text:
Top Items:
Ashley Parker / The Caucus:
Romney Blames Loss on Obama's 'Gifts' to Minorities and Young Voters — A week after losing the presidential election to President Obama, Mitt Romney blamed his overwhelming electoral loss on what he said were big "gifts" that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies …
Discussion: AMERICAblog, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Addicting Info, 24Ahead, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, American Prospect, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Eschaton, Mad Kane's Political Madness and Daily Kos
John Aravosis / AMERICAblog: Bitter: Party of one. Mr. Romney, your table's ready.
Andrew Rosenthal / New York Times: Romney Blames Loss on Obama 'Gifts'
ZIP / Weasel Zippers: Romney: Obama Won Election By Buying Off Minorities And Young Voters With "Gifts"...
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite: President Obama Should Rescind Invitation, Let Mitt Romney Drift Into Bitter Obscurity
Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect: Romney Says He Lost Because Obama Gave "Gifts" to Blacks and Latinos
Maeve Reston / Los Angeles Times:
Romney reflects on his loss in call with campaign donors — The stage from Mitt Romney's election gathering at the Boston Convention Center, left standing overnight following his electoral defeat. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times / November 7, 2012) — Mitt Romney told his top donors Wednesday …
Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS: As Obama Offers Olive Branch, Romney Dings President for 'Gifts' to Minority Voters
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress: Romney Says Obama Only Won Because He Gave 'Big Gifts' To Blacks And Latinos
Emily Hill / Real-Time News from Mobile: Romney says Obama gave minority groups "gifts" to gain support
Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo: Bobby Jindal: Romney 'Dividing American Voters' With 'Absolutely Wrong' Comments
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic: Mitt Romney: First As Farce, Then As Farce
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: Mitt Romney Still Hates 47 Percent of America
Jamil Smith / msnbc.com: Talking in code: Why Romney blamed Obama's 'gifts'
Dan Berman / Politico: Mitt: Obama won because of 'gifts'
Meenal Vamburkar / Mediaite: Romney Tells Donors He Lost Partially Due To Obama's 'Gifts' To Minorities, Young Voters
Justin Sink / The Hill: Obama plans to meet with Romney soon
Charles Johnson / Little Green Footballs: Romney to Donors: Obama Won Because of "Gifts" to Minorities
Neetzan Zimmerman / Gawker: Mitt Romney Blames Election Loss on Obama's 'Gifts' to Impoverished Young Minorities
Jindal rejects Romney's 'gifts' theory — LAS VEGAS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal forcefully rejected Mitt Romney's claim that he lost because of President Barack Obama's "gifts" to minorities and young voters. — Asked about the failed GOP nominee's reported comments on a conference call …
Discussion: The Moderate Voice and New York Magazine
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice: Jindal Quickly Rejects Romney's Claim Obama Won because of Free Stuff "Gifts" to Key Constituencies
Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine: Jindal Says Romney's Post-Election Analysis is 'Absolutely Wrong'
David Weigel / Slate:
John McCain's Long War Against Susan Rice — From left, Sens. Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte, and John McCain at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday — You probably don't need the lesson, but here's how the filibuster works. A nomination or bill is produced.
Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Daily Kos, Washington Examiner, FP Passport and Politico
Stephen Lacey / ThinkProgress: UN Ambassador Susan Rice A Top Pick For Secretary Of State: What's Her Stance On Climate?
Washington Post: President Obama's news conference in the East Room of the White House on Nov. 14, 2012 (Full Transcript)
Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy: Senate opposition to Rice nomination mounts
Meteor Blades / Daily Kos: Obama challenges Susan Rice's detractors. McCain vows filibuster but doesn't have votes yet
Sean Higgins / Washington Examiner: Actually, yes, Susan Rice did say the Benghazi attacks were spontaneous
Blake Hounshell / FP Passport: Obama's Susan Rice strategy: Dare Republicans to spike her nomination
Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Obama: Attacks on Susan Rice 'outrageous' — President Barack Obama offered a fiery defense Wednesday of his administration's handling of the attack on Americans in Benghazi, calling R epublicans' critiques of United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice "outrageous."
Discussion: Fox News, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Connecting.the.Dots, CNN, Taylor Marsh and The Moderate Voice
Fox News: Obama tells Republicans to 'go after me' on Libya, claims Rice had 'nothing to do with Benghazi'
RealClearPolitics Video Log: Obama To GOP On Susan Rice: "If They Want To Go After Somebody, They Should Go After Me"
Robert Stein / Connecting.the.Dots: Republican Rover Boys Return
Gregory Wallace / CNN: Sen. Rand Paul: Heads should roll over Benghazi, but Rice is not the issue
Mark Landler / New York Times:
Obama Details Battle Lines in Budget Plan — WASHINGTON — President Obama, riding the winds of re-election, signaled Wednesday that he was prepared to battle with Republicans over budget negotiations and his national security team's handling of the deadly attack on an American mission in Libya.
Discussion: FREEDOM EDEN, CNN, The Caucus, The Fix and The Week
Mary / FREEDOM EDEN: Obama News Conference
Michelle Jaconi / CNN: CNN's GUT CHECK for November 14, 2012
Julia Preston / The Caucus: Obama Expresses Confidence in Early Action on Immigration
Chris Cillizza / The Fix: First thoughts on President Obama's press conference
David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:
Sen. Graham Responds To Obama: I Hold You 'Ultimately Responsible' For Benghazi
Sen. Graham Responds To Obama: I Hold You 'Ultimately Responsible' For Benghazi
Discussion: Washington Monthly and Mediaite
Jonathan Zasloff / Washington Monthly: The Last Refuge of Scoundrels — Facebook Twitter Digg Reddit StumbleUpon Delicious
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite: President Obama To Senators Attacking Ambassador Susan Rice: 'Go After Me.'
Talking Points Memo:
Obama Defends Susan Rice Against 'Outrageous' McCain, Graham Attack
Obama Defends Susan Rice Against 'Outrageous' McCain, Graham Attack
Discussion: The Atlantic Online, BuzzFeed and Shakesville
Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online: John McCain and Lindsey Graham Really Want to Block Susan Rice
Melissa McEwan / Shakesville: Petraeus and Benghazi Stuff
Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Obama defends UN Amb. Rice, invites critics to 'go after me'
Obama defends UN Amb. Rice, invites critics to 'go after me'
Discussion: Politico and Taegan Goddard's …
Catalina Camia / USA Today:
Obama defends Susan Rice from McCain attacks
Obama defends Susan Rice from McCain attacks
Discussion: American Power, Business Insider and The Reaction
Donald Douglas / American Power: President Obama's Benghazi Press Conference
Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider: Obama Pushes His Mandate On The Fiscal Cliff: 'The Majority Of Voters Agreed With Me'
Richard K. Barry / The Reaction: Tough guy, huh?
Ed O'Keefe / 2chambers:
President Obama defends Susan Rice against criticism from John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte
President Obama defends Susan Rice against criticism from John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte
Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Crooks and Liars, Gawker and Election 2012
Kevin Robillard / Politico: John McCain: Susan Rice 'not qualified' for State
Mary Katharine Ham / Hot Air: McCain to reporter: 'That's one of the dumbest questions I've ever heard.'
Karoli / Crooks and Liars: Updated: Obama Defends Susan Rice, Invites McCain, Graham to "Go After Me"
Neetzan Zimmerman / Gawker: In First Post-Election Presser President Obama Talks Tough, Tells Senators Opposing Susan Rice …
Greg Miller / Election 2012: A forceful defense of Susan Rice
New York Times:
Frederick Humphries, F.B.I. Agent in Petraeus Case — By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, SCOTT SHANE and ALAIN DELAQUÉRIÈRE — DOVER, Fla. — The F.B.I. agent who helped start the investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director is a "hard-charging" …
Discussion: New York Magazine, Wonkette, Reuters, Guardian, Business Insider, Wired, Mediaite, Hot Air, TIME, Gawker, emptywheel and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'
Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine: FBI Agent's Shirtless Photo Was Decidedly Unsexy
Rebecca Schoenkopf / Wonkette: Ladies And Gentlemen, We Present To You: 'The Shirtless F.B.I. Guy'
Spencer Ackerman / Wired: 'Shirtless' FBI Agent Who Hunted Petraeus Also Helped Stop LA Bombing
Josh Feldman / Mediaite: Identity Of Shirtless FBI Agent Connected To Petraeus Investigation Identified
Allahpundit / Hot Air: Shirtless FBI agent in Petraeus case getting a bad rap?
Massimo Calabresi / TIME: The Petraeus Case: Why Wasn't Obama Informed?
Taylor Berman / Gawker: Frederick Humphries Is the FBI Agent Who Emailed Shirtless Pictures to Jill Kelley
Luis Martinez / ABCNEWS:
Jill Kelley Loses VIP Privileges at Military Base
Jill Kelley Loses VIP Privileges at Military Base
Discussion: Business Insider, emptywheel and New York Magazine
New York Times:
Tampa Social Scene at Center of Petraeus Scandal
Tampa Social Scene at Center of Petraeus Scandal
Discussion: Guardian, The Daily Beast, American Power, Washington Post, Telegraph, The Week and Marbury
Michael Daly / The Daily Beast: Jill Kelley Collected Generals
Donald Douglas / American Power: Tampa Social Scene at Center of Petraeus Scandal
Jon Swaine / Telegraph: David Petraeus affair: Florida twins courted generals and racked up millions in debt
Ian Leslie / Marbury: petraeus, broadwell and the human stain
CBS News:
Sources: Paula Broadwell warned Gen. Allen against "seductress" Jill Kelley
Sources: Paula Broadwell warned Gen. Allen against "seductress" Jill Kelley
Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Other McCain, Washington Free Beacon and americanthinker.com
Henry Blodget / Business Insider: The Army Suspends Paula Broadwell's Security Clearance In Wake Of Sex Scandal
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite: CNN Analyst Takes Gen. John Allen's Possible Use Of 'Sweetheart' Very Seriously
The Reliable Source / Washington Post: "Social liaison" Jill Kelley: How did she get that title? And what does it mean?
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain: Is Krauthammer Right? — The Great Brain says the Obama …
Bill Gertz / Washington Free Beacon: Sex, Lies, and Benghazi
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Texas rep. nominates Gingrich for Speaker — Former Speaker and failed presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was nominated for the position of Speaker on Wednesday by conservative Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas). There was no second. — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) …
Discussion: New York Magazine, CNN, Mediaite, The Reaction and The Right Scoop
Deirdre Walsh / CNN: House GOP leaders prepare for fiscal cliff talks
Michael J.W. Stickings / The Reaction: Craziest Republican of the Day: Louie Gohmert (for nominating Gingrich for Speaker)
Russell Berman / The Hill:
Republicans say they will not back down — Congressional leaders took a hard line on taxes ahead of a meeting Friday at the White House, with rank-and-file Republicans expressing opposition to a "fiscal cliff" deal that would bring in more revenue to the government.
Discussion: Politico
Rebecca Berg / BuzzFeed:
GOP Lawmaker Nominates Newt Gingrich For Speaker
GOP Lawmaker Nominates Newt Gingrich For Speaker
Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette
Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
Top Georgia GOP Lawmakers Host Briefing on Secret Obama Mind-Control Plot — President Obama is using a Cold War-era mind-control technique known as "Delphi" to coerce Americans into accepting his plan for a United Nations-run communist dictatorship in which suburbanites will be forcibly relocated to cities.
Discussion: Addicting Info, BobCesca.com, Daily Kos and Better Georgia
Nathaniel Downes / Addicting Info: Tinfoil Hat Alert - Georgia Politicians Told Obama Can Control Minds (VIDEO)
Hunter / Daily Kos: Open thread for night owls: Georgia GOP briefed on dangers of Obama mind-control plot
William J. Bennett / CNN:
Republicans lost the culture war — Editor's note: William J. Bennett, a CNN contributor, is the author of "The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood." He was U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H.W. Bush.
Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Lonely Conservative, Liberal Values, Shakesville and The Jawa Report
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money: Today In Republican Identity Politics
Melissa McEwan / Shakesville: This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Grace Mahan / The Hill:
Man asks McCain: Are you mad that you look like McCain? — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday recounted an interesting exchange he recently had with a man at an airport in Phoenix. — At the Washington Ideas Forum sponsored by The Atlantic, McCain said, "I was recently at Sky Harbor …
Linda Greenhouse / Opinionator:
Changing Times — When people talked during the presidential campaign about the potential impact of the election on the Supreme Court, most meant the impact on the court's membership: whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney would get to fill any vacancies during the next four years.
How To Wage War On The Internet — The Israel Defense Forces live tweet their assault on Hamas. This is something new. — Matt Buchanan — an hour ago — 16 responses
Discussion: Wired, NYT Bits, GigaOM, Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, BuzzFeed and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
Noah Shachtman / Wired: Israel Kills Hamas Leader, Instantly Posts It to YouTube
Nick Bilton / NYT Bits: In Israeli Attack on Hamas: Shock, Awe and Social Media
Jessica Testa / BuzzFeed: The Israeli Airstrike On Gaza In Photos And Tweets
Laura Clawson / Daily Kos:
Nancy Pelosi swats down Luke Russert's 'offensive' question with a lesson on earning your job — You have to hand it to Nancy Pelosi. When emblem of establishment media nepotism Luke Russert asked if she shouldn't clear the way for younger leadership, being all old and stuff …
Discussion: US News, DownWithTyranny!, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Elizabeth Flock / US News: Nancy Pelosi Says Luke Russert Question About Her Age 'Offensive'
Ed O'Keefe / 2chambers:
Nancy Pelosi staying put, criticizes Luke Russert for age question
Nancy Pelosi staying put, criticizes Luke Russert for age question
Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, The Fix, Hot Air, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, Election 2012 and Taylor Marsh
The Lonely Conservative: Why Is It Okay To Pick On Old White Republican Men, But Not Old White Democrat Women?
Chris Cillizza / The Fix: Why Nancy Pelosi stayed
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Video: Was question about Pelosi's age out of line?
Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider: Nancy Pelosi's Press Conference Gets Testy As Luke Russert's Question Gets Slammed
Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway: Was Asking About Nancy Pelosi's Age Out Of Line?
David Martosko / The Daily Caller:
White House 'secede' petitions reach 675,000 signatures, 50-state participation — Less than a week after a New Orleans suburbanite petitioned the White House to allow Louisiana to secede from the United States, petitions from seven states have collected enough signatures to trigger a promised review from the Obama administration.
Joe Hodnicki / Law Librarian Blog: Texans Messing with Texans by way of Dueling Petitions Littering the We Petition Site …
Elizabeth Dias / TIME: If you're unhappy that Barack Obama was re-elected President last week …
Cara Maresca / msnbc.com: If Texas secedes, Austin wants out of Lone Star State
Jeff G. / protein wisdom: "White House 'secede' petitions reach 675,000 signatures, 50-state participation"
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly: The Secessionist Boom
Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider: Jon Stewart Rips Attempted Secessionists And CEOs For Whining About Obama's Re-Election
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The Confederacy of Takers — President Obama's opponents …
The Confederacy of Takers — President Obama's opponents …
Michael Hayne / Addicting Info: Hey Secession States: If You Want To Secede, You Will No Longer Receive A Penny Of Federal Dollars
Aurelius / Pundit Press: Petitions to Secede From US Explode, Now Exceed 675,000; Texas Approaches 100k
Scott Shackford / Hit & Run: White House Petition Process Another Obama Open Government Failure
Pete Wells / New York Times:
Restaurant Review: Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square — GUY FIERI, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Have you pulled up one of the 500 seats at Guy's American Kitchen & Bar and ordered a meal? Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?
Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal: On the Question of a (Brilliantly) Negative Restaurant Review
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money: Great Hatchet Jobs In History
Victorino Matus / Weekly Standard: Killer Review — Let me preface this item by saying I am …
Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter: Why did Pete Wells review Guy Fieri's restaurant as a series of questions?
Allahpundit / The Greenroom: Report: Guy Fieri's restaurant exactly as good as you'd expect it to be
Rebekah Denn / The Seattle Times: The most brutal restaurant review on the Internet
Cord Jefferson / Gawker: 'You Won't Be Disappointed': 10 Eaters Not from the New York Times Who Like Guy Fieri's New Restaurant
David Mendez / Tucson Weekly: 'New York Times' Food Review Straight-Up Eviscerates Guy Fieri Restaurant
James Poniewozik / TIME: Guy Fieri Gets Served
New York Times:
Transcript of President Obama's Press Conference — The following is the complete transcript of President Obama's press conference on Wednesday in Washington. (Transcript courtesy of Federal News Service.) — PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Good afternoon, everybody. Please have a seat.
Discussion: The Other McCain, News Desk, The Lonely Conservative, Nice Deb, Daily Download, Mother Jones, Associated Press and The Mahablog
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain: Heckuva Job, Susan Rice!
Ben Jacobs / Daily Download: The Susan Rice Showdown Is On
Asawin Suebsaeng / Mother Jones: Watch: Obama Blasts GOP Attacks on UN Ambassador Susan Rice
Dylan Byers / Associated Press: What the press asked Obama
Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Obama says climate change to take backseat to economy — Climate change will take a backseat to efforts to boost the economy in the near term, but the issue would return to the agenda in the future, President Barack Obama said Tuesday. — The president, who won an endorsement …
Discussion: DeSmogBlog
Kevin Grandia / DeSmogBlog: Is Obama Already Waffling on his Climate Change Commitment?
Matthew Daly / Associated Press: Obama Wants 'Conversation' on Climate Change


text:
On Assessment
Grant Awards
Transforming Higher Education
School Safety Report I
School Safety Report II
Multicultural Literacy Campaign
Quote to Note
Upcoming Events
On Assessment
Successive reports issued last week reveal the significant progress made since enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 as well as the substantial challenges that remain. First, according to a new study by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), student scores on state assessments have increased consistently over the last five yearsoften at a faster clip than before 2002while achievement gaps have narrowed. For example, 29 of 41 states with three years of data for elementary reading reported increases of at least one percentage point per year in proficiency; just five states experienced declines. Likewise, for elementary math, 37 of 41 states reported increases of at least one percentage point per year in proficiency; only two states experienced declines. Moreover, across all three grade spans, the achievement gap between white and black students narrowed in 14 states in reading (widening in none) and 12 states in math (widening in one), and the gap between white and Hispanic students narrowed in 13 states in reading (widening in none) and 11 states in math (widening in none). Overall, of the 13 states with comparable state assessment data before and after 2002, nine reported greater average annual increases in scores after 2002. CEP's panel of experts identified a number of reasons for the positive gains, careful not to attribute results to any single policy. Still, "This study confirms that No Child Left Behind has struck a chord of success with our nation's schools and students," the Secretary emphasized in a statement. "We know the law is working, so now is the time to reauthorize No Child Left Behind and continue the promise of a quality education for all America's children." For more information, please go to http://www.cep-dc.org/_data/n_0001/resources/
live/07073-StudentAchievement.pdf. (The Secretary's statement is available at http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/06/06052007.html.)
Second, the Department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released findings of a unique mapping exercise, whereby it placed fourth- and eighth-grade state proficiency standards in reading and math onto the appropriate National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scale for comparison. (NAEP, also known as the "nation's report card," provides a common scale, as it is given in all 50 states.) Unfortunately, most state proficiency standards fall within NAEP's Basic (versus Proficient) range, with most fourth-grade reading standards falling into NAEP's Below Basic range. While this variation may be explained to a point by differences in the design and purposes of state tests and NAEP, the gap (spanning a range of 60 to 80 points) is alarming. "This report offers sobering news that serious work remains to ensure that our schools are teaching students to the highest possible standards," the Secretary stated. "[President Bush's] reauthorization proposal for No Child Left Behind would require students' performance on state and NAEP assessments to appear side by side on the same report card so parents can compare how their state and school stack up. Through transparency, we can better gauge where states are and how far they have to go to reach grade-level proficiency for all students by 2014." For more information, please go to http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2007482.pdf. (The Secretary's statement is available at http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/06/06072007.html.)
Considering these reports, some have called for national standards and assessments. However, in a recent Washington Post op-ed, Secretary Spellings reiterated her opposition to a federal government-led effort. "National standards are not synonymous with higher standards," she noted. "In fact, they would threaten to lower the academic bar. And, they would do little to address the persistent achievement gap." Instead, she said, "The proper role of the Department is in helping states, districts, and schools collect data to drive good decision-making. Information is our stock in trade." For more information, please go to http://www.ed.gov/news/opeds/edit/2007/06112007.html.
Grant Awards
In preparation for the upcoming school year, the Department awards a series of grants over the summer. Last week, 10 states received $284 million in three-year grants to create new charter schools and increase school choice (http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/06/06052007a.html). This week, 18 states, school districts, university systems, and non-profit organizations received $38.2 million in first-year grants ($237 million over five years) to provide financial incentives to teachers and principals who improve student achievement and close achievement gaps within high-poverty schools or recruit effective teachers into those schools, especially for hard-to-staff subjects like math, science, and special education (http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/06/06132007.html).
Transforming Higher Education
On June 5, Secretary Spellings opened the first of five higher education regional summits in Kansas City, Missouri. (Regional summits have also been held in Seattle, Phoenix, and Boston; on June 19, Atlanta will play host to the final summit.) These summits build on the national summit held in Washington, D.C., in March and focus on five recommendations from the Secretary's Commission on the Future of Higher Education report: aligning K-12 and higher education expectations; increasing need-based aid for access and success; using accreditation to support and emphasize student learning outcomes; serving adults and other non-traditional students; and enhancing affordability, decreasing costs, and promoting productivity. "Whether you are a business leader who needs talented workers, a state that needs an educated workforce, a parent who needs to figure out how the heck you're going to pay for college, or a student who needs an education," the Secretary observed, "each and every one of you has a critical role to play in maintaining the strengths of our colleges and universities." For more information, please go to http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/06/06052007c.html.
Also, on May 31, the Department sent to the Federal Register proposed regulations to interject more choice, competition, and transparency into federal student aid. Among other measures, the regulations seek to protect a borrower's right to choose a lender and limit deceptive lending practices. Comments must be received by August 13. For more information, please go to http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/
Meanwhile, Secretary Spellings has designated the agency's Chief Financial Officer, Lawrence Warder, as acting Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid (FSA). Prior to joining the Department in 2006, Warder had a 36-year career in the private sector, 33 of those in management consulting to a variety of industries. He received his B.S. in math from the University of Akron and his M.B.A. from Kent State University. FSA, a performance-based organization, delivers approximately $77 billion in financial aid each year to more than 10 million students and their families. For more information, please go to http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/06/06012007a.html.
School Safety Report I
After almost a year of meetings (six in person and six via conference call) and testimony from parents, researchers, and state and local education leaders (42 in all), the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools' Advisory Committee presented the Secretary with a 50-page report, "Enhancing Achievement and Proficiency through Safe and Drug-Free Schools." The 19-member committee, authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act and established by the Secretary, was asked to focus on three major areas in the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools: the State Grants Program, the unsafe school choice option that includes identifying "persistently dangerous schools," and data collection and reporting on school violence and drug incidents. Later, the Secretary also asked the committee to look at the effects of trauma on students as a result of school violence, the coordination of resources between public and non-public schools, and the varying challenges of rural and urban schools. For more information, please go to http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/sdfscac/comment.html.
School Safety Report II
Regarding the effects of trauma on students, Secretary Spellings, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have presented President Bush with findings from their national dialogue with educators, mental health experts, and state and local officials on issues raised by the Virginia Tech University tragedy. The Cabinet leaders reached five conclusions and recommended specific actions at both the federal and state and local levels. The report did not attempt to examine what happened at Virginia Tech. For more information, please go to http://www.hhs.gov/vtreport.html.
Multicultural Literacy Campaign
Reading is Fundamental (RIF) has launched a Multicultural Literacy Campaign to promote and support early childhood literacy in African-American, Hispanic, and Native American communities. This multi-year effort, sponsored by Macy's, will provide parents and caregivers of children under the age of 5 with new educational resources for building children's language skills, including an early childhood web site and educational video, funded by a Department grant; a partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute to conduct literacy workshops; and multicultural book donations for schools. For more information, please go to http://www.rif.org/multicultural_campaign.mspx.
Quote to Note
"Accountability can light the way forward. But only higher standards can take us there. We've knocked down the blackboard wall that once stood between schools and parents. Now we must work with Congress and the states to share and replicate best practices, not scrap them for an untested system. Our goal is a public education system that is transparent and responsive to the needs of parents and childrennot to the whims of Washington."
|Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (6/9/07),
in a Washington Post op-ed
Upcoming Events
June 28 through July 1, the Department will be exhibiting at the annual PTA National Convention and Exhibition in St. Louis. If you are attending this event, please stop by the Department's booth.
Applications and nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 Broad Superintendents Academy, a rigorous, 10-month executive management course designed to prepare leaders from both inside and outside education to become successful urban superintendents. Participants keep their current jobs while attending. All tuition and travel costs are covered. The application deadline is September 16. For more information, please go to http://broadacademy.org/.
Credits, Subscribe & Unsubscribe
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Director, Intergovernmental AffairsRogers Johnson, (202) 401-0026, email@example.com
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To be added or removed from distribution, or submit comments (we welcome your feedback!), please contact Adam Honeysett. Or, visit http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/edreview/index.html.
This newsletter contains hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user's convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Furthermore, the inclusion of links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.

subset: commoncrawl


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Berkswell Apartments provide modern self-catering holiday flats close to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Sandcastle Water Park.
Suitable for 2 – 5 persons. 1st floor front facing bay windowed apartment with the facility of 2 bedrooms. Lounge with tv and sofa bed. This apartment enjoys sunshine all day. Fully equipped kitchen. Bedroom 1: Single bedroom with single bed and flat screen tv. Bedroom 2: double bed with en-suite shower, toilet and hand basin. This apartment is suitable for a travel cot.
Apartment Features
Blackpool Self-Catering Holiday Flat
Berkswell Apartments offer a selection of five well-equipped,modern holiday flats to suit individuals, families and couples all year round. The flats can accommodate from one-four persons.
Our self-catering apartments are situated in the best South Shore area of Blackpool for all of the major attractions that Blackpool has to offer.
- All apartments have en-suite shower room, toilet and hand wash basin.
- Each apartment has TV, DVD and Freeview.
- On-site car park with free allocated space for each apartment (please request parking space when booking)
- Children of all ages are very welcome, travel cot and high chair available (please request when booking)
- Please note - baby's bedding cannot be supplied - mum's choice!
- We regret we cannot cater for pets.
- Full fire precautions for your safety.
- Strictly non-smoking.
- Wi-Fi available.
- High quality bed linen provided but we request that you bring your own towels and toiletries.
- 2 ground floor flats which are easily accessible for semi-mobile guests. (However, we would suggest you discuss your needs with us to ensure comfort during your stay.)
- Well equipped kitchen in each apartment, complete with full size oven and hob, fridge, microwave, electric toaster and electric kettle.
- Vacuums, Irons and full sized ironing boards for every apartment.
- Welcome pack on arrival includes bath mat, tea towel, tea and coffee complimentary tray, washing up liquid, dish cloth and scourer.


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Top 10 media stories of 2012
Let's face it: The media had a bad year.
Midway through 2012, a "Civility in America" survey found that 82 percent of Americans believe the media are more interested in controversy than facts. Sixty-two percent found the media's tone "uncivil." In August, for the second time in a decade, Pew Research found that the "believability ratings" for major news organizations had suffered broad-based declines. And in December, Gallup released a survey showing journalists were less trusted than bankers, with less than one-in-four expressing "high" or "very high" trust in our honesty and ethical standards. At least we polled better than car salesmen.
Story Continued Below
( Also on POLITICO: The petition to deport Piers Morgan)
As trust declines, scrutiny rises, and the men and women who were hired to report, analyze or comment on the news increasingly become a part of it. A bold proclamation from an influential media personality, a heated confrontation between a politician and a pundit, or an egregious mistake by a reporter or network — on a regular basis, the media are finding their own names in the headlines.
Taken together, the biggest political media stories of 2012 portray a fourth estate whose members are stepping off the sidelines to become players in the game. Occasionally, such moves win fame and favor; more often, they reinforce widespread suspicions of bias. It is an incomplete portrait, because it inevitably omits the achievements of the many reporters who stay out of the limelight. It does, however, reflect a trend — and one that, judging by the national surveys, comes at a cost to our credibility.
Here are POLITICO'S biggest media stories of the year:
10. John King invites the wrath of Gingrich
CNN's John King opened January's Republican primary debate in Charleston, S.C., pledging to stay out of the way: "This is not my debate," he told the audience. "It belongs to these four gentlemen… If they forget I'm here tonight, then I've done my job."
Then, King asked Newt Gingrich to respond to his ex-wife's accusation that he had asked her for an open marriage, and immediately put himself on the firing line. Gingrich responded with a fierce attack that saved his own reputation — he would go on to win the South Carolina primary — while dealing a considerable blow to the moderator.
"I think the destructive, vicious negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. I'm appalled you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," the former Speaker told King . In an interview with POLITICO that night, King called Gingrich's criticism of the media "a tactic he's used throughout the debate season," which was true. But none had been this intense, and so effective. King's colleague David Gergen called it "one of the harshest attacks that we've had on the press that I can remember in a long, long time."
Gingrich press secretary R.C. Hammond accused King of "gotcha journalism." Campaign adviser Bud McFarlane said that though Gingrich was tough on King, the CNN correspondent had "asked for it." The exchange led the news cycle the next day as footage seemed to play on an endless loop across cable news. King, who stood by his decision to ask the question, was continuously brought on air to address the exchange, and even had Gingrich on his own show almost a week later, where he delivered the attack — albeit diplomatically — one more time.


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On a recent weekday morning John Lydon was riding passenger side on Venice Boulevard toward downtown L.A., and the day seemed full of possibility. "I don't get out much, so I'm thinking, 'What can I go buy?'" he wondered. "Usually it's plumbing equipment that's on my mind. There's always something to repair."
Lydon, known to generations of miscreants as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, lives a few hundred yards from the beach, just south of Venice, and has for close to two decades. "Well, somebody has to replace the hippies," he said by way of explanation, spitting the last word with the same amount of contempt that he did in his youth. "All the beach there used to be very, very hippie. Very crime ridden too, in the past. Very druggy. But Johnny came along and kicked all that out." His voiced turned faux-sinister. "Yes, I showed them a thing or two about manners."
When he does make it away from the homestead, he explained, it's either by foot, bike or the good graces of the driver in the family, "my lovely wife" Nora Forster, a European publishing heiress to whom he has been married for more than three decades.
A little earlier as he was greeting a visitor/driver at the entryway to his house, a modest, lived-in two-story, to be ferried to a video interview, Lydon had arrived wearing a vibrant yellow and brown ensemble — pants, shirt, vest, tie — along with that shock of dyed-red hair. Carrying a shopping bag, he looked like he might be headed to a clown convention. But as he left, he poked his head back into the house and hollered, "Leaving now, bye!"
And with the words, he immediately transformed into an Everyman husband off on an afternoon adventure — not one of the singular cultural figures of recent decades, once described in the U.K. press as "the biggest threat to our youth since Hitler," whose style and personality helped upend rock 'n' roll culture when the Sex Pistols broke in 1976, and whose influence as founding member of Public Image Ltd reverberates today.
In the bag were original drawings and writings from his latest project, "Mr. Rotten's Scrapbook," a limited edition tome published in December that Lydon started constructing during recent gigs with a reformed PiL. Having already published a well-received, brutally honest memoir in 1994, "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs," Lydon is drawing from another cabinet in his memory. His autobiography, he said, "tends to be the boring, straightforward facts a bit, not getting into the personality of me-self, for instance, or anyone else I'm involved with. So the scrapbook is a really friendly approach — and, oddly enough, more accurate."
"Scrapbook" features a mishmash of his drawings, paintings, photos, poems, scribbles and reminiscences, and sells for about $750. "It's mistakes, warts and all, but free-form, as I truly remember a thing." He says the goal of the book, which comes with a piece of hand-drawn original art, is to convey his "true feelings and relationships with the people I've worked with. I tell it as it is."
The artwork includes stream-of-conscience doodles of a sacred heart, a hand made out of eyeballs, a grotesque self-portrait of the artist reclining on a sofa watching TV and whatever else that spurred his imagination. A drawing of St. Martin's College came about because it was the location of the first Sex Pistols gig — though Lydon has drawn it as a "St. Martin's pig." He's changed the convicted British felon dubbed the Cambridge rapist into a drawing of a Catholic priest called "The Cambridge Papist."
He's coupled this artwork with handwritten recollections and images from a fascinating life, and if the book can't possibly be as transformative as his music, it's a new medium, and serves to get his strong voice back into the public's ear, a place to which he seems inexorably drawn. "I do interviews because I don't want to fade into oblivion and never be heard of again," he told Record Mirror in 1979, three years after he burst onto the world stage as a punk rock archetype. "All forms of communications are important. People know you exist."
On the passenger side, Lydon rummaged through his bag and pulled out a little bottle: "My dental repair kit: Johnny Walker Black," he said, taking a sip and letting out a thirst-quenching sound. "That'll get rid of the toothache all right."
Lydon turns 55 on Monday, and with that semi-milestone the singer finds himself, well, rather domesticated, with little bursts of public interaction followed by long periods of media dormancy. He no longer has a home in London, he keeps his private L.A. life private, and is very protective of it. An attempt to speak to members of his band was denied by his management with the note, "we thought this was a piece about John and John alone."
The reticence is understandable. It's been a rough year for his family; Nora's daughter (Lydon's stepdaughter) Arianna Forster, best known as the punk singer Ari Up of the Slits, died in October from cancer. Even before her death, Lydon and Nora had taken up the task of helping to raise Arianna's three children, and Lydon found himself more worried about PTA meetings than poking at the power structures. He says that his main occupation right now is attending to the needs of his grieving wife and Arianna's children. And despite having a desire to do another Public Image album, he's got his priorities. "It would be wrong," he said of recording right now, "and it would totally dominate the proceedings, and it would be unfair on my wife to leave her alone like that. When you record, you lock yourself into your own world, and that would be incredibly selfish, and not the right thing to do."
Lydon hasn't released a full-length of original material in 15 years (though PIL released a live album in 2009), and is without a record deal. Instead, over the last decade he has undertaken a series of unlikely television and broadcast projects. In 2006, he was a regular on the British reality show "I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!" followed by three one-off wildlife documentaries for the Discovery channel: "John Lydon's Megabugs" (about insects), "John Lydon Goes Ape" and "John Lydon's Shark Attack," in which the original punk swam with great whites off the coast of South Africa. Interspersed with this activity are the occasional Sex Pistols reunion gigs, where he still attempts to infuse his archetypical scream with fury in songs such as "Holidays in the Sun" and "Anarchy in the U.K.," along with original members Steve Jones (who also lives in Los Angeles), Paul Cook and Glenn Matlock, both of whom continue to reside in the U.K. In 2000, VH1 commissioned Lydon to do a freewheeling opinion and interview show called Rotten TV, but the viewers never materialized.
Lydon blamed VH1 executives. "The powers that be were constantly trying to rewrite my history for me to, 'Try and make the show more interesting. Let's set it in Pasadena,' was one idea across the table. I said, 'No, I've lived in Pasadena for two years. I don't want anything to do with the place.'"
Lydon said he's been experimenting with writing music in his home studio, though, inspired by the 2009-2010 Public Image Ltd tour that he called "the most joyous musical experience of my entire life, and that includes the Pistols and all of PiL up to this current day." The band, which over the years has included many members, is down to three core musicians: Lydon, bassist Lu Edmonds and drummer Bruce Smith (along with instrumentalist Scott Firth). The three have played together for nearly 25 years, making rhythm-heavy rock and electronic music with lots of deep bass and wide open space. The music's influence has far outweighed its sales.
The ways in which he's creating sounds, though, have changed. Armed with a portable recorder, Lydon said he's been working with "anything that I can see surrounding me. I have made sounds out of toilet bowls. Anything that creates a sound is a good thing. And you find a house full of that kind of stuff — particularly if you do your own plumbing. My god, you're not short for tunes." He started generating the tones while undertaking some home maintenance, one of the many ways in which he's become more a husband than a rebel figurehead over the years.
"There's nowhere I want to go," he said of his current life. "I mean, I'm down there at the beach, it's fine by me. What do I want to be in town for?" When it's suggested that Los Angeles culture might have something to offer him, he lets out a wicked, dismissive cackle. "Yes, and it can all stay where it is, and it's quite happy to go on and coexist without me." Listening to the Pistol describe his current place in the world, it's hard to begrudge him his social complacency.
"When the sun comes out, everybody's happy, and that's it," he said. "And it's pretty hard here in the summer, when it's 90 at 8 in the evening, to be putting on your rebellious punk rock glad rags and demonstrating in your studded leather jackets. You'll die of heat exhaustion."
On a recent weekday morning John Lydon was riding passenger side on Venice Boulevard toward downtown L.A., and the day seemed full of possibility. "I don't get out much, so I'm thinking, 'What can I go buy?'" he wondered. "Usually it's plumbing equipment that's on my mind. There's always something to repair."


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With the problems an improper neutral-to-case connection can create, it's important to closely follow the grounding requirements of Art. 250 in the 2002 NEC.
How do you prevent fire, electric shock, or improper operation of circuit protection devices and other equipment? By stopping objectionable current (neutral return current) from flowing on electrical equipment, grounding paths, and bonding paths as required by the NEC in 250.6. To do this, you must keep the grounded (neutral) conductor separated from the metal parts of equipment, except as required for service equipment in 250.24(B) and on separately derived systems in 250.30(A)(1) and 250.142. Making the proper neutral-to-case connections is the key.
Consequences of improper neutral-to-case connections. There are several consequences of improper neutral-to-case connections that range in severity from problems with equipment to the death of an employee.
Fire hazard. Improper wiring that results in the flow of neutral current on grounding and bonding paths can cause enough excess heat to cause a fire. Fire occurs when the temperature rises high enough to ignite adjacent combustible material in an area that contains sufficient oxygen.
Electrocution. Death from an electric shock can occur when the touch voltage is above 30V rms, and as little as 30 mA flows though the body. These conditions can easily exist when improper neutral-to-case connections are made and the neutral is opened. Improper operation of protection devices. Nuisance tripping of a protection device equipped with ground-fault protection can occur if neutral current returns on the equipment-grounding conductor instead of the neutral conductor. Current can return this way because of multiple and illegal neutral-to-case bonds.
A circuit breaker with ground-fault protection (480Y/277V, 3-phase system over 1,000A) uses the residual current method to detect a ground fault. On a 3-phase, 4-wire system, the trip unit will sum the currents in the 3-phase conductors and in the neutral. When no ground fault is present, the summation of currents flowing on A+B+C+N will equal zero. Any current flow not equal to zero is considered a ground fault.
Where multiple neutral-to-case bonds have been made, neutral current will flow on the equipment-grounding path. Depending on the impedance of this path versus the neutral conductor path, the ground fault protective relay may see current flow above its pickup point and cause the protective device to open the circuit.
If there are multiple neutral-to-case bonds and a ground fault occurs, the protection relay might not operate, because some of the ground-fault current won't flow on the equipment grounding conductor. Some fault current returns on the neutral conductor, partially bypassing the ground fault protective device.
Power quality problems. When objectionable neutral current travels on the metal parts of equipment because of improper neutral-to-case connections, the electromagnetic field generated from circuit conductors will not cancel out. This uncanceled net current flowing on metal parts of equipment and structural parts causes elevated electromagnetic fields. These low-frequency electromagnetic fields can negatively affect electronic devices.
Common improper neutral-to-case connections. The most common improper neutral-to-case bonds occur in panelboards, separate building disconnects, transformers, and generators. Neutral current will flow on metal underground water piping systems where the water service to the building is metallic. However, this occurs only if the underground water pipe system is metallic and connected to other buildings. Although this isn't an NEC violation, you need to be aware of such situations.
Panelboards. Bonding of the neutral terminal to the case of a panelboard, which isn't part of service equipment or separately derived systems, creates a parallel path for return neutral current. The result is neutral current (net current) flowing on the metal parts of electrical equipment and on the grounding and bonding conductors (see Fig., right).
Connection at separate buildings. Where an equipment-grounding conductor is run with the feeder conductors to a separate building [250.32(B)(1)], some people make the common and dangerous mistake of making a neutral-to-case bond in the separate building disconnect. This ties the neutral and equipment grounding conductors together, allowing objectionable neutral current to flow on the feeder equipment-grounding conductor.
Separately derived systems. Making a neutral-to-case bond for a separately derived system at more than one location creates a parallel path for neutral return current.
Transformers. If a neutral-to-case bond is made at both the transformer and at the secondary panelboard, neutral current will flow through metal raceways (and on the grounding and bonding path) on its return to the power supply.
Generators. If the grounded (neutral) conductor in a transfer switch is not opened, the grounded (neutral) from the generator will be solidly connected to the utility's service grounded (neutral) conductor. Under this condition, the generator isn't a separately derived system, and a neutral-to-case bond must not be made at the generator or at the generator disconnect [250.20(D) FPN 1].
If a neutral-to-case bond is made at both the generator and generator disconnect, objectionable neutral current will flow through metal raceways—and on the grounding and bonding path—to the power supply.
Required neutral-to-case connections. The NEC offers guidelines on how to make neutral-to-case connections in the following applications:
Service disconnecting means [250.24(B)]. Services supplied by a grounded utility transformer must run a grounded (neutral) conductor from the electric utility transformer to each service disconnecting means. You must bond the grounded (neutral) conductor to each disconnecting means enclosure (neutral-to-case connection) by a screw or strap supplied by the equipment manufacturer [250.28].
The grounded (neutral) service conductor must be sized to safely carry the maximum ground-fault current likely to be imposed on it from where a ground-fault may occur (110.10). Thus, you must size the grounded (neutral) conductor per Table 250.66, based on the total area of the largest ungrounded (hot) conductor. Also, the grounded (neutral) conductors must be able to carry the maximum unbalanced neutral current in accordance with 220.22.
If a grounded (neutral) service conductor, that serves as the effective ground-fault current path is open or not provided, then you can't clear a ground fault, and the metal parts of electrical equipment and metal piping and structural steel will become—and remain—energized.
Transformers or other separately derived systems [250.30(A)]. To provide the low-impedance path necessary to clear a ground fault from the separately derived system, you must bond the metal parts of electrical equipment to the grounded (neutral) terminal (XO) of the derived system. You can make the neutral-to-case bond at the source of a separately derived system or at the first system disconnecting means. The bonding jumper used for this purpose shall be sized per Table 250.66, based on the area of the largest ungrounded conductor.
If you don't install a bonding jumper from the equipment-grounding conductor to the grounded (neutral) terminal of the separately derived system, then you can't clear a ground fault, and the metal parts of equipment, as well as metal piping and structural steel, will become and remain energized (see Fig., right).
To protect against electric shock, fires and the improper operation of equipment from objectionable current on metal parts, make your neutral-to-case connections only at service equipment and separately derived systems in accordance with 250.142.
Are you still confused by the Code? For additional information on Code-related topics please visit www.mikeholt.com or send an e-mail directly to the author at [email protected].


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Diana Hsieh writes,
I particularly recommend [Noumenalself's] two posts (one and two) on Robert Tracinksi's continued defense of the Iraq War. (Then again, I'm not sure that any critique could be quite so devastating as Barbara Branden's hearty endorsement of The Intellectual Activist. As Betsy says, "In the long run you get the kind of friends -- and the kind of enemies -- you deserve." So true! The advocates of a kinder, gentler, and more tolerant "Objectivism" (like Barbara Branden and Robert Bidinotto) should be expected to support those defending the ongoing sacrifice of American soldiers in an altruistic-in-design and unwinnable-as-fought war. They should be aghast at those advocating lasting victory over the enemies who actually threaten us. And so they are.)
Barbara Branden also speaks glowingly of Ayn Rand. Should we think less of Ayn Rand for that?
Robert Tracinski wrote "Notes On A Question of Sanction," a detailed critique of David Kelley's tolerationism. He has neither disavowed his essay nor expressed support for Kelley. Why would it be devastating if tolerationists agreed with his position on Iraq? Given that the Kelley faction loathes ARI, it figures they would agree with anyone who disagreed with ARI on Iraq. They might even agree with one of their most prominent critics; that's what toleration is all about. But it does not follow that their agreement with him, which he neither sought nor celebrates, makes Tracinski look bad.
You can criticize Tracinski's stand on the war -- I have questions about it myself -- but to suggest that Tracinski is wrong or somehow tainted because a tolerationist recommends his magazine is not logical.


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Mailing lists
From ForensicsWiki
There are multiple mailing lists which are related to computer forensics.
- SecurityFocus: Forensics (firstname.lastname@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: Forensics in Spanish (email@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: Binary Analysis (email@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: LogAnalysis (email@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: Real Cases (email@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: Incidents (email@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: Phishing and Botnets (email@example.com)
- SecurityFocus: Honeypots (firstname.lastname@example.com)
- TCT users (email@example.com) - Are there any public archives of this list?
- Apple Forensics (firstname.lastname@example.com)
- Computer forensics tool testing (firstname.lastname@example.com) - Are there any public archives of this list?
- MacIntosh OS: Forensics (email@example.com) - The archive is only available to list members.
- Digital Forensic Science Mailing List (email@example.com) - The archive is only available to list members.
- High Technology Crime Investigation Association Mailing List - The HTCIA mailing list is for members only
- InfoSec News Mailing List Medium traffic list that caters to the distribution of information security news articles.
- Computer Forensics Investigators Digest (CFID) - To join CFID listserv, one must meet the following criteria:
- Be a full-time member of either law enforcement or corporate security tasked with the investigations of high-technology crime and/or computer forensics.
- Not have ever worked for the defense in a criminal case (ethical defense work excepted on a case by case basis).
- Not be a primary vendor of forensic products (exceptions to this are personnel who retire and then offer their utility suites commercially).
- For subscription information, send request to jnj AT infobin.org
- American Academy of Forensic Science Digital and Multimedia Forensics (AAFS-Digital&Multimedia) - The archive is only available to list members.
- This list supports the Digital and Multimedia Sciences section in the AAFS. No restrictions on subscribers.
- Subscribe by sending an email to email@example.com with message body containing SUBSCRIBE AAFS-DIGITAL-MULTIMEDIA-LIST.
- [1] (email@example.com)
- Closed list, requiring moderator approval.


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The government's weekly snapshot of Kansas agriculture says the recent, widespread rain is helping pastures as well as crops.
But the Agricultural Statistics Service also said Monday that subsoil moisture supplies remained short to very short in 48 percent of Kansas, despite the downpours mostly in central and eastern sections.
The agency rated the condition of the Kansas corn crop as 29 percent poor to very poor, 33 percent fair, 32 percent good and 6 percent excellent.
About 19 percent of the sorghum crop is rated in poor to very poor condition. Of the rest, 38 percent was rated fair, 40 percent as good and 3 percent excellent.
Soybean condition was rated as 10 percent poor to very poor, 33 percent fair, 52 percent good and 5 percent excellent.


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Stardoll, the global online fashion and gaming community for girls, has partnered with Barbie to bring the world of virtual dress-up and online play to life with the new "Stardoll by Barbie" line of collectible fashion dolls. The partnership marks the Stardoll brand's first foray into translating its online fashion portal into physical dolls, allowing Barbie fans to extend the possibilities of the Stardoll world offline.
The "Stardoll by Barbie" collection will feature eight new fashion dolls, based on four of the most popular virtual Stardoll stores in Starplaza. Inspired by Stardoll avatars, "Stardoll by Barbie" dolls come packaged mirroring signature avatar poses. Each doll features details such as rooted eyelashes, a unique face and body sculpt, as well as a distinct signature style.
"Stardoll by Barbie" will be available at retail in the U.S. beginning this month, with another five dolls slated for spring 2012. Three accessory packs let Stardoll fans mix and match the fashions and accessories, and give girls the interchangeable closet experience of the Stardoll virtual world in the real world.
"Stardoll by Barbie" dolls will come with a gift card for complimentary membership on Stardoll.com for new and existing members, Stardollars to spend on all Superstar items on the Stardoll site as well as free exclusive virtual gifts.


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Arnhem1618Paper PadsbySpeedball
BlickPencil Case
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Williamsburg Oil Paints source the best raw materials in the world. Each is carefully ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to each pigment. These paints are uniquely hand-crafted and of the highest quality available.
Color Swatches created using heavy application/medium application/50% tint and were applied on acrylic primed canvas (7 oz) material.
cadmium sulfide and cadmium selenide
CdS × CdSe
Cadmium Orange was the first true orange and was made by mixing Cadmium Yellow with Cadmium Red. It is a pure hue with excellent opacity and low toxicity compared with its predecessors. It also has very high hiding power. The greatest tinting strengths are possessed by the deeper shades. Only the highest grades contain pure Cadmium Orange without barium mixed in it. Cadmium pigments have been partially replaced by azo pigments, which are similar in lightfasness to the cadmium colors, cheaper, and non-toxic.
Cadmium Orange has excellent permanence, but like many cadmium pigments, it will fade in fresco or mural painting. The deeper varieties of this pigment are the most permanent. The paler varieties have been known to fade when exposed to sunlight.
Cadmium Orange is a known human carcinogen. It is extremely toxic if inhaled and slightly toxic if ingested.
Cadmiums get their names from the Latin word cadmia, meaning zinc ore calamine, and the Greek word kadmeia, meaning Cadmean earth, first found near Thebes, the city founded by the Phoenician prince Cadmus. Metallic cadmium was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Strohmeyer. It was used sparingly after its discovery due to the scarcity of cadmium metal.
inorganiic, cadmium
Cadmium Yellow is brilliant, dense, and opaque, with good tinting strength and very high hiding power. It is the artist's principal bright yellow and is available in light, medium, and dark shades. The deeper shades appear deep orange and have the greatest tinting strength. It is slow-drying in oil form and is used in both oil and watercolor form. It cannot be mixed with copper-based pigments. A clean Cadmium Orange is created when Cadmium Yellow is mixed with Cadmium Red. Hues vary by brand. Cadmium pigments have been partially replaced by azo pigments, which are similar in lightfastness to the cadmium colors, cheaper, and non-toxic.
Cadmium Yellow is usually available in a pure grade, or in a cadmium-barium mix. This mix has the same permanence with a lower tinting strength.
Cadmium Yellow is lightfast and permanent in most forms, but like most cadmium colors, it will fade in fresco or mural painting. The deeper shades are the most permanent. The pale varieties have been known to fade with exposure to sunlight.
Cadmium Yellow is a known human carcinogen. It can be hazardous if chronically inhaled or ingested.
Cadmiums get their names from the Latin word cadmia meaning zinc ore calamine, and the Greek word kadmeia, meaning Cadmean earth, first found near Thebes, the city founded by the Phoenician prince Cadmus. Metallic cadmium was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Strohmeyer. Oil colors were first made from Cadmium Yellow pigments in 1819, replacing toxic Chrome (lead) Yellows. However, their production was delayed until 1840 due to the scarcity of cadmium metals. Landscape painters, such as Claude Monet, preferred Cadmium Yellow to the less expensive Chrome Yellow because of its higher chroma and greater purity of color.
Aurora Yellow, Cadmium Primrose Yellow, Cadmium Zinc Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Primrose Yellow. Deep Cadmium Yellow is sometimes called Orient Yellow.
inorganic, earth
iron oxide
Fe2O2 or Fe2O3 • H2O
Mars Orange is a bright, extremely light red and appears almost pinkish in contrast with darker colors. It has incredible tinting strength and opacity. The synthetic form of Mars Orange is made from iron oxides and is cleaner, brighter, and denser than its ochre-based counterparts.
Mars Orange has excellent permanence and lightfastness.
Mars Orange has no significant hazards.
The word Mars refers to the Roman god of iron and war. Mars Orange has been manufactured as a pigment since the 17th century.
Zinc White is the coolest white, and it has a cold, clean masstone and a slightly bluish tint. It has less hiding power and is more transparent than other whites. It dries slowly and is good for painting wet into wet and for glazing and scumbling. Zinc White is neither as opaque nor as heavy as Lead White, its covering power is not as good, and it takes much longer to dry. However, it does not blacken when exposed to sulfur in the air as Lead White does. It is very valuable for making tints with other colors. Unmixed Zinc White dries to a brittle and dry paint film that may crack over the years, so it is not good for frescoing. It is more transparent in acrylic form than Titanium White and is the most commonly used white with gouache. Chinese White is a version of Zinc White appropriate for opaque watercolor techniques.
Zinc White has great permanence and lightfastness.
Zinc White is moderately toxic if ingested and slightly toxic if inhaled.
Though historians are divided on who first isolated the element zinc, they agree that it was first suggested as a white pigment in 1782. Zinc White was accepted as a watercolor in 1834 and was called Chinese White due to the popularity of oriental porcelain in Europe at the time. Ten years later, a suitable oil form was produced. By the early 20th century, it had improved to the point where it was an acceptable alternative to Flake White.
Chinese White, French White, Permanent White, Silver White, Snow White, Zinc Oxide.
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2008 Winners
Smiley Award 2008
2008 Corporate Sponsor
2008 Prize
2009 Judges
Scott Fahlman (LTI & CSD)
Faculty Judges:
Student Judges:
On September 19, 1982, Scott E. Fahlman, then and now a faculty member in the Computer Science Department of Carnegie Mellon University, posted a message on the department's online bulletin-board system proposing that we use :-) as a symbol for "I'm just kidding" and :-( as a symbol for "This is serious". The idea caught on and soon was in common use at Carnegie Mellon and a few other research universities. Then, as the internet spread around the world and eventually into our living rooms, the smiley spread along with it. Love them or hate them, the smiley and the other "emoticons" that it inspired have become a ubiquitous feature of online communication.
In celebration of this pivotal event in the history of human communication [1], the Department of Computer Science of Carnegie Mellon University has established an annual Smiley Award for innovation in technology-assisted person-to-person communication.
The Smiley Award competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students from any part of Carnegie Mellon, or to small teams of students. The winning entry will receive a $500 cash prize, generously provided by our corporate sponsor, Yahoo! Incorporated. In addition, each winner will receive a framed Smiley Award certificate and eternal bragging rights. The names of the annual winners will be engraved on a plaque on permanent display in the Computer Science Department.
The Smiley Award is aimed at recognizing clever, perhaps small or "bootleg" contributions, in the spirit of the original smiley symbol. The award is not meant to recognize the products of large funded research projects – such things are amply rewarded in other ways.
Choosing a winner each year is necessarily a subjective process. We have assembled a distinguished (but not /too/ distinguished) panel of students and faculty to serve as judges – people who, in the opinion of the contest organizers, demonstrate the right kind of "out of the box" thinking. In addition to picking the contest winner, the judges will have the final say on interpretation of the rules, and they may decide to modify the contest rules and procedures for future years. Judges may not compete in the contest.
There are three primary criteria for a winning entry:
A winning entry may be strong on some of these criteria and weak on others, but we hope to see entries that are strong in all three. Extra credit will be awarded for the following:
The work must have been fully disclosed to the public, and must be usable by the public in some form, at the time of the nomination. However, the nominees may retain intellectual property rights to the work.
Individual nominees and, in the case of teams, all members of the team, must be Carnegie Mellon students or recent graduates (within the past two years).
Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible, as well as students on leave of absence at the time of the nomination.
If a faculty member or some other non-student was involved in some way, all participants must agree that the student nominees were primarily responsible for conceiving and developing the work.
The bulk of the development for the nominated work must have taken place during the nominees' time as a student here, and not more than four years prior to the nomination date. We want to recognize recent work.
To be eligible for the Smiley Award, a work must be nominated. Each nomination requires a description, in Word or .pdf format, of no more than three pages. It should describe the work, list the authors, and state when the work was conceived, developed, and released. Self-nominations are allowed.
Additional information -- demos, videos, testimonials, etc -- can be placed on a web site, and, where appropriate, the judges may ask to see a live demonstration of the work in action. However, the nomination document should make the case by itself; the judges are not obliged to consider the other materials, especially in the preliminary rounds of screening.
Nominations for the second annual Smiley Award are open through January 31, 2009, and the award will be announced around the end of February, 2009.
Nominations should be sent by Email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Questions or comments may be sent to the same address.
In order to give potential applicants some idea of what the judges are looking for, we include here some historical examples of works that would have been strong contenders for a Smiley Award – if they had been created by students (as some of them were) and in the proper time-frame.


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Look – Bright Teals, Blues, and a Touch of Purple
I'm totally rocking out to Travis Barker's remix of Soulja Boy's "Crank That." It's basically one of the most awesome things I've ever heard! As much as I'd love to listen to this on repeat for another hour or so, I need to head out and walk Mellan for a bit… and probably hit up Starbucks' while doing so. Ahh, if only I had will power!
You will need the following…
- Eyes: Teal pigment (teal base), Goldmine eyeshadow (true gold), Shimmermoss eyeshadow (teal), Electric Eel eyeshadow (bright blue), Deep Truth eyeshadow (dark blue), Climate Blue eyeshadow (dark indigo), Gorgeous Gold eyeshadow (green-toned gold), Prescriptives' Grotto Kohl Liner (green-teal), Lancome Oscillation mascara (black)
- Cheeks: Enough Said blush (soft peach), NARS Super Orgasm blush (pink with peach)
- Lips: Velvet Teddy lipstick (semi-matte nude), Vital Spark lipglass (orange-gold)
- Brushes: 266 (firm, angled brush), 249 (flat, firm brush), 239 (fluffy shadow brush), 129 (dense blush brush)
- Substitutes: Climate Blue = Parfait Amour + Contrast; Enough Said = bronzer; Vital Spark = Instant Gold
Directions: Define brows using a coordinating powder shadow applied with the 266 brush. Apply Teal pigment all over the lid as the base with the 249. On the inner lid, apply Goldmine eyeshadow using the 239. Apply Shimmermoss to the middle of the lid, overlaying it with Goldmine. Overlay the middle lid using Electric Eel eyeshadow, leaving about 1/4th of the lid left. Darken outer fourth of lid with Deep Truth eyeshadow, then gently sweep into crease. Deepen crease by gently patting Climate Blue eyeshadow into the crease with the 239 brush. Sweep Gorgeous Gold underneath the brow bone to highlight. Pat lower lash line with Gorgeous Gold eyeshadow using the 219. Finish with Prescriptives' Grotto kohl liner on lower lash line, and Lancome Oscillation mascara on lashes. Sweep apples of cheeks with Enough Said & NARS Super Orgasm using the 129. Apply Velvet Teddy lipstick to lips, and then top with Vital Spark lipglass for color and shine.
Check out more photos!
Mellan pleading with me to finish my makeup already & get to walking him.


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Cuil: Pretty UnCuil
Cuil Will Not Contend with Google (Or Anyone For That Matter)
Danny Sullivan posted on in the wee hours of the morning on Search Engine Land about Cuil (pronounced "Cool"). It's a great post by Danny, as usual, and it's a must-read.
If Cuil is really going to make a run at Google and attempt reorganize the order of the "Big 3" (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft), then they can't afford to go down. Ever.
In all my time using the web and surfing it, I've never seen Google go down. Not once. Maybe some of the old guard has seen it, but I'm not aware it's happened. Is the fight over before it even started? This is not a good sign. Just look at what happened to Twitter and the infamous "Fail Whale". How many devoted users migrated somewhere else because they could never use Twitter?


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1914 - 1918 The War To End All Wars / All Hand Held Weapons
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Just a brief post to wish everyone, whether regular reader or occasional visitor all the best for the coming holidays.
No matter what you are celebrating, keep safe, have fun, relax and I hope you share some happy times with people you love.
And if you are on your own or this is a challenging time for whatever reason, know that you are also in my thoughts.
All images taken by me with my iPhone and modified in Snapseed and Iris apps.


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Rachel Saunders, proprietor of the Blue Chair Fruit Company, shows you innovative, easy techniques for making flavorful jam and marmalade.
Capture the bright flavors of seasonal fruit through the artisanal craft of cooking and jarring preserves. Rachel Saunders, award-winning author and proprietor of the Blue Chair Fruit Company, shows you her innovative and easy techniques for making intensely flavorful jam and marmalade. Follow Rachel's step-by-step methods for creating succulent blackberry jam, savory strawberry spread and zesty, sweet lemon marmalade. Learn the perfect, research-tested balance of fruit, sugar and other ingredients to maximize flavor and shelf life. With minimal preparation, you can preserve and enjoy your fruit for months or years.
If you're not delighted with your Bluprint experience, we'll make it right or give you a full refund.


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Notes from Bolivia
April 19
I'm not very good at Spanish. Six years of study in the Hingham Massachusetts Public Schools and all I could say when I arrived was, "Tengo una cita con Anita" ("I have an appointment….") The worst part: there's no one here named Anita. The funniest thing I've accidentally said is, "I have the flavor of an orange." I also recently asked if syringes were called gringas (the feminine plural of gringo, a quasi-derogatory term for foreigners). They're actually called jeringas. The nurses thought this was hysterical.
Then there's the Bolivian accent. Instead of trilling their R's for words that begin with R or contain the letter RR, they make a Z sound. So rico becomes zico, as in, "Esta sopa es zico, ¿no?" "Zico, hmm, I don't know. I could tell you if I knew what the hell 'zico' meant." There's nothing like having to translate words first into Spanish and then into English. That's what you call a "conversation stopper."
Then there's Aymará, the indigenous language spoken by most of the people in the (really) rural areas around here. All I've been taught to say is "waliki," which I think means "good" or "well" or "I'm fine" or maybe "Your mother is a horse."Very useful for communicating in the campo.
The one nice thing about the language barrier is that sometimes I use it as an excuse to just tune out. I think I'll miss that when I return home.


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DEALS & DIY: A Film Distribution Duet/
Today's guest post is by Orly Ravid of The Film Collaborative(TFC), the first non-profit, full service provider dedicated to the distribution of independent film. Orly was featured as one of HFF's Brave Thinkers Of Indie Film, 2010.
*This is Part II of the "If I Were a Filmmaker Going Sundance..."
*Part III to will be written in the aftermath of the glow of the fest.
Sundance 2011, insofar as distribution was concerned, saw a spike on both the traditional sales and the DIY front. 26 deals were done so far and more to come. One difference between this year's Festival and those of recent years is that several acquisitions were done prior to the Festival and more deals occurred right at the beginning of the Festival rather than taken several days or weeks to materialize. In addition, some of the acquisition dollar figures were bigger than in recent times. There was a definite sense of 'business is back' (though mostly still for bigger films with either name directors or cast or both – and this we address below). And DIY is seeing a new dawn with directors like Kevin Smith announcing a self-distribution plan and Sundance's solidified commitment to helping artists crowdfund (via Kickstarter) and market their films (via Facebook for example) access certain digital distribution platforms (in the works and TBA).
Starting with the deals. So far I counted 26 (one at least was a pre-buy / investment in production) and two so far are remake rights deals.
I only list the deal points that were publicized… meaning if no $$$ is listed then it was not announced.
Deals done Pre-Sundance:
1. Project Nim (James Marsh who did Man on Wire) – sold to HBO for a hefty yet unreported sum.
2. Becoming Chaz – produced by renowned World Of Wonder and sold to OWN (actually we gleaned OWN invested in the film and at the fest Oprah announced her commitment to doing for docs what she did for books via a Doc Club).
3. Uncle Kent went to IFC
4. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Morgan Spurlock) – went to Sony Classics.
Deals done at Sundance according to sections:
US Dramatic Competition:
5. The Ledge: sold to IFC
6. Like Crazy: (Director of Douchebag) - Paramount for a worldwide deal - $4,000,000.
7. Martha Marcy May Marlene: sold to Fox Searchlight, congrats to TFC Board of Advisor EXP, Ted Hope.
8. Circumstance: Participant is funding the release and will (along with the filmmakers) choose a distribution partner, we hope Roadside Attractions.
9. Homework: Fox Searchlight
10. Another Earth: (Mark Cahill) – Fox Searchlight – a $1.5 - $2 mil deal with aggressive P&A as reported and for US and all English speaking territories.
11. Gun Hill Road: Motion Film Group
12. Pariah: Focus Features
Premieres ('names' in films):
13. My Idiot Brother: TWC - $6,000,000 for US and key territories.
14. The Details: TWC - $7,500,000 MG and $10,000,000 P&A
15. I Melt With You: Magnolia (reported mid-high 6-figure deal reportedly w/ healthy backend)
16. Life in a Day: NatGeo Films
17. Margin Call: Joint deal with Lions Gate and Roadside Attractions
18. Perfect Sense: IFC
19. The Future: (Miranda July) – Roadside Attractions
U.S. Documentary Competition:
20. Buck: Sundance Selects
21. The Last Mountain: Dada Films (MJ Peckos and Steven Raphael)
22. Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times: Magnolia and Participant
Park City at Midnight:
23. Silent House: Liddell Entertainment
World Cinema Dramatic Competition:
24. The Guard: Sony Pictures Classics
Not distribution deals per se but Fox Searchlight bought worldwide remake rights to
25. The Bengali Detective &
26. TWC bought remake rights to Knuckle.
Please let me know if I missed any deals and feel free to comment in this blog. Of course more may be announced even as this posts and I am on a plane.
So we see mostly name filmmakers or cast but also definitely a few non-names generating deals the details of which are not publicized thus far.
AND NOW ON the DIY side:
RE: SLITTING RIGHTS & DIY: Andrew Hurwitz and Alan Sacks wrote an article in the Hollywood Reporter addressing all the same stuff TFC has talked about before, splitting rights, working and sometimes conflating windows and not settling for bad deal terms when one could do better on one's own working with consultants etc. It's nice to see trades addressing this in a context that speaks to more traditional industry players.
THE FLAT FEE MODEL EXPANDS: Distribber (now owned by IndieGOGO) announced a partnership that has been brewing with one of our Cable VOD partners, and TFC Board of Advisor Meyer Schwarztein of Brainstorm Media. Basically it expands Distribber's flat fee digital distribution offerings to include Cable VOD (and also Hulu). If a film gets onto all key MSOs the fee is set for now to be $9999 and there are prices per platform if a film cannot make it on to any given platform so that one is not paying for a platform or service they are not getting onto. As per the press release: "The films will be presented to audiences on the new "Filmmaker Direct" label; consumers who purchase films on "Filmmaker Direct" will know that 100% of profits go directly to the filmmaker, instead of to a parade of "Hollywood Middlemen." For more info check out: http://www.distribber.com. My only cautionary note: this is not a great idea for smaller films for which the gross revenues that would not justify the flat fee. One must remember and always know to ask about the splits that the Cable VOD aggregator is getting from the MSOs. They range, to the best of my knowledge to-date, between 30% and 60% depending on company and films. Studios get the higher splits for the obvious reasons. And so one has to do the math. And of course also evaluate MARKETING (which will be the focus on the 3rd and final part of this Sundance Blog series). In any case, we work with both Adam Chapnick at Distribber and Meyer Schwarzstein at Brainstorm and are fond of and trust them both.
BRAND NAME FILMMAKER DIY: Kevin Smith fueled the torch of DIY in his own flame-filled way. He auctioned off the distribution of Sundance Premiere Selection RED STATE to himself and has pre-booked theatres and plans to be his own decider in distribution, sans print ads (Amen). We wish him well but caution his very "old world" production and release budget (4mil Prod & and 2.5mil to release (for prints etc)… immediate launch broad release plan… a slow build never hurt anyone. David Dinnerstein formerly of Paramount Classics and Lakeshore consulted on the release. For more on this topic just search the WWW.
DIY Hats off to the Sundance SHORTS filmmaker such as Trevor Anderson and I believe 11 others who are on Sundance's YouTube Screening Room Initiative with tens of thousands of views. Anderson exceeded 94,000 views as of the other day and has put all his shorts including this year's HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE on www.EggUp.com which allows him to monetize them via transactional digital sales. TFC regularly refers filmmakers to EggUp and now also TopSpin though our gury Sheri Candler advises TopSpin works better for filmmakers with an already robust following. Whilst Anderson may not be getting rich just yet, it's a perfect model for a prolific and vibrant filmmaker who is building a brand and getting his/her work out there.
Last but not least, Sundance announces its DIY oriented initiative.
Sundance Institute announced (I'm now quoting from its press release) its "Three-Year Plan with Kickstarter as Creative Funding Collaborator / Facebook® to Provide Guidance to Institute Alumni… A new program to connect its artists with audiences by offering access to top-tier creative funding and marketing backed by the Institute's promotional support…The creative funding component was announced today with Kickstarter, the largest platform in the world for funding creative projects. A new way to fund and follow creative projects, tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to projects on Kickstarter every month. In exchange for support, backers receive tangible rewards crafted and fulfilled by the project's creator. Support is neither investment, charity, nor lending, but rather a mix of commerce and patronage that allows artists to retain 100% ownership and creative control of their work while building a supportive community as they develop their projects… In the coming months, Sundance Institute will build an online hub of resources related to independent distribution options, funding strategies and other key issues. The goal is to provide for filmmakers a central location to explore case studies and best practices, in addition to live workshops and training opportunities with Institute staff, alumni, industry experts and key partners. As the first of these partners bringing their expertise to the community, Facebook will offer Institute alumni advice, educational materials, and best-practices tips on how to build and engage audiences via the service…Further development will include access to a broad and open array of third-party digital distribution platforms backed by Sundance Institute promotional support. In the future, additional opportunities for theatrical exhibition will be explored in collaboration with organizations such as Sundance Cinemas, members of the national Art House Project, and others."
I have been championing festivals getting involved with exhibition since and distribution beyond the festival itself since 2005 and discussed some options and ideas with Sundance staffers last year and am thrilled about this powerful and liberating announcement that so connects up with TFC's mission whilst having some serious muscle and we look forward to being involved in some way hopefully.
MARKETING IS KING: One thing no one talks about in much detail is MARKETING. Of course the big guns have the cash to buy marketing but the small distribs and aggregators are starting to be difficult to distinguish at times, and yet sometimes distributors do earn their fees by investing real talent and expertise and even money in marketing. So comparing what one can do oneself (if one does not get the big fat offer) with what traditional but small distribution deals bring will be the focus of the 3rd and last post in this series to come after Rotterdam but hopefully before Berlinale.
Over and out for now. Questions and Comments always welcome!
Orly Ravid has worked in film acquisitions / sales / direct distribution and festival programming for the last twelve years since moving to Los Angeles from home town Manhattan. In January 2010, Orly founded The Film Collaborative (TFC), the first non-profit devoted to film distribution of independent cinema. Orly runs TFC w/ her business partner, co-exec director Jeffrey Winter.


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"Demolition started in June and we're getting very far along with that, anticipating the exterior renovation of the property will be completed in December, though our first tenant won't likely be open any sooner than January," said Marcelle McAfee, regional manager for developers Davlyn Investments.
Several weeks ago, Lissilaa Boutique at 1250 Prospect St. was the first tenant to announce it would be moving into La Plaza.
Panera Bread, the sole remaining tenant at the old Jack's site at 7863 Girard Ave., closed Sept. 15, leaving the complex temporarily uninhabited.
"We're hoping to find a top-notch international brand that's seeking a flagship store for what is arguably the most iconic corner in the Village of La Jolla," said McAfee.
The plan, said McAfee, is to redevelop the high-profile center in the middle of La Jolla's downtown Village with an array of "luxury boutiques and brands," though no names have yet been confirmed.
"We're still collecting letters of intent and we are speaking to candidates," said McAfee, adding the intent is to find "a signature restaurant for the top floor of what was Panera, a prime location with a large, wrap-around patio dining and ocean views."
McAfee said a high-end spa is also being sought to fill out the third-floor of the former Jack's building, as well as another tenant, possibly a cigar lounge.
The goal of La Plaza's tenant mix is to make the boutique center a destination.
"We want people to enjoy our center and spend their time there, not just breeze through," she said, adding the tenant mix will begin to be announced in the year's final quarter.
"We anticipate 12 to 15 tenants, including the restaurant and spa inhabiting mostly smaller-size suites," McAfee said. "We're just really excited about helping the image of La Jolla internationally."
Meanwhile, on a separate but related track, preliminary designs for hardscape and landscaping for La Plaza were reviewed recently by the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance (PDO) Committee, which makes recommendations to La Jolla Community Planning Association, the advisory group on land-use matters for the city.
La Jolla PDO is charged with reviewing projects to ensure they comply with standards set for community development, including use of materials, color schemes and proper signage.
La Jolla architect Jim Alcorn of Alcorn & Associates gave a presentation to La Jolla PDO on landscaping and other design elements of La Plaza.
"There will be more landscaping there in the public right-of-way then there is at present," Alcorn told PDO committee members. "The sidewalk is going to be completely redone and some new tile and paving and landscaping between and around the existing trees is going to happen."
Alcorn said parking, includin that available in a parking structure in the Brooks Brothers Building nearby, will be "more than what's required" to meet the new shopping center's needs.
Alcorn will return the PDO at a future date to present the group with details on La Plaza's signage and street furniture for the project's outdoor café.
The retail space at 7863 Girard Ave. has had a long and troubled history. Bill Berkley, who previously owned Jack's, went out of business July 31, 2009. It was later disclosed that one of Berkley's employees had allegedly embezzled funds from him, a case that is still pending in court.
Following Berkley, Mike Viscuso, a nightclub mogul who owns properties in downtown San Diego and Hollywood, purchased the property and began remodeling it with grand plans to redevelop it as a nightclub with seven bars and three restaurants. He later abandoned those plans when the economy went south.
Redeveloping the site "has been a challenge for whomever owned it," said Berkley, adding the multi-level, stepped-back design of the building makes it, "very difficult to get something to go in the back. [Redevelopment] probably would work for a restaurant like George's (on Prospect), but it doesn't work for a boutique dress shop, or something like that. I'm sure there's somebody that will do something and overcome the negative impact of the physical layout. I wish them luck and hope they'll be successful."