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By the time the 2009 football season rolled around, the University of Minnesota hadn't won a Big 10 title in 42 years. The Gophers largely spent those decades serving as target practice for the conference's higher powers, yet they weren't without occasional bursts of second-string glory. One arrived two years ago. Minnesota finished 6-6, achieving the minimum wins needed to earn a slot in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona.
Their bragging rights would be slender. Every year, 70 of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision's 120 teams get bowl invitations, making faceless games like the Insight akin to summer-camp participation awards.
Minnesota would face Iowa State, another 6-6 team from the Big 12. The teams were charged with providing three hours of TV programming for hard-core fans and shut-ins just before New Year's. The ratings would be measured in decimal points.
But within the U of M football offices in Minneapolis, there was cause for celebration, however muted. Though the game orbited well outside the realm of consequence, it was still a chance to reward players, boast to recruits, liquor up boosters, and feed a small army of university suits with a paid vacation in the Arizona sun.
The accounting office no doubt held a much different view. It surely knew that, like nearly all bowls, the Insight was designed to plunder all it could from a college treasury.
The bloodbath began the moment the contract was signed. Minnesota was obligated to write a check for 10,000 tickets, which were supposed to be resold to fans. Never mind that even the best of teams struggle to unload such amounts. For middling squads like the Gophers, it was nothing more than a way for the men in funny yellow blazers who ran the Insight to grab piles of money from a public university.
Minnesota managed to sell just 901 seats. After kicking another 900 to the band, administrators, and cherished hangers-on, the school was forced to eat $476,000 worth of useless tickets.
The contract also required the team to show up a week early, if only to burn as much school money as possible at the restaurants and retailers of Greater Phoenix.
One would think school administrators would protest such gall. But one would be wrong. They were quick to see the advantages of a luxury vacation on the school's dime. So they happily signed off. The school's traveling party was larded up with 722 people, including players, band members, and faculty. Airfare alone ran $542,000. Toss in hotels and meals, and the school had blown $1.3 million before the opening kickoff.
The ballsiest part of all: None of it was necessary.
Minnesota and Iowa State sit less than 200 miles apart. Their teams were providing the game. Their bands supplied the halftime entertainment. In fact, the Insight offered nothing—save for warm weather—that the schools couldn't have done better themselves. Had the game been played in Minneapolis, the teams could have sold more tickets and put on a profitable game, since Big 10 matches typically generate $1 to $2 million, not knee-bending losses.
Yet none of this was ever considered. Thanks to an alliance of unblushing incompetence and corruption, college football long ago decided to outsource its most valuable asset—its postseason earnings.
The scheme plays out each year on the ostensibly pristine fields of amateur athletics. Bowl executives grant themselves breathtaking salaries. The games, meanwhile, provide coaches, athletic directors, and the suits who nominally supervise them with an unending stream of bonuses.
Everyone else picks up the tab.
There's a reason cities hosting Super Bowls or rounds of March Madness bid with buffets of giveaways just to land the tourist traffic: If you want a taste, you have to pay.
College football is the only sport that gives away its postseason revenues. Its business model is akin to Walmart keeping its profits for the first 10 months of the year, then letting Value World host its holiday sales.
This is an especially hazardous form of capitalism for the nation's universities, which have been bloodied by ever-diving state funding combined with double-digit tuition hikes. And contrary to popular belief, their athletic departments just widen the damage. Depending upon the year, only about 10 of the 120 athletic departments in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision actually pay for themselves. The rest require students and taxpayers to ride to the rescue.
Minnesota is typical. From 2006 to 2009, the Gophers went to three Insight Bowls. Their bill for unsold tickets alone was well over $1 million. At the same time, their athletic department needed a $25 million infusion over five years just to break even.
These kinds of losses could be allayed if college football simply cut out the middlemen—the bowls—and took its postseason in-house by adopting a playoff system. Instead, universities have chosen to hand their money away in a deal that's at best moronic, and at worst an epic swindle.
The racket works like this: Through required purchases of anywhere from 10,000 to 17,500 tickets, schools essentially pay for the right to appear in a bowl. The bowls keep the ticket and sponsorship money. Bowl execs also negotiate their own TV contracts.
After taking 50 to 60 percent off the top, the bowls then write checks to the teams' conferences. The conferences, in turn, split that money among their schools. (Profits from the five Bowl Championship Series games are spread in varying degrees among all conferences.) But only about half of the 35 bowls offer payouts large enough to cover team expenses. So the conferences use money from more lucrative bowl games to cover losses from the barkers.
"You don't lose money going to bowl games, at least not in the Big 10," says Minnesota football spokesman Andy Seeley. But that's true only in a technical sense. In the Gophers' case, the Big 10 covered the university's $1.3 million blemish from the 2009 Insight Bowl. What insiders don't mention is the humongous pyramid of cash schools are leaving on the table.
"They should go take Economics 101," says Dan Wetzel, a Yahoo sports columnist and co-author of Death to the BCS. "Lost profit is lost money to any other business in the world."
And these losses are staggering. Last year, the nation's bowls paid schools roughly $270 million. Just for playing middlemen and providing 70-degree temperatures, bowl execs grabbed a larger cut, north of $300 million.
Even bowl apologists admit that by implementing a playoff system—as every other NCAA sport does—schools could generate three to four times what they're bringing home now. That's because TV networks will pay far more for a playoff game than they will for straight-to-DVD thrillers like the Beef O'Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl.
Under a playoff system, the schools' collective take might even approach $1 billion annually. It's the kind of money that could fill budget gaps in nearly every Division I FBS school's athletic department. Yet one small barrier stands in the way: A playoff system would ensure that schools would take home the money, not the insiders who make these decisions.
So college football is left with lopsided accords like Minnesota's. While the Gophers were requiring a Big 10 bailout for those large red numbers in Tempe, Insight CEO John Junker was paying himself nearly $600,000 a year, with added perks like country-club memberships as far away as Oregon and Oklahoma.
Coaches and athletic directors make a similar killing. Three years ago, the University of Florida beat Oklahoma for the national title. The Gators may have generated untold riches, but the school itself managed just a $50,000 profit—enough to pay for a team banquet and perhaps another part-timer for the groundskeeping crew.
Florida's coaches and athletic officials were bound by no similar restraints. They took home $960,000 in bonuses.
That's the beauty of the system: No matter how much money is torched, the insiders always get paid.
"The money is not the reason we have the system we have," says Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS. "It rewards the athletes at the end of the year with a celebration."
It's a common refrain among the sport's elder statesmen, and the gentlemanly Hancock speaks with the earnestness of a true believer. There's little doubt players have earned a respite after the ceaseless beatdown that is a football season. Especially since they receive but a fraction of the towering wealth they generate.
Minnesota's Seeley describes bowls as an educational experience, a chance for young men to spend a week learning about another part of the country. But considering that schools are giving away more than $300 million a year to bowls, it may be the most expensive week of touring amusement parks and children's hospitals ever conceived. And it presumes the schools couldn't do it better without making someone else rich.
Take Junker, the system's most egregious sponge. He was the CEO of the Insight and Fiesta bowls until he was fired last spring. His games may technically have been charities; he just considered himself the neediest recipient of all.
According to lawyers hired by the bowls' board to investigate malfeasance, he blew $33,000 on his own birthday party in Pebble Beach. He spent $19,000 on country-club memberships in three different states. When he wasn't running up $1,200 bills at strip joints, he was bidding $90,000 in a charity auction to play golf with Jack Nicklaus.
It all came from money that could have gone to America's colleges. More alarming, Junker's spree only ended after he was outed by The Arizona Republic for illegally reimbursing employees for donations to his political allies.
Most bowl executives have equally inflated views of their own value. Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms pays himself $506,000 a year, and kicks nearly $1 million more in salaries to four lesser execs. Outback Bowl President Jim McVay takes in $808,000 annually. The bosses for the Cotton and Alamo bowls make $419,000. For staging one game a year. Meanwhile, the nation's colleges put on 10 times the number of events back home at just a fraction of the cost.
Bowl executives defend themselves by claiming to run charities. That may be true in terms of their IRS status, but charity implies giving to someone other than yourself. In the world of college bowl games, that hasn't happened for more than 60 years.
Studies show that as far back as 1947, bowls were giving less than 1 percent of their receipts to the needy. Today, their benevolence ranges from just 1 to 3 percent. By comparison, "Most highly efficient charities will spend 75 percent or more," says Megan Davison of CharityWatch, a Chicago group that helps donors find the most effective charities. "A program that spends 60 percent will get a C grade from us."
So what does one receive for donating just 3 percent? "We would give them an F grade and call them pathetic and urge the general public not to support them," says Daniel Borochoff, president of CharityWatch.
But while bowls violate every principle of philanthropy, state and city politicians are happy to look away. The games' nonprofit status may allow them to skirt taxes, but they do deliver built-in tourist traffic.
To ensure no one asks too many questions, the bowls fete these same politicians with receptions, comped tickets, and sideline passes. The Fiesta Bowl even paid for luxury legislator junkets to cities like Chicago and Boston.
The bowls do their best to cloak this strange approach to philanthropy. Both the Orange and Sugar bowls claim they do wonders for their cities' charities; for reasons unexplained, they just don't include those donations on their books. Meanwhile, bowls like the Cotton simply ignore a reporter's requests for comment.
Even the small number of bowls set up as for-profit enterprises claim to be charitable in spirit. At Houston's Meineke Car Care Bowl, one of seven games owned by ESPN, spokesman Zac Emmons is happy to note that $400,000 has been donated to the DePelchin Children's Center over the past five years. But he isn't authorized to reveal what percentage of the game's revenue went to charity—or how much executive director Heather Houston is paid.
ESPN network publicist Rachel Margolis won't talk numbers either: "We usually don't disclose any information related to revenue or wages for any of our bowls," she says.
Equally trapped in an altruistic mirage is the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco, sponsored by food giant Kraft. The bowl insinuates that it's part of Kraft's marketing campaign to give away 25 million meals a year. Spokesman Doug Kelly claims the bowl "donated the equivalent of 120,000 meals" in 2010. That's likely an overstatement. The game's own website says it gives away just one meal per ticket sold, and the Kraft is known for hosting pastures of empty seats. So it's not surprising that Kelly gets defensive when asked what percentage of the revenue goes to the hungry. "That's proprietary," he responds.
He's politely informed that, as a charity, the bowl is obligated to make such figures public. After all, Sports Business Journal reports that the game's CEO, Gary Cavalli, makes $377,475 a year, likely making him the hungriest of all. But Kelly is in no mood to provide details of the game's supposed largesse. He suddenly claims that he's been speaking off the record and that he can't be quoted.
The BCS's Hancock wisely downplays the beneficence angle, well aware that it's riddled with blather. Instead, he emphasizes the tourism advantages to host cities. He's right, of course. By forcing schools to write mammoth ticket checks—and contractually coercing teams to stay longer than they need to—bowls do wonders for warm-weather economies.
"There's no question bowl games benefit charities in their community," Hancock says. "From my perspective, the economic development to the community is significant. It's a blend. I think the people who talk about the bowls as nonprofits exclude the economic-development end."
Left unmentioned is why Washington state residents will be thrilled to see their tax money burned in San Antonio when the Huskies face Baylor in this year's Alamo Bowl. Or why University of Missouri students would have wanted to subsidize Tempe when the Tigers played the Insight last year. That's the problem with the insiders: The system rewards them so lavishly, they simply can't fathom that others might resent paying the freight.
College presidents could easily put a stop to the shell game. If they had the will. Which they don't.
They tend to be a lot like coaches, a job-jumping species forever on the hunt for more prestigious posts. This march to greater altitudes requires staying in the good graces of trustees and big donors, who enjoy free bowl vacations as much as everyone else. Besides, many presidents wield less institutional power than their own coaches, as Penn State's pedophilia scandal revealed. So they behave like congressmen, allowing their schools to be pillaged to preserve their political capital. Better to kick these decisions to athletic directors and conference commissioners.
And that's where the pitfalls begin.
"The bowl directors are a lot smarter than the athletic directors, because anyone who would agree to this deal is getting whomped," says Yahoo columnist Wetzel.
It's not that ADs are necessarily stupid. Let's just say they're incurious and not especially self-aware.
Most have spent years, if not decades, being chummy with bowl execs. When they're invited to events like the Fiesta Frolic, a weekend of splendor and golf in Phoenix—price tag: $387,421—they don't believe their allegiance is being purchased. It's just a swell time among old friends.
The same goes for the Orange Bowl's Summer Splash events. Last year's featured an "all-inclusive, three-night, four-day complimentary getaway" for 40 insiders and their guests, according to the invitation. They sailed the Caribbean, docked at a private island, and spent their days parasailing and "sipping delicious Coco Locos on a hammock." Don't forget the free pedicures.
"It's really an opportunity for us to bring key stakeholders together, whether conference people or folks from the schools, to come down to South Florida and to get a taste of what we have to offer," says Orange Bowl vice president Larry Wahl.
Yet he admits his game, part of the BCS series, has to "vie constantly to maintain the position in the BCS. It comes up for renewal every four years." And nothing ensures that renewal like a free luxury cruise.
Wetzel contends that athletic directors simply aren't bright enough to know they've been bought, seeing these freebies from friends as just another part of college football's grand tradition. So they're not inclined to get too inquisitive over contracts. And this allows their "friends" to utterly rip them off.
The biggest scam is the bulk ticket purchases. Depending upon the bowl, schools are required to buy anywhere from 10,000 to 17,500 up front. So begins the seasonal hemorrhage.
The deal starts with a presumption of failure. Even powerhouses like Ohio State rarely sell that many. When the Buckeyes played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2009, they failed to sell more than 7,000 seats. Price for this bath: $1 million. Auburn, last year's national champion, was still stuck with $781,000 in unsold tickets from the title game.
What's worse is that the seats depreciate from the moment of purchase. Though attendance for most games is a fraction of capacity, the schools still pay bloated face-value prices. Their "friends" aren't about to grant them bulk discounts. So when the colleges can't sell these seats to their fans, the market is flooded with more than 200,000 bowl tickets a year.
Prudent UCLA fans, for example, know better than to buy heftily priced seats from the school. After all, a ticket broker will soon be pushing the same seats for dimes on the dollar. StubHub once famously sold tickets to the Music City Bowl in Nashville for just 19 cents.
So though Connecticut may have won the Big East championship last year, it still failed to sell 14,729 seats to the Fiesta Bowl. The bowl charged the Huskies prices ranging from $111 to $268 a ticket. StubHub, meanwhile, was offering them at $20 a pop.
The ticket scheme alone leaves schools awash in red ink. Virginia Tech lost $400,000 on last year's trip to the Orange Bowl—despite getting $1.2 million from the ACC. Though Auburn claimed last season's BCS crown, financial records show it still lost $600,000—even after a $2.2 million bailout from the Southeastern Conference.
Some bowls have also found a way to scam schools on hotels. Since the bowls usually arrange lodging, athletic directors assume their "friends" are negotiating the best group deals. But that's not always the case.
Under Junker's rule, the Fiesta Bowl required schools to purchase 3,750 room-nights at about $200 a pop. According to the contract, the schools had to pay whether they used them or not.
But what Junker wasn't telling his "friends" was that he'd arranged a side deal with the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. In exchange for funneling teams to Scottsdale resorts, the city's tourism arm agreed to kick the Fiesta Bowl $8.2 million over the 20-year pact, according to a contract discovered by The Arizona Republic. The Sugar Bowl also received "voluntary commissions" from New Orleans hotels. Other bowls have been accused of similar arrangements.
It's nothing more than a massive "money-laundering" scheme, says Richard Southall, director of the College Sport Research Institute at the University of North Carolina. That's the only way to describe a system where schools send millions to bowls, then bowls use a fraction of that same money to pay teams for playing.
The problem for college football is that too many people are taking notice.
Consider Taylor Morgan. He's a board member of Playoff PAC, a fan group launched to protest the way the BCS picks title contenders. It's a ubiquitous complaint. One Gallup poll showed that 85 percent of fans favor a playoff system, leaving bowls slightly more popular than polio.
But Morgan and his friends soon realized the selection process was a minor travesty. More galling was the way bowls grabbed money from everyone in their path. "These bowls receive millions of dollars in federal and state subsidies," says Morgan. "They don't donate money to their communities. They don't do anything of substance in a charitable sense, other than line the pockets of their friends and executives."
So Playoff PAC posted financial records from bowls and schools for everyone to see. It also began bombing the IRS with complaints that bowls were violating their charitable tax status. Add books like Wetzel's Death to the BCS, a step-by-step account of this wholesale soaking, and bowl execs were suddenly being publicly strafed for their sins. Just a few years ago, these same execs were claiming before Congress that they were legitimate charities. These days, they're being confronted with their own financial reports that say otherwise.
The system's also facing attack on the antitrust front. Only the six biggest conferences—plus the Notre Dame athletic director—have voting rights within the BCS. The BCS picks the teams for the top five bowls. These six leagues also receive the largest revenue cuts, leaving the five remaining Division I FBS conferences at their mercy.
Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist likens it to Major League Baseball allowing the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies to decide who makes the playoffs—and guaranteeing themselves the biggest paydays. So he and 21 other economists filed a complaint last spring urging the Justice Department to investigate the BCS for antitrust violations.
Despite its access to the country's best mathematicians, many argue, the BCS can't even get its computer rankings right. Famed sports statistician Bill James has said they're based on "nonsense math." Hal Stern, a professor at the University of California-Irvine, has even called for a BCS boycott in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports.
Then there are the university presidents. Faced with continuous funding cuts, at some point they're bound to go looking for new revenue. Since March Madness generates more than $600 million a year, schools might belatedly realize that a playoff for football, the more popular sport, is sure to bring a torrent of cash. Fortunately, even those short on courage tend to find it when free money's in sight.
Hancock seems to know the end is near, though he won't say it outright. The BCS contract expires in 2014, and Hancock acknowledges that dozens of new proposals are floating around college football.
History says the insiders will try to change as little as possible. They've offered minor concessions every few years since the dawn of the BCS, just enough to keep attorneys general and nosy congressmen at bay. But the bowls' duplicity is so obvious they can't hold on much longer.
"I want what's best for the students," Hancock says. If he's being honest with himself, he can't help but push for reform. After all, he has to know that at the bottom of this insiders' pyramid are those who can afford it least—the kids paying tuition.
"What's really egregious is they shift that burden to their students," says Morgan.
And that's the unholiest part of it all.
With reporting from Tim Elfrink.


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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It was just another chilly practice late last October, and Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly was fretting about what he called "instability" among his quarterbacks. Michael Vick's hamstring was balky again, sending the starter to the bench, and the offense had slowed to a crawl in two straightlosses played mostly without him. When Kelly named Nick Foles the starter for that weekend's game against Oakland -- the Week 9 contest that began the second half of the Eagles' season -- it might have seemed, in hindsight, like the moment he cast his team in a new direction.
But really, it was Kelly playing his only viable option, going with the quarterback who had lost a training camp battle to an older, riskier competitor mostly because, at that moment, Foles was upright and intact. That week, with Vick in the trainer's room, Foles forced into action and Matt Barkley unreliable, it seemed obvious that the Eagles' quarterback of the future was elsewhere, likely on a college campus. When Kelly was asked if, were Vick to become healthy again, the quarterback decision would be a week-to-week one, he responded not with a ringing tone of confidence in Foles but with weariness at the crises facing him.
"God," he said. "I hope not."
Even Kelly probably didn't dare to imagine that it would turn out the way it did, with Foles tying an NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes against the Raiders, seizing the job with a nearly flawless performance for the season -- 27 touchdowns and two interceptions in all -- and helping the Eagles win seven of their last eight games to take the NFC East and grab a playoff spot, earning a Pro Bowl nod in the process.
"I think that the play that they got at quarterback last year was real good," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday. "I'm not sure that anybody totally saw that coming, but that was a big part of it."
Belichick and the Patriots certainly didn't see it last summer, when the Eagles and Patriots held the first edition of their joint practices. When Belichick got a look at his friend Kelly's team in Philadelphia last year, the Eagles' defense was often befuddled by the Patriots' electric passes, and Vick was taking an early lead over Foles in the quarterback competition.
But as the Patriots and Eagles gathered for joint practices again this week ahead of Friday's preseason matchup between the two teams, the expectations for Philadelphia have been so thoroughly transformed that Foles' two interceptions in the first quarter of the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears have set off a wave of hand-wringing about what it all might mean. Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur chalked those up to two bad decisions, but given how Foles responded in the first practice with the Patriots on Tuesday, it will probably mean nothing at all.
During said practice, Foles faced Patriots cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, among the best tandems in the NFL, in front of an overflow crowd of more than 25,000 fans -- and he did not commit a single turnover. Foles completed one deep pass to Jeremy Maclin over Revis, then hit a gorgeous deep sideline pass to LeSean McCoy.
"They're going to try to lure me into things," Foles said of Revis and Browner. "That's why they are great. I just trust in my reads."
Foles has talked a lot this offseason about getting the ball out faster and reducing the number of sacks he takes. (Foles was sacked 28 times in 2013, but remember, he only started 10 games.) And while it seems unlikely that Foles could have so few interceptions again this season, it does seem possible that, with Kelly's big-play offense fully in his command now, the quarterback could record more than 27 touchdown passes -- and perhaps take the Eagles, who were one-and-done in last season's playoffs, on a deeper postseason run.
On Tuesday, Foles took advantage of one of the benefits of joint practices, spending some of the time when the Eagles' offense was not on the field observing Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Foles, who hopes to pick Brady's brain this week, said he was watching Brady's movement in the pocket, how he places the ball in the right spot for the receiver, how he is willing to take shorter, underneath throws rather than press for a bigger gain. Those are the subtleties that set quarterbacks like Brady apart, the kinds of details that a third-year pro like Foles still must master.
Because of the vagaries of roster shuffling, it is difficult to draw straight-line comparisons from season to season. And certainly the departure of receiver DeSean Jackson and the addition of running back Darren Sproles is likely to alter the complexion of the Eagles' offense -- and the throws Foles comes to rely on -- as this season progresses. But it is impossible not to be seduced by the simple timeline of Foles' development when an obvious anniversary like this one presents itself. Almost exactly a year ago, he wasn't good enough to start. Now, when he looks to Brady for clues about how to improve, it doesn't seem like such a laughable divide to bridge.
Brooks: Best offensive division?
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Foles isn't much for introspection -- about last season or last week's game -- and while he said it was an honor for Belichick to praise his play, he mostly sloughed off attempts to get him to dissect his development. He said he has already put the errant throws against the Bears behind him. He acknowledges he will make mistakes again, but he said it was important that Eagles players see that one bad outing won't unravel him.
"I think just knowing this offense, the personnel, the decision-making, everything I do, I'm a little bit better," Foles said. "Every day, I want to gain a little bit. You can imagine, playing all the games since we had the practice, I'm a lot different."
So different, in fact, that nobody will be taken by surprise by Foles and the Eagles again.
Follow Judy Battista on Twitter @judybattista.

subset: commoncrawl


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This felt flower is attached to a flexible wire stem and then wire is felted again with wool. You can gently straighten out the flower until you are happy with the arrangement. 17 inches tall. Sold individually
Meet the Artisans
Hamro VillageHamro Village is a wholesaler brand of fair trade products handcrafted in Nepal. The majestic Himalayas, the rugged mountains and the flora and fauna form the character of Nepal's 47 different ethnic groups, and this is reflected in distinctiveness of Hamro products. They believe in transparency based on open dialogue and respect with artisans to ensure better working conditions and greater equity. |


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Are you considering owning a small business? Discover some offiical Federal publications with guidance from the Small Business Administration and from other agencies to provide information to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
You will find guidance about grants & awards, copyrights, e-commerce, exporting/importing, customs & duties including customs and border regulations, how to do business with the Federal Government, insurance, patents &t rademarks, retirement, taxes, and more.
If your small business is related to construction, engineering, or farming, check out official resources within these areas to meet special Federal building codes, inpections, and information relating to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).


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China gives Putin a diplomatic boost
The two governments are negotiating a sale of Russian gas to China
Shanghai: Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing isolation in the West over Ukraine, received a diplomatic boost on Tuesday on a state visit to China, where he hopes to extend his country's dealings with Asia.
Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the start of a two-day conference on Asian security with leaders from Iran and Central Asia.
The two governments are negotiating a multibillion-dollar sale of Russian gas to China, and officials have said a deal might be completed in time to be signed during Putin's visit.
The deal would give Moscow an economic and political win at a time when Washington and the European Union have imposed asset freezes and visa bans on dozens of Russian officials and several companies.
The US treasury secretary, Jacob Lew, appealed to China during a visit last week to avoid taking steps that might offset the impact of sanctions. However, American officials have acknowledged China's pressing need for energy.
The deal to pipe Siberian gas to China's northeast would help Russia diversify export routes away from Europe. It would help to ease Chinese gas shortages and heavy reliance on coal.
Putin told Chinese reporters ahead of his visit that China-Russia cooperation had reached an all-time high.
"China is our reliable friend. To expand cooperation with China is undoubtedly Russia's diplomatic priority," Putin said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Xi and Putin were scheduled to kick off a joint exercise between their two navies in the northern part of the East China Sea.
The two countries developed a strategic partnership after the 1991 Soviet collapse, including close political, economic and military ties in a shared aspiration to counter U.S. influence, especially in Central Asia.
Talks on the proposed 30-year contract between Russia's government-controlled Gazprom and state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. began more than a decade ago.
A tentative agreement signed in March 2013 calls for Gazprom to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year beginning in 2018, with an option to increase that to 60 billion cubic meters.
Plans call for building a pipeline to link China's northeast to a line that carries gas from western Siberia to the Pacific port of Vladivostok.
A gas deal would mean China would be in a "de facto alliance with Russia," said Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow.
In exchange, Moscow might lift restrictions on Chinese investment in Russia and on exports of military technology, Kashin said in an email.
"In the more distant future, full military alliance cannot be excluded," Kashin said.
"It will, however, take years for China to start playing in the Russian economy a role comparable to that of the EU," he said. "After that happens, both China and Russia will be much less vulnerable to any potential Western pressure and that, of course, will affect the foreign policy of both these countries."
( Source : AP )
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Hydraulics are a feature available in some GTA games, which enables cars to bounce around by moving the right analog stick (PS2/XBOX) or 2, 4, 6 and 8 in the numpad (PC). Pressing the left analog stick in will cause the hydraulics to lock in place. The first car in the series to have hydraulics was a Yardie Lobo, in GTA III. In GTA Vice City, the Voodoo. Finally in GTA San Andreas, the player can customize almost any vehicle to feature hydraulics, but story-wise, the first vehicle to feature them is the Savanna. In San Andreas most low-riders are already equipped with them. As both hydraulics and the game camera are controlled with the right analog stick, vehicles with hydraulics disable the camera control. Installing hydraulics will also disable the vehicle's horn as well. Most cars can also be equipped with hydraulics at Wheel Arch Angels and TransFender,
Cars with Hydraulics
The following cars have a chance of having hydraulics when spawned on the street during gameplay.
- GTA Vice City
- GTA San Andreas


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Guide To Visiting MLB Spring Training In Florida
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves will once again play their home games at Champion Stadium, located within the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. First opened in 1997, the 255-acre ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex features nine multi-purpose venues, including four other ballparks and a softball diamondplex. A segment of Walt Disney World Resort, there are several affordable lodging and dining options nearby for visitors to the ESPN sports complex, such as Disney's All-Star Music Resort and Disney's Pop Century Resort.
Related: Top Scenic Drives Near South Florida
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles make their spring home within the walls of Ed Smith Stadium. Located just minutes from the heart of downtown Sarasota, the stadium's seating capacity is 8,500 .. Most of the best places for dining and lodging in Sarasota can be found along the coastline of Sarasota Bay, including on the barrier islands nearby. Among the best places to stay are the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, the Resort at Longboat Key Club and Lido Beach Resort. Excellent local dining options include Antoine's Restaurant, Big Water Fish Market and Tommy Bahama Restaurant and Bar.
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox play their spring training games at the appropriately named JetBlue Park at Fenway South in Fort Myers. With a capacity of approximately 11,000 fans, this spring training ballpark features a replica of the Green Monster out in left field, although much smaller than the the iconic original in Boston. JetBlue Park at Fenway South is just a 10 minute drive from the Southwest Florida International Airport, allowing for an easy transfer for arriving Red Sox fans. Along the way is a large cluster of moderately priced hotels, such as Four Points Sheraton and SpringHill Suites, that can be found near the intersection of Interstate Highway 75 and Daniels Parkway. However, the Fort Myers area offers several other lodging options, particularly off the coast on Sanibel Island and Estero Island. Great spots for dining in the Fort Myers area include Mina's Bistro, Reuben's Smokehouse, Roadhouse Cafe and the Veranda.
Photo Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers have been hosting spring training in Lakeland for over 80 years and currently play at Joker Marchant Stadium. Joke Merchant Stadium is a 8,500 seat ballpark that also serves as the regular season home for the Lakeland Tigers, one of the Tigers' minor league teams. Located about 35 miles west of Tampa and 60 miles southwest of Orlando, Lakeland has several very affordable places to stay such as Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn & Suites. Similarly, visitors have several very affordable options for dining, including GrillSmith, Harry's Seafood, Bar and Grille and Palace Pizza.
Houston Astros
Since 1985, Osceola County Stadium has been the spring training home of the Houston Astros. Located just 15 miles west of the Atlanta Braves' spring training home field in Kissimmee, the Astros' 5,300 seat stadium has the smallest capacity of any other stadium in the Grapefruit League. Despite ranking last in capacity amongst all other spring training stadiums in Florida, loyal fans will say there isn't a bad seat in the house. With its proximity to Walt Disney World and the other major attractions in the Orlando area, there is a wide range of choices for comfortable lodging and excellent dining. Smart options for lodging include Embassy Suites by Hilton, Lighthouse Key Resort and Spa and Comfort Suites. For dining out, visitors might want to check out places like Savion's Place, LongHorn Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse.
Miami Marlins
Florida's own Miami Marlins play their spring training home games at the 6,871 seat Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter. Located on 110 acres 82 miles north of the Marlins Park, the stadium first opened in 1998 and also serves as the spring training home field for the St. Louis Cardinals. Recommended lodging nearby includes Courtyard Marriott, Homewood Suites and Holiday Inn Express. Plenty of restaurants are also conveniently located near the stadium, such as Costello's Trattoria, JJ Mugs Stadium Grill, Jumby Bay Island Grill and Leftovers Cafe.
Minnesota Twins
Like the Boston Red Sox, the Minnesota Twins play their spring training games in Fort Myers. But it's more of a spring training crosstown rivalry as the Twins host their home games at Hammond Stadium, about six miles west of the Red Sox's home field. Located within the enormous CenturyLink Sports Complex, Hammond Stadium has a seating capacity of 9,300 and is also the home of two of the Twins' minor league affiliates, the Fort Myers Miracle and Gulf Coast League Twins. Hotels like Homewood Suites and Fairfield Inn are just a few minutes from the stadium. However, like the recommendations for dining and lodging for Boston Red Sox fans, the best-rated spots can be found along the Gulf Coast.
New York Mets
The Mets will host spring training games at the 7,000 seat Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. Also home to two minor league teams, the St. Lucie Mets and Gulf Coast Mets, the stadium has been the host for three Florida State League All Star Games, including last season's event. Port Lucie lies along Florida's Treasure Coast, about 48 miles north of West Palm Beach. Many affordable hotels are located a few miles from the stadium, including SpringHill Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites and Residence Inn. Also close by are several moderately priced restaurants like West End Grill, Spice Thai Restaurant and Park Avenue BBQ Grille.
Photo Credit: Brian Blanco/Getty Images
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees play their spring training home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Named after the longtime owner of the Yankees who passed away in 2010, the stadium holds 11,026 fans, making it the largest spring training ballpark in the Sunshine State. Steinbrenner Field is located across from Raymond James Stadium, the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Al Lopez Field, the former spring training site named after the Hall of Famer and Tampa native. Because Tampa is the third most populous city in Florida, there are hundreds of dining and lodging options for Yankee fans. Among the notable hotels near the spring training ballpark are DoubleTree by Hilton, Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel and the Intercontinental Tampa. Popular spots for dining in the Tampa area include Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant, The Capital Grille, Roy's and Bazille.
Philadelphia Phillies
Much like the Detroit Tigers, the Philadelphia Phillies have had a long standing commitment with their host spring training city. Home spring training games for the Phillies have been held in Clearwater since 1958 and the current stadium, Bright House Field, has been in use since 2004. Located 19 miles west of Tampa, the ballpark has a maximum seating capacity of 8,500 and is also the home of the Phillies' Class A affiliate, Clearwater Threshers. To accommodate baseball fans, there are many affordable hotels close to the ballpark, such as La Quinta, Hampton Inn, Clarion Inn & Suites and Holiday Inn Express. Also near Bright House Field is a sizable collection of affordable restaurants, including Buffalo Wild Wings, Maggios Pizza Bistro, Lenny's Restaurant and Bayside Bar and Grill.
Pittsburgh Pirates
McKechnie Field is the spring training home field for the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League Central Division. Located in Bradenton about 12 miles north of downtown Sarasota, the historic ballpark was first built in 1923 but has undergone major renovations, most recently in 2013. Seating capacity is 8,500 at the ballpark named after former MLB player and manager Bill McKechnie, who was one of just two managers ever to win three World Series pennants with three different baseball teams. Located along the Manatee River, Bradenton offers many mid-priced hotels, including Hampton Inn & Suites, Courtyard Bradenton and SpringHIll Suites. Although many of the areas best restaurants are located on Anna Maria Island just outside the city, there are other restaurants closer to the ballpark including Yachtsea Grille, Fav's Italian Cucina and Riverhouse Reef and Grill.
Tampa Bay Rays
Florida's other professional baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays, play their spring training home games at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte. The state-of-the-art facility near Charlotte Harbor has a seating capacity of 7,670 and is widely known as one of the best spring training facilities in the country. One of the Rays' minor league affiliates, the Charlotte Stone Crabs, also play their home games at this stadium. Port Charlotte lies 75 miles south of the Tampa Rays' Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Lodging close to Charlotte Sports Park includes Microtel Inn & Suites, Charlotte Bay Resort & Club and Days Inn Port Charlotte. Many of the area's best restaurants near the stadium can be found along Highway 41, such as Bella Napoli Pizzeria, Tijuana Flats, Donato's and Alli-Gators Grill and Bar.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays play their spring training games at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin. Located just just north of Clearwater and west of Tampa, the stadium has a capacity of 5,509 and features air-conditioned skyboxes. Some recommended hotels are found along Pope Channel at places like Holiday Inn Express, Yacht Harbor Inn and Comfort Suites. But several more outstanding places like the Hyatt Regency, Hilton Clearwater Beach and Sheraton Sand Key Resort can also be found across the channel on Caladesi Island. Excellent dining choices can be found north of the stadium at places like Casa Tina, The Living Room on Main and Dunedin Brewery, the oldest craft brewery in Florida. But baseball fans staying in the area should also check out the restaurants across the channel, such as Crabby Bill's, Palm Pavilion Beachside Grill and Island Way Grill.
Photo Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals' home spring training stadium is Space Coast Stadium in the small community of Viera, about 20 miles south of Cape Canaveral. The stadium can seat up to 8,100 baseball fans and also serves as the home field for the Brevard County Manatees, a minor league affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. La Quinta Inn, Hampton Inn and the Holiday Inn are the only three hotels within three miles of the stadium in nearby Melbourne. However, visitors have far more dining choices in the immediate area, such as Pizza Gallery and Grill, LongHorn Steakhouse, Thai Hana and Amici's Italian Restaurant.
Related: Travel Guide To Florida's Everglades
Randy Yagi is an award-winning freelance writer covering all things San Francisco. In 2012, he received a Media Fellowship from Stanford University. His work can be found on Examiner.com
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Arizona's rigid sentencing system has put the state head and shoulders above its neighbors in the use of imprisonment. Population growth and a rule that all prisoners must serve 85 percent of their sentences have pushed the system near the breaking point and placed a large financial burden on state taxpayers. The state has experimented with prison privatization but recent research indicates that the policy has done little or nothing to control rising costs.
New Jersey's levels of racial disparity in imprisonment are among the nation's highest, and the state devotes a larger share of prison beds to people convicted of drug offenses than any other. Justice Strategies has documented the impact of New Jersey's drug-free zone laws and the pioneering efforts of the state's sentencing commission to "right-size" the zones since 2005.


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Vaccinating women against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may prevent some forms of breast cancer and save tens of thousands of lives each year, new Australian research suggests.
Using genetic probes, researchers at the University of New South Wales tested cancerous breast cells and found several strains of HPVs known to have a high risk of initiating cancer of the cervix. HPV has a causal role in 90-95 per cent of cervical cancers.
The research was conducted by a team from the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, led by Visiting Professor James Lawson, and is published in the British Journal of Cancer.
The team confirmed the presence of high-risk HPV in the nuclei of breast cancer epithelial cells in five (39 per cent) of 13 ductal carcinoma in situ and three (21 per cent) of 14 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) breast cancer specimens. Non-invasive or in situ cancers are those confined to the milk-making glands and do not spread to other parts of the breast or body. Invasive cancers such as IDC are more serious and account for 70-80 percent of all breast cancers.
"The finding that high risk HPV is present in a significant number of breast cancers indicates they may have a causal role in many breast cancers," says UNSW researcher, Dr Noel Whitaker, a co-author of the new report. "Confirming a cancer-causing role for HPV in some breast cancers establishes the possibility of preventing some breast cancers by vaccination against HPV," he says.
The idea that HPV has an involvement in breast cancer is controversial. Scientific reports from 15 countries around the world have identified the presence of high-risk types of HPV in breast tissue and breast cancer specimens.
But those studies have also showed widely varying results, with the prevalence of HPV-positive breast cancer in ranging from as low as four per cent to as high as 86 per cent, and have been clouded by difficulties in detecting the virus in breast specimens.
As well, the genetic probe technique used – polymerase chain reaction (PCR) – has been criticized for its propensity for contamination.
The technique is based on taking small genetic samples and rapidly copying them to provide a large enough sample to study.
The UNSW researchers addressed these issues by using a technique (in situ PCR) that avoids cross-contamination and that provides evidence about whether HPV genetic material is present in the nuclei of human breast cancer specimens. They validated their findings by looking for "telltale" changes linked to HPV such as enlarged nucleus surrounded by a characteristic "halo". The researchers are working on a new method that will make testing even quicker, cheaper and simpler.
Globally 1.1 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 500,000 women lost their life to the disease in 2004. Australia data reveals that 12,265 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and 2,618 women died from breast cancer in 2006. During the past quarter century 213,658 Australian women were diagnosed with breast cancer (1982 – 2005) and 63,632 died from the disease (1981 – 2006).
British Journal of Cancer


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Rangemaster Professional Plus 110 Dual Fuel Stainless Steel PROP110DFFGB/C 91680
With it's modern contemporary looks the Professional Plus 110 range cooker offers a huge 6 burner gas hob with cast iron pan supports and a powerful 3.5kW Multi Ring Burner, perfect for Asian style cooking. You can also purchase a specially designed wok cradle from Rangemaster to enable the use of a round bottomed wok if desired. The Professional Plus comes complete with a robust cast iron aluminium griddle which sits on the hob, providing a sturdy cooking surface ideal for cooking bacon, searing steaks, burgers and fish. If you don't have mains gas an LPG conversion kit can be requested free of charge with your cooker at the time of order.
Boasting two large electric ovens, the Professional Plus 110 can easily cater for a family, enabling the cooking of multiple dishes at the same time. The left-hand, conventional oven has the innovative Handyrack which means no more burning your hands reaching in to the oven cavity to check your roast. It attaches to the oven door and gently pulls the roasting tray out as you open the door and will support a roast weighing up to 5.5 kilos safely. The conventional oven is ideal for traditional baking and browning whilst the right hand fan oven is perfect for batch baking and cooking different foods on each level with a stable temperature throughout the cavity. Both ovens have glass porthole doors making it easy to check on your food without the need to open the door. The 110cm version also benefits from catalytic liners in both ovens which reduces the amount of physical cleaning required to just the base and door.
The Rangemaster Professional Plus also features the upgraded Glide-out grill gliding smoothly out on telescopic runners, making it easier to check on your food safely by eliminating the risk of pulling the grill pan out too far. The dual circuit electric grill has both full and half grill settings for both ease and economy.
A handy storage drawer is an additional extra on the 110cm version, storing baking trays, tins and utensils conveniently within the cooker.
Available in a choice of colours there is a Rangemaster Professional Plus 110cm Dual Fuel Range Cooker which will look perfectly at home in any kitchen. Choose from black, cranberry, cream or stainless steel, all with a stylish chrome trim.
Also considering the Rangemaster Professional Deluxe? Find out the key differences between the Professional Plus and Professional Deluxe models on our blog.
All Rangemaster appliances come with a 2 year parts and labour guarantee once the appliance is registered.
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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." (J.Edgar Hoover,1895-1972.)
Since the fairy tale about weapons of mass destruction that can be launched against Western targets "within forty five minutes" is well past it's sell by date, the trans-Atlantic hasbara industry has dreamed up a new Grim Reaper for Syria, their latest quarry: chemical weapons.
Stephen Zunes succinct quote that: " U.S. policy regarding chemical weapons has been so inconsistent and politicized that the United States is in no position to take leadership in response to any use of such weaponry by Syria"(i) hits the chemical warhead on the nose cone.
Never mind Israel's lethal stockpiles, for ever, seemingly, blind eye territory, as apparently is the United States 5,449 metric tons chemical weapons arsenal, which cannot be disposed of until at least 2021 due to the hazards involved (Japan Times, 12th September 2013.).
However the storm troopers of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) joined the other insurgents in Syria and in under a month: " … completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable."(ii)
President Assad, his country, this year alone, being five times an illegal target of Israel's fearsome destructive power from just across the Golan Heights (iii) stated that his weapons were purely defensive – to use the cold war adage, a balance of terror. All nations have the legal right to self-defence – unless they are majority Muslim, it would seem.
Compared to the might of the countries threatening its destruction, Syria is now, if not quite a sitting duck, certainly a lamer one and must be mindful of the fate of Libya, when pressured and Iraq when forced to disarm.
Coincidentally, President Assad's assertions are almost exactly those used by the United States regarding chemical weapons – at a time when the U.S. was certainly at no threat from external forces.
On 28th March 1990, the Los Angeles Times reported that: "The U.S. government is considering forcing two defiant chemical companies to sell the Pentagon a key ingredient for producing nerve gas, Pentagon officials said …"
Further: "The United States has said that it would need chemical weapons to deter the Soviets' use of chemical weapons during a non-nuclear conflict in Central Europe – a prospect even (the then) Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (termed) 'extremely remote.' "
This was five months after the fall of the Berlin Wall (9th November 1989) and fifteen months after then President Gorbachev had committed, at the UN, to cutting Soviet troops by a massive 500,000, including withdrawing significant military presence in eastern Europe.(iv) A hand of reconciliation to the U.S., by any standards, after approaching fifty years of hostilities.
Given the circumstances, was the US really concerned about the "Soviet threat" or was an un-noticed elephant lurking round the corner? The LA Times article was headed: "Firms Balk at Selling Nerve Gas Element to U.S.: Two chemical companies cite corporate policy and ethics. But the Pentagon may invoke an old law and force them to deliver the compound."
"The Occidental Chemical Corp., and the Mobay Corp., said company policies forbid sales that would contribute to the proliferation of chemical weapons. Both refused to fill Defense Department orders for thionyl chloride, a widely used industrial and agricultural chemical that is needed to make a lethal nerve agent.
"The U.S. government is considering forcing two defiant chemical companies to sell the Pentagon a key ingredient for producing nerve gas …
"Defense officials said the two firms are the only ones in the United States that now commercially produce the chemical agent. The firms' unwillingness to sell has brought the production of a new generation of U.S. chemical weapons, which began in 1987, to a halt.
"The Army needs 160,000 pounds of the ingredient by June to proceed on schedule, the Pentagon said. Government officials said they can compel the companies to sell the chemical under the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law designed to give the Pentagon first priority on war materiel."(My emphasis.)
What war did the Pentagon have in mind, since the Administration of the President George H.W. Bush was working: "to negotiate a worldwide ban" on chemical arms production and just four months earlier Bush had also: "proposed to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev that the superpowers sign an accord at their summit this June that would call for the destruction of 80% of their chemical weapons …"
Yet regarding the purchase of the potentially lethal chemicals: "If the United States invokes the Defense Production Act, the companies will get the message that this is important and that they should reconsider their policies", said one official.
Occidental Petroleum Corp's: "Chairman and chief executive officer Armand Hammer (was) a longtime champion of improved U.S. relations with the Soviet Union and has been critical of the pace of U.S. arms control efforts."
A spokesman for Mobay, subsidiary of German giant, Bayer: "said the Pentagon approached Mobay with an order for 160,000 pounds of thionyl chloride …" It was needed by June (1990) for use in the production of the nerve agent Sarin, noted the New Scientist (7th April 1990.)
Mobay's man was robust: "We have told the government . . . that we have no intentions of selling thionyl chloride for these purposes."
So, to the lurking elephant. It seems it was less about deterring "the Soviets' …" and more about an Iraq, financially on its knees and fiscally relentlessly undermined and targeted by the U.S. since the end of the Iran-Iraq war (September1980-August1988) in which the U.S. had backed Iraq (and armed both sides.)
During and after a U.S., driven war, devastating both countries, Kuwait, Iraq accused, had been slant drilling in to Iraq's Rumaila oil fields. In addition, since the end of the war, Kuwait had hugely exceeded OPEC production quotas, costing, Iraq claimed, $14 billion a year, in addition to the $2.4 billion estimated loss from the war period extractions of "some millions of barrels" – additionally "capturing some of Iraq's customers."(v)
Saddam Hussein had told a session of the Arab League: "We cannot tolerate this kind of economic warfare. We have reached a state of affairs where we cannot take the pressure." Whatever else, he was the proudest of men, the admission must have cost him dearly.
That America did not know something was about to give in the near future is unthinkable. The U.S. had flagged Kuwait's oil tankers with U.S., flags in 1987, to protect the statelet with the world's fifth largest oil reserves, from Iran – and they remained U.S. flagged. An attack on Kuwait would be an attack on a U.S., protectorate.
Interestingly, some in Washington were sympathetic to Saddam Hussein's view: "Henry M. Schuler, director of the energy security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that from the Iraqi viewpoint, the Kuwait Government was 'acting aggressively – it was economic warfare.' "
"Whether he's Hitler or not, he has some reason on his side", Mr. Schuler said, adding that: "American officials needed to appreciate the economic and psychological significance the Rumaila field holds for the Iraqis and why Kuwait's exploitation of Rumaila, in addition to its high oil output in the 1980′s, was an affront to the Iraqis.
"It's not just the emotional man in the street in the Arab world who finds the Iraq case appealing," he said: "So do many of those who are thinking, intelligent people. If the Iraqi people feel they are the victims of aggression, and that their legitimate claims are being stifled now by American intervention, they will hang in there a lot longer than if that were not the case."
As recently as 2011, veteran, ten term Congressman Ron Paul talked in Congress on the slant drilling claims pointing out that: "Historian Mark Zepezauer notes that the equipment to slant drill Iraq's oil illegally was bought from (US National Security Advisor to President George H.W. Bush) Brent Scowcroft's old company. Kuwait was pumping out around $14-billion worth of oil from beneath Iraqi territory … Slant-drilling is enough to get you shot in Texas, and it's certainly enough to start a war in the Mideast."(vi) (Emphasis mine.)
However, it was not just Kuwait targeting Iraq's frail finances, as Brian Becker wrote in a detailed account (vii.) The U.S., betrayal of their ally in the regional ravages of the Iran-Iraq war, was total:
"Having weakened Iran, the goal was then to weaken Iraq and make sure that it could not develop as a regional power capable of challenging U.S. domination. After the war ended, U.S. policy toward Iraq shifted, becoming increasingly hostile. The way it shifted is quite revealing; bearing all the signs of a well-planned conspiracy.
"The cease-fire between Iran and Iraq began on August 20, 1988. On September 8, 1988, Iraqi Foreign Minister Sa'dun Hammadi was to meet with U.S. Secretary of State George Schulz. The Iraqis had every reason to expect a warm welcome in Washington and to begin an era of closer co-operation on trade and industrial development."
In the event, two hours before the meeting, without warning to Hammadi, State Department spokesman Charles Redman called a press conference charging that: "The U.S. Government is convinced that Iraq has used chemical weapons … against Kurdish guerillas. We don't know the extent to which chemical weapons have been used but any use in this context is abhorrent and unjustifiable.We expressed our strong concern to the Iraqi Government which is well aware of our position that the use of chemical weapons is totally unjustifiable and unacceptable."
"Redman did not allude to any evidence at all" and further mislead, since seemingly the Iraqi government was not informed of the charges.
When Hammadi arrived at the State Department for his meeting with Schulz, he was besieged by the media asking about the massacre and unable to give coherent answers. Bewildered, he repeatedly asked the journalists the basis for their questions.
The meeting with Schulz was a dismal: "with Iraq's expectations of U.S. assistance in rebuilding after the Iran-Iraq war dashed."
"Within twenty-four hours of Redman's press release, the Senate voted unanimously to impose economic sanctions on Iraq which would cancel sales of food and technology.
Whilst the genocidal and ecocidal U.N. blockade on Iraq from August 1990 is remembered, this previous U.S. stab in the back to a former ally on its financial knees is forgotten.
Thus, in addition to Kuwait's alleged fiscal sabotage was, from September 9th, 1988: "… a two year record that amounts to economic harassment of Iraq by the American State Department, media, and Congress."
However, after the chemical weapons announcement, the near daily rhetoric regarding Saddam from Washington and Whitehall was that: "he gasses his own people", "uses chemical weapons against his own people." And the drums of war beat ever louder.
In fact: "US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped Saddam Hussein build up his arsenal of deadly chemical and biological weapons … As an envoy from President Reagan … he had a secret meeting with (Saddam) and arranged enormous military assistance for his war with Iran … a Senate committee investigating the relationship between the U.S. and Iraq discovered that in the mid-1980s – following the Rumsfeld visit – dozens of biological agents were shipped to Iraq under licence from the Commerce Department. (Emphasis mine.)
"They included anthrax, subsequently identified by the Pentagon as a key component of the Iraqi biological warfare programme … ' The Commerce Department also approved the export of insecticides to Iraq, despite widespread suspicions that they were being used for chemical warfare.' " (viii)
Pressure on Iraq accelerating, the U.S.-U.K., and "coalition" was handed another propaganda coup, when, on 15th March 1990, Iraq executed Farzad Bazoft, an Iranian born freelance journalist with a desk at London's Observer newspaper.
After a massive explosion as al-Iskaderia military complex, south of Baghdad, Bazoft had persuaded Daphne Parrish, a British nurse, working in Baghdad, to take him to the perimeter of the site of the explosion. There he took photographs and two containers of soil samples. He attempted to leave Baghdad the following day, but was arrested, with the samples and photographs at Baghdad airport.
Iraq was again the Western media and governments' mega demon. But an Iranian acting as he did, after the appalling eight year war would surely have led any country, in such circumstances to act similarly. Witness U.S. paranoia after the tragedy of losing three buildings. Daphne Parrish's book: "Prisoner in Baghdad" gives the lie to any claims of Bazoft's innocence.
Just two weeks later America was demanding the chemicals for weapons "by June." On 25th July 1990, at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, America's Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie assured Saddam Hussein: "We have no opinion on your Arab – Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960′s, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America.(ix) " On 2nd August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.
The response was the reduction of Iraq to a "pre-industrial age", as threatened by James Baker, in the forty two day blitz from January 17th 1991. On February 15, in the preamble to cease-fire proposal, Saddam Hussein said "The years 1988 and 1989 saw sustained campaigns in the press and other media and by other officials in the United States and other nations to pave the way for the fulfillment of vicious aims (i.e., war.)
Had there been one more "vicious aim" though? Was the urging, indeed the threatening demands for chemical weapons ingredients been because the plan had been to use them and blame Iraq? Is it possible there was a plan to even sacrifice their own troops in a ploy that would have likely had U.N., backing invasion and overthrow Saddam Hussein's government had it been thought to have used such appalling weapons?
In the event, the chemical companies stood firm and: "left without the supply of thionyl chloride necessary to meet the production deadline, five weeks later the Bush administration 'offered' to halt binary production during chemical disarmament negotiations with the Soviet Union."(x)
The: "conclusion is that the US chemical industry's refusal to produce necessary precursor chemicals, left the Bush administration with no other option than to fully commit to chemical disarmament."
In the event, the chemical – and radiological – weapons the U.S., used were in up to 750 tons of depleted uranium weaponry.
We will have to wait for another trove of documents to be "liberated" from the U.S., Administration to affirm whether the theory regarding the pressure for the chemical weapons is correct. However, given the propaganda parallels in media, from governments with the current situation with Syria and the near certainty that chemical horrors are being used by the Western backed insurgents and blamed on President Assad's policies, the all is well worth bearing in mind.
As Brian Becker concluded regarding Saddam's accusations:
"The Washington Post's story on the cease-fire proposal of February 15, 1991 was titled simply: 'Baghdad's Conspiracy Theory of Recent History.' Some conspiracies theories just happen to be true."
i. http://fpif.org/the_us_and_chemical_weapons_no_leg_to_stand_on/
iii. http://www.infowars.com/israel-attacks-syria-again/
iv. http://articles.latimes.com/1988-12-07/news/mn-1054_1_world-leaders
vi. http://www.infowars.com/ron-paul-enters-evidence-of-bush-war-crimes-in-congressional-record/
vii. http://deoxy.org/wc/wc-consp.htm
ix http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ARTICLE5/april.html
x. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/chemical-weapons-us_b_3945933.html
Related Articles:
- Obscuring the Details: A Panoramic Look at America's Case Against Syria
- The Failure of War as an Instrument of Foreign Policy – William J. Cox
- Hypocrite in Chief
- Did the White House Help Plan the Syrian Chemical Attack?
- The Lie of "Limited" War Against Syria by SHAMUS COOKE
- Syria and the Invisible Hand of Foreign Intervention
- Address to the United Nations – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – 16 Sep.06
- Italian Satellite TV to Broadcast Evidence of US Use of Chemical Weapons on Civilians
- WMD Quotes Before & After The Invasion


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Happy New Year 2014, Everyone, from SketchUp Island blog! In the image above we see New Year preparations underway in the style of Vietnam-- although Vietnamese New Year won't fall until the end of January this year. This image was created with Shaderlight rendering on top of a SketchUp model.
About the image: Bánh tét, a traditional Vietnamese food made of glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves, is being boiled overnight in a large pot by a villager. Already-cooked Bánh tét hangs to cool from bamboo poles, while additional ingredients are prepared on the porch by relatives. Fruits and flowers have been placed in front of homes to welcome the new year.


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Michael DiSanto, UFC - I received about a dozen emails in the days leading up to last weekend's Aldo vs Faber fight, asking whether I truly believed that Jose Aldo was among the best in the world, pound for pound, or if I took some liberties with hyperbole in my main event breakdown.
I received about a dozen emails in the days leading up to last weekend's Aldo vs Faber fight, asking whether I truly believed that Jose Aldo was among the best in the world, pound for pound, or if I took some liberties with hyperbole in my main event breakdown.
Anyone who witnessed Aldo's thorough destruction of superstar Urijah Faber now knows the answer to that question. The fact remains that Aldo's current lack of casual recognition is solely due to the fact that the mainstream fans have not yet fully embraced the greatness of the little guys who compete inside the cage as compared to their larger, more physically intimidating brethren. In other words, if Aldo weighed 170 lbs instead of 145 lbs, he would likely be a household name and a clear member of the elite pound-for-pound fraternity.
Aldo put on a virtuoso striking performance against Faber, one that rivaled anything that we have seen from recognized pound-for-pound Godfather, Anderson Silva. His leg kicks were so fast and so perfectly set up that Faber, who has amazing reflexes, was unable to effectively check them, despite training like a mad man to do just that.
Moreover, Aldo's use of a sustained body attack, which included both kicks and punches, was something rarely before seen in mixed martial arts. Top strikers rarely throw kicks to the body for fear that they will be caught and used to transition to a takedown or, worse yet, deliver a knockout punch. Aldo didn't care. He beautifully set up the kicks and also threw them at the end of combinations, which all but eliminated Faber's ability to effectively counter.
The attack was so complete that after two rounds, it was clear that Aldo was the far superior fighter. The only question left for fighters to answer heading into the third round was whether Faber, who has the heart of a lion, would be able to find a way to survive to the final bell.
Of course, if we have learned anything in mixed martial arts, it is that parity is the name of the game. Just when a fighter appears to be unbeatable, he often suffers a shocking, humbling defeat. BJ Penn just suffered that fate against Frankie Edgar. Georges St-Pierre learned that lesson thanks to a right hand behind the ear from Matt Serra a few years ago. And so on.
The reigning featherweight champion is in the midst of a 10-fight winning streak. The lone loss of his professional career occurred nearly five years ago when a mistake led to an opponent taking his back and sinking in a rear naked choke. Since that time, he has been next to flawless and now owns decisive wins over fellow elite featherweights Faber and Mike Brown.
Aldo looks as close to unbeatable as any fighter in any weight class around the world. Does that mean an upset is in the making? Or will he be the one to establish new standards for featherweight greatness – he needs five more consecutive successful defenses to pass Faber's record?
I'm betting on the latter.
How quickly the mighty fall from grace.
Two years ago, Faber stood alone as the best featherweight in the world. His name filled the air during nearly every pound-for-pound discussion. And it was justified talk, since "The California Kid" had won 13 fights in a row and largely appeared unbeatable—sound familiar? There was even talk of him trying to move either up or down in weight to see if he could simultaneously hold two championship belts.
Then, he ran into Mike Brown. Two minutes and twenty-three seconds later, Faber was left on the canvas while his conqueror celebrated life as the newly crowned champion.
The former champion has now lost three of his last five fights. All three of those losses were clear defeats, which probably eliminates any near-term title challenges for all intents and purposes. Thus, Faber must be sitting in his Sacramento home wondering what to do next.
I'm the first to admit that I don't have all the answers. Yet, if Faber were to ask me what he should do next, I'd strongly suggest a trip down to bantamweight where he just might be able to regain his former glory.
I certainly don't think it would be a walk in the park for Faber to cut down to 135 lbs, but I think it is a very real possibility. Think about it for a moment. Faber stands 5'6, so he is not tall for a featherweight by any means. Indeed, three of the top four bantamweights (Dominick Cruz, Miguel Torres and Brian Bowles) are all taller than 5'6. He also packs some seriously thick muscle on that little frame, more than most of his competitors. If he shed some of that muscle, which isn't necessarily needed in the fight game, moving to bantamweight would be much easier.
Faber's lofty status in the sport would likely be enough to justify an immediate title shot against Cruz. And to be honest, I'd peg Faber the favorite to win that fight, and there's a built-in incentive for Cruz, considering that Faber is the only man to defeat him.
Manny Gamburyan certainly has a flair for the dramatic.
Back on June 23, 2007, he stepped into the Octagon with the biggest opportunity of his career on the line. He was facing Nate Diaz in the finale of the fifth installment of The Ultimate Fighter. The winner would receive the job security that comes along with a multi-fight, six-figure UFC contract. The loser would face life as just another competitor in the UFC's ultra-deep 155-lb division.
After a dominant first round, Gamburyan attempted a takedown 20 seconds into the second and badly dislocated his shoulder. He had no choice but to instantly tap out, giving Diaz the win. It was a shocking end to a major fight watched by millions of fans.
On Saturday night, "The Anvil" again stepped into the cage with a career-altering opportunity in front of him. His bout with Mike Brown was tapped as the contest to possibly determine the next challenger for Aldo's featherweight championship.
Gamburyan reacted with another improbable outcome—scoring only the second knockout victory of his 11-year career. It's not like he did it against a powder puff, either. Brown was less than a year removed from his featherweight title reign and only one other man alive owned a knockout victory over him.
The win leaves no doubt that Gamburyan is the top contender for Aldo's belt. It also adds to the uncertainty of the outcome to such a matchup. Gamburyan is a monster grappler with an extensive judo background. He should be able to put Aldo on his rear end, assuming he can get a hold of the champion. The question, of course, is whether he can survive long enough on the feet to get the opportunity to take down the Brazilian striker.
Jamahal Hill Talks UFC 300 Main Event
Hall Of Fame


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It's one of the age-old questions: which wine to serve with turkey. Thanksgiving dinners tend to be large gatherings, encompassing at least a dozen friends and family members. How do you serve an enjoyable wine without breaking the bank—particularly if your relatives don't have the same level of appreciation you do? Here, I offer up a few wines all can be thankful for.
Thanksgiving is a celebration, so start with some bubbles. An Italian Prosecco such as Mionetto or Nino Franco will work just fine, or you can enjoy a good-value French Champagne such as Nicolas Feuillatte NV Brut.
Cabernet Sauvignon—The False Scent
A full-bodied, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon is almost always a real mismatch with turkey. Remember that Cabernet contains serious tannins, which complement dairy or animal fat; this is the reason it pairs so well with cheese or steak. Turkey, however, isn't marbled with fat and is usually a poor accompaniment to Cabernet. If you're a wine enthusiast or beginning collector, resist the temptation to break out that bottle of Cabernet you've been waiting to try.
Pinot Noir
If you want to drink red wine, this is probably the best match of all—it's no accident that most French recipes for game birds call for red Burgundy. The smooth, silky texture of Pinot Noir is a charm with turkey. Look for a Bourgogne Rouge or a middle-range Pinot from Oregon, such as Ponzi or Rex Hill.
Beaujolais shares many of the characteristics of Pinot Noir and would be an excellent choice—provided you don't serve Nouveau. Go for a Beaujolais from one of the ten crus (Brouilly, Cote de Brouilly, Régnié, Chiroubles, Julienas, Chénas, Fleurie, Saint-Amour, Morgon and Moulin-A-Vent). These are concentrated, sexy wines that are amazing values for money. When in doubt, the Flower Bottle series from Georges Duboeuf is a good choice; even better are the wines from Chateau des Jacques, the Beaujolais estate owned by Louis Jadot.
An off-dry white can be an excellent match with turkey. Choose a basic German estate wine, or a Riesling from Alsace. The richness of texture and off-dry character will work admirably, particularly when paired with good acidity. Consider an entry level wine from Trimbach; a Mosel or Rheingau producer such as J.J. Prum, von Kesselstatt, Johannishof or Knyphausen; or an American Riesling such as Eroica from Washington State.
Serving chocolate or strong cheese for dessert? In that case, bring on the Cabernet.
Mark Spivak is the author of Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History, published by Lyons Press; his second book, Moonshine Nation, is forthcoming from Lyons Press in June 2014. For more information, go to amazon.com


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- Size 80/12 for Singer Rotary Hook Models 206 306K 306W 319K 319W 320 Sewing Machines
- Box of 100 Needles
Note: Schmetz S206x13 will continue to be available in sizes 12 and 14. This 206x13 needle in size 16 is no longer being produced by SCHMETZ. Organ 24x1 needles are almost identical. With a slight timing adjustment the needles can be used, especially if you have to have size 16 only.
New announcement from Schmetz below! You will know they are chrome needles because it will be listed on the package. Coming late 2021!
The order went smooth, would be happy to buy from you again.
Una, Louisiana
These particular sewing machine needles are extremely hard to find ~ and I was beginning to think that I wouldn't be able to find them at all. I only had 2 needles left when my daughter found them on your website. Now, I can sew again. Thank you so much!!
Rosemarie, Washington
This is the only place I've been able to find the item I ordered. Thank you for carrying this product. I will certainly return for similiar hard-to-find items for my vintage sewing machines.


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My Sidewalk Coverage of the iEHR Conference
Stop by and say hello.
This Wednesday and Thursday the Defense Strategies Institute plans to hold a conference on the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments' planned integrated electronic health record (iEHR) that, as I reported, is open to vendors who want to peddle their wares to the government but not to the media.
So many vendors have signed up for this conference at rates that range from $750 to $825 each that those who registered late will end up in an overflow room at the Mary M. Gates Learning Center in Alexandria, Va.
Probably worth the price, as the value of the iEHR is pegged at between $4 billion and $15 billion and the conference features a phalanx of speakers, topped by Barclay Butler, director of the Defense-VA iEHR Interagency Program Office. Other speakers include Robert Petzel, VA under secretary for health; Dr. Karen Guice, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense; Air Force Maj. Gen. Douglas Robb, nominated last month to head the new Defense Health Agency; and a whole bunch of other speakers from IPO, Defense and VA.
I have asked public affairs folks for all of the above to provide me with copies of their speeches, slides, etc., but have not yet received an acknowledgement of my request.
So, if any of the speakers want to hand-deliver copies of their remarks or conduct an impromptu interview, I'll be standing on the sidewalk outside the conference center before and after the festivities begin ready to schmooze with anyone who drops by.
You won't have a hard time finding me –- I'll be holding a sign based on the image above (and here): When it comes to many events, reporters are about as welcome as skunks at garden parties.
One last note: Lisa Madison, communications director of Defense Strategies originally encouraged my coverage of the iEHR conference and then reneged -- bad form in both bridge and life.


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Lehman, Martin Clifford (1883-1963)
Martin Clifford Lehman, b. 16 March 1883, d. 22 December 1963, was a gifted, respected Mennonite Church (MC) leader. One year after he and Lydia Leichty were married (1905), they began a 25-year missionary career in India, 1906-1930.
With insight M.C. Lehman wrote about the relationship between the Indian and American Mennonite church, world conditions and their impact on missions, rural education in India, the realities of caste in family life, and theologians like Barth. From 1912-1924 he was associate editor of Christian Schayah. His PhD dissertation (Yale, 1933) examined the religious significance of 19th century author Harishchandra; his Mission Study Course (1939) clarified Mennonite Church work in India.
For a year following November 1939 and again after the spring of 1941, M. C. was with Mennonite Central Committee in Europe for relief work. His pen again informed Mennonites of the history and principles of relief work—in the spirit of Christ; offered a bibliography of resources; described the misery of uprootedness and disease and the suffering caused by inadequate food, shelter, and clothing; and called on North American Christians to respond to these needs with prayer and materials.
Lehman, M. C. "Indian Life at Close Range." Gospel Witness 2 (16 January-27 February 1907): 667, 682, 699, 730-31, 762.
Lehman, M. C. "A Trip to the American Mennonite Mission." Gospel Witness3 (25 September-30 October 1907): 405, 421, 436, 452, 468, 484.
Lehman, M. C. "September World Conditions and Mennonite Mission." Gospel Herald (16 July 1931): 381-384; (3 September 1931): 518-520.
Lehman, M. C. "The Religious Significance of Writings of Harishchandra." PhD dissertation, Yale U., 1933. Copy at MC Archives Goshen.
Lehman, M. C. Our Mission Work in India, Mission Study Course. Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Board of Missions, 1939.
Lehman, M. C. Mennonite Relief Work, an annotated bibliography. Goshen College: Mennonite Relief Training School, 1943.
Lehman, M. C. "Needs and Conditions in Europe." Christian Monitor (series: July-December 1945): 175, 205, 233, 240, 256, 288, 323.
Lehman, M. C. History and Principles of Mennonite Relief Work: An Introduction. Akron, Pa.: MCC, 1945: 44.
Lapp, John Allen. The Mennonite Church in India, 1897-1962, Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, vol. 14. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1972: index.
Edward: Pilgrimage of a Mind, ed., Ida Yoder. Wadsworth, Ohio, and Irwin, PA: Ida and Virgil Yoder, 1985: 29, 282, 308, 398.
Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 11 (April 1988): 18-19.
Schlabach,Theron F. Gospel Versus Gospel. Scottdale, 1980: e.g., 133-35.
Springer, Nelson and A.J. Klassen, compilers, Mennonite Bibliography, 1631-1961, 2 vols. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1977: II,p. 472.
Warkentin, A. and Melvin Gingerich, compilers. Who's Who Among the Mennonites. North Newton, KS: Bethel College, 1943: 156.
Author(s) | Dorothy Yoder Nyce |
Date Published | 1987 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Nyce, Dorothy Yoder. "Lehman, Martin Clifford (1883-1963)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1987. Web. 23 Feb 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lehman,_Martin_Clifford_(1883-1963)&oldid=130662.
APA style
Nyce, Dorothy Yoder. (1987). Lehman, Martin Clifford (1883-1963). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 February 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lehman,_Martin_Clifford_(1883-1963)&oldid=130662.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 517. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


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Crazy times for Plants and Animals. As momentum continues to swell for Parc Avenue and word of the band's all-out awesomeness with it, bigger and wilder things seem to be coming out of nowhere. The band has just added a last minute gig for this Friday in Columbus, Ohio, where they'll be opening for Gnarls Barkley. The label is currently encouraging them to prepare a Goodie Mob cover.
They keep with the grand-company theme through the weekend with their home-town Osheaga appearance on Sunday (before Cat Power and Iggy & the Stooges), and their Central Park gig with the National on August 4th.


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Four friends gather every morning in the summer at Brockwell (Brixton) Lido. This is a favourite place in the capital for varied groups of people to meet, swim or just hang out like these London taxi drivers who regularly meet for exercise sessions, accumulating sun tans during long periods in the sunshine. Bare except for their costumes, they stretch and yawn, read a newspaper and lean against a railing all the while swapping anecdotes and complaining grumpily about the state of the world near a brick wall that retains heat. Brockwell Lido in Herne Hill SE24 was originally built in 1937 at a time of coastal and city pool-building but went into decline when bathers preferred to holiday in warmer Spain. Its revival happened when local entrepreneurs re-opened the business and it now enjoys a reputation for some of the best urban swims in the UK.
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Updated> eReference Library Link Dataset Toolkit 2021
The eReference Library Link Dataset Toolkit 2021 has been completely updated, reviewed with ALL links verified, and is now a 62-page freely available white paper link compilation for a selected group of reference resources that are available over the Internet. These resources are designed to be your eReference Library and to give you the latest and greatest reference resources available from the Internet. The eReference Library Link Toolkit 2021 has been created by Internet guru and expert Marcus P. Zillman who is the Executive Director of the Virtual Private Library and designed specifically for use on iPads, iPhone, Androids, Smart Phones,and netbooks/laptops. Updates to this toolkit are powered by Subject Tracer™ Information Bots (STIB). This has been added to the tools section of Research Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog. Additional freely available white papers by Marcus P. Zillman are available by clicking here. [Completely updated including all links validated and new links added on August 27, 2021; 62 pages; 847KB PDF]