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Some people call them chuckleheads, river cats or mud cats. Dipped and fried in a golden cornmeal batter with a crunchy side of hush puppies, catfish have become an immortal staple to downhome cooking south of the Mason Dixon line. In North Louisiana where the delicious cuisine remains more true to traditional Southern fare from the more exotic and spicy food found in the southern half of the state, the catfish is most revered. Geared to celebrate this fish with the whiskers on their fins, the town of Winnsboro in Franklin Parish hosts the largest one-day festival in the Bayou State.
Although it lies near the beautiful Ouachita River, a haven for catfish noodlers and anglers, the origins of the Franklin Parish Catfish Festival lie not in wildlife sportsmanship, but in the industry of aquaculture. While the oil industry in the 1980s bottomed out in Louisiana, Franklin Parish was experiencing a successful new emerging industry: aquaculture in the form of farm-raised catfish. The Wisner area was dotted with thousands of acres of man-made catfish ponds, and although only one processing plant existed at the time, blueprints for a second one and a feed mill were already in the works. The teeming success of the new venture inspired the idea of building a festival around the theme of catfish as a means to promote the town of Winnsboro and Franklin Parish.
In 1986, fishing around for ideas, leaders from the area held brainstorming sessions to angle their ideas for the formation of a festival. Committees, chairpersons and duties were assigned. The Winnsboro Elementary School was the site of the first festival replete with food and craft booths, catfish plates cooked in the school cafeteria, Civil War reenactment and a 5-kilometer run combined with a lot of family-oriented fun. Attendance was marked at 6,000; by 1990, the festival drew nearly 20,000 people annually and mushroomed from the school grounds to take over the entire downtown district of Winnsboro. Three thousand pounds of catfish were fried, and 250 booth spaces were rented.
The festival continues to thrive; church groups fry most of the catfish while live, high-quality gospel and country musicians keep the festivalgoers entertained. Thousands stroll the vibrant streets of Winnsboro partaking of the numerous food, craft and educational booths. Manned by local merchants and craftsmen, the booths are a means to promote local economy and raise funds for Franklin Parish nonprofit groups. In the past, traveling exhibits enjoyed by the crowds included the Blue Dog Exhibit at the Old Post Office Museum and the Moving Vietnam Wall Memoriam. Children have enjoyed the engaging dog show and horsed riding provided by "Friends of Skidboot."
Other festivities include the GeauxFit Catfish Classic 5K Race, an antique car show, softball tournament and annual flower show.
The Princess Theatre in Winnsboro originated in 1925 and was later located to a building built in 1907. In 1985, due to a huge multi-screened theatre in Monroe's Pecan Mall, it shut down. Impassioned community members resurrected the old silent movie-era theater after Rowena Ramage donated it to the city. In 1993, renovations began on the beautiful old theater and transformed it into a lovely venue for live musical and theatrical entertainment as well as educational forums that continues through today. In 2002 the Governor's Arts Award program described it as the catalyst that transformed Winnsboro's historic district, stating "it has transformed cultural opportunities in Northeast Louisiana and continues to be a model for success throughout the region."
The Franklin Parish Catfish Festival will be held April 12.
Visit franklinparishcatfishfestival.com
Princess Theatre, 714 Prairie St., Winnsboro; (318) 435-6299.
In 1956, during the mayoral term of Edgar Coco, and at his own suggestion, the town of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish passed a city ordinance concerning the practice of "Pacques Pacques." Also known as egg-knocking on Easter Sunday morning – what was usually done informally between family and friends for generations – knocking dyed Easter eggs, usually tip to tip, to see which one would be the first to crack, became an official public event practiced each year in Marksville's Courthouse Square. The name "Pacques," French for Easter is also a throwback to the "pock-pock" sound the eggs make when they go huevo a huevo at one another. The owner of the cracked egg must forfeit his wounded warrior to the victor as a spoil of war and step down. This is no free-for-all melee filled with shattered eggshells. To win the cash prize, egg-knocking contestants must first officially register in respective categories. When the call to start egg knocking is sounded, participants have been lined up in pairs and must knock egg to egg at the same time. Round after round, they go until – by the power of shattered elimination – the winner emerges triumphant (without cracking up from the stress of the competition). It requires shells of steel.
This Marksville tradition beloved by children of all ages wasn't the product of mid-century whimsical spring fever madness – whether you call it by its other names of egg-tapping or egg-jarping, the origins of this Easter competition began in medieval Europe as part of Easter festivals. During Pagan spring fêtes, the egg was considered a symbol of the rebirth of man. The first Christians used the egg to symbolize man's spiritual rebirth through the death and resurrection of Christ at Easter. (The name Easter is a derivation from the name of the Teutonic goddess of spring, Eastre or Eostre.) Egg-knocking is practiced in Croatia, England, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and Romania. The older generations of Marksville used wildflowers, coffee grounds, berries, roots, even chimney soot to make dyes to color the eggs. If there's ample competition among egg types, chicken, duck, turkey and guinea eggs can be entered in the contest.
In Marksville, preparations for the egg-knocking contest begin long before the church bells toll on Easter morning. A deliberate scientific and selective approach has been utilized months before to find the perfect egg with the hardest shell that will shatter inferior eggs. No one would ever boil and dye store-bought eggs for this heat. Marksville residents who don't keep their own chickens have coop connections with neighbors and friends who raise chickens. Yard chickens may not be prolific egg layers, but given a good diet particularly rich in calcium and combined with all the fresh air outdoor exercise, they can produce some of the toughest of shells. Hens especially need calcium, and caring chicken owners usually feed them food rich in vitamins, minerals and even bits of oyster shells. Seasoned knockers test the eggs for hardness by lightly tapping on their own teeth; the harder eggs make a high-pitched sound while a blunt sound spells doom for the egg.
Once the best eggs have been selected, careful preparation must follow. Slow boiling is a must to prevent eggs from rolling in the pot. It's best to boil the eggs point down, and some have found the best method is to just boil them in a cardboard egg carton. As an added measure of caution, the best eggs are also boiled in coffee grounds to add to their harder outer layer, then dyed in beautiful shades of blue, fuchsia, orange, purple, green and yellow. It's a lovely sight on Easter morning to see people in their finery arrive at the courthouse with baskets filled with colored eggs while the sounds of laughter and happy chatter carries through the spring air like ribbons on an Easter bonnet.
Marksville Easter Egg Knocking Contest, Sunday, April 20, Marksville Courthouse Square, Mark Street, Marksville.
Cajun Country
One Good Friday evening when I was 13 and spending the Easter weekend in rural central Louisiana, I visited relatives whose home had two kitchens. The first was large with many countertops, cabinets and very modern appliances; it was always empty of both people and food cooking. The second was a lower side room with a back door that was always open onto green farm fields. It possessed a water heater; an old gas stove topped with a drip coffee pot; fridge; a small table and plenty of rocking chairs. The second kitchen was usually filled with family members and the smell of my Aunt Hazel's divine cooking. On this particular Good Friday night, her son Van introduced me to the joy of her delicious, unforgettable crawfish etouffee. Years later, as an adult, it was my grave misfortune to develop an allergy to the little mudbug; however, one night when I smelled etouffee simmering in the black cast-iron skillet of my mother, I broke a long abstinence and ate three plates as if I had been starving for a month – it took three Benadryls to get the welts that covered me to subside. But for the moment, it had all been worth it.
In an article in this publication in 2007 titled "Our Native Critter: A History of Crawfish," Stanley Dry notes that, while the Native Americans of early Louisiana not only embraced but introduced our beloved little mudbugs to European settlers, the Acadians were slow to warm up to crawfish. Eschewing, not chewing, the delicacy found so prolifically throughout Cajun Country, the crawfish, presently considered synonymous with Cajun cuisine, did not rise to that prestigious level with the descendants of Acadia until the 1950s. According to Dry, crawfish were once stigmatized as "poverty food." Rural Louisianians during the Great Depression seemed to prefer to go hungry rather than heed the advice of Red Cross workers and government agencies that extolled the little crustacean as a viable and thrifty source of protein. Indeed, minus the salt in boiled crawfish, and the heavy cream and butter ingredients of some crawfish dishes, crawfish are low in calories and filled with protein. Except for being served as bisques for the upper crust Acadians, less wealthy Cajuns only ate mudbugs boiled during the penitent season of Lent. Ironically, in an area that once turned up its nose on crawfish, feelers and claws came full circle to burst into a resurrection of celebratory legend with dishes infused by the resourcefully flavorful genius of Cajun cookery: flaky crawfish pies, etouffees, stews, bisques and the treasure trove flung unceremoniously on a table's surface – cayenne red crawfish, corn on the cob, new potatoes, garlic cloves, onions and lemons boiled together in spicy seasoned water, washed down with ice cold beer.
The joy this little critter brings to Louisiana – and now the world – was too large to contain to mere dining tables and kitchens. As though to make up for its former slight, Acadiana began to revere mudbugs with almost wild abandon.
April in Louisiana is an exquisite month filled with days beautifully etched in sunlight, profound blue skies and air scented with wisteria, jasmine and the warming earth. Since spring and crawfish go hand-in-hand, each April The Original Downtown Lake Charles Crawfish Festival rocks the Southwest Louisiana town. This lovely, hospitable city hosts the festival that offers three days of mudbug mania. Wishing to keep the pot fires burning to let the world know it's crawfish season, the festival is also dedicated to keep alive the history of the mudbug and the mighty way Louisiana has benefited from its industry. Additionally, the festival seeks to boost area vendors, restaurateurs, and craftsmen by renting booths only to the locals. It offers a midway carnival, art show and art walk throughout downtown Lake Charles galleries. Thrown into the mix is a parade, pageant, live music and "Conversation With the Greats," which tells the history of Cajun and Creole culture.
And at the heart of the celebration is its cause – 10,000 pounds of boiled crawfish, a crawfish eating contest, etouffees, pies and a poster contest.
The Original Downtown Lake Charles Crawfish Festival: April 11-13, 2014. (337) 310-0083, downtowncrawfest.com
Baton Rouge
One very cold January night when I was 15, my elderly great uncle Paulin ("Paul") died, and my mother and I traveled to his rural hometown for his wake and funeral. The night before the services, I slipped outside of another uncle's home into the crystalline and pitch-black cold, and a black man in a khaki cap and work clothes appeared. He walked to my uncle's house to pay respects, and I heard him weep because Uncle Paul had been so good to him. Then he disappeared into the darkness, and a few minutes later the sound of his singing carried through the air. It was an eerily beautiful and soulful sound of grief that mesmerized me. I didn't know then I had just encountered my first taste of Swamp Blues in its purest form. I was to think of him later when I first heard the recordings of Muddy Waters and Slim Harpo.
The swamp blues movement was born in Baton Rouge and came to the foreground of the blues scene in the 1950s, largely due to the promotion of Crowley-based record producer J.D. Miller. It was a different type of blues, a sub-genre with simple, plaintive lyrics that cut to the genuine heart of the matter. If your heart has been broken or you've fallen on troubled times, or just simply love someone to the gills, listening to it can be like sitting down to talk with a kindred spirit. I like to think that people who aren't in denial understand and embrace Swamp Music. It has a lazy, laid-back tempo that flows as rhythmically as the Mississippi River, as though the echoes of soul, zydeco, Cajun and New Orleans blues were poured through a sieve to create it. It has an economy of percussion, haunting echoes, guitars played by someone who seemingly sold their soul to the devil and intense, strident harmonica work all of which can raise the hackles of your skin.
Artists like Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim had national hits in the '60s. Along with them the work of piano player Katie Smith, Lonesome Sundown, Lazy Lester, Silas Hogan, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Henry Gray reached across the pond to influence the British Invasion of the '60s. Their work was performed by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, the Kinks and the Yardbirds. Bob Dylan, whose earlier works were filled with intense guitar work and harmonica solos, as a teenager in Minnesota listened to an obscure radio station broadcast from New Orleans that played the blues.
Since 1981, Baton Rouge holds in glorious April air one of the oldest blues festivals in America. The Baton Rouge Blues Festival celebrates and preserves the legacy of the legendary Swamp Blues artists while promoting and supporting contemporary artists like the internationally known Tab Benoit, Larry Garner, Kenny Neal with sibling Lil Ray and Luther Kent. The festival has drawn the likes of Bobby Blue Bland, Grammy winner Ruthie Foster and Marcia Ball. Visitors are encouraged to take side trips to other Swamp Blues enclaves such as Phil Brady's that has held a record 21-year-long Thursday night blues jam and Teddy's Juke Joint in Zachary.
In addition to sponsoring the festival, the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation is dedicated to celebrating, preserving and fostering this rich slice of Louisiana culture that rose from the heart and soul of the Bayou State with programs like the Blues Education program, Blues Music History project and the star-studded Blue Carpet Blues Gala as a major fundraising event.
The Baton Rouge Blues Festival, April 12, 2014.
Visit: batonrougebluesfestival.org
New Orleans
The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans named Elysian Fields … the houses are white framed … with rickety outside stairs and galleries … the section is poor but has a raffish charm … it is first dark of an early evening in May. The sky that stains around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost a turquoise which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism … you can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolence of coffee and bananas … two women, one white and one colored are on the steps of the building … the colored woman is a neighbor for New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town …
– A Streetcar Named Desire, Act One, Scene One.
When I first read the opening scene of Streetcar many years ago, I had the most intense rush of emotion almost akin to seeing my life pass before me, at least the life I had witnessed and known in New Orleans. No other words beforehand had ever given voice to the soulful intimacy and love I felt for my hometown, nor had any words acted as a paintbrush to display my own impressions locked in my heart. I became hooked on Tennessee Williams.
Arguably the greatest playwright of the 20th century, to my knowledge there's no festival that celebrates William Inge, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller or Eugene O'Neill. But in New Orleans for the last 27 years, we have celebrated Tennessee Williams in five days of an almost-bacchanalian literary and performing arts fest. He was the genius who gave us colorful, flawed characters who took hold of our hearts and held our attention. He gave us Alma Winemiller in Summer and Smoke, whose victory was both her downfall and her beginning. Big Daddy's cries of "Mendacity!" in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof served as a metaphor for the denial crippling his family; healing only begins once the desperate truths are finally spoken. Williams was a master at painting vivid portraits of the holes we can all bury ourselves in with our own hands and how we can rise while staring at the stars.
A stellar commingling of writers, musical artists, scholars and actors will join the vast amount of international visitors to the land of Stanley and Blanche to feast on not only the works of Tennessee, but to share their own thoughts and creativity his brilliant work inspired. Guests will be treated to his short works, The Hotel Plays, at the historic Hermann Grima House, and a few blocks away on Elysian Fields, the Southern Repertory Theater will stage one of my favorite Williams play, The Night of the Iguana. Performances by renowned clarinetists Dr. Michael White and Tom Sancton are part of the "Drummer and Smoke" Sunday series of musical entertainment. Additional sites around the French Quarter for celebration, panel discussions and meetings include the Beauregard-Keyes House, Muriel's Jackson Square, Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Hotel Monteleone. Foodies will love a panel discussion on cuisine mentioned in his work. "At Tennesee's Table," wine with hors d'oeuvres will be served.
Also included are a French Quarter Literary Walking Tour, a book fair and master classes conducted by renowned authors. Adding their talents to the literary celebration are authors Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of North Carolina) and Hector Als (White Girls) and Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd. Actress Judith Chapman will stage Vivien, her acclaimed one-woman play about Vivien Leigh, who played Blanche DuBois in the movie version of Streetcar.
As usual, the annual Stanley and Stella shouting contest will close out the five-day celebration in Jackson Square.
The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, March 19-23, 2014.
Contact, (504) 581-1144, tennesseewilliams.net.


text: Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter reveals the events that lead into the Star Wars: Episode II film. As a secessionist movement threatens to expand, Mace Windu dispatches one of the Council's top Jedi--Adi Gallia--to investigate disturbances in the Karthakk system. Take the role of Adi as she maneuvers a prototype Jedi starfighter through the evil Captain Toth's massive fleet. Either solo or with a friend, you must use your Force powers against enemies that threaten the very foundation of the Galactic Republic.

subset: commoncrawl


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In our last little discussion of the likelihood of an EU superstate (in amongst and partially as an offshoot of the rather silly sidetrack about jam), Josef noted that
there is a concern that this is how the EU will form itself into a "superstate." Not through a series of demi-democratic treaties, but through a sort of slow, suffocating creep of boring, incomprehensible, impenetrable legislation. If you write a follow up post, Nosemonkey/J Clive, then I'd be interested to hear your take on this.
This is always a danger with any democratic system which relies largely on a more or less bureaucratic civil service to get things done. We like to think that all new legislation is debated and scrutinised by our elected representatives, dissected in minute detail and put to a vote considering only the best interests of the people – but it rarely happens like that.
In the UK, the vast majority of primary legislation is passed in the form of statutory instruments – new laws drawn up by civil servants and government ministers and put onto the statute books without (most of the time) parliament so much as being informed. In the UK in 2008 alone, there were 3,399 statutory instruments passed – that's more than nine new laws a day that have come into existence without so much as a by your leave from an elected official. (That's about average for the last 20 years, by the by – the number of statutory instruments began to creep up under Major, but have remained relatively constant since the mid-1990s, despite various claims that Blair used them more than any previous Prime Minister as another way of bypassing parliament.)
The vast majority of these statutory instruments are amendments to existing Acts of Parliament, fiddling with the details (most of them minor). Our last little debate got sidetracked on the use of apple geranium in jams other than those made with quince. Hardly the sort of thing – the logic goes – that it's worth wasting parliament's time with, and so precisely the sort of thing that would be sorted out in a statutory instrument. If the approval of British MEPs was needed for each of the law changes that statutory instruments bring in, then every one of the British parliament's 646 MPs would have to go through more than five of the things every single day of the year – as well as all the major legislation, dealing with constituency concerns, being part of the government, holding the government to account and so on. (Remove those MPs who hold government office, it'd be more like 7 statutory instruments each to scrutinise and research the utility of per day – that's a full-time job…)
In the EU, we have much the same problem. Having accepted the general principle that area X is best dealt with at EU level, it is impractical for MEPs to then scrutinise every subsequent tiny bit of legislation to ensure that it meets their high standards, and vote on every tiny clause about different types of fruit preserve in full session at the European Parliament. Because just as we, the people, delegate our powers of decision to our representatives at Westminster and Brussels/Strasbourg, so our representatives then delegate powers of drafting new laws to the various civil servants, be they in national civil services or the European Commission.
(At which point it's worth noting that most EU legislation is not actually drawn up by the Commission – the EC only has a staff of c.38,000 – less than a third of that of the UK Department of Work and Pensions alone, and nowhere near enough to do everything that the Commission is accused of doing. Instead, pretty much all EU legislation is drawn up by the civil servants of the various member states, checked by civil servants in other member states, and then rubber-stamped by the Commission once it's been looked at my enough bureaucrats in enough member states.)
And so in the normal course of events, yes – dozens of new laws will likely come into force every week without having been so much as glanced at by an elected official. But such developed social systems as ours could not possibly function any other way – unless you think that the civil service should be elected, and that it's a practical possibility to find several hundred thousand people willing to campaign for such a thankless job (not to mention several hundred thousand people willing to turn out and vote on what would prove to be an almost daily basis as retirement and transfers necessitate by-elections to fill vacant posts…) And in any case, the general principles are already always voted on by elected representatives at both national and EU level – as long as they are doing their jobs properly, they shouldn't vote through sweeping new powers that would allow unelected bodies or people to suddenly advance major changed without anyone checking them first. (Though that's not to say that there isn't always a danger that this could happen, as we found out in the UK only recently with the – thankfully defeated – Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, which would effectively have made parliament obsolete and allowed any government minister to make any law they liked, when they liked.)
When it comes to the EU, the real fear of competence creep was epitomised by this glorious clause (Article 308 EC):
If action by the Community should prove necessary to attain, in the course of the operation of the common market, one of the objectives of the Community, and this Treaty has not provided the necessary powers, the Council shall, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, take the appropriate measures.
In other words, the EU could grant itself whatever powers it liked. Or, at least, it could after unanimous agreement from the governments of the member states in the Council, and after being passed by the elected representatives of the European Parliament – but most anti-EU types conflate Council, Parliament and Commission into one monolithic-sounding "EU" to make these things sound more scary.
So, for more powers to pass to the EU, even with the existence of the "competence clause", you'd still need unanimous agreement between the governments of all 27 member states, plus a majority in the European Parliament. Hardly that scary – but even so, the Lisbon Treaty amended that same article (now Article 352) to clearly delineate (in line with the subsidiarity principle introduced with Maastricht back in 1992) just where competences lie between the EU and member states, as well as explicitly excluding common foreign and security policy as an area where the competence clause could be used to grant the EU more powers.
Oh yes, and Article 352 also introduced a new clause obliging the Commission to involve national parliaments in any moves to grant the EU more powers. So that's unanimous agreement by all 27 member state governments, passing a vote in the European Parliament, and passing votes in the parliaments of all 27 member states before the EU can claim any major new powers for itself. Hardly a major worry.
In the meantime, life will continue as normal, with dozens upon dozens of minor changes to minor laws being brought into force merely by civil servants via statutory instruments and their equivalents across Europe – and then (despite some of the claims made in our last comment thread that alterations to jam legislation would require ratification by the Council, Parliament, and so on) amended just as easily if they turn out not to be workable.
Is there a danger that some of these laws will be bad ones? Of course there is. But at least they are generally being drawn up by civil servants who are experts in their field (rather than members of parliament who tend to be generalists), and at least they can be corrected with ease.
Is there a danger that such civil servant-drafted laws could slowly grant more power to institutions that we aren't willing to give them? Well, a poorly-worded new law always has the potential to be misinterpreted. That's what we have judges and courts for – if such poorly-worded laws are found, they can be challenged and struck down, if a simple amendment isn't enough. After all, both the existing Article 308 and the proposed new Article 352 explicitly state that both the Council and the Parliament have to approve any new EU power-grab – and treaty law will always take precedence in such cases.
In short: Modern western liberal democracies are very complex systems, packed full of checks and balances that have been worked out over the course of many centuries. The EU is not a true liberal democracy, but shares many of its forms and functions. As such, I remain confident that there are enough checks and balances in place to ensure that the only way the EU will gain more powers is if the member states of the EU want to delegate more powers to it. It will not -can not – happen by accident. Unlike in the British system, where bad laws like the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill can easily slip through parliament if the government has a sufficient majority and MPs are sufficiently cowed, the EU has 27 additional chances of spotting them before they get anywhere near the statute books – something that the Lisbon Treaty would only have underscored by bringing national parliaments into the equation as well. Once again, it's hardly the stuff of an impending superstate.


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Is Gold Money?
Is gold money?
That question, directed to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke by Congressman Ron Paul in last week's hearings before the House Financial Services Committee, strikes terror in the heart of all central bankers.
Bernanke looked stunned and then answered, "No: Gold is an asset."
The rising price of gold reflects global uncertainties, he explained. "The reason that people hold gold is as a protection against what we call tail risks: really, really bad outcomes."
The daily headlines report those potential risks: governments needing bailouts, from Greece to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; the possibility that the euro will splinter; runaway deficit spending in the US.
With every headline, it is becoming increasingly apparent how much the governing class has overreached. Those who believe in government are simply running out of other people's money. For example, President Obama's call to reverse the tax break given to owners of corporate jets in his 2009 stimulus bill would supposedly raise $300 million a year in revenue, enough to cover less than two hours of current deficit spending. Even if the Federal government could tax 100% of personal income in excess of $250,000 a year, it would collect little more than half of the revenue needed to balance the budget.
These real world results mock the conventional wisdom that given the power to spend, borrow, tax and print money, elite public servants can manage the economy and protect the average individual against the vicissitudes of life.
Instead, government itself has become a source of systemic risk, and a direct threat to our prosperity and liberty.
At the center of this political upheaval is the quality of money itself. "Is gold money?" is a showstopper because it raises the questions: "What is money and what power should government have to manipulate its value?"
The answers to these questions reveal how our most basic trust in government has been betrayed.
When you or I accept dollars in exchange for providing goods and services, we do so trusting that when we spend those dollars, they will be accepted for an equivalent amount of goods and services. That's how money frees us from a barter economy.
Trust is always an assessment of some future action. Making a grounded assessment requires us to understand who is making the promise, what action they are promising, and whether they are sincere and competent to fulfill their promise.
When an individual, company or government has a good credit rating, we are saying that we trust they will keep their promise to pay off their debts in the future.
So it is with the value of money. Today Bernanke is making the promise effectively to "do his best" to achieve the Fed's dual mandate of achieving maximum employment and stable prices.
I do not doubt that Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed have done their best. Here are the results:
Three million fewer men and women are employed today than 2.5 years ago, when the Fed began an unprecedented era of monetary ease marked by zero interest rates and two rounds of massive, quantitative easing.
The 12-month advance in the Consumer Price Index has been above 2% for the past five months, hitting 3.6% for the 12 months ending both May and June. Bernanke promised in his interview last December on 60 Minutes that the Fed "…would not allow inflation to rise about 2% or less." Yet the Fed has taken no action, nor articulated any policy change, that would fulfill his promise of price stability.
A poll conducted by Rasmussen last week indicates that the American people are losing trust in the Federal Reserve and in the future value of the dollar. Fifty percent of those polled reported they are "very concerned" about inflation, and 79% said they were at least "somewhat concerned."
Is gold money? Technically, no, in that gold does not circulate as a medium of exchange. But, as trust in the paper dollar continues to erode, and the incompetence of the governing class to manage the economy becomes more evident by the day, there is growing interest in and support of making the dollar as good as gold.
A gold standard works because the US government, rather than the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, stands behind a promise that is explicit – a dollar is worth a fixed weight of gold. This promise can be verified every minute of the day by observing the current rate of exchange between the dollar and gold, and, under a classical gold standard, by exchanging currency at a national bank for gold coins of a fixed weight and purity.
In addition, a gold standard provides a transparent set of practices to keep the promise. A rise in the price of gold signals too many dollars, triggering quantitative tightening. A fall in the price of gold signals too few dollars, triggering quantitative easing. Since these Fed actions are made daily and at the margin, such adjustments are not disruptive, but produce stability and trust.
Finally, a gold standard produces trust in the dollar because gold has the unique characteristic of maintaining its buying power over time. For example, if today's dollar were worth 1/35th of an ounce of gold, as it was under the post World War II Bretton Woods system, a barrel of oil today would cost less than $3 a barrel, just as it did in the 1950s and 1960s.
Steps to restore gold's legitimate role as money are afoot. In Utah, gold and silver coins are now legal tender and exempt from sales and income taxes. The Swiss Parliament soon will hold hearings on creating a parallel, "gold franc." And, the central bank of Zimbabwe is considering replacing its worthless currency with a gold-backed Zimbabwe dollar.
The question: "Is gold money?" terrifies central bankers because it highlights their inability to provide a currency that is better than one whose quality is guaranteed by a fixed rate of exchange into gold. Between Aug. 15, 1971 – the day President Richard Nixon suspended the promise that a dollar was worth 1/35th of an ounce of gold – and Feb. 1, 2006 – the day Bernanke was appointed Fed Chairman – the dollar had fallen to 1/569th of an ounce of gold. Today, it is worth a teeny tiny 1/1600th of an ounce of gold.
An acceleration in the dollar's decline and the inflation, political and economic turmoil that would follow are among those "really really bad outcomes" that people are trying to escape. Restoring the promise that a dollar is worth a fixed weight of gold would guarantee its value and eliminate the "tail risk" of monetary disorder that individuals, businesses and government all over the world increasingly have reason to fear. The benefits of price stability, low and stable interest rates, an increase in high paying jobs and the spread of prosperity would redound to the benefit of all.


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Hear her answer questions like these: Do the British really speak better English than Americans? Why don't French women wear brassières? Does "ain't" deserve its bad rep? You may be surprised. As the title of her talk suggests, "It Ain't Necessarily So."
Pat will be speaking at 6:30 PM at the Mid-Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library, 40th Street and Fifth Avenue. Admission is free.
Ask her if that pet peeve of yours should be making you peevish. She'll also sign copies of the new third edition of her grammar book Woe Is I as well as her recent book about language myths, Origins of the Specious.


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Steve is much, much, much older than me. He is the oldest of the four Singer boys (I am the youngest).
He was born on Halloween. We are still waiting for him to take off the monster mask!
Aside from being old, he is my godfather. He was nearly 14 when I was born. It was always kinda cool to have my older brother as my godfather. I called him Mr. Big when I was five. I still have the letters he wrote me when he lived overseas when I was a kid.
Also aside from being old, he is a good big brother. No complaints. He usually buys the beer when we get together (that is the international rule for older brothers!).
He did tell me when I pointed out how old he was (noting that he is closing in on 60), that he could still take me in a fight. Hmmmmm, that argument worked when I was 11 and he was 25.
Ahhh, who am I kidding, he probably could!
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Steve. I know you are my only sibling who reads my blog!!!
Have A Great Day.


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in: The Village Voice, by Sharon Lerner; Week of July 3 - 9, 2002
Ask Judith Levine when a kid ought to start having sex, and she'll respond like the levelheaded, Brooklyn- and Vermont-based liberal she is: "There are some 16-year-olds who can handle it, and there are some who aren't ready for sex at 20," said Levine, reached on the San Francisco leg of what turned out to be a profoundly embattled book tour. "People at 13 and 14 are generally not mature enough to carry out safe sex. And if a 10-year-old is engaging in what you or I might call real sex, that's a real problem."
Utterly reasonable stuff. But read the ongoing press coverage of Levine's new book, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex, and the public intellectual somehow morphs into a crazed pedophile. The madness began before Levine's book was even published. Arguing for recognition of young people's sexual pleasure, Harmful to Minors was rejected by a string of publishers (one dubbed it "radioactive") before being picked up by the University of Minnesota Press. Various outraged Minnesotans then demanded that the academic publisher stop printing the book (it hasn't) and begin a review of its editorial policies (that's under way). The ultra-right Concerned Women for America decreed Harmful to Minors an "evil tome." And Dr. Laura, the fang-toothed radio conservative, went on air to accuse Levine of condoning child molestation.
The New York Times explained the witch-hunting of Levine by her book's release in the midst of the Catholic Church's explosive sexual abuse scandal. From a publicist's perspective, at least, the timing has been a boon; Levine's footnoted, scholarly work made it up to No. 25 on the Amazon.com bestseller list and has just gone into a 20,000-copy second printing. But what's so frustrating about the hysteria (aside from giving groups like the conservative Family Institute an excuse to host press conferences with lurid titles like "Pedophilia Book") is that it obscures Levine's astute analysis of what's gone wrong between adults and children in the U.S.
Drawing on social science and history, Levine makes a strong case that the denial of sexuality is the true cause of harm to minors. The book uses most of its 300 pages to detail the mounting anxiety over sex play between children, the restriction of youth access to the Internet, and a blackout on critical sexual information in the name of government-funded abstinence education. But Levine might just as well have focused on abusive priests. "If I wanted to design a historically accurate, long-term study to prove the point of my book, [the subject] would be the Catholic Church," the author sighed wearily across the phone lines from California.
Indeed the same prudishness that has backfired wildly in parishes across the country has dominated social policy in recent years. Harmful to Minors' most important contribution is tying that protective impulse to adults' deep-rooted discomfort with their own sexuality. In the section that secured her a central spot on the right's radar, Levine teases apart the disproportionately large spot the pedophile occupies in the American psyche. She doesn't deny that strangers sometimes rape children ("I can't believe I've had to clarify that," said the exasperated author), but points out that such crimes are far more often committed by family members. Levine describes the obsession with pedophiles as stemming both from a reluctance to confront incest and the rampant sexualization of children throughout the culture. Rather than focus on ourselves, she says, adults "project that eroticized desire outward, creating a monster to hate, hunt down, and punish."
For this intellectual take on such primal stuff, Levine has been branded a member of the "media elite" -- and the charge of hyper-intellectualization contains a nugget of truth. Hers is an academic take on an issue about which few are willing to be totally rational. And while her criticisms of statutory-rape laws, say, are astute (she points out that age-of-consent laws originated to protect girls' virginity as their fathers' property and now define sex as nonconsensual solely on the basis of age), her own sexy camp tale, told this week in the Voice, is worth several such tightly reasoned analyses. "Jake," the 26-year-old embodiment of the gray areas in sexual relations, photographed a 14-year-old Levine with her shirt off. As she tells it, the experience was thoroughly enjoyable, though today such an encounter has been made all but impossible by the panic over sexual predators.
Talk to three female friends and you're bound to turn up at least one story of getting bedroom eyes and back rubs from the camp counselor (or friend's older brother, or windsurfing instructor, etc.). The problem is, it's almost as easy to hit upon the version in which the older guy doesn't refrain from sex with his camper (or student, or the baby-sitter). And often these stories have fairly messy endings. Levine's lack of sensitivity for the real problems -- from crushed emotions to pregnancies -- wrought by these relationships is partly to blame for the frenzied response to her book. Similarly, the book's vagueness about age -- a fuzziness that could have been cleared up with a few clear statements like the one at the top of this piece -- leaves unnecessary room for panic. And, since she never approvingly writes about young children having sex, she could have just as easily used the less provocative words teen or adolescent instead of child in the subtitle.
Levine does write about young children's sexual pleasure through masturbation and touch, though, defending the exploration of their bodies as natural and -- gasp! -- good. Perhaps the saddest chapter details how adult discomfort with children's sex play has, in some cases, turned kids' curiosity into pathology and crime, with hundreds of juvenile sex offender programs springing up to accommodate this new "epidemic." Levine tells of Tony Diamond, an unfortunate nine-year-old who was diagnosed with a sexual behavior problem and made to live in a foster home after touching his younger sister's genitals and poking her butt cheek with a pencil. Other kids caught up in the punitive mania include a 13-year-old boy accused of rubbing against his sister, and an eight-year-old girl who sent a note to a classmate asking if he wanted to be her boyfriend.
Even progressives have been cowed by this conflation of sexual expression and abuse -- and Levine is as hard on them as she is on the religious zealots. She chews out sex educators for adopting new blend-in-with-the-conservatives names for their curricula like "abstinence plus" and "abstinence-based." She criticizes the nonprofit Sexual Information and Education Council of the U.S. -- a frequent target of the right -- for recommending that parents intervene if they stumble on their five-year-old consensually touching his friend's penis. (Better just to have "no reaction at all.") Even Planned Parenthood has apparently been running scared. Levine says the group's pamphlet "Birth Control Choices for Teens" originally contained a list of "outer-course" options, including reading erotica, fantasizing, and role play. But the racy suggestions were later deleted, and while the sanitized version was distributed, according to Levine, the contraband copies were burned.
Levine has a vision for swinging the pendulum back in the other direction. Adults are central to this plan, both because children eventually grow up and because the shame and secrecy about their sexuality start with adults' feelings about their own bodies and pleasure. Levine would have adults first reckon with their own desire. It's more utterly reasonable advice; were the tortured Catholic Church ever to take it to heart, it could be downright cathartic.
That's not likely, of course. With the possible exception of a few incendiary bits, Harmful to Minors will probably go unread by those who could benefit from it most. The missed opportunity brings to mind the image of those sex ed pamphlets burning in a warehouse somewhere, with so much hard work and daring effort being lost to the fiery shame around sex.


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As we close in on election day, I find myself again amazed at the only country I've lived in. In the wake of a major disaster, our current president has done a great job of marshaling a federal government response. His rival staged a photo op collecting canned goods (which aren't needed) that now has proven to be mostly faked. Yet the polls are still mostly tied.
New Jersey Governor
I sometimes make fun of President Obama, calling him "Sober Panda Time", but the real fact is he's doing a decent job of running the country. Not my 'ideal', but my 'ideal' could never get elected in this country. And he is currently managing the response to this disaster perfectly. He's being "The President" quite well.
Willard, on the other hand, spent $5,000 on stuff to stage a campaign rally that he called a "relief" event. Last time I looked, Willard R-Money was really fornicating rich; maybe he could actually cut a check to the American Red Cross that might actually help. Not gonna happen.
(BTW: if you really want to help, AMERICAN RED CROSS The Red Cross is providing shelter, clothes, supplies, food and blood, as needed, for the victims of Sandy. You can donate blood, but in terms of items, you'll be doing more for those in need by donating money instead of physical goods.Text message: Text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. As in the case with other donations via mobile, the donation will show up on your wireless bill, or be deducted from your balance if you have a prepaid phone. You need to be 18 or older, or have parental permission, to donate this way. (If you change your mind, text the word STOP to 90999.)Phone: 800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767); for Spanish speakers, 800-257-7575; for TDD, 800-220-4095.To donate blood: Visit this Red Cross Web page. Online: American Red Cross)
This election does truly matter. Instead of "the lesser of two evils" we have a choice between an honest, dedicated, competent, if mediocre, candidate or a corporate greedhead evil candidate. I'll be spending most of election day working a GOTV phone bank, myself.
(*bonus point to anyone who can identify the source of that photo in the comments)


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New Year, new blog software.
You'll notice the new preview function for comments, the AddThis button for distributing our content to your favorite social media sites, and various updates to the plugins and functionality you won't notice at all.
This is always a work in progress, so feel free to comment on the blog as a whole, anything we're missing, things that work well (or don't), and perhaps how we might organise content differently in ways that could be more effective. (Note that comments from other threads discussing these issues were moved here).
Thanks for sticking with us, and a happy new year to you all.


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About Us
Contact Us
Our Departments
Prince George's County Operations
Park Police
Cops Camp
Cops Camp
The Park Police host two separate, week-long summer day camps a year called "Cops Camp for Kids." The camp is offered for children ages 9 to 12. Designed to bring law enforcement and the local community together, this program fosters a positive, interactive, and trustworthy environment between police officers and youth. The camp provides exposure to many different facets of the law enforcement profession.
Children visit the Secret Service facility in Beltsville and attend a juvenile court session in Upper Marlboro. Mounted officers, motorcycle officers, bicycle officers, and detectives demonstrate their skills to the campers. The children also participate in a staged crime scene and mock trial. The experience has produced very positive results for both the campers and officers.
10 Things You Should Know (Stopped by Police)
Bicycle Safety Education Program
Cops Camp
D.A.R.E. Program
Doing Something Right Program
Fatal Vision Program
Gang Resistance Education & Training (GREAT)
Keep it Safe, Keep it With You
National Night Out
Operation CARE
Park Police Community Volunteer Academy
Park Police Volunteer Association
Personal Safety & Self-Defense (RAD)
Turkeyball Shootout
What Would You Do?
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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Disposition the word used for the sentencing phase in juvenile court. The Magistrate Judge is provided with a report from the juvenile probation officer that outlines disposition recommendations. The Magistrate Judge gives the prosecuting attorney, the defense attorney (if there is one), the juvenile, their parent(s) and the probation officer an opportunity to make a statement. Sometimes the young person and their parents are asked questions by the Judge. After reviewing the report and listening to the comments, the Magistrate Judge will identify what types of terms and conditions he expects the young person and their family to complete. In addition, he will make a determination about fines and fees that need to be paid.
Show All Answers
The juvenile and his/her parent(s) participate in a semi-structured interview that provides the probation officer with some of the information needed to conduct a risk assessment. Information from the risk assessment helps guide the juvenile probation officer in making recommendations in a report provided to the Magistrate Judge. Input from parents regarding risks, needs and protective factors also helps guide the recommendations.
The Blaine County Juvenile Probation Department currently uses the Positive Achievement Change Tool (PACT) as a tool to determine level of risk to re-offend, or the likelihood that the young person will have further formal court involvement. Information from the interview with the young person and his/her parent(s) as well as collateral contacts (school, counselors, law enforcement) is used to administer the PACT. The PACT also provides on risk factors (areas that make it more likely that a young person will re-offend) as well as protective factors (areas that make it less likely that a young person will reoffend).


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After discovering the red wine mee suah dish at Jalan Ipoh, I started asking around about this dish and got a recommendation from a friend Chris that I should check out Old Fuzhou Restaurant at Damansara Kim, so I did.
Update 19/2/2018: This place has since closed.
Old Fuzhou restaurant at Damansara Kim
Old Fuzhou is located at the side of Super Tanker at Damansara Kim. A corner restaurant with less than a dozen marbled table and classic wooden chairs. It has a bit of the old school Chinese charm, but also equipped with air conditioning for your comfort. Pretty neat.
Menu isn't very extensive, but you have a selection of noodle & rice dishes, with some dinner sets and ala carte as well.
red wine mee suah, one of my favorite foochow dishes
Of course, I went for the signature dish – red wine mee suah (RM 9.90). It is simple and unpretentious, with chunks of chicken, some ginger, black fungus, and of course, mee suah. I do like the soup base a bit more than the version at Sentul as it is thicker and more flavorful. For the price, it's definitely a dish to recommend.
Haze & KY, red wine fried rice, soya bean curd
Haze tried the pretty unique red wine fried rice (similar price) which is probably a bit of an acquired taste. Similar ingredients but in the form of rice, you do get some green peas though. I gave it a try and thought it's pretty delicious as well.
Most individual noodle dishes at Old Fuzhou are priced below RM 10, other htan mee suah, there's loh mee, wantan mee, minced pork noodle, and even Hakka stew pork noodle. I'll certainly be back to try some of their other stuff after I'm bored with red wine mee suah (which may not be so soon).
Old Fuzhou Restaurant
81, Jalan SS 20/11, Damansara Kim,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel:Â 03-7725 5527


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iOS: Screens is our favorite way to access your computer from afar, and for the next two days, you can grab it for only $10—half off its usual price.
We've talked about how to control your home PC from another computer, but if you want to control it from your phone, Screens is the way to go. It's incredibly user-friendly, secure, and makes great use of multitouch. Its only downside is its $20 price tag, but today through July 7th you can grab it for only $10 (and the Mac version is on sale, too). If you're still looking for a solid way to check on your home computer, this is the app you want. Check out our review of Screens in the App Directory for more info.
Screens VNC | iTunes App Store via App Shopper


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Kids, you might not believe this, but… a long time ago (35 years), in a galaxy not far away (in fact, right on Planet Earth), almost nobody knew what Star Wars was. And few of the Hollywood insiders who had heard of this science-fantasy project thought it would soar. Hatched by George Lucas after a life's immersion in comic books, cheesy movies serials and Greek epics, Star Wars had no stars, no sex and, the cognoscenti thought, no chance of becoming a hit; two studios turned the project down before Alan Ladd, Jr., of 20th Century-Fox said yes.
Outside the movie business, though, Lucas's vision had one big early supporter: TIME magazine. In an article intended for the cover of the May 30, 1977, issue, TIME writer Gerald Clarke proclaimed Star Wars "a grand and glorious film that may well be the smash hit of 1977, and certainly is the best movie of the year so far. … The result is a remarkable confection: a subliminal history of the movies, wrapped in a riveting tale of suspense and adventure, ornamented with some of the most ingenious special effects ever contrived for film."
(READ: Why TIME Named Star Wars 1977's Movie of the Year)
Though the story was bumped inside the magazine at the last moment, in favor of analysis of Menachem Begin's ascension as Israeli Prime Minister, it marked the beginning of a productive relationship between TIME and Lucas. Each of the five ensuing Star Wars chapters graced the magazine's cover: The Empire Strikes Back in the May 19, 1980, issue (with Darth Vader as the cover boy), Return of the Jedi for May 23, 1983 (Lucas) and, when the prequel series was launched, The Phantom Menace for April 30, 1999 (featuring Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Jake Lloyd as the child Anakin Skywalker), Attack of the Clones for April 29, 2002 (Yoda) and Revenge of the Sith, May 9, 2005 (Darth Vader again).
The 1997 re-release of the first three films, with computer-generated "improvements," spurred yet another cover, on February 10. Each of these stories made news — with on-location reporting, early hints of the plot wrinkles and fresh insights from Jedi George — and ranked among the magazine's best-selling issues, even as the original Star Wars quickly became the top-grossing movie of its age. In real dollars earned at the box office, it trails only Gone With the Wind as the biggest hit in film history.
In May 1977, though, the choice of a PG-rated fantasy as the cover subject for the premier newsmagazine must have seemed a risk. The signature films of that super-serious movie decade had been anguished, acidulous exposés of an America torn apart by corruption in the police (Serpico), municipal politics (Chinatown) and the White House itself (All the President's Men). Hollywood moguls were proud to be making grownup films for adult audiences — the same demographic as TIME's readers. Who would care about a movie with light sabers and princesses in distress and chases that looked like those new things the kids loved, video games?
(MORE: TIME's coverage of The Empire Strikes Back)
Yet that first Star Wars story presciently sensed a shift in the cultural barometer: that moviegoers were tiring of urban cynicism and ready for an enthralling, childlike distraction. The movie, Clarke wrote, is "aimed at kids — the kid in everybody," and Lucas seconded that notion. "The word for this movie is fun," he said. "My main reason for making it was to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life, the kind my generation had. We had westerns, pirate movies, all kinds of great things. Now they have The Six Million Dollar Man and Kojak. Where are the romance, the adventure, and the fun that used to be in practically every movie made?" In 2012, the icon status of Lee Majors and Telly Savalas has long since dimmed, while Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, and Darth Vader too, live in the minds of kids everywhere — the kids in everybody, for whom most movies of the past few decades have been made.
Clarke, who would later author best-selling biographies of Truman Capote and Judy Garland, was back in 1980 as the writer of TIME's preview of The Empire Strikes Back. "In many ways the new film is a better film than Star Wars, visually more exciting, more artful and meticulous in detail. As a special effects wizard, Lucas fairly dazzles the eye with his optical magic."
(MORE: The 10 Ways Star Wars Changed the Movie Industry)
To get the full Empire story, TIME Correspondent James Willwerth had to penetrate the film's tight security, which "would put the CIA to shame. Several of the actors were given their own lines only, with the speeches of other actors neatly crossed out on the script." For Empire's climactic duel, David Prowse, the actor inside Dark Vader's suit, "was given dummy lines to say, and the real lines were later dubbed by James Earl Jones, the voice of Vader in both movies. 'I don't know much about what happens in the picture," admits Prowse…. "They were paranoid, really paranoid, about security.'"
A champion of the first film's sense of innocent entertainment, Clarke had reservations about its sequel: "The Empire Strikes Back is a more polished and, in some ways, a richer film. But to imitate Yoda's way of speaking, and to answer the obvious question, as much fun it is not." Citing Lucas's wish that Star Wars would continue indefinitely like the old Saturday-matinees chapter plays, Clarke wrote that Empire lacks "a true ending. … one is left with a nagging sense of incompletion, a feeling of being somewhat shortchanged."
(PHOTOS: Revisiting a Galaxy Far, Far Away)
Of course, Lucas's anachronistic daring — to end a feature film with a cliffhanger, like an episode of the '40s serial Spy Smasher — cued a trend that would continue not just through other Star Wars episodes but in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter octet and untold Marvel comics movies. The writer-producer-director-mogul was simply reviving a tradition that stretches back millennia: when kids at bedtime, listening to some fabulous fantasy, would urgently beg their parents to know "What happens next?" And the parent would say, "Maybe tomorrow night." For George Lucas, tomorrow night lasted 29 years, till the conclusion of Revenge of the Sith. And only he knows if the Star Wars bedtime story is over yet.
MORE: Richard Corliss Talks to George Lucas about the future of movies


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Scottish singer Susan Boyle says she has a form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome, a diagnosis she says came as a relief after years of believing she had brain damage.
Boyle, 52, told the Observer newspaper in an interview published Saturday she had sought help from a Scottish specialist a year ago believing her childhood diagnosis of brain damage was incorrect.
Boyle said she had been teased throughout her life for her unusual behavior and was called "Susie Simple" by children in her hometown of Blackburn, Scotland.
She had kept secret for the past year that she was diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism marked by social awkwardness and narrow interests that can make relationships challenging.
Slideshow 27 photos
Susan Boyle wows the world
"I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label," she said. "Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong and I feel relieved and a bit more relaxed about myself."
Boyle shot to international fame in 2009 after appearing on the variety TV show "Britain's Got Talent" and performing a flawless rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables." Her life story from unknown Scot to multimillion-selling recording artist has been made into a musical.
Boyle told the Observer she visited the specialist on her own because "I thought I had a more serious illness and couldn't function properly."
She said she was learning to manage her Asperger's and hoped the diagnosis would make people more empathetic.
"I think people will treat me better because they will have a much greater understanding of who I am and why I do the things I do," she said.


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It turns out that even among graduates from elite instutitions like Harvard Business School, a woman's role is still more often in the home than those of her male classmates.
Robin J. Ely, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, presented her study on Crimson alumnae Thursday at a two-day 50th anniversary celebration of women's inclusion at Harvard Business School. The study surveyed some 6,500 graduates, both male and female, to better understand their views, professional experiences, and choices.
Ely and her team are still analyzing the data. S
"We learned that many of the women leave HBS and expect to have a more egalitarian relationship with their partner than they end up having," she said.
In fact, full-time fathers didn't register a percentage point in any age category in the survey. Men were more likely to work full-time in every age category.
The greatest employment differences were seen among Generation X graduates, ages 31 to 47, where 95 percent of men worked full time compared with 74 percent of women.
The study also found that Harvard Business alumnae don't take the choice to step out of the work force and raise children lightly.
"These decisions are hard for these women," she said. "They don't go to Harvard Business School and plan to not have careers."
Ely's study found that 10 percent of Generation X and baby boomer female graduates, ages 48 to 66, are stay-at-home mothers. Among those parents, 86 percent intended to return to work.
Most alumnae surveyed who stopped working at one point to raise children returned to paid employment within a couple of years.
Ely said she hoped an analysis of the Harvard study "can be used to educate our students to set themselves up to get more of what they want, which for most of them is to have a great meaningful career, a great partnership, and, for some, children. A lot of people end up not being able to combine those things."
Crimson men and women who participated in the survey also shared ideas on the two most important factors in career advancement: effective leadership skills and spousal support.
Yet overall, men placed less importance on support — from spouses, supervisors, or in a work environment in generalthan women.
Ely said unsupportive work environments and societal pressures make it difficult for mothers to remain in the work force.
"When you also have the culture whispering in the other ear that you shouldn't be working anyway, it's very hard to stay," she said.
The initial survey was limited to about 20 minutes worth of questions. A second survey will be distributed to the same alumni to gather a more detailed picture of their lives.


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UKB Trivia Mondays at Bridge 99 Brewery
December 15, 2025 @ 6:00 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 6:00 pm on Monday, repeating indefinitely
Genuine UKB Trivia start time is 6:00 pm. Win top team gift card prizes, it's FREE to play, no buy-ins. Indoor AND outdoor seating is available, GET THERE EARLY FOR BEST SEATING! Enjoy Bridge 99 brews plus mixed drinks, ciders and more. Fresh made pizzettas and food truck options available too! 63063 Layton Ave, Bend.
#UKBTrivia,#UKBTriviaNights, #TriviainBend, #BendTriviaNights, #BendTrivia, #Bridge99Trivia, #ThursdayTriviainBend, #TriviaMondays, #TriviaThursdays


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The hip joint is one of the most mobile in the body, so why can't you move yours? Most people I know waste their time with:
- Foam rolling
- Couch stretching, and
- Lounging in pigeon pose
All without making much progress. And that's a real shame.
The hip joint is one of the most mobile in the body, so why can't you move yours? Most people I know waste their time with:
- Foam rolling
- Couch stretching, and
- Lounging in pigeon pose
All without making much progress. And that's a real shame.
Your hips drive the vast majority of your movements, holding the key to everything from walking to squatting. If they lose range of motion, you're bound to compensate somewhere else – cue low back and knee pain. In this article I'll share some of the most effective tools for unlocking stiff hips and regaining your mobility.
Mapping the Territory
First things first. Let's clarify what we mean by "hips." This is a loaded word for a lot of folks, and too many people go through life with zero clue what and where their hips actually are. Try this. Slide your hand up and down along the outside of your leg. Feel that bony bump? Yeah, that's not your hip.
But it is a useful landmark. Put your thumb there, and bring your hand flat along the front of your leg with the fingers pointing in. Now lift your leg the tiniest bit. Feel that bulge of muscle under your fingers? That's where your hip is. Your hip is where the head of the femur meets the acetabulum, the proverbial "socket." This understanding of the hip is tremendously useful when trying to organize your hip movement.
Now that we've cleared that up, let's figure out how to unlock those bad boys.
Hip Rotations
Remember that "ball and socket" idea? That's a biggie. Your hips love circular movement. It's what they're built for. Hip rotations teach your hips how to navigate that three-dimensional space and regain control over that range of motion. Here's how it's done:
- Start on hands and knees
- Maintain spinal and pelvic neutrality
- Bring your knee forward
- Take it out to the side along an arc
- Reach it around behind into extension
- Reverse, moving slowly and with control
- Revel in your juicy hips
Aim for 5 slow, controlled rotations in each direction on each hip.
90/90 Floss
Now that we've created some space within the joint, it's time to put it to work. I was introduced to this movement by Ben Medder, and it has been a total game changer for me. Find your way into a 90/90 position, with 90 degree angles at the hips and knees. You may want to put a tennis ball under your lead knee for tactile reinforcement. Think of crushing the tennis ball as you pivot on your trail toe to open the hip. Cramping is expected.
More often than not those cramps are rooted in your nervous system, not your electrolyte balance. When you put your body in unfamiliar positions, occasionally the nervous system freaks out and engages every muscle it can in a hunt for stability. It's a protective mechanism. Breathe, and ride it out. This is a learning opportunity.
Wall Hinge
Hello hammies. Let's explore hip flexion a bit, using a wall as external feedback. You'll begin with your back to a wall, about a foot away. Get heavy in your heels, and think about reaching the sit bones back toward the wall. Get tall through the spine to avoid compensatory rounding in the back. If you can reach the wall without falling into the wall, scoot a tiny bit forward and repeat. You're on a hunt for the end range of your balance. If you fall into the wall, scoot backwards and try again. Aim for 8-12 hinges at your end range.
Chair Smash
I saved the best for last. This is an upgraded version of the couch stretch. Here's what to do:
- Pick up your favorite chair
- Break it.
Seriously it's time to get out of the damn chair. A handful of stretches and half an hour of movement won't make up for 8-14 hours in a chair all day. I wish it was more complex. But if you want to unlock stiff hips, you simply have to get out of the chair more often. I outline a few useful alternatives here.
You've worked on your hips, now work on your squat:
The Definitive Guide to Owning Your Flat-Footed Squat
Headline photo courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.


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[I have posted on the new (draft) Information Literacy Framework from ACRL here, and you can also read the thoughts of others here.]
As we approach the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas (in June) where our task force will unveil a more complete draft, I wanted to offer some thoughts on how this Framework connects to undergrads with a special nod toward my community college colleagues. (I do not speak for the Task Force in this post.)
As the Task Force has acknowledged, we are basing our work on the groundbreaking work of Lori Townsend, Korey Burnetti, and Amy R. Hofer who almost single-handedly have pushed our profession into a new way of thinking about information literacy (see Townsend, L., Brunetti, K., & Hofer, A. R. (2011). Threshold Concepts and Information Literacy. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 11, 3, 853-869). The new Information Literacy Framework is built around a series of threshold concept that define a line between the expert and the novice. When the novice crosses these thresholds, the novice moves toward becoming an expert.
To me, it is very important for those of us working with first-year students to understand that many of our students will not cross these thresholds in the first year. For those of us in community colleges, we must recognize that many of our students may not cross these thresholds while they are attending our institutions. They may cross these thresholds as upperclassman after they transfer or maybe after they have entered the workforce. However, this does not mean that these thresholds do not apply to us or are not useful to those of us working with first and second-year students. It is our job to assess where our students are in reaching these thresholds and then to find ways in our curriculum to increase their ability to move forward.
I have heard from several community college librarians who are concerned that the new Framework does not connect to our career programs (vocational certificates). While I understand the concern, I do not agree, and I wanted to offer my perspective (not speaking for the Task Force).
To take an example, the most common concern is that the threshold concept "Scholarship is a Conversation" does not connect to these career programs. I would argue that there many areas of discourse around the careers/professions offered by community colleges. These areas look much like scholarly discourse in many ways. They deal with theory, ethics, technology, and general approaches to what counts as knowledge within the respective professions. Professions as wide ranging as welding (yes, there are welding journals), nursing, automotive, massage therapy, polysomnography, respiratory therapy, and others have professional literatures where ideas are exchanged, new approaches are developed, and old approaches are invalidated. All areas of professional study have a level of discourse–a conversation–that makes meaning for the profession. The threshold concept "Scholarship is a Conversation" refers to the scholarship around traditional academic disciplines as well as the scholarship around all career programs.
I think all of the thresholds in the new Framework can be equally applied to career programs. Each vocational program has a living literature, professional ethics, and core theories upon which the profession rests. It is up to those of us who work to build information literacy skills within career students to adapt these concepts to meet their programmatic needs.
Additionally, I have heard from some librarians that the new Framework is not applicable to one-shot sessions. I would argue that one-shot sessions work to build underlying (often searching) skills in students. It doesn't really matter whether we are using the existing IL standards or the new Framework, the one-shot session is a very small piece of the larger information literacy picture. Even under the existing standards, I do not recall anyone thinking that a student would be "information literate" after a one-shot session. I am excited about the Task Force's work because the new Framework is an attempt to define information literacy with greater depth beyond the information-literacy-as-searching definition which often underlies much of the teaching we do in one-shot sessions. Information literacy is more than searching.
The new Framework is an opportunity to offer a definition of information literacy with more depth and meaning to the communities we serve. Once the new Framework is completed and approved by the ACRL board, our work is not done. As a profession, we have the opportunity to define a research agenda around the new Framework. I would be interested to read research into the following:
1. Are there other threshold concepts not included in this Framework?
2. How well do the proposed threshold concepts hold up when tested in the field?
3. What are the steps that faculty members and librarians must take to move new students toward these thresholds?
4. Do students tend to cross these thresholds at different times?
5. How do we adapt professional and/or disciplinary IL standards into new Frameworks based on threshold concepts?
As librarians, our "discipline" works between traditional disciplines/career fields. But, we should recognize that our discipline still needs a research agenda that builds theory and makes our profession more effective. To me, information literacy is at the core of what we do and our research agenda should be built upon it. The new Framework presents a chance to move our research forward.
Troy A. Swanson is Department Chair and Teaching & Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College. He is the author of the book,Managing Social Media in Libraries. You can follow him on Twitter at @t_swanson.


text: An important contemporary realist painter, Laura Shechter is represented in collections including: Albright Knox Gallery (Buffalo), Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of American Art (DC), National Academy Museum (NY) and Arkansas Art Center. Visit Laura Shechter's Brooklyn studio. View more Laura Shechter works for sale at Biddington's.


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How to compute hard-to-compute matrix norms
There are a wide variety of different norms of matrices and operators that are useful in many different contexts. Some matrix norms, such as the Schatten norms and Ky Fan norms, are easy to compute thanks to the singular value decomposition. However, the computation of many other norms, such as the induced p-norms (when p ≠ 1, 2, ∞), is NP-hard. In this post, we will look at a general method for getting quite good estimates of almost any matrix norm.
The basic idea is that every norm can be written as a maximization of a convex function over a convex set (in particular, every norm can be written as a maximization over the unit ball of the dual norm). However, this maximization is often difficult to deal with or solve analytically, so instead it can help to write the norm as a maximization over two or more simpler sets, each of which can be solved individually. To illustrate how this works, let's start with the induced matrix norms.
Induced matrix norms
The induced p → q norm of a matrix B is defined as follows:
is the vector p-norm. There are three special cases of these norms that are easy to compute:
- When p = q = 2, this is the usual operator norm of B (i.e., its largest singular value).
- When p = q = 1, this is the maximum absolute column sum: .
- When p = q = ∞, this is the maximum absolute row sum: .
However, outside of these three special cases (and some other special cases, such as when B only has real entries that are non-negative [1]), this norm is much messier. In general, its computation is NP-hard [2], so how can we get a good idea of its value? Well, we rewrite the norm as the following double maximization:
where is the positive real number such that (and we take if , and vice-versa). The idea is then to maximize over and one at a time, alternately.
- Start by setting and fixing a randomly-chosen vector , scaled so that .
- Compute
keeping fixed, and let be the vector attaining this maximum. By Hölder's inequality, we know that this maximum value is exactly equal to . Furthermore, the equality condition of Hölder's inequality tells us that the vector attaining this maximum is the one with complex phases that are the same as those of , and whose magnitudes are such that is a multiple of (here the notation means we take the absolute value and the q-th power of every entry of the vector).
- Compute
keeping fixed, and let be the vector attaining this maximum. By an argument almost identical to that of step 2, this maximum is equal to , where is the positive real number such that . Furthermore, the vector attaining this maximum is the one with complex phases that are the same as those of , and whose magnitudes are such that is a multiple of .
- Increment by 1 and return to step 2. Repeat until negligible gains are made after each iteration.
This algorithm is extremely quick to run, since Hölder's inequality tells us exactly how to solve each of the two maximizations separately, so we're left only performing simple vector calculations at each step. The downside of this algorithm is that, even though it will always converge to some local maximum, it might converge to a value that is smaller than the true induced p → q norm. However, in practice this algorithm is fast enough that it can be run several thousand times with different (randomly-chosen) starting vectors to get an extremely good idea of the value of .
It is worth noting that this algorithm is essentially the same as the one presented in [3], and reduces to the power method for finding the largest singular value when p = q = 2. This algorithm has been implemented in the QETLAB package for MATLAB as the InducedMatrixNorm function.
Induced Schatten superoperator norms
There is a natural family of induced norms on superoperators (i.e., linear maps ) as well. First, for a matrix , we define its Schatten p-norm to be the p-norm of its vector of singular values:
Three special cases of the Schatten p-norms include:
- p = 1, which is often called the "trace norm" or "nuclear norm",
- p = 2, which is often called the "Frobenius norm" or "Hilbert–Schmidt norm", and
- p = ∞, which is the usual operator norm.
The Schatten norms themselves are easy to compute (since singular values are easy to compute), but their induced counter-parts are not.
Given a superoperator , its induced Schatten p → q norm is defined as follows:
These induced Schatten norms were studied in some depth in [4], and crop up fairly frequently in quantum information theory (especially when p = q = 1) and operator theory (especially when p = q = ∞). The fact that they are NP-hard to compute in general is not surprising, since they reduce to the induced matrix norms (discussed earlier) in the case when only acts on the diagonal entries of and just zeros out the off-diagonal entries. However, it seems likely that this norm's computation is also difficult even in the special cases p = q = 1 and p = q = ∞ (however, it is straightforward to compute when p = q = 2).
Nevertheless, we can obtain good estimates of this norm's value numerically using essentially the same method as discussed in the previous section. We start by rewriting the norm as a double maximization, where each maximization individually is easy to deal with:
where is again the positive real number (or infinity) satisfying . We now maximize over and , one at a time, alternately, just as before:
- Start by setting and fixing a randomly-chosen matrix , scaled so that .
- Compute
keeping fixed, and let be the matrix attaining this maximum. By the Hölder inequality for Schatten norms, we know that this maximum value is exactly equal to . Furthermore, the matrix attaining this maximum is the one with the same left and right singular vectors as , and whose singular values are such that there is a constant so that for all (i.e., the vector of singular values of , raised to the power, is a multiple of the vector of singular values of , raised to the power).
- Compute
keeping fixed, and let be the matrix attaining this maximum. By essentially the same argument as in step 2, we know that this maximum value is exactly equal to , where is the map that is dual to in the Hilbert–Schmidt inner product. Furthermore, the matrix attaining this maximum is the one with the same left and right singular vectors as , and whose singular values are such that there is a constant so that for all .
- Increment by 1 and return to step 2. Repeat until negligible gains are made after each iteration.
The above algorithm is almost identical to the algorithm presented for induced matrix norms, but with absolute values and complex phases of the vectors and replaced by the singular values and singular vectors of the matrices and , respectively. The entire algorithm is still extremely quick to run, since each step just involves computing one singular value decomposition.
The downside of this algorithm, as with the induced matrix norm algorithm, is that we have no guarantee that this method will actually converge to the induced Schatten p → q norm; only that it will converge to some lower bound of it. However, the algorithm works pretty well in practice, and is fast enough that we can simply run it a few thousand times to get a very good idea of what the norm actually is. If you're interested in making use of this algorithm, it has been implemented in QETLAB as the InducedSchattenNorm function.
Entanglement Norms
The central idea used for the previous two families of norms can also be used to get lower bounds on the following norm on that comes up from time to time when dealing with quantum entanglement:
(As a side note: this norm, and some other ones like it, were the central focus on my thesis.) This norm is already written for us as a double maximization, so the idea presented in the previous two sections is somewhat clearer from the start: we fix randomly-generated vectors and and then maximize over all vectors and , which can be done simply by computing the left and right singular vectors associated with the maximum singular value of the operator
We then fix and as those singular vectors and then maximize over all vectors and (which is again a singular value problem), and we iterate back and forth until we converge to some value.
As with the previously-discussed norms, this algorithm always converges, and it converges to a lower bound of , but perhaps not its exact value. If you want to take this algorithm out for a spin, it has been implemented in QETLAB as the sk_iterate function.
It's also worth mentioning that this algorithm generalizes straightforwardly in several different directions. For example, it can be used to find lower bounds on the norms where we maximize on the left and right by pure states with Schmidt rank not larger than k rather than separable pure states, and it can be used to find lower bounds on the geometric measure of entanglement [5].
- D. Steinberg. Computation of matrix norms with applications to robust optimization. Research thesis. Technion – Israel University of Technology, 2005.
- J. M. Hendrickx and A. Olshevsky. Matrix p-norms are NP-hard to approximate if p ≠ 1,2,∞. 2009. E-print: arXiv:0908.1397
- D. W. Boyd. The power method for ℓp norms. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 9:95–101, 1974.
- J. Watrous. Notes on super-operator norms induced by Schatten norms. Quantum Information & Computation, 5(1):58–68, 2005. E-print: arXiv:quant-ph/0411077
- T.-C. Wei and P. M. Goldbart. Geometric measure of entanglement and applications to bipartite and multipartite quantum states. Physical Review A, 68:042307, 2003. E-print: arXiv:quant-ph/0212030


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Story highlights
Alabama's state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to outlaw nearly all abortions, creating exceptions only to protect the mother's health, as part of a multistate effort to have the US Supreme Court reconsider a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.
Alabama's state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to outlaw nearly all abortions, creating exceptions only to protect the mother's health, as part of a multistate effort to have the US Supreme Court reconsider a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.
The country's strictest abortion bill was previously approved by the Alabama House of Representatives and will now go to Republican Governor Kay Ivey, who has withheld comment on whether she would sign but is generally a strong opponent of abortion.
The law, which passed 25-6, would take effect six months after being signed by the governor, but is certain to face legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups which have vowed to sue.
Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced this year in 16 states, four of whose governors have signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected.
The Alabama bill goes further, banning abortions at any time. Those performing abortions would be committing a felony, punishable by 10 to 99 years in prison, although a woman who receives an abortion would not be held criminally liable.
The Republican-controlled Alabama Senate also defeated a Democratic amendment that would have allowed legal abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape and incest.
Anti-abortion advocates know any laws they pass are certain to be challenged, and courts this year have blocked a restrictive Kentucky law and another in Iowa passed last year.
But supporters of the Alabama ban said the right to life of the unborn child transcends other rights, an idea they would like tested.
Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss, arguing in favor of the Alabama bill, said the whole point was "so that we can go directly to the Supreme Court to challenge Roe versus Wade."
The high court, now with a majority of conservative justices after Republican President Donald Trump appointed two, could possibly overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision establishing a woman's right to an abortion.
Just this year, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have outlawed abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat.
Opponents call the "heartbeat" legislation a virtual ban because embryonic cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks, before a woman may be aware she is pregnant.
Democratic state Senator Linda Coleman-Madison called the Republicans hypocritical for advocating small government that ought to stay out of private matters but "now you want in my womb; I want you out."
All 27 Republican senators are men.
The group Physicians for Reproductive Health said the near total ban on abortions would have a disastrous effect on healthcare.
"Physicians will be unwilling to help patients in need, even when continuing pregnancy is detrimental to a patient's health, or potentially fatal, out of fear of being scrutinized by the criminal justice system," Dr. Yashica Robinson, a board member and ob/gyn, said in a statement.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) denounced the ban as unconstitutional.
"This is a transparent effort to drum up political support for anti-abortion candidates in upcoming elections and serves as a direct threat to women's health, autonomy and pursuit of happiness," NOW said in a statement.
Actress and activist Alyssa Milano has called for a sex strike under the social media hashtag #SexStrike in response to the campaigns against abortion rights, urging women to refuse sex with men "until we get bodily autonomy back."


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The Exclusive BRABUS Program for the Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet
Exclusive, sporty and highly individual: These three attributes best describe the BRABUS custom program for the new E-Class Cabriolet that will be available in time for the car's market launch.
As for all other Mercedes models BRABUS offers an extensive product lineup for the E-Class Cabriolet that leaves nothing to be desired. The lineup features engine tuning, including the BRABUS 6.1 capacity engine with 462 hp (456 bhp) / 340 kW of power, a dynamically styled aerodynamic-enhancement program, customtailored wheels with diameters ranging from 17 to 20 inches, corresponding sport suspensions and striking interior options.
The BRABUS engine specialists unleash the true power inherent in the common-rail turbodiesel engines and CGI BlueEFFICIENCY direct-injection gasoline engines with ECO PowerXtra performance kits. The BRABUS ECO Power Extra D4 power kit bumps rated power output of the four-cylinder turbodiesel engine of the E 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY model from standard 204 hp (201 bhp) / 150 kW to 235 hp (232 bhp) / 173 kW. Simultaneously peak torque grows to 560 Nm(413 lb-ft).
The BRABUS ECO PowerXtra D6 (III) module for the six-cylinder turbodiesel engine of the E 350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY model bumps power output to 272 hp (268 bhp) / 200 kW and peak torque to 590 Nm (435 lb-ft). BRABUS ECO PowerXtra CGI tuning increases power output of the E 250 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY gasoline model from standard 204 hp (201 bhp) / 150 kW to 230 hp (227 bhp) / 169 kW at a low 5,500 rpm. Peak torque jumps from 310 Nm to 350 Nm (229 to 258 lb-ft).
In the E 350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY model with direct-injection gasoline engine BRABUS tuning provides an additional 18 hp (18 bhp) / 13.2 kW. The most powerful BRABUS option for the Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet is the BRABUS 6.1 capacity engine. The V8 engine of the E 500 (US: E550) model is modified extensively. A steel billet crankshaft with longer stroke, larger cylinder bore and correspondingly larger pistons affect a displacement increase from 5.5 to 6.1 liters (336 to 372 cubic inch). The engine conversion further includes four-valve cylinder heads optimized for mixture flow, installation of special camshafts and the BRABUS stainless-steel sport exhaust system with high-performance metal catalysts. Custom-programmed engine electronics ensure the precise interaction of all new components.
Like all BRABUS engines the BRABUS 6.1 capacity engine is lubricated exclusively with ARAL high-performance synthetic motor oil. It produces a rated power output of 462 hp (456 bhp) / 340 kW and a peak torque of 615 Nm (453 lb-ft) at a low 3,100 rpm. Powered by this engine, the E-Class convertible sprints from rest to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.7 seconds and reaches a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph). This level of performance places the tuned E-Class Cabriolet firmly among the world's fastest four-seater soft-top cars. BRABUS backs all components with the one-of-a-kind BRABUS Tuning Warranty of three years, up to 100,000 kilometers / 62,000 miles (see BRABUS warranty conditions as of November 2006).
Stainless-steel BRABUS sport exhaust systems are available for all E-Class models and offer optimized power yield, a sporty exhaust note and striking looks with four exhaust tips. To lend the new convertible an even more breathtaking appearance the BRABUS designers have developed a sporty yet elegant aerodynamic-enhancement package manufactured from high-quality Pur-R-Rim plastics in OEM quality. The BRABUS front spoiler features integrated LED daytime running lights and lends the Mercedes an even more succinct frontal appearance. But that's not all: This aerodynamic component also reduces unwanted lift on the front axle at high speed.
The side view receives some added pizzazz with BRABUS front sport fenders with integrated air openings. The BRABUS rear valance with centrally mounted reflector and custom cutouts left and right provides the perfect backdrop for the BRABUS quad sport exhaust. The understated BRABUS rear spoiler is essential for the car's excellent aerodynamic balance at high speeds.
One-piece or multi-piece BRABUS Monoblock alloy wheels with diameters of 17, 18 or 19 inches round out the exclusive BRABUS look. The largest tire/wheel combination for the EClass Cabriolet features BRABUS Monoblock VI, E, Q or S wheels in size 8.5Jx19 on the front axle and in size 9.5Jx19 in back. The optimal high-performance tires come from Pirelli and YOKOHAMA in size 235/35 ZR 19 in front and up to size 275/30 ZR 19 on the rear axle.
20-inch BRABUS wheels will be available for the new Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet in the near future. The BRABUS suspension solutions are calibrated specifically to the use with these sporty low-profile tires. The available options range from sport springs, which lower the ride height of the two-door by some 30 millimeters (1.2 inches), to height-adjustable coil-over suspensions with variable damper rates. Maximum active safety is also a top priority when it comes to brakes: Various BRABUS highperformance brake systems are available including the top-of-the-line version with six-piston aluminum fixed calipers and 360-mm (14.2 inches) vented and perforated discs on the front axle and four-piston aluminum fixed calipers in the rear.
BRABUS also offers the perfect interior customization experience for the soft-top Mercedes: The interior program includes stainless-steel scuff plates with illuminated BRABUS logo, an ergonomically shaped BRABUS sport steering wheel and genuine carbon-fiber elements in a number of different colors for dashboard, center console and door panels. BRABUS wood inlays add a special flair of exclusivity. Special production techniques allow
these inlays to be manufactured in any color imaginable with polished, matte or open-pore surface finishes.
The BRABUS upholstery shop transforms especially soft yet durable BRABUS Mastik leather and Alcantara into gorgeous interiors according to customers'personal color and design preferences.