Jett Doesn't Need No Stinkin' Online Poker
Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza, Las Vegas, Nevada
Also well underway in Las Vegas over the past couple of weeks has been the latest incarnation of the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. Well-known pros have been scattered amongst the lists of those who have cashed in the events held so far, but have began to pop up more and more since the madness of Friday. The most well-known of those players is Chip Jett, who for a long time has been one of the red-named players on Full Tilt. Not content to sit and stare at a blank computer screen, Jett decided to enter Event 20, a $340 No Limit Hold'em event, and promptly won the whole thing for just under $14,000.


text: The nation's largest experiment in delivering medical care in an innovative way has reduced costs and improved the quality of care even more in its second year than in its first, according to the insurance company behind it. The nonprofit CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield launched its "Patient-Centered Medical Home" program in January 2011 among primary-care providers serving about one-third of its 3.4 million members in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. Like other "accountable care organizations" (ACOs), which are centerpieces of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, the medical home program ties insurance payments to healthcare providers to the quality of care they deliver. On Thursday, CareFirst reported cost savings of $98 million for the medical home program in 2012, compared with $38 million the year before. Proponents of the model say it shows that "bending the cost curve downward," as Obama described one of the goals of his 2010 healthcare law, is achievable. If innovative models like CareFirst's deliver as promised, it will ease the financial pressures on Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and make Obama's healthcare reform more likely to succeed. "This is a very important finding, that a major health plan is able to achieve savings" of this magnitude, said Dr Elliott Fisher, a health policy expert at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and an architect of accountable care organizations. Medical homes, like other ACOs, induce physicians to coordinate care to make sure patients' prescriptions don't interact adversely, for instance, and to think twice before ordering unnecessary tests. Physicians who reduce costs while hitting quality metrics such as regularly checking a diabetic's eyesight receive awards in the form of higher payments. In CareFirst's program, that incentive is substantial: a 29 percent bump in physician reimbursement rates. The insurer can afford to be so generous because improving primary care, which accounts for only 6 percent of medical spending, reduces far pricier hospitalizations and specialist visits. CareFirst's success is likely to accelerate other efforts to move from a traditional fee-for-service model, where the more tests and treatments physicians and hospitals do the more they make, to one that rewards efficiency and quality. Twenty-nine U.S. states now let primary-care providers act as patient-centered medical homes for residents on the Medicaid program for the poor, for instance. Major insurers including UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint, Aetna, Humana and Cigna are also contracting with physicians to operate under an accountable care model. BUILDING UP SAVINGS Skeptics have warned that any savings in programs like medical homes would peter out after their first year, as physicians eliminated the most obvious and easiest-to-cut waste, and that further reductions woul:d cut necessary care. CareFirst has found otherwise. One million of its members (almost all employed, with an average age of 42) were in medical homes in 2012, the company reported, and 80 percent of the primary-care providers in CareFirst's network participate in the program. These members' healthcare costs were $98 million (2.7 percent) less than CareFirst projected. In 2011, the savings were 1.5 percent. Most of the savings came from reduced hospital admissions, less use of emergency rooms and lower spending on drugs, said CareFirst Chief Executive Officer Chet Burrell. Two-thirds of the 3,600 physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the medical home program earned higher reimbursements from CareFirst in 2012, based on a combination of cost savings (which averaged 4.7 percent) and quality measures. Measuring quality – which also includes having extended office hours and using electronic medical records – keeps doctors from trying to save money by skimping on needed care. "This is a measurable and meaningful step in the right direction of slowing the rise of healthcare costs," said Burrell. At primary-care practices that did not earn an incentive award, costs averaged 3.6 percent higher than expected. Their quality scores were also worse, suggesting that wasteful care often goes hand in hand with poor care. CareFirst's savings are in line with those reported by 10 physician groups across the United States that treated Medicare patients under an accountable care model. Annual savings averaged $114 per patient, researchers led by Fisher reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year. But savings reached $532, or 5 percent, for patients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. CareFirst received a grant from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand the medical home model to Medicare patients starting July 1. These older Americans "frequently have complex health needs and multiple chronic health conditions," said Burrell, and so "could benefit greatly from the coordinated model of care" in medical homes.


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Rush have survived 40 years in the music industry, persisting through critical hatred and shifting musical trends, and they owe much of that longevity to the consistently inventive drumming of Neil Peart. Within that view, it's easy to miss the band's important first chapter with John Rutsey, their founding drummer. While Rutsey may be remembered as sort of Rush's version of Pete Best, it's a story worth revisiting.
The first seeds of Rush were sewn in 1963: Hockey buddies Rutsey and Alex Lifeson met while attending the St. Paschal's School and eventually formed a band dubbed the Projection. Then in 1968, in the Willowdale area of Toronto, the teenagers joined forces with bassist Jeff Jones, who was soon replaced by Geddy Lee, a somewhat witchy-looking dude with a high-pitched shriek of a voice and an enviable fluency on his instrument.
In his 1988 biography 'Rush Visions,' author Bill Banasiewicz discussed Rutsey's importance as a motivator. "John was the guy who would bug everyone to practice, and I think thought of himself as a 'rock and roller.' I've said it before and I'll say it again: There would have been no 'Rush' without John… Anyway, John led the guys as far as being 'glam rockers', with really flashy jackets and pants, and eight-inch high boots. One time, he was speaking to me at the Gasworks and I said, 'Didn't we used to be the same height (5'8")?' He laughed and said 'Well, maybe a long time ago!'"
Later, Banasiewicz tells the Rush band name origin story, explaining that it was Rutsey's brother, Bill, who christened the trio.
"The band was excited, but they had a big problem," he writes. "While they had been dreaming of playing, they had neglected to come up with a name for their group. So a few days before the gig they sat around in John's basement trying to come up with an appropriate moniker. They weren't having much luck when John's older brother Bill piped up, 'Why don't you call the band Rush?', and Rush it was."
After honing their chops for a few years on the local bar circuit (and shifting their line-up a few more times), the band recorded their debut single, a 1973 cover of Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away.'
Hear Rush Perform 'Not Fade Away'
It was a formidable blueprint of a sound they'd later refine with more clarity. Lifeson rips out a Jimmy Page-styled guitar solo, with Lee anchoring the distorted boogie with an expressive bassline. Then there's Rutsey's contribution, a straight-ahead drum chug with an occasional snare roll blast. The b-side 'You Can't Fight It,' co-written by Lee and Rutsey, offered the drummer more room to stretch out — his punishing triplet fills are the track's clear highlight.
Later that year, the band set work on their self-titled debut LP, a Led Zeppelin-inspired hard rock set co-authored entirely by Lee and Lifeson. Legend has it that Rutsey was supposed to write the lyrics, but he withdrew, leaving Lee to pick up the slack. Given the dire music scene in Canada, the trio set their sights on breaking through in the United States — and they eventually did, slowly but surely, thanks to an initial blast of support from Cleveland radio station WMMS, who added lead single 'Working Man' to their regular rotation, and sound found themselves pelted with calls about when the next Led Zep album was coming out.
"Part of the general attitude in Canada is, unfortunately, the people coming out to see you, not all of them but quite a few of them, go, 'Oh, well, they're a local band. How good could they be?'" Rutsey added in a retrospective soundbite to the 2010 documentary 'Beyond the Lighted Stage.' It's funny, ya know, when other people from the States come out and see these local bands, they go, 'Man, these guys are fantastic!'"
With its crisp, hard-hitting riffs and relatable lyrics about the 9-to-5 lifestyle, 'Working Man' became a local hit, propelling Rush to a record deal (and LP re-release) with American label Mercury, along with series of high-profile opening gig slots for bands like Uriah Heep and Kiss. But Rutsey wouldn't be a part of that breakthrough success: his last gig with the band came on July 25, 1974 at the Centennial Hall in London, Ontario.
Over the past four decades, fans and rock historians — and even Rush associates — have cited various reasons for Rutsey's departure, including concerns related to his diabetes condition to general band dysfunction. But Lee and Lifeson have remained fairly consistent with their story.
"He was a diabetic, but he was handling that fine," Lee told Matt Pinfield in a 2003 interview. "That, I don't think, was the reason he left the band. It was kind of a combination of things. I don't think the life of a touring band really appealed to him in some ways. He kind of shied away from that, and I don't think he could make that commitment that was going to be required in order to do a big American tour."
Later in the same chat, Pinfield noted the sudden shift from blues-rock to prog offered on 1975′s 'Fly By Night.' And Lee emphasizes that this very metamorphosis had also put a strain on the trio.
"Well, Alex and I had been going in that direction, and that was another area of concern that we had about John Rutsey being in the band," he continued. "We were writing things like, for example, the whole intro to the song 'Anthem' on 'Fly By Night.' That was written by Alex long ago, when John was still in the band. I remember jamming it with John, and he wasn't really into playing like that because that required a real active drummer, and he was a real 'lay down the backbeat' kinda drummer."
Meanwhile, former manager Vic Wilson maintained in 'Beyond the Lighted Stage' that "It wasn't for his ability to drum that he was let go — It was for health reasons."
"We went from getting this offer to getting an advance to buying equipment," Lifeson said in the film. "Everything was happening very, very quickly. I don't think that John really felt comfortable with what was happening. We talked about musical differences, and he was a much more straight-ahead rock kinda guy. He was more into Bad Company, whereas Ged and I were more into Yes and Genesis and Pink Floyd and bands like that. If we'd stayed on the Toronto local circuit, we probably would have stayed together, and that would have been fine."
Rutsey mostly avoided the media in the following years, so little is known about his history after exiting the group. Various undocumented sources point to a Lifeson radio interview with Rockline in 1989, during which the guitarist says he'd managed to stay in contact with his old friend, who'd since gone into bodybuilding.
After years of fan protests, Rush were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Though they clearly had a sense of humor about the long-overdue recognition, the band appeared grateful — in that trademark Canadian way — for the honor, thanking their families and fans.
However, Rutsey, who passed away in 2008 from health concerns stemming from diabetes, was not inducted with the band. Some fans were outraged over the perceived snub, drawing out irritated Facebook comments like, "Without John, Rush would not exist" and, "Once again, Rock And Roll Hall Of Shame: even when you finally get it right, you still get it wrong."
And somehow, Lee, Lifeson and Peart didn't even mention Rutsey in their acceptance speeches. But to claim Rush haven't honored their former bandmate would be short-sighted: In addition to telling his story on 'Beyond the Lighted Stage,' the trio honored their first chapter by including performance footage (featuring Rutsey) on the 'Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland' DVD.
"Our memories of the early years of Rush when John was in the band are very fond to us," the band wrote in a statement following the news of Rutsey's death. "Those years spent in our teens dreaming of one day doing what we continue to do decades later are special. Although our paths diverged many years ago, we smile today, thinking back on those exciting times and remembering John's wonderful sense of humour and impeccable timing. He will be deeply missed by all he touched."
Read More: The History of John Rutsey and Rush | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/rush-john-rutsey/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referral&trackback=tsmclip
Published by rbtaleman
Heavy metal (fiend/friend?) Writer, frustrat(or), frustrat(ee), decorated U.S. Navy veteran, Husband(twice), father(three times), grandfather(of seven), FM radio veteran, Concertgoer, music collector, muscle car aficianado. Grown up since five. Child since 45. View all posts by rbtaleman


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Bay celebrates centennial through photos
PANAMA CITY — Got a hankering for some history? Then you're in luck. Today Bay County will place its centennial photo display in the rotunda at the Government Center.
The 4-foot-by-8-foot display board celebrates the county's 100-year history and includes about 50 pictures and two newspaper stories, said Terri Pierce, chairwoman of the Centennial Committee.
The stories, both from the Panama City Pilot, tell of the Florida Legislature approving the new county on April 24, 1913 and the celebration that took place when the new county was christened on July 1 the same year, Pierce said.
The county will change out the display each month. For January the theme is buildings, architecture and infrastructure, Pierce said.
"I think it's a good showing," she said of the display, "and it will be interesting to see what ideas future groups come up with."
The old photos include shots of the county courthouse, the first Hathaway Bridge and the first DuPont Bridge. Both of the bridges were built at the same time in the 1920s, said Rebecca Saunders, head of genealogy and local history at the county library on 11th Street. Saunders helped cull through thousands of old photos to find ones to put on the board.
"A lot of people probably don't realize that we're on the third Hathaway Bridge," she said.
Saunders said the photos also include street scenes and buildings to show how the area has changed. She said the pictures all came from the photograph collection in the library's history room. She said the collection includes more than 16,000 photos, which are online for anyone to look at.
The Historical Society of Bay County also helped create the board. Society president Glenda Walters said they tried to pull out the most interesting and appropriate photos for the display. She said some residents may be surprised how long ago railroads came to the county.
One picture shows one of the first passenger trains arriving in the area, Walters said. Railroads made it to the area by 1909, she said.
Walters said she was pleased with how the display turned out.
"It's going to be something to watch to see (how) the groups … fill the bulletin board in the coming months," she said.


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Since I featured what I called the big set of knockers (or in geology-speak, large competent blocks in Franciscan melange matrix) at Mountain View Cemetery, almost 3 years ago, the operators of the cemetery have opened a new premium section just below and removed most of the trees, unveiling the best rock on the hill. I visited it this evening. It's still not much to look at unless you're looking for it.
It's mostly pale-green ribbon chert with some red chert. You might say the green rock has undergone a sea change. I'm not one of the experts in the Franciscan, but red rocks, which owe their color to trivalent iron (Fe3+), commonly turn greenish as the iron is reduced to divalent Fe2+, so I take it that this chert has undergone some challenging conditions in the ancient subduction zone that created the mixed-up melange. I find it harmonious.
Here's a closeup. Click it for the full 1000 pixels.
Stone like this doesn't support a lot of life, being low in nutrients, but lichens have a foothold on it, especially where moisture can gather. The eastern, uphill side is like that, and the total impression, stone and sky and place and time, is most pleasing.
Visit the "cemetery knockers" category for the whole set.


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Obama sends note for Heavy D funeral
Heavy D was remembered with laughter and tears Friday during a funeral service included humorous anecdotes from longtime friend Diddy and words of encouragement for his young daughter, delivered in a letter from President Barack Obama.
"We extend our heartfelt condolences at this difficult time. He will be remembered for his infectious optimism and many contributions to American music. Please know that you and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers," read the Obama note, according to the Rev. Al Sharpton, who quoted from it during the service.
Xea Myers, Heavy D's 11-year-old daughter, also spoke briefly, telling the audience that her father was "still here, not in the flesh, but in the spirit."
Grace Baptist Church was filled to capacity for the service, which was also streamed live on the Web. It was so crowded, an overflow area was set up. Among those in attendance were Usher, Queen Latifah, Don King, Q-Tip, John Legend and Rosie Perez.
A large photo of Heavy D sat next to his closed casket.
Heavy D died last week in Los Angeles at the age of 44. His family said the death was due to complications from pneumonia.
The self-proclaimed "Overweight Lover" was born in Jamaica but reared in Mount Vernon, which he dubbed "Money Earnin' Mount Vernon." It was also the home of Sean "Diddy" Combs. Diddy talked about how Heavy D helped give him his start in the music industry, and how their decades-long friendship continued up until Heavy D's death.
He said Heavy D was there for "at my darkest hour" and "was the first person to believe in me."
But he also told jokes as he recounted his "bromance" with the rapper, including a recent visit to Miami that was supposed to last for three days, but "turned into three weeks." He added that Heavy D got to know his chef "very well."
Sharpton also drew laughter when he noted that James Brown "us black and proud; he (Heavy D) made us fat and proud."
But singer Johnny Gill was tearful when he approached the altar, saying: "Just want to say to Heavy: job well done." He later gave a powerful rendition the gospel hit "Never Would Have Made It." The rappers nieces were also teary-eyed as they sang the gospel standard "His Eye on the Sparrow."
Heavy D, whose real name was Dwight Myers, was influential in the development of rap as it grew into a phenomenon in the late 1980s and 1990s. His hits included "Now That We've Found Love" and "Nuttin' But Love"; much of his music marked the "New Jack Swing" era in urban music, and he stood out from the pack with his rhymes, typified by a positive vibe and a lightheartedness that endeared him to so many.
A fund has been set up to financially aid Heavy D's daughter; details were available on the website rememberheavyd.com.


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Washington (CNN) - It appears the controversies New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's dealing with back in the Garden State haven't affected his standing as one of the GOP's most potent fundraising rainmakers.
As Christie convenes two days of Republican Governors Association meetings here in the nation's capital Friday and Saturday, an RGA official tells CNN that the group has raised $18 million since Christie took over as RGA chairman in late November. That's a new fundraising record for the first three months of a new RGA chairman's tenure. The previous record holder was then-Mississippi Gov. Haley Barber, who chaired the RGA from June 2009 through the end of 2010.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker'] [twitter-follow screen_name='psteinhausercnn']
Christie's chairmanship of the RGA was seen as a possible stepping stone to a potential 2016 bid for the GOP presidential nomination. But six weeks into his tenure as RGA chairman, the bridge controversy went viral. State lawmakers and the U.S. Attorney's Office are looking into allegations that top Christie appointees orchestrated traffic jams last September by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee to politically punish that town's mayor for not endorsing the governor's re-election.
Christie blasts Washington on Sandy aid; bridge scandal doesn't come up
Christie has denied knowing anything about the gridlock until after it occurred, and has said he knew nothing about any political mischief by members of his administration. He's also facing allegations by the Democratic mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, that members of his administration held Superstorm Sandy recovery funds hostage in exchange for approval of a real estate development project in that city.
Christie to headline fundraiser in Atlanta with Gov. Deal
The Friday meeting of the RGA executive committee and the wider event Saturday including all the attending Republican governors marks the first time Christie will meet with his peers since the multiple controversies shook his political future.
Christie passes on Sunday night dinner at the White House
But the $18 million in RGA fundraising should allay any concerns by any of the other governors.
"Christie remains popular among Republicans, many of whom see the attacks on him as partisan efforts to destroy a popular GOPer. That's why he remains a formidable fundraiser for the RGA and an asset to his party," Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, told CNN.
Republicans are defending 22 of the 36 gubernatorial seats up for grabs this November.
Christie says he can't 'let go' of Springsteen, talks about weight loss
He is a pedophile and tried to get with my 15 yo relative.
He is doing the same tactics as Obama. Either he seriously DIDN'T know, or he did. If you had no issues with Obama saying that – than there should be NO issues with Christie (and vise versa). Otherwise it's a wait and see after investigations.
The 'Low Standards Party' will always fill the coffers of their 'golden boys'. Their standards are so low it's actually embarrassing to live in the same nation as them.
He's followig in Bush's footsteps quite precisely.
Rafael and Ted Cruz were sent here to destroy America from within. They are both foreing agents
If you don't believe TrafficStudyGate was how things work in Christie-World, you are being dishonest to yourself and your community.
If this hadn't leaked out, that woman was attempting to earn a Merit Badge.
Steve miller
"Listen to all the liberal name-calling....and Ted Nugent apologizes? Who's the 'better man'."
You don't actually still believe it's Mr. Nugent, do You?!
Benghazi, IRS hoods, NSA, Obamacare nightmare- yet we're supposed to get all twisted up about a frikkin bridge closure..............Compared to the imbecile in the white house, Christie looks like Mr. Clean.....
Christie – 18 million dollars, or about 10 million pounds.
Our first Mafia Soprano bully President and his moto is his staff did it or the Feds and he knows nothing. At lease Christie is not shy about being a racist and his 1994 Jersey win by lying proved people really don't know any better. Now the victims of Sandy are even giving Christie donations to his criminal legal fund for the crimes of not helping them with the Sandy funding. But Americans do think George W. Bush was better President bring two Wars, Recession, Crimes from 2001-2009, housing collapse, Stock Market Crash, thousands of soldiers died based on lies and continued exposed crimes. Rather Obama who is doing his best alone to clean up the mess.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie / Chef Boyardee, formerly Chef Boy-Ar-Dee 2016
10 Million is alota pasta !
anybody catch Patrick Ewing on the Tonight Show?
Rudy: Where were you last year when Trump and birther's were ranting about Obama being born in Kenya to an American mother and African father? Same relationship, only Obama was 1/2 black and Cruz is 1/2 Cuban. Cruz is not an American citizen. Being born on foreign land of American parent's gives you dual citizenship and an obligation in some countries to serve in their military. What's even funnier is Cruz is the best the GOP can dig up as a potential candidate. Geez, you guys are in trouble. Hillary all the way.
Obama is cleaning up Bushs' mess.....I don't have the words to say to express the idiocy with which that moronic comment was made....Please tell me, in English I can understand, when does it start being Obama's presidency??????????


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Anglo could bring in partner for Minas Rio - CEO
Global mining group Anglo American could bring a partner into its flagship Minas Rio iron ore asset in Brazil, outgoing chief executive Cynthia Carroll said on the sidelines of a mining conference.
The Minas Rio project - a bruising top-of-the-market deal that contributed to Carroll's fall from grace and planned departure from the company - has been hit by delays and cost overruns. Anglo wrote $4 billion off the value of the asset last week, and said the mine would cost $8.8 billion to develop, more than three times original estimates.
"If it makes economic sense we will pursue it. We have been talking about a partnership for some time. We really need to establish what that value is," Carroll told Reuters.
She declined to comment on any ongoing discussions.
Anglo, like many operators in Brazil, has come under pressure from rising costs in a country where mining activity is growing and the construction sector is booming ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2014 soccer World Cup.
But Carroll said she was "confident" Anglo would stick to revised cost estimates.
"There are always going to be surprises, but we have enormous support from the government at all levels ... They understand, they want that project to get off the ground because it means jobs and tax revenues for them," Carroll said.
Carroll, who announced last year she would step down under pressure from investors over poor returns, will be replaced by current AngloGold Chief Executive Mark Cutifani.
Top of Cutifani's to-do list is the overhaul of Anglo's problematic platinum arm, Anglo American Platinum , squeezed by weak demand, rising costs and labor unrest.
The unit, best known as Amplats, last month announced a plan to mothball two mines and sell one, potentially leading to 14,000 job cuts. The move, aimed at restoring profits, has met with fierce resistance from South Africa's government, politicians and unions.
The company said last week it would delay a two-month consultation period by two weeks.
"It is not a matter of pushing back. We have a plan and we are going to work through that plan," Carroll said.
"I spent hours with (the) minister of mines and minister of labor a few weeks ago, and we all agreed we need to be around the table together. We have a very comprehensive social plan."
Carroll said the aim was to protect the business and 45,000 jobs. Amplats on Monday unveiled its first ever annual loss.
"The industry is not in a sustainable position and Anglo American Platinum is not," she said.
"The market outlook has changed. A few years ago, all of us in the industry were forecasting 3 to 4 percent growth and now it is 2.5 percent, starting with Europe, which takes about 30 percent of platinum, and has contracted."
Carroll declined to comment on talks towards the sale of Amplats' Union mine.
(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Ed Stoddard; Editing by Mark Potter)


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$50,000 to help innovators, both commercial and social. Submit your idea to the We Media PitchIt Challenge by 9 pm 13 March 2012 and get a chance to win one of two $25,000 awards to build out your vision. Time is short, but if you can mobilize your supporter today you can get to the next round by community votes. (Submit your idea — rules/faqs)
Check out some of the ideas that have been submitted (they are broken out into commercial and non profit — #socent #socinn):
Review+: Review+ helps local businesses generate qualified prospects by leveraging their satisfied customers to build trust and awareness for them. Customer reviews are posted real-time, both on the customer's Facebook wall, and on the vendor's own website. What makes this possible is our proprietary remote content delivery system that offers a scalable mechanism to publish fresh and optimized content to the vendor website in real-time, with no manual intervention from the vendor.
Enable U: People with disabilities graduate college 10% less often and find employment 32% less often than people without disabilities. There are many businesses that want to hire more students with disabilities and would be happy to sponsor a non-profit program that helps diversify their workforce. Enable U will increase graduation rates and job placement rates by pairing disabled college students with peer mentors in their first & last semesters.
Radmatter: RadMatter innovates campus recruiting with best practices from leading online, social games – from World of Warcraft to Farmville. Our wildly captivating candidate experience provides intrinsic and extrinsic rewards related to winning career opportunities. RadMatter is important for society and the economy. We foster a happier, more engaged workforce in the the right jobs with the right companies.


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Bradley-Morris offers exclusive career opportunities to professionals with U.S. military experience only. If your earliest start date is within 90 days and you meet the requirements listed in the job description, please apply. Want to skip the search? Fill out a profile and our team will send you the jobs that are the best match via email or text.
Commissioning Engineer
Near Major Airport, NE US
Job Description
This client is a leader in the inspection space, that was founded in 1820s and has over $5billion in annual revenue and over 78K employees. The do everything from specialized testing, inspection, and certification, and they operate in a variety of sectors, including building and infrastructure, agri-food, and commodities, marine and offshore, industry, certification and consumer products.
This specific side of their business is looking for Commissioning Engineers for their data center inspection/testing services. Their hiring manager is prior military and looking to bring on solid technical minded folks whom they can train into their roles. In this role, you and a team will travel to data centers across the country and help commission their centers. This is role does demand some high travel; standard travel is via air to a location for 2 weeks, then back home for a week, then back out for two weeks. Kind of like a mini deployment.
Specifically, they want those with the following personality traits: critical thinking, problem solving, smooth under pressure, show up on time, work until the job/mission is complete, can work in a fast-paced environment.
Technical backgrounds: They like all military backgrounds, so if you are one of the following, you're a fit: mechanics (MM, Nuke MM, AD, GSM, Aircraft Mechs); Electrical (EM, Nuke EM, GSE, AE, power pros - those with motors, controls, power distro); electronics (ET, FC, sonar techs, avionics techs.)
Salary is DOE for folks transitioning out of the military; higher for folks who have some industry experience.
Locations: Wants folks based in San Antonio, Northern Virginia, or Iowa.
Job 54289


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In high school, the teachers are always saying that college professors
lecture hall style
won't slow down for the students, won't pay attention to if you're there or not, and certainly won't make any sort of exceptions for late work. However, when I arrived at FIT, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice and caring all of my professors are! Now, admittedly I am not in any courses (my school is way too small for that!) so I don't know how professors are in larger classes, but in all of my courses my professors genuinely want to know all of us students by name—and it is awesome!
To anyone who's accustomed to going in for extra help after
school, or likes to ask a lot of questions in class, I would suggest going to a
school like FIT were there is a small number (if not zero) lecture hall
courses. I am in a traditional classroom for all of my classes (the picture shows an average class at my school!), all of my professors take the time to answer
any questions students might have, and they're always emailing us PowerPoints
or articles relevant to what we're currently learning in class. The only slight
downside to having professors who care so much about my education is that they definitely notice when I'm not in class.
However, since I am paying to go to
school, that's really more of a good thing—it lowers the temptation to stay in
bed instead of waking up for my 8 am class!
Obviously, I feel like I'm pretty lucky to go to a small
school where twenty is the average number of students in a class and it's very
easy for professors to have a more personal relationship with students. If
you're not as lucky as me, you can still get your professor to know who you are
and help you out, even if you are one student in a class of one hundred. Go up to your professor after class or see
them during office hours, introduce yourself, and ask them lots of questions.
No matter what the rumor is, professor's love to help their students out—no
matter the class size!


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My sister just upgraded her personal laptop and asked me to take care of loading it with Office. Perfect timing! The new cloud-based Office 365 is being released to the public today. It's sold as a subscription, starting at $100 annually (or $10/month). While annual payment may come as a shock, the platform provides the flexibility you need for today's lifestyle. The new subscription gives you the ability to install Office on up to five PCs, Macs, and Windows tablets, instead of just one device.
In today's digital world, families share computers and mobile devices, and most individuals aren't tethered to a single device as they were in the past. Take my sister for instance - she has her new MacBook Air for home use, a PC at the school where she works, and a tablet for home and travel. One person with three devices is no longer atypical. I clearly have my sister beat, but it's not really a fair competition given my job!
Since the new edition of Office is cloud-based, it's constantly updated - so you'll never have to buy a new edition or upgrade. Each family member can set up his or her own profile and have default settings across devices. Another benefit of cloud-based computing is that even if you're using a PC without Office installed, you can still stream a full-featured Office app if your PC is Internet connected (running Win 7 or 8) with Office on Demand. With cloud computing, you can open up a document across devices, picking up wherever you were last. You no longer have to worry about whether or not you emailed yourself the report you were working on since the new Office saves items on your SkyDrive account. (You can also opt to save them locally.) And with the subscription service you get 20+ GB free storage on SkyDrive.
More From Good Housekeeping
Pricing and structuring aside, the new Office suite has lots of fun new improvements. I've been using the preview version for several months and here are a few of my fave finds:
- Word is getting friendlier. The new reading view "read mode" provides a nicer layout for reading documents. It allows you to become more immersed in the document without the distractions of formatting toolbars. Reviewing documents has also been streamlined - no longer do you have the annoyance of surrounding comments. I used to go back and forth with my editors or colleagues, but this made the document messy and difficult to follow. Comments can now be threaded, so they're more contextually relevant and the document is visually cleaner. You can also mark comments as done, so they're collapsed and grayed out but accessible if you ever need them.
- Excel is getting easier. Anybody else love Excel or is it just me? Any time I learn a new Excel tool I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. While you may not get quite the same kick out of Excel formulae, you'll probably enjoy new tools that make it easier to work on spreadsheets. Introducing Flash Fill - a new tool that predictively fills in data when it recognizes you're entering repetitive or formulaic data. Quick Analysis is another great new tool that lets you add visuals more easily. It's basically one-click access to all things visual.
- PowerPoint is getting smarter. PowerPoint mavens, you'll enjoy the new Presenter View, which you can think of as mission control headquarters. It clearly shows you what the audience will see, what your next slide is, and any notes for the slide you're currently presenting. You can pull up a laser pointer or highlighter and keep a running timer at top. And as in Word, there are now threaded comments to allow for more discreet viewing. Tools you may be familiar with from other apps, like merging shapes and eyedropper for matching colors, have also finally found their way to PowerPoint.
- Outlook is getting more accessible. Outlook has some updates as well. I really like the new quick action access on the right that puts all of your tasks a click away. In-line replies allow you to contextually know what you're responding to and you can easily pop out for full editing features if you so choose. Another cool new feature is the ability to prompt you if it sees you're sending an email that references an attachment but forgot to attach it. In this iteration of Outlook, email is no longer dedicated to a single form of communication. It's integrated with social networks, so you can see what's going on with your contacts in LinkedIn or Facebook.
- OneNote is getting cooler. If you haven't discovered them yet, OneNote digital notebooks are a useful and sometimes fun tool. They're great for journaling, chronicling projects, or classroom note-taking. A bunch of templates are already set up that can make house hunting easier or streamline your next trip.
For those of you who only need a single-device, you can still buy traditional Office suites, starting at $139.99. Considering that the Office 365 Home Premium subscription is $99.99 annually for up to 5 devices at a time (you can change devices when you want), it seems like the better value to me!
Rachel Rothman (she/her) is the chief technologist and executive technical director at the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she oversees testing methodology, implementation and reporting for all GH Labs. She also manages GH's growing research division and the analysis of applicants for the GH Seal and all other testing emblems. During her 15 years at Good Housekeeping, Rachel has had the opportunity to evaluate thousands of products, including toys and cars for GH's annual awards programs and countless innovative breakthroughs in consumer tech and home improvement.


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Get in touch
"From temporary air-conditioning for a school, to powering a whole city after an earthquake, we can help you provide essential services for people who need them."
Rapid response to your needs
Our government is responsible for some of the most important services we need. From education and transportation, to national grids and military services, they need reliable power, cooling, heating, and dehumidification equipment to keep these crucial amenities available.
We step in to bridge the gap when a power grid needs a boost, support you during routine maintenance of your own equipment, or deploy the generators needed to run military camps.
And because we keep our equipment on standby at our locations around the world, we can fly them to you quickly —no matter how isolated your operation.
Keeping the lights on for your communities
From temporary air-conditioning for a school or office, to powering a whole city after an earthquake, we can help you provide essential services for people who need them. We design, install, and run temporary power plants following any natural disaster, or supplement your local grid when you need to upgrade or maintain your own utilities.
Need support with contingency plans helping you respond quickly to unplanned outages? Our engineers will meet with you to assess the risks you'd face if your utilities failed, then create a practical plan that we can put into action at a moment's notice.
And if an emergency happens, we can be with you in hours. Just give us a call and we'll airlift our generators, HVAC, and dehumidifiers to your site, from one of our 204 locations around the world.
Military services and peacekeeping operations
The unique challenges faced by military services and peacekeeping missions are unending. We help you to run operations, while keeping people safe and healthy. We can support you with power and climate-control equipment for:
- Supplementing shore power and chilling water for naval vessel operating systems while in port.
- Controlling humidity levels for weapons storage or navigation equipment.
- Testing equipment performance by simulating adverse conditions, from sub-zero to desert.
- Field hospitals, including operating theaters.
- Base camp accommodation and dining facilities.
We can also provide temporary power, cooling, heating, and dehumidification while you carry out routine maintenance to your own equipment, or load-banks for power supply testing.
"This rapid deployment demonstrated the company's flexibility and ability to rapidly respond to their client's needs."
Tell us what you need
Get in touch and we'll help find what's right for you


text: The website will be temporarily shut down Wednesday night January 26th in anticipation of a server transfer. This is a project that has been in the works for quite some time now and will lead to a much improved site for the future. The site should be up and running on Thursday. We appreciate your patience during this time of transition.


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Using McDonalds' As Pizza Toppings
My friend Richard sent me these photos tonight, saying
"I don't know where these came from but they're going around the
net. If you haven't seen them already, I know you will enjoy them. Don't ask questions, just marvel."
And marvel I did. My God. Have a look – ingredients and buildup here, the shocking conclusion after the jump.
When I worked as a pizza cook we deep-fried everything: cucumbers, strawberries, a pencil. Once I battered and deep-fried some bacon and topped pizza with it. And yeah, it was both gut-curdling and awesome. But this. This is something else entirely. We never would have thought to put cheeseburgers, fries, and McNuggets on a pizza.
This is a culinary Frankenstein cooked by Bizarro, a crude combination of deliciousness into an artery-jamming fatty Voltron.
The thing is, I would totally eat it. You would, too, stop lying. The cheeseburger parts, the McNuggets — you know that'd be tasty. The fries might be the sleeper hit. If this thing were in my house, I'd totally roll my eyes and groan and make a big stink. Then my curiosity would get the better of me and I'd sneak a bite when nobody was around. And I mean, you can tell it tastes pretty good.
If nobody were home for a day or so, I know I'd end up eating the whole thing, morsel by greasy morsel. It's the food equivalent of a Real Doll — a revolting, plastic, desperate experience that would just rope you in with tractor beams powered by an evil curiosity.
Maybe that's what the pistol's for. Not to avoid the inevitable heart attack, but as an easy way out from the SHAME of it all.
UPDATE: Looking for dessert…?


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Boy, 2, dies after being struck by pickup truck
Family says Malachi Bennett was running for daddy when he was hit
A 2-year-old boy was struck and killed by a pickup truck in Delray Beach.
Malachi Bennett was outside with his mother and grandmother when he thought his father was nearby. Family members said he got excited and ran into the road as a truck was driving by.
Bennett was struck near the intersection of Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Seventh Street about 4 p.m. Monday.
Get Breaking News Emails | Mobile
The boy's family drove him to Bethesda Medical Center, but he was then rushed to Delray Medical Center, where he died.
Margorie Thompson is Bennett's grandmother. She was outside when he was struck.
"I heard the sound and I looked and there he was," she said.
Annette Potts is a cousin. She said family members are leaning on their faith to help them cope.
"We know God is in control and we know that he don't make any mistakes," Potts said.
Investigators are not releasing the name of the driver, but they said he doesn't face any charges.
Potts told WPBF 25 News that the man who was behind the wheel lives in the neighborhood. She described him as a good Christian and called this just a tragic accident.


text:
This is the sixth year of Diabetes Blog Week, started by Karen over at Bitter~Sweet Diabetes. All of us diabetes bloggers are given a subject to write about each day during this week, and after we publish each day's installment, we'll go back and link our posts on her site. Want to know more? CLICK HERE.
This is day two of our seven day labor of love. Our topic today:
Keep it to Yourself.
Many of us share lots of aspects of our diabetes lives online for the world to see. What are some of the aspects of diabetes that you choose to keep private from the internet? Or from your family and friends? Why is it important to keep it to yourself? (This is not an attempt to get you out of your comfort zone. There is no need to elaborate or tell personal stories related to these aspects. Simply let us know what kinds of stories we will never hear you tell, and why you won't tell them.) (Thank you Scott E of Rolling in the D for this topic.)
Well, as usual, that's a great premise Scott. In fact, there are two things that I never share with everyone.
One of those things is my latest A1c result. This stems from some discussions that occurred within the Diabetes Online Community (or DOC) a couple of years ago, when people (people like me) would post what their A1c result was, and then some others in the DOC would feel like failures by comparing their numbers to mine.
Hey look, it's not that I never tell what my A1c might be. But the fact is, since then, I haven't revealed my A1c results right after the results come back from the lab.
Because, really, why? It's just a number, there's a lot that goes into it that might not be known, and saying how great my A1c is means I may not be telling the entire truth.
Which leads me to the second thing that I almost never share with anyone…
I have been through a fair amount (read: a LOT) of hypoglycemic moments in the past few years. I haven't managed to have many really bad moments, but I still have been low more often than I would like. More often than I can count.
So, at least in a couple of cases, my terrific A1c results had to have been partly due to the fact that I was low a lot, which means I tiptoed on the line of heart damage, killing off brain cells, you name it, just so that every 90 day number looked good. It wasn't a conscious thing. I just hate how I feel when I'm high, way more than I hate how I feel when I'm low. So I've done a lot to avoid being high. Which means I've gone low a lot. Which… well, you get the picture.
And here's a bonus thing for you: I'm not sure I've been completely honest with my endocrinologist about this. Admitting this now kinda sucks, because I have my regular appointment with her on Thursday, and if she reads this before our appointment, it may not go so well.
But… there is some truth in the knowledge that admitting your problems is the first step on the road to being better. I've proven that I can get my A1c down to an awesome number. Now I need to prove I can do it by staying in a safe range more often, rather than evening out highs with deep lows.
Such a thing seems incredibly difficult to me now. But you know what? I am worth the effort. Whatever you're dealing with… You are worth the effort too. Every time.


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Free is well on its way to becoming a sustainable business model for companies that make money by giving something away. Beyond the gimmickry and the academic discussion, companies that are serious about testing the waters of Free often benefit from a set of rules and principles important to its successful application.
Stop us if you've heard this one before. A business is giving products away. When a surprised customer asks how the company can make money distributing free products, the answer is familiar: "We make it up in volume."
With more and more companies adopting Free as a preferred pricing strategy, some executives aren't laughing at this old joke so much as they're taking it to heart. Free is well on its way to becoming a sustainable, meat-and-potatoes business model for companies that make money by giving something away.
Software and Web-based companies were among the first to blaze the Free trail, and their successes have become legendary. Flickr's photo hosting. Blogger. Craig's List. Skype. Facebook. And more. But many think these are just the beginning of a dramatic and fundamental shift in pricing, with more traditional companies already jumping on the bandwagon.
Chris Anderson's Free: The Past and Future of a Radical Price (2009) has only served to amplify broader interest in the zero-price phenomenon. Anderson sparked a wide-ranging debate, leaving some critics to conclude that Free is merely a business fad. But the business world has shown a sustained interest in Free, sometimes going boldly where none have gone before. Verizon Wireless, for example, has partnered with HP to offer customers free HP Netbook computers, powered by Verizon software and Wi-Fi services. Meanwhile, books such as Jeff Jarvis's What Would Google Do? (2009) provide provocative glimpses into a future where Free is the norm.
It's one thing to speculate about Free as an intellectual exercise. What if you stopped charging for your products? How would competitors react? How would finance react? What would be your next move? But when the speculation ends, companies that are serious about testing the waters of Free often benefit from a set of rules and principles important to its successful application.
For companies in many industries, it's tempting to write Free off as a technology industry trend or intellectual exercise not worth serious consideration. But there are a handful of potent forces that are rapidly changing the marketplace in almost every sector of the economy.
There is a concerted effort underway by many retailers to shift consumers' shopping habits from brick-and-mortar buildings to an online experience. Some retailers are offering products on their sites that aren't available in their stores. Others are offering services online that were previously considered to be the hallmarks of a great in-person experience – consider Levi's "digital fitting experience" for women looking for the perfect jeans.
While these companies aren't necessarily giving everything away online, this shift is creating a fundamentally different dynamic for companies that have been doing things the same way for years.
Free pricing strategies have made inroads beyond the expected domain of information and technology providers, and arguably businesses with more traditional products and services may be just as likely to benefit from Free in the future. Take one of the largest, most expensive "traditional" items consumers purchase routinely – the automobile. Could cars be free? Here's a quick look at ways it could work:
Fuel companies give away free cars, with the agreement that the driver uses the company's fuel exclusively. The cars come loaded with software that reports fuel sources and usage to the sponsoring company, and drivers are docked with penalties if a competitor's fuel is detected. In exchange, the fuel company has monopolized sales for an entire fleet of cars, securing a steady, predictable source of revenue.
Auto manufacturers provide free basic cars as teasers, offering options to upgrade to premium models for a fee.
A beverage company gives away a limited number of free cars in exchange for product placements, with the cars serving as mobile billboards in key target markets.
Hungry for data to inform the next breakthrough in auto design, manufacturers offer free cars and collect data from the automobiles to inform R&D efforts. As part of the deal, drivers agree to be monitored for driving patterns, energy consumption and the like.
Instead of offering a standard three-year lease on a car, the manufacturer offers a fourth year for free.
Manufacturers microtarget key influencers and other valuable demographics and pay them to drive the car on a mileage or usage basis.
Consumers have more tools than ever for comparing information on products and services. Today, a consumer can walk into a store, point her phone at a product's barcode, and instantly download competitive pricing and product information to inform her purchasing decision. This spread of information on the Web means more cutthroat competition on a range of battlegrounds – especially the battleground of pricing.
Stop for a moment and think about all the things you're able to get for free today that would have cost you only a few years ago. Phone calls. Videos. Maps. Product information. Networking for careers, friends, dates and so forth. We take these things for granted today, making it hard to remember what it was like before we had them available at a moment's notice, for free. While it's tempting to say that it starts and ends with information services, it's clear that the psychology of Free refuses to be contained in the "online information" box. Consumers don't live in such a neatly partitioned world. The psychology of Free is already spreading to products and services that we always assumed would cost something.
Every year we hear new variations on the theme of how younger generations have grown up using technology that is still relatively new to older users. Digital media players. Social networking. Smartphones. While it's not a technology, Free has a place on the list as well. Younger users are more accustomed to having free access to television programs, music, videos, transportation services, health insurance and more. They expect a wider range of products and services to be free—not just TV and radio—even as those products and services are subsidized by others. The impact of this generational perspective is only just beginning to be felt in the world of pricing.
A physical product is just the most visible link in a long value chain. And while it's the only link most consumers really care about, behind the scenes there is a long list of providers and partners who are rethinking how they can work together to offer more value to the consumer. In some cases, their survival depends on working as partners rather than adversaries.
In the consumer packaged goods industry, for example, where trade promotions rule the day, retailers and manufacturers share point-of-sale data that can open up new opportunities for everyone – not only retailers. And it's not just the current value chain that can spawn innovative new partnerships. Companies that provide aftermarket or complementary goods and services may also have a role to play. All of this can translate into real innovation on the pricing front. Because while the marginal cost of a product may never reach $0.00, free pricing strategies may be within reach through partnerships with other companies.
Where does scale have the biggest impact on the value chain? Who benefits the most? The manufacturer? The retailer? The distributor? Understanding scale in this dimension can change the equation for everyone involved in delivering a product to the market. It can even lead to redefining the current value chain, bringing new networks, platforms or partnerships into the fold that are willing to pay for access to another company's customer base. And that means it's not just the retailer that has an interest in innovating on pricing. In fact, it could be the manufacturer (or the retailer, or another third party with no current ties to the value chain) that stands to benefit the most, changing the partnership dynamic altogether.
While Free can take many forms in practice, there are several proven models already in place today:
Cross-subsidies: Loss leaders generate sales for profitable products
Advertising: Advertisers gain access to a larger audience attracted by Free
Freemium: Basic free services are subsidized by others paying for premium services. Flickr, Skype, and The New York Times all employ freemium strategies.
Labor exchange: Consumers perform value-generating tasks every time they use or access the product or service
Deferred free: Companies drive current sales on the promise of Free offerings at a later date.
Loyalty programs are a common example.
Less than free: Companies pay consumers to use their product. Today, Google is essentially paying carriers to use their mobile operating system.*
*Source: Bill Gurley's "Above the Crowd" blog, www.abovethecrowd.com
Free strategies target the same fundamental business goals as any other pricing strategy. There are several reasons companies have embraced Free as a strategy. Among these:
There may be no faster way to introduce new products and services than by giving them away. That's one reason cable companies offer free limited trials of premium content to basic subscribers, for instance. Free can also be used to reintroduce consumers to an existing brand, as shown by Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has given away free beer as part of its "Grab some Buds" campaign to revitalize its flagship brand, Budweiser.1
Nothing is really free. Companies that employ Free strategies are simply transferring cost and value to different parts of the value chain – or to a different time in the revenue cycle.
More customers drive more revenue opportunities – and more incentives for others to pay for access to your markets. Free can be a powerful way to build a base of users who could be converted to paying customers in the future. But pulling this lever requires extreme caution. It can erode profitability in the short term while you're waiting for other revenue streams to kick in. Whether this approach works or not hinges on the product strategy itself. Products or services that rely on the network effect to reach critical scale are well-suited to this model. That's why mobile phone operators began offering free mobile-to-mobile network calling for friends and family.
Free can completely change the game for competitors, catching them off-guard and forcing them to rethink their strategies while you gain market share. Along the way, it opens the door to uncharted market territory. First movers who deploy a Free strategy are also at an advantage to negotiate strategic deals that further rewire industry and product category dynamics.
Information providers already know how Free holds the potential to upend an entire category. Just ask encyclopedia publishers who are still trying to make sense of a Wikipedia world, or GPS makers struggling to compete with the free functionality provided by Google Maps on mobile devices. For nontechnology businesses, Free holds the same potential, even if it's largely untapped today. Best to be prepared with offensive and defensive strategies that identify potential new sources of revenue and the key partnerships that would have to be in place to make it happen.
Consumers who benefit from free products or services have a proven proclivity to stick with their providers for the long haul. For an example, look no further than the airline industry, which deployed a loyalty model that has grown into its own cottage industry – and has been replicated by companies ranging from supermarkets to pharmacies.
Technology, media and telecommunications companies dominate the list of pioneers in zero pricing due to their ability to use the Internet as a virtually zero-cost distribution channel. But companies in more traditional industries are working to find ways to make Free work elsewhere. Here are examples of companies that are using Free to create business advantage in unexpected places.
With renewable energy sources such as solar enjoying a surge of interest among the public, energy utilities like the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) are looking for new ways to harness this interest in the future. But without a large footprint of existing solar users, information on how consumers use it and the impact usage has on providers is scarce. So APS created a program that provides free solar panels to consumers in exchange for rich data regarding usage. The insights gleaned from this valuable information will be used to support the future expansion of solar energy products and services. It may also help consumers overcome their aversion to being early adopters.
In the world of consumer electronics, service providers and manufacturers are often joined at the hip, opening the door to pricing innovations. One recent example comes from Verizon, working with HP and Cisco. In an attempt to take market share from cable providers, Verizon launched a promotion that put a new Compaq Mini netbook (HP) or Flip Ultra camcorder (Cisco) in the hands of users who signed up for the company's voice and high speed Internet service. When service is so closely intertwined with physical products, Free can be a powerful differentiator.
Business leaders tend to have two fundamental assumptions about pricing changes of any sort. First, changes can have a significant impact on revenue, and second, they're enormously complex to pull off. These are doubly true when navigating through the transition toward Free, making it even more important to go in with the right set of assumptions – and to operate according to clearly defined rules.
Free must be part of a well-researched, comprehensive program, identifying both expected outcomes and potential unintended consequences. If your company can pull off a Free strategy, so can your biggest competitor.
It's often more about making smart strategic trade-offs. When considering the move to Free, be sure to think beyond the short-term impact on the bottom line and consider what is valuable to your business, in addition to revenue. For many companies, a rich flow of information is one of the most precious resources they have today, whether this comprises consumer insights, R&D inputs or something else entirely. This information, delivered in a timely fashion, gives management the ability to consider and make strategic tradeoffs that were previously made only on the basis of intuition, experience and gut-level reactions. For others, brand value and reputation are the big concerns. Free can deliver real value in unexpected areas, but it can also potentially destroy value if not fully thought through.
While the moment at which a consumer purchases a product or service is extremely important, there is a broader value chain leading up to that moment – a network of contributors and partners that the customer rarely sees. Make sure that all the participants in the value chain take on their fair share of responsibility—and get their fair share of the benefits—from Free. Doing that requires a clear, shared sense of responsibility from everyone in the organization. One of the biggest pitfalls of promotional programs occurs when the program costs one part of the organization or value chain while benefiting another. A smart Free strategy recognizes who will benefit and spells out how those benefits need to be shared in order to induce the right behavior. Start by finding out if any of your top suppliers are exploring the possibilities of Free.
Many companies have advanced tools in place for identifying exactly which of their customers and prospects are the best candidates for Free pricing. Who's most receptive? Who would be most profitable? Not all Free customers are alike, and their needs may change over the course of the product life cycle. That's where segmentation capabilities come into play, allowing companies to tailor their Free sales and marketing strategies to deliver the maximum impact – and to predict future changes in behavior that might affect their choices today. Be sure your organization has robust segmentation capabilities before considering a program like Free. Without effective, actionable segmentation, the potential benefits from Free become a hope, not a plan.
Give away the wrong services and you could inadvertently train customers to expect more value than you can deliver. Monitoring needs to be formal, consistent and actionable. And the organization has to be ready to take quick action when the time is right.
Free must be part of a well-researched, comprehensive program, identifying both expected outcomes and potential unintended consequences. If your company can pull off a Free strategy, so can your biggest competitor. In fact, it can be easy for them to emulate after your first-mover advantage has faded. The long-term success of Free depends on the plan that snaps into place after it's been unleashed. Free is only the opening salvo of a longer-term battle for profitability and market share – not a "fire and forget" program. Nor can Free be done without considering other promotional activities and potential impact to the perceived value of your products or services.
Nothing is really free. Companies that employ Free strategies are simply transferring cost and value to different parts of the value chain – or to a different time in the revenue cycle. Recognizing where products are in their life cycle, how fast those life cycles move, and how your product life cycles compare to the competition's is the required first step in evaluating any promotional activity, but it's especially important for a program as potentially disruptive as Free. As an example, your company may offer a product for free early in its life cycle to drive penetration and market share, expecting consumers to pay for it later, or to pay for a closely related product or service. Conversely, for a product set with rapid life cycles, giving away product that will fast become obsolete can offer a solution for old inventory and, often, actually extend that product's life cycle beyond original expectations.
When it works, Free alters the dynamics of entire product categories and even industries, often in ways that no company can fully predict. Leaders constantly monitor changes in the marketplace and adapt quickly to keep riding the wave, rather than getting swept away in the undertow. This is particularly important when considering all the unintended or undesirable customer behaviors that a Free program could spur. Give away the wrong services and you could inadvertently train customers to expect more value than you can deliver. Monitoring needs to be formal, consistent and actionable. And the organization has to be ready to take quick action when the time is right.
Technology firms and information providers have given the broader business world a window into the world of Free, generating valuable insights that can be applied to other companies, regardless of industry. Many signs point to a groundswell of interest in Free in some very unlikely places, and the new adopters of Free are beginning to take these lessons to heart.
This is not the type of change that evolves slowly, giving companies ample time to respond. The first-mover advantage that comes with Free is strong. If it happens in your industry, it will probably look more like a tsunami than a gradual rising of the tide. That's why it can pay to begin planning now – sketching out alternative scenarios, creating contingency plans, or mapping your own course to change the game with Free. Because when the music stops, you want to be sure you have a seat at the Free table.


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(see story). It represented some scary malware firsts and is likely a harbinger of worms to come. IT professionals need to understand Witty and what it did.
Witty was the first worm to target a particular set of security products -- in this case Internet Security System's BlackICE and RealSecure. It infected and destroyed only computers that had particular versions of this software running.
A few things we learned from this worm:
Witty was wildly successful. Twelve thousand machines was the entire vulnerable and exposed population, and Witty infected them all -- worldwide -- in 45 minutes. It's the first worm that quickly corrupted a small population. Previous worms targeting small populations such as Scalper and Slapper were glacially slow.
Witty was speedily written. Security company eEye Digital Security discovered the vulnerability in ISS's BlackICE/RealSecure products on March 8, and ISS released a patched version on March 9. EEye published a high-level description of the vulnerability on March 18. On the evening of March 19, about 36 hours after eEye's public disclosure, the Witty worm was released into the wild.
Witty was very well written. It was less than 700 bytes long. It used a random-number generator to spread itself, avoiding many of the problems that plagued previous worms. It spread by sending itself to random IP addresses with random destination ports, a trick that made it easier to sneak through firewalls. It was -- and this is a very big deal -- bug-free. This strongly implies that the worm was tested before release.
Witty was released cleverly, through a bot network of about 100 infected machines. This technique has been talked about before, but Witty marks the first time we've seen a worm do it in the wild. This, along with the clever way it spread, helped Witty infect every available host in 45 minutes.
Witty was exceptionally nasty. It was the first widespread worm that destroyed the hosts it infected. And it did so cleverly. Its malicious payload, erasing data on random accessible drives in random 64KB chunks, caused immediate damage without significantly slowing the worm's spread.
What do we make of all this? Clearly the worm writer is an intelligent and experienced programmer; Witty is the first worm to combine this level of skill with this level of malice. Either he had inside advance knowledge of the vulnerability -- it is unlikely that he reverse-engineered it from the ISS patch -- or he worked very quickly. Maybe he had the worm written and just dropped the vulnerability in at the last minute. In any case, he seems to have deliberately targeted ISS. If his goal had been maximum spread, he could have waited for a more general vulnerability -- or series of vulnerabilities -- to use. The one he chose was optimized to inflict maximum damage on a specific set of targets. Was the attack against ISS, or against a particular user of ISS products? We don't know.
Witty represents a new chapter in malware. If it had used common Windows vulnerabilities to spread, it would have been the most damaging worm we have seen yet. Worm writers learn from each other, and we have to assume that other worm writers have seen the disassembled code and will reuse it in future worms. Even worse, Witty's author is still unknown and at large -- and we have to assume that he's going to do this kind of thing again.
More information: www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~nweaver/login_witty.txt
Bruce Schneier is chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security Inc. and the author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World. He can be reached at www.schneier.com.


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The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) in an attempt to discredit a NAACP report this week on the lack of voter fraud evidence has bolstered the view that there is no need for voter ID laws, imposed by many states. The RNLA produced data showing 46 states and various convictions for voter fraud. Presumably by their absence, 4 states and the District of Columbia had no convictions.
Viewing the data for the period 2000-2010, the report by its own account shows there is no link between voter fraud in states and the need for stricter voter ID laws. The data shows that during the entire 10 year period, 21 states had only 1 or 2 convictions for some form of voter irregularity. And some of these 21 states have the strictest form of voter ID laws based on a finding of 2 or less convictions in ten years. Five states had a total of three convictions over a ten year period. Rhode Island had 4 convictions for the same 10 years. Taking a close look at the RNLA data shows 30 states, including the District of Columbia had 3 or less voter fraud convictions for a 10 year period.
Voter ID laws enacted now in over half the states, require voters to present some form of identification as a requirement to vote. Fourteen states require a government issued photo ID when voting in person. At the time of registering to vote, other states like Kansas and Alabama further demand proof of citizenship beyond the federal legal requirement that citizens swear they are citizens. Kansas had one conviction for voter fraud in ten years; Alabama had three convictions in the same time period. During the 2011 legislative session, five states -- Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina -- joined Georgia and Indiana by enacting the strictest form of photo ID requirement for voters, and most of these newest changes will first come into effect for the 2012 elections.
The RNLA says the voter ID laws are needed to prevent against double voting, non-citizen voting, fictitious voter registration and voter impersonation. To hear Republicans tell the tale, one would think there has been massive voter/election fraud necessitating the need for stricter voter ID laws across the country. Now the Republicans' own data dispels their rampant voter fraud myth. A closer scrutiny of the RNLA data shows voter fraud has no correlation to needing strict voter ID laws.
In the states with higher convictions of improper voting, most involved voters improperly filling out registration forms, vote buying or a person with a felony conviction attempting to vote. Vote buying occurs when a voter is paid or offered money for their vote. Neither of these issues would be prevented by state photo ID requirement. While the RNLA data shows 17 cases of non-citizen voting convictions over 10 years in Florida and one in both Alaska and Illinois, this hardly justifies the requirement of proof of citizenship requirement.
The GOP and conservative groups fought to enact strict voter ID laws in more than 30 states. According to George Washington University law professor, Spencer Overton, a former member of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, "the existing evidence suggests that the type of fraud addressed by photo ID requirements is extraordinarily small and that the number of eligible citizens who would be denied their right to vote as a result... is exceedingly large." And now we see firsthand that the proof is in the pudding. And there's no proof to support the need for these voter ID laws.