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In the Spirit at Washington State History Museum
Washington State History Museum Unveils 2012 In the Spirit Exhibit, One of the Largest Native American Arts Showcases in the Northwest
Opening June 21, the annual art exhibit displays a rich blend of cultural heritage and contemporary expression
The seventh annual In the Spirit: Contemporary Northwest Native Arts exhibit debuts Thursday, June 21, with a free opening reception for the artists and guests at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. The exhibit displays artwork from more than two dozen Native American tribes and runs through August 26, 2012, culminating with the In the Spirit: Northwest Native Arts Market & Festival on Saturday, August 11, 2012. The two-month exhibit is curated and juried through a partnership with The Evergreen State College Longhouse Education & Cultural Center, and celebrates the cultural traditions and modern expression of Native artists throughout the Pacific Northwest.
"This annual exhibit has become a rich cultural tradition for our region and, with 14 new exhibitors this year alone, it continues to grow year after year to impact new audiences," said Jennifer Kilmer, Executive Director of the Washington State Historical Society. "It's a privilege to be able to recognize the work of so many talented artists in a way that honors their distinctive histories and culture."
In addition to the new exhibitors, this year's show also welcomes back a two-time 'Best in Show' winner, Jerry Laktonen, and several prior participants. There will be more than 30 pieces this year – one of the largest In the Spirit exhibits yet – that have been created by more than 25 Native American artists. Each artist has a unique vision and aesthetic, and the pieces range from woven capes and skirts, to red cedar carvings, feathered masks and oil paintings.
During the opening night reception, on 'Free Third Thursday,' June 21 at 6 p.m., museum-goers are invited to mingle with the artists and other guests, and applaud the artists' accomplishments as awards are announced. The three-person judging panel, comprised of Native American art experts and artists, will present this year's winners in four categories: "Best of Show," "Celebrating the Northwest," "Celebrating Tradition" and "Celebrating Innovation." A "People's Choice" award is voted on by visitors throughout the exhibit and awarded during the Festival on August 11th.
"After seven successful years partnering with the Washington State Historical Society for In the Spirit, the unity of the opening ceremony is still a remarkable event to witness," said Tina Kuckkahn-Miller, Director, Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at The Evergreen State College. "The evening brings together so many unique and revered artists to celebrate their work and share it with the public, and is a fundamental reason why this exhibit is a continued success."
Exhibit hours are Monday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., with extended hours and free admission every third Thursday, 2 – 8 p.m. General admission: $9.50 for adults; $7 for seniors; $7 students and military with valid ID; children, age 5 and below, and members are always free. The In the Spirit exhibit and festival are organized by the Washington State Historical Society and The Evergreen State College; made possible in part by The Bamford Foundation, Tacoma Arts Commission, and our media sponsor KUOW.
About the Washington State History Museum
The Washington State History Museum, flagship of the Washington State Historical Society, is located at 1911 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma, just off 1-5. The Washington State History Museum presents exhibits, programs, and events that bring to life the stories of Washington's history. The Washington State Historical Society has been dedicated to collecting, preserving, and vividly presenting Washington's rich and varied history since 1891. For more information, please call 1-888-BE-THERE or visit our Web site, www.WashingtonHistory.org
About The Evergreen State College Longhouse Education & Cultural Center
The "House of Welcome" Longhouse Education and Cultural Center is a public service center at The Evergreen State College that provides a full Native curriculum and artist grant programs. Built in collaboration with Northwest tribes, it is the first building of its kind on a public campus in the United States. The Longhouse is a multi-purpose facility with the mission to promote indigenous arts and cultures through education, cultural preservation, creative expression and economic development. For more information visit www.evergreen.edu/longhouse


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From preschool to high school, Obama seeking big progress in education
This week the president announced ambitious plans for universal preschool access and high school curriculums tailored to the 21st century, but are Congress and the states interested?
| Boston
President Obama laid out an ambitious agenda for improving American K-12 education this week, linking the issue to the nation's future prosperity.
During his State of the Union address Tuesday, Mr. Obama said he wants to make public preschools available to all four-year-olds in the US, a goal he then underscored Thursday with a visit to an early childhood learning center in Decatur, Ga..
"We know it works," he said at the school. "If you're looking for a good bang for your educational buck, this is it right here."
His Tuesday speech also promised a new effort "to redesign America's high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy" and a plan to develop a "college scorecard" to help young people gauge the costs and benefits of attending a particular college.
The success of the president's lofty goals, however, will depend in large part on how successful he is at fleshing out his agenda and selling it to states and a politically divided Congress.
But some education experts say his proposals are at least a step in a positive direction – given the agreement that "human capital" is vital in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy.
"His goals are the right ones," says Jack Jennings, founder of the Center on Education Policy, an independent advocacy group on education, which draws its funding from charitable foundations. "We lack comprehensive school reform in the United States," he says, adding that Obama's objectives bring some crucial educational issues into the public spotlight.
Preschool, for instance, can be vital stepping stone that prepares children for success in elementary school. And rebooting high school curriculums could make a big difference in the nation's economic and social life.
Currently, only 34 percent of American fourth-graders and 30 percent of eighth-graders are at least proficient in science, according to 2011 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
For high schoolers, the results are even worse: Just 21 percent of high school seniors ranked as proficient.
It's significant, Mr. Jennings says, that Obama stepped over a traditional boundary line for presidents, stating in blunt terms that what is taught in US high schools needs to change.
Obama said that part of the change should be to offer stronger career-oriented education, citing the way German schools graduate "their high school students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges."
The president's goals won't be easy to reach, given that his second-term attention span appears to be spread among many priorities, from deficit reduction to immigration reform to gun control.
Some analysts of the US education system say, moreover, that Obama still isn't putting forward a coherent overall policy.
Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University and former assistant secretary of education, called Obama's idea of preschool for all "strong and persuasive," but wrote on her personal website that the president appears to be taking a tight-fisted approach to higher education funding, just as states have also been shifting burdens onto students.
In part, Obama's call for colleges to do more to cut costs reflects public exasperation at the way tuitions have continued rising even as graduates face a tougher job market.
Obama may also be choosing his battles and priorities. The Democratic president likely won't have an easy time getting legislation through a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
For his part, Jennings predicts that Obama will probably be able to at least win "down payments" from Congress on his latest education agenda.
That, in turn, could have sizable ripple effects. As in his first term's Race to the Top challenge to the states, Obama is seeking to use federal dollars to offer incentives for states to take their own actions.
A White House fact sheet this week describes the preschool initiative as "a cost sharing partnership with all 50 states, to extend federal funds to expand high-quality public preschool to reach all low- and moderate-income four-year olds from families at or below 200% of poverty." The proposal also encourages more states to offer full-day kindergarten.

subset: commoncrawl


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2000 Grand Marquis - A/C Issues
jasoncyrfl Member Posts: 1
in Ford
Purchased a 2000 Grand Marquis GS with 55,000 miles about 2 months ago...Replaced accumlator, hoses, evaporator and condensor due to rust/pin holes...A/C still does not really blow out that cold (in Florida, I need cold)...Any recommendations? Should I try the Interdynamics R134A (some ultra synthetic stuff)? Thanks in advance for any advice/solutions...
gina26 Member Posts: 1My Grand Marquis runs extremely well, never any problems until the last few mo. w/ my a/c, it works but every time I start my car w/ a/c on it squeals so bad, it will stop after I am driving but when I slow down or stop the squealing starts again, My boyfriend had thought that it was the belt but that didnot work and then replaced the idler pulley and no luck there. Any idea what could be the problem?0
Two months ago my 2000 MGM was blowing hot air. Ran the self test came back with a solar radiation code. After running the test the AC blew cold air for two months. Now its hot again and the self test will not run. Any ideas?
thanks in advance,
conroejg Member Posts: 1Yesterday 7/21/10 replaced the AC/Heater dash controller for $800 parts and labor with 59000 miles. With all the problems Ford has had with this device over the years, they could not engineer a unit that does not crap out unitl 150000 - 200000 miles? 2 car family - 1 American 1 Nissan going to 2 foreign when the Merc dies.0
replace belt tensioner0
It is not likely the control head that is the root cause. It is likely the vacuum harness attached to the back of the control head is loose and needs tie straps to keep it tight to the control head so you don't get a vacuum leak. Vacuum leaks result in system diverting to defrost mode by law.0
My 2000 MGM has a problem where the wiper arms will lift away from the windshield the faster I go leaving water on the windshield. As I slow down the wipers will make contact cleaning the water away from the windshield. I replaced the arms, but it still does the same thing.
Any ideas?0
euphonium Member Posts: 3,425Try attaching a 4 oz lead fishing weight to the middle of each arm. Duct tape may work or tie the lead weight with fishing line. This is not recommended as a fix, but to determine if or how badly you need new arms that are stronger such as found on the Lincoln Town Car.0
shadetree9 Member Posts: 6I did this thing called a cold boot on mine with the same problem. It worked. You turn off the ignition , unplug the two wiring harnesses on the module for one minute then plug them back in and turn on the ignition, press any button but the off and wait for it to reinitialize and calibrate about 30 minutes. It will not appear that anything is happening but start the car and try it now. I found it on a repair database at the library.
moorerbrian1 Member Posts: 1i have been working on ac on 99 gm and w/ vaccum lines off i let the vaccum pulled go and now i have hooked all back up and nothing no fan ,defrost, floor, etc... help0
toney12 Member Posts: 1snorkelbobby
you had a fix for a grand marquis air blown out the defrost when the ac unit is running. IT was dated jul 26,2010, do you still have the picture for this fix? If you do could email me a copy of the repaired vacuum harness job. I posted your fix below. my email is [email protected]
71 of 172 How to fix this problem for $2 by snorkelbobby
Jul 26, 2010 (12:07 pm)
I just finished fixing a 2003 Grand Marquis for air blowing out the defrost only. This is the goverment mandated failure mode.
The problem is that the vacuum harness is leaking vacuum where it connects to the back of the conrol head. The vacuum harness connection ports relax after several years. You can replace the vacuum harness (F5VY-19C827-A) $20, or just clamp it tight with 2 ten inch tie straps from the Lowes or Home Depot.
Pull the trim covering the control head straight out. remove the control head (4 screws). Remove 2 torx screws holding the bottom part of control head in place. Feed a tie strap around this part so it clamps the vacuum harness to the control head. I put one tie strap on either side of the black vacuum supply hose in the center of the harness. Operate the controls to be sure it is fixed.
If you wish, you can disconnect the vacuum harness under the dash for easier working room. It just pulls out.
I can post a picture if needed.0


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Film fans in Asia want light fun, make Oscars wait
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Lights, camera, laughs.
Tens of millions of film fanatics are entering theaters around Asia during the long Lunar New Year holiday, but Hollywood can't count on them to boost the box office for its mostly serious Oscar nominees. Even with the Academy Awards buzz at a peak barely two weeks before the ceremony, patrons are opting for lighter fare.
"Viewers are mostly drawn to action films, films with special effects, comedies or easy-to-follow 'popcorn' movies," said Ross Lee, a manager with Vieshow Cinemas, which owns one of Taiwan's largest theater chains. "In Taiwan the big hits are traditionally disaster films like "2012."
Lee and others say that with Chinese movie-goers using the New Year holiday to escape their daily grinds, they generally give the cold shoulder to weightier movies, like this year's leading nominee "Lincoln" or last year's best picture "The Artist."
"'Lincoln' is an American film," said Hong Kong film fan Leo Wong, 31. "I think Americans will probably be more interested. I don't really understand the history. And it's too serious."
Reflecting Wong's critique, Hong Kong's film industry goes out of its way to pander to the local preference for lighter New Year's selections, turning out a sub-genre of films specifically designed with holiday tastes in mind.
This year's Hong Kong holiday crop includes "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," a prequel to the classic Chinese fable, and "I Love Hong Kong 2013," a super-light comedy with an all-star cast and a crowd-pleasing happy ending.
Explaining her preference for watching locally produced comedies, Hong Kong movie-goer Christine Lam said it reinforced the spirit of the season.
"You want to do this on Chinese New Year," she said, "to watch Chinese movies instead of Western ones because it gives you the vibe."
Chimed in husband Andy Lam: "(New Year comedies) are funny and we have a lot of fun. We just laugh."
Sun Shaoyi of Shanghai University's School of Film and TV Arts and Technology said in addition to aesthetic considerations, Oscar nominees vying for attention on the mainland must also contend with officially sanctioned blackouts.
"Authorities limit the number of Western films showing during the New Year period," Sun said. "They have to do this to protect the local market."
But even allowing for the artistic and administrative roadblocks, some Oscar-nominated films do manage to make a big impact in Chinese-speaking markets during the New Year holiday, particularly if they are accompanied by a positive critical buzz.
Christine Lam said she had decided to use this year's holiday to see "Les Miserables," notwithstanding its relatively heavy subject matter.
"This is a very famous movie and people are talking about this movie very much," she said, adding that the film's much ballyhooed operatic style and live singing by actors had tipped the balance in its favor.
In Taipei, trading firm owner Thomas Huang said his own preference for thrillers made going to see "Zero Dark Thirty" an easy viewing choice. He said he also took in local hero Ang Lee's "Life of Pi," the special effect-rich story of a young man's epic journey of discovery, "half because Ang Lee is Taiwanese and half because of the Oscar nominations."
Huang saw best-picture front-runner "Argo" previously and would not miss other nominated films if trusted critics endorsed them. He said he's captivated by the pomp of the Oscar-nomination ceremony, which raised his interest in the nominated films as well.
"You don't count on the Oscar awards as a guarantee a film is good, but they are still generally up to a certain standard," he said.
Taiwanese film critic Wen Tien-hsiang said that even if some Oscar-nominated films did not do well with Chinese-speaking audiences during the New Year holiday period, scoring big on Oscar night would help to guarantee them substantial audiences later.
"Films winning awards will definitely gain them viewer attention," Wen said in an email. "Film companies sometimes decide to screen Oscar winners only after they get the prize."
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Grayton Beach State ParkSanta Rosa 1 of 9
Florida beach camping is divine, so try not to gasp when you see the beaches at this state park. They've been ranked some of the most beautiful in the country. With a boat launch available, leave the white sand behind, and enjoy incredible views from the water. Back on shore, catch a glimpse of the golden sunset while trekking through the coastal forest, or take your bike to the pine flatwoods where you can traverse 4 miles of trails.
St. Joseph Peninsula State ParkPort St. Joe 2 of 9
With the Gulf of Mexico and St. Joseph's Bay on either side, you'll enjoy miles of gorgeous white sand, and some of the largest dunes in the nation. When you're done on the beach, take a rejuvenating walk along the two main nature trails. If you want something more strenuous, you'll need a permit to enter the 1,900-acre wilderness preserve.
Bahia Honda State ParkBig Pine Key 3 of 9
If you want to explore the ocean in all its glory, this is the campground for you. One of the most popular activities here is snorkeling; rent the gear and take a quick boat ride to the reef where you can dive in and swim along the ocean floor. Or, bring your own vessel and take off from the campground boat launch.
St. George Island State ParkSt. George Island 4 of 9
Explore a variety of flora and fauna at this oceanfront campground. From sand dunes to sand coves, salt marshes and oak forests, Florida beach camping doesn't get much more diverse than this. In the summer you might be able to experience sea turtles nesting on the beach. If not, you're sure to enjoy long days on the beach and fire orange sunsets, anyway.
Fort Pickens CampgroundGulf Breeze 5 of 9
With deep historical routes and clear blue waters, this island camping adventure is one you don't want to miss. Trails through the sand dunes provide a unique hiking experience and the original Fort Pickens is just a short 1-mile trek away.
St. Augustine Beach KOASt. Augustine 6 of 9
Enjoy historical Florida beach camping at this KOA. Start by visiting the Fountain of Youth, where Ponce de Leon landed in 1513. From there, head straight over to the Lighthouse Museum to see a variety of artifacts from the Gilded Age, such as art, costumes and furnishings. All the while, you'll enjoy breathtaking ocean views that only the Florida coast can offer.
Madeira Beach KOASt. Petersburg 7 of 9
You don't even have to leave the campground to find something to do here. Onsite activities like shuffleboard, bocce, mini golf and volleyball are just seconds from your campsite. If you want to explore, rent a canoe to paddle through the Long Bayou waterway, where you can see a variety of wildlife including dolphins and herons. Other active attractions include running and biking trails. This is what Florida beach camping is all about.
St. Andrews State ParkPanama City 8 of 9
Pack your bike, hitch your boat, and grab bird-watching binoculars. With so much do, you'll be moving from one adventure to the next. When you're done playing in the water and identifying birds, sit back and enjoy the scenery on the Shell Island Boat tour.


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Belinda from some decade past.
I am photographing 16 people tomorrow afternoon. We're scheduled to do one portrait session every fifteen minutes, starting at one p.m. I'll spend most of the morning in a windowless hotel conference room setting up bright colors and shapes against the back wall to mimic an outdoor urban space which I will attempt to put completely out of focus, or as far out as I can manage, using a fast medium telephoto lens on a full frame camera. The thing that's vexing me right now is what to light both the portrait subjects and the back wall with. My first inclination was to use the large fluorescent instruments because they do generate ample light and they would make it easy to slide the shutter speeds around on the camera to match the fast apertures. I entertained supplementing them with small, color temperature controllable, LED panels as accent lights but I kept thinking that I've shoehorned everything lately into the continuous light box and that it might be nice to shoot with flash for a change.
The nice thing about the camera I intend to use is that it will shoot at a native ISO of 64 which gives me a bit more control when it comes to shooting with the aperture wide open and using studio flashes. By 5pm today I decided to give the old strobes a work out and I packed them up. I intend to use five monolights firing into various diffusers, aimed at different things and I'm tentatively bringing along three battery powered flashes to throw spots of light onto the background elements when I run out of monolights. I've packed 11 light stands. Some will hold lights and some will hold brightly colored, geometric shapes back in the mid and background areas of the room to add depth and color texture to the shots.
Even as I was loading the flashes into the car I was remembering a big Pelican case full of tungsten fixtures; spots, floods and broad lights and wondering if I shouldn't take them instead. I really do love a well made fresnel fixture; especially when it's on the front of a hot light...
I think I'll stick with my plan to use the flashes. It's Belinda's birthday today and I probably shouldn't spend a lot of time waffling over lighting. I'm loading all of the non-precious things into the car right now because I'll want to go to the early swim practice in the morning and won't have time to come back and pack up before the shoot. We're heading out to dinner this evening and I'll be parking the car somewhere that's not really secure so the cameras will go into the car tomorrow morning on the way to practice.
No matter which lights I ultimately pack I'll wish I'd brought something different instead. That's why I like to shoot in the studio = you can change your mind at the drop of a hat and grab a different light or camera right off the shelf and be up and shooting in no time. Remote locations always call for the use of the "check-list."
We're heading to one of our favorite restaurants. It's called Asti. My friend, Chris Archer, and I made a video for the place last year. It's on their website here: http://astiaustin.com click on "a peek inside."
Want to see a trailer for my Studio Portrait Lighting class on Craftsy? Here's a link: http://www.craftsy.com/video/course?courseId=427
Regardless which lights we end up bringing I'm pretty sure it will be a fun and interesting shoot. And that's how it should be.


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The Law Office of Robert C. Hahn, III, P.S.
chapter 13 bankruptcy, chapter 11 bankruptcy, chapter 7 bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Lawyer, Bankruptcy Attorney
The Law Office of Robert C. Hahn is a local Spokane law firm with an emphasis in bankruptcy and injury law. Our bankruptcy law practice focuses on chapter 7 bankruptcy, chapter 13 bankruptcy and chapter 11 bankruptcy. Robert is a highly rated and skilled attorney with over 23 years of experience helping people in Spokane. As a bankruptcy attorney he has filed over 10,000 bankruptcy cases helping people rebuild their finances and wipe out debts. We assist people with stopping foreclosure, garnishments and repossessions, as well as law suits for collection. Robert Hahn is an injury lawyer who has helped clients recover millions of dollars for their injuries. He was awarded jury verdicts and injury settlements.
Business Name:
The Law Office of Robert C. Hahn, III, P.S.
2906 N Argonne RdSpokane Washington 99212United States Of America
(509) 921-9500
About Spokane
Spokane ( (listen) spoh-KAN) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, 92 miles (148 km) south of the Canadian border, 18 miles (30 km) west of the Washington–Idaho border, and 279 miles (449 km) east of Seattle, along I-90. Spokane is the economic and cultural center of the Spokane metropolitan area, the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area, and the Inland Northwest. It is known as the birthplace of Father's Day, and locally by the nickname of "Lilac City". Officially, Spokane goes by the nickname of Hooptown USA, due to Spokane annually hosting Spokane Hoopfest, the world's largest basketball tournament.
Neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington
Audubon-Downriver, Bemiss, Browne's Addition, Cannon Hill Park, Chief Garry Park, Cliff/Cannon, Comstock, Country Homes, Downriver Neighborhood, Downtown Spokane, Eagle Ridge Community Neighborhood, East Central, East Spokane, Emerson Garfield, Fairwood
Things to do in Spokane, Washington
Our Newest Profiles


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Leo Carrillo Ranch
I heard that there was an interesting ranch from the 30's in Carlsbad so off to Leo Carrillo Ranch I went. I no sooner got out of the parking lot when I noticed a peacock. Wait a minute, there is a whole bunch of peafowl wandering around. Well write me off for any other images today, and that is why you might notice a high percentage of peafowl in this gallery. Thanks for stopping by.Read More


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- The prices are subject to change without notice and those ruling at the time of supply will be charged.
- Colours & sizes of product images shown in the Website may vary in reality
Single Lever 3-inlet Divertor Exposed parts kit Consisting of Operating Lever, Wall Flange (with seal) & Button Only (Suitable For Item ALD-193)
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House panel sues Holder over Fast and Furious docs
A House committee filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Attorney General Eric Holder over his failure to respond to a Congressional subpoena for documents relating to the Justice Department's response to the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal.
"We are filing charges against Attorney General Eric Holder tomorrow," House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa wrote Sunday night on Twitter.
The suit, widely expected to be filed sometime during the current Congressional recess, was indeed filed in U.S. District Court in Washington Monday morning, court records show. A copy of the complaint is posted here.
The litigation follows votes in June where the House overwhelmingly approved resolutions holding Holder in contempt and authorizing the filing of a lawsuit to force disclosure of the documents.
The Justice Department has turned over thousands of pages relating to the practice of gunwalking under the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as an inaccurate letter the department sent to Congress about the issue in February 2011. However, Holder has refused to provide all of the other subpoenaed materials, such as documents explaining how officials responded to Congressional and media inquiries about the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives operation that may have allowed as many as 2000 guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Holder said disclosing those materials would violate longstanding Justice Department practice. After a standoff between Holder and Issa over the records, President Barack Obama asserted executive privilege to justify the non-disclosure.
Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Monday that Issa's panel had rebuffed Holder's efforts at compromise. "We were always willing to work with the Committee, instead the House and the Committee have said they prefer to litigate," Schmaler said.
It's not clear whether the courts have authority to force an executive branch official to fork over documents in such circumstances. In the waning months of President George W. Bush's administration, a federal district judge in Washington issued a ruling that Congress could use the courts to force some testimony from administration aides in such circumstances. However, the dispute was settled before a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court had a chance to weigh in.
A Democratic member of Congress, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, called the suit unecessary and wasteful.
"At a time of scarce resources and record debt, the House is embarking on wasteful litigation against the Justice Department. We know how this will end -- with a settlement that will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousand of dollars in attorneys fees and could have been resolved months ago if the House had been willing. The Attorney General put a reasonable offer on the table well before the contempt vote, and the House needs to show the same willingness to come to agreement," Schiff said in a statement. "This litigation will do nothing to shed light on the facts of Fast and Furious, to bring the killers of [Border Patrol] Agent Brian Terry to justice, or to stem the flow of guns across the border."
The plans to file the suit Monday were reported Sunday afternoon by CBS News.
UPDATE: This post has been updated with Issa's tweet.
UPDATE 2: This post has been updated with the filing of the suit, DOJ response and Schiff's statement.
UPDATE 3: This post has been updated with the PDF file of the complaint.


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Main Features
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By Denise Chow
The fossilized teeth of ancient marsupials that roamed through northeastern Australia roughly 2.5 million years ago suggest these animals fed on leafy plants in a much more lush and tropical environment than was previously thought, according to a new study.
A chemical analysis of tooth enamel from extinct marsupialsin Queensland, the second-largest state in Australia, revealed clues about the diet and habits of these ancient mammals. The findings indicate that this region of Australia, which today is made up mostly of arid grasslands, was once covered in tropical forests, said Shaena Montanari, a comparative biologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and lead author of the new study.
"It was probably a wetter and moister environment," Montanari told LiveScience. "Marsupials have been around in Australia for tens of millions of years, but these fossils help us understand how their diets changed with the environments." [Marsupial Gallery: A Pouchful of Cute]
Montanari and her colleagues studied fossilized teeth from a variety of early marsupials, including two that are in the same genus as present-day kangaroos and wallabies. The fossils dated back to the early- to mid-Pliocene epoch, which extends from 2.5 million to 5 million years ago, but most of the animals in the study went extinct about 50,000 years ago, Montanari said.
"Some of them would have looked similar to modern kangaroos, but were much larger," she explained. "They probably looked like giant kangaroos with longer noses. One of the animals we looked at, called Euryzygoma, would have looked quite different from typical Australian megafauna. People sometimes call it a giant wombat, but it was much larger and looked very different."
All in the teeth
To understand the diets of these marsupials, the researchers drilled some of the enamel off the teeth, ground it into a powder and performed laboratory tests to look for specific chemical signatures.
As an animal grows and its teeth are being formed, chemical traces of what it eats and drinks become locked into the enamel, Montanari explained. For instance, scientists can examine an animal's tooth enamel to determine characteristics of the water that was consumed while its teeth were growing.
"In herbivores, carbon signatures will provide information on what plants they were eating; oxygen isotopes indicate what the water was like — was it an evaporated source of water, or was it seawater?" Montanari said.
The enamel tests revealed that ancient marsupials in Queensland feasted on plants and shrubs that are typically found in more temperate and tropical areas. This indicates that environmental conditions and patterns of foliage were vastly different in this part of Australia during the Pliocene epoch, the researchers said.
The marsupial dental records show that these extinct mammals lived in a more heavily forested environment, with less grassland available for food, said Judd Case, dean of the College of Science, Health and Engineering at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., who was not involved with the new study.
"The results of this paper have opened a new window into the past that can be used to evaluate the other Pliocene localities in Australia, where these same animals also occur," Case told LiveScience. " Additionally, their study provides us tools to interpret the environments and marsupial niche differentiation in these other localities as well."
By studying the prehistoric diets of these animals, researchers can also gain a clearer picture of how ancient marsupials evolved in Australia, and what caused their extinction. "This is a chemical tool to help us understand a lot more about these interesting fossils and time periods," Montanari said. "In paleontology, we tend to look a lot at morphology, but chemical studies of fossils can tell us about diets and environments, which can help us understand about extinction and evolution."
The detailed findings of the new study were published online Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow LiveScience @livescience, Facebook and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
- In Photos: Mammals Through Time
- World's Cutest Baby Wild Animals
- Image Gallery: 25 Amazing Ancient Beasts
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Matt Wieters hits 2-run HR, Lew Ford drives in 3 to lead Orioles split squad over Twins 7-1
SARASOTA, Fla. – Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer, Lew Ford drove in three runs and Steve Johnson pitched four scoreless innings to help a Baltimore Orioles split squad beat the Minnesota Twins 7-1 on Sunday.
Ford, a non-roster outfielder, is batting .483 this spring. Wieters is hitting .500. J.J. Hardy, who was 1 for 21 entering the game, also had a home run.
Johnson, one of several pitchers competing for the No. 5 spot in Baltimore's rotation, allowed three hits and walked one. He struck out two.
Twins starter Vance Worley, who could get the ball on opening day, gave up three runs and six hits. He walked one and struck out three.
Brandon Boggs homered with two outs in the ninth for Minnesota's only run.


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Yeah, I talk in baby talk now. Like taters and maters. I slur a little bit to create a country kind of twang.
So…dry-farmed tomatoes. I did it this year, with stupendous results.
The skins are very sturdy (don't want to say tough) and inside is the sweetest, juiciest yum sweet tomato. This is a plate of them with black sea salt from that new cool spice shop called the Oakland Spice Shop on Grand. They are also very good to can, as they hold their texture and don't go all wobbly in the jar.
Why are they so damn good? Basically I tortured them. The French say the grapes must suffer in order to make the best wine. Same principle with dry-farmed tomatoes. Here's how it works. In the spring you amend the future tomato bed with a deep layer of compost goodness and a thick layer of straw mulch. Then let the winter/spring rains do their thing. Before planting the tomato plants, soak the area with plenty of water for a long time, then plant. As they grow, keep them irrigated. Then, around May (this is in the Bay Area when you can plant maters in March, later in other areas), stop giving them water entirely. Because of this lack, they will look terrible, unhealthy:
(Note that I should have staked them up but I've been distracted) As the hot summer goes on, you might even feel bad. But don't water them!! Having no water makes them dig their roots in and make some tasty sacrifices–what they give up in vegetative growth, they give to the fruit. Small fruit, mind you, about the size of a golf ball. But they are flavor explosions!!! Not only does it make the best tasting tomato ever, it also saves water. That's a win-win.
I didn't grow enough to can them (that's where my duck barter comes in) but they are a wonderful snack or salad addition.


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- Forum posts: 1,110
Apr 7, 2014, 4:12:56 PM via Website
Apr 7, 2014 4:12:56 PM via Website
The easiest way to perform a Factory Reset on your Samsung Galaxy S5 is from within the menu settings:
Settings > User and Backup > Backup and Reset > Factory Data Reset > Reset Device > Delete All/Erase Everything.
Please remember to back up any data you want to keep first! In the Factory reset screen you also have the option to Backup My Data and Auto Restore. These are good options to tick before you Factory Reset if you're not too sure how to do this on your own.
If you're at all paranoid about your SIM card or SD card contents just take them out before you do the Factory Reset. Attention: if you reset your device to the factory default with SD card encryption setting enabled, the device will not be able to read your encrypted files. Disable this setting before resetting the device.
Alternatively, you can type in *2767*3855# on the key pad and that will do the same thing.
Remember sometimes you don't need to go even this far to solve problems. First of all try just turning your phone off for a while, or removing the battery entirely. Sometimes something as simple as that is enough to clear up some simple problems.
But if you've tried all of these methods and are still having problems, you can try a Hard Reset, the instructions for which are here.
— modified on Jan 14, 2015, 10:43:35 AM by moderator
Follow Kris on Google+ and Twitter / Forum Rules - Recommended for new AndroidPIT members! / Important to all community members: please read before posting


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It's a rare privilege to see somebody do something perfectly. Michael Phelps. Tiger Woods (on the links, anyway). And then there's this guy who came in a few weeks ago and screwed up his job interview perfectly. The only thing missing was a little piece of toilet paper trailing from the heel of his shoe as he made his way out the door
First of all, he was late. That's all right. People have stuff. But 35 minutes late? Strike 1. Second, he didn't apologize. I don't need face-on- the-carpet groveling, but a little "I'm really sorry " would've been nice. Still, all of that would have been forgiven had the guy not immediately worked the phrase, "When I was at Harvard . . . " into his opening gambit. That kind of stuff hits a nerve with me, and not because I wasn't accepted at Harvard; they just seem to breed these kinds of guys there. I really wasn't impressed
It occurred to me, as I watched this fellow, that we make many mistakes when we're trying to land a job. This guy made the error of showing off his bad personality before displaying his good one, if that one indeed existed. But we all goof up. Even with the stakes so high and with tremendous motivation for success on every front, job hunters make rudimentary blunders every day. Sometimes as an interviewer it just makes me want to put my head down on the desk and cry. But the one thing I can't do is lean across the vast expanse of wood or metal that separates me from the applicant and say, "Hey, buddy? Here's what you just did to cut your own throat. "
More From Men's Health
So I think I'll do that now.
Schedule a 10:30
There are good times of the day to have your appointment, and bad ones. Shoot for late morning. The boring crap that starts every day is over. The guy interviewing you is looking forward to lunch, but he's not so hungry that he's daydreaming about pork chops.
Even better are interviews over breakfast or after-hours drinks. These are structured environments that show most people off at their best. Breakfast in particular is congenial, not overly long, and tasty. If the boss orders an egg-white omelet or any form of bran cereal, you must do the same. And don't order anything that will make him jealous. Like bacon. And when drinking with a relative stranger you want to impress, match him drink for drink, unless he is an alcoholic, and never say "fuck " unless he does so first.
Dress Like the Boss
You are presenting something real to the interviewer: yourself. Not some fictional entity you saw in a movie, and not the disheveled hipster you pose as because all your friends do too. If you're serious about securing this job, spend a little time watching people go in and out of the company's offices. You'll see a range of sartorial displays and get an idea of what is acceptable. You don't have to spring for a new suit. Just look nice.
Research the culture, as well. I recently interviewed a very nice guy who just might have been right for a job opening we had. He comes in on a Friday. Everybody is casual, but this guy rolls in wearing a classic pinstriped three-piece. I don't believe I've seen one of those in about a decade. Pink power tie. Hard attache case (James Bond, circa 1980). All of that's okay. He read the culture wrong. That can be remedied. Giving the impression that you're slightly clueless, however, is a bad place to begin.
Know Who You Are
This is tough for young guys who don't yet know what they're good at, but who feel they're good at everything. But it's important. You're marketing yourself. The proper answer to, "What do you see yourself doing in 5 years? " is not, "Hey, I can do just about anything! " Suppose you're at the supermarket and you come across a box that says, "It's a floor cleaner! It's a breakfast topping! " Would you want to buy it?
Consider the nature of the job you're seeking and tailor your pitch to it. They're not looking for a brilliant polymath. They're looking for somebody they can hire for $43,500—less if you're in publishing, or a lot more if you're in finance or law. You have to keep a laser beam shining on that need and become a possible solution to it. That is, if you think you can actually do the job.
To acquire the proper focal adjustment, try talking about the things you've done, and the things you do well. The trick is to build on your experience to position yourself for something specific and appropriate—not to reject everything you've done to date. A lot of guys say, "I was this, but now I don't like it anymore and I want to be that. " That's a mistake. Embrace your whole life, and then siphon it into the space you're trying to fill.
Make Time Disappear
HR types often encourage applicants to ask the interviewer a lot of questions. But this pervasive and erroneous bit of advice can backfire unless you are subtle and a great listener and conversationalist, and (I hope) armed with some knowledge of your interviewer. You don't just fish around for topics of interest. One woman came in and asked me, "What do you love most about your job? " on a really bad day. I wanted to grab her by the nose and lead her out of the office.
On the other hand, do come prepared with intelligent questions about the company—its operations, the job, who the job reports to, what the department is like, and so on. Listen. Respond to answers with further intelligent questions. It's called conversation. The longer you can keep it going, the better off you are. If the talk continues for more than the requisite 30 minutes, you're on golden time. The guy is now seeing you on a voluntary basis that transcends simple politeness—and it's in that land beyond politeness where true business lies.
Slam . . . But Carefully
Primarily, this means not slagging your current employer. You can talk about problems, but referring to former bosses as assholes will get you nowhere. Bosses stick together as a group, like gorillas.
Also be careful when they ask you to critique their operation. They mean it, but you still have to be wary. Launch into what's terrific about the company, and follow up with what new strategies you'd explore. If you're talking to public-relations people, for instance, you don't want to say, "This is a great company, but you have an image problem. " Truth bows before discretion in this case. If you are capable of intelligently discussing the company and its positioning, on the other hand, that's a good thing. It shows that you're smart and courageous, and, if you do it right, politic and tactful.
Say You Want the Job
It's amazing how often that simple statement becomes a tiebreaker. I believe most of the guys I've hired over the years have all expressed their naked desire for the gig. You want the people who want you.
And really, isn't that the basis of all healthy relationships?


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A new social training project intends to provide inmates with digital skills to help them reintegrate into the labour market. It includes, in its initial phase, two basic courses carried out in the penal institution of Leiria (EPL). The courses are promoted by the Protocol centre for professional training for the justice sector (CPJ).
In this phase, the project includes the development of the training actions Get connected on basic digital literacy, and Introduction to cybersecurity. The first has a duration of 30 hours and aims to help learners gain a better understanding of the internet, computers and social media, such as learning to create a LinkedIn profile as a tool to help find a job. The second action has a duration of 15 hours and intents to raise learners' awareness of safety, cybersecurity and online privacy issues, while providing additional insights into the challenges they may face today.
The project is the result of a protocol signed by the Directorate-General of prison services (Direção Geral de Reinserção e Serviços Prisionais, DGRSP), the Justice institute for financial & equipment management (Instituto de Gestão Financeira e Equipamentos da Justiça, IGFEJ), CPJ and Cisco Systems Portugal.
The DGRSP and the CPJ are jointly defining in which penal institutions this collaborative project is going to be carried out. The CPJ is also responsible for preparing and scheduling the training plan, ensuring that local environment is favourable, and for the assessment of satisfaction and impact on prison facilities.
This collaboration protocol is an important step for the development and digital transformation process in Portugal. It is also in line with skills anticipation, training, employment and social reintegration policies, improving the synergies of existing structures.
The IGFEJ, based on the Cisco networking academy programme, a complete training project specialising in next generation networks and cybersecurity courses, also created the Academy of Justice. This programme develops e-learning ICT training activities. Cisco's areas of cooperation in this project also include content development and maintenance, evaluations and certification of the courses, as well as the online system for their implementation. It also provides complementary learning materials, interactive tools and other resources that may be needed, supporting technically and functionally the administrator and the instructors assigned to teach the training courses. The IGFEJ is responsible for promoting the Academy of Justice programme and appoints its administrators and instructors.
In a society dominated by digital media, investing in ICT training programmes in penal institutions and education centres of the Ministry of Justice is crucial in order to promote the social and work reintegration of young people and adults in society.


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Jaleel Awini
The Buffs are set to add another offensive playmaker, but it could be awhile before he hits the field.
Buffstampede.com editor Adam Munsterteiger reports today that former Air Force quarterback and Aurora native Jaleel Awini intends to transfer to the University of Colorado. Awini left the academy in January after being suspended in September for unspecified conduct.
The Colorado Springs Gazette wrote: "An Aurora native, his arm strength, size (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and speed presented a different dimension for Air Force. However, he was ruled ineligible in September after losing his good standing as a cadet."
"No official cause for his drop in standing was announced, but multiple sources have told The Gazette that two honor code violations had occurred. Neither violation involved a legal situation and neither figured to be anything that might scare away another program interested in the quarterback."
Awini will likely sit out a season following the transfer. Buffstampede.com reports it's unclear on whether Awini will join Colorado as a walk-on or be on scholarship. He accounted for 498 yards of offense for the Falcons in four games as a sophomore.
Awini was a standout prep player at Rangeview in Aurora throwing for 1,259 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior, also rushing for 1,088 yards and 17 scores. He chose Air Force over offers from Colorado State, Indiana, Vanderbilt, Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado and Weber State.
Awini's Twitter profile now reads: "Student of Life. University of Colorado Football."
After two year stop at Air Force Academy, Jaleel Awini is going to make dream of playing for #CUBuffs become reality: http://t.co/Vss6lrhkMz
— Adam Munsterteiger (@adamcm777) February 11, 2014
More 2015 offers
Two junior defensive backs from the Houston area have reportedly picked up offers from the Buffs.
The Ridge Point (Missouri City, Texas) football program tweeted today that Colorado has offered scholarships to 2015 recruits Jordan Tolbert and Jameel Cook Jr.
The 5-11, 160-pound Tolbert is rated as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He gave a pledge to Houston in October, but is listed as a soft commit. Tolbert also holds an offer from Baylor. Check out his Hudl page and sophomore highlights below.
Cook Jr. played his junior year for Fort Bend Dulles in Sugar Land, Texas, where he was named an all-district linebacker and return specialist. He is listed at 6-1, 190 pounds on his Hudl page. He is the son of former NFL fullback Jameel Cook, who played nine seasons in the league and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
News surfaced on Tuesday night that the Buffs have offered 2015 A&M Consolidated (College Station, Texas) outside linebacker Riley Garner. Garner is listed at 6-3, 215 pounds with a 4.52 40 time. He was named an all-district linebacker in Texas' Class 5A as a junior. His Hudl highlights are available here.
2015 DB's Jordan Tolbert and Jameel Cook receive offers from Colorado! #HardWorkPaysOff
— Ridge Point Football (@RP_football) February 11, 2014
A&M Consolidated 2015 LB @RileyGarner100 picks up #Colorado offer tonight. First of what could be many by the end of the school year.
— Jeremy Clark (@JClarkHFB) February 12, 2014


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During his lifetime, it was hard to determine when and where actor Yul Brynner was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview; confronted with these discrepancies late in life, he replied, "Ordinary mortals need but one birthday." At any rate, it appears that Brynner's mother was part Russian, his father part Swiss, and that he lived in Russia until his mother moved the family to Manchuria and then Paris in the early '30s. He worked as a trapeze artist with the touring Cirque D'Hiver, then joined a repertory theater company in Paris in 1934. Brynner's fluency in Russian and French enabled him to build up a following with the Czarist expatriates in Paris, and his talents as a singer/guitarist increased his popularity. And when Michael Chekhov hired Brynner for his American theater company, he added a third language -- English -- to his repertoire.
After several years of regional acting, Brynner was hired by the Office of War Information as an announcer for their French radio service. In 1945, Brynner was cast as Tsai-Yong in the musical play Lute Song, which starred Mary Martin; the production opened on Broadway in 1946, and, though its run was short, Brynner won the Most Promising Actor Donaldson award. He went on to do theater in London and direct early live television programs in the States, including a children's puppet show, Life With Snarky Parker. In 1949, the actor made his movie debut as a two-bit smuggler in a Manhattan-filmed quickie Port of New York, which has taken on a video-store life of its own since lapsing into the public domain. On the strength of his Lute Song work of several years earlier, Brynner was cast as the King of Siam in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 musical The King and I. The play was supposed to be a vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence, with the king an important but secondary role; but so powerful was Brynner's work that the role was beefed up in rehearsal, causing supporting actor Murvyn Vye to quit the show when Vye's only song was cut to give more stage time to Brynner. The King and I was an enormous hit, supplying Brynner with the role of a lifetime, one in which he would repeat brilliantly in the 1956 film version -- and win an Oscar in the process. Cecil B. DeMille, impressed by Brynner's King performance, cast the actor as the Egyptian Pharoah Rameses I in DeMille's multimillion-dollar blockbuster The Ten Commandments (1956). It became difficult for Brynner to play a "normal" character after this, so he seldom tried, although he came close to subtle believability in Anastasia (1956) and The Journey (1959). The first baldheaded movie idol, Brynner occasionally donned a wig or, as in Taras Bulba (1962), a Russian pigtail, but his fans (particularly the ladies) preferred him "scalped," as it were. Outside of his film work, Brynner was also an accomplished photographer, and many of his pictures appeared in major magazine spreads or were used as official studio production stills.
Hollywood changed radically in the '70s, and the sort of larger-than-life fare in which Brynner thrived thinned out; so, in 1972, the actor agreed to re-create his King and I role in an expensive weekly TV series, Anna and the King. But it lasted all of eight weeks. Brynner's last major film role was in the sci-fi thriller Westworld (1973) as a murderously malfunctioning robot, dressed in Western garb reminiscent of the actor's wardrobe in 1960's The Magnificent Seven. What could have been campy or ludicrous became a chilling characterization in Brynner's hands; his steady, steely-eyed automaton glare as he approached his human victims was one of the more enjoyably frightening filmgoing benefits of the decade. In 1977, Brynner embarked upon a stage revival of The King and I, and though he was dogged by tales of his outrageous temperament and seemingly petty demands during the tour, audiences in New York and all over the country loved the show. The actor inaugurated a second King tour in 1985; this time, however, he knew he was dying of lung cancer, but kept the news from both his fans and co-workers. Unable to perform the "Shall We Dance" waltz or get all the words out for the song "A Puzzlement," Brynner nonetheless played to packed audiences willing to shell out 75 dollars per ticket. Two months after the play closed in 1985, Brynner died in a New York hospital -- still insisting that his public not know the severity of his condition until after his death, although he had recorded a dramatic public-service announcement to be broadcast afterward that blamed the illness on smoking.


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Recently, little boxes began popping up on Web pages I visited. They showed my picture and welcomed me by name. They also included details that made it clear these sites knew I was a Facebook member. I probably shouldn't have been surprised. After all, this is nothing new—other sites have used cross-site cookies to determine what ads to display. But this time, it was enough to spur me to action. I decided to get rid of all my Web browser cookies.
What would the consequences be? Cookies are, after all, intended to make surfing easier. They give your computer a unique identifier so your actions can be tracked and your needs (say, your site login information or preferences) anticipated. (Learn more about what cookies do, and what privacy risks they can pose, by reading this Wikipedia article.) I'd already ditched Google for privacy concerns, so I figured it would be an interesting experiment to delete my cookies and see what happened.
Delete or rename them
You can delete cookies by taking a trip your browser's preferences. In Safari 5.0, go to Safari -> Preferences, click Security, click Show Cookies, and finally click Remove All. With Firefox 3.6.8, select Firefox -> Preferences and click on Privacy. Click on the Remove Individual Cookies link and then click Remove All Cookies.
I wasn't quite ready to go this far, though, in case deleting the cookies added up to a real inconvenience. I felt it would be easier to just change the name of Safari's cookie file so I could get all of my cookies back if anything went wrong. Safari keeps its cookies file in ~/Library/Cookies. Rename it to something like cookies.old.plist. If need be, you can change the name back later. Note that this file is used by Safari as well as any other program that renders Web pages with WebKit (including RSS readers, such as, NewsGator's NetNewsWire). Firefox's cookies live in ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/. Inside this folder, you'll find your Profile folder (it will probably have a strange name like oe886bk5.default). Inside this folder you'll see a file called cookies.sqlite. Change the name of this file.
What you lose
Once you get rid of your cookies, the first thing you'll notice is that you won't be logged into sites you visit regularly. Amazon asked me to "sign in to get personalized recommendations." A forum I visit regularly took me to a Login page. When I went to my blog's administration page, I was asked to log in as well. This shouldn't be a big hassle if you've been storing user names and passwords using, for example, Safari's AutoFill preferences. (Go to Safari -> Preferences, click AutoFill, and then select the User Names And Password option.) If you have, then Safari will enter your user names automatically. Passwords, which are stored in your keychain, will fill in as well.
In some cases, you'll lose specific display settings on Websites. For instance, you may have chosen a font size or you may have customized certain elements on a site, such as a theme or skin. You'll have to recreate those settings. Your Google search settings will be reset to the default, if you've changed them (and aren't signed in to a Google account). The same is true with any other search engine.
What you won't lose
One thing you won't notice, however, is changes due to the loss of the pernicious cookies provided by advertisers that track your activity on the Web. These cookies don't require you to log in anywhere; they just record what you do. Deleting these cookies is a good way to keep your surfing habits somewhat private, but as you surf, you'll get new cookies, and, over time, the ads you see will be, once again, somewhat influenced by your browsing history.
It didn't take long after I got rid of my cookies before my browser showed hundreds of new cookies in its list. Since many, if not most, Websites send several cookies when you visit them (a half-dozen per site is common), just loading a number of sites in my bookmarks folders added hundreds of discrete cookies to my cookies file. And in spite of having my Safari settings to only allow cookies from sites I visit, I found other cookies. For example, I didn't visit YouTube.com, but still four YouTube cookies appeared in my list, presumably sent when I visited a page with an embedded YouTube video.
Keeping cookies under control
While you could go as far as turning off cookies in your browser, this can prevent certain Websites from working correctly. For example, you can't buy anything on Amazon.com or log into Facebook without cookies.
I'll settle for deleting my cookies regularly. A number of tools can help, including Intego's $20 Washing Machine 2, which can also delete browser caches and other dross on demand or on schedule. Titanium's Software's free Onyx can also clean cookies from a couple of dozen browsers, though you can't schedule it to run automatically. Deleting your cookies from time to time can clear out the hundreds or even thousands of them that accumulate. And in the process, it will give you a new, pristine identity when you visit Websites where you don't have to log in.
Senior contributor Kirk McElhearn writes about more than just Macs on his blog Kirkville. Kirk has written documentation for Intego.
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DTA Tiling tools are designed for use by professionals and handypersons. They cover a vast range of tools and accessories that make tiling easoer and more profitable. These range from trowels to spacers, silicones to grout maintenance and installation.
For example trowels are available in a variety of notches, steels and handles at many price points. DTA also offer a wide range of power tools, general tools and gadgets to make your tiling job easier.


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Easy A. The best comedy of the year, aka the best teen comedy in a long, long time.
The movie tells the story of Olive Penderghast, a high school girl who's as off the radar as you can go. A rumor starts that she lost her virginity and soon enough, she becomes the most popular girl in school. Inspired by the novel "The Scarlet Letter" from where the letter "A" in the title comes from, it shows how the precocious teenager in Olive got turned due to word-of-mouth alone into something as close to a harlot as you can get – without the sex.
Her fictional one-night with her fictional college boyfriend soon becomes the introduction of many guys asking her to fake sleep with them to improve their reputation. A gay classmate comes up to her and in one hilarious scene, they fake sleeping with each other so well that your ribs would almost crack from laughing. But as with all comedies, soon enough Olive's world will come crashing down as it all becomes unbearable and things she hasn't even pretended to do are affixed to her…
Olive's parents, played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, are hilarious. They excel at being the hippies, carefree parents. You can't help but laugh everytime one of them tries to console or give guidance to Olive. They are so out of place that I thought Olive was adopted at first. They are still so taken by their long-ago sexual and chemical experimentation that they don't even care about all the turmoil in their daughter's life. Their advice: Oh but it's fun! You can't help but laugh.
You might think the plot is cliched and whatnot – after all, most high school comedies are. But what elevates this movie is the outstanding performance by Emma Stone, who, in my opinion, should have won her category at the Golden Globes. There is no other one who deserved the best actress in a comedy as she did. She spun this movie out of her likeability alone and made it into what it is. Like or hate the movie, you can't but like her character. She shows such promising talent that how she was a relative unknown before this is mind-boggling.
The movie also stars Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley as Olive's love interest. Amanda Bynes returns into the movie business as the overzealous Christian who wants to stop all the "sinning" going on in her school. She is really good as well, especially when she's in one of her prayer sessions.
Easy A may not be groundbreaking. But for once in a long while, Hollywood gives you a comedy that is refreshing, breezy and likeable without going into the comedy of shock-value. And for that, I love it.


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It is the 10th anniversary of the U.S.S. Voyager's triumphant return to Earth after 23 years in the Delta Quadrant. Kathryn Janeway is an admiral, Harry Kim is a starship captain, Tom Paris is a full-time holonovelist, and the Doctor is married to a human woman and has named himself "Joe." At a reunion party, Admiral Janeway talks with B'Elanna Torres, who is now Federation Liaison to the Klingon High Council, about arranging a political favor for a Klingon named Korath. Later, the admiral serves as guest lecturer in Commander Reginald Barclay's Starfleet Academy class about the Borg, but when a cadet asks a question about Seven of Nine, Janeway evades the subject. She's pulled away from class to receive a message from Ensign Miral Paris, the daughter of Torres and Paris, who is on a secret mission to arrange some sort of exchange between the admiral and Korath.
Admiral Janeway stops to say goodbye to Tuvok at his hospital room where he is suffering a neurological disorder that has destroyed his mind, telling him she may never come back. She then has the Doctor over to her apartment and asks him to procure for her a supply of Chronexaline, an experimental drug that can protect biomatter from tachyon radiation, for "classified" reasons. She arranges to get some downloaded information and a shuttle from Commander Barclay, and finally she visits Chakotay's gravesite, promising that when she's through things will be better for everyone.
Twenty-six years earlier, when Voyager is still in the Delta Quadrant, the pregnant Torres is having repeated occurrences of false labor, and Seven of Nine is developing a serious romance with Chakotay. Tuvok is concerned when he is defeated by Icheb in Kal-toh, so he visits the Doctor and learns his neurological condition is slowly deteriorating. Seven is playing Kadis-Kot with Neelix by remote when she is interrupted by the detection of high neutrino emissions indicative of a wormhole. Seven later tells the crew that the center of a nearby nebula may contain hundreds of wormholes, any of which could lead to the Alpha Quadrant.
Back in the future, the Doctor visits Tuvok, who has become increasingly agitated about the "disappearance" of Admiral Janeway, and blurts out that she's never coming back. Curious, the Doctor visits Commander Barclay to get in touch with Janeway, and Barclay says simply that she's out of town. But when Barclay starts stammering, which he hasn't done in years, the Doctor knows he's hiding something. Meanwhile Admiral Janeway has taken the shuttle to a moon where she meets up with Miral Paris, who introduces her to the House of Koroth. After dismissing the Ensign, Janeway meets with Koroth, who has something for her but demands information on her shuttle's shield modifications. The admiral won't go beyond the original terms of their agreement, so she is shown out.
In the present time, Voyager enters the murky nebula and barely misses colliding with a Borg Cube. Captain Janeway orders the ship out of the nebula, refusing to go back despite Ensign Kim's appeal to not give up on those wormholes. Later, Seven asks the Doctor to perform a procedure he devised to remove a failsafe device in her cortical node, so she can pursue more intimate relationships — specifically, with Chakotay.
Admiral Janeway tells Koroth she's "reconsidered" his offer — she'll give him the shield emitter, but first she has to inspect the device he's offering. Korath allows her to scan the device, whereupon Janeway attaches a transport enhancer to the device and beams it and herself to the shuttle. The enraged Klingons send one of their futuristic ships to fire upon her, but Janeway deploys a new armor technology around the shuttle that absorbs the phaser blasts. She jumps to warp and escapes, but when she arrives at her destination, she is met with the Federation starship Rhode Island, commanded by Captain Kim, who orders her to stand down. Kim has learned of her plan from the Doctor, who coaxed it out of Barclay, but Janeway insists the consequences are too great if she doesn't follow through, and asks him to trust her judgment one last time. Kim helps her prepare Korath's device — a chrono-deflector which is now affixed on top of the shuttle — and realizes it will burn itself out with one use. Janeway already assumed this would be a one-way trip. Unable to talk her out of the scheme, Kim beams back to his ship, and Janeway activates the chrono-deflector. Two Klingon ships decloak and begin firing, and Janeway is unable to deploy the ablative armor. The Rhode Island comes back and distracts the Klingons while Janeway activates a tachyon pulse.
Meanwhile on the present-day Voyager, Seven of Nine and Chakotay are having their first kiss when they are summoned to the Bridge. Some sort of temporal rift is forming in front of the ship, and Klingon weapons fire is being detected. But then a Federation vessel comes through the rift and hails Voyager. Captain Janeway sees the older version of herself on the viewscreen, ordering her to emit an anti-tachyon pulse from the deflector to close the rift before the Klingons come through. Startled, the Captain hesitantly fulfills that order and seals the rift, then asks what the hell is going on. Admiral Janeway says she's come to bring Voyager home. What she doesn't realize is that the Borg Queen is monitoring her transmission.


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If you can't find what you are looking for at Cumbrian Cottages, click here to visit Cottages.com and browse over 19,000 properties from all of our collections, all of which are inspected and graded to ensure you find the perfect cottage.
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These 3 beautiful and spacious barn conversions are set on a working sheep and beef farm, and each property has its own private hot tub. The farm itself has 140 acres, and the farmland links up to the Ystwyth Cycle Trail which is over 16 miles long. The interiors of the properties have vaulted ceilings, modern lighting, and furnished with leather sofas and wood-burning stoves, each with a hot tub available. All 3 properties (refs OA5, OA6 and OA7) can be booked together to form one large house sleeping 12, and they all have interconnecting doors which can be opened up. There is also the option of taking a horse on holiday, the farm has 6 loose boxes and a paddock which can be made available. Located near Tregaron, a small Welsh-speaking market town where guests can visit the famous Rhiannon Welsh Gold Centre that offers beautiful gifts and a fantastic art gallery. Tregaron is also famous for its trotting races, which are actually held here at Dolyrychain Farm on the Sunday following the May bank holiday and also over the August bank holiday weekend each year. The event is the largest of its kind and attracts over 10,000 visitors. This is a haven for walkers and cyclists with the Cambrian Mountains at the foot of the farm and the panoramic Pumlumon Mountains to the north. Visit the university town of Aberystwyth, home of the National Library of Wales, take a walk on the promenade or even catch the electric cliff railway on Construction Hill. For a magical day out take the narrow gauge railway from Aberystwyth to the heart of the Pumlumon Mountains where the destination will be the world famous Devils Bridge and Rheidol Falls. Ideal for fishing, as there is private fly fishing 2 miles away, as well as other fishing venues close by. Shop and pub 1 mile.
Read more about Bwthyn Onnen
The Cambrian Mountain range dominates and because it is often over looked due to the Snowdonian and Brecon Beacon ranges it is a secret just waiting to be discovered. Fish in one of the many reservoirs and rivers or bike up some of the challenging trails across the range.
Further to the east the towns of Builth Wells and Llandrindod Wells both provide amenities for your day in the mountains. From here you can also travel to the Black Mountains in the South East or visit the neighbouring English border
Situated on the west coast of Britain covering 823 square miles of diverse landscapes, Snowdonia National Park is the largest National Park in Wales.


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Microsoft is apparently teaching Best Buy employees that Windows 7 beats Linux in every category imaginable. Redmond isn't just saying that Windows has more software or games available than Linux does or that Windows has compatibility with more devices and hardware than Linux does. The software giant is actually going as far as teaching employees that there are certain statements about Linux that need to be labeled as myths.
An employee of Best Buy and a member of the Overclock.net forums recently uploaded slides from a Microsoft presentation titled "Linux Compare" that gives various reasons for using Windows 7 over Linux. The images are no longer available on the forum, but thanks to the beauty of cache, we've saved 11 of the screenshots and embedded them below:
Microsoft has already said that all editions of Windows 7 will work fine on netbooks, but now it wants to make sure that consumers believe they all beat Linux on a netbook.
At this point, everything looks fine. Microsoft is simply going to explain the pros of running Windows over Linux.
By slide three, it gets ugly. Microsoft makes sure that Windows 7 appears to be superior in every way.
Here Microsoft is simply helping Best Buy employees remember what to list when explaining to a customer why Windows 7 is superior.
This slide isn't too bad, though WINE is conveniently left out.
No mention of Linux; again, not too bad.
Here Microsoft is simply talking up the good points of Windows 7.
Linux doesn't offer free downloads? The actual operating system is a free download!
This is where Microsoft should have stopped. Linux does indeed offer a ton of updates, and they're easy to download and install.
This is probably the most controversial part of all the slides. Microsoft has somehow managed to imply, without actually saying it, that Windows 7 is more secure than Linux.
This Microsoft training material for Best Buy retail staff is deliberately attacking Linux. While there are correct assertions in the slides, the majority of the statements are inaccurate, or are only accurate in the specific way they are worded.
Blizzard might not support World of Warcraft on Linux but WINE solves that problem well. Calling Linux's safety reputation a myth, that Linux updates and upgrades are difficult and time consuming, is quite ridiculous. The mention that Windows Live Essentials is not available for Linux is of course correct, but it's not as if Linux doesn't have many free alternatives to the software suite.
The general tone of the slides is very propagandist and is full of deliberate skewing. The fact that Microsoft finds this type of "training material" necessary is just shameful.


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Mother of Abby Hernandez: No matter what, we won't stop looking
Wednesday marks six months since Abby Hernandez was last seen
Wednesday marks six months since Abigail "Abby" Hernandez was last seen, and her mother has released a new statement vowing to keep searching for the missing 15-year-old.
Click to view a timeline of the teen's disappearance.
The Conway teen was last seen leaving Kennett High School in October.
Her mother, Zenya, posted the following message on the Bring Abby Home website:
"Wednesday will be six months. Six months since we last saw Abby. We dread it, but hope that maybe we won't have to face this day. We hope, as we hope every day, that today will be the day when we see Abby.
Each day comes and goes, and the new day arrives, with its new hope, and then the hope dies. We reach these milestones, no matter how abhorrent and painful they are.
In the beginning, minutes and hours lasted eternity. Hours turned to days, weeks, months. In the first days, I didn't think I could survive the blinding shock, not even for a week. The shock turned to despair, the ache, a scorch of doubt, the lasting heavy pain. Everywhere we go, we look for you. Everyone we talk to, we talk to them thinking that maybe they know.
There were times, when hopes went way up. They came crushing down.
Abby is all we think about and all we talk about.
There is a lot we don't know. One thing I know, is how much I love Abby. I know that she is compassionate, smart, funny, a caring friend, a loving daughter, a great writer, skier, climber, and musician. Survivor. There is nothing, nothing that will shake my love for Abby, and there is nothing that will make me loose hope.
No matter what, we won't stop looking."
Hernandez's friends recently posted videos and letters reaching out to the teen and expressing how much they miss her.


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Thanks much, Jim.
Here are my fotos of Coral Queen, which began rebirth through the scrapyard portal a few years back now.
scenes from the sixth boro and gallivants beyond by any and all the crew
Thanks much, Jim.
Here are my fotos of Coral Queen, which began rebirth through the scrapyard portal a few years back now.
Great entry. These pix make me remember how much I miss seeing Coral Queen. Gone but not forgotten.
And a super demonstration of shiphandling getting between that barge with junked cars on it and the bulkhead on the other side. It looks easy in these photos but that's because you don't see the years of practice it requires!
Tony McDonald is still at the helm, and still sailing this stretch of creek. He's on the DianeB (ex Irene Frazier) which pushes the barge John Blanche, up this very creek. Barges still bring heating oil to Sprague Energy in Mount Vernon. Sprague supplies much of Westchester County with oil. The Scrappy you see belongs to Pascap which is a scrap yard. Those old cars will be towed out by Miller's Launch and sold to a smelter.
There is usually a scow or two on the other bank unloading sand and gravel at the old Colonial Eastchester dock.
You can see a video of Tony Macdonald being interviewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3JUVOG_rgc
Some nice shots of the Patrick Sky making it's way up to Westmore Fuel in Port Chester, NY


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Studio owner pays tribute through dance products // VIDEO, PHOTO GALLERY
PANAMA CITY — Tonie Bense was born into ballet.
Growing up in Meridian, Miss., Bense's childhood home doubled as a dance studio, which her mother opened when she was just 19 and taught at for more than 65 years.
"I crawled and then I danced; I didn't really have a choice," Bense said. "Thank goodness I loved it."
Now a studio owner herself, Bense is continuing her family's legacy through a series of instructional dance materials developed by her mother, Mary Alpha Johnson, who passed away last year.
The "Magical Kingdom of Dance" products aid instructors in teaching budding ballerinas the classical terminology, positions and steps using a pictorial mat along with characters and cues from a corresponding book.
Since her mother's passing, Bense has led an effort to develop, market and sell the products around the world, most recently at a dance teacher convention in Scottsdale, Ariz.
All of the products incorporate her mother's original drawings, text and characters.
"When she died, it was, 'do I let it just disappear or do I carry it on?'" said Bense, who operates Tonie's Dance Workshop at locations in Panama City and Parker. "I saw her work on this for so long. I just had to step out of the box and do it."
Bense said her mother's motto was, "A picture is worth a thousand words," and that can be seen through use of the Alphamat, a mat that helps young dancers learn foot positioning, left from right and more.
"It helps them with their imaginations and their creativity," Bense said of the mat, which she was taught to dance on at age 3. "It was the creative genius of my mom. It was her life's work."
Another product, "Twinkletoes and the Magical Kingdom of Dance," is a comprehensive encyclopedia of dance for children, which incorporates more than 100 animal characters, each named after a French ballet term.For example, Relevé the Giraffe teaches students to rise up on their toes in relevé position, mimicking a giraffe. Likewise, Plie the Cricket always bends his knees in ballet's plie position.
In her 38th season as a studio owner, Bense said she has used the Magical Kingdom of Dance for instruction since the beginning.
At her Panama City studio Tuesday, a classroom of 4- and 5-year-olds pointed and pranced on their Alphamats, using cues like "righty red" and "lefty blue." Donning tiny tutus, the girls followed along with the characters, stretching their necks on tip toe like Relevé the Giraffe and hopping like Sauté the bunny.
Bense said she hopes to continue traveling to conventions across the country to promote the Magical Kingdom of Dance products and keep her mother's dream alive.
"She was just very fun and very creative," Bense said. "She wanted everyone to dance and she wanted everyone to love dance."


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Pix Viewer
13/05 The revolutionary HNS botnet
03/11 Lazaru Hackers Used Hermes Ransomware to Cover over Big Bank Heist
07/06 iDump Build 29 Released
29/07 New Server
23/06 iDump Update Build24
01/01 iDump Update v1.1.0
08/10 iDump Update v1.0.8
TotalSpoof is a utility to 'spoof' web sites;
a spoof is a way of fooling a web site with security in to thinking
that you are already in the site so the site thinks hang on this
guy is already in so I don't need to check his username and password
again let him in.
This software was written
to test the security of my own sites; I can only condone any person
that misuses the software to gain access to sites they do not own.
TotalSpoof gives you complete control and flexibility on managing
you spoof list.
Delete Duplicates
Deletes all duplicates in the currently load list.
Allows you to mark your favorite spoofs for easy location, Your
favorite spoofs are displayed with this image .
Sorting your List
This feature is useful if you have a large
list, simply by clicking on the column headers will sort you list
or you may want to sort by your favorites then a right mouse click
in the list.
Allows you to have multiple lists and flexibility
in your spoofing environment.
if you want to test a spoof then
use this feature first and if the spoof is successful then you have
the option to add the new spoof to your list for saving.
Spoof validating/scanner
This is not 100% more like 90% successful,
but what it attempts to do is visit each site in your list and scans
the resulting page for common errors like 'access denied', you have
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Main screen
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18th September 2005 - Version 1.4.4
11th Febuary 2005 - Version 1.4.3
2nd January 2005 - Version 1.4.2
6th December 2004 - Version 1.4.1
30th December 2003
12th December 2003
5th December 2003
Download the latest version of TotalSpoof here.
v1.4.4 (1.4Mb)
Release date 18/09/2005


text:
Thanksgiving at Occupy Wall Street
Eric and I rode our bikes down to the Occupy Wall Street site to spend Thanksgiving, thinking it might be a nice place to spend the fallacious holiday. I hadn't been down there since
Wall Street's Bloomberg's henchpeople kicked everyone out and destroyed and stole their stuff including thousands of library books. It was sad to see the long wall that had served as the People's Library's stacks empty, and protected by some Danger tape and two cops.


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NEW YORK—When convincing someone to trade in a commodity that cannot be seen or touched, it's best to hold their hand—even if only by telephone. Standing while talking helps, too, at least for broker Lenny Hochschild, who specializes in convincing everyone from agribusiness to electric utilities to buy and sell in a market that doesn't exist yet—a U.S. market for the right to emit carbon dioxide, the most ubiquitous greenhouse gas changing the global climate.
This is possibly the newest market in the world, a would-be global attempt to create a trade in the greenhouse gas emissions from any nation's fleet of cars, household refrigerators, electric power plants, factories, even farms. It's an attempt to peel back the smothering blanket of global warming by giving people a financial incentive to reduce emissions under an economic concept known as cap and trade.
The carbon desk Hochschild occupies is in the middle of five long rows of tables, buried under computer monitors, laptops and thick books of market arcana, that make up the trading floor at Evolution Markets, an "environmental" brokerage in White Plains, N.Y.
Hochschild got his trading start in more physical commodities: metals, specifically the so-called "base metals," such as copper. Of course, copper is the primary metal used around the world to move electricity and that's a route Hochschild followed as well, moving into energy products and, then, in 2003, starting to trade renewable energy credits—another government run market in chits that show a given electric utility has produced or bought a sufficient amount of electricity from renewable resources, such as the sun or wind, to meet a mandate.
The trading of any commodity—whether wheat, pork bellies or renewable energy credits—is essentially the same, but it helps to have an understanding of the reality behind the abstract: the color-coded blinking numbers on a broker's multiple computer screens that reflect current prices in a spread of different regional carbon markets, like the European Carbon Exchange. As a result, many emissions brokers are former traders of the commodities important to the industries that emit CO2—whether metals or coal, oil, and natural gas. After all, the use of those commodities gives rise to the carbon commodity—an emissions allowance—in the same way that burning coal releases CO2.
But Hochschild didn't move to the carbon market to save the world. "It's a market that's growing," he said. "It's a market that's doing what needs to be done and allows me to earn a decent living." In fact, the low volume, high margin market is responsible for 25 percent of Evolution's global revenue, according to spokesman Evan Ard.
The effort to create a national market for such CO2 emissions received a serious blow when the U.S. Senate abandoned the effort to pass a climate bill this summer. But worldwide markets are growing, and brokerage houses see potential despite the domestic setback: Worldwide, emissions trading was a $144 billion market in 2009, according to the World Bank, and 2010 figures to be even higher. Regional markets are spreading, notably on the West and East coasts of the United States. Europe's cap-and-trade system, the largest emissions trading scheme in the world and a pillar of the European Union's climate policy, has been up and running since 2005.
To be a broker like Hochschild is to collect a commission—and to convince two companies or, really, two people to exchange something in return for a fee. In Evolution's case they collect at least 3.5 percent of any deal, plus various fees. But what are the parties actually trading? In the case of the carbon market, it's the right to pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases.
Here's how it works: first the government sets a cap, or an overall limit on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution permitted. Then the government awards or sells permits to emit said pollution. Those companies that can reduce emissions below the assigned amount can then sell the excess to other companies struggling to meet the cap—this is the trade portion of the name.
The result is an overall emissions decline with the lowest overall economic impact, at least in theory, though some economists and other experts argue that such trade in greenhouse gases amounts to "voodoo economics"—the benefits of the trading never trickle down to the actual pollution control.
But the concept has worked for emissions of other air pollutants, such as the sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants behind acid rain. The amount of sulfur dioxide falling on northeastern forests from Midwestern power plants has declined since the 1990s when that market was introduced. The acid rain cap-and-trade market "worked cheaper and faster than the naysayers predicted," Hochschild noted. With the total number of such allowances limited by the government, a free resource—the air—suddenly became scarce. With scarcity comes value and value means money.
Today brokers at carbon desks in London, Beijing, Tokyo and New York drum up business in Indonesia, Russia, Brazil and even the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many expect this worldwide emissions market to be worth trillions of dollars some day. Much of today's value is driven by the Kyoto Protocol, which set up a global market for greenhouse gas emissions but is set to expire in 2012, with no prospects of successor treaty in sight.
And that brings up the fragility of today's emissions markets.
One domestic cap-and-trade market, organized by the Chicago Climate Exchange, is voluntary. Launched in 2003, it relies on companies such as Cargill, DuPont, Intel, Ford and Monsanto to make legally binding but voluntary commitments to meet emissions targets either by reducing emissions from their factories or by purchasing permits from other members of the exchange who have exceeded their targets.
That system is now in doubt, Jeff Sprecher, chief executive of the CCX's new parent company, Intercontinental Exchange, told investors during an August conference call. "It remains to be seen in an uncertain U.S. regulatory environment whether companies are going to want to continue to walk down their carbon footprint and whether they're going to continue to get credit for it from Congress and how the Environmental Protection Agency ... will give them credit for the work they're voluntarily doing."
The U.S. market, Sprecher added, is a "loss-making business as it exists today," which may be why ICE is reputed to be laying off much of the staff who run the CCX business.
But Intercontinental Exchange also runs Europe's main carbon emissions trading platforms, and that's a growth business even with no prospects of a global deal to cap emissions on the horizon, Sprecher said.
On just one day in mid-May, 6.5 million metric tons of CO2 allowances traded on the European Carbon Exchange - or more than $150 million worth at a price of nearly EU$16 per ton just for the countries in the European Union; it has grown 26 percent for the year through July, according to the Intercontinental Exchange.
The E.U. is not the only region to have such a trade: Regional carbon markets have proliferated, ranging from an 11-state market in the northeastern United States known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI (pronounced "Reggie" by aficionados), to the would-be global market for avoiding greenhouse gas emissions as the developing world develops under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, the so-called CDM, or Clean Development Mechanism (which lacks a cutely pronounced acronym, among other problems).
Lost? Hochschild, sitting now, says you're not alone. "There are more acronyms in this business than anything else."
Thanks to U.S. intransigence, there is an international flavor to the carbon market. And that means Hochschild's day starts early, with phone calls to Europe or Asia, segueing as the day progresses into activity in Brazil or the United States. Education is how carbon brokers drum up business. "They've never heard of carbon offsets or cap and trade, or if they have, they've heard it's a tax," Hochschild said of his U.S. prospects. The hand-holding starts with educating potential sellers and buyers. "Seventy percent is free consulting and 30 percent is actual deal flow," he adds. "But without the consulting, no flow."
Evolution cannot survive on carbon alone, of course. In addition to trading greenhouse gases, Evolution helps broker deals for biofuels, natural gas, the uranium fuel for nuclear reactors, renewable energy credits, air pollution permits for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, even insurance against bad weather. But it is coal that has kept the lights on for the last 10 years. Whether it's physical shipments of the fossil fuel or the buying and selling of the permits for the pollution that burning it causes—Evolution's first trade was a sulfur dioxide allowance between Enron and Dynegy in February of 2000—the brokerage makes its living on coal.
Of course, coal is also responsible for nearly 30 percent of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, and 20 percent globally. Efforts to halt the global warming caused by carbon dioxide have focused on trading metric tons of the odorless, colorless greenhouse gas globally since at least the 1990s. Evolution has specialized in the nascent trade since 2001 and has posted some early successes, such as the first trade designed to ensure compliance with the emission cuts embedded in the Kyoto Protocol—a transfer of a reduction in emissions in Slovakia to help offset emissions in Japan.
It sees no reason to step back now.
"We were in this market from the very beginning, before it was even a market," Evolution's Ard said. Now "the carbon desk has enough volume coming through to sustain that business."
This article originally appeared at The Daily Climate, the climate change news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.