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Cooper tires are on display at Vermont Tire and Service Inc. in Montpelier, Vt. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. shares plunged Monday, Oct. 7, 2013, as its $2.2 billion deal with Apollo Tyres Ltd. became more uncertain.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Enlarge
FINDLAY — Shares of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. continued to tumble Monday as the agreement to sell the company to Apollo Tyres Ltd. appears to be in peril.
Cooper on Friday filed a complaint in Delaware Chancery Court, saying that India-based Apollo has been dragging its feet, purposefully preventing the merger from closing. Cooper asked the court to require that Apollo expeditiously close on the $2.5 billion deal.
Apollo, meanwhile, is seeking to lower the previously agreed to and approved $35 per-share transaction price.
Both sides say they remain committed to the deal and believe the merger brings with it significant strategic benefits, but all the turmoil has made investors nervous.
Cooper opened the day Friday at $31.24 per share. It has since lost nearly 18 percent of its value, closing a very heavy trading day Monday at $25.72 per share.
Apollo has yet to respond in court to Cooper's complaint.
However, in a statement released Sunday, Apollo said between labor issues in the United States, and uncertainty about the status and financials of a Cooper subsidiary joint-venture plant in China, costs of the merger have risen well beyond what was expected and outlined under the merger agreement. The Chinese plant has been hit by a work stoppage.
"Cooper has acknowledged to Apollo that some price reduction is warranted," Apollo said. "The issue now is by how much."
An Apollo spokesman declined to say Monday what price the company now believes is fair to pay to acquire Cooper. The spokesman said the company had no additional comment.
In a statement released Monday, Cooper rejected the claim that it is willing to lower its per-share asking price.
"That makes me nervous because the parties are confusing backroom negotiations with the positions they're willing to take publicly," said Geoffrey Rapp, a University of Toledo law professor who specializes in business law.
Mr. Rapp said it isn't out of the ordinary for companies in the midst of a merger to end up in litigation. That said, the nature of Cooper's complaint could be a bad sign for the deal.
"There's two ways we could look at this," he said. "The scary way is that this deal is falling apart and this lawsuit is an effort to [position Cooper] for what is going to be a big nasty fight afterward about what went wrong, whose fault it is, and who should pay for it."
Mr. Rapp said it's entirely possible Apollo is worried that it overbid or is bending to pressure from its shareholders, many of whom believe the company is taking on too much debt to finance the deal.
In its Sunday statement, Apollo said it continues to have committed financing from four major international banks.
The merger was announced in June, with both parties saying they expected the deal to close by the end of the year. Cooper's shareholders voted just last week to approve the sale.
Still, even before last week it hadn't been completely smooth sailing.
In mid-September, an arbitrator ruled that Cooper's contracts with the United Steelworkers in Findlay and Texarkana, Ark., included a successorship clause that would require Apollo to enter into an agreement with them.
It isn't clear exactly what the union is asking for, though Apollo said over the weekend that it is willing to make concessions to reach an agreement — something Cooper wouldn't do. The company argues that is taking extra time.
"Apollo finds it implausible that Cooper, having failed to resolve these issues for several months, would realistically expect to force Apollo to concede material issues on Cooper's accelerated timeline," the company said.
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And where is your place in this cosmic dance, dear readers? Are you on your way to the Blizzard mecca today? Or, like me, are you watching the live stream? None of the above? Remember -- if you're going, we'd love to see you at the Reader Meetup we're co-hosting with Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv! If you're not going, check back with the site anyway around 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern), because Gamebreaker.tv will be streaming the party.
Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv, and look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!

subset: commoncrawl


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- Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — A judge has sentenced a northern Ohio man to 36 years in prison for abducting and raping a woman after offering to give her a ride.
Thirty-nine-year-old Brian Jury was sentenced Monday in Sandusky. A jury last week found him guilty of charges including rape and abduction.
Erie County prosecutors say Jury offered a ride to the Lorain woman on Nov. 1, 2013, then held her at gunpoint and knife point, and bound her with zip ties.
They say he took the woman to his home where he raped her in a camper. He threatened to kill her if she refused to comply with his orders or tried to escape.
Jury testified during the trial that he paid for sex with the woman.


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Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday Musings-March 29, 2010
It takes a special sort of man to enable his wife's love affair! I will wear my new Jake Delhomme jersey with passion and pride!
Dreaming of #17,
Mrs. 5th
PS I realize the jersey was on the clearance rack, but still...
Dear Tornado Warning,
Go back to Kansas, please. They do not understand you here in the Carolinas. Go away, please, to a place where you can be put in proper perspective. Besides, the thunderstorms that are tagging along are bugging Daisy to no end and her mistress would really like a good night's sleep.
No hard feelings,
Mrs. Sister
Dear Munchie Boy,
I am so disappointed. I haven't seen you in 3 days (due to work) and you'd rather watch "Sonny With a Chance"? I see where I rate. I guess Demi Lovato is to you like Jake Delhomme is to me. I totally understand. I got your back!
Love always,
Mama 5th
To the Unknown Individual who Informed the Director of the High School Musical that I could sew,
Thank you. No seriously. Thank you so very much. It's not like I have a life or work or home school or blog or anything.
Not happy at all,
A Grumpy Sister
Dear Secret Agent Man,
"Beware of pretty faces that you find.
A pretty face can hide an evil mind.
Oh, be careful what you say,
Or you will give yourself away.
Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow."
Special Agent 5th
15 comments:
- Mary said...
We'll be in the Carolinas next weekend, where we lived for 9 years. I remember those sirens going off (we don't have them here). Hope all was okay!
- March 29, 2010 at 6:12 AM
- Willoughby said...
I love a good thunderstorm, but tornadoes....not so much.
How much sewing will you have to do for the musical? I'm guessing that could be a pretty time consuming project. Lucky you!
- March 29, 2010 at 6:53 AM
- Mumsy said...
Tornadoes, please go away for my 5th sister..
I don't like sewing, so I can really feel your hesitation. Good luck!
- March 29, 2010 at 7:05 AM
- Julie Schuler said...
My Matthew would be really excited if I said I knew someone who was having tornadoes! He draws them all the time, and is a little expert. He would tell you to go into the basement, or the most inside room of your house, and stay away from the windows!
- March 29, 2010 at 7:58 AM
- Tortuga said...
Hehe, I love your little letters. As for the tornado warnings, they still scare the bejeesies outta me, and I've lived in Missouri for over 10 years now.
- March 29, 2010 at 8:37 AM
- Tracy said...
seriously, NC has enough to deal with in hurricanes, flooding and smoothering humid heat! Tornados is just one step too far!
- March 29, 2010 at 10:16 AM
- Tiffany said...
omg i was so frightened last night with the tornado warning. the wind and the hail came out of nowhere and scared me half to death!
- March 29, 2010 at 12:29 PM
- Steven Anthony said...
I've only been through one tornado...I didnt like it very much:(
- March 29, 2010 at 1:39 PM
- Raoulysgirl said...
I'm so sorry you are having to deal with severe weather! You know how I react...I would be right there with Daisy, whimpering!!!
- March 29, 2010 at 2:09 PM
- ***Holly*** said...
Love it! I could relate to all of your letters! Very cute! :)
- March 29, 2010 at 2:53 PM
- L.B. said...
I saw some of the weather stuff on the news and I immediately thought of you guys. Hope everything's okay over there.
I'd proudly wear a Bears no. 9 jersey with McMahon on the back today, so wear that Delhomme shirt until the numbers fall off. Once a legend, always a legend.
(too bad Jim McMahon went and played for the Packers late in his career, oh well, won't hold that against him)
- March 29, 2010 at 5:38 PM
- Midday Escapades said...
Bummer about the sewing gig. Did someone really volunteer you? Ugh.
- March 29, 2010 at 8:33 PM
- Tattoos and Teething Rings said...
Oh, man, you and sewing must be like me and baking. Every time a class has a bake sale I somehow get roped into it. Bummer!
- March 30, 2010 at 11:54 AM
- Nessa said...
Now that all of our farms have been turned into housing developments we get tornadoes all of the time.
- March 30, 2010 at 1:24 PM
- Unknown Mami said...
Oh no! Your sewing abilities are making you far too useful. Thank goodness I'm so inept.
- March 31, 2010 at 4:50 PM


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The Oakland Press (http://www.theoaklandpress.com)
Thursday, June 12, 2014
It may be the first, but it certainly won't be the last; Milford Township and Oakland County have now set a precedent for an equestrian/pedestrian safety crosswalk and light that is also ADA compliant.
With 30 horses, 25 Boy Scouts, clusters of bikers and several hikers, the ribbon cutting for Michigan's first equestrian crossing light took place on Milford Road at the East Huron River Parkway near an entrance to Kensington Metropark in Milford Township at noon on June 7
About 8 years ago, local trail riders Jeannie Kelleher and Bill Terian of Kensington Trail Riders brought the issue of the dangerous intersection to the attention of their township officials and the Road Commission of Oakland County. Although the Road Commission of Oakland County was aware of the safety problem, there were no funds at the time to improve the crossing light until recently. The trail is part of the historic Chief Pontiac Trail and is used by equestrians to ride between Kensington Metropark and Proud Lake State Recreation Area.
"The crossing is a collaborative effort between many parties," said Craig Bryson, spokesperson for the Road Commission of Oakland County. "Many organizations contributed to raise $62,000 for the light that has a push button to activate a cross walk signal that is placed at a height appropriate for a person on horseback, in addition to the regular pedestrian button."
Pegasus crossing lights (named after the mythological winged horse) are more popular in the United Kingdom, but are also found in California. This is believed to be the first equestrian light installed in Michigan.
Ron Fowkes, vice chair of RCOC, explained the names of the contributors listed on the large sign that was erected near the lightpost saying, "Many players were involved to make this a reality including the RCOC, Milford Township, the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, the HCMA Foundation, Sunoco Logistics, West Bay Exploration, the Kensington Trail Riders Association and the Highland Equestrian Conservancy."
Fowkes recognized former County Commissioner Bill Bullard, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Gingell and Dennis Kolar of the RCOC for helping to get the project off the ground. With a smile, he also credited his wife, Barb, an equestrian, for bringing the issue to his attention. Local officials who also supported the endeavor included Michigan Senator Mike Kowall, State Representative Eileen Kowall, Milford Township Supervisor Don Green, Director of Huron Clinton Metroparks, John McCullough, Chairman of RCOC Greg Jamian, Oakland County Commissioners Phil Weipert and Bob Hoffman who is also the chairman of the Highland Equestrian Conservancy.
Trailblazers from Proud Lake Trail Riders, Kensington Trail Riders, Rose Oaks Equine Adventurers and the Highland Equestrian Conservancy tested the timer on the light to see how many riders could get across safely — the new crossing light currently allows a 28 second countdown for equestrians to cross Milford Road.
Watching various people using the new light prompted Senator Mike Kowall to start investigating the cost for the second equestrian-pedestrian crossing to be installed on M-59 near the entrance of Highland State Recreation Area. The idea was quickly welcomed by Dick Russell, president of the Friends of Highland Recreation Area.
"I'm really excited about the possibility of a safety light on M-59," said Russell.
Ground was recently broken for a new hiking/biking/horse path that will provide an improved entrance to the state park and eventually will cross Highland Road (M-59) in White Lake Township.
Kelleher is impressed that local and county officials not only listened, but took action.
"I didn't know if it would ever really get done," admitted Kelleher who has pushed for the safety improvement that would benefit all users, including those with special needs or in wheel chairs. "I made a promise before God and my friends that I wanted this safety issue resolved. Promise kept. Now I can exhale."
Send horse or farm information, events or comments to firstname.lastname@example.com


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after that first picture, i have a hard time seeing a person. they look plastic. like giant dolls
crazyfirefly wrote:
Firstly I think this girl doesn't have a grasp on what anime truly is. The big eyes, the small nose, the large boobs, sharp angular chins are characteristics of the art form and most of the time these features aren't even meant to represent a physical ideal. For instance the "large eyes" are usually found on innocent "pure hearted" characters. The physically convey they person's openness and trustworthiness. In contrast narrow eyed characters are usually less trustworthy, or more distant in character and nature. Same goes for angular chins. A more round oval face is more inviting, the sharp angles in the face can elude to a harsh personality. Even in the cases where the features are there for the purpose of portraying a physical ideal (such as large breast or large hips) they are almost always done as an extreme exaggeration. Anime in and of itself is about the exaggeration, the off the wall story lines, the fantastical characters and their features; these elements are what make anime so unique and so entertaining. Anime does many things, it conveys morals, human relationships, humor, horror, and explores the many facets of being human. What it does NOT do however is try to stick to reality and expectations of the "real world."
That being said I'm going to be very blunt in my next statement. I find her absolutely hideous. I find her desire to look like an anime character bizarre. Imagine someone going up to a Dali and saying to themselves, "I want to look like that." It's the same level of bizarre. Your taking an abstract image that is not human and slicing and dicing your body till it fits a mold it was never intended to in the first place. Coloring your hair, putting on eye makeup, cosplaying, that's one thing but to permanently alter your body in such a way is horrible and sad. I love cosplay but I don't do it because I find whatever character I choose to be a physical ideal but rather I cosplay because I want to celebrate that character and that anime.
your understanding gives me hope.best thing ive read in years
i always get; ~the fuzzy end of the lollypop~
Kaiser-Windhelm wrote:
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
wingz74 wrote:
sir, you have just gotten yourself a high 5
rofl well played
i always get; ~the fuzzy end of the lollypop~
is it bad that i want to see her move just so i could freak out. shed be great in a museum...or a haunted/ abandoned house.though id rather look at a manniquen they arent abstract art
i always get; ~the fuzzy end of the lollypop~
Gah what do you want now?
Winterfells wrote:
crazyfirefly wrote:
In contrast narrow eyed characters are usually less trustworthy, or more distant in character and nature.
What the - you're telling me this guy isn't trust-worthy?!
No you can TOTALLY trust him. LOL
Gah what do you want now?
At first when I just scrolled down at the pics I thought they were like fake and life sized dolls, but when I read that they are real people I sscrolled back down and got really creaped out at her waist line, how can you live with such a tiney waist line O.o she looks like you could just break her in half so easily it's scary, I am glad that I'm not that thin lol and I'm pretty thin myself but not like her my body is more normal O.o I'm going to be a bit freaked out for a while now lol.
My basic reaction
I will look for you, I will find you, and I will raid your fridge.
She should probably spend that money on a psychologist instead.
I'm A Leaf On The Wind, Watch How I Soar
I'll just be one of the few dissenters in this crowd, even though I find the doll look a bit freaky, I don't find it unattractive. At least not as hideous or disgusting as some people have said.
Maybe that's just me.
Winter Is Coming.
Everyone is gone now huh?
I think it`s more terrifying that this "real life anime girl" has fans. To each his own, but don`t support this unhealthy and destructive lifestyle
A simple motion. ♥ Over and over.
My initial reaction was she looks like a mannequin and I was reminded of Stalking Cat (the guy who had modifications to look like a tiger) but she is nowhere near that level. The articles I have read do not mention her having plastic surgery, only that she is considering it to make the eyes permanent. After seeing an image comparison of her with 'normal makeup' I think most of it is makeup, costuming, and diet (unhealthy but not new for models).
As for the people who want to see her move here is her youtube page which has some videos of her walking around. I found one video with subtitles that explains (a little) why she does it and how it started.
OVZ http://www.crunchyroll.com/ovz check it out
If I saw that walking toward me, I would probably run.
Σ(・ω・ノ)ノ! WTF.
that's just freaky.
I wish girls would just try being healthy and satisfied with themselves instead of pulling crap like this.
♪♫ [Voice, shouting in the helpless world]。。


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With oil you need to buy more every single day, which is what creates the dependency.
Once you have purchased your cheap Chinese wind turbine and/or solar panel that is that. Sure they don't last forever, but once set you could easily say to a China screw you and not buy any turbines or solar panels from them for a decade without problems. That is neglecting the fact you could manufacture them elsewhere if need be.
And if they do something good just copy it and steal the IP.
Let alone they don't have the EPA breathing down their necks to deal with the toxic crap that is a byproduct of solar panel manufacturing. I am sure if the US didn't have to worry about ensuring this stuff didn't get into the environment everybody would have solar panels on everything
Let alone they don't have the EPA breathing down their necks to deal with the toxic crap that is a byproduct of solar panel manufacturing. I am sure if the US didn't have to worry about ensuring this stuff didn't get into the environment everybody would have solar panels on everything
I don't have the points, somebody mod this up!
It is as though the whole Cadmium-children's necklaces thing was just a bad dream! They are manufacturing a lot of solar panels and wind turbines, my hat is off to them. The byproducts of such manufacturing (and the industries busily manufacturing them) are often much less than 'green.'
But they know that the west is buying this stuff up like candy.
The Chinese are excellent businessmen, and that isn't said as an insult. I admire their ability to think in
Let alone they don't have the EPA breathing down their necks to deal with the toxic crap that is a byproduct of solar panel manufacturing. I am sure if the US didn't have to worry about ensuring this stuff didn't get into the environment everybody would have solar panels on everything
Sigh...How do you explain Denmark's success in not only using but also exporting windmills? It gets harder to explain when you consider Denmark's equivalent of the EPA has a few more teeth than the US version.
In other words I think your post is toxic crap.
Sigh...How do you explain Denmark's success in not only using but also exporting windmills? It gets harder to explain when you consider Denmark's equivalent of the EPA has a few more teeth than the US version.
I think... and I admit I'm guessing here without having done any research... but I think that windmills aren't the same thing as solar panels.
I understand I could be mistaken, and please correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe we could put solar panels on our windmills so we could generate green energy while generating green energy.
My dayjob is running a steel plate roller at a wind turbine tower construction company. I speak from first hand experience when I say they are NOT 'easily made anywhere'. Even if that were so, the tower sections are most definately not easily transported anywhere. It is a helluva lot easier to transport the flat steel plate than the completed sections, as there are so many restrictions on oversized loads on roadways.
The contracts to supply towers go to the construction facilities near the project sites, pre
You cannot compare our need for oil to our "need" for manufactured goods. The former is a finite resource, you can only get it from a handful of places around the world, the latter will be sourced from literally whoever is cheapest. If China suddenly cut the west's supply of goods off I'm sure one of their cheapest competitors would happily step in to fill the void. Or if it got too expensive then they would be produced in the west.
Oil and wind/photovoltaic/nuclear share something, they are energy producer.
Two issues at the table
1) It would be OK to pay for energy to a foreign state if the money comes back to buy something (goods or services).
It is NOT ok if the money comes back to buy companies, land or buildings since this just means selling OUR country (whatever it is) to buy energy. (selling you house is NOT the same as selling what you produce)
2) It takes time to "acquire" technology AND production plants, if you are in a race and you lose out to the top runners it will be very unlikely
that later on you catch up, you will be just left out of the race (there are now plenty of jobs for unskilled workers, it is that we still
have enough money to "avoid" them, but this will not last long)
I stand that there are advantages to global economy but as usual there are disadvantages, we better know the two sides of the coin before jumping to quick conclusions.
In other words I suggest that at least 50% of needed energy should be produced in the country where it is used and it should be produced by companies based and staffed by the people of the country.
I stand that there are advantages to global economy but as usual there are disadvantages, we better know the two sides of the coin before jumping to quick conclusions.
And since when is an equal society a disadvantage? Who would really want to say that a majority of the people should suffer and be poor for the benefit of others?
And the more advanced the poor countries get the more productive do they become. Which mean more items produced for lower prices.
So in the end the people at large get richer and more equal.
Oh the horrors! We deserve to be the only rich über elite!
Lack of land, water and food will be a different story though. Better stop relying on the bigger n
"So in the end the people at large get richer and more equal."
Don't be too quick to drink the free trade Kool-Aid. That's a nice theory, but it doesn't work out too well in practice. The OP has a good point. We need to know exactly what we're getting into. Do you think NAFTA was good for the poor and middle class workers in the U.S.? Remember how it was supposed to "create jobs" for U.S. citizens? LOL. Well, the Mexicans must be getting rich then, right? Ask some Mexican farmers (ones not working at Burger King in Arizona) how well they're competing against subsidized agricultural products from the U.S. It's amazing that the globalists have managed to figure out a way to structure a trade agreement so tha the poor and middle class get screwed on both ends.
"The protectionism crap is, well, crap."
Depends what you mean by "protectionism". We've made a few fundamental decisions, many of them good, about how business is to be conducted in the U.S. Our society decided that companies can't spew pollutants into the air and water with reckless abandon. We enacted laws so that people don't have to work long hours at slave wages under hideous and dangerous working conditions. We have child labor laws, etc. It's insane to have unfettered trade with countries which have NONE of these protections in place. We should absolutely be slapping import duties on foreign goods produced in places that don't live up to similar standards. Putting tariffs on coconuts and bananas because growers in North Carolina can't compete is "protectionism". Putting an import duty on a manufactured good produced by child labor using business practices which despoil the environment is more than fair.
My, what a curious idealistic planet you live on.
On my planet, the rich people who make all the decisions are perfectly happy with the majority of other people suffering and being poor, as long as it increases the prosperity of the rich minority in any way at all.
There's nothing particularly difficult about understanding this, and nothing special, or evil about the rich doing it. The vast majority of us peons would do the same given the opportunity. If not for yourself, then for your children. No? Don't you believe in evolution, and survival of the fittest?
The planet the other person of course refers to, is the planet run by psychopaths and narcissists. Those who no longer see themselves as part of human society but as exploiters that prey upon human societies. In accurate terms they are in fact no longer a part of human society as a result of their genetic psychological dysfunction. That inherent mental disability that prevents them from being an effective contributing part of human society rather than a destructive corruptive burden upon human society.
Obviously they represent a considerable problem that must be dealt with, so that human society (we are a group species, who evolve along with the society that we are a part of, we are not lone reptiles). In human terms survival of the fittest is based up the whole species not lone individuals. In evolutionary terms eliminating psychopaths and narcissist improves the collective quality of the human species and improves it survivability. It should be pretty obvious by now that if left to their own devices with out restraint, the psychopaths and narcissist, would blithely destroy the rest of humanity and planets ecosystem to further their own immediate ego (destroying their own progeny as well), so emphatically an evolutionary dead end. It simply remains upon society to remove that dead end before they remove us.
In a long-run sense that's true, but depending on the technology, there can be long lead-times in starting up a competitor. If China comes to dominate the market so much that for a period of years nobody else is producing anything in quantity, then to suddenly switch to a non-Chinese supplier would take some years to ramp up the designs/expertise/factories. So it's possible to get into a situation where you're beholden to China for a number of years with no easy escape.
(Easier than conjuring oil from thin a
The former is a finite resource, you can only get it from a handful of places around the world, the latter will be sourced from literally whoever is cheapest.
To make solar panels and efficient electric generators you need some pretty special minerals, ones you can only find in a handful of places around the world. Guess where one of those places is?
Whatever happens, there are going to be some interesting times ahead!
Indeed you cannot compare. A billion citizen country has leapfrogged a country one third its size (the US), smaller ones (the European ones) in absolute numbers? The US and EU have 820 million citizens combined.. if China outproduces us by 20%, we're on par.
You cannot compare our need for oil to our "need" for manufactured goods. The former is a finite resource, you can only get it from a handful of places around the world, the latter will be sourced from literally whoever is cheapest. If China suddenly cut the west's supply of goods off I'm sure one of their cheapest competitors would happily step in to fill the void. Or if it got too expensive then they would be produced in the west.
Too expensive? No, I don't think that's the danger. Too cheap is the danger. The most important asset a country has is its workers. We've seen decades of off-shoring and out-sourcing, resulting in huge proportions of unemployment within many cities. Many Americans are unemployed pretty much because someone else - somewhere - is willing to make a cheaper thing. The global economy is a complicated system, but I'd think it would be better to actually be the cheapest manufacturer, and sell the thing to others in exchange for other things you want. If all the best things are made elsewhere, what do you have left to trade? Wood? Ore? Maybe some corn? Right. Resources. Great.
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that where the jobs are, that's where the prosperity is. At least in the long term.
Sure -- within limits.
But you can't conjure the know-how and infrastructure to support a manufacturing economy out of thin air -- the industrial engineers who are current with the latest methods; the tool and die companies; the vendor and distributor relationships. Even though have some of the capacity, you can't scale that capacity up by an order of magnitude overnight. If Chinese trade suddenly disappeared, it would be a huge win for some businesses and for manufacturing workers, but it would take many
These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.
Way to miss the point completely. As has been mentioned already, a wind turbine or solar panels can be built anywhere. Oil, however, can only be found in specific locations.
What this DOES imply is that China will not be a customer purchasing Western manufactured "clean energy" equipment, which in itself is significant when you consider each wind turbine, for instance, costs several million dollars. The less technological equipment they purchase from the West, the more the balance of trade shifts in their favor.
And no, taxing usage of Chinese power sources in America is not
I'm curious what the cost of electricity has to be to maintain an industry standard profit margin on an average windmill - once it's paid off. I mean there's maintenance and eventually you're going to have to repaint the thing, replace the generator etc, but what's the lifespan on the actual structure? Once you've paid off the farmer for the land usage rights, it's built, and you pay it off (in what, 20 years?) the paint, new generator(s) have got to be peanuts compared to what the initial installation cost
Electricity in TX costs between 9 and 18 cents per kw hour
Those are residential rates. Commercial rates are lower, industrial lower still, and wholesale - the market wind farms (and other generators) sell into - lower still.
Once you've paid off the farmer for the land usage rights
Many perpetual leases are written so that the grantee pays so long as they hold rights.
Not sure I agree with you. When you're considering "expense", you also have to take into account quality, life expectancy and maintenance costs too. And while goods from China may be cheap, in my experience, well, they've been mostly crap, too. You get what you pay for. For a disposable product, or something that has a short life-time like shoes or a TV, it's not that important. For industrial equipment it is very important. If you offer me a turbine made in China or a turbine made in Germany, I will tak
That's what they said about Japanese goods a few decades ago, and about American goods a few decades before that.
When the US attacks Iran...
That will never happen. For all that the Iranian government has not exactly made friends in the West, I doubt that the Chinese would stay quiet. AND I doubt that the Russians would be happy with so much American presence on their southern flank. They stayed quiet about Afghanistan because the whole world was shocked by 9-11 and expected American retaliation. The Russians protested the Iraq war and Putin at the time (2003) called it an "error". Going into Iran, hmm, I think the Russians would side with China and take action.
Laugh if you must. Perhaps you don't feel threatened by those two very large countries. I'm sure the British scoffed at the American Militia in the late 1700's too. Remember that Iran is a lot closer to Russia and China than it is to the US. Technology alone doesn't win wars. Ask Napoleon. Ask Hitler. Ask the Romans. The strategic outlook for going into Iran is bad bad bad, which is probably why it hasn't happened yet.
Either that or there's nothing of any real value in Afghanistan and being there is helping to ruin the US economy. Win-win (for them).
That's not exactly the whole story.
The alarm the NYT is trying to raise (I think) is that we're paying China to manufacture the few big "clean energy" installations we're making. It's not that they won't buy from us in the future, it's that we're not even buying from us right now. Just like computer parts *could* be built anywhere, but we end up buying from Taiwan, Korea and Japan, we end up buying energy equipment (right now) from China, Spain and Germany.
When we spend $100 million on a new wind farm, why does $80 million of that go overseas for high-tech design and manufacturing? It's stupid.
When we spend $100 million on a new wind farm, why does $80 million of that go overseas for high-tech design and manufacturing?
Because US subsidies go into things like bio-ethanol and fossil fuels so there's nothing left to incentivize alternative energy?
Maybe not. China has all the money to invest in research, and they're copying the "brain drain" that made the US pre-eminent in research by making a very cushy life for people that head to China to perform research.
What could so very easily happen is that China leverages its huge resources, targets them at research into energy, and gets "first past the post" on fusion. Then patents it. As the US has been very into all its legalities and IP agreements on a worldwide basis, it'd find that the only way to obtain Fusion would be to contract the Chinese companies to do the work. Or license it at a huge fee.
These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China."
You missed the most important point in the source article:
and is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
These aren't "renewable" technologies, nor do they need to be. What they are, though, are the only realistic way of producing enough energy to power our society going forward.
The new generation of nuclear reactors is completely safe, and disposing of the waste products is a completely solvable problem.
The new generation of nuclear reactors is completely safe, and disposing of the waste products is a completely solvable problem.
And yet has not been solved in the past 40 years, as far as I know. Just sayin'
And yet has not been solved in the past 40 years, as far as I know. Just sayin'
Oh that's easy. The Chinese will just put the nuclear waste in baby milk formula.... (ducking and running fast - please don't kill me China, it was a joke!)
Define "solved". We know how to reprocess the fuel. We know how to bury it securely enough for any possible risk to be local and slight.
The problem is that in the minds of critics of a certain age, the waste problem isn't "solved" until it turns itself into sugar-free gummi bears. For free. Immediately.
We don't hold other kinds of industrial waste to nearly the same standard we hold nuclear, despite that waste remaining more danger for a longer time. (Ever hear of dioxin?)
Now, you can have a coherent positi
Define "solved". We know how to reprocess the fuel
No we don't.
A bit of googling will show the French experience in attempting to do so and only getting a small fraction at vast cost. In the USA there were never attempts to get so far so don't let this decay into mindless nation bashing (plus there were people from the USA involved in the French efforts). You can't just walk up to a fuel rod with an angle grinder, everything has to be done remotely and it becomes horribly expensive, time consuming and wasteful.
As for storing the high grade waste Synrock is a pretty good option and is only now starting to get used after more than thirty years of low budget research. The "nukes are clean" crap was counterproductive so very little effort has gone into the waste problem.
So much for this comment [slashdot.org], posted just yesterday...
Note that even China doesn't build many nuclear reactors. The Chinese aren't exactly ecowarriors, so it can't have anything to do with considerations of safety or waste disposal. Nuclear power is a very cool, very complex technology. It's just very expensive to build.
This will be a somewhat general statement, but I'm an American and the endless flood of stories like this is quite disheartening. I've left the USA now, because it seems to be in decline, but more importantly because no one seems to give a damn. Just today I read the article about China (where I currently live) leapfrogging the West in renewable energy products (which is clearly happening, despite the West's complaints), as well as an article on Cringely's blog [cringely.com] about upcoming cuts to NASA (which is probably the single most important government agency for the future of humanity).
Then, I go over to facebook, and all I see are status messages from politically-minded friends, essentially acting like children watching a football game "Go Democrats! Fuck Republicans!" "Go Republicans! Fuck Democrats!", and no one seems to give a flying fuck about actually making changes that position the country for the future.
Take China as an example. Like every other country, they injected a huge financial stimulus into their economy, but they are doing it with purpose. They're building new highways to serve parts of the country presently unserved; they're building bullet trains faster than those in Japan, Korea and France; they're upgrading their power grid to technologies surpassing that of any other country. When all is said and done, they will have used the downturn as an opportunity to improve their country's efficiency.
Meanwhile, in the USA, they bailed out the oligarchy that runs the banking system, and then gave money to a bunch of aimless projects that just put band-aids on current infrastructure. There was no national call to action (for example..."we're going to put unemployed auto workers to work building an all-new high-speed rail system to link our urban areas" or "we're going to use this opportunity to completely replace our power grid, because we lose such a high percentage of power to inefficiency of the lines") that would have solidly improved the country for the long-term, improve its ability to transact business.
Anyone to this site ought to understand that networks are important. The Internet, power grid, airports, train system, highway system...all networks, that allow society to function. In the USA, only the Internet and highways actually work well (the power grid is antiquated and incredibly inefficient, the air traffic control system is a dinosaur and most U.S. airports are shitholes comparatively speaking to the many other countries, and although highways work well, they depend on a resource that is finite and running out). When will Americans wake up and start pushing the country to actually upgrade the country's networked infrastructure; prepare the country for the future?
I know this seems to be out of place here, but the fact that the USA is doing essentially nothing on the renewable energy front is just another example. After a while, it gets pretty disheartening.
America won't wake up. They built this industrial power, much of it based on cheap wages (partially as a result of our own unions pushing theirs too high. Look at towns like the suburbs of Detroit and Flint, Michigan -- because unions are led from the top, there isn't an ounce of timely self-preservation when eaten from the bottom). In return, we gave the Chinese our technology, methods of production, and the rest in exchange for cheap junk now -- and are led to dream this will open up a huge market for
Oh, not this right-wing crap again.
Unions didn't cause the decline of our manufacturing sector. Germany and Japan have strong manufacturing sectors with high wages.
The real problem is wealth disparity. More and more wealth is concentrated at the top, where instead of circulating in the real economy and increasing demand and creating jobs, it goes into dubious investments where it creates bubbles over and over again.
Well, most of it: some of that money goes into campaign finance, and into convincing people like you to vote against their own interests. The labor union is one of the very few mechanisms we have to move wealth back into the real economy. Progressive taxation is another. People like you oppose both.
Instead of demanding a decent wage for yourself, as you deserve (wages after inflation haven't increased in 30 years), you simply begrudge a few industries farsighted enough to still have unions for earning a decent living. It's masochistic.
Yes, America is an unrecoverable tailspin, and unwittingly, you demonstrate why.
It's no surprise that as car companies come into this country, they go more to the South and a wide swath away from the unions. I believe Mercedes-Benz opened a plant in Alabama in the 1990s for this reason.
Walmart also is anti-union; when a man up in Canada started a union in a store up there, Walmart shut it down rather than deal with the possible spread of unions throughout its workforce and as a warning.
However, Costco is very minimally unions, something like 10-15% of its workforce, and it always has
It's no surprise that as car companies come into this country, they go more to the South and a wide swath away from the unions. I believe Mercedes-Benz opened a plant in Alabama in the 1990s for this reason.
I'm no auto industry expert, but as I understand it, newer automakers are somewhat advantaged because they're not burdened by pensions for their older employees. That $80/hr figure for GM includes having to pay for the retirement of previous workers.
Also, the south wasn't attractive because it lacked uni
Competition is not a sin. It's a part of life. But competition taken to it's logical conclusion is the decline of America. Until we get it that we're a team together and that there are bigger problems to solve than how to dominate a market, we're going to face a serious decline in our standard of living relative to other nations.
For every honest, well intentioned person using this line there are a thousand con men using it to prey on the good intentions of their victims.
There was no national call to action (for example..."we're going to put unemployed auto workers to work building an all-new high-speed rail system to link our urban areas" or "we're going to use this opportunity to completely replace our power grid, because we lose such a high percentage of power to inefficiency of the lines"
America seems to be somewhat unique in its hatred of such government-run projects - there are many people who have denounced Obama's proposed national high-speed rail network [wired.com] as "socialist" and it will be an uphill struggle to get legislation passed. The Chinese administration, in comparison, can decide to build those networks and immediately procure the funding without the legislative battle. Slavoj Zizek [wikipedia.org] has been proposing a very interesting hypothesis recently - that the Chinese have actually discovered a system that is more efficient, and more productive, than the capitalist liberal democracy that the rest of the world has moved towards in the last century. Maybe it will be a turning point in the development of our civilisation.
Another interesting observation is that China is racing ahead with these projects, with economic growth expected at 8% this year, and yet has very little enforcement of patent or IP protection. Coincidence? The bullet trains are a great example of the lack of IP enforcement leading to rapid development, with Siemens technology finding its way into Chinese designed and manufactured trains.
Our hatred of these projects is a recent thing too. The Hoover Dam wasn't met with this kind of derision. The Apollo Program wasn't met with this kind of derision (not until its last years, when the Norquist cancer started to metastasize).
As for China --- it's an autocratic capitalist systems. Of course autocracies are more efficient than democracies. The problem is that they tend not to stay that way. Give China a generation or two, and assuming it doesn't transition to democracy in the meantime, we'll see a set of weak, ineffectual leaders who feel entitled to use their positions for personal gain.
China is not an autocratic system. It's an oligarchy or if your want to flatter them, an aristocracy. The communist party is basically a private club that runs the country by electing officials from within its own ranks to committees that perform various governance functions. The most powerful committee is the central committee but it is by no means autocratic. BTW, all of China's central committee members have engineering backgrounds.
Unbelievable, you're right! [idcpc.org.cn] I counted 9 out of 11. Maybe that figures how they are able to advance in such huge steps.
The bullet trains are a great example of the lack of IP enforcement leading to rapid development, with Siemens technology finding its way into Chinese designed and manufactured trains.
While I agree that increased synergism would be a benefit of reduced or refactored IP laws, this is not a good example. The R&D still had to be done, but the cost which was borne by Siemens is being treated as an externality by the Chinese. This is a typical behaviour of the destructive western style of capitalism.
America seems to be somewhat unique in its hatred of such government-run projects - there are many people who have denounced Obama's proposed national high-speed rail network [wired.com] as "socialist" and it will be an uphill struggle to get legislation passed.
The real wtf is that calling something "socialist" is a denouncement. Only in America.
There seems to be this pervasive 'If we're not #1 at <something>, everything is fucked.' attitude in American culture.
Why should anyone be surprised that a country that houses a fifth of the world's population is gradually moving closer towards one fifth of the global influence and achievements? Why would it surprise anyone that gradually, over time, a country with four times the population of the USA will pass the USA on a global '<something>' ranking?
And why would this be a reason to panic? Di
In order to win race you must finish first. I don't think that China can do that when Norway is already 100% green. Or maybe "green energy" does not include hydro power.
Or maybe "green energy" does not include hydro power.
That's right, it doesn't. The ecological impact of hydro power is humongous.
Wind is the #1 green power. Solar is probably #2, but thermal updraft (sure, it's solar too) has potential as well. Biodiesel-from-algae has the potential to get up there too, but it has a ways togo to be scaled up.
I'm not a fan of it in general it causes more problems than it solves (countries get into tit for tat issues). However, we NEED jobs in this country badly, good paying jobs for people being forced out of the auto industry and this is a perfect place to utilize their skills. It is also an insult to every American company that's been developing and building these things stateside. Buy American we develop the technology, buy Chinese and they develop technology.
Also you're spitting on every soldier who's fou
If you can dump the effluent from your factories into the rivers and if you don't need to give you workers protective gear, its amazing how financially compelling your argument to build in China becomes. Obviously China will outstrip the workers paradises in Europe, and nobody, least of all the Europeans, are going to complain about polluted rivers and skies in China.
Nothing to see here.
I am sorry, but saying the Chinese government have suddenly developed an environmental conscious is bullshit. I have lived there personally, and I know environmentalist that have tried to work with the government. They are only interested in saving face in front of the World.
This is all about making products and money. If they thought they could sell blue widgets rather than solar panels for more money, they would. They will also likly dump the chemicals and waist from the manufacturing of the solar panels in to the rivers and lakes, while using the dirties coal powered energy to make them, making their workers sick with uncontrolled processes, and no one will even try to hide it.
So while you are all feeling warm and fuzzy about your new solar panels, electric car, or whatever saving the Planet, stop and realize that it was made with some of the most environmentally unfriendly and unethical practices in the World in China.
Try the rivers full of dead floating fish? How about the chemical spills that regularly kill thousands across China? Try driving by one of their coal fired power plants. Your eyes will be watering long before you see the plant. Has anyone on the East coast of China ever seen a star in their life?
Talking about pollution in China is still officially a State secret that can make people disappear.
In the long run, I have little fear of China. First, their oppressive government will eventually moderate or fail as the population becomes more educated and more connected to the rest of the world. Second, as China engages with other nations, they have quickly learned how taking shortcuts such as using lead paint on toys is not the path to success. Third, there is the lesson of Google, where China is learning that there is a high cost to forcing the private sector at private expense to do the government's bidding. Finally, China's public health issues and personal liberty issues are on a collision course with it's government ability to stay in power.
Build a wind turbine in the US or EU, and it's "Agggh! You might hurt some birds!"
Build a hydroelectric dam in the US or EU, and it's "Agggh! You might hurt some snails!"
Build a solar panel in the US or EU, and it's "Agggh! You might shade some weeds!"
Build a nuclear reactor in the US or EU, and it's "AGGGH! GIANT ANTS!"
Folks in China don't seem to have to deal with as many of the "technology is baaaaad" types.
I suspect it's because they have far more-recent memories of what it's like to freeze in the dark.
"Conversion, fastidious Goddess, loves blood better than brick, and feasts most subtly on the human will." -- Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway"


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Main Library
Collections and Services
As of 2013, Waukegan Public Library's collection includes more than 185,000 books, 16,000 DVDs, and 13,000 CDs, as well as video games, Blu-ray discs, magazines, and other materials. To technically enhance the collection, since 2011, the Library made available more than 29,000 downloadable eBooks. Here is a quick look at the library's resources:
- 185,829 Books and Magazines
- 16,859 DVD's
- 22,600 E-books
- 13,723 CD's
- 4,200 Downloadable Audio Recordings
- 134 Magazine Subscriptions
- 73 Computer terminals with internet access, word processing, games and educational software.
- Award-winning Literacy Program
- Free programs, concerts and events
- Daily used book sale
Hinkston Park Branch
Collections and Services
The Waukegan Park District took a literal approach to promoting a healthy mind and body—or should we say literary. The Waukegan Park District is one of the few park districts in the country to incorporate a public library into their facility. Unlike many other agencies, the Library was included in the planning stages allowing for optimal use of the space provided.
Computers and access to the Internet: 3 desktop computers
150 audiobooks
Over 2,500 books for children and adults including fiction and nonfiction
400 DVDs and CDs
Newspapers and magazines
- Dropbox for easy returns
- Place holds and have items delivered for pickup at the branch


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I have liked it from day one and I still do. People who think we could have landed someone better are mistaken IMO. Dusty will get us over the hump and into the playoffs.
Joe Torre was not walking through that door (unfortunately)
Tony LaRussa was not walking through that door (thank god... leave his hgh lab in his basement to the cardinals)
Joe Girardi was not walking through that door.
Pete Mackanin would have been a fine choice, but he was the victim of timing. After the Reds hired two "interim" managers like Miley and Narron, they were not going to re-hire another interim guy. Even though Mackanin did a solid job, he didn't have a chance.


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Add looks to the list of factors that can provide an advantage or disadvantage in life. New research suggests attractiveness is a "source of inequality" that impacts wages, grades and even how others perceive a person's competence.
Sociologists Rachel Gordon from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Robert Crosnoe from University of Texas at Austin studied the issue, their findings just published in a peer-reviewed book for the Society for Research in Child Development.
The book is titled "Physical Attractiveness and the Accumulation of Social and Human Capital in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Assets and Distractions." Gordon and Crosnoe based their research on study of close to 9,000 high school students, who were followed into adulthood.
"People's personal appearance has powerful effects on their life chances," they wrote in a briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families. "Our research shows that the critical period in which inequality on the basis of looks establishes itself is in high school."
They found that women are paid about 8 percent more if they are better looking than average and suffer a 4 percent wage penalty for below-average looks. Men only gain 4 percent for being above-average handsome, but pay a bigger penalty if they fall short of the average standard: They make 13 percent less.
The researchers also pointed out that, beginning in high school, those who are better looking seem to be perceived as smarter and as having a better personality and greater potential for success.
Beauty standards
The findings on school achievement especially stood out for Gordon, she said. "Those who are attractive vs. average score higher on average on their (grade point average)." She noted a "big body" of psychology literature that suggests that ideas of who is attractive are quite consistent and may even come from a biological bias that favors certain traits including facial symmetry. The old saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" may not be quite accurate.
Crosnoe agreed. "Given how much conventional wisdom (in the public at large but also among researchers) is that attractiveness is very culturally specific and that standards of beauty differ across diverse groups, the most surprising thing to me was how the patterns we found (which kids were deemed attractive and the academic advantages that they had) did not vary by race, ethnicity, or social class," Crosnoe said. "The rule was similarity, not difference."
Gordon said she hopes people take time to think through the way social aspects of high school affect kids and peers and teachers. "I can't point to particular interventions; there hasn't been much work with high schools. But think about ways they are big, diverse, it's hard to stand out, one can get lost in a crowd. If teachers and parents are thinking about this, we can potentially start to push those barriers down."
In one experiment they wrote about, young men were shown photos that they were told were of a woman they were about to talk to by telephone. Some saw attractive photos, others unattractive photos.
"The men who were shown the better-looking partner expected her to be more sociable and humorous than did men shown the less attractive partner. And in a self-fulfilling prophecy, they actually elicited such behavior from the people they assumed to be attractive. Independent judges listening to a phone call between two people rated both the woman and the man as warmer and more sociable when the caller had been portrayed as attractive rather than unattractive," Gordon and Crosnoe wrote.
Countering bias
The researchers also noted that a bias toward beauty in high school does matter. It may create a "self-fulfilling prophecy" or simply boost confidence. The mechanism is unclear. But "while we may think that the superficiality of high school social hierarchies wears off as people age, we find that youth rated as better looking get higher grades and are more likely to attain a college degree than their peers, setting the stage for better economic outcomes through adulthood," Gordon and Crosnoe wrote.
"In fact, the difference in GPA and college graduation rates between youth rated by others as attractive versus average in looks is similar to the differences in academic achievement between youth raised in two-parent versus single-parent families!"
The bias based on looks appears to start early, Gordon said. Some of the social and psychological data shows that "in elementary schools, teachers have higher expectations of the kids who are more attractive. There are methods to eliminate the bias, such as taking names off of papers when grading them," she noted.
There is also a downside to being attractive, the researchers said.
"Youth rated as more physically attractive are more likely to date, have sexual partners and drink heavily. These favors, in turn, have negative consequences for immediate grades and later college completion." They also acknowledge other research that has found a "beauty penalty" for women in male-dominated fields, but they say that, overall, attractiveness helps.
Other views
The Council on Contemporary Families gathered commentary from experts not involved with the research.
Lookism is a bad bargain for women, said Caroline Heldman, chair of the politics department at Occidental College. She wrote that "the benefits of lookism in the workplace are overstated for attractive women because beauty actually serves as a barrier for women in corporate and political leadership positions. Not only are sexually attractive corporate managers rated as less competent by their peers and employees, attractive female political candidates are perceived as less competent in the eyes of voters."
"If people really believed that 'everyone is beautiful,' anorexia and facial and bodily surgeries would not be so ubiquitous in adolescent life," wrote Michigan State University professor Barbara Schneider. "Given that young people continue to exclude and bully those viewed as unattractive, the fiction that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' is simply disingenuous and potentially harmful."
Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco psychologist, warned against teaching children to define themselves in terms of how they look. "One of the biggest predictors of who succeeds in life, attractive or otherwise, is self-discipline, which involves regulating and managing emotions, learning how to tolerate frustration, maintaining focus without excessive distractibility, and developing the ability to delay gratification.
"Emphasizing and promoting your child's good looks can actually undermine the exercise of these skills, as many childhood winners of movie contracts and beauty pageants have found to their costs," he wrote.
EMAIL: [email protected], Twitter: Loisco


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Legendary Cosmo editors Bonnie Fuller and Helen Gurley Brown with advice on sex, love and career.
You may not realize this—but you and Carrie Bradshaw owe Helen Gurley Brown big time! If it wasn't for Helen, the fearless founder and longtime editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, and author of the earth-shattering bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl, you might well be TRAPPED!
TRAPPED in a world filled with now absurd-seeming ideas. Ideas like: you're a slut if you've had pre-marital sex, or if you've had sex with more than one partner, or if you're not married... by the age of 21.
So thank God for Helen, her once-revolutionary ideas and her bold determination to relentlessly articulate a better, more self-fulfilling life for women, which she did in every issue of Cosmo during her thirty-year tenure.
Now, Helen and her enormous—and for the most part unrecognized—contributions to the sexually and mentally liberated lives that you, Carrie, and your friends enjoy, has finally been recognized for her feminism and more, in a recently published bio Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, by Jennifer Scanlon.
It's a definite read, if you want some dramatic perspective on just how significantly women's lives have changed in just 60 years. If it wasn't for Helen, who grew up in the female-stifling 1940s and '50s, it's not only Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw who might not exist. There wouldn't be a Michelle Obama either.
Helen, more than any other woman in the world, made it aspirationally OK to be a career woman who could be the equal of any man, including her husband. At a time when most women worked briefly, if at all, before getting hitched and retiring into narrow lives as traditional wives and moms, Helen believed that work in itself was liberating for women.
Liberating because money gave women the financial independence to live their lives on their own terms. And Helen's experiences as a hardworking, ambitious career woman at a time when most working girls were relegated to low-level secretarial positions, and denied promotions and raises—think Mad Men—made her a relentless advocate for other working women throughout her time at Cosmo.
Despite the many roadblocks in her own career path, Helen kept on persevering, breaking through sexist barriers and finally landing a job as one of the first female copywriters in the advertising industry, before becoming a book author and magazine editor-in-chief.
Along the way, she discovered that "nothing is as much fun as achieving." A philosophy that Michelle Obama's been articulating to the female students she's been inviting to visit the White House since her husband's inauguration.
That's not all. Before Helen got her delicate hands on the public consciousness every month with Cosmo, beginning in 1965, single women were truly considered inferior misfits to married women.
"The reigning philosophy at the time was that if you were female and not married by the age of 30, you might as well go to the Grand Canyon and throw yourself in," she has said. "If you were having sex and not married, don't bother with the Grand Canyon, just go to the kitchen, put your head in the oven and turn on the gas."
Helen knew "these ideas were cuckoo" and wholeheartedly believed that single women "were the least understood and most maligned minority group of all time."
She decided to change that perception with Cosmo, which she used to celebrate the lives of fun, fearless females. Now you may not think of Cosmo as being a feminist magazine, but Helen made it an advocate for having a life that you're in charge of—career-wise, man-wise and looks-wise.
I caught up with the still busy Helen Gurley Brown who, at 87, goes into her office every day and works diligently as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan International.
She's still happy to dole out advice on how to make your life 100 percent happier, so I took your pressing questions to her. Here, the original Cosmo Girl gives YourTango users the answers!
1) QUESTION: I'm curious what advice Helen Gurley Brown would have given her 21-year-old self, career or otherwise, now that's she's older. -
ANSWER: Good things will happen if you get up every day and work at it. It's a lot of trouble to do the best you can. It's the secret of my so-called success. A lot of concentration will bring results eventually. If you aren't getting any recognition after a while, then you probably aren't doing something you could be. Work harder.
2) QUESTION: What do you think of hooking up? -
ANSWER: I think it's OK—do it!
3) QUESTION: In a world where marriages fall apart, how can I make mine stick? -
ANSWER: Treat your husband like a friend. Be reasonably honest, considerate and do things with him that he enjoys doing. Be a good person to him—that's a good recipe. Be polite, kind and be careful of your husband's feelings. And you both need to be responsible for each others' health, well-being and money!
4) QUESTION: What's the best relationship advice you've ever received? -
ANSWER: Don't put up with a jerky man for too long. You need to let go and find someone who is more worthwhile. Being unhappy with a man is about as unhappy as you can get. And I know because we've all been in a situation where we're crazy about someone who is treating us badly. If you're having trouble, break it off—see a shrink. A professional person can help you see your way out of it.
5) QUESTION: What do you think of an open marriage or relationship? -
ANSWER: It doesn't work: When someone isn't faithful to you, it creates jealousy and insecurity. And if you're getting married, it means you're going to devote yourself to someone—that's the point.
6) QUESTION: Is it wrong that sleeping with married men turns me on? I had an affair with a married friend not long ago and it was hotter than hell. -
ANSWER: It isn't wrong to be turned on by anybody—if that's how you feel, that's how you feel. You have to make up your own mind about what you're comfortable with. I don't think it's such a bad thing. I had friendships with men who were married. What's a bad girl? Having sex with lots of men you're not married to, doesn't make you a bad girl, just an experienced girl.
7) QUESTION: How often should I see a guy I'm dating during the week? I don't want to smother him. -
ANSWER: It's different for each couple—you have to work at it. But if you like him a lot, see him. I assume if a guy feels smothered, he'll let you know.
8) QUESTION: I've come to the decision that my marriage is doomed and I want to end it. But I have no idea of how to break it to my husband. He'll be devastated. How should I do it? -
ANSWER: You need to sit down with your husband and let him know that your relationship isn't that good and that you need to decide together what you should do. If you don't love or like your husband anymore, you can't stay in a bad relationship just because you feel guilty—you'll be too unhappy. You may need to go together to get some professional help—i.e. a marriage therapist—to help you through it.
9) QUESTION: Should I start a relationship with a guy at work? There is this guy at work that I have amazing chemistry with, but is it wrong to follow through on it? -
ANSWER: You can have a serious relationship at work. I have done that, and I know many people who have done that successfully. Watch: Office Dating Rules You May Not Know
10) QUESTION: I'm 45 and my boyfriend is 21. We have a great relationship and we've been dating for over 8 months. Any advice on how I can get him to move in? -
ANSWER: My personal opinion is that there is too much of a difference in your ages. I wouldn't recommend him moving in with you. I don't think it will end up working out well. You're a woman and he's a boy!
11) QUESTION: I'm 29, I'm sweet, caring and attractive. But why can't I find a nice guy who wants to become a family man? -
ANSWER: You should be able to find one. But you may have to be a little pushy. If there's a guy you've seen who's a friend of a friend, you need to suggest that your friend fix you up by having a small dinner party so you can meet that man. That's what I did when I wanted to meet the man who is now my husband of almost 50 years. You may also have to call up a guy and be honest. Just say—I wanted to see if you wanted to have lunch one day. Give him a time and place and tell him that you think he SHOULD do it.
12) QUESTION: Can you be friends with benefits and not develop feelings for the guy? -
ANSWER: Yes, I think that's possible for some women—we're all different—but I think it's hard to do because sex is so important, exciting and thrilling. Most women do get involved with a man they're having sex with and can't really maintain that type of relationship. Personally, I only had sex with men I cared deeply about.
13) QUESTION: What work advice would you give a woman who's just starting out today in this lousy economic environment? -
ANSWER: Try to get a tolerable job at something you're good at—get in there and get paid to do it. You may not find the perfect job right now. But keep whatever job you have for as long as you can, for income and experience, while you look for something else.
14) QUESTION: Can you fall in love more than once? - anonymous
ANSWER: You should have several relationships before you settle down. I started dating in junior high school. I personally believe that being in love with someone is so wonderful, you should do it more than once. You can fall out of love with people, too—you might as well have different experiences as you go along. I can tell you that I was in love when I was 16, and I'm in love now!
15) QUESTION: Why won't my wife tell me her fantasies? I have great sex fantasies and I'd like to be able to share them with her and have her tell me hers. But she says she doesn't have any. -
ANSWER: You should keep encouraging her to be open with you. Tell her one or two of yours, and then maybe you can talk her into sharing one or two of hers. If she still refuses, you may need to encourage her to get professional help—I've found that has worked well.
To learn more about Helen; her philosophy, her life and love experiences, try reading one of her books—like Having It All. Or pick up her bio, Bad Girls Go Everywhere, by Jennifer Scanlon.
Follow Bonnie Fuller on Twitter: twitter.com/bonniefuller
Image of Helen Gurley Brown at Woodbury College. Courtesy of: Helen Gurley Brown, Copyright Bad Girls Go Everywhere, Oxford University Press 2009.


text: REI The war is on Thanksgiving, not Christmas By Scott MacKay • Nov 14, 2013 Right wing cable television networks and websites love to yammer on about the ``War'' on Christmas. But when was the last time you saw Fox News talk about the war on Thanksgiving, which seems to many a much more serious threat. Exhibit A: the growing list of national retail chains opening their doors for the Christmas shopping season on Thanksgiving Day. This year, more than a dozen big retail chains will open Thanksgiving, giving their workers scant chance to celebrate the holiday over a stuffed turkey with their families.


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That the conventional statistical system in cricket of averages and aggregates is skewed is widely agreed. It has been so for years, decades even. However, in the five-day version, because of the nature of the format, the players who normally went up the averages list were usually the best ones, so no one fretted too much. One-Day-Internationals changed that a bit – not outs skewed things considerably but other measures (like tallies of centuries and wickets) were usually summoned up to differentiate between players.
The T20 format has comprehensively queered the pitch. All the skews are wildly magnified. No one knows what the standard measures are anymore. Centuries are a rarity as are four or five wicket hauls. Regular not outs render averages way-off-centre. Strike rates mean nothing by themselves, nor do economy rates. The result is that no one knows who the best T20 players in the world are, in internationals or in domestics, not in a sustained or statistical way.
Ironically, the format of the game most popularly associated with innovation is actually the most backward. When it comes to individual player analysis over multiple matches, anarchy reigns. Man-of-the-match awards are hit-and-miss affairs like never before. Tournament awards go to the wrong candidate…sometimes embarrassingly off-the-mark.
There are a few evolving systems that can actually identify some of these and we use ours to bring some of these anomalies to light. (Impact Index measures the impact a player makes on a match - and the series/tournament - relative to the other 21 players in the same match, therefore it is able to factor in context, hitherto immeasurable.)
In IPL 2010, for example, Pragyan Ojha won the Purple Cap for taking the maximum wickets (21) in 16 matches. His economy rate was 7.29. The award should rightfully have gone to Muralitharan who took 15 wickets in 12 matches at an economy rate of 6.85 (his impact was 14% higher). Similarly, Tendulkar got the Orange Cap that year for scoring 618 runs at an average of 48 and strike rate of 133 in 15 matches. However, Raina, with 520 runs (avg 47; SR 143) in 16 matches, with a tournament-defining performance in the final, should have got it (his impact was 9% higher). The nature of T20 demands scientific ways of combining various parameters – which the conventional systems of evaluation cannot do.
Most crucially, a great deal of team selection becomes lottery. International players with averages that hide their true T20 potential are picked by franchises for a sum that could accommodate two, maybe three, superior players in the format for the same money. Reliable and consistent domestic players who have played crucial roles for their teams are passed over for flash-in-the-pan players whom the averages system typically seems to glorify in T20. Players who have special qualities – like absorbing pressure with the bat in a sustained way or the ability to break partnerships with the ball – or the knack of performing consistently in big matches - these guys never get identified for these talents.
Coaches with conventional mindsets go more on the averages/aggregates system and their own gut feel about a player's ability. Neither is reliable because at the end of the day, what a player does over a larger sample size of matches in the context of each match is the truest picture (for example, a strike rate of 150 in a match where the pitch conditions were such that everybody scored quickly and the match strike rate was 140 - that will not be as creditable as a strike rate of 100 where the match standard was 60 – even though the first example's strike rate will lift the player's career strike rate higher). As far as gut evaluations go, it is commonplace that unrealized potential is far more frequent in sport than fully exploited ability.
We use Impact Index here to reveal some information which is particularly relevant before the IPL Players' Auction on February 4th. There are careers at stake here and it is disturbing to see the more deserving candidates getting sidestepped due to sheer ignorance.
But first, the bargains. Amongst the listed players – Daniel Harris is one of the five highest impact batsmen in all of T20 cricket ever (despite domestic cricket having a lower weightage than international) – but he is surprisingly in the lower category of $50,000 whereas 12 batsmen with a lower impact start at a higher reserve price than him in the auction including the likes of very low impact T20 players like Laxman, Sarwan, Ganga and Maynard. Sachithra Senanayake (Sri Lankan bowler) is even a more bizarre case. He is the highest impact bowler currently in T20 cricket – he comes in the $20,000 category – one of the best bargains in this year's auction. Stunningly, 45 bowlers are listed with a higher reserve price than him. Other such players are Hamilton Masakadza and bowler Devendra Bishoo who are amongst the highest impact T20 players in the world, yet they are listed in a low category.
Now, the omissions. Dean Elgar (South African all-rounder) is one of the best big match players in T20 cricket and was part of the preliminary list sent to teams in the $20,000 category. Based on recommendation from the teams, he is now omitted from the final auction list. As is the case with wicket-keeping all-rounder Adam Crosthwaite - he is now out of the auction list whereas Denesh Ramdin, who has a considerably lower impact in T20 cricket, is in the $100,000 category.
High impact T20 players like Cliffe Deacon, Gerrie Snyman, Naeem Islam, Ryan Hinds and Isuru Udana (tipped by many to be the next Chaminda Vaas) are not even listed while players with a lower impact than them - like Ian Bell, Rikki Clarke, Simon Jones and Tom Maynard are included in the Auction list (the first two in the $200,000 category, the last two in the $100,000 category). This goes beyond even the traditional bias of international players in other formats commanding a higher price even if they are not great in the T20 format (like Peter Siddle, in the $200,000 category), simply because they are "known". There appears to be considerable arbitrariness in the preparation of the list.
Players who are consistent in specific parameters, and who could be of huge utility to different franchises, are not listed. No one picks out Raymond van Schoor (Namibia) and Niranjan Behera (Orissa) for their ability to bat under pressure. Or the chasing ability of Shreyas Khanolkar (Railways) and Brad Wilson (New Zealand). The partnership-breaking abilities of Md Nabi (Afghanistan) and Amit Yadav (Goa) are ignored. The low failure rate of batsmen Gerrie Snyman (Namibia) and Sagun Kamat (Goa) and bowlers Hamid Hassan (Afghanistan) and Chaminda Vidanapathirana (Sri Lanka) are not in the mix at all.
The saddest omissions in an IPL context are high impact Indian domestic T20 players who get overlooked due to the inability of those supposed to be identifying them. These are also the most disappointing omissions in an Indian context as their selection could bring talented fresh young players into the fore, which would eventually enrich the national pool of players. The franchises would get them very cheap too, so everybody stands to gain from this. And yet…
High impact players like Rohit Motwani from Maharashtra (one of the highest impact T20 wicket-keeping batsmen in the world), Niranjan Behera (Orissa) and Abhinav Bali (HP) may not be picked because they don't stand out on the basis of their conventional averages/aggregates stats (all of them are all-rounders, so conventional stats would be even more inefficient to get them noticed). Whereas a bowler like L Ablish gets picked by Punjab perhaps precisely because his conventional stats (Bowling Avg 14; Econ: 6.5) are ostensibly impressive; his impact with the ball has not been that exceptional yet. However, credit is due to Pune and Hyderabad for picking high impact players Ganesh Gaikwad and Anand Rajan without necessarily looking at their conventional figures (which do not reveal their outstanding impact) – it is up to these franchises to utilise their talents by giving them enough opportunities.
In the end, it is a strange kind of meritocracy that IPL is fostering. By bolstering "known" players (like Laxman, Siddle and Anderson) with high reserve prices based on their success in other formats (and ignoring their low impact in the T20 format), they are actually preventing fresh new talent who are likely to contribute to their teams more from getting the opportunities that they deserve. Moreover, by not picking the best domestic players, they are setting up a situation where franchises will eventually not show interest in picking "mediocre domestic talent" – so the "known" players will continue to thrive and the struggling, and often more deserving candidates, will gradually fade away after frustrating attempts to get through the selection door. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer here too, as it were.
If a lot of the concerns in this article remind you of Moneyball (both the film and the book), it's a valid parallel. In fact, a lot of the people working at the franchises are fond of quoting from the book. That's a bit bizarre though, because if you bring up the part in Moneyball where writer Michael Lewis reveals that Sabermetrics was offered to every baseball club free of charge and they still did not use it in the 1980s (much to their collective embarrassment later), some of these franchise marketing custodians grin and nod, as if emulating that trajectory is actually the point. Marketing people in India are not exactly known for their soft spot for innovation; deliberations about such ideas invariably result in the classic furious ccing of emails – decision-making expertly delegated, accountability skilfully obfuscated. The best answer Impact Index got to hear during its attempts to convince a franchise to use it was – "Very interesting, great idea, we'd be delighted to be the second people to use it, but not the first."
It is also a pity that authorities running the sport do not realise how it would gain from the additional dimension of simplified and more accurate player evaluations. The T20 consumer (as opposed to fan), despite the accent on spectacle, is not immune to the confusion of garbled communication on the subject of player evaluations. They do care about who the best players are – to underestimate their desire for clarity is to insult their intelligence. That is often the most serious mistake marketers make, and sometimes it's a fatal one, even when it takes time to pan out.


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By Mary A. Sego
Title: Helen Gould collection of Purdue dance cards and theater programs, 1922-1926
Predominant Dates:1923-1924
Primary Creator: Gould, Helen (1905? (date of birth))
Extent: 0.6 Cubic feet. More info below.
1. Dance Cards, 1922-1926 (0.4 cubic feet). The dance cards cover a wide range of organizations, but some of those featured are: Kappa Alpha Theta, Beta Theta Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Chi, Theta Chi, Purdue University Women's and Men's Pan Hellenic formals, Purdue "Blanket Hop," "Annual Cadet Hop," "Leap Year Formal Dance" (1924), Purdue University Junior Promenade," and "Jefferson High School Senior Dance" (1924). Gould made notes on many of the dance cards, stating the status of her evening at the event. Most of the dance cards are for 1923-1924.
Materials in the series have been sleeved and are arranged chronologically; each dance is arranged by the exact date it took place.
2. Theater Programs, 1922-1924 (0.05 cubic feet). This series contains two theater programs for productions of "The Little Theatre of Purdue" along with programs for the production of "The Gingham Girl," and the "Fifteenth Annual Production of The Harlequin Club of Purdue University," presented at the Mars Theatre in LaFayette, IN. The programs also feature advertisements for the businesses in the area during that time period.
Materials in the series are arranged chronologically and have been placed in separate folders for preservation purposes.
3. Purdue Related Ephemera and Miscellaneous Memorabilia, 1922-1925 (0.15 cubic feet). This series contains the unique Purdue memorabilia found among Gould's dance cards and theater programs. It contains a Chi Omega rush program - 2 ½" x 3 ½" leather covered booklet, dated September 9 -16, 1922. Also found in this series are a 1922 Purdue "P" Homecoming pin; a handwritten invitation to Alpha Chi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta 1923 initiation ceremony and a take away (favor) - leather coin purse from the Purdue Men's Pan Hellenic 1924 formal. Two undated items are a football shaped tag for "Booster Day To Send The Purdue Band to Chicago and Indiana Games" and a flyer for a Purdue pep session, which has the lyrics for "Let's Go Purdue," by O.K. Quivey printed on it.
These items have also been placed in chronological order.
Date Acquired: 05/13/2014
Subjects: Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Mars Theater (Lafayette, Indiana), Panhellenic Association of Purdue University, Pi Kappa Alpha, Purdue University, Purdue University--Students, Purdue University--Students--Social life and customs--20th century, Student activities--United States, Women's Archives at Purdue University
Forms of Material: Artifacts (Object genre), Buttons, Dance cards, Ephemera, Memorabilia, Notes, Programs, Souvenirs
Languages: English
Helen Gould was a Purdue University student from 1922-1926, as indicated in the Debris yearbook. Little more is known about her. Her dance cards and theater programs reflect the many dances and performances she attended as a Purdue student.
A dance card was used by a woman to record the names of the gentlemen with whom she intended to dance each successive dance at a formal ball, and it listed all the dances for the evening. Opposite each dance is a space to record the name of the partner for the dance. They appear to have originated in the 18th century, but their use first became widespread in the 19th century Vienna, especially at the massive balls during Fasching before Lent.
A dance card is typically a booklet with a decorative cover, indicating the sponsoring organization of the ball and a decorative cord by which it could be attached to a lady's wrist or ball gown. As in Gould's case, they are often kept as souvenirs of the evening.
Beta Theta Pi
Kappa Alpha Theta
Mars Theater (Lafayette, Indiana)
Panhellenic Association of Purdue University
Pi Kappa Alpha
Purdue University
Purdue University--Students
Purdue University--Students--Social life and customs--20th century
Student activities--United States
Women's Archives at Purdue University
Repository: Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections
Alternate Extent Statement: 2 mss boxes
Access Restrictions: Collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions: Purdue University
Acquisition Source: Acquisition method unknown
Related Materials:
Martha Bemis Rogers dance cards
Simeon V.B. Miller scrapbook, 1900-1906
Charles Zergiebel collection, 1919-1923
Preferred Citation: MSA 294, Helen Gould collection of Purdue dance cards and Theater programs, Karnes Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries
Processing Information: All materials have been housed in polyester sleeves, acid-free folders, and acid-free boxes and are grouped into individual series for preservation purposes. The dance cards, programs and other materials are arranged in chronological order.
Other URL: http://collections.lib.purdue.edu/fa/pdf/msa294_gould.pdf


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European Commission
Dacian Cioloş
European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development
Taking stock with civil society on the future of the CAP
Conference on the future of the PAC/Brussels
13 July 2012
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to open this day of debate with civil society. Over the course of the day we will have the opportunity to compare and contrast our points of view on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy post-2013, which is currently under discussion.
I wanted to bring the reform to the discussion table and implement a more extensive consultation of the general public than has been the case in the past. The CAP is not only an economic policy. The CAP is not only a Community policy. The CAP is not only a policy for food production, for our regions and natural resources, or for employment – look at the Member States which are in the grips of a crisis full on: they are proving that, even in times of crisis, agriculture and the rural environment can attract young people.
The CAP is not only the sum of these individual parts, but rather it is a policy for the whole of European society for all these reasons combined.
Almost two years ago to the day, the Commission organised a conference open to civil society. The Commission has since concluded the public debate and proceeded to prepare its Communication on the reform of the CAP. This was followed in October 2011 by the legislative proposals for the reform.
All the relevant texts are now on the table: the Commission's proposals, the four draft parliamentary reports and the significant progress made by the Council under the Polish and Danish presidencies. Parliament and the Council have the political responsibility, as well as the legitimacy, to decide on the proposals by the co-decision process. The Commission will of course be present in a pro-active manner to ensure that the final compromise reached is a positive one.
This reform is not only intended for the future. Its results could have positive impacts now, in the context of the economic crisis.
The CAP could be one of the keys to the economic recovery, leading to job creation and generating sustainable growth in many European regions. In 2011, the EU agriculture and agri-food sectors exported the equivalent in value of more than 1000 Airbuses. Some Member States have seen a renewed interest in agriculture during the crisis.
Naturally, there has been criticism. I am hearing two things in particular: firstly, that more simplification is required, and, secondly, that the results of the 2010 public debate have been watered down somewhat.
Some consider that we have gone too far in the reform proposals, others believe we haven't gone far enough. There are arguments on all sides.
The Commission went to considerable lengths when preparing the proposals to find the right balance in various areas and take account of the seven key expectations expressed during the public debate:
We have tried to strike the right balance between common tools and flexibility to take account of the diversity of our agriculture sector. The objective is to have a flexible system together with common foundations, which will enable us to move forward in the same political direction and to avoid distortion of competition and discrimination.
What we are talking about, ultimately, is getting the balance right between supporting the modernisation of European agriculture and respecting local traditions without any preconceived ideas in terms of a single model.
During the public debate, the voices heard the most loudly were those who wanted to change the CAP. During the negotiations, on the other hand, those in favour of leaving things as they are as far as possible are the ones making their presence felt the most.
From our standpoint, the objective is to introduce changes which are as far-reaching as possible. We want to make sure that everyone is on board, with expectations taken into account as well as what is feasible from the social, economic, budgetary and political angles.
My intentions in terms of the direction of this reform, the direction desired by the College of Commissioners, was clearly reflected in the Commission's Communication on the reform. The legislative proposals then took up the principles set out in the Communication, taking account of what is possible, acceptable and straightforward to apply.
This applies to the equity of support: moving towards convergence at EU, Member State and farm level, while at the same time having access to the adjustment tools which are absolutely essential, such as capping of aid, the ability to focus on active farmers and to enhance support for areas in difficulty.
It also applies to the greening of the CAP – and it is with this in mind that the Commission presented a working document during the negotiations. I am prepared to recognise the environmental efforts of those who are already going beyond the basic measures.
Similarly, with regard to the management of markets: markets which are ever more uncertain could discourage farmers or push them towards excessive intensification. The EU must provide strong answers.
We will also be working in other areas to bolster the competitiveness of agricultural sectors, alongside the broader context of the revision of the CAP:
Today's debates will be an important opportunity for us to discuss all aspects connected with the sustainability of agriculture (economic, ecological and social), in a spirit of constructive dialogue and with a proactive approach.
Over the course of the conference, we will have the opportunity to re-engage in dialogue, to move forward, but above all to explain the content and reasons behind the legislative proposals, and to discuss them as a reflection of the expectations of the different stakeholders who make up civil society.
This will enable us to compare and contrast our ideas and develop the best arguments for a robust defence of a model of overall change for the CAP.
The reform signals progress in numerous areas. But the processes set in motion, the long-term developments for the CAP, for the next seven years and beyond, represent the most significant step forward.
All stakeholders are entitled to their viewpoints and their own expectations in the reform process. The final decision will be taken by the institutional triangle of the Council, Parliament and the Commission. But I believe it is essential that the process and content of the compromise be understood by all the stakeholders that you represent. You have presented your positions and contributed to the public debate.
The political and administrative legitimacy of the decision-making process must be underpinned by a legitimacy that reflects the whole of society through its various channels of representation. And this is why we have organised this conference.
Thank you for attending today's debates. Your presence demonstrates that society is increasingly taking control of the challenges facing the agriculture, food and rural sectors through the CAP. Thank you for your active participation, the ideas you have shared from the beginning of the process, and your continued input until the end of the reform and beyond…Keep it going!
Side Bar


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Shallowater, Graham here on Friday
Two undefeated teams play here at 7 p.m. Friday as Shallowater and Graham meet in a Class 3A, Division II state quarterfinal at Mus-tang Bowl. Both squads have perfect 13-0 marks and were state-ranked at the end of the regular season.Graham, the District 5-3A champion, entered the play-offs ranked No. 3 and has crushed Castleberry (68-0), Glen Rose (34-0) and Lubbock Estacado (42-6) during a dominating postseason run so far. Shallo-water entered the playoffs as the District 2-3A champ-ion, and was ranked No. 10 in Class 3A, and has since beaten Dalhart (42-12), Monahans (43-35) and Vernon (35-26). This will be the last time the two teams meet for awhile; Graham is in Class 4A, Division I the next two years and Shallowater will be playing in Class 3A, Division II due to the fact that Graham has 690 students, 253 more than Shallowater. Friday's winner plays Argyle (13-0), which was ranked No. 1 in Class 3A during the regular season, or Gladewater (7-6) in the state semifinals.


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Major national and world news has unfolded relentlessly for months: the Boston Marathon bombings, the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, the tornado in Oklahoma, Edward Snowden's NSA revelations, the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, the debate over U.S. immigration, the Asiana Airlines plane crash -- and reaction to the trial of George Zimmerman.
At the Tribune, a team of nation and world editors -- I'm one of them -- guides these stories into the newspaper.
Wednesday's offerings include stories about President Barack Obama's speech in Galesburg, Ill., and Pope Francis' trip to Brazil.
As the news unfolds, we choose how to play the developments. We work with editors at other newspapers owned by Tribune Co., including the Los Angeles Times, to cover breaking news and coordinate coverage.
We monitor the wires for other stories of national and world importance, and work with other Tribune editors to decide how to share these stories with our readers, whether that means a spot on the Tribune's front page or whether something reported in Chicago might fit in the news lineup at our sister papers including the Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call and Newport News (Va.) Daily Press.
Though there's no telling what tomorrow's news will bring, sharing the day's national and international developments with our readers is one of the most exciting jobs at the Tribune. And our readers remind us that this connection to the wider world also is important to them.
--Kate McKenna