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Legendary session drummer and long-time Rhythm columnist Kenny Aronoff is set to play two explosive performances in the UK with his Yamaha DTX Drums set-up.
Aronoff, famous for his performances with some of the world's greatest artists such as Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart, will show his audiences valuable recording tricks, a tour of his set-up and perform of some of the greatest hits he has recorded throughout his career.
Yamaha DTX Product Manager Gavin Thomas explains: "We are so happy to welcome Kenny to the UK as part of this European Tour. There has been so much interest from professional artists in using Yamaha DTX due to recent product developments in playability, performance and recording."
Gavin adds: "To experience these possibilities, demonstrated by one of the most respected drummers in modern times is a very rare and exciting opportunity."
You can catch Kenny at Drum-Stop, Sheffield on 21 August (0114 2472200, www.drum-stop.co.uk) and at Absolute Music in Bournemouth on 22 August (01202 597180 www.absolutemusic.co.uk).

subset: commoncrawl


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"terrorism itself is only a gigantic special effect." - Jean Baudrillard, as quoted in 'Waging terror: The geopolitics of the real' by Stephen H. Jones and David B. Clarke. (1).On September 30, 2011, Paul Craig Roberts, the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration and former editor for the Wall Street Journal, raised the question "Is The War On Terror A Hoax?" Roberts wrote:
"This terrorist violence is not "real". It is worse in a way: it is symbolic. Violence in itself can be perfectly banal and innocuous. Only symbolic violence generates singularity. And in this singular event, in this disaster movie of Manhattan, the two elements that fascinate 20th century masses are joined: the white magic of movies and the black magic of terrorism." - Baudrillard, 'The Spirit of Terrorism.' (2).
"In the past decade, Washington has killed, maimed, dislocated, and made widows and orphans millions of Muslims in six countries, all in the name of the "war on terror." Washington's attacks on the countries constitute naked aggression and impact primarily civilian populations and infrastructure and, thereby, constitute war crimes under law. Nazis were executed precisely for what Washington is doing today."According to the CIA and U.S. military leaders, there are less than 100 al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan. They should know because they created the terrorist organization and gave it a name.
If it wasn't for the handiwork of the shadow CIA, nobody would have heard of al-Qaeda. The American deep state recruited, trained and funded al-Qaeda terrorists which they used in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, in America against the American people, in Libya against Gaddafi, and now in Syria against the current regime.
Over the years, al-Qaeda terrorists have become the shadow CIA's perfect fall guys for acts of state terror. Most of these terrorists are mentally retarded, clueless, and unemployed young men.
But the shadow CIA is not picky when it comes to choosing terrorists to destabilize and sabotage unfriendly regimes, and convince the American people that America is threatened by terrorism. From the point of view of Langley, stupid beasts should be utilized wherever and for whatever purposes, no matter how evil and criminal.
On September 11, 2001, the shadow CIA and shadow Mossad implemented their long-term plan to spread terror into the hearts of the American people and the people of the world. They took care of all the behind-the-scenes operations, financing, and logistics to make the 9/11 attacks happen, but what they needed most was a global Islamic brand. Al-Qaeda was the perfect choice.
In order to make the people of free democratic nations submit to the authoritarian and surveillance designs of Washington's fascist globalization agenda, policymakers needed a Big Bad Wolf to menace the minds of residents of the new global village. Al-Qaeda terrorists embodied the enemy role and enabled the real terrorists in the shadow CIA, shadow Mossad, and shadow MI6 to get away with murder.
The prisoners of the mass media and the totalitarian state believe al-Qaeda is a real entity and that the war on terror is a legitimate war. These children also believe Santa Claus is coming to their house on midnight this Christmas. In their childish minds, giving up their rights to the state will make them safe, and leaving out milk and cookies will make Santa Claus happy.
How can people be so dumb? How can they be fooled again and again? That's like asking how can the sun be so hot? Some facts are just facts. The sun is hot, and people are dumb.
Mankind has been fooled throughout its existence. Over the centuries, all societies have come under the dominion of power-mad cult leaders whose mass brainwashing campaigns make Jim Jones look like a boy scout in the woods.
Authoritarian societies, like the ones in America and Iran, are held together through cult worship of the State and political messiahs. Khomeini and Reagan, two political messiahs of the modern age, and two very good actors, both knew how to manipulate the poor masses of their countries and take power for themselves in the name of patriotism.
It is not really hard for soulless rulers to make the people believe a version of reality and history that is patently false. It is truly the norm for " The People" to readily fall for big lies and follow destroyers and traitors who they believe are their saviors and defenders.
There is a stupid belief held by 9/11 truth deniers that the American government didn't kill 3,000 American citizens on 9/11 because American leaders are not evil enough to plan the mass murder of innocent civilians. According to these idiots, America is a free society with a free press. They believe in "government incompetence," not in "systematic evil," because they think evil people hide in the shadows and like to avoid the critical inspection of society.
The passive and gullible sheep-minded fools don't like to believe that the most evil people on the planet do their work out in the open in front of millions of people, like Hitler, Stalin, Khomeini, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II, Cheney, Gingrich, Obama, Bibi Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, etc. These actors of history and world statesmen are basically demonic cult leaders. People who hang on their every word think that life would be better if they follow such leaders and that it is a heresy to question the basic premises of their policies.
But some of us know better because we remember history. We remember that Hitler was applauded and Stalin was loved. And we know that blind obedience is what makes free societies commit suicide.
We know that Bush and Obama have led what can only be called a 21st century witch hunt against terrorists. Their mastery of the fragile American psyche is nothing new. American history is filled with examples of leaders who identify some evil beyond the bounds of civilization and law in order to scare the people and acquire greater power and privileges for themselves.
The two biggest historical examples are the Salem Witch Hunt in the late 17th century and the Communist Hunt in the 20th century. Witches and communists were viewed as agents of evil who needed to be hunted down and killed. Due process of law does not apply to "agents of evil," and subversive traitors.
In the 21st century, terrorists have replaced witches and communists as the embodiment of evil which the totalitarian State must destroy to defend the security and sanity of the people.
It is the honorable and holy job of CIA, MI6, and Mossad hunters to demonize the innocent civilians and resistance fighters of the countries they invade and occupy as "terrorists" and then kill them.
If terrorists weren't invented then the CIA, MI6, and Mossad would be out of work. And the military-industrial complex would be obsolete.
What would four-star generals do in a world without evil, terrorism, and national security threats? Can you imagine these people playing golf all week? I'm sure most of them would blow their brains out because they would be essentially useless to society and their stars would mean nothing.
So, to prevent the dramatic transformation of the present system of militarism and corporatism, we all have to play make-believe and pretend that there are evil terrorists out there, in the wild forests of the unknown, beyond the realm of civilization, who want to kill us and burn down our cities.
In the early 1990s, around the 300th anniversary of the Salem witch trials, American playwright Arthur Miller explained the moral, cultural, and political justifications of the Salem witch trials in an interview and warned that such an epic disaster of human judgment can be repeated in our own age. Miller said:
"I was at Salem six months ago or so because they were unveiling the model of a monument. They finally, after three hundred years, they got around to making a monument to the dead. And I had a press conference there, and these were people from all the big newspapers and wire services. And I realized in talking to them that they kept referring to them as witches. The idea being that you shouldn't hang witches, shouldn't kill witches, presumably you should I don't know what, put them in jail or exorcise them, and I said, 'hey, wait a minute, these people weren't witches.' There was dead silence. I said, 'these were innocent political victims of a manufactured holocaust.'Miller said that he wrote the award-winning play 'The Crucible' in 1952 about the Salem witch trials in the context of the anti-Communism hysteria of the 1950s which was turning everybody in America crazy. Miller also discussed his experience in Congress and federal court, saying:
Well, I can't tell you the dislocation of the mind that occurred. And one woman, from the Boston Globe, the reporter said, 'but you mean there was no evil among them?'
So, you see, this is not a phenomenon from 1692 or 1952 or anything like it. It is right now.
The objection that there were no witches, but there were communists - I would only recommend that somebody who believes that or says that should go back to 1692, stand in the public square of Salem, Massachusetts, and say, 'you know, there are no witches.' He'd be dead. Quick.
There were witches. They were everywhere. Everybody knew that if you were a Christian. You knew there were witches because it said so in the bible. And Saul said, 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,' meaning, you kill him. And they can't kill them if there are none. I mean, it's ridiculous. This whole thing is an ahistorical remark, it has nothing to do with the truth.
And I could develop a campaign tomorrow morning in this country, probably in a number of other countries, which would be based upon the idea that we are being invaded by weird, strange spirits from underground who have in their power certain number of people who are going to get you if you don't watch out." - American playwright Arthur Miller. The quote is from an interview in the early 1990s. Watch it here. (7:50 in part 1 - 00:45 in part 2). (3).
"You were told if anybody you knew had been a left-winger or communist and you went home. . . . The farce was too much to stomach. So I had to go through a federal trial and was found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to answer some questions. So I wrote 'The Crucible.' That took place of course in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. And the reason I think that I moved in that direction was that it was simply impossible any longer to discuss what was happening to us in contemporary terms. There had to be some distance given to the phenomena.The masters of terror and mind control in the American deep state and shadow Mossad, as well as American, Israeli, and Western politicians understood the nature of the procedure that Miller alluded to. They created global mass hysteria after the 9/11 attacks about the threat of radical Islamic terrorists, and terrorism in general.
We were all going slightly crazy trying to be honest and trying to see straight and trying to be safe. The hysteria in Salem had a certain inner procedure or several which we were duplicating once again, and that perhaps by revealing the nature of that procedure some light could be thrown on what we were doing to ourselves. And that's how that play came to be." (0:00 - 1:48 in part 1).
Since 9/11, the basic message on the lips of every politician, in every newspaper article, and on every cable news channel is: "We are at war. The Islamists are invading the West. Give up your rights slaves and you'll be safe or else the terrorists will strike again and kill us all." It sure as hell worked.
So many innocent villagers in Afghanistan have been mislabeled as "terrorists" and tortured to death, or killed on the spot. If you are a CIA official or American soldier working in Afghanistan you have the easiest job in the world. If you kill innocent civilians you just have to say they were terrorists or aiding terrorists, and voila, problem solved. No proof is necessary. It's like magic. The terrorist label is heaven-sent for evil politicians, treacherous spies, and military beasts in every totalitarian state on the planet.
In the interview, Miller talked about the abuse of political power in periods of mass hysteria and mass paranoia, saying:
"It is a play about power. The play is basically about the misuse of power. . . See, power can't operate that way unless there's paranoia. Power is going to defend you against the enemy. If you don't believe in the enemy then you don't believe in the power.The politics of crazy defines our age. People are misled by power-mad lunatics in Israel, Iran, America, England, France, and many other countries.
So the primary object of the politicians in these cases is to scare the daylights out of the people, which is what we've been living through for a good number of years now." - Arthur Miller (6:15 - 7:03 in part three of the interview).
Politicians and the beasts of war want us all to forget logic, human reason, truth, history, compassion and common sense.
American tyrants want the American people to forget their own history and bomb the Iraqis/Afghans/Palestinians/Persians/Terrorists to the point of annihilation.
Islamic tyrants want Muslims to forget their historic relationship with Jews and push the Jews to the bottom of the sea.
Iranian tyrants want the Iranian people to forget forgiveness and burn the American flag and scream "Death to America," like a bunch of maniacs.
Jewish tyrants want the Jews to forget morality and sanity and kill the Arabs and Persians.
In the world of the small-minded and blind fools, Witches, Communists, Islamists, Capitalists, and Terrorists are all EVIL.
The priests of the church/mullahs of the mosque tell their blind flock: Burn the witches! Burn the secularists!
The priests of the communist state tell their blind flock: Burn the capitalists!
The priests of the U.S. national security state tell their blind flock: Burn the Islamists and Communists! Burn the radical left! And the radical right! Burn the militia! Burn all domestic terrorists!
How about NO!
How about we stop demonizing and burning people because of what they believe, and who they are. How about justice and peace? How about we actually start a dialogue with people we disagree with. Does that sound like a good idea or is it too idealistic?
How about we stop listening to politicians, the government, and the media? Is that too radical for us monkeys? Can commie liberals sit down with right-wing capitalists? Can U.S. diplomats sit down with Iranian diplomats? Can Israelis make peace with Palestinians and become human again? Can we all stop acting like children fighting over who gets control of the sandbox and evolve? Is that too much to ask of the human race? Or are we doomed to destroy ourselves and kill each other for no good reason?
The truth is that millions of innocent souls will be killed by the time the USraeli global war on terror comes to an end, if it ever does. And many Americans will be counted among the dead because more false flag terrorist attacks by the Zionists and American deep state are in the pipeline.
But Bush, Cheney, Obama, Netanyahu, and the soulless snakes of the mass media say don't worry because the victims of this evil war are all "terrorists."
1. Jones, S. H. & Clarke, D. B. (2006). Waging terror: The geopolitics of the real. Political Geography (25), 298-314.
2. Baudrillard, J. (November 2, 2001). The Spirit of Terrorism. Translated by Dr. Rachel Bloul. Le Monde.
3. Miller, A. (Early 1990s). Interview of Arthur Miller about the Salem Witch Trials and his 1952 play 'The Crucible.'


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Red Berry Jelly
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 80 minutes
Servings: 20
Created by Canal House Cooking, this luscious currant jelly is perfect to serve with lamb or veal. You can make it with any soft summer berries. The Canal House cooks prefer soft jellies that are made without pectin. Currants have a high level of pectin so the jelly will set beautifully. If you are using other berries, add the peel and seeds from a Granny Smith apple to provide natural pectin.
- 142
- 3 quarts ripe red currants or other berries
- Sugar as needed
Put the currants or other berries, stems and all, in a jam pot or large heavy enameled cast-iron pot. Gently crush the fruit with the back of a wooden spoon. Set over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer. Cook until the berries collapse slightly and lose their vibrant color, about 1 hour.Transfer the fruit and juice to a large jelly bag suspended over a large bowl. (Alternatively, line a large bowl with a large piece of double-thickness cheesecloth so that the edges of the cloth drape over the sides of the bowl. Transfer the fruit and juice to the center of the cheesecloth. Gather the corners together and tie them into a knot. Slide a long wooden spoon through the knot and suspend the bag over the bowl.) Don't press the berries; it could make the jelly cloudy. When the juice stops running, discard the berries. This will take several hours or up to overnight. Each quart of berries should yield about 1 cup of juice.
Pour the juice back into the pot and add 1 cup of sugar for every 1 cup of juice. Set the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil, skimming off any foam, until the liquid reaches 220°F on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a thermometer, spoon a few drops of jelly onto a saucer and see if it sets and wrinkles slightly when you push it with your finger.
Meanwhile, wash 6 half-pint canning jars with their lids and rings in hot soapy water and rinse them, then place in a large pan or bowl and cover with boiling water. Keep them in the hot water until ready to use. Remove the jars from the water and pour out any water. Arrange the jars together for easy filling. At the same time, fill a large pot (large enough to hold the jars in a single layer) with warm water to a depth of 4 inches. A canning kettle with a rack is ideal.
When the jelly is ready, use a sterilized glass measuring cup and a funnel to pour about 1 cup of the jelly into each jar, leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace. Using a paper towel dipped in hot water, wipe the rims clean. Place the lid on each jar, then screw on the rings. Arrange the jars in the water in the pot (the water should cover the jars by 2 inches) and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 10 minutes.
Using tongs, remove the jars from the water and place on a tray lined with a kitchen towel. Let the jars cool undisturbed for 12 hours. If the jars have sealed properly, the lids will be slightly indented and not springy to the touch. If a jar did not seal properly, either repeat the water bath process or refrigerate and use the jelly. Makes 6 half-pints.
Recipe by Canal House Cooking.


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Petrified wood is the name given to ancient wood that has been turned into stone (fossilized) through the process of permineralization. All of the organic matter becomes replaced by minerals, primarily silica leaving much of the detail such as tree rings still visible. For this to happen the wood needs to be buried in an environment both low in oxygen (preventing decomposition) and with flowing mineral laden water. FossilEra has petrified wood for sale from many locations including Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and Madagascar.
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At work we're letting one of our very tech savvy clients actually help out a little with a few development projects specific to him. However, he uses his own personal Macbook, and as he edits files on our (Windows) networks, his Macbook always creates a bunch of unnecessary meta files that we end up deleting later.
For instance, it creates a file called .DS_Store in any directory he opens, as well as "dot underscore" files for each file he edits. So for instance, if he's editing a file called "Main.php", his Macbook will create another file called "._Main.php".
I know there are ways to prevent creation of .DS_Store files, but none about how to prevent creation of these hidden files prefixed with dot underscore.
Is there any way to turn that off on Macs? Any way to prevent it from creating those files in the first place?


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Americans are going to be a lot more tightfisted with their tax refunds this year, with more people planning to save the cash they get back from Uncle Sam instead of spending it.
Of those expecting a refund, 44% said they plan to stash some of it in savings, up from 42% last year, according to a survey of more than 8,700 consumers by the National Retail Federation. That marks the highest percentage in the survey's nine-year history.
"After a rocky few years, consumers are now more vigilant about how they spend their money and the importance of preparing for future financial stability," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement.
About two-thirds of taxpayers are expecting a refund this year, the NRF said. Last year, the average refund was more than $3,000.
Nearly 40% said they will use some of the money to pay down debt and 28.7% will spend it on everyday expenses. Just 12% said their refund would go toward a major splurge like a new television, down from 13% last year. Only 11% plan to spend the money on a vacation, which was also down from a year earlier.
"I will never use my tax refund as spending cash again," said Celeste Simmons, 39, a single mother in Kennesaw, Ga. "I realized I was behind so I started saving 100% of it four years ago and now I've accumulated enough for a down payment on a house."
Simmons, who said she typically receives $8,000 to $10,000 back from the government, said tax time is her only opportunity during the year to make a big contribution to a savings account. "There is no other time of year that I have to get ahead," she said.
And most taxpayers, like Simmons, are also eager to get a jump on their savings. This year, 64.4% of Americans will have filed their taxes by the end of February, the highest percentage since 2006, the survey said. Only 14% said they will wait until the last minute.
More taxpayers are also filing their taxes themselves this year and fewer are planning to use an accountant or tax preparation service than in previous years.
In a separate survey by TD Ameritrade, an even larger percentage of respondents -- 63% -- said they plan to save or invest at least part of the money they get back. About half, of the more than 1,000 respondents polled said they will use some of the money to pay down debt, while 48% said it will go toward necessities like food or utility bills. Similarly, just 14% of those surveyed said they would use the money to splurge on a big-ticket item or trip.
Tax season is a good time to check your financial health, said Lule Demmissie, managing director of retirement at TD Ameritrade.
"Coming into a large chunk of change at a time when you are gathering important information about yourself becomes an opportunity to sit down and see whether you are meeting your financial goals," she said.
Demmissie recommends stashing those refunds in a tax-deferred savings account like an IRA or Roth IRA.
Carlos Rodriguez is trying to rid himself of $15,000 in credit card debt, while paying his mortgage and saving for his son's college education.
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What Light Bulbs Fit My Volvo?
One of the more common inquiries we receive is what bulbs fit where on different Volvo models. This seemingly simple question is actually somewhat convoluted.
Over the years Volvo has used dozens of different bulbs for headlamps, turn signals, interior lights, etc. In some cases, bulb applications were even superceded and updated to different style bulbs during normal service. We've also found that there is still a lot of variation for the same application over all the different model years of particular models. Because of this it can be quite difficult to provide full application listings with each bulb.
There's a few different ways to properly identify which bulb you need for which location on your particular Volvo.
- Consult your owner's manual -- all commonly replaced bulbs (headlamps, signals, etc.) will be listed by bulb type in your owner's manual.
- Visually identify the bulb in question -- most bulbs will be marked with designation and usually wattage/voltage as well.
- Consult Osram Sylvania's extensive online bulb guide (linked below).
Click here to visit Osram Sylvania's extensive bulb guide.
While we don't always use the same part numbers for bulbs as Sylvania or Volvo we do always list several alternate and cross reference part numbers with each bulb. This means you can search our website by Volvo bulb part number or Sylvania bulb part number and still filter to the correct bulb.


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Questions to Ask Before Surgery
Millions of Americans will undergo surgery each year. It is important to be informed about the surgery being recommended, particularly if it is elective surgery (an operation you choose to have done), rather than an emergency surgery. All surgeries have risks and benefits. It's important to understand them before deciding whether the procedure is appropriate for you.
The following are important questions to review with your healthcare provider before surgery. Ask your healthcare provider to explain the answers clearly and ask for further explanation if you are having trouble understanding an explanation and/or any medical terms. Some people find it helpful to write their questions down ahead of time.
It is important to remember that a well-informed patient tends to be more satisfied with the outcome or results of a procedure:
What is the operation being recommended?
Your healthcare provider should clearly explain the surgical procedure, such as the steps involved and provide you with examples. You should ask if there are different methods for doing this operation and why he or she favors one way over another.
Why is the procedure needed?
Reasons to have surgery may vary from relieving or preventing pain to diagnosing a problem to improving body function. Ask your healthcare provider to specifically explain why this procedure is being recommended for you and make sure you understand how this may improve your medical condition.
What are my alternatives to this procedure? Are there other treatment choices available based on my current medical condition?
In some cases, medicine or nonsurgical treatments, such as lifestyle changes, may be as helpful in improving a condition as surgery. Your healthcare provider should clearly explain the benefits and risks of these choices so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not surgery is necessary. Sometimes "watchful waiting" is indicated, in which the healthcare provider will monitor your condition over time to observe changes and the progression of a disease. You may still need surgery, or if your condition improves or stabilizes, you may be able to postpone surgery. After a period of "watchful waiting," it may be determined that surgery is still the best choice.
What are the benefits of the surgery and how long will they last?
It is important that your healthcare provider outline the specific benefits of having surgery for you. You should also ask how long the benefits typically last. Some benefits only last a short time, and could possibly need a second operation, while others may last a lifetime.
Also, ask your healthcare provider about published information regarding the outcomes of the recommended procedure. This will allow you to make an informed decision and have realistic expectations about the surgery.
What are the risks and possible complications of having the operation?
Surgery always carries some risks, so it is important to weigh the benefits against the risks before surgery. Ask your healthcare provider to outline the possible complications, such as infection and bleeding, and possible side effects that could follow the procedure. Be sure to understand when you should notify your healthcare provider or seek immediate medical attention for complications. You should also discuss pain and ways to manage any pain that may follow the procedure.
What happens if you do not have the operation?
If you decide, after weighing the benefits and risks of the surgery, not to have the operation, what will happen? You need to know whether the condition will worsen or if there is a possibility that it may resolve itself.
Should I get a second opinion?
In certain cases, some health plans may require patients to have a second opinion before undergoing elective surgery. Your healthcare provider should be able to supply you with the names of qualified individuals who also do the procedure.
What is the healthcare provider's experience in doing this procedure?
You can minimize the risks of surgery by choosing a healthcare provider who is thoroughly trained and experienced in doing the procedure. You may ask the healthcare provider about his or her experience with the procedure being done, including the number of times he or she has done it, and his or her record of successes, as well as complications.
Where will the surgery be performed?
Until recently, most surgery was done in hospitals. Today, however, many procedures are done on an outpatient basis or in ambulatory surgical centers. This lowers the cost of these procedures since you are not paying for a hospital room. Certain procedures may still need to be done on an inpatient basis. Your overall health is also considered when making a decision as to where the operation will be done. Be sure to ask your healthcare provider why he or she recommends either setting.
What type of anesthesia will be administered?
Your healthcare provider should tell you whether a local, regional, or general anesthesia will be given and why this type of anesthesia is recommended for your procedure. You should also ask who will be giving the anesthesia (such as an anesthesiologist or a nurse anesthetist; both of whom are highly qualified to give anesthesia) and ask to meet with that person before your operation.
What can I expect during recovery?
Ask your healthcare provider what to expect in the first few days following surgery, as well as in the weeks and months that follow. You need to know how long you will be hospitalized, what limitations will be placed on you, and if there are special supplies or equipment you will need when discharged. Knowing ahead of time what to expect will help you to cope and recover more quickly following the surgery. You should also ask about the typical length of time it takes for a full recovery to resume work and your everyday activities.
What are the costs of this operation?
Because health plans vary in their coverage of different procedures, there may be costs you will be responsible for. You will need to know what the specific costs of the operation will be and how much your insurance or health plan will cover. This information is not typically available to the healthcare provider.
Tips for Communicating with Your Healthcare Provider
It is important to communicate your feelings, questions, and concerns with your healthcare provider before having surgery. The following suggestions may help to improve communication between you and your healthcare provider:
If you do not understand your healthcare provider's responses, ask questions until you do.
Take notes, and/or ask a family member or friend to accompany you and take notes for you.
Ask your healthcare provider to write down his or her instructions, if necessary.
Ask your healthcare provider where you can find printed material about your condition. Many healthcare providers have this information in their offices.
If you still have questions, ask the healthcare provider where you can go for more information.
Learning About Your Surgeon
It is important to have confidence in the healthcare provider who will be doing your surgery. Whether this is someone you have chosen yourself, or a healthcare provider or surgeon you have been referred to, you can make sure that he or she is qualified. This may include any or all of the following:
Ask your primary healthcare provider, your local medical society, or health insurance company for information about the healthcare provider or surgeon's experience with the procedure.
Ask about the healthcare provider or surgeon's credentials and whether he or she has any additional certifications or experience in doing the procedure.
Make certain the healthcare provider or surgeon is affiliated with an accredited healthcare facility. When considering surgery, where it is done is often as important as who is doing the procedure.
Determining the Costs of the Procedure
Before you have surgery, discuss the costs with someone from the finance department at your healthcare provider's office. These costs may include the following:
The surgeon's fee for surgery
Hospital fees (if you need hospitalization) or ambulatory surgical center fees (for outpatient services). Check with the hospital's business office regarding these rates. Your healthcare provider or surgeon should be able to give you an approximate idea of how long you will be in the hospital.
Separate billing for other services. You will also be billed separately for the professional services of others who might be involved in your care, such as the assisting surgeon, anesthesiologist, and other medical consultants.
Check with your health plan before surgery to be certain of what portion of the costs you will be responsible for. If your anticipated costs present a problem, discuss other financial solutions with your healthcare provider before the surgery.
Getting a Second Opinion
Asking another healthcare provider or surgeon for a second opinion is an important step in making sure that this particular procedure is the best choice for you. A second opinion can help you make an informed decision about the best treatment for your condition and can help you weigh the risks and benefits against possible alternatives to the surgery.
Several health plans now require and will pay for patients to obtain a second opinion on certain nonemergency procedures. Medicare may also pay for patients to obtain a second opinion. Even if your plan does not require this, you still can ask for a second opinion.
If you decide to get a second opinion, check with your health plan to see if it is covered. Your primary healthcare provider or hospital can provide you with names of qualified healthcare providers. Be sure to get your medical records from your first healthcare provider so that the second one does not need to repeat tests and procedures.
Remember, in the case of emergency surgeries, the surgery should be done as quickly as possible. Most likely, there will not be time to get a second opinion. The necessity of getting a second opinion should always be weighed against the severity and urgency of the medical condition.


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GROWTH IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S R&D EXPENDITURE Since declining briefly in the late 1990s, expenditure on R&D in Western Australia has risen sharply. Between 1998-99 and 2004-05, gross expenditure on R&D in Western Australia more than doubled, rising from $844 million to $1,738 million. The largest part of this growth (70.9%), however, occurred between 2002-03 and 2004-05, when Western Australia's gross expenditure on R&D increased 57.4% ($634 million). Over this same period the state economy also surged, with Gross State Product (GSP) increasing 19.5% ($16,796 million) in current price terms. With the state's gross R&D expenditure rising almost three times faster than its GSP, the proportion of GSP devoted to R&D grew substantially over the period (up from 1.3% to 1.7%). The rapid rise in the level of R&D investment in Western Australia has, however, contrasted with a slowing of growth at the national level. As shown in the graph below, bi-annual growth in Western Australia's gross R&D expenditure rose from 20.1% in 2002-03 to 57.4% in 2004-05, while Australia's bi-annual growth fell from 26.8% to 19.4% over the same period. The states mainly responsible for the slowdown nationally were New South Wales and South Australia. With Western Australia's gross R&D expenditure underpinning much of the growth at the national level, the state's contribution to Australian gross R&D expenditure increased from 8.4% in 2002-03 to 11.0% in 2004-05.
BUSINESS Between 2002-03 and 2004-05, Western Australia's business sector accounted for almost three quarters (73.0%) of the growth in the state's gross expenditure on R&D. Over this period, expenditure on R&D by businesses located in Western Australia increased 78.6% ($463 million) to $1,051 million, compared to a national increase of 21.7%. As a consequence, the state's share of national gross business expenditure on R&D increased from 8.5% to 12.4%. Over the same period, the business sector increased its share of Western Australia's gross expenditure on R&D from 53.3% to 60.5%. While many factors have contributed to the surge in Western Australia's R&D expenditure, the expansion of the state's resources sector has had the largest impact on R&D investment. Between 2002-03 and 2004-05, the mining industry in Western Australia increased its expenditure on R&D 130% ($255 million) to $452 million. Other industries to report large increases in R&D expenditure during this period included, manufacturing (up 48.6% or $100 million), property and business services (up 62.4% or $56 million) and construction (up 43.7% or $22 million). Within the mining industry, the strongest growth in R&D investment was recorded in metal ore mining (up $134 million) and oil and gas extraction (up $64 million) between 2002-03 and 2004-05. The strong resources sector also contributed to growth in R&D expenditure in other related industries such as machinery and equipment manufacturing (up $46 million) and metal product manufacturing (up $29 million).
HIGHER EDUCATION The next largest contributor to growth in Western Australia's R&D expenditure was the higher education sector, which accounted for 23.0% of the total increase between 2002-03 and 2004-05. During this period, expenditure on R&D by the state's higher education sector increased 49.4% ($146 million) to $442 million, almost twice the national rise of 24.9%. As a consequence, Western Australia's share of national higher education R&D expenditure increased from 8.6% to 10.3%. The recent rise in R&D expenditure by Western Australia's higher education sector coincided with a series of reforms of the sector by the Commonwealth Government (the 'Nelson Reforms'). Amongst other changes, the Nelson Reforms established a framework for research in which all Commonwealth funding is either competitive or performance-based. As a consequence, some universities have strengthened their R&D activity to differentiate themselves in competitive local and international markets.
GOVERNMENT Commonwealth and State Government organisations located in Western Australia accounted for the remaining 1.5% of growth in the state's R&D expenditure between 2002-03 and 2004-05. Over this period, expenditure on R&D by government organisations located in Western Australia increased 4.7% ($9 million) to $207 million, well below the corresponding levels of growth reported by other sectors. However, governments also invest in R&D through a range of funding programs and initiatives available to the business, higher education and private non-profit sectors. Between 2002-03 and 2004-05, the amount of R&D that was funded by Commonwealth and State Government sources increased 19.1% or $1 billion nationally. For further information about the ABS R&D survey program, including requests for more detailed data, please contact Kirsty Rothenbury on (08) 9360 5382. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


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Scientology front group infiltrates United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse, 2008
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- February 10, 2009
The Scientology cult front group "Foundation_for_a_Drug-Free_World" used the United Nations to spread itself in various counties for the 2007 United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse. In Canada for example, pictures of Police and Fire Department Chiefs, as well as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, are shown in the document reading the booklets. Similar photos and text are presented for the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Australia, Taiwan, Japan and South Africa.
The document calls for renewed action on 26 Jun 2008.
The infiltration was reported in the German press only.
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HAMPTON, Ga. — For drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., patience is definitely a virtue at this point in the season.
Then again, there's a sense of urgency with the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship just two races away.
Only three drivers are assured of being in the 12-car playoff — five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth — but the outlook could be a lot clearer after Sunday night's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
While Earnhardt, ranked seventh in the points, is solidly positioned to maintain his spot in the playoff, he knows major problems at Atlanta and next weekend's race in Richmond could knock him out.
"We're just going to have to keep an eye on everybody around us," Earnhardt said. "I feel pretty good. I love Atlanta. I love Richmond. Those are good tracks for us. We have a chance to be successful, so I feel pretty confident."
Last season, the sport's most popular driver made the Chase but lost any hope of claiming his first series title when he sustained a concussion at Talladega, preventing him from racing the next two weeks.
Now, with another shot at going for a championship, the 38-year-old Earnhardt knows he must balance his desire to win races against making sure he's still running at the end.
"I understand. I've been through the process before," he said. "You don't want to make knee-jerk reactions on the race track, do things that cause problems and wreck the car or anything like that. I've been in situations where I didn't realize the sacrifice I made until it was too late. Now, I understand it's about being more patient and allowing the race to happen."
No one is feeling the heat more than Brad Keselowski.
The defending Cup champion has yet to win this season and ranks 11th in the standings, making it possible he won't even get a chance to defend his crown in the final 10 races of the season.
"Quite honestly, our backs are against the wall," Keselowski said. "But these are the times where great teams step up and make something happen, great drivers step up and make a play. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to prove what we're worth."
Johnson, who had an unprecedented run of titles from 2006-10, leads the standings and clinched his spot in the Chase three weeks ago. Bowyer wrapped up his automatic spot last week. Kenseth — who has a series-high five victories — is assured of at least a wild card, one of two spots that go to the drivers ranked 11th to 20th with the most wins.
Others are close. Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick can clinch their spots before they head to Richmond, while Kyle Busch — who missed out on the Chase a year ago — is in good position this time with three wins and the fifth-most points.
Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano are next in line, though not nearly as comfortable about their chances of advancing. Right on their heels are Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex.
At the moment, Truex is only 14th in the standings but has a win — which gives him the edge in the wild-card race over the three drivers right ahead of him, all winless on the season.
That could change in Atlanta, of course, which is why Truex is racing with a cast after breaking his right wrist in a crash at Bristol last weekend. Scott Speed is prepared to park his car and step in for Truex should the pain become unbearable during a 325-lap event on one of NASCAR's fastest tracks.
That said, it's hard to envision any scenario where the driver of the No. 56 car steps aside.
"I'm going to say there's a 99 percent chance that I will race the whole race," Truex said, even though he acknowledged "my fingers still hurt, my knuckles are kind of tender, so shifting is a little bit of an issue as far as the pain goes."
Kurt Busch is trying to get one of the second-tier teams, Furniture Row Racing, into the Chase before he moves to Stewart-Haas Racing next season, the former Cup champion's career back on the upswing after he was fired by Penske Racing for unruly behavior.
"It's tough to have the present to work on and try to get Furniture Row in the Chase and then the future with Stewart-Haas Racing. It's tough to balance it all," Busch said. "I think the most important two races in the No. 78 car's history are these next two."
Earnhardt will try to keep an eye on all those guys attempting to knock him out of the Chase.
But there's only so much he can do.
"You can't run the car any faster than it will go," Earnhardt said. "If you're having trouble beating a couple of guys, just stay as close to 'em as you can and maybe have a shot at getting around 'em at the end of the race. Just run hard and run smart. If you don't do anything stupid, that's the thing that usually pays off."


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As the presidential primary race has unfolded over the last few months, curious Americans have angled for a look at the candidates' wallets—and observed that they are bulging. There's Newt Gingrich, with his $7 million fortune and an up to $1 million revolving line of credit at Tiffany. The relentlessly anti-elitist Rick Santorum disclosed last week that he earns roughly $1 million a year. Mitt Romney built an immense $200 million fortune through his "corporate raider" work at Bain Capital; even Ron Paul, who claimed in one debate that he was embarrassed to show his tax forms because he made so much less money than his rivals, is worth as much as $5.2 million.
This striking wealth among politicians goes beyond the GOP. One of these four men will face off against the now wealthy Barack Obama, whose book royalties alone ran to $2.5 million in 2008. Beyond the Oval Office, there's Congress, whose members have a median net worth of $913,000, compared with $100,000 for the rest of us, according to a recent New York Times report. (Massachusetts' own John Kerry is one leader of the pack, with a fortune that in 2009 was estimated at $167 million.)
Politicians would like us to believe that all this money doesn't matter in a deeper sense—that what matters is ideas, skills, and leadership ability. Aside from a little extra business savvy, they're regular people just like the rest of us: They just happen to have more money.
But is that true? In fact, a number of new studies suggest that, in certain key ways, people with that much money are not like the rest of us at all. As a mounting body of research is showing, wealth can actually change how we think and behave—and not for the better. Rich people have a harder time connecting with others, showing less empathy to the extent of dehumanizing those who are different from them. They are less charitable and generous. They are less likely to help someone in trouble. And they are more likely to defend an unfair status quo. If you think you'd behave differently in their place, meanwhile, you're probably wrong: These aren't just inherited traits, but developed ones. Money, in other words, changes who you are.
As voters consider which presidential candidate to support in November, one thing is for sure: Whoever wins is going to have money and power to spare. In a world where our politicians are inevitably better off than most of the people they govern, the new research sheds fresh light on the nature of our elected leaders—and offers insight into why they so often seem oblivious to our problems. And, given that some of us may one day build a successful business or win the lottery, it also begins to offer some hints of how we might face down the corrupting influence of wealth and power ourselves.
HERE IN THE home of the American dream, most people are convinced that gaining a lot of money or changing social status abruptly wouldn't change who they are as people. Think about all the books, movies, and TV shows where a poor or middle-class person is suddenly elevated to a high position. Typically, his basic humility and decency shine through the trappings of power: "The Prince and the Pauper," Matthew Crawley on "Downton Abbey," John Goodman in "King Ralph."
Psychology has now found ways to test that narrative, however, and basic decency is not coming out on top. There are two ways to gauge the difference between how wealthy and nonwealthy people think: You can make people temporarily feel rich (or prompt them to think about money) and see if that creates changes, or you can sample rich and nonrich people and see if they think differently to begin with. Both kinds of studies yield results that point in the same somewhat disturbing direction.
Kathleen Vohs, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, started working on the issue of "feeling rich" in 2006 along with coauthors Nicole Mead and Miranda Goode. In their research, subjects were given subliminal suggestions to think about money—a clue in a descrambling puzzle, a dollar-bill screensaver on a computer screen, a sheaf of Monopoly bills on a table—before being asked to make a number of decisions: How soon do you ask for help on an impossible drawing task? Do you help the clumsy lab assistant who just dropped all her pencils? Do you donate to a made-up charity? Do you choose to work in a team or alone?
The mere hint of money, the researchers found, made people less likely to ask for help, less helpful in gathering the lab assistant's pencils, significantly less generous to the made-up charity, and far less likely to look for teammates. "When people are reminded of money, they get better at pursing their personal goals," Vohs said. "On the negative side, they become poor at interpersonal functioning. They're not all that nice to be around. They're not openly mean or disagreeable, but they can be insensitive."
Insensitivity can cover a range of sins, from the minor (being unhelpful) to the more serious—say, treating others like they are less than human. Further studies by Vohs and her colleagues have shown that prompting people to think about money—a technique known as "priming"—makes them less likeable and friendly, and more likely to agree with statements that support an unjust, social-Darwinist status quo (for example, "Some groups of people are simply inferior to others"). In a particularly disturbing part of one study, the team primed people with money, then gauged their empathy by eliciting reactions to a theoretical scenario involving a belligerent homeless person. The researchers offered the subjects a chance to agree with statements that dehumanized others ("Some people deserve to be treated like animals"). The money-primed group was more likely to agree.
Vohs and her collaborators have proposed a number of explanations for this effect. Adam Waytz, a professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and a coauthor on the dehumanization study, describes the energy that fuels altruism as a "finite resource"—one that you tap only when you're worried about your own needs in turn. "What money does...is, it obviates the need for others," Waytz said. "When you have feelings of security, there's no extra motivation to spend your resources for compassion on other people."
The prompts to think of money in Vohs's experiments are meant to approximate the reassuring effect of wealth, permitting her team to test those primed to think of money against those who haven't been. What about people who are actually rich, and not just prompted to think about wealth in a lab? Other psychologists, like one team associated with the University of California, Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, have conducted experiments that measure responses in people based on their actual affluence—and have found closely complementary results.
In 2009, Michael Kraus, Paul Piff, and Dacher Keltner, all then of Berkeley (Kraus is now at University of California, San Francisco), published research that divided up sample groups by family income as well as self-reported socioeconomic status. People of higher socioeconomic status were more likely to explain success or failure as a result of individual merit or fault; lower-class people, on the other hand, felt less control in their own lives and were more likely to blame events on circumstance. In other words, higher-status people were more likely to feel that they'd earned their high place in society, and that poorer people hadn't.
More recently, similar research—involving not just surveys, but heart-rate measurements —has found that higher-status people tend to be less compassionate toward others in a bad situation than people of lower-class backgrounds.
"If your world is more unpredictable and threatening, and the police are more likely to arrest you, and you're more likely to go to schools that don't have the right kinds of resources, you're going to be more attuned to the context around you," Keltner explained. "And if [lower-status people are] more attuned to the environment and they're tracking other people, it turns out they're more compassionate, too, even at the physiological level."
The result of these differences, say researchers who work on money and social class, is that people who are confident in their status have a completely different worldview from those who lack that confidence: more self-involved, self-justifying, and even, as the dehumanization study suggests, crueler. And the higher up the spectrum you get, the stronger the effect: "It's on a continuum," Kraus said. In other words, a subject whose family income is over $75,000 will show more compassion and generosity than a subject with a family income over $150,000, and less than a subject with an income of $30,000.
You might think that electing poor or low-status people to positions of power could help solve the problem, but it turns out not to be so easy: Power itself can trigger similar changes. Dana Carney, Amy Cuddy, and Andy Yap, psychologists at the business schools of Berkeley, Harvard, and Columbia, respectively, have shown that merely standing in a powerful position (arms crossed behind head, for example), releases an intense rush of testosterone while inhibiting the stress hormone cortisol. Among other things, this hormonal cocktail encourages people to follow their own self-interest and ignore external cues (others' distress, say) that might slow them down.
Gaining a sense of power, then, even if it happens through random selection in a lab, alters you on a very basic level, making you "less attentive to others, more free to act, and more free to act in a way that doesn't take account of other people," said Adam Galinsky, a psychologist at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management who has been studying the effects of power for a decade.
So it's all very well for us to curse our wealthy senators for their insensitivity. If we think we're immune from these kinds of changes—that, if given their money and power, we would all be benevolent dictators—we are probably fooling ourselves.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS of realizing that our wealthy leaders may be more callous, self-absorbed, and self-justifying than the people they represent? For one thing, it suggests that the constant calls for candidates to release tax returns and disclose their assets are not so petty after all.
Beyond underscoring the importance of disclosure, however, the new research also offers some hope—not just for Rich Uncle Moneybags, but for you, if you happen to win a Senate election. As Galinsky explained, power doesn't necessarily turn everyone cruel: It merely reveals their true colors. With power comes disinhibition, which can have the counterintuitive effect of turning a run-of-the-mill billionaire into a major philanthropist. "Power...frees you to act like your true self," Galinsky said. "So let's say the lascivious become even more flirtatious, but those people that are concerned with compassionate goals become even more compassionate and even more generous."
And there's more hope for rich or powerful people who want to avoid becoming insensitive jerks: Compassion, at least, can be taught. In a 2010 study, Kraus, Keltner, and several of their colleagues showed subjects one of two videos—a neutral clip from "All the King's Men" or a short documentary about child poverty—before administering a written "compassion test" and an interpersonal test of compassion in which the subject had to divide a set of tasks of varying lengths between himself and a partner. Although the subjects with higher class status tended to assign the longer tasks to the partner, the researchers found that watching the child-poverty video canceled out the effect of social class.
Whether a given person will take on the challenge of cultivating his own compassion, of course, is another question. In trying to guess whether a wealthy political candidate will be hard-hearted or generous in practice, then, even complete financial disclosure is not enough; as always, it's up to us to predict how a candidate's character will guide him in office.
If you win the lottery and want to avoid becoming an insensitive lout yourself, however, the new findings offer some solutions. Sure, you could watch lots of compassion-inducing videos. But better yet, Keltner says, "Give at least half of the money away." Not only does charity bring happiness, but getting rid of some of that windfall might be the simplest way to stay just as kind and decent as you are right now.
Britt Peterson is a writer in Washington, D.C.


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On May 17, the Michigan Senate voted for a transformational fiscal reform by closing the defined-benefit school pension system to new hires starting in 2013, and instead giving these workers generous 401(k) contributions.
This came as a surprise, because the only reforms on the table before the vote were useful, if comparatively minor tweaks, to the existing defined-benefit system, which creates an additional layer of long-term taxpayer liabilities every time a new school employee is hired.
What changed in the hours before that vote was that Sens. Mark Jansen, R-Gaines Township, and Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, two legislators with reformist aspirations on this issue, convinced a barely sufficient majority of their GOP colleagues to go along with the much more meaningful reform. The vote stunned Lansing insiders, because for the previous 16 months it had been House Republicans taking the lead on various reform bills, with the Senate frequently watering them down.
Indeed, it was so unexpected and momentous that Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (who voted "yes") said to reporters, "Tell the Mackinac Center that, OK?" By "that" he meant a Senate vote to adopt what could be the current legislature's biggest reform of all.
Among the special interests shocked by the vote was the Michigan Education Association teachers union, whose power would be diminished by the reform. Not surprisingly, the MEA circled the wagons and sent in its lobbyists to prevent the House from following the Senate's lead.
The union's method was to sow confusion and muddy the waters with an interpretation of a Government Accounting Standards Board rule being promoted by career civil servants in the state pension office (who, like the union, also have strong incentives for preferring an open and growing defined-benefit system). They put forward the claim that this reform would require the state to pay more than a billion dollars in so-called transition costs.
This has been disproved by real world examples of states that closed their pension systems without paying these transition costs. In June, the GASB itself published a statement affirming that its rules don't mandate these massive up-front payments.
Nevertheless, key House Republicans swallowed that claim and continue to promote it, in particular Rep. Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham, and Rep. Rick Olson, R-York Township.
Although the Mackinac Center has published the evidence refuting it, most legislators are not experts in these issues and have regarded the claim as some kind of irresolvable "he said/she said," in effect giving victory to the union by making inaction on the Senate bill the default position.
This is the context for the House vote of June 14, which included some of the Senate's earlier proposed tweaks plus some new ones, but failed to embrace the much larger reform.
One key player with a notably low profile in the debate has been Gov. Rick Snyder. This contrasts sharply to the situation in 1996, when under the engaged leadership of Gov. John Engler the legislature closed the defined-benefit system to new state employees. This was the second largest component of gradually putting the state on a glide path to eliminating most government-employee legacy costs.
Engler didn't attain the largest component — the same school pension reform passed by the Senate in May of this year — because then, as now, a majority of GOP legislators feared the MEA's political power. Nevertheless, the reform that passed has saved taxpayers from as much as $4 billion in unfunded liabilities.
Gov. Snyder's only involvement appears to be promoting a plan to prefund optional school retiree health care benefits. Even though the state has no obligation to provide these benefits, the government pension establishment pretends otherwise, and under its accounting rules, prefunding gives the appearance of strengthening the state's balance sheet. The House-passed bill authorizes this gimmick, but includes no appropriation for it. Annual state payments of $50 million to $100 million have been mentioned.
On July 18 the Senate again surprised Lansing insiders by not automatically surrendering to the House position. Since then, however, it appears that reformers Sens. Jansen and Pavlov have lost momentum, with the upper hand shifting to Republican Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, well-known to CapCon readers as the politician who for 10 months prevented the Senate from enacting a House-passed bill to end a notorious SEIU "dues skim" of home health care aides.
Along with 11 other Senate Republicans, Sen. Kahn voted for the transformational reform on May 17 before voting against it on July 18. On Monday, Sen. Kahn was the "special guest" in a conference call convened by the coalition of union interests working to torpedo the Senate-passed reform. He told them the bill the Senate is expected to pass Aug. 15 essentially goes along with the House version, in effect giving the teachers union a big win.
The measure will also include a face-saving fig leaf, the commissioning of a rigged study designed to confirm a flawed "apples to lemons" analysis of the costs of continuing an open defined-benefit pension system versus an unnecessarily generous proposed 401(k) system. This is intended to make it appear less costly to keep creating additional taxpayer liabilities with each new school employee hired.
However, once the Senate approves the House-passed tweaks, the short-term budget pressures will be removed and the current system can creak along a few more years before overly optimistic investment growth assumptions almost inevitably lead to another crisis. In other words, this legislature's path of least resistance will be letting the most meaningful reform die, rather than take up the issue again in November.
Given that the Republicans' candidate for president has chosen to hitch his wagon to a transformational reform agenda by selecting Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., as his running mate, the quiet death of a historic reform opportunity in Michigan will be even more poignant.
In sum, the Michigan Legislature appears on the verge of fumbling a magnificent opportunity for a reform that would pay dividends to taxpayers for decades into the future.
Failing to follow-through on a Senate vote to close the school pension system to new employees will put taxpayers at risk for billions of dollars of additional unfunded liabilities, and save the MEA teachers union from what would have been a substantial diminishment of its outsized power and influence.
See also:
House GOP on Verge of Surrendering to MEA
Fix the Real Problem of the Pension System
The Legislature Must Fix Teacher Pensions the Right Way
GOP-Led House Passes New 'Tax' On Private Contract Workers To Pay For Retirement System Liabilities
Commentary: Shifting School Employees to a 401(k) Is the Most Important Thing
Get insightful commentary and the most reliable research on Michigan issues sent straight to your inbox.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. Through our research and education programs, we challenge government overreach and advocate for a free-market approach to public policy that frees people to realize their potential and dreams.
Please consider contributing to our work to advance a freer and more prosperous state.


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Chiles Secos: The Essense of Mexican Salsa
An essential element of Mexican cuisine, hot peppers, or chiles, can be used and purchased either fresh, canned or dehydrated (secos). In fact, chile seco is a term used for a broad variety of peppers that are allowed to mature and dehydrate. Enter any Mexican supermarket and you'll find a variety of dry chiles, among them morita, chipotle, pasilla, piquín, cascabel, guajillo, pulla, rata and mulato. Some are spicier than others and each has a distinct flavor.
Making delicious salsas at home with dry chiles is easy; we offer you three different recipes to add to your repertoire. You will quickly find that the recipes can be personalized by using different chiles, so feel free to experiment and enjoy Mexico's spicy flavors!
Chile Morita Salsa
20 g chile morita, seeded • 150 g tomatoes • 300 g white onion, sliced in four • 3 garlic cloves, peeled • Salt to taste.
1. Toast the peppers in a frying pan on a medium flame turning them frequently, allowing their flavors to emerge. Set aside.
2. Combine the tomatoes, onion and garlic, and toast in the same pan.
3. Blend together in a blender until a thick consistency.
4. Add salt to taste.
Chipotle and Cola de Rata Salsa
8 cola de rata chiles • 4 chipotle chiles • 6 serrano chiles • 5 garlic cloves, peeled • 150 g peanuts • 2 boullion cubes • Water • Salt.
1. Fry the chiles in vegetable oil until they are soft.
2. Blend all ingredients with the bullion cubes adding water and salt to taste.
Cola de Rata Salsa
8 cola de rata chiles • 3 tomatoes • 1 garlic clove • 1/4 white onion • Water • Salt.
1. Boil the tomatoes until soft.
2. Fry the chiles in vegetable oil until soft.
3. Blend all ingredients together, adding salt and water to taste.
Acknowledgments: Carmen Porras (El Arrayán), doña Amalia Flores Solorio (Baby Banana) and doña Elena Grana Almada.


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Benefit from the FPGA knowledge of our 70 top-class international speakers in a total of 10 main topics with over 100 technical presentations and hands-on tutorials including test development on boards and computers.
The TEC0117 is a low cost FPGA module integrating a GOWIN LittleBee 1NR9 FPGA with 8 MByte internal SDRAM and 8 MByte SPI Flash for user applications. It's compatible to the Arduino MKR standard.


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Editor's Note: This post originally appeared at the Baker Institute blog as part of its Viewpoints series. It is republished with permission.
The benefits of a Mexican gendarmerie
Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto is starting his six-year presidential term with plans for a new paramilitary police force. The Gendarmería Nacional will initially consist of 10,000 officers. Originally proposed during his campaign with a target of 40,000 officers, the current plan was announced during a session of the National Security Council (Consejo Nacional de Seguridad) and the force is slated to police the contested plazas and regions impacted by insecurity.
Mexico's security situation
Mexico has been embroiled in a complex drug war leading to a mix of high intensity crime and non-state armed conflict. Started under Vicente Fox, the conflict accelerated in 2006 under the administration of Felipe Calderón. Drug cartels and gangs threatened civil order, challenged state forces and embraced extreme violence and barbarism to ward off interference from the state. High casualty rates—with deaths perhaps exceeding 100,000—combined with brutal beheadings, dismemberments, social cleansing leading to about 20,000 missing and a combination of refugees and internally displaced persons, were accompanied by direct infantry assaults on the police and military from cartels.
Car bombings, narco-tanks, and military-style tactics led to a situation where the civil police were outgunned. The military (both the army and Navy known by their respective Spanish acronyms, SEDENA and SEMAR) were deployed to stabilize the situation and contain the de facto 'criminal insurgency.' Corruption, impunity, and human rights violations complicate the situation. Kidnapping, extortion (collection of street taxes), and murder threaten the civil peace. Police, corrections and judicial reform have become complicated and slow-moving necessities. The Federal Police under the Secretary of Public Security (SSP) has been the primary federal law enforcement entity to respond, but military-style assaults and street battles waged by the gangsters have led them to become more of a formed police unit or gendarmerie than a community oriented law enforcement organ. Similarly, the military and naval forces deployed to the conflict lack police skills, and have been accused of human rights violations. Local and state police are often inadequately prepared and have lingering corruption and transparency challenges. Relations between the military and police are complex and sometimes strained in this complex conflict environment.
Why a gendarmerie?
Skeptics may ask "why a gendarmerie?" The new 10,000 strong force will draw most of its initial complement from the military with the army (about 5,000 soldiers), and navy (about 2,000 sailors) contributing the bulk, require new statutory authority, and cost about $1.5 billion Pesos (US$ 117.4 million) for start-up in 2013 alone. Is this worth it? Indeed, respected security analyst Alejandro Hope, writing at InSight Crime, suggests that a gendarmerie may not be the right solution for Mexico's security gap. Hope notes that the new Gendarmería Nacional, as described in commitment #76 of the "Pact for Mexico" (the president's new security plan), would create "a territorial body that allows the exercise of the sovereignty of the Mexican State [federal government] in all corners of the country regardless of their distance, isolation or weak state." Hope then outlines three objections to the new force: 1) there is no need for a rural police force, 2) there are insufficient potential qualified recruits for the force which would compete for resources and personnel from other police agencies, 3) It would create dual, competing national police forces (i.e., fragmentation).
Gary Hale, a drug policy fellow at the Baker Institute and former chief of intelligence for the Houston field division of the Drug Enforcement Administration , also questioned the rationale for a Mexican gendarmerie in previous Baker Institute Viewpoints blog. For Hale, the question is will the force be effective, will it sap resources from other initiatives, and can it be made combat effective in enough time? Hale also raises questions about command and control and relations with other police forces (at state, local, and federal levels). He concluded that if "properly trained, equipped and commanded, National Guard [i.e., gendarmerie] units in Mexico could serve to augment the offensive military forces that are needed to complement federal and state police forces."
Filling the "security gap"
The police and military have different roles and core capabilities in democratic societies. The military frequently is challenged by the ambiguities of community policing. On the other hand community police are challenged by intense combat. Police are generally structured to work in one or two-person patrols and often lack the capacity to work in the formed units needed to counter armed, infantry-style assaults. The Mexican military (both army and naval forces) has been used in the drug war to fill the gap in high intensity crime and in combat against non-state actors. This was a necessary step, but at best, a short-term solution. Military forces are not configured for policing (as allegations of human rights violations attest). They are designed to fight other militaries, not investigate complex conspiracies or police the streets of a community. On the other hand, police are ill suited for addressing armed insurrection and military-type operations. This 'security gap" where neither police nor military are ideal is essentially the "missing mission."
Modern formed police units (FPUs), also known as Stability Police Units (SPUs) like the French Gendarmerie or Italian Carabinieri fill the interstitial void in capabilities found in complex situations at the intersection between crime and war. As defined by the US Institute of Peace, "Stability police are robust, armed police units that are capable of performing specialized law enforcement and public order functions that require disciplined group action. They are trained in and have the flexibility to use either less-than-lethal or lethal force, as circumstances dictate. They are rapidly deployable, logistically self-sustainable, and able to collaborate effectively with both the military and the police components of a peace mission." These are far from just 'rural police,' they are effective social control and security organs for operating in contested zones—both urban and rural–where there is a need to bridge policing and military operations. The value of these forces was recognized in the Balkan conflicts and these modern gendarmerie units have played key roles in peacekeeping, order maintenance, counter-terrorism and anti-mafia operations. The flexibility afforded by these units has led to the creation of the European Gendarmerie Force (EUROGENDFOR) comprised of contributing units from France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Romania, and Spain.
Conclusion: Flexible, agile response
Gendarmeries have flexible, expeditionary capabilities and can effectively bridge the demands of community policing, complex investigations, and military (light infantry) operations. Duplication and lack of coordination among other police services can be mitigated through joint training, staff rotations, and effective oversight. A Mexican gendarmerie is not a replacement for the development of effective community police and state and municipal levels or the Federal Police, but when integrated with these forces as part of a 'full-spectrum' capacity, it can be an effective adjunct to eradicating cartel and gang violence and a viable tool for security sector reform.
Please see also this video on "Mexico, Drugs, and a Possible Way Forward."


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With the Christmas holidays coming up and many people likely to take some time off work, this end of the year presents a great opportunity to take some time out from your week-to-week programming grind and do some learning.
With that in mind, I present "Graham's Guide to Learning Scala". There are many, many resources on the web for learning about Scala. In fact, I think there's probably too many! It would be quite easy to start in the wrong place and quickly get discouraged.
So this is not yet another resource to add to the pile. Rather, this is a guided course through what I believe are some of the best resources for learning Scala, and in an order that I think will help a complete newbie pick it up quickly but without feeling overwhelmed.
And, best of all, it has 9 Steps!
[Note: Many of the resources have a slant towards teaching programmers that know Java, but I imagine if you know any other popular OO language like C++, C#, Ruby, Python, Objective-C or Smalltalk, you shouldn't have a problem picking it up.]
Are you ready? Here goes...
Step 1: Lay the Foundation
Read 'Introduction to the Scala Language' on scala-lang.org
This single page is a succinct but dense description of Scala and will let you know what you're in for, and why you should keep going.
Step 2: Get the Tools
Download and install the latest Scala release
Download and install the latest IntelliJ IDEA *Community Edition* release
Open IDEA and install the 'Scala' plugin
Step 3: Hello, World!
Create a new IDEA project with a Scala module.
Create a new file called HelloWorld.scala and paste in the following code:
object HelloWorld {
def main(args: Array[String]) {
println("Hello, world!")
Hit Ctrl-Shift-F10 to run it.
Congratulations! First Scala program done and dusted!
Step 4: Commute your Java skills to Scala
Read Daniel Spiewak's 'Scala for Java Refugees' series.
This should give you enough knowledge and experience with Scala syntax to be able to write Scala that does most of the things you can do in Java.
Make sure you enter the code examples into IDEA and try them out as you go. I suggest typing them out instead of copy-paste, because that's likely to give you exposure to common syntax mistakes and compiler errors.
Step 5: Open Your Eyes
Read through the 'Tour of Scala' on scala-lang.org
These short pages will give you some exposure to some of the more advanced features of Scala. Don't worry if you don't understand everything - just keep reading. You're not trying to learn how to use all these things, just to know that they're around.
Step 6: Learn the Basics, the Ins & the Outs
Read chapters 1 to 8 of Dean Wampler & Alex Payne's 'Programming Scala' (O'Reilly)
This is where the learning gets heavy. We're talking about more than half a book here. You'll learn everything from basic syntax (some of which you'll already know from the Refugees series) to Scala's more advanced patterns for object-oriented programming, an introduction to Scala's functional programming capabilities and some of the curly edges of Scala's type system.
Again, make sure you try out running the code samples in IDEA. I suggest you also have a play around with some of the concepts in your own little test classes. Any time you find yourself thinking "I wonder if I can use this feature to do this?", grab a keyboard and find out for yourself.
Step 7: Open the Dragon Scroll and Release your Scala Fu
Take a break from learning and do some hacking!
Think of a simple idea that you'd like to implement in Scala, then code it! (Seriously, I recommend keeping it REALLY simple.) If you can't think of something yourself, you can steal my idea of writing a function to perform word-wrapping.
Step 8: Take a Walk around the Grounds
Read the rest of 'Programming Scala' (chapters 9 to 14)
The rest of the book covers some of the peripheral libraries and concepts in Scala that contribute to making it a great language, like Agents for multi-threaded programming, "herding" XML input and output and building blocks for creating domain-specific languages, as well as reviewing some of the tools that have sprung up in the Scala ecosystem.
Step 9: Go Forth and Hack!
This is where the directed part of the journey ends, but hopefully it's only the first step.
What you do with Scala next is up to you, but by this point you know more than enough about Scala to start using it seriously at home or even at work, for fun, or for making some serious cash! If you do make some serious cash by hacking Scala, please remember how it all started and send a little monetary "Thank you" my way. ; )
Addendum: Getting Help
Perhaps it was a little presumptuous of me to effectively say "go away now and code". Chances are, you'll need some help as you keep experimenting, learning and doing more and more cool stuff with Scala.
The two best places that I've found to connect with other Scala users are the scala-user mailing list run by scala-lang.org and, for curly technical problems that you just can't figure out yourself, stackoverflow.com. Actually, reading through other people's Scala questions on Stack Overflow can also be a great way to pick up new ideas!
Want to learn more?
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On Friday I put up the following chart, and invited readers to comment on what's wrong with it.
From Bloomberg's Sustainable Energy In America 2013 Factbook. Due to the massive government stimulus of 2009, both GDP and energy consumption grew together in 2009-2010. As the stimulus petered out, energy consumption fell off dramatically but GDP continued to grow (black circle). Click to enlarge.
For your convenience, I have circled the suspicious anomaly—economic growth has radically departed from growth in energy consumption since 2010. That trend flies in the face of everything we know about economic expansion and energy consumption—they are inseparable, at least on a global scale. I am going to assume you have read and understood my descriptions of Tim Garrett's work, which I most recently explained in Is Global Economic Growth Persistent?
The Bloomberg report chalks the divergence up to great energy efficiency in the United States. That's a happy story, but the evidence which supports it ranges from thin to imaginary. I will not argue today that the weak efficiency story is false. (I'll comment on that later this week.) Instead, it behoves us to explain the divergence in another, more satisfactory way.
In Garrett's work, the consistent relationship between economic expansion and the increasing energy consumption which supports that expansion hold on the global scale. We might expect there to be some small local exceptions to the rule in places like British Columbia or Sweden, but the sheer size of the United States economy suggests that the constant relationship between the two trends should hold (more or less) in America as well. (We have to consider trends like the offshoring of manufacturing to energing markets, which effectively moves energy consumption to other countries.)
If we look at the long chart, we see that there has been a GDP-energy dependency since 1845.
Note the contraction in both GDP and energy consumption during the Great Depression (condensed scale on the left). Click to enlarge. Source
Related Articles: Where's the Crash?
Thus we see that the divergence between GDP and energy over the last few years is unprecedented in the United States. That departure strongly suggests that GDP is artificially inflated. And we don't have far to look to see how this has been accomplished. Consider the next two graphs.
From Mike Shedlock's Government Spending as Percentage of GDP (August 28, 2012). Chart by Doug Short of Adviser Perspectives
From the Washington Post's A scary graph from Goldman Sachs, Ezra Klein, the WonkBlog (February 5, 2013).
Both graphs illustrate the simple, uncontroversial conclusion that the American economy (and thus the GDP measurement) has remained highly dependent on extravagant deficit spending, even after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009) ran its course. This suggests that GDP growth in the absence of growth in energy consumption is largely a monetary phenomenon, for the government basically (outside of some defense spending)writes checks, which they make good with borrowed money. The Federal goverment does not manufacture things, it typically does not distribute goods, it does very little which is physical, as opposed to monetary. By contrast, there was a large physical ("shovel ready") component in the 2009 stimulus.
Related Articles: Egypt's Revolution Going Nowhere Fast
You might read my recent post Look At The GDP Fraud! We might go so far as to say that every GDP print in the last 2 years has been fraudulent in the sense described.
If government spending follows the dashed line in the Goldman Sachs graph—this is called "the sequester"—then we can reasonably expect GDP to follow energy consumption, as it has every year since 1845. GDP would thus decline in a most alarming way. I'll quote from Ezra Klein's post, the source of the 4th graph above—
"This is a large decline in historical context, but it is not without precedent," [Alec] Phillips [of Goldman Sachs] continues. "This would mark the third decline in the last 50 years; the first occurred around 1970, after Vietnam War spending had peaked, followed by another around 1990 as military spending declined following the end of the Cold War and multiple rounds of spending caps were enacted."
Even if there's precedent for this kind of a drop, there are at least three reasons to be particularly concerned about it happening now. First, the previous periods of austerity that Phillips mentions were primarily driven by the end of major wars. That meant that a lot of that spending was not directly raising living standards in the United States, and so its absence didn't have the kinds of consequences of, say, the sequester.
Second, this graph misses the significant tax-side austerity we're engaged in, with the expiration of the payroll tax cut and the high-income tax increases from the fiscal cliff deal serving as an additional drag on growth. And third, the economy remains unusually weak by historical standards, and this kind of fiscal drag is going to make it that much harder to recover.
Indeed, if we look at energy consumption (in quadrillions of BTUs), we see just how weak the private American economy truly is. It is total nonsense to use an "improved efficiency" argument to legitimize the disconnect between GDP and energy consumption in the United States. And if the arguments I've made today are correct, and the spending cuts are put in place, we can reasonably expect GDP to track energy consumption in the future, all other things being equal, just as it did during the Great Depression. In short, we can expect GDP to decline, just as those who fear "the sequester" say it will, unless a miracle occurs.
I shall comment further on "efficiency" and declining energy consumption later this week.
By. Dave Cohen


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Last year, Payam Rajabi got a new job and had to leave Toronto and his girlfriend, Clare, and move to San Francisco. All that left him feeling a little down — until he came up with his upsy, downsy valentine idea.
He jumped on his bike, opened his iPhone to a map of San Francisco, and tracking himself with a GPS, he rode 27 miles around the city, taking 2 1/2 hours, burning 1,135 calories and carefully etching a heart shape onto a city map ... like this ...
... all for Clare. "Clare and I have been doing the long-distance thing for the past few months. I wanted to do something a little different to surprise her on Valentine's Day," he told his local bicycle store. And to make sure Clare knew this was a labor of love, emphasis on "labor," Payam not so modestly included an elevation map of his ups and down, so Clare would know that about 12 miles in, he had to pump his way up one of those muscle-wrenching hills (maybe near McLaren Park?) to map his loving heart ...
... for which, we assume, Clare has baked him some cookies ... with lots of butter.
The folks at the bike shop, aware that Payam had used one of their "Mission" bikes to make the trip, put his valentine on their website, and you know how these things go — Payam's map got picked up by Cyclelicious, a geeky bike equipment site; by Uptown Almanac, a local blog; by Health 2.0, a health news site; by Iranian.com, a Persian-American site. Payam was named "Iranian of the Day," and within the year, ka-ching! An ad agency called.
It was the folks at Verizon. They asked Payam if he would get back on the bike and do the whole thing over again, this time tracked by a rigged-out truck with a giraffelike high-cam, and a lionish low-cam that raced him up and down hills and streets pushing those cameras inches — literally inches — from his head as he dropped down hills at 50 miles an hour ...
... then they had the bike shop duplicate his original Mission bike; they hired a body double for the long shots, closed down streets, rejiggered traffic lights so camera operators could shoot from below, above, from up the block, down the block, and if you've been watching TV, Payam is everywhere now, his 2 hour, 27 minute pilgrimage of the heart collapsed into 27 seconds, set to music and turned into this:
Socially conscious bloggers worried: another "blatant case of ripping off a cool indie project and stealing it for a mega-million dollar commercial"? Well, not really, not if they could have had any gorgeous actor they wanted (an actor with a Payam-hair wig played his double — but you only see him from behind staring out at the Golden Gate Bridge). All the other shots are Payam playing Payam. So they chose the real deal.
But I am left with this dangling question: That girl in the cafe, who gets his valentine? She's not Clare. Look at the top of this column (that's Clare) and at the bottom (that's an actor). What's it like for real Clare to see an ad starring her real boyfriend with a real valentine that goes to a substitute Clare? "She really liked the ad," Payam told me, but, and here his voice got a little softer, "I think she'd have liked it better if she'd been the girl."
Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


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There's no question that Louis C.K. is a comedy lifer. He's been around forever, doing stand-up, touring, working on talk show writing staffs, and gravitating between television and film. In that time, he's become less of a joke-maker and more of a multimedia sensation, and right now he's high off the success of FX's groundbreaking Louie and prominent parts in David O. Russell's American Hustle and Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. But like many comedians, his beginnings were fairly humble. Unlike many comedians, he's ready to share that with audiences.
Louis C.K.'s first film was Tomorrow Night, which emerged from his various shorts and comedic routines. The film is a no-budget absurdist story about a lonely man's relationship with an elderly woman, and while it played at Sundance in 1998, a distributor never stepped up to release the film. It certainly carries some interest today, given that the names involved in the film include J.B. Smoove, Amy Poehler, Nick DiPaulo, Rick Shapiro, Robert Smigel, Steve Carell, Todd Barry, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Wanda Sykes and Ian Roberts. That's basically some of the top comedians in the world as well as the entire television lineup of Upright Citizens Brigade.
Speaking to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show last night (via Vulture), Louis C.K. revealed that funding for the film came together thanks to the generosity of others. Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Denis Leary, Brett Butler and Spike Feresten, all comedy lifers themselves, contributed healthy amounts to the making of the film. What's touching is that this was the late nineties, where these comedians were successful, but none were the household names they are today (Spike Feresten is totally a household name, right?). Louis C.K. would direct one more film, Pootie Tang, which was not entirely well-received, but it's got some funny bits and, hey, it got released.
Now that he's achieved a certain level of success, Tomorrow Night is hitting Louis C.K.'s website, where you can purchase it for yourself for only $5. Pretty sweet deal: the trailer makes Tomorrow Night look like a moody, impressionistic look at New York City similar to another forgotten NYC-set indie gem, The Search For One-Eye Jimmy, which featured early work from the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro. Catch the trailers to Tomorrow Night and Pootie Tang below.
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"Tom Verlaine and Television were for me the most inspiring: They were not glamorous, they were human."
– Patti Smith in a recent interview for New York magazine
An accurate description of Tom Verlaine's career would read much like a thesaurus entry for influential. He has truly shaped the sound of modern music, from his early days with the Neon Boys and Television, throughout his solo career, and most recently as the guitarist in Patti Smith's band. Always ahead of the curve, Tom's influence is immeasurable throughout the rock world with bands as diverse as The Strokes and Dos claiming him as an influence. No one, however, has been able to replicate his sounds, from delicate lace-like details to soaring and singling lines. It's hard to describe without a slew of superlatives.
Anyhow, Tom would much rather talk about the new stuff. Thrill Jockey's simultaneous release of around and songs and other things are the first new releases by Tom Verlaine since Warm and Cool in 1992. Around continues where Warm and Cool left off, using many of the same musicians. Former Neon Boy Billy Ficca's drumming shares the spotlight with Verlaine's guitar, whose varied tones move effortlessly from melody to rhythm and are at once panoramic, pastoral and atmospheric. The influence of Verlaine's love of jazz saxophone is manifested in sustained single-note melodies and his expert finesse is rousing.
Around is a largely improvised record. "The recording style is: get the mics set and start recording," Verlaine says, "edit the mistakes and erase the stuff you don't like." This freewheeling style allows the raw talents of Verlaine, Ficca and Derivaz to shine through, while showcasing the cohesion of a trio that's been playing together for years. Verlaine calls them "intuitive musicians".
In the past year Tom has been touring with Patti Smith and playing select shows with Television. He is putting together a band that he will debut in his beloved hometown of New York City in late April/early May. He will be embarking on a world tour this spring, his first in over a decade.
Check out songs and other things and Warm and Cool.