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|April 1st, 2008
Doesn't suffer fools well
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Why Americans will believe almost anything
by Tim O'Shea
It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. In an effort to save time, I would like to provide just a little background on the handling of information in this country. Once the basic principles are illustrated about how our current system of media control arose historically, the reader might be more apt to question any given story in today's news.
If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that
In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:
Pharmaceuticals restore health
Vaccination brings immunity
The cure for cancer is just around the corner
Menopause is a disease condition
When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics
When a child has a fever he needs Tylenol
Hospitals are safe and clean.
America has the best health care in the world.
Americans have the best health in the world.
Milk is a good source of calcium.
You never outgrow your need for milk.
Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
Aspirin prevents heart attacks.
Heart drugs improve the heart.
Back and neck pain are the only reasons for spinal adjustment.
No child can get into school without being vaccinated.
The FDA thoroughly tests all drugs before they go on the market.
Pregnancy is a serious medical condition
Infancy is a serious medical condition
Chemotherapy and radiation are effective cures for cancer
When your child is diagnosed with an ear infection, antibiotics should be given immediately 'just in case'
Ear tubes are for the good of the child.
Estrogen drugs prevent osteoporosis after menopause.
Pediatricians are the most highly trained of al medical specialists.
The purpose of the health care industry is health.
HIV is the cause of AIDS.
AZT is the cure.
Without vaccines, infectious diseases will return
Fluoride in the city water protects your teeth
Flu shots prevent the flu.
Vaccines are thoroughly tested before being placed on the Mandated Schedule.
Doctors are certain that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any possible risks.
There is a terrorist threat in the US.
There is a bioterrorist threat in the US.
The NASDAQ is a natural market controlled by supply and demand.
Chronic pain is a natural consequence of aging.
Soy is your healthiest source of protein.
Insulin shots cure diabetes.
After we take out your gall bladder you can eat anything you want
Allergy medicine will cure allergies.
Your government provides security.
A commercial airliner can be flown with professional precision by a group of crazed amateurs into a 100-storey building so as to cause that building to collapse on its own footprint. Twice.
The Iraqis blew up the World Trade Center.
This is a list of illusions, that have cost billions to conjure up. Did you ever wonder why most people in this country generally accept most of the above statements?
Even the most undiscriminating viewer may suspect that TV newsreaders and news articles are not telling us the whole story. The slightly more lucid may have begun to glimpse the calculated intent of standard news content and are wondering about the reliability and accuracy of the way events are presented. For the very few who take time to research beneath the surface of the daily programming and who are still capable of independent thought, a somewhat darker picture begins to emerge. These may perceive bits of evidence of the profoundly technical science behind much of what is served up in mass media.
Events taking place in today's world are enormously complex. An impossibly convoluted tangle of interrelated and unrelated occurrences happens simultaneously, often in dynamic conflict. To even acknowledge this complexity contradicts a fundamental axiom of media science: Keep It Simple.
In real life, events don't take place in black and white, but in a thousand shades of grey. Just discovering the actual facts and events as they transpire is difficult enough. The river is different each time we step into it. By the time a reasonable understanding of an event has been apprehended, new events have already made that interpretation obsolete. And this is not even adding historical, social, or political elements into the mix, which are necessary for interpretation of events. Popular media gives up long before this level of analysis.
Media stories cover only the tiniest fraction of actual events, but stupidly claim to be summarizing "all the news."
The final goal of media is to create a following of docile, unquestioning consumers. To that end, three primary tools have historically been employed:
Over time, the sophistication of these tools of propaganda has evolved to a very structured science, taking its cues in an unbroken line from principles laid down by the Father of Spin himself, Edward L Bernays, over a century ago, as we will see.
Let's look at each tool very briefly:
Deliberate misrepresentation of fact has always been the privilege of the directors of mass media. Their agents - the PR industry - cannot afford random objective journalism interpreting events as they actually take place. This would be much too confusing for the average consumer, who has been spoon-fed his opinions since the day he was born. No, we can't have that. In all the confusion the viewer might get the idea that he is supposed to make up his own mind about the significance of some event or other. The end product of good media is single-mindedness. Confusion and individual interpretation of events do not foster the homogenized, one-dimensional lemming outlook.
For this reason, events must have a spin put on them - an interpretation, a frame of reference. Subtleties are omitted; all that is presented is the bottom line. The minute that decision is made - what spin to put on a story - we have left the world of reporting and entered the world of propaganda. By definition, propaganda replaces faithful reporting with deceitful reporting.
Here's an obvious example: the absurd and unremitting allegations of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction as a rationale for the invasion of Iraq. Of course none were ever found, but that is irrelevant. We weren't really looking for any weapons - but the deceit served its purpose - get us in there. Later the ruse can be abandoned and forgotten; its usefulness is over. And nobody will notice. Characterization of Saddam as a murderous tyrant was decided to be an insufficient excuse for invading a sovereign nation. After all, there are literally dozens of murderous tyrants the world over, going their merry ways. We can't be expected to police all of them.
So it was decided that the murderous tyrant thing, though good, was not enough. To whip a sleeping people into war consciousness has historically involved one additional prerequisite: threat. Saddam must therefore be not only a baby-killing maniac; he must be a threat to the rest of the world, especially America. Why? Because he has weapons of mass destruction. For almost two years, this myth was assiduously programmed into that lowest common denominator of awareness which Americans substitute for consciousness. Even though the myth has now been openly dismissed by the Regime itself, the majority of us still believe it.
Hitler used the exact same tack with the Czechs and Poles at the beginning of his rampage. These peaceful peoples were not portrayed as an easy mark for the German war machine - no, they were a threat to the Fatherland itself. Just like the unprovoked Chinese annihilation of the peaceful Tibetan civilization in the 1940s. Or like Albania in the Dustin Hoffman movie. Such threats must be crushed by all available force, under the pretext used by every strong nation in history to subjugate a weaker one.
With Iraq, the fact that UN inspectors never came up with any of these dread weapons before Saddam was captured - this fact was never mentioned again. That one phrase - WMD WMD WMD - repeated ad nauseam month after month had served its purpose - whip the people into war mode. It didn't have to be true; it just had to work. A staggering indicator of how low the general awareness had sunk is that this mantra continued to be used as our license to invade Iraq long after our initial assault. If Saddam had any such weapons, probably a good time to trot them out would be when a foreign country is moving in, wouldn't you say?
No weapons were ever found, nor will they be. So confident was the PR machine in the general inattention to detail commonly exhibited by the comatose American people that they didn't even find it necessary to plant a few mass weapons in order to justify the invasion. It was almost insulting.
So we see that a little deceit goes a long way. All it takes is repetition. Lay the groundwork and the people will buy anything. After that just ride it out until they seem doubtful again. Then onto the next deceit.
A second tool that is commonly used to create mass intellectual torpor is dissimulation. Dissimulation simply means to pretend not to be something you are. Like phasmid insects who can disguise themselves as leaves or twigs, pretending not to be insects. Or bureaucrats who pretend not to be acting in their own interest, but rather in the public interest. To pretend not to be what you are.
Aggressors do not present themselves as marauding invaders initiating hostilities, but instead as defenders against external threats.
Freedom-annihilating edicts like the Homeland Security Act and the Patriot Act - currently the law of the land - do not represent themselves as the negation of every principle the Founding Fathers laid down, or as shaky pretexts for the Takers to further loot the country, but rather as public services, benevolent and necessary new rules to ensure our SECURITY against various imagined enemies. To pretend to be what you are not: dissimulation.
Other obvious examples of dissimulation we see today include:
pretending the world's resources are not finite
pretending like more and more government will not further stifle an already struggling economy
pretending programs favoring "minorities" are not just another form of racism
pretending drug laws are necessary for national security
pretending passing more and more laws every year is not geared ultimately for the advancement of the law enforcement, security, and prison industries
pretending there is a bioterrorist threat in the US today
pretending there is a terrorist threat in the US today
pretending the present regime has not benefited from every program that came out of 9/11
To pretend to be what you are not: Dissimulation
A third tool necessary to media in order to keep the public from thinking too much is distraction. Bread and circuses worked for Caesar in old Rome. The people need to be kept quiet while the small group in power carries out its agenda, which always involves fortifying its own position.
All actions of the present Reich since 9/11 may be explained by plugging in one of four beneficiaries:
War gear
Security systems
Every act, every political event, every public statement of the present administration has promoted one or more of these huge sectors. More oil, more drugs, more weapons, more security.
But the people mustn't be allowed to notice things like that. So they must be smoke-screened by other stuff , blatant obvious stuff which is really easy to understand and which they think has a greater bearing on their day to day life. A classic axiom of propaganda is that people shouldn't be allowed to think too much about what the government is doing in their name. After all, there's more to life than politics, right? So while the power group has its cozy little war going on, the people need to have their attention diverted.
All the strong men of history would have given their eyeteeth to have at their disposal the number and types of distractions available to today's regimes:
- TV sports, its orchestrated frenzy and spectacle
- Super Sunday
- an endless succession of unspeakably boring, inane movies, short on plot, long on CGI
- the wanton sexless flash of MTV with its uninspired lack of talent, a study in split second phony images
- colossally dull TV programs which serve the secondary purpose of instilling proper robot attitudes into people who have little other instruction in life values
- the artistic Mojave of modern music, with its soulless cyber-droning, a constant quest for the nadir of reptilian brain stimulation, devoid of lyrical competence, instrumental proficiency, or passion
- the ever-retreating promise of financial success, switched now to the trappings and toys that suggest success, available to anyone with a credit card
- organized superstitions of all varieties, with their requisite pseudo-spiritual trappings
- the constant dramatization of crimes and "issues" throughout the world whose collective goal is the humble and grateful acknowledgement of "how good we've really got it"
- dwelling for months on the minutiae of unsupported allegations of impropriety, preferably sexual, of a celebrity personality
With these noisy, banal distractions the forces promoting the general decline in intelligence and awareness jubilantly engulf us on all sides. Media science holds the advantage: as people get dumber and dumber year by year it gets easier and easier to keep them dumb. The only challenge is that their threshold keeps getting lower. So in order to keep their attention, messages have to become more obvious and blatant, taking nothing for granted.
Here are some indicators of our declining intelligence:
- flagrant errors of grammar and spelling rampant in advertising, which go unnoticed
- declining SAT scores and the arbitrary resetting of Average, which has occurred at least twice in the past 8 years, in order to cover up how dumb our kids are really getting
- increased volume and decreased speed of the voices of newsreaders on radio and TV
- the limited vocabulary and clichéd speech allowed in radio programs; the obvious lack of education and requisite pedestrian mentality required of the corporate simians who are featured on radio
- increasing illiteracy of high school graduates, both written and spoken
- the unwritten policy requiring school teachers, especially math and English teachers, to pass students who have failing marks, especially if they're a certain race or other, so that the school won't "look bad"
- decreasing requirements for masters theses and PhD dissertations in both length and content
- increasing oversimplification of movie and TV plot lines - absence of subtlety in conceptual and dramatic content; blatant moralizing of compliant robot values
- the speed at which images on TV are flashed, giving the viewer barely enough time to recognize which sledgehammer idea they are referring to before the next one appears, about 2 seconds later. That way there is no possible way the brain can follow a train of thought in any kind of depth. From childhood the brain learns that it is not to be tasked with understanding abstractions or concepts of any subtlety from the information presented. All the brain has to do is react to the incessant bombardment of fragmented ADD-generating visual stimuli without trying to derive sense or logic from it. This is why TV should be watched only with the sound off, since it has generally the same educational value as a lava lamp.
- the enormous proportion of time spent by TV channels telling the viewer what will be shown in the future, leaving no time for actually delivering what they have already endlessly promised in the recent past, which should be airing at the present moment.
- newspaper articles that are not written by reporters but that are scientifically crafted phrase by canny phrase by the PR industry and placed into the columns of syndication in the guise of 'hard news'
- Jerky, clumsy news clips, loaded with coarse innuendo and non-sequitur, ridiculously brief: most news clips evoke only the most superficial suggestion of events which may or may not have transpired, resulting generally in the transfer of no information
- the downward spiral of the level of ordinary conversations, which are commonly just exercises in stringing together random clichés from the very finite stock of endlessly repeated homogeneous bytes. It's as though we're only allowed to have 50 thoughts, and most conversation is just linking these 50 programmed audio clips together in a different order: America becomes our own private Sicily
- in popular music the overriding absence of melody, lyric, chord complexity, or instrument competence
Imagine for a moment that 9/11 was a put-up job engineered for the sole purpose of cementing the current regime into power and frightening the bovine populace into surrendering even more of what little freedom they have left. Hypothetical situation now, just work with me a little. Imagine there never were any dissident crazed terrorists representing Osama or Saddam, but instead a highly disciplined though slightly whacked-out team of military fanatics, programmed somehow to think they were doing something valuable for some faction or other. A put-up job, from the inside.
So then imagine that all the violence and stress perpetrated on the collective American psyche since 9/11 about war, bioterrorism, and security has all been completely unnecessary. And that all the billions of dollars of extra security and wasted time in airports and borders was also totally unnecessary because there never were any terrorists, except us. And all the shrill media articles and "stories" that support the few underlying events have been unnecessary, their prime purpose being self promotion. Think how much our quality of life has suffered. What if all this stress has been totally unnecessary?
Many of our best people have come to precisely these conclusions. Once you get past the initial hurdle of being able to consider the unthinkable possibility that the present regime could be so obsessed with gaining political advantage that they would actually blow up 3000 of our own people, the rest falls into place. Over the top? Not such a stretch really when you compare the thousands that have been sacrificed to the whims of other blood-mad tyrants the world over, throughout all of recorded history. Exactly how are we any better?
When it comes to a discussion of what's going on in the world, the honest individual must admit that he has almost no idea. When was the last time George Bush invited you into the Green Room for a private chat with Cheney and Ashcroft about the future of big oil? When did Bill Gates last invite you up to his Redmond digs for a wine and cheese brainstorming session about the next Big Thing? Or when did your neighbor who lives three blocks away from you call you up to tell you about the unfulfilled plans of his father who just found out he's dying of cancer? How many life stories of the world's seven billion people do you know anything about?
This is to say nothing of fluid events which are coming in and out of existence every day between the nations of the world. What is really going on? Much more effort is spent covering up and packaging actual events that are taking place than in trying to accurately report and evaluate them. These are questions of epistemology: what can we know? The answer if very little, if our only source of information is the superficial everyday media. The few people who buy books don't read them. Passive absorption of pre-interpreted already-figured-out data is the preferred method
But wait, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's back up a minute. In their book Trust Us We're Experts, Stauber and Rampton pull together some compelling data describing the science of creating public opinion in America. They trace modern public influence back to the early part of the last century, highlighting the work of guys like Edward L. Bernays, the Father of Spin.
From his own amazing 1928 chronicle Propaganda, we learn how Edward L. Bernays took the ideas of his famous uncle Sigmund Freud himself, and applied them to the emerging science of mass persuasion. The only difference was that instead of using these principles to uncover hidden themes in the human unconscious, the way Freudian psychology does, Bernays studied these same ideas in order to learn how to mask agendas and to create illusions that deceive and misrepresent, for marketing purposes.
Edward L. Bernays dominated the PR industry until the 1940s, and was a significant force for another 40 years after that. (Tye) During that time, Bernays took on hundreds of diverse assignments to create a public perception about some idea or product. A few examples:
As a neophyte with the Committee on Public Information, one of Bernays' first assignments was to help sell the First World War to the American public with the idea to "Make the World Safe for Democracy." (Ewen) We've seen this phrase in every war and US military involvement since that time.
A few years later, Bernays set up a stunt to popularize the notion of women smoking cigarettes. In organizing the 1929 Easter Parade in New York City, Bernays showed himself as a force to be reckoned with. He organized the Torches of Liberty Brigade in which suffragettes marched in the parade smoking cigarettes as a mark of women's liberation. After that one event, women would be able to feel secure about destroying their own lungs in public, the same way that men have always done.
Bernays popularized the idea of bacon for breakfast.
Not one to turn down a challenge, he set up the liaison between the tobacco industry and the American Medical Association that lasted for nearly 50 years. They proved to all and sundry that cigarettes were beneficial to health. Just look at ads in old issues of Life, Look, Time or Journal of the American Medical Association from the 40s and 50s in which doctors are recommending this or that brand of cigarettes as promoting healthful digestion, or whatever.
During the next several decades Bernays and his colleagues evolved the principles by which masses of people could be generally swayed through messages repeated over and over, hundreds of times per week.
Once the economic power of media became apparent, other countries of the world rushed to follow our lead. But Bernays remained the gold standard. He was the source to whom the new PR leaders across the world would always defer. Even Josef Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda, closely studied the principles of Edward Bernays when Goebbels was developing the popular rationale he would use to convince the Germans that in order to purify their race they had to kill 6 million of the impure. (Stauber)
As he saw it, Bernay's job was to reframe an issue; to create a desired image that would put a particular product or concept in a desirable light. He never saw himself as a master hoodwinker, but rather as a beneficent servant of humanity, providing a valuable service. Bernays described the public as a 'herd that needed to be led.' And this herd-like thinking makes people "susceptible to leadership." Bernays never deviated from his fundamental axiom to "control the masses without their knowing it." The best PR happens with the people unaware that they are being manipulated.
Stauber describes Bernays' rationale like this:
"the scientific manipulation of public opinion was necessary to overcome chaos and conflict in a democratic society." -- Trust Us, p 42
These early mass persuaders postured themselves as performing a moral service for humanity in general. Democracy was too good for people; they needed to be told what to think, because they were incapable of rational thought by themselves. Here's a paragraph from Bernays' Propaganda:
"Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."
A tad different from Thomas Jefferson's view on the subject:
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise that control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not take it from them, but to inform their discretion."
Inform their discretion. Bernays believed that only a few possessed the necessary insight into the Big Picture to be entrusted with this sacred task. And luckily, he saw himself as one of that elect.
Once the possibilities of applying Freudian psychology to mass media were glimpsed, Bernays soon had more corporate clients than he could handle. Global corporations fell all over themselves courting the new Image Makers. There were dozens of goods and services and ideas to be sold to a susceptible public. Over the years, these players have had the money to make their images happen. A few examples:
Philip Morris
Union Carbide
Eli Lilly
tobacco industry
Ciba Geigy
lead industry
Shell Oil
Standard Oil
Procter & Gamble
Dow Chemical
General Motors
General Mills
Dozens of PR firms have emerged to answer the demand for spin control. Among them:
Hill & Knowlton
Mongovin, Biscoe, and Duchin
Though world-famous within the PR industry, these are names we don't know, and for good reason. The best PR goes unnoticed. For decades they have created the opinions that most of us were raised with, on virtually any issue which has the remotest commercial value, including:
pharmaceutical drugs
medicine as a profession
alternative medicine
fluoridation of city water
household cleaning products
global warming
leaded gasoline
cancer research and treatment
pollution of the oceans
forests and lumber
images of celebrities, including damage control
crisis and disaster management
genetically modified foods
food additives; processed foods
dental amalgams
Bernays learned early on that the most effective way to create credibility for a product or an image was by "independent third-party" endorsement. For example, if General Motors were to come out and say that global warming is a hoax thought up by some liberal tree-huggers, people would suspect GM's motives, since GM's fortune is made by selling automobiles. If however some independent research institute with a very credible sounding name like the Global Climate Coalition comes out with a scientific report that says global warming is really a fiction, people begin to get confused and to have doubts about the original issue.
So that's exactly what Bernays did. With a policy inspired by genius, he set up "more institutes and foundations than Rockefeller and Carnegie combined." (Stauber p 45) Quietly financed by the industries whose products were being evaluated, these "independent" research agencies would churn out "scientific" studies and press materials that could create any image their handlers wanted. Such front groups are given high-sounding names like:
Temperature Research Foundation
International Food Information Council
Consumer Alert
The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition
Air Hygiene Foundation
Industrial Health Federation
International Food Information Council
Manhattan Institute
Center for Produce Quality
Tobacco Institute Research Council
Cato Institute
American Council on Science and Health
Global Climate Coalition
Alliance for Better Foods
Sound pretty legit don't they?
As Stauber explains, these organizations and hundreds of others like them are front groups whose sole mission is to advance the image of the global corporations who fund them, like those -listed on page 2 above. This is accomplished in part by an endless stream of 'press releases' announcing "breakthrough" research to every radio station and newspaper in the country. (Robbins) Many of these canned reports read like straight news, and indeed are purposely molded in the news format. This saves journalists the trouble of researching the subjects on their own, especially on topics about which they know very little. Entire sections of the release or in the case of video news releases, the whole thing can be just lifted intact, with no editing, given the byline of the reporter or newspaper or TV station - and voilá¡! Instant news - copy and paste. Written by corporate PR firms.
Does this really happen? Every single day, since the 1920s when the idea of the News Release was first invented by Ivy Lee. (Stauber, p 22) Sometimes as many as half the stories appearing in an issue of the Wall St. Journal are based solely on such PR press releases.. (22) These types of stories are mixed right in with legitimately researched stories. Unless you have done the research yourself, you won't be able to tell the difference. So when we see new "research" being cited, we should always first suspect that the source is another industry-backed front group. A common tip-off is the word "breakthrough."
As 1920s spin pioneers like Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays gained more experience, they began to formulate rules and guidelines for creating public opinion. They learned quickly that mob psychology must focus on emotion, not facts. Since the mob is incapable of rational thought, motivation must be based not on logic but on presentation. Here are some of the axioms of the new science of PR:
technology is a religion unto itself
if people are incapable of rational thought, real democracy is dangerous
important decisions should be left to experts
when reframing issues, stay away from substance; create images
never state a clearly demonstrable lie
Words are very carefully chosen for their emotional impact. Here's an example. A front group called the International Food Information Council handles the public's natural aversion to genetically modified foods. Trigger words are repeated all through the text. Now in the case of GM foods, the public is instinctively afraid of these experimental new creations which have suddenly popped up on our grocery shelves and which are said to have DNA alterations. The IFIC wants to reassure the public of the safety of GM foods. So it avoids words like:
gene gun
Instead, good PR for GM foods contains words like:
natural order
It's just basic Freud/Tony Robbins/NLP word association. The fact that GM foods are not hybrids that have been subjected to the slow and careful scientific methods of real cross-breeding doesn't really matter. This is pseudoscience, not science. Form is everything and substance just a passing myth. (Trevanian)
Who do you think funds the International Food Information Council? Take a wild guess. Right - Monsanto, DuPont, Frito-Lay, Coca Cola, Nutrasweet - those in a position to make fortunes from GM foods. (Stauber p 20)
As the science of mass control evolved, PR firms developed further guidelines for effective copy. Here are some of the gems:
dehumanize the attacked party by labeling and name calling
speak in glittering generalities using emotionally positive words
when covering something up, don't use plain English; stall for time; distract
get endorsements from celebrities, churches, sports figures, street people - anyone who has no expertise in the subject at hand
the 'plain folks' ruse: us billionaires are just like you
when minimizing outrage, don't say anything memorable
when minimizing outrage, point out the benefits of what just happened
when minimizing outrage, avoid moral issues
Keep this list. Start watching for these techniques. Not hard to find - look at today's paper or tonight's TV news. See what they're doing; these guys are good!
PR firms have become very sophisticated in the preparation of news releases. They have learned how to attach the names of famous scientists to research that those scientists have not even looked at. (Stauber, p 201) It's a common practice. In this way, the editors of newspapers and TV news shows are themselves often unaware that an individual release is a total PR fabrication. Or at least they have "deniability," right?
Stauber tells the amazing story of how leaded gas came into the picture. In 1922, General Motors discovered that adding lead to gasoline gave cars more horsepower. When there was some concern about safety, GM paid the Bureau of Mines to do some fake "testing" and publish spurious research that 'proved' that inhalation of lead was harmless. Enter Charles Kettering.
Founder of the world famous Sloan-Kettering Memorial Institute for medical research, Charles Kettering also happened to be an executive with General Motors. By some strange coincidence, we soon have Sloan-Kettering issuing reports stating that lead occurs naturally in the body and that the body has a way of eliminating low level exposure. Through its association with The Industrial Hygiene Foundation and PR giant Hill & Knowlton, Sloane-Kettering opposed all anti-lead research for years. (Stauber p 92). Without organized scientific opposition, for the next 60 years more and more gasoline became leaded, until by the 1970s, 90% or our gasoline was leaded.
Finally it became too obvious to hide that lead was a major carcinogen, which they knew all along, and leaded gas was phased out in the late 1980s. But during those 60 years, it is estimated that some 30 million tons of lead were released in vapor form onto American streets and highways. 30 million tons. (Stauber)
That is PR, my friends.
In 1993 a guy named Peter Huber wrote a new book and coined a new term. The book was Galileo's Revenge and the term was junk science . Huber's shallow thesis was that real science supports technology, industry, and progress. Anything else was suddenly junk science. Not surprisingly, Stauber explains how Huber's book was supported by the industry-backed Manhattan Institute.
Huber's book was generally dismissed not only because it was so poorly written, but because it failed to realize one fact: true scientific research begins with no conclusions. Real scientists are seeking the truth because they do not yet know what the truth is.
True scientific method goes like this:
1. form a hypothesis
2. make predictions for that hypothesis
3. test the predictions
4. reject or revise the hypothesis based on the research findings
Boston University scientist Dr. David Ozonoff explains that ideas in science are themselves like "living organisms, that must be nourished, supported, and cultivated with resources for making them grow and flourish." (Stauber p 205) Great ideas that don't get this financial support because the commercial angles are not immediately obvious - these ideas wither and die.
Another way you can often distinguish real science from phony is that real science points out flaws in its own research. Phony science pretends there were no flaws.
Contrast this with modern PR and its constant pretensions to sound science. Corporate sponsored research, whether it's in the area of drugs, GM foods, or chemistry begins with predetermined conclusions. It is the job of the scientists then to prove that these conclusions are true, because of the economic upside that proof will bring to the industries paying for that research. This invidious approach to science has shifted the entire focus of research in America during the past 50 years, as any true scientist is likely to admit. If a drug company is spending 10 million dollars on a research project to prove the viability of some new drug, and the preliminary results start coming back about the dangers of that drug, what happens? Right. No more funding. The well dries up. What is being promoted under such a system? Science? Or rather Entrenched Medical Error?"
Stauber documents the increasing amount of corporate sponsorship of university research. (206) This has nothing to do with the pursuit of knowledge. Scientists lament that research has become just another commodity, something bought and sold. (Crossen)
It is shocking when Stauber shows how the vast majority of corporate PR today opposes any research that seeks to protect
public health
the environment
It's a funny thing that most of the time when we see the phrase "junk science," it is in a context of defending something that threatens either the environment or our health. This makes sense when one realizes that money changes hands only by selling the illusion of health and the illusion of environmental protection or the illusion of health. True public health and real preservation of the earth's environment have very low market value.
Stauber thinks it ironic that industry's self-proclaimed debunkers of junk science are usually non-scientists themselves. (255) Here again they can do this because the issue is not science, but the creation of images.
When PR firms attack legitimate environmental groups and alternative medicine people, they again use special words which will carry an emotional punch:
sound science
junk science
The next time you are reading a newspaper article about an environmental or health issue, note how the author shows bias by using the above terms. This is the result of very specialized training.
Another standard PR tactic is to use the rhetoric of the environmentalists themselves to defend a dangerous and untested product that poses an actual threat to the environment. This we see constantly in the PR smokescreen that surrounds genetically modified foods. They talk about how GM foods are necessary to grow more food and to end world hunger, when the reality is that GM foods actually have lower yields per acre than natural crops. (Stauber p 173) The grand design sort of comes into focus once you realize that almost all GM foods have been created by the sellers of herbicides and pesticides so that those plants can withstand greater amounts of herbicides and pesticides. (see The Magic Bean)
Publish or perish is the classic dilemma of every research scientist. That means whoever expects funding for the next research project had better get the current research paper published in the best scientific journals. And we all know that the best scientific journals, like JAMA, New England Journal, British Medical Journal, etc. are peer-reviewed. Peer review means that any articles which actually get published, between all those full color drug ads and pharmaceutical centerfolds, have been reviewed and accepted by some really smart guys with a lot of credentials. The assumption is, if the article made it past peer review, the data and the conclusions of the research study have been thoroughly checked out and bear some resemblance to physical reality.
But there are a few problems with this hot little set up. First off, money .
Even though prestigious venerable medical journals pretend to be so objective and scientific and incorruptible, the reality is that they face the same type of being called to account that all glossy magazines must confront: don't antagonize your advertisers. Those full-page drug ads in the best journals cost millions, Jack. How long will a pharmaceutical company pay for ad space in a magazine that prints some very sound scientific research paper that attacks the safety of the drug in the centerfold? Think about it. The editors may lack moral fiber, but they aren't stupid.
Another problem is the conflict of interest thing. There's a formal requirement for all medical journals that any financial ties between an author and a product manufacturer be disclosed in the article. In practice, it never happens. A study done in 1997 of 142 medical journals did not find even one such disclosure. (Wall St. Journal, 2 Feb 99)
A 1998 study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that 96% of peer reviewed articles had financial ties to the drug they were studying. (Stelfox, 1998) Big shock, huh? Any disclosures? Yeah, right. This study should be pointed out whenever somebody starts getting too pompous about the objectivity of peer review, like they often do.
Then there's the outright purchase of space. A drug company may simply pay $100,000 to a journal to have a favorable article printed. (Stauber, p 204)
Fraud in peer review journals is nothing new. In 1987, the New England Journal ran an article that followed the research of R. Slutsky MD over a seven year period. During that time, Dr. Slutsky had published 137 articles in a number of peer-reviewed journals. NEJM found that in at least 60 of these 137, there was evidence of major scientific fraud and misrepresentation, including:
reporting data for experiments that were never done
reporting measurements that were never made
reporting statistical analyses that were never done (Engler)
Dean Black. PhD, describes what he the calls the Babel Effect that results when this very common and frequently undetected scientific fraud in peer-reviewed journals is quoted by other researchers, who are in turn re-quoted by still others, and so on.
Want to see something that sort of re-frames this whole discussion? Check out the McDonald's ads which routinely appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Then keep in mind that this is the same publication that for almost 50 years ran cigarette ads proclaiming the health benefits of tobacco. (Robbins)
Very scientific, oh yes.
Hope this chapter has given you a hint to start reading newspaper and magazine articles a little differently, and perhaps start watching TV news shows with a slightly different attitude than you had before. Always ask, what are they selling here, and who's selling it? And if you actually follow up on Stauber & Rampton's book and check out some of the other resources below, you might even glimpse the possibility of advancing your life one quantum simply by ceasing to subject your brain to mass media. That's right - no more newspapers, no more TV news, no more Time magazine or People magazine Newsweek.
You could actually do that. Just think what you could do with the extra time alone.
Really feel like you need to "relax" or find out "what's going on in the world" for a few hours every day? Think about the news of the past couple of years for a minute. Do you really suppose the major stories that have dominated headlines and TV news have been "what is going on in the world?" Do you actually think there's been nothing going on besides the contrived tech slump, the contrived power shortages, the re-filtered accounts of foreign violence and disaster, even the new accounts of US retribution in the Middle East, making Afghanistan safe for democracy, bending Saddam to our will, etc., and all the other non-stories that the puppeteers dangle before us every day? What about when they get a big one, like with OJ or Monica Lewinsky or the Oklahoma city bombing? Or now with the Neo-Nazi aftermath of 9/11. Or the contrived war against Iraq? Do we really need to know all that detail, day after day? Do we have any way of verifying all that detail, even if we wanted to? What is the purpose of news? To inform the public? Hardly.
The sole purpose of news is to keep the public in a state of fear and uncertainty so that they'll watch again tomorrow to see how much worse things got and to be subjected to the same advertising.
Oversimplification? Of course. That's the mark of mass media mastery - simplicity. The invisible hand. Like Edward Bernays said, the people must be controlled without them knowing it.
Consider this: what was really going on in the world all that time they were distracting us with all that stupid vexatious daily smokescreen? We have no way of knowing. And most of it doesn't even concern us even if we could know it. Fear and uncertainty -- that's what keeps people coming back for more.
If this seems like a radical outlook, let's take it one step further:
What would you lose from your life if you stopped watching TV and stopped reading newspapers and glossy magazines altogether?
Would your life really suffer any financial, moral, intellectual, spiritual, or academic loss from such a decision?
Do you really need to have your family continually absorbing the illiterate, amoral, phony, culturally bereft, desperately brainless values of the people featured in the average nightly TV program? Are these fake, programmed robots "normal"?
Do you need to have your life values constantly spoon-fed to you?
Are those shows really amusing, or just a necessary distraction to keep you from looking at reality, or trying to figure things out yourself by doing a little independent reading? Or perhaps from having a life?
Name one example of how your life is improved by watching TV news and reading the evening paper or the glossy magazines. What measurable gain is there for you?
What else could we be doing with all this freed-up time that would actually expand awareness?
There's no question that as a nation, we're getting dumber year by year. Look at the presidents we've been choosing lately. Ever notice the blatant grammar mistakes so ubiquitous in today's advertising and billboards? Literacy is marginal in most American secondary schools. Three-fourths of California high school seniors can't read well enough to pass their exit exams. ( SJ Mercury 20 Jul 01) If you think other parts of the country are smarter, try this one: hand any high school senior a book by Dumas or Jane Austen, and ask them to open to any random page and just read one paragraph out loud. Go ahead, do it. SAT scales are arbitrarily shifted lower and lower to disguise how dumb kids are getting year by year. (ADD: A Designer Disease) At least 10% have documented "learning disabilities," which are reinforced and rewarded by special treatment and special drugs. Ever hear of anyone failing a grade any more?
Or observe the intellectual level of the average movie which these days may only last one or two weeks in the theatres, especially if it has insufficient explosions, chase scenes, silicone, fake martial arts, and cretin-esque dialogue. Doesn't anyone else notice how badly these 30 or 40 "movie stars" we keep seeing over and over in the same few plots must now overact to get their point across to an ever-dimming audience?
Radio? Consider the low mental qualifications of the falsely animated corporate simians they hire as DJs -- seems like they're only allowed to have 50 thoughts, which they just repeat at random. And at what point did popular music cease to require the study of any musical instrument or theory whatsoever, not to mention lyric? Perhaps we just don't understand this emerging art form, right? The Darwinism of MTV - apes descended from man.
Ever notice how most articles in any of the glossy magazines sound like they were all written by the same guy? And this writer just graduated from junior college? And yet he has all the correct opinions on social issues, no original ideas, and that shallow, smug, homogenized corporate omniscience, which enables him to assure us that everything is fine...
All this is great news for the PR industry - makes their job that much easier. Not only are very few paying attention to the process of conditioning; fewer are capable of understanding it even if somebody explained it to them.
Let's say you're in a crowded cafeteria, and you buy a cup of tea. And as you're about to sit down you see your friend way across the room. So you put the tea down and walk across the room and talk to your friend for a few minutes. Now, coming back to your tea, are you just going to pick it up and drink it? Remember, this is a crowded place and you've just left your tea unattended for several minutes. You've given anybody in that room access to your tea.
Why should your mind be any different? Turning on the TV, or uncritically absorbing mass publications every day - these activities allow access to our minds by "just anyone" - anyone who has an agenda, anyone with the resources to create a public image via popular media. As we've seen above, just because we read something or see something on TV doesn't mean it's true or worth knowing. So the idea here is, like the tea, perhaps the mind is also worth guarding, worth limiting access to it.
This is the only life we get. Time is our total capital. Why waste it allowing our potential, our scope of awareness, our personality, our values to be shaped, crafted, and boxed up according to the whims of the mass panderers? There are many important issues that are crucial to our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being which require time and study. If it's an issue where money is involved, objective data won't be so easy to obtain. Remember, if everybody knows something, that image has been bought and paid for.
Real knowledge takes a little effort, a little excavation down at least one level below what "everybody knows."
|April 1st, 2008
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Rocky Mountains
Posts: 1,265
How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment: righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards.
Xian WN!
"The Jew can only be understood if it is known what he strives for: ... the destruction of the world.... [it is] the tragedy of Lucifer."
Holy-Hoax Exposed, Hollow-Cost Examined, How Low Cost? (toons)
|December 25th, 2008
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 7,526
Blog Entries: 3
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Find the perfect hotel in Canyon Lake using our hotel guide provided below. Search for the cheapest discounted hotel and motel rates in or near Canyon Lake, CA for your upcoming personal or group travel. We provide the best Canyon Lake, California hotel and motel rooms. Browse the Canyon Lake area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the Canyon Lake hotels. Coordinating a group? Get Canyon Lake Group Hotel Discounts
The Canyon Lake center point is about 4 miles west of Menifee Lakes Country Club - Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Center and 5 miles south of Orange Empire Railroad Museum.
How should we direct your call?

subset: commoncrawl


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Tarkin's face isn't very good (almost looks like the e3 version, is it?) but this is one of the few things Hasbro's shown so far that interests me.
Why do they all have DC-15s?
Why does no one care that Tarkin's ROTS outfit is different than his ANH outfit?
Page created in 0.039 seconds with 18 queries.


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Improve Your Curb Appeal for Less
Improving curb appeal is an important part of selling a home,
The first sight prospective buyers see when pulling up to an open house is the yard and exterior of the home and this first impression can have a big impact on whether a property sells. Many buyers will connect what they see on the outside of the home with how attractive the inside may be. Improving curb appeal is an important part of selling a home, and it's also one of the most simple and affordable actions sellers can take.
Spruce Up the Exterior
Over time, natural wear and weather can take their toll on the outside of a home, making it appear older and lifeless. Improving the exterior is a quick fix and homeowners can begin by washing the outside frame of their home to remove dirt and grime. The finished product can also help owners determine if a fresh coat of paint is in order. In addition, current owners can make their homes stand out more by painting shutters and doors a different color than the home itself.
Many consumers replace indoor fixtures when updating their homes, but it's important not to dismiss the outside as well. Replacing door handles, house numbers, mailboxes, locks and frames can not only make the home stand out more, but also give the house a more modern and practical feel, according to MSN Real Estate.
Lastly, homeowners with fences should give them the same care and attention as the home itself. Missing pikes should be replaced, and repainting white or colored fences that have been damaged by the sun is also important in maintaining a modern look.
Beautify the Yard
Pulling up to a home covered in leaves and dead grass is not the first sight owners want buyers to see. Laying down mulch and conducting some basic landscaping can go a long way in making a lawn look healthier. In addition, owners should make sure trees, bushes and shrubs are properly trimmed, and pull out weeds that are hindering flower growth. Individuals who don't have a garden can make their yards look more colorful by visiting a nursery and purchasing potted plants.
Also, tools, toys and other yard items should be removed from the lawn before an open house. This not only declutters the lawn, but also provides a measure of safety to the owner by preventing accidents from happening.
Looking for more tips? Click Here.
See more of the beautiful East Greenwich, RI home above.


text: Eyewear Glasses Marc By Marc Jacobs Marc By Marc Jacobs MMJ560 × Close Size guide Lens height Arm length Bridge width Lens width Your frame measurements (mm) 51-16-140 Frame size is determined by the three key measurements found inside the frame arm: lens width (from 31-60mm), bridge width (from 12-31mm), and arm length (from 115-155mm). Your lens height (mm) 34 Lens height is essential for multifocal prescriptions, such as Progressives, which require a minimum measurement of 28-30mm. They are also recommended for Rx sunglasses. Arm length 140mm Previous Next 51-16-140 Size guide View measurements Measurements (51-16-140) Size guide Black Grey Crystal Black Grey Crystal Out of Stock MMJ560 Marc By Marc Jacobs MyFit Progressive Eligible Sunglasses Eligible Plastic 51mm 16mm 140mm 132mm 125mm 34mm Includes Standard Air lenses, Free Shipping & Returns Eyewear Glasses Marc By Marc Jacobs Marc By Marc Jacobs MMJ560


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This seemed like the place to post this, even though it's not really blues related.
My friend that has been playing bass with some pretty impressive folks just notified me that he has put together his own band and is going to have a CD released very soon.
If you go to his web site he has a soundclip of the band that I thought some of you interested in bass guitar (or jazz) might enjoy. Turn up the sound!!
It's at: http://www.thebasscowboy.com/basscowboy ... te_006.htm


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Mastering Engineer Eric Boulanger Extolls the Benefits of SADiE's New Mastering Toolkit
The new mastering features that SADiE has incorporated into its popular SADiE 6 editing and production software have been hailed as a major improvement by internationally acclaimed mastering engineer Eric Boulanger – not least because they are saving him an enormous amount of time.
Eric Boulanger is based at the world famous The Mastering Lab (TML), which was America's first independent mastering facility when it was opened in 1967 by Doug Sax. Originally in Hollywood but now based on Ojai, California, TML remains a revolutionary state-of-the-art company that uses unique concepts of signal flow and electronics pioneered by Doug's brother, Sherwood Sax. All of its custom electronics and console are all purpose designed and handcrafted, and this attention to detail has earned TML more Grammy nominations for engineering than any other mastering facility.
As well as being an eminent mastering engineer, Boulanger is also responsible for ensuring TML's custom analogue equipment stays in tip-top shape. In keeping with TML's pioneering spirit, Boulanger was the first Mastering Engineer to produce a 'Mastered for iTunes' release (in 2011) – a format that is now the mainstay for all major record label releases on iTunes thanks to the popularity of digital downloads.
When Boulanger isn't working, he lets his creativity loose in the studio as a professional violinist. He is also on the Steering Committee of NARAS, the GRAMMYs Producers & Engineers Wing.
Boulanger has been a SADiE user since 2007 when he started working at TML.
"We have five operational systems that range from the early Artemis to our current SADiE 6.1 systems," he says. "These are our workhorses, but when we are working with DSD, we use an older SADiE 5 DSD8, which is still the finest DSD editor I've encountered."
TML's decision to upgrade its SADiE 6 software to the latest version, which includes the new mastering tools, came as a result of changes within the music business. Boulanger explains: "These days, artists and labels are mainly releasing Hi-res files (for example HDTracks); MFiTs, 16Bit digital downloads, and (maybe) CDs. Thanks to the new mastering features in SADiE 6, I can generate all of these files with just a few clicks of the mouse. The new software will also generate WAV file masters that are cut gapless and therefore maintain any track spacing, or fancy crossfades between tracks (like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, for example, or a live concert with applause segues). Now all the different products will match track length, etc."
The main benefit the new version of SADiE 6 has brought to Boulanger's workflow is time saving.
"It is literally saving me hours and hours of production time because I no longer have to recreate separate EDLs and jump through hoops to create WAV bounces that match other sample rate or CD products," he says. "I also don't have to bounce grouped clips with extra space tagged on to maintain correct gapless track spacing."
Boulanger adds that, thanks to the efforts of the European Broadcasting Union and the UK Music Producers Guild, SADiE 6 also supports Broadcast WAV, an extended WAV format that allows ISRC codes to be embedded into the XML Metadata of WAV files.
"This is a solid step forward in making WAV file masters a professional format," Boulanger says. "Prior to getting this new software I had to manually rename files – and, of course, there was no possibility of including ISRC codes in the metadata."
Since installing the latest version of SADie 6, Boulanger has been working on various albums, all of which have benefitted from the speed at which he can now turn project around.
"The day I received the new features, I was working on a popular Christian group's live album," he says. "They had attended the session and were in a rush to make a flight, so I gave the new features a whirl since there were many edits and crossfades to create the live album experience. To my delight, everything worked perfectly right off the bat, and the band made their flight, masters in hand."
Boulanger, who has worked with artists such as Eric Burdon, Colbie Caillat, OneRepublic, The Plain White T's, Serena Ryder, Chris Botti, Sarah Jarosz, and Jackson Browne, has most recently finished an album with multiple formats for singer Anais Mitchell. Produced and mixed by Gary Paczosa, it will be released on Wilderland Records later this year.
About Prism Sound
Founded in 1987, Prism Sound manufacture high-quality professional digital audio equipment for the International broadcast, film, music production, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors. The range now includes SADiE digital audio workstations and location recorders. Prism Sound also manufactures audio test and measurement products such as the DSA-1 and the dScope Series III audio analyzer.
For more information please visit www.sadie.com or www.prismsound.com


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An interface to the Sedna XML database.
For more information, see the Sedna Programmer's Guide
(require-extension sedna)
The Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISP RAS)
This product includes software developed by The Institute for System Programming (ISP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) (http://www.ispras.ru).
Copyright (C) 2004-2010 ISP RAS. All rights reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this product except in compliance with the License. You may see file LICENSE or You may obtain a copy of the License at
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, ITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
Version History
- 3.3.55
- ported to CHICKEN 4
- 0.3
- added license to .meta file
- 0.2
- performance tweaks, fix for 4.5.2 dependency (thanks to Mario)
- 0.1
- initial release


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Nationwide Services, Local Engineers
Nationwide Services, Local Engineers
At Polarity electrics ltd, we pride ourselves on our coverage, Our areas where our engineers are based are: Greater London, South East, South West, West Midlands, East Midlands.
Call us:
Any electrical system tends to deteriorate or degrade with ordinary use and age, therefore periodic testing should take place to inspect and test the electrical installation of any property or building periodically at regular intervals to ensure that they are in a good condition and that they are fit for purpose for future use.
Periodic testing Barking will involve a series of thorough electrical inspections that will reveal if any aspect of the electrical system is overloaded with current usage, for example if electrical appliances keep triggering fuses or if the system does not provide enough power for the appliances utilising it. Periodic testing Barking will also include finding any componentry that could potentially shock an individual or cause a fire, making sure that the people in a building are safe and that the building complies with health and safety law.
As well as this, the inspection will identify any defects in the installation due to a subpar installation or improper usage over a length of time. Finally, periodic testing Barking will reveal any wiring that lacks earthing or bonding, ensuring that the system works properly and safely. Furthermore, tests on all wiring and electrical equipment is carried out to ensure that they are safe.
Periodic testing Barking should be carried out once every 10 years for a home occupied by the owner, 5 years for a home that is rented, 1 year for a swimming pool area and once every 3 years for a caravan. The testing should also be done when a property is due to be let or if the property is going to be sold or if the property has just been bought.
Periodic testing Barking should be carried out by a highly qualified and competent electrician, preferably those that are registered electricians. A electrician with suitable qualifications will be able to identify any item that may be faulty or potentially unsafe, to the smallest detail. This guarantees that the property or building is safe to use regularly at its expected level of use, and that nothing is missed potentially saving lives further down the line.
To guarantee that a property is safe to use with electrical appliances, periodic testing Barking is the best way to prevent any unwanted accidents occuring that could potentially harm individuals and any electrical componentry that could further degrade and escalate the repair costs.
We're part of the Local Heroes network
Please Note:
Telephone & Email
Telephone: 0208 366 8205
Freephone: 0800 085 9146
Mobile: 07932 046 977
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Testing: email@example.com
Accounts: firstname.lastname@example.com
Polarity Electrics Ltd
Trading Address: 13A, Culver Garden Centre, Cattlegate Rd, Enfield, Middlesex, EN2 9DS
Company no: 9981410
Vat no:233958778
Place of registration: Companies house England and Wales
NICEIC enrolment number: 602034000
Where we cannot resolve any complaints using our own complaints procedure, as a Which? Trusted trader we use Dispute Resolution Ombudsman for dispute resolution. In the unlikely event of a complaint arising and you wish to refer the complaint to them please contact 0333 241 3209 or via their website www.disputeresolutionombudsman.org/membership/whichtrustedtraders/
All tests would be payable via Cash or Card to the engineer upon site completion, or a emailed invoice can be sent out prior to our attendance. However please be mindful that no certification/ information is released until payment is received in full. Once payment is received the report then takes 7 working days to process and send out to you. We usually just require 24-48 hours' notice on bookings in order to attend site. Our hours are 0730-1600. The prices quoted relate to works being carried out Monday- Friday.


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Dear visitor, welcome to SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers. If this is your first visit here, please read the Help. It explains how this page works. You must be registered before you can use all the page's features. Please use the registration form, to register here or read more information about the registration process. If you are already registered, please login here.
Supreme Member
Location: USA
Thursday, July 28th 2005, 12:24am
Supreme Member
Location: USA
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The L.A. KISS had not won a game in two months coming into Saturday's game.
The team's eight-game losing streak that was putting a damper on its inaugural season. However, surprisingly, the KISS was still in playoff contention in a weak division.
They helped their chances Saturday at the Honda Center by surging in the final minutes to beat the Portland Thunder, 69-61.
The KISS (3-9) jumped out to a 21-7 lead, led by quarterback Aaron Garcia, who threw for three touchdowns in the first half. The KISS defense dominated early on.
On Portland's first possession, which began deep in their own territory, defensive back Matt Estrada recovered a fumbled snap and returned it five yards for a touchdown to give the KISS a 14-0 lead five minutes into the game.
In the second quarter, linebacker Beau Bell recovered a botched kickoff return in Portland's endzone for a touchdown and put the KISS up, 35-13.
But the loss of defensive leader Romeo Pellum in the second quarter to an ankle injury left a hole in the KISS defense that Portland would exploit. Pellum did not return to the game.
Portland quarterback Kyle Rowley connected with Braylon Bell for a touchdown to make it 35-20. On the following KISS possession, Portland defensive back Bryce Peila intercepted a Garcia pass and returned it three yards for a touchdown.
On the next drive, Portland's Eric Crocker intercepted Garcia's pass in the endzone to prevent a KISS touchdown and gave the Thunder the ball with 3:49 left in the half. Portland's Darron Thomas scored on a three-yard run on the other end to bring his team within two.
But Garcia would steal back the momentum for the KISS with a 36-yard touchdown to Samora Goodson with six seconds left in the half to take a nine-point lead into the break.
The teams exchanged scores until the last seconds of the second half, but the KISS ultimately prevailed.
Garcia ended the night with 289 passing yards and five touchdowns. Goodson gave the KISS some much-needed offense with 171 yards and 2 touchdowns.


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Sometimes we have what we need to fill an order in stock, but most of the time we'll have to dye to order, either way we aim to have all orders in the mailed within 2 weeks of receiving them!
A true navy blue with hits of brighter blues and dark night sky black to add depth. A classic colour, suitable for anybody.
Our custom TFA PureWash Bases in Fingering weight, DK weight, Worsted weight & Chunky are available in all of our permanent collection colourways here on our website at all times. We also regularly stock our workhorse sock yarn, Blue Label Fingering weight, as well as our luxurious Purple Label Cashmere Sock yarn. Our others bases are available from time to time here and in our Etsy shop.
Learn all about our bases on our YARNS page here!
TFA PureWash Fingering :: 100% organic merino, treated, 113g = 450yds • $29 a skein
TFA PureWash DK :: 100% organic merino, treated, 113g = 260yds • $26 a skein
TFA PureWash Worsted :: 100% organic merino, treated, 113g = 205yds • $26 a skein
TFA PureWash Chunky :: 80% organic merino, treated, 20% alpaca, 113g = 125yds • $29 a skein
Blue Label Fingering Weight :: 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon, 115g = 420yds • $26 a skein


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By JOHN FLOWERS
By CYRUS LEVESQUE
BRISTOL — A local family has started a nonprofit organization to place abandoned dogs with families that are looking for pets, but in doing so, they have run afoul of Bristol's regulations on dog ownership and control — not to mention having annoyed the neighbors.
JoAnne Bohannon of Bristol began working with stray or abandoned animals in the area of Bryan County, Ga., soon after Hurricane Katrina last year. Bohannon, who used to live in Georgia, said that many of the animals lost or made homeless by Katrina wound up in Georgia, and yet there are few or no animal shelters in that state that have a no-kill policy.
So the Bohannon family started Georgia Animal Rescue and Defence to bring stray dogs from Georgia to Vermont. According to Joy Bohannon, who has been working with her mother, JoAnne, in this effort, Vermont has plenty of people interested in adopting new pets.
ADDISON COUNTY — Town officials planning budgets in some local communities got a small reprieve last week when the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) said the cost for the municipal health insurance would increase "only" 12 percent, instead of the 36 percent increase previously forecast.
Several Addison County communities — including Middlebury — buy their insurance through the VLCT Health Trust. The trust has in recent years done business with Blue Cross Blue Shield. But when that company announced a 36 percent increase to re-up for the current benefits package, the VLCT went searching for a more cost-effective proposal. The VLCT believes it has found a better buy in CIGNA.
"We are currently working with CIGNA to ensure that the plans we offer starting on Jan. 1, 2007, will provide your employees with comparable or better coverage than our current Blue Cross offerings," reads a Nov. 8 letter from VLCT Executive Director Steven Jeffrey to member towns. "VLCT and CIGNA are fully committed to making this change in carriers proceed as smoothly as possible."
By ANDY KIRKALDY
ADDISON COUNTY — With the 16-day rifle deer season getting under way this past Saturday, local and statewide numbers for October's archery deer season and Youth Hunting Weekend on Nov. 4 and 5 had triggered optimism for area hunters.
During the Oct. 7-29 bow season hunters took 124 deer to Addison County's eight major weigh stations, a 55-percent increase from the 2005 total of 80.
During this past youth weekend 123 younger hunters brought animals to county reporting stations to have them weighed, an increase of 26 deer over the 2005 weekend total of 97.
In all, the local combined take of youth weekend and the October bow season this fall was 247 deer, up by 40 percent of the 2005 combined total of 177.
MIDDLEBURY — Local activists have found a temporary home for a Middlebury youth center, and they will now turn their attention to finding money to hire a coordinator to staff the facility.
Members of the group Addison County Teens & Friends Inc. (ACT) on Nov. 6 hammered out an agreement with the Russ Sholes Senior Center to share space in that organization's home located on the bottom floor of the Middlebury municipal building. ACT board member Emily Joselson said teens will soon be able to enjoy supervised activities in the center during late afternoons and evenings — times during which seniors are generally not using the space.
"We're very excited to start a relationship with (the senior center)," Joselson said.
ADDISON COUNTY — Area residents, who turned out to vote in droves on Tuesday, will see some new faces among those who represent them in the county courthouse and in Montpelier.
With turnout exceeding 65 percent in most towns, residents elected Cornwall Democrat Eleanor "Misse" Smith as their new probate court judge and sent three first-time candidates to county seats in Vermont House. One of those three new legislators — New Haven Democrat Christopher Bray — earned his spot in a tight Addison-5 contest against longtime incumbent Rep. Harvey Smith, R-New Haven.
Tuesday's general election also gave voters an opportunity to soundly defeat a $10.3 million renovation plan for Otter Valley Union High School; endorse a new town garage project for Bridport and a veterans' memorial in Bristol; and pick two assistant judges for the Addison County courthouse.
ADDISON COUNTY — Addison County and Brandon residents joined with voters elsewhere in Vermont in supporting the winners in major statewide races, in most cases by roughly the same percentages, although there were many differences in voting patterns.
As of Wednesday morning independent Bernie Sanders had won his race with Republican candidate Richard Tarrant for the U.S. Senate by almost exactly a two-to-one margin, 66-33 percent, with 82 percent of statewide votes tallied.
With all votes tallied in Addison County and Brandon, Sanders' margin of victory mirrored the statewide results in the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by independent Jim Jeffords. Not counting fringe candidates, Sanders won locally, 12,418-5,416, or 60.6-31.4 percent, and carried every town.
By ANDY KIRKALDY
ADDISON COUNTY — Voter turnout in Addison County ran ahead of statewide forecasts, with 13 of the county's 23 towns reporting that at least 70 percent of their registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday.
Prior to the election Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz told the Burlington Free Press that she expected statewide turnout to end up in the 60 percent range, although the actual percentage won't be known for a few days.
Nationally, the Associated Press gave the preliminary estimate on Wednesday morning that turnout was about 40 percent, in line with previous midterm votes held between presidential elections.
Meanwhile, only one Addison County town recorded a turnout of less than 60 percent: Goshen, where 55.8 percent of voters showed up at the polls.
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Calvin Klein Eternity Moment 100ML EDP (L) SP
Eternity Moment ment for modern, young women.Its fine and fresh floral aroma is invited to capture the eternal moment of two souls meeting, gazing at each other, touching for the first time.The notes are: litchi, pomegranate blossom, water lily, Chinese pink peony, guava, musk and woody notes.
Revlon Charlie Red 100ml EDT (L) SP
Charlie Red by Revlon is a Oriental Floral fragrance for women. Charlie Red was launched in 1993. Top notes are orange blossom, gardenia, plum, black currant, violet and peach; middle notes are carnation, tuberose, orchid, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose; base notes are honey, sandalwood, amber, musk...
Elizabeth Arden Arden Beauty 100ml EDP (L) SP
Arden Beauty by Elizabeth Arden is a Floral Green fragrance for women. Arden Beauty was launched in 2002. The nose behind this fragrance is Antoine Lie. Top notes are iris, bergamot, rice flower and green notes; middle notes are orchid, ginger, rhubarb, lotus and lily; base notes are sandalwood, amber and musk.
Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio 100ml EDT (L) SP
Perfectly harmonizing aquatic notes with sweet and fruity notes of muscat grapes from Pantelleria along with blending them successfully with the freshness of pineapple and citrus notes. Watermelon blends nicely with the notes of freesia, hyacinth and ylang-ylang. The warm, woody and musky base note remind of...
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Amor Amor is a floral fruity nectar for young women who seeks a love advanture. The main notes are: pink greipfruit, mandarine, blood orange, Malati Flower (Malati is a very fragrant Indonesian Jasmine Sambac), lily-of-the-valley, white musk, sandalwood, vanilla and ambergris. The perfume was created by Laurent Bruyere...
Calvin Klein Contradiction 100ml EDP (L) SP
Launched by the design house of Calvin Klein in 1997, CONTRADICTION is classified as a refreshing, oriental, floral fragrance. This feminine scent possesses a blend of pure pepper, rose, satin wood and sandalwood.
Hugo Boss Hugo Deep Red 90ml EDP (L) SP
Deep Red is aimed at strong and active women. This fruity-floral aroma opens with notes of black currant, pear, tangerine and blood orange. The fresh and mouthwatering opening is followed by ginger leaves, freesia and hibiscus accords of the heart. Woodsy sensual finish is composed of sandalwood, Californian cedar,...
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First was introduced in 1976 by the prestigious, international jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels. Its archetypical floral scent has notes of jasmine, narcissus, Turkish rose, black currant buds, amber, vanilla and vetiver.
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G perfume was launched in 1999. It brought floral and fruity accords, designed byAlain Astori. The top notes consist of melon, pineapple and strongly bitter grape. Middle notes are floral, thanks to orchid and peony, slightly touched by peach and ginger. The base brings the warm notes of sandalwood and vetiver.
Christian Dior Hypnotic Poison 100ml EDT (L) SP
Hypnotic Poison by Dior is a Oriental Vanilla fragrance for women. Hypnotic Poison was launched in 1998. The nose behind this fragrance is Annick Menardo. Top notes are apricot, plum and coconut; middle notes are tuberose, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, rose, brazilian rosewood and caraway; base notes are...
Hugo Boss Intense 90ml EDP (L) SP
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Top notes are aldehydes, gardenia, galbanum, clary sage and bergamot; middle notes are carnation, iris, orris root, jasmine, neroli, lily-of-the-valley, rose and narcissus; base notes are labdanum, leather, sandalwood, amber, patchouli, oakmoss and vetiver.
Givenchy My Couture 100ml EDP (L) SP
This elegant, classic and floral perfume starts with notes of freesia and black currant. The heart of the composition contains lily-of-the-valley and jasmine. The base notes are almond, musk and woody scents. It was created in 2003.
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An unrivalled alchemy; spicy, fruity, woody fragrance of enigmatic profoundness that mesmerizes the senses…forever. Top notes include coriander, wildberries, orange honey, tuberose are at perfume's heart, while base note features opopanar.
Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman 100ml EDP (L) SP
Catherine ZetaJones' seductive walk and beauty were an inspiration to creators of this exciting and egzotic new fragrance from the house of Elizabeth Arden. Top notes include quince, water lotus, and ginger lily. Heart note is composed of midnight orchid, papaya blossom and pink freesia. Base notes are...
Giorgio Beverly Hills Red 90ml EDT (L) SP
Top notes: bergamot, osmanthus, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, peach, black currant, hyacinth, aldehydes and cherry; middle notes: carnation, rose, jasmine, rosemary, gardenia, tuberose, iris, lily-of-the-valley and litchi; base notes: patchouli, oakmoss, amber, cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, tonka bean, vanilla,...
Calvin Klein Truth 100ml EDP (L) SP
Truth is an elegant perfume built on the contrast between the notes of cool, fresh grass and the warmth of woman's skin. Simple and natural, clean and fresh, just like a brook among the fresh green summer grass. Main notes are bamboo, wet woods, white peony, vanilla, white amber and sandalwood.
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Chopard Casmir 100ml EDP (L) SP
Casmir Perfume by Chopard, Launched By The Design House Of Chopard In 1991, Casmir Is Classified As A Sharp, Oriental, Woody Fragrance. This Feminine Scent Possesses A Blend Of Woodsy Sandalwood And Patchouli. Accompanied By Fruity Notes Of Fresh Citrus, Melons And Peaches.
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Champs Elysees Perfume by Guerlain, Launched By The Design House Of Guerlain In 1996, Champs Elysees Is Classified As A Refreshing, Flowery Fragrance. This Feminine Scent Possesses A Blend Of Floral Rose, Blackcurrant, Mimosa Leaves, Hibiscus, And Almond Wood. It Is Recommended For Daytime Wear.
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Bergamot and rosewood support the development of the carnation theme, refined with the notes of rose and jasmine. Violet and iris give a powdery nuance, and create a harmony with the woodsy notes of cedar and sandal, while sensual musk and amber add the final feminine accord to the composition.
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Lolita Lempicka fragrance is based on licorice. Beautiful anise note is a perfect match to licorice and violet. The intensive green ivy note is fresh and optimistic. The almond is in harmony with woodsy iris and sweet vanilla, united with heliotrope and Tonka. It was created in 1997.
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PerfumeLalique greets you with the notes of Chinese gardenia, Sicilian mandarin orange, accords of black currant as well as blackberry. Peony, Tunisian orange blossom, magnolia, Bulgarian rose and ylang-ylang rest at its heart, while the base brings aromas of Indian sandalwood, vanilla, amber, Yugoslavian...
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No cars or scooters can be found on the small island of Gili Air in Indonesia. To get around you simply walk, use a bicycle or jump into one of these beautiful taxis!
Gili Air is the second smallest of the Gilis and it's closest to the Lombok mainland, making it popular with honeymoon couples and travelers seeking a quiet retreat. It has a population of about 1,000 and administratively lies in the West Nusa Tenggara province. The island offers excellent snorkeling and scuba diving off its east coast, and turtles can be seen along the coral reef. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gili_Air


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Strathmore Still, Sports Cap PET
Strathmore is a pure Scottish spring water drawn from deep beneath the beautiful Vale of Strathmore, close to the historic Glamis Castle. It is the only brand to offer a full range of glass and PET water in both still and sparkling, offering consumers the widest choice. Strathmore is proud to support The Prince's Trust, one of the UK's leading youth charities.
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Hemolytic anemia is a disorder in which the red blood cells are destroyed faster than the bone marrow can produce them. The term for destruction of red blood cells is hemolysis. There are two types of hemolytic anemia:
Intrinsic. The destruction of the red blood cells is due to a defect within the red blood cells themselves. Intrinsic hemolytic anemias are often inherited, such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, or erythrocytosis. These conditions produce red blood cells that do not live as long as normal red blood cells.
Extrinsic. Red blood cells are produced healthy, but are later destroyed by getting trapped in the spleen, destroyed by infection, or destroyed from drugs that can affect red blood cells. In severe cases the destruction takes place in the circulation. The following lists some of the causes of extrinsic hemolytic anemia, also called autoimmune hemolytic anemia:
Infections, such as hepatitis, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), typhoid fever, E. coli, or streptococcus
Medications, such as penicillin, antimalaria medications, sulfa medications, or acetaminophen
Leukemia or lymphoma
Autoimmune disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematous (SLE, or lupus), rheumatoid arthritis, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, or ulcerative colitis
Various tumors
Some types of extrinsic hemolytic anemia are temporary and resolve over several months. Other types can become chronic with periods of remissions and recurrence.
The following are the most common symptoms of hemolytic anemia. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:
Abnormal paleness or lack of color of the skin
Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin and eyes
Dark-colored urine
Intolerance to physical activity
Enlargement of the spleen and liver
Increased heart rate (tachycardia)
Heart murmur
The symptoms of hemolytic anemia may resemble other blood conditions or medical problems. Always consult your child's doctor for a diagnosis.
Hemolytic anemia may be suspected from general findings on a complete medical history and physical examination of your child, such as complaints of tiring easily, pale skin and lips, or a fast heartbeat (tachycardia). In addition to a complete physical examination, your child's doctor may order the following diagnostic tests:
Blood tests. These tests measure hemoglobin and reticulocyte count and will reveal how many new red blood cells are being produced.
Additional blood tests. These tests will check lactate dehydrogenase, bilirubin, and haptoglobin, as well as the presence of certain antibodies. Your doctor may also order a blood smear or look at the red blood cells under a microscope to aid in the diagnosis.
Urine tests for hemoglobin
Bone marrow aspiration and/or biopsy. A procedure that involves taking a small amount of bone marrow fluid (aspiration) and/or solid bone marrow tissue (called a core biopsy), usually from the hip bones, to be examined for the number, size, and maturity of blood cells and/or abnormal cells.
Specific treatment for hemolytic anemia will be determined by your child's doctor based on:
Your child's age, overall health, and medical history
Extent of the anemia
Cause of the anemia
Your child's tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies
Expectations for the course of the anemia
Your opinion or preference
The treatment for hemolytic anemia will vary depending on the cause of the illness. Treatment may include:
Blood transfusions
Corticosteroid medications
Treatment with intravenous immune globulin (to strengthen the immune system)
Rituximab or other immune suppressing drugs
Antibiotics if the cause is an infection
In more severe cases, the following treatments may be necessary and usually require hospitalization:
Exchange transfusion (similar to a blood transfusion, but with more blood being given and an equal amount of the child's hemolyzed blood being removed)
Surgical removal of the spleen (usually reserved for children who do not respond to other therapies)
Immunosuppressive therapy


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Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Third Mizuwari Death Match
The Champion: Torys
The Challenger: Nikka Black
The third Mizuwari Death Match was always going to be a brutal affair: undefeated champion Uncle "It's Good, It's Cheap" Torys against arch rival Nikka Black. Until now, Suntory have kept the Death Match an in house affair. Red and Yellow Kakubin are both Suntory stalwarts. Nikka Black is the most widely sold brand of Suntory's main competitor, Nikka.
So, without further ado, let's add the water and ice: Uncle Torys is fast on his feet as usual: not too heavy despite all those late night drinking sessions and with his trademark aniseed aftertaste. He is going to be hard to beat on this kind of form. Black is a rounder sort of fellow and he's putting all of his weight behind his punches. Both Torys and Nikka Black make sweet, refreshing mizuwaris but there is none of Torys's aniseed on Black, just an easy mellowness. The good uncle walks into an upper cut in the fifth. We have a new champion.
The result: Nikka Black wins comfortably in the end.
1 comment:
- Dr. Whisky said...
Exciting as ever. A surprise victory, so far as I could tell. Nice work!
- July 31, 2007 at 3:29 AM
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Rich, Old White Guy Teaches Drake a Lesson on Twitter
Drake, who is a rapper from Canada, has over seven million followers on his verified Twitter account. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old tweeted out a message that was, at best, a humble brag and at worst just plain obnoxious.
Since most of Drake's followers haven't had the experience of making their first $100K, let alone million, they were too intimidated to call him on his annoying tweet. But here is the thing about having so many Twitter followers — there is a good chance at least one of them is a 84-year-old billionaire oil tycoon with decades and decades of big money making experience.
Cue T. Boone Pickens, who is all of those things. His response to Drake's triteness was biting and succinct.
We do have to give Drake some credit. He realized he'd been one-uped and paid his respect to the elderly.
We're not really on top of the latest Canadian hip-hop lingo, but we think he's saying that he got it shoved up his poteen. We also think this means Pickens gets a verse on Drake's next single. If Drake does start beef, T. Boone already has a built-in name to launch his rap career.


text: Jason Leffler, of Long Beach, California, is a race car driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He drives the #30 AccuDoc Solutions and the #38 Great Clips Chevy Impala for Turner Motorsports. Leffler was the USAC National Midget champion in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and the USAC Silver Crown champion in 1998. He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2003.


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Tamoxifen for weakly positive Estrogen and Progesterone breast cancers
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
I am a 31-year old ER negative and "weakly" PR positive breast cancer patient. I have had a mastectomy with no lymph node involvement and chemotherapy and now deciding whether to go on Tamoxifen. Does your practice recommend Tamoxifen for "weakly" PR positive patients?
Julia Draznin Maltzman, MD, Attending Physician at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, responds:
As a general rule, we do routinely recommend hormone therapy to women whose tumors are weakly positive Estrogen (ER) and Progesterone (PR). However, each case must be discussed and analyzed individually. The thought is that hormone therapy such as Tamoxifen is very easy to take, well tolerated, and has few side effects, that the potential for help is greater than the potential for harm. However, this remains a personal decision and you should have a careful and thoughtful discussion with your oncologist.