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If you and I were to ever meet, you would then be able to tell people that you once met the world's worst thank you note sender. I'm awful at it. I forget completely often and when I do remember it's generally months later.
I've sent Easter cards as thank you notes for Christmas presents. My birthday is in October and I normally turn Christmas cards my wife remembers to send into my own birthday thank you notes. "Hey, Merry Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season…..and thanks for that Best Buy gift card you gave me back in October. That was really thoughtful. Love, Ryan"
This year, I've decided to get my thank you notes done early. For family and friends? No. I still owe a bunch thank you notes for Christmas presents I received for Christmas of 2009.
These thank you notes are going out a few hours ahead of the 2011 MLB season officially starting. Get ready to check your inboxes MLB front offices….these thank you notes are getting done early.
Dear Baltimore,
Thank you for giving Guerrero another shot at displaying his home run talents for baseball fans to enjoy. Thank you for giving Derrek Lee a home with a team within a city that truly loves the history of their franchise and is hungry for more success to come. Thank you for taking care of Felix Pie when he needed a good home. Things don't always work out in Chicago for everyone so it was kind of you to rescue a center fielder who needed a place to live. Also, thank you for not trading Brian Roberts to the Cubs. While I thought that's what I wanted a couple years ago, turns out there were some flaws with that model as we're now seeing. Have a good time and enjoy the season.
Dear Boston,
What can I say. Thank you for inviting the Cubs into your historic park this coming May. I don't know if it was something we said but I'm glad you've decided to have us back. Thank you for using all of your buying power to keep key free agents away from the Yankees. I truly enjoyed watching that. But not as much as I'll enjoying seeing the Cubs sweep your series at Fenway. Enjoy hoping your big names don't end up on the DL anytime soon and tell Caroline I say 'bah-bah-bah'. Neil Diamond Rocks.
Dear NY Yankees,
Thank you for coming up short this season and not making the post-season in advance. I always enjoy watching you fail. As much as I like to have a W flag fly over Wrigley, I wish there was always an L flag flying over Yankee Stadium. Enjoy watching Jeter and A-Rod and Mo get older this season. I know I will.
Dear Tampa Bay,
Thank you for participating in our gift exchange this year. While I think it is somewhat unfair that you made us bring nearly half a dozen gifts to the exchange to receive back only two, I believe we got the better end of the deal. Although maybe I should go look for the gift receipt just in case. You did give us a gift receipt just in case……right??? Anyway, enjoy the season and please end up regretting not having Pena and Garza.
Dear Toronto,
Thank you for the bacon.
Dear Chicago White Sox,
Thank you for agreeing to once again participate in the BP Crosstown Cup competition with us this year. I don't know how many hours of sleep I lost this winter knowing that that glorious prize resides on the South side. Cubs fans want nothing more than to throw a parade after winning the Cup. What's that? Oh right. I mean Blackhawks fans. Thank you for making it hard to choose between you and the Cardinals as to which team we dislike more. Always a good time.
Dear Cleveland,
I hear you rock yet I haven't seen any sign of it since……………I'll get back to you. Thank you for being around long enough to at least be featured in Major League. I still think you should have signed Charlie Sheen this off-season. Thank you for challenging the Sox for the AL Central in advance. Cubs fans always enjoy seeing them sweat.
Dear Detroit,
Thank you for giving Will Rhymes a shot at second base this year. I believe he earned it. We have our own competition going at second base at Wrigley. I believe Barney has earned the right to start there for the beginning of the season even if Baker and DeWitt are waiting in the wings. Enjoy keeping Cabrera on a short leash this year. If you're able to, I think you could have a great season.
Dear Kansas City,
I know you don't have much so whatever you are able to do is always appreciated. The little engine that could I like to call you. However, I can't remember the last time you could. Maybe the 80's I suppose. Wow that was a long time ago huh? I hope you enjoyed the Pine Tar I sent you. Thanks for the laughs.
Dear Minnesota,
Your accent is funny. Beat the Sox in the Central this year and there is extra mustard on your hot dog in it for you when you come to Wrigley. When do you come to Wrigley next? We should get together more often. Say hi to Joe and the kids and thanks for Kirby Puckett.
Dear LA Angels,
Thank you for the rally monkey. It goes so well with ALL THE OTHER ONES you've given us over the years. I hope you enjoy the MLB season and claim the wild card because that's my gift to you. I predict you will win the AL Wild Card spot.
Dear Oakland,
Thank you for giving us McGwire and Canseco in the 80's, they were amusing. Of course, I find them both entertaining for different reasons now. If Jose Canseco wins The Apprentice, I want someone to test him and make sure it wasn't his brother all along.
Dear Seattle,
Thank you for Ichiro. Oh, and Griffey. What's with the Moose? Enjoy your road games this season when you get to see some actual sunshine.
Dear Texas,
Thank you for your entertaining run through the playoffs this year and thank you for another amazing season from Hamilton in advance for this year. That guy is a great story and fun to watch. I must say, I have a hard time rooting for you because of the Bush family, but hey, that's not your fault. Nolan Ryan's cool. Thanks Nolan for that fight with Ventura highlight. Always fun to watch.
Dear Atlanta,
I can't say I care for you. I don't like Chipper Jones, I don't like your tomahawk chop, I don't like that Heyward finished ahead of Castro in rookie of the year voting last year and I don't like the Hawks. I know that has nothing to do with you, but still…thanks for making things difficult for the Phillies this year. Seriously…..do it. Thanks.
Dear Florida,
Remember when we used to get together, you on TV and me at home in the Northeast…and you used to be in the post-season winning the Series and stuff. That was fun, huh? Thanks for Hanley Ramirez. I still hold some resentment for 2003. So I'm going to stop this thank you note there.
Dear NY Mets,
I have enclosed twenty dollars with this thank you note. I hope that helps.
Dear Philadelphia,
Thank you in advance for not being everything everyone thought you'd be. Sure you have an amazing rotation on paper but thank you for not just blowing through the National League and making it interesting. Can you find a way to do that right up until the NLCS where the Cubs beat you? That'd be great, thanks.
Dear Washington,
Thank you for moving baseball to the nation's capitol. Bacon is fun to get from Canada, why not baseball too. Thank you for taking Werth as well. I don't think you'll be any good this year and I don't care for Werth so I think it's a great match. Enjoy the losing streaks in 2011.
Dear Chicago Cubs,
You guys rock. I appreciate all you've done for my family (see the posts included a few posts down) and I appreciate the moves you've made this off-season. I'm excited about the team as it looks and I'm hoping for the best. I have predicted that we win the NL and claim a World Series victory over the Red Sox come October. That would be an amazing birthday present for Rhys and I. Have an amazing 2011.
Dear Cincinnati,
Thank you for making fans realize that the Central isn't just about the Cubs and the Cardinals. You could tone it down a bit this year though with the whole Votto as MVP and winning the Central thing though. That would be appreciated. Oh, and thank you for Jim Maloney. I used to tell people that your great from the past was my Dad and kids believed me. That was fun.
Dear Houston,
Thank you for the Zambrano no-hitter. That is one of my all-time favorite Cubs games. Thank you for working with Pittsburgh in building a strong foundation in the NL Central division standings for the rest of the teams to stand on. You're too kind. Hope your Texans end up playing this year.
Dear Milwaukee,
You should have told Grienke to leave the basketball to Jennings. That probably would have served you better going into this season. Thank you for making Fielder available after this year. Who knows, if not Pujols, maybe we end up with Fielder at first in 2012. (No one show this to Pena just yet). Thanks.
Dear Pittsburgh,
Thanks for the Penguins. And of course, for letting us do so well against you over the past few years. It's practically a day off. Enjoy hoping the Steelers come back this Fall. And of course praying for Sidney. In all seriousness, I hope Crosby is back soon.
Dear St. Louis,
Thanks for nothing. Unless we get Pujols. Then you'll get the biggest fruit basket of all.
Dear Arizona,
Thank you for letting the Cubs crash at your place during Spring Training. Chicago is simply too cold and Florida is too far away. Mesa is just right. Thank you for 2001 as well as I never got to thank you for that. I always enjoy watching the Yankees lose. Enjoy the season.
Dear Colorado,
People may think I am rocky mountain high for picking you to only win the wild card as some have you winning the NL West. Thanks for making things interesting in a division I really don't care all that much about.
Dear LA Dodgers,
Thank you for contributing to ruining our last two playoff appearances. A broom? You shouldn't have. Let's not make it a habit? Thanks.
Dear San Diego,
Thank you for Anchorman and thank you being the team that Cubs fans hate yet don't get to express enough. On a daily basis only the Sox, Cards and Brewers come up throughout the season. But talk about history and it's you guys that they hate discussing the most. Thanks for those ugly camoulflage jerseys. Actually, forget I said that. They are hideous. Please stop. Enjoy the season.
Dear San Francisco,
Thanks for an entertaining World Series last year. Thank you for watching out for DeRosa and Fontenot. Thank you for Lincecum and for showing Kung Fu Panda what a weight watchers meal looks like this off-season. Thank you for not repeating as champs and allowing the Cubs to win it all in 2011. Seriously. Thank you.
NOW THEN….with all of the thanks out of the way…….LET'S PLAY BALL! MLB'S OPENING DAY IS HERE! Tomorrow, the Cubs, with Dempster on the mound. CAN'T WAIT. GO CUBS GO!


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subset: commoncrawl


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The efforts to improve Serpentine Prairie are paying off. Last year I mentioned that the heart of the prairie would be fenced in for a few years. They have also removed the non-native pines that were inappropriately planted. This photo, taken March 28, shows the prairie awash in goldfields. Early summer is the best time to see the rare Presidio clarkia in bloom up there.
Goldfields (Lasthenia spp.) is a very hardy genus that often carpets serpentine soils. Naturally it deserves its name for that alone, but it also has a deeper association with gold. The Mother Lode, running along the western flank of the Sierra Nevada, is a major fault zone, long inactive, that once marked a tectonic suture. Hot gold-bearing fluids rose along the fault and infused the country rock. Serpentinite came up the same way, in the same places. Roadcuts along state route 49 expose lots of it. So where the goldfields blooms, the odds of finding gold are significantly better than chance. Oakland has a great variety of rocks, but no gold that I know of.


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Whether you need a basic headshot, an on-location shoot, or a senior photo, I can work with you to produce a portrait that captures your character. I love it when you call with spark of inspiration. Let's work together to make it come to life.
Senior Photos
Let's pick a location that's beautiful or has importance to you. We can shoot for a couple of hours and make some great photos that capture your personality. You can take as many outfits as you like and change as often as you like. Get two other friends to sign up and your session is free.
Family Photos
I'll come to you. We can shoot at your house or pick a location you prefer. We can shoot for up to two hours, but kids usually get tired and bored before then. Sometimes it's best to shoot for a little while, take a break, and pick it up again. All photos available in an online gallery for print or download purchases.
Head Shots
Do you need head shots for your business? It's fast and easy to set up at your office or home or swing by and take a quick photo while you're in Burlington.
Contact me to book your photo session or to design your own custom photography session.


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The first-degree murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez in the shooting death of Odin L. Lloyd in 2013 will now begin in early 2015, with jury selection set to start Jan. 9, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Flanked by his attorneys, Hernandez appeared in Bristol Superior Court in Fall River Tuesday where Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh set the date for jury selection. Before that date, however, the judge has to decide a number of issues, including a possible defense request for a change of venue.
Also Tuesday, Hernandez defense attorney Michael K. Fee told the judge that an effort by the defense to get some records from Hernandez's former NFL team has been resolved.
Related: Patriots say Hernandez, Belichick exchanged 34 texts
Fee did not provide details, and his announcement led to cancellation of a hearing that was set for Tuesday afternoon. Earlier this month, the Patriots agreed to turn over 317 pages of Hernandez's medical records to the defense, but balked at providing scouting reports or a psychological report prepared before the 2010 NFL draft.
The Patriots attorney referred questions to team spokesman Stacey James, who did not return a telephone call Tuesday.
During the discussion about jury selection, Garsh said that she wants 1,000 potential jurors to be brought to the courthouse to fill out questionnaires and then to hold individual questioning of jurors later in the month.
According to state Jury Commissioner Pamela J. Wood, Garsh's request for 1,000 people is 10 times more than has been required for a murder trial in a Massachusetts courthouse in the past five years.
Through a court spokeswoman, Wood also noted that the total sought by Garsh represents 20 times the number of potential jurors usually sought for a typical Superior Court trial.
From the bench Tuesday, Garsh also addressed defense concerns that news organizations have broadcast conversations between the lawyers and their client over the Internet while live streaming hearings. The case has drawn national attention.
The SJC states that electronic recordings by the news media are allowed in court, but a judge may not permit recording of any bench and sidebar conferences or confer- ences between counsel and client.
Related: Hernandez loses bid to suppress search evidence
The attorneys did not state what conversations were transmitted. They said that one of Hernandez's relatives watching the live broadcast by NECN online on July 7 was able to hear discussions between Fee and Hernandez and make out what they were saying.
The relative was not in the courtroom at the time.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to killing Lloyd in June 2013 near Hernandez's North Attleborough home.
Two Hernandez allies, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, have both been charged with murder in Lloyd's death, and they both have pleaded not guilty.
Hernandez is also charged with fatally shooting two men following a chance encounter at a Boston Theatre District nightclub in July 2012, during which one of the men accidentally bumped into Hernandez, causing him to spill his drink.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Safiro Furtado and Daniel Abreu, two Cape Verdean house cleaners who had never met Hernandez before that night and whose families are suing Hernandez for wrongful death.
The Lloyd family has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Maria Cramer can be reached firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter@globemcramer.
John R. Ellement can be reached atellement@
globe .com. Follow him on Twitter@JREbosglobe.


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I have to read in complete and utter silence.
No background noise. Zero.
I am able to read on airplanes as long as everyone sitting in any proximity to me just so happens to be quiet. And by quiet I mean no talking, chewing, humming, etc. I may or may not have been known to ask those around me to lower the sound on in their earphones (this might be one of the most annoying sounds on the planet, by the way).
I can read while getting my nails done as long as the music in the salon is turned way down and is instrumental. Someone on their cell phone next to me? Forget about it! (Side note…FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP TALKING ON YOUR CELL PHONE AT SALONS! 2 weeks ago while receiving a lovely pedicure, I was forced to listen to the lady next to me on her cell phone ordering her dinner from a Thai restaurant. She asked the person on the other end of the line to describe each dish on the menu before making her final selection. Not exactly the peaceful salon experience I was hoping for although I did learn a great deal about Thai spices.)
I really hate when salons have televisions playing because I can't read with them on! I know there are people out there who have the ability to read while a television is on in the background but clearly I am not one of those people. HOW???
I need 100 percent, complete silence to concentrate on anything. I wish I could read or concentrate on anything with a bit of noise…I would be able to read on so many more occasions!
I have been like this for my entire life. I'm an only child and my house was always so blissfully quiet while growing up…I loved quiet then and I continue to love it now. If you watched my Disney World video, you know that I also need silence to fall asleep! Whenever I had to study for anything, silence was the only way. When I took my ACT test in high school, I brought cough drops with me even though I wasn't the least bit sick. I wanted to be prepared in case anyone around me was sick so I could diffuse the distractions (side note…the guy next to me had the worst cough and was super thankful for my foresight, lol) . When I saw Hamiltion last fall, I offered my water to the lady in the row front of me who couldn't stop coughing. WHY do I always seem to be surrounded by unhealthy, annoying people?!?
Both of our local libraries have "Silent Reading Rooms" where you aren't ALLOWED to talk AND they have fireplaces. So basically it's my personal version of heaven. I have spent many blissful hours reading in those lovely, silent rooms. Perfection.
So tell me….how do you read? Complete silence or with background noise? If you do read with background noise, how do you tune it out so that you can concentrate??? Please teach me your tricks! I would SO love to be able to do that!
Until then, I'll be the one glaring at you on the airplane as you loudly pop your gum…
It would really help me if you could follow/subscribe to my blog. Also, please "like" my Facebook page , follow me on Twitter, and follow me on Instagram!
Local friends, I run a storytime every Tuesday and Friday at Whimsy Cafe in Buffalo Grove, Illinois from 10:00-10:30! Bring your kids (6 months-5 years) for stories, songs, and lots of fun. Price is included in your child's admission, no need to sign up. If you are a blog reader, please be sure to introduce yourself! I can't wait to meet you and your little ones. 🙂


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Federal government shutdown leaves thousands in D.C. area in limbo
WASHINGTON — The usually bustling District of Columbia will be uniquely affected Wednesday by the first government shutdown in 17 years, with thousands of federal employees who make up the backbone of the metro area's workforce ordered not to report to work.
Furloughed workers facing the prospect of an uncertain time without work — and without paychecks — were offered everything from free burgers, sandwiches and cups of coffee to admission to private museums, pilates lessons and activities at community centers.
At Pork Barrel BBQ in Alexandria, Va., just outside the District of Columbia, the disdain for the stalemate in Congress that led to the shutdown was clear. The restaurant gave away 275 pulled pork sandwiches to workers with a government ID on Tuesday, though it took pains to note in its Twitter announcement that the offer "EXCLUDES CONGRESSMEN."
Many workers were on edge, unsure of how long it may be before they could head back to work.
"Even if it's just shut down for a week that's a quarter of your pay this month. That means a lot to a lot of people," said Marc Cevasco, 30, who works in Congressional affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Washington region is expected to lose $220 million per day in federal payroll while the government is closed, said Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis. So federal workers won't be spending money at small businesses and restaurants while they're not being paid, he said.
"They won't be buying anything," Fuller said. "They're just going to hunker down."
The effect on tourism already was being felt. Barricades were erected around some of the nation's most cherished monuments, from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial. More than 100 veterans passed the barriers at the World War II with help from several federal lawmakers. But most visitors could only admire landmarks from afar and found themselves staring at locked doors and "CLOSED" signs at the Smithsonian Institution's popular museums.
On Wednesday morning, traffic was still heavy on 16th Street heading to downtown Washington, and buses in the area were full. Some Metro rail lines were far less crowded, however. At the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station downtown, normally packed train cars had empty aisles and seats.
Elizabeth Eide, a geologist, said cars were about half their usual weekday capacity. She worried whether Metro would have to change its schedules for a time if ridership dropped dramatically during the shutdown.
"If you have several hundred thousand people not using Metro, I have a feeling Metro will have to change its operations," she said.
The city government is beholden to Congress, which has yet to sign off on a spending plan for the District. But the D.C. City Council approved an emergency measure Tuesday to keep tens of thousands of municipal workers on the job, including everyone from trash collectors to librarians. City officials expect an emergency fund to cover about two weeks of operations if Congress can't reach agreement on the budget.
Nationwide, about 800,000 federal employees were sent home — a number greater than the combined U.S. workforces of Target, General Motors, Exxon and Google. The effects played out in a variety of ways, from scaled-back operations at federal prosecutors' offices and the FBI to closures at national parks.
Campers and hikers at the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and other national parks were given two days to pack up and leave, and new visitors were being turned away. St. Louis' landmark 630-foot-high Gateway Arch was off-limits as well.
In Philadelphia, Paul Skilling of Northern Ireland wanted to see the Liberty Bell up close but had to settle for looking at the symbol of democracy through glass. And he wasn't optimistic about the chances of visiting any landmarks in Washington, the next stop on a weeks-long visit.
"Politics is fantastic, isn't it?" he said ruefully.
In New York, tourists who had hoped to see the Statue of Liberty were instead offered an hour harbor cruise.
"There has to be better ways to run the government than to get to a standstill like this," said Cheryl Strahl, a disappointed visitor from Atascadero, Calif. "Why take it out on the national parks?"
The government closings did not stop the launch Tuesday of the enrollment period for the online insurance marketplaces established under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul — the program at the very heart of the dispute that produced the shutdown.
The two federal employees in orbit around the Earth — NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg and Michael Hopkins — carried on as usual aboard the International Space Station, with essential employees at Mission Control in Houston supporting the lab and its six inhabitants.
There were no TV or web updates, however, as most of NASA's workforce was furloughed.
The IRS suspended audits for the duration of the shutdown, and call centers were left unmanned. In St. Paul, Minn., the voicemail warned callers they "should file and pay their taxes as normal."
The 12 million people who got six-month extensions must still file their returns by Oct. 15. But the agency will not issue tax refunds until the government resumes normal operations.
In northern Michigan, David Zorn and Jennifer Li were looking forward to a few days of camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Instead, their visit was cut short Tuesday as the park closed because of the partial government shutdown.
"It's a bummer," Zorn said as he and Li ate a hurried breakfast of scrambled eggs and baked beans, heated over the dying embers of their campfire. "It's something we were not closely following, but we didn't think it would actually affect us. It's one of those things that doesn't hit home until you're booted out."


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Rowan by Amy Butler Sale Home
Sort by
Sale items cannot be returned and quantities are limited to stock on hand.
Sorry. No Rowan by Amy Butler products are currently on sale. Please check back in the near future!!
To broaden your search, take a look at all of our currently discounted knitting products.


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What's Gwyneth Paltrow up to? Being real chic, obviously. Below are pictures of Gwyneth, Apple and Moses boarding a train from London to Paris (and also previously unposted pics of them when they arrived in Paris a few days earlier). They all look stylish and casual, none of them really trying too hard. I mean, her 6 year old son is accessorized better than I've ever been in my life, so there is some effort there, but overall just an ordinary snapshot in the life of an extraordinarily modern and bougie family.
There's something cathartic about seeing this kind of image that comes out of the Paltrow-Martin family world. As an extremely bratty and ungrateful child, I just knew that somewhere out there families like this existed. Families for who the minivan was replaced by a train, Paris was the destination instead of Etobicoke, and mom carried an oversize Stella McCartney tote (I don't actually know who made that bag) instead of the backpack from which I was served tuna fish sandwiches.
I guess the only nice thing about days like today, when there's so much sadness in the air, is that it's easy to be thankful for van trips, tuna fish sandwiches and whatever family we're lucky enough to call our own.
PS. If you're interested in Gwyneth's army jacket, Sasha found it here.


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Roy Leban wrote an in-depth blog post about being accepted into the Founder Institute and his decision to enroll. It provides an interesting insights from the perspective of an experienced entrepreneur and technologist. A snippet from the post is below.
At first glance, I might not seem like the typical candidate for the Founder Institute. I'm not a fresh entrepreneur. I've been doing it a long time and I've had both favorable outcomes (sales) and failures (losing a lot of money). And I even serve as an advisor and mentor to a lot of other entrepreneurs. But, through it all, two things have remained constant: I'm an entrepreneur at heart, and I have a lot to learn.
And those two things are the key reasons that I'm excited that I just got accepted to be part of the Founder Institute's winter session in Seattle.
The Institute has now accepted 100 Founders across the five semesters, and more acceptances are underway. There are 103 Mentors, with another 30 Mentors expected.
Welcome, Roy!


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When combined, grains and legumes make for one world-class, ultra-comforting, super healthy meal. Haha, who am I kidding? We're talking mac and cheese here, forget healthy, all we want is gooey, creamy, ultra-comforting, and delicious, right?
This week's variation combines our quick and easy stovetop cooking method (it takes just about as much time as opening that blue box) along with drained black beans and some canned chipotle chilies which add a touch of sophisticated smoky heat to the whole affair. If you like it extra hot, go ahead and add some extra chopped fresh chilies to the mix. I won't tell.
More Macaroni and Cheese Recipes!
Green Chile Chicken Macaroni and Cheese »
Fully Loaded Pizza Macaroni and Cheese »
Bacon and Pimento Macaroni and Cheese


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addTextbook(Textbook) adds a new Textbook to the inventory of the bookstore.
buyTextbook(String id) removes a Textbook object from the list of textbooks of the Bookstore. If the id does not match any Textbook object in the list, an error message is printed to the screen.
Design a tester class called BookstoreTester. The tester class has a main() method and tests the functionality of the class Bookstore as follows:
a. Create Bookstore and name it "UWF Bookstore".
b. Create a minimum of three Textbook objects and add them to the bookstore.
c. Create 6 Apparel objects, two of each category, and add them to the bookstore.
d. Setup a loop to:
e. Display a short menu that allows a user to perform different actions in the bookstore such as looking up textbooks, or apparel items, or purchasing items. Use all of the accessor methods in the Bookstore to access specific items. Use the given methods to make purchases


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Updated 1:41 p.m. ET, 12/4/2013
Washington (CNN) – The growing gap between rich and poor Americans is threatening the ideals the country was founded upon, President Barack Obama said in remarks Wednesday that appeared to signal a leftward turn in his economic agenda.
Making sure that the U.S. economy works for every working American is "the defining challenge of our time," Obama said in a speech at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. He later said the "dangerous and growing" income and opportunity gap is jeopardizing the notion that if people work hard, they can get ahead.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker']
"The idea that so many children are born into poverty in the wealthiest nation on Earth is heartbreaking enough, but the idea that a child may never be able to escape that poverty, because she lacks a decent education or health care or a community that views her future as their own, that should offend all of us," Obama said during his remarks.
To combat the chasm between haves and have-nots, Obama called for a hike in the federal minimum wage, saying an increase is a good step for families and the economy as a whole.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have pushed for an increase in the federal minimum wage, which currently stands at $7.25 an hour. A proposal would boost it to about $10, and the White House has said Obama supports such a measure.
On Wednesday, Obama also made a general push to simplify the tax code, provide more work training in high schools, and make it easier for Americans to save for retirement.
Those are notions Obama has presented before; however, by packaging them into a clear plan for the next three years, Obama seemed to be making a play to revive his core of liberal supporters, who over the past several months have weathered the disappointments of his health care rollout and allegations of NSA spying.
Obama took sharp aim at Republicans during his remarks, saying they had failed to present their own plans for pulling Americans out of poverty.
"If Republicans have concrete plans that will actually reduce inequality, build the middle class, provide more ladders of opportunity to the poor, let's hear them. I want to know what they are," Obama said.
And he made a forceful call for lawmakers to extend emergency unemployment insurance by the end of the year, saying "Christmastime is no time for Congress to tell more than one million of these Americans" they've lost those benefits.
The speech came as public approval of Obama sinks to new lows. The botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, coupled with stories of people losing their health plans, has contributed to the drop, but more Americans also say they disapprove of the President's handling of the economy, five years after the downturn.
A CNN/ORC Poll taken in November showed 59% of respondents said things were going badly in the country today. Thirty-nine percent - a plurality - said economic conditions are getting worse.
While Wall Street indexes and corporate earnings have reached new highs, the situation for low and middle class Americans has largely remained dire, including a jobless rate that remains high and scores of people who have given up looking for work.
The current economy is "profoundly unequal," Obama proclaimed on Wednesday.
"Growing inequality and lack of upward mobility that has jeopardized middle-class America's basic bargain, that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead," Obama said. "I believe this is the defining challenge of our time, making sure our economy works for every working American."
The problem of income disparity, and the fight for a higher minimum wage, have gained renewed attention in the past weeks - low wage fast food workers have staged one-day strikes across the country demanding higher paychecks, and protesters stood outside Wal-Marts and other box stores on Black Friday demanding employees be paid better.
Obama's remarks Wednesday took place at a theater and arts facility in Washington's Southeast quadrant, an area of the capital where incomes remain low and 45% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Give a fish, feed them for a day. Teach them to fish, feed them for a life time. I think that's the saying. It comes down to one thing, personal responsibility. I wasn't born into the middle class in the early 70s. Farther left when I was 8 and my mother raised 4 children without out government assistance. She showed us personal responsibility, even on a 30k a year at her highest pay, that one can make it. Three of the 4 paid their own way through collage and I choose to work more than go to collage. We all make about 100k a year each. How did we do it? We took responsibility for our future, held off on having kids until we could afford a family. If we follow our government's example we are building a group of people that want hand outs instead of taking actions for there own future. Teach our children to take their action personally and not blame others. You control your future and you alone.
Oh, and maybe Obama could make the speech closer to home, like his Washington, DC. Obama has spent 5 years, when not throwing billions at the Banks and Wall Street, pouring unprecedented amounts of public money into DC and the surrounding area. As a result, the Metro area is now the richest in the world with the highest percent of millionaires. While the Black community in DC which is 50% of the population has about the deepest poverty percentage in the nation with a 17% unemployment rate while Whites there have only a 3% rate, again, one of the worst differentials in the US. The man is a fake. Libs, you've been had.
the income gap is caused with high taxes, high unemployment and outsourcing history lesson America really never came out of the depression till during WWII when manufacturing kicked into gear that lifted the middle class
then we started outsourcing in the 80's to japan and factories started closing we transitioned to a service based
economy then after the recession in 2007 we destroyed the service sector now we have no manufacturing or service base to speak of economic stimulus is non existent we need business to grow I.E tax incentives and manufacturing to return to America or another stimuli not rhetoric from the president
What worthless individual we have in the White House. Nothing he says can be believed.
It won't be the average 99% that brings more regulation to capitalism, but the greed of the 1%.
The President correct in stating there needs to be an increase in the minimum wage. Why? Because there are too many Americans working part-time and FULL time that require government assistance in order to survive. The raising of the minimum wage will DECREASE the American deficit and actually spur economic growth. I am not speaking as a liberal or conservative, just looking at the economics. Why should people working FULL TIME in some of most successful companies in the world require government SNAP assistance? The Republican Party is always saying the growth in the amount of SNAP assistance is out of control. Maybe if we got the 100's of thousands of WORKING Americans off the rolls through a "LIVING WAGE" there would be a significant reduction in its costs to the American tax payer. This is long over due…..
Some of you need to look at this FACT.. the minimum wage today is 30% less than the minimum wage of 1968!!!! At the same time the CEO and stockholder in companies has seen a 100 to 400 percent increase in their earnings. It just is not fair.....
This president has done everything he can in 5 years to line the pockets of the rich. Now he wants to talk about the divide! ROFMLAO
Unfortunately, the income gap is going to get worse with a disappearing middle-class, as long as we have a liberal president in office.
We need to start a campaign to push the foreign companies out. Stop sending aid and concentrate on American citizens.
Everyone knows how rich become rich! Many company and business are used those poor people by trick them into believe them. Pastor are one of them. All we doing is picking on poor people but never once talk about how those rich become fast rich. There lots way we can figure this out
The poor will need to work harder and smarter? Do you have any idea of what social structure is? As society we need the lower class jobs filled..but it doesn't mean we have to pay them at the poverty level. I'm not suggesting you pay a fast food worker 80K. But maybe if Minimum Wage was a little higher, less people would have to depend on our government for assistance. I think Republicans are so clueless on Socialogy..
Destroy the principles of which this country was founded upon? This country shows no resemblence to the consistution, no privacy, can't withdraw over $5K without governemnt permission, checkpoints, and how exactly is the gap between the rich and the poor suppose to be a constitutional crisis? Our governemnt has done this, want a law passed, just buy enough congressmen, I guanentee you'll get it passed. FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE, how about FOR THE MONEY BY THE MONEY!
Obama has himself to blame. Look at this man's record!
Handouts do not work. Try some leadership and fix the economy. When people work the gap will close.
The stock market is on fire... the 1% are making a killing thanks to obama. Thanks Barry
Uh, Disparity in wealth, French Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution, Chinese overthrow, you think it can't happen here?
All Obama is saying is he wants to take away from family's that work and EARN their way and give it to those that won't work and fell they should get everything for nothing.
Yea. I want half of the new Yankee's contract. Who's he to get a $120,000,000 contract?
If course, Obama's trickle up economy caused more income inequality than any prior president. But hey, why dwell on that minor point.
Hey Mr Obama...know what country has the smallest Income Gap? North Korea. Yep let's all head towards a police state because once we get their all of us will have no income and no opportunity to advance our position...we will just sit there and wait for the Central Govt to equally distribute the wealth to us, after they take the lion share of it.
Do the wealthy work harder to receive their bailouts just like the poor? Wake up everyone is the same fool! Stop thinking you're more righteous .


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Are Mac computers really any more secure than the machines' Windows counterparts? The answer these days seems obvious.
Apple issued a statement Tuesday admitting that it had been targeted by hackers who infected computers on the company's own network with malware through a Java vulnerability.
According to numerous reports, the same Java flaw was used to infect computers at Facebook last month, an attack that the social network company described on Friday.
Though Apple reported that no data was compromised, Mac computers beyond Apple's walls could be infected. The Cupertino company released a new version of Java (opens in new tab) Tuesday afternoon designed to help mitigate any damage caused by the hack.
Apple's statement
"Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers," read a statement released by Apple.
"The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers. We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple."
That may not be all there is to it, though: According to Reuters, which claimed to have spoken with "a person briefed on the investigation into the attacks," this may be the biggest cyber attack yet on OS X.
The Reuters source said that "this is the first really big attack on Macs," and that "Apple has more on its hands than the attack on itself."
Indeed, Apple reportedly declined to disclose exactly how many companies were affected by attacks based on this Java exploit (or expand on its statement at all), but Reuters' source claimed that it was in the hundreds, and that some of those companies included defense contractors.
Hide your PC, hide your Mac
Apple said in its statement that it's working with Johnny Law to bring its attackers to justice, and noted that Mac computers have shipped without Oracle's Java since OS X 10.7 Lion was released in 2011.
Users can of course install it themselves, but according to Apple, Java is also automatically uninstalled if it's not used for 35 days.
Apple computers used to be considered more secure than Windows PCs, but that golden age for Apple is likely at an end.
This latest attack by hackers is hardly an isolated case, though it's not as if OS X is the only system being targeted.
Twitter was hacked earlier this month, and attacks on the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal preceded that.
Reuters noted the increased tensions between Washington D.C. and Beijing, China, drawing a link between the White House's concerns with Chinese cyber-theft and the recent spate of attacks on U.S. computers.
Additionally, AllThingsD reported that the hacks on Apple, Facebook and Twitter can be traced to one website - iPhoneDevSKD.com. (Note: This site may still host compromised code, so don't visit it).
Considered a development "hub" for companies focused on mobile, Facebook employees who visited the site reportedly saw malicious code housed in the site's HTML to exploit a Java plug-in to infect their computers.
The site not only welcomes those involved in mobile development but any organization interested in mobile. It's possible Apple and Twitter employees visited the site as well.
iPhoneDevSKD Owner and Operator Ian Sefferman told AllThingsD that the site is investigating the Facebook report.


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Apple announces 50 billionth app download winner, awards $10,000 App Store gift card
Apple today has officially announced the winner of its $10,000 iTunes gift card giveaway in a press release after reaching 50 billion app downloads yesterday.
And the app that marked the 50 billionth download goes to: Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC. Lucky winner Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio will be receiving a $10,000 App Store gift card for his download.
Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue provided the following statement:
"Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We're absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years."
Apple's full press release below: Expand


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Judge tells Halifax teenager charged in crash to 'shape up or else'
Monica Knight couldn't have looked more contrite Friday morning. Red-eyed and handcuffed in a Plymouth District Court dock, the Silver Lake Regional High School senior brushed tears from her eyes as she stood before Judge Brian Gilligan during a pretrial hearing.
In 2012, she was charged with multiple counts for a head-on collision in which three classmates were seriously injured. On bail since then, she was back in court Friday after spending a week in the state women's prison in Framingham for failing a random drug test.
Knight could barely whisper a reply when Gilligan asked question after question about lawyers and bail conditions, but the judge wasn't in a sympathetic mood.
"If you don't improve, you're going to stay in Framingham a lot longer than a week. Do you understand?" Gilligan said.
"Yes, sir," Knight answered.
Now 18, she was 16 when the BMW she was driving crashed head-on into a Silver Lake Regional High School school bus on March 30, 2012.
Knight suffered minor injuries, but Eva Lipton, Aliza Nantais and Brendon McGilley were all badly hurt. Lipton, the most severely injured, is still unconscious from brain injuries.
All four were juniors at Silver Lake. The school bus was empty and its driver was not injured.
In June, Knight was charged with reckless driving, failure to wear a seat belt, possession of a Class D substance (amphet salts), committing a marked-lanes violation and driving as a junior operator with a passenger under 18.
On bail, she was required to take random drug tests, comply with a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and wear a GPS monitor. Last month, she failed to show up for a drug test. On March 29 – a year and a day after the crash – she tested positive for marijuana. A Plymouth County judge revoked her bail and sent her to the Framingham prison.
Knight and her parents have also irked judges by hiring and then dropping two attorneys, thus delaying a trial that is still not scheduled. On Friday, Gilligan sternly warned her about that, too.
"Your family needs to sit down with you and an attorney," the judge said. "You need an attorney, but you need one soon. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," Knight said.
With that, Gilligan scheduled what could be Knight's final pretrial hearing for April 19.
Lane Lambert may be reached at email@example.com.
READ MORE about the crash.


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Palladino: Regardless Of Who Wins Sunday, Coughlin Should Be HOF-Bound
'From the Pressbox'
By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns
Ernie is the author of "Lombardi and Landry."
Today's plane ride will take the Giants from Newark Airport to Indianapolis and Super Bowl XLVI.
For Tom Coughlin, it may have been something quite different. Come Sunday night, that short journey may prove the culmination of a career-long trip to Canton.
Of course, you'll never get the old coach to admit such a thing. Maybe some journalist in the post-game interview room will be able to pry some vague reference about his future, about whether he plans to continue coaching past his current 65 years of age, or whether, win or lose against the Patriots, he belongs in the hallowed halls where coaching brethren Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick will undoubtedly wind up, Parcells possibly as early as Saturday's announcement of the Class of 2012.
Maybe then Coughlin will entertain such lofty questions, if at all. But certainly not now. At the moment, this man who barely gives himself time to consider what he'll have for the next day's breakfast is busy with some weightier matters, like touching up the gameplan to beat the AFC's No. 1 seed at Lucas Oil Stadium.
So, to take the burden of the future off his shoulders, let's conduct a discussion of our own.
Quite simply, it reads here, Coughlin belongs in the Hall of Fame whether he wins a second Super Bowl championship or not. A win Feb. 5 would simply seal the deal, drawing him even with his old boss, Parcells, and placing him one behind an even surer selection in his Super sideline counterpart, Belichick.
It won't be all because of his Giants career, either. What also gets included in the resume is his work in bringing the Jacksonville Jaguars from expansion team in 1995 to an AFC Championship Game participant a year later, where they lost to the Patriots 20-6.
Through smart player procurement and demanding coaching, the man Jags owner Wayne Weaver hired on Feb. 21, 1994, a full 559 days before the Jags ever set foot on a gridiron in anger took the Jags to four straight playoff appearances, including another conference title berth in 1999. Only recently, when Weaver sold his team, he admitted that firing Coughlin after his eighth season at the helm marked one of the owner's greatest mistakes.
Super Bowl victories are glitzy, of course. They're the things that grab everybody's attention. But advancement deep into the playoffs with two teams has to count in the final summation, too.
What may be swept under the pile of statistics, wins, and losses is the biggest reason the Hall-of-Fame and Coughlin have been mentioned in the same breath lately. The coaching job he did in 2011 was his best ever. True, this 9-7 record won't get Coughlin the Coach of the Year Award when Alec Baldwin announces the winner Saturday. That will probably go to either Jim Harbaugh, who brought the 49ers up from never in his rookie coaching season, or Green Bay's Mike McCarthy.
But Coughlin, who won that award his second season with the Jaguars, gets just as many points as anyone else for keeping the Giants together during a season-long plague of injuries that would have sent any other team spiraling into oblivion. The Giants may not have looked pretty at times; downright ugly, actually. But Coughlin kept them playing until they regained some semblance of health.
At their nadir, their embarrassment against the Redskins for their fifth loss in six games, he became the master psychologist in emphasizing the positive with a "Chin-Up" speech and the reinforcement that the NFC East title was still out there for the taking.
Everybody knows how that turned out.
Here they are now, poised for a Super Bowl XLII rematch against Belichick's Patriots.
The outcome shouldn't make much of a difference as far as Coughlin's credentials go. He already has a full resume.
The plane ride to Indy is just the capper.
Do you agree that Coughlin deserves Hall of Fame immortality? Make your case in the comments below...
for more features.


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For centuries, the Astrakhan Kremlin was inapproachable stronghold in the south-eastern border of the Russia. The first construction of the Kremlin began in 1587-1588 under the guidance of I.G. Vorodkov, a lector of Discharge Order. He laid the first wooden fortress with powerful solid walls and towers. The place of construction was chosen on the hill, known as "Rabbit" or "Zayachii" in Russian.
During the reign of Ivan IV The Terrible and Boris Godunov the wooden fortress was rebuilt into a stone one. For the development of Kremlin walls and towers state-owned official masters were headed from Moscow to Astrakhan. For best results executives used the old, but very strong Tatar plinths which were brought from the ruins of the cities of the Golden Horde towns. Stone citadel was built by the type of Moscow Kremlin.
Next two centuries have become relatively calm for the Kremlin. Its buildings were repaired, rebuilt and renewed. However, in the beginning of 20th century after the October Revolution access to the Kremlin was closed. Instead it was transformed as a military post, where groups of Red Guards were formed the Military Revolutionary Committee was placed.
In January 1918 Astrakhan Kremlin was once again in the middle of fateful events, when supporters of Soviet power fought with Astrkhan Cossaks. They attacked The Red Army that was entrenched in the Kremlin, from roofs of nearby buildings. Serious destruction was caused to the Kremlin after this battle. In 1919 the Army was reorganized under the leadership of Kirov to protect the outfall of Volga and to defeat the White Guard troops and foreign interventionists.
Only after the end of the World War II the town opened the access to the Kremlin. At the same time Kremlin ceases to be subject of military purposes. In the mid-20th century significant restoration works were held, due to which many buildings, requiring urgent repairs were saved.
In 1974 the Astrakhan Kremlin became a museum. Nowadays citizens and tourists of Astrakhan have the access to museum exhibits of the lifestyle of the Astrakhan Garrison. Moreover they can see Casual Suits archers and scorers, elements of their weapons and ammunition, the exhibition dedicated to the history of popular uprisings and corporal punishment. In 2011, after the restoration of the kremlin, Guardhouse exposition was opened, which tells about the life of Astrakhan military garrison of the 19th century.
Construction of Assumption Cathedral began in 1699 and lasted almost 12 years. The bell tower was erected in 1710. The exterior of the Cathedral was decorated with molded brick and carved with white stone. Windows and dome heads were framed by columns in the style of Corinthian décor and semicircular arches were filled with paintings with biblical plot. Three of such arches were arranged on each side of the temple.
The cathedral was divided into two floors: the upper church is dedicated to the honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Tall and light temple was intended for ceremonial worships during warm months. The lower church which is dark lightened and surrounded by the gallery columns.References:
Krickenbeck moated castle is one of the oldest on the lower Rhine. Its history dates back to the year 1104, when the castle was first mentioned. It is unclear why the old castle, which was certainly inhabited by Count Reginar, was abandoned or destroyed. In the mid-13th century the castle was moved to the current location. At the end of the 14th century the new castle belonged to the Counts of Kleve.
Johann Friedrich II of Schesaberg converted the castle into a Baroque mansion between 1708-1721. On September 7, 1902, a fire destroyed the entire mansion. From 1903 to 1904, a three-winged castle was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. Today Krickenbeck is a conference center.


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10:59 PM, October 26, 2012
Somewhere on the Animas River, I reached a zen place. My co-driver, Alex Kierstein was navigating some shallows ahead of me. I had clear water, I was upright in the inflatable kayak—I took some ribbing for my technically awful gangsta-lean style of paddling—and each stroke was edging me further down the near-freezing waters of the Lower Animas through Durango. My heart and head were absolutely clear. Only an hour or so earlier, Alex and I had been hustling toward the southwestern Colorado town in Lalah, a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series. And that, perhaps, in a nutshell, is the essence of the Autoweek America Adventure.
We'd left Colorado Springs the day before, hunted down the Kissing Camels in the Garden of the Gods, visited Colorado's now-disused gas chamber, and then run farther west across US 50. We stopped for a Colt Seavers-grade fall-and-swing out over the Royal Gorge on the freaktastic Skycoaster, followed by a quick hole of golf in Salida. The evening took us onto US 550, one of my favorite roads in the entire country. We hunted for the late actor Dennis Weaver's house made of recycled materials, but without an address, we couldn't find it alongside the blacked-out rural washboard. Deciding we didn't want to shake the Black Series to bits, we headed for Telluride, dinner and bed.
In the morning, we scuttled around town, checking items off our list. I posed like a strumpet at the entrance to Popcorn Alley, the town's historic red-light district. Alex did his best John Wilkes Booth from the stage of the Sheridan Theatre. We marveled at a couple of Pinzgauers covered in leftover snow and fresh morning ice crystals. We saw a 900-year-old rug and made the obligatory Big Lebowski jokes.
Our whirlwind tour of Telluride complete, we shot down to Mesa Verde National Park where we opened the taps on the Benz's 510-hp V8 in a long tunnel, then shut it down when we realized that we weren't sure how the GPS unit mounted in our car reported back speeds to the scoring team. We were limited that day to five excursions above 80 mph for passing purposes. Anything beyond that would result in a loss of points. But oh, the song of that 6.2L eight, probably the last naturally aspirated big-bore engine we'll see from the Stuttgart concern, was enough to make a man sweat the loss later. We really should've done that, as we wound up at the river-rafting-and-Jeeping joint in Durango about 40 minutes late.
Blame a leisurely lunch with Cannonball veteran and all-around car nut Toly Arutunoff, who waxed effusively on the Porsche 914-based Bertone Tapiro concept and regaled us with tales of racing a Lancia Stratos. If blowing a speed-limit gimme opening up a Black Series in a tunnel was perhaps worth it, the lateness penalty we incurred due to lunchtime with Toly and Larry was absolutely, without question, a matter of points well shed.
Tonight, we're ensconced in the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado. We've been listening to a lot of Sirius/XM's 1st Wave channel in the car. The other night, I had a waking dream where somebody said, "Our leading online educator is Warren Cuccurullo." What the former Missing Persons guitarist had to do with anything else going on in my subconscious has yet to be revealed, but his old band did hit #42 on the charts back in 1982 with "Destination Unknown."
Thirty years on, it's a suitable theme for tomorrow.
Keep up with all the Autoweek America Adventure news and updates at theamericaadventure.com and at autoweek.com/section/americaadventure.


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This post is gonna be short and sweet—and scary:
Back in late August, I argued that hyperinflation would be triggered by a run on Treasury bonds. I described how such a run might happen, and argued that if Treasuries were no longer considered safe, then commodities would become the store of value.
Therefore, I predicted that inflation would spiral out of control, and turn into hyperinflation of the U.S. dollar.
A lot of people claimed I was on drugs when I wrote this.
Now? Not so much.
So I assumed that, when the market collectively realized this, there would be a panic in Treasuries. This panic, of course, would lead to the spike in commodities.
The two key commodities that have been rising as of late are oil and grains, specifically wheat, corn and livestock feed. The BLS report on Producer Price Index of commodities is here.
Grains as a class have risen over 33% year-over-year. Refined oil products have risen just shy of 13%, with home heating oil rising 18% year-over-year. In other words: Food, gasoline and heating oil have risen by double digits since 2009. And the 2010-'11 winter in the northern hemisphere is approaching.
A friend of mine, SB, a commodities trader, pointed out to me that big producers are hedged against rising commodities prices. As he put it to me in a private e-mail, "We sometimes forget that the commodity markets aren'tsolely speculative. Most futures contracts are bought by companies whouse those commodities in their products, and are thus hedging their costs to produce those products."
Very true: But SB also pointed out that, hedged or not, the lag time between agricultural commodities and the markets is about six-to-nine months, on average. So he thought that the rise in grains, which really took off in June–July, would hit the supermarket shelves in January–March.
He also pointed out that, with higher commodity costs and lower consumption, companies are going to be between the Devil and the deep blue sea. My own take is, if you can't get more customers, then you're just gonna have to charge more from the ones you got.
Coupled to these price increases is the ongoing Currency War: The U.S.—contrary to Secretary Timothy Geithner's statements—is trying to debase the dollar, so as to make U.S. exports more attractive to foreign consumers. This has created strains with China, Europe and the emerging markets.
A beggar-thy-neighbor monetary policy works for small countries getting out of a hole of their own making: It doesn't work for the world's largest single economy with the world's reserve currency, in the middle of a Global Depression.
On the contrary, it creates a backlash; the ongoing tiff over rare-earth minerals with China is just the beginning. This could easily be exacerbated by clumsy politicking, and turn into a full-on trade war.
What's so bad with a trade war, you ask? Why nothing, not a thing—if you want to pay through the nose for imported goods. If you enjoy paying 10, 20, 30% more for imported goods—then hey, let's just stick it to them China-men! They're still Commies, after all!
Furthermore, as regards the Federal Reserve policy, the upcoming Quantitative Easing 2, and the actions of its chairman, Ben Bernanke: There is an increasing sense in the financial markets that Backstop Benny and his Lollipop Gang don't have the foggiest clue about what they're doing.
Bruce Krasting just yesterday wrote a very on-the-money précis of the trial balloons the Fed is floating, as regards to QE2: Basically, Bernanke through his WSJ mouthpiece said that the Fed was going to go for a cautious, incrementalist approach, vis-à-vis QE2: "A couple of hundred billion at a time". You know: "Just the tip—just to see how it feels."
But then on the other hand, also just yesterday, Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge had a justifiable freak-out over the NY Fed asking Primary Dealers for their thoughts on the size of QE2. According to Bloomberg, the NY Fed was asking the dealers how big they thought QE2 would be, and how big they thought itought be: $250 billion? $500 billion? A trillion? A trillion every six months? (Or as Tyler pointed out, $2 trillion for 2011.)
That's like asking a bunch of junkies how much smack they want for the upcoming year—half a kilo? A full kilo? Two kilos?
What the hell you think the junkies are gonna say?
Between BK's clear reading of the tea leaves coming from the Wall Street Journal, and TD's also very clear reading of the tea leaves by way of Bloomberg, you're getting a seriously contradictory message: The Fed is going to lightly tap-tap-tap liquidity into the markets—just a little—just a few hundred billion dollars at a time—
—while at the same time, the Fed is saying to the Primary Dealers, "We're gonna make you guys happy-happy-happy with a righteously sized QE2!"
The contradictory messages don't pacify the financial markets—on the contrary, they make the markets simultaneously contemptuous of Bernanke and the Fed, while very frightened as to what they will ultimately do.
What happens when the financial markets don't really know what the central bank is going to do, and suspect that the central bankers themselves aren't too clear either?
So to sum up, we have:
• Rising commodity prices, the effects of which (because of hedging) will be felt most severely in the period January–March of 2011.
• A beggar-thy-neighbor race-to-the-bottom Currency War, that might well devolve into a Trade War, which would force up prices on imported goods.
• A Federal Reserve that does not seem to know what it is doing, as regards another round of Quantitative Easing, which is making the financial markets very nervous—nervous about the Fed's ultimate responsibility, which is safeguarding the U.S. dollar.
• A U.S. economy that is weak to the point of collapse, where not even 0.25% interest rates are sparking investment and growth—and which therefore prohibits the Fed from raising interest rates, if need be.
• A U.S. fiscal deficit which is close to 10% of GDP annually, and which is therefore unsustainable—especially considering that the total U.S. fiscal debt is well over 100% of GDP.
These factors all point to one and the same thing:
An imminent currency collapse.
Therefore, I am confident in predicting the following sequence of events:
• By March of 2011, once higher commodity prices reach the marketplace, monthly CPI will be at an annualized rate of not less than 5%.
• By July of 2011, annualized CPI will be no less than 8% annualized.
• By October of 2011, annualized CPI will have crossed 10%.
• By March of 2012, annualized CPI will cross the hyperinflationary tipping point of 15%.
What the mainstream commentariat will make of all this will be really something: When CPI reaches 5% by the winter of 2011, pundits and economists and the Fed and the Obama administration will all say the same thing: "Happy days are here again! People are spending! The economy is back on track!"
However, by the late spring, early summer of 2011, people will realize what's going on—and the Federal Reserve will initially be unwilling to drastically raise interest rates so as to quell inflation.
Actually, the Fed won't be able to raise rates, at least not like Volcker did back in 1980: The U.S. economy will be too weak, and the Federal government's balance sheet will be too distressed, with it's $1.5 trillion deficit. So at first, the Fed will have to let the rising inflation rate slide, and keep trying hard to explain it away as "a sign of a recovering economy".
Once the Fed realizes that the rising CPI is not a sign of a reignited economy, but rather a sign of the collapsing dollar, they will pursue a puerile "inflation fighting" scheme of incremental interest rate hikes—much like G. William Miller, the Chairman of the Fed from January of '78 to August of '79, pursued so unsuccessfully.
By that point, the rest of the economy—unemployment, GDP, all the rest of it—will be in the toilet. By that point, the rest of the economy will no longer matter: The collapsing dollar will make 2012 the really really bad year of our Global Depression—which is actually kind of funny.
It's just one of those cosmic jokes that 2012 will turn out to be the year the dollar collapses, and the larger world economies go down the tubes.
As cosmic jokes go, all I've got to say is this:
Good one, God.
Related Articles
- Default or Hyperinflation: The US's Only Two Options… Humor helps… (projectworldawareness.com)
- Here Comes the Fed Again: More Monetary Stimulus Is Likely (dailyfinance.com)
- Default or Hyperinflation (lewrockwell.com)
- Gonzalo Lira: Was Stagnation In '79 Really Hyperinflation? (businessinsider.com)
- Gonzalo Lira: Keep Buying Treasuries And You're Living In A Termite-Riddle House (businessinsider.com)
- Rising Prices Are the Fear (kudlowsmoneypolitics.blogspot.com)
- Fed Gears Up for Stimulus (online.wsj.com)
- Was 'Stagflation' Actually Hyperinflation? (lewrockwell.com)


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DIRECTORY > Café Kick
Café Kick
A reasonably sized bar with friendly staff, this place serves up a range of bottled beers, spirits and cocktails and does a good line in well priced and decent food too.
Business detail
127 Shoreditch High Street
Code postal
020 7739 8700
Closest tube
Old Street Station, Shoreditch Station, Liverpool Street Station
Site web
Heures d'ouverture
Business detail
43 Exmouth Market London.
Code postal
020 7837 8077
Site web
Heures d'ouverture
Mon - Thurs: 12 noon - 11pm
Fri & Sat: 12 noon - Midnight
Sun: 4pm-10.30 (Summer)
closed (Winter)
Fri & Sat: 12 noon - Midnight
Sun: 4pm-10.30 (Summer)
closed (Winter)
Café Kick distributes the following brand(s):
|Kick is currently the focus of much World Cup qualifying excitement ... so come and join in.
And don't forget the Champions League!
|There was a breakthrough in March when Eurosport 2 broadcast the ITSF 2009 Babyfoot World Cup from Nantes. This event, and the subsequent article by Giles Smith in The Times, significantly raised awareness of the game. Alongside these developments, the Kick Babyfoot Association goes from strength to strength; since 2004 it has represented Britain in the Bonzini World Championships, and will do so this year in May near Paris, where the best players in the world compete for the title. The KBA is based at Bar Kick, with weekly games, and tournaments played on the last Wednesday of the month. New enthusiasts are discovering the fun and conviviality of the game; everyone's invited and anyone can learn to play. The KBA now offers training sessions; even if you're a seasoned player, you can double your babyfoot skills in one session!
downstairs space at Bar Kick is a favourite entertainment venue: we
host two long-running comedy nights, Sketchup and Comedy Cellar; newer
monthly events include the improv night, and a ukelele jam session!
Many of these events are free or pay-what-you-can, so pop in and join
the merriment. Unique to Kick is our speed-dating game, A Game Of 2
Halves - romance is in the air, but with a modern twist! Keep an eye on
the Stage Page for updates.
Downstairs at Bar Kick is regularly hired out for private parties. The space is self-contained, multimedia-equipped, and can accommodate up to six football tables. The team-building aspects of the game are well-known, it's huge fun and the perfect interactive party entertainment. With our expertise as the UK's foremost babyfoot venue, we can organise your private tournament (incl. referee), with or without a buffet created by Kick's kitchen, a private bar and staff, for up to 150 people. Or we can just give you (at no charge) a format from which you can run your own tournament. We'll help you create a party with lots of fun, fair play, and "the boss-thrashing potential of a table footy tournament" (Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008).
For booking enquiries please call Lee or Sian at Bar Kick on 0207 739 8700, or go to the Bookings section on our website http://www.cafekick.co.uk
|Our menus are lovingly put together, with daily-changing specials, created from carefully sourced products such as artisan cheeses (buffalo mozzarella) and breads (ciabatta, stirato and pugliese). Little Café Kick in Exmouth Market is famous for its evening Tapas, an array of Mediterranean delights available individually or as buffets: from a simple dish of bread with Spanish Manzanilla olives, to the more robust Garlic King Prawns in white wine, or Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa (salt cod, onions and potatoes). Available from 6pm. Café Kick is the original Kick bar, with three football tables along with its cafe tables and booths. Tables can be reserved - please call 0207 837 8077.
|"Kick is where the world meets and smiles!"
|Bar Kick 127 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JE
Tel 020 7739 8700 Fax 020 7613 2509 Email firstname.lastname@example.com
Cafe Kick 43 Exmouth Market London EC1R 4QL tel 020 7837 8077
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August 2nd, 2012
10 best cities for 'successful aging'
It's a long-held belief that seniors, whether they retire to Florida or not, want one simple thing: to do as little as possible for as long as possible.
"That's out of date, to the extent that it was ever accurate," says Paul Irving, Milken Institute's senior managing director and chief operating officer. "Seniors want to remain active and engaged and healthy and connected to their communities. Many want to continue to work throughout life ... they want and deserve great health systems. They want to have a voice."
Baby boomers living in Provo-Orem, Utah, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, are certainly in the right place. The two cities rank at the top of the Milken Institute's first "Best Cities for Successful Aging" report. Provo-Orem is No. 1 on the list of large metro areas and Sioux Falls is No. 1 for small metros.
King's Point: Aging out of retirement
While Provo-Orem and Sioux Falls rank at the top of the overall lists, the data was also broken down into sub-lists based on age. What's most important for those aged 65 to 79, after all, is not the same for those over the age of 80. For example, Boston, Massachusetts, was No. 4 on the overall list for large metros, but ranked No. 1 for those over 80 because of its reputable health care facilities.
Readers can also go the institute's website to weigh the indicators that are most important to them, creating a new set of city rankings individualized to their needs.
While many people see the older generation as a burden, Irving says, in reality they have a lot to offer the community - and leaders should have a vested interest in taking care of this population. The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank based in Santa Monica, California, that "believes in the power of capital markets to solve urgent social and economic challenges and improve lives," according to its website.
"We all know that America is growing older," Irving says. "As we looked at what was going on... some of the most innovative thinking and most helpful progress was going on at the metro, at the city level."
Aging stylishly, online and in the streets
Rankings like this often create competition and motivate change, similar to the way college rankings inspire university presidents to focus on academics or sports scores. Here are the top overall cities for large and small metro areas:
Large metros
1. Provo, Utah
Smaller metros
1. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.


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% vlc -vvv dvdold:/dev/dvd --sout udp:192.168.0.12 --ttl 12
where :
/dev/dvd is the name of your DVD drive (put D: under Windows if D is the letter of your DVD drive) or the directory where you copied your DVD ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
If you want to stream the DVD continuously, add the --loop option .


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JERUSALEM >> The Israeli military says it has carried out a series of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip in response to renewed rocket fire. There was no immediate word on casualties from the strikes.
In a statement Tuesday, the military accused Palestinian militants of violating a cease-fire and said it maintains "both defense and striking capabilities in order to address the renewed aggression."
The airstrikes came minutes after Palestinian militants fired three rockets into Israel, breaking a temporary cease-fire and endangering negotiations in Egypt over ending a monthling war between Israel and Hamas. Authorities said the rockets landed in open areas and caused no injuries.


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Critics have derided Microsoft's US$7.5 billion acquisition of Nokia's Devices and Services business but the deal may be closing at the perfect moment -- during a slowdown in smartphone innovation.
The acquisition closed Friday after an almost eight-month long approval process. The new subsidiary, dubbed the Microsoft Mobile and the Devices division and headed by former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, has a tremendous amount of work to do to become a serious contender either at the high end or low end of the smartphone market.
However, this may be an opportune time for Microsoft and its thousands of new employees. Innovation has slowed down in the high-end segment of the mobile phone market. New products such as the Galaxy S5 from Samsung Electronics, HTC's One M8 and the Xperia Z2 from Sony are only small upgrades compared to their predecessors.
"This market isn't moving forward quite as quickly as it has in the past. While it is taking a breather, Microsoft and Nokia can up the game and try to close the gap," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.
Microsoft has recognized this chance to make up some lost ground.
"The pace of innovation we are delivering is, I'll argue, accelerating, while some of our leading competitors appear to be slowing down. If you're behind you have to go faster than the guy in front of you to catch up and that's exactly what we are trying to do," said Greg Sullivan, director of Windows Phone at Microsoft.
The company is making progress on both hardware and software. For example, the upcoming Lumia 930 has the same screen resolution, RAM and GPU as the Galaxy S5. Previous flagship models from Nokia haven't compared as well to the competition.
Moving forward, Microsoft has to make sure it gets access to upcoming processors especially from Qualcomm -- including the Snapdragon 805, and then the 64-bit ARM-based Snapdragon 808 and 810 -- quicker than it has in the past, according to Mawston.
Some of what Microsoft's competitors are trying to do to differentiate their products plays on Nokia's strengths. When HTC, Samsung and Sony launched their new top-of-the-line smartphones they all bragged about camera upgrades, which is what Nokia is best at.
"We'll continue to focus on that as a core area of differentiation for us," Sullivan said.
The recent announcement of Windows Phone 8.1 is another sign that Microsoft is on the right track. With the upgrade, the OS finally is getting a drop-down menu called the Action Center, with quick access to notifications and settings for things like Wi-Fi, Flight Mode and Bluetooth. But the headline feature is Cortana, a voice-controlled digital assistant that's powered by Microsoft's Bing search engine.
"Actually, Windows Phone, when someone gets it in their hands, looks different and moves away from that grid of icons. It's a more fluid interface and more interactive in some ways with the live tiles. That's what Microsoft needs to push hard now," said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.
Windows Phone 8.1 is available now in a Developer Preview test version, and will ship in final form over the coming months to existing Windows Phone 8 users and on new smartphones.
In addition to new features, Microsoft is also lowering the bar for developers who want to create apps for the OS, the lack of which has been a big stumbling block for Windows Phone. The app gap compared to iOS and Android has shrunk, but it's still there, according to Wood.
With Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update, developers build "universal" Windows apps once that run with little or no modification in PCs, tablets and smartphones. Developers can use the universal app project template in Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC to build these apps using the common Windows Runtime API. They can also modify existing Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps and make them "universal" ones.
"The universal apps announcement is inspired," said Stuart Douglas, an independent front-end system developer in the U.K. who plans to take "full advantage" of this new capability.
The universal app concept will be expanded to include the Xbox as well. Games in particular are going to be interesting as developers start taking advantage of the options the concept affords them, according to Sullivan. He envisions titles that combine big screen game play on the Xbox with sensors, cameras and GPS on smartphones and tablets.
To make Windows Phone more attractive to game developers, Microsoft has to make better use of its Xbox consoles, according to Mawston.
Douglas, who has built about five Windows 8 business apps, is impressed with other Windows Phone 8.1 features, like the Word Flow keyboard and new Action Center. He has high expectations for the Nokia deal because he considers the quality of Nokia phones to be on par with those from Apple and Samsung.
"I hope that the acquisition will open a large number of different mobile/tablet devices to enrich the Windows 8 platform," Douglas said via email.
Microsoft also has to make Windows Phone a better fit for low-end smartphones priced under US$100 without a contract, which are becoming increasingly important as much of the future growth in the mobile market is expected in this segment. The Lumia 520 has already shown there is a lot of potential. If that device hadn't been a hit, it's doubtful that Windows Phone would still be around.
Two months ago at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft announced support for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 200 and 400 processors, which open the door for cheaper devices. It also announced nine new Windows Phone partners, including Foxconn, Karbonn, Lava, Lenovo, Longcheer and ZTE, which are expected to make low-priced Microsoft phones a reality.
"When we announced these new partnerships, I think it's fair to say that the ink wasn't quite dry. That was the beginning and a little over a month later, April 2, [Windows Phone Program Management manager] Joe Belfiore held up a couple of prototype devices from a couple of those manufacturers running our software already," Sullivan said.
Microsoft's recent decision to license Windows Phone for free will also make it easier for partners to launch low-cost devices.
Exactly when the products will start shipping is up to the vendors, but they will show that Windows Phone offers better performance on low-cost hardware than Android, according to Sullivan.
"The idea that you don't have to sacrifice the user experience just because you chose an affordable device is a big advantage for our platform, and one we plan to extend," he said.
With the acquisition, Microsoft also gets Nokia's new X smartphones, which are based on the Android Open Source Project software and were also announced at Mobile World Congress. The X family's existence is a sign of frustration on Nokia's part and symbolizes Microsoft's inability to lower the cost of Windows Phone.
Selling Android-based smartphones probably isn't what Microsoft wants to do, but there are redeeming factors. The interface on the X, X+ and XL has been designed to look like Windows Phone, with tiles that can be resized. The thinking behind that is to make it easier for users to upgrade to a device that runs Microsoft's OS. Also, the Google services available on Android devices have been replaced by Microsoft services such as Skype, Outlook.com and OneDrive for hosted storage.
"I suspect in the short term Microsoft will put up with the X family, because it looks like it's going to be relatively popular. It will be a good way of getting the Microsoft user interface down to lower price points, and give Google a bit of a jab in the ribs," Mawston said.
As long as there is a price gap between the low end of Windows Phone and X family, backing the latter makes sense, Wood agreed.
"Otherwise Microsoft is just leaving money on the table. But if it can get Windows Phone down to the same price point or if the X phones starts to look like it's cannibalizing the low end of Windows Phone, decisions have to made quickly," he said.
For now, Sullivan doesn't want to comment on the future of X phones and feature phones. But for Windows Phone to succeed in the low end, Microsoft needs to lean on Nokia's know-how.
"Nokia has huge installed base of several hundred million units across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe that Microsoft can take advantage of," Mawston said.
"Nokia employees that today work on feature phones, particularly the Asha team, should be redeployed to drive down Windows Phone to lower price points," Wood said.
Even though Microsoft seems to be making a lot of good decisions, success is far from assured, according to Wood.
"There is still a big, big gap between where Android and iOS is and where Windows Phone is. But credit where credit is due, they are slowly but surely making progress," Wood said.
When Steve Ballmer announced the acquisition in the beginning of September last year, just after revealing he was stepping down as Microsoft CEO, he said:
"Today's announcement is a bold step into the future. For Microsoft it's a signature event -- a signature event! -- in our transformation. We think this is a win-win for employees; win-win for shareholders, and win-win for customers of both companies. Through our partnership we have already accomplished so much, and yet clearly the opportunity ahead is remarkable."
If all that turns out to be true, Ballmer will have a nice story line for his autobiography. But if not, the chapter on Microsoft in the 21st century may not end well.
(Additional reporting by Juan Perez in the IDG News Service Miami bureau.)
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Sep. 23, 2013 - By ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS – Defense News
WASHINGTON — A small provision in the Dodd-Frank Act meant to create transparency surrounding the use of conflict minerals by publicly traded companies is causing concern in the defense industry, as the magnitude of checking the totality of the supply chain comes into focus ahead of a May 2014 deadline.
The provision does not prevent companies from using minerals mined in countries undergoing conflict, but instead requires that they disclose the use of such minerals to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For the defense industry, where individual components can have a dozen independent contractors, verifying the source of minerals for all of those contractors is an intimidating undertaking.
Initially, several business groups fought the requirement, including the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. But an injunction wasn't granted, and a successful appeal doesn't look likely, said Christian Marrone, vice president of the Aerospace Industry Association's (AIA) national security and acquisition policy group.
"If this were the stages of grief, we're at acceptance," he said.
Marrone said the association isn't focused on fighting the provision, which was the basis for an SEC rule, but rather helping members understand how the rule will work and sorting out its mechanics. To that end, AIA plans to send questions to the SEC to try to clarify how the system will work.
The rule, specifically designed to address concerns about minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have fueled years of conflict, applies only to publicly traded companies, which means many contractors in the defense industry won't be required to file a report on the origin of the minerals they use. That creates something of a problem for prime contractors in particular, because they must get information from privately held subcontractors in order to verify the origin of all the minerals in the systems they acquire.
"When they ask those questions, a lot of the supply chain is private, so how do you compel those individuals to supply that information when they're not required to?" asked Micah Edmond, assistant vice president for industrial base policy at AIA.
Edmond said that while the May deadline is fast approaching, companies do have a means to give themselves more time. If they file and say that they essentially don't know the origin of all of the minerals in the supply chain, they can get an extension that will last another year or two, he said.
Exact numbers on how much compliance will cost and how many companies will be affected are difficult to calculate given uncertainty surrounding implementation of the rule. Some estimates put the cost in the billions for the defense industry alone, and the number of companies affected in the hundreds of thousands.
Despite those costs, the rule serves an important purpose, according to Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., one of the men behind the clause in the House version of the Dodd-Frank Act.
"None of the authors wanted to create undue burden on business, but any discussion of costs would be remiss without including the high human cost of inaction," he said in a statement provided by his office. "More than 5 million people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo's civil war. The mining and trade of these minerals has driven the war for over a decade. Manufacturers understand the supply chain and asking them to obtain a certificate is not an undue burden, especially if it will help cut off the funding for rebel groups and put an end to the millions of deaths, untold number of rapes, and slavery of mine workers."
McDermott pointed to the need to give purchasers visibility on mineral sourcing.
"The law we passed creates the transparency that consumers and investors deserve and will hopefully move the minerals industry to cleaner sources and curb some of the devastation the conflict has left in its wake," he said.
How a product is built and sourced does seem to have an impact on the consumer market, as seen in the backlash surrounding certain issues with Apple's supply chain in the last couple of years. Whether those sourcing issues would cause market problems for companies that build products specifically designed to cause death is another question.
Marrone said industry agrees with the intent of the law, but that it forces companies to swallow what may be a large cost in the middle of a budget-cutting environment already causing fiscal pressures.
"I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees with the idea, but it has unintended consequences," he said. "If you'd done a cost-benefit analysis you probably wouldn't have done this."
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First Bulletstorm took on Halo with a touching, vomit-soaked diorama. That's good enough for Halo, but to take on Call of Duty it'll need something meatier, like the full downloadable PC game Duty Calls.
I've seen games marketed by mocking other titles before (mocketing?), but never quite to the extent Epic Games is taking it with Bulletstorm. Duty Calls is a full downloadable PC shooter weighing in at more than 700MB, packed with features that should really speak to Call of Duty players. Of course by speak I actually mean laughing while pointing, possibly rolling on the floor.
The feature list includes:
1. Duty Vision™ slows down the action so you can unload a storm of bullets
2. Immersive dialogue from the front lines
3. Cold, calculated realism
4. Killing animations motion captured from real actors
5. True-life reloading system allows for mistakes in putting the cartridge in the gun
6. Iconic sound effects
7. Thwart an enemy threat that could topple the country and possibly the world
8. Significant and historically accurate props
We've got the game downloaded and will be putting it through its paces shortly. Head over to the official Duty Calls page to catch up.


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I missed quite a lot of Picnic, mainly due to getting together with the Dopplr team for a rare physical pow-wow – but I did manage to spend a good chunk of the Friday in the Internet of Things special session.
Speakers included Rafi Haladjian of Violet/Nabaztag fame and David Orban of Widetag/OpenSpime, and there were demos from Tikitag, and Pachube (Usman Haque's excellent new venture).
Sat in the audience was God-Emperor of Spime, Bruce Sterling which lent it an extra something. I managed to snag a Tikitag start kit, which I hope to have a play with this week – I'll post some unboxing pics when I have chance.
It was one of those sessions where the palpable sense of the scenius is the thing, rather than the content so much (although there was a lot of good stuff in there too) – I came away with renewed enthusiasm for 'practical ubicomp' and all things spime-y.
I wasn't sure whether the talks where being video'd, so I managed to record two of the speakers on my N95, so the quality of the audio isn't particularly great.
So, with that disclaimer, here are the presentations by Matt Cottam of Tellart and Mike Kuniavsky of ThingM.


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Amanda Todd's mom advises parents to get internet savvy
The mother of B.C. cyberbullying victim Amanda Todd says parents must make themselves aware of the type of trouble their children can get into on the internet.
"We have to teach parents on what's out there and what their kids may possibly be doing, so they can be aware of it," Carol Todd told CBC News host Gloria Macarenko on Wednesday during an exclusive interview at her home in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
"The best place you can talk to your kid is in your car. They have no place to go, and you're driving them, so make up excuses to drive your child ... because they are a captive audience at that time."
Todd's 15-year-old daughter committed suicide in early October. She was the victim of cyberstalking and cyberbullying for two years, and fell into a depression.
"Have open discussions. Don't overreact with them when they share things with you," Carol Todd said when asked what advice she would give to parents.
"Listen with an open mind, because you will get a lot more information from your child. If you get angry, then go somewhere else [away from the child] and be angry. But at the time, try and stay calm, and try and help your child figure out the next step."
Amanda Todd made a video she posted to YouTube that poignantly tells the story of how she was stalked and bullied, and felt completely alone. The video gained worldwide recognition after her suicide and has had more than six million hits.
Carol Todd said Amanda was not alone, and received a great deal of help and support, but suffered a growing anxiety that ultimately left her inconsolable.
Mom wanted Amanda to get a fresh start
Todd said she and Amanda's father forced Amanda to cut herself off from social media for six months in the hope she could get a fresh start, but it didn't work.
"But it followed her. That's what the internet does — it follows you. ... is there ever a fresh start when there's Facebook? I don't know if there ever is," Carol Todd said.
"Amanda was always that out-there kind of kid and she wanted to gather friends. So kids gather 500 friends on their Facebook and really in real life they only have 20 good friends, so the other 480, who are they really? One of the 480 was the cyberstalker."
The stalker had persuaded Amanda to take revealing photos of herself and then later demanded she do it again, but she refused and he posted them on the internet, leading to taunting and bullying from other children at school.
Police are still investigating a case of possible criminal harassment, but have made no arrests so far.
With files from the CBC's Gloria Macarenko