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Liberty News
Students remember Sept.11 victims; survivor shares story
Eight years ago Sujo John stood on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center with death just minutes away. But on Friday John stood in front of Liberty University's student body to describe his September 11 survival story and attest to God's great glory.
John was the main speaker for Friday's convocation, where Liberty students gathered to remember the victims of 9/11. Before he spoke, campus pastor Dwayne Carson led students in prayer for families of the victims.
John and his pregnant wife moved from Calcutta, India, to America in February 2001 seeking a brighter future. Upon arriving, John and his wife found jobs at the World Trade Center. Seven months later, at 8 a.m., John sat at his desk writing an email to a friend describing his longing for God to use him.
"Be careful when you use those words — I've come to learn that God reads email," John said jokingly.
Just 40 minutes later John heard an "eardrum-bursting" sound as the plane hit his building, the north tower. After an hour of traveling down the 81 flights of stairs, he recalls gazing upon the hundreds of dead bodies at ground level, wondering when he would join them.
While on the street, John felt a sudden need to ask a group of people to call out for Jesus.
"I didn't hear any man call on the name of Allah, or on the name of Krishna, or call upon any other God — how could they? There's only one name and that is the sweet name of Jesus," John said.
As he would find out later, those people did not survive.
Sure that his wife and unborn child were dead, John said he was relieved when he received a call from his wife saying she was late coming in to work and was not in the building.
After coming so close to death, John knew that his only purpose in life could be to spread the word of his Lord. Now he has started an international ministry that has taken him to 400 major cities on most of the continents of the world, resulting in the salvation of hundreds of thousands of people.
John encouraged Liberty students to spread the word of God to stop the spiritual famine that has struck America.
"I pray that by speaking to you this morning I will awaken a generation in America that will say, 'We will stand and reclaim the old rugged cross,' so that people can be saved."
Find out more about Sujo John Ministries online.
Helms School of Government holds special convocation
Dr. Stephen Parke, Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Liberty's Helms School of Government, talked about the importance of patriotism and public service during Friday's HSOG convocation.
Parke recalled his experience serving in the United States Army when the terrorist attacks occurred eight years ago today. "Can you remember where you were on Sept. 11, 2001?" he asked students.
Parke called on students to pray for our country and said that our nation must return to the Lord, quoting 2 Chron. 7:13-14,19.
Dean George Buzzy closed the convocation encouraging students to take advantage of the opportunities they have as students in the Helms School to gain experience and learn leadership.
"The opportunities on this campus for you to grow up, to learn and to prepare yourself for the destination that the Lord has are here, you just need to seize them and equip yourself," he said.
---By Sarah Blanzy


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locate their phone number. Click "Our People" or "About" on the websites to find their faculty and staff. ... will enable you to email your advisor directly. Contact Information for People in Our College Visit ... Find People and type in the name of the person to obtain their contact information. Ohio Agricultural ...
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CAMBRIDGE - Like an alchemist, Mariko Kusumoto transforms bits of fabric into rings and broaches that resemble budding dogberries, coral polyps and celestial amoeba.
The Lexington artist, who usually works as a metalsmith, has used an ancient technique from her native Japan known as "tsunami zaiku,'' traditionally used to create ornaments worn on kimonos, to craft gorgeous decorative jewelry of remarkable variety.
Kusumoto is just one of seven featured artists exhibiting a fabulous variety of decorative and fine art jewelry in Mobilia Gallery that can be worn, displayed or just marveled over.
Raised in a 400-year-old Buddhist temple, Kusumoto uses simple materials like silk, thread and polyester to fashion wearable jewelry that combines classical techniques and a modern aesthetic.
"We just choose to show things we love,'' said Libby Cooper who co-owns the Cambridge gallery with her sister Jo-Ann.
Visitors are likely to agree the Huron Avenue gallery continues to bring together an international selection of artisans who fashion wildly imaginative jewelry made from the most improbable materials.
In "Birds from A - Z,'' Shane Fero, of North Carolina, uses many kinds of colored glass – shards, cane or stained – to make glass birds, both realistic and fanciful, that you might see nesting in the dunes on Cape Cod or soaring through a child's imagination.
In his realistic pieces, he is as anatomically precise as James Audubon, creating his specimens' bodies by forcing air into a clear glass tube. Fusing art and ornithology, Fero's wrens, plovers and sandpipers have the brittle legs, bright eyes and pointy beaks of their real life counterparts.
Yet his imaginary birds look just as real but with plumage of vivid swirls and subtle patterns, added by Fero using an overlay technique. At first glance, Fero's glass birds, real or imagined, look so life-like visitors might expect them to sing.
After viewing Arline Fisch's genre-defying "Hanging Garden'' of wire sculptures that suggest jellyfish floating around multi-colored coral, you'll better understand what was so special about similar gardens in ancient Babylon.
A legendary artisan, she has won four Fulbright awards and, in 1985, was designated a "living treasure'' of California for her innovative creativity.
Like real jellyfish, her decorative creations seem to be billowing with undersea life, sometimes rising like frilly umbrellas or hovering like translucent underwater lampshades.
While displaying time-consuming craftsmanship, Fisch's works here seem as airy and weightless as the creatures in the animated Disney film "Nemo'' and while not, strictly speaking, wearable jewelry, they embody a master jewelry-maker's genius.
Tom Eckert uses wood he has carved and painted to fashion genre-defying sculptures that resemble cloth, folded or draped over books, shoes and stones that straddle the boundary between reality and illusion.
In "Illusions,'' the Arizona artist sculpts basswood, which he paints with waterborne lacquer, to resemble hanging cloth, speckled eggs, rocks and spiked heels.
Fascinated by optical illusions since childhood, Eckert now crafts his own visual magic by sculpting wood into sinuous, organic and tactile objects.
Several other artists are showing exciting work.
Fusing the jeweler's sensibility with an architect's fascination with form, Jee Hye Kwon creates semi-translucent pieces that combine organic and geometric shapes.
Describing her work, Kwon said, "Essential to my conception is creating a structure with a sense of volume and lightness that invokes a feeling of infinite space.''
Graduates of Edinburgh College of Art in England, Kaz Robertson and Donna Barry uses widely varying materials to make wearable jewelry in their distinct styles.
Mostly working with resin, Robertson fashions whimsical works like her "Yellow Bubble Necklace'' and "Square Bitties Earrings'' by combing a bold color palette with exciting patterns.
"Interaction and versatility are two of the most important aspects of my work,'' she said. "I like the wearer to be able to play with my jewelry, creating new pieces.''
At Edinburgh, Barry created her own techniques in which she combined silver textured sheets inspired by natural and architectural forms which she shaped into finished pieces that resemble flora and fauna.
While most artist's works are displayed in individual groupings, Libby Cooper said, "I love the way everything seems to hang together.''
"There's so much inventiveness on display in so many different styles,'' she said, "it's impossible not to be excited by the pure joy of their creativity.''
"Mariko Kusumoto: Translucent Explorations"
WHEN: Through Aug. 1. Closed June 24-July 4
WHERE: Mobilia Gallery, 358 Huron Ave., Cambridge
INFO: 617-876-2100; www.mobilia-gallery.com
Wild and whimsical art at Mobilia in Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE - Like an alchemist, Mariko Kusumoto transforms bits of fabric into rings and broaches that resemble budding dogberries, coral polyps and celestial amoeba.


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Work with fancy fabrics like velvet and silk and play with hand-embroidered seam treatments to create richly textured, sumptuous blocks.
Crazy quilting produces fanciful designs that explode with embellishment on asymmetrical patchwork. You'll learn to stabilize fancy fabrics like velvet, silk, lace or vintage finds, then discover four block construction methods sewn on a muslin foundation, including straight seams, curved seams, freezer paper applique and free-form techniques. Then let your crazy imagination run wild as you combine 10 basic and advanced hand embroidery stitches to make fabulous seam treatments, embellishing with silk ribbon flowers, beads, buttons, couching, applique and charms. Finish with display tips for both a four-patch quilt or single blocks.gYou'll love the freedom to customize your crazy quilt with your favorite textures, colors and stitches. Allie Aller demonstrates her easy techniques and shares her joyous approach to this traditional art form.


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North Dakota CDL Practice Test: Class B - Test 4 2020(From the 2020 North Dakota CDL Handbook)
|Number of tests:
|Number of questions:
|Passing score:
Directions: When applying for this license, applicants must pass a 50-question test. And applicants must score 80% to pass the test. The following questions are based on the details provided in the North Dakota Commercial Driver Handbook. Endorsements that may be used with a Class B CDL include Hazardous Materials, Passenger, Double and Triples, HazMat and Tanker, Air Brakes and School bus. If you need additional information, please contact your local DMV office. You can find your nearest DMV office at North Dakota DMV locations.
1. The air compressor is connected to the engine through ______.
2. What emergency equipment should your vehicle have?
3. If you have committed three serious traffic violations within a three-year period involving a CMV, you will likely lose your CDL at least _______ days.
4. What is another name for front-end header board?
5. You will need to pass the pre-trip vehicle inspection test ________.
6. During the "on-road test portion" of your on-road test, you will need to ________.


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'Chasing Ice': Watch It While There is Ice to Chase
The award winning independent film, "Chasing Ice", illustrating how climate change is affecting eons old glaciers and therefore our planet, may be nominated for an Oscar. The film is fascinating to watch for a number of reasons.
For techies, there is the equipment and computers needed to take time lapse photos in a very harsh environment. For lovers of the raw power of mother nature, the video is amazing as we view chunks of ice, larger than buildings and even towns, breakaway(calve) from the main glaciers.
For believers and non believers of man's impact on the planet, there is much to see, hear, absorb, and contemplate. Is the current climate cycle more dramatic? Is there anything man can do to lessen the effects? What should we prepare for? Extreme cold or heat? Bigger storms causing more damage? Fewer plants and animals to nurture and sustain us?
"Chasing Ice" was the brainchild of James Balog. He was doubtful about man's impact, and wanted to learn more. What he discovered changed his view.
I watched the movie Sunday night in Sioux Falls. It was a part of the Cinema Falls film series. I am not a tree hugger, but have tried to live my life in harmony with nature.
After viewing the movie last night, I turned my home thermostat down one more degree. It is now set at 65. Sweat socks and sweaters feel good.
Next on my agenda is developing a plan to burn less gasoline
A small step to help solve a huge problem.


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Thread: iphone 4 in China??
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iphone 4 in China??
My iphone is with telus and I will be travelling to Beijing. Anyone have any experience with this. My phone is not yet jailbroken or unlocked. I know I will have to do this first. Do I just by a SIM card when I get there? How much are they? Do I keep the same Canada phone number? Any help on these questions is much appreciated.


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Across Irish Sea: two bold tactics against music piracy
Birch lashes used to be how the Isle of Man punished misdemeanors, but 16 years after the island repealed its "birching" law, it is dealing with the crime of Internet piracy in an equally novel way: by accepting defeat.
Rather than police the Internet for illegal activity, the Isle of Man has proposed a radical new tax of £1 ($1.45) per week that will be paid directly to recording companies to allow its citizens unlimited downloads of music.
Meanwhile, across the Irish Sea, record companies inIreland have reached a landmark agreement with the country's largest Internet service provider in the battle against piracy. Customers found guilty of illegal downloading now face the ultimate horror: disconnection from the Internet.
Ireland and the Isle of Man might be just 50 miles apart, but their strategies for dealing with illegal downloading represent polar opposites within the record industry. The experiments taking place on these two islands are being watched closely, with the results likely to influence public policy far beyond this rainy, wind-swept corner of Europe.
The music industry is desperate for a solution: Global music sales are down a quarter since 2000 and the vast majority of music distributed on the Internet is now pirated, according to the recording industry's leading trade group.
The Isle of Man's approach
A small island of 80,000 people between Ireland and Britain, the Isle of Man has been self-governing for over 1,000 years, with the oldest continuous parliament in the world. Queen Elizabeth II (known as the "Lord of Mann") may be the official figurehead, but the island isn't part of the United Kingdom or the European Union.
This political and economic independence – and 100 percent broadband penetration – makes it an ideal testing site for an ideology that is spreading within the record industry: Don't try to stop people stealing music, just try to find ways to make them pay for it.
"The logic is quite straightforward: You find a way of creating a payment within the network," says Gerd Leonhard, a media futurist and author.
Although a similar idea failed in France in 2006 amid a fierce lobbying effort by the recording industry, Mr. Leonhard has long argued that if the recording industry licensed Internet networks with a flatrate for streaming and downloading music, then advertising and other subsidies would be able to cover the entire CD business. He doesn't even think the Isle of Man's tax is necessary.
"The payment of about €1 [$1.28] per week, which we have been debating in Europe as a flat rate, is entirely possible to raise through the ecosystem. The music won't be free, but it will feel like free," he says, in an interview from Austria.
Business models like Leonhard's are becoming more feasible as concert tours, merchandise, and endorsements become more lucrative than recordings.
"When Prince gives away his CD away with a British Sunday newspaper, he knows that he will be guaranteed three sold-out shows. That is worth more to him than the recording," Leonhard says.
Ron Berry, e-business inward investment adviser for the Isle of Man, announced the proposal in January at MIDEM, the world's largest music industry trade fair. The approach might be innovative, but it's not a panacea, he said.
"At the end of the day, we're not going to stop piracy," Mr. Berry said.
In Ireland, a new crackdown
For some, the battle against piracy is still worth pursuing.
"There is now a whole generation who have never paid for music," says Willie Kavanagh, chairman of the Irish Recorded Music Association and managing director of EMI Ireland, one of the four companies that recently sued the Internet service provider Eircom. "We've done research in classrooms and it's astounding how young people of 17 have never bought a CD. Not only that, none of them had ever paid for music. So the problem is of total epidemic proportions."
The settlement means that Eircom will disconnect customers if they ignore two warnings. Paul Bradley, head of communications at Eircom, says that his company won't directly monitor customers' Internet usage. The record companies, via a third party, will supply Eircom with the IP addresses of all persons they detect to be illegally trading copyrighted works on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis. Once Eircom is made aware of illegal activity it is bound by law to take action.
The Irish model may be one of the first, but it is likely to be copied. The British government has recommended similar measures in its Digital Britain Interim Report, published on Jan. 29. France, after rejecting an approach similar to the Isle of Man's, now supports the idea of disconnecting Internet pirates.
Attempting to stop the vast (and largely free) global flow of music file sharing through punishment will ultimately prove futile, predicts Bob Lefsetz, a leading music industry analyst based in California.
"This three-strikes thing is not a solution," Mr. Lefsetz says. "Licensing is a solution. The Isle of Man [model] is a solution."
The future is in on-demand services, Lefsetz says. The record industry should be looking ahead to those challenges.
"Do you still think that eight years from now people are going to be stealing music track by track?" Mr. Lefsetz says. "The bottom line is you are going to have instant delivery of everything you want, whenever you want. P2P is already antiquated."
Sectors of the recording industry are already planning ahead. Last year, major players in the recording business, including the Digital Media Association (DiMA), the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), made an agreement that proposed royalty rates for online streaming and limited downloads. Also last year Warner Music International appointed Jim Griffin, a music industry analyst and former head of technology at Geffen Records, to develop digital distribution models.
Careful number-crunching is needed to ensure the recording companies and artists are adequately compensated, says Mr. Kavanagh, of the Irish Recorded Music Association. "At some point, all-you-can-eat loses money for somebody."
Author and futurist Leonhard says the recording industry is fighting an uphill battle: "The tactic of criminalizing users hasn't produced any money. The industry needs to look for compensation, not control."


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Serial ATA 1.5/3.0 Gbps PHY
Silicon proven and Plugfest tested,Mentor GraphicsSATA PHY productsare designed for the growing Serial ATA market space including support for the higher 3.0Gbps speeds.Due to its small footprint and low power features Mentor's SATA PHY solution is a perfect fit for system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs targeting set top boxes,PCs,Disk drives,and network storage systems.
The Mentor Graphics® MSATA_PHY core provides PHY layer functionality for a Serial ATA (SATA) interface operating at 3Gbps or 1.5Gbps.The MSATA_PHY core contains all the analog/mixed-signal components required to implement the industry standard SATA protocol within the physical layer;and when combined with Mentor Graphics SATA Host or Device controller,the core provides a complete SATA hardware solution.
Features and Benefits
- TSMC 130nm LVOD and SMIC 130nm G
- Supports: 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps modes of operation
- Fully compliant with the Serial ATA standard
- Supports Hot Swapping Configurable 40-,20-,or 10-bit parallel controller interface support
- Small per lane size (< .3mm2)
- Low power consumption,80mW including termination power


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With LastPass 3.0, we've made some big improvements to how LastPass integrates with your browser experience. LastPass 3.0 is designed to be accessible, and simpler overall – offering what you need, where and when you need it.
Here are some tips on saving and filling your logins with LastPass 3.0:
Let's say I'm signing up for a new Evernote account. I launch Evernote.com, and open the signup page.
On this form, LastPass has offered a "profile" icon. If I click this, I will see my form fill profiles. If I have an email address and username stored in a profile that I prefer, I can easily select that profile to fill in those details.
Or, I can manually enter an email address and username.
Now I can click the generate password icon, to generate a strong password. I click the "use password" button to enter it into the field.
Next I select "save password to vault". The dialog expands to show me the data I'm about to save.
I can assign it to a group, then click "save site". A moment later, a confirmation dialog will pop up on the top right of the browser.
I'm done! When I return to Evernote.com, the LastPass icon will have a "1", meaning I have 1 entry stored for Evernote.com.
Now when I go to a site where I have an account, or multiple accounts, I'll see the asterisk in the username and password fields.
Clicking the asterisk, I'll see the list of my accounts, and I can easily select the one I need, then submit the login.
You can access all of the LastPass tools by selecting the red asterisk to expand the menu.
The "+" icon on the top left will let me expand the "save site" dialog.
If I go to a site, and the icons do not appear for any reason, I can click the LastPass icon, select the "show matching sites" menu, and select the login I need to autofill.
In this way, the new interface gives me quicker access to the tools I need, as I'm going about my daily online life.
If you've tried out LastPass 3.0 and still prefer the previous notification bars for the time being, please use our tool here: https://lastpass.com/change_ver.php to switch your settings back to "2.0 mode".


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outage 1/6/14
Feedback and suggestions for Speculative Vision. This is also where we make site announcements.
outage 1/6/14
Our database crashed and needed a restore so we were down for a day while my host fixed it. Sorry about that!
The Master
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Re: outage 1/6/14
Good to see things back up and running!
Asp Zelazny
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Re: outage 1/6/14
Are the icons for youtube and pictures working? I can't seem to get a youtube vid to embed. As for pictures, do I need to upload pics somewhere before I can post them? I'd like to be able to have the option to just get them from my computer.
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Re: outage 1/6/14
I've only uploaded a few images here, but I think you do have to go to imageshack.us load the image there, and then paste the url using the 4th icon from the left on the bottom row where it says imageshack.
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Re: outage 1/6/14
Thanks Bmat!I'll have to check into that when I have more time!
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TUNE Roots Manuva - Stolen Youth
- Stream
Having had music featured in the very first series of "Skins" back in 2007, when Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva was asked to compose a track for the very last series,he jumped at the chance. With a brief that covered everything from tempo and feel tohints at lyrical content, Manuva cooked up "Stolen Youth" - a classic Roots Manuva moment built on mournful strings, heartbeat drum programming and the kind of lyrical flights that made his name, all delivered in that trademark chocolate-growl.
The producers at "Skins" were so pleased with the results that they asked Segal to make a second version of the tune, to be used over the final credits.
So here, in all their glory, are the original and remix, a little taste of Manuva to keep you going until the various - at this stage top-secret - projects he's working on come
to fruition over the next few months.


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London 2012 is underway through Aug. 12, with more than 10,000 athletes from 204 counties competing in 26 sports. Many events will air live on NBC networks (see full TV listings here), and 3,500 hours will be stream lived on NBCOlympics.com. Here's what to watch at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC on Saturday, July 28:
The big event: The men's 400m individual medley relay, a grueling four-part race of essentially all-out sprints of four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
The stars: Much has been made of the American teammates' Michael Phelps' and Ryan Lochte's rivalry, and this race will be the first of potentially six face-offs. Lochte is the reigning world champion in the event and beat Phelps in a head-to-head victory at the Olympic trials. But Phelps holds an astounding 14 medals – including two golds in this event – to Lochte's six and is certainly capable of winning here, too. Expect a close finish.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
When: Qualifying heats will be held at 5 a.m. ET at the stunning London 2012 Aquatics Centre. The medal races will take place at 2:30 p.m. ET. The medal races will air during NBC's prime-time show at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
What else to watch: The men's 400m IM is just one of four gold medal swimming finals Saturday, including the same race for women, the men's 400m freestyle and the women's freestyle relay.
Also showing on the prime-time replay will be men's gymnastics qualifying rounds. China has dominated the sport, but Japan, powered by Kohei Uchimura, who hasn't lost an international competition since 2008 in Beijing, is a rising power. There are also high hopes for Team USA.
Beach volleyball at the Horse Guards Parade, located on the Prime Minister's doorstep in central London, also gets going.
More details on what to watch Saturday can be found at NBCOlympics.com.
For a full local listing of events being shown all day on NBC, the NBC Sports Network, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel, the NBC Basketball Channel and Telemundo, please see your local TV listings section of NBCOlympics.com.


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Planetary Society Statement on the 2020 Mars Rover Mission Announcement (December 5, 2012)
The Planetary Society welcomes the news that NASA will land a new rover on Mars in 2020. However, we emphasize that this announcement does not change the status quo: without Congressional action, NASA's Planetary Sciences division will suffer cuts of $309 million in the 2013 budget.
Planetary Society Statement on the Curiosity Press Briefing at the Fall 2012 AGU Conference (December 3, 2012)
The incredible public interest in today's Curiosity announcement should demonstrate to Congress and the White House that strong support exists for NASA's Planetary Science program.
Mars and Planetary Science Experts Available for Commentary Following NASA December 3 Press Conference (November 30, 2012)
To enhance the public's understanding of this complex program, The Planetary Society is making available several expert commentators to help explain the findings and provide overall perspective of the Mission.
The Planetary Society Congratulates President Obama on His re-Election, Calls for a Commitment to Space Exploration (November 8, 2012)
The Planetary Society would like to congratulate President Barack Obama for winning his re-election campaign on Tuesday. The Society looks forward to continuing to work with the Administration on the important issues relating to space exploration.
Student Asteroid Naming Contest Announced (September 4, 2012)
Students around the world have the opportunity to suggest names for an asteroid that will be visited by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft later this decade.
Planetfest 2012 - August 4th - August 5th (July 30, 2012)
Sit in a space ship, touch a piece of mars, and meet Bill Nye the science guy, Star Trek's Robert Picardo, NASA scientists, Mars experts and more.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 Discovery Enabled by Planetary Society Grant (March 15, 2012)
In less than a year, an asteroid that is half the size of a football field will pass within just a few thousand miles of our planet. The discovery of this object, dubbed 2012 DA14, was made possible by a Shoemaker Near Earth Object (NEO) grant provided by the Planetary Society.
Planetary Society Statement on Proposed Cuts to Planetary Science (March 7, 2012)
Today, on behalf of its tens of thousands of members around the world, The Planetary Society submitted written testimony to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate for its hearing on "Priorities, Plans, and Progress of the Nation's Space Program."
NASA Budget Pushes Science to the Brink (February 13, 2012)
The U.S. Administration is proposing a budget for Fiscal Year 2013 that would force NASA to walk away from planned missions to Mars, delay for decades any flagship missions to the outer planets, and radically slow the pace of scientific discovery, including the search for life on other worlds.
Thirty Percent for Science: Planetary Society Calls for Increased Investment for the Future (January 19, 2012)
The Planetary Society has called on the U.S. Administration to rebalance NASA's portfolio of programs and missions so that Science is given 30 percent of the agency's budget. "Science is the best place to invest in NASA, Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye said, "In this era of constrained budgets, we must invest in areas with the greatest possible returns."
Phobos LIFE Set to Re-enter Earth's Atmosphere (January 13, 2012)
Worldwide members of the Planetary Society await the final fate of the Phobos LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment) biomodule. Intended to share a roundtrip to Mars' moon Phobos, the tiny experiment became stuck in low Earth orbit when its host--the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft--failed to set out across interplanetary space.


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Leasing vs. Purchasing Your Equipment
From mowers and loaders to trucks and skid steers, large-ticket items are must-haves for survival. But choosing the right tool for the trade — at the right price — is just the beginning of the purchasing decision. Sealing the deal comes with an option: whether to lease or purchase.
"There are many factors that go into the decision to lease or to buy equipment," says Tom Ade, senior vice president of the construction finance arm at GE Commercial Finance. "You have to look at leasing as an alternative form of finance. It's not an either-or situation. When you look at a lease, it's basically a loan with tax benefits."
The tax benefits associated with ownership remain with the lessor (the financial or leasing institution), and these benefits are used to drive down the lease rate for the lessee (the end user). Mutual benefits of the lessor-lessee relationship come full circle with the transference of the risk of ownership from lessee to lessor. At the end of the lease, the lessor is responsible for the disposition of the asset. Plus you don't end up with out-of-date equipment.
"While it may not be as much of an impact with the hard-iron, heavy-machinery, basic construction equipment like earth-movers, where you don't look at obsolescence as you would with high-tech, there have been some pretty interesting breakthroughs on the turf side of business," says Ade. "And that's going to continue. So those who are leasing equipment transfer the risk of obsolescence. It gives the lessee the option to turn in old equipment after the lease period and either buy or lease new equipment, because there have been changes in the technology, or innovation in other equipment."
Instead of what used to be considered strictly utilitarian objects to push dirt or dig ditches, new introductions and next-generation models of equipment offer more to turf and grounds pros than ever before.
"Any time you lease, you're going to guard against obsolescence," says Joseph Angelo Jr., president and CEO of Lease One Corp. in Lynnfield, Mass. "Plus, you're obviously keeping the working capital intact."
In 2005, a survey of the Small Business Administration's State Contest Winners' leasing activity showed that the top benefit of leasing cited by respondents was the ability to have the latest equipment. Eighty percent of the respondents agreed that leasing equipment is a good business strategy for meeting the demands of small business.
"One of the beauties of leasing is that, once you get used to the monthly payments," says Ade, "what you end up with is new equipment every three years, or whatever the lease term is."
By leasing equipment you know the amount and number of lease payments over the life of the leasing period, so you can accurately forecast cash requirements for your equipment. What's more, lease agreements offer payment flexibility. One example is Angelo's Lease One Corp., which custom-fits its leases to the Boston-area seasonal job flow. "We do leasing for landscapers around here on a seasonal payment plan," says Angelo. "Their cash flow dries up in the wintertime; they're either plowing or not working at all. So we structure plans for payments for nine months with three months off."
The Equipment Leasing Association of America (ELA) recommends deciding if leasing is the best option by first understanding your specific needs and asking these questions:
How does this equipment make your business more competitive?
What is the most efficient use of your cash flow to pay for this equipment?
How long will you use the equipment?
What will your equipment needs be in the future?
It is important to understand that leases are not loans. As a result, leasing costs are figured differently from those of loans. Leases take into account that the equipment is worth something at the end of the lease term. This is called its residual, which is built into lease pricing, usually making the lease payments lower than a loan. According to the ELA, to compare lease products, it is better to compare monthly payments than to try to compare loan interest rates with lease rates. On a cost-of-capital basis, leasing may be the least expensive option.
The green-industry merger activity is as proliferate as the need for operating capital for fulfilling large, lucrative contracts. In both cases, leasing may attract financial suitors.
"What is most important for a company's financial statements are growing revenues, profitability and a reasonable leverage position," says Ade. "From the perspective of a lender or a lessor, when I'm investing in a company — when I write a lease or a loan — I look at whether they're growing their business, if they're profitable and whether they've been reasonable in terms of how they borrow."
With its low risk, the practice of leasing has become "a very acceptable and effective alternate form of financing," says Ade. "Though it's not for everyone, there are myriad situations when it is applicable."
Because an operating lease is not considered a long-term debt or liability, it does not appear as debt on financial statements, thus making a company more attractive to traditional lenders. As business grows and needs change, a lease can allow for adding or upgrading at any point during the lease term through add-on or master leases, a smart move from a lender's viewpoint. (If growth is anticipated, be sure to negotiate that option when structuring the lease program.)
"A landscape contractor needs to have a clean balance sheet," says Angelo. "One way to have a clean balance sheet is to lease the equipment being used. By having a clean balance sheet, you get a better bond rating; with a better bond rating you get better jobs. Not to mention, equipment can be very expensive. Most can't afford to go out and purchase a $70,000 backhoe."
When talking about depreciating equipment, a common misconception is that renting or leasing will avoid the sticky tax code and even save money using depreciation schedules. In those general terms, that's not necessarily the case, according to Russell Tollefson, a CPA in Redding, Calif.
"If you rent the equipment, it's a current deduction," says Tollefson, who suggests that may be the way to go if an 18- to 36-month project is pending, such as a golf course, but not for a long-term acquisition. "A lease, though, can be capitalized and then becomes an asset. Based on the specific lease, the equipment is subject to the same terms as something purchased outright. If it's a closed-end lease, it's the same as a purchase agreement."
The IRS does not consider an operating lease to be a purchase, but rather a tax-deductible overhead expense. Therefore, you can deduct the lease payments from your corporate income. It should be noted that, under Section 179 of the IRS code, you can elect to recover all or part of the cost of certain qualifying property, up to a limit, by deducting it in the year you place the property in service. This is called the Section 179 deduction. You can elect the section 179 deduction instead of recovering the cost by deducting the MACRS depreciation schedule. The maximum Section 179 deduction for 2006 is $108,000.
Tollefson advises to read any lease agreement carefully, and that leasing can be a way of reducing costs if the time period needed for the equipment is less than a normal ownership period. However, leasing equipment without a purchase agreement is disadvantageous because net worth is not allowed to build over time.
There's also the apples-to-apples cost advantage of outright ownership over the long haul. "If you're going to keep the equipment, you should buy," suggests Gary Capata, CPA, of Capata & Company in Laguna Nigel, Calif.
"Leasing isn't for everyone," says Ade. "For somebody who wants to hold onto a very long-life asset for a long, long time, leasing probably isn't as advantageous from a financial perspective as someone who is keeping up with technology, who is taking advantage of innovation.
"If you're planning on using a piece of equipment for decades, then you're probably better off buying it."
Tracy Powell is a freelance writer who resides in Charlestown, Ind.
The Equipment Leasing Association recommends businesses ask the following 10 questions before signing a lease. These questions take into account the "before, during and after" stages of a lease.
1. How am I planning to use this equipment?
2. Does the leasing representative understand my business and how this transaction helps me to do business?
3. What is the total lease payment and are there any other costs that I could incur before the lease ends?
4. What happens if I want to change this lease or end the lease early?
5. How am I responsible if the equipment is damaged or destroyed?
6. What are my obligations for the equipment (such as insurance, taxes and maintenance) during the lease?
7. Can I upgrade the equipment or add equipment under this lease?
8. What are my options at the end of the lease?
9. What are the procedures I must follow if I choose to return the equipment?
10. Are there any extra costs at the end of the lease?
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2020 Penton Media Inc.


text: Our set includes two knives, one perfect for soft cheeses, spreads, and pates. The other is for harder cheeses and meats, with a double prong on the end for grabbing the slice of cheese or meat. It also includes a serving fork, ideal for grabbing cheese slices or for sliced meats. These make a lovely presentation when entertaining and a great present for any cheese lover.Comes displayed in a custom made pine open faced gift box.


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My mom is a high school principal and English teacher, and from time to time she uses film clips in her classes to liven things up. Her American Lit students are doing a unit on the Revolution, so the other day she asked to borrow my DVD copy of The Patriot, intending to show a scene or two just to set the mood. To her surprise, the students really got into it, and they ended up watching quite a bit.
Very few of my fellow Rev War buffs seem to share my positive view of this film. In fact, several years ago I attended a fine symposium on the Revolutionary War in the South, and one thing shared by practically every attendee with whom I spoke was a strong dislike for this movie.
It's not hard to understand their dissatisfaction. The Patriot plays pretty fast and loose with the historical record of the Revolution in the Carolinas. Here are some examples:
The chronology is warped beyond all recognition. The film begins sometime around the run-up to independence, then jumps forward to the fall of Charleston. This places most of the action after May 1780, but a subsequent montage seems to show the much earlier encampment at Valley Forge. Furthermore, the DVD menu identifies the climactic battle as Cowpens, which took place in January 1781, but a bit of dialogue places this sequence in October.
That last battle merits some additional attention. Although it's supposedly Cowpens (depicted here in a rather inaccurate painting), it bears a closer resemblance to the larger battle at Guilford Courthouse. Cornwallis is in command during this sequence, but he was not present at Cowpens. Nor was Nathanael Greene, who is depicted leading a council of American officers on the eve of the battle. The film's Greene also seems to have a southern accent, while the historical Greene was from Rhode Island.
An earlier sequence depicts the American defeat at Camden in August 1780. In the film, this battle unfolds across a picturesque open field. The actual engagement took place in a swampy, wooded area. Furthermore, the movie's Continentals flee this battle en masse; in actuality, the militia ran in the face of British bayonets, abandoning the Continentals under Johann de Kalb. On a side note, de Kalb's wounds in the battle cost him his life, and his remains lie in a Camden churchyard. On my first trip there in 2001 I visited his grave, and was surprised to find a small movie theater just down the street where The Patriot was showing. It's a small world.
Mel Gibson's Benjamin Martin character is a mish-mash of several backcountry commanders. The most obvious parallel is Francis Marion, visible in the center of this painting. An early draft of the script actually had Marion as its star. Like Marion, Martin is a partisan commander who takes refuge in the South Carolina swamps. Martin loses a son named Gabriel in battle; Marion lost a nephew by that name. Yet Martin also bears a similarity to Thomas Sumter, who took up arms when British troops burned his home. Martin commands the militia at Cowpens, a role performed in actuality by Andrew Pickens. At the same time, he devises a defense in depth, with the militia firing two volleys before retiring to the rear. Here Martin becomes a fictional Daniel Morgan, the rough-and-tumble commander whose skillful use of militia and regular troops at Cowpens ended with a tactical masterpiece.
For an eighteenth-century planter, Benjamin Martin is a pretty progressive guy when it comes to race. He owns no slaves, relying on free blacks to work on his farm. When a slaveowner signs over one of his laborers to serve in the militia, Martin insists that the slave sign up for himself. In actuality, Thomas Sumter used the confiscated slaves of Tories to pay enlistment bounties.
Col. William Tavington, the film's villain, is obviously based on Banastre Tarleton, the notoriously aggressive young commander of the British Legion depicted in the portrait at right. Tarleton's unsavory reputation in the Carolinas is the stuff of legend today, and made great fodder for American propaganda at the time. Compared to his fictional counterpart, however, he was an absolute Boy Scout. Tavington shoots a young boy in cold blood, burns civilians alive in a locked church, and (in a deleted scene available on the DVD)supervises the torture of captured American militiamen. Tavington dies a particularly unpleasant death at Cowpens/Guilford. Tarleton's independent command at the real Cowpens was a disaster, but he survived, and in fact was one of the few British soldiers to escape the field. He suffered a nasty hand wound at Guilford but served through Yorktown, returning to England to live to a ripe old age. Although he never again saw active command, he was made a general in 1812.
In the film, Cornwallis and Tavington keep up a running feud. In reality, Cornwallis relied heavily on Tarleton during the Carolina campaigns of 1780-81 and lavished him with praise on numerous occasions.
In other words, The Patriot takes place in a wartime South Carolina that's similar to, but hardly identical with, the real thing. To me, that's no big deal.
Dramatic works operate by their own logic. We judge them based on whether they're credible, not whether they're factual. It's only when their creators present them as "the truth" that they become legitimate targets for this type of criticism. Screenwriter Robert Rodat slapped the "based on a true story" label on the script draft mentioned above, but the finished movie makes no such claim. In fact, by changing the namesof characters and the details of certain events, the filmmakers assert their intention to present us with a fictional story rather than a reconstruction of history.
Most of the movie's discrepancies are the result of conscious choices, not errors, and in the context of drama they make pretty good sense. The movie's approach to slavery, for example, garnered some especially harsh criticism. But I don't think an American audience could have sympathized with a slaveowning hero, no matter how common the practice in the film's actual setting. It was a sensible choice to serve the goal of telling a story.
Whether or not that story works is a matter of taste, and of the principles of plot and character, action and setting, and all the other factors by which movies either succeed or fail. The world of The Patriot isn't exactly the same as the world I've found in the historical record, but for a few hours, at least, it's a pretty compelling place to be.
(I obtained the images here from Wikimedia Commons.)


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ဖုန္းအပိုပစၥည္းမ်ား ရွ အင္းစိန္
New and used accessories for cars in အင္းစိန္. Functional equipment and accessories for vehicle's interior, air fresheners, car covers, key shells. Find useful accessories for both drivers and passengers such as first aid kit, dashboard figures, car stickers, wheel covers, sun shades, air purifiers and many other on ipivi.


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I wanted to let you guys know that one of my favorite games in development is now on Steam Greenlight!
Skelattack is an extremely well made platformer with very smooth controls, satisfying combat, attractive environments, and a neat concept at its core. Perhaps best of all, you don't have to take my word for it, as a very polished and fun demo is already available! You can download it here to give it a try! It's a blast to play, and there's a solid variety of gameplay with the different sorts of spells you can learn and the different kinds of enemies. It's one of the only single player games that I've played through in the last decade, which should give an idea of how highly I regard this game.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you've seen me Tweet about Skelattack's creator, David Stanley, and he's an exceptionally sharp and talented game developer. He's actually been a great source of advice and help to me via emails, too, and he's really been tremendous in supporting Outer Colony. I recommend that you guys follow him on Twitter @Dave_Draws, try out the Skelattack demo, and vote for Skelattack on Steam Greenlight!
Skelattack On Greenlight!
For discussing general game development, including other projects.
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Does Chewing a Lot Help You Lose Weight?
I've heard a lot of things like chewing your food 15 times will help you lose
weight or having a glass of water before each meal will help you eat less. How do
I know what is true and what isn't?
– Breara*
Chewing your food 15 times can slow you down if you're a fast eater and allow you to enjoy your food. Any slowing-down technique can help you avoid overeating and better pick up on your body's cues that you're full. Drinking water before you eat probably won't make you any more full, but it won't hurt, either. But eating food with a higher water content, like fruits, vegetables, and even soups, will make you feel more full, so you eat fewer calories.
If you're looking for specific advice on nutrition or weight it's best to ask either your doctor or a registered dietician. But if you find yourself searching for answers online, always use reputable sites. When hunting for info, use common sense — if certain advice seems too good to be true, it probably is.
*Names have been changed to protect user privacy.


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Ocean City, MD: Grassroots meeting - December 13, 2012
Worcester County Library, Ocean City Branch
The Humane Society of the United States, the National Aquarium, and Oceana invite members, supporters, and other animal advocates to join us for a community meeting to learn more about shark and ocean protection -- and how you can help!
Sharks have inhabited our oceans for 400 million years, but now scientists warn that existing shark populations cannot sustain the current level of exploitation. Like the slaughter of African elephants for their ivory, massive overfishing of sharks is largely driven by the market for their fins. Every year, tens of millions of sharks are killed for their fins, and mostly to be used for shark fin soup. And, in many cases, these sharks are finned at sea -- their fins are cut off, often while the shark is still alive, and then thrown back into the ocean. With their fins cut off, sharks cannot swim, and they die from shock, blood loss, starvation or predation by other fish.
Fortunately, legislation is being considered in the Maryland state legislature to ensure our state does not contribute to this cruel and unsustainable market. Help us join an international campaign to prohibit the sale of shark fins and to protect sharks and our oceans! Learn more and RSVP today! Contact Tami Santelli at email@example.com if you have additional questions.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
10003 Coastal Highway
Ocean City, MD 21842
United States
We're sorry, the deadline for registering for this event has passed.
The Humane Society of the United States: Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty


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George Stewart from Apollo Blinds Hamilton has taken his use of social media to a new level this week in order to get free publicity for his business.
He's following in the footsteps of all the A-list celebs by announcing news on his Twitter and Facebook pages. And this week he revealed the new look for his showroom and van.
George has incorporated Facebook and Twitter logos on his shop signage and van livery as a way of promoting his presence on the social media sites.
But, not content with that, George has been using social media to strike up an online friendship with Clyde 1 DJ and Scottish Sun columnist Robin Galloway…..and George is now getting free mentions on the radio from his new newfound buddy.
Cheeky George knew Robin lived in Hamilton so asked him to be a fan of his Apollo Blinds Hamilton Facebook page and the banter has carried on from there with Robin reading some of the one-liner jokes that have become George's trademark.
As a result, he has got mentions twice this week and knowing George he's going to milk it for all its worth.
George we salute you and I'm sure you'll be using this blog as more publicity for your business!


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I instaled an sql server 2005 on windows 2003 R2 entreprise (8 Go Ram).
unfortunetely, this new sql server don't accept any windows connection (only accept local connection or windows connection from development computer i.E. with VS 2005 installed). However SQL native connection work well.
When I launch SSMS, I can see that the last line of object explorer is
"SQL server AGENT (Xps Agent desactivated)" and I see that the SQL Server agent is down.
Wen I want to start this SAD agent, i obtained the following message : "Agent started but stoped just after" and no anymore.
Have Somebody an Idea to allow windows connections on this server ?
Of course the authentification méthode is "Mixt Sql server and windows"
PS. AWE is activated


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Liberty News
Liberty's healthcare lawsuit gains national attention
Liberty University has gained national media attention this week following the hearing on the new federal healthcare plan at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond on Tuesday, May 10.
The Liberty case was the first private lawsuit filed against the new healthcare law and the first to be argued at the court of appeals level.
"This is a landmark case that will likely go to the United States Supreme Court to decide not only this law but the role of the federal government and will therefore affect every American for generations to come," said Mathew D. Staver, Dean of Liberty University School of Law. "I'm proud that Liberty University is leading the nation on such an important issue."
The case challenges the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law on March 23, 2010.
Staver argued in the case of Liberty University v. Geithner that the government can't compel citizens to buy health insurance or face adverse tax consequences from the federal government.
The case was covered by national television networks, such as CBS, NBC and CNN. It was also covered by national newspapers, such as The Washington Post, USA Today and The New York Times.
Staver led the argument on behalf of Liberty University. Other private individuals have joined Liberty as plaintiffs in the suit.
The court is expected to render its decision in the case within the next 45 days.
"This health insurance law redistributes wealth among private parties to achieve an alleged humanitarian idea. In doing so, the law goes far beyond the outer edges of the Constitution by regulating noneconomic inactivity," Staver said. " … This law is the beginning of centralized government. The stakes in the outcome of this case could not be higher."
Audio for the case is available at www.ca4.uscourts.gov.


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by Apex Magazine on Sep 2, 2014 in Blog | 35 comments
Halloween is coming and with it the vampire, zombie, witch, and ghost stories will creep into your hands and whisper "Boo" in your ear. Now I love a good ghost story. Witches are wicked. Zombies give me the chills. And vampires are grand. But…
But there's more out there. Monsters waiting in the wings to give you a fright. And they want their moment to shine!
I went to Twitter to ask you, the Apex readers, what monsters you'd like to see steal the spotlight, and did you ever have suggestions. Everything from wendigos to banshees to Jekyll and Hyde.
So tell me a story.
After the huge success of our Christmas micro fiction contest last year (over 500 submissions!), we've decided to do it again. This time with the monsters that are often forgotten. The ones whose stories don't get told.
Here's the nitty-gritty:
We're going to give every writer who submits a free issue of Apex Magazine. Head over to our back issues page and check out our back catalog. Let me know which issue piques your fancy when you submit and I'll send you a download link.
So that's what I need from you, but I'm sure you want to know what you get if you win. The winning stories will get the spotlight turned on them in the November issue of Apex Magazine. The authors will be paid 6 cents per word, receive a free 12-month subscription to Apex Magazine and a short story critique from an Apex editor. Stories for critique can be up to 5,000 words long.
And that's it. Write me a story. Bring me your Halloween best and scare me. And see if you win.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me (Lesley) at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Hate to be that guy, but it's "piques your fancy". Looking forward to the contest and the results!
Does the title contribute to the word count or is it considered a separate entity?
Do you prefer the stories as attachments, or in the body of the email?
Do you accept .txt attachment submissions?
Thanks for running the contest! Do you send out confirmation that you've received a submission, i.e. you send the link to the back issue immediately upon receiving a submission or is that link sent out after the contest is closed? Just asking because I've been having issues with my emails being filtered as spam and wanted to make sure you received my submission. Thanks for time 🙂
Hi, maybe a stupid question, but how exactly are the words counted? "wc -w" delivers different results from OpenOffice, which is different from Scrivener's counter again. Any tips so we don't accidentally send in 251 words or (worse) have to leave off that killer sentence that would have made the story go nova ;-)? (Hope the answer isn't MS Word…)
Also, in one of the above answers, Jason says "Send as attachment" once, and "It would be better to send it in the body of the email," another time. Which is it to be?
Hello! I just subbed 2 pieces to 2 different categories and have not received an auto-confirmation email. Do I need to re-submit my work? Thanks so much!
I submitted earlier this morning but haven't received an auto-confirmation yet. Does it take a while or should I re-submit? Just want to make sure it was received. Thanks!
Is there an Issue with the winners from the Christmas microfiction contest? My friend and I were having an argument about how traditional vs non-traditional the monster stories should be and wanted to look to see what was chosen last year.
I have submitted three stories but not have heard from your end till date. Please tell shall i resubmit the stories?
I submitted stories for the "Demon" and "Science Experiment Gone Wrong" categories (also plan on submitting one more before the deadline expires tonight), but have not received auto-confirmation that my pieces were received. Does this happen after the deadline, or was I supposed to have received confirmation already? Thanks.
Sent in my third submission at 11:20pm EST on 10/15. Hope that counts!
I did not receive any confirmation — did you receive my submissions?
"The suspense is killing me! I hope it lasts." – W. Wonka
6.Winners will be announced on Halloween on the Apex blog. There will be one winner per category.
What happened to that?
nm I finally see the link at the top. I was just going to the blog and didn't see a post.
Have the winners of the micro-fiction contest been announced?
Ah. Ok. I see where it is. Thanks.


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Dani Rodrik on the economists' role in bringing about the most recent financial crisis:
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, it became fashionable for economists to decry the power of big banks. It is because politicians are in the pockets of financial interests, they said, that the regulatory environment allowed those interests to reap huge rewards at great social expense. But this argument conveniently overlooks the legitimizing role played by economists themselves. It was economists and their ideas that made it respectable for policymakers and regulators to believe that what is good for Wall Street is good for Main Street.
Economists love theories that place organized special interests at the root of all political evil. In the real world, they cannot wriggle so easily out of responsibility for the bad ideas that they have so often spawned. With influence must come accountability.


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Last weekend, during MeetJS Summit in Poznań, I gave my first talk this year. It was just another great frontend event organized by Godfather of Polish web conferences, Damian Wielgosik, together with Polish GTUG.
Since ICT Conference in Kathmandu in November, where I spoke for the last time in 2011 (with simple .ppt slides), something really big happened in a web conferences world. Because of impress.js, stunning CSS 3D based presentation framework by Bartek Szopka, it became inappropriate to use prehistoric tools like PowerPoint for creating your own slides (It has 600 Github watchers more in two weeks than CoffeeScript in more than 2 years, SIC!). And since I had just couple of days before the event, I used mine & Jakub Siemiątkowski's port of Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia as a base of my presentation. I'm quite satisfied with the result, you can check it HERE or just click on the iframe below. It is optimized for my presentation remote so you can change the slides only using PgDown & PgUp. Sometimes it needs to be refreshed, and sometimes it craches, but it's more like a prove of concept, not real life product.


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Microsoft is the secret owner of a powerful ecosystem. "Secret," because until now the company has done very little to get its various products to talk to one another.
Today Microsoft is taking a promising step forward, announcing that Windows Phone 8 will be designed from the ground up to natively interact with Windows 8 when both launch later this year.
Alongside this deep integration, with Windows Phone 8, Microsoft is pushing a redesigned Metro homescreen that allows for more user control, a SIM-based mobile wallet and a built-in mapping solution that isn't Google Maps.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Let's Talk Ecosystems
While ecosystems are going to become more and more important in the near future, they're already at play. Apple is the most aggressive when it comes to building its ecosystem: if you buy only Apple products, your iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple TV will all talk to one another and enhance the functionality of your system overall. Apple's product-to-product communication is also more robust than its competitors: you can FaceTime between an iPhone and a Mac, for instance, which is the kind of feature that adds subtle incentive for you to encourage your friends to buy Apple, too.
Instead of focusing on hardware, Google, Amazon and others look to wrap you up in online services instead. Google has a dizzying suite with Gmail, Google Play, Google Docs (soon to be Google Drive), Calendar, Reader and more, and you can attach pretty much any info imaginable to Google, and then access it on any computer or even tie it more deeply into an Android device. Similarly, Amazon ties your purchases to your Amazon account, allowing you to access the content across a variety of devices, and has one other big advantage: its Kindle e-book store. Think about it: if you buy all your e-books through the Kindle app, you probably won't ever buy a Nook. The reverse is also true if you buy e-books through Barnes & Noble. The ecosystem is determining your hardware purchases.
With Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Live and even some services most of today's users probably don't even know about — anyone out there still using Hotmail? — Microsoft has an ecosystem waiting to congeal, and Windows Phone 8 looks like it's going to lead that charge.
Windows 8, Say Hello To Windows Phone 8
Microsoft's "Metro" tile-centric interface was already a part of Windows Phone 7 and, to a lesser extent, informed the Xbox 360's last major interface redesign. With Windows Phone 8, Microsoft is looking to unify its tile architecture, meaning that you'll get more out of owning both a Windows 8 machine and a Windows Phone 8 device (more on that in a minute).
New to Windows Phone 8 is the hugely welcome ability to access updates over the air without plugging your phone into a PC, voice controls similar to Siri but that work in apps as well, true multitasking that allows app developers to tie deeply into a Windows Phone 8 device's system — something enjoyed by Android users, but not yet fully embraced by Apple — and a focus on sharing through tapping. Apps already make that last feature a possibility (tapping two phones with the same app to exchange business cards, for instance), but with the native ability to tap two Windows Phone 8 handsets together and pass information back and forth (or any Windows 8 machine), it may be something people start using a lot more.
While that's all pretty cool, here are the three features we're most excited for from today's announcements:
1. Redesigned Metro live tiles: With its live tile design, Microsoft's interface definitely looks different. Instead of your usual grid of apps, your email, phone calls, texts and more all exist on little constantly updating tiles, which can dynamically display different bits of information. With Windows Phone 7, it was pretty but a little cumbersome. Windows Phone 8 will give you more control over these tiles, letting you pin whatever you want wherever, and designate which tiles should be small or medium or large. What's more, with a Windows 8 machine, you can organize your live tiles across a computer, tablet or phone. Much in the same way that owning a Mac and an iPhone together will give you greater functionality, your Windows 8 family of devices will all be an extension of one another. You can see it in action in the graphic above: a Windows 8 slate and Windows Phone 8 device share tile information.
2. A mobile wallet tied to your SIM: Cell carriers and handset makers want you to stop reaching for your wallet, and to use your phone instead. It's going to be a big, big push in upcoming smartphones. Right now, that usually means baking NFC technology right into every handset, and, as it is with Google Wallet, funneling your transactions through a certain company (again, think ecosystem). Microsoft's solution is a little different. Your wallet details will reside on a secure SIM card instead, meaning that you can take your digital wallet with you from phone to phone just as you would a list of contacts. Or, at least, that's the plan. As carriers and phonemakers decide on how to incorporate NFC and mobile wallets, the idea of a secure SIM could get lost in the shuffle.
3. Nokia Maps: Ever use Nokia Maps? We're betting you haven't, not unless you had to. The company's Web incarnation of its mapping tools are functional, but pale in comparison to the kind of control Google Maps offers. There is one big benefit Nokia Maps has on Windows Phone 8, though: the ability to access your maps offline. This means you can still find out where you are when your cell's signal leaves you, and could also see you using less data, according to Microsoft. With mapping software becoming quite the sticking point lately, we're interested to see how Microsoft and Nokia's offering will hold up to Google and Apple.
Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 reveal has definitely left us curious. We've always thought the live tiles were an interesting way to build an interface, but one that was ultimately more pretty than functional. With more control over the live tiles, deep integration with Windows 8 and plenty of smart features, we're excited to get our hands on the hardware later this year and see how it holds up.


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Updated May 14, 2004 by MeyendTripp
Comment #2 Friday, May 14, 2004 11:35 AM
Them boys at SkinPlant are just AWESOME
Comment #3 Saturday, May 15, 2004 2:47 PM
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Just When You Thought The Beef Was Over: Shawty Lo, StuntMan, & D4L Diss T.I. "T.I Got The Biggest Gang In America.. The Police". Plus Speaks On Knocking Out Big Kuntry King Of PSC & "Lil Duval Ima Slap The Sh*t Out Your Bitch Ass
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Ryan on Fire
July 25, 2007
A road trip that started out ugly ended pretty. Now, it is back home for six games against two teams with losing records, the Nationals and Pirates.
The Nationals just completed a 5-2 homestand. They had back-to-back shutout wins over the Rockies. Their pitchers haven't allowed a run in 20 innings.
The Pirates are 1-8 since the second half started after a 9-4 mark just before the All-Star Game.
Still, there are no easy games in this game. Odds yesterday weren't in the Phillies favor with Jake Peavy on the mound for the Padres. The result ended in the Phillies favor. That's baseball and that's why you play the games.
Ryan Howard's bat has been on fire. "I'm starting to feel a little better at the plate," he said on this road trip. That's good news for Phillies fans and not so good news for enemy pitchers.
On the one-week trip, Howard was 11-for-22 with five homers, 13 RBI and 10 walks. For the second time in his career, he has been selected as the National League Player of the Week.
He's been driving the ball up the middle and to left field which are really good signs. Against lefties, his 11 homers are the most in the majors. Last year, he was No. 1 in the same category with 16 homers.
While the Phillies were on the west coast, Pat Gillick and Ruben Amaro were checking out the Phillies minor league teams. Gillick has been in Clearwater since Saturday and he'll see Brett Myers pitch tonight. Amaro was in Ottawa for the weekend.
Plenty of seats are available for tomorrow night and Friday night. Wednesday night (Cole Hamels bobble head) and Saturday night (Howard t-shirt) are both sold out.
2 Comments
The next two series are HUGE. With the Braves on a West Coast road trip, and the Mets playing the Pirates and Nats as well, the Phils need to keep the hot playing, and start making up some ground in the division.
It's going to be an exciting month of August. I like the Phillies chances!
The big guy is on a tear and should add N.L. player of the month honors as well. Although he's being pitched around again his patience along w/ Rowand and a resurgent Pat Burrell will allow him to get his numbers.
Is another MVP attainable? Early leaders Fielder and Reyes have cooled off. Chase has to be considered right there with him. Any other early contenders?


text:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27 February 1807 – 24 March 1882 / Portland, Maine)
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The Ladder Of St. Augustine. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The First)
Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we will but tread
Beneath our feet each deed of shame!
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Free Goat
Adapted by Barry Steevens and Rex RickettsDepartment of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
Originally authored by Donald L. AceDairy Science Extension, Pennsylvania State University
Sound feeding practices and good housing facilities result in optimum growth and high milk production and contribute to the good health and comfort of dairy goats.
When feeding dairy goats, keep these objectives in mind:
Optimum growth, good health and high milk production are the results of sound feeding practices. Dairy goats are not unique in their body requirements; they will respond to good nutritional practices.
Digestible fiber is especially important in dairy goat diets. Too much grain in relation to forage does not foster good ruminant action and is a costly feeding practice.
When feeding, keep minerals and trace mineral salt separate. Always feed them separately. Feed hay in a rack that will not permit wasting. One recommended type of feeder is a keyhole feeder. Do not overlook forage testing as an economical way to feed the correct ration to your herd. Ask your local University Extension agent about this program.
Kids are born with no natural protection from disease. The first milk (colostrum) from the mother offers protection and gets the digestive system working. To be most effective, it must be fed before disease-producing organisms enter the mouth and digestive tract.
Wash the fresh doe's udders and teats with warm water. Hand milk half a cup of colostrum and feed it to the kid within 15 minutes of birth. This is the best way to ensure that the newborn receives some milk and to provide it with the most protection from organisms present on the skin of the doe. Complete the first milking and store the colostrum for later feedings if you elect to hand feed. Otherwise, permit the kid to nurse at its convenience following the first hand feeding.
Clean the feeding utensils immediately after each use. Use the same cleaning procedures you follow for washing milk-handling equipment or your dinner dishes.
Table 1 is a practical milk feeding schedule. Warm the milk to 100 degrees F. Provide extra water at two weeks of age.
Table 1. Milk feeding schedule.
Milk replacer may be fed from the fourth day; it should contain at least 20 percent protein, 20 percent fat and be free of vegetable products. A lamb or high-quality calf milk replacer is recommended. Provide hay and grain at one to two weeks of age. Wean from milk when grain intake reaches 1/4-pound daily and kids are readily consuming hay.
If diarrhea is a problem, try the following mixture:
Beef consommé — 1 canFruit pectin (Sur-Jel) — 1 packageLite salt — 1 teaspoonBaking soda — 2 teaspoonsWater — to 2 quarts
Make sure the solution is thoroughly mixed. Mix a fresh mixture daily and feed in place of milk. Double the rate you were feeding. Feed as soon as you notice diarrhea. Use for 1-1/2 or 2 days, then return to the regular milk diet.
After four to six months of age, the kids may be fed a ration similar to that of the milking herd. Good hay and 1/2 pound of grain per day should provide an ample growth rate. Poor hay may require 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of grain daily.
If milk production is important, feed maximum amounts of high quality hay balanced with a grain ration containing enough protein, minerals and vitamins to support production and animal health (see Table 2). Grass or legume hays are equally acceptable. As the percentage of legumes is increased, the need for protein in the grain mix is reduced.
Table 2. Hay and grain rations for the milking herd.
To determine the amount of grain to feed, consider level of milk production, amount and quality of forages consumed, appetite and state of fleshing. Thin, high-producing does should have access to all the hay they can eat plus grain to the limit of their appetite. Does in mid-lactation that are in good flesh should have all the hay they will eat plus 1 pound of grain for each 3 pounds milk produced. Late lactation does may not need more than 1 pound of grain for each 5 pounds of milk.
Feed a grain ration formulated for a milk-producing ruminant (dairy cows). Rolled or cracked grain is more palatable than ground grain. Because of palatability problems, urea is not recommended. Some commercial cow feeds may contain byproduct ingredients unpalatable to goats. Wet molasses is more palatable than dry molasses. Beer or citrus pulp is a valuable source of fiber, especially if the available hay is of low quality. Table 3 lists some palatable and nutritious rations your local miller could mix.
Table 3. Sample grain rations.
Add a vitamin premix that will provide 1,000 units of vitamin A, 500 units of vitamin D and 3 units of vitamin E per pound of grain.
Weeds and browse are not a necessary part of a goat's diet. Good pasture is a valuable source of summer feed. Vegetable tops and parings may be used as an "extra;" do not depend on them as a sole source of forage.
Water is critical to good health and high milk production. A clean water source should be available at all times. If the water is warmed during cold weather, goats will consume more.
If the doe is not thin, reduce the amount of grain to 1/2 to 1 pound per day. Feed her all the forage she will eat. Hay fed during the dry period may be of lower quality, but if so, the grain ration should contain additional protein. Browse, leaves and weeds are often useful to recondition the stomach. If the dry ration differs from the milking ration, be sure to change to the milking forage and grain ration two weeks before the doe freshens.
For convenience, you may feed the buck the same grain fed the milking herd. Most bucks do not need more than a pound of grain per day plus forages. Don't let them grow fat. Adjust grain upward or downward accordingly. Always feed full forage.
Housing for dairy goats does not have to be elaborate, but it must satisfy the health and comfort of the animals. There are five requirements of good housing for goats:
The comfort zone for dairy goats is between 55 and 70 degrees F. Non-sweating animals are much less sensitive to declining temperatures than to rising temperatures. Milk production, feed consumption and comfort are not affected by temperatures between 0 and 55 degrees F, but temperatures over 80 degrees F seriously reduce feed intake and milk output. Therefore, the object is not how to keep the goats warm in winter, but how to keep them cool in summer.
The movement of air, either by mechanical or natural means, to remove heat, moisture and odors is a necessary part of a housing plan. Most pneumonia problems with dairy goats can be traced to inadequate ventilation. Wet walls and ceilings are the result of improper ventilation, poor insulation or a combination of the two.
The rate of air movement is influenced by the amount of animal heat produced and the temperature you wish to maintain in the building. Additional heat and insulation may be required to keep the stable air fresh and to prevent water pipes from freezing in the winter. An air inlet system also must be provided for good air distribution. Ventilation entails more than installing a fan to move some air.
Proper ventilation during the summer may require moving 150 to 200 cubic feet of air per minute per animal. Winter weather may reduce the amount of air to be exhausted to as little as 20 cubic feet per goat. Contact your local University Extension agent for assistance in planning the right ventilation system. With proper ventilation, you are protecting the animals, the building and the quality of milk produced.
Windows are essential in a closed barn. They permit sunlight for warmth and drying and provide a source of vitamin D for the animals. Well-lighted barns usually are kept cleaner. In summer, open windows are important for air movement.
There are two housing systems often used for dairy goats: 1) loose housing, where the animals run loose in a pen or shed, and 2) stall barns, where each animal is confined in a small box stall or tie stall. Loose housing is an old system with many desirable features. With plenty of bedding, the manure pack for a goat herd can be kept fairly clean and dry. Heat produced within the pack makes a warm bed. There is ample exercise area and an opportunity for the goats to move around.
This type of housing, however, presents a few problems. A built-up manure pack, even though dry on the surface, releases a lot of moisture into the barn air. In addition, hay racks should be located off the bedded area to reduce parasite infestations. Watering devices should be placed in an area where spilled water will not mess up the bedded pack.
Many goat owners use a shed or barn that is open on the south or southeast side, thus eliminating the need for mechanical ventilation. These are cold housing facilities that do not require additional heat or insulation and use normal air movement for ventilation. Goats move freely in or out of the housing area and into the paddock or feeding area. Hay feeders, watering devices, mineral feeders and grain bunks are located on concrete pads some distance from the built-up manure pack.
Housing for the kids and other young stock may be included in the plan for the milking herd. However, young goats must be kept separate from the milking herd. Frequently, the kids are kept in 4-foot-square box stalls with at least one side slatted to permit air movement. Do not make a box stall from plywood with all four walls solid; air movement will not reach the kids. Usually a gated front contains enough openings to allow air drainage. Provide a heat lamp for newborn kids and for kids that are ill. Older kids may be kept in a corner of the stable area inside a pen made from movable hurdles.
Buck housing must be separate and downwind from the milking herd. It does not have to be elaborate and often is no more than a 5- or 6-foot shed with an open side facing the south to give the bucks free access to an exercise lot.
The milking area is part of the housing plan, but it should be separated from the stable area. It should have a concrete floor to make cleaning easier, and the milking platform should be 15 to 18 inches higher than the floor to permit easier milking. The platform should allow 18 inches in width and 3-1/2 feet in length for each animal to be tied. The manger should be 6 inches deep and 1 foot wide. If several goats are to be fastened and milked at once, a lever that will open and close the stanchion head locks is helpful.
Some goat owners who keep their milking herds in stall barns milk their animals on a milking stand located in one corner of the stable. Dusty air and flies in the stable, however, may require you to place the milking stand in a separate screened-in facility to guarantee clean milk. A 5-by-8-foot room with a concrete floor and drain is adequate for milking a small herd, but be sure there is plenty of light either from natural sources or electric bulbs.
If the milk is sold to the public or to a processor, there will be state inspection of the operation just as is required for production of Grade A milk from cows. Check with your local health authorities and the state inspector before starting construction.
If the milk is to be used by the family, the degree of sanitation and cleanliness maintained and the size and type of building constructed can be based on the owner's good sense, pride, conscience and finances.
Equip the milk house with a double sink for washing utensils, a hot water heater, refrigeration, a small table or work space, and a rack for drying and storing utensils. At least 50 percent of the milk house should be open floor space with ample room for equipment.
Regardless of the herd size, refrigeration must be available to quickly cool the milk. A household refrigerator may be used, but cold water is more efficient in cooling milk than cold air. The refrigerator or cooler should be large enough to hold a pan of water. The pan should hold enough water to match the amount of milk in the milk bucket. If the herd is big enough and milk production is 5, 10 or more gallons per day, it will be necessary to purchase a water-immersion cooler or a bulk tank for cooling purposes.
Cooling is critical to milk flavor and quality. All milk contains bacteria, some of which comes from the air and the utensils. If milk remains warm for a short period, the bacteria begin to multiply and the quality of milk deteriorates. Therefore, cool milk immediately after milking to a temperature under 40 degrees F and hold it at that temperature until processed and/or consumed.
Plans for building a milking barn and milking stand and for construction of the milk house area are available from your local University Extension dairy agent.
Fences serve two purposes that make them an important part of a housing plan — they keep goats in and dogs out. They also keep foraging goats away from your trees and shrubs as well as your neighbor's flower patch.
Set 7-foot posts, either wooden or steel, on 12-foot centers. Then use either a 4-foot-high woven wire fence topped with an electric wire 12 inches above the woven wire or use a completely electric fence. If you use a completely electric fence, place the first wire 12 inches from the ground, then four more wires on 6-inch spacings to a total height of 36 inches. Use insulators on the post to attach the wires. The electric fence works well when weeds, grass and brush are not allowed to touch the wires and short it out or when the ground isn't bone dry during periods of drought. Your local farm supply store can recommend the proper equipment.
In summary, keep the plans as simple and economical as possible. Consider the health of your animals as well as the conveniences a housing facility might offer. Contact your local University Extension agent for additional ideas on housing facilities for your dairy goat enterprise.
Copyright 1999 University of Missouri. Published by University Extension, University of Missouri-Columbia. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension Work Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. Ronald J. Turner, Director, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Missouri and Lincoln University, Columbia, Missouri 65211. • University Extension does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability or status as a Vietnam-era veteran in employment or programs. If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act and need this publication in an alternative format, write ADA Officer, Extension and Agricultural Information, 1-98 Agriculture Building, Columbia, MO 65211, or call (573) 882-7216. Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate your special needs.
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I found this post from 2012 in draft form and thought it might be time to publish it as a reminder to myself of just how good life is:
For feet that run so far my toenails turn black For cats that sit on the kitchen table to be closer to my typing fingers For the beautiful girl sleeping on my couch (please, stay near...)
For the tonic in my fridge, the muffins in my oven
For a job that makes a difference, allows me the freedom I crave, and taught me there just might be a "career" for me
For a love who is always always always happy to see me, is consistent in every way, makes me want to be better, and catches delicious fishes!
For growing relationships with family
For 6 jars of honey, all different
For the air that intoxicates and the sun that tickles my soul
For the friends who have not only stayed, but have worked with me to allow ourselves to grow, together
For the ability to put fresh fruits and vegetables together to create something delicious
And then these few unpublished lines from June 2013, just two months after the Boston marathon:
Clean and beautiful. This summer the lake will take the dust that is settling upon me far from me so that I can carry on and be better without being stained. I see smoke but the smoke cannot keep me, and I have an ache that can't have me.
And then almost 2 years later, April 2015:
Friday morning, after a week of post-race fatigue following a 20k trail race and a 77.7 mile bike/run around Seneca Lake, I wiggled out of bed, made myself tea and oats, wandered around my tiny kitchen marveling at our renovation progress, filled my bladder half way, spent a little more time than usual chatting with the chickens, grabbed warmer gloves, made a mental note that my car could use a wash, and made my way to the trail. I was quiet, and my stomach flitted with excitement. I needed more sleep. And I couldn't wait to run. Welcome to my world. I don't write about this much, as it's a part of my life that is so integral to the core of who I am that I don't feel the need to share it or explain it. It's not the run, per se, but rather the way my body, my mind, my entire being is released from the grip of every other part of its self. It's the stepping away from all the things that define me, the allowing me to just be me, in whatever mental and physical state I find myself in a given moment. It is freedom.
And now, in July 2016, I am reminded just how good life has been to me. And I am grateful.
July 22, 2016
Unpublished Posts
1 comments Posted by Kendralee* on 9:03 AM
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text:
My concerns about scrapbooks
In 1995, as my parents' golden wedding anniversary approached, they decided that they should organize their photos. So Mama and Daddy spent many hours, looking through their photos and newspaper clippings and arranging many of them in chronological order. They taped (yes, taped!) them into scrapbooks, and for a few of the photos, they wrote captions. They enjoyed making the scrapbooks, and they enjoyed showing them to the friends and family who gathered to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
My parents have both been gone for over a dozen years, but my brother, my sister, and I haven't divided the family pictures yet. I hope that day will come eventually, but for now, I'm scanning photos from a couple of scrapbooks that I brought home from my brother's house last fall.
The scrapbooks and the taped-down photos are a bit of a problem. I can't remove the photos from the pages for scanning, so I opened the hinges of one of the scrapbooks and took out the pages. I have to make two scans for each side of each page. Then it takes a fair amount of time with image processing software to crop the individual photos, straighten them, and save them. I have an older Canon scanner. It works well, but it doesn't do many things automatically.
The worst problem is that we can't divide the photos in the scrapbooks without destroying the scrapbooks. For example, it would be nice if I could have some of the photos in which I appear -- the original photos, not just scans of them. Pictures of me as a child won't mean much to my five nephews and their descendants, whereas my own children and grandchildren might value them. Is that more important than keeping the photos in the scrapbooks that my mother and father created?
The photographs probably should be cut loose from the pages, whether or not we ever get them divided among the three of us. I am very sure the scrapbook pages are not made of acid-free paper.
Scanning these photos has made me wonder about the scrapbooks that many hobbyists enjoy creating today. How will their children share the family photos and memorabilia that are embedded in fancy scrapbook pages? No one will want to ruin the pages, so one person will inherit each book and its contents. I hope that the scrapbook crafters are saving duplicates of the photos or creating similar scrapbooks for each child.
People like to decorate their scrapbook pages with embellishments that they purchase at scrapbooking shops. Little doodads of any thickness would be a problem on my scanner. If a page doesn't lie flat, I don't get a well-focused scan. I'm glad my parents' scrapbook pages are not lumpy!
I think I'll try to write some information on the backs of my own photographs, instead of putting them in scrapbooks. If the kids want them organized chronologically, they can do it themselves.


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Elliott Erwitt generally likes to let his pictures do the talking. "I'm very bad about talking about things," he tells me with a smile, during a recent sit-down to look through his latest book, Sequentially Yours, published this month by teNeues.
The book playfully presents a series of unscripted vignettes that bear the personal hallmark and humor of his classic images and movies, but with an original twist— rather than single shots, the photos are shown as sequences. The result is somewhere between single exposures and films, and the stories play out like silent movies—touching, funny, sad, irreverent and full of surprise.
Erwitt uses his film sparingly; he's the first to acknowledge that he does not take as many frames as most photographers when he shoots. "The process is sometimes more interesting than the finished picture," he says. And it's that thought that served as the impetus for Sequentially Yours. Looking through his archive, Erwitt decided it made more sense to show sequenced images— as opposed to a single shot a la Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Decisive Moment."
"You always look for the best picture, but sometimes the pictures are not that great alone. But in a group, they become interesting," Erwitt says, citing the series of people trying to close an umbrella on a windy day. "None of these are a picture on their own, but as a sequence of 32, it's hilarious—not being able to close the umbrella and going home with it open."
The book's layout mimics Erwitt's photographs in style—classic and effortless—and each of the vignettes has different constructs and different outcomes—often open to interpretation—that surprise and entertain. There are iconic images of Erwitt's that you would expect to be the final statement in a particular sequence that actually appear in the middle of a story, proving that the iconic image can come at different points in the process and that Erwitt continues to shoot with a natural curiosity beyond the point where other photographers might stop after they've gotten the picture.
In a photo series of an old man and his dog, Erwitt says "the picture is of course the man talking to the dog—having had his discussion, he goes on his way." In another series, which takes place at a graveyard, he says, "You really don't know what is going to happen—it starts with a woman going to a cemetery to deposit some flowers and a dog follows her." The last picture shows the dog rolling on the ground—and could stand on its own as the picture—but it is made more interesting by those that precede it. But even as the punch line, this image is still open ended. Is the dog playing dead or simply being playful?
These sequences reveal how Erwitt shoots, and he clearly has a relaxed approach and patience. "It's like fishing. Sometimes you catch one. You lay in wait for something to happen— sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't," the photographer says of his process.
Along with the stories, there are Erwitt's iconic photographs of public figures. The familiar images give further context by the frames which were taken immediately before or after. A group portrait taken on the set of the The Misfits movie reveals the chemistry of the cast in the build up to the final image. Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev are shown as a dyptich, and a series of Che Guevara portraits are simply four pictures taken from a single photo shoot. In a Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier fight sequence, the subtlety is almost lost in the magnitude of the moment. Erwitt's explanation of this unique series is almost as surprising as Ali being knocked to the canvas. While the accredited photographers shot handheld directly at ringside, Erwitt shot from the audience a distance away, with the camera on a tripod, so you can see that all three pictures are taken from the identical position.
And while most of the image sets are taken in a concentrated time frame, there are a couple of notable exceptions. Two photos of Erwitt's first daughter—one in which she is pregnant and the other three months later with her baby—and a series which ends the book, showing Erwitt's personal agenda covers adorned with photographs of his two daughters taken over a thirty year period.
Erwitt has published nearly 40 books, but Sequentially Yours provides a perfect, original and refreshing context for his intuitive and instinctive images. His playful humor and wit are as sharp as ever. Here, Erwitt gives you a sense of what happens next, the end point being sometimes comic, sometimes poignant and often with a wink.
Sequentially Yours was published this month by teNeues. Erwitt will participate in a book signing at the International Center of Photography in New York on Nov. 4.