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Explore Our Hotel
Our Vancouver area accommodations are directly adjacent to Metropolis at Metrotown, the second largest shopping complex in western Canada with over 400 stores. The Metrotown Skytrain transit station is directly across the street and that means easy access to YVR, Cruise Ship terminal at Canada Place, Rogers Arena & BC Place.
Our hotel's location is ideal for corporate guests looking for Greater Vancouver accommodations close to companies like BC Hydro, Telus, and the many Business Centres in Burnaby. For meetings, we have over 5,000 square feet of meeting space, with catering and A/V equipment available.
Leisure visitors will find our location extremely convenient. The attractions in Vancouver, such as the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Granville Island, Gastown and Stanley Park, are a short drive.
You will enjoy all the excellent amenities we offer at our hotel. There is free gated underground parking, a year-round, outdoor heated pool and sun deck, as well as a fully renovated and expanded fitness centre. Start your day with a free breakfast buffet in the newly renovated breakfast bar and relax during the day in the new guest lounge. Every room is equipped with a refrigerator and microwave. For the best hospitality in Vancouver, "Stay Smart" at our Burnaby, BC hotel.
- Black-out Shades
- Crib Available
- Iron/Ironing Board
- Separate Hanging Closet
- In-Room Heating and A/C Controls
- Extra Bedding Available
- Asthma/Allergy Sensitive Features
Bathroom/Personal Care
- Private Bathroom
- Bathroom Amenities Available
- Hair Dryer
- Bathtub
In-Room Features
- Mini Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Coffee Maker
- Tea Maker
- Flat-screen TV
- iPod Docking Station with Clock Radio
- Work Desk with Lamp
- Desk-level Electrical Outlet
- Free Local Calls
- Cable/Satellite
- Premium Channels
- Direct-dial Phone
- Phone with Voicemail
- Windows Open by Guest
Added Value
- Connecting Rooms Available
- Complimentary Coffee/Tea Supplies
- Breakfast Buffet Included
- Off-site Restaurant Delivery Available
Business Services
- 7 Meeting Room(s) Available
- On-Site Business Center
- Printer
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Internet Access
- Free High-Speed Internet in all Rooms
- Wireless Internet service is free for all IHG® Rewards Club members
Entertainment & Recreation
- Outdoor Pool
- Heated Outdoor Pool
- Outdoor Pool Hours of Operation: 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
The pool will be closed from Tuesday, September 3, 2019 - Tuesday, September 24, 2019. Alternate options are available. Please ask at the Front Desk.
Health & Fitness
Complimentary Fitness Center
Our Cardio Fitness Center includes an elliptical, treadmill, exercise bike, and functional trainer for weight and resistance workouts.
Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM
Fitness Center Type: LIMITED
Fitness Center Equipment:
- Treadmill
- Elliptical Machines
- Free Weights
- Stationary Bicycle
Last Renovation of Fitness Center Equipment: 2019
Housekeeping & Laundry
- Daily Housekeeping
- On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities
- Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Added Value
- Concierge Services
- Wake Up Calls
- Foreign Currency Exchange
- Storage Space Available
Hotel Details
4405 Central Blvd
Burnaby, British Columbia V5H4M3
Check In: 3:00 PM
Check Out: 11:00 AM
Check-in Age: 19
Parking + -
- Complimentary Self Parking Available
Accessibility + -
- Public Entrance
- Guest Rooms
- Elevators
- Public Restrooms
Accessible Hotel Areas
- Ramp Access
- Closed Caption TVs
- Telephone with TDD
- Visual Alarm/Alert in Guest Rooms
Provided by Hotel
Pet Policy + -
- Pets Allowed
- Service Animals Allowed
- Pet Walking Area On-site
- Pet Fee per Night: 25 CAD
- Designated pet rooms for small pets under 20 lbs, based upon availability. Reservation must be made directly with hotel. 25 dollar fee for the first night and 10 dollar fee the remaining nights
Facility + -
- Smoke-Free Facility
- Number of Floors: 6
- Total Number of Rooms: 100
- Number of Suites: 1
- Number of Non-Smoking Rooms: 100
- Number of Accessible Rooms: 3
- Connecting Rooms Available
- Current Renovation: 01-December-2018 To 01-May-2019
- Renovation to the breakfast room,guest lounge & lobby.
- Public Spaces Renovated in: 2019
- Guest Rooms Renovated in: 2015
Languages + -
Languages Spoken by Staff
- English
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- Turkish
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Credit Cards + -
- American Express
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Slow Food vs. Fast Food?
-As Part of Slow Food USA's Campaign to Take Back the 'Value Meal',
Slow Food Urban San Diego Hosts September 17th Event at Little Italy's Amici Park
As part of Slow Food USA's The $5 Challenge campaign to take back the 'value meal', Slow Food Urban San Diego is proud to announce that it will be hosting 'Together We Can Take Back the Value Meal' on Sept. 17, 2011 from 9:00a.m. - 1:30p.m. The event will be open to the public and will be held at Amici Park, located at Union Street, San Diego, CA 92101. Slow Food Urban San Diego is an all volunteer, local chapter of Slow Food USA, a national non-profit working for good, clean and fair food for all.
In response to a lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables, people eating more fast food than home-cooked meals and increasing rates of diet-related disease, Slow Food USA's recently launched campaign is encouraging people across the country to cook slow food that costs no more than five dollars per person, the cost of a typical fast food 'value meal'. Attendees of Slow Food Urban San Diego's event will take a pledge to do the same. Supported by SD Weekly Markets, the event will take place alongside the Little Italy Mercato, where vendors will be offering $5 lunch alternatives. At 12:00pm, the community will gather in a lunchtime convivium. Slow Food Urban San Diego will be on hand at Amici Park from 9:00a.m. - 1:30p.m. to answer questions and provide member services.
The $5 Challenge's overarching message is that slow food should not have to cost more than fast food and that everyone has a right to it everyday. Slow food - the opposite of fast food - is food that is good for those who eat it, good for farmers and workers, and good for the planet.
"This is an opportunity for the San Diego urban community to demonstrate together that there is a choice, and that good, clean, and fair food can be affordable and accessible,'" said Kristen Goodrich, a board member of Slow Food San Diego.
The campaign officially launches on Sept. 17 with a National Day of Action. Along with Slow Food Urban San Diego, thousands of participants will be attending or hosting hundreds of slow food gatherings nationwide.
"Right now, we have policies that make it harder to feed our children fruit than Froot Loops. But everyday, against the odds, people find ways to cook real food on a budget. We need to make cooking and eating that way a possibility for everyone," said Viertel, president of Slow Food USA. "If you know how to cook slow food on a budget, The $5 Challenge is a chance to teach someone. If you want to learn, it is a chance to get started. And it is a chance for us all to unite and begin pushing for the change we need."
There has been a tremendous amount of support from communities across America and the media is catching on too! From Chicago to New York, Washington DC to Detroit, the $5 Value Meal challenge is sparking the minds of eaters nationwide.
For more information, please visit SlowFoodUSA.org/5Challenge.

subset: commoncrawl


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The F-35 Lightning II has yet to fire a shot in anger but the Pentagon is already arguing with manufacturer Lockheed Martin over a big repair bill.
The Defense Department has stopped accepting most deliveries of new jets due to a dispute over the repair costs for more than 200 previously manufactured F-35s that developed excess corrosion last year. Deliveries were halted for a time in September and October but then resumed once the jets were repaired at an Air Force base in Utah. Now there's a new suspension, and the question is who will pay for the repair work performed last year.
The F-35 joint program office declined to say how long the current suspension has been in place or when it is expected to end, according to Defense News, but did say that the dispute is a "contractual resourcing issue that needs to be resolved. The government has implemented this pause to ensure the warfighter receives a quality product from industry. We look forward to a swift resolution of this issue."


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Lake Bell is officially a Mrs.! The actress tied the knot with Scott Campbell at a star-studded wedding in New Orleans over the weekend.
Bell, 34, of "Children's Hospital," married the tattoo artist, 36, in a nondenominational ceremony at the Marigny Opera House on Saturday, her rep told People.
At the wedding, the actress wore a custom-made tiered Marchesa gown with a dramatically embellished collar and intricate veil. Her groom wore a dark Marc Jacobs tuxedo with white piping (Campbell is responsible for many of the famed designer's personal tattoos).
The bride and groom met on the set of the HBO comedy "How to Make it in America" in 2011. Campbell, who played himself in the series, proposed to Bell on her birthday in March 2012.
The actress has appeared in "What Happens in Vegas," "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy," "No Strings Attached" and in TV shows including "New Girl" and "Boston Legal." She made her directorial debut at the Sundance Film Festival this year with the comedy "In a World...," which she also wrote and starred in.
Among the fête's guests were celebrities including Campbell's longtime friend Justin Theroux and his fiancee Jennifer Aniston, and many of Bell's former costars: "Over Her Dead Body's" Eva Longoria, "Black Rock's" Kate Bosworth, "What Happens in Vegas' " Cameron Diaz, "Miss Match's" Alicia Silverstone and Campbell's ink client Josh Hartnett. The newlyweds hosted about 190 guests, according to the Daily Mail.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong was also in town to attend the nuptials, tweeting "Down in New Orleans for my buddy (and incredible artist) Scott Campbell's wedding. Love this town."
Longoria, of "Desperate Housewives" fame, shared a photo of the NOLA eats including a crawfish meal.
Bell's father, Harvey Siegel, escorted her down the aisle and the couple's pets Texas and Margaret served as the "dogs of honor" at the ceremony, as seen in an official photo the newlyweds shared with People.
Congrats to the happy couple!
Follow Ministry of Gossip @LATcelebs.


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'Disgustingly Biased' - The Corporate Media On The Gaza Massacre
- In Alerts 2014
- Post 24 July 2014
- Last Updated on 01 August 2014
- By Editor
Soon after Malaysian Airlines MH17 crashed near Donetsk, Ukraine on July 18, killing 298 people, the BBC website quickly, and rightly, set up a 'LIVE' feed with rolling reports and commentary on the disaster. This was clearly an important and dramatic event involving horrific loss of life with serious political implications. The public would, of course, be searching for the latest news.
However, since July 8, ten days prior to the crash, Israeli armed forces had been bombarding the trapped civilian population of Gaza with airstrikes, drone strikes and naval shelling. As the massive Israeli assault ramped up on July 9, the World section of the BBC News website had this as its headline:
'Israel under renewed Hamas attack'
By July 18, around 300 people had been killed in Gaza, 80% of them civilians. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a key political issue of our time, one that was clearly developing by the minute after July 8. And yet at no point had the BBC set up a 'LIVE' feed with rolling news.
That finally changed on July 20 after so many days in which so many Palestinians had been killed. Why July 20? The answer appears to be found in the fourth entry of the live feed under the title 'Breaking News':
'Some 13 Israeli soldiers were killed overnight in Gaza, news agencies, quoting Israeli military sources, say. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the nation shortly.'
Despite this small number of military deaths compared to the Palestinian toll, it seems clear that the killing of the Israeli troops triggered the BBC live feed. It focused intensely on these deaths, with entries of this kind:
'Ben White, writer tweets: Israel has lost more soldiers in a 3 day old ground offensive than it did during Cast Lead & Pillar of Defense combined (12).'
'View to the Mid East, a writer in Ashdod, Israel tweets: One of the soldiers who was killed in Gaza tonight prays at the same synagogue I go to. Grew up in the same neighbourhood.'
The feed incorporated no less than five photographs from two funerals of the Israeli soldiers but none from the far more numerous Palestinian funerals (one picture showed Palestinian relatives collecting a body from a morgue), with these captions:
'Friends and relatives of Israeli Sergeant Adar Barsano mourn during his funeral at the military cemetery in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya.'
'Sagit Greenberg, the wife of Israeli soldier Maj Amotz Greenberg, mourns during his funeral in the central town of Hod Hasharon.'
Obviously, Israeli suffering also merits compassion, but these military deaths were overshadowed by a far higher loss of Palestinian lives, most of them civilian men, women and children. The toll currently stands at 746 Palestinians killed and 4,640 wounded. Israel has suffered 32 military and two civilian deaths. One foreign worker from Thailand has also been killed.
In the following days (and at time of writing) the live feed was cancelled; a period that has seen hundreds of Palestinian deaths and a handful of Israeli military deaths.
For some time on the morning of July 21, the sole Gaza content on the BBC News home page was 'Breaking News' of an 'Israeli soldier missing in Gaza'.
Remarkably, on the morning of July 23, when 18 Palestinians were killed, the BBC set up a live feed for the wrecked Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia, which showed the ship being towed to Genoa. There was no live feed for Gaza.
The BBC has supplied names, ages, pictures and emotive background stories of the Malaysian air crash victims while, with rare exceptions, Palestinian dead have been presented as nameless figures, briefly mentioned, then forgotten.
The level of BBC bias was emphasised by an article headline that placed inverted commas around the siege in Gaza, as if it were a matter for debate: "Palestinian PM says lift Gaza 'siege' as part of ceasefire". The BBC subsequently changed the title, but a tweet promoting the article with the original wording remains.
The BBC has also implied that 'Rockets fired from Gaza' are comparable to 'Gaza targets hit by Israel'. Readers are to understand that attempted attacks by unguided, low-tech rockets are comparable to actual bombings by state of the art bombs, missiles and shells. The BBC's source? 'Israel Defence Forces.'
On July 21, BBC News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards asked a colleague live on air:
'...the Israelis saying they'll carry on as long as necessary to stop the Hamas rocket attacks. Do you detect any signs at all that there's a hope of a coming together in the next few days or weeks, or not?'
In other words, BBC News presented Hamas rocket attacks as the stumbling block to peace, exactly conforming to Israeli state propaganda.
In a report on the same edition of News at Ten, the BBC's world affairs editor, John Fidler-Simpson CBE, asserted that 'one reason why casualties on the two sides are so out of proportion' is because 'Israel has developed the world's most effective anti-missile defence'.
This suggested a more or less equal fight with Israel simply better able to protect itself. Fidler-Simpson added:
'The Iron Dome system's ability to knock Hamas missiles out of the sky has been a remarkable achievement for Israel during this crisis. The success rate is quite phenomenal.'
Back in the real world, weapons experts Ted Postol of MIT and Richard Lloyd of Tesla Laboratory, argue that claims for Iron Dome are wildly exaggerated, estimating a success rate of less than 5 per cent. Peter Coy of BloombergBusinessweek comments:
'Lloyd e-mailed me a copy of a 28-page analysis that's the most detailed critique yet of the holes in the Iron Dome system - holes so big that, if he's right, would justify calling it Iron Sieve.'
BBC bias has also been typified by its downplaying, or complete blanking, of large-scale demonstrations in several UK cities protesting BBC coverage. As activist Jonathon Shafi noted of the BBC's lack of interest:
'It is misinformation of the worst, and it is an insult to journalism.'
After the four Palestinian Bakr boys, aged between 9 and 11, were killed by an Israeli shell, the New York Times headline on July 16 read:
'Boys Drawn to Gaza Beach, and Into Center of Mideast Strife'
This worked well to obscure the truth that the boys had been killed while playing football on a beach. Artist Amir Schiby produced a wonderful, moving tribute to the Bakr boys.
Even indisputable evidence here and here that Israel had fired on hospitals in Gaza, major war crimes, brought little outrage from politicians and media. Jonathan Whittall, Head of Humanitarian Analysis at Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), reminded the world (citing MSF General Director Christopher Stokes on the crisis in Libya in 2012):
'Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions.'
Despite the unequal battle and high civilian death toll, no high-profile advocates of the West's 'responsibility to protect' ('R2P') civilians in Iraq, Libya and Syria have been calling for 'intervention'.
We asked passionate 'R2Pers' like David Aaronovitch, Jonathan Freedland and Menzies Campbell if they felt 'we must do something'. They did not reply. Freedland commented in a BBC interview that the death toll was 'very lopsided' – a polite euphemism for a massacre that, according to Unicef, has claimed 10 children per day. E-International Relations website reports:
'While the conflict has generated near blanket international media coverage it has been strangely ignored by the three most prominent and vociferous organisations established to promote the idea of "The Responsibility to Protect", namely The International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP), the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) and the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (APCR2P)...
'Since the operation began these groups have published myriad tweets, posts and articles – on issues ranging from the rights of women, the treatment of refugees, mass atrocity cries and the provision of medical aid... Yet, coverage of the crisis in Gaza has been negligible.'
Who Starts The 'Cycle Of Violence'?
The term 'cycle of violence' often occurs in corporate reporting of the Israel-Palestine conflict. But who starts the cycle spinning? A study of news performance in 2001 by the Glasgow Media Group noted that Israelis 'were six times as likely to be presented as "retaliating" or in some way responding than were the Palestinians'.
The US media watchdog, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, observed that the current conflict 'is usually traced back to the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers on the West Bank. When their bodies were found on June 30, Israel "retaliated" by attacking Gaza. The July 2 killing of a Palestinian teenager, allegedly a revenge murder by Israeli extremists, was reported as further escalating the conflict.'
On the BBC's News at Ten (July 23), reporter Quentin Sommerville commented (at 14:31):
'The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, blamed on Hamas, sparked this conflict.'
The Guardian readers' editor, Chris Elliott – ostensibly the newspaper's watchdog on bias in language and presentation - echoed Israeli propaganda, describing Israel's current attack as a 'counter-offensive'.
NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin supplied a rare example of dissent:
'But even before the kidnapping of three Israeli-Jewish teenagers and killing of the Palestinian teenager last week, two Palestinians were killed back in May and didn't trigger the kind of international outcry and international outrage that the killing of the three Israeli teens have.'
Corporate media have generally not identified these deaths as initiating a 'cycle of violence'.
According to human rights group B'Tselem, 568 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli security forces from January 2009 till the end of May 2014; 84 of those fatalities were children. Over the same time period, 38 Israelis were killed by Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Many expert commentators argue that the deeper cause behind the latest violence is in fact Israel's opposition to the Palestinian unity government, including Hamas, formed earlier this year which has been recognised even by the US.
No Ceasefire - 'It's The Siege, Stupid'
If Palestinians are blamed by corporate media for starting the violence, they are also blamed for refusing to end it. A Guardian article title read:
'Pressure mounts on Hamas to accept ceasefire as Gaza death toll tops 300 - Hamas left isolated by its refusal to accept a truce as death toll rises and UN chief heads for the region to help broker peace'
Jerusalem correspondent Harriet Sherwood commented:
'But with the Palestinian death toll rising over 300, it is the Hamas leadership that has come under increasing pressure from multiple international sources to accept an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
'"The objective is to convince all the Palestinian factions to accept the ceasefire," one western diplomat told the Guardian.'
But a cessation of the current violence would not mean an end to war and suffering for the Palestinians. Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada commented:
'[T]he two Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have set forth ten conditions for a ceasefire and ten-year truce with Israel.
'They include an end to all armed hostilities, the end of the siege of Gaza, and the construction of internationally supervised air and seaports.'
Abunimah explained the rationale behind these conditions:
'It's the siege, stupid. Talk to virtually anyone in Gaza and they will tell you the same. The siege is living death, slowly crushing the life out of Gaza. It has to end.
'This is a main reason why Hamas did not accede to the attempt by Israel, through its ally the Egyptian dictatorship, to impose a unilateral "ceasefire" about which Hamas says it was never even consulted, hearing about the initiative only through the media.'
Jerusalem-based journalist Mya Guarnieri described what a return to the status quo actually means:
'Israel strikes Gaza from time to time and kills Palestinian civilians there and in the West Bank without garnering much scrutiny from the international media and, by extension, the international community.'
In February 2013, Ben White commented:
'Three months have passed since the ceasefire that brought an end to Israel's eight-day attack on the Gaza Strip known as Operation "Pillar of Defence"... Since late November, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have averaged over one a day, every day. These include shootings by troops positioned along the border fence, attacks on fishermen working off the Gaza coast, and incursions by the Israeli army.'
These attacks are mentioned in passing, or ignored, by a corporate media system that is so clearly indifferent to the loss of Palestinian life. Israel-based journalist Jonathan Cook observed of the latest conflict:
'It's depressingly predictable that the corporate media have swallowed the line of Israel accepting the "ceasefire proposal" and Hamas rejecting it. What Hamas did was reject a US-Israeli diktat to sign away the rights of the people of Gaza to end a siege that cuts them off from the rest of the world.'
Corporate Filtering - 'A Top-Down Intimidation Campaign'
The bias in failing to report the brutalisation of a trapped, impoverished people under occupation is staggering. Many might wonder why journalists fail to speak out. But several journalists who have exposed Israeli actions, and media bias favouring Israel, have been punished.
Ayman Mohyeldin, the NBC News correspondent who witnessed the killing of the four Bakr boys, and whose reporting of the tragedy moved many readers around the world, was subsequently 'told by NBC executives to leave Gaza immediately'. Glenn Greenwald reports that NBC executives claimed the decision was motivated by 'security concerns' as Israel prepared a ground invasion. But NBC then sent another correspondent, Richard Engel, into Gaza with an American producer.
After a storm of protest on social media, NBC announced it had 'reversed its decision'. The broadcaster dissembled:
'As with any news team in conflict zones, deployments are constantly reassessed. We've carefully considered our deployment decisions and we will be sending Mohyeldin back to Gaza over the weekend.'
The day after Mohyeldin was pulled out, CNN correspondent Diana Magnay was removed from covering the conflict after she reported Israelis cheering the bombing of Gaza from a hillside overlooking the border. When the people cheering allegedly threatened to destroy Magnay's car 'if I say a word wrong', she described them on Twitter as 'scum'.
On July 21, journalist and MSNBC contributor Rula Jebreal said in an interview on MSNBC of MSNBC:
'We're ridiculous. We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue. Look how many [sic] air time Netanyahu and his folks have on air on a daily basis, Andrea Mitchell and others. I never see one Palestinian being interviewed on these same issues.'
The MSNBC interviewer responded: 'We have had Palestinian voices on our show.'
Jebreal replied: 'Maybe for 30 seconds, and then you have 25 minutes for Bibi Netanyahu...'
Max Blumenthal reported on AlterNet:
'Within hours, all of Jebreal's future bookings were cancelled and the renewal of her contract was off the table.'
Later that day, Jebreal tweeted:
'My forthcoming TV appearances have been cancelled! Is there a link between my expose and the cancellation?'
Jebreal commented:
'I couldn't stay silent after seeing the amount of airtime given to Israeli politicians versus Palestinians. They say we are balanced but their idea of balance is 90 percent Israeli guests and 10 percent Palestinians. This kind of media is what leads to the failing policies that we see in Gaza.'
Jebreal said that in her two years as an MSNBC contributor, she had told her producers: '"we have a serious issue here". But everybody's intimidated by this pressure and if it's not direct then it becomes self-censorship'.
Blumenthal reported that an NBC producer, speaking anonymously, had confirmed the reality of 'a top-down intimidation campaign aimed at presenting an Israeli-centric view of the attack on the Gaza Strip'.
Pressure on the executives responsible for disciplining journalists is also intense. Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, has said Washington often 'played the terrorist card' to get stories spiked:
'Sometimes the CIA or the director of national intelligence or the NSA or the White House will call about a story... You hit the brakes, you hear the arguments, and it's always a balancing act: the importance of the information to the public versus the claim of harming national security... Over time, the government too reflexively said to the Times, "you're going to have blood on your hands if you publish X" and because of the frequency of that, the government lost a little credibility... But you do listen and seriously worry... Editors are Americans too... We don't want to help terrorists'.
But editors should remember that they are human beings first, Americans second - to behave otherwise risks supporting their own government's terrorism and that of its allies.
For in truth, biased US-UK journalism is empowering the Israeli government's effort to terrorise the Palestinian people into accepting gradual genocide as their land and resources are stolen. As we have discussed here (see also Gideon Levy here), the hidden backstory is that this land grab can not be conducted under conditions of peace. It requires Perpetual War; a phoney, one-sided 'war' dominated by Israel's perennial trump card: high-tech military power supplied by that eternal 'peace broker', the United States.
DE and DC


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Eighteen Months to Fix a Bug?
Lots of folks are annoyed at the picture emerging of the DirectX vulnerability which went zero-day this week, and which Microsoft hopes to patch next week.
The problem is that Microsoft has stated that they became aware of the vulnerability in "the early Spring of 2008". Let's assume the earliest, which is March: that makes this bug about 18 months old. What's more, the report came from the IBM ISS X-Force, a very credible source. What could possibly justify such a lag in addressing the problem?
Their explanation seems to be that their investigation revealed far more widespread problems and that they decided to address them in a radical way. The bug was in one of a number of interfaces to Internet Explorer which, to their knowledge, had no known use. In fact, these interfaces were already disabled by design in Vista. They decided to disable them as well in earlier Windows versions. It's obviously true, as they claim, that disabling a total of 45 programming interfaces should trigger a fairly sizable compatibility testing effort.
But 18 months? And it seems, from the way the announcements have been worded, that they weren't necessarily planning to include these fixes in this month's Patch Tuesday, but threw them in when the zero-day attacks hit. It may also be that the Tuesday patch will only address the one interface being attacked, not all 45.
Clearly Microsoft takes a long time to do these compatibility tests. This is understandable from their perspective, especially since they're dealing with older products.
But from the perspective of XP users, of whom there are zillions, it is unacceptable, and I think Microsoft took their eye off the ball here. If it's that much easier to issue patches for vulnerabilities than to disable them, then they should have issued patches and then gone on to the much longer process of disabling. Speed counts in this business.


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Required the United States and
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At lowering
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- Adele - Hello - Cover.


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Concentration: Photography
Graduation Year: 2012
Hometown: LA
Q: Why do you choose to mainly work in black and white?
A: I think it's more real. It seems honest and pure. I can't hide behind colors to distract myself and my audience from what I'm really thinking about.
Q: You have a large background in modeling. When did you realize and decide you wanted to switch from being in front of the camera to behind?
A:When I realized I couldn't push myself as the model to create the intense images that I wanted. As a fashion model, you don't get much say in the final piece, but as the photographer I can inspire, shoot, create, and push the limits. Ultimately, deciding my hopeful future role as an art director.
Q: You mentioned you now want to be an art director instead of a photographer. Why?
A: I think I'd have more control that way, which is exactly what I love. I've had so much experience now as the model, stylist, photographer, and it all adds up to being a director for me. Creating a vision that a team can commit to, put together, and produce.
Q: Where would you like to see your work end up?
A: I would love to be the executive art director of a magazine or publishing company, like Conde Nast. I could even see myself behind a brand name, creating the campaigns, and choosing the layouts for each new season or issue.
Q: Who are you influenced by?
A: Other artists, fashion designers, models, directors, writers, and photographers. I follow blogs from these creative people almost religiously and buy magazines constantly. I aspire to create the emotions inflicted by my favorite works of theirs.
Q: Share a funny story about your art.
A: My parents used to tell me that I couldn't draw; I specifically remember them calling me the scribbler, and teasing that I didn't color inside the lines. Therefore, I was in band for seven years, as a saxophone player, and didn't take an art class until my last year or two in high school.
...Who would have known it would be my major a few years later?
Q: As you recall, what is your first piece of artwork you created?
A: This weird little drawing I found in my parent's desk a few years ago. Why they kept it, I have no idea. It's supposed to be my interpretation of Picasso's work- and turned out as this funny little green, triangle man.
Q: Why do you mainly photograph people?
A: Because I don't understand them. Because they are: beautiful, dangerous, mysterious, and haunting- to me. I enjoy using the body as a vessel to show my frustration about humans, emotion, and beauty. There is something I don't fully understand about all of these things, but I feel a very strong connection to them.
Q: What aspects of the program or school engage you the most?
A: Lots of one on one time with my professors, due to the small class sizes. I love how it feels just like a family. After attending a larger university before coming to SNC, this feels like the perfect fit. Even teachers from other departments support, critique, and provide helpful words of wisdom, which doesn't seem to happen at other larger schools.
Q: Leave us with a quote or words of advice.
A: Don't listen to the wrong people.
To view Kasey's website click here
Interview by: Christy Rasmussen


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LOS ANGELES, March 29 (UPI) -- Recording artist Bobby Brown has been charged with driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license, prosecutors in Los Angeles said.
Brown was arrested Monday after police pulled him over for talking on his cell phone and he appeared intoxicated.
A representative for the Los Angeles City Attorney's office told E! News Brown also was charged with driving with a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08 percent.
All three charges are misdemeanors.
E! News said Brown attorney Tiffany Feder was unavailable for comment.
The 43-year-old New Edition singer has been in the spotlight since his ex-wife, multiple-Grammy Award winning recording star Whitney Houston, drowned last month in a hotel bathtub after using cocaine and prescription drugs.
The recording artists, who both battled addictions to drugs and alcohol over the years, have one child together, 19-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina.
Brown has a history of arrests for battery, motor vehicle-related offenses and parole violations.


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RICHMOND, Va. - VCU Head Women's Basketball Coach Marlene Stollings has announced the hiring of 10-year coaching veteran Franqua "Q" Bedell as an assistant coach.
Bedell joins VCU after spending the previous four seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Southeastern Conference member Mississippi State University, where he helped the Lady Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, including the programs' first-ever trip to the Sweet 16 in 2010.
"I am extremely excited about bringing Coach 'Q' Bedell to our program," said Stollings. "He is a proven recruiter who is known for attracting top talent throughout the country. Most recently, he signed back-to-back Top 50 recruiting classes in the highly regarded SEC. Coach 'Q' exudes a tireless work ethic, passion and enthusiasm that is contagious. His skills and personality will be key assets in recruiting, developing our young Rams and being a positive force for VCU. He is a first-rate addition to our program."
While at Mississippi State, Bedell helped develop WNBA draft picks and all-Southeastern Conference performers Chanel Mokango, Armelie Lumanu and Alexis Rack. The Lady Bulldogs compiled two 20-win seasons under his guidance, advanced to two NCAA Tournaments and finished a program-best third in the SEC in 2010. In addition, Bedell's 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes were ranked No. 41 and No. 47 in the nation, respectively. Along with player development, his primary responsibilities included the oversight of academics, camps, community service, scouting, on-floor coaching, scheduling, alumni relations and recruiting.
"Words cannot express how excited I am to be a part of Coach Stollings' staff and the VCU family," added Bedell. "Her reputation across the country is impeccable, her drive is beyond measure, and I knew that VCU was headed down the road of many A-10 championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. She is a visionary and a tremendous mentor who will help shape and mold the lives of everyone around her. There was no way I would miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to help be a part of history in the making."
Known for his relentless recruiting style and tremendous work ethic, Bedell was one of 18 women's basketball assistant coaches selected from across the country to participate in the Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) program for minority basketball coaches following the 2010 season.
Prior to his four-year stint in Starkville, Miss., Bedell spent two seasons at Southeastern Illinois College, one as assistant coach and the other as head coach. His first season with the Lady Falcons resulted in a fourth place finish at the NJCAA national tournament and a No. 1 ranking in the final NJCAA polls. The following season, Southeastern Illinois finished as the No. 6 team in the nation after compiling an overall record of 33-4. For his efforts, Bedell was named the Greater River Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Region 24 Coach of the Year and IBCA Coach of the Year in 2008, while two of his student-athletes were named All-Americans.
Bedell's collegiate coaching career began in 2003, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Southeastern Missouri State University. In his two years in Cape Girardeau, Mo., he helped the team to its first Ohio Valley Conference Championship game, a school-best 22 wins and a 14-2 conference mark. He also assisted in the recruitment of the OVC Player of the Year, Tatiana Conceicao.
Bedell spent the 2005-06 season as the head freshman girls basketball coach at Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Bedell also served two seasons at Northside High School in Fort Smith, Ark., and two seasons at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.
A native of Fort Smith, Ark., Bedell graduated from the University of the Ozarks in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in general studies. He went on to obtain his master's degree in sports and recreation management from Hardin-Simmons University in 2001.


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Yesterday, I flagged the 12 Democratic Senators who, in addition to all 41 Republican Senators, have prevented Congress from using Econ 101 deficit spending to create jobs and spark a robust recovery.
I'm sure some of these Senators are sincere and some are cynical.
Some know full well that government needs to spend when the private sector isn't, but are afraid to explain Econ 101 to their constituents. But others truly believe that our government risks losing credibility in the global bond market if we take on any more debt, and our economy will recover on its own soon enough.
Both groups of Senators have reason to urgently reassess their view.
The evidence is piling up that our government needs to do more. As economist Mark Thoma wrote in Moneywatch yesterday:
Initial [jobless] claims are above the "breakeven" level where there are neither job losses nor job gains, and this level indicates continued job losses. Initial claims have been fairly flat for the last several months and show no sign of making a strong downward movement, and there's little in other data series to suggest such an improvement is just around the corner ... this latest piece of bad news hopefully has policymakers at least questioning the wisdom of the "wait and see" approach...
Further, there is no cause for concern that spending more will damage our fiscal credibility in the bond market. As Paul Krugman writes today:
...it has become clear that investors aren't worried about deficits; they're worried about stagnation and deflation. And they've been signaling that concern by driving interest rates on the debt of major economies lower, not higher.
Thoma is properly pessimistic that this week's disappointing jobless data will prompt Congress to suddenly step on the gas pedal. Even if all 12 Democratic deficit hysterics came to their senses, it's extremely unlikely that a single Republican Senator would break party ranks and give Democrats a big political victory weeks before the midterm elections.
But there is a small window of opportunity for some Senators to change course -- this December, when the post-election session of Congress convenes.
Conservatives have been trying to use what is unfortunately known as the "lame duck" Congressional session -- the session between Election Day and the swearing-in of new members -- to stoke fear among voters. They argue a sneaky power grab is planned to ram through legislation to cap carbon pollution, ease union organizing and reform our immigration system.
Of course, having elected officials pass legislation during their terms of office is not at all a power grab.
Legislative ethics aside, a last-minute flurry of major reforms is simply not going to happen. All those issues have not cleared the Senate because they split them Dem caucus and attract few if any Republican votes. The 60 votes will not magically materialize after Election Day.
But maybe, just maybe, a sense of economic emergency could propel certain Senators to clear real job creation legislation before a likely increase in the Senatorial ranks of deficit hysterics is sworn in.
Which Senators?
We have the 12 Democrats who voted for the Recovery Act in 2009, but turned off the spigot and voted against additional Econ 101 deficit spending this past June:
Evan Bayh (IN)
Mark Begich (AK)
Russ Feingold (WI)
Herb Kohl (WI)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Joe Lieberman (CT)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
Robert Menendez (NJ)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Jim Webb (VA)
We would also need the votes of the two Democrats who were not present for that June vote:
Carte Goodwin (WV)
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
But we would still need some Republicans. Who could possibly be open to reassessing their views about how to spark job creation?
There are five Republican Senators who will be leaving the Senate -- not counting retiring Sen. Jim "Tough S--t" Bunning -- and will be free of conservative movement pressures:
Bob Bennett (UT)
Kit Bond (MO)
Judd Gregg (NH)
George LeMieux (FL)
George Voinovich (OH)
Plus, there are the three northeast Republicans, who have least voted for some of the unemployment insurance extensions:
Scott Brown (MA)
Susan Collins (ME)
Olympia Snowe (ME)
And that's 22.
Yet be aware, there are two special elections for currently Democratic-held seats being held simultaneously with the general election -- meaning that if the Republican wins, he would be seated immediately to finish out the current term. Their votes would surely be needed to pass emergency jobs legislation in December.
Mike Castle (DE)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Both are in traditionally Democratic states. And both Republican candidates have some moderate votes in their backgrounds, such as their support for carbon cap legislation.
But conservatives have pressured Castle and Kirk to oppose passing major reforms in a post-election Congressional session. New pressure would have to be put on them to treat a jobs bill as an "emergency."
And an emergency it is.
Long-term employment is at the highest level in recorded history and as Krugman notes, long-term unemployment can "leave workers permanently unemployable."
This is a time to step back and step up. To reassess old assumptions and act on behalf of country and not blind ideology or knee-jerk partisanship.
I don't expect Senators will be able to do that before November. I don't expect there will be enough Senators capable of doing that after January.
I hold a slim hope there will be enough in December.
Originally posted on OurFuture.org


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To hear some marketing gurus tell it, social media is the only game in town. While they may not want to hear it, every channel has its place.
When it comes to reminding, thanking, inviting and acknowledging customers, the simple paper post card continues to be connective and effective.
No one knows that better than Joy Gendusa, Founder and CEO of PostcardMania.
Starting her business at her kitchen table 15 years ago, Joy now oversees 200 employees at PostcardMania's production and fulfillment facility in Clearwater, Fla. The self-proclaimed artist, designer, foodie and entrepreneur built the company on the simple premise that business owners need to be informed marketers.
Joy has generated an impressive quantity of content about direct mail and marketing, eagerly and regularly helping her customers become smarter, years before the term "helpful" became part of the modern marketing lexicon.
What did PostcardMania intentionally set out to do – or do differently – using social media?
I didn't put a lot of attention on social until it had a lot of attention from just regular people. We just kept concentrating on adding content and driving traffic to our website. I wrote most of the content until I started hiring copywriters and getting people to help me with content probably five or six years ago.
I would try something to market my own company and either fall on my face or have success, and I would try something else. I just felt it was my duty to educate my clients and prospects about it so they wouldn't make the same mistakes I made.
How did you arrive at your content strategy?
I was creating content for PostcardMania's website when there was no content,"online". I was literally winging it for years. I wanted to educate people on what I was learning. I simply started writing article after article.
What kinds of useful or helpful information do you deliver to your customers?
We supply a real basic how-to approach with case study data. When we explain something, like I did in a series on PPC in my newsletter, I get a lot of real good feedback from people.
I present things simply; this is my story, this is how we do it, this is what this means. We really give good information, usable information, and we don't throw in a lot of terminology. Those kinds of articles get the best responses and the most downloads.
How does PostcardMania target its social outreach?
We have over 60,500 customers, and we only have a few thousand people following us on Facebook. A lot of them follow me personally, but not even a lot of them if you look at the numbers. Of course we did all the normal things like putting our "connect to me" buttons all over the blog and the website and the bottom of email, etcetera.
Now we're on a campaign to actually reach out specifically with email and phone calls to get those people connected with us, so that we can use social media to build trust and get them to like us.
We can make our customers into much better customers, just by being interested in them, and staying in communication with them on social media. That's kind of what gave me the idea to reach out and actively grow that list with our customers, and reach our prospects.
Any traction in closing business through those efforts?
A couple of Valentine's Days ago we did a little project where we took our top 500 customers, and we sent them wax mustaches and wax lips. We said if they'd take a picture and post it on our wall, we'll give them some kind of discount. I think it cost us about $3,000, all said and done.
In the end, we only had a handful of people actually post pictures, and I think we gained maybe 20 likes on our Facebook page, but we wound up selling to 68 of those 500 customers. Those 68 customers, that week, I'm talking about Valentine's Day week, spent $120,000 with us.
What's your primary channel that connects PostcardMania with prospects?
Our primary channel is direct mail and secondary is PPC. Our newsletter has over 100,000 subscribers and each week we email it out and it routes prospects and customers to our blog. There I can kind of get in their face and say, "Okay. Buy this now; this is a good tool you could use, and this is what it costs; get a deal if you click today," or that kind of thing. But mainly it's helpful data and not ads at all.
"We can make our customers into much better customers, just by being interested in them, and staying in communication with them on social media."
What do you regularly measure to see what is working?
We are measurement FREAKS… we measure everything and primarily it's calls we receive via our marketing efforts because, in my particular business, a call indicates a hot prospect – the hottest. We also track downloads, through the information we would offer directly, and via Google through sponsored ads. Of course we measure all the usual things too – email open rates, unique visitors to the site, but conversion is where it's at in the end.
On the social sites, where people aren't expecting to be sold to, and where it annoys them, we're just trying to make them like us enough to go back to our website where we can get serious.
How have your social media activities influenced PostcardMania's bottom line?
We don't really use social as a revenue generator, except for that one little thing that we did with the wax lips. While it was effective, it's not yet a business driver. I don't have a big enough list in social to affect my bottom line. We send out 140,000 postcards every single week to generate PostcardMania's revenue, and we spend between $15,000 and $20,000 on PPC a week. That's really how we affect the bottom line.
In the age of social media, is it a bit ironic that you're promoting items that rely on regular mail?
People are somewhat surprised that our business is still growing as much as it's growing, because it is snail mail and there's so much bad PR about the post office and the expense of postage. But direct mail is still the very best way to target and enlighten. There's a whole group of people searching for what you have, and another large group that have no idea they need what you have, so they're not searching for it. THOSE people need direct mail.
We have integrated digital into our offerings with our Direct Mail 2.0 product, a post card with a call tracking number, a mail tracking number, and a re-targeting campaign all in one.
People don't just call a phone number on a post card anymore. They go to the website, get cookied and see the ad on all the different sites of the Google Network. The repeated message is great and it's taken DM to a completely new level. Users are getting ridiculous ROI. It's been a great boost to our company.
What online tools do you rely on everyday?
We use Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. I personally don't do a lot of social except on my own personal Facebook page. I have a social media manager, and she's on LinkedIn everyday, joining groups, trying to get involved in the conversation, answering questions.
What aspects of social haven't worked for you?
So many things have not worked for me over all, not just social. I don't tend to keep my attention on those. We will throw the spaghetti at the wall a thousand times until it sticks. At this point, 15 years into this, we pretty much know how long it needs to boil for it to stick. We're so metric-orientated; we only do what already works.
What's the one thing people would never know about marketing a direct mail and printing company?
They don't realize how much technology is used. It seems so brick-and-mortar, and it is, because we're a manufacturer, but full on web developers and programmers working full time on various projects are all part of the future. We've really evolved into a technology company in so many ways.
What is one thing your social followers don't know about you?
They probably don't know that I CrossFit, because I'm so new at it that I don't post a lot of about it. I'm addicted.
What three blogs would you recommend?
I'm also a HUGE Flint McLaughlin groupie.
How can people connect with you?
I answer all my email email@example.com. I'm not super speedy, because I do get a lot of communication, but I do really enjoy helping people, regardless of whether or not they ever buy from PostcardMania, or want to buy from PostcardMania. I really, really just enjoy helping small business owners. People can also reach via Facebook. I get private messages all the time.
Do you know of other B2B marketers who are effectively integrating and using social media to fuel their businesses? I want to talk to them and share their story Drop me a note at firstname.lastname@example.com or via Twitter @RAReed.


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Men have wondered about them for years. They're curious, yet frightened. They've always wanted to know what it would be like, but the reality of making it happen seemed unlikely. Yes, we're talking about mustaches.
Now Movember may be over, but on Long Island, there's still some growing happening with Mustaches for Kids.
Long Island's Chapter of Mustaches for Kids (M4K) was started by four teachers looking to raise money for a good cause. When they came upon M4K, they knew any organization that told them, "Hey, your mustache probably won't look like Tom Selleck's," would be a good fit for them. Afterall, all they had to do was grow mustaches, have a couple drinks, and donate money to a charity that's going to help children. Really, how hard could that be?
Five years later, the group has not only grown mustaches, but also has grown in size with 110 growers in the 2011 season. And with a tremendous number of volunteers who have raised over $125,000 to this day, the Fifth Annual Stache Bash at the Inn in Long Beach, NY should be one for the books, with games, costume contests, raffles, prizes, drinks, and some good ol' mustache fun!
All the money raised this season will be donated to the Pediatric Cancer Care Center at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. This fund helps families who are having trouble paying for their children's cancer treatment.
There's an English proverb that says, "A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without sugar." Just as sugar sweetens the tea, so do the mustaches that sweeten these men's lives, and hopefully, the lives of those around them. Join M4K this weekend at the Inn in Long Beach, NY from 6PM to 10PM, and "Do it for the Kids!"
To donate, click here.
Get more for spreading your holiday cheer with "1st Look's" Giving Back episode, December 17, 2011 on NBC after "Saturday Night Live."


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|Scientific classification
|Middle Earth
|Easy Listening
|Northern, Southern, Cornish
|Binomial name
|Aardimus Minimus
|Primary armament
|Rocket-Propelled Grenades
|Secondary armament
|Flick knife
|Power supply
|24 volts
|Good personality
|12" when erect
|Special attack
|Vulcan death-grip
|Conservation status
|Threatened by the meaninglessness of life
The aardwolf is a small, Martianivorous hyena-like mammal, native to East Africa, Southern Africa and Cornwall. The name means "earth wolf" in Afrikaans and "death-pig" in ancient Celtic. Unlike other hyenas, the diet of the aardwolf almost completely consists of aliens, insect larvae and pizza.
Three geographically separate subspecies are recognized: Proteles cristatus cristatus of Southern Africa, Proteles cristatus septentrionalis of East Africa and northeastern Africa, and Proteles cristatus bodminus of south western England. It is usually placed in the Hyaenidae along with spotted and brown Hyena and Fruitbats.
The aardwolf lives in the scrublands of eastern and southern Africa. These are the areas of land covered with stunted trees or shrubs and prone to alien incursion. The aardwolf hides in a burrow during the day and comes out at night to search the night sky for tell-tale lights. It is related to hyenas, but unlike its relatives, it does not hunt large prey, leaving Daleks and Cybermen to more robust predators such as the Meerkat. This unusual animal is a mass killer-of Aliens. It feeds mainly on Martians and can eat more than 200,000 in a single night, using its long, sticky tongue to collect them through tiny holes in the superstructure of their UFOs.
Physical characteristics[edit]
The aardwolf looks most like the Striped Hyena, but is significantly smaller with a more slender muzzle, sharper ears utilized in the hunt for aliens, black vertical stripes on a stylish coat of yellowish fur, and a long, distinct mohawk down the middle line of the neck and back, which is raised during a confrontation to make the aardwolf's size appear bigger.
It is 55–80 cm long, excluding its bushy 20–30 cm tail, stands about 40–50 cm at the shoulder – and up to 2 metres when in heels. The average Aardwolf weighs between 9 and 14 kg, though peer-pressure has caused a rise in teenage Aardwolf anorexia.
Its front feet have 5 toes, unlike other hyenas which have four toes – this makes Aarwolves think themselves pretty special but leads to social ostracism – the aardwolf is always the last hyena asked to dance.
Its teeth and skull are similar to that of the hyena, although the cheek teeth are specialised for eating Martians, and its tongue for licking them up. As the Aardwolf ages, it will normally lose some of its teeth in fist-fights, though this has little impact on their feeding habits due to the soft nature of the Martians they consume. It has two glands at the rear that secrete a musky fluid for marking territory and communicating with other aardwolves, or that's what they tell their mothers, anyway.
Distribution and habitat[edit]
The aardwolf lives on open, dry plains and caravans, while avoiding mountainous areas. Due to its specific food requirements, the animal is only found in regions where Martians occur. Aliens of this family depend on dead and withered grass to make lasting crop-circles and are most populous in heavily grazed grasslands and savannahs, including farmland. For most of the year, aardwolves spend time in shared caravans consisting of up to a dozen dens which are occupied for up to six weeks on a time-share basis.
There are three distinct populations: one in Southern Africa, and another in East and Northeast Africa. The Cornish sub-species is distinct, supplementing its alien diet with pasties and grockles. It's recent decline is thought to be linked to the strength of the British pound over recent years detering aliens.
Aardwolves are shy and sexy, sleeping in underground burrows by day and parading in hotpants by night, They usually use existing burrows of aardvarks, Old World porcupines or Earthworms, despite being capable of creating their own as digging is uncool and can damage their nail-varnish.
By night, an aardwolf can consume up to 200,000 aliens using its sticky, long tongue. They take special care not to destroy the UFO or consume the entire colony, which ensures that the aliens can return and provide a continuous supply of food. They will often memorise and return to landing-sites to save the trouble of finding a new one. Apart from Martians they are also known to feed on other aliens, larvae, and eggs, and occasionally small cars and dinosaurs. Unlike other hyenas, aardwolves do not scavenge or kill larger animals, or attempt to foment political unrest in the human populations they live among.
The adult aardwolf is primarily solitary while foraging for food, necessary because of the scarcity and homogeneous distribution of their alien prey. They have often been mistaken for solitary animals. In fact, they live as monogamous pairs, with their young, defending the same territory and only occasionally visiting swingers' clubs to spice up their otherwise monotonous lives. Young aardwolves generally achieve sexual maturity after two years in order to seek a council flat., The breeding season varies depending on their location, but normally takes place during the autumn or spring. During the breeding season, unpaired male aardwolves will search their own territory as well as others' for a female to mate with, or will otherwise form civil partnerships with each other. Dominant males will also mate opportunistically with the females of less dominant neighboring aardwolves, with shrubs and with the legs of passing herd-boys.
Gestation lasts between 90 and 110 days, producing one to five cubs (most often two or three) during the rainy season, when aliens are active. The first six to eight weeks are spent smoking in the den with the mother. After three months, they begin supervised foraging for cigarette ends and by four months are normally able to roll their own. However, they will often use the same tobacconist as their mother until the next breeding season. They can achieve a life expectancy of up to 15 years when in captivity, 75 years in countries with higher levels of social welfare.
Interaction with humans[edit]
The aardwolf has taken advantage of the development of agriculture in the continent.[Citation not needed at all; thank you very much] They are often considered useful, non-dangerous animals by farmers. However, in some areas the aardwolf is hunted for its fur. Encounters with dogs are another threat, as is Swine flu, SARS, AIDS and disintegration rays.


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I'm a tad out of sorts this morning. Irked, annoyed, disgruntled… Pick one.
Partly it is because of anxiety. I used Paul Salvette's guide to create my very first complete ebook (one that doesn't have to go through a third-party conversion process). Now the author is waiting for it to be published on Amazon. I hate the waiting…
Partly it's because my son gave me a Kindle Fire for my birthday. Oh, wow, is that thing cool. It's not something I'd have bought for myself. I'm not a gadget person and it takes me forever to warm up to anything new. But wow, the Fire is very cool. The first thing I did was load the book I just finished onto the Fire to see how it looked. It looks gorgeous. It also looks a lot different than on Larry the Kindle.
I looked at other ebooks in my library. I have books put out by big publishers and indie books, and books that were professionally formatted and books that were DIY. Quality is all over the board. Some of the books that look just fine on Larry look amateurish and not-quite-right on the Fire. It's because many of the books were produced before the Fire existed. The older formatting platform doesn't translate so well. The standards are different.
The ebooks are readable. I'm not going to pitch a bitch just because a book I purchased last year won't let me adjust fonts on the Fire. Nor am I going to ping DIY publishers who've formatted a Word file according to Amazon's guidelines and ended up with an amateurish looking ebook.
I'm irked and annoyed at the devices and the platforms and distributors. Quite frankly, this shit has gotten way too complicated.
It doesn't help that I read Baldur Bjarnason's latest post at Futurebook. This part worsened my mood:
However, as I've written about before, a large proportion of ebooks published are rubbish. Not in terms of the content (although that's probably also the case) but in terms of the quality of the file. Ereader platform vendors cannot support the full range of CSS that EPUB2 and EPUB3 require because a substantial number of their catalogue would become unreadable.
Platform vendors are in a position where they couldn't support standards completely even if they wanted to.
No kidding. For instance, while I was building my most recent project, this is what I had to do. Build the file. Launch the file in my web browser. See how it looks. Figure out why something doesn't look the way I wanted it to look (All the while knowing that what appears in my browser is only an approximation of what will appear on the ereader). Fix and fiddle, then validate the file to make sure it meets EPUB standards. Check how it looks in Calibre (I don't have a device that reads EPUB). Again, I know that what I see on my computer screen is not necessarily what a reader will see on a Nook or iPad or whatever. Then, I convert the file into MOBI format and load it onto my Kindle. Do more tweaking. Tweaking and fiddling means having to go through validation again. It means more converting and loading and inspecting. And I haven't even gone through the Kindle Previewer yet. I want to know how my ebook looks on as many devices as possible. I change font sizes and line spacing and the size of the reading window. It's time-consuming, it's frustrating, but the worst part is that even though I'm checking and double-checking with everything I have on hand, it's still not enough. There is no guarantee that an ebook that renders perfectly on Larry the Kindle (and now the Fire) is going to render properly on other Kindle styles or versions, the Nook, the iPad, the iPhone, an Android, a Sony, a whatever.
As the cat sez:
This is, in a nutshell, a disservice to readers. READERS. Do you hear me Amazon? Barnes & Noble? Kobo? Smashwords? Apple? While you guys indulge in device wars and competing formats while creating compatibility issues, are you thinking about readers at all? You know, the people paying the bills? It's all well and good to roll out the welcome mat to publishers big and small, traditional and indie, and invite all comers to list their ebooks with you. You get your percentage of sales. When your guidelines and standards are such that it is very, very easy for anybody to make a crappy looking ebook, naturally people are going to follow your guidelines to the letter and end up with crappy looking ebooks.
That's not right. It's not fair to readers.
It's difficult making an ebook that renders properly across all devices. For the self-publisher who has neither the time nor the inclination to learn all ins and outs of formatting to meet different standards, it's damned near impossible.
That's unfair to the do-it-yourselfer. It's unfair to their readers.
What's the solution? I do not know. I'm not a programmer or a tech-type. I have no idea what goes into creating these devices or how they work. I just want ebooks that respect the material and are a pleasure to read. That is not too much to ask. All this screwing around with fancier devices and increasingly complicated and narrow platforms is making it too damned hard.


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SKF offers new piston pump for oil and fluid grease lubrication
2014 September 16, 14:00 CEST
Gothenburg, Sweden, 16 September 2014: SKF today announced the introduction of the pneumatically driven PPS30 piston pump for small- to medium-sized oil and fluid grease lubrication applications up to NLGI 00 and 000. Featuring a compact, modern industrial design, this affordably priced pump is constructed from lightweight, high-performance plastics.
The PPS30 piston pump is simple to install and provides a flexible connection system for convenient mounting. Because it is pneumatically driven, this pump is not limited by international voltage or plug standards and can reduce pump inventory needs, as no separate stock keeping of oil and fluid grease is necessary. In addition, the PPS30 piston pump can reduce operating costs over the unit's life cycle through minimal compressed air consumption.
The pump unit features an integrated relief valve and electronic sensors, as well as visual fill-level monitoring that is supplemented by an electronic pre-warning function. Simple to clean, the PPS30 piston pump has a central reservoir opening that fills from all sides and a forward-opening flap for drip protection.
Aktiebolaget SKF
For further information, please contact:
Press Relations: Monique Turner, +1 267 436 6836; +1 215 801 8722; firstname.lastname@example.com
SKF is a leading global supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems, and services which include technical support, maintenance and reliability services, engineering consulting and training. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 15,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2013 were SEK 63,597 million and the number of employees was 48,401. www.skf.com
® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.
Download press kit
- PS30-oil-and-fluid-grease (4.2 MB) preview


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In a major report last year, the Institute of Medicine concluded that the number one source of wasteful spending in health care is overtreatment.
Overtreatment is when providers order too many tests, do too many procedures, and choose higher-cost treatments, and it adds up: to the tune of $210 billion a year.
Now, as part of a campaign to reign in this overtreatment and over-testing, the American Board of Internal Medicine has surveyed doctors to find out what they think about this — and to understand exactly why doctors order so many tests.
Here are some highlights from what they found:
Almost 3 out of 4 physicians think the frequency of testing and procedures is a problem.
Question: "Do you think the frequency of unnecessary tests and procedures in the health care system is…" (DK/REF = Don't know / refused to answer)
Patients are part of the problem. More than 7 in 10 doctors say patients ask for unnecessary tests or procedures at least once a month.
Question: "In your own practice, how often do patients ask for a test or procedure that you think is unnecessary?"
For better or worse, doctors usually cave to patients' requests — even when they disagree.
Question: "Let's say a patient came to you convinced he or she needed a specific test. You knew the test was unnecessary, but the patient was quite insistent. Would you:"
Doctors' #1 reason for ordering unnecessary tests: fear of a lawsuit.
Most doctors don't usually discuss the costs of tests and procedures with their patients.
To address all of these problems, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign aims to promote care and testing that abides by these four principles:
- Supported by evidence
- Not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received
- Free from harm
- Truly necessary
To that end, they've worked with doctors from a wide range of specialties to identify the top five tests in each specialty that should be more rigorously questioned before they are ordered. If you're wondering how necessary a test is, you can look it up on their site.
"Eliminating needless care is not rationing," concluded the New York Times Editorial Board, in an editorial in support of the effort. "It is sound medicine and sound economics."
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Seoul Neighborhoods • SNU
SNU Pictures
Some pictures of the SNU campus taken in March 2003, April 2003, and July 2004.
Last edited by Parent on Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:21 am, edited 4 times in total.
Neighborhoods Nearby SNU - Pictures by Parent
Science Center Neighborhood by Parent. A few pictures taken in-between the back gate of Seoul National University and the Nakseongdae Subway.. Distance from SNU: 1.1km NNE, 16 pictures.
Nokdu Neighborhood by Parent. Nokdu or Nokdugeori is a small student neighborhood nearby the main gate of Seoul National.. Distance from SNU: 1.7km NW, 22 pictures.
Nakseongdae Neighborhood by Parent. Nakseongdae is a middle-to-upper class residential district in Gwanak-gu located nearby the Seoul National Nakseongdae (落星垈) means 'the site of the fallen star'. It refers to the birthplace of the great Goryeo g.. Distance from SNU: 2km NNE, 5 pictures.
Nakseongdae Neighborhood by Parent. Nakseongdae (落星垈) means 'the site of the fallen star'. It refers to the birthplace of the great Goryeo general Gang Gam-chan born near here in Gwanak-gu. Gang Gam-chan is best known for his heroics against an invading.. Distance from SNU: 2km NNE, 6 pictures.
Gwanaksan Neighborhood by Parent. Some pictures of the hiking trail on the SNU.. Distance from SNU: 2.1km SSE, 8 pictures.
Seouldae Neighborhood by Parent. A few pictures taken in the vicinity of the Seouldae (Seoul National University or SNU) subway.. Distance from SNU: 2.3km N, 14 pictures.
Bongcheon Neighborhood by Parent. Bongcheon dong used to be a neighborhood with rather subpar accomodation. It has changed quite much in the last 20 years but still today it has a bit of a bad reputation. It's nonetheless a fine place in most.. Distance from SNU: 2.5km NNW, 42 pictures.
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It is very rare when a foreign language film intrudes on the major Academy Award categories. But that is just what's happened this year with "Amour," the Austrian-made, French-language movie that not only tops the contenders for best foreign language film, but is also up for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best actress.
Only three foreign language films have ever cracked the best picture race, the last being Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" 13 years ago. Before that, "Life Is Beautiful" from Roberto Benigni did in 1998, and director Costa Gavras' political thriller "Z" did the trick in 1969. None won the top prize, but all took home the best foreign language Oscar.
"Amour," which opens wide in America this weekend, is expected to do the same Feb. 24, when the Oscars are handed out — in part because of rules governing the foreign language competition. Each country is allowed to enter only one film. France chose "The Intouchables," wildly popular in that country and surprisingly so on the art house circuit in this country, instead of the drama "Rust and Bone" with Marion Cotillard, which is considered the superior film and might have put some pressure on "Amour." ("Intouchables" wasn't even nominated.)
But there could be a surprise winner — again, in part, because of the rules. Foreign language is the only category in which Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences members must prove they have seen theatrical screenings of all five nominees to vote. That has led to some very unexpected winners.
The other nominees:
Follow Charlie McCollum at Twitter.com/charlie_mccollu.


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Harvard fell to 3-9 and 1-3 in the Ivy League with a 4-0 loss to Cornell Saturday (photo Gil Talbot).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Harvard field hockey team dropped an Ivy League contest to Cornell, 4-0, at Jordan Field Saturday afternoon. Harvard could not find the back of the cage although the Crimson stayed even in penalty corners, 6-6, and had only three less shots than the Big Red, 15-12.
Cornell drew first blood at the 11:17 mark when Taylor Standiford scored off of a penalty corner. Hannah Belleza inserted the ball straight to Standiford, who fired past Harvard's Cynthia Tassopoulos for her first score of the year.
Although Cornell controlled the ball for much of the first 30 minutes, Harvard produced multiple scoring chances near the end of the first half. With 12 minutes left in the stanza it looked like the Crimson was going to have an opportunity to even the score. Molly Stansik flicked a pass inside the circle to Rachael Rosenfeld, who stood alone inside the arc, but the play was blown dead as a Harvard foul stopped the action. The Crimson would then take the last three shots of the half over the last six minutes, including attempts from Caitlin Rea and Sydney Jenkins on goal, but failed to tie the game.
Cornell's Belleza, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, proceeded to carry the Big Red to a 3-0 lead midway through the second half. The junior scored Cornell's next two goals, one on a scramble in the middle and another after Kat DiPastina dished from the baseline, to pull away from Harvard.
Harvard's offensive control improved in the second frame, as the Crimson took more shots, 9-8, and gained more corners, 4-2, than the Big Red. Elizabeth Jacobson, Bridget McGillivray and Caroline McNeil put shots between the posts over the last 35 minutes, but Cornell's Carolyn Horner came up with a save in each instance.
Kelly Stefanowicz gave the Big Red its fourth score directly off of a penalty corner with nine minutes remaining in the game. Cornell pushed its winning streak to five games with the win.
Tassopoulos made four saves in the cage for the Crimson.
The Crimson is on the road for its next three matches before returning home for Senior Day vs. Columbia Nov. 3. Harvard travels to Princeton Oct. 20, Dartmouth Oct. 27 and Vermont Oct. 28.


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High-voltage Spark Generator (Dec, 1930)
High-voltage Spark Generator
By WalterE. Burton
Here's a simplified Toepler-Holtz static machine for generating high-voltage electric sparks. By experimenting with it you can learn something about the nature of electrical currents.
IF YOU are interested in learning the nature of that mysterious and invisible force known as electricity, there is no better means of studying it than by experimenting with this inexpensive and easily made static machine. This is not a machine, mind you, which makes that awful noise in your radio receiver, but a device which generates high voltage electric sparks which are quite harmless, but with which you can have barrels of fun. It is of the Toepler-Holtz type which is used in most school physics labs to demonstrate the strange things that electricity can be made to do.
Where the Toepler-Holtz machine uses glass discs, this generator uses old twelve-inch phonograph records that are too worn and old to be of any further use. After the surfaces have been scrubbed thoroughly with soap and water and a stiff-bristled brush to remove dirt and bits of metal that might be hiding in the grooves, several coats of shellac are applied to one side of each disc, each coat being allowed to dry thoroughly before the next is applied.
While the shellac is drying you can con-struct the woodwork that holds the rear disc rigidly in a vertical position while the front one is being revolved rapidly to generate electricity. The bottom portion of the base—the base on which the entire machine is mounted—is simply a board 7-1/2 inches wide and 16 inches long, with edges slightly bevelled. Halfway between the ends, and at one side of the center, an upright, 2×2 inches at the bottom and nine inches high, is mounted, as shown in Fig. 1. This upright supports the stationary record and the belt pulley driving mechanism for the rotating one.
Through this wooden upright, two 1/2-inch holes are bored, one near the top and the other near the bottom. Into the lower one a 3-1/2-inch section of 1/2-inch shafting is wedged, so that a large diameter pulley wheel can turn on the 3/4-inch portion that projects beyond the surface. A similar shaft about four inches long is inserted in the upper hole, on one end of which is mounted the revolving disc, as shown in Fig. 5. A small pulley is mounted on the outer end of this shaft as shown in Fig. 1. These pulleys, the shafting, and belt can be purchased at any five cent-to-a-dollar store, or at any mail order house.
With the records dried out thoroughly, and the pulley system completed, you are now ready to go to work on the records again. First cut ten discs from tinfoil, each 2-1/2in. in diameter, and two strips, each 3/4 in. wide and about four inches long. Using shellac as an adhesive, mount six of these discs on the shellacked face on one record, spacing them evenly—60 degrees apart— with the edges of the tinfoil about 3/4-inch from the outer edge of the disc, as shown in Fig. 2. These form the plates on the rotating disc.
To the shellacked surface of the second record, mount four of the discs and the two strips, so that the arrangement resembles two dumb-bells parallel to each other, and opposite sides of the center hole as illustrated in Fig. 1.
Next ream out the center holes of the records to a diameter of 1/2 inch, then drill two smaller holes on each side of the larger ones, about 3/4-inch from the center. Through the center holes in the disc with the dumbbell shaped armature plates are inserted flat headed bolts by means of which the stationary disc is fastened to the rear wooden upright. The corresponding holes in the disc with the six tinfoil discs—the one which revolves— takes the bolts which fasten it to the wooden disc, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6. This wooden disc is attached to the shafting by means of a pin.
With this arrangement completed you should be able to rotate the disc with the six tinfoil plates by turning the crank on the rear wooden upright.
The next job is to make the four brushes which produce the static charge by rubbing against the outer disc as it revolves. These consist of lengths of fairly stiff copper wire bearing little bundles of tinsel, such as that used in trimming Christmas trees. Two of these brushes are attached to the ends of the small brass strip which extends around the edges of the discs and are bolted to the center of the tinfoil dumb-bell on the rear record, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, which give rear and front connections, respectively.
The two other brushes are fastened to the ends of the neutralizing rod, as shown in Fig. 3. This neutralizing rod is a brass or copper strip, seven inches long, and fastened to the front upright in such a position that the two tinsel brushes at the ends form an electrical connection between the two opposite tinfoil discs.
The task of making the collectors for taking off the electric charge and storing it in the Leyden jars now presents itself. These consist of short pieces of copper screen wire, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, that are supported so that one is on each side of the center, opposite the foil discs, and at the same height from the base as the center of the record. The screen wire points are placed so that they are close to the record, but do not touch it.
The rods holding the copper screen collectors are supported by a bakelite strip which is screwed to a wooden upright mounted on the front of the base. This same bakelite strip also supports a spark gap made of two long brass rods, on the ends of which are soldered large ball bearings, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Also, at the points where the screen collector connects with the spark gap, brass or copper strips are fastened which run to the Leyden jars that serve to store up the electric charge.
The Leyden jars are made by cementing with shellac tinfoil to the inside and outside surfaces of two olive bottles, the foil covering the lower two-thirds of the jars. The two outside foil surfaces—really the plates of the two Leyden jar condensers—were connected together by means of a copper strip, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The inside coatings are connected to the collectors by metal chains, shown in Fig. 4.


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Rays @ Jays pregame
Casey Janssen came through the clubhouse today with MRI results in hand and quickly disappeared into the training room. After he emerged, he shrugged to us reporters and said "Still haven't heard anything."
So, as of this writing, there's no new info on Janssen's right shoulder, which tightened up on him in the first inning against the Yankees yesterday. Janssen did say his arm "feels a lot better" today, so that's at least a good sign. I find it hard to believe that he can win a rotation job out of spring now, though.
I think it's more likely now that Brad Mills is handed one of the available jobs and that Scott Richmond and Matt Clement will be vying for the other. Clement and Richmond and going in the same game on Sunday in Fort Myers. I get the feeling from conversations around camp that Clement is still behind Richmond right now in the team's eyes.
That being the case, my own opinion is that Richmond takes the other spot to open the season. I also believe that Brett Cecil — unless he gets hurt or struggles mightily at Triple-A — will be up with the Jays by late April or May, likely taking Richmond's spot (or Clement if he wins the job).
Who really knows, though. I could be dead wrong and Richmond and Clement might both be heading north.
UPDATE — FIRST INNING: Two batters in, Mills has a walk and a home run allowed. Hmmm…Maybe I should rethink my predictions?
UPDATE — FIFTH INNING: Mills still in the game, has allowed four runs on six hits with four strikeouts, one walk, one hit batter and one home run in his first four frames. Not the best showing. Could be be losing his grip on a potential job? Also, the Jays are saying Janssen has a mild muscle strain near his shoulder and he'll resume throwing in three days. I still don't see how he can break with the team now that he's being backed down some.
Don't forget, you can follow my in-game updates at www.twitter.com/mlbastian
Today's lineup:
Jason Bartlett, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Gabe Kapler, CF
Carlos Pena, DH
Dioner Navarro, C
Chris Richard, 1B
Morgan Ensberg, 3B
Ray Sadler, RF
Adam Kennedy, 2B
Matt Garza, P
Russ Adams, LF
Jose Bautista, SS
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, DH
Kevin Millar, 1B
Jason Lane, CF
Rod Barajas, C
Brad Emaus, 2B
Kevin Ahrens, 3B
Brad Mills, P
5 Comments
Nice to see Janssen had an mri.
We can always tell when Vernon is playing, our gidp numbers always go up.
Come on Mills, settle down and hang in there kid.
I think we will see Clement and Mills make the team. Jenssen in the pen to stretch out his arm. I wager Jenssen does a good job and will remain in the pen. One of Clement/Mills will struggle and will be replaced be Cecil.
I don't know why by I have a good feeling about Clement. It certainly would not hurt to start the kids out at AAA and move them up during the season. No need to rush this year.
I don't think Mills will make the team based on his performance of late, no harm in starting him out at Triple A and if he does well then call him up. Clement has been fine by me this spring, and hopefully Richmond can pick up a few things from Halladay (other then bubblegum), and become a legit starter. I remember Doc had some rough times before developing his cutter. Hopefully Richmond can pick up somethin like that.
I have been telling people that if Matt Clement can be consistent he will have a shot at a roster spot and maybe a rotation bid. The experience would be awesome for Jesse Litsch and David Purcey.
Considering what the rotation looked like before spring started, Cito Gaston has to be happy that guys have stepped up and want to claim those spots instead of him just picking people for the slots.
Rays Renegade
What's not to like about 13 runs in two innings.


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The data contained herein is believed to be drawn from reliable sources but cannot be guaranteed. Neither the information presented, nor any opinions expressed constitute a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any commodity. Those individuals acting on this information are responsible for their own actions. Commodity trading may not be suitable for all recipients of this report. Futures trading involves risk of loss and should be carefully considered before investing. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Any reproduction, republication or other use of the information and thoughts expressed herein, without the express written permission of Stewart-Peterson Inc., is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2010 Stewart-Peterson Inc. All rights reserved.
Recent market volatility showed us once again that when it comes to marketing, it's crucial to expect the unexpected. It's also imperative to be prepared to capture opportunity and protect against risk. Corn recently rallied. How would you have reacted if it had rallied higher or turned bearish? One way you can position yourself to make the best possible decisions on when to price is to know the weighted average of your entire crop.
Your entire crop means the average of your combined cash/sold price, whatever you have hedged, and your un-priced bushels that are valued at the current market price. Knowing the average of your entire crop will help you determine which marketing tools to consider as you work toward trying to achieve a strong weighted average price. It's also important to know how your weighted average price changes as the market price changes.
From a technical and fundamental standpoint, corn doesn't appear to be ready to double the way wheat did. If corn were to do what wheat did, it would likely first need to get over a technical hurdle of $4.38. Then, it would need to get over $4.51 for the charts to show the potential for $5.50, putting it in line with wheat, relatively speaking.
On the flipside, we could continue on a path of setting a series of lower highs and lower lows from the 2008 high point. If this takes hold, we could end up closer to $3.00 this fall. This is more likely if, for example, yields come in on the high side and the recent USDA report falls short due to a faltering global economy.
So, what are you supposed to do?
Well, if there is a potential to see anything between $3.00 and $5.50 corn yet this marketing year, you'll want to be prepared. If you're light on sales, now might be a good time to start catching up. If you're heavier on sales, ask yourself if you know what you'll do if corn does breach $4.38. It's possible that China could continue to make purchases. Are you prepared to re-own crop if corn were to go to $4.38? How much would you own? Why? You can fill in the blanks more easily after you've determined your average and you know where you stand.
Ultimately, great marketing focuses on minimizing the separation between your average price and the market price during a bull market and maximizing the separation between your average price and the market during a bear market. We're not expecting corn at $5.50 and trying to hit the top. Rather, we're leaving open the possibility for $5.50—or better—and planning to help you take as much profit off the table as possible within a reasonable risk parameter. We also don't know if corn will drop to $3.00. But if it does, our goal would be to have your weighted average as far above that figure as possible.
Nobody can consistently predict where the price will go. That's why we recommend that you prepare for whatever the market might do. Knowing the weighted average price for your entire crop will help you.