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WOW! I have been overwhelmed by emails asking me for details on the cruelty-free, super "Green" (with a capital G) felt I mentioned in this week's W.I.P. Wednesday post. I feel so popular!
I was so excited when I saw all the email love, some from people who were interested in the cruelty-free crafting possibilities, and others who wanted more info on the "recycled" aspect of this medium. To quote an emailer "this sounds a little too good to be true."
Yet it is true.
To create those delicious-looking donuts, and these heart pins, and many other gifts & crafts, I used "Rainbow Classicfelt" from The Kunin Group. Go check out their website because I think it's just amazing the different kinds of felt they offer, and all of it created from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles!
I first discovered this amazing felt last year when my mum brought me a bag of crafting supplies from America when she came for a visit. I'd found some polyester crafting felt here in France, but I didn't like the feel of it. She'd stumbled upon some various felt squares and saw they were wool free so grabbed a few colours for me.
Love at first stitch! Or cut, I could say. While it isn't as dense as traditional wool felt, it has a lovely feel and is wonderful for bags like these :
or other projects like this :
When I was in the U.S. on vacation this past summer I bought nearly an entire suitcase full of Kunin Group felt (yes, nearly an entire bag full. You should have seen the look on Monsieur Fish's face when he saw that). I bought mine at Jo-Ann's Fabrics in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I know many of you are in Canada and Europe, so don't fret. Visit their Where To Buy page – there are lots of locations around the world…though none in France. Snif.
I would just love to get my hands on some of their Plush Felt which I couldn't find at last summer. It is all plushy and soft and would be perfect for making softies and little stuffed animals, which are going to be de rigueur with Spring Solstice and other such holidays approaching.
So there you go! Vegan crafting at it's best!
Happy Mail post coming next, promise!


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Mozilla engineers plan to disable Java, Adobe Reader, and Microsoft Silverlight capabilities in their flagship Firefox browser in a move aimed at improving security and performance.
By default, Firefox will load content based on all three plugins only after users click an icon that explicitly permits it. This feature, known as click to play, was introduced late last year. Until now, it disabled out-of-date plugins to prevent hack attacks and browser crashing. Sometime soon, it will begin blocking all plugins except for the most recent version of Adobe Flash.
"One of the most common vectors against users is drive by exploitation of vulnerable plugins," Michael Coates, Mozilla's director of security assurance, wrote in a blog post announcing the change. He was referring to website attacks that surreptitiously install malware on end-user computers by targeting security bugs in the browser components that process Java- and Flash-based content. "The click to play feature protects users in these scenarios," he added.
Over the past year, plugins for Oracle's Java software framework have emerged as one of the chief targets for drive-by attacks, with Adobe's Flash Player also being a popular target. While click-to-play won't affect the most recent version of Flash, older releases will also be blocked unless users explicitly permit it.
Coates didn't provide a timeline for the change.

subset: commoncrawl


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Robyn Kim and Ladan Shams have a nice article, titled "What Can Magicians Teach Us about the Brain?," in Scientific American. Here are some excerpts.
* * *
. . . . Magicians . . . are masters of exploiting nuances of human perception, attention, and awareness. In light of this, a recent Nature Reviews Neuroscience paper, coauthored by a combination of neuroscientists (Stephen L. Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, both at the Barrows Neurological Institute) and magicians (Mac King, James Randi, Apollo Robbins, Teller, John Thompson), describes various ways magicians manipulate our perceptions, and proposes that these methods should inform and aid the neuroscientific study of attention and awareness.
Magicians Secrets Revealed
The underlying concept of using quirks in human perception to learn about how the mind works is an old one. Visual, auditory and multisensory illusions, in which people's perceptions contradict the physical properties of the stimuli, have long been used by psychologists to study the mechanisms of sensory processing. Magicians use such sensory illusions in their tricks, but they also heavily use cognitive illusions, manipulating people's attention, trains of logic and even memory. Although magicians probably haven't studied these phenomena with the scientific method—they don't do controlled experiments—their techniques have been tested over time, perfected by practice and performed under conditions of high scrutiny by skeptical audiences looking to spot the trick.
An example of a visual illusion used by magicians is spoon bending, in which a rigid horizontal spoon appears flexible when shaken up and down at a certain rate. This effect occurs because of how different parts of objects (in this case, the spoon) are represented in the brain. Certain neurons are responsive to the ends/corners of the object, whereas others respond to the bars/edges; the end-responsive neurons respond differently to motion than do the bar-responsive neurons, such that the ends and the center of the spoon seem misaligned when in motion.
Attention can greatly affect what we see—this fact has been demonstrated in psychological studies of inattentional blindness. To misdirect people's attention and create this effect, magicians have an arsenal of methods ranging from grand gestures (such as releasing a dove in the theater to distract attention), to more subtle techniques (for instance, using social miscues). An example of the latter can be found in the Vanishing Ball Illusion . . . .
At the last toss, the magician does not actually release the ball from his or her hand. Crucially, however, the magician's gaze follows the trajectory the ball would have made had it been tossed. The magician's eye and head movement serves as a subtle social cue that (falsely) suggests a trajectory the audience then also expects. A recent study examining what factors produced this effect suggests that the miscuing of the attentional spotlight is the primary factor, and not the motion of the eyes. In fact, the eyes aren't fooled by this trick—they don't follow the illusory trajectory! Interestingly, comedy is also an important tool used by magicians to manipulate attention in time. In addition to adding to the entertainment value of the show, bouts of laughter can diffuse attention at critical time points.
* * *
Magic's Role in Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience can explain many magic techniques; this article proposes, however, that neuroscientists should use magicians' knowledge to inform their research. . . .
More concretely, the use of cognitive illusions—for example, during brain imaging—could serve to identify neural circuits underlying specific cognitive processes. They could also be used to map neural correlates of consciousness (the areas of the brain that are active when we are processing a given aspect of consciousness) by dissociating activity corresponding to processing of actual physical events from the activity corresponding to the conscious processing.
* * *
* * *
The entire aritcle is here. To read some related Situationist posts, see "The Situation of Illusion" or click here for a collection of posts on illusion.


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Top Moments: Piers Morgan's Close Call and Grey's Bittersweet Wedding
Our top moments of the week:
14. Best Battle: When Tessa calls Dahlia dumb on Suburgatory, the two decide to settle the matter with... a hip-hop dance-off? As their parents watch, they argue about parenting, which leads to their own dance off: Dallas moon-walks and George break-dances. Can't you guys just go to therapy like normal people?
13. Worst First Impression: On the season premiere of The Bachelor, one woman proves that sometimes you can be a little too forward. Ashley pulls a tie out of her cleavage upon meeting Sean and references 50 Shades of Grey. Later, she booty-dances in front of him while he's talking to another girl. But don't worry; Sean is prepared! "I've got my rape whistle just in case," he jokes.
12. Best Bait-and-Switch: Diane and Will celebrate a big win on The Good Wife when they successfully block their bank-appointed trustee, Clarke Hayden, from having them removed as managers of the firm. Their victory lap is short: Master manipulator Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox) soon tells Alicia that he was the one to purchase Lockhart Gardner's debt. Come back, Clarke!
11. Some Things Never Change Award: Mona is on a mission when she returns to school on Pretty Little Liars. While everyone falls for Mona's contrite video blog, she's actually setting up the girls for a major fall when she frames them for a fiery explosion that traps their teacher (and Aria's dad's ex).
10. Biggest Letdown: After years of playing romantic tug-of-war, Matthew and Mary finally get married on Downton Abbey. At least that's what they tell us; we don't actually see the wedding. We appreciate the lingering shots of Mary dolled up in her dress, but couldn't we have seen the "I dos"? The kiss? Anything?
9. Best Revenge: Bloody Face finally gets a, well, real bloody face on American Horror Story: Asylum. After Lana escapes from Briarcliff, she turns over evidence against Dr. Thredson and decides to wait for him with only a gun at his home. Once he points out that he'll spend his whole life in an asylum, rather than get the electric chair, Lana can't stand for that kind of injustice and shoots him in cold blood self-defense before the police arrive. Too bad she still has his baby!
8. Best Wake-Up Call: Just when Sally Langston is close to uncovering the truth -- that Mellie forged Fitz's signature on his request for reinstatement letter while he was unconscious -- Scandal's POTUS wakes up! Naturally, the first person he wants to see is... Olivia! Let the 'shippers run wild!
7. Closed Book Award: After Beckett and Rick's ex-wife Meredith (Darby Stanchfield) bond on Castle, Beckett works up the nerve to ask her why they divorced. Meredith explains that while being married to Castle was exciting at first, she later realized that he wasn't an open book, so to speak. "One day I realized, he knew everything about me: my deepest secrets, my worst pain, enough to fill a million novels. But I didn't even know enough about him to write a pamphlet," she says, noting how Castle always deflected a question about his MIA dad with a joke. Noticing Beckett's concerned look, Meredith says that she's sure Castle has changed since then. Uh, not really. But what a convenient set-up for this.
6. Biggest Bombshell: As if the Braverman clan hasn't been through enough already on Parenthood - Kristina's breast cancer, Julia's adoption problems, we could go on and on - producers shock viewers when Drew's girlfriend Amy has an abortion - against his wishes. Then she breaks up with him. Ouch!
5. Best Surprise: TBS pulls out all the stops for its Cougar Town premiere with a special appearance by Busy Philipps' Dawson's Creek co-star and real-life BFF Michelle Williams who dons dark eyeliner, a cleavage-revealing top and a Southern accent to play Laurie's foster sister. Check it: She nails Laurie's signature line: "What-What!" Can Katie Holmes do that?
4. Saddest Goodbye: After Ziva (unsuccessfully) gives chase to the shooter on NCIS, she returns to the Vances' home to find out that her estranged father, Eli, has died. She embraces his body and repeatedly cries out "Abba" (Hebrew for "Dad"). It's all the more heartbreaking as she had just told him that they would never reconcile because of his own history of homicide.
3. Strangest Rant: Piers Morgan invites radio host Alex Jones, the man who launched a White House petition to deport the CNN host, to his show for a debate on gun control -- or at least that's what he planned. Morgan appears gobsmacked when Jones launches into a bizarre, longwinded tirade about not only guns, but "megabanks that control the planet" and Prozac (or as Jones calls them "suicide mass murder pills"), before threateningly telling the Brit what would happen if guns were illegal. "Hitler took the guns! Stalin took the guns! Mao took the guns! Fidel Castro took the guns! Hugo Chavez took the guns!" he bellows. "And I'm here to tell you that 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms! ... That's why you're going to fail, and the establishment knows, no matter how much propaganda, the republic will rise again!" OK, then. Unfortunately for Jones, Morgan is not going anywhere.
2. Worst Overshare: Giving a new meaning to TMI, Al Roker inexplicably decides to share on Dateline that in 2002, he soiled himself at The White House, shortly after having gastric-bypass surgery. "I probably went off and ate something I wasn't supposed to. And as I'm walking to the press room, [I'm thinking], well, I gotta pass a little gas here. I'm walking by myself. Who's gonna know? Only a little something extra came out," he says. "I pooped my pants." If only that were the end of the story. But he went on: "So I got to the restroom of the press room, threw out the underwear and you know, went commando." Hey Al, next time, give us the news, not the weather.
1. Best Saving Face: On the eve of Bailey's wedding, Adele is rushed to the hospital on Grey's Anatomy. Blushing bride Bailey forgets her wedding bells for a moment and goes to work to save her mentor's Alzheimer's-ridden wife. The surgery is successful and just when we think Shonda Rhimes had changed her mind about Adele's fate, Webber shows up to Bailey's reception with a frozen smile, unable to break the news that Adele had died of a heart attack during the ceremony.
What were your top moments?
View original Top Moments: Piers Morgan's Close Call and Grey's Bittersweet Wedding at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Recently, Lonnie Bunch, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, gave a talk at Stanford about the challenges he has faced as he develops the museum, which is scheduled to be completed in 2015. Bunch talked about the "treasures" people often bring him as potential items for the museum's collection.
Bunch told the story of a pillowcase someone brought him that had been passed among family members for several generations. The pillowcase was embroidered by an enslaved African American woman who had just learned the day before that she would be sold.
The embroidery was a message to her daughter:
"In this pillowcase, you will find a dress, you will find some biscuits, but what you will find is that it's filled with my love. And though I may never see you again, always know how close you are to my heart. "
According to Bunch, that mother never saw her daughter again.
Bunch's story put into perspective all the chatter about tiger and helicopter moms. There's even a new one, snowplow parents – who try to move all the difficulties out of their children's lives. I used to say that most of my black friends thought I was a pushover when it came to parenting and many of my white friends thought I was too tough. I'm not sure what my other friends thought. In the end, all of our children have made us pretty damn proud.
In an age when everybody's got an opinion about how children should be raised, protected, nurtured, etc., the pillowcase story makes it all seem so silly. Who among us would have had the resolve to embroider that farewell before being sold to another slave owner? Or who would not have been tempted to do what Sethe did in Toni Morrison's Beloved?
Maybe this is a downer as Mother's Day approaches. It's not meant to be. It's intended to be a tribute to mothers who, under the worst and best circumstances, did and do their best with every ounce of what they have. Here's to our mothers, who made sure we had clothes on our backs and something to eat and who stitched together a legacy of love that has sustained us through generations.
On a more uplifting note, and speaking of generations, here's what my father wrote for Mother's Day in 1937.


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Top Moments: Death Meets Revenge and Downton, and Good Wife's Weak Moment
Our top moments of the week:
14. Family Doesn't Know Best Award: On The Bachelor's hometown dates, things were going well for Desiree until her brother spoke up. After he tells Sean that he's a playboy, not right for his sister, and acts like an all-around jerk, Des gets the boot. Lesson learned: If she's the next Bachelorette, keep her bro far away from the dudes.
13. Not Too Legit to Quit Award: Not one, not two, but three teams quit a Roadblock on The Amazing Race premiere so they can start the final task, canoeing to the Pit Stop, on even ground after they fail to find a clue underneath 400 sand castles. Firefighters Matt and Daniel boast about their chances canoeing, but their perceived and literal strength turns out to be their Achilles' heel: Their heavy weight causes the boat to tip over twice and they get eliminated. See? Quitters never win.
12. Worst Gold Digging: On Suburgatory, Mr. Wolfe worries that his longtime partner Chef Alan is sleeping with his ex. So when Tessa overhears something between Chef Alan and the other man about an Oscar party, Mr. Wolfe goes to investigate and thankfully, just finds his love sitting on the couch watching red carpet coverage. However, he and Tessa quickly notice gold smeared all around Chef Alan's mouth right when his ex-now-current-lover walks into the room completely nude and covered from head-to-toe in gold paint. Well, at least now we know who will definitely be getting worst dressed!
11. Most Heartbreaking Loss: Just as Southland's Lydia gets her groove back after giving birth, she's dealt a crushing blow. After successfully cracking her case, Lydia heads out to party, relishing a night away from taking care of her newborn. But the party comes to a crashing halt when her partner shows up with bad news. She rushes home just in time to see paramedics removing her mother's dead body from the house. As she tries to wrap her head around the unexpected loss, she's handed her baby, which Lydia and the audience both know she's unprepared to raise alone.
10. Best Campaigning: If Lincoln ever gets adapted for the Great White Way, we know exactly who should star in it. No, not Daniel Day-Lewis, but Hugh Jackman. The Les Miserables star makes a last-ditch effort to sway Oscar voters on Wednesday's The Late Show with David Letterman by coming out dressed as the 16th president. "I mean, really, can Daniel Day-Lewis do this?" Jackman asks before singing the Gettysburg Address. "I don't know why I didn't get cast. Really, I have no idea." Too bad voting closed Tuesday!
9. Grossest Solution: Thanks to Jess and Nick's complete and utter awkwardness post-kiss on New Girl, it doesn't take long for Schmidt to find out what happened. Desperate to make everything go back to normalcy in the apartment, Schmidt proposes that he and Jess kiss to even out the score. But what if there are sparks between them too? That concern is extremely short-lived as both pull away from each other quickly while making various loud, repulsed noises. So much for going back to the way they were.
8. Overprotective Daddy Award: During the first hour of Castle's annual two-parter, Castle is stunned to learn that his daughter Alexis has been kidnapped alongside an heiress whose bodyguard's murder the NYPD is investigating. After a break in the case leads Castle and Beckett to the injured getaway driver, Castle goes full Liam Neeson (as in Taken) when the driver refuses to tell Castle where he took the girls. As Castle reaches his breaking point, the action cuts to Beckett outside the room, who only hears the driver's wails of pain. Too bad the answer Castle gets is only a red herring: Alexis is really in Paris! Mon dieu!
7. Hottest Angry Sex: Rachel confronts Mike on Suits in the file room after she finds out that he didn't tell her the truth about her rejection from Harvard and asks why he wouldn't sign her letter to help her. Mike finally tells her that he never went to Harvard and is a "fraud," prompting Rachel to slap him twice before he grabs her arm. They kiss and get it on right against the files. Just don't do it on the documents, guys.
6. Best Cliff-Hanger: On The Following, the FBI locates the farmhouse where Joey is being held, and Ryan finds Joey inside. But before he can convince Joey to leave with him, Paul sneaks up behind Ryan and holds a gun to his head. "Do not move," he says. Look on the bright side: At least this isn't the season finale cliff-hanger.
5. Worst Revenge: If you thought the Governor wouldn't retaliate after Rick & Co. attacked Woodbury twice on The Walking Dead, then you you're dead wrong. Fresh-faced Axel pays that price when the Guvna and his cronies attack the prison, spraying the yard with bullets and sending in a truck full of zombies to rampage - leaving the group emotionally and physically wounded. Maybe now Rick is starting to regret sending away Tyreese and his group... and killing Shane... and... well, the list goes on and on.
4. Best Surprise: Just when it looks like Ben and Leslie's impromptu wedding ceremony isn't going to happen on Parks and Recreation after Ron is briefly locked up for punching an obnoxious guest, Ron flies the coop and brings Leslie to Pawnee City Hall. Just as Leslie figures out what's going on, he opens the door to the Parks office, which is entirely lit up in candles and with Ben standing and waiting to marry her. In a brief - thankfully, Leslie doesn't know where her 70-page vows are - but heartfelt ceremony, the two officially exchange "I do's" and celebrate with all of their close friends. Afterward, Leslie tells the camera how much she loves her husband, her job and her friends "even though they really can't handle their booze" - just as the camera pans out and shows all the guests passed out on the floor. Now... how long do we have to wait for a mini-Knope?
3. Oops, They Did It Again Award: Tensions are high on The Good Wife when the firm basically takes back their offer of partnership to Alicia and the rest of the fourth-years. After a long day of fighting her bosses, Will and Diane, in court during a mock trial, the tensions abruptly turn sexual as Will and Alicia go from yelling in each other's faces to passionately kissing in her office after hours. Ending an argument this way would never hold up in court. Just sayin'.
2. Most Ridiculous Death: After learning that Nate became a stowaway on The Amanda to kill Amanda and get control of The Stowaway (it's OK to take a minute to let that sink in), Emily and Nolan jet out to the middle of the ocean to rescue newlyweds Amanda and Jack. But as always on Revenge, Amanda messes everything up. In a moment of frustrating stupidity, Amanda doubles back to grab the necklace Emily gave her in juvie. That's when Nate detonates the boat, sending Emily and Amanda flying into the ocean. While it seems Amanda (and her then-unborn child) can survive a two-flight fall, apparently she isn't immune to everything. RIP and good riddance, Fauxmanda. You won't really be missed.
1. Twisting the Knife Award Matthew greets his newborn son, shares a sweet moment with his wife Lady Mary and then perishes violently in a car accident in the closing moments of Downton Abbey's finale. Wait, what?!? It's only been a few weeks since we lost our darling Sybil in an excruciating deathbed scene, so we were not expecting to lose yet another beloved major character so soon. This isn't Game of Thrones! Oh Downton Abbey, why must you hurt us so?
What were your top moments?
View original Top Moments: Death Meets Revenge and Downton, and Good Wife's Weak Moment at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Last week we interviewed Chef Jack Silberstein from Jack's Gourmet Kosher. You can hear that broadcast here.
This evening's guest will be Tammy Cohen. Mrs. Cohen does marketing for various restaurants including Prime Grill, Solo. Tammy and her husband Sidney are currently partners with Chef Haim Dadi (formerly of Mr. Broadway) and some investors in 18 Restaurant (240 E 81st St, New York NY10065; Tel: 212.517.2400).
About 3 years ago Tammy Cohen started her own consulting business, Tammy Cohen Marketing and Consulting DBA JADE Marketing, her clients span across various industries, with entrepreneurs who want to get their product, service or business name and information out. She started out with traditional marketing methods, but in this information age she quickly adapted to the new worlds of email marketing and social media marketing.
It was precisely her knowledge of marketing and marketing research that were instrumental in the Cohens locating their restaurant in the Upper East Side as soon as the premises of the former Turquoise Restaurant became available and Tammy spotted a niche open for a glatt kosher eatery that offered deli, grill, sushi and big salads. Nothing of this nature existed on the upper east side in both a pleasing environment and at sharp and reasonable pricing. 18 Restaurant has fine tuned both their sushi and main menus since their opening reflecting what has worked with their customers and what has not. Over the past months they've have added a beautiful sushi bar and an extraordinary sushi chef who came to them from NOBU. He is known for amazing sauces and presentation and prides himself on creativity. Another addition to the restaurant was receiving our liquor license which brought in a whole new level of business.
Tammy will talk to us on the specific challenges of operating a fine kosher restaurant in today's economy.
Just listen in, gentle reader, at 8:00pm on Wednesday, February 16th, on Jewish Radio Network. Enter the site and click on the red "here" under the white "Radio," then wait about 30 to 90 seconds for the application to start streaming.


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WASHINGTON – The CIA pushed to have one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers placed on a U.S. counterterrorism watch list more than a year before the attacks, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Russian authorities contacted the CIA in the fall of 2011 and raised concerns that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed last week in a confrontation with police, was seen as an increasingly radical Islamist who could be planning to travel overseas.
The CIA request led the National Counterterrorism Center to add Tsarnaev's name to a database known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, that is used to feed information to other lists, including the FBI's main terrorist screening database.
The CIA's request came months after the FBI had closed a preliminary inquiry into Tsarnaev after getting a similar warning from Russian state security, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
The disclosure of the CIA's involvement suggests that the U.S. government may have had more reason than it has previously acknowledged to scrutinize Tsarnaev in the months leading up to the bombings in Boston. It also raises questions as to why U.S. authorities didn't flag his return to the United States and investigate him further after a seven-month trip he took to Russia last year.
The CIA declined to comment on its role in the case. A U.S. intelligence official said that the agency had 'nominated for inclusion in the watchlisting system' and had shared all of the information it had been given by Russia, including 'two possible dates of birth, his name and a possible variant.'
The official said that the information that Russia provided to the CIA was 'nearly identical' to what it had shared with the FBI. U.S. officials said the warning to the CIA came from Russia's FSB, a successor to the KGB, and that it was based on fears that Tsarnaev was an Islamist militant who might seek to carry out a terrorist attack in Russia.
Tsarnaev and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, immigrated to the United States about a decade ago, but their family had ties to Chechnya, a region where Muslim separatists have been engaged in a bloody conflict with the Moscow government for decades. The younger Tsarnaev, who is recovering from gunshot injuries in a Boston hospital, was apprehended days after the marathon bombings and faces multiple terrorism-related charges.
The FSB appears to have turned over information on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, including possible birth dates and the spelling of his name in Cyrillic letters, to CIA officials in Moscow in late September 2011.
The information was passed to CIA headquarters on Oct. 4 and relayed roughly two weeks later to the National Counterterrorism Center, an agency that serves as a clearinghouse for threat data and manages the TIDE database.
The Reuters news agency first disclosed that Tsarnaev's name was listed in the TIDE database. But the revelation of the CIA's role is likely to intensify questions over whether the FBI and other domestic law enforcement agencies missed chances to detect or disrupt the bomb plot.
The older Tsarnaev traveled to Russia on Jan. 12, 2012, less than three months after his name had been placed on the TIDE list. In congressional testimony Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the U.S. authorities had flagged Tsarnaev's departure, but not his return.
'The system pinged when he was leaving the United States,' Napolitano said at a Senate hearing. 'By the time he returned, all investigations had been closed.'
Napolitano was referring to the FBI's decision in July 2011 to close its inquiry into Tsarnaev after concluding he was not a threat. U.S. officials have said that FBI decision meant that his name might have come off the database employed by U.S. Customs agents a year later – just days before his re-entry into the United States.
But the CIA's subsequent involvement in the case complicates that chronology, raising the possibility that Tsarnaev was still on the TIDE list when he returned. If Customs officials had alerted the FBI to his return, the bureau might have found reason to question him further in the months leading up to the attacks.
Instead, the FBI was not notified of his return, and it not even clear that the bureau was aware that Tsarnaev's name had been added to the TIDE database at the behest of the CIA.
The sequence has raised concerns among senior lawmakers that significant gaps remain in the elaborate screening systems that were created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
'I'm very concerned that there still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information,' Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday after emerging from a closed-door briefing on the bombing by senior officials from the FBI and other agencies. 'That is troubling to me that this many years after the attacks on our country in 2001 that we still seem to have stovepipes that prevent information from being shared effectively.'
U.S. officials acknowledged that the bombing has prompted the FBI and other agencies to evaluate whether their information-sharing procedures and systems should be revised again. But they stressed that it's not clear that doing so would have averted the outcome in Boston.
The elder Tsarnaev 'did not come anywhere close to being a selectee' for the U.S. no-fly list, a U.S. intelligence official said. Asked what might have changed if his return had been called to the FBI's attention, the official said, 'Probably nothing.'
FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce made a similar remark to lawmakers during closed-door sessions on Capitol Hill this week, officials said.
FBI officials defended the bureau's handling of the case, which began with a request from Russian federal police in Moscow.
'There was a concern he might have some kind of ties to terrorism,' said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson. 'We did everything legally that we could do with the little bit of information we had. After we did, we found no derogatory information.'


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By now you may have seen the video of the drone that crashed in Iran. Is it credible? The New York Times reports:
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a consulting firm, said in response to a query from CNN about the video images that the aircraft did not look the way he would expect it to look after a crash, fueling suspicion that the Iranians may have displayed a mock-up.
Adam Rawnsley at Wired's Danger Room cautions:
The footage of the drone released Thursday by Iran seems to show an intact aircraft that seems to roughly conform to the RQ-170′s dimensions and appearance. But it's a little fishy for an aircraft that would have fallen hundreds or thousands of feet to appear without so much as a scratch on it, as this one does.
But the pride that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh displays in the aircraft is tough to find. Meanwhile, reports the Washington Post, U.S. officials maintained that the incident was
… not a fatal blow to the stealth drone program. … the CIA had used technologies that it could afford to have exposed. Among the main concerns is that Iran could use an intact aircraft to examine the vulnerabilities in stealth technology and take countermeasures with its air defense systems.
According to the Israeli intelligence site Debka, Israel is even more alarmed. (All emphasis added).
The Obama administration's decision … not to send US commando or air units into Iran to retrieve or destroy the secret RQ-170 stealth drone which fell into Iranian hands has strengthened the hands of the Israeli faction which argues the case for striking Iran's nuclear installations without waiting for the Americans to make their move.
Wait, how did Debka come to that conclusion? It explains.
Senior Israeli diplomatic and security officials who followed the discussion in Washington concluded that, by failing to act, the administration has left Iran not only with the secrets of the Sentinel's stealth coating, its sensors and cameras, but also with the data stored in its computer cells on targets marked out by the US and/or Israeli for attack.
… military sources say that this knowledge compels the US and Israel to revise their plans of attack for aborting the Iranian nuclear program. Like every clandestine weapons system, the RQ-170 had a self-destruct mechanism to prevent its secrets spilling out to the enemy in the event of a crash or capture. This did not happen.
What's more, the
… Obama administration's internal discussion on how to handle the loss of the high-value reconnaissance drone was followed tensely in Jerusalem. The decision it took against mounting a mission to recover or destroy the top-secret Sentinel was perceived in Israel as symptomatic of a wider decision to call off the covert war America has been conducting for some months against Iran's drive for a nuclear bomb – at least until the damage caused by RQ-170 incident is fully assessed.
It's difficult to understand how Israel draws the conclusion from the United States' decision to refrain from chasing down the downed drone that it's abandoning its covert war. Debka again.
A senior Israeli security official had this to say: "Everything that's happened around the RQ-170 shows that when it comes to Iran and its nuclear program, the Obama administration and Israel have different objectives. On this issue, each country needs to go its own way."
One can't help but think that Israel is looking for an excuse to "go its own way" and mount an attack against Iran on its own — secure, of course, in the knowledge that the United States will come to its rescue when it inevitably gets in over its head.


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[PHOTO] Yvonne Craig as Batgirl, 1966Posted: June 15, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment | Tags: 1960s, Batgirl, Batman, Comic book, Photography, TV, Yvonne Craig Leave a comment
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Cubs talking about former Providence pitcher
If former Providence Catholic High School standout Carmen Pignatiello doesn't get his first promotion to the majors today, he at least can take solace in the fact the Cubs brass is talking about him.
The Cubs likely will recall a pitcher from the minors today, and Pignatiello, a left-hander at Triple-A Iowa, is under consideration.
"Pignatiello is pitching great," assistant general manager Randy Bush said. "He's a guy who, if we were going to add a guy to the (40-man) roster, he's a guy we would consider. Good breaking ball. His fastball has had good sink, and he's commanding his fastball a lot better than he has in the past, so he would certainly be a candidate."
Pignatiello (2.49 ERA in 24 games) isn't on the 40-man roster, but if the Cubs feel he's the right man, he could get the call.
"We feel like we have some flexibility with the 40-man," Bush said.
But the Cubs also might want a reliever who can work longer stints. Neal Cotts (0-1, 7.33 ERA in six starts for Iowa) fits that criteria, but he is struggling.
Pignatiello's name also came up a few weeks ago, but the Cubs promoted Clay Rapada.
"About two weeks ago, we talked to (Iowa manager Buddy Bailey and pitching coach Mike Harkey), and they tell us who is doing well, and we basically follow their suggestions," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "And two weeks ago, if we needed somebody else, it would have been Pignatiello. He was a young man they suggested."
Dempster shelved, DeRosa back
Closer Ryan Dempster (strained left oblique) was not available to pitch Sunday, and Piniella said he doubts Dempster will be available tonight, when the Cubs host Colorado.
"I hope this is just for a couple of days, but you don't know," Piniella said. "I hope it's not a situation where we have to put him on the disabled list."
Bob Howry recorded his second save of the weekend in Sunday's 3-0 victory over the White Sox.
Meanwhile, Mark DeRosa started at third base Sunday after being scratched Saturday because of symptoms that left him feeling like he was "in a fog."
Surprise, surprise, surprise
Aramis Ramirez, who came off the DL on Friday and served as the designated hitter for all three games against the Sox, is to return to third base tonight.
Where does that leave DeRosa - who usually plays second base - and hot-hitting second baseman Mike Fontenot (.345)?
"I've got some ideas about that, and they just might surprise you," Piniella said. "I'll let you know (today)."
The last time Piniella said he had a "surprise" up his sleeve, he was talking about moving Dempster into the rotation and making either Angel Guzman or Carlos Marmol the closer. That did not materialize.
Sean shines
Sean Marshall pitched 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball against the Sox but was pulled after 81 pitches in favor of Marmol.
"He was starting to get a little tired," Piniella said. "It was the right time. We've been trying to shorten up our starters, too, to keep them fresh in this hot weather in the summer."
Marshall said he felt fine and added: "I guess it was a better match-up for Carlos to come in and pitch."
The other Sean shines
Sean Gallagher, demoted to Triple-A Iowa on Thursday to get back on track as a starting pitcher, threw five scoreless innings against Albuquerque on Sunday. He allowed one hit in a 4-3 win, striking out four and walking two.
More Cubs coverage can be found online at www.dailysouthtown.com/sports.


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Pleated Seas ( Micro poetry)
Published by Megha's World
I'm a mother of a smart and energetic seven-year-old. I started expressing myself creatively since the last two years. Since then I have been continuously inspired by events in my life and around me which has helped me in penning my thoughts. I'm an avid reader, loves to sing, an ardent lover of poetry and sometimes can scribble few lines too. Loves to dance in the rain, have an undying love for nature, can watch the beautiful sunset for hours. Love to kiss and hug my loved ones. I have worked in the IT field for almost a decade as a manager, worked crazy hours and traveled around the world. In that busy schedule, I never got the time to creatively express my thoughts. Now every time I finish a poem, free verse anything it fills me with so much happiness and excitement and a feeling to have created something of my own. I'm planning to post at least one creation of mine weekly. Lastly, a million thanks to all who visit, like or follow my tiny bits of creation. Every time you do that, I get to know one more beautiful person in my life and get the chance to see their creation too. View all posts by Megha's World


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Ticket to Write: Barest of travel plans leads to day to remember
The best days are sometimes wandering days.
On a recent trip to New England, with a few small goals but nowhere we had to be before evening, my traveling companion and I decided to wander north for most of the length of Vermont.
My friend hoped to find his ancestral burial plot in the tiny hamlet of Peacham.
I hoped to visit St. Johnsbury, where rumors located a Victorian-era natural-history museum and a library, each preserved like a prehistoric dragonfly in amber — or perhaps a taxidermy moose head.
But the closest thing we had to a plan was a determination to meander along the Connecticut River and eschew the interstate.
Along the way, we stopped to stretch our legs in several picturesque river towns, including Bellows Falls, where each building filled in partially forgotten memories I had from an earlier trip. I felt as if I were suddenly remembering a pleasant dream from last week.
After a leisurely drive along U.S. Route 5, we heeded the urging of our Vermont Winery Passport (it was insistent, I tell you) and turned off for Groton and Artesano Meadery, where a lovely young woman regaled us with tales of honey and tastes of, well, not ambrosia, exactly, but close enough on a beautiful spring day in New England.
The Peacham Cemetery, which we located on a small, serene knoll, was as verdant and lovely as my friend had hoped. We split up, armed only with the family name, and soon found the plot where his grandparents and other family members lie. He took pictures and told me about the people buried there, and I mused on the winding paths that families follow. And off we set again.
From my first glimpse of the Fairbanks Museum — a magnificent 1889 building in St. Johnsbury that resembles Ohio State University's Orton Hall — I was impressed. When I went inside, I fell in love.
The Fairbanks is like a museum of museums. Its handcrafted, wood-and-glass display cabinets were built as an intrinsic part of the lofted, two-story structure; a heartbreakingly beautiful barrel ceiling of dark polished wood crowns it all. The cabinets contain exhibits that are themselves historic, some of the finest extant examples of 19th-century taxidermy and some of the first museum dioramas ever created to display the creatures in their native habitats.
The museum is lovingly maintained, with an expert staff and up-to-date information. I was fortunate enough to be one of the first visitors to try the new audio tour, in which narrators play museum founder Franklin Fairbanks and curators of the past.
We were just minutes from closing time when we entered the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, a public library and art museum founded by another member of the prominent Fairbanks family.
Before my visit, had I fantasized about my perfect library, it would have fallen short of the Athenaeum, another Victorian gem with gingerbread woodwork and decorative spiral staircases leading to stacks on room-length balconies.
The art gallery at the back was another stunning space, dominated by a massive landscape by Albert Bierstadt, "The Domes of Yosemite." It seemed to bring the mists of California's Yosemite Falls inside the building, which was designed with the 10-by-15-foot painting in mind. The gallery is topped by a large, ornate skylight, which illuminates the painting's purple cliffs and lush green valley.
And finally, in a modest display case at the end of a reading table, a 1640 Mercator Atlas — quite rare, valuable and implausible — seemed only to be waiting for admiration from a nonplussed traveling map lover, perhaps one who just happened to be wandering by.
— Steve Stephens can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or on Twitter @SteveStephens.


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I grew up in Hamilton, with Byaduk only about 20 kilometres from my home. I passed through it on trips to coastal Port Fairy, visited the nearby dormant volcano Mt Napier with school and heard stories about the Byaduk caves. Never for a minute did I know that I had any link to the small town with its drystone fences and rocky paddocks.
I had heard of the Harmans from the conversations of my great uncles and aunties, but when I asked who they were Nana would just say they are "cousins", so I figured they were not that closely related. It was not until I started finding out more about my family tree and Nana told me all the names she knew, I discovered that her mother Sarah was a Harman.
When first researching, I would look through records for certain family names and would often come up with very little. That was until I started on the Harmans. There was loads of information and they soon became my favourite family, and not just for the ease of researching them. I discovered an upstanding, religious family that always dotted the i's and crossed the t's. A family that got involved in the community whether it be building schools, ploughing competitions, the Methodist church, or the Farmers Union. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they were a well-known family in the district.
Coming to Australia in three separate groups, Joseph and Sarah Harman and their mostly grown-up children, reunited in Port Fairy during the mid-1850s. They established themselves in the town, but with the land opening up in 1861 they moved to newly settled Byaduk around 1863. Joseph was the first bootmaker in the town, while sons James, Jonathon, and Reuben began farming the stony land. George, who was second eldest, seemed to have no wish to farm and by the late 1860s had returned to Port Fairy where he worked for the local council.
The family grew and by the turn of the century, another generation of Harmans were raising families with the union of marriage linking them to other well-known families in the district, including the Kinghorns, Bishops, and Olivers. The family was also beginning to branch out to other parts of the state, including Gippsland. In 1907, three members of the Harman family appear in a photograph of Byaduk pioneers, James, Jonathan, and Reuben's wife Elizabeth.
I eventually left Hamilton and did not return to Byaduk until the 1990s to visit the cemetery. By this time I knew something of the Harman's standing in the community but had not realised that there was so much recognition of it. While not that surprised to find a road named after them, I was surprised the Byaduk Caves had the names, Harman's Cave No 1 and Harman's Cave No 2 and that the volcanic lava flow that runs from Mt Napier to Byaduk is called "Harman Valley". Also, the Byaduk area has been recognised as part of the Kanawika Global Geopark
The name of Harman is not common in Byaduk today but I am proud that ongoing recognition of their presence there is ensured.


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- Description
DetailsPoly-Mart 125 Gallon Vertical Storage Tank, part# PM125HWLGRE is a light green stationary liquid storage tank. Vertical storage tanks are used in a variety of industries including industrial, agricultural, and commercial chemical storage applications. Common liquids stored in our tanks are Water, Calcium Chloride, DEF, Ethyl Alcohol, Ferric Chloride, Ferric Sulfate, Hydrochloric Acid, Biodiesel, Fertilizer, Phosphoric Acid, Polymers, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Hypochlorite, Sulfuric Acid, Urea, Brine, Agricultural Chemicals, Industrial Chemicals and many more. Please contact our sales team to verify chemical compatibility before placing your order.
This plastic vertical storage tank is constructed with rotationally molded polyethylene resin. It's seamless construction makes it durable and resistant to cracks, chips, and ruptures. The poly tank was made with FDA approved resin that complies with FDA standards 21 CFR 177.1520 (1) 3.1 and 3.2 for use in food grade storage. It's made with UV inhibitors that help protect liquid contents from direct sunlight for both indoor and outdoor use.
The Poly-Mart 125 gallon vertical storage tank has a specific gravity rating of 1.9 (15.85 lb /gal), making it safe for variety of liquid storage solutions. It features an 8" threaded vented lid, 1" polypropylene female NPT bulkhead fitting inlet, and 1 1/2" polypropylene female NPT bulkhead fitting outlet.
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Size ComparisonAt Scale
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Additional Information
Store ID X1647037 Manufacturer Info Product Part # PM125HWLGRE Manufacturer Poly-Mart Manufacturer Warranty 3 Year Warranty Technical Drawing Bushman PM125HWLGRE Drawing Size Info Capacity (Gallons) 125 Dimensions 30" Diameter x 50" Height Weight (lbs) 50 Liquid Accessibility Liquid Access 1 Inlet , 1 Outlet , 1 Manway / Lid Inlet 1 1" PP Female NPT Bulkhead Fitting Outlet / Drain 1 1-1/2" PP Female NPT Bulkhead Fitting Manway / Lid 1 8" Threaded Vented Lid Resin Features Color Light Green Material Polyethylene FDA Approved Resin Yes (Food Grade, Potable) UV Inhibitors Yes Translucent No Max Temp Allowed 120° F / 48° C Physical Features Product Type Vertical Storage Tank Specific Gravity 1.9 Tank Shape Cylindrical Tank Usability Stationary Environment Above Ground Gallon Indicators Yes Pressurized Use No ANSI / NSF 61 Approved Resin Yes Shipping Info Shipping Locations Texas Shipping Zip Codes 78728 Ship Freight Class 300 Liftgate Option Yes


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NEW YORK, N.Y. - In his new book, "Life, Animated," Ron Suskind tells the remarkable story of how Disney movies unlocked his autistic son's emotions.
Owen Suskind was a typical toddler until age 3, when his developing language and social skills vanished. He was diagnosed with regressive autism.
Gradually Owen became fascinated by Disney movies, watching and re-watching them endlessly. One day, at his brother Walter's 9th birthday party, Walter became a bit teary. "Walter doesn't want to grow up, like Mowgli or Peter Pan," said Owen. Comparing his brother to Disney characters was the most sophisticated thing Owen, then 6, had uttered in years.
Suskind and his wife, Cornelia, began to encourage Owen's Disney passion. Owen, now 23, used Disney characters and stories to relate to real-world situations. He recovered his lost language. And by finding other autistic kids with Disney affinities, his social isolation eased. The Suskinds have been contacted by researchers from around the world, and they believe their story offers hope.
Mary Andrianopoulos, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's School of Public Health, has a federal grant to improve communication skills in autistic children. She's been following the Suskinds' story and says their approach makes sense: "to figure out what attracts a child and build on that child's strengths." She cautions that it's not as simple as "just putting a child in front of a Disney video and that's the treatment," but says if a child "is learning communication skills and how to express certain feelings through the characters, and has a repertoire of language learned from these movies," then those strengths can be channeled into functional skills "so they can get jobs, have friends, live independently."
The Suskinds spoke to The Associated Press about Owen's journey by phone from their home in Cambridge, Mass.
AP: Is Owen's passion for Disney different from other things people with autism are fascinated by — whether train schedules or puzzles? And why does it matter in the long run? What's the end game?
RON: The view has long been that while you and I are permitted to have a deep passion for something, a person on the autism spectrum is not, because they focus on that to the exclusion of so much else. It's seen as something they should be weaned away from because it's not productive or not what typical kids do. ... Eventually we began to see this wasn't trapping Owen. It was a pathway for him to get to a more diverse and engaged life.
CORNELIA: All of these kids do have obsessions and affinities. The difference is, we used his affinity as a tool, to not only reach him by singing songs, watching movies together, playing with characters and being the characters, but then we took it further and started to use it to help him with academics and social growth.
The best hope we have with these guys is to really tap into what motivates them. It makes for better familial situations and job possibilities. I honestly think it's the answer to everything.
AP: Disney is sometimes criticized for commercializing and homogenizing children's entertainment. Disney is publicizing your book and Kingswell, a Disney imprint, is publishing it. Does your book promote Disney?
RON: The book is not in any way pro-Disney. It's not anti-Disney. It's just pro-fact. We understand the distaste people have for the power of Disney and the brainwashing. There were times when I said, "If I watch Peter Pan one more time, I'm going to take a sword and plunge it into my chest." But over time we began to see it was the only way to connect with our child. And the reason I went to this publishing unit of Disney was when I talked to my agent, he said, "Every word your child speaks is licensed by a multinational company." We'd have to pay licensing fees for every lyric or line of dialogue. I had to go to Disney.
AP: Disney cartoons are often so visually expressive that you can follow the story with the sound turned off. What else makes the films compelling to people who have trouble processing speech or emotions?
RON: These movies have powerful themes going back to the Brothers Grimm and thousand-year-old myths. But it wasn't until the arrival of the VCR for domestic use that kids like Owen could rewind and hyper-systemize to learn, at their own pace, from these emotionally rich narratives the things that they couldn't get from human interactions.
Owen used the movies to understand himself and his place in the world. He viewed himself as a sidekick. He told us, "A sidekick helps the hero fulfil his destiny." These are very deep ideas. He would give sidekick identities to other kids at school and say, "I am the protector of sidekicks. No sidekicks left behind."
AP: What's one of Owen's favourite Disney moments?
RON: There are certain songs that were big ones. Some he would listen to every morning to prepare him for his day. "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin" seemed to ground and centre him as he walked into a world that seemed new to him every day.


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Where would we be, as journalists and news consumers, without LinkedIn and its members' penchant for listing upcoming projects and pending accomplishments well before the public relations gatekeepers are ready to officially announce them? This time around, we have Microsoft group product planner Praveen Rutnam's LinkedIn page to thank. Rutman's profile contained word that the company is apparently "develop[ing a] strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that will be implemented for holiday 2012."
It's impossible to say what exact form this monetization strategy will take, and Microsoft hasn't immediately responded to a request for comment. That doesn't mean we can't start speculating wildly about it.
Perhaps Microsoft is planning a new, higher-priced premium tier for Xbox Live membership; one that offers subscribers discounted or free access to Xbox Live Arcade games, downloadable content, and online passes. Or maybe Microsoft will go the other way, offering a lower-priced tier below the current $59.99 annual Xbox Live Gold subscription that offers access to popular services like Netflix, Facebook, and Twitter without the online gaming capabilities. The change could even simply clear the way for Xbox Live to start offering those microtransaction-fueled free-to-play titles the industry seems so crazy about these days.
Whatever the change, Microsoft had better be careful not to make its current customers feel ripped off. When the company increased the annual fee for Xbox Live Gold by roughly 20 percent in the summer of 2010—the first such price increase since the system's launch in 2005—many gamers were quick to complain about price gouging and unreasonable fees.
(Tip via veteran Internet-scoop-finder supererogatory)


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Beau Willimon is the creator of 'House of Cards,' but he's the last person you want to ask about what's going to happen in the upcoming second season.
'I don't talk to anyone about what's in Season 2,' Willimon said.
Not even to give us a slight sense of what might be in store?
Nope, Willimon insisted, politely. He's the showrunner and executive producer of the Netflix series, which means he knows all. And he won't tell us.
He explained his reasoning: 'I really want the audience not to walk in with some preconceived notion for what the season is,' he said. 'That should be a process of discovery to them. When you give adjectives or talk about the tone, you're saying, 'This is the lens that you should look at the season through.' Drama should tell its own story.'
OK, Willimon, we'll let you off the hook. Though that won't stop viewers from speculating about what's going to happen in the highly anticipated second season of the intense political drama, which debuts Feb. 14 when Netflix releases all 13 episodes at once.
If you gobbled up the first batch of 13 episodes in one sitting, here's a quick refresher: At the end of the first season, scheming House Majority Whip Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) was on a quest to become vice president through a complex scheme of treachery, back-stabbing and murder. (RIP, Rep. Peter Russo.) Underwood did so with the help of his shrewdly calculating wife, Claire (Robin Wright), and an ambitious young investigative reporter, Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara), who also became his mistress.
On to Season 2: Eventually, Willimon relents a little and teases that it's going to be a big year for Wright's character and you may see some Beltway media types make cameos. But that's it. So here are some of the more juicy details we've gleaned from the second season trailer: It appears that Underwood has succeeded in becoming VP, persuading the former veep to step down and the president to name him as the replacement. 'One heartbeat away from the presidency and not a single vote cast in my name,' Underwood sneers at the camera in one of his breaking-the-fourth-wall monologues. 'Democracy is so overrated.'
However, things seem to go awry, as Zoe picked up the scent on the whole 'murdered congressman' story and it looks like she's closing in on the truth. There are scenes of chaos at the White House, lots of threats ('Am I really the sort of enemy you want to make?'), tears and a chilling final thought from Underwood: 'There is but one rule. Hunt or be hunted.'
Expectations are high as the show continues. After filming the first season, which Willimon calls an 'experiment for everyone involved,' the drama has turned into a well-oiled machine. When the series first started, neither Willimon, Spacey nor executive producer David Fincher had much TV experience.
'We all treated it as a 13-hour movie, because none of us made TV before,' said Willimon, a playwright who also previously worked on political campaigns, including those of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Howard Dean.
The advantage of knowing little about TV? 'We weren't bound by conventions because we didn't know the rules, really.' Now they have a better of idea of the logistics, such as how many scenes you can film in a day, the pace of the show and the rhythm of the actors.
Being TV rookies certainly didn't work against them. The buzz, theories, recaps and intense fandom started almost immediately after the episodes went live. (The New York Times declared that 'What episode of 'House of Cards' are you on?' was the 'new Beltway icebreaker.') The show garnered nine Emmy nominations (Fincher won directing for a drama series); Robin Wright picked up the trophy for best actress in a drama series at the Golden Globes; and the show was recently crowned best new series at the Writers Guild Awards.
The drama's success, particularly in mainstream awards, defied all his expectations, Willimon said. He sounded equally proud that the show has received 'incredibly positive responses' from people on both sides of the political aisle, from operatives to high-level staffers.
'There are people who criticize certain aspects of its authenticity, and they're right,' Willimon said, admitting that they exaggerate and condense some elements of D.C. life. 'We do a great deal of research into every story line. . . . More often than not, people from Washington have said time and time again it's one of the more accurate portrayals of Washington.'
The series has one very high-profile fan: President Barack Obama was recently seen on video during a meeting with technology executives (including Netflix chief Reed Hastings) asking for a preview of Season 2. 'I wish things were that ruthlessly efficient,' Obama joked about Spacey's mischievous character. 'I was thinking, 'Man, this guy's getting a lot of stuff done.' '
Willimon was very pleased.
'It was a really big deal to us,' he said of seeing the clip. 'When someone like President Obama mentions your show, you know he's watched some of it. It's an incredible feeling to think the most powerful person in the free world has spent a little bit of his time watching our land of make-believe.'
– – –
'House of Cards': About one hour per episode. All 13 episodes of Season 2 are available on Netflix starting Feb. 14.


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No no, I did not write the tutorial, DarkN00b did . I do not even own one of these wireless cards.
But this is a very popular tutorial on UF, and many users post they have looked a long time before finding it. So I'm going to link it over here.
HOWTO: Broadcom 43xx based wireless cards the EASY way.
Please read the disclaimers in the first post, and enjoy!


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Today in the News: Gwyneth Paltrow says working moms have it easier than her
Quote of note
"It's much harder for me. I feel like I set it up in a way that makes it difficult because ... for me, like if I miss a school run, they are like, 'Where were you?' I don't like to be the lead, so I don't (have) to work every day, you know, I have little things that I like and obviously I want it to be good and challenging and interesting, and be with good people and that kind of thing. ... I think it's different when you have an office job, because it's routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening. When you're shooting a movie, they're like, 'We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,' and then you work 14 hours a day and that part of it is very difficult. I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it's not like being on set." - Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, talking in an interview with E!
News to know
Stephen Colbert defended himself on Twitter today after a racist tweet was sent out on the @ColbertReport account. Colbert, who tweets under the name @StephenAtHome, said he had nothing to do with the tweet from @ColbertReport and that he doesn't know who wrote it. The tweet angered many in the Asian community.
Hot video: Raw: Crew boards International Space Station
A spacecraft carrying a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts docks at the International Space Station later than scheduled after dealing with a technical issue mid-flight.
More Content Now News


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Are Debtors Rational Actors or Situational Characters? – Abstract
Posted by The Situationist Staff on April 11, 2009
Promising young scholar, Chrystin Ondersma, published her excellent new article, titled "Are Debtors Rational Actors? An Experiment" in 13 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 279 (2009). Here's the abstract.
* * *
This Article examines patterns in bankruptcy filing data to determine whether this data supports the simplistic Rational Actor model that is the basis for Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA). The Article closely reviews the Rational Actor and Situationist models–the current debate about human behavior in bankruptcy context. Analysis of empirical data of pre-BAPCPA, post- BAPCPA, and current filings demonstrate that while BAPCPA reduced the number of filings nationally, unexplained variation in filing patterns exist. These findings suggest that the Rational Actor model provides a limited understanding of human behavior in the bankruptcy arena. As salient economic factors–poverty, unemployment, and foreclosure rates–fail to adequately explain the local variation patterns, this Article explores non-economic factors to develop a better understanding of debtor decision making. Wide local variation patterns in filing data demonstrate that a more nuanced model that takes into account both nationwide and local situational pressures is required for understanding debtor decision-making and developing effective policies.
* * *
You can download the article for free here. To read some related Situationist posts, see "The Financial Squeeze: Bad Choices or Bad Situations?" and "The Situation of College Debt – Part IV."
2 Responses to "Are Debtors Rational Actors or Situational Characters? – Abstract"
April 11, 2009 at 9:37 pm
If this article were written two years ago, it would have been called "Are Banks Rational Actors or Situational Characters."
The fact is that when house prices were going up, social scientists were continually doing audit studies and experiments to argue for MORE lending to people with poor credit histories, especially minorities, thought to be responsible for over half the defaulted subprime dollars.
Now you're seeing revisionist history, and many of the same sociologists and psychologists pretending they were really concerned about banks pressuring borrowers to take on bad loans. In reality these situationist experts were likely to be testifying in anti-redlining lawsuits that banks were irrationally ignoring potential borrowers because of hidden biases.
At least Alan Greenspan has enough honor to admit he made a mistake.
April 8, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Regarding Robert's comment, please provide citations about who was promoting lending to minorities and who was actually making the decisions about lending. I do not see revisionist history as Robert claimed, but rather revisionism in terms of who was profiting without taking the risk's downside. Public bailout of lenders rather than borrowers?
It is now April 2010 and in China the common wisdom is that house prices will continue to rise and that it couldn't possibly be a bubble because all the major players are still involved.


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Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, guest hosted Bloomberg TV's "Market Makers" with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle today. Fink said that he's "very bullish" on the United States and "our corporations are in fabulous shape with $1.7 trillion in cash…I don't believe you're going to see that much default risk in the next few years." Video after the jump
Larry Fink also stated that "95% of the people that are talking about [the fiscal cliff] have no clue" and "I think we will find a solution."
Credit: BLOOMBERG TELEVISION
Fink on the fiscal cliff:
"I would say that 95% of the people that are talking about it have no clue…I was in Washington for a couple of days last week. I am on the phone a lot. I think we will find a solution. Republicans and Democrats understand the enormity of the issue. I actually believe that the Republicans understand--I would say that the nation's consensus that we have to raise the upper income taxes and I think that what they are trying to do is work on a great bargain, working with the Democrats, and making sure that there is a 3 to 1, 2.5 to 1 in terms of expense savings for revenues. I actually think that the threshold of the Republican side has been determined subject to working out on the Democratic side the expense savings. I do believe that the Republicans will threaten if they can't find those expense savings...There is still posturing going on."
On whether there's a buying opportunity between now and the end of the year:
"I told all my investors that any time the market had a down shaft, go buy. The market is almost creeping back up to a month high. I think that the market is saying that there will be a solution and those who were able to buy on those downdrafts, those momentary fears, did well. Once again, we spend too much time focusing on those day traders and you have to look for your point in time to be an investor and you like a stock at a certain level, you should stick with those strategies."
On how banks can make big money going forward:
"I am quite bullish on the banking system going forward. I think banks in the United States have done a very good job of retooling its businesses. They have much more to do but their balance sheets are very strong. Much of the problems in U.S. banks are behind them."
On how he feels about BlackRock being bigger than the Street:
"I don't compare us and we are not the Street. This is our clients' money. I believe the thinning of the balance sheets is what regulators wanted. Regulators basically said you will have higher capital charges and we want you to have lower balance sheets so you are not too big to fail. We want you to get into more flow business. I think at this period of time, we as investors are struggling with a lack of liquidity so I am not suggesting these are not difficult times for all investors in the market trading of bonds, specifically, but over time, I think you'll see more products moving to exchanges. The Wall Street firms will do more flow business. This will be evolutionary and unfortunately we are now at this period of time of a real big sea change. We are historically dependent on the balance sheets as a mechanism for inventory and now we will be more dependent on flow business. That will force more business onto exchanges. I actually think this is what regulators want."
On saying in February that investing 100% in stocks is the way to go and whether this holds true today:
"I would speak more cautionary until we see what happens in Washington. If you are a long-term investor and thinking about retirement or your pension plan, you have no other choice but to be in equities. If you are not in equities now, you need to start layering in and starting to buy but I would not do it all at once."
On whether he's surprised that mortgages have had such a great run this year:
"No, when the Federal Reserve buys as much as they do, you are certainly not surprised at the performance of certain items. Operation Twist and QE3 buying all the mortgages really didn't help the mortgage market. At the same time we also started to see stability in housing markets and rising housing prices for the first time and when you put that together, you had a good year. But where is S&P up? 13% this year. Some of the European stocks dropped over 20% so I am happy with my prognostication and I would live by it going forward."
"I am very bullish on the United States over a cyclical period of time. With that in mind, it is hard for me to see how bonds will continue--at this rate--continue to have that kind of performance. Way too many people are investing in bonds with all the volatility that is embedded in bonds now with their duration…a 30-year treasury today is at a record low, around 3.5%. Excuse me, 2.5%. If you look at the CBO estimates over a 10-year cycle, the U.S. government says 10-year Treasuries in a number of years will be at 5%. Let's assume the spread between 10 and 30 years is another 100 basis points so they are suggesting that 30 year will be at 6%. With a duration of 16, that means that if the CBO, our government's accounting, is correct, you will lose 45% of your principal in bonds…I think this is the big mistake that people don't understand now. Bonds don't possess that risk-free return in this low rate environment. I am using what our government is projecting out for interest rates. When we talk about budgets, it is the U.S. government's belief that 10-year treasuries will be of 5% out in another five years."
On whether searching for yields and going for corporates is a mistake:
"As I said, I am bullish on the United States. If you're going to take a risk in bonds, I believe you will have a higher return in corporate bonds. I don't believe you'll see that much default risk in the next few years. Our corporations are in fabulous shape with $1.7 trillion in cash. They are using some of that cash at the moment for special dividends and stock repurchases, so they are not using it in the one best way for bondholders, but if you're going to invest in fixed income you will need higher return assets and that will be in corporates."
On what happens to pension funds that are investing in corporations and high yield:
"The pension issue is bigger than just bonds. In fact, bonds are only a component of all the risks they are sitting with. I visited a couple of large pension plans in the United States last week and they are assuming they will earn 7.5% return."
"If you believe that the world can grow 3% per year--that is lower than we have seen in the last 10 years--if you assume we can grow by 3% per year in world growth and assume you can buy stocks that have a dividend of 3.5%, if there is an improvement in margins, you will see you can make a 7-7.5% return over 10 years in equities. You will have to be a patient investor and not worry about the intraday volatility. This is the reason why I like equities even though everybody is running away."
On whether BlackRock investors have been harmed by LIBOR:
It's too early for me to tell. We are doing a full review of all of the trading activities. We don't know yet. In most cases, we are learning that they artificially lowered the LIBOR rates. That is very harmful for the investors because we had an artificially low rate. I think we are discovering also that there are moments in time--and I think this is where the investigators are really looking into it--where there was some form of malfeasance at a specific day because they had many clients money that was going to be reset and they raised the price. Until you understand how their behavior was or if there was a series of money for the artificially lowered the rates, we as an investor have been harmed. There are other cases where we saw evidence that they possibly raised the rate and those issuers were then harmed. This is not an easy thing to determine. We are doing a full and exhaustive review and many of our clients have asked what we are doing on behalf of them.
Credit: BLOOMBERG TELEVISION


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Sturgis swept
A fourth-quarter rally by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix boys basketball team helped the visiting Knights sweep Sturgis in a SMAC East Division doubleheader Friday night.
Loy Norrix captured the boys game 60-53, while taking the girls contest, 67-25.
Loy Norrix 60, Sturgis 53 (boys)
The Trojans led 45-31 heading into the fourth quarter and saw their lead evaporate in the final eight minutes aided by the Knights turning up their pressure.
"They went from a zone press to contain to a man-to-man with more intensity that caused turnovers," Sturgis coach Keith Kurowski said. "Their defense is what got their offense going."
Bishop Robinson, the Knight's All-State player, took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of his game-high 26 points. He had eight points in the first minute of the period with a pair of dunks, the second coming after a steal to trim the advantage to 45-39.
"The fourth quarter they played the game at their tempo," Kurowski said. "I didn't do a good enough job getting our guys ready for their pressure."
Sturgis' Chance Stewart, who finished the game with 20 points and 21 rebounds, temporarily slowed down the Knights comeback with five straight points. He converted a three-point play getting an inbounds-pass from Patrick Haas, then added a pair of free throws 40 seconds later to push the lead back to 50-39.
Stewart hit two more free throws with 3:26 left to put the Sturgis lead at 53-49. The Trojans were scoreless the rest of the way.
"I think fatigue caught up to us a little," Kurowski said. "We had two starters foul out and some kids playing in unfamiliar situations."
Loy Norrix got a 3-pointer from Davian Phillips to cut the lead to one and moments later, Robinson got another steal and slam to put his team ahead, 54-53, with 2:52 to go.
The Trojans had a couple of chances to take the lead, but were unable to convert. The Knights pulled away to the final margin hitting 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch after Sturgis was forced to foul.
For the game, Loy Norrix was 15-for-31 for the game, while Sturgis was 9-for-16.
The Knights scored the first for points of the game, but a three-point play by Stewart knotted the game at 5-5, just past the mid-point of the first quarter. It came after Eduardo Portillo grabbed an offensive rebound, the Trojans missed on the putback, but Stewart grabbed another offensive rebound and scored.
Sturgis closed the period with a basket by Portillo and a pair by Stewart to take a 11-7 lead.
A triple by Jalen Cox, off a feed from Tyler Bennett, pushed the Trojan margin to 20-10 with five minutes left in the second stanza. Cox hit another trey just before the buzzer to give Sturgis a 30-17 edge heading to the break.
Sturgis built the largest margin of the game, 45-26 with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter after a drive to the basket by Haas.
"We were able to control the tempo, play our game," Kurowski said. "We were able to execute our game plan for the first three quarters."
The Knights execution in the fourth quarter made the difference.
Cox finished with 15 points for the Trojans, Bennett tossed in seven, Haas chipped in with four, Jack Scheske added three and Seven Jones and Portillo each had two.
Darrion Mullen threw in 14 for the Knights, while Phillips finished with 12.
Loy Norrix 67, Sturgis 25 (girls)
A short-handed Trojan squad faced an uphill battle coming into the game and it got tougher as another player went down.
"Loy Norrix is one of the best teams in our league," Sturgis coach Brian Beebe said."We were without our tallest and fastest kid tonight and it showed."
Out was 6-1 sophomore Rachel Anderson, who was injured late in the game at Three Rivers on Tuesday. During the game, freshman Kayla Thornton went out with an injury in the first half and did not return shortening the team to seven players.
Despite the lopsided score, Beebe felt his team did some good things defensively.
"In the first half, when we were in the game, I think our press actually slowed them up," he said. "I think our press was very good."
But is was Loy Norrix's top two players who took over the game. Senior Sierra James scored 23 and sophomore Aviance Alexander added 20.
"Ten (James) is the best guard in our league, she's a stud," Beebe said. "Three (Alexander) is an incredible athlete. We let them do what ever they wanted, they're good players and you can't do that with good players."
The Knights led 23-9 after one quarter and 37-14 at halftime. It was 58-20 heading into the final quarter.
"The kids were pretty frustrated after the game, as well they should be," Beebe said. "It was good that they just didn't walk in giggly and smiley. We talked about what we needed to do to win games."
But Beebe added that with nine players — three juniors, three sophomores and three freshman — it is on the job training for the Trojan squad.
"We're not only learning how to play the game together, we're learning at the varsity level," he said. "The kids understand we're not doing the right things right now on both sides of the ball. The kids know we need to be better, they're frustrated, but they know we need to win on Tuesday. That's our whole mentality right now, learn from the last one and just understand what playing together and what playing at this level feels like."
Ariana George led the Trojans with 10 points, Nicollette Nelson tossed in eight, Marissa Parker added four and Madison Shepherd had a free throw.
Taylor Wade added 12 points for Loy Norrix.


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Where are the science-fiction novels for sophisticated teenagers? You might wonder after reading Stephenie Meyer's bestseller about aliens, The Host, which is written at a fourth-grade reading level. You'll find answers in 100 Must-Read Science Fiction Novels (A&C Black, 2006), written by Stephen E. Andrews and Nick Rennison with foreword by Christopher Priest.
Among the novels tapped by the authors: The Genocides (Vintage, 160 pp.,$12.95) by the late Tom Disch. Andrews and Rennison write:
"When unseen aliens decide to claim Earth for themselves, they sow the planet with seeds that grow into massive plants which begin to destroy the ecosystem. The plants adapt swiftly whenever new toxins are used against them and civilization itself begins to crumble. Then huge spherical incinerating machines descend to raze the cities, clearing the way for the extraterrestrial crop's full bloom. Following the struggles of a small American community as they try to survive the onslaught of the alien agriculturalists by burrowing into the roots of the monstrous vegetables, The Genocides is an invasion story with a difference: what chance can human beings have against beings who consider us nothing more than garden pests? Using John W. Campbell's approach to pursuing an idea to its inescapable conclusion while refusing to conform to the psychologically dissatisfying conclusion invasion stories have suffered from since The War of the Worlds, Tom Disch had the audacity to defy decades of convention, consequently producing a marvelous debut that both broke new ground and upset traditionalist SF fans."
Andrews and Rennison add that despite his occasional "remoteness of tone," Disch is "a humane author whose highly accomplished and often very funny work marks him as one of the finest writers of literary SF ever to emerge from America."
© 2009 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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