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The California Department of Justice is offering $10.4 million in grants from the National Mortgage Settlement proceeds to fund organizations with proposals for designing and developing innovative, scalable and sustainable approaches for helping California families dealing with a foreclosure crisis. The Attorney General's office will award two types of grants:
Grantees may request a carryover of funds for up to six months for both the Consumer Assistance and Homeowner Bill of Rights implementation grants. The State Bar of California will work with the Attorney General's office to administer the grants.
Existing housing counseling and legal services organizations are invited to apply for grant funds, individually or in partnership. Organizations eligible for the Consumer Assistance Grants must be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service and in compliance with all applicable laws and requirements, including registration, as appropriate, with the Registry of Charitable Trusts maintained by the California Department of Justice.
Applicants for the HBOR Implementation Grant may be individuals affiliated with nonprofit organizations or professional organizations dedicated to addressing consumer law and housing issues. Applicants that provide housing counseling must be certified with the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and must currently offer services to financially distressed homeowners. Applicants that provide direct legal services must demonstrate substantial expertise in assisting clients with mortgage and foreclosure-related issues and must currently provide direct legal services to borrowers who need assistance with such issues.
Applications can also be submitted on the form provided on the Attorney General's website at http://www.oag.ca.gov/grants. Email attachments must be in a searchable format with the words "AG Mortgage RFP" in the subject line. Send all materials to firstname.lastname@example.com. All materials must be received electronically no later than 5 p.m. Jan. 14, 2013. Send one (1) original and two (2) hard copies of the application to:
Legal Services Trust Fund Program
State Bar of California
ATTN: Stephanie Choy
180 Howard St.
San Francisco, CA 94105-1617
Remember, all materials must be postmarked no later than 5 p.m. Jan. 14, 2013.
A bidder's conference will be held with the Attorney General's office on Friday, Nov. 30, at 2:30 p.m. Those interested in joining the conference call should email firstname.lastname@example.com. For additional information, contact Jennifer Kregear at 415-538-2021.


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Web Stories
Author, peace advocate to speak on Israel, Nov. 10
Posted November 5, 2003; 05:04 p.m.
Israeli author and peace advocate Amos Oz will lecture at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, in McCosh 50.
Oz, a prominent figure in the Peace Now movement since 1977 and one of Israel's leading novelists, will speak on "Israel: Peace and War." He was among a group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians, human rights advocates and intellectuals that recently unveiled a new blueprint for peace in the Middle East after two years of secret talks.
Since the 1967 war, Oz has published numerous articles and essays about the Israeli/Arab conflict, campaigning for a compromise based on mutual recognition and co-existence between Israel and a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
A visiting professor at Princeton in 1997, Oz currently holds the Agnon Chair of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is the author of works including "Where the Jackals Howl," "My Michael" and "Black Box." In 1998 he won the Israel Prize for literature.
Oz's talk is designated as the Walter Edge Lecture and is part of the University's Public Lectures Series. Arrangements were made through the B'nai B'rith Lecture Bureau. The event will be Webcast .
Contact: Eric Quinones (609) 258-3601

subset: commoncrawl


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iCandy Crystal Stereo Earbuds Blue
Designer-style with embedded blue crystalsContemporary MP3 white colorSmall comfortable earbudsBright clear sound
BudClipz (TM) Earbud Keeper
Fits iPod and iPhone earbuds (those included in the original Apple retail packaging). Simply snaps into place on your earbuds. Fits most BlackBerry® and other manufacturers' standard earbuds. Always keeps your earbuds available at shoulder height. One Year Limited Warranty


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Results 1 to 6 of 6
Thread: Damselfish Eggs
Damselfish Eggs
I came home from grocery shopping today and noticed some peculiar behavior among my two azure damsels in my reef tank.
It appeared that the were going through spawning motions, similar to what my african cichlids do on horizontal rocks, however the damsels were displaying the activity along the vertical corners of my fish tank. The activity was in progress when I arrived home and continued for about 20min.
Initially I thought it was some sort of damsel territorial behavior but then I noticed what looked to be the female's egg tube and observed all of these sugar-grain sized objects adhered on the glass in the particular area that the damsels were displaying their activity.
One of them seemed to protect the area for a while and then moved on.
Azure Damsel
The eggs (very hard to see as they were attached to the glass where the silicone meets and also has coraline algae growth):
I'm noticing that there are less of them now then there were earlier this afternoon so I don't expect them to last long or develop into fry.African cichlid and saltwater aquariums
Even if they don't last, its still cool, and showing that your tank is in great shape.20gal long planted community
Well the eggs didn't last long, they were nearly all gone by the time I came home from work today.
I was thinking maybe the eggs weren't sufficiently stuck to the glass or maybe the fish ate them...then hours later by chance I saw one of my hermit crabs positioned right where the eggs were. I find it amazing that this crab could scale sheer glass 12"-14" above the sandbed by climbing up the corner of the tank (I'm sure the coralline algae assisted with its footing).
The hermit crab finished the last 4 or 5 eggs that I saw and may have contributed to the disappearance of most of them.African cichlid and saltwater aquariums
yea those little guys are crazy haha and i think it's definitely either the coralline algae or the imperfections in the silicon that help them...
Regardless, sorry to hear about the loss of the eggs but it's definitely a great thing to show for the health of your tank!55g Long --> After 18mo of doing well the tank crashed during moving. Most likely cause: Flatworm Die-off... won't start another until after moving... Likely not until late 2013
20g Long --> currently concoting a build plan
Check out the journal to follow my 20g SW tank
"Take a chance, because you never know how perfect some things can turn out" -- unknown
My azure damsel produced eggs again. This time there was more drama involved. No pics this time.
Not too long ago (maybe a month) I re-positioned a small neon green trumpet coral piece from the upper rear left corner of my tank to the bottom rear right corner of my tank and one of my damsels took an immediate possession of it (digging and manipulating the sand around it and things like that). I didn't think nothing of it.
Well yesterday I noticed my maroon serpent star wrapped twined all around this coral and acting 'excited' for lack of a better word; very odd behavior because it only remotely behaves like this if there's food involved an normally it only shows itself at night.
I then noticed one my azure damsels pecking and harassing the serpent star (which the serpent star completely shrugged off).
I looked closer and there were a bunch of eggs that were affixed to the trumpet coral branches presumeably by the damsel moments earlier and the serpent star was having a feast. The tube feet under each of its tentacles were operating like a damsel egg conveyor belt leading egg upon egg straight to its maw.
30min later after stripping the coral branches clean of all damsel eggs, the serpent star slinked away leaving the frustrated damsel.
I wonder how many times this has happened in my tank. If not for the holiday yesterday I would have been at work and would have missed the entire scenario.African cichlid and saltwater aquariums
wow, how cool is that!


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Main institution:
Rotary International, Alexandria Western Club (Egypt)
Principal investigator:
Professor Samir Assaad Khalil
Location of the project:
Amount allocated:
April 1, 2008 - December 31, 2010
The number of people with diabetes is rapidly increasing. The feet of many of these people will be at risk of ulceration. It has been found that foot ulcers precede 85% of non-traumatic amputations in people with diabetes. It is essential that podiatry services, which are almost absent in Egypt, should be urgently initiated to cope with the rapidly increasing prevalence of diabetes and its complications affecting a great number of Egyptians. They require a specific centre that cares for their feet, education besides the orientation and formation of interested HCP's to undertake these services. This concept would reduce the rate of amputations.
Impact of the project:
- More than 8 universities in Egypt are now initiating centers for foot care
- Awareness in the media and general population (TV, radio, press and magazines)
- Awareness propagated to other countries like in Bahrain
- Foot care for diabetics has been introduced as a part of the undergraduate and post graduate curriculum in most medical schools in Egypt
- Training of 15 physicians and 12 nurses
- Lectures to increase the awareness of HCPs (2700 professionals nationwide) . Education of about 3600 patients
- Medical and foot examination for 2600 patients
- Initiation of a regional registry
- 20th World Diabetes Congress, Montreal (Canada), October 2009
- 21st World Diabetes Congress, Dubai (UAE), December 2011 (invited speaker)
- 49th EASD, Barcelona (Spain), September 2013 (DESG symposium) [2]
- World Diabetes Congress, Vancouver (Canada), December 2015 (invited speaker)
- One booklet in arabic on diabetes foot distributed locally
- Study of the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) and Some Socio-demographic Factors associated with the Development of Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) in Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Egypt J. Egypt. Soc. Endocr., Diab. & Metab. 2009, 41 (1) 25-34
- Foot Ulceration and Lower Extremity Amputations Among Diabetic Patients in Alexandria, Egypt: Prevalence, Predictors and Quality of Medical Care. J. Egypt. Soc. Endocr., Diab. & Metab. 2010, 42 (1) 125-130
- "Prevalence of diabetic foor disorders and related risk factors among Egyptian subjects with diabetes" [3] Primary Care Diabetes February 2015
*Project completed January 2011
BRIDGES (Bringing Research in Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems) is a programme initiated by the International Diabetes Federation [4], and supported by an educational grant from Lilly Diabetes.


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Bite-size bacon, beer and bourbon...how could chicken 'n waffles get any better?
Make these cute snacks or appetizers up to 1 day ahead of time and reheat them in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes. Spread Maple-Bourbon Butter on waffles, and assemble just before serving.
Beer lovers may want to choose an ale or a more robust beer for these waffles. Those who prefer a milder taste should use light beer.
© 2017 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved


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To see how easy it was to modify I installed the LiveJournal codebase upon a Debian Woody machine last night, this all went fairly well once I patched the database scripts up to work properly.
It's a lot of work installing it, although the steps themselves are pretty straightforward. I'd be almost tempted to write it up, but the target audience is probably minimal and there are an awful lot of different choices users might wish to make wrt installation - MySQl vs Postgres, etc..
for those of you familiar with LiveJournal there were two things I wished to change:
- Remove the emotional connotations of the word "friend", by replacing it with "trusted readers", and "interesting users".
- Update the LiveJournal calandars so that users can only see a count of entries they are allowed to read.
The latter was what I achieved last night, with only a short amount of hacking.
For those of you that don't know LiveJournal every user has a calendar, such as this one.
The calendar shows the number of posts made on each given day.
However when you post to livejournal you can make your entries private, or restricted to only a small group of people - this is not reflected in the calendar.
If I make one public post today, and one that only I can see when you view my calendar you see "2 posts" were made, despite the fact that you cannot see the second entry.
My patch fixes this.
(There's a similar issue with the public nature of calendars vs. private/secure entries which occurs with users "memories" - anonymous users can enumerate the names + number of each memorable entry, even if the entry itself is private.)
(Another interesting privacy issue is the availability of "icons"..)


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THanks FB, I missed out on that HTS find, but I'll be on a more regular lookout in case it returns.
THanks FB, I missed out on that HTS find, but I'll be on a more regular lookout in case it returns.
My Target in San Diego (there are maybe no other San Diego collectors on this site and LA / SD shipments are very timely and comprable) ---- got Ahsoka in SCUBA gear, with Boss Republic Commando, the new Rex and Cody and a cool repaint of the Super Battle Droid.
I didn't purchase anyone. But I was thinking about it.
BAD Pts Need: R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.
Maradona - glad I could be of service. I'm glad it made it's way to a nice collector's home. Good things come to those who wait haha.
JT - pretty good find sir.
Before I return it, does anyone want the Avengers 3.75" black widow I found a few wks. ago? I have a GI Joe Retaliation blk Cobra commander too, but I think I'll keep him until the movie comes out & we actually get to see him on screen. I'm having slight reservations about the TF Gen. Combaticons i picked up. Nothing wrong with them, but I'm tryin to save for a trip for the end of this month and I really want MP sideswipe/Lambor more. (Esp. after seein him @ F&S yesterday!) I may wait for an online sale though, and I think I will get him b/c the chances of a U.S. release are pretty much nil. (Lamborghini rights). So if those pique your interest, pm, text or call. Thx.
I had emergency veterinarian expenses with one of my cats. I would not have money to buy her for myself or pick it up for another on the board and mail it. I mean literally I budgeted for food for the month. grad school, writing conferences and editing expenses all came at once. since they're not making much perhaps 1 day I won't object to paying 40 dollars for her because I won't have anything else I want to buy
BAD Pts Need: R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.
Add to that, there is no Riff Tamson figure, or Anakin and Padme be in scuba suits
BAD Pts Need: R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.
I hear ya Tycho. Priorities had to be met.
I may decide to keep the combaticons. The card art is fantastic - some of the best i've ever seen for deluxe class or generations in general, and they may be htf later. Lucked out getting em all at once.
CC TRU had that Luke Hoth I had previously stashed, the rest were picked up.
CC Target had a TVC CW Anakin, and more oddly, a TVC Mawhonic. I'm guessing someone bought a case from BBTS or someone like that and didn't want another Mawhonic, convinced an employee to take it back off the item number on the receipt.
Been taking care of a new family matter the last 24 hours, but universe had a little surprise finally. I stopped in at CC TRU and they FINALLY got the CW vehicle 2 packs in, had 1 left of the Mando Transport 2pack, so I bought it and will bring the other vehicle - Anakin's CW JSF - to the store for Toys For Tots when I get my price adjustment Friday. The Transport is alright, but the controls are too far for even the tall TVC CW Anakin to use (I have my TVC CW Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka flying in it right now). The wings folded up makes it look like a starfighter.
Then CC Target had the $12 TF deluxes sale going on, and the ONLY new figures in their pile were 2 Vehicons, so a second score and an army is built.
Oh, and picked up my TF Generations FOC G2 Bruticus from Amazon at my mailbox place. What a great-looking presentation, I may not open it even though it actually looks pretty good in person. Right down to the '90s Hasbro logo on the bottom. It'll go well with the G2 Bruticus skin I have for FOC (but haven't figured out how to get working).
Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.
Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.
The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.
I had forgotten about this until now but I saw a TVC Mawhonic as well a few weeks ago at La Brea Target.
And that $12 sale on TF deluxes at Target has been great to me. I've picked up 2 Vehicons, Onslaught, Blast Off and Swindle.
I'm having trouble finding TRU exclusive "Protectobot" Hot Spot so any help will be appreciated.
I am selling a poster to someone in Germany- does anyone have any idea what it would cost to ship a poster tube to Europe?
On the way home from my grandparents' home last night, I stopped by the new Walmart in Covina, which was surprisingly built right next to a Target. I was reluctant to go Black Friday shopping, but gave it a shot. I picked up an Avengers 8-pack for $25 and it came with three of the four Iron Man 2 figures I'd given up searching for: comic book Whiplash, cyborg War Machine, and Ultimate Iron Man. I've read reports of the green Mandarin figure being found, but I couldn't find one. As unlikely as it sounds, I was in and out of Walmart in ten minutes.
Pumped up by that score, I tried my luck at a nearby TRU hoping to find a Mandalorian Transport. I once again got lucky and found one, also picking up two packs with the really versatile mobile cannon. It took fifteen minutes to get in and out. If anyone is looking, Covina TRU had several of the Transport packs last night around 9.
Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend.


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January 13, 2012
This article was originally pitched to Cracked, who rejected it. I see their point, but I put so much work into it that I thought it would be a waste to just let it sit on my hard drive. Enjoy!
Science fiction is full of weapons of mass destruction, everything from planet-cracking lasers to miniaturized railguns that can put a hole in a tank. Some of these weapons have been the basis for real-world weapons and technological innovation. Others, however, should probably stay as fiction.
They should remain fictional, not because humanity should give up the idea of bad-ass weaponry to stave off the eventual robot uprising, but because some of these weapons would get the designers shot in real life.
If we had the technology to build these devices, would we really want to? This isn't about whether the weapons suck in the show and everyone just ignores it. This is about the basic physics. Would we want these weapons at all?
Wraith Hive by ~wraithhive on deviantART
6. Organic Weapons (Stargate Atlantis, Star Wars, Farscape, etc)
I've talked about this one before, but it bears repeating.
Science fiction, and to some extent fantasy, is full of "advanced" races using organic ships and weapons. In Star Wars, the galaxy was nearly destroyed by the organic technology of the Yuuzhan Vong. In Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith decimated the Pegasus Galaxy in their hive ships and lay waste to the Ancients, a race so advanced that they are known as the Gatebuilders. In every instance, technology based on organic systems has proven superior to good ol' metal. There is some basis for this.
A year ago, scientists in Israel developed a super-strong nano-material much harder than steel. There's also a spider that creates silk tougher than Kevlar, and harvesting it would be a boon. It seems us puny humans are just trying to catch up with Mother Nature.
In the real world…
Hive ship would go squish. Quickly.
Organic substances have proven to be VERY strong, but they lack something the fiction insists is the real advantage of a living ship or weapon: regenerative capabilities. A self-repairing system could take a punishment but just heal itself as the battle progresses. In the fiction, this is protrayed as something like Wolverine's regeneration. However, to be able to regenerate implies that the structure is porous, that it isn't completely solid. Think of bone. Even though it's one of the strongest organic materials in our bodies, it's still generally brittle because nutrients and proteins need to be able to get in to keep the system alive. In a battle, "porous" translates as "squishy."
And that's only the first problem. Organic systems don't have the kind of electrical conductivity needed to really run much more than a few gadgets. Think about it. How damaged do your nerves get when you get a small current running through your body? We are the conductive equivalent of pudding.
This is a byproduct of the chemical properties of organic systems. The weakest link will break first, and in this case, all that living tissue is going to make for a weak electrical system. Don't believe me? Try using a piece of bacon to fix a short circuit. You'll either get no charge going to and fro or you'll get a really crispy piece of bacon if you turn the current up high enough.
Mmmm… electrical bacon.
Eraser Railgun's by ~MALTIAN on deviantART
5. Relativistic Kinetic Weapons (Halo, Mass Effect, Eraser, etc)
If you've played any video games in the last fifteen years, you know about these. Guns work on a very simple principle. Aim at target. Make bullet go fast. Bullet makes target go away. If you have a super-strong material to build the barrel and the benefit of a thermonuclear reactor pumping out a few thousand gigwatts of electricity, why not take it to its logical conclusion and fire a slug at a significant fraction of the speed of light? In Halo, Mass Effect, and Eraser, this is standard operating procedure and the ammunition usually punches clean through anything short of a planet. In the real world, we're developing railguns, though they're nowhere near as powerful. They're still awesome, though.
So that's what you'd want in a fight against heavily armored opponents. You want a gun that fires a gram of dense metal so fast it would make Superman look slow. Make it fully automatic and you have a gun that could shred a modern battleship in less than it takes to say "fire."
In the real world…
This weapon also has two problems. Look at these scenes in Eraser. Notice anything? Ahnold is not being fried by the friction on bullets traveling at thousands of miles per hour. THIS is what a railgun bullet looks like when it's just moving a few times faster than sound. Now imagine the kind of heat created by something moving that fast. There's also the problem that a gun that fired even a gram at that speed would fly out of the shooter's hands fast enough to probably turn said shooter into pudding.
Okay, that's the second pudding reference. I'm hungry.
There's a third problem, though. Let's say we actually had these relativistic weapons and installed them on something very large (like a battle-ready starship) and we fired them in a vaccum so we we didn't get dangerous trails of flaming atmosphere. NOW we're talking.
Except the gun wastes a ton of energy.
In the real world, gun manufacturers realized that a faster, heavier bullet could take down a target. A .45 ACP bullet, for example, is pretty good for taking out things like robbers, small game, and velociraptors. However, it has a problem. It carries so much energy that it can easily go through a person and damage property or other people behind the target. That's why gunmakers developed hollow-point rounds. These bullets have a concave tip that lets the bullet expand and transfer as much energy as possible to the target, causing more damage and not wasting the bullet's energy.
This isn't a small concern. Let's say you have a bullet that weighs 1 kg. To get it moving at 10% the speed of light, you'd need the energy of a 107 kiloton nuclear warhead. That's more than five times as much as the Hiroshima bomb. If the bullet goes clean through a target, as the fiction proposes, and it still poses a threat, that means it still has most of its energy. This would be a horrendous waste of resources.
Imagine shooting a needle at five hundred miles per hour at someone. Sure, it could go clean through, but it would do less damage than just punching the guy.
Star Trek TOS Hand Phaser by ~wolfmage75 on deviantART
4. Phasers (Star Trek)
Ah, the humble phaser. It's been a staple of Star Trek since the 1960's. "Set to stun," has inspired real-life weapon manufacturers to create weapons that can both kill or simply imcapacitate. In fact, even people who've never watched Star Trek have probably heard of the phaser. It's a classic, lethal weapon in the lore of science fiction.
In the real world…
Have you seen these things?! No, really. Just go through a few of these pictures and see if you can tell me what's wrong with the general design in a phaser. Nothing? I'll give you a hint.
Phasers have no gun sights, trigger guards, safeties, or any number of safety features you'd want on a weapon that can vaporize a person. Ask anyone who uses guns on a regular basis if they'd like their sights filed off or their trigger guards removed. These aren't there for cosmetic purposes, folks. Taking them away will make a gun look streamlined, but you'll also have a HIGHLY dangerous weapon that could go off if not handled properly by even a professional.
And speaking of handling a phaser…
Notice how the handles are curved. In order to hold and shoot one of these puppies, you have to bend your wrist at an unnatural angle. It's the only way to hold them and even pretend to aim. Really. Tilt your wrist downward and try holding that position for more than five minutes. You can't, can you? Now take a look at where the designers put the battery pack.
It's in the handle, but not like a magazine on a modern semi-auto. The battery is actually made up on the handle's forward section. You have to remove it from the front, so the only way to swap batteries in the middle of a battle is to turn the weapon upside down, flip it so the barrel points at you, then remove the battery and slap a new one in.
You got that? To switch the battery on a phaser, you have to end up with a loaded phaser pointed right at you.
Even if the tech behind the weapon worked, if it could kill and stun at will, good luck finding someone to actually use one of these suicide aids.
Another mecha by *AndreeWallin on deviantART
3. Humanoid Mecha (ANY Japanese anime, it seems)
The sight of a colossus of titanium and guns walking into a battlefield would be enough to make any hardened soldier soil his BDU's. Anime loves this one, and it's almost become required practice to have one or two of these for every franchise. Warhammer 40K has its own versions, all equally humanoid, and the general rule seems to be that your best fighting machines should look like the things that pilot them.
Tell me you wouldn't crap yourself if you saw this heading towards you with a sword that could cut a skyscraper in half?
In the real world…
There's a reason aircraft carriers are sometimes darkly referred to as "bomb magnets."
The bigger it is, the more chance it will become the target of choice for every weapon on the battlefield. That's really the smaller problem, though. If it's tough enough, the mecha might survive, and drawing attention could actually inspire fear in the hearts of the enemy as they see a giant man-shaped weapon's platform.
But you'd have to actually get the thing built, though.
Military design is, ideally, an exercise in doing the most with the least. It's the same principle as engineering. You want systems that are simple and get the job done. Just take a look at this space shuttle design. It's nothing but a cone and an engine. That's all it needs. Now ask yourself why a piece of military technology would need a torso, legs, and arms?
It wouldn't. A piece of military hardware that houses guns should do one thing: bring the guns to the fight and maneuver them. Look at a modern destroyer like the Iowa-class. The entire ship exists solely to get the guns places. Its infrastructure is built around those things: ammo, maintenance, mobility, etc. A humanoid battle platform would be a waste of resources.
Just building a humanoid mecha would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Sure, there are bombers that cost more, but those bombers are nothing but weapon and engines. A humanoid mecha is thousands of tons of metal not counting fuel to get the thing going.
Save the money and just buy a missile launcher and a humvee.
Halo Plasma Rifle by ~dano555666 on deviantART
2. Plasma Weapons (Halo, Star Trek, Babylon 5, etc)
The humble plasma weapon is a catch-all term for anything that fires blobs of colored light that burn a target.
Plasma is gas that's been stripped of its electrons. It's in everything from computer monitors to thermonuclear reactions, but for weapon purposes, you probably want the nuclear-reactor type. The surface of the sun is made up of plasma, which should give you an idea of how ass-scorching hot the stuff can get. However, scientists recently broke a record and created plasma at 2 billion degrees Kelvin.
The sun, by comparison, is only 15 million degrees Kelvin.
Imagine firing star-blobs at your enemy and searing them with the power of your own miniature sun in a gun. You would rain death and destruction with the power of Helios himself and be a god among the warriors of the world!
In the real world…
Get that burn ointment out. In fact, grab a bucket of the stuff.
Let's take a trip back to elementary science class. When material heats up, it expands and becomes less dense. It's the reason a hot air balloon floats in the cooler air. Heat something to supernova levels, though, and it expands a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Plasma is so thin that it makes regular air look like pudding. That's made out of lead.
And that's three references to pudding. When's lunch time?!
This pudding air creates the first problem. If you're firing your plasma gun in an atmosphere, that'd be like trying to launch a supersonic ping pong ball underwater. Or a potato gun inside concrete. It's not going to go very far. The plasma goes splat against the air which might as well be steel based on density differential, but that's not the worst part.
At its most basic level, plasma is steam. Steam has this nasty habit of wanting to expand. That's why tea kettles whistle. But that's just regular, run-of-the-mill steam. It's not heated to millions of degrees. No tea needs to be boiled to millions of degrees.
Even if you somehow managed to keep plasma together and level and fire it fast enough so it could blast through our super-dense air, and even if this plasma weapon was only used in space where you don't have lead air to worry about, it would still want to expand, and QUICKLY. Trying to shoot plasma at a target is basically trying to focus an explosion. Just imagine trying to remove an appendix at fifty feet with a stick of dynamite and you get the idea.
Plasma is not only too diffuse to move through the air, but it's so hot that it will expand almost instantly in every direction, creating a cloud of death and destruction.
Said cloud of death and destruction will, however, be made up mostly of the atomized bits of your own gunners.
The Death Star by ~tigershark94 on deviantART
1. The Death Star II (Star Wars)
What? The Death Star? Sure, it had a single little point that had to be shot to blow the whole thing up, but it took a Force-sensitive with plot armor to do it. The second one would have been fine if it was finished, so why say that the Death Star II was a terrible weapon? This one could blow up ships with pin-point accuracy. Once shielded, it would have been like trying to attack a small planet. It had enough stormtroopers that, statistically, one of them would have hit something every minute.
Here's the thing. The sources differ on the size of the second Death Star, but they all agree it was much larger. Volume increases faster than diameter. The second Death Star is between 3 and 6 times in size, meaning the internal volume was between 27 and 216 times larger than the original one. Death Star II was built in less than two years. That means that in the time it took to build the ONE massive superstation, the Empire could have used the same materials to build a small fleet.
In real life, it's one of the reasons massive ships were so controversial in the early 20th century. If you destroy the one big ship, you're out one whole ship, crew, ammo, and all. It's the ultimate case of putting all your eggs in one basket. It's a similar problem to the humanoid mecha. If something is that big, you better believe the enemy is going to throw anything and everything at it to get it out of the battlefield as quickly as possible.
And that's it. Hope you all had a good week, I'll see you Monday with a video, a short article, and hopefully I get this new grantwriting job I was pitched.
Stay safe, keep sharing links, and I'll see you in two days. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of an epic space battle from the Freespace mod The Fall of An Empire.


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Toby came home yesterday. He is a Grady pup.. 50 days old today. He is a cute fur ball!
Toby came home yesterday. He is a Grady pup.. 50 days old today. He is a cute fur ball!
Wayne Beck
RIP Moose 2/6/00-1/21/10
Bull's Harley Road Hog 5/1/10-(in training)
Bull's Kunte Kinte 11/7/12-
Great looking pup!
M&K's HR UH Tucker of Texoma JH
M&K's SHR Prime Black Angus
M&K's Miss Jessie Girl JH
Sir Jacob of Lakeview-Jake
Freeway JYD
Mike Whitworth
He has that look like, Im gona chew up all your crap later....
Great looking pup... Cant wait to read about his training..
Toby is a cute little guy. Good luck with your training.
Wayne Nutt
Go Nutts with dog training
HRCH Patton's Parker Co. Shadow "Shadow"
HRCH Clineline Hijacker "Jack"
HRCH Marks a Lot Midnight Hudson, SH "Hudson" RIP (5/26/01-6/18/15)
Castile Creeks Rawhide, MH "Rowdy"
What litter did he come out of? Great looking dog! Can't wait to get my grady boy!
Great looking little guy you have there!
nice looking ppup wayne, congrats and have fun!!!
john mccallie
Nice looking pup, have fun!
Terry "Bud" Cunningham
Kankakee River HRC
They always look so innocent, but who could resist that face? Great looking pup enjoy!
"Feetdown Beatdown Razr's Edge"


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Multimedia: Featured
'Shakespeare at Princeton'
Posted April 21, 2014; 12:00 p.m.
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At Princeton University, the enduring works of Shakespeare have made an indelible impact on generations of students. In honor of the Bard's 450th birthday, this video captures some of the ways in which Shakespeare's timeless embrace of the human condition continues to inspire students. Read more.


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Stitch the Binding to the Quilt
Prepare binding strips as for double-fold (French-fold) binding, but do not fold under an end.
Beginning in the center of the bottom edge, place the binding strip against the right side of the quilt top. Align the binding strip's raw edges with the quilt top's raw edge, leaving a 10" tail.
Starting 10" from the end, sew the binding to the quilt using a 1/4" seam allowance. Stop sewing when you are within 10" to 20" from where you began stitching. Backstitch at both the beginning and the end.
Measure quilt top's edge. Cut a 6"- to 10"-wide strip of prewashed fabric 2" longer than the quilt's top edge. Fold under 1-1/2" on both ends of fabric strip. Sew 1/4" from raw edges.
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Baking| Sweet Orange, Roasted Strawberry & Chocolate Buttermilk Rolls … the best of The Pioneer Woman
"I wanted to make a cookbook full of food that you'd absolutely love, because I love all of you."
Ree Drummond
Of course I got tempted again! What's not to love about Sweet Orange Rolls? The day I saw these delicious rolls from Rees new cookbook, I was in a trance. 24 hours later, my kitchen was enticingly orangey, deeply strawberryish … and like the best bakery in town. These Sweet Orange, Roasted Strawberry and Chocolate Buttermilk Rolls were winners.I knew they would be! I am a huge fan of The Pioneer Womans cinnamon roll dough, a dough I have endlessly experimented with outstanding results each time. If the Apple Cranberry Almond Olive Oil Pull-Apart Loaf & Popovers weren't a screaming success enough, these Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Olive Oil Pull-Apart Bread reconfirmed it!So when I saw the dashing and talented {in Rees words of course, but seriously, it's true} Brians post on A Thought For Food, I knew my homemade bitter tangerine marmalade had found a new destination. This has turned out to be the yummiest one yet. It was a
bread dessert waiting to be baked, and while I worked on the dough I made changes, just a few changes.Nothing radical as the basic recipe is a winner. I had some buttermilk on hand, so in it went instead of milk. Then, when I opened the fridge to take out the jar of marmalade, I couldn't resist thinking the oranges might enjoy some colourful company …So the marmalade got slathered over with some roasted balsamic strawberries I had made the day before. These are delightful to have in the fridge. For times when you buy too many strawberries in temptation and then panic that they will spoil, this is a good recipe. It keeps them safe for at least a few days longer. I make small portions at a time and put them into fruit bakes, sandwich and top a cake with cream, or drizzle a few spoonfuls over a parfait or ice cream. You can see them in these – Quark Mousse Cake, Quarkauflauf, Eggless Caramel Cream Cakes. Just yesterday I topped a cheesecake with the left overs. So many ways and so much fun; taste, colour and variety all packed into one jar! Because they are oven roasted, they are nice and thick, they don't 'leak' extra liquid into the dough to make it soggy. To keep the 'not so terrible any more' teen happy I threw in some dark chocolate too. Orange, strawberry and chocolate together worked some magic in there to serve up some darned delicious dessert rolls! We loved them … LOTS! {I made 2 individual pop over rolls too with left over dough}.How do I describe something bursting with the freshness of orange, seduced by the heady combination of deep roasted strawberries and dark chocolate … ooeeey, gooeey, wonderful. They were fabulous warm, and very very good at room temperature. And with obligatory lashings of unsweetened low fat cream, even more DELICIOUS!This is my new favourite dessert – light, eggless, fruity, chocolaty. I love it! Dark chocolate only makes good things even gooder better. It's adapted minimally from the Rees new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Food From My Frontier. If the recipe is anything to go by, the book has to be a winner.I made a half quantity and am glad I did. Half was hard to keep away from, how could we have justified digging into 48 rolls? Next 24 to be made soon, and more bitter marmalade making coming up just for these! Yes, they were that good! Thank you Brian for the inspiration to bake this 'miracle'! Loved your 'thought for food'!
[print_this]Recipe: Sweet Orange, Roasted Strawberry & Chocolate Buttermilk Rolls
Summary: Sweet dessert rolls bursting with the freshness of orange flavour, seduced by deep roasted strawberries and then given the kick of dark chocolate … all ooeeey, gooeey, wonderful. Adapted minimally from The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Food From My Frontier
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes {plus resting time}
- Buttermilk Dough
- 240ml {1 cup} buttermilk
- 70gm {1/4 cup} granulated sugar
- 60ml {1/4 cup} vegetable oil
- 1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
- 270gm {2 1/4 cups} all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- Filling
- 50gm {1/4 cup} unsalted butter, melted
- 4 tbsp orange marmalade
- 1 serving roasted balsamic strawberries {recipe follows}
- 100gm dark chocolate chips {good quality}
- 1/2 cup {1 stick} butter, melted
- Icing
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 60gm {1/2 cup} powdered sugar
- 50gm {1/4 cup} unsalted butter, melted
- 2-3 tbsp milk, room temperature
- Dash of salt
- Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
- 225gm strawberries
- 30gm {2tbsp} brown sugar
- 15ml {1tbsp} balsamic vinegar
- In a large saucepan over low heat, heat the milk, granulated sugar, and oil until warm but not hot. Add the yeast and 2 cups of flour, then mix and transfer to a bowl. Cover and let it rise for at least an hour.
- Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- {Thermomix: warm milk, sugar,oil, yeast and flour in TM bowl. Mix at Speed 6 for 5 seconds. Knead at intermittent speed for 2 minutes. Leave dough in TH for an hour until it doubles. Cover TM if weather is cold. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix on reverse speed 2 for 10 seconds.}
- Roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 15 inches wide by 10 inches deep. You'll want it to be as thin as you can get so that you can add plenty of goo.
Drizzle the melted butter all over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers to smear it all around so that it coats evenly.
- Spread the orange marmalade all over the buttered dough, distributing it as evenly as you can, followed by the roasted balsamic strawberries. Sprinkle as much good quality dark chocolate all over the two …
- Using both hands in a back-and-forth motion, gradually roll the dough toward you into one long log. {I took a little long getting here, so the dough began to rise. It's a slightly shaggy dough, so might be a good idea to roll it on parchment, especially if you fill it 'up' like I did!}
- Pinch the seam to seal it. Slice the log-o'-dough into 1/2 inch pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 190C. Place the rolls in a buttered baking dish and allow them to rise for 20 minutes while the oven preheats. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until nice and golden.
- While the rolls are baking, make the icing. Add the zest and juice of 1 orange to a bowl. Add the powdered sugar and salt, some milk.
- Then some melted butter and whisk it together until it's nice and smooth and lovely.
- Pull the rolls out of the oven when they're golden brown and drizzle on the icing right off the bat. The piping hot rolls will suck that gorgeous icing right down into their crevices and the whole thing pretty much becomes a miracle.
- Serve them warm.
- Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
- Toss the quartered strawberries well with the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Bake at 180C for about 45 minutes until nice and bubbly, stirring once or twice. Cool completely, transfer to a clean glass jar and refrigerate.
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As I've mentioned before, there's a lot of nanotechnology going on in my part of Upstate New York. So I was very pleased this weekend to finally make it to Community Day at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.
The event was part of the school's month-long community and educational outreach initiative, which they've dubbed NANOvember. Although my son and I did not have time to explore all the family-friendly demonstrations and activities around the CNSE's modernistic $14 billion campus, we did get to see the facility's clean rooms and find out how a computer chip is made.
Our tour guide was Dr. Scott Tenenbaum, Associate Professor of Nanobioscience, who studies RNA biology using nano-based technology. (See the video below for a little more about his work.) Amazingly, the process as Dr. Tenenbaum described it was easy to understand, although the work involved is obviously incredibly complex. Continue Reading "The Birth of a Computer Chip Explained During NANOvember" »


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Federal Election Commission News
Releases/Media Advisories
For Immediate Release:Contact: Ron Harris May 18, 1999 Sharon Snyder Ian Stirton Kelly Huff
WASHINGTON Federal Election Commission Chairman Scott E. Thomas and Vice Chairman Darryl R. Wold presented the Commissions FY2000 budget authorization request to the Committee on House Administration today, Vice Chairman Wold offering detailed justification for a requested modest increase over FY1999s budget, while Chairman Thomas addressed issues raised in the January 29 performance audit of the FEC by the firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Vice Chairman Wold said that the FEC is seeking $38,516,000, and 356.5 staff members for FY2000, a net increase of $1,666,000 (4.5%) and 9.5 staff members over FY1999. The Vice Chairman, who chairs the FECs Finance Committee, noted that the majority of the requested budget increase is for inflation in the FECs present level of operations, and for additional staff resources, primarily in enforcement programs.
He said that three of the requested additional staff would be added to the FECs Audit Division, " to handle the anticipated increase in the number of funding requests in the Presidential matching fund program in the 2000 elections," and that six of the additional requested staff would be added in the General Counsels office " to improve our compliance efforts, both in regular enforcement matters and in the Presidential public funding program."
Vice Chairman Wold said in prepared remarks, "We believe that our budget request, including the modest increase over the current fiscal year, is consistent with, and justified by, the PwC Report and the recommendations it contains."
Chairman Thomas briefed the House Committee on the status of various recommendations contained in the January 29 PwC report entitled "Technology and Performance Audit and Management Review of the Federal Election Commission," saying in prepared remarks that although several of the recommendations would require legislative changes to effectuate, "The FEC has made substantial progress in responding to the PwC recommendations; indeed, several of the suggestions had been well under way when PwC began its audit/review and PwC simply urged the FEC to continue its efforts (such as using electronic filing to streamline disclosure and reports review processes)." He added, "Already the FEC has undertaken concrete action on 19 of the 21 recommendations [contained in the report]."
But the Chairman noted, "While responding to the PwC recommendations is important, it is but one of the many tasks before the FEC. There are many other resource-consuming activities ongoing, such as Y2K preparation, updating the FECs Web site, extensive building renovations, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Pilot Project, as well as the primary statutory responsibilities of disclosure, audit, and enforcement. The agencys response to the PwC report must be measured in this context."
Chairman Thomas detailed the FECs response to certain areas covered in the PwC report, including the enforcement program, and performance objectives for the FEC Staff Director and General Counsel.
He said, "The FEC takes seriously its responsibility to function efficiently and effectively. The many recommendations emanating from PwCs audit/review have offered several opportunities to rethink the way things have been done. We are working hard to analyze the various proposals and to make improvements where feasible. At the same time, we are trying to carry out all the other functions that are expected of us.
"We thank the Committee for its assistance, especially in securing funding for our technology improvements. We hope the Committee, likewise, will help implement some of the legislative recommendations we have made. Several of them were adopted by PwC, as well, and we think they could foster improvements in many areas," the FEC Chairman concluded.
# # #


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Web Stories
Role of European Union in global affairs is conference topic, Oct. 3-5
Posted September 25, 2003; 04:56 p.m.
conference that explores "The European Union: Its Role and Power in the Emerging International System" is set for Friday through Sunday, Oct. 3-5.
The event will take place in 16 Robertson Hall and is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination , in conjunction with the Program on European Politics and Society . Speakers will examine the interplay between developments within the E.U. along with its capacity to deal with foreign defense, security dimensions and international crises. The program is co-chaired by Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, lecturer of public and international affairs and founding director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, and Ezra Suleiman, the IBM Professor of International Studies, professor of politics and director of the European Studies Program. Subsequent conferences are being planned in Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg.
The schedule for the event is available online . For more information, call (609) 258-6200 or (609) 258-1627.
Contact:Tom Bartus(609) 258-3601


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Former Vice President Al Gore's work for the environment is well established. From founding organizations like the Alliance for Climate Protection to receiving a Nobel Peace Prize for his passionate dedication to climate change, his knowledge of crucial issues is formidable. In "The Future," Gore uses his experience and extensive research to pinpoint the healthiest way forward for the planet and human civilization. Here's an excerpt.
Like many fulfilling journeys, this book began not with answers but with a question. Eight years ago, when I was on the road, someone asked me: "What are the drivers of global change?" I listed several of the usual suspects and left it at that. Yet the next morning, on the long plane flight home, the question kept pulling me back, demanding that I answer it more precisely and accurately— not by relying on preconceived dogma but by letting the emerging evidence about an emerging world take me where it would. The question, it turned out, had a future of its own. I started an outline on my computer and spent several hours listing headings and subheadings, then changing their rank order and relative magnitude, moving them from one category to another and filling in more and more details after each rereading.Video: Gore to testify about global warming (on this page)
As I spent the ensuing years raising awareness about climate change and pursuing a business career, I continued to revisit, revise, and sharpen the outline until finally, two years ago, I concluded that it would not leave me alone until I dug in and tried to thoroughly answer the question that had turned into something of an obsession.
More in books
What emerged was this book, a book about the six most important drivers of global change, how they are converging and interacting with one another, where they are taking us, and how we as human beings— and as a global civilization— can best affect the way these changes unfold. In order to reclaim control of our destiny and shape the future, we must think freshly and clearly about the crucial choices that confront us as a result of:
• The emergence of a deeply interconnected global economy that increasingly operates as a fully integrated holistic entity with a completely new and different relationship to capital flows, labor, consumer markets, and national governments than in the past;
• The emergence of a planet-wide electronic communications grid connecting the thoughts and feelings of billions of people and linking them to rapidly expanding volumes of data, to a fast growing web of sensors being embedded ubiquitously throughout the world, and to increasingly intelligent devices, robots, and thinking machines, the smartest of which already exceed the capabilities of humans in performing a growing list of discrete mental tasks and may soon surpass us in manifestations of intelligence we have always assumed would remain the unique province of our species;
• The emergence of a completely new balance of political, economic, and military power in the world that is radically different from the equilibrium that characterized the second half of the twentieth century, during which the United States of America provided global leadership and stability— shifting influence and initiative from West to East, from wealthy countries to rapidly emerging centers of power throughout the world, from nation states to private actors, and from political systems to markets;
• The emergence of rapid unsustainable growth—in population; cities; resource consumption; depletion of topsoil, freshwater supplies, and living species; pollution flows; and economic output that is measured and guided by an absurd and distorted set of universally accepted metrics that blinds us to the destructive consequences of the self- deceiving choices we are routinely making;
• The emergence of a revolutionary new set of powerful biological, biochemical, genetic, and materials science technologies that are enabling us to reconstitute the molecular design of all solid matter, reweave the fabric of life itself, alter the physical form, traits, characteristics, and properties of plants, animals, and people, seize active control over evolution, cross the ancient lines dividing species, and invent entirely new ones never imagined in nature; and
• The emergence of a radically new relationship between the aggregate power of human civilization and the Earth's ecological systems, including especially the most vulnerable— the atmosphere and climate balance upon which the continued flourishing of humankind depends— and the beginning of a massive global transformation of our energy, industrial, agricultural, and construction technologies in order to reestablish a healthy and balanced relationship between human civilization and the future.Video: Gore discusses Iraq and global warming (on this page)
This book is data-driven and is based on deep research and reporting— not speculation, alarmism, naive optimism, or blue-sky conjecture. It represents the culmination of a multiyear effort to investigate, decipher, and present the best available evidence and what the world's leading experts tell us about the future we are now in the process of creating.
Excerpted from The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change by Al Gore Copyright © 2013 by Al Gore. Excerpted by permission of Random House, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
© 2012 MSNBC Interactive


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Last edited by HPL; 09-20-2012 at 09:51 PM.
Any doctrine that weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action helps create the attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.
(John Dewey)
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
(George Washington)
Gig'em Aggies!! BTCO'77HOO t.u.!!
Dixiedog78... please elaborate on the "darkest days". I am interested in your opinions and since as I indicated to Ken, I am at home suffering the flu I have some unreservered time to play on PP. Your responces are welcomed, and I like to "play".
The water is fine, come on in. JD
One cannot reason someone out of something they were not reasoned into. - Jonathan Swift
"So what is big is not always the Trout nor the Deer but the chance, the being there. And what is full is not necessarily the creel nor the freezer, but the memory." ~ Aldo Leopold
"The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is not Ignorance -- It is the Illusion of Knowledge" ~ Daniel Boorstin
JD, does anyone remember what Ross Perot espoused when he ran as a 3rd party candidate. He was probably the only 3rd party candidate since TR that looked like he had a shot. What lasting legacy has any 3rd party candidate really left?
Even RP has made most of his impact by being a thorn in the side of one of the major parties. I like a lot of what Libertarians stand for. Although I do actually wonder if one ever became POTUS would they be "just another politician" ...
In the end, on Nov. 7 if I woke up to find that the # of votes that went Libertarian were just about the # of votes that were enough to give Obama the "flexibility" he'd have so he could cozy up to Putin, I'd be kicking myself around the block.
"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim
I don't use the PM feature, so just email me direct at the address shown above.
"To become competent in governing others, we must first learn to govern ourselves"
Waite Phillips
1) I don't want the government in any aspect of my life; not healthcare, abortion, birth control or Social Security. The government should be restricted to its original design which is protecting The Constitution, defending our soil and providing the infastructure for commerce. If they did, we would be paying zero income tax and our Free Market economy would be the envy of the world.
2) Obama or Romney, we all lose! Both are owned by special interest.
3) We will have a third Party President in 2016. That's beacuse no matter Obama or Romney, our national Deficit will be upwards of 22 TRILLION by 2015, the dollar won't buy much and that will make the productive among us look for an alternative. Rand Paul is a Libertarian working within the Republican Party and a very strict Constitutionalist. Right now, the two party system is the only way of getting any media attention. Gary Johnson is being shut out of the debates! I woud suggest anyone that is interested to read Rand's new book, "Government Bullies". The Forward of the book is written by his father.
Last edited by Franco; 09-21-2012 at 07:00 AM.
"All those things bother me: The populism, the lying and the scapegoating and the xenophobia bother me, but then theres a layer of incompetence here. I suppose, in a way, we should be thankful: If he had a coherent ideology, hed probably be more dangerous." P J O'Rourke


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344 Third Avenue
Murray Hill
(646) 918-7220 / bottomzupnyc.com/
The 3400 square foot space at 344 3rd Ave. opened Thursday and features a menu of eats from around the nation. You can root for your team while pretending you're at your favorite tailgate spot from New England to Texas. If you prefer, you can tune out the sports theme and order sushi and oysters, something you don't see in most sports bars.
The bar features a sleek design with 45 flat-screen 60" HDTVs, and guests can listen to their game of choice (or music) on tabletop wireless speakers. This is ideal for serious sports fans like my dad, who listens to football while watching hockey. It's also nice for people who want a little diddy with their oysters. The apathetic folks deserve a Sunday funday, too.
As time goes on, more regionally inspired features will make their way onto the menu. I may have to check in once their Primantis-style sandwich makes an appearance.


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|Worldwide Flyfishing Discussion Talk flyfishing with members around the world!
|Topic Review (Newest First)
RE:The Snow Man
The River of Rivers in Connecticut
There is a great river this side of Stygia
Before one comes to the first black cataracts
And trees that lack the intelligence of trees.
In that river, far this side of Stygia,
The mere flowing of the water is a gayety,
Flashing and flashing in the sun. On its banks,
No shadow walks. The river is fateful,
Like the last one. But there is no ferryman.
He could not bend against its propelling force.
It is not to be seen beneath the appearances
That tell of it. The steeple at Farmington
Stands glistening and Haddam shines and sways.
It is the third commonness with light and air,
A curriculum, a vigor, a local abstraction . . .
Call it, one more, a river, an unnamed flowing,
Space-filled, reflecting the seasons, the folk-lore
Of each of the senses; call it, again and again,
The river that flows nowhere, like a sea.
RE:The Snow Man
Yeah, I knew it was something stodgy. The point is he was a bean counter in all other aspects of his life. No one even suspected that he could crank out such "intense" stuff. This is him in 1948:
He died a few months after winning the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1955.
RE:The Snow Man
Actually, he worked for an Insurance Company in Conn. for 39 years, where he rose to the level of VP & head of its Surety Claims Department (kind of sounds like Montey Python) before his death in 1955 at age 75. He also won a Pultizer in poetry.
Kind of an Intense Diddey though!
RE:The Snow Man
nothing is as nothing does
Stevens was a bank teller by day and is said to have composed most of his poems on the walk to work. I can just hear his footsteps in his work. I had never read this one before. Awesome.  Thanks, Greg!!
The Snow Man
The Snow Man
By Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and nothing that is.
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KathyChung, Monday September 20, 2010 - 1:00pm
About time we did another draw, don't you think?
According to my calendar, this Thursday marks the first day of fall in this part of the world, so it's time to celebrate the end of summer.
Everyone who has registered for SiWC by the end of the day (23:59:59) on Wednesday will be entered in a draw for a wonderful book prize to celebrate your organizational skills in completing your registration for a fall conference before fall begins. If you're planning to register before early bird registration ends on the 30th, why not do it now and get in the draw?
All you non-procrastinators who registered before our last draw are automatically in this one, too. Your early registration gets you in for the second time in a row. It pays to be organized!
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So Thursday, April 26th, afternoon I get this email from my mother in-law.
Just had lunch with Alicia at Renee's. Dave, a farmer friend of the family that owns around 1000 acres of great turkey hunting land, came in-he's hauling grain today. He told me to tell you that you better get your turkey at our house, because he's had 3 people out hunting, and nobody has seen any turkeys. He said he knows they are out there, but nobody can find them!
Let me just start this by saying I LOVE a challenge and this is a big time challenge. I had the same thing happen in the spring of 2009 after talking to some hunters that also hunt Dave's place and I tagged my biggest turkey ever. So anything short of Godzilla walking out of the trees Saturday morning at my in laws place was going to get a get out of jail free card from Dewey since the real challenge was 20 miles West. So Saturday morning a friend of mine, Mark, and my father in-law get out to our spots at around 5:15 and I sit on top of a small hill on the driveway in which I have harvested numerous turkeys from the past few years. So I clear some shooting lanes with a pruner and get good and comfortable next to a good sized pine tree and just wait. Sure enough about 5:30 or so I hear a gobbler back off of my right shoulder then I hear another one out in front of me. Then without any warning I hear a gobbler from right above me and slightly off to my right. The dang thing made me jump a little bit but at that point I know that I have to be extremely quiet and not move at all. Then I hear a jake gobble, or try to gobble, above me and a little to my left. It was actually kind of humorous to hear him try and gobbler with the big boys but he just couldn't do it quite right. Finally about 6:00 I see a good sized gobbler come up the hill and I got a good look at him when he was about 15 yards away and he had a good set of 1" plus spurs and a good beard but the real challenge was still 20 miles away so I let him walk knowing that he was more than likely going to head towards Marks location. He also had the 4 jakes I heard above me following him so I was able to relax and move a little bit after that. Not long after that I hear a gunshot and I figured Mark had knocked down a gobbler. I figured at that point that it was good that we talked about sitting put until I made the move to the house so no one scared any potetial turkeys away getting up to look at their bird. So I call a few times and sure enough the same tom I saw earlier comes back to looking for a hen that he will never find. Then shortly after that I saw the same group of 4 jakes except this time there are only 3. It was pretty easy to figure out that Mark had shot his first male turkey. Shortly after that I see a hen in a tree straight in front of me begin to fly down but she is coming straight at me and ends up landing literally 6 feet from my feet, that was really cool. She kind of feeds and works away and the jakes start working towards me. 2 of them ended up standing right in front of me at 6 feet staring at me and generally just looking around. I almost started laughing at the sight of their red heads almost within arm reach of me that was another great part of the morning's hunt.
So after a quick breakfast and a good nap my father in law and I head out to hunt at my friend Dave's farm and we stop and BS with him for a few minutes and he says to stop back after we are done hunting and have a cold beer. So we head out to a location that has been good to me in previous years and we see a lone turkey crossing a wheat stubble field about 600 yards out in front of us. So we decide to park the truck and try to hunt him but as soon as we move he slipped back into the trees. Perfect I thought we at least know where he is at. So we walk to the general location of where we saw him and set up 3 hen decoys and then my father in law sets up along the field edge about 30 yards North and I set up about 50 yards South of him. I read my book for a few minutes then when the wind died out I called a little back and immediately I hear a gobbler back off my right shoulder. Perfect he knows where I am now I will read some more of my book and let him come look for me. 5 minutes later I call again and this time he blasts me from really close. Within a couple of seconds I see his white head through the grass and see that he is looking for a very sweet sounding hen. Unfortunately for him all he found was a screaming load of #4's rushing towards him from 8 yards away. My father in law comes out after I yelled at him and said he wondered if I missed but he saw some feathers fly by so he knew I got one. He was a good two year old gobbler with a 9 inch beard and ¾" spurs with a weight of right around 16-18 pounds. All in all we were away from the truck for 35 minutes. Needless to say our friend Dave was very surprised to see us come back so soon.
This spring season was very successful with my first Rio turkey from KS and another gobbler from MN on property that others struggle with but I have been very fortunate to do very well.


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Results 1 to 6 of 6
Thread: Freshwater lobster
06-21-2012, 12:09 AM #1Member Oscar
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- Dec 2011
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- Cent. NJ
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- 673
Freshwater lobster
I was my lfs today and they had little lobsters around three inches, I want one so badly. They had one in orange blue navy and white. There was little fish swimming around and they weren't touched at all. the guy said they were bottom feeders and ate algae wafers and stuff. Anyone have an experience with them?RIP Shark Bait, my Red Tail Shark :(
None here but I would call them and get the Latin name so you can Google it and know exactly what you are dealing with, LFS info is demonstratively not enough to go on.Gas mileage isn't everything OIIIIIIIO
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Why pretend there are no stupid questions? Actually, There are many stupid questions: "Should I drink this bleach?" Is just one example.
Having said that, Just because it's a stupid question doesn't mean that it shouldn't be asked. It's better to know.
A warm beer is better than a cold beer. Because nothing is better than a cold beer, and a warm beer is better than nothing.
I wouldn't risk it most freshwater lobster or crayfish or yabbies as we call them in Australia are fish eaters. They wont catch the fish in the day but every fish has to sleep sometime. Most are also nocturnal hunters. I suggest a species only with feeder fish if you want fish with them.
06-21-2012, 01:53 AM #4Junior Member Guppy
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
- Posts
- 24
i would imagine hes going to demolish your fish
if you really want one, have a dedicated tank for a lobster, don't mix it in with your other fish.Da name's Paul. Not Dave. ROFL
Learn to give and take. That's how things should always work.
07-30-2012, 08:54 AM #6Member Goldfish
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
- Posts
- 93
A common set-up when we were kids was to have a yabbie (FW cray/lobster) tank...problem was, it made the middle and upper area of a tank barren and boring. To keep things more active, we kept mosquito fish. Cheap, active schoolers. Once in a while, you would catch sight of a yabbie devouring one, but it was rare. You never ran low on stock because the yabbies struggled to get them. It was always an amusing sight to see a yabbie throw its claws skyward as if to say, "aha!" when a fish strayed too near.
Dont put them with any fish you value. Fish too big will bully or simply eat them, and fish too small may themselves become prey. Remember, they are as territorial as any Cichlid youll ever see, so keep in mind they need more room than you may think. Confrontations can be fatal, so make the right number of caves and boundaries.
Biggest issue with them is their astonishing escape acts. Do NOT under-estimate them in this regard, its an easy mistake. Ive seen them climb an airhose and escape through a hole smaller than themselves. Theyre cunning and driven, once they get it in their head they need to migrate. They often wait until nightfall too, and if they have to wait until morning to be found (especially on carpet), theyre as good as dead.
Last edited by Amadaca; 07-30-2012 at 08:57 AM.


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13.1: Sun
How can we learn about something as hot as the Sun?
Humans have sent spacecraft up to study our star. The SOHO spacecraft has been in operation since 1996. The craft orbits the Sun in step with Earth but closer to it. SOHO has sent back amazing images. Onboard instruments have also sent back mountains of data. The data are mostly about the Sun's outer layers.
The Sun
Our Sun is a star. It is an ordinary star that is extraordinarily important. The Sun provides light and heat to our planet. This star supports almost all life on Earth.
The Sun is the center of the solar system. It is by far the largest part of the solar system (See Figure below). Added together, all of the planets make up just 0.2 percent of the solar system's mass. The Sun makes up the remaining 99.8 percent of all the mass in the solar system!
The sizes of the planets relative to the Sun, if the Sun was the size of a basketball.
- The Sun is an ordinary star. It supports nearly all life on Earth.
- The Sun is at the center of the solar system.
- The Sun makes up almost all of the mass of the solar system.
Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.
The Sun Encyclopedia of Secrets at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S98L93J8AGQ (8:53)
- What is the sun?
- How far is Earth from the sun?
- What is found in the sun?
- What type of star is it?
- Explain early beliefs about the sun's production of energy.
- What fuels the sun?
- How hot is the core?
- What is formed from nuclear fusion?
- What are photons?
- What are the major properties of the Sun?
- Where is the Sun located?
- Why is the Sun important to life on Earth?
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Expert Service 1-661-257-9993 [Hours]
MTX Audio Thunderform RMP10UW (Willow Green, Unloaded)
Unloaded Single 10" Custom-Fit Bass Slammer Subwoofer Enclosure for 1993-1997 Ford / Mazda Pickup
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Bass Slammer unloaded, vehicle-specific enclosures are inspired by the same technology incorporated in MTX ThunderForm enclosures. Bass Slammer enclosures are available for many of the hottest-selling vehicles on the market and are made of a high-density polyethylene resin to ensure that you don't get any of the "ping" common in fiberglass enclosures. The resin is color-matched to the interior color options available for each vehicle.
Bass Slammer enclosures are tough as nails. They are made using rotational molding. Unlike injection molding, Bass Slammer enclosures come out of the mold with no seams, so you don't lose any of the sonic quality of the subwoofer.
Bass Slammer enclosures are also internally braced to eliminate flexing and warping so you get the tight bass you're looking for.
General Features:
- Unloaded Single 10" Custom-Fit Bass Slammer Subwoofer Enclosure
- Vehicle specific for 1993-1997 Ford Ranger Regular Cab Pickup
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- 1993-1997 Mazda B Series
- Installs behind passenger seat in regular cab trucks with 60/40 bench seat and standard bench or buckets (jack may need to be relocated). No loss of leg room.
- Cutout hole for a 10" subwoofer
- Box volume: 0.5 cubic feet
- Color is Willow Green
- Also available in: Gray, Tan, and Blue
- Dimensions: 7"D x 19-1/2"W x 15"H
- 1-year Manufacturer's warranty
Enclosure Specifications
Sealed - Sealed boxes are those that have no holes or vents in it. The only hole in a sealed box is where the subwoofer is installed. Smaller sealed boxes require more power than a larger sealed box. They provide a tight, accurate bass, while the larger sealed enclosures provide a "boomier" and louder bass.
Ported / Vented - Ported/Vented Enclosures provide an even boomier, louder bass, but less accurate then a small, sealed box. Ported enclosures typically require more airspace per sub and also less power output from an amplifier to perform correctly.
Bandpass - Bandpass enclosures make subwoofers perform efficiently, but loose. The bass is not as "boomy" as a ported enclosure nor as punchy as a sealed enclosure. Bandpass enclosures work well with lower to mid-level subwoofers.
Binding post terminals are a sturdier, more versatile type of speaker terminal. Because binding post terminals are are threaded, you can tighten them down against the wire or connector for a tight, clean connection. The most popular style of binding post terminals is known as a "5-way binding post". This type can accept bare wire, or any of the common speaker wire connectors. Binding posts with the option to be used with banana clips are even more versatile
Spring posts are a hybrid of the two. Instead of using a thread and "screwing" them tight, they use a spring to allow the wire to fit and tighten against the terminal.
Mazda B-Series Pickup
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25 ft. of True Spec 12 Gauge EnvyFlex Speaker Cable/Wire (100% Oxygen-Free Copper)
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Install your sound damping with the SDRLR1 tool
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Warning: The image depicted shows the resistance change when wiring multiple subwoofer terminals. Please refer to your subwoofer's owner's manual for the proper wiring of its terminals. Sonic Electronix, Inc. is not responsible for damage caused to your audio system or vehicle due to improper installation. Please call tech support at 1-877-289-7664 if you require additional assistance.
Product Name: MTX Audio Thunderform RMP10UW (Willow Green, Unloaded)
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text: Although you are welcome to simply receive the magazine, e-newsletter or invitations to events, you are also invited to become more actively involved in the ongoing development of your alumni community and your university. Here are a few examples of ways to get involved and make a difference! Every contribution counts. I enjoy sharing my knowledge with others I know useful networking contacts I have good organisational skills I may be able to help financially


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Instagram. Hipstamatic. Twitpic. Sharing. Posting. Tagging. We've become (for better or worse) a society of sharers. Instant sharers at that. And thanks to smartphones touting cameras as good as most point-and-shoots, pictures of our meals, cats with books and celebrities on the subway actually look pretty darn good.
That said, shooting close-up details still requires the hand — and eye — of a professional. So we asked photographer David Nicholas, who recently shot some of our new wedding stationery collection, what exactly goes into capturing the incredible detail of an engraved monogram.
This is what David had to say about shooting the monogram seen below:
"What I love most about shooting for Crane is the surprising amount of detail the camera lens can capture in the detail shots. Sometimes the camera reveals details I didn't see with my own eyes!
Often I utilize a focus bracketing and blending technique to expand the focused area in a detail shot. This allows the viewer to see all of that beautiful hand crafted detail that Crane is famous for. This detail image is one of my favorites and one that I utilized this technique to reveal detail from the foreground to background.
You can see in the "before" version how the focus is much more selective and the background goes very soft. The amazing part, from a technical standpoint, is that even this image was shot at F22, an aperture normally selected to increase depth of field.
However, because of the extreme macro nature of the shot and the steep angle from which the card is photographed, even F22 is unable to increase depth of field enough. So to record all of the necessary details, I have taken six photographs at different focus points and blended them into the one focused image we see here titled 'after'."
It's quite a process, as you can tell, but we think you'll agree that the end result is well worth it. Take a look:
Have questions about etiquette? Email our Crane Concierge at email@example.com.


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Routine diabetes tests
You can live an active lifestyle when you take control of your diabetes care. Still, you must have regular health checkups and tests. These visits will give you a chance to:
See your diabetes doctor every 3 - 6 months. During this exam, your doctor should check your:
Also see your dentist every 6 months.
An eye doctor should check your eyes at least once a year. See an eye doctor who takes care of people with diabetes. If you have eye problems because of diabetes, you will probably see your eye doctor more often.
Your doctor should check the pulses in your feet and your reflexes at least once a year. The doctor should also look for calluses, infections, and sores.
The doctor should check every year for loss of feeling, using a special tool.
If you have had foot ulcers before, see your doctor every 3 - 6 months. It is always a good idea to ask your doctor to check your feet.
An HbA1C lab test shows how well you are controlling your blood sugar levels over a three-month period.
The normal level is less than 6%. Most people with diabetes should aim for an HbA1C of less than 7%. Some people have a higher target, however. Your doctor will tell you what your target should be.
Higher HbA1C numbers mean that your blood sugar is higher.
A cholesterol test measures cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood. You should have the test on an empty stomach after not eating overnight.
Adults with type 2 diabetes should have this test every year. People with high cholesterol may have this test more often.
Once a year, you should have a urine test. It looks for a protein called "albumin."
You will have more of this protein in your blood if you have early kidney damage due to diabetes. But the level of this protein in urine can also be higher for other reasons.
Your doctor will also check a kidney blood test every year. This test measures how well your kidneys work.
American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes -- 2012. Diabetes Care. 2012 Jan;35 Suppl 1:S11-63.
In the clinic. Type 2 diabetes. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Mar 2;152(1):ITC1-16.
Inzucchi SE, Sherwin RS. Type 1 diabetes mellitus. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011: chap 236.
Inzucchi SE, Sherwin RS. Type 2 diabetes mellitus. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011: chap 237.
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By Tiernan Ray
I'm a bit late in getting to this, but Bernstein Research's chip analyst Stacy Rasgon and colleagues Mark Li, Mark Newman and Pierre Ferragu yesterday offered up their view on the prospects of Intel (INTC) getting deeper into the contract chip manufacturing business, after the company last month announced Altera (ALTR) as a customer for its leading-edge chip capabilities.
Rasgon and company argue the bear argument against Intel's opening its factories, namely that it would be less profitable, is wrong, with the prospect that it could be very accretive for Intel, and the same if Intel were to snag a major contract win like Apple (AAPL) away from Samsung Electronics (005930KS) or Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM):
[W]hile high-end FPGAs swim in the deep end of the profit pool, mobile SoCs dog-paddle with the kiddies; the cost-sensitive, consumer nature of these end markets makes their profit pool much more shallow. The bears will point to this fact, and identify the prospect of lower margins in a high-volume foundry relationship. In fact, this picture is a bit too simplistic. We do believe that foundry business of this nature will indeed carry a lower gross margin than Intel's core business. However, the opex burden is also likely significantly lower. This implies that the operating margin of such an effort could be quite reasonable compared to what Intel currently enjoys in their core. And, our prior math from our June 2012 note (using Apple as a proxy) suggests that the earnings upside could in fact be reasonably material (on the order of 30 cents, or more, per share, for a customer of Apple's size).
However, Rasgon is concerned with the return on invested capital that such deals would produce, and he finds they would be lower than what Intel might get otherwise:
What typically receives less attention (but is the much bigger issue, in our mind) is the effect on ROIC and investment requirements. Recall that (unlike the Altera effort), Apple (or any other high-volume leading edge foundry customer) cannot be "squeezed" into the existing fab footprint – Intel will need to build greenfield capacity. In that case, our (rough) calculations have suggested an incremental ROIC that might be A THIRD of what Intel currently enjoys (meaning Intel would have to potentially invest 3x as much capex to earn a dollar of profit vs. what they enjoy today). Not that this might not make sense – Intel could still earn above their cost of capital. But, it would also imply they could not more accretively invest that capital elsewhere. All of this should not be surprising – one look at TSMC's capital intensity is quite telling (see Chart of the Week #3). However, for investors who are already getting worried about capital intensity, this should be a BIG issue.
If Intel's own efforts to sell its x86 chips into the mobile smartphone and tablet market, the company may have no choice but to go into that lower-returns manufacturing business, the authors conclude:
Should Intel (through lack of success) be forced to go down the high volume foundry route (potentially diverting from their own mobile SoC efforts to making them for others), what does that come with? Accelerated capex and capital intensity, in an attempt to grow into lower-return markets.
Rasgon has an Underperform rating on Intel.
Intel shares today are up 9 cents, or 0.4%, at $21.35.


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Diane Kay Schafer
Diane K. Schafer, age 58 of Monroe, died unexpectedly at her home on Friday, March 8, 2013. Diane was born August 26, 1954 in Monroe, the daughter of Arthur and Anna Mae (Brown) Andrews. She graduated from Monroe High School in 1972 and attended MATC. Diane married Michael Schafer on December 1, 1978 in Monroe and was employed as a Licensed Practical Nurse at Pleasant View for 13 years. Diane had an extremely caring heart who was a wonderful caregiver to her family. She enjoyed shopping and loved spending time with her grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
She is survived by her son, Matthew (Sofia) Schafer; grandchildren, Guadalupe and Alexander Schafer; her father, Arthur Andrews; a sister, Kathleen Andrews; sister-in-law, Deb Andrews, all of Monroe; four nieces, Salena (Josh) Allen and their children, Isaac, Alexis, and Connor, Lindsay Andrews, Miranda Andrews, Alyshia (Matt) Sathoff and their children, Nolan and Tenley; a nephew, Kyle Andrews; and a special friend, Wayne Martin of Monroe. She was preceded in death by her mother, Anna Mae; and a brother, Harold Andrews.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, at 11:00 a.m., at the Newcomer Funeral Home, Monroe, with Reverend Randy Booth officiating. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Monroe, followed by a luncheon at the Monroe Moose Lodge. Visitation will be at the funeral home on Tuesday from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. A memorial fund will be established in Diane's name. To share a memory or sign the guestbook go to www.newcomerfuneralhome.net


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Lions Club
Fourth of July Parade | DarienFest | Halloween Party | Pancake Breakfast
Our Candy Day fundraising efforts for this year will be held on Friday October 7th and Saturday October 8th. On these two days, the Darien Lions and volunteers will be at local intersections and selected retail merchants soliciting donations in return for a roll of Lions mints or a multi-flavored roll of candy.
What is great about Candy Day is that the collected money goes towards the year long effort to fight against the reasons people are blind and deaf. Also, the money raised helps to make the lives of those who are blind and deaf a little easier and give them some hope.
The Darien Lions take exceptional pride in being the top Candy Day collector in Illinois. Through the generous contributions of motorists, local merchants, and individuals, we raised over $27,000 last year. Many long hours are put in by members and volunteers to attain this level of success. The money collected is donated to numerous humanitarian causes. Click here to see where the Candy Day donations have gone in previous years.
Recently an Illinois Lions state level award for being the highest Candy Day
fundraiser was renamed in our honor to the 'Darien Trophy'. We
share this honor and give recognition to those individual and business donors who have been so
generous on Candy Day.


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By Bill Minor
Contrary to what many Mississippians seem to believe, Medicaid is no "welfare queen" health care plan trumped up by the Obama Administration. Far from it.
Furthermore, it has a 44-year history in Mississippi, launched in 1969 under an unlikely advocate, then-Gov. John Bell Williams. Two years earlier as a congressman, Williams had actually voted against creation of Medicaid under Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" program.
Williams was elected governor in 1967 on the Democratic ticket, but ran as a bitter critic of the National Democratic Party because Democrats stripped him of his Congressional seniority for openly supporting Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. Mississippi went overwhelmingly for Goldwater because of his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but LBJ won by a landslide nationally.
Rather amazingly, John Bell, despite his earlier anti-LBJ, anti-Great Society stance, converted to a staunch advocate for implementing Medicaid. As he told a legislative joint session, he changed his mind after getting all the facts and finding out its importance to the health of Mississippians, especially the poor with no health insurance.
(Mississippi's current Republican leaders–Gov. Phil Bryant especially–might well take note from the conversion of solidly conservative John Bell Williams in 1969 from foe to supporter of Medicaid when it was in its infancy.)
Williams convened the special session on July 22, 1969 after a 23-member committee made of legislative, health and lay leaders named by him studied the impact and problems of implementing Medicaid in Mississippi. The committee proposed initially installing at least the minimum compliance program under the new federal-state program, providing coverage for 202,000 needy people compared to the state existing medical vendor program that limited medical care to only 96,000.
Congress, he told lawmakers, would provide five dollars in federal funds for every dollar in state matching funds for the program. Though Williams stressed the economic benefits for Mississippi from Medicaid implementation, he emphasized its moral imperative, declaring it would cover "the poorest of the poor and the destitute…our unfortunate citizens." Remarkably that's essentially the same issue the state is facing today in deciding whether to implement expansion of Medicaid under the so-called Obamacare. Back then, Williams also pointed out, state hospitals were facing the same dilemma they do today: uncompensated emergency room care for indigent patients. Williams put the uncompensated health care deficits of hospitals then at $4 million. Today its some $300 million statewide. University Medical Center in Jackson alone is running a $100 million deficit.
How Williams suddenly developed a soft spot to extend medical care to the state's "poorest of the poor" was indeed quite a switch for perhaps the last Mississippi governor elected by a hard-line racist campaign. I was never very fond of Williams because of his racial views (he even refused to appoint blacks to county draft boards when young African-Americans draftees were being shipped to Vietnam by the dozen) but I considered his Medicaid decision the finest hour of his four-year term.
Behind the scenes, the Medicaid conversion of Williams was in itself a noteworthy marker in Mississippi history. Two men, Dr. Alton Cobb and former Congressman David Bowen deserve much of the credit for convincing Williams.
Cobb, now 85, earned his degree in a public health medicine from Tulane University Medical School before joining Mississippi's Health Department. He was tabbed to become director of the State Health Advisory Committee created to study Medicaid implementation and became Williams' go-to man as they toured the state to sell the new program to legislators and the public. Later, when the program was installed in law, Cobb was named the first director of the State Medicaid Commission.
Today, Cobb who is a staunch backer of Medicaid expansion, modestly admits "I believe we did convert him" (to the program). Looking back on the years since, Cobb is proud of what Medicaid has meant to public health in the state over the years, now providing care to 644,000 Mississippians, more than half of them children or over-65 adults. Expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act, he contends, would add 300,000 what he called "working poor" under 65 not now covered.
Bowen,79, had been Williams' coordinator of federal-state programs who after a distinguished career in higher education, had coached the governor as to advantages of LBJ's program to Mississippi. Bowen was later elected to Congress from what was then the state's 2nd District. Facing redistricting in 1982, he retired from his seat.
Syndicated columnist BILL MINOR has covered Mississippi politics since 1947. Contact him through Ed Inman at email@example.com.