text:
First Ukrainian carrier to benefit from up to four per cent fuel savings
Wizz Air Ukraine, the leading Ukrainian low-cost airline, has taken delivery of an A320 aircraft equipped with Sharklet fuel saving wing tip devices, becoming the first Ukrainian carrier to do so. Sharklets are newly designed wing-tip devices that improve the aircraft's aerodynamics and significantly cut the airline's fuel burn and emissions by four per cent on longer sectors.
Sharklets are an option on new-build A320 Family aircraft, and standard on all members of the NEO Family. They offer the flexibility to A320 Family operators of either adding around 100 nautical miles more range or allowing an increased payload capability of up to 450 kilograms.
"We already operate the youngest and most fuel efficient fleet of any Ukrainian airline, and our investment in Sharklets will help reduce our fuel consumption even further," said Akos Bus, Director General of Wizz Air Ukraine.
"With high fuel prices and with a four per cent fuel burn reduction, Wizz Air Ukraine's investment in the Sharklet will pay handsome dividends, said John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer, Customers. "We are delighted with Wizz Air Ukraine's choice to grow their airline with Airbus."
The A320 Family is the world's best-selling and most modern single aisle aircraft Family. To date, over 9,150 aircraft have been ordered and over 5,460 delivered to more than 385 customers and operators worldwide.


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Those of you who read my pre-season wish list might feel that I'm being a tad ungrateful, perhaps even hypocritical. After all, I did wrap up that essay by concluding that
if I have a wish list for Deadwood's third season, it is that its main characters return to form--that Bullock become again a player in the town's politics, that Al demonstrate the capacity and the willingness to hurt even those who might not deserve it, that Cy be marginalized, and that Hearst prove a more interesting, more believable character than Wolcott.Which, by and large, is what the third season has delivered. Cy was indeed marginalized--not only in terms of the character's screen time but within the story itself. Much as I would have preferred to see Cy unceremoniously dumped from the show, there was a certain gratification to be found in watching him realize how incidental to the running of the camp he had become. Bullock once again took up his role as a leader in the camp (albeit with Al none-too-subtly directing his moves) and with the murder of Jen in the season finale, Al Swearengen finally broke his two-and-a-half season dry spell and killed someone who genuinely didn't deserve to die (although it does appear that the writers were eager to soft-pedal the murder's effect, given that Jen's death prevented Trixie's, and that we hardly knew the character, and that neither Bullock nor Sol breathed a word of recrimination against Al).
Best of all, in George Hearst, Deadwood's writers finally created a worthy, terrifying, and utterly despicable villain. Gerald McRaney gives a chilling performance (I'd be talking Emmys right now if it weren't for the fact that this is the same institution that has deprived Ian McShane of his dues not once but twice) as a man who is both furiously intelligent and completely selfish. It's actually quite rare for a television show to feature a villain who is both powerful and disgusting--bad guys being famously fun to write for, most shows fall into the trap of making their villains charismatic and seductive (Deadwood tried to go down that path twice, with Tolliver and Francis Wolcott, albeit without great success, and was headed that way with Al before he became a good guy)--but every time we came close to feeling sympathy or pity or admiration for George Hearst, he proved himself yet again to be a bully and a sociopath, and ultimately, too much for our heroes to handle.
But I'm still glad that Deadwood is cancelled, because in spite of these welcome developments on the character front, and in spite of the fact that the third season's highlights included some of the most stunning and exciting bits of television I've seen in a long time (including what is, bar none, the most affecting and harrowing death of a regular character I've ever experienced), the season as a whole dragged. Out of twelve episodes, maybe three--"Unauthorized Cinnamon," "A Constant Throb," and "The Catbird Seat"--were genuinely excellent, and the rest combined the sublime with the tedious and the downright bizarre. It's painfully clear that the writers had no idea what to do with the entirety of their allotted twelve hours--the story they wanted to tell taking up maybe four--and so they resorted to proliferating secondary and tertiary storylines and drawing them out remorselessly.
When Hostetler returns to the camp with the horse that killed William Bullock and squares off against Steve for ownership of the livery, there's some genuine tension in the air--not least because the storyline provides Bullock with a welcome opportunity to act outside of Al's influence as he desperately strives to prevent his son's death from spawning another senseless tragedy (this is, by the way, the only acknowledgment of William's very recent death over the course of the entire season). But the storyline keeps going in the next episode, and the one after that. Even after Hostetler's death, the characters keep cropping up and insulting one another again and again and again. If I didn't know better, I'd say the horse that lobotomized Steve was meant to stand in for the exasperated viewers.
The same might be said of Aunt Lou and her ill-fated son (although that storyline does serve to cast a light on Hearst's sadistic personality), and then there are the actors. Now, don't get me wrong: I think Brian Cox made an excellent addition to an already superior cast, and I very much enjoyed his character's interactions with Al and Hearst and even his shorter shared scenes with Joanie, Alma, and Bullock. But why in the name of all that is good and pure were we subjected to all the soapy melodrama surrounding the acting troupe? Who the hell are these people and why should we care about their petty squabbles when characters we've actually come to care about are dying and suffering off-screen? The mind boggles at the mindset that would willingly take us away from the Gem in the wake of Ellsworth's murder in order to watch the actors awkwardly welcome a new member into the troupe.
All this, I might point out, while established characters were left to languish in one-note roles. Trixie and Sol bicker and make up. Jane drinks and longs for Joanie. Doc coughs. Martha teaches and looks saintly and long-suffering. Alma, who was making such tremendous strides last season, goes back to the dope, which is really the entire story right there. The truth is that addiction is boring, and beyond the fact of it, there's really nothing much of interest to say about a person who descends into it. So Alma takes up laudanum again, screws up her life but good, and then disappears for several episodes (including the one in which the writers sanctimoniously have the whores point out that the men haven't invited Alma to the meeting of the camp elders--a sentiment that might have resonated a bit more if we didn't know that the character was a busy going through the DTs at the time) only to emerge from them clean with no indication of why she chose to quit again or how she managed to do it on her own.
If, like myself, you're a former Carnivalé fan, then I'm sure you find this situation very familiar. Like Deadwood, this other member of the rather small and exclusive club of cancelled HBO dramas had a very promising first season and a second season that dragged, too committed to the writers' established timeline to notice that the audience was turning away in droves. In its first season, Carnivalé established backstories for several of the freak show acts, and the season's minor storylines usually involved these characters in some way. In its second season, the writers decided to focus on one of these storylines--the one involving the Dreyfus family, a mom and pop stripper act whose youngest member was brutally murdered in one of the first season's strongest episodes. Before long, the show seemed to have been split in two--half the air time was taken up by the battle between good and evil, and the other half by the Dreyfuses' dull domestic squabbles (the 'marriage imperiled in the wake of a child's death' storyline being only slightly less tedious than the one about the addict who goes back on the junk). Carnivalé got axed in the wake of its second season, and deservedly so. Deadwood deserves the same fate--clearly the TV movies that David Milch has been promised to wrap up the show's storyline (such as it is) are more suited to the kind of story he wants to tell. Sometimes restrictions are a good thing.
But are restrictions enough? Much as I enjoyed the battle of wits and personalities between Al and George Hearst, and as persuasive as the third season was as a metaphor for free-enterprise capitalism being swallowed whole by corporate capitalism (with Bullock weakly waving his little flag for the rule of law in the background), I'm not sure it made a very good story. Or at least, I'm not sure that the juxtaposition of Western elements and a more realistic history of Western expansion is working anymore. Throughout the season, the writers keep edging up to the point of painting the struggle between Hearst and Al in the terms of a Western--such as when Al gruffly announces that "[he's] having [his] served cold" after Hearst assaults him--but that threat and that promise are left unfulfilled. Ultimately, there is nothing Al can do to George Hearst, nothing the camp can do but capitulate. At which point, the character suddenly and for no sensible reason decides to leave, returning the camp to something resembling status quo in spite of the fact that before that point, it had been clearly and repeatedly stated that Hearst's victory would turn Deadwood into a company town and that the man was not willing to tolerate the existence of any power in the town save his own. The metaphor having been established, the characters' ideals having been thoroughly trampled through the mud, it seems to signify very little to the writers that the path they've taken to reach that point makes very little sense and is somewhat less than satisfying as a piece of storytelling.
It's possible, I suppose, that the Hearst storyline was meant to wrap up in the show's fourth season, although given Hearst's departure I'd call that unlikely. In the wake of the show's cancellation, however, we're left with a very strange, almost lop-sided artifact--some of the best line-by-line writing ever to appear on a television screen, and some of the worst and sloppiest plotting and pacing it has ever been my misfortune to suffer through. It remains to be seen whether David Milch will indeed get a chance to wrap up Deadwood's story, and if he does I'm very curious to see which David Milch shows up. Will it be the person who gave us Ellsworth's murder and Bullock's letter to the relatives of a murdered union organizer? Or will it be the man who ended this season--and possibly the show--on a shot of Al Swearengen angrily scrubbing the blood of yet another innocent off his floor, observing with disdain that the deceased's friend wants him to "tell him something pretty"? I may be oversensitive, but it strikes me that that comment was aimed at the show's viewers, who may be wondering how they can swallow such an ugly, unsatisfying ending. In which case, I reject Milch's defiance--of his viewers and of storytelling conventions. Ugliness isn't always a virtue.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cubs struggling against left-handed pitchers
PITTSBURGH -- Entering Thursday, the Cubs had a .232 batting average against left-handed pitchers, and they are 4-10 when a southpaw starts against them. They can watch video, but there is only one left-handed batting practice option in bullpen coach Lester Strode.
In Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Pirates, the Cubs faced one lefty, Justin Wilson, and had one hit off him in 1 2/3 innings -- Ryan Sweeney's pinch-hit RBI single.
Manager Dale Sveum says most hitters don't like to face a lefty in batting practice.
"Hitters like to feel good in [batting practice]," Sveum said, adding some hitters are finicky to the point that they only want to work with the same pitcher.
"Some guys like [to face lefties], some guys don't like it, and a lot of times, it's the latter," Sveum said. "A lot of guys don't like hitting off left-handers in batting practice because it's more of a feel thing."


text:
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text:
Truth and Error: A Necessary Collision"But the peculiar evil in silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation: those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." From John Stuart Mill's On Liberty
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Surviving Bullies: Jon Speaks
This entry was posted in Bullies, Equal Protection, Equality, Everyday Heros, Gay History, GLBT, GLBT Teens, GLBT Youth, Hate Crimes, Homophobia, Leadership, News, Our History: Gays Through the Ages. Bookmark the permalink.
3 Responses to Surviving Bullies: Jon Speaks
I love the way these videos are multiplying, reaching out, and teaching us how to give encouragement when it's needed.
Hey, that's right! To hell with age discrimination, then. (laughing)


text:
A-Data has really upped the ante with the packaging for its Vitesta Extreme Edition memory - if nothing else.
The sticks themselves sit in a pair of foam boxes resembling luxurious coffins. If Dracula was in the habit of choosing RAM, he'd certainly go for this based on packaging alone. But does it have any bite?
Overclocking potential
Performance is fairly decent - not quite up there with OCZ's DDR3-1,600 memory, which is of the same specification but with a slightly higher maximum bandwidth. Where A-Data's memory shines, however, is in the overclocking stakes.
It's got potential for increasing the voltage, and the 1,600MHz clock can easily be pushed to 1,772MHz, resulting in a noticeable performance increase.
It's also worth considering if you're going to be getting a P45 motherboard - the 1,600MHz clock will be accessible on these without any overclocking, and it's aesthetically minimalist without losing any cooling.
However, if you aren't planning on overclocking it's worth sticking with OCZ's slightly better offering. Unless of course you really fancy stroking that luxurious packaging.


text:
College of Education faculty helps teachers grow on KauaiUniversity of Hawaiʻi
College of Education
"This is a wonderful Rotary scholarship program for our student teachers," said Beth Pateman, professor at the Institute for Teacher Education in the COE.
Through the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's statewide program, students can remain on Kauaʻi, attend the community college for their first two years, and complete their next two years through the Statewide Teacher Education Program. However, many teacher candidates cannot afford their last semester in which they serve full-time in the classroom without pay.
"I tried to rally community support for scholarships [for years] on Kauaʻi, but it wasn't until I appeared as a speaker for the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay on November 30, 2006 that good things began to happen," Blackwell said. As a result of her efforts, the "Growing Our Own Teachers" scholarship fund was established.
This December, the Hanalei Rotary Club will hold an awards ceremony at the Princeville Hotel where 11 candidates will receive $4,000 each and another candidate, who is able to work, will receive $500. Blackwell has put in a request for six 2004-2006 graduates, who are in their second year of teaching on Kauaʻi, to receive $500 each.
Blackwell, a fulltime faculty member of the COE, has managed to conduct all of her scholarship work during volunteer hours — before school, during lunch, after hours, and on weekends. This includes speeches, radio shows, and fundraising events. Blackwell, pictured with some of the current cohort members, said, "It is so fulfilling to know that the community has taken this interest to partner with our UH Mānoa Elementary and Early Childhood Education program to Grow our own Teachers."
For more information about the UH Mānoa College of Education, visit www.hawaii.edu/coe.
For more information, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/coe


text:
Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
"His Throne is upon the waters, and in His other hand is the balance (Justice), and He raises and lowers (whomever He will)." – a hadith of the Prophet (pbuh)
One of the Names of God is Al-Adl, the Just, and in Islam, Justice demands a balance, a fairness that is clearly seen and felt. And the best example may be the 'best of creation' himself:
When the Prophet (peace be unto him) was drawing near death, he availed himself of one last chance to practice justice:
He came to the mosque wrapped in a blanket, and there were those who saw signs of death in his face. "If there is any among you," he said, "whom I have caused to be flogged unjustly, here is my back. Strike in your turn. If I have damaged the reputation of any among you, may he do likewise to mine. To any I have injured, here is my purse… It is better to blush in this world than in the hereafter." A man claimed a debt of three dinars and was paid.
In Islam and on the Sufi path as well, the highest level of Justice is to do Justice without demanding it, recognizing that our own demands may be the cause of the imbalance itself. Thus, a story is told of Dhu'l Nun al Misri, the great Egyptian Sufi saint. There was a drought in Egypt, and the people implored him to pray to God for rain. He did so, and during his prayer, God informed him that he himself was the source of the drought. So he left Egypt, and the rains came.
And for the dictators in the world, a reminder:
Beware of oppressing someone with no defense against you except God. – Hazrat Ali
– Edited from The Virtues of the Prophet, (Chapter IX) by Charles Upton.
Ya Haqq!


text:
Hazelnut fruitcake
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal501
- fat28g
- saturates13g
- carbs59g
- sugars42g
- fibre2g
- protein7g
- salt0.87g
- 225g soft, unsalted butter, plus a little extra for the tin
- 100g bag blanched hazelnuts, half very roughly chopped
Grown in Europe and the US, hazelnuts are encased in a smooth, hard brown shell but are most…
- 225g light muscovado sugar
- 225g self-raising flour
- 3 eggs
The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition packed with protein and a…
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp mixed spice or ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
Baking powderbay-king pow-dah
Baking powder is a raising agent that is commonly used in cake-making. It is made from an alkali…
- 175g courgettes, coarsely grated
The courgette is a variety of cucurbit, which means it's from the same family as cucumber,…
- 1 eating apple, grated (about 85g/3oz flesh)
Grown in temperate regions, apples are one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. There are…
- 250g mixed dried fruit
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter a deep, 20cm round cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Put the whole hazelnuts, plus 1 tbsp each of the sugar and flour, into a food processor and whizz until the hazelnuts are as fine as you can get them.
Add the butter, remaining sugar and eggs to the processor, then tip in the vanilla, spice, ¼ tsp salt, remaining flour and baking powder. Whizz until smooth. Remove the blade, then stir in the grated courgettes, apple and dried fruit.
Spoon the mix into the tin, smooth the top, then scatter with the chopped hazelnuts, pressing them into the batter a little. Bake for 1 hr 10 mins (see tip, below), covering the top loosely with foil after 45 mins, until the cake is risen and golden. Cool in the tin for 20 mins, then remove and cool on a wire rack.
Recipe Tip
TimingCourgettes can hold quite a lot of water, which can affect the finished texture of your cake. If your grated courgettes seem watery, place them into a clean cloth and wring out some of the liquid into a bowl. Then add the courgettes to the cake mixture as normal. The timing for cakes containing courgette can depend on the water content of your courgettes, so return the cake to the oven for another 10-20 mins if it needs it. Simply test with a skewer and make sure it comes out clean.


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Arlo's Pain de Urban
I was so taken by Arlo's recent blog post of his Pain de Urban that I knew I had to make it immediately. I highly reccommend this loaf to anyone. Many thanks to Arlo for the recipe and the inspiration. :) Arlo, your original recipe now has a variation. It came about by happy accident when too much water glopped out of the container while I was measuring. Hence I have called it:
Arlo's Pain de Urban (with increased hydration)
Rye Sour
- 10g starter @ 100% hydration
- 100g rye
- 100g water
Mix together and leave overnight. ( I left it for 8 hours in my 30C kitchen and it was ready when I got up in the morning).
Main Dough
- All of the rye sour
- 175g water (it was meant to be 150g)
- 1g diastatic malt (for my flour that seems to do better with it than without)
- 300g bread flour
Mixed very briefly then, out of necessity, it went into the fridge for a forced 4 hour cold autolyse. Removed from the fridge and added:
- 8g salt
Kneaded until medium windowpane (slightly more than Arlo in his original post) and let it ferment for 2 and a half hours with folds at 50 mins and 100 mins. That was followed by a pre-shape, a 15 min rest and a final shape. It rose for an hour, got banished to the refrigerator (again out of necessity) and was taken out 3 hours later to complete its proofing.
It was baked for 10 mins @ 230C with steam (fan off) and then for 40 mins without steam (fan on).
I couldn't wait for this loaf to cool down. I committed a cardinal bread sin and cut it while it was still warm. I haven't been so excited about making a loaf for quite a while. Thanks again to Arlo. :)
A close up of the crumb.
I am glad I made this one immediately as it might have stayed on my 'to do' list for a long time and it is too good to be relegated to that kind of fate.


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Pink lemonade
Adding raspberries to homemade lemonade gives it a tangy flavour and turns it a vivid pink
Nutrition and extra info
Nutrition: per tbsp syrup
- kcal57
- fat0g
- saturates0g
- carbs15g
- sugars15g
- fibre0g
- protein0g
- salt0g
- 300g caster sugar
- 1½ lemons, sliced
Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…
- 1 orange, sliced
One of the best-known citrus fruits, oranges aren't necessarily orange - some varieties are…
- 3 x 170g/6oz punnets raspberries
A member of the rose family, raspberries have a wonderfully intense, sweet taste, and many…
- ice and fresh mint, to serve (optional)
There are several types of mint, each with its own subtle difference in flavour and appearance.…
Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and pour over 350ml cold water. Bring to the boil, stirring often, then leave to cool. Pour through a sieve, pressing down with a spoon to extract all the juices. The syrup can now be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week. To serve, pour a little into a glass and top up with sparkling or still water, ice and mint.


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The people's Christ
"I have exalted one chosen out of the people." Psalm 89:19
suggested further reading: Acts 1:1–11
How exalted was he in his ascension! He went out from the city to the top of the hill, his disciples attending him while he waited the appointed moment. Mark his ascension! Bidding farewell to the whole circle, up he went gradually ascending, like the exaltation of a mist from the lake, or the cloud from the streaming river. Aloft he soared; by his own mighty buoyancy and elasticity he ascended up on high—not like Elijah, carried up by fiery horses; nor like Enoch of old, of whom it could be said he was not, for God took him. He went himself; and as he went, I think I see the angels looking down from heaven's battlements, and crying, "See the conquering hero comes!" while at his nearer approach again they shouted, "See the conquering hero comes!" So his journey through the plains of ether is complete—he nears the gates of heaven—attending angels shout, "Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!" The glorious hosts within scarce ask the question, "Who is this king of glory?" when from ten thousand thousand tongues there rolls an ocean of harmony, beating in mighty waves of music on the pearly gates and opening them at once, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Lo! heaven's barriers are thrown wide open and cherubim are hastening to meet their monarch,
"They brought his chariot from afar,
To bear him to his throne;
Clapp'd their triumphant wings and said,
"The Saviour's work is done."
Behold he marches through the streets. See how kingdoms and powers fall down before him! Crowns are laid at his feet, and his Father says, "Well done, my Son, well done!" while heaven echoes with the shout, "Well done! Well done!" Up he climbs to that high throne, side by side with the Paternal Deity. "I have exalted one chosen out of the people."
for meditation: Our ascended Lord Jesus Christ—his principal posture (he sits), his persistent pleading (he intercedes), his patient preparation (he waits to return)—Hebrews 10:11–13.
sermon no. 11[1]
[1] Spurgeon, C. H., & Crosby, T. P. (1998). 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 1) (p. 63). Leominster, UK: Day One Publications.


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The stiffness of the chassis enables different handling characteristics for different circumstances. Typically, for dry conditions a stiffer chassis is preferable, while in wet or other poor traction conditions, a more flexible chassis may work better. Best chassis allow for stiffening bars at the rear, front and side to be added or removed according to race conditions.
Braking is achieved by a disc brake mounted on the rear axle. Front disc brakes are increasingly popular; however, certain classes do not allow them.
Professionally raced karts typically weigh 165 to 175 lb (75 to 80 kg), complete without driver.
SKF designs support bearings for Karts both on the front and rear axles and the rod-ends which connect the kart steering system.


text:
Din scrapoas på nätet!
Use this handy container to store your Cling RubberT or Perfectly ClearT Stamps. They are also perfect for storing paper or stickers. These recyclable and reusable boxes snap closed securely and can be stored in a standard magazine holder or hung on peg board hooks to display your images. Storage area 8 1/2" X 11" X 7/16" deep.


text:
Devin Coldewey, NBCNews.com
Jony Ive, best known for his work in creating the iPhone and other Apple products, will be working with Leica on a custom camera to be sold for charity, the camera maker said.
The news was shared Monday night by Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, who owns Leica. Ive was originally supposed to be present but couldn't make it, so the news was handled briefly during the announcements of Leica's new cameras, the new M flagship rangefinder and some other, less expensive cameras.
The idea is for Ive to design the camera and then for Leica to produce exactly one of them, which will then be auctioned off for charity in collaboration with U2's Bono. In all likelihood, the device will fetch an astronomical sum; limited-edition Leicas regularly sell for tens of thousands of dollars, and this will be among the most exclusive and desirable devices ever made to begin with.
What Ive plans to do to the M is a mystery; he hasn't spoken publicly about the arrangement, and the design phase for the camera hasn't even begun. All that is known for sure is that it will be based on the new M camera, which already bears an iconic design -- but nothing that can't be improved.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
© 2012 NBCNews.com


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GREELEY — Conor Stanley was in coach Eric Nakayama's doghouse before the start of Friday's game against Lamar.
"I was a little upset with him, he was a little late to BP today and he forgot his cleats," Nakayama said. "And I say the only way to get in my good graces is to get a hit right here."
That was prior to the senior's seventh inning at-bat in a 7-7 game with the Savages.
Stanley, who has had a knack for recording big hits at Butch Butler Field, hooked reliever Braden Forney's first pitch around the left field foul pole for a two-run home run that proved to be the winner for the Tigers in a 9-7 come-from-behind victory over the Savages in the Class 3A double elimination tournament.
"Low and behold, he gets a home run," Nakayama said, "so he's in my good graces again."
Said Stanley: "It's always fun to hit here. I was just up there looking for a pitch I could hit and when I hit it, I didn't think I got it, next thing I see is the umpire waving me around."
The Tigers can clinch their second consecutive 3A state title against Eaton on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., and should the Reds beat Holy Family, they will have to do so again immediately afterward.
Lamar (19-6) took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brent Crampton's bases-clearing double to right field off of Nick Kreutzer plated three runs.
For the next two innings the Tigers bats, which were having a hard time against starter Darin Cook, showed no signs of coming alive.
That all changed when Jacob Tinnon led of the seventh with a hard-hit double to right-centerfield.
"It's a funny game and we always talk to our kids about the mental side and just staying in there and good things will happen when you do the little things," said Nakayama, who consulted with former Tigers coach Marc Cowell for a few helpful hints prior to the tournament. "One through nine is going to be a tough out and Tinnon comes up there, hadn't been hitting the ball well all day, and ropes a double that starts it out for us."
After a one-out single by Kennedy Phillips, the Tigers knotted the score when nine-hole hitter Matt Erb drove a single to center that plated Tinnon. Savages centerfielder Jake Specht tried to get Phillips at third, but his throw ended up in the dugout and allowed the tying run to score.
"I was just trying to get a hit and keep the inning going," Erb said. "I just tried to shorten thing up, throw my hands at the ball and get it done."
Austin Brown, who had come in relief of Kreutzer — and whose defense turned three double plays behind him in the first three innings (twice at home) — in the sixth, hit the first batter he faced in the seventh and then retired the next three to close out the game.
Brown was the only hitter to tally two hits, going 2 for 4 with two runs scored. The Tigers had eight different players record a hit.
Follow Jon on Twitter: twitter.com/JonEYunt
Holy Family 9, Lamar 7
At Butch Butler Field (Greeley)
Holy Family (23-1) 301 100 4 — 9 9 3
Lamar (19-6) 202 300 0 — 7 8 2
W — Brown (5-0). L — Forney (1-2).
Holy Family hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Conor Stanley 4-2-1-2, Austin Brown 4-2-2-0, Devlin Granberg 3-1-1-0, Zach Trombley 3-0-1-3, Zach Dedin 3-1-0-0, Jacob Tinnon 3-1-1-0, Chris McManus 4-0-1-0, Joe Coufal 0-0-0-0, Nick Kreutzer 1-0-0-0, Alex Comeaux 0-0-0-0, Kennedy Phillips 1-1-1-0, Matt Erb 3-1-1-1. Totals 29-9-9-7. 2B — Brown, Tinnon. 3B — Trombley. HR — Stanley (one on in 7th). SB — Dedin, Tinnon.
Lamar hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Jordan Jara 5-2-1-0, Darin Cook 2-0-1-0, Jake Specht 3-2-1-0, Derrick Flower 0-0-0-0, Brent Crampton 3-0-2-4, Payden Breneman 2-1-1-0, Draven Adame 4-0-2-2, Charlie Ferris 0-0-0-0, Braden Forney 3-0-0-0, Miguel Rodriguez 0-0-0-0, Brandon Reed 2-0-0-0, Zach Ramsey 1-0-0-0, Kaleb Hansen 0-0-0-0, Colby Salisbury 3-0-0-0, Mario Morales 1-2-0-0. Totals 29-7-8-7. 2B — Adame, Crampton.
Holy Family pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Kreutzer 5-8-7-4-1-0; Brown 2-0-0-0-1-3.
Lamar pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Cook 6+-6-6-6-7-8; Forney 1-3-3-30-1.


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Djokovic (top) Berdych (bottom). Notables: Harrison, Lu, Stakhovsky, Gasquet, Almagro, Stepanek, Blake, Monaco.
Federer (top) Tipsarevic (bottom). Notables: Verdasco, Isner, Mahut, Nalbandian, Mathieu, Simon, Youzhny.
Ferrer (top) Murray (bottom). Notables: Roddick, Nishikori, Del Potro, Cilic, Raonic, Dmitrov, Baghdatis, Anderson, Davydenko.
Tsonga (top) Nadal (bottom). Notables: Hewitt, Melzer, Wawrinka,Tomic, Fish, Lopez, Baker, Dolgopolov, Kohlschreiber, Haas, Belluci)
Views: 256
Replies to This Discussion
Djokovic to meet Federer if he beats Berdych?
Nadal to meet Murray if he beats Tsonga?
Federer/Nadal final?
Djokovic/Nadal final?
Ferrer and Tipsarevic, are they really grass court favorites?
Possible upsets... Isner, Anderson, Raonic, Haas.
Go Fed!
Absolutely! Those guys have the serves and firepower.
Seems to me that Murray has the more difficult draw. That being said, if you look at potential quarterfinal matches, I would say Nadal and Djoko have the more difficult. That is if those guys (Tsonga and Berdych) make the quarters. Should be a good tourney. Anyone know Fish's condition yet? I haven't heard anything.
Agree here, Murray/Ferrer draw is full of contenders. Nadal's draw full too.
Surprised to see Fish is back. Will he be ready?
Didn't Fish have some heart problems? Hope he's ok! He was having a good run...
ahh it was only ablation. He'll be fine.
Berdych and Isner already out!!
Nole def Gasquet (Gasquet def Almagro because @AceFormula is in France right now... =)
Federer def Tipsarevic (Tips is here b/c Isner fell)
Raonic def Ferrer (Raonic will learn consistency against Murray)
Nadal def Tsonga (Tsonga or Goffin)
Nole def Fed
Nadal def Raonic
Nole def Nadz (close awesome final)
All very plausible just as you spell it out, Kevin. Only thing is Fed is gonna beat Nole and Nadal. hehe
*anticipates victory dance*
© 2020 Created by Mark / The Mayor. Powered by


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I've made no secret that when I was a teenager, one of my favorite novels was Ariel, by Steven Boyett. Why? Because here was adventure-packed novel with great dialogue, an epic quest and a love story (of sorts) at the end of the world (or at least the end of the world as we knew it). At fifteen, this was the novel I knew I wanted to write one day — and if not this novel, one that felt like it. And to top it all off, Boyett wrote the thing when he was in his late teens. There was hope for me yet.
Fast forward, oh, 25 years, and into this last summer, when two cool things happened to me: I got to actually meet Steve — indeed, I basically dragged him out to dinner at Worldcon — and I discovered that after all this time, a sequel to Ariel would be coming out: Elegy Beach. I squeed like the 14-year-old I once was.
And I am happy to say Elegy Beach did not disappoint me. The good thing about it was it was as interesting and exciting to read now as I remember Ariel being when I first picked it up. The great thing about it, to me, was that it wasn't just a sequel — not a simple revisit to the world of Ariel, but tonally and in the construction of its story, a progression from that book. It's (relatively) easy for a writer to go back to the scene of his or her most famous book and grind out a crowd-pleasing followup; it's rather harder to move on from that book, in the same universe, and make your readers feel the weight of the change — even when still giving them a compelling read. Elegy Beach does that, and makes the world Steve's created in both books that much more complete.
Now that I've gushed enough, it's time to bring Steve onto the stage to talk about Elegy Beach, and visiting the world he made years ago with Ariel… and bringing it up to date, not just with our time, but with him.
Elegy Beach would not exist at all without a Big Idea that grabbed me hard enough to make me write the novel in the first place. For decades I insisted I would never write a sequel to Ariel, and I meant it. In some odd way I still do.
Premise-wise the big idea that grabbed me was the notion of magic as a kind of software. Or more accurately an operating system to which the machinery of the universe now responded. I called it spellware and I ran with the notion, though not as far as I'd originally intended. My underlying rationale was the viewpoint that in what for purposes of conversation we'll call the real world the universe's OS is commonly regarded as Newtonian physics. Yet current cosmogony tends to think that this OS is randomly formulated. That in the microinstants immediately preceding the Big Bang the pressure and heat were so incalculably intense that laws of any kind could not exist, that the possible laws of any universe were in constant flux. Then biff bam boom it all goes off, and immediately things cooled enough to lock a set of laws in place. The spinning jackpot pictures stuck. Entropy was our friend this once. As Carl Sagan pointed out, the speed of light could have been slower. Time could have moved differently. Mass and gravitation could have had a different relationship.
From our perspective these different laws would violate our own. They would be magic.
Adding to the fun are the uncertainties and apparent violations at the quantum level. What once was the province of university courses in existentialist philosophy is now spelled out on palimpsest chalkboards by leading physicists. The role of intent in shaping the world. The influence of observation. Measurement as determinator.
So I approached spellcasting as a kind of hacking, really. And surmised right off the bat that castings could be broken into basic units that could be rearranged in any number of ways. In code. In language. And macros could be created that would record castings to let them play out later. Spells could be password-encoded. Copied. Hacked.
Let me quickly say that I know that all of this is bullshit. That I was simply looking for a science fictional explanation for a fantasy idea. And that no matter how thoroughly I worked out the explanations and implications of the notion it must inevitably tilt hard at the windmill of the real. But it was a lot more fun than deciding that the happy little elves raise magic beans because the glowing mushroom in the great king's basement gives them special powers. Or whatever it is that fantasy writers do.
For a long time this was just a five-finger exercise. A couple pages' worth of notes I jotted down. Then I realized that the notion fit perfectly into the premise I had created with my novel Ariel when I began writing it in 1979. The idea that a Change occurs in which technology stops working and another set of laws, let's call them magic, takes its place. In fact spellware explained it.
Oh god no I will not write a sequel to a novel I wrote when I was nineteen. And sat down to write.
Anyone who has written anything more complicated than a recipe knows that the thing you write can often have a different notion about itself from yours. It surfaces on the page like a black spot on an X-ray. And anyone who tries to deny or argue with it is just asking for trouble.
I've learned at least that much.
So I got out of the way and let the writer part of me write the novel. And as it formed I realized that the big idea of spellware wasn't this book's Big Idea at all. It was just an idea.
People who don't create a lot tend to hoard their ideas like some kind of gold. They send you emails and say Let me tell you my Idea. But anyone who lives in the place where ideas are made (or at least within hearing distance of it), be they writers or mechanics, will tell you that ideas are cheap as sausages and most of them aren't very good. I have storage boxes full of them. Lots of writers do. Bookstores are chock full of them too. Science fiction and fantasy tend to be about their ideas, to the extent that it's perfectly possible to write a work of fiction in the field fueled by little more than an idea.
I'm not saying that's right or wrong. But for me it ain't enough. I need theme. Resonance. Lamination. Characters. Landscape is a character, sure, but not the main one. It has to be about more than its premise or events. It's the difference between Moby Dick and Jaws. Novels about celestial aberrations or colossal engineering feats to me are simply tour guides populated by figures who elucidate them. I need the foreground and background to not trade places.
Elegy Beach takes place about twenty-seven years after the Change depicted in Ariel. Now a new generation not only has no memory of that world, it can't imagine why the Pre-Changers are always going on about some great loss that's had no impact on them whatsoever. They aren't ignorant, they're truly alien. They've grown up on a different world.
As I swam deeper into the growing stack of pages that was Elegy Beach I realized that it was about the devastating necessity of the outgoing generation to be supplanted by the incoming one. To regard one another with faint suspicion and even derision. For the old to pass the torch and realize what an act of faith it is to think it will remain alight. For the young to regard the torch itself as a kind of Trojan horse, a gift whose purpose is in part to subjugate the recipient to the memory of the giver. I wanted to delineate the contribution, sanctimony, iconoclasm, and entitlement of Baby Boomers. I wanted to explore what I loved and disliked about this newer generation of information-saturated serial collaborators. And I wanted to set them against each other. The only way a generation can prevent itself from being buried by its inheritors is to build some static, fascist system that may be powerful but does not evolve and certainly does not accommodate fundamental change.
That was Elegy Beach's big idea. It's about other things, too — for one thing, as Ariel was my bildungsroman so Elegy Beach is my midlife-crisis novel (surely there's a nice big German word for that too). It's even about my own relationship to my first novel, and it offers the idea that one way to escape a storied past is to befriend it. It perpetuates my firm believe that the object of any quest exacts its weight from the seeker's heart and soul, as any Grail knight worth his salt found out.
Love is a quest.
This essay is more abstract than I'd intended; I think I must save my concreteness for my fiction. But talking about fiction seems necessarily less concrete to me; fiction itself is an abstraction. What I set out to tell you is that Elegy Beach is a big fun book full of interesting characters who have breathtaking adventures and harrowing escapes in a faraway land that only superficially resembles our own, a land that fans of dragons and unicorns and special-effects-laden wizard battles will have a grand good time exploring. For all these things are true. But in a world that ably demonstrates that it can commodify almost anything, the only reason I can see to employ these worn-smooth tropes is to subvert them. To use them to talk about why such tropes exist at all. This seems to be an approach I've had in almost everything I've written (including, apparently, this essay).
I confess I've mostly found it difficult to just sit back and have fun for fun's sake. Most fun things are fundamentally useless (not that fun itself isn't useful, I feel obliged to add). And despite virtually all of the above I'm basically a silly person who thinks it's fu to make stuff up. But even so for me to want to make (or read, or watch, or attend) a thing I have to feel that it's about something more than its events or premise. Else what's the Big Idea?
Elegy Beach: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell's
Read or listen to excerpts from Elegy Beach, at the Elegy Beach site. There is also a site for Ariel. Visit the author's blog. The author is also an acclaimed DJ; listen to his latest mixes.


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Creativity is no longer an ELECTIVE
a life shared by Savanna Chel Beanland
Spreading the love of Jesus, one blog at a time.
Can you hear it?
crazy, weird, UNIQUE!
A mediocre guy trying to leave his mark on the world
The Future Is As Bright As The Promises Of God
Random thoughts and musings.
Live On Purpose
Ordinary family serving an extraordinary God
A notebook in the chrysalis
Your Expectations and Actions will Render a New you!!!
Technology in the Classroom and More
crazy, weird, UNIQUE!
We CARE about the LIFE of your SCHOOL
Where glitter and frizzy hair are just a way of life!
Adventures in Elementary Art and Music Education


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SKINS A200 Youth Short Sleeve Compression Tops use scientifically proven engineered gradient compression to help ensure efficient oxygen delivery to your muscles, which can enhance the power in your chest and upper arms, so you can take your opponents head on – even if they're in the year above you.
SKINS also wrap and support key muscle groups to reduce vibration and focus the direction of the muscles while you're out on the sports field. They help to re-circulate blood lactate, so any pain experienced when you're active will be reduced.
Details in the A200 Youth Short Sleeve Compression Tops include a stretch mesh panel for underarm ventilation and shoulder panels positioned to maximise freedom of movement. SKINS also provide 50+ UV protection and moisture management in both hot and cool conditions.
50+ UV Protection<


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Nissan Announces U.S. Pricing For 2018 GT-R
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Nissan today announced U.S. pricing for the 2018 Nissan GT-R, which is on sale now at select Nissan dealers nationwide.
Following last year's significant enhancements to the iconic Nissan GT-R which included a refreshed look inside and out and 20 additional horsepower the changes continue for the 2018 model year with the introduction of a new GT-R Pure model, the addition of Apple CarPlay to NissanConnectSM with Navigation and Services, and a new black "Kuro Night" color for the Premium Interior Package.
With a starting MSRP1 of $99,990, the 2018 GT-R Pure model is designed to be the most affordable of the four GT-R trim levels. The differences between the Pure and Premium grade, which is priced at $110,490, includes an 11-speaker Bose® audio system, Active Noise Cancellation and Active Sound Enhancement systems, and Titanium exhaust system.
The GT-R Track Edition, now in its second year of limited availability, is designed to deliver a higher level of performance than the GT-R Pure and Premium models and features elements of the flagship GT-R NISMO. The GT-R Track Edition retains the GT-R Premium model's 565-horsepower engine rating (versus the GT-R NISMO's 600-horsepower rating). It has a starting MSRP of $128,490.
The ultimate GT-R, the motorsports-inspired GT-R NISMO, is available in very limited numbers in North America. It features numerous motorsports-inspired technologies to enhance the car's performance through optimized aerodynamics, suspension and powertrain, creating a well-balanced machine at home on both the road and track2. The GT-R NISMO is priced at $175,490.
Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Prices (MSRP) for the 2018 Nissan GT-R:
The 2018 GT-R Pure, Premium and Track Edition grades are equipped with an advanced 3.8-liter DOHC 24-valve V6 rated at 565 horsepower and 467 lb-ft of torque, dual-clutch sequential 6-speed transmission, electronically controlled ATTESA E-TS all-wheel-drive system. The GT-R NISMO is rated at 600 horsepower and 481 lb-ft of torque3 and also features unique exterior and interior treatments, along with special suspension tuning.
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14 November 2012 - Lucca, (Italy)
Tagetik to Provide Cost and Efficiency Benchmarks to Finance Organizations of Large Enterprises
Benchmark research reveals that top performers save millions by better managing financial performance management processes
Tagetik, a global provider of enterprise software solutions for Performance Management, Disclosure Management, Financial Governance and Business Intelligence, today announced that it has purchased the rights to distribute key finance organization benchmarks compiled by research and benchmarking firm, APQC. The result is a free benchmark infographic and personalized Excel calculator to determine best opportunities to improve performance and reduce costs (www.tagetik.com/infographic).
According to the APQC benchmark research, the cost of finance in top performing finance organizations is almost three times lower than bottom performers. That translates to $233M less cost in a $20B company. Top performers also:
- Spend 6x less on the financial reporting process;
- Spend 3x less on the annual planning process;
- Produce the annual budget in 14 fewer days;
- Take 5 fewer days to produce consolidated financial statements;
- Publish quarterly earnings releases in 6 fewer days;
- Publish annual earnings releases in 20 fewer days;
- Deliver management reporting in 6 fewer days.
"In the current economic environment we are all under pressure to understand and control our business performance and cost structure," says Manuel Vellutini – Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Tagetik. "Tagetik software has helped large companies world-wide reduce the cost and improve the performance of their finance processes from budgeting and planning all the way through final financial disclosure. We are providing these APQC benchmarks and an Excel 'impact calculator' to help finance organizations determine their best opportunities to improve finance performance and reduce costs."
Download a free benchmark infographic and personalized Excel calculator to determine the potential impact on your business: www.tagetik.com/infographic
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Would you love to know more about CCH Tagetik?
For more information, please complete the form and a member of our team will reach out to you shortly!


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One of the most poignant moments of Super Bowl XLVII was the opening sequence of Jennifer Hudson performing "America The Beautiful" with the Sandy Hook Elementary School Chorus.
Twenty children and six administrators were gunned down on December 14 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The incident was the second deadliest school shooting in United States history after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. Senseless, awful and tragic.
Classes resumed last month. Watch the performance AFTER THE JUMP ...


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Remote sensing
Remote sensing can provide complementary information to existing ground-based environmental monitoring systems. Remote sensing can be used to meet the need for timely information and can provide synoptic cross-boundary information. Data and information obtained through Earth observation (EO) can be used within geographic information systems for overlay and comparison with other geo-referenced information.
The Working Group discussed the role and contribution of remotely sensed information to monitoring and reporting on environmental problems across Europe ENG FRE RUS.
It considered a proposal by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission ENG FRE RUS and established a Task Force on Remote Sensing. With the support by the EU/Tacis funds, the Task Force will:
- Assess the current use of remote sensing for environmental assessment and monitoring;
- Identify gaps, major obstacles, technical, organisational and institutional problems on the way to broader use of remote sensing for environmental assessment and monitoring in countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA);
- Identify and map a key set of indicators, derived from policy needs and availability of remote sensing data, for environmental assessments in selected Eurasian regions (Eastern Europe, Siberia and Central Asia) and marine basins (Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Caspian Sea);
- Develop recommendations on the most cost-effective methods and techniques of remote sensing for the purposes of environmental monitoring and data collection.
The first Workshop on Remote Sensing Application for Environmental Monitoring took place on 19-20 May 2003 at JRC, Ispra, Italy. Representatives from nine EECCA countries together with the Institute for Environment and Sustainability of JRC, UNECE, UNEP, EEA and the regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe participated. The Workshop reviewed the potential of current remote-sensing application potential for environmental assessments at the national, subregional and regional levels as well as current country requirements and capabilities in this field. It agreed to prepare a comprehensive project proposal, possibly to be submitted through the Working Group to the European Unions Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) framework.
|Document Title
The second Workshop on Remote Sensing Application for Environmental Monitoring was held on 3-4 November 2003 in Baku, at the invitation of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan.
|Document Title


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The Government accepted all the recommendations of the Caldicott report, including the revised Caldicott Principles, and highlighted that while information sharing is essential to provide good care for everyone, there are rules that must be followed.
The response sets out how individuals and organisations should improve the way that information is used for research, commissioning and above all for good care. It sets out the responsibilities of different organisations in health and care when it comes to keeping personal information safe and secure. This includes:
Download Information: To Share or not to Share - Government Response to the Caldicott Review
View the revised Caldicott Principles (scroll to the bottom of the page).
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The Bluegrass Railroad is a completely volunteer 501c not-for-profit orginization. All profits made from ticket sales go right back into the museum to help pay for fuel, maintenance, and restoration projects. However, running a railroad is extremely expensive and the BGRM can always use your help.
The museum is always glad to accept donations from folks who wish to help us keep our operation running. Because we are a 501c company all donations made to us are tax deductable.
To make a donation, click the button above to download a donation form.
Please fill it out completely (we must have your name and address to send you your tax reciept) and send it along with a check or money order to:
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You can also donate online now via our eBay Giving Works page. Items for auction or sale will be listed here when available, or you can simply click the "Donate" button on the page to make a contribution. As a 501c organization your entire donation amount through this site goes directly to the museum, no fees are associated.
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Glencore International Latest Jobs Worldwide — Apply Glencore is one of the world's largest diversified and vertically-integrated commodity producers, processors and traders. We market and distribute to a wide customer base that includes the industrial, automotive, construction, steel, power generation, oil and food processing industries. Our presence at every stage of the …Read More »
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There's an Obama Page on Facebook that has over 131, 000 likes from people, Americans or not. There are more than double that number of people that are 'talking about' the page by posting it on their own walls. A fan page (of sorts) dedicated to the President of the United States. But, not your normal fan page. It's the 'Obama is the Worst President Ever' page.
By the time President Obama steps down from office, the USA will more than likely not be anything more than a shadow of its former self. That won't be all due to the doing of President Obama, but the Chinese rise to glory as the first country in the world economically-speaking by the year 2016, amongst other things of course (it's not all the fault of the Chinese either, is it?).
So is President Obama the worst President in history? Does he really live up to his fan (?) page on Facebook? How do you measure whether or not he is the worst, at any rate?
Obama said in 2009 'the recession is over', but few believed him. Anyhow, when he said that the US was doing 'better' at the time than 'the worst of the recession', that couldn't have been hard, could it? By definition, recoveries are always better than the worst of the recessions that we have gone through in history. Isn't that the way they always work? But, it's not the recovery in comparison with the recession that should be compared, it's the recovery and the boom-times after those historical recessions that need comparison to see just where we stand today and if the US has got back on track with President Obama's policies.
- According to the records of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, it took an average of just over two years (25 months, to be exact) to regain the level of employment prior to every one of the last ten recessions that the country has gone through.
- When the Great Recession officially began in December 2007, there was an unemployment rate of 4.9%.
- Some analysts say that the US won't reach that sort of level until at least 2023.
- Obama will be long gone by then, somewhere probably with Ben Bernanke in a hide-out.
- The latest figures for unemployment stand at 7.4%, although admittedly if we look at real unemployment figures, then we are talking at least 14% since many of those that are classed as U6 (who are seeking full-time employment) are not counted in the figures if they are marginally employed (working for as little as just one hour a week perhaps).
- U3 people (but doesn't include anyone who has not been looking for work for the previous four weeks) are the most used for figures to express US unemployment rates.
- It's not about the numbers; it's all about what you actually do with them that counts. It's a bit like a game of poker. Get the cards and it's what you do with them that's going to make you come up a winner when the chips get thrown on the table. Obama has thrown his cards in already.
- It's been 5 and a half years down the line now since the Great Recession began. It's been over for over 3 years now that the Great Recession has officially been declared behind the US and part of history only to be remembered.
- We are still waiting to see a return to the job level of pre-2007. Time's up, Mr. Obama.
- The six levels of unemployment are all published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but only one gets any coverage, and that's not the real one.
- The US is still trying to make up for a shortfall of at least 2% on the pre-Great Recession unemployment figures. The US has 2.5 million fewer jobs today (but that's not the real unemployment).
- The US has experienced the second longest period of unemployment above 8% ever between 1948 and 2013 (the worst period being in 1981-1982).
- Unemployment may well fall to around 6% in 2015 as estimated, but that might well be only due to the fact that people who are discouraged fall out of the figures.
- In the past ten recessions before the Great Recession took place, Gross Domestic Product returned to levels seen prior to the recession within a period on average of 4-5 quarters.
- The Obama recovery took 16 quarters.
- GDP reached 1.1% in the first quarter of 2013 and then rose to 1.7% in the second quarter.
- It managed to reach just 2.8% in 2012.
- According to statisticians, if you were to take the real GDP growth under Obama and then double it (just for fun), Obama would still come out of it all as the worst president for the last 60 years.
Household Income
- Real median household income in the USA fell by $4, 500 under Obama's first mandate, which is the average monthly salary.
- US middle-class households have lost a month's salary, therefore; or about 8%.
- In comparison with 2009, real median household income has declined under Obama by 6% today.
- The decline in real median househould income during the official dates of the recession (2007 until 2009) only fell by 2.6%.
- Under Obama it has doubled.
- Since 2009, the USA has seen the number of poor in the country increase by 31%.
- There are now nearly 50 million that are classed as 'poor' in the country.
- The Federal poverty threshold is an annual income of $23, 550 for four people in a family (subtracting or adding $4, 020 per person for additional or fewer people in the family).
- A single poor person has an annual income of $11, 490.
- The Census Bureau calculates in a different way, but the poverty threshold stands at $23, 283 (family of four).
- The levels of poverty and the number of people living in poor conditions have never been higher for the past 50 years.
Yes, granted the Great Recession has been the worst possible recession experienced in history by its speed and by its knock-on effects, so the past might not be a useful tool to equate the new-style of slumps that we will possibly experience from now on. But, the Great Recession officially only lasted a short while. Maybe they were too quick at getting out the flags and the bunting to announce that it was over. At any rate, the Great Recession has had no Great Recovery. Not, yet, anyhow.
But why have all of these points been the failures of a man elected on a promise to rush in a new era in the US? Obama increased spending when he got into office and brought it to record levels.
- The deficit was already nearly at $1 trillion when he arrived, to which he added the $830 billion stimulus program, plus the $1.7-trillion Obamacare, with the bailouts and the financial reforms to boot.
- The second reason why Obama has not managed to reduce unemployment is because the economy has not been relaunched. The tax proposal issued in April this year would increase taxation for 98% of those on incomes over $200, 000 a year in the USA. Increasing taxation will not bring about a revamping of the economy.
- Regulations have also increased under Obama and made doing business more difficult. The Code of Federal Regulations increased under Obama by more than 11 thousand pages. That means that businesses have to spend more money on complying with the regulations, at a time when they just don't have it. Annual compliance has been estimated at roughly $1.7 trillion per year (all federal regulations).


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|Photo: Will Knight
|Photo: Google
Google just made it a lot easier to build your very own custom AI system.
A new service, called Cloud AutoML, uses several machine-learning tricks to automatically build and train a deep-learning algorithm that can recognize things in images.
The technology is limited for now, but it could be the start of something big. Building and optimizing a deep neural network algorithm normally requires a detailed understanding of the underlying math and code, as well as extensive practice tweaking the parameters of algorithms to get things just right. The difficulty of developing AI systems has created a race to recruit talent, and it means that only big companies with deep pockets can usually afford to build their own bespoke AI algorithms.
Cloud computing is one of the keys to making AI more accessible. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and other companies are rushing to add machine-learning capabilities to their cloud platforms. Google Cloud already offers many such tools, but they use pretrained models. That limits what they can do—for example, programmers will only be able to use the tools to recognize a limited range of objects or scenes that they have already been trained to recognize. A new generation of cloud-based machine-learning tools that can train themselves would make the technology far more versatile and easier to use.
Several companies have been testing Google Cloud AutoML for the past few months. Disney used the service to develop a way to search its merchandise for particular cartoon characters, even if those products are not tagged with that character's name.
Joaquin Vanschoren, a professor at the Eindhoven Institute of Technology in the Netherlands who specializes in automated machine learning, says it's still a relatively new research topic, though interest in the area has been heating up lately. "It is impressive that they can release this as a production service so quickly," he says.
Read more...
Source: MIT Technology Review


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Health care costs continue to rise, far outpacing the growth of both national economies and household incomes.
A value-based health care (VBHC) approach is essential—one that reorients health care systems around a more encompassing metric..
In the struggle to manage health care costs, clinicians and policy makers are increasingly focused on value-based care. Leading health systems worldwide are documenting variations in health outcomes and in clinical practice, which allows clinicians to identify best practices and steer resources toward the clinical interventions that achieve the best results.
Value-based health care delivers higher-quality patient outcomes at the same or lower total cost for a given condition. Important steps in the process include a detailed analysis of existing outcomes data; identification of best practices; and the widespread dissemination of those practices to reduce variations in clinical practice and improve overall health outcomes.


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If there was ever any doubt as to what Mitt Romney thinks about most of the people in this country (and about Barack Obama supporters in particular), it can be put to rest. Romney was caught during what appears to be a fundraising dinner at the Boca Raton home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder saying unimaginably entitled, out-of-touch, and downright cruel things about the American people.
Romney has never tried to appear warm and fuzzy. He is a business man who made his (vast) living tearing other people down for his own gain. But even for a Master of the Universe like Romney, his off the cuff comments seem callous and breathtakingly unaware of his position.
Essentially, he believes he would have a better shot at being President if he were Mexican. He believes 47 percent of Americans are entitled moochers. And he believes Americans are too dumb to want to listen to "intellectual" arguments. This is the man you want to elect? See below:
Look, Romney doesn't have to be likable. He doesn't have to be a guy you want to get a beer with. George W. Bush was that and look how well that turned out. He does need to be HUMAN, though. And he has failed at that in the most basic way.
The idea that a man making as much as he has made in his life balks at people feeling entitled to, I don't know, FOOD seems so unimaginably out to lunch, it's like a joke about rich people. His clueless cruelty begs comparison to all kinds of entitled, out-of-touch wealthy people throughout history. Maybe we should ask Marie Antoinette how ignoring plight worked out for her. Oh wait ...
More from The Stir: The 47% Responds to Mitt Romney in 15 Quotable Zingers
I also take his comments personally. I am an Obama supporter and I have paid an ungodly sum to the IRS this year. I have never once taken any kind of government assistance. My family votes in the same precinct as Romney for god's sake. We aren't victims. We aren't entitled. And we don't expect government handouts.
We believe that it's the responsibility of those of us who were born into lucky circumstances and who availed ourselves of clean water, paved roads, good fire and police forces to give back. That might mean higher taxes. I would pay them. I am comfortable enough in my life and circumstances to WANT to pay taxes so that others might have chances at education, food, housing, and all the other things our taxes cover.
Moreover, as David Brooks said so eloquently in his column today in The New York Times:
The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans.
It's easy to dismiss Obama's supporters as whiny, entitled moochers. In fact, that couldn't be more wrong. The Obama supporters I know are all hard workers. Most have master's degrees or higher. Most are paying upwards of $30,000-50,000 in taxes in the past year.
You are wrong Mr. Romney. And because of that, you will lose. You should lose. A president who thinks like Romney is dangerous, indeed.
Do you find Romney's comments offensive?
Image via MotherJonesvideo/YouTube


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Philip Hersh
Philip Hersh, the former Olympic specialist for Tribune Co., covered 17 Olympics and reported from some 50 countries in 30 years with the Chicago Tribune. He likes to use sport as a way to write about the culture of a country or an athlete. Hersh graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Arts in French literature. His passions include chamber music, road cycling (takes no PEDs except Advil) and Dr. Siri mysteries.


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John Minor Botts (16 September 1802–8 January 1869), member of the House of Representatives and member of the Convention of 1850–1851, was born at Dumfries, the son of Benjamin Gaines Botts and Jane Tyler Botts. After his parents died in the Richmond Theatre fire on 26 December 1811, he and his siblings were raised by relatives in Fredericksburg. His brothers included Alexander Lithgow Botts, who served on the Council of State, and Charles Tyler Botts, founder of the Southern Planter, an agricultural journal. Botts read law for six weeks and in 1820 was admitted to the bar. On 13 or 14 May 1822 he married Mary Whiting Blair. They had four sons and three daughters. Botts practiced law in Richmond until 1826, when he moved to Half Sink, his Henrico County plantation, where he raised racehorses and farmed using progressive agricultural techniques of the kind advocated in the Southern Planter.
In 1831 Botts ran unsuccessfully to represent Henrico County in the House of Delegates, but he was elected in 1833 and again in 1834. He lost to William B. Randolph in 1835 but challenged the result and was seated on 24 December. Botts was reelected in 1836 but defeated by William N. Whiting the next year. Botts again successfully challenged the result and was seated on 20 January 1838. He won his last term later in 1838. During his first four assembly terms Botts served on the Committee of Schools and Colleges, and during his final term he sat on the Committee of Propositions and Grievances. Botts emerged as a spirited and partisan legislator. Although his positions on national issues were often more consistent with those of the Democratic Party, he aligned himself instead with the Whig Party and remained a member until its demise. Unlike most other Whigs, Botts opposed the Second Bank of the United States on constitutional grounds, but he also opposed President Andrew Jackson's veto of the bill to recharter the bank, arguing that Jackson had usurped the power of Congress. During the panic of 1837, Botts favored legislation to relieve state banks of the need to make specie payments and blamed the financial distress of the state and the country on the Democrats. Botts so hated the Democratic Party that the rest of his political career might be defined simply as anti-Democrat in spirit. His frequent publication of his speeches as pamphlets or in the newspapers made his hostility to the Democratic Party widely known.
U.S. House of Representatives
Botts represented the counties of Charles City, Hanover, Henrico, and New Kent and the city of Richmond in the House of Representatives from 1839 to 1843. During his first term he sat on the Committees on Commerce and on Elections, and during his second he served on the Committee on the Currency and was the second-ranking member to Millard Fillmore on the Committee on Ways and Means. Botts continued to be highly partisan but often acted in unexpected ways. He was one of the few southern representatives to oppose the Democrats' so-called gag rule prohibiting receipt of antislavery petitions. Although himself a slaveholder, Botts argued that the rule violated the right of petition and maintained that hearing petitions against slavery would act as a safety valve releasing abolitionist pressures and preventing sectional agitation. Botts changed his mind on fundamental issues several times. In 1841 he reversed his earlier opposition and declared himself in favor of a national bank. When John Tyler (1790–1862) vetoed a bank bill that year Botts was so angry at what he considered a betrayal of the Whig Party's interests that in 1842 he attempted to impeach the president. A portrait of Botts painted probably in that year depicts him carrying a scroll reading, "I impeach John Tyler."
Defeated for reelection in 1843, Botts remained in the public eye with speeches against the annexation of Texas. He later wrote of his conviction that the Democrats, controlled by John C. Calhoun, had used the Texas issue to divide the Union. Botts was reelected to Congress in 1847 and chaired the Committee on Military Affairs, using this position during the war with Mexico to support the army rather than to oppose the war. He later declared that he would gladly pay Mexico to take back the territory that the United States acquired at the war's end. Botts lost his reelection bid in 1849.
The Convention of 1850–1851
In 1850 Botts was one of six men elected to represent the city of Richmond and the counties of Charles City, Henrico, and New Kent in a state constitutional convention that met from 14 October 1850 to 1 August 1851. He served as chairman of the Committee on the Bill of Rights and proposed or supported such reforms as abolition of the governor's Council and ending capital punishment and also imprisonment for debt. Botts suggested requiring that before slaves could be emancipated, their owners first either arrange for their emigration from the United States or provide for their support if the General Assembly permitted them to remain in Virginia. He also proposed restricting the ability of the assembly to incur a public debt or tax property at different rates in different regions of the state. Unlike many other members from eastern and central Virginia, Botts supported extending the suffrage to all adult white men and the popular election of more public officers, including the governor. He voted for the constitution that the convention successfully submitted to a public referendum.
In 1852 Botts attended the last national convention of the Whig Party and was the only southern delegate who voted for Winfield Scott, a Virginia native who became the party's presidential nominee. The breakup of the Whig Party left Botts with what he called a choice between the "Know-Nothings on the one hand and the Good-for-Nothings on the other." Still a passionate opponent of the Democratic Party, Botts ran for Congress in 1854 on the American (Know Nothing) Party ticket but was defeated. His opposition later in the decade to the proslavery constitution proposed for the new state of Kansas made him increasingly unpopular in Virginia. Nevertheless, in 1858 a group of southern Unionists began a movement to nominate Botts for president in 1860 as a national rather than a sectional candidate, a man they hoped could unite the old Whigs, the Know Nothings, and the new Republicans. Anna Ella Carroll, a leading Know Nothing pamphleteer from Maryland, actively promoted Botts as a unifying candidate, but the Republicans instead selected Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and most southern Unionists and former Know Nothings supported John Bell, of Tennessee, the Constitutional Union Party candidate. Carroll came to believe that Botts was too outspoken and brusque to attract wide support. After his death an appreciative obituary reflected that sentiment, stating that "his nature was too despotic for success" and that voters often "rebelled against his egotism and self-will."
The Secession Crisis and Civil War
With the election of Lincoln, Botts predicted the immediate secession of the South and called for Virginia to resist the siren song of South Carolina fire-eaters. Defeated as a Unionist candidate for his state's convention on the question of secession, Botts railed against disunion in letters to the newspapers and once again blamed the Democratic Party for the failure of all compromise proposals. Lincoln briefly considered but decided against including him in his cabinet. In April 1861 Botts met privately with the president, who described to him an interview he had had on 4 April with Botts's fellow Unionist John Brown Baldwin, a member of the Virginia secession convention. Because Botts and Baldwin subsequently recalled the events in dramatically different ways, the meeting between Lincoln and Baldwin has long been controversial. As related by Botts in his memoirs, Lincoln told Baldwin that he would evacuate Fort Sumter if the Virginia convention would adjourn without taking the state out of the Union. Botts also maintained that Baldwin kept this offer secret, with the implication that as a result the Virginia convention voted to secede. Botts may have misrepresented Lincoln's suggestion, but Lincoln may also have left Botts and Baldwin with different impressions of his options.
After Virginia seceded, Botts proposed a constitutional amendment to allow the Southern states to withdraw from the Union peacefully. He retired to his farm in Henrico County but continued to speak his mind against both the war and the Confederacy in writings that made him a highly visible target for Confederate officials. On 2 March 1862, the day after Jefferson Davis declared martial law in and around Richmond, Botts was arrested by order of the secretary of war and jailed in a prison formerly reserved for slaves. He was not released until 29 April, and he remained under house arrest in Richmond for four months more. Botts then retired to a farm he had recently acquired in Culpeper County, where he witnessed nine engagements between Union and Confederate armies. He entertained generals from both sides and fed troops from his farm's produce, but he excluded from his hospitality Confederate general James Ewell Brown Stuart, whose troops had trampled Botts's grounds and who briefly had him placed under arrest.
In 1864 the General Assembly of the Restored government, meeting in Alexandria, named Botts to the United States Senate, but he declined. He reentered politics after the war with a plan for reconstruction that included the gradual emancipation of slaves and the enfranchisement of some African Americans. Botts presided over a Unionist conference in May 1866 on those issues and later led the Virginia delegation to a convention of Southern Loyalists in Philadelphia, where he argued against universal manhood suffrage. A leader of the so-called cooperationists, he lost his bid to direct the Southern Union Republican Party to more radical elements of the National Republican Party that promoted both black suffrage and the disfranchisement of all former Confederates. Recognizing the success of the Radicals, Botts at last embraced their positions and joined them, running unsuccessfully on their platform in the October 1867 election of delegates to a Virginia state constitutional convention. He also spoke in favor of their policies at a state Republican meeting in February 1868.
After the Civil War Botts completed and in 1866 published his memoirs to vindicate his political career and to castigate the political leaders with whom he had come into conflict. The title, typical of his style, was The Great Rebellion: Its Secret History, Rise, Progress, and Disastrous Failure. John Minor Botts died on 8 January 1869 at his farm in Culpeper County. His body lay in state at the Capitol and was buried in Shockoe Cemetery in Richmond.
Contributed by Janet L. Coryell
Quotations in New York Times, 21 Nov. 1854 (first quotation); Richmond Whig, 9 Jan. 1869 (second and third quotations).
This biography, with a bibliographical note, appears in John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: The Library of Virginia, 1998– ), 2:114–117.
Copyright 2001 by the Library of Virginia. All rights reserved.


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1840s at Fort Scott, Kansas
We visited the national historic site at Fort Scott, Kansas, last week on our way back to Kentucky. I wanted to tour the fort because I think my 4th great-grandfather John Hill spent a short time there as a private in the 4th Infantry, Company C. They were stationed at Fort Scott from 1842 through mid-1845.
John Hill enlisted in late April of 1845, and the 4th Infantry, Company C, left Fort Scott and headed for Texas in late July of 1845. So John probably didn't spend much time at Fort Scott, but he probably did join up with Company C there.
Captain MacRae had been recruiting in eastern Ohio, and that's where John Hill signed up. Captain MacRae probably escorted John and the other recruits back to Company C. They probably made most of the trip from eastern Ohio to eastern Kansas by water. By 1845, steamboats were on all the big rivers. They could have taken a steamer down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, then another one to St. Louis and yet another one up the Missouri River to Fort Leavenworth. From Fort Leavenworth down to Fort Scott, they may have -- walked? They were infantry, after all. That was probably their first march.
|Important disclaimer:
I think this John Hill was my ancestor John Hill because:
a) this John Hill was born in the right place to be my John Hill;
b) this John Hill enlisted in the Army in the town where my John Hill's father lived;
c) this John Hill was the same age as my John Hill; and
d) my John Hill did serve during the Mexican War.
However, there is always a chance that that I have the wrong military record, and this is some other John Hill entirely who was no relation to me at all. There were plenty of John Hills in eastern Ohio.
Fort Scott was established near the Kansas/Missouri border in 1842, as headquarters for several companies of dragoons. The dragoons had several missions: keeping land-hungry settlers out of Indian territory, guarding the military road that ran from Fort Leavenworth into Oklahoma, surveying the land so it could be mapped, and more. The fort was abandoned in 1853 because the frontier had moved farther west and a military presence at Fort Scott was no longer important.
|"Dragoons" is an old word for mounted soldiers or cavalry.
The photos below show the text of this mural.
|The stables (left) and dragoons' barracks (right)
The infantry at Fort Scott didn't go on patrol with the dragoons. They did much of the construction of the fort's buildings, took their turns at a number of routine chores around the fort (including bread-making), practiced their military skills such as marching and handling weapons, and maintained a state of readiness.
|The bakehouse was located in a distant
corner so if it caught fire, it wouldn't
burn down the entire fort!
|The infantry, preparing to leave for Texas in 1845
|Rachel at the infantry barracks.
This building is a reconstruction, though
many of the buildings are originals.
|This exhibit contained the two photographs below.
John Hill might have seen these structures at Fort Scott.
|The powder magazine at center, with lightening rod. At left,
dragoon barracks, and behind the flag, officer's quarters.
At far right, the fort's well, protected by a canopy.
|A closer look at the dragoon barracks.
Fort Scott was laid out by a West-Point-educated Army quartermaster named Captain Swords who was at the frontier outpost from 1842-1846. The following is quoted from an information board at the site:
In the four years he served at Fort Scott, Captain Swords designed and had constructed four sets of officers quarters, three barracks, the hospital, the guardhouse, the well canopy, the magazine, the stables, both the ordnance and post headquarters, and the quartermaster warehouse. His plans featured porches to provide shelter from the torrid summers of the plains, large windows for light and air, plastered walls, and graceful stairways. Despite restrictions on hiring, Swords obtained civilian brick layers, platerers, and a stone cutter to help finish the buildings. In 1846, General Kearney promoted Captain Swords to Quartermaster of the Army.
|The route that John Hill took to Fort Scott was probably the
same route that building materials took, as described here.
|These floors are laid on top of three or more layers of rock!
I suppose these super-reinforced floors were Captain Swords' idea.
|The hospital was built in 1843, and this is the original structure.
|Old photo of the hospital
from one of the exhibits.
I wasn't sure if the buildings were furnished in 1840s or 1860s style, but it was interesting to walk through many of them and see the rooms. Here are some interior photos at the dragoon barracks.
And the quarters, where Captain Swords and his fellow officers lived. I am sure that John Hill never saw these rooms! The enlisted men were forbidden even to stroll the walkways in front of officers quarters.
|This fancy dining room was used only for official entertaining.
If you'd like to read more about Fort Scott, the official website is packed with information and nice photos.


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Some highlights of LastPass version 1.51.2:
-A new product called Sesame for our Premium members that allows for multifactor authentication with your existing portable USB device
-Windows Mobile application now generally available as a trial for non-Premium users
-Many general improvements to our core engine: improved autologin support, non-compact search shows drop down menu of sites, reduced the frequency the notification bar is shown for sites that have login forms on every page, more translations, etc.
-Support an optional way to store a disabled one-time-password on your PC in case your forget your password: this allows password recovery for those who want it without revealing your password to LastPass.
As always, a more complete list of the changes can be found here.