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Square goes tactical on handhelds[ds] [psp] [gba]
Yesterday, Square Enix surprised gamers with news that the upcoming Dragon Quest IX would be exclusive to a portable system; today, news out of Japan revealed more upcoming portable games to the publisher's extremely large and growing list. First up is a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics for PSP. Though it will essentially be the same content from the original 1997 PlayStation game, it will contain some new job classes as well as cel-shaded cutscenes.
Also in the works is what seems to be a sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the Game Boy Advance spinoff of the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Oddly, a platform for this game has yet to be announced. It is likely that the game will come to the platform of its predecessor, or to the successful Nintendo DS, on which Square Enix already has no less than nine upcoming projects in development.
D3 goes on a Puzzle Quest[ds] [psp]
D3Publisher of America today announced that it will be bringing the RPG/puzzle hybrid Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords to North American shelves next year. The game, developed for both Nintendo DS and PSP, is structured like a traditional console roleplaying game, but has battles that play out like color-matching puzzle games. In addition to a full single-player story set in the frequently-used Warlords universe of Etheria, it features puzzle-only modes as well as local wireless versus multiplayer on both systems. "We believe consumers will enjoy the combination of much-loved gameplay styles incorporated into Puzzle Quest and find the game to be a compelling choice for casual or on-the-go gamers, as well as offer a great challenge to more seasoned gamers," said D3 senior marketing manager Michael Scharnikow. "Puzzle Quest can be enjoyed in either long or short doses of gameplay for a casual, yet also deeply satisfying and immersive, gameplay experience." - Screenshots: NDS, PSP.
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords was developed by Infinite Interactive and Playable Productions for Nintendo DS, and Infinite Interactive and Vicious Cycle Software for PSP. The game is expected to ship to North American retail shelves in March 2007.
Heroes are Legendary, again[psp]
Namco Bandai has been one of the strongest supporters of roleplaying games on PSP with its The Legend of Heroes series, and today it announced it would be continuing that support with The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean. The game will be developed by Nihon Falcom, which worked on the prior two PSP games in the series as well as the popular Ys series dating back to the original 1987 entry. "The Legend of Heroes series is regarded as a classic RPG franchise and we're very pleased to bring the next entry in the series to the PSP system," said Namco Bandai Games America VP Naruo Uchida. "With Nihon Falcom at the head of development, a studio that has brought players timeless classics like 'Ys', we are sure RPG fans everywhere will be pleased with this unique handheld experience. While the game is set in the fantastic world familiar to fans of the first two Legend of Heroes games, it will feature a brand new adventure and standalone storyline. Therefore, even RPG fans new to the series will immediately be able to pick up and enjoy the game."
The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean is expected to ship for PSP to North America in January 2007.
Capcom on Lost Planet: We're still listening[xbox360]
Last month, Capcom promised that, in response to frequent criticism from gamers based on experience with the Lost Plane (X360) multiplayer demo, the final version of the game would include a contextual font size for certain aspects of the game depending on whether the user owns a standard- or high-definition TV. Today, the company sent word that it plans to make even more changes to the multiplayer portion of the game based on further feedback from gamers. Rather than technical changes, these are actual changes to gameplay and interface functionality aimed at making the game a more streamlined and complete experience. Capcom outlines the changes as follows:
- Private slots can be set by host!
- Invite friends to a match
- Number of players in a room will be displayed next to name of the room
- Players will not be kicked all the way out to the main menu if they try to join a full game
- New button allows players to refresh the match list without going out to the main menu and selecting Quick Match again
- Players will now go to a post-game lobby at the end of a match, not kicked back to the main menu
- The ability to replay a match with the same group without leaving the post-game lobby
- Cycling maps on replayed matches when map selection is set to Random
- Text size on the team selection screen will be greatly increased when using non-HD resolutions.
- When manual team selection is set to ON, players will have 20 seconds to form teams.
- The time limit on each match will be maxed out at 60 minutes, instead of the current unlimited time.
- A player's custom match criteria will now be saved.
We've also got a more complete explanation of the major changes to navigation, the post game lobby and friends system, and handling of team formation. Some of the changes have already been made to the gold master version of Lost Planet, while some will be available as a downloadable patch immediately when the game is released in North America and Europe on January 12, 2007.
Sony "too funky fresh," is "Busted. Nailed. Snagged."[psp]
You are likely aware of a rather misguided and poorly-disguised PSP marketing campaign launched by Sony and featuring deliberately amateur (in a highly paid marketing professional kind of way) rap videos themed around the concept of wanting to receive a PSP for Christmas from one's parents. After the campaign was less than successful in convincing gamers of its authenticity, Sony has posted a note on the campaign's home page, all i want for xmas is a psp. It reads as follows (or, "here's the deal:::" as the page puts it):
Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn't a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony. Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP. Sony Computer Entertainment America
Despite keeping the page mostly intact, Sony has removed the rap and rock videos. The rap video, entitled, "Cousin Pete Wants a PSP for Xmas Too!," has also been removed from YouTube.
Wii, DS see strong week in Europe[wii] [ds]
Nintendo of Europe announced today that in the first two days of the Wii's European launch, the machine sold some 325,000 units, which NOE claims makes it the fastest-selling console in the territory's history. The news comes one day after Nintendo announced that the Wii sold over 105,000 units in the United Kingdom during the console's launch weekend, which, according to UK publication MCV, beat Xbox 360's previous record of 70,000. Unsurprisingly, the highest selling launch game in both the UK and Europe as a whole was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, with Nintendo's Wii Play (to be released in North America next month) and Ubisoft's Red Steel also showing strong sales.
DS had strong pre-holiday sales as well, moving 515,000 units in Europe the same week, giving the machine a European install base of about 8.5 million. Nintendo noted that this figure broke all prior records for any console's sales in Europe in a single week.
Misc. Media/Previews
GameSpot checks up on SCE Studio Liverpool's Formula One Championship Edition (PS3). IGN tries out Sega's Yakuza 2 (PS2).
IGN takes a look at multiplayer in Capcom's Lost Planet (X360).
1UP aggregates most of the gameplay details of Level 5's Dragon Quest IX: [insert translated subtitle dealing with defense and skies here] (NDS) and checks up on High Impact's Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP).
Screenshots: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (NDS, PSP).
Console Game Of The Evening [Submit Yours!]
Bump 'n' Jump for the Intellivision. "A car race that dared to ask .. will you bump them or will you jump them? I prefered jumping for pixelated goodness when my car appeared to inflate toward the screen. =0" (submitted by jehkyb)


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By Jeremy D. Larson
The story of "Diane Young" starts, as all good stories do, with the torching of a Saab.
On March 18, Vampire Weekend released a video for "Diane Young" featuring a couple of junked Saab 900s just burning away with the New York City skyline in looming in the background. Maybe 10 seconds of footage was slowed down to all 2 minutes and 45 seconds of the band's first single from Modern Vampires of the City. Hypnotic and as we we later learn unofficial, the video caused controversy in small corners of the internet where Saab-enthusiasts nest.
"Vampire Weekend Are A Bunch Of Dicks" decried Gawker's automotive vertical, Jalopnik, going on to say that the original owners of the Saabs were none too pleased with how their former Saabs were being treated. Lead singer Ezra Koenig later apologized to the Saabophiles, saying, "I hate the idea that somebody would not know the actual fate (of the cars)."
Fate, incidentally, is something that crops up on "Diane Young," which of course is a not-so-disguised homonym for "dying young." Koenig sings in the third verse in fifth gear: "Nobody knows what the future holds/ And it's bad enough just getting old/ Live my life in self-defense/ You know I love the past 'cause I hate suspense."
It's a common theme in pop music, just taking the wheel of your life and living life to the edge. But as Koenig is one of this generation's master lyricists, there's more than just platitudes and affirmations: It's 18th holes, Kennedys, government agents, extended golf championship metaphors and, of course, Saabs.
Funny thing is, there was a time when the whole band wasn't really sure they wanted the song on the GRAMMY-nominated album.
"That's pretty typical with us," Koenig told Radio.com. "There's times where people get bummed out about a song, or start to lose their faith, and hopefully its not everybody at the same time."
(Kevin Winter/Getty Images for CBS Radio)
One thing about "Diane Young" that separates it from most other songs on the radio this year was that effect on the chorus. You know the one; you've tried to do with your mouth.
"I remember right before sitting int he studio with Rostam [Batmanglij] and Ariel [Rechtshaid] — who co-produced the album with Rostam — right around the time I was really starting to feel this song was like 'man there's something really boring about it,' and that was right around the time there was the breakthrough of the vocal effect."
That 'vocal effect' makes the song, gives it that singular quality that's not quite Auto-Tune or vocoder, but this "crazy format-shifting thing" that producer Ariel Rechtshaid and the band cooked up.
Vampire Weekend are nominated for Best Alternative Album for Modern Vampires of the City at this year's GRAMMY Awards. Tune in January 26 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

subset: commoncrawl


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Summer Hours Begin: Central Library will close at 6 pm on Thursdays and will be closed Sundays until September. Enjoy your summer!
Log in
The Bag-of-Books Sale is the best deal in town for book lovers. Great selection at an amazing price! You can fill a grocery-size bag full of books and pay only $2.00! This annual sale is our biggest sale of the year. It takes place the first Saturday in June during the June Jubilee weekend. Here's the important information:
Please feel free to bring your own reusable grocery-bag size tote. You will find: fiction & mystery, romance, science fiction, assorted nonfiction, children's books, audio books, movies, music, and more. There will be more than 10,000 items! Call 553-7820 with questions..
Posted by Carol Manstrom at 06/03/2014 10:47:50 AM |


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HANOVER, N.H. — A four-time Ivy League Men's Basketball Rookie of the Week a year ago, sophomore Gabas Maldunas is now all grown up. The 6-9 forward was named the league's co-Player of the Week after leading Dartmouth to a 67-54 victory in its season opener on Saturday night. Sharing the award with Maldunas was Princeton's Will Barrett, who scored 20 points and snared nine rebounds in a 57-53 win over Buffalo.
College Sports Madness also selected Maldunas as its sole Player of the Week in the Ivy League.
Maldunas was a force at both ends of the court, recording his fifth career double-double with a career-best 25 points and 10 rebounds, while swatting four shots and swiping three steals. He was 10-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-6 at the foul line, scoring 17 of his 25 points in the second half when the Big Green pulled away from Maine after leading at the break by two.
The last Dartmouth player to earn this award was Alex Barnett '09 on Feb. 23, 2009 after leading the Big Green to historical road wins at Penn and Princeton. Maldunas is also the first Big Green player to convert 10 or more field goals in a game since Barnett (at Cornell, Feb. 14, 2009), and the first underclassman to tally 25 or more points in a game at Leede Arena since Leon Pattman '07 tallied 29 in consecutive games as a freshman against Vermont and Hartford.
Dartmouth will play the second of three straight home games — the first time in 34 years the Big Green have started a season with three home games — when it hosts cross-state rival New Hampshire on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Fans can watch the game by subscribing to Big Green Insider on the official website of Dartmouth athletics, DartmouthSports.com, with Dave Collins calling all of the action.


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Twelve Statements to Improve the Situation of Women Living With HIV and AIDS Throughout the World
November 1999
- Encouragement and support for the development of self-help groups and networks.
- The media to realistically portray us, not to stigmatise us.
- Accessible and affordable health care (conventional and complementary) and research into how the virus affects women.
- Funding for services to lessen our isolation and meet our basic needs. All funds directed to us need to be supervised to make sure we receive them.
- The right to be respected and supported in our choices about reproduction, including the right to have, or not to have, children.
- Recognition of the right of our children and orphans to be cared for and of the importance of our role as parents.
- Education and training of health care providers and the community about women's risk and our needs. Up-to-date and accurate information about all the issues for women living with HIV/AIDS should be easily and freely available.
- Recognition of the fundamental human rights of all women living with HIV/AIDS, particularly women in prison, drug users and sex workers. These fundamental rights should include employment, travel without restriction and housing.
- Research into female infectivity, including woman-to-woman transmission,and recognition of and support for lesbians living with HIV/AIDS.
- Decision making power and consultation at all levels of policy and programmes affecting us.
- Economic support for women living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries to help them to be self-sufficient and independent.
- Any definition of AIDS to include symptoms and clinical manifestations specific to women.
These 12 statements can be copied and distributed -- please acknowledge The International Community of Women Living With HIV/AIDS.
More From This Resource Center
Newly Diagnosed? Words of Encouragement from HIV-Positive Women
What Every HIV-Positive Woman Should Know About GYN Care and Prevention


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OSEC Congressional Testimony
Statement of Robert B. Reich Secretary of Labor Before the Joint Economic Committee[2/22/95]
Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Members of the Joint Economic Committee:
We do not all agree on the subject of our discussion today -- the fate of the minimum wage. But let me begin with some ideas on which we do concur. Work is better than welfare. Work enobles and gives meaning. Any American who works hard and plays by the rules ought to have a fair chance to get ahead.
The current minimum wage betrays those ideals. It's not a liveable wage. A person who works 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year at this wage earns only $8500 for an entire year's work. That's just not enough to support a family. And to suggest it's good enough mocks the values we claim to hold dear.
Today, the real value of the minimum wage is 27 percent lower than it was in 1979. Since its last increase four years ago, the value of the minimum wage has fallen 45 cents per hour. If it's not boosted this year, it will be worth less than at any time in 40 years.
President Clinton's proposal to increase the minimum wage 90 cents an hour over two years can help lift the lives of the
eleven million Americans who currently earn less than $5.15 an hour.
These are the invisible workers of America -- working harder than they've ever worked before and barely making it. Hoping they or their kids stay healthy, because they can't afford to see a doctor. Hoping the rent doesn't go up again, because they can't afford another place to live. Hoping that interest rates don't rise again, because they're already behind on their car payments and their credit card payments, and they can't sink deeper into debt.
These Americans do work that's often hard on muscles and joints, the work that few relish but that needs to be done -- janitors, maids, child-care workers, cashiers, busboys, fast-food cooks, assemblers, gas-station attendants. These are the people who vacuum the boardrooms, file the papers, sew the clothing, and answer the phones. They don't need a capital gains tax cut, because they have no capital. They simply work hard -- very, very hard -- and play by the rules.
$4.25 an hour is not enough income to pay the bills. And it makes responsible people feel like suckers -- and thus gnaws away at the precious ethic of responsibility. The timing couldn't be worse. At the same time inflation has stolen much of the value of the minimum wage, the condition of America's working poor has declined. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the real average hourly wage of male high school graduates fell by 19 percent since 1979, and by 3 percent for female high school graduates. High school drop outs have fared even worse. This trend of declining real wages for less-skilled Americans has continued for 15 years.
Most disturbing, less-skilled workers have done poorly in times of economic growth as well as in times of economic downturns. The U.S. economy created more jobs in 1994 than in any other year in the past decade, and the unemployment rate fell to a four year low while the help wanted index climbed to a four year high. Yet the prosperity of this recovery, and of the past 15 years, has not been shared by all our citizens.
The reasons for the worsening fortunes of less skilled workers are many and diverse. Part of the explanation lies in increased globalization; part lies in technological change that has reduced the demand for less skilled workers; part lies in
the decline in union membership as a proportion of the workforce. And several economic studies tell us that 20 to 30 percent of the erosion in wages of less-skilled workers is due to the fact that the minimum wage has not come close to keeping up with inflation, (See Blackburn, Bloom and Freeman (1991) and DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1994). The studies I cite here will be submitted for the record.)
A moderate increase in the minimum wage is one of the few steps that government can take to improve the living standards of low-income workers in the short run. I use the word "moderate" advisedly. It would be reckless and counterproductive to try to reverse the entire erosion of earnings through minimum wage increases alone. An excessive increase in the minimum wage would indeed invite unwelcome economic results. Is there a minimum wage level that is too high? Yes. Is there a minimum wage level that is too low? Absolutely. And we are there right now. To make work pay, the President has proposed to raise the minimum wage from $4.25 to $4.70 on July 4, 1995, and to $5.15 after
July 3, 1996. In 1989, the Congress passed by large bipartisan majorities, and President Bush signed, legislation to increase the minimum wage by an identical amount, 90 cents, in two 45-cent steps.
An objective look at the evidence suggests that such a modest increase in the minimum wage would not have the dire consequences that its opponents argue it would have. Furthermore, with the changes in the wage structure the U.S. economy has experienced, an increase in the minimum wage would help relatively more low income families today than was the case 20 years ago. Economic theory has much to teach us here and,
as I noted, warns against excessive increases. But in assessing an increase of the scale the President proposes, we must go beyond the abstract theory of Economics 101, and examine the evidence.
That evidence allows us to dismiss, for example, the myth that the typical minimum wage worker is a middle-class high school student. Only one in 14 workers earning between $4.25 and $5.15 per hour is a teenaged student from a family with above-average earnings. Fully 46 percent of workers who would be affected by the President's proposal are in the bottom earnings quintile of working families. The average worker who would be affected by the President's proposal brings home half of his or her family's earnings; 38 percent of those affected are the sole worker in their family. An increase in the minimum wage of 90 cents would mean a $1,800 raise for a full-time, year-round minimum-wage worker. This is not an insignificant sum for low-income families struggling to make ends meet on the minimum wage. Indeed, it is as much as the average family spends on groceries in seven months.
The standard criticism of the minimum wage is that it raises employer costs and reduces employment opportunities for teenagers and disadvantaged workers. Of course, if we were talking about a $10 per hour minimum wage, I believe this argument would have merit. At the same time, it is not credible that a one-cent increase in the minimum wage, for example, would cause meaningful job loss. Again: To assess the impact of an increase, we must be guided by evidence as well as theory. The weight of the evidence suggests that moderate increases in the minimum wage of the magnitude President Clinton has proposed would not have significant impact on overall employment. Many of the vested interests that stand to gain from keeping the minimum wage low have funded studies, published their viewpoints and primed the press on the myth that a moderate increase in the minimum wage of the sort the President has proposed would costs hundreds of thousands of jobs. To clarify an important but muddied debate, I ask your indulgence as I review briefly the state of empirical work on this subject.
The most common research method used by economists to study the impact of the minimum wage on employment is based on time series evidence. Time-series models attempt to relate changes
in the minimum wage over time with contemporary, or subsequent, changes in employment. A strong enough connection between the timing of minimum wage increases and job losses would support a causal link. Such time-series models that were developed in the 1970s and early 1980s tended to find that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage leads to a 1 to 3 percent decline in teen employment, with most estimates near the bottom of the range. This is a range that is reported by the Minimum Wage Study `Commission, which was appointed under President Carter. However, when these same studies are updated to include data covering the 1980s, the results show a much smaller and statistically insignificant effect of the minimum wage on employment. In other words, in the time-series literature one can no longer rule out that the apparent relationship between the minimum wage and employment occurs by chance. A 1988 study by Allison Wellington of Davidson College that was subsequently published in the Journal of Human Resources was among the first to find this result. This study was contested the last time the Congress considered raising the minimum wage, but the results have held up. For example, a study by Jacob Klerman of the Rand Institute published in 1992 (Health Benefits in the Workforce, GPO, 1992) reached a similar conclusion. These findings are significant because they appear to contradict most of the previous empirical literature on the minimum wage. One cannot simply count the number of studies; one must weigh the quality, content, and completeness of the evidence. One must also distinguish between impartial, peer-reviewed academic research and the many studies funded by vested interests to reach a predetermined conclusion. Of the articles published in peer-reviewed American economics journals over the past five years, a majority has found that moderate changes in the minimum wage have an insignificant effect on employment.
The current time-series evidence, then, is inconclusive on the proposition that the minimum wage adversely affects employment at all. Since this challenges what many theorists predict, many economists have sought other methods for researching this issue further.
One promising approach is to compare impacts across areas, instead of over time. In one of the most compelling such studies Professor David Card of Princeton University examined the effect of the 1990 and 1991 increases in the minimum wage on employment growth for teenagers in different states. The rise in the federal minimum wage had a varying effect on wages from one state to another. In some states, the rise in the federal minimum wage affected many teenagers; in other , relatively few. For example, in many Southern states over 50% of teenagers were paid between $3.35 and $3.80 prior to the increase in the minimum wage to $3.80, while fewer than 10% of teens were in this range in
New England and California. If a 45-cent increase had a significant impact on employment, that impact should be more noticeable in the states with many people affected by the increase, and state-by-state comparisons should reveal such differences. Card finds no evidence of the 1990 minimum wage increase affecting teenage employment or school enrollment across states. Professor Card has followed this work up through 1992, and the data continue to show no relationship between the percent of workers affected by the minimum wage increase in a state and growth in teenage employment. It is important to note that his conclusions are essentially unchanged if he controls for changes in adult employment and other variables. (See Industrial Labor Relations Review, October 1992.)
Professor Card has also done a case study of the minimum wage in California. In July 1988 California raised its minimum wage to $4.25 per hour, three years before the federal minimum reached that level. Card compares teenage employment and retail employment growth in California to a group of comparison states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico and Texas). His results show "no decline in teenage employment, or any relative loss of jobs in retail trade". (See Industrial and Labor Relations Review, October 1992.)
Several studies have found that moderate changes in the minimum wage have an insignificant effect on employment in the restaurant industry. Professor Walter Wessels at North Carolina State University has found that a modest rise in the minimum wage has a small positive effect on employment in the restaurant industry. Professor Kevin Lang of Boston University, in a 1994 study done for the Employment Policy Institute -- which opposes any minimum wage increase -- concluded that, "In the light of the literature discussed in the introduction and the results presented above, this author can find little effect on employment levels from changes in the minimum."
In a widely cited study, David Card and Alan Krueger examine the impact of the 1992 increase in New Jersey's minimum wage (to $5.05 per hour) on employment in the fast food industry. (Both researchers are Professors at Princeton University; Alan Krueger is currently on leave from Princeton to serve as the Chief Economist at the Labor Department.) They perform two types of comparisons. First, they compare the change in employment in New Jersey fast food restaurants to that in eastern Pennsylvania (along the New Jersey border). Second, they look within New Jersey, comparing restaurants that initially paid $4.25 per hour to those that paid $5.00 per hour or more. Both comparisons show that employment did not decline at stores that were compelled to raise their wages in response to the minimum wage increase compared to those that were unaffected by the increase. This paper was published in the American Economic Review, the premier journal of the economics profession, in September 1994.
In short, over a dozen studies have found that a modest rise in the minimum wage has little, if any, effect on employment. These studies have examined the effect of the minimum wage on states and regions of the United States, on selected industries, on several groups of workers, and in foreign countries. The prediction of no significant job loss resulting from a modest boost in the minimum wage from its low level is based on studies that are not narrow or selective or partisan, as some of the vested interests would have you think. And this research also affirms that a minimum wage increase would increase the overall earnings of low-wage workers as a group.
Why is the empirical reality more complex than Economics 101 theory would predict? It is sometimes said that economists are unimpressed to see that something works in practice; they wait to see if it works in theory. Faced with the evidence, many economists are trying to explain why minimum wages turn out not to have the effects an introductory textbook model predicts. Leading economic theorists have proposed models to explain why a modest increase in the minimum would not harm employment, and why it might even help employment in some cases.
For example, Professor Dale Mortensen of Northwestern has been a pioneer in so called "search models," which predict that employment costs will be partially offset by better recruiting, more loyal workers, and lower turnover. As the President said in his State of the Union Address, a rise in the minimum wage might help to encourage people who are out of the labor force -- many of them collecting welfare -- to take jobs. In your panel this morning you heard from Lowell Taylor, who recently coauthored a paper arguing that a rise in the minimum wage could lead to more -- not less -- employment because firms would not have to supervise their workers as much if they were better paid. Earlier economists, such as Richard Lester, former Chairman of the Economics Department at Princeton, argued in the 1940s that most employers could manage a moderate increase in the minimum wage without a loss in employment because they could negotiate lower prices from suppliers, recruit and retain workers better, increase worker productivity, and improve management methods. The idea that a slightly higher minimum wage may not adversely affect employment, and may in some cases lead to more employment, is not radical. It is not even new.
The mounting empirical evidence, and the emerging theoretical literature, have led many economists to reconsider their views on the employment effects of moderate increases in the minimum wage. For example, after surveying and analyzing the recent empirical literature, Harvard University labor economist Richard Freeman concluded, "At the level of the minimum wage in the late 1980s, moderate legislated increases did not reduce employment and were, if anything, associated with higher employment in some locales." (International Journal of Manpower, 1994.) Similarly, Professor Robert Solow of MIT, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, recently stated "The main thing about (minimum wage) research is that the evidence of job loss is weak. And the fact that the evidence is weak suggests that the impact on jobs is small."
In sum, the evidence suggests that the minimum wage increase that the President has proposed is safely below the range that would seriously deter employment. We have six decades of experience showing that the dire predictions propagated by vested interests do not come true when moderate minimum-wage increases are implemented.
The current situation -- with the real minimum wage heading for its lowest real level in 40 years and with more and more workers finding that full-time work doesn't pay -- is unacceptable. And a reasonable -- if partial and imperfect -- remedy is at hand. I ask you to lend your support to the President's proposal for a responsible increase in the minimum wage.


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Welcome to the Triangle Boardsailing Club''s Web Site. We are based in Raleigh, NC. Our goal is to bring you the best sailing information for all of North Carolina. From the mountains to the sea, if there is water and its sailable, we will find it!
We offer free beginner lessons, and have beginner equipment that members can use for free. We organize club trips to Cape Hatteras and other windy locations. We also host a local Windsurfing Forum.
Windsurfing: An Introduction from WINDSURFING magazine on Vimeo.
A windy day at Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake


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Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
Adam makes a toast, Lauren heads to room 447, and Wheeler puts his plan into action.
At the Newman ranch the wedding festivities continue as Adam steps up to give a toast. He raises a glass to Newman's company and tries to take it further but Billy interrupts. Billy takes Adam out to foyer and confronts him. He shuts down "The Adam Newman Show" to prevent him from mentioning the hooker that Victor hired. Victor Sr. shows up and mentions Stephanie Wheelers death. Nearby, Nick and Vikki confer about Vic's part in the whole situation while back in the foyer Adam and Victor challenge each other. Inside, Wheeler's henchman plays bartender and as the night winds down Nick expresses his concern about Wheeler to Avery.
At the club, Wheeler takes a call - Bob asks if it's a go. The clock is ticking, and Wheeler tells himself, "If only Victor had stayed out of my business."
Later, Bob, Wheeler's henchman, sets a bomb on the ranch premises. Back in main room Nick flashes his pearly whites to Avery and asks a her a cryptic question about their future. Nick recognizes the henchman from somewhere and confronts him - he knows he's not a waiter. Bob pulls out a gun and Billy tries take him down. There are screams from the partygoers and Victor comes in to see what's going on. Adam sees the gunman take aim at him and rushes over to protect his father. As Nick struggles to stop the gunman a shot is fired.
Lily is enjoying crafts time with the twins at home when Cane arrives. The lovebirds have fun with glitter and their kids. Lily gets a text from Tyler and smiles to herself.
Tyler visits Gus in prison. His dad is surprised by how grown up he is. Tyler vents his anger as he confronts his dad. They recount the past but Gus reminds him he never raised a hand to him or his mother. Gus gives him a reality check as he mentions that Belinda had a temper too. They fought but had a lot of love. Tyler doesn't buy what Gus is selling even when he says he tried to save her then tells his dad he hopes that he spends the rest of his life rotting in jail.
At Crimson Lights, Lauren and Carmine share a playful moment but he offers her another option - the key to room 447.
Kyle catches up with Phyllis at the office. They talk about her trip to Istanbul. She's excited and he admits that the trip was his idea. They smile about his way with women and Phyl asks him to dial down the Abbott charm. Later, Summer shows up to talk to her mom. When Phyl leaves, Summer texts Kyle to meet her. Summer plays the innocent card and smirks when Kyle catches her in her undies. Phyllis wanders in.
At the club, Leslie stops by Wheeler's table. She knows her mother's killer is still out wandering the streets. Wheeler says that Avery is trying to sell Gus' innocence but that doesn't make it the truth. The congressman keeps calling Belinda by her nickname Lynn and Leslie catches the mistake. Later at the bar she tells Neil she thinks Wheeler and her mom were close.
Lauren takes the key up to suite 447 at the club. She tries to run away but Carmine opens the door... And a bottle of Champagne. She goes in and he's going to prove she's perfect. They're all over each other and end up in bed. After, Lauren pauses thoughtfully in a mirror and sees a hickey on her neck.
At work, Lily surprises Tyler. He's not happy after meeting with his incarcerated dad. She wants to know what happened. Tyler says the person who killed his mom will pay.
Genoa City Spoilers for next week on The Young and the Restless:
Kyle tells Phyllis it's not what it looks like.
Avery is flustered that it wasn't a real proposal.
Paul gets a call that one man is down.
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Software Map
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Now limiting view to projects in the following categories:
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|0. on ngo membership management - This project aims at creating web based member management software for NGOs, based on Plone3 and PostgreSQL.
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Registered: 2008-01-10 14:53


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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Gov. Rick Scott reverses Medicaid decision - supports expansion
Gov. Rick Scott said he supports expanding Medicaid and funneling billions of federal dollars to Florida, a significant policy reversal that could mean health care coverage for an additional one million residents. "While the federal government is committed to pay 100 percent of the cost, I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians the needed access to health care," Scott said. [Source: Miami Herald]
See also:
» Florida Medicaid expansion could create 71,300 jobs [Tampa Bay Times]
A report released by two consumer groups Wednesday makes a pro-business case for Medicaid expansion in Florida, saying the infusion of federal money in the state would create 71,300 jobs and $8.9 billion in economic activity.
» Florida Medicaid privatization plans moving forward
Thousands of Florida workers face furloughs
More than 12,000 civilian Air Force workers at Florida military installations will face furloughs of up to 22 days unless Congress acts to stop automatic budget cuts set to take effect March 1. The move would save the government $94.5 million, part of a congressionally approved plan known as "sequestration." [Source: Florida Today]
» Florida firefighters sequestration woes
» Virginia, Florida and Pennsylvania among states to be hardest hit by sequestration
» Message to the Department from Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta on the Preparations for Potential Sequestration
» Automatic U.S. budget cuts would benefit Russia
» Congressional Research Service report on the breakdown of federal civilian employees
Hotels tap new technologies to enhance guests' experience
South Florida hotels are adopting new technologies or tapping existing ones to enhance the guest experience and better serve customers in an increasingly mobile age. With hotel guests becoming more reliant on smartphones and other mobile devices such as iPads and laptops, demand for faster and more seamless technology before and after check-in is growing, experts say. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Ron Rose's company makes products used in the printing business. With the publishing industry struggling, Ron Rose has begun looking for growth opportunities overseas.
Start the presses
The publishing industry isn't filled with optimism these days, with many newspapers, bookstores and magazines fighting for survival. Despite long odds, Jacksonville resident Ron Rose started a business that depends heavily on the health of that industry. Full story...
Gov. Scott says Citizens execs should give big raises back
Gov. Rick Scott blasted top executives at Citizens Property Insurance for "foolish" behavior Wednesday, calling on them to give back large pay raises they received last year. The raises, first reported by the Times/Herald, came as the state-run company was increasing homeowners' insurance rates and scaling back coverage. [Source: Times/Herald]
» Citizens boss defends pay raises
» Everyone pays if Citizens' surplus runs out
› Florida school districts could get more flexibility on class sizes
A bill that would change the way schools are penalized for not complying with class size requirements is getting bipartisan support so far in Tallahassee.
› Google acquires Celebration software firm for $125M
Google on Wednesday acquired Channel Intelligence, a Celebration-based software company, for $125 million in cash. Channel Intelligence develops technology that streamlines the online-buying process.
› Author Dan Pallotta hopes to wake up charity leaders at Philanthropy Miami
The way author and entrepreneur Dan Pallotta sees it, charities need to start taking big risks – the kind of risks a business would make. Pallotta will be speaking about his philosophy during the first day of the Leadership Forum at the Philanthropy Miami conference.
› Hurricane center's cone of error shrinks again
You won't notice much difference, but the National Hurricane Center's cone of error has shrunk - again. The center determines the size of the cone by averaging out its forecast track errors over the past five seasons - and in the past five years storm path predictions have become steadily more accurate.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
In case you missed it:


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As a professional educator, you value the power of knowledge. In this program, you will
learn the skills and latest methodologies to advance your career and make a difference
as a leader in today's dynamic education landscape.
Emphasizing teacher education, this program prepares you to enhance your
effectiveness as an educator in a private or public school or institution of higher
learning. You will explore current research in the field, learn contemporary instructional
technologies, and study the latest in student-learning theories and teaching strategies.


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Although the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not hold media solely responsible for violence in our society, we believe that violence in television, movies, or video games has a clear effect on the behavior of children and contributes to the frequency with which violence is used to resolve conflict. Entertainment media also distort reality on matters such as drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sexuality, and family relations.
We encourage parents to manage both the quantity and the quality of their family's screen time. Parents can create a healthy media diet and lead by example. Children's TV programming is supported by commercial advertisers whose primary motivation is to sell products. Many young children are not prepared to distinguish between programs and the commercials that interrupt them, nor do they fully understand that commercials are designed to sell them (and their parents) something.
Together, parents, broadcasters, and advertisers must be held responsible for the media that children consume. The AAP strongly supports legislative efforts to improve the quality of children's programming. We urge parents to limit and monitor the amount of screen time (including television, videos, computer, and video games) for their children, to monitor what their children are watching, and to watch media with them to help them learn from what they see.


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Submission + - Gabe Newell: Steam Box's biggest threat isn't consoles, it's Apple (polygon.com)
silentbrad writes: The biggest danger facing the success of Steam Box or any other PC ecosystem hoping to find space in the living room is Apple, according to a lecture given by Valve co-founder Gabe Newell to a class at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs. "The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform," Newell said. "I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?
... We're happy to do it if nobody else will do it, mainly because everybody else will pile on, and people will have a lot of choices, but they'll have those characteristics. They'll say, 'Well, I could buy a console, which assumes I'll re-buy all my content, have a completely different video system, and, oh, I have a completely different group of friends, apparently. Or I can just extend everything I love about the PC and the internet into the living room.' ... I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together."


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Kenton suede wing tips
Product Details
Shoes that effortlessly span dapper and durable: Our designers took a cue from classic shoes from the early 1900s to craft the iconic wing-tip details, then added a genuine Goodyear-welt construction. That means the sole is sewn on rather than cemented, resulting in a more durable, breathable fit that only gets better with wear. It also means you can replace the sole over and over again, extending the life of the shoes—which is not only smart but also the sign of well-crafted footwear.
- Suede upper.
- Leather lining and sole.
- Goodyear welt construction.
- Import.
- Item 43687.


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The reunion for all former Elk Cotton Mills employees, retirees and their families has been scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Fayetteville Recreation Center, Winchester Highway.
A time of fellowship will begin at 11 a.m., with lunch served at 1 p.m. The cost for the meal is $11 for adults and $5 for children 10 and under.
There will be entertainment, door prizes, a photo sharing session and a delicious catered luncheon. To ensure adequate preparations are made, the caterer has requested that reservations for the meal be made ahead of time with the committee.
Anyone needing further information may contact Margret Syler at 433-1315 or Carol Pigg at 625-4164.


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Polk County sheriff's deputies arrested the pastor and his associate on felony charges of unlawful conveyance of fuel as they traveled in a pickup towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene
A Florida pastor who said he intended to burn 2,998 Muslim holy books has posted bail after being arrested.
Terry Jones and Marvin Sapp — an associate pastor in Jones' church — were arrested Wednesday on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel. Jones was also charged with unlawful open-carry of a firearm, a misdemeanor.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office reports that Jones and Sapp drove a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with kerosene-soaked Qurans to a park, where they had intended to burn them — one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Jones applied for and didn't receive a permit.
The two men paid a $1,250 bail and were released from jail Thursday morning. It is unclear whether they have retained an attorney.
EARLIER: Law enforcement officers arrested a Florida pastor Wednesday as he drove to a park to light nearly 3,000 Qurans on fire to protest the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Polk County sheriff's deputies arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 44, each on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel as they traveled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene. Jones had said he was heading to a nearby park to burn 2,998 Qurans — one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Sheriff's officials said that Jones was also charged with unlawful open-carry of a firearm, a misdemeanor, and that Sapp faces a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer.
Both were being booked Wednesday night into the Polk County jail, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.
Jones reportedly plans to move his church to Manatee County.
Mulberry's mayor, along with area elected officials, a sheriff's deputy and several Polk County residents have talked about the need to express love and tolerance for all faiths on Sept. 11.
Jones is the pastor of a small evangelical Christian church. He first gained attention in 2010 when he planned to burn a Quran on the anniversary of 9/11, although he eventually called it off. His congregation did burn the Muslim holy book in March 2011 and last year he promoted an anti-Muslim film. All three incidents sparked violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The most violent protest happened after the 2011 Quran burning as hundreds of protesters stormed a U.N. compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards.
Jones has repeatedly ignored pleas from the U.S. military asking him not to stage his protests. Military officials say his actions put American and Western troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere in danger.
Mulberry is a town of about 3,000 between Orlando and Tampa and has no connection to Jones' church, which recently moved out of its Gainesville building.
An Egyptian court convicted Jones, along with seven Egyptian Coptic Christians, in absentia, sentencing them to death on charges linked to the film. The ruling was seen as largely symbolic because Jones and the other defendants live outside of Egypt.
Just last week, a federal judge in Michigan issued a summary judgment in favor of Jones and his organization, Stand Up America Now, against the city of Dearborn for requiring Jones and his organization to sign a city-issued agreement in order to speak on public property in front of a Dearborn mosque in 2012.
Earlier Wednesday, about 75 people gathered In Mulberry for an interfaith prayer service to counter Jones' actions.
Mike Ghouse, who has organized a 9/11 prayer service in his home state of Texas for nine years, brought his event to Mulberry because of Jones' planned Quran burning. He initially had planned to hold the service in Texas but teamed with a group of Mulberry residents who had organized an anti-Jones Facebook page.
"Everyone has a right to believe what they believe," said Ghouse, adding that it was Jones' right as an American to express himself. Others said that while Jones was free to say or do whatever he wanted, the people of Mulberry didn't want the world to think that the residents condone or agree with Jones' views.
Said Polk County resident Butch Rahman: "We don't buy what Jones is selling."
Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush


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One of the most contentious debates in finance is whether investors should consider including an allocation to commodities in their portfolio. The reason for considering including commodities is that they act as a form of portfolio insurance.
Commodities have been shown to hedge the risks of unexpected inflation, tending to perform best during periods of rising inflation, when nominal return bonds do poorly. Commodities also have been shown to hedge supply shocks that hurt stock returns (such as the oil embargo of 1973-74), though not demand shocks to the economy (such as the financial crisis of 2008). ……………………………….Full Article: Source


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Asked by Codysmom2106 at 4:26 PM on Sep. 25, 2010 in Crazy for CreditsLevel 47 (252,585 Credits)
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I'm crazy for credits can you ladies bump me 50 times I really want that award?
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Daddy & I cant agree! Immunize or NOT to Immunize!!!!!??!
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by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Bible Text:
As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. —Ezekiel 7:20
Whatever God has given to men is a testimony of his paternal favor; therefore God's liberality abounds in us when he enriches us with his gifts.
If therefore riches are a glory and ornament, so also are bodily health, and honors, and things of this kind. Since therefore God wishes his favor to be conspicuous in all his gifts, by which he adorns and marks men out, the Prophet properly says that the Jews were adorned with gold and silver. But he accuses them of ingratitude, because they turned such glory into pride.
The Jews made their images, which were so many abominations before God, out of gold and silver. This was a second profanation of God's gifts; the former was in pride, when the Jews through wantonness and abundance began to be insolent against God, thus they profaned the glory with which they had been adorned.
But another pollution is also added, namely, that they made their idols of gold and silver, and offered to them gifts and sacrifices; as God complains in Hosea (2:8) that they converted whatever he had conferred upon them into impious worship. I had given, said he, my corn and wine and oil; but they adorned their idols.
This was their thanksgiving, that blind to my liberality they offered sacrifices to their idols of my corn and wine and oil. —Commentaries
John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.
Dr. Joel Beeke, who is editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, has this to say:
"Calvin shows us the piety of a Reformed theologian who speaks from the heart. Having tasted the goodness and grace of God in Jesus Christ, he pursued piety by seeking to know and do God's will every day. He communed with Christ, practicing repentance, self-denial, and cross-bearing. Moreover, his theology worked itself out in heart-felt, Christ-honoring piety. The selections of this devotional bear this out, and hopefully will be used by God to direct pious hearts in our own day."
These devotional readings from John Calvin were compiled by John H. Kromminga. Be sure to read his "Introduction" to John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart.


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London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been identified as possible sites for new runways to boost airport capacity around London.
In an interim report, published Dec. 17, the Airports Commission put on ice options for a new-build airport in the Thames Estuary due to the high cost — beginning at £112 billion ($182 billion) — and because it presented "many challenges and uncertainties."
Despite describing Heathrow as full in 2010 and Gatwick due to be at full capacity by 2020, the commission points out that a new runway would need to come into operation by 2030. At Heathrow, commission officials have identified two options. One is the construction of a new 3,500-meter runway to the airport's northwest, suggested by Heathrow's owners last July. An independent option, proposed by the Heathrow Hub group, would lengthen the airport's northern runway to at least 6,000 meters, enabling it to be operated as two separate runways: one for departures and one for arrivals.
At Gatwick, the commission says its analysis will study options for a second runway at a location south of the current runway that would allow for independent operation, one as an arrival runway and the other for departures.
Heathrow's owners said during the summer that either of the third-runway options it presented could deliver new capacity by 2025-9 for around £17 billion, less than a quarter of the expected price tag of a new airport.
The commission also forecasts the requirement for a second additional runway in England's southeast by 2050.
While many of the Estuary airport options promoted by London Mayor Boris Johnson weren't shortlisted, commission officials have said they will study the most viable: a new-build airport on the Isle of Grain. But the report points out that any of these airport ideas would require "substantial" surface access infrastructure, with "potential cost, deliverability and environmental challenges of [their] own."
"The overall balance of economic impacts would be uncertain — particularly as an Estuary airport would require the closure of Heathrow for commercial reasons and London City for airspace reasons," the report adds.
Plans for a second runway at Stansted were also not shortlisted. But the commission says the airport is a "plausible option" for any second additional runway in the 2040s.
The commission will now firm up studies and development work for the final report, to be delivered in 2015 after the next general election.
The commission is also pushing for a series of short-term solutions to capacity, including the optimization of U.K. airspace, using enhanced en route traffic management systems, and performance-based navigation. It also calls for conducting trials at Heathrow to smooth early morning arrival schedules to minimize delays and provide more predictable relief from noise and pollution for local communities. The report also urges improvements in surface access to airports, including better rail links. But while officials say such measures are "worthwhile on their own terms … none of them can provide a long-term solution to the U.K.'s airport capacity problem."


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Ponds and lakes are valuable natural resources. They add beauty to the landscape, provide recreation and serve as a habitat for fish and wildlife. A natural body of water is a complex biological, chemical and physical community. The quality of the water determines the health of the entire community and the aquatic organisms living within the system—from microscopic bacteria to the largest fish!
If you've ever thought about adding lake and pond management to your list of services as a new source of revenue, consider this: There is a need and business opportunity for pond management services.
Aeration with beneficial bacteria has proven to be the best tools one can use to maintain water quality, and both are eco-friendly.
The products work: they are relatively easy to learn, quote, and install. Tech support, products, and easy-to-use kits are available to support your success.
Proper aeration with beneficial bacteria significantly reduces the need for chemical controls, which only treat the symptoms.
The "engine" that drives everything within a body of water is the presence of oxygen in proper levels. A pond's condition deteriorates when its bottom environment cannot support aquatic life. The bottom is where the most oxygen is consumed and is the farthest from the surface, where it is replenished. Without adequate oxygen at the bottom, oxygen-loving beneficial bacteria can die off and be unable to break down the organic waste. This results in increased layers of sediment (muck) along the pond bottom, and conditions become favorable for harmful and smelly gases. Phosphorous can stay in a readily available state, promoting rapid and undesirable plant growth, and the living environment for fish and wildlife is greatly reduced. Simply put, without oxygen a pond cannot clean itself!
Another deadly condition arises without proper levels of oxygen: stratification and fish kill. Stratification occurs when there is a horizontal layering of water, with the warmer water at the surface and the cooler water on the bottom, which has little or no oxygen. A summer storm will typically kick off the event, leading to a fish kill. Wind and colder rain water can mix the water. When the cold, stagnant bottom layer mixes with the warm water on top, the bottom water absorbs much of the oxygen and releases its harmful gasses, resulting in a fish kill. This is what has happened when someone says the pond has "flipped."
Here are three main aeration tools needed to manage ponds:
Bubbling fountains and diffused air systems are commonly used to increase the natural levels of oxygen. The added oxygen, and equally important, the circulation created by these devices help to create a stable and productive ecosystem. Fountains typically float on the surface and spray water up into the air. As the water droplets fall back to the surface, they pick up oxygen. They are best used in shallower water, since they draw water from a relatively small area and don't do much for the deeper water.
Diffused air systems utilize a shore-mounted air compressor that pumps oxygen through a hose to a special diffuser lying on the pond bottom. Since the bottom of the pond is where the most oxygen is consumed, it is an ideal way to deliver oxygen to where it's needed the most. As the bubbles rise out of the diffusers, they create a "lifting" or boiling action which creates considerable circulation throughout the pond. This circulation helps to prevent water stratification.
Aeration in conjunction with beneficial bacteria are the two most important things you can do for a pond. The use of beneficial pond bacteria has proven to be one of the best tools (along with aeration) a pond owner can use to maintain water quality. Beneficial bacteria are like mini vacuum cleaners working along the pond's bottom to consume and digest organic materials such as decayed leaves, grass clippings, dead algae/ weeds, fish waste, etc. Left in the pond, these materials will contribute to future water quality problems.
Most all ponds contain natural bacteria. The problem is that these are usually anaerobic bacteria (meaning they do not need oxygen to survive) and they digest sediment (muck) very slowly. When we add beneficial bacteria to the pond, we're adding mostly aerobic bacteria, which does require oxygen to survive, but decomposes sediment at a much faster rate. The results are improved water quality, reduced odors, reduced need for weed and algae controls, improved oxygen levels and a better environment for fish and other aquatic life.
Periodically, it is advisable to add weed and algae controls. The use of these products is a good short-term solution to a problem, and in some cases is like receiving medical treatment to save the patient. There are a wide variety of treatment products available to safely control aquatic weeds and algae in lakes and ponds. These tested and approved products are a safe and quick way to gain control of waters infested with aquatic weeds or algae. However, to gain long-term control, you need to evaluate the overall ecosystem and determine what the real cause of the problem is. In most cases, aeration and/or the use of bacteria will greatly improve the system and the use of these chemicals can be reduced.
Proper pond management is easy and rewarding. Enjoy your ponds.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rick Smith is director of sales at EasyPro Pond Products.


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'Early bird' talks have board, PAEA optimistic about negotiations
PUNXSUTWNEY — Even though the contract doesn't expire until the end of the school year, members of the Punxsutawney Area School Board of Directors and the Punxsutawney Area Education Association (PAEA) have been meeting to begin negotiating a new contract.
The current contract, which was approved in June 2007, and was retroactive to July 1, 2004, and expires June 30.
Board President Gary Conrad said the state must be notified six months in advance when the contract will expire.
"There will be an appointment set up shortly with a state mediator, which is scheduled for mid-February," he said, adding that the board and union are looking at three different days for the meeting.
"All that meeting shows that we are running under their guidelines and starting the negotiations," Conrad said. "We've been discussing the contract 'early bird' unofficially for the last several months."
He said there have been different board members meeting with the PAEA negotiating staff.
"Since we've been talking, I think we've made huge strides towards a new contract," Conrad said. "I'm very optimistic that we will have a contract without a lot of difficulty."
The last time a new contract was negotiated, the teachers worked without a contract from July 1, 2004, until it was settled in June 2007.
There were several work stoppages that occurred throughout that period, with the start of the school year delayed in September 2005.
"The association has been tremendous to negotiate with Don Gill, president, and Becky Mauk," Conrad said.
"Of course, you always run into stumbling blocks. Obviously, health insurance and wages are the two major issues, and there are some smaller issues that they want and we want," he said. "I think we have trade-offs for everything, which will just leave us with the two major issues."
While the full board has not been involved with the initial meetings, it has received progress reports. The board has not yet brought in an attorney, and the association hasn't brought in its union representative.
"If we can sit down and get this done as a group, then we'll know where the district is going to be five years from now if that is the length of the contract," Conrad said.
Gill agreed that the PAEA has discussed the issues during "early bird" negotiating sessions with members of the board.
"I think it's good to sit down face-to-face, and the board discuss their issues with us, and we discuss our issues with them. I think it can be very productive," he said. "The law dictates the need for a state mediator, and one has been contacted, and a date to meet with him will be set up."
"That is all dictated by state law," Gill said. "I'm always hopeful that things can be settled. I'm an optimistic kind of person."
He said there are a lot of issues on the table, with health insurance and salaries at the forefront.
"We're at the point that we're discussing our issues together and open to each other's suggestions with the animosity factor taken out of it," Gill said.
As a percentage, the total wage component of the collective bargaining agreement in the current contract represented average wage increases of 2.91 percent each year of the seven-year agreement.
Also in that pact, the district continued to pay 100 percent of the premium costs of eligible teachers' health care insurance.
The contract did not contain an early retirement incentive.


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Two and a half weeks from now, President Obama will stand on the western steps of the Capitol Building, recite the oath of office and deliver his second inaugural address. His inauguration falls on the national Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's a confluence certain to be recognized by the president, who invoked King's words in a campaign speech in Iowa in the very early days of his first presidential run.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I chose to run in this election, at the moment, because of what Dr. King called the fierce urgency of now. Because we are at a defining moment in our history.
WERTHEIMER: Martin Luther King Jr. He was speaking at the 1963 March on Washington. Taylor Branch won the Pulitzer Prize for his history of the struggles for civil rights. He has a new book, "The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement." And he joins us from WYPR in Baltimore. Taylor, thank you so much for being with us.
TAYLOR BRANCH: Thank you, Linda. Nice to be here.
WERTHEIMER: Now, your new book takes 18 events, important historic markers in the civil rights movement, and the first of them was the Montgomery bus boycott, which began when a seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested when she refused to move to the back of the bus. Can you draw a historical line from that moment in the civil rights movement to Barack Obama's presidency?
BRANCH: Yes, I can. I think that that's fairly easy and really resonant to do at this moment. Fifty years after the March on Washington - 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, by the way. So, we have a lot of resonant things happening now. Dr. King went home two days after Rosa Parks was arrested to give a speech about what it meant. And that was his first public speech. And he achieved such an amazing resonance with his audience that day that he became forever a public person. That's the beginning of a movement toward freedom that we still celebrate.
WERTHEIMER: President Obama's been in office for nearly four years. Has his election and time in office, do you think, has it changed race relations at all or prospects for African-Americans and others? Has it fulfilled some kind of promise?
BRANCH: Only very slowly, which is the way race beguiles us in history. I think it's fair to say that his first term has had probably less overt discussion about race than many, even though he's the first African-American president. He certainly hasn't initiated very much. And I think what that shows is that we're still fundamentally uncomfortable with discussing race openly in public. It's a step forward that we have an African-American president. But race has taught us in American history that things take an awful long to adapt and become comfortable.
WERTHEIMER: Just after Barack Obama's election in 2008, you said on our air that his victory was a symbol of potential. You, I take it, do not feel that the president has fulfilled that potential?
BRANCH: Well, I think that the president has been coping with a fiscal and economic crisis and a crisis of confidence and stagnation in the country. But I don't think that he or anyone else would say that this is a jubilee moment in U.S. history. I think he has done some remarkably good things, but no one should be celebrating any sort of millennium. We are 50 years from not only the March on Washington but the time that George Wallace in January 50 years took the oath of office as governor of Alabama saying segregation now, segregation forever. That has passed. Segregation is gone. But George Wallace invented a good many of the slogans of modern politics, including tax and spend liberals taking over big government, and a conspiracy of the media to concentrate all affected power in the central government in Washington. And those sorts of things still dominate a lot of our politics, indicating that just as it took us 100 years to get over the Civil War, when we had an incandescent moment about race, it's taking us 50 years to get over the effects of the 1960s and the remarkable witness that Dr. King's movement set in motion.
WERTHEIMER: Let me ask you what you think is left on Dr. King's agenda.
BRANCH: On Dr. King's agenda. Well, the best expression of it was in his Nobel Prize lecture when he said that he thought democracy was a great inspiration for non-violent witness against the three great scourges of the world, which is racism, war and poverty, which he called violence of the spirit and violence of the flesh. There is still plenty of that all over the world today, and what's lacking is the kind of spirit he had that the risk that's most productive is when we express faith in our common beliefs and not in our violence in trying to answer it. That's what democracy is after all. King was the only one who said the prosaic fact that democracy is about votes and votes are about non-violence; how we decide to create power out of agreements instead of our of fights. That example has receded to a large degree in a world that's so divided and so violent.
WERTHEIMER: Taylor Branch is the author of a new book, "The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement." He joined us from WYPR in Baltimore. Thank you.
BRANCH: Thank you, Linda.
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American Forces Press Service
March 23, 2010 - A suspected al-Qaida in Iraq explosives cell leader was killed and a suspected terrorist was arrested in operations in Iraq in recent days, military officials reported. A suspected al-Qaida in Iraq explosives cell leader was killed March 21 during a combined security operation in Yanijah Buyuk, south of Kirkuk.
Acting on a warrant issued by an Iraqi judge, Iraqi police and U.S. advisors searched a residential building for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq explosives cell member who is believed to have been involved in multiple improvised explosive device attacks in the Kirkuk area, including planning an upcoming vehicle-borne IED attack in Kirkuk on the Kurdish new year, which was yesterday. The suspected leader also is allegedly connected to higher-level al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in Tamim province.
During the operation, the security team spotted an individual inside as it approached the building. The suspect refused to comply with the team's directions to exit the building and instead reached for an assault rifle nearby. Perceiving an immediate threat to their safety, security team members shot and killed the gunman, who later was identified as the wanted individual.
No additional suspects were injured or arrested.
Iraqi police arrested a suspected terrorist yesterday during a combined security operation in western Baghdad to capture a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leader.
Iraqi police and U.S. advisors searched several buildings for the suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leader who is believed to facilitate financing for the terrorist group, associate regularly with other high-level al-Qaida in Iraq leaders and coordinate deadly vehicle-borne IED attacks throughout the capital city.
Preliminary questioning and evidence collected during the operation led Iraqi police to arrest a suspected criminal associate of the wanted individual.
(From U.S. Forces Iraq news releases.)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Forces Kill Suspected Terrorist Leader
Posted by Raymond Foster at 11:57 AM
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