text:
If there is a strike, traffic would be worse compared to the first strike. That's if you can use a car and if you can use other means of transportation. Some with long commutes rely entirely on BART.
According to a 2008 BART station profile study, five percent of weekday BART riders have some kind of disability.
"I use these elevators almost every night," said a wheelchair-bound commuter.
Now imagine someone like Lisa Maria Martinez not having this option to get to and from work.
"BART is really my only means of transportation," she said.
Martinez leaves Union City early in the morning. She has a 45 minute BART ride into San Francisco, where she works for Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
If BART trains were to stop running, it would take her about three hours to get to work.
"I have to take one bus to a second bus that takes me across the bay," Martinez said. "And then I have to walk to the Muni station and grab Muni and walk a greater distance than I normally do."
A BART strike would also affect families who have a long commute and don't own a car.
"Maybe go with my family in a whole car," BART rider Julieta Rivera said. "I don't know, I'm not sure."
"Honestly I don't really know how I would be able to get here to school every day," commuter Ronald Sigrist said.
A strike would come at a bad time as many prepare for school to begin. Sigrist rides BART from Oakland to City College of San Francisco. That's because the college offers veterans like him an outreach program and has a resource center.
"Without the Veterans Resource Center here I would be adrift at sea," he said. "I would not have a way to access my veterans benefit."
Sigrist say his education and the center are two things he cannot do without.
Stay with ABC7NEWS.COM for updates on the looming BART strike and information on how to get around if the trains stop running. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ and download our news app for the latest news whenever and wherever you want.


text:
News Headlines
Animal Concerns Community - Farewell - Animal Concerns Community (Animalconcerns org) will cease operation at the end of August ... (posted 08/14/2013 from Animalconcerns.org)
Canberra kangaroo cull falls just short of target - "We were having to run around and shine our torches and make noise and the ... (posted 08/01/2022 from Canberra Times)
More News Headlines | Discuss the News
learn about xml syndication
AR-News on the Web
A 7-day archive of the AR-News mailing list, hosted by EnviroLink.
Animal Concerns Forum
Join the discussion! Debate animal rights/welfare issues in the Animal Concerns Forum with other members of the community.
EnviroLink Network
Animal Concerns is a project of the EnviroLink Network, a non-profit organization which has been providing access to thousands of online environmental resources since 1991. Learn more about EnviroLink.
The Animal Concerns Community
The Animal Concerns Community is a project of the EnviroLink Network, a non-profit organization which has been providing access to thousands of online environmental and animal rights/welfare resources since 1991. This community serves as a clearinghouse for information on the Internet related to animal rights and welfare. If you know of resources that should be listed here, please suggest a new resource and help our community grow!
Resources by Category:
Actions You Can Take | Articles | Educational Resources | E-Mail Lists | Events | General Info | Government Resources | Jobs & Volunteering | Maps | Organizations | Publications | Resources for Non-Profits
New Links
Animal Concerns Community - Farewell (posted 08/14/2013 - Articles)
Stop REACH! No animal testing for a failed chemicals policy [Online PETITION] (posted 07/31/2013 - Actions You Can Take)
Someone, Not Something: Farm Animal Behavior, Emotion, and Intelligence (posted 07/29/2013 - Articles)
Nonhuman Rights Project (posted 07/17/2013 - Organizations)
Albany VegFest 2013 (posted 07/05/2022 - Events)
More new links

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Mountain Twin is our time tested directional twin designed for playful shredders who want one board that can ride-it-all. The Mountain Twin is built to shred the whole mountain like it's an endless skatepark without sacrificing float in pow or stability for bombing lines. Featuring blunted tips, a mid-stiff twin flex and a CamRock profile, the Mountain Twin excels at poppin' pillows and pressin' boxes while it's also an easy board to turn and finesse in tight terrain. Camber underfoot combined with Traction Tech 2.0 give the board snap and hold carving hard pack or boosting out of the halfpipe while the Mountain Twin's Mountain Core is specially profiled for unmatched torsional response between the feet.
Like a serrated knife slicing into the snow, Traction Tech improves your edge grip by adding multiple contact points along the running length of your board.
Traction Tech is a critical feature for rockered boards. Rocker improves glide in mixed conditions, but the decreased edge contact makes it harder to really lock
into your turns and hold a solid edge. Traction Tech is crucial to offset the edge drift of rocker. — Jeremy Jones
High Performance, Sustainably Made Gear
We design gear that balances performance, durability and sustainability. We strive to make equipment you can trust with the most eco-conscious materials possible. New for 2020, all our snowboards and splitboards are molded with Super Sap Bio-Resin.
Proud member of 1% For The Planet, we donate 1% of sales to fight climate change by supporting our non-profit partners Protect Our Winters and Community Carbon Trees.


text:
Posts Tagged 'jew'
I am afraid of Barbara Kay
Yes, I have reconsidered my decision to not pursue a debate with Barbara Kay. She called me a wimp and, in the words of the great teacher KRS-One, "if you call my name I come get that."
A double standard, Ms. Kay, is when you make a living out of denouncing what you perceive to be the racism at the core of the Separatist movement while at the same time write some of the most unilaterally chilling dismissal of an entire ethnic community, nay, culture, namely Arab, that I have ever read. Twice you have condemned Québec sympathies not for regimes, dictators or terrorist organizations, but "Arab countries".
Moral relativity, Ms. Kay, is when you condemn a so-called preoccupation by some Québec politicians for "ethnicity" while your writing is replete with a constant division of the citizens of Québec between "old-stock Quebecois", "Pure Laine" and the very eloquent: "by "we" I obviously mean anglos and ethnics". "Most educated Québécois are wonderful people to live amongst"( my italics), you wrote. Nobody is excluding you from the Québécois but yourself.
And by the way, God knows we've heard a lot of questionable ideas on religion, language and citizenship in the last few weeks, but who the hell is talking about ethnicity but you and my buddies at The Suburban?
Selective memory is when you write "it is only in Quebec that you find racist remarks coming from the mouths of so-called political leadership". Remember federal cabinet minister Doug Young telling Bloc MP Osvaldo Nunez to find himself another country? Or how about the uplifting anti-Québec political ads run by the parliamentary wing of your newspaper in 1997? Betty Granger's Asian invasion? Remember Reform MP Bob Kingma sending gays and "ethnics" "to the back of the shop"?
Hypocrisy is reaching far back into the past to a "long tradition of anti-Semitism in the discourse of French intellectuals from France"as proof of "the strains of racism that invariably accompany hardline separatists" and conveniently overlooking that the "principled Stephen Harper"'s (your words, not mine) own Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party struggled late into the 1990's to purge itself of the Heritage Front and Social Credit Party elements at it's root.
Yes I am afraid, Ms. Kay. I am afraid of people who holds someone guilty until proven innocent (how french a concept…) because of the accident of their culture and/or birthplace. I fear a culture in witch fast and easy logical leaps from French-speaking to Arab Francophonie to Rampant Anti-Semitism are not considered "in any way unusual or even highly provocative". I fear a climate where the cultural insecurities of provincial townspeople who wouldn't know a Jew from a Sikh from a Mormon are portrayed as proof of widespread organized projects of ethnic cleansing. I fear a country where you must subscribe to predetermined values determined by an arbitrary third party (pun intended) before you are allowed to seek public office or take part in a public demonstration.
I fear a time when what used to be passionate debate about political structures degenerate into politically motivated structured campaigns of fear. I fear that by engaging fear-mongers I feed the beast that I most fear.
I'll be out of the kitchen for a while, not because of the heat, but because I work for a living.
The Devil and Ms. Barbara Kay
Barbara Kay likes it both ways. One year ago in an infamous column in the National Post called The Rise of Quebecistan, she linked a Montreal march for peace in the Middle-East and "cultural and historical sympathy for Arab countries from the francophonie — Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon" as proof of rampant Quebec anti-semitism.
She now does a full 180 and in her October 31st column now accuses the Sovereignists and Pauline Marois of trying to stir up hate against the people that she herself, no just last year, was calling : "Hezbollah-supporting residents of southern Lebanon cash(ing) in on their Canadian citizenship and flee(ing) to the safety of Quebec".
Ms.Kay prides herself on having predicted last summer that "the Bouchard-Taylor Commission would likely stir up dormant sovereigntist mud at the bottom of what has been a relatively clear pond since the provincial Liberals took office in 2003″.
The proposed Quebec Identity Act was a ploy by Marois to stir up the dormant racism that Ms. Kay is convinced lies at the root of Quebec Separatism. "(…)she's planting seeds in the muck at the bottom of Quebec's political pond(…)"
While Barbara Kay was digging in the mud and muck at the bottom of Quebec pond looking for proof of Quebec racisim and bigotry, seven Chinese–Canadian fishermen were victims of violent racist attacks while fishing in southeastern Ontario. Andy Zhang, president of the Chinese Anglers Sports Club of Canada, said last week that many Asian fishermen have had rocks thrown at them, have been pushed off bridges and have had their gear thrown in the water." The RCMP is investigating the attacks.
So far no Quebec separatists seem to be involved. That's probably why Barbara Kay is not writting about this story.
"The devil is always on the lookout for the moral relativism that signals a latter-day Faust, and it seems he has found some eager recruits amongst Quebec's most prominent spokespeople," wrote Ms. Kay in The Rise of Quebecistan. I'm guessing she includes herself as one of these spokespeople…


text:
This article is more than 1 year old
Multi-sense VR helmet in development
The sights and sounds and - yes - the smells...
Forget 3D TV - a conglomerate of universities is developing a virtual reality headset that'll simultaneously stimulate all five senses to bring you the sights, smells, tastes, sounds and even feel of ancient Egypt, the Serengeti or Victorian Britain.
Virtual Cocoon: smell-o-vision and more
Called Virtual Cocoon, the headset will incorporate specially developed electronics and computing capabilities. Senses would be stimulated in such a way that the user would have a fully immersive perceptual experience in which they wouldn't be able to tell whether or not the experience is real, the developers claim.
A prototype headset was shown off at an event in London this week, but the real thing will be created by boffins from the universities of Bangor, Bradford and Brighton, working in conjunction with VR geeks from the universities of York and Warwick, who claim to have already pinpointed the necessary expertise to make the headset work.
Professor David Howard from York University said that "smell will be generated electronically". He hinted that the technique for smell delivery – developed by Warwick University – will also help to stimulate taste senses, because the two senses are so closely linked.
The final headset will be light and comfortable, apparently
A device will be placed in the user's mouth to stimulate a texture sensation, while "tactile devices" will help generate touch. Sight is - clearly - the easy bit.
The final headset will be light and comfortable, it's promised, when the VR gadget goes on sale, which could be within three to five years. ®


text:
Welcome to the Kilts & More Europe Online Shop
International Shipping - Worldwide !
We offer a comprehensive range of traditional highland wear and pipe band supplies. Donald McPhee and his team offer years of experience in tailor-made outfits for quality
conscious individuals and cater for the growing demands of the modern-day pipe band. We are the shop choice for thousands of customers worldwide who are looking for our
commitment, quality and customer service.
Our reputation is based on competence, reliability and honesty. You will be pleased to know that most of the products you find in
our online shop are in stock, enabling us to provide fast and efficient delivery. We hope you enjoy shopping with us.
Highland Wear
Our aim is to provide you with the traditional highland look you desire. Whether you are a pipe band member, an individual looking for an authentic Scottish outfit, or someone looking for a fashionable tartan garment. Our shop offers an exclusive range of products, from traditional hand-sewn kilts, to beautifully hand-crafted highland wear accessories. We take great pride in preserving the Scottish culture, offering only the highest quality goods for you to enjoy.
Purchasing a bagpipe is a very special occasion. At Kilts and More we want to ensure you are making the best investment possible. Our team offers years of experience in piping and bagpipe set-up. We aim to ensure that every bagpipe we send, is to the highest possible standard. In addition, we stock one of the most extensive ranges of bagpipe accessories available.
Scottish Drumming
We're passionate about the products and service we offer to snare, tenor, and bass drummers all over the world. We are official dealers for Andante, Pearl and Premier. In addition, we offer a wide variety of accessories from renowned brands such as Jim Kilpatrick, Tyfry, Remo, Bowfry, Hard Case, Protection Racket and many more!
Special offers
excl. VAT: 10,08 €


text:
ROME — President Barack Obama was once the biggest superstar on the international stage. On Thursday, he heads to the Vatican to benefit from the popularity of his replacement: Pope Francis.
Hey, if you're gonna be surpassed, might as well be by the Pope, but it must still be hard for the presidential ego to cope:
The visit is a rare chance for Obama to associate himself with a world leader whose cool factor far outweighs his own, and it comes at a critical time in his presidency. The White House is still recovering from what aides call a "lost year," and the president's job approval ratings at home are dipping to new lows.
Can we just sit back for a moment and relish that Politico must describe the Pope as having a "cool factor" that outstrips President Obama's? God is good and works in unexpected ways.
Obama will use the closely watched meeting to show how aligned he is with the pope on income inequality, poverty and immigration — issues important to both the White House and Democrats as they try to paint Republicans as insensitive to the needs of Americans before the upcoming midterms.
"He needs the Francis bump," said Chad Pecknold, a theology professor at The Catholic University of America.
Francis has a 76 percent approval rating among Americans, according to a Gallup poll published Wednesday. Obama's approval rating in the daily Gallup tracking poll was 42 percent.
Sure, they're totally in agreement when Obama's not shutting down the Little Sisters of the Poor by forcing them to pay for contraception.
The Pope is quite popular with the people, which means he's quite popular with politicians:
Pope Francis is fresh from turning down an invitation from Noah's marketing department to meet with the film's star, Russell Crowe, in an effort to boost pre-release interest among Catholics (I suspect, though we aren't usually the target audience for "Biblical" films, or for that matter, "Christian Rock" which can only be called "Rock" in the loosest sense of the term and if you consider Nickleback to be a legitimate inspiration for any musical movement).
Anyway, Pope Francis has already turned down one remarkable offer to be used as a pawn in a complex marketing strategy, so it only makes sense that the most attention whorish body in America outside of Hollywood would also make overtures for his attention. Yes, America, Congress has invited Pope Francis to speak, clearly believing they will not all shrivel and die in his presence as their demons leave them to pursue other activities, like lobbying.
Make it three complex marketing strategies, one of which was just harder to get out of.


text:
At Build Pizzeria Roma in Berkeley, diners have to work a little bit for their pizza.
The restaurant, which opened this month in downtown Berkeley, offers diners the chance to work side-by-site with chefs to build customized gourmet pizzas from scratch.
The restaurant bar also features Italian gastro pub fare and small plates. Build Pizzeria Roma was founded by a group of Napa Valley hospitality entrepreneurs, and Bay Area native Brian Langevin is head chef. The restaurant is at 2286 Shattuck Ave. and opens daily at 11:30 a.m.
Contact Heather Somerville at 925-977-8418. Follow her at Twitter.com/heathersomervil.


text:
The Targus Drifter II Laptop Backpack is designed to fit laptops with up to 16" screens. This backpack features two large compartments for storage including a padded laptop compartment that keeps the device secure and separate from other items carried in the case. The extremely thick padding on the back panel includes a large hidden zippered compartment and is strategically placed to provide lumbar support for your back. The heavily padded shoulder straps provide comfort for travel and include an elastic loop specifically designed to hold sunglasses on the shoulder strap. The main front compartment includes pockets for business cards; a mesh accessory pocket and key clip. A convenient soft; lined pocket is scratch-resistant to store fragile accessories such as glasses; and more. To keep files in order; the interior divider provides a safe place to store documents. Focusing on durability; the Drifter backpack features a weather-resistant bottom; thick industrial zipper pulls and a sturdy molded plastic handle supported by metal grommets and cabling. The Drifter Backpack offers a rugged case full of storage options and protective compartments for important devices.
Product Features:


text:
Do Americans hate football? Not regular football, of course. Not football as in first and ten, going long, late hits, special teams, pneumatic cheerleaders in abbreviated costumes, serial brain concussions—the game that every American loves, apart from a few, uh, soreheads. Not that one. The other one. The one whose basic principle of play is the kicking of a ball by a foot. The one that the rest of the world calls "football," except when it's called (for example) futbal, futball, fútbol, futebol, fotball, fótbolti, fußball, or (as in Finland) jalkapallo, which translates literally as "football." That one.
The question arises now—as it has arisen periodically for eight decades—on account of the World Cup, the quadrennial global tournament of the sport that goes here by the name of soccer. "Soccer," by the way, is not some Yankee neologism but a word of impeccably British origin. It owes its coinage to a domestic rival, rugby, whose proponents were fighting a losing battle over the football brand around the time that we were preoccupied with a more sanguinary civil war. Rugby's nickname was (and is) rugger, and its players are called ruggers—a bit of upper-class twittery, as in "champers," for champagne, or "preggers," for enceinte. "Soccer" is rugger's equivalent in Oxbridge-speak. The "soc" part is short for "assoc," which is short for "association," as in "association football," the rules of which were codified in 1863 by the all-powerful Football Association, or FA—the FA being to the U.K. what the NFL, the NBA, and MLB are to the U.S. But where were we? Ah, yes. Do Americans hate it? Soccer, that is?
Here's one plausible answer: we don't. The non-haters include the nearly twenty million of us who stayed indoors on a balmy Saturday afternoon to watch Ghana join England, Slovenia, and Algeria on this year's list of countries beaten or tied by the United States in the World Cup. We were disappointed—Ghana won, 2-1, sending our team home from South Africa. Still, 19.4 million, the number registered by the Nielsen ratings service, is a lot of people. It's not just more people than had ever watched a soccer game on American television before. It's also more people than, on average, watched last year's World Series games, which had the advantage of being broadcast live in prime time. It's millions more than watched the Kentucky Derby or the final round of the Masters golf tournament or the Daytona 500, the jewel in NASCAR's crown. And we don't just watch. We do. An estimated five million grownups play soccer in these United States on a regular basis. Kids are mad for it, especially little ones. More American children play it, informally and in organized leagues, than any other team sport.
Soccer may be an import, as is our entire nonaboriginal population, but it's well on its way to becoming as American as pizza, tacos, and French fries. (And motherhood: Sarah Palin notwithstanding, "soccer moms"—a term introduced to the political world in 1996, by a Republican consultant—are the proverbial key demographic.) Of course, soccer has its challenges here, many of them owing to its relative newness in the arena of American commerce. The enthusiasm of toddlers and post-toddlers is all very well, but, if that were enough to do the trick, Nike would have a division devoted to dodgeball. Compared with its established rivals, big-time soccer is ill suited to televisual exploitation. The game's continuous, almost uninterrupted flow of action denies it a steady supply of intervals for the advertising of beer and the fetching of same from the refrigerator. The expedient of selling space on the players' bodies—plastering their uniforms with corporate logos from neck to navel—is less than fully satisfactory. Also, the soccer pitch is vaster than the gridiron or the diamond, and the choreography of the game demands the widest of angles. On TV, the players are tiny—a problem for those as yet unequipped with enormous high-def flat screens.
Do Americans hate soccer? Well, some of us dislike it immoderately—not so much the game itself as what it is taken to represent. This spring, anti-soccer grumbling on the political right spiked as sharply as the sale of those great big TVs. Back in 1986, Jack Kemp, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback turned Republican congressman, took the House floor to oppose a resolution supporting America's (ultimately successful) bid to host the 1994 World Cup. Our football, he declared, embodies "democratic capitalism"; their football is "European socialist." Kemp, though, was kidding; he was sending himself up. Today's conservative soccer scolds are not so good-natured. Their complaints are variations on the theme of un-Americanness. "I hate it so much, probably because the rest of the world likes it so much," Glenn Beck, the Fox News star, proclaimed. (Also, "Barack Obama's policies are the World Cup.") What really bugs "silly leftist critics," the Washington Times editorialized, is that "the most popular sports in America—football, baseball, and basketball—originated here in the Land of the Free." At the Web site of the American Enterprise Institute, the Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, formerly a speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote, "Soccer is a socialist sport." Also, "Soccer is collectivist." Also, "Perhaps in the age of President Obama, soccer will finally catch on in America. But I suspect that socializing Americans' taste in sports may be a tougher task than socializing our healthcare system." And then there's G. Gordon Liddy. Soccer, Liddy informed his radio listeners,
Liddy's guest, a conservative "media critic" named Dan Gainor, responded cautiously ("soccer is such a basic game, you can probably trace its origins back a couple of different ways"), while allowing that "the whole Hispanic issue" is among the reasons "the left" is "pushing it in schools around the country."
Do we hate soccer? That depends on who we think "we" are. One of the things that Franklin Foer's charming book "How Soccer Explains the World" explains is how soccer, along with its globalizing, unifying effects, provides plenty of opportunities for expressions of nationalism, which need not be illiberal, and for tribalism, which almost always is. The soccerphobia of the right is tribalism masquerading as nationalism. One in four of those twenty million viewers of the U.S.-Ghana match was watching it on Univision, America's leading Spanish-language network. The three others were—well, who knows. Liberals, probably, or worse. Enough. A yellow card is in order here, maybe a red one. Soccer may never be "America's game" (though it's already one of them), but America is game for soccer. We're the Land of the Free, aren't we? Can't we be the land of the free kick, too?


text:
The League of Western Fortean Intermediatists
Flashback: Guide to Para Texas
In late 2001, in the wake of September 11th, a new publication was born out of fear for our Republic and a need to communicate the weirdness of post-911 life to our Central Texas friends, family and neighbors.
From early 2002 to mid 2003 I was editor of the Austin Para Times news-zine. We covered a variety of paranormal and parapolitical issues and topics.
I left the magazine to finally start my non-profit community lending library, the Anomaly Archives.
In issue #3, I wrote an article as my alter-ego Jackson Valient (with co-writer Yogina Bare … another pseudononymous author and fellow fringe explorer) that serves as an introduction to all things anomalous here in Central Texas.
I offer it here for archival purposes and as part of my personal introduction to our new audience within the LOWFI network.
– SMiles
AusTex Anomalous Para Guide to Texas


text:
Environmental Effects
Backyard burning produces various compounds toxic to the environment including nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide, and particle pollution.
- Nitrogen oxides, or NOx, is a group of nitrogen compounds that are
partially responsible for acid
rain and contribute to global
warming, ozone
depletion, and the formation of smog.
- Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are carbon-based compounds that
undergo photochemical reactions (i.e., they react with sunlight) when
released into the atmosphere. The VOCs and the compounds they form in
the atmosphere, such as ozone, contribute to the formation of smog.
- Carbon monoxide,
or CO, chemically reacts with sunlight to create harmful ozone. CO production
can significantly impact ambient air quality and a region's ability
to meet Clean Air Act regulatory air quality standards. Burning garbage
in a barrel or pile produces more CO than decomposition in a landfill.
CO is also a significant greenhouse gas.
- Particle pollution, also known as particulate matter, or PM, refers to the fine particles that produce visible smoke that reduce visibility and creates haze, which is a major air pollution problem for many rural communities. In addition to being unhealthful, particles soil our homes and cars and transport dangerous chemicals, such as dioxins.
Backyard burning is also frequently the cause of residential, brush, and forest fires, particularly during drought conditions. In Wisconsin, 35 percent of wildfires were started by uncontrolled burning of garbage, brush, and grass. Often, fire hazards are caused by burn piles or barrels left unattended, which grow too large or are not fully extinguished.


text:
It seems some individuals here have little to no knowledge of what the Austrian School actually posits and what it does not, and what its propositions consist in. So, I have compiled this list of essential articles. Before embarking on some 'critique' of the school make sure you understand what we actually argue (especially on methodology; Mises' arguments are extremely intricate.) Those new to the School should begin With Callahan's Economics for Real People, and subsequently Mises' Human Action or Rothbard's Man, Economy and State. I've bolded some of the most important texts.
Mises, The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action
The Ultimate Foundation of the Economic Science
The Epistemological Problems of Economics
Action Within the World
Time and Praxeology
Rothbard, In Defence of "Extreme Apriorism"
Praxeology: The Methodology of Austrian Economics
Breaking out of the Walrasian Box: The cases of Schumpeter and Hansen
Hoppe, Economic Science and the Austrian Method
In Defence of Extreme Rationalism
On certainty and uncertainty, or how rational can our expectations be
Long, Realism and Abstraction in Economics
What the Hell is Praxeology?
Anti-Psychologism in Economics: Wittgenstein and Mises
Plauche, On Praxeology and the Question of Aristotelean Apriorism
Leoni and Frola, On Mathematical Thinking in Economics
van den Hauwe, Keynes and Mises on Probability
Kirzner, The Economic Point of View
Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and the Significance of Economic Science
Hollis and Nell, Rational Economic Man
Lavoie, From Hollis and Nell to Hollis and Mises
Stolyarov, Praxeology and Certainty of Knowledge
Doubt the action axiom? Try to disprove it
The compatibility of Hoppe's and Rothbard's views on the action axiom
Blanshard, Reason and Analysis
Chernikov, The Trouble with David Friedman's 'Rationality'
Foss, Austrian economics and Game theory
Crovelli, The Trouble with Axelrod
Salerno, The General Equilibrium Tradition in Austrian Economics
What is a Causal-Realist Approach?
Rozeff, What do Austrians mean by "rational"?
Champion, Austrian Economics as a Popperian Research Programme
Boettke, What is wrong with Neoclassical Economics (and what is still wrong with Austrian Economics)
Hulsmann, A Realist Approach to Equilibrium
Economic Science and Neoclassicism
Carl Menger: Pioneer of "Empirical Theory"
Huerta de Soto, The ongoing methodenstreit of the Austrian School
Wutscher, Foundations in Economic Methodologies: The Use of mathematics by mainstream economics and its methodology by Austrian economists
Selgin, Praxeology and Understanding
Knott, Praxeology
Parsons, Money, Time and Rationality in Max Weber
O'Driscoll, The Economics of Time and Ignorance
Cubeddu, The Philosophy of the Austrian School
Gordon, The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics
O'Neill, Radical Subjectivism: Not Radical, Not Subjectivist
Kinsella, The Other Fields of Praxeology: Games, war, voting and ethics?
Extreme Praxeology
Callahan, Scientism Standing in the Way of Science: An Historical Precedent To Austrian Economics
Boettke, Should the (Austrian) label be abandoned?
Sen, Rational Fools: A critique of the behavioural foundations of economic theory
Mises, Prices (see especially parts on price discrimination)
The Law of Marginal Utility
Menger, Principles of Economics
Boehm-Bawerk, Basic Principles of Economic Value
Value, Cost and Marginal Utility
Karl Marx and the Close of His System
Hoppe, The Misesian Case Against Keynes
Rothbard, Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics
Keynes, The Man
Harper, An Introduction to Value Theory
Mahoney, On Austrian Value and Economic Calculation
Block, Austrian Monopoly Theory: A Critique
Armentano, A Critique of Mainstream and Austrian Monopoly Theory
Bellante, Sticky Wages, Efficiency Wages and Market Processes
MacKenzie, Mythology of the Minimum Wage
Minimum Wage Laws: Economics vs Ideology
Reisman, Platonic Cooperation
Classical Economics Versus the Exploitation Theory
Poliquin, Mining, Risk and Profit
Armentano, A politically incorrect guide to anti-trust
Anti-trust: The Case for Repeal
Antitrust and Monopoly: The Anatomy of a Policy Failure
W. Anderson, Say's Law: Were (are) the critics right?
Vedder, Out of Work
Garrison, ASAD: A sad development in macroeconomic pedagogy
Hutt, A Theory of Collective Bargaining
The Keynesian Episode
Kirkpatrick, In Defense of Advertising
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship
The Driving Force of the Market
The Meaning of Market Process
Boettke, The Elgar Companion To Austrian Economics
Horwitz, Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspective
Spadaro, New Directions in Austrian Economics
Taylor, An Introduction to Austrian Economics (good for newbies)
Keizer, Austrian Economics in Debate
Endres, Neoclassical Microeconomic Theory: The Founding Austrian Version
Gerken, The Constitution of Liberty in an Open Economy: An Austrian Theory of Foreign Trade
Backhaus, Modern Applications of Austrian Thought (important for those seriously interested in Austrianism)
Foss, Entrepreneurship and the Firm: Austrian Perspectives on Economic Organization
The Theory of the Firm and its Critics
The Theory of the Firm - the Austrians as precursors and critics of contemporary theory
Holcombe, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
Yeager, Are Markets Like Language?
Salerno, The Place of Human Action In The Development of Modern Economic Thought
The Entrepreneur: Real and Imagined
Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest and the business cycle
Steele, The Economics of Friedrich Hayek
Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson
The Failure of New Economics
Fu-Lai Yu, Firms, Strategies and Economic Change: Exploration in Austrian Economics
Dolan, The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics
Skousen, Dissent On Keynes
Vienna and Chicago
Economic Logic
Meijer, New Perspectives on Austrian Economics
Gloria, Evolution of Austrian Economics
Bellet, Evolution of the Market Process: Austrian and Swedish Economics
Gordon, An Introduction To Economic Reasoning
Cwik, An Investigation of Inverted Yield Curves and Economic Downturns
DiLorenzo, The Myth of Natural Monopoly
Deere, K. Murphy, and Welch, Sense and Nonsense on the Minimum Wage
Carden, Profits in a Market Economy
Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit
Rothbard, The Austrian Theory of Money
Wall Street, Banking & American Foreign Policy
What has the government done to our money?
Austrian Definitions of the Money Supply
A History of Money and Banking in the US
Selgin and White, In Defence of Fiduciary Media
White, Is the Gold Standard Still the Gold Standard among Monetary Systems?
Hoppe, Banking, Nation States and International Politics
Lewis, Gold - the Once and Future Money
Huerta de Soto, Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles
A Critical Note on Fractional-Reserve Free Banking
Anderson, The Value of Money
The Fallacy of Money Supply
Shostak, The Myth of Price Stability
Cochran, Capital, Monetary Calculation and the Trade Cycle
Hazlitt, What you should know about inflation
W. Anderson, What's wrong with the CPI
Hullsman, Deflation - the biggest myths
Hoppe, Block and Hullsmann, Against Fiduciary Media
Steele, Hayek's Money Economy: The Dynamics of Competitive Equilibrium and Socioeconomic Order
Keynes and Hayek: The Money Economy
Monetarism and the Demise of Keynesian Economics
North, Money Statistics as Inflation Predictors
Rockwell, Why Gold?
Salerno, The "True" Money Supply
Strigl, Capital and Production
Hayek, The Pure Theory of Capital
Individualism and the Economic Order
Boehm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest
The Positive Theory of Capital
Garrison, Time and Money
In Defense of the Misesian Theory of Interest
Wicksell, Value, Capital and Rent
Fetter, Capital, Interest and Rent
Rothbard, Production: The Rate of Interest and its Determination
Murphy, The Abstinence Theory of Interest
The Reswitching Question
Some Problems with the Pure Time Preference Theory of Interest
Stephan, An Introduction into Capital Theory: A neo-Austrian perspective
Skousen, The Structure of Production
Blumen, Hayek on the Paradox of Saving
Mark Skousen, Which Drives the Economy: Consumer Spending or Saving/Investment?
Gordon, Essays on Capital and Interest: An Austrian Perspective (review)
Gunning, Interest: In Defense of Mises
Business Cycles
Rockwell, Business Cycle Primer
Thornton, Skyscrapers and Business Cycles
Garrison, The Austrian Business Cycle Theory in Light of modern macroeconomics
New Classical and Old Austrian Economics: Equilibrium Business Cycle Theory in perspective
Rothbard, Why the business cycle happens
Ebeling, The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle
Mulligan, An empirical investigation of the ABCT
Keeler, Empirical evidence of the ABCT
Stanley, Why don't entrepreneurs outsmart the business cycle?
Block, Yes, we have no chaff
Hulsmann, Toward A General Theory of Error Cycle
Shohl, A Schumpeterian Heterogeneous Agent Model of the Business Cycle
Shostak, Inflation, Deflation and the Future
Bradley, Don't blame the subprime lenders!
Van den Hauwe, Credit Expansion, the Prisoner's Dilemma, and Free Banking as Mechanism Design
Sechrest, Evidence regarding the structure of production
Public Goods/Externalities/Privatization:
Hoppe, Fallacies of Publics Goods Theory and the Production of Security
A four-step healthcare solution
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
The Myth of National Defence
Secession, Privatization, and the Prospects of Liberty
De-Socialization in a United Germany
Economics of Risk and Insurance
Rothbard, How and How to Not Desocialize
Block, Public Goods and Externalities: The Case of Roads
Bagus, Can Dikes be Private? An argument against public goods
Fielding, Nonexcludability and the government financing of public goods
DiLorenzo, Can Governments Function like Markets?
Rothbard, The Myth of Efficient Government Service
The Fallacy of the Public Sector
Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution
Machan, The Commons: Its tragedies and other follies
Education in a free society
Liberty and Research: Science Funding in a free society
Storfner, Can Market Forces Solve Environmental Problems?
Tabarrok, The Private Provision of Public Goods via dominant assurance contracts
Carnis, New directions in Road Privatization
Stringham, Anarchy and the Law
Fedako, Free Riders: Austrian v. Public Choice
Cheung, The Fable of the Bees Revisited
Beito, Gordon and Tabarrok, The Voluntary City
McKenzie, Privatopia
Benson, To Serve and Protect
Customary law with private means of resolving and dispensing justice
Carson, Libertarian Property and Privatization
Cordato, Market-based Environmentalism and the Free Market: They're not the same
Pennington, Liberty, Markets, and Environmental Values: A Hayekian Defense of Free-Market Environmentalism
Yandle, Grasping for the Heavens: 3D property rights and the global commons
O'Neill, Solving the "problem" of free riding
Miller, The trouble with government grants
Vedder, For Profit Schools Are Making a Comeback
Caplan and Stringham, Privatizing the Adjudication of Disputes
Kirkpatrick, "It's just being turned into a business!"
Murphy, Private Solutions to Positive Externalities: Military expenditures, insurance and call options
Chaos Theory
Goldsmith, Beautiful Chaos
Guillory, On the viability of subscription patrol and restitution services
Klein, Government did Invent the Internet but the market made it glorious
Marcus, The Spectrum Should be Private Property
What Keeps Us Safe
Cowen and Crampton, Market Failure or Success
Higgs, Hazardous to our health?
Against Leviathan
Carney, The Big Ripoff
Free-Market Environmentalism Reading List
Bast, What Hunger Insurance Could Teach Us About Health Insurance
Peak, Works on Healthcare
Mitchell and Simmons, Beyond Politics: Markets, Welfare and the Failure of Bureaucracy
Economic calculation, socialism and interventionism:
Mises, Socialism
Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism
Rothbard, The End of Socialism and the calculation debate revisited
Karl Marx: Communist as Religious Eschatologist
Despotism Loves Company: The Story of Roosevelt and Stalin
The Equations of Mathematical Economics and the Problem of Economic Calculation in a Socialist State
Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society
Engineers and Planners
The Counter-Revolution of Science
Hoppe, Socialism: A Knowledge or Property Problem?
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
Boettke, Calculation and Coordination
Socialism: Still impossible after all these years
Reisman, Why Nazism was Socialism and why Socialism is Totalitarian
Freedom is slavery: Laissez-Faire Capitalism is Government Intervention: A critique of Carson's Studies In Mutualist Political Economy
Carson, Austrian and Marxist Theories of Monopoly-Capital
The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand
Murphy, Sraffa's Production of Fallacies by Means of Fallacies
Mechanism Design and the Free Market
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism
Prante and Hodge, Personalizing the Corporate Income Tax
Higgs, Nineteen Neglect Consequences of Income Redistribution
Keizer, Two forgotten articles by Ludwig von Mises on the Rationality of Socialist Calculation
Woods, The Neglected Costs of Warfare
Block, All Government is Excessive
Mackenzie, Institutional Analysis in the Socialist Calculation Debate
White, Bankruptcy as economic intervention
Swanson, Against a National Broabdand Policy
Who owns the Internet?
The Spectrum Swindle
Asian Tiger or Asian Kitten?
Fridson, Unwarranted Intrusions
Bolson, The Myth of the Robber Barons
Liebowitz, Winners, Losers and Microsoft
Norberg, In Defense of Global Capitalism
Birner, Markets, Information and Communication: Austrian Perspectives on the Internet Economy
Foss, Coase vs Hayek: Economic Organization and the Knowledge Economy
Misesian Ownership and Coasian Authority in Hayekian Settings
Klein, Economic Calculation and the Limits of Organization
Gordon, The Philosophy and Economics of Market Socialism: A Critical Study (review)
Resurrecting Marx: The analytical Marxists on Freedom, Justice and Exploitation
Pongracic, Austrian Economics and the end of Socialism
Edmonds, The Corporate Form, Limited Liability, and the State
Westley, Fiscal Follies
Mateusj, Market Socialism and the Property problem: Different Perspective on Socialist Calculation
Hulsmann, Knowledge, judgment and the use of property
Sumner, What the Social classes owe to each other
Hoppe, The Sociology of Taxation
Democracy - The God that Failed
Austrian and Marxist Class Analysis
Grinder and Hagel, Toward a theory of state capitalism
Vedder and Gallaway, The Austrian Market Share in the Marketplace for Ideas
Sutter, Austrian Economics and the Market Test Re-examined
DiLorenzo, How Capitalism Saved America
Cox, The Myths of Rich and Poor
Hayek, Capitalism and the Historians
Mackintosh, Exchange vs Power: Toward a Praxeological Reconstruction of Sociology
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
Woods, The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy
Rothbard, Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought
Knott, A Praxeology of Coercion
Thornton, The "Market" For Academic Research
Also see the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
Mises' Suggested Research TopicsMises Institute
The Austrian Economists
Mises Institute Media Resources (good for those who don't like or don't have the time for reading)
Critiques and responses:
http://www.againstpolitics.com/austrian_economics/index.html (nearly all critiques here have been responded to; search Mises.org)
Especially see: http://www.walterblock.com/publications.php
Block, On Nozick's 'On Austrian Methodology'
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=921183 (this is heavily based on Sraffa from what I can tell)
Also important are:
Reisman, Capitalism
Carson, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
Neither is strictly Austrian, but both works are of some merit to the school.
Bergstrom and Gidehag, EU vs USA
Rojas, Sweden after the Swedish Model
It is also a good idea to educate oneself in neoclassical economics. These two works are good places to start:
Ekelund, Economics - Private Markets and Public Choice
Friedman Jr, Price Theory
Thomas Sowell also has some good introductory topics on the matter.
A good idea is to just type 'Austrian Economics' in the Amazon search engine. This will bring up many of the most advanced books on the topic, such as the 'Advances in Austrian Economics' series. A good idea before buying books is to check reviews on Mises.org, especially Gordon's.
Thank you, Inquisitor. This will be very helpful in my studies.
"Why don't you go stand under a stalactite, and bellow the resonate room frequency and wait for it to impale your brain!"
-The Brain
Thank you for that very comprehensive list. However, as you rightly point out, in order to understand the basics, those not already schooled in Austrian Economics should start by reading Human Action, and especially Man, Economy and State. If you understand everything in those two books you've probably got about 80% of it IMHO.
However, for someone who already has a good grounding, I think your list will be very useful, and will provide much additional detail.
I, for one, am looking forward to reading many of those articles. Thank you.
Inquisitor:If you're proficient in neoclassical economics, go for Man, Economy and State
Nathyn:Popper isn't a specific topic. His statements about falsifiability are basic philosophy of science. If you've done "a lot of reading," you should know this.
And they relate to economics - how? Don't get me wrong, I like Popper. I think he gets a bad rap in many circles. But I don't see how his ideas about falsification in the natural sciences apply to economics, where repeated experimentation is basically impossible.
I think if you read Human Action and Man, Economy and State <with Power and Market> you are well on your way in the Austrian School. I would definately recommend Rothbard's various works on the monetary and banking system also.
I just picked up "The Road to Serfdom" and "The Law" by Bastiat from the library. Considering that my avatar is Bastiat, would probably be fitting that I read his book. :)
<quick edit> "The Road to Serfdom is by Hayek, not Bastiat, didn't want to confuse any newbies by my omitting the name." :)
Hehe I can't believe you put Storfner's essay on that list. For shame!
Your list was pretty long, but I figure I might as well contribute some extra items of interest.
Peter Boettke wrote an awesome essay called "What Is Wrong with Neoclassical Economics? (And What is Still Wrong with Austrian Economics)" which should help some people see how the Austrian program contrasts with the more mainstream Neoclassical paradigm. I definitely recommend checking it out.
More to my speed (and I thought one of the weak points of the above list) is Austrian theory concerning property and public goods. The part of the debate that I'm informed about revolves around environmental issues, so I won't add to the sources already mentioned in areas like defense, desocialization, and public goods like lighthouses and roads. For what it's worth, here are some pretty solid essays:
Roy E. Cordato - "Market-Based Environmentalism and the Free Market: They're Not the Same" (be sure to check out Peter J. Hill's excellent response, "Market-Based Environmentalism and the Free Market: Substitutes or Complements?")
Randall G. Holcombe - "Common Property in Anarcho-Capitalism"
Mark Pennington - "Liberty, Markets, and Environmental Values: A Hayekian Defense of Free-Market Environmentalism"
Murray N. Rothbard - "Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution" (Most Austrians point to this essay with deference; I think it shows just how wrong you can go with Menger's framework. It's a must read for anyone hoping to work near the intersection between Austrian economics and property theory)
It should go without saying that reading these essays wouldn't make one an expert in the issues they address. It's important to build a foundation with the ideas that have been embraced by the greater philosophical and economic communities, like those of Locke, Marx, Hardin, Coase, Nozick, and others. So if you don't understand what each of those guys said, start there. Start playing with Austrian ideas once you can appreciate why they're interesting and different. Most Austrian work is interesting as a counterpoint to mainstream theories; on their own I tend to think the Austrian frameworks are extremely weak in this area.
Danny, thanks for adding those in. I'll put them in the main post later on. The articles on market environmentalism are particularly helpful.
Mark B.:
I just picked up "The Road to Serfdom" and "The Law" by Bastiat from the library. Considering that my avatar is Bastiat, would probably be fitting that I read his book. :)
I'm actually reading the Bastiat Collection right now. Volume 1 was great. The second book is a little longer and more difficult. The book I'm trying to get my hands on is The Society of Tomorrow, by Gustave de Molinari. Does anybody know where I can purchase this book? Anybody?!?!?
I enjoyed The Road to Serfdom. That was the book that exposed me to the Austrian School.
One thing that I think would be useful is if a comprehensive list of books were mailed to the most respected Austrian Economists and they assigned a value to each book based on it's contribution to this school of thought. I think the best method would be for them to give a 1 to the best book, etc. If they gave the books grades like A, B, C, there'd be too much subjectivity, unless you scaled it yourself. In fact, it might be more convenient for them if they did only have to assign a grade or the 1-10 scale and then have you scale them. Hmmmm. You could then tally the responses and arrange the books in order of import.
You could complicate things and ask them to vote on other qualities these books might have like, complexity/simplicity, seminal/clarifying, etc. You'd probably be more likely to get a response if you made the process easy. Also, an offer of anonymity might assuage any apprehension or peer pressure. Although this might require them to trust you, unless a process could be developed to ensure it's from the recipient without your knowing which one. But, offering anonymity might CREATE apprehenison by suggesting a reason for apprehension that they themselves would've never considered. (now you know why I'm 'pairunoyd')
You could complicate it even further and let them add a level of confidence to each of their ratings. Some books they may have read countless times, while others they may not have read every page of and may be grading it less on first-hand knowledge and more on others' opinions or their own assumptions. This is the real world afterall. You MIGHT wish to include a blank area so that each economist can write in books, books that might not be directly related to the Austrian School and provide this info as something extra. I think offering them a choice of 'levels of response' would allow those that wish devote less time to the survey a choice and those more willing can take it to the deepest level. You would of course provide the statistics on levels of response to your readers so that they're properly informed.
Or...you could create a forum poll. The voters would be required to have a minimum number of posts or some other qualification. They would vote for the people they respect the most on these forums, respect as it relates to their level of understanding/education on the Austrian School. The 'winners' could then participate in the survey. It'd be a quicker turnaround and much less arduous. Of course, you could pursue both of these ideas and satisfy your fellow forum rats in both the long and short-terms.
Or...you could gather information that's already out there and piece it together as if it were a survey.
"The best way to bail out the economy is with liberty, not with federal reserve notes." - pairunoyd
"The vision of the Austrian must be greater than the blindness of the sheeple." - pairunoyd
Inquisitor - nice list. You have given me enough reading for the rest of my natural life
and engineer by trade - so this is still really new to me. I'm learning the
concepts of Praxeology, and why it is important - but I can't seem to
get the concept across simply to anyone else. "Economics for Real
People" is great - but a long book. I've tried having people read "I,
Pencil", or "Seen and not seen..." and Lew Rockwell's "Why Austrian
Economics Matters" - with no great success. Any suggestions for a
short piece that is a good way to start the conversation with people?
Be sure to see http://www.librarything.com - e.g., see http://www.librarything.com/tag/Austrian+Economics
Sorry; make that http://www.librarything.com/tag/Austrian+Economics
And join the Mises Circle group
most people i see recommend hazlitt's "economics in one lesson" or sowell's "basic economics" for a start. what makes callahan's book better?
Wow; pretty awesome list! With that kind of knowledge, I'd certainly appreciate a little more correction and helpful suggestions on the blog. With knowledge comes responsibility.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."
-- Richard Feynman


text:
By Leon Lin and Aaron Scheinberg
In The Tech's survey, respondents were asked when they went to bed and how many hours of sleep they got on a typical weeknight. From this data, we've calculated the number of people asleep during any given 30-minute interval at night.
Note: When viewing multiple groups of students (e.g. freshmen and sophomores), the data is based on raw numbers of respondents and not weighted according to enrollment.


text:
art | embodiment | cognition | networks | post-humanism | crypto
August 13, 2010 at 10am to November 27, 2010 at 7pm – CAVE NYBK TEACHING RESIDENCY + TRAINING INITIATIVE 13 August to 27 November, 2010 SPECIAL TUITION REGISTRATION DEADLINE: JUNE 21, 2010 Join us from August to November to: share and discover the work of… Organized by CAVE | Type: workshop
June 30, 2010 to March 26, 2011 – National Museum of Dance In a Labyrinth: The Dance of Butoh a photographic book by artist Michael Phillip Manheim, with prose by Ximena Garnica, and is the subject of an exhibition at the National Museum of Dance, Saratoga S… Organized by | Type: exhibition
August 2, 2010 at 10am to August 28, 2010 at 7pm – Akido Dojo Sudstern, Kreuzberg Berlin AUGUST MONTH LONG TRAINING with STEN RUDSTRØM 2-28 August 2010 ...Berlin, Germany Action Theater™ physical theater training is an improvisational body-based process used for the discovery of new fo… Organized by Action Theater Berlin | Type: workshop
August 19, 2010 at 6pm to September 30, 2010 at 7pm – Porto Call for participation in FRAME Research! Open call for the participation of video makers, digital artist, video artists and researchers. Please check the inscription form and rules, http://www.fabri… Organized by Fábrica de Movimentos | Type: call, for, proposals
August 23, 2010 at 11am to November 22, 2010 at 8pm – Chisenhale Dance Space Autumn 2010 promises to be an exciting one here for us at Chisenhale Dance Space. We have not one, not two, but THREE amazing choreographers inviting professional level artists to join them in explor… Organized by Chisenhale Dance Space | Type: classes, and, workshops
© 2023 Created by Marlon Barrios Solano. Powered by
Badges | Report an Issue | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service


text:
Protecting Those Who Promote You —Cagle
A BIG shout goes out to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for splashing a nice, big feature on Wisconsin printers on the front page of its Sunday business section on December 2.
In a story titled "Just call us Print U.S.A.," writer Joel Dresang interviewed me and a number of printers who were included in the PI article that ran in our October issue, and gave nice play to the state's unofficial/official dubbing by our magazine as the printing capital of the United States. Deba Horn-Prochno of Ripon Printers gave me a heads up on the nice center package by the paper.
I'd talked to Dresang previously for other print-related articles. His newspaper is a good friend to the printing industry in Wisconsin; it easily leads the country with the best coverage of printing-related articles. Our printing news feeds regularly include story posts from the JS, and it's often thoughtful, well-researched edit copy.
Not to hum a worn-out tune, but I've always been a proponent of printers supporting not only national trade magazines, but your local newspapers as well. When you e-mail the trade mags with your announcements, make sure you "cc" the local paper. The newspaper is still a viable source for local news that can't be found elsewhere. They really want to print what's going on with local businesses, and they're in a tight spot revenue-wise because of competing technologies.
Having been one myself, I have a soft spot for newspaper reporters and their publications. And for 50 cents or less per day, that's a darn good bargain for the depth of product. Protecting and preserving printed communications is in all of our best interests.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS: This time of the year is extremely slow news-wise, so we'll take time out to issue a few New Year's Resolutions for 2008. Don't forget to set your own personal goals. Just in case you do, feel free to borrow some of mine. Here's a random sampling of "I Resolve...":


text:
JAG Services
The JAG Model consists of a comprehensive set of services designed to keep young people in school through graduation and improves their success rates in education and career. These services are adapted to the audience served in each program application: Senior program — 12th grade only, Multi-year — 9th-12th graders, Alternative Education — 9th-12th grade, Middle School 6th — 8th grade, and Out of School.
Student Selection JAG research has proven over three decades that we gain the greatest impact by serving those participants that have the greatest challenges to graduation, employment and/or pursuit of a postsecondary education. An advisory committee (comprised of faculty, administrators and counselors) assists the JAG Specialist in selecting students for the Program Roster. Priority is given to students that "need, want and can profit" from the services delivered by JAG Model programs.
Classroom Instruction. A trained JAG Specialist provides individual and group instruction to 35-45 students using the competency-based JAG National Curriculum that fits the needs of the program application of the JAG Model. JAG Specialists administer a pre- and post-test that provides a gain score to assess the attainment of the JAG competencies.
Adult Mentoring. The JAG Specialist provides individual attention to students focusing on reducing the number of barriers preventing him or her from receiving a high school diploma, securing employment or pursuing postsecondary education and/or training that leads to a career. Additional adult mentors are recruited to assist with barrier reduction or removal.
Leadership Development. All JAG students participate in a motivational student-led organization — the JAG Career Association — to build on the skills gained in the classroom and to develop leadership and teaming skills to improve employability and advancement. Annual State Career Development Conferences (CDC) provide students the opportunity to demonstrate their employability and leadership skills and be recognized for their achievements. JAG conducts an annual National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the National Leadership Awards Events in November.
Guidance and Counseling. JAG Specialists provide informal guidance to students on career and life decisions and, based on the individual needs of students, connect them to school-based or professional counseling services to address more serious barriers.
Job and Postsecondary Education Placement Services. Specialists are engaged in intensive, one-on-one employer marketing and job development activities to identify quality job placement opportunities for each graduate. Grades are assisted in the exploration of postsecondary education opportunities and navigation of the financial aid and application processes to pursue the most appropriate opportunities.
Linkages to School and Community-Based Services. JAG programs are a school based "one-stop center" for youth with barrier to success to ensure that they receive appropriate academic and social services from available resources in the school, program and community.
12-Month Follow-up Services. JAG provides 12 months of post-graduation follow-up and support services on the job and/or enrollment in a postsecondary institution.
Accountability System. Computerized tracking of participants served, services delivered and performance results (graduation rate, positive outcomes, rates, aggregate employment rate, full-time jobs rate, full-time placement rate, further education rate, wages, and return to school rate) is a critical component of every JAG program. The Electronic National Data Management System (e-NDMS) is the vehicle by which JAG programs are led, managed, and evaluated. Accountability is also assured with periodic site reviews and e-NDMS data reviews resulting in the preparation of an Accreditation Report for the purpose of continuous improvement. JAG data collection is used to produce research reports that have been invaluable in assessing the effectiveness of JAG State Organizations and local program affiliates in fully implementing programs, delivering services, and achieving high performance outcomes.
Technical Assistance and Professional Development. JAG staff and consultants provide new and established state organizations and local program affiliates with an array of technical assistance and professional development opportunities. JAG conducts extensive on-site training in launching new state organizations as well as annual events, including: (a) Pre-NTS Professional Development Workshops — intensive workshops targeted to implementing JAG Model programs and (b) National Training Seminar — the largest gathering of JAG staff and stakeholders to celebrate the achievement of high performance outcomes at the close of the 12-month follow-up period on May 31 annually and recognize high performing state organizations, sites, programs, and Specialists.


text:
Ann Taylor loft frequently has coupon code deals, so don't feel like you have to buy this weekend to get a good deal. I've noticed their clothes typically sell out in a relatively short time period. I think this is a clever marketing technique, because it encourages impulse buying, knowing an item is not going to be around for long. I try to resist this sales pressure and remind myself it's not a big deal if something sells out, new merchandise is always coming out. I buy my work cloths at Ann Taylor Loft, so I've become somewhat of a coupon code hound. Here's just some of the coupon codes right now - notice they don't expire this weekend:
$25 off $50 + Free Shipping Ann Taylor LOFT Coupon Code 80200012 [Exp. 04/13]
20% off + Free Shipping on $100 Ann Taylor LOFT Coupon Code 10601358 [Exp. 03/30] or 10601375 [Exp. 04/27]
25% off on Regular-priced Maternity Order + Free Shipping Ann Taylor LOFT Coupon Code 104004109 [Exp. 03/31]
Here's another tip - if you can, try to divide your order into separate orders of around $50 each, then use the $25 off coupon code for each order. Just don't be tempted to buy more than you would have to get to that $50 mark. I bought 2 pairs of jeans for $54 each, but ordered them separately to use the 80200012 coupon code for each pair.


text:
(CNN) -- Michael Jackson and Diana Ross shared a bond that he apparently thought would last long after his death.
Michael Jackson and Diana Ross at the 1981 American Music Awards.
In his will Jackson wanted Ross -- who took him under her wing and who he called one of his dearest friends -- to take care of his children if his mother, Katherine Jackson, was not alive or was unable to do so.
While the public may have been surprised at Jackson's decision, the two have a long history together.
"I think it's very interesting," Jermaine Jackson, Michael's brother told CNN's Larry King on Thursday. "There's been a long, close relationship with Michael and Diana for many, many years. And I think it's great." Watch Jermaine Jackson on Michael's death »
The star of the Supremes met Michael Jackson when he was a 9-year-old sensation after she saw him perform with his family at the Apollo Theater.
She helped catapult The Jackson 5 to stardom when her name was used to release their debut album, "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5."
After The Jackson 5's debut album success, the pair appeared together in a variety of sketches, sang at each other's concerts, performed at the Hollywood Palace together, and starred in "The Wiz" together with her as Dorothy to his Scarecrow.
"You see skits from variety shows where they are doing Frank Sinatra songs and Casablanca," Emil Wilbekin, managing editor of Essence.com and a founding member of Vibe magazine under Quincy Jones, told CNN.
"Although she was older than Michael, they had a real connection and that connection, I think, and that friendship really moved throughout his career."
In a 1982 interview for the Ebony Jet Showcase, Jackson said he considered Ross, now 65 years old, to be one of his true personal friends. Watch how Jackson, Ross became close »
"Diana Ross, very dear friend Diana Ross," he said when asked who he considered to be his closest friends. "She is the kind of person, I can tell her anything, the most private of secrets. And she tells me her secrets as well."
That friendship was something of a motherly love on Ross' part and an idolization from Jackson, according to Wilbekin. And the bond they formed could explain why Jackson chose her to care for his kids, if his mother could not, Wilbekin said.
Ross raised five children of her own who grew up to become extremely "normal and successful children of a superstar," Wilbekin said.
"The other thing interesting about Diana and Michael's relationship: They both were a part of groups, they both ended up eclipsing their groups, so they had a shared experience that nobody else could really realize," he said. "I think in that they had a very special bond."
The two also were the subject of gossip regarding the nature of their relationship, fueled by Jackson's song "Dirty Diana." But Jackson said the hit was about groupies.
Jackson also starred in "Diana," produced in 1981 by Diana Ross Productions -- her first TV special not produced by Motown Productions.
In that show, Ross introduced Jackson as "the talent," and "my baby Michael Jackson" before the two sang "Ease on Down the Road," and other songs.
But it was their banter that received most of the attention.
"I knew you were going to be a star, I really did," Ross said to Jackson during the special. "What I didn't know, what I didn't know, is that you were going to get so sexy."
Jackson, in turn, said he always knew Ross would be sexy, and then motioned for the crowd when he asked, "Don't you guys think she's sexy?"
They were so close that when he first underwent plastic surgery, some speculated he was trying to look like his mentor.
Regardless of that speculation, it's clear the two shared a connection deep enough that Jackson trusted her with his children in the event of his death.
"The point that nobody has brought up -- Diana Ross happens to be a phenomenal mother. [Her kids are] kind of balanced, normal celebrity kids. And I think that's the part people aren't really looking at," Wilbekin said.
While some people may have been surprised another Jackson family member didn't follow Katherine Jackson in the will, Wilbekin said he believes that by picking Diana Ross, "he named someone who was super-responsible."
And because Jackson's children, have been growing up in the limelight because of their father, he may have wanted someone familiar with that, Wilbekin said.
"That just shows Michael's foresight, his emotional wisdom and his ultimate love for his family and protecting them," he said. "These are not normal kids, they did not live a normal life, and she totally completely understands that." Ross has not spoken about Jackson's death outside of a statement released on her behalf.
"I can't stop crying, this is too sudden and shocking," Ross says in the statement. "I am unable to imagine this. My heart is hurting. I am in prayer for his kids and the family."
All About Diana Ross • Michael Jackson • The Jackson 5


text:
What's included:
Beats by Dr. Dre urBeats Earbud Headphones
Owner's manual
4 pairs of ear tips
Hey I have been looking at Beats and I am so happy you posted this review because I was wondering what else came with the earbuds and the sound quality. Just ordered off a Tanga and came back to your site to say THANK YOU!
Awesome! No wonder the ycost so much, but based on your review worth every penny. I seen the lady above bought some from Tanga checkinh now
I heard Beats are worth the bang for the buck hey this post confirms it. The earbuds are too small for my ear so I would prefer the actual headphones in blue. I seen your post on Twitter I love your blog.
Queen Thrifty thanks for posting I read your post and the comments below I scored a pair of beats for $39 huge saving I appreciate your blog so much!
I would love to get these for myself. love beats
I love these headphones but they will not stay in my ears. The only ones I can get to work are the cheap iPhone earbuds that come with a new phone.
I had these and I did not like them! they kept falling off when I was working out!
I don't use them but a family member loves them. However they complain about it falling off their ears so im guessing its a trend.
Can you say birthday gift for myself!!! I have long grown tired of the wimpy earbuds that burn out ever so quickly especially during my workouts. I've often wondered if Beats were all hype, but your review has solidified a lot for me. Looking forward to investing in a pair for myself.


text:
Read the full story here Web Link posted Thursday, November 7, 2013, 8:47 AM
Town Square
Atherton poised to prohibit sleeping in vehicles on street
Original post made on Nov 7, 2013
Read the full story here Web Link posted Thursday, November 7, 2013, 8:47 AM
Comments (2)
a resident of Atherton: other
on Nov 7, 2013 at 10:08 pm
This is just another law/ordinance which follows the trend of penalizing and criminalizing people who are homeless. Our country has a long standing tradition of using penalizing measures to make sure that certain populations don't have the right to live in or occupy public spaces - from Jim Crow Laws, to Sundown Towns, To California's own Anti-Okie Laws and surprisingly-still-legal-till-the-1970's in California, the UGLY LAWS which made it illegal for any "maimed, ugly, malformed, disabled or unsightly person" to live be in public spaces. All of these laws made it a crime for certain populations to simply live in urban or public spaces like town centers. The Last of these laws, an ugly law in San Francisco, wasn't found unconstitutional until the 1970's.
Now the more recent trend is to criminalize the status of homelessness by passing punitive measures, such as "urban camping bans", panhandling laws, and "sit and lie" ordinances to make it a crime to engage in survival activities such as sleeping or covering oneself from the elements in public spaces. This law is simply following this trend.
In Denver, the city council passed one of these ordinances recently, an "urban camping ban" which made it illegal for any person to sleep and cover themselves from the elements within the city limits of Denver. The lawmakers said that this law was a tool to get people to services. They said that sometimes you need a stick to drive people to arms of help. They also promised more funding for services.
Every national homeless coalition, agency and group, along with the Obama Administration, has come out against these types of laws long before the Denver Camping Ban was passed.
6 months following the ban's passage, a group called Denver Homeless Out Loud studied the effects of the law. They issued a report called "A report from the street" which can be found at their website; denverhomelessoutloud.org
The study shows plainly that homeless people's lives were not improved- they simply were pushed more into dangerous secluded hiding places, or moved out of the center of town, and they felt less safe. The report also showed that city leaders did not follow up on their promises to improve the lives of homeless people by increasing services.
The real story of mass homelessness in America is simple - We used to believe that the public had the obligation to help the most needy by having public funds available to house them. From 1940, three years after the New Deal Housing programs started, until 1980, two years after Reagan slashed the federal housing budget, America did not have mass street homelessness. From 1980 until 1989, America's homeless population tripled in numbers. Then, again from the mid 1980's until the mid 1990's, homelessness in America doubled again. Since then, the national homeless population has gradually grown until 2005. Since 2005, Homeless populations have plateaued, as small increases of federal housing program funding has occured.
As a country, we still give less to our federal housing budget than before 1978, and homelessness is still a mass epidemic.
So, our answer, as the American public, sadly has been to say, "We won't pay for answers to homelessness, we simply want to make it illegal to be homeless in our neighborhoods, towns and city centers."
That's the truth of what's going on here.
a resident of another community
on Nov 10, 2013 at 2:01 pm
If the Obama Administration is against this, it MUST be a good thing.
Don't miss out
on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.
Post a comment
Stay informed.
Get the day's top headlines from Almanac Online sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.
Porterhouse San Mateo revamps its menu following move to new spot
By The Peninsula Foodist | 2 comments | 2,504 views
How well is City Manager Ed Shikada performing his job?
By Diana Diamond | 12 comments | 2,157 views
Farm Bill and the Organic Movement (part 5) Plus: Global Plant Forward Summit, April 18 – 20
By Laura Stec | 13 comments | 1,577 views


text:
Revive Wellington
Revive Wellington is your trusted source for HRT (Hormone Optimization), Cryotherapy, Ozone Therapy, IV Infusion Therapy, Float Tank Therapy, Botox, and much more.
"Revive Wellington is the best clinic in Wellington for all your health and wellness needs. You can get HRT for men and women, cryotherapy, ozone therapy or NAD+ drips, float tanks therapy, vitamin infusion therapy (Botox, Vampire Facials), and many other services.
Give us a call now to book a tour of our cutting edge facility, and receive a free vitamin B12 shot!"
Business Name:
Revive Wellington
2605 s state rd 7, 420Wellington Florida 33414United State
About Wellington
Wellington (Māori: Te Whanganui-a-Tara [tɛ ˈfaŋanʉi a taɾa]) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the major population centre of the southern North Island, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region, which also includes the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed.Wellington was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company in 1840.
Neighborhoods in Wellington, Florida
Bedford Mews Of Wellington Florida, Big Orange Construction Inc, Binks Pointe, Black Diamond, Buena Vida, Channing Villas, College Park Historic District, Coventry Green, Eastwood, El Cid
Things to do in Wellington, Florida
Our Newest Profiles


text:
MOSCOW — North Korea has warned diplomats in its capital of Pyongyang that it can't guarantee the safety of embassies in the event of a conflict and suggested they may want to evacuate their staff, Russia's top diplomat said Friday.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is demanding an explanation from the North Koreans — asking whether the warning is an order to evacuate or merely a proposal that they should consider doing so.
"This proposal has been sent to all the embassies in Pyongyang," Lavrov said. "We are now trying to clarify the situation. We asked our North Korean neighbors a few questions that need to be asked in this situation."
About two dozen countries have embassies in North Korea. Lavrov was quoted during a visit to Uzbekistan as saying that Russia is in touch with China, the United States, Japan and South Korea — all members of a dormant talks process with North Korea — to try to figure out the motivation behind the warning.
"We are very much worried by inciting of tensions, even though it's verbal so far," he said. "We would like to understand the reasons behind the proposal to evacuate the embassies, whether it's a decision of the North Korean leadership or a proposal. We were told it's a proposal."
North Korea's government did not comment on the embassy warnings report. Tensions have been roiling in the past few weeks following a North Korean nuclear test and the country's subsequent warnings to South Korea and the United States that it would be prepared to attack.
Britain's Foreign Office confirmed that it had received the warning, which it called part of ongoing rhetoric from Pyongyang to portray the US as a threat.
"The British Embassy in Pyongyang received a communication from the North Korean government this morning saying that the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organizations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10th," it said in a statement.
Britain said it was "considering next steps" and had no immediate plans to withdraw from Pyongyang.
Other nations with diplomatic missions in North Korea, such as the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and India, also said they were weighing the situation carefully. The Czechs said they had no plans to withdraw; the Romanians and Bulgarians were speaking with the 27-nation European Union about the situation.
"Naturally, we assess that there is no outside threat to North Korea whatsoever," said Marcin Bosacki, spokesman for Poland's Foreign Ministry. "In our opinion, the current military rhetoric is exclusively directed to the internal audience and does not reflect the true international intentions of the country."
A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Pyongyang, Denis Samsonov, told Russian media that the embassy was working normally.
Russia has appeared increasingly angry with neighboring North Korea. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Thursday strongly criticized North Korea for its "defiant neglect" of UN Security Council resolutions.
A Russian ministry statement on Friday after the embassy evacuations proposal said "We are counting on maximum restraint and composure from all sides."


text:
Originally Posted July 6, 2007
My granddad was a preacher. Actually he was my great-granddad. Granddad had a great sense of humor. Mealtimes were quite enjoyable especially when Granddad started telling stories. He had quite a collection of funny preacher stories. Usually his stories involved rookie preachers. By this time he had been a preacher for over 50 years. He was sort of a mentor for the rookie preachers. Most of the young preachers came from a nearby seminary and were also students.Granddad was a country preacher and many of the rookie preachers were from the city. One of my favorite stories involved one of these city boys. He had taken a new preacher to a little country church for services. It was summer and the church had no AC so all of the doors and windows were open. Well everything was going fine and the young preacher was doing well until in walked a skunk. The skunk paraded right down the aisle towards the pulpit. The young preacher noticed the skunk. He cautiously looked around the church for reactions from the congregants. To his surprise no one else seemed to even notice the skunk. Uneasily the preacher decided to ignore the skunk and keep preaching. Well the skunk kept on moving toward the front of the church. This plan seemed to be working until the skunk reached the platform and headed for the pulpit. Now the young preacher was really nervous. He scanned the audience for some sort of reaction. Surely someone in the congregation had noticed by this time. The audience appeared attentive but yet oblivious to the dilemma of the young preacher. The skunk moved closer to the preacher. Finally, the time for action had arrived and the preacher decided he had to do something immediately. He vaulted over the pulpit and ran out the back door.
Once outside he took a few minutes to catch his breath as he waited for others to follow. Several minutes passed and no one else followed. He decided to check out the situation. Cautiously he approached the door and peaked inside. What he saw amazed him, the congregation was still seated inside as if nothing had happened.
A few minutes later one of the deacons walked out of the church holding the skunk. By this time the young preacher was extremely nervous and very confused. The deacon looked at the preacher and said I guess no one told you about the neighbor's pet skunk.


text:
Manny Pacquiao thrashes Rios for first win in 2 years
- Manny Pacquiao scored a near shutout victory against Brandon Rios
- Pacquiao was coming off a two-fight win losing streak.
- Rios won only a total of three rounds from the three judges
MACAU, China – The celestial boxing career of Manny Pacquiao rumbled out of a lull Sunday morning.
Some 350 days after going face-down in a shocking knockout to Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Pacquiao returned to the ring to render a foe overmatched.
From the get-go inside the wildly pro-Pacquiao Cotai Arena at the Venetian Resort in this Chinese protectorate, Pacquiao looked the superior athlete on the way to a doubtless 12-round unanimous decision against the Mexican-American Brandon Rios.
It stemmed the two-fight slide of 2012 that had people wondering about Pacquiao's immediate future, and it dealt Rios his second straight defeat in his pay-per-view debut.
"This is not about my comeback," Pacquiao, a congressman from the typhoon-ravaged Philippines, said. "My victory is a symbol of my people's comeback from a natural disaster and a natural tragedy."
While Pacquiao might not have resembled the force of late last decade, he did show abundant flurries of his compelling speed, both in landing punches on Rios' durable chin and often in eluding Rios when Rios came hunting.
As Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach lampooned Rios' shape in pre-fight, calling him "lazy" and "chubby," he would not find controverting evidence here given Rios' glaring relative slowness. As Rios exhausted his bag of ideas, twice referee Genaro Rodriguez warned him about hitting Pacquiao in the temples while the boxers interlocked. The midday bout did not produce the knockout Roach forecasted, but neither did it deepen any doubts about Pacquiao.
"What got me was just the speed and his awkwardness," Rios said. "He never hurt me at all, and I never got stunned at all, but the quickness just caught me off guard."
A crowd of 13,101 adored the mismatch, chanting "Manny! Manny!" frequently, producing near-silence during Rios flourishes and roaring whenever Pacquiao connected. The only roar that matched those for Pacquiao came for global citizen David Beckham, a Pacquiao fan who greeted the Filipino congressman backstage before the bout.
Rios had protested that he would not become a mere tune-up fight toward the rest of Pacquiao's glittering career, but that's often how it looked. After two minutes of the first round, Rios already had lost his balance briefly, and Pacquiao went driving into him after that, using the last minute of that opener to showcase the speed that still awes the eye at age almost-35.
Through all the first few rounds, the decisiveness persisted until getting graphic in the fifth, when Pacquiao landed a crushing left to the face at 2:18 and then sent a frightening flurry toward Rios' head some 25 seconds to the bell.
When Pacquiao gave Rios' chin another test early in the sixth round, Rios resorted to a default mode he used several times during the match, wherein he shook his head and smiled as if indicating his capacity to sustain. From there, the rest of the fight felt like filler, save for the close of the eighth round when Pacquiao landed a quick punch a split-second after the bell, irking Rios.
Pacquaio did give Rios a battering in the first half of the 12th, just to thrill the crowd more.
Well before then, the minor WBO international welterweight belt at stake already seemed bound for the collection of a Filipino inspiration who dedicated this fight to typhoon victims. More important boxing-wise, though, the exercise, after a long training camp in General Santos, Philippines, restored Pacquiao's career to a positive arc after a single Marquez punch 16 time zones away sent it into question.


text:
About this paper
Machine learning uses algorithms to build analytical models, helping computers "learn" from data. It can now be applied to huge quantities of data to create exciting new applications such as driverless cars.
This Conclusions Paper, based on a presentation at the Analytics 2014 conference, introduces key machine learning concepts and describes new SAS solutions that allow data scientists to perform machine learning at scale. In the presentation, Viseca Card Services shares its experiences using machine learning to differentiate a new customer loyalty program.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.
Have a SAS profile? To complete this form automatically Sign In
Welcome, . Edit Profile Log Out


text:
While donor funding for HIV programs has increased rapidly over the past decade, the increase has raised some questions about whether other health services in the recipient-country health systems have been diminished or strengthened as a result.
Karen Grépin of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service has closely investigated the impact of increased HIV donor funding on non-HIV health services in Sub-Saharan Africa during 2002-09. Her inquiry found evidence of both impacts: HIV aid in some countries has crowded out the delivery of childhood immunizations, especially in countries with the lowest density of health-care providers, while it may have positively affected some maternal health services, such as prenatal blood testing.
Grépin, assistant professor of global health policy, reported on her findings in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs, which was devoted to assessing President Obama's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the program of bilateral U.S. assistance begun in 2003 to support countries in their battle against HIV/AIDS, which has been described as the largest program of U.S. aid since the Marshall Plan.
The mixed impact found
by Grépin suggests that international HIV-focused donors should be more attentive to domestic resource constraints in recipient countries, such as limited numbers of health workers. Grépin also argues that donors should integrate more fully with existing health systems, and should address these constraints up front to limit possible negative effects on the delivery of other health services.


text:
The unrelenting natural order of the animal kingdom never looked so adorable. To this lion, this unsuspecting baby was the equivalent of a free shepherd's pie cooling on the savannah.
Misha Collins on What Made Supernatural Successful
As the videographer explains, "At the zoo in Portland, Oregon the usually lazy lioness, Kya, tries desperately to eat my son through the glass. Jack is coincidentally dressed like a baby zebra in his black and white striped hoodie."
Note that this little trooper refers to the hungry Big Cat as "kitty kitty." For further adventures with territorial animals and glass walls, see this gibbon.
[Via Super Punch]


text:
Worst Movie Of The Decade
Postbougie names Crash.
The film goes about making this very dubious point in the most ham-fisted ways imaginable. The bitter, racist white cop played by Matt Dillon gets into an argument with a black insurance company employee and proceeds to tell her that his dad helped black people and calls her a lazy affirmative action hire. (This is how almost all of the interactions in the movie play out.) Later he pulls over a black TV exec (Terrance Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) who are driving home from some function. It's made clear that he pulled them over because Howard is a black man driving a fancy car. Dillon revels in the skewed power dynamic of the traffic stop, antagonizing Howard and molesting Newton while his horrified partner (Ryan Phillippe) looks on. Later, in the movie's big action set piece, Newton's character is trapped in a burning car and -- improbably but perhaps predictably -- the first responder is Dillon, who risks his life to save her. This is supposed to be redemption for his racism and his earlier sexual assault of Newton. (Or something.)
Before we go any further, I need to admit that several people who I love and respect actually like Crash. I need let them know that I don't hold this against them, and I still love and respect them--though, with Crash in mind, more the former than the latter.
With that said, I don't think there's a single human being in Crash. Instead you have arguments and propaganda violently bumping into each other, impressed with their own quirkiness. ("Hey look, I'm a black carjacker who resents being stereotyped.") But more than a bad film, Crash, which won an Oscar (!), is the apotheosis of a kind of unthinking, incurious, nihilistic, multiculturalism. To be blunt, nothing tempers my extremism more than watching a fellow liberal exhort the virtues of Crash.
If you're angry about race, but not particularly interested in understanding why, you probably like Crash. If you're black and believe in the curative qualities of yet another "dialogue around race," you probably liked Crash. If you're white and voted for Barack Obama strictly because he was black, you probably liked Crash. If you've ever used the term "post-racial" or "post-black" in a serious conversation, without a hint of irony, you probably liked Crash.
And I swear if any of you defend the film, I'm going to ban you. Not just from this site, not just from the Internet, but from all public life. Don't test me. My armies are legion.


text:
Brand New Luxury in Alewa Heights
A brand new, gorgeous home just came on the market in Alewa Heights with amazing city and ocean views. Construction on the four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home was completed just last month, so the lucky buyer of this home will be the very first homeowners ever, a rare phenomenon here in Hawaii. What do you get for the $1.5 million asking price? ? A high-end property that seamlessly integrates modern design with classic elements such as natural wood and stone, and 2,501 square feet of living space.
I fell in love with the kitchen immediately when I saw it—oh to have a kitchen like that! It's not only spacious but it has beautiful Viking appliances and granite countertops. And it's so sleek and modern.
The floors? All engineered acacia wood, with travertine and slate incorporated into each of the bathrooms. After a recent trip, I have a new appreciation for Toto toilets—the lucky buyer of this house will have Toto baths and fixtures in each of the bathrooms, as well as a Jacuzzi tub (for when the ocean view is just too much to take in).
There are two covered lanais for relaxing and taking in the panoramic ocean and city views, maximizing both indoor and outdoor living space.
The best part of this property? It's secluded and private, and yet only minutes away from downtown Honolulu for ultimate convenience.
For those interested in the property, there will be an open house this Sunday, May 19 from 2-5pm. You can also watch a video tour of the property here.
Money Talk: $1,549,000 Fee Simple
Contact: Marshall C. Mower, Realtor, Prudential Locations LLC, 808-277-7878


text:
Thank you to JetPens for supplying this Uni Jetstream Alpha Gel Ballpoint pen for review. I was not compensated monetarily or in any other way. I am allowed to keep the pen. This review reflects my personal observations and experiences with the pen.
(Click on any image for a larger view.)
I probably told this story before— how years ago I picked up a pack of Jetstream Sport ballpoints from one of those office supply stores, ripped open the package in my car, scribbled on some scrap paper, and heard the angels sing. THIS was the ballpoint experience I'd been looking for my whole life.
This is not hyperbole.
In junior high, I'd squirrel away lunch money to buy pens from the school's bookstore, always to be disappointed by the tepid performance of my purchase. I scouted the aisles at Woolworth's for new and promising offerings. For awhile Papermate pens satisfied my desire for something that wrote better than the light streaky ink in the ubiquitous BIC line of pens. The quest continued throughout college and beyond, with only fair to middling results.
And then, decades later, I found the Uni Jetstream. Hallelujah.
The oil-based ink in the Jetstream line hits the ballpoint pen trifecta of darkness, smoothness, and solidness. In short, pure ballpoint joy. There's no drag, and very little white space in your writing (really, none to the naked eye). The 0.7 mm tip glides across paper and lays down a wonderfully dark, tight line. There's nothing remotely wimpy or washed about this ink. Other very good oil-based inks have since hit the market, but my heart belongs to the Jetstream. Because—you know— angels singing. You don't easily forget that moment.
So we've established that the ink in this Uni Jetstream Alpha Gel Grip ballpoint is superb, but here's what make this particular model so special. Two words- GEL GRIP.
Holding this pen is like coming home and putting on your comfortable clothes— broken in jeans, your favorite sandals, a soft t-shirt. Clothes that make you say, "Ahhhhhh." Clothes that soften the hard edges of your day. The addictively squishy grip on this Jetstream provides perfect comfort, as well as traction, for your fingers. It'll make you wonder why all pens can't be this comfortable.
The body is made of brushed metal—black in this case—which gives the pen a polished and classy look. The knock is solid with absolutely no wiggle, and there's not a hint of rattle from the 0.7 mm refill. It's a very solid, well-made pen. The clip—perfectly springy and tight—complements the matte look of the pen. There's not one misstep here.
One thing to note— the gel grip attracts dust and tiny fibers so the pristine look of that beloved grip doesn't last long. BUT, there is a simple solution. I periodically clean the grip on my pen with a strip or two of scotch tape. Fast and simple. Works like a charm.
The world can be a hard place. Your pen doesn't have to be. The Uni Jetstream Alpha Gel Grip ballpoint pen gives your fingers a soft landing while you experience the luxuriously smooth and dark Jetstream ink.
Yes— you, too, can hear the angels sing.
The Uni Jetstream Alpha Gel Grip ballpoint is available at JetPens for $16.50. Along with the black body/black grip version reviewed here, the pen is also available with a pink or silver body. Both of those versions feature white grips. Refills are available in black, blue, and red for $1.55. JetPens offers free shipping for all orders over $25.