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|Topic Review (Newest First)
|January 24th, 2013 04:16 PM
|Steve Price
Hi Jeff
You can't catch fish unless you go fishing.
Best of luck!
Steve Price
|January 24th, 2013 03:36 PM
|Pierre Galafassi
I am very much looking forward to the Salon with which you will delight us as soon as you will find that rug!!
|January 24th, 2013 03:55 AM
|Jeff Sun
And let us not forget that the Altai mountains (and the Pazryk rug), were not far off, in the grand scheme of things.
Perhaps, in a dusty ruin somewhere west of Lou-Lan there is the oldest rug yet, waiting to be found by some future Sven Hedin or Aurel Stein. If only that could be me!
|January 23rd, 2013 05:59 AM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi Jeff,
Your information about the possible influence of Tibetan- and Indian- dragons is interesting indeed!
I believe I have seen similar hostile dragons in Seljuk miniatures, painted more than a century before the Il-khans. (Ill try to retrieve the miniatures). As you rightly mentioned in an earlier post, the silk road was active (on- and off), way before the Mongol onslaught on Persia. Though it was surely at its busiest during the Pax Mongolica and the Il-khanid rule.
If I remember well, both the pre-Gengis-Khan Turkik- and Mongolian people (which were anyway quite close and intermixed frequently) were animists, sharing Tengri, the Sky, as their main deity. Both shared as well a very tolerant attitude, even curiosity, towards other religions. Buddhism and Manichaeism, and to a lesser extend also Nestorianism, had some success in several tribes of these ethnic groups. Long before Islam made inroads in the region.
For example the Turkik population of the Tarim basin (Uyghur etc.. had long Buddhist- and Manichaeist periods, from which many traces have been found by archeology near the silk road. The Kalmiks Turko-Mongols were Buddhist of Tibetan obedience. So, there was no shortage of west-bound vehicles for Buddhist symbols even long before the Pax Mongolica.
By the way, going back to our focus (Rugs),of which we have a little bit drifted away in this thread, the Berlin Museum shows several fragments of Manichaean rolls from the Tarim Basin (roughly 10th century), featuring rugs. FIG A. This brings some more water to Hans Bidders mill, who always claimed that this area was one of the oldest «cradles» of rug weaving.
FIG A: Turfan, Manichean roll fragments, ca 900-1000. Berlin.
|January 18th, 2013 06:14 PM
|Jeff Sun
There is no denying the East Asian influence in these photos, but it may have filtered through an 3rd party: Tibet or India.
In Figure 1 and 2 the dragon has an upturned elephant-like trunk. This is especially evident in Figure 2. This is a form of Tibetan dragon which is called a Shalu. It's face is similar to another mythological creature found in Indian and Tibetan art called a Makara. Although no-one can say for sure, my feeling is that the Shalu is a Tibetan synthesis of the classical Chinese dragon and the Indian Makara.
It's presence in Persian art could point to Mongol influence, as there was long an influence of Tibet on Mongolia via shared religion and constant pilgrimage between the two. However, I do not know whether large scale Mongol conversion to yellow-hat Buddhism predates their conquest of Persia or not.
Just another thing to think about, I guess.
The dragon in figure 3 is VERY Chinese, indeed.
And yes, I agree with you 100%. A hero fighting a dragon is not-Chinese as the dragon is a beneficent creature. Perhaps it is a Mongol influence. Perhaps the dragon is a later stand-in for some other earlier, but less popular, Persian mythological creature. I've read the Shahnameh from cover to cover and don't ever recall a dragon in all it's pages.
|August 5th, 2012 10:53 AM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi Jeff,
I do apologize for my indecently late answer to your last post. I believed that I already answered it, discovering my error only a few days ago. Old age, I guess!!
Yes, indeed, we drifted far from the original topic, but neither Steve nor Filiberto have raised the red card, so far. They are rather tolerant people. With hindsight we should perhaps have started a new thread.
I fully agree with your views. Imperial workshops must have worked for the elite and not only for the Emperors residences.
The following examples of Timurid- and Il-khanid dragons, show (again) the very strong Chinese influence on Persian art, at least from the Mongol conquest onwards.
In FIG 1 and 2 the dragon is not airborne, as in most later Chinese representations, but is very similar to examples from the Song dynasty.
However, I wonder whether the concept of a hero fighting and slaying the dragon is truly Chinese (1) or was not rather based on Turko-Mongol mythology. For Chinese tradition the dragon was supposed to be beneficial, not hostile. Do you agree?
(1) Contrary to the fight of the phoenix and dragon.
FIG 1. Il-khanid period. 1341. Shiraz school. Bahram gur slays the dragon. Freer Sackler
FIG 2. Timurid period 1420-1450 . Herat school. Warrior slaying a dragon.
FIG 3. Timurid period 1420-1450. Cover of Ulugh Beys wooden box.
Best regards
|August 4th, 2012 09:16 AM
|George Potter
Mills wrote:
|August 4th, 2012 07:08 AM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi George,
Very interesting indeed.
Did John Mills suggest a possible origin for the rug?
|August 3rd, 2012 03:55 PM
|George Potter
I must add that the image is from HALI. In the article, John Mills, wrote that the Vatican painting, earlier in this thread, is apparently a copy of the one just posted. Source: HALI, January 1997, Issue 90, page 62, title: In Saintly Company by John Mills.
|August 3rd, 2012 09:12 AM
|George Potter
There seems to be another example from Gentile da Fabriano of the three legged alien posted earlier that shows what should have been in the damaged panel, image below:
|May 2nd, 2012 01:44 AM
|Jeff Sun
Great pictures! Especially the one in Figure 2. Note the large repair of the dragon in the lower right. This is the ancient type of dragon style, with an organic, vegetal look.... And yes, I would say the first piece does look rather like a felt appliqué piece, but it too has a curvilinearity, a vegetal nature in the way the "T"s sprout out of the center "lotus". The influence of China is strong.
Which should not be too Surprising. The Chinese influence on Tibetan and Xinjiang rugs can also be seen. Some would say that this is the nature of things: that the centers of commerce, whether Beijing, Bokhara or Tehran, set the fashion and create innovations. The nomads and village weavers follow and imitate.
It would be more instructive to see the back of the pieces, of course. A Tibetan piece could be immediately ID'd...and a Mongolian piece would take only a little more effort.
Regarding "Palace" rugs. While Forbidden City, much like Versaille or Tokapi is an enormous place, one must wonder if making rugs for the Palace really absorbed all the "royal" weavers time...or if they made some other pieces on the sly.
Often in China, craftsman would produce pieces for the palace in place of taxes....which means the rest of the time they were doing...what?
Probably making something more practical for the commoner. This still goes on.
Well, when I was in Khotan a few years back, one workshop was making traditional "pomegranate" rugs on one loom...and floor mats for cars on another. Finally in a different room, on an enormous loom probably 30 meters in length they were weaving a rug...in one color....by hand...for a hotel lobby.
OK....we have drifted a long way from the original conversation, but nonetheless I find the discourse fascinating. Shall we continue until Steve kicks us off..or finds the conversation a new home?
|May 1st, 2012 07:46 PM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi Jeff,
Fair points about Bidder. He himself complained about the lack of local rug informants.
Given the Turco-Mongol origin of the Yuan elite, and in particular the important presence of Uyghurs in the bureaucracy of the first Yuan rulers it is indeed quite likely that there has been at least an attempt at starting a local production of rugs, using for example weavers captured by the Mongol in Kharezm or Persia, of which there was surely no shortage.
However, you are right, the first question to answer is «what is a Chinese Rug?»
I suppose that Bidder limited «citizenship» to the Han Empire, even when a foreign dynasty ruled it. If we deliver the Chinese citizenship to rugs woven in peripheral areas, in the past mostly inhabited by non-Han, (Mongols, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hui, Tangut, etc...), which all greatly enjoyed Chinese garrisons and governors in the early 1400s, then indeed the probability of Chinese Imperial workshops grows a lot.
If we accept Bidder's quite reasonable hypothesis that emperors with a marked interest for foreign countries were the most likely to create imperial rug-workshops or to keep them in business, then, from the fourteenth century onward, in addition to the Qing Emperor Gaozong, only another one seems to have the right profile: The third Ming Emperor, Yongle, alias Zhu Di, (1360-1424) who among other things commissioned admiral Zheng He's famous treasury fleets, strongly favored export activities, as well as navy-backed (1) «diplomacy» in British style. The Ming successors of Yongle quickly returned to the traditional Chinese policy of splendid isolation and nomad-bashing, at least until European countries (Portugal first, then Netherlands and Spain) obtained, during the last third of the sixteenth century the right to do some business with China.
The candidacy of Yongle as possible creator of an imperial rug workshop in Beijing (or at least in Han China) is not discussed by Bidder, who thus, probably, dismissed it as unlikely, but the bloke still makes a reasonable candidate too as «First Ruggie».
There aren't many extant rugs older than the seventeenth century which could be safely labelled «made in Han-China» and I am not aware whether for these few rugs, one has already been able to prove the claimed age, or to dismiss the option of Uighur-, Mongol- or Tibetan made-on-order production.
IMHO, the following pieces are among the oldest rugs with a possible made-in (Han-) China tag.
FIG 1. Beijing ?, fragment of palace carpet. XV ? «Glanz der Himmelssöhne». M.O.K. Köln.
The motif calls to mind Mongol appliqué felt, don't you agree?
Fig 2. Beijing?, palace carpet. XVI? 625X297. «Glanz der Himmelssöhne». M.O.K. Köln.
Certainly the motif is as Chinese as can be and there is hardly any doubt that it was made for the imperial Palace. But where was it woven?
Your points 1,3, 4 are well taken. I do agree. On point 2, I'll have to take your word. Besides, cushions were just about as important for nomads than felt- or pile rugs and even in the highly unlikely hypothesis that an arthritic Chinese would not have invented them long before, the nomad conquerors would have imported this great idea.
Your complains, Jeff, are quite justified: there is no oversupply of recent books about Chinese rugs. The only one I know is «Glanz der Himmelsöhne. Kaiserliche Teppiche aus China 1400-1750» edited by the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln. Superbly illustrated, and interesting text, but it does not bring any conclusive information about our specific «where and when» question. According to the authors, Emperor Yongle had the famous stone ramps of the Beijing Palace copied from rugs. Possible.
(1) So called «Junk diplomacy» of which we have better, closer and shipless examples.
Best regards
|May 1st, 2012 01:48 AM
|Jeff Sun
While I enjoyed Hans Bidder's work, we must consider the following:
1. He really was a connoisseur of rugs from Xinjiang and not those woven in Eastern China.
2. He was a relatively early writer (1964) and so perhaps his resources were not the best, living in China at an even earlier time when travel was hard and literature scattered.The first 76 years of the 20th century were hell on China.
3. We run a-foul of the question "What is a Chinese Rug?" Is it only one woven by Han Chinese hands? What about Ningxia and Inner Mongolian rugs, which are rife with Chinese symbols and character, but woven by ethnic Hui or Mongols? And so on...
Consider that later researchers and authors disagree with Bidder.
1. Near Bidder contemporary H.A. Lorentz, discusses Ming rugs on pages 78-81 of his book A View of Chinese Rugs from 1972. Noting that they are Rare with a capital R. (One would expect otherwise?) He shows several examples of likely Ming rugs on pages 107 and 108.
2. Murray Eiland maintains in Chinese and Exotic Rugs from 1979, pg 13, that the Yuan dynasty established rug factories in the north of Beijing, but declines that the Ming maintained the business.
3. Rostov and Jia Guanyan in Chinese Carpets, pgs 62-63, from 1983 maintain again that rugs were made in government workshops during the Yuan in Beijing, and during the Ming, in Ningxia.
4. Lu Hong Qi- Sporting quite the patriotic name (Red Flag Lu) and poorly translated English text, maintains on page 16 of Antique Rugs of China, 2004, that rug working workshops were established in Beijing in 1298, quoting the Chinese text, Da Yuan Zhan Gong Wu Ji. On page 18, he maintains that the Yuan workshops were taken over by the Ming. If the workshops were established in 1298, that's a solid 70 years of carpet making before the fall of the Yuan in 1368. Potentially, that's a lot of rugs!
As an aside...I find it hard to believe that ALL of these texts are so OLD. Why are there no more recent books on my shelves?
Therefore, Bidder aside, three of four sources agree that there were rugs made during the Yuan Dynasty and three of four sources agree that rugs were made during the Ming.
So based on these, we could say there is sufficient scholarship to show continuous rug making in the broader sense of China ,(Ningxia, Beijing, Baotao) since the Yuan, and examples with Ming character if not outright attribution, survive until today.
As to Bidder's theory that Chinese Furniture led to the non-adoption of the rug, I can not believe it entirely, although surely it might not help their popularity. Why? Because rugs in China are often used outside the household.
1. Equestrian rugs are common. Saddle rugs from Ningxia, Baotao and Beijing are often seen
2. Rugs are often used for pillows and cushions. I have seen them as cushions for seats for example. I remember seeing one in a very wierd shape(no corners) and asking the dealer what it was for. His reply: It was for a rickshaw bench.
3. Sometimes rugs are meant for the wall (what better place?) and Baotao landscapes are often put to this use.
4. They are sometimes used in temples, of course.
I open it up for further debate. This is both fun and informative.
|April 29th, 2012 01:41 PM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi Filiberto and Jeff,
I do fully agree with your posts.
As far as the most likely date for the introduction of pile-rug weaving in Chinese workshops is concerned, Hans Bidder brought very interesting and credible informations (1).
Dr Bidder was a German diplomat in post in Beijing after the first world war, he was also a sinologist and a rug connoisseur (probably considered the best expert for rugs of the Tarim basin).
The question of China-made rugs was among his interests too and he worked during two decades with Chinese historians, with philologists, as well as with the odd competent Chinese rug dealer of the time, to clarify it.
According to Bidder, felt rugs were known and used by the Chinese elite at least since the Mongol Yuan dynasty, or even earlier, perhaps popularized by one of the several earlier dynasties of nomad origin, like the Kin (Djurchet).
As far as pile rug-making in Chinese workshops is concerned, Bidder concludes to a much later date of introduction. When he arrived in Beijing, in 1925, he still noted «a total lack of innate appreciation in the Chinese for the carpet as a work of art as well as of practical understanding of it as an element in domestic habitation» (2). Bidder explains this indifference to rugs by the fact that, alone in all Asia, only the Han Chinese dropped, very early in their history, the habit of eating and sleeping on the ground and made wooden chairs, beds and tables instead. For a long time, pile rugs were therefore only imported into China either (seldom) ordered by the Palace, or by the occasional gentleman-collector, by foreign ethnic minorities, including conquerors, or came as gifts from other Kingdoms.
Bidder thinks that, although «..no documentary evidence for this surmise has ever been ascertained,..., not even in the archives of the Beijing Palace Museum» (3), the best candidate, as creator of truly Chinese pile-rug weaving workshops, was the Manchu Qing Emperor Gaozong (alias Qianlong, 1711-1799) who was «less focussed on the Middle Kingdom and less indifferent to the areas beyond its border» than other Ming and Qing Emperors.
This interest led to his conquests of the Turkik Tarim-basin and other parts of central Asia (with certainly an ample booty of rugs) and included a systematic massacre of the Dzungar in Mongolia.
Bidder thinks that the psychological profile of Gaozong, who wanted to rival the magnificence of the Persian- and Mughal courts is a valid clue to.
Besides, Beijing folk tales had it that Gaozong's concubine Khoja Iparhan, (alias Xiang Fei), a Uyghur princess, jump started the Emperor's rather un-Chinese passion for rugs. Understandingly, Bidder does not give much credit to this story.
P.S. I just came across a miniature featuring a Timurid warrior fighting a very «naturalistic» dragon. Unlike the typical Chinese dragon, which is usually airborne, the beast is walking on the ground, but otherwise it looks quite «Chinese». The miniature also resembles Renaissance renditions of «St Georges and the Dragon». I shall post it later.
(1) Hans Bidder. Carpets from Eastern Turkestan.
(2) ibid. page 9
(3) ibid. page 26
|April 28th, 2012 04:01 AM
|Jeff Sun
Generally, I would agree with you about the unlikelihood, but with conditions:
1. It would depend on what era of antiquity you are looking for the connection. if you are looking in the 16th or 17th century...like the Safavid rug you posted, then, yes, I would say that there is probably some chance of a Chinese rug making it's way to Persia with other trade goods. A silk rug, in particular would be very desirable.
It is known that carpet making in China proper was established in the Ming era concurrent with these time frames, albeit existing examples are from the end of that era.
2. If you are looking before that era, than I think, like you, that it becomes unlikely...but "unlikely" is a matter of degree.
- Were Chinese rugs available for trade. Yes. It's generally known that felt carpet making in China goes very far back. Possible examples exist (in Japan) that were made as gifts for royal exchange from the Song era. However, piled weaving probably goes back to the Yuan Dynasty. As a complete aside, one individual in Beijing while I lived there maintained that he had possession of rugs from the Yuan dynasty....which would probably make them the oldest rugs in the world other than the Pazryk. I don't lend much credence to his particular claim...(How would one even recognize a Yuan era rug? You would have to carbon date it at least)...but I am not so bold as to say it is impossible for an example to survive to modern day.
-Could rugs travel from China to Persia? Again, yes. As the post about the "Avar" fragment found in Tibet shows that carpets could indeed travel far from their homes....and Arab and Persian traders were well established in China quite far back in history. It would be no more difficult to transport a Chinese rug to Persia, than any other trade good, such as brocade or porcelain...maybe even easier.
|April 27th, 2012 01:41 PM
|Filiberto Boncompagni
Hi Pierre,
This discussion started more than 13 months ago, so its natural to forget its beginning.
I have a good visual memory, though, and I remember having posted this image, Armenian miniature, the Armenian Archbishop Jean of Cilicia, 1287, detail:
I didnt remember where I posted it (my locational memory is no match to the visual one ), but the most logical place was this thread, and there it is, post #3.
See the Chinese Dragon? Its style is exactly the same used today in Chinese or China-influenced culture (I have a Nepalese print that is almost identical).
If a Chinese dragon can find his way into an Armenian Archbishops garment, also the dragon and phoenix motifs could have found the same way to the M.E. and beyond, I suppose.
|April 27th, 2012 10:48 AM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi Jeff,
You are right, the migration of the "dragon and phoenix" motif to central Asia, Iran and Azerbaijan might even have happened, by way of the Silk road, long before the Mongol onslaught. Besides, the frontiers of the Chinese Empire, times and again, included parts of Transoxiana. Another point in favor of your suggestion is the Chinese influence already visible in Great Seldjuk miniatures, several generations before Genghis Khan.
Could the vehicles of dragon and phoenix motifs have been China-made rugs? I doubt it, because of the lack of proper Han rug-weaving traditions. The inhabitants of the Tarim basin (of Khotan for example) could have made more credible go-betweens, including the old Turanians and the Uyghur Turks:
They have been ruggies for ages, their weavings had a high reputation (1) and they have been many times tributary of the Chinese empire. It is well documented that they supplied Chinese elite with rugs, although this never was an important import item for the Han.
It is therefore not unlikely that they have been weaving rugs with traditional Chinese motifs too, to satisfy their occasional eastern customer (As they were still doing during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). "Chinese-looking" pattern might have also completed their traditional rug motifs, because Buddhism was the Tarim basin's religion until the tenth century.
Rugs like the one in FIG.1 (Fifteenth century? Origin unknown but the Tarim basin would be a logical source), which shows two typical Chinese «shishi» and a kufic border quite similar to the one in the (seldjuk?) «animal rug» in FIG 26 of the main essay.
FIG. 1 Khotan ? Fifteenth century? GLEN (Kyoto Mus.)
FIG 26 Turkish, thirteenth or fourteenth century. H. Kircheim. Orient Stars.
(1) Hans Bidder "Carpets from Eastern Turkestan". Mr Bidder even qualifies the Tarim basin as "the oldest home of pile carpet known to us today" . Page 11.
|April 25th, 2012 02:15 AM
|Jeff Sun
While much might be attributed to the Mongols, it's probably more likely that these symbols arrived in Persia by completely peaceful means along the Silk Road. Chinese brocades and porcelain often depict this pairing, and these would be very sought after trade goods in Persia. China had a complete monopoly on both silk and "China" for centuries.
Of course, the dragon and phoenix may even have have arrived in Persia...(gasp)...on carpets! Imitation of a particularly striking, rare and luxurious import would only be natural.
It's all speculation, of course.
|March 29th, 2012 03:18 PM
|Pierre Galafassi
Hi Jeff and Filiberto,
The fight of the Chinese dragon ( Shen-Long) with the Chinese phoenix, or rather the Fenghuang (as rightly precised by Jeff ) was obviously a well established motif in different areas of central and western Asia. Below it is illustrated on two extant Safavid rugs from the sixteen and seventeen centuries. In a very densely knotted and "naturalistic" version.
Persian. Safavid period 45 silk, phoenix and dragon motif. Detail. XVI-XVII
Persian. Safavid period 31.2 The Mantes rug. Detail 2. XVI. 783X379.Louvre.Paris .jpeg
The Chinese origin is rather evident. One can quite safely assume that this motif migrated west following the Mongol onslaught and under the Ilkhanid rulers (mid-thirteenth to mid-fourteenth century). One can also suppose that a prestigious and powerful "animal" like the dragon would have been used as totem, tribal symbol by some of the mongol- and turk clans which took part to the attack (just as tigers, wolves, lions were used etc..)
Best regards
|March 25th, 2012 09:11 AM
|Filiberto Boncompagni
Hi Jeff,
You are right on all accounts. What I wanted to convey in my post was that, in my opinion, the iconographic coupling of "Feng Huang" and the Dragon did not exist in the West. When it appeared - probably imported from China - it was "translated as the "Phoenix and Dragon" with all the related western meanings.
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Quote:I met him one time. He introduced himself to me as "Master Dana Abbott".
Quote:I won't speak to his credits or history. But the gallery of photos with him next to all the "famous" luminaries of martial arts and martial arts movies are really funny. They're badly photoshop'ed (reworked) pics of himself stuck into totally different photos of guys like Steve (Hebi No Dojo) Kaufman, etc. You can even see the digital cut marks.
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If you want to understand why a group of college football players wrote the letters "APU" on their equipment last weekend -- and why a seemingly inconsequential protest against the National Collegiate Athletic Association's casual despotism eventually could evolve into anything but -- it helps to watch the upcoming documentary "Schooled: The Price of College Sports."
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I'm joining players and fans from campuses across the nation to stand against unjust NCAA rules that leave college athletes without basic protections. Players should not be forced to forfeit their rights and endure unnecessary physical, academic, and financial risks as a condition of participating in NCAA sports.
"The whole idea started when we all saw the [active player] plaintiffs stand up on the O'Bannon case," Huma says. "They took a lot of criticism on social media. But other players understood that [the O'Bannon plaintiffs] were standing up for every player in the nation. They wanted to support them. From there, the idea grew -- what are the top things that players want to push for?
"I think a significant part of this is players using their bodies to call attention to some of the pitfalls they want to overcome, in terms of things that could affect them their entire lives. Brain trauma. Whether or not they graduate. These are major issues for them. Most of the people who watch sports don't understand that players can be stuck with medical bills, that the NCAA isn't doing much with concussions, that a lot of guys don't graduate. So raising awareness of issues is important."
In response, the NCAA put out a statement claiming it "supports open and civil debate regarding all aspects of college athletics." Supports might be a stretch. To wit: according to a report from Chronicle of Higher Education writer Brad Wolverton, association officials last year considered defunding the NCAA's Scholarly Colloquium, an annual meeting in which academics (note: button-down campus faculty, not anarchist chaos puppeteers) from across the nation share and discuss college sports research. The reason? Try the colloquium's theme: Economic Inequality Within the NCAA. Perhaps Mark Emmert: Awesome President or Awesomest President? would have been more appropriate.
Still, for the sake of argument, suppose the association truly does support the freedom of athletes and anyone else to say -- loudly and publicly -- that the NCAA is terrible, indefensible organization doing a terrible, indefensible job. Does said support matter when the organization, its member schools and college sports' other powerbrokers neither listen nor act accordingly? An in-depth study of over 4,000 Division I athletes -- designed by experts in psychology, human development, education and statistics and conducted at a cost of $1.75 million -- found that athletes had lower grade-point averages than their non-athlete peers; that 12 percent of football and basketball players had psychological, physical, alcohol-related, drug-related or academic problems versus four percent of non-athletes; that those players felt "the greatest sense of isolation from other students on campus"; that athletes were getting "considerably less joy" from sports than other students were from extracurricular activities; that athletes found it harder to assume leadership roles, take responsibility for other people, gain from social interaction and talk about personal problems; and that African-American athletes tended to be more anxious and depressed than their non-black teammates.
Did the NCAA spring into action and enact a series of suggested reforms to improve athlete health and welfare, including shortening practices, cutting down seasons to a single semester, barring games during exam periods and eliminating spring football outright? Not exactly. After attending a forum on the study, Louisiana State's athletic director proclaimed the document "a total waste of time. Never have I heard such a bunch of garbage." For good measure, the AD added that "a major problem with the NCAA is that too many academicians who've never been in the trenches are making decisions they aren't qualified to make."
The study, it should be noted, was published in 1989. Oh, and it was paid for by the NCAA's Presidents Commission.
More recently, a Division III football player named Rickey Hamilton Jr. emailed NCAA health and safety director David Klossner, concerned about brain trauma and the fact that his team had played without an athletic trainer at practices and most of its games for two seasons. What, he asked, can we do about this? Klossner wrote back, noting that the association doesn't have any rules about trainers and bears no responsibility nor potential legal liability for athlete health. Helpfully, Klosser also included a link to a concussion awareness video. Which is more than the NCAA specifically mandates. Earlier this year, Huma hoped to hold a press conference on the eve of the BCS championship at the game's official media hotel, the better to propose a series of commonsense, here-and-now concussion policy reforms. He was shut out. The same way he was ignored by the NCAA and every Football Bowl Subdivision conference except the Pac-12, which met with Huma last year and has since placed limits on football practice contact.
"At times the NCAA has responded to public pressure, but at times it's tone deaf," Huma says. "Like right now with concussions. There is no bigger issue, and yet the NCAA is still doing pretty much nothing. Disregarding it. You just never know what you're going to get from them. In terms of a direct seat at the table, [athletes] don't have that."
College athletes are allowed to serve on NCAA-sanctioned Student Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC), both on a campus and national level. The association touts the national SAAC as a way for athletes to "offer input on the rules, regulations and polices" that affect their lives. On the NCAA's
totally non-Pravda-like website, Oregon State President Ed Ray boasts in totally natural non-scripted conversational English that "there are cynics who claim the amateur athlete model never existed and that intercollegiate athletics is not worth fighting for, but these young people [on the SAAC] give the presidents real confidence that what we seek to protect and perfect in the NCAA is very much worth fighting for and communicating to the broader public." Of course, those same confidence-inspiring young people do not get an actual vote when it comes time to make decisions about college sports policy. Moreover, former SAAC members quoted in non-official association news outlets sound decidedly less sanguine about their influence.
Pop quiz: which of the following was said by SAAC members following the 1995 NCAA Convention?
(a) "We got up to speak about our needs and concerns, and then our needs are left unmet."
(b) "Ours is a government by the people for the people and of the people, but with the NCAA, that's the furthest thing from the truth."
(c) '"Our goal is that someday our voice will be equal to [the NCAA President's]. To have the same impact and value.'"
The correct answer? (d) All of the above. Last year, former Stanford cross-country coach Dena Evans sent the Chronicle of Higher Education's Wolverton a note comparing the SAAC committee to the 1998 movie "The Truman Show" -- in which actor Jim Carrey discovers his life is actually a television show controlled by producers -- with athletes at the mercy of "wise old men [who] get to decide if they can ever get past the glass." For his part, Wolverton wrote that:
… while many students say the committee gives them rare access to powerful players and a chance to weigh in on leading issues, some students who have served on the committee believe it's a convenient political tool for the NCAA. When the association needs student support on an issue, SAAC gets included in discussions. Other times, the committee is almost an afterthought, some members have told me …
"The NCAA points to the SAAC as our voice, but there is no voice in it," says former UCLA punter Jeff Locke. "I was part of it at UCLA for two-and-a-half years. It's just talking. The majority of meetings are about coming up with community service events. We gave some feedback. But actual legislation? There was nothing like that going on.
"When I think of voice, I think of a vote. Actually changing policy. That is what a voice means in every other industry, right?"
Voice matters. It matters because the NCAA creates and enforces the rules of the college sports game. Rules that prevented former University of Richmond basketball player Jonathan Benjamin from modeling clothes for his own apparel business, a business that grew out of a class project. Rules that saw Texas A&M University quarterback Johnny Manziel suspended for a half-game for being suspected of signing autographs for money, even though the NCAA publicly declared that the Heisman Trophy winner did no such thing. (United States due process: innocent until proven guilty. NCAA due process: guilty, and what's that you said about proof?) Rules that led to former North Carolina football player Devon Ramsay being stripped of his NCAA eligibility for "academic fraud" after a tutor made a handful of minor suggestions to improve a three-page sociology paper -- suggestions the school's own Honor Court deemed so ordinary and unremarkable, so downright pissant, that it declined to even hear a case against Ramsay.
Twice in the last three years, Emmert has called for summits to tackle the most pressing problems in college sports. As Washington Post writer Sally Jenkins notes, the NCAA president has yet to invite a single athlete. If campus decision-makers aren't listening to players -- the players they purportedly care about -- then to whom are they listening? Mostly themselves. With predictably self-serving results. In "Schooled," former NCAA spokesman and current high-level advisor Wally Renfro says that college athletes need to be "protected from influences of commercialism and professionalism." University of Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman says that he understands criticism over athletes generating millions in school revenue but not getting paid, then dismisses said criticism as "utterly false" -- because the real reason Nebraska makes money on football are "investments we made" and the "attraction and passion alumni have for our institution," as opposed to "football players playing football."
Both assertions are laughable. Intelligence-insulting. Akin to telling your three-year-old child "green cheese" when she asks what the moon is made of. College athletes need to be protected from commercialism and professionalism? Ahem. Professionalism is not a dirty word. More like a celebrated concept. You need a lawyer, a doctor, a basketball coach, an athletic director. Don't you want a pro? As for commercialism: is there any aspect of big-time college sports that isn't commercial? Is that even bad? How come athletes are the only people on campus -- or in America, for that matter -- who need the 400-plus page NCAA manual manning the parapets between them and commerce? Then there's Perlman. He's right. Football players playing football don't matter. But football players winning at football do. Otherwise, why does Nebraska have a recruiting budget? Or coaches? Or football scholarships? Why not field a team of walk-ons, led by a volunteer staff, and plow all of the savings back into the school?
In fact, Perlman should try that. And then see how long he remains chancellor.
Ideally, college athletes would push back against administrative bloviating, speaking needed truth to oblivious, delusional power. Instead, they're largely silent. In "Schooled," former Tennessee running back Arian Foster says that athletes are afraid to speak out, fearing school and NCAA reprisals. Locke agrees. "There's two parts to it," he says. "One, guys are afraid of the NCAA and eligibility issues. There's no due process there. No recourse. They think you might be guilty of something, you get suspended, and then they look for evidence. Secondly, some coaches don't like to hear guys speak up. So guys don't want to get on their bad sides. They control your scholarship." Former Syracuse University football player Dave Meggyesy once taught a sports and society course at Stanford University. Last year, he told me that his classroom was peppered with athletes, smart and aware, interested in civil rights and social justice. Yet even they seemed unwilling to take a stand against the college sports status quo. "It was like a gulag for them," he said. "Oh, [expletive], I gotta go to work, put in my time, get my education. This is what I have to do, and I'm not going to think about the larger injustice because it's too [expletive] painful. Just do your best in a bad situation."
Speaking of bad situations, Foster says in "Schooled" that his athletic scholarship didn't always leave him with enough money to eat and pay rent, and that a coach once bought him and his teammates "like, 50 tacos for like four or five of us. Which is an NCAA violation." Foster also claimed he took under-the-table payments during his senior year. Some accused him of lying. Don't college athletes get lavish training tables? No way those guys go hungry. Yet according to a recent study by Drexel University professor Ellen Staurowsky, the average difference between scholarship value and the full cost of attending school for Football Bowl Subdivision players in 2011-2012 was $3,285.
Former Marshall University quarterback Brian Anderson says he experienced that gap, particularly when he lived off-campus his junior and senior years. His scholarship provided roughly $900 a month during the school year for food and rent, and less during summer months. "So you're spending $400 bucks on rent, and the rest is for food, gas, and things like clothes. For some kids, that isn't enough. I was lucky. I had parents who could provide for me."
And what about training tables?
"As far as that being provided, it was always provided after practice if we got out after the cafeteria was closed," says Anderson. "But there were a lot of times we didn't know if we were going to get paid for a weekend when the lunch room wasn't open or something. If we got that money, we were surprised and excited. If we didn't, it was what it was. What the NCAA said the school could pay us. We weren't going to speak out about it."
All Players United could change that. Perhaps. The history of college athlete activism is littered with false starts. In the 1980s, former Duke University basketball player Dick DeVenzio founded the Revenue Producing Major College Players Association. From his Charlotte townhouse, he mailed weekly pamphlets and newsletters to 300 college athletes. DeVenzio advocated for change; according to my colleague Dave Kindred, he asked Oklahoma football stars Brian Bosworth and Spencer Tillman to delay the start of a 1987 game against Nebraska to draw attention to athlete's rights. The players considered the idea, but ultimately settled on kneeling for a pregame prayer. Eight years later, players from a number of schools reportedly planned to express their displeasure with the college sports economic status quo by sitting down at mid-court during the opening games of NCAA men's basketball tournament. Afraid of being blackballed, they got cold feet. In 2000, Duke player Shane Battier chaired a Student Basketball Council, a group of roughly 40 players who gathered at the Final Four. After putting athlete compensation on their future agenda, they never met again.
"Nobody wants to be that guy," Locke says.
Huma has been organizing college athletes for a decade. He's the first to admit: it's hard. Really hard. Players turn over quickly, moving in and out of the system in just four years. Sometimes less. During that time, they're preoccupied with their daily lives and individual goals. Practice and class. Going pro and staying eligible. They are conditioned to follow orders, respect authority, believe that the people in charge are doing them a selfless favor. Their vision is often narrow. But it widens over time. They see coaches making millions, athletic directors cashing in, facilities being expanded. They see fans in stands, boosters in luxury boxes, jerseys sold in campus bookstores. They start to understand that college athletes really are different, even special, only not in the way they once thought.
"You come to school and feel very grateful to have the scholarship to begin with," says Anderson, now a seventh-grade teacher. "You wanted to achieve it since you were a little kid. You're like wow, that's awesome, that's amazing, I'm playing college football. Then by the time you realize what you are getting out of it compared to what you are putting into it, it's almost too late."
All Players United comes at a fortuitous time. America loves college sports more than ever, but public sentiment is turning against the NCAA and amateurism. The essential unfairness underpinning the system is too large, too obvious. A recent Time magazine cover story called for athletes to be paid. The O'Bannon case is working its way through federal court. Two years ago, Fox Sports writer Jen Floyd Engel called suspended Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor a "football terrorist" for trading memorabilia for free tattoos; recently, she likened Manziel to civil rights icon Rosa Parks. (Granted, a much-ridiculed comparison, and deservedly so. But still. The point is that attitudes are shifting, and fast.) According to Huma, the athletes behind APU don't want last weekend to be an end in itself, but rather a beginning. Awareness leads to unity. Unity leads to voice. Voice leads to power. Power leads to change.
So again: forget money. Maybe college athletes don't want it. As I've written before, maybe they want four-year, irrevocable scholarships and lifetime health insurance for their injuries. Maybe they want the same right to profit from their image and endorsement deals that college-attending actors and musicians take for granted. Maybe they just want scholarships to reflect the full cost of attendance. Or maybe they do want cash. Whatever the case, the important thing isn't the particulars; it's that athletes have the right to ask. Demand, even. Just like everyone else. College sports are supposed to be about education. About building and shaping character. Do we want a system that teaches players to be well-oiled cogs in a machine they neither designed nor built, spinning silently in a state of learned helplessness? Or do we want to nurture independent thinkers, empowered individuals who believe their voices have value? Which kind of person makes for a better citizen?
"In history, injustices where one group of people profits from another by having more power go on until something radical happens," Locke says. "And then people look back and say, 'what where we thinking? How did we let this happen?' Someday, that's going to be the case with college athletics."
Earlier this year, video emerged of former Rutgers University basketball coach Mike Rice throwing basketballs at his players' heads. Shoving, kicking and grabbing them. Belittling them by screaming obscenities and homophobic slurs. The footage was outrageous. Disturbing. Had Rice been a chemistry professor acting the same way in a classroom, he would have been fired post haste, without a half-assed cover-up by school officials. Sports made things different. They shouldn't have. Watching the video, I couldn't help notice the reactions of the Rutgers players. They flinched. Cowered. Acquiesced. They stood there and took Rice's abuse, as if they didn't know any better. I was glad they didn't return their coach's behavior in kind -- in a way, they showed admirable emotional maturity -- but I still wish they had done something. I wish they had walked out of the gym, leaving Rice all alone, a sad little man throwing basketballs at a wall, screaming at an empty bench. I wish they had spoken up with their feet, realizing their power, finding their voices. Together. All players united.
Listen to my podcast with "Schooled" producer Andrew Muscato: Part I here; Part II here.


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Protect the Arctic
The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on the planet. Scientists predict the region will be ice-free in the summer within decades, and polar bears, narwhals, walrus, and other ice-dependent species are already suffering from the accelerating loss of Arctic sea ice. Oil companies and other industries, meanwhile, are bent on exploiting places long sheltered in ice, bringing the risk of spills, ocean noise, chemical pollution, and overfishing along with them.
NRDC fights for long-term protections that will protect the Arctic and its unique wildlife in the face of climate change and industrial development.
Scientists believe marine protected areas—the equivalent of national parks, but underwater—are critically important when it comes to preserving Arctic ecosystems. Research shows that marine protected areas harbor more and bigger fish, healthier habitats, and more diverse life than unprotected areas. These safe havens also have a spillover effect, as abundant marine life gradually populates waters beyond the reserves.
Only a tiny fraction of the Arctic Ocean has been protected, and NRDC is working to change that. We participated in a key workshop convened by Finland under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity to identify biologically significant areas in the Arctic marine environment. To continue building the scientific basis of a network of marine protected areas, we also began a project with scientific modelers to update key habitat maps and the ecological connections among them. And we have led a cooperative project with UNESCO's Marine World Heritage Program and others to identify marine World Heritage site candidates in the Arctic.
In 2015, NRDC convinced the State Department to include advancing an international network of marine protected areas in its agenda for the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, a confederation of the eight Arctic nations and indigenous peoples' representatives. NRDC continues to build support for this network of marine protected areas at the Arctic Council and within the U.S. and other Arctic governments.
Arctic waters outside protected areas could still be vulnerable to the hazards of offshore drilling. Not only would drilling endanger whales and other marine mammals with toxic chemicals and seismic blasts, but it would also accelerate the climate change threatening the region. NRDC also works with local and national partners to push for an end to offshore drilling in U.S. Arctic waters.


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Best Mascot 2014
Final Round Results
- Results:
- Final Round
- Round 2
- Round 1
This year's best mascots contest is the eighth installment in the America's Best series, which has drawn more than 100 million votes and attracted fans from all sections of the country. More than 1,800 different schools have been involved in at least one of the contests, and no state has produced multiple winners with past champions hailing from Missouri, Vermont, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The America's Best contest series launched in November 2012 with the first best high school football rivalry competition, won by Brookfield vs. Marceline in Missouri. Other champions in the America's Best series have been Hartford (Vt.) was crowned as the People's Champion high school football team for the 2012 season followed by the Centralia (Ill.) Orphans taking the first best mascots contest. The best high school football coach competition crowned Philip Haywood of Belfry (Ky.) as its champion, the second annual best high school football rivalry went to the North Carolina small-town matchup of Bunn vs. Louisburg and Shane Cowherd of Edmond Memorial (Edmond, Okla.) took the best boys basketball coach title. Jesse Nelson of Olpe (Kan.) won the last competition, being voted as America's best girls basketball coach.


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Planned Parenthood denounced a new ad campaign aimed at sexually active teens, unveiled by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week, for shaming current and expectant teen parents and their children.
"The latest NYC ad campaign creates stigma, hostility and negative public opinions about teen pregnancy and parenthood rather than offering alternative aspirations for young people," Haydee Morales, vice president of education and training at Planned Parenthood's New York office, said in a statement released on Wednesday. "The city's money would be better spent helping teens access health care, birth control and high-quality sexual and reproductive health education, not an ad campaign intended to create shock value."
The "Cost of Teen Pregnancy" campaign—displayed in subways and bus shelters citywide—includes images of concerned toddlers with messages for their teen parents.
"Honestly Mom," one poster reads, "chances are he won't stay with you. What happens to me?"
"Dad, you'll be paying to support me for the next 20 years," reads another, noting that New York state law requires a parent to pay child support until a child is 21.
The public service announcements also instruct teens to text "'NOTNOW' to 877877 for the real cost of teen pregnancy."
[Related: NYC rolls out 'Cost of Teen Pregnancy' PSAs]
"This campaign makes very clear to young people that there's a lot at stake when it comes to deciding to raise a child," Bloomberg said in his weekly radio address on Sunday.
The effort, he said, will "let thousands of young New Yorkers know that waiting to become a parent could be the best decision they ever make."
According to the health department, the city's teen pregnancy rate has fallen 27 percent in the past decade. But Morales said stigmatizing teens who have already become parents "has not been a part of what has led to this success."
In 2011, the city quietly rolled out a controversial pilot program that allowed teens access to the contraceptive drug Plan B—the so-called "morning after pill"—in some of its public schools without parental consent. (Parents could choose to exclude their children from access.) In 2012, officials expanded the program to 13 schools with hopes of implementing it citywide.
That program—dubbed CATCH, or "Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health"—is supported by Planned Parenthood.


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* Proposed USDA rules to limit fat, salt, sugar
* Snacks should contain 200 calories or less
* Plan allows some soft drinks for older students
* Schools have at least one year to make changes
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Snacks sold in U.S. schools would need to be lower in fat, salt and sugar and include more nutritious items like fruits, vegetables and whole grains, under new potential standards released on Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The proposal, more than a year overdue, also calls for the nation's public schools to ensure individual food and drink items sold in vending machines and other venues during the school day be 200 calories or less, USDA said.
The proposed rules are the second step in a larger effort to improve the foods U.S. students have access to during the school day under a 2010 law aimed at improving childhood nutrition and combating obesity.
USDA, in a statement, said the rules would not cover items sold at various after-hours activities, such as sporting events. They also would allow for "important traditions," such as parents sending cookies or cupcakes to school for a child's birthday, or "occasional fundraisers and bake sales."
There has been wide agreement by food and beverage companies, consumer advocates and public health experts on the need to offer students healthier choices.
For beverages, USDA called for schools to be able to sell water, low-fat and fat-free milk, and 100 percent juices, with smaller 8-ounce (240-ml) portions created for younger students.
High school students could buy 20-ounce servings of various calorie-free beverages, and 12-ounce servings of drinks that have less than 75 calories or less but they could not be sold during lunch or breakfast.
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before USDA issues any final ruling.
USDA said schools will have at least one full school year after the final rule is issued to implement the changes.
Some 50 million children attend over 100,000 schools that are part of the school lunch program and thus would be covered by the proposed rules.


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Actuaries design financial programs which focus on life, health, property, casualty, retirement, demographic, economic and investment possibilities. This is accomplished by using statistical and economic techniques to evaluate the financial, economic and business implications of future events.
Actuaries achieve professional status by passing a series of qualifying examinations administered by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS).
Under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Labor and Treasury Departments, actuaries are regulated by the Joint Board for Enrollment of Actuaries.
Verifies certification:
Society of Actuaries
475 North Martingale, #600
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Federal Departments of Labor and Treasury have jurisdiction over actuaries:
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Despite all the humans, English language, and proper British accents, it's important to remember that the Star Wars universe isn't our own. Things are different there - they have landspeeders, they order around protocol droids, and their language - although sounding similar - has words that we think we know, but really have no clue. These are 7 terms from Star Wars that don't mean what you think they mean.
The Sith are the bad-guy Force people. Everyone knows that! They're the anti-Jedi, lightning shooting, Darth-named weirdos who refuse to use anything other than red in their lightsabers. Except...well, they didn't start off as "the group of Dark Side Force-guys." They started off as a species unto themselves.
Basically, they were red-skinned humanoids with gross face-tentacles from the planet Korriban. They had a predisposition towards the Dark Side of the Force, but that wasn't what defined them. That happened once a group of human Dark Jedi happened upon the species and interbred with them for a couple thousand years. Eventually, the Sith species was pretty much bred out of existence, and Sith became synonymous with the evil, cloak-wearing dudes we know them as today.
Although, it probably would've been smart to try using any lightsaber color other than red if they wanted to not give away their allegiances immediately.
Remember that gross blue milk Luke drinks on Tatooine? Well it gets even grosser - that milk is actually bantha milk, a.k.a. those huge, hairy, horned buffaloes the sand people are always riding on. Yes, someone actually squeezes udders (presumably under the bantha) and some disgusting blue milk shoots out and into a bucket. Since it seems SUBSTANTIALLY more dangerous to milk an elephant-sized bantha than your average cow, one would imagine blue milk would be more of an expensive or rare commodity than Luke treats it. Then again, we don't know if pasteurization exists in the Star Wars universe, so maybe Luke just knew that blue milk swimming with bacteria wasn't worth getting stomped on.
If you'll recall, "Death Sticks" were introduced in Attack of the Clones, when a Death Stick-guy offered a Death Stick to Obi-Wan - who, for whatever reason, declined the Death Stick. Reminder: in this universe, there is a product that people consciously use that is called "DEATH STICK." Regardless, you would probably assume they were preachy Star Wars stand-ins for cigarettes, since - ya know - "death stick" is literally a slang term for cigarettes. But you'd be wrong.
Death sticks are actually hallucinogens. And not just any hallucinogens! These hallucinogens actually reduce your lifespan every time you use one - shortening your life more and more with each successive stick of death. Even more weirdly, the death sticks natural state was a liquid that could be added to alcohol or injected straight into your veins. And even double-weirdly, they inhibited your connection with the Force.
So: reduces your lifespan, cuts you off from the Force, and is literally named "DEATH STICKS." Cigarettes don't look so bad now, do they MOM?


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for Romy Schnieder
from the movie "La Piscine"
Wind up 2-3 bobbins prior to starting your dress.
A can of spray stabilizer comes in handy on slippery fabric. Make the lining first - your project will go faster as it acts as a "practice" garment, and will be ready to insert when you are.
Use an elegant seam finish such as Hug Snug on fabrics that fray.
Assembly Instructions.
Clip corners, turn right side out and press. Top stitch at 3/8" from edge using a 4cm stitch. Press and place flaps wrong side up.
d. On a pressing ham or fat rolled towel, place completed flaps right side up, and steam the flaps in a side-to-side curve. Let cool.
Top Tip: Leave a long tail when you begin and end for use as the tack down.
9. Baste same down again at ½" from edge of the garment.
10. Check/mark hem.
11. Using either top stitching thread or doubled up thread (2 spools threaded as one through your machine and needle), increase stitch length to 4cm (or personal preference) and begin top stitching at 3/8" from turned edges/seams through all thicknesses. This tutorial used a Schmetz Microtex needle and a 5 cm three-thread for top-stitching. A tested 4cm stitch length disappeared in the basketweave of the fashion fabric.
Top Tips:
The tutorial sewing machine has an attachable quilter's edge guide - the guide plus the pressure foot width equaled 3/8ths inch, so served as the top stitching guide.
Leaving long thread tails when a stitching run is begun and/or completed is recommended to allow for pulling them through to the inside and tie off rather than to overlap your stitches at the beginning or end of a run. This presents a cleaner continuous stitch presentation on the face of the garment.
b. Second, beginning on one side of upper back at mid-neckline, stitch along back neck, across shoulder, down back of armscye around to front shoulder, pivot, along shoulder, pivot, front neckline, pivot at center front seam, continue down center front seam, pivot at hemline, across hem to side seam and up front gusset side seam and end at armscye topstitching. Leave a long thread tail and pull it through to the wrong side. Again leaving a long thread tail, insert needle where the armscye top stitching meets at the back gusset side seam, stitch down back gusset side seam, continue down side seam to hem, pivot, across back hem to center back seam, pivot and continue up to neck, stitching in the basted zipper, pivot at neckline and continue to where you started the first run at the back mid-neckline. Leave a long thread tail and pull it through.


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Why the Post passed on Ezra Klein
The Washington Post would do anything for Ezra Klein. Well, almost anything.
For nearly five years, the Post has steered a bounty of financial resources to its star economics columnist and blogger. It has allowed him to have a contributor deal with MSNBC, a column with Bloomberg View, and to write long-form for The New Yorker. It has provided him with eight staffers to keep Wonkblog, his popular policy vertical, flowing with up-to-the-minute charts and analysis. The PR department has promoted him in profile upon profile.
Story Continued Below
But when Klein proposed the creation of an independent, explanatory journalism website — with more than three dozen staffers and a multiyear budget north of $10 million — the Post said enough is enough. Indeed, Jeff Bezos, the Post's new owner, and Katharine Weymouth, its publisher, never even offered an alternative figure, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
( On media: Ezra Klein out at Washington Post)
Now, Klein is set to take his talents elsewhere. The Washington Post's Wonkblog account tweeted the announcement Tuesday that he is leaving: "It's official: Ezra is leaving the Post. Hoping for the best for him."
As early as this week, Klein is expected to announce a new venture — described in a memo to Post staffers as a new "news organization" — that will look to staff more than 30 people on the editorial side alone. Meanwhile, the Post, which for four years has benefited immensely from housing the Ezra Klein brand — Wonkblog averages more than four million page-views a month — will lose its star columnist and its claim to some of the most widely read policy analysis on the Internet.
The split, which has become a point of tension in the newsroom and the talk of the town in Washington, underscores a larger tension in the era of personal-brand journalism. Big media institutions go to great lengths to feed the egos (and pockets) of their growing stars, cultivating their image and reaping the rewards of high traffic. But when that brand becomes too expensive, or so big it threatens to outshine the institution itself, the institution is forced to let it go.
Klein is only the latest marquee journalist to outgrow his organization and launch a new venture. Nate Silver, the star political statistician, left The New York Times last year to reboot his FiveThirtyEight enterprise in affiliation with ESPN. AllThingsD founders Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg left The Wall Street Journal to launch a new tech news site with the backing of NBC Universal. David Pogue, the former New York Times tech columnist, went to Yahoo, where he is spearheading a new tech vertical. Glenn Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist, launched First Look Media with the backing of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Andrew Sullivan, the blogger hosted first by The Atlantic and then The Daily Beast, is now funded directly by his readers.
For Klein, the temptations of independence are as clear as the pitfalls. On the one hand, he'll have more money, notoriety and editorial freedom, and, perhaps most appealingly, the opportunity to build a new business he can call his own. On the other, he'll be threatened by the prospect of failure, of waking up one day without enough clicks and realizing he actually wasn't bigger than The Washington Post. (Klein declined to be interviewed for this piece.)
It is a dilemma that many of Klein's predecessors have struggled with: The appeal of freedom weighed against the safety and protection of a venerable news brand.
"I tossed and turned on this decision for months," Pogue said of his decision to leave the Times for Yahoo. "The Times is the pinnacle of prestige, and I truly thought I'd be there until the day I croaked. But Yahoo offered the prospect of so many new creative outlets that I would never be able to develop on my own. … Ultimately, I couldn't resist."
( PHOTOS: Jeff Bezos's life and career)
For the Post, like other publications before it, the decision is financial, media analysts said. In order to generate its own revenue, a Klein venture would likely require new ad revenue, subscription sales and events. But the Post is already heavily invested in building its core brand, which is The Washington Post. To take on Klein's project would likely demand sacrifices elsewhere.
"It demonstrates that [Bezos] is indeed a capitalist. That is, he doesn't see his Washington Post purchase as a philanthropic venture," Bill Grueskin, dean of academic affairs and professor of professional practice at Columbia Journalism School, said. "It's very hard to see how a Washington Post site could ever generate the kind of revenue that would meet, much less surpass, [a $10 million] expense base."


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Earlier today, The Japan Times released that officials in Kyoto, Japan, had revised ordinance in order to crack down on the practice of upskirt photography (making unauthorized photographs under a woman's skirt). The highly popular tourist destination in Japan is flooded with tourists every spring, mostly high school students, and "upskirting" had reached disturbing levels, with even "a whole subgenre of magazines" existing for individuals to sell their images.
This perverted practice has always been outlawed in Japan, but only in public places such as shopping centers, railway stations, and public transport. Individuals taking these photographs had found a loophole which made them untouchable by police by taking their photos in places not covered under the definition of a "public place." The change in ordinance has seen the expansion of the "scope of protection" to include places such as schools, workplaces and hospitals, and has increased penalties for the use of hidden cameras in areas such as hot spring baths, changing rooms and public restrooms. Penalties can now be as high as ¥1 million (about $9815) or a year in jail.[Read More…]


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Alliant's faculty have distinguished academic credentials and professional experience from across the U.S. and from around the world. The rich diversity of the faculty brings to the University a variety of cultural perspectives and international experience. Over the past 5 years, Alliant has increased its full-time core faculty by 25%, reaching a base of approximately 225 faculty members. These full-time instructors are supplemented by a nearly equal number of adjunct faculty each year who bring additional expertise and experience to Alliant classrooms.
As practicing professionals themselves, Alliant's faculty have strong ties to the community and to their professional associations. Many have received awards and honors from their associations including the American Psychological Association, the American Marriage and Family Therapy Association and the Academy of Management.
Faculty at Alliant develop key mentoring relationships with their students, helping them build their scholarship and professional experience, in addition to helping them build a relevant professional network. Faculty/student collaborations often result in joint presentations at academic and professional conferences and in publications in professional journals.
Since 2005, faculty (often with student collaborators) have given over 2000 scholarly presentations, with more than half of these to national or international audiences. They have published over 700 books, chapters, journal articles, and other scholarly works, many of which have direct application to professional practice. Most frequent topics have been related to diversity (race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation) and international applications of professional practice.
- Research Institutes at Alliant
- Consulting Centers at Alliant: CSPP, CSML
- Faculty recruitment and employment opportunities


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Ensuring a good GPS signal reception?
The best GPS signal reception can be reached when training in an open area where there are no obstructions for the satellite signals. Due to the nature of the GPS signal, for example hills, tall buildings, and trees may block the satellite signal. Rain, fog, and snow may also affect the signal quality. These conditions may result in uneven speed reading during the exercise and cause an uneven speed curve in Polar software even when you have exercised going at a steady pace.
If you are training a lot in an environment where the signal can get blocked, a reliable way of getting a speed reading is to set automatic lap to 500m or 1km and check the average speed for the lap when your wrist unit takes the lap and beeps.
If you are exercising on a forest road, try changing the sensor to your roadside arm to see if it helps with the signal reception.


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17 April 2012 was a very special day for Angel and Tony, two lovebirds who tied the knot at Villa Canderi, Canggu Bali that noon. Angel looked absolutely stunning with her blue kebaya, decorated pink nails and white bouquet; while Tony was all happy and smiley during the short one-hour ceremony in his cheerful pink striped shirt. There were no other guests invited, except two witnesses, a Christian priest and a lady from the state civil institution (well, and me as the photographer). None of us they really knew before. That made it the most low-profile, straightforward, simple wedding I've ever attended. Close to my own dream wedding, except that I would like to do it on top of a hill or at some secluded beach.
One thing about a private wedding like this is there's absolutely no stress. No fuss about the flower arrangement, the type of glasses used, the food, the cake, the bridesmaid dresses or any other factors that can turn a supposedly-happy-once-in-a-lifetime moment into a disaster. No bridezilla crying just hours before declaring her vows or threatening to cancel the wedding because the flowers were not yellow. Both Angel and Tony looked perfectly calm and happy, they smiled, and they cracked jokes almost all the time I spent with them.
The two ceremonies (religious and civil ceremonies) themselves took roughly about over half an hour. It was 1 o'clock and the heat was mean especially to the groom. The deal I made was to photograph the ceremony only, but I felt like giving more. So I took them to Batu Bolong beach, about 5 minutes from the venue, and had a short post-wedding session. I delivered the photos the next day because they had to leave for Medan (Angel's hometown) only the day after. And this is what Tony had to say:
Hi Carla
Just letting you know that Angel and I are really happy with the photos. Thanx so much for making it an enjoyable experience.
Well, the pleasure is mine, Tony. It was one of the nicest weddings I've ever handled.


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Cynthia Smoot
Cynthia Smoot is the Emmy award-winning co-anchor of the FOX 13 News at 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.
When she's not at the anchor desk, Cynthia's likely covering a story about Florida's fabulous wildlife or people and their pets. She loves nature and enjoys helping Tampa Bay viewers get to know some of the interesting creatures in our own backyard, such as "Winter," the little dolphin at Clearwater Marine Aquarium that lost her tail but now swims with the help of a prosthesis.
She has also reported on some of the area's most notorious animal cruelty cases, following the story of "Casper," a boxer that was nearly starved to death, from the day he arrived at the county shelter to the day he went home with his new adoptive owner.
Cynthia has also traveled to the Everglades to report on the threat of Burmese pythons to our native wildlife, and to Boca Grande, where invasive spiny-tailed iguanas are pushing out threatened gopher tortoises and eating native birds.
In 1998, Cynthia received a prestigious Emmy award for "A Real Life Horse Whisperer," the story of Monty Roberts, who helped revolutionize horse training with his non-violent methods.
Cynthia grew up in Yorktown, Virginia and received her B.A. in communications from James Madison University. She's a 30-year veteran of broadcast journalism, with a career that began in radio as an award-winning morning news anchor and news director, and for the past 28 years, in television as a producer, reporter, and anchor.
Before coming to WTVT in 1997, Cynthia spent 13 years at the FOX owned and operated TV station in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, North Carolina as the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news anchor. In North Carolina, she was deeply involved in children's issues and received a number of community awards and honor for her involvement and advocacy on issues relating to foster care and adoption, infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and working women.
Cynthia was also involved with the North Carolina chapter of "Operation Smile," twicetraveling abroad with medical teams to report on the life-changing surgery they perform on children with facial and limb deformities.
Cynthia lives in Tierra Verde with her husband Bill, greyhound Karma, and Bo the cat. Cynthia's horse, Bucky, prefers the country life in Manatee County.
If you would like to contact Cynthia, you can email her at firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @CynthiaSmoot.
The latest from Cynthia Smoot
Prevent pet suffocation: Potato chip bags can be deadly for pets
Pet suffocation from snack bags happens almost every day, but few are aware of the danger and what we can do about it.
Bradenton camp gives every kid the chance to ride
The slogan at Dream Oaks Camp in Bradenton contains words to live by.


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Subscribe To Enlightened Creator Mike White Adapting Novel By Silver Linings Playbook Author Updates
I've already subscribed
The Weinstein Company fared fantastically with their adaptation of Matthew Quick's novel Silver Linings Playbook. The dark rom-com that starred Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence not only had critics cheering, and audiences turning out in force, but also won major notice at the Academy Awards with eight nominations and an unforgettable win for the its leading lady. Understandably, all the hoopla surrounding Silver Linings Playbook has other studios looking at Quick's works for possible projects, and DreamWorks is now lining up an adaptation of their own.
Rather than snagging the rights to one of Quick's three other published novels, DreamWorks acquired The Good Luck of Right Now toward the tail-end of award season, when it was only in manuscript form. The story centers on how four outsiders, each plagued by grief, come to form an unlikely family. Variety reports DreamWorks has signed actor-screenwriter Mike White to spin Quick's latest into a movie, one that we suspect will be a dark comedy as well.
This gig is good news for White. As Enlightened, the HBO series he created and co-starred with Laura Dern, was just axed after two seasons, he's likely welcoming the opportunity to dive into something new. Aside from Enlightened, White's also penned films like the Jack Black comedy The School of Rock, the Jennifer Aniston dramedy The Good Girl, and the landmark indie comedy Chuck & Buck. White's known for an off-kilter brand of humor and heart, so if Good Luck of Right Now is anything like Silver Linings Playbook, he could prove a perfect fit for the material.
While the novel The Good Luck of Right Now is slated for release in the spring of 2014, there's no word yet on when the movie would hope to roll into production.


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It has been almost one year from the last release of the UC Browser English Version for Android in UC 7.2. With the new release and more than 10 million monthly active users, UC Browser keeps its leading position in Android market, continue to compete with the major players, like Opera Mini, Dolphin & Skyfire.
UC Browser for symbian, java & ppc were also released, you could visit wap.ucweb.com or Download UC product - UC Mobile Ltd. to download.
All about Speed
Faster than your imagination is the promise UC made to its users, and in the newly upgrade of UC Browser for Android showed that UC has fulfilled the commitment.
1. Fast in Initialization & Exit
UC Browser 7.8 for Android can make the time for initialization & exit in just one second, let the user even cant feel the open & exit.
2. Fast in Browsing
UC Browser 7.8 for Android made optimization to network connection again, besides the increased speed for visiting website, the stability also get a better performance, to ensure users can have a higher efficient browsing experience.
3. Fast in Operation
For the touch screen users, the smooth of operation is one of the most important points to them. UC Browser 7.8 for Android made optimization for this point to bring users more smooth & faster operation experience.
Introduced the Dual Core Architecture in the first place
7 years ago, UC firstly introduced the C/S architecture to fill the digital gap between the handset and the PC internet, which is 15 months ahead of Opera Mini. Now, again, UC introduced the Dual Core Architecture in the first place to meet different requirement from mobile internet users.
Almost every mobile browser for Android leverage the Webkit core, and what they do is to build the client, and draw the user interface. However, for UC Browser, it not only integrated the Webkit, but also developed its own core to bring a faster and traffic saving experience to users.
With the UCs own core, users can save up to 85% of the traffic. Users can switch between these two cores according to their need, by change the browsing model from Full Function to Data Saving.
More friendly for the user interface
Besides the speed, UC Browser 7.8 for Android also made the improvement in the user interface, like the UC innovated two screens model bring users the quick access to bookmark, history. Moreover, the theme customization brings users always fresh experience.
To download, please visit Download UC product - UC Mobile Ltd. by PC or wap.ucweb.com by handset.
Similar Threads ::


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A zero-day exploit that potentially affects all supported versions of Microsoft Windows, and which has been tied to a warning by Google about state-sponsored attacks, has been identified carrying out attacks in Europe.
Security company Sophos said the still-unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services, which is used in writing applications, was exploited in recent attacks against an aeronautical parts supplier and a medical company, both in Europe, according to a blog post by SophosLabs' Graham Cluley.
The exploit, which has been spreading via phishing attacks against Internet Explorer users, executed a drive-by install of four files, Cluley wrote. He said an attack against an aeronautical parts supplier, for instance, could be a step toward hacking a larger organization.
Related coverage:
Google warnings of state-sponsored attacks: Sign of the times
Microsoft warns of zero-day attack
Microsoft issued a warning June 12 about the vulnerability, which exists in versions 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 of XML Core Services, also know as MSXML. It affects Internet Explorer in all versions of Windows XP through Windows 7, as well as all versions of Office 2003 and 2007.
The vulnerability, known as CVE-2012-1889, allows remote code execution in computers that get infected when users visit the target malicious website and can give an attacker the same rights as a registered user. Microsoft has not yet issued a patch but is recommending that users and organizations take advantage of a "Fix it" workaround that can mitigate the problem.
At the time of its warning, Microsoft said the vulnerability was being actively exploited but did not give details on any attacks. Its announcement came about week after Google launched a service that would warn users when they might be targets of state-sponsored attacks.
Google security engineer Andrew Lyons, on the company's blog, said Google had reported the MSXML vulnerability to Microsoft on May 30 and that the two companies had been working on it together.
ZDNet, citing a source "close to these investigations," later reported that the active exploits against the MSXML vulnerability had prompted Google's warning about state-sponsored attacks.
Google said its new service would give users a warning across the top of their screens, along with a link to advice on protecting themselves, if they were targets of a suspected state-sponsored attack.
It may have seemed a little unusual that Google, which already warns Gmail users of anything suspicious concerning their accounts, would launch a service specifically concerning state-sponsored cyberattacks, but recent reports have made it clear that governments, including the United States, are actively involved in cyber activities.
Recent news reports have said the highly sophisticated Flame and Stuxnet malware were part of a U.S./Israeli effort targeting Iran's nuclear program, in which the Flame spyware gathered details about Iran's Natanz processing plant, paving the way for Stuxnet to disrupt centrifuges used in uranium processing.
Meanwhile, a number of other high-profile attacks, including several against Google, have been attributed to China, Russia and other foreign governments.
About the Author
Kevin McCaney is a former editor of Defense Systems and GCN.
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Situated on the higher ground of beautiful Kamala Beach, The Aquamarine has 186 luxury Thai-style Deluxe Rooms and 20 Ocean Thai Villas at your disposal. Every room and villa has an ocean view.
The open-plan lobby is in Thai-sala style, featuring a high ceiling, a booking area and a gift shop. The lobby commands sweeping views of the ocean and two adjacent swimming pools. You can dine each evening at the seafood garden area right by the Andaman Sea.


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On the Town of Hull web site, Chairman John Holdridge writes about embracing the 21st century.
That might include keeping bicyclists and pedestrians off the town roads, via an ordinance drafted by a task force on public safety.
The Stevens Point Journal reports that the proposed law would require biking, running or walking groups to register their travel plans with the town or bans them from using roads outright. The Public Safety Task Force has an opportunity to take another look at the ordinance at its next meeting on Oct. 20.
The town, north of Stevens Point in Portage County, has about 82 miles of roads and about 5,300 people.
Few accidents involving bicyclists and cars have been reported in recent years, but Holdridge told the paper that town officials get a lot of complaints about groups of people running down the middle of the road at night or taking up most of the road during the day, or bikers riding on the wrong side of the road.
Kevin Luecke, a planner and advocate with the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, told the Stevens Point paper that parts of the proposed ordinance violate state law, which says bicycles are considered vehicles and must follow the same rules of the road.
Similar proposals have popped up around the country, with mixed results. An ordinance banning bicycles in Black Hawk, Colo., took effect in January 2010, and is now being fought in the state courts.
In St. Charles County, Missouri, a similar initiative was dropped. A petition drive to enact a bike-ban ordinance in Iowa also failed to gain much traction.
Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said Wednesday that restrictions limiting bike use on most roads are unnecessary and drastic, if not illegal.
"Usually, this is a response to a genuine concern for safety that needs to be addressed in another way," Clarke said. "People on bikes can and should be able to use the public right-of-way."
Read and share your thoughts on this story.


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"Sumo At Sea" -- Tensions arise when both tribes are forced to choose a leader for the reward challenge, on SURVIVOR: PALAU, Thursday, March 10 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network.
As the tribes become aggravated by having to choose a leader, they also speculate what role the leader will play. One castaway becomes annoyed with a fellow tribe mate who complains of lack of energy and becomes useless to the tribe. Spirits are high for one tribe after they win the reward challenge and receive an extraordinary reward. Tribal division becomes apparent as one group considers banding together to vote a certain tribe member out.
And, the third member is voted out of the tribe.
***Due to CBS Sports coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, SURVIVOR: PALAU will be broadcast on Wednesday, March 16 and Wednesday, March 23 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. The series will resume its regular time period on Thursday, March 31 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT).***
Coby Archa, 32, Athens, Texas
Gregg Carey, 28, Chicago
Katie Gallagher, 29, Merced, Calif.
Caryn Groedel, 46, Solon, Ohio
Jennifer Lyon, 32, Encino, Calif.
Ian Rosenberger, 23, Key Largo, Fla.
Willard Smith, 57, Bellevue, Wash.
Janu Tornell, 39, Las Vegas
Tom Westman, 41, Sayville, N.Y.
Ashlee Ashby, 22, Easley, S.C.
Bobby Jon Drinkard, 27, Troy, Ala.
Angie Jacusz, 24, New Orleans
Jolanda Jones, 39, Houston
Stephenie LaGrossa, 25, Philadelphia
James Miller, 33, Mobile, Ala.
Kimberly Mullen, 25, Huber Heights, Ohio
Ibrehem Rahman, 27, Birmingham, Ala.
Jeff Wilson, 22, Ventura, Calif.
SURVIVOR: PALAU is produced by SEG, Inc. Mark Burnett and Tom Shelly are the executive producers.
For more detailed information on SURVIVOR: PALAU and the new 20 castaways, log on to www.cbs.com/survivor. For more information on Palau, log on to www.visit-palau.com.
RATING: To Be Announced


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Many nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin K, are necessary to build healthy bones. The most important of these are calcium and vitamin D.
Learn more about the health and medical experts who who provide you with the cutting-edge resources, tools, news, and more on Diabetes Self-Management.
About Our Experts >>


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Provided by: libchart-clicker-perl_2.90-1_all
Chart::Clicker::Data::Marker - Highlight arbitrary value(s)
version 2.90
use Chart::Clicker::Data::Marker; use Graphics::Color::RGB; use Graphics::Primitive::Brush; my $cc = Chart::Clicker->new; my $mark = Chart::Clicker::Data::Marker->new( color => Graphics::Color::RGB->new, brush => Graphics::Primitive::Brush->new, key => 12, value => 123, # Optionally key2 => 13, value => 146 ); my $ctx = $cc->get_context('default'); $ctx->add_marker($mark); $cc->write_output('foo.png');
Used to highlight a particular key, value or range of either.
brush Set/Get the brush for this Marker. color Set/Get the color for this marker. inside_color Set/Get the inside color, which will be used if this range has two keys and two values. key Set/Get the key for this marker. This represents a point on the domain. key2 Set/Get the key2 for this marker. This represents a second point on the domain and is used to specify a range. value Set/Get the value for this marker. This represents a point on the range. value2 Set/Get the value2 for this marker. This represents a second point on the range and is used to specify a range.
Cory G Watson <email@example.com>
This software is copyright (c) 2016 by Cory G Watson. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.