text:
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Monday, December 14, 2009
First run back...
My newest plan, that benefits everyone, warm up walk with Magnus, just a little 20 minutes of walking fast, return dawg to the house, drop off a jacket and head out to run. I was going to be smart and leave my watch at home but noooo, I needed to KNOW how bad I was going to suck. I had been running a cool nine miles/week prior to the flu bug but at least it was at a decent pace. This time, not so much BUT that was my plan. I wanted to enjoy it too. I succeeded on all accounts - a slow but happy little run. It will all come together soon enough, just need to keep on keepin on. Who knew that a week off could mean that all my junk hurt so badly. Seriously, a sore back and hamstrings?!
In random ass news...
I was at a local "made in China" store that carries a wide range of made in China goods from fake trees, to fake wall art, fake furniture and fake flower arrangements. Anyway, I was making my way through some fake wall art that was stacked up. These were very large wall pieces when the brace that was holding them together broke free and the stack cut loose on my ass. YES, a large stack of framed made in China wall art cut loose on my ass and knocked me to the ground in the middle of the daYum store. I was buried under fake made in China wall art. I couldn't even get out by myself - other shoppers had to come over and help me out of the fake wall art pile of shit. I wish someone was there to see it, it was pretty funny except for the bruised knee when I hit the ground under $2 wall art that they're charging $200 a piece for - oh but it's 30% off, such a deal. As to NOT to look like I was running in shame, I continued to 'shop' while rubbing my knee and pretending NOT to be embarrassed. Seriously, who get's attacked by fake wall art?!?
20 comments:
- Keith said...
Only you, it seems.
- December 14, 2009 at 6:59 AM
- kristen said...
I know right?! I took a week (or so...) off from running and little jog took me down. wtf? Good for you though. keep it up even if it's just a little.
death by $2 wall art. Double ouch.
- December 14, 2009 at 7:33 AM
- Chloe said...
Yes...I agree with Keith :) That is too funny.
Sorry The Situation was not there to help you out.
- December 14, 2009 at 7:52 AM
- FLATOUT JIM said...
Wonder if the brace that was holding up the fake wall art was a fake brace, made in China?
- December 14, 2009 at 8:39 AM
- andygoose said...
Sounds like karma. Did you kick a panda bear in the nuts in a past life or something?!?
- December 14, 2009 at 8:57 AM
- Big Daddy Diesel said...
Umm, ok that beats anything I have had happen.
- December 14, 2009 at 8:58 AM
- Molly said...
Oh god, my 1st post-IM run is tomorrow. At this point nothing else new *could* hurt but I guess we'll see how bad it is.
- December 14, 2009 at 9:04 AM
- Velma said...
Hillarious! Glad you are back on the run
- December 14, 2009 at 9:14 AM
- Mike Russell said...
Fake $2.00 Chinese wall art attacked you...did you steal from orphans or something last week? Be glad karma decided to pound you in the fake store instead of on the road. :)
- December 14, 2009 at 9:46 AM
- Carolina John said...
only you would get attacked by fake wall art. ouch.
- December 14, 2009 at 10:37 AM
- Dave said...
Ok...this post is really about the Cheap a** china wall art and the revenge of Missy...I LAUGED OUT LOUD ....thanks for making monday more bearable....hahahahhahaha....china crap....ahahahahhaha
- December 14, 2009 at 10:52 AM
- Alisa said...
Being sick really sucks! You'll get back in no time.
- December 14, 2009 at 10:57 AM
- Judi said...
you can so sure them.
- December 14, 2009 at 11:34 AM
- Maryland Girl aka Michelle said...
Too funny! I haven't been sick but I have been letting the workouts slide too... Need to get back at it!
Watch out for for fake wall art.
- December 14, 2009 at 12:19 PM
- Southbay Girl said...
they didn't offer to give you something from China since it fell on you?
I'm glad you are finally feeling better!!!
- December 14, 2009 at 12:21 PM
- skierz said...
you almost made me go out and buy and piece of $2 crap art so that I could have osmthing to make me laugh once in a while! Hope the knee is OK! Good on ya getting back at it! Isnt is easier to convince yourself not ot do it?? Cheers
- December 14, 2009 at 1:24 PM
- Diana said...
Now please tell me you ARE planning on doing what Americans do when shit like this happens???? YUP, sue the pants off them chinese bastards and their fake wall art!!!
Welcome back to running!!
- December 14, 2009 at 2:54 PM
- MCM Mama said...
Girl, you are some kind of special LOL.
Glad you finally got out for a short run.
- December 14, 2009 at 3:43 PM
- Mel-2nd Chances said...
glad you're feeling better and getting back out there, you're right, it'll all fall into place :) Too funny about the art, Jay wanted into a BIG coffee table yesterday... that was also very funny lol
- December 14, 2009 at 6:14 PM
- San said...
Ouch, but haha all the same. Hope your knee is okay.
Cute dog pics.
- December 15, 2009 at 4:52 AM


text:
In my younger days I volunteerd at a local television station as a cameraman. It was fun to do, going out to events and make reports. Part of it was to report on art events, local stuff so for instance the art students giving a show. God what a load of crap that was.
Being a cameraman is a great way to see things without actually having to show any interest. You get into places you normally never would go into and can "stare" as much as you want without anybody coming up to you and asking for an opinion.
What struck me most was how disconnected these people were from real life, taking their art WAY to seriously. You can use your art to send a message but if you think a piece of performance art is going to chance the world you need to get out more.
This game is a game that uses an event for shock value. Using such stuff is an easy way to rouse emotions. It is simple really, if I need to show that someone is baddy I have them kill someone, a male if they are just a little bit bad, blonde female if they are bad and a brunette if they are truly evil. You do NOT kill redheads.
So a lot of movies use this trick because it is the easiest way of showing that the baddie is the bad guy. You could use story elements to show that, but hey, that takes time and the audience has a 5 second attention span.
Therefore I don't consider this game to be art, it is a simple exploitation game, perhaps a new angle for games but we already know it all to well from the movies.
It is a simple formula, examine what is keep society busy, use that as your maintheme and make sure to emphasize the controversy as much as possible.Is that art? Well perhaps but that don't make it special.
This game is nothing more then any of those movies with taglines like "too shocking for tv", "the story they didn't want you to see", etc etc.
Am I saying games should NOT use subjects such as this? Not at all, go righ ahead and make all the exploitation games you want, it is not new. Remember GTA Hot Coffee? Tell me that is not a black exploitation game.
Just don't expect me to give you any special credit. All games are art in the same that movies and books and painting and photos and etc etc are art. They are somebodies form of expresion and you get to experience it.
But using shock value doesn't make it any better.
If you have not been moved by a single game before this game I would suggest you have either been playing the wrong games OR lack empathic capabilities.
On the other hand, I am increasingly worried that games are dumbing down to satisfy puritans. NWN2 and its lack of the chainmail bikini is an excellent example. I don't mind exploitation movies and I don't mind PG movies made by disney, but there should be a nice middle ground were adults can simple play games made for adults and not constantly have to worry that some 12 yr old might see a nipple. Or god forbid a Wii.
Four whole letters before an editor mistake.
I think we have a new Slashdot record!
The end portion, "-Danny Ledonne, possibly the second most famous game creator on Earth." is not a part of the original quote, it is the place where the quote is attributed to somebody. It is the author of the article who wrote it, not Ledonne."It's weird being a "celebrity;" I get autograph requests and death threats... all for an 8-bit videogame."
-Danny Ledonne, possibly the second most famous game creator on Earth.
While I don't think it should be censored, big deal if it it. The only relevance is what it says about the US as a whole - its capacity for letting offensive juvenile shit to get a free pass, in the se
The typical movie runs ninety minutes and is seen from both a physical and psychological distance.
The movies, like all theater, began as a social experience, not a solo viewing. That is not irrelevant when you are trying t
Each new user of a new system uncovers a new class of bugs. -- Kernighan

subset: commoncrawl


text:
GENEVA – Although the teachers union president said its unfair labor practice complaint against Geneva School District 304 would be withdrawn, no paperwork to dismiss it officially has been filed, officials said.
The Geneva Education Association had accused the school board of trying to intimidate teachers during this fall's contentious contract talks.
Last month, the district filed its own unfair labor practice against the teachers union. The district charged the union had bargained in bad faith because its attorneys agreed to drop the charge if a contract was ratified – and then refused.
"We have not received anything from either side – yet," said John Brosnan, special counsel to the Illinois Education al Labor Relations Board. "It looks like both sides will withdraw, but they have not filed paperwork yet."
In an email response, teachers union President Carol Young said the complaint would be dropped – but reluctantly.
"We did drop the unfair labor practice," Young's email states. "We needed to do this due to statements made by the [Illinois Education Association] attorney to the board's attorney."
School board President Mark Grosso said he could not comment about the unfair labor practice complaint because the issue has not been discussed by the board.
"We have nothing formal," Grosso said. "We just had email exchanges among attorneys."
Grosso said the board would talk about the teachers' and the district's unfair labor practice complaints at the next meeting, 7 p.m. Monday at Coultrap, 1113 Peyton St.
Young's email stated the teachers union was "not happy" to drop the complaint.
"The bigger issue is the respect and trust that has been damaged in the relationship between the Geneva School Board and the teachers by the board's actions during negotiations," Young said in her email. "A great deal of work needs to be done to mend this relationship and, unfortunately, the teachers have seen very little indication that the board is interested or willing to do that."
Grosso said he could not comment about Young's assertions.


text:
All "books" come with disappearing ink.
Why isn't Amazon getting into the publishing business to avoid all these greedy publisher problems? They have enough weight to put out ebooks without the involvement of people who seek out to drain every dollar from the author of the book, so I am not getting it. Perhaps contractual obligations prevent them from doing so, but we are no longer living in the time when only the guy with the printing press dictated how things are done. Or am I wrong?
First, they have to prove that there is a market.
The eBooks publishing method and the actual recruitment of authors are two separate businesses. In the laster case, they have to build up an infrastructure of editors and associated staff, and even a financing arm (for advances).
They may simply not want to take the risk and capital cost to get into the publishing business, preferring to do "one" thing well: distribution.
I keep wondering what infrastructure and financing you need if you're not dealing in dead trees and brick-and-mortar any more. Editing can be contracted out at the responsibility of the author who would just deliver a document in a specific format. Amazon would tally the sales and pay the author. That's it.
I think publishing as a business is dead, they just don't know it yet.
I can see a time coming where I will want to buy ebooks over real paper based books.
I think the ebooks market is there, but I do not think it will completly displace paper based books
They already do allow authors to cut out the middelmen and go direct. As long as you hold the digital rights for your work, it can be easily formatted and uploaded for the kindle store, then you sit back and wait for your tiny percentage to roll in. But like with iPhones, you still have to market yourself like crazy as Amazon will put in no effort to get your book found when people are browsing.
They are in the publishing business - it's called booksurge [booksurge.com] and is apparently in the process of being rebranded CreateSpace.
This is print on demand, self publishing stuff but reading the above articles make it pretty clear to me that this is where stuff is headed. The big publishing houses don't make a lot of sense any more. Pretty much like music.
"Booksurge allows for smaller runs of books..."
It allows for an unlimited run of ebooks. This is the issue I'm talking about. As more people purchase more books in electronic format as opposed to dead tree, big publishers will become less relevant.
There are still a number of services that a publisher can provide, and my guess would be that Booksurge and the like can or will provide them. So in a way, publishers will still exist, and they will still be a part of distribution but it is now all electronic and the payment structure will shift to reflect that.
In the last link, about the battle with publishers over pricing, it seems apparent to me that the primary leverage the publisher brings to the table is access to the markets, but that ceases to exist with digital media.
This should go without saying in any web forum, but I'm not a published author and I'm not involved in the publishing business. These are just my opinions as an avid reader and someone who spends a lot of time online. That said, I read the vast majority of my books off-line. The ebook readers and their functionality still aren't there for me. The ebooks I do read, I read on my laptop. I've never payed money for an ebook.
Booksurge is great for very niche products. I've bought some stuff that was published with them, that was great, but far, far from mainstream (Neopagan reconstructionism). One can see where a publisher's resources would help (higher rate of spelling errors), but overall, I think self-publishing like that is great for books with a very specific market.
That said, I agree with you that mainstream publishers aren't going anywhere. They do provide valuable services in terms of proofreading, editing and promotion
First of all, the car analogy is terrible. If you spend $5 on a book, and it sucks, oh well. Spending tends of thousands on a car is a different sort of investment.
Secondly, you're ignoring how all of these bloggers are getting book deals: peer popularity. As soon as you have a community of writers openly reviewing each other's work, it will be just like Netflix. "Hey, you liked the book that so and so recommended - here's another they enjoyed." Click. $5 spent. It sucked! Oh well. If they were really smart
you know there are things called book reviews that tend to help decide what books are worth reading. Heck if a book stinks you can stop reading it.
Your car analogy doesn't apply, a hand built car is a one off a book is exactly the same if there are 10 copies or 10,000 copies. It helps that some authors have a reputation so generally you can expect a certain quality. Admittedly some authors are over-rated overwise i'd never have read a book by Geoffrey Archer.
On the plus side more ebooks should make it easie
Seems to me this is completely parallel with the music industry today..... A lot of people are quick to claim the big record companies are "no longer relevant", yet currently, it's still primarily the people signed to major labels who get the majority of radio airplay and exposure in the mass media. It's all in transition, but it's probably still premature to declare the traditional "big publishers" dead.
I think your point about them functioning as "filters" is key. That's the real double-edged sword of
However where things get interesting is when you introduce amazons reccomendation engine into the picture.
consider http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html [wired.com] , that was about a book that while conventionally published was relatively obscure being given a huge leg-up by amazons reccomendation system. Since afaict books published through amazons print on demand system automatically get listed by amazon I see no reason why the same couldn't happen for the better ones of them.
If (and that is a big if) c
Finding good authors and hooking them up with good editors is not an easy job.
The Kindle and the Amazon web site are the only things Amazon has ever produced. Everything else, they're just a middle man.
The Kindle and the Amazon web site are the only things Amazon has ever produced.
And Amazon Web Services. You could almost describe them as a cloud computing company, who run their own e-commerce site as a reference implementation -- if it weren't for their impressive order fulfilment facilities too.
They are in the ebook publishing business with the Amazon Digital Test Platform: https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin [amazon.com]
You can have your book published directly to Kindle and get better royalties than many other publishers would give you.
What do you think is going to happen when Amazon announces that they'd be happy to give any author 25% of all sales if they publish direct through Amazon as opposed to the 5% their publishing house gives them?
They already do
http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=2&categoryID=12 [digitaltextplatform.com]
"5. Royalties. Provided you are not in breach of your obligations under this Agreement, we will pay you, for each Digital Book we sell, a royalty equal to thirty-five percent (35%) of the applicable
to avoid all these greedy publisher problems?
Generally authors enter into exclusive agreements with publishers so if they want to release e-book versions of existing published books then they have no choice but to work with the publishers of those books.
Just like if itunes want the current "hit" music they have to deal with the major record companies.
Why isn't Amazon getting into the publishing business to avoid all these greedy publisher problems?
What makes you think that Amazon isn't going to become as greedy as the little "greedy publishers" themselves? After all, this is essentially what happened the last time Amazon felt it had enough of a foothold with web affiliates. Once affiliates had invested enough time and money to build up their infrastructure customized around Amazon's technology, Amazon unilaterally decided to drastically cut down their c
They have enough weight to put out ebooks without the involvement of people who seek out to drain every dollar from the author of the book
What makes you think Amazon won't seek to drain every dollar from the author as well?
I'm curious to know how many people bought both paper and electronic books. I'm more than hesitant to spend a large amount of money on electronic books that come with DRM and/or oversight.
Well, fortunately, even if you don't own a Kindle, you now can just get the Kindle for PC copy of any book you like and pull the DRM off [slashdot.org]. And if you have a Kindle, you've been able to do the same for nearly as long as the Kindle's been out.
Is it easy to strip DRM on the Kindle? It seems like it ought to be something you could add to the device itself
Seems that way, doesn't it...
Incidentally, I happen to agree with you that DRM, in general, is awful. But the truth is, for the most part, DRM just isn't a workable technology. So as long as an option exists for me to strip away the DRM on the content I purchase, I'm largely indifferent. That said, until it was clear that the Kindle DRM was thoroughly hacked, I was largely in the "not for me" camp. But now, I'd definitely consider it (once the price comes down a bit on the device), just as I'm happy to purchase DVDs.
Joe Sixpack:
Monday: "Hmm... it turns out that buying DRM music was not a good idea. It's caused all sorts of problems for other people. From now on, I'll just buy plain mp3's!!"
Tuesday: "I want to buy some e-books. Hey, maybe DRM will be OK there!!"
Seriously, after the Kindle debacle, why on earth would anyone support that platform?
Hate to break it to you, but Joe Sixpack isn't that savvy. He doesn't know what DRM is, and he hasn't a clue what fucked up his music. Same thing for Grandma Jones. They're more likely to think it's somehow the band's fault that their CD didn't work, and will never buy their music again, in any form. Or they believe that the CD player is broken, because the disc worked in a different player.
Also, bad as DRM is, most people actually don't have trouble with it.
Also, bad as DRM is, most people actually don't have trouble with it.
Sufficient people had trouble with it, that Apple dropped DRM from iTunes Music Store.
My guess is that enough customers started kicking up a stink when their DRM'd AACs couldn't be played on some arbitrary MP3 player.
I think it had more to do with the record labels allowing it. Remember, when iTunes Plus came out, it was basically just EMI artists that were available DRM-free. After EMI didn't go out of business, and the other labels decided to allow Amazon to sell DRM-free tracks (to break Apple's hold on the digital market,) only to realize they didn't go out of business, they finally gave up and let Apple do it too.
The motivator behind DRM in music was the labels, not the distributors. I think that the same thing
I'm thinking (the people who use bittorrent to get all of their media) and (the people who buy eBooks for their Kindle) are generally two different crowds. Kindle users are probably the type who got all their music from CD's and iTunes and never noticed DRM because it doesn't stop you from playing your music on your iPod.
The only reason it affects me is because I like the media to be editable. For instance, if I had a Rocky DVD, I'd edit it so it ends with Rocky saying, "I'm scared, okay?" and then the cre
I guess I'll wade in here with a perspective. I'm someone who has been violently opposed to any DRM in my music files, and never bought a single track from iTunes in my life. I'm also a Kindle owner who happily buys DRM'd books from Amazon all the time. How can this be?
The difference I guess is how I want to consume the two different types of media. I want to be able to play my music again and again, now, and 20 years from now, in my car, on my media player, on my 4 different PCs, and on my living room
I got an Amazon voucher for Christmas, but I can't think of anything I want or need from there.
BTW, maybe the reason kindle books sold so well, is because the regular books were covered by dreck like this.
Amazon.com's Hot Holiday Bestsellers (Nov. 15 through Dec. 19, based on units ordered):
* Books: "Going Rogue" by Sarah Palin; "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown; and "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
I get it, you hate Amazon, but your post doesn't make any sense. Maybe the mods meant to give you Funny instead of Insightful.
First, Amazon sells millions of books as well as mp3s, computers, household appliances, groceries, and sports equipment. How can you not think of anything you want even for free?
Second, how are the millions of regular books being "covered" by a few titles you don't like? It's not like Amazon has made their website hard to use.
Third, you can buy Dan Brown and plenty of bad author
Actually, no, I like Amazon. I just think they are being disingenuous with their statistics.
I'm sure, eventually, I'll come up with something to buy. Just right now there is nothing I need or want. Unfortunately, that is why I ended up with a gift certificate. I was asked what I wanted for Christmas, and I genuinely could not come up with anything to tell them.
The quote from Amazon on their best sellers was just a poke at what is popular. Those same books probably sell in the same proportions at other store
Of course none of those sales are really sales - they're just rentals: no lending, no resales, no giving them to a friend or leaving them on a train for strangers (never mind still being capable of being deleted by Amazon as they see fit).
At least they're cheaper than buying a real book though. Oh wait.
You can simulate all those things on a Kindle by deleting the e-book.
Seriously, loaning a book to a friend? Wave goodbye to that one.
>You can simulate all those things on a Kindle by deleting the e-book.
What are you talking about? A Kindle ebook is tied to the account for which you can only have 6 users who then share everything - ideal for a family - not so ideal if you're looking to lend a book to a friend. Deleting the book on your Kindle in no way simulates selling the book: the prospective buyer can't read it unless they're using the same account; same with giving the book away: you can't. So how exactly does deleting the book on
With friends like those, who needs enemies? Ok, that might be a stretch, but my friends and I all share books and we actually give them back, either when we are done with them or when they are asked for, so I have no problem seeing the difference between loaning books and deleting books on the Kindle.
At least they're cheaper than buying a real book though. Oh wait.
I see the book my wife gave me for Christmas is cheaper as an ebook: $9.99 [amazon.com] vs $15.47 [amazon.com]. $9.99 doesn't seem like a bad price out of hand, although $6.99 or $0.01 would be even better
Now, I realize that's a sample size of one. I'd be interested from Kindle readers whether the books you actually buy tend to be cheaper than the hardcopies?
Kindle books are almost always cheaper than the new print equivalent (used print books are cheaper).
There are many good books available on Kindle offered for free on a promotional basis. Usually these books are the first in a series. I grabbed a copy of Manifold: Time for free during a promotion and ended up buying the other two books in the series, Manifold: Space and Manifold: Origin for $6.99 each.
There are also sample chapters available for most books so you can read the book before deciding to purcha
As another kindle user, yes, ebooks tend to be cheaper and it certainly saves $$ never to be paying full hardback pricing ever again. Honestly, I've stopped buying any physical books at all. Everything goes to Kindle, and unless I really want a particular book, I never pay more than $15 for one (non-technical books) and most of the time pricing is in the $6.99 - $9.99 range.
Honestly, the biggest problem I've had is that while most of the books that I want are available in kindle edition, not all are. Als
That must have been the hardcover edition of the ebook!
"or leaving them on a train for strangers"
Of course you can. You just leave your Kindle behind.
Just download the PDF file from the Web or P2P after you paid. Then you have the best of both worlds: Peace of mind and a book that nobody can take away from you.
Depends where you are, and the type of reader crowd you are talking about.
I've been in cafes where the ratio of Kindle to print readers was easily 2:1, and probably higher. If you travel a lot on business, the numbers are clearly through the roof on flights. That makes sense -- lugging books on business trips is just lousy.
What Amazon has said repeatedly is among the demographic that tends to buy a lot of books, the Kindle is taking over. Its telling when they can release numbers showing that 1/3 of their sales of books where electronic copies are available are electronic.
Nothing in the article suggests its replacing paper now, they're just saying for the first time they sold more ebooks than real books on a day, regardless of the reason. Thats still a significant step.
Wow, I have seen exactly one Kindle and I rountinely fly to and from SJC.
I got an Amazon gift certificate for Christmas, because Amazon has no mechanism to gift Kindle books (which is strangely shortsighted, but not the topic on hand...)
I did buy one book with it, but three other books I was going to buy the kindle copies were substantially more than the print copies (in one case, more than double the cost -- $19.97 versus something in the $8 range for a *hardcover*!)
I'm not sure if others have noticed, but lately Kindle books have been trending upwards in price, and its pretty common now that paperback editions are less than the Kindle copies, whereas six months ago they tended to be cheaper, if only by a nickel or something...)
I don't know if prices jumped on Christmas because they expected this, and will come back down, or if these higher prices I noticed on that day will persist into the new year. I'm not sure what Amazon is thinking -- gaming prices is a bad idea when you start getting competition that people actually are talking about.
I'm not sure if others have noticed, but lately Kindle books have been trending upwards in price, and its pretty common now that paperback editions are less than the Kindle copies, whereas six months ago they tended to be cheaper, if only by a nickel or something...)
No I hadn't noticed. Since you mentioned it I looked at a dozen or two of the Amazon bestsellers, and a bunch of other random books, and couldn't find a single one where the Kindle price was more than the paperback price, if the paperback is currently out. (I found one book where the list Kindle price is higher, for a paperback due in Feb 2010, but when the paperback comes out I'm sure the Kindle price will drop as well). Pretty common? How about some links to these examples, I can't find any?
While the sales have apparently ended, most of December the -hardbound- of Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel at either Amazon or B&N was cheaper than the respective eBook versions. Granted without the sales going on the eBook is now cheaper, but one does wonder why the digital copy would -ever- be prices higher than any
other version.
Unfortunately, Amazon seems to have a pretty good lock-in on the eBook market right now despite any potential price gaming. They're still much cheaper than the Sony Reader store for most books; Books on Board manages to offer slightly more competitive prices than Sony, but they're not as cheap as Amazon.
Amazon seems to be maintaining its competitive pricing on books, even in the eBook arena; and, other stores are either unable or unwilling to follow suit.
I got a Sony PR-505 last year and have yet to purchase a single ebook.
The DRM bothers me, but there are enough python scripts running around that will strip it out of the epub/pdf formats that it's not that much of a concern.
Price is why I don't buy them. While there are a handful of public domain books worth reading (opinion) the real content is only for sale.
I just flat-out refuse to pay 50% more for the same content in basically the same format that the publisher already has filed away somewhere. When do you think the last time that a major popular author wrote out a manuscript on a typewriter was? Or longhand? You know it's already in an electronic document format somewhere.
No printing, no binding, no shipping, no stocking, no returns. No fuel, no toxic waste from the paper making process, no toxins from the inks.
Yet I get to pay 50% more?
That's my point exactly.
If the physical paperback is $7, why is the ebook $10?
Yeah, it's only a couple of bucks, but if the ebooks actually cost $3 more apiece to produce, I'll eat my hat.
Sorry, near me in the US, the paperbacks usually go for $7.
That makes the $10 nearly 50% more.
Amazon shot themselves by forcing the kindle to be cell phone wireless only rather than allow 802.11x wifi as well. Servers and bandwidth - books are tiny compared to music and movies. I get 20G from my webhost for $15/month. That would host 20,000 book downloads or more. DRM - introducing their own costs again, Amazons own fault. No reason at all why ebooks couldnt be $0.5 each and still get more mony to the author than with a paper book. Making this inexpensive would also fight piracy, why waste all that
I have never bought an e-book either. However, I did order over half a dozen books from Amazon this month, one as a gift.
Amazon's used books are the best I have found price-wise besides thrift stores, and with thrift stores you can only buy what is physically there.
Most older books can be had for a penny plus $3.99 shipping (media mail).
What's more, you can't get ebooks secondhand or closeout. Forget 50% markup-- aside from programming manuals and the like (which usually only go closeout once they're obsolete), I get sticker-shock just looking at the MSRP of most paper books.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that for Kindle books (and others, I imagine), there is some extra work involved in reformatting them for ebook readers. I've heard gripes and annoyances from a friend of mine who had to beat a book into shape for Kindlization. Whi
I just flat-out refuse to pay 50% more for the same content in basically the same format that the publisher already has filed away somewhere. When do you think the last time that a major popular author wrote out a manuscript on a typewriter was? Or longhand? You know it's already in an electronic document format somewhere.
Neal Stephenson apparently wrote the entire Baroque Cycle by hand using a fountain pen. Old school!
For me the best solution to the ebook price debacle would be to sell ebooks at the same price as regular books, let me download the ebook instantly, and then send me the paper book in the mail. I like having the paper books around. It's like when I buy CDs - I get the CD, rip it, then throw it on the shelf never to be used again (unless I lose my mp3 collection or something).
Nobody has mentioned Baen Books and Webscriptions yet? Inexpensive, DRM-Free science-fiction & fantasy eBooks, lots of them. Sure, they don't specifically sell Kindle-format through Amazon, but wait--they have DRM-free MOBI format, which *IS* Kindle format minus the DRM. And you can load it on your Kindle.
Me, I have a Sony PRS-505, because I didn't want to be locked into Amazon's proprietary format and ugly-ass eReader.
Amazon doesn't care about the Kindle. What they want are ebook sales and to sell ebooks, you need an ebook reader. So, Amazon created one.
Amazon would be thrilled if Apple came out with their own ebook reader and it drove Kindle sales down the drain as long as all those new Apple ebook readers got their books from Amazon. And guess which retailer will make a mint selling that Apple ebook reader? (Hint, their name begins with "A and ends with "N").
Ebooks for Amazon means no warehousing, no stocking, no shipp
Actually, since Kindle format is MOBI with Amazon's special DRM added, once you strip the DRM you can convert it to ePUB and use it on other readers. Not that that's how Amazon intended it to be done, and it's a lot of hoops to jump through, but...
I've been looking through my collection of eBooks, all but one non-DRMed Mobipocket or PalmDoc format, and the first ones I got were in January of 2000, right after I bought my first PDA. For me, eBooks were the "killer product" for a PDA.
Near as I can tell the big reason these things haven't taken off are:
1. The format wars. We need an "MP3 of eBooks". Mobipocket format is pretty common, and it's good enough.
2. The price. People aren't going to pay higher-than-paperback prices for an electronic book. They know how cheap electronic distribution is, that needs to be part of the deal.
It's all in the wording: "More Ebooks On Christmas Than Real Books", "sold more ebooks on one day than real books".
They aren't saying that people would suddenly rather buy/receive ebooks than regular books for christmas, they are saying that ebooks are an option for last-minute shoppers on christmas day. Basically ebooks are an alternative to buying gift cards, due to their instant delivery.
I expect you're right. I (and a number of people I know), purchased Amazon Gift cards at the 11th hour.
Convenience and rapid availability would apply very well to any dowloadable media.
It's all in the wording: "More Ebooks On Christmas Than Real Books", "sold more ebooks on one day than real books".
They aren't saying that people would suddenly rather buy/receive ebooks than regular books for christmas, they are saying that ebooks are an option for last-minute shoppers on christmas day. Basically ebooks are an alternative to buying gift cards, due to their instant delivery.
For last minute gifts, yes.
But... given few stores are open on Christmas, is it any wonder that these services have a
Why would many people be hopping on the web to order stuff on Xmas? They're playing with their new toys. A lot of those toys will be Kindles. And a lot of the people firing up their Kindles for the first time will want to get some books on there.
What kills me is the fact that Amazon is still charging TEN DOLLARS PER TITLE for most books. And people are PAYING it! It's pure, unadulterated bullshit. There's no reason (other than greed) for the price of ebooks to be so high. Absolutely none. They shoul
While i agree it should not be more expensive to get the e-book format, your rationale is possibly based on a false assumption; You assume that a books cost is $X because of the cost of shipping paper, printing presses, ink, etc. However, the actual physical costs associated could be pennies on the dollar of the retail cost (just like creating a CD is only pennies), while the lion's share actually goes for publishing percentage, editor fees, and the like.
It still doesn't make sense, unless of course the leg
Delivery costs for any book delivered from an online retailer are at least 10 pounds in the UK by courier for delivery within a wekk. Even more if you want next day delivery. Books from the local bookstore are about the same as the online retailer - though this depends on the location. I found that ordering books from the campus bookstore was more expensive that the downtown store, along with writing pads and pens. Both have to pay for commercial leases, but you have to handle the delivery to your home your
for various people for presents and not one of them was an Ebook, or from Amazon for that matter.
B&N and the local book store were the benificiaries of my business this year. I recently had a return item fiasco with Amazon...I sent the item insured and registered, they received it, and signed for it then claimed it never arrived.
Sure, they probably sold a few Kindles this Christmas. But my guess is they compare annual low with annual high here. Who the fuck buys paper books on Christmas day?!
- You're guaranteed a long wait for the item to arrive in the post due to holidays.
- You're busy with whatever family-holiday thing you do.
- It's a bit late buying that book as a gift.
- If it's for yourself, you probably bought it already.. when you bought Christmas gifts two week ago.
- You've already got lots of new stuff.
Who goeth a-borrowing goeth a-sorrowing. -- Thomas Tusser


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Submission + - Free charging for Tesla S (yahoo.com)
locallyunscene writes: Tesla has created the first solar charging stations for its Model S and plans to offer free charging. Is free fuel enough to for the electric car to finally gain traction?
The technology at the heart of the Supercharger was developed internally and leverages the economies of scale of existing charging technology already used by the Model S, enabling Tesla to create the Supercharger device at minimal cost. The electricity used by the Supercharger comes from a solar carport system provided by SolarCity, which results in almost zero marginal energy cost after installation. Combining these two factors, Tesla is able to provide Model S owners free long distance travel indefinitely.


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Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 4th Aug 2005 20:49 UTC
The news that Apple is going to switch to Intel processors shook up the computing world. Many users and developers were eager to publish their opinions on the switch. However, one group of people were totally neglected during all this: resellers. Today, we feature an interview with Wim Schermer, first Dutchman to own a Mac (in 1984), and co-founder of one of the biggest Apple retail stores in The Netherlands, MacSupport. We discuss the switch to Intel, and much more.
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RE: Is that really true?
by Anonymous on Fri 5th Aug 2005 10:54 UTC in reply to "RE: Is that really true?"
Johann Chua wrote:
Um, haven't you heard of the Pentimu M?
No, never. Could that be the reason I stated I think it's the best CPU Intel ever created?
Sarcasm aside, you've got a point. He was talking about laptops, and obviously a P4 is not even on the radar while M is. Still, is the M really that more efficient than a G5? 5-7 times is ... much.


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Anti-Israel BrainwashJul 27, 2012 at 04:40:40 AM
Nicky Larkin is an Irish filmmaker who always identified as pro-Palestinian – wearing the fashionable PLO keffiyeh scarf... viewing Israel as the ogre… the whole nine yards.
Last year, Larkin received a grant to travel to Israel to make a film about the Palestinians. "My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel," he says.
Yet when he began to investigate, he realized that the facts didn't square with what he believed. He concluded: He'd been brainwashed by the media (and pro-Palestinian activists) to hate Israel.
"Any artist worth his or her salt should be ready to change their mind on receipt of fresh information," Larkin says. "I would urge all those artists who pledged to boycott Israel to spend some time there."
See this interview where the Irish filmmaker says how he "hated" Israel – until he actually bothered to investigate.


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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) -- A man takes justice into his own hands when he happens to discover his stolen vehicle.
The Orchard Mesa man -- whose name has not been released-- reported his Jeep Cherokee stolen on Wednesday, according to Grand Junction Police Spokesperson Kate Porras.
Just before 10 Friday morning, the man was driving in the desert on 27 ¼ Road when he happened to spot his stolen Jeep on the side of the road.
When he approached it, he saw a man sleeping inside.
Instead of waiting for police to arrive, the auto theft victim drew a gun and held the suspect at gunpoint until officers came.
Porras says as the officers were dealing with the situation, another car with three people inside drove quickly up to the scene, ignoring officers' commands to stop and stay back.
Officers pulled their weapons and detained the trio riding inside, along with the auto theft suspect. Police believe they somehow know the man found sleeping in the Jeep.
Porras says no one has been arrested at this time. Now, officers are processing both vehicles and checking for stolen property.
While pulling a gun worked for this man, Porras wants to remind people that it may not be the best option in every situation.
"We also want people to remember that things can quickly turn bad, and so you need to think about your own safety first. He certainly did the right thing in calling 911 immediately," said Porras.


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You appear to be confusing mortgage foreclosure with city lien. I have no mortgage so I don't worry about foreclosure. As for city lien, the city/town will never kick me out of my home (even if I were in arrears for back taxes) because my homelessness doesn't help anyone (contrary to certain conspiracy-type-theories) The lien might make resell difficult, but that is not the issue we are discussing.dsula wrote:pstarr wrote:dsula, you apparently do not understand property tax . A municipality can not afford to tax all property beyond the owners ability to pay, otherwise the tax base disappears.
Yeah, you would think so. But I wouldn't count on it. Especially not in a slow crash. Every year 1% or so more in taxes. You go delinquent, your property is up for auction. The local big farmers scoop it up, you're done. As long as this only happens to a few residents a year it will go unnoticed.
I would especially not count on you (as a subsistance guy) to be able to outrun big money.
oh yeah? tell that to the Grand Poobah of Great Easter Islande Federation of Big Chiefs. (GEIFBC) He'll certainly want to take it up at the next county supes meeting.dsula wrote:Don't count on collapes


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Hershey to use only certified cocoa
Associated Press
Candy maker Hershey is vowing to use only certified cocoa for all of its chocolate products by 2020 and accelerate programs to help eliminate child labor in the cocoa-producing regions of West Africa.
The company has come under fire from activists who said it was the only major chocolate producer in the world that hadn't made a commitment to use certified cocoa.
The central Pennsylvania company said Wednesday its plan to use certified cocoa — which is produced according to certain social, economic and environmental standards — should "significantly expand" its global supply, especially from West Africa, which produces about 70 percent of the world's cocoa.
The company also vowed continued support of community programs, such as village school construction, training in modern farming and health programs.
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Dodge Momentum Index Holds Steady in November
By: PR Newswire
Dec. 7, 2012 01:57 PM
NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dodge Momentum Index held steady in November, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. The Dodge Momentum Index registered a 92.5 (2000=100) in November, a 0.5% increase relative to October's revised 92.0. After reaching a low point in mid-2011, the turnaround in the Momentum Index has been a relatively slow and hesitant one, with monthly upward movement often followed by a decline. A full-fledged recovery in future development plans, particularly for commercial building, has been hampered by the business sector's anxiety about future economic conditions. Meanwhile, continued tight fiscal conditions at all levels of government have led to an uneven pattern for the institutional side of the index.
The modest gain in the November Index was the result of an increase for institutional building, which grew by 1.7% in November. The education component of the Index was a bit stronger in November, though it's likely to settle back in the coming months as budget constraints linger. The increase in institutional building plans was partially offset by a decline in the commercial component of the index, which in November eased 0.6% from October. New development plans for office projects slipped in November, although new plans for store projects rose modestly over the month. The gain in the retail segment of the index was helped by the recent revival of plans for the Shops at Summerlin, a previously stalled project in northwest Las Vegas.
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Taiwan's economy has been on track for a mild recovery since late last year, but the latest data show the nation's economic activity in the first three months of the year has failed to instill as much vitality as expected, raising the prospect of a bumpy road ahead.
External demand remains uncertain, while it looks likely that there will be even more economic challenges this quarter. If private investment falls short of the government's forecast — and most importantly, if the avian flu situation further impacts the leisure and travel sectors, as well as private consumption — the government may yet have to rethink its plans to boost the economy.
Last week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported that exports had a lackluster performance in the first quarter, amid signs that the world economy is slowing. Furthermore, according to data released on Monday, growth in export orders contracted 6.6 percent year-on-year last month and was down 1.7 percent in the first quarter, indicating that the weakness in shipments over the next one to three months has lasted beyond the seasonal impact of February's Lunar New Year holiday.
Then, on Tuesday, the ministry released weaker-than-expected industrial production data for last month, which showed output from the industrial sector declined 3.28 percent year-on-year, the biggest drop in 15 months. Cumulative output in the first quarter rose 0.78 percent year-on-year, but declined 6.1 percent quarter-on-quarter.
On the same day, the ministry said that domestic commercial sales remained weak and the latest data indicated that revenue from the wholesale, retail and restaurant sectors was down 0.7 percent last month from the previous year, while cumulative revenue last quarter rose just 0.4 percent year-on-year.
The figures suggest that if anyone had been celebrating the "green shoots" of economic recovery this year, their celebrations will have fizzled out late last quarter.
Moreover, consumer demand, which is necessary for sustainable recovery, is likely to remain subdued.
The latest unemployment figures, released on Monday last week, showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate gained 0.02 percentage points to 4.18 percent last month, staying flat from a year ago due to the stagnant job market.
The final blow came on Friday, when the Council for Economic Planning and Development said the composite economic indicators were at "yellow-blue" for the seventh consecutive month last month, suggesting that the momentum for recovery is still weak. More surprisingly, the annualized six-month moving average of leading indicators, which provides a more accurate forecast of near-term business cycles, fell by 0.2 percentage points month-on-month last month. This was the first decline since July last year, hinting that the nation's economic momentum is slowing.
A major threat to the economy during this quarter and in the second half of the year is the strength of economic recovery in other parts of the world, especially in developed nations. Therefore, it is not surprising that several Taiwanese high-tech companies have said in recent weeks that they have limited industry visibility for the near term, and have no plans to increase capital investment targets for the year.
With the recent news that economic growth in China and the US was weaker than expected in the first quarter of the year, with economies in many parts of the eurozone still in recession, and renewed concern over H7N9 avian flu in Taiwan, a further period of sluggish economic growth remains a distinct prospect, at least during the current quarter.
With this in mind, no one should be overconfident of a Taiwanese economic recovery, and the government and the public must both stay vigilant to prevent the nation's economy from derailing.


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Farmingdale State junior forward Andrew Whilby (St. Albans, NY/Wolmers Boys School) was named to the Skyline Player of the Week Honor Roll for men's soccer on Monday, October 23rd. A late hat trick by Whilby in the final 15 minutes of play, gave Farmingdale a 3-0 conference victory over Old Westbury this week. First, Whilby connected on a cross at the six yard box for the 1-0 lead. One minute later, he scored on a penalty kick. Then as time was running out, he slipped past the Panthers defense and beat the goalie one-on-one to complete the hat trick.
The Skyline Conference Weekly Reports for fall sports are announced by the Conference on Monday nights. Reports (including players of the week and statistics) are available to view on the Skyline website at www.skylineconference.org.


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Drug charges added against Ohio man in fatal fire
- Written by AP
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man charged with setting a fire that killed two Toledo firefighters has been indicted on unrelated charges of selling synthetic drugs.
The Lucas County Prosecutor's Office said 61-year-old Ray Abou-Arab was indicted Thursday on two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance. His son, 34-year-old Omar Abou-Arab, was indicted on two counts of complicity in the commission of trafficking in a controlled substance.
The (Toledo) Blade (http://bit.ly/1iixG7Z ) reports that they are accused of selling an illegal synthetic marijuana product at a store they operated.
Ray Abou-Arab has pleaded not guilty to charges that he set the fire in late January that killed a veteran firefighter and a rookie. He's being held on a nearly $6 million bond.
A judge issued a gag order for attorneys in the case.
Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/


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I was left to my own devices… and a semi-well-stocked pantry.
I started with a recipe from Alosha's Kitchen…and chicken from the freezer, canned tomatoes from the summer and left-over cream from lord-knows-what. But as I scanned the ingredient list, I realized modifications would be necessary.
I didn't have yogurt to marinate the chicken, but I did have a scootch of left-over sour cream from this year's latke-fest. I didn't have garam malsala – an Indian spice blend – but did have most of the ingredients. And the recipe called for grilling the chicken first before simmering it – and I had no interest in adding the extra step of precooking the chicken, much less digging out the grill from under its blanket of snow. Instead, I added some smoked onions to the sauce to give it that extra depth.
This was a bit more labour intensive than I planned, but still only 20 minutes from start to finish. All-in-all a delicious dish!
From the garden: canned tomatoes and jalapenos
Here's the original recipe with my modifications.
Chicken Tikka Masala
adapted from What's for Dinner via Alosha's Kitchen
1 cup plain yogurt (I used 2 tbs. sour cream)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into strips or large cubes
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 smoked onion
1 tsp. fresh ginger
1 jalapeno chile, minced (I used a smoked jalapeno leftover from the summer garden)
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala (or 1/4 tsp. ground ginger + 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom + 1/8 tsp. clove + 1/4 tsp. cinnamon +1/8 tsp. cumin)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups half-and-half (or 1/2 cup heavy cream + 1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
In a small mixing bowl, combine everything on the marinade list, including the chicken. Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours (overnight is better.)
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, ginger and jalapeño, and stir for a minute. Add the chicken and lightly brown. Stir in the seasonings, and salt. Add the tomato sauce, and stir for one minute. Add the half-and-half, and simmer, covered, until the sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through.
Serve with basmati rice or naan bread. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Happy New Year! Wishing you a sparkling and joyous year.


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Bernd Erbel: Germany's New Ambassador to Iraq
Most diplomats would consider Baghdad more of a hardship post. But not Bernd Erbel. For him, being the new German ambassador to Iraq is the highlight of his diplomatic career spanning almost three decades.
The 56-year-old Erbel has been fascinated by the Orient since his childhood. Already as a 16-year-old student in Karlsruhe, he traveled through Egypt. Since then, the Arab world has not relinquished its hold on him.
The former charge d'affaires presented his credentials to Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawar earlier this week. Erbel is the first official German representative in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last year. Berlin deliberately waited to select and send a new diplomat until the interim Iraqi government took power on June 28.
Foreign posts
Erbel studied Law and Middle Eastern history in Munich and is fluent in Arabic. He joined the diplomatic service in 1975, and was sent to his first foreign post two years later: the German Embassy in Beirut. There, he met his wife, May, a Lebanese Christian. They have two sons and a daughter, who all speak fluent Arabic.
Erbel's later posts all led to the Arab world. Initially, he represented the German Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen. Later, he functioned as a German diplomat in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, as well as in Cairo, Egypt.
Between his foreign posts, he worked for several years for the Middle Eastern desk of Germany's Foreign Ministry in Bonn.
A great challenge
Berlin and Baghdad have had diplomatic relations since 1974. The last German ambassador left Iraq in 1991 at the time of the first Gulf War. Germany reopened a mission with a charge d'affaires in 1999, but closed it down at the time of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Although Erbel's title as ambassador has just become official, he has already been in Baghdad since June in order to meet all the necessary preparations for his new task and the re-opening of the German Embassy there.
For him, the post in Baghdad is a step up. It is his first post as a full ambassador. It is a difficult task and a great challenge at the same time, both on a diplomatic level, as well as in security terms.
But Erbel was already able to collect experience in times of civil unrest during his post in Beirut and will know when to lay low when the bullets are flying. His well-known sense of humor and easy-going personality will also certainly help him deal with his quite stressful job environment.
In Baghdad, the embassy and his residence are based in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood, barricaded behind sand bags. These security measures are vital in the current situation. However, Erbel with his experience in Arab matters and language skills should still be in the position to understand the mentality of the Iraqi people and politicians.
Fares Youwakim


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This series of projects are part of the Piedmont Improvement Program, supported by a $520-million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 grant and will enhance safety for train travelers, motorists and pedestrians, while laying the foundation for a higher-performing freight and passenger rail network.
"North Carolina's Piedmont Improvement Program is strengthening freight and passenger rail service, while also delivering substantial road improvements to reduce congestion and make highway-rail grade crossings safer," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Projects like these create jobs, promote economic growth and foster more livable communities."
A combination of new grade separations, such as road or rail overpasses or underpasses, and highway-rail grade crossing closures and enhancements, will enable trains on the Piedmont Corridor to travel faster and more reliably and help communities benefit from reduced roadway congestion and improved safety at crossings.
"The safest crossing is one that doesn't exist and NCDOT is now on its way to eliminating 50 crossings between Charlotte and Raleigh while building strategic underpasses and overpasses," said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo. "North Carolina Transportation Secretary Tony Tata and NCDOT continue to advance the Piedmont Improvement Program, which is proving to the nation that market-based investments in higher-performing rail service also deliver important safety improvements for trains, pedestrians and vehicles."
There are more than 7,000 highway-rail grade crossings in North Carolina, with nearly three hundred located along the Piedmont Corridor in Rowan and Guilford counties. The Piedmont Improvement Program will eliminate 17 percent of the grade crossings in these two counties, creating separations between rail and vehicular traffic with new overpasses and underpasses.
A project that broke ground recently at Klumac Road near Salisbury will result in a new double-track railroad bridge to eliminate the existing at-grade crossing. And later this month, NCDOT will begin construction of a new roadway bridge that will eliminate four crossings south of Salisbury at Peeler Road.
The Piedmont Improvement Program includes 12 projects dedicated to separating rail and highway traffic and builds on NCDOT's Sealed Corridor Program, which began in 1992 and aims to improve or consolidate highway-rail grade crossings along the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor. The Piedmont Corridor is part of the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor, which runs from Washington, D.C. to Charlotte, with planning underway for an extension to Atlanta, Ga.


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SEMI-STATE: Three county wrestlers advance in tournament
HUNTERTOWN — The season goes on for all three Whitley County wrestling teams as Columbia City, Churubusco and Whitko each qualified a wrestler for next Saturday's IHSAA Wrestling Semi-State.Columbia City's Russell Hazelet qualified with a fourth-place finish at 182 pounds and Churubusco freshman Chase Downing advanced by placing fourth in the 120-pound weight class. Whitko senior Cody Bays will represent the Wildcats by way of a third-place finish at 145 pounds.Hazelet scored a 56-second pinfall win over New Haven's Matt Robinson in the quarterfinals to advance to meet No. 1 seed and eventual weight class champion Cody Conrad of Heritage. In the match for third place Hazelet fell to Bishop Dwenger's Ben Evans 5-2 in a match that was close throughout.Downing advanced with what was probably the most dramatic of the quarterfinal wins with a pinfall win with one-second left in the second period while trailing 9-3 against New Haven's Ryan Shaffer. Downing dropped a 10-5 decision to Lockett to take the fourth and final qualifying spot.Whitko's Bays filled out the Whitley County qualifiers with his third-place finish at 145 pounds. Bays advanced to the semifinals with a first period pinfall win over Snider's Dustin Wells. In the semifinals, Bays squared off against Sam Johnson of Bishop Luers who advanced with a 10-3 win over Columbia City junior Alan Trabert.All three Whitley County coaches were unanimous that despite the desire to qualify more wrestlers for semi-state competition, they were pleased at getting at least one wrestler through.Columbia City Head Coach Blane Culp said, "One wrestler is an improvement over last year. Realistically I thought we might get a couple more through, but at least we got the one through, which means another week or wrestling and another week of practice to prepare.""'One is better than none' is one way of looking at it," said Churubusco Coach Sam Riesen. "And with him (Downing) down 9-3 it could easily have been none.""We knew we should advance anywhere between one and four," said Whitko Head Coach Frank Bumgardner. "We knew we had to wrestle well to get more out. We're not fully satisfied, but now we just have to concentrate on the one that we did get out."The semi-state competition will take place at the Memorial Coliseum with rounds beginning at 9 a.m. The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to the state finals.


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The Parents should have paid.Just because the Parents home is Herman-proof doesn't mean that the Nanny should have made her home Herman-proof.She did the parents a favour by taking him home with her.
If this wasn't a nanny who was well acquainted with the child, I would say the parents should most definately pay. But this nanny was being paid to care fro the child, knew the habits of the child and chose to leave an expensive items easily accesible to him. As the parent, I would pay if asked. But I'd feel the nanny was very careless in leaving the item out and was maybe not watching the child as closely as needed.It's sort of like I agree to dog sit in my home. I am aware the dog chews on shoes and know to put shoes away but lI eave a pair out accessible to the dog. I wouldn't ask my friend to pay for the shoes because it was my mistake.
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|6 years ago :: Apr 25, 2012 - 6:42PM #1
Earlier this week, former president Jimmy Carter opened the three-day international World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Chicago. He challenged young people to stand up against unnecessary wars, and he held the U.S. government accountable for making pre-emptive strikes.
Quick Reply
|6 years ago :: Apr 25, 2012 - 8:57PM #2
Mr. Carter is right, of course, but he is not going to jail, as he no doubt would if he took a similar stance in many of the nations the US is criticized for standing up to.
As for Mr. Gorbachev, I would judge he might want to save his advice for those in his own homeland who corrupted the reforms he started with such promise.
Quick Reply
|6 years ago :: Apr 25, 2012 - 9:00PM #3
Since 1951 thus US has been at war of fighting somewhere . The only war without a justification was Iraq. Vietnam was a military assistance to help an allied nation.( 1954 France then South Vietnam). Korea was a UN Action to repeal an invasion. Lebanon, Granada invasions were to rescue Americans caught in a civil war. A little publicized fact of Panama and "Operation Just Cause" is
On December 15, 1989, Noriega sought and was given by the legislature the title of chief executive officer of the government. The Noriega-led assembly declared that a state of war with the United States existed. The next day Panamanian soldiers killed an unarmed U.S. Marine officer dressed in civilian clothes.
Operation Desert Storm was the Liberation of Kuwait and Afghanistan was to defeat Al Qaida. Iraq was supposedly about nonexistent WMDs; Inspectors had not found any. Dissenters inside Iraq could not offer any evidence; The US Administration lied to start the Iraq war.
"I seldom make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect." Edward Gibbon
Quick Reply
|6 years ago :: Apr 25, 2012 - 11:38PM #4
Howdy Solf
I have a little problem with the title of the thread. It is inaccurate and polemical.
Former Pres. Carter did NOT STATE THAT THE U.S. was "Warmongers".
What he DID STATE, according to the link you posted was:
"For the last 60 years, our country has been almost constantly at war. Now we are contemplating war against Iran."
He dd NOT STATE WHY the U.S. was "contemplating" a war with Iran.
Former Pres. Carter did state
"We need to find a way to feed the starving children in North Korea and, at the same time, not exalt the leaders of North Korea,"
Former Pres. Carter did NOT STATE "THE WAY" to feed the starving children in North Korea AND not exalt the leaders of North Korea".
Former Pres. Carter, winner of the Noble Prize For Peace DID STATE
""I'm not against all wars … but any war should begin only as a last resort and after every possible means of resolution (like sanctions)has been exhausted."
"While most laureates agreed that war should be a last resort, some opposed sanctions as a means of forcing countries, even North Korea, to change course on nuclear weapons. Embargoes, they said, tend to do more harm to those living under an oppressive regime than to the leaders."
I would agree that sanctions in the form of embargoes do tend to do more harm to those living under oppressive regimeS than to the leaders of the oppressive regimes. Sodom Hussein did not suffer any harm from the sanctions and embargoes, the people under his oppressive regime did suffer harm. Qadaffy did not suffer any harm from the sanctions and embargoes, the people under his oppressive regime did suffer harm. Assad of Syria is not suffering from any harm from t the sanctions and embargoes, the people under his oppressive regime are suffering harm from embargoes and sanctions.
It appears to me that sanctions and embargoes do not work and cause the people to suffer.
I do agree that the proliferation of nuclear does pose a threat to peace.
However I have not heard any of the Former Nobel Peace winners or anyone else for that matter state how to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, either in North Korea, Iran, or anywhere else.
editing only altered the format. RK
Moderated by rangerken on Apr 26, 2012 - 12:47AM
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|6 years ago :: Apr 26, 2012 - 1:09AM #5
The U.S. was right to fight World War II, but the only other justifiable 20th century war, in my opinion, was Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait. And that was a very short-term operation.
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|6 years ago :: Apr 26, 2012 - 8:07AM #6
Howdy Solf
I would strongly agree that the U.S. was "right" to fight in W.W.II. I am somewhat less certain that it was "right" for the U.S. to fight to liberate Kuwait.
However that was not my objection.
My objection is with the title you named the thread.
Forrmer Pres. Carter did NOT state the the U.S. was a WARMONGER.
NEITHER did any of the other Nobel Peace Prize winners.
That the U.S. was in WWII is a statement of FACT.
Wether or not the U.S. was "just" in fighting WWII is a statement of "opinion'. It is a "value" statement. As such it can be subject to "opinion".
You CAN have differences of "opinions" on "values" such as "justice".
You CANNOT have a difference of "opinon" on FACTS. At least not in this particular case.
Do you agree or disagree that neither former Pres. Carter, nor any of the other Nobel Peace Prize winners STATE THAT THE U.S. WAS A WARMONGER?
In my previous posts I also posted about other....problems I had with the link-article that YOU posted. Problems which you have not commented on.
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|6 years ago :: Apr 26, 2012 - 6:32PM #7
The title of this thread was not one that I made up myself. As it happens, I took the title from the heading of the newspaper article about Carter's speech that appeared in our local daily newspaper. And I paraphrased some of the content of that reporter's article as well.
The reason I did this was to show the Americans who might be looking at the thread how people in another country see Americans today. Maybe Americans do not see themselves as warmongers, but unfortunately this is the impression many of us overseas are getting these days.
For instance, compared to other countries, the U.S. defence budget is enormous, and America is the world's top military spender.
And, as we've seen in the news recently, money for the military comes from cutting social programmes like food stamps.
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|6 years ago :: Apr 26, 2012 - 6:44PM #8
Now, regarding your questions about America's participation in WWII:
I think we can safely say that, had America not been drawn into that conflict (by the attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's subsequent declaring war on the U.S.), that war might have been won by the Axis powers.
America's enormous arms industry and huge numbers of men quickly recruited into the armed services played a vital role in defeating Germany and Japan.
It was a very close thing there for awhile.
So, I really don't think that saying that the U.S. was justified in fighting WWII is simply opinion. Rather, I think it is provable fact.
I do not think that going into what was euphemistically known as the 'police action' in Korea in the early 1950s was justified because that was based on the American paranoia about Communism in those days. And the war in Vietnam was fought because of those same fears.
This was during the Cold War, when Americans' fears of communism were the driving force behind U.S. foreign policy.
In the end, as history has proven, worries about communism were unjustified.
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|6 years ago :: Apr 26, 2012 - 8:59PM #9
"In the end, as history has proven, worries about communism were unjustified"
You seem to be assuming that had the USA and the free world just sat back and watched, the USSR would have gone the way it did.
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|6 years ago :: Apr 26, 2012 - 9:26PM #10
"In the end, as history has proven, worries about communism were unjustified" History shows that worries were justified. The countries that were under the Soviet sphere suffered. Recall the redevelopment of East verses west after WWII Soviet countries still had war rubble and poor economies when the Soviet Union collapsed. West Germany was an Economic powers house, A democracy, East Germany a sickly, conquered dictatorship Look at countries that succumbed to communism: Repressed people, "reeducation", gulags, Recall the massacres of South Korean as the North Korean moved South. The price of Communism was discovered in mass graves as the UN punished the North Korean. Recall Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge and the killing fields. Read accounts of the North Vietnamese read education and cleansing of the South after the fall of Saigon. Look at Cuba under Communism
The cost of fighting the cold war kept the Soviet Union for economic development. The Free enterprise methods of the US fighting cold war helped with economic and social development in the US. Our defense budget supports a lot of technological development, Medical research and development and infrastructure building*1 . Gorbachev finally gave up on the cold war and told General Colin Powell" Gorbachev stopped, looked up, captured a thought and smiled. He looked at General Powell and said "You will have to find a new enemy.".
The communist threat was real and justified. As with any issue Politicians milked it beyond truth.
*1(wiki) The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of 25 billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System supposedly over a 10-year period, it was the largest public works project in American history through that time.[1]
The money for the Interstate Highway and Defense Highways was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. It was expected that the money would be generated through new taxes on fuel, automobiles, trucks, and tires. As a matter of practice, the Federal portion of the cost of the Interstate Highway System has been paid for by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
"I seldom make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect." Edward Gibbon
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text:
It seems that L.A. Noire's Rockstar Pass bundle was the start of a new trend. Today, Warner Bros Interactive and NetherRealm Studios announced the Mortal Kombat Season Pass, which will bundle Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and the fourth unannounced character for a discounted price.
The season pass will come on June 21 alongside the Skarlet DLC, for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). It will entitle you to each of the four warriors as they become available, and trim off $5 from the cost of buying them each individually.
Two free 'klassic' skins are set to come in a compatibility pack alongside each character, starting with Cyrax and Sektor. These will be included in the Season Pass too, of course, but you can grab them for free even if you don't buy any of the DLC at all.
The bad news? The announcement specifies that the Season Pass is "only available for purchase on Microsoft's Xbox Live." PlayStation 3 kombatants can get each of the characters and skins, but apparently won't be able to get the $5 discount.


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This is the driver for the Epson Stylus 745 color printer. This is specifically made for the iMac computer. Keeping your printer drivers at the latest version is usually a good idea to keep compatability and print quality at its best.
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It's tough knowing where to start when reporting on the Indianapolis Super Chevy show of 2007. Last year's event pulled in a decent amount of show attendees. This year's event was a bit different. Just three hours away in Columbus, Ohio, there was another major car show in full swing that same weekend. Undoubtedly many of the local area vehicle owners couldn't be at two shows at once, so they had to make a choice, which split show attendance.
While the show car side may have been lighter than usual, the drag racers are a different breed altogether, and they showed up in droves. But we already knew that, didn't we? A great number of the Indy drag racers had amazing looking vehicles, but they weren't there to look pretty. They were chasing glory! So naturally we had a hard time knowing when to stop taking action photos of the racers.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Shelly Sterling's attorneys have asked a court to hold a hearing on allegations that Donald Sterling and his attorneys have threatened her legal team and the doctors who assert that the Los Angeles Clippers co-owner is mentally incapacitated.
The request was filed early Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. There is no immediate word on whether it will be granted.
The filing claims that on June 9 Donald Sterling called Shelly Sterling's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell, threatened lawsuits and stated, "I am going to take you out, O'Donnell." The filing says O'Donnell understood that to be a death threat.
The document also alleges statements by Donald Sterling threatening the licenses of the doctors and a letter from one of his attorneys claiming the physicians are part of a conspiracy.