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The Daily Freeman (http://www.dailyfreeman.com)
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Dear Editor:
Do you ever wonder about the criminal "justice" system? Today (Nov. 8) we learned that we now have the opportunity to feed and clothe Jared Lee Loughner for the rest of his life.
We will provide him with room and board because he acquired a gun and ammunition and killed a 9-year-old girl, a federal judge, others, and wounded many including U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz. He'll have access to books, TV, etc. for the rest of his life.
He received this sentence because he entered a plea of guilty.
If he had entered a plea of not guilty and the witnesses were brought forward and said, "Yes, he is the one who shot the little girl and others," and if the persons who jumped him and took control of the gun said, "Yes, he was the person shooting the people and the jury then found him "guilty," he could have received the death penalty.
What's the difference between the two guilty statuses? He's guilty of killing innocent people either way. One is more expensive than the other. Is that the difference? Save the state money and you have bought your life. Shouldn't punishment fit the crime?
West Hurley


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it might be helpful but its no substitute for common sense.
Common sense would be banks requiring more information than an SSN and DOB from an internet connected computer before opening lines of credit. I watched someone apply for a line of credit with Citi online and receive a $15,000 account with no verification of his identity beyond the SSN/DOB match. What's wrong with that picture?
What's wrong with that picture?
That you're making shit up?
However, on the flipside, there are privacy issues with giving personally identifiable data to a prime hacking target (like a major lending institution.)
In order for them to validate a session as a legitimate person, they need personally identifiable data on that person. That means that they are warehousing such data, and in addition to being a target for wirefraud directly, they also become a target for identity theives of the highest order.
Knowing a little bit about data security (and security in general
Right on, brother!
This is exactly what I said when they first invented banks! I mean, anyone can just walk into one of those places with a fake ID and *bam* they've got all my money! That's why I keep all my money in gold Krugerrands in a shoe box under my...
Hey now, I'm not gonna tell you where I keep my shoe box! Now get off my lawn, you wacko!
A simple mnemonic to think of when contemplating using the internet for something: Would trust handing that data to a total stranger on the street?
And that's why I wish I could give 1 time card numbers to stores as well. Keeps them from tracking me too.
Paranoid? Obviously not enough, I'm not AC.
When I opened my bank account (here in Australia) I had to go into the branch physically and sign up for it, including showing various forms of ID.
The only reason the US isn't as strict is that the banks have used their powerful influence to make sure that nothing gets in the way of their ability to offer vast amounts of credit (home loans, car loans, personal loans, credit cards etc) to anyone and everyone.
They want to make getting a credit card as easy as possible.
Interestingly, the maiden name has lost its value in recent times. It used to be that the moment a woman got married, her maiden name all but vanished; these days, it seems the younger married woman prefers to use her maiden name as a new middle name.
The maiden name was always a goofy "security" thing anyway; long before the internet, a little social engineering is all it took to glean a maiden name.
Where's the best place to start, then? Any advice for someone who is going to get their first CC this year? Should I get it from my bank, or somewhere else?
American Express is your friend.
It took me over a year once I moved to the US to get a credit card. It took even longer for my wife since she had no SSN until a few years ago (yes you can live legally in the US for years and declare taxes without being allowed a SSN).
There is a vicious circle: no credit history, you can't get a credit card
Yes indeed, without a credit history you can't get a credit card, and without a credit card, you can't get a credit history. That is why nobody in the world has a credit card, right?
Just get your name into the advertiser's databases. Soon enough, you will have credit card offers streaming in. So will your dog, cat, goldfish, and the deceased hamster you had when you were 5 years old.
So wait, the best way to get a credit card is to ignore actually sign up for all of those Limited Time Offers I've been ignoring all these years? DAMMIT!
Well, it's a good thing that I never told them my e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com and that I am HIGHLY interested in opening a new line of credit. Yes, very good thing, that.
The only reason the US isn't as strict is that the banks have used their powerful influence to make sure that nothing gets in the way of their ability to offer vast amounts of credit (home loans, car loans, personal loans, credit cards etc) to anyone and everyone.
Do you have any evidence of this? Because it also happens the other way around—the banks put up fake barriers to credit, and the government orders them to take them down due to fairness, anti-discrimination, etc.
The only reason the US isn't as strict is that the banks have used their powerful influence to make sure that nothing gets in the way of their ability to offer vast amounts of credit (home loans, car loans, personal loans, credit cards etc) to anyone and everyone.
Right - it is in a bank's best interest to lend their money to as many people as possible, with no verification of whether or not those people will ever be able to pay it back. Because you know, when you steal the bank's money, the bank wins!
Right - it is in a bank's best interest to lend their money to as many people as possible, with no verification of whether or not those people will ever be able to pay it back. Because you know, when you steal the bank's money, the bank wins!
The banks borrow the money from the Federal Reserve (which creates it "out of thin air") at very low interest (currently nearly zero - but call it 2% to make some numbers come out nice later). Why do they accept and solicit deposits (on which they pay similarly low int
So for every thousand bux they borrow at nearly zero interest to fund this operation they make somewhere between $240 and over %500 per year.
Typo: Make that $500.
But people are also legally liable for $50 in unauthorized charges at most (though AFAIK, most card companies waive that too, as long as it's reported promptly). Also (this may be a state by state thing), merchants are unable to charge a fee for credit card use. (They can give a "cash discount", thus effectively the same thing -- but at least you pay the posted price with credit cards. I realize this also can be considered a bad thing from a merchant's point of view.)
So at least for credit cards, it seem
I think your heart is in the right place, but I'm not sure your ideas make sense?
I opened a bank in a foreign country. They take and hash your password as you give it to them. The password is never known by anyone there, can't be retrieved and will never be seen. It's up to me to make sure I don't use it on an infected system. If it gets out, I'm pretty much on the hook for whatever is in my account when someone wipes it out. That password is worth thousands of dollars. You make sure it's secure, and you treat it as such.
God, I hope most banks don't rely on such weak security? The bank where I have my business account gave me a security token that I've got to use in addition to a username/password to login. Before I do anything major like account transfers or wires, I've got to use the security token again. Interactive Brokers trading offers security tokens as well though I haven't used theirs--I have a lookup page from them that serves the sam
That would be awesome. I'd set up an arrangement where my friends would steal my identity. They'd give whatever they got back to me, and we'd split the $100. Nobody would possibly take advantage of that system!
Excellent! If the banks are that lax, they deserve to lose. Watch carefully though since they'll soon tighten up security and then your friends will get busted for fraud (and you for conspiracy). If the banks are actually doing what they should be, there can be no abuse of the oops fee. You'll know it's working when the detectives show up.
Absolutely that would be the proper outcome. My point is merely that ranting isn't enough, when you just randomly toss out ideas like this you have to consider the full consequences. It's Bastiat's seen and unseen.
Some people like to think criminals are dumb. It's true that there are a lot of dumb criminals (and a lot of dumb people in general), but when it comes to financial fraud and millions of dollars, there are some smart people out there as well, and they're playing for keeps.
Kind of funny how on slas
Yes, the US is a location of a great amount of fraud.
Yes, but that wasn't the question. Further data?
I use the phrase "can sue" that holds meaning. Anyone can sue for any reason. You can sue your neighbor for not being home when you burned your house down. There doesn't need to be cause or standing to file paperwork. It will likely not make it past the first viewing by a judge, but anyone can sue for any reason. So "can" sue means to me that you'd get to a judgment with at least, say, a 25% chance of winning. With that definition, you can't sue.
As I said, google it. If you don't find instances of succesful law suits in these situations, you're seeing different search results than I am!
So? They send a form letter back with "on XXX date Joe Schiester stated that you were in default." And done. That's it. You have no recourse after that with the credit report agency if they contact Joe and he says it's true. At best, you can have an explanation attached to that item, but you can't get it off through the agency if the bad data was put on by someone who continues to claim it's correct. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's my understanding. At that point, you can sue the person that put it on, but not the agency itself.
That's not true. If you send them proof that their source data is wrong, they HAVE to respond. Again, check out the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Why wait, do it now. Go charge up a bunch of crap on a friend's credit card. Have him report it stolen a couple hours later. Sell the crap on ebay. If you aren't doing that now, then you are a liar when you say you'd game the system. And the implication that it can be gamed is irrelevant to the assertion it would stop the practice.
I'm a liar? Ok, you got me! Sheesh, I never understand how people can get so worked up in personal fashion on online conversations. People game the system right now, if you don't
Are you sure people can't sue? I had Cingular (Now AT&T Wireless) put a fraudulent entry on my credit report. They even sent me to collections on a $0.00 balance. I wrote both the collections agency and AT&T and told them they had 2 business weeks to correct my credit report and cease collections attempts or I was going to sue them both for libel. Sure enough, two weeks later everything had been cleaned up.
I'm certainly no expert but my guess is that's a record time for having a credit report fix
IMHO, Banks should use a dedicated, private network that does NOT have ANY endpoints connected to the public internet for just this reason.
Would there not be some point in transit between, say, a point-of-sale cardreader or an ATM, that could be similarly compromised? It wouldn't necessarily be easy, but where there's a will, there is a way. Even if every unit had it's own dedicated line from itself to the bank, those cables have to run somewhere, and you can't necessarily keep them under constant supervision. It might reduce the number of points of failure (as far as security mechanisms are concerned), but by no means would it eliminate the
I like the idea of a dedicated, private network. This is what a lot of companies used to have before they were called intranets.
Maybe expand on this some, have it be a B2B backbone (BIPRnet, similar to NIPRnet and SIPRnet) where unless authorization is prearranged beforehand for one business's machines to communicate with another's, the switching fabric wouldn't allow the connection? This could be done even at a port level, so B2B E-mail via an Exchange connector at a custom port would go through, but som
Common sense would be banks offering either a hardware keyfob and/or an app for Android/iPhone/Win Mobile that gives secondary authentication, or confirmation of transactions like IBM's ZTIC.
Or even better, a common standard, similar to RSA SecurID, so each bank doesn't have to have their own different, incompatible type of offline auth device.
Having this would shift theft of accounts from just getting malware onto peoples' computers back to either attacking banks directly, or their patrons.
Putting these technical restrictions to regulation is a bad idea (though some limited minimum standards is probably good). I think you have to look at the difference between the credit card system and the bank account system. You'll probably find that there's more technical protection on your bank account access, but credit card fraud worries you less and causes you fewer problems. The reason for this is that the credit card fraud is pushed to the place which is able to verify the transaction and not just the account holder; the shop and the credit card system. The security is very dynamic. If you make a small transaction in a place near where you live, it will almost always go through. If you make a large transaction in Cambodia, soon after making one at home (unless, of course you are Cambodian, in which case the same argument applies, but in New York), the company will call you directly to your mobile phone and ask you to confirm the transaction.
The reason this works like this (which is expensive) and works so well is simple. You are allowed to reverse the transactions if they aren't yours. This pushes the liability to the bank. If the same applied to bank accounts, that you could just reverse any transaction and the bank had to prove you were liable for it, suddenly bank fraud would be massively reduced, disappear completely as a consumer problem and the criminals trying it would be pursued to the ends of the earth.
That's what we have in Finland at least. First you have to physically go to the bank to identify yourself and then you get a login/password and a physical list of key-value pairs for online banking. When you start to run out of said keys you go get another list from the bank or order one through mail. Then you change the list using a value from the previous list and input the number of the new key list.
In order to compromise in this system someone would have to have access both to my specific key list and m
Most of Europe has something like this, either a keyfob, or a TAN list.
However, it a rare sight for an American bank to offer much if anything more than username/password protection. You might find a bank that asks a question from your challenge/response list, or asks you to select the answer on a random list, where the text is a bitmap (to help foil malware that doesn't have an OCR engine.) Anything more than that, good luck.
What is ironic is that Blizzard offers a keyfob and/or an app for the iPhone and
What I have for my British Nationwide [nationwide.co.uk] account (a building society rather than a bank, but that's mainly semantics) is a small, calculator-lookalike card-reader that takes my ATM card and PIN and is used to sign any transactions or other significant operations involving money.
Say I want to transfer money to a non-Nationwide account, I have to:
Login by entering my customer number, passphrase and three randomly selected digits of a secret six-digit code,
Set up the transfer, put my ATM card (with chip) into the
The real WTF is that if the account is opened fraudulently, the bank and credit agencies will spread nasty gossip (slander) about the actual person and try to collect the money from him. If (and only if) he challenges them on it, they will claim that the original fraudster committed a crime against him and that it is his problem. They will also claim that they are an innocent and uninvolved 3rd party to the crime.
We know who you are, Jack.
I assumed it wasn't about protecting yourself but the ability to pay someone to do it and get paid by them if they don't. Paying someone to be responsible for you, with the expectation of getting reimbursed and then some if they don't. Liability.
Anyone who expects a service to 100% protect them from identity theft is an idiot.
Identity Theft does not exist. No one can steal an identity. At least not with today's technology. Some bank gets scammed by somebody. The bank then recovers its loss by defrauding one of their customers. The solution to this "problem" is obvious.
Anyone who expects a service to 100% protect them from identity theft is an idiot. Its just like a virus scanner, it might be helpful but its no substitute for common sense.
Sometimes they're not idiots. Some are just too trusting or are just plain unaware.
My company often receives mail orders containing personal checks. Every year we see several who continue to allow their SSN to be printed on the check, along with the name, address and phone number. These folks are seniors (+70) and don't understand that the SSN is the key to the castle.
In a few cases, I've sent a short letter explaining why they shouldn't do that, and a few have called and thanked me for the information. Oft
In an interview, Stein said that the fact that LifeLock had to call and ask for the document to be removed reflected badly on Lifelock's service. 'I think this shows clearly that they know that it's got potential problems.'"
so a service designed to protect your privacy is broken if it actively attempts to protect your privacy? I think this shows clearly that they got a proactive strategy to protect personal information.
just because the CEO is willing to stick his chin out doesn't mean i trust him to stick MY chin out.
Not everyone reviews a credit report before issuing any type of credit.
ID thieves can potentially abuse personal information, no matter how many types of fraud alerts you put, there is no guarantee that it will be seen by every third party.
Or the ID thief may employee social engineering and even defeat the 'fraud alert'
Todd Davis' publishing his social security number is a gimmick, and he should understand the risks, and chose to do so anyway, clearly as a publicity stunt.
As CEO and well-known media figure he can probably more easily deal with any ills that result than the average joe, and rely on his company to pay all the money and take all the hassle haggling with creditors of ID thief.
Minor cost well worth the publicity.
His SSN is also more likely to be recognized by banks, and (I suspect) he has little need to himself apply for credit, personally, otherwise he would not do it.
As for other employees of the company.... they have not agreed to this, not agreed to the hassle, and are in a much poorer position to defend themselves against ID theft. They have every right to their privacy, and to not have media organizations publish redacted/legally sealed or legally witheld info.
no matter how many types of fraud alerts you put
Better than a fraud alert is the security freeze [experian.com]. They won't open a new account if they can't see your credit report. The security freeze shouldn't even be a major inconvenience, unless you are one of the champs that applies for every new credit and store card under the sun.
I'll agree a security freeze is better.
But a Credit card or Loan isn't the only type of account an ID thief can try to open fraudulently in a victim's name.
They might try to open a checking account instead, which does not involve a CRA inquiry. Instead, the inquiry would go to CheXsystems or similar, which do not provide a 'security freeze' option
The ID thief may also create a bogus instrument, such as a 'checkbook' of fake checks in victim's name.
If the ID thief is up to title fraud, they also ma
That's what my wife and I did to our credit after my identity was stolen. It was a slight hassle when I needed to buy a new car. I had to thaw our credit for a small time frame. Still, that slight hassle is nothing compared with the hassle of repairing a stolen identity. Of course, the credit agencies don't like security freezes. They make their money off of selling your data to other companies and they can't sell frozen accounts. They'd much rather you put a next-to-useless fraud alert on your accoun
The problem with doing a security freeze on your account is that many places will charge you a fee every time they have to un-freeze it to run your credit when you DO authorize it.
Like you say, it's probably fine if you have no intentions of applying for any credit or loans for quite a while. But it gets annoying when, say, a person decides to buy a new car and finds out they're hit with a $25 charge just so the dealership can verify they're a good credit risk.
Their service must not actually be trying to prevent identity theft, but trying to keep you from knowing when it happens.
Close. When they see something they clean it up and then tell the customer they blocked the attempt, so the customer thinks they got their money's worth.
... 'I think this shows clearly that they know that it's got potential problems.'
What it shows clearly is that Lifelock is worthless, except at taking money from morons.
What it shows clearly is that Lifelock is worthless, except at taking money from morons.
Exactly. I've been waiting for this story ever since I laughed at their first commercial.
Freezing often costs money. And each of those credit bureau charges separately. Could cost one upwards of $30 to place a freeze at all three.
The hassles of "freezing" along with the fees to do so, is another illustration of the financial system being crooked; not designed to protect people, but rather to make credit as easy to obtain as possible with little regard to security.
If Congress had balls (and they don't have balls, just pockets with checks in them from the banks)...
The beauty of it all is that the bank wrote that check on your account!
"Identity theft" is where the bank performs legalized fraud to harm people because the bank got robbed due to their own negligence.
Here's the obligatory Mitchell and Webb clip [youtube.com]:
$30 for life? Not exactly, because "until you lift the freeze" often involves a fee too (and possibly an additional fee to put the freeze back on), which too can be upwards of $10 for each credit bureau.
Still, even with the added "lift freeze" fees, for most people, you're right that it's cheaper to skip LifeLock and do-it-yourself.
If it sounds to good to be true...
Who honestly thought that with this service they were "untouchable"? Seriously....
No. At this point, potential has surpassed threshold and achieved REAL problem status.
Anyhoo, Lifelock is a scam. Plain and simple.
They'll take your money right enough, but they really can't deliver on their promises to protect you and your information.
They're like insurance salesmen. They're simply trying for quantity and trying to live on margins, hoping that they don't get hit big by some massive info theft that they can't cover up or make disappear.
Once they get a breach of a truly significant portion of their customer's data, expect to see them fold up shop like all the old fly-by-night insurance salesmen in the Depression.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/windows-vista.htm [howstuffworks.com]
Oh Really?
They're like insurance salesmen. They're simply trying for quantity and trying to live on margins, hoping that they don't get hit big by some massive info theft that they can't cover up or make disappear.
Uhh yeah, insurance is all a big scam that only morons buy into. No insurance company has ever paid out a claim and all that paperwork is just lies. Fortunately here at Slashdot we are too smart to be tricked into buying insurance. House fires and auto accidents are more lies by the megacorps/policitians
The report was redacted just fine (image editing, rather than just "covering up" the redacted info using a different layer)
One thing people here should think about, is that the owner is ok with putting out his info, but maybe an employee does not want to always have to have that lingering thought of what if. I know I wouldn't if it were me.
Having never used lifelock and I doubt anyo
Are public information. They shouldn't be able to have it taken down, even with a personal visit from their CEO in his billboard truck.
In less than a century, computers will be making substantial progress on ... the overriding problem of war and peace. -- James Slagle

subset: commoncrawl


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Transfer News: Crystal Palace want Thomas Ince and Matt Phillips
Sky Sports understands that Crystal Palace have made approaches for Blackpool duo Thomas Ince and Matt Phillips.
Last Updated: 05/06/13 6:30pm
But it is understood that other clubs have also made moves for the wing duo.
Blackpool boss Paul Ince is reluctant to let his son leave, whilst Scots winger Phillips is another key member of the squad.
However, former boss Ian Holloway - fresh from promotion - is keen to add both players to his squad, and he knows just what both are capable of having signed for the pair during his time at Bloomfield Road.
Holloway, though, does have competition to sign both players.
Cardiff City are believed to be stepping up their interest in Ince, whilst Bolton boss Dougie Freedman wants Phillips.
It is also understood a number of other clubs are ready to test Blackpool's resolve over the duo.


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Our Heads Are Spinning After Watching The Lone Ranger Trailer!
If thinking about The Lone Ranger conjures images of a little kid riding a stick horse in his yard and waving a plastic cap gun around, then Holy Hotdogs are you not ready for this trailer! This is not your grandpa's Lone Ranger. Imagine the old west plus Mission Impossible, times Pirates of the Carribean, divided by Back to the Future Part 3...
Actually, this would be easier if you just watched the trailer.
Some of our inner thoughts wilst we watched said trailer:
- Wait a second... is this The Lone Ranger or The Hangover, Part 3, because Kemosabe clearly got crazy the night before!
- Tonto was the ORIGINAL Horse Whisperer. Eat your heart out, Cesar Millan!
- Johnny Depp's wardrobe was provided by Banana Republic's new Desert Roadkill collection.
- So, the horse can talk to Tonto and climb trees? How is this movie not about the horse!?
- Just now realizing that we've never seen Zorro and The Lone Ranger in the same room together. Coincidence?
- Bullet catch! Sweet!
- How is it that Helena Bonham Carter can be so pretty and so creepy at the same time?
- And cue the obligatory gigantic steam train going off the rails and almost killing the protagonists.
This looks like a start to finish, insane roller coaster of a movie!
What did you think of the trailer?


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Graf, Luhr win 3rd straight ALMS Long Beach race
- Associated Press
- April 20, 2013 - 9:53 PM
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr won for the third straight year at Long Beach on Saturday, cruising to their first American Le Mans Series victory of the year for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing.
Graf beat Rebellion Racing's Nick Heidfeld by 36.329 seconds in the P1 class.
Luhr started the race third in class and dropped to the middle of the pack during a caution-filled stretch. Graf battled back through the field and took lead for good in the No. 6 Honda Performance Development prototype with 47 minutes remaining.
Extreme Speed Motorsports finished 1-2 in its second race as part of the P2 class, with Scott Sharp and Guy Cosmo winning in the No. 01 HPD ARX-03b. Colin Braun and Jon Bennett took the Prototype Challenge class victory for CORE autosport. Braun, in the No. 05 ORECA FLM09, finished third overall after leading near the midway point.
BMW Team RLL — owned by Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Chicago businessman Mike Lanigan — won in GT in its second race with its new BMW Z4 GTE, with No. 55 co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Maxime Martin leading a 1-2 finish ahead of Joey Hand and Dirk Muller in the No. 56.
In GT Challenge, Sean Edwards and Henrique Cisneros won for NGT Motorsport in the No. 30 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Edwards finished 2.130 seconds ahead of Flying Lizard Motorsports' Spencer Pumpelly.
© 2018 Star Tribune


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You are in a truce arrangement with a player, circumstances change and you find yourself now having to break the truce and being able to win the game. I wasn't brought up like that. We were taught to learn from out mistakes. Thats how we get better at it.
What do you think? Your Word vs. the Win.


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Food Borne Illness Surges During Fourth Of July Holiday [AUDIO]
Fireworks aren't the only things taking off this week.
The Centers for Disease Control warns this is the time of year when food borne illness starts to surge.
The most recent statistics show 48 million people get sick from food borne illness each year.
ABC News has more on what you can do to prevent your backyard cookout from making everyone sick.


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Subscribing to a calendar means you do not have to add a calendar each year and if holidays change, then the calendars will refresh weekly, so that your calendar always has the latest view. While there are public holiday calenders available in Outlook and Google Calendar, calenders from www.officeholidays.com offer extended information by showing regional holidays, highlighting non public holidays and giving a short description on each holiday.
Note - you are adding a region within Germany to your calendar. If you add another region in Germany to your calendar, it will duplicate national events in Germany. Soon we will offer regional only and national only options, so that you can add what you need, but for now, we recommend you use only one region per country to stop clogging up your calendar.
Click the 'highlight text button below then press Ctrl+C (PC) or Cmd+C (OS X) to copy the link.
To subscribe to an iCalendar feed using Apple's iCal program:
To subscribe to an iCalendar feed using Outlook:
To subscribe to an iCalendar feed using Google Calendar:
Users sometime report that subscribed calendars don't update in Google Calendar. We monitor the news on this issue and will happily reformat the feeds if we think that will improve the updating. One tip that is worth trying is to remove the calendar and add back with '&nocache' added to the url. (e.g. 'https://www.officeholidays.com/ics/ics_region_iso.php?region_iso=BW&tbl_country=Germany' becomes 'https://www.officeholidays.com/ics/ics_region_iso.php?region_iso=BW&tbl_country=Germany&nocache'
To subscribe to an iCalendar feed using Lotus Notes:


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Legislative dilemma
Auglaize County Prosecuting Attorney Edwin Pierce says that communication at both the local and state levels has been the key weapon in combatting the ever-growing problem of "bath salts" use.
That communication likely will lead to sweeping legislation that has been attached to the state's budget bill which would take effect July 1.
Pierce said that an amendment has been proposed to add onto Ohio House Bill 153, The Ohio biennial operations budget bill, which will declare the drug as a controlled substance in the Ohio Revised Code (ORC).
Pierce had been contact with state Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay, and state Rep. Robert Sprague, R-Findlay, as recently as two weeks ago and discussed the problem while attending an unrelated meeting. An initially proposed bill did not gain much traction, but the bill is now gaining notice and support as an amendment to the budget bill.
"Everyone agrees that there are some loopholes as far as the legality or possession of bath
salts in the ORC," Pierce said. "We need to close those loopholes.
See DILEMMA, Page 5A
"Law enforcement is saying this is as significant of a drug as any they have seen in a long time because of the depth of the hallucinogenic effects," he said.
"Bath salts," which contain the active ingredients methylenedioxypyrovalerone and mephedrone, is a synthetic psychoactive drug which can be ingested, snorted, injected and smoked. Since both chemicals are analogs of illegal substances that are prohibited by a federal act, but since they are not sold for human consumption then they can be placed on retail shelves labeled as "bath salts."
The budget bill is currently in Conference Committee between the Senate and the House. Pierce said hopefully it would be out of committee within a week and ready for vote by the Ohio Assembly and signature by Republican Gov. John Kasich.
Pierce said it doesn't appear that there will be any counter to the amendment.
"It is a great first step," Pierce said. "We are headed in the right direction."
The amendment will allow the state to include bath salts as a "Schedule 1" drug in the Ohio Revised Code concerning controlled substances. That would put the drug on an equal or similar level with other drugs controlled under Schedule 1 such as Psilocybin (mushrooms), LSD, morphine, oxycontin (or oxycodone), LSD, ecstasy and heroin, with some of those drugs also having separate and additional control sanctions.
If the budget bill is passed with the amendment, Ohio would be one of the first states to make "bath salts" illegal for sale, use and distribution following Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Kentucky.
More recently, New Bremen Village Council members passed an ordinance banning bath salts. Earlier this week, Lima City Council members used an ordinance developed by the city of Mansfield as a blueprint for its ordinance banning bath salts.
On Tuesday, Wapakoneta City Council Health and Safety Committee members recommended city Law Director Dennis Faller develop an ordinance based on the state amendment and the city of Mansfield's ordinance for enforcement in Wapakoneta.
"As people have probably seen in press coverage, many local municipalities from Lima to New Bremen have already taken action on this new growing scourge which is synthetic drugs mislabeled as bath salts, much like K-2 which is a synthetic marijuana," Councilor-at-large Tom Finkelmeier Jr., who chairs the Health and Safety Committee, said after the meeting on Tuesday. "Since it is technically a legal product, it is too easily available and becoming a problem for law enforcement.
"The reports we have received from Police Chief Russ Hunlock is that this is an escalating problem so we want to do something quickly," he said. "I feel the will is there to take some action before the state takes action on this matter."
Pierce says communication with local businesses as well has helped reduce the immediate availability of the drug to the public. Area law enforcement officers have volunteered to travel to Columbus to testify before the General Assembly on the matter.
"All of the area police chiefs at the various departments have expressed a major concern over bath salts," Pierce said. "They have been a major concern for about a month. They came upon the county rather quickly. I have talked to other county prosecutors who have not even heard of the problem yet. Many of them that have heard about knew only what they have read."
Pierce said local law enforcement has made it a priority to visit area businesses that have been commonly known for selling the substance.
Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon and Wapakoneta Police Chief Russ Hunlock visited three establishments in Wapakoneta who had bath salts on their shelves. Two of the three took them off the shelves after the visit, pledging not to sell them. The third continued but Solomon and Hunlock intended to make a second visit to stress the dangers of the drug.
He said the law enforcement has been active in public education at the businesses as to the problems and ill effects on the local communities.
Pierce said there are six separate chemicals all used it bath salts that will independently be added to the Schedule 1 list. He noted more than five cases have came to his office ever since bath salts reared their ugly head in the county.
"The problem is there is no legislation to do anything as far as use right now," Pierce said. "The cases we have had have been in reference to other things that have happened as a result of someone using the drug, such as abuse or assault, acting out or obstructions of justice."
He said local residents should not underestimate the effect of the epidemic. The drug has become popular due to the chemicals involved that promote a combined potency and prolongtivity effect that rivals meth and heroin.
Managing Editor William Laney contributed to this story.


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I had to decline the offer of a small flock of domestic, bronze turkeys and a small flock of mature peafowl. The owner was looking to get rid of them to a good home and they were offered for free.
Peafowl make WAY too much noise for my neighborhood.
I need to be able to retire and buy a few dozen acres of sub-rural land. Then I could plant a few acres of trees for coppice, a few more for timber, plant some large gardens/small fields, and some wildlife plots. Then I could have peafowl and exotic pheasants for fly-tying. Thus equipped I could live the life of Jack and Warren and tie flies everyday and fish 3 or 4 days a week. While I'm at it, I should have some ponds and a couple of horses. If I had horses, I'd need a couple of burros to run off the coyotes. My, how dreams do grow.


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Clarence E. Musk
Clarence E. Musk
master mechanic
Clarence E. Musk, 78, of Sandy Lane, a retired master mechanic and employee for the Warwick School Department, died December 19, 2011 at Avalon Nursing Home. He was the beloved husband of Ann (O'Donnell) Musk.
He was a son of the late Alfred Z. and Bertha (McGregor) Musk. Mr. Musk was an Army veteran of the Korean War.
He was the loving father of Neal R. Musk, Diane M. Isom, Everett A. Musk, Edward J. Musk and Linda J. Trainor, and brother of Ronald A. Musk and the late Marilyn Kidd. He is also survived by 13 grandchildren and a great-grandson. He was the grandfather of the late Jonathan E. Musk.
His visiting hours will be held Dec. 22 from 4-8 p.m. in Thomas & Walter Quinn Funeral Chapel, 2435 Warwick Ave. Burial with military honors will be in Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery, Exeter.
In lieu of flowers, contributions to Beacon Hospice, 1130 Ten Rod Road, North Kingstown, RI 02852, will be appreciated. For information and condolences visit www.thequinnfuneralhome.com.


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Today AllCensusRecords.com uploaded the following surname indexes for the 1911 Canadian census:
-Dufferin County, Mulmur Township
-Simcoe County, Nottawasaga Township
-Victoria County, Mariposa Township
Thanks to volunteers Joan Rawn and Noreen Sergovitch for their work in indexing these census records.
To see the surnames and counties indexed so far, start at the index to Ontario Census Records for 1911 and scroll down to the County you want.
Volunteers are needed! Why not pick an area where you are looking for ancestors, and write out the surnames on each census page? It only takes a few minutes and it will help others.
Just check the page at to see what is being worked on, then write to me at
olivetreegenealogyATgmail.com (replace the "AT" with @) and tell me what area you want to index.


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Brede Hangeland has confirmed Fulham's interest in Norway international team-mate Vegard Forren, revealing manager Martin Jol has asked him about the defender's suitability for the Premier League.
The 24-year-old centre-back has attracted a number of suitors with his displays for Norway and club side Molde, who were recently crowned league champions.
"His name has come up," Hangeland told TV2. "They asked me about him after the last international break, so of course I had to be honest and tell them he's a very good footballer."
He went on: "It's no wonder Fulham have noticed him, I'm sure he's been noticed by others as well.
"I think it was the manager who mentioned it. He picks up on quite a few things.
"He asked me about Forren. I told him that he's a good player, and that occasionally good players come out of Norway as well.
"I try to answer honestly when I'm asked about something. I've often answered that Scandinavian players aren't good enough.
"But when it comes to Vegard Forren, I think he could be good enough for a career abroad. But if it's now or in the future, only time will tell."
Asked if he thinks he thought Forren would come to Fulham, Hangeland added: "We'll see. I think if he did come, he'd do a good job".
Forren has been regularly linked with a move away from Scandinavia, with speculation suggesting Everton are set to make a January move.
Source: PA


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Q: Congratulations, how did you find out about the Pro Bowl?
JOHNSON: "Scott Pioli gave me a call about a hour before and told me congratulations. I started grinning from ear to ear, it was definitely a proud moment, definitely hard work pays off. I just couldn't be more proud of mostly my defensive linemen for the job they do in front of me because so many times they take up blockers and they allow me to freelance at time and use my athleticism. It definitely was a team award, anytime you get an individual award, especially in football it's all about the team really."
Q: So have you heard from the defensive line expecting anything from you?
JOHNSON: "No, they've been giving me some looks but they definitely greeted me and told me congratulations. They are really proud of that and they know I couldn't have done it without them, they know that for sure."
Q: How difficult would it have been a few years ago when you got taken out of the starting line up to envision a call like that coming in last night for the Pro Bowl?
JOHNSON: "It definitely was hard for me to go through something that I've never gone through before. But whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger and that's the situation God had put me in to make me stronger and get me better mentally and physically on the field and it panned out great for me. You never know when you get your chance to get accolades, go to the Pro Bowl or anything like that so you've just got to keep your mind positive and you've got to be motivated every time you go out on the field, regardless of the situation. It was a hard situation for me a couple of years ago but you keep your head down and eyes closed and don't get distracted and keep working."
Q: What did you do to try and do more of what the coaches wanted?
JOHNSON: "We talked about it in the past privately but whatever it was, it wasn't good enough. The situation happened and I had to fight through it, that's the main thing. I really never want to go back to that situation or bring up anything that was said or was predicted about my play beforehand. But right or wrong it happened and I fought through it and I'm just trying to hopefully keep this ongoing."
Q: Do you think it helped you in some ways?
JOHNSON: "Yes it helped me a lot. It helped me a lot, that's why I said right or wrong I came out on top. So it was a good deal."
Q: What do you think pushed you over the top to the Pro Bowl this year?
JOHNSON: "I was more consistent this year then I was even last year. I felt last year towards the end of the year due to nicks and nacks or due to whatever it was, I wasn't as consistent. I wasn't making as many plays later on during the year but this year I've been more consistent. That's what I put my mind to every week, trying to have good games back-to-back."


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- Sundered Dark Jade
- Item Level 70
- +6 Critical Strike Rating and +3 Mana every 5 seconds
- "Matches a Yellow or Blue Socket."
- Sell Price: 50
Sundered Dark Jade is a gem crafted by a jewelcrafter from a [Dark Jade].
Source Edit
This recipe requires 350 Jewelcrafting to create and is taught by any grand master jewelcrafting trainer for 1.
Patch changes Edit
- Patch 3.2.0 (04-Aug-2009): Mana Regeneration: All items that provide "X mana per five seconds" have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%.
Old was +2 mana every 5 seconds.


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This is the final installment in a series of articles about local sentiment to the war in Iraq.
For six years now, the United States has sent tens of thousands of young men and women to Iraq and Afghanistan in the war on terror. They have gone, voluntarily, to serve their country, to keep those who remain here safe, in the hopes of preventing another attack on U.S. soil like those on Sept. 11, 2001.
Burke resident Maj. Taun Pham was among the first servicemen to arrive in Iraq. A veteran of the first Persian Gulf war, he said he knew what he was getting into when he was deployed.
"When I first went, I was a young lance corporal, just into the Marines," he said.
Pham came to the U.S. with his family shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. His father had been the equivalent of a Green Beret officer with the South Vietnamese army; his grandfather and great-grandfather had also been soldiers. Enlisting was something he always knew he would do, part of his family's heritage.
"The men in my family usually don't live past 30," he joked. "We supported the American effort in Vietnam. Not only did we lose when the American forces were withdrawn, we lost the fight against Communism. We had no choice but to leave."
Now that he has served in Iraq twice, Pham believes the work is not yet finished, and the American government has a responsibility to do what it can to fix Iraq.
"It's the Pottery Barn rule, if you break it, you own it," he said, paraphrasing a popular statement made by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Pham said he understands people who have become frustrated with the war, who want to see soldiers withdrawn immediately and brought home.
"It's regular politics," he said. "We're in there now. Are we going to just leave and walk away? Probably not. There are Iraqis who supported our efforts and have totally supported the war, we owe it to them to help."
Pham remembers what life was like in Vietnam after the American soldiers left and said if history repeats itself and the U.S. leaves Iraq before stabilizing the country, it would damage the nation's already weakened credibility around the world.
"We need to stay and finish the job, we can't just wait for the U.N. and humanitarian efforts," he said. "That won't fix anything."
BILL HURD, a Vietnam-era veteran and member of the American Legion Post 176 in Springfield, agrees with Pham that the U.S. needs more time to finish its job.
"I support the action in Iraq and have done enough research and reading that no one can persuade me the world isn't a better place without Saddam," Hurd said, referring to the former Iraqi ruler taken out of power by the U.S. in early 2003 and executed for crimes against humanity almost a year ago.
People who oppose the war need to realize that orders have been given, and a job has been assigned that needs to be completed, he said.
"We need to think about what happens when we leave, because if we leave before the country is ready, we'll create a vacuum that Iran would be happy to step up and fill," Hurd said.
He cautions some war protestors to reconsider their position on the war without letting their personal political ideas get in the way.
"I think so many people are so hung up on their dislike of the president they can't think clearly," he said. "Then again, one of the reasons people wear that uniform is to protect the right of dissent."
Both men agree that progress is being made in Iraq, slowly but surely, and credit Gen. David Petraeus' surge in troop levels for successes made this year.
"When I first got there, people stayed on base all the time, but he ordered us to get out and move around," Pham said. "We just have to accept that in war, there will always be casualties."
Hurd said the efforts are "going in the right direction," but the American people need to listen to troops coming home from Iraq, who often say the portrait given by the media is far more dire than what is actually found in Iraq.
"I really think we have a chance of winning, of pulling this off successfully," Hurd said. "Some things didn't go as planned at first, but that happens all the time. If we leave, there's nothing stopping Iran from taking over, and [Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] has made it clear he would like to blow Israel off the map and he wants to have nuclear weapons."
PHAM THINKS the American people should look at the war as a long-term investment: pay a little now, reap the benefits of being smart and patient later on.
"You have to commit to a long-term strategy, you can't just walk away. Right now, we might think it's a bad investment, but the truth is, we are at war. People want to kill us. We can't just leave," Pham said.
Much like his own parents, Pham said the Iraqis who chose to side with U.S. forces are risking their lives, putting their families in danger.
"I know of an Iraqi commander near my camp whose entire family was killed by insurgents," he said.
When it comes to supporting the troops serving in Iraq, Hurd said it is hard to define what that phrase really means.
"I think most people are doing a good job of it," he said. "I think we've learned the lessons of Vietnam, I don't see people spitting on soldiers or not accepting them back into society once they return home. We need to respect our soldiers and what they do even if you don't agree with them."
The best way to support the troops, Pham said, is to let them do the job they've been assigned in the best way they can with the resources available.
"We are in this until the end," he said.
OTHER WAYS, more tangible, exist to support the troops.
Bill Dunn, an Army veteran, served for more than a year in Iraq early in the conflict and was surprised one day by a care package he received from someone he did not know.
"I had a friend in Albuquerque who taught at an elementary school, and she had her students send me a box," he said. "I had never met these kids, but the box with their letters gave me a moment of peace."
When he returned from Iraq, he flew out to Albuquerque to surprise the children, who shouted and cheered when he walked into their room.
Inspired by their generosity, Dunn has started the Adopt a Soldier program in Fairfax County, collecting donations from people to send to soldiers overseas.
So far, Dunn has been able to send over 1,200 boxes to more than 250 soldiers, all of whom are strangers to him, since the program began in 2004.
Gifts of toothpaste, soap, wash cloths, hand sanitizer and other toiletries are incredibly helpful, Dunn said, because soldiers are not provided with any of those items and must purchase them out of their pay.
"You can never have too many toothbrushes," he laughed. "These are the sort of things you expect, or hope, your family will send you, but when you receive a box from someone you don't know, it just makes your whole day."
Dunn said he knows firsthand how those little pick-me-ups can make a huge difference in a soldier's day.
"It did so much to raise my spirits," he said. "You're sitting there, in the desert, away from your family, and this box comes along out of the blue. It's a great feeling."
Starting the Adopt a Soldier program was a way for him to keep a promise to a fallen comrade.
"I had a buddy who was killed over there, and I promised him and his son his name would live on," Dunn said.
The American Legion has been receiving a few new members as they return home from Iraq, but most of their support work involves older veterans in VA hospitals.
"The boys were there to do a job," said Jim Jones, a member of the American Legion who served in the Air Force during the Korean war.
Jones said members of the American Legion will spend time talking with wounded or poor soldiers in the hospital, sharing stories or just listening to them talk. The hospital also cares for homeless veterans, helping them receive the medication they need along with warm clothing in the winter and a hypothermia shelter when it gets bitterly cold.
"I do what I can to help," he said.


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Just a heads up...Pete is scheduled to be on The Tonight Show Monday night.
Just a heads up...Pete is scheduled to be on The Tonight Show Monday night.
That's going to be a mess.
"....the two players I liked watching the most were Barry Larkin and Eric Davis. I was suitably entertained by their effortless skill that I didn't need them crashing into walls like a squirrel on a coke binge." - dsmith421
For his sake I hope he pleads the 5th when Leno asks questions.
Small market fan... always hoping, but never expecting.
Ugh, please just go away Pete. Don't know if I am more sick of seeing his mug or hearing about Balco???
My streak of having never watched a Jay Leno Tonight Show shall continue.
0 Value Over Replacement Poster
"Sit over here next to Johnathan (Bench)...sit right here, he's smart."--Sparky Anderson
"My mission is to be the ray of hope, the guy who stands out there on that beautiful field and owns up to his mistakes and lets people know it's never completely hopeless, no matter how bad it seems at the time. I have a platform and a message, and now I go to bed at night, sober and happy, praying I can be a good messenger." -Josh Hamilton
I've just never watched the show before. Watching Pete lie some more isn't going to change that.
0 Value Over Replacement Poster
"Sit over here next to Johnathan (Bench)...sit right here, he's smart."--Sparky Anderson
For all of his (many, many) flaws, I've found Pete to be an entertaining and borderline-charming talk show guest in the past. In fact, in straight talking terms, I find him infinitely more tolerable than Jay Leno.
If Leno can manage to steer himself away from the juicy topics he so loves and give Pete a chance to talk about baseball a week before the season starts, Pete will have some interesting things to say. For all of his (many, many) flaws, Pete still clearly loves baseball, and follows it to a degree that most retired players don't. His opinions about the current game and its teams and players are usually worth hearing. And it's always fun to hear someone on the national stage talk about the present-day Reds.
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
vp, I do agree with you, but I think I'll wait and just read the headlines in the morning.
It's like a train wreck that I know is coming, and yet I am powerless to stop it
sorry we're boring
You're right. He is a very good talk show guest. I remember sometime in the mid-90s he was on Conan and Mickey Rooney was the other guest. I think Mickey was drunk cause he was just fawning all over Pete and Pete was trying not to laugh at him.
But I'm afraid this is going to be more about Pete than baseball. It'll be the same old crap recycled. Blah, blah, blah, I bet on the Reds every night; blah, blah, blah, guys have done worse stuff than I did and they are in the HOF, blah, blah, blah, I'm baseball's greatest ambassador. Then Jay will ask him who he likes this year and that'll be it. And, VP, I'll bet you a beer that he doesn't say anything about the present day Reds other than they are having that exhibit in the HOF for him.
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
Well Pete was just on. He defended McGwire and Bonds and said that Bonds' problem was similar to Steve Carlton's. He then talked about going to opening day in Cincinnati for the first time since 1989. He referred to GABP first as Riverfront and then followed by a pause and talked about the first floor of the Reds HOF being dedicated to him. One interesting thing is he referred to his gambling as an "addiction".
Well, it is an addiction for everyone else, why not for Pete?
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Ophthalmology Home
About the Scheie Eye Institute
The Scheie Eye Institute, founded by Harold G. Scheie in 1972, is a leader in the field of ophthalmological research, education and patient care.
Our physician-scientists focus on translational research ranging in topic from age-related macular degeneration to glaucoma to retinitis pigmentosa.
Our full-time residency and fellowship program is devoted to training 15 residents and 8 fellows to become leaders in the future of ophthalmology. In fact, Scheie was the first institute to receive a training grant in Ocular Genetics and Bioinformatics from the National Institutes of Health. This will enable us to train scientists and ophthalmologists to interpret the huge amount of genetic information which will become available to us within the next five years as whole genome sequencing becomes widely affordable.
The Scheie Eye Institute employs 60 physicians and researchers to consult and treat eye problems of every kind. Last year alone Scheie received 81,129 patient visits. We have three locations in the city of Philadelphia, and locations in Radnor, and Media Pennsylvania.
Scheie Calendar


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Published: 2013/01/24
Cedric Bixler-Zavala Tweets The End of The Mars Volta
Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced via Twitter last night that The Mars Volta have broken up. This past fall the group announced that it would take some time off with Omar Rodríguez-López focusing on Bosnian Rainbows, a new group with Deantoni Parks. Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López founded The Mars Volta in 2001 from the ashes of their previous group At the Drive-In. The band (which may have played the loudest set in the history of Bonnaroo's Which Stage back in 2009) released its sixth album,Noctourniquet, last spring.
Bixler-Zavala's successive tweets last night read: "Thank u 2 all VOLTA fans u deserved more especially after the way u rooted for us on this album. I tried my hardest to keep it going…But Bosnian Rainbows was what we all got instead…I can't sit here and pretend any more. I no longer am a member of Mars Volta…I honestly thank all of you for buying our records and coming to our shows. You guys were a blast to play in front of…We could never had done it with out you. My dream was to get us to the point were Jon Theodore and Ikey Owens came back but sadly it's over…Thank u a million times over for ever giving a fuck about our band…For the record I tried my hardest to get a full scale North American tour going for Noctourniquet but Omar did not want to….I guess a break from mars volta means starting another band and ignoring all the support the fans gave us. I tried my hardest guys…All I can do is move forward with my music and just be happy that mars volta ever happened at all. God Damn we had a blast. Thank u again."


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By Karen Lightman, managing director, MEMS Industry Group
This is part two of my blog from BSAC's 2011 Fall Thrust Session celebrating BSAC's 25 years. The presentations and my notes from both sections can be found on the MIG website. MIG members have full access; as well as those who registered/attended (and if you ask really nicely I might say yes, just try me).
After a well-attended BSAC faculty poster session, we went back into the auditorium which was pretty decently filled in the morning session and now had standing room only (fire codes were not violated, but we were darned close). John Huggins, the Executive Director of BSAC was the MC and then quickly turned the mic over to Al Pisano, one of my favorite guys in MEMS (really it's true).
Al gave an overview of BSAC's 25 years and made the simple observation that it's truly not common for a research center to last 25 years. He then presented his revisionist history of BSAC and its five generations of leadership. It's really impressive that several of the top guys (and I do mean guys here – the only thing missing is a FEMALE Director, but I digress…) of BSAC are still around and active: Dick White, Richard Muller and Alex Schwartzkopf. Impressive. Al then overviewed the funding model that supports BSAC's $15M budget: a Federal-University-Industry Research/Funding "Helix" that supports and feeds itself as a sustainable model. It not only sustains itself, but it has a good record of spinning out companies – see the list on BSAC website (including MIG founding company, XACTIX).
Next up was industrial partner, Tim Denison of Medtronic. I was mesmerized by his presentation of how Medtronic is using MEMS (and lots of other really cool stuff) to enable neural implants to help with stimulation for tremor victims (stroke, Parkinson's, bad hangover – just kidding). He overviewed the many applications for advanced neural interfacing – commercial and in development. First he showed the impact on humans (really amazing video of a guy before and after the neural implant) and then when he started "looking forward to the future" I have to admit I got a little uncomfortable as he talked about doing this stuff on animals (monkey, sheep….). I did eat a vegetarian meal that night as homage to the poor little guys who donated (unwittingly) their bodies to science. But I digress…
Then it was time for my eyes glaze over when Ali Javey gave a presentation on the "Future of Electronics." While I was able to follow some of his talk, as soon as he started showing calculations of nanomaterials I stopped taking notes. All I can report is that BSAC is doing some darned cool stuff that someday will be able to reduce power consumption along with other great stuff, I think…
Kris Pister, founder of Dust Networks and director at BSAC, took the stage to wow everyone with his work and research in smart sensor networks and the challenges and paybacks for wireless networks. I loved that he stated the reason he's doing smart dust (instead of his first love, micro-robots) is "Ken Gabriel's fault." Apparently Ken (as DARPA's first MTO Program Manager) said he loved the smart micro-robots but he'd never fund it – so then Kris refocused and submitted to DARPA (when Al Pisano was the DARPA MTO Program Manager) and received the funds and started "taking pictures on really big pennies" next to his chips. Kris then came up with his list of challenges and paybacks – the main challenge is that you have to understand the market, not just have your technology that would work in the real world. Yup.
Though Kris is a tough act to follow, Clark Nguyen did a fantastic job (didn't know he was so entertaining in front a live studio audience) with his presentation: Mechanical Radios? And yes the "?" is intentional. He basically stated that to be at BSAC doing great work that is 20-years out, it has to be "crazy stupid" not just "crazy." I love it. Then he went to prove that a mechanical radio IS achievable (in 20 years) and that he's failed, because while it's crazy, it's not crazy stupid. Well, Clark, time will tell and in my book, you are a fantastic success already.
Then after the break I had the pleasure and honor to introduce Vijay Ullal the Group President for Maxim Integrated Product's Handheld Products Divison. Vijay wowed me when he gave the closing keynote at Sensors Expo Chicago and he managed to wow me even more at the BSAC event. I was especially interested in his take on the merging of gyros/accelerometers as the top leaders are converging (and Maxim's recent acquisition of Sensor Dynamics is a good indication). Vijay's presentation can be summarized by one statement: "I've seen the future and it's integrated sensors."
Following Vjiay was another proud MIG member, Rick Oden, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff for TI's DLP Division. Rick did a FANTASTIC job of overviewing the DLP's development and performance – once they got it right (it took a ong time in case you didn't already know that). He discussed the mainstreaming of MEMS – lessons learned. KEY FACTORS of success: have a clear marketing plan; that diversity is a valued perspective when planning a technology direction; and one must keep a careful eye on the customer; discipline matters (be focused in how you are busy); reasonable feedback of information to the development team (it's an iterative process); and lastly, maturation. "Where do you have to spend your time?" MEMS packaging – it's not glamorous but it's gotta get done. Amen, brother.
The closing session was an entertaining panelists of BSAC alumni, moderated by BSAC director: Richard Muller; panelists were IARPA's Dennis Polla; Cornell University's Amit Lal, and ADI's Mike Judy. They all gave their different perspectives on "wild and crazy MEMS." I really loved Amit Lal's creative and fun graph of "achievability * coolness" – anything MEMS is cool (world peace is very cool but not achievable) – computers that think is very cool but achievability is very low (as well as quantum computing). But if you look at MEMS – it's in the middle of coolness and achievability (achievability within 5-6 years) – z axis is "impact" – how to achieve impact. I agree, MEMS is cool and achievable. On a last note I encourage you view this fun video made by BSAC students in celebration of BSAC's 25th anniversary: Attack on BSAC, the Musical (links to preview).


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For President Barack Obama's re-election hopes, it has always been a race between the economy and Election Day. Would the economy improve enough by Nov. 6 so that the White House could point to signs of real economic improvement as voters went to the polls?
New figures show that Obama may have won that race --but just barely. A spate of economic statistics out Thursday was politically positive even if economically a little short of indicating robust economic growth.
The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence, a widely recognized measure, rose to 72.2 in October, up from 68.4 in September and at its highest point since February 2008, when the economy really started to tank. It's also up from 40.9 a year ago, marking the biggest one-year increase in 18 years. But it's still below 90, a number that indicates a strong economy.
Construction spending rose 0.6 percent in September over the previous month, pushed by a 2.8 percent increase in home building. Spending on commercial construction was flat, but home construction is the more important to an economic recovery. Spending on residential construction was up 21 percent from a year ago. The lowest mortgage rates since 1971 helped boost the sales and prices of new and existing homes.
Manufacturing increased for the second straight month, rising to 51.7 on the Institute for Supply Management's index of factory activity. Anything above 50 is positive territory.
Meanwhile, worker productivity increased only 1.9 percent from July through September — a good sign, in a curious way, because it means employers have probably gotten as much as they can out of their existing workforces and will have to start hiring to keep up with demand.
Retail sales were up 5 percent in October over the previous year, according to a survey of retail chains, better than forecast and an indicator that may improve as stores stock up to meet post-Sandy demand and replenish merchandise destroyed by the hurricane.
The October jobs report, due out Friday, is expected to show a slight rise in the jobless rate, now at 7.8 percent, as unemployed workers who've been sitting out the recession resume looking for work. But Superstorm Sandy — which provided the president with a new best friend in Chris Christie, New Jersey governor and Romney surrogate — is likely to blunt the impact of the unemployment figures, in part because the widespread devastation promises ample opportunity for work in what is likely to be a massive rebuilding effort.
Voters, especially those looking for jobs or better jobs, are not interested in explanations. They want good news. This economic news, while far from great, may be just good enough to see Barack Obama through Tuesday.
Scripps Howard News Service


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"Update for Veterinarians" is distributed bi-monthly through the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association to keep veterinarians up-to-date on news and advancements at the Ohio State Veterinary Medical Center. The current May-June issue of the newsletter provides information on our important Veterinary Practitioner Advancement Boards, including a list of improvements that the boards have helped implement to enhance service to our clients, and the veterinarians who refer them. The newsletter also includes an introduction to our new faculty members. An archive of current and past issues of the newsletter can be viewed online.
About the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State
Founded in 1885, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine is ranked fifth in the nation and includes more than 1,000 faculty, staff and students in the Departments of Veterinary Biosciences, Veterinary Clinical Sciences, and Veterinary Preventive Medicine. The Veterinary Medical Center is one of the largest specialty referral centers in the world, with more than 35,000 farm, equine, and companion animal patients each year. A nationally-recognized ambulatory practice and teaching unit in Marysville, Ohio provides farm animal experience to every veterinary student, and the Food Animal Health Research Program in Wooster, OH focuses on detection, control, and prevention of disease. Located on the only campus in the country with a comprehensive medical center offering seven health sciences colleges, we admit up to 162 veterinary students per class, and offer a new comprehensive graduate program in Veterinary and Comparative Medicine as well as a unique Master's degree in Veterinary Public Health, in partnership with the College of Public Health. http://vet.osu.edu.


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Creativity is comprised of four factors. Just remember this equation: Creativity = Surprise + Originality + Beauty + Utility.
When you read this post you will find that there are four common criteria that are often used when defining creativity:
1. Flexibility
2. Originality
3. Fluency
4. Elaboration
For more information on the four criteria and information on the four factors that this post uses to define creativity click through to the article.
Via Beth Dichter, Jose H. Flores


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If the first six months don't count…
Mitt Romney sat down with CNBC's Larry Kudlow, and made a curious observation. He said voters who want a strong economy should vote for him, but Americans "ought to give, whichever president is going to be elected, at least six months or a year to get those policies in place."
At first blush, that may sound fairly reasonable. A president takes office, he or she needs time to put a team in place, craft an agenda, and get to work. What's more, we generally don't see the results of economic policies immediately; the agenda needs time to take effect. In Romney's mind, six months to a year seems fair.
But let's go ahead and apply this standard to President Obama, who took office in the midst of the worst global economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. Hey, look, here's a new chart I put together.
Throughout the presidential campaign, Romney has said the clock should start in February 2009, Obama's first month in office. If that's fair – if the president deserves the blame for every job lost on his 11th day in office – it's true that under Obama, the economy is still in a deep hole and hasn't fully recovered from the losses of early 2009.
But look what happens when we start the clock, as Romney suggests, six months to a year after President Obama was sworn in. In fact, if we don't hold Obama's first year against him, the economy has added over 3.7 million jobs overall during his presidency, and over 4.2 million in the private sector.
That's not the count by my standard; that's the count by Romney's standard.
What's more, I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention this great video put together by our friends at "Up with Chris Hayes," judging Obama's jobs record by the standard Romney applied to his term as governor. At this rate, I half-expect Romney to simply endorse Obama and celebrate the president's economic successes.


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English Teacher
Hello all, I'm a new ESL teacher, doing my first lessons.
I'm doing a section on daily routines soon with the following sections:
Telling Time
Days of the Week
Daily Routine
I was wondering if anyone had some assessment ideas for telling time, and a suggestion for an additional unit in the section?
Thanks, any help will be greatly appreciated.
What age are the students?


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The Santa Clara Sporting 98Boys Black Team prevailed in 100 degree weather playing three games on Sunday to win the 2012 Dublin Fall Classic. After having their Saturday first morning game rescheduled due to horrible field conditions to Sunday morning. They kicked off the tournament with a 5-1 win Saturday night over the California Odyssey South team scoring all 5 goals in the first 18 minutes of the first half.
Sunday morning they played the River City United Elite in a hard fought battle to end in a 1-0 win as the day started to heat up. The team then played again 2 hours later in the Semi's as temperatures reached 95+ degrees to win 1-0 over Lamorinda FC making it to the Finals. With temperatures over 100 degrees they went on to the finals against Walnut Creek Crew just 3 hours later. This was the Crew's second game of the day but Sporting's third game. Quickly the Crew jumped out to a 3 goal lead in the first half.
The Sporting boys were not willing to give up after enduring a weekend of cancelled then rescheduled games, playing through horrible field conditions because of last minute scheduling, and100 degree heat. The 98 Boys rallied at halftime to play for each other and for Sporting.
Down 3-0 at the start of the second half, Sporting scored within 3 minutes of the start in second half. They successfully scored their fourth goal with 5 minutes left to win a well-fought championship game with a 4-3 score in the 2012 Dublin Fall Classic.
Congratulations to all the players for digging deep to win the tournament, and to the coaches and parents!


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May 2011 Version by Holly Yu
Note: Revisions to this document are pending regarding report submission instructions. All committee chairs should place committee reports in their committee spaces in ALA Connect. Your Connect space is the archive for committee reports and other documents. Make your report a public document. More information will be coming soon about where to send committee report links. 16 January, 2012.
Organization and Responsibilities
LITA Manual Section 4 -- Organization of Division Committees and Responsibilities of Committee Members contains the information that defines types of committees, size of committees, appointment process, responsibilities of the committee chair, members and other officers, expenditures and budget as well as information for subcommittees and interns. Please go to LITA Manual Section 4 to access the following specific committee information.
- Types of Committees
- Size of Committees
- Establishment of New Division Committees
- Standing Committees
- Special or Ad Hoc Committees and Task Forces
- SubCommittees
- Committee Appointments
- ALA Restrictions and Requirements
- Appointment Process
- Removal of Inactive Committee Members
Responsibilities & Duties
- Responsibilities of the Committee Chair
- Duties of the Committee Chair
- Committee Secretary
- Responsibilities of Committee Members
- Duties of Committee Members
- Expenditures and Budget
- Contracts
- Services of the Division Office
- Intern Program
Individual Committees
Information about individual committees can be found on the LITA Committee page.
Conference & Program Planning
LITA Manual Section 5 -- The LITA Committee and Interest Group Chairs Calendar is an important guide to the steps in planning for programs and meetings at Midwinter and Annual. Please note that this calendar is somewhat out of date, but the primary timelines are still relevant, which can be followed. An important thing to watch for is the emails coming from the LITA staff. These emails contain information about deadlines for program proposals, meeting room reservations, as well as links to ALA meeting planning documents for the current conference.
Planning Process – Annual Conference
Proposal Submission
- Following each annual conference, watch for the availability of LITA Program Proposal Form. A link to the Form can be found on the Program Planning Committee (PPC).
- Fill out the Program Proposal Form on behalf of your committee.
- Following the due date for the proposal submission, PPC members review and rank the proposals, and assign PPC liaison to each program.
- PPC liaison work with each program contact person to revise the program proposal if necessary.
- LITA Office sends out notification of acceptances or rejections
- Invite speakers for your program during September and October and send speaker / panelist consent/release form to your invited speakers/panelists
- Revise, if necessary or based on comments from PPC, your program proposal prior to the mid-winter meeting
- Revise and finalize your program description by February
- Know who your committee PPC liaison is. If you are unsure about who your liaison is, contact the Program Planning Committee chair.
Program Marketing
- Obtain speaker's short biographies
- Finalize your program description
- Make announcements about your upcoming program to LITA email lists, ALAConnect, LITA Wiki, and via other media as necessary
- The announcement should include program description, session date, time, location and speaker's short biographies
Day before Your Program
- Pickup all necessary forms at the LITA Table in the ALA Office at conference center e.g., Program Evaluation Form
- Photocopy program flyer(s) for distribution at the session. ALA Copy Center is usually located in the ALA Office
- Check the meeting room to make sure all necessary A/V equipment is in the room and in working order
Day after Your Program
Place the collected conference program evaluation forms in your committee folder at LITA table in ALA Office.
- Write program report following the conference
Use the Committee Meeting Report Submission Form found in LITA Wiki to submit your program report and post the report in ALAConnect.
- To post your report directly to ALAConnect, use your ALA login and password to access Connect. Locate your group's page under the heading "My ALA Groups;" select "Online docs [add]" and use the text editor or upload a document. Make the document public so that all LITA members can view your report. Please direct any questions or problems related to Connect to Melissa Prentice (firstname.lastname@example.com).
- The report should be completed within two weeks of the end of the conference
Business Meeting at Annual and Midwinter
To hold business meeting at annual conferences, please follow the procedure found in LITA Manual Section 9.
- Submit your meeting space requests and AV needs to Valerie Edmonds (firstname.lastname@example.com) no later than February 11.
- Your business meeting can be a separate meeting or following your program
- If you plan to schedule your business meeting at a separate time, you need to submit a separate meeting room request when you sign up for your annual program room and equipment.
- Send out your meeting agenda prior to the meeting day, pick up meeting sign-up sheet and/or other items, e.g., LITA officer ribbon, at LITA table in ALA Office
Complete your meeting report within two weeks of the conference and use the Committee Meeting Report Submission Form found in LITA Wiki to submit your meeting report and post the report in ALAConnect.
Program Development Opportunities
If you feel that your program for annual conference can make great Regional Institutes or Web courses, you should submit a proposal to the LITA Education Committee.
Comunication Tools
- ALA Connect
- Comchair Email List (you will be automatically signed up after you are appointed as a chair)
- Each committee has a liaison from the LITA Board, check your committee page roster for your liaisons.
- LITA Committee and IG Joint Chairs Meeting is always scheduled for Saturday from 8:00 to 10:00 at Midwinter Meetings and Annual Conferences.
- Setting up email discussion list: Contact the LITA staff liaison (Melissa Prentice, email@example.com; 312-280-4268) to request a discussion list for your committee or interest group. After the list is set up, Chairs will be given admin right to modify the list and add/remove subscribers.
Documents and Forms
- LITA Manual Section 4 -- Organization of Division Committees and Responsibilities of Committee Members
- LITA Manual Section 5 -- Committee and IG Chair Calendar
- LITA Forms (LITA Manual Appendix A)
Meeting Report (submit online)
- One of the best sources of information is the past chair of your committee. Don't hesitate to contact her/him and ask questions
- The LITA staff is very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions
- The LITA Committee Chair Coordinator (listed and linked on the Committees page) is available to help answer your questions or else direct you to someone who can
- Each committee has a liaison from the LITA Board (listed and linked on the Committees Page)
- Last, but not least, the LITA Officers and Board Members are also available to answer your questions.


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Looking for a strong commercial hardtop for your Ford Ranger/ B2000?
Product Description
The Truckman Classic High Roof Hardtop for the Ford Ranger/ B2000 is a strong commercial truck top with steel reinforcements. The Truckman Classic High Roof Hardtop boasts the strongest tailgate door of any hardtop in the world. This high roof top has an integral ladder rack and is ideal for both work and play.
The Truckman Classic has an integral ladder rack with tie down points plus the roof can carry a load of up to 55kg. This hardtop also features the strongest rear door of any currently on the market and has a locking handle to secure your load. This hardtop has right side access allowing for easy bedload access, as well as being helpful when carrying awkward loads.
The rear door glass is tinted, helping to shield the load from view. Steel security grilles or solid doors are available as extra security measures. The wipe down interior of the Truckman Classic High Roof Hardtop is easily cleaned; jet washing or scrubbing your hardtop will not damage it.
The Truckman classic high roof hardtop can take up to 3 hours for it to be fitted, however this does depend on the person who is fitting it. All our Truckman hardtops come with complete fitting instructions for added ease. If you do require additional help our lovely fitters are on hand to give you any advice, or if you'd prefer, we do provide a fitting service.
Truckman are a leading manufacturer of hardtops in the UK. The Truckman Classic Right Side Access Canopy is manufactured from within the Auto Styling, West Midlands based factory where the hardtops are built to an outstanding quality.
|Overall Height
|Interior Height
|Aperture Height
|Aperture Width
|Peak Length


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If A River Runs Through It Were a Pop-Up Shop
- Najib Benouar
Our friends over at the UrbanDaddy San Francisco bureau tipped us off to a rugged new development at men's shop Wingtip called Lost Coast Outfitters.
It's a fly-fishing pop-up shop manned by a fellow named George who is hell-bent on turning would-be bench-made shoe purchasers into master fishermen. The menswear-y fishing hole is stocked with everything you need, from hearty flannels to fly reels—he'll even repair your old gear if necessary. So the next time you're in SF and stop into Wingtip for a fitting on a Southwick suit or to get a quick haircut and a sip of whiskey, you might just walk out with a new pair of Simms waders and a fishing rod. And a few tips on where to ply your craft—or, if you're looking to learn, he'll set you up at Golden Gate Casting Club. (George is the president and a member.)
And we've got your first look at what has to be the handsomest fly-fishing shop on earth, right here:


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ALLENDALE, Mich. -- Learning curves have slippery slopes sometimes. Barry learned the hard way Friday night.
The Buccaneers lost to host Grand Valley State in the featured match of the Grand Rapids Classic, 25-12, 28-26, 25-20, closing a day that started out with so much sunshine on a little bit of cloudy note. But these volleyball danes have fortitude, as evidenced by a second set that could have swung the tide of the match in a direction the Lakers wouldn't have wanted to explore. So to expect Barry (3-3) to throw in the towel just isn't part of its vernacular.
Not when the two sides duked it out through 31 tie scores and 19 lead changes, including 13 in the second set.
"I think this game showed the difference of a team that's still trying to find a rhythm," senior hitter Tania Torres said after pounding 12 of her team's 36 kills. "We're learning what it takes to be up there. At least mentally."
Barry responded from an opening set it will soon forget with a gritty fight in the second, pushing Grand Valley (5-1) through a point-by-point see-saw battle. GVSU led 14-12 before Mima Hajdukovic's kill lifted the Bucs to a 16-15 lead. Following three straight sideouts, the Lakers reclaimed the lead, 18-17. But Torres' kill tied it at 18-18.
Point-by-point the trend continued until Jayla Trombley put away a ball to push the Bucs ahead, 24-23. Grand Valley claimed the next two points before Torres pounded a clutch kill to tie the score at 25-25. A Lakers attack error left the Bucs a point away from knotting the match at a set apiece, but a Barry hitting error and two straight GVSU kills kept the momentum in the Lakers' corner.
"As a team, there are a lot of people learning from the seniors," Torres said. "I think we definitely showed we have the skills, and we can put together a great team if we just focus on the positives and not the negatives. Even though we lost, it's not a bad loss. We're just gonna go up from here."
Barry led 12-7 in the third set after Mariana Lisboa sent a back row ball to uninhabited real estate. But the Lakers went on a 6-0 run to reclaim the lead. Following a series of sideouts, GVSU used a four-point surge to take a 20-15 edge before Buccaneer freshman Kate Dooley's kill temporarily stopped the bleeding. The Bucs energy was short-lived, however, as Grand Valley sandwiched three of the next four points around one of Torres' final two kills of the match to essentially seal it.
Barry, which hit .157, terminating 36 kills against 19 errors, was outblocked, 7-4. The Bucs also didn't serve up an ace -- something they've shown great propensity to do thusfar this season.
Ashley Carrero had seven kills and nine digs, Cielena six kills and three blocks, and Trombley six kills. Hajdukovic had 28 assists and 11 digs.
Abby Aiken had 13 kills and Betsy Ronda 10 for the Lakers, who hit .255.
"I think it's gonna be a great day tomorrow," Torres said. "We're gonna bounce back. We're just going to take advantage of everything we had. I think tomorrow's gonna be a different situation."


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Wednesday, August 28, 2013 9:19 pm
Man says he killed wife to end her cancer pain
The Associated Press
Ernest Chris Chumbley told WKYT-TV he fired the shots that killed 44-year-old Virginia M. Chumbley of London - and he said he would have expected her to do the same for him. He told WLEX-TV he loved his wife.
The Laurel County sheriff's office says Ernest Chumbley called about 2:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday saying he had shot his wife. Deputies found her dead in the bedroom.
The 48-year-old Chumbley was arrested on a murder charge and was being held on $200,000 bond. A jail official told The Associated Press that Chumbley was declining requests for further interviews on his lawyer's advice.


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(from MZone wire reports) Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan fans remained gathered outside Schembechler Hall on Wednesday still waiting for a sign that athletic director Dave Brandon had made a decision regarding the Wolverine head coaching situation.
But the black smoke pouring out of the smoke stack atop Schembechler Hall indicated that Brandon's coaching conclave was continuing. Wednesday marks the 40th day of Brandon's so-called "evaluation" of current coach Rich Rodriguez making it the longest known job review in recorded history.
According to tradition, black smoke above Schembechler Hall indicates a coaching decision has not yet been made; white smoke indicates Rich Rodriguez has been fired; and maize and blue smoke along with streamers and lollipops shooting out of the piping would indicate that Jim Harbaugh is the new Michigan coach.
UPDATE: The smoke is now white as Rich Rod has
Meanwhile, after every news outlet in Detroit erroneously announced that he had been fired on Tuesday, Rich Rodriguez celebrated at least one more day on the job by showing off the errant Free Press headline announcing his axing.
(HT to Mikoyan for the idea and RR 'Shop, HT to DC for the smoke pic. Thanks!)


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The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) is the first public transportation system in North America to receive Platinum recognition level in the APTA Sustainability Commitment program. Three public transit systems attaining Gold recognition level are Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), King County Metro Transit and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Bronze level recipients include Amtrak and Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART).
The organizations will be honored on July 29 at the Sustainability and Public Transportation Workshop in San Francisco, Calif.
"Congratulations to these public transportation organizations for their outstanding leadership in the area of sustainability," said APTA Chair Flora Castillo. "They are leading the way in making public transportation, which is already sustainable, even more sustainable."


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New Brief – News Brief August 20, 2012
The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff has flown to Afghanistan amid growing concern on the mounting number of Blue-on-Green assaults.
The frequency of Blue-on-Green incidents – when Afghan security personnel turn their weapons on International Security Assistance Force members (ISAF) – has been mounting steadily in recent months.
Last year a total of 35 ISAF members were killed in Blue-on-Green incidents.
So far this year Afghan security force members have killed 40 ISAF personnel. The mounting number of Green-on-Blue incidents has caused concern among the western military command and General Dempsey has told reporters that it will be the main focus of his visit.
On Saturday, U.S. Defence Chief Leon Panetta is reported to have telephoned Afghan President Karzai to voice his concern over tensions between ISAF forces and their Afghan allies.
In the latest blue-on-green incident an Afghan in policeman shot and killed a NATO soldier in southern Afghanistan Sunday, the military said.
Before landing at the sprawling US air base in Bagram, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey told reporters the rise in the attacks would be the main focus of his meetings with ISAF members and their Afghan counterparts.
"As far as the insider threat, of course that's going to be a topic," Dempsey told AFP and Fox News.
Despite more stringent vetting procedures for recruiting Afghan security force members the number disaffected in the ranks of local security forces appears to be growing, together with the increasing number of blue-on-green assaults.
In the past two weeks alone Afghan security personnel have killed a total of 10 ISAF members.
Two American soldiers were killed in a blue-on-green incident on Friday, a week after six were killed in a single day on August 10.
The total green-on-blue toll now makes up 13 percent of all ISAF deaths this year, according to a tally of total deaths kept by the icasualties.org website
Also see:
2 US troops killed in Afghan police attack
Afghan police and US soldiers killed by attackers in uniform
Rise of 'green-on-blue' attacks in Afghanistan
Attacker in Afghan Uniform Kills 3 U.S. Troops
Another 'Green-on-Blue' Attack on Another Bloody Day
Afghan Soldier Wounds Two US Soldiers


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The secret to great Sicilian Bread? Start it one day, finish the next, which is what Mary Ann does to create lovely loaves of Pane Siciliano. Then she makes deep fried "Little Bellies" of dough stuffed with Prosciutto di San Daniele, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
Visit the Website: http://www.ciaoitalia.com/
Episode #2216 / Length: 29 minutes


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Today's picture is from 1899 and shows students at the Hampton Institute learning to build carriages. Wow, talk about something that would take a lot of craftsmanship, imagine building a carriage from scratch.
I have really been enjoying your comments this week. I find it interesting that there are still a few people out there who make things.


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Luis Suarez feels Liverpool can push for UEFA Champions League
Luis Suarez feels Liverpool can push for a UEFA Champions League spot if they maintain their recent performance level.
Last Updated: 07/02/13 11:12am
Liverpool sit nine points off fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with 13 games remaining, but have taken encouragement from their recent 2-2 draws at Arsenal and Manchester City.
Brendan Rodgers' side were the better team for long spells in both of those games and Suarez is delighted with the progress being made by the Reds.
"I'm very pleased and very happy because Liverpool is growing," Suarez, who has scored 17 Premier League goals this season, told Marca.
"It's not the team that it once was as they have had a dip. But now we have a new coach who has a philosophy of the game with which the players are very happy.
"The only thing missing is to have more positive results so we can finish in a Champions League spot.
"We showed we can match anyone, we had chances to win many of those matches.
"If we go in to every game in the Premier League with the same intensity that we've shown in the big matches, we can be much higher in the table."
Suarez has been linked with a summer move to Bayern Munich and, when asked if Liverpool should talk about his future in the summer, he said: "Yes, we should talk this June or the next one, in 2014. My contract ends in 2018.
"I'm very happy here and my family love the life here too.
"I want to enjoy being at this club where I, like all the kids, dreamed of playing and now I'm fulfilling that dream."
To find out more about live football on Sky Sports, click here.