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IPCC has just written me saying that they will send me review comments on chapter 6 subject to the following restriction:
As this additional form of distribution is being provided in conjunction with the review process, the compiled comments are not for re-distribution to others.
Given that the review comments are supposedly in an "open archive", I don't understand the basis of this restriction. Also I'm not clear whether this prohibits me from quoting even individual review comments. It's all very strange and very inconsistent with the "open and transparent process" that IPCC is supposed to follow. Much as bureaucratic obfuscation amuses, even I'm getting tired of WG1 TSU, so I've tried this from a different angle.
Many of the key players in WG1, including the Chairman, Susan Solomon, and the TSU director, Martin Manning, are NOAA employees and have used their NOAA email addresses in any correspondence with me. The NOAA website (thanks to a CA reader for drawing this to my attention) contains lavish praise for the contribution of NOAA employees to WG1:
Feb. 2, 2007 – NOAA individuals and technology made major contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) international climate science report, of which the summary of the first chapter was released today in Paris. That summary, the Summary for Policy Makers, was subjected to line-by-line approval of the participating governments….
Susan Solomon, a senior scientist of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., is co-chair of Working Group 1 (WG1), the Physical Science Basis. Nine of the lead and review authors are from NOAA and 20 of the model runs were done by the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. Lead authors are nominated by their governments.
NOAA authors and IPCC review editors for WG1 include Thomas Peterson, David Easterling, Thomas Karl, Sidney Levitus, Mark Eakin, Matthew Menne of the NOAA Satellite and Information Service; and Venkatachala. Ramaswamy, David Fahey, Ronald Stouffer, Isaac Held, Jim Butler , Paul Ginoux, John Ogren , Chet Koblinsky, Dian Seidel, Robert Webb, Randy Dole, Martin Hoerling of the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and Arun Kumar of the NOAA National Weather Service. Roger Pulwarty of OAR is an author for Working Group 2, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, slated for release April 5.
Again with the assistance of a CA reader, I've sent the following FOI request to NOAA:
May 31, 2007
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Public Reference Facility (OFA56)
Attn: NOAA FOIA Officer
1315 East West Highway (SSMC3)
Room 10730
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request
Dear NOAA FOIA Officer:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
NOAA describes the contributions of NOAA employees to the recent International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, and, in particular, to Working Group 1 at its website http://www.cpo.noaa.gov/ipcc/first_ipcc.html.
I request that a copy of any NOAA records (documents, memoranda, review comments, reports, internal and external correspondence or mail including e-mail correspondence and attachments to or from NOAA employees) be provided to me on the following subjects:
(1) review comments on (a) the Second Order Draft and (b) the Final Draft of the Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I, including, but not limited to, all expert, government and review editor comments;
(2) all annotated responses to such comments by Chapter Lead Authors.
A primary source for NOAA records is Susan Solomon. NOAA ( http://www.cpo.noaa.gov/ipcc/first_ipcc.html ) states that Susan Solomon, "a senior scientist of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., is co-chair of Working Group 1 (WG1), the Physical Science Basis." Another primary source for NOAA records is Martin Manning, another scientist with the Aeronomy Lab in Boulder CO, who acted as director of the IPCC Working Group I Technical Services Unit.
In order to help to determine my status for purposes of determining the applicability of any fees, I note that I was a reviewer for WG1; that I have 5 peer-reviewed publications on paleoclimate, all of which were cited in the WG1 Assessment Report; that I made an invited presentation last year to the National Research Council Panel on Surface Temperature Reconstructions and two invited presentations to the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
I believe a fee waiver is appropriate since the purpose of the request is academic research. All review comments were submitted in digital format; collations have already been made and all the requested information should be easily located by the primary sources.
I also include a telephone number (xxx) at which I can be contacted between 9 and 7 pm Eastern Daylight Time, if necessary, to discuss any aspect of my request.
I ask that this FOIA request be processed within 20 days so that I can respond as an expert reviewer to the United States Climate Change Science Program's request for expert review of the fourth and final volume of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report ("Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report")" which relates to Chapter 6 Paleoclimate [Federal Register: May 21, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 97).] The closing date for comments on the Federal Register notice is June 27, 2007.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Stephen McIntyre
Notice one additional and interesting aspect to the request. The WG1 Timetable describes a date by which Author Comments have to be returned to TSU. These Author Comments have not been archived at the Harvard Library, but I've requested them.
I have a suggestion for CA readers. The email address of NOAA FOI is FOIA at noaa.gov. Any readers that are interested in the review comments (especially American readers) might wish to adapt the form of my request. It might be worthwhile varying the primary sources for individual requesters and see if any variations turn up.
If all interested CA readers obtain a copy of the IPCC review comments, perhaps we can have an online conversation after we have all obtained our review comments from NOAA (or any other branch of government that any of you think of.)


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Rainfall on the Western Front - July/August 1917
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You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2017.
Hello Friends!
It's that time of year again! And no, I'm not referring to the upcoming holiday season. I'm referring to the end of the dental benefit year. Woo Hoo! Exciting? Hardly. But it is important. Why? For the vast majority of patients with dental insurance, the policies run on a calendar year and it's "use 'em or lose 'em" time.
There are exceptions, of course (some government or educational agencies come to mind as examples). But for the most part, if you don't use your dental benefits, you lose them. What does that mean exactly? When you are given a dental insurance policy, either through your employer or one you purchase yourself, the plan typically covers a set dollar amount, a "maximum" amount you are allowed for the year. Most plans do not roll over into the next year. So the benefits you pay premiums for are lost.
Calling to schedule your dental appointment sooner rather than later will ensure that you will receive the appointment time that works for you. It will also allow time for the doctor to create a comprehensive treatment plan should you need one and allow time to schedule before the end of the year. Holidays become very busy in a dental office. Many people try to take advantage of having time off work or school, so it may become difficult to schedule. Also, should you need to schedule an appointment with a specialist, there is still time to do that as well, without the end of year time scramble.
The good news is that it's still early enough to schedule. The bad news is that we can't help you if you don't call.
Of course if you have any questions regarding insurance or anything else, we are always happy to help. We look forward to hearning from you soon:)
Your Friends at
Brunner Prast Family Dental
*This blog is for educational and entertainment purposes only and not intended to diagnose or treat any illness. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.


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There's a 120-minute long, total lunar eclipse starting today at 2:20 PM EDT and that, of course, is awesome. But what's not so awesome is that it won't be visible to people in North America. Selfish Moon! Good thing we have Google to live stream the whole shebang. Just click play on the video above and watch it live.
Google has teamed with SLOOH Space Camera to let anyone NOT living in South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia watch the lunar eclipse on YouTube, on SLOOH, from Google Earth or even from your Android phone. The livestream will also include narration from astronomer experts so you'll know exactly what you're looking at. You can watch it on YouTube right now.


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Over at The Atlantic, Tim Maly has summed up the dreams, anxieties and philosophical musings he collected last month though his 50cyborgs project that celebrated the coining of the term "cyborg" a half-century ago. He begins the article with a series of questions:
Because the word 'cyborg' is 50 years old, we wanted to have a party. We wanted to commemorate the longevity of a concept birthed in the heat of the space race, and schooled on the hard-knock playgrounds of science fiction and cultural theory. Cyborgs are a pretty big deal. They show up in our movies and books, our military R&D programs, our disability research, our dreams, and our arguments about who we are (and aren't). We wanted to invite all the cyborgs and have a big celebration.
Problems arose immediately. Who gets to come? The Six Million Dollar Man and Woman are cyborgs for sure. Probably Robocop and The Terminator too. Are Blade Runner's Replicants eligible? Does Iron Man get an invite? What about a person with a pacemaker? What about cochlear implants? What about hearing aids? What about glasses?
All that to say, what is a cyborg anyway?
Though the term was coined by engineers to describe how people would become technologically-augmented to survive in space, the many contributors to Maly's project (including yours truly) expanded and mutated the definition of cyborg to encompass everything from women taking birth control pills, to people transforming their healthy dinners into delicious deserts with head-mounted olfactometers that pump sugary scents right into the nose.
Maly explains, beautifully and entertainingly, where the term cyborg comes from and where it's going. If you've always wondered about the history of an idea that has transformed the direction of science fiction and science, this article is a must-read.
Check it out at The Atlantic.


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In front of a judge in a packed courtroom, attorneys on Friday announced a plan to untangle Utah from a polygamous trust.
During a two-hour hearing, attorney Jeff Shields revealed the Utah Attorney General's Office has drafted a proposal to find a new board of trustees for the United Effort Plan (UEP). Shield's represents the Bruce Wisan, an accountant who was appointed in 2005 to oversee the multi-million dollar UEP.
The written proposal was a collaborative effort between lawyers in the Utah and Arizona attorney general offices, as well as representatives from Wisan's office. It calls for the appointment of five, seven or nine people who will administer the trust "expeditiously and in good faith." Would-be trustees also must be able to act impartially and prudently, according to the proposal, and administer it "solely in the interests of the beneficiaries."
Assistant Utah Attorney General David Wolf added Friday that trustees can be anyone, as long as they can act "independently and in the best interest of the trust."
The proposal was filed Friday and has not yet been approved by 3rd District Court Judge Denise Lindberg. But if the judge approves it, attorneys estimate it will take 175 days to find trustees. The nearly six-month time frame is a result of the process outlined for choosing the trustees. The proposal states that trustees must apply for the position then undergo judicial review and background checks, among other things. The public will later have an opportunity to comment on the potential trustees and, finally, the judge will make the ultimate selection.
Once chosen, the trustees would oversee and administer UEP assets.
The UEP is a trust founded by the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The state took over the trust and appointed Wisan over concerns about mismanagement. The trust owns much of the property, including numerous occupied houses, in the twin polygamous towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Beneficiaries include members and former members of the FLDS church.
The proposal is a significant step forward for the trust. For years, various interested parties have struggled with how to end the government's involvement and even earlier this year an array of exit strategies remained on the table.
Lindberg was careful Friday to preface discussion of the proposal with phrases like "if it works." The case could still be resolved in another way if finding a new board fails.
In the meantime, Wisan will continue managing the trust. To make that possible, the state legislature recently turned over $3 million to Wisan, who hasn't been paid in years. The money is part of a total of $5.6 million that the state will ultimately pay out over the course of a year. Wisan will have to repay most of that money using revenue from the trust. He plans to generate revenue by collecting $100 a month in occupancy fees from people living in trust-owned homes, and by selling trust property.
Shields said in court that there are no plans to sell occupied residential property. However, Wisan may sell unoccupied and commercial land. Shields also revealed there are no longer any potential buyers for the Berry Knoll Farm, which FLDS church members consider sacred, but someone may be interested in purchasing Harper Farm, another UEP property.
People who refuse to pay their fees and taxes could face eviction.
Both Shields and Wolf delivered their comments to a packed courtroom Friday. Spectators many of whom had traveled from southern Utah for the hearing included William E. Jessop and his wife Joanna. Jessop, who has become the leader of a few hundred FLDS who no longer follow imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, sat quietly throughout the hearing and left shortly after it ended.
But other spectators were more vocal. Just as the proceedings seemed to be winding down, former FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop rose from the back of the room and asked to address Lindberg. For the next several minutes, Jessop described the southern Utah polygamous communities as a "society in crisis" and asked to move the case along quickly so as not to expend more resources.
Other spectators who spoke during the hearing included Hildale resident Guy Timpson, who asked that the trust return to the control of the community.
Friday's hearing also provided Shields with an opportunity to update Lindberg on other issues. Among the more significant things he mentioned was that in the last two months residents in the polygamous towns have paid $600,000 in property tax, about half of what is owed.
In addition, Shields and Wolf both said that they agree that subdividing the properties community is a high priority. Existing homes currently occupy the same lots; subdividing those lots will put each home on its own parcel.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for July 12. The process of finding new trustees will not begin before that date.
Twitter: @jimmycdii


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CHICAGO — An absence of 35 years from the American musclecar market has made the all-new Dodge Challenger one of the most anticipated new car intros of the year. We've been waiting pateniently for this bad boy since 2005, and the Hemi-powered musclecar is destined to be the star of this year's Chicago Auto Show. That's to say nothing of the SRT8 on the road, so click here for our full driving impressions.
As far as colors go, the first year of Challenger production will be restricted to orange, silver and black—that's it. All first-year production will be limited to SRT models, powered by the Chrysler 6.1-liter Hemi engine producing 425 hp and 420 lb.-ft. of torque, coupled to a 5-speed automatic transmission with full manual control.
Unlike the bare-bones Hemi Challengers of the early 1970s, the new Challenger SRT will be available with a wide range of modern options, including keyless entry, a 40GB music file, satellite navigation and hands-free communication.
More From Popular Mechanics
Also unlike the original, the Challenger SRT uses short- and long-arm front suspension and five-link rear suspension adapted from the Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum/Dodge Charger platform, ABS brakes, traction control, stability control and monster Goodyear RS-A P245/45-20 front and P265/45R-20 rear on 20-in. forged aluminum wheels. Goodyear F1Supercar tires are optional. The SRT version has red-caliper 14.2-in. front and 13.8-in. Brembo disc brakes similar to those used on the Viper. It also comes with a locking differential.
Dodge is quoting some pretty hot performance numbers for the 4100-pound Challenger SRT: zero-60 mph in under five seconds, zero-100-zero mph in less than 17 seconds and a quarter-mile elapsed time of less than 14 seconds. The car should stop from 60 mph in about 100 feet and travel around the skidpad generating 0.88 g.
The special 2008 SRT version of the Challenger will be go on sale this May for $37,995. Next year, full production of the Challenger will restart, with SRT, SXT and R/T models, including several other powertrain options including V-6 and V-8 engines. —Jim McCraw


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These days, accidents are a fairly rare occurrence. And, when they aren't, most of the time it's a simple case of a little bit of wee on the carpet we're planning to get rid of eventually, or a pair of pjs shoved in the washing machine a few days earlier than they would have been… Compared to this time last year, we're out of the woods and frolicking in our dry, big girl knickers. However, sometimes there will come a day with an Accident. Think the park on a semi-busy weekday, toddler weeping in shame, your face radiating the heat of a thousand suns as you desperately try to mop the large puddle off the slide with three wet wipes, your own sleeve and the hopes and dreams of the several small children forming a queue. Frustrating but manageable. Brushed off with a rant. Forgiven with a strong gin. Laughable in approximately two to three days.
And then there are ACCIDENTS.
And that means several things. Firstly, the setting will be as public as public can be. Think supermarket at rush hour, the park on a warm weekend, the preschool playground at drop off time, a coffee shop chain at 10 past 1… Secondly, it will probably involve poo. Or vomit. Possibly a really huge, stinky-like-they've-eaten-nothing-but-asparagus-then-fermented-it-for-a-week wee. But most likely poo. And not the solid, manageable kind (if such a thing exists once nappies are a thing of the past). Thirdly, your child will be wearing a particularly nice and complicated-to-wash outfit, like a lacy dress or a suit or, in one memorable case, ballet tutu complete with extortionate ballet tights and even-more-extortionate, properly-fitted ballet shoes.
Turns out, you're not supposed to put ballet shoes in the washing machine.
"How do you wash them, then?" I politely enquired of the Dance Ma'am upon buying the inevitable replacement pair.
"Wet wipes," she replied.
Right. So the next time a ballet ACCIDENT occurs, I am expected to take the not-supposed-to-get-wet items, use an already-wet receptacle to mop up [smear around] the excess fluids, then air them out as best I can while hoping that, for the remainder of the time it takes for my child's feet to grow another size, none of her tutu-clad chums notice the squelchy noise and the slightly pissy aroma emanating from her twinkling toes? Right.
Then there are the sh!t jeans – a strange, pungent phenomenon that I hope is not exclusive to my own household. Lara owns a pair of jeggings – fairly innocuous-looking, suitable for both park and pre-school, hard-wearing and of a denim shade that, wonderfully, goes with pretty much every top she owns.
To top off their sheer excellence, they're blimmin' designer and I did not even have to pay for them as they were inherited from her older cousin. A truly winning item of sartorial achievement, no? No. For some unknown reason, nine times out of ten, when an accident, Accident or, indeed, even ACCIDENT occurs, she will be wearing these jeans. They get more rounds in the washing machine than any other item of clothing any of us owns, or have ever owned.
Why do I continue to dress her in them? Well, partly because they're so damn convenient (and before you judge me, you try pairing a fluorescent, multi-coloured, polka-bespotted cardy with a suitable item of leg-wear). But also because they are the only item of Ted Baker apparel in the entire household and therefore must be worn in an irrational, get-your-money's-worth vein of logic (made all the more irrational, of course, by the fact that I did not even buy them). Every time I dress her in them, I think: "Surely not. She's just been to the toilet. This time, we'll be fine."
Then, invariably, we find ourselves on the park swing, urine dripping, no spare pants to be had, not a shred of a wet wipe to our names.
Some tricks I've learned along the way:
- Always pack spare pants. Even if your child has literally just done a poo bigger than his head and peed for Britain before leaving the house, bring spare pants.
- Pack spare spare pants. And spare everything else. Even socks. Especially socks. Otherwise you will end up having to either give up your own socks or try and make a temporary pair out of toilet roll and napkins because even if it's July and she'll become allergic to them as soon as she steps through the front door, your toddler definitely, definitely needs sockies now, Mummy.
- Wet wipes leak. I don't know how, I don't know why, but that is the only explanation I can give to my entire spare cache of clothes ending up wadded up into a sad, cursed little ball of saturated hopes and dreams in the bottom of my mummy bag. Best thing to do is wrap the spare clothes in a plastic bag. An extra plastic bag is NEVER A BAD THING to have. Or don't pack wet wipes. You know, if you're that sort of dance-with-the-devil, pee-into-the-wind type of serial lunatic.
- Always pack wet wipes. Because who, seriously, chooses to pee into the wind?
- Even if your child has been toilet trained for three years, widdles on demand to the theme-tune of Peppa Pig and has been wiping her own arse since birth – never forget ANY of the above. Ever. Only at the stage where your mummy bag has long been relegated to the back of the cupboard and the word 'accident' is more likely to invoke images of broken condoms and impending grandparent-hood than pungent puddles can you probably rest assured that they are at least responsible for their own spare drawers. Until then, the day you take your child's continence for granted is the day you end up in a Sainsbury's toilet with despair in your heart and a plastic bag wrapped around your child's bottom.
Take it from me. Or, better yet, take it from the sh!t jeans.


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I have been meaning to post more of my old workshop handouts from No Train, No Gain to this blog. Unfortunately, I was prompted to post this one and another, about cheating, by a plagiarism incident at the Middletown Press. I encourage all of my Journal Register Co. and MediaNews Group colleagues to read this. Attribution is one of journalism's most serious issues. Plagiarism is inexcusable.
Attribution is the difference between research and plagiarism. Attribution gives stories credibility and perspective. It tells readers how we know what we know. It also slows stories down. Effective use of attribution is a matter both of journalism ethics and of strong writing.
How do you know that? Attribution is a key ingredient in any story's credibility. Readers are entitled to know where we got our information. If we are citing official statistics gathered by a government agency, that tells the readers something. If we are citing the contentions of an interest group or a political partisan, that tells the readers something else. If we don't attribute our information, readers rightly wonder how we know that.
When should we attribute? Attribute any time that attribution strengthens the credibility of a story. Attribute any time you are using someone else's words. Attribute when you are reporting information gathered by other journalists. Attribute when you are not certain of facts. Attribute statements of opinion. When you wonder whether you should attribute, you probably should attribute in some fashion.
When shouldn't we attribute? You don't need to attribute every fact in a story. Don't attribute facts that the reporter observed first-hand: It was a sunny day. Don't worry about attributing facts where the source is obvious and not particularly important and the fact is not in dispute: If you are writing about a town and you write that its population is 5,500, the Census Bureau is the implied source. However, if you are writing about the Census Bureau's latest estimates of your community's population, you cite the bureau because it is central to the story. Or if the town is challenging the census figure, you need to attribute the dueling estimates. If you say that an athlete is 6-foot-3, the reader understands that this comes from a team roster and that you probably didn't actually measure the athlete's height. If multiple sources tell you something and it is not in dispute, you can state it as a fact. However, if you are using a source's choice of words to state an undisputed fact, you should credit that source.
Copy and paste carefully. Copying and pasting from documents and articles on the Internet is a legitimate and efficient way to conduct research. It can prevent embarrassing errors, such as dropping a "not" from a quote or typing "now" instead of "not" (or vice versa) or transposing figures in an important number. But this is also a dangerous technique to be used carefully. Sloppiness is no excuse for plagiarism. If it was ever a valid excuse, its value evaporated after the first few journalists who used it turned out to be serial plagiarists. Any time you copy and paste from a web document, a pdf, an e-mail or your own notes, be sure to type the attribution and the quotation marks in your notes or your story before you paste in the passage. Changing the pasted passages in your notes to a different font or a different color is another protection against later forgetting the source.
Be just as careful with your notes. When you're taking notes from documents or articles, be sure to take the time to note the sources clearly and prominently. When possible, if you can't get digital copies of the documents or articles, it's better to get photocopies and highlight them, rather than copying passages into your notes. When you're taking notes in interviews, you will write fast and your writing might be harder to read. Be sure to go through the notes right after an interview or event to clarify the illegible scribbles while your memory is fresh. If you are interviewing multiple characters or covering an event with multiple speakers, develop a way to distinguish the speakers in your notes. You can use initials (be sure the speakers have distinct initials). If you don't have names of the speakers, note them by appearance (tall, blond man or woman in red dress) until you can ask their names. Attribution to the wrong person is nearly always a matter of confusing notes.
Don't just attribute; link. Linking is an essential part of attribution in online journalism. Linking lets people see the full context of the information you are citing. Even when readers don't click links, the fact that you are linking tells them that you are backing up what you have written, that you are attributing and showing your sources.
Attribute to press releases. The nature of the source has no bearing on whether you should attribute. You attribute for the reader, not for the source. An organization that sends out a press release would not object if you ran the press release verbatim or lifted some passages without rewriting. However, the reader should know that you are passing along information from that organization. You also should attribute material from wire stories. If you are an Associated Press member, you are entitled to use the material in AP wire stories, but you still should attribute so readers know the source. One or two mentions of the source may be enough, depending on the extent of your use. If you cite a press release once and the context makes it clear that the following paragraphs come from the same source, don't keep repeating the source every sentence. If you're quoting a press release or announcement verbatim, use quotation marks. And if you're rewriting a press release, but don't have first-hand knowledge that the information in the press release is true, you need to attribute, at least to the organization if not to the press release.
If it sounds familiar, check it out. I started this handout by saying, "Attribution is the difference between research and plagiarism." As I wrote it (in 2006), I wondered whether that observation was original with me or whether I was quoting something I heard or read from some long-forgotten source. I Googled the phrase in quotes and the only hit was another journalism ethics handout that I wrote. (Now you get five hits, but four of them come from me.) That doesn't mean it's original. I might have heard it spoken by someone I can't recall now. I might have read it from a source that's not online. But a simple search in Google or another search engine will help you spot many instances of inadvertent plagiarism. You can't know for sure whether a nicely turned phrase sprang fresh from your mind or whether you heard it or read it and filed the line, but not the source, away in the recesses of your memory. If you have doubts, you can make at least a simple search-engine check.
Attribution isn't enough. Attribution does not absolve reporters from responsibility for the content of a story. You need to check the truth of what you are told, not simply report that someone said it. If a source tells you something, ask the source how she knows that. Consider who might be able to confirm or refute that. Consider what documents, photographs, videos or other forms of records might confirm or contradict what you have been told. As I have noted before, he-said-she-said stories do not serve journalism's ethical standard of seeking the truth.
Some information is in the public domain. After an incident has been reported widely, at some point it enters the public domain. If you're writing a feature story about exercise, you don't need attribution for the fact that President Obama likes to play basketball. That's a well-known, widely reported fact. And you don't need attribution now to report that the Walter Reed Army Hospital was not caring adequately for injured soldiers. That fact is well established and acknowledged. But if you reported that back in 2007 after the Washington Post's exclusive story, you needed to cite the Post. Even now, if you report much beyond the basic fact, and you didn't gather these details yourself, you should cite the Post if that's your source.
Writing with authority. When you can write with authority, rather than citing sources, your story has a stronger voice. Be sure, though, that your authority is genuine. You must know the facts you are reporting are indeed facts. Writing with authority must be based on personal observation and/or multiple, undisputed authoritative sources.
Attribution in leads. Attribution can weigh down a lead, adding words and distracting from the focus. Consider what the reader needs to know in the lead. Can you state the facts of the lead without attribution? Can the attribution wait until the second paragraph or later? If you do need to attribute, consider how much attribution you need. Do you need name and title in the lead? Or would a shorter reference do? If you start a story with attribution, consider whether the person speaking is more important to the reader than what he or she is saying.
Attributing to unnamed sources. When you grant confidentiality to a source, work out an accurate reference that tells the reader why you would use this source. Misleading attribution is not an acceptable way to refer to an unnamed source. You can withhold information from the reader to protect a source. But don't mislead the reader. Judith Miller's agreement to identify Scooter Libby as a former Capitol Hill staffer was an agreement to mislead readers. While it was accurate, that wasn't why she would have been using him as a source. His authority as a source came from his position when she interviewed him, as the chief of staff to the vice president. "Administration official" would be accurate and vague enough to protect the source without misleading readers. Miller defended her agreement by noting that she did not write a story, so she didn't mislead readers about him. She said she would not have used that identification in a story. But an agreement with a source to mislead your readers undermines credibility with that source (and anyone the source talks to about you). If you get the source on the record for part of an interview, but not for an important comment that you want to use, consider whether the use of the source by name in the same story with an unnamed reference is appropriate.
Get the attribution right. Attribution sometimes requires some reporting, so you note the real connections of your sources. A 2006 Columbia Journalism Review editorial noted several occasions when media outlets cited Christine Todd Whitman and Patrick Moore on the question of whether nuclear power might be a solution to global warming, without noting that both are paid spokespeople for the nuclear industry. The journalists cited Whitman as former EPA chief and Moore as a founder of Greenpeace. Beef industry staff members have doubled as spokespeople for organizations primarily focused on health and media reports too often fail to note the connection to the beef industry.
Background attribution. When you are pulling background information from historical sources, old clips of your paper or even your own personal clips, consider whether you need to attribute. If you're reporting general factual information, probably not. If you are using verbatim passages, you should definitely attribute. If your background use falls somewhere in between, consult with an editor if you are unsure. When in doubt, attribute.
Recycled quotes. If you didn't hear the person say something, you should probably attribute the quote not only to the speaker but to the medium that reported it. Stealing quotes from other news media used to be a pretty common practice. Oblique references to competitors as "reporters" or "news media" or "a blogger" aren't adequate attribution. If you got your quote from a televised interview or another newspaper or a blog, cite the outlet. However, if a politician is making a televised speech or holding a televised news conference, that is not the same as an exclusive interview. That speech is public domain and you can use a quote without attribution to another medium, just as if you were there (but don't use a dateline, unless you were there).
Narrative attribution. Attribution can disrupt the flow of a narrative, but narrative still needs attribution. Consider other ways to attribute material. A box accompanying the story can list the sources used. A more detailed sidebar can cite which sources provided which facts. You can use the web to provide interactive footnotes – click on a passage with a hyperlink and you get the attribution (or better yet, a pdf of the source document) for that passage.
Attributing ideas. Journalists share, steal and copy story ideas routinely. If you see a good story in another newspaper and do original research in your community to do a story that is similar in content but different in writing approach, you don't need to attribute the story idea. An e-mail to the reporter acknowledging the debt might be appropriate, though. However, if the idea is so closely tied to the writing approach that your story mimics the original, perhaps an editor's note acknowledging the origin of the idea would be appropriate. Or you can acknowledge the debt with a quote from the original story. The Golden Rule might apply here. Imagine how you'd feel if someone copied your idea. For most stories, most of us would shrug it off and recognize that we're always stealing each other's ideas. The fact that others are following would make us feel good about being first. But if this story is so original that any imitation would feel like a ripoff if it was yours, you probably should give credit. This also might be a situation where you would want to consult with your editor.
I originally developed this handout for the American Press Institute, when I was leading a series of ethics seminars under a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The handout originally appeared in 2006 on No Train, No Gain. I have updated it and added links. I cited this piece in a blog post last year on plagiarism.


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Latest Weather Blog
Former AP photographer Max Desfor dies at 104
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Associated Press photographer Max Desfor, whose photo of hundreds of Korean War refugees crawling across a damaged bridge in 1950 helped win him a Pulitzer Prize, died Monday. He was 104.
Desfor died at his apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he'd been living in his retirement, said his son, Barry.
Desfor volunteered to cover the Korean War for the news service when the North invaded the South in June 1950. He parachuted into North Korea with U.S troops and retreated with them after forces from the North, joined by the Chinese, pushed south.
He was in a Jeep near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang when he spotted a bridge that had been hit by bombing along the Taedong River. Thousands of refugees were lined up on the north bank waiting their turn to cross the river.
"We came across this incredible sight," he recalled in 1997 for an AP oral history. "All of these people who are literally crawling through these broken-down girders of the bridge. They were in and out of it, on top, underneath, and just barely escaping the freezing water."
Desfor climbed a 50-foot-high section of the bridge to photograph the refugees as they fled for their lives.
"My hands got so cold I could barely trip the shutter on my camera," he remembered. "I couldn't even finish a full pack of film. It was just that cold."
Trending News
The Pulitzer jury in 1951 determined that Desfor's photos from Korea the previous year had "all the qualities which make for distinguished news photography - imagination, disregard for personal safety, perception of human interest and the ability to make the camera tell the whole story." The Pulitzer board honored his overall coverage of the war, based on a portfolio of more than 50 photos, and cited the Taedong River bridge shot in particular.
A native of New York, Desfor was born in the Bronx on Nov. 8, 1913, and attended Brooklyn College. He joined the AP in 1933 as a messenger. After teaching himself the basics of photography and moonlighting as a baby photographer, he began shooting occasional assignments for the AP. He became a staff photographer in the Baltimore bureau in 1938 and moved to the Washington bureau a year later.
During World War II, Desfor photographed the crew of the Enola Gay after the B-29 landed in Saipan from its mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. He was with the first wave of Marines at Tokyo Bay shortly after Japan's surrender that month and photographed the official surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.
Desfor worked for the AP in the Philippines and in India, where he photographed Mahatma Gandhi and later covered the assassinated leader's funeral in 1948. He also worked in the AP's Rome bureau and was set to return to the U.S. when war broke out in Korea.
After the war Desfor served as supervising editor of Wide World Photos, the AP's photo service, and returned to Asia in 1968 as photo chief for the region. He retired from the AP in 1978, then joined U.S. News & World Report as photo director.
Desfor and his wife, Clara, raised a son, Barry, of Wauconda, Illinois. She died in 2004.
In January 2012, when he was 98, Desfor and his longtime companion, Shirley Belasco, surprised guests at a party celebrating her 90th birthday by marrying in front of their guests. They had been friends since the 1980s when the Desfors and Ms. Belasco lived in the same Silver Springs apartment building and became a couple a few years after his wife's death.
A photo Desfor took during his long career that had particular meaning to him also came from the Korean War. Walking near a field he spotted two hands, blue from cold, sticking up in the snow and photographed them. The hands, which had been bound, belonged to one of several civilians taken prisoner and executed, their bodies left to be covered by snowfall.
"I labeled that picture, later on, 'Futility,' because it's always been - I've always felt that it's the civilians caught in the crossfire, the civilians, the innocent civilians, how futile it is for war," he said for the oral history. "That epitomized it to me."
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"Kirk, I've been meaning to apologise," Maranda looks her husband straight in the eyes. "I never meant to take my anger out on you yesterday. It's Isaac, he drives me crazy! I can't control him, but I shouldn't expect you to be able to either."
Kirk grabs his wife in a tight embrace: "Oh my darling, I know it's been tough on you. I'm at loose ends with him. Maybe he'll grow out of it. At least we have each other!"
The couple makes up, just in time for them to celebrate their birthday.
But first… erm, let's give them some privacy!
Sadly we don't have many living friends left to invite them to the birthday party (even Bob's passed away from old age – long live Bob's memory). Luckily Kirk and Maranda have rekindled their flame so much in the past few days they don't really need anyone else there.
Isaac: "So how does it feel to be getting old? Like real old?"
Kirk: "Isaac, could you please save it for another day? Today is a day of celebrations, and being together as a family."
Isaac: "Ugh, you're just so full of it aren't you? Putting on your perfect little family play once again, and pretending to be living your perfect little life, not caring that people have died in the process! You're such hypocrites!"
Maranda: "You know what Isaac, you're not going to spoil my mood, not today. I'm going to enjoy my birthday no matter what, but if YOU want to be miserable, than sure, be my guest."
Maranda and Isaac turned their attention to the birthday cake. Maranda may have talked the tough talk, but secretly she wished for her sweet little boy back when she blew out the candles.
They've aged up gracefully, with their love being stronger than ever.
Isaac did not care for his parents' mushy behaviour. He left them to it and went to his room.
Even exercise didn't help his rage (although as a physically gifted gym rat he does enjoy working out). He headed out for another night out at the park.
Isaac: "I'm here baby!"
Madeline: "Isaac, how many plum times do I need to tell you I'm not interested!"
Madeline: "I just don't feel that way about you… mainly because I'm not into arrogant jerks."
Isaac: "Fine, you don't know what you're missing! You'd not be able to hold my interest for long anyway!"
Isaac: "Oh man, it was so embarrassing…"
Pace: "Nah bro, you told her off good. And she totally wouldn't have held your interest for long, just like you said. Same as that other chick, Juanita."
Isaac: "Oh yeah, Juanita is so not a game-changer!"
Juanita: "Excuse me???"
Juanita: "What the plum is going on Isaac?"
Juanita: "I thought we had something, I thought I was your girlfriend! Can't you just drop the whole bro act for a minute?"
Isaac: "You and I both know that I haven't used the word girlfriend once! Don't flatter yourself, you think you're all that special!?"
Juanita: "We are SO over Isaac!"
Isaac didn't feel like going home. He didn't feel like doing anything. He'd made such a mess out of everything. He didn't really have deep feelings for Juanita, but he had actually thought of asking her to be his girlfriend… but what would have Pace said.
If he was honest with himself, Isaac did know he wanted a family down the line. And deep down, really deep deep down, he wanted to make his parents proud. But was there even a way of doing that?
He realised it was his birthday tomorrow… actually, it was after midnight, so technically it was already his birthday. Worst birthday ever, he thought to himself.
"Hi Isaac," said a voice behind him.


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You haven't decided yet!
We are here to help you. Choose how many days you have for the holiday, and we will provide you with a variety of options. Let's! Hurry, a nice holiday is waiting for you...
Welcome to Gigil Guide! We are an international travel agency specialized in tailor made and groups tours and package tours for Greece and Turkey. We can tell you all about our great services, but we'd rather let our clients speak for us!
We participated in the combined tour organization of Turkey and Greece and we had a wonderful experience. Gigil's employees always met our needs on this trip that I went on with my wife. We did not have any problems and we are very satisfied. We continued on our way with 6 different guides during the 16-day tour and we thank them all. Thanks gigil.
Recorrimos Éfeso en un día muy caluroso. El recorrido incluyó las casas con terraza y requirió caminar mucho, lo cual fue difícil para mi esposa. Nuestro guía Harun, fue muy considerado y alentador e hizo que el recorrido fuera más agradable e informativo. También nos gustó el comentario en profundidad que no se limita a fechas y horas, sino a una comprensión más amplia de la historia que estábamos viendo. Fue fácil trabajar con Gigil y fue de gran ayuda para configurar esto. Ojalá los hubiéramos usado en otros lugares de nuestro viaje. Su precio era más competitivo.
Reservamos una excursión con Gigil y pasamos un rato relajado, informativo y sin prisas. Mientras que otros estaban en grandes grupos y claramente estaban tan lejos de su guía que no podían escuchar, fuimos invitados al sitio con un guía experto, Harun, quien nos guió de manera experta a través del sitio antes de la multitud. Nos animó a ver las casas adosadas que se convirtieron en un punto culminante. Lo hemos recomendado a otros y no puedo pensar en nada negativo. Ah, y viajamos en una cómoda camioneta Mercedes. Fue lo más destacado de nuestro crucero por el Mediterraneo.
If you are going to Kusadasi, be sure to book with Gigil Travel. We spent 5 days in Rome, 12 days on a cruise, and 5 days in Venice and this was the best tour of all we did. The van price was reasonable and shared among 6 of us. We went to St. Mary's home, Ephesus and had a wonderful lunch. We were concerned about visiting Turkey with the unrest we have had with them. We felt very safe. The town is very modern and clean. The area at the port was great for shopping and the prices are very reasonable. I would highly recommend Eren and this tour!
We had a wonderful tour of Ephesus with Harun, a well prepared guide who provided a terrific experience for our whole family (ranging in age from 10 to 77). Highly recommend Gigil tour company.
My husband, daughter and I used Eren and had the pleasure of having Eren as our tour guide. She was extremely professional and very very knowledgable. She was very respectful our our time and wanted to make sure we got to do everything we wanted to do. I highly highly recommend her!
A great tour and guide. Our guide Harun was very friendly and informative. It's well paced in a place where it would be easy to get bogged down in historical details. It provided the right balance of complete information with interesting information thrown in. Thoughtfully provided umbrellas for shade as you are really out in Ephesus and it can get quite hot. We especially liked his choice for a lunch break where we tasted many traditional Turkish dishes. . .
They respond quickly to email and chat. They can customize your trip and the best part is, our tour guide Işık speaks fluent English and knows a lot about the places you go. He also handles the tour well and lets you enjoy the trip. We also told him that we enjoyed taking photos and that he took notes on special spots for the photos. Finally, the journey will not be perfect without your transportation, a brand new mercedes benz minibus with our lovely driver who makes everything safe... I highly recommend this tour if you visit Ephesus! Thanks Haron!
I can't say enough good things about our tour with Harun & Gigil. They were very helpful, answering all my question about their services & living up to expectations. Harun was well versed in the history & made the experience extremely enjoyable. Definitely book with this group, they were the best we used in 5 places we visited... Thanks Gigil.
Samsun was a city that I wanted to see for a long time and was finally possible to visit, and I saw with my own eyes that it was a wonderful place. It was also enjoyable to walk here in cold weather. We got on well with my guide and I was satisfied. I would also like to thank the organization company.
They are the best of the best. They are destinations overlooked by most tourist or familiar hotspots offering new reasons to return. We have selected the most popular places in Turkey for your trips! Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus, Bergama, Pamukkale, Kusadasi, Izmir, Antalya, Alanya, Marmaris, Fethiye, Bodrum, Cesme, Ankara, Gallipoli, Troy, etc Many places are waiting for you.
We are here to help you. Choose how many days you have for the holiday, and we will provide you with a variety of options. Let's! Hurry, a nice holiday is waiting for you...
They are the best of the best. They are destinations overlooked by most tourist or familiar hotspots offering new reasons to return. We have selected the most popular places in Greece for your trips! Athens, Delphi, Santorini, Rhodes, Mykonos, Patmos, Samos, Crete, Kos, Lesbos, Corfu, Milos, Naxos, Arachova, Argolis, Epidaurus, Nafplion, Chios etc Many places are waiting for you.
I have chosen for you the best regions. Feel free to create your own itinerary.


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In a surprise announcement, Prodrive—the English company synonymous with rallying success—has said that it is developing a to compete in the FIA Super2000 class of the World Rally Championship in 2011 and beyond. This Mini Countryman WRC, produced in close cooperation with Mini, will be an all-wheel-drive machine powered by a turbocharged 1.6-liter 4-cylinder built by BMW Motorsport. The first test is scheduled to take place this fall, likely in England.
The name is legendary in rallying, with drivers such as Paddy Hopkirk competing in the tiny car against the likes of the V-8-powered Fords in the 1960s, even winning the famed Monte Carlo Rallye three times!
also has rally heritage, the Bavarian firm present when the World Rally Championship made its debut in 1973, the same year Achim Warmbold and Jean Todt (yes, that Jean Todt) tasted victory in the Alpenfahrt Rally in Austria, driving a BMW 2002. Also of note, BMW's last rally win came in 1987, when Bernard Beguin in an M3 built by Prodrive, earned a victory in the Corsican Rally.
Says David Richards, Prodrive Chairman: "I believe our new Mini will become a firm favorite of the latest generation of rally fans, just as it is adored by its millions of owners across the world. We already have a significant number of confirmed customer orders for the new Mini rally car with the first deliveries scheduled for the start of the 2011 season."
Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, says the Countryman provides "an excellent basis from which to create a competitive racing car for the world championship." Roberston also adds that he's pleased to link up with Prodrive for this effort, which is planned to last several years.


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|Meat recipes
|4 hours
Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes | Cuisine of Scotland
The national dish of Scotland, composed of a forcemeat of the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep mixed with oatmeal, well seasoned and put into bags made from the paunch of the sheep. The haggis is then boiled for 2-3 hours and left to get cold. When required for use it is simmered again for about an hour and is traditionally served with mashed turnips, potatoes and whisky.
The accompaniments, "neeps and tatties", refer to mashed swede or turnip, and potatoes (in this context, mashed.)
In fish and chip shops, a long, sausage-shaped haggis is often available deep-fried in batter with chips.
Major Ingredients
- 1 pound beef (450g) heart, cut into 2-inch-wide strips
- 1 pound beef (450g) liver
- 1/2 pound (225g) lamb stew meat, cut in 1-inch cubes
- 1 1/2 cups peeled and finely chopped yellow onion
- 4 tablespoons Scotch
- 1 tablespoon of eggnog
- 2 cups oatmeal, toasted on a cookie sheet in a 375F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme, whole
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 3 beef CAPS (Talk to a sausage shop about these)
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon salt for soaking
- Place the beef heart in a 4-quart (about 3-3.5 litres) covered pot and just cover with cold water. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
- Add the beef liver and lamb stew meat, and cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the contents of the pot and cool. Reserve 1 cup of the liquid. Grind everything coarsely.
- In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients, except for the beef caps, vinegar, and salt for soaking. Mix well and set aside.
- Rinse the beef caps in cold water. Turn them inside out and soak them in 2 quarts of cold water with the salt and vinegar for 1/2 hour. Drain them and rinse very well, inside and out.
- Divide the meat mixture into three parts. Fill the beef caps with the meat mixture and tie the ends off with string. Two will have to be tied on just one end, but the third piece will be tied on both ends. Prick the Haggis all over with corn holders or a sharp fork. Place in a steamer and steam for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Serve the Haggis, sliced, with beef or lamb gravy.


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My Silvia s15 took a good beating @ the rosmalen Demo. So with the next demo coming up on the 21th of march I had to repair some bodywork.
I also hated the way the body sat on the chassis. Especially when a lot of people take a lot of film and photo's it really irritates me that I couldn't pay more attention to it.
But the problem seemed to be very easy. I had to ream the holes a little bit more so there was no tension in the body anymore. It sits just fine now.
Also the front was a big mess. Couldn't find another way to repair the bumper, so I've cutted out the middle of it. So the intercooler has more fresh and cool air to breathe:)
Also I had to repair a lot of cracks in the rear end of the s15 since i've kissed a lot of curbs with it's fat ass :P. I wanted to give the body that extra drifter style look, so I've drilled a couple of holes around the teared up parts and sowed them back together. Pretty realistic don't you think??
Here are some pics of the work done today.
Next up events:
Emac competition day with drift demo
Next up work:
Team body
Finishing the Toyota Supra


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Ice Chips: Meeting Expectations Edition
When Jose Theodore isn't trying to get into Paris Hilton's pants, he's had a great seat on the Capital bench while watching a rookie steal his job during the playoffs.
The second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs has been great. One of the nice things about it is that players have been living up to their hype. The best example of this is Sidney Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin in the Penguins-Capitals series.
Crosby has four goals in the first three games while Ovechkin has five. Evgeni Malkin, who slumped badly in the series, came back big time in Game Three with a goal and numerous scoring chances in just under 30 minutes of ice time. Perhaps the only person in the entire series who hasn't lived up to expectations (other than exiled Washington goalie Jose Theodore) is Capital defenseman Mike Green, who has just a goal and six assists in the playoffs. Teams are definitely playing him tightly, but he hasn't found a way to get the space he needs and perhaps even more importantly, he hasn't had the confidence to cheat on defense as he did during much of the regular season.
The Chicago-Vancouver series has also been great to watch. Basically, Chicago has continuously tried to bait Vancouver into a wide-open, run-and-gun game, and the Canucks have tried to resist, with occasional lapses. Game One was a microcosm of the series, with Vancouver taking the lead, only to let Chicago trick them into opening things wide up in the third. The Canucks came back and held the lead. With a goaltender as good as Roberto Luongo, Vancouver just needs to be disciplined, resisting the contagious, youthful joie de vivre of the Chicago Blackhawks. (Yes, I just used the term 'joie de vivre' in a hockey article; so sue me.)
Finally, are there two teams more completely devoid of post-season personality than the Bruins and the Hurricanes? They're good, solid teams, but there is just no magic on the ice. Even watching Carolina's Sergei Samsonov, long thought to be dead, burning his old team in overtime by setting up the game-winning goal, lacked a certain urgency. You don't see anyone on the ice who would take an actual risk to win a game. It's two teams of safe players playing good hockey, but not risky hockey. And risk is what makes the game exciting. Just ask the Blackhawks.
NHL Notes
The President's Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks may have experienced another early demise from the NHL playoffs, but their Sharklings play on in the AHL playoffs. Worchester currently trails the Providence Bruins 2-0 in the Atlantic Division Finals, but it's got to be great for San Jose to see the development of yet another young star in centre Logan Couture. The ninth overall pick in 2007 signed a deal with Worchester near the end of the season, and has been gaining valuable pro experience. Wednesday, he logged his first assist of the playoffs to go along with a pair of goals and a +3 ranking through eight games. This 20-year-old kid is a great two-way player who has drawn comparisons to Steve Yzerman. There's a possibility he could make the parent club next fall as a couple of forward slots will likely open up.


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One year ago, with my tiny month-old baby boy on my chest, I signed up for blogger and wrote my first post. Pretty soon, I will be up to 100 published posts!
So far, blogging has provided me with a lot of great opportunities to learn and grow and share what I learn with others. I am still figuring out how to balance blogging with the rest of my life. One thing that seems to help is scheduling posts in advance so that I'm not putting pressure on myself to finish a post within a certain amount of time so that my blog doesn't sit stagnant for too long. AI like to schedule them five days apart. You may have noticed that sometimes this causes me to publish a post quite a while after I read the thing that inspired it (this is the case with both my Brewer Diet post, for which I was really surprised at the response--it is now my 4th most viewed post ever, and my last post on Doulas and Cesareans). So, if I'm really behind in the online discussion, sorry. This is what is working for me right now!
Stay tuned for more interesting and exciting posts!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
First Blog-iversary
Posted by Brittany at 1:00 PM
Labels: blogging
2 comments:
Happy Blog-iversary!ReplyDelete
I've been struggling with balance, too. Some of your posts in December and early this year helped me along in this process I think. I figure you have to do what works for you (and your family) otherwise you'll never continue blogging.
- AnonymousApril 5, 2011 at 8:25 PM
Happy Blogiversary! I've been enjoying your blog for quite a long time now--at least 6 months I think. Looking forward to many more wonderful posts from you!ReplyDelete
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Video: Brandeis artist-scholars explore meanings of cairns
Since the Bronze Age, humans have built stone cairns to establish boundaries, follow the stars, memorialize the dead and mark paths to special places.
Around the world cairns have signaled the way to Stonehenge and Machu Picchu, Boston Post Road and now to the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.
In an engaging exhibit, 11 women artists have created their own personal cairns from pill bottles and tattoos, gravestones and their mother's aspirations without abandoning their essential functions.
Titled "WSRC Salon of the Arts 2009: Cairns," this show in the Kniznick Gallery guides viewers along fascinating paths from an ancient practice to new ways of understanding enduring human needs.
For the exhibit, organizer Lisa A. Lynch said artists were given "considerable flexibility to interpret cairns in a number of ways."
The curator and director of the arts at WSRC, she described a cairn as a man-made, often conical pile of stones variously used as landmarks or monuments.
"I think that lets viewers consider other dimensions of cairns. Different artists picked up on different themes or facets," Lynch said. "Some artists interpreted cairns quite literally. Others experimented with different looks. But I think most were intrigued by the idea of humans marking the natural world."
All artists in the show are either residents or visiting scholars in the center's Scholars Program which conducts research on women's issues.
The exhibit's strength comes from the artists' varied responses to the evolving meanings of stone markers.
Providing a literal starting point, Nurit Eini-Pindyck's color photo of an ancient cairn in Israel reflects one of their earliest uses as boundary markers. Yet she adds historical layers by citing an Old Testament passage about two friends naming a cairn to signify their separation from one another.
Other artists broadly preserve cairns' roles as natural markers but expand their meanings to include memory, sexuality and social justice.
Exploring different uses of stones, Emily Corbato photographed not just the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu but a Jewish cemetery where cracked and broken headstones topple onto one another. Seeking connections between human bodies and nature, Karin Rosenthal photographed nude women half-buried in the beach or sprawled across stones. Making cairns from words, Marguerite Bouvard wrote poems about "social justice, childhood suffering, and joy, spirituality and love."
Substituting personal materials for stones, several artists seem to focus on creating cairns that mark special moments, sites of power and vital relationships with considerable ingenuity.
Mother and daughter Theresa and Karen Craddock have crafted an installation that shows their paintings and poems together as a way to honor nurturing relationships among black women.
Karen Craddock, a WSRC visiting scholar, described their "co-constructed presentations" as stones that "reflect a cairn of a black mother-daughter relationship."
Music therapist Suzanne Hanser created a non-material cairn by recording an album of herself playing the flute "to elicit a sense of beauty and peace."
Combining the literal and political, Mary O. Hamil built two small cairns of sand that are displayed with a plaque that questions the distribution of wealth.
Several of them expand cairns' functions by creating their own from varied, even highly unlikely materials.
Instead of stones, Susan Eisenberg created an intriguing cairn-like installation from prescription bottles to share her feelings about living with lupus. Among other things, she's fashioned a chessboard on which pill bottle pieces can be moved across squares noting symptoms of varied medications such as "dry brittle hair," "yellow skin or eyes" and "coffee ground vomiting."
Of all the contributors, Karen Frostig stretches conventional definitions the most with her inspired "Cover Up," a funny, angry commentary on Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl.
Expanding on notions of cairns marking major events, she is showing a frilly vinyl party dress with its neckline stuffed with a bouquet of roses. Beneath it, shards of a broken mirror signify, according wall text, the "hidden culture of violence against women."
Whether you wouldn't know a cairn if you stubbed your toe on it or built your own in a favorite spot, this imaginative exhibit will lead visitors on a journey well worth taking.
The Women's Studies Research Center is at 515 South St., Waltham, across from the Brandeis/Roberts commuter rail stop.
The Kniznick Gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment.
For information, call 781-736-8102 or go to www.brandeis.edu/centers/wsrc/.


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Despite having new owners in Josh Harris and David Blitzer, the New Jersey Devils are scheduled to once again lose money in 2014-15.
According to the report from Tom Gulitti of The Record, Harris and Blitzer — who purchased the team from Jeff Vanderbeek a year ago for $320 million — are still fixing previous financial issues.
The Devils missed the playoffs for a second straight season in 2013-14 and according to Blitzer the team will not turn a profit in 2014-15 even if New Jersey qualifies for the postseason.
"We're not going to make money this year. Let's be clear," said Blitzer. "I don't know the exact numbers, but our view is to get it to the right place and we know over a longer period of time we do believe we can get it to be a profitable team on the business side or the equation. It is not today. I don't expect it to be next year, but over time you can't have a business that over 30 years it doesn't become a profitable team because that just doesn't work."
According to the report, the team had debt issues and was "under invested in" on the business side.
Devils CEO Scott O'Neil points out the team was severely understaffed on the business side with just 76 employees when the new group took over. Since then, the staff has nearly doubled.
The team's debt isn't expected to factor into the Devils and GM Lou Lamoriello's ability to spend money. As it stands, New Jersey sits with less than $5 million to play with.
Lamoriello compared the situation under previous ownership to that of the Phoenix Coyotes saying that he had to report to the league as a result of the team's financial struggles.
"It was like Phoenix from a hockey standpoint. That was fact," said Lamoriello. "You had to do things in a different way."
Lamoriello pointed to the signing of unrestricted free agent Mike Cammalleri and contract extensions to Cory Schneider and Andy Greene as ways things have changed under the new group.
The GM said things are "status quo" with unrestricted free agent Ryan Carter. According to Gulitti, Carter seems to be waiting for the Devils to move a forward before re-signing him.
When asked about restricted free agent Eric Gelinas, Lamoriello said, "We have a month to go. We want to get him signed."
New Jersey finished the 2013-14 season with a 35-29-18 record and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
Related: Devils GM shakes off 0-13 shootout record, pumps up free agent moves


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Soldiers who take dietary supplements in hopes of enhancing their performance may unknowingly expose themselves to high levels of caffeine that could cause more harm than good, a new study says.
Researchers tested caffeine levels in some popular supplements sold on military bases, including sports supplements and multivitamins, and found that many product labels inaccurately listed the amount of caffeine in the supplement. What's more, some labels listed caffeine as an ingredient, but did not specify the amount contained, and when tested, were found to have levels of caffeine equivalent to three cups of coffee, or 300 milligrams.
While moderate doses of caffeine (around two to three cups of coffee a day) are safe and even beneficial for soldiers who need to remain alert in high-risk situations, too high a dose can backfire, said study researcher Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance. Such high doses can cause side effects, including a racing heart and slower reaction times
The caffeine found in dietary supplements may not by itself cause problems. However, when combined with other sources of caffeine, such as coffee, soda or energy drinks, which troops commonly consume, the supplements may contribute to an unhealthy total caffeine dose, Cohen said. A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 45 percent of service members say they consume energy drinks every day.
"As soon as you start going up to the high doses, [the equivalent of six or seven cups of coffee a day], that mental sharpness you can gain from a little bit of caffeine starts to decline," Cohen said. Such an unhealthy dose would be possible with just one serving of a high-caffeine dietary supplement combined with one energy drink, Cohen said. [See 5 Health Problems Linked to Energy Drinks.]
Inaccurate labels mean troops don't know how much caffeine they're consuming and cannot judge whether or not they need to scale back their intake, Cohen said. Manufacturers of any dietary supplement containing caffeine should be required to accurately list the dose on the label, Cohen said. Currently, manufacturers don't need to list the amount of caffeine if the ingredient is part of a proprietary formula, he said.
Hidden caffeine
The study identified the 31 top-selling dietary supplements on military bases that listed caffeine, or an ingredient known to contain caffeine, on their labels. All products were purchased from GNC, and are available to the public.
Of the 20 products that listed caffeine on their labels, six failed to specify the amount, because the ingredient was part of a proprietary formula. All the products contained high doses of caffeine per serving, between 210 and 310 mg, the equivalent of two to three cups of coffee. By comparison, the energy "shot" 5 Hour Energy contains about 215 mg of caffeine per serving.
Five of the 20 products were incorrectly labeled; they contained a dose of caffeine that was at least 10 percent more or less than the labeled amount. Most of these actually contained less caffeine than the labeled amount.
The study was limited in that it only tested one sample of each supplement, so more research is needed to verify that this is a pervasive problem. Due to this need for further studies, the researchers would not share the list of products they tested.
"It would be unfair to throw any individual brand or manufacturer under the bus after only one test. It's the pattern … that really stands out. It's not just one bad apple, it's the whole bushel that's rotten," Cohen said.
A 2007 study that tested caffeine levels in dietary supplements turned up similar findings: 89 percent of caffeine-containing products had levels that were 16 percent higher or lower than the labeled amount.
Cohen said manufacturers lean heavily on caffeine because it is one of the most effective ingredients they can put in their products to help people feel better.
Remove from stores?
"Given the many sources of caffeine, it would be easy to unknowingly consume too much caffeine in a short period of time," which could lead to sleep problems and other health concerns, said Robin Toblin, a psychologist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, who was not involved in this study, but has conducted research on energy drink consumption in the military.
"Service members should be educated about caffeine consumption and caffeine amounts in different products and should moderate their use of caffeinated products," Toblin said.
Cohen said the findings raise the question of whether caffeinated dietary supplements should be sold on military bases.
The Department of Defense (DOD), which funded the study, determines which products can and cannot be sold on military bases, and would need to review the evidence before making such a decision.
Until then, Cohen said, people should assume any dietary supplement that lists caffeine contains a significant dose.
Early last year, the DOD removed supplements containing the stimulant dimethylamylamine (DMAA) from stores on military bases while it investigates whether or not the ingredient was involved in the deaths of two soldiers.
The new study is published today in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. One of the study's authors, John Travis, is an employee of NSF International, a nonprofit organization that certifies and develops standards for dietary supplements. Some of the organization's clients are dietary supplement manufacturers.
Pass it on: Dietary supplements can contain hidden amounts of caffeine, which may pose health risks for troops.
This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, or MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.


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Does anyone know how to set the Progecad display to show thin or narrow lines in the display. I have done it in P18 & P20, but I can't remember how I did it and can't find a command in P21.
progeCAD support, tips and troubleshooting forum. progeCAD works very similar to some versions of AutoCAD. Moderated.
Moderators: caddit, Moderators


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MONTICELLO, N.Y. — News outlets are buzzing with stories of financial struggles at General Motors. But from the driver's seat of its latest sports sedan, the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V, GM appears to be quite fit. Simply put, this muscular, supercharged, V8-powered sedan kicks out an overabundance of forward thrust, life-saving brakes, neutral handling and an appreciated dose of refinement. Caddy has a message for the established sports-sedan players from Europe: Watch your back.
Let's hope the General rides out its fiscal troubles, because if the CTS-V is any indication, GM has finally rediscovered how to make world-class cars. —Larry Webster
The Specs
When the latest CTS was introduced, it was clear that GM had come up with quite a solid package. We were so impressed with driving the CTS, in fact, that we awarded it a PM Automotive Excellence Award for Luxury. As much as we enjoyed the standard-issue CTS, however, it's no fire breather. So to turn the CTS into a V-Series model—the Cadillac equivalent of the BMW M5 and Mercedes AMG models—a host of changes were in store.
More From Popular Mechanics
Essentially, Cadillac dropped a bomb in the engine bay by slipping a slightly detuned version of the Corvette ZR1's supercharged V8 between its wide front wheels. Installed in the CTS-V, this powerplant produces a stunning 556 hp, making the CTS-V the most powerful car Cadillac has ever offered. Displacing 6.2 liters, the pushrod, 16-valve aluminum engine employs the latest Eaton supercharger that pumps in extra air with 9.0 psi of boost. An air-to-water intercooler reduces intake-charge temperature, which allowed engineers to use a compression ratio of 9.0:1. A big benefit of this engine is its gutsy, low-end torque characteristics; while the peak torque figure of 551 lb.-ft. occurs at a low 3800 rpm, 80 percent of that muscle is available at just 1500 rpm.
Two transmissions transfer the power rearward—either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. The Tremec manual gearbox features revised internals for crisper, lower-effort shifts, and the GM 6L90 six-speed automatic employs steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles for manual operation. There should be little performance difference between the two. So to illustrate the point, John Hienracy, GM's director of vehicle integration (and a darn good driver to boot), used a CTS-V with the automatic 'box to run a lap of Germany's famed Nurburgring race course in 7:59.32—a time that's more than 10 seconds quicker than both the BMW M3 and the M5. (The Dodge Viper lapped it in 7:22 this week, stealing the new record from the ZR1.)
Chassis-wise, the CTS-V uses the latest iteration of Delphi's magnetorheological (MR) shocks. Theses innovative dampers use a magnetically reactive fluid that changes viscosity based on the amount of electrical current sent to each shock. They react extremely quickly and thus allow the car's computer to alter settings on the fly. There are two modes, Sport and Tour, selected by a dash-mounted switch. Tour mode favors ride comfort, while Sport attempts to reign in excess body motions for tight handling.
There are several mechanical tidbits that deserve special mention: Asymmetric halfshafts promise to reduce axle hop; the stability-control system has several settings to allow drivers to fine-tune the amount of intervention; massive six-piston front calipers pinch 15-in. iron rotors; and Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires make that final, all-important connection to the road.
The CTS-V certainly has the goodies, but here's the big question: Does all that hardware amount to something truly special?
The Drive
Another question was on the back of our minds heading from Detroit to New York City and upstate for our test: No matter the power or the high-performance under the sheetmetal, would this hot new caddy be dead on arrival if its heavy, 4300-pound curb weight detracted from the driving experience even one bit?
Good news: The engine shrugs off the poundage with effortless ease. We spent our time in a manual car, and as satisfying as it is to row your own gears, the effort seemed somewhat fruitless, because the engine didn't seem to care which gear we selected. Just off idle to the 6200-rpm cutoff, there was one smooth, forceful urge all the way through the rev range. And there was only a hint of supercharger whine at lower revs. The engine is so refined that it actually hides speed. Several times we found ourselves traveling 30-mph faster than we'd thought.
Cadillac included GM's "No Lift Shift" electronics, which allows drivers to upshift manual-transmission cars without lifting off the gas. Simply keep your right foot planted on the gas, stab the clutch with your left, and move the shift lever—the computer automatically cuts engine power. It's power shifting without killing the trans, and it really helps the CTS-V achieve startling velocity. (Zero-to-60 time should be around four seconds.)
Luckily, though, the handling and brakes are more than capable of high-speed driving. In the faster corners, the CTS-V cuts responsively and works both ends of the car with equal vigor. It's possible—and easy—to drift the tail, but the car is extremely progressive and predictable. If you spin, it's probably because you turned off the stability control system and did something dumb. The brakes are impressive as well, because they retain excellent feel and stopping power—even after several laps of hard use.
It was only in the slower corners that we got an inkling of the car's bulk. Fast transitions tended to illustrate the weight flinging back and forth, but really we're splitting hairs. Overall, the CTS-V masks its weight extremely well, displaying minimal body roll, pitch and dive, which is likely due to those quick-reacting shocks.
Unfortunately, we didn't have an opportunity to drive the CTS-V on public roads, so we can't make a full determination on its ride quality or refinement. Based on what we did experience, however, it's safe to assume that Caddy's super sedan isn't lacking in any area.
On public roads, the CTS-V is, obviously, stiffer than its non-supercharged siblings, but unless you're looking for an old, float-mobile Caddy, you won't be offended. The firmness skirts the good side of harshness--noticeable for sure, but not a deal breaker. Driver's can however, turn the ride to downright choppy by selecting the "Sport" mode of the adjustable shocks. Left it in the "Tour" mode, however, the chassis soaks up the worst pot-marked roads with acceptable resilience.
The Bottom Line
Size-wise, the CTS-V lines up with the $84,725, 500-hp BMW M5, but Cadillac claims that it's closer in price to the smaller, 414-hp BMW M3 sedan that runs $56,125. At close to 60 grand, the CTS-V represents an incredible performance bargain—it's one of the fastest sedans on the market.
But it's not just about cheap speed. There's a polish to the car that wasn't included in the old version—it's packed on both muscle and manners in equal measures. Expect to see a CTS-V version of both the upcoming CTS Coupe and Cadillac STS Sport Wagon.


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In early May 2008, an employee of Los Alamitos Unified tacked up a notice at the public library in downtown Seal Beach.
The school district, it announced, had sued local residents.
The fine print revealed more: the district had hired an out-of-town construction firm to remodel an elementary school and anyone opposed was ordered to respond quickly in court with a lawyer.
School officials opted for this strange legal maneuver so they could hire the company without trying to find other firms that would charge less or do better work – which is required by state law. When no one showed up in court, the school district had the judge sign an order declaring that no one could ever challenge the no-bid deal.
"It was all done secretly," said Stan Howard, a 27-year resident of Los Alamitos and the owner of Howard Contracting, which has done dozens of school construction jobs. "I'm a taxpayer and this isn't right."
The 2008 deal was the first of at least eight projects that Los Alamitos Unified awarded to West Coast Air Conditioning through contracts that sidestepped competitive bidding, which is considered a safeguard against inflated pricing. The total cost of those deals: more than $100 million.
Across the state, roughly 18 percent of all school construction projects in the last five years were arranged using these complex transactions. Known as lease-leaseback contracts, they involve schools leasing a property to a developer and then subleasing it back.
The deals have rewarded a small group of contractors, law firms and architects that have aggressively promoted them to schools at conferences and cocktail parties. But taxpayers will never know just how much their schools could have saved by opening the jobs up to bids by all companies qualified for the work.
Los Alamitos is one of six Orange County school districts that have agreed to one or more of the deals in the last five years, according to the state Office of Public School Construction. Nine of those 16 contracts were signed last year. The other districts are Anaheim City, Cypress, Placentia-Yorba Linda, Saddleback Valley and Savanna.
Soon after being hired in 2008, the San Diego County-based West Coast Air showed its appreciation to Los Alamitos officials. The company donated $25,000 to the political campaign that worked to pass a school bond measure in late 2008. The school then gave the company at least seven more building projects.
West Coast also donated $2,500 toward the cost of a bowling and country club party for principals and staff, district records show. Last year, it and another firm treated at least one board member, Dr. Jeffrey Barke, to a $175 round of golf, with lunch and dinner included.
"It's too big of a coincidence that you make a contribution and then you pick up all this work," said Paul Mahoney, a lawyer who represents Howard in a legal challenge against the district.
In court papers, Howard and Mahoney allege that the deals are unlawful and costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"The entire procedure is illegal and unconstitutional because it involves an improper expenditure of public funds," they argued in their civil lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. "It is nothing more than a blatant effort to bypass competitive bidding."
David Dudley, West Coast Air's president, did not return calls for comment. But Los Alamitos Superintendent Sherry Kropp said West Coast's donations had nothing to do with the district's decision to hire it. "We chose who we thought was best for the job," she said.
At a court hearing last week, the school's lawyers argued that the district had properly followed the law and that no money had been wasted. By choosing the lease-leaseback method of construction, they said, the district had no duty to seek lower bids. They asked the judge to throw out Howard's case.
"Howard has no evidence of any District wrongdoing," the school's lawyers wrote, "nor can Howard prove that the District violated any statute."
The state law allowing such deals has been part of the Education Code since 1957. But lawyers working for schools have recently put it to new use.
In their original and intended form, the lease-leaseback contracts gave schools a key advantage that made it easier to build classrooms.
A school could rent a site to a construction firm for $1 a year. The company then built a new school on the property, financing the project with its own money. The school then subleased the property back from the developer, making rental payments over as many as 40 years. The schools avoided taking on debt to pay for the construction.
The deals don't work this way today. Rather than having developers pay for the construction, schools pay for it with taxpayer-financed bonds. The contractors are paid as the work is done.
The primary benefit of the deals to schools today is that they avoid competitive bidding, which officials say can result in the hiring of inexperienced contractors who don't perform well.
Yet such open bidding is required by state law because it generally leads to lower prices, stimulating competition between companies qualified to do the work.
"Why are they afraid of competition?" asked Kevin Carlin, a lawyer who has sued several school districts over the deals. "If you avoid competitive bidding, you have opportunity for fraud, favoritism, public corruption and misuse of public funds."
Carlin said the schools were wrongly using an ambiguity in the law to avoid searching for better offers.
In a deposition last month, Mahoney asked Patricia Meyer, deputy superintendent at Los Alamitos, how she knew that another contractor of equal ability couldn't have done the work for less money.
"Cheaper?" Meyer asked Mahoney.
"Right," Mahoney responded.
"How would I know that?" Meyer said. "I don't know that."
Hundreds of California school officials learned about the lease-leaseback approach to building new classrooms at a May 2003 conference at the Wyndham hotel in downtown San Diego. Andreas Chialtas, a lawyer from Cerritos-based Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, told the crowd that the deals were "a proven method" of constructing schools.
Chialtas explained that the deals gave schools "great latitude" in hiring companies. "In fact, no selection or request for proposal process whatsoever is required," Chialtas explained in a paper distributed to the audience.
Since then, other firms have promoted the deals at conferences put on by groups like the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, where school officials mingle with legal and financial executives looking for new business.
A conference in April of the California Association of School Business Officials included an hour-long seminar on lease-leasebacks. That night, school officials enjoyed food, cocktails and entertainment in corporate hospitality suites, followed by a "gala cabaret and casino night" at the Renaissance in Long Beach. The event was heavily subsidized by companies, including Lozano Smith, a law firm that advises schools about the contracts.
Meyer said Los Alamitos officials became interested in the leaseback contracts after hearing about them at conferences and from other schools.
Chialtas' firm first gave a presentation on the deals to Los Alamitos officials in 2005, Meyer said. The district has since paid the firm hourly fees as high as $230 an hour for drafting the myriad of documents required for each construction project.
Chialtas didn't reply to repeated calls.
In a newsletter last year, Meyer touted the continuing success of the district's construction efforts. "All the modernization projects are 'On Time and On Budget,' she wrote, "and are helping our students and teachers enjoy a 21st Century learning environment."
Her note echoed what companies promoting the deals use as a selling point: the contracts have a fixed price that keeps projects on budget by requiring the developer to cover unanticipated costs.
But a review of the contracts signed between Los Alamitos and West Coast Air show that the so-called "guaranteed maximum price" is not guaranteed. Instead, the school gave the company several ways to ask for more money, which it did repeatedly.
For example, the maximum price to remodel McGaugh Elementary, according to the agreement approved by the school board on May 27, 2008, was $11.9 million. The "guaranteed maximum" was then increased at least twice – to more than $15 million – a 26 percent increase.
Kropp explained that the district has repeatedly found problems after breaking ground on its many projects that raised the expected costs. The district handles the increases in the "guaranteed maximum price" just like other schools using leaseback contracts, she said.
Lawyers working for the schools know the agreements stretch the law's limits. That's why they have encouraged schools to file the pre-emptive lawsuits against residents. Their goal is to obtain a court decree that makes challenging the deals impossible.
In Los Alamitos, when no one appeared in court to question the deals with West Coast Air, the district's lawyers wrote an order and asked the judge to sign it. The order declared the agreements were "lawful, valid and binding" and "in the best interests" of the district. It also stated that the school did not have to award the work to lowest bidder as required by state contracting law.
Such an outcome is just what Chialtas had promised when he recommended the lawsuits to schools in 2003. He had explained that the court proceedings, known as "validation actions," would prevent "any would-be bidding contractor or disgruntled taxpayer" from stopping the deals.
"No claim can be made that the project is in any way unlawful," Chialtas explained.
Mahoney called the court proceedings "a sham." He said the posting of notices in small print in the Orange County Register, as well as on the wall of a library, a school and the district's offices, did not properly notify the public of the district's plans.
Michelle Tucker of the Construction Industry Force Account Council said Los Alamitos officials had pointed to the judges' orders when she called the school and asked whether companies were being hired without bidding. The council, which represents the construction industry, works to ensure governments follow the law when hiring contractors.
Tucker said she doubted that anyone who happened to see the school's posted notices would understand the complex legal language. "I've talked to attorneys who aren't familiar with these," she said of the pre-emptive suits. "In my opinion, it's almost shady."
Los Alamitos' Kropp said she couldn't discuss why the district chose to file the validation lawsuits because of the pending litigation with Howard.
Howard said he discovered that the district was hiring contractors when he noticed West Coast Air trucks parked outside of Los Alamitos High School, which is near his home.
He wanted to challenge the deals with West Coast Air, he said, but was too late. The district had already obtained a judge's order on each one.
But Howard found a similar notice for a leaseback deal that the school was proposing with Byrom-Davey, another firm from San Diego County. That agreement was for the construction of an all-weather track at Los Alamitos High. Howard and Mahoney filed a challenge to that no-bid deal in court. They argue that the contract was not only illegal, but also unconstitutional and a theft of public funds.
Howard recently bid on and won a contract for work on a similar track at Hollywood High School. He estimates that the $3.9 million that Los Alamitos agreed to pay Byrom-Davey for the track was at least $300,000 too high and possibly much more. In the slow economy, he said, contractors have been offering lower bids to keep crews busy.
The judge is expected to rule as soon as this week on the school's motion to have Howard's challenge dismissed.
"I've been in the competitive bidding arena for 50 years," Howard said. "I would just like all this crooked stuff to stop."
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