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text: Art Everywhere is coming to the United States in August. Started in the UK by Richard Reed the organization aims to flood the streets with great art. Tens of thousands of posters displaying famous American art will be on advertising billboards, bus shelters, and subway posters from one coast to the other. The 58 works of art chosen to be shown were voted on by the public from a selection of 100 works that were put forward by 5 leading art museums. Continue Reading


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In contrast with many other garden games, the Akiko Pétanque set is so splendidly designed that you don't have to put it away after the game is over. The set has an elegantly integrated teak handle for easy carrying.
W 28 x D 21 x H12 cm
Teak / Chromium plated steel
Blue Fluted Mega gift box with 18 pieces, including: 6 plates 27 cm 6 soup plates 21 cm 6 plates 17 cm
Klaus Rath design for Stelton. Stelton bread basket, 100 % cotton.
Stelton serving tray by Arne Jacobsen in stainless steel Diameter: 33,5 cm
Arne Jacobsen design for Stelton, 1967. All tea enthusiasts will love the AJ Cylinda teapot, a great classic of Scandinavian design, which combines functionality and ease of use to let you fully enjoy your moments of relaxation. The teapot is ideal for serving guests at home, but also sturdy enough to be used in restaurants, tea houses and cafés.
Erik Magnussen design, for Stelton, 1977. This innovative and colorful insulated vacuum jug combines functionality and ease of use to let you take full advantage of your moments of relaxation. The Stelton flask is perfect for welcoming friends at home, or for taking on a picnic, to always have a warm or cool drink within easy reach.
Arne Jacobsen design, for Stelton, 1967. The AJ Cylinda ashtray is an intriguing ashtray, which well thought-out design makes it a functional and timeless object, which attracts the eye. The revolving top allows users to quickly poor the ash and cigarette butts into the lower container to avoid unwanted smells.
Arne Jacobsen design for Stelton.Beautiful creamer in stainless steel or in black plastic, 0,25 L
Stelton sugar bowl designed by Arne Jacobsen.Sugar bowl in stainless steel or in black plastic, 0,3 L
Bertil Vallien design for Kosta Boda, 1992 Satellite bottle in glass. Dimensions: H 435 mm/ Ø 250mm
Anna Ehner design for Kosta Boda. Beautiful Contrast salad bowl in hand-mouth blown glassColors : Black, white, blue, lime, orange, light green
Design Ulrica Hydman-Vallien, 2002H 110 mm / Ø 95 mmColors: lime, green, blue, pink, black, white, orange, petrol.
Design Ulrica Hydman-Vallien, 2002Ø 250 mmColors: white, lime, blue, pink
Glass Snowball tealight by Kosta Boda. Height 70 mm.
Ulrica Hydman-Vallien design for Kosta Boda, 1987. Height 280 mm.
Ulrica Hydman-Vallien design for Kosta Boda, 1988. Height: 360 mm
Alfredo Häbeli design for Iittala, 1999. Origo dessert plate and plate with colored stripes. Available in orange or beige.Dimensions: Diam. 20 / 26 cm.
Alfredo Häberli design for Iittala, 1999. Origo dessert bowl with colored stripes.Available in 2 sizes: 0,15 / 0,25 L.
Arne Jacobsen design for Stelton, 1967. Coffee lovers will cherish the AJ Cylinda coffee pot, a great classic of Scandinavian design, which combines functionality and ease of use so users can always make the most of their moments of relaxation. Perfect for welcoming guests at home, but can also be used by professionals, in cafés and restaurants.
Arne Jacobsen design for Stelton. Pitcher with a rounded area of high quality .
Arne Jacobsen design for Stelton, 1967 Beautiful solid and compact ice bucket by Stelton.
Arne Jacobsen design for Stelton, 1967 Beutiful cocktail shaker, both solid and compact.
Verner Panton design for Georg Jensen, 1988.First produced in silver in 1988, the Panton tray is now available in stainless steel. Sometimes known by the evocative nickname "Car Crash," Panton's tray makes an eye-catching and beautiful centrepiece or serving tray.
Todd Bracher design for Georg Jensen, 2007.The Flora vase mixes curves with slenderness: a contrast often found in nature. The shape is unexpected rather than symmetrical; its asymmetry is also a feature borrowed from nature.
Henning Koppel design for Georg Jensen, 2011.Beautiful and functional HK alarm clock by Henning Koppel.


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As a result of today's votes, the Commission will conduct full reviews to determine whether revocation of the countervailing duty order and antidumping duty orders and termination of the suspended countervailing duty investigation on these products would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time. The Commission's reviews in these cases will be completed no later than December 30, 1999, unless extended.
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act requires the Department of Commerce to revoke an antidumping or countervailing duty order, or terminate a suspension agreement, after five years unless the Department of Commerce and the ITC determine that revoking the order or terminating the suspension agreement would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping or subsidies (Commerce) and of material injury (ITC) within a reasonably foreseeable time. Reviews of outstanding antidumping and countervailing duty orders in existence as of January 1, 1995, began in July 1998.
The Commission's institution notice in five-year reviews requests that interested parties file responses with the Commission concerning the likely effects of revoking the order as well as other information. Generally within 95 days from institution, the Commission will determine whether the responses it has received reflect an adequate or inadequate level of interest in a full review. If responses to the ITC's notice of institution are adequate, or if other circumstances warrant a full review, the Commission conducts a full review, which includes a public hearing and issuance of questionnaires.
The Commission's determinations to conduct full reviews resulted from 3-3 votes. Commissioners Jennifer A. Hillman, Stephen Koplan, and Thelma J. Askey concluded that the domestic group response for these reviews was adequate and the respondent group responses were inadequate and voted for full reviews. Chairman Lynn M. Bragg, Vice Chairman Marcia E. Miller, and Commissioner Carol T. Crawford concluded that the domestic group response was adequate and the respondent group responses were inadequate and voted for expedited reviews.
A record of the Commission's votes on these matters is available from the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436. Requests may be made by telephone by calling 202-205-1802.
The record of the Commission's votes is also posted on the ITC's Internet server at www.usitc.gov (under "Five-Year (Sunset) Reviews"/"Five-Year Reviews Listing"/"Cotton Shop Towels from China"; "Cotton Shop Towels from Pakistan"; "Cotton Shop Towels from Peru"; and "Cotton Shop Towels from Bangladesh").
The Federal Register notice will indicate whether any further information or statements will be available. The Commission will issue a report after it completes its reviews.


text: STS113-E-05437 (2 December 2002) --- Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth�s horizon, this full view of the International Space Station (ISS) was photographed by a crewmember on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour following the undocking of the two spacecraft. Endeavour pulled away from the complex at 2:05 p.m. (CST) on December 2, 2002 as the two spacecraft flew over northwestern Australia. The newly installed Port One (P1) truss now complements the Starboard One (S1) truss in lower frame.


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ReWire Essentials 4: Using Max with Reason
In parts one and two of the ReWire Essentials tutorials, we used Max as both a mixer (hosting application) and "device" (controlled application). These are the two sides of the ReWire connectivity equation, and Max can work equally in both modes. In order to dive into ReWire at a deeper level, let's look at a connection to one of the most-used ReWire packages there is:
Propellerheads Reason
Tutorials in this series:
From Max/MSP to Your Host
(Part 1)
Host ReWire Client Applications
(Part 2)
Subversion with ReWire
(Part 3)
Using Max with Reason
(Part 4)
Download the Max patches
used in this tutorial.
In order to have the most fun with our Max/Reason combination, we are going to do some sequencing and audio processing in Max, and use Reason as a synth/sampling and mixing device. What we *won't* do is run the Reason sequencer or use its recording capabilities. In this way, we'll get to do goofy and interesting Max sequencing and processing (something Max is really good at...), and let Reason handle the synthesis (something Reason is damned good at).
Let's start by creating a very basic connection between Max and Reason.
Unlike what you see in most of the ReWire help files, I'm using the rewire~ object with a named device. This allows me to state explicitly that this is a connection to Reason, and I don't have to mess around with application selection or other confusing UI elements. I connect the outputs of the rewire~ object to an audio chain (live.gain and ezdac~), and I create two message for the input: "openpanel" and "closepanel".
Different ReWire clients work differently, and even the same application not work the same on Windows vs. Mac. In my case (Max OS X, Reason 6.5), clicking on the "openpanel" message will actually launch the Reason application in ReWire client mode, and will be completely active with no other interaction. If I create a Reason instrument (Kong, in this case), I can play that instrument and receive the audio within my Max patch.
Send MIDI Messages to Reason
The next thing we want to do is to fire notes into the Kong instrument using MIDI messages from Max. To do this, we have to send a specially formatted message into the rewire~ object. The format of the message is:
timestamp bus number MIDI message note value velocity value
Since we don't care about sequence timing or routing, our timestamp and bus number are always 0. Since we are sending notes, our MIDI message is always 144. The note number and velocity information is created by a makenote object, which will take our incoming note information and turn in to MIDI note pairs (noteon and noteoff messages). The basic note-playing patch will look something like this:
In order to virtually "play" any of the Kong's pads, just click on one of the message boxes (numbered 1-16).
Sequencing in Max, Playing in Reason
The next step is to create some way to do an interesting sequencing system in Max. Let's start by making a simple drum matrix sequencer that is run off the transport:
In this case, we have a transport-based timing system that uses a counter to output a step position. This goes into a live.grid object (set to matrix mode), then the output is split apart and sent to our input keys. These keys are used to send the MIDI messages from the previous patch to the Kong drum machine. This creates a basic grid-style drum sequencer that can play back Kong without having to mess around with pad programming.
But why program the grid at all. By watching for the first step of the sequence and randomizing the grid, we can have Max do the hard work for us! In this updated patch, I have a compound message that is activated whenever the first step is seen:
At that first step, the message will clear and randomly place one note in each column. But I also want a four-on-the-floor kick drum, so I'm using the setcell message to force the kick to fire on every downbeat. While this is really simple generative stuff, it also is surprisingly good-sounding. In fact, some of the patterns are so good that I don't want an immediate change to the next pattern, so I placed a switch at the output of the generator to allow me to "hold" a pattern until I'm sick of it. (see patch "ReWireAndReason_1.maxpat")
Adding a Second Instrument
Jumping back to Reason, I've now added a second instrument: a SubTractor analog-ish synth. When you create a new instrument, it makes a new track in the sequencing area of application:
If you start our grid-based sequencer, you will hear that the MIDI stream is not routed; rather, the MIDI input is used by whichever track is currently selected. This isn't optimal, so we want to find a way to force our sequence to be routed to a chosen instrument. Performing this sort of routing magic will require two things: MIDI routing setup within Reason, and manipulation of the midi message that we are sending to the rewire~ object.
Let's start with the Reason MIDI routing setup. If we go to the top of our instrument rack, our basic Hardware Interface display doesn't even have anything related to MIDI showing. Clicking on the Advanced MIDI will reveal a MIDI router, which is where we do our dirty work.
In this case, the MIDI Interface shows "No MIDI Input" (because I didn't set it up in Reason's preferences), but that doesn't matter - we will access these devices directly. For the first channel, we set the MIDI routing to the Kong 1 Input; for the second channel, we set the MIDI routing to the SubTractor 1 In (make sure you are selecting the In option as opposed to the Mixer connection). Now, within Max, if we can access the MIDI Bus A device, we should be able to send MIDI to the individual devices - either individually or simultaneously.
Next up is the changes to our Max patch. We need to change the contents of our midi message to route the message to the correct MIDI channel of Reason's interface device. Luckily, the changes are pretty simple using a few extra inputs and some message formatting.
We now use the bus number value of the midi message to choose a MIDI bus: #1 is Bus A (in the Reason Advanced MIDI interface), #2 is Bus B, #3 is Bus C and #4 is Bus D. We also have to adjust the MIDI channel by changing the message number (144 in the earlier example) to the range from 144-159; we do this using a "+ 143" after a channel input to set the channel number. Now, if we select a device number of 1 and switch between midi channels 1 and 2, we can switch the MIDI output between the Kong and SubTractor devices. (see patch "ReWireAndReason_2.maxpat")-
Adding a Second Sequencer
At this point, we can directly access individual Reason devices, so we probably want to have sequencers for each device that match their capabilities. The grid device that we created is perfect for a percussion synth (like Kong), but doesn't really work that well with a standard synthesizer like Subtractor. In order to deal with this, let's reformat our patch a little (in fact, we'll hide some of it inside of an encapsulation to free up some on-screen room), and create a second sequencer that will produce basslines suitable for Subtractor.
You will notice quite a few changes in this patch. First, we've hidden much of our logic within subpatchers (named timing-and-randomize and different-timing-and-randomize) to free up a little space. Since the two sequencers are of different types (live.grid and live.step), we need somewhat different timer/randomizer functions, so peering inside these subpatchers might be useful as you create your own, personalized version of this patch.
The other place where we've tucked in some interesting logic is in the formatter subpatchers. Here is where we format the MIDI messages that properly route the data to the correct devices. It is important that you either make this logic very flexible, or you make sure you are always using the same Reason setup, since the MIDI message formatting is specific to the Advanced MIDI setting of the Reason device set that you use.
Modulation of Reason Parameters
As cool as it is to generatively fire off notes to Reason, we can take Reason even farther if we can automate the parameters of our Reason devices. Not surprisingly, this can also be accomplished by sending MIDI messages (in this case, MIDI CC messages), but we need to know which MIDI controller messages to use, and we need to properly format the messages for the ReWire connection. This first part of this is provided by our friends at Propellerheads; the
Reason 6.5 MIDI Implementation Chart
gives us MIDI CC mappings for virtually every knob, slider and switch of the devices available. We will be referring to this manual extensively in the next section, so it is probably wise to download it now...
Our next addition to the patch is to create a parameter animator. The easiest thing to do - and to hear - is to manipulate the filter. With a few simple additions, we can get an animator that randomly changes the filter 1 cutoff and resonance of the SubTractor synth in time with the rest of the piece. The animator looks like this:
Here we have to use the raw MIDI CC message type (which starts at 176 for channel 1, and here is set to 177 for channel 2), along with the controller number and the value. The value is coming from the random objects, and the controller number is straight out of the MIDI Implementation Chart. (see patch "ReWireAndReason_3.maxpat")
At this point, we've created a pair of unique sequencers and a pair of random number generators, and have them use the rewire~ object to control a pair of devices within Reason. Unfortunately, that's not really why we would want to use ReWire; this same functionality could be accomplished by sending MIDI data through Max's Virtual MIDI ports, and wouldn't require ReWire at all. Where rewire~ becomes necessary is when we want to get the audio out of the devices and further manipulate it within Max - allowing us to hand-roll our own audio processing to create sonic mayhem that couldn't be done within Reason itself. Let's use the audio outputs of the rewire~ object to further mess with our sounds, and see what we can do!
Messing with the Audio Output
We have to start off by changing the patch cord wiring of our Reason Device Rack. Basically, we are going to bypass the built-in mixer, and route the outputs of our devices directly to audio outputs of the Interface. This will allow us to treat the audio of each of the synthesizers separately within our Max patch. (Note: In order to make the back panel more clear, I've removed all of the cables connecting the default effects processors.)
Now, instead of mixing the device outputs in Reason, they are available to the ReWire host: Channels 1 and 2 will be the stereo output of Kong, and channel 3 will be the mono output of the Subtractor synth. Now, let's jump back to the Max patch to subject these channels to some MSP mayhem.
Gaining access to the new channels is pretty simple: we just change the number of channels in the rewire~ object to 3 (to match the outputs of Reason that we are going to use), then use live.gain objects to create a mix of the two devices for our output. The next stop is to create a few idiosyncratic effects processors for the out-bound audio.
There are many kinds of effects available using Max; in this case, we are going to allow the drums to pass through unchanged, but apply a "chopper" effect to the SubTractor line that is in sync with the main tempo. Since all of this information lives within the Max patch, it is easy for us to use tempo, subdivision and content cues from our Max-based objects.
I started by adding a rhythmic "scrambler" to our Kong drum audio (double-click on the kong-rattler subpatcher to see its contents). To do this, I combined the {maxword|name=chucker~} object with some code that will do the basic setup and sequencing for me. What this subpatcher does is watch the transport location, and creates a repeating section occasionally (based on the amount value we provide as an input). You'll notice that my random value selections mean that the number and location of repeats are constantly varying, but the length is always a 16th note. This provide interesting (if not always well-controlled) results.
Next, I added a beat-sync'd bit-crush effect to the SubTractor output inside the subtractor-crush subpatcher. Working with this is similar to some of the earlier beat-sync things we did. In this case, I am tracking the transport, and on sixteenth note divisions I randomly alter the value between 2 and 8 bits.
These are just two simple (but kind of interesting) examples of audio manipulation of Reason's output. It is unlikely that either of these audio processors would ever be created by Propellerheads (or Rack Extension developers) to be included within Reason; thus, being able to design our own crazy effects gives us advantages we'd never otherwise have. Great fun! (see patch "ReWireAndReason_4.maxpat")
Wrapping it Up
Hopefully this article inspires you to extend the Reason environment by using ReWire to connect it to Max. There are a world of things that can occur in this combination, and the results are often very different than you would normally create within the Reason sequencer. But don't limit yourself to this code - alter, add and twist this to create your own creation, and have a blast working it!
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October 23, 2012
Darwin Grosse
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Singapore Healthcare Email List
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text:
If this letter from the late 80's could be performed as a scene of a phone conversation with my Jewish mother, my part would probably go something like this:
Hello? Hi Mom. Ok. Ok. Ok. Oh, right. Ok. Cool. Right. Ugg. Nice girl...right. Alright. What? (Click.) Hello? Mom? Hello? (End scene.)
This is my plan. When I get the ticket from you to go to California on Thanksgiving, I'll stay with you for that weekend. Then, I'll stay with Reva for 3 weeks. The lady near Melrose.
Then, I'll fly to NY on December 26th, stay with Bonnie for 2 weeks. Then, move into the woman's residence in NY and live there while I work at that paper on Wall Street. I can't stay here any longer than Thanksgiving!!! I'd rather be dead. This is no place for a nice girl like me!
So, when I call to make my ticket, it will only be 1 way.
From your Lutheran Mom
Acting Workshops
3 years ago


text:
This morning we were all tight in our trousers over the idea of the Rallycross Volkswagen Beetle driven by Tanner Foust. Alas, at the live reveal today we saw an even better Rallycross Volkswagen: The 7up-Sponsored one.
That is some remarkably baller ass livery on a car that's basically an AWD Beetle with as much power as a Cadillac CTS-V (560 hp). It's even more appropriate because the un-Cola is sponsoring Scott Speed who is, if we're honest, kind of the un-Person.
We like you a little more now, though, Scott.


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My grandson, Jesse, graduated from Buford High School on May 28. I was never so proud of Buford than on the night of his graduation.
During the graduation, God was mentioned so many times by the students and faculty. There were prayers said and the Lord's Prayer was repeated by everyone at the graduation. How often do we hear this in our schools today?
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text:
Today's party feature goes to this sassy PINK GLAM 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Carissa Brown. Such a fun and girly 1st birthday party! Perfect for that little spunky 1 year old. What says sass better than some zebra print and hot pink?! So cute. Love that fuchsia high chair!
Here is what Carissa said about the party- "I planned and hosted this party myself and had the event professionally photographed by Liz Thomas Photography. The theme of the party was anything pink, girly and glam with a little pumpkin twist.
Upon arrival at the party, guest were greeted to a chalkboard arrow sign, from Michael's, that my husband, Chris painted and I made and a wreath with some sparkly flowers. We also placed pumpkins in black urns flanking the entrance that my husband painted with a "1".
The dessert table was dressed in a custom made tablecloth of black & white stripes and polka dots. Chris and I made the pink tissue rosette "D" that we attached to an oversized mirror to create the backdrop for the table. The menu place cards are wooden Halloween cutouts that I painted with chalkboard paint and glittered. Desserts included mini caramel apples, rice crispy pumpkins, sugar cookies, chocolate dipped pretzels, cupcakes and a smash cake. Drinks were served in mason jars with vinyl chalkboard labels and black & white straws garnished with "Delaney", "is 1!" labels that I made.
Guests munched on mummy dogs, fruit, guacamoldy, mac n'cheese and veggies. The homemade mac n' cheese was packaged in cute individual containers creating a unique display. I had a custom runner made for the food table to coordinate with the dessert table tablecloth.
I found a vintage highchair on craigslist, Chris painted it high gloss pink and I made the birthday girl's party hat from a zebra folder. Several weeks before the party I took some celebration photos of Delaney and I enlarged them to display. I placed one in an ornate black oval frame above the highchair to add drama. The party was so much fun!"
Vendor Credits:
Photography: Liz Thomas Photography
Etsy: Braden's Grace – Vinyl Chalkboard Labels
Sweet Shop LuLu – Balloons & Straws
Menu Place Cards – Michael's
Etsy: CustomCutees – Black & White Bloomers
Oval Frame – Ikea
Garnish – Mac N' Cheese Containers


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I ran into the figure of 20% on Monday. Not in the usual way either, which makes it more interesting to talk about. Well, at least to me.
When you post an image to Facebook and you plan to use it in an advertisement (key point there), there can be no more than 20% of the area of the graphic devoted to text.
If it's a regular image that is in a post that you're not boosting or otherwise not being used in a Facebook ad, then there are no restrictions.
Facebook uses a grid system (like the one displayed) to determine the overall text content. You can click here to see their descriptions of how their system works.
That was interesting, as I had a boosted post rejected by Facebook as they said it was more than 20% text. The image was a collage of several social media icons (including Facebook's). Because the icons are all letters, I went over 20% very quickly. It's too bad, because I thought it was a good post, which you can read by clicking here.
Going back to the other 20% you are probably familiar with, I did some reading on Vilfredo Pareto, the economist behind the Pareto principle. This is also known as the 80-20 rule, summed up as "roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes". In 1906, Pareto made an observation that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He also observed that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.
The 80-20 law is the basis for many "rules of thumb" in business. These include the following:
- 80% of company profits come from 20% of customers
- 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers
- 80% of profits come from 20% of time spent
- 80% of company sales come from 20% of products
- 80% of sales are made by 20% of sales staff
This distribution has been found in many fields of study, from wealth distribution to health care to criminology. It has even been suggested by some that the Pareto principle is truly a natural phenomenon. Regardless of whether it's natural or manufactured, it's a convenient principle to work from.
How can you apply the 80-20 law in your business today? If Facebook can apply it in their advertising criteria, there's likely a way it's affecting your business in ways you're perhaps unaware of. The Pareto principle can be a powerful tool to help you in your efforts to achieve more success in business.
Here's hoping you find your 20% today!


text:
ROCK FALLS – The Rock Falls High School board is set to name its new superintendent Wednesday night.
The board interviewed six candidates in three special, closed-session meetings Jan. 5-7. The board then met Thursday in closed session to discuss the candidates and choose a finalist. It planned to meet Friday for the same purpose, but canceled the meeting.
Neither Superintendent Jane Eichman nor board president Merle Gaulrapp returned phone calls Monday seeking more information about the incoming superintendent or the candidate pool from which he or she was chosen.
Eichman announced her retirement in September. Her last day will be June 28.
Eichman has been a superintendent 10 years: 7 at Rock Falls High School and 3 at East Coloma School. She has been in education 40 years.
The district advertised the position in October and accepted applications through early December.
The new superintendent will start July 1 and will be required to live in the district, according to the ad.
To attend
The Rock Falls High School board meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in room 137 at the school, 101 12th Ave. For an agenda or more information, call 815-625-3886.


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A plasma coil was a component of a starship's engines and of cloaking devices.
In 2151, shortly before the maiden voyage of Enterprise NX-01, a case of valve sealant was beamed up to the ship instead of plasma coils, to Lieutenant Malcolm Reed's chagrin. (ENT: "Broken Bow")
In 2153, magnetic containment on Enterprise was fluctuating, due to the Sphere-Builder test subject trying to destroy Enterprise by destabilizing the magnetic seals on the warp core. Malcolm Reed and Major J. Hayes were able to defeat the Sphere-Builder by reversing the polarity of the plasma coils to trigger a feedback pulse. (ENT: "Harbinger")
While visiting Deep Space 9 in 2369, Geordi La Forge was interested in purchasing a 21st century Ktarian plasma coil that he found in a shop on the Promenade in near perfect condition. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I")
In 2370, Data initialized the plasma induction coils on an infusion unit while in a cave on Atrea IV trying to stop the cooling of the planet's molten core. (TNG: "Inheritance")
In an unknown, future timeline, the USS Enterprise-D took a hit to its starboard plasma coil from the Klingons, which damaged the ship's cloaking device. Admiral William T. Riker had the Enterprise taken back to Federation space at warp 13, without the cloak. (TNG: "All Good Things...")
Loose plasma coils created large amounts of radiation. A Bajoran transport docking at Deep Space 9 in 2371 had a loose plasma coil, preventing the station from beaming off wounded passengers. (DS9: "Life Support")
The same year, the USS Enterprise-D encountered a D12 class Klingon Bird-of-Prey, which had been retired due to its defective plasma coils. The Enterprise then created a low-level ionic pulse to reset the coil and trigger the cloaking device. (Star Trek Generations)
In 2372, Bejal Otner reported that the plasma coil interlocks were activated when the USS Defiant was conducting tests on Dr. Lenara Kahn's theory of artificial wormholes, which the Federation was interested in investigating. (DS9: "Rejoined")
Fluctuations in the plasma coils could cause a power surge in the warp core. When this occurred, the ship was typically required to take the core offline. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")


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Monthly Archives: April 2012
Working with a Publisher: Case Studies of Successful Photo Book Projects
Joanna Hurley with Andrew Beckham and Brenda Biondo Saturday, March 7 4:30-6:30 pm Location: CPAC Gallery, 1513 Boulder St. Denver Tickets: $10 members, $15 non-members Open to All *** LIMITED SEATING: Reserve your seat today! *** Publishing Your Photo Book: Case … Continue reading
HIP HOP: Portraits of an Urban Hymn
Since its inception in the 1970s, hip hop music and the culture surrounding it has become a hugely influential and popular musical form in America and around the world. Its popularity extends beyond the urban centers where it was born, … Continue reading
THE WORK OF ART: Folk Artists in the 21st Century
The Work of Art examines the role of folk artists in the twenty-first century, recognizing their power as creative and socially responsible champions for global change, connection, and cultural sustainability. Through interviews with folk artists from Mali to Madagascar to … Continue reading
THE JUNGLE AT THE DOOR: A Glimpse of Wild India
The Jungle at the Door is inspired by Joan Myers's encounters with jungles and animals in remote areas of India, and by Kipling's Just So Stories, which she read, as many of us did, as a child. The Jungle at the Door is … Continue reading
RECONSTRUCTING THE VIEW: The Grand Canyon Photography of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe
Reconstructing the View, a four-year photographic project exploring the Grand Canyon, dramatically expands on Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe's previous collaborations, resulting in a diverse body of work distinguished by its diversity, sense of humor, and power. Calling on a … Continue reading
DARK BEAUTY: Photographs of New Mexico
DARK BEAUTY: Photographs of New Mexico By Jack Parsons Introduction by Frederick Turner Originally published in 2011 by Hudson Hills Press and now available through George F. Thompson Publishing. Jack Parsons has been investigating the light, landscapes and cultures of … Continue reading
The Lost Christmas Gift Book-Signing & Exhibition Opening
In conjunction with the recent release of his new book, The Lost Christmas Gift, Andrew Beckham will do a book-signing at Collected Works in Santa Fe. The following day, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art will host an exhibition opening of the images and … Continue reading
Sixty years after his father left to be a mapmaker in the war in Europe, Emerson Johansson received a package that had been lost in the mail for decades. An exquisite book, lovingly handmade by his father, details an extraordinary … Continue reading
Reconstructing the View featured on photo-eye's A Book A Day
RECONSTRUCTING THE VIEW: The Grand Canyon Photographs of Mark Klett & Byron Wolfe is featured on photo-eye's Bookstore homepage today as the Book A Day for Friday, October 26, 2012. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
OCEANSCAPES: One View/Ten Years
OCEANSCAPES: One View/Ten Years By Renate Aller Essays by Richard B. Woodward and Dr. Petra Roettig An interview with the artist by Jasmin Seck Published by Radius Books Fall 2010 For over a decade Renate Aller has been photographing the … Continue reading
What would happen if Publishers banded together and "just said no" to Amazon?
Below is a post I made on the blog for Publisher's Weekly about an article they wrote recently. Read the article here – then, my comments are below. What would happen if publishers–especially the major houses–banded together and "just said … Continue reading
How to Prepare an Artist Statement
How to Prepare an Artist Statement by Kate Ware and Joanna Hurley CENTER's Portfolio Bootcamp, 9-24-11 Before you can write a cogent artist statement, you have to have a really well-thought-out body of work. So first we are going to … Continue reading
HELLAS: Photographs of Contemporary Greece
HELLAS reveals a Greece far more complex than the country captured in postcards of the brilliant, blue Aegean. It is an honest, at times unsettling appraisal of a land with a rich and chaotic history that is also the source … Continue reading
All books in the Selected Backlist have been produced, agented, and/or marketed by HurleyMedia.
Notes on the Artist Statement
One of the biggest problems I have seen consistently during the reviews that I have participated in over the last ten years is that many photographers do not know how to talk or write cogently about their work. (The other … Continue reading
HOOP By Bill Bamberger Essay by Richard B. Woodward Forthcoming from George F. Thompson Publishing Basketball is the only major league and Olympic ballgame that was invented by North Americans. Its popularity in the U. S. is near mythic, matched … Continue reading
HIDDEN ALCATRAZ: The Fortress Revealed
HIDDEN ALCATRAZ: The Fortress Revealed Edited by Steve Fritz & Deborah Roundtree Preface by Peter Coyote Introduction by John Martini Afterword by Thom Sempere Published by University of California Press May 2011 Much has been written about Alcatraz—its infamous history … Continue reading
All books in the Selected Backlist have been produced, agented, and/or marketed by HurleyMedia.
Desert Realty
All books in the Selected Backlist have been produced, agented, and/or marketed by HurleyMedia.


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Along the stretch of U.S. highway where I live, there is a small sign announcing that the road has been "adopted" by the John Birch Society. This fringe group of yesteryear -- whose Dallas members distributed commie-baiting "Wanted for Treason" leaflets of President Kennedy prior to his visit and assassination there -- now sponsors litter removal like any other proper civic-minded organization. The Red-under-every-bed zealotry that Richard Hofstadter dissected in "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" and Bob Dylan satirized in "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" has been rehabilitated. Or maybe it's just been coyly rebranded, given a veneer of halfway respectable populism by the grass-rootsy Tea Party label, as an outlet for "angry minds" who get to cherry-pick among speculations that the president of the United States is a socialist traitor, a foreign agent/illegal immigrant, a secret Muslim, a tool of Jewish bankers, a black Hitler or all of the above.
The sources of such loopy emanations can be partly gleaned from David Aaronovitch's "Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History." With a nod to Hofstadter, but casting a wider, fuzzier net, "Voodoo Histories" runs the gamut from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" -- the anti-Semitic mother of all modern conspiracy-mongering -- to the relatively benign crackpottery of "The Da Vinci Code" and its fraudulent inspiration, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Aaronovitch sets out to discredit junk knowledge, urban apocrypha and a slew of bunko artists: the con men and fantasists behind the disinformation and fake cabals. He also debunks charges Franklin Delano Roosevelt instigated or acquiesced to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, "Truther" assertions that the second Bush administration likewise carried out or at least permitted the Sept. 11 attacks, and claims that the Clintons operated as a de facto crime family -- the Sopranos of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
But if Aaronovitch does a decent job of exposing the lies underpinning these jerry-built myths, his peevish, plodding common sense is hardly a match for the burning near-religiosity that not only makes a Communion wafer of JFK's assassination, but also extends to the overdose death of one-time Kennedy paramour Marilyn Monroe. It's a writhing snake pit of incestuous connections: Did the mob whack Kennedy as payback, or stage the troublesome Monroe's death as a favor to the Kennedys? Was Oswald a brainwashed tool of the KGB or the CIA, a convenient patsy for the Cubans (either pro- or anti-Castro) or the Texans? How many sharpshooters could fit on a grassy knoll? (What about Monroe's ex-husband Joltin' Joe DiMaggio as the second gunman? A man who'd had a 56-game hitting streak certainly would have the eye-hand coordination for the job.) Excavating the visceral, reductive urges of the "I want to believe" mind-set -- the need to translate everything into the neat pieces of some gigantic X-File -- isn't Aaronovitch's strongest suit.
Scanning the milieu of "government by hallucination," Francis Wheen's "Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Age of Paranoia" more effectively captures how conspiracy theories and botched conspiracies such as Watergate entered the collective psyche. Throughout the decade, dark mutterings and dreadful events, like a backdoor form of pop culture, seemed to mutually reinforce everyone's worst suspicions. Moving at a detoxified Hunter Thompson clip, Wheen's travelogue frames the 1970s as an era of institutional collapse, unstable officials, general irrationalism (widespread interest in UFOs, psychic phenomena, mad cults) and terror: the Irish Republican Army's bombing campaign in Britain, the Black September massacre at the Munich Olympics, the Zippy the Pinhead antics of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, and the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Wheen cheekily plays off conceits such as Tom Wolfe's coinage "the 'Me' Decade" and Christopher Lasch's "The Culture of Narcissism," renaming the 1970s the "Them decade." Richard Nixon and his enemies list top the paranoiac charts, of course, lashing out in directions that inevitably intersect with Aaronovitch's voodoo-history practitioners. What Wheen calls "my beloved Watergate" was almost too good and circular to be true -- Nixon's conspiracy to wiretap his foes is ultimately confirmed because he also wiretapped himself, raising the notion of being your own worst enemy to a warped art form.
Equally loaded is the sort of reciprocity "Strange Days Indeed" uncovers between the stalker Arthur Bremer and his target Nixon. A textbook bundle of rage and resentments, Bremer elected to bypass his fixation on "Nixy" and shoot an easier target -- George Wallace -- instead. A hopeless failure even at assassination, the lone gunman still realized his ambition, after a fashion. Like Nixon, he achieved immortality as a symbol; embodying a certain strain of desperate, bitter impotence, Bremer became the inspiration for "Taxi Driver's" Travis Bickle, who in turn inspired John Hinckley Jr., another smudged carbon copy, to take a crack at President Ronald Reagan. Oswald, Bremer, Hinckley: devolution in action, history as a tale told, and made, by idiots.
But what of the people on the real front lines of conspiracy, the professionals trying to detect plots even as their counter-terrorism programs mission-creep their way uncomfortably close to becoming a conspiracy against individual rights? Shane Harris' "The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State" comes at this dilemma from an unexpected angle: In a fine piece of irony, the author's hero is John Poindexter, a key architect of the post-Sept. 11 surveillance infrastructure, who in an earlier Washington tour of duty was the Reagan security advisor in charge of the Iran-Contra debacle.
Remembering Poindexter from those hearings, where he seemed the very model of an inflexible right-wing "dead-ender," I'd never have picked Poindexter to spearhead massive, highly sensitive intelligence operations. Yet Harris makes a case for him as a more thoughtful, intellectually sophisticated and even technologically visionary figure -- an officer stunned by the 1983 car-bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, so much so that from such a vantage he could already see the writing on the twin towers' walls. Poindexter realized the power of information and quickly grasped that emerging, exponentially multiplying streams of computerized data would transform the outlines of our world far more than any presidency, or any conspiracy.
The most salient thing about "The Watchers" is its feel for the practical reality of intelligence gathering, the operational nuts and bolts of designing and implementing systems that could allow men and women to connect some of the dots instead of merely collecting an infinite and intractably random amount of them. How does someone or something go about isolating particles of genuinely suspicious "transactional information" from the vast indiscriminate ocean of metadata out there? Because the rest of us swim in this ocean too, it becomes imperative that would-be bombers are flagged (none of us wants to end up with our body parts splashed across the evening news) without sucking everyone into the same ominous database for dialing a wrong number or visiting a website or even making a pattern of purchases that might fit some NORA ("Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness") profile.
The challenge for Poindexter, his associates and their teams of "warrior geeks" became to map out "plausible futures" one or two steps ahead of the terrorist curve, beating them to their next move. Scanning horizons for what footprints might be made by disposable cellphones, anonymous e-mail accounts or credit card numbers, they sifted through cyberspace in ways that defied conventional law-enforcement procedures, to say nothing of the Constitution, and made a mockery of traditional, shoe leather-on-the-ground spycraft. Harris is plainly fascinated by their can-do attitude. (He also has a mildly amusing weakness for portentous chapter closings that sound like teasers for next week on PBS' "Frontline.") But he's skeptical of methods that can seem as shadowy and arbitrary as those of the conspirators they track. The great lost opportunity chronicled in "The Watchers" is the "privacy appliance" Poindexter imagined, a way of mining data while shielding individual identities:
[It] would lock private information away in a kind of electronic safe that might only be opened upon order of a judge. The judge would have to find that the government had a reason for thinking this anonymous person might actually be a terrorist. Poindexter called this case-by-case approach to putting names to data "selective revelation."
That's almost utopian, coming from a hardened old hand like Poindexter, but the intelligence community jettisoned the "selective revelation" part of his program in favor of its overarching original designation: "Total Information Awareness," the all-seeing, all-prying eye of a surveillance state composed of black ops (and black eyes) that is potentially watching everything but still missing so many pieces of the big picture. This naturally makes people nervous and feeds conspiratorial thinking, yet what's either most reassuring or most unnerving about "The Watchers" is that the men and women it depicts don't appear to have hidden agendas. For them, technology and not ideology is the overriding concern, a matter of leveling the playing field and harnessing the Internet into one unlimited search engine. The unintended consequences are still rippling into the future, but it's a good bet the warrantless searches and executive orders will leave a scorched legacy that smells a lot like collateral damage.
Of course, conspiracy buffs can only be disappointed in these Watchmen: They seem far removed from the ruthless, implacable uber-spies prepared to orchestrate internal coups, domestic assassinations or even a "digital Pearl Harbor." Poindexter, for all the brilliance Harris ascribes to him, supervised the boondoggle of Iran-Contra. Watergate revealed Nixon not just as a vengeful crook but also as a hapless paranoid. The problem with conspiracies, like everything else, is that they are dependent on human actors, with all their frailties and neuroses and baggage. (The believers are deadlier than the believed-in.)
Things fall apart; the command-and-control center cannot hold. Unless you believe that everything from the Bay of Pigs to the Iraq disaster was designed to fail, thus throwing us off the scent of the Real Killers; then maybe O.J. was telling the truth after all.
Hampton is the author of "Born in Flames: Termite Dreams, Dialectical Fairy Tales, and Pop Apocalypses."


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A Railway Adventure in Eastbourne. Travel behind the famous one-eighth scale miniature locomotives as they meander for nearly a mile around the beautiful country park. Enjoy a pleasant stroll around the five-acre lake where nature and wildlife may be seen in their natural habitats. Relax in the prize-winning tea gardens with a beverage, lunch or Cream Tea from the railway style cafe. Picnic areas, model railways and the Railway Gift Shop. Also for the children is an adventure playground to help let off steam.
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Christine Dolen
Miami singer Mimi J brings the sounds of the '70s to Broward Stage Door Theatre
Miami-raised singer Mimi J is a woman with a powerhouse voice, an appealing stage presence and the ability to get even a relatively passive crowd involved in her show. She taps into all those talents in On the Radio: Sounds of the '70s, a new revue at Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs.
Together with director-choreographer Kevin Black, Mimi J revisits an eclectic array of hits from the 1970s. How eclectic? Try a Stevie Wonder medley followed by three Carole King songs, six ABBA tunes, then two hits by the Carpenters. And that's just the beginning of the first act.
Backed by impressive dancers Joey Lopez and Luke Stockton, the singer serves up her show on a small, simple set. The format works on a legit stage but would be equally at home on a cruise ship. Mimi J's banter about the '70s songs and artists is minimal; instead, On the Radio is all about the music, and the star has the pipes to deliver all or part of almost four dozen songs.
The performer keeps things visually interesting by switching up her costume and wig multiple times, giving her the look of an elegant chanteuse with a bob at the beginning of the show, then finishing up with a wild gown and huge Afro for the Donna Summer-dominated finish. There's even a great visual joke about all the different outfits and 'dos.
Vocally, Mimi J has a rich, low voice a bit reminiscent of Gladys Knight's on her renditions of Neither One of Us and Midnight Train to Georgia. But her voice is also a malleable one. She's a pop balladeer on King's I Feel the Earth Move, It's Too Late and You've Got a Friend. She turns disco diva on the Freda Payne hit Band of Gold, and on Summer's Hot Stuff, Bad Girls and Last Dance. And she brings a soulful sound to Stevie Nicks' Landslide.
What's tougher in the smaller Stage Door theater where On the Radio is playing is getting a participatory rise out of the matinee audience. Mimi J asks for the sound of train whistles on Midnight Train to Georgia, works to rustle up a dance partner and generally tries to keep a back-and-forth involvement with theatergoers who are likely a shade too mature to have been out dancing to the disco originals.
Mimi J, Lopez and Stockton soldier on. But her effort makes another of Summer's hits the show's unofficial theme song: She Works Hard for the Money.


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Panetta Asks Latin America To Stop Using Military as Law Enforcement
PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay – Promising defense ministers from throughout Latin America that the U.S. will help them build their capabilities, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Latin American nations must try to use their police and not their military forces to enforce the law.
Speaking to a conference of defense ministers from the Americas, where militaries are often used to battle drug traffickers and other guerrilla groups, Panetta said the U.S. realizes that it's sometimes difficult to decide if a threat requires the use of the military or law enforcement.
"In some cases, countries have turned to their defense forces to support civilian authorities," Panetta said in remarks prepared for delivery. "To be clear, the use of the military to perform civil law enforcement cannot be a long-term solution."
Panetta's comments were aimed at a number of Latin American countries who turn to their militaries to fight crime or help restore order, particularly for counterdrug operations or other instances to quell violent criminal cartels. But countries here have also, at times, been critical of the U.S. for what they see as a similar blurring of the enforcement lines by America — particularly the detention center at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba, where suspected terrorists have been held since not long after the Afghanistan war began.
We can and we will provide a helping hand, but ultimately civilian authorities must be able to shoulder this burden on their own.
The U.S., he said, can help countries ensure that they improve their abilities while still respecting human rights, laws and civilian authorities.
"We can and we will provide a helping hand, but ultimately civilian authorities must be able to shoulder this burden on their own," he said.
In his remarks during the opening session of the 10th Conference of Ministers of Defense of the Americas, Panetta also encouraged the ministers to approve a new plan to set up a database that will allow the nations to better coordinate their responses to disasters.
This is Panetta's second trip to South America this year, as he works to expand U.S. military cooperation in the region and build on relationships that also can help shore up America's interests in the Asia-Pacific region. He stopped in Perú for meetings with leaders there before traveling to Uruguay.
The database would be at the core of a new system that will help nations organize humanitarian relief efforts in the event of a disaster. The database would allow countries to list the types of aid they are ready to provide and allow the affected nation to choose, in order to avoid duplication and better meet urgent needs.
Officials have said that while there was a lot of assistance sent to Haiti, it wasn't well coordinated and there was a lot of duplication. Defense officials are hoping that the database would solve some of those problems.
"Western Hemisphere nations worked together to provide much-needed help, but we lacked a mechanism to collaborate in real-time and focus our efforts where they were needed most," said Panetta about the Haiti disaster response. Implementing the new system, he said, will help nations be ready to respond quickly when the next disaster strikes.
In his visit to Colombia, Brazil and Chile earlier this year, Panetta underscored Latin America's importance as military partners in the Pacific, where China is challenging U.S. influence in a number of countries. As those defense relationships grow, officials say it can only help U.S. economic and political ties across South America.
Panetta emphasized again Monday that the U.S. does not want to establish permanent bases in the region or take on any dominant role of defending other countries on the continent.
"Our goal is to work with those nations that want us to help them to develop their capabilities so that they can defend and secure themselves. Our interest is to work with you, not against you," he said.
Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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15 November 2011 at 10.10am | Comment on this article
Last week we invited members of Young People in the Arts (YPIA) into the Royal Opera House to witness a ballet rehearsal of Asphodel Meadows with the talented young choreographer Liam Scarlett. YPIA is a forum for young professionals in the industry to meet informally and swap ideas.
Before the rehearsal started we were joined by Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, Tony Hall. I spoke to him about his career to date, what it takes to successfully lead an arts organisation and the future for opera and ballet.
You joined the Royal Opera House after working for many years at the BBC. What was it that gave you the impetus to make that leap?
A bit of chance really. The Royal Opera House had been through five Chief Executives in about four years. It had then been reopened brilliantly by Michael Kaiser, but he had returned to Washington so they had interviews for a successor. I didn't think for one minute they'd go for me but they did - it was one of those glorious chances, which I was very happy to take.
Funnily enough, when you go for that sort of interview, you think there are lots of things that are different between running an arts venue and a broadcasting company. And of course there are, but there are also lots of similarities.
Risk-taking is one - not being able to define with absolute certainty when it's working well and when it's not. Defining what is good in the art that you're doing is as difficult as programme-making at the BBC.
Another similarity is dealing with very devolved ways of working where you depend on teams delivering things. I remember spending some time at management school when I was in the BBC. The American view of leadership is that it's all about leaders: that they do incredible things and work endless hours. Actually I think it's quite the reverse in broadcasting and in this place. You depend absolutely on teams doing things. The conductor Edward Downes, who I met in my first few weeks, said "It's all about teams". I then recalled my first week at the BBC when I was told, "Remember, for you to be successful it depends entirely on a whole load of people to make the programme you want to make".
The differences on the other hand are obvious. You confront your audiences here at the Royal Opera House, whereas in broadcasting, you hope you don't.
It's all very well having a great team, but what leadership is needed to nurture that?
Well, here we're lucky. We have Antonio Pappano who's outstanding as a musical director and Monica Mason leading The Royal Ballet. Beyond that, one of the things I thought about when I came here was that the conversation on the street and in the press was not about the art and it needed to be. It was about the troubles with reopening and battles on the board and difficult times. I felt that we needed to get over that and stress what this place is brilliant at: what people come to see on stage. It is also absolutely crucial to look outwards and see how you're perceived from the outside.
So it's about people, it's about strategy and it's about knowing where you're going. The other thing is creating an environment where people can say what went wrong and talk about it without wanting to hide anything.
How do you facilitate that?
I think by being as open as you can about things that you're not doing right or perceive to be wrong and having a conversation about it.
How do you balance the differing artistic requirements of opera, ballet and ROH2? It can't all be smooth sailing can it?
I'd be telling a whopper if I said it was all smooth sailing. Of course it's not. What I think has happened over the last decade is that we've got to know each other as a team. The whole thing is built around the schedule - everything is booked five years in advance for singers whereas the ballet schedule can turn on a sixpence. Kevin O'Hare is coming in [as Director, The Royal Ballet], we've got some great ideas for the 12/13 season and we can change things. Making sure that the ballet gets fair slots in the schedule is key and the only way to do that is to get everyone in a room to talk about it.
The next stage is to get ROH2 much more integrated into the main stage planning. We've got some fantastic ideas for 2013 with the anniversaries of Wagner, Verdi and Britten and how this building can come together and make big bold statements.
We now talk about 360 degree planning, a broadcasting phrase, and I think this is absolutely core. You look at all the resources you've got and once you've made your artistic decision you want to bring in all these things around it. We now plot exhibitions, online, cinema, big screens and TV so you get the whole panoply around what we're going to do.
One of the things that struck me about the Cultural Olympiad, which I'm chairing, has been how many conversations are now going on between people that have not happened before. One of the things I did was to bring together arts leaders, the BBC, the Mayor's office and the Arts Council – it's meant that the conversations have started to happen and we can build things. I'm sure you feel this - we all get stuck in our various silos because this place is compelling and you could look inwards all the time. But you've got to look outwards.
There's a wonderful event next summer inspired by the Titian happening at the National Gallery. We've got seven choreographers working with three Turner Prize winners, working with the National Gallery and three composers. It's a wonderful statement about risk-taking; putting the artists at the heart of things and we're joining up with another organisation we've never worked with before.


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2012 – FBI testimony on microscopic hair comparison found to be unreliable, starting a review of more than 21,000 cases handled before 2000.
2014 - Crime lab analysts in San Jose were found to be using the wrong chemical to conduct preliminary methamphetamine tests on over 2,500 blood samples from those arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance. The samples were retested, and only seven of those tested showed a false positive because of the different chemical.
2013 – George Souliotes was convicted of setting a house fire that killed a woman and two children in 1997. His conviction was based on arson evidence that has since been discredited. The California Attorney General admitted that the arson evidence used in the case was faulty and that there is no scientific evidence that the fire was in fact arson. Souliotes remains in prison as prosecutors fight to delay his release.
2010 – The California Department of Justice found that quantities of methamphetamine brought in for testing at its Ripon crime lab had disappeared.
2010 – A San Francisco lab technician was accused of stealing cocaine from the city's crime lab. A few months later, the crime lab's drug section was shut down.
7/2009 – Faced with allegations that one of their technicians had mixed up DNA test tubes, the San Francisco crime lab manager denied any knowledge of the mix-up. An investigation by ASCLDL/LAB found that there was indeed a mix-up and all records pertaining to it had been destroyed. A month after the report was issued on the incident, ASCLDL/LAB reaccredited the SFPCDL for five years.
2008 – Analysts at the Los Angeles Police Department crime lab misidentified fingerprints in two burglary cases, leading to an analyst being fired, two supervisors being replaced and three other employees being suspended.
5/2006 – Mark Eastman, a technical reviewer at the Sacramento crime lab had entered a DNA sample that did not meet minimum standards into a law enforcement database and had not rechecked DNA results in other cases. It is standard practice to conduct and document technical reviews of all case files and reports. A technical reviewer is an employee that is either currently or previously a qualified analyst in the methodology being reviewed and performs a technical review of that methodology.
3/2013 – A workplace investigation of the Laboratory Services Division of CDPHE was conducted based on allegations made by a former employee. The report that followed the investigation found that employees were not properly trained, blood-alcohol samples were not tested correctly in some cases, and there was pressure from supervisors for lab technicians to give testimony when they were not qualified to do so. The report also noted a bias in favor of helping prosecutors get convictions as oppose to seeking justice.
12/2009 – A crime lab in Colorado Springs found that hundreds of blood-alcohol tests were reported to show incorrect higher alcohol levels due to testing errors. At least nine defendants were falsely convicted. The chemist involved was fired, but the crime lab was unable to explain how the errors occurred.
8/2011 – Connecticut state crime lab lost accreditation from ASCLDL/LAB because of concerns relating to evidence control, quality assurance, and management. This led to a serious backlog of cases that have yet to be analyzed.
2008 – John Preston, a retired Pennsylvania state trooper, gave fraudulent dog scent evidence in several cases in Florida. Preston was labeled a "total fraud" in an Arizona case, and Preston and his dogs had been completely discredited by 1987. Bill Dillon, who was convicted based upon Preston's dog scent evidence, did not know that Preston had been discredited until 2006 and it was not until 2008 that Dillon was exonerated after spending 26 years in jail.
1/2012 – The Chicago crime lab found through an internal quality assurance check that one of their crime lab analysts had failed to meet the standards for fingerprint analysis. Around a dozen cases had to be put on hold while the fingerprints were reexamined.
2009 – Lavelle Davis was convicted of murder in 1997 with the primary evidence being lip prints found on a roll of duct tape that experts testified matched Davis's lip prints. Nine years later when the circuit court ordered a new trial, new expert testimony stated that lip print comparison evidence is not accepted science. All charges were dropped in 2009.
2012 – A sheriff's detective misidentified a fingerprint, leading to the conviction of an Indiana woman. After eight years in prison, she was exonerated. The detective continues to work at the sheriff's department.
2013 – State chemist Sonja Farak has been accused of tampering with drug evidence, potentially affecting 60,000 samples in 34,000 cases.
2012 – Chemist Annie Dookhan has been accused of falsifying drug sample test results, forging paperwork and mixing up samples affecting at many as 34,000 cases. Since then, 325 defendants have been released and their cases have been put on hold while their lawyers challenge their convictions. Dookhan is believed to have been doing this for years. Dookhan pleaded guilty and in November 2013 was sentenced to three to five years in prison.
2011 – A former Detroit crime lab was abandoned with evidence left in the abandoned building for anyone to have access to. The lab, which closed in 2008, was investigated and it was discovered that the lab workers had been habitually sloppy and had high error rates.
3/2009 – A Michigan prosecutor stated that 147 cases in which people were incarcerated would have to be reinvestigated because of serious lapses at the Detroit police crime lab's firearms unit, which was closed in 2008. Among the reasons cited for the massive reinvestigation: the unit's 10% error rate in ballistic testing, the possible contamination of evidence, and failure to verify that testing equipment was maintained correctly.
2012 – The St. Paul crime lab was discovered to have little oversight, "poor documentation of the testing process and an absence of standardized policies for multiple aspects of its work." This included that they did not follow any written standard operating procedures and may have relied on equipment contaminated by illegal drugs. In particular, fingerprint evidence and drug samples are believed to be unreliable.
2012/2013 – Evidence suggests that Dr. Steven Hayne, a forensic pathologist, testified to help convict two innocent people, and possibly more. He is believed to have made numerous misrepresentations about his qualifications and given testimony on theories that are not accepted forensic science.
12/2013 – A crime lab technician in the New York City medical examiner's office was reported making several errors and overlooking crucial evidence in a number of cases. These errors included mislabeling samples with the victim's name instead of the suspect's name, overlooking stains on clothing of sexual assault cases, not testing stains that they did find, and possibly falsifying reports.
2/2011 – Nassau County's crime lab failed to follow testing procedures and national crime lab standards, requiring that hundreds of cases be reexamined. Nassau County government officials closed the lab soon after discovering this.
5/2010 – A NYPD criminalist was found to have taken shortcuts in testing drugs leading to unreliable results. The criminalist under question tested a substance for cocaine, determined it was negative and instead of retesting the sample, she marked the substance as positive for cocaine, leading all of the samples she had tested to be questioned.
1/2010 – An Erie County lab chemist was fired after falsifying a report that she had conducted tests on a cocaine sample, when she did not actually perform the tests (i.e., "dry-labbing").
12/2009 – A NY Inspector General report for Monroe and Erie Counties found problems with dry-labbing, weight discrepancies, and skipping vital steps in tests.
2007 – Two technicians were found to have been lying about drug evidence; specifically they were dry-labbing and writing reports on tests they had never done.
2010 – Lab workers were found to have failed to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence, including in death penalty cases. It was also discovered that lab technicians had an unfair bias towards prosecutors, leading to false or misleading test results that supported the prosecution's theories. The investigation of the SBI blood serology unit yielded a total of 229 cases of misrepresentation of blood serology. Of the 229 cases, seven persons had been executed, others were on death row, and some had died in jail.
2011 – State investigative officials found approximately 70 cases in which analysts did not report additional tests and results to prosecutors. These were discovered after the first investigation in 2010. Some of these cases involved the analysis of bodily fluid, including semen and urine.
2008 – Experts testified that the accused's palm print had been made in the victim's blood on a wall where the murder occurred. At retrial, it was discovered that the palm print had not been made in blood and the expert testimony was false.
2012 – Oregon must review several cases after investigating the handwriting unit and finding mistakes by their analysts.
5/2012 – Philadelphia Police Department crime lab technicians flunked a routine test given in order to keep their accreditation. This could potentially bring hundreds of cases back to the courtroom.
8/2014 – The sole employee of Columbia's crime lab was suspended after a defense attorney found that the employee had falsified records regarding the weight of cocaine in a case. As the city's only drug analyst, police and prosecutors are now analyzing hundreds of cases in which the analyst conducted drug tests.
4/2008 – A Tennessee police officer resigned after being accused of falsifying records in order to cover up a botched ballistics test. The ballistics unit was shut down and two of the officers working in the unit were found to be unqualified.
1/2014 - The Texas Forensic Science Commission will be reviewing all state criminal convictions that include testimony on microscopic hair analysis. This comes after the announcement by the FBI and DOJ that federal hair comparison analysis was found to be unreliable. Many of the Texas' hair examiners were trained by the FBI.
2012 – 26 cases were under review this past October in Texas because of discredited investigative techniques and the use of outdated science related to arson to convict suspects.
2012 – The drug testing program in the Harris County probation office conducted faulty urinalysis tests, sending innocent probationers back to jail.
06/2010 – A report on the arson investigation that led to Cameron Willingham's execution found that investigators had relied on "flawed science."
2009 - Fort Bend Deputy Sherriff Keith Pickett helped put several individuals behind bars based almost solely on Pikett's testimony and dog scent lineups. Three individuals were cleared of all charges after others came forward and confessed to the crime or DNA evidence was found to vindicate the individual.
11/2009 – An audit of the Houston Police Department crime lab's fingerprint unit found irregularities in over half of the 548 cases reviewed.
6/2009 – the Houston Police Department Crime Lab fabricated evidence used to convict George Rodriguez, who served 18 years in prison before being released.
1/2008 – The head of the Houston crime lab's DNA division, Vanessa Nelson, was forced to resign after she was found helping DNA technicians cheat on proficiency exams. After resigning, Nelson was hired by the Texas Department of Public Safety to direct the agency's DNA lab.
2008 - A toxicology lab manager at the Washington State Patrol crime lab was accused of falsely claiming she had verified solutions used in breath-alcohol testing.
08/2009 – A chemistry supervisor at the Wisconsin state lab failed to obtain peer reviews on 27 toxicology cases involving drugs. Upon review, only 5 cases met the required standards while half of the 27 need to be corrected.
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Norwegian to Upgrade Pride of Americaby Paul Motter | 09.06.12
The largest American-flagged cruise ship in service will get new suites, staterooms, public rooms and amenities
The new suites bring the design standards of Norwegian to Pride of America Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America, with 2124 passenger berths, is the largest American-flagged cruise ship in the world. That means it can sail solely within the Hawaiian Islands without having to visit a foreign port - an obvious advantage. The ship sails seven-day cruises out of Honolulu and spends each day in port at one of the four islands; Oahu, Maui and including overnight stays in Hawaii and Kawai.
Due to recent changes in Federal government policy; rescinding the Title XI ship financing program for American flag cruise ships, it appears Pride of America could remain the only mainstream-sized American-flagged cruise ship in service for a very long time.
The ship's construction was started within a program called "Project America" introduced in the late 1990s by former Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye. Federal loans were given to "American Classic Voyages," the line that once owned American Hawaii Line, Delta Queen and other American-flagged vessels. The goal was to promote Hawaii tourism and competitiveness with foreign-flagged cruise ships.
Unfortunately the company and project foundered in 2001 after the 9/11 travel crisis and the ships under construction were returned to the federal government.
Norwegian Cruise Lines eventually acquired the hull for Pride of America through a complicated agreement with the U.S. Government to finish the ship overseas but flag and operate it as an U.S.-registered vessel. A number of steps followed that together speak volumes on pivotal topics for the cruise industry, but the result is the only mainstream cruise ship of size operating under the U.S.-flag with an all-American crew since 2005, and hence it has the right to service just American ports of call, a solid advantage in the remote Hawaii market. But it also has restrictions against hiring specialists from outside the U.S., higher payroll taxes and different employment unions representing (and requiring contributions from) various crewmembers onboard.
Have you sailed in the Hawaii Islands? Tell us here: Norwegian Cruise Line Forum
A separate company called "NCL-America" was created by Norwegian to hold Pride of America, and two sister ships sailing under the U.S. flag in the company, but the economics of running a U.S.-flagged cruise line soon showed that only one ship could be sustained and priced competitively enough to keep the company profitable. The other two ships were re-flagged and deployed to other regions.Dry Dock for Major Enhancements: March 2013
Pride of America will enter a 14-day dry dock on March 23, 2013 in Honolulu, Hawai`i. Most of the enhancements will be made to the staterooms including the addition of a number of new suites, staterooms and studio staterooms for solo cruisers.
"As the only large US-flagged cruise ship, Pride of America offers a unique and extraordinary vacation to four of Hawai'i's most popular islands," said Kevin Sheehan, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. "We want to ensure that we are continuing to enhance the guest experience on this one-of-a-kind vessel. Therefore, we are making a major investment - over $30 million - in enhancing this ship with beautiful new suites, studios for solo travelers, new restaurants and more."
Brand new carpeting will be placed throughout the ship; in the staterooms and public rooms. All staterooms will receive new flat screen televisions and updated décor.
Wireless Internet connectivity, bow to stern, will be added along with new directional signage. The gift shops will receive new looks as well as the photo and art galleries. Upgrades will also be made to the fitness center.
New dining venues include the Moderno Churrascaria, the line's signature Brazilian steakhouse now present on most of the Norwegian fleet. The ship's buffet restaurant, the Aloha Cafe, will receive a new look, and the Lazy J's Steakhouse will be converted to Norwegian's signature steakhouse; Cagney's.
Have you sailed on Pride of America? Tell us here: Norwegian Cruise Line ForumNew Suites and Staterooms
There will be 24 brand new opulent suites - a category where NCL excels. There will be just four Studio Staterooms (built and priced for solo cruisers) and four new inside staterooms; all to be installed on deck 13.
Of the 24 new suites two will be 566 square foot Deluxe Owners Suites which sleep up to four guests and feature a large bedroom, a separate living area and a luxuriously outfitted bathroom. These suites will each connect to one of the new Family Suites which will be 363 to 416 square feet, most sleeping up to six guests.
Two of the Family Balcony Suites will be ADA compliant. All of the suites come with expansive balconies from 245 square feet for Family Suites to 410 square feet for the Deluxe Owners Suites, the largest balconies in the Norwegian fleet.
Suite guests will also receive dedicated butlers and concierge service, plus Tranquility mattresses from the Bliss Collection by Norwegian, Lavazza Espresso Makers, Elemis bath products and private dining for breakfast and lunch.
Pride of America will return to her regular week-long Hawaii itinerary out of Honolulu sailing Saturdays in early April 2013. All of the new suites and staterooms go on sale October 1, 2012 for sailings beginning September 7, 2013.
Have you sailed on NCL? Tell us here: Norwegian Cruise Line Forum


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Dan Walters
Dan Walters: Political hubris plagues Bay Bridge, other big public projects
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake revealed structural deficiencies in the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and within a few years, then-Gov. Pete Wilson's administration proposed a $1.4 billion replacement viaduct.
When the replacement opened two decades later, however, it had mushroomed into a $6.4 billion single-tower suspension span, plagued by reports, mostly in The Sacramento Bee, of long delays, cost overruns and construction deficiencies that were ignored or covered up.
This week, Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Chairman Mark DeSaulnier released an investigative report about the mismanagement.
It confirmed suspicions that the debacle is rooted in political hubris, including pressure from two mayors, San Francisco's Willie Brown and Oakland's Jerry Brown, and other politicians for route changes and redesigns to make the new section an artistic spectacle.
Not only did the radical design that resulted from political interference raise costs and add years of delay, but its complexity led to construction defects and alleged cover-ups.
"To be sure, some of the longest delays were not the fault of the bridge builders," says the report. "Rather, they were the product of political infighting at the very highest levels of California state government."
Nor is the Bay Bridge the only example of political ego-tripping.
When Sacramento International Airport needed to replace one of its outmoded terminals, the airlines suggested duplicating a handsome terminal nearby that had already proved its workability.
However, the now-retired airport manager, Hardy Acree, persuaded county supervisors in 2006 to build a grandiose terminal costing a billion dollars, and raising fees on airlines and passengers to pay for it.
"We didn't want to stand in the shadow of another city," Acree was to say later.
Since 2006, the airport's passenger traffic has declined by nearly 20 percent, and paying for the terminal has become problematic.
And then there's Orange County's project to convert a former military air base into a world-class "Great Park" that has turned out to be anything but great.
The city of Irvine has spent $200 million on the project but has almost nothing to show for it. And a new audit lays the onus on a city councilman and former mayor, Larry Agran, who became its virtual czar.
Agran – who once ran for president – passed out no-bid contracts, often to his friends and political associates, the audit said. One political management firm close to Agran received a $100,000-per-month public relations contract.
Political ego triumphed over common sense and the public interest in all three projects. It's something to keep in mind as Jerry Brown trumpets a bullet train and twin water tunnels, which together would cost at least $100 billion.


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As we wrote in a previous piece, back in the mid of the subprime crisis, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) committed two strategic mistakes that end up costing the bank dearly: the purchase of Countrywide Financial and the purchase of Merrill Lynch.
Last week, the bank committed a third strategic mistake, announcing a $5 monthly fee for its debit cardholders. While this fee is a way for the bank to offset the loss of revenues caused by the Durbin Amendment of Dodd-Frank Act (a reduction in the fee banks can charge merchants from 44 cents to 24 cents per transaction), it may end up hurting the bank in the long run.
Rushing to improve its top line, BAC's leadership commits a common mistake large corporations make: taking the customer for granted, holding the belief that whatever products or services they offer are unique and indispensible, so their customers will always be there.
While this theory applied in the old days when corporations were the center of the economic universe and customers had limited options, it doesn't apply in today's markets where customers have a variety of options. For example, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) that have made such a mistake in the past suffered the consequences; their top and bottom lines contracted, as consumers fled to competitors; and their stock headed south.
We do believe that the same fate awaits Bank of America, as its customers have a variety of options: First, they can appeal to US Congress to repeal the fee, as the Dodd-Frank regulation wasn't intended to sting debit card holders with this fee, but to make banks and merchants efficient.
Second, they can cut the card and send it back to Bank of America, moving their money elsewhere. Third, with interest rates so low, they can stay away form banks altogether. Forth, they can switch into alternatives—special purpose—debit cards like the ones issued by non-banking institutions.
The bottom line: The debit card fee may boost Bank of America's top line in the short-run, but it may cost dearly in the long-run, as customers will flee to competitors or cut their debit cards altogether.
[forbesvid id="fvn/market-blaster/dividends-still-work-after-crushing-quarter" showid="80"]


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Sterling/Gold Bracelet
In Stock | STYLE: 001-610-03278
Ships Today (if ordered by 4:00 pm EST)
Nénuphar Cuff bracelet, 25mm width (1-inch) and Rose Gold finish. Your bracelet, which is made in our workshops in France, can be paired with a reversible leather.... *Prices are subject to change based on fluctuations in metal prices and currencies
A patented French creation of customizable jewelry with interchangeable and reversible leather. It is an innovative, exclusive concept that can be customized to fit every outfit or mood, by changing or reversing the leather or Perspex band.
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