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Recovery–Why Corpse Pose (Shavasana)
When taking care of ourselves, we often become obsessed with punishment. No pain, no gain right? We know that stress will develop us and make us stronger, but we often forget that recovery is equally important in fitness.
Stress breaks down the body. Recovery rebuilds the body, creating larger muscles, more blood vessels, greater flexibility and more mitochondria in the cells. Without recovery, we are just breaking ourselves down, making ourselves weak, fatigued or injured. There is a a lot science behind this phenomenon.
Part of recovery is getting enough sleep, which I've blogged about in the past: https://heroestraining.com/?p=694
Breathing properly also helps with recovery as oxygen plays a huge roll in providing us the energy we need to grow and survive. You can read more about breathing here:https://heroestraining.com/?p=318
Eating proper foods at the right time also help with recovery as food is the fuel that energizes and repairs us. https://heroestraining.com/?p=1284
On top of that, merely learning how and when to relax can not only aid in fitness, but can reduce anxiety, tension and cardiovascular disease.
No other yoga pose symbolizes the many benefits of recovery more than Shavasana or corpse pose. This pose is loved by some and dreaded by others. Today, I'd like to explore what makes this pose so important at the end of a yoga class and why some choose to avoid it altogether.
The Posture (Asana)
Corpse pose is very simple. You lie on your back in a neutral position and do nothing. If you have back problems or tight hip flexors, it might feel better to bend the knees or put a pillow under the knees. If you have kyphosis or hunched shoulders, it might feel better to put a pillow under your head. If you are further along in your pregnancy, you may have to lie on your side. Either way, get comfortable.
This pose is traditionally held for five to ten minutes at the end of a yoga class. Seasoned yogi's can stay in this pose for as long as they desire. Master yogi's use this pose to help them reach Samandhi, or a state of oneness with the universe. Some yogis practice this pose in order to overcome the fear of death.
While the physicality of the pose is very simple, there are many underlying characteristics that make some people uncomfortable, especially if you were taught that lying down and doing nothing is only for the lazy who have nothing better to do.
Why Shavasana?
We're just lying there. What's so important about that? So many people just don't understand the purpose of corpse pose. Yet, if shavasana is so meaningless, why does almost every style of yoga implement a mandatory corpse pose at the end of every class?
One of the best reasons for performing shavasana is to heal and prevent injuries. The best explanation of this was given to me by a great massage therapist who was explaining the role of fascia. Fascia is the connective tissue that sticks everything together. It sticks muscle to other muscle, bone and skin. It surrounds our organs, nerves and blood vessels. There are thick tissues of fascia that travel through our bodies, such as the thoracolumbar fascia that travels down the entire back and into the buttocks, connecting and protecting all the points in our body.
Tons of research is being done on fascia which is changing how we perceive fitness. It's not just about strengthening bones and muscle anymore. It's about healthy fascia that functions better.
Our fascia is full of nerves. It can tighten and relax. It can be trained to move in many directions or to become stiff and hard so it can't move at all.
Whenever we feel stress or injury, our fascia can harden or get inflamed, causing symptoms such as frozen shoulder, whip lash or muscle knots. Essentially, it turns into a splint or a cast so we can no longer move the muscles it surrounds. While this is a rational survival mechanism to protect ourselves, when the facia overreacts it can cause lack of blood flow and flexibility, slowing down the healing process. There is a psychological element at play as well. If the body suspects future trauma, the fascia can react with tightness years after the injury has healed
I was told that if you get into a car accident, face some other kind of trauma or feel tremendous pain, the best thing you can do is lie down and do nothing. Let your body be vulnerable. Let it know that you are not in a dangerous situation and the body won't seize from the stress. So long as the body feels it is in danger, it will harden. The healing process doesn't start until we finally relax.
One of the biggest reasons our fascia may harden is because we over stretched. While I always advise people not to force a stretch in yoga class, it can still happen. Our connective tissue reacts to this by hardening itself, creating that natural splint. In case of overstretching, shavasana is applied at the end of a yoga class to help alleviate this reaction.
Many people start a yoga practice due to past injuries or pain. Sometimes they are recovering from real trauma like a surgery or illness. Other times, they realize that they have been over training which has led to muscle or joint pain. Pain and tension is felt most by those of us who can't relax. When it's time for corpse pose, these type A personalities stress that they really should be doing something. Shouldn't I be stretching my pain or rolling it out? What they don't realize is the best thing they can do for themselves is relax. We do an hour or two of yoga in order to align our bodies so we can finally reach that state of relaxation, clarity and healing.
Sometimes mental stress is all that is needed to harden the fascia. Our nerves don't always know the difference between physical and emotional trauma. Shavasana helps us to ease this stress. Allowing ourselves to just melt into the mat is one way to let the body and mind know that things will be okay.
But what if I can't stop thinking?
Some people hate Shavasana because they can't stop thinking. In my opinion, not thinking is not a requirement of shavasana. The idea is to physically do nothing so that nothing is distracting you from what is important.
How many times do we put off making the right decision or having to find a solution to a problem by always giving ourselves something else to do? When we're in Shavasana, you can't do that. You are forced to face your true self. That thought you have been avoiding will manifest and if it does, I believe you should face it. Examine it. Be brave. Remember, meditation isn't a hiding from reality but a confrontation of reality:https://heroestraining.com/?p=206
Stress, Anxiety and Insomnia
Once, I was taking a heart opening yoga class. While in shavasana, I felt this tremendous amount of grief that I had been harboring for far too long. Tears welled up in my closed eyes and I was finally able to let that grief go and open my heart again.
We live in a time where it's almost impossible not to be distracted. We are overwhelmed with pop ups, ads and notifications. New media sources are rewiring our brains, changing how we think and interact. This makes a disciplined yoga practice more important and more difficult than ever.
Some of us hide in these distractions. If we are always stimulated by external forces, we don't have to be comfortable in our own skin. We can avoid facing our dreams, our conflicts and our true selves.
Shavasana is your time to turn it all off and take a vacation from it all. It's your time to truly connect with who you really are while everyone and everything around you is competing for their influence on you. As scary as that sounds to some, once you take the time to unwind and get comfortable, you'll wonder why you waited so long to do it. It's when we take a moment to find clarity that all the answers appear. We all need to take time out of every day to connect with our deepest selves. Remember, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything:
Sometimes we fall asleep during corpse pose. This only means that you are probably sleep deprived or that you need more rest. As mentioned earlier, some of us forget that we need to recover and this is a good time to connect with what your body truly needs. Rest calms us, which is why we breath and sleep better after yoga.
Fear of Death
One of your favorite sayings is, "I'll get enough rest when I'm dead." You suddenly find yourself in corpse pose. That means you're resting. Is this what its like to be dead? Suddenly, an asana that seemed peaceful starts to create anxiety.
Fear of death may or may not be a conscious thing. Its something we all deal with as we all die eventually. Corpse pose literally means the pose of death. Legend has it that Indian soldiers did corpse pose to help them deal with their fear of death so they could be brave in battle. This is not an easy thing to face, so its understandable why someone would want to skip this pose altogether.
Yet something profound happens when we face our fear of death. The possibility that we will die becomes very real to us. Suddenly, we are more willing to live. We are more grateful for what we have and we are more aware of what is truly important. To me, facing the fear of death means finding a true appreciation for life in all its glory. What is important to you? Don't put off what you genuinely love because nothing is temporary.
Not all yoga practitioners are warriors. but we can all learn to be brave enough to live a full life. Deep down inside, we are all fighting a hard battle.
Samandhi or Enlightenment
Shavasana can also be called Samandhi which means unification. Some yogis believe it is that acceptance of universal peace that comes right before death. So when they lie still, they are trying to calm their mind so fully that nothing can distract them from reality. They become an embodiment of universal truth. Samandhi is traditionally thought of as the highest and final level of yoga, another reason why its done at the end of the class.
This illustration, is a great example of samandhi. When water is still, you can notice the smallest ripple. A mind full of waves and fluctuations is confused and undisciplined.
Awareness and Respect
Life happens. We can't always fit a yoga class into our schedules and sometimes we have to leave early. We must realize, however that the tenants of yoga are non-violence, respect and awareness.
If you must leave yoga early, check the time. Go into shavasana on your own, then sneak out quietly with as little disruption as possible. Yoga etiquette dictates that if you leave class early, to do so before the rest of the class has started corpse pose. That way, they don't have to hear you scrambling for your stuff and shutting the door on your way out while they are doing their best to relax.
Keep in mind that relaxation and being still is very difficult for most people and that any small distraction can frustrate them. Once everything has stopped moving, the slightest noise can sound as loud as a tree falling. The rustling of bags as you get ready to leave can be extremely irritating.
If you have to fidget during corpse pose because that helps you stay calm, I suggest you find an item that makes no noise. Maybe a rubber part of your mat. This way, you are not distracting the rest of the class.
And of course, please keep your cell phones on silent. ;)
With much respect and compassion,
In September, I will be doing a workshop on applying the concepts corrective biomechanics to improving yoga poses. This workshop will focus on yoga alignment with more detail than is possible in a regular yoga class. For more information, click below.
Photo credit:
Photo by Amy Treasure on Unsplash
Photo by Hamza Bounaim on Unsplash
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
Photo by Linus Nylund on Unsplash
2 thoughts on "Recovery–Why Corpse Pose (Shavasana)"
Hi Rhea,So nice to get updates from you. I really miss your group classes @ Total Woman but have finally adjusted to the routine @ 24 Hour Fitness across the way.I hope you continue to prosper.
Best of luck to you Connie!!!!


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The newest Las Vegas Strip attraction isn't another mega-resort or Cirque du Soleil show. Rather, it is a heavy equipment playground that lets visitors operate life-size Tonka toys.
"Dig This" is a construction theme park developed by New Zealand-born Ed Mumm, who stumbled upon the idea while using a rented excavator to build his home in Steamboat Springs, Colo. After a couple of days of digging, he realized that operating machinery was a blast.
"I wasn't making much progress on the house, but I was having great time," Mumm says. "I felt that it was something everyone could enjoy, and there was nothing like it out there."
In 2007, a pilot version of Dig This launched in Steamboat. The northwest Colorado park, on 10 acres, operated for three years successfully.
"Steamboat Springs is limited by weather and its remote location, but it gave us a chance to perfect our business model," says Mumm, who had his sights set on Las Vegas from the start.
"Las Vegas is one of the most visited destinations in the U.S., with up to 40-million visitors and 5,000 conventions a year."
On May 4, Dig This opened at 3012 S. Rancho Drive, about five miles west of Las Vegas Boulevard. The $1-million theme park sits on 5 acres with a 2,850-sq-ft office, gift shop and training facility. Mumm has a two-year lease for the land and building.
The 10-employee park has five pieces of machinery, including a pair of Caterpillar D5 track-type bulldozers and three Caterpillar 315CL hydraulic excavators. Dig This sells three-hour packages that consist of a 30-minute safety and operation orientation followed by two hours of maneuvering either a bulldozer or excavator.
Guests can either dig a trench up to 10 ft deep or build an earthen mound; there are also skill tests like picking and moving 2,000-lb tires or scooping basketballs from atop safety cones. Packages are priced at $400, which reflects equipment maintenance and insurance costs. Patrons 14 and older can play in the dirt.
"Half of our customers are females, including housewives and grandmothers," says company spokeswoman Cathy Wiedemer. "Throttling up a powerful engine and moving mounds of earth is very empowering."
Dig This anticipates 5,475 visitors in its first year of operation and over $2.19 million in annual revenue. Mumm already has franchise expansion plans, he says.
"Once we get our model finalized, we could move to Atlanta and New York as well as Tokyo and Australia."

subset: commoncrawl


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amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
Published Friday, September 14, 2012
For Immediate ReleaseMedia Contact: Cub Barrett, Program Communications Manager, firstname.lastname@example.com, (212) 806-1602
NEW YORK, September 14, 2012—On the heels of the XIX International AIDS Conference and progress reported there on the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS, amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research on Friday announced three new grants to research teams as part of the Foundation's two-year-old amfAR Research Consortium on HIV Eradication (ARCHE).
"There was a lot of discussion at July's International AIDS Conference about the importance of collaboration among researchers in the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS, and amfAR is proud to be one of the leading organizations funding this kind of important work," said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. "It's gratifying to know that the work we're funding through ARCHE is both building on and contributing to our collective knowledge of how we might cure HIV, and that scientists working in different fields are coming up with creative ways to work together and make real progress."
"In just two years, ARCHE has not only shaken up the AIDS research world by contributing vital findings to the field, but it has given us a deeper understanding of how and why some interventions work effectively," said amfAR Vice President and Director of Research Dr. Rowena Johnston. "These three new projects follow up on recent findings, which will hopefully accelerate the search for a cure that can be applied widely and safely for the 34 million people who need one."
Following up on a presentation he made at the International AIDS Conference, Dr. Timothy Henrich of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston will use the case of the "Berlin patient"—the only person believed to have been cured of HIV infection—to examine the mechanisms involved in the patient's treatment that contributed to eradicating HIV in his body. The Berlin patient was cured following treatment for his lymphoma, during which he received a stem-cell transplant with cells from a donor selected for the CCR5 delta32 mutation, and thus resistant to HIV infection. Two of Dr. Henrich's HIV-positive patients, however, went through similar stem-cell treatments using a donor without the CCR5 mutation and now show no signs of HIV infection. Dr. Henrich aims to determine which elements of the Berlin patient's treatment were critical to his cure—findings that may guide attempts at designing a cure that could be applied more widely.
Another ARCHE grant will go to Dr. Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga of the University of Massachusetts, who hope to determine if it is possible to cure HIV infection with antiretroviral therapy (ART) alone in children in whom ART had been started soon after birth and continued for an average of 15 years. Following a presentation they made at an amfAR think tank in June about a group of five such children with no detectable HIV and who remain HIV-antibody negative, Drs. Persaud and Luzuriaga will use highly sophisticated tests to search for active and latent virus in their patients. amfAR has long funded research studies dedicated to eradicating HIV in children, having pioneered research that ultimately led to the use of ART to block mother-to-child transmission.
A third ARCHE study will continue to investigate the ability of disulfiram—a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat alcoholism—to flush the virus out of latently HIV-infected cells. The study, conducted by third-time ARCHE grantee Dr. Steven Deeks of the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Julian Elliott of Monash University in Australia, will build on a smaller clinical study conducted by Dr. Deeks that suggested that the drug may reverse HIV latency in some subjects. The current study involves a larger number of subjects, more intensive and wide-ranging measurements of changes in latent HIV, and several doses of the drug.
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia Julian Elliott, M.D., Ph.D. – principal investigator Steven Deeks, M.D. – collaborating investigator (UCSF) $312,070 Short-Term Disulfiram Administration to Reverse Latent HIV Infection: Drs. Elliott and Deeks will investigate in a group of HIV-infected subjects the ability of disulfiram to induce dormant HIV out of latency so that the virus is susceptible to antiretroviral therapy. This combination approach could lead to a practical means of curing HIV. In previous ARCHE research disulfiram, a drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of alcoholism, was identified as able to propel dormant HIV out of latency in the test tube, and ARCHE research has identified several potential molecular mechanisms whereby this is achieved. Dr. Deeks previously conducted a small ARCHE clinical study of disulfiram that suggested the drug is safe in this population and may reverse HIV latency in some subjects. The current study involves a larger number of subjects, more intensive and wide-ranging measurements of changes in latent HIV, and several doses of the drug. This study will increase our knowledge of the potential for this strategy—reversing HIV latency and targeting resulting virus outgrowth with antiretroviral therapy—to cure HIV.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA Timothy Henrich, M.D. – principal investigator $105,160 HIV-1 Reservoir Reduction Following Allogeneic Stem-Cell Transplantation: In the only confirmed case of an HIV cure to date, the HIV-positive "Berlin patient" underwent a stem-cell transplant to treat his leukemia. The transplant donor was a person with an uncommon genetic mutation called CCR5delta32/delta32; people with this mutation are healthy but in addition are highly resistant to HIV infection. Before the transplant the Berlin patient underwent intensive chemotherapy, anti-T cell antibody infusions, and full body irradiation. Because several different interventions were involved in this one case, it remains unclear which single intervention or combination thereof was critical to achieving the HIV cure. Dr. Henrich is treating HIV-positive patients with various types of cancer that also require stem-cell transplants. His patients undergo a different chemotherapy regimen, no irradiation, and transplantation with common donor stem cells lacking the CCR5 mutation. Two of these patients have no sign of HIV in their bodies, according to studies conducted so far. Dr. Henrich will conduct more detailed studies of these patients to search for signs of persistent HIV infection, and will withdraw these patients from their antiretroviral drugs under very controlled conditions as the strict test to determine whether these patients have been cured of HIV. This study will help us understand which elements of the Berlin patient's treatment were critical to his cure, and may guide attempts at designing a cure that could be applied more widely.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MDDeborah Persaud, M.D. – principal investigatorKatherine Luzuriaga, M.D. – collaborating investigator (UMassMed) $383,155 Quantifying HIV Persistence under Early HAART in Children: Children born to HIV-positive mothers are at risk of acquiring HIV in utero or during birth. As a result of discoveries made in the mid-1990s, increasing numbers of infants worldwide are administered antiretroviral therapy shortly after birth to help prevent HIV transmission. In some infants, this intervention does not prevent the infection, but such infants then begin antiretroviral therapy very shortly after infection. Drs. Persaud and Luzuriaga are treating a number of adolescents who were born HIV positive and began antiretroviral therapy soon after birth. Their studies so far indicate that in five such individuals, no virus can be detected and the children test HIV negative. They plan to investigate more closely how the persistent reservoirs of virus, as well as the individuals' immune response to the virus, may differ from what is commonly seen in people infected as adults, ultimately helping to determine whether such individuals may be cured. Their studies will shed light on the potential of antiretroviral therapy to alter the course of infection in ways that may differ dramatically to infection in adults.


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Bible Belting
This Divine command to build a veritable house for G-d that we will hear read in the synagogue this Shabbat sheds a critical light on a new initiative of the Israeli Ministry of Education. A few weeks ago there took place the first meeting of the 39-member Public Committee for Bible Education whose announced purpose is "to give the study of the Bible a more central focus in the educational system".
What is behind this initiative, of course, is the shocking ignorance of secular Israeli schoolchildren for whom the mandatory Bible studies from grades 1-12 provide only a sparse acquaintance with the "Book of Books" which is quickly forgotten.
But just as a Sanctuary deserves that sacred name because of G-d's presence in it, so does the Bible deserve its name only if it is studied as the Word of G-d. This can hardly be expected when the chairman of the new committee is a former Supreme Court justice who is notorious for his anti-religious bias, and the committee has as one of its members the Education Minister who proclaims that "the beauty of the Bible is reflected in the values and moral dilemmas it raises".
Only by putting G-d back into His Bible can we secure Israel forever.


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by Barry Murphy
In last week's post about what we are looking for with enterprise search, I mentioned what we call the Google paradigm. A reader asked me to be more specific about what the Google paradigm actually is and it's a worthy request. The Google paradigm is actually a summation of the resulting perceptions based on the popularity of Google; those perceptions are that enterprise search is as easy as Google web search, and that a central index of an enterprise is the right way to do enterprise search. The result of these perceptions is an approach to enterprise search that has not solved the problem of allowing business workers to easily and quickly find the information they are looking for.
It is important to note that web search is not the same as enterprise search, and therein lies the major problem with the perceptions caused by the Google paradigm. Google is an excellent tool for informational web search – I use it frequently when researching various topics that I need to learn more about. The point is that Google is for Web search, which uses organic linking (looking at the number of sites that link to a particular page) to determine the rank order of results. That approach provides zero value in the enterprise because the users typically have more than an inkling of what they are looking for, and perhaps have specific criteria they know are relevant, and thus require an interface that allows them to quickly filter the result down to a manageable number.
But, in reality, enterprise search is often synonymous with Google – the web search paradigm. There is a tendency to think of search as easy. After all, Google completes search queries for users; it is easy to assume that technology will eventually just know what users are looking for and offer it up to them. This message is reinforced in the age of Big Data and business intelligence. There is a fascination with the stunning dashboards we see in CRM and SFA applications. There is a belief that analytics will replace any need to search and find information.
While analytics will certainly help many business processes, its biggest impacts will be in feeding structured data into business processes and informing those responsible for the process of performance. There is much value to be had in that and the Big Data market prospers as a result. Despite the availability of advanced business intelligence tools, though, business workers still struggle to find the one email or document necessary to complete the next urgent task. People waste hours looking for it, only to most likely recreate all that work when they can't find what they need. Organizations lose millions of dollars per year to this lost productivity and typically don't even know it. Companies implement traditional enterprise search to help employees, but only make searching more frustrating because those solutions do not leverage the power of the business worker's brain.
Web search – the Google paradigm – has allowed us to take search for granted. When doing a web search, however, users are typically searching for something authored by someone else and the system is using programmatic analysis to conduct the query. For a business worker, though, search is very different. The worker has a sense of what they are looking for because it is very specific to them – the method of analysis is personal, not programmatic. Web search is inquisitive in nature. But, the web search approach – which has been pushed on users by IT for years – does not work well for business workers looking for the information needed to do their jobs.
The Google paradigm also ignores the challenge of scalability. Indexing the enterprise for a centralized enterprise search capability requires major investment. In addition, centralization runs counter to the realities of the working world where information must be distributed globally across a variety of devices and applications. The amount of information we create is overwhelming and the velocity with which that information moves increases daily.
The image above is of a Google Data Center (one of more than several dozen that power the internet). Look at the sheer magnitude of just what it takes to power those Web searches we are all so used to. This illustrates exactly why it is so hard to "Google the enterprise." And yet many people, and even CIOs, think doing so should be easy. Such has been the approach to scaling traditional enterprise search solutions in the enterprise. And while Google obviously has solid software to drive its web search, hardware and sheer computing power on a massive scale are essential components of Google's success.
The only "successful" enterprise search deployments – as judged by customer references – tend to exist only in a very specific type of organization: highly regulated, with deep pockets. These organizations can make enterprise search work because, due to regulatory and Legal drivers, they have unlimited budget for hardware to make the solution scale. They are also able to invest in double digit FTE's to implement and maintain the system over time. But, these organizations represent "the 1%." Most organizations do not have the budget or human resources needed to make traditional enterprise search work.
There will always be hardware investments required to make productivity search work, but such investments do not need to be heavy in the way that traditional solutions have been. Rather, organizations should look at more flexible options that mirror the realistic IT environment they live in. That environment typically includes a hybrid of on-premise, virtual, and cloud-based infrastructure and content spread across multiple repositories. Rarely – if ever – is content centralized. As such, a good productivity search solution will allow access to the content that business workers need the most while leaving as little footprint with IT as possible.


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LANSING — Legislation aiming to eliminate $600 million in taxes businesses annually pay on computers and equipment has cleared the Michigan Senate.
The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday approved the final bills related to the repeal of the industrial personal property tax sought by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder. The package now goes to the Republican-controlled House.
The measure would reimburse all of the money communities lose for emergency services such as police and fire and 80 percent of the money for other municipal services. Reimbursement money would come from part of an existing tax paid on out-of-state purchases.
The legislation also included an amendment to protect special education funding.
Snyder and other supporters say the tax hurts businesses and reduces Michigan's economic competitiveness. Opponents say revenues should be fully replaced and guaranteed.


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Villa are reported to have had a bid of £9million accepted by Lorient for former Marseille striker Jordan Ayew, only for the Ligue 1 side to change the terms of the transfer and demand a bigger fee from Villa.
But Ayew has told the French press that he will go on strike if necessary to force through the move, claiming his club are pricing him out of a transfer to the Premier League.
Jordan Ayew is ready to go on strike to push through his move to Aston Villa after his French club Lorient threatened to hike up his price.
In a strong interview with L'Equipe newspaper, the 23-year-old striker said: "It is incomprehensible.
"I was told that I could leave for 12million euros, but now they are asking for £10million with £2million in bonuses, which makes up about 17million euros. What the hell!
"This meeting finished very badly. I am really very annoyed, but it is incredible what they are doing to me. They were telling me about how much [Jordan] Amavi was bought for by Aston Villa, but I am not Amavi. We are two different players who have two different situations. They are basically saying that English clubs can only pay more because they have money.
"It is finished for me, they bought me for 5 million Euros and they are blocking me. I am in Birmingham, I am on my way to Aston Villa. Nothing will change my decision. I told them: But why do you want to keep me at this point?"
Ayew, whose brother Andre signed for Swansea earlier this summer, admits he's desperate to move to the Premier League: "It is the right moment. My wife speaks English. In any case I am no longer going to training. It is finished for me.
"It is true that I have a contract, but I had a good year, they will make a good profit and you cannot change the rules of the game like that. I can leave for one sum but if it is Aston Villa I am worth more. In my head in any case I have left."
Source: teamtalk


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Saturday 19th September |
12.00-13.00 |
African Drummers African Drumming Performance |
A lively performance by the Lindfield based African Drumming Group |
13.00-14.00 |
African Drummers African Drumming Performance |
A lively performance by the Lindfield based African Drumming Group |
15.00-16.00 Community Hall |
African Drummers African Drumming Workshop |
Introduction to African drumming for teens and adults Maximum 15 people [minimum age] £5.00 a person Additional Information |
Drum workshops and 'taster' events are great to get people involved and to give a sense of 'try before you buy'. Workshops are run for adults and older teens as part of a short series to bring out your inner drummer!
thedrumcoach is a not-for-profit community organisation providing drum workshops and 1-1 tuition to local adults. Donations go to the Ebola Fund and to several West African charities and causes.
We've also formed a Community Drum Band made up of members from these local groups, who can play short sets at local festivals and village events.
Please enquire about fees and dates available.
Questions that often arise when attending drum workshops:
What will we be learning?
Core West African rhythms, starting with the easier, more accessible ones, and building up to more complicated patterns
How to hit the drum to bring out the right sound - and not hurt yourself!
How the various drum parts connect with each other. You will also hear how the large bass drums underpin the djembe rhythms Some of the origins of the drum and the rhythms used in West African culture
How will we learn?
Mainly by having fun, and by learning and playing together! From instruction from thedrumcoach - going slowly at the start, then building up speed and technique Having time to practice and repeat the rhythms to gain more fluency and confidence
Some 1–1 time to review progress and help overcome any barriers or difficulties By using the best of current adult learning principles and memory aids
What if I haven't played a drum before?
NO experience necessary! Just enthusiasm, bring your own talent! Don't worry, we'll take it easy, nice and slow to build up your confidence If you have played before/are experienced, we can build on that - more experienced players can take on more complex parts
Help, I don't have a drum!
We limit workshops to 15 so there should be enough drums there to play. Maybe share with someone else and listen for awhile… Bring your own djembe or conga if you own one.
How fit do I need to be? How will I play the drum safely?
No special fitness needed, but you do need to be fully able. We will use chairs and there are some straps available to help hold the drum close. You won't hurt yourself! (well, maybe a little bruised finger!)
More about thedrumcoach… Peter has been playing and teaching for over 15 years. He is also a qualified personal development coach. He has learnt from one of the world's drum masters, Mamady Keita. Peter has performed in West African drum and dance groups Yiri Baa and Kakandé, and with other 'world music' bands including Kunundrum and Glastonbury regulars - Carnival Collective.
He has formed a number of local drum workshop groups that are all progressing nicely! He also runs Summer Drum Days with a guest drummer (please enquire for dates).
Any drum workshops running nearby?
We run frequent drum workshops mostly in east Sussex and West Kent – current groups running in Lindfield, Hadlow, Sevenoaks. Payment is for a series, not a 'drop in' (ask for details). Personalised coaching Peter also offers 1-1 coaching and tuition as an option to learning in a group. Please ask for coaching rates and locations.
To book or make any enquiry, please contact thedrumcoach:
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
website: http://thedrumcoach.org facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.welch.507
t: 01892 853300 m : 0797 333 0698
I look forward to meeting you soon – come and hit the skin!
Peter Welch thedrumcoach


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Yuppies Invading Roosevelt Island - Oh My!
More today from New York Observer on Roosevelt Island. The headline reads:
Roosevelt Island Is Dead! Long Live Roosevelt Island! 'Yuppies' Have Moved Ashore in Search of FoodAnd:
While the development of fair-market housing has certainly widened the gap between the 10,000 original residents of what was once dubbed "welfare island" and the occupants of the 1,500 new luxury apartments completed in the past two years, the gentrification of Roosevelt Island has been a gradual process. The island's much hyped transformation began in 1989, when RIOC green-lit the first market-rate rental development, Manhattan Park, and did not accelerate until RIOC approved two luxury residential complexes in the middle of the past decade—the nine-building Riverwalk development and the Octagon, Becker and Becker's 500-unit rental development at the site of the former New York City Lunatic Asylum in the Northtown area.More on this next year.
Image is from Men Style.
UPDATE 2/10/08 - Roosevelt Island affordable housing at Southtown's Riverwalk buildings?


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ASA/USA Softball announces Craig Cress as next Executive Director
OKLAHOMA CITY --- The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) and USA Softball Board of Directors announced today the selection of Craig Cress (Edmond, Okla.) as the next Executive Director for the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States. Cress, who currently serves as the association's Director of Membership Services since May 2002, will begin duties as Executive Director effective November 15, 2013 at the ASA/USA Annual Council Meeting in Oklahoma City.
"I am very humbled, honored and excited for this tremendous opportunity," said Cress. "ASA/USA Softball has a storied history and there are many individuals who helped build and maintain this outstanding association. It has definitely been my privilege to have served ASA/USA Softball for over 35 years in many different roles and I look forward to being part of the future by serving as its next Executive Director. I appreciate the support and confidence of the ASA Board of Directors, the Membership and the National Office Staff - we will need everyone as we create the next chapter of this historic organization!"
Cress has been involved with the ASA for over 35 years serving in several roles as a player, umpire, district commissioner, Umpire-In-Chief, league administrator, as a council member, and National Office staff member. A native of Terre Haute, Ind., Cress started his involvement with ASA Softball as a player and spent many years behind the plate umpiring at all levels including National Championships and International Softball Federation Women's and Men's Fast Pitch World Championships. He served on the ASA National Umpire Staff for four years and in 2005, he was nationally honored for his years of expertise as an umpire by being inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame in the umpire category.
"ASA is honored and proud to name one of its own as the next Executive Director of ASA/USA Softball," said current ASA/USA Softball President ET Colvin (Mississippi ASA Commissioner). "Craig has come from the local ranks as a district commissioner, local umpire-in-chief to one of the best umpires in the nation. He came to the ASA National Office as Director of Membership services and has led that department and the ASA umpire program. He has the experience and knowledge at all levels to be a very successful Executive Director. Over the past few years Craig has been involved in the grass root programs of all 76 local associations and worked closely with all of ASA's local Commissioners. He will provide the leadership and guidance that will continue to move ASA forward and keep us as the leader in the sport of softball."


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Well… that was shocking wasn't it? This Friday evening "20/20" bestowed upon Brooks Ayers the honor of giving him his own segment on the popular news show. Even Slave Smiley hasn't been that lucky!
Yep, in front of the whole nation, on a nationally syndicated immensely popular news show, Brooks was outed as a deadbeat dad by his ex-girlfriend Nicolette Catanzarite. How'd you like them apples? Or oranges, if you will. I say Karma is a bitch, and I love her for it!
I'm sure Bravo is beside themselves with glee over the news that Real Houewives of Orange County's stellar reputation has been besmirched by the allegations – and I am most positive Vicki Gunvalson's obsessive love for con-man Brooks will suddenly wilt. In fact I anticipate that very soon she'll be issuing a statement about how they've grown apart, but she wishes him nothing but love.
And whaddya wanna bet Vicki's friendship with Tamra Barney will be rekindled, with a statement about how Tamra was good friend, just looking out for her.
In this instance, I have to say, Tamra was right to worry about Brooks. Although, I'm sure her "I told you so!" act is in full gloating swing.
With that said, let's get to the nitty-gritty of Nicolette's allegations that he has never paid child support for their son, whom Brooks dubs his "extra child" and even stiffed her on the delivery bill. Winner!
"He has not supported his child," Nicolette revealed. "He bailed on the hospital bill, the pediatrician bill, and left me with all of it." Nicolette is the mother of Brooks' three-year-old son, a child Brooks has no relationship with. Nicolette, a 41-year-old hair salon owner met Brooks when he was separated from his wife, the mother of his other three children.
Brooks' ex-wife is the woman who had him arrested for not paying child support. He has a previous arrest for a DUI. "I met Brooks in 2007 in Atlanta on a golf trip and he just kind of was a Southern charmer without a doubt," Nicolette recollects. "He just always said the right things at the right time." A story, Vicki is no doubt very familiar with.
Nicolette even says Mr. Hallmark plied her with greeting cards day and night. Hallmark needs to start banning him – he should be spending his money on his kids instead. These cards are like his crack.
Much like he promised Vicki the world, Nicolette heard a familiar refrain. "He did mention that he was going through a divorce and that he was legally separated and that he had three children," she added. "It wasn't appropriate that he would ask me to marry him while he was still married so he gave me a promise ring."
Nicolette shares that Brooks seemed so upfront about his past and his life, that she didn't think he was hiding anything. "I just believed everything that he said. I bought it hook, line and sinker," she admits.
He also told her had a vasectomy – another story she believed whole-heartedly. Until she got pregnant! "I was like, this is gonna be the best kid in the world," Nicolette recalls, believing she would be with Brooks forever. "I just couldn't wait to have him and really always thought that this was such a blessing."
Sadly, shortly after their son's birth, the affirmation cards dried up – and so did Brooks' interest! "Within two or three weeks I started seeing kind of a different behavior from him," Nicolette remembers. "He was obsessive, angry, moody and controlling with me. It was very strange." Their relationship quickly dissipated.
Nicolette says she started noticing his many lies, claiming he even lied about having nose cancer! LOL! (Sorry – I couldn't resist. What a fraud!) And that he started to bail on his financial obligations.
"Our electric bill was getting shut off, my phone was getting shut off and I didn't know he hadn't been paying the rent on the house," Nicolette says. "He would always make up excuses and say the judge has held the escrow account and they've locked all their funds until the divorce was final."
And then Brooks just disappeared – leaving only a PO Box number – and hasn't been seen or heard from since. Until her friends spotted him on the arm of Vicki flaunting their relationship on RHOC.
Nicolette has been trying to obtain child support from Brooks for years and in 2010 sued him over the matter. They later agreed Brooks would provide $700 per month and become current on his arrears of more than $2,500. Nicolette reveals she has seen little of that money. And she was shocked to see Vicki him splashing out for new veneers and a mink coat on TV.
After Brooks gave a recent interview to "Ask Dan and Mike," claiming: "I am happy to tell you that we got everything current. I never walked away from my kids. I speak to my kids every day." He then referred to their son as his "extra child," Nicolette was compelled to speak out.
"He's a manipulator, he's a liar, he's a con, he'll do or say anything to anybody, anytime, anywhere, to get what he wants," Nicolette seethed, adding that he know owes thousands of dollars to her and has not made any effort to make good on those obligations.
Well, he sounds like a real catch. Good thing Vicki snapped him up before anyone else got him. Actually – it is good. She can afford him, she's no longer of babymaking age, and she's keeping him off the streets before other women can be bamboozled. Here's to seeing Brooks rack up another mugshot. And the excuses that are soon to follow.
As for Brooks he has yet to comment on the story – and refused any of 20/20's questions – but he did add fuel to Nicolette's case by tweeting: "I paid for my teeth and the fur with my own money. Have a great night and thanks for watching us!" Also keeping mum on the issue: Vicki!
A video of the 20/20 segment is below. If you haven't seen it – you don't want to miss it! A photo of Nicolette and the son she shares with Brooks is below.
[Photo Credit: Vicki Gunvalson's Facebook]
Nicolette and the son she shares with Brooks. [Photo Credit: Nicolette's Facebook]


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Parshat Vayera
Three days after performing brit mila on himself, Avraham is visited by G-d. When three angels appear in human form, Avraham rushes to show them hospitality by bringing them into his tent, despite this being the most painful time after the operation. Sarah laughs when she hears from them that she will bear a son next year. G-d reveals to Avraham that He will destroy Sodom, and Avraham pleads for Sodom to be spared. G-d agrees that if there are fifty righteous people in Sodom He will not destroy it. Avraham "bargains" G-d down to ten righteous people. However, not even ten can be found. Lot, his wife and two daughters are rescued just before sulfur and fire rain down on Sodom and her sister cities. Lots wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. Lots daughters fear that as a result of the destruction there will be no husbands for them. They decide to get their father drunk and through him to perpetuate the human race. From the elder daughter, Moav is born, and from the younger, Ammon. Avraham moves to Gerar where Avimelech abducts Sarah. After G-d appears to Avimelech in a dream, he releases Sarah and appeases Avraham. As promised, a son, Yitzchak, is born to Sarah and Avraham. On the eighth day after the birth, Avraham circumcises him as commanded. Avraham makes a feast the day Yitzchak is weaned. Sarah tells Avraham to banish Hagar and Hagar's son Yishmael because she sees in him signs of degeneracy. Avraham is distressed at the prospect of banishing his son, but G-d tells him to listen to whatever Sarah tells him to do. After nearly dying of thirst in the desert, Yishmael is rescued by an angel and G-d promises that he will be the progenitor of a mighty nation. Avimelech enters into an alliance with Avraham when he sees that G-d is with him. In a tenth and final test, G-d instructs Avraham to take Yitzchak, who is now 37, and to offer him as a sacrifice. Avraham does this, in spite of ostensibly aborting Jewish nationhood and contradicting his life-long preaching against human sacrifice. At the last moment, G-d sends an angel to stop Avraham. Because of Avrahams unquestioning obedience, G-d promises him that even if the Jewish People sin, they will never be completely dominated by their foes. The parsha ends with the genealogy and birth of Rivka.
Turning Over
"And He (G-d) overturned these cities and all the plain and all the dwellers of the cities and the vegetation of the earth." (19:25)
When we look at the situation today it's easy to despair.
The strident metallic clang of materialism and selfishness seem to swamp out the message of the Torah and its People. The sensuous siren call of the media surrounds us all with a world whose reality is merely virtual.
Society at large seems deaf to morality, to modesty, to the values that are rooted in the Torah. The motto of the time is "Let it all hang out". In a world where there is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing brings shame, and thus anything is possible. And what is possible - happens.
Those who stand for the eternal values of our people are despised as fundamentalists and violent barbarians. Everything has been turned upside down.
There is a strange thread of history that runs from this week's Torah portion down through the ages and climaxes in the end of history: Lot was rescued from the overturning of Sodom. Why specifically was it necessary to overturn Sodom? Why couldn't Sodomhave just been destroyed with fire and brimstone? Wouldn't that have been cataclysmic enough? What are we supposed to learn from the fact that Sodomwas overturned? From the fact that it was "reversed"?
After the destruction of Sodom, Lot's daughters thought that they were the only human survivors of what must have looked like a global nuclear holocaust. They surmised that the only way to perpetuate the human species was to cohabit with their father. The Torah, however, ascribes no blame to their actions, as their motivation was pure.
From this incestuous union came a people called Moav — literally 'from father'. From Moav comes the prototypical convert, Ruth. From Ruth comes King David, and from King David comes the Mashiach. So it turns out that the foundation of Mashiach is ultimately in Sodom.
There are two ways that society's spiritual landscape can be changed. One way is by improving the situation bit by bit until the world is perfected. The other is that things get so bad that they cannot get any worse. At that point everything reverses in an instant from the nadir to the zenith. This second way is the way Mashiach will come.
The prophets speak in many places about the coming of Mashiach in terms of childbirth.
Someone ignorant of the process of childbirth who sees for the first time a woman in labor would be convinced that she is about to die. And the closer the actual moment of the birth, the stronger that impression would become.
And then, within a couple of minutes, seeming tragedy has turned into the greatest joy. A new life has entered the world.
Immediately prior to the coming of Mashiach there will be a tremendous confusion in the world. Everything will seem to have gone haywire. The natural order will be turned on its head: Age will bow to youth. Ugliness will be trumpeted as beauty, and what is beautiful will be disparaged as unattractive. Barbarism will be lauded as culture. And culture will be dismissed as worthless. The hunger of consumerism and the lust for material wealth will grow more and more, and it will find less and less to satisfy its voracity.
Eventually "materialism" will grow so rapacious that it will become its own angel of death. It will literally consume itself and regurgitate itself back out.
But from this decay the line of David will sprout, like vegetation that springs forth from no more than dirt and earth. For vegetation cannot flourish unless the seed rots. The second event is predicated on the first. It can be no other way.
It's interesting to note that Mashiach is referred to as the "tzemach tzedek", literally the" righteous sprouting". This is because his coming is identical to the growth of vegetation. First total decay and only then new life.
This is the way Mashiach will come. The worse things become, the more painful the birthpangs, the nearer is his coming. Until, like a mother who had delivered, all the tears and pain will be forgotten in the great joy of a new life.


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Ron Paul Considers Running As Independent
(policymic) -- by Robert Taylor --
In a recent petition at Change.org, Ron Paul supporters say they are "outraged" at the treatment Paul's candidacy has received from the GOP at the local, state, and national levels, the press blackouts of the candidate, and dirty tricks at the caucuses used against him. Because of this, they are urging fellow Paul supporters not to vote for the eventual Republican candidate if Paul or his son, Kentucky libertarian Senator Rand Paul, isn't nominated as the vice presidential candidate. Although I agree with the sentiment behind the petition, the GOP will likely not give either Paul a VP nod, and it would probably not appease Paul supporters anyway. So what will Paul supporters do in November?
The petition is absolutely correct, however, when they point out that Paul supports make up about 15-20% of the Republican Party, and GOP hostility to their presence at caucuses and their libertarian leanings is a recipe for disaster if the GOP thinks that they can win the presidency without a significant percentage of their votes. It is hard enough to defeat a sitting president; offering up a candidate that differs only slightly on major issues will make it even tougher.
There has been much speculation about what Ron Paul will do with the significant amount of delegates he will in Tampa. The mainstream media, never prone to hinder gossip, has suggested that Paul has an "alliance" with Romney where Paul will transfer his delegates over to Romney for a multitude of rumored reasons: a VP slot, cabinet position, speaking role at the convention, or influence in the party platform.
But this "alliance" is completely manufactured; the GOP leadership would never allow Ron Paul to be VP and Romney — being philosophically opposed to Paul on nearly every issue — would probably never even give it to Paul anyway. And even if Paul influenced the GOP platform by having them include, say, promises to audit the Federal Reserve, abolish the Sixteenth Amendment, and scale back the American empire, the GOP has a long history of using libertarian and populist rhetoric to acquire votes, only to expand the federal government once in power.
I sympathize heavily with the aforementioned petition's frustration with Paul's treatment from the GOP, but the likelihood of Paul being included in the GOP — or having actual influence among the nominee — is virtually zero. Paul supporters are also fundamentally at odds with much of what the GOP stands for, so they will likely not vote for the "lesser of two evils." Besides, when both parties offer slightly different version of federal interventionism at home and abroad, who exactly is the lesser of two evils? Without Paul in the race, 15-20% of the GOP will probably stay home, vote third party, and once again be unrepresented.
But that could change if Paul decides to do something that the petition doesn't discuss: run third party. Paul's home has never been with the Republican Party, the party elite are openly opposed to his ideas and candidacy. The Libertarian Party, which is on the ballot in all 50 states, has their presidential convention in early May and he could drop out of the GOP race by then and run as a Libertarian...MORE...LINK
Routed by Russians: Fleeing Ukrainian military in mutiny against
((Zelensky)) and his corrupt, incompetent, Zionist Occupied Government.
Expectations of pending coup.
*Chaos in Kiev follows chaotic retreat from Avdeyevka*
6 days ago


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2011 AC Schnitzer BMW X3
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(from AC Schnitzer Press Release) Even more individual driving pleasure
Unique and unmistakeable: The BMW X3 by AC Schnitzer
The new BMW X3, which has been available from dealers since autumn 2010, is uniquely versatile. Now BMW tuning specialist AC Schnitzer has developed an extensive range of accessories to make the second generation SUV stand out even more.
Just the AC Schnitzer performance upgrade from 184 to 218 HP in the X3 xDrive20d ensures that the vehicle stands out from the crowd. And in the near future, the Aachen-based specialist will be offering a performance upgrade for the X3 xDrive30d too.
With or without power upgrade, the engine bay styling with AC Schnitzer logo is available for all models.
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Such a special appearance must include the right wheels and tyres. This was also the view of the Aachen-based tuning specialists, who have given the X3 with BiColor a choice of Type VIII forged racing rims in 22 inch, or Type VII racing rims in BiColor or silver in 22 inch. One-piece rims of Type VI (BiColor), Type VIII (BiColor) and Type IV (BiColor or Silver) are also available in sizes 18, 19 or 20 inch. Forged alloy wheels Type V in 20 inch are of course also part of the extensive range.
The AC Schnitzer range for the new BMW X3 leaves BMW fans with only the problem of choice, and thus extends the unique versatility of the vehicle with even more individual driving pleasure.


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Features List
SAS Model Manager
Model registration
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- Directly supports Python models for scoring and publishing. Convert PMML and ONNX (using dlPy) to standard SAS model types. Manage and version R code like other types of code.
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Analytical workflow management
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Model scoring
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- Generate custom, out-of-the-box KPI performance modeling using a convenient wizard, and get simple alert notifications.


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It is our generation's task, then, to reignite the true engine of America's economic growth—a rising, thriving middle class.
So said Barack Obama in his State of the Union.
And for one of his ideas to reignite that engine, Republicans applauded.
"And tonight, I am announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union—because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs."
One wonders if any of those in the hall who rose robotically at the phrase "free and fair" were aware of the trade results just in from 2012.
What were the 2012 figures for the European Union?
U.S. exports to Europe fell, imports from Europe rose, and our trade deficit with the EU shot up 16 percent to $116 billion.
We ran a trade deficit with Italy of $20 billion, with Ireland of $25 billion, with Germany of $60 billion. The Europeans are eating our lunch.
What about South Korea, the country with whom we signed a free-trade deal in 2012?
U.S. exports to Korea fell last year, and due to a surge in imports our trade deficit in goods with South Korea soared 25 percent to $16.6 billion.
Seoul's trade minister who cut that deal and cleaned our clock should get a medal and the kind of bonus Americans reserve for people like hedge fund managers and the folks who ran Fannie and Freddie.
And Japan? Last year, Nippon ran a $76 billion trade surplus with the United States, second largest of any country.
But that is insufficient for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has bullied the Bank of Japan to drive down the yen 20 percent against the dollar in three months—to increase exports to America and cut imports.
Look for the U.S. trade deficit with Tokyo to explode.
What about that NAFTA treaty the establishments of both parties heralded in the Clinton era? How has that worked out for Uncle Sam?
Last year, the United States ran a trade deficit of $32 billion with Canada and twice that, $61 billion, with Mexico.
What was America's overall trade position in 2012?
We ran a global trade deficit in goods of $736 billion. That is 5 percent of the U.S. economy. We are hemorrhaging jobs, factories, wealth.
In banking, consulting, lawyering—i.e., services—we had a nice surplus. That's what we Americans do now.
Since Bush 1, when some of us began to argue loudly that a mindless ideological pursuit of free trade would imperil America's industrial base, the total of U.S. trade deficits in goods with the world is approaching $10 trillion—10 thousand billion dollars!
Might this humongous dumping of foreign goods into the U.S.A., killing our factories, and the liberation of our transnational elite to close plants, outsource production, and bring foreign-made goods back free of charge into the U.S. market, have had something to do with killing the middle class?
The U.S. median income stopped growing in the mid-1970s, the same time we began to run 40 straight years of ever-expanding trade deficits.
And how are we doing with China?
Well, if one reads the weekend Wall Street Journal, Feb. 9-10, on page A3 in the lower left-hand corner is a box with a story headlined, "Trade Gap Shrinks 21 Percent as Oil Imports Decline."
A positive headline, but about December only. In the 10th paragraph, however, was this tiny item: "Although the trade deficit with China narrowed 15.5 percent in December ... the year-long deficit grew to a record."
"Grew to a record"? What did that mean?
Elsewhere, one learns that the U.S. trade deficit in goods with China was not only an all-time record, but the largest between any two nations in the history of the world—$315 billion.
China now exports 6.3 times as much in manufactured goods to the United States, $417 billion's worth, as we export to China.
Over two decades, Republicans in the lead, America granted Beijing most favored nation status, then permanent normal trade relations. Then we squired Beijing into the World Trade Organization.
And since the courtship began, the trade surpluses China has run with the United States have enriched, empowered and emboldened her so that, today, brimming with ethnonational arrogance, China has laid claim to all the islands in the South and East China seas and is telling the U.S. Navy to stay out of the Yellow Sea and Formosa Strait.
And the free-trade fanatics responsible for building up this Asian colossus challenging us in the Pacific now tell us we must "pivot"—i.e., shift—our planes, ships and troops out of Europe and the Mideast to Asia and the Western Pacific to contain the mighty and mammoth power their stupidity created.
Every nation seems to understand what our baby boomers were never taught. A trade balance is a measure of national power that reliably identifies rising and falling nations.
Patrick J. Buchanan needs no introduction to VDARE.COM readers; his books State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, and Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? are available from Amazon.com


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We hate to say it, but we've been here before with cars similar to the Radical SR3 SL. Had we been dropped a few quid every time a fledgling car manufacturer promised (and subsequently failed) to rejuvenate the sports car market, Autocar would be brought to you from the Bahamas.
But among the empty factories and unpaid bills sometimes arrives a gem of a company – one that establishes itself with a sound business plan and survives thanks to sound products. A gem of a company, such as Radical.
Radical was founded in 1997 to take advantage of the increased enthusiasm for track days. Its first cars – motorbike-engined ones that could be made road legal – were so well received that Radical decided to create a one-make race series.
Since its inception more than 1000 cars, of various types but all similar in ethos, have rolled through the factory's doors. One even rolled convincingly around the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2009, finishing 20th overall.
Many have been road legal, but none has been as actively road biased as the SR3 SL you see here.


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Our Message
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Come, See & Join us for our
Worship Service 9am Sundays
*Sunday School for children: 9:30am
*Childcare is provided.
Sunday Bible Study following worship service:
*All other bible study groups are meeting at homes, please call @808-573-0903
Come & Be Blessed!
The Po`okela Church sits upon the lower slope of a 10,000 foot' sleeping volcano in the small town of Makawao. Our church is one of the oldest in Hawaii, formed in 1843 by Rev. Green, a missionary, for an all-hawaiian congregation. The church building has a beautifully restored interior, reflecting the antiquity of its origin, mixed with current architectural upgrades. The peaceful calm and warmth of the sanctuary creates a setting for worship and praise.
The 'aloha' of the congregation has an appeal that draws multiple cultures from surrounding areas. The Po`okela message creates a bond of joy and love along with a thirst for Christ. Faith, hope, and love.... we are an evangelical congregation, committed to sharing Christ with the world.
ur Pastor, Rev. Dr. Kimberly Fong, is small in stature, but huge in her zeal for the Lord. Her messages are Biblically centered, motivating into action those who hear. We have surrendered ourselves to be the Lord's "Fire on the Mountain"!
Please come and see… Aloha!
Po`okela Church is
a multi-cultural, intergenerational
community of faith committed to:
*worshipping God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
*promoting growth to a deeper faith
*loving as Jesus loves through the power of the Holy Spirit
*proclaiming the Gospel and reaching out to others in mercy
Misson Statements
Find us:
Po'okela Church •
200 Olinda Road,
Makawao, HI 96768
Contact Us
Phone: 808-573-0903
Office Hours:
Mon. & Thur. 9am-2pm
Please join us in our virtual worship service via
Live streaming @9am
Facebook: PookelaChurch
12/31/2023 @9am New Year's Eve Party: black/white


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UPDATE: According to CMGonline, the MV Agusta Brutale 1090R will replace the Brutale 920 only in the Canadian market.
The Canadian importer of MV Agusta motorcycles has once again outed a new model from the Italian company. First it was the entry-level (if you can call it that) 2011 MV Agusta Brutale 920 that broke cover because of our neighbors to the north, and now the Canadians have let slip news of the 2011 MV Agusta Brutale 1090R, another lower-spec version of the Brutale 1090RR (let us pause for a moment while we collectively go "hmmm…")
Available in Summer 2011, the MV Agusta Brutale 1090R is sporting a $16,695 price tag in Canada, which will likely translate into a sub-$15,000 MSRP here in the United States. At the core of the Brutale 1090R is a 1078cc that's good for 144 hp, which is based off the Brutale 990R's motor, but makes similar spec's as the lump found in the Brutale 1099RR.
If you're asking yourself why does MV Agusta need another lower-spec Brutale? "It doesn't" would be the answer, but the Italian company has seemingly quietly nixed the Brutale 920, presumably in favor of the 1090R instead. With the Italian site still listing the entry-level Brutale as a 921cc model, Canada has either outed a new model, or the news that the Brutale 920 will be replaced by the Brutale 1090R (interestingly enough, the Canadian site has done away with almost all reference to the 921cc machine). Either way, details on this bike are after the jump.


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System monitoring is an important aspect of any more-or-less advanced Linux user, because there comes a time when you want to know what is taking precious resources or simply how much it does take. And despite what some people think, this is not applicable only to server systems. Desktop applications go haywire too, and you find your system slowed down to a crawl because some "rogue" app decided to eat up all your memory. For enterprise users there are lots of potent free or commercial solutions for monitoring, but for the old-school Linux user and/or someone that prefers to keep it simple, there is always top(1). If you're somewhat familiar with the command line, you will probably benefit more from this article, but that doesn't mean GUI-centric users won't.
Frequently used options
Command line options
- -d delay
This option specifies delay in seconds between top's updates - -p pid
Monitoring a specific PID ( process ID ) - -b <number>
This is a batch mode usually used to log top's output. - -n iter
Specifies a number of updates required. For example to log top's single output this option can be combined with -b top -n 1 -b > top.log
top's internal commands
- H or ?
Displays top's keystrokes help - k
Kill process. Top command will ask for a PID of a process to kill. - r
Change process priority same by functionality as renice command - s
Change update rate. This is in number of seconds: 1, 0.5 and etc. - P
This command sorts all displayed processes by CPU usage - M
Same as above but sorts by Memory usage - q
Quit from top
Using top
You might've noticed we said nothing about installing top. That's because it's usually already installed in your distribution, and it's even to be found in a Gentoo minimal install. If you remember, top is not strange to us, as we mentioned it before, except now it's gonna receive more attention and you will get more examples and real-life use cases. As before in our Linux commands series, our main inspiration source are the manual pages, and we recommend you take a look at'em too, as these series aren't a substitute.
Actually, top can do more than just display a table of running processes. We will first concentrate on the CLI options, then what keys and options you can use in conjunction with the existing fields top displays, then we'll go on with the other possible uses of top and, of course, examples.
Command-line options
The fact that we're inspired from the manual page doesn't mean we have to be as precise and technical as the manual. So, what we'll do is take each option, explain it shortly and move on. As you're probably used to from other applications, the -h flag will show you help information, namely exactly what we'll talk about in this section. Curiously enough, the -v flag does the exact same thing, but that's consistent with what most Linux command-line applications do. OK, so now we'll get into the serious part. top doesn't have many command-line options, but it compensates with a very customizable interface once started. The first option we'll deal with is -b, which stands for batch, and is destined for advanced tasks, where output is to be sent to some file and then parsed by means of tools like awk, perl or shell scripts.
Before we go further, there is a little concept top makes intensive use of: toggling. There are binary-state options that can be toggled via command-line options. Binary state, if we managed to scare you, means that these options one can use to view various aspects of the system can only have two opposite values, hence the "binary" part. For example, the -c option toggles/reverses the last 'c'-state used: either command or program name. This can be simply illustrated. If you start xterm from the command line, you can start it like this:
$ xterm -cr white
Now that's the command line, but the program name will still be xterm (oh, and by the way, xterm's -cr option sets the cursor color). -d [seconds] is probably, at least from where I'm standing, one of the most used flags of top. It stands for delay and it sets the the "refresh rate" (dissimilar to monitors, mind you) of top. It accepts integers, fractions of seconds, but not negative numbers. If you enter a negative value, it will use the default value of five seconds. -H is another toggle option, and it will reverse the last option regarding threading, AKA display all threads or not. While this toggling stuff will appear weird at start, I bet you will get used to it and you'll find it useful after reading through this article. -i toggles the "idle and zombie processes view", -n [integer] controls the number of iterations of top (without this, top will run until you stop it with 'q' or ^C) and -u selects the effective user/UID to filter by, same as ps. -U does the same thing, but without the "effective" part, while -p [PID] filters by process ID, with the possibility to enter more than one PID, using comma separation, and exiting this mode is done by typing '='. top offers a secure mode as well, applicable even to root, that can be enabled by the -s flag, and finally there is -S, but it's use is better detailed when describing interactive mode, so we'll tell you later about it.
If you haven't used top already, it's best to know that it offers a lot of fields, none of them mandatory, and what follows is a list of them and a short explanation of each. We will try to be as short as humanly possible, because there are lots of fields and the names are pretty self-explanatory. This where some knowledge of Linux/Unix systems comes in handy, because we won't stop to explain terms like PID or TTY, just the ones that aren't imediately obvious. So, the fields are: PID, PPID, RUSER, UID, USER, GROUP, TTY, PR (priority), NI (nice value), P (last used processor), %CPU, TIME, TIME+(a more precise TIME), %MEM, VIRT, SWAP, RES, CODE, DATA, SHR, nFLT(page fault count), nDRT(dirty pages count), S (process status–see -S), Command (command-line or program name–see above), WCHAN, Flags.
One can select fields through the 'f' key, and order them via the 'o' key, so one can see exactly the data that matters, and unclutter the screen at the same time. Before we move on to interactive commands, we have to take a sneak peek at the modes top can run in. The first mode is the default, and is named full screen mode . The other is the alternate mode, and it can be toggled with 'A', that is capital a, and what it displays will be revealed later. Of course, you are recommended to take some time to play with top and see what happens when you press a key or another. From here on in, we will let examples do the work for us, so if you want a list of the interactive commands, you guessed it, look at the manual page.
Learning Linux top command with examples | |
Linux command syntax | Linux command description |
top -d 1 |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every second |
top -d 1 -b |
Starts top in batch mode with info refresh every second |
top -d 1 -n 5 |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every second, running five times |
top -d 3 -u myusername |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every three seconds, monitoring only certain effective UIDs or usernames |
top -p 1,1234 |
Starts top in interactive mode and restricts monitoring to PID 1 (init) and 1234 |
top -s -d 1 |
Starts top in interactive/secure mode with info refresh every second (try it) |
top -d 3 -U myusername |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every three seconds, monitoring only certain UIDs or usernames |
top -d 1 -c |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every second, toggling command line/program name (press 'c' in interactive mode) |
top -d 1 -H |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every second, toggling all threads (press 'H' in interactive mode) |
top -d 1 -i |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every second, toggling idle processes (press 'i' in interactive mode) |
top -d 1 -S |
Starts top in interactive mode with info refresh every second, toggling cumulative mode (press 'S' in interactive mode) |
What follows are some commands to be entered while top is running interactively and without secure mode on: | |
[enter] or [space] |
Refreshes the output |
[h] or [?] |
Print some help |
Toggle alternative mode |
Toggle boldface, provided your terminal has the capabilities |
[d] or [s] |
Change delay time (refresh) |
Change the field group (1-4) to be displayed. This is what alternate view does: it displays all the field groups. |
[u] |
Select an effective user (see -u) |
Select an user (see -U) |
[k] |
Kill a certain PID |
[q] |
Quit |
[r] |
Renice a process by PID |
Write the configuration file (see below) |
Change color mapping |
[l], [m].[t], [1] |
Toggle load average, memory usage, task/cpu and single separate CPU states (on SMP systems) |
[a] and [w] |
In alternate mode, skim between windows |
Configuration files
The file is named toprc and can be found in /etc, for system-wide scenarios, or if you want to create a personal one, use [W] as explained above, then use that as an example for further alterations.
*nix systems compatibility
Short answer: never count on it. Long answer: read the system's manual and expect that some things work as they do on Linux, other don't work at all or with different options. Google helps if you need a comparison between various implementations of top on different Unix systems.
Over the years, I found top indispensable, either when working at home or at the office. It is a potent tool that can give you pertinent answers in short time, only if you take a bit of your time to learn using it to its' full potential.