text: Breadcrumb Home Scott Suttell Blog Editor's Choice April 29, 2013 02:30 AM Cleveland plays role in shifting movie release strategy Scott Suttell Managing Editor Tweet Share Share Email More Print A quick-hit edition to start the week: The Cleveland market plays a key role in the distribution strategy of an independent film called "Black Rock" that is illustrative of a shift in how such movies are released, according to this Wall Street Journal story The thriller made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and will premiere on May 17 concurrently in theaters across 10 markets, through video-on-demand and on the web in a process known as "day and date release," according to the newspaper. In the past, The Journal notes, "an independent film was likely to go directly to video-on-demand or open on a couple of screens in New York and Los Angeles, but rarely would both happen at the same time." The strategy is an acknowledgement of the growing popularity of the video-on-demand market. The Journal says roughly 53 million homes have access to video-on-demand with the average consumer spending more than 8.5 hours using on-demand services and watching more than 17 titles a month, according to research group Rentrak. To generate word-of-mouth theatrically, the film's distributor, LD Entertainment, is working with college radio stations to promote on-campus screenings. Rather than focusing exclusively on big cities, LD Entertainment president David Dinerstein tells The Journal he is promoting on a region-by-region basis, initially targeting smaller locales such as Buffalo, Cleveland, Denver and Indianapolis. "We're looking for a younger suburban Sundance-type crowd," Mr. Dinerstein says. They might get it. The film apparently has a "Deliverance"-style vibe. It's directed by and stars Katie Aselton and is written by her husband, Mark Duplas, both of whom star in the popular FX comedy "The League." A banking analyst recently got Sen. Sherrod Brown's goat. The American Banker has an amusing wrapup of an exchange the Avon Democrat had at a public forum last week to discuss the "too big to fail" bill he has introduced with Sen. David Vitter, R-La. From the story: The debate turned biblical when Nancy Bush, a banking analyst, introduced herself as "the Judas goat," warning that she would "lead us all to slaughter" as a Wall Street representative for the discussion. The term was unfamiliar to many in the room, including Brown, who said he had never "heard anyone self-identify themselves that way." Two days later, he brought up the phrase again. "One woman characterized herself as, 'I am the Judas goat from Wall Street.' I didn't quite know what that meant," he told the Independent Community Bankers of America on Thursday. The trade publication says a Judas goat is "a trained goat used to herd sheep and cattle, sometimes to slaughter, while its own life is spared." Congress is considering a measure to make sure most online purchases are subject to sales tax. But MarketWatch.com notes that so far, there's one big exception — digital books, music "or any other content composed of ones and zeros." Ohio, though, is one of the states with proposals to tax such purely digital content. The website says the U.S. Senate is set to vote May 6 on the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would "mark the beginning of the end of tax-free shopping for clothing and electronics." Supporters say it "will help put an end to 'showrooming' — where people visit physical stores to shop for items they later purchase online — while critics contend it will hurt e-commerce and small Internet companies," according to the website. The legislation would put the onus on vendors — instead of consumers — to pay tax on online purchases made on sites such as Amazon.com, according to the story. However, the law doesn't specifically mention digital content, but leaves interpretation up to state law. So far, MarketWatch.com says, "digital content remains exempt from sales tax in major states including New York, Florida and California, but taxes have been proposed in Ohio, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Louisiana." Not crazy about the Browns' draft? Maybe this one would be more to your liking. The Associated Press reports that a few minutes before the real NFL draft began its final day Saturday, Commissioner Roger Goodell stepped to the podium and announced: "With the first pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns select Vontae Mack, linebacker, Ohio State." For good measure, he did it a second time, too — even though there's no such Ohio State player. (Besides, Big Ten players don't get taken in the first round anymore.) Why the repeat? Mr. Goodell was shooting a scene for "Draft Day," the now-in-production film featuring Kevin Costner as the Browns general manager trying to turn the team around after a stretch of losing seasons. Art does imitate life. If Mr. Mack were real, fans might feel a little more excited about what happened over the weekend. You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio. Recommended for You View the discussion thread.


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When customers interact with your digital properties, such as your brands' websites or mobile apps, they implicitly and explicitly provide you with actionable information about their tastes, preferences and intent to transact. This information can significantly help you nurture and convert them from leads to customers, and from customers to advocates. You just might not know where all this data is, how to access it, how to analyze it, and, most importantly, how to activate it.
This is where the marketing technology stack comes into play. By using a set of marketing tools and technologies that help you collect, own and activate data, you can finally achieve one-to-one marketing and boost your revenue and market share. This omni-channel user data can come from everywhere: website interactions, viewable ad impressions, email opens, social media engagements and even data from offline sources, such as point-of-sale, call centers, CRM, BI and so on.
As you can imagine, successful implementation of the marketing technology stack calls for serious coordination among many moving parts. Specifically, you need to ensure that the right technologies are being tapped at the right time, and that the customer data model is well defined and actually implementable. In this slideshow, Boaz Ronkin, vice president of product marketing, Ensighten, examines each of the eight layers that make up the marketing technology stack.
Related Topics : Vulnerabilities and Patches, Resellers, Broadcom, Broadband Services, Supercomputing
Here are 10 ways that college professors are taking advantage of the technology students currently use and adding new technologies to enhance the teaching and learning experiences. ... More >>
Watson continuously learns from previous interactions, gaining in value and knowledge over time. Learn how companies are harnessing that AI power to create and improve products and services. ... More >>
Here are the top 10 strategic technology trends that will impact most organizations in 2017. Strategic technology trends are defined as those with substantial disruptive potential or those reaching the tipping point over the next five years. ... More >>


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MIAMI - The NBA plans to make San Antonio pay for resting four stars.
The Miami Heat almost could not.
Ray Allen's 3-pointer with 22.6 seconds left gave the Heat the lead, LeBron James finished with 23 points, and the Heat rallied late to beat the Spurs, 105-100, on Thursday night - needing to dig deep despite San Antonio's decision to have four standouts resting at home in a move that irked NBA Commissioner David Stern.
Allen scored 20 points, Dwyane Wade added 19, and Chris Bosh had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Miami, now 7-0 at home.
Gary Neal had 20 points for the Spurs, who played without Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green. The Spurs' top foursome was sent back to San Antonio by coach Gregg Popovich, who said the move was in his team's best interest. Stern wasn't happy about it, calling the move "unacceptable" and saying sanctions against the Spurs will be forthcoming.
Tiago Splitter scored 18 points, Nando De Colo added 15, Boris Diaw scored 12 and Matt Bonner had a 10-point, 10-rebound night for San Antonio, which finished a six-games-in-nine-nights road trip with a 5-1 record.
The Spurs led by seven with about 5 minutes left and were up 98-93 after Neal made a 3-pointer with 2:14 remaining.
The Heat finished on a 12-2 run, needing yet another late-game rally. But all anyone will likely remember from this one is Popovich's decision - and whatever Stern does as a result.
"I apologize to all NBA fans," Stern said. "This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming."
Stern's statement was released roughly the same time as tip-off in Miami for the nationally televised game.
The Spurs' five starters came into the game averaging a combined 23.6 points, or 1.6 points less than James averaged entering Thursday night.
And when the Heat ran out to a 16-6 lead, it seemed as though a blowout was in the offing. After all, even the oddsmakers in Las Vegas expected it to be that way - the Heat were favored by six points in most sports books before the news broke the Spurs' regulars were resting, after which the line swelled to 13.
Apparently, no one told the Spurs that the second-string was supposed to play second-fiddle.
San Antonio closed the first quarter on a 21-6 run, taking a 27-22 lead after the period, and simply did not go away. The Spurs led by as many as seven at one point, and after James Anderson made a pair of free throws with 0.6 seconds left in the third, San Antonio held a 76-73 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.
But once again, James-to-Allen proved magical for Miami.
With the Heat down by one, James nearly lost the ball in the lane, collected himself and kicked it out to Allen, who connected from the left wing to put Miami ahead to stay.
Thing is, no one ever thought it would come down to a play like that.
Before the game, Popovich said he decided to sit his core when he saw how challenging this particular part of the schedule was for his team. Thursday's matchup ended a six-games-in-nine-nights swing for the Spurs, who won their first five on the trip.
"Everybody has to make decisions about their schedule, about players playing and back-to-backs and trips and that sort of thing," Popovich said before the game. "In our case, this month we've had 11 away games, after tonight. We've had an eight-day trip and a 10-day trip, and we're ending it with four (games) in five nights here. I think it'd be unwise to be playing our guys in that kind of a situation, given their history."
It's not unlike other moves Popovich has made before; in fact, not only did he give Duncan, Parker and Ginobili time off together toward the end of last season, which was condensed by a lockout, he actually flew home to San Antonio with them and took a two-game, pre-playoff sabbatical.
This time, when Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Green flew home - reportedly on a Southwest Airlines flight on Thursday from Orlando, where the team played one night earlier - Popovich stayed with the Spurs for the trip to Miami.
Duncan is in his 16th NBA season, Parker his 12th and Ginobili his 11th. Green is a kid compared to those guys - 25 years old and a veteran of only 110 NBA games - but Popovich said he chose to rest him as well because Green has played a lot.
Green leads the Spurs with 496 minutes played this season, which was 44th-most in the NBA entering Thursday's games. The Spurs aren't expected to practice Friday, then they face Memphis on Saturday in San Antonio.
"Perhaps it'll give us an opportunity to stay on the court with Memphis on Saturday night," Popovich said. "Historically, when you're on a long road trip, that first game when you come home is really tough. And Memphis is one of the best teams in the league. They're of much more concern to us than playing four games in five nights. It's pretty logical."
Given Stern's statement, it's also logical to think that the Spurs could know their penalty by Saturday as well.
Popovich also said facing the Heat had nothing to do with his decision.
"I've gotten letters from those people before when I've done it and I understand their perspective totally," Popovich said. "If I was taking my 6-year-old son or daughter to the game, I'd want him or her to see everybody. And if they weren't there, I'd be disappointed. So I understand that perspective. Hopefully, people in that position will understand my perspective, what my priority is - the basketball team and what's best for it."
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Popovich's move didn't affect Miami's preparation.
"Each organization has a big-picture view of what they are trying to get accomplished and I think the league respects that," Spoelstra said.
In this case, apparently not.
NOTES: A moment of silence was held before the game for Sasha McHale, the daughter of Houston coach Kevin McHale. Sasha McHale, 23, died Saturday. ... It was the third straight home game in which Miami trailed in the fourth quarter. ... The back-and-forth game ended a run of blowouts in the Heat-Spurs series. The previous five meetings were decided by an average of 24.8 points, including three 30-point games - two of those Spurs wins in San Antonio, the other a Heat win in Miami.


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Dr. Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty
Current Research interests
- Cross-cultural comparative bioethics
- Socio-empirical research in bioethics
- Lay moralities and professional bioethics
- Socio-ethical issues in reproductive medicine (esp. concepts of personhood, responsibility, parenthood and time perceptions)
- Identity and representation in patient's organizations
Biographical Note
Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty is a post-doctoral fellow at the department since August 2016. Her research project titled: The construction of time, timing and planning, focuses on a comparative study of the social practice of egg freezing in Germany and Israel, analyzing it through the prism of 'sociology of time'. For this project she was granted with the Minerva Stiftung Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
She has also been involved in the OPARA research project as well as in the GIF project: "Cross-cultural ethics of health and responsibility: Expert and lay perspectives regarding bioethical dilemmas in Germany and Israel" (principal investigators: Prof. Aviad E. Raz and Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz)
Nitzan wrote her PhD at the department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Her doctoral Thesis (Advisors: Prof. Aviad E. Raz and Prof. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev) focused on the influence of new medical technologies at the beginning of life (PND- Pre-Natal Diagnosis and PGD- Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis) on perceptions of the "fetus" and "parenthood" among Israeli parents.
Nitzan studied Organizational-Sociology (2005-2007) and Behavioral sciences (2001-2004) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Publications (selected)
Inthorn, J., Schicktanz, S., Rimon-Zarfaty, N. & Raz, A. (2015). "What the patient wants": Lay attitudes towards end-of-life decisions in Germany and Israel. Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy, 18(3): 329-340.
Raz, A., Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Inthorn, J., & Schicktanz, S. (2014). Making responsible life plans: Attitudes towards the use of genetic testing for late-onset diseases. In G. Werner-Felmayer, S. Schicktanz, & B. Prainsack (Eds.), Genetics as social practice: Transdisciplinary views on science and culture (pp. 181-198). London, UK: Ashgate.
Mordhorst-Mayer, M., Rimon-Zarfaty, N., & Schweda, M. (2013). "Perspectivism" in the Halakhic debate on abortion between Moshe Feinstein and Eliezer Waldenberg: Relations between Jewish medical ethics and socio-cultural contexts. Women in Judaism, 10(2), 1-55.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., & Jotkowitz, A. (2012). The Israeli abortion committees' process of decision making: An ethical analysis. Journal of Medical Ethics, 38(1): 26-30.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Raz, A., & Hashiloni-Dolev, Y. (2011). When does a fetus become a person? An Israeli viewpoint. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare, 37(4), 216-224.


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For some people any government spending is full of "waste, fraud, and abuse". For these people no matter how the government operates, no matter how we spend our tax money, there is "waste, fraud and abuse".
One of the things I have learned is that there is always 'waste and abuse", and probably a little "fraud" in the way any organization from the largest corporation to the smallest not for profit, from small town governments to big states. If we spent the time to get rid of all of the "waste", we would be "wasting" time making certain we weren't "wasting" money, which means we would be "wasting" money.
We need to be sure that the money is spent the way we want it to be- creating jobs- not enriching the same contractors and companies who have done business with the governments forever. We need to be less concerned about traditional "waste, fraud, and abuse" and more about making certain that the money does what it is intended to do – take care of the average American, give people good jobs with liveable wages.
So as federal, state, and local governments spend our economic stimulus money, we need to hold the governments accountable. The stimulus spending must live up to the accountability that President Obama and Governor Perdue have promised. We need to ask how the money is being allocated, who is getting contracts and subcontracts.
Take the time to ask the questions. Go to the websites– www.recovery.gov, www.ncrecovery.gov and see if what shows up on the web matches what you see in your community.


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Helpful Tips For Dealing With Panic Attacks
Helpful Tips For Dealing With Panic Attacks
You cannot prevent an attack if you don't know what is causing it. The information provided here will give you work to stop panic attacks for good. You may also want to read these tips on anxiety as well.
If you tend to have panic attacks, make sure to get more sleep. When you aren't sleeping properly, you might suffer more panic attacks, and it can also make you less able to cope if you have an attack.Try to get 8 hours of sleep every single night.
Check on the Internet to locate a nearby support group for people who suffer from panic attacks. This is a great way to find out what other people are doing to help deal with their affliction, and it provides you with a chance to vent to others who you can trust to understand.
If you can take control of your breathing, you will be able to control your anxiety and get the attack under control. Deep breathing is very effective in reducing the bad feelings and regaining control.
When you feel the grip of fear during a panic attack, stop and talk to yourself rationally about what you are scared about. Is someone there that is threatening or harmful to you? The likely answer is no, so take it easy and allow the fear to dissipate around you.
If possible, focus on something else. Focus on your shoelaces, sing songs, or start trying to solve a puzzle. Do whatever you can to keep your mind busy so it can't panic. This is an effective way to stop an attack and get you back to feeling calm again. Check out this youtube video – although it has been used for migraines and pain, it is an awesome tool to help you calm down too. I use this one as a meditation tool too. Click Here for the Video I'm talking about.
Breathing is Key When Having a Panic Attack
If you feel panic start to take control of your body, you are better off acknowledging its onset instead rather than denying it. Remember that the panic will subside and focus on getting through it for now. The more you struggle during a panic attack, try to stay calm and wait for it to pass. Breathing is the key.
Use positive dialogue and calming thoughts to talk yourself through a panic attacks. Know that it will get through it. Tell yourself to stay in control.
You can make an attempt to work yourself out of having a panic attack. Your thoughts and feelings do not have to determine how you behave.
Panic attacks can tend to strike when emotions that become too overwhelming for them to deal with. When a particular problem is plaguing you, it is best to deal with it or to find someone to share your fears with who can reassure you and provide support.
Share your knowledge about panic attacks with others through writing. You may develop an e-book or a blog; you can also speak to local groups about it.All of that will help you in defeating panic attacks once and for all.
Many people are successful at ending or even just controlling their feelings to successfully control panic attacks by rationalizing what they are feeling. For instance, at the onset of an attack, try to stay focused on the fact that it is just feelings and that feelings have never and will never hurt you.
If you are close to someone who deals with panic attacks, ask them about the symptoms so you can know when they are having an attack. Common symptoms of a panic attack include shortness of breath, nausea, and dizziness, sweating and crying.
Identify Where The Panic is Coming From
Try to understand what is causing your panic episodes. Identify the root causes and start to address it immediately.
Learn relaxation techniques that you can apply them when a panic attack.Practicing meditation, yoga or other relaxation methods when you are not experiencing an attack, or other relaxation techniques can make it much simpler for you to deal with an attack and either prevent it or lessen its effects.
Take the energy your body uses during panic attacks and direct toward something much more productive.
Use this energy brought on by the panic attack to engage in something that will free your mind from what's happening.
Rather than trying to treat the actual panic attack, focus on practicing the behaviors and thoughts that will avert a panic attack.
You can lower the amount of panic attacks you have by practicing certain healthy habits. Avoid caffeine, cigarettes, and nicotine to foster a healthy lifestyle and lessen the effects of panic attacks.
Eat healthy foods, and steer clear of processed foods and foods high in sugar content.Make sure that you are well-rested by getting plenty of sleep in order to stay well-rested.
You are less likely to have panic attacks if you feel happy and healthy in your day-to-day life.
Try to use this article to the fullest extent. When you follow this advice, you may be able to do away with your panic attacks completely.
The next time you might be feeling overwhelmed by anxiety and on the verge of panic again, refer to what you have learned here and hopefully avert an attack or at least have more control over it.
When All Else Fails, Try The Panic Puzzle Program
A great program available as downloads on the world wide web that has been helping many is called the Panic Puzzle. With this program they guarantee that you can overcome panic attacks through manuals, downloadable audios and it's totally drug free!
The great thing is with this program is they fully 100% GUARANTEE it to work. If it doesn't work within 60 days, you get your money back. (Transactions are safe through the trusted Clickbank site.) Learn More about the Panic Puzzle Program Here. Click here to be taken to the official and trusted site of The Panic Puzzle Program
Please note: If you click on the links above (some of them, not all of them) and purchase the product, I will receive a small commission. This helps me to keep my site operating and to keep writing and offer you freebies from time to time. Many thanks for your understanding.


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Plan your perfect journey with us.
Manage your booking quick and easy at your own comfort.
Essential information for your journey.
Experience our services from the Heart of Eurasia.
Our way of thanking you for your continued loyalty to Air Astana.
Everything you want to know about Air Astana.
The Air Astana fleet consists of Boeing 767, Boeing 757, Airbus A320, Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo, Embraer 190 and Embraer E190-E2 aircraft. Air Astana currently operates a total of 35 aircraft and has plans to increase its fleet size to a total of 39 aircraft by the end of 2019.
The Boeing 767-300ER is a wide-body extended range aircraft. It has Pratt & Whitney engines each producing over 27 tonnes of thrust. The aircraft has a range of 10,550 km and cruises at approximately 900 km/h. It has a payload of 38 tonnes and weights up to 181 tonnes on takeoff. The cabin is configured with 30 flat bed business class seats and 193 economy seats fitted with individual in-seat in-flight entertainment systems in both cabins.
The Boeing 767 services the long range international routes.
The Boeing 757-200 incorporates advanced technology for exceptional fuel efficiency, low noise levels, increased passenger comfort, and top operating performance. It can fly both long and short range routes and is powered by two very powerful and reliable Rolls-Royce RB211 jet engines. The cabin is configured with 16 business class seats and 150 economy seats. Part of Air Astana Boeing 757 fleet is fitted with individual in-flight entertainment systems.
These aircraft operate on both long and medium range international routes and domestic trunk routes.
Air Astana is the first and only airline in Kazakhstan to use the Airbus A320/A321. The A320 aircraft is very environmentally friendly and has the lowest fuel burn, levels of emissions and noise footprint of its class. The A320 employs the latest cockpit and avionics technology and is the fastest selling aircraft in the world today.
With the addition of the A320 and the larger version A321 to its fleet, Air Astana is increasing the frequency of its international and jet operated domestic routes.
The Embraer 190 is a twin engine jet configured with 9 business class seats and 88 economy class seats. Along with its advanced design, the aircraft provides passenger comfort and operating efficiency, with low maintenance costs and fuel burn.
The aircraft serve medium range flights, with a maximum capability of flying 4,200 km.
The Embraer E190-E2 belongs to a family of twin-engine, single aisle airliners offering a maximum range of up to 5,300 km, which is 1,000 km more than the E190. The aircraft has improved aerodynamics, redesigned fuselage and wings and new Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engines. The aircraft is fitted with 108 seats in a four abreast / two-by-two layout which provides more legroom and additional luggage storage space.
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Olympic Games
Olympic Games, athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to competitors with amateur status, but in the 1980s many events were opened to professional athletes. Currently, the Games are open to all, even the top professional athletes in basketball and football (soccer). The ancient Olympic Games included several of the sports that are now part of the Summer Games program, which at times has included events in as many as 32 different sports. In 1924 the Winter Games were sanctioned for winter sports. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world's foremost sports competition.
The ancient Olympic Games
Just how far back in history organized athletic contests were held remains a matter of debate, but it is reasonably certain that they occurred in Greece almost 3,000 years ago. However ancient in origin, by the end of the 6th century bce at least four Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called "classical games," had achieved major importance: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia; the Pythian Games at Delphi; the Nemean Games at Nemea; and the Isthmian Games, held near Corinth. Later, similar festivals were held in nearly 150 cities as far afield as Rome, Naples, Odessus, Antioch, and Alexandria.
Of all the games held throughout Greece, the Olympic Games were the most famous. Held every four years between August 6 and September 19, they occupied such an important place in Greek history that in late antiquity historians measured time by the interval between them—an Olympiad. The Olympic Games, like almost all Greek games, were an intrinsic part of a religious festival. They were held in honour of Zeus at Olympia by the city-state of Elis in the northwestern Peloponnese. The first Olympic champion listed in the records was Coroebus of Elis, a cook, who won the sprint race in 776 bce. Notions that the Olympics began much earlier than 776 bce are founded on myth, not historical evidence. According to one legend, for example, the Games were founded by Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmene.
Competition and status
At the meeting in 776 bce there was apparently only one event, a footrace that covered one length of the track at Olympia, but other events were added over the ensuing decades. The race, known as the stade, was about 192 metres (210 yards) long. The word stade also came to refer to the track on which the race was held and is the origin of the modern English word stadium. In 724 bce a two-length race, the diaulos, roughly similar to the 400-metre race, was included, and four years later the dolichos, a long-distance race possibly comparable to the modern 1,500- or 5,000-metre events, was added. Wrestling and the pentathlon were introduced in 708 bce. The latter was an all-around competition consisting of five events—the long jump, the javelin throw, the discus throw, a footrace, and wrestling.
Boxing was introduced in 688 bce and chariot racing eight years later. In 648 bce the pancratium (from Greek pankration), a kind of no-holds-barred combat, was included. This brutal contest combined wrestling, boxing, and street fighting. Kicking and hitting a downed opponent were allowed; only biting and gouging (thrusting a finger or thumb into an opponent's eye) were forbidden. Between 632 and 616 bce events for boys were introduced. And from time to time further events were added, including a footrace in which athletes ran in partial armour and contests for heralds and for trumpeters. The program, however, was not nearly so varied as that of the modern Olympics. There were neither team games nor ball games, and the athletics (track and field) events were limited to the four running events and the pentathlon mentioned above. Chariot races and horse racing, which became part of the ancient Games, were held in the hippodrome south of the stadium.
In the early centuries of Olympic competition, all the contests took place on one day; later the Games were spread over four days, with a fifth devoted to the closing-ceremony presentation of prizes and a banquet for the champions. In most events the athletes participated in the nude. Through the centuries scholars have sought to explain this practice. Theories have ranged from the eccentric (to be nude in public without an erection demonstrated self-control) to the usual anthropological, religious, and social explanations, including the following: (1) nudity bespeaks a rite of passage, (2) nudity was a holdover from the days of hunting and gathering, (3) nudity had, for the Greeks, a magical power to ward off harm, and (4) public nudity was a kind of costume of the upper class. Historians grasp at dubious theories because, in Judeo-Christian society, to compete nude in public seems odd, if not scandalous. Yet ancient Greeks found nothing shameful about nudity, especially male nudity. Therefore, the many modern explanations of Greek athletic nudity are in the main unnecessary.
The Olympic Games were technically restricted to freeborn Greeks. Many Greek competitors came from the Greek colonies on the Italian peninsula and in Asia Minor and Africa. Most of the participants were professionals who trained full-time for the events. These athletes earned substantial prizes for winning at many other preliminary festivals, and, although the only prize at Olympia was a wreath or garland, an Olympic champion also received widespread adulation and often lavish benefits from his home city.
Women and the Olympic Games
Although there were no women's events in the ancient Olympics, several women appear in the official lists of Olympic victors as the owners of the stables of some victorious chariot entries. In Sparta, girls and young women did practice and compete locally. But, apart from Sparta, contests for young Greek women were very rare and probably limited to an annual local footrace. At Olympia, however, the Herean festival, held every four years in honour of the goddess Hera, included a race for young women, who were divided into three age groups. Yet the Herean race was not part of the Olympics (they took place at another time of the year) and probably was not instituted before the advent of the Roman Empire. Then for a brief period girls competed at a few other important athletic venues.
The 2nd-century-ce traveler Pausanias wrote that women were banned from Olympia during the actual Games under penalty of death. Yet he also remarked that the law and penalty had never been invoked. His account later incongruously stated that unmarried women were allowed as Olympic spectators. Many historians believe that a later scribe simply made an error copying this passage of Pausanias's text here. Nonetheless, the notion that all or only married women were banned from the Games endured in popular writing on the topic, though the evidence regarding women as spectators remains unclear.
Demise of the Olympics
Greece lost its independence to Rome in the middle of the 2nd century bce, and support for the competitions at Olympia and elsewhere fell off considerably during the next century. The Romans looked on athletics with contempt—to strip naked and compete in public was degrading in their eyes. The Romans realized the political value of the Greek festivals, however, and Emperor Augustus staged games for Greek athletes in a temporary wooden stadium erected near the Circus Maximus in Rome and instituted major new athletic festivals in Italy and in Greece. Emperor Nero was also a keen patron of the festivals in Greece, but he disgraced himself and the Olympic Games when he entered a chariot race, fell off his vehicle, and then declared himself the winner anyway.
Romans neither trained for nor participated in Greek athletics. Roman gladiator shows and team chariot racing were not related to the Olympic Games or to Greek athletics. The main difference between the Greek and Roman attitudes is reflected in the words each culture used to describe its festivals: for the Greeks they were contests (agōnes), while for the Romans they were games (ludi). The Greeks originally organized their festivals for the competitors, the Romans for the public. One was primarily competition, the other entertainment. The Olympic Games were finally abolished about 400 ce by the Roman emperor Theodosius I or his son because of the festival's pagan associations.
The modern Olympic movement
Revival of the Olympics
The ideas and work of several people led to the creation of the modern Olympics. The best-known architect of the modern Games was Pierre, baron de Coubertin, born in Paris on New Year's Day, 1863. Family tradition pointed to an army career or possibly politics, but at age 24 Coubertin decided that his future lay in education, especially physical education. In 1890 he traveled to England to meet Dr. William Penny Brookes, who had written some articles on education that attracted the Frenchman's attention. Brookes also had tried for decades to revive the ancient Olympic Games, getting the idea from a series of modern Greek Olympiads held in Athens starting in 1859. The Greek Olympics were founded by Evangelis Zappas, who, in turn, got the idea from Panagiotis Soutsos, a Greek poet who was the first to call for a modern revival and began to promote the idea in 1833. Brookes's first British Olympiad, held in London in 1866, was successful, with many spectators and good athletes in attendance. But his subsequent attempts met with less success and were beset by public apathy and opposition from rival sporting groups. Rather than give up, in the 1880s Brookes began to argue for the founding of international Olympics in Athens.
When Coubertin sought to confer with Brookes about physical education, Brookes talked more about Olympic revivals and showed him documents relating to both the Greek and the British Olympiads. He also showed Coubertin newspaper articles reporting his own proposal for international Olympic Games. On November 25, 1892, at a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris, with no mention of Brookes or these previous modern Olympiads, Coubertin himself advocated the idea of reviving the Olympic Games, and he propounded his desire for a new era in international sport when he said:
Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally.
He then asked his audience to help him in "the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games." The speech did not produce any appreciable activity, but Coubertin reiterated his proposal for an Olympic revival in Paris in June 1894 at a conference on international sport attended by 79 delegates representing 49 organizations from 9 countries. Coubertin himself wrote that, except for his coworkers Dimítrios Vikélas of Greece, who was to be the first president of the International Olympic Committee, and Professor William M. Sloane of the United States, from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), no one had any real interest in the revival of the Games. Nevertheless, and to quote Coubertin again, "a unanimous vote in favour of revival was rendered at the end of the Congress chiefly to please me."
It was at first agreed that the Games should be held in Paris in 1900. Six years seemed a long time to wait, however, and it was decided (how and by whom remains obscure) to change the venue to Athens and the date to April 1896. A great deal of indifference, if not opposition, had to be overcome, including a refusal by the Greek prime minister to stage the Games at all. But when a new prime minister took office, Coubertin and Vikélas were able to carry their point, and the Games were opened by the king of Greece in the first week of April 1896, on Greek Independence Day (which was on March 25 according to the Julian calendar then in use in Greece).
The International Olympic Committee
At the Congress of Paris in 1894, the control and development of the modern Olympic Games were entrusted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC; Comité International Olympique). During World War I Coubertin moved its headquarters to Lausanne, Switzerland, where they have remained. The IOC is responsible for maintaining the regular celebration of the Olympic Games, seeing that the Games are carried out in the spirit that inspired their revival, and promoting the development of sports throughout the world. The original committee in 1894 consisted of 14 members and Coubertin.
IOC members are regarded as ambassadors from the committee to their national sports organizations. They are in no sense delegates to the committee and may not accept, from the government of their country or from any organization or individual, any instructions that in any way affect their independence.
The IOC is a permanent organization that elects its own members. Reforms in 1999 set the maximum membership at 115, of whom 70 are individuals, 15 current Olympic athletes, 15 national Olympic committee presidents, and 15 international sports federation presidents. The members are elected to renewable eight-year terms, but they must retire at age 70. Term limits were also applied to future presidents.
The IOC elects its president for a period of eight years, at the end of which the president is eligible for reelection for further periods of four years each. The executive board of 15 members holds periodic meetings with the international federations and national Olympic committees. The IOC as a whole meets annually, and a meeting can be convened at any time that one-third of the members so request.
|Dimítrios Vikélas
|Pierre, baron de Coubertin
|Henri, comte de Baillet-Latour
|J. Sigfrid Edström
|Avery Brundage
|United States
|Michael Morris, Lord Killanin
|Juan António Samaranch
|Jacques Rogge
|Thomas Bach
The awarding of the Olympic Games
The honour of holding the Olympic Games is entrusted to a city, not to a country. The choice of the city lies solely with the IOC. Application to hold the Games is made by the chief authority of the city, with the support of the national government.
Applications must state that no political meetings or demonstrations will be held in the stadium or other sports grounds or in the Olympic Village. Applicants also promise that every competitor shall be given free entry without any discrimination on grounds of religion, colour, or political affiliation. This involves the assurance that the national government will not refuse visas to any of the competitors. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, however, the Canadian government refused visas to the representatives of Taiwan because they were unwilling to forgo the title of the Republic of China, under which their national Olympic committee had been admitted to the IOC. This Canadian decision, in the opinion of the IOC, did great damage to the Olympic Games, and it was later resolved that any country in which the Games are organized must undertake to strictly observe the rules. It was acknowledged that enforcement would be difficult, and even the use of severe penalties by the IOC might not guarantee elimination of infractions.
|Summer Games
|Winter Games
|*The Winter Games were not held until 1924.
|**Games were not held during World War I and World War II.
|***From 1992 the Summer and Winter Games were held on a staggered two-year schedule.
|St. Louis, Mo., U.S.
|Antwerp, Belg.
|Chamonix, France
|St. Moritz, Switz.
|Los Angeles
|Lake Placid, N.Y., U.S.
|Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ger.
|St. Moritz, Switz.
|Helsinki, Fin.
|Oslo, Nor.
|Melbourne, Austl.
|Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
|Squaw Valley, Calif., U.S.
|Innsbruck, Austria
|Mexico City
|Grenoble, France
|Munich, W.Ger.
|Sapporo, Japan
|Innsbruck, Austria
|Lake Placid, N.Y., U.S.
|Los Angeles
|Sarajevo, Yugos.
|Seoul, S.Kor.
|Calgary, Alta., Can.
|Barcelona, Spain
|Albertville, France
|Lillehammer, Nor.
|Atlanta, Ga., U.S.
|Nagano, Japan
|Sydney, Austl.
|Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
|Turin, Italy
|Vancouver, B.C., Can.
|Sochi, Russia
|Rio de Janeiro
|P'yŏngch'ang, S.Kor.
|Los Angeles
In December 1998 the sporting world was shocked by allegations of widespread corruption within the IOC. It was charged that IOC members had accepted bribes—in the form of cash, gifts, entertainment, business favours, travel expenses, medical expenses, and even college tuition for members' children—from members of the committee that had successfully advanced the bid of Salt Lake City, Utah, as the site for the 2002 Winter Games. Accusations of impropriety were also alleged in the conduct of several previous bid committees. The IOC responded by expelling six committee members; several others resigned. In December 1999 an IOC commission announced a 50-point reform package covering the selection and conduct of the IOC members, the bid process, the transparency of financial dealings, the size and conduct of the Games, and drug regulation. The reform package also contained a number of provisions regulating the site-selection process and clarifying the obligations of the IOC, the bid cities, and the national Olympic committees. An independent IOC Ethics Commission also was established.
Political pressures
Because the Olympics take place on an international stage, it is not surprising that they have been plagued by the nationalism, manipulation, and propaganda associated with world politics. Attempts to politicize the Olympics were evident as early as the first modern Games at Athens in 1896, when the British compelled an Australian athlete to declare himself British. Other prominent examples of the politicization of the Games include the Nazi propaganda that pervaded the Berlin Games of 1936; the Soviet-Hungarian friction at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, which followed shortly after the U.S.S.R. had brutally suppressed a revolution in Hungary that year; the forbidden, unofficial, but prominent contests for "points" (medals counts) between the United States and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War; the controversy between China and Taiwan leading up to the 1976 Montreal Games; the manifold disputes resulting from South Africa's apartheid policy from 1968 to 1988; the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games (in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979), followed by the retaliatory boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games by the Soviet bloc; and, worst of all, the murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists at the 1972 Games in Munich, West Germany.
Even national politics has affected the Games, most notably in 1968 in Mexico City, where, shortly before the Games opened, Mexican troops fired upon Mexican students (killing hundreds) who were protesting government expenditures on the Olympics while the country had pressing social problems. Political tension within the United States also boiled to the top at Mexico City when African American athletes either boycotted the Games or staged demonstrations to protest continuing racism at home.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the IOC sought to more actively promote peace through sports. The IOC and relevant Olympic organizing committees worked with political leaders to allow the participation of former Yugoslav republics at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, as well as the participation of East Timorese and Palestinian athletes at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia. In 2000 the IOC revived and modernized the ancient Olympic truce, making it the focal point of its peace initiatives. (See Sidebar: The Olympic Truce.)
Commercialism has never been wholly absent from the Games, but two large industries have eclipsed all others—namely, television and makers of sports apparel, especially shoes. The IOC, organizing committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs), and to some degree the international sport federations depend heavily on television revenues, and many of the best athletes depend on money from apparel endorsements. Vigorous bidding for the television rights began in earnest before the Rome Games in 1960; what have been called the "sneaker wars" started an Olympiad later in Tokyo.
The Los Angeles Games of 1984, however, ushered in a new Olympic era. In view of Montreal's huge financial losses from the 1976 Olympics, Peter Ueberroth, head of the Los Angeles OCOG, sold exclusive "official sponsor" rights to the highest bidder in a variety of corporate categories. Now almost everything is commercialized with "official" items ranging from credit cards to beer. And while American decathlete Bill Toomey lost his Olympic eligibility in 1964 for endorsing a nutritional supplement, now athletes openly endorse everything from allergy medicines to blue jeans.
National Olympic committees, international federations, and organizing committees
Each country that desires to participate in the Olympic Games must have a national Olympic committee accepted by the IOC. By the early 21st century, there were more than 200 such committees.
A national Olympic committee (NOC) must be composed of at least five national sporting federations, each affiliated with an appropriate international federation. The ostensible purpose of these NOCs is the development and promotion of the Olympic movement. NOCs arrange to equip, transport, and house their country's representatives at the Olympic Games. According to the rules of the NOCs, they must be not-for-profit organizations, must not associate themselves with affairs of a political or commercial nature, and must be completely independent and autonomous as well as in a position to resist all political, religious, or commercial pressure.
For each Olympic sport there must be an international federation (IF), to which a requisite number of applicable national governing bodies must belong. The IFs promote and regulate their sport on an international level. Since 1986 they have been responsible for determining all questions of Olympic eligibility and competition in their sport. The International Federation of Rowing Associations was founded in 1892, even before the IOC. In 1912 Sigfrid Edström, later president of the IOC, founded the IF for athletics (track and field), the earliest of Olympic sports and perhaps the Games' special focus. Because such sports as football (soccer) and basketball attract great numbers of participants and spectators in all parts of the world, their respective IFs possess great power and sometimes exercise it.
When the IOC awards the Olympic Games to a city, an organizing committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) replaces the successful bid committee, often including many of that committee's members. Although the IOC retains ultimate authority over all aspects of an Olympiad, the local OCOG has full responsibility for the festival, including finance, facilities, staffing, and accommodations.
In Paris in 1924, a number of cabins were built near the stadium to house visiting athletes; the complex was called "Olympic Village." But the first Olympic Village with kitchens, dining rooms, and other amenities was introduced at Los Angeles in 1932. Now each organizing committee provides such a village so that competitors and team officials can be housed together and fed at a reasonable price. Menus for each team are prepared in accord with its own national cuisine. Today, with so many athletes and venues, OCOGs may need to provide more than one village. The villages are located as close as possible to the main stadium and other venues and have separate accommodations for men and women. Only competitors and officials may live in the village, and the number of team officials is limited.
Programs and participation
The Olympic Games celebrate an Olympiad, or period of four years. The first Olympiad of modern times was celebrated in 1896, and subsequent Olympiads are numbered consecutively, even when no Games take place (as was the case in 1916, 1940, and 1944).
Olympic Winter Games have been held separately from the Games of the Olympiad (Summer Games) since 1924 and were initially held in the same year. In 1986 the IOC voted to alternate the Winter and Summer Games every two years, beginning in 1994. The Winter Games were held in 1992 and again in 1994 and thereafter every four years; the Summer Games maintained their original four-year cycle.
The maximum number of entries permitted for individual events is three per country. The number is fixed (but can be varied) by the IOC in consultation with the international federation concerned. In most team events only one team per country is allowed. In general, an NOC may enter only a citizen of the country concerned. There is no age limit for competitors unless one has been established by a sport's international federation. No discrimination is allowed on grounds of "race," religion, or political affiliation. The Games are contests between individuals and not between countries.
The Summer Olympic program includes the following sports: aquatics (including swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, and water polo), archery, athletics (track and field), badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian sports, fencing, field hockey, football (soccer), golf, gymnastics (including artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline), team handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing (formerly yachting), shooting, table tennis, tae kwon do, tennis, triathlon, volleyball (indoor and beach), weightlifting, and wrestling. Women participate in all these sports, whereas men do not compete in synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics. The Winter Olympic program includes sports played on snow or ice: biathlon, bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, ice skating (figure skating and speed skating), luge, skeleton sledding, skiing, ski jumping, and snowboarding. Athletes of either gender may compete in all these sports. An Olympic program must include national exhibitions and demonstrations of fine arts (architecture, literature, music, painting, sculpture, photography, and sports philately).
The particular events included in the different sports are a matter for agreement between the IOC and the international federations. In 2005 the IOC reviewed the summer sports program, and members voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games. While sports such as rugby and karate were considered, none won the 75 percent favourable vote needed for inclusion. In 2009 the IOC voted to add women's boxing to the 2012 program, as well as golf and rugby sevens to the 2016 program. Baseball and softball were added back to the program for the 2020 Games, and karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing were also added.
To be allowed to compete, an athlete must meet the eligibility requirements as defined by the international body of the particular sport and also by the rules of the IOC.
Amateurism versus professionalism
In the final decades of the 20th century there was a shift in policy away from the IOC's traditionally strict definition of amateur status. In 1971 the IOC decided to eliminate the term amateur from the Olympic Charter. Subsequently the eligibility rules were amended to permit "broken-time" payments to compensate athletes for time spent away from work during training and competition. The IOC also legitimized the sponsorship of athletes by NOCs, sports organizations, and private businesses. In 1984 some of the world's best athletes were still banned from the Games because they competed for money, but in 1986 the IOC adopted rules that permit the international federation governing each Olympic sport to decide whether to permit professional athletes in Olympic competition. Professionals in ice hockey, tennis, soccer, and equestrian sports were permitted to compete in the 1988 Olympics, although their eligibility was subject to some restrictions. By the 21st century the presence of professional athletes at the Olympic Games was common.
Doping and drug testing
At the 1960 Rome Olympics, a Danish cyclist collapsed and died after his coach had given him amphetamines. Formal drug tests seemed necessary and were instituted at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France. There only one athlete was disqualified for taking a banned substance—beer. But in the 1970s and ′80s athletes tested positive for a variety of performance-enhancing drugs, and since the ′70s doping has remained the most difficult challenge facing the Olympic movement. As the fame and potential monetary gains for Olympic champions grew in the latter half of the 20th century, so too did the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Tests for anabolic steroids and other substances improved, but so did doping practices, with the design of new substances often a year or two ahead of the new tests. When 100-metre-sprint champion Ben Johnson of Canada tested positive for the drug stanozolol at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, the world was shocked, and the Games themselves were tainted. To more effectively police doping practices, the IOC formed the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999. There is now a long list of banned substances and a thorough testing process. Blood and urine samples are collected from athletes before and after competition and sent to a lab for testing. Positive tests for banned substances lead to disqualification, and athletes may be banned from competition for periods ranging from a year to life. Yet, despite the harsh penalties and threat of public humiliation, athletes continue to test positive for banned substances; in 2016, for instance, the entire Russian track-and-field team was banned from that year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics after a wide-ranging state-supported doping ring was uncovered.
Ritual and symbolism
Olympic ceremonies
The opening ceremony
The form of the opening ceremony is laid down by the IOC in great detail, from the moment when the chief of state of the host country is received by the president of the IOC and the organizing committee at the entrance to the stadium to the end of the proceedings, when the last team files out.
When the head of state has reached the appointed place in the tribune and is greeted with the national anthem, the parade of competitors begins. The Greek team is always the first to enter the stadium, and, except for the host team, which is always last, the other countries follow in alphabetical order as determined by the language of the organizing country. Each contingent, dressed in its official uniform, is preceded by a shield with the name of its country, while an athlete carries its national flag. At the 1980 Games, some of the countries protesting the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the previous year carried the Olympic flag in place of their national flag, in deference to a boycott of those Games by other countries. The competitors march around the stadium and then form in groups in the centre facing the tribune.
The president of the OCOG then delivers a brief speech of welcome, followed by another brief speech from the president of the IOC, who asks the chief of state to proclaim the Games open.
A fanfare of trumpets sound as the Olympic flag is slowly raised. The Olympic flame is then carried into the stadium by the last of a series of runners who have brought the torch on a very long journey from Olympia, Greece. The runner circles the track, mounts the steps, and lights the Olympic fire that burns night and day during the Games.
The medal ceremonies
In individual Olympic events, the award for first place is a gold (silver-gilt, with six grams of fine gold) medal, for second place a silver medal, and for third place a bronze medal. Solid gold medals were last given in 1912. The obverse side of the medal awarded in 2004 at Athens was altered for the first time since 1928 to better reflect the Greek origins of both the ancient and modern Games, depicting the goddess Nike flying above a Greek stadium. The reverse side, changed for each Olympiad, often displayed the official emblem of the particular Games. At the 2004 Athens Games, athletes received authentic olive-leaf crowns as well as medals. Diplomas are awarded for fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth places. All competitors and officials receive a commemorative medal.
Medals are presented during the Games at the various venues, usually soon after the conclusion of each event. The competitors who have won the first three places proceed to the rostrum, with the gold medalist in the centre, the silver medalist on his or her right, and the bronze medalist on the left. Each medal, attached to a ribbon, is hung around the neck of the winner by a member of the IOC, and the flags of the countries concerned are raised to the top of the flagpoles while an abbreviated form of the national anthem of the gold medalist is played. The spectators are expected to stand and face the flags, as do the three successful athletes.
The closing ceremony
The closing ceremony takes place after the final event, which at the Summer Games is usually the equestrian Prix des Nations. The president of the IOC calls the youth of the world to assemble again in four years to celebrate the Games of the next Olympiad. A fanfare is sounded, the Olympic fire is extinguished, and, to the strains of the Olympic anthem, the Olympic flag is lowered and the Games are over. But the festivities do not end there. The 1956 Olympics in Melbourne introduced one of the most important and effective of all Olympic customs. At the suggestion of John Ian Wing, a Chinese teenager living in Australia, the traditional parade of athletes divided into national teams was discarded, allowing athletes to mingle, many hand in hand, as they move around the stadium. This informal parade of athletes without distinction of nationality signifies the friendly bonds of Olympic sports and helps to foster a party atmosphere in the stadium.
Olympic symbols
The flag
In the stadium and its immediate surroundings, the Olympic flag is flown freely together with the flags of the participating countries. The Olympic flag presented by Coubertin in 1914 is the prototype: it has a white background, and in the centre there are five interlaced rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The blue ring is farthest left, nearest the pole. These rings represent the "five parts of the world" joined together in the Olympic movement.
The motto
In the 19th century, sporting organizations regularly chose a distinctive motto. As the official motto of the Olympic Games, Coubertin adopted "Citius, altius, fortius," Latin for "Faster, higher, stronger," a phrase apparently coined by his friend Henri Didon, a friar, teacher, and athletics enthusiast. Some people are now wary of this motto, fearing that it may be misinterpreted as a validation of performance-enhancing drugs. Equally well known is the saying known as the "credo": "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to participate." Coubertin made that statement on a day when the British and Americans were bitterly disputing who had won the 400-metre race at the 1908 London Games. Although Coubertin attributed the words to Ethelbert Talbot, an American bishop, recent research suggests that the words are Coubertin's own, that he tactfully cited Talbot so as not to appear to admonish personally his English-speaking friends.
The flame and torch relay
Contrary to popular belief, the torch relay from the temple of Hera in Olympia to the host city has no predecessor or parallel in antiquity. No relay was needed to run the torch from Olympia to Olympia. A perpetual fire was indeed maintained in Hera's temple, but it had no role in the ancient Games. The Olympic flame first appeared at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. The torch relay was the idea of Carl Diem, organizer of the 1936 Berlin Games, where the relay made its debut. Subsequent editions have grown larger and larger, with more runners, more spectators, and greater distances. The 2004 relay reached all seven continents on its way from Olympia to Athens. The relay is now one of the most splendid and cherished of all Olympic rituals; it emphasizes not only the ancient source of the Olympics but also the internationalism of the modern Games. The flame is now recognized everywhere as an emotionally charged symbol of peace.
The organizers of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, devised as an emblem of their Games a cartoonlike figure of a skiing man and called him Schuss. The 1972 Games in Munich, West Germany, adopted the idea and produced the first "official mascot," a dachshund named Waldi who appeared on related publications and memorabilia. Since then each edition of the Olympic Games has had its own distinctive mascot, sometimes more than one. Typically the mascot is derived from characters or animals especially associated with the host country. Thus, Moscow chose a bear, Norway two figures from Norwegian mythology, and Sydney three animals native to Australia. The strangest mascot was Whatizit, or Izzy, of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia, a rather amorphous "abstract fantasy figure." His name comes from people asking "What is it?" He gained more features as the months went by, but his uncertain character and origins contrast strongly with the Athena and Phoebus (Apollo) of the Athens Games of 2004, based on figurines of those gods that were more than 2,500 years old.


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Submitted this photo for DMBLGiT 2007 6, the collection of entries is available here.
Tak loves pickled cauliflower and carrot, it is so much cheaper making them at home. Made these for the second time with the same recipe and added daikon this time. The recipe calls for simple ingredients but produces crispy pickles. The pickles can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 months but I don't think mine will last that long! Tak eats it almost everyday.
1kg vegetable of your choice, chopped or sliced thinly
3-4 bird-eye chili (optional)
2 cup water
2 cup distilled vinegar
1 tbsp coarse salt
½ cup sugar
- In a large bowl, bring together water, vinegar, salt and sugar. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Place vegetables in a separate bowl or container, pour in vinegar mixture just to cover the vegetables or almost cover the vegetable. Cover with plastic wrap or put the lid on and keep in the fridge for 24 hours. It is now ready to serve.
- Transfer the pickles into smaller container if desire.


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uptempo wrote:Both Monte and Biedrens are the building blocks of the future for this Golden State team. It also looks like we have found our other front court player in Matt Barnes.
Don't count on Barnes coming back next year. The way he's playing, someone will give him the mid-level exception, and we won't do that having to re-sign the youn guns.
uptempo wrote:The Western Conference is very competitve and just loaded with talent. If this team were and Eastern Conference team, it could compete with the whole conference except for Miami, Detroit, and possibly Chicago/New Jersey.
Yeah. I'd also rate Milwaukee and Washington as better... but their awful coaches put them on par with us. In any case, we'd be a playoff team for sure.


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Most farmers above a certain age probably received a dose of castor oil sometime in their early lives. From what I remember, we wished we could have poured it anywhere but down our throats.
Back then, dumping it in the fuel tank of a tractor or pickup truck would have been the last thing on our minds. But alternative fuel experts are beginning to ask if doing just that might help meet the nation's growing need for biofuels.
When you mention biodiesel, most people think of soybean or cottonseed oil or something less esoteric like chicken fat. If they're really into alternative fuels, they might list sunflowers or canola, crambe or flax or the oil from tung nuts or tallow trees. But castor oil?
"If you look at the state of Mississippi, soybeans are what we normally think of as oil for biodiesel," says Herb Willcutt, Extension agricultural engineer with Mississippi State University. "But there are a number of vegetable and animal fats that have the potential to be used for biodiesel."
Speaking at a meeting sponsored by the Chemical Producers and Distributors Association in Memphis, Tenn., Willcutt said all of these products yield varying amounts of oil that can be refined and mixed with petroleum diesel (B2, B5 or B20) or used as a standalone fuel.
One reason soybeans usually head the list is that they're relatively plentiful, accounting for about 50 percent of all the vegetable oils worldwide. Another is that soybean growers have been aggressively promoting the use of soy oil in biodiesel through the United Soybean Board and the American Soybean Association.
In general, a bushel of soybeans produces 10.7 pounds or 1.33 gallons of soy oil (compared to 47.5 pounds of meal). So a field that harvests 30 bushels an acre would yield about 40 gallons of soybean oil, depending on the method of extraction.
"They're telling us that out of 36.96 million bushels of soybeans from an average crop in Mississippi, we would expect to be able to get about 26 million gallons of soybean oil," said Willcutt. "That's not all of the soybean oil going into biodiesel; that's the excess above the food demand that's there."
He said studies show that if all of the soybean oil produced in the United States were used for biodiesel, it would meet about 12 percent of the U.S. trucking industry's fuel needs.
"Most cottonseed oil is converted into something else — cooking oil primarily," he said. "Soybean oil would provide a shallow layer in a deep bucket when it comes to use as a motor fuel."
The benefits of growing the demand for soybeans for biodiesel can't be discounted. "USDA marketing studies show that a 100-million-gallon increase in use could increase the price of soybeans about 10 cents per bushel," Willcutt notes.
If the total U.S. soybean crop of about 3 billion bushels per year could be converted to biodiesel, it would produce roughly 4.2 billion gallons or 7.5 percent of U.S. yearly demand for diesel fuel.
The price of soy oil as a biodiesel feedstock ($1.85 per gallon on today's market) represents about 75 percent of the current cost of a gallon of biodiesel, according to Willcutt. Add to that 30 cents per gallon for processing, 20 cents for transportation and 15 cents for other, and "we're saying $2.40 to $2.50 to produce a gallon of 100 percent biodiesel.
"Think about how that compares with the cost of fuel at the pump? After you subtract all the taxes and tax rebates and so on, we're probably at break-even with off-road, on farm diesel at $2.30 to $2.40 per gallon."
Willcutt says that anything that can be done to reduce the feedstock cost of the soy oil below $1.85 per gallon will help make biodiesel more competitive with petroleum diesel.
Using grant money from the federal government, Mississippi State has begun conducting research on a number of alternative crops, including winter annuals like canola, camelina, hesperis, black mustard, crambe and flax, summer annuals such as castor and sunflower and perennials such as tung and tallow trees.
The tallow tree can produce 12,500 pounds of nuts per acre with about 5,000 pounds or 40 percent of that being vegetable oil. The tung tree can yield 8,856 pounds of nuts and 1,770 pounds or about 20 percent oil.
Farmers can harvest about 1,600 pounds of canola per acre. With an oil content of 41.5 percent, that translates into about 111 gallons of vegetable oil. Camelina, black mustard, crambe and flax can also yield varying quantities of oil.
Castor has attracted the attention of MSU researchers because with its oil content at 50 percent and its relatively high crop yield of 1,695 pounds per acre, castor beans can supply up to 141 gallons of castor oil per acre. That compares to 50 to 60 gallons per acre for soybeans.
"Castor oil is a summer-grown crop that fits well in Mississippi and other parts of the southern United States," says Willcutt. "The plants will produce 141 gallons of oil and about 131 gallons of biodiesel. You'll hear various comments about how much fuel you'll get. The rule of thumb is you're putting 10 percent methanol and sodium hydroxide into the process to make biodiesel and coming out with about 90 percent biodiesel after the glycerine is removed."
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One is a former deputy chief of staff for the governor. The other is a former drug councilor turned stay-at-home mom.
Despite their differences, both believe they should go to Tallahassee to represent Cape Coral in the 77th District of the State House of Representatives.
Dane Eagle, winner of the GOP primary in August, will face Democrat Arvella S. Clare on Nov. 6 to fill the seat Gary Aubuchon vacated to run for U.S. Congress.
* Dane Eagle
Age: 29
Residence: Cape Coral
Occupation: Real Estate
Despite not having reached his 30th birthday, Dane Eagle has accomplished much, having worked in Cape Coral in real estate and in Tallahassee in the governor's private circle. He believes he knows the ins and outs of state politics enough to be the perfect representative in District 77.
"I'm tired of seeing my friends and neighbors lose jobs. I have a passion for Cape Coral," Eagle said. "I've worked here and as a deputy chief of staff for Gov. Charlie Crist. I will work 110 percent every day for the constituents."
Eagle's platform consists of the four "Es," economy, education, environment and ethics.
"Ethics is most important. You need to do things honestly. I've seen the good, bad and ugly in Tallahassee," Eagle said. "We need to support existing businesses and help the private sector create jobs by standardizing regulations. We also need more education dollars in the classroom and not in Tallahassee."
After becoming deputy chief-of-staff at age 24, the youngest in state history, Eagle returned home after the economy went sour to help run the family real estate business. He said it's that commitment to work that puts him a cut above the rest.
"I bring to the table a work ethic. I can hit the floor running on day one," Eagle said. "I know Tallahassee and can develop great relationships. I have big shoes to fill to replace Gary Aubuchon, but I bring great experience to Tallahassee."
* Arvella S. Clare
Age: 49
Residence: Cape Coral
Occupation: mother
Arvella S. Clare believes government today doesn't address the needs of the working class in Lee County, and that the focus needs to return them and not the well-to-do.
"We need to participate in government and shift it back to the majority of people and make laws that address the needs of Lee County," Clare said. "If we want to change, we need to change or values and focus."
The top priority of Clare's campaign is education, because she believes that's the only way to get the economy back on track.
"My focus is on public education and get funding so teachers have the resources and training so kids can compete in the future," Clare said. "We need to increase the skills of workers to enhance business in the area."
She said she would also advocate for workers rights.
"They want to dismantle unions and undercut collective bargaining," Clare said. "Workers are under siege and they need an advocate to look at their needs."
With two daughters and a husband who works for the city, and with her previous career as a drug councilor, Clare said she has the life experience needed to better govern.
"I'm a fourth-generation Floridian. My goal was to live independently and prove to my parents their investment in me was worth it," Clare said. "I offer a unique insight with the middle class. My life is here I'm capable of bringing a voice of the middle class to Tallahassee."


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I will be glad to give as best description as I can Peter. First it is 5 1/2 inches tall. It is a vase, the "dimple" at the top is actually a hole. The surface is pitted and has a soft irridescence. The color of the glass is Brown like a brown beer bottle. Now I had heard, can't remember where, that in the early years, Charles did use beer bottles as his culet and the color of this piece would lend credence to that story. In holding it to a strong light the glass itself appears to be full of bubbles. Very frothy in fact. A very unusual piece. Terry
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Powerful storms ripped through Florida on January 17. Tornadoes touched down and left devastation in their wake. It all began when tornado warnings were given for a handful of counties near Tampa Bay. Those warnings bore fruit with intense weather starting early Saturday morning (1 a.m.). WTSP of CBS reported …Read More »
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U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia and Local 1145, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO
Federal Service Impasses Panel
May 18, 2005
Related Index Numbers
4.33 Federal Laws and Programs, Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedule Act
44.322 Conditions of Employment, Schedule, Compressed Workweek
51.3 Federal Service Impasses Panel
The FSIP found that the agency failed to meet its statutory burden to show that a particular compressed schedule had caused an adverse agency impact.
To support its cancellation of a compressed schedule an agency must show that the schedule caused a decrease in productivity, a diminished level of customer service or an increase in costs. The FSIP evaluates the current workplace and not a prospective one.
Case Summary
Seventeen employees in the correctional institution's facilities department worked a 4/10 schedule. The agency contended the schedule resulted in reduced productivity, leading to a decline in customer service as well as a cost increase. According to the agency, employees were without direct supervision for two hours each day. The agency also contended that sick leave usage had increased because employees scheduled medical appointments in conjunction with their off days. The differences between employee work hours and inmates' hours had also resulted in much idle time for employees, the agency asserted. The agency's production data also indicated an increase in the number of pending work orders and a failure to meet work completion rates during one month.
The union claimed the data was exaggerated and much of the problems identified by the agency were not attributable to the 4/10 schedules. The leave issue, for example, resulted from management failures to administer leave properly, the union contended.
The FSIP, seemingly ignoring several issues raised by the agency, explained that the union effectively countered the agency's productivity and customer service argument using data from the agency's own records. The FSIP found the number and percentage of completed work orders and minor work requests at least had been maintained since establishment of the 4/10 schedule. Most telling, according to the FSIP was the agency's acknowledgement that it is meeting strict production standards. The agency predicted an inability to meet such standards in the future, but the FSIP explained that it must rule on the current situation and not predictions.
The FSIP noted that if the agency's prediction of declining performance is accurate it may cancel the schedule at that time, and the matter may again come before the FSIP.
Full Text
The Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S.
Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia (Employer) and Local 1145,
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (Union)
filed separate requests for assistance with the Federal Service
Impasses Panel (Panel) pursuant to the Federal Employees
Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act of 1982 (Act), 5
U.S.C. �� 6120 et seq. , to resolve an impasse arising from the
Employer's decision to terminate a 4-10 compressed work schedule
(CWS) for employees in the Facilities Department (FD).
After investigation of the requests for assistance, the
Panel determined that the dispute should be resolved through an
informal conference by telephone with Panel Member Mark A.
Carter. The parties were advised that if no settlement were
reached during the informal conference, Member Carter would
report to the Panel on the status of the dispute, including the
parties' final positions and his recommendations for resolving
the impasse. After considering this information, the Panel
would take final action in accordance with 5 U.S.C. �� 6131 and 5
C.F.R. �� 2472.11 of its regulations.
Pursuant to the procedural determination, Member Carter
conducted an informal conference by telephone with the parties
on May 9, 2005, but a voluntary settlement of the impasse was
not reached. The Panel has now considered the entire record,
including the parties' pre-conference submissions, and Member
Carter's recommendation for resolving the dispute.
The Employer's mission is to protect society by confining
criminal offenders in the controlled environments of prisons and
community-based facilities that are safe, humane, and
appropriately secure. The U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia
is a high security facility that houses approximately 2,600
inmates. The FD manages the installation's physical plant and
provides repair and maintenance of plumbing, electricity, the
grounds, etc. Inmates assigned to the FD learn skills through
the supervision of unit employees who mentor them in their areas
of expertise. The Union represents about 544 employees, at
grades GS-5 through -11, WG-5 through -9, and WS-7 through -11,
who are part of a consolidated nationwide unit of about 23,000.
The parties are covered by a master collective bargaining
agreement (MCBA) that expired on March 8, 2001; its provisions
will remain in effect until a successor agreement is
In accordance with section 6131 (c) (3) (B) of the Act, the
issue in dispute is whether the findings on which the Employer
bases its determination to terminate the 4-10 CWS in the Facilities Department is
supported by evidence that the schedule has caused an adverse
agency impact.
1/ 5 U.S.C. �� 6131(b) defines adverse agency impact as:
(1) a reduction in the productivity of the
(2) a diminished level of the services furnished
to the public by the agency; or
(3) an increase in the cost of operations (other
than a reasonable administrative cost relating to
the process of establishing a flexible or
compressed work schedule).
The burden of demonstrating that the CWS has caused an
adverse agency impact falls on the employer under the Act.
See 128 CONG. REC. H3999 (daily ed. July 12, 1982)
(statement of Rep. Ferraro); and 128 CONG. REC. S7641
1. The Employer's Position
The Panel should find that the 4-10 schedule in the FD is
causing an adverse agency impact under all three of the criteria
specified in the Act. In this regard, "the department's
decreased productivity has had a considerable effect on the
diminished level of services furnished to the institution and
increased the cost of daily operations." The 17 FD employees
who currently are on the CWS work from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
while the general foremen who supervise them work from 7:15 a.m.
to 3:45 p.m. As a result, "this leaves 2.5 hours per day with
no direct supervision." In addition, "every week the general
foremen are providing coverage to the inmate details because of
minimal line staff on duty." The Employer's concern regarding
the overall lack of supervision within the department is
illustrated by the discovery, in October 2004, of an inmate with
"escape paraphernalia" that was removed from the FD "which is
supervised by staff working" the CWS.
The CWS also has caused a decrease in the responsiveness of
the FD to other departments within the institution. Excluding
lunch, inmates assigned to the FD work 6 hours per day, which
"leaves three unproductive hours for compressed work staff"
where inmates are not being supervised. Moreover, work in the
FD is heaviest on Mondays and Fridays when "most of the staff
[is] scheduled off." Further, as indicated in a Sick Leave
Usage chart compiled by the Employer containing data from 2 001
through 2004, "there has been an increase in the number of staff
making doctors appointments and taking sick leave in conjunction
with their days off" during the period when the CWS has been in
effect (starting in November 2002) compared to the previous
Supervised work assignments "are the most effective means
of reducing the likelihood of violent disruptions" by inmates,
but "when most of the [FD] staff are out on Mondays or Fridays"
there is a "serious gap" in the supervision of inmate work
details. During the past year, on approximately 10 occasions
foremen have had to supervise 3 to 4 details of 20 to 60 inmates
per detail due to staff shortages. This has diminished the
level of services that the FD has been able to provide, and is
"not conducive to a safe and orderly environment for staff or
(daily ed. June 30, 1982) (statement of Sen. Stevens).
inmates." Since the implementation of the CWS in FD "the number
of work orders over 3 0 days old has increased" and the mandated
80-percent completion rate of preventive maintenance per month
has not been met for at least one month "due to the shortage of
staff." Hours of work are lost on Mondays and Fridays because
staff "are accounting for two or more details." Thus, while CWS
provides more hours per workday, those hours are "definitely
less productive."
The lack of correspondence between inmate and CWS work
hours creates approximately 3% hours per day where "staff are
idle, and no work orders are completed." The cost of idle time
is approximately $200,000 per year in salaries, which is
unacceptable "in an age of budgetary restraints." Some FD
employees also have violated the terms of the CWS agreement
negotiated with* the Union by taking paid lunch breaks. Finally,
the CWS in FD should be terminated because it has had an adverse
impact on the Employer's ability to respond during "special
functions such as annual training, leave and emergencies," a
problem that is particularly troublesome given the "age of the
institution and the complexity of the mission."
2. The Union's Position
The Panel should find that the Employer has not met its
burden under the Act of demonstrating that the 4-10 CWS has
caused an adverse agency impact. Its allegations concerning the
need for more staff supervision are exaggerated, given that the
FD staff is highly experienced and "hired for their ability to
work independently without supervision." The 2.5 hours daily of
"unsupervised time" alluded to by the Employer is "misleading"
as the numerous work activities employees perform during that
time "would absolutely not be supervised by the general foreman"
in any case. On the issue of staff supervision of inmates,
"none of the Facilities staff questioned were ever aware of the
general foremen supervising an inmate detail at any time, much
less on a weekly or daily basis," as the Employer alleges.
Further, according to the inmate detail rosters, the average
detail consists of 15 inmates. The suggestion that foremen are
supervising 3 to 4 details, which could consist of 20 to 60
inmates per detail, therefore, is a "gross exaggeration." It
also is "totally false and absurd" for the Employer to assert
that inmates obtained escape paraphernalia because of the FD's
CWS. This is a "supervisory issue not related to compressed
schedules," and the Employer has not "produced any evidence" to
show that "this alleged breach of security even took place."
Contrary to the Employer's contention, a review of the FD's
production data from FY 2001 through FY 2004 reveals that
productivity has gone up, rather than down, during the time that
the CWS has been in effect. While it is true that there was a
reduction in the percentage of preventive maintenance work
orders completed in FY 2 003 (to 80 percent from 86 percent in FY
2 002), the number of completed minor work requests during that
first full year of CWS significantly increased in preparation
for an accreditation review. In FY 2004, the completion rate
was 93 percent, including an overall increase in the number of
completed preventive maintenance work orders. In terms of staff
productivity during hours when inmates are secured in their
cells, employees are required to order and inventory supplies,
complete inmate pay and performance paperwork, prioritize work
orders, contact vendors for supplies, conduct inventories of
tools, and perform area "shakedowns" of shop and equipment,
among other things.
The Employer implies that the use of sick leave increased
as a direct result of the CWS. The data it provides, however,
also show periods after the implementation of CWS where sick
leave use decreased. The data also include family sick leave
associated with a number of unforeseen and tragic events that
the Employer is trying to use to its advantage by "falsely
implying" that staff are abusing sick leave as a result of the
CWS. Moreover, the Employer "did not provide any documentation"
to support its claim that staff are purposefully scheduling
medical appointments in conjunction with their days off. If
employees on CWS have abused sick leave the Employer should have
counseled or disciplined them, but has not done so.
Overall, the level of services furnished to the public has
not decreased in the FD since CWS has been in effect. This is
clearly documented in the monthly reports prepared and forwarded
to the Regional Office that include the quantity and timeliness
of active and completed work orders for the current reporting
period and the fiscal year to date. The productivity data
relied on by the Union are drawn from the information included
in these monthly reports, and indicate that productivity has
increased since the implementation of the CWS. Additional
support for the Union's view that the level of services has not
diminished is found in the latest Program and Operational
Reviews, both of which reveal that "the department is continuing
to function at a very high level of performance."
Any implication that acts of violence within the confines
of the Penitentiary are attributable to CWS should be rejected.
Violence, unfortunately, is a part of prison life, but
"compressed schedules do not affect that one way or the other."
Moreover, the Employer's assertion that there are 3% hours of
idle/non-productive time each day for staff on the CWS "is
false." As indicated previously, numerous duties are performed
during the times the inmates are unavailable, a fact that is
confirmed by the employees' position descriptions. The Employer
also should be required to document its allegation that $200,000
in salary is lost per year because of the CWS. In this regard,
the Employer "has simply thrown out a figure to make an
unsubstantiated claim of increased cost due to CWS."
While there have been a few employees who have taken lunch
breaks in violation of the parties' negotiated CWS agreement in
FD, "this is a managerial issue and has nothing to do with the
compressed schedule." At this point, all employees are in
compliance with the work rules, and the Union has indicated its
willingness to negotiate a lunch break into the schedule if the
Employer wishes to. Finally, the Employer's concern regarding
the lack of staff resources during annual training and holiday
leave periods has already been addressed through the recent
issuance of a memorandum by the FD Manager, which limits the
number of staff that may be placed on leave at any given time,
and does not provide a valid basis for terminating the CWS.
Under section 6131 (c) (2) of the Act, the Panel is required
to take final action in favor of the agency head's (or
delegatee's) determination to terminate a CWS if the finding on
which the determination is based is supported by evidence that
the schedule has caused an "adverse agency impact." As its
legislative history makes clear, Panel determinations under the
Act are concerned solely with whether an employer has met its
statutory burden on the basis of "the totality of the evidence
presented. "-^
2/ See the Senate report, which states:
This burden is not to be construed to require the
application of an overly rigorous evidentiary
standard since the issues will often involve
imprecise matters of productivity and the level
of service to the public. It is expected the
Panel will hear both sides of the issue and make
its determination on the totality of the evidence
Having considered the totality of the evidence before us,
we find that the Employer has not met its statutory burden. In
this regard, the record presented is insufficient to establish
that the 4-10 CWS has reduced productivity, diminished the level
of services furnished to the public, or increased the cost of
its operations. Among other things, the Union has effectively
countered the Employer's allegations with evidence taken from
agency records demonstrating that the level of productivity in
the FD, measured in terms of percentage and overall number of
completed work orders and minor work requests, has at least been
maintained during the period that CWS has been in effect. The
Employer also has not substantiated its claim that the CWS has
caused a decrease in the responsiveness of the FD to other
departments within the institution. Most telling in this regard
is the Employer's acknowledgement that while it is meeting
strict Agency performance standards now, it believes it is
inevitable that those standards will not be met in the future
due to the CWS. The Panel must evaluate the current workplace,
not the prospective. Finally, we are not persuaded by the
Employer's estimates of the amount of non-productive time caused
by the CWS, or the cost of such time to the agency. In our
view, its estimates are not reflected in the statistics
measuring the FD's productivity, which we believe provide a more
reliable benchmark in this case for determining whether adverse
impact has occurred. Accordingly, based on the evidence
presented, we shall order the Employer to rescind its
determination to terminate the 4-10 CWS in the FD.-''
presented. S. REP. NO. 97-365, 97th Cong., 2d
Sess. at 15-16 (1982).
3/ Notwithstanding the outcome in this case, we note that
under the Act, an employer may seek to terminate flexible
or compressed schedules whenever the head of the agency
finds that they are having an adverse agency impact. Panel
decisions regarding particular flexible or compressed
schedules, therefore, do not provide precedents for future
cases, even if they involve the same schedule. Thus,
should the elements supporting the declaration of an
adverse agency impact occur as the Employer believes is
inevitable, the Employer may file another case with the
Panel concerning the termination of the CWS in FD at such
time as it believes its determination is supported by
evidence that the schedule has caused an adverse agency
Pursuant to the authority vested in it by the Federal
Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act, 5 U.S.C.
�� 6131(c), the Federal Service Impasses Panel under �� 2472.11(b)
of its regulations hereby orders the Employer to rescind its
determination to terminate the 4-10 CWS in the Facilities
Statutes Cited